The super-close political ties between the governor Trump condemns as a "disgrace" governor - and the governor's hand-picked senator? ajc.com/news/state--re…
As Trump rails against "political corruption" among Georgia Republicans, pro-Trump Republicans are asked to vote for a political novice who got a Senate seat only because she promised to spend $20 million of her own money - much of it finding its way to Kemp-allied consultants?
Georgia Republicans are trying to communicate a complicated two-part message this week:
1) Every state-wide official in our party is a corrupt, disgraced turncoat traitor to President Trump.
2) Vote for another corrupt, disgraced turncoat traitor on January 5!
Maybe Georgia Republicans will find some way to process the two contradictory thoughts - "Hate all Georgia Republican elected officials" and "Vote for another Georgia Republican elected official." But it is not a simple or straightforward message.
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You're hearing a lot of talk about "irregularities" in the election of 1876 that led to a "disputed" outcome. What is being referred to in this hazy terms?
Across the state of South Carolina, white conservatives had used terror and massacre to deter former slaves from voting in 1876. Here's the story of an attack upon the small town of Hamburg in July blackpast.org/african-americ…
Hundreds of black South Carolinians were killed by white conservative militias. Blacks fought back in many places, but they were out-gunned.
The killings were not spontaneous outbursts. They were part of planned campaign of anti-black voter suppression.
Defeated Danish prime ministers do not try to hold onto power by inciting mob violence in the streets of Copenhagen. Defeated UK prime ministers trudge sadly out of 10 Downing Street to hail a taxi.
Helmut Kohl, accepting the peaceful transition of power in Germany, September 1998. alamy.com/stock-photo-dp…
.@FareedZakaria is right and wise here. Past US complacency about China is now veering to a policy of confrontation that is a) excessively militarized and b) even more frightening to partners and allies than China's own bad actions.
As of December 23, about 1.01 million Americans had received a first vaccination against COVID. As of today, that number has risen to 1.23 million. A 20% increase in 3 days, one of them Christmas. 1/x
I see a lot of straight line projections. "At this rate ... " But the rate is accelerating! Sometime soon, we'll see our first 100,000 vaccination day. Then soon after that, the first 200,000 vaccination day. We're going to surprise ourselves by the speed of progress. 2/x
Here's the Israeli rate of progress, vaccinations / 100,000 people.
Lizzie Collingham is one of my favorite social historians working today. I finished the latest of her books, Biscuit, on Christmas Day. #FrumReads4 1/x
Collingham's "Biscuit" is the history of hard-baked bread from ancient times to the box of cookies in the grocery aisle. As always with her work, "Biscuit" uses the device of a foodstuff to open a wide eye upon the surrounding culture. 2/x #FrumReads4
Biscuits, in the British usage of that word, were among the very first industrial foodstuffs. They enabled the British empire - Royal Navy sailors lived upon them - and were in turn enabled by that empire to discover a global market. 3/x
I'm experimenting with threaded notes on books I've enjoyed recently
First was Barbara Amiel's "Friends and Enemies"; second, "Silencing the Past" by Michel-Rolph Trouillot. Future items I'll hashtag #FrumReads
Amiel:
Relations are often testy between academic and non-academic historians. But the best qualities of each should claim respect from the other: the academic's original research and analytic rigor; the non-academic's zeal to hold the interest of the non-specialist reader. 1/x