The Zoom call dust-up between state Senator Elena Parent and the mother of a trans child continues to catch the attention of local media and the political consultant class; the latest to chime in being the ⁠Atlanta Journal Constitution's Bill Torpy⁠, who zeroed in on an angle: that Parent is one of four Democrats who voted for a GOP-led bill (four others skipped the vote altogether) to limit taxpayer-funded gender-affirming care for trans convicts while in prison, and of those four, (eight if you include the four who didn't vote) Parent is the only one who's white.

Torpy also noted that the backlash Parent is enduring on her social media is also coming from angry white constituents (assuming they're all her constituents.

This all gets back to ⁠points I made last week: this aggression solves nothing⁠, nor would Parent's vote have, were it to have gone the other way.

We keep doing this to ourselves, on the left. "Incremental" isn't a sexy term, particularly when invoked in politics, but "ideological purity" is the enemy not just of "progress, but eveen just "incrementalism," too.

Hell, I got a testy email over it. Not to foster a conversation or enlighten (plenty of opportunity to ⁠win hearts and minds with personal stories⁠) but more to manifest division (and derision, but I'm a big boy; I can handle it).

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As damaging as Kamala Harris' campaign having no answers for the barrage of 'anti-trans' attack ads that lead some Democrats now to be more calculating with their support, so, too, was the perceived 'gaslighting' by the Biden White House (and re-election campaign) about Joe Biden's ageand mental fitness. At least that's ⁠what an aide to the First Lady became the first to say publicly from within that White House staff.⁠ Infuriating to hear, but unsurprising, too.

Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens gave his⁠ "state of the city" address ⁠in a typically "Atlanta Way" ... a flashy high society pep rally of sorts, with civic leaders and local music icons both in the wings and on the stage, too.

While he touched on (of course) all his perceived high marks (and there are enough, for sure), leave it to me to douse a little reality on the feting, too.

Oddly enough, though, his second-term fortunes could be transformational for both the city and metro area it anchors, plus provide a canvas for a liberal resurgence in the state and nationally, too.

Of course, there are the usual ⁠"anti-urban" right wing (and thus, 'man-made') obstacles ⁠to overcome, but Dickens has made alliances across the aisle before, so perhaps he can call in some favors?

I'll explain ...

The now-infamous (somewhat) personal ⁠Zoom Q&A state senator Elena Parent (D) and one of her constituents - Lena Kotler - got a lot of attention ⁠because of but a few minutes of the dialogue.

Like most people, I heard it and focused just on that portion because of the mushy messaging Senator Parent exhibited with regards to the rights of the imprisoned who are trans. It's a party problem more than a "Parent problem," dating as far back as last summer. That's when Trump campaign attack ads tied former VP Kamala Harris to the existence of the right for trans prisoners to have gender reassignment surgeries using taxpayer dollars. Neither Harris nor did any Democrat(s) codify that right; it's a "Constitutional" thing, and that's the shortest, simplest response no one on the business end of the attack has embraced.

Nonetheless, ⁠there's WAY more⁠ to that "Elena Parent v trans mom" conversation, and the senator deserves it to be heard. Frankly, Kotler was completely out-of-line, over-the-top and belligerent to an unruly degree. Her tone, tenure and language to Parent was beyond reproach and warrants an apology, but who apologizes anymore, right?

I'm honestly stuneed Senator Parent stayed on the call as long as she did, and she's to be commended for that. Take a listen for yourself and tell me what you think.

State Senator Elena Parent - someone who's been on this show on two occasions; someone I'm awful fond of, politically - didn't have her best moment ⁠on a live Instagram Q&A with a trans parent and constituent recently⁠.

With me to discuss, another trans parent and activist, Clare Schexnyder., founder/CEO of ⁠Oh Baby! Fitness⁠.

It's not that I don't get what Sen. Parent is saying - that the party's defending of trans rights' issues at every turn is unpopular and thus, they ought not defend every area under right wing attack (notably sports participation and medical care while in prison) - it's that this posture has more to do with the party's inability to speak plainly to voters that personal and civil rights aren't supposed to BE taken away and that the Constitution clearly protects the rights of the imprisoned needing medical care, too.

She's a lawyer; she knows this. I'm hoping this moment will sharpen her for bigger opportunities that may lay ahead for her, but her interview gaffes were a hard listen.

I don't see an Elena Parent pivoting towards a moderate/centrist future route, but Third Way Democrats sure seem intent to push the party itself (againnnnn) ⁠back to the center, after a recent (err) "retreat."⁠

They want to get “out of elite circles and into real communities” like ... gun shows" ... "while simultaneously urging the party to “move away from the dominance of small-dollar donors." They contradict themselves.

Even worse, it seems they're more than eager to draw in the "big tent" and willingly leave "fringe" folks outside of it, because that'll somehow secure more votes?

This air of exclusionism from the supposed "left" is a dangerous trend to see evidence of. All so unnecessary if they party would just get better - Elena Parent included - at messaging their platform and values.

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There's nothing DOGE-y about spending untold millions changing military base names just to undo the erasure of Confederate troop/leader names, especially when all that's being done is scoring cheap MAGA points at the expense of those who'd been honored by the name changes in the first place, but it's PEAK MAGA!

That's the case as this time, ⁠Fort Moore (name for Hal & Julie Moore) was renamed Fort Benning⁠ - only a different "Benning" since it's currently against the law to name anything federal after Confederate militarymen or leaders. For now, anyway.

⁠"Those who advocate for changing the name to honor a person solely because they happen to be named 'Benning' ignore the values and character of Hal and Julie Moore as well as their courage, competency, and dedication to the nation and Army families." ⁠- Steve Moore, son of Hal & Julie Moore, whose name for two years were affixed to that of the west Georgia Army base now (as before) named Fort Benning.

Back from my week-long Puerto Rican birthday vacation only to step back into the booth and have to tee off on arguably one of the most shocking and embarrassing displays of foreign diplomacy in American history.

⁠You can't tell me my eyes didn't see what they saw and ears heard what they did:⁠ Donald Trump and JD Vance are Russian assets. There's no other explanation for their revolting pivot on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his war-ravaged country.

I suppose it's also just coincidental then, that the same day that went down, Secretary of Defense ⁠Pete Hegseth ordered cyber command to cease its offensive operations against Russia⁠.

This all jus reminds me of that pretty mediocre 1987 ABC-TV mini-series: "Amerika." The set-up to it sounds too eerie to miss ,though: a bloodless takeover of the U.S. by the Soviet Union finds a nation stunned to awaken to the reality they're being governed by the Kremlin. Whelp.

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CNN's John King - himself a rancher (who knew?) - ⁠caught up with a three-time Trump voter who personifies the MAGA voter, by the way:⁠ knows Trump's unlikable, bad for the economy and his immigration policies are inhuman and will affect his walle (and hurt folks he's become friends with and respect), but he'd still vote for the guy. It's almost comedic; except in Russia, you're not allowed to laugh at your leaders.

Author (and physical therapist) Michelle Stiles wrote a book a few years ago that seemed worthy of review now, more than ever. "⁠One Idea To Rule Them All: Reverse Engineering American Propaganda⁠" isn't strictly a political book, per se, but it does offer a lot of clues leading us to realizing why we're in the political state we're in currently.

Oner particular excerpt caught my at the start of chapter ten ("Planet Vulnerable") under the first subhead "Tyranny in a Democracy."

"How does one convert a democracy, or rather a republic, into a

tyranny? Most people would say that it can’t be done.The people are supposed to rule through their elected representatives.n They work for us, right? America was set up as the ultimate bulwark against tyranny.

The founders created multiple checks and balances so that

no one branch of government could become too strong. They

also created two chambers of the legislature to ensure that the

rights of states would not be overshadowed by simple majority

rule or federal overreach.

Sure, some citizens have vague feelings that the government has become less responsive or sense that there are more bad apples in government than ever before, but the alarm switch that should trigger the potent potential of a growing tyranny never gets activated.

After all, we, the people, are still in charge. We have elections, a free press, the rule of law, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution in place to protect us. For most people, the solid framework of freedom still stands. The answer is to get the right people into office, and then the ship will correct itself.

It’s nothing to worry about. Seeing tyranny and propaganda at work in a democracy can be hard."

This book came out in November of 2022, in case you thought this was a new release based on current headlines. Nope.

Michelle and I discussed a range of manipulative and propagandized elements to our American history, form politics to race to war and even the automobile.

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Speaking of propaganda, North Fulton / Roswell residents weren't buying it when ⁠Rep. Rich McCormick (R) held a town hall meeting last night,⁠ but Elon Musk's X platform seems to have their filters set to suppress anything anti-DOGE, as evidenced by Atlanta Journal Constitution reporter ⁠Greg Bluestein's curiously "unavailable" tweet videos⁠ from that blustery gathering.

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Also, delicious to see how ⁠Fox News' host Jesse Watters suddenly finds the DOGE "chainsaw" effect too sloppy⁠ once he learned a friend of his lost his federal job. F.A. F.O.

Tad Stoermer is a public history lecturer in the Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies program at Johns Hopkins University. He is also the Film and Digital Media Editor of The Public Historian.

He caught my eye on Instagram with a ⁠9-plus minute diatribe ⁠insisting we're not "approaching" a Constitutional crisis; we're already in one and have been for awhile.

Can it be fixed? Is there hope in midterms or even in an upcoming special House race? Who’s the demagogue to rally behind for the left - or do we need one at all?

Lots to cover., and we did; take a listen.

MAGA may not care that their heroes, Donald Trump and Elon Musk, keep getting caught in lies, but for the sake of history, the rest of us will just have to keep chronicling it, anyway.

The latest: claims that 150+ year old people are getting Social Security checks; well, that the Social Security Administration (SSA) is sending check to people born that long ago (and longer) who are obviously not alive. I mean, someone produced a table and put it on a meme so to MAGA, it must be true, yeah?

⁠Well, no⁠. I mean, it's not that there aren't ⁠some instances of poor management⁠ in the SSA, but not at the level DOGE & Trump+Musk insist.

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While Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) ⁠insist DOGE is doing a "careful scrub" ⁠of federal agencies, what's actually happening is ⁠key nuclear personnel were fired⁠ (erroneously?) and now the Trump administration is ⁠scrambling to figure out how to reach those fired people to re-hire them⁠ but they closed their federal emails and didn't have updated contact information to reach them. They also ⁠did this with USDA experts working to combat bird flu⁠, hoping to re-hire them as well.

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Then there's DOGE claiming they saved $8 billion from an Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) contract, which makes no sense when ICE only has a $9 billion budget altogether. In their own spreadsheet it was actually $8 million, but in a fraudulent move, an "m" becomes a "b" and, well ... there goes at least half of what DOGE claims its saving taxpayers. That said, Elon is now floating someone else's idea that maybe (not really) ⁠DOGE will send out $5000 rebate checks to each household⁠ (Trump loves signing checks to us, remember). "Sure, Jan."

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Georgia Republicans are floating ⁠legislation that would let property owners seek a property tax rebate if the city they're in doesn't "handle" homelessness and panhandling⁠. Their solution is to punish cities (clearly, Atlanta, Athens, Augusta, Columbus, Macon & Savannah - blue dots on the red map) already lacking in the funds to aid the unhoused and poor by taking away more funds. No solution(s) or state assistance offered in the bill; just ... an exacerbating of the problem. If ever there were a Republican that encapsulates modern day conservatism, this is the one.

Another Republican-backed bill to ⁠get rid of school zone speeding ticket-generating cameras⁠ is having a better go of it in the Georgia General Assembly this session, and as someone who's been the recipient of one of their tickets, I'm not not so sure I'm for or against this ban. On the one hand, I definitely support safety for pedestrian kids near schools (and anywhere), but there've been ⁠a lot of bogus charges and cities are raking in money hand-over-fist year after year⁠, which means they're not slowing people down in these zones. Isn't that the goal?

One metro Atlanta city mayor made that point while his city's raking in that dough, but maybe ⁠he's not the poster child for this cause.⁠ It seems his council believes he's been using some of those city funds for some personal (and expensive!) international travel. I digress.

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What's up with these sudden discussions about a "lack" of masculinity in the Democratic Party? Right wing radio host ⁠Clay Travis believes there are none.⁠ Obviously, his opinion comes with the caveat that he's prone to just taking digs at liberals for just about anything, but also his man crushes are riddled with spray tans and guy-liner. Clay's quip, though, even got my Democrat friend ⁠discussing the party's appeal to "masculinity," ⁠on social. media. I even wandered into a ⁠tweet about this where Democrats are accused of not even trying to "appeal to men (particularly young or white ones)." ⁠ Like, maybe, if men (particularly young or white ones) just - I don't know - paid attention to what's going on they'd make informed decisions when voting vs being swayed by disinformation and football or NASCAR photo ops?

Just spit-balling here.

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New polling reveals, speaking of appeal, that ⁠Donald Trump no longer does to the majority of voters⁠, with a particularly steep drop among the under 30 and the 30-44 year old voter. Honeymoon's over, honey-glazed turkey.

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Lastly, "⁠Money with Katie⁠'s" ⁠Katie Gatti Tassin went in on the trivial nature DOGE, Elon and "the Muskrats" are shredding jobs ⁠that'll be but a blip on the budgetary radar while ignoring the BIG fish: private contract workforce. She rails on privatization taking taxpayer dollars to do public works. When done by governement employees, there's no profit margin to account for. When outsourced, however ...

... well, you needn't worry as much about "Big Brother" when "big business" doesn't even let you vote for their leadership.

Hearing J.D. Vance have the audacity to go not just to Europe but to Munich, GERMANY to finger-wag about a "threat from within" was just too stunning to let glide by.

Today I started with my disdain (I was a⁠ctually outraged upon first glance)⁠ for ⁠a social media post by a longtime radio friend ⁠taking delight in a purported spike in home listings in the DC metro - along with a pretty wicked comment from another (and mutual) friend of ours ("like roaches when the lights come on"). These two people I've known for decades ... GOOD people I know have kindness and empathy in their hearts ... reacting as if they were French citizens sneering as Nazi troops were retreating in defeat.

Looking at each other as ⁠"enemies from within" (remember that rhetoric on the campaign trail?) ⁠as Vance had the stones to speak similarly IN Germany over the weekend while a foreign-born Elon Musk dismantles our government "from within" has a certain "Manchurian Candidate" vibe, to me. I mentioned how ⁠Brian Tyler Cohen had touched on this, last week; ⁠⁠Forbes did, too⁠.

Oh, and from the department of FAFO, ⁠Georgians got word FEMA won't be extending disaster relief cleanup funding application periods,⁠ despite Governor Brian Kemp asking for it. Whelp; maybe he's learning that not kissing the ring on "The Don" comes at a cost (to Georgia taxpayers). Total fealty "or else" right?

And honestly, isn't this what "red states" should be told anyway? You know, the "takers" that get more federal dollar than they put into Uncle Sam's coffers? I mean, maybe (if Trump were being consistent) this should be the message. Except, of course, he's holding California hostage while it puts in more than it gets, but whatever.