Larry Elder is the Black Face of White Supremacy

Excellent article on the recent Recall Election:

I won’t lie. Few things infuriate me more than watching a Black person use willful blindness and cherry-picked facts to make overly simplistic arguments that whitewash the complex problems that come along with being Black in America.

And throughout his career — as a radio host, as a talking head for Fox News and now as a gubernatorial candidate — Elder has made a point of doing just that, usually with a lot of taunting and toddler-like name-calling of his ideological enemies in the process. 

Like a lot of Black people, though, I’ve learned that it’s often best just to ignore people like Elder. People who are — as my dad used to say — “skinfolk” but not necessarily kinfolk.

...L.A. City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas: “My grandmother would say, ‘Use your talents and your gifts for good and not to bring other people down — particularly those who don’t deserve to be down.’ And that’s what Larry fails to understand. He’s throwing out all of that rhetoric about minimum wage, all that talk about ‘poverty pimps,’ all that anti-vaccine and all that anti-every-damn-thing. It’s not only politically but intellectually offensive.” 

...Abdullah of Black Lives Matter: “Anytime you put a Black face on white supremacy, which is what Larry Elder is, there are people who will utilize that as an opportunity to deny white supremacy. They say, ‘How could this be white supremacy? This is a Black man.’ But everything that he’s pushing, everything that he stands for, he is advancing white supremacy.”

RIP, Jan Becker

Jan was part of my far-flung family. There will be a service October 23rd in Bremerton, WA. I'm thinking of attending. From her obituary:

Janice Marie (Swenson) Becker peacefully passed away Saturday, August 7, 2021. She was 83 years old. 

Janice was born August 31, 1937, in Portland, OR to Allen and Rose (Martin) Swenson. She grew up on Martin Hill in Sherwood, living next door to grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. She graduated from Sherwood High School and went on to Willamette University, Oregon State College, and earned her Bachelor’s degree in Home Economics at University of Washington.

...Jan had a varied career. She worked for Washington Natural Gas Company as a home economist, Olympic College as a home and family life instructor, Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church as parish education coordinator, and Central Kitsap School District as human growth and development instructor. She had many interests and became proficient in many different arenas.

...Jan was an active member of Bremerton Sons of Norway, Oslo Lodge, serving in many capacities. Jan loved her Norwegian heritage and was adamant about passing on traditions and culture to her children and grandchildren. She also loved to travel. Along with many visits to Norway, she travelled to 6 continents (sorry Africa). Many of those trips included grandchildren. She was determined that they should see the world. 

A memorial service will be held Saturday, October 23rd at 1:00 at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Bremerton, WA.

Ballets Russes

I did not realize this documentary was on YouTube! The entire thing! 

The Ballets Russes brought ballet to the entire globe. It's history is epic. But it's also very personal. George Zoritch, who receives much attention here, was my first ballet teacher, at the University of Arizona, in 1982. I blogged about this movie when it came out in theaters, in 2005. I even met the filmmakers at a showing in San Francisco.  

Best inspirational ballet movie ever!

 

Blowout in California

Asking the obvious questions:

In the end, it wasn’t even remotely close. California voters rejected a GOP-led recall of Governor Gavin Newsom by a landslide margin of 64-36 — a 28-point shellacking.

Yes, this is what we should have expected from such a heavily Democratic state, but it might have been (much) closer if the vote had been a straight up-or-down referendum on Newsom himself. Instead, it became a referendum on “the abyss.”

The abyss, of course, was Trumpism.

...The California fiasco will probably not be enough to prompt the sort of introspection that Republicans so desperately need. But as 2024 looms, it provides one more reason for Republicans to ask themselves: Do they really want to do this again?

...As Clay Risen noted yesterday “Newsom and the Democrats seem to have persuasively argued that he was running not on his record or against a particular candidate, but against Trumpism. . . .”

“In a vacuum, there was a lot of discontentment with Newsom and ambivalence with him among Democrats,” said Rob Stutzman, a Republican political consultant in California.

That started to change once “the abyss” got a name.

The election also represented the ascendancy (and vulnerability) of the entertainment wing of the GOP. As Risen noted:

Mr. Elder isn’t a serious politician; he’s running not to win, but to raise his media profile. But that very fact says something about today’s Republican Party. Many of its highest-profile figures blur the line between politician and celebrity, and act accordingly, even if their success as the latter undermines what we expect out of the former. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Madison Cawthorn — and, yes, Larry Elder — are only nominally politicians. In substance, they’re entertainers.

They also put Donald Trump on the ballot. As Perry Bacon Jr. notes this morning: “The rise of [Larry] Elder, whom Democrats cast as a California Donald Trump, was ‘perfect,’ [Newsom senior adviser Addisu] Demissie said. ‘Couldn’t have been better. He made no effort to appeal to anyone outside of his base.’”

“Newsom’s victory,” writes Bacon, “suggests that running as the anti-Trumpism party still has real political value, even with Trump no longer in the White House.”

BONUS: The California results were a repudiation of anti-mask, anti-vax politics — a clear sign that Republican opposition to precautions against the pandemic is a colossal miscalculation. As the AP notes this morning: “The Republicans running to replace Newsom opposed mask and vaccine mandates, and the California governor was happy to highlight that. Newsom aired an ad calling the recall ‘a matter of life and death’ and accusing the top Republican candidate, talk radio host Larry Elder, of ‘peddling deadly conspiracy theories.’”

Where The Disease Is At

Identity:

Marc Shark At The Zoo 5 - July 26, 2021

Delayed due to technical difficulties. Jack's initial narration and Larry's cinematic reinterpretation. 

Flatter Than a Tortilla

I like Gustavo Arellano's take in today's LA Times:

If you’re looking for the best metaphor for how the California Republican Party blew the recall attempt against Gov. Gavin Newsom, look no further than the sight of mixed-martial-arts legend Tito Ortiz knocked out by Anderson Silva in the first round of a boxing match held on 9/11.

This time last year, Ortiz was a rising star for the GOP, the latest celebrity to make a political run as he campaigned for a seat on the Huntington Beach City Council. He ended up getting the most votes of any candidate in city history by espousing the MAGA school of politics — ridicule the libs, proclaim skepticism to coronavirus shutdowns and the pandemic itself and offer vague promises of freedom with little in actual, tangible plans.

But once it came time to actually duke it out in the octagon of democracy? Ortiz went down like a tree meeting a lumberjack. 9Instead of building a career as Surf City’s Trump-by-the-Sea, he left office in June after barely half a year, basically claiming the public was too mean to him and his family. Just three months later, Ortiz lay before Silva in the boxing ring, flatter than a tortilla. Why, even Trump was there to witness his acolyte’s demise. 

Way to impress Papi Trump, Tito!

...For the last quarter-century, state Republicans have acted like the Black Knight in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” that poor soul who insisted on fighting even after all his limbs were cut off, describing the amputations as mere flesh wounds, and then left bragging that he earned a draw against King Arthur as His Royal Highness left the squawking stump by the side of the road.

Nearly every big move that the state GOP has done to wrest power from Democrats — term limits, bigoted propositions, selling its soul to Trump — has spectacularly blown up in their face. Back in April, I wrote: “I’ll wager a roll of pesos that the ultimate loser will, again, be the Republican Party. The house — in this case, history — is on my side.” 

The attempted Newsom coup was the worst laugher yet — because it had the best chance of the many Hail Marys that California conservatives have thrown to actually work.

Voter Turnout Map

Intrigued by the voter turnout map at the CA SOS site. 

The Recall Election was most popular in two discrete clusters - Northern and Central Sierra - and reasonably popular in the Bay Area and Orange County. Surprisingly, turnout was mediocre in the Central Valley, even in areas where the recall movement was popular. An enthusiasm gap there. 

Larry Elder carried every county on Part 2, EXCEPT San Francisco County, which Kevin Paffrath carried.

Touchdown Celebrations Continue in California!

@taraalisecox

#california #beachboys #harmonies #californiarecall #powerofthevote

♬ original sound - Tara Cox

Suckers and Losers

A Shellacking

I love it when Republicans get their ass handed to them, like they did tonight in California! 

Still, it was a peculiar campaign. In a highly-partisan era, in an election where Independents weren't particularly engaged, the results were completely predictable: 2 to 1 against the recall, just like the D to R party registration numbers. Given those numbers, I was puzzled why Republicans thought the recall was even worth trying. They apparently felt Democrats would barely notice the recall campaign was happening, and could slip anything past the electorate. Strange confidence there. 

And why elevate Larry Elder, of all people? Why did he catch fire among Republicans? A shock jock on the radio - big ego, no experience. It was a discrete decision too - it didn't just happen. His own TV ads portrayed him as a humorless fanatic. Elder seemed to conduct his campaign in megachurches, endorsing every unpopular idea the GOP has ever had in the last 30 years. 

With every campaign that the GOP loses, they further cement their status as losers, and highlight their irrelevance for the future. As California goes, so goes the nation. 

Congratulations to Daniel Watts, who came in 9th with more than 113,000 votes, much better than his 2003 showing. Conditions were so much better for his campaign this year.

The Logic of Country Songs

I: "What does that even mean?":

… When you put two and two together

You figure out love's got four letters

I shoulda known that when I met her 

But she had to spell it out for me

1971 - Best Pop Music Year Ever!

I'm pleased by the recent attention to 1971 as the best year for pop music ever (It must be the 50-year anniversary phenomenon - I remember 1972 seemed pretty threadbare in comparison.) 

1971 was chockful of great songs. Like this one:

 

I Didn't Realize Harry Briley Was Working on a Memoir of Socorro Days

Rather a gold mine. Regarding the Mustard Seed:

We avoided external religious motifs topside (or signs of any kind) and only had an 8x11 paper sign on our stairwell door. The stairs allowed access after-hours. Otherwise, we walked from the basement post office to the hallway door that entered the stairwell.

The impact of the 1970 Asbury College Revival (Wilmore, Kentucky) spread westward while the California version of the Jesus Revolution spread eastward. Socorro was an isolated community that became an experimental closed-system to allow God’s Holy Spirit to mix multiple backgrounds without interference by external organizations. 

The resulting crucible of standing for faith in a hostile academic environment spun off some graduates as pastors, Christian school principals, and persistent lay leaders.

Service of Holy Eucharist, Confirmation, Reception, and Reaffirmation - St. John's Episcopal Church, Roseville, CA - September 12, 2021

Presided over by the Rt. Rev. Megan Traquair, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California. Rachel is now officially an Episcopalian.