Bob Moser examines the question that always plagues the Democratic party, whether to go with the candidate who most appeals to you because they agree with your values or to go with the person who is considered the most ‘electable’. This is undoubtedly going to be the issue that Joe Biden will push hard if he chooses to run, since his legislative and policy record is pretty troublesome.

On the surface, this makes a sliver of sense. It is imperative that Trump and Trumpism be fumigated from our political system before the cockroaches are all that’s left. Looking for the safest bet to win a general election sounds like solid, pragmatic thinking. Until you take a look at the track record of “electable” presidential nominees — including Hillary Clinton in 2016, of course, whom George Will so aptly called “the only biped in the country who could have lost an election to Donald J. Trump.” In 1984, Democrats chose deficit hawk Walter Mondale over “risky” Gary Hart; in 1988, it was “practical” Michael Dukakis over Jesse Jackson; in 2000, Al Gore was the overwhelming choice for those who prized winning over all else.

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The person who carried out the mass murder in New Zealand two days ago is an Australian who had picked Christchurch because it had plenty of soft targets and the country allowed the easy purchase of semi-automatic weapons. Jason Wilson writes that this episode should make people aware of how Islamophobia has become pretty much enshrined as public policy in Australia. In reading his account of the roots of racist thinking in that country, I was struck by the similarities with US history.
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The person who committed the deadly attacks on two mosques in New Zealand apparently had live-streamed the whole thing of Facebook. Although the video was subsequently taken down, in these days nothing ever disappears and I am sure that with some diligent searching, one could find it. The questions are why one would want to do so and whether one should do so. I did not watch the video and will not do so because I find acts of violence to be repulsive. This applies even to scripted violence in films and TV and I will only watch it if it serves an integral part of the story, which is very rare actually. It seems like much of the violence on screen is gratuitous. If I see a film as containing violence as its primary descriptor, I immediately rule it out.
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