Matt Taibbi tears into Thomas Friedman, again

Readers will have noted that I am an admirer of Matt Taibbi’s writings, quoting extensively from his articles because I see him as an accurate observer of the American political scene with a witty style. I also cannot stand New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman and am baffled by the admiration he seems to generate with his vacuous pieties. I first came across Taibbi a long time ago when he was writing for a regional paper because of his hilarious and brutal takedown of Friedman’s inanities. Taibbi and Friedman seemed to be made for each other. (See here, here, and here.)
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Living in an age of hysteria

We are now well into full-blown anti-Muslim hysteria with every right-wing politician trying to outdo each other as to who can come up with the most outrageous suggestion. No suggestion is too bonkers if it has as its basis the idea that all Muslims and immigrants of color, however benign they may seem on the surface, are people who might well have a desire to slit your throat in the night.
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Bernie Sanders’s speech on democratic socialism in the US

Yesterday, Bernie Sanders gave his speech on what he means by calling himself as a Democratic socialist. He identified it squarely with the polices advocated by Franklin Delano Roosevelt following the Great Depression, by Lyndon Johnson as part of his Great Society initiative, and incorporating the vision of Martin Luther King, Jr., thus highlighting that his vision of socialism lies well within the mainstream of American politics.
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Ben Carson’s ignorance

The writers at The Daily Show and former host Jon Stewart were giving themselves high fives when Donald Trump announced that he was definitely in the race for the Republican presidential nomination because he promised to be a sure-fire source of comedy material. The must be thinking that their cup overfloweth because like Abou Ben Adhem, lo, Ben Carson turns out to lead all the rest on the roster of nuttiness.
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Anti-refugee hysteria

Is there something in the water in the US that makes it necessary for people to be in a state of perpetual hysterical fear?

There is something truly ugly about the latest manifestation, the anti-refugee hysteria in the US following the ISIS attacks in Paris and Beirut. (Incidentally, why is the media focusing almost entirely on Paris? Or is the answer too obvious to even bother to mention?) Politicians in various states are falling over themselves to grandstand on this issue, stating that they will not accept refugees because they need to keep their residents safe even though they lack the power to stop migration into the country and the movement of anyone across state borders once they are in.
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