Steve Kelman on Politics, Culture, and Life, 7.28.23
Steve Kelman, Harvard Kennedy School prof, moderate Dem, pro free speech/anti cancel culture, pro tax rich, pro-Israel. Research improving gov performance, China interest. Blog reprints Facebook posts
Israel intelligence head compares Israeli right to KKK
The ex-head of Israel's security service Mossad has compared the "horrible racist parties" in Netanyahu's coalition to the Ku Klux Klan. Very pleased that Israeli democracy has strong defenders such as him.
False studies attract more conservative readers
A new study shows that 97% of links on social media to news stories rated as false by fact checkers during the 1920 election drew more conservative than liberal readers.
Is Mexico a friend or foe?
Republicans are evenly split 45-45 about whether Mexico is an ally or an enemy 70% of Democrats believe it is an ally.
Hong Kong jail sentence for Facebook post of pro-democracy song
A Hong Kong man has been sentenced to 3 months in jail for putting a post on Facebook featuring the prohibited pro-democracy anthem, "Glory to Hong Kong."
Republicans and UFO’s
Politico reports that a Republican congressman has attacked the Biden administration for covering up information about UFO's. Nice to see a focus on significant problems the country faces.
Southern accents and culture wars
I have noticed in the past that some of the on-air personalities on Fox in the morning speak with clear Southern accents, which goes against the otherwise-universal practice on television of having people speak with unaccented or "California English" accents. This struck me as a shot in the culture wars. This morning one of the on-air people used the expression "you all." Does anyone know whether this expression is still commonly actually used in the South, or is this another culture war shot?
Melania Trump and non-fungible tokens
The Times reports that much of the public profile of Melania Trump involves her online sales of non-fungible tokens, including digital drawings of her eyes.
Jewish protesters with tattoos
The Times ran a picture today of a group of Israeli protesters. The two most prominent, dominating the photo, both had tattoos. Jews apparently are changing, not necessarily in a good direction.