Most of the news that attracted my attention this week happened at the state level, where Republican majorities and supermajorities have gotten increasingly extreme. Separately, these are stories that might travel below your radar (like the Texas Senate passing a bill to eliminate tenure in the state universities), so I’ve pulled several of them together in a piece I’m calling “Laboratories of Autocracy”. Among other things, the post will explain why you need to learn the German word gleichschaltung. That should be out maybe around 10 EDT.
In another era, President Biden announcing his reelection bid would be the week’s lead story. But there are continuing scandals at the Supreme Court, everybody’s still speculating about the real reason Tucker Carlson was fired, and a civil trial just started that will hang on whether a jury believes the previous president committed rape. So Biden gets pushed well down the page. One of the things Biden promised was not to be in our face 24/7 like Trump was (and largely still is). That’s a promise he’s kept, but it must be frustrating not to be able to grab public attention when you really want it.
Oh, and there’s been another mass shooting. We still cover those, don’t we? They haven’t quite reached the dog-bites-man stage yet.
Anyway, I’ll aim to get the weekly summary out by noon.
The Weekly Sift 
Comments
The FCC fairness doctrine that was in force after 1946 but no longer is seems to be the starting point where polarization of all sides became the norm and now our elected representatives don’t seem to be able to compromise on anything where 65% of voters tend to be.
If our presidential options are two whose old men over 75 this is not the best America has got to offer.
Pragmatism in our politicians seem long gone and very few examples remain anymore but maybe Mayor Fulop in Jersey City running for Governor could be considered one such new generation of politicians.
What say you?