Tags: politics

“Concerns about partisan media’s potential to polarize the public cannot be easily dismissed,” researchers and authors Broockman and Kalla conclude in this new study. The research underscores “the need for policymakers and civil society leaders to continue to consider how the influence of partisan media on public opinion might be countered as part of a broader suite of potential interventions to strengthen American democracy.” more »

Jo Freeman Reviews: "The ones who bowed the furthest and fastest were the ones who wanted most to see and be seen with Trump; to call and be called, to hear their names in the media coupled with his. The fact that the masses loved DJT didn’t make it any easier for those who wanted his approval to hold onto a modicum of self-respect. Disagreement with Trump would lead to disparagement, and that could lead to defeat. That’s why so many Republican MCs decided it was time to retire. Two years after Trump took office, almost half of House Republicans were gone or going. A lot, but not all, were defeated in the 2018 election. By then most of Trump’s initial appointments were also gone. Sycophancy was insufficient for survival." more »

"How often do students and employees claim vaccine mandates conflict with their religious beliefs? What are schools doing to discourage exemptions to required childhood vaccines? Even as national surveys show Americans drawing away from religion, a growing share of American children have sought religious exemptions to required school vaccinations. Even before some California school districts ordered students in certain age groups to get immunized against COVID-19, research showed the percentage of kindergarteners whose parents claim vaccines conflict with their religious beliefs was on the rise." more »

"When she became First Lady as a result of JFK’s assassination on November 22, 1963, Bird began a taped diary. A few years after her death in 2007, the LBJ Library made the 850 entries public. This book is heavily dependent on that diary, interpreted and expanded by an experienced author with a research team. Consequently, it is 95 percent about her 62 months as First Lady, with minimal material on her earlier and later life." "Life with Lyndon was a political as well as a personal partnership, though Bird was always the junior partner. She had family money; he had family connections. Together they elected him to Congress in 1936 and the Senate in 1948. She used her inheritance to buy an Austin radio station in 1943 and a TV station in 1952. The fact that her husband was in the Senate didn’t hurt when it came to getting licenses and advertising revenue. He made the couple powerful; she made them rich."   more »