'Contempt for Christians and their sacred imagery'

Column Anime Spotlight Our Idiot Blood: The Eccentric Family, Siblinghood, and the Roles We Play Four magical, shape-shifting tanuki siblings help each other find their way through grief and back to lives filled with joy. By Leah Thomas | Published on August 8, 2024 Credit: P.A. Works Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: P.A. Works Note: This article pertains only to the first season of the series. Somewhere on a Kyoto rooftop, a beautiful young woman and a charming young man share a cocktail by moonlight. The young man, Yasaburō Shimogamo, asks his companion what is making her so sad. The woman, Benten, answers, “You, my dear, because one day you will be eaten by me. But if you eat the thing you love, it will be gone forever.” To this, Yasaburō remarks, “Have you considered not eating me?” Benten is being literal, and Yasaburō is only half-joking. This would be no act of cannibalism. She is mostly human, but Yasaburō is actually a tanuki, a small raccoon-like mammal that has often been attributed magical shapeshifting powers in Japanese folklore. Most people might consider spending less time with a woman who plans to one day devour them, but Yasaburō? Yasaburō is a middle child.  The third of four errant tanuki brothers who have fallen into disrepute after the sudden demise of their father, Yasaburō wants nothing more than to live an interesting life. Elders bemoan his lack of ambition and wasted talents, but Yasaburō shrugs it off, more preoccupied with juggling his siblings’ myriad problems than with making something of himself, stirring up trouble and avoiding stewpots by the skin of his teeth. Yasaburō is certainly not joking, but he is also little amused on that moonlit rooftop, when he tells Benten, “Well, you can’t have your tanuki and eat it too.” Credit: P.A. Works That’s an idiom we’re all familiar with, albeit usually with cake, but in the case of The Eccentric Family, the audience gets everything they want and more. When it comes to magical realism, reflecting on the roles we play at home and in the world, no show succeeds quite like this one. Written by Tomihiko Morimi and produced by oft-underrated animation studio P.A. Works, this remarkable tale of magical creatures living in unspoken harmony in Japan’s cultural capital is, at its heart, an homage to the joys and perils of siblinghood, as well as a thoughtful meditation on the transformative nature of grief. The Farewell We Bid Our Great Father Credit: P.A. Works A few years before our story commences, Sōichirō Shimogamo, the elected leader of Kyoto’s tanuki society, is made into a stew and eaten by a prestigious society of humans as part of a bōnenkai, a traditional New Year’s party. Yasaburō and his brothers say farewell to their father in the morning, never considering he might never come home. Sōichirō Shimogamo feels immortal, a local legend who’s respected by tanuki and even by tengu, the flying yōkai that rule Kyoto’s skies (tanuki keep to the earth, and humans run the city). Sōichirō keeps the various tanuki families in check and once defended Kyoto from invaders by transforming into an entire mountain to scare them off. What kid would not look up to a dad like that? Credit: P.A. Works But to be a tanuki is to be mischievous, and Sōichirō is subject to the whims of what he calls his “idiot blood.” When he is captured, his fate sealed, he remains unafraid. He has accomplished all he wanted to in life, and for a tanuki, being cooked in a stew is not an unheard of death.  Never once do the other tanuki in the story acknowledge what the audience feels: Wait, but it’s wrong to eat a sentient creature! If human beings knew the truth about tanuki, they would never! As in most stories that fall under the general umbrella of magical realism, exactly how much humans know about mythical creatures in their midst is a little unclear, and besides, a creature being intelligent has rarely stopped humans from enjoying their established perch at the top of the food chain. For a tanuki, death by human is almost natural. But when Sōichirō goes gently into that hot stew, his family is devastated, as is the audience. Tanuki, by nature, are supposed to be content with an aimless, enjoyable life rife with mischief, but family has always been the beating heart of the Shimogamos’ joy. Can carefree, happy abandonment truly be achieved in the shadow of grief?  The Eldest: Only His Sense of Responsibility Credit: P.A. Works The eldest of the Shimogamo sons, Yaichirō is preparing for an election, determined to become the leader of tanuki society. It has been a seat vacant since his father’s demise, and he feels the best way to honor Sōichirō is to take on that role. But Yaichirō, like many eldest siblings, has never truly considered the difference between what is expected of him and what he actually wants. Anxious beyond belief, prone to falling into hysterics under pressure and transforming into a tiger the instant anyone insults his family or their honor, at first it seems clear that Yaichirō is not the best choice for a leader. Then again, tanuki are supposed to be reckless, whimsical creatures. As the series progresses it becomes apparent that, despite Yaichirōu’s faults, he is moral and well-intentioned. At times, his brothers feel like another burden Yaichirōu must bear; as his brother Yajirō observes: “Poor Yaichirō. He’s trying so hard, but his brothers are a frog, an idiot, and a kid.” But actually, his brothers make him better. A leader is never one person, but also the people he or she goes to when things get tough. Despite the weight on his shoulders, Yaichirō gradually learns to ask his family for help. In this way he does take after his father and perhaps even surpasses him; if Sōichirō had asked for help sooner, he may not have lost his life. The Second Eldest: Only His Easy-going Personality Credit: P.A. Works Arguably, among the Shimogamo kids, it is Yajirō, the second-eldest, who takes Sōichirō’s death the hardest. Forever described as the laziest of all tanuki, Yajirō has often been a self-fulfilling prophecy, living down to those expectations. Even before his father’s death, Yajirō saw himself as a failure and a drunk. Having gone drinking with his father on the night of the doomed bōnenkai, Yajirō feels uniquely responsible for Sōichirō’s capture and death. Unable to face his mother, he adopts the shape of a frog and takes up residence in the bottom of a wishing well. Soon he is unable to transform back into his tanuki form, let alone any other shape, and I swear to hell I have never seen any show encapsulate the insidious spread of deep depression as effectively as this gloomy frog in a well.  For all that Yajirō views himself so negatively, he does not come across as lazy to others. Instead, he achieves a strange sort of wisdom from being a frog in the well, listening to the woes and wishes of all those who toss a coin in his waters. Often Yajirō’s observations lead to revelations and successful rescues. It is Yajirō who can be objective about his siblings and their troubles. He gives each of them advice in turn, and foretells disasters before they happen. Credit: P.A. Works “What do I know,” he says, time and again, right after doling out another stunning piece of wisdom. “I’m just a frog in a well.” Well, it turns out frogs in wells know a great deal, though they’re the last to appreciate themselves. When at last Yajirō learns to see himself as objectively as he sees others, he’ll be free of that hole he’s dug for himself.  Relatable? Yes, very much so. The Third Son: Only His Idiocy Credit: P.A. Works Yasaburō is the series protagonist, and for good reason: Yasaburō embodies the tanuki ethos perfectly. He fears nothing so much as boredom, and though he claims he has “no intention of sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong,” others in the series frequently express genuine shock that he isn’t dead yet. Where Yasaburō goes, trouble seems to follow, after all. He’s described as an idiot because he always appears in the eye of every storm that hits Kyoto’s layered societies. But appearances are, of course, deceiving, especially where adept shapeshifters like the third Shimogamo son is concerned. In truth, Yasaburō is rarely the cause of the trouble; instead, he is often trying to resolve the troubles of others, and gets caught up in the mess along the way. Yasaburō is altruistic to a fault, unable to leave even mere acquaintances alone in their sadness. His talent for getting into messes is actually a talent for haphazard problem-solving. Yasaburō is the only tanuki willing to care for a crotchety old tengu who’s lost his ability to fly; he’s the only tanuki who directly challenges a rival tanuki family when they become abusive; the only tanuki who holds a torch for the human woman who literally ate his dad for fun. And when Yasaburō is forced to perform for the Friday Fellows, the very human society that cooked his father, he befriends one of the group members, a professor who happens to be a passionate gourmand. The professor tells him, “I love tanuki, and to eat is to love!” Yasaburō can’t bring himself to hate the guy. More than anything else, Yasaburō fundamentally understands what it means to be a good tanuki as well as a good brother. He is honest but not unkind, rarely angry, and never bored. He is not expected to lead and he is not babied like the youngest son, Yashirō; he is only ever himself, even as he dons a thousand other faces. A testament to the unsung plight of middle children, who often keep entire families afloat, Yasaburō is the red, beating heart of this affecting fable. Our Mother’s Love, As Deep As The Sea Credit: P.A. Works Traditional roles for women are as fraught in Japan as they are anywhere else, with any number of nuances that need to be accounted for. There’s no denying that in many ways, Tōsen Shimogamo is a traditional anime housewife and matriarch. She demonstrates unfailing love for her children.  When her sons come home distressed after a terrible revelation about their father, she holds them all close and tells them, “I don’t mind what you become, be it a frog or anything else. As long as you exist in this world.” I cannot be the only queer kid who tears up at this scene every time, can I? The message is strengthened by Tōsen’s own depth of character, subtle but undeniable. Yes, she is a mother, but like all real mothers, she is also many other things.  She once befriended a human being, just as Yasaburō does later on; after her husband’s demise she remains resilient and retains her love for mundane life. Tōsen Shimogamo has become a local billiards legend, wearing a military uniform to the billiards hall where she is referred to as “the Black Prince.” And, as the series progresses, we learn a little about the life she lived before she became a mother. She is kind and tough and playful but also deeply afraid of thunderstorms, a person with an identity beyond the role she has been cast into. In this way, she is the perfect example for her sons, who will learn to be more than the roles society has assigned to them. And all of this really does make her love feel as deep as the sea. As Yasaburō observes, in a touching moment at the shrine after dark, “Our father was an amazing tanuki […] but you know, so is our mother.” Regarding Benten Credit: P.A. Works The Eccentric Family features a wonderful cast of characters beyond the Shimogamos, but that’s a conversation for another time. However, it is impossible to discuss this series without giving the deuteragonist her due.  If anyone feels truly displaced in this trifold society of humans, tengu, and tanuki, it’s the woman currently known as Benten. Born human but raised by a tengu, Benten has learned two things well over the course of her singular life; the first is how to fly, and the second is how to feel superior to others. Benten is involved in all the major goings-on in Kyoto’s hidden societies, and yet remains an outsider at all of them. She can no longer live comfortably among human beings, given all she knows, but she is also looked down upon by most tengu and can’t help but feel disdainful of tanuki, despite her blatant affection for Yasaburō.  At first, her betrayal of Yasaburō’s family—his father’s capture and death is a direct result of her involvement with the Friday Fellows—would seem to cast her as the story’s true villain. And while sometimes this is undeniable, at other times Benten adopts a different role entirely, saving Yasaburō and his siblings when the mood takes her. More than anything, she seems to appreciate the tanuki for their entertainment value, and secretly, perhaps, envies their familial ties.  Bentent is always smirking, except when she is crying.  It is difficult to think of any character as contradictory as Benten, but the reasons for her apathy become apparent over time. In a single scene, we learn that Benten was not adopted by a tengu. Instead, she was kidnapped, stolen from a loving home along Lake Biwa, denied a family and a normal childhood through no choice of her own, due to the whims of a creature she probably saw as a monster. Is it any wonder that she grows up resenting magical creatures? That when she becomes a young adult, she joins a human supper club in an attempt to find human companionship and also, possibly, wreak revenge on the magical worlds around her? Credit: P.A. Works In one of the most poignant moments in the series, Yasaburō is visiting Yajirō in the well when Benten appears above them. She is crying wordlessly into the water. Yajirō says, “She does this sometimes.” When Yasaburō asks why, he answers, “Children don’t need a reason to cry; they just do.”  The acknowledgement is profound. Benten lost more than her childhood. She has lost her humanity, figuratively and literally, and will likely never regain any of it. It was not her choice to be spirited away. She lacks the one thing that’s most precious in the series.  Perhaps that’s why Yasaburō, kind to the point of recklessness, can’t abandon her, not even if she’ll one day eat him up, she loves him so. The Family, Not-So-Eccentric Credit: P.A. Works The Eccentric Family uniquely encapsulates how family roles form the crux of our identities. People say that grief is transformative, but for creatures who transform constantly by nature, it might be doubly so.  How does a family forge a new identity after the passing of a parent? This is a question most of us will have to answer at some point in life, and depending on who raised you, the question becomes more complicated. One of the central highlights of The Eccentric Family is that it never deifies its characters; every character in this show is flawed, and the Shimogamo fall prey to self-defeat and sadness. But it is through appreciating one another that they find not just a sense of place in a changed world, but also real, true happiness. Tanuki are resilient creatures, and Yasaburō is very good at reminding his brothers that life exists primarily to be enjoyed. As Sōichirō told his second son, the night of his death, “What’s fun is good.” Of all the lessons he attempted to teach his boys, this is the one they have finally taken to heart, and I can think of a thousand more foolish ways to live. If there’s any one anime series I could recommend to anyone, it’s this one, so I dare newcomers to give it a gander! The Eccentric Family is as underrated and brilliant as anime come. Next time I’ll be diving into Delicious in Dungeon, and then I hope to do a piece on ’90s anime space westerns. Cowboy Bebop and Trigun are shoo-ins, and Outlaw Star may get a brief mention. If you know any other series that fit the bill, please leave a suggestion in the comments![end-mark] In this article: The Eccentric Family (P.A. Works, 2013-2017) Available via Crunchyroll, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. Up Next: Delicious in Dungeon (Trigger, 2024 -) Available via Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. Cowboy Bebop (Sunrise, 1998) Available via Netflix and Hulu. Trigun (Madhouse, 1998) Available via Amazon Prime and Hulu. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Madhouse 2023-2024) Available via Crunchyroll and Netflix. The post Our Idiot Blood: <i>The Eccentric Family</i>, Siblinghood, and the Roles We Play appeared first on Reactor.

How The Establishment Creates Disinformation and Brainwashing

A new study has explored the possible health benefits of using the milk of female horses in ice cream. The frozen treat is more traditionally made up of cow's milk and cream, but by swapping in the milk of mares, they discovered it was possible to get more good bacteria swirled into the mix.If you’ve been with IFLScience for a while, you’ll know we’re not afraid to ask weird questions about food. From boiled penguin eggs (with invisible albumen), to 50,000-year-old bison stew, and the feasibility of whale-milk cheese, we’ve seen it all. So, you can imagine our eyes went up on stalks when we saw a study about horse milk ice cream.If you’re going to milk animals and churn the liquid into delicious desserts, it makes sense to look for wiggle room where we can make things a bit healthier. One way you can do that is with something called inulin, a type of prebiotic that doesn’t get digested in the stomach, but feeds the good bacteria in the gut. It’s made up of naturally occurring polysaccharides and is a common type of dietary fiber that’s added to food. Combined with probiotics that introduce good bacteria in things like yogurts, it can guide us on the way to a happy gut microbiome.Mare's milk itself may be a way to introduce more nutritional value to ice cream as it contains proteins and enzymes not found in cow's milk, and is lower in fat. The team behind the delicious study formulated different mixtures of ice cream using mare's milk, inulin, and yogurt bacteria to see how it influenced the composition of the final product compared to cow's milk ice cream.The horse ice cream combos revealed that inulin could reduce acidity, and that ice cream with the prebiotic added had more beneficial bacteria than the varieties without. While acidity varied, the mare's milk ice cream mixtures had similar amounts of protein, fat, and total solids, and made for suitably ice creamy ice cream. It's also been suggested that the texture could be further improved by blending with cow's milk, creating an alternative that's still lower in fat and higher in nutritional value.“Mare’s milk is much more similar to human’s milk than cow’s milk. It also causes fewer allergies than cow’s milk," explained lead author Dr Katarzyne Skolnicka to The Telegraph. “Moreover mare’s milk is a good source of polyunsaturated fatty acids and other bioactive substances like lactoferrin and lysozyme."“Milk is proven to have therapeutic effects. It may be useful for treatment or prevention of gastrointestinal tract and respiratory system disorders. In addition, mare’s milk exhibits immunomodulating properties and positively influences intestinal microbiota composition.”So, who’s for a scoop?The study is published in PLoS ONE.

The mummified remains of an extinct woolly rhinoceros have been unearthed in Siberia. Frozen like a hunk of meat for thousands of years, the prehistoric animal still has its soft tissues intact, raising some intriguing scientific possibilities.The discovery was recently made at a mining site in the Oymyakonsky District of the Sakha Republic in the Russian Far East, according to the North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU).Researchers from the NEFU have recently returned from the site with the horn of the extinct beast, commenting that the rest of the carcass was being preserved and is set to be fully excavated in autumn.“According to morphological parameters, it belonged to a mature individual. The exact biological age and sex of the animal will be established after a comprehensive examination of the carcass itself. Then we will be able to obtain data on anatomical and morphological features, geological age, nutrition, genetic links with previously studied finds, etc.," Maxim Cheprasov, senior researcher and head of the laboratory of the NEFU Mammoth Museum, said in a statement. IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites.While its age is currently unknown, it’s undoubtedly a relic from the last Ice Age. The woolly rhino inhabited northern Eurasia during the Pleistocene epoch until around 11,700 years ago when the Earth thawed and temperatures rose. Climate change played a role in their extinction, although some evidence suggests overhunting and human activity served as a one-two punch.It’s the first time the NEFU Mammoth Museum has obtained any remains of a woolly rhino, although at least five other specimens with soft tissues have been found in the Sakha Republic since the late 18th century. Getting their hands on the preserved specimen could be a huge help in the mission to better understand these creatures and the way Earth has changed since prehistoric times. "This is a truly unique find that will allow us to study more deeply the history of the region, its ancient fauna, climate and geological conditions. We thank our partners for donating a valuable find and contributing to science. The donated corpse of a fossil rhinoceros is not just a valuable exhibit for the Mammoth Museum, but also an incredible resource for scientific research,” added Anatoly Nikolaev, Rector of NEFU.A gaggle of other species, including mammoths, cave lions, and birds, have also been found in the frosty region. In 2021, a frozen wolf was discovered beneath around 40 meters (131 feet) of permafrost on the Tirekhtyakh River in Russia’s Far East. Thanks to its remarkable state of preservation, scientists at the NEFU Mammoth Museum were able to carry out an autopsy of its body and obtain some incredible insights into its life.All of these discoveries raise the question of whether humans will ever find the frozen remains of Neanderthals, the “sister species” of Homo sapiens that inhabited parts of Eurasia that are still covered in ice from the Pleistocene epoch. Scientists think the chances are not super high – but it's a very fascinating possibility.

Thursday’s installment of The Daily Show on Comedy Central hit the trifecta of current liberal talking points: Donald Trump is like Hitler, Kamala Harris is wonderful, and Tim Walz putting tampons in boys’ bathrooms is no big deal. Temp host Michael Kosta welcomed MSNBC legal analyst and law professor Barbara McQuade to promote her new book on disinformation and asked her, “What are some of the other tactics? Because, man, as a consumer of news and media, I should know what these are.”     Part of living in a democracy means the party out of power will portray the current situation in a negative light, but McQuade saw something far more sinister at play, “Yeah, absolutely. One of them is this idea of declinism. Society is going downhill. Everything’s awful. Cities in ruins. American carnage.” Kosta interrupted, “You sound like a Trump speech right now.” McQuade continued, “These are some of the same tactics that Hitler talked about in Mein Kampf and used in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. And in fact, if you look at the data, you know, crime rates are down, the economy is up. All of the indicators are on the upswing and yet, if we can talk about the society as being down, then it allows us to say, ‘well these extreme times call for extreme measures.’ And people believe these things. It allows scapegoating of other people in society and demonization of others.” Earlier, in the program, during his opening monologue, Kosta claimed Republicans have no good lines of attack against vice presidential nominee, Tim Walz. After playing a montage of conservative media personalities and Republican politicians condemning Walz for putting tampons in boys’ school bathrooms and nicknaming him “Tampon Tim,” Kosta quipped, “Tampon Tim? Tampon Tim? That sounds like a fictional character parents tell their daughter about when she gets her first period.” One would think putting tampons in the boys’ bathroom would be a gold mine of comedic material, but Kosta thought otherwise, “With all due respect to Tampon Tim, I really just don't care about this. You know, best case scenario, a trans kid gets tampons. Worst case, the weird kid in class puts them in his nose and pretends he's a walrus.” Elsewhere, Charlamagne Tha God joined the show to condemn the idea that Harris is a DEI candidate, “But for the sake of argument, let's suppose Kamala was given a chance because of her identity. She still had to do something with it on her own. “ Since he couldn’t cite the border as a Harris success, Charlamagne unironically argued that Harris’s lack of accomplishments is itself an accomplishment, “Kamala has done a great job as vice president. Remember that one big thing she did? Me neither. Okay, and that's exactly what you want in a VP. Someone who doesn't make the news. A VP is like a carbon monoxide detector. You want to have one, but if it makes any noise, something's gone wrong.” But if the carbon monoxide detector malfunctions and fails to go off when it should, that is also a problem. Here is a transcript for the August 7 show: Comedy Central The Daily Show 8/7/2024 11:04 PM ET MICHAEL KOSTA: Tampon Tim? Tampon Tim? That sounds like a fictional character parents tell their daughter about when she gets her first period. You know, like, "Look what tampon Tim left under the sink, honey! Super plus overnights! You've got your mom's flow and we couldn't be prouder!"  But basically, what happened is that Walz passed a law that put free tampons in all public schools, including boys' bathrooms. With all due respect to Tampon Tim, I really just don't care about this. You know, best case scenario, a trans kid gets tampons. Worst case, the weird kid in class puts them in his nose and pretends he's a walrus. Which is also best case scenario. Personally, as someone who was a 13-year-old boy, it doesn't matter what you put in that bathroom, whatever it is, they're going to draw a penis on it, they’re going to rip it off the wall, and try to flush it down the toilet. It’s either that or go to geography and I’m not going to waste my time with that. … 11:16 PM ET CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD: But for the sake of argument, let's suppose Kamala was given a chance because of her identity. She still had to do something with it on her own. And Kamala has done a great job as vice president. Remember that one big thing she did? Me neither. Okay, and that's exactly what you want in a VP. Someone who doesn't make the news. A VP is like a carbon monoxide detector. You want to have one, but if it makes any noise, something's gone wrong.  … 11:28 KOSTA: What are some of the other tactics? Because, man, as a consumer of news and media, I should know what these are. BARBARA MCQUADE: Yeah, absolutely. One of them is this idea of declinism. Society is going downhill. Everything’s awful. Cities in ruins. American carnage. KOSTA: Yes. Yes. You sound like a Trump speech right now. MCQUADE: These are some of the same tactics that Hitler talked about in Mein Kampf and used in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. And in fact, if you look at the data, you know, crime rates are down, the economy is up. KOSTA: Yes. Yes. MCQUADE: All of the indicators are on the upswing and yet, if we can talk about the society as being down, then it allows us to say, "well these extreme times call for extreme measures." KOSTA: Right. MCQUADE: And people believe these things. It allows scapegoating of other people in society and demonization of others.

In the wake of Kamala Harris selecting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate, CBS Mornings hosted far left progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and lobbed more than just softball questions as hosts Gayle King and Vladimir Duthiers aided AOC in her campaigning for the Harris ticket, making obvious the underlying political bias of the network. In stark contrast to the media’s treatment of Donald Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, Walz is the media’s new pet, as King illustrated, “You've got Nancy Pelosi on one side, Joe Manchin, we have the progressives on the left. What does this mean, what does this say? It's been a long time since we've seen this kind of reaction.”     Ocasio-Cortez agreed, portraying Walz as a “uniter.” However, it was not enough for the group to praise the Democratic ticket, any critique of it must be rebuked as well. Gayle King questioned Republicans’ hesitance with progressives, asking: Already the Republicans are saying, you've heard this, he's -- he's a screaming liberal, progressive. You know, people hear the word, Congresswoman, progressive, and it's like ‘ah!’ It's scary to a lot of people. What does it mean to you -- without talking points, in a sentence, what it means to you, and do you think your support helps or hurts the ticket at this point? Ocasio Cortez took this question and ran, ignoring King’s preference for no talking points, she used the opportunity to do more campaigning: Yeah, I think progressive means the following -- most Americans believe that money and politics has an outsized role in what happens in government. And to me, being a progressive means putting the needs of working families ahead of the needs of profit and of special interests and corporations. And so that translates into what we see in Governor Walz and the priorities of Vice President Harris like expanding health care, universal school lunches, things that we care about when we're packing lunches in the morning and having kids at home. It means putting the needs of everyday people ahead of the needs of special interests in Washington. Following this diatribe, the interview continued with questions against the Republican Party, including Duthiers hyping, “There are some who are suggesting that the reason why the Vice President didn't pick Governor Shapiro is because of anti-Semitism, and I did see Chuck Schumer clap back at one Republican or person who’s on the right suggesting that Democrats are anti-Semitic, and Chuck Schumer obviously at the very top of power in the Democratic party as far as the Senate is concerned.” Duthiers also wondered if Democrats are aware of just how bad Trump supposedly is, “He uses derogatory language to name the Vice President and the former President, Barack Obama. Do voters in the Democratic Party who are not following the mainstream media or who are not on Truth Social or attending or watching former President Trump's rally understand this is the kind of language that is circulating on Truth Social, for example? Undoubtedly one of the most progressive and left-leaning congresswomen, Ocasio-Cortez represents the Harris perfectly, and CBS is all in favor.   The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: CBS Mornings  8/7/2024 08:09:15 AM EST   GOVERNOR TIM WALZ (D-MN): In Minnesota we respect our neighbors and their personal choices that they make. [ Cheers ] Even if we wouldn't make the same choice for ourselves, there's a golden rule -- mind your own damn business. [ Cheers ] GAYLE KING: Lot of people like that rule. That's Governor Tim Walz talking about reproductive rights and other issues in his first big speech as running mate to Vice President Kamala Harris. Her choice is getting applause from the political center, including Independent Senator Joe Manchin and from the left by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She joins us now only on CBS Mornings. And we're glad to have you here. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): Of course. Thanks for having me. KING: Thank you so much for joining us. Let's talk about the rave reviews that Governor Walz seems to be getting from all spectrums of your party. You've got Nancy Pelosi on one side, Joe Manchin, we have the progressives on the left. What does this mean, what does this say? It's been a long time since we've seen this kind of reaction. OCASIO-CORTEZ: Yeah, well, I think first and foremost it says that Governor Walz is a uniter, that Vice President Harris is picking a uniter for not just the Democratic Party but for the entire United States. And that this selection of a ticket between Vice President Harris and Governor Walz is that we are seeing every American. Rural America, suburban America, urban America, regardless of identity, that we want to see your interests and want to make sure that the things that are most important to you, putting food on the table, lowering rent and mortgages, that we see the needs of everyday Americans and we're going to fight and see them in Washington. KING: But already the Republicans are saying, you've heard this, he's -- he's a screaming liberal, progressive. You know, people hear the word, Congresswoman, progressive, and it's like ah! It's scary to a lot of people. What does it mean to you -- without talking points, in a sentence, what it means to you, and do you think your support helps or hurts the ticket at this point? It's certainly in the middle of the country. OCASIO-CORTEZ: Yeah, I think progressive means the following -- most Americans believe that money and politics has an outsized role in what happens in government. And to me being a progressive means putting the needs of working families ahead of the needs of profit and of special interests and corporations. And so that translates into what we see in Governor Walz and the priorities of Vice president Harris like expanding health care, universal school lunches, things that we care about when we're packing lunches in the morning and having kids at home and so to me that is what progressive means, putting the needs of everyday people ahead of the needs of special interests in Washington. VLADIMIR DUTHIERS: So let me ask about the other candidates that were in the running to be her choice for vice president. Including Governor Josh Shapiro. There are some who are suggesting that the reason why the Vice President didn't pick Governor Shapiro is because of anti-Semitism, and I did see Chuck Schumer clap back at one Republican or person who’s on the right suggesting that Democrats are anti-Semitic, and Chuck Schumer obviously at the very top of power in the Democratic party as far as the Senate is concerned. OCASIO-CORTEZ: Yeah. I mean, we have Chuck Schumer who is an incredible leader in the United States Senate. Vice President Harris is married to Doug Emhoff who has been a profoundly wonderful figure, who is also Jewish. I think it has nothing to do with that. Vice President Kamala Harris had a very challenging -- you know she had a challenge before her, in that we have so much talent in the Democratic Party from Governor Shapiro to Governor Walz to many other people that she had to consider. I think that Governor Walz has many different assets that he brings to the table and I trust her decision in making one that is best for not just the Democratic Party but, again, the entire country. KING: There was no mention of the war in Israel and Gaza right now. Do you think that was deliberate? Do you think that should have been mentioned or come up in some way, last night in particular? OCASIO-CORTEZ: Well, you know, I think that this is certainly an issue that's important to many Americans. They're going to want to ensure that we continue our efforts toward a cease fire in the region. And I'm sure that this discussion will come up certainly between now and November. But we also have a wide scope of issues, as well, that she has to address, and I think we saw a lot of that addressed last night including when Governor Walz was addressing issues like IVF and choice, as well as many other, you know, issues that are at the top of people's minds right now. JERICKA DUNCAN: I want to turn to Representative Cori Bush, who’s part of that progressive wing known as The Squad. She lost the race yesterday and so did Jamaal Bowman here in New York. And both of them talked openly about their dissatisfaction with the war in Israel and Gaza against Hamas. What do you think that that says about The Squad and sort of the state of where you all are? Because you had so much support a few years ago and, sort of as Gayle pointed out, there's this question about where that party stands would seem to have a lot of influence and power early on in the Biden Administration. OCASIO-CORTEZ: Well, first I just want to speak to how courageously Representatives Bowman and Bush have served in Congress, and they spoke courageously on issues that are often very difficult to talk about in mainstream politics. DUNCAN: Right. OCASIO-CORTEZ: And I think that is one of the reasons why they have earned so much support because they're willing to put their careers on the line to advocate for the issues that they think and viewpoints that they think are right. What I do think it means is that there is an enormous amount of influence of big money in politics. Cori Bush's race was the second most expensive primary in American history. Jamaal Bowman's race was the most expensive primary in American history. And all that money was spent against them by a big money system of Super PACs and difficult to trace political contributions. That to me speaks to the corrupting role of our current campaign finance system and the fact that it is very hard to be a working class American that gets elected to office and stay in office. And to me, I think that that those defeats speak to the more urgent need for us to continue to advocate on these issues, and I do continue to believe that they represent many of the views of many Americans, as well. DUTHIERS: Congresswoman, I want to quickly ask you about this Truth Social post from the former President of the United States, Donald Trump. And in it he suggests that this is unconstitutional, what's happening with the Vice President. He uses derogatory language to name the Vice President and the former President, Barack Obama. Do voters in the Democratic Party who are not following the mainstream media or who are not on Truth Social or attending or watching former President Trump's rally understand this is the kind of language that is circulating on Truth Social, for example? CASIO-CORTEZ: You know, I -- first of all, there aren't a lot of Americans on Truth Social, to your point.  And so I do believe that when the president deploys or when former President Trump deploys his most extreme rhetoric, he is doing it in very contained spaces to a very defined audience that is almost primed for some of this most extreme rhetoric. And when he's deploying this kind of extremist rhetoric, he's not doing it in broad channels that most Americans can see. He's doing it on Truth Social, he’s doing it these smaller rallies where some of the most rabid and extremist elements that we see really get riled up. And so I don't think a lot of people are aware of the extent to which, whether it's his rhetoric in which he's using derogatory terms about Vice President Harris to the finer details of Project 2025 where he's talking about eliminating and the Republican Party's talking about eliminating the Department of Education on a federal level which is what allows us to be able to try to even the playing field for kids in rural communities and urban communities alike. DUTHIERS: Thank you, Congresswoman. Appreciate you being here as always. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. We'll be right back.

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, has a knack not only for peddling falsehoods but for supporting ruinous policies, identitarian programming, and radical politicians. Weingarten fought, for instance, to keep schools from reopening in-person learning in 2020, helping to put kids years behind academically and to drive up mental illness, suicide, obesity, and diminished immune systems among American children. She has suggested that parental resistance to leftist curricula "is the way in which wars start" and has likened parental rights advocates to segregationists. Weingarten has also campaigned against arming teachers despite the deterrent it might serve regarding school shootings. Fully aware of Weingarten's history of radicalism, former Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos expressed concern this week upon seeing how excited the AFT boss was over Kamala Harris' choice of running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D). In a video posted by the AFT to social media Tuesday, Weingarten gleefully states, "My phone has been going crazy because we just heard Tim Walz is Kamala Harris' choice for vice president! We're so excited." "He's a teacher. He's a union member. We have known him for years as a social studies teacher, as a vet, as a union member, as a congressman, as a governor," continued Weingarten. "It is such a great day for America that we're going to have Kamala Harris and Tim Walz on a ticket for the future, for freedom, for opportunity, for America, for Americans' families. I'm sorry, I'm just so, so excited." Weingarten also tweeted, "As Governor his record has been exemplary including record funding for public education, protecting reproductive rights, expanding collective bargaining, access to affordable childcare & paid family and medical leave. @KamalaHarris made a great choice!" DeVos responded, "Anyone who makes Randi this excited is a 5-alarm fire for parents and students." Weingarten's excitement appears to be fed by an understanding that Walz is a kindred spirit. Besides also having an apparently loose relationship with the truth, Walz has advanced various leftist policies and initiatives affecting schools and children. Harris' running mate earned himself the nickname "Tampon Tim" for ratifying legislation last year requiring public schools to provide tampons and pads "to all menstruating students in restrooms regularly used by students in grades 4 to 12." Although state Republicans, cognizant of the fact that only girls and women menstruate, sought to limit the offerings to girls' bathrooms, Walz and his Democratic comrades ultimately got their way such that tampons are now available in the boys' bathrooms as well. 'The future starts here — and we are not going back.' Walz passed a law in May prohibiting K-12 schools, colleges, and public libraries from complying with book-removal requests, thereby ensuring LGBT propaganda and other content thought inappropriate by parents could remain accessible by students. Although there was apparently no scientific evidence to support masking children, Walz nevertheless required that kids as young as 5 keep their faces masked at school and on buses — at least in those months where he was permitting them and their families to leave their homes. In terms of older students, Walz has also ensured that illegal aliens will be able to take advantage of his state's tuition-free college program. Weingarten indicated in a statement that her apparently ideologically uniform union will easily transition from support for President Joe Biden to support for Harris and will campaign to keep Trump out of the White House. "AFT's 1.8 million members will stand with Walz and Harris over the next 12 weeks as they campaign to realize the promise and potential of America," said Weingarten. "The future starts here — and we are not going back." The National Education Association — America's other major radical teachers' union that supports abortion; amnesty for illegal aliens; gun bans; race-based admissions and hiring; LGBTQ activist-dictated pronoun use; statehood for the District of Columbia; making race the crux of all educational considerations; and BLM — has also endorsed Walz. NEA president Becky Pringle stated, "The 3-million members of the NEA will show their power by turning out, volunteering and making their voices heard because we know that electing Kamala Harris and Tim Walz is the only way we can take America forward." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

A broiling hot summer in the national capital, a president in crisis, and the final blows being delivered by the leaders of his own party. What drove Joe Biden from the presidential race is an eerie parallel to what Richard Nixon faced exactly 50 years ago. Both men believed they could survive fatal wounds, yet instead of having the voters decide their fates, both were ultimately done in by their own parties. With Biden’s sudden withdrawal from the presidential race still fresh, the country this week marks the half-century anniversary of Nixon’s resignation from office on August 8, 1974. Since Nixon’s fall from grace, there has hardly been a moment in Washington like this one. Bill Clinton’s impeachment and trial in 1998 never threatened to remove him from office, and the entire spectacle was more lurid drama than constitutional crisis. No Democratic senators visited Clinton to tell him his time was up, nor did the media turn on him en masse. Joe Biden’s fall was swifter and, in some ways, more brutal than Richard Nixon’s. It has been pure politics, not legislative process. This summer replayed 1974, not 1998. Defying public opinion, both Nixon and Biden sought to hang on to the highest office in the land, but both were battling hurricanes that steadily loosened their grip on power. Both had White Houses covering up the failings of the president — one legal, the other physical and mental. Both men repeatedly stated they would not quit. While Biden didn’t face a constitutional process to remove him from office, the pressure on him to abandon his re-election bid was identical to that put on Nixon. Media leaks, members of Congress publicly and privately telling the president his time is up, and a sudden focus on whether the vice president is ready to step up repeated themselves a half-century later. After aggressively stating that he would be in the race to the end, Biden lost the support of the elites in the Democratic Party and almost all the media, his reputation shifting hourly from savior of the republic to a delusional and bitter old man unable to fulfill his duties but who wouldn’t face reality. Never has a sitting president been forced to abandon a re-election campaign whose primaries have already crowned him for a second run. Lyndon Baines Johnson’s shock decision not to seek re-election in 1968 did not cause as much disruption as did Biden’s, less than a month out from the Democratic National Convention, ironically to be held in Chicago, the same venue as in 1968, which became infamous for the chaos and street battles between activists and the Chicago Police Department. Doubts about Biden’s fitness not merely to run again but to serve the remainder of his term also paralleled the questions asked of Nixon in his final days, with reports eventually emerging that Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger made clear that any presidential orders to use nuclear weapons had to be approved by him first. Other reports of Nixon’s drinking, praying, and nearing a mental breakdown are reflective of the concerns that Biden today is unable to coherently discharge the duties of his office. Indeed, Republicans from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on down have called for Biden to resign his office or face removal by the 25th Amendment, which would need to be instigated by his chosen successor, Kamala Harris. So what was the final straw that drove the presidents from office? For Nixon, it wasn’t even the House Judiciary Committee passing three articles of impeachment on July 30; even after that, he believed he could survive. Though Nixon appears to have decided to resign by early August, his point of no return came when Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.) and two other high-ranking congressional Republicans told him he had to go, after the August 5 release of the so-called “smoking gun” tape. That was the recording of an Oval Office discussion Nixon had with chief of staff H.R. Haldeman in June 1972, less than a week after the Watergate break-in and arrest of the burglars connected with Nixon’s re-election campaign. On the tape, Nixon can be heard seeming to approve a cover-up and use of the CIA to block an FBI investigation. But by the time Goldwater visited the White House, Nixon had been bleeding for over a year. The Senate had held televised hearings from May through November 1973 that became “must-watch” TV in Washington and much of the nation; these were followed by House impeachment hearings in the last week of July 1974. Joe Biden’s fall was swifter and, in some ways, more brutal. It has been pure politics, not legislative process. Held up as a competent commander in chief until his disastrous debate with Donald Trump on June 27, Biden’s abysmal performance all but instantly obliterated his public, congressional, and media support (Nixon never had much media support). His repeated, angry declarations that he would continue through the general election were increasingly seen as futile and out of touch with political reality. Just like Nixon, Biden watched the political class scoff at his claims, steadily undermining any pretensions he had of staying in the race. And just like Nixon, he had to try to fight back the leaks coming from his own party about his untenable future. In both cases, the interested parties were motivated by fears about their political fortunes first and the fortunes of the nation second. Ultimately, in Biden’s case, as in Nixon’s, it was party pressure that forced him out. With Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer, among nearly two dozen others, openly or indirectly saying that Biden had to leave, it was being cast off by his own party that was the coup de grace. Reports of an ultimatum delivered to Biden, perhaps by Obama, paralleled Goldwater’s pressure on Nixon. Only then, when Biden had surrendered in the face of threats of being removed by his vice president and Cabinet, only when he was humiliated and left alone, did his party suddenly start calling him a national hero. And just like in 1974, attention is now focused on the vice president. Back then, few in Washington doubted that Gerald Ford would be a safe pair of hands in which to leave the country. Though he would be the only man never elected as either president or vice president to serve as chief executive, Ford was a veteran of the House of Representatives and a widely respected legislator. The dynamic is different with Kamala Harris. Though the Democratic Party has rapidly coalesced around her, few have forgotten that her political fortunes have wavered from dropping out of the 2020 Democratic primaries before a single vote had been cast to being criticized by insiders for driving away staff, being unprepared and uninterested in policy, and being widely mocked for her ineptness at public speaking. The summers of 1974 and 2024 are political theater of the highest kind, though 1974 had at least the semblance of a civics lesson, while 2024 is pure bare-knuckle politics. They are also a reminder, in our digital and cable news age, that the power of the political party remains unchallenged and the most potent component of our political system. If Donald Trump’s resurgence, even after being written off in 2020, is due to his dominating his party, both Richard Nixon’s and Joe Biden’s demise was due to having been abandoned by theirs. Editor’s note: This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.

Feel the Vibes! Watch Kamala Harris Snap at Pro-Hamas Protesters Who Dared Interrupt Her Campaign Rally