Ed owns up & progressives won’t take the W & Rick Jackson suddenly likes diversity?

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I’m a diehard ‘Bernie Sanders’ progressive and yet I often find myself at odds with ‘litmus test-driven’ progressives who – in my opinion – poison their movement (whichever one it might be) by being unforgiving or intransigent purists.

I happen to think that’s playing out now with the whole Ed Sheeran / Macklemore flap and there’s evidence of it when Sheeran can’t ⁠go on stage and ‘fess up to making a mistake⁠ or not being what he’s obviously uncomfortable being: outspoken about political issues that matter to him quietly and internally.

What does it solve, I ask, to try and ruin (or “cancel”) Ed Sheeran for “the cause?” Nothing; but I do happen to think it repels people from wanting to be as involved in said movement altogether which – if we have self-awareness – we’d realize is why there are a lot of Ed Sheerans out there in the first place.

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Rick Jackson, he of the ‘deported or departed’ messaging aimed at Muslims and Mongolians (among others, of course) was ⁠confronted by a Muslim Georgian, Palestinian-American state Representative Ruwa Romman ⁠(D) last weekend.

So much to unwrap here.

The ⁠‘deported or departed’ TV ad⁠ from the heated GOP primary season leads with Jackson telling people “you don’t have the right for force your culture on our country.” That’s something of a dog whistle in that conservatives have been hand-wringing about ‘Sharia law’ being what governs us (zero evidence of that occurring all the while radical wight Christian nationalism has crept into power), but what I found ironic about that statement (then) and Jackson’s campaign strategy (now) is that he was confronted by a burka-wearing Romman at a Korean festival where Jackson and his team were there for a photo opp with Korean-American voters either in Korean “hanboks” or campaign t-shirts with his logo in Korean and American-English.

Isn’t that interesting?

To me it is, anyway; the pivot Jackson has taken from blowing into that dog whistle to pander to the white nationalist base of the Georgia GOP to now seeking to connect with voters of color with deep ties to foreign countries while blanketing the airwaves with black and brown former foster youth feting his support for foster children is noteworthy if nothing else.

Now with THAT in mind …

=+=+=+= Meanwhile FOIA requests show the Trump Department of Homeland Security was ⁠working feverishly to scrutinize counties in Georgia that offered non-English ballots⁠ in hopes of finding election fraud.