Democrats Need to Clean House Before They Screw Up Again by Kat Abughazaleh

It’s ridiculous how often I think about the following passage from The Plot Against America, Philip Roth’s painfully prescient alternative history novel published in 2004:

“But thank God for Walter Winchell. Without him we’d be lost. He’s the last person on the radio to speak out against these dirty dogs. It’s disgusting. It’s worse than disgusting. Slowly but surely, there’s nobody in America willing to speak out against Lindbergh’s kissing Hitler’s behind.”

“What about the Democrats?” I asked.

“Son, don’t ask me about the Democrats. I’m angry enough as it is.”

Writing for The New Republic, Kat Abughazaleh is rightfully furious about the inability of Democratic leadership to craft and deliver a consistent message about how their party’s policies makes citizens’ lives better and how much dreadfully worse the Republican alternatives are, mostly in the name of courting right-wingers who are never, ever, ever going to vote for them. Despite an election that delivered the White House to a drastically dangerous individual and set up both legislative houses to blindly support him, the Democrats show no signs of reckoning with their misguided leadership. Even as I grouse about them, I acknowledge that the Democrats face a tremendous challenge in overcoming the GOP propaganda machine that runs through multiple phony news platforms and ruthlessly games social medias. A primary problem, though, is that those main Democrats aren’t prepared to acknowledge that reality, which means they’ll never overcome it.

Can indie comics publishers survive rising prices? by Bryan Reesman

This excellent piece by Bryan Reesman engages in honest-to-gosh journalism to detail the ways that shifting demand, costs, and prices are impacting the comic book industry, particularly the corners of it that don’t have the benefit of corporate largesse. That’s all too rare for online writing about the field, which tend towards blustery claims and fanboy rants. This reminded me of the best investigative reporting practiced by Don and Maggie Thompson back in the heyday of The Comics Buyer’s Guide. I can’t give a much higher compliment for an article about comics.