Conspiracists are about to get a dose of reality by James Marriott

It feels weird to be kinda rooting for measles, but here we are. Writing for The Times, James Marriott presents the outbreak of measles that started in Western Texas and has spread to New Mexico as the current exemplar of the Find Out phase that inevitably follows any prolonged period of Fuck Around. The hope, vain as it might be, is that enough of the proudly ignorant people who rebelled aggressively against the public health and other governmental protections that have been provided to them, perhaps too seamlessly and invisibly, will come to their senses as they see the safeties they take for granted be ripped away.

Why Democrats Won’t Throw a Real Punch by Dave Zirin

While continuing to acknowledge that the purest fury should be reserved for Republicans who have abdicated their responsibility to the U.S. public by zealously supporting the lawless actions of the executive branch just because the criminal and unqualified fools there have declared their feckless allegiance to the same political team, the embarrassingly tepid response of the Democrats must be called out with scorn at least until the party collectively starts operating in concerted opposition to the ravaging of the nation. As Dave Ziron notes in this piece, it is flabbergasting that the Democrats aren’t taking every chance they get to highlight the stories of people who are enduring real harm because of the flagrantly irresponsible and downright hateful policy choices being made by the party in power. This piece is published by The Nation.

The Dangers of Arbitrary Trade Policy by Mary E. Lovely

Writing for The New York Times, Mary E. Lovely offers a succinct explanation of why the powerfully stupid, inanely impulsive decisions of the current occupants of the White House in regard to international trade are bound to do deep, lasting damage to the financial stability of the U.S. The fact that the president of the United States and the sycophants around him plainly don’t know what they’re doing, led by the persistent lack of understanding about the fundamentals of how tariffs work that they eagerly express in public, should be the prevailing point in most news stories.

To save the superhero movie, we need to bring back themes by Caroline Siede

The rejuvenated AV Club (and The Onion, for that matter) has been a unmitigated delight these past few months. Writing for that outlet, Caroline Siede confronts the downward slide in both quality and popularity of the screen entertainment churned out under the Marvel Studios banner. It’s astute analysis, and the Marvel maestros should be reading closely and taking her advice. To be clear, I chose the screengrab above because it’s from a film that I think represents Marvel doing things right.