Amy Kerr Hardin | Author
Pro-Life, You Say?
Sept. 11, 2021
Imagine a Venn diagram consisting of these positions: pro-life, all lives matter, anti-mask/anti-vax, supporting repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and anti-immigration. Any person who finds themselves at the intersection of these incongruous viewpoints is, in the very least, a hypocrite ...
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The American Media Junk Diet
July 17, 2021
America has an “info” structure problem, and it’s getting worse. People are getting their “news” from propaganda peddlers instead of serious journalists.
We all know the type — devoted Fox viewers who couldn’t lay out a cogent policy posit...
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First Amendment Confusion
May 22, 2021
It’s amusing to watch folks on the far right clutch their pearls over their favorite orange leader being banned from social media, claiming it’s a “free speech” issue. They may want to Google “First Amendment” some time to attempt to find the elusive co...
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The Sexual Fetishes of the Far Right
March 20, 2021
While millions of Americans express feigned outrage over the non-existent genitalia of a plastic toy potato, the rest of us wonder why they seem so obsessed with sexuality, especially with so many important things to focus on instead. But no, Fox News has its viewers whipped into a frenzy...
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Bullies with Badges
Jan. 23, 2021
There is a cancer of white supremacy infecting our nation’s law enforcement. Nationalist groups have an agenda of the radicalization of individuals in a position of trust.
The Center for Strategic and International Affairs finds that right-wing violence is steeply on t...
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Are You a Fascist? Take the Quiz and Find Out!
Nov. 21, 2020
Fascists rarely know they are fascists. My dog doesn’t know he’s a dog, but he’s still a dog. Few German Nazis recognized that they were fascists, and now millions of Americans are struggling to accept their true political identity.
Not all fascist...
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We are Done Tolerating Intolerance
Oct. 4, 2020
Ask a Trump supporter to specify even one policy of the president’s that has directly benefitted them. They can’t, because other than his tax cuts that solely rewarded the ultra-rich, he’s failed to successfully implement a single policy from his 2016 platform that makes...
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Are You a COVID Snob?
Aug. 1, 2020
It can be satisfying to judge other people. It gives us a sense of control. We don’t feel so helpless when we have the power to point fingers, blame someone.
Over the past several months we’ve seen a wave of reactionary pandemic-shaming of those not foll...
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The Red State/Blue State Fiscal Mythology
May 30, 2020
The last few years, and especially the past two months, is proof-positive that Republicans are the party of fiscal recklessness. There has been a persistent myth that they are the party of balanced budgets. Cutting the pork barrel is their self-generated myth. Republican voters, under the...
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The Cruel Exploitation of a Crisis
April 25, 2020
Conservative forces are leveraging the COVID-19 pandemic as a means to further erode women’s reproductive health rights.
Efforts in red states to link abortion services to the virus are putting women at risk. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists r...
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Winning by Cheating
March 21, 2020
An African American man was refused the right to vote in the 2018 Alabama midterms. Why? Because records indicated he owed money to the state — four dollars, to be precise.
Sadly, this is not an anomaly. Thirty states have rules in place that essentially amoun...
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Pigs Fly in Lansing
Feb. 15, 2020
Bipartisan cooperation in Lansing. Yes, you read that correctly.
Two Republican leaders and two Democratic officials put their heads together to form a joint task force with the goal of fostering better outcomes for those in the criminal justice system and for the communi...
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A War on Women
Jan. 11, 2020
On occasion I drive by the local Planned Parenthood office and observe silent protestors, in prayer vigil, holding signs condemning abortion. I like to imagine that these dedicated souls also spend endless hours in service to children in need — tirelessly fostering and advocating. T...
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The Cruelty is the Point
Dec. 21, 2019
Several years ago, Michigan’s Republican lawmakers tried a little experiment. They launched a pilot program in three counties to get an idea of how many public assistance recipients were also drug users. They didn’t nab a single soul. Turns out, the working poor, often laborin...
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The GOP War on the Fourth Estate
Nov. 2, 2019
The liberal media, you say? Think again.
A far-right corporation, Sinclair Broadcasting Group, has been acquiring local television stations and using them as a platform to spread their radical political agenda, forcing affiliate anchors to read prepared statements masquer...
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The Real Welfare Queens
Aug. 24, 2019
It’s rare that I agree with the Koch brother-funded conservative think tank Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Hen’s teeth come to mind. After all, they’ve had a hand in shaping some of the worst public policies in Michigan’s recent history. Their boondoggles inclu...
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The State of the Well-Regulated Ovaries
June 29, 2019
Missouri’s lone women’s health clinic that provides abortions is under regulatory attack. The doctors there have been ordered to perform medically unnecessary internal pelvic exams on women and girls seeking abortions. This amounts to state-mandated sexual assault. The idea is...
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Be Best? Michigan’s Better Than That
April 20, 2019
Last year First Lady Melania Trump unveiled, albeit awkwardly, her “Be Best” campaign. Its centerpiece is preventing cyberbullying among youth. The anemic and unprofessionally executed rollout was against the backdrop of her husband’s steady stream of puerile Tweets, mos...
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Bullies, Bots, and Trolls, Oh My!
Feb. 9, 2019
In this turbulent political climate, internet harassment is clearly on the rise, largely due to a president who can’t make it through his first BK Whopper of the day without trolling anyone who disagrees with his half-baked public policy schemes. On Trump’s lead, online bullyi...
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America the Stupid
Jan. 5, 2019
Ignorance is not bliss. It’s ignorance — impervious to window dressing, and made all the worse if it’s willfully engaged. Were it truly rapturous, Fox News viewers would exist in a perpetual state of orgasmic euphoria. But alas, they live in a world awash in hate, anger,... Read More >>