CrankyYank Vol. 21: Berning the Hills II | Terkel, Interrupted | Trash the Bags & More

This past weekend, Nevada became scorched earth—and not because a large percentage of the state is desert.

I’m not going to relitigate what did or did not happen, but in a nutshell: some Bernie Sanders supporters were displeased with the way the state-party rules were drawn, and they made their voice heard. There were reports of chair-throwing and, more disturbingly, death threats made against Nevada party chair Roberta Lange.

Honest question: are we a democracy or a Jerry Springer episode?

Back in February, CrankyYank Vol. 7 featured “Berning the Hills” where I talked about how rancorous things had become on the progressive side. And it’s only gotten progressively (pun intended) worse from there.

A Sanders supporter went on Maddow and actually claimed that the booze made them do it. Seriously.

I’ve railed against Jeff Weaver, Bernie’s campaign manager, in the past as a bomb-throwing yutz in the mold of Mark Penn. I’ve also railed on Debbie Wasserman-Schultz because she’s done a piss-poor job designing a fair primary. There are many people who deserve being tarred and feathered.

But now I’m starting to come to the realization that all the discord is being sewn on the Democratic side from the top of the Sanders campaign. From the candidate. To wit: Josh Marshall has an excellent post up on how Bernie Sanders has accused the Democratic party of being corrupt and worthy of incidents like what happened in Nevada.

Let me settle this once and for all. On the question about which side of the HillBots vs. BernieBros is right and wrong, the answer is “Yes.”

Both sides have things to be ashamed of, to be sure, and both have been “guilty” of statesmanship. As a strong moderate progressive, all the rancor is turning me off. And, as a diagnosed politics addict, if that’s happening to me I can only imagine what it’s doing to the rest of the country.

But this latest turn has me wholly disgusted by people excusing death threats and violence with the nearness of a bar. Brianna Wu picks it up from here:

Why reinvent the wheel when Brianna has so eloquently stated the same thing?

Just stop it.

 

Plastics are polluting all corners of the globe, and our everyday trash bags most certainly aren’t helping. According to studies, a plastic bag’s lifespan can vary widely given environmental factors, but basically they can last anywhere from 15 to 1,000 years. (Another household item, the disposable diaper, can last 500 years on average.)

As an unabashed deliberate disposer, I got to thinking: why am I continually putting more and more plastic bags in landfills when I could be using a biodegradable product?

Enter EcoSafe, the company I found on Amazon that sells all sorts of green products. As necessity is always the mother of invention, I found these bin liners because Container Store stopped selling the ones I had been using.

Bottom line: this is a sturdy, viable option to trash bags that could last up to a century and pollute for much longer than that.

Highly recommended. Grade: A

 

As many of you loyal Crankers know, I’m queer for Carpool Karaoke. The latest installment is a mix of hilarious Demi Lovato one-liners and decent car singing. Since I’m a 13-year-old girl at heart, posting this episode makes total sense.

 

There’s nothing banal about Matt Yglesias’ piece about political anger being directed at politicians; and it boils down to incompetent nutjobs getting elected to office, fucking things up and declaring, “see, I told you government sucks” (Vox)… Friends alums Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry will reunite on CBS this fall, on separate shows but on the same night, on CBS. (Variety)… Fantastic reporter Amanda Terkel called a Medill School professor for a reference, and was treated like a second-class citizen; the exchange led to an epic tweetstorm and an eventual apology (The Daily Northwestern).

 

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If your pup does this ⬆️, then it might be time for this: Leaving Triscuit by Will Pollock. Buy now, exclusively for your Kindle.

“Say ‘hello’ to better good-byes” and learn some of the best techniques for leaving your dog or cat while away from home.

 

That’s it from me this week, Cranker Darlings. See you right back here next Thursday at 2.

 

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Will Pollock is a crabby New York City escapee living in Atlanta. He’s a freelance multimedia journalist and author of two books (Pizza for Good & Leaving Triscuit), with more on the way. Sign up for the mailing list, follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram—and check out the book links below.

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