LYING SEASON | FROM OUR GENERATION #71

Lying is intentional deception. It includes what you omit, not just what you say. That distinction matters more than ever across politics, media, and academia.

James Tallarico won the Democratic primary in Texas on a platform of eliminating fossil fuels, running a vegan campaign staff, and celebrating trans children. He now eats barbecue on camera, says there are only two genders, and opposes trans athletes competing against girls. He hasn’t recanted one position. He’s reversed six or seven. Abdul El-Sayed is doing the same thing in Michigan. Every reversal is on tape. The Emperor’s New Clothes works only until someone replays the footage.

Trump promised $5,000 to every American if Republicans hold the House and Senate. The reaction was predictable: Democrats called it bribery. These are the same people who run on free childcare, free buses, Medicare for All, and grocery price controls. Trump didn’t propose policy. He held up a mirror.

In Nevada, an independent group is running ads crediting Congresswoman Susie Lee with fighting to eliminate all taxes on tips. She voted against the bill that would have eliminated taxes on the first $25,000 in tips. The media that would catch that discrepancy has no interest in catching it.

A professor at New Mexico State posted a video calling Chairman Mao “perhaps the greatest historical figure of the 20th century” and praising Xi Jinping’s continuation of Mao’s work. The Great Famine killed 30 to 40 million people. The Cultural Revolution imprisoned Mao’s own top advisors. This isn’t ignorance. It’s ideology dressed as scholarship, and it represents the majority view in humanities departments where 90% of faculty vote left and none face accountability when their theories collapse.

Thirty-five thousand people have died from heat in Europe this year. Almost none of those countries have widespread air conditioning, largely by government policy. The number barely made the American press.

Bernie Sanders is now calling for prison sentences for engineers who build AI. Not regulation. Prison. The man who rails against oligarchs wants the state to jail people for innovating.

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