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Dolly Parton, Labor Feminist – The Wednesday AM Quickie 8/26/26

By Corey Pein —

Gavin Newsom hopes to make $7.5 million selling a home he bought a few years ago for half that price. To hit that price target, he needs "a unicorn buyer." As he's been quoted saying about Sacramento, "just, ugh, God." - Corey

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THE BIG NEWS

RIP Dolly

"Earth Angel" Dolly Parton died yesterday at a hospital in Nashville at age 80 following "hard times with my health" – namely, cancer. She was not only a country music icon, movie star, and philanthropist, she was a progressive champion who used her great wealth and fame to benefit people who, like her, grew up "dirt poor."

A number of headlines framed the universal tributes to Parton as a rare moment of unity in a deeply divided America. "Following the announcement of her death, Republicans and Democrats expressed an outpouring of support, highlighting Parton's near universal favor — an increasingly rare phenomenon at a moment when so many cultural icons have become fodder for the culture war," Politico reports.

Indeed, both Donald Trump and the Democratic Socialists of America paid tribute to Parton yesterday. Who knows how sincere Trump's eulogy was, but one thing is sure: pompous bossmen like him (and Jeff Bezos, who also jumped on the tribute bandwagon) were the butt of the joke in Parton's labor feminist breakthrough hit movie, "9 to 5."

"I try not to get political," Parton said in 2016 when she was supposedly "erroneously" reported to have endorsed Hillary Clinton against Trump when she said she supported having a woman in the White House. Which is not to say she lacked convictions. Quite the contrary. In its tribute to parton, the DSA correctly noted that she "was an unshaken advocate for queer and trans Americans while many others looked away," leaving a legacy of a "commitment to a world of freedom and dignity for all."

That's the truth. It's also the truth that many prominent Republicans pretend to like country music, when so many performers – from Willie Nelson to Johnny Cash, the Dixie Chicks, and, yes, Dolly Parton, have stood proudly against everything they represent in this world.

Elections Roundup: Elon Musk Escapes Wisconsin Bribery Charges

  • Democratic Socialist Nurse N’Kiyla Jasmine Thomas Wins Oklahoma Democratic Senate Primary She was outspent $315,000 to $57,000 by her establishment-favored opponent, 70-year-old nonprofit executive and minister Jim Priest, and still won 61 percent of the vote. via NBC News, NonDoc, and KOSU.
  • Abdul El-Sayed Defends Dearborn Against RIght-Wing Hate Rallies The Michigan Democratic Senate nominee also stuck to his affordability message in an interview this week with Fox News host Jesse Watters. via the Michigan Advance, NBC News, and the Guardian.
  • Trump-Backed Sen. Darlene Graham, Sister of the Late Lindsey, Wins South Carolina GOP Primary Another Trump pick, Mike Mazzei, won Oklahoma's Republican gubernatorial primary yesterday. via the Associated Press and the Oklahoma Voice.
  • Republicans Fear Inattentive Trump, Hoarding Cash and Endorsements, Is Going to Screw Up the Midterms for Them "'It's now or never. It's put up or shut up time, and it's really time to start to see if he's going to get serious,' [one] GOP strategist said. 'You've got September and October to really move the needle here, and it just doesn't seem like there’s any sense of urgency, or like we understand that we are down big in some of these states.'" via Politico, Politico, Politico, and the AP.
  • Trump's Trade Wars Could Blow Up GOP's Senate Majority "States that depend on international trade, including Maine, Michigan and Iowa, are among those at the forefront of the midterm battleground map." via HuffPost and the Washington Post.
  • Grassroots Voters in Both Parties Hate Data Centers, But Some Organized Labor Is Aligning with Industry to Support Them In Texas, Republican Ken Paxton and his Democratic opponent for Senate, James Talarico, have proposed dueling data center plans, both of which stop short of a moratorium. via the AP, the Washington Post, and Source New Mexico.
  • Mixed Results in Recent Voting Rights Rulings The legal fight over mail-in voting is "complex and rapidly escalating" throughout the federal court system. via The American Prospect, the Washington. Post, and Politico.
  • MyPillow Guy Mike Lindell Changes His Mind About Paying for Recount in Minnesota Gubernatorial Primary He says he wants a full hand recount and audit, and is willing to pay triple the initial $825,000 cost quoted by the secretary of state's office, which proposed a more limited recount. via NBC News.

QUICKEST QUICKIES

  • Canada Retaliates to Trump's Trade War with $20 Billion Tariffs on US Goods Trump, meanwhile, threatened to rename Lake Ontario to "Lake America" because "we don't expect to be doing much business with Ontario any longer." via the Associated Press, the Washington Post, and the New York Times.
  • CIA Director John Ratcliffe Made Secret Trip to Moscow Yesterday Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says the visit was for "contacts between security services." via the Washington Post, CBS News, and the AP.
  • Trump Lawyers Threaten Kennedy Center Demolition in Response to Democratic Efforts to Keep Dear Leader's Name Off of Building Both "ticket sales and donations plunged after the Trump-led board of trustees voted in December to rename the center after him and put his name on the front of the building." via the New York Times and the Washington Post.
  • Starbucks Workers United Calls for Boycott Just in Time for Pumpkin Spice Latte Season "Starbucks has repeatedly demonstrated a lack of care for the workers who fuel the company’s profits by wasting millions of dollars on AI and technology that doesn't work, launching countless gimmicky drinks designed to distract from real problems, and inventing pointless policies that do nothing but make our jobs harder," the union says. "This ongoing, irrational behavior by Starbucks and its refusal to settle a fair union contract with workers leaves us with no other choice." via Common Dreams and HuffPost.

SOME NUMBER

15

That's the number of babies and kids who died from preventable illnesses between 2015 and 2025 in one Idaho faith healing community, the Followers of Christ, according to ProPublica, which reports that the figure is almost certainly an undercount. Idaho changed its laws to hold parents harmless in such cases in the 1970s.

ON THE SHOW TODAY

8/26: Emma is hosting solo. The guest will be Stuart Schrader, associate professor of history at Johns Hopkins University, discussing his books, "Blue Power: How Police Organized to Protect and Serve Themselves" and "Badges Without Borders: How Global Counterinsurgency Transformed Policing."

DON'T MISS MR CLIPS‌

Evil Billionaire Attacks Mark Ruffalo with Weaponized Antisemitism

An Oracle exec bragging about its "profoundly scary technology" is very 2026.

Jillian Michaels Busted After Embarrassing AI Use

The list of AI use that is not embarrassing is pretty short.

PARTING WORDS

"The solution is relatively simple ... just don't go."

-- U.S. District Judge David Hittner, an appointee of Republican Ronald Reagan, striking down a Texas ban on public drag shows on constitutional grounds.

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