Friday Politics Roundup | NYT sounds alarm on US democracy; QAnon-laced Trump rally in Youngstown; Big Oil gaslighting; Banned Books Week; NASA Artemis I & DART news; Happy Birthday to The Jetsons

<p>A new long-form <a href='https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/17/us/american-democracy-threats.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare'>article in the New York Times</a> by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist David Leonhardt, takes a deep dive into what he’s calling the “twin threats” to American democracy today: First, “a growing movement inside one of the country’s two major parties — the Republican Party — <a href='https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/19/magazine/stop-the-steal.html'>to refuse to accept defeat</a> in an election.” Second, “the power to set government policy is becoming increasingly disconnected from public opinion.”</p> <p>Last weekend saw <a href='https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/09/was-there-a-big-qanon-salute-at-trumps-ohio-rally.html'>the weirdest - and perhaps the most troubling - Trump rally to date</a>. Closing out his Youngstown, OH rally, Trump got dark about the decline of America as creepy QAnon themed music played over the speakers. As he spoke, people in the audience began raising their arms and pointing a single finger in the air. It felt like a Nazi salute mixed with religious signs of devotion. Even journalists who have been covering Trump and right-wing extremist groups for a long time were baffled. </p> <p>New internal documents show that <a href='https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/17/oil-companies-exxonmobil-chevron-shell-bp-climate-crisis'>Big Oil companies openly admit to gaslighting the public </a>about their commitment to “going green.” Documents also showed that some company officials wished climate activists would get infested with bed bugs. </p> <p>It’s Banned Books Week and <a href='https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/story/news/2022/09/20/celebrate-the-freedom-to-read-at-banned-books-week-in-bucks-county-pa/69504931007/'>public libraries across the Commonwealth and the country are shining bright lights on censorship</a> and attempts by right-wing zealots to remove books from our schools. Bucks County has, of course, been front and cente