Last week, we lost a crucially important voice in the media when media reporter Eric Boehlert died unexpectedly. In his last column for his publication Press Run, titled “Why is the press rooting against Biden?,” Boehlert wrote that there is such a “glaring disconnect between reality and how the press depicts White House accomplishments” that it seems the press is “determined to keep Biden pinned down.”
Boehlert wrote that there is such a “glaring disconnect between reality and how the press depicts White House accomplishments” that it seems the press is “determined to keep Biden pinned down.”
I am not surprised. Democrats govern better than Republicans (although Trump and his acolytes set new lows.) But people don't vote according to their interests. They vote to support those they identify with. And we Democrats are poor at messaging.
I would love to see more coverage in this blog about the struggles by Democrats to get the message across, especially to the voters who have turned against them.
Currently I'm reading everything I can to understand this better, including, recently, Jonathan Haidt's The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, where he shows that Democrats appeal to two fundamental moral foundations, Care/harm and Fairness/cheating, while conservatives appeal to the full complement of six, which adds Loyalty/betrayal, Authority/subversion, Sanctity/degradation and Liberty/oppression. Democratic messaging -- not governance -- doesn't address the last four. What if we forcefully appealed to these also? (He writes this about conservative values, which he differentiates from today's radicalized Republican party.) Haidt lays out the evidence base for these moral foundations being innate as well as for people having a genetic disposition to be liberal or conservative. We need to reach those who don't as easily identify as liberal.
He is one of many who explores the societally disintegrating force of social media since 2011, especially in a new article in The Atlantic, "Why the past ten years of American life have been uniquely stupid: It's not just a phase." In that article he identifies the specter of artificial intelligence programs that can write a story and slant it in any direction so that such disinformation will increasingly flood social media and its unregulated algorithms. Our adversaries make up all sorts of outlandish lies that undermine our shared sense of reality and inoculate authoritarians from being blamed by blaming their opponents first. This firehose of noise takes up all of the oxygen. Of course there's the lock Republicans have on propaganda to radicalize conservatives through talk radio, cable news and other media. The GOP became very disciplined in messaging starting with the Reagan Administration. Propaganda and disinformation practices have long been carried out by Russia and are being exploited by other adversaries.
That is the war we are fighting. Blogs like this ground Democrats' actions in our history and reveal their efforts to do the right thing. But it's only reaching those of us with a liberal orientation.
Very, very, very well written and, I think, exactly on point analysis given my own experience having moved from a mindframe of "belief" to a mindset of "analysis" through reading in my early adult years (20-25).
I remember how I "felt" when Jimmy Carter (our last truly effective President) was running against Reagan.
Then, although I could read well, I was reading a far right student newspaper where George Will and William Buckley were spitting out lies every day BUT those lies reached out to my "feelings". They talked about "hard work", although I later came to understand neither had ever done any, they talked about "love of country", which, back then I still felt.
But, the "kicker" was: Reagan came along and ran against Jimmy Carter and BURIED him with one liners that were both funny AND piqued my emotions. Plus, by then, a bunch of what I considered "nuts" had taken over the American embassy in Iran, which, outraged me because I did NOT know they were protesting the fact that one of the most brutal dictators in the world, one who WE, the USA, had installed, had been flown to a US hospital for care enraging them.
Nobody in the press anywhere wrote that, but I learned it 25 years later.
I was NOT dumb back then. But, I WAS in what I now refer to as "Belief Space". In "Belief Space" a few simple things are "true". "Belief Space" is not a complicated space because the things you "believed" growing up ARE the FACTS. Not the reality around you.
Reagan sent messages into my Belief Space that "felt" true but were lies. THAT is what Reagan and the Republicans know how to do.
Dr. Richardson? She is the best writer I have encountered since I EXITED Belief Space. But, that took time, was painful and I did not even WANT to. Belief Space is fantastically comfortable. I never have to ask myself "is my President a war criminal?". "Am I"?
But Dr. Richardson does NOT appeal to the emotions in the way that Republicans do. An example is her recent emotional writing about GRANT. At the end she wrote a sentence about "getting back to work". I strongly identified with that sentence because that is what I have done every day of my life since I was 12 or so. That touched my EMOTIONS.
But, for the most part, Dr. Richardson is a highly adept stone turner through the written word. She turns over a stone that shows something you may or may NOT want to see.
Republicans NEVER turn over a stone that shows some ugly bug. They tell you your Country is GREAT, your GOD is yours and LOVES you no matter if you just moved the survey property boundary of your farm to shaft your neighbor.
Republicans reach out and touch the emotions JUST like the preacher at the front of the church. They use FEAR, DEMONIZATION, and simple concepts that many BELIEVE (and are in Belief Space so that is TRUE).
And Democrats don't come close. Jimmy Carter was the best President of my lifetime if you analyze what he did including running a responsible, balanced budget and not getting in stupid wars.
BUT, NOBODY could tell with Reagan laughing and throwing out one liners.
I voted for Reagan, a source of great shame even today for me.
Mike! You are my brother from another mother. My political journey was similar. My "belief space" was formed in high school. My favorite teacher (English) was a Buckley conservative. He brought a couple of us to Madison Square Garden to root for Goldwater. I was a passionate right winger wearing a hat that said "AUH20 1964". I was convinced in the deepest recesses of my heart that "right was right". I bought the Horatio Alger/Ayn Rand bullshit. It was so simple. Work hard, succeed. Lazy people failed.
Then Nixon and Vietnam. The Civil Rights movement exploded my brain. I avoided becoming a dead grunt, grew long hair and headed left. And now I eschew political labels, but if I had to self identify it would be philosophically wicked left and practically moderate. Fiscal responsibility and social justice. Common sense for the common good.
Thanks for your post. It is brilliant and addresses how we can all be conned. Ronnie was sooo good at it. And he is the founding father of the big lies. And yes, Carter was an American hero. He actually asked us to make some small sacrifices for the sake of the nation. He put solar panels on the White House! Ron the con took them down.
And your points about Iran are spot on. But nobody wants to dig deep and learn. Sadly.
Amy Carter protested at the Iranian embassy in DC and at UMass Amherst. The huge protest marches against tfg 45 were pretty much ignored by the media. Men in trucks against Biden was big news for weeks.
When my children and her oldest child were little they were friends and we became friends. I can tell you, Amy is still upset about this. It was very wrong.
For the whole week. When I would make a comment about them wasting time and consuming precious fuel because they wanted to be noticed and they were. My area near I70 was horrible! Most people are Trump supporters and still flying their damn flags!
I agree Bill however right now the extremes in both parties frighten me! One point I might point out is those jobs numbers can be spun any way the government wants to spin them. Realistically they are people going back to work and/ or changing jobs and careers after a pandemic. I’m not so excited about our current economy but we can’t blame this administration for that.
Whenever you hear or read the phrase "there are extremes in both parties", you are paying attention to a Republican racist. False equivalency has been the GOP's weapon of choice since the Civii Rights Era, and the media CONTINUES to go right along with the script.
Racist for sure, but I'm afraid they aren't all Republicans. The likes of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are often included among the "extremists," but you don't have to listen too carefully to figure out that the main targets are members of "the Squad" and anyone who supports Black Lives Matter.
My brother! Yes, everyone can be conned, but, it IS possible to take a look around and see reality. It is possible to find the Dr. Richardson's of the world. It is possible to feel uncomfortable and stressed as a consequence of change.
Our founding fathers MUST have been uncomfortable every day ..... inventing so much new stuff in such a short time.
But, they looked into reality and tried to derive a system to optimize that reality, not eliminate it.
It warms my heart to know that others feel as I do about Carter. An amazing President at an extremely difficult time (remember when Watergate seemed as low as we could go?) He never received the recognition he so richly deserved. But being a genuinely good person he gave so much to our country and didn't expect anything back. True class.
And Reagan undermined and delayed the release of the Hostages in Iran while Carter was President. A truly great American vs an ignorant actor controlled by his psycho wife!
I voted for Carter and yes, I happily voted for him. I couldn't stand Reagan then and loathe him even more now. I can remember people lamenting how things were going in the country and then I would ask who they voted for. Dead silence.
I wondered at the time why Congress was so silent and inactive in the face of many criminal acts by the Reagan Administration. It seemed they just didn't want to challenge a personally poplar officeholder no matter how repugnant his actions...
Ted, you have to be the smartest and the best of the best before they give you the keys to a nuclear submarine! Reagan was in the publicity/morale section of the military.
President Carter was an amazing guy: A peanut farmer from Georgia who brought selflessness, honor, dignity to the White House. No way they were going to let him have a second term—his very existence was a brilliant light shining on all of their dark places. He had values, they had lies and strategies. So their oppo found Billy....
Down here in the badlands of Georgia we managed to send Washington another amazing guy. Not a submarine driving peanut farmer this time; oh, no, much worse (for Republicans). A Black preacher from the pulpit of MLK. So they are running another designer candidate against him, and with all the voter suppression and vote ‘finding’ laws it is going to be tight. Last night I dropped the rest of my money on the Rev. Senator Raphael Warnock, D GA. And made it monthly...oh Lordy. If we can somehow send him back, y’all will owe me—and my state. Bigly!
I am not forgetting all of the great people from other states who donated money and effort last time, nor the others out there who are running on all heart and pocket change—just wanted to brag a little on a great American. We’re trying to give our country another Jimmy Carter.
Pretty sure on has to be a nuclear engineer to captain a nuclear sub. Interesting narrative attempt to label one of our smartest Presidents ever as just a "peanut farmer" from Georgia. Jimmy Carter is an exceptional scholar, Navy Officer, humble farmer, and compassionate humanitarian. The man is an example of the type of success our institutions of education and military should aim for creating. Jimmy Carter is the idealized leader, someone who understands sacrifice, remarkably fit for high office, a life of service to humanity and commitment to democracy.
As you surely know, Carter is the definition of humble, having tirelessly used his own hands to make unfathomable dreams come true for so many through Habitat. From Georgia he arose, to Georgia he returned.
Paraphrasing you, Carter is the stuff a leader should be. 💙🍑💙
Annie, no one can promise anything in times like these (to state the obvious), but someday I would love to read on this forum that you are smiling again. That all of us are smiling again!
Gus, I agree with everything you said. I moved to southern Georgia years ago and voted for Carter twice, it was hard to accept his loss and I feel we would not be where we are today if he had won a 2nd term and if people had understood why we all need to make some sacrifices. I fully support Senator Warnock’s re-election, he has already demonstrated how hard he can work to get things done and most recently with co-sponsoring the bill that passed to cap prices on insulin. I shudder to think what will happen if he is defeated by the republican opponent.
Helene, Hey Georgian! I agree with you—President Carter, Sen. Warnock, and shuddering....especially the shuddering. Doing a lot of that lately. If I ever get the chance to safely travel again, I want to see Savannah again. Used to drive a loaded church bus to St.Simons every year, and visit Jekyll while I was down there, for shrimp fried on the dock right off the boat. St. Simons was beautiful then, but they tell me it has changed.
In our values as a country and in our elected leaders and representatives, it looks like it boils down to moral character versus neoliberal capitalism. I loved Jimmy Carter. Every day he was and still is a man of great moral character and action. We, as Americans should be thankful always for the privilege of having such a man of great moral character and action in our midsts. God bless him.
Carter was, and is, a good, maybe great, man, but as president? Well, he came in as an outsider, and surrounded by other outsiders, and they didn't really know how to work Washington. It didn't help that he, and they, were southerners -- anti-southern prejudice was, and still is, a thing in the North, and no, it's not all about politics. One term was not enough for him to overcome the double whammy of being both southern and an outsider.
Susanna, the view that Carter was not a good president is really of the media's making. And that folk lore continues unchallenged. More critical than anti-southern prejudices, he faced many problems not of his making. We had 2 oil shocks in the 1970's. Nixon's 1971 wage and price controls (a very unrepublican policy) rocked the economy and took 10 years to work through the system before the negative effects were gone. Our economy created more jobs in his term than Reagan did in his first term. Because of the huge influx of baby boomers the unemployment numbers did not reflect that astonishing fact. There is so much more. The notion that he was a bad or mediocre president is not supported by facts.
GMB, I was a politically sentient adult during the Carter administration, living in the D.C. that isn't covered by the Washington Post (or, at that time, the Star). Thanks for the condescension. P.S. There's more to being a good president than economic statistics.
We can't emphasize enough the significance of the election of Reagan over Carter.
Carter had the courage and wisdom to tell us what we needed to hear.
Reagan gave us "the shining beacon on the hill" marketing BS. He also used religiosity as a weapon. Americans chose the terrible swift sword over a man of peace, who understood that his deeply held religious beliefs were in part a product of his own upbringing and experiences.
Humility is not weakness. It is the difference between an Honorable man and a Righteous one.
Biden is the first Democratic leader to show Carter the respect he deserves, and that is to be commended.
I think that Jimmy Carter is the closest thing walking to Jesus Christ (for confirmation, notice that they have the same initials). It's not about what he says (though I heard him give a most inspiring sermon at his church) it's about his actions. Determined, he has quietly eradicated Guinea worm disease, worked for voting rights around the world, and earned the Nobel Peace Prize for a reason. Like Jesus, his biggest pet peeve is hypocrisy and the GOP is full of it. They are traitors but preach patriotism. They weep for their "personal freedoms" while taking them away from women deciding what happens to their bodies, and on and on and on. But things just may backfire--until now, rich Texans could send their pregnant girlfriends out-of-state for their abortions. Now they could end up getting arrested for that, so let's see how long this lasts. Sorry to have gone off topic, but I'm sick and tired of the blatant contrast between good and evil....
Jesus gave Joel Olsteen a Ferrari for his faith. How can you compete with that?
But of course, Jesus would need someone to wash his feet before Olsteen would let him enter his temple of wealth. Maybe Jesus would have better luck than those downtrodden victims of Katrina. After his feet were properly washed, of course.
True words, Fred! True words. I gave a sermon that asked if Christ would be welcome in the church I served at the time, and he didn’t look anything like his picture over the door. Dressed and smelled like a first-century carpenter. We all had to think about that, including me. Not too sure about Joel’s place....
Hey, I only got a Honda CRV. Did I do something wrong?
I have never voted for any R for president and only a few Rs locally like Mark Hatfield. Now I won't vote for any of them, period. I was brought up in a R household and I am trying to remember now how I managed to escape that upbringing. I was in the Peace Corps in the middle 60s and I am sure that has something to do with it. And thank you, Gary and Mike for your excellent posts this am.
The Republican Party of the 60s & 70s is now close to the moderate democrats. Until the last few elections, I voted for whoever I thought was best for the job although my thumb was on the scale for women running for office. I did reluctantly vote for the R sheriff because his opponent was a real nut job.
Yes, I felt fine voting for some of the locals, including my next door neighbor for Marion County Commissioner. Some people hated him, but he is moderate compared to the wing nuts we have now. He told me he can't stand what has happened to the R party and is now an Independent. He also has had D signs in his yard.
The evolution of the human mind comes with painful recognition that I believed what I thought was true. Hard stone cold beliefs. Because I wanted them to be true. Brutal analysis after small constant examples of failures in those systems caused me to shift into your “analysis” space. It is possible to convict yourself of living in “belief space”, but it comes with a cost as you change, but the people you once associated yourself do not. That void remains as you you create spaces for new associates. Bridging this new divide weighs heavy, but its necessary to the soul of self image
Here are some things I have watched over the years.
I also feel that people's early "belief space" is formed by their parents' political views. (Really like that term "belief space".) As they age those parental beliefs become either something to affirm or rebel against. As we mature we begin to own our particular set of beliefs. And then what I am seeing around me is that as my friends and family move into old age some of them are becoming more rigid, fearful and therefore conservative. Where have all those hippies gone anyway?
Also that big bugaboo the internet was born which has thrown a wrench into everything. As instant information has become absconded by disinformation peoples' views can gyrate all over the place with a new political entity known as the MAGA voter being hatched. Eric Boehlert nailed it with his brilliant thesis of the role media plays in all of this. I have seen actual statements in the major media outlets calling the 2022 election as won by the Republicans and and trump winning in 2024.
This is before my first cup of coffee is finished writing so please forgive my meanderings.
This older hippie-dippie still is alive and rebelling against the so-called righteous ones who want to force on everyone their rigid ways and unacceptance of those different from them. I wonder, too, about how they could have gone so much awry. Yes, we had to grow up, wear office clothes and conform to work etiquette, etc. We strived to take care of ourselves and earned money for comfort and our future. But some of us kept on the good side of humanity and continue to want what is best for the common person and our communities.
I won't read any of the doomsday reports. I do read one source that talks about the press as Heather's letter and many here are. I also read with dismay some of the posts I see from Bernie remnants here. They do not understand how politics actually works once people are in office. Biden to them is an establishment/corporate D. As an aside, I am reading more in depth accounts of what happened around the Flynn/Eric Trump hatred rally held in Keizer recently. They do not reflect well on the local officials there save one who was actually harassed by the police and of course, the local police. Also news of people being harassed on public roads by Proud Boys. This latter is what we are fighting against among other things.
My parents never imposed political or religious doctrine. We were able to read, watch, explore. My first husband and I were the same with our children and the hardest thing I ever did was drive my daughter to her church group as it was not what I believe in, but they were her friends and it became her religion.
Gailee, One of the hardest things I had to do was tell my daughter she didn’t have to go to church anymore. So, we both did the same thing, from opposite directions, releasing our loved ones to think for themselves and find out who they were. My daughter still does not ‘approve’ of most organized religion—but she has the Light. And she is a thriving moral person who teaches me every day.
Gailee, I laud your approach and support for your daughter. Religion is a great place to find a community of folks that mostly share things in common. Also, it is IN PERSON not some Facebook fake friends page.
I am glad your daughter found her community and you supported that effort.
"the internet was born which has thrown a wrench into everything"
I found Dr. Richardson's writing on the internet. Note, I don't have facebook or twitter mostly because I don't have time. I ought spend less time here too.
And here is the rest of my comment: "As instant information has become absconded by disinformation peoples' views can gyrate all over the place with a new political entity known as the MAGA voter being hatched."
I understand the beliefs from your parents politial views. When I was young and first voting I just automatically voted the way they did. That is until a friend casually said," You can vote with your heart or your pockebook" and that stuck with me.
Mike S, for the most part, you are spot on. In hindsight, Carter did a lot of good things, however I could not bring myself to vote for his re-election at the time. In 1976, I voted for Jerry Ford. Then again, a vote for Reagan in 1980 was a bridge too far, I voted for John Anderson in that election. Reagan really sold the narrative that Government was the problem. That said I went to high school with someone who was a flight attendant on the plane that brought the Shah to the west for treatment.
The shah was a cruel autocrat who lacked the temperament and ability to rule his country with a just and democratic hand. That said, the Islamic government that rules, at present, is even worse! Many Iranians who participated in the overthrow of the shah were pro-democracy and brave, but to say that all those who took over the embassy were brave heros is a misnomer. There are more political prisoners in Iran today than there were during the shah's reign. There is far more fear, more hardship, and more injustice under this regime. The brave Iranians are the thousands who tried to enact the Green Revolution in 2009.
Rowshan, thank you for the clarification. My own comment was completely sans any attempt to discern complexity. I wanted to highlight my perception space at the time relative to a reality that I learned later.
But, you are correct. The guys in charge now are "no picnic".
Yes, Republicans are adept at insuring that Americans STAY ignorant and so is the press.
Iranians protesting the Shah? Now, that is what I call brave people doing the right thing now. But, at the time, I was outraged because my Belief Space, and Republicans, told me I should be.
I am an engineer so everything can be mapped into an N-dimensional space. In my case, the term "Belief space" came into being when I was in my first leadership job in engineering and I had to contend with managers who would not listen to data.
So, I invented two spaces for powerpoint. Belief Space and Reality Space.
I put all my own conclusions in Reality Space and any false or fake imagination stuff management was saying in Belief Space on the slide.
In this manner I could confront without confronting.
"... one of the most brutal dictators in the world, one who WE, the USA, had installed... Nobody in the press anywhere wrote that... "
There were parts of the American press that discussed the many crimes and cruelties of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's government. If I remember correctly, NPR was one, and I think the New York Times also had articles from that point of view.
I have also been reading everything I can to understand why people purposely vote against their own interests and how individual political identity is formed. The best explanation I’ve found so far compares political identification to the basics of parenting styles - nurturing or authoritarian (George Lakoff, Don’t Think of an Elephant) Democrats align with the nurturing style that encompasses solving problems together, setting clear rules and expectations, and using open communication and natural consequences. Republicans align with the authoritarian style which encompasses a strongman-driven father-knows best method that sets strict rules and punishments and uses one-way communication with little consideration of individual needs. There isn’t much room for negotiation on political identity as the two styles have been whittled down to the very essence of how we see ourselves and each other. Are we all equal and need to work together to solve problems or are we unequal and need an authoritarian strongman to tell us what is best for us? There are, of course, many nuances in between on each side, and that is where the messaging comes in. But the basics, that’s pretty hardcore. I don’t see a lot of wiggle room, but there is in fact overlap. And the Biden administration is doing its best to focus on that overlap. By focusing on children (the common denominator of parenting styles) we can all agree on a platform for messaging - that we want what’s best for our children. Republicans have grasped this as well and are hitting hard on how everything effects our children. I’m sure no one missed the near constant child pornography questioning tilt during the Ketanji Brown Jackson Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Or the focus on CRT in grade school classrooms. Or the transgender laws popping up in Republican state legislatures. Or anti-abortion laws. Notice how the focus is on children? Because they can win by focusing on what’s best for the children. And so can we.
"Are we all equal and need to work together to solve problems or are we unequal and need an authoritarian strongman to tell us what is best for us?" What a brilliant distillation of the essence of the problem. Bravo!
Democrats are critical thinkers and the Republicans are not, period. And for that they need to learn their lesson--maybe one of De Santis's kids will grow up to be a happy drag queen....
Rally yesterday in front of one of the school district administrative buildings against trans people among other things. There were counter protesters there as well.
David Brooks opinion column in the NYT the other day ( thank you to the HCR reader who posted it. I subscribed to NYT right after ) really gets to heart of all this—-about how globalism aka Reaganism has morphed into culture wars. He talks about universal values such as equality, freedom, personal dignity,…it’s a good long read and immensely well worth it but don’t miss the last few paragraphs as they succinctly tie it up. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/08/opinion/globalization-global-culture-war.amp.html
These were the usual suspects, older people carrying flags as if prejudice against certain groups is patriotic. Interestingly we were watching a series called Candice Renoir, a police drama set in France. Last night's episode centered around a trans person...timely.
When I was a child I didn't question those young kids or teens who seemed different somehow--it just wasn't discussed in those days. I had to forcefully overcome the ick-factor eventually picked up by my parents and others to see how hard it must be for some people born differently. Compassion and acceptance go hand in hand.
I had a seventh grade teacher who was very popular and made no secret that he lived with Wally. We had no idea and thought he and Wally took out all the single female teachers. They probably did actually. It was actually nice to be naive in those days. Oh yeah, at lunch time we ran a casino with play money and miniature roulette wheels, etc. until we were found out. We also got in trouble for ordering pizza to be delivered at lunch time. Ah, the good old days.
I heard a good line on 'Meet The Press.' One of the panelists, Kimberly Atkins Stohr of The Boston Globe said, "Democrats focus on policy, Republicans focus on politics." Roughly meaning Dems see problems and look for solutions, while Republicans see problems and look for talking points to use in political campaigns.
I’ve wanted to better understand the politics of why psychohistory hasn’t become a stronger field of study. There are numerous books to read and understand. Bruce Mazlish said this: “Forty years later, Professor Mazlish admitted that the promise of psychohistory had yet to be realized. There were never enough scholars attracted to such interdisciplinary work — or qualified to provide peer review of it — he said in a 2004 interview in The Bulletin of the Historical Society. As a result, he said, “you almost never achieve critical mass.””
And from the same NYT peice:
“Addressing the skepticism with which some of his work was received by fellow historians, Professor Mazlish said in 2004: “Historians get scared that we are doing contemporary history, but Herodotus did contemporary history. We have got to deal with the issues of enormous importance to our existence, and if they happen to involve practicing contemporary history, so be it.”
In an interview for this obituary in 2011, Professor Mazlish said negative reaction to his work had peaked with publication of the Nixon book. “I got a ton of hate mail,” he said — most of it from Nixon supporters, but some of it, in milder tones, from fellow academics.
“They accused me of being partisan,” he added. “They said my analysis lacked merit. Then came Watergate. As I remember, the hate mail stopped after that.””
IMHO a strong scholarly field of study that combines understanding the human mind and behaviors over the course of our history is sorely needed. Would like to hear from experts in those areas about why it hasn’t happened.
"Dr. Bandy Lee was pushed out of Yale" most likely because she was a woman AND because if she was writing bad stuff about Trump that might compromise Harvard's incoming "gifts" from Republicans.
Dershowitz was just the guy who was visible in making it happen, but, if she was fired, a LOT of people in Harvard felt she was a threat to the MONEY.
If she had had a bunch of donors behind her she would still be there.
Mostly Harvard is what it has been since around 1850: A Service for Rich, White Men to Get Rich and Stay Rich by pretending that, while they were drinking and partying at Harvard, they actually got educated.
For proof I offer you just one exhibit. George W. Bush.
Bam. I laughed for 5 min KR instead of replying to Harvard comment. Having a long career in public education has stirred up my sensitivity to the blatant blankets of statements by armchair experts of pedagogy and andragogy. The disrespect and censuring of professional educators with degrees is astounding.
I see the egregious goal of wanting to indoctrinate children for political gain. However, the attack on the common good of public education with a focus on criminalizing the efforts of teachers and creating vigilante justice in rounding up teachers to silence their work and dictate their course of instruction is hideous.
There is not one educator I have spoken with that feels supported by desantis’s dumbed down version of public schools. They know what he wants. The rise of private and charter schools supporting classical education and little kids marching lockstep in excessive patriotism and chauvinism.
Hear, hear, Christine. The fact that experts are routinely dismissed and even criticized for their expertise, whether in epidemiology (Fauci), foreign policy (Vindman, Yovanovich, and Hill), or governmental experience (Biden and Clinton), while people with no relevant experience whatsoever (Trump, Tuberville, Greene, Cawthorne and on and on and on) are elevated to high office, is really hurting this country. Not only do they have no experience, they don’t have the education or knowledge of history or even geography which might, just might, equip them to understand how to govern.
Florida isn’t alone. I will never, ever understand why public school teachers aren’t widely supported and paid better. Especially after their heroics during the pandemic.
Your image of little kids marching lockstep evokes images in my mind of the Hitler Youth or little Chinese kids, all dressed identically. Scary stuff, there.
"However, the attack on the common good of public education with a focus on criminalizing the efforts of teachers and creating vigilante justice in rounding up teachers to silence their work and dictate their course of instruction is hideous."
Great sentence that I strongly agree with and so would Thomas Jefferson who worked mightily to launch the public school concept.
Mike, do you seriously think Harvard started admitting minorities last year? Barack and Michelle Obama, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, W.E.B. DuBois, Yo Yo Ma, Ban Ki Moon, and Jose Castillo, all Harvard graduates as far back as 1895, would be shocked to hear this.
Some of our most treasured Americans are Harvard graduates, poets, authors, politicians, Nobel Laureates. Have you ever been there? I have, I have even studied there for a summer session. It’s an extraordinary place full of extraordinary people.
I cannot believe I’m sitting here defending Harvard’s reputation, when they rejected me 😂. Gotta tell ya Mike, national merit scholar, very high SATs, good grades, excellent extra curriculars, good midwestern prep school, and I wasn’t good enough. They weren’t wrong. This is a great school, and I don’t understand why you’re so hostile to it. Yes, they can do more to ensure that the minorities they accept thrive. But they do a lot already, especially with need blind admissions and financial aid.
Mike S: Both George W. Bush and his daddy George H. W. went to Yale, not Harvard.
My observation in attending Yale my junior and senior year after transferring is that there were a number of children of the wealthy at Yale - and they spanned the political spectrum from right to left. Yale (and Harvard) have great reputations, and the wealthy can afford to pay full freight. And it would be a mistake to assume that all wealthy people are odious or conservative. Reality is much more complicated than that. ( Btw, my family weren't wealthy and I am not. Dad could afford to send me because he, the first in his family to graduate college, went to MIT on the GI bill, and made just enough with stock from a tech company he co-founded to be able to send his children to college and to create a modest retirement cushion.) Yes, Yale (and Harvard) attract a lot of wealthy people of all sorts, and they have both been working since the 70's to make it possible for a diverse student body of all races and economic classes to attend. Both institutions are a long way from perfect but they are not monoliths - they are collections of people many of whom are enlightened lefties who do a huge amount of good both within those institutions and out in the world.
I also graduated from Yale, & am thankful I chose to stand on the shoulders of William Sloane Coffin, & not William F. Buckley. Like Chaplain Coffin, "The Heart Is a Little to the Left".
Mike, for clarification it was Yale, though you’re right, there’s not much difference. Certainly $$, are part of it and male egos too, but emotional reactivity blurs it all. It’s understood that the field of psych is not a hard science with hard data, but still we have the capacity to greatly expand our knowledge of how human minds work. Currently the field of neuroscience discovers new knowledge in leaps and bounds. Lakoff, mentioned in another comment, is a scholar of linguistic neuroscience. My point is, we need to be talking about the need for a scholarly field of study that keeps emotion and partisan 💩 to a minimum and brings psych, neuroscience and history together. Let’s figure out how to bring out the best in each other instead of giving way to murderous bullies all over the world. The more trauma these ogres create the more emotional reactivity and less cognition we will see in our he future unless we figure out how to change that. By the way, Biden is definitely on the path.
Christy, Bush, having flunked out of Yale but given a degree anyway, THEN, went on to Grad School in the MBA program at Harvard (the one for rich white boys with bad grades).
Sorry, but not feeling the relation to my point whatsoever, Mike. I have much bigger fish to fry right now than worrying about a bought and paid for elitist education. The bullies are winning at bullying.
Christy, I came back to this thread this evening, and reread your post. Your point got highjacked into the Harvard/Yale brouhaha, and I’m sorry that happened. I think you bring up a very interesting idea, and one that should have sparked a good comment thread. I’m no expert, so can’t really comment on the academic side of your point, although I find the idea intriguing. Even better would be if we were able to assess our leaders before voting for them, using a metric like this. I wish others more knowledgeable would chime in. For me, Alan Dershowitz’s name alone raises alarm bells.
Thank you so much KR! ❤️ Yes! We need some way to bring together experts in history, sociology & psychology to put forth ideas to promote what’s best in us. I’ve been a big proponent of teaching wellness care for our minds at very young ages. I’ve been reading some of the writing on the psychohistory website today. Very interesting, but I’m now guessing the term psychohistory has been tainted by a lack of scientific support. Assessments for dangerousness for anyone seeking power would be a great place to start. And yeah, Dershowitz has a pretty disgusting rap sheet! Why an institution like Yale would want to align themselves with him is bizarre. Money over morals apparently. Grateful for your reply! 🙏
I agree! I discovered yoga a few years ago, and really wish I’d practiced as a young mother - both for myself, and for what doing yoga could have given my children. I love the idea of wellness care for our minds. It helped me very much during my cancer treatment, and I’m convinced it helped my treatment work and helped me heal. Mind and body really are connected.
My take: "It's the frames. You're not stupid. You're living behind the Iron Curtain of the myth of America Exceptionalism. If you wander too close to the edge of the frame you will fall into the Sea of Knowledge. You know where that leads"
I have just returned from a birding trip in rural (red) Texas, & thought I would share my observations. Rural Texans vote Republican because of the disinformation learned from Fox "News", as well as local TV stations & newspapers owned by rich & powerful conservatives. Additionally, they hear "cheap grace theology" from mere peddlers of God's word on TV, as well as in church. Don't trust me, read "Jesus & John Wayne", or "The Power Worshippers". It will be interesting to see if Beto can win the race for Governor, as he runs an energetic & excellent campaign. While on the plane, I read an excellent book which best addresses these issues, "A More Perfect Union" by Adam Russell Taylor, head of Sojourners. Rev. Taylor identifies the divisive issues, & provides thoughtful solutions. I hope more responsible citizens will read this book. I have a Masters in Theology & wonder how a Republican today, can reasonably claim to be a "follower of Christ"? The Trump-led GOP base consists of heretics, conservative evangelicals & conservative Catholics.
Brian, thank for sharing this. Many of my Quaker friends (and others) recommend this book. For various reasons (including some vision issues that I hope are in the process of being resolved), I have not yet read it, but will soon as I get my hands on a copy. I hear the terms "Beloved friend" and "Beloved Community" used more and more often not only in Quaker and interfaith settings , but also increasingly in secular settings removed from explicitly spiritual influences. I find this deeply moving, as it seems to identify a sense of fellow caring, no matter how it is defined. I was especially struck by its use in a prison setting to defuse tense situations- by prisoners- and to work together to resolve problems. If they can, we can.
It is not only Republicans who need to learn how to think and feel this way. So do those of us just as confirmed in our certainty of righteousness. In that way perhaps we can reach past our own resistance and create a space for dialogue with people we neither understand nor grant dignity to. Some of the name-calling on this forum is an example of what we leave behind when we recognize the "beloved" nature of "the other". Offering a tiny sliver of and recognition of worth can go a long way, given some willingness to keep that option open.
I suspect some people will shudder when they learn that Adam Russell Taylor is an evangelical (like MLKjr) and a Baptist (like Jimmy Carter). I hope that doesn't make them turn away. I am a highly unstructured Quaker with a faith base I cannot define or describe. I was not born Quaker and am not sure that would mean anything anyway. My mother was a non-practicing Mormon who thought that all children should go to Sunday School. She selected a near-by "non-denominational" church whose approach to teaching she approved, though she specified that I was not to attend services our of fear that they would preach fire and brimstone, which she did not want her pre-school child exposed to. But I loved the music, so sometimes snuck in. Then one day when the congregation had invited an unidentified "special out of state guest" to preach, the sunday school classes were included. So I went. And was entranced. No fire and brimstone. My mother was upset at first when she learned about it.
From me- because the sermon was about capital L Love, and how to live in a "Beloved Community" (though I am not sure he used that term), and I began to see things in a different, non-exclusive way that appealed to me, and I wanted my mother to understand it was NOT the fire and brimstone she feared. She went back to the church with me, and met the preacher.
I think it helped that the preacher was black, and until the day of his sermon, unidentified because we lived in a place that was not always safe for black people. I did not know yet that my mother's family descended from black people but knew she was protective of them (I learned at age 12, when I was deemed old enough to grasp the implications of being descended from white-passing people who did not want their ancestry forgotten).
The congregation was all white, and carefully protected him (as they later did for the Harlem Globetrotters when they came to the valley high school to demonstrate their skills- no idea how that came about either).
When my family moved to another town, my connection to the little church ended, but the sense they instilled in me never has. It helped shape me, that message and demonstration of love. (And I still love the music.)
And I believe that human beings can resolve the issues we face if we are expected to and provided a starting place in which we can feel safe doing so. Because I saw it lived.
Many thanks for sharing. I recently learned that Quakers were among the very first Americans to oppose slavery on Biblical grounds. I hope you find the time to read the book, as it certainly enlightened me. By the way, Bishop William Barber is an evangelical, & I have read books by other American Baptists, apparently the progressive branch of Baptists.
William Barber is another religious leader I admire a great deal. I grew up around progressive Baptists, and did not even know the reactionary kind until I was nearly grown (though I knew other Christian sects that were very conservative, and a few that were seriously weird). When I was young, I explored a lot, encouraged by my parents. And deeply influenced by the discussions among the elders of my mixed-indigenous family, escapees from the Mormon mythology and ever-changing versions of Mormon history. My elders were delightfully irreverent. Later, by following up on inherited genealogical work, I learned that many of my early european ancestors had been Quakers, and that some of the beliefs and practices had survived in my family, as had a strong sense of indigenous spirituality. They meld well, as did Buddhism when it found me. As a side note, one of the major Quaker schisms was over slavery: I learned that at least two of my 18th century Quaker lines had been slave-holders. It split the family too. Another line is the one I mentioned before, from which I am descended from both the slave-holding and the enslaved sides.
Annie, thank you for this wonderful post. One way my views differ from those of Jonathan Haidt is that he is an atheist and believes that people will act badly unless constrained by social bonds. I was fortunate to have direct experiences that led me to the deepest faith and had teachers from several traditions. I only trusted teachers who put Love first.
Gary, I might be an atheist. I honestly have no idea. It seems to me that in order to be an atheist, you have to put yourself in direct opposition to something you don't believe in, and I'm not sure that is even possible. I eventually came to the conclusion that belief makes no difference at all: if there is a god(s), he/she/it/they don't care if we believe in her/it/they/him at all. It is simply irrelevant. That realization was tremendously freeing, because I was free to simply accept people for the good in them.
There is plenty of evidence that human beings get along simply by our very nature: we're made that way, and do not need to be coerced into it. Every disaster confirms this, despite the attempts of some (um, media?) to emphasize the negative. In fact, those who do act badly seem to do so out of some form of trauma, and societies who act badly experience a continuing trauma that has not been given the opportunity to heal. (My own sense is that that is in large part the problem with our own, and we are trying our best to fix it.)
Annie, this takes a whole other direction from the blog, one I'm very interested in but it's somewhat off-topic except for identifying a bias of Jonathan Haidt, I'll be brief. I like your take on this and agree that most of us have innate empathy and compassion. There are underadrenalized psychopaths who were not able to develop that capability (see J. Reid Meloy's writing). Many people are fortunate to have had "non-dual" experiences, which are confirmed by religions across cultures. There is abundant research support for our interconnectedness and innate spirituality despite the widespread belief that science and religion/spirituality are incompatible. I will be writing about such topics as one of my retirement projects and would be happy to continue the discussion off-line, if there is a way to do that.
Sure. Look me up on FB and send a message via messenger with an email address you feel comfortable sharing. Then I'll send you my personal email address. I'm on FB sort of hit or miss, but usually try to catch Heather's video talks, so will keep an eye out. BTW, not sure it is terribly off-topic, as Heather touches on this often in her talks. But agree conversations should be off the forum.
Yes, they get plenty of disinformation, but they vote for Republicans because they know Republicans will do everything they can to preserve the advantages of white Americans over the rest. This is an example of voting with the heart (despicable as it is in these cases) instead of the pocketbook. No amount of information or disinformation can get them to abandon that priority. The only hope is to get the rest of the electorate to the voting booth on record numbers.
That would be great, but they will not read any such book. What’s worse, they won’t vote for anyone who isn’t proactively opposed to the reading of books like that. They oppose anything that might make a dent in their advantages as white Americans. The hearts of most white Americans are in a very bad place.
For those who regularly post and keep our "friends" assuaged, I know that more than we liberals are seeing these Letters. I have upped my pretty flower and dog picture posts on Facebook so that I can more frequently intersperse links too LFAA and Hubbell and Legum. Besides, the many "likes" for the happy photos indicate people are still paying attention. Plus, I no longer get people weighing in and trying to argue. We never know when people who like us (but disagree with us) will get that "thing" that causes the cognitive dissonance that makes them reel and start their journey. Keep speaking up out of the love you feel for democracy. And start throwing in sentences about how grateful you are to have freedom of speech so we can see these writers.
... and today I posted a photo and explanation about how to cut chocolate chip cookies into smaller, less caloric, chunks that can be microwaved into a gooey messy treat when I simply need a cookie! And then another post with a link tohttps://projects.iq.harvard.edu/futureofmedia/index-us-mainstream-media-ownership
Be careful with Haidt. The Righteous Mind is a worthwhile read. But Haidt evolved from more liberal views to more conservative in the period that he wrote it. In the end he presents a biased view against liberals and for conservatives. Liberals make mistakes but sometimes we have to stop being so ready to dwell on them and shout from the rooftops all our accomplishments.
I agree with you. I am not a true believer in Haidt, or any author or perspective. I had many "yes but" responses to the Haidt book and am thinking those through. I am also doing this reading to prepare to have more conversations with conservatives.
Years ago, the late professor Marshall McLuhan pointed out that 'the medium IS the message.' The Democrats certainly have the facts on their side, but when, where and how to communicate them is actually more important than the facts themselves!! There are media experts who know how to do this kind of thing effectively. Republicans use them. That's where Democrats must turn to get their message of success and optimism across successfully. Not a game for amateurs in Washington! The pros are in NYC and LA.
With only 13% of our workforce unionized, and many of them in government jobs, this is a big 'maybe.' Dems, get it straight! : "The medium IS the message." That's why and how Fox works for the bad guys, where the facts don't count for much but the messenging does.
Hopefully with our now or never situation they will get some seriously good help with their messaging. So far haven't seen it, so it is making me anxious.
Me too. All this preaching to the choir which goes on here accomplishes little to prevent the church from burning down. The 'preaching' (messaging) should be directly toward voters who can change things. Even spending time going after the arsonists who started the fire in the first place may be a distraction from the Dems' real goals, preserving our democracy.
Dan Peiffer's The Message Box is very useful on Dem messaging & actions but, is targeted at Dems, Independents & recovering R's. Dan's tactical topic today is formal House criminal referral of the tfg or not.
Dan is on the Substack platform. Dan is also the co-host of "Pod Save America" and Author of "Trumping America" & "Yes We (Still) Can", Tuesday is Message Box Day when Dan responds to the Communities' direct questions. Defintely check it out.
This is a very informative. It would be worth an HCR letter itself. The only criticism I have of H. Is that she fails to anywhere near adequatelyy address the nitty-gritty aspects of the socio-psychological factors of America's ongoing political nervous breakdown.
Well, I guess she did by spurring getting your comment.
She's a historian, not a psychoanalist. She's very clear about where her expertise lies. Her strength is laying out the connections between past and present in our system, and the disassociations so that others have the material to do analysis from other angles. Personally, I don't see that as a lack, but something to value. Look at how many people have had their assumptions challenged and their perspectives enlarged because of the astute historical framework she creates to illuminate what is going on.
There is a history to the successful deployment of disinformation and propaganda. And you don't need to be a psychoanalyst -- or a psychologist, like me with an economics degree where I majored in marketing -- to explore that topic.
“But people don't vote according to their interests. They vote to support those they identify with. And we Democrats are poor at messaging.”
Agreed. Might a more unified, across the country, messaging blitz and better press coverage of what the Biden Administration and the Democratic Party are doing for US save US from a midterm GOP upset? If not, Goldwater, Reagan and Trump will win..
Not sure why you think HCR should be advising the Dems on messaging, but you might be interested in Dan Pfeiffer's Substack column, The Message Box. He's a political operative and commentator, and he's pretty good at it. https://messagebox.substack.com/
I never advised that HCR should be advising the Dems on messaging, a skill which goes beyond merely stating the truth. Pfeiffer understands that from what his blog seems to indicate. Perhaps he should be recruited by President Biden to do the same kind of work he did in the White House for Barack Obama. He's a pro.
I'm not suggesting that she advise the Dems on messaging. She may be able to write about the history of propaganda and disinformation and about how it's affecting our country. I will definitely check out Dan Pfeiffer, thank you!
David Brooks had an excellent opinion piece in Sundays NYT. "Globilization is Over. The Culture Wars Have Begun" where he says the following "The fact is that human behavior is often driven by forces much deeper than economic and political self-interest, at least as Western rationalists typically understand these things. It’s these deeper motivations that are driving events right now — and they are sending history off into wildly unpredictable directions." "First, human beings are powerfully driven by what are known as the thymotic desires. These are the needs to be seen, respected, appreciated. If you give people the impression that they are unseen, disrespected and unappreciated, they will become enraged, resentful and vengeful. They will perceive diminishment as injustice and respond with aggressive indignation"
It is an excellent article in line with what Jonathan Haidt explores.
Yes, earlier I posted the NYT link to the David Brooks article you are referencing.. Thank you for expounding on that very key part of the piece which gets to the heart of all our discussions. David Brooks is brilliant and a gem!
I would love to know how to get the message out! Living in a very red state with 2 trumpian congressional representatives, I post Heather's letters on their fb pages. The replies are amazing not only for their insults but the depth of their belief in what is being feed to them. Daines & Rosendales post r aimed @ the trump/putin crowd. Replies are usually insults without facts & throw words like socialism & communism . One used liberal communist .
Biden's achievements are being ignored, while the Republican buffoonery is splattered across headline news to attract readership. Why can't people be more intelligent, critical seers? What's more important, the facts or trumpesque sensationalism?
The answer is apparent. Why are we still asking the questions. Our government was taken over by thugs and grifters and we watched while they robbed us. The dumb have been more dumbed down and the thugs get richer. This is our reality and if we the caring and intelligent do not stop it we only need to look at Russian history to see our future.Depending on the “honest, fact-telling “ press seems th be failing. Democrats and all believers in Democracy MUST do all that we can to stop this scourge. Find one candidate that you like and support him or her as much as you can afford and speak up!
Talk out loud in public about the truth of what is happening in the world and our country. We can be like Ukrainians and fight with all we have to keep our way of life. Now! Before it is all destroyed. Think of 2 ideas and share so that we the people for peace and freedom can keep our country.
Kaleigh McEneny, Kelly Ann Conway, Laura Ingram, Ivanka Trump, Sarah Hucklebee Sanders, Gini Thomas, Lara Logan, etc. unfortunately disprove your theory. In my career the most vindictive, petty and abusive bosses were women.
let's not forget elizabeth the first, margaret thatcher, catherine the great. women rulers often feel, like some mild mannered men who are tested as leaders, that they have to prove they are strong. the usual way is to go to war. how many times have you heard the press say or write that one is never considered a great president if one has not won a war? victory in a war is the best way to create a "legacy." and there is nothing the press loves more than a war. the press wants a good story and there is no story like a war. no matter how badly the last one turned out, they can't wait for the next one. remove war from the picture and most of the women did pretty well. the countries that responded best to covid were led by women. meanwhile our tough guy president told us it would be gone by easter. maybe he meant easter 2022?
Yeah Barb a lot of men tried calling me Patty, Patsy, Patricia, but in Spanish class I was called Patricio. My mother, the boss of the universe called me Patrick but she was the only one who could pull that off. My friends called me Pat but my real buddies call me Man Mountain, just the moniker I picked up as a smokejumper. Her is okay, I’ll answer to that for you because I’ve never had the honor before. Thank you for thinking me capable of that special kind of genius. Think perhaps leaders and look carefully around your society and watch who really shoulders the burdens of life. Who gets all the shitty details. Who has to work through the mundane thankless tasks. Who presents the world to the children. Who prepares the children to the world. Who is actually there on needy days. Who budgets the money. Who decorates the home. I’m going to stop now. Oops I lied. How many mothers send there children to war.
Throughout history, queens were more likely to wage war than kings.😉
“The first clue comes from the fact that, of all European sovereigns, married queens were the most bellicose, launching more wars than unmarried queens, and kings of all types. This might be because, thanks to gender norms, women rulers tended to benefit more from marriage alliances than kings. Married queens were likelier than kings to wage war alongside allies, often their spouses’ nations. And queens frequently roped their husbands into helping rule—something that kings hardly ever did with their wives.”
Through out history their advisors were men with nefarious designs. You could consult Shakespeare himself if the news media was biased. Or better yet have Heather drop in on him.
Brilliant. It’s time. And a truly worthy experiment. After all, men were born of women and nearly all were brought up in a matriarchy. We need to take our power back.
The entire animal kingdom is a matriarchy. Survival depends on it. How humans manage to turn that around is against the laws of nature and is leading to extinction. I put it out there because that girl was serious. Show me any tribe in America where the women were not the ones who kept the society alive.
Yes, her statement as fact needs to be checked. Men have been in power since time immemorial and I’m going to assert that they have been the near total war wagers throughout history. Perhaps, our history professor will enlighten us?
Not at all Jon. You may well think of me as the court jester and I resemble that at times because I really need mirth and the sounds of laughter from time to time. My solutions are based on the duty of holding young men together as their last faltering breaths escaped on their way to eternity in an upside down world of madness and the only thought they had was that their mothers were the only force that could save them. Always…always momma was the last entreaty. At 70+ I believe them.
Unfortunately, Rowshan, many people just want to get on with their lives and not be bothered. In all of this Trump brings them more "fun and fantasy" than Biden...and devil take the hindmost. Fun and fantasy sell newspapers and bring in ad revenus.
And newspapers, much like the centrist Democrats who blame the left for their troubles, blame their subscribers for abandoning them … none of them want to look at their own lack of honesty and forward vision… they just want to keep stirring the turd.
Dear me, Carla! The problem it seems to me is if you managed to force people to sit on a line between the extremities of the political "goalposts" , most would end up clustered around the middle...the classic distribution around the Median. Those such as Manchin and Biden are the architypal Repub/Dem Centrists of yore. At the radical or progressive ends of the continuum one might feel that one is leading the pack but unfortunatey both tails are trying to wag the dog ...and it annoys the hell out of the dog who just wants to go to sleep or out for walkies.
I admit to being a progressive. We had a progressive President once. He was so popular he won the election four times and is the reason we have term limits. Seems to me term limits might be a good idea for Congress critters. But whatever… our current position seems to require the action of more care for the people.
The answer is obvious, the National Enquirer mission statement rules. Pecker let Chump pick out the anti-Hillary headlines for the Enquirer, now he is dictating them for our “free press” as well. I’m old, the Enquirer model was always bull Schitt. Now it rules the fools, and the fools rule us all.
We need to call out the media. Every day. I freely admit that I do not do that. It’s a lot easier to comment on strings of like believers. I need to change my approach, and I urge all of you to do likewise. As a button a friend gave me a long time ago read, “If the people will lead, the leaders will follow.” Change that to “If the readers will lead…”
Jon Stewart 'Jon talks to Margaret Sullivan, media columnist for The Washington Post, about why cable news relies so heavily on speculation, why outrage shouldn’t drive the conversation, and how the mainstream media can redefine its mission to serve the public interest, not the ratings machine'. Ms Sullivan saying that people (viewers) find it hard to look away when the subject is TFG - seems to me like projection and justification for laziness, and greed (appealing to the lowest/baseness of human appetite). He really nailed it with the title of his show! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKRcUeIMIUs&ab_channel=TheProblemWithJonStewart
Yes. Thanks. There needs to be op-eds that temporary inflation and slightly higher gas prices is a small price. The issue is protecting democracy, exposing pro-Putin, anti-Semitic, white nationalist members of the current Republican Party.
There are those op-ed’s but people like you and I and the other readers here are the only ones reading them. It’s because our fellow Americans who are working 3 jobs just to squeak by can’t afford the newspaper and don’t have the time to do research on the source of their news stories. . Sound bites and sensationalism is all they have time for. It’s by design.
To your point, Rowshan, big headline in Wa-Po - "Biden to announce plan to ease gas prices as inflationary pressures persist". Just HAD to get that 'inflation' tag in there, didn't they?
Heather Cox Richardson writes as a Biden partisan. She writes that "it is no secret that we are in a battle between democracy and authoritarianism in America and around the world." Richardson falsely associates Biden with "democracy," resolutely ignoring the evidence that Biden stole the Democratic nomination from Bernie Sanders.
Back during the primaries, I described Biden, on his campaign facebook page, as "Creepy Snuggles, the Deep State swamp creature mired in Ukrainian sleaze, from tiny corporatist Delaware where the only grass-roots voters work in corporate headquarters buildings." Perhaps that last part was a bit of an exaggeration, but to characterize that old Establishment water carrier Joe Biden as a champion of democracy seems absurd on its face.
I was never a Trump supporter. During the the first impeachment brohuhah, I watched as Trump committed an arguably impeachable offense in full public view, but the Democrats said absolutely nothing, with the partial exception of Tulsi Gabbard. (Bernie Sanders cleared his throat a bit, but he isn't a Democrat.) I am referring to Trump's murder of Qasem Suleimeini, an Iranian military leader who was on a three-way peace mission involving Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia (according to statements at the time by the governments of Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia), which would seem to be a high crime. And of course misusing the U.S. military to carry out an assassination is a high misdemeanor. This happened DURING the impeachment circus, but the so-called Democrats gave Trump a free pass on this one, as if they are just as corrupt and imperialist as the Republicans.
I raised my voice on this issue, on my own facebook page and on Trump's. Obviously my voice doesn't carry very far, but if my assessments are both honest and accurate, then open-minded people of good will might begin to pay attention.
Spare us the Bernie tales of woe. I loved Bernie Sanders and still hold him in high regard. He is on the right (correct and just) side of most issues. And he wears nice mittens. I supported him in the 2016 primary.
But truth be told. If Bernie had endorsed Hillary right out of the box and campaigned harder for her, we might not have had the horrific four years of suffering that set back our international clock by decades and lost us precious time in the climate crisis countdown. Too many young "Bernistas" sat out the general election. They essentially cast their votes for TFG by not voting.
I have no personal fondness for the Clintons. I think Obama is a fine person, but naive as all get out. Warren was my 2020 primary choice. But I love the fact that Joe Biden is our President. On the political spectrum I am left of AOC and Gandhi. On the American real life scene - get things done, keep us alive, and improve the lives of the average American - I root for Joe Biden. Do I wish he was 20 years younger? Do I wish he was really Stacey Abrams. Yes and sure.
I suppose Bernie would be a more dramatic and exciting President. But do we really think a self proclaimed "Socialist" could have accomplished anything with the current makeup of Congress? Do you think that Manchin and Sinema would have ignored their corporate masters for Bernie?
Yes, Heather Cox Richardson is leading the cheer for Biden. I say hip, hip hooray!
Clinton lost her election because Democratic strategists assumed too much -- that people were ready to vote for a woman. Strategists did a miserable job of data analysis that led to her defeat in the Electoral College. Pay attention to data because in this day and age, data is queen/king. Voting districts matter more than the popular vote and it takes only a few districts to turn the tide. Hence, the Trump presidency (if we can call it that).
If you want to know why Republicans hate Hillary, read "Jesus & John Wayne". The lies told about a very qualified candidate were continual for several years. Moreover, conservative evangelical & conservative Catholic women preferred Trump the misogynist over a woman who thought abortion should be safe, rare, & legal. Only Black voters have consistently voted against Trump the White Supremacist & racist. All "followers of Christ" need to be guided by the Equally Sacred Priorities found at networklobby.org. Moreover, a "successful businessman" has never been a good President, as macroeconomics is outside their circle of competence, consider Hoover, Bush, & Trump. They all believed in the theory of supply-side economics, which has been falsified, read "After the Music Stopped".
I agree. Women did not like Hilary out here. How much do you think her loss had to do with Bill eating the poisoned apple? Because that issue surfaced again and again leading the dwarves at least hereabouts to disgruntlement.
Objectively speaking, there is reason to suppose that the Establishment is getting ready to throw Biden under the bus. The New York Times recently flip-flopped on whether Hunter Biden's laptop is real, and then there's "Laptop from Hell":
So you are willing to sweep under the rug Biden's cyber-theft (with other dirty tricks) of the Democratic Primary because now he's "doing the right thing." I talked about the cyber theft in my response to Rea Howarth's reply to my previous post. I never supported Bernie, even though I grew up in Vermont. I supported Tulsi Gabbard in the 2020 primaries.
In my assessment, Biden is a horrifying failure in foreign policy; and with economic/fiscal policy, he is heading the economy straight for an iceberg, but the passengers on the Titanic (like you) are blissfully unaware.
Brian Book, I don't suppose you'd be willing to discuss which facts you are referring to. Regarding Biden's theft of the 2020 Massachusetts primary from Bernie Sanders, the evidence is discussed by Theodore de Macedo Soares as follows:
The 2020 Massachusetts Democratic Party presidential primary was held on March 3, 2020. Election results from the computerized vote counts differed significantly from the results projected by the exit poll conducted by Edison Research and published by CNN at poll’s closing. As in the 2016 Massachusetts primary between candidates Sanders and Clinton, disparities greatly exceed the exit poll’s margin of error. Sanders won Massachusetts in the exit poll and lost it in the computer count.
The discrepancies between the exit poll and the vote count for Sanders and Biden totaled 8.2%— double the 4.0% exit poll margin of error. Warren’s and Biden’s discrepancies totaled 8.0%, also double the margin of error. These discrepancies replicate the total discrepancy of 8.0% favoring Clinton in the 2016 Massachusetts Democratic Party primary between her and Sanders. This time two progressive candidates exhibit the same discrepancies now favoring Biden representing the establishment’s choice.
Presidential candidates Biden’s and Bloomberg’s vote counts exhibited the largest disparity from their exit poll projections. Biden’s unobservable computer-generated vote totals represented a 15.7% increase of his projected exit poll share. Given the 1,342,905 voters in this election, he gained approximately 60,900 more votes than projected by the exit poll. Bloomberg increased his vote share by 28.2% and approximately 34,500 more votes than projected. Their gain came largely at the expense of candidates Sanders and Warren whose combined vote counts were 97,000 less than projected by the exit poll.[i]
Noteworthy is the fact that the 2016 Massachusetts Republican Party exit poll taken at the same time and at the same precincts as the Democratic Party primary, and also with a crowded field of five candidates, was matched almost perfectly by the computer count—varying by less than one percent for each candidate.
Exit polls are widely recognized—such as by, for example, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)—as a means for checking the validity of vote counts. The U.S. has financed exit polls in other countries to “ensure free and fair” elections.
The United States remains one of the few major democracies in the world that continue to allow computerized vote counting—not observable by the public—to determine the results of its elections.[ii] Countries such as Germany, Norway, Netherlands, France,[iii] Canada,[iv] United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and many other countries protect the integrity of their elections with publicly observable hand-counting of paper ballots.[v]
Dear John, I loved you as good as I could but this other feller Big Bill has come into my life now and he makes me happier. So sorry I couldn’t be true to you. If you continue to do everything the way you are going I fear you will never find love. I truly wish success finds you. Don’t worry John many of us got the same letter.
You assert that Biden “stole the election from Bernie Sanders” without a single shred of evidence. The people who got their weary butts up in and went to vote for Biden after Rep. Jim Clyburn endorsed Joe Biden as a man who could be trusted to have their backs, elected Joe Biden. They wanted to replace the malignant insanity that drove the Trump Administration. They simply picked the candidate who would attract the majority of voters.
Contrary to the opinions of Bernie supporters who see a conspiracy in every corner, poor people are not “Socialists”.
They simply want some modicum of a fair shake in a very unfair world. Most are fiscal and social conservatives who must guard the little bit they have. Their children are their paramount concern.
During the campaign for the 2020 election one woman commenter said she would crawl over broken glass through the covid fog to vote for Biden. Remember the efforts of DeJoy to eliminate mail in ballots just a covid was raging? 81 million voters said yes to Biden. A truly wonderful moment for Democracy.
Rea Howarth, you reiterate talking points without a shred of evidence. I was never a Bernie supporter. I discussed the evidence around here before, and am pleased to do so again.
The Massachusetts 2020 primary was the most egregious example of a consistent pattern of discrepancies from the exit polls in Biden's favor, throughout the primaries. In Massachusetts, the official results were 4% less for Bernie than the exit polls. And in Massachusetts the official results were 4% less for Elizabeth Warren than the exit polls. All of this discrepancy was added to Biden's total. This, in the realm of exit polls, is simply preposterous.
A leading expert on this, Theodore Soares, discussed the results here:
That link used to be easily accessible. However, it has now been deemed "unsafe" (go ahead and try the link; it is still possible to get through if you ignore the warning), as if the Powers That Be are restricting access.
There was a misleading "fact check" on Theodore Soares's analysis of the 2020 Massachusetts Primary here:
This is a good example of “whataboutism”. Trump alledgedly commits murder and you blame Democrats for not stopping him or from facing justice, a system partisanly rigged to allow Team McConnell to avoid conviction, by loosing the Circus clowns and paper tigers in Cruz-ism tactics of distraction
BTW, Biden didn’t steal the nomination, he used his political collateral to build his coalition that provided the necessary support. That’s not theft, its politics. And you moan about it. Thats your voice
Dave Dalton, I further discussed the charge of vote fraud by Biden in the Democratic primaries in my response to Rea Howarth.
You miss my point about Trump and the Democrats: The Democratic leadership, on foreign policy toward Russia and the Middle East, is generally in lock-step with the "big stick" imperialism of leading Republicans. And when Trump wielded the Big Stick to apparently commit murder (using the U.S. military to do the dirty deed) in the middle of an impeachment proceeding, the Democratic Party exposed its hypocrisy by simply ignoring it.
In my assessment, the Demublicans have little to offer that is different from the Republicrats.
That you are unable to discern little difference between current GOP and Democrats lends credence to my concern that you are a credible observer of US domestic and foreign policy, as well as the autocracy being pursued by Republican operatives in Red States
Your nit picking also suggests a rejection of the art of diplomacy, consensus decision making and the value of negotiated alliances
After Biden stole the Democratic nomination from Bernie Sanders, he held his corporate nose and embraced much of the Progressive agenda to paper things over. So now we have a "kinder, gentler" regime at the helm of the Titanic, but please don't go belowdecks; it's a bit swampy down there.
Two things you don't want to see being made: Sausage and legislation. A democratic republic is inherently messy. Thanks for bringing your viewpoint to this space. But, to call any aspect of Biden's administration "swampy" is pure projection. Trump's administration was so deep in alligators...because they deliberately and willfully filled their administration with the most "swampy" people they could find.
You can only say that if you ignore Hunter Biden's "laptop from Hell" and the mainstream news media's prodigious efforts to cover it up until after the election:
How rude. What, in your mind, makes a troll? Is it just somebody who is out of tune with Biden's party-line chorus, as conducted by Heather Cox Richardson?
Regarding Biden's theft of the 2020 Massachusetts primary, the evidence is discussed by Theodore de Macedo Soares in this article:
The 2020 Massachusetts Democratic Party presidential primary was held on March 3, 2020. Election results from the computerized vote counts differed significantly from the results projected by the exit poll conducted by Edison Research and published by CNN at poll’s closing. As in the 2016 Massachusetts primary between candidates Sanders and Clinton, disparities greatly exceed the exit poll’s margin of error. Sanders won Massachusetts in the exit poll and lost it in the computer count.
The discrepancies between the exit poll and the vote count for Sanders and Biden totaled 8.2%— double the 4.0% exit poll margin of error. Warren’s and Biden’s discrepancies totaled 8.0%, also double the margin of error. These discrepancies replicate the total discrepancy of 8.0% favoring Clinton in the 2016 Massachusetts Democratic Party primary between her and Sanders. This time two progressive candidates exhibit the same discrepancies now favoring Biden representing the establishment’s choice.
Presidential candidates Biden’s and Bloomberg’s vote counts exhibited the largest disparity from their exit poll projections. Biden’s unobservable computer-generated vote totals represented a 15.7% increase of his projected exit poll share. Given the 1,342,905 voters in this election, he gained approximately 60,900 more votes than projected by the exit poll. Bloomberg increased his vote share by 28.2% and approximately 34,500 more votes than projected. Their gain came largely at the expense of candidates Sanders and Warren whose combined vote counts were 97,000 less than projected by the exit poll.[i]
Noteworthy is the fact that the 2016 Massachusetts Republican Party exit poll taken at the same time and at the same precincts as the Democratic Party primary, and also with a crowded field of five candidates, was matched almost perfectly by the computer count—varying by less than one percent for each candidate.
Exit polls are widely recognized—such as by, for example, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)—as a means for checking the validity of vote counts. The U.S. has financed exit polls in other countries to “ensure free and fair” elections.
The United States remains one of the few major democracies in the world that continue to allow computerized vote counting—not observable by the public—to determine the results of its elections.[ii] Countries such as Germany, Norway, Netherlands, France,[iii] Canada,[iv] United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and many other countries protect the integrity of their elections with publicly observable hand-counting of paper ballots.[v]
I’ll bring this up because the name comes up in HCR’s Letter today. We all have different insights that, at times, work like radar…alerting a sixth sense to, well, just somethin’ somethin’…good and bad. Mine has always served me well meeting hundreds of kids in a career in public education. I’ve met a few kids that have given me a sense, for instance, that they will achieve fame and destiny and a very select few that give me a sense of having a calculating nature, destructive bent, and will not win the warm fuzzy award. These intuitions have worked well, for me, in finding effective teaching learning styles in the classroom.
I can remember the first time I laid eyes on Jared Kushner. He actually was seated next to then president Trump around a very big table in a big room at what I suppose was an important meeting. I literally jumped up and thought….”that’s one cold fish whispering in the president’s ear. He looks like a rabbit hopping down the socio-path.” No sh*t. It was a bit chilly.
I think of it when JK’s name comes up.
And wonder at the balls of the Repubs to suggest again and again criminality and intrigue regarding Hunter Biden who is not in any government job and you’ve got the “Trump kids” right up the keister of nepotism and personal gain from the Whitewash House.
Wasn’t it JK father that got caught in some kind of Investment fraud ? He did something ? He was probably the real ‘Adviser ‘ in for the Thief n Chief .
Fascinating info; I have worked as an instructor (not a teacher) in a discipline requiring both physical and educational skills (teaching use of force application and documentation as well as being a Field Training Officer) and as such, was taught a great deal about adult learning styles. I did not come across any of the more negative specimens you describe, but before I took on those extra duties, I completely changed the look and style of my initials due to a male deputy whose initials were also AH; I did NOT want my opinions to be confused with his in any way, shape, or form. He was later terminated and ultimately went to prison for homicide, where he had represented himself as an officer (having "neglected" to turn in a uniform shirt.
There is so much about TFG's toxic administration, I am unable to understand why the media is so negative about Biden's work. I stopped watching the PBS Newshour because I couldn't stand the whining, ignoring the good news and PBS' "fairness doctrine" about allowing the other side to spout their lies and disinformation... All of us need to call them out and make a noise about it!
I threw in the towel about the amateurish nature of local reporting years ago, when every political demonstration about LGBTQ rights or LGBTQ proposals had to be countered by comments from religious leaders or representatives. Why did reporters find it necessary to equate politics with religion in this case and very few others. Weren't there any political leaders who could respond to the matter without bringing up religion, by citing politics or science or the law? If a menorah is vandalized over Hannukah, why don't the reporters seek out evangelical Christians--part of whose purpose is to convert all non-believers)? Why is it okay to drag religious beliefs in when in other cases it is verboten? Why don't Holocaust deniers have a chance to chime in when Holocaust memorials are being considered in communities? The false equivalency over LGBTQ rights was very hurtful during the 20+ years of the fight, and caused me to ask, sometimes out loud to the chagrin of those around me, "Why doesn't Jesus love me?" Because the news media loves to stir the pot, but not take any blame.
PBS is simply another of the corporatized media. Were there a truly public media, funded by the citizens of the nation, we might have genuine, robust reporting and accounting of the public's opinions and political positions. Instead, this nation's government has chosen to deny funding for open access to the public airways on the national scale. The result is we have no nationwide, non-commercial public media. And when the government chooses to defund (or inadequately fund) public media, but favors corporate media, then the corporate media act as the state media. And corporatism is what our ancestors fought WWII to defeat.
SJ Roth, I agree. So many opinion pieces at the expense of reporting. And the list of corporate sponsors. If one accepts money from another, one becomes biased in that direction. Basic psychology? If I never see another ad by Fidelity it will be too soon.
Last week, Biden extended the moratorium on most federal student loan programs through the end of August—sooner than most Democrats wanted
What? They couldn't do it to the end of the year? August? Just in time to piss people off at the election? fookin' mo-rons. This is how/why they get in the hole they're in.
As regards Press The Meat on Sunday (and weekdays at 1pm Eastern), a "chucktodd" is an internationally-recognized unit of measurement of political idiocy.
When Trump became a candidate, Todd riffed on his chaotic performance with positively gleeful exuberance – as if he had just spotted the model train set he had always wanted under the Christmas tree.
From that moment on, he has been dead to me as a source of information.
We will miss Eric Boehlert’s voice. Condolences to his family and readers. His last piece and yours about him and about the underplaying of Biden’s accomplishments concern me. Thank you for noticing and for setting the record straight!! Each statement counts.
If trump & family & sycophant's avoid prosecution and accountability, I see little hope for the country. The pols are looting at will now...and big time.
This is incredibly depressing - we have similar (but less cataclysmic) stuff in Oz. May I bring to your attention a very pertinent paragraph - which really underscores why things are going the way they are. Can we change this trajectory? It is very deeply embedded in our culture.
"This paragraph seems to sum, in addition the dilemma we face as the nature of some of the “beasts”
“That is what companies are for.
They are designed to multiply capital; what they make is irrelevant.
Torpedoes, food, clothes, furniture. It is all the same.
To that end they will do anything to survive and prosper.
Can they make more money employing slave labour?
If so, they must do so.
Can they increase profits by selling things which kill others?
They must do so again.
What if they lay waste the landscape, ruin forests, uproot communities and poison the rivers?
They are obliged to do all these things, if they can increase their profits.”
“A company is a moral imbecile.
It has no sense of right or wrong.
Any restraints have to come from the outside, from laws and customs which forbid it from doing certain things of which we disapprove.
But it is a restraint which reduces profits.
Which is why all companies will strain forever to break the bounds of the law, to act unfettered in their pursuit of advantage.
That is the only way they can survive because the more powerful will devour the weak.
And because it is the nature of capital, which is wild, longs to be free and chafes at each and every restriction imposed on it.”
I am not a Freudian, but what you describe is a creature with an id and an ego, but no superego. With no sense of guilt and lacking anything like a moral compass, they are destined for sociopathy, and psychopathy if the ego goes totally wild.
We cannot deny that regardless of the headway the Biden Administration has made thus far, it is running in sand. Frankly, I don't see a way out as long as the Press is determined to keep Biden a one term President. The fact that misinformation is the standard, or the accepted norm, calling out the lies is futile at this point.
FOX Entertainment is not the only enemy, it's everywhere you look in mainstream media.
“…calling out lies is futile at this point.” Yes, Linda. And way too defensive which plays into their ongoing script. Truth is always best when it IS the offensive. The Light shines on it. The necessary messaging now has one requirement. Keep the Light on. There is no opposite.
And as we always say in my classrooms reaching a successful consensus of strategy…..”thumbs up, B&B”. BINGO and Bam!
As though the world could afford a schizoid America at a time like this!
Yes. Seen from outside, America looks mad and wedded to madness, both mad and plain stupid. And your media are feeding the idiocy, the madness.
You have a bunch of criminal lunatics running free and daily proclaiming their wildly abnormal New Normal. If this had been Saudi Arabia, the lot would have been beheaded even before January last year, but no, we sing America the Exceptional and rake in the cash for betraying the country and selling its institutions, while Saudi autocrats reward those who would make Washington another Moscow, another Riyadh.
The only positive construction I can put on the exceeding slowness with which the wheels of justice are grinding is... "Hold your fire until you see the white of their eyes".
As for the bullsh***ing Press Corps mercenaries, what trash! If and when the country comes to its senses there are plenty of bought-and-soldiers who'll be paying for their own criminal irresponsibility. A few bulletproof pillories would come in handy...
I was using a deliberate euphemism. Like the nice hypocritical English, like so many Americans who say one thing and mean another.
The problem is the reality of mass madness, a reality that affects us all, whether sane or deluded. A reality denied even by shrinks who prefer to stick to their shrunken -- but lucrative -- focus on the individual patient. A reality evident only to some of the slightly less deluded. After all, people are prone, like No. 45, to unload their inner filth on others and like to see themselves as "very stable".
A reality that's all the more difficult to cope with because the deluded see their delusions as "real" and the perceptions of saner folks as delusions... So you have to agree with them when they tell you their Supersize BS Burger is nutritive and deee-licious... while taking due evasive action.
It is urgent to remove the Superspreader Deluded Deluders to the safety of well-padded, well-soundproofed cells and to keep them there...
As for treatment, maybe training eyes on what your Great Would-Be-Leader's Big Boss and Role Model is up to in Marioupol may help those who don't want to see neighbor turn against neighbor in America.
I fear there may be a similarity between the current Qanon inspired Republican party and the mass hysteria behind the Salem witch madness. Is it simply irony
Whether we agree or not, I can be sure that all you say is heartfelt and 100% genuine. So, even when my reaction to something differs from yours, I know that the underlying motivation is fine. You'll never be guilty of indifference.
Trump has defrauded banks and Investors. Trump is conspiring with the Russians. Trump has surrounded himself with shysters and sycophants. Trump abuses women. Trump is a grifter. Trump is a racist. Trump is utterly unqualified to be president.
Media: But her emails!
2022:
Trump led an insurrection to overthrow our democracy. Trump blackmailed Ukraine. Trump conspired with Putin. Jared was paid off by the Saudis to the tune of $2 billion. Mnuchin was paid off to the tune of $1 billion. The Trump administration was the most corrupt in history. Trump’s inaction and incompetence on Covid led to hundreds of thousands of unnecessary American deaths. Trump tried to destroy NATO. Trump put 3 partisan right-wing hacks on the Supreme Court.
Unfortunantely so many want to be in Trump's inner circle or catch his eye so they can get in on the easy money/grift. They also believe if they support loud enough, he will pardon/save them once he is in power, this would go for DeSantis as well if he ended up as the nominee, (Horrors!) Greed is ultimately what is killing democracy. People are not going into politics for the good of the country and mankind but to get in on the glory of power and the insider trading doesn't hurt (just declare you are doing it, or your spouse}.
I’ve never understood the news media’s support of extreme right wing; but my suspicion is that very large amounts of money is involved? That either direct payments (making sure it looks legit—lots of ways to accomplish that in the media apparently) or huge amounts are coming into the media in clandestine ways? The NYT still has the appearance of being covering both the positive accomplished by the Biden administration and opposing views, but in reality, if you count the negative reporting daily, the pendulum has been falling to the right more and more. It is beyond disturbing to imagine the democracies crumbling but that’s what we’re watching.
Putin’s obvious plans for a future Russian empire have most of my Danish relatives anxious and countries most at risk for his next Anschluss, Finland and Sweden, are both trying to take preventive actions! This is not how I imagined the world to be during my “golden” years!
I think it’s become all about the clicks and ad revenue.
The NYT’s below-the-fold coverage of the Kushner story is reprehensible, especially when compared to the blaring front page headlines for weeks about Clinton’s emails.
Our “free” and bought press is doing as good a job brain-washing the gullible American public as Goebbels did preparing the German citizenry to see Hitler as a solution rather than the problem. The hiring by CBS of Mick M was the icing on the cake. The greedy bastards are ahead by a lap. Rupert is celebrating 40 years of destroying America’s democracy. Wonder what Reagan would think of this. Somebody ask Peggy Noonan.
In the conference Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy cosponsored by The Atlantic and The Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago, Maria Ressa said that social media is amplifying that which gets people angry. The press has been using this cheap trick to sell "news" for as long as my child has been alive. It is why we were not allowed to have the news on when she was young because she figured out it was just bad. She says we have to fight it with truth, just as you are Eric Boehlert have been doing, and calling them on it. Then we also have to look at who is behind their news. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWFRVPrZApI Thank you for fighting this disinformation war with the truth.
Thank you, Heather, for expressing what so many are thinking. I don't have cable TV, so, thankfully, don't see much of it. I have noticed this same tendency to minimize Biden's achievements by PBS News Hour and BBC America. The main problem at PBS, in my view, is Judy Woodruff; the actually reporters - Amna Nawaz, Nick Shiffrin, and especially Lisa Desjardin, are excellent at digging out facts and presenting a balanced, informative presentation.
Yesterday, I came across a story about a study that had, I believe, 500 Fox News watchers switch to CNN for one month. The researchers really didn't expect it to change minds, but it did. Not quite half the participants had different views on topics after watching CNN, than they had reported before the experiment. So, yes, Fox IS brainwashing people!
In the rural area where I live, it's a closed loop. The population watches Fox, goes to church on Sunday and hears the same BS from the preacher (most of which are in 'independent churches' where the congregation 'elects' or appoints the minister, none of whom have been anywhere near a seminary or theology school). They all share the same Facebook groups, etc. It's downright incestuous!
The Power Worshippers, by Katherine Stewart, documents not only how long the 'religious right' has been ascendant, but goes deep into their background, connecting them very much with the Movement Conservatives. Many people who have never heard of RJ Rushdoony or David Barton, believe this is all about religion. It is not. As several state openly, "It is about power". And now they have more of it, thanks to Trump's SCOTUS picks, than they've had in decades, if not a century. And it's scary as hell.
Here's a link to The Guardian report on the Fox/CNN study. I said 500; I was wrong -it was 304, and they were paid $15/hr to watch. I should follow Heather's example and collect take notes/collect research, before posting!
What a list, Professor Richardson. How do you know where to start? News, real news that includes an abbreviated laundry list of real government projects and plans, cleanup from TFG corruption, the work of government agencies, Jan 6 Committee, erosion of voting rights, abortion and choice, education and health care? Student loans, immigration, NATO and a continuing War between Ukraine and aggressor Russia. Supreme Court nomination. The government is working in ways we might like or not, so let’s hope enough people are paying attention. When it comes time to vote, let’s also hope we the people consider the difference between a government that works for the people versus one that promises to destroy choices and equality.
Boehlert wrote that there is such a “glaring disconnect between reality and how the press depicts White House accomplishments” that it seems the press is “determined to keep Biden pinned down.”
I am not surprised. Democrats govern better than Republicans (although Trump and his acolytes set new lows.) But people don't vote according to their interests. They vote to support those they identify with. And we Democrats are poor at messaging.
I would love to see more coverage in this blog about the struggles by Democrats to get the message across, especially to the voters who have turned against them.
Currently I'm reading everything I can to understand this better, including, recently, Jonathan Haidt's The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, where he shows that Democrats appeal to two fundamental moral foundations, Care/harm and Fairness/cheating, while conservatives appeal to the full complement of six, which adds Loyalty/betrayal, Authority/subversion, Sanctity/degradation and Liberty/oppression. Democratic messaging -- not governance -- doesn't address the last four. What if we forcefully appealed to these also? (He writes this about conservative values, which he differentiates from today's radicalized Republican party.) Haidt lays out the evidence base for these moral foundations being innate as well as for people having a genetic disposition to be liberal or conservative. We need to reach those who don't as easily identify as liberal.
He is one of many who explores the societally disintegrating force of social media since 2011, especially in a new article in The Atlantic, "Why the past ten years of American life have been uniquely stupid: It's not just a phase." In that article he identifies the specter of artificial intelligence programs that can write a story and slant it in any direction so that such disinformation will increasingly flood social media and its unregulated algorithms. Our adversaries make up all sorts of outlandish lies that undermine our shared sense of reality and inoculate authoritarians from being blamed by blaming their opponents first. This firehose of noise takes up all of the oxygen. Of course there's the lock Republicans have on propaganda to radicalize conservatives through talk radio, cable news and other media. The GOP became very disciplined in messaging starting with the Reagan Administration. Propaganda and disinformation practices have long been carried out by Russia and are being exploited by other adversaries.
That is the war we are fighting. Blogs like this ground Democrats' actions in our history and reveal their efforts to do the right thing. But it's only reaching those of us with a liberal orientation.
Gary,
Very, very, very well written and, I think, exactly on point analysis given my own experience having moved from a mindframe of "belief" to a mindset of "analysis" through reading in my early adult years (20-25).
I remember how I "felt" when Jimmy Carter (our last truly effective President) was running against Reagan.
Then, although I could read well, I was reading a far right student newspaper where George Will and William Buckley were spitting out lies every day BUT those lies reached out to my "feelings". They talked about "hard work", although I later came to understand neither had ever done any, they talked about "love of country", which, back then I still felt.
But, the "kicker" was: Reagan came along and ran against Jimmy Carter and BURIED him with one liners that were both funny AND piqued my emotions. Plus, by then, a bunch of what I considered "nuts" had taken over the American embassy in Iran, which, outraged me because I did NOT know they were protesting the fact that one of the most brutal dictators in the world, one who WE, the USA, had installed, had been flown to a US hospital for care enraging them.
Nobody in the press anywhere wrote that, but I learned it 25 years later.
I was NOT dumb back then. But, I WAS in what I now refer to as "Belief Space". In "Belief Space" a few simple things are "true". "Belief Space" is not a complicated space because the things you "believed" growing up ARE the FACTS. Not the reality around you.
Reagan sent messages into my Belief Space that "felt" true but were lies. THAT is what Reagan and the Republicans know how to do.
Dr. Richardson? She is the best writer I have encountered since I EXITED Belief Space. But, that took time, was painful and I did not even WANT to. Belief Space is fantastically comfortable. I never have to ask myself "is my President a war criminal?". "Am I"?
But Dr. Richardson does NOT appeal to the emotions in the way that Republicans do. An example is her recent emotional writing about GRANT. At the end she wrote a sentence about "getting back to work". I strongly identified with that sentence because that is what I have done every day of my life since I was 12 or so. That touched my EMOTIONS.
But, for the most part, Dr. Richardson is a highly adept stone turner through the written word. She turns over a stone that shows something you may or may NOT want to see.
Republicans NEVER turn over a stone that shows some ugly bug. They tell you your Country is GREAT, your GOD is yours and LOVES you no matter if you just moved the survey property boundary of your farm to shaft your neighbor.
Republicans reach out and touch the emotions JUST like the preacher at the front of the church. They use FEAR, DEMONIZATION, and simple concepts that many BELIEVE (and are in Belief Space so that is TRUE).
And Democrats don't come close. Jimmy Carter was the best President of my lifetime if you analyze what he did including running a responsible, balanced budget and not getting in stupid wars.
BUT, NOBODY could tell with Reagan laughing and throwing out one liners.
I voted for Reagan, a source of great shame even today for me.
Mike! You are my brother from another mother. My political journey was similar. My "belief space" was formed in high school. My favorite teacher (English) was a Buckley conservative. He brought a couple of us to Madison Square Garden to root for Goldwater. I was a passionate right winger wearing a hat that said "AUH20 1964". I was convinced in the deepest recesses of my heart that "right was right". I bought the Horatio Alger/Ayn Rand bullshit. It was so simple. Work hard, succeed. Lazy people failed.
Then Nixon and Vietnam. The Civil Rights movement exploded my brain. I avoided becoming a dead grunt, grew long hair and headed left. And now I eschew political labels, but if I had to self identify it would be philosophically wicked left and practically moderate. Fiscal responsibility and social justice. Common sense for the common good.
Thanks for your post. It is brilliant and addresses how we can all be conned. Ronnie was sooo good at it. And he is the founding father of the big lies. And yes, Carter was an American hero. He actually asked us to make some small sacrifices for the sake of the nation. He put solar panels on the White House! Ron the con took them down.
And your points about Iran are spot on. But nobody wants to dig deep and learn. Sadly.
Amy Carter protested at the Iranian embassy in DC and at UMass Amherst. The huge protest marches against tfg 45 were pretty much ignored by the media. Men in trucks against Biden was big news for weeks.
Yes, even today, on NPR, I must have heard about Trump five times and Biden exactly zero times.
🥲
When my children and her oldest child were little they were friends and we became friends. I can tell you, Amy is still upset about this. It was very wrong.
Indeed it was.
Corporations (media included) don’t want to pay a fair share of taxes. Sad that everything has to be a giant corporation nowadays.
For the whole week. When I would make a comment about them wasting time and consuming precious fuel because they wanted to be noticed and they were. My area near I70 was horrible! Most people are Trump supporters and still flying their damn flags!
I agree Bill however right now the extremes in both parties frighten me! One point I might point out is those jobs numbers can be spun any way the government wants to spin them. Realistically they are people going back to work and/ or changing jobs and careers after a pandemic. I’m not so excited about our current economy but we can’t blame this administration for that.
I've been looking for "extremes" in the Democratic Party for some time now. Can you please point me in the right (so to speak) direction?
Whenever you hear or read the phrase "there are extremes in both parties", you are paying attention to a Republican racist. False equivalency has been the GOP's weapon of choice since the Civii Rights Era, and the media CONTINUES to go right along with the script.
Exactly, Henry. "Extreme leftist" from a Republican translates to "wants everyone to have the right to vote and live a decent, comfortable life."
Racist for sure, but I'm afraid they aren't all Republicans. The likes of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are often included among the "extremists," but you don't have to listen too carefully to figure out that the main targets are members of "the Squad" and anyone who supports Black Lives Matter.
Thank you for this!
My brother! Yes, everyone can be conned, but, it IS possible to take a look around and see reality. It is possible to find the Dr. Richardson's of the world. It is possible to feel uncomfortable and stressed as a consequence of change.
Our founding fathers MUST have been uncomfortable every day ..... inventing so much new stuff in such a short time.
But, they looked into reality and tried to derive a system to optimize that reality, not eliminate it.
This is also when Newt Gingrich came along isn't it?
Newt was a bit later. He conned Clinton to compromise on welfare and trade and loosening regulations on banking.
Newt and Rush sailed on a similar ship of bigotry and hate.
Thanks for the clarification. I remember Newt's rantings and lies and remember thinking "what is is this stuff? This is bad politics."
Yes, but it really was "bad person," and continues to be. Add Rush Limbaugh to the list.
Yeah.. 'Newt'...and his contract on America. Definitely a turd in America's fishbowl.
It warms my heart to know that others feel as I do about Carter. An amazing President at an extremely difficult time (remember when Watergate seemed as low as we could go?) He never received the recognition he so richly deserved. But being a genuinely good person he gave so much to our country and didn't expect anything back. True class.
And Reagan undermined and delayed the release of the Hostages in Iran while Carter was President. A truly great American vs an ignorant actor controlled by his psycho wife!
100%. Similar to Nixon, undermining LBJ to end the war in Vietnam.
Birds of a feather.
I voted for Carter and yes, I happily voted for him. I couldn't stand Reagan then and loathe him even more now. I can remember people lamenting how things were going in the country and then I would ask who they voted for. Dead silence.
I wondered at the time why Congress was so silent and inactive in the face of many criminal acts by the Reagan Administration. It seemed they just didn't want to challenge a personally poplar officeholder no matter how repugnant his actions...
I mean, they did have the Iran-Contra hearings televised for several weeks as I recall. I watched those with great interest.
True, and those did have some impact.
Yes Alan, and the spineless-ness continues. They are 'under God' , pro-Life, and white as can be. A winning combination ... when will it end?
Michele, it is good that you could see.
I didn't understand then, but I do now and have for the last several years.
Yes. as have I.
The youngest Annapolis grad to captain a nuclear submarine ever.
Ted, you have to be the smartest and the best of the best before they give you the keys to a nuclear submarine! Reagan was in the publicity/morale section of the military.
President Carter was an amazing guy: A peanut farmer from Georgia who brought selflessness, honor, dignity to the White House. No way they were going to let him have a second term—his very existence was a brilliant light shining on all of their dark places. He had values, they had lies and strategies. So their oppo found Billy....
Down here in the badlands of Georgia we managed to send Washington another amazing guy. Not a submarine driving peanut farmer this time; oh, no, much worse (for Republicans). A Black preacher from the pulpit of MLK. So they are running another designer candidate against him, and with all the voter suppression and vote ‘finding’ laws it is going to be tight. Last night I dropped the rest of my money on the Rev. Senator Raphael Warnock, D GA. And made it monthly...oh Lordy. If we can somehow send him back, y’all will owe me—and my state. Bigly!
I am not forgetting all of the great people from other states who donated money and effort last time, nor the others out there who are running on all heart and pocket change—just wanted to brag a little on a great American. We’re trying to give our country another Jimmy Carter.
Let’s Go America!
100%!
Pretty sure on has to be a nuclear engineer to captain a nuclear sub. Interesting narrative attempt to label one of our smartest Presidents ever as just a "peanut farmer" from Georgia. Jimmy Carter is an exceptional scholar, Navy Officer, humble farmer, and compassionate humanitarian. The man is an example of the type of success our institutions of education and military should aim for creating. Jimmy Carter is the idealized leader, someone who understands sacrifice, remarkably fit for high office, a life of service to humanity and commitment to democracy.
Ted,
As you surely know, Carter is the definition of humble, having tirelessly used his own hands to make unfathomable dreams come true for so many through Habitat. From Georgia he arose, to Georgia he returned.
Paraphrasing you, Carter is the stuff a leader should be. 💙🍑💙
Thank you, Gus. You and others doing the simple acts of democracy give me hope. One of these days I will be able to smile again.
Annie, no one can promise anything in times like these (to state the obvious), but someday I would love to read on this forum that you are smiling again. That all of us are smiling again!
Gus, I agree with everything you said. I moved to southern Georgia years ago and voted for Carter twice, it was hard to accept his loss and I feel we would not be where we are today if he had won a 2nd term and if people had understood why we all need to make some sacrifices. I fully support Senator Warnock’s re-election, he has already demonstrated how hard he can work to get things done and most recently with co-sponsoring the bill that passed to cap prices on insulin. I shudder to think what will happen if he is defeated by the republican opponent.
Helene, Hey Georgian! I agree with you—President Carter, Sen. Warnock, and shuddering....especially the shuddering. Doing a lot of that lately. If I ever get the chance to safely travel again, I want to see Savannah again. Used to drive a loaded church bus to St.Simons every year, and visit Jekyll while I was down there, for shrimp fried on the dock right off the boat. St. Simons was beautiful then, but they tell me it has changed.
Thank you.
💙🍑💙
He was brilliant, but that was never acknowledged.
Exactly.
This is a topic I hope to address in great detail iin the furure. It gets to the very "soul" of the nation
Honerable people will choose truth and justice over The American Way every time they are in conflict.
As when The American Way is Superman marketing Sugar Frosted Flakes ro children.
Reagan's 11th commandwent was essentially "support rhe Republican Party right or wrong."
The goal of advertising is to make the truth irrelevant. Reagan was a master at that.
In our values as a country and in our elected leaders and representatives, it looks like it boils down to moral character versus neoliberal capitalism. I loved Jimmy Carter. Every day he was and still is a man of great moral character and action. We, as Americans should be thankful always for the privilege of having such a man of great moral character and action in our midsts. God bless him.
Good thing Popeye was my hero when I was a toddler.
One word. Yes.
Carter was, and is, a good, maybe great, man, but as president? Well, he came in as an outsider, and surrounded by other outsiders, and they didn't really know how to work Washington. It didn't help that he, and they, were southerners -- anti-southern prejudice was, and still is, a thing in the North, and no, it's not all about politics. One term was not enough for him to overcome the double whammy of being both southern and an outsider.
Susanna, the view that Carter was not a good president is really of the media's making. And that folk lore continues unchallenged. More critical than anti-southern prejudices, he faced many problems not of his making. We had 2 oil shocks in the 1970's. Nixon's 1971 wage and price controls (a very unrepublican policy) rocked the economy and took 10 years to work through the system before the negative effects were gone. Our economy created more jobs in his term than Reagan did in his first term. Because of the huge influx of baby boomers the unemployment numbers did not reflect that astonishing fact. There is so much more. The notion that he was a bad or mediocre president is not supported by facts.
GMB, I was a politically sentient adult during the Carter administration, living in the D.C. that isn't covered by the Washington Post (or, at that time, the Star). Thanks for the condescension. P.S. There's more to being a good president than economic statistics.
We can't emphasize enough the significance of the election of Reagan over Carter.
Carter had the courage and wisdom to tell us what we needed to hear.
Reagan gave us "the shining beacon on the hill" marketing BS. He also used religiosity as a weapon. Americans chose the terrible swift sword over a man of peace, who understood that his deeply held religious beliefs were in part a product of his own upbringing and experiences.
Humility is not weakness. It is the difference between an Honorable man and a Righteous one.
Biden is the first Democratic leader to show Carter the respect he deserves, and that is to be commended.
I think that Jimmy Carter is the closest thing walking to Jesus Christ (for confirmation, notice that they have the same initials). It's not about what he says (though I heard him give a most inspiring sermon at his church) it's about his actions. Determined, he has quietly eradicated Guinea worm disease, worked for voting rights around the world, and earned the Nobel Peace Prize for a reason. Like Jesus, his biggest pet peeve is hypocrisy and the GOP is full of it. They are traitors but preach patriotism. They weep for their "personal freedoms" while taking them away from women deciding what happens to their bodies, and on and on and on. But things just may backfire--until now, rich Texans could send their pregnant girlfriends out-of-state for their abortions. Now they could end up getting arrested for that, so let's see how long this lasts. Sorry to have gone off topic, but I'm sick and tired of the blatant contrast between good and evil....
I agree that Carter had obviously read the message that Jesus handed out and attempted to live his life adhering to that message.
Hey,
Jesus gave Joel Olsteen a Ferrari for his faith. How can you compete with that?
But of course, Jesus would need someone to wash his feet before Olsteen would let him enter his temple of wealth. Maybe Jesus would have better luck than those downtrodden victims of Katrina. After his feet were properly washed, of course.
Joel's running a special on his stuff "this month only!"
True words, Fred! True words. I gave a sermon that asked if Christ would be welcome in the church I served at the time, and he didn’t look anything like his picture over the door. Dressed and smelled like a first-century carpenter. We all had to think about that, including me. Not too sure about Joel’s place....
Hey, I only got a Honda CRV. Did I do something wrong?
Thanks Fred. True words.
Amen, Sophia!
Fred. Agree on all.
I have never voted for any R for president and only a few Rs locally like Mark Hatfield. Now I won't vote for any of them, period. I was brought up in a R household and I am trying to remember now how I managed to escape that upbringing. I was in the Peace Corps in the middle 60s and I am sure that has something to do with it. And thank you, Gary and Mike for your excellent posts this am.
Yes, thank you Gary and Mike for your excellent posts and starting these great conversations!
It was all Gary's extremely well done writing to be honest.
"Now I won't vote for any of them period". Excellent news!
This has been my mantra for years ever since they decided to be full bore radical regressive and the party of death.
The Republican Party of the 60s & 70s is now close to the moderate democrats. Until the last few elections, I voted for whoever I thought was best for the job although my thumb was on the scale for women running for office. I did reluctantly vote for the R sheriff because his opponent was a real nut job.
Yes, I felt fine voting for some of the locals, including my next door neighbor for Marion County Commissioner. Some people hated him, but he is moderate compared to the wing nuts we have now. He told me he can't stand what has happened to the R party and is now an Independent. He also has had D signs in his yard.
The evolution of the human mind comes with painful recognition that I believed what I thought was true. Hard stone cold beliefs. Because I wanted them to be true. Brutal analysis after small constant examples of failures in those systems caused me to shift into your “analysis” space. It is possible to convict yourself of living in “belief space”, but it comes with a cost as you change, but the people you once associated yourself do not. That void remains as you you create spaces for new associates. Bridging this new divide weighs heavy, but its necessary to the soul of self image
Here are some things I have watched over the years.
I also feel that people's early "belief space" is formed by their parents' political views. (Really like that term "belief space".) As they age those parental beliefs become either something to affirm or rebel against. As we mature we begin to own our particular set of beliefs. And then what I am seeing around me is that as my friends and family move into old age some of them are becoming more rigid, fearful and therefore conservative. Where have all those hippies gone anyway?
Also that big bugaboo the internet was born which has thrown a wrench into everything. As instant information has become absconded by disinformation peoples' views can gyrate all over the place with a new political entity known as the MAGA voter being hatched. Eric Boehlert nailed it with his brilliant thesis of the role media plays in all of this. I have seen actual statements in the major media outlets calling the 2022 election as won by the Republicans and and trump winning in 2024.
This is before my first cup of coffee is finished writing so please forgive my meanderings.
This older hippie-dippie still is alive and rebelling against the so-called righteous ones who want to force on everyone their rigid ways and unacceptance of those different from them. I wonder, too, about how they could have gone so much awry. Yes, we had to grow up, wear office clothes and conform to work etiquette, etc. We strived to take care of ourselves and earned money for comfort and our future. But some of us kept on the good side of humanity and continue to want what is best for the common person and our communities.
100% agree for this old hippie as well. I have a refrigerator magnet that says. "Think hippie thoughts."
Love it!
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I won't read any of the doomsday reports. I do read one source that talks about the press as Heather's letter and many here are. I also read with dismay some of the posts I see from Bernie remnants here. They do not understand how politics actually works once people are in office. Biden to them is an establishment/corporate D. As an aside, I am reading more in depth accounts of what happened around the Flynn/Eric Trump hatred rally held in Keizer recently. They do not reflect well on the local officials there save one who was actually harassed by the police and of course, the local police. Also news of people being harassed on public roads by Proud Boys. This latter is what we are fighting against among other things.
I am in agreement. Especially with the Bernie/progressives.
My parents never imposed political or religious doctrine. We were able to read, watch, explore. My first husband and I were the same with our children and the hardest thing I ever did was drive my daughter to her church group as it was not what I believe in, but they were her friends and it became her religion.
Gailee, One of the hardest things I had to do was tell my daughter she didn’t have to go to church anymore. So, we both did the same thing, from opposite directions, releasing our loved ones to think for themselves and find out who they were. My daughter still does not ‘approve’ of most organized religion—but she has the Light. And she is a thriving moral person who teaches me every day.
I think we both did well for our progeny.
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Gailee, I laud your approach and support for your daughter. Religion is a great place to find a community of folks that mostly share things in common. Also, it is IN PERSON not some Facebook fake friends page.
I am glad your daughter found her community and you supported that effort.
Thank you Mike.
"the internet was born which has thrown a wrench into everything"
I found Dr. Richardson's writing on the internet. Note, I don't have facebook or twitter mostly because I don't have time. I ought spend less time here too.
And here is the rest of my comment: "As instant information has become absconded by disinformation peoples' views can gyrate all over the place with a new political entity known as the MAGA voter being hatched."
Mike, maybe you ought to, but please don’t. I highly appreciate your thoughts. Glad you are here man.
I understand the beliefs from your parents politial views. When I was young and first voting I just automatically voted the way they did. That is until a friend casually said," You can vote with your heart or your pockebook" and that stuck with me.
Agree about Jimmy Carter
Mike S, for the most part, you are spot on. In hindsight, Carter did a lot of good things, however I could not bring myself to vote for his re-election at the time. In 1976, I voted for Jerry Ford. Then again, a vote for Reagan in 1980 was a bridge too far, I voted for John Anderson in that election. Reagan really sold the narrative that Government was the problem. That said I went to high school with someone who was a flight attendant on the plane that brought the Shah to the west for treatment.
I am embarrassed to say how long it took me to understand that the Iranians who took over the US embassy were brave heros for their own country.
Also, they were models of what we should be here.
But, at the time? I was fully ensconced in my Belief Space that Republicans were feeding raw meat into. I ate it without bothering to cook it.
Mike and Sharon:
The shah was a cruel autocrat who lacked the temperament and ability to rule his country with a just and democratic hand. That said, the Islamic government that rules, at present, is even worse! Many Iranians who participated in the overthrow of the shah were pro-democracy and brave, but to say that all those who took over the embassy were brave heros is a misnomer. There are more political prisoners in Iran today than there were during the shah's reign. There is far more fear, more hardship, and more injustice under this regime. The brave Iranians are the thousands who tried to enact the Green Revolution in 2009.
Rowshan, thank you for the clarification. My own comment was completely sans any attempt to discern complexity. I wanted to highlight my perception space at the time relative to a reality that I learned later.
But, you are correct. The guys in charge now are "no picnic".
Yes, Republicans are adept at insuring that Americans STAY ignorant and so is the press.
Iranians protesting the Shah? Now, that is what I call brave people doing the right thing now. But, at the time, I was outraged because my Belief Space, and Republicans, told me I should be.
You were not the only one! When Carter did his reset mid-term, I thought it did not serve him well. That was sad
I voted for him too. That was when I was at my most ignorant.
We were partners in ignorance! That makes us brothers!
Belief space. That says it all. Thanks. I didn’t know how to explain my ignorant youth. Now I do.
I am an engineer so everything can be mapped into an N-dimensional space. In my case, the term "Belief space" came into being when I was in my first leadership job in engineering and I had to contend with managers who would not listen to data.
So, I invented two spaces for powerpoint. Belief Space and Reality Space.
I put all my own conclusions in Reality Space and any false or fake imagination stuff management was saying in Belief Space on the slide.
In this manner I could confront without confronting.
Thanks for sharing your story with us.
You were not alone. He was a movie star! Back then I had no idea! All would be well! There was nothing I could do but go along with the they people!
"... one of the most brutal dictators in the world, one who WE, the USA, had installed... Nobody in the press anywhere wrote that... "
There were parts of the American press that discussed the many crimes and cruelties of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi's government. If I remember correctly, NPR was one, and I think the New York Times also had articles from that point of view.
Yes, one of our many foreign policy failures in destroying a democratically elected government and installing the Shah.
Yes.
But, my college newspaper managed to omit all that NPR stuff.
I understand. There seems to be a corporate wall holding back stories that educate the public about abuses of authority in our own country.
I have also been reading everything I can to understand why people purposely vote against their own interests and how individual political identity is formed. The best explanation I’ve found so far compares political identification to the basics of parenting styles - nurturing or authoritarian (George Lakoff, Don’t Think of an Elephant) Democrats align with the nurturing style that encompasses solving problems together, setting clear rules and expectations, and using open communication and natural consequences. Republicans align with the authoritarian style which encompasses a strongman-driven father-knows best method that sets strict rules and punishments and uses one-way communication with little consideration of individual needs. There isn’t much room for negotiation on political identity as the two styles have been whittled down to the very essence of how we see ourselves and each other. Are we all equal and need to work together to solve problems or are we unequal and need an authoritarian strongman to tell us what is best for us? There are, of course, many nuances in between on each side, and that is where the messaging comes in. But the basics, that’s pretty hardcore. I don’t see a lot of wiggle room, but there is in fact overlap. And the Biden administration is doing its best to focus on that overlap. By focusing on children (the common denominator of parenting styles) we can all agree on a platform for messaging - that we want what’s best for our children. Republicans have grasped this as well and are hitting hard on how everything effects our children. I’m sure no one missed the near constant child pornography questioning tilt during the Ketanji Brown Jackson Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Or the focus on CRT in grade school classrooms. Or the transgender laws popping up in Republican state legislatures. Or anti-abortion laws. Notice how the focus is on children? Because they can win by focusing on what’s best for the children. And so can we.
"Are we all equal and need to work together to solve problems or are we unequal and need an authoritarian strongman to tell us what is best for us?" What a brilliant distillation of the essence of the problem. Bravo!
Democrats are critical thinkers and the Republicans are not, period. And for that they need to learn their lesson--maybe one of De Santis's kids will grow up to be a happy drag queen....
Yes. Republicans focus on the simple emotional things. Child porn. Child trafficking. Bad stuff being taught in schools (even though it is not).
Heck, man. To be a Republican is to be part the simplest, leas complicated, set of messages: WHAT IS OBVIOUSLY BAD IS BAD.
But, what is good?
Rally yesterday in front of one of the school district administrative buildings against trans people among other things. There were counter protesters there as well.
Acceptance of our differences is important to the humanity in us--it does not "hurt" us in any way.
David Brooks opinion column in the NYT the other day ( thank you to the HCR reader who posted it. I subscribed to NYT right after ) really gets to heart of all this—-about how globalism aka Reaganism has morphed into culture wars. He talks about universal values such as equality, freedom, personal dignity,…it’s a good long read and immensely well worth it but don’t miss the last few paragraphs as they succinctly tie it up. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/08/opinion/globalization-global-culture-war.amp.html
These were the usual suspects, older people carrying flags as if prejudice against certain groups is patriotic. Interestingly we were watching a series called Candice Renoir, a police drama set in France. Last night's episode centered around a trans person...timely.
When I was a child I didn't question those young kids or teens who seemed different somehow--it just wasn't discussed in those days. I had to forcefully overcome the ick-factor eventually picked up by my parents and others to see how hard it must be for some people born differently. Compassion and acceptance go hand in hand.
I had a seventh grade teacher who was very popular and made no secret that he lived with Wally. We had no idea and thought he and Wally took out all the single female teachers. They probably did actually. It was actually nice to be naive in those days. Oh yeah, at lunch time we ran a casino with play money and miniature roulette wheels, etc. until we were found out. We also got in trouble for ordering pizza to be delivered at lunch time. Ah, the good old days.
Yes.
I heard a good line on 'Meet The Press.' One of the panelists, Kimberly Atkins Stohr of The Boston Globe said, "Democrats focus on policy, Republicans focus on politics." Roughly meaning Dems see problems and look for solutions, while Republicans see problems and look for talking points to use in political campaigns.
I’ve wanted to better understand the politics of why psychohistory hasn’t become a stronger field of study. There are numerous books to read and understand. Bruce Mazlish said this: “Forty years later, Professor Mazlish admitted that the promise of psychohistory had yet to be realized. There were never enough scholars attracted to such interdisciplinary work — or qualified to provide peer review of it — he said in a 2004 interview in The Bulletin of the Historical Society. As a result, he said, “you almost never achieve critical mass.””
And from the same NYT peice:
“Addressing the skepticism with which some of his work was received by fellow historians, Professor Mazlish said in 2004: “Historians get scared that we are doing contemporary history, but Herodotus did contemporary history. We have got to deal with the issues of enormous importance to our existence, and if they happen to involve practicing contemporary history, so be it.”
In an interview for this obituary in 2011, Professor Mazlish said negative reaction to his work had peaked with publication of the Nixon book. “I got a ton of hate mail,” he said — most of it from Nixon supporters, but some of it, in milder tones, from fellow academics.
“They accused me of being partisan,” he added. “They said my analysis lacked merit. Then came Watergate. As I remember, the hate mail stopped after that.””
Sounds familiar? Dr. Bandy Lee was pushed out of Yale by Alan Dershowitz for raising alarm about Trump’s rise to power. She’s an expert on violent people and wrote this: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-shared-psychosis-of-donald-trump-and-his-loyalists/?amp=true
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/books/bruce-mazlish-richard-nixon.html
IMHO a strong scholarly field of study that combines understanding the human mind and behaviors over the course of our history is sorely needed. Would like to hear from experts in those areas about why it hasn’t happened.
https://psychohistory.com/
"Dr. Bandy Lee was pushed out of Yale" most likely because she was a woman AND because if she was writing bad stuff about Trump that might compromise Harvard's incoming "gifts" from Republicans.
Dershowitz was just the guy who was visible in making it happen, but, if she was fired, a LOT of people in Harvard felt she was a threat to the MONEY.
If she had had a bunch of donors behind her she would still be there.
Mostly Harvard is what it has been since around 1850: A Service for Rich, White Men to Get Rich and Stay Rich by pretending that, while they were drinking and partying at Harvard, they actually got educated.
For proof I offer you just one exhibit. George W. Bush.
For rebuttal re Harvard, I offer you just one exhibit: Heather Cox Richardson.
Oh KR you did it!!! Again.
Is that bad or good? 😂
That was worthy. And you know it. Put it on the wall. A+ and pass you are excused this semester with credit!
Ketanji Brown Jackson!
Bam. I laughed for 5 min KR instead of replying to Harvard comment. Having a long career in public education has stirred up my sensitivity to the blatant blankets of statements by armchair experts of pedagogy and andragogy. The disrespect and censuring of professional educators with degrees is astounding.
I see the egregious goal of wanting to indoctrinate children for political gain. However, the attack on the common good of public education with a focus on criminalizing the efforts of teachers and creating vigilante justice in rounding up teachers to silence their work and dictate their course of instruction is hideous.
There is not one educator I have spoken with that feels supported by desantis’s dumbed down version of public schools. They know what he wants. The rise of private and charter schools supporting classical education and little kids marching lockstep in excessive patriotism and chauvinism.
Hear, hear, Christine. The fact that experts are routinely dismissed and even criticized for their expertise, whether in epidemiology (Fauci), foreign policy (Vindman, Yovanovich, and Hill), or governmental experience (Biden and Clinton), while people with no relevant experience whatsoever (Trump, Tuberville, Greene, Cawthorne and on and on and on) are elevated to high office, is really hurting this country. Not only do they have no experience, they don’t have the education or knowledge of history or even geography which might, just might, equip them to understand how to govern.
Florida isn’t alone. I will never, ever understand why public school teachers aren’t widely supported and paid better. Especially after their heroics during the pandemic.
Your image of little kids marching lockstep evokes images in my mind of the Hitler Youth or little Chinese kids, all dressed identically. Scary stuff, there.
Yes. But this image of children seemingly desired, once again in our history, by autocratic leaders.
For this reason alone, I could wring their scrawny necks with my bare hands until their peabrains gasped for oxygen. How dare they.
Salud KR of OH! (My birthplace state and home to my “second home” and changing seasons and traditions and people that I miss seeing frequently.)
"However, the attack on the common good of public education with a focus on criminalizing the efforts of teachers and creating vigilante justice in rounding up teachers to silence their work and dictate their course of instruction is hideous."
Great sentence that I strongly agree with and so would Thomas Jefferson who worked mightily to launch the public school concept.
Can't heart, but this comment deserves kudos.
OK. Rebuttal partially accepted. Only partially because, she is a woman, not a man.
For men, Harvard is what I say it is (or was before minorities like Latino's, Blacks and Chinese were allowed in last year).
Mike, do you seriously think Harvard started admitting minorities last year? Barack and Michelle Obama, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, W.E.B. DuBois, Yo Yo Ma, Ban Ki Moon, and Jose Castillo, all Harvard graduates as far back as 1895, would be shocked to hear this.
Some of our most treasured Americans are Harvard graduates, poets, authors, politicians, Nobel Laureates. Have you ever been there? I have, I have even studied there for a summer session. It’s an extraordinary place full of extraordinary people.
I cannot believe I’m sitting here defending Harvard’s reputation, when they rejected me 😂. Gotta tell ya Mike, national merit scholar, very high SATs, good grades, excellent extra curriculars, good midwestern prep school, and I wasn’t good enough. They weren’t wrong. This is a great school, and I don’t understand why you’re so hostile to it. Yes, they can do more to ensure that the minorities they accept thrive. But they do a lot already, especially with need blind admissions and financial aid.
KR, I love you more and more!💙
Mike S: Both George W. Bush and his daddy George H. W. went to Yale, not Harvard.
My observation in attending Yale my junior and senior year after transferring is that there were a number of children of the wealthy at Yale - and they spanned the political spectrum from right to left. Yale (and Harvard) have great reputations, and the wealthy can afford to pay full freight. And it would be a mistake to assume that all wealthy people are odious or conservative. Reality is much more complicated than that. ( Btw, my family weren't wealthy and I am not. Dad could afford to send me because he, the first in his family to graduate college, went to MIT on the GI bill, and made just enough with stock from a tech company he co-founded to be able to send his children to college and to create a modest retirement cushion.) Yes, Yale (and Harvard) attract a lot of wealthy people of all sorts, and they have both been working since the 70's to make it possible for a diverse student body of all races and economic classes to attend. Both institutions are a long way from perfect but they are not monoliths - they are collections of people many of whom are enlightened lefties who do a huge amount of good both within those institutions and out in the world.
I also graduated from Yale, & am thankful I chose to stand on the shoulders of William Sloane Coffin, & not William F. Buckley. Like Chaplain Coffin, "The Heart Is a Little to the Left".
Is this you? https://prabook.com/web/mobile/#!profile/1238465
I can assure you it is not Brian Book.
Elizabeth, Bush went to Harvard for MBA.
True. MBA from Harvard Business School, 1975. Good point.
Mike, for clarification it was Yale, though you’re right, there’s not much difference. Certainly $$, are part of it and male egos too, but emotional reactivity blurs it all. It’s understood that the field of psych is not a hard science with hard data, but still we have the capacity to greatly expand our knowledge of how human minds work. Currently the field of neuroscience discovers new knowledge in leaps and bounds. Lakoff, mentioned in another comment, is a scholar of linguistic neuroscience. My point is, we need to be talking about the need for a scholarly field of study that keeps emotion and partisan 💩 to a minimum and brings psych, neuroscience and history together. Let’s figure out how to bring out the best in each other instead of giving way to murderous bullies all over the world. The more trauma these ogres create the more emotional reactivity and less cognition we will see in our he future unless we figure out how to change that. By the way, Biden is definitely on the path.
Christy, Bush, having flunked out of Yale but given a degree anyway, THEN, went on to Grad School in the MBA program at Harvard (the one for rich white boys with bad grades).
Sorry, but not feeling the relation to my point whatsoever, Mike. I have much bigger fish to fry right now than worrying about a bought and paid for elitist education. The bullies are winning at bullying.
Christy, I came back to this thread this evening, and reread your post. Your point got highjacked into the Harvard/Yale brouhaha, and I’m sorry that happened. I think you bring up a very interesting idea, and one that should have sparked a good comment thread. I’m no expert, so can’t really comment on the academic side of your point, although I find the idea intriguing. Even better would be if we were able to assess our leaders before voting for them, using a metric like this. I wish others more knowledgeable would chime in. For me, Alan Dershowitz’s name alone raises alarm bells.
Thank you so much KR! ❤️ Yes! We need some way to bring together experts in history, sociology & psychology to put forth ideas to promote what’s best in us. I’ve been a big proponent of teaching wellness care for our minds at very young ages. I’ve been reading some of the writing on the psychohistory website today. Very interesting, but I’m now guessing the term psychohistory has been tainted by a lack of scientific support. Assessments for dangerousness for anyone seeking power would be a great place to start. And yeah, Dershowitz has a pretty disgusting rap sheet! Why an institution like Yale would want to align themselves with him is bizarre. Money over morals apparently. Grateful for your reply! 🙏
I agree! I discovered yoga a few years ago, and really wish I’d practiced as a young mother - both for myself, and for what doing yoga could have given my children. I love the idea of wellness care for our minds. It helped me very much during my cancer treatment, and I’m convinced it helped my treatment work and helped me heal. Mind and body really are connected.
If you haven’t read it yet, you should add this book by George Lakoff, a distinguished linguist to your reading list: https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Think-Elephant-Debate-Progressives/dp/1931498717
Lakoff's book is a classic.
My take: "It's the frames. You're not stupid. You're living behind the Iron Curtain of the myth of America Exceptionalism. If you wander too close to the edge of the frame you will fall into the Sea of Knowledge. You know where that leads"
Plato’s Cave
I just ordered this. Thank you, Meri.
I have just returned from a birding trip in rural (red) Texas, & thought I would share my observations. Rural Texans vote Republican because of the disinformation learned from Fox "News", as well as local TV stations & newspapers owned by rich & powerful conservatives. Additionally, they hear "cheap grace theology" from mere peddlers of God's word on TV, as well as in church. Don't trust me, read "Jesus & John Wayne", or "The Power Worshippers". It will be interesting to see if Beto can win the race for Governor, as he runs an energetic & excellent campaign. While on the plane, I read an excellent book which best addresses these issues, "A More Perfect Union" by Adam Russell Taylor, head of Sojourners. Rev. Taylor identifies the divisive issues, & provides thoughtful solutions. I hope more responsible citizens will read this book. I have a Masters in Theology & wonder how a Republican today, can reasonably claim to be a "follower of Christ"? The Trump-led GOP base consists of heretics, conservative evangelicals & conservative Catholics.
Brian, thank for sharing this. Many of my Quaker friends (and others) recommend this book. For various reasons (including some vision issues that I hope are in the process of being resolved), I have not yet read it, but will soon as I get my hands on a copy. I hear the terms "Beloved friend" and "Beloved Community" used more and more often not only in Quaker and interfaith settings , but also increasingly in secular settings removed from explicitly spiritual influences. I find this deeply moving, as it seems to identify a sense of fellow caring, no matter how it is defined. I was especially struck by its use in a prison setting to defuse tense situations- by prisoners- and to work together to resolve problems. If they can, we can.
It is not only Republicans who need to learn how to think and feel this way. So do those of us just as confirmed in our certainty of righteousness. In that way perhaps we can reach past our own resistance and create a space for dialogue with people we neither understand nor grant dignity to. Some of the name-calling on this forum is an example of what we leave behind when we recognize the "beloved" nature of "the other". Offering a tiny sliver of and recognition of worth can go a long way, given some willingness to keep that option open.
I suspect some people will shudder when they learn that Adam Russell Taylor is an evangelical (like MLKjr) and a Baptist (like Jimmy Carter). I hope that doesn't make them turn away. I am a highly unstructured Quaker with a faith base I cannot define or describe. I was not born Quaker and am not sure that would mean anything anyway. My mother was a non-practicing Mormon who thought that all children should go to Sunday School. She selected a near-by "non-denominational" church whose approach to teaching she approved, though she specified that I was not to attend services our of fear that they would preach fire and brimstone, which she did not want her pre-school child exposed to. But I loved the music, so sometimes snuck in. Then one day when the congregation had invited an unidentified "special out of state guest" to preach, the sunday school classes were included. So I went. And was entranced. No fire and brimstone. My mother was upset at first when she learned about it.
From me- because the sermon was about capital L Love, and how to live in a "Beloved Community" (though I am not sure he used that term), and I began to see things in a different, non-exclusive way that appealed to me, and I wanted my mother to understand it was NOT the fire and brimstone she feared. She went back to the church with me, and met the preacher.
I think it helped that the preacher was black, and until the day of his sermon, unidentified because we lived in a place that was not always safe for black people. I did not know yet that my mother's family descended from black people but knew she was protective of them (I learned at age 12, when I was deemed old enough to grasp the implications of being descended from white-passing people who did not want their ancestry forgotten).
The congregation was all white, and carefully protected him (as they later did for the Harlem Globetrotters when they came to the valley high school to demonstrate their skills- no idea how that came about either).
When my family moved to another town, my connection to the little church ended, but the sense they instilled in me never has. It helped shape me, that message and demonstration of love. (And I still love the music.)
And I believe that human beings can resolve the issues we face if we are expected to and provided a starting place in which we can feel safe doing so. Because I saw it lived.
Many thanks for sharing. I recently learned that Quakers were among the very first Americans to oppose slavery on Biblical grounds. I hope you find the time to read the book, as it certainly enlightened me. By the way, Bishop William Barber is an evangelical, & I have read books by other American Baptists, apparently the progressive branch of Baptists.
William Barber is another religious leader I admire a great deal. I grew up around progressive Baptists, and did not even know the reactionary kind until I was nearly grown (though I knew other Christian sects that were very conservative, and a few that were seriously weird). When I was young, I explored a lot, encouraged by my parents. And deeply influenced by the discussions among the elders of my mixed-indigenous family, escapees from the Mormon mythology and ever-changing versions of Mormon history. My elders were delightfully irreverent. Later, by following up on inherited genealogical work, I learned that many of my early european ancestors had been Quakers, and that some of the beliefs and practices had survived in my family, as had a strong sense of indigenous spirituality. They meld well, as did Buddhism when it found me. As a side note, one of the major Quaker schisms was over slavery: I learned that at least two of my 18th century Quaker lines had been slave-holders. It split the family too. Another line is the one I mentioned before, from which I am descended from both the slave-holding and the enslaved sides.
Annie, thank you for this wonderful post. One way my views differ from those of Jonathan Haidt is that he is an atheist and believes that people will act badly unless constrained by social bonds. I was fortunate to have direct experiences that led me to the deepest faith and had teachers from several traditions. I only trusted teachers who put Love first.
Gary, I might be an atheist. I honestly have no idea. It seems to me that in order to be an atheist, you have to put yourself in direct opposition to something you don't believe in, and I'm not sure that is even possible. I eventually came to the conclusion that belief makes no difference at all: if there is a god(s), he/she/it/they don't care if we believe in her/it/they/him at all. It is simply irrelevant. That realization was tremendously freeing, because I was free to simply accept people for the good in them.
There is plenty of evidence that human beings get along simply by our very nature: we're made that way, and do not need to be coerced into it. Every disaster confirms this, despite the attempts of some (um, media?) to emphasize the negative. In fact, those who do act badly seem to do so out of some form of trauma, and societies who act badly experience a continuing trauma that has not been given the opportunity to heal. (My own sense is that that is in large part the problem with our own, and we are trying our best to fix it.)
Annie, this takes a whole other direction from the blog, one I'm very interested in but it's somewhat off-topic except for identifying a bias of Jonathan Haidt, I'll be brief. I like your take on this and agree that most of us have innate empathy and compassion. There are underadrenalized psychopaths who were not able to develop that capability (see J. Reid Meloy's writing). Many people are fortunate to have had "non-dual" experiences, which are confirmed by religions across cultures. There is abundant research support for our interconnectedness and innate spirituality despite the widespread belief that science and religion/spirituality are incompatible. I will be writing about such topics as one of my retirement projects and would be happy to continue the discussion off-line, if there is a way to do that.
Sure. Look me up on FB and send a message via messenger with an email address you feel comfortable sharing. Then I'll send you my personal email address. I'm on FB sort of hit or miss, but usually try to catch Heather's video talks, so will keep an eye out. BTW, not sure it is terribly off-topic, as Heather touches on this often in her talks. But agree conversations should be off the forum.
Brian, thank you for recommending these books. I've just downloaded a Kindle sample of A More Perfect Union.
Yes, they get plenty of disinformation, but they vote for Republicans because they know Republicans will do everything they can to preserve the advantages of white Americans over the rest. This is an example of voting with the heart (despicable as it is in these cases) instead of the pocketbook. No amount of information or disinformation can get them to abandon that priority. The only hope is to get the rest of the electorate to the voting booth on record numbers.
They also need to learn American History by reading "The 1619 Project" & "These Truths" by Jill Lepore, to avoid the mistakes of the past.
That would be great, but they will not read any such book. What’s worse, they won’t vote for anyone who isn’t proactively opposed to the reading of books like that. They oppose anything that might make a dent in their advantages as white Americans. The hearts of most white Americans are in a very bad place.
Agreed, which is why responsible citizens must get active for the midterms.
Thank you so much for sharing this.
For those who regularly post and keep our "friends" assuaged, I know that more than we liberals are seeing these Letters. I have upped my pretty flower and dog picture posts on Facebook so that I can more frequently intersperse links too LFAA and Hubbell and Legum. Besides, the many "likes" for the happy photos indicate people are still paying attention. Plus, I no longer get people weighing in and trying to argue. We never know when people who like us (but disagree with us) will get that "thing" that causes the cognitive dissonance that makes them reel and start their journey. Keep speaking up out of the love you feel for democracy. And start throwing in sentences about how grateful you are to have freedom of speech so we can see these writers.
... and today I posted a photo and explanation about how to cut chocolate chip cookies into smaller, less caloric, chunks that can be microwaved into a gooey messy treat when I simply need a cookie! And then another post with a link tohttps://projects.iq.harvard.edu/futureofmedia/index-us-mainstream-media-ownership
absolutely!
Be careful with Haidt. The Righteous Mind is a worthwhile read. But Haidt evolved from more liberal views to more conservative in the period that he wrote it. In the end he presents a biased view against liberals and for conservatives. Liberals make mistakes but sometimes we have to stop being so ready to dwell on them and shout from the rooftops all our accomplishments.
I agree with you. I am not a true believer in Haidt, or any author or perspective. I had many "yes but" responses to the Haidt book and am thinking those through. I am also doing this reading to prepare to have more conversations with conservatives.
Years ago, the late professor Marshall McLuhan pointed out that 'the medium IS the message.' The Democrats certainly have the facts on their side, but when, where and how to communicate them is actually more important than the facts themselves!! There are media experts who know how to do this kind of thing effectively. Republicans use them. That's where Democrats must turn to get their message of success and optimism across successfully. Not a game for amateurs in Washington! The pros are in NYC and LA.
Maybe The Union arm of The Lincoln Project can centralize communications regarding messaging and the medium.
With only 13% of our workforce unionized, and many of them in government jobs, this is a big 'maybe.' Dems, get it straight! : "The medium IS the message." That's why and how Fox works for the bad guys, where the facts don't count for much but the messenging does.
Hopefully with our now or never situation they will get some seriously good help with their messaging. So far haven't seen it, so it is making me anxious.
Me too. All this preaching to the choir which goes on here accomplishes little to prevent the church from burning down. The 'preaching' (messaging) should be directly toward voters who can change things. Even spending time going after the arsonists who started the fire in the first place may be a distraction from the Dems' real goals, preserving our democracy.
Add “Why We’re Polarized” by Ezra Klein.
Thank you.
Dan Peiffer's The Message Box is very useful on Dem messaging & actions but, is targeted at Dems, Independents & recovering R's. Dan's tactical topic today is formal House criminal referral of the tfg or not.
Where do I find Dan Peiffer's The Message Box, please?
Dan is on the Substack platform. Dan is also the co-host of "Pod Save America" and Author of "Trumping America" & "Yes We (Still) Can", Tuesday is Message Box Day when Dan responds to the Communities' direct questions. Defintely check it out.
https://messagebox.substack.com/
Thanks very much.
This is a very informative. It would be worth an HCR letter itself. The only criticism I have of H. Is that she fails to anywhere near adequatelyy address the nitty-gritty aspects of the socio-psychological factors of America's ongoing political nervous breakdown.
Well, I guess she did by spurring getting your comment.
I don't believe that many Americans understand that there is an American psychosis - which is a reflection of the Soul of America. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/american-psychosis-trumpism-and-the-nightmare-of-history/
I've just downloaded that essay. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing. A brilliant analysis and underpinning of the horrors that continue to evolve.
She's a historian, not a psychoanalist. She's very clear about where her expertise lies. Her strength is laying out the connections between past and present in our system, and the disassociations so that others have the material to do analysis from other angles. Personally, I don't see that as a lack, but something to value. Look at how many people have had their assumptions challenged and their perspectives enlarged because of the astute historical framework she creates to illuminate what is going on.
There is a history to the successful deployment of disinformation and propaganda. And you don't need to be a psychoanalyst -- or a psychologist, like me with an economics degree where I majored in marketing -- to explore that topic.
“But people don't vote according to their interests. They vote to support those they identify with. And we Democrats are poor at messaging.”
Agreed. Might a more unified, across the country, messaging blitz and better press coverage of what the Biden Administration and the Democratic Party are doing for US save US from a midterm GOP upset? If not, Goldwater, Reagan and Trump will win..
Not sure why you think HCR should be advising the Dems on messaging, but you might be interested in Dan Pfeiffer's Substack column, The Message Box. He's a political operative and commentator, and he's pretty good at it. https://messagebox.substack.com/
I never advised that HCR should be advising the Dems on messaging, a skill which goes beyond merely stating the truth. Pfeiffer understands that from what his blog seems to indicate. Perhaps he should be recruited by President Biden to do the same kind of work he did in the White House for Barack Obama. He's a pro.
I'm not suggesting that she advise the Dems on messaging. She may be able to write about the history of propaganda and disinformation and about how it's affecting our country. I will definitely check out Dan Pfeiffer, thank you!
Will check it out.
HCR is offering information & facts not the information from Fox News that trumpians share with their cult
David Brooks had an excellent opinion piece in Sundays NYT. "Globilization is Over. The Culture Wars Have Begun" where he says the following "The fact is that human behavior is often driven by forces much deeper than economic and political self-interest, at least as Western rationalists typically understand these things. It’s these deeper motivations that are driving events right now — and they are sending history off into wildly unpredictable directions." "First, human beings are powerfully driven by what are known as the thymotic desires. These are the needs to be seen, respected, appreciated. If you give people the impression that they are unseen, disrespected and unappreciated, they will become enraged, resentful and vengeful. They will perceive diminishment as injustice and respond with aggressive indignation"
It is an excellent article in line with what Jonathan Haidt explores.
Yes, earlier I posted the NYT link to the David Brooks article you are referencing.. Thank you for expounding on that very key part of the piece which gets to the heart of all our discussions. David Brooks is brilliant and a gem!
So interesting. Thank you.
I would love to know how to get the message out! Living in a very red state with 2 trumpian congressional representatives, I post Heather's letters on their fb pages. The replies are amazing not only for their insults but the depth of their belief in what is being feed to them. Daines & Rosendales post r aimed @ the trump/putin crowd. Replies are usually insults without facts & throw words like socialism & communism . One used liberal communist .
Congrats on your method.
Biden's achievements are being ignored, while the Republican buffoonery is splattered across headline news to attract readership. Why can't people be more intelligent, critical seers? What's more important, the facts or trumpesque sensationalism?
The answer is apparent. Why are we still asking the questions. Our government was taken over by thugs and grifters and we watched while they robbed us. The dumb have been more dumbed down and the thugs get richer. This is our reality and if we the caring and intelligent do not stop it we only need to look at Russian history to see our future.Depending on the “honest, fact-telling “ press seems th be failing. Democrats and all believers in Democracy MUST do all that we can to stop this scourge. Find one candidate that you like and support him or her as much as you can afford and speak up!
Talk out loud in public about the truth of what is happening in the world and our country. We can be like Ukrainians and fight with all we have to keep our way of life. Now! Before it is all destroyed. Think of 2 ideas and share so that we the people for peace and freedom can keep our country.
Ban all men from politics with a 4 year moratorium. #2 require the incoming women to be mothers. Probably would save us.
Kaleigh McEneny, Kelly Ann Conway, Laura Ingram, Ivanka Trump, Sarah Hucklebee Sanders, Gini Thomas, Lara Logan, etc. unfortunately disprove your theory. In my career the most vindictive, petty and abusive bosses were women.
I really did get your point but that is just the shooting gallery at the carnival.
Oh ok. Gotcha. Yeah and I agree.
let's not forget elizabeth the first, margaret thatcher, catherine the great. women rulers often feel, like some mild mannered men who are tested as leaders, that they have to prove they are strong. the usual way is to go to war. how many times have you heard the press say or write that one is never considered a great president if one has not won a war? victory in a war is the best way to create a "legacy." and there is nothing the press loves more than a war. the press wants a good story and there is no story like a war. no matter how badly the last one turned out, they can't wait for the next one. remove war from the picture and most of the women did pretty well. the countries that responded best to covid were led by women. meanwhile our tough guy president told us it would be gone by easter. maybe he meant easter 2022?
Compared to What????
The topic was introduced by Pat Cole as to women being better rulers. I was responding to her comment.
Yeah Barb a lot of men tried calling me Patty, Patsy, Patricia, but in Spanish class I was called Patricio. My mother, the boss of the universe called me Patrick but she was the only one who could pull that off. My friends called me Pat but my real buddies call me Man Mountain, just the moniker I picked up as a smokejumper. Her is okay, I’ll answer to that for you because I’ve never had the honor before. Thank you for thinking me capable of that special kind of genius. Think perhaps leaders and look carefully around your society and watch who really shoulders the burdens of life. Who gets all the shitty details. Who has to work through the mundane thankless tasks. Who presents the world to the children. Who prepares the children to the world. Who is actually there on needy days. Who budgets the money. Who decorates the home. I’m going to stop now. Oops I lied. How many mothers send there children to war.
Throughout history, queens were more likely to wage war than kings.😉
“The first clue comes from the fact that, of all European sovereigns, married queens were the most bellicose, launching more wars than unmarried queens, and kings of all types. This might be because, thanks to gender norms, women rulers tended to benefit more from marriage alliances than kings. Married queens were likelier than kings to wage war alongside allies, often their spouses’ nations. And queens frequently roped their husbands into helping rule—something that kings hardly ever did with their wives.”
https://qz.com/967895/throughout-history-women-rulers-were-more-likely-to-wage-war-than-men/
Through out history their advisors were men with nefarious designs. You could consult Shakespeare himself if the news media was biased. Or better yet have Heather drop in on him.
War was the business of kingdoms in those days. Also, there were many fewer queens than kings. Sample size mismatch applies. Also, this: https://priceonomics.com/monarchs-more-belligerent-queens-kings/
That is a solution that works for me
Brilliant. It’s time. And a truly worthy experiment. After all, men were born of women and nearly all were brought up in a matriarchy. We need to take our power back.
The entire animal kingdom is a matriarchy. Survival depends on it. How humans manage to turn that around is against the laws of nature and is leading to extinction. I put it out there because that girl was serious. Show me any tribe in America where the women were not the ones who kept the society alive.
Yes, her statement as fact needs to be checked. Men have been in power since time immemorial and I’m going to assert that they have been the near total war wagers throughout history. Perhaps, our history professor will enlighten us?
Your twist on immemorial to in memorial really says more than I did.
You never lost the power. Men were jealous. They usurped it.
True that!
Old White men!!!
Now now now. Are you sure young white men have developed their brains enough? Pretty risky.
So you want to be led by the likes of Marsha Blackburn and Kristi Noem? No thanks.
Not at all Jon. You may well think of me as the court jester and I resemble that at times because I really need mirth and the sounds of laughter from time to time. My solutions are based on the duty of holding young men together as their last faltering breaths escaped on their way to eternity in an upside down world of madness and the only thought they had was that their mothers were the only force that could save them. Always…always momma was the last entreaty. At 70+ I believe them.
No, led by the likes professor Richardson and Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elizabeth Warren to name a few.
Unfortunately, Rowshan, many people just want to get on with their lives and not be bothered. In all of this Trump brings them more "fun and fantasy" than Biden...and devil take the hindmost. Fun and fantasy sell newspapers and bring in ad revenus.
And newspapers, much like the centrist Democrats who blame the left for their troubles, blame their subscribers for abandoning them … none of them want to look at their own lack of honesty and forward vision… they just want to keep stirring the turd.
Dear me, Carla! The problem it seems to me is if you managed to force people to sit on a line between the extremities of the political "goalposts" , most would end up clustered around the middle...the classic distribution around the Median. Those such as Manchin and Biden are the architypal Repub/Dem Centrists of yore. At the radical or progressive ends of the continuum one might feel that one is leading the pack but unfortunatey both tails are trying to wag the dog ...and it annoys the hell out of the dog who just wants to go to sleep or out for walkies.
I admit to being a progressive. We had a progressive President once. He was so popular he won the election four times and is the reason we have term limits. Seems to me term limits might be a good idea for Congress critters. But whatever… our current position seems to require the action of more care for the people.
Hear, hear!
“Stirring the turd” describes how America dies. Sorry, founding fathers, especially you Ben
The answer is obvious, the National Enquirer mission statement rules. Pecker let Chump pick out the anti-Hillary headlines for the Enquirer, now he is dictating them for our “free press” as well. I’m old, the Enquirer model was always bull Schitt. Now it rules the fools, and the fools rule us all.
We need to call out the media. Every day. I freely admit that I do not do that. It’s a lot easier to comment on strings of like believers. I need to change my approach, and I urge all of you to do likewise. As a button a friend gave me a long time ago read, “If the people will lead, the leaders will follow.” Change that to “If the readers will lead…”
Jon Stewart 'Jon talks to Margaret Sullivan, media columnist for The Washington Post, about why cable news relies so heavily on speculation, why outrage shouldn’t drive the conversation, and how the mainstream media can redefine its mission to serve the public interest, not the ratings machine'. Ms Sullivan saying that people (viewers) find it hard to look away when the subject is TFG - seems to me like projection and justification for laziness, and greed (appealing to the lowest/baseness of human appetite). He really nailed it with the title of his show! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKRcUeIMIUs&ab_channel=TheProblemWithJonStewart
Some good comments there.
Billionaires own the media companies.
To be exact, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp owns Fox News, the London Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Yes. Thanks. There needs to be op-eds that temporary inflation and slightly higher gas prices is a small price. The issue is protecting democracy, exposing pro-Putin, anti-Semitic, white nationalist members of the current Republican Party.
There are those op-ed’s but people like you and I and the other readers here are the only ones reading them. It’s because our fellow Americans who are working 3 jobs just to squeak by can’t afford the newspaper and don’t have the time to do research on the source of their news stories. . Sound bites and sensationalism is all they have time for. It’s by design.
To your point, Rowshan, big headline in Wa-Po - "Biden to announce plan to ease gas prices as inflationary pressures persist". Just HAD to get that 'inflation' tag in there, didn't they?
Sad!
Heather Cox Richardson writes as a Biden partisan. She writes that "it is no secret that we are in a battle between democracy and authoritarianism in America and around the world." Richardson falsely associates Biden with "democracy," resolutely ignoring the evidence that Biden stole the Democratic nomination from Bernie Sanders.
Back during the primaries, I described Biden, on his campaign facebook page, as "Creepy Snuggles, the Deep State swamp creature mired in Ukrainian sleaze, from tiny corporatist Delaware where the only grass-roots voters work in corporate headquarters buildings." Perhaps that last part was a bit of an exaggeration, but to characterize that old Establishment water carrier Joe Biden as a champion of democracy seems absurd on its face.
I was never a Trump supporter. During the the first impeachment brohuhah, I watched as Trump committed an arguably impeachable offense in full public view, but the Democrats said absolutely nothing, with the partial exception of Tulsi Gabbard. (Bernie Sanders cleared his throat a bit, but he isn't a Democrat.) I am referring to Trump's murder of Qasem Suleimeini, an Iranian military leader who was on a three-way peace mission involving Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia (according to statements at the time by the governments of Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia), which would seem to be a high crime. And of course misusing the U.S. military to carry out an assassination is a high misdemeanor. This happened DURING the impeachment circus, but the so-called Democrats gave Trump a free pass on this one, as if they are just as corrupt and imperialist as the Republicans.
I raised my voice on this issue, on my own facebook page and on Trump's. Obviously my voice doesn't carry very far, but if my assessments are both honest and accurate, then open-minded people of good will might begin to pay attention.
Spare us the Bernie tales of woe. I loved Bernie Sanders and still hold him in high regard. He is on the right (correct and just) side of most issues. And he wears nice mittens. I supported him in the 2016 primary.
But truth be told. If Bernie had endorsed Hillary right out of the box and campaigned harder for her, we might not have had the horrific four years of suffering that set back our international clock by decades and lost us precious time in the climate crisis countdown. Too many young "Bernistas" sat out the general election. They essentially cast their votes for TFG by not voting.
I have no personal fondness for the Clintons. I think Obama is a fine person, but naive as all get out. Warren was my 2020 primary choice. But I love the fact that Joe Biden is our President. On the political spectrum I am left of AOC and Gandhi. On the American real life scene - get things done, keep us alive, and improve the lives of the average American - I root for Joe Biden. Do I wish he was 20 years younger? Do I wish he was really Stacey Abrams. Yes and sure.
I suppose Bernie would be a more dramatic and exciting President. But do we really think a self proclaimed "Socialist" could have accomplished anything with the current makeup of Congress? Do you think that Manchin and Sinema would have ignored their corporate masters for Bernie?
Yes, Heather Cox Richardson is leading the cheer for Biden. I say hip, hip hooray!
Clinton lost her election because Democratic strategists assumed too much -- that people were ready to vote for a woman. Strategists did a miserable job of data analysis that led to her defeat in the Electoral College. Pay attention to data because in this day and age, data is queen/king. Voting districts matter more than the popular vote and it takes only a few districts to turn the tide. Hence, the Trump presidency (if we can call it that).
If you want to know why Republicans hate Hillary, read "Jesus & John Wayne". The lies told about a very qualified candidate were continual for several years. Moreover, conservative evangelical & conservative Catholic women preferred Trump the misogynist over a woman who thought abortion should be safe, rare, & legal. Only Black voters have consistently voted against Trump the White Supremacist & racist. All "followers of Christ" need to be guided by the Equally Sacred Priorities found at networklobby.org. Moreover, a "successful businessman" has never been a good President, as macroeconomics is outside their circle of competence, consider Hoover, Bush, & Trump. They all believed in the theory of supply-side economics, which has been falsified, read "After the Music Stopped".
This is quite true. Sad, but powerfully correct. Just a few states determine our future. Wouldn't the founders be appalled at this floundering?
Turning over in their graves as our mismanagement!
Indeed! Thx!
I agree. Women did not like Hilary out here. How much do you think her loss had to do with Bill eating the poisoned apple? Because that issue surfaced again and again leading the dwarves at least hereabouts to disgruntlement.
Can I have a Pom Pom too!
😂
Hear, hear, Bill!!! Well said!
Objectively speaking, there is reason to suppose that the Establishment is getting ready to throw Biden under the bus. The New York Times recently flip-flopped on whether Hunter Biden's laptop is real, and then there's "Laptop from Hell":
https://books.google.com/books/about/Laptop_from_Hell.html?id=mb0oEAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&gboemv=1&gbmsitb=1#v=onepage&q&f=false
So you are willing to sweep under the rug Biden's cyber-theft (with other dirty tricks) of the Democratic Primary because now he's "doing the right thing." I talked about the cyber theft in my response to Rea Howarth's reply to my previous post. I never supported Bernie, even though I grew up in Vermont. I supported Tulsi Gabbard in the 2020 primaries.
In my assessment, Biden is a horrifying failure in foreign policy; and with economic/fiscal policy, he is heading the economy straight for an iceberg, but the passengers on the Titanic (like you) are blissfully unaware.
John, you are entitled to your own opinions, but NOT your own set of facts.
Brian Book, I don't suppose you'd be willing to discuss which facts you are referring to. Regarding Biden's theft of the 2020 Massachusetts primary from Bernie Sanders, the evidence is discussed by Theodore de Macedo Soares as follows:
"Massachusetts 2020 Democratic Primary"
By Theodore de Macedo Soares
https://freepress.org/article/massachusetts-2020-democratic-primary
The 2020 Massachusetts Democratic Party presidential primary was held on March 3, 2020. Election results from the computerized vote counts differed significantly from the results projected by the exit poll conducted by Edison Research and published by CNN at poll’s closing. As in the 2016 Massachusetts primary between candidates Sanders and Clinton, disparities greatly exceed the exit poll’s margin of error. Sanders won Massachusetts in the exit poll and lost it in the computer count.
The discrepancies between the exit poll and the vote count for Sanders and Biden totaled 8.2%— double the 4.0% exit poll margin of error. Warren’s and Biden’s discrepancies totaled 8.0%, also double the margin of error. These discrepancies replicate the total discrepancy of 8.0% favoring Clinton in the 2016 Massachusetts Democratic Party primary between her and Sanders. This time two progressive candidates exhibit the same discrepancies now favoring Biden representing the establishment’s choice.
Presidential candidates Biden’s and Bloomberg’s vote counts exhibited the largest disparity from their exit poll projections. Biden’s unobservable computer-generated vote totals represented a 15.7% increase of his projected exit poll share. Given the 1,342,905 voters in this election, he gained approximately 60,900 more votes than projected by the exit poll. Bloomberg increased his vote share by 28.2% and approximately 34,500 more votes than projected. Their gain came largely at the expense of candidates Sanders and Warren whose combined vote counts were 97,000 less than projected by the exit poll.[i]
Noteworthy is the fact that the 2016 Massachusetts Republican Party exit poll taken at the same time and at the same precincts as the Democratic Party primary, and also with a crowded field of five candidates, was matched almost perfectly by the computer count—varying by less than one percent for each candidate.
Exit polls are widely recognized—such as by, for example, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)—as a means for checking the validity of vote counts. The U.S. has financed exit polls in other countries to “ensure free and fair” elections.
The United States remains one of the few major democracies in the world that continue to allow computerized vote counting—not observable by the public—to determine the results of its elections.[ii] Countries such as Germany, Norway, Netherlands, France,[iii] Canada,[iv] United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and many other countries protect the integrity of their elections with publicly observable hand-counting of paper ballots.[v]
Dear John, I loved you as good as I could but this other feller Big Bill has come into my life now and he makes me happier. So sorry I couldn’t be true to you. If you continue to do everything the way you are going I fear you will never find love. I truly wish success finds you. Don’t worry John many of us got the same letter.
❤️
??
Pretty sure we have heard from you before.
Well god forbid that you should engage with what I have to say. Perhaps others will.
You assert that Biden “stole the election from Bernie Sanders” without a single shred of evidence. The people who got their weary butts up in and went to vote for Biden after Rep. Jim Clyburn endorsed Joe Biden as a man who could be trusted to have their backs, elected Joe Biden. They wanted to replace the malignant insanity that drove the Trump Administration. They simply picked the candidate who would attract the majority of voters.
Contrary to the opinions of Bernie supporters who see a conspiracy in every corner, poor people are not “Socialists”.
They simply want some modicum of a fair shake in a very unfair world. Most are fiscal and social conservatives who must guard the little bit they have. Their children are their paramount concern.
During the campaign for the 2020 election one woman commenter said she would crawl over broken glass through the covid fog to vote for Biden. Remember the efforts of DeJoy to eliminate mail in ballots just a covid was raging? 81 million voters said yes to Biden. A truly wonderful moment for Democracy.
You said it better than I did
Rea Howarth, you reiterate talking points without a shred of evidence. I was never a Bernie supporter. I discussed the evidence around here before, and am pleased to do so again.
The Massachusetts 2020 primary was the most egregious example of a consistent pattern of discrepancies from the exit polls in Biden's favor, throughout the primaries. In Massachusetts, the official results were 4% less for Bernie than the exit polls. And in Massachusetts the official results were 4% less for Elizabeth Warren than the exit polls. All of this discrepancy was added to Biden's total. This, in the realm of exit polls, is simply preposterous.
A leading expert on this, Theodore Soares, discussed the results here:
https://tdmsresearch.com/2020/03/04/massachusetts-2020-democratic-party-primary/
That link used to be easily accessible. However, it has now been deemed "unsafe" (go ahead and try the link; it is still possible to get through if you ignore the warning), as if the Powers That Be are restricting access.
There was a misleading "fact check" on Theodore Soares's analysis of the 2020 Massachusetts Primary here:
https://www.factcheck.org/2020/03/no-huge-red-flag-that-fraud-occurred-in-mass-primary/
Thank you.
This is a good example of “whataboutism”. Trump alledgedly commits murder and you blame Democrats for not stopping him or from facing justice, a system partisanly rigged to allow Team McConnell to avoid conviction, by loosing the Circus clowns and paper tigers in Cruz-ism tactics of distraction
BTW, Biden didn’t steal the nomination, he used his political collateral to build his coalition that provided the necessary support. That’s not theft, its politics. And you moan about it. Thats your voice
Dave Dalton, I further discussed the charge of vote fraud by Biden in the Democratic primaries in my response to Rea Howarth.
You miss my point about Trump and the Democrats: The Democratic leadership, on foreign policy toward Russia and the Middle East, is generally in lock-step with the "big stick" imperialism of leading Republicans. And when Trump wielded the Big Stick to apparently commit murder (using the U.S. military to do the dirty deed) in the middle of an impeachment proceeding, the Democratic Party exposed its hypocrisy by simply ignoring it.
In my assessment, the Demublicans have little to offer that is different from the Republicrats.
That you are unable to discern little difference between current GOP and Democrats lends credence to my concern that you are a credible observer of US domestic and foreign policy, as well as the autocracy being pursued by Republican operatives in Red States
Your nit picking also suggests a rejection of the art of diplomacy, consensus decision making and the value of negotiated alliances
Nice spin
we can go with that
Trees; forest.
After Biden stole the Democratic nomination from Bernie Sanders, he held his corporate nose and embraced much of the Progressive agenda to paper things over. So now we have a "kinder, gentler" regime at the helm of the Titanic, but please don't go belowdecks; it's a bit swampy down there.
Two things you don't want to see being made: Sausage and legislation. A democratic republic is inherently messy. Thanks for bringing your viewpoint to this space. But, to call any aspect of Biden's administration "swampy" is pure projection. Trump's administration was so deep in alligators...because they deliberately and willfully filled their administration with the most "swampy" people they could find.
You can only say that if you ignore Hunter Biden's "laptop from Hell" and the mainstream news media's prodigious efforts to cover it up until after the election:
https://books.google.com/books/about/Laptop_from_Hell.html?id=ujzWzgEACAAJ&source=kp_book_description
So many examples, so little time. Let's start with t****'s children especially Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, born grifters.
See what happens when you respond to trolls?
How rude. What, in your mind, makes a troll? Is it just somebody who is out of tune with Biden's party-line chorus, as conducted by Heather Cox Richardson?
Regarding Biden's theft of the 2020 Massachusetts primary, the evidence is discussed by Theodore de Macedo Soares in this article:
"Massachusetts 2020 Democratic Primary"
By Theodore de Macedo Soares
https://freepress.org/article/massachusetts-2020-democratic-primary
The 2020 Massachusetts Democratic Party presidential primary was held on March 3, 2020. Election results from the computerized vote counts differed significantly from the results projected by the exit poll conducted by Edison Research and published by CNN at poll’s closing. As in the 2016 Massachusetts primary between candidates Sanders and Clinton, disparities greatly exceed the exit poll’s margin of error. Sanders won Massachusetts in the exit poll and lost it in the computer count.
The discrepancies between the exit poll and the vote count for Sanders and Biden totaled 8.2%— double the 4.0% exit poll margin of error. Warren’s and Biden’s discrepancies totaled 8.0%, also double the margin of error. These discrepancies replicate the total discrepancy of 8.0% favoring Clinton in the 2016 Massachusetts Democratic Party primary between her and Sanders. This time two progressive candidates exhibit the same discrepancies now favoring Biden representing the establishment’s choice.
Presidential candidates Biden’s and Bloomberg’s vote counts exhibited the largest disparity from their exit poll projections. Biden’s unobservable computer-generated vote totals represented a 15.7% increase of his projected exit poll share. Given the 1,342,905 voters in this election, he gained approximately 60,900 more votes than projected by the exit poll. Bloomberg increased his vote share by 28.2% and approximately 34,500 more votes than projected. Their gain came largely at the expense of candidates Sanders and Warren whose combined vote counts were 97,000 less than projected by the exit poll.[i]
Noteworthy is the fact that the 2016 Massachusetts Republican Party exit poll taken at the same time and at the same precincts as the Democratic Party primary, and also with a crowded field of five candidates, was matched almost perfectly by the computer count—varying by less than one percent for each candidate.
Exit polls are widely recognized—such as by, for example, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)—as a means for checking the validity of vote counts. The U.S. has financed exit polls in other countries to “ensure free and fair” elections.
The United States remains one of the few major democracies in the world that continue to allow computerized vote counting—not observable by the public—to determine the results of its elections.[ii] Countries such as Germany, Norway, Netherlands, France,[iii] Canada,[iv] United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and many other countries protect the integrity of their elections with publicly observable hand-counting of paper ballots.[v]
Obviously.
Don't you want to MAGA?
Biggest joke ever, emboldened MAGAts are a worst enemy than Russia ever was. Who doesn’t know that? Oh, Rupert’s cult…
I’ll bring this up because the name comes up in HCR’s Letter today. We all have different insights that, at times, work like radar…alerting a sixth sense to, well, just somethin’ somethin’…good and bad. Mine has always served me well meeting hundreds of kids in a career in public education. I’ve met a few kids that have given me a sense, for instance, that they will achieve fame and destiny and a very select few that give me a sense of having a calculating nature, destructive bent, and will not win the warm fuzzy award. These intuitions have worked well, for me, in finding effective teaching learning styles in the classroom.
I can remember the first time I laid eyes on Jared Kushner. He actually was seated next to then president Trump around a very big table in a big room at what I suppose was an important meeting. I literally jumped up and thought….”that’s one cold fish whispering in the president’s ear. He looks like a rabbit hopping down the socio-path.” No sh*t. It was a bit chilly.
I think of it when JK’s name comes up.
And wonder at the balls of the Repubs to suggest again and again criminality and intrigue regarding Hunter Biden who is not in any government job and you’ve got the “Trump kids” right up the keister of nepotism and personal gain from the Whitewash House.
Sheesh.
Pod person, married into the pod people family...
Wasn’t it JK father that got caught in some kind of Investment fraud ? He did something ? He was probably the real ‘Adviser ‘ in for the Thief n Chief .
JK's father is a convicted felon and basic overall scum ball. The apple didn't fall far from the tree. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Kushner
I forgot the Thief n Chief pardon him . Sickening !
Fascinating info; I have worked as an instructor (not a teacher) in a discipline requiring both physical and educational skills (teaching use of force application and documentation as well as being a Field Training Officer) and as such, was taught a great deal about adult learning styles. I did not come across any of the more negative specimens you describe, but before I took on those extra duties, I completely changed the look and style of my initials due to a male deputy whose initials were also AH; I did NOT want my opinions to be confused with his in any way, shape, or form. He was later terminated and ultimately went to prison for homicide, where he had represented himself as an officer (having "neglected" to turn in a uniform shirt.
Wow, Christine, what a great description. Now I will think of the “socio-path” when his name comes up too. You nailed that creepy feeling.
My wife taught for about 40 years and she wanted to implement a class for those prison bound.
There is so much about TFG's toxic administration, I am unable to understand why the media is so negative about Biden's work. I stopped watching the PBS Newshour because I couldn't stand the whining, ignoring the good news and PBS' "fairness doctrine" about allowing the other side to spout their lies and disinformation... All of us need to call them out and make a noise about it!
When PBS started that “both sides” crap, I threw in the towel.
I threw in the towel about the amateurish nature of local reporting years ago, when every political demonstration about LGBTQ rights or LGBTQ proposals had to be countered by comments from religious leaders or representatives. Why did reporters find it necessary to equate politics with religion in this case and very few others. Weren't there any political leaders who could respond to the matter without bringing up religion, by citing politics or science or the law? If a menorah is vandalized over Hannukah, why don't the reporters seek out evangelical Christians--part of whose purpose is to convert all non-believers)? Why is it okay to drag religious beliefs in when in other cases it is verboten? Why don't Holocaust deniers have a chance to chime in when Holocaust memorials are being considered in communities? The false equivalency over LGBTQ rights was very hurtful during the 20+ years of the fight, and caused me to ask, sometimes out loud to the chagrin of those around me, "Why doesn't Jesus love me?" Because the news media loves to stir the pot, but not take any blame.
Agreed, PBS has disappointed me a lot of late
PBS is simply another of the corporatized media. Were there a truly public media, funded by the citizens of the nation, we might have genuine, robust reporting and accounting of the public's opinions and political positions. Instead, this nation's government has chosen to deny funding for open access to the public airways on the national scale. The result is we have no nationwide, non-commercial public media. And when the government chooses to defund (or inadequately fund) public media, but favors corporate media, then the corporate media act as the state media. And corporatism is what our ancestors fought WWII to defeat.
Sadly...
SJ Roth, I agree. So many opinion pieces at the expense of reporting. And the list of corporate sponsors. If one accepts money from another, one becomes biased in that direction. Basic psychology? If I never see another ad by Fidelity it will be too soon.
Sorry, just more opinion. Sigh.
Last week, Biden extended the moratorium on most federal student loan programs through the end of August—sooner than most Democrats wanted
What? They couldn't do it to the end of the year? August? Just in time to piss people off at the election? fookin' mo-rons. This is how/why they get in the hole they're in.
As regards Press The Meat on Sunday (and weekdays at 1pm Eastern), a "chucktodd" is an internationally-recognized unit of measurement of political idiocy.
When Trump became a candidate, Todd riffed on his chaotic performance with positively gleeful exuberance – as if he had just spotted the model train set he had always wanted under the Christmas tree.
From that moment on, he has been dead to me as a source of information.
" a "chucktodd" is an internationally-recognized unit of measurement of political idiocy." My laugh for the day. Thanks
Upvote for 'a chucktodd'. I'll see your two chucktodds and raise you three tuckers.
A 'tucker" is an internationally-recognized unit of measure of Treasonous Assholery.
Double up vote. I'm going to use these
They're "open source." :-)
Treasonous Assholery is the mission of the Republican Party
We will miss Eric Boehlert’s voice. Condolences to his family and readers. His last piece and yours about him and about the underplaying of Biden’s accomplishments concern me. Thank you for noticing and for setting the record straight!! Each statement counts.
"Each statement counts." Yes.
If trump & family & sycophant's avoid prosecution and accountability, I see little hope for the country. The pols are looting at will now...and big time.
This is incredibly depressing - we have similar (but less cataclysmic) stuff in Oz. May I bring to your attention a very pertinent paragraph - which really underscores why things are going the way they are. Can we change this trajectory? It is very deeply embedded in our culture.
"This paragraph seems to sum, in addition the dilemma we face as the nature of some of the “beasts”
“That is what companies are for.
They are designed to multiply capital; what they make is irrelevant.
Torpedoes, food, clothes, furniture. It is all the same.
To that end they will do anything to survive and prosper.
Can they make more money employing slave labour?
If so, they must do so.
Can they increase profits by selling things which kill others?
They must do so again.
What if they lay waste the landscape, ruin forests, uproot communities and poison the rivers?
They are obliged to do all these things, if they can increase their profits.”
“A company is a moral imbecile.
It has no sense of right or wrong.
Any restraints have to come from the outside, from laws and customs which forbid it from doing certain things of which we disapprove.
But it is a restraint which reduces profits.
Which is why all companies will strain forever to break the bounds of the law, to act unfettered in their pursuit of advantage.
That is the only way they can survive because the more powerful will devour the weak.
And because it is the nature of capital, which is wild, longs to be free and chafes at each and every restriction imposed on it.”
from Stone’s Fall by Iain Pears
Great Post Hugh. I have saved it for posterity.
So have I!!❤
I am not a Freudian, but what you describe is a creature with an id and an ego, but no superego. With no sense of guilt and lacking anything like a moral compass, they are destined for sociopathy, and psychopathy if the ego goes totally wild.
Wonderful post! I’ve read a few of Pears’ mysteries; they’re such good books.
Superb!!!❤
Thank you Heather.
We cannot deny that regardless of the headway the Biden Administration has made thus far, it is running in sand. Frankly, I don't see a way out as long as the Press is determined to keep Biden a one term President. The fact that misinformation is the standard, or the accepted norm, calling out the lies is futile at this point.
FOX Entertainment is not the only enemy, it's everywhere you look in mainstream media.
Be safe. Be well.
“…calling out lies is futile at this point.” Yes, Linda. And way too defensive which plays into their ongoing script. Truth is always best when it IS the offensive. The Light shines on it. The necessary messaging now has one requirement. Keep the Light on. There is no opposite.
And as we always say in my classrooms reaching a successful consensus of strategy…..”thumbs up, B&B”. BINGO and Bam!
Salud, Linda! 🙋🏻🙋🏼🙋🏽🙋🏾🙋🏿
Shame. Shame.
As though the world could afford a schizoid America at a time like this!
Yes. Seen from outside, America looks mad and wedded to madness, both mad and plain stupid. And your media are feeding the idiocy, the madness.
You have a bunch of criminal lunatics running free and daily proclaiming their wildly abnormal New Normal. If this had been Saudi Arabia, the lot would have been beheaded even before January last year, but no, we sing America the Exceptional and rake in the cash for betraying the country and selling its institutions, while Saudi autocrats reward those who would make Washington another Moscow, another Riyadh.
The only positive construction I can put on the exceeding slowness with which the wheels of justice are grinding is... "Hold your fire until you see the white of their eyes".
As for the bullsh***ing Press Corps mercenaries, what trash! If and when the country comes to its senses there are plenty of bought-and-soldiers who'll be paying for their own criminal irresponsibility. A few bulletproof pillories would come in handy...
"Seen from outside, America looks mad and wedded to madness"
Unfortunately Peter, it is not just that we "look" mad. If that were only true.
Much of America, now, IS mad. So, its worse than you write.
I was using a deliberate euphemism. Like the nice hypocritical English, like so many Americans who say one thing and mean another.
The problem is the reality of mass madness, a reality that affects us all, whether sane or deluded. A reality denied even by shrinks who prefer to stick to their shrunken -- but lucrative -- focus on the individual patient. A reality evident only to some of the slightly less deluded. After all, people are prone, like No. 45, to unload their inner filth on others and like to see themselves as "very stable".
A reality that's all the more difficult to cope with because the deluded see their delusions as "real" and the perceptions of saner folks as delusions... So you have to agree with them when they tell you their Supersize BS Burger is nutritive and deee-licious... while taking due evasive action.
It is urgent to remove the Superspreader Deluded Deluders to the safety of well-padded, well-soundproofed cells and to keep them there...
As for treatment, maybe training eyes on what your Great Would-Be-Leader's Big Boss and Role Model is up to in Marioupol may help those who don't want to see neighbor turn against neighbor in America.
Peter,
I agree. However, Fox News does not agree, so, me and you?
We are just outliers among the "real" Amurcans now.
I just hope we can stay out of the way of what's coming.
I fear there may be a similarity between the current Qanon inspired Republican party and the mass hysteria behind the Salem witch madness. Is it simply irony
that Trump continues to refer to witch hunts?
Have to agree, sadly
As do I.
And I don't "like" what I said. I am simply convinced that it needs to be said. Needs to be proclaimed from the rooftops.
The deluded, the demented won't hear it. The message is for those who still have their hearts in place and functioning brains in their heads.
We are one.
Well felt again, Peter.
Salud.
Thank you, Christine.
Whether we agree or not, I can be sure that all you say is heartfelt and 100% genuine. So, even when my reaction to something differs from yours, I know that the underlying motivation is fine. You'll never be guilty of indifference.
2016:
Trump has defrauded banks and Investors. Trump is conspiring with the Russians. Trump has surrounded himself with shysters and sycophants. Trump abuses women. Trump is a grifter. Trump is a racist. Trump is utterly unqualified to be president.
Media: But her emails!
2022:
Trump led an insurrection to overthrow our democracy. Trump blackmailed Ukraine. Trump conspired with Putin. Jared was paid off by the Saudis to the tune of $2 billion. Mnuchin was paid off to the tune of $1 billion. The Trump administration was the most corrupt in history. Trump’s inaction and incompetence on Covid led to hundreds of thousands of unnecessary American deaths. Trump tried to destroy NATO. Trump put 3 partisan right-wing hacks on the Supreme Court.
Media: But Hunter’s laptop!
MSNBC addressed Jareds payoff last night....Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O.
Unfortunantely so many want to be in Trump's inner circle or catch his eye so they can get in on the easy money/grift. They also believe if they support loud enough, he will pardon/save them once he is in power, this would go for DeSantis as well if he ended up as the nominee, (Horrors!) Greed is ultimately what is killing democracy. People are not going into politics for the good of the country and mankind but to get in on the glory of power and the insider trading doesn't hurt (just declare you are doing it, or your spouse}.
Exactly!!
I’ve never understood the news media’s support of extreme right wing; but my suspicion is that very large amounts of money is involved? That either direct payments (making sure it looks legit—lots of ways to accomplish that in the media apparently) or huge amounts are coming into the media in clandestine ways? The NYT still has the appearance of being covering both the positive accomplished by the Biden administration and opposing views, but in reality, if you count the negative reporting daily, the pendulum has been falling to the right more and more. It is beyond disturbing to imagine the democracies crumbling but that’s what we’re watching.
Putin’s obvious plans for a future Russian empire have most of my Danish relatives anxious and countries most at risk for his next Anschluss, Finland and Sweden, are both trying to take preventive actions! This is not how I imagined the world to be during my “golden” years!
I think it’s become all about the clicks and ad revenue.
The NYT’s below-the-fold coverage of the Kushner story is reprehensible, especially when compared to the blaring front page headlines for weeks about Clinton’s emails.
Our “free” and bought press is doing as good a job brain-washing the gullible American public as Goebbels did preparing the German citizenry to see Hitler as a solution rather than the problem. The hiring by CBS of Mick M was the icing on the cake. The greedy bastards are ahead by a lap. Rupert is celebrating 40 years of destroying America’s democracy. Wonder what Reagan would think of this. Somebody ask Peggy Noonan.
In the conference Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy cosponsored by The Atlantic and The Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago, Maria Ressa said that social media is amplifying that which gets people angry. The press has been using this cheap trick to sell "news" for as long as my child has been alive. It is why we were not allowed to have the news on when she was young because she figured out it was just bad. She says we have to fight it with truth, just as you are Eric Boehlert have been doing, and calling them on it. Then we also have to look at who is behind their news. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWFRVPrZApI Thank you for fighting this disinformation war with the truth.
Thank you, Heather, for expressing what so many are thinking. I don't have cable TV, so, thankfully, don't see much of it. I have noticed this same tendency to minimize Biden's achievements by PBS News Hour and BBC America. The main problem at PBS, in my view, is Judy Woodruff; the actually reporters - Amna Nawaz, Nick Shiffrin, and especially Lisa Desjardin, are excellent at digging out facts and presenting a balanced, informative presentation.
Yesterday, I came across a story about a study that had, I believe, 500 Fox News watchers switch to CNN for one month. The researchers really didn't expect it to change minds, but it did. Not quite half the participants had different views on topics after watching CNN, than they had reported before the experiment. So, yes, Fox IS brainwashing people!
In the rural area where I live, it's a closed loop. The population watches Fox, goes to church on Sunday and hears the same BS from the preacher (most of which are in 'independent churches' where the congregation 'elects' or appoints the minister, none of whom have been anywhere near a seminary or theology school). They all share the same Facebook groups, etc. It's downright incestuous!
The Power Worshippers, by Katherine Stewart, documents not only how long the 'religious right' has been ascendant, but goes deep into their background, connecting them very much with the Movement Conservatives. Many people who have never heard of RJ Rushdoony or David Barton, believe this is all about religion. It is not. As several state openly, "It is about power". And now they have more of it, thanks to Trump's SCOTUS picks, than they've had in decades, if not a century. And it's scary as hell.
Here's a link to The Guardian report on the Fox/CNN study. I said 500; I was wrong -it was 304, and they were paid $15/hr to watch. I should follow Heather's example and collect take notes/collect research, before posting!
:)
What a list, Professor Richardson. How do you know where to start? News, real news that includes an abbreviated laundry list of real government projects and plans, cleanup from TFG corruption, the work of government agencies, Jan 6 Committee, erosion of voting rights, abortion and choice, education and health care? Student loans, immigration, NATO and a continuing War between Ukraine and aggressor Russia. Supreme Court nomination. The government is working in ways we might like or not, so let’s hope enough people are paying attention. When it comes time to vote, let’s also hope we the people consider the difference between a government that works for the people versus one that promises to destroy choices and equality.
But Rupert and clones never told the cult
Yes. That’s why HOPE is repeated.