Jake Tapper and Dana Bash just trashed their reputations. They were tepid and mealy-mouthed, giving Trump rein to do anything he wanted. Shame on them and CNN.
It wasn't a debate. Many of us debated in high school or college and there were rules that would have prevented the CNN debacle.
First of all, calling it a debate is like calling an elephant a donkey. They have nothing in common. They should call it a "free for all" with no rules.
CNN is working so hard to reinvent themselves with very little on-air talent. They still have Anderson Cooper and a few others worthy of being called journalists, but Jake Tapper and Dana Bash are not in that group.
They are trying to lure in the Fox viewers, but that market is over-crowded at this point with Newsmax and OAN and the Sinclair Network.
Many readers have likely judged real debates and have to cringe at the format of this debacle.
Their were no winners. Trump lied over and over with Impunity. Why didn't they put Trump's lies on the crawler? And he never answered any questions asked of him.
Here's my question that Convicted Felon Trump will NEVER answer.
Name 4 things that MADE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN done by your administration. That's only one a year. Why won't CFDT, or his campaign, or any Republican answer what MAGA has done for us.
My grades for the debate - Trump (F), Biden (D) and CNN (D-).
In doing so, they are also complicit in the death of American Democracy. I'm not folding though. Truth is power and I am going to do all I can to spread facts. I will use my own words and I will also repost those of the more eloquent. Please unite behind Biden/Harris. Fight maga, not ourselves, for God's sake!
Sadly this not about facts but rather emotion and it is time to do some in person activism . When the right keeps threatening and no one gets jn their face they feel more emboldened
Should not have in the first place. Everyone knew he was going to lie and bully; that's what he does. An occasionally muted microphone and compliant moderators weren't going to change that.
why is all the focus on Biden's mental acuity and not on that other thing's incapacity for anything but himself? These are crazy emphases on all the wrong things.
A brilliant letter in today's NYT (7/13/24) called for the media to demand a one hour press conference with Trump so he would have to answer the 19 questions Biden answered from random press, not hand picked Fox news buddies. I wonder what that would sound like--how that hider and bullier and liar would look at the end of it. Same rules as the President's press conference. Limelight on him. Or lemon light.
I agree with you Sandra P. Campbell that it should have been called -and agreed to as - a Free-For-All. But I disagree that it was an ambush. trump does not debate. He spews and demeans and distracts. They тАЬpreppedтАЭ Biden for a Debate. That was wrong. Knowing ahead of time that CNN decided they would NOT fact-check in real time, was a glaring, red-flashing clue it would be a vomit of lies vs Joe Biden. Not what Biden was prepped for. Who has ever been on stage with trump and not been discombobulated as national media zero in on your faults and not the guy fire-hosing lies?
Biden's team agreed to the "rules" of the "debate" including that NO live fact checking would take place - in other words, the felon would not be interrupted or called out. All the talking heads could do, and they did, was ask Trump over and over to answer their question, which he rarely did. I agree with Dan that CNN screwed Biden on OPTICS, with the camera sabotage and holding the split screen on our President when he was unable to breath through his nose and looked like the moron that the Felon actually is.
Roy, why must we continue to assign such a dignified term ((pathological liar) to such a total degenerate (#45)? Everything he comes up with is a distortion designed to derail and turn any attempted critical response into libtard blather. We've (you, me, Joe) have been on the receiving end of his regurgitation-of-baloney over and over. The "debate", which it was not, needs to be the last time #45 pukes his distortions onto the table without his face being shoved into it... and feeding it right back down his flabby-ass throat. I've watched K.Harris.., she can be a real bitch.., hand her the ladle.., let her spoon it back to him (#45). Don't make Joe do it. Let Kamala handle that turd (#45). That'd be a show stopper for sure. C'mon Whitehouse.. pull your head out!
Do you realize if Biden is not President in 2025 we will not be able to comment like this anymore. Our discussions will be banned under an R admin.
We are playing for the choir. How do we let the other 329 million or so non HCR readers know an insurrection is taking place under their noses today- while they grill hamburgers, light off fireworks, and work on their tans?
The irony of celebrating the fourth while an insurrection is taking place is making my little head explode!
The 4th of July that was celebrated in Ashland, OR featured the Ashland City Band in concert. One of the pieces they played was a soft medley of a number of historically patriotic songs. About 2 minutes into the piece, a fellow dressed as Abraham Lincoln stepped forward and recited the Gettysburg Address. Those words are as pertinent today as they were in 1863, the difference being that the battlefield today is not yet a graveyard.
272 words composed on a train have inspired literally billions of people for over 160 years. Our eight grade US History teacher had us memorize it and I'm glad he did.
If only there had been a way to record Lincoln.......
Marj, well said, Have you thought about how it might be better for Biden to acknowledge he is ill, step down and allow Harris to be President now? Under federal campaign law she is the only one the Biden campaign money can go to , so that support could go on. She has been working with the team that has helped to make the progress toward equality that has been more than any other President since FDR. It has been the Biden -Harris agenda for all the. positive changes that have occurred that are supporting the majority of Americans for a better standard of life and safety, environmental protections, and the fight against monopolies and billionaires , and much more, For the past 8 months she has been calling for a ceasefire,,she has championed womenтАЩs rights, workers rights, black rights, all rights for equality, As the incumbent candidate, there would not be a crazy convention which will distract from the governing that needs to be happening now. Our Declaration of Independence was inspired by the dream of equality. We are once again facing terrible tyranny and need a plan to fight for a democracy that dreams of coming ever closer to equality for all Americans, and for all LIFE that is on this symbiotically interconnected Spaceship Earth we call home.
Yes, and I wouldn't ride a horse named Harris. We need a more forceful Democratic candidate -- perhaps Newsom, Whitmer or Klobuchar. The most important thing is to beat Trump. With a new candidate, there will be plenty of money -- major donors will see to that.
Sadly tonight, a "talking head" said a woman of color would not get the WH before a white woman. A statement like that is difficult to process. Needless to say, I have been depressed for days. As much as I know I should, the despair is difficult to set aside.
Yes I have thought about this and at great length. In fact I am living in terror today.
At Fri at 7:30pm I am watching the democrats in house fighting and I am noticing for once tfg is keeping his mouth shut so the dems can hang themselves.
At this point I would suggest all non maga supporters stop whining and align behind Biden bc he is our choice. I would suggest we begin now.
Doreen, MAGA has asked me not to believe my eyes, and now so are many dems. This may very well be a sequelae to his covid. The serious long term consequences of this virus are continuing to be discovered,
Just a tiny bit of info, The cytokine storm in severe COVID-19 is likely caused by an auto-amplifying loop centered on injured endothelial cells. Endothelial exocytosis initiates leukocyte and platelet adherence to capillaries, which leads to microvascular obstruction, microthrombosis, and vascular inflammation.Sep
This article aims to describe the prolonged neurological clinical consequences related to brain changes in people with mild COVID-19 infection. When compared to a control group, people those who tested positive for COVID-19 had more brain shrinkage, grey matter shrinkage, and tissue damage.Mar 31, 20
President hasnтАЩt just had a bad night, look at his posture at the Juneteenth celebration, watch the change in his walk and energy over the past few months. In my opinion, asking this great man to carry on in the face of obvious illness is elder abuse. It does not serve his great legacy and it does not serve the nation, VP Harris is more than able to take over now. Wishing and hoping just doesnтАЩt make something so.
As I said elsewhere, very few people know about Project 2025, so it follows that very few people know that it's' architect, Kevin Roberts, said the other day that unless the left steps aside, this revolution will be bloody. Abject failure of main street media.
Statements like Roberts' indicates that MAGA thinks they own all of American the flags, are the only patriots, and that they have all the guns. There is a component of dellusion to this.
I think we all, every one of us, commit to being surrogates for Biden. I am going to personally call all the young people I know to tell them the stakes and to encourage them to vote for Biden and to get all their friends to vote for Biden -- that this is NOT one to sit out or to vote 3rd party. We must ALL do this, if we do, we'll win.
You don't hear any sounds of dissent coming from Orbanites. Nope. That's because 'they' have a way of dealing with such matters. Retribution. Done quietly, it's so hard to prove. You quickly learn to keep your mouth shut in those countries.
But no matter who "handles the turd" there must be some actual cooperation from whichever media broadcasts it - and quite honestly I dont have a clue where we would find that.
You donтАЩt debate a liar; you denounce him. Biden should have known that. Biden wax off his game but then Biden has never been a great debater.
Biden should have rebutted Trump with тАЬthere you go, folks, another pack of lies from the Lie-o-matic (liar in chief) тАж. Nothing lower than lying to the American people тАж.Shame on youтАжbut then youтАЩre not only a liar but also shameless. Americans donтАЩt do business with shameless liars.тАЭ
Fair question: How does one actually lose a debate when the opponent is a pathological liar?. It's the appearance that matters and Biden failed miserably. That's just a fact that we must acknowledge and deal with. That is the reality. What do we do now to give us the best chance of defeating Trump in November?
Yes and educate voters about Project 2025 about what living under a dictator is really like because the media is not focused on the issues but on generating conflict to increase profit.
"One of the basic elements of Project 2025, for example, is what the Nazis called Gleichschaltung: transforming the civil service into a fascist nest."
A тАЬlack of confidenceтАЭ in Joe Biden ? We are sounding like the other side of the MAGA coinтАЩs blind obedience for Donald Trump. I know what I saw on TV on Jan. 6th and I know what I saw the night of the debate. I have nothing but eternal gratitude for what the Biden administration has done for the last 3 1/2 years but I worry about the next 4. Blaming CNN, blaming the MSM etc etc, well enough,but I know what I saw.
The next four years will be fine if Biden is elected. Even if his health fails, (Remember FDR was gravely ill when elected for his last term and the momentum he started continued when he died)... he has the momentum going that will carry the nation...good people supporting him. If Trump wins, all is lost.
If the administration had accomplished nothing except the 56,000+ projects they have already completed they would have been more done morethan the Republicans accomplished under Trump and the Bush's combined.
Joan, we all saw. To me it feels like elder abuse to ask him to continue, Did you see him standing like a statue with a somewhat frozen face at the Juneteenth celebration. It is heartbreaking, but he is ill. Have you thought about him stepping down due to ill health and letting Harris be President now? Federal campaign law only allows her to get BidenтАЩs campaign funds. It has been Biden-Harris and the white house team that has given the American people more for the average American while fighting the white supremacists who come in the guise of businessmen or christian nationalists. There would be a peaceful transition of power. As the incumbent candidate, there would be a more peaceful convention. If there was ever a time for a woman to capture the womanтАЩs and the men who love womenтАЩs votes it is now.
Linda, of course ! That is the most logical move ! But I have given up looking for a logical move from anybody who matters. Trump supposedly loves that idea too or so I have read somewhere in the sea of opinion. I am not waiting for the next event that replicates BidenтАЩs debate performance.
AMEN! No one else at this point in time can come up against the Republicans. We have to support all of our Democrat candidates because if they win so do we! We have to get rid of the MTGs and the Bobrats both male and female that are trying to take away our democracy that have been elected to the House and Senate! Also, we need to remake the Supreme Court that has been contaminated! I hope we are strong enough to do it! It will be a very big job! The word has to be gotten out. Project 2025 should have been in the news (even with us) for a long time. Actually I believe I first heard about it here from a comment. It was hard to find but when I added the www.project2025.org it popped up! At last I am beginning to hear people talk about it more often....but not enough....and I hope those that need too start paying attention!
I am assuming your statement that its cult-like MAGA worthy because the statement is absolute. But, in general, not always, Dems are listening to people and it seems repubs aren't.
Actually, I hate the way Substack bounces comments around, often making them look like non-sequiters. I originall replied to Tyler Hartwell (above) saying тАЬStop demonstrating a lack of confidence in your partyтАЩs nominee.тАЭ
I donтАЩt know about you, but I am beginning to decide comments arenтАЩt worth it. I can afford to pass up unneeded arguments.
Listen to Stuart Stevens, Former chief Republican strategist, Lincoln Project adviser тАж donтАЩt panic, give Biden some time and support. I add this: sell the Democratic PartyтАЩs history - recent and long - of service and accomplishments to large portions of the American population - both rich, not-so-rich and the poor тАж and be proud of what this party and its leadership has done тАж and listen to Heather and Joe Scarborough both of whom have had recent and relatively recent interactions with Joe Biden!
Biden has been a good president. His debate performance hints (and his recent comment that he needs more sleep) at the possibility of the achievements being buried under missteps due to aging. Biden would serve his legacy well if he withdrew from the race and let another candidate step in. Knowing when to quit is the mark of the self-aware.
Jennifer, further to your point, Biden hasn't been just a "good president;" he has been a great president. Our economy is the envy of the world (according to the Wall Street Journal,) the stock market has surged, our inflation rate is the lowest in the industrialized world and our infrastructure is being rebuilt. I just returned from a 1300 mile road trip to Texas - construction all along the way. But, that is no longer the issue. The issue is: can Biden now beat Trump. Does what Biden/Harris have accomplished amount to a hill of beans to those who are ignorant of these feats along with ignorance of Project 2025?
You are spot on тАж. He has been a great president тАж. But We must defeat Trump and Project 2025 тАж. For insight into the rise of populists and how to defeat them, I would like to recommend Rory StewartтАЩs lecture тАЬPopulism, Aristotle and HopeтАЭ at Gresham College, which is on YouTube
How would one WIN a debate when the opponent is a pathological liar? It's impossible to debate someone who only snarls endless lies, abuse, and insults.
Well Roy - he did. It's all in the definition, but if winning is being the more convincing, then the polls indicate Trump won. I am very sad to say this. Believe me. I am getting a little tired of listening to excuses. To the other side, or more importantly to the folks on the fence, that is just what it sounds like Childish excuses. If Biden is growing senile, man up DNC - convince him to hand over the reigns. BTW, I predict I too will succumb to dementia some day sooner than I want. And if it was a one-off, fire the planners who made him show up at a hugely important debate too exhausted to be there. The damage done is immeasurable. And at the same time, get Joe out there ASAP to demostrate he still has his marbles. No more excuses.
Biden seems to do just fine with world leaders. Also, I was raised with the expression, the proof is in the pudding. He is our president and the country is well run. Lies don't do that, and neither did Trump! How hard is it to understand that. So what if he is not a good debater. If that is what you want to see, because Trump is not either, you should go to watch a high school debate club perform. I think it is perhaps showing itself to be an outdated forum to get information to the citizenry. Trump did not follow the rules of debate so what he won was shallow people's opinion of success. Not by the substance of what he said.
LetтАЩs count the ways: by agreeing to appear? By looking lost and confused? By mumbling incoherent sentence fragments? By reinforcing the votersтАЩ single greatest concern about you?
I would vote for Biden (or anyone else running sgainst Trump) but that debate performance was the greatest piece of malpractice I have ever seen.
Now Mr. Biden is in a phase where he has to reassure the electorate or exit gracefully.
You counter with your facts non stop and your own record.
Moderators could have said to trump no that's false. And moved on. Thete should have a lie counter above each person's head. And a transcript immediately posted and written in all media , newspapers fterwards
Is it the job of the president to debate? NO! that is the job of a campaigner. Is it the job of the president to run the country well? YES! That he is doing. Which do you prefer? A good debater or a good president if you have to choose? With Biden you will get a good president, with Trump you get a fascist and pathological liar!
Actually he is president. And, I think that is our job. I just was at a social event here in Germany with my other Democrats Abroad members. We have a whole summer of activites to help us get the vote out. I have been speaking to Americans who live Abroad, many of whom do not want to think about politics, but I have gained their attention. We are an organization that is devoted to helping people to vote from abroad and to recruit people to vote from Abroad. There are 11 million Americans abroad. Right now, two people you could support, even if it is with $5 each are Biden and AOC. Why her? She is the only member of Congress who is taking on trying to impeach SCOTUS members, who have just staged a judicial coup against our constitution with their rulings this week. If we do not do something now, that will give them carte blanche to hand the election to Trump over any spurious claim with a Biden victory. We must give them pause, and let them know the people will not accept that. A further help would be to contact Dick Durbin, one of my senators in Illinois and let him know that you are sending AOC money that could go to him if he would just do his job.
Biden supporters, even those who think his candidacy was mortally wounded by his debate performance, arenтАЩt the problem. The problem is anyone whoтАЩs not all that interested in politics but will vote (there are millions of such people) and wonтАЩt vote for Biden now because he looked and sounded too old for the job.
(I donated $200 the morning after the debate and hope it serves to defeat Trump!)
Tropes are so easy but, may have serious consequences.
Per The Hill:
"To be clear" [Biden said] "Border Patrol endorsed him [Biden] & his 'position' on immigration"
"The Border Patrolled did not endorse Biden. though a union for its agents endorsed a bipartisan Senate proposal that the Whitehouse negotiated with Republicans." The Border Patrol took off to "The Hills'.
******
James A - now the you are a Substack "Author" which is a defined contract term along with the definition of "Reader". James A is now contractually bound to Substack Inc's Author contract & related "Terms & Conditions".
You can fight with Substack Inc if you wish, Tropes & all, at 'JAMS SF' a nationally recognized mediation service if you have any contract issues with Substack Inc's content moderation efforts.
Note, however, there is no insulation whatsoever from California tort law. Substack Inc's attorneys are Wilson Sonsini -- a capable firm
The big problem is that Trump supporters have little knowledge of Project 2025 because they have heard nothing of what it is really about, except maybe peripherally. They don't read newspapers, and the only news they do access is right wing misinformation. They are completely contained in a bubble, brainwashed, similarly as German Citizens of the Hitler era.
Why the excellent work of Prof. Richardson, and others like her, isn't offered and made more available by MSM to all Americans is frustrating and frankly, frightening.
D- I agree. I wish this letter could be mailed to every household in America! It's concise, to-the-point, easy to understand, and points out the dangerous acts that Trump will be able to conflict on us. You're right. Most people don't know what Project 2024 stands for.
If people can read this and STILL want to see Donald Trump as president, then those people are not True Americans, by the definition of our Constitution. They're claiming that THEY are the patriots, and those of us who believe in democracy are the villians.
It amazes me to read the fourth "principle" of this document, and should amaze those who read it.-- The country must "secure our God-given individual rights to live freely."
What??? Freely by whose standards? There will be no freedoms, except those that are imposed on us. Freedom does not include being forced to live my life as someone as vile and ignorant as Trump sees fit.
Absolutely. In a discussion yesterday I was informed that Democrats are using Project 2025 as a propaganda tool and was informed that it was no more real than the Steele Dossier. Huh?
Drawing the parallels to how Orb├бn or any dictator has taken over a democracy doesn't seem like it would affect MAGA loyalists. It is not in their nature. At the moment Trump's posted position is that he doesn't agree with Project 2025, but since nothing Trump states has any relation to what he will state next, we cannot use anything he says. He is hedging his bets by posting that he "disagrees with some of the things they are saying," being ambiguous by not being specific, using this nebulous position to support any nonsense he later states as what he has been saying all along, and hoping nobody can follow the necessarily complicated counterargument. We have seen this before.
The SCOTUS is apparently banking on Trump winning, and the dictator-like power that they are granting the president becoming effective just as he takes office. Or perhaps they know that a Democrat will always respect democracy and will never use the military to go after his opponents, so there is no risk in offering both sides this unconstrained power. In any event, I see the ruling as an invitation to take each Republican in Congress to task: state sufficient evidence that the last election was stolen or face charges of treason, by decree of an Official Act of the President of the United States.
Basically what they tried to do in the 1940тАЩs. Listening to Rachel MaddowтАЩs poscast ULTRA. So mind blowing ЁЯдп Everyone should listen. History repeats itself. Yikes ЁЯШ│
It seems that a majority have not yet heard the news about CNN being bought (like soooo many others...) by a Right Wing organization. They have been on the edge of reality for a while anyway.
I am done with CNN. It is another enemy of We The People.I think it like the NYT and others have not been in BidenтАЩs corner for quite some time and were just waiting for some misstep of his so that they could heat up the rhetoric to dump him. It just so happened that the debate was the opportunity that they had been waiting for. CNN and MSNBC were already bashing Biden before the debate was over.The only person defending our president was Lawrence O тАШDonnell.Yes, getting rid of Biden fits right in with the corporate design to aid Russia/Putin and turn the country into an Christo-fascist authoritarian regime. We The People are going to have to go it alone in defending Biden.
I agree with you about Lawrence OтАЩDonnell. He was the only anchor who didnтАЩt jump on the bandwagon with other commentators on MSNBC who were focusing on the negativity about President Biden. Granted there were issues with the debate, but bigger issues were TrumpтАЩs lies throughout the debate and the news mediaтАЩs incompetence in monitoring the debate and reporting at the end.
Rachel Maddow never bashed Biden. Stephanie Ruhle never bashed Biden. I never heard Alex Wagner bash Biden or Chris Hayes bash him. They may have discussed his poor performance at the debate, but I don't remember them asking for his removal. You're right, Lawrence was the only journalist that made a full throated Biden defense.
Rachel didnтАЩt directly bash Biden but by omission, she sure didnтАЩt defend him either.Same with Alex Wagner.I was a bit disappointed especially with Rachel .
I agree. She never bashed Biden nor did Alex Wagner. Both were AWOL when it came to defending him. Alex always responds positively to the loudest voices as she did when the Gaza conflict made daily headlines. Again, all of MSBC were silent or preferred Hamas vs IDF, military in Israel.
Victoria Wilson -- I totally agree with you!! Done with CNN except for Fareed Zakaria. The press in general has NEVER supported President Biden. Never! They never covered him, what he was actually accomplishing in the presidency. They all invoke my ire! Except for Lawrence O'Donnell, who has been away for the past week or so, Jen Psaki. Rachel Maddow, and Fareed Zakaria.
I gave up cable tv years ago including CNN. Media is in biz to make money, not inform the public.
Didn't you notice the beginning of this insurrection when your local newspapers started being bought up by big corp?
The dems are terrible at long term planning. The R's are winning this game. It sickens me to see people like gym jordan treat my rights like a sports event.
" . . . an enemy of We The People." We the people is exactly what the extremist MAGAs think they are, and nobody else is. Pathologically ingrained from the narcissist in residence at Mar a Lago.
We know the enemy when we see it. It's so obvious when you look at the record and the July 1 domestic Pearl Harbor.
All need to check out what Keith Olbermann said on one of his "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" shows. He spells it out quite clearly and cleanly about who Trump really is and WHAT CNN really is,
Trump has dominated the media for decades as an abusive, bullying megalomaniac. His theatrics captivate audiences, his torrent of shock jock blabber and lies overwhelms our ability to bring any reason into play. He doesn't allow you to think, only to feel. If you agree with him you feel rage. If you don't agree with him you feel steamrolled and helpless. Like children of a violent, abusive father the media cringes under its bed, paralyzed with fear of violence enabled by fear of abandonment. In counseling there is a saying, Every family is a dictatorship controlled by the most dysfunctional member. And so it seems is America's political situation.
Yup. Dana and Jake give us a clue about how journalists will act in a 2nd Trump administration. This is how the press acts in Hungry, and worse in Russia. Do what we tell u, or find another job. Fall in line or fall out of a high rise window. That or the gulag.
If I was President Biden, and the Liar called me by my first name, a tactic used to diminish oneтАЩs opponent, I would have called Donald out. I would have said, тАЬYou will address me as Mr (legitimate) PresidentтАЭ I am not as Joe to you. The fact that President Biden allowed Donald to call him by his first name as if they were buddies, showed me how Biden has changed since he debated the turd the first time and didnтАЩt allow him to get away with his outrageousness.
The media has changed from reporting news to generating clicks. There was a day when journalists sought the next big story by uncovering lies and deceits - now they just focus on what will generate the highest number of clicks for profit: negativity and catastrophe. As Derek Thompson of the Atlantic states, the "audience is just about equally to blame" since it is the reader's clicks that drive profitability. Sadly, the fourth leg of Democracy has succumbed to commercialization and the internet of dysfunction.
Agree. Decades ago while campaigning for POTUS, little bush refused to answer question about his use of drugs and his absences from National Guard duty. He flat out refused and the media rolled over for him.
Yesterday, NBC evening news rehashing the farce last Thursday night between President Biden and the amoral orange creature! WHY! For over 3 years Biden has delivered for the common person and the unfortunate, 3 yearsтАжhow many hours is that? Yet he is now defined by a tv farce that lasted mere minutes compared the good he has accomplished!
Basta, Joe! Stop answering and apologizing for last Thursday!
The President's latest comment about last Thursday's debacle was that he was totally exhausted, having been traveling constantly for days (or weeks), and that he will no longer schedule anything after 4 pm. He gets up very early in the morning. Biden needs NO apologies. And let us not forget what Heather Cox Richardson taught us about what the former guy did that night -- The Gish Gallop. I'll not be forgetting that new term.
"The purpose of business is to solve the problems of people and planet profitably, and not profit from causing problems." тАФThe British Academy
The principle applies to the journalism business, the purpose of which is to inform profitably, and not be like CNN and Fox who profit from misinforming.
The media and the audience are to blame in the same way that the liquor store and the alcoholic are to blame for alcoholism.
Addiction is "a compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli despite adverse consequences." In this case, the rewarding stimuli is blame. The authoritarian's message is, "Those other people who are responsible for your unhappiness will be defeated." And it works because it makes the authoritarian's supporters feel better. So, the authoritarian is like a drug dealer selling fentanyl, except fentanyl only destroys lives, families, and communities one at a time, whereas the authoritarian is selling something with the power to destroy civilization.
"[T]he authoritarian is like a drug dealer selling fentanyl, except fentanyl only destroys lives, families, and communities one at a time, whereas the authoritarian is selling something with the power to destroy civilization."
I am proud to say I am a graduate of a fine four year university. I do not need to prove my intelligence ( pretend intelligence) by having gone to an тАЬeliteтАЭ school. What we did at my school was learn. We figured out how to decide possible answers for possible problems. We shared the truths of history and built scenarios that would make change for the better.
We did not look backwards to find comfort. We looked to those who тАЬlive to leadтАЭ. We shared reality and glorified nature.
We were , and are proud of those who gambled with their own safety to tell the world the truth. Our hopes kept shining through because there were humans looking at the impossible and making things that were better.
Thank all those humans who are tethered by honesty and morality and godliness.
Wash our hands and our ears and our eyes of these morbid lying fake mouthpieces of chaos and hate.
I know we are much more intelligent than those slimy cancers think! LetтАЩs take them on!!!!
After Samuel тАЬSlimy CancerтАЭ AlitoтАЩs recent association with the word тАЬgodlinessтАЭ by that undercover recording and the whole Christian Nationalist Heritage FoundationтАЩs goal to force religion down all our throats, I have to take umbrage with your word choice here. IтАЩm also going to cringe a bit at that word тАЬmoralityтАЭ because it sounds awfully subjective at this point in time, given the theocratic fascistтАЩs fever dream of forcing their version of тАЬmoralityтАЭ down our throats as well.
But I appreciate everything you wrote here and the passion behind it! LetтАЩs take these backward thinkers on indeed!!!
I think when we talk about unsubscribing these are responses to basic coup like behavior from our press. It is important to recognize when they do it. Continuing to listen to things that you inherently know is wrong is unhealthy to one's self confidence.
Most public libraries do. Some have joined together for digital accessibility, so that folks can access content from home at no cost. It's honestly awesome.
(This is a repeat from yesterday however, since Heather has written on the same topic, I thought to piggy back. My satire was written about 5 years ago with a few add-ons. I reconken to be the Charlie Chaplin to the MAGA movement as Chaplin was to Hitler -- kinda. And it comes from my book "Donald's Vanity Tantrums." Please enjoy it if you can.)
Fred Jackson and the Second American Revolution
(Homage to Donald TrumpтАЩs тАШProud BoysтАЩ and Others)
Fred Jackson was a proud rebel in The Great Northern Militia Alliance. He and his wife Ruth were often found hosting summer neighborhood barbecues. They easily found new supporters for the coming war to take back America. Fred stationed himself at the pit and handed out chicken legs drenched in homemade sauce to new, unsuspecting recruits -- kinda like a politician on election-day would do; promising a chicken in every pot. Talk of big government, guns and revolt would come later.
Fred and his cohorts believed themselves to be the direct Anglo-Saxon descendants of America's 18th century rabble-rousers who tossed bales of tea into Boston harbor after news of the British Stamp Act reached these shores. But tea-toddlers, they werenтАЩt.
He was proud of his new-found abilities to recruit and had recently been promoted by the Alliance to the rank of sergeant of his own local militia. Wasting no time consolidating resources, Fred collected everything from boxes of canned food to crates of assault weapons. All were discreetly stored away in basements and underground bunkers in his local neighborhood.
Strategic plans were soon under way as this historic moment arrived, the moment to take back America. A secret, unnamed Northern Alliance militia representative from high up the chain of command visited one evening to give a short pep talk to the men and their wives in the basement of Jackson's home.
тАЬLadies and gentlemen,тАЭ the mysterious commander said, тАЬthe time has come to act. We must stop the tyranny and treasonous actions of our government. Today we take action. We will starve the beast into submission. We will bring the entire nation to a screeching halt by whatever means are necessary. And we will un-steal the election. You know who IтАЩm talking about; the great populist himself, codenamed, тАЬOrangeFatso.тАЭтАЭ
тАЬYepтАЭтАж they screamed in unison, тАЬSave our leader, OrangeFatso.тАЭ
He jabbered on like this awhile longer and then said something about how it was one's duty to avoid payment of taxes like they did in the Boston revolt.
A rebel in the audience was overheard mumbling that, тАЬMaybe them damned liberals wouldn't be so bad if we could just shoot a few.тАЭ as he cleaned and oiled his weapon. After the rousing speech ended, the mysterious speaker made way out of Fred's hatchway as quickly as he had arrived and was driven off into the night before anyone could ask questions.
The next day, Fred called for another drill. The basement was a good place to train without attracting attention. His supportive wife listened from upstairs as she tapped her foot to the muffled sounds of her husband's marching orders.
During the drill, Fred's wife heard her husband cry,
"Oh noтАж not again. I told you not to march forward in the cellar."
"Ruthie honey," Fred yelled from the basement, "Billy bumped into the wall again and now has a nose bleed. Quick, get me an ice pack."
One thing that should be noted about the division of labor between the men folk and their women; it was written in the Northern Militia Alliance's тАЬCode of ConductтАЭ that men would do the fighting and the women would play supportive roles тАУ just like in the olden days of the founders. Their women were as important as Betsy Ross тАУ who is thought to have sewn the first flag тАУ was to the cause of revolt.
The country of Fred's birth was no longer recognizable to him. Waves of foreigners had migrated across the unprotected southern frontier. His leader had often spoken of building a really high wall to keep out the hordes. The government, Fred believed, was overrun with big-spending liberals and nanny-state socialists. Fred even thought that his own past president of the United States was born in another country.
тАЬHe wasnтАЩt born here. You know he owes his allegiance to the United Nations,тАЭ cried Fred.
Encrypted communiques were now being sent and received with increasing frequency throughout the тАЬAlliance.тАЭ The days of waiting had drawn to a close.
And so it came to pass. The militia teams began assembling. They gathered along every mountain pass and byway. They took positions beside bridges and waterways. Fred's platoon prepared to assault its assigned mountain. This really was only a big hill but these rebels had a tendency to magnify everything around them including the importance of theyтАЩre mission. Their watches were synchronized.
Sergeant Jackson finally gave the order to charge.
тАЬCHARRRRRRGE!тАЭ he screamed.
The men began their long, wild, rickety-split charge to the top of the assigned hill. Fred held his assault rifle in the air with one hand, and with the other grabbed his pants before they slipped down below his protruding belly тАУ an unfortunate victim of too many beer-drinking strategy sessions.
Well they whooped and hollered for so long that soon most of the militia troops were out of breath. By the time they reached the summit, the sergeant could be heard cussing' (at no one in particular.) He wondered if he had rushed up the wrong hill. His GPS repeated, тАЬrecalculating... recalculating...тАЭ His phone vibrated on his belt and he quickly grabbed it and listened intently.
His head turned slowly downward as he stared at his mud-caked boots. His heart was pounding. He was breathing fast.
тАЬYes sir, I see. But when are we...? Win the hearts and minds, first? But...OK, IтАЩll inform the men.тАЭ
The sergeant ordered roll call and sadly told his men that not only did they seize the wrong hill, but the unseen generals had decreed that this was only a drill. The real revolution was yet to come but now, without the element of surprise. Dejected, they began to hobble down the green hill.
Then suddenly, Sergeant Jackson received another message. This time, he could hardly contain himself. Something new had just happened and word was spreading like wildfire. His fingers quivered as he responded:
тАЬIтАЩll tell the men right away.тАЭ The sergeant rallied the now exhausted rag-tag men around him and excitedly yelled,
тАЬAll hands to Burns, Oregon. The government is assaulting some ranchers. The Bunkerville boys from Nevada are leading the counter assault. I'll be driving out at first light if anyone needs a ride.тАЭ
Fred finally made it home in his Ford pick-up truck while still sweating from the long charge. His dear sweet Ruthie waited at the half-opened door as dusk settled in.
тАЬCome in my hero. I made your favorite hot soup for you.тАЭ
Fred stumbled in and sat at their kitchen table and slurped down the refreshing food. He then went straight to bed without explaining anything to his worried wife about the disappointing details of the false deployment.
Fred dreamed about the new revolution soon to sweep the land of his birth тАУ the land he hardly recognized any more. And he dreamed that his name would one day be enshrined 100 years from now, along the nearby interstate highway where he lived. The sign would read: тАЬThe Sergeant Fred Jackson Expressway: Named for a Patriot of The Second American Revolution Who Stood His Ground and Helped Take Back America.тАЭ
Then Fred farted and repositioned his head on the pillow as he slept like a baby all night long.
(IтАЩll be sitting at a table in front of the White House next week passing out my book. IтАЩm doing all I can do. And IтАЩll bring my guitar to perform my selection of compositions about Trump including тАЬThe Shit Hole SongтАЭ found on my YouTube channel under тАЬCatman Bill тАФ Hartford, Connecticut)
If Tapper & Bash were being paid to do what they did.., they did their job well. Far as I'm concerned, the two of them suck big time and belong in the same gym shower-room with Jordan. Wanna talk about having "rounded heels".., like Susan C..?.., well there's two more.
That is deliberate, per their new CEO John Malone, a Warner Brothers guy and a man who stated, quite clearly, that he wanted to make over CNN to be more in the model of Fox. He's a billionaire and is entirely motivated by money. Why all those CNN people stay is beyond me.
John Malone is not as active as he was when he installed Jeff Zucker, Zaslow and Licht. The relationship of AT&T, Discovery, Warner and CNN is confusing and difficult to untangle. I think Malone is or was a member of the Federalist Society, led by Leonard Leo., the guy that chose the 6 SC justices.
Very few people I've been talking to lately know about Project 2025. That is an abject failure of main street media, especially when it's architect, Kevin Roberts, is talking about a bloody revolution unless the left steps aside.
I admire Joe Biden and have admired him since his role on the Foreign Relations Committee decades ago.
I think heтАЩs done a remarkable job as President, and gotten more done than any president than LBJ.
That having been said, the debate was a disaster. BidenтАЩs appearance and demeanor underlined the single-most concern the electorate has about him.
Anyone who blames his performance on CNN or the moderators is pretty desperate to absolve Biden of responsibility.
Biden is professional enough to accept his responsibility and you have seen him do so.
Now he has to deal with the aftermathтАФitтАЩs in the past. Now we see if he can repair it. If not, my personal hope is that he defers to Harris. In a way that gives her the biggest boost possible.
Parsing whether Bash and Tapper тАЬshouldтАЭ have fact-checked is immaterial. They said beforehand they wouldnтАЩt. Reading a transcript and re-thinking who did better is an empty exercise. No one else experienced it that way, and no one else will. 50 million peopleтАФhalf of whom support the Pres.тАФsaw him slack-jawed and confused.
I would not have gone so far as to call Trump "the devil himself," but it sure looked like CNN was throwing softballs at him while at the same time allowing him to speak lie after lie for 90 minutes.
I still want to know 45тАЩs position on childcare. You know, the question that was ignored completely while he continued to spew nonsense. Tapper never called him on it.
^^^^ this. We have several members of this group expounding from тАЬon highтАЭ. One who repeatedly pushes his book and speaks condescendingly to any that challenge him, and two others that have absented themselves from the country and do the same.
Shamelessly, CNN has morphed into Fox Lite.
Jake Tapper and Dana Bash just trashed their reputations. They were tepid and mealy-mouthed, giving Trump rein to do anything he wanted. Shame on them and CNN.
It must be asked тАФHow does one actually lose a debate when the opponent is a pathological liar?
It wasn't a debate. Many of us debated in high school or college and there were rules that would have prevented the CNN debacle.
First of all, calling it a debate is like calling an elephant a donkey. They have nothing in common. They should call it a "free for all" with no rules.
CNN is working so hard to reinvent themselves with very little on-air talent. They still have Anderson Cooper and a few others worthy of being called journalists, but Jake Tapper and Dana Bash are not in that group.
They are trying to lure in the Fox viewers, but that market is over-crowded at this point with Newsmax and OAN and the Sinclair Network.
Many readers have likely judged real debates and have to cringe at the format of this debacle.
Their were no winners. Trump lied over and over with Impunity. Why didn't they put Trump's lies on the crawler? And he never answered any questions asked of him.
Here's my question that Convicted Felon Trump will NEVER answer.
Name 4 things that MADE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN done by your administration. That's only one a year. Why won't CFDT, or his campaign, or any Republican answer what MAGA has done for us.
My grades for the debate - Trump (F), Biden (D) and CNN (D-).
They made the rich richer, full stop
In doing so, they are also complicit in the death of American Democracy. I'm not folding though. Truth is power and I am going to do all I can to spread facts. I will use my own words and I will also repost those of the more eloquent. Please unite behind Biden/Harris. Fight maga, not ourselves, for God's sake!
No argument here
Sadly this not about facts but rather emotion and it is time to do some in person activism . When the right keeps threatening and no one gets jn their face they feel more emboldened
Yes, this is true.
Completely agree. My thought: no one gets on stage again with #45.
Should not have in the first place. Everyone knew he was going to lie and bully; that's what he does. An occasionally muted microphone and compliant moderators weren't going to change that.
D- is too high for CNN
why is all the focus on Biden's mental acuity and not on that other thing's incapacity for anything but himself? These are crazy emphases on all the wrong things.
A brilliant letter in today's NYT (7/13/24) called for the media to demand a one hour press conference with Trump so he would have to answer the 19 questions Biden answered from random press, not hand picked Fox news buddies. I wonder what that would sound like--how that hider and bullier and liar would look at the end of it. Same rules as the President's press conference. Limelight on him. Or lemon light.
I call it the Henny Penny network
lol Justin
"They should call it a "free for all" with no rules." Or an ambuse, because it was.
I agree with you Sandra P. Campbell that it should have been called -and agreed to as - a Free-For-All. But I disagree that it was an ambush. trump does not debate. He spews and demeans and distracts. They тАЬpreppedтАЭ Biden for a Debate. That was wrong. Knowing ahead of time that CNN decided they would NOT fact-check in real time, was a glaring, red-flashing clue it would be a vomit of lies vs Joe Biden. Not what Biden was prepped for. Who has ever been on stage with trump and not been discombobulated as national media zero in on your faults and not the guy fire-hosing lies?
ambush/abuse = ambuse. Good word.
Ambuse--ambush plus abuse!
Sorry Dan--I didn't see your post before I made mine. This looks like I copied off of your paper in third grade!
Biden's team agreed to the "rules" of the "debate" including that NO live fact checking would take place - in other words, the felon would not be interrupted or called out. All the talking heads could do, and they did, was ask Trump over and over to answer their question, which he rarely did. I agree with Dan that CNN screwed Biden on OPTICS, with the camera sabotage and holding the split screen on our President when he was unable to breath through his nose and looked like the moron that the Felon actually is.
Roy, why must we continue to assign such a dignified term ((pathological liar) to such a total degenerate (#45)? Everything he comes up with is a distortion designed to derail and turn any attempted critical response into libtard blather. We've (you, me, Joe) have been on the receiving end of his regurgitation-of-baloney over and over. The "debate", which it was not, needs to be the last time #45 pukes his distortions onto the table without his face being shoved into it... and feeding it right back down his flabby-ass throat. I've watched K.Harris.., she can be a real bitch.., hand her the ladle.., let her spoon it back to him (#45). Don't make Joe do it. Let Kamala handle that turd (#45). That'd be a show stopper for sure. C'mon Whitehouse.. pull your head out!
Do you realize if Biden is not President in 2025 we will not be able to comment like this anymore. Our discussions will be banned under an R admin.
We are playing for the choir. How do we let the other 329 million or so non HCR readers know an insurrection is taking place under their noses today- while they grill hamburgers, light off fireworks, and work on their tans?
The irony of celebrating the fourth while an insurrection is taking place is making my little head explode!
The 4th of July that was celebrated in Ashland, OR featured the Ashland City Band in concert. One of the pieces they played was a soft medley of a number of historically patriotic songs. About 2 minutes into the piece, a fellow dressed as Abraham Lincoln stepped forward and recited the Gettysburg Address. Those words are as pertinent today as they were in 1863, the difference being that the battlefield today is not yet a graveyard.
272 words composed on a train have inspired literally billions of people for over 160 years. Our eight grade US History teacher had us memorize it and I'm glad he did.
If only there had been a way to record Lincoln.......
Wonderful and charming sounding Ally, thanks for sharing! Looking forward to visiting Ashland soon from Bend for a birthday celebration.
Many fear unsettling times ahead. SCOTUS' distance from the center is not sustainable.
Marj, well said, Have you thought about how it might be better for Biden to acknowledge he is ill, step down and allow Harris to be President now? Under federal campaign law she is the only one the Biden campaign money can go to , so that support could go on. She has been working with the team that has helped to make the progress toward equality that has been more than any other President since FDR. It has been the Biden -Harris agenda for all the. positive changes that have occurred that are supporting the majority of Americans for a better standard of life and safety, environmental protections, and the fight against monopolies and billionaires , and much more, For the past 8 months she has been calling for a ceasefire,,she has championed womenтАЩs rights, workers rights, black rights, all rights for equality, As the incumbent candidate, there would not be a crazy convention which will distract from the governing that needs to be happening now. Our Declaration of Independence was inspired by the dream of equality. We are once again facing terrible tyranny and need a plan to fight for a democracy that dreams of coming ever closer to equality for all Americans, and for all LIFE that is on this symbiotically interconnected Spaceship Earth we call home.
Gosh, you would propose changing horses in the middle of the stream? Only together we stand!
Yes, and I wouldn't ride a horse named Harris. We need a more forceful Democratic candidate -- perhaps Newsom, Whitmer or Klobuchar. The most important thing is to beat Trump. With a new candidate, there will be plenty of money -- major donors will see to that.
Sadly tonight, a "talking head" said a woman of color would not get the WH before a white woman. A statement like that is difficult to process. Needless to say, I have been depressed for days. As much as I know I should, the despair is difficult to set aside.
Well, to each his own John, good luck with that.
Yes I have thought about this and at great length. In fact I am living in terror today.
At Fri at 7:30pm I am watching the democrats in house fighting and I am noticing for once tfg is keeping his mouth shut so the dems can hang themselves.
At this point I would suggest all non maga supporters stop whining and align behind Biden bc he is our choice. I would suggest we begin now.
Biden is NOT Ill!JHC one bad debate and he's Ill?
Doreen, MAGA has asked me not to believe my eyes, and now so are many dems. This may very well be a sequelae to his covid. The serious long term consequences of this virus are continuing to be discovered,
Just a tiny bit of info, The cytokine storm in severe COVID-19 is likely caused by an auto-amplifying loop centered on injured endothelial cells. Endothelial exocytosis initiates leukocyte and platelet adherence to capillaries, which leads to microvascular obstruction, microthrombosis, and vascular inflammation.Sep
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22927-microvascular-ischemic-disease
This article aims to describe the prolonged neurological clinical consequences related to brain changes in people with mild COVID-19 infection. When compared to a control group, people those who tested positive for COVID-19 had more brain shrinkage, grey matter shrinkage, and tissue damage.Mar 31, 20
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10063523/#:~:text=This%20article%20aims%20to%20describe,matter%20shrinkage%2C%20and%20tissue%20damage.
President hasnтАЩt just had a bad night, look at his posture at the Juneteenth celebration, watch the change in his walk and energy over the past few months. In my opinion, asking this great man to carry on in the face of obvious illness is elder abuse. It does not serve his great legacy and it does not serve the nation, VP Harris is more than able to take over now. Wishing and hoping just doesnтАЩt make something so.
As I said elsewhere, very few people know about Project 2025, so it follows that very few people know that it's' architect, Kevin Roberts, said the other day that unless the left steps aside, this revolution will be bloody. Abject failure of main street media.
Statements like Roberts' indicates that MAGA thinks they own all of American the flags, are the only patriots, and that they have all the guns. There is a component of dellusion to this.
Gets scarier every minute.
I think we all, every one of us, commit to being surrogates for Biden. I am going to personally call all the young people I know to tell them the stakes and to encourage them to vote for Biden and to get all their friends to vote for Biden -- that this is NOT one to sit out or to vote 3rd party. We must ALL do this, if we do, we'll win.
You don't hear any sounds of dissent coming from Orbanites. Nope. That's because 'they' have a way of dealing with such matters. Retribution. Done quietly, it's so hard to prove. You quickly learn to keep your mouth shut in those countries.
But no matter who "handles the turd" there must be some actual cooperation from whichever media broadcasts it - and quite honestly I dont have a clue where we would find that.
тАЬTotal degenerateтАЭ the name for for that person. ЁЯСН
You donтАЩt debate a liar; you denounce him. Biden should have known that. Biden wax off his game but then Biden has never been a great debater.
Biden should have rebutted Trump with тАЬthere you go, folks, another pack of lies from the Lie-o-matic (liar in chief) тАж. Nothing lower than lying to the American people тАж.Shame on youтАжbut then youтАЩre not only a liar but also shameless. Americans donтАЩt do business with shameless liars.тАЭ
It's time for Biden to stop following 'the rules'
He just got permission!
Fair question: How does one actually lose a debate when the opponent is a pathological liar?. It's the appearance that matters and Biden failed miserably. That's just a fact that we must acknowledge and deal with. That is the reality. What do we do now to give us the best chance of defeating Trump in November?
Stop demonstrating a lack of confidence in your partyтАЩs nominee.
Yes and educate voters about Project 2025 about what living under a dictator is really like because the media is not focused on the issues but on generating conflict to increase profit.
"One of the basic elements of Project 2025, for example, is what the Nazis called Gleichschaltung: transforming the civil service into a fascist nest."
Timothy Snyder
Very few people I talk to about it are aware of Project 2025. That is very disturbing.
A тАЬlack of confidenceтАЭ in Joe Biden ? We are sounding like the other side of the MAGA coinтАЩs blind obedience for Donald Trump. I know what I saw on TV on Jan. 6th and I know what I saw the night of the debate. I have nothing but eternal gratitude for what the Biden administration has done for the last 3 1/2 years but I worry about the next 4. Blaming CNN, blaming the MSM etc etc, well enough,but I know what I saw.
The next four years will be fine if Biden is elected. Even if his health fails, (Remember FDR was gravely ill when elected for his last term and the momentum he started continued when he died)... he has the momentum going that will carry the nation...good people supporting him. If Trump wins, all is lost.
If the administration had accomplished nothing except the 56,000+ projects they have already completed they would have been more done morethan the Republicans accomplished under Trump and the Bush's combined.
Joan, we all saw. To me it feels like elder abuse to ask him to continue, Did you see him standing like a statue with a somewhat frozen face at the Juneteenth celebration. It is heartbreaking, but he is ill. Have you thought about him stepping down due to ill health and letting Harris be President now? Federal campaign law only allows her to get BidenтАЩs campaign funds. It has been Biden-Harris and the white house team that has given the American people more for the average American while fighting the white supremacists who come in the guise of businessmen or christian nationalists. There would be a peaceful transition of power. As the incumbent candidate, there would be a more peaceful convention. If there was ever a time for a woman to capture the womanтАЩs and the men who love womenтАЩs votes it is now.
Linda, of course ! That is the most logical move ! But I have given up looking for a logical move from anybody who matters. Trump supposedly loves that idea too or so I have read somewhere in the sea of opinion. I am not waiting for the next event that replicates BidenтАЩs debate performance.
AMEN! No one else at this point in time can come up against the Republicans. We have to support all of our Democrat candidates because if they win so do we! We have to get rid of the MTGs and the Bobrats both male and female that are trying to take away our democracy that have been elected to the House and Senate! Also, we need to remake the Supreme Court that has been contaminated! I hope we are strong enough to do it! It will be a very big job! The word has to be gotten out. Project 2025 should have been in the news (even with us) for a long time. Actually I believe I first heard about it here from a comment. It was hard to find but when I added the www.project2025.org it popped up! At last I am beginning to hear people talk about it more often....but not enough....and I hope those that need too start paying attention!
Well said, Tyler.
YES, for starters!
Now that sounds like a cult-like remark worthy of MAGA. Dems discuss facts and truth. Sometimes that falls out of line with the practice of politics.
I am assuming your statement that its cult-like MAGA worthy because the statement is absolute. But, in general, not always, Dems are listening to people and it seems repubs aren't.
Actually, I hate the way Substack bounces comments around, often making them look like non-sequiters. I originall replied to Tyler Hartwell (above) saying тАЬStop demonstrating a lack of confidence in your partyтАЩs nominee.тАЭ
I donтАЩt know about you, but I am beginning to decide comments arenтАЩt worth it. I can afford to pass up unneeded arguments.
Listen to Stuart Stevens, Former chief Republican strategist, Lincoln Project adviser тАж donтАЩt panic, give Biden some time and support. I add this: sell the Democratic PartyтАЩs history - recent and long - of service and accomplishments to large portions of the American population - both rich, not-so-rich and the poor тАж and be proud of what this party and its leadership has done тАж and listen to Heather and Joe Scarborough both of whom have had recent and relatively recent interactions with Joe Biden!
And Lawrence O'Donnell
Biden has been a good president. His debate performance hints (and his recent comment that he needs more sleep) at the possibility of the achievements being buried under missteps due to aging. Biden would serve his legacy well if he withdrew from the race and let another candidate step in. Knowing when to quit is the mark of the self-aware.
Jennifer, further to your point, Biden hasn't been just a "good president;" he has been a great president. Our economy is the envy of the world (according to the Wall Street Journal,) the stock market has surged, our inflation rate is the lowest in the industrialized world and our infrastructure is being rebuilt. I just returned from a 1300 mile road trip to Texas - construction all along the way. But, that is no longer the issue. The issue is: can Biden now beat Trump. Does what Biden/Harris have accomplished amount to a hill of beans to those who are ignorant of these feats along with ignorance of Project 2025?
You are spot on тАж. He has been a great president тАж. But We must defeat Trump and Project 2025 тАж. For insight into the rise of populists and how to defeat them, I would like to recommend Rory StewartтАЩs lecture тАЬPopulism, Aristotle and HopeтАЭ at Gresham College, which is on YouTube
It is online. Stewart's presentation is one hour 14 minutes. I'll watch it a little later today. Thank you for this, Jennifer.
How would one WIN a debate when the opponent is a pathological liar? It's impossible to debate someone who only snarls endless lies, abuse, and insults.
Roy C: Because it was not a debate. Biden came prepared to debate in what turned into a media circus for the head clown.
Well Roy - he did. It's all in the definition, but if winning is being the more convincing, then the polls indicate Trump won. I am very sad to say this. Believe me. I am getting a little tired of listening to excuses. To the other side, or more importantly to the folks on the fence, that is just what it sounds like Childish excuses. If Biden is growing senile, man up DNC - convince him to hand over the reigns. BTW, I predict I too will succumb to dementia some day sooner than I want. And if it was a one-off, fire the planners who made him show up at a hugely important debate too exhausted to be there. The damage done is immeasurable. And at the same time, get Joe out there ASAP to demostrate he still has his marbles. No more excuses.
Biden seems to do just fine with world leaders. Also, I was raised with the expression, the proof is in the pudding. He is our president and the country is well run. Lies don't do that, and neither did Trump! How hard is it to understand that. So what if he is not a good debater. If that is what you want to see, because Trump is not either, you should go to watch a high school debate club perform. I think it is perhaps showing itself to be an outdated forum to get information to the citizenry. Trump did not follow the rules of debate so what he won was shallow people's opinion of success. Not by the substance of what he said.
Linda Biden will meet with the New UK PM. Keir Starmer in a few days at the NATO Summit. FYI, Starmer is a former Human Rights Lawyer.
Sunday comes with the welcome news that the Anti-fascist Left in FRANCE has WON the NationaL French Election & is forming a new government.
Oui, Party in Paris tonite. Even bigger celebration on Bastille Day July 14, 2024 & a bigger Party in the Champ de Mars.
Vive Le France
LetтАЩs count the ways: by agreeing to appear? By looking lost and confused? By mumbling incoherent sentence fragments? By reinforcing the votersтАЩ single greatest concern about you?
I would vote for Biden (or anyone else running sgainst Trump) but that debate performance was the greatest piece of malpractice I have ever seen.
Now Mr. Biden is in a phase where he has to reassure the electorate or exit gracefully.
You counter with your facts non stop and your own record.
Moderators could have said to trump no that's false. And moved on. Thete should have a lie counter above each person's head. And a transcript immediately posted and written in all media , newspapers fterwards
Damn great question Roy !
When certain media outlets have put profit above facts and Democracy.
By being incapable of responding effectively.
Is it the job of the president to debate? NO! that is the job of a campaigner. Is it the job of the president to run the country well? YES! That he is doing. Which do you prefer? A good debater or a good president if you have to choose? With Biden you will get a good president, with Trump you get a fascist and pathological liar!
It is the job of a would-be president to get elected.
Actually he is president. And, I think that is our job. I just was at a social event here in Germany with my other Democrats Abroad members. We have a whole summer of activites to help us get the vote out. I have been speaking to Americans who live Abroad, many of whom do not want to think about politics, but I have gained their attention. We are an organization that is devoted to helping people to vote from abroad and to recruit people to vote from Abroad. There are 11 million Americans abroad. Right now, two people you could support, even if it is with $5 each are Biden and AOC. Why her? She is the only member of Congress who is taking on trying to impeach SCOTUS members, who have just staged a judicial coup against our constitution with their rulings this week. If we do not do something now, that will give them carte blanche to hand the election to Trump over any spurious claim with a Biden victory. We must give them pause, and let them know the people will not accept that. A further help would be to contact Dick Durbin, one of my senators in Illinois and let him know that you are sending AOC money that could go to him if he would just do his job.
Biden supporters, even those who think his candidacy was mortally wounded by his debate performance, arenтАЩt the problem. The problem is anyone whoтАЩs not all that interested in politics but will vote (there are millions of such people) and wonтАЩt vote for Biden now because he looked and sounded too old for the job.
(I donated $200 the morning after the debate and hope it serves to defeat Trump!)
You are right. In front of America Biden said that the Border Patrol Union
endorsed him, In an unprecedented move the Union tweeted during the debate, "that they have never endorsed Biden and never will".
This is not an exaggeration ITS A LIE.
Name one thing Trump lied about during the debate?
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/27/us/politics/trump-debate-performance-falsehoods.html
Tropes are so easy but, may have serious consequences.
Per The Hill:
"To be clear" [Biden said] "Border Patrol endorsed him [Biden] & his 'position' on immigration"
"The Border Patrolled did not endorse Biden. though a union for its agents endorsed a bipartisan Senate proposal that the Whitehouse negotiated with Republicans." The Border Patrol took off to "The Hills'.
******
James A - now the you are a Substack "Author" which is a defined contract term along with the definition of "Reader". James A is now contractually bound to Substack Inc's Author contract & related "Terms & Conditions".
You can fight with Substack Inc if you wish, Tropes & all, at 'JAMS SF' a nationally recognized mediation service if you have any contract issues with Substack Inc's content moderation efforts.
Note, however, there is no insulation whatsoever from California tort law. Substack Inc's attorneys are Wilson Sonsini -- a capable firm
The big problem is that Trump supporters have little knowledge of Project 2025 because they have heard nothing of what it is really about, except maybe peripherally. They don't read newspapers, and the only news they do access is right wing misinformation. They are completely contained in a bubble, brainwashed, similarly as German Citizens of the Hitler era.
Why the excellent work of Prof. Richardson, and others like her, isn't offered and made more available by MSM to all Americans is frustrating and frankly, frightening.
D- I agree. I wish this letter could be mailed to every household in America! It's concise, to-the-point, easy to understand, and points out the dangerous acts that Trump will be able to conflict on us. You're right. Most people don't know what Project 2024 stands for.
If people can read this and STILL want to see Donald Trump as president, then those people are not True Americans, by the definition of our Constitution. They're claiming that THEY are the patriots, and those of us who believe in democracy are the villians.
It amazes me to read the fourth "principle" of this document, and should amaze those who read it.-- The country must "secure our God-given individual rights to live freely."
What??? Freely by whose standards? There will be no freedoms, except those that are imposed on us. Freedom does not include being forced to live my life as someone as vile and ignorant as Trump sees fit.
Oh my!!
"
Absolutely. In a discussion yesterday I was informed that Democrats are using Project 2025 as a propaganda tool and was informed that it was no more real than the Steele Dossier. Huh?
Oh, good grief.
I have found it impossible to reason with these people! I wish I'd been in the Debate Club in HS. I was in the Art Club instead.
тЭдя╕П
Project 2025 reads like a Chinese government manifesto under Mao--Or Xi.
Drawing the parallels to how Orb├бn or any dictator has taken over a democracy doesn't seem like it would affect MAGA loyalists. It is not in their nature. At the moment Trump's posted position is that he doesn't agree with Project 2025, but since nothing Trump states has any relation to what he will state next, we cannot use anything he says. He is hedging his bets by posting that he "disagrees with some of the things they are saying," being ambiguous by not being specific, using this nebulous position to support any nonsense he later states as what he has been saying all along, and hoping nobody can follow the necessarily complicated counterargument. We have seen this before.
The SCOTUS is apparently banking on Trump winning, and the dictator-like power that they are granting the president becoming effective just as he takes office. Or perhaps they know that a Democrat will always respect democracy and will never use the military to go after his opponents, so there is no risk in offering both sides this unconstrained power. In any event, I see the ruling as an invitation to take each Republican in Congress to task: state sufficient evidence that the last election was stolen or face charges of treason, by decree of an Official Act of the President of the United States.
Most people are not going to read through the almost 1000 page Project 2025 Manifesto. Two resources IтАЩve been using to share and educate.ЁЯУг
From the Biden campaign
https://joebiden.com/project2025/
Andra Watkins is a NYT best-selling author who тАЬescapedтАЭ Christian
Nationalism decades ago. She has read and dissected P2025.She often
uses shareable quotes and page # .
https://open.substack.com/pub/project2025istheocracy/p/p2025-promise-3-defend-our-nations?r=fqsxl&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I just ordered my ASK ME ABOUT PROJECT 2025 button.10$ with shipping.
https://www.zazzle.com/s/personalized+buttons
Ordered button! THX!
To read it, is like taking a drink through a firehose.
I've read. about 50 pages and it is both scary and boring as hell.
In 2020, the GOP Presidential platform was - whatever CFDT wants to do.
In 2024, it's the Heritage Foundation remake of the entire Federal government and a rewrite of the US Constitution.
Basically what they tried to do in the 1940тАЩs. Listening to Rachel MaddowтАЩs poscast ULTRA. So mind blowing ЁЯдп Everyone should listen. History repeats itself. Yikes ЁЯШ│
It's not just the Republican supporters who are ignorant of Project 2025. Most people are.
Please read through it. Sit down with pen and paper and make notes. then talk about it.
It seems that a majority have not yet heard the news about CNN being bought (like soooo many others...) by a Right Wing organization. They have been on the edge of reality for a while anyway.
Yeah.. CNN... "rounded heels" and all. Talk about prostitution? There's an example.
Craig, I hadn't heard that. Which right-wing org? Google says it's owned by Warner Bros Discovery. I wasn't aware that was right-wing?!
I don't believe it was an organization. John Malone had a controlling interest in CNN and Zucker, former CEO I think, carried out his orders.
I havenтАЩt. But it might explain some things.
I am done with CNN. It is another enemy of We The People.I think it like the NYT and others have not been in BidenтАЩs corner for quite some time and were just waiting for some misstep of his so that they could heat up the rhetoric to dump him. It just so happened that the debate was the opportunity that they had been waiting for. CNN and MSNBC were already bashing Biden before the debate was over.The only person defending our president was Lawrence O тАШDonnell.Yes, getting rid of Biden fits right in with the corporate design to aid Russia/Putin and turn the country into an Christo-fascist authoritarian regime. We The People are going to have to go it alone in defending Biden.
I agree with you about Lawrence OтАЩDonnell. He was the only anchor who didnтАЩt jump on the bandwagon with other commentators on MSNBC who were focusing on the negativity about President Biden. Granted there were issues with the debate, but bigger issues were TrumpтАЩs lies throughout the debate and the news mediaтАЩs incompetence in monitoring the debate and reporting at the end.
Rachel Maddow never bashed Biden. Stephanie Ruhle never bashed Biden. I never heard Alex Wagner bash Biden or Chris Hayes bash him. They may have discussed his poor performance at the debate, but I don't remember them asking for his removal. You're right, Lawrence was the only journalist that made a full throated Biden defense.
Rachel didnтАЩt directly bash Biden but by omission, she sure didnтАЩt defend him either.Same with Alex Wagner.I was a bit disappointed especially with Rachel .
I agree. She never bashed Biden nor did Alex Wagner. Both were AWOL when it came to defending him. Alex always responds positively to the loudest voices as she did when the Gaza conflict made daily headlines. Again, all of MSBC were silent or preferred Hamas vs IDF, military in Israel.
MIka on Morning Joe supported Biden.
Victoria Wilson -- I totally agree with you!! Done with CNN except for Fareed Zakaria. The press in general has NEVER supported President Biden. Never! They never covered him, what he was actually accomplishing in the presidency. They all invoke my ire! Except for Lawrence O'Donnell, who has been away for the past week or so, Jen Psaki. Rachel Maddow, and Fareed Zakaria.
So my wonder is: what are the so-far-still-credible journalists going to do? They still need to pay their mortgages.
And guess who just bought Paramount??? Larry EllisonтАЩs rich trust baby, so I read yesterday.
I gave up cable tv years ago including CNN. Media is in biz to make money, not inform the public.
Didn't you notice the beginning of this insurrection when your local newspapers started being bought up by big corp?
The dems are terrible at long term planning. The R's are winning this game. It sickens me to see people like gym jordan treat my rights like a sports event.
" . . . an enemy of We The People." We the people is exactly what the extremist MAGAs think they are, and nobody else is. Pathologically ingrained from the narcissist in residence at Mar a Lago.
We know the enemy when we see it. It's so obvious when you look at the record and the July 1 domestic Pearl Harbor.
Anyone watching should have smelled rats each time they called Trump, "President" ...
To my eye, it felt like a speed dating sessionтАжvery strange, frenetic and devoid of substance.
It was in the cards. John Malone and Zucker, former influencers at CNN, put their thumbs on the scale.
All need to check out what Keith Olbermann said on one of his "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" shows. He spells it out quite clearly and cleanly about who Trump really is and WHAT CNN really is,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q0NNnn_kCE
Trump has dominated the media for decades as an abusive, bullying megalomaniac. His theatrics captivate audiences, his torrent of shock jock blabber and lies overwhelms our ability to bring any reason into play. He doesn't allow you to think, only to feel. If you agree with him you feel rage. If you don't agree with him you feel steamrolled and helpless. Like children of a violent, abusive father the media cringes under its bed, paralyzed with fear of violence enabled by fear of abandonment. In counseling there is a saying, Every family is a dictatorship controlled by the most dysfunctional member. And so it seems is America's political situation.
Definitely true.
Yup. Dana and Jake give us a clue about how journalists will act in a 2nd Trump administration. This is how the press acts in Hungry, and worse in Russia. Do what we tell u, or find another job. Fall in line or fall out of a high rise window. That or the gulag.
If I was President Biden, and the Liar called me by my first name, a tactic used to diminish oneтАЩs opponent, I would have called Donald out. I would have said, тАЬYou will address me as Mr (legitimate) PresidentтАЭ I am not as Joe to you. The fact that President Biden allowed Donald to call him by his first name as if they were buddies, showed me how Biden has changed since he debated the turd the first time and didnтАЩt allow him to get away with his outrageousness.
The media has changed from reporting news to generating clicks. There was a day when journalists sought the next big story by uncovering lies and deceits - now they just focus on what will generate the highest number of clicks for profit: negativity and catastrophe. As Derek Thompson of the Atlantic states, the "audience is just about equally to blame" since it is the reader's clicks that drive profitability. Sadly, the fourth leg of Democracy has succumbed to commercialization and the internet of dysfunction.
Agree. Decades ago while campaigning for POTUS, little bush refused to answer question about his use of drugs and his absences from National Guard duty. He flat out refused and the media rolled over for him.
Yesterday, NBC evening news rehashing the farce last Thursday night between President Biden and the amoral orange creature! WHY! For over 3 years Biden has delivered for the common person and the unfortunate, 3 yearsтАжhow many hours is that? Yet he is now defined by a tv farce that lasted mere minutes compared the good he has accomplished!
Basta, Joe! Stop answering and apologizing for last Thursday!
The President's latest comment about last Thursday's debacle was that he was totally exhausted, having been traveling constantly for days (or weeks), and that he will no longer schedule anything after 4 pm. He gets up very early in the morning. Biden needs NO apologies. And let us not forget what Heather Cox Richardson taught us about what the former guy did that night -- The Gish Gallop. I'll not be forgetting that new term.
Exactly Louis.
Andrew:
You just reminded me of a rhetorical question attributed to Abraham Lincoln.
"If you call a horse's tail a leg, how many legs does a horse have?"
[pause]
"Four. Calling a tail a leg does not make it one!"
How often lately our political glossary has been perverted by disingenuous, cynical actors serving the interests of their sponsors!
\Vince S
Bravo
"The purpose of business is to solve the problems of people and planet profitably, and not profit from causing problems." тАФThe British Academy
The principle applies to the journalism business, the purpose of which is to inform profitably, and not be like CNN and Fox who profit from misinforming.
The media and the audience are to blame in the same way that the liquor store and the alcoholic are to blame for alcoholism.
Addiction is "a compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli despite adverse consequences." In this case, the rewarding stimuli is blame. The authoritarian's message is, "Those other people who are responsible for your unhappiness will be defeated." And it works because it makes the authoritarian's supporters feel better. So, the authoritarian is like a drug dealer selling fentanyl, except fentanyl only destroys lives, families, and communities one at a time, whereas the authoritarian is selling something with the power to destroy civilization.
"[T]he authoritarian is like a drug dealer selling fentanyl, except fentanyl only destroys lives, families, and communities one at a time, whereas the authoritarian is selling something with the power to destroy civilization."
Well said, James.
And that Andrew is the scariest of the scary!
I am proud to say I am a graduate of a fine four year university. I do not need to prove my intelligence ( pretend intelligence) by having gone to an тАЬeliteтАЭ school. What we did at my school was learn. We figured out how to decide possible answers for possible problems. We shared the truths of history and built scenarios that would make change for the better.
We did not look backwards to find comfort. We looked to those who тАЬlive to leadтАЭ. We shared reality and glorified nature.
We were , and are proud of those who gambled with their own safety to tell the world the truth. Our hopes kept shining through because there were humans looking at the impossible and making things that were better.
Thank all those humans who are tethered by honesty and morality and godliness.
Wash our hands and our ears and our eyes of these morbid lying fake mouthpieces of chaos and hate.
I know we are much more intelligent than those slimy cancers think! LetтАЩs take them on!!!!
After Samuel тАЬSlimy CancerтАЭ AlitoтАЩs recent association with the word тАЬgodlinessтАЭ by that undercover recording and the whole Christian Nationalist Heritage FoundationтАЩs goal to force religion down all our throats, I have to take umbrage with your word choice here. IтАЩm also going to cringe a bit at that word тАЬmoralityтАЭ because it sounds awfully subjective at this point in time, given the theocratic fascistтАЩs fever dream of forcing their version of тАЬmoralityтАЭ down our throats as well.
But I appreciate everything you wrote here and the passion behind it! LetтАЩs take these backward thinkers on indeed!!!
CNN has become a foil for Fox News, allowing Fox to say that even the тАЬmainstream mediaтАЭ says what theyтАЩre saying. ItтАЩs deliberate.
Absolutely true.
I deleted their app!
I think when we talk about unsubscribing these are responses to basic coup like behavior from our press. It is important to recognize when they do it. Continuing to listen to things that you inherently know is wrong is unhealthy to one's self confidence.
I have many other news outlets that i subscribe to. I feel they have lost their way and are no longer unbiased. Hit тАШem in the pocketbook.
I agree! I have been doing the same thing. Let their MAGA audiences support them.
The MAGAts are the visible supporters, the rich ones are coming out of the woodwork every day. Like Timothy Mellon. They arenтАЩt hiding anymore
Yes. He is the biggest funder of Trump and Kennedy. Two of a kind, but not peas in a pod.
Same consequence, that fact seems to escape some malcontents
Exactly; that's where it hurts
I unsubscribed to New York Times. And told them why.
I did too. And I think my Mom is going to as well.
Ditto
me too
I did just yesterday and the WAPO at the same time.
Do you think they are getting new subscribers from the right that makes up the difference?
Maybe Gary. I do know the Times comments have been overtaken by anti-Biden, anti-Democrats types and you have to have a subscription to comment.
As far as WaPo I have seen the comments overtaken as well. It's a lot of extreme MAGA stuff because WaPo does not censor.
To answer your question I doubt it because publications are still considered elite, "leftist" papers.
What do you think?
I don't really know, but I think the MAGAs already have their publications and media so probably not as many would be signing up as leaving.
Yes. And referring to the crap that #45 reverses and twists around as "lies" is so childish. hahahaaa..."Don't lie to me"... GMAFB!
I wonтАЩt delete it, for the very same reason I glance at Faux Noise тАФknow your enemy. ЁЯШЙ
TheRighting.com is another great source for keeping up with what the right-wing media are spewing at their minions.
you can stop your paid subscription and have limited access so you will still 'know your enemy'.
Your enemy needs financial solvency to continue putting out their lies.
Folks can check to see if their local libraries allow free access to the NYTimes and other publications.
Most public libraries do. Some have joined together for digital accessibility, so that folks can access content from home at no cost. It's honestly awesome.
(This is a repeat from yesterday however, since Heather has written on the same topic, I thought to piggy back. My satire was written about 5 years ago with a few add-ons. I reconken to be the Charlie Chaplin to the MAGA movement as Chaplin was to Hitler -- kinda. And it comes from my book "Donald's Vanity Tantrums." Please enjoy it if you can.)
Fred Jackson and the Second American Revolution
(Homage to Donald TrumpтАЩs тАШProud BoysтАЩ and Others)
Fred Jackson was a proud rebel in The Great Northern Militia Alliance. He and his wife Ruth were often found hosting summer neighborhood barbecues. They easily found new supporters for the coming war to take back America. Fred stationed himself at the pit and handed out chicken legs drenched in homemade sauce to new, unsuspecting recruits -- kinda like a politician on election-day would do; promising a chicken in every pot. Talk of big government, guns and revolt would come later.
Fred and his cohorts believed themselves to be the direct Anglo-Saxon descendants of America's 18th century rabble-rousers who tossed bales of tea into Boston harbor after news of the British Stamp Act reached these shores. But tea-toddlers, they werenтАЩt.
He was proud of his new-found abilities to recruit and had recently been promoted by the Alliance to the rank of sergeant of his own local militia. Wasting no time consolidating resources, Fred collected everything from boxes of canned food to crates of assault weapons. All were discreetly stored away in basements and underground bunkers in his local neighborhood.
Strategic plans were soon under way as this historic moment arrived, the moment to take back America. A secret, unnamed Northern Alliance militia representative from high up the chain of command visited one evening to give a short pep talk to the men and their wives in the basement of Jackson's home.
тАЬLadies and gentlemen,тАЭ the mysterious commander said, тАЬthe time has come to act. We must stop the tyranny and treasonous actions of our government. Today we take action. We will starve the beast into submission. We will bring the entire nation to a screeching halt by whatever means are necessary. And we will un-steal the election. You know who IтАЩm talking about; the great populist himself, codenamed, тАЬOrangeFatso.тАЭтАЭ
тАЬYepтАЭтАж they screamed in unison, тАЬSave our leader, OrangeFatso.тАЭ
He jabbered on like this awhile longer and then said something about how it was one's duty to avoid payment of taxes like they did in the Boston revolt.
A rebel in the audience was overheard mumbling that, тАЬMaybe them damned liberals wouldn't be so bad if we could just shoot a few.тАЭ as he cleaned and oiled his weapon. After the rousing speech ended, the mysterious speaker made way out of Fred's hatchway as quickly as he had arrived and was driven off into the night before anyone could ask questions.
The next day, Fred called for another drill. The basement was a good place to train without attracting attention. His supportive wife listened from upstairs as she tapped her foot to the muffled sounds of her husband's marching orders.
"Left...right...left...right...left...right...left...right."
During the drill, Fred's wife heard her husband cry,
"Oh noтАж not again. I told you not to march forward in the cellar."
"Ruthie honey," Fred yelled from the basement, "Billy bumped into the wall again and now has a nose bleed. Quick, get me an ice pack."
One thing that should be noted about the division of labor between the men folk and their women; it was written in the Northern Militia Alliance's тАЬCode of ConductтАЭ that men would do the fighting and the women would play supportive roles тАУ just like in the olden days of the founders. Their women were as important as Betsy Ross тАУ who is thought to have sewn the first flag тАУ was to the cause of revolt.
The country of Fred's birth was no longer recognizable to him. Waves of foreigners had migrated across the unprotected southern frontier. His leader had often spoken of building a really high wall to keep out the hordes. The government, Fred believed, was overrun with big-spending liberals and nanny-state socialists. Fred even thought that his own past president of the United States was born in another country.
тАЬHe wasnтАЩt born here. You know he owes his allegiance to the United Nations,тАЭ cried Fred.
Encrypted communiques were now being sent and received with increasing frequency throughout the тАЬAlliance.тАЭ The days of waiting had drawn to a close.
And so it came to pass. The militia teams began assembling. They gathered along every mountain pass and byway. They took positions beside bridges and waterways. Fred's platoon prepared to assault its assigned mountain. This really was only a big hill but these rebels had a tendency to magnify everything around them including the importance of theyтАЩre mission. Their watches were synchronized.
Sergeant Jackson finally gave the order to charge.
тАЬCHARRRRRRGE!тАЭ he screamed.
The men began their long, wild, rickety-split charge to the top of the assigned hill. Fred held his assault rifle in the air with one hand, and with the other grabbed his pants before they slipped down below his protruding belly тАУ an unfortunate victim of too many beer-drinking strategy sessions.
Well they whooped and hollered for so long that soon most of the militia troops were out of breath. By the time they reached the summit, the sergeant could be heard cussing' (at no one in particular.) He wondered if he had rushed up the wrong hill. His GPS repeated, тАЬrecalculating... recalculating...тАЭ His phone vibrated on his belt and he quickly grabbed it and listened intently.
His head turned slowly downward as he stared at his mud-caked boots. His heart was pounding. He was breathing fast.
тАЬYes sir, I see. But when are we...? Win the hearts and minds, first? But...OK, IтАЩll inform the men.тАЭ
The sergeant ordered roll call and sadly told his men that not only did they seize the wrong hill, but the unseen generals had decreed that this was only a drill. The real revolution was yet to come but now, without the element of surprise. Dejected, they began to hobble down the green hill.
Then suddenly, Sergeant Jackson received another message. This time, he could hardly contain himself. Something new had just happened and word was spreading like wildfire. His fingers quivered as he responded:
тАЬIтАЩll tell the men right away.тАЭ The sergeant rallied the now exhausted rag-tag men around him and excitedly yelled,
тАЬAll hands to Burns, Oregon. The government is assaulting some ranchers. The Bunkerville boys from Nevada are leading the counter assault. I'll be driving out at first light if anyone needs a ride.тАЭ
Fred finally made it home in his Ford pick-up truck while still sweating from the long charge. His dear sweet Ruthie waited at the half-opened door as dusk settled in.
тАЬCome in my hero. I made your favorite hot soup for you.тАЭ
Fred stumbled in and sat at their kitchen table and slurped down the refreshing food. He then went straight to bed without explaining anything to his worried wife about the disappointing details of the false deployment.
Fred dreamed about the new revolution soon to sweep the land of his birth тАУ the land he hardly recognized any more. And he dreamed that his name would one day be enshrined 100 years from now, along the nearby interstate highway where he lived. The sign would read: тАЬThe Sergeant Fred Jackson Expressway: Named for a Patriot of The Second American Revolution Who Stood His Ground and Helped Take Back America.тАЭ
Then Fred farted and repositioned his head on the pillow as he slept like a baby all night long.
(IтАЩll be sitting at a table in front of the White House next week passing out my book. IтАЩm doing all I can do. And IтАЩll bring my guitar to perform my selection of compositions about Trump including тАЬThe Shit Hole SongтАЭ found on my YouTube channel under тАЬCatman Bill тАФ Hartford, Connecticut)
Yes ЁЯСНЁЯП╝
If Tapper & Bash were being paid to do what they did.., they did their job well. Far as I'm concerned, the two of them suck big time and belong in the same gym shower-room with Jordan. Wanna talk about having "rounded heels".., like Susan C..?.., well there's two more.
That is deliberate, per their new CEO John Malone, a Warner Brothers guy and a man who stated, quite clearly, that he wanted to make over CNN to be more in the model of Fox. He's a billionaire and is entirely motivated by money. Why all those CNN people stay is beyond me.
https://www.vox.com/2022/8/26/23322761/cnn-john-malone-david-zaslav-chris-licht-brian-stelter-fox-peter-kafka-column
John Malone is not as active as he was when he installed Jeff Zucker, Zaslow and Licht. The relationship of AT&T, Discovery, Warner and CNN is confusing and difficult to untangle. I think Malone is or was a member of the Federalist Society, led by Leonard Leo., the guy that chose the 6 SC justices.
I have tried to send CNN some feedback on their news coverage but their site is not amenable to those kind of comments. They are a disgrace.
Very few people I've been talking to lately know about Project 2025. That is an abject failure of main street media, especially when it's architect, Kevin Roberts, is talking about a bloody revolution unless the left steps aside.
I admire Joe Biden and have admired him since his role on the Foreign Relations Committee decades ago.
I think heтАЩs done a remarkable job as President, and gotten more done than any president than LBJ.
That having been said, the debate was a disaster. BidenтАЩs appearance and demeanor underlined the single-most concern the electorate has about him.
Anyone who blames his performance on CNN or the moderators is pretty desperate to absolve Biden of responsibility.
Biden is professional enough to accept his responsibility and you have seen him do so.
Now he has to deal with the aftermathтАФitтАЩs in the past. Now we see if he can repair it. If not, my personal hope is that he defers to Harris. In a way that gives her the biggest boost possible.
Parsing whether Bash and Tapper тАЬshouldтАЭ have fact-checked is immaterial. They said beforehand they wouldnтАЩt. Reading a transcript and re-thinking who did better is an empty exercise. No one else experienced it that way, and no one else will. 50 million peopleтАФhalf of whom support the Pres.тАФsaw him slack-jawed and confused.
Yea. I have been calling then that for many years.
Calm down, Roy. It hasnтАЩt. We canтАЩt and shouldnтАЩt think we can get only what we want to agree with.
They do not challenge guests to back up their positions enough.
Stop it, now.
My position is firm. Rather than clarion calls, CNN is throwing softballs at the devil himself.
I would not have gone so far as to call Trump "the devil himself," but it sure looked like CNN was throwing softballs at him while at the same time allowing him to speak lie after lie for 90 minutes.
I do believe trump embodies evil.
I do, too, Barbara. Just want to deny him being the leader of evil, the Devil.
I still want to know 45тАЩs position on childcare. You know, the question that was ignored completely while he continued to spew nonsense. Tapper never called him on it.
Oh thatтАЩs easy. Whoever is the current wife does it.
Journalistic malpractice as usual.
I have to agree with you Roy. I used to flip stations between MSNBC and CNN but I noticed the same thing with CNN. Lots of softballs.
Softballs and giving too many Rs a platform to spout their lies and criticize Biden.
Why won't they ask Republicans the tough questions? What do you think the media is afraid of?
Wow, what a reply. This forum is for discussion; listening and logical argument, not authoritarian "parenting".
^^^^ this. We have several members of this group expounding from тАЬon highтАЭ. One who repeatedly pushes his book and speaks condescendingly to any that challenge him, and two others that have absented themselves from the country and do the same.