And you expect that from the businesses that are major donors to the tRump campaign?
They are BUSINESSES. Their news divisions were transferred to their entertainment divisions in the later 1980s after Ronnie Raygun's cabal unplugged the Fairness Doctrine.
And you expect that from the businesses that are major donors to the tRump campaign?
They are BUSINESSES. Their news divisions were transferred to their entertainment divisions in the later 1980s after Ronnie Raygun's cabal unplugged the Fairness Doctrine.
Excellent point about the Fairness Doctrine. That, combined with Citizens United and gutting of the Voting Rights Act, are the Holy Trinity of the decades long attempt to cement the influence and power of wealth and supplant representative government as serving the greater good. Immunity for a dictator is the coup de grace.
One would expect the Murdoch owned media to give the public the Mushroom Treatment (feed us shit and keep us in the dark) but we are seeing the NYT and Washington Post constantly print news and analysis that is form over substance.
The people need to see through the disinformation and let both common sense and determination to save our country from authoritarianism get out the vote and defeat corrupt power at the ballot box.
I cancelled my subscriptions to both the NYT and WP recently because I noticed just how biased they have become. Lots of negative reporting about Biden but little about Trump. Shameful.
A headline alleging that Republicans have "softened their abortion stance" is flat out BS! The venerable NYT has turned into the New York Post, a ridiculous tabloid.
The WP doggedly outed Nixon's crimes. The plutocrats learned their lesson from that; and unlike in the Vietnam War, we were largely restricted to "in-bedded journalism" in W's Folly. Plutocrats don't want talk of elephants in the room.
What tRump is has no effect on his support. Biden's questionable age-related decline has a great impact on his supporters. The Dems will vote for anyone, it is the uninformed fence sitting head in the sand, struggling Americans who decide elections. And they are constantly overwhelmed by RW propaganda.
What most white Americans see and desparately want to preserve are the enormous economic, legal, and social advantages that they hold over the rest of the population. Most white Ameicans vote for Republicans (and have done so in nearly every election since 1968) primarily to preserve their systemic advantages. They are not victims of disinformation. They know what they are doing. They do it with purpose. In Trump, they have found a leader who openly advocates their top political priority, namely the preservation of their systemic advantages.
All too true in many ways. I find it ironic that ignorant/racist individuals attacking DEI, for example, never want to talk about how people of color dominate so many fields that are based on a true meritocracy and not legacy.
That said, we elected Obama twice. I believe we outnumber the racists but they certainly feel free to wear their racism as a badge.
In 2008, 57% of white voters voted against Obama. In 2012, it was 61%. These elections scared the pants off the oligarchs who stood to benefit most from whiteman rule. They sprang into action. Trump is their man. The rubes join in to retain their systemic advantages. The oligarchs cash in.
Rex-Thanks so much for making it plain. Why else would someone vote for a failed businessman, cheater, liar, convicted fraudster, convicted rapist, cruel and disgusting person who tried to steal an election?
Think about it. If Trump and the Rs didnтАЩt have racism as a tool do you think all of these people would be wearing red hats and giving him so much money?
For those who donтАЩt see the racism involved just imagine if Obama did any of the things Trump has done.
So sad that the Dems are sabotaging themselves. TheyтАЩre panicking because they know that White Americans are more inclined to support Trump who will build on white supremacy.
Meanwhile, the lives of тАЬothersтАЭ will be seriously jeopardized. For anyone who knows our history of violence itтАЩs terrifying that the majority of White voters are supporting an outright dictator wannabe.
Racism of course, add to that economic challenge. My own community and many others I have traveled through in the past several years are just out of business . The transition to the big box stores and the shut down during the pandemic just enhanced the decline in the faith and hope in rural communities. There is also another very important issue at play. The Iraq War. Many people believe that the standard operating procedure of either of our political parties cannot be trusted and are willing to to just chuck it all and elect any dumb charismatic charlatan that comes along. The new Maga knows this and is willing to shill these lies all the way to power.
Make that "corrupt and canny charismatic charlatan Christian Confederate" and mountebank, to boot!
OK. Enough fun. You are dead right about the failure of trust. Nothing much works without at least a plausible base of trust.
I would like to see the Democrats hold a real convention, including actual debates on important issues and open nominations, right out there in front of God and everybody. Isn't that the way to earn trust? The alleged concerns about inviting "chaos" are exaggerated. Let's trust the process.
Stop lumping white people with the deplorable who support trump! Most of my friends, family & acquaintances support President Biden and the fight to save our Democracy, and we are all White !!!
40% of white Americans are decent human beings. ThatтАЩs a lot of people. I take you for your word that your friends and family are among the 40%. But 60% of white Americans are not decent human beings. ThatтАЩs a lot more people. Nothing I said in any of my comments lumps all white people into the deplorable category. Just most of them.
Rex, you are referring to white Republican voters, who though money driven propaganda get those white blue-collar voters to support the preserving of their systemic advantage. How? Fear and hatred sells.
An addict is not a victim of disinformation. Addicts know what they are doing. They do it with purpose. But they are also harming anyone who is influenced by their actions. And they know on some level they are harming themselves in the long term. It's just that they're careful to keep that level below the level of conscious awareness.
Addiction is the compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli despite adverse consequences. The rewarding stimulus doesn't have to be a substance. Recovering addicts have made the "I am not in charge" acknowledgement, which is necessarily Step 1 of the 12-step program.
Translation: The Republican Party, the SCOTUS majority, and most (not all) of the MSM have yet to arrive at Step 1. They'll be a lot closer when they wake up to their November 6 intervention (aka Democrats winning all three branches of government).
In 2020, 58% of white Americans voted for Trump. But white voters made up only two-thirds of the voters. The other third voted overwhelmingly for Biden.
Paul, if common sense rules we would not be anywhere near where we are today. The vast voting public is driven by fear and hate. Issues and policies are obviously irrelevant.
I have. I came away impressed with the seriousness the jury appeared to bring to their civic obligation. Despite the judge putting his hand on the scale, they weighed the evidence and unanimously came to a verdict that was rational. I was impressed.
ThereтАЩs always bias and disinformation to overcome.
In this election, one candidate has concentrated on utilizing fear and hate. The other is promoting the common good. Maybe I am naive in my old age but I think the latter wins.
Business is what we call our formal arrangements of exchange. It is how we create civilizations. Cheating is optional, and in a civilized society, discouraged. Teddy Roosevelt talked about the Square Deal, which I take to be one that is win-win on both ends of the exchange. I grow apples and you make baskets, so we try to work out a deal that is satisfactory to both. Contrary to "Reaganomics" a genuine free market or free society is kept free of bullies; those who create monopolies of ownership or political power. Monopoly sucked in the Gilded Age and it sucks now, but in between we sought more sanity. "We the People" are losing purchase on our own society. It does not have to be that way.
I glad she at least raises the issue. The legitimacy of Trump-selected judges bending law to support Trump is an epic scandal in and of itself. If democracy survives all this, future students will wonder what the hell were we thinking?
Would like to share what someone just shared with me. You can complain about the Heritage Foundation to the IRS. This is from Mastadon. There is also a suggested narrative to fill out for a reason. Please download, fill it out, mail it in, and share with friends.
Seen on Mastodon. At this link you can download a PDF form to file a complaint to the IRS, requesting that they revoke the Heritage FoundationтАШs non-profit status. Fill out the form and mail it to: eoclass@irs.gov
This is what is suggested on the sample form to fill in:
Based on the statements of Kevin Roberst, the Heritage FoundationтАЩs president, on June 11 and July 2, the foundationтАЩs mission is no longer solely тАЬresearch and education,тАЭ but now includes preparing for a possibly bloody revolution.
Specifically, in an interview on тАЬThe War RoomтАЭ on July 2, Roberts stated that the Heritage Foundation has developed a prominent series of policy plans (Project 2025) to overhaul the federal government under a Republican president, and that the country was тАЬin the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to beтАЭ
Sure sounds like Roberts and the other authors of Project 2025 are planning to start a bloody war as part of the Heritage FoundationтАЩs mission.
тАЬтАжThe Lost Pirate Kingdom is a 2021 docuseries created for Netflix. This historical drama portrays the rise and fall of the eponymous early-18th century pirate republic based in Nassau, Bahamas. The series begins in 1715, shortly after the close of the War of the Spanish Succession, which pitted England against Spain. England had waged the war on the cheap, resorting to the use of privateers rather than incurring the expense of fully funding the Royal Navy. It was released on March 15, 2021тАжтАЭ
Long story short, my view has been that the Spanish stole the gold from the indigenous people (making them seem the greater enemy of them). The English were originally more accepted by the indigenous people as a protective ally against the Spanish. Then the English unleashed the Privateers to steal what the Spanish stole, at least until there was no more need for them as allies, which left them unsanctioned (without franchise), so many modified their тАЬtradecraftтАЭ into piracy, stealing as much treasure for themselves as they could. Hmmm, a society with no stable rules, just some rather vague ideas of how to not cannibalize fellow pirate gangs that would provide a bit more protection from the more тАЬcivilizedтАЭ and orderly powers.
Makes me wonder who really hates us for our Freedoms as some told us during the GWOT, or the Heritage Foundation, тАЬConтАЭ-Federalist types whoтАЩs affinity and seeming support for Project 2025. Are they the modern Pirates actually stealing our treasured Freedoms?
Freedoms and treasure. The shift in total national wealth upward is documentation. Brush away the muddled sales pitch and "Reaganomics" was a prescription for neo-feudalism.
I'm not disagreeing with J L Graham, I'm just going to be a little more specific.
Practicing wisdom is what we call the way we resolve the inevitable dilemmas that emerge in a large and complex social system. Business is one of those practices until it isn't. More specifically, business is one of those practices when it adheres to what Adam Smith referred to as The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), aka treat others as you would want them to treat you. If a business is wise, then it is not cheating because it is only hurting itself in the long term by damaging trust, which is the glue, and the only glue, holding civilization together.
As it is for business, so it is for journalism. If there are actual journalists in the Whitehouse press corps, and I'm sure there are, they must be a very small minority within that group.
From a strictly sociopathic perspective, cheat all you like, because you are all that matters; but such thinking in inimical to a just and satisfying society. From a social perspective. we cannot successfully live together without accepting certain responsibilities, and there both an individual and a social aspect to human personalities. Mutualistic integration of both needs seems to me to be the wisest choice, in pursuit of "enlightened self-interest" happiness.
The way I put it is to say that it's "me first" until I discover that my behavior is harmful to someone, probably because they told me, and then its "us first" until we discover that our behavior is harmful to others, and so on. If we all do that, we're all winners in a healthy social system. Those that don't are taking advantage of those that do in the same way that a cancer cell takes advantage of its neighbors, but it's a short lived advantage (pun intended).
Ideologically this started with the '1971 Powell Memorandum'... It was furthered with the ruminations of Milton Friedman which places Corporate Profits over any Social Responsibility... The foundation of the Heritage Foundation, and other Right-Wing Organizations, date from the 'Greed Is Good' Reagan Reign... The Far-Right never really goes away, it just retreats temporarily... As I said before, there is Deep-Anger in the Land, and the Oligarchy uses Social Issues, and Wealth Disparity to further their Maximalist Agenda...
Thanks for that. I'd never heard of the Powell Memo. Don't forget William F. Buckley's God and Man at Yale (1951). It's theme is the idea that a few people are important and everyone else is an opportunity to be exploited, or a threat to be neutralized, and otherwise irrelevant, aka neoconservatism.
"They tried to bury us. They didnтАЩt know we were seeds." тАФMexican Proverb
The urge to prey on other humans, or to eliminate them, runs even deeper, and has been salient in extreme right, left, racial supremacist, and theocratic hellscapes.
It has been Speculated that Humans have derived from Chimpanzees, and Bonobos... Chimpanzees are very Tribal, Territorial, and make War on each other... Bonobos are Pacifistic, and Communal... Didn't Jane Goodall at Davos say that DJT reminded her of an Alpha Chimp?
A troupe of chimpanzees is a fission-fusion society. A chimp social system is a mother and her juvenile offspring. A human social system is an internally interdependent and externally independent group of humans, which for many thousands of generations, and until about four hundred generations ago, was exclusively a hunter-gatherer band. Today, the human social system is civilization.
"What if the beloved community is already real, and all we need to do is live as if it is?" тАФJohn Lewis
Trusting Trump is like Putin "trusting" Prigozhin. The shelf life of such trust is very short when push comes to shove, and his usefulness declines too far.
It does when the Supreme court has set things up for our business world to get away with being totally unethical as the Republican members of SCOTUS are themselves.
They are Putin mouthpieces, tanking our democracy for their current bottom line. Trump will of course throw a lot of journalists in jail and worse just like Strongmen rulers before him.
I don't know that fascists leaders can always differentiate. They tend to be moody too. Journalists should look at what has happened to Jamal Khashoggi, and Evan Gershkovich and ask how they can avoid that. They can flee if they make a plan now. People have walked across the Americans to get to the United States with nothing but some some cash, water and food. Most journalists have more resources than that. What I do know is that just being an oligarch does not protect one under fascism. As Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat points out in her book Strongmen, Putin and Trump place wealthy elites in power, so that means that their methods of controlling them are not going to be financial, but with Kompromat. On the other hand, greedy oligarchs never tire of making more money, and ensuring everyone else has less. It is an ego thing. Almost a fear of being obscure if they cannot. Also, I am sure those Top Secret files include plenty of Kompromat on the members of the Republican party, which is why they are kept in line.
Unfortunately, Linda, your analysis is very astute.
With the sudden flood tide of Virtual Reality in the early 1990s, America (and later, the world) dug a deep, deep hole in a pre-existing pit of psychotic delusions... and half the population fell into it.
Worse, the sane survivors have struggled to get the measure of what was happening to them and to the whole world. We remain completely ignorant of some of the techniques, new and old, being used against us.
I'm afraid that current victories against would-be far-right dictators, even a Democratic triumph gaining the presidency and both houses of Congress, will amount only to buying time in which to adjust to new worldwide realities.
But that tenuous foothold is essential.
The aim of our struggle: to save our children and theirs from the worst of what we are bequeathing them, arming future generations to help themselves in a world devastated not so much by the power of money as by the gravely diseased abuse of that great power.
I agree we do not even understand all that is being used against us. I have some idea of what the DDR government used to use in Germany because Germany has so many films that are set in the DDR. Putin was part of their Stasi just as he was part of the KGB. He learned his trade there, and now has people using these same mind control techniques with modern tech. They are spying on us, I am pretty sure Trump gave him Kompromat on lots of people. For all we know the Democrats who are coming out against Biden have dirt on them that makes them victim to pressure. Although with our lying press, we see that they name 4 democrats as Jeff Tiedrich pointed out as being against Biden staying in the race, and then it turns out one name was wrong. They traded one Asian democrat for another. So, where is the fact checking? https://substack.com/home/post/p-146399983
We do need to save this planet for ourselves and our children. We have to have the children be more savvy about the ways in which they are being manipulated too.
I read that the President was not even in Washington at some times when this neurologist visited the White House...
In the past three decades and more, some of the most remarkable human beings I have met have been children. Actually, this goes back much further. During the very short period during which I worked as a (lousy) teacher, a few children left an indelible impression on me. Even the boy who was academically zero but showed great natural intelligence when playing football (soccer).
Some make it to adult life intact. They can see through the world's besetting evils and delusions.
As for the NYT, a source of news I had used for decades, I cancelled my subscription in 2016.
The kindest word that can be found for the media in Anglo-Saxon countries is that it is like the Curate's Egg...
And you expect that from the businesses that are major donors to the tRump campaign?
They are BUSINESSES. Their news divisions were transferred to their entertainment divisions in the later 1980s after Ronnie Raygun's cabal unplugged the Fairness Doctrine.
Excellent point about the Fairness Doctrine. That, combined with Citizens United and gutting of the Voting Rights Act, are the Holy Trinity of the decades long attempt to cement the influence and power of wealth and supplant representative government as serving the greater good. Immunity for a dictator is the coup de grace.
One would expect the Murdoch owned media to give the public the Mushroom Treatment (feed us shit and keep us in the dark) but we are seeing the NYT and Washington Post constantly print news and analysis that is form over substance.
The people need to see through the disinformation and let both common sense and determination to save our country from authoritarianism get out the vote and defeat corrupt power at the ballot box.
I cancelled my subscriptions to both the NYT and WP recently because I noticed just how biased they have become. Lots of negative reporting about Biden but little about Trump. Shameful.
A headline alleging that Republicans have "softened their abortion stance" is flat out BS! The venerable NYT has turned into the New York Post, a ridiculous tabloid.
Rupert always wanted to buy the Times, now he can just relax and save his money because they have turned into the Post
The WP doggedly outed Nixon's crimes. The plutocrats learned their lesson from that; and unlike in the Vietnam War, we were largely restricted to "in-bedded journalism" in W's Folly. Plutocrats don't want talk of elephants in the room.
What tRump is has no effect on his support. Biden's questionable age-related decline has a great impact on his supporters. The Dems will vote for anyone, it is the uninformed fence sitting head in the sand, struggling Americans who decide elections. And they are constantly overwhelmed by RW propaganda.
me too.
What most white Americans see and desparately want to preserve are the enormous economic, legal, and social advantages that they hold over the rest of the population. Most white Ameicans vote for Republicans (and have done so in nearly every election since 1968) primarily to preserve their systemic advantages. They are not victims of disinformation. They know what they are doing. They do it with purpose. In Trump, they have found a leader who openly advocates their top political priority, namely the preservation of their systemic advantages.
Valid point.
All too true in many ways. I find it ironic that ignorant/racist individuals attacking DEI, for example, never want to talk about how people of color dominate so many fields that are based on a true meritocracy and not legacy.
That said, we elected Obama twice. I believe we outnumber the racists but they certainly feel free to wear their racism as a badge.
Paul-IтАЩm hoping and praying that youтАЩre right about outnumbering the racists. I think for many itтАЩs unconscious.
Kamala is being called the тАЬDEIтАЭ VP and the fact that sheтАЩs next in line for the presidency motivates many to oppose Biden-even some Dems.
It may be possible that Biden is forced out by the hysteria. I doubt Kamala will be.
Certainly some are cynical manipulators, and some seem dupes. The most impoverished states tend to be the deepest MAGA.
We elected Obama but most white voters voted against him.
huh?
In 2008, 57% of white voters voted against Obama. In 2012, it was 61%. These elections scared the pants off the oligarchs who stood to benefit most from whiteman rule. They sprang into action. Trump is their man. The rubes join in to retain their systemic advantages. The oligarchs cash in.
Rex-Thanks so much for making it plain. Why else would someone vote for a failed businessman, cheater, liar, convicted fraudster, convicted rapist, cruel and disgusting person who tried to steal an election?
Think about it. If Trump and the Rs didnтАЩt have racism as a tool do you think all of these people would be wearing red hats and giving him so much money?
For those who donтАЩt see the racism involved just imagine if Obama did any of the things Trump has done.
So sad that the Dems are sabotaging themselves. TheyтАЩre panicking because they know that White Americans are more inclined to support Trump who will build on white supremacy.
Meanwhile, the lives of тАЬothersтАЭ will be seriously jeopardized. For anyone who knows our history of violence itтАЩs terrifying that the majority of White voters are supporting an outright dictator wannabe.
Racism of course, add to that economic challenge. My own community and many others I have traveled through in the past several years are just out of business . The transition to the big box stores and the shut down during the pandemic just enhanced the decline in the faith and hope in rural communities. There is also another very important issue at play. The Iraq War. Many people believe that the standard operating procedure of either of our political parties cannot be trusted and are willing to to just chuck it all and elect any dumb charismatic charlatan that comes along. The new Maga knows this and is willing to shill these lies all the way to power.
Scott:
Make that "corrupt and canny charismatic charlatan Christian Confederate" and mountebank, to boot!
OK. Enough fun. You are dead right about the failure of trust. Nothing much works without at least a plausible base of trust.
I would like to see the Democrats hold a real convention, including actual debates on important issues and open nominations, right out there in front of God and everybody. Isn't that the way to earn trust? The alleged concerns about inviting "chaos" are exaggerated. Let's trust the process.
\Vince S
Stop lumping white people with the deplorable who support trump! Most of my friends, family & acquaintances support President Biden and the fight to save our Democracy, and we are all White !!!
40% of white Americans are decent human beings. ThatтАЩs a lot of people. I take you for your word that your friends and family are among the 40%. But 60% of white Americans are not decent human beings. ThatтАЩs a lot more people. Nothing I said in any of my comments lumps all white people into the deplorable category. Just most of them.
Rex, you are referring to white Republican voters, who though money driven propaganda get those white blue-collar voters to support the preserving of their systemic advantage. How? Fear and hatred sells.
An addict is not a victim of disinformation. Addicts know what they are doing. They do it with purpose. But they are also harming anyone who is influenced by their actions. And they know on some level they are harming themselves in the long term. It's just that they're careful to keep that level below the level of conscious awareness.
Addiction is the compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli despite adverse consequences. The rewarding stimulus doesn't have to be a substance. Recovering addicts have made the "I am not in charge" acknowledgement, which is necessarily Step 1 of the 12-step program.
Translation: The Republican Party, the SCOTUS majority, and most (not all) of the MSM have yet to arrive at Step 1. They'll be a lot closer when they wake up to their November 6 intervention (aka Democrats winning all three branches of government).
Most white americans? That is just not true or Biden would not of won in 2020
In 2020, 58% of white Americans voted for Trump. But white voters made up only two-thirds of the voters. The other third voted overwhelmingly for Biden.
You failed to mention President Clinton gutting "Glass Segal" bill launching a take over by the big banks. Why hasn't anything been done about that.
Pretty bad when the few largest media sources are owned by Repubs.
Paul, if common sense rules we would not be anywhere near where we are today. The vast voting public is driven by fear and hate. Issues and policies are obviously irrelevant.
Have you ever sat through a long jury trial?
I have. I came away impressed with the seriousness the jury appeared to bring to their civic obligation. Despite the judge putting his hand on the scale, they weighed the evidence and unanimously came to a verdict that was rational. I was impressed.
ThereтАЩs always bias and disinformation to overcome.
In this election, one candidate has concentrated on utilizing fear and hate. The other is promoting the common good. Maybe I am naive in my old age but I think the latter wins.
Paul:
I'm willing to be accused of naivit├й, as well.
I say that your experience as a juryman teaches that it is also possible to overcome bias and disinformation.
\Vince S
IтАЩm not disagreeing with you but being a business doesnтАЩt preclude ethics, or it shouldnтАЩt.
Business is what we call our formal arrangements of exchange. It is how we create civilizations. Cheating is optional, and in a civilized society, discouraged. Teddy Roosevelt talked about the Square Deal, which I take to be one that is win-win on both ends of the exchange. I grow apples and you make baskets, so we try to work out a deal that is satisfactory to both. Contrary to "Reaganomics" a genuine free market or free society is kept free of bullies; those who create monopolies of ownership or political power. Monopoly sucked in the Gilded Age and it sucks now, but in between we sought more sanity. "We the People" are losing purchase on our own society. It does not have to be that way.
Back AOC in taking on Supreme Court for Impeachment.
I glad she at least raises the issue. The legitimacy of Trump-selected judges bending law to support Trump is an epic scandal in and of itself. If democracy survives all this, future students will wonder what the hell were we thinking?
Would like to share what someone just shared with me. You can complain about the Heritage Foundation to the IRS. This is from Mastadon. There is also a suggested narrative to fill out for a reason. Please download, fill it out, mail it in, and share with friends.
IRS complaint
https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/irs-complaint-process-tax-exempt-organizations
Seen on Mastodon. At this link you can download a PDF form to file a complaint to the IRS, requesting that they revoke the Heritage FoundationтАШs non-profit status. Fill out the form and mail it to: eoclass@irs.gov
This is what is suggested on the sample form to fill in:
Based on the statements of Kevin Roberst, the Heritage FoundationтАЩs president, on June 11 and July 2, the foundationтАЩs mission is no longer solely тАЬresearch and education,тАЭ but now includes preparing for a possibly bloody revolution.
Specifically, in an interview on тАЬThe War RoomтАЭ on July 2, Roberts stated that the Heritage Foundation has developed a prominent series of policy plans (Project 2025) to overhaul the federal government under a Republican president, and that the country was тАЬin the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to beтАЭ
Sure sounds like Roberts and the other authors of Project 2025 are planning to start a bloody war as part of the Heritage FoundationтАЩs mission.
See NYTimes reporting of this incident on July 3rd: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/03/us/politics/heritage-foundation-2025-policy-america.html
105%!
Perhaps a bit oddly, the mention of TPM reminded me of their take on Netflick's "Lost Pirate Kingdom" at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/what-netflixs-lost-pirate-kingdom-got-right-and-wrong-about-the-golden-age-pirate-gang
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
тАЬтАжThe Lost Pirate Kingdom is a 2021 docuseries created for Netflix. This historical drama portrays the rise and fall of the eponymous early-18th century pirate republic based in Nassau, Bahamas. The series begins in 1715, shortly after the close of the War of the Spanish Succession, which pitted England against Spain. England had waged the war on the cheap, resorting to the use of privateers rather than incurring the expense of fully funding the Royal Navy. It was released on March 15, 2021тАжтАЭ
Long story short, my view has been that the Spanish stole the gold from the indigenous people (making them seem the greater enemy of them). The English were originally more accepted by the indigenous people as a protective ally against the Spanish. Then the English unleashed the Privateers to steal what the Spanish stole, at least until there was no more need for them as allies, which left them unsanctioned (without franchise), so many modified their тАЬtradecraftтАЭ into piracy, stealing as much treasure for themselves as they could. Hmmm, a society with no stable rules, just some rather vague ideas of how to not cannibalize fellow pirate gangs that would provide a bit more protection from the more тАЬcivilizedтАЭ and orderly powers.
Makes me wonder who really hates us for our Freedoms as some told us during the GWOT, or the Heritage Foundation, тАЬConтАЭ-Federalist types whoтАЩs affinity and seeming support for Project 2025. Are they the modern Pirates actually stealing our treasured Freedoms?
Freedoms and treasure. The shift in total national wealth upward is documentation. Brush away the muddled sales pitch and "Reaganomics" was a prescription for neo-feudalism.
I'm not disagreeing with J L Graham, I'm just going to be a little more specific.
Practicing wisdom is what we call the way we resolve the inevitable dilemmas that emerge in a large and complex social system. Business is one of those practices until it isn't. More specifically, business is one of those practices when it adheres to what Adam Smith referred to as The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), aka treat others as you would want them to treat you. If a business is wise, then it is not cheating because it is only hurting itself in the long term by damaging trust, which is the glue, and the only glue, holding civilization together.
As it is for business, so it is for journalism. If there are actual journalists in the Whitehouse press corps, and I'm sure there are, they must be a very small minority within that group.
From a strictly sociopathic perspective, cheat all you like, because you are all that matters; but such thinking in inimical to a just and satisfying society. From a social perspective. we cannot successfully live together without accepting certain responsibilities, and there both an individual and a social aspect to human personalities. Mutualistic integration of both needs seems to me to be the wisest choice, in pursuit of "enlightened self-interest" happiness.
I agree.
The way I put it is to say that it's "me first" until I discover that my behavior is harmful to someone, probably because they told me, and then its "us first" until we discover that our behavior is harmful to others, and so on. If we all do that, we're all winners in a healthy social system. Those that don't are taking advantage of those that do in the same way that a cancer cell takes advantage of its neighbors, but it's a short lived advantage (pun intended).
Ideologically this started with the '1971 Powell Memorandum'... It was furthered with the ruminations of Milton Friedman which places Corporate Profits over any Social Responsibility... The foundation of the Heritage Foundation, and other Right-Wing Organizations, date from the 'Greed Is Good' Reagan Reign... The Far-Right never really goes away, it just retreats temporarily... As I said before, there is Deep-Anger in the Land, and the Oligarchy uses Social Issues, and Wealth Disparity to further their Maximalist Agenda...
Thanks for that. I'd never heard of the Powell Memo. Don't forget William F. Buckley's God and Man at Yale (1951). It's theme is the idea that a few people are important and everyone else is an opportunity to be exploited, or a threat to be neutralized, and otherwise irrelevant, aka neoconservatism.
"They tried to bury us. They didnтАЩt know we were seeds." тАФMexican Proverb
The urge to prey on other humans, or to eliminate them, runs even deeper, and has been salient in extreme right, left, racial supremacist, and theocratic hellscapes.
It has been Speculated that Humans have derived from Chimpanzees, and Bonobos... Chimpanzees are very Tribal, Territorial, and make War on each other... Bonobos are Pacifistic, and Communal... Didn't Jane Goodall at Davos say that DJT reminded her of an Alpha Chimp?
A troupe of chimpanzees is a fission-fusion society. A chimp social system is a mother and her juvenile offspring. A human social system is an internally interdependent and externally independent group of humans, which for many thousands of generations, and until about four hundred generations ago, was exclusively a hunter-gatherer band. Today, the human social system is civilization.
"What if the beloved community is already real, and all we need to do is live as if it is?" тАФJohn Lewis
Trusting Trump is like Putin "trusting" Prigozhin. The shelf life of such trust is very short when push comes to shove, and his usefulness declines too far.
Trust Trump to be viciously self-serving.
It does when the Supreme court has set things up for our business world to get away with being totally unethical as the Republican members of SCOTUS are themselves.
Apparently it does preclude ethics if they support Trump.
Trump is ethics anti-matter.
It shouldnтАЩt but when the fox guards the henhouseтАж.
They are Putin mouthpieces, tanking our democracy for their current bottom line. Trump will of course throw a lot of journalists in jail and worse just like Strongmen rulers before him.
Ther├и will be the MAGA version of the Voelkischer Beobachter, and Fox News, perhaps, for a while...
Real journalists will flee the country. If they can.
I don't know that fascists leaders can always differentiate. They tend to be moody too. Journalists should look at what has happened to Jamal Khashoggi, and Evan Gershkovich and ask how they can avoid that. They can flee if they make a plan now. People have walked across the Americans to get to the United States with nothing but some some cash, water and food. Most journalists have more resources than that. What I do know is that just being an oligarch does not protect one under fascism. As Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat points out in her book Strongmen, Putin and Trump place wealthy elites in power, so that means that their methods of controlling them are not going to be financial, but with Kompromat. On the other hand, greedy oligarchs never tire of making more money, and ensuring everyone else has less. It is an ego thing. Almost a fear of being obscure if they cannot. Also, I am sure those Top Secret files include plenty of Kompromat on the members of the Republican party, which is why they are kept in line.
Unfortunately, Linda, your analysis is very astute.
With the sudden flood tide of Virtual Reality in the early 1990s, America (and later, the world) dug a deep, deep hole in a pre-existing pit of psychotic delusions... and half the population fell into it.
Worse, the sane survivors have struggled to get the measure of what was happening to them and to the whole world. We remain completely ignorant of some of the techniques, new and old, being used against us.
I'm afraid that current victories against would-be far-right dictators, even a Democratic triumph gaining the presidency and both houses of Congress, will amount only to buying time in which to adjust to new worldwide realities.
But that tenuous foothold is essential.
The aim of our struggle: to save our children and theirs from the worst of what we are bequeathing them, arming future generations to help themselves in a world devastated not so much by the power of money as by the gravely diseased abuse of that great power.
I agree we do not even understand all that is being used against us. I have some idea of what the DDR government used to use in Germany because Germany has so many films that are set in the DDR. Putin was part of their Stasi just as he was part of the KGB. He learned his trade there, and now has people using these same mind control techniques with modern tech. They are spying on us, I am pretty sure Trump gave him Kompromat on lots of people. For all we know the Democrats who are coming out against Biden have dirt on them that makes them victim to pressure. Although with our lying press, we see that they name 4 democrats as Jeff Tiedrich pointed out as being against Biden staying in the race, and then it turns out one name was wrong. They traded one Asian democrat for another. So, where is the fact checking? https://substack.com/home/post/p-146399983
We do need to save this planet for ourselves and our children. We have to have the children be more savvy about the ways in which they are being manipulated too.
I read that the President was not even in Washington at some times when this neurologist visited the White House...
In the past three decades and more, some of the most remarkable human beings I have met have been children. Actually, this goes back much further. During the very short period during which I worked as a (lousy) teacher, a few children left an indelible impression on me. Even the boy who was academically zero but showed great natural intelligence when playing football (soccer).
Some make it to adult life intact. They can see through the world's besetting evils and delusions.
As for the NYT, a source of news I had used for decades, I cancelled my subscription in 2016.
The kindest word that can be found for the media in Anglo-Saxon countries is that it is like the Curate's Egg...
"Good in parts".
Hold your noses...
And that, the crux of our problem