President Biden is right. I lament again that the media reports every shameful, stupid, criminal, appalling thing the former president and his supporters do and say. Yet, for one of the best president's we've had-crickets, except when they comment about his age.
Or when something negative happens. Why don’t they go into Greene’s or Gaetz’s district and report on what is happening there. What is the employment rate, what infrastructure improvements are being done because of the infrastructure bill that the President signed. How about a detailed expose. What have they actually accomplished for their districts.
You’re right about the raucous Freedom Caucus. Behind the blather, no substance whatsoever. Nor representation of Nation or constituents. Only a relentless effort to earn, in 2024, their long sought-for pardons for trying to overturn the 2020 election. And it’s a long list - Trump GA conspirator Meadows, Jeffrey Clark’s groomer Scott Perry, wanna-be Biden impeacher Matt Gaetz, wanna-be Trump pardoner Ted Cruz, say-anything MTG, meritless Congressional chair Jim Jordan, each a fervent election denier, devoted to earning that pardon for betraying Nation and us all.
Everything is pointing to the most explosive election season in my lifetime. In 2020 Biden was a mere figure fun (mainly for verbal gaffes) to the MAGA crowd. The election revolves around huge rallies for Trump and persistent attempts to deter Democratic voters. Trump supporters were stunned by his defeat, perplexed and angry that all the subsequent legal machinations failed. Ultimately they were persuaded into taking the law into their own hands. Many of them are paying dearly for their criminality now, but it’s not as if January 6 2021 is a dead issue. It could become a defiant symbol of resistance eventually in the history of this movement. It has the potency to rekindle emotions and that is a concern.
I think it is possible that a nightmarish stew of events could put Biden’s back to the wall in 2024. This is worrying and should spark a renewal of energy among even the most torpid Democrats to vote and to appeal tirelessly to others to vote.
1. We have no idea what Trump’s legal standing will be when Election Day arises. It is pretty safe to say that the best guess is that one trial may have reached a verdict. If Trump is found innocent there will be an upswell of support for him. Exactly the same if he is found guilty. Lose lose. He may well be out on appeal.
The objectives of the trial(s) of Trump are important - to save democracy and to finally get him out of the public arena forever. The on first is theoretical. The second is practical, but it seems likely to be not in time to keep him out of the White House in 2024. The Republicans have devolved into a band of occasionally Machiavellian schemers, more often bewilderingly stupid ones. But they will be hard at work throughout campaign season.
2.
Elie Honig wrote today about a third special counsel, Robert Hur. In 8 months of investigating Biden for mismanaging classified documents, he has maintained total radio silence. Not a word. Pence had the same investigation and has long since been unambiguously cleared. Personally I have no doubt that the same result should have long since come to pass for Hur. It seems at least possible that Hur will delay longer and then, as if on cue, release a report that kinda sorta *doesn’t* clear Biden. This will fuel the election fervor of the Republicans who will interpret the report in the most make malevolent ways and stir up their side to an even greater pitch of anger as campaigning goes on. Remember: he has a sterling record of governance. Republicans will pick at inflation, but the world knows it would have occurred regardless of party.
3.
Those with the will to impeach are going to do it. Haters are going to hate. Regardless of the lack of evidence, they will run a long and gruesome spectacle, filled with innuendo masked as justice being served. Marjorie Greene has promised this. We will be down to the short and curlies of the campaign and it wouldn’t surprise me to see the Republicans break precedent and drag it out to the bitter end. Or they will be playing endless ads based on the “Biden crime family” to the same effect.
Republicans have nothing to offer but poison. It has now become their stock in trade, their most easily recognizable characteristic. They are going to run a campaign awash in sleaze. There may be outbreaks of violence to intimidate voters.
I said earlier that Biden cannot be attacked in his record. That is not entirely true. He picked the most feckless head of the DOJ in my memory. Had Mr. Garland been less concerned in proving he was independent (that gained him nothing) and that he would pursue justice against justice against possibly wayward Democrats (a lame attempt to mollify the unmollifiable), he might have move 12-18 months sooner in Trump. As far as I can see it is he who is responsible for the impossible calendar the justice system has available to it in 2024 to, well, serve justice to the most egregious actors in trying to overturn democracy. His tenure has been marred by either devotion to the loftiest principles of justice or fear. Meantime the house continues to burn.
Much can happen in a year, but it seems obvious that democracy can only be saved by sane, determined Americans who have had enough of being jerked around by wannabe revolutionaries who gyrate between puerile and pathological.
Good must triumph. Americans who care for America must vote with resounding clarity and fearlessness on November 4 2024. There may not be a second chance.
“ Republicans will pick at inflation, but the world knows it would have occurred regardless of party.” The world may know, but Republicans do not want to know anything that does not implicate Biden as the culprit behind anything they will point to.
It would help if more Americans knew just what any US president has in his/her power to do, under the Constitution. But Trump showed how the Constitution was no significant check on his actions, when twice his impeachments failed to convict. Trump still trots out his “I alone can fix it” one-day solution to the war on Ukraine. His followers believe him, and think Biden could, say, bring down gas prices with a snap of his fingers, but is too weak and/or corrupt to do it. Besides, the Constitution is just a piece of paper, except when judges interpret it in their favor.
True, the pandemic caused shortages and inflation around the world. While we had more deaths per capita (thanks to Trump's delay) our inflation rate along with gas prices are the lowest in the industrialized world. Do the MAGA folks know this? Not really. They're gonna blame Biden and the "socialists liberals" for the problem.
Democrats don’t know (40%) think unemployment is high, not at its lowest since 1969. Lots of people think the S&P stock market is down, not up 16%. Same for GDP per capita. A Guardian piece just out discusses a Harris poll taken Sept. 1. “US economy going strong under Biden—Americans don’t believe it” by Dominic Rushe
Excellent point. The President’s powers have been obscured by Trump. But I fear there is a significant number of weak people who would want the President to be all powerful, Republican, and magnetic in a darkly threatening way. Nothing will disabuse them of this fantasy. The reality would.
We don’t know what trump’s situation will be on Election Day, as you point out even if convicted in one of his trials he will be out on appeal. Despite his current hold on the Republican Party, getting rid of him will be the easy part. Stopping what he started will not be as easy. As they say, the genie is out of the bottle.
Some say that January 6, 2021 was a warm up. I’m sure trump was not counting on it being a warm up. When President Biden wins reelection the saving grace should there be another attempted coup that the President won’t hesitate to act. Hopefully also the media will not cover the blatant lies of the loser that instigated the first attempt.
But I have to ask once again what I have a few times previously, where is our Proud Boys and Oath Keepers? I very much do not want violence. However I think it’s inevitable based on current circumstances. So if it’s inevitable, where is our guys?
Those who vote Democratic are not bully boy types. Americans, I believe, have already chosen their side of the circle to stand on. As well as that the Democratic Party is a bigger tent and often suffers from inner turmoil. Republicans get into line.
Your question is excellent. I’ve worried about it many times and have concluded that the law, enforced justly, is our defense. We don’t have the guns, wouldn’t have the incentive or foolish bravado to attack and would be crushed in a confrontation.
I understand your viewpoint, as I said, I’m not into violence. I just hate being bullied by these thugs. We sit and worry about another insurrection. An expert said that a civil war would not look like the last one. It will be regionalized. Will our local law enforcement going to be able to respond to such an attack? Are we just supposed to sit back and take it?
I look back at Nazi Germany in the 30’s. Jews took a non-violent approach. Look where it got them. We need to stop going high while they go low.
Under item 1 Eric, I'll grant you that what you say there is important, however - there are larger issues at stake here with those outcomes / objectives regardless the outcome. He (it) will have to stand and account - a thing that creature has never had to do his entire lifetime. Big money and an army of shyster lawyers, threats and intimidation won the day for him throughout his life. The concerted shenanigans and maneuvering by several parties and all the lawyers may get him or others off again - who knows ? But he will have to face the consequence of having to account, just as you or I would have to do without an army of lawyers, at least speaking for myself. Thanks for your thoughts and input.
I have family in Gaetz's district. As far as I am aware, he has not done anything for his district, although Eglin Air Force Base is there. But that base was there way before Gaetz. It's a pretty rural district with lots of tRump supporters. Big Friday night lights country too.
Not certain I want to imitate them with caps. How about blue tee shirts with photos of the president beside an American flag. Do you know a shirt design person? They can be very clever.
Tuberville messed up getting Space Force in Alabama. I guess the military figured there was too much "risk" to move it. Goes to show you that soldiers aren't just pretty guys in a uniform.
So, they're proud of Gaetz? They should be embarrassed. I was thinking he would be voted out. Their thinking is outrageous, and full of crap - and if they crash the economy, dangerous. But if our representatives can't face Trump, and the false information, then get ready for a crash. Who going to pick up the pieces?
The "rump", or derriere, is a body part--an oft-attractive secondary sex characteristic. Please don't conflate it with the worst president the US has ever had.
Our lamestreet media is a conglomerate monopoly owned by a few billionaires who want to rule America and has been for decades and we don't enforce the laws we have.
They’re granted broadcast licenses by the FCC. When they’re up for renewal they are supposed to announce that and there’s to be a comment period. Groups of people should be writing letters opposing the renewal.
I dearly wish it were the airwaves that mattered anymore. It's unfettered cable entertainment (never have they claimed to produce news) channels wrecking the scene. Thanks to intense and deep pocket lobbying, our fearless leaders have never made any effort to rein in cable programming, and therein lie the lies.
Yes, you and I own the broadcast spectrum and the FCC (troubled as it is by a nearly kneecapped board) is supposed to make an effort to represent us. They have all but failed to do that already and left cable to enrich its monopolistic owners and pervert the course of justice as algorithms apply truly bizarre advertising, i.e. the lifeblood of cable, trends.
The late 20th century tragedy of the AM band becoming primarily reich-wing talk radio plus automated ClearChannel stations has now gotten worse. Christian nationalist giant Salem Media owns or provides programming for nearly every remaining station. If it's not Salem messing with people's information stream, it's Sinclair.
I don't know what the endgame is here. As long as large numbers of people get their information from cable and social media, how do we pull out of this downward spiral? If we have any shot at improving US healthcare and education, and rolling back decades of inequity, we need Ranked Choice Voting, stat. Nearly no one on your teevee is going to explain what it is, let alone how it could help us out of this mess.
That works for the over-the-air stations. Take those away, and the billionaires will still own and control their cable networks, which have no permitting process and no public accountability.
If you have the cash, you can buy one too, and influence whoever will tune in and listen.
One thing though is that cable networks are subject to subscription. I think that may limit how people watch. Billionaires can spend as much money as they like on cable, I believe they will not have the same reach as with over the air networks.
We are way beyond curtailing any news source’s ability to be regulated. The FCC stopped enforcing licensing of the airwaves under the Reagan Administration. Cable news was never subject to federal licensing, but only state and local. As long as they had one pathetic local access channel for “diverse programming” they could do anything they like. Radio and tv moved to satellite band, which is not regulated by the government. Social media movd to internet, which is thoroughly unregulated. Feds stopped enforcing the rules against monopolies under Reagan Administration as well, which forbade any one television, radio or newspaper company from buying up any other media in their region, to ensure a diversity of information and a healthy competition for advertising dollars and the news. In the 80s and 90s, when I worked in the daily newspaper industry, Gannett and other big newspapers began buying up all the little community weeklies that were their competitors, as well as small radio stations and local television stations. By the 2000s, there was no diversity. Then internet came and now entities like Breitbart, Alex Jones, Newsmax, and Christian Broadcasting and of course Fox/Murdoch are basically beyond the reach of any regulatory authority. What’s needed are new laws, but that will never happen in such a divided country and Congress.
You want to censor the press for reporting what Republican traitors say? Blame the damn traitors. Blame human nature for allowing sociopaths to exist. What you’re really upset about is the ability of propaganda to control huge numbers of stupid people and the inability of ample good journalism to bring those morons to their senses. Rush Limbaugh is dead. His lies live on. While we could and should criminalize commercial lying, it can’t stop the fascists. Be prepared for worse to come. The Founders knew they were handing down no guarantees.
She is implying an imbalanced media when the real problem is fascist propaganda. The remark about censorship was a question not an accusation. Our problem is much deeper than imbalanced reporting.
While what you say is quite true...the reverse is also true: that if the journalism and media reporting was more even-handed, perhaps our problems wouldn't be quite so dire.
That makes sense. But it won’t exorcise fear and hatred. Nor will it penetrate mass ignorance in time to prevent the worst outcomes. FDR succeeded because the damage was done. He reacted accordingly. President Biden is trying to prevent the worst from happening. As brilliant as he is, that’s an uphill battle and one he just might lose. I see the danger to the republic as existential.
The problem is both sides journalism, and you want more "even-handed" reporting; it's what is causing the distorted picture we see every day of Trump and his acolytes as politics as usual.
I meant my remark to apply to the media which isn't covering Biden's accomplishments and speeches but rather ignores his news making and instead follows the clownish antics of Trump because more clicks and more eyes means more money. Money bias as opposed to "both sides have valid arguments" journalism. I think we may be talking about two different phenomena.
I do agree that normalizing what the R's are doing as "politics as usual" is very bad for the country.
Dude. You literally said, "She wants to censor the press." And when called on it, you try to change the subject. As for "the real problem," both contextually inaccurate (not "imbalanced") media and fascist propaganda are real problems, and they're not the only ones.
This is true. And we’ve been doing that. But the Reagan revolution is in the driver’s seat. Our calls are falling on deaf ears. There is no groundswell of protest. Maggots are still spewing their filth on the floors of Congress. There are no students taking over administration buildings at Columbia. There seems to be no law by which to prosecute the Musk-ovite for war crimes. This is Third Reich stuff, and too many millions support it.
Unfortunately, with social media, every wing nut now has a platform. If you believe what people post, times are just awful. I have seen a person who lives at the end of the street behind us stir the pot on Nextdoor about her neighbor. Nobody knows the full story, but there were all kinds of ignorant comments. We took screen shots to show the neighbor in case some wing nuts showed up. Last night I was on a thread about a proposed tax in the city of Salem. I can't vote on it as we don't live in the city. But there was the usual comment about "they" doing something nefarious. This "they" is responsible for lots of things. Then there were no proposals about exactly what to cut. A lot of this in just anti tax. It took three votes in our local fire district which is large and partly rural for us to have 24 hour service. I was amazed at what some of the people used as an excuse for not voting for it. I will also not the most of the time, the people who complain the most about the government are first in line for services or in some cases, fraudulent asks for handouts. As for the Rs, Biden is correct. They stand for nothing. They haven't done a thing for ordinary people and they have made clear that if they prevail, they will finish the destruction of our democracy that death star did each and every day of his regime. Believe them and vote D. No third party nonsense either.
Did you read Paul Krugman's Opinion yesterday: 'America Betrays Its Children Again'.
'But the latest census report on income and poverty made me angry. It showed that child poverty more than doubled between 2021 and 2022. That’s 5.1 million children pushed into misery, for it really is miserable to be poor in America.'
'And the thing is, this didn’t have to happen. Soaring child poverty wasn’t caused by inflation or other macroeconomic problems. It was instead a political choice. The story is in fact quite simple: Republicans and a handful of conservative Democrats blocked the extension of federal programs that had drastically reduced child poverty over the previous two years, and as a result just about all of the gains were lost.'
Or have you listened to what the auto workers are saying,
‘Doc Killian, who has worked in a Ford assembly plant in Wayne, Michigan, for 26 years, says he can no longer afford the cars he helps build, crystallizing how the nation’s middle class has been squeezed.’ (AP)
Plenty of Americans are having a tough time. While there is a lot of concentration on the this forum about the 'weaknesses' of the press, the accomplishments of Biden, Trump's ownership of the 'Republican' Party, its betrayal of the principles of Democracy...what about the American people? How are we doing, and how well is President Biden and the Democratic Party communicating with us?
Bingo Fern ! The party is "Not" listening, has "not been" listening, and they don't listen still. I personally can attest to that from very long personal experience. I can also attest more accurately regarding the positions of the auto workers, from first hand study / insight, and many life long friends hourly and salary that made their careers in the auto industry. What you quote from Doc Killian is at least true; they can no longer afford the vehicles they 'help' build. UAW wages and benefits are no longer a meaningful share of the price of vehicles. The real labor and material costs are from outside parts and assemblies the automakers have jobbed out to other vendor companies; some that they have ownership positions in.
Go to MSNBC where there are bright former prosecutors, judges, professors of law, members of both parties in Congress, some of the best judicial and political minds in the country, top journalists, authors and book reviews, plus just enough DT to see his perfidy. It has flaws, but is the best this ABD has found. Coupled with NY Times and what RSN highlights, plus HCR, and you’ve got a fairly good picture of what’s really happening. Of course I think of Goebbels every time I see Fox. He was, after all, a genius about propaganda.
Yes, he was, and consequently much studied. You do know what the nazi party through back at the U.S. opposition to their persecutions of jews, gypsy's, and others ? Our Jim Crow laws and other repressions in the south, elsewhere.
Linda, seems almost all the news platforms do so to a degree. I agree w/ Virginia that MSNBC does a better job than many platforms, tho I am selective which segments I watch (eg; those that voice less hyperbole). Personally, I like to view a few platforms to see what/how they are covering news/issues.
Barbara, I don't disagree. I think MSNBC has the most concise lineup. I will watch and read a number of sources. I think that is the fairest way to oversea current events
Stupidity and ignorance do not imply low IQ. What Krugman illustrates is precisely my point. Vast numbers of people were so clueless and indoctrinated that they voted for Trump, an obvious imbecile. Have you looked at the faces of his supporters at his rallies? Have you heard them talk? Yes, they are reachable. FDR reached them just in time to avert a fascist takeover here. And that was due to immense international crises. His genius worked only after the damage was done. Now we await further damage, which surely will come. Putin. Musk-ovite.
I wish people would stop referring to Trump as "an imbecile". For one, it gives him cover in that he provides the appearance of being an imbecile so that he can play the ignorance card. Also, he has been able to play the system so efficiently over many years, and has never ended up in jail, not to mention that he successfully duped millions of people into voting for him. And lastly, he continues to hold sway over the GOP despite the fear and contempt many of its members have for him. This is why he is dangerous. He may not know history, but he knows how to play the con and he's winning at it.
He's no imbecile when it comes to plotting to get what he wants. If he were stupid he wouldn't be the leader of a very large and dangerous cult. He's a grifter, a con man, an adept liar, and a showman who knows how to play to a crowd.
What few of those wailin’ n bitchin’ realize is that they will be amongst the first sliddin’ under the bus . Before OUR very eyes , proof positive , the complicit and their ludicrous leader have plainly played their cards , the game, as further advertised -the future plan, in fact -started continues being put in place. 2025? I apologize for barely listening to the BS! I laugh frequently at it, praying for some semblance of sanity to reappear in a party I once...ONCE...thought was American.
I hope everyone complicit comes to realize what a fool they’ve been taken for...and we know who ‘those’ are.
But now/to duration/and after ...I will support the Biden/Harris terms for the hopeful 8 years ...with my vote, and applause, while I herald decency ...of a job those few respected ...the oath they gave honor to.
But......
Eventually this sordid stupidity will end , will come to the complicit...it always has.
Many years ago I saw this coming, I labeled it a lesson needing taught (the hard way obviously) many heard, being patient may be painful. But it isn’t us who sold out.
Our times prove the old saw attributed to President Lincoln: “you can fool some of the people all of the time and you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” I’m hopeful the “Trump Trials” will be a coda to “Trumpism” for a significant part of his base while the rest of his base will retreat to the woodwork and we, the majority of Americans, can go back to political discourse, sometimes heated to be sure, but based in fact and reality.
I think she was calling for equal coverage. News reporting via instant access has become competitive to the point that ratings, or which news outlet gets the most hits, matters more to corporate owners of news media. Sensationalism attracts the most internet hits, and corporate investors, who likely have no concept of ethical reporting and are driven by attracting advertiser revenue (based on the ratings) do not care. I expect most reporters were taught about ethical reporting, but unfortunately they no longer seem to rise to the top in order to enforce fairness. Yes, everything should be reported, and everything includes all viewpoints.
Margaret, it’s the “if it bleeds, it leads” reporting—a term first “coined by journalist Eric Pooley, in 1989, for an article he did in the New York Magazine – “Grins, Gore and Videotape. The trouble with Local TV News” (quote popped from online search), as did this interesting article:
Judith, I sometimes have a hard time easily discerning who a comment is directed to as well! That’s why I often put the name of the commenter at the beginning of my comment…figure it might lessen confusion since some of the comments actually appear down-thread.
Guess Joe’s reward will have to come in heaven, he sure ain’t getting one on this planet. Chump and his gang of traitors will see to that. You are right, so is James, Lex and T.L
Stephanie, I too lament that the press in many feeds the drama/trauma of #45 and his cult followers specifically because it isn’t balanced. I emailed NPR and asked them to give Biden equal press even though he is not the drama king. And remind listeners how much he has done. It isn’t about hushing anyone.
We the American people do not deserve Joseph Biden as our president. He is a decent and hard working competent man. And the lies and slander and threats that are thrown at this man and his family. America land of the greed and home of the mean.
That’s what they do, that’s why my mute button is ever ready, they lie, they brainwash, they sensationalize , the wear down people’s hopes . Tactical drip drip drip.
Once again, HCR, a masterful weaving together in one post of all these appalling developments I've been reading about for a couple of hours, now, over several newspapers.
That last line of President Biden's about the ideal of the nation made me cry, and I'm not a crier:
“We’ve never fully lived up to it,’’ but “[w]e’ve never walked away from it. These other guys are trying to walk away from it.”
It's worse than walking away from it. They're trying to blow it up. Today's stories make that even more clear than usual.
I'm with you. How can we be unmoved and skeptical when people must put their lives on the line to avoid chaos? Mitt Romney is braver than I knew. Fortunately, he can afford to pay for the security his family needs, but not many people could. (What happened to Paul Pelosi should have made that clear.) Mitch McConnell has failed his party and the American people, and Speaker McCarthy can't control the people he sold out to. Complaints about Joe Biden's age are a distraction.
I am so coldly angry at Mitch McConnell, knowing the damage that his Machiavellian maneuvers have done to the Supreme Court and to all women in this country. He could have pushed the GOP Senators to convict Trump, and we would be free of him running for office ever again. The GOP would likely be healthier because they would have excised the cancer that is Trump.
Of course he left Romney hanging when Romney warned him of the danger about to descend on DC on Jan6. Of course he never responded to him. He does not know how to care for anyone else.
I see the health issues McConnell is having now, and I smile. I see people say how they pity him; I do not.
This man has done so much damage to our country. He will be reviled in history.
Like the CEO's of the major industries McConnell is beholden to the oligarchs; they are all compensated with unlimited money and power to look the other way, discard their humanity and kneel before their minders as they trod over the working people on the way to enriching the real ruling class.
McConnell is an example of the selfish, Machiavellian politician who obstructs and plays dangerous political games for fun. Now the joke could very well be on him. I picture him dropping dead at his desk because he just won't give up his office even though he's even older than Biden, and in lousy health.
yeah, but Mittens is still a hypocrite and has been one ever since his college days. He is not the man--or leader--that his father was. If he was contemptuous and disgusted by the party that he witnessed the Republicans devolving into... He could--at any time--have stepped away or declared himself to be an Independent.
Agreed. Why didn't Mitt volunteer to testify for the Jan 6th House Committee? There are enough breadcrumbs to follow that suggest there was inside help. Why didn't he make headlines with his revelations about Senator King's warnings in January of 2021? Why wait until your book comes out? Really?
The story of the rot inside the House and Senate has only had a prologue, a forward, so to speak. The attempted coup (which continues to this day) will eventually show complicity by more than a few Proud Boys and a sitting president.
I have to believe that as prosecutions continue, there will be more and more "flippers" who will provide clues as to how all this came to pass. Why? Because despite my anger and frustration, I am an optimist. And that optimism is fueled by the fact that when a person is facing hard time in a jumpsuit, they usually do whatever they can to minimize or escape that fate.
That is becoming a common maneuver, consistent with the "Chicago School" notion that personal profit trumps the National Interest. It's a vile, sociopathic concept.
Rot is everywhere and has a function, but a healthy organism or society resists rot, and arrests it's spread into living tissue. America was gaining health (and in some ways, still is), despite serious bouts of illness, prior to the plutocratic capture of the public narrative that Reagan was the face of. Nixon spread rot, but was repelled by our societal "immune system" until Ford abused the power of pardon to hold him above the law. Not that that's a new idea. but I think that perhaps that pardon signaled a turning point in our current rash we are seeing the law used to sabotage the intended functions of the law, perhaps comparable to how a virus commandeers our own genetic processes to increase it's spread.
Trump made many Orwellian appointment designed to sabotage the very functions the appointees were pledged to fulfill, but perhaps the apex of this perversion was the plan to twist the mechanics of the Electoral College in order to negate the empirical, real world election result. That is really a crime worth a chapter in any reasonable history book; and with the RNC resolution, branding the rioters "ordinary citizens engaged in in legitimate political discourse", and condemning all efforts to hold them accountable, the whole "Republican" Party signaled it's ownership of the crime. We have let them get away with far too much "rot" already, and cannot afford to lose the "patient"; which is us, and even our posterity.
President Biden is right. I lament again that the media reports every shameful, stupid, criminal, appalling thing the former president and his supporters do and say. Yet, for one of the best president's we've had-crickets, except when they comment about his age.
Or when something negative happens. Why don’t they go into Greene’s or Gaetz’s district and report on what is happening there. What is the employment rate, what infrastructure improvements are being done because of the infrastructure bill that the President signed. How about a detailed expose. What have they actually accomplished for their districts.
You’re right about the raucous Freedom Caucus. Behind the blather, no substance whatsoever. Nor representation of Nation or constituents. Only a relentless effort to earn, in 2024, their long sought-for pardons for trying to overturn the 2020 election. And it’s a long list - Trump GA conspirator Meadows, Jeffrey Clark’s groomer Scott Perry, wanna-be Biden impeacher Matt Gaetz, wanna-be Trump pardoner Ted Cruz, say-anything MTG, meritless Congressional chair Jim Jordan, each a fervent election denier, devoted to earning that pardon for betraying Nation and us all.
Everything is pointing to the most explosive election season in my lifetime. In 2020 Biden was a mere figure fun (mainly for verbal gaffes) to the MAGA crowd. The election revolves around huge rallies for Trump and persistent attempts to deter Democratic voters. Trump supporters were stunned by his defeat, perplexed and angry that all the subsequent legal machinations failed. Ultimately they were persuaded into taking the law into their own hands. Many of them are paying dearly for their criminality now, but it’s not as if January 6 2021 is a dead issue. It could become a defiant symbol of resistance eventually in the history of this movement. It has the potency to rekindle emotions and that is a concern.
I think it is possible that a nightmarish stew of events could put Biden’s back to the wall in 2024. This is worrying and should spark a renewal of energy among even the most torpid Democrats to vote and to appeal tirelessly to others to vote.
1. We have no idea what Trump’s legal standing will be when Election Day arises. It is pretty safe to say that the best guess is that one trial may have reached a verdict. If Trump is found innocent there will be an upswell of support for him. Exactly the same if he is found guilty. Lose lose. He may well be out on appeal.
The objectives of the trial(s) of Trump are important - to save democracy and to finally get him out of the public arena forever. The on first is theoretical. The second is practical, but it seems likely to be not in time to keep him out of the White House in 2024. The Republicans have devolved into a band of occasionally Machiavellian schemers, more often bewilderingly stupid ones. But they will be hard at work throughout campaign season.
2.
Elie Honig wrote today about a third special counsel, Robert Hur. In 8 months of investigating Biden for mismanaging classified documents, he has maintained total radio silence. Not a word. Pence had the same investigation and has long since been unambiguously cleared. Personally I have no doubt that the same result should have long since come to pass for Hur. It seems at least possible that Hur will delay longer and then, as if on cue, release a report that kinda sorta *doesn’t* clear Biden. This will fuel the election fervor of the Republicans who will interpret the report in the most make malevolent ways and stir up their side to an even greater pitch of anger as campaigning goes on. Remember: he has a sterling record of governance. Republicans will pick at inflation, but the world knows it would have occurred regardless of party.
3.
Those with the will to impeach are going to do it. Haters are going to hate. Regardless of the lack of evidence, they will run a long and gruesome spectacle, filled with innuendo masked as justice being served. Marjorie Greene has promised this. We will be down to the short and curlies of the campaign and it wouldn’t surprise me to see the Republicans break precedent and drag it out to the bitter end. Or they will be playing endless ads based on the “Biden crime family” to the same effect.
Republicans have nothing to offer but poison. It has now become their stock in trade, their most easily recognizable characteristic. They are going to run a campaign awash in sleaze. There may be outbreaks of violence to intimidate voters.
I said earlier that Biden cannot be attacked in his record. That is not entirely true. He picked the most feckless head of the DOJ in my memory. Had Mr. Garland been less concerned in proving he was independent (that gained him nothing) and that he would pursue justice against justice against possibly wayward Democrats (a lame attempt to mollify the unmollifiable), he might have move 12-18 months sooner in Trump. As far as I can see it is he who is responsible for the impossible calendar the justice system has available to it in 2024 to, well, serve justice to the most egregious actors in trying to overturn democracy. His tenure has been marred by either devotion to the loftiest principles of justice or fear. Meantime the house continues to burn.
Much can happen in a year, but it seems obvious that democracy can only be saved by sane, determined Americans who have had enough of being jerked around by wannabe revolutionaries who gyrate between puerile and pathological.
Good must triumph. Americans who care for America must vote with resounding clarity and fearlessness on November 4 2024. There may not be a second chance.
“ Republicans will pick at inflation, but the world knows it would have occurred regardless of party.” The world may know, but Republicans do not want to know anything that does not implicate Biden as the culprit behind anything they will point to.
It would help if more Americans knew just what any US president has in his/her power to do, under the Constitution. But Trump showed how the Constitution was no significant check on his actions, when twice his impeachments failed to convict. Trump still trots out his “I alone can fix it” one-day solution to the war on Ukraine. His followers believe him, and think Biden could, say, bring down gas prices with a snap of his fingers, but is too weak and/or corrupt to do it. Besides, the Constitution is just a piece of paper, except when judges interpret it in their favor.
True, the pandemic caused shortages and inflation around the world. While we had more deaths per capita (thanks to Trump's delay) our inflation rate along with gas prices are the lowest in the industrialized world. Do the MAGA folks know this? Not really. They're gonna blame Biden and the "socialists liberals" for the problem.
Democrats don’t know (40%) think unemployment is high, not at its lowest since 1969. Lots of people think the S&P stock market is down, not up 16%. Same for GDP per capita. A Guardian piece just out discusses a Harris poll taken Sept. 1. “US economy going strong under Biden—Americans don’t believe it” by Dominic Rushe
It is difficult to rectify intentional ignorance.
Nothing to do with the Saudis or the Russian attack on Ukraine, affecting the price of oil, I suppose?
True, it’s all Biden’s fault.
Excellent point. The President’s powers have been obscured by Trump. But I fear there is a significant number of weak people who would want the President to be all powerful, Republican, and magnetic in a darkly threatening way. Nothing will disabuse them of this fantasy. The reality would.
We don’t know what trump’s situation will be on Election Day, as you point out even if convicted in one of his trials he will be out on appeal. Despite his current hold on the Republican Party, getting rid of him will be the easy part. Stopping what he started will not be as easy. As they say, the genie is out of the bottle.
Some say that January 6, 2021 was a warm up. I’m sure trump was not counting on it being a warm up. When President Biden wins reelection the saving grace should there be another attempted coup that the President won’t hesitate to act. Hopefully also the media will not cover the blatant lies of the loser that instigated the first attempt.
But I have to ask once again what I have a few times previously, where is our Proud Boys and Oath Keepers? I very much do not want violence. However I think it’s inevitable based on current circumstances. So if it’s inevitable, where is our guys?
Those who vote Democratic are not bully boy types. Americans, I believe, have already chosen their side of the circle to stand on. As well as that the Democratic Party is a bigger tent and often suffers from inner turmoil. Republicans get into line.
Your question is excellent. I’ve worried about it many times and have concluded that the law, enforced justly, is our defense. We don’t have the guns, wouldn’t have the incentive or foolish bravado to attack and would be crushed in a confrontation.
The American system of law must hold.
I understand your viewpoint, as I said, I’m not into violence. I just hate being bullied by these thugs. We sit and worry about another insurrection. An expert said that a civil war would not look like the last one. It will be regionalized. Will our local law enforcement going to be able to respond to such an attack? Are we just supposed to sit back and take it?
I look back at Nazi Germany in the 30’s. Jews took a non-violent approach. Look where it got them. We need to stop going high while they go low.
I'm in.
Under item 1 Eric, I'll grant you that what you say there is important, however - there are larger issues at stake here with those outcomes / objectives regardless the outcome. He (it) will have to stand and account - a thing that creature has never had to do his entire lifetime. Big money and an army of shyster lawyers, threats and intimidation won the day for him throughout his life. The concerted shenanigans and maneuvering by several parties and all the lawyers may get him or others off again - who knows ? But he will have to face the consequence of having to account, just as you or I would have to do without an army of lawyers, at least speaking for myself. Thanks for your thoughts and input.
I have family in Gaetz's district. As far as I am aware, he has not done anything for his district, although Eglin Air Force Base is there. But that base was there way before Gaetz. It's a pretty rural district with lots of tRump supporters. Big Friday night lights country too.
I think it’s time to cut back on Elgin AFB, don’t you?
No cut back, just have President Biden visit. Best way to fight Gaetz.
Trumpers seem to like red baseball hats. How about some blue ones. I'm trying to think of something clever to put on it.
Not certain I want to imitate them with caps. How about blue tee shirts with photos of the president beside an American flag. Do you know a shirt design person? They can be very clever.
Tuberville messed up getting Space Force in Alabama. I guess the military figured there was too much "risk" to move it. Goes to show you that soldiers aren't just pretty guys in a uniform.
So, they're proud of Gaetz? They should be embarrassed. I was thinking he would be voted out. Their thinking is outrageous, and full of crap - and if they crash the economy, dangerous. But if our representatives can't face Trump, and the false information, then get ready for a crash. Who going to pick up the pieces?
The "rump", or derriere, is a body part--an oft-attractive secondary sex characteristic. Please don't conflate it with the worst president the US has ever had.
Our lamestreet media is a conglomerate monopoly owned by a few billionaires who want to rule America and has been for decades and we don't enforce the laws we have.
They’re granted broadcast licenses by the FCC. When they’re up for renewal they are supposed to announce that and there’s to be a comment period. Groups of people should be writing letters opposing the renewal.
I dearly wish it were the airwaves that mattered anymore. It's unfettered cable entertainment (never have they claimed to produce news) channels wrecking the scene. Thanks to intense and deep pocket lobbying, our fearless leaders have never made any effort to rein in cable programming, and therein lie the lies.
Yes, you and I own the broadcast spectrum and the FCC (troubled as it is by a nearly kneecapped board) is supposed to make an effort to represent us. They have all but failed to do that already and left cable to enrich its monopolistic owners and pervert the course of justice as algorithms apply truly bizarre advertising, i.e. the lifeblood of cable, trends.
The late 20th century tragedy of the AM band becoming primarily reich-wing talk radio plus automated ClearChannel stations has now gotten worse. Christian nationalist giant Salem Media owns or provides programming for nearly every remaining station. If it's not Salem messing with people's information stream, it's Sinclair.
I don't know what the endgame is here. As long as large numbers of people get their information from cable and social media, how do we pull out of this downward spiral? If we have any shot at improving US healthcare and education, and rolling back decades of inequity, we need Ranked Choice Voting, stat. Nearly no one on your teevee is going to explain what it is, let alone how it could help us out of this mess.
Absolutely!
Absolutely agree Lee.
EVERYONE READ MIKE'S COMMENT! This is something important that we can do to help uphold DEMOCRACY!
That works for the over-the-air stations. Take those away, and the billionaires will still own and control their cable networks, which have no permitting process and no public accountability.
If you have the cash, you can buy one too, and influence whoever will tune in and listen.
One thing though is that cable networks are subject to subscription. I think that may limit how people watch. Billionaires can spend as much money as they like on cable, I believe they will not have the same reach as with over the air networks.
We are way beyond curtailing any news source’s ability to be regulated. The FCC stopped enforcing licensing of the airwaves under the Reagan Administration. Cable news was never subject to federal licensing, but only state and local. As long as they had one pathetic local access channel for “diverse programming” they could do anything they like. Radio and tv moved to satellite band, which is not regulated by the government. Social media movd to internet, which is thoroughly unregulated. Feds stopped enforcing the rules against monopolies under Reagan Administration as well, which forbade any one television, radio or newspaper company from buying up any other media in their region, to ensure a diversity of information and a healthy competition for advertising dollars and the news. In the 80s and 90s, when I worked in the daily newspaper industry, Gannett and other big newspapers began buying up all the little community weeklies that were their competitors, as well as small radio stations and local television stations. By the 2000s, there was no diversity. Then internet came and now entities like Breitbart, Alex Jones, Newsmax, and Christian Broadcasting and of course Fox/Murdoch are basically beyond the reach of any regulatory authority. What’s needed are new laws, but that will never happen in such a divided country and Congress.
FOX & NewsMax are cable. FOX has more viewers than the over the air networks
Great idea! Thanks.
You want to censor the press for reporting what Republican traitors say? Blame the damn traitors. Blame human nature for allowing sociopaths to exist. What you’re really upset about is the ability of propaganda to control huge numbers of stupid people and the inability of ample good journalism to bring those morons to their senses. Rush Limbaugh is dead. His lies live on. While we could and should criminalize commercial lying, it can’t stop the fascists. Be prepared for worse to come. The Founders knew they were handing down no guarantees.
Go back and read the comment again, this time for comprehension. Where did she say, or even imply, that she wants to censor the press?
She is implying an imbalanced media when the real problem is fascist propaganda. The remark about censorship was a question not an accusation. Our problem is much deeper than imbalanced reporting.
While what you say is quite true...the reverse is also true: that if the journalism and media reporting was more even-handed, perhaps our problems wouldn't be quite so dire.
That makes sense. But it won’t exorcise fear and hatred. Nor will it penetrate mass ignorance in time to prevent the worst outcomes. FDR succeeded because the damage was done. He reacted accordingly. President Biden is trying to prevent the worst from happening. As brilliant as he is, that’s an uphill battle and one he just might lose. I see the danger to the republic as existential.
The problem is both sides journalism, and you want more "even-handed" reporting; it's what is causing the distorted picture we see every day of Trump and his acolytes as politics as usual.
I meant my remark to apply to the media which isn't covering Biden's accomplishments and speeches but rather ignores his news making and instead follows the clownish antics of Trump because more clicks and more eyes means more money. Money bias as opposed to "both sides have valid arguments" journalism. I think we may be talking about two different phenomena.
I do agree that normalizing what the R's are doing as "politics as usual" is very bad for the country.
Dude. You literally said, "She wants to censor the press." And when called on it, you try to change the subject. As for "the real problem," both contextually inaccurate (not "imbalanced") media and fascist propaganda are real problems, and they're not the only ones.
Your absolutism coupled with rudeness are a perfect match.
I live to serve.
No. It was a question. Read it again, this time for comprehension.
It came across as rhetorical, which is exactly what you intended.
Misinformation and disinformation can kill US if the traitors and liars are not called out constantly.
This is true. And we’ve been doing that. But the Reagan revolution is in the driver’s seat. Our calls are falling on deaf ears. There is no groundswell of protest. Maggots are still spewing their filth on the floors of Congress. There are no students taking over administration buildings at Columbia. There seems to be no law by which to prosecute the Musk-ovite for war crimes. This is Third Reich stuff, and too many millions support it.
James Burnham - "What you’re really upset about is the ability of propaganda to control huge numbers of stupid people..."
"𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥. 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘫𝘰𝘣𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘴, 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘛𝘝 𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴. 𝘜𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺, 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦." --Paul Krugman
[Late addition]
Why people think things are worse when they’re really getting better.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/12/opinion/crime-inflation-polls-economy.html?unlocked_article_code=e0g7YRtjM6jZ6co-QJ6QgCfol0yDiaRf_yAzanjqMHMzkAAHdeKKK1BRrUsQcoJ1OpZGJLVPP63nBHSdvNfUKB_DQOCYGrvwQ35n_tzj_ff51vBJx3WZEJDjEu4UjHzHfd31KnJLqqjyb5_Fi4aouhwwjQBqqLvMlD1csaRPgXbCml1rPo_0CmGp_mlKVsQyvt6YJrJkPogM286wsXjswx-8V32gf5fTSiLju9hI1uPwPd_jDVdX64lNisOVRg0-bt0JJarlYZMGLWIkZnpEhepboB8uH5leeeoWM9krBrIAMA_9YdCe8UKlgKW8nNjsEg5BCbBNrCNF1rEpKVriUDh68JiOwLA&smid=url-share
Unfortunately, with social media, every wing nut now has a platform. If you believe what people post, times are just awful. I have seen a person who lives at the end of the street behind us stir the pot on Nextdoor about her neighbor. Nobody knows the full story, but there were all kinds of ignorant comments. We took screen shots to show the neighbor in case some wing nuts showed up. Last night I was on a thread about a proposed tax in the city of Salem. I can't vote on it as we don't live in the city. But there was the usual comment about "they" doing something nefarious. This "they" is responsible for lots of things. Then there were no proposals about exactly what to cut. A lot of this in just anti tax. It took three votes in our local fire district which is large and partly rural for us to have 24 hour service. I was amazed at what some of the people used as an excuse for not voting for it. I will also not the most of the time, the people who complain the most about the government are first in line for services or in some cases, fraudulent asks for handouts. As for the Rs, Biden is correct. They stand for nothing. They haven't done a thing for ordinary people and they have made clear that if they prevail, they will finish the destruction of our democracy that death star did each and every day of his regime. Believe them and vote D. No third party nonsense either.
Did you read Paul Krugman's Opinion yesterday: 'America Betrays Its Children Again'.
'But the latest census report on income and poverty made me angry. It showed that child poverty more than doubled between 2021 and 2022. That’s 5.1 million children pushed into misery, for it really is miserable to be poor in America.'
'And the thing is, this didn’t have to happen. Soaring child poverty wasn’t caused by inflation or other macroeconomic problems. It was instead a political choice. The story is in fact quite simple: Republicans and a handful of conservative Democrats blocked the extension of federal programs that had drastically reduced child poverty over the previous two years, and as a result just about all of the gains were lost.'
Or have you listened to what the auto workers are saying,
‘Doc Killian, who has worked in a Ford assembly plant in Wayne, Michigan, for 26 years, says he can no longer afford the cars he helps build, crystallizing how the nation’s middle class has been squeezed.’ (AP)
Plenty of Americans are having a tough time. While there is a lot of concentration on the this forum about the 'weaknesses' of the press, the accomplishments of Biden, Trump's ownership of the 'Republican' Party, its betrayal of the principles of Democracy...what about the American people? How are we doing, and how well is President Biden and the Democratic Party communicating with us?
Bingo Fern ! The party is "Not" listening, has "not been" listening, and they don't listen still. I personally can attest to that from very long personal experience. I can also attest more accurately regarding the positions of the auto workers, from first hand study / insight, and many life long friends hourly and salary that made their careers in the auto industry. What you quote from Doc Killian is at least true; they can no longer afford the vehicles they 'help' build. UAW wages and benefits are no longer a meaningful share of the price of vehicles. The real labor and material costs are from outside parts and assemblies the automakers have jobbed out to other vendor companies; some that they have ownership positions in.
Some? NewsMax & FOX seem to be “All Lies, All the Time” CNN isn’t much better & the rest of the MSM is pretty squishy.
Go to MSNBC where there are bright former prosecutors, judges, professors of law, members of both parties in Congress, some of the best judicial and political minds in the country, top journalists, authors and book reviews, plus just enough DT to see his perfidy. It has flaws, but is the best this ABD has found. Coupled with NY Times and what RSN highlights, plus HCR, and you’ve got a fairly good picture of what’s really happening. Of course I think of Goebbels every time I see Fox. He was, after all, a genius about propaganda.
I would suggest the Guardian. No paywall. Subscriber supported.
Thank you for the teminder. I almost always read it when it pops up and sometimes there are Guardian reporters on MSNBC.
I forgot to mention, no ads. (Occasionally a request to contribute, but not interrupting what you are reading.)
Dont forget Civil Discourse (Joyce Vance)!!
Never. I have not taken time to listen, but really like seeing her on MSNBC.
Yes, he was, and consequently much studied. You do know what the nazi party through back at the U.S. opposition to their persecutions of jews, gypsy's, and others ? Our Jim Crow laws and other repressions in the south, elsewhere.
PBS has the News Hour, which isn’t at all perfect but does air good interviews with experts on whatever the topic. PBS has Frontline. NPR, anyone?
I'm finding that MSNBC is trying to just play the "gotcha" game lately. Not particularly a good look for them.
Linda, seems almost all the news platforms do so to a degree. I agree w/ Virginia that MSNBC does a better job than many platforms, tho I am selective which segments I watch (eg; those that voice less hyperbole). Personally, I like to view a few platforms to see what/how they are covering news/issues.
Barbara, I don't disagree. I think MSNBC has the most concise lineup. I will watch and read a number of sources. I think that is the fairest way to oversea current events
Stupidity and ignorance do not imply low IQ. What Krugman illustrates is precisely my point. Vast numbers of people were so clueless and indoctrinated that they voted for Trump, an obvious imbecile. Have you looked at the faces of his supporters at his rallies? Have you heard them talk? Yes, they are reachable. FDR reached them just in time to avert a fascist takeover here. And that was due to immense international crises. His genius worked only after the damage was done. Now we await further damage, which surely will come. Putin. Musk-ovite.
I wish people would stop referring to Trump as "an imbecile". For one, it gives him cover in that he provides the appearance of being an imbecile so that he can play the ignorance card. Also, he has been able to play the system so efficiently over many years, and has never ended up in jail, not to mention that he successfully duped millions of people into voting for him. And lastly, he continues to hold sway over the GOP despite the fear and contempt many of its members have for him. This is why he is dangerous. He may not know history, but he knows how to play the con and he's winning at it.
He's no imbecile when it comes to plotting to get what he wants. If he were stupid he wouldn't be the leader of a very large and dangerous cult. He's a grifter, a con man, an adept liar, and a showman who knows how to play to a crowd.
Then call him a successful con man. He’s still an imbecile and so are all of his supporters and co-conspirators.
I guess it’s good that he’s good at something!/s Hmmmm….the Gold-plated Greatest-Ever Gifted Grifter?
Right on James👍
What few of those wailin’ n bitchin’ realize is that they will be amongst the first sliddin’ under the bus . Before OUR very eyes , proof positive , the complicit and their ludicrous leader have plainly played their cards , the game, as further advertised -the future plan, in fact -started continues being put in place. 2025? I apologize for barely listening to the BS! I laugh frequently at it, praying for some semblance of sanity to reappear in a party I once...ONCE...thought was American.
It.Is.Dead.
I hope everyone complicit comes to realize what a fool they’ve been taken for...and we know who ‘those’ are.
But now/to duration/and after ...I will support the Biden/Harris terms for the hopeful 8 years ...with my vote, and applause, while I herald decency ...of a job those few respected ...the oath they gave honor to.
But......
Eventually this sordid stupidity will end , will come to the complicit...it always has.
Many years ago I saw this coming, I labeled it a lesson needing taught (the hard way obviously) many heard, being patient may be painful. But it isn’t us who sold out.
💙💙VOTE BLUE IT’S THE ONLY WAY OUT 💙💙
Our times prove the old saw attributed to President Lincoln: “you can fool some of the people all of the time and you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” I’m hopeful the “Trump Trials” will be a coda to “Trumpism” for a significant part of his base while the rest of his base will retreat to the woodwork and we, the majority of Americans, can go back to political discourse, sometimes heated to be sure, but based in fact and reality.
I think she was calling for equal coverage. News reporting via instant access has become competitive to the point that ratings, or which news outlet gets the most hits, matters more to corporate owners of news media. Sensationalism attracts the most internet hits, and corporate investors, who likely have no concept of ethical reporting and are driven by attracting advertiser revenue (based on the ratings) do not care. I expect most reporters were taught about ethical reporting, but unfortunately they no longer seem to rise to the top in order to enforce fairness. Yes, everything should be reported, and everything includes all viewpoints.
Margaret, it’s the “if it bleeds, it leads” reporting—a term first “coined by journalist Eric Pooley, in 1989, for an article he did in the New York Magazine – “Grins, Gore and Videotape. The trouble with Local TV News” (quote popped from online search), as did this interesting article:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/two-takes-depression/201106/if-it-bleeds-it-leads-understanding-fear-based-media
I have read your comments. You are completely off base but refuse to admit your mistake- comprehension is critical in disputes.
Who are you directing this comment to?
Judith, I sometimes have a hard time easily discerning who a comment is directed to as well! That’s why I often put the name of the commenter at the beginning of my comment…figure it might lessen confusion since some of the comments actually appear down-thread.
Good question.
RL died?
Rush Limbaugh died, but not his influence.
Guess Joe’s reward will have to come in heaven, he sure ain’t getting one on this planet. Chump and his gang of traitors will see to that. You are right, so is James, Lex and T.L
Stephanie, I too lament that the press in many feeds the drama/trauma of #45 and his cult followers specifically because it isn’t balanced. I emailed NPR and asked them to give Biden equal press even though he is not the drama king. And remind listeners how much he has done. It isn’t about hushing anyone.
Real news coverage:
Donnie had another tantrum.
Meanwhile, Joe accomplished these things.
We the American people do not deserve Joseph Biden as our president. He is a decent and hard working competent man. And the lies and slander and threats that are thrown at this man and his family. America land of the greed and home of the mean.
That’s what they do, that’s why my mute button is ever ready, they lie, they brainwash, they sensationalize , the wear down people’s hopes . Tactical drip drip drip.
I totally and completely agree and bitch about it constantly!
Remember… Whatever Democrats say is exactly the opposite of what is true…
Once again, HCR, a masterful weaving together in one post of all these appalling developments I've been reading about for a couple of hours, now, over several newspapers.
That last line of President Biden's about the ideal of the nation made me cry, and I'm not a crier:
“We’ve never fully lived up to it,’’ but “[w]e’ve never walked away from it. These other guys are trying to walk away from it.”
It's worse than walking away from it. They're trying to blow it up. Today's stories make that even more clear than usual.
I'm with you. How can we be unmoved and skeptical when people must put their lives on the line to avoid chaos? Mitt Romney is braver than I knew. Fortunately, he can afford to pay for the security his family needs, but not many people could. (What happened to Paul Pelosi should have made that clear.) Mitch McConnell has failed his party and the American people, and Speaker McCarthy can't control the people he sold out to. Complaints about Joe Biden's age are a distraction.
I am so coldly angry at Mitch McConnell, knowing the damage that his Machiavellian maneuvers have done to the Supreme Court and to all women in this country. He could have pushed the GOP Senators to convict Trump, and we would be free of him running for office ever again. The GOP would likely be healthier because they would have excised the cancer that is Trump.
Of course he left Romney hanging when Romney warned him of the danger about to descend on DC on Jan6. Of course he never responded to him. He does not know how to care for anyone else.
I see the health issues McConnell is having now, and I smile. I see people say how they pity him; I do not.
This man has done so much damage to our country. He will be reviled in history.
Like the CEO's of the major industries McConnell is beholden to the oligarchs; they are all compensated with unlimited money and power to look the other way, discard their humanity and kneel before their minders as they trod over the working people on the way to enriching the real ruling class.
I'm ashamed to say I agree with you
McConnell is an example of the selfish, Machiavellian politician who obstructs and plays dangerous political games for fun. Now the joke could very well be on him. I picture him dropping dead at his desk because he just won't give up his office even though he's even older than Biden, and in lousy health.
McConnell is not the only one in that "boat".
Mitt Romney waffled and knuckled under rather more than I like, but I see a trace of old school Republican in him.
yeah, but Mittens is still a hypocrite and has been one ever since his college days. He is not the man--or leader--that his father was. If he was contemptuous and disgusted by the party that he witnessed the Republicans devolving into... He could--at any time--have stepped away or declared himself to be an Independent.
Agreed. Why didn't Mitt volunteer to testify for the Jan 6th House Committee? There are enough breadcrumbs to follow that suggest there was inside help. Why didn't he make headlines with his revelations about Senator King's warnings in January of 2021? Why wait until your book comes out? Really?
The story of the rot inside the House and Senate has only had a prologue, a forward, so to speak. The attempted coup (which continues to this day) will eventually show complicity by more than a few Proud Boys and a sitting president.
I have to believe that as prosecutions continue, there will be more and more "flippers" who will provide clues as to how all this came to pass. Why? Because despite my anger and frustration, I am an optimist. And that optimism is fueled by the fact that when a person is facing hard time in a jumpsuit, they usually do whatever they can to minimize or escape that fate.
"Why wait until your book comes out? Really? "
That is becoming a common maneuver, consistent with the "Chicago School" notion that personal profit trumps the National Interest. It's a vile, sociopathic concept.
Rot is everywhere and has a function, but a healthy organism or society resists rot, and arrests it's spread into living tissue. America was gaining health (and in some ways, still is), despite serious bouts of illness, prior to the plutocratic capture of the public narrative that Reagan was the face of. Nixon spread rot, but was repelled by our societal "immune system" until Ford abused the power of pardon to hold him above the law. Not that that's a new idea. but I think that perhaps that pardon signaled a turning point in our current rash we are seeing the law used to sabotage the intended functions of the law, perhaps comparable to how a virus commandeers our own genetic processes to increase it's spread.
Trump made many Orwellian appointment designed to sabotage the very functions the appointees were pledged to fulfill, but perhaps the apex of this perversion was the plan to twist the mechanics of the Electoral College in order to negate the empirical, real world election result. That is really a crime worth a chapter in any reasonable history book; and with the RNC resolution, branding the rioters "ordinary citizens engaged in in legitimate political discourse", and condemning all efforts to hold them accountable, the whole "Republican" Party signaled it's ownership of the crime. We have let them get away with far too much "rot" already, and cannot afford to lose the "patient"; which is us, and even our posterity.