Why am I not seeing more coverage of these anti-democratic efforts in the MSM? Are they that lazy? Maybe they should hire Professor Richardson to help them figure out where to focus their resources. Anyway, this is why I subscribe to this Substack.
"We are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind" (Edward Berney)
Almost every mainstream media, with the exception of a few of them if am not wrong, no longer cover news worthy of your time. Traditional media has lost its soul of informing and instead taken hostage by the party alignment. When mainstream media are owned by billionaires with interests in politics, they won't prioritize any truth. Truth is relegated to the periphery of the mainstream media and only introduce as a trivial matter because it doesn't inject much profit.
Also, parties buy headlines to prevent the dissemination of anti-democratic efforts to the people. Only news that paint their opponents in bad light are released and given much airtime. While mostly Rs rely on Fox News, most Ds trusts CNN. Each mainstream media is jostling for audience whom they can serenade with their favorite content.
However, I find Fox news as mostly extreme as its intention is to spread fake news and misinformation about Ds.
"the intersection of a burgeoning traditional media ecosystem and a factionalized public has transformed precisely the type of content that so concerns the persecution profiteers: propaganda. Propaganda is information with an agenda, delivered to susceptible audiences to serve the objectives of the media"
"the average audience member of The New York Post sits very close to the party and ideology of the average U.S. adult. The average audience member of Breitbart, the Sean Hannity radio show and Rush Limbaugh’s radio program sit further to the right, as they tend to be more conservative and Republican"
In Kenya, politicians have established their own TV stations and radio to consolidate their power and protect their "good image" despite glaring corruption scandals. In Uganda, almost all TV stations do not intend to cover opposition lest the government shuts them down. Tanzania has as well mauled traditional media and it is intended to cover only Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM). Only few dare to give airtime to CHADEMA.
In summary, mainstream media not only in the US, but across the world is polarising and doesn't inform as much as you would like to know about your country. It is controlled and no longer healthy for the society to grow. It has its own target audience.
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You nailed it, Edwin. The media in the US has given up reporting the real news in favor of entertainment which the republican clowns supply in abundance. Greed, money and power win out over truth every time. Sorry you have the same problems in Kenya and Uganda. Among all the failures of colonialism, was the deliberate failure to provide universal education. They were so sure, in their blind racism, that people of color couldn't learn, they decided to force their religious beliefs on Africans instead. How cruel they were. I sincerely hope that people like you, can convince the African Union Countries that education, health care, and public transportation are the three most important areas to bring recognition to all African countries. Far more important than weapons and military.
I respectfully disagree. Reading a variety of sources, including those HCR uses, can give us a wider view. AP (begun in 1846), Reuters (1851), NYT (1851), NPR (1971), and PBS (1969) would not still be with us if they didn't provide reliable reporting. I've heard so many republicans claim they don't trust or read any news any more. That is dangerous and leads to an uninformed electorate.
I would add the BBC to your list of news sources. Their news coverage of the USA is better than than many here in the United States. They also cover the relationship of US to rest of the world that is so under reported here.
For the most part from my view the BBC doesn't do this both sides are equal bullshit. The have some of the best interviewers also in my opinion. I read the Guardian too, they dig deep on many stories. As to conservative I also read and will continue to read the Economist. They many be conservative -- but they are data driven, for sure there I things I don't agree with them on but they are not flinging BS.
Patricia, add to that, the numbers of people who get their news from Facebook or Instagram (and X). We used to worry about the 'low information voter'; now we have the 'no information voter'! It hasn't helped that so many local and regional newspapers have folded (no pun intended).
In the beginning....of literature, and most recently, television...those who wrote for them were the educated....clever and creative. As time went on it was discovered, by those who would profit, that the majority of the population is not very smart....leaders of media and of whole countries have figured out how to capture and control the majority of the public.
We, who subscribe to NPR, PBS, quality news sources and Heather are in the minority.
Good post Patricia. A trump follower recently stated "Because he's fun" , when asked why she supported him. Please refer to Neil Postman's book, "WE Are Entertaining Ourselves To Death". Enterainment sells ! It is the fabulous Female Brains which will lift us out of this stall humankind is mired down in. Too much for here, but, know that certain adaptations her brain is capable of, and not ours nearly as much, renders her far more likely to continue life on a path of learning, whereas we men tend more toward stasis. Neurosynaptic pruning. Meanwhile, Tom Tumorfilled continues to drive their Titanic-like brand into the grave. I'm guessing some military folks in Alabama regret that vote for him.
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy.
As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions."
"In 1984", Huxley added, "people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure."
In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us. ~Neil Postman
Becky estill, so is another way of saying it: we don't really want the truth because it might hurt us, so we avoid it by wallowing in distractions which will kill us/ cause greater suffering because knowing truths are necessary for our survival /well being?
Fahrenheit 451 basically said that books were not needed-burn them. You can't have this book because it has violence, this book has risque behavior, mentions blacks, LGBT people. By the time you censor everything, why have books?
You don't mince words, Jim. Your "because he's fun" reasoning reminded me of a hairdresser's comment before the 2020 election. The stylist giggled and said she'd vote for trump because he "made her laugh." Now that justifies having responsibility for the nation's nuclear codes right there. Thanks for the Postman book recommendation. I'm currently reading "Humanly Possible" by Sarah Bakewell. I find it uplifting and hopeful.
Because he's fun is, I suspect, the reason that at least 30% of the followers of the orange sadist vote for him. They are the people who never read a book, or a newspaper, and only watch FOX. They loved his trashy TV show and his carny-barker/salesman style -- and they are dragging our country down the drain with their intellectual stupidity/laziness.
This is so true. NPR needs financial support along with PBS, The Guardian and BBC. Our local NPR station has lost outstanding employees due to lack of financial support.
I am big time into banned books. Unlike those women who want to ban books which they have never read, I have read almost all the books on my shirt and a few more on another list from the American Librarians Association. No one will say to me, "Well have you even read these books?" I will say," Yes I have and more. What about you?"
I canceled my subscription to the NYT two days ago. I've had it with them! Sticking with the WaPo + MSNBC (and sometimes CNN) + NPR + PBS + The Guardian + Reuters+ 7 substacks (including Joyce Vance, Steve Schmidt, Timothy Snyder, among others).
So true. Same in Australia, homeland of Murdoch. (His mother, Lady Murdoch, was a cultivated, dignified humanist. One of the Melbourne concert halls is named after her. She was the widow of Sir Keith Murdoch, a fine newspaperman. Rupert wasn't their fault.)
Ditto! Imagine Rupert would have been a great disappointment—don’t know if she lived long enough to know that. Kinda reminds me of a cartoon I saw years ago….a couple of hippie parents sitting on the couch were looking at their young grade school age son standing in front of them….he was in a suit and tie, holding a briefcase. The cartoon caption was “Where did we go wrong?”. Such is life….
Well, I'm afraid I have to tell you that she did know, and I'm even more afraid to tell you that she lived to 103. He's got time for another couple of glamorous short-term wives, and who knows what else. I quote from an article written on the occasion of her funeral: "Dame Elisabeth not only disapproved, but expressed shame at the methods her only son had employed in making himself an international pariah. "
(Yes, she was a Dame - the late Queen conferred the honour on her years ago, and she had quite a string of letters after her name as well.)
Damn, gives me the big sadz for her. I can only imagine, but posit she must have been heartbroken while still loving her son…a heavy load to carry methinks.
Knew a kid in 9th grade who called his step mother, "step monster." He was right. I had a lot of sympathy for some problem Freshmen boys until they turned into clones of parents before graduation. All parents make mistakes, some are a mistake. Watch out for their kids, especially when they protect them from any consequences. Then, there are those who deny obvious problems that the kids have and just punish, punish, punish. Takes all kinds... BTW, my parents were flawed but had a modicum of common sense.
Aliens, who live off you. I tell young people to stick to dogs and cats. If they don't work out, you can have them put them down. Try that with a kid; the police will show up at your door.
I agree, the newsrooms report on events in a fashion that pleases their corporate masters. Profit is the main goal , not journalism that gets to reveal the truth. Facts don’t seem to get high ratings these days.
We are stuck here in Oregon's capital, with a Gannett rag and we used to have two newspapers. Gannett also now owns the Eugene Register Guard and has ruined that paper as well. We take an on-line version of the Salem rag, mainly to read obits. And they have one person writing for both newspapers in some instances. We do have some local news and analysis from a few online only entities. If you want to see how ill informed people are, you need only look at Next Door which is full of rumor and innuendo. We also have a Facebook page which announces accidents and other problems and the person in charge of the page has recently had to tell people not to be nasty. I wonder what trolls did before the advent of the internet. A usual question around our house is what the hell is wrong with people.
I read the Gannett-owned Palm Beach Post daily, and I don't think you can find a more anti-Trump, anti-DeSantis paper in the State. Gannett has cut their op/ed pages down to five days a week, but does not mess with their editorial policy and the columnists they carry, Apparently that is not true in Oregon.
Jack, as a consumer of the Register Guard (Eugene's once award-winning paper) I can tell you that they dropped their op-ed page this year saying that it was because that was the reason people gave for cancelling their subscriptions. I no longer take the paper as a paper ($35 per month) but do take the on-line version. The paper is 1/4 the size it used to be, and is almost utter garbage.
The Ellsworth American still has an editorial page but the local editors never talk about politicians outside of Maine. And rarely do they cover Collins, King, Golden or Pingree. Mostly their editorials are about local towns and how they have dealt with local issues.
One of the biggest local concerns is the cruise ships that arrive almost daily in the summer and dump their waste overboard. And the ships dump as many as 1500 passengers on a downtown which can't handle that many people at once.
The next biggest issue is the ever expanding attendance at Acadia National Park. The past 2 seasons attendance has grown to around 4 million a year.
The letters to the editor are about 50//50 local and national but coastal Maine is pretty liberal.
Almost every year the paper wins the award for best weekly paper in New England. I have no idea how stiff the competition is though.
But like almost every newspaper, they are struggling financially.
This is absolutely not true here. They have no editorial page and haven't for a very long time. When I look at it every day, that part has something about Elizabeth II's death. They don't publish a paper on Saturday which means we don't get a NYT on Saturday because they deliver that paper. I am glad to know that your paper has an editorial page five times a week. Be very thankful. Also glad to know that it is anti death star and Stumpy Boots DeSatan.
As an example of their independent editorial policy, they editorialized today about President Biden's bill which included an increase in FEMA funds along with continued financing of arms for Ukraine, even though they didn't like his including both issues in the same legislative package. Despite that, they concluded by urging support of the bill because of its importance in providing disaster aid, and recommened getting back to the question of support for Ukraine as a separate matter later on. It is unfortunate that most voters don't read a daily newspaper.
Joe Rogan and Bill Maher are both wrong. Yes, tRump is a stupid, crazy criminal. But trying to make Biden seem equivalent to tRump is disingenuous, to say the least. What kind of person who holds the office of president will not approve a disaster declaration for Washington state communities devastated by wildfires because that state has a Democratic governor? Biden had to approve that emergency declaration. tRump is a mob boss, pure and simple.
Jenn you are exactly correct. Regardless of the States party affiliation the President has the duty to to approve an emergency declaration. That's their job.
Yes, emergency declarations are a duty but as Bush and Trump demonstrated the level of response depends on the amount of character of any practitioner.
The Biden's show up and demonstrate intense concern.
The O’Jays singin’ about money in the early 70’s…rings true today…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXE_n2q08Yw Some folks will do anything to make a buck….personally I like the saying about making money “to make a living, not a killing”.
From the article,. Leslie Moonves in 2016: “Man, who would have expected the ride we’re all having right now? … The money’s rolling in and this is fun,” he said.
And I guess that says it all about our media. Thank you, JL, for providing that link.
And remember how Les Moonves ended up. Hostage to his own sense of male superiority, convinced he was bulletproof and could get away with the most egregious behavior, had the LAPD in his back pocket as long as he returned those juicy profits back to the corporation.
And then one day, he found himself stripped naked (not literally, of course because eww) in public, disgraced, forced to return 10s of millions of dollars and cashiered.
Arrogance brought lower than low. It was a beautiful thing to see.
Will have to look that up thanks. I faintly remember something along that line. I think to survive I have to let the memory of some of this crap die. So many bow down to the Almighty 💰💰
And yet, while such an outcome may be "justice," no one is actually made whole. Getting "stripped naked...disgraced, forced to return...dollars" doesn't nearly remove the harm he did. The two events sit separately, sadly.
One more reason that I feel “ righteous” about cutting cable. For most of our adults lives reading everything..holding to the idea that the “devil you know….”. No more!!
CNN was no longer a trusted source for Anyone after the head of CNN publicly, and rather gleefully, stated publicly that "Trump might be bad for the nation, but he's GREAT for CNN" during the 2016 presidential election.
Help elect a Mussolini-like President? Sure--anything/everything that gooses ratings.
Yep; and it is what it is. I need "meat", not entertainment. I've also found that multitasking, be it me, broadcast outlets, etc., is nothing but a 'fools errand.' Stay in your own lane.
I enjoy reading your comments Edwin, but I think you’re a little off on this. The New York Post is solidly right wing. I also think you do a disservice re: CNN and Fox. Both of these I classify as infotainment and so prefer serious sources of information, of which there is a healthy amount.
Gail Adams Fla/Va. - "The New York Post is solidly right wing."
Well maybe not "solidly" but definitely not unbiased:
Overall, we rate the New York Post on the far end of Right-Center Biased due to story selection that typically favors the Right and Mixed (borderline questionable) for factual reporting based on several failed fact checks.
Nice info 'data' Ron, but I'm in the same camp as Gail Adams on that opinion of New York Post: Decidedly right wing infotainment, near the same as the others she cites with the exception of more entertainment added owing to humor. Data is what data is; there is much more that convinces humans than raw data.
Janineb9, ahhh yes, thinking for ourselves. ---- I think that's what you call it, seems so rare in many places. I agreee! And when I feel like they are trying to manipulate me/us (which they are), I'm disgusted. For watching domestic and world news, I reliably trust PBS. i would go mad without it.
Edwin, sometime after reading this LFAA’s comments, including yours, late this evening on the Pacific coast of far northern California, I happened upon this YouTube version of the song “Africa”… a unique chorale rendition and thought to share it with you….the only reason, really, was because of the title of the song…perhaps you will enjoy it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c9-poC5HGw&t=392s
Barbara, I am sure you meant well but it is a song about Africa written by white men after watching a documentary sung by an all white American group and covered by an almost blindingly white chorus. Popular here, yes, haunting, possibly.
What are the big African issues in the last week is Republicans trying to cut the PEPFAR funding for the HIV relief program that has saved the lives of over 25,000,000 people, many in Africa, and the wave of coupes that are destabilizing the continent.
Edwin's to the point comments on the devolution of the press into entertainment and away from public service has not just led to polarization between poltical factions, it has narrowed our tunnel vision even further to exclude any examination of what is happening elsewhere in the world. with a few exceptions
I am of Ukrainian extraction and the war is covered in incredible depth on a almost minute by minute basis, every death of a civilian counted. Meanwhile Millions of people are starving in Africa, forced from the land by climate change and weather disasters, ethnic and religious conflict and political instability. And it is NOT news here. It is buried in the links on the world news header and you have to search to find coverage.
And I also looked at Beau of the Fifth Column's video on what it's like to be a black person in America. I learned a lot from my black students when I taught high school but Beau's video is a striking summary.
Georgia, if you saw Barbara's link to 'Africa - Angel City Chorale', surely, I think that she offered us a wonderful performance. I have a booked day ahead and must hurry along. I look forward to watching the video you linked either tonight or tomorrow. Thank you.
Georgia, I don't know why you connected Beau's deeply inciteful 'conversation' with the viewers about White people knowing/understanding Black Peoples' lives in America with the wonderful performance of 'Africa - Angel City Chorale', for which Barbara provided a link, in a patronizing tone towards Barbara. These two viewing experiences are quite different, and I felt both to be very worthwhile.
Georgia, love Beau’s commentaries—he is so spot-on with so many of the issues he covers. I had not seen this one from 4 yrs ago, tho’ I do follow him. I must admit I am confused about how his perceptive commentary on the loss of cultural identity/history of peoples who were stolen from their homelands and had their histories and culture erased exactly relates to this song and/or this performance. What is it in the lyrics or presentation that is specifically troublesome for you? As I posted in response to another commenter, I looked into the origin story of the song just today and still don’t perceive malice or denigration there (however factually unaware the songwriter was of the continent of Africa and the countries/cultures therein, he states that watching the documentary he was heartsick…and yet, for me, I would not intuit that from the song/lyrics; I read he did say he was concerned about the drought & brought him the thoughts of rain to ease it, hence the lyric). As an aside, I DVR/watch Finding Your Roots w/ Henry Luis Gates on PBS and it is so very rare that he is able for those participants who’s ancestors were known to have been slaves to actually be able to ferret out their ancestors’ country of origin—usually the trail runs cold scant generations back. When he/his colleagues are able to, the look of joy and surprise on the persons face is evident; when the trail runs cold, the look is more one of resignation and acknowledgment.
Georgia, you are exactly right--I watch the BBC for news that is NEWSWORTHY. Many times, topics that are difficult to watch: currently, they are doing a series on child sex trafficking that’s extremely hard to watch.
Someone wrote here in the Comments that they liked how the BBC rotates their news “presenters” and I couldn’t agree more!
Georgia, you are right that no offense was intended…actually I had a moment when hesitated posting it not knowing how it might “land” or be interpreted, perhaps be politicized, or trigger someone, but (I very vaguely remember the original song from some time ago, but had no clue to the origin/writer/singer or why he wrote it, etc), watching the chorale PERFORMANCE (was posted in a “good news” compilation email that I get that usually features heartwarming stories of various types)—very unique, particularly the rain/thunder sounds done with hands and stomping—is what “got” me. I did not think they were making any kind of political statement in the singing of the song, at least that’s my take. And yes, like many locations in the world the African continent—to me there is no “one” Africa, except the continent, as it’s comprised of so many countries—and all the complexity that comes with it. Edwin writes “The Startup from Africa” Substack, which I read, enjoy and appreciate his perspective on American, African and world events…which he sometimes ties together. [Not knowing any of the backstory to the song written in the early 80’s, I did a wee bit of looking into it just now. My take: Appears to be a well intentioned response to someone who’d never been to Africa and who watching a documentary (as you point out) was concerned and saddened by much of what he saw happening in what he thought of as a beautiful country, and it haunted him and he wrote a song about it…admittedly from “not knowing much at all about Africa” knowledge.]
You sent a Black African a song about how white people, who have never even been there in person, see the experience he lives. Wouldn't it be more respectful, if the song evoked a response in you, as the documentary did in the song writers, to ask and learn about his real experience?
If you just met a Frenchman who was commenting on this platform, would you send him a clip from the movie CanCan because you though he would find it interesting?
I grew up in a lily white neighborhood in NYC in the 50s and 60s. I did not have any black kids in my school until high school. As a high school teacher in the 2000s I had a black student who taught me a great deal about how he perceived me and white privilege in America. Beau says we cannot know what it's like to be black in America, and it is even harder to know what it is like for a Black African. I think Beau is correct, but that thought does force me to think about what deeply ingrained assumptions I make every day. I can only pass on what has impacted me and what I was taught by my student and my friends who know Africa well. I don't have answers but I am trying to formulate the questions.
Rush is dead. I think CNN lost some ground with the trump rally they broadcasted. At that moment they sunk to the level of FOX. I know nothing about those things, but I could have much better. You do not put a sweet young woman to go up against trump. It should have been a man like one of the late night guys with the very quick wit and probably not afraid to interrupt him. "Do you mind if I finish?" Yes I do.
Well, all the media you complain about is far from any description of the MSM I have ever heard. No wonder you have concerns.
I’m somewhat concerned with the news on CBS, ABC, and NBC. But Reuters and several papers in this country are actually pretty solid. They have not soft-pedaled Trumps crimes. I personally don’t waste my time on Breibart or The National Enquirer for that matter.
We would all like MSM to do the Dem campaigns’ jobs for them, I suppose, but then they would be no better than Fox.
Instead of pearl clutching, let’s all use today’s media, which puts “one to many” communication in the hands of everyone of us to get the Dem story out.
'US military leaders say Tuberville is aiding US adversaries with hold on military nominations'
'The three US military service secretaries went on the offensive against Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville over his ongoing hold on senior military nominations in an interview with CNN on Tuesday, saying he is aiding communist and autocratic regimes, and being used by adversaries like China against the US.'
“Our potential adversaries are paying attention,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told CNN’s Jake Tapper alongside Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro and Army Secretary Christine Wormuth in an exclusive joint interview for “The Lead.” “It is affecting how they view the United States and our military capabilities and support for the military. This needs to stop.”
'Kendall said that at an embassy event in Washington, DC, an Air Force general officer was “taunted” by a Chinese colonel “about the way our democracy was working.”
'Del Toro echoed the same concerns, saying that as someone “born in a communist country, I would have never imagined one of our own senators would actually be aiding and abetting a communist and other autocratic regimes around the world.”
“This is having a real negative impact and will continue to have an impact on our combat readiness,” said Del Toro, who was born in Cuba. “That is what the American people truly need to understand.”
“It is just unprecedented to be attacking apolitical general officers and flag officers in this way. It is taking our apolitical military … and eroding its foundations,” Wormuth added. (CNN) See link below.
“Today for the first time in the history of the Department of Defense, two of our services will be operating without Senate confirmed leadership,” the cabinet secretary explained.’
‘That number is now three. Navy Admiral Mike Gilday, a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, received a clap-out exit on Friday as he left the Pentagon for the last time.’
‘The scope of the problem continues to metastasize: The Washington Post reported that the Alabama Republican’s anti-abortion tantrum is currently affecting 301 high-level positions in his own country’s military, but in the coming months, that number will more than double to 650.’
‘Peter Feaver, a professor who studies civil-military relations at Duke University, told the Post that he was struck by the number of “warfighting” positions affected by Tuberville’s antics, most notably in the Pacific, where the United States now lacks a confirmed chief leading the Indo-Pacific Command.’
“This is a gift to China, and it’s a gift that keeps giving day in and day out,” Feaver said, referring to the results of the GOP senator’s efforts.’
‘Complicating matters, the Post published a separate report highlighting the fact that the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama — the state Tuberville represents — has been especially adversely affected by his radical tactics.’
‘For his part, the far-right senator has repeatedly suggested that he has broad support for his antics, but there’s growing evidence to the contrary. AL.com reported last week:
A majority of Alabama voters say Sen. Tommy Tuberville should end his months-long hold on military nominations over new Department of Defense policies concerning abortion, according to a poll exclusively released Wednesday to AL.com.’
‘VoteVets, a prominent veterans organization with a progressive agenda, commissioned Public Policy Polling to conduct the survey, and the results should be of interest to the senator:
• By a 58%-to-29% margin, Alabama voters think Tuberville “has made his point” and should now drop his hold on military promotions.
• 55% agree that senior positions going unfilled by confirmed promotions hurts national security.
• By a 72%-to-14%, Alabamans said military promotions should not be politicized.
• As a result of Tuberville’s radical tactics, the poll found 45% of Alabamans now see the coach-turned-politician less favorably.’
‘A related report from Navigator Polling found similar results at the national level, where a majority of Americans oppose what the senator is doing.’ (msnbc) See link below.
Tuberville was a popular football coach, nothing more. The only "qualification" he had in the deep red state of Alabama was that he was and is a loyal supporter of the criminal that was the former president...he is nothing more than a crackpot who doesn't even live in Alabama. How does that work?
Doug Jones was elected because Alabama voters were briefly shocked by the amazing criminality of Roy Moore, which was revealed right before the election. Since then, Alabama voters have worked mightily to increase their tolerance for ideologues and criminals in office, preparing for 2024.
Apparently, its working well for the obstructionists. They flaunt any law that gets in their way and they take advantage of Senate Procedural rules that allow this Tuberville- ish hostage taking
Ms. McBride: It is beyond my understanding how a dullard like Senator Tommy Tuberville can legally hold the entire US military hostage, but it is my sincere hope that the voters within the ranks of the military, who tend to lean right, will not miss this latest Republican outrage. I have no doubt that Tuberville has broad Republican support in the Senate, else the situation wouldn’t have been allowed to persist for so long. Hopefully military voters will see this ploy for what it is: stupid, short sighted churlishness.
Heather & Fern, Thank you for focusing our attention onto the decisions and behavior of two elected Republican "so called leaders" who are part of a group who are working to destroy our freedom, our government which is supposed to include all of us NOT a selected few.
I totally agree with you.I have said it before-There are no good Rs left in Congress.If they are still members of this party after all that has happened then their allegiance is not to the American people.
T is bringing the whole country down the Tubes with him. Senator from elsewhere living in Florida? Does the Constitution say anything about treason for "aiding and abetting"? Thanks again Fern for your brilliant additions to brilliant HCR.
Let us not forget the Republicans in the Senate are not intervening--they are "standing back, and standing by."
Tuberville is a traitor now by the Constitutions definition--he is giving aid and comfort to the enemy. But his fellow Senate Republicans are giving aid and comfort to Tuberville.
This is hilarious: I just flipped over to FB, and staring me in the face is a HUGE news item:
"JOE JONAS FILES FOR DIVORCE FROM SOPHIE TURNER!"
Who the hell is Joe Jonas? Who the hell is Sophie Turner? Why do I need to know who they are, or whether they are getting married, or divorced, or a new puppy?
What’s happening with the artist formerly named “Kanye”? How’re all those Kardashians doing? I hear Taylor Swift sold out all her concerts in 20 seconds. And lastly, Nike is introducing a limited edition of some sort of basketball shoe. Get’em while their hot!
I was paying attention to the Nike shoe. It is the first shoe that is designed as a unisex shoe, and features NY Liberty (and former U of O star) Sabrina Ionescu.
Depends on the news sources you choose. The best way to build a reliable list of news sources I've found is to check out HCR's links everyday and bookmark the ones I like the best. The list can grow unmanageably long so occasional pruning is necessary to keep from falling down a bottomless rabbit hole. ;-)
Don't you find it refreshing and encouraging to be reading the opinions of reborn conservatives? Gives me hope there will be a better future as we all mature and learn to get along by not just copping out to "agree to disagree" but forging common ground. It's how we elevate human behavior which is woefully behind the rise in human technology. It's not just conservatives doing this, it's true for liberals also.
If change was easy, everyone would be doing it. Gotta start somewhere.
BlueRootsRadio, yes agree! "Be the change" is really hard for us humans. But then, I think of others who have done it. Dr. King and those who courageously moved and spoke with non-violence, did so becauseit it was moral and strategic, but mostly because they could. Not all of us can, but maybe this is the call to action for those of us who can. Glory to all the peacemakers who move us forward to being more just. ------ by being more just.
Yes, I liked the approach that MSM needs to stop normalising what isn't. Reminds me of Dan Rather's blog post, in the week following the nightmare election: "Folks, this isn't normal."
Thank goodness we have Dr. Richardson and other substack writers who are doing an end-run around the main stream media. The Bulwark just published a special project entitled The Corruption of Lindsey Graham. I can't figure out how to link it here. It's a chilling expose of Graham's (and other politicians') capitulation to Trump.
I was able to read it without paying for a subscription, but ended up becoming a paid subscriber. The journalism is solid, and I want to support that.
I'd love to read that Lindsey Graham project, and I like the Bulwark newsletters; but they have allowance for free articles. $10/month adds up quickly for my addiction
I get it. I feel like if you Google around you can find a way to read it. It's breathtaking and so enlightening about how an autocrat/authoritarian pulls people into his orbit.
I am deeply grateful to Dr. Richardson for her timely insight on so many topics. By the way, what does MSM refer to? I looked it up and I found it refers to an “anti-inflammatory drug.” If that is the case, I think that all MAGA Republicans should be required to take it daily.
While I applaud some skepticism of the very broad category of MSM, and the critical thinking that is used to scrutinize what is true, false or debatable, and also what news sources are credible/not credible, we should be careful not to lump all news or even all MSM into the same bucket.
I take your point that MSM in general can be misdirected in its focus on one distraction at the expense of the bigger issue(s). But it should also be noted that you have to give credible news sources in the MSM credit when they are regularly doing their job.
And when they are lying, especially when there is evidence that they are lying (in recent court cases for example), they live in their own category of misinformers & liars.
WRT cable news (& their online counterparts) up to this point, the Fox Network, OANN, & Newsmax continue to show themselves to be not credible. They've been sued for repeatedly lying for over a year, in 6 court cases, 2 separate defamation cases each (Smartmatic & DVS). In 1 of 6 of these cases (other 5 are still pending as I understand it), Fox settled out of court for $787.5M. And the evidence in court made public should settle the argument that the Fox Network, among some who decided to lie, are not credible yet I keep hearing the unconvincing excuse that 'both sides do it' and both sides don't do it (lie/misinform).
Misinformation & disinformation is not limited to just these 3 outlets but they are clear examples that have been called out for lying and pushing disinformation for years and yet the waters continue to get muddied with bad excuses.
The obvious (to me) liars and misinformers muddy the waters with false claims that 'both sides' misinform/lie. I don't buy into that idea. That puts the liars and the journalists that are doing their jobs in the same category.
There's a tendency to overlook credible news and focus on the 'both sides' fallacy, or perceived bias for that matter, which has nothing to do with what is true or credible.
I say all this to point out that the bigger issue, the issue that requires the most focus, IMHO, is the misinformation, disinformation, & lack of credibility of some MSM versus the focus on distractions and less impactful issues covered by other MSM.
Starting in about the 1980s, the MSM news outlets faced stiff competition from emerging cable channels. In order to compete, "serious 'just the facts' news channels" like CBS, ABC, NBC even PBS were forced to become more entertainment focused in order to keep their audiences. That meant shorter, breezier stories and the end of "boring" stories about that the US Senate was doing (or not doing).
We've now reached the point where the news media universe has completely fractured into non-overlapping galaxies, with one galaxy focus on news based on facts, evidence, logic and reason while the other galaxy is focused on amplifying the prejudices of its highly conservative viewers. Both galaxies of news must still be entertainment oriented, so "hard news" gets largely ignored. This is one of the ways democracy in the US is dying.
Boy do i agree with you. The media is focused on drama. And I wonder if they ate missing the seriousness and long term impact of their handling of what this cult is doing to our democracy. I stopped watching the PBS Newshour and Week In Review as I would get frustrated watching these pundits and journalists discussing what is going on as if it were a high school debate. And the smiles and laughter?
Maybe you don't see it because nobody wants to defend it?
Why in the hell are soldiers being taught leftist woke propaganda? Miley claimed he didn't know about it. Yet Congress cited examples of training videos about a soldier having pride in 'two moms", extensive equity & inclusion course work, and climate change curriculum.
Our military has one job - protect our nation - by becoming a lethal killing machine.
Its job is not to produce lifelong Democrat voters.
Another day, another potpourri of Republican madness, contingent morals, and undermining of democratic institutions. It’s been quite a streak. I’m rooting for the Republican leaders of good conscience to do the right thing with these radicals. Add to that the bizarre “clean bill of health” received by McConnell, which as a physician makes me scratch my head. I wish Jill Biden well, a speedy recovery, ample Paxlovid, and maybe metformin. I wrote a post about my own game plan with Covid this fall, please forward to the Bidens if they call ;) And assuming Joe Biden was heavily exposed I would treat him with the first sign of symptoms and not wait for a positive test, as this can take days to convert now, and the earlier the treatment the better for octogenarians especially.
I was dismayed that the Congressional MD claimed that McConnell didn't have a seizure. Based on what test? Unless things have changed markedly since I was a working RN, diagnosing intermittent, petite seizures is quite challenging.
Thank you, Dr. McCormick-- I just read your Substack piece. Excellent information! And a timely reminder that, although many of us now travel, COVID hasn't gone anywhere. I'll need to be more vigilant again to maintain avoidance strategies.
Bravo, Ryan! Can I add something to this? I got all my COVID shots and boosters, and I dutifully wore my mask (well fitted N95) out in public. And I got COVID. I thought a lot about why that happened and I blame MYSELF.
Why? For heaven's sake, I am not a doc or RN, I worked as a med tech, but still--I KNOW the following but I got lax: I was touching the front of the mask. With bare hands. And I used so much antibacterial sprays/gels on my hands, but did I WASH enough, especially out in public?
Think about this--the mask is like a coffee filter, in a way. You breathe in, air comes into your nose but HOPEFULLY not the virus particles; they should be collected on the outside surface of the mask. You should remove it by only touching the ear straps, or, wash hand thoroughly immediately upon removing it, and then DON'T TOUCH THE HANDLES OF THE SINK.
Since I avoided public washrooms, it wasn't that. I am guilty, guilty, guilty of not properly handling the mask and I KNOW better from years in the lab! I'm certain this is how I got it. I had mask fatigue. I got tired of washing them after every use. (Cloth, with N95 inserts which I'd dispose of.)
When I'd hear "masks don't work" and I'd mention the proper removal and handling of masks, I'd get a blank stare.
How many of us kept a mask in our vehicles and donned it, over and over and over again?
Hi Miselle - donning and doffing PPE is really an intricate dance, and I am also guilty of sloppiness with my N95. I figure with all the boosts etc I should be able to handle a small inoculation because of imperfect technique, but that's admittedly uncertain. Anyway, don't shame yourself, there is no way to be reasonably more careful than you describe 3+ years into this thing, and with reduced societal support for precautions!
I know 😞 seeing a lot in my practice this week. Trying to keep up with the mainstream, the zeitgeist, and maybe a dash of fringe with respect to Covid, but only evidence based stuff. Will hope to add a post about nasal sprays this week - pretty obscure and way underutilized in the US despite some decent evidence for efficacy!
No doubt, and I think introducing "evidence based politics" would be quite a revolution for the better on both sides of the aisle! Lots of problems and contradictions in terms I know...
It would be nice if the mass media was letting people know that's Covid's back. It's hard enough to get Americans to take care of themselves & others even when it's being shouted from the rooftops. I believe the pols including Biden are more concerned with how the perception will impact the economy than they are with protecting Americans.
Geff, I still routinely wear a mask going indoors to shop & get the “side-eye” from lots of folks. Don’t care, not taking any chances as an older person even tho’ vax’d….what I HAVE noticed over the past 3 years is that I’ve not even had a cold/flu. Don’t plan to stop anytime soon!
I live in an area of Oregon where I have access to MSM on TV as get the local newspaper. Around here, people do know COVID is back, not only because we do learn it from MSM, but from our local paper and, importantly, word of mouth and personal experience. In my opinion, only the willfully ignorant are not aware of the new COVID resurgence.
The good news is that the BA.2.86 COVID strain seems to be protected against by vaccines currently in use. Also if you've had a case of COVID-19 in the past year or so.
Ryan….thanks for the info, particularly of nasal sprays—I have been following the development of a Covid nasal vaccine closely (not soon as I understand it). As a 7-decades long needle phobic (I have a physiological response to needle sticks…it’s a long story…that eventually made me fear injections because of my reaction). I know there are developments on nasal Covid treatments vs vaccine & keep my ear to the ground about the latest developments on all fronts. Looking forward to your future posts! As they say “the more you know”….
ok great, will try to touch on this aspect as well. Hoping I have time to bang this out tomorrow AM! But in terms of nasal vaccines, I have mixed hopes. The stimulation of local immunity in the respiratory tract/point of entry with nasal vaccines (versus the blood stream/local lymphatics after injection) is intuitively much smarter - but previous nasal vaccines have not lived up to expectations, and are often at best equivalent. Flumist for example not as effective as intramuscular, but still helpful.
But I remain hopefully research will keep making quantum leaps triggered by this pandemic catastrophe.
I got all the vax's and boosters, yet still caught covid twice last year; still have long haul covid. I'm pretty certain that I might not have made it through either bout if not for the vax and boosters
Sorry you're in the vax'd, boosted, long haul group. My best friend is as well (her initial Covid infection was in February 2020, before the pandemic was declared) and her health is deteriorating due to the long haul symptoms (plus a Lyme disease diagnosis that was untreated for 15 years).
Let’s talk about the military appointment hold ups. Tommy Tuberville is a traitor to this country, in the common meaning, not the legal one. He is weakening the military that the right pretends so loudly to love.
What recourse is there? Or is this another case where the founders could not imagine a person like Tuberville and gave us no protection against such a person?
There is protection, Annabel, it's just not used. The Ethics committee in each House has the right (upon a vote) to censure or remove a miscreant legislator. All we need are intelligent, honest, honorable elected legislators. This is what results when one party wants to throw out the Constitution and forge ahead to Fascism, and both parties contain at least some members who entered politics as a way to get rich quick.
If I am remembering correctly one of the "GOP" shutdown stunts cost the nation $5 Billion and hurt a great many people. With such "friends" the US hardly needs any more enemies.
I don't think the founders were entirely naive about the potential for political treachery, and did try to head some of it off, but I don't think they grasped the potential of modern consolidated mass media to impact public perceptions. And in any case, they necessarily passed the responsibility of protecting and improving democracy on to subsequent generations.
The December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019 shut down was a devastation. Aside from the reality of workers going without pay for over a month that included the Winter holidays, it will take hundreds of years to repair the damage done to the Joshua trees in the eponymous national park. "With most of its park rangers furloughed, vandals and inconsiderate guests ran amok. Gates and posts were toppled, new roads carved through the desert by unauthorized off-road drivers, and a small number of the park’s thousands of Joshua trees were outright destroyed, conservationists said." NYTimes, 1/29/2019
Worst of all was the hypocrisy of Republicans who bitched about services not being available.
I was aware that national parks were significantly damaged, I did not know to that it was to that extent. Worst of all is the impunity for utterly irresponsible and malicious acts in the role as public fiduciaries. They who bellow about their "true" patriotism while using the nation's vital interests as a pawn in organized crime-like extortion for their plutocratic agenda. It's too bad they can't be sued.
I still wonder why Schumer isn't calling at least one vote PER DAY in the Senate to change the ridiculous rule that allows Tuberville to hold up all promotions. Force the GQP slimeballs (and any so-called Dems that are too cowardly to fix a bad rule) to go on the record DAILY as either supporting our troops and national security, or supporting an incompetent fanatic.
Oh I totally blame Schumer for this. He should have been bringing up individuals for promotions the day Tuberville started this BS. I’ve never seen much leadership from Schumer. We do not have time for games here. He needs to start now. Tuberville can be circumvented. Why hasn’t he been?
The momentum of the plutocratic capture of the government is hard to buck, and I don't know what to do about it, but we collectively should never have let democracy and what Joseph Welch called "decency" unravel this much. And a lot of it boils down to not persistently and effectively resisting the power of concentrated money to shape the quality of our lives and what is politically possible. The nation needs far more wake-up calls about the damage to the national interests, individual lives , and our species future as the plaything of plutocratic coercion and power games.
The Paxton defenders that are touting the line that a flawed man can still do God's work is a trial run of the Christo-fascist defense of Trump.
A truly disgusting example in terms of a betrayal of real Christian values is the opposition of Republicans to renewal of funding for PEPFAR, a program that has saved the lives of 25 million by providing drugs in the war on HIV in the less developed world.
How does using $3M of taxpayer funds to prop up a friend’s failing business in exchange for a government office where he can have sex with his girlfriend fall under the term “morally flawed”, but not the term “criminal”?
Couldn't agree with you more, Georgia. Paxton is a paragon of corruption and mendacity, and the distortion of the idea that a "flawed man can still do God's work" is vomit inducing.
The opposition to renewing the funding for PEPFAR, is unconscionable, immoral and to say the very least, anti-Christian from the actual Christian point of view. You know, the one that talked about feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, assisting the stranger/Samaritan, as opposed to the Faux/Fox News version of Christianity which pushes bashing gay people, stigmatizing homeless people and keeping woman in Gilead
Some of us remain amused that gods need humans to do their work for them. And to be sure, if in fact gods do need humans for whatever ill-conceived, crazy-ass thing, "flawed" is the only sort of human they will get, because "flawed" is the only sort of human there is.
Somehow the predatory form of religion has a long history, despite the efforts of those who advise humility and compassion. An entire compass from the most vile predatory acts to the some of the most generous in folded into the category of religion. Does Christianity teach humility or self-righteousness? Universal compassion or hatred? Asceticism or avarice? Would Jesus buy a semi-automatic rifle? It depends on who you talk to.
We are a social species and we prosper as families and communities. We prosper in our differences of thoughts, skills, and things we individually notice. We prosper when we work in groups for differing goal, while maintaining a basal solidarity to respects certain universal individual and societal rights. A church can be such a community, bit it can also be a narcissistic cult, which hides a predatory, domineering impulse behind a cloud of imposed rationalization and aggressively enforced conformity. That, in it's most extreme forms was the engine of the Holocaust, 9/11, burning people at the stake. You don't need a supernatural being with goat horns and a pitchfork to do evil; it's in our genome if we foolishly deny what we are letting out.
Those big ones he used to hold up for the cameras, while his entourage clapped? I thought they were "executive orders", to show that he was presidential.
There's "flawed", where good people make mistakes and then try to own up to them, and "moral bankruptcy", where a person repeatedly uses greed, etc., as the basis of decisions over a long period of time. Paxton is morally bankrupt. Yes, God can wright straight using crooked lines, but I think God's job is a lot easier if the tools they are using are not broken and covered with slime.
Thank you Heather, as always, for a well-researched, "Letters".
The blatant GOP attacks upon democracy are just as obvious as the violent participation in the January 6th insurrection. I have gained newfound respect for a painfully small group of conservatives such as Liz Cheney for their courage in embracing the principles of democracy over the fringe extreme of the GOP who now control the party and most of its members.
I maintain that those elected officials -whether in Congress, or State/local government who have acted to participate in the undermining the 2020 elections and continue to attack the very system they have sworn allegiance to, must be expelled and barred from ever holding public office.
While the system was strong enough to withstand a violent assault on January 6, it will not survive the continuing attacks from within by the GOP, and their insidious Project 2025 plans.
Every one of the followers of this blog should take the time to read Project 2025 so you understand how high the stakes are and how well prepared the puppeteers behind the Repiblican party are to dismantle government. I believe Trump and the insurrectionist MAGA bozos are the bright and shiney objects meant to distract from the behind the scenes activity of the Heritage Foundation authoritarian intellectuals. It is an authoritarian manifesto that has been decades in the making.
The media needs to it focus on the danger and call it out for what it is.
One of the most prescient books I’ve ever read is “Democracy in Chains.” It outlines the decades-long Republican/Conservative/Corporate/Cristian/White Supremacist plan we now see in full flower. They believe they are intellectually and/or morally superior to “the masses” and have a god-given right to control government and commerce. They want a return to The Guilded Age, where EVERYBODY knew their place. They lie, cheat, and steal and justify it as “god’s work.”
“I think Republicans* are in denial that white people don’t want to work manual labour any more,” Aguilar says at the petrol station in Center, a farm town in the middle of the valley. “So they say, ‘let’s just send in the kids.’” According to a 2018 Government Accountability Office report, more than half of work-related fatalities for children in the US happen in the agriculture sector, where one child employee dies roughly every three days.
Good for you George. All States need to invoke Amendment 14, Section 3. Insidious is a great word for Project 2025, if carried out it will destroy the United States as effectively as a nuclear bomb.
Project 2025 starts with the assumption of a GOP victory in the 2024 presidential election. Thus far, I haven't seen any current GOP candidate with a real chance of winning the election. In spite of the great fear, MAGA plus whatever additional fraction of republicans they can muster doesn't make the vote count. The last thing you can expect would be tfg stepping aside to let any other candidate with a tiny chance at the gold ring step out of the shadows. Non-aligned voters are not aligning with tfg at a rate that suggests a competitive general election. I'd certainly like to see a solid thumping of the fascist wannabes up and down the entire ticket in 2024. There are plenty of toxic legislators who could stand to be sent to the showers, but I'm not hearing or reading any detailed analysis on state by state strategy to address that at this point in the game.
I think it's important for all who embrace democracy, equity, and justice to be concerned.
Lewis Powell's memo to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was once merely a high-level plan. Now it is a mature, well-funded machine that has infected media, the academic community, given rise to things like ALEC, Heritage, and other anti-democratic platforms.
Q. What devices do Americans rely upon the most for their “news reports”?
A. Television and radio
Q. What corporation owns or operates 220+/- television stations across the United States of America?
A. The Sinclair Broadcast Group
Q. Does Sinclair Group espouse political political viewpoints and, if so, what viewpoints?
A. Yes ... Sinclair Group tilts its stations to the Political Right.
Q. Has any national leader ever voiced an opinion advancing his or her views in favor of Sinclair and, if so, what did he/she say?
A. Yes ... former-President D.J. Trump wrote the following: “So funny to watch Fake News Networks, among the most dishonest groups of people I have ever dealt with, criticize Sinclair Broadcasting for being biased. Sinclair is far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC, which is a total joke.”
Yes, Noam, a brilliant Sociolinguist among many talents. But, "consensus" goes back further to McLuhan "Media is the Message" and much further back to post WWI marketing in the 1920's, a Century ago. Antidote: Real Time History via HCR.
Those 'plans' you speak of were well advanced planned, financed, and executed, just so far. More is coming. Be prepared in all ways George. Much outside of our 'comfort zones' will be demanded of us all of like minds.
"Whereas, Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger are participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse, and they are both utilizing their past professed political affiliation to mask Democrat abuse of prosecutorial power for partisan purposes, therefore, be it resolved, That the Republican National Committee hereby formally censures Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and shall immediately cease any and all support of them as members of the Republican Party for their behavior which has been destructive to the institution of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Republican Party and our republic, "
That's the Republican Party talking. Orwellian words that should live in infamy. Responsible Republican leaders, if at this point such a thing could be argued be possible, would have to be considered the fringe, and most others at the very least, complicit. In reality, Reagan was attacking democratic governance from the get go, and praising rule by the rich in it's place. We have been on this trajectory for over four decades, and are on the brink in a number of ways. We don't need to go there.
All of Heather’s letter today was emotionally devastating. There are so many criminals ruling this country and it only gets worse with every new day. Every time I turn on C-Span there is almost no one sitting there conducting business. It always strikes me in a negative way. Where are our representatives? When people are finished speaking they get up and leave. It is all just one-way conversation and there is no one to listen or engage with.
I feel so disheartened at the lack of voices raising/rising
up against the crap that is going on in this country.
As much as there are kindred spirits in this forum, it does nothing to relieve the anger I feel toward all the broken moral compasses we contend with on a daily basis.
There is no question -anyone who is intelligent, aware, and sensitive to the world around them would be mildly depressed these days. Nevertheless -I find inspiration in so many who continue to dedicate themselves to justice, equity, and democracy. While far too many in the US have voted for people who have no business in public service (they only seek to serve themselves -amassing ill-gotten gains and power), it's important to keep in mind that based upon the popular vote -Hillary won in 2016 -just as Biden won in 2020.
We must endure and continue to work for this generation and those yet to come. Too many have sacrificed and passed the torch that we all must carry. And I'm incredibly grateful to Prof. Richardson -and all who know that democracy requires an informed, educated, and engaged society.
Exactly so, Christine. I love the kindred spirits here and am disheartened as well at the lack of voices rising up against what is going on today. I know I don't listen to much music other than classical (and Radio Margaritaville these days...) but where are the protest songs that galvanized us in the 60's and 70's?
Omg, Tuberville... it is incredible that nothing can be done legally to stop his blocking of military promotions.
Paxton and his corrupt behavior leading to impeachment proceedings, another fine example of Repugs...
It's become rather mind-boggling that they and other Repugs in leadership positions choose to cling to power rather than to act for the greater good of the people they supposedly serve.
We the People everywhere must diligently continue our efforts to save our democracy. And, to continue to hope that collectively we can make a difference.
JustJanice, in addition to the Ethics Committee mentioned in my reply to Annabel, the people of Alabama have cause to recall Tuberville on the grounds he lives in Florida. They'd win in a heartbeat. But they haven't gotten beyond "owning the libs"
If they are unwilling to draw a district in which Black voters have just representation, it seems unlikely they would recall a football coach who "stands up" to military brass (some of whom are not white). Pregnant service women are just a pawn.
There should be a law requiring that US Senators and Congressmen be residents of the state and/or district they represent. If they don't have a personal mailing address in the state they should automatically 1) be ineligible to be on the ballot and 2) if they move out of the district or state they should be ineligible to vote or be a member of any committee until they satisfy the residency requirements.
I think each state has their own requirements for eligibility. Some move to DC and then stay with a friend or relative when they go back to their home state/district. I think this is wrong.
They should at least meet the residence requirements by renting an apartment and spending the requisite amount of time there. And no living in the district offices.
Tuberville lives in FL. He should be forced to either run in FL or spend the required time in AL.
I fear that, if TFG (The Former Guy) is re-elected, he is going to do even more withholding of disaster assistance if the governors are Democrats or Republicans who didn’t kiss the ring (by supporting the Big Lie about the 2020 election). Remember that he appointed cabinet officials that had publicly declared that they wanted the department gone (Rick Perry) or (like Betsy DeVos) had a conflict of interest.
I also am dismayed at how quickly Tuberville’s actions have become yesterday’s news—I’d rather see a total(updated daily) of the number of promotions that haven’t been confirmed (broken down by rank).
It was coined by Biden: when prodded in a press conference (I think it was) he said he wasn't going to talk about the former guy. Up till then, the favourite was "45".
Yea, but Cheetos under the right circumstances can bring really transitory satisfaction. It’s reading People magazine in the bathtub with a glass of wine. It was satisfying but then you wonder, why did I waste that time? I get the fake orange comparison, though.
Re Tuberville, please tell us there is a work-around, so that the military appointments and promotions can take place. Surely National Security must prevail. What's being done?
It’s an arcane, undemocratic Senate rule that gives unthinkable power to any senator, including those as unqualified as Tuberville. The Senate majority leader could persuade Tuberville to back off or lead an effort to at least exempt military appointments.
Also, Biden should be much more aggressive in speaking out about this threat to national security. So should senators who strongly object, too.
The Senate minority leader should exert influence, but he seems to be biologically incompetent right now. He is probably supporting this as a power grab, anyway. But the other Senators should be speaking out about this, and pressuring him to stop.
This is Chuck Schumer's job, Deb, as the Senate Majority Leader but he seems more interested in begging for money for his reelection campaign, hardly a day goes by that I don't get a text from him and several other Democrats begging for money.
Schumer needs 60 votes to break the filibuster, so he needs 10 Republicans to agree. But McConnell tells the Republicans what to do. A few of them should speak for themselves, put pressure on Tuberville, and put the country first. As if it mattered to them.
I agree Schumer needs 60 votes IF it gets to a filibuster. But as far as I've read he hasn't even tried. We do have a majority in the Senate right now, even disregarding Manchin, and there are several Republicans of the Real Republican party. Schumer needs to do his job.
EXACTLY! Force DAILY votes to get the GQP and cowardly Dems on the record as either supporting the troops or supporting a traitor. Plus a rule change only takes a majority (Moscow Mitch did it ANY time the GQP wanted something pushed through (like judgeships)). . . I'm sure there's a YouTube video out there is Schumer doesn't understand how to do it (or better yet, step aside and let a real leader step in).
Totally, ''unqualified'' is EXACTLY what Tuberville is. Or i could define him as being extremely unqualified!!! I almost thought it was a joke when i heard he had been elected as a United States Senator. He coached at Auburn University only 75 miles from where i live.
Biden should tell McConnell he will speak to the nation from the Oval Office unless the majority leader cleans up Tuberville's shocking dereliction of duty. Democratic senators should hold media events in their states to publicize what you rightfully call "this insanity."
The general public will remain clueless until Tuberville's blackmail is made a front-and-center issue, including by highlighting with tangible examples of what could go wrong on the national security front.
I saw a theory, possibly on Heather’s FB, that the real reason for Tuberville’s leaving all these high-level positions in the military infilled is so that when TFG wins his re-election next year (!) he will be able to replace these career military spots with officers willing to do his bidding. You know, act in defiance of the Constitution. “My Generals.”
'Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) on Monday urged Chief Justice John Roberts to investigate Justice Samuel Alito over his recent comments about Supreme Court ethics.'
'In a seven-page letter, Whitehouse lodged an ethics complaint about Alito’s recent interview with The Wall Street Journal’s opinion section, in which the conservative justice said Congress has no authority to regulate the high court.'
'Whitehouse, a leading critic in the Senate of ethics standards at the Supreme Court, urged Roberts to “take whatever steps are necessary” to probe the matter.'
“On the Senate Judiciary Committee, we have heard in every recent confirmation hearing that it would be improper to express opinions on matters that might come before the Court. In this instance, Justice Alito expressed an opinion on a matter that could well come before the Court,” he wrote.'
'As Democrats renewed their push for a Supreme Court ethics bill, Alito sat down with the Journal’s conservative-leaning opinion section for a wide-ranging interview in July. He called recent stories about him “nonsense” and suggested he had to defend himself because the Supreme Court bar wasn’t doing so.'
“I know this is a controversial view, but I’m willing to say it,” he told the Journal. “No provision in the Constitution gives them the authority to regulate the Supreme Court — period.”
'Whitehouse took Alito’s comments as a direct response to his bill, which advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee this summer and would require the justices to adopt a binding code of ethics.'
“Justice Alito’s decision to opine publicly on the constitutionality of that bill may well embolden legal challenges to the bill should it become law. Indeed, his comments encourage challenges to all manner of judicial ethics laws already on the books,” the senator wrote in his Monday letter.' (TheHill) See link below.
Two points. The Alabama legislature ignored SCROTUS and NOTHING HAPPENED. There's no reason now for anyone to obey the nonsensical edicts of this antebellum rump court. Second, we can't do anything about Tubbs, but, Schumer could hold the senate 24/7 until Grassley's and Tuberville's prostates explode and McConnell expires. That he refuses to even threaten it tells me he DGAF.
'Organizers of the March to End Fossil Fuels today announced that 500 organizations have endorsed the upcoming mobilization on September 17 in New York City.'
'Groups including the NAACP, Sierra Club, and Sunrise Movement have signed on to support the march and its demands for Pres. Biden to take bold action on fossil fuels in the wake of a deadly, record-breaking summer of extreme heat and climate disasters. They join the key groups organizing the march, including the Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Popular Democracy, Climate Organizing Hub, Food & Water Watch, Fridays For Future USA & NYC, Earthworks, Greenfaith, Indigenous Environmental Network, New York Communities for Change, Oil Change International and Oil & Gas Action Network.'
'In addition to the 500 groups supporting the march, nationally recognized leaders including Sen. Ed Markey, Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Jamaal Bowman, Tennessee State Rep. Justin Pearson, Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and President of Ireland Mary Robinson, Jane Fonda, Naomi Klein, Mark Ruffalo, and Bill McKibben are backing the march. More than 10,000 people from across the country are expected to attend, including Goldman Prize winners Nalleli Cobo and Sharon Lavigne, UN youth adviser Ayisha Siddiqa, scientist Peter Kalmus, Gulf Coast leaders John Beard, Jr. and Roishetta Ozane, and Mountain Valley Pipeline fighters including Crystal Cavalier from Appalachia.'
'The route of the March to End Fossil Fuels will begin at 52nd and Broadway, with participants marching down 52nd Street to 1st Avenue starting at 1:00 PM ET. A rally will take place on 1st Avenue, just blocks away from the United Nations, which will host the first-ever UN Climate Ambition Summit in the following days. '
'The New York City march is part of a mass global escalation to end fossil fuels, with mobilizations occurring around the world, which all take place just days before the UN Climate Ambition Summit. At the summit, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has demanded world leaders come with a commitment to approving no new fossil fuel infrastructure and bring concrete plans to phase out existing fossil fuel production.'
'On September 15 to 17, millions of people around the world will take to the streets to demand a rapid, just, and equitable end to fossil fuels.'
'This wave of global mobilisations will include the March to #EndFossilFuels fast, fair, forever in New York City on September 17, as world leaders attend the United Nations Secretary General’s Climate Ambition Summit.'
'This historic mobilisation renews and reinforces the globally coordinated efforts focused on ending the era of fossil fuels. The scale of this mobilisation and the urgency of the moment underscore the devastating impacts of recent record breaking heat, deadly floods, and increased extreme weather events. '
'The climate crisis is escalating and in response so is the global movement for climate justice. Across the globe, we are coming together to fight back against the fossil fuel industry and its enablers.'
'Together, we are unstoppable as we build and imagine a fossil fuel-free world.'
Why am I not seeing more coverage of these anti-democratic efforts in the MSM? Are they that lazy? Maybe they should hire Professor Richardson to help them figure out where to focus their resources. Anyway, this is why I subscribe to this Substack.
"We are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind" (Edward Berney)
Almost every mainstream media, with the exception of a few of them if am not wrong, no longer cover news worthy of your time. Traditional media has lost its soul of informing and instead taken hostage by the party alignment. When mainstream media are owned by billionaires with interests in politics, they won't prioritize any truth. Truth is relegated to the periphery of the mainstream media and only introduce as a trivial matter because it doesn't inject much profit.
Also, parties buy headlines to prevent the dissemination of anti-democratic efforts to the people. Only news that paint their opponents in bad light are released and given much airtime. While mostly Rs rely on Fox News, most Ds trusts CNN. Each mainstream media is jostling for audience whom they can serenade with their favorite content.
However, I find Fox news as mostly extreme as its intention is to spread fake news and misinformation about Ds.
"the intersection of a burgeoning traditional media ecosystem and a factionalized public has transformed precisely the type of content that so concerns the persecution profiteers: propaganda. Propaganda is information with an agenda, delivered to susceptible audiences to serve the objectives of the media"
"the average audience member of The New York Post sits very close to the party and ideology of the average U.S. adult. The average audience member of Breitbart, the Sean Hannity radio show and Rush Limbaugh’s radio program sit further to the right, as they tend to be more conservative and Republican"
In Kenya, politicians have established their own TV stations and radio to consolidate their power and protect their "good image" despite glaring corruption scandals. In Uganda, almost all TV stations do not intend to cover opposition lest the government shuts them down. Tanzania has as well mauled traditional media and it is intended to cover only Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM). Only few dare to give airtime to CHADEMA.
In summary, mainstream media not only in the US, but across the world is polarising and doesn't inform as much as you would like to know about your country. It is controlled and no longer healthy for the society to grow. It has its own target audience.
Like my work? My underserved community would appreciate when you subscribe. It is free to be my subscriber. I only rely on donations.
You nailed it, Edwin. The media in the US has given up reporting the real news in favor of entertainment which the republican clowns supply in abundance. Greed, money and power win out over truth every time. Sorry you have the same problems in Kenya and Uganda. Among all the failures of colonialism, was the deliberate failure to provide universal education. They were so sure, in their blind racism, that people of color couldn't learn, they decided to force their religious beliefs on Africans instead. How cruel they were. I sincerely hope that people like you, can convince the African Union Countries that education, health care, and public transportation are the three most important areas to bring recognition to all African countries. Far more important than weapons and military.
I respectfully disagree. Reading a variety of sources, including those HCR uses, can give us a wider view. AP (begun in 1846), Reuters (1851), NYT (1851), NPR (1971), and PBS (1969) would not still be with us if they didn't provide reliable reporting. I've heard so many republicans claim they don't trust or read any news any more. That is dangerous and leads to an uninformed electorate.
I would add the BBC to your list of news sources. Their news coverage of the USA is better than than many here in the United States. They also cover the relationship of US to rest of the world that is so under reported here.
Absolutely, Dave. Also "The Guardian." They seem to cover topics ignored by other big media.
Also DW News as well as, to some extent, Al Jazeera. All provide perspectives beyond that of U.S. media, especially international news.
BBC is conservative.
Try the Guardian and substack?
For the most part from my view the BBC doesn't do this both sides are equal bullshit. The have some of the best interviewers also in my opinion. I read the Guardian too, they dig deep on many stories. As to conservative I also read and will continue to read the Economist. They many be conservative -- but they are data driven, for sure there I things I don't agree with them on but they are not flinging BS.
Patricia, add to that, the numbers of people who get their news from Facebook or Instagram (and X). We used to worry about the 'low information voter'; now we have the 'no information voter'! It hasn't helped that so many local and regional newspapers have folded (no pun intended).
In the beginning....of literature, and most recently, television...those who wrote for them were the educated....clever and creative. As time went on it was discovered, by those who would profit, that the majority of the population is not very smart....leaders of media and of whole countries have figured out how to capture and control the majority of the public.
We, who subscribe to NPR, PBS, quality news sources and Heather are in the minority.
........Sad state of affairs.
Good post Patricia. A trump follower recently stated "Because he's fun" , when asked why she supported him. Please refer to Neil Postman's book, "WE Are Entertaining Ourselves To Death". Enterainment sells ! It is the fabulous Female Brains which will lift us out of this stall humankind is mired down in. Too much for here, but, know that certain adaptations her brain is capable of, and not ours nearly as much, renders her far more likely to continue life on a path of learning, whereas we men tend more toward stasis. Neurosynaptic pruning. Meanwhile, Tom Tumorfilled continues to drive their Titanic-like brand into the grave. I'm guessing some military folks in Alabama regret that vote for him.
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy.
As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions."
"In 1984", Huxley added, "people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure."
In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us. ~Neil Postman
(Book: Amusing Ourselves to Death https://amzn.to/3OTfAfr)
Becky estill, so is another way of saying it: we don't really want the truth because it might hurt us, so we avoid it by wallowing in distractions which will kill us/ cause greater suffering because knowing truths are necessary for our survival /well being?
Yes indeed Becky. Thank you 🙏
Fahrenheit 451 basically said that books were not needed-burn them. You can't have this book because it has violence, this book has risque behavior, mentions blacks, LGBT people. By the time you censor everything, why have books?
Brilliant post
You don't mince words, Jim. Your "because he's fun" reasoning reminded me of a hairdresser's comment before the 2020 election. The stylist giggled and said she'd vote for trump because he "made her laugh." Now that justifies having responsibility for the nation's nuclear codes right there. Thanks for the Postman book recommendation. I'm currently reading "Humanly Possible" by Sarah Bakewell. I find it uplifting and hopeful.
Trump makes ME puke.
Because he's fun is, I suspect, the reason that at least 30% of the followers of the orange sadist vote for him. They are the people who never read a book, or a newspaper, and only watch FOX. They loved his trashy TV show and his carny-barker/salesman style -- and they are dragging our country down the drain with their intellectual stupidity/laziness.
Yes BUT why are they so dumb?
Everyone (nearly) took their 'eyes of the ball' while you were having fun/shopping and not watching your politics disintegrate.
Education in the USA has been AWFUL for years..
This is so true. NPR needs financial support along with PBS, The Guardian and BBC. Our local NPR station has lost outstanding employees due to lack of financial support.
I support The Guardian every month. I pay only $5/month, but hope that every penny helps.
NO. Not the BBC
Yes, I must add that I draw much heated threats and mocks when I post NYTime's WAPOst and Guardian articles in FB.
Especially race and climate news.
Agreed. I get mocked for sharing articles on book bans in libraries and why teachers aren't indoctrinators as well.
I am big time into banned books. Unlike those women who want to ban books which they have never read, I have read almost all the books on my shirt and a few more on another list from the American Librarians Association. No one will say to me, "Well have you even read these books?" I will say," Yes I have and more. What about you?"
can't you dump those mockers?
Suggest you take a look at Substack.
I guess my friends are (almost) all Democrats/Progressives. My posts usually get widely shared.
Yes I will and thank you Fay Reid. I have focused on that in my next newsletter.
I canceled my subscription to the NYT two days ago. I've had it with them! Sticking with the WaPo + MSNBC (and sometimes CNN) + NPR + PBS + The Guardian + Reuters+ 7 substacks (including Joyce Vance, Steve Schmidt, Timothy Snyder, among others).
Substack is great.
Yes if you get the right people to watch.
So true. Same in Australia, homeland of Murdoch. (His mother, Lady Murdoch, was a cultivated, dignified humanist. One of the Melbourne concert halls is named after her. She was the widow of Sir Keith Murdoch, a fine newspaperman. Rupert wasn't their fault.)
Great info Anne; I never knew any of that.
Ditto! Imagine Rupert would have been a great disappointment—don’t know if she lived long enough to know that. Kinda reminds me of a cartoon I saw years ago….a couple of hippie parents sitting on the couch were looking at their young grade school age son standing in front of them….he was in a suit and tie, holding a briefcase. The cartoon caption was “Where did we go wrong?”. Such is life….
Well, I'm afraid I have to tell you that she did know, and I'm even more afraid to tell you that she lived to 103. He's got time for another couple of glamorous short-term wives, and who knows what else. I quote from an article written on the occasion of her funeral: "Dame Elisabeth not only disapproved, but expressed shame at the methods her only son had employed in making himself an international pariah. "
(Yes, she was a Dame - the late Queen conferred the honour on her years ago, and she had quite a string of letters after her name as well.)
Damn, gives me the big sadz for her. I can only imagine, but posit she must have been heartbroken while still loving her son…a heavy load to carry methinks.
Whoa.... that poor dear.
WOW!!!
She lived to age 103. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/business/media/dame-elisabeth-murdoch-matriarch-of-journalism-family-dies-at-103.html?unlocked_article_code=vHZA2Wah34d3E8Lv0RzKs0x069Kct4aeOHuQN56Ig2tTWZRVf0GDsZAJ9kzq8Ct_AWfX5chfSqHGwFTwAsMKwfhW8LAcy5jHKfop_VEN17g-nuDFMgGEAJJ1ZzMCAFuF50E-SKrQ5_nmJQBiUzq2a6rSjHXDCuzou8MYdwxf8Kd7ZHGpUYQvDWxJYv4hV99TKo8Vtuo4Cx4AzufffpLmMzLmoynwnzUUwj_ZPkscmC30QeWQaOw_t7OokNxCklQNjVfvUaI0VwNBbRlmU76SF6XcrshzBBBBgROIIxa0ia2FYyVNcxzL3NfPP2eRJCVKa-KmsumcTCYO5yg3x4l61BlcuzMkW0RowzIxBbsEfi7bGtbGzE5MyZoH3NOCPcY8chIkGV6WbPMiChbbjMRNVlsE&smid=url-share
If I can't blame the parents, life itself has lost its meaning...
Parents can influence. Parents can teach. Parents can be role models. But parents start losing control as soon as the kid starts to walk.
Every morning when any human wakes up, that animal has an intellect and a choice. "Should I be selfish or benevolent?" or "Should I help or hurt?"
Rupert defied his mom. It happens all the time. He is his own monster.
Knew a kid in 9th grade who called his step mother, "step monster." He was right. I had a lot of sympathy for some problem Freshmen boys until they turned into clones of parents before graduation. All parents make mistakes, some are a mistake. Watch out for their kids, especially when they protect them from any consequences. Then, there are those who deny obvious problems that the kids have and just punish, punish, punish. Takes all kinds... BTW, my parents were flawed but had a modicum of common sense.
Bill,
Maybe Rupert's Mom is not to blame?
Maybe Rupert's vision of good is just associated with eliminating Democracy?
Right? Not everyone thinks Democracy is the best governmental system.
In fact, until like 1965, much of the USA was NOT a democracy.
Bern -- "If I can't blame the parents, life itself has lost its meaning..."
Great quote... however
"𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯...𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶." --Kahlil Gibran (https://www.facebook.com/Raffi.Cavoukian/photos/kahlil-gibran-on-children-your-children-are-not-your-childrenthey-come-through-y/1007046109357880/?paipv=0&eav=AfY02eZzTjelX-tKFhz8aRzbuNsbMzdczISsDKzeGehu0lHkdwz61UtPzPi9yIgmxHU&_rdr)
"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩." --Kahlil Gibran
I tend to think of it more as, "Children are the strangers you invite into your home to live for twenty years" -- Dirk Addertongue
Great quote!
Aliens, who live off you. I tell young people to stick to dogs and cats. If they don't work out, you can have them put them down. Try that with a kid; the police will show up at your door.
I actually used that from Gibran for the birth announcement of our first born, a daughter. What a wonderful adult and pride she has become.
Whose fault is he.
$ & more $.
Edwin you may get some additional insights into America by listening to Beau of the Fifth Column youtube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1_ttWZPvTg
I absolutely LOVE Beau's channel!! He is a marvel and a treasure.
I will. Thank you
I agree, the newsrooms report on events in a fashion that pleases their corporate masters. Profit is the main goal , not journalism that gets to reveal the truth. Facts don’t seem to get high ratings these days.
We are stuck here in Oregon's capital, with a Gannett rag and we used to have two newspapers. Gannett also now owns the Eugene Register Guard and has ruined that paper as well. We take an on-line version of the Salem rag, mainly to read obits. And they have one person writing for both newspapers in some instances. We do have some local news and analysis from a few online only entities. If you want to see how ill informed people are, you need only look at Next Door which is full of rumor and innuendo. We also have a Facebook page which announces accidents and other problems and the person in charge of the page has recently had to tell people not to be nasty. I wonder what trolls did before the advent of the internet. A usual question around our house is what the hell is wrong with people.
I read the Gannett-owned Palm Beach Post daily, and I don't think you can find a more anti-Trump, anti-DeSantis paper in the State. Gannett has cut their op/ed pages down to five days a week, but does not mess with their editorial policy and the columnists they carry, Apparently that is not true in Oregon.
Jack, as a consumer of the Register Guard (Eugene's once award-winning paper) I can tell you that they dropped their op-ed page this year saying that it was because that was the reason people gave for cancelling their subscriptions. I no longer take the paper as a paper ($35 per month) but do take the on-line version. The paper is 1/4 the size it used to be, and is almost utter garbage.
The Ellsworth American still has an editorial page but the local editors never talk about politicians outside of Maine. And rarely do they cover Collins, King, Golden or Pingree. Mostly their editorials are about local towns and how they have dealt with local issues.
One of the biggest local concerns is the cruise ships that arrive almost daily in the summer and dump their waste overboard. And the ships dump as many as 1500 passengers on a downtown which can't handle that many people at once.
The next biggest issue is the ever expanding attendance at Acadia National Park. The past 2 seasons attendance has grown to around 4 million a year.
The letters to the editor are about 50//50 local and national but coastal Maine is pretty liberal.
Almost every year the paper wins the award for best weekly paper in New England. I have no idea how stiff the competition is though.
But like almost every newspaper, they are struggling financially.
The same as our local paper!
This is absolutely not true here. They have no editorial page and haven't for a very long time. When I look at it every day, that part has something about Elizabeth II's death. They don't publish a paper on Saturday which means we don't get a NYT on Saturday because they deliver that paper. I am glad to know that your paper has an editorial page five times a week. Be very thankful. Also glad to know that it is anti death star and Stumpy Boots DeSatan.
As an example of their independent editorial policy, they editorialized today about President Biden's bill which included an increase in FEMA funds along with continued financing of arms for Ukraine, even though they didn't like his including both issues in the same legislative package. Despite that, they concluded by urging support of the bill because of its importance in providing disaster aid, and recommened getting back to the question of support for Ukraine as a separate matter later on. It is unfortunate that most voters don't read a daily newspaper.
I thought these remarks revealed a lot about the current 4th Estate.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/leslie-moonves-donald-trump-may-871464/
Joe Rogan and Bill Maher are both wrong. Yes, tRump is a stupid, crazy criminal. But trying to make Biden seem equivalent to tRump is disingenuous, to say the least. What kind of person who holds the office of president will not approve a disaster declaration for Washington state communities devastated by wildfires because that state has a Democratic governor? Biden had to approve that emergency declaration. tRump is a mob boss, pure and simple.
Jenn you are exactly correct. Regardless of the States party affiliation the President has the duty to to approve an emergency declaration. That's their job.
Yes, emergency declarations are a duty but as Bush and Trump demonstrated the level of response depends on the amount of character of any practitioner.
The Biden's show up and demonstrate intense concern.
The blobs send messages or manage revenge.
Art, I completely agree. President Biden had an immediate and genuine response to those in need. He did his job, and did it well.
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2021/jan/16/trump-is-blocking-aid-to-malden-pine-city-fire-vic/?fbclid=IwAR3GuGpKImCSfJWUprMtfntuMhS96Aw9Rz_ygAHF-2un6MtMNfMKalBbsNU_aem_ATe8UTRyaWPnpcp_BJKe54hyMcjz8bPIYUg5lUFIRnvuaDvM4zL95DSth-v29dJPjZY&mibextid=S66gvF
The O’Jays singin’ about money in the early 70’s…rings true today…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXE_n2q08Yw Some folks will do anything to make a buck….personally I like the saying about making money “to make a living, not a killing”.
Barbara Keating Writes Barbara’s Substack - "The O’Jays singin’ about money in the early 70’s"
Or "Money (that's all I want)" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_awAH-JJx1k
Or more to the point: "The Magic Christian"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRI4KeWGGc0
Loved the Magic Christian…thanks for the link, haven’t seen it in ages!
From the article,. Leslie Moonves in 2016: “Man, who would have expected the ride we’re all having right now? … The money’s rolling in and this is fun,” he said.
And I guess that says it all about our media. Thank you, JL, for providing that link.
And remember how Les Moonves ended up. Hostage to his own sense of male superiority, convinced he was bulletproof and could get away with the most egregious behavior, had the LAPD in his back pocket as long as he returned those juicy profits back to the corporation.
And then one day, he found himself stripped naked (not literally, of course because eww) in public, disgraced, forced to return 10s of millions of dollars and cashiered.
Arrogance brought lower than low. It was a beautiful thing to see.
Will have to look that up thanks. I faintly remember something along that line. I think to survive I have to let the memory of some of this crap die. So many bow down to the Almighty 💰💰
And yet, while such an outcome may be "justice," no one is actually made whole. Getting "stripped naked...disgraced, forced to return...dollars" doesn't nearly remove the harm he did. The two events sit separately, sadly.
A very well-said reminder -- thanks Marla.
Have to wonder if Leslie Moonves is haunted at all by the ghosts of democracy
One more reason that I feel “ righteous” about cutting cable. For most of our adults lives reading everything..holding to the idea that the “devil you know….”. No more!!
I will check. You have recently given me crucial links JL Graham that I mostly liked 👍. Very educative
CNN is no longer a “trusted” source for Democrats. It revealed itself as a clickbait reptile soon after Biden won the 2020 election
CNN was no longer a trusted source for Anyone after the head of CNN publicly, and rather gleefully, stated publicly that "Trump might be bad for the nation, but he's GREAT for CNN" during the 2016 presidential election.
Help elect a Mussolini-like President? Sure--anything/everything that gooses ratings.
Yep; and it is what it is. I need "meat", not entertainment. I've also found that multitasking, be it me, broadcast outlets, etc., is nothing but a 'fools errand.' Stay in your own lane.
I enjoy reading your comments Edwin, but I think you’re a little off on this. The New York Post is solidly right wing. I also think you do a disservice re: CNN and Fox. Both of these I classify as infotainment and so prefer serious sources of information, of which there is a healthy amount.
Gail Adams Fla/Va. - "The New York Post is solidly right wing."
Well maybe not "solidly" but definitely not unbiased:
Overall, we rate the New York Post on the far end of Right-Center Biased due to story selection that typically favors the Right and Mixed (borderline questionable) for factual reporting based on several failed fact checks.
Detailed Report
Bias Rating: RIGHT-CENTER
Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: USA
Press Freedom Rank: MOSTLY FREE
Media Type: Newspaper
Traffic/Popularity: High Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: MEDIUM CREDIBILITY
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/new-york-post/
Nice info 'data' Ron, but I'm in the same camp as Gail Adams on that opinion of New York Post: Decidedly right wing infotainment, near the same as the others she cites with the exception of more entertainment added owing to humor. Data is what data is; there is much more that convinces humans than raw data.
Agree, on all points Gail.
I agree... The “News” has turned to Sensationalism or Sentimentality. I can listen to it anymore...
For one thing, it’s like they are authoritarian parents trying to tell you what to do!
Give us material to ponder & question ... & decide for ourselves... That’s what is on these pages... Thank God.
Janineb9, ahhh yes, thinking for ourselves. ---- I think that's what you call it, seems so rare in many places. I agreee! And when I feel like they are trying to manipulate me/us (which they are), I'm disgusted. For watching domestic and world news, I reliably trust PBS. i would go mad without it.
Only News I watch… in the rare times I tune in. I’d rather hear from Dr. Richardson & other select podcasts.
Edwin, sometime after reading this LFAA’s comments, including yours, late this evening on the Pacific coast of far northern California, I happened upon this YouTube version of the song “Africa”… a unique chorale rendition and thought to share it with you….the only reason, really, was because of the title of the song…perhaps you will enjoy it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c9-poC5HGw&t=392s
Barbara, I am sure you meant well but it is a song about Africa written by white men after watching a documentary sung by an all white American group and covered by an almost blindingly white chorus. Popular here, yes, haunting, possibly.
What are the big African issues in the last week is Republicans trying to cut the PEPFAR funding for the HIV relief program that has saved the lives of over 25,000,000 people, many in Africa, and the wave of coupes that are destabilizing the continent.
Edwin's to the point comments on the devolution of the press into entertainment and away from public service has not just led to polarization between poltical factions, it has narrowed our tunnel vision even further to exclude any examination of what is happening elsewhere in the world. with a few exceptions
I am of Ukrainian extraction and the war is covered in incredible depth on a almost minute by minute basis, every death of a civilian counted. Meanwhile Millions of people are starving in Africa, forced from the land by climate change and weather disasters, ethnic and religious conflict and political instability. And it is NOT news here. It is buried in the links on the world news header and you have to search to find coverage.
Take a look, Georgia. It is a beautiful experience to hear the song with a wonderful and mixed chorus. Rousing!
Of course I looked at it before I replied.
And I also looked at Beau of the Fifth Column's video on what it's like to be a black person in America. I learned a lot from my black students when I taught high school but Beau's video is a striking summary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD8mWq0Hdcw&list=PLZOMlO2_17fvnK-zrVpJAv33trky368CW
Then please let me know what you think.
Georgia, if you saw Barbara's link to 'Africa - Angel City Chorale', surely, I think that she offered us a wonderful performance. I have a booked day ahead and must hurry along. I look forward to watching the video you linked either tonight or tomorrow. Thank you.
Georgia, I don't know why you connected Beau's deeply inciteful 'conversation' with the viewers about White people knowing/understanding Black Peoples' lives in America with the wonderful performance of 'Africa - Angel City Chorale', for which Barbara provided a link, in a patronizing tone towards Barbara. These two viewing experiences are quite different, and I felt both to be very worthwhile.
Georgia, love Beau’s commentaries—he is so spot-on with so many of the issues he covers. I had not seen this one from 4 yrs ago, tho’ I do follow him. I must admit I am confused about how his perceptive commentary on the loss of cultural identity/history of peoples who were stolen from their homelands and had their histories and culture erased exactly relates to this song and/or this performance. What is it in the lyrics or presentation that is specifically troublesome for you? As I posted in response to another commenter, I looked into the origin story of the song just today and still don’t perceive malice or denigration there (however factually unaware the songwriter was of the continent of Africa and the countries/cultures therein, he states that watching the documentary he was heartsick…and yet, for me, I would not intuit that from the song/lyrics; I read he did say he was concerned about the drought & brought him the thoughts of rain to ease it, hence the lyric). As an aside, I DVR/watch Finding Your Roots w/ Henry Luis Gates on PBS and it is so very rare that he is able for those participants who’s ancestors were known to have been slaves to actually be able to ferret out their ancestors’ country of origin—usually the trail runs cold scant generations back. When he/his colleagues are able to, the look of joy and surprise on the persons face is evident; when the trail runs cold, the look is more one of resignation and acknowledgment.
FERN, I love rousing 🎶 song 🎶 but, I like sizzlers too.
Andy Borowitz Today:
"Proud Boy to Be in Prison Until He is Elderly Boy".
I saw Borowitz's tune, Bryan, and will post it tomorrow. Thank you and Cheers!
Georgia, you are exactly right--I watch the BBC for news that is NEWSWORTHY. Many times, topics that are difficult to watch: currently, they are doing a series on child sex trafficking that’s extremely hard to watch.
Someone wrote here in the Comments that they liked how the BBC rotates their news “presenters” and I couldn’t agree more!
Georgia, you are right that no offense was intended…actually I had a moment when hesitated posting it not knowing how it might “land” or be interpreted, perhaps be politicized, or trigger someone, but (I very vaguely remember the original song from some time ago, but had no clue to the origin/writer/singer or why he wrote it, etc), watching the chorale PERFORMANCE (was posted in a “good news” compilation email that I get that usually features heartwarming stories of various types)—very unique, particularly the rain/thunder sounds done with hands and stomping—is what “got” me. I did not think they were making any kind of political statement in the singing of the song, at least that’s my take. And yes, like many locations in the world the African continent—to me there is no “one” Africa, except the continent, as it’s comprised of so many countries—and all the complexity that comes with it. Edwin writes “The Startup from Africa” Substack, which I read, enjoy and appreciate his perspective on American, African and world events…which he sometimes ties together. [Not knowing any of the backstory to the song written in the early 80’s, I did a wee bit of looking into it just now. My take: Appears to be a well intentioned response to someone who’d never been to Africa and who watching a documentary (as you point out) was concerned and saddened by much of what he saw happening in what he thought of as a beautiful country, and it haunted him and he wrote a song about it…admittedly from “not knowing much at all about Africa” knowledge.]
You sent a Black African a song about how white people, who have never even been there in person, see the experience he lives. Wouldn't it be more respectful, if the song evoked a response in you, as the documentary did in the song writers, to ask and learn about his real experience?
If you just met a Frenchman who was commenting on this platform, would you send him a clip from the movie CanCan because you though he would find it interesting?
I grew up in a lily white neighborhood in NYC in the 50s and 60s. I did not have any black kids in my school until high school. As a high school teacher in the 2000s I had a black student who taught me a great deal about how he perceived me and white privilege in America. Beau says we cannot know what it's like to be black in America, and it is even harder to know what it is like for a Black African. I think Beau is correct, but that thought does force me to think about what deeply ingrained assumptions I make every day. I can only pass on what has impacted me and what I was taught by my student and my friends who know Africa well. I don't have answers but I am trying to formulate the questions.
Let me watch it. Thanks
Edwin you are a very clever dude. Right to the top of the comment stack - again.
Indeed.
"Propaganda is information with an agenda," This is the best, most concise, definition of propaganda I've seen lately. Thank you, Edwin.
Rush is dead. I think CNN lost some ground with the trump rally they broadcasted. At that moment they sunk to the level of FOX. I know nothing about those things, but I could have much better. You do not put a sweet young woman to go up against trump. It should have been a man like one of the late night guys with the very quick wit and probably not afraid to interrupt him. "Do you mind if I finish?" Yes I do.
Well, all the media you complain about is far from any description of the MSM I have ever heard. No wonder you have concerns.
I’m somewhat concerned with the news on CBS, ABC, and NBC. But Reuters and several papers in this country are actually pretty solid. They have not soft-pedaled Trumps crimes. I personally don’t waste my time on Breibart or The National Enquirer for that matter.
We would all like MSM to do the Dem campaigns’ jobs for them, I suppose, but then they would be no better than Fox.
Instead of pearl clutching, let’s all use today’s media, which puts “one to many” communication in the hands of everyone of us to get the Dem story out.
Look at substack. You will find a voice there.
Forget 'mainstream' media.
Edwin Kiptoo Ngetich Writes THE STARTUP from AFRICA - ... the public mind" (Edward Berney)
Are you referring to Edward Bernays?
https://www.google.com/search?q=edward+bernays&oq=Edward+Berney&aqs=edge.1.69i57j0i10i131i433i512l2j0i10i512l6.19351j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Yes, he wrote the book "Propaganda"
Edwin
i really dislike your ongoing advertisements for your work here. makes me want to skip your comments.
'US military leaders say Tuberville is aiding US adversaries with hold on military nominations'
'The three US military service secretaries went on the offensive against Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville over his ongoing hold on senior military nominations in an interview with CNN on Tuesday, saying he is aiding communist and autocratic regimes, and being used by adversaries like China against the US.'
“Our potential adversaries are paying attention,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told CNN’s Jake Tapper alongside Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro and Army Secretary Christine Wormuth in an exclusive joint interview for “The Lead.” “It is affecting how they view the United States and our military capabilities and support for the military. This needs to stop.”
'Kendall said that at an embassy event in Washington, DC, an Air Force general officer was “taunted” by a Chinese colonel “about the way our democracy was working.”
'Del Toro echoed the same concerns, saying that as someone “born in a communist country, I would have never imagined one of our own senators would actually be aiding and abetting a communist and other autocratic regimes around the world.”
“This is having a real negative impact and will continue to have an impact on our combat readiness,” said Del Toro, who was born in Cuba. “That is what the American people truly need to understand.”
“It is just unprecedented to be attacking apolitical general officers and flag officers in this way. It is taking our apolitical military … and eroding its foundations,” Wormuth added. (CNN) See link below.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/05/politics/military-leaders-tuberville-promotion-hold-washington-post/index.html
“Today for the first time in the history of the Department of Defense, two of our services will be operating without Senate confirmed leadership,” the cabinet secretary explained.’
‘That number is now three. Navy Admiral Mike Gilday, a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, received a clap-out exit on Friday as he left the Pentagon for the last time.’
‘The scope of the problem continues to metastasize: The Washington Post reported that the Alabama Republican’s anti-abortion tantrum is currently affecting 301 high-level positions in his own country’s military, but in the coming months, that number will more than double to 650.’
‘Peter Feaver, a professor who studies civil-military relations at Duke University, told the Post that he was struck by the number of “warfighting” positions affected by Tuberville’s antics, most notably in the Pacific, where the United States now lacks a confirmed chief leading the Indo-Pacific Command.’
“This is a gift to China, and it’s a gift that keeps giving day in and day out,” Feaver said, referring to the results of the GOP senator’s efforts.’
‘Complicating matters, the Post published a separate report highlighting the fact that the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama — the state Tuberville represents — has been especially adversely affected by his radical tactics.’
‘For his part, the far-right senator has repeatedly suggested that he has broad support for his antics, but there’s growing evidence to the contrary. AL.com reported last week:
A majority of Alabama voters say Sen. Tommy Tuberville should end his months-long hold on military nominations over new Department of Defense policies concerning abortion, according to a poll exclusively released Wednesday to AL.com.’
‘VoteVets, a prominent veterans organization with a progressive agenda, commissioned Public Policy Polling to conduct the survey, and the results should be of interest to the senator:
• By a 58%-to-29% margin, Alabama voters think Tuberville “has made his point” and should now drop his hold on military promotions.
• 55% agree that senior positions going unfilled by confirmed promotions hurts national security.
• By a 72%-to-14%, Alabamans said military promotions should not be politicized.
• As a result of Tuberville’s radical tactics, the poll found 45% of Alabamans now see the coach-turned-politician less favorably.’
‘A related report from Navigator Polling found similar results at the national level, where a majority of Americans oppose what the senator is doing.’ (msnbc) See link below.
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/polls-show-tubervilles-blockade-faring-poorly-public-rcna99746
Tuberville was a popular football coach, nothing more. The only "qualification" he had in the deep red state of Alabama was that he was and is a loyal supporter of the criminal that was the former president...he is nothing more than a crackpot who doesn't even live in Alabama. How does that work?
And what really boggles the mind is that the Alabamans had a very good Senator in Doug Jones, and chose this blockhead Tuberville instead.
Doug Jones was elected because Alabama voters were briefly shocked by the amazing criminality of Roy Moore, which was revealed right before the election. Since then, Alabama voters have worked mightily to increase their tolerance for ideologues and criminals in office, preparing for 2024.
So sad. No ability to critically think about anything.
Because the blockhead was a football coach. In 'Bama, that's the #1 qualification for any elected or executive position.
Apparently, its working well for the obstructionists. They flaunt any law that gets in their way and they take advantage of Senate Procedural rules that allow this Tuberville- ish hostage taking
So true and so evil!
He's not just a crackpot, he's a fairly photogenic crackpot in a rather desiccated kind of way...
Ms. McBride: It is beyond my understanding how a dullard like Senator Tommy Tuberville can legally hold the entire US military hostage, but it is my sincere hope that the voters within the ranks of the military, who tend to lean right, will not miss this latest Republican outrage. I have no doubt that Tuberville has broad Republican support in the Senate, else the situation wouldn’t have been allowed to persist for so long. Hopefully military voters will see this ploy for what it is: stupid, short sighted churlishness.
It does boggle the mind that the GOP senators--supposedly highly supportive of the military--allow Tuberville to continue his petty vendetta.
Key word “supposedly”
Doing and saying nothing is not supposedly. They are highly supportive, or would've intervened by now.
May we overcome him, LeMoine Surlamont.
Heather & Fern, Thank you for focusing our attention onto the decisions and behavior of two elected Republican "so called leaders" who are part of a group who are working to destroy our freedom, our government which is supposed to include all of us NOT a selected few.
Thank you for following the story, Emily.
No conduct is beneath the dignity of modern Republicans because those that had any have died, left, or been cast out.
I totally agree with you.I have said it before-There are no good Rs left in Congress.If they are still members of this party after all that has happened then their allegiance is not to the American people.
JL Graham, your words felt as poetry of this wretched time; bad, bad, and you shined your light on their deaths and on ours,
Well said, JL. Cast out indeed in lieu of the Klown Kar Kawkus.
Well, rejoice, because thanks to Project 2025 that's all going to change!
Read, and tremble.
T is bringing the whole country down the Tubes with him. Senator from elsewhere living in Florida? Does the Constitution say anything about treason for "aiding and abetting"? Thanks again Fern for your brilliant additions to brilliant HCR.
Thank you, Sander Zulauf. I am honored by your attention. Salud.
Fern, I'm trying to follow this but I don't understand why if Dems have a majority in the Senate that one Senator can cause so much damage.
Chaplain, I hope that this article in AP will answer your question. If you don't mind, please share it with bruce klassen.
'Why a single senator is blocking US military promotions and what it means for the Pentagon'
https://apnews.com/article/tuberville-military-holds-senate-officers-
You and I Chaplain!
Let us not forget the Republicans in the Senate are not intervening--they are "standing back, and standing by."
Tuberville is a traitor now by the Constitutions definition--he is giving aid and comfort to the enemy. But his fellow Senate Republicans are giving aid and comfort to Tuberville.
This is hilarious: I just flipped over to FB, and staring me in the face is a HUGE news item:
"JOE JONAS FILES FOR DIVORCE FROM SOPHIE TURNER!"
Who the hell is Joe Jonas? Who the hell is Sophie Turner? Why do I need to know who they are, or whether they are getting married, or divorced, or a new puppy?
MSM for you.
Like the coverage of the Smashmouth singer’s death. I was like, “who?” and then there were 3 more articles.
What’s happening with the artist formerly named “Kanye”? How’re all those Kardashians doing? I hear Taylor Swift sold out all her concerts in 20 seconds. And lastly, Nike is introducing a limited edition of some sort of basketball shoe. Get’em while their hot!
I was paying attention to the Nike shoe. It is the first shoe that is designed as a unisex shoe, and features NY Liberty (and former U of O star) Sabrina Ionescu.
Keeps you alive, doesn't it! But Taylor Swift doesn't do "he" concerts, does she?
<<Embarrassing, in this forum, I know, but I happen to know who those characters are. However, they are not headline worthy>>
Only embarrassing if you don't know any of the important stuff. I know about half of them!
Depends on the news sources you choose. The best way to build a reliable list of news sources I've found is to check out HCR's links everyday and bookmark the ones I like the best. The list can grow unmanageably long so occasional pruning is necessary to keep from falling down a bottomless rabbit hole. ;-)
Like Alice, wondering which door to open.
It's exactly like that sometimes a deadened and sometimes a treasure trove.
Jennifer Rubin, WA Post columnist, has been taking on this subject as well as the subject of the media slacking off. Pretty Direct.
Don't you find it refreshing and encouraging to be reading the opinions of reborn conservatives? Gives me hope there will be a better future as we all mature and learn to get along by not just copping out to "agree to disagree" but forging common ground. It's how we elevate human behavior which is woefully behind the rise in human technology. It's not just conservatives doing this, it's true for liberals also.
If change was easy, everyone would be doing it. Gotta start somewhere.
BlueRootsRadio, yes agree! "Be the change" is really hard for us humans. But then, I think of others who have done it. Dr. King and those who courageously moved and spoke with non-violence, did so becauseit it was moral and strategic, but mostly because they could. Not all of us can, but maybe this is the call to action for those of us who can. Glory to all the peacemakers who move us forward to being more just. ------ by being more just.
Did anyone read Bret Stephens opinion piece in the NYT this morning? I hope there is a counter piece.
Yes, I liked the approach that MSM needs to stop normalising what isn't. Reminds me of Dan Rather's blog post, in the week following the nightmare election: "Folks, this isn't normal."
Also Steve Schmidt has been taking up the subject of media coverage.
Thank goodness we have Dr. Richardson and other substack writers who are doing an end-run around the main stream media. The Bulwark just published a special project entitled The Corruption of Lindsey Graham. I can't figure out how to link it here. It's a chilling expose of Graham's (and other politicians') capitulation to Trump.
I was able to read it without paying for a subscription, but ended up becoming a paid subscriber. The journalism is solid, and I want to support that.
I'd love to read that Lindsey Graham project, and I like the Bulwark newsletters; but they have allowance for free articles. $10/month adds up quickly for my addiction
I get it. I feel like if you Google around you can find a way to read it. It's breathtaking and so enlightening about how an autocrat/authoritarian pulls people into his orbit.
Will Saletan investigated and wrote the piece. Maybe you can find it under his name.
I am deeply grateful to Dr. Richardson for her timely insight on so many topics. By the way, what does MSM refer to? I looked it up and I found it refers to an “anti-inflammatory drug.” If that is the case, I think that all MAGA Republicans should be required to take it daily.
MSM=Mainstream media.
🤣🤣🤣 like you, I have a problem with acronyms. Your solution is priceless. MSM is “mainstream media” as I understand it.
While I applaud some skepticism of the very broad category of MSM, and the critical thinking that is used to scrutinize what is true, false or debatable, and also what news sources are credible/not credible, we should be careful not to lump all news or even all MSM into the same bucket.
I take your point that MSM in general can be misdirected in its focus on one distraction at the expense of the bigger issue(s). But it should also be noted that you have to give credible news sources in the MSM credit when they are regularly doing their job.
And when they are lying, especially when there is evidence that they are lying (in recent court cases for example), they live in their own category of misinformers & liars.
WRT cable news (& their online counterparts) up to this point, the Fox Network, OANN, & Newsmax continue to show themselves to be not credible. They've been sued for repeatedly lying for over a year, in 6 court cases, 2 separate defamation cases each (Smartmatic & DVS). In 1 of 6 of these cases (other 5 are still pending as I understand it), Fox settled out of court for $787.5M. And the evidence in court made public should settle the argument that the Fox Network, among some who decided to lie, are not credible yet I keep hearing the unconvincing excuse that 'both sides do it' and both sides don't do it (lie/misinform).
Misinformation & disinformation is not limited to just these 3 outlets but they are clear examples that have been called out for lying and pushing disinformation for years and yet the waters continue to get muddied with bad excuses.
The obvious (to me) liars and misinformers muddy the waters with false claims that 'both sides' misinform/lie. I don't buy into that idea. That puts the liars and the journalists that are doing their jobs in the same category.
There's a tendency to overlook credible news and focus on the 'both sides' fallacy, or perceived bias for that matter, which has nothing to do with what is true or credible.
I say all this to point out that the bigger issue, the issue that requires the most focus, IMHO, is the misinformation, disinformation, & lack of credibility of some MSM versus the focus on distractions and less impactful issues covered by other MSM.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (part of the USA Today network) and The Texas Tribune offer excellent information.
Starting in about the 1980s, the MSM news outlets faced stiff competition from emerging cable channels. In order to compete, "serious 'just the facts' news channels" like CBS, ABC, NBC even PBS were forced to become more entertainment focused in order to keep their audiences. That meant shorter, breezier stories and the end of "boring" stories about that the US Senate was doing (or not doing).
We've now reached the point where the news media universe has completely fractured into non-overlapping galaxies, with one galaxy focus on news based on facts, evidence, logic and reason while the other galaxy is focused on amplifying the prejudices of its highly conservative viewers. Both galaxies of news must still be entertainment oriented, so "hard news" gets largely ignored. This is one of the ways democracy in the US is dying.
Rupert said in his deposition that what Fox airs is based on revenue dollars.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/02/27/business/media/dominion-fox-news.html
Lazy? No. Greed wins.
Exactly.
Mainstream media owned by big money.
Looks like the States are doing their jobs which it seems Congress can't do.
Boy do i agree with you. The media is focused on drama. And I wonder if they ate missing the seriousness and long term impact of their handling of what this cult is doing to our democracy. I stopped watching the PBS Newshour and Week In Review as I would get frustrated watching these pundits and journalists discussing what is going on as if it were a high school debate. And the smiles and laughter?
Me too!
Maybe you don't see it because nobody wants to defend it?
Why in the hell are soldiers being taught leftist woke propaganda? Miley claimed he didn't know about it. Yet Congress cited examples of training videos about a soldier having pride in 'two moms", extensive equity & inclusion course work, and climate change curriculum.
Our military has one job - protect our nation - by becoming a lethal killing machine.
Its job is not to produce lifelong Democrat voters.
The military's job is also to recruit sufficient numbers of US residents/citizens into active service. That requires a broad appeal, not narrow focus.
What does that have to do with socially engineering our soldiers.
So you are okay with the military holding classes on religion, the bible, the importance of
conservative families, the great legacy of Republican presidents, the benefit of low taxation,
why COVID was a scam, et cetera?
A lot to unpack today. What stands out for me at 1st read is the chance to roll back the voter suppression laws before it’s too late.
We have 14 months and so far at least some courts have been doing their job.
Things are changing.
What also stands out is historic reach of corruption.
Yes, the widespread complicity is breath-taking.
It's not done yet JL; wheels grind slowly, but exceedingly fine.
Just say "No" to crud.
I pray that you are right and that things are changing!
Nothing fails like prayer.
I don't disagree that solid action needs to take place, but I also believe in the power of prayer. You get to do you, though.
Fast enough????
I pray you are correct. They are doubling down on repression of vote in so many places.
Another day, another potpourri of Republican madness, contingent morals, and undermining of democratic institutions. It’s been quite a streak. I’m rooting for the Republican leaders of good conscience to do the right thing with these radicals. Add to that the bizarre “clean bill of health” received by McConnell, which as a physician makes me scratch my head. I wish Jill Biden well, a speedy recovery, ample Paxlovid, and maybe metformin. I wrote a post about my own game plan with Covid this fall, please forward to the Bidens if they call ;) And assuming Joe Biden was heavily exposed I would treat him with the first sign of symptoms and not wait for a positive test, as this can take days to convert now, and the earlier the treatment the better for octogenarians especially.
https://mccormickmd.substack.com/p/heres-what-im-thinking-about-covid
I like that term, "Republican leaders of good conscience". Please, pray tell and name a few for us. I wouldn't know to whom to address a letter.
Wow, and here I thought they were all voted out of office…would like to know who they are too!!!!
I was dismayed that the Congressional MD claimed that McConnell didn't have a seizure. Based on what test? Unless things have changed markedly since I was a working RN, diagnosing intermittent, petite seizures is quite challenging.
I know-sure looked like a seizure to me. I wonder if he is driving. Lightheadedness just doesn't fit with the prolonged stare and postictal confusion.
Agreed. Sure looks similar to how a friend of mine used to respond to petit mal seizures, especially the confusion following.
Agree!!!
PR, things have not changed that much
Exactly!
Thank you, Dr. McCormick-- I just read your Substack piece. Excellent information! And a timely reminder that, although many of us now travel, COVID hasn't gone anywhere. I'll need to be more vigilant again to maintain avoidance strategies.
Thanks for reading - it was the best I could hash out while traveling myself, seemed apropos ;)
How can the Senate MD tell there was no stoke or TIA without a CT scan? Oh, I know-he can’t.
Bravo, Ryan! Can I add something to this? I got all my COVID shots and boosters, and I dutifully wore my mask (well fitted N95) out in public. And I got COVID. I thought a lot about why that happened and I blame MYSELF.
Why? For heaven's sake, I am not a doc or RN, I worked as a med tech, but still--I KNOW the following but I got lax: I was touching the front of the mask. With bare hands. And I used so much antibacterial sprays/gels on my hands, but did I WASH enough, especially out in public?
Think about this--the mask is like a coffee filter, in a way. You breathe in, air comes into your nose but HOPEFULLY not the virus particles; they should be collected on the outside surface of the mask. You should remove it by only touching the ear straps, or, wash hand thoroughly immediately upon removing it, and then DON'T TOUCH THE HANDLES OF THE SINK.
Since I avoided public washrooms, it wasn't that. I am guilty, guilty, guilty of not properly handling the mask and I KNOW better from years in the lab! I'm certain this is how I got it. I had mask fatigue. I got tired of washing them after every use. (Cloth, with N95 inserts which I'd dispose of.)
When I'd hear "masks don't work" and I'd mention the proper removal and handling of masks, I'd get a blank stare.
How many of us kept a mask in our vehicles and donned it, over and over and over again?
Hi Miselle - donning and doffing PPE is really an intricate dance, and I am also guilty of sloppiness with my N95. I figure with all the boosts etc I should be able to handle a small inoculation because of imperfect technique, but that's admittedly uncertain. Anyway, don't shame yourself, there is no way to be reasonably more careful than you describe 3+ years into this thing, and with reduced societal support for precautions!
Thank you for your link.
I know 😞 seeing a lot in my practice this week. Trying to keep up with the mainstream, the zeitgeist, and maybe a dash of fringe with respect to Covid, but only evidence based stuff. Will hope to add a post about nasal sprays this week - pretty obscure and way underutilized in the US despite some decent evidence for efficacy!
I truly love the words "evidence based". (And not just in regard to medicine!)
No doubt, and I think introducing "evidence based politics" would be quite a revolution for the better on both sides of the aisle! Lots of problems and contradictions in terms I know...
"Evidence based' means nothing to me...anyone can say this.
Yeah, it’s been claimed by too many, and evidence is only as trustworthy as the minds that collect and present it
It would be nice if the mass media was letting people know that's Covid's back. It's hard enough to get Americans to take care of themselves & others even when it's being shouted from the rooftops. I believe the pols including Biden are more concerned with how the perception will impact the economy than they are with protecting Americans.
Geff, I still routinely wear a mask going indoors to shop & get the “side-eye” from lots of folks. Don’t care, not taking any chances as an older person even tho’ vax’d….what I HAVE noticed over the past 3 years is that I’ve not even had a cold/flu. Don’t plan to stop anytime soon!
Me too, I started masking up again recently. Let them stare!
Me too!
SO true.
No colds and 'flu with a mask.
Same here.
I live in an area of Oregon where I have access to MSM on TV as get the local newspaper. Around here, people do know COVID is back, not only because we do learn it from MSM, but from our local paper and, importantly, word of mouth and personal experience. In my opinion, only the willfully ignorant are not aware of the new COVID resurgence.
"wilfully ignorant"... such a choice phrase
Betsy, what part of Oregon? I'm in Eugene. Willfully either ignorant or ignoring of truth is what I see in my RWNJ friends.
I was mainly thinking of the former "broadcast stations": ABC, NBC & CBS are pretty much not talking about this.
One of the three finally mentioned it last night in passing.
Anxious to see about nasal sprays.
The good news is that the BA.2.86 COVID strain seems to be protected against by vaccines currently in use. Also if you've had a case of COVID-19 in the past year or so.
Ryan….thanks for the info, particularly of nasal sprays—I have been following the development of a Covid nasal vaccine closely (not soon as I understand it). As a 7-decades long needle phobic (I have a physiological response to needle sticks…it’s a long story…that eventually made me fear injections because of my reaction). I know there are developments on nasal Covid treatments vs vaccine & keep my ear to the ground about the latest developments on all fronts. Looking forward to your future posts! As they say “the more you know”….
ok great, will try to touch on this aspect as well. Hoping I have time to bang this out tomorrow AM! But in terms of nasal vaccines, I have mixed hopes. The stimulation of local immunity in the respiratory tract/point of entry with nasal vaccines (versus the blood stream/local lymphatics after injection) is intuitively much smarter - but previous nasal vaccines have not lived up to expectations, and are often at best equivalent. Flumist for example not as effective as intramuscular, but still helpful.
But I remain hopefully research will keep making quantum leaps triggered by this pandemic catastrophe.
I got all the vax's and boosters, yet still caught covid twice last year; still have long haul covid. I'm pretty certain that I might not have made it through either bout if not for the vax and boosters
I am glad you survived and hope one day long haul covid is remedied.
Sorry you're in the vax'd, boosted, long haul group. My best friend is as well (her initial Covid infection was in February 2020, before the pandemic was declared) and her health is deteriorating due to the long haul symptoms (plus a Lyme disease diagnosis that was untreated for 15 years).
Likewise.
I suspect the vaxxed & boosted had more to do with your fortunate recovery than a nasal spray.
Any port in a storm Geff.
Let’s talk about the military appointment hold ups. Tommy Tuberville is a traitor to this country, in the common meaning, not the legal one. He is weakening the military that the right pretends so loudly to love.
What recourse is there? Or is this another case where the founders could not imagine a person like Tuberville and gave us no protection against such a person?
There is protection, Annabel, it's just not used. The Ethics committee in each House has the right (upon a vote) to censure or remove a miscreant legislator. All we need are intelligent, honest, honorable elected legislators. This is what results when one party wants to throw out the Constitution and forge ahead to Fascism, and both parties contain at least some members who entered politics as a way to get rich quick.
It takes a 2/3 vote to expel a member from either house. I don't hold out much hope that this would ever happen.
There's a lot that the founders could not possibly have imagined.
Or wilfully ignored.
If I am remembering correctly one of the "GOP" shutdown stunts cost the nation $5 Billion and hurt a great many people. With such "friends" the US hardly needs any more enemies.
I don't think the founders were entirely naive about the potential for political treachery, and did try to head some of it off, but I don't think they grasped the potential of modern consolidated mass media to impact public perceptions. And in any case, they necessarily passed the responsibility of protecting and improving democracy on to subsequent generations.
We have found the enemy and it is us. Well, some of us
They wear red hats, have money signs for brains, and have a hole where their hearts should be.
The December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019 shut down was a devastation. Aside from the reality of workers going without pay for over a month that included the Winter holidays, it will take hundreds of years to repair the damage done to the Joshua trees in the eponymous national park. "With most of its park rangers furloughed, vandals and inconsiderate guests ran amok. Gates and posts were toppled, new roads carved through the desert by unauthorized off-road drivers, and a small number of the park’s thousands of Joshua trees were outright destroyed, conservationists said." NYTimes, 1/29/2019
Worst of all was the hypocrisy of Republicans who bitched about services not being available.
I was aware that national parks were significantly damaged, I did not know to that it was to that extent. Worst of all is the impunity for utterly irresponsible and malicious acts in the role as public fiduciaries. They who bellow about their "true" patriotism while using the nation's vital interests as a pawn in organized crime-like extortion for their plutocratic agenda. It's too bad they can't be sued.
and the enormous cost of media advertising leading to the increased dominance of wealth in political life.
Unfortunately
Thank you.
I still wonder why Schumer isn't calling at least one vote PER DAY in the Senate to change the ridiculous rule that allows Tuberville to hold up all promotions. Force the GQP slimeballs (and any so-called Dems that are too cowardly to fix a bad rule) to go on the record DAILY as either supporting our troops and national security, or supporting an incompetent fanatic.
Oh I totally blame Schumer for this. He should have been bringing up individuals for promotions the day Tuberville started this BS. I’ve never seen much leadership from Schumer. We do not have time for games here. He needs to start now. Tuberville can be circumvented. Why hasn’t he been?
Mmm. Sounds like a reason to contact him.
The momentum of the plutocratic capture of the government is hard to buck, and I don't know what to do about it, but we collectively should never have let democracy and what Joseph Welch called "decency" unravel this much. And a lot of it boils down to not persistently and effectively resisting the power of concentrated money to shape the quality of our lives and what is politically possible. The nation needs far more wake-up calls about the damage to the national interests, individual lives , and our species future as the plaything of plutocratic coercion and power games.
The Paxton defenders that are touting the line that a flawed man can still do God's work is a trial run of the Christo-fascist defense of Trump.
A truly disgusting example in terms of a betrayal of real Christian values is the opposition of Republicans to renewal of funding for PEPFAR, a program that has saved the lives of 25 million by providing drugs in the war on HIV in the less developed world.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/01/opinion/pepfar-abortion-republicans.html?searchResultPosition=2
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/05/opinion/abortion-pepfar.html?searchResultPosition=1
How does using $3M of taxpayer funds to prop up a friend’s failing business in exchange for a government office where he can have sex with his girlfriend fall under the term “morally flawed”, but not the term “criminal”?
Texas--where everything is bigger, including the a$$holes.
'Criminal' is just a suggestion if the miscreant is otherwise advancing the program.
Couldn't agree with you more, Georgia. Paxton is a paragon of corruption and mendacity, and the distortion of the idea that a "flawed man can still do God's work" is vomit inducing.
The opposition to renewing the funding for PEPFAR, is unconscionable, immoral and to say the very least, anti-Christian from the actual Christian point of view. You know, the one that talked about feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, assisting the stranger/Samaritan, as opposed to the Faux/Fox News version of Christianity which pushes bashing gay people, stigmatizing homeless people and keeping woman in Gilead
Some of us remain amused that gods need humans to do their work for them. And to be sure, if in fact gods do need humans for whatever ill-conceived, crazy-ass thing, "flawed" is the only sort of human they will get, because "flawed" is the only sort of human there is.
Somehow the predatory form of religion has a long history, despite the efforts of those who advise humility and compassion. An entire compass from the most vile predatory acts to the some of the most generous in folded into the category of religion. Does Christianity teach humility or self-righteousness? Universal compassion or hatred? Asceticism or avarice? Would Jesus buy a semi-automatic rifle? It depends on who you talk to.
We are a social species and we prosper as families and communities. We prosper in our differences of thoughts, skills, and things we individually notice. We prosper when we work in groups for differing goal, while maintaining a basal solidarity to respects certain universal individual and societal rights. A church can be such a community, bit it can also be a narcissistic cult, which hides a predatory, domineering impulse behind a cloud of imposed rationalization and aggressively enforced conformity. That, in it's most extreme forms was the engine of the Holocaust, 9/11, burning people at the stake. You don't need a supernatural being with goat horns and a pitchfork to do evil; it's in our genome if we foolishly deny what we are letting out.
Do a search for the “good guys” in Texas government. You would come up blank
Jeri Chilcutt, hahaha, thanks!
Some American Christians seem very confused these days. Are they reading a different Bible?
Probably one of the versions that was signed by tfg. 😞
Those big ones he used to hold up for the cameras, while his entourage clapped? I thought they were "executive orders", to show that he was presidential.
Maybe they are reading it upside down, thinking that's what Dear Leader was signaling them to do?
They got it backwards.
I would hazard a guess that few of them have looked inside one.
There's "flawed", where good people make mistakes and then try to own up to them, and "moral bankruptcy", where a person repeatedly uses greed, etc., as the basis of decisions over a long period of time. Paxton is morally bankrupt. Yes, God can wright straight using crooked lines, but I think God's job is a lot easier if the tools they are using are not broken and covered with slime.
A number of Republican AGs, Federal and State level, have been in the news as about as corrupt as they come*. Coincidence?
Like the one who ran over a guy carrying a flashlight, and whose glasses wound up in the passenger compartment of the AG's car. Mr. Republican drove away and claimed he thought he's hit "a deer". https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/south-dakota-house-moves-impeach-ag-after-fatal-crash-n1258708
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/08/25/south-dakota-jason-ravnsborg-plea-deal-fatal-crash/5591951001/
Thank you Heather, as always, for a well-researched, "Letters".
The blatant GOP attacks upon democracy are just as obvious as the violent participation in the January 6th insurrection. I have gained newfound respect for a painfully small group of conservatives such as Liz Cheney for their courage in embracing the principles of democracy over the fringe extreme of the GOP who now control the party and most of its members.
I maintain that those elected officials -whether in Congress, or State/local government who have acted to participate in the undermining the 2020 elections and continue to attack the very system they have sworn allegiance to, must be expelled and barred from ever holding public office.
While the system was strong enough to withstand a violent assault on January 6, it will not survive the continuing attacks from within by the GOP, and their insidious Project 2025 plans.
Every one of the followers of this blog should take the time to read Project 2025 so you understand how high the stakes are and how well prepared the puppeteers behind the Repiblican party are to dismantle government. I believe Trump and the insurrectionist MAGA bozos are the bright and shiney objects meant to distract from the behind the scenes activity of the Heritage Foundation authoritarian intellectuals. It is an authoritarian manifesto that has been decades in the making.
The media needs to it focus on the danger and call it out for what it is.
Amen. (And I mean that in a non-sectarian way). (https://www.project2025.org/about/about-project-2025/)
Thanks for the rec, Georgia, and the llink, George. Will do.
Do, Alexandra! I feel as though something has got stuck in my throat.
This is a good opinion piece on it from Thom Hartmann; he has a Substack, but this was also posted to Daily Kos: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/31/2190709/-The-Shocking-GOP-Plan-to-Dismantle-the-American-Government-Revealed. Sending this & links to the source (Project 2025 site) to many friends and family. We need to pay attention, even tho this has been brewing for quite awhile, it is bubbling up.
A bit off this topic, is a good piece about the back story of the tragic fire in Maui: https://lakotalaw.org/news/2023-09-01/lahaina-was-burning-long-before-the-fire?fbclid=IwAR2M00yNFA5VAEruJqcsrfrdJAACLR_-htsUfV4lw7-D6GjZbdR48fGP9_g
One of the most prescient books I’ve ever read is “Democracy in Chains.” It outlines the decades-long Republican/Conservative/Corporate/Cristian/White Supremacist plan we now see in full flower. They believe they are intellectually and/or morally superior to “the masses” and have a god-given right to control government and commerce. They want a return to The Guilded Age, where EVERYBODY knew their place. They lie, cheat, and steal and justify it as “god’s work.”
The rot goes deep. Just a BTW from today's Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/sep/06/how-children-of-12-toil-in-colorado-san-luis-valley-farms
“I think Republicans* are in denial that white people don’t want to work manual labour any more,” Aguilar says at the petrol station in Center, a farm town in the middle of the valley. “So they say, ‘let’s just send in the kids.’” According to a 2018 Government Accountability Office report, more than half of work-related fatalities for children in the US happen in the agriculture sector, where one child employee dies roughly every three days.
*AKA "Party of Family Values"
You're right Georgia. I've just looked. And clicked on some of those logos.
Good for you George. All States need to invoke Amendment 14, Section 3. Insidious is a great word for Project 2025, if carried out it will destroy the United States as effectively as a nuclear bomb.
On a completely different note -we shared geography at one point. Before moving to Portugal, I was in the Rancho Cordova area.
My last house was there, I now live in Senior living in Carmichael. Small world.
Project 2025 starts with the assumption of a GOP victory in the 2024 presidential election. Thus far, I haven't seen any current GOP candidate with a real chance of winning the election. In spite of the great fear, MAGA plus whatever additional fraction of republicans they can muster doesn't make the vote count. The last thing you can expect would be tfg stepping aside to let any other candidate with a tiny chance at the gold ring step out of the shadows. Non-aligned voters are not aligning with tfg at a rate that suggests a competitive general election. I'd certainly like to see a solid thumping of the fascist wannabes up and down the entire ticket in 2024. There are plenty of toxic legislators who could stand to be sent to the showers, but I'm not hearing or reading any detailed analysis on state by state strategy to address that at this point in the game.
I think it's important for all who embrace democracy, equity, and justice to be concerned.
Lewis Powell's memo to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was once merely a high-level plan. Now it is a mature, well-funded machine that has infected media, the academic community, given rise to things like ALEC, Heritage, and other anti-democratic platforms.
Q and A Time:
Q. What devices do Americans rely upon the most for their “news reports”?
A. Television and radio
Q. What corporation owns or operates 220+/- television stations across the United States of America?
A. The Sinclair Broadcast Group
Q. Does Sinclair Group espouse political political viewpoints and, if so, what viewpoints?
A. Yes ... Sinclair Group tilts its stations to the Political Right.
Q. Has any national leader ever voiced an opinion advancing his or her views in favor of Sinclair and, if so, what did he/she say?
A. Yes ... former-President D.J. Trump wrote the following: “So funny to watch Fake News Networks, among the most dishonest groups of people I have ever dealt with, criticize Sinclair Broadcasting for being biased. Sinclair is far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC, which is a total joke.”
Yes, Noam Chomsky wrote about the media in Manufacturing Consent. And major media entities have gone from 50 down to about 5 over the last 20 years.
Yes, Noam, a brilliant Sociolinguist among many talents. But, "consensus" goes back further to McLuhan "Media is the Message" and much further back to post WWI marketing in the 1920's, a Century ago. Antidote: Real Time History via HCR.
No names. The word they use is "conservative". Read it, everyone. Know your enemy.
Those 'plans' you speak of were well advanced planned, financed, and executed, just so far. More is coming. Be prepared in all ways George. Much outside of our 'comfort zones' will be demanded of us all of like minds.
"Whereas, Representatives Cheney and Kinzinger are participating in a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse, and they are both utilizing their past professed political affiliation to mask Democrat abuse of prosecutorial power for partisan purposes, therefore, be it resolved, That the Republican National Committee hereby formally censures Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois and shall immediately cease any and all support of them as members of the Republican Party for their behavior which has been destructive to the institution of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Republican Party and our republic, "
That's the Republican Party talking. Orwellian words that should live in infamy. Responsible Republican leaders, if at this point such a thing could be argued be possible, would have to be considered the fringe, and most others at the very least, complicit. In reality, Reagan was attacking democratic governance from the get go, and praising rule by the rich in it's place. We have been on this trajectory for over four decades, and are on the brink in a number of ways. We don't need to go there.
All of Heather’s letter today was emotionally devastating. There are so many criminals ruling this country and it only gets worse with every new day. Every time I turn on C-Span there is almost no one sitting there conducting business. It always strikes me in a negative way. Where are our representatives? When people are finished speaking they get up and leave. It is all just one-way conversation and there is no one to listen or engage with.
I feel so disheartened at the lack of voices raising/rising
up against the crap that is going on in this country.
As much as there are kindred spirits in this forum, it does nothing to relieve the anger I feel toward all the broken moral compasses we contend with on a daily basis.
There is no question -anyone who is intelligent, aware, and sensitive to the world around them would be mildly depressed these days. Nevertheless -I find inspiration in so many who continue to dedicate themselves to justice, equity, and democracy. While far too many in the US have voted for people who have no business in public service (they only seek to serve themselves -amassing ill-gotten gains and power), it's important to keep in mind that based upon the popular vote -Hillary won in 2016 -just as Biden won in 2020.
We must endure and continue to work for this generation and those yet to come. Too many have sacrificed and passed the torch that we all must carry. And I'm incredibly grateful to Prof. Richardson -and all who know that democracy requires an informed, educated, and engaged society.
Exactly so, Christine. I love the kindred spirits here and am disheartened as well at the lack of voices rising up against what is going on today. I know I don't listen to much music other than classical (and Radio Margaritaville these days...) but where are the protest songs that galvanized us in the 60's and 70's?
Omg, Tuberville... it is incredible that nothing can be done legally to stop his blocking of military promotions.
Paxton and his corrupt behavior leading to impeachment proceedings, another fine example of Repugs...
It's become rather mind-boggling that they and other Repugs in leadership positions choose to cling to power rather than to act for the greater good of the people they supposedly serve.
We the People everywhere must diligently continue our efforts to save our democracy. And, to continue to hope that collectively we can make a difference.
JustJanice, in addition to the Ethics Committee mentioned in my reply to Annabel, the people of Alabama have cause to recall Tuberville on the grounds he lives in Florida. They'd win in a heartbeat. But they haven't gotten beyond "owning the libs"
If they are unwilling to draw a district in which Black voters have just representation, it seems unlikely they would recall a football coach who "stands up" to military brass (some of whom are not white). Pregnant service women are just a pawn.
Same should apply to Chicken Run Hawley, who "represents" MO but lives in VA
Starting by not voting for idiots, regardless of their connections past and present.
There should be a law requiring that US Senators and Congressmen be residents of the state and/or district they represent. If they don't have a personal mailing address in the state they should automatically 1) be ineligible to be on the ballot and 2) if they move out of the district or state they should be ineligible to vote or be a member of any committee until they satisfy the residency requirements.
You mean there isn't?!
I think each state has their own requirements for eligibility. Some move to DC and then stay with a friend or relative when they go back to their home state/district. I think this is wrong.
They should at least meet the residence requirements by renting an apartment and spending the requisite amount of time there. And no living in the district offices.
Tuberville lives in FL. He should be forced to either run in FL or spend the required time in AL.
I fear that, if TFG (The Former Guy) is re-elected, he is going to do even more withholding of disaster assistance if the governors are Democrats or Republicans who didn’t kiss the ring (by supporting the Big Lie about the 2020 election). Remember that he appointed cabinet officials that had publicly declared that they wanted the department gone (Rick Perry) or (like Betsy DeVos) had a conflict of interest.
I also am dismayed at how quickly Tuberville’s actions have become yesterday’s news—I’d rather see a total(updated daily) of the number of promotions that haven’t been confirmed (broken down by rank).
Oh my. I finally know what TFG stands for. I was embarrassed to ask.
Ellen I call him the TFFG…..you can guess, maybe, what the extra “F” is for!!!!
Add another F.
It was coined by Biden: when prodded in a press conference (I think it was) he said he wasn't going to talk about the former guy. Up till then, the favourite was "45".
I used IQ45 until TFG came along. Though, loser is another favorite.
I'm kinda partial to Cheetolini . . .
I have a couple of them; currently favoring Fat Nixon.
Yea, but Cheetos under the right circumstances can bring really transitory satisfaction. It’s reading People magazine in the bathtub with a glass of wine. It was satisfying but then you wonder, why did I waste that time? I get the fake orange comparison, though.
Queens Man!
I've got a shrewd suspicion that if he got re-elected he'd be about as powerful as a hole in the wall of a dam.
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2021/jan/16/trump-is-blocking-aid-to-malden-pine-city-fire-vic/?fbclid=IwAR3GuGpKImCSfJWUprMtfntuMhS96Aw9Rz_ygAHF-2un6MtMNfMKalBbsNU_aem_ATe8UTRyaWPnpcp_BJKe54hyMcjz8bPIYUg5lUFIRnvuaDvM4zL95DSth-v29dJPjZY&mibextid=S66gvF
Biden is governing for the people, all of them, even those who despise him. Including vindictive and petty GOP leaders.
Senator McConnell could put an end to Tuberville if he wanted to.
How can he do that? And if he can, why doesn’t he? Is this why they call him Moscow Mitch?
McConnell removed Rick Scott and Mike Lee from the Commerce Committee when those two challenged McConnell to make Scott the Minority Leader.
Re Tuberville, please tell us there is a work-around, so that the military appointments and promotions can take place. Surely National Security must prevail. What's being done?
It’s an arcane, undemocratic Senate rule that gives unthinkable power to any senator, including those as unqualified as Tuberville. The Senate majority leader could persuade Tuberville to back off or lead an effort to at least exempt military appointments.
Also, Biden should be much more aggressive in speaking out about this threat to national security. So should senators who strongly object, too.
The Senate minority leader should exert influence, but he seems to be biologically incompetent right now. He is probably supporting this as a power grab, anyway. But the other Senators should be speaking out about this, and pressuring him to stop.
This is Chuck Schumer's job, Deb, as the Senate Majority Leader but he seems more interested in begging for money for his reelection campaign, hardly a day goes by that I don't get a text from him and several other Democrats begging for money.
Schumer needs 60 votes to break the filibuster, so he needs 10 Republicans to agree. But McConnell tells the Republicans what to do. A few of them should speak for themselves, put pressure on Tuberville, and put the country first. As if it mattered to them.
I agree Schumer needs 60 votes IF it gets to a filibuster. But as far as I've read he hasn't even tried. We do have a majority in the Senate right now, even disregarding Manchin, and there are several Republicans of the Real Republican party. Schumer needs to do his job.
EXACTLY! Force DAILY votes to get the GQP and cowardly Dems on the record as either supporting the troops or supporting a traitor. Plus a rule change only takes a majority (Moscow Mitch did it ANY time the GQP wanted something pushed through (like judgeships)). . . I'm sure there's a YouTube video out there is Schumer doesn't understand how to do it (or better yet, step aside and let a real leader step in).
Not having the votes never stops Republicans from spewing charges, and sadly, I think they have an effect.
I get emails every day from Chuck Schumer begging for money, and also from several other Democrats begging for money.
Schumer who?
Totally, ''unqualified'' is EXACTLY what Tuberville is. Or i could define him as being extremely unqualified!!! I almost thought it was a joke when i heard he had been elected as a United States Senator. He coached at Auburn University only 75 miles from where i live.
Biden should tell McConnell he will speak to the nation from the Oval Office unless the majority leader cleans up Tuberville's shocking dereliction of duty. Democratic senators should hold media events in their states to publicize what you rightfully call "this insanity."
The general public will remain clueless until Tuberville's blackmail is made a front-and-center issue, including by highlighting with tangible examples of what could go wrong on the national security front.
I saw a theory, possibly on Heather’s FB, that the real reason for Tuberville’s leaving all these high-level positions in the military infilled is so that when TFG wins his re-election next year (!) he will be able to replace these career military spots with officers willing to do his bidding. You know, act in defiance of the Constitution. “My Generals.”
I have heard that, too.
'Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) on Monday urged Chief Justice John Roberts to investigate Justice Samuel Alito over his recent comments about Supreme Court ethics.'
'In a seven-page letter, Whitehouse lodged an ethics complaint about Alito’s recent interview with The Wall Street Journal’s opinion section, in which the conservative justice said Congress has no authority to regulate the high court.'
'Whitehouse, a leading critic in the Senate of ethics standards at the Supreme Court, urged Roberts to “take whatever steps are necessary” to probe the matter.'
“On the Senate Judiciary Committee, we have heard in every recent confirmation hearing that it would be improper to express opinions on matters that might come before the Court. In this instance, Justice Alito expressed an opinion on a matter that could well come before the Court,” he wrote.'
'As Democrats renewed their push for a Supreme Court ethics bill, Alito sat down with the Journal’s conservative-leaning opinion section for a wide-ranging interview in July. He called recent stories about him “nonsense” and suggested he had to defend himself because the Supreme Court bar wasn’t doing so.'
“I know this is a controversial view, but I’m willing to say it,” he told the Journal. “No provision in the Constitution gives them the authority to regulate the Supreme Court — period.”
'Whitehouse took Alito’s comments as a direct response to his bill, which advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee this summer and would require the justices to adopt a binding code of ethics.'
“Justice Alito’s decision to opine publicly on the constitutionality of that bill may well embolden legal challenges to the bill should it become law. Indeed, his comments encourage challenges to all manner of judicial ethics laws already on the books,” the senator wrote in his Monday letter.' (TheHill) See link below.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4187154-senate-democrat-asks-roberts-to-investigate-alito/
Love Sheldon Whitehouse, he steps up and tells it like it is.
Thanks for this, Fern. Alito is so far out of line that he's almost doubled back.
Hooray for the funny, Ally!
Two points. The Alabama legislature ignored SCROTUS and NOTHING HAPPENED. There's no reason now for anyone to obey the nonsensical edicts of this antebellum rump court. Second, we can't do anything about Tubbs, but, Schumer could hold the senate 24/7 until Grassley's and Tuberville's prostates explode and McConnell expires. That he refuses to even threaten it tells me he DGAF.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Moscow Mitch and Tuberville both get rich handouts from the same Russian oligarch…
What is DGAF
don't give a f***
Thanks
My favorite helmet sticker was DILLIGAF. Do I look like I give a F?
More than time to do some house cleaning. Glad it's getting done, there's so much to get done.
Your letter is a great follow up to yesterday's chat. Thanking you Professor ⭐
'Organizers of the March to End Fossil Fuels today announced that 500 organizations have endorsed the upcoming mobilization on September 17 in New York City.'
'Groups including the NAACP, Sierra Club, and Sunrise Movement have signed on to support the march and its demands for Pres. Biden to take bold action on fossil fuels in the wake of a deadly, record-breaking summer of extreme heat and climate disasters. They join the key groups organizing the march, including the Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Popular Democracy, Climate Organizing Hub, Food & Water Watch, Fridays For Future USA & NYC, Earthworks, Greenfaith, Indigenous Environmental Network, New York Communities for Change, Oil Change International and Oil & Gas Action Network.'
'In addition to the 500 groups supporting the march, nationally recognized leaders including Sen. Ed Markey, Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Jamaal Bowman, Tennessee State Rep. Justin Pearson, Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and President of Ireland Mary Robinson, Jane Fonda, Naomi Klein, Mark Ruffalo, and Bill McKibben are backing the march. More than 10,000 people from across the country are expected to attend, including Goldman Prize winners Nalleli Cobo and Sharon Lavigne, UN youth adviser Ayisha Siddiqa, scientist Peter Kalmus, Gulf Coast leaders John Beard, Jr. and Roishetta Ozane, and Mountain Valley Pipeline fighters including Crystal Cavalier from Appalachia.'
'The route of the March to End Fossil Fuels will begin at 52nd and Broadway, with participants marching down 52nd Street to 1st Avenue starting at 1:00 PM ET. A rally will take place on 1st Avenue, just blocks away from the United Nations, which will host the first-ever UN Climate Ambition Summit in the following days. '
https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2023/09/05/500-groups-endorse-nyc-march-to-end-fossil-fuels/
'The New York City march is part of a mass global escalation to end fossil fuels, with mobilizations occurring around the world, which all take place just days before the UN Climate Ambition Summit. At the summit, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has demanded world leaders come with a commitment to approving no new fossil fuel infrastructure and bring concrete plans to phase out existing fossil fuel production.'
'On September 15 to 17, millions of people around the world will take to the streets to demand a rapid, just, and equitable end to fossil fuels.'
'This wave of global mobilisations will include the March to #EndFossilFuels fast, fair, forever in New York City on September 17, as world leaders attend the United Nations Secretary General’s Climate Ambition Summit.'
'This historic mobilisation renews and reinforces the globally coordinated efforts focused on ending the era of fossil fuels. The scale of this mobilisation and the urgency of the moment underscore the devastating impacts of recent record breaking heat, deadly floods, and increased extreme weather events. '
'The climate crisis is escalating and in response so is the global movement for climate justice. Across the globe, we are coming together to fight back against the fossil fuel industry and its enablers.'
'Together, we are unstoppable as we build and imagine a fossil fuel-free world.'
https://fightfossilfuels.net/#:~:text=On%20September%2015%20to%2017,equitable%20end%20to%20fossil%20fuels.
https://350ct.org/
https://www.endfossilfuels.us/
If only Amtrak would extend to Bangor, I could take the train and subway to the event. As it is, it's a 6 hour drive and I don't have an EV yet.
I'll remember your wish to be at the March and bring your spirit to it, Gary.