Funny how to these supposedly “unbiased” members of the media a democrat can be “too far to the left” but a republican can never ever be too far to the right. They would consider Hitler a “conservative “.
Well, to be fair, we do sometimes hear that Trump is a fascist.
But Dr. Reich's point is on the mark: Harris and Walz are mainstream America.
70% of Americans want higher taxes on the wealthy and on corporations, tighter gun controls, abortion rights, well-fed schoolchildren, universal healthcare, and paid maternity leave.
Unfortunately, it's the higher-taxes-on-the-wealthy bit that defines you as "too far to the left." Doesn't sit well with owners of newspapers and news channels.
To be fair, I don’t think he has a political ideology except himself. It’s aldo fair to call him by the company he keeps…which are mostly fascists. Many of his mannerisms and much of his behavior is well practiced in the 1930’s. I heard he had a copy of Mein Kampf by his bed. So if it walks like a duck…
Michael, I believe you are right about Trump not being able to recognize what he is anymore. He is losing the capacity to comprehend positions, what he has said before, and other important things. He drifts off more often these days and doesn't even seem to notice he is doing it. If indeed he is wearing a wire as I suspect, his handlers are having more and more trouble giving him directions he can follow, and when he drifts away from the teleprompter, he gets lost until he either finds his way back or he needs a cheer from the crowd so he pulls out one of his tried and true phrases, or his handlers finally get through. The not knowing is what I think drove his handlers to remove Trump from the stage early, at the Black Journalists conference. Trump was simply not equal to the task of answering basic questions like why Black Americans should trust him. When will the media start taking notice or let the American people know what the media has known for years, that Trump is incapable of holding any kind of office and will never be able to do so again. The media are lying to the American people; it looks like liars are protecting a liar while they do harm to the American people.
Where's the Bulwark on this spectrum? Moderates might be okay with some oligarchy? I have some question whether they can love democracy more than carried interest.
Totally. I think the point was that the corporate media will excoriate Harris and the Democratic ticket as being “too far to the left” at every opportunity but never, ever say the converse about the Rethuglifascists.
You CAN usually rely on "enlightened" self-interest to determine behavior. The GOP is "the Party of Big Business", and most Media sources (NOT on the Internet exclusively) are BIG businesses.
In California's Central Valley, the conservative candidates all claim to be more conservative than anyone else. So, one can never be too far right. The right is always right (and uptight).
If you cherry pick, it's just not science, and modern Republicans are wont to dis any science (most of it) that does not support their agenda. It almost seems (as some say) that "reality has a liberal bias". Rather, liberals are more accepting of evidence-based conclusions. (Extremist left, which is pretty much not a thing in this county as far as I can tell) not so much).
J L, Republicans are OK with science as long as it is doing something valuable for themselves; Musk loves science that lets him earn more and more money, rich people with cancer are OK with science that provides a cure for themselves, and Republican candidates love the science that provides them with social media they can use and abuse against the American people.
At any rate the "right wing" or any unpalatable extremest) tries to control public awareness with lies and theater; the pomp and circumstance of plutocratic authoritarianism Bread and circuses, mostly the latter.
The left wing can put on some pretty provocative anti-fascist theater, too. But it would be way more fun, original, and smart. Think of the 12-foot tall puppets at protests against the G-7 in Seattle in the 90s. Think of the drums, theatre, life size puppets of people and animals reenacting massacres in SOA-Watch protests at Fort Benning or in Nogales. Consider the buskers and all the musicians who sing folk songs or play jazz into the heavens.
But our theatre is to provide windows into lives, to celebrate the family and the solitary flaneur, to act out the stories in the books we give kids, to celebrate free reading, free housing, free medical care, freedom of expression, religion, the press, and the right to gather in protest when democratic ideals grow shrunken and invisible.
We’re not just the left wing, we are the wing of joy and respect and dignity and clear-eyed thinking about how to help your neighbor. How to fix things instead of stomping on them. When did we become such enemies of the Republican Party? There used to be reasonable Republicans around who could argue about ideas of policies and not take it personally or devolve into ad hominem attacks.
On that note, let's embrace it. I'm tired of pretending we don't want working class rights, time with our families, affordable healthcare, equal opportunities in education, a fair living wage, unions!, a planet that isn't being destroyed by America, government regulations that are enforced and which protect us, we liberals have been allowing fascists to dictate the narrative for too long. Too far left? Too fair? Too compassionate? Too much like Jesus. 😌😏
I think "conservative" is an Orwellian euphemism for those whose "edit" and misrepresent reality to fit their ideology. There is such a thing as conservative, and they ain't it. I consider the scientific method conservative. Cutting CO2 emissions to preserve a livable future is conservative. Einstein revolutionized physics by imagining the impossibility of traveling at the speed of light. That;s the "let's try this" liberal part of innovation. He (with help) crunched the numbers. That's the conservative part. Put 'em together and you have a useful product. Political "Conservatives" just want to spin a tale that somehow males themselves the boss of you, and entitled to your money.
Make the positions anonymous, and Dwight Eisenhower would too far left for WaPo, let alone Lincoln.
Been around a bunch of the so-called "conservatives" and you are right on. It's all about who is in the group and who is out. Wealth and country club membership status usually are two defining characteristics.
I think what you wrote is completely applicable to the MAGAts, and to dogmatic authoritarians in general, but I have to disagree on your opinion about science being conservative.
To use your example, Einstein's work on both the Special- and General Theory of Relativity were revolutionary, and were opposed by many in the scientific establishment- the conservatives if you please- until the experimental evidence began to roll in. Science is not about liberalism or conservatism; consensus arises based on falsifiable testing, and we are pretty much unanimous in our agreement that the current picture is an interim one, subject to change as better models, data, or measurement capabilities come along.
"Conservative" has a "look before you leap" meaning folded into it, such as a "conservative" estimate that is clings to what appears to be most likely. Champions of Reaganomics insist that tax cuts for the rich pay for themselves when empirically they don't. If I remember correctly, the Reagan administration was even suggesting that tax cuts would bring in even more public revenue by making up on volume what it was losing in every transaction. Prove it.
What I am saying is that innovation and resilience successfully integrates exuberant imagination with adequate caution. Science is sometimes ridiculed for proving the (sometimes) "obvious" beyond a reasonable doubt. But that's part and parcel of discovering, with substantial justification, what is not obvious in the least.
Dear J.L., I think you labor under a great misunderstanding concerning what science is about, and invite you to visit my Substack, https://stephenschiff.substack.com, on September 23rd, for a post that explains it using lay terminology. Thank you for motivating me to finally write it!
J L, maybe what we need is a different, more accurate term than "conservative." It seems to me that to conserve, one must have something valuable enough to save. Science over time becomes conservative as we have proven some things and want to save that knowledge. Politically, those who call themselves conservative seem to want to save their feeling of uniqueness as white men, their wealth from paying their fair share of taxes, government subsidies that are not counted as welfare, and their ability to control other people's lives even when those people do not want such controls. Maybe the word to replace "conservative" (politically) should be "toddlerism."
East Coast press is anti gun anti football anti sports. Touch labor is another taboo .
Violation of the ten commandments combined with strong drink drugs has usual negative consequences when combined with guns. Drunk driving has killed more people than guns but citie dwellers seem to hold guns as bad but it people who mis use guns are the proximate cause of gun deaths .
Media is to blame most who write for a living are the least expert in the touch labor parts of life hunting fishing etc nature. Sloppy thought processes.
it seems that the saying, what's in a name is appropriate to question. black is white, blue is pink etc. It is about human morals. Are we just animals as in dog eat dog or do we strive to agarpe love where humans respect all humanity and I could say gods green earth. Money has been said is the root of all evil and if that is not strictly true then it certainly corrupts us. I think we have to change that or we are on the "eve of destruction." POOF... How to make those changes boggles my mind . One individual at a time ? Here is waving my magic wand...
IMNSHFO, the root of all evil is the will to power. Money is a merely a means to attain that power.
It is difficult for folks like us to comprehend because we only want the power we need to rule our own lives and to help humanity and those we care for.
J L, I am still waiting to hear about anything Republicans/"conservatives" have initiated in the past 45 years to help anyone but themselves and their rich friends. I have been working on getting an answer for a decade and have none yet. They may go along with a Democrat's or Independent's idea or bill, but initiate, no.
Indeed, I'm so tired of the soft pedaling by the media treating a man who was willing to overthrow our government as if he were a normal candidate. On the other hand,, the media needs to stop undermining our democracy by the false equivalency of both-side-ism.and instead protect our democracy by informing and
It's like standing on the North Pole, every directions is South. Dictator from "day one"? hint's at ending elections? Seems to me that a lot of policy that was mainstream in the 1950s is branded "extreme left" by many today. I recall when Republicans ran an ad equating AOC with Poll pot.
They count on us forgetting and moving on - the 2008 recession cost us 11,000,000,000,000.00 that's TRILLION dollars in jobs and tax payers money. And you want to "forget about it"?????
When Kamala Harris has a 2 hour lunch with Bernie Sander at a local mom and pop cafe, then I'll be impressed again. Right now, having lunch with Jamie Dimon who is a bigger crook than trump (even though he brought himself down with his loud orange mouth) is not okay in my book.
Don't ask me for a $10 or $20 or even one hour of phone banking when Jamie Dimon should be in jail not having lunch with a VP or on Obama's speed dial at the White House.
Go ahead and call me names. Read White Trash by Nancy Inesberg and The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One William Bill Black. Then we can chat!
Before you condemn Kamala for talking with Jamie Diamond, let's give her the benefit of the doubt and believe she is smart enough to actually be sizing up the enemy. And he is so arrogant to think he can buy her off. We won't know unless she gets elected, but I will put my money on her before the T traitor. Go K $ T. Vote Blue. Cheers... GH
After reading White Trash by Nancy Isenberg, there isn't anyone to put money on.
Okay, I'll take you up on that bet. I hope her team reads this comment. Let me see her prove it now. Before the election. Have a public lunch with Bernie Sanders. I would pay money to have lunch with Bernie Sanders...
Bill Black was a voice of sanity during the subprime crash. Criminality was swept under the rug, and that haunts us today.
"And the banks -- hard to believe in a time when we're facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created -- are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place," - Dick Durbin
Agreed. And that folks, is the problem and the solution. Bill Black could be Secretary of Treasury. But, I'm disappointed even Dr. Reich hasn't interviewed him.
Iceland fixed the problem after 2008. The bankers went to jail and they wrote down everyone's mortgages back to a normal price. They recovered and prospered again.
Exactly! I’m completely bored by MSM pundits who describe the MAGA fascists as conservative. Since when did “tear it all down” become “conservative”? And then again the”far left” is practically nonexistent, so they have to label MAGA opponents to justify their own radical P2025 agenda! And the MSM doesn’t even attempt to add any clarity because “both sides”.
I created a poll asking people if they are liberals or leftists. First, I asked them if they have ever heard of Karl Marx or read many of his writings. A guttural grunt is mostly all I here from the liberals. The radicals mostly yell at me for trying to get them hung or deported as leftist. Folks in the US are not known for their intellectual view of the world. Hell, some them think that reading is a radical act.
I read Karen Stenner’s “The Authoritarian Dynamic”. In it, she dicusses 3 types of conservatism: 1) free market laissez faire 2) obedience and conformity over freedom and difference and 3) stability and preservation of the status quo.
Each of these have some rationality in some circumstances. But taken to extremes, any one can be disastrous. Status quo with a gradual progressive bent has my support.
Trouble is, I’ve found that with most people, its all or nothing.
I think you are missing the point when you point out typos instead of reading the sentence in your head the way you want it to be, listen to the message
No. Content is vital, but so is the efficiency of the medium that conveys it.
Anything that distracts is bad news, whether intrusive building sounds from next door, the hypnotic effect of background music, or poor language which makes you stop, then have to go back and reread.
There is no hierarchy here: message and medium should work together harmoniously. If either is below standard, it's legitimate to criticise it on its own merits, not by comparison with something else.
We gain nothing by legitimising dumbing down, wherever it occurs.
According to most of the press, Manchin is always described as "moderate" or "centrist", while AOC frequently labeled "extreme left". we need some contextual calibration here.
Do you ever stop to think that your perception of any given thing is not necessarily that of others? Comprehension of anything doesn't have to follow the same path of one person.
The whole point of developing common language with common grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. is precisely to maximise the number of people who can communicate with each other.
Please stop being distracted for more than a news cycle. The story is old now but still the main one. The GOP and Donald are unfit to govern!!! They did nothing for a year in congress and he is the same rapist, business fraud, document stealing traitor, insurrectionist, Covid failure, deficit causing, project 2025, Roe ending, etc etc etc and he paid $130,000 and committed 34 felonies to hide from suburban women voters that when Melania had a baby he had sex with Stormy D.
Whatever they say, the response is “don’t change the subject, you are …..”.
Could one consider the Holocaust like evil an inevitability that bears remembering but then one must contemplate the nature of evil. It comes with humanity but is not native to it. It is innate to the World itself because humanity is natural to the world itself. Therefore such is the weight of history and its arc which bends towards justice.
Yeah, I worked for the Feds for 30 years and have seen Presidents come and go, and I have no idea what's with these Post/Times editorials. As the late Senator George McGovern said during the 1972 campaigns, when he was attacked as being a "socialist" or "leftist": "South Dakota doesn't send wild-eyed radicals to Washington." Neither does Minnesota.
Who gives a shit what they think? The pundits and polls are always wrong. Just think if they lost their jobs because of it, we'd constantly have 'better pundits'?
Spent a lot of time reading WaPo this am. Had not realized how very racist they are. They seem to cherry-pick stories for clickbait. They have comments sections which are very enlightening from readers’ points of view. They leave out context if it is convenient to do so. Already have healthy distrust of NYTimes. Keep it at $4/month for puzzles only. Now may have to consider dumping WaPo. For news I value apart from selected Substacks, the Guardian is my preference. And ProPublica for stories perhaps not mainstream. Other suggestions?
You probably should've dumped WaPo the moment it was purchased by Bezos. While he's not as flagrantly right whinge as supervillain Rupert Murdoch, he treats employees as badly as Musk does. He is not a man who cares about the average citizen, and the disgustingly rich should not be permitted to own media (in an ideal world, no one would be disgustingly rich).
"General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, compared supporters of former President Donald Trump to Nazis, according to a new (2021) book ("I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Final Catastrophic Year," ).
Milley, who has been widely criticized for being “woke,” claimed that Trump was preaching “the gospel of the Führer” when he contested the results of the 2020 election and claimed that Trump had led the U.S. to the brink of its own “Reichstag moment,” a reference to an incident in 1933 that Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler used to consolidate political power in Germany.
“We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or to a tyrant or dictator, and we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator,” Milley said. “We don’t take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it.”
Not just dog killers, James, unrepentant dog killers (altho I hope Kristi at least repents having gone public about it since doing so also killed any hopes she might have had of a higher-level political career).
Nothing “left” radical about be sensible and practical. These are just excuse for not getting Control. So they use disdainful labels implying “nasty.” It’s BS.
John, Precisely! The so-called center today…a large majority, want what “they” claim is far left. Let them call it what they want! We don’t want Fascism, we want affordable education, we want medical care for all, we want basic housing for ALL, We want equality for people of color and women, we want guns OUT of our society, we want religion OUT of our secular government!
These people calling Governor Walz and Vice President Harris too far to the left have been breathing too much of the trump toxin. Governor Walz and Vice president Harris are decent people who truly care about people something trump and company cannot comprehend. The dynamic duo gives people hope for a better future. What comes to mind is President Roosevelt's theme song: Happy Days are here again. No more anger, no more hate, no more trashing people because of who they are be it people of color, people of different faith, people with disabilities, the young and the old. We are not going back.
I wish some of the people making up the ads for this race had your wit. Repubs want 10 year olds to have babies, Walz wants them to have lunch. Wow thats a winner 10 sec tv ad. How do we get to the people that need to think like that?
Hey, it worked 100 years years ago, Bill, and fits right in with eliminating Social Security. Let's just wipe out a century of progress and return to the 1920's. Fun Times.
Of course to make it really similar, everyone would have to give up computers, plane travel, LOTS of health care advances, etc. I bet Big Business doesn't really want all that to go away. Where would Big Oil be if only 20M people had cars or trucks? Or the military without high-grade weapons? The rest of the world would probably love to see the US wipe out a century of progress.
Right-wingers are cherry-pickers. They don't want to give up anything they like.
Yes, Four Feet, but don't be distracted by Trump. Harris-Walz stand for everything the Koch "dark money" network has been fighting against for decades. Republican megadonors control SCOTUS, many state legislatures and courts, have majorities in Congress, and ,obviously, they influence the media and virtual reality. They will do their best to derail Harris-Walz. Hopefully, they will realize that exploiting ethnic and religious divisions is bad for business.
Sure... and millions of American jobs went to China in pursuit of Milton's warped ideas implemented by greedy Republican businessmen. Unfortunately he didn't lose his job in the process.
By law the Corporation must maximize its profits. By law corporations do that for their board. By law a corporation is formed to gain tax and liability breaks.
Corporations were originally formed to serve us. Over the years that has been chipped away to enrich the few. Watch the film, The Corporation.
Four feet, I think the Red wall is cracking..last night on Amanpour & Co., Georgia's former Lt Governor, Republican, was on saying he is voting for Harris/Walz. Geoff Duncan called Walz & Harris authentic leaders & them winning, would be the pivot point & wakeup call for the Republican Party to take a pause to get his Republican Party back & fix what's broken! Come on, let's see more Republican spines stiffening !!
My thoughts exactly. Thank you William for making that point, it’s all for profit and to hell with the truth. I no longer support those outlets and hope that right-thinking people won’t either. Right-thing: honest & fair. 👍🏻
I got cheap intro rates to both WaPo and the NYT to see me through the election. I don't plan to let either go to full-scale subscriptions. They have both confirmed my belief that they literally aren't worth the paper (or screen space) they are written on.
Look for local journalism. We are starting to see non-profits take off. Media models like the Colorado Sun (https://coloradosun.com/) are really terrific.
Many of the reporters and publishers were layed off by the major papers in the search for never-ending growth and profits.
There are lots of good local news alternatives, Doc, but the keyword is "local." WaPo and the Times reach millions of people daily, and they've been shoving pro-Trump bias down our throats for years. NOT talking about his loony verbal hash and lies is just as bad as reporting it as tho it's "business as usual."
Trump sounds more demented and unhinged every time he speaks. If media continues to let it go, and he wins in Nov, it will now not just be the end of the democracy in the US, it will be giving an incompetent, senile, twisted twatwaffle the nuclear codes.
I check WaPo and the Times is so I can call them out about how low their standards of "journalism" have become. It works with WaPo, which doesn't censor negative comments. The Times reviews and approves comments. Criticism is NOT approved, so isn't posted (at least some of my comments haven't been posted lol). The Grey Lady doesn't want to get her skirts dirty.
Some years ago I did a little calculation about feeding hungry children in the US to answer some RW holier-than-thou twit. If 7 Walton family members just donated their dividends annually they could feed them all.
And profit is not necessarily a bad thing if its what T. Roosevelt called a "Square Deal", win-win. All dollars spend the same, but they are not all earned the same, and that can make a world of difference.
I thought about it, but I just couldn't justify buying a 5th yacht. I'm sorry for all the workmen who won't be making as much money because of it, but sometimes you just have to make a decision and stick to it. 🙄
Indeed, the purpose of The Media is to MAKE MONEY for the already super-rich. The Media are destroying the planet just as surely as Big Oil, for outrageous, unethical greed I will add, the major media, have been and are, giving Trump, again and again a free pass, when it comes to answering questions, he obfuscates and lies, at the same time, as with Biden and his press secretary, they do the same now with Kamala Harris, both, are hounded by the press and are demanded to answer questions but not Trump, makes you wonder? doesn’t it.
Wrong! They need to be called out by Harris and Walz. In 2024, passiveness is fatal to any campaign because you're allowing the estalishment to define you. Think Dukakis!
Diane, 73M people voted for what Trump was offering in 2020 (if it hadn't been for the pandemic, he'd probably have won). They haven't moved anywhere, they don't know any more, and he's had 4 years of unchecked media time to bloviate.
Everyone who wants "what Harris and Walz are offering" say so loud and clear in November. It will take a blue wave to crush MAGA. A close vote will give it oxygen.
Oh, yes, They have definitely figured that out- that the American voter does indeed want what Harris/Walz are peddling and it is scaring them to death!! That is why the blatant falsehoods and blathering nonsense verses of The Donald still receive coverage, presented by the media as though they actually have credibility as an alternative political agenda!
Yes, this "elite talk" needs to be countered and countered forcefully. Walz is a populist Democrat who speaks on Middle America's cultural and economic wavelength. That is why both AOC and Joe Manchin (hardly ideological allies) both approve of the Walz pick.
He is not only a good candidate to win, but his focus on transforming the lives of everyday Americans economically is a good blueprint for the direction the Democratic Party should take.
P.S. Walz was originally from Nebraska, which just so happens to hold a very important congressional district that may be key to an Electoral College victory. So this "Walz doesn't have a connection to an important swing state" rhetoric is utter nonsense.
I would LOVE to see an effort to flip NE-CD3 blue. It's Walz's birthplace and probably has not gone D since LBJ. The media buy would not be so great. A few stations in South Dakota and a couple of towns in Nebraska.
The district that has gone blue is Omaha (NE-CD2).
Right on NE-CD2. That is the "blue district." I know technically Walz is not from there, but I am guessing that "the Nebraska connection" may help (even if only a little bit) statewide.
I would love to see a long-term effort for NE-CD3. I would love to see Democrats revive the old farm-labor coalition across the country, actually. But Dems have a deep hill to climb in NE-CD3 for now, and it would have to be a project they invest in over at least a decade and probably decades.
The system of awarding Electoral College votes by Congressional District and then the Senate two by statewide vote is unique to Nebraska and Maine.
It represents a much better alternative than the National Popular Vote interstate compact. The NPV is far too tilted towards the big population states like CA and NY to come into effect. It has or will soon stall out as a yet another effort by the Coastal elites to impose their solutions on the rest of the country.
The NE/ME solution makes a whole lot more sense nationwide and would actually get traction after a Harris-Walz win.
The NPV has 219 E votes. MI, VA, and NC (44 total E votes) have all passed it in one chamber. That passes the threshold. Imo that’s not a bridge too far.
If there’s a more palatable alternative, good. Anything that ends the EC without a constitutional amendment is probably an improvement.
Are you saying that in NE/ME E votes go to the House and presidential races by district, and a Senate race is decided by statewide majority vote?
No worries. In 2020, Biden took one electoral vote from Nebraska (the 2nd District, which includes Omaha according to my understanding), because Nebraska splits its electoral vote up. In the event of a near-electoral college tie, that one electoral vote from the 2nd District could be the tiebreaker. Which is why Trump and his allies have been pushing to change Nebraska to a “winner-takes-all” format (see https://elections2024.thehill.com/forecast/2024/president/nebraska-2/).
In other words, many eyes, Republican and Democrat, are on the 2nd District and Nebraska as a whole.
Both The NY Times and Washington Post are in great danger of losing my subscriptions because of their lack of criticism about the dangers of fascism and misogyny of the MAGA cult!!! We now have pregnant women bleeding out in Texas hospital parking lots because they are not considered “sick” enough to warrant an abortion to save their lives. About 10% of pregnancies end in miscarriage because it is nature’s way to stop a pregnancy where something is terribly wrong with the fetus!
Maybe start by cancelling the Post. The Bezos ownership is intolerable. Maybe tech bros, like foreign governments, should be banned from news media ownership.
If we are going to say center right and center left are going to decide this election, even if you would say Harris Walz is extreme left ,which I don’t believe, Trump Vance is extreme right for sure. So that makes it kind of a draw. Then the decision is democracy, rule of law, vs authoritarian dictatorship.
Don't know if you could be more right wing than trying to shove Project 2025 down our throats, yet Trump calls liberals communists. Hey, isn't Putins Russia communist?
The T-traitor has had his head up Putin's butt for 25 years trying to get him to build a Moscow hotel with T's name on it. Call Russia by any "new" name you want, it is still run no different than when the hard core Commies were in charge. That makes T a Commie traitor in my book. Remember when T was at a meeting in Europe and held a joint press conference with Putin? T said he trusted Putin's intelligence sources more the our American CIA, FBI , military and allies sources. And still millions of Americans will vote for this monster again in November. Go figure!
D, Wiki describes Russia as s "Federal semi-presidential republic under an authoritarian dictatorship." I'm not sure what it means, but it's great both-siding. 🙄
Except media never says "extreme right," Sally. The implication is that only "extreme left" is dangerous, which is nuts.
I saw it on social media a LOT in 2020. There are a lot of middle European immigrants in my area (relatively speaking), and they seem to have brought their authoritarian backgrounds with them. They were all worked up about the dangers of socialism or even (gasp!) COMMUNISM, but none of them ever said fascism would be just as bad. They didn't even see that Trump was offering fascism.
I watched last night with a big smile on my face! Walz is a breath of fresh air and obviously the right is terrified! He’s delightful and so is she, normal , Americans exactly what we deserve. I am very disappointed in the Washington Post!
Watch it and look at the chemistry with Harris. Her expressions were off the charts favorable to Tim. That was something I have never seen in politics.
Funny how to these supposedly “unbiased” members of the media a democrat can be “too far to the left” but a republican can never ever be too far to the right. They would consider Hitler a “conservative “.
Exactly. We never hear, well he's too far right.
Well, to be fair, we do sometimes hear that Trump is a fascist.
But Dr. Reich's point is on the mark: Harris and Walz are mainstream America.
70% of Americans want higher taxes on the wealthy and on corporations, tighter gun controls, abortion rights, well-fed schoolchildren, universal healthcare, and paid maternity leave.
Unfortunately, it's the higher-taxes-on-the-wealthy bit that defines you as "too far to the left." Doesn't sit well with owners of newspapers and news channels.
What's taken us so long? Bring on Harris & Walz.
Tax.....the.....Rich.
Yes, we do hear that, but not from those dipshits.
True.
Robert is correct, as usual
To be fair, I don’t think he has a political ideology except himself. It’s aldo fair to call him by the company he keeps…which are mostly fascists. Many of his mannerisms and much of his behavior is well practiced in the 1930’s. I heard he had a copy of Mein Kampf by his bed. So if it walks like a duck…
No, Trump is a fascist, for the reasons you state, but I don't think he's bright enough to recognize this.
Michael, I believe you are right about Trump not being able to recognize what he is anymore. He is losing the capacity to comprehend positions, what he has said before, and other important things. He drifts off more often these days and doesn't even seem to notice he is doing it. If indeed he is wearing a wire as I suspect, his handlers are having more and more trouble giving him directions he can follow, and when he drifts away from the teleprompter, he gets lost until he either finds his way back or he needs a cheer from the crowd so he pulls out one of his tried and true phrases, or his handlers finally get through. The not knowing is what I think drove his handlers to remove Trump from the stage early, at the Black Journalists conference. Trump was simply not equal to the task of answering basic questions like why Black Americans should trust him. When will the media start taking notice or let the American people know what the media has known for years, that Trump is incapable of holding any kind of office and will never be able to do so again. The media are lying to the American people; it looks like liars are protecting a liar while they do harm to the American people.
A book of Hitler speeches. That's why elements of Trump's speeches sound eerily like Hitler.
A book of Hitler's speeches, not "Mein Kampf".
Thank you. I wonder if it was a gift from someone like Bannon or Steven Miller. Or perhaps from Fred Trump’s library.
If I'm not mistaken, it may have been Roy Cohen. It has a "truthiness" to it!
right
human rights seem to be “to far left” which i guess aligns with the agenda 47 and project 2025….
Where's the Bulwark on this spectrum? Moderates might be okay with some oligarchy? I have some question whether they can love democracy more than carried interest.
Yes tax them, don't eat them, they probably taste awful.
And give the middle class a tax break!
Eat the rich, then take a big chunk of their money and use it to eat more.
The quote is, ‘Eat the rich, they’re plump and tasty.’
Well, TFG is definitely plump, but he’s probably greasy and needs a lot of salt and spices to be palatable.
Absolutely
Isn't "too far to the Right" how _We_ describe the entire membership of MAGA?
Totally. I think the point was that the corporate media will excoriate Harris and the Democratic ticket as being “too far to the left” at every opportunity but never, ever say the converse about the Rethuglifascists.
You CAN usually rely on "enlightened" self-interest to determine behavior. The GOP is "the Party of Big Business", and most Media sources (NOT on the Internet exclusively) are BIG businesses.
Point totally well taken!!!
In California's Central Valley, the conservative candidates all claim to be more conservative than anyone else. So, one can never be too far right. The right is always right (and uptight).
All the cool people lean left for sure.
If you cherry pick, it's just not science, and modern Republicans are wont to dis any science (most of it) that does not support their agenda. It almost seems (as some say) that "reality has a liberal bias". Rather, liberals are more accepting of evidence-based conclusions. (Extremist left, which is pretty much not a thing in this county as far as I can tell) not so much).
J L, Republicans are OK with science as long as it is doing something valuable for themselves; Musk loves science that lets him earn more and more money, rich people with cancer are OK with science that provides a cure for themselves, and Republican candidates love the science that provides them with social media they can use and abuse against the American people.
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
That's just bloviating by some really punily hung white guys.
Totally my opinion too 😂👎
With couches
Yes. Bring on the awesomely hung black bros to destroy those white liberal Vajay jays! Jeesh.
At any rate the "right wing" or any unpalatable extremest) tries to control public awareness with lies and theater; the pomp and circumstance of plutocratic authoritarianism Bread and circuses, mostly the latter.
The left wing can put on some pretty provocative anti-fascist theater, too. But it would be way more fun, original, and smart. Think of the 12-foot tall puppets at protests against the G-7 in Seattle in the 90s. Think of the drums, theatre, life size puppets of people and animals reenacting massacres in SOA-Watch protests at Fort Benning or in Nogales. Consider the buskers and all the musicians who sing folk songs or play jazz into the heavens.
But our theatre is to provide windows into lives, to celebrate the family and the solitary flaneur, to act out the stories in the books we give kids, to celebrate free reading, free housing, free medical care, freedom of expression, religion, the press, and the right to gather in protest when democratic ideals grow shrunken and invisible.
We’re not just the left wing, we are the wing of joy and respect and dignity and clear-eyed thinking about how to help your neighbor. How to fix things instead of stomping on them. When did we become such enemies of the Republican Party? There used to be reasonable Republicans around who could argue about ideas of policies and not take it personally or devolve into ad hominem attacks.
Yes
On that note, let's embrace it. I'm tired of pretending we don't want working class rights, time with our families, affordable healthcare, equal opportunities in education, a fair living wage, unions!, a planet that isn't being destroyed by America, government regulations that are enforced and which protect us, we liberals have been allowing fascists to dictate the narrative for too long. Too far left? Too fair? Too compassionate? Too much like Jesus. 😌😏
And blind
So far right, they are falling off the world! That is too Dam- far if you ask a sensible person like me. Practical too.
righty tighty, lefty loosey
I think "conservative" is an Orwellian euphemism for those whose "edit" and misrepresent reality to fit their ideology. There is such a thing as conservative, and they ain't it. I consider the scientific method conservative. Cutting CO2 emissions to preserve a livable future is conservative. Einstein revolutionized physics by imagining the impossibility of traveling at the speed of light. That;s the "let's try this" liberal part of innovation. He (with help) crunched the numbers. That's the conservative part. Put 'em together and you have a useful product. Political "Conservatives" just want to spin a tale that somehow males themselves the boss of you, and entitled to your money.
Make the positions anonymous, and Dwight Eisenhower would too far left for WaPo, let alone Lincoln.
Been around a bunch of the so-called "conservatives" and you are right on. It's all about who is in the group and who is out. Wealth and country club membership status usually are two defining characteristics.
Conservatives are no longer welcome in the Republican party. It has been taken over by reactionaries and their Supreme Leader.
I think what you wrote is completely applicable to the MAGAts, and to dogmatic authoritarians in general, but I have to disagree on your opinion about science being conservative.
To use your example, Einstein's work on both the Special- and General Theory of Relativity were revolutionary, and were opposed by many in the scientific establishment- the conservatives if you please- until the experimental evidence began to roll in. Science is not about liberalism or conservatism; consensus arises based on falsifiable testing, and we are pretty much unanimous in our agreement that the current picture is an interim one, subject to change as better models, data, or measurement capabilities come along.
"Conservative" has a "look before you leap" meaning folded into it, such as a "conservative" estimate that is clings to what appears to be most likely. Champions of Reaganomics insist that tax cuts for the rich pay for themselves when empirically they don't. If I remember correctly, the Reagan administration was even suggesting that tax cuts would bring in even more public revenue by making up on volume what it was losing in every transaction. Prove it.
What I am saying is that innovation and resilience successfully integrates exuberant imagination with adequate caution. Science is sometimes ridiculed for proving the (sometimes) "obvious" beyond a reasonable doubt. But that's part and parcel of discovering, with substantial justification, what is not obvious in the least.
Dear J.L., I think you labor under a great misunderstanding concerning what science is about, and invite you to visit my Substack, https://stephenschiff.substack.com, on September 23rd, for a post that explains it using lay terminology. Thank you for motivating me to finally write it!
J L, maybe what we need is a different, more accurate term than "conservative." It seems to me that to conserve, one must have something valuable enough to save. Science over time becomes conservative as we have proven some things and want to save that knowledge. Politically, those who call themselves conservative seem to want to save their feeling of uniqueness as white men, their wealth from paying their fair share of taxes, government subsidies that are not counted as welfare, and their ability to control other people's lives even when those people do not want such controls. Maybe the word to replace "conservative" (politically) should be "toddlerism."
J.L. Graham, That was nicely stated.
Thanks.
East Coast press is anti gun anti football anti sports. Touch labor is another taboo .
Violation of the ten commandments combined with strong drink drugs has usual negative consequences when combined with guns. Drunk driving has killed more people than guns but citie dwellers seem to hold guns as bad but it people who mis use guns are the proximate cause of gun deaths .
Media is to blame most who write for a living are the least expert in the touch labor parts of life hunting fishing etc nature. Sloppy thought processes.
it seems that the saying, what's in a name is appropriate to question. black is white, blue is pink etc. It is about human morals. Are we just animals as in dog eat dog or do we strive to agarpe love where humans respect all humanity and I could say gods green earth. Money has been said is the root of all evil and if that is not strictly true then it certainly corrupts us. I think we have to change that or we are on the "eve of destruction." POOF... How to make those changes boggles my mind . One individual at a time ? Here is waving my magic wand...
IMNSHFO, the root of all evil is the will to power. Money is a merely a means to attain that power.
It is difficult for folks like us to comprehend because we only want the power we need to rule our own lives and to help humanity and those we care for.
You have a beautiful heart.
J L, I am still waiting to hear about anything Republicans/"conservatives" have initiated in the past 45 years to help anyone but themselves and their rich friends. I have been working on getting an answer for a decade and have none yet. They may go along with a Democrat's or Independent's idea or bill, but initiate, no.
Very good
Exactly. Precisely. Agreed 💯%!
Indeed, I'm so tired of the soft pedaling by the media treating a man who was willing to overthrow our government as if he were a normal candidate. On the other hand,, the media needs to stop undermining our democracy by the false equivalency of both-side-ism.and instead protect our democracy by informing and
warning the public about Project 2025.
actually they consider a moderate to be a leftie.
It's like standing on the North Pole, every directions is South. Dictator from "day one"? hint's at ending elections? Seems to me that a lot of policy that was mainstream in the 1950s is branded "extreme left" by many today. I recall when Republicans ran an ad equating AOC with Poll pot.
agree
They count on us forgetting and moving on - the 2008 recession cost us 11,000,000,000,000.00 that's TRILLION dollars in jobs and tax payers money. And you want to "forget about it"?????
When Kamala Harris has a 2 hour lunch with Bernie Sander at a local mom and pop cafe, then I'll be impressed again. Right now, having lunch with Jamie Dimon who is a bigger crook than trump (even though he brought himself down with his loud orange mouth) is not okay in my book.
Don't ask me for a $10 or $20 or even one hour of phone banking when Jamie Dimon should be in jail not having lunch with a VP or on Obama's speed dial at the White House.
Go ahead and call me names. Read White Trash by Nancy Inesberg and The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One William Bill Black. Then we can chat!
Before you condemn Kamala for talking with Jamie Diamond, let's give her the benefit of the doubt and believe she is smart enough to actually be sizing up the enemy. And he is so arrogant to think he can buy her off. We won't know unless she gets elected, but I will put my money on her before the T traitor. Go K $ T. Vote Blue. Cheers... GH
After reading White Trash by Nancy Isenberg, there isn't anyone to put money on.
Okay, I'll take you up on that bet. I hope her team reads this comment. Let me see her prove it now. Before the election. Have a public lunch with Bernie Sanders. I would pay money to have lunch with Bernie Sanders...
So you really think Trump and Harris are the same, then? The country will survive Trump? Not survive him? Harris?
Come ON!!!!
Bill Black was a voice of sanity during the subprime crash. Criminality was swept under the rug, and that haunts us today.
"And the banks -- hard to believe in a time when we're facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created -- are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place," - Dick Durbin
Agreed. And that folks, is the problem and the solution. Bill Black could be Secretary of Treasury. But, I'm disappointed even Dr. Reich hasn't interviewed him.
Iceland fixed the problem after 2008. The bankers went to jail and they wrote down everyone's mortgages back to a normal price. They recovered and prospered again.
Yes.
Exactly! I’m completely bored by MSM pundits who describe the MAGA fascists as conservative. Since when did “tear it all down” become “conservative”? And then again the”far left” is practically nonexistent, so they have to label MAGA opponents to justify their own radical P2025 agenda! And the MSM doesn’t even attempt to add any clarity because “both sides”.
The quick answer to "both sides" is "Which sides are they?" Then to introduce the concept of "more than two sides".
I created a poll asking people if they are liberals or leftists. First, I asked them if they have ever heard of Karl Marx or read many of his writings. A guttural grunt is mostly all I here from the liberals. The radicals mostly yell at me for trying to get them hung or deported as leftist. Folks in the US are not known for their intellectual view of the world. Hell, some them think that reading is a radical act.
I read Karen Stenner’s “The Authoritarian Dynamic”. In it, she dicusses 3 types of conservatism: 1) free market laissez faire 2) obedience and conformity over freedom and difference and 3) stability and preservation of the status quo.
Each of these have some rationality in some circumstances. But taken to extremes, any one can be disastrous. Status quo with a gradual progressive bent has my support.
Trouble is, I’ve found that with most people, its all or nothing.
Likely he would be "too liberal" for those dopes.
Typos?
"...more years than I care (or can) remember..."
"...Any Democrat who veers too far from its definition 'moderate' ..."
I think you are missing the point when you point out typos instead of reading the sentence in your head the way you want it to be, listen to the message
No. Content is vital, but so is the efficiency of the medium that conveys it.
Anything that distracts is bad news, whether intrusive building sounds from next door, the hypnotic effect of background music, or poor language which makes you stop, then have to go back and reread.
There is no hierarchy here: message and medium should work together harmoniously. If either is below standard, it's legitimate to criticise it on its own merits, not by comparison with something else.
We gain nothing by legitimising dumbing down, wherever it occurs.
Thank you!
According to most of the press, Manchin is always described as "moderate" or "centrist", while AOC frequently labeled "extreme left". we need some contextual calibration here.
Why would they be typos? He makes perfect sense in what he said.
I think he is noting a missing a "to" in the first clause and "of" in the second.
Yes. It disturbs the communication.
Failing to proofread your own stuff is unacceptable. It insults the reader.
Sorry, but no he doesn't.
Seriously? Who cares about two little typos?
They are not little. Millions care when poor language interferes with the message.
Do you ever stop to think that your perception of any given thing is not necessarily that of others? Comprehension of anything doesn't have to follow the same path of one person.
The whole point of developing common language with common grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. is precisely to maximise the number of people who can communicate with each other.
Please stop being distracted for more than a news cycle. The story is old now but still the main one. The GOP and Donald are unfit to govern!!! They did nothing for a year in congress and he is the same rapist, business fraud, document stealing traitor, insurrectionist, Covid failure, deficit causing, project 2025, Roe ending, etc etc etc and he paid $130,000 and committed 34 felonies to hide from suburban women voters that when Melania had a baby he had sex with Stormy D.
Whatever they say, the response is “don’t change the subject, you are …..”.
Prior to the primary, we had to watch many tv commercials of people campaigning holding assault weapons! I didn’t hear anyone say anything about that!
Exactly!
Could one consider the Holocaust like evil an inevitability that bears remembering but then one must contemplate the nature of evil. It comes with humanity but is not native to it. It is innate to the World itself because humanity is natural to the world itself. Therefore such is the weight of history and its arc which bends towards justice.
Funny, when comparing Donald Trump to Hitler, I always think of Stalin, Lenin, Mao and Pol Pot when Kamala Harris comes to mind.
Certainly, from a UK perspective, there’s nothing particularly left about opposing fascism and wanting a fairer society.
Yeah, I worked for the Feds for 30 years and have seen Presidents come and go, and I have no idea what's with these Post/Times editorials. As the late Senator George McGovern said during the 1972 campaigns, when he was attacked as being a "socialist" or "leftist": "South Dakota doesn't send wild-eyed radicals to Washington." Neither does Minnesota.
Who gives a shit what they think? The pundits and polls are always wrong. Just think if they lost their jobs because of it, we'd constantly have 'better pundits'?
Unfortunately, too many people don't think. So they're easily swayed by what others say.
Michael 👍🏼
Spent a lot of time reading WaPo this am. Had not realized how very racist they are. They seem to cherry-pick stories for clickbait. They have comments sections which are very enlightening from readers’ points of view. They leave out context if it is convenient to do so. Already have healthy distrust of NYTimes. Keep it at $4/month for puzzles only. Now may have to consider dumping WaPo. For news I value apart from selected Substacks, the Guardian is my preference. And ProPublica for stories perhaps not mainstream. Other suggestions?
Al Jazeera English
Yes, I get that too, thank you for the reminder!
You probably should've dumped WaPo the moment it was purchased by Bezos. While he's not as flagrantly right whinge as supervillain Rupert Murdoch, he treats employees as badly as Musk does. He is not a man who cares about the average citizen, and the disgustingly rich should not be permitted to own media (in an ideal world, no one would be disgustingly rich).
That is why I don't subscribe to the Post anymore. They have changed and not for the better.
I second Al Jazeera.
Rightists?
"General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, compared supporters of former President Donald Trump to Nazis, according to a new (2021) book ("I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump's Final Catastrophic Year," ).
Milley, who has been widely criticized for being “woke,” claimed that Trump was preaching “the gospel of the Führer” when he contested the results of the 2020 election and claimed that Trump had led the U.S. to the brink of its own “Reichstag moment,” a reference to an incident in 1933 that Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler used to consolidate political power in Germany.
(...)
The book says that Milley responded to the January 6 riot by saying, “These guys are Nazis, they’re boogaloo boys, they’re Proud Boys. These are the same people we fought in World War II.” https://www.dailywire.com/news/gen-mark-milley-compared-trump-supporters-to-nazis-these-are-the-same-people-we-fought-in-world-war-ii
Milley farewell speech:
“We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or to a tyrant or dictator, and we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator,” Milley said. “We don’t take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it.”
I'm still flummoxed by the term "woke". Would we want a head of the joint chiefs of staff to be asleep?
From your description of General Milley's comments I would say Milley is knowledgeable about military and political history and t
able to make conclusions regarding the January 6 insurrectionists.
Milley's statements tell me he was alert and worthy of being head of the joint chiefs of staff. Bravo!
"Woke" is just another dog whistle for MAGAts. It has become nothing but a noise rather than a word.
Let’s hope not…south dakota
Nah. They’ve got dog killers.
Not just dog killers, James, unrepentant dog killers (altho I hope Kristi at least repents having gone public about it since doing so also killed any hopes she might have had of a higher-level political career).
Aw, UK perspective , so succinct in English.
" Nothing particularly left of opposing fascism and wanting a fairer society" ...exactly.
Kids get to eat lunch at school. And criminals prosecuted for their crimes.
Not left , not left at all.
Nothing “left” radical about be sensible and practical. These are just excuse for not getting Control. So they use disdainful labels implying “nasty.” It’s BS.
John, Precisely! The so-called center today…a large majority, want what “they” claim is far left. Let them call it what they want! We don’t want Fascism, we want affordable education, we want medical care for all, we want basic housing for ALL, We want equality for people of color and women, we want guns OUT of our society, we want religion OUT of our secular government!
There is according to Starmer 😬
These people calling Governor Walz and Vice President Harris too far to the left have been breathing too much of the trump toxin. Governor Walz and Vice president Harris are decent people who truly care about people something trump and company cannot comprehend. The dynamic duo gives people hope for a better future. What comes to mind is President Roosevelt's theme song: Happy Days are here again. No more anger, no more hate, no more trashing people because of who they are be it people of color, people of different faith, people with disabilities, the young and the old. We are not going back.
Can't remember where I read this observation yesterday: "The Republicans want 10-year-olds to have babies. Walz wants 10-year-olds to have lunch."
I wish some of the people making up the ads for this race had your wit. Repubs want 10 year olds to have babies, Walz wants them to have lunch. Wow thats a winner 10 sec tv ad. How do we get to the people that need to think like that?
Excellent
The 10-year-olds can have lunch during their15- minute break, but only if they pay for it
Let’s call that begrudging attitude what it really is: Miserly.
Yes, and for the children to have JOBs! The harder the job the better.
Hey, it worked 100 years years ago, Bill, and fits right in with eliminating Social Security. Let's just wipe out a century of progress and return to the 1920's. Fun Times.
Of course to make it really similar, everyone would have to give up computers, plane travel, LOTS of health care advances, etc. I bet Big Business doesn't really want all that to go away. Where would Big Oil be if only 20M people had cars or trucks? Or the military without high-grade weapons? The rest of the world would probably love to see the US wipe out a century of progress.
Right-wingers are cherry-pickers. They don't want to give up anything they like.
love that observation!
I thought it was Joy Reid
pts, thanks for sharing that! It is excellent.
I saw it too, pts and can't remember either. I liked it a lot. 🙂
Yes, Four Feet, but don't be distracted by Trump. Harris-Walz stand for everything the Koch "dark money" network has been fighting against for decades. Republican megadonors control SCOTUS, many state legislatures and courts, have majorities in Congress, and ,obviously, they influence the media and virtual reality. They will do their best to derail Harris-Walz. Hopefully, they will realize that exploiting ethnic and religious divisions is bad for business.
Koch is VND (Very Nearly Dead)
But the hate they started lives on...it needs to be killed at the root. Destroy the project before is infects the rest of the country.
One down, one to go
Seems only the good die young (and I'm 77 and counting).
However, the Koch's souls were Fedexed to Hades long, long ago.
Ya really think big corporations care??
"The only corporate social responsibility a company has is to maximize its profits."
--Milton Friedman's recipe for a sociopath.
Sure... and millions of American jobs went to China in pursuit of Milton's warped ideas implemented by greedy Republican businessmen. Unfortunately he didn't lose his job in the process.
Go K & T! Donate and vote Blue. Cheers... GH
By law the Corporation must maximize its profits. By law corporations do that for their board. By law a corporation is formed to gain tax and liability breaks.
Corporations were originally formed to serve us. Over the years that has been chipped away to enrich the few. Watch the film, The Corporation.
They will try, so we must try harder. Hit them in the pocketbook.
Four feet, I think the Red wall is cracking..last night on Amanpour & Co., Georgia's former Lt Governor, Republican, was on saying he is voting for Harris/Walz. Geoff Duncan called Walz & Harris authentic leaders & them winning, would be the pivot point & wakeup call for the Republican Party to take a pause to get his Republican Party back & fix what's broken! Come on, let's see more Republican spines stiffening !!
They say that most addicts (and power is Huuugely addictive) have to "hit bottom" before they will seek real change. If ever.
I keep getting flashes of Thorin amid Smaug's treasure. Fiction is not truth but effective fiction has truth in it.
Never back to felon Trump and his lemmings
Yes, four feet, and ck out Geoff Duncan, Republican, frmr Lt Gov of Georgia, saying he's voting for Harris/Walz. https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/06/tv/video/amanpour-geoff-duncan-tim-walz-kamala-harris
Three cheers for Mr. Duncan if he actually does. Cheers... GH
YES!!!
👏🇺🇸👍
Agree with you, wholeheartedly!!
I think smiles and joy on one side and sullen anger on the other will be the election optic. I will vote for optimistic ideas over pessimistic ones
Reminds me of many other former democratic presidential campaigns, particularly the one run and won by the wonderful human named Jimmy Carter.
100% agree! Now there was a president for all of the people! What a great humanitarian!
Hope he lives to see a Democratic victory.
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Hope and Joy and realistic plans on one side
vs.
Anger, Racism, Hate and phony plans on the other.
Look up how much more taxes a typical family of four will pay in your state under Trump's Project 2025:
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/fact-sheets-the-harmful-effects-of-project-2025-by-state/
You forgot the MAGA nectar, grievances
Jesse Jackson said something to the effect of "you don't drown until you stop swimming.
And I love this poem by Rebecca Baggett that concludes:
I want to say, like Neruda,
that I am waiting for
"a great and common tenderness,"
that I still believe
we are capable of attention,
that anyone who notices the world
must want to save it.
https://www.ayearofbeinghere.com/2014/03/rebecca-baggett-testimony.html
Remember: ...
The purpose of The Media is to MAKE MONEY for the already super-rich.
And close political races make by far the most... So the media MAKE THEM CLOSE artificially, unethically.
Truth rarely makes a profit.
The Media are destroying the planet just as surely as Big Oil, for outrageous, unethical greed
You have hit the nail on the head. Every single owner of these media companies is a rich Republican, donating o Trump. It's disgusting.
My thoughts exactly. Thank you William for making that point, it’s all for profit and to hell with the truth. I no longer support those outlets and hope that right-thinking people won’t either. Right-thing: honest & fair. 👍🏻
I got cheap intro rates to both WaPo and the NYT to see me through the election. I don't plan to let either go to full-scale subscriptions. They have both confirmed my belief that they literally aren't worth the paper (or screen space) they are written on.
Look for local journalism. We are starting to see non-profits take off. Media models like the Colorado Sun (https://coloradosun.com/) are really terrific.
Many of the reporters and publishers were layed off by the major papers in the search for never-ending growth and profits.
There are lots of good local news alternatives, Doc, but the keyword is "local." WaPo and the Times reach millions of people daily, and they've been shoving pro-Trump bias down our throats for years. NOT talking about his loony verbal hash and lies is just as bad as reporting it as tho it's "business as usual."
Trump sounds more demented and unhinged every time he speaks. If media continues to let it go, and he wins in Nov, it will now not just be the end of the democracy in the US, it will be giving an incompetent, senile, twisted twatwaffle the nuclear codes.
I check WaPo and the Times is so I can call them out about how low their standards of "journalism" have become. It works with WaPo, which doesn't censor negative comments. The Times reviews and approves comments. Criticism is NOT approved, so isn't posted (at least some of my comments haven't been posted lol). The Grey Lady doesn't want to get her skirts dirty.
Wikipedia is a good model of an alternative way to serve.
The Lever is a great newspaper source.
The Walter Cronkite of today provides daily news on Democracy Now, online.
Jan - I like the spelling bee. plus, wapo has the comics.
Lol, Paul. I just check out old Far Side cartoons.
Non-profit media all the way. Mother Jones is doing a fantastic job as are others.
I think truth and integrity actually CAN and does make a monetary profit, but you can profit more easily if you cheat (and get away with it). Reagan's hugely popular message what to let those who cheat get away with it. The problem is that those who cheat most effectively cheat everybody else, and it really helps to be born rich ( https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/16/super-rich-family-dynastic-wealth-pandemic ). https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/16/super-rich-family-dynastic-wealth-pandemicrofit per se is not evil. The devil is in the details of HOW you profit.
Some years ago I did a little calculation about feeding hungry children in the US to answer some RW holier-than-thou twit. If 7 Walton family members just donated their dividends annually they could feed them all.
Totally
👏👏👏👏👏
Nail. Head. William.
And profit is not necessarily a bad thing if its what T. Roosevelt called a "Square Deal", win-win. All dollars spend the same, but they are not all earned the same, and that can make a world of difference.
Exactly, J L.
I thought about it, but I just couldn't justify buying a 5th yacht. I'm sorry for all the workmen who won't be making as much money because of it, but sometimes you just have to make a decision and stick to it. 🙄
NOT ABC
Indeed, the purpose of The Media is to MAKE MONEY for the already super-rich. The Media are destroying the planet just as surely as Big Oil, for outrageous, unethical greed I will add, the major media, have been and are, giving Trump, again and again a free pass, when it comes to answering questions, he obfuscates and lies, at the same time, as with Biden and his press secretary, they do the same now with Kamala Harris, both, are hounded by the press and are demanded to answer questions but not Trump, makes you wonder? doesn’t it.
I no longer wonder, Jon. I'm disgusted.
The US will be a scary place if Trump wins in Nov. And if the US is scary, many other countries will be scared.
Will Game Over, if Trump reaches the Whitehouse
Yep.
Elitist talk. By the corporate press. To be ignored.
Wrong! They need to be called out by Harris and Walz. In 2024, passiveness is fatal to any campaign because you're allowing the estalishment to define you. Think Dukakis!
Ignored? ... really?
At our peril.
Hard to ignore when it is being shouted simultaneously by multiple sources
They haven't figured out yet that the rest of the country has moved past them.
We want what Harris and Walz are offering.
Their commentary is as useful as, "Blah, blah, blah".
Diane, 73M people voted for what Trump was offering in 2020 (if it hadn't been for the pandemic, he'd probably have won). They haven't moved anywhere, they don't know any more, and he's had 4 years of unchecked media time to bloviate.
Everyone who wants "what Harris and Walz are offering" say so loud and clear in November. It will take a blue wave to crush MAGA. A close vote will give it oxygen.
Yes, Diane, we're on the train that's left that station!
We always were.
But demanding " government of the people, by the people, for the people" gives us agency.
It's heartening watching Bunkerboy and Couch-lover's numbers TANK.
Oh, yes, They have definitely figured that out- that the American voter does indeed want what Harris/Walz are peddling and it is scaring them to death!! That is why the blatant falsehoods and blathering nonsense verses of The Donald still receive coverage, presented by the media as though they actually have credibility as an alternative political agenda!
I also like that hes not a multi millionaire and doesn't own stock or rental houses. That he is also a former teacher very much appeals to me.
…:and military veteran🇺🇸
"The New York and Washington chattering class" ... can bite me
😊 Thank you, Robert ❤️
Me too, William.
And I will have anyone who bites me arrested (I'll wear a big bandage over the bitemark so everyone will know how serious it is). 🙂
And me, William!
🤣🤣
Yes, this "elite talk" needs to be countered and countered forcefully. Walz is a populist Democrat who speaks on Middle America's cultural and economic wavelength. That is why both AOC and Joe Manchin (hardly ideological allies) both approve of the Walz pick.
He is not only a good candidate to win, but his focus on transforming the lives of everyday Americans economically is a good blueprint for the direction the Democratic Party should take.
P.S. Walz was originally from Nebraska, which just so happens to hold a very important congressional district that may be key to an Electoral College victory. So this "Walz doesn't have a connection to an important swing state" rhetoric is utter nonsense.
I would LOVE to see an effort to flip NE-CD3 blue. It's Walz's birthplace and probably has not gone D since LBJ. The media buy would not be so great. A few stations in South Dakota and a couple of towns in Nebraska.
The district that has gone blue is Omaha (NE-CD2).
Right on NE-CD2. That is the "blue district." I know technically Walz is not from there, but I am guessing that "the Nebraska connection" may help (even if only a little bit) statewide.
I would love to see a long-term effort for NE-CD3. I would love to see Democrats revive the old farm-labor coalition across the country, actually. But Dems have a deep hill to climb in NE-CD3 for now, and it would have to be a project they invest in over at least a decade and probably decades.
He is also acquainted with the state of consciousness.
I didn't know NE was close to being a swing state, David. Can you explain how it is? Is it the Omaha area? <Disclaimer: I'm serious, no skepticism>
The system of awarding Electoral College votes by Congressional District and then the Senate two by statewide vote is unique to Nebraska and Maine.
It represents a much better alternative than the National Popular Vote interstate compact. The NPV is far too tilted towards the big population states like CA and NY to come into effect. It has or will soon stall out as a yet another effort by the Coastal elites to impose their solutions on the rest of the country.
The NE/ME solution makes a whole lot more sense nationwide and would actually get traction after a Harris-Walz win.
The NPV has 219 E votes. MI, VA, and NC (44 total E votes) have all passed it in one chamber. That passes the threshold. Imo that’s not a bridge too far.
If there’s a more palatable alternative, good. Anything that ends the EC without a constitutional amendment is probably an improvement.
Are you saying that in NE/ME E votes go to the House and presidential races by district, and a Senate race is decided by statewide majority vote?
Wouldn’t gerrymandering be a factor there?
No worries. In 2020, Biden took one electoral vote from Nebraska (the 2nd District, which includes Omaha according to my understanding), because Nebraska splits its electoral vote up. In the event of a near-electoral college tie, that one electoral vote from the 2nd District could be the tiebreaker. Which is why Trump and his allies have been pushing to change Nebraska to a “winner-takes-all” format (see https://elections2024.thehill.com/forecast/2024/president/nebraska-2/).
In other words, many eyes, Republican and Democrat, are on the 2nd District and Nebraska as a whole.
Thx, David.
EXCELLENT point about the blueprint, David.
Both The NY Times and Washington Post are in great danger of losing my subscriptions because of their lack of criticism about the dangers of fascism and misogyny of the MAGA cult!!! We now have pregnant women bleeding out in Texas hospital parking lots because they are not considered “sick” enough to warrant an abortion to save their lives. About 10% of pregnancies end in miscarriage because it is nature’s way to stop a pregnancy where something is terribly wrong with the fetus!
Maybe start by cancelling the Post. The Bezos ownership is intolerable. Maybe tech bros, like foreign governments, should be banned from news media ownership.
I cancelled them both a while ago,,,
The 1% should be banned from news media ownership....
NYT lost mine a month ago 🖕
If we are going to say center right and center left are going to decide this election, even if you would say Harris Walz is extreme left ,which I don’t believe, Trump Vance is extreme right for sure. So that makes it kind of a draw. Then the decision is democracy, rule of law, vs authoritarian dictatorship.
Don't know if you could be more right wing than trying to shove Project 2025 down our throats, yet Trump calls liberals communists. Hey, isn't Putins Russia communist?
The T-traitor has had his head up Putin's butt for 25 years trying to get him to build a Moscow hotel with T's name on it. Call Russia by any "new" name you want, it is still run no different than when the hard core Commies were in charge. That makes T a Commie traitor in my book. Remember when T was at a meeting in Europe and held a joint press conference with Putin? T said he trusted Putin's intelligence sources more the our American CIA, FBI , military and allies sources. And still millions of Americans will vote for this monster again in November. Go figure!
Go K & T! Donate and vote Blue! Cheers... GH
D, Wiki describes Russia as s "Federal semi-presidential republic under an authoritarian dictatorship." I'm not sure what it means, but it's great both-siding. 🙄
I think Putin pretends to be a democracy?
…and, lest we forget, convicted criminality. ;0)
Paraphrasing Walz's statement, "Crime went up during Trump. And that's not counting what he committed."
Trumpy/Vance are so Far “right” they are off the Deep End. Dark and dangerous for everyone but a cult few’s health.
Except media never says "extreme right," Sally. The implication is that only "extreme left" is dangerous, which is nuts.
I saw it on social media a LOT in 2020. There are a lot of middle European immigrants in my area (relatively speaking), and they seem to have brought their authoritarian backgrounds with them. They were all worked up about the dangers of socialism or even (gasp!) COMMUNISM, but none of them ever said fascism would be just as bad. They didn't even see that Trump was offering fascism.
Too many opinion writers; not enough news reporters.
SPOT ON, Evan!
Yellow journalism for sure
As Pete B. Put it, that’s what the Supreme MAGA Party shriek about any Democrat, always.
Consider the source. NYT and WAPO are both garbage when it comes to opinion writers.
Theissen, barf o rama.
Makes good wrapping for stinky garbage.
I watched last night with a big smile on my face! Walz is a breath of fresh air and obviously the right is terrified! He’s delightful and so is she, normal , Americans exactly what we deserve. I am very disappointed in the Washington Post!
Watch it and look at the chemistry with Harris. Her expressions were off the charts favorable to Tim. That was something I have never seen in politics.