My grim prediction is that Trump will not complete his 4 year term. Neocons will make clear what "by any means necessary" means. Vance could be a collateral.
My grim prediction is that Trump will not complete his 4 year term. Neocons will make clear what "by any means necessary" means. Vance could be a collateral.
Trump saying he's requiring the new Senate majority Leader to confirm his cabinet with recess appointments. And of course the Republicans in the race to become Senate majority theater said they will agree. With having 53 seats even if murkowski and that dumbass Collins vote no they still got it.
This is all a growing nightmare.
I have been trying to tell people I know -- many friends who had confused political leanings and who faded Right -- about the simple facts and basis of the New Republic article cited in earlier posts here.
I have been "on" the topic of propaganda and even "psy-war" since 2002. That was 22 years ago. And it was just two years after that when I begin checking FOX News against what I'd learned and what I knew. I discovered that they manufactured facts into distortions, censored some facts in an attempt to lead their audience as lemmings, that they'd just plain lied, and that all of this was deliberate. I would check back with them every so often, and it would always be the case that I found something never even mentioned by the main-stream media -- their competition -- who practice objective journalism.
I had a friend -- no longer a friend because I needed to explain to him that he was being stupid after having a so-called education. I explained these things to him. I asked him to find similar examples of the lies and distortions coming from MSNBC or CNN. He wouldn't do it, and I could only conclude that he couldn't do it, because they practice responsible journalism.
In the last week, I've found anecdotal instances of the sort of confusion which seems to infect the public. For example, there was the Latino voter in Texas named Garcia, who told the reporter that Biden's policies and term in office caused him to lose $80,000 of his retirement nest-egg accumulated over 40 years. The educated guess puts his age at approximately 60 or more. LOOK AT THE DJIA AND S&P 500 FROM NEW YEAR'S 2021 THROUGH THE PRESENT. With that sort of mostly-upward trend and but for a slight retreat around 2022 -- very shallow -- it would've been impossible, really, to lose that money because of Biden, and only possible to lose it for stupid investment decisions. Any guided investment fund with a conservative strategy would have taken that part of his fund -- $80,000 -- and posted an increase of close to 30% or $24,000. EArnings would've been greater for the entire nest-egg.
Then, today, I visited a smoke/vaping shop whose owner I've known for 22 years -- a Palestinian-American and man of common sense. Dad wasn't in, but his son was there, and we began a conversation. He tried to tell me that Trump had already done some wonderful things, because the price of gasoline had dropped to about $4.20. This is California, and so that's great news, except for one thing: Gas prices have been at $4.20 in certain parts of my city since early October, and had already subsided in earlier months. Trump had nothing to do with this. I explained it to him. He listened to me.
Deceptive media is not worth any citizen's time. They should be able to distinguish who's telling the Truth, and who's telling Lies. For some reason, many people among us are clueless about the difference.
INstead of using the Truth as a yardstick to choose what media to believe, they use a choice of whatever story supports their beliefs or panders to their discontent, and they follow it.
People should've learned about this from the German history of the 1930s. But -- they haven't done so.
Sure. But it gets down to simple scientific method and inferential logic: Who is Lying and Who is Telling the Truth. That's all one needs to know in choosing sources. I can understand that a lot of people aren't sophisticated enough in their minds to do these things properly, but -- there you are.Confirmation bias.. things are great when it's your favored person doing it but things are terrible when it's the other guy!
Sure. But it gets down to simple scientific method and inferential logic: Who is Lying and Who is Telling the Truth. That's all one needs to know in choosing sources. I can understand that a lot of people aren't sophisticated enough in their minds to do these things properly, but -- there you are.
This is true, but did Kamala really try to dispute a lot of this mis-information? For instance, the right promoted the narrative of illegal immigrants living for free in luxury Hotels, getting free medical care, cell phones, food, and welfare benefits. Is this true? Did Kamala address it, true or not? Did she state specifically what benefits they get, from whom (federal, state, local govt), and for how long? If so I never heard it.This is all a growing nightmare.
I have been trying to tell people I know -- many friends who had confused political leanings and who faded Right -- about the simple facts and basis of the New Republic article cited in earlier posts here.
I have been "on" the topic of propaganda and even "psy-war" since 2002. That was 22 years ago. And it was just two years after that when I begin checking FOX News against what I'd learned and what I knew. I discovered that they manufactured facts into distortions, censored some facts in an attempt to lead their audience as lemmings, that they'd just plain lied, and that all of this was deliberate. I would check back with them every so often, and it would always be the case that I found something never even mentioned by the main-stream media -- their competition -- who practice objective journalism.
I had a friend -- no longer a friend because I needed to explain to him that he was being stupid after having a so-called education. I explained these things to him. I asked him to find similar examples of the lies and distortions coming from MSNBC or CNN. He wouldn't do it, and I could only conclude that he couldn't do it, because they practice responsible journalism.
In the last week, I've found anecdotal instances of the sort of confusion which seems to infect the public. For example, there was the Latino voter in Texas named Garcia, who told the reporter that Biden's policies and term in office caused him to lose $80,000 of his retirement nest-egg accumulated over 40 years. The educated guess puts his age at approximately 60 or more. LOOK AT THE DJIA AND S&P 500 FROM NEW YEAR'S 2021 THROUGH THE PRESENT. With that sort of mostly-upward trend and but for a slight retreat around 2022 -- very shallow -- it would've been impossible, really, to lose that money because of Biden, and only possible to lose it for stupid investment decisions. Any guided investment fund with a conservative strategy would have taken that part of his fund -- $80,000 -- and posted an increase of close to 30% or $24,000. EArnings would've been greater for the entire nest-egg.
Then, today, I visited a smoke/vaping shop whose owner I've known for 22 years -- a Palestinian-American and man of common sense. Dad wasn't in, but his son was there, and we began a conversation. He tried to tell me that Trump had already done some wonderful things, because the price of gasoline had dropped to about $4.20. This is California, and so that's great news, except for one thing: Gas prices have been at $4.20 in certain parts of my city since early October, and had already subsided in earlier months. Trump had nothing to do with this. I explained it to him. He listened to me.
Deceptive media is not worth any citizen's time. They should be able to distinguish who's telling the Truth, and who's telling Lies. For some reason, many people among us are clueless about the difference.
Instead of using the Truth as a yardstick to choose what media to believe, they use a choice of whatever story supports their beliefs or panders to their discontent, and they follow it.
People should've learned about this from the German history of the 1930s. Josef Goebbels and Leni Riefenstal, for Chrissake! But -- they haven't done so. FOX was telling them that American "socialists" were behind the development of propaganda as a political tool, that their audience couldn't be fooled because they were "smart" and too independent to be misled. But all the scholarship cites Goebbels and his notebooks -- it had been the Nazis, and CIA began experimenting with propaganda directed at the rest of the world based on what they'd already learned from former Nazi sociologists and psychologists previously employed by Goebbels. Of course, Congress put the kibosh on this back in the mid '70s.
Basically, Glen Beck was telling them the same aspects of self-awareness cited by propaganda scholar Jacques Ellul, but Ellul had observed that propaganda works precisely because people take this attitude that they cannot be fooled -- that they're smart. That they're individuals, not some "average of the mass". It was clear to me that Beck had read the same book and turned the argument around to deceive his audience. Beck used the identical words and statements in his FOX presentation.
I"m still wondering ;how much trouble it was, in the wake of the Nuremberg Trials, to wake up the post-war German population to see the Truth. Nuremberg was a tool to make that happen, but someone tell me if the difficulties had been chronicled. Maybe we could take some lesson from Tom Hank's movie, Bridge of Spies, but I've seen that true story a few times and I can't really see how. For certain -- Germany had to be pounded into rubble and mush, leaving the civilian population in misery to figure things out.
Like it would have any effect at all, considering the current pathetic media.This is true, but did Kamala really try to dispute a lot of this mis-information? For instance, the right promoted the narrative of illegal immigrants living for free in luxury Hotels, getting free medical care, cell phones, food, and welfare benefits. Is this true? Did Kamala address it, true or not? Did she state specifically what benefits they get, from whom (federal, state, local govt), and for how long? If so I never heard it.
This is true, but did Kamala really try to dispute a lot of this mis-information? For instance, the right promoted the narrative of illegal immigrants living for free in luxury Hotels, getting free medical care, cell phones, food, and welfare benefits. Is this true? Did Kamala address it, true or not? Did she state specifically what benefits they get, from whom (federal, state, local govt), and for how long? If so I never heard it.
It also looks very bad that illegal immigrants are supposedly getting all these great benefits while citizens who have paid taxes all their lives sometimes have to work 2 jobs to afford a run down apartment or buy food or gas for the car. As I said, I dont really know how much of this narrative is true, or if it happens, how many illegals get such benefits. Is it a few, 20%, 50%, whatever? It does seem that federal benefits are supposedly quite limited for non citizens, but is this being ignored or are most of the benefits coming from state and local entities? The right wing media is very effective at placing blame justifiably or not, but the Dems seemed just to ignore these issues a lot of times as if they were afraid to even talk about them. I hate to tell them, but the issues are not going away. The right wing media will make sure of that. Better to address them directly, refute what is false, and perhaps even admit (gasp) that mistakes were made and how they will learn from and correct them. Of course, this did not fit with Kamala's statement that she wouldn't change anything from what Biden did (a horrible response to a question she should have been prepared for).All you need is a cab to take you to migrant hotels and try to get a room there. You'll find out for yourself what's going on.
Bottom line: We were not prepared for a migration of this scale or the optics of it.
We already have family migration.. people have to fill forms, show eligibility and financial requirements and it takes years but people bring their families over. Trump and Stephen Miller and Lou Dobbs were shouting about that.
Then there's the incels marrying young hot girls from overseas who get their green cards and then divorce them because they're "unhappy" who turn around and then bring their families and real boyfriends over. Men flocked to Trump over that.
These problems existed before.. but showing the migrants getting free hotels and meals while people can't get police to respond for hours if not days and people seeing cracks in the wall where migrants pour in. This just put nitro and gasoline already on the fire.
The bigger fuckup was they were so concerned with stopping Bernie.. they didn't mind fascism and fascism won!
It also looks very bad that illegal immigrants are supposedly getting all these great benefits while citizens who have paid taxes all their lives sometimes have to work 2 jobs to afford a run down apartment or buy food or gas for the car. As I said, I dont really know how much of this narrative is true, or if it happens, how many illegals get such benefits. Is it a few, 20%, 50%, whatever? It does seem that federal benefits are supposedly quite limited for non citizens, but is this being ignored or are most of the benefits coming from state and local entities? The right wing media is very effective at placing blame justifiably or not, but the Dems seemed just to ignore these issues a lot of times as if they were afraid to even talk about them. I hate to tell them, but the issues are not going away. The right wing media will make sure of that. Better to address them directly, refute what is false, and perhaps even admit (gasp) that mistakes were made and how they will learn from and correct them. Of course, this did not fit with Kamala's statement that she wouldn't change anything from what Biden did (a horrible response to a question she should have been prepared for).
It is the economy....
(Has nothing to do with politics, but explains why those on low income have been steamrolled by the economy)
Fix this and you will get majority.
But headline economic figures have become less and less of a useful guide to how actual families are doing—something repeatedly noted by Democrats during the Obama recovery and the Trump years. Inequality may be declining, but it still skews GDP and income figures, with most gains going to the few, not the many. The obscene cost of health care saps family incomes and government coffers without making anyone feel healthier or wealthier.
I don't necessarily agree with the whole thread but the man brings up some decent points
Roger McNamee (@moonalice.bsky.social)
We should acknowledge that MAGA and Trump’s victory were enabled by internet platforms whose business models reward fear and outrage. Dems had 8 yrs after FB enabled Trump and never had a floor vote in either chamber on a single bill that could possibly have addressed the harms. 🧵1/xbsky.app
We should acknowledge that MAGA and Trump’s victory were enabled by internet platforms whose business models reward fear and outrage. Dems had 8 yrs after FB enabled Trump and never had a floor vote in either chamber on a single bill that could possibly have addressed the harms.
In this context, Biden focus on antitrust was a HUGE deal. Cases against FB, Meta, Apple, Amazon could easily have created the first meaningful constraints on Big Tech. Perhaps they still will. But we lost the WH, House, Senate because Big Tech enables alternate reality for MAGA.
Fox, Rogan et al are really important, but you cannot sustain a collective delusion for 120+ million people with platforms that reach 5-10% of that. Big Tech is essential connective tissue to recruit, indoctrinate, organize, manipulate. In 2024, Big Tech stopped pretending to be neutral.
An article from The Atlantic covering pretty much the same ground. Economic indicators looked good but didn't tell the whole story about the experience of many Americans who weren't doing as well as the economic indicators that most look at.
_________________
You're so pissed about immigrants, why haven't you reported him?I personally know a guy who's been illegal and under order of deportation for the past 30 years. He's defied the order, stayed here and has an American wife and 2 kids. He's also suffering from bad kidneys and has to get dialysis every 2 days.
It's completely free for him where as any healthcare for his American wife and kids requires a copay and monthly insurance premiums. His wife loves him but she hates that she has to pay for stuff she doesn't see any benefit from personally and even he openly says.. "How can Americans be so stupid?"
He said this kind of stupidity is why Trump will win.. because Kamala is stupid. His words not mine.
Then there are other liberals who loved Biden.. love what he did with the stock market and bringing covid under control.. they gave him a pass on inflation but over the migrants they voted for Trump. They say they don't even feel safe visiting Manhattan anymore with these criminal gangs.
And ofcourse I said it before.. even the fucking Indians hate Kamala because she's black. Well reflected in the vote totals.
My advice to you is.. don't shoot the messenger.. fix the message and change perceptions/ feels. Because what a person feels might be different from a powerpoint presentation.
You're so pissed about immigrants, why haven't you reported him?
This is true, but did Kamala really try to dispute a lot of this mis-information? For instance, the right promoted the narrative of illegal immigrants living for free in luxury Hotels, getting free medical care, cell phones, food, and welfare benefits. Is this true? Did Kamala address it, true or not? Did she state specifically what benefits they get, from whom (federal, state, local govt), and for how long? If so I never heard it.
There was a path for Harris to win the EC without winning the popular vote. If she had carried the blue wall states (Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania) she would have had exactly 270 electoral votes, and the win. That would only have taken about 200k votes, while the popular vote margin is now about 2.5 million. One can argue whether Trump has a true "mandate", but clearly it should be a wake up call for the Democrats. It is the first time they have lost the popular vote in 20 years, and they lost support in, I think, every demographic except African Americans. Especially troubling is the shift toward Trump in younger voters.She didn't really get a lot of time to make her case.
I keep flipping-back-and-forth on who/what I blame for this disaster - I'm not particularly a fan of Kamala Harris (or of the Democratic Party), but it seems pretty clear there were many bigger issues involved in the outcome. I do think it's appalling that none of those around Biden apparently registered how decrepit he was becoming and had a word with him about standing down long before that dire debate performance. Whether or not that would mean a proper primary and a different ultimate candidate, or even if it still led to Harris, it would have allowed more time for a new candidate to make their own mark.
Also it's still the case that the popular vote (according to the latest figures) was only a 50%-48.5% win for Trump (with half-percents going to the other candidates), and it's frustrating that Republicans can reliably win when that margin is reversed, while this way round it ends as an electoral college landslide for Trump.
This new gilded age feels terrible.The billionaire feedback loop into politics reaching critical mass.
Aka end stage capitalism.