The Supreme Court just ruled that the President has absolute immunity to do whatever he wants so long as it’s “official,” and Trump is giving the public a view of how he will use that power: to prosecute and jail his enemies, especially Liz Cheney. He could imprison them in Guantanamo and tried for treason by a military tribunal,
This is the kind of thing that happens in dictatorships, not in the USA. Right? In a Trump future, July 4 would be celebrated with a military parade of tanks and missiles. Do you think our men and women in the military can learn the goose step?
Former President Donald J. Trump over the weekend escalated his vows to prosecute his political opponents, circulating posts on his social media website invoking “televised military tribunals” and calling for the jailing of President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Senators Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer and former Vice President Mike Pence, among other high-profile politicians.
Mr. Trump, using his account on Truth Social on Sunday, promoted two posts from other users of the site that called for the jailing of his perceived political enemies.
One post that he circulated on Sunday singled out Liz Cheney, the former Wyoming congresswoman who is a Republican critic of Mr. Trump’s, and called for her to be prosecuted by a type of military court reserved for enemy combatants and war criminals.
“Elizabeth Lynne Cheney is guilty of treason,” the post said. “Retruth if you want televised military tribunals.”
A separate post included photos of 15 former and current elected officials that said, in all-capital letters, “they should be going to jail on Monday not Steve Bannon!” Those officials included Mr. Biden, Ms. Harris, Mr. Pence, Mr. Schumer and Mr. McConnell — the top leaders in the Senate — and Representative Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker.
The list in the second post also had members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, including Ms. Cheney and the former Illinois congressman Adam Kinzinger, another Republican, and the Democratic Representatives Adam Schiff, Jamie Raskin, Pete Aguilar, Zoe Lofgren and Bennie Thompson, who chaired the committee.
In a statement, the Trump campaign did not address Mr. Trump’s posts, instead repeating allegations of misconduct by members of the committee, saying “Liz Cheney and the sham January 6th committee banned key witnesses, shielded important evidence, and destroyed documents” related to their investigation.
To think that this vile man might be re-elected ruins my day.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Well, it’s my birthday and DT doesn’t have the power to ruin it. Not yet, anyway. Just wondering—where are all the calls from WaPo and NYTimes for the felonious-full-of-flapdoodle former guy to quit the race? I’m waiting! It would be a great birthday present!
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Happy birthday, Cindy! Heck, happy every day!
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Thank you, Bob.
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The Washington Post and the NY Times are left-wing Democratic party organs. They have zero influence over what Republican voters believe. Their calling for Trump to quit would be like yelling at the sky.
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If these are left-wing outfits, I am Batman.
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But then, in the Fascist state that the Roberts court is creating, anything short of utter totalitarianism will be left-wing. In fact, anything that the President decides he doesn’t like today will be radical and punishable.
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Note that Pence is on that lust. If Trump is “so amazing,” how is it that HIS OWN VICE PRESIDENT needs to be tried by a military tribunal?
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Fill in the blank.
Re: Donald. To know him is to ______ him.
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Good morning Diane and everyone,
When you really think about it, Kamala Harris would most likely take Biden’s spot if he dropped out. So why not just stay the course with Biden? If he dies in office or needs to abdicate :), she would take over anyway.
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If Biden were to drop out, could Kamala Harris capture those voters who don’t like Biden or Trump? I guess we would have to know why they don’t like Biden. If it were just because of his age and not his policies, would they more likely back Harris? Perhaps so. No matter what happens, it is impossible to know how this election will turn out.
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Her approval ratings, alas, are even worse than are Joe’s, and Joe’s are abysmal.
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I know….I think the only person who could really beat him would be someone with the same level of status and name recognition that he has. I wish Michelle Obama had wanted to run.
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Barack Obama. . .
Carried on with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq exactly as George Bush, Jr. had been carrying those out–with ZERO change
Filled his cabinet with people from Wall Street
Bailed out the banks instead of the homeowners, forcing millions who formerly owned their own homes (the greatest means by which people in the middle class have traditionally built generational wealth) into becoming renters
Via quantitative easing, oversaw the greatest transfer of wealth from the middle-class to the extremely wealthy in all of American history
Gave us a Republican healthcare plan, created by Mitt Romney when he was governor of Massachusetts
Gave us Arnie Duncan and Race to the Bottom
Massively ramped up star chambers and the surveillance state
Did nothing to codify a woman’s right to choose
Played a progressive on TV (“My tables—meet it is I set it down
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain.”)
Oh, sure. More of that.
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Also had NYTimes reporter Pulitzer Prize winning James Risen under threat for years for prosecution because he would not reveal his sources for reporting on CIA operations. Risen called the Obama Administration “the greatest enemy of press freedoms in a generation”. Furthermore I believe the Obama Administration’s policies regarding the bank bailouts etc ultimately to a Trump presidency.
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Obama could easily have set up the bank bailouts so that they flowed through the homeowners to the banks so that those people could stay in their homes. Instead, he created a feast for the predatory banks. They foreclosed on those properties, sold them to private equity, and the equity firms are now renting them out at the inflated rental prices that resulted from so many people being thrown into the rental market. Thanks, Barack.
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Let’s also recall that Pulitzer Prize winning reporter James Risen was under threat for prosecution by the Obama Administration for years because he would not reveal his sources about CIA operations. Risen called the Obama Administration the “greatest enemy of press freedoms in a generation”. He called Obama’s statements supporting a free press “hypocritical”. Also I believe that the Obama Administration’s bailout of banks and lack of prosecution of any bankers helped lead the way to a Trump Presidency.
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Absolutely so. Bizarrely, there are people who still think that this guy was some sort of progressive.
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I never even mentioned Barack Obama.
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My reply, Mamie, is in moderation. Barack Obama was not a progressive.
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I’m not talking about Barack Obama. I’m talking about Michelle Obama. Two different people.
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I am assuming that Michelle Obama supported her husband’s policies. I don’t know that she doesn’t.
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Why would you think that???
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I don’t recall her ever stating any disagreement with any of these policies.
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And I don’t recall his ever saying that she disagreed with any of these policies. In the absence of ANY information about this, I am not going to assume that she holds views diametrically opposed to his.
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Perhaps you don’t know women.
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I know a lot of women, but whether I “know women” is an interesting question. This assumes that there is a mysterious woman-being that is not generally accessible. A curious idea.
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I wish Biden could get out there today -July 4th – on national television and give a strong speech to energize the country. But he can’t or won’t or his advisers won’t let him. It will be a wasted moment for him. He could use his power to be out there everyday. In this moment of extreme danger to our democracy, shouldn’t a president be doing that? But alas….
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He’s prepping for a taped interview with George Snuffleupagus.
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Obama appointed Sotomayor and Kagan to the SCOTUS, give him some credit.
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Achillesmjb– Bank bailouts were authorized by ESEE & TARP signed by GWB 10/3/08.
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Tarp became law in October of 2008. Obama became president in 2009. As a candidate, Obama supported it. As president, he carried it out.
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Bob– I’m surprised you assume Barack & Michelle Obama’s policy preferences are the same. I don’t recall Bill Clinton ever stating that the First Lady disagreed with xyz policy (ies), nor vice versa– presenting a unified front is the best strategy during prez terms. Yet clear differences were apparent during the HRC prez campaign.
Had Michelle Obama wanted to run, we would have had a basis for such conjecture, revealed during primary campaigns/ debates. At this point any possible alternate to Biden would have to be someone with recent govt experience, revealing their policy preferences in action.
Kamala Harris is in fact such a person. AG of CA for 6 yrs + US Senator from CA 4 yrs + VP 3-1/2 yrs. I agree with Mamie: candidate Biden is essentially a twofer for those voters worried he will w/dw or die in office.
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I’m a big fan of Harris.
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Bob– p.s., I am not overly concerned about popularity polls on Kamala Harris. It was ever so for VP’s. No doubt why HHH lost to Nixon. As VP he was a pinata for press, absorbing negative sentiment against LBJ. Ditto Spiro Agnew– and Ford– for Nixon, and GHW Bush for Reagan (who would not have won against a strong Dem candidate, but… Dukakis).
Not true of Mondale; his partnership role with Carter was mimicked later on by Clinton/Gore, GWB/ Cheney, Obama/ Biden. [NOT Trump/ Pence]. That the Biden/ Harris relationship is seen by press/ public in the old-style light I attribute solely to the fact that she is a woman.
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I really like Harris. But sometimes I feel completely alone in that. But I think that there is no way she could win. Her polling numbers are terrible.
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Bob– I credit Obama with changing the national discussion on health insurance. There was no way he could have gotten single-payer through Congress in 2009-10. ACA has its flaws, but it is essential for many (including my millennial sons), and millions of the previously-uninsured now at least have affordable high-deductible plans that keep them from being bankrupted by a car accident. So gradually public support for single-payer govt ins has increased. By 2019-2020 (Pew polls), Rep/ lean-Rep support had grown to 34% & Dem/ lean-Dem to 63%. Clearly the large majority of voters now think of affordable healthcare as a right, not a privilege of the wealthy.
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This is a picture. To see it, click on the link. –Bob Shepherd
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As I asked last week: where are the calls for Trump to step down? Why does the NYT consider a convicted felon and a man who continues to make vengeful and deranged public statements to be ‘normal ‘?
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Also why hasn’t the New York Times called for Vladimir Putin to step down??
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Thr NYT, for better or worse, does have some influence on American politics. Remember “her emails”? Their editorial board has called on Biden to drop out. Why not do the same for an extremely flawed GOP candidate?
I don’t expect the NYT to call our foreign heads of state.
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You got the answer correct. And some might cite the same logic in response to your question—that the Times has no real influence over GOP politics. Not complicated, no conspiracy.
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Birdchum, you are asking excellent questions.
Of course the NYT could and should call for Trump to step aside — they should have done that multiple times given what Trump has done over the years, including showing severe cognitive issues when he was rambling on about injecting bleach to fight covid back in 2020.
If you are an extremely conservative news organization, you have no influence on the Democrats, therefore you must only call on Republicans to resign but never Dems. (Someone should inform Fox News, stat!)
If you are the NYT, a liberal news organization, you have no influence over the GOP, therefore you must only call on Democrats to resign but never Republicans.
That’s got to be the craziest rule I have ever heard, but it would explain why the NYT’s extremely negative coverage of Biden is so starkly different than the NYT’s “both sides equal” neutral coverage of the right wing Supreme Court’s immunity decision and their neutral coverage of a Republican party that has embraced authoritarianism. The NYT has no influence over the GOP, so the NYT restricts itself to “both sides valid” reporting for news about Republicans. But since the NYT influences Dems, it’s acceptable for the NYT to have an extreme anti-Dem bias in their news stories, going out of their way to turn any missteps into political crises caused by the dangerous unfitness of a Democrat.
“the Times has no real influence over GOP politics” — that definitely explains why the NYT felt confident in running an essay encouraging readers not to vote. They knew that it would have no influence on GOP folks.
No need to speculate on the reasons the NYT would want to popularize and honor the idea of not-voting. We have now been given the explanation here — the NYT knows it has no influence on GOP voters. The NYT believes “don’t vote” is an important message for the Democrat voters that they DO influence.
It’s interesting to analyze all the negative Biden / neutral GOP stories according to this theory that the NYT knows the only voters who they can influence are Democrats.
Thus Biden bad. Supreme Court does stuff that probably doesn’t matter, Trump does some things some people don’t like and some do and probably doesn’t matter. Don’t vote.
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We teachers, and there are a lot of them here on this blog, know that a lot of how people are as adults goes back to how they were treated as children. Consider Donald Trump, for example. He had an extremely emotionally abusive father. So, he spent his childhood chasing, unsuccessfully, his father’s approval. That’s a recipe for creating the Authoritarian Personality. Authoritarians are fearful of that which is at all unlike them, just as they were fearful of their fathers. Authoritarians respect and admire and look up to people who are powerful and cruel, like their fathers. Authoritarians compensate for their feelings of inadequacy, instilled in them because they couldn’t please their fathers, by building themselves up, insisting that there is a social hierarchy, and they are at the top of it, and other types of people are inferior, are below them. Authoritarians want command and control because they were so helpless as kids, subject to arbitrary whims. Authoritarians are often extremely religious–they worship the distant father god who doles out punishment and reward or they are in cahoots with those who do. Authoritarians mete out violence because they were subject to violence, and this makes them angry. They follow the model of their fathers. And so one gets the traits of the authoritarian adult. The Fascist is the abused child all grown up. At root, Fascists are insecure and afraid. That’s why, like Donald Trump, they often themselves avoided military service. They are cowards at heart. But their vindictiveness, their desire to command and control others and insist that they live by their rules, their sexism, their racism, their objectification of everything–other people, the environment, their deceitfulness, their ready anger, their love of power and of exercising cruelty (with authoritarians there are always prisons, internment camps, extraordinary renditions, gulags, Guantanamos, secret police), absolute immunity for themselves and arbitrary and extreme punishment for others, their embrace of tiered societies with themselves on top and everyone else subjugated–all this goes back to the abuse they suffered. Abused children grow up to abuse.
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So, Trump, the now Trumpified Repugnican Party, the Once Supreme but Now Extreme Court–these are all Glorious Leader and his Daddy issues writ large. And when that happens on the political stage, the result is Fascism. It’s the sovereign presidency; it’s throwing off any checks on the power of the powerful; it’s subjecting the Other to command, coercion, control.
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Bob– the info on Gnostics is terrific, thanks for that.
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You made my day, Ginny. I put this stuff out there, and people rarely respond, and so I never know whether it landed, connected with, anyone. But you are an intellectual, clearly, and so interested in these ideas and their etiologies. That’s so wonderful. Bless you.
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Bob: just now finishing up latest assnt in my LatAmLit zoom class (wkly for 3-1/2 yrs!): Vargas Llosa’s take on Trujillo’s 31-yr dictatorship of Dominican Republic (“La Fiesta del Chivo, 2000; Eng version “The Feast of the Goat, strongly recommended). There is nothing to suggest Trujillo had an abusive father (tho he seems to have been overly doted-on by his mother). He was the 3rd of 11 children. His bitterness & penchant for vengeance more likely evolved from being a child of the working poor in a highly classist society, multiplied to the max by Haitian mulatto maternal lineage, going back to days when Haitians ruled the By the time he was growing up, Haitians had been chased back to the west, & ‘darkies’ were suspect. It’s said part of his meticulous grooming when leader included ‘lightening’ facial powder.
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Bob, p.s.– the abusive father is only one common point among a few dictators: Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin. Franco, e.g., no: but his father was described as harsh, cold & implacable– & abandoned the family when Franco was 14yo. Pinochet, e.g.– no info to that effect, however: after the fact, there has been much published about frequent unpunished clerical sexual abuse during the years he was growing up…
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I would almost never make the claim, given the astonishing diversity of human experience, that an etiology of a person trait was universal for some subgroup. However, this one is quite common. And it would be unremarkable except that we are now on the cusp of a field day for authoritarianism in the United States and it’s important for people to understand it. These strongmen and wannabe strongmen are often reacting to their own weakness and fearfulness as children. There are whole villages in parts of the world yet today that are run by strongmen. The film Siberian Education, starring John Malkovich, is a brilliant study of one such. We are always on the verge of a descent, again, into this sort of rule and must be eternally vigilant about it. Some examples following this.
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The Most Astonishing Anthropological Fact That I Know | Bob Shepherd | Praxis (wordpress.com)
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On Romance Literature | Commentary | Bob Shepherd | Praxis (wordpress.com)
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Siberian Education (2013). The wolf (youtube.com)
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The Old Testament god is such a pure example of the jealous, vengeful, absolutist, angry, powerful, capricious, bloodthirsty, cruel, authoritarian father that in the couple hundred years after Christ there sprang up a great many Gnostic cults that held, under the influence of Manicheism, that there was not one god but two, a Rex Mundi, or evil god, who created this sinful, lower world–the god of the Old Testament–and another good god, in a non-Earthly realm, whom one could get in contact with by performing secret rituals, the access to which was gnosis–the god of the New Testament. The official Church established by Constantine and the bishops whom he gave leave to do so, ruthlessly hunted down and killed off most of these Gnostics, but some few remained, and the following remained of Gnostic belief in the official Christian religion established by the bishops under Constantine and his successors–the idea that heaven was in some far-off, separate realm (see early books dealing with tours of this heaven, such as the books of Enoch and Baruch) and a thorough-going detestation of this lower world, the Hinterweltlern, a belief system that came to be known as Contemptus Mundi and extended to everything earthly as opposed to heavenly–including the Earth itself and sex and the body and women and birth–all of which were sinful and dangerous. Yeshua of Nazareth, IN SHARP CONTRAST, taught that heaven (the New Jerusalem) would be established RIGHT HERE ON EARTH. He says this again and again and again and again. See the books by the great New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman for more details, including his The New Testament and Lost Christianities. There has been a lot of silly New Age nonsense about supposed Gnostic belief, so it’s almost impossible to discuss the Gnostics sanely, on a scholarly basis, without people bringing up that poppycock, but I highly recommend as an antidote to it Hans Jonas’s scholarly and definitive The Gnostic Religion: The Alien God and the Origins of Christianity, which contains a lot of actual texts from actual Gnostic cults of the first couple of centuries of the first millennium CE and scholarly discussion of the beliefs expressed in these.
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cx: of the Hinterwelt (the lower world); the Hinterweltlern are the inhabitants of the Hinterwelt, this world. Us. Those among the fallen.
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Fascinating, Ginny!!! The doting mother is another frequent one. There is a picture going around the internet that shows a young Adolph Hitler and a young Ludwig Wittgenstein in the same elementary school class. The story that accompanies it is that Hitler HATED being so far behind the incredibly brilliant and Jewish LW. And then there is the story that Albert Speer tells about young Hitler being teased for having Jewish ancestry.
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INT. OVAL OFFICE – DAY
Trump sitting behind the Resolute Desk. Camera back to reveal Rod Serling standing D.R.
SERLING
His name, Mr. Little. A man with little education, little taste, little knowledge, little concern for other people. Neglected as a child, he grew into a black hole of neediness. And so he used Daddy’s money to build big, erected his name in Midas-gold letters across the landscape–his every action screaming, “I am worth something.” Everything became a zero-sum game. If someone else failed or was worse off, he was better, a “winner,” and so he cheated and harassed and ridiculed the unfortunate, the stranger, the down and out; appealed to the basest instincts of the basest among us; huffed and puffed and blew himself to gigantic proportions, at least in his own little brain. A twisted, malignant, metastasizing tumor of need and narcissism and knee-jerk nastiness, Mr. Little doesn’t know much, but the biggest thing he doesn’t know is that he just stepped over into a place where everything is bigger than he is, where everything is just beyond the grasp of his little mind and his little hands. He just stepped over into . . . The Twilight Zone.
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All of the news media should report what the TRAITOR says he is going to do if he is re-elected now that he will have immunity. I think some will, but most won’t.
Six big corporations control 90% of the traditional news media. How many of those six are controlled by Traitor Trump donors and supporters? The CEOs do not have to be a supporter of the Traitor for this to happen, because the largest stockholders in those corporations have a lot of power.
We know Murdock’s Citi Corp and his FOX fake NEWs are on that list, since Murdoch controls both. I think the New York Times and Foreign Policy Magazine are on it too, because They both normalize the traitor and don’t report his lies and plans for his dictatorship.
And Citi Corp is the 2nd largest media corporation in the world. The BBC is in first place.
I’m looking at the Google news feed now for only the U.S. The stories about the immunity decision by the US Supreme Court are in the first block of choices, citing four media sources. Only one mentioned what Trump will do in the headline, if the traitor is reelected and that was NBC News.
The Associated Press, The Hill, and POLITICO headlines do not mention Trump’s plans to become a ruthless dictator.
The third block of news stories are the ones about Biden and his troubles from the first debates fallout. The four on that list are: The New York Times, Fox Nes, The Atlantic and the Milwaukee Jouran Sentinel. Fox News had the worst headline that makes Biden look bad.
The headline I think may be interesting is from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Joe Biden addresses debate performance with Milwaukee radio host. The other three headlines all tend to be negative.
I mention headlines because more people read them than anything else as the scan the news. Those headlines have more power to influence than the story itself. When I was earning my BA in journalism back in the early 70s, we were taught how to write headlines to grab attention and how to avoid being biased but these days bias pops out of headlines like a malignant skin cancer.
FOX fake NEWS is the worst when it comes to salting its headlines with misleading words that often are not supported by the context of those news stories. FOX’s reporters tend to be balanced in the news stories they write, but the headlines and lead paragraphs often are loaded with bias and misleading BS. Every news story is edited by an editor. The story the reporter wrote may not always end up published as the reporter wrote it. Editors revise, cut, add, change. And editors take their marching orders from the publisher and the publisher (if they don’t own the outlet) takes their marching orders from the owners or biggest stockholders.
In journalism classes we were taught to answer: when, where, how, what and why, all in the lead paragraph because studies show many readers only get that far to get their news. Reading an entire newspaper takes hours.
FOX tends to bury what they don’t want readers to know near the end of news stories and load the headline and lead paragraph with loaded words supporting extreme right bias.
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“FOX fake NEWs”
Did you mean FuxNews?
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This is important, Lloyd. I would add WaPo (!!) to MSM that tends to publish negative [for Dems/ liberals] headlines, despite article content that is centrist or even favors a liberal slant. I am so sick of this crap that for many years I follow only CSPAN for domestic news & BBC/ Amanpour for intl news. (Every now & then I check google newsfeed when I realize I’ve missed something important.)
I do follow NYT & WaPo opinion columnists I respect. NYT just as much for comments as the opinion article, as so many intelligent, experienced commenters add various POV’s. WaPo commenters are not particularly high-caliber, but the conversation lasts 3 days [vs NYT barely 1 day]. There, I mainly chime in on ed articles. They have much better ed coverage than NYT.
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…and scares the you-know-what out of me.
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How democracy ends:
To celebrate democracy on this July 4, the NYT runs a guest essay, apparently because the NYT believes those who read the NYT should consider this valid point:
“Why I Don’t Vote. And Why Maybe You Shouldn’t Either”
(by Matthew Walther, editor of The Lamp, a Catholic Literary Journal)
Never thought the NYT would deem it was important to inform readers that “voting” is a both sides issue — especially with democracy at stake.
I went to “The Lamp” and found it has published the wise musings of J.D. Vance. I searched in vain to see if the editor had ever directed this message to his own readers — “Lamp readers, I don’t vote and there is no good reason for you to take that performative action and don’t let anyone bully you into thinking voting matters.” Oddly, I couldn’t find even one example of that message in the Lamp. (It is possible I missed it.)
If this kind of propaganda was being directed at those who read Catholic journals and those who exclusively absorb right wing media, I would say “go for it!” Inform people who like Trump and hate Biden that it is a very valid choice not to vote and they should NOT let anyone try to bully them into voting because their vote isn’t going to count.
But it isn’t. Trump voters aren’t being told voting doesn’t matter. Fox News watchers aren’t hearing the message to stand strong and refuse to vote, and don’t let those nasty bullies pressure you into embarrassing yourself by performing something that doesn’t matter.
That message that voting is a “both sides” issue is exclusively directed at those who oppose Trump – and the NYT legitimizes it. The NYT amplifies it and validates it. There will probably be a dozen more articles about this very important issue — will you be bullied into voting or will you stand up for what is right, all you people who aren’t rabid Republicans? THAT will be deemed of vital importance, unlike this one day story about Trump locking up his “enemies”.
The NYT has been reporting on the Supreme Court’s Immunity decision as a “both sides” issue, too. There is one news story left today — a “news analysis” that completely normalizes the decision and gives readers no particular reason to feel alarm. It’s simply another view of executive power and here how it would work — some people like this and some people don’t.
There are another 4 news stories (and a bunch of opinion essays) in today’s NYT that deal with what is of far more importance. Those stories begin with the premise that Biden’s unfitness for office is an established fact that is no longer even worthy of discussion, and the big story now is what the country is going to do about the crisis caused by having an unfit Biden as president. Can they get the unfit Biden out? Will unfit Biden resign on his own? How soon should unfit Biden leave? Who will replace Biden on the ticket when this unfit president finally leaves? What happens if the Dems can’t get the unfit Biden to leave? What do polls say about who should replace unfit Biden?
I missed seeing this July 1 NYT story about Trump calling for the arrest and conviction of people he doesn’t like. It ran once, just like all negative Republican stories do, so that folks could point to it to “prove” the NYT is too anti-Trump.
Today’s “anti-Trump” NYT story is that he is staying relatively quiet, hoping Biden stays in the race. (That is reported as a fact, despite the NYT having no idea whether or not Trump hopes Biden stays in the race)
Love how the NYT can remind readers about how unfit Biden is in their “negative” stories about Trump and the Supreme Court immunity decision.
The NYT coverage mirrors their coverage of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. The only “important” news for the next 3 months is that Biden is unfit for office and how will the Dems respond to that huge crisis. Trump promising to lock up his enemies is really not important.
And by the way, no need to vote and don’t let anyone bully you into thinking voting matters. Happy July 4 indeed.
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As I suspected, the NYT is now planning MORE articles to normalize NOT voting and wants to turn the “voting resistors” into the same type of heroes as the Trump voters in diner.
(People who care about voting – they are going to be as invisible to the NYT for the next 4 months as the people who hated Trump and liked the Democratic candidate were in 2016 and in 2024. The ONLY people who will be “important” to NYT reporters are Trump voters and those who don’t vote at all. )
On this July 4, there is a second piece at the NYT:
“Do You Live in a Swing State and Don’t Plan on Voting?”
“…..But many potential voters — even those engaged in politics and their communities — intentionally plan to avoid the ballot box this year.
If you’re one of them and live in one of the six states mentioned above, WE’D LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU. Tell us about your decision in the form below.”
I kid you not. Scary times.
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If anyone can find an example of a right wing news organization amplifying the voices of admirable regular folks challenging those “elites” and saying “join me and refuse to vote”, and telling their right wing audience that their vote doesn’t matter and they should not be bullied into thinking it does, please cite it here. Because I would bet big money that this new narrative is ONLY being amplified to non-Trump voters who consume the so-called liberal media and it is never heard on any right wing media, period.
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I found that guest op-ed a very odd and troubling choice. Did you notice that the NYT did not enable comments for it?
Apparently the writer is such a sensitive snowflake that his views on whether people ought to vote cannot be questioned. Then again, he does belong to a corrupt, misogynistic cult…
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I found it odd that there is no sign whatsoever that he has amplified this very important message not to vote to the publication that HE edits!
I guess he only wants to discourage anti-Trump voters not to vote.
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Disgusting for a major media outlet to discourage voting.
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Truly sickening. Shameful.
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IKR?! I haven’t even read it yet, as the title is so off-putting! (GRR!)
I would note however that Diane’s post links to a June 6 Trump story [not July 1]. Perhaps he wouldn’t publish such bloviation in the context of SCOTUS immunity ruling…
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was responding to NYSPSP 1st comment above
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bethree,
the article encouraging people NOT to vote just came out July 4. so the writer – a conservative who contributes regular essays to the NYT – knew about the immunity decision AND Trump’s ugly rhetoric when he wrote that voting is simply a performative act that doesn’t matter.
Some brilliant internet sleuths seem to have learned from Michigan voting records that in fact, this conservative writer promoting the view that voting doesn’t matter actually voted in 2020 and 2022.
As someone pointed out above, the NYT supposedly knows it has no influence on GOP voters, so this “don’t vote” message was obviously targeted to the Democrats the NYT can influence. Isn’t it comforting to know that the NYT believes that it can only influence Democrats, and one important message they want Democrats to hear is “Don’t vote, it doesn’t matter”??!
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OK nyspsp– AGREE!
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Well since the president is immune from prosecution for “official” acts maybe President Biden should officially have Trump eliminated!
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There have been people on this blog who have suggested that Biden should take the official action of eliminating his political opponents. This is, in most cases, meant as satire. HOWEVER, let me remind everyone, if I might, that making threats against the life of anyone or encouraging others to take the life of anyone are both extremely serious crimes, and additional statues apply when the object of such goadings are government officials and ex government officials like presidents. Yes, I know that you are angry. Yes, I know that the Extreme Court’s decision makes opens the door to official horrors (see the pic I posted above), but please think before you write.
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No one should take the seriously other than to amplify the dire nature of the Supreme Court ruling.
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I agree. I knew that you weren’t serious. But it’s best to err on the side of caution.
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I actually went back and forth about this for about an hour. I even logged on earlier ready to post back logged off to think about it some more. Obviously after a lot of thought I decided it was better to emphasize the seriousness of the SC ruling through a bit of sarcasm.
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achillesmjb– I feel you. Since I read about this ruling, I’ve been imagining what outrageous actions Biden could take that would be deemed “OK because conclusively or presumptably immune as part of official duties” per SCOTUS!
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The best way to save democracy is for Democrats to be as tribal as the members of the GOP. They have no shame, swallow their pride and line up to kiss the ring of the devil incarnate in order to forward their vision of an evil empire. Instead, Democrats tend to dwell on the negative, seek pure perfection and eat their Franken own. Democrats and all reasonable Americans must compromise and make a showing at the polls that will send the GOP crying on the shoulders of their billionaire handlers. This is an “all hands on deck” moment. We must rally around old Joe. He is the only thing standing between us and an unhinged dictator.
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You are correct.
Which is why today is the perfect day to mark the beginning of the NYT pushing their latest narrative: “don’t let those elites bully you into voting – NOT voting is a very valid choice because voting is a performance action and your vote doesn’t matter”
The NYT will be make NOT voting something to be proud of – just like the NYT made voting for the leading birther spewing racial slurs who conned folks to attend his fake university something to be proud of. Those are the folks who get interviewed and treated as the ones that “Democrats must listen to”. Their opinion matters.
It wasn’t enough that the NYT made voting for Trump something that makes your voice more important to hear than not voting for the Democrat. Now the NYT believes voting resistors deserve the same treatment. Join them if you want to be heard.
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The only people who will be moved by a call to “rally around old Joe” because “he is the only thing standing between us and an unhinged dictactor” are already voting for Biden over Trump.
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This is what concerns me. We need to be reaching independents, undecided, and the young people and blacks who have moved away from Biden.
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And the way to do that is not via moderation. It’s by making a LOT of noise.
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Trump, dumb as he is, knows that. Dimocrats don’t, alas.
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Al Franken (great guy) is a perfect example of the Dimocrats eating their own.
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Yes, that was shameful. Al should have fought it.
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I agree, Bob. Al Franken got a raw deal from his fellow Democrats. They forced him out of the Senate without hearings. Stupid!
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I almost wrote– Et tu, retired teacher? Thinking you meant we must go as low as they go. But then I realized, you are just saying all liberals & progressives must rally round the Dem party candidate, in “tribal” fashion. Agree!
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One reason some countries in Europe are flipping leadership like the Brits is because no other country has recovered as well from Covid as the US. Our better recovery is due to Biden and his team. BTW China is struggling too. Let’s not bite the hand that feeds us.
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Agree!
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This is how Trump responds to the court’s ruling on immunity–by proving how egregious that ruling was by telling us that he would use the presidency to carry out a campaign of show trials and other retribution against his perceived enemies.
What a surprise.
John Roberts, you just enabled this guy. What an infamous legacy you will leave! Congrats.
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The Roberts Court is getting close to being as bad as the Taney Court.
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Bob– but actually, the article linked to Diane’s headline is linked to Trump pronouncements reported in a month-old article [June 6]. Diane’s point, no doubt, is that 7/1 SCOTUS ruling might possibly make such actions by Trump immune from prosecution.
I haven’t read anything in particular Trump has said since 7/1 other than praising the decision. Perhaps even Trump isn’t stupid enough to trumpet the advent of the outrageous serial acts he will commit once reelected POTUS now that SCOTUS has provided Prez with authority of a sheriff or posse-leader of the Wild West.
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Thanks for that clarification, Ginny.
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https://newrepublic.com/article/183422/joe-biden-ruthless-immunity-donald-trump
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rofl
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Whence all this desire for Michelle Obama to make a run? She has never run for office that i know of, let alone held one.
What gives?
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This seems to me totally bizarre. Some people are basing this suggestion on the idea that she is currently popular. The presidency should not be a popularity contest. And if a person is nominated, everything with regard to polling changes. One cannot extrapolate from a person’s current polling to his or her polling should he or she be nominated by the convention. The numbers will not be the same.
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I don’t think we can predict anything about anything right now.
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Sorry about jumping on you, Mamie. Perhaps Michelle Obama would make a better president than her husband did, and Joel is right. He did give us the magnificent justices Sotomayor and Kagan.
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No problem . It’s all just speculation in an impossible situation anyway.
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You are ever gracious, Mamie. Thank you.
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As far as I can remember, Michelle Obama never expressed an interest in running for office. I can remember seeing an interview in which she said she is too uptight for politics. She said her husband is far more easy going than she is.
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Smart lady. I find that I am happier when I am cooking or tending my garden.
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jrstheta– IMHO, it’s just blather. As far as I know, Michelle O never held any public office other than as asst to Chicago mayor & asst commissioner for planning & devpt in Chicago. And of course 8 yrs as 1st Lady counts for something. That is not nothing, but does not stack up against those who’ve held office as state DA & US Senator & VP (like Kamala Harris)– so that we have a grasp of their policy preferences.
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We know Michelle O’s policy preferences. She lacks the experience to be considered for the Presidency.
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I am not aware of her ever saying she wanted the office.
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I guess what I was trying to convey by suggesting Michelle Obama was that the Dems need someone with a personality and status as big as Trump – someone who has a big enough mouth to overpower or at least keep up with his. Sure, I’m happy with a quiet person but this is no time for quiet. And I don’t think Biden is out there enough. I’m fairly sure Biden can do the job for a while longer. I’m not sure about 4 more years but for now yes, and if Harris has to take over, fine. I’m not sure this is the time to change candidates. Like I said, the Dems will probably have to make her the candidate anyway, so why not stay with what we have. It’s even more of a risk to get someone else who is untested. But again, a new person may invigorate those who want to see someone new in the Democratic party – someone younger. To be perfectly honest, I can think of no one right now who fits the bill. I can only speculate. There are some out there I think would be good but I don’t think they’re well-known outside their state, and it would be tough for them to get the word out at this late date. We are in a dire situation and the Dems have brought it about in part because they are not concentrating on bringing forward young candidates who are interested in running. I have no answers. None of us have certainty about anything in life. Except for death at some point.
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This is the problem with not having gone through a primary process. Part of the very difficult position the Dems are in.
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I’m with you, Mamie. I would be fine with Harris taking over if need be at some point.
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Trump’s political enemies have called for his arrest and conviction for years.
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Trump learned well from his mentor Roy Cohn. He uses the legal system to subvert justice. He plays this game like a violin.
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If Biden were Putin, everyone knows,
Trump would have an aversion to windows.
And here in this, the darkest of hours,
our nutso Supremes have granted such powers,
made of our presidents tsars, or kings,
utterly free to do utterly anything.
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Those pointing fingers at Putin and Trump while supporting Biden can’t be taken seriously. US. presidents have been “above the law” for many, many years. How many countries has the U.S. illegally invaded, occupied, or bombed so far during the twenty-first century? Kidnapping, torture, murder and eco-terrorism have all been ordered, approved, or okayed by U.S. presidents since 2001. The U.S. government has absolutely no respect for the rule of law, human rights, or democracy. We live in a fascist country right now!
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James,
I don’t agree with you. I think your ideas are extreme. I live in a free country where I can say and write what I want. I can insult the President without fear. Maybe you should live for a spell in a really fascist country so you know the difference. Reach out to Brittany Griner or Evan Gershowitz, if Putin ever releases him. They will tell you what fascism is. Trump says he will throw his political opponents in jail. That’s fascism.
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That you don’t see any differences between Biden, Putin, and Trump is all one needs to know about your opinions, Mr. Eales. (Btw, before someone steps up to correct me, between is correct here, not among, because these are dyadic relationships.)
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All three are dispicable tyrants, but I see differences between Putin, Biden, and Trump. For example, Biden has supported more illegal invasions and occupations of countries than Putin. Because the U.S. has slaughtered millions of men, women, and children and displaced tens of millions of human beings during the twenty-first century–far more than any other country on the planet, including Russia–I consider Biden and Trump as bad or worse than Putin.
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Great. Now I have to look up “dyadic”.
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two-part relations
Donnie and Biden
Biden and Putin
Donnie and Putin
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As a lifelong felon, he certainly qualifies for such treatment.
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Of course. When Trump seeks to weaponize the judiciary, that’s wrong. When Democrats weaponize the judiciary, it’s the right thing to do. Thank you for clarifying. (Meanwhile unindicted war criminals such as George W. Bush, Richard Cheney remain free.)
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When did Democrats weaponize the judiciary? If they did, Trump would be in prison.
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James Eales says: “Trump’s political enemies have called for his arrest and conviction for years.”
Eliot Ness worked to have Al Capone arrested and convicted for years.
I have no idea what James Eales’ point is. It appears he holds himself out as an unbiased observer and thus forbids anyone from calling out the criminal behavior of people who commit criminal acts in open because they believe they are above the law.
I sure hope Eales is not condoning Al Capone putting out the call for Elliot Ness to be punished because Capone, like Trump, believed that anyone who calls out his corruption is fair game.
Just because someone like Elliot Ness or Democrats are calling out a person committing crimes in full view of the public, that should not mean that the corrupt person they are calling out now has license to call for their followers to harm them. It does not justify Capone or Trump calling for Elliot Ness or Democrats to be arrested for the very serious “crime” of criticizing someone who spurns the law openly because they believe they are above the law.
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