The real attack on Democracy.

[hodad]

Screw October & screw surprises. Trump's trying to engage foreign powers to manipulate the presidential election openly and in April.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/03/...e_code=1.h00.5vA6.9-nTbrEy2gka&smid=url-share

Dovetails nicely with the article about Ric Grenell I posted a link to a few days back.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I feel like I need to caution you guys to not stare into the sun during the upcoming eclipse.
===
On the topic of preserving democracy; The original framework for American democracy was hammered out amid heated disagreement and rigorous debate. Now, in this period of hardening political and social schisms, what's hampering progress isn't that we disagree, but how we do it or worse, try to avoid it altogether.

JR

 

[cyrano]

I feel like I need to caution you guys to not stare into the sun during the upcoming eclipse.
===
On the topic of preserving democracy; The original framework for American democracy was hammered out amid heated disagreement and rigorous debate. Now, in this period of hardening political and social schisms, what's hampering progress isn't that we disagree, but how we do it or worse, try to avoid it altogether.

JR

And obviously, that makes it universal and the best in the world...

Have you maybe been staring into the sun lately, John?

 

[JohnRoberts]

And obviously, that makes it universal and the best in the world...

The best so far, IMO

Have you maybe been staring into the sun lately, John?

Sorry if I trigger you into attacking me personally, please don't.

I am a big boy, but we shouldn't normalize this behavior (thoughtful debate=good, snarky insults=bad).

JR

 

[AnalogPackrat]

And obviously, that makes it universal and the best in the world...

What time-proven system do you propose that would work better for our very diverse population of 350M spread across 3.8M sq miles (9.8M sq km)?

Have you maybe been staring into the sun lately, John?

I guess it beats staring at The Communist Manifesto.

 

[cyrano]

Well, it's my opinion that stating dodgy reporting as a fact and then not answering when pointed out, is an insult.

 

[hodad]

This is how Republicans do:

2 Men Fined $1.25 Million for Robocall Scheme to Suppress Black Vote​

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/09/...ters-wohl-burkman.html?searchResultPosition=1

Bear that in mind next time when Republicans protest that their racist gerrymandering isn't really about diluting black voting power.

 

[JohnRoberts]

A scathing op-ed from NPR veteran and current senior business editor Uri Berliner published in The Free Press on Tuesday has intensified debates over whether the publicly funded news organization has adopted a partisan lean in recent years.

In the piece, Berliner details a culture shift at the organization, in which “An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don’t have an audience that reflects America.”


Berliner argued that NPR is plagued with an “absence of viewpoint diversity,” which he considers to be a result of leadership’s emphasis on promoting diversity and inclusion on the basis of race and sexual orientation. He also claims that he found “87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans.”

https://www.thewrap.com/npr-senior-editor-op-ed-political-bias-reactions-uri-berliner/

This guy is still working there (for now?).

Juan Williams was fired by NPR in 2010 for being too conservative. Juan was not conservative, so this NPR editor guy is toast. If this isn't fake news. NPR's top news executive defended their journalism, so this appears to be real.

JR

 

[AnalogPackrat]

This is how Democrats do. We should be careful landing on the moon. It might tip over like Guam.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6350586080112

Ignorance like this (especially displayed by Congressfolks) is dangerous to "our democracy.'

 

[hodad]

NPR

I find NPR smug, insular and corporatist, and too often beholden to the interests of the corporate and fatcat megadonor$$$$$. Is it too liberal though? Not by half.

EDIT: this whole "audience that reflects America" canard is pure BS. I guess they need more stories about how Trump really did win the election, and there really is a basement in Comet Pizza, and space lasers really are controlled by the Jews.

 

[hodad]

Russia stuff:
https://wapo.st/43S7kU2

“During his custodial interview on February 14, Smirnov admitted that officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story about Businessperson 1,” the prosecution memo states. Businessperson 1 is Hunter Biden

 

[AnalogPackrat]

I find NPR smug,

Absolutely.

insular and corporatist, and too often beholden to the interests of the corporate and fatcat megadonor$$$$$.

In some cases.

Is it too liberal though? Not by half.

LOL. If we all are going to fund it, it needs to be balanced or at least centrist/moderate which it is not.

EDIT: this whole "audience that reflects America" canard is pure BS. I guess they need more stories about how Trump really did win the election, and there really is a basement in Comet Pizza, and space lasers really are controlled by the Jews.

How about some important work on Covid origins? Or a discussion about the 2A that includes conservative gun owners and unbiased data analysis. Maybe exercise some journalistic integrity and cover things like the Hunter laptop, how paper ballots are more secure than electronic voting, how mass illegal immigration hurts the lower and middle classes, etc. Your straw man is ridiculous.

 

[hodad]

If we all are going to fund it,

In large measure we don't. Federal funding is not the lion's share of NPR's revenue. I think NPR might in fact be better without money from the Koch brothers & George Lucas and the Walton Family Foundation and all the other ultra-rich types funding it. Certainly all this money from the ultra-rich is not making NPR more unbiased.

How about... Your straw man is ridiculous.

Your "howaboutism" is ridiculous. So many fallacies, so little time.

 

[AnalogPackrat]

In large measure we don't. Federal funding is not the lion's share of NPR's revenue. I think NPR might in fact be better without money from the Koch brothers & George Lucas and the Walton Family Foundation and all the other ultra-rich types funding it. Certainly all this money from the ultra-rich is not making NPR more unbiased.

It's not skewing it hard left. NPR shouldn't be publicly funded at all if it's going to be consistently biased.

Your "howaboutism" is ridiculous. So many fallacies, so little time.

Yeah, my list of actual events that affected hundreds of millions of people, but which "national public radio" refused to cover isn't important when compared to some fringe lunacy. How about own your weak straw man.

 

[hodad]

actual events

Yes. The 2A is an EVENT!!!!
And sadly, much of the covid crap you want them to talk about is generally short on hard facts and is rife with speculation and conspiracy theories.
The Hunter laptop, it has become clearer and clearer, is either actual Russian kompromat or a Trump-inspired simulacrum. I can't find fault with the corporate media for staying away from that horse sh!t.

You simply want the MSM to cater to your every delusional, conspiracist right wing whim. As much fault as I find with the MSM, they wouldn't be doing a better job if they gave more credence to your brand of off-the-rails lunacy.

And hey: who needs a straw man when I've got you to prove my point?

 

[JohnRoberts]

Yes. The 2A is an EVENT!!!!
And sadly, much of the covid crap you want them to talk about is generally short on hard facts and is rife with speculation and conspiracy theories.
The Hunter laptop, it has become clearer and clearer, is either actual Russian kompromat or a Trump-inspired simulacrum.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/tech...ptop-is-legitimate-for-first-time/ar-AA1ncGMI
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/16/us/politics/republicans-hunter-biden-laptop.html
Republicans argue that a public letter sent during the 2020 presidential campaign was written at the behest of President Biden’s allies to distract from salacious material found on the abandoned laptop of his son Hunter Biden.Credit...

The 51 intelligence officials have some splainin to do... but that apparently worked to defuse the laptop back in 2020 just in time for the debate. (Yes that indeed looks like a conspiracy.)

https://nypost.com/2023/02/01/hunter-biden-admits-infamous-laptop-is-his-in-plea-for-probe/
First son Hunter Biden’s lawyers admitted late Wednesday that the infamous laptop that the now-52-year-old abandoned at a Delaware computer repair shop in the throes of his crack cocaine addiction does indeed belong to him.

The revelation came in a petulant letter from Hunter’s lawyers seeking a criminal probe into what they called attempts to “weaponize” its contents.

I can't find fault with the corporate media for staying away from that horse sh!t.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news...io-ignoring-stories-left-wing-diversity-push/
As a result, it allegedly inflated stories damaging to Donald Trump while downplaying or ignoring others, including those on Hunter Biden, son of the US president Joe Biden, or the origin of the Covid-19 virus.

You simply want the MSM to cater to your every delusional, conspiracist right wing whim. As much fault as I find with the MSM, they wouldn't be doing a better job if they gave more credence to your brand of off-the-rails lunacy.

Russia, russia, russia,,,,,, It worked last time so why not keep digging that hole.

JR

 

[hodad]

Russia, russia, russia

Read the news sometime. Maybe you'll learn something.

And about your beloved Telegraph, quoted above:

In July 2014, the Daily Telegraph was criticised for carrying links on its website to pro-Kremlin articles supplied by a Russian state-funded publication that downplayed any Russian involvement in the downing of the passenger jet Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.[102] These had featured on its website as part of a commercial deal, but were later removed.[103]

As of 2014,[needs update] the paper was paid £900,000 a year to include the supplement Russia Beyond the Headlines, a publication sponsored by the Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the Russian government's official newspaper.[104]

Russia, Russia, Russia indeed.

 

[hodad]

Republicans argue

Argue, eh? Sounds like that belongs on the op-ed page, not the news page. That's some weak sauce.

 

[AnalogPackrat]

Yes. The 2A is an EVENT!!!!

Use your brain, man. There are plenty of off-narrative 2A events that most media outlets fail to cover. The ones they do cover are done so with bias and selectivity slathered with a thick smear of ignorance.

And sadly, much of the covid crap you want them to talk about is generally short on hard facts and is rife with speculation and conspiracy theories.

The lab leak theory (or simply working to find the true origin of Covid-19)? The excessive PCR cycle counts used to ramp up "case" counts and related fearmongering? Not questioning the arbitrary nature of gov labelling thousands of businesses "nonessential" and killing a large fraction of them? Not questioning "experts" pushing to vaccinate young adults, teens, and children down to 6mo old who have near zero risk from Covid? Not questioning EULA and hidden test results? Not questioning big pharma immunity from liability for vaccines? Not questioning vaccine mandates. Those "conspiracy theories?"

The Hunter laptop, it has become clearer and clearer, is either actual Russian kompromat or a Trump-inspired simulacrum. I can't find fault with the corporate media for staying away from that horse sh!t.

JR handled that one. Suppression of a valid story at the behest of leftists immediately preceding a Presidential election is BS of a Soviet order.

You simply want the MSM to cater to your every delusional, conspiracist right wing whim. As much fault as I find with the MSM, they wouldn't be doing a better job if they gave more credence to your brand of off-the-rails lunacy.

No, I want actual journalism, with curiosity, drive to get to the truth, and a sense of balance when covering an event or issue.

And hey: who needs a straw man when I've got you to prove my point?

Puerile.

 

[AnalogPackrat]

Argue, eh? Sounds like that belongs on the op-ed page, not the news page. That's some weak sauce.

As opposed to ad hominem and ranting from leftists. Where does that belong?