This past Saturday in New Hampshire, in a speech advertised as honoring Veteran’s Day, Donald Trump said: “In honor of our great Veterans on Veteran’s Day [sic] we pledge to you that we will root out the Communists, Marxists, Racists, and Radical Left Thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our Country, lie, steal, and cheat on Elections, and will do anything possible, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America, and the American Dream…. Despite the hatred and anger of the Radical Left Lunatics who want to destroy our country, we will MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”
Rachel was on the mark tonight. Jen Psaki laid it all on the line yesterday. I've been keeping up with Rick Wilson off and on today. On his "Enemies LIst" podcast he talked with Toby Morton who is doing some great .com satirical websites. He is reaching a lot of people with subtle anti MAGA hooks. Did not know he was Devin Nunez's Cow. The papers are finally using the correct headlines. This Fascist power grab IS news. We are in dire straights, but I am doing what I can to forward the good stuff to motivate folks I know to get off their butts. Keep it coming Tom.
Thomas Mann ("The Magic Mountain") saw nazism unfolding in Germany and left before the time he knew his writing would be banned. Here in the US her sent back radio broadcasts to Germany via BBC broadcasts, he wrote essays that were delivered and distributed surreptitiously due to nazi censorship, and gave speeches both warning about and denouncing Hitler and nazism. He was one of many prominent Germans who smelled the rising scent of sulfur. But clearly warnings were not enough, as the German people fell under the sway of nazi revenge fantasies. We cannot depend on the commercial MSM to work against this threat. We must go loud and hard against it and not fall into a slumber as we are distracted by wars abroad. We must work to influence all the young people we know to let them know this must be their generation's war, their future. Dog knows three older generations have messed things up enough to allow this right wing plague to take hold. The young and their phones are the new Voice of America.* Forward Tom's work along with some others now.
* We were sleeping when In 2018, Trump proposed cutting Voice of America's budget, but Congress did not approve the cuts. In 2020, he signed a law increasing oversight of VOA spending after threatening to veto a defense bill that funded it. Then he nominated Michael Pack of the Heritage Foundation to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media which oversees VOA. The appointment of pro-Trump allies to oversee VOA showed the agency was being politicized and turned into state media.
Fortunately, Pack resigned shortly after Biden took office and the new USAGM leadership reversed most changes.
I am so glad you brought this up Judy! VOA is the voice of conscience of America that freedom loving people in many countries in the world whose source of information is snuffed/manipulated by their government propaganda , listen to for "real" unbiased news - equivalent to BBC and our precious NPR. The USA is still for now the beacon of freedom in our much shaken world.
Thank you Tom for zeroing in on the messaging of MSM. The issue is $. Flirting with normalizing Trump/MAGAted Republicans has been profitable in this age of competition for survival. Screaming headlines "National Inquirer style" attract eyeballs for Left and Right. We get sucked in, by our own biases. That's the only way I can explain the 70 millions of my fellow Americans who voted for MAGAted Republican in 2020.
We have three war fronts to fight: Putin, Israel & Hamas, and the Information War for 2024 election. The hearts & minds of the voters are up for grabs. This playing with fire by the MSM is playing with the future of our country for $, and right into the hands of the American oligarchs and the Christian fundamentalists - who hold the purse strings to corrupt our SCOTUS, and hell bent on winding back the clocks on all fronts. The capitalist system of profit above all, has this Achilles heel: money speaks - and also corrupts.
If we no longer have the rules of law, it will self destruct a la MAGAted Republican style. So when Republicans try to scare voters with labeling Democrats as socialists/communists//rats/ snowflakes/vermins...
the MSM is being played for its very own precarious existence.
I was working on a letter to the LA Times a couple of nights ago and in the following morning letters to t he editor, all the letters run made all of those points in their own way. FINALLY. The only letter that might be worth writing now would be to suggest that the Letters Editor become the News or Headline Editor.
Does the Heritage Foundation think they will be protected by " their" guy? Or by any of the people they want to put in power? I thought the Heritage Foundation had educated members running the show. History shows time & again that no one is safe.
Not by a long shot. It’s ”of the oligarchs, by the oligarchs, and for the oligarchs” originally financed by the Koch brothers and Phillip Morris. Now I think Leonard Leo has his tentacles in it. They are investing in fascism to get rid of that pesky middle class and grow their wealth. I have to share this link to a post from Thom Hartman. It’s dystopian but it can happen here.
I know, it’s pretty grim, and why it’s so important to wake so many people out of their stupor and convince them to vote for Biden. The other is unthinkable.
Those members of the Heritage Foundation are traitors. They could have written the Confederate constitution. They want to take the country back to the 1830's. Prior to the Civil Service, the "spoils system" was how government posts were filled. It was called the "spoils system" because "to the victor belong the spoils." The winner of the presidential election chose loyal supporters to fill government jobs.
When I see the likes of Tuberville single-handedly holding up military appointments, or MAGAt Johnson-characters bringing US operations to a grinding halt, and then a publication by P1135809 intending to WAGE WAR ON THE CITIZENS OF THE US--with Judge Cannon single-handedly obstructing prosecution for ESPIONAGE--I have to say: We have already succumbed to the Neo-nazi fascists who operate the RNC as a crime syndicate.
The whole thing playing out with the Republican Party and the Great Pumpkin is there are no adults in the room, and the House and Trump's mind have devolved fully into a remake of "Lord of the Flies." Anyone who votes for any of these clowns will deserve everything they get from a fascist demagogue and his (Jewish?) lackey Stephen Miller (cosplaying Adolf Eichmann)..... The big flaw in this glorious scenario is that we'll get it good and hard too, and we are trying to stop it. For all that people criticize MSNBC for being a liberal cable news network, where else in the American MSM is Trump, and the danger he and the Republican Party pose to the future of our constitutional democratic republic, being discussed in detail by people who know what is going on.....? Certainly the biggest papers and TV networks have been asleep at the switch on this stuff for a long time - not the reporters, who often do astoundingly good work - but the editorial departments have been cowed (or told by the owners) into ignoring the brown shirts and torches..... It didn't work in the 30s, and it won't work now.....
Not to veer too far off topic from all the commenters here, but I would like some clarification. Is it Veteran's Day or Veterans Day? I have seen it quoted both ways here in this article alone and use it both ways myself with confusion. Joyce Vance has been putting a [sic} after the one with the apostrophe so I'm leaning toward Veterans Day, but, like I said, I would like something definitive.
Synchronicity struck again last night. Today you write of President Eisenhower's Operation Wetback. Last night, I watched "Finding Your Roots" and lo & behold, one of the subjects of the program has a grandfather (or great....) who was deported during Operation Weback. It wasn't simply mentioned but minute of so of b&w news clips showed how "illegal' Mexican immigrants [JS: many of whom had been invited into the U.S. in the Bracero Program of WW II] were loaded up and sent across the border into Mexico. Promised documents to formalize their status as temporary workers were largely never provided.
"The short-lived operation used military-style tactics to remove Mexican immigrants—some of them American citizens—from the United States. Though millions of Mexicans had legally entered the country through joint immigration programs in the first half of the 20th century, Operation Wetback was designed to send them back to Mexico.
With the help of the Mexican government, which sought the return of Mexican nationals to alleviate a labor shortage, Border Patrol agents and local officials used military techniques and engaged in a coordinated, tactical operation to remove the immigrants. Along the way, they used widespread racial stereotypes to justify their sometimes brutal treatment of immigrants. Inside the United States, anti-Mexican sentiment was pervasive, and harsh portrayals of Mexican immigrants as dirty, disease-bearing and irresponsible were the norm."
We can count on this happening again if TFG ever again becomes U.S. president.
I'm ready to launch a pile on for those click baiting and completely off the mark headlines. If it costs a few of those over educated you-know-whats their cushy jobs, so be it.
"The 'bothsiderism' reporting that the major media has been cowed into over the past 50 years by the relentless attacks by the Right against them for being 'the lib’rul media' is now a threat to the continued existence of our constitutional democratic republic.
These are not two similar candidates. One is a defender of that constitutional democratic republic and the rule of law on which it is founded. The other is a dedicated foe of that republic, who is pushing a fascist revolution to overthrow that republic.
If the major media actually believes that they exist to serve the public good, as they claim whenever they are attacked for these failures, then they have an obligation to point out this essential fact."
Rachel was on the mark tonight. Jen Psaki laid it all on the line yesterday. I've been keeping up with Rick Wilson off and on today. On his "Enemies LIst" podcast he talked with Toby Morton who is doing some great .com satirical websites. He is reaching a lot of people with subtle anti MAGA hooks. Did not know he was Devin Nunez's Cow. The papers are finally using the correct headlines. This Fascist power grab IS news. We are in dire straights, but I am doing what I can to forward the good stuff to motivate folks I know to get off their butts. Keep it coming Tom.
Thomas Mann ("The Magic Mountain") saw nazism unfolding in Germany and left before the time he knew his writing would be banned. Here in the US her sent back radio broadcasts to Germany via BBC broadcasts, he wrote essays that were delivered and distributed surreptitiously due to nazi censorship, and gave speeches both warning about and denouncing Hitler and nazism. He was one of many prominent Germans who smelled the rising scent of sulfur. But clearly warnings were not enough, as the German people fell under the sway of nazi revenge fantasies. We cannot depend on the commercial MSM to work against this threat. We must go loud and hard against it and not fall into a slumber as we are distracted by wars abroad. We must work to influence all the young people we know to let them know this must be their generation's war, their future. Dog knows three older generations have messed things up enough to allow this right wing plague to take hold. The young and their phones are the new Voice of America.* Forward Tom's work along with some others now.
* We were sleeping when In 2018, Trump proposed cutting Voice of America's budget, but Congress did not approve the cuts. In 2020, he signed a law increasing oversight of VOA spending after threatening to veto a defense bill that funded it. Then he nominated Michael Pack of the Heritage Foundation to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media which oversees VOA. The appointment of pro-Trump allies to oversee VOA showed the agency was being politicized and turned into state media.
Fortunately, Pack resigned shortly after Biden took office and the new USAGM leadership reversed most changes.
I am so glad you brought this up Judy! VOA is the voice of conscience of America that freedom loving people in many countries in the world whose source of information is snuffed/manipulated by their government propaganda , listen to for "real" unbiased news - equivalent to BBC and our precious NPR. The USA is still for now the beacon of freedom in our much shaken world.
Thank you Tom for zeroing in on the messaging of MSM. The issue is $. Flirting with normalizing Trump/MAGAted Republicans has been profitable in this age of competition for survival. Screaming headlines "National Inquirer style" attract eyeballs for Left and Right. We get sucked in, by our own biases. That's the only way I can explain the 70 millions of my fellow Americans who voted for MAGAted Republican in 2020.
We have three war fronts to fight: Putin, Israel & Hamas, and the Information War for 2024 election. The hearts & minds of the voters are up for grabs. This playing with fire by the MSM is playing with the future of our country for $, and right into the hands of the American oligarchs and the Christian fundamentalists - who hold the purse strings to corrupt our SCOTUS, and hell bent on winding back the clocks on all fronts. The capitalist system of profit above all, has this Achilles heel: money speaks - and also corrupts.
If we no longer have the rules of law, it will self destruct a la MAGAted Republican style. So when Republicans try to scare voters with labeling Democrats as socialists/communists//rats/ snowflakes/vermins...
the MSM is being played for its very own precarious existence.
I was working on a letter to the LA Times a couple of nights ago and in the following morning letters to t he editor, all the letters run made all of those points in their own way. FINALLY. The only letter that might be worth writing now would be to suggest that the Letters Editor become the News or Headline Editor.
Thank you for your passionate and eloquent call.
You are a man of courage and conviction
and you have my deep respect.
I am doing all I can to answer your call.
Great post! I often email reporters and if no email listed with an article ,quick Google usually finds contact info.
Here’s a great new Biden ad to share using Trump’s own words!📣
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-biden-ad-donald-trump-soldiers_n_6553430ce4b0373d70b37ea3
Does the Heritage Foundation think they will be protected by " their" guy? Or by any of the people they want to put in power? I thought the Heritage Foundation had educated members running the show. History shows time & again that no one is safe.
Heritage is not the place now that it used to be.
Not by a long shot. It’s ”of the oligarchs, by the oligarchs, and for the oligarchs” originally financed by the Koch brothers and Phillip Morris. Now I think Leonard Leo has his tentacles in it. They are investing in fascism to get rid of that pesky middle class and grow their wealth. I have to share this link to a post from Thom Hartman. It’s dystopian but it can happen here.
https://hartmannreport.com/p/is-trumps-brave-new-world-coming-ed5
Thank You Karen. I think. So possible.
I know, it’s pretty grim, and why it’s so important to wake so many people out of their stupor and convince them to vote for Biden. The other is unthinkable.
Those members of the Heritage Foundation are traitors. They could have written the Confederate constitution. They want to take the country back to the 1830's. Prior to the Civil Service, the "spoils system" was how government posts were filled. It was called the "spoils system" because "to the victor belong the spoils." The winner of the presidential election chose loyal supporters to fill government jobs.
The press is betting too heavily on failure. Currency’s become dysfunctional. Zzz…
When I see the likes of Tuberville single-handedly holding up military appointments, or MAGAt Johnson-characters bringing US operations to a grinding halt, and then a publication by P1135809 intending to WAGE WAR ON THE CITIZENS OF THE US--with Judge Cannon single-handedly obstructing prosecution for ESPIONAGE--I have to say: We have already succumbed to the Neo-nazi fascists who operate the RNC as a crime syndicate.
Slight correction, Tom. Bone Spurs Donny's first wife was Ivanna. The daughter/wife is Ivanka.*
*"Daddy, why do we look like grandpa and not you?"
"Ask your mother."
Right.
The whole thing playing out with the Republican Party and the Great Pumpkin is there are no adults in the room, and the House and Trump's mind have devolved fully into a remake of "Lord of the Flies." Anyone who votes for any of these clowns will deserve everything they get from a fascist demagogue and his (Jewish?) lackey Stephen Miller (cosplaying Adolf Eichmann)..... The big flaw in this glorious scenario is that we'll get it good and hard too, and we are trying to stop it. For all that people criticize MSNBC for being a liberal cable news network, where else in the American MSM is Trump, and the danger he and the Republican Party pose to the future of our constitutional democratic republic, being discussed in detail by people who know what is going on.....? Certainly the biggest papers and TV networks have been asleep at the switch on this stuff for a long time - not the reporters, who often do astoundingly good work - but the editorial departments have been cowed (or told by the owners) into ignoring the brown shirts and torches..... It didn't work in the 30s, and it won't work now.....
Not to veer too far off topic from all the commenters here, but I would like some clarification. Is it Veteran's Day or Veterans Day? I have seen it quoted both ways here in this article alone and use it both ways myself with confusion. Joyce Vance has been putting a [sic} after the one with the apostrophe so I'm leaning toward Veterans Day, but, like I said, I would like something definitive.
It's one of those confusing apostrophe things. How many times do each of us screw up its and it's a day? :-)
It is Veterans Day, since it is for all veterans, not a specific veteran.
That makes perfect sense, thanks.
Synchronicity struck again last night. Today you write of President Eisenhower's Operation Wetback. Last night, I watched "Finding Your Roots" and lo & behold, one of the subjects of the program has a grandfather (or great....) who was deported during Operation Weback. It wasn't simply mentioned but minute of so of b&w news clips showed how "illegal' Mexican immigrants [JS: many of whom had been invited into the U.S. in the Bracero Program of WW II] were loaded up and sent across the border into Mexico. Promised documents to formalize their status as temporary workers were largely never provided.
https://www.history.com/news/operation-wetback-eisenhower-1954-deportation
"The short-lived operation used military-style tactics to remove Mexican immigrants—some of them American citizens—from the United States. Though millions of Mexicans had legally entered the country through joint immigration programs in the first half of the 20th century, Operation Wetback was designed to send them back to Mexico.
With the help of the Mexican government, which sought the return of Mexican nationals to alleviate a labor shortage, Border Patrol agents and local officials used military techniques and engaged in a coordinated, tactical operation to remove the immigrants. Along the way, they used widespread racial stereotypes to justify their sometimes brutal treatment of immigrants. Inside the United States, anti-Mexican sentiment was pervasive, and harsh portrayals of Mexican immigrants as dirty, disease-bearing and irresponsible were the norm."
We can count on this happening again if TFG ever again becomes U.S. president.
Kudos, TC. Focusing ire on the MSM is an important component in building a blue coalition to keep the fascists away from government. 👍🏻
I'm ready to launch a pile on for those click baiting and completely off the mark headlines. If it costs a few of those over educated you-know-whats their cushy jobs, so be it.
Tom…. You’re writing truth to power !!!
Your words take my breath away and pray the media goes into red alarm and wakes up and fights this facist group that used
To be a respectable Republican Party
Now we have DEMOCRACY trying to be saved by people voting for Democrats
Maybe for the first time in their lives and
We All Must work together to achieve
Saving Our country from losing our freedoms… we need everyone! Marsha
"The 'bothsiderism' reporting that the major media has been cowed into over the past 50 years by the relentless attacks by the Right against them for being 'the lib’rul media' is now a threat to the continued existence of our constitutional democratic republic.
These are not two similar candidates. One is a defender of that constitutional democratic republic and the rule of law on which it is founded. The other is a dedicated foe of that republic, who is pushing a fascist revolution to overthrow that republic.
If the major media actually believes that they exist to serve the public good, as they claim whenever they are attacked for these failures, then they have an obligation to point out this essential fact."
YES!!!