Words On Politics and Freedom
Enchanted Gardens. False Promises. Immoral Flaws. Lewis. Malcolm X. Davis. Freedom is not a state; it is an act. It is not some enchanted garden perched high on a distant…
History: It Can Help You. It Can Hurt You!
~ The immediate former president of the United States of America - twice impeached, four criminal indictments, 91-charges, civil indictments, etc., etc., etc., Donald J. Trump - is the leading Republican choice…
Still Stinking Up The Place
For years, many years, Republicans have been shitting all over the USofA leaving a toxic stench that has penetrated the minds and hearts of nearly half the nation's citizens, which is leading…
Toxic Souls, Not So Biblical
Mike Johnson has said more than once that the best way to get to know what he’s all about is to read the bible. By reading the bible, he says, we will…
Showing and Telling
Since the poorly produced 2015 performative descend down the escalator, Donald Trump has shown us what kind of (political) person he wishes he was and in uncountable, unhinged ways continues to prove…
Just Go Away
~ No Worry, History Will Remember You ~ Senator Joe Manchin, Democrat and multi-millionaire, yacht-owning, oil champion from West Virginia told the world Thursday that he will not run for reelection…
Sleaze-Bag Kevin Gets Balls Cut Off, With The Whole World Watching
Kevin McCarthy has groveled and slithered his way around and through the U.S. House of Representatives for years; this is no big secret. But now he has been outed, by the very…
Words On Politics
~ 2023 – Lessons Not Learned ~ Armed Militias. Electoral Disaster. Church Burnings vs Voter Fraud. We have been studying the armed militias with a group of more than 100…
The Assault On U.S. Democracy Is Far From Over
~ When Fascists Tell You They’re Fascists, Believe Them ~ Talking Points Memo, one of the better websites for short and long-read news stories, yesterday posted ‘Our Slow-Moving National Crisis Is…
8 Cowards Plus 1 Disgusting Human Being
Well, they had their first gathering on a TV stage. Eight Republican candidates hoping for a shot at the nomination to be president of the United States of America. And they all…
Contrasting Views of America
The NATO Summit, Five Years After the US Was Embarrassed in Front of The Whole World The lines built steadily in the hours before Biden was set to take the stage at…
US Top Court – Maybe Not So Supreme
"Every federal judge [in the United States of America] is bound to an ethics code requiring them to avoid behavior that so much as looks improper, except for Supreme Court justices. Chief…
All True, Kinda…
King. Eisenhower. Mencken. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant. Martin…
Decisions. Decisions. GOP Choice, Charlatan or Genuine Fanatic!
GOP Crossroad – Choosing Their Führer Example in detail: via CrooksAndLiars.com Republican mega-donor Thomas Peterffy told the Financial Times that he, and a "bunch of friends," are pausing plans to fund…
It’s Not Me. It’s Them! So Give Me Your Money. UPDATED
UPDATED: 2023.04.04 Trump's campaign sent a fundraising email Tuesday morning with a note from the former president calling America "a Marxist Third World country that CRIMINALIZES dissent and IMPRISONS its political opposition."…
Decision 2024: Human Moral Decency
That this person again wants to be President of the United States of America requires his words and history be repeated over and over, and over – if not for the future…
Nikki Haley, Her Future Is The Past
Nikki Haley, former Governor of South Carolina and U.N. Ambassador in the Trump Administration, announced she is running for President of the United States of America, 2024. The core of her campaign,…
His Words Still Ring True
Watching and listening to insurrectionists heckle President Joe Biden during the State of the Union Address (video and transcript), I was reminded of the bad old days – the many bad days…
An American Story
As Republican Party members in the U.S. House of Representatives begin their Gestapo-like Committees and outings, I thought it appropriate to play an image-audio story (from September 2022) that is as relevant…
Face of the Republican Party, And It Ain’t Pretty
The Party of Lincoln Has Hit A New Low. How Low Can They Go? The creep known in the U.S. House of Representatives, in New York State, and now pretty much around…
Kevin McCarthy – He’s An Insult To Us All
Coward Kevin: A Reminder Kevin McCarthy Denies Intelligence Committee Seats To Eric Swalwell And Adam Schiff House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has avenged Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) by blocking two Democrats…
Same Game. Same Players. Same Playbook. Same Danger.
They Keep Trying. They Inch Closer. And Corporate Media Plays Its Role. Good Luck, American Democracy
2023. A Song. A Truth
2023. Day 1 and Beyond (more…)
Can’t Laugh. Can’t Feel Sorry For The Guy. But, Damn!!!
Here we go again: Trump, The GOP, and Crazy Time So, as expected, Donald ‘Can I Be More Pathetic’ Trump made his announcement – he’s running again for President of The United…
Election Afterthoughts
Eisenhower. Einstein. Definitions. And Health Care Rights, Privacy Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of…
Democracy Can Be Messy and Ugly. Doesn’t Mean It Can’t Clean Up
America: Pass or Fail On Tuesday, 8 November, Americans will be tested: Does the Experiment continue – flawed as it might be – or will America fall in to the…
And Now A Few Words About Politics and Elections and…
... Leaders? Politics: the art of using euphemisms, lies, emotionalism and fear-mongering to dupe average people into accepting--or even demanding--their own enslavement. © Larken Rose. Voting rights are the most…
Indigenous Peoples Day. Reflection With Honour
The white man made us many promises, but he kept only one. He promised to take our land, and he took it. Red Cloud, Oglala Lakota, 1882. The underlying motivation…
Emergency Call
Journalists in Ukraine Need Help
> Ukrainska Pravda <
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Those who cover the frontlines need first aid kits, medical supplies, flak jackets, helmets. Those trapped in towns and cities under fire need safe passage, relocation and humanitarian assistance.
More at International Federation of Journalists.
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Journalists in Gaza need your help. Here’s how:
International Media Support (IMS), the Danish-based media development organisation, is collecting donations for:
- Food, clothes, blankets and other utilities for journalists and their families
- Safety equipment and gear for journalists, such as press vests, helmets, cell phones and cameras.
- Psychosocial support for journalists
- Ongoing support to keep as many media outlets as possible operating.
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THE TRACKER
Freedom of the Press Foundation
Court says First Amendment means less free speech
[WHAAAAT ?!?!?!?]
If it sounds backward to use the First Amendment to undermine a law meant to protect free speech, that’s because it is.
Yet that’s just what a federal court of appeals did in a recent decision on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act — the federal law that shields online services from legal liability for posts made by their users.
We explain on our website how the court’s nonsensical decision threatens online freedom of speech by journalists and everyone else.
Jobs & Events
Opportunity for Young Journalists
Rising D.C. reporters can apply for a yearlong reporting fellowship. The National Press Foundation is accepting applications for the 2025 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship.
Fellows will learn more about the White House, the Pentagon, the Supreme Court, the Capitol and other key Washington institutions. They’ll review politics and policy with regulators, lawmakers, experts and the best reporters in the business.
To apply, submit two recent work samples, a letter of support from an editor or supervisor and a brief autobiography. Application Deadline is Dec. 2
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Color Of Change, in partnership with the National Education Association, invites you to watch “Educating for Equity: Brown v Board of Education 70 Years Later,” a short video featuring a range of young and older thought leaders talking about the groundbreaking case and the challenges facing our public education system today. Participants discuss what we need to do to protect education moving forward.
Issues
The Reading List
Lie Machines
How to Save Democracy from Troll Armies, Deceitful Robots, Junk News Operations, and Political Operatives
by Philip N. Howard
Lie Machines is full of behind-the-scenes stories from the world’s biggest and most damagingly successful misinformation initiatives.
Howard, not only shows how these campaigns evolved from older propaganda operations but also exposes their new powers, gives us insight into their effectiveness, and explains how to shut them down. Howard is a sociologist and communication researcher who studies the impact of information technologies on democracy and social inequality. Book Here:
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The ReMindEr
Speakables
The New Normal? ~ The first tool of authoritarian regimes is always informational control—both in the gathering of information on the public through surveillance and the filtration of information to the public through owned media. In its early days, the Internet seemed to pose a challenge to authoritarian regimes, but with the advent of social media, we are watching the construction of architectures that fulfill the needs of every authoritarian regime: surveillance and information control. Authoritarian movements are possible only when the general public becomes habituated to—and numbed by—a new normal. Christopher Wylie.
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What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. ‘What to a slave is the 4th of July’. 1852. Frederick Douglass.
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The First ~ Jessie Tarbox Beals (1870 – 1942)
The first published female photo-journalist in the United States and the first female night photographer. She is best known for her freelance news photographs, particularly of the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, and portraits of places such as Bohemian Greenwich Village. Her trademarks were her self-described “ability to hustle” and her tenacity in overcoming gender barriers in her profession.
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Repeat After Me
And it gets you elected
