~ Larken Rose. Suzy Kassem. Stacey Abrams. ~
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.
Saturday Serenade: Freedom for One Means Freedom for All
(more…)
Words On: Politics, Democracy, Truth
Herbert. Frank. Sagan. Governments, if they endure, always tend increasingly toward aristocratic forms. No government in history has been known to evade this pattern. And as the aristocracy develops, government tends…
History and Facts Are Your Friends
Foundation of the Fascist Playbook is Chaos and Lies. Create the chaos, then lie and lie and lie about the consequences. Lies about the chaos during Hitler's murderous reign have often been…
Laugh Now, Cry Later: UPDATED
Red Wave. Blue Collapse. Blue Wave. Red Collapse. The Battle is ongoing. The Bullshit continues. It's Nothing New... Or Is It: UPDATED 11/14 - SEE BELOW (more…)
Words On Leaders and Politicians
Not Always The Same We cannot, of course, expect every leader to possess the wisdom of Lincoln or Mandela’s largeness of soul. But when we think about what questions might be…
Felon and Flakes and Fairy Tales, Oh My
Far-right Republican Congressman Mike Johnson, who is Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and second in line to the Presidency, is at it again in his role as Supreme Lackey, conveniently…
Words On Politics and Truth: An Oxymoron?
~ News Media. Politics. Pop Culture. Truth. ~ News Media and Presidential Campaigns ~ The style of campaigning is symbolic of – and results from – the central role played by the…
Now That Was A Convention
WOW! Talk about conventions! That was a convention, wow. Prime time entertainment at its best. Drama. Comedy. Music. Dance. Anticipation. And the must-have in any prime entertainment production: Leave The Audience Hanging.…
Words On Prejudices, Citizens, Imbeciles, and Elites.
Robert Heinlein. Abhijit Naskar. Bertolt Brecht. Robert Reich. You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic. Robert A. Heinlein.…
Words On Decisions, Movements, Courage
Dolores Huerta. Angela Davis. Jasilyn Charger. We do need women in civic life. We do need women to run for office, to be in political office. We need a feminist to…
JRB Is Asking America
Joe's Good Thing. It's All About Love, And Finishing The Job (more…)
Da Dems. That’s Them!
Dems Fighting Over ‘Virtual Roll Call’ To Nominate Joe Biden Before Convention ~ The Democratic National Committee says its virtual roll call will start next month. Some elected Democrats say it’s an…
Words On Accents, Access and Favoring Freedom
Ana Navarro. Stacey Abrams. Frederick Douglass. Why am I a liberal? Because I don't forget that I'm an immigrant and that I'm a Hispanic and that I have a Latin accent…
Oh No, Uncle Joe. Say It Ain’t So
~~ From Right Left Centre and In Between ~~ News Media Still The Same Old, Same Old: If It Bleeds – It Leads (more…)
Words On Pure Wind and Politics
George Jean Nathan. George Orwell. Shirley Chisholm. Politics. Pure Wind. Trivial Men. Politics is the diversion of trivial men who, when they succeed at it, become important in the eyes of…
Mike Johnson Is A Threat To America, Part Infinity
Mike Johnson, Republican, Speaker of the House of the United States of America, and second in line to the Presidency, on Tuesday led a group of dangerous red-tie sycophants to the New…
Words On Lessons For Mike Johnson
Abraham Lincoln. Warren G.Harding. Dwight D.Eisenhower. We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert…
Hate. America’s Fatal Disease
America today is overwhelmed by HATE and HATE will bring an end to ‘The Grand Experiment’. Yes, HATE has been an integral part of the American experiment from its beginning, bringing with…
Words On Freedom, Choices and Politics
Audre Lorde. Utah Phillips. Martin Luther King Jr. (more…)
Needed Today More Than Ever, In So Many Ways
Not Just A Song – Still A Call To Action Step Into It... (more…)
Answer: Obviously Not
Question: Have You No Shame ~ Sometimes, Somethings Just Make You Vomit A Little In Your Own Mouth ~ ~ After A While, Some People Get To Like The Taste and…
It’s Like Looking In A Mirror
Politics. Campaign Performance. Avoiding Truths. X/Twitter. TikTok. Instagram. Podcasts ABC - to - XYZ. News Media. Etc., Etc., Etc. ~~ News Media and Presidential Campaigns § The style of campaigning is symbolic…
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…
Words on Politics and Politicians: Impostor. A Thing. Fear.
Rousseau. Fromm. Martel. The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying This is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real…
Words On Politicians and Politics: Tomorrows, Remedies, And Morons
Churchill. Marx. Borowitz. A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain…
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…
Small Nooks, New World, The Big Bamboozle
Marcus Aurelius. Sarah Vowell. Carl Sagan. Casting aside other things, hold to the precious few; and besides bear in mind that every man lives only the present, which is an indivisible…
Truth
And it gets you elected…
THE TRACKER
Freedom of the Press Foundation
What 3,725 (and counting) of Trump’s anti-press posts look like August 31, 2026
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NY Times intelligence reporter subpoenaed by DOJ for grand jury testimony 10 July 2026
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Trump administration, allies move to punish outlets during his second term
From the first weeks of President Donald Trump’s second term, his appointees and allies in Congress joined him in taking steps to punish and intimidate news outlets that have covered him and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting those efforts to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more in this regularly updated report:
March 14, 2025 | Trump says negative press coverage “illegal” during speech at DOJ
Jobs & Events
Senior News Reporter (NY or DC)
U.S. News & World Report: Senior News Reporter is a general assignment reporter but also covers a fair bit of news out of Washington.
Salary: $60,000 – $90,000 per year. Apply
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Covering Immigration with Care: A Mental Health Reporting Project Learn how to report on the effects of immigration on mental health with greater context, accuracy and care. This free webinar explores trauma-informed interviewing, ethical storytelling and practical reporting strategies. October 21, 2026.
Issues
Constitutional America?
As State Legislatures Grapple with the Abortion Issue … State Courts Should Prepare for an Increased Role – section headline from Do Pregnant Women Lose Legal Rights by Kenneth Jost in Editorial Research Reports, 28 July 1989.
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Black, Native, Latino-Americans are killed at a much higher rate than white Americans.
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The Reading List
Intent to Destroy
Russia’s Two-Hundred-Year Quest to Dominate Ukraine
By Eugene Finkel
“Finkel’s Intent to Destroy spans several centuries, delving into some of the most heinous atrocities perpetrated by the Kremlin on Ukrainian lands. Despite the extensive scope, the text is rich in nuanced analysis, being equally valuable for scholars and accessible to readers unfamiliar with the region. “ Olesya Khromeychuk, director, Ukrainian Institute London Book here:
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Shrewd, Slip-Up, Or Just Plain Stupid
Georgia Republican candidate for governor Rick Jackson: I’m gonna reduce affordability to the lowest it’s ever been. pic.twitter.com/rjXerhy8Sl – Headquarters (@HQNewsNow) July 22, 2026
FCC chairman Brendan Carr on Wednesday (22June) said ABC’s decision not to air President Donald Trump’s address to the nation last week would likely factor into the agency’s early review of broadcast licenses for eight affiliated stations.
Jesse Watters, (Fox News host with a BA in History & a salary of 5M a year), on a deranged rant targeting young women, insisted a college degree is the fastest way for them to “kill” their love life. ‘Nuff said!
If a woman has [the right to abortion], why shouldn’t a man be free to use his superior strength to force himself on a woman? At least the rapist’s pursuit of sexual freedom doesn’t [in most cases] result in anyone’s death. Lawrence Lockman (R-ME).
Reminder
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.
Stuff
Your Tingly Leaving ~ You know that tingly little feeling you get when you first like someone? That’s your common sense leaving your body.
Yeah, Go Ahead ~ Turtles can breathe through their butts.
1955 Words of Wisdom ~ The fast food restaurant is convenient for a quick meal but I seriously doubt they’ll ever catch on.
~ If they raise the minimum wage to $1.00, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store.
~ It’s too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet.
ANAGRAMS, who doesn’t luv them ~
ELECTION RESULTS
When you rearrange the letters:
LIES – LET’S RECOUNT
Duggan’s Clinic
Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) / Marvin Gaye Originally On His Landmark 1971 Album What’s Going On
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Out Of The Rain / Etta James From her 1990 Soulful Blues album Sticken’ To My Guns
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Dreams / Brandi Carlile From WFUV LIVE CD (FM 90.7 in the Greater New York City area). Originally on her 2009 folk-rock album Give Up The Ghost
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