I don't see how the FCC jawboning a network into canceling a show for misinformation that doesnt hold a candle to the Fox/dominion affair--fwiw, I'd have howled if the gvt bullied Fox into canceling shows over that--looks any better when you see that Europe is *also* terrible on free speech in its own distinctive ways.
Partisanship rots the brain. Maybe your European friend was the pot calling the kettle black. Fair enough, but the kettle is still black!
Except for two facts inconvenient to your “narrative:
1. Sinclair, quickly followed by Nexstar made their decisions BEFORE any FCC involvement whatsoever. It takes no rocket scientist to figure out WHY: take a look at a US map with their specific affiliate locations… you will immediately note NO leftist/democrat dominated markets… not one.
Both then informed both ABC *and* the FCC of their decision.
2. ABC responded by suspending countr-wide (Nexstar and Sinclair combined are a huge chunk of ABCs overall affiliate network)
Oh, and yeah, Kimmel’s conduct was supremely stupid and evil…
You're bending over backwards not to admit the obvious facts in front of all of our eyes. The FCC chairman says "we can do this the easy way or the hard way." He responds with celebration when the network chooses the easy way. Plenty of people in the administration are happy to take credit. If you can't see this as suppression of disfavored political speech, you should ask yourself whether there's *anything* you'd regard in those terms, if it's the GOP suppressing Democratic-aligned speech.
Again, those are words .. and refreshing that we have an administration that allows it's staff to say all the authentic and silly things we've always known they were REALLY thinking in any administration .. especially and administration not staffed solely by lawyers trained since youth to not say what they mean. Meaning, a government not consisting of lawyers, but farmers and shopkeepers, is probably more along the line of what the Founders envisioned .. we are just not used to it.
Is there a reason maga is so frightened of a mere late night comedian? Why does Don waste his time on such minutiae? Doesn't he have an actual job with real responsibility? Is he just exceedingly thin skinned? If I don't like what an entertainer says, I change channels. I don't understand why he whines so much about things that are so irrelevant. Could it be a distraction to divert the attention of his obedient flock?
I thought maga was a movement to help the working class, not an exercise in cancel culture over meaningless TV shows...
I have to agree again. Don's utterances are indeed public. That's what makes their incoherence so hysterical and terrifying at the same time. Imagine that aging, addled brain at 82, when he'll still hold the nuclear codes. Be honest, if your dad babbled like that, wouldn't you have him diagnosed? Then again, he does have bursts of clarity. Remember when he blurted out "I love the poorly educated"?
We can do this all day, it's turtles.all the way down. Why were the Woke so "terrified" of Gina Carano, RoseAnne Barr, heck Michael Richards? The answer is they weren't, Social Justice Warriors did not fire any of them, just as "MAGA" nor Trump himself, did not fire Kimmel or Colbert .. in all cases it was faceless corporate boards pandering to perceived populations who never made any such demands. Disney fired Gina Carano. Disney fired Kimmel. (An aside, one thing that people missed in the devastating South Park episode was their satirical skewering of their parent company using Trump as an excuse to fire Colbert - by going far beyond any limit that would have tolerated by any other nation, and Colbert, in a humiliating depiction of their leader .. with not only no repercussions, but actual grudging respect from the MAGA world for showing how its really done, if your gonna do it. (A long way of saying Colbert and Kimmel were likely let go due their act having worn thin .. and if anything their bosses felt trapped because of the optics of firing them - until they could blame Trump for it.)
(note to editor, feel free to delete this due to length. I'm tapping on a tiny phone and too hard to edit. But now I've invested so much of my life into tapping out this off-the-rails screed I can't bring myself to delete it. Help!)
Ok ya got me. I laughed out loud at the thought of the big tough guy Don being so bruised by satire:). This from a guy who regularly demeans and dehumanizes women, brown people, the military etc. But hey, his bud Vlad doesn't tolerate satire either so why should Don?
It sounds like you agree with Don that the media is the "enemy of the people" And you'd support the next D prez filing lawsuits and threatening license renewals when their ego is bruised by coverage (a tip for Don-lose some weight and those cartoons won't look so unflattering!) I can't join you there, I'll oppose the D prez too. I'm old fashioned, I still think a free media matters.
But back to my original point, Don is the actual potus, not a random podcaster or commentator. Why does he spend so much time threatening the media? Listen to his public statements, read his daily bleats on TS. What is the purpose of the threats? Merely a bruised ego? Shouldn't he spend more time keeping RFK Jr from sending us back to the dark ages? Or trying to not break his first term record for debt accumulation? Or keeping a close eye on the drunkard, serial sexual abusing weekend talk show host that he appointed Secy of Defense, er, War? Or, perish the thought, actually creating the political consensus necessary to implement policies to help the working class, the supposed mission of maga?
Time for maga and the “new” right to man up and stop the whining, y'all are so easily offended. You control the entire federal government, no more excuses. Don't let Don drag you down these culture war rabbit holes, they're just a diversion so he can keep pocketing all the loot he's shaking people down for. I love how maga remains silent on his crypto corruption, all I hear is it's fake news:) Hook, line, sinker...
A quibble: If the media were an "enemy of the people" that would imply they have a soul, or at least an agenda. If they had a theoretical framework at all, once could engage and then rationalize decide whether to ally with or against them. No, I do not consider the collective 'media' as being the enemy of the people, I consider them the proprietors of the Monty Python Argument Clinic, that somehow profits from the length of time and energy spent by the citizenry into rabbit holes of debates with entities who have no memory or desired outcome, nor incentive for a desired outcome. No offense to rabbits.
(Okay an additional quibble - if Hillary Clinton had been elected, we would not know until the day she died what she actually thought about anything. We know in real time what Donald Trump thinks about everything. And in my opinion, though not yours, those actual, and ephemeral, thoughts of either make not a whit a difference in the real world, ie Hillary's unexpressed or Donald's expressed have equal authority and permanent impact (eg probably an equal amount of the thoughts of either would actually make it to the front door of the great American "How a Bill Becomes a Law" wood shredder factory, and all the known shortcuts - eg Executive Orders, expire hard along with a given administration). Which is why I can sit back and enjoy the spectacle of our Andrew Jackson/Don Rickles Act that we will all miss when he is shortly gone. And in the meantime also enjoy cane sugar in my Coke and not having to wear flip flops to the airport, while all that lasts.)
I agree that the FCC shouldn’t be in the business of directing speech and they need to stay out of this Kimmle issue. However, this doesn’t negate the fact that these networks acted preemptively in this context and more importantly, they have Kimmel the opportunity to off-ramp the entire thing with an apology - of which he doubled down and refused to take. Kimmle did this, and the FCC opened their mouths at the most inconvenient moment.
Most inconvenient moment if you care about the first amendment sure, but not if you want to send a message that to keep your FCC license you'd better not offend the president too much. And I see no reason to think Trump isn't trying to send that message; he's constantly suing people--Selzer, the NYT--or who have not come close to meeting legal standards for defamation, or otherwise threatening to use the powers of the state to silence those in the media he thinks treat him unfairly.
I agree Kimmel's comments about the shooter were deeply irresponsible. But that level of irresponsibility is par for the course on TV. I think Fox claiming that Dominion voting machines were rigged was orders of magnitude worse. If that sort of mistake only leads to government involvement when it offends the president, then we're in no position to crow about the lack of free speech protections in the UK.
In America, we shouldn't need to apologize for our own speech. It's not a question of whether Kimmel was right or wrong. JD Vance has said infinitely worse things about Don-cultural heroin, America's Hitler, etc. I don't recall him being canceled?
And be honest, how hysterical was it when they played the clip of Don being asked by a reporter "how are you holding up over the loss of your friend"and after a cursory "very well" he launched into an update on the construction of his new ballroom at the White House. Ya see, the joke was on Don:)
This is a bizarre take on the situation. In the Kimmle case, a person was assassinated and Kimmle fingered people who weren’t connected to the crime in any manner, and more importantly, Kimmle’s network is under a FCC license - Vance is not. Kimmle’s network has a financial bottom line to protect, Vance does not. And I don’t even understand your position on Trumps reaction to Kirk in this case; like what does this mean? There’s dozens of other accounts that describe Trump as being absolutely devastated. Your point here makes you seem extremely desperate for a narrative and it’s both sad and telling. Maybe you should just worry about nominating good candidates with good policies and maybe one day, you won’t be so politically irrelevant and desperate. Enjoy!
You're correct, I'm desperate. But not for a D to win, I'm a lifelong R who has left the party, but Ds aren't my cup of tea. I actually agree with JD and Little Marco regarding Don-at least their first version. I'd prefer a conservative, not a right wing Republican. You clearly subscribe to their "revised" opinions. Thats cool, to each his own.
All this is beside the point. Free speech requires tolerating differences of opinion, and fighting for the freedom to express them. Even when you disagree. Especially when you disagree. Even when they criticize the dear leader. It's indeed ironic that Rs now gleefully rush to cancel culture after having rightfully called out the left for years over the same. I opposed it then, but our difference is apparently that I still oppose it. Maga clearly wasn't serious.
Oren assigns weekly reading. Here's a suggestion. Read all of Dons truth social bleats and public statements since the tragic assassination. Read carefully who he fingers and when he fingers them. Lemme know what you find:)
Finally, I will admit that when you used the term finger, I thought immediately of E Jean Carroll. Remember when Don, after assuring us he couldn't have assaulted her because she "wasn't his type," later identified a photo of her in a court deposition as being his ex-wife... Don't ya wonder what exactly rattles around in the brain of this aging, corrupt, angry man?
I can hold two thoughts at once - of course the government should not even give the appearance of formally or informally influencing individual speech or expression. I also am greatly enjoying the spectacle for goose/gander reasons. (This is 'I'm a conservative because I'm a liberal' territory. My hope is that the Trump hysteria will lead to the left melting down these double-edged swords they forged during the METOO, BLM, and COVID Lockdown era. My fear is the opposite lesson will be learned and they will focus on ensuring their next turn at wielding the sword will be a permanent one.)
It's good to hear you disagree with Dons statements threatening the media, on this we agree. Interesting also that you think D's may copy Don's insurrection, that's an interesting point I hadn't pondered. I think I'd have to agree on that too, escalation would be the logical response. That's what makes Don's initial shredding of the constitution so damaging. Imagine if Mike Pence had done what JD said he would have done. Then again, JD has had so many names, religions, and political views that I don't put much stock in his utterances.
As you are, I’m also a conservative, but only to a degree. My conservatism ends, where the establishment refuses to meet the voter where his feet are. I didn’t agree with Iraq. I didn’t agree with Afghanistan. I don’t agree with free trade. Most importantly, I don’t agree with upholding norms and traditions, for no other reason than fucks sake. If the opposition doesn’t believe in norms and traditions, why should the GOP? Are supposed to be happy about immigration? Are we supposed to be happy about the State Department? Department of Education? What were conservatives doing about it? I don’t agree with Medicare, if we can’t pay for it. I don’t agree with humanitarian aid abroad, if we can’t pay for it. Again, what were conservatives doing about it? I don’t care for the Clintons. I don’t care for the Obama’s and Biden’s. I don’t care for Roe. It doesn’t bother me that originalist have SCOTUS. I’m ecstatic that Dems lost 1000 legislative seats in the 2010 midterms and that a decade long Trump era kept 2A off the ballot. I’m thrilled that ten years of Trump kept healthcare off the ballot. I could go on for hours doing this.
I don’t know Trump personally, but I certainly don’t believe he’s sexually assaulted anyone in his life, not even once - even if he doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut. I take him, warts and all, simply because he’s eons better than any alternative in Washington R’s or D’s. Better by four light years - without question.
Finally, you are a D, whether you like it or not. The old R’s are gone - they no longer exist, and they’re not coming back. You’re either a Trump - R, for the foreseeable future and until both sides are once again lucid and coherent, or you are a desperate D - full stop.
Bingo! You're precisely right. Maga IS the establishment, and has been for years. They ARE the elites. The old party is long gone and ain't coming back. Nor should it. So why the incessant whining and blame about the past? Time for Don and the establishment to man up, maga controls the entire federal government, no more excuses. Maybe spend less time sniveling about comedians that no one watches and pocketing billions in crypto corruption, and more time on what maga was supposed to be about-reinvigorating the working class.
Don is an old fashioned demagogue. And grifter. They appear throughout history in times of economic and social transformation. They sell anger, blame, and simple solutions. They can be very successful with the masses. And I gotta admit, Don is a really good grifter, his pocketing of billions in crypto corruption is impressive! Not to mention the golf resort in Vietnam, the 747, the man is effective.
We could argue issues all day, that's what politics is for. But this isn't about issues. Don is unfit to hold the office. He committed the worst acts of any president in our history-striking at the bedrock of our republic-faith in our elections. He incited an armed insurrection, the first non-peaceful transfer of power in our history. He lied/lies about the 2020 election. He pardoned violent felons who beat cops and were convicted of seditious conspiracy. It's all on video for any honest observer to watch. (As is his admission to sexually assaulting women). Fellow liars like JD have gone along, reinforcing the election lies to the party. A majority of the party now actually believe the conspiracy theories-Jewish space lasers, bamboo ballots, etc. This is why the party is bleeding educated voters.
It's amazing to watch as Don soaks in billions while gaslighting his own voters with pet eating, a random trans kid in some faraway place, drinking bleach, buying gold sneakers and bibles...whatever pops into that addled, aging brain. It's all in a days work lookin out for the poor and downtrodden:)
Europe has had the ACTUAL experience of where hate speech ends. They have laws that reflect this experience and we should, too, in order to avoid repeating their experience, as seems we’re headed towards. As private citizens, Europeans have far more freedom and privacy than we Americans. First and foremost, freedom from perpetual and debilitating debt from medical costs and education and lack of access to these. Second of all, they are not compelled to own a car (or 2 or 3) and the need to use it all the time since there is a comprehensive, fast, cheap/free transportation infrastructure. And third of all privacy laws codified in statute and not subject to a Swiss cheese of laws left to private industry. And the state regulates (more lightly in many respects) media: that means you can choose to see porn but not hate speech. I would half-believe that most American men would trade their hate speech for more easy access to porn. Right?
That may true at any given time .. the difference is that in Europe (and Canada) such freedoms are 'granted'. In the USA, they are 'recognized'. I prefer to stick to our paradigm.
My guess is you have no idea what you’re saying. I have lived and worked in France, Germany, and Switzerland. All have parliamentary systems (Swiss slightly variant) and all have several viable parties and not just two. This means much more nuance in the power of running a state and much more requirements to compromise and rationalize the laws. Almost all have specific laws regarding hate speech. As I keep pointing out here, they have these laws that constrain hate speech because there was that little brown event that occurred back in the 1930’s. We’re close to repeating much of that here. And our bullshit system-as-belief is now being taken down that same road.
Umm, I was talking about re-drawing Congressional Districts in Texas in 2025 to favor Republicans, rather than winning votes in the districts that were already established after the last census in 2020. My guess you have no idea of what I was commenting on.
"For all of the messiness in American democracy at the moment, we should be grateful that our system is proving responsive to public sentiment and that those who previously held political power are either unwilling or unable to prevent change from happening. Any such populist moment is bound to press against guardrails and undermine norms, all of which were installed and upheld (selectively) by the people being thrown out on their ears. "
The German public at the time was responsive to public sentiment in 1933 as well. This, however, did not go well.
Need more? "Vladimir Putin won his first presidential election in March 2000, securing a majority in the first round to avoid a runoff. He became Acting President on December 31, 1999, following Boris Yeltsin's resignation."
The weak or perverted mind that suggests that we should be grateful for Donald Trump's "response" is, well, weak and perverted.
Europe still has clean elections and only Trump's kind --as he does-- dispute that without (like here) proof.
"Understanding America" is more likely aimed at undermining.
Well said. As easy as it would be to list the multitude of dangers Don presents, only one is required to cement the truth that Oren refuses to acknowledge. The one that renders Don unfit to hold the nuclear codes. Don incited an armed insurrection leading to the first non-peaceful transfer of power in American history-he lied/lies about the election outcome, with faith in elections being the bedrock of democracy-he pardoned those who participated in the attempted coup, including felons convicted by peer juries of seditious conspiracy (look up the meaning of seditious conspiracy). These are the worst acts ever committed by a US president. And yet, Oren salves his wavering conscience with whataboutism's regarding Europe? That's all he's got? Can't we aspire to more? Is this really the best America can do?
One of the tenets that "those who previously held power" claimed to care about was character. The real criticism of "those people" is that they didn't mean it. JD and Little Marco are just two examples, but far from the only ones. Read Mitch McConnell's floor speech on Don's second impeachment, then ponder his vote not to convict. Mitch, JD et al are cut from the same cloth. Shame on them.
I gotta hand it to Oren, he's dogged in his rationalizations of Don-the founder and intellectual lodestar of the "new" right. His ability to maintain an "other than that Mrs Lincoln" discipline is indeed impressive. But he needs new material, the whataboutism tropes get just a tad boring.
Ironically, don't we all know that in his heart, he knows JD, Little Marco, et al were right in their first, honest assessments of Don. He's too smart not to understand. But apparently he's cool joining them in publicly self-gelding. He'd fit right in at the next cabinet meeting, where the only order of business is hours of fawning tribute to the dear leader. The last one literally looked like a scene from The Death of Stalin, it's hilarious and worth a watch.
I guess the question is why, why do these smart, talented people do this to themselves? Money, fame, power, lingering angst over being picked last for the fifth grade dodgeball team? Whatever it is, Oren is all in on the leader of the "new" right. He's forever lashed his reputation to Don. I guess I'd be a little defensive too if I was him:) Someday, like all of us, he'll get to explain all this to his grandkids, and where he stood in the moment.
Here's a quick tip though. He might want to read up on the AfD to understand why JD's endorsement of them was so offensive.
Regarding that Chinese steel export growth- it’s being subsidized by America. The U.S. exported nearly 9 million tons of met coal to China last year at a price of around $135/ton. The OBBBA signed into law by Trump on July 4 added a Production Tax Credit to pay for 2.5% of costs to met coal producers. That would total about $30 million, all so China can outcompete U.S.-made steel.
Curious why trade imbalances with China and Germany are viewed as equal problems. From my view, trade imbalances with allied democracies, especially with economies much smaller than our own, should not bother policymakers. It seems that we will need every ally we can find to end China's manufacturing dominance, including those with whom we have trade imbalances.
My guess is that you have no idea -or worse- what you’re saying. Nor do I. Feel free to explain. The freedoms and constraints in Europe are not just generically written into a 250 year old document left to interpretation by a completely polticized judiciary, as we are of which we’re seeing the current worst effects now. They are in statute. I have lived and worked in France, Germany, and Switzerland for a combined time of 6 years. I speak fluent German and good French. I had 3 instances where I had to work with German and Swiss courts. Your “freedom” here is a function of how much money you have. There it’s how much and how well you can prove your case. Because only the loser pays in most cases. But even that conditionally.
It took me a while, but I just realised that these articles are a weird imitation of the Politico newsletters: somehow trying to be cool and funny, but also pushing a narrative in the background. Which makes this Substack not serious content, not journalism, not even entertainment. Not that the authors care!
All theories of utopia tend to blind their proponents to reality. Vladimir Lenin is example A. Tyler Cohen is example B. Opposite ideologies, but the same blindness of (or just utter disregard for) reality.
“ France and Germany are doing even worse, attempting to just exclude parties and candidates who would threaten the corroded status quo. A French court has banned Marie Le Pen from running for president in the next election”
I would just quibble this a bit: Marine Le Pen has been found guilty of misappropriating EU funds from her mandate as EU MP (i.e., using her EU MP indemnity to fund her own party’s activities in France rather than to pay for e.g. staff assisting her with her EU MP mandate). Her defence didn’t really deny this, and instead insisted it must have been fine since others were doing it / it was all a political witch hunt. She may have had a point, but once you admit to misappropriating funds - and certainly once a court finds you guilty of this - the automatic penalty under French law is inegibility.
One can blame the French political class for desperately trying to cordon off the far-right in the French parliament and for refusing to acknowledge that they have real democratic legitimacy, in a hopeless attempt to stave off the inevitable, but Marine Le Pen’s conviction - if upheld on appeal - likely only increases her party’s chance of securing a victory at the next elections (led by Jordan Bardella, a much less divisive figure).
Anyways, very much looking forward to reading an account of this weekend’s events in London!
I don't see how the FCC jawboning a network into canceling a show for misinformation that doesnt hold a candle to the Fox/dominion affair--fwiw, I'd have howled if the gvt bullied Fox into canceling shows over that--looks any better when you see that Europe is *also* terrible on free speech in its own distinctive ways.
Partisanship rots the brain. Maybe your European friend was the pot calling the kettle black. Fair enough, but the kettle is still black!
Except for two facts inconvenient to your “narrative:
1. Sinclair, quickly followed by Nexstar made their decisions BEFORE any FCC involvement whatsoever. It takes no rocket scientist to figure out WHY: take a look at a US map with their specific affiliate locations… you will immediately note NO leftist/democrat dominated markets… not one.
Both then informed both ABC *and* the FCC of their decision.
2. ABC responded by suspending countr-wide (Nexstar and Sinclair combined are a huge chunk of ABCs overall affiliate network)
Oh, and yeah, Kimmel’s conduct was supremely stupid and evil…
You're bending over backwards not to admit the obvious facts in front of all of our eyes. The FCC chairman says "we can do this the easy way or the hard way." He responds with celebration when the network chooses the easy way. Plenty of people in the administration are happy to take credit. If you can't see this as suppression of disfavored political speech, you should ask yourself whether there's *anything* you'd regard in those terms, if it's the GOP suppressing Democratic-aligned speech.
Again, those are words .. and refreshing that we have an administration that allows it's staff to say all the authentic and silly things we've always known they were REALLY thinking in any administration .. especially and administration not staffed solely by lawyers trained since youth to not say what they mean. Meaning, a government not consisting of lawyers, but farmers and shopkeepers, is probably more along the line of what the Founders envisioned .. we are just not used to it.
Is there a reason maga is so frightened of a mere late night comedian? Why does Don waste his time on such minutiae? Doesn't he have an actual job with real responsibility? Is he just exceedingly thin skinned? If I don't like what an entertainer says, I change channels. I don't understand why he whines so much about things that are so irrelevant. Could it be a distraction to divert the attention of his obedient flock?
I thought maga was a movement to help the working class, not an exercise in cancel culture over meaningless TV shows...
I have to agree again. Don's utterances are indeed public. That's what makes their incoherence so hysterical and terrifying at the same time. Imagine that aging, addled brain at 82, when he'll still hold the nuclear codes. Be honest, if your dad babbled like that, wouldn't you have him diagnosed? Then again, he does have bursts of clarity. Remember when he blurted out "I love the poorly educated"?
We can do this all day, it's turtles.all the way down. Why were the Woke so "terrified" of Gina Carano, RoseAnne Barr, heck Michael Richards? The answer is they weren't, Social Justice Warriors did not fire any of them, just as "MAGA" nor Trump himself, did not fire Kimmel or Colbert .. in all cases it was faceless corporate boards pandering to perceived populations who never made any such demands. Disney fired Gina Carano. Disney fired Kimmel. (An aside, one thing that people missed in the devastating South Park episode was their satirical skewering of their parent company using Trump as an excuse to fire Colbert - by going far beyond any limit that would have tolerated by any other nation, and Colbert, in a humiliating depiction of their leader .. with not only no repercussions, but actual grudging respect from the MAGA world for showing how its really done, if your gonna do it. (A long way of saying Colbert and Kimmel were likely let go due their act having worn thin .. and if anything their bosses felt trapped because of the optics of firing them - until they could blame Trump for it.)
(note to editor, feel free to delete this due to length. I'm tapping on a tiny phone and too hard to edit. But now I've invested so much of my life into tapping out this off-the-rails screed I can't bring myself to delete it. Help!)
Ok ya got me. I laughed out loud at the thought of the big tough guy Don being so bruised by satire:). This from a guy who regularly demeans and dehumanizes women, brown people, the military etc. But hey, his bud Vlad doesn't tolerate satire either so why should Don?
It sounds like you agree with Don that the media is the "enemy of the people" And you'd support the next D prez filing lawsuits and threatening license renewals when their ego is bruised by coverage (a tip for Don-lose some weight and those cartoons won't look so unflattering!) I can't join you there, I'll oppose the D prez too. I'm old fashioned, I still think a free media matters.
But back to my original point, Don is the actual potus, not a random podcaster or commentator. Why does he spend so much time threatening the media? Listen to his public statements, read his daily bleats on TS. What is the purpose of the threats? Merely a bruised ego? Shouldn't he spend more time keeping RFK Jr from sending us back to the dark ages? Or trying to not break his first term record for debt accumulation? Or keeping a close eye on the drunkard, serial sexual abusing weekend talk show host that he appointed Secy of Defense, er, War? Or, perish the thought, actually creating the political consensus necessary to implement policies to help the working class, the supposed mission of maga?
Time for maga and the “new” right to man up and stop the whining, y'all are so easily offended. You control the entire federal government, no more excuses. Don't let Don drag you down these culture war rabbit holes, they're just a diversion so he can keep pocketing all the loot he's shaking people down for. I love how maga remains silent on his crypto corruption, all I hear is it's fake news:) Hook, line, sinker...
A quibble: If the media were an "enemy of the people" that would imply they have a soul, or at least an agenda. If they had a theoretical framework at all, once could engage and then rationalize decide whether to ally with or against them. No, I do not consider the collective 'media' as being the enemy of the people, I consider them the proprietors of the Monty Python Argument Clinic, that somehow profits from the length of time and energy spent by the citizenry into rabbit holes of debates with entities who have no memory or desired outcome, nor incentive for a desired outcome. No offense to rabbits.
(Okay an additional quibble - if Hillary Clinton had been elected, we would not know until the day she died what she actually thought about anything. We know in real time what Donald Trump thinks about everything. And in my opinion, though not yours, those actual, and ephemeral, thoughts of either make not a whit a difference in the real world, ie Hillary's unexpressed or Donald's expressed have equal authority and permanent impact (eg probably an equal amount of the thoughts of either would actually make it to the front door of the great American "How a Bill Becomes a Law" wood shredder factory, and all the known shortcuts - eg Executive Orders, expire hard along with a given administration). Which is why I can sit back and enjoy the spectacle of our Andrew Jackson/Don Rickles Act that we will all miss when he is shortly gone. And in the meantime also enjoy cane sugar in my Coke and not having to wear flip flops to the airport, while all that lasts.)
I agree that the FCC shouldn’t be in the business of directing speech and they need to stay out of this Kimmle issue. However, this doesn’t negate the fact that these networks acted preemptively in this context and more importantly, they have Kimmel the opportunity to off-ramp the entire thing with an apology - of which he doubled down and refused to take. Kimmle did this, and the FCC opened their mouths at the most inconvenient moment.
Most inconvenient moment if you care about the first amendment sure, but not if you want to send a message that to keep your FCC license you'd better not offend the president too much. And I see no reason to think Trump isn't trying to send that message; he's constantly suing people--Selzer, the NYT--or who have not come close to meeting legal standards for defamation, or otherwise threatening to use the powers of the state to silence those in the media he thinks treat him unfairly.
I agree Kimmel's comments about the shooter were deeply irresponsible. But that level of irresponsibility is par for the course on TV. I think Fox claiming that Dominion voting machines were rigged was orders of magnitude worse. If that sort of mistake only leads to government involvement when it offends the president, then we're in no position to crow about the lack of free speech protections in the UK.
In America, we shouldn't need to apologize for our own speech. It's not a question of whether Kimmel was right or wrong. JD Vance has said infinitely worse things about Don-cultural heroin, America's Hitler, etc. I don't recall him being canceled?
And be honest, how hysterical was it when they played the clip of Don being asked by a reporter "how are you holding up over the loss of your friend"and after a cursory "very well" he launched into an update on the construction of his new ballroom at the White House. Ya see, the joke was on Don:)
This is a bizarre take on the situation. In the Kimmle case, a person was assassinated and Kimmle fingered people who weren’t connected to the crime in any manner, and more importantly, Kimmle’s network is under a FCC license - Vance is not. Kimmle’s network has a financial bottom line to protect, Vance does not. And I don’t even understand your position on Trumps reaction to Kirk in this case; like what does this mean? There’s dozens of other accounts that describe Trump as being absolutely devastated. Your point here makes you seem extremely desperate for a narrative and it’s both sad and telling. Maybe you should just worry about nominating good candidates with good policies and maybe one day, you won’t be so politically irrelevant and desperate. Enjoy!
You're correct, I'm desperate. But not for a D to win, I'm a lifelong R who has left the party, but Ds aren't my cup of tea. I actually agree with JD and Little Marco regarding Don-at least their first version. I'd prefer a conservative, not a right wing Republican. You clearly subscribe to their "revised" opinions. Thats cool, to each his own.
All this is beside the point. Free speech requires tolerating differences of opinion, and fighting for the freedom to express them. Even when you disagree. Especially when you disagree. Even when they criticize the dear leader. It's indeed ironic that Rs now gleefully rush to cancel culture after having rightfully called out the left for years over the same. I opposed it then, but our difference is apparently that I still oppose it. Maga clearly wasn't serious.
Oren assigns weekly reading. Here's a suggestion. Read all of Dons truth social bleats and public statements since the tragic assassination. Read carefully who he fingers and when he fingers them. Lemme know what you find:)
Finally, I will admit that when you used the term finger, I thought immediately of E Jean Carroll. Remember when Don, after assuring us he couldn't have assaulted her because she "wasn't his type," later identified a photo of her in a court deposition as being his ex-wife... Don't ya wonder what exactly rattles around in the brain of this aging, corrupt, angry man?
I can hold two thoughts at once - of course the government should not even give the appearance of formally or informally influencing individual speech or expression. I also am greatly enjoying the spectacle for goose/gander reasons. (This is 'I'm a conservative because I'm a liberal' territory. My hope is that the Trump hysteria will lead to the left melting down these double-edged swords they forged during the METOO, BLM, and COVID Lockdown era. My fear is the opposite lesson will be learned and they will focus on ensuring their next turn at wielding the sword will be a permanent one.)
It's good to hear you disagree with Dons statements threatening the media, on this we agree. Interesting also that you think D's may copy Don's insurrection, that's an interesting point I hadn't pondered. I think I'd have to agree on that too, escalation would be the logical response. That's what makes Don's initial shredding of the constitution so damaging. Imagine if Mike Pence had done what JD said he would have done. Then again, JD has had so many names, religions, and political views that I don't put much stock in his utterances.
As you are, I’m also a conservative, but only to a degree. My conservatism ends, where the establishment refuses to meet the voter where his feet are. I didn’t agree with Iraq. I didn’t agree with Afghanistan. I don’t agree with free trade. Most importantly, I don’t agree with upholding norms and traditions, for no other reason than fucks sake. If the opposition doesn’t believe in norms and traditions, why should the GOP? Are supposed to be happy about immigration? Are we supposed to be happy about the State Department? Department of Education? What were conservatives doing about it? I don’t agree with Medicare, if we can’t pay for it. I don’t agree with humanitarian aid abroad, if we can’t pay for it. Again, what were conservatives doing about it? I don’t care for the Clintons. I don’t care for the Obama’s and Biden’s. I don’t care for Roe. It doesn’t bother me that originalist have SCOTUS. I’m ecstatic that Dems lost 1000 legislative seats in the 2010 midterms and that a decade long Trump era kept 2A off the ballot. I’m thrilled that ten years of Trump kept healthcare off the ballot. I could go on for hours doing this.
I don’t know Trump personally, but I certainly don’t believe he’s sexually assaulted anyone in his life, not even once - even if he doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut. I take him, warts and all, simply because he’s eons better than any alternative in Washington R’s or D’s. Better by four light years - without question.
Finally, you are a D, whether you like it or not. The old R’s are gone - they no longer exist, and they’re not coming back. You’re either a Trump - R, for the foreseeable future and until both sides are once again lucid and coherent, or you are a desperate D - full stop.
Bingo! You're precisely right. Maga IS the establishment, and has been for years. They ARE the elites. The old party is long gone and ain't coming back. Nor should it. So why the incessant whining and blame about the past? Time for Don and the establishment to man up, maga controls the entire federal government, no more excuses. Maybe spend less time sniveling about comedians that no one watches and pocketing billions in crypto corruption, and more time on what maga was supposed to be about-reinvigorating the working class.
Don is an old fashioned demagogue. And grifter. They appear throughout history in times of economic and social transformation. They sell anger, blame, and simple solutions. They can be very successful with the masses. And I gotta admit, Don is a really good grifter, his pocketing of billions in crypto corruption is impressive! Not to mention the golf resort in Vietnam, the 747, the man is effective.
We could argue issues all day, that's what politics is for. But this isn't about issues. Don is unfit to hold the office. He committed the worst acts of any president in our history-striking at the bedrock of our republic-faith in our elections. He incited an armed insurrection, the first non-peaceful transfer of power in our history. He lied/lies about the 2020 election. He pardoned violent felons who beat cops and were convicted of seditious conspiracy. It's all on video for any honest observer to watch. (As is his admission to sexually assaulting women). Fellow liars like JD have gone along, reinforcing the election lies to the party. A majority of the party now actually believe the conspiracy theories-Jewish space lasers, bamboo ballots, etc. This is why the party is bleeding educated voters.
It's amazing to watch as Don soaks in billions while gaslighting his own voters with pet eating, a random trans kid in some faraway place, drinking bleach, buying gold sneakers and bibles...whatever pops into that addled, aging brain. It's all in a days work lookin out for the poor and downtrodden:)
Europe has had the ACTUAL experience of where hate speech ends. They have laws that reflect this experience and we should, too, in order to avoid repeating their experience, as seems we’re headed towards. As private citizens, Europeans have far more freedom and privacy than we Americans. First and foremost, freedom from perpetual and debilitating debt from medical costs and education and lack of access to these. Second of all, they are not compelled to own a car (or 2 or 3) and the need to use it all the time since there is a comprehensive, fast, cheap/free transportation infrastructure. And third of all privacy laws codified in statute and not subject to a Swiss cheese of laws left to private industry. And the state regulates (more lightly in many respects) media: that means you can choose to see porn but not hate speech. I would half-believe that most American men would trade their hate speech for more easy access to porn. Right?
That may true at any given time .. the difference is that in Europe (and Canada) such freedoms are 'granted'. In the USA, they are 'recognized'. I prefer to stick to our paradigm.
Texas is a lot like Europe, no? “The European answer thus far is to futz with how power is gained, to render popularity less important.”
My guess is you have no idea what you’re saying. I have lived and worked in France, Germany, and Switzerland. All have parliamentary systems (Swiss slightly variant) and all have several viable parties and not just two. This means much more nuance in the power of running a state and much more requirements to compromise and rationalize the laws. Almost all have specific laws regarding hate speech. As I keep pointing out here, they have these laws that constrain hate speech because there was that little brown event that occurred back in the 1930’s. We’re close to repeating much of that here. And our bullshit system-as-belief is now being taken down that same road.
Umm, I was talking about re-drawing Congressional Districts in Texas in 2025 to favor Republicans, rather than winning votes in the districts that were already established after the last census in 2020. My guess you have no idea of what I was commenting on.
"For all of the messiness in American democracy at the moment, we should be grateful that our system is proving responsive to public sentiment and that those who previously held political power are either unwilling or unable to prevent change from happening. Any such populist moment is bound to press against guardrails and undermine norms, all of which were installed and upheld (selectively) by the people being thrown out on their ears. "
The German public at the time was responsive to public sentiment in 1933 as well. This, however, did not go well.
Need more? "Vladimir Putin won his first presidential election in March 2000, securing a majority in the first round to avoid a runoff. He became Acting President on December 31, 1999, following Boris Yeltsin's resignation."
The weak or perverted mind that suggests that we should be grateful for Donald Trump's "response" is, well, weak and perverted.
Europe still has clean elections and only Trump's kind --as he does-- dispute that without (like here) proof.
"Understanding America" is more likely aimed at undermining.
Well said. As easy as it would be to list the multitude of dangers Don presents, only one is required to cement the truth that Oren refuses to acknowledge. The one that renders Don unfit to hold the nuclear codes. Don incited an armed insurrection leading to the first non-peaceful transfer of power in American history-he lied/lies about the election outcome, with faith in elections being the bedrock of democracy-he pardoned those who participated in the attempted coup, including felons convicted by peer juries of seditious conspiracy (look up the meaning of seditious conspiracy). These are the worst acts ever committed by a US president. And yet, Oren salves his wavering conscience with whataboutism's regarding Europe? That's all he's got? Can't we aspire to more? Is this really the best America can do?
One of the tenets that "those who previously held power" claimed to care about was character. The real criticism of "those people" is that they didn't mean it. JD and Little Marco are just two examples, but far from the only ones. Read Mitch McConnell's floor speech on Don's second impeachment, then ponder his vote not to convict. Mitch, JD et al are cut from the same cloth. Shame on them.
I gotta hand it to Oren, he's dogged in his rationalizations of Don-the founder and intellectual lodestar of the "new" right. His ability to maintain an "other than that Mrs Lincoln" discipline is indeed impressive. But he needs new material, the whataboutism tropes get just a tad boring.
Ironically, don't we all know that in his heart, he knows JD, Little Marco, et al were right in their first, honest assessments of Don. He's too smart not to understand. But apparently he's cool joining them in publicly self-gelding. He'd fit right in at the next cabinet meeting, where the only order of business is hours of fawning tribute to the dear leader. The last one literally looked like a scene from The Death of Stalin, it's hilarious and worth a watch.
I guess the question is why, why do these smart, talented people do this to themselves? Money, fame, power, lingering angst over being picked last for the fifth grade dodgeball team? Whatever it is, Oren is all in on the leader of the "new" right. He's forever lashed his reputation to Don. I guess I'd be a little defensive too if I was him:) Someday, like all of us, he'll get to explain all this to his grandkids, and where he stood in the moment.
Here's a quick tip though. He might want to read up on the AfD to understand why JD's endorsement of them was so offensive.
Good luck America.
Regarding that Chinese steel export growth- it’s being subsidized by America. The U.S. exported nearly 9 million tons of met coal to China last year at a price of around $135/ton. The OBBBA signed into law by Trump on July 4 added a Production Tax Credit to pay for 2.5% of costs to met coal producers. That would total about $30 million, all so China can outcompete U.S.-made steel.
Curious why trade imbalances with China and Germany are viewed as equal problems. From my view, trade imbalances with allied democracies, especially with economies much smaller than our own, should not bother policymakers. It seems that we will need every ally we can find to end China's manufacturing dominance, including those with whom we have trade imbalances.
The audio only plays 1 minute of the intro. Long article. What happened?
My guess is that you have no idea -or worse- what you’re saying. Nor do I. Feel free to explain. The freedoms and constraints in Europe are not just generically written into a 250 year old document left to interpretation by a completely polticized judiciary, as we are of which we’re seeing the current worst effects now. They are in statute. I have lived and worked in France, Germany, and Switzerland for a combined time of 6 years. I speak fluent German and good French. I had 3 instances where I had to work with German and Swiss courts. Your “freedom” here is a function of how much money you have. There it’s how much and how well you can prove your case. Because only the loser pays in most cases. But even that conditionally.
It took me a while, but I just realised that these articles are a weird imitation of the Politico newsletters: somehow trying to be cool and funny, but also pushing a narrative in the background. Which makes this Substack not serious content, not journalism, not even entertainment. Not that the authors care!
All theories of utopia tend to blind their proponents to reality. Vladimir Lenin is example A. Tyler Cohen is example B. Opposite ideologies, but the same blindness of (or just utter disregard for) reality.
“ France and Germany are doing even worse, attempting to just exclude parties and candidates who would threaten the corroded status quo. A French court has banned Marie Le Pen from running for president in the next election”
I would just quibble this a bit: Marine Le Pen has been found guilty of misappropriating EU funds from her mandate as EU MP (i.e., using her EU MP indemnity to fund her own party’s activities in France rather than to pay for e.g. staff assisting her with her EU MP mandate). Her defence didn’t really deny this, and instead insisted it must have been fine since others were doing it / it was all a political witch hunt. She may have had a point, but once you admit to misappropriating funds - and certainly once a court finds you guilty of this - the automatic penalty under French law is inegibility.
One can blame the French political class for desperately trying to cordon off the far-right in the French parliament and for refusing to acknowledge that they have real democratic legitimacy, in a hopeless attempt to stave off the inevitable, but Marine Le Pen’s conviction - if upheld on appeal - likely only increases her party’s chance of securing a victory at the next elections (led by Jordan Bardella, a much less divisive figure).
Anyways, very much looking forward to reading an account of this weekend’s events in London!
Truth. I do worry that Trump seems to cozy to the Euros, especially the UK. Much prefer Vance on this.