Random Politics Thread

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I don't think it's type related. The problem mine have is Facebook and The Wall Street Journal. The shit that pours out of their mouth you can read in this publication verbatim. I've said it before - the WSJ's business and stock information gives them a veneer of trustworthiness and respectability and that is blow to pieces in their opinions pages. Total neolib and paleoconservative vomit. All cooperate media is the same - I'm not playing that game. I can read reputable independent journalism on my own - I don't need it pureed and fed by Rachel Maddow or Chris Cuomo but I think a lot of olds do.

What do you recommend other than the Intercept? You may have mentioned it before but the Intercept is the only one I remember. I know blockclubchicago.org is good for local. What about international (which cable news barely even mentions if we're not bombing someone)?

 

[SD45T-2]

Russian Diplomats Leave North Korea Via Hand-Pushed Railcar - Jalopnik.com

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Russian Diplomats Leave North Korea Via Hand-Pushed Railcar - Jalopnik.com

Pretty disgusting the way the North Korean regime puts all that money into its military and none into civilian infrastructure or taking care of its people.

 

[ceecee]

What do you recommend other than the Intercept? You may have mentioned it before but the Intercept is the only one I remember. I know blockclubchicago.org is good for local. What about international (which cable news barely even mentions if we're not bombing someone)?

I still read the Intercept although there is Glen Greenwald drama going on. It's still an excellent publication. I also started subscribing to Matt Tabbi's Substack and it's great.

Stay off Facebook for news. I use Twitter as a clearing house and because that's immediate and some, like Unicorn Riot, livestream amazing work there and only there. Don't follow propaganda arms like RT and Sputnik, obviously no US outlet mentioning "marketplace" or "ideas" since they can't define either. No corporate MSM like MSNBC, Fox or CNN. I don't follow most individual reporters from any of them either - they're subject to the same editorialism (except maybe Daniel Dale or David Fahrenthold ).

I follow a lot of people on Twitter that are investigative reporters. Like Will Sommer, JJ McNab, Mark Pitcavage, Ford Fischer has his own site - Ford Fischer | News2Share Ken Klippenstein, Matt Tabbi, David Fahrenthold, Libby Watson, Wesley Lowery....

I also follow and/or read all of these - rather their posts, their publication websites or both.

The Real News
Counter Punch
It's Going Down
Unicorn Riot
Truthout
CrimethinkInc
The Marshall Project
Pro Publica
The Intercept
Texas Tribune
High Country News
Fair Observer
Fight Back News
Dissent Magazine
The New Republic



It's not always easy to find but there is fantastic reporting going on in the US. It's simply drown out by the cooperate media volume. I personally am happy to financially support Means TV, which is completely funded by subscribers. Look for outlets winning Pulitzers for their investigative or explanatory and especially local reporting.

The "truth" isn't going to come from the NYT or WaPo for the most part and these reports and outlets aren't going to be spoon fed to people. Until you start looking and verifying for yourself, it's hard to get a view that isn't clouded by some kind of shitty people funding it.

International reporting - a lot is censored but places like AP, Ruters, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (UK), The Global Investigative News Network are good places to start.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I still read the Intercept although there is Glen Greenwald drama going on. It's still an excellent publication. I also started subscribing to Matt Tabbi's Substack and it's great.

Stay off Facebook for news.

I generally don't use Facebook for anything serious but stuff other people post does make it there. Some of the takes aren't terrible, but some definitely are. Either way, I do think it's a good idea to do my own research. It serves me well iin many other areas, so why not that?

I use Twitter as a clearing house and because that's immediate and some, like Unicorn Riot, livestream amazing work there and only there. Don't follow propaganda arms like RT and Sputnik, obviously no US outlet mentioning "marketplace" or "ideas" since they can't define either. No corporate MSM like MSNBC, Fox or CNN. I don't follow most individual reporters from any of them either - they're subject to the same editorialism (except maybe Daniel Dale or David Fahrenthold ).

My Trump-voting cousin read a lot of RT (this was before 2016); I always viewed that with a lot of suspicion. I think he also got into Alex Jones, he had a lot of weird ideas about the U.N.. (U.N conspiracy theories are the most baffling to me; I can't imagine a more toothless, powerless and inconsequential institution to hold up as a boogeyman. I know evangelicals love to fit it into the book of Revelations as being some kind of vehicle for the Antichrist [either that or the Catholic Church] tbut he was not brought up in that background at all; he had to have gotten it from somewhere else. )


At any rate, I saved your list for further reference.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I really hate that mainstream politics in this country is about outrage theatrics, personalities, and cultural posturing on both sides rather than actual issues. Even worse is the fact that lots of people consider taking it seriously to be the mark of an intelligent and educated person. How am I supposed to take this garbage seriously?

You know what I actually want from politicians? I want them to make this a better place to live. I don't want Netflix specials and crappy hats. I don't want bullshit speeches about "national greatness" or "leading the world" (in what, Covid deaths, lol?) . I don't want dumb monologues about low-flow toilets or insipid garbage about some mill worker you met or somebody told you about one time. And I don't care about the music they listen to or the TV shows they watch. They need to do a good job instead of blaming it on the other guy when the truth is that they don't actually care. They need to make a serious effort to solve some problems instead of just massaging their goddamn ego.

I dare somebody to give me a good reason why these figures deserve my reverence. No ad-hominems or bullshit accusations of lying or having too much hatred in my heart to appreciate greatness. Give me a reason without insulting me. I'd be happy to believe differently. So far, only one person on this forum has come close close to convincing me otherwise, and they didn't do it by calling me a dumb-dumb liar poisoned by hate and negativity.

I'm not expecting people to solve all the problems. That's not what I'm demanding. I'm demanding that they try as hard as they can. I'm demanding that they take this stuff seriously as they tell me it is EVERY 4 YEARS. I did my part. Now you have to show me you take it seriously. Treat this stuff as mattering more than creating a "culture of civility", "ending divisiveness", or "preserving respect for institutions."

 

[Coriolis]

I just moved a couple dozen posts to the graveyard. Continued interpersonal squabbling contributing nothing to the discussion will result in threadbans.

Carry on.

 

[Jaguar]

Replace the parliamentarian.

What’s a Democratic majority if we can’t pass our priority bills? This is unacceptable.

So the next time you get pulled over for speeding, just get the cop replaced. Is that really the best you can do?

 

[ceecee]

Everyone ready for March 4? Just in case there are people still not paying attention to anything...

QAnon believers think Trump will be inaugurated again on March 4 - Vox

 

[Lark]

Everyone ready for March 4? Just in case there are people still not paying attention to anything...

QAnon believers think Trump will be inaugurated again on March 4 - Vox

Well, it'll be interesting to see what happens when this doesnt happen.

I just think that these kinds of reports are about radicalizing followers, its all make believe but if you actually did believe these reports you'd be convinced of a whole series of infractions and government criminality.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Everyone ready for March 4? Just in case there are people still not paying attention to anything...

QAnon believers think Trump will be inaugurated again on March 4 - Vox

Dear God, it's like Millerism.

 

[ceecee]

Dear God, it's like Millerism.

Leading to The Great Disappointment 2.0

 

[Red Memories]

why does this dumb shit have to happen before my birthday or ever for that matter

 

[Magic Poriferan]

Dear God, it's like Millerism.

Leading to The Great Disappointment 2.0

Funny you mention this, as I have been sincerely wondering if QAnon will stick with us for ages like some kind of Adventism.

 

[ceecee]

Funny you mention this, as I have been sincerely wondering if QAnon will stick with us for ages like some kind of Adventism.

It already is. QAnon didn't become a real threat until it hooked up with religion and that was only a matter of time. Charismatic Christians already have mostly insane dogma, they were ripe for this level of crazy. Omega Kingdom Ministries fits that perfectly. They get religious org protection AND tax exemption.

The Church of QAnon: Will conspiracy theories form the basis of a new religious movement?

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

It already is. QAnon didn't become a real threat until it hooked up with religion and that was only a matter of time. Charismatic Christians already have mostly insane dogma, they were ripe for this level of crazy. Omega Kingdom Ministries fits that perfectly. They get religious org protection AND tax exemption.

The Church of QAnon: Will conspiracy theories form the basis of a new religious movement?

Is the U.N part of the global pedophile ring?

 

[ceecee]

Is the U.N part of the global pedophile ring?

Oh certainly. But remember, this is just a fantasy started on 4Chan that moved to 8Chan with no real life implications at all. Take it figuratively, not literally. Like 1/6 was just a peaceful protest that got mildly out of hand and Trump bullshit had no impact whatsoever. He was just joking.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Oh certainly. But remember, this is just a fantasy started on 4Chan that moved to 8Chan with no real life implications at all. Take it figuratively, not literally. Like 1/6 was just a peaceful protest that got mildly out of hand and Trump bullshit had no impact whatsoever. He was just joking.

Well, I guess the U.N's gotta do something. I guess people like knowing that the organization actually has a function even if it's nefarious.

 

[Z Buck McFate]

Ben Shapiro has elevated the conservative idignant hissy fit to an art form.

He's good at preaching a resoundingly (and infuriatingly) insular narrative to his own choir though, in a way that effectively cements conviction in a remarkably short-sighted view of the world. I sometimes try to listen to him, because I'm a firm believer that curiosity is the antidote for contempt - but I've just about learned my lesson in thinking he might ever be able to provide that bridge in understanding.

And for all his talk of the need for an outlet for "traditional values", he seems to mistake "delighting in stirring outrage the left" with "traditional values" as much as any of them.

There is such a need right now for anyone who understands what baby there might be in the Republican bathwater, to effectively translate what decent individuals in Trump's base 'hear' that is appealing to them but who can also acknowledge the searing hypocrisy, banality, and depravity is grating - to be a pundit who can form some kind of bridge. Because even the currently most well-known Republican pundits who can see it hate it ("it" being all things MJT, Trumps, McConnell, Cruz...) as much as Democrats. The closest it gets is Nikki Haley, and she's still far too much of a shithead to do it effectively. Anyone who could master that would be able to capitalize on it big time. It's actually pretty strange that no one has yet.

 

[ceecee]

Trump Unity trailer getting towed from CPAC..