We need to laser-beam in on one of the major propaganda outlets and make a full court press to put them out of business.
No doubt -- that wouldn't be easy. But if there is a persistent focus on one of these outlets and the pressure, the mockery and the ridicule are unrelenting and merciless, bigger and bigger mistakes and own goals will occur and they will be seen by a wider audience. They need to become a cultural laughingstock.
These people are 100 percent capable of digging their own burial plot. They just need a nudge.
Break them and bankrupt them. The focus should be to completely ensure that the "assets" and the masthead/brand are forever tarnished and never able to come back, even under new, fair and sober management.
The goal should be maximum toxicity. And total destruction. Make their rubble bounce.
Separating one of these villains from its herd would send a powerful message, not just to the hacks writing this river of crap (they will be last to learn), but to the owners and investors who allow, or even encourage, it to happen.
A big part of the motivation to be among the Elite is getting rich, richer and beyond rich.
We won't get their full attention until we smash and obliterate one of their piggy backs and not stop laughing at their loss.
That's a great point. Responding to every outrage ensures that the buckshot is too dispersed to be effective; there are too many outrages! Zero in on those with maximum reach, and start that excision process. You're absolutely right.
Matt Taibi should dig deep into this probability. Catch them red-handed with the smoking gun and the money path. Imagine the alternative media headline: WaPo CIA Cut-Out Since Nixon.
I liked that because it's funny. But I think you're wrong.
OK, at one time this would be true more often than not. But that was a time when the government was made up of more regular folks looking to do the least possible work for the paycheck.
Now government has been captured and weaponized in the project to concentrate power and wealth.
The reason they're not doing the paperwork now isn't the inconvenience of it; it's the paper trail.
Corral the calving icebergs of donkey shit, horse shit, bull shit and send it back to the chicken shits ....back to them in waves, upon waves, upon waves....'til they drown in their own tears of remorse....if they are still capable of such.
What a self-flattering excuse to ditch their journalistic responsibilities and ethics. They felt the need to “protect” us, particularly the “us” who are too stupid to think for ourselves. No they didn’t. They just wanted to write op eds masquerading as journalism and ditch that pesky tedious part of writing known as research, citations and neutral fact-checking. And their editors aided and abetted. Thanks for the link. I’m so angry at these pampered child “journalists.”
Yes, thanks much! Tremendous list. Reading through it, I can see ALL the instances (later proven false) that made up so many progressives' firmly held conviction that DJT was an awful, horrible, no-good, very bad man.
I even sent Sharyl this one (not on the list), which has had an extraordinarily long shelf life:
Turns out Trump's hand motions, which the MSM considered proof of their allegation, was the SAME hand motion he used in mocking (NOT-disabled) Ted Cruz and a 4-star general.
I had no idea she has been keeping this valuable list going/updated. I'd seen it years ago, and thank you for sending the news that it's still current. Another result of your thoughtfulness is that I also did something I should have done a long time ago, which was to become a S.A. Founding Member (it's nice to be able to do it retroactively!).
Pavel Durov was arrested today in France. Don't think that Musk can't be next. Free speech is over, and if you don't toe the line in the media propaganda machine, you are next.
It's hysterical that so many think that Fox News is somehow not part of all of this.
The American Republic and we the people deserve a solutions oriented truth/fact based national conversation. SUBSTACK is barely seven years old and subscription journalism is in its infancy. RACKET absolutely delivers. But subscription journalism is evolving and it's time for a subscriber re-thinking of what it means.
Lately I've been forced to ask myself how much time I have to spend staring into a screen, and where, in the face of so many worthy voices being available, is the best place my subscription dollars can go? And, who has betrayed the mandate. Truth and the ability to speak and explore it is quickly becoming the issue of our times. Should I abandon one subscription so I can buy and distribute extra subscriptions to fellow citizens I feel would benefit.(The journalist and free speech advocate Johnathan Turley is holding forth scientific evidence that repression of free speech actually causes parts of the human brain to atrophy and shrink.) Human is the operative word here. People cannot live inside a LIE and remain sane. Nor can a free people and Republic survive inside a LIE. Our Constitution exists because of we the people, not the other way 'round. It is a line of moral demarcation and those transgressing it are not "Sons of Liberty".
You are absolutely correct. Focus is vital in the face of the hydra attempting to destroy us. In short, my opinion, faux Marxist "woke", the "I've always thought of myself as a God" Davosphere, the DNC/A-Bomb rattlers, the MSM and the corporate surveillance/tech bureaucracy that serves them all, are the same people. Their ideologies and language are interchangeable. While the one is chewing our asses here, the other is looting us there. The horror and the salvation is that thugs always overplay their hand. The gray totalitarianism descending on Europe is lurking just above our border to the North. While it's still possible depart the "psyop" and live. And it is a "psyop". And, it's time to get well.
The LIE/"psyop" is exactly that. Part of American unreality, is the weaponized confusion on the part of we the people, with our sacred American institutions and the megalomaniac narcissism and faux ideological utopianism that seized and is now dismantling them. Giving the benefit of the doubt to grifters? It's the classic suckers play. At least part of the "trick" is getting Americans to engage with the LIE. It's entirely illegitimate poison and its' point is, knowing full well you know it to be a lie, is to force feed it into the American psyche. Head scratching, shock, indignation, confusion and helplessness is the exact response it desires. The clear message: If I can lie to your face I can do anything I want to you. Are we betting that proving a pathological lie is a pathological lie will stop the lie? If the family dynamic is any example, living inside an abusive system operating on theft, emotional abuse, hatred and lies is literally crazy making. Our Republic isn't lost but the ascending would be totalitarian thugdom has intentionally created an open air insane asylum. The walking wounded are everywhere. Who said: "Know the truth and the truth will set you free."?
CNN seemed to do some objective reporting for about 5 minutes after they were mocked on Colbert. Perhaps they could be encouraged to try full time objectivity.
Forgot to add-Their OWNERS are supported by the .gov. They don't have to worry about subscribers. They're quoted endlessly by the MSM, their message gets out. They don't have to worry if anybody actually reads them.
How's that working out for movie and video game companies? Even if they do not disappear from lack of money, the lack of credibility becomes apparent which is almost as good and it is so fun to watch them fail.
The most recent, a EU sponsored woke game called 'Dustborn'- manufactured in Norway to protest the election of Donald Trump, eight years and millions of euros later it debuts to a whopping 81 person playership most of those reviewers and twitchers who got it free. The current playership hovers around 25 (worldwide, BTW.). I found it interesting that the angry black woman character/protaganist is carrying a studded baseball bat (Degenderettes much?) while supposedly using words for weapons. Peace and Love?
It can be done I think. It is happening in other venues, it can happen with print media too.
Thank you for directly and personally calling out the propagandist! I don’t think he even believed his own BS - fast talking, rambling and trying to throw as much mud as possible as quickly as possible. It would be wonderful if anyone, anywhere would question the accuracy of the the story
I vote for Joy Reid… that woman is just bat shit crazy out of her ever lying mind. Strength through Joy…now where have I heard that? I went to the Frankfurt International School in the 60s, German History was a required course….
08/24/24: I used to be concerned about this issue ("Have they no shame?") until it gradually dawned on me that people like Bump --- they are LEGION --- are concerned about only one thing: Surviving from day to day. Making money. Paying rent. Finding outfits that can corrupt them with a nice steak dinner on a Friday night somewhere in WDC where Hunter Biden is busy molesting the hat check girl while Dad's in a back room selling his influence to the highest bidder. Tattooed on their chests (sorry, ladies): "The Ends Justify The Means."
That they don’t fear for their jobs from retailing obvious falsehoods means that the rot rises much higher: to the editors and the owner who allow the news pages to be polluted.
Grape Soda: CNN’s business model is to tell their viewers what they want to hear. Accordingly, CNN viewers will never know Matt Taibbi responded to Bump, much less what he said. If they were told about it, they would complain that CNN is turning into Fox News.
Ha! CNN reporters probably don't even know what "a Substack" is! Also, probably pretty sure who is on their lists of "reliable sources" doesn't include a whole lot of reliable sources.
So, a couple of nights ago Judy Woodruff had to X out her "mistake" statement. Apparently she "reported" that Trump had contacted Netanyahu to tell him to not agree to any cease-fire or something. Well, that is sort of an important "report," right? Once again, Trump interfering in world peace for his political gain. I think she claimed she relied on "reporting" from Axios and Reuters, which may have in their stories contacted both Bibi and Trumpy, and both reported that they denied it? Judy didn't have time for THAT detail. Oopsie --- "mistake." The old, "I'm sorry if anyone was offended . . ." PBS. Our tax dollars.
Additionally, if everybody denies they did it, you should identify by names the ones who are claiming --- they did it! But in new journalism, they never do.
I was at a comedians show last month (I've seen her many times over the years, and I know she's liberal, but she mostly keeps politics out of her routine), anyway, she was talking about how bad things were doing the lockdown, and mentioned that she got most her news from PBS, "which is pretty non-biased". When the audience started tittering, she has this shocked look on her face. I was shocked, too, because the venue was deep blue Washington state, and there couldn't be more than 10 conservatives in the audience.
Yes, but if those of us who are aware of their 'chicken little' routine pay no attention to their fear mongering, it's one way of diluting their power. Social media is such an easy way to spread the word.
This is a measure of the outsized power these megaweaths enjoy. Protecting THEIR god given inalienable right/freedom, requires controlling/limiting everyone else's.
It's very satisfying to hear a politician say something that you think is dishonest or disingenuous & then - within moments - to have ppl you respect echo the same sentiment. That's what helps keep me sane during these upside down times.
People like Bump identify with people like the Obamas, Pritcher, the Clintons, Soros, etc., whose wealth guarantees THEIR freedom to achieve THEIR individual goals, to enjoy god given freedom that flows from THEIR inalienable rights. Advocating for freedom for everyone else provided by a benevolent ubermaster government is a smokescreen.
08/25/24: Hello, Jules! See the NY Post sports section, Mike Vaccaro's column, about major league baseball players being the children that he and I once were. Even if you don't care about sports, it is still a splendid story and parallels your point about arrested maturity/development (children and teenagers in the bodies of "ostensible adults").
I agree and sympathize with what you wrote and what Matt wrote about him. BUT, the Bump Bastard is still spewing bullshot to his fullest capacity along with the rest of his buddies. Until these bastards feel some pain on account of their lying-ass BS, they’re going keep on regardless of how well the Matt Taibi’s of the world call them out with the truth. What can we do to shut them down?
Keep passing the info/message along. Many moons ago there was a shampoo commercial that used the idea of "You'll like it so much you'll tell your friends, and they'll THEIR friends, and so on and so on..."
Bump is a problem yes. But of bigger import, some group people are watching him share and thinking, "yeah, that twitter files thing, that was completely debunked." They will NEVER question or "do their own research." So in the long run Madame Defarge may be knitting him into her list, but the crap he spews will be remembered and repeated. Other than Matt writing a "Fuck You, Strong Letter to Follow" which will be read by his readers, what consequences will he face for spouting the state propaganda? Eventually justice/karma/fate may find him, but he is causing immediate short term damage.
True words. News used to be where people got news. Now, just like the vodka aisle at the liquor store (sometimes 2 aisles) with stuff like Birthday Cake flavor. Americans demand choice. I know what I will get when I tune in to Hannity. That's why I tune in. I know what I will get from Tapper/Maddow. That's why I tune in.
The left and right love to argue about who's more in a bubble. They both/all are. There are not that many who have figured out that it's all bullshit, from both sides. Very sincere, normal Americans who don't pay anywhere near as much attention to this shit as we do are the consumers to be courted. My dear mother told me that Kamala has her vote, because she's exciting. Though I was bright enough not to say it out loud, my thought was "That's marketing! That's why you choose Pepsi over fucking Coke, not a President!"
Were Kamala anything but a glass of warm polluted Flint tap water, she might pass a taste test by that insane 10th dentist who doesn't recommend sugar-free gum. Can marketing really drag a grinning, lazy nincompoop across the finish line? If so it's time for "Mad Men 2, Madison Avenue Turns a Empty Pantsuit into a President."
"Bright enough not to say it out loud"? Do your mom a favor (I think she's bright enough to handle it) and SAY IT OUT LOUD. Then let her ponder it. She already knows she has a bright son/daughter. Otherwise, we are hopeless.
I actually did. Using different words. It really is astounding to me that a lot of people haven't yet figured out the bullshit. It took me years to understand that the leaders we respected didn't return the respect. I always suspected something fishy about Obama, and after voting for a lot of Dems, I stayed home in '08 and '12, because there were no good choices. Unfortunately, same in 2016 and 2020. I'll vote this year for all the other races. Too bad general elections don't have the "None of these candidates" that primaries have, because we might get a better glimpse of how America feels about the shitty choices voters are given.
Ironically, their ratings have been in the dumpster since Trump left. What are they going to bitch about-- Team Blue?
Remember all the "Resist" bumper stickers? That was the dumbest idea ever. In order to "resist" there has to be a barrier or force against you. They are literally putting the opposition in place for all time. They would've been better off with "Flow" or "Ride the wave to Prosperity", which is a lot more logical. Of course, that would imply that they have the intention/energy to flow and actually have a plan. Nor do they really want any of the electorate to be prosperous. They're quite happy in a self-made quagmire saying "oh darn, we could do something if XYZ wasn't in the way."
It was no accident that all the speakers at the DNC convention were, as Pritcher boasted, "Real billionaires". People always love watching royalty. Touching the garment.
Thanks to that Little Silicon Chip News Media is returning to it 18th-19th century roots. Many news papers were started by people with a political ax to grind. Somewhere (Don't know when, 1920?),, News media started to coalesce and one broad view took hold. Those days are going away.
You are right. So to me the answer is, after being shamed into silence for years now, it is time to be ready to "confront" --- and, in the next month. Because early voting starts very soon.
Obviously the words "freedom" and "opportunity" won the focus groups' Words Beauty Contest after Pres. Joey was relieved of duty. I plan on getting ready to a) tell everybody I can run into to get registered and to go vote early, while also b) Arming myself with about five talking points on key issues, with back-up info sources if these people don't believe me.
Sure, that's not many votes, but those people know more people, and on and on. And I believe so many people don't have a clue as to what is going on with the federal government. Maybe like in the entertaining film "Independence Day," we can introduce a truth virus into the Mother Ship and take it down.
BTW, I thought RFK Jr.'s withdrawal address yesterday was melancholy meets nostalgia --- at least that is how it affected me. I was in high school when his father was murdered and remember it vividly to this day. He articulated yesterday why I was a Dem, but it was not because my parents were. And he perfectly articulated why I can't be a Dem anymore. Both parties have changed.
Slight correction: RFK Jr didn't withdraw. Here's what he said:
"I also want you to know that I am only suspending my campaign, not terminating it. My name will still be on the ballot in most states. If you live in a blue state, you can vote for me without harming or helping President Trump or Vice President Harris. In red states — the same applies. I encourage you to do so. And IF ENOUGH OF YOU VOTE FOR ME AND NEITHER OF THE MAJOR PARTY CANDIDATES WIN 270 ELECTORAL VOTES, I COULD STILL WIND UP IN THE WHITE HOUSES in a contingent election." (capitalized emphasis mine).
Thank you for that. Again proving that RFK Jr. can speak to the matters at hand because he is articulate and has an understanding of the issues. Seems like attributes a leader should have.
On his top issues — (1) free speech / no gov’t censorship; (2) stopping control of regulatory agencies by self-interested corporations and individuals / addressing children’s health and skyrocketing rates of chronic disease; and (3) stopping the west’s proxy war with Russia — where else can he really go?
RFK has no other alternative but to join Trump. Joining the Dems would be sure suicide for his ideas. They have no place for him, in any case, as he would make them examine their aristocratic, autocratic, dressed up as benevolent statism, ideas
Why would he not trust Trump? President Trump did many of things that RFK Jr wants. He was the strongest supporter of human rights of any President in 30+ years. He took concrete actions against the worst offenders: Russia, Iran, and Communist China. President Trump also did the first tax reform in 35 years, one that raised taxes on the wealthy and lowered them on almost everyone else (the top 1% paid 40% of all Federal income taxes in 2016 and pay 46% now). Etc.
"Bump is a problem yes. But of bigger import, some group people are watching him share and thinking, "yeah, that twitter files thing, that was completely debunked." They will NEVER question or "do their own research.""
History will not even know his name. He'll be that character from the Matrix that had the hot girlfriend and came back from the bathroom with lipstick on his weiner. The guy that had all the power inside the Matrix from surviving years of iterations of the matrix, but when you recall the movie, you know nothing about him other than his girlfriend was hot, and he had twin bodyguards that could turn into Ghosts.
Dude! Gotta disagree! You refer to "The Merovingian" (played by Lambert Wilson)! Iconic character from the movie(s)! (cf. his line about speaking French)
Dirtball WaPo flunkies ain't nowhere near that level of significance...or class...or personality...a good villain helps make a movie!
Other than that, I totally agree with you: this WaPo guy is a meaningless, innominate functionary. These people are literally fungible: identical and substitutable.
It's probably closer to one of the Matrix's inspirations, a novel named "Neuromancer". We simply battle endless Tessier-Ashpool Clones who are richest people in the world. Meanwhile the common people get extreme plastic surgery and jack into the internet to watch influencers with cameras (albeit in the novel, implanted in their eyes) show off their affluent lifestyles in real time.
Lol. When has history ever been on the side of the underdog? They always get trampled on. Remember when revolutionary war soldiers didn't receive payment but they were expected to pay taxes? George Washington sent the military to put them down. Same thing happened with coal miners in Colorado.
History is kind to George Washington and Rockefeller. It is not and was not kind to the people under their heel
Read about the Bisbee Deportation (1917). I'm reading the book on it now, /Forging the Copper Collar/. Bet almost nobody here has even heard of this event.
Don't be too certain. History is written by the victors and at this moment he's on the side which is on the march.
I am hopeful only because back in the days of the fight for independence roughly a third of the country wanted a new nation, a third wanted to remain part of the Empire, and the remainder just wanted to go about their lives with as little as possible disruption. The third that won was the most passionate.
Matt scored some points, but a lot more needs to be done. Bump has hurt a lot of people, and he’ll continue doing so, unless he himself is hurt, badly, and in kind, for what he has done to others. He needs to be punished in some quasi-legal way. A group of good people need to get together and figure something out, soon (the Dems do this all the time, why can’t we? Just calling him names and disparaging him with clever words, won’t do the trick.
Him being what he is, is the fault, in large part, of his enablers, and that includes Bezos.
As long as Bump is working at the Washington Post, he’s ahead in the game.
Once upon a time, WaPo was known for the kind of thing Matt does. Now not.
But the most important thing is to continue to report, accurately and even-handedly, on the truth. Formerly known as "journalism," it has a power beyond "revenge" or a million lesser aims—it tells the truth.
I like No Use For A Name's idea--send Jay and Silent Bob over to Bump's place.
"Are you Phillip Bump? Do you write for the Washington Post? Did you say the Twitter Files was bullshit?" And then picture the old Batman show, with all the BAM! POW! and ZOWIE! going off as Bump is bumped.
I just figured out that this will be a good test. I wrote something obviously stupid and in jest about some Hollywood guys kicking a bad reporter's ass. Let's see if I get banned for the Church Lady's definition of violent threats.
Send our Secretary of Transportation up in space. Or our Veep who is the figurehead of NASA space exploration. The only thing these poor humans have to say is they want to be home to vote for Harris/Walz, and problem solved, or at least for their ballots.
An excerpt pertinent to the garbage printed in the Daily Mail, NY Times, Guardian, anything farted out of the asses of CBS/NBC/ABC News, NPR, Yahoo, Bloomberg, MSNBC/CNN and all the rest of the state regime / Uni-Party of America media-censorship-industrial complex:
Walter: ... Over the last few years, we’ve been told that there are certain infallible organs of truth: the intelligence community, Science with a capital S, mainstream media, etc.
It was my privilege to meet a physicist named Murray Gell-Mann [1929-2019] who discovered the subatomic particle known as the quark. But he also is the namesake for a principle of skeptical inquiry called the Gell-Mann Effect.
When you read one article or piece in a newspaper on a subject you happen to know something about and you find it to be misinformed, wrong, or even deceptive, why do you then assume that the same paper is accurate about subjects that you don’t know about?
Why would you extend credence to that source on other topics when you’ve caught it lying or being wrong about one you do know about?
... A certain amount of wrongness can be put down to just error and mistaken-though-well-intentioned failure.
But after a while, that no longer explains it and you start to see almost systematic wrongness on certain topics particularly. So why do we keep going back to the well for poisoned water?
... Between the deceptiveness, the agenda-driven nature, and the social-media-oriented vapidity of the press, it is no longer a reliable source of information about the world.
[Repeated for emphasis:]
The press is no longer a reliable source of information about the world...
This is a great quote, and it reminds me of how things started to unravel in my mind. It wasn't until the propaganda started to touch on things that I actually had deep knowledge about that the dominos started to fall. All of a sudden, all these strange little things that seemed kind of wrong which I had tucked away somewhere in my subconscious started to bubble to the surface. Nowadays, it's skepticism on easy mode. If they are speaking, they are lying about something. If they believe in it, they're wrong. If they say it's bad, it must be great, get two.
I know how you feel. But that's what lies do, they make you believe things that aren't true. The mostly good nature of people is taken advantage of constantly.
I genuinely hold The Press most responsible for the state of the world. The Press was to hold the self-serving politicians, self-serving bankers and brokers, self-serving defense industry companies accountable. The Press has abdicated their role in a free society and has been running cover for The Powerful to dupe idiots.
Fuck them. It’s why our independent media icons are the modern day heroes.
I also hold Congress responsible. If they didn't have their weather finger in the air full time, we might have had some honest governance. With the Supreme Court sending so much back to them, and to the States, they might actually have to do some work for a change!
"Media carries with it a credibility that is totally undeserved. You have all experienced this, in what I call the Murray Gell-Mann Amnesia effect. (I refer to it by this name because I once discussed it with Murray Gell-Mann, and by dropping a famous name I imply greater importance to myself, and to the effect, than it would otherwise have.)
Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them.
In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.
That is the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect. I'd point out it does not operate in other arenas of life. In ordinary life, if somebody consistently exaggerates or lies to you, you soon discount everything they say. In court, there is the legal doctrine of falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus, which means untruthful in one part, untruthful in all. But when it comes to the media, we believe against evidence that it is probably worth our time to read other parts of the paper. When, in fact, it almost certainly isn't. The only possible explanation for our behavior is amnesia."
My like button is on the fritz as well, for quite some time now. I know respond with this: "Since my upvote has been disabled (by the FBI directing the Substack minions), I'll say thank you, in person (maybe we should all have our upvotes disabled, if it encourages direct human contact, instead of the substitution of a sterile 'click.')" --- I'd complain to Substack, but then within ten days I'd end up on the FBI Most Wanted list.
Y'know, I actually looked into contacting Substack, seeing as it's an issue with their software, but it turned out that just isn't possible. Nothing nefarious, just the way practically everything having to do with software or online operation works (or doesn't work) these days.
It's a software issue, not any kind of nefarious manipulation on the part of Substack, the FBI or anyone else. (I'm using an old browser under an old OS.) What the fuck would they care whether anyone can "like" stuff or not?
As someone who is still operating with an OS named after a mountain in the Sierra Nevada (I think), I am not surprised. But how come I can successfully "like" a Racket News story and not the individual comments?! As long as I can "like" Racket, all is well.
08/24/24: Thanks! I cut and pasted Speech #1 just now. The other site is confusing. It lists the speech titles but I didn't see any way of going to the speeches themselves.
It's impossible for me to read more than one page of text on a computer screen.
"Downloading PDFs" --- they can't be cut and pasted --- is a no go (expensive ink is wasted. I'm not Jeff Bezos. And the type size created is unacceptably, unreadable microscopic).
Solution: Buy a professionally published book with all four items in it. Does such a thing exist?
You raise an interesting--and infuriating--point here: if you do detect wrong information in an article, then how do you go about re-evaluating the veracity of the publication as a whole? As you point out, a certain level of "wrongness" is inevitable and can be chalked up to good-faith errors.
But how do you determine if it's even worth continuing to read that publication? Somehow measure the "wrongness" factor and stop reading after it hits a certain value? More than half and you're outta there?
Noam Chomsky pointed out that even extremely biased sources (he used the New York Times as an example) can be used as sources of valid information, if one reads 1) to the bottom of articles even if they're on page 73 and 2) between the lines. But that seems like quite the exercise in critical thinking.
08/24/24: I must say here that I didn't raise the point --- the entire quote and 100% of the credit goes to Walter Kirn. And Noam must read at a clip of about 1000 words/minute in order to be able to do what he recommends. Maybe in the past I could have done likewise, but as the years fly by, the talents one by one fly away, very gradually but undeniably (something that could also be said at the time of Alexander The Great when he was bulldozing his way through Persia. but only if beset by financial inflation).
08/24/24: His thoughts and responses are original. He's example of how someone keeps his sanity by never relinquishing or neglecting his sense of humor.
This “Gell-Mann Effect” is how physicists or mathematicians assess a seminar or presentation on a subject where they aren’t an expert. You are looking for discrepancies relative to your own knowledge. Relative to today’s propaganda it shows up in comparing the government statements on inflation vs. your own experience, or the government statements on job growth and the state of the economy and people you know who have lost their jobs or are having trouble finding new ones.
EXACTLY !.... just look out the window....and Biden's administration was solid on the environment ? I read that in Climate news.....what about the US of A being the World leader as a Petro-Chemical State....with Louisiana as ground Zero ?
These Bump-ites are just pure evil. I'm not sure if you can fight evil with the truth. Every dem operative lately just lies or changes the subject on every topic that matters. Some of us are Mad as Hell but most are drinking the Kool-Aid.
Unfortunately the people who read Philip Bump are many.........elitist democrats. I know I was on there and even though I cur my payment off I am SUPPOSEDLY allowed to comment.
NO. I am now persona non grata on the WAPO because I cut my payment off!
I would like to read an article about the numbers. How many subscribe to the legacy press anymore? How does that compare year to year? Etc. And I would love to see numbers about Substack subscribers. How about Substack writers? But you probably couldn't do a comprehensive story on media anymore because it is so diverse across platforms.
So let's start with legacy media year to year. I'm thinking, way down.
Corrupt is one way of putting it but I prefer to say sick in the head. I think that he actually believes the lies that he writes about. Most people who lie to others need to lie to themselves first and actually believe their own lies first before spreading them to others. This is delusional, he is living in a fantasy world not the real world and that is the classic definition of insanity.
I think that, to identify Bump as delusional or corrupt either one is a stretch. From my viewpoint, he is exactly as his educators intended. He doesn't engage in either critical or original thought. To do so would shatter his carefully curated bubble.
“…this Twitter Files stuff, which has been debunked a thousand times over…” Ummm, where Mr. Bump, are the 1000 times over debunks? Perchance, you could show us even one?
It is astounding, though unfortunately not surprising. Philip Dick, I mean Bump, works for the Washington Toast, I mean Post; which is owned and kept alive by democrat camp billionaire Jeff Bezos (speaking of Dicks); who through Amazon Web Services is contracted to provide outsourced host servers to the federal government, including the CIA, hmm, how about that. So from Bump on up it’s a chain of government shills whoring out their rag (newspaper) as an organ for establishment propaganda. Bump is just an old boxing gym punching bag taking shots from real journalists for his masters in the IC. For some reason, I have a hankering to reread “To Kill a Mockingbird”.
You should (read him). You really should. Whether you agree at all with communism, Bolshevism, etc., or not. Guy was a /force majeure/ in Soviet history, extremely intelligent and not malignant (that I can see) like Stalin. Worth knowing about.
The White Pill (by Michael Malice) is a unique, offbeat but very well-researched look at the rise and fall of the USSR, intertwined with the American anarchist movement of the early 20th century. I found it fascinating.
Actually he was pretty malignant, but no doubt brilliant, as was Trotsky. Stalin was brilliant, but not as well-educated like those two, in a even more malignant way. From what I read, what really set Lenin off was when they hung is brother for being part of a Tsar assassination plot.
Anyway, too much to read, and Lenin doesn’t get to my priority level. Das Kapital was enough for me.
If you're going to read anything about that history, read about Leon Trotsky. I'm re-reading the first of Isaac Deutscher's meticulously researched and written "Prophet" series (The Prophet Armed, The Prophet Unarmed, The Prophet Outcast). I consider myself something of a Trotskyist; of course we'll never know, but I believe that history--world history--may have turned out very much differently had Trotsky become the head of state instead of Stalin (as Lenin wished in his testament).
Regarding the whole thing of they (both Lenin & Trotsky) being ruthless bastards: that's a misreading of the history. Here's the thing: if you foment a revolution, as they did, AND if your responsibility is for that revolution to succeed, to bear the fruits that you desperately wish it to (and those fruits are NOT your ascension to power but the transformation of the society), then it's a given that PEOPLE MUST DIE. People will need to be killed. There's no getting around that. Remember that what happened immediately after the Bolshevik Revolution was a bloody civil war that nearly destroyed the country.
One doesn't play with revolutions--real revolutions, not pretend storming of legislatures--without being prepared to see it through to the bloody end. Otherwise there's no point in even thinking about a revolution.
Those Isaac Deutscher books on Trotsky were quite good. They got the pick axe he was killed with in the KGB museum, in the Lubyanka, downtown Moscow. Interesting little museum, to say the least!
Because he's part of the access part of access journalism. He's got access to the right people when needed by the paper. He has the access because the people know already how he'll write about them. You want a quote/interview with certain powerful people? You have to get access first, and access to those powerful only goes through certain people. This is how corruption occurs, not with any big bang but agreeing to play by those rules because "that's the only way"
I am sorry Matt. It doesn't matter. All the work that you did with regards to the Twitter Files. None of it matters to the echo chamber of media and the left. You and Musk are just Russian Stooges. Putin Apologists. Right Wing Nut bags. Conspiracy theorists.
Everything you wrote on the Twitter Files and everything about the Twitter Files was made up by Elon Musk to give him attention. Didn't you know that? You were played by Elon. LOL
Sorry.. I had to. I still hear this shit all the time from morons. American's are just dumb, and specifically Progressive Democrats, and we are about to get what we deserve for letting these fools speak for too long. War, Depression, and the end of Freedoms (Except the freedom to have an abortion anytime anywhere of course).
Sadly, I've lost hope with RFK dropping out. I simply don't know who to vote for. I know the country will be awful with full power to the Obamaites, but I just can't bring myself to vote for Trump, and honestly. I don't think it matters. The Queen has been anointed, they are going to break that Glass Ceiling this time, and nothing will stand in their way.
Oddly enough I don't see the opposite of despair being hope. lol gave up hope long ago, too old, and know how this story ends. All there is to do before the end is fight; for who I love, and when I sometimes overcome my considerable chicken shitness for the true, the good, the beautiful.
Yeah, not an answer re: politics. You should vote, just because it's a civilized way to fight. It's good to fight, to shake my tiny fist at the sky and laugh and do what I should do. I may fuck it up, do it wrong, lose. But god damn it I want to go down swinging.
I truly understand your point of view. At this point, I think a randomly selected American would serve better than anybody the parties put up.
However --- I think on Day One Kammy won't make food prices lower. The Supreme Court is job one on the Dems agenda. The mission is to make it yet another arm of The Party, like the media is now. That alone motivates my vote for Trump. When he ran, he released a list of potentials for the Supremes. He stuck to the list. The Biden administration used legislation for kids going to war to justify kids at home getting loan forgiveness. When he was told "no" by the Supremes, he did it again through some other machination. Buying votes with our money.
Yesterday in his withdrawal address, RFK Jr. did an autopsy of the Dem Party. What has killed it? Corruption +. As evidenced by the lawfare against not only Trump, but RFK Jr., Stein --- hell, everybody not preferred by the power structure. They threw out their supposed preference, for God's sake!
You are right there. The Supreme court will be doubled in size and all appointed Dems. There is a Blue Wave coming, and the algo's that run the voting machines are going to see to it. They will keep the propaganda machine running, and celebrities out in the open to make it seem plausible that Abortion rights took the election all by itself.
The only wrinkle. She has to debate him right? Like, she has to at least once? This puts her in a position of having to speak in front of the world. That will not work.
If you think Harris is worse than trump. You need to rethink. Because otherwise you are as responsible for anyone what happens. For me. I'm going put swinging. Trump at least saves the republic for 1 more 4 year period and maybe we hace a chance
Rfk Jr dropped out to throw support to trump. To save the country. He pur country over self. And chose trump over dnc. Because they went communist.
Going far left: that would take them into Bernie Sanders territory, and we all know how successful he was in pulling the party "left".
If they really were to go "left" (if only!), then we'd be looking at things like single-payer, Medicare for all, whatever you want to call it, instead of the Frankenstinian monster of a fucked-up health care system that we actually have, one created, with the connivance of the "leftist" Democrats, by the insurance and pharmaceutical industries.
We'd have provisions for "living wages", instead of the dog-eat-dog system we have now. Unions--non-corrupt, democratic unions--would have enough power to resist the corporate drive to the bottom in wages and worker protections.
All that stuff.
So no, the Democrats are not "leftists". Oh, you're talking about all that identity-politics bullshit, all the window dressing they try to pass off as social progress ("first gay _______", "first black woman ______"), the placing of trans people on a pedestal, all that crap: that's not leftism. Not really. And I agree, it sucks.
Like DEI: at first glance, it's a good idea: after all, diversity IS a good thing, and fairness is a virtue. However, there's a difference between allowing all types of people to be considered for jobs and appointments, and mindlessly promoting people SIMPLY BECAUSE they belong to a certain racial/gender/ability group, never mind their fitness for that appointment, which is what we seem to have today.
They went communist. Actuslly she grew up communist. Folks were communist. But in spite of saying almost nothing she has introduced communism herself. Price controls. Communism 101. That word salad people were laughing at her: marxist incantation they taught children to learn Marxism. Yes not made up. She is not as stupid as people think. ALSO planning to use ATF go door to door to take guns. That is first step all dictators do and breaks the constitution. Yes in a video. There is more. My point is. You need to look at this as voting communism in. You can't vote it out. So if that's not what you want: wake up.
George, you need to study current communist thinking and Chinese Communist Party history because that's who the Democratic Party seeks to emulate. Here are a couple of Substack posts you should consider:
Also consider Leninthink by Gary Saul Morson, The New Criterion, October 2019, where he says, "...a true Leninist does not decide whether to lie. He automatically says what is most useful [to the Party], with no reflection necessary...a true Bolshevik is not even a hypocrite." Example: Harris said she will stop fracking, and now says she will let it continue. And she will stop fracking if elected.
Harris is a utopian saying, "What can be, unburdened by what has been". She will paint word pictures of a future attractive to voters and hope no one remembers what she has said or voted for in the past. Barbara is not an idiot. Not so sure about you.
As Doctor Maturin should have said, "I always vote for the lesser of two weevils." And in this case, that means I'll vote for Trump. The Dems are far more likely to do permanent damage.
Vote for Trump. Kamala is worse. RFK will remain a national figure under Trump and may have considerable influence. With Kamala, what you see is what you get.
"I also want you to know that I am only suspending my campaign, not terminating it. My name will still be on the ballot in most states. If you live in a blue state, you can vote for me without harming or helping President Trump or Vice President Harris. In red states — the same applies. I encourage you to do so. And IF ENOUGH OF YOU VOTE FOR ME AND NEITHER OF THE MAJOR PARTY CANDIDATES WIN 270 ELECTORAL VOTES, I COULD STILL WIND UP IN THE WHITE HOUSES in a contingent election." (capitalized emphasis mine).
The Donald is the lesser evil! Our society can survive him. A vote for Kamala (or no vote) is sending us further down the slippery slope- and there is no way up!!
I'm voting on my state referendums, which actually matter and where my vote actually counts. Otherwise i'm leaving the whole slate blank. Only thing which might possibly change my mind is if West shows up on my ballot, though i won't write him in. A reporter asked him the other day if he got any calls from the Harris campaign asking him to drop out, and he said God yes, i get them from everybody. But they got the wrong brother.
I never get political spam until this election. I don't know if it's because my state (MA) is over 60% Independents, but i've gotten texts from Haley, Trump campaign, and now Harris and local supporters. They all get sent to spam, i really don't know why all of these folks think political spam is welcome.
Not necessarily disputing you, but it would be nice if there were some source (online) with an accurate account of what Trump promised and what he actually did during his term ...
I just hate that with a nation full of intelligent well reasoned women, the first two we put up for the highest job were both criminally corrupt, and criminally stupid.
Thank you for the Barbara Jordan reference. Because I saw and heard her in action ---- I am sickened by the likes of Michelle, Kammy, Hillary, Maxine, O-C, etc. Grifters one and all.
The "Fix" is in, whether it's Trump, Ka-mala, or a 3rd candidate TBA. If caught voting the 3rd, I'll plead the Fifth, as the Fig Leaf of the First Amendment, Freedom of Political Speech, has withered on the vine for lack of Water...
I suggest voting for Dr. Jill Stein who is on the ballot in most states, more than enough to get elected, should the public decide to pry themselves off the two-party system that has no elements of democracy remaining, if it ever did. The Green Party has a very good platform. The MSM suppresses the voices that don't conform to that two-party duopoly. Let's send a message to them, TPTB, and ourselves that we are many.
Voted for Jill in 2016 which apparently made me a misogynist in the eyes of the Dem Establishment. I won't vote for her this year though because I won't side with Hamas (even though I am not pro-Israel either). I think I just hate the world anymore.
The Ka-mala's "Bump" is in an hourglass quickly running out of sand. Her "Blue Wave Moment" is so canned that the expiration date is just around the corner, to mix metaphors. Trump's a bozo, as always, but Americans love a bozo, and the Ka-mala's still trying to impress the Boss, the Man, and Trump will easily fill that position, like He-lium in a Balloon.
Totally true, as far as the Human Eye can see, or de-cipher. I watched just enough of the Pom-Pom Puffery to confirm the Illusion. Zero-to-60, in as many polls, an evanescent bubbly Blue Wave faltering forward...
It's even more of a bombshell than the Podesta Files were, and the only thing that's happened from the Podesta files is a dead staffer, and a journalist trapped in a foreign embassy for a decade.
C'mon TF, they are all-in for freedom. The phrase "freedom from...." was mentioned 8,000 fucking times in Chicago. They totally believe in freedom. I can't remember all the freedoms they are promising, but Matt wrote about them the other day.
i still tend to think people are "smart" in their own ways. there was a teacher in high school who could talk off game stats like no one's business - i thought it was ridiculous, but if that's their "thing" then that's that.
or, if i want to be somewhat controversial - i think that having children is just stupid in this day and age - and an utter waste of time. but i wouldn't expect everyone to have this same view.
i mean, what good are we doing ranting about this stuff? what value would it have to most people?
not attacking anybody for once, just that interests are where they are. most see the system as unchangeable and focus on something else, whatever that is.
Also, YOUTUBE F$CKING BLURRED OUT WHEN TRUMP AND KENNEDY SPOKE TOGETHER AT THE RALLY TODAY.
see for yourself - timestamp 02:16:00 or so. Typically I'd say this was just happenstance, but it happens so many times that I find this hard to believe. (it was fine earlier in the video). and it's youtube - "bandwidth" my ass
( i will never vote for trump fyi, would've voted for kennedy. still won't vote for trump, i don't vote as a matter of principle anymore)
> see for yourself - timestamp 02:16:00 or so. Typically I'd say this was just happenstance, > but it happens so many times that I find this hard to believe. (it was fine earlier in the > video). and it's youtube - "bandwidth" my ass"
Looked at it: looks like just extremely poor video quality, not anything intentional.
BTW: just write "FUCKING" like you meant it. Matt doesn't censor these comments.
“The thing about Bump, which is total nonsense — he’s referring to this Russiagate stuff, which has been debunked a thousand times over…” - fixed it for you.
Might be time to ask your DNC masters for a new script, Bumpy boy.
Political discourse in 2024 is simply and entirely centered around the Friend/Enemy distinction. Everything else is based on this or is a consequence of this, and nothing else matters, not truth, facts, accuracy, sanity, etc.
Bump, however pitiful a person and pathetic a liar, is a Friend of the Regime™, ergo he is always right, most especially when he is wrong.
Matt et al, no matter how strong his case or his argument, is an Enemy of the Regime™, ergo he is always wrong, most especially when he is right.
This is the basis of Soviet America, our current and future home.
I base some of my idea of Soviet America on James Burnham's "The Managerial Revolution", written during WW2:
"What is occurring in this transition is a drive for social dominance, for power and privilege, for the position of ruling class, by the social group or class of the MANAGERS (as I shall call them, reserving for the moment an explanation of whom this class includes). This drive will be successful. At the conclusion of the transition period the managers will, in fact, have achieved social dominance, will be the ruling class in society. This drive, moreover, is worldwide in extent, already well advanced in all nations, though at different levels of development in different nations.
There is, in truth, not a formal identity, but a historical bond uniting Stalinism (communism), Nazism (fascism), and New Dealism. Against differing developmental backgrounds and at different stages of growth, they are all managerial ideologies. They all have the same historical direction: away from capitalist society and toward managerial society."
Soviet America is the form the Global American Empire is taking at home, where the country is ruled by an managerial/technocratic/aristocratic/cultural elite and it's defined as having 1) Potemkin elections, where the Party decides the candidates and no matter who you vote for, power is never threatened and policy rarely affected, with all politicians having more or less the same (approved) beliefs and ideas; 2) having ideological loyalty oaths to the Regime (in our case DEI) as a way to weed out opponents and dissidents and keep them from gaining any sort of power, esp in re employment and college admission; and 3) most importantly, having all this fortified and the population both addled and pacified by a nonstop full-spectrum program of propaganda, where the Party and its leaders and its reigning narratives (all of them centered on vague platitudes like Progress or Hope or Love) are painted as enlightened, necessary, the natural beliefs any Good, kind person should hold, with the opposite being any dissenters or opponents become Emmanuel Goldstein (Trump, Elon, Jordan Peterson, Canadian Truckers, up to and including Matt Taibbi) and deserve nothing but hate and scorn—all this amplified by rage and anxiety-inducing algorithms.
Other aspects include mass immigration, secularization, divide-and-conquer tribalism, and the assault on our civil liberties (painting free speech etc as "dangerous" or "hurtful"), but I've already gone on too long. Hope this makes sense.
I see Soviet America as so much what I witnessed in Post Soviet Cuba. Toe the part line and you stay employed by the Govt. and the "NGO's" - don't toe the party line and you scrape it out in the gig economy. The fearless leader(s) have 5 or so multi-million dollar mansions and eat the best food and smoke the best cigars and hang out w/ world class writers (celebs) etc. Those who speak against the party line or exhibit "wrong-think" will never get hired, will not get paint or plywood to repair their homes (after Sandy etc.) so basically CANNOT survive! You are FORCED to become a good party apparatchik in order to provide for your family! We are closing in on this and w/ the Harris/Walz team- I see us as almost there! PLEASE VOTE AGAINST THEM!!!
i think whatever the supposed political system or its supposed values, most members of the ruling class (or aspirants) fantasize a set-up like this: they get to live as aristocrats with the rest of us becoming some species of servant, dependent upon them for food/housing, always pledging loyalty to stay in their good graces.
and Soviet America is a new spin on this, as most us live pretty safe lives and are stuffed with excess calories, entertained by all our devices and machines, while a combination of state surveillance and constant propaganda gradually shrinks civil society and locks in a rigid hierarchy that is veiled behind a smokescreen of spurious race&gender egalitarianism.
Soviet America, I think, only seems odd or coercive to those of us raised in the 20th century, for the screen addicts raised in this century, being programmed and policed by their devices seems natural and normal, as this is all they've ever known.
"Smurfing" = laundering millions of dollars into campaigns using identity theft
ie: "Sonia" gave 78,810 contributions to 186 different committees and campaigns since 2016...on average made 25.4 contributions 7 days a week for 8.5 years.
Heavy-hitter IT guys on this via FEC filings. Funding the "managers" and keeping them compliant.
OMG's James O'Keefe found an ACT Blue vendor table at the DNC
For a good while now I've assumed all columnists are lying. My answer is to not read most of them, and shovel money to those I've judged to not lie. Time will tell if a market economy can overcome a corrupt 4th estate.
No, Zionists--and let's be specific here, we're talking about AIPAC--absolutely do have an outsized influence over American politics. Just look at how they brought down Jamaal Bowman, just one case out of many.
They may not *control* the American population, but they absolutely control the "narrative" and hence the political reality.
Other than that your last sentence is correct. (But think about that second word; whose propaganda?)
Angry Matt is the best Matt -- especially when he brings the receipts. How on earth can internal communications of Twitter be 'debunked'? They are either real communications or they are elaborate fakes.
For most things now I tell people go to the source material. Don’t even look at what Matt says about the Twitter files (although it’s great). Just go to the emails themselves and judge for yourself without a third party filter. Another great example of this? Supreme Court decisions. Just read the judges opinions. It’s a bit challenging, but not really. They are surprisingly conversational in tone.
I think my favorite one was when some Twitter poster called Matt out for a passive-aggressive diss at Ted Lieu. Matt said, no, it was meant to be openly hostile.
Revenge is a dish best served by Matt Taibbi.
History will not be kind to the likes of propagandist Phillip K. Bump.
These dipshits seem to be insistent on going down with the corporate media ship, one can only hope it capsizes sooner than later.
We need focus.
We need to laser-beam in on one of the major propaganda outlets and make a full court press to put them out of business.
No doubt -- that wouldn't be easy. But if there is a persistent focus on one of these outlets and the pressure, the mockery and the ridicule are unrelenting and merciless, bigger and bigger mistakes and own goals will occur and they will be seen by a wider audience. They need to become a cultural laughingstock.
These people are 100 percent capable of digging their own burial plot. They just need a nudge.
Break them and bankrupt them. The focus should be to completely ensure that the "assets" and the masthead/brand are forever tarnished and never able to come back, even under new, fair and sober management.
The goal should be maximum toxicity. And total destruction. Make their rubble bounce.
Separating one of these villains from its herd would send a powerful message, not just to the hacks writing this river of crap (they will be last to learn), but to the owners and investors who allow, or even encourage, it to happen.
A big part of the motivation to be among the Elite is getting rich, richer and beyond rich.
We won't get their full attention until we smash and obliterate one of their piggy backs and not stop laughing at their loss.
That's a great point. Responding to every outrage ensures that the buckshot is too dispersed to be effective; there are too many outrages! Zero in on those with maximum reach, and start that excision process. You're absolutely right.
My guess is the Intel agencies fund them through hidden accounts.
I'd say that is an excellent guess. And that's a big problem.
The bigger problem is the fact that the intelligence community is at the center of this war on the American people and our freedoms.
All of the tyranny lives and breeds there.
Matt Taibi should dig deep into this probability. Catch them red-handed with the smoking gun and the money path. Imagine the alternative media headline: WaPo CIA Cut-Out Since Nixon.
Unlikely. Too much paperwork involved.
I liked that because it's funny. But I think you're wrong.
OK, at one time this would be true more often than not. But that was a time when the government was made up of more regular folks looking to do the least possible work for the paycheck.
Now government has been captured and weaponized in the project to concentrate power and wealth.
The reason they're not doing the paperwork now isn't the inconvenience of it; it's the paper trail.
Or black box funding
Corral the calving icebergs of donkey shit, horse shit, bull shit and send it back to the chicken shits ....back to them in waves, upon waves, upon waves....'til they drown in their own tears of remorse....if they are still capable of such.
"Like" times over.
me too
Check out the pattern of media lying:
https://sharylattkisson.substack.com/p/media-mistakes-in-reporting-on-donald?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share
What a self-flattering excuse to ditch their journalistic responsibilities and ethics. They felt the need to “protect” us, particularly the “us” who are too stupid to think for ourselves. No they didn’t. They just wanted to write op eds masquerading as journalism and ditch that pesky tedious part of writing known as research, citations and neutral fact-checking. And their editors aided and abetted. Thanks for the link. I’m so angry at these pampered child “journalists.”
Thx for the link gortroe
Yes, thanks much! Tremendous list. Reading through it, I can see ALL the instances (later proven false) that made up so many progressives' firmly held conviction that DJT was an awful, horrible, no-good, very bad man.
I even sent Sharyl this one (not on the list), which has had an extraordinarily long shelf life:
https://www.catholics4trump.com/even-more-video-evidence-trump-did-not-mock-reporters-disability/
Turns out Trump's hand motions, which the MSM considered proof of their allegation, was the SAME hand motion he used in mocking (NOT-disabled) Ted Cruz and a 4-star general.
I had no idea she has been keeping this valuable list going/updated. I'd seen it years ago, and thank you for sending the news that it's still current. Another result of your thoughtfulness is that I also did something I should have done a long time ago, which was to become a S.A. Founding Member (it's nice to be able to do it retroactively!).
What is SA?
Pavel Durov was arrested today in France. Don't think that Musk can't be next. Free speech is over, and if you don't toe the line in the media propaganda machine, you are next.
It's hysterical that so many think that Fox News is somehow not part of all of this.
I agree. So how do we start this grass roots BRING THEM KARMA action. Who too focus on. And hI w?
I like your thinking Vid-Sav!!
Sorry to be so long winded, again.
The American Republic and we the people deserve a solutions oriented truth/fact based national conversation. SUBSTACK is barely seven years old and subscription journalism is in its infancy. RACKET absolutely delivers. But subscription journalism is evolving and it's time for a subscriber re-thinking of what it means.
Lately I've been forced to ask myself how much time I have to spend staring into a screen, and where, in the face of so many worthy voices being available, is the best place my subscription dollars can go? And, who has betrayed the mandate. Truth and the ability to speak and explore it is quickly becoming the issue of our times. Should I abandon one subscription so I can buy and distribute extra subscriptions to fellow citizens I feel would benefit.(The journalist and free speech advocate Johnathan Turley is holding forth scientific evidence that repression of free speech actually causes parts of the human brain to atrophy and shrink.) Human is the operative word here. People cannot live inside a LIE and remain sane. Nor can a free people and Republic survive inside a LIE. Our Constitution exists because of we the people, not the other way 'round. It is a line of moral demarcation and those transgressing it are not "Sons of Liberty".
You are absolutely correct. Focus is vital in the face of the hydra attempting to destroy us. In short, my opinion, faux Marxist "woke", the "I've always thought of myself as a God" Davosphere, the DNC/A-Bomb rattlers, the MSM and the corporate surveillance/tech bureaucracy that serves them all, are the same people. Their ideologies and language are interchangeable. While the one is chewing our asses here, the other is looting us there. The horror and the salvation is that thugs always overplay their hand. The gray totalitarianism descending on Europe is lurking just above our border to the North. While it's still possible depart the "psyop" and live. And it is a "psyop". And, it's time to get well.
The LIE/"psyop" is exactly that. Part of American unreality, is the weaponized confusion on the part of we the people, with our sacred American institutions and the megalomaniac narcissism and faux ideological utopianism that seized and is now dismantling them. Giving the benefit of the doubt to grifters? It's the classic suckers play. At least part of the "trick" is getting Americans to engage with the LIE. It's entirely illegitimate poison and its' point is, knowing full well you know it to be a lie, is to force feed it into the American psyche. Head scratching, shock, indignation, confusion and helplessness is the exact response it desires. The clear message: If I can lie to your face I can do anything I want to you. Are we betting that proving a pathological lie is a pathological lie will stop the lie? If the family dynamic is any example, living inside an abusive system operating on theft, emotional abuse, hatred and lies is literally crazy making. Our Republic isn't lost but the ascending would be totalitarian thugdom has intentionally created an open air insane asylum. The walking wounded are everywhere. Who said: "Know the truth and the truth will set you free."?
Yes.
Focus? These people have been. ‘foc’ing us’ for decades.
CNN seemed to do some objective reporting for about 5 minutes after they were mocked on Colbert. Perhaps they could be encouraged to try full time objectivity.
My vote is for the Washington Pox (I mean Post! Dammit, Freud…). Although somewhere like Vox might be an easier target.
WaPo is insufferable. It’s even worse than NYT.
NYT=CIA/ WAPO=FBI. When you think about it this way, it all makes sense. Courtesy of Sundance @ CTH.
I think they all have a dedicated feed from the CIA.
Forgot to add-Their OWNERS are supported by the .gov. They don't have to worry about subscribers. They're quoted endlessly by the MSM, their message gets out. They don't have to worry if anybody actually reads them.
How's that working out for movie and video game companies? Even if they do not disappear from lack of money, the lack of credibility becomes apparent which is almost as good and it is so fun to watch them fail.
The most recent, a EU sponsored woke game called 'Dustborn'- manufactured in Norway to protest the election of Donald Trump, eight years and millions of euros later it debuts to a whopping 81 person playership most of those reviewers and twitchers who got it free. The current playership hovers around 25 (worldwide, BTW.). I found it interesting that the angry black woman character/protaganist is carrying a studded baseball bat (Degenderettes much?) while supposedly using words for weapons. Peace and Love?
It can be done I think. It is happening in other venues, it can happen with print media too.
Thank you for directly and personally calling out the propagandist! I don’t think he even believed his own BS - fast talking, rambling and trying to throw as much mud as possible as quickly as possible. It would be wonderful if anyone, anywhere would question the accuracy of the the story
Picture a saber tooth in the La Brea, panicking as they vainly scratch and naw at vines as a source of rescue.
This is Bump. This is corporate media – brought to you by Pfizer.
It will be sweet justice to see boring shills like Bump begging Bari Weiss for a job once the WaPo goes through another round of layoffs.
I vote for Joy Reid… that woman is just bat shit crazy out of her ever lying mind. Strength through Joy…now where have I heard that? I went to the Frankfurt International School in the 60s, German History was a required course….
Meh Bari Weiss is a Zionist genocide advocate. She is beyond even "controlled opposition," she is just NYT's mini me.
I think they should first go to a journalist purgatory for their sins.
Perhaps a Substack site called The Island of Misfit Noise.
08/24/24: I used to be concerned about this issue ("Have they no shame?") until it gradually dawned on me that people like Bump --- they are LEGION --- are concerned about only one thing: Surviving from day to day. Making money. Paying rent. Finding outfits that can corrupt them with a nice steak dinner on a Friday night somewhere in WDC where Hunter Biden is busy molesting the hat check girl while Dad's in a back room selling his influence to the highest bidder. Tattooed on their chests (sorry, ladies): "The Ends Justify The Means."
That they don’t fear for their jobs from retailing obvious falsehoods means that the rot rises much higher: to the editors and the owner who allow the news pages to be polluted.
Grape Soda: CNN’s business model is to tell their viewers what they want to hear. Accordingly, CNN viewers will never know Matt Taibbi responded to Bump, much less what he said. If they were told about it, they would complain that CNN is turning into Fox News.
Ha! CNN reporters probably don't even know what "a Substack" is! Also, probably pretty sure who is on their lists of "reliable sources" doesn't include a whole lot of reliable sources.
So, a couple of nights ago Judy Woodruff had to X out her "mistake" statement. Apparently she "reported" that Trump had contacted Netanyahu to tell him to not agree to any cease-fire or something. Well, that is sort of an important "report," right? Once again, Trump interfering in world peace for his political gain. I think she claimed she relied on "reporting" from Axios and Reuters, which may have in their stories contacted both Bibi and Trumpy, and both reported that they denied it? Judy didn't have time for THAT detail. Oopsie --- "mistake." The old, "I'm sorry if anyone was offended . . ." PBS. Our tax dollars.
Additionally, if everybody denies they did it, you should identify by names the ones who are claiming --- they did it! But in new journalism, they never do.
Just get the lie out there and the apology will be seen by a quarter of the people who saw the lie.
For the shortlist of the many media lies that required "corrections", see Sharyl Atkinson:
https://sharylattkisson.substack.com/p/media-mistakes-in-reporting-on-donald?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share
I was at a comedians show last month (I've seen her many times over the years, and I know she's liberal, but she mostly keeps politics out of her routine), anyway, she was talking about how bad things were doing the lockdown, and mentioned that she got most her news from PBS, "which is pretty non-biased". When the audience started tittering, she has this shocked look on her face. I was shocked, too, because the venue was deep blue Washington state, and there couldn't be more than 10 conservatives in the audience.
On the nose. The have no fear for themselves, while creating Fear World for the rest of us.
The human hyenas.
Yes, but if those of us who are aware of their 'chicken little' routine pay no attention to their fear mongering, it's one way of diluting their power. Social media is such an easy way to spread the word.
Oh,,,,soooo true! Money and power insulate.
A 100% team effort.
This is a measure of the outsized power these megaweaths enjoy. Protecting THEIR god given inalienable right/freedom, requires controlling/limiting everyone else's.
Matt. That just bought you another subscription. Great work on the TF. Loved you and Walter last night. This is where the actual journalists live.
Amen.
It's very satisfying to hear a politician say something that you think is dishonest or disingenuous & then - within moments - to have ppl you respect echo the same sentiment. That's what helps keep me sane during these upside down times.
AGREE ;)
People like Bump identify with people like the Obamas, Pritcher, the Clintons, Soros, etc., whose wealth guarantees THEIR freedom to achieve THEIR individual goals, to enjoy god given freedom that flows from THEIR inalienable rights. Advocating for freedom for everyone else provided by a benevolent ubermaster government is a smokescreen.
IMO - in large part, society is just a grown up version of high school and 'people like Bump' et al are the wanna-be football players & cheerleaders.
08/25/24: Hello, Jules! See the NY Post sports section, Mike Vaccaro's column, about major league baseball players being the children that he and I once were. Even if you don't care about sports, it is still a splendid story and parallels your point about arrested maturity/development (children and teenagers in the bodies of "ostensible adults").
In a word: tools.
08/25/24: "Snap-On's" biggest franchise is in Washington, DC.
Sure wish we were made aware of those who didn't take that route.
Dear Philip - you have been revealed as a fool 1,000 times. You are a sad and pathetic excuse for a "journalist".
I agree and sympathize with what you wrote and what Matt wrote about him. BUT, the Bump Bastard is still spewing bullshot to his fullest capacity along with the rest of his buddies. Until these bastards feel some pain on account of their lying-ass BS, they’re going keep on regardless of how well the Matt Taibi’s of the world call them out with the truth. What can we do to shut them down?
People like Bump will always survive; they are sychophants, chameleons.
Keep passing the info/message along. Many moons ago there was a shampoo commercial that used the idea of "You'll like it so much you'll tell your friends, and they'll THEIR friends, and so on and so on..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyxmj1Yf6Dk
But people like Bump are essential to maintain the oligarchy; they feed the hypnotized army that provides adulation for their masters.
He's NOT a journalist in ANY WAY.
Bump is a problem yes. But of bigger import, some group people are watching him share and thinking, "yeah, that twitter files thing, that was completely debunked." They will NEVER question or "do their own research." So in the long run Madame Defarge may be knitting him into her list, but the crap he spews will be remembered and repeated. Other than Matt writing a "Fuck You, Strong Letter to Follow" which will be read by his readers, what consequences will he face for spouting the state propaganda? Eventually justice/karma/fate may find him, but he is causing immediate short term damage.
Isn't this what CNN viewers want, soothing falsehoods? If there's a market it will be served.
True words. News used to be where people got news. Now, just like the vodka aisle at the liquor store (sometimes 2 aisles) with stuff like Birthday Cake flavor. Americans demand choice. I know what I will get when I tune in to Hannity. That's why I tune in. I know what I will get from Tapper/Maddow. That's why I tune in.
The left and right love to argue about who's more in a bubble. They both/all are. There are not that many who have figured out that it's all bullshit, from both sides. Very sincere, normal Americans who don't pay anywhere near as much attention to this shit as we do are the consumers to be courted. My dear mother told me that Kamala has her vote, because she's exciting. Though I was bright enough not to say it out loud, my thought was "That's marketing! That's why you choose Pepsi over fucking Coke, not a President!"
Were Kamala anything but a glass of warm polluted Flint tap water, she might pass a taste test by that insane 10th dentist who doesn't recommend sugar-free gum. Can marketing really drag a grinning, lazy nincompoop across the finish line? If so it's time for "Mad Men 2, Madison Avenue Turns a Empty Pantsuit into a President."
Right? What about that 10th dentist? Must have been last in his/her class....just like Harris.
Amygdala 1, cerebellum 0
I love it!! Let' do lunch!
"Bright enough not to say it out loud"? Do your mom a favor (I think she's bright enough to handle it) and SAY IT OUT LOUD. Then let her ponder it. She already knows she has a bright son/daughter. Otherwise, we are hopeless.
I actually did. Using different words. It really is astounding to me that a lot of people haven't yet figured out the bullshit. It took me years to understand that the leaders we respected didn't return the respect. I always suspected something fishy about Obama, and after voting for a lot of Dems, I stayed home in '08 and '12, because there were no good choices. Unfortunately, same in 2016 and 2020. I'll vote this year for all the other races. Too bad general elections don't have the "None of these candidates" that primaries have, because we might get a better glimpse of how America feels about the shitty choices voters are given.
Bread and circus. works every time....
ouch!!!
Ironically, their ratings have been in the dumpster since Trump left. What are they going to bitch about-- Team Blue?
Remember all the "Resist" bumper stickers? That was the dumbest idea ever. In order to "resist" there has to be a barrier or force against you. They are literally putting the opposition in place for all time. They would've been better off with "Flow" or "Ride the wave to Prosperity", which is a lot more logical. Of course, that would imply that they have the intention/energy to flow and actually have a plan. Nor do they really want any of the electorate to be prosperous. They're quite happy in a self-made quagmire saying "oh darn, we could do something if XYZ wasn't in the way."
It was no accident that all the speakers at the DNC convention were, as Pritcher boasted, "Real billionaires". People always love watching royalty. Touching the garment.
Thanks to that Little Silicon Chip News Media is returning to it 18th-19th century roots. Many news papers were started by people with a political ax to grind. Somewhere (Don't know when, 1920?),, News media started to coalesce and one broad view took hold. Those days are going away.
News "Media" started as (strictly) advertising sheets then slowly added "news" and "views" to attract more eye balls.
Not that I doubt you, but do you have a source? Thanks
Bread and circus.
You are right. So to me the answer is, after being shamed into silence for years now, it is time to be ready to "confront" --- and, in the next month. Because early voting starts very soon.
Obviously the words "freedom" and "opportunity" won the focus groups' Words Beauty Contest after Pres. Joey was relieved of duty. I plan on getting ready to a) tell everybody I can run into to get registered and to go vote early, while also b) Arming myself with about five talking points on key issues, with back-up info sources if these people don't believe me.
Sure, that's not many votes, but those people know more people, and on and on. And I believe so many people don't have a clue as to what is going on with the federal government. Maybe like in the entertaining film "Independence Day," we can introduce a truth virus into the Mother Ship and take it down.
BTW, I thought RFK Jr.'s withdrawal address yesterday was melancholy meets nostalgia --- at least that is how it affected me. I was in high school when his father was murdered and remember it vividly to this day. He articulated yesterday why I was a Dem, but it was not because my parents were. And he perfectly articulated why I can't be a Dem anymore. Both parties have changed.
Slight correction: RFK Jr didn't withdraw. Here's what he said:
"I also want you to know that I am only suspending my campaign, not terminating it. My name will still be on the ballot in most states. If you live in a blue state, you can vote for me without harming or helping President Trump or Vice President Harris. In red states — the same applies. I encourage you to do so. And IF ENOUGH OF YOU VOTE FOR ME AND NEITHER OF THE MAJOR PARTY CANDIDATES WIN 270 ELECTORAL VOTES, I COULD STILL WIND UP IN THE WHITE HOUSES in a contingent election." (capitalized emphasis mine).
Thank you for that. Again proving that RFK Jr. can speak to the matters at hand because he is articulate and has an understanding of the issues. Seems like attributes a leader should have.
Those attributes are what make him a threat to the ruling class.
Deeply tragic figure.....and he has chosen to Trust Trump ?....Time will speak.....Volumes....
On his top issues — (1) free speech / no gov’t censorship; (2) stopping control of regulatory agencies by self-interested corporations and individuals / addressing children’s health and skyrocketing rates of chronic disease; and (3) stopping the west’s proxy war with Russia — where else can he really go?
If more people knew this, he would win in a landslide. that's why he had to be silenced. I fear for the safety of both him and Trump now
Russia is waging a real war of terror on a democratic neighbor. The West is (barely) giving Ukraine enough old weapons to defend itself.
I guess emigrate ...like every other Silenced citizen...we may all be on the move one day....
RFK has no other alternative but to join Trump. Joining the Dems would be sure suicide for his ideas. They have no place for him, in any case, as he would make them examine their aristocratic, autocratic, dressed up as benevolent statism, ideas
True, too true...I really hope..."a change gonna come"....
He made it pretty clear that he doesn't trust Trump.
"President Trump has told me that he wants this to be his legacy. I’m choosing to believe that this time he will follow through."
"If President Trump is elected and honors his word, the vast burden of chronic disease that now demoralizes and bankrupts the country will disappear."
Then you must think RFKjr is a stupid person to side with a man he doesn't trust. I think just the opposite.
Why would he not trust Trump? President Trump did many of things that RFK Jr wants. He was the strongest supporter of human rights of any President in 30+ years. He took concrete actions against the worst offenders: Russia, Iran, and Communist China. President Trump also did the first tax reform in 35 years, one that raised taxes on the wealthy and lowered them on almost everyone else (the top 1% paid 40% of all Federal income taxes in 2016 and pay 46% now). Etc.
He was honest enough to imply this.
True...true..
I don’t even think Bump knows what Twitter file journalism is. What does it even mean to claim it was “debunked?” That doesn’t make any sense.
Bump is an IDIOT. Essentially a brainless bot.
a Useful idiot
"Bump is a problem yes. But of bigger import, some group people are watching him share and thinking, "yeah, that twitter files thing, that was completely debunked." They will NEVER question or "do their own research.""
Got it in one!
Steve-unfortunately. YES!!
I wonder what would happen if we got a pop singer to do a song about it??
I can't believe that some friends of mine whom I consider intelligent and reasonably educated never heard of the Twitter Files! What to do??
Yup, and that’s how the media roll…. Remember when Lesley Stahl admitted she was falsely accusing Trump of lying??not gonna happen!
True. But Karma has a long memory.
History will not even know his name. He'll be that character from the Matrix that had the hot girlfriend and came back from the bathroom with lipstick on his weiner. The guy that had all the power inside the Matrix from surviving years of iterations of the matrix, but when you recall the movie, you know nothing about him other than his girlfriend was hot, and he had twin bodyguards that could turn into Ghosts.
Dude! Gotta disagree! You refer to "The Merovingian" (played by Lambert Wilson)! Iconic character from the movie(s)! (cf. his line about speaking French)
Dirtball WaPo flunkies ain't nowhere near that level of significance...or class...or personality...a good villain helps make a movie!
Other than that, I totally agree with you: this WaPo guy is a meaningless, innominate functionary. These people are literally fungible: identical and substitutable.
I was just trying to pick something from the Matrix since I feel that's our world now.
It's probably closer to one of the Matrix's inspirations, a novel named "Neuromancer". We simply battle endless Tessier-Ashpool Clones who are richest people in the world. Meanwhile the common people get extreme plastic surgery and jack into the internet to watch influencers with cameras (albeit in the novel, implanted in their eyes) show off their affluent lifestyles in real time.
PS, that novel came out ~1981.
Lol. When has history ever been on the side of the underdog? They always get trampled on. Remember when revolutionary war soldiers didn't receive payment but they were expected to pay taxes? George Washington sent the military to put them down. Same thing happened with coal miners in Colorado.
History is kind to George Washington and Rockefeller. It is not and was not kind to the people under their heel
Read about the Bisbee Deportation (1917). I'm reading the book on it now, /Forging the Copper Collar/. Bet almost nobody here has even heard of this event.
Don't be too certain. History is written by the victors and at this moment he's on the side which is on the march.
I am hopeful only because back in the days of the fight for independence roughly a third of the country wanted a new nation, a third wanted to remain part of the Empire, and the remainder just wanted to go about their lives with as little as possible disruption. The third that won was the most passionate.
The Irish War for Independence, 1916-23, was fought by 700 IRA soldiers against 10,000 British troops. Passion, yes.
Nothing will happen to him. He will be celebrated by the corrupt press and given awards for his bold reporting.
If any independent thinkers will be allowed to write history…or teach it…or talk about it.
shucks, history won't even remember the likes of Phillip K. Tumor.
Let's call them what they are: Liars.
Unfortunately the winners write the history
They don't beleive it matters. They will be dead and never have to endure the shame.
People who behave that way don't feel shame.
Hopefully, history will ignore him altogether!
That always depends on who writes the history.
The victors, of course.
Let’s hope
Matt scored some points, but a lot more needs to be done. Bump has hurt a lot of people, and he’ll continue doing so, unless he himself is hurt, badly, and in kind, for what he has done to others. He needs to be punished in some quasi-legal way. A group of good people need to get together and figure something out, soon (the Dems do this all the time, why can’t we? Just calling him names and disparaging him with clever words, won’t do the trick.
Him being what he is, is the fault, in large part, of his enablers, and that includes Bezos.
As long as Bump is working at the Washington Post, he’s ahead in the game.
Maybe get at Bezos with an anti-trust lawsuit.
DUMP the BUMP !....next campaign....can run consecutively with Karma Kamala's....
Once upon a time, WaPo was known for the kind of thing Matt does. Now not.
But the most important thing is to continue to report, accurately and even-handedly, on the truth. Formerly known as "journalism," it has a power beyond "revenge" or a million lesser aims—it tells the truth.
Do you have any suggestions?
I like No Use For A Name's idea--send Jay and Silent Bob over to Bump's place.
"Are you Phillip Bump? Do you write for the Washington Post? Did you say the Twitter Files was bullshit?" And then picture the old Batman show, with all the BAM! POW! and ZOWIE! going off as Bump is bumped.
I just figured out that this will be a good test. I wrote something obviously stupid and in jest about some Hollywood guys kicking a bad reporter's ass. Let's see if I get banned for the Church Lady's definition of violent threats.
Check that. For a moment I thought I was posting on The Free Press, where tamer commenters have been suspended.
Matt would never do that to us. Apologies.
Honestly, I think you've got a great idea if Matt ever needs a sideline.
Not as glorious as righteous journalism, perhaps. But I could see Matt hiring himself out to deliver justice a la Jay and Silent Bob: https://youtu.be/vuBWbpTJRqk?si=GHXGpZdOmQrYTlNy
Thanks. That was a thoughtful gift.
🤣🤣🤣
I wish the Chryon below Bump read: " Twitter Internal Correspondence Showed the Hamilton 68 Was a Fraud".
Sadly, CNN would never admit that.
08/24/24: AHNC, my dear Russian bot (sarcasm), you have won the game with walk-off wit. Dumpy Bumpy Bumptious has been slain. Again!
Спасибо, друг мой
Matt makes Philip go BUMP! 🤣🤣
Dump Bump!!!
Will Kamala get a lesser Bump because of this?
"...It is very cold in space." Send the reporter up to space in a Boeing Starliner and leave him there.
Send our Secretary of Transportation up in space. Or our Veep who is the figurehead of NASA space exploration. The only thing these poor humans have to say is they want to be home to vote for Harris/Walz, and problem solved, or at least for their ballots.
Facts matter.
I was just about to say the exact same thing!
BAM!!! So true.
Dear propagandist lying schmuck, here's proof of your propagandistic lying schmuckery, love, Matty T.
08/24/24: Quoting Chaucer again, I see (!)
I recommend reading all of Walter Kirn's "How America Lost the Plot," an interview in Palladium magazine (Matt Ellison July 25, 2023)
https://www.palladiummag.com/2023/07/25/walter-kirn-on-how-america-lost-the-plot/
An excerpt pertinent to the garbage printed in the Daily Mail, NY Times, Guardian, anything farted out of the asses of CBS/NBC/ABC News, NPR, Yahoo, Bloomberg, MSNBC/CNN and all the rest of the state regime / Uni-Party of America media-censorship-industrial complex:
Walter: ... Over the last few years, we’ve been told that there are certain infallible organs of truth: the intelligence community, Science with a capital S, mainstream media, etc.
It was my privilege to meet a physicist named Murray Gell-Mann [1929-2019] who discovered the subatomic particle known as the quark. But he also is the namesake for a principle of skeptical inquiry called the Gell-Mann Effect.
When you read one article or piece in a newspaper on a subject you happen to know something about and you find it to be misinformed, wrong, or even deceptive, why do you then assume that the same paper is accurate about subjects that you don’t know about?
Why would you extend credence to that source on other topics when you’ve caught it lying or being wrong about one you do know about?
... A certain amount of wrongness can be put down to just error and mistaken-though-well-intentioned failure.
But after a while, that no longer explains it and you start to see almost systematic wrongness on certain topics particularly. So why do we keep going back to the well for poisoned water?
... Between the deceptiveness, the agenda-driven nature, and the social-media-oriented vapidity of the press, it is no longer a reliable source of information about the world.
[Repeated for emphasis:]
The press is no longer a reliable source of information about the world...
This is a great quote, and it reminds me of how things started to unravel in my mind. It wasn't until the propaganda started to touch on things that I actually had deep knowledge about that the dominos started to fall. All of a sudden, all these strange little things that seemed kind of wrong which I had tucked away somewhere in my subconscious started to bubble to the surface. Nowadays, it's skepticism on easy mode. If they are speaking, they are lying about something. If they believe in it, they're wrong. If they say it's bad, it must be great, get two.
I admit, it took me quite sometime to become aware of what you deduced. Sure wish that the noggin had been more receptive sooner.
I know how you feel. But that's what lies do, they make you believe things that aren't true. The mostly good nature of people is taken advantage of constantly.
✅✅✅✅✅✅✅
I genuinely hold The Press most responsible for the state of the world. The Press was to hold the self-serving politicians, self-serving bankers and brokers, self-serving defense industry companies accountable. The Press has abdicated their role in a free society and has been running cover for The Powerful to dupe idiots.
Fuck them. It’s why our independent media icons are the modern day heroes.
I also hold Congress responsible. If they didn't have their weather finger in the air full time, we might have had some honest governance. With the Supreme Court sending so much back to them, and to the States, they might actually have to do some work for a change!
"...they might actually have to do some work for a change!"
God forbid!
Their, "work" is the disfranchisement of working Americans.
The Fourth Estate transitioned into the Fifth Column.
Most are SCUM. Presstitutes.
Trembo- SO TRUE!!!
Bravo! Agreed.
The actual quote was from Michael Crichton.
"Media carries with it a credibility that is totally undeserved. You have all experienced this, in what I call the Murray Gell-Mann Amnesia effect. (I refer to it by this name because I once discussed it with Murray Gell-Mann, and by dropping a famous name I imply greater importance to myself, and to the effect, than it would otherwise have.)
Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them.
In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.
That is the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect. I'd point out it does not operate in other arenas of life. In ordinary life, if somebody consistently exaggerates or lies to you, you soon discount everything they say. In court, there is the legal doctrine of falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus, which means untruthful in one part, untruthful in all. But when it comes to the media, we believe against evidence that it is probably worth our time to read other parts of the paper. When, in fact, it almost certainly isn't. The only possible explanation for our behavior is amnesia."
It's a long speech, but well worth reading.
http://geer.tinho.net/crichton.why.speculate.txt
And while you are at it, read these three speeches too. Crichton was brilliant and sorely missed.
https://simonjmeath.wordpress.com/2011/04/30/three-speeches-by-dr-michael-crichton/
He had very profound things to say about consensus in science.
Good comment. (The "LIKE" buttons don't work for me.)
My like button is on the fritz as well, for quite some time now. I know respond with this: "Since my upvote has been disabled (by the FBI directing the Substack minions), I'll say thank you, in person (maybe we should all have our upvotes disabled, if it encourages direct human contact, instead of the substitution of a sterile 'click.')" --- I'd complain to Substack, but then within ten days I'd end up on the FBI Most Wanted list.
try hitting the word "liked" and not the heart. Just worked for me!
Nope, none of it works. Some PHP or Javascript feature that they just gotta have broke my browser on that functionality, I guess.
Y'know, I actually looked into contacting Substack, seeing as it's an issue with their software, but it turned out that just isn't possible. Nothing nefarious, just the way practically everything having to do with software or online operation works (or doesn't work) these days.
My "like" button has not worked for awhile. Hmmm. Thoughtful chin-stroking emoji
It's a software issue, not any kind of nefarious manipulation on the part of Substack, the FBI or anyone else. (I'm using an old browser under an old OS.) What the fuck would they care whether anyone can "like" stuff or not?
Still sucks.
As someone who is still operating with an OS named after a mountain in the Sierra Nevada (I think), I am not surprised. But how come I can successfully "like" a Racket News story and not the individual comments?! As long as I can "like" Racket, all is well.
08/24/24: Thanks! I cut and pasted Speech #1 just now. The other site is confusing. It lists the speech titles but I didn't see any way of going to the speeches themselves.
You can download a PDF of the three speeches at the link underneath the graphic for the book cover. Just look for:
UPDATE: March 8, 2021 – Download a copy Crichton Speeches SPPI
08/26/24: Speech #1 was SUPERB (thank you!).
#2-4 are a dead end.
It's impossible for me to read more than one page of text on a computer screen.
"Downloading PDFs" --- they can't be cut and pasted --- is a no go (expensive ink is wasted. I'm not Jeff Bezos. And the type size created is unacceptably, unreadable microscopic).
Solution: Buy a professionally published book with all four items in it. Does such a thing exist?
Wow, I've never seen this before. That's brilliant. Thank you 👍
You raise an interesting--and infuriating--point here: if you do detect wrong information in an article, then how do you go about re-evaluating the veracity of the publication as a whole? As you point out, a certain level of "wrongness" is inevitable and can be chalked up to good-faith errors.
But how do you determine if it's even worth continuing to read that publication? Somehow measure the "wrongness" factor and stop reading after it hits a certain value? More than half and you're outta there?
Noam Chomsky pointed out that even extremely biased sources (he used the New York Times as an example) can be used as sources of valid information, if one reads 1) to the bottom of articles even if they're on page 73 and 2) between the lines. But that seems like quite the exercise in critical thinking.
08/24/24: I must say here that I didn't raise the point --- the entire quote and 100% of the credit goes to Walter Kirn. And Noam must read at a clip of about 1000 words/minute in order to be able to do what he recommends. Maybe in the past I could have done likewise, but as the years fly by, the talents one by one fly away, very gradually but undeniably (something that could also be said at the time of Alexander The Great when he was bulldozing his way through Persia. but only if beset by financial inflation).
Don- Walter is great!! I love his take on things!
08/24/24: His thoughts and responses are original. He's example of how someone keeps his sanity by never relinquishing or neglecting his sense of humor.
Well, yeah, that would be quite the undue burden on the brain (and mine turns out to be about the same age as yours).
You never said, though: just how would *you* determine when to pull the plug on a publication for "wrongness"? Looking for some guidance here.
08/24/24: I say get it over with on Day One: Go right to the sports section and bet on the teams recommended by the handicappers (!).
Not a sports guy here, so I'll do the crossword (if it's worth doing).
BTW, what are the handicappers saying about Harris-Trump? Has she reached the apogee of her bounce yet?
This “Gell-Mann Effect” is how physicists or mathematicians assess a seminar or presentation on a subject where they aren’t an expert. You are looking for discrepancies relative to your own knowledge. Relative to today’s propaganda it shows up in comparing the government statements on inflation vs. your own experience, or the government statements on job growth and the state of the economy and people you know who have lost their jobs or are having trouble finding new ones.
💯 ✅
EXACTLY !.... just look out the window....and Biden's administration was solid on the environment ? I read that in Climate news.....what about the US of A being the World leader as a Petro-Chemical State....with Louisiana as ground Zero ?
Katrina showed us that.
Exactly...
Schmuckery is absolutely brilliant. It ranks up there with douche baggery. Probably won't give fuckery a scare, but it's still great.
These Bump-ites are just pure evil. I'm not sure if you can fight evil with the truth. Every dem operative lately just lies or changes the subject on every topic that matters. Some of us are Mad as Hell but most are drinking the Kool-Aid.
This guy is next-level corrupt, even among an industry of the incredibly corrupt.
Yes, he's world class. I guess the Washington Post likes to disgrace itself. by publishing his outright lies.
This level of corruption is what their tiny, radical readership demands.
Unfortunately the people who read Philip Bump are many.........elitist democrats. I know I was on there and even though I cur my payment off I am SUPPOSEDLY allowed to comment.
NO. I am now persona non grata on the WAPO because I cut my payment off!
I would like to read an article about the numbers. How many subscribe to the legacy press anymore? How does that compare year to year? Etc. And I would love to see numbers about Substack subscribers. How about Substack writers? But you probably couldn't do a comprehensive story on media anymore because it is so diverse across platforms.
So let's start with legacy media year to year. I'm thinking, way down.
WaPo is being kept afloat with Bezos billions.
Vanity project.
At least we know where Jeff Bezos stands on all this.
The Fourth Estate 🪠keeps proving itself to be a Fifth Column! 🤔
Let’s make it the third rail
Perfect. I’m with you.
And the Fifth Column is synonomous with treasonous
When "The Troubles" are over, there are likely to be fewer
Fifth Columnist among us than there are now.
One can only hope, Mark, that they do not then go into politics. They all swing both ways.
Corrupt is one way of putting it but I prefer to say sick in the head. I think that he actually believes the lies that he writes about. Most people who lie to others need to lie to themselves first and actually believe their own lies first before spreading them to others. This is delusional, he is living in a fantasy world not the real world and that is the classic definition of insanity.
Self delusion is critical for getting government grants, as every scientist knows.
I think that, to identify Bump as delusional or corrupt either one is a stretch. From my viewpoint, he is exactly as his educators intended. He doesn't engage in either critical or original thought. To do so would shatter his carefully curated bubble.
Perhaps he believes they are “noble lies”, but he is very smart and his lies are provably factually inaccurate.
The only lies that are truly noble are those that are meant to protect people from harm. His kind of lies cannot protect, only hurt.
Yes, and the world of 'Homo sapiens' has become an open air asylum.......
“…this Twitter Files stuff, which has been debunked a thousand times over…” Ummm, where Mr. Bump, are the 1000 times over debunks? Perchance, you could show us even one?
Philip's just been deBumped.
It’s astounding that people like Bump still have jobs.
It is? What's astounding is how many people DON'T have jobs because they refuse to lie for a living.
Maybe that is 818,000 jobs Labor got rid of last week.
It is astounding, though unfortunately not surprising. Philip Dick, I mean Bump, works for the Washington Toast, I mean Post; which is owned and kept alive by democrat camp billionaire Jeff Bezos (speaking of Dicks); who through Amazon Web Services is contracted to provide outsourced host servers to the federal government, including the CIA, hmm, how about that. So from Bump on up it’s a chain of government shills whoring out their rag (newspaper) as an organ for establishment propaganda. Bump is just an old boxing gym punching bag taking shots from real journalists for his masters in the IC. For some reason, I have a hankering to reread “To Kill a Mockingbird”.
Useful idiots, as Lenin allegedly said. Haven’t read enough Lenin to say for sure, and don’t plan to , either.
It's about to become required, or rather rescripted to fit the new more morally just America.
You should (read him). You really should. Whether you agree at all with communism, Bolshevism, etc., or not. Guy was a /force majeure/ in Soviet history, extremely intelligent and not malignant (that I can see) like Stalin. Worth knowing about.
According to The White Pill, Lenin was every bit as murderous as Stalin, just more mentally stable.
Not familiar with that, but it sounds to be ideologically biased. Maybe still worth reading?
The White Pill (by Michael Malice) is a unique, offbeat but very well-researched look at the rise and fall of the USSR, intertwined with the American anarchist movement of the early 20th century. I found it fascinating.
Actually he was pretty malignant, but no doubt brilliant, as was Trotsky. Stalin was brilliant, but not as well-educated like those two, in a even more malignant way. From what I read, what really set Lenin off was when they hung is brother for being part of a Tsar assassination plot.
Anyway, too much to read, and Lenin doesn’t get to my priority level. Das Kapital was enough for me.
If you're going to read anything about that history, read about Leon Trotsky. I'm re-reading the first of Isaac Deutscher's meticulously researched and written "Prophet" series (The Prophet Armed, The Prophet Unarmed, The Prophet Outcast). I consider myself something of a Trotskyist; of course we'll never know, but I believe that history--world history--may have turned out very much differently had Trotsky become the head of state instead of Stalin (as Lenin wished in his testament).
Regarding the whole thing of they (both Lenin & Trotsky) being ruthless bastards: that's a misreading of the history. Here's the thing: if you foment a revolution, as they did, AND if your responsibility is for that revolution to succeed, to bear the fruits that you desperately wish it to (and those fruits are NOT your ascension to power but the transformation of the society), then it's a given that PEOPLE MUST DIE. People will need to be killed. There's no getting around that. Remember that what happened immediately after the Bolshevik Revolution was a bloody civil war that nearly destroyed the country.
One doesn't play with revolutions--real revolutions, not pretend storming of legislatures--without being prepared to see it through to the bloody end. Otherwise there's no point in even thinking about a revolution.
Those Isaac Deutscher books on Trotsky were quite good. They got the pick axe he was killed with in the KGB museum, in the Lubyanka, downtown Moscow. Interesting little museum, to say the least!
Because he's part of the access part of access journalism. He's got access to the right people when needed by the paper. He has the access because the people know already how he'll write about them. You want a quote/interview with certain powerful people? You have to get access first, and access to those powerful only goes through certain people. This is how corruption occurs, not with any big bang but agreeing to play by those rules because "that's the only way"
Game set match Matt
I am sorry Matt. It doesn't matter. All the work that you did with regards to the Twitter Files. None of it matters to the echo chamber of media and the left. You and Musk are just Russian Stooges. Putin Apologists. Right Wing Nut bags. Conspiracy theorists.
Everything you wrote on the Twitter Files and everything about the Twitter Files was made up by Elon Musk to give him attention. Didn't you know that? You were played by Elon. LOL
Sorry.. I had to. I still hear this shit all the time from morons. American's are just dumb, and specifically Progressive Democrats, and we are about to get what we deserve for letting these fools speak for too long. War, Depression, and the end of Freedoms (Except the freedom to have an abortion anytime anywhere of course).
I hear you, also knowing a good share of the morons. Even so, I refuse despair.
Sadly, I've lost hope with RFK dropping out. I simply don't know who to vote for. I know the country will be awful with full power to the Obamaites, but I just can't bring myself to vote for Trump, and honestly. I don't think it matters. The Queen has been anointed, they are going to break that Glass Ceiling this time, and nothing will stand in their way.
Oddly enough I don't see the opposite of despair being hope. lol gave up hope long ago, too old, and know how this story ends. All there is to do before the end is fight; for who I love, and when I sometimes overcome my considerable chicken shitness for the true, the good, the beautiful.
Yeah, not an answer re: politics. You should vote, just because it's a civilized way to fight. It's good to fight, to shake my tiny fist at the sky and laugh and do what I should do. I may fuck it up, do it wrong, lose. But god damn it I want to go down swinging.
"One need not hope in order to undertake nor succeed in order to persevere".
William the Silent
Well done that quote!
I truly understand your point of view. At this point, I think a randomly selected American would serve better than anybody the parties put up.
However --- I think on Day One Kammy won't make food prices lower. The Supreme Court is job one on the Dems agenda. The mission is to make it yet another arm of The Party, like the media is now. That alone motivates my vote for Trump. When he ran, he released a list of potentials for the Supremes. He stuck to the list. The Biden administration used legislation for kids going to war to justify kids at home getting loan forgiveness. When he was told "no" by the Supremes, he did it again through some other machination. Buying votes with our money.
Yesterday in his withdrawal address, RFK Jr. did an autopsy of the Dem Party. What has killed it? Corruption +. As evidenced by the lawfare against not only Trump, but RFK Jr., Stein --- hell, everybody not preferred by the power structure. They threw out their supposed preference, for God's sake!
Dark Sky- Amen-and double AMEN!!
You are right there. The Supreme court will be doubled in size and all appointed Dems. There is a Blue Wave coming, and the algo's that run the voting machines are going to see to it. They will keep the propaganda machine running, and celebrities out in the open to make it seem plausible that Abortion rights took the election all by itself.
The only wrinkle. She has to debate him right? Like, she has to at least once? This puts her in a position of having to speak in front of the world. That will not work.
Will that change your mind? Do you live in a swing state?
I live in PA, so yes. I guess I am a hypocrite.
Abstaining from a vote is perfectly legitimate. It would be far better than voting for Kamala.
If you think Harris is worse than trump. You need to rethink. Because otherwise you are as responsible for anyone what happens. For me. I'm going put swinging. Trump at least saves the republic for 1 more 4 year period and maybe we hace a chance
Rfk Jr dropped out to throw support to trump. To save the country. He pur country over self. And chose trump over dnc. Because they went communist.
"Communist"? Puleeze. That cancels out whatver good was in your comment and makes you sound like an idiot.
It ain't 1966 anymore.
It would be more accurate to say the Dems have gone far left.
I don't think that's accurate either.
Going far left: that would take them into Bernie Sanders territory, and we all know how successful he was in pulling the party "left".
If they really were to go "left" (if only!), then we'd be looking at things like single-payer, Medicare for all, whatever you want to call it, instead of the Frankenstinian monster of a fucked-up health care system that we actually have, one created, with the connivance of the "leftist" Democrats, by the insurance and pharmaceutical industries.
We'd have provisions for "living wages", instead of the dog-eat-dog system we have now. Unions--non-corrupt, democratic unions--would have enough power to resist the corporate drive to the bottom in wages and worker protections.
All that stuff.
So no, the Democrats are not "leftists". Oh, you're talking about all that identity-politics bullshit, all the window dressing they try to pass off as social progress ("first gay _______", "first black woman ______"), the placing of trans people on a pedestal, all that crap: that's not leftism. Not really. And I agree, it sucks.
Like DEI: at first glance, it's a good idea: after all, diversity IS a good thing, and fairness is a virtue. However, there's a difference between allowing all types of people to be considered for jobs and appointments, and mindlessly promoting people SIMPLY BECAUSE they belong to a certain racial/gender/ability group, never mind their fitness for that appointment, which is what we seem to have today.
They went communist. Actuslly she grew up communist. Folks were communist. But in spite of saying almost nothing she has introduced communism herself. Price controls. Communism 101. That word salad people were laughing at her: marxist incantation they taught children to learn Marxism. Yes not made up. She is not as stupid as people think. ALSO planning to use ATF go door to door to take guns. That is first step all dictators do and breaks the constitution. Yes in a video. There is more. My point is. You need to look at this as voting communism in. You can't vote it out. So if that's not what you want: wake up.
George, you need to study current communist thinking and Chinese Communist Party history because that's who the Democratic Party seeks to emulate. Here are a couple of Substack posts you should consider:
https://billpound.substack.com/p/france-is-an-enigma-to-me/comments
https://billpound.substack.com/p/fascism-leading-toward-a-totalitarian/comments
Also consider Leninthink by Gary Saul Morson, The New Criterion, October 2019, where he says, "...a true Leninist does not decide whether to lie. He automatically says what is most useful [to the Party], with no reflection necessary...a true Bolshevik is not even a hypocrite." Example: Harris said she will stop fracking, and now says she will let it continue. And she will stop fracking if elected.
Harris is a utopian saying, "What can be, unburdened by what has been". She will paint word pictures of a future attractive to voters and hope no one remembers what she has said or voted for in the past. Barbara is not an idiot. Not so sure about you.
As Doctor Maturin should have said, "I always vote for the lesser of two weevils." And in this case, that means I'll vote for Trump. The Dems are far more likely to do permanent damage.
Thucy-- TOTALLY AGREE!!
Vote for Trump. Kamala is worse. RFK will remain a national figure under Trump and may have considerable influence. With Kamala, what you see is what you get.
Yep.
RFK Jr didn't drop out. Here's what he said:
"I also want you to know that I am only suspending my campaign, not terminating it. My name will still be on the ballot in most states. If you live in a blue state, you can vote for me without harming or helping President Trump or Vice President Harris. In red states — the same applies. I encourage you to do so. And IF ENOUGH OF YOU VOTE FOR ME AND NEITHER OF THE MAJOR PARTY CANDIDATES WIN 270 ELECTORAL VOTES, I COULD STILL WIND UP IN THE WHITE HOUSES in a contingent election." (capitalized emphasis mine).
The Donald is the lesser evil! Our society can survive him. A vote for Kamala (or no vote) is sending us further down the slippery slope- and there is no way up!!
Come on Karen. Don't hide in the corner. Pick a side.
Relisten or read RFK Jr’s speech. He gives suggestions on how to vote. It was one of the best political speeches of this century.
I'm voting on my state referendums, which actually matter and where my vote actually counts. Otherwise i'm leaving the whole slate blank. Only thing which might possibly change my mind is if West shows up on my ballot, though i won't write him in. A reporter asked him the other day if he got any calls from the Harris campaign asking him to drop out, and he said God yes, i get them from everybody. But they got the wrong brother.
I never get political spam until this election. I don't know if it's because my state (MA) is over 60% Independents, but i've gotten texts from Haley, Trump campaign, and now Harris and local supporters. They all get sent to spam, i really don't know why all of these folks think political spam is welcome.
Do you believe RFK's decision to suspend his campaign was an error in judgment on his part?
Supposing Trump wins the election, do you believe Trump would dishonor his promise to position RFK to reform the FDA?
He might dishonor it. RFK even alluded to this in his speech.
May as well hope for the best. That appears what Kennedy appears to be doing.
Do you really think Trump would feel compelled to keep *any* of his promises?
Yes. Review his actions during his first term. Far from perfect, of course, but he made a lot more efforts to keep promises than most Presidents do.
Not necessarily disputing you, but it would be nice if there were some source (online) with an accurate account of what Trump promised and what he actually did during his term ...
Why vote at all?
It's all fixed!
I just hate that with a nation full of intelligent well reasoned women, the first two we put up for the highest job were both criminally corrupt, and criminally stupid.
Nothing to do with women............there are thousands of men complicit!
LOL Ain't that the truth!
Yah....Ann Richards, Barbara Jordan, Molly Ivins...to name a few.....
I miss Molly Ivins. She owned George Bush II the way Aaron Rodgers has owned the Chicago Bears.
I met her and Ann Richards once, at the same event. Darn if those days aren't well and truly gone!
Thank you for the Barbara Jordan reference. Because I saw and heard her in action ---- I am sickened by the likes of Michelle, Kammy, Hillary, Maxine, O-C, etc. Grifters one and all.
Well why not move?? At least vote down ballot!
The "Fix" is in, whether it's Trump, Ka-mala, or a 3rd candidate TBA. If caught voting the 3rd, I'll plead the Fifth, as the Fig Leaf of the First Amendment, Freedom of Political Speech, has withered on the vine for lack of Water...
I suggest voting for Dr. Jill Stein who is on the ballot in most states, more than enough to get elected, should the public decide to pry themselves off the two-party system that has no elements of democracy remaining, if it ever did. The Green Party has a very good platform. The MSM suppresses the voices that don't conform to that two-party duopoly. Let's send a message to them, TPTB, and ourselves that we are many.
Voted for Jill in 2016 which apparently made me a misogynist in the eyes of the Dem Establishment. I won't vote for her this year though because I won't side with Hamas (even though I am not pro-Israel either). I think I just hate the world anymore.
The Ka-mala's "Bump" is in an hourglass quickly running out of sand. Her "Blue Wave Moment" is so canned that the expiration date is just around the corner, to mix metaphors. Trump's a bozo, as always, but Americans love a bozo, and the Ka-mala's still trying to impress the Boss, the Man, and Trump will easily fill that position, like He-lium in a Balloon.
I think she's just a holographic avatar for the DNC and the deep state. Otherwise nothing there at all.
I think Kamala is going to be the Deep State Karma for the Democratic Party....as evidenced at their Chicago Colosseum.
Totally true, as far as the Human Eye can see, or de-cipher. I watched just enough of the Pom-Pom Puffery to confirm the Illusion. Zero-to-60, in as many polls, an evanescent bubbly Blue Wave faltering forward...
I hope you're right Todd
I hope so too, even if “hope” is a 4-letter word, which it technically is, just to dot the “T’s” and cross the “I”s…
Eric- good for you for keeping up hope! I am so surrounded- I'm quite fearful!
But … but … um, uh … Progressive democrats are the cool kids!!!
Their lines of reasoning (sic) always remind me of my favorite line in O. Henry’s “The Ransom of Red Chief”:
“‘Shut up’, he explained.”
I fear you are correct. It's so frustrating.
It's even more of a bombshell than the Podesta Files were, and the only thing that's happened from the Podesta files is a dead staffer, and a journalist trapped in a foreign embassy for a decade.
C'mon TF, they are all-in for freedom. The phrase "freedom from...." was mentioned 8,000 fucking times in Chicago. They totally believe in freedom. I can't remember all the freedoms they are promising, but Matt wrote about them the other day.
i still tend to think people are "smart" in their own ways. there was a teacher in high school who could talk off game stats like no one's business - i thought it was ridiculous, but if that's their "thing" then that's that.
or, if i want to be somewhat controversial - i think that having children is just stupid in this day and age - and an utter waste of time. but i wouldn't expect everyone to have this same view.
i mean, what good are we doing ranting about this stuff? what value would it have to most people?
not attacking anybody for once, just that interests are where they are. most see the system as unchangeable and focus on something else, whatever that is.
Also, YOUTUBE F$CKING BLURRED OUT WHEN TRUMP AND KENNEDY SPOKE TOGETHER AT THE RALLY TODAY.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lsIeSSevqY
see for yourself - timestamp 02:16:00 or so. Typically I'd say this was just happenstance, but it happens so many times that I find this hard to believe. (it was fine earlier in the video). and it's youtube - "bandwidth" my ass
( i will never vote for trump fyi, would've voted for kennedy. still won't vote for trump, i don't vote as a matter of principle anymore)
> Also, YOUTUBE F$CKING BLURRED OUT WHEN TRUMP AND KENNEDY SPOKE
>TOGETHER AT THE RALLY TODAY.
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lsIeSSevqY
> see for yourself - timestamp 02:16:00 or so. Typically I'd say this was just happenstance, > but it happens so many times that I find this hard to believe. (it was fine earlier in the > video). and it's youtube - "bandwidth" my ass"
Looked at it: looks like just extremely poor video quality, not anything intentional.
BTW: just write "FUCKING" like you meant it. Matt doesn't censor these comments.
normally i'd agree, but it happened right when he went onstage. look at video right before, the prior speaker.
Lmao savage
“The thing about Bump, which is total nonsense — he’s referring to this Russiagate stuff, which has been debunked a thousand times over…” - fixed it for you.
Might be time to ask your DNC masters for a new script, Bumpy boy.
That handle, for some reason, jingled America’s “a horse….”. .
Political discourse in 2024 is simply and entirely centered around the Friend/Enemy distinction. Everything else is based on this or is a consequence of this, and nothing else matters, not truth, facts, accuracy, sanity, etc.
Bump, however pitiful a person and pathetic a liar, is a Friend of the Regime™, ergo he is always right, most especially when he is wrong.
Matt et al, no matter how strong his case or his argument, is an Enemy of the Regime™, ergo he is always wrong, most especially when he is right.
This is the basis of Soviet America, our current and future home.
W hat the 'fuck' is Soviet America???????
Thanks for asking, let's see if I can clarify.
I base some of my idea of Soviet America on James Burnham's "The Managerial Revolution", written during WW2:
"What is occurring in this transition is a drive for social dominance, for power and privilege, for the position of ruling class, by the social group or class of the MANAGERS (as I shall call them, reserving for the moment an explanation of whom this class includes). This drive will be successful. At the conclusion of the transition period the managers will, in fact, have achieved social dominance, will be the ruling class in society. This drive, moreover, is worldwide in extent, already well advanced in all nations, though at different levels of development in different nations.
There is, in truth, not a formal identity, but a historical bond uniting Stalinism (communism), Nazism (fascism), and New Dealism. Against differing developmental backgrounds and at different stages of growth, they are all managerial ideologies. They all have the same historical direction: away from capitalist society and toward managerial society."
Soviet America is the form the Global American Empire is taking at home, where the country is ruled by an managerial/technocratic/aristocratic/cultural elite and it's defined as having 1) Potemkin elections, where the Party decides the candidates and no matter who you vote for, power is never threatened and policy rarely affected, with all politicians having more or less the same (approved) beliefs and ideas; 2) having ideological loyalty oaths to the Regime (in our case DEI) as a way to weed out opponents and dissidents and keep them from gaining any sort of power, esp in re employment and college admission; and 3) most importantly, having all this fortified and the population both addled and pacified by a nonstop full-spectrum program of propaganda, where the Party and its leaders and its reigning narratives (all of them centered on vague platitudes like Progress or Hope or Love) are painted as enlightened, necessary, the natural beliefs any Good, kind person should hold, with the opposite being any dissenters or opponents become Emmanuel Goldstein (Trump, Elon, Jordan Peterson, Canadian Truckers, up to and including Matt Taibbi) and deserve nothing but hate and scorn—all this amplified by rage and anxiety-inducing algorithms.
Other aspects include mass immigration, secularization, divide-and-conquer tribalism, and the assault on our civil liberties (painting free speech etc as "dangerous" or "hurtful"), but I've already gone on too long. Hope this makes sense.
I see Soviet America as so much what I witnessed in Post Soviet Cuba. Toe the part line and you stay employed by the Govt. and the "NGO's" - don't toe the party line and you scrape it out in the gig economy. The fearless leader(s) have 5 or so multi-million dollar mansions and eat the best food and smoke the best cigars and hang out w/ world class writers (celebs) etc. Those who speak against the party line or exhibit "wrong-think" will never get hired, will not get paint or plywood to repair their homes (after Sandy etc.) so basically CANNOT survive! You are FORCED to become a good party apparatchik in order to provide for your family! We are closing in on this and w/ the Harris/Walz team- I see us as almost there! PLEASE VOTE AGAINST THEM!!!
thanks for your insight.
i think whatever the supposed political system or its supposed values, most members of the ruling class (or aspirants) fantasize a set-up like this: they get to live as aristocrats with the rest of us becoming some species of servant, dependent upon them for food/housing, always pledging loyalty to stay in their good graces.
and Soviet America is a new spin on this, as most us live pretty safe lives and are stuffed with excess calories, entertained by all our devices and machines, while a combination of state surveillance and constant propaganda gradually shrinks civil society and locks in a rigid hierarchy that is veiled behind a smokescreen of spurious race&gender egalitarianism.
Soviet America, I think, only seems odd or coercive to those of us raised in the 20th century, for the screen addicts raised in this century, being programmed and policed by their devices seems natural and normal, as this is all they've ever known.
cheers!
This is a very informative, and depressing, thread.
In Cuba. I see a lot of happy people as well as poverty BUT they have healthcare?
Clever....you forgot 'JOY'...please never, NEVER forget her...
I beg your pardon?
Sorry, I was trying to be ironic....maybe came out moronic....
sorry! i will report myself to the proper authorities
It absolutely makes sense....
Just another way to describe clans of apes.
we're apes all the way down!
You forgot healthcare!
Why call it "Soviet?"
Have you heard of "Smurfing?"
Isn't that a synonym for sock-puppetry? How does that apply here?
"Smurfing" = laundering millions of dollars into campaigns using identity theft
ie: "Sonia" gave 78,810 contributions to 186 different committees and campaigns since 2016...on average made 25.4 contributions 7 days a week for 8.5 years.
Heavy-hitter IT guys on this via FEC filings. Funding the "managers" and keeping them compliant.
OMG's James O'Keefe found an ACT Blue vendor table at the DNC
For a good while now I've assumed all columnists are lying. My answer is to not read most of them, and shovel money to those I've judged to not lie. Time will tell if a market economy can overcome a corrupt 4th estate.
Eric. Since the USA is now owned by AIPAC you have absolutely NO chance to redeem yourselves!
Get used to the fact that Zionism rules the USA!
Why go anti-semite when you could've just gone with the correct answer...
GREED rules America.
Anti-AIPAC/anti-Israel ≠ anti-Semitism.
I'm no fan of AIPAC nor of current Israeli government/foreign policy.
But frankly, that's for Israelis to figure out.. not my circus, not my monkeys.
But saying Zionists control American population is absolutely anti-Semitic.
Stupidity, propaganda, and greed rule America.
No, Zionists--and let's be specific here, we're talking about AIPAC--absolutely do have an outsized influence over American politics. Just look at how they brought down Jamaal Bowman, just one case out of many.
They may not *control* the American population, but they absolutely control the "narrative" and hence the political reality.
Other than that your last sentence is correct. (But think about that second word; whose propaganda?)
Jamaal Bowman is a nutbag who never should have been elected in the first place. The fucker stood for racism and division regardless of AIPAC adverts.
That's what you people don't understand..."woke" radicals are the real Fascists.
You so funny !!!! Jenny....vote for Netanyahu....the Zionistas will soon be going down the tubes...along with all the glacial melt....
Refer to something as "debunked" and then continue saying anything you want. Always a winning strategy.
you've noticed it too!
Fun stuff, Matt... they make it so easy for you... Keep on making history.
How can he still be employed much less read!
Ffs...these ppl are employed PRECISELY as commisars.
He is employed by The Washington Post, being transparently corrupt is a requirement for employment.
08/24/24: Answer: He types what he is told to type.
Matt, I don't think he can hear you given his head's current location. Think bent over ostrich.
When the ostrich bends over he's putting his head in the sand. Bump's is clearly up his ass
And then he tells you his shit does not stink.
You are even funnier Alicia !!! This is becoming the best Comedy routine on the internet !
You funny Steven !!!
Angry Matt is the best Matt -- especially when he brings the receipts. How on earth can internal communications of Twitter be 'debunked'? They are either real communications or they are elaborate fakes.
For most things now I tell people go to the source material. Don’t even look at what Matt says about the Twitter files (although it’s great). Just go to the emails themselves and judge for yourself without a third party filter. Another great example of this? Supreme Court decisions. Just read the judges opinions. It’s a bit challenging, but not really. They are surprisingly conversational in tone.
Yes! It's so frustrating that most of the time, the MSM doesn't even link the source documents. They are the most important aspect of the story!
Yes Matt, to his credit, ALWAYS does this.
I think my favorite one was when some Twitter poster called Matt out for a passive-aggressive diss at Ted Lieu. Matt said, no, it was meant to be openly hostile.
Except when I have to watch him be angry. I needed a glass of wine watching Matt and Walter on the last night of Racket's DNC coverage.