The real attack on Democracy.

[jabe]

Why can't the NYT report these facts

From the NYT: Democrats Decried Dark Money. Then They Won With It in 2020.
Took me 3 seconds to find.

Concurring judges in Citizens United: Roberts Scalia, Thomas. Kennedy, Alito. Dissenting: Stevens, Beyer, Ginsburg. Sotomayor.
But shame on the Democrats for not letting conservatives have all the campaign money they made legal.

 

[jabe]

on this thread's actual topic

Actual topic: Biden's finances. Minor correction in newspaper. Bridge engineering.
Not actual topic: Trump's finances?

 

[AnalogPackrat]

They also publish Ross Douthat, Bret Stephens, David Brooks, etc. It's not the WSJ op-ed page, I grant you, but it isn't the full-on liberal haven some here like to pretend it is.

Opinions vary.

If you're con, then maybe you should be more concerned about the conservative court that brought us Citizens United, and the conservative politicians who won't support meaningful change on the matter, and the conservative senators and their dark money supporters who've pretty much guaranteed that SCOTUS won't bend on this matter for the foreseeable future.

I don't see any Democrats supporting meaningful change, either. They're just as addicted. Who held the majority in both houses in 2010? Why didn't they attempt to pass legislation then?

That "con" rings pretty hollow from where I'm sitting.

Same view from my recliner. Lately I'm more concerned about bigger attacks on free speech led by the left. And ever-increasing government authority and size championed by the same people. And the ceding of sovereign elected government decision-making to unelected organizations like WHO.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Actual topic: Biden's finances. Minor correction in newspaper. Bridge engineering.
Not actual topic: Trump's finances?

Indeed web forum discussions especially in the Brewery are not at all disciplined about staying on topic.
==
I noted that the RFK Jr citation was actually "on topic" because that is not the norm for this thread.
===
Saying that ex-President Obama attended the slain policeman's wake (that ex-President Trump actually did) IMO was more than minor errata worthy, and that's why I raised it in this political thread. Gov Hochul tried to attend that wake uninvited and left after only a few minutes because she was confronted and heckled by mourners.

Errata usually involve "minor corrections" like misspelled names, not something that blatantly wrong.

It wasn't even April 1st.

 

[hodad]

Gov Hochul tried to attend that wake uninvited and left after only a few minutes because she was confronted and heckled by mourners.

Ms. Hochul said that no one had told her to leave the wake. She said her team had asked Officer Diller’s family if she would be welcome to attend.

“I said prayers at the casket and it was very respectful,” she said.

It doesn't say there weren't hecklers though. Maybe there was a contingent from the Westboro Baptist Church on hand.

 

[JohnRoberts]

The cop killer had 21 prior arrests, the driver of the car had 14.

I perceive a pattern of recidivism.

JR

 

[AnalogPackrat]

Ms. Hochul said that no one had told her to leave the wake. She said her team had asked Officer Diller’s family if she would be welcome to attend.

Not according to this.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crim...wake-crowd-applauds-as-she-leaves/ar-BB1kLAs1

"Hochul — who had asked the NYPD, the NYPD Police Benevolent Association, and the Nassau County Police Benevolent Association ahead of time about attending..."

And

"Ahead of the weekend services, Sergeants Benevolent Association President Vincent J. Vallelong also wrote a scathing letter warning members of City Council not to show their faces."

And how disrespectful is it for a politician to do this at a wake? Tonedeaf.

"Sources said Hochul discussed 'policy' with the grieving family. Progressive policies, such as bail reform, have been blamed for Diller’s tragic death."

“I said prayers at the casket and it was very respectful,” she said.

It was disrespectful for her to attend knowing the controversy about her policies. She just wants attention.

It doesn't say there weren't hecklers though. Maybe there was a contingent from the Westboro Baptist Church on hand.

On her way out she was apparently mocked and some applauded her departure after a heated exchange with a family member. She had no business there.

 

[AnalogPackrat]

The cop killer had 21 prior arrests, the driver of the car had 14.

I perceive a pattern of recidivism lifestyle.

JR

Fixed it for you.

 

[hodad]

An Iowa woman who sought to boost her husband’s unsuccessful congressional bid in 2020 through a voter fraud scheme was sentenced by a federal judge to four months in prison Monday in a rare case of fraudulent voting.

Republican? You better believe it!

The South Carolina man arrested after barreling his car through the FBI's front gate in Atlanta on Monday has a long history of far-right posts on social media - and he even wrote "I love you" to Donald Trump, according to new research.

Oh. And which party, exactly, claims to be the party of law and order? Oh, right. It's the party that encourages this sort of behavior.

 

[hodad]

Screw October & screw surprises. Trump's trying to engage foreign powers to manipulate the presidential election openly and in April.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/03/...e_code=1.h00.5vA6.9-nTbrEy2gka&smid=url-share

Dovetails nicely with the article about Ric Grenell I posted a link to a few days back.

 

[JohnRoberts]

I feel like I need to caution you guys to not stare into the sun during the upcoming eclipse.
===
On the topic of preserving democracy; The original framework for American democracy was hammered out amid heated disagreement and rigorous debate. Now, in this period of hardening political and social schisms, what's hampering progress isn't that we disagree, but how we do it or worse, try to avoid it altogether.

JR

 

[cyrano]

I feel like I need to caution you guys to not stare into the sun during the upcoming eclipse.
===
On the topic of preserving democracy; The original framework for American democracy was hammered out amid heated disagreement and rigorous debate. Now, in this period of hardening political and social schisms, what's hampering progress isn't that we disagree, but how we do it or worse, try to avoid it altogether.

JR

And obviously, that makes it universal and the best in the world...

Have you maybe been staring into the sun lately, John?

 

[JohnRoberts]

And obviously, that makes it universal and the best in the world...

The best so far, IMO

Have you maybe been staring into the sun lately, John?

Sorry if I trigger you into attacking me personally, please don't.

I am a big boy, but we shouldn't normalize this behavior (thoughtful debate=good, snarky insults=bad).

JR

 

[AnalogPackrat]

And obviously, that makes it universal and the best in the world...

What time-proven system do you propose that would work better for our very diverse population of 350M spread across 3.8M sq miles (9.8M sq km)?

Have you maybe been staring into the sun lately, John?

I guess it beats staring at The Communist Manifesto.

 

[cyrano]

Well, it's my opinion that stating dodgy reporting as a fact and then not answering when pointed out, is an insult.

 

[hodad]

This is how Republicans do:

2 Men Fined $1.25 Million for Robocall Scheme to Suppress Black Vote​

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/09/...ters-wohl-burkman.html?searchResultPosition=1

Bear that in mind next time when Republicans protest that their racist gerrymandering isn't really about diluting black voting power.

 

[JohnRoberts]

A scathing op-ed from NPR veteran and current senior business editor Uri Berliner published in The Free Press on Tuesday has intensified debates over whether the publicly funded news organization has adopted a partisan lean in recent years.

In the piece, Berliner details a culture shift at the organization, in which “An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don’t have an audience that reflects America.”


Berliner argued that NPR is plagued with an “absence of viewpoint diversity,” which he considers to be a result of leadership’s emphasis on promoting diversity and inclusion on the basis of race and sexual orientation. He also claims that he found “87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans.”

https://www.thewrap.com/npr-senior-editor-op-ed-political-bias-reactions-uri-berliner/

This guy is still working there (for now?).

Juan Williams was fired by NPR in 2010 for being too conservative. Juan was not conservative, so this NPR editor guy is toast. If this isn't fake news. NPR's top news executive defended their journalism, so this appears to be real.

JR

 

[AnalogPackrat]

This is how Democrats do. We should be careful landing on the moon. It might tip over like Guam.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6350586080112

Ignorance like this (especially displayed by Congressfolks) is dangerous to "our democracy.'

 

[hodad]

NPR

I find NPR smug, insular and corporatist, and too often beholden to the interests of the corporate and fatcat megadonor$$$$$. Is it too liberal though? Not by half.

EDIT: this whole "audience that reflects America" canard is pure BS. I guess they need more stories about how Trump really did win the election, and there really is a basement in Comet Pizza, and space lasers really are controlled by the Jews.

 

[hodad]

Russia stuff:
https://wapo.st/43S7kU2

“During his custodial interview on February 14, Smirnov admitted that officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story about Businessperson 1,” the prosecution memo states. Businessperson 1 is Hunter Biden