Lessons of History and Trying To Avoid the Same Mistakes

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[Pence has decided to not do the right thing anymore. That it may get him elected ]

 

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Louisiana Voters Ask U.S. Supreme Court To Pause 5th Circuit Order Delaying Fair Maps

Read more here.

www.democracydocket.com

 

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Judge blocks 2 provisions in North Carolina's new abortion law

But nearly all of the restrictions approved by the legislature this year aren't being specifically challenged and remain intact.

www.politico.com

 

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In a divorce filing, his wife, Melody Duncan, unloads on her husband. “When Jeff Duncan left his ‘Faith and Freedom BBQ’ at the end of August, after calling Melody Duncan his loving and supportive wife, he then went ‘directly to the home of his paramour,’" reports the Index-Journal, a Greenwood, South Carolina, newspaper. ”Melody Duncan, wife of U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-SC 3rd District, filed for divorce Friday at the Laurens County Courthouse. In the filing, she accuses the 13-year conservative representative of having multiple extramarital affairs, and leaving their marital home to live with a woman he's having an ongoing sexual relationship with.”

She claims that this isn’t a he-said, she-said situation, that Jeff Duncan has admitted to the affairs to “the parties' sons and members of his staff,” and that he has built a narrative of a loveless marriage "to justify the hypocrisy of his public statements and his private actions."

If only there were a remedy for a failed marriage that didn’t involve unfaithfulness …

For his part, Jeff Duncan hasn’t responded to the allegations.


(full article online )

Another ‘family values’ Republican is allegedly a hypocrite

Freedom Caucus Republican Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina sure does love families. In fact, he’s made a great show of how much he fights to protect families. But being a Freedom Caucus Republican also means being a raging hypocrite: He’s allegedly...

www.dailykos.com

 

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It turns out telling a 12-year-old she must have her rapist's baby isn't good politics

Last year, Kentucky Republicans imposed a highly restrictive abortion ban on voters by overriding the veto of Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. And this year, Beshear is using the ban to dismantle the Republican nominee seeking to unseat him, Kentucky...

www.dailykos.com

 

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Sen. Josh Hawley Received Campaign Donations From General Motors and Ford

The senator, who joined striking UAW workers on the picket line this week, no longer accepts money from corporate PACs.

theintercept.com

 

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The critical role of media in shaping public perception cannot be overstated. Journalism, at its best, serves as the Fourth Estate, a check on power and a guardian of democracy. However, MSNBC’s Joy-Ann Reid‘s recent critique of mainstream media’s coverage of President Biden and Donald Trump highlights a glaring issue: the disparity in media scrutiny. Her observations point toward a collective failure to maintain even-handed coverage, especially in the comparison of both presidents on matters such as age, mental acuity, and track records.

In this clip:

• Joy-Ann Reid of MSNBC criticizes mainstream media for their uneven coverage of President Biden and former President Trump, specifically pointing out the media’s focus on Biden’s age while neglecting to discuss Trump’s similar age and questionable mental acuity.
• Reid highlights inconsistencies, such as an Axios article that discusses Biden’s age and physical activities like wearing sneakers and exercising but doesn’t do the same scrutiny for Trump, who is only three years younger than Biden.
• The segment criticizes the media’s lack of focus on Trump’s numerous verbal gaffes and inconsistencies, which range from geographical errors to a misunderstanding of American history. Reid argues that these issues could be indicators of Trump’s mental acuity, a topic the media largely avoids.
• Reid contrasts the legal and moral records of Biden and Trump, arguing that the media should focus on who has actually “delivered for the American public” and “who’s willing to preserve our democracy.” She notes that Trump has led an insurrection, been indicted on felony counts, and made multiple inflammatory statements.
• Reid calls for more responsible journalism that provides balanced scrutiny of both political figures rather than feeding into superficial narratives. She emphasizes the need for the media to focus on issues of substance, such as the candidates’ capacity to govern and their impact on American democracy.

Reid’s criticism begins with the media’s fixation on President Biden’s age, exemplified by headlines that focus on his sneakers and exercise habits as signals of his old age. This seemingly innocuous detail becomes far more insidious when compared to the lack of similar coverage concerning Trump, who is merely three years younger than Biden. The media’s selective scrutiny does a disservice to its audience, who deserve a fuller understanding of both presidents to make informed political judgments. As media critic Jay Rosen has argued, journalism that excessively focuses on surface traits like age without substantive context can perpetuate ignorance rather than combating it.

Even more concerning is Reid’s assertion that the media’s “both-sides-ism” could lead the United States toward autocracy. For an industry that frequently presents two sides of a coin for objectivity’s sake, the media strikingly fails to apply this approach when covering Biden and Trump’s ages or mental acuities. This lack of balanced coverage is an ethical lapse and a civic one. Numerous studies, such as the one conducted by the Pew Research Center, reveal that uneven media representation can substantially influence public opinion and erode trust in democratic institutions.

Reid also takes the media to task for its apparent myopia regarding the track records of Biden and Trump. While media outlets quickly hone in on Biden’s age or his choice of footwear, they often neglect the more pressing matters of governance and policy. Reid states that only Trump has led an insurrection, been indicted on multiple felony counts, and found civilly liable for various crimes, including sexual assault. This glaring discrepancy in media focus goes beyond journalistic bias; it is a crisis of priorities.

Moreover, Reid questions the very premise of focusing on age as a determinant of presidential competence. The more important question, as she rightly puts it, is who has delivered for the American public and who’s willing to preserve democracy. This calls for a reevaluation of the metrics that both media and the public should employ when assessing leaders. As articulated by the American Press Institute, the goal of journalism should be to provide citizens with the information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives, communities, societies, and governments.

Joy-Ann Reid’s critique serves as a call to action for mainstream media to reevaluate its priorities and methodologies. Media outlets must rise to the occasion and fulfill their societal role as unbiased informers, educators, and watchdogs. In an era of deepening political divides and rampant misinformation, the need for balanced, in-depth, and responsible journalism has never been greater. Failing to meet this standard not only undermines the media’s credibility but also jeopardizes the very democracy it claims to protect.

MSNBC’s Joy-Ann Reid goes ballistic on mainstream media for the horrendous Biden vs. Trump coverage.

The mainstream media has supported GOP whataboutism and false equivalences. Joy-Ann Reid calls it out with examples recently. MSNBC’s Joy-Ann Reid goes ballistic on MSM. Watch Politics Done Right T.V. here. The critical role of media in shaping public...

www.dailykos.com

 

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‘We don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator’: Gen. Mark Milley’s powerful retirement speech

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley retired Friday. President Joe Biden spoke at a ceremony honoring the general held at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall near Washington, D.C. ...

www.dailykos.com

 

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Musk experimented with and ultimately eliminated Twitter’s verification system of “bluechecks.” As the article predicted, the removal resulted in a public backlash and an exponential drop in advertisers and revenue. Other developments, including Musk’s drastically reducing the number of staffers who monitor tweets and a rise in hate speech, also contributed to the dynamic.

The article predicted that a final step, “Step 4,” would be the “deplatforming” of Twitter itself. He said a Musk-owned Twitter would face the same fate as Parler, a platform that presented itself as a “free speech” home for the right. After numerous calls for violence on Jan. 6 were posted on Parler, Google and Apple removed it from their app stores on the grounds that it had allowed too many posts that promoted violence, crime and misinformation.

The anonymous story published by Beattie, who describes himself as a “Proud Jew” in his X handle, also repeatedly attacks the Anti-Defamation League.

It called the ADL a “danger” to Musk’s ownership and said it was one of several “powerful left-wing activist groups” that had “besieged” Twitter before Musk bought it. It claimed that the ADL’s CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, “brought Twitter to heel” by telling the platform, “Play ball, or be ready to be put in league with Nazis.”

The article then expressed sympathy for the Russian-government-controlled news outlets Russia Today and Sputnik, saying they had been unfairly “canceled” after Russia invaded Ukraine. Musk ended the use of “state-sponsored media” labels on Twitter this year, dropping it from the accounts of Russia Today, Sputnik and many other state-owned organizations. The change reportedly prompted RT editor Margarita Simonyan to send Musk a note of appreciation.

Beattie’s presentation of ideas that appeared to be adopted by Musk continued after his website published the anonymous April 2022 article. The day after Musk’s official October 2022 takeover, Beattie appeared on the podcast of Bannon, the Trump White House chief strategist, and called for Musk to make internal emails from Twitter management public.

One month later, Musk released the “Twitter Files” — a partial release of internal emails by Twitter employees curated by Musk-friendly writers.

Targeting the ADL​

Beattie’s political career appeared to be over when he was fired from his White House role as speechwriter for Trump in 2018. His removal came after CNN revealed that he had spoken on a panel alongside Peter Brimelow, the founder of the white nationalist website VDare.

Beattie worked for White House head of speechwriting, Vince Haley, and Trump adviser Stephen Miller. In 2019, he was hired as a speechwriter by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. And the Trump administration rehired him shortly after Trump lost the 2020 election, appointing him to a commission that preserved Holocaust memorials abroad.

The hiring drew the ire of the ADL and Greenblatt, who urged the administration to rescind it. The Biden administration forced Beattie to resign from the commission in January 2022. He tweeted that the firing was “better than a Pulitzer.”

Beattie has continued to run revolver.news, and he has appeared on right-wing programs accusing the FBI of inciting the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6. Musk, meanwhile, has continued to blame the ADL for X’s declining revenue.

On Sept. 4, Musk threatened to sue the ADL, claiming, without providing evidence, that U.S. ad revenues are “down 60%, primarily due to pressure on advertisers by @ADL.” The same week, the hashtag #BanTheADL, pushed in part by white nationalists, trended on Twitter, and Musk tweeted that the “ADL has tried very hard to strangle X/Twitter.”

On the same day, Musk blamed the ADL for causing antisemitism. “The ADL, because they are so aggressive in their demands to ban social media accounts for even minor infractions, are ironically the biggest generators of anti-Semitism on this platform!”

Four days later, Musk posted a meme with the caption “Drop the Anti. Just Defamation League. It’s cleaner.”

The April 2022 text to Musk that included Beattie’s article concludes with some final suggestions: Let “the boss himself,” presumably a reference to Trump, back on Twitter. (Musk eventually allowed Trump back, but he has rarely tweeted since his reinstatement.) Then, the text reads, hire a “savvy/cultural” executive to work on “enforcement.”

“It will be a delicate game of letting right wingers back on Twitter and how to navigate that,” the author wrote, adding that Musk should hire someone who “has a savvy cultural/political view” to be “the VP of actual enforcement. A Blake Masters type."


(full article online)

What was Elon Musk’s strategy for Twitter? A fired Trump White House staffer offers a tantalizing clue

A year after the world's richest man acquired the social media platform, a game plan published by a fired Trump White House staffer provides a clue.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Sixties Fan]

What was the September 30th deadline? Why didn’t Congress meet it?​

Our last farm bill was passed in 2018, so we’re due for our five-year refresh. In preparation for creating a farm bill that will last until 2028, relevant committees in the House and the Senate both draft versions of the bill, then debate and rewrite until the bills pass in both chambers. Then the bills are combined and must be passed by both the House and Senate before being sent to the president. But there have been a few key issues this time around that have held up the process.

Republican-proposed cuts to SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) prompted House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member David Scott to say in a press release, “I urge my Republican colleagues to proceed with caution. If they want to pass a farm bill that supports America’s farmers and families, they need to keep their hands off SNAP.” Lack of consensus about how to handle the farmer “safety net,” which includes crop subsidies, as well as how to allocate funds within budget constraints have also been notable issues. To learn about other priorities from US groups for this farm bill, read our recap here.

Do farm bill-related programs stop now that the bill hasn’t been re-authorized?​

It’s complicated. The stakes are higher for certain programs.

For programs with mandatory funding from the farm bill, operations cease after the funding expires. Programs that get their funding through government appropriations (how the federal government decides to spend money), such as SNAP and federal crop insurance, can continue on without a current farm bill. There are also some programs that get amended and changed with each farm bill that, without reauthorization, would revert back to the law that introduced the program. Unfortunately, many of those laws are extremely outdated and wouldn’t work effectively in the present day.

Here’s what can happen to some of these programs now that the farm bill has expired:

• Title I crop subsidy and dairy support programs will expire at the end of the year. After that, the law reverts back to how it was written in the 1940s. This means less support for dairy farmers. For the consumer, it means prices for food items such as milk could go up by a lot.
• Title II conservation programs have been extended as part of the Inflation Reduction Act through 2031. “Those programs will continue to run as normal,” said economist/senior policy analyst for the House Agricultural Committee Emily Pliscott in a webinar discussing what to expect from this year’s farm bill.
• The Federal Crop Insurance Act is amended through farm bills but has permanent authorization and funding separate from the farm bill and, therefore, will not expire with the farm bill.
• SNAP, in theory, will be unaffected by the farm bill expiring because it runs on appropriations.

There are many other programs that depend on the farm bill for funding or authorization, and those will cease until the bill is reauthorized. These include USDA programs supporting organic farmers, farm-to-food bank assistance and some agricultural research. Read about how some of these programs were affected when the farm bill was delayed in 2018.

Is the narrowly avoided government shutdown a factor?​

Yes. Congress just barely passed a continuing resolution on Saturday in time to dodge a government shutdown. If this stopgap hadn’t passed, the shutdown would have had an immense impact on programs funded by appropriations, such as nutrition assistance.

Fortunately, this temporary extension gives Congress 45 extra days to sort out the 12 appropriations bills that keep the country going. That means the next few months should contain big developments for government spending as well as the farm bill.


(full article online)

The Farm Bill Expired. What Happens Now?

Remind me—what is the farm bill again? The US Farm Bill is a package of legislation that gets passed approximately every five years, and it more or less shapes the landscape of American agriculture. There have been 18 iterations of this legislation. A lot of important items are rolled into it...

modernfarmer.com

 

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A young man falsely accused of being a federal agent posing as a neo-Nazi by Elon Musk and a bunch of other right-wing trolls has launched a lawsuit against the one-time richest man in the world.

Earlier this year, college student Ben Brody, 22, had his life turned upside down when he was accused of being a part of a Pacific Northwest neo-Nazi group. The claims occurred after a neo-Nazi had his mask pulled off when his group had a small brawl with local Proud Boys in Oregon City on June 24. The unmasked neo-Nazi bore a passing resemblance to Brody, who once wrote on a website for his Jewish fraternity that he wanted to work for the government.

This, seemingly, was enough for some of the worst folks online to go to work, and for Musk to jump into the fray.

According to the lawsuit, and in an interview with VICE News at the time of the incident, Brody suffered a “severe degree of mental stress, anguish, fear, personal embarrassment, and psychological harm which disrupted his daily life,” and worried that being publicly connected to a neo-Nazi group will impact his future employment.


(full article online)

Elon Musk Accused a Man of Being a ‘Fed’ and Nazi, Now He’s Being Sued

The young man who was wrongly identified by conspiracy theorists, and Elon Musk, as being a neo-Nazi and "fed" is being represented by Mark Bankston, one of the lawyers who won a massive case against Alex Jones.

www.vice.com

 

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Put it all together, and X isn’t just worth less than Musk paid for it, but likely less than its debt. Assume that the company’s revenue last year was $4.7 billion, based on results before it was taken private. If advertising has dropped by half, then this year’s sales should be a bit over $2.5 billion. Put that on the same enterprise-value-to-sales multiple as Snap, which is down to a mere 3 times, and X is worth around $8 billion.


(full article online)

Breakingviews - Elon Muskâs X is a black hole of value

X is still worth something, but not for the people running it. Boss Linda Yaccarino is set to present her plans for the social network formerly known as Twitter to bankers holding nearly $13 billion of its debt, the Financial Times reported. Looming over talks is the likelihood that X’s value is...

www.reuters.com

 

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SCOTUS Justice Kagan to far-right lawyer: ‘You're just flying in the face of 250 years of history’

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which handles federal cases arising from Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, is dominated by a bunch of Donald Trump appointees and has become the rogue court of the federal judiciary. The sheer volume of...

www.dailykos.com

 

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Trump has raged against Engoron’s ruling, insisting that his Florida resort is worth “50 to 100 times” what prosecutors in the New York civil case have said, or “closer to $1.5 billion.”

“Between 2011 and 2021, you value the Mar-a-Lago property between $18 million and $28 million,” Moskowitz wrote in the letter to the Palm Beach County appraiser.

“Mar-a-Lago was listed as worth $490 million in financial documents given to banks,” he wrote. “If the property value of Mar-a-Lago is so much higher than it was appraised, will you be amending the property value in line with the Trump family’s belief that the property is worth well over a billion dollars?”

Rep. Jared Moskowitz calls for Palm Beach County to tax Mar-a-Lago at the rate Trump claims it's worth

Trump has claimed his Florida resort is worth as much as $1.5 billion, but the Palm Beach County property appraiser valued it far lower.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[xyz]

https://twitter.com/MarkJacob16

With all the arguments over whether MAGA Republicans are fascists, I reread William Shirer’s “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” to see how much the rise of Hitler and the rise of MAGA smell similar. Conclusion: They do. This thread lists 10 ways. Please take a look.

1. A big lie about treachery is used to foment resentment. Nazis: We didn’t really lose World War I. It was a “stab in the back” by Jews and other "November criminals." MAGA: We didn’t really lose the 2020 election. It was a “steal” by politicians and Blacks in big cities.




2. There’s an obsession with purity of the culture. Nazis: “Racial mixture” was a threat to Aryan culture, Hitler wrote. MAGA: “Great replacement theory” says immigrants threaten white culture.



3. Chaos is something to be exploited, not addressed. Nazis: Economic distress is a great political opportunity. MAGA: Economic distress is a great political opportunity.



4. The super-rich bankroll the right-wing seizure of power. Nazis: Thanks to I.G. Farben, Deutsche Bank, Thyssen, Krupp, etc. MAGA: Thanks to the Mercers, Uihleins, DeVos, Thiel, etc.



5. Some people think the fascist threat is overblown. Nazis: While Hitler posed a major threat, some said he "ceased to be a political danger.” (2 weeks later, he was chancellor.) MAGA: While Trump poses a major threat, many people think it’s “just politics,” no worries.


6. There’s a cult of personality. Nazis: The German army made a pledge of loyalty to Hitler personally. MAGA: Trump’s supporters bill him as “the most moral president” in U.S. history.



7. Christianity is used to legitimize the movement. Nazis: “The party stands for positive Christianity.” MAGA: Trump is described as the “Chosen One” protecting American Christianity.





8. Books are the enemy. Nazis: Any book that “acts subversively on our future” must be burned. MAGA: “I think we should throw those books in a fire,” says a Virginia school board member.




9. An independent news media is the enemy. Nazis: Any newspaper that “offends the honor and dignity of Germany” must be banned. MAGA: The press is the “enemy of the people.”



10. Educators are pressured to be politically compliant. Nazis: Teachers took an oath to “be loyal and obedient to Adolf Hitler.” MAGA: Florida’s DeSantis accuses teachers of “indoctrination” and pressures them to avoid references to America’s racist history and LGBTQ people.



I'm not saying that MAGA will end up as horrifically as Nazism. I am saying that America 2022 feels too much like Germany 1932, and I don't want to take the risk of watching MAGA cultism play out. We have to stop it now.



Why did Twitter put a “sensitive” warning on this thread? Who knows? My only theory is that it has a “hateful symbol”—a swastika on the cover of Shirer’s book about Nazism.

I see the similarities, but pretty much any authoritarian movement is going to have lots of similarities to Nazis.