Miscellaneous political stuff

the problem is getting an answer is like feeding a reluctant toddler! She twists ever answer to meet her narrative. Never a direct answer. It is tiresome!

He says the world didn't laugh at us when he was president. Well we know it is all on tape. Just about at 1:00..

www.rawstory.com/trump-laughed-at/

I wouldn't quite go as far as saying she has no place here, but the break she took this winter was enjoyable.  

She cherry picks things, she insists on correcting minor details but refuses to acknowledge when she posts something false, inaccurate or incomplete.  She posts whataboutisms, false comparisons and false equivalents.  She loses sight of important points, gets lost in the weeds and gaslights.  I don't mind debating a conservative, but she doesn't really contribute anything to discussions.

I've decided to no longer take her bait and refuse to engage with her.  There's no point, except to aggravate myself. 

There is no way to get to these people!

Manchin!!

Joe Manchin accepts donation from Fox News PAC
Brett Bachman, Salon
July 15, 2021

A corporate political action committee for the parent company of Fox News, funded partially by the Murdoch family, donated to the 2024 re-election campaign of Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, campaign filings show.

This article originally appeared at Salon.

A staunch moderate, Manchin's vote is pivotal in the evenly-divided chamber — and the West Virginia senator has for much of the year used his position to stymie legislation on a number of liberal priorities, instead committing himself to a bipartisan approach criticized roundly within Democratic circles in Washington. In particular, progressives have been hammering Manchin over his support for the filibuster, a major procedural hurdle standing in the way of the legislative agenda favored by President Joe Biden and the vast majority of a currently Democratic-controlled Congress.

The $1,500 donation on June 27 appears to be the first to Manchin from the Fox Corp. PAC, which according to the watchdog organization Open Secrets is funded largely by right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his son, Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch, as well as other executives at the Fox Corporation. Manchin raised more than $1.4 million during the second quarter of this year, the filings show.

Manchin also received donations from a number of large corporations, including Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, T-Mobile, At&T/Warner Media, Honeywell and FedEx.

The Murdoch-backed donation comes as Manchin is under increasing siege by a variety of right-wing groups, including a high-profile pressure campaign by the Koch network's Americans for Prosperity and the Heritage Foundation's advocacy arm, Heritage Action.

It's a battle that the interest groups appear top be winning: Manchin, a former supporter of filibuster reform and co-sponsor of voting-rights legislation, has come out against both Senate Democrats' attempts to kill the filibuster and another sweeping voter-rights bill, called the For the People Act, intended to counter a spate of extremely restrictive state-level election laws being enacted by Republicans across the country.

Manchin even penned a biting critique of the measure in the Charleston Gazette-Mail last month, which echoed talking points from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — just months after the right-leaning organization resumed its own donations to the West Virginia Democrat.

www.rawstory.com/joe-manchin-fox-news-filibuster/

Jen Psaki admitted the administration was working with Facebook to remove what they (the WH) deems misinformation.

Here’s the exact quote from the press briefing.

1.  The White House is only flagging vaccine misinformation posts.  We are in the middle of a public health crisis. 99% of the people dying from covid are unvaccinated and 98% of those in hospitals are unvaccinated.  Some hospitals are overwhelmed in areas where there are surges.  

2.  Facebook is flagging or removing the posts, not the White House

3.  65% of the vaccine misinformation posts have been tracked back to 12 users who have been banned from other social media platforms

www.npr.org/2021/05/13/996570855/disinformation-dozen-test-facebooks-twitters-ability-to-curb-vaccine-hoaxes

4.  Interesting that the Republicans complaining like Josh Hawley had no problems with former attacking the media as "fake" news and radical left wing media, failing NYT etc.  Maybe if people still trusted media to provide accurate information we wouldn't have as big of a problem with anti -vaxxers.  Or perhaps, maybe Senators like Ron Johnson could stop spreading their own vaccine mis-information.  Or maybe, if former had publicly received the vaccine instead of in secret, revealed 2 months later.  It's incomprehensible to me that Republicans are contributing to the deaths of their own base.

5.  Facebook is a private company free to remove or flag posts.  Americans are entitled to free speech, but not free speech on social media platforms.  And there are restrictions on free speech - yelling fire in a crowded movie theater for example.  Falsehoods and misinformation about vaccines are a public health threat.  

6.  The White Hose is not "merging" with facebook.

7.   The White House collaborating with facebook is not fascism.  Heres the definition of fascism, according to Merriam-Webster

fas·​cism | \ ˈfa-ˌshi-zəm also ˈfa-ˌsi- \
Definition of fascism
1 often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
2 : a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control
early instances of army fascism and brutality
— J. W. Aldridge

Ironic that those crying fascim now (when it is clearly not) remained silent about former's fascist and autocratic tendencies.  Accuse others of what you are guilty of.  

www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2021/07/15/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-and-surgeon-general-dr-vivek-h-murthy-july-15-2021/

In terms of actions, Alex, that we have taken — or we’re working to take, I should say — from the federal government: We’ve increased disinformation research and tracking within the Surgeon General’s office. We’re flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation. We’re working with doctors and medical professionals to connect — to connect medical experts with popular — with popular — who are popular with their audiences with — with accurate information and boost trusted content. So we’re helping get trusted content out there.