The Politics Thread

[DRW50]

 

That's probably one of the reasons I can't get into watching any of this. The consequences are serious (fatal, most likely). Yet so much surrounding the public view of Stormy Daniels treats it as a game. I know someone who bragged about how they were going to flip back and forth between her interview and TWD. It gave me flashbacks to what a game everyone made of the Clinton-era scandals. I don't enjoy being there again.

 

Between that and the people I've seen making a game of the march crowd sizes and letting it overshadow the message, I'm reminded of how easily we all slip into making everything some kind of 'sez you' tabloid frenzy.

[Vee]

People mock Trump about the crowds at various events so much because, like Daniels, it's one of the things that can really cut into him personally. I don't think it does cloud the gun control message - it's stronger than it's been in decades right now, AFAIC.

 

Meanwhile:

 

 

[DramatistDreamer]

I looked at that interview from a legal standpoint and the fact that the FEC stated that the campaign finance violation(s) may, in fact, be worse than in the Edwards' case to be pretty significant.

I know many people chose to gravitate to the more salacious aspects but Cliffords' lawyer, Mr. Avenatti emphasized that this case was all about the cover up.  I also believe that to be as important as the possible FEC violation(s).

 

Speaking of the GOP in shambles,

 

This guy chooses not to run again because he knows he can't win in a newly drawn district--one that no longer heavily favors Republicans.

 

Republican Rep. Ryan Costello of Pennsylvania won't seek re-election

Edited March 26, 2018 by DramatistDreamer

[Vee]

Not news about Politico's leanings, but this info is still important:

 

 

[DRW50]

I read Politico pretty much every day, and while I can't deny that its leanings are clumsily obvious (see their article yesterday about "Democrats in disarray" in one Congressional district - an article pushed onto their main page), I find it much more balanced and informative than a number of papers like NYT that wrap themselves up in the money-begging blanket of "resistance." 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

 

It is well known (or should be) that Jared Kushner has been compromised to do the bidding of Saudia Arabia/Prince Mohammed bin Salman and UAE.  You can see this clearly in the U.S. shift in attitude toward Qatar, a U.S. ally that also has air bases for the U.S. military, which has now become antagonistic.

[Vee]

Backed into a corner.

 

 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

As for the paper/blog/media debate, my two cents:

 

NYT will always be a better regional/local paper than national one.  Being that I grew up and still live in the NYC Metro area, the regional/local stories will always be the one that I read first and the other sections Arts & Entertainment, International, Politics, National, etc. happen to catch my attention while I'm there.  Yet, currently, I don't consume the NYT at the rate I once did, which is for the best. 

Growing up, I was taught to read critically and to pick apart the perspective presented in everything I read, so I never took NYT to be gospel anyway.

 

Politico/WSJ are basically the same to me.  They both seem very slanted to a certain worldview.  NYT and many other publications disappoint in terms of the dearth of diverse voices in their papers and publications like Politico and WSJ are even less diverse than NYT.  No offense but they strike me as having an entitled White guy perspective that does little to engage me on a regular basis.

 

I've always read "foreign" newspapers being that my family came from "foreign" and I find that helps a lot because I am keenly aware that what happens is not just about the U.S. 

I consume news from at least one non-Western country a day and subscribe to news from a 100+ year old paper from a so-called "Third World Country", which has maintained a high standard of news coverage.

 

I would encourage others to do the same.  Read some good quality papers outside of the U.S./England domain. Read a good non-Western paper that maintains a high standard of news coverage.  Watch a news stream that isn't American-centric.  Not RT though, they're garbage, LOL.

[DRW50]

 

Speaking of that, I saw something on Twitter (I can't find the tweet now) from someone in Oklahoma (or claiming to be from there) with a picture of a magazine all about Saudi Arabia. I think their new king was on the cover. They said it was at their local drugstore and had no ads. I think they also said that it was done by the people who do the Enquirer.

 

Has anyone heard anything about this? Maybe it was just a fake tweet, I don't know.

 

 

Edited March 26, 2018 by DRW50

[DramatistDreamer]

 

 

There is no new king in Saudia Arabia (yet).  They still have the old one.  There is a prince-- Mohammed bin Salman (A.K.A. MBS), who has ascended the ranks and is primed to take over for the king, eventually (if there is no coup or upheaval that affects that takeover before it happens).

He is the same one who has Jared wrapped around his finger.

 

I haven't seen that tweet at all.

I try to stay away from random tweets that come from random unaccredited sources because Twitter has quite a bot problem.  Many of the bots are known for spreading news that is not true. 

 

I just saw today that the right-wing were imploding over some doctored picture of Emma Gonzalez, one of the Parkland, FL teens.  Apparently, this happened over the weekend but I didn't see the doctored vs. real picture until today because I generally don't follow any of those accounts who would send that type of thing out.

Twitter can be a great resource but I always look at "news" tweets with a critical eye and generally avoid the unscrupulous accounts.

Edited March 26, 2018 by DramatistDreamer

[Vee]

Same.

[JaneAusten]

I only read the local playbook for Politico which covers local issues by Natasha Korecki. The rest meh. https://www.politico.com/newsletters/illinoisplaybook

 

I tend to agree with you on the national news stories and I appreciate the recommendation and am going to look into it.

 

I don't know by the way talking about news sources if anyone has followed what The Guardian did the past 48 hours. They gave the editorial staff of the award winning Eagle Eye, the student paper for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, to guest edit their publication. They also assigned 11 journalists from that student paper to cover the march and rally in Washington D.C.  Some saw this as pandering, but if you read some of the content and their manifesto, it shows these young people know a lot more than a lot of Americans out there.  https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-us-press-office/2018/mar/23/the-guardian-invites-student-journalists-from-parkland-florida-to-serve-as-guest-editors-of-guardian-us-for-the-next-48-hours

[Vee]

[Vee]

Hmm:

 

 

[Ryan Chamberlain]

 

It's really not a pretty mental picture.