Reporters have had some sort of workspace at the White House since Teddy Roosevelt's time, but the current press room is an artifact of the Richard Nixon era, the dawn of the symbiosis of the press and the modern presidency. The "room" is actually a space containing work stations and broadcast booths, as well as the briefing area that is so familiar to viewers of presidential news conferences.Should they be ousted if they are not playing the role the place supposedly symbolizes? Are they representing us, the People, who, collectively, elected Trump, or are they representing the Democratic Party?
For the media, the White House press room—situated on the first floor, in the space between the presidential residence and the West Wing—is not only a convenience, with prime sources just steps away. It is also a symbol of the press' cherished role as representatives of the American people.....
I don't know that the symbolism is what should determine whether the press has that space or some other space, but I don't think the press — with respect to the Trump administration — represents the people. I think the statement "They are the opposition party" is much more accurate. Too bad they did that to themselves. We could use a vigorous, professional press.
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251 comments:
1 – 200 of 251 Newer› Newest»"the press' cherished role as representatives of the American people"
Almost cost me a keyboard, that did.
You can take the candidate out of New York. But you can't take the Roy Cohn out of the candidate.
but I don't think the press — with respect to the Trump administration — represents the people. I think the statement "They are the opposition party" is much more accurate. Too bad they did that to themselves. We could use a vigorous, professional press.
Perhaps with the benefit of hindsight you could look back at press treatment of every Republican going back at least as far as Goldwater as being more of the same? In manner if not perhaps intensity?
But CNN wants an Octagon for the Press where their champions test run martial arts falsehoods on captives...and MOST OF ALL Trump can never use a Twitter device to outflank them while he is subject to Jay Carney's unanswerable diatribes.
As Glenn Reynold's likes to say, think of them as Democratic Party operatives with bylines and you won't go wrong. It sounds like Trump is doing just that.
Hey, there's some beautiful places in the Old Executive Office Building. The Indian Treaty Room is simply stunning.
Having worked in the WH complex for eight years, I can tell you that those WH access badges that the press guys have are status markers. You're going to have to pry them out of their cold, dead fingers!
Power & status concentrates closer to the Oval Office. The further the press is moved away, the more will there be wailing, rending of garments, & gnashing of teeth. And, oh my God, move them to the New Executive Office Building! "You mean with the contractors? Oh, yuck! Why don't we just have press conferences in the fucking Starbucks on the corner of Penn & 17th?"
Status, status, status.
Well, the urban progressive faction of the Democratic Party; not necessarily the party at large.
"...or are they representing the Democratic Party?"
I assume the "?" is rhetorical, right?
The press has become a degenerate shell of what it is supposed to be, and certainly does not represent the American people. Going by its performance in the recent election cycle and beyond, it's plainly evident that "the mainstream media" are now indistinguishable from Democrat party operatives, completely in the tank for "liberal" causes and determined to undermine the upcoming Trump administration.
What's worse is the obvious collusion among news media companies to drive a unitary "narrative" against Trump and in favor of whatever lame Democrats are leading the charge at the moment. Based on industry actions, it sure looks like media companies are acting in a anti-competitive manner. To my mind a thorough investigation into news corporation monopolistic practices should be a high priority for the new administration taking the reins of government.
The problem with all these special places for "the press" is that it necessarily puts the government in the position of deciding who is the press. Better to do away with these privileged insider positions and open the process up to the public.
And how many of the Press that answered to the Clinton Conspiracy as a boss are Actually CIA deep cover agents? My guess is all of them.
So get the scum out of the White House as far as possible...at least 2000 yards and without a sight line.
Move the WH press office to an area with Muslim refugees.
Hoping it is comes to pass.
The sounds of wailing and gnashing of teeth would rank up there with Muslim call to prayer in the evening. Right, Barack?
"cherished role as representatives of the hard left of the Democratic Party"
Fixed that for ya
I am skeptical of any and all gatekeepers. That includes intermediating "reporters" functioning as information gatekeepers.
They will no doubt claim to have a special role as the fourth estate. My answer to that is that they're employees of capitalist corporations, usually for profit corporations. Why should they have government sponsorship aiding only their shareholders?
Oh, please, please, make it be true.
Good move Trump! Honoring the Fisrt Amendment like that. So smart. So American.
"I like people who are nice to me".
"The media's sense of dislocation may soon become literal." - Peter J. Boyer
Boyer writes like he is an outsider. A witness. Actually he's probably received a paycheck from every news company in business since the last century.
Translation: "My sense of dislocation"
I think Trump should abandon the White House and give it to the Park service. Then head out to Camp David and set up shop.
His son will like it. Melania will get used to it, like Eva Gabor got used to Hooterville.
Is it Trump's House now, or is it still the American People's House? Democracy on display by Trump, very good start.
What does this have to do with the First Amendment. Is anyone restricting the Media's freedom? Other than the Golden Shower Left, that is.
"What you permit, you promote. What you allow, you encourage. What you condone, you own. What you tolerate, you deserve."
Ah, the whiners found the new post!
Commence Whining!
@Chris,
Good move Trump! Honoring the Fisrt Amendment like that.
Does your version of the 1st A have some requirement that the Executive hold press conferences in the WH as opposed to the Old Executive Office Building?
Let me guess: you don't have a single conservative friend, do you?
The press should move to the East Wing. Sounds like the First Lady won't be making much use of it.
Re: "We could use a vigorous, professional press"
I thought Trumpland had a professional press ranging from Fox News for all the Oldies and Briebart News for the Young 'Uns and all sorts of similar stuff in the middle.
In NotMyPresident country we have the liberal and progressive media like the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, NBC, Vanity Fair, New Yorker, Vogue, Rolling Stones and so many thousands more. You can call them elitist - we don't care. We love 'em.
I just watched a segment of Fareed Zahkaria's propaganda show. It had Henri Bernard-Levy practically calling for "rioting in the streets" because of the "hacked election process". FZ just sat there with no sense of balance or network disclaimer for calls for mayhem.
This crap is piped into airports, hotels, schools and all sorts of public spaces because CNN is the default channel on TVs in these spaces. They aren't just the opposition channel to republicans, they are the opposition to civil order.
Set up a picnic table and a trash can somewhere out on the lawn.
"They aren't just the opposition channel to republicans, they are the opposition to civil order."
So, true. If I'd seen that Frenchy, I, like all people, would immediately be on the streets w/ a pitchfork.
Whoops Bernard Henri-Levy
I was wondering why I saw everyone on the streets w/ pitchforks today. They musta' watched that Frenchy on CNN.
@Unknown,
You can call them elitist - we don't care. We love 'em.
Not here we don't. We just call them bad journalism.
ChrisW said...
Good move Trump! Honoring the Fisrt Amendment like that. So smart. So American."
Indeed it is. Next Trump will seek real journalists from throughout the country and not DNC shills and house propagandists. You have a problem with actual reporters?
"I thought Trumpland had a professional press ranging from Fox News for all the Oldies and Briebart News for the Young 'Uns and all sorts of similar stuff in the middle."
Don't forget RT.
I believe the current Press Room is built over Jack Kennedy's swimming pool.
Why can't Trump get the pool back?
Harkin,
I watched Fareed's Zahkaria's show. Bernard Levy did not call for rioting in the streets. He was surprised there wasn't any. Try reporting the segment accurately.
"Next Trump will seek real journalists from throughout the country and not DNC shills and house propagandists."
That's impressive. To suggest the PEOTUS should hand pick the journalists that can cover him, and say this is anti propaganda. In one sentence!
Carry on.
@Lyin,
I was wondering why I saw everyone on the streets w/ pitchforks today. They musta' watched that Frenchy on CNN.
Let's revisit your statement next Sunday, shall we? If there are riots in DC over inauguration, then maybe you can have a few moments introspection you can share with us.
ChrisW: "Harkin, I watched Fareed's Zahkaria's show. Bernard Levy did not call for rioting in the streets. He was surprised there wasn't any."
Well, Levy certainly understands the fragile lefty mentality, so his surprise is warranted.
Not to worry. The call to arms will go forth and the snowflakes will emerge from the safe spaces to courageously take on this new Reich with merely the entire establishment and media behind them and will suffer precisely zero impact to their livelihoods or lifestyles.
So, you know, "courageous".
This has the potential to liberate American journalists. I hope it continues because under the current value system, Access is the highest value.
I suspect YH is right that for many in the industry, that WH press pass is a huge badge of honor and they will gnash teeth to see the badges taken away. For them, the world's smallest violin is appropriate.
No more horse trading between WH and reporters. People on all sides of the politics would prolly prefer that anyways. Let the chips fall where they may in terms of how television and newspaper journalism is affected.
YH,
Sneaky French dudes on CNN cause riots.
Everybody knows that.
Very good Pee-Wee imitation.
I would think Meadehouse would be ecstatic to finally have an administration in place that understands the importance of limiting dissent as much as they do.
Too much dissent is too noisy! Too burdensome!
We need examples! Do not condone what the founders wanted to flourish.
This has the potential to liberate American journalists.
WAR IS PEACE!
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY!
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH!
@ChrisW:
Show me the part of the 1st Amendment that protects the Right to an office in the White House......
Too much dissent is too noisy! Too burdensome!
Wait...I must have missed a memo...I thought dissent was racist?
Maybe Trump will "put his people" in that Press Room. He likes "his people".
Your lower lip is quivering.
Too bad they did that to themselves. We could use a vigorous, professional press.
We could use a vigorous, professional president-elect.
So says the woman who gets her commenters from Breitbart. About the president-elect who gets his chief strategist from the swamps of the white nationalist alt-right.
The press is doing everything just right - and especially the rest of the media, the satirical shows. We will need them more than ever. They were made for just this moment, and the people up until now were just too lazy and complacent to know it. The moment when we finally elected a flat-out phony.
The press will now get more respect than ever. It was fun watching Drumpf waltz out of that meeting with the NYT and call them a "great, great American jewel." He knows they kick his ass when it comes to getting out the facts that will matter.
Did you ever upload a single piece on his massive conflicts of interest, and the emoluments clause violations? Or are you straight-up on board with this Russian puppet?
Commander Crankshaft: "I would think Meadehouse would be ecstatic to finally have an administration in place that understands the importance of limiting dissent as much as they do. "
As always, the facts lie elsewhere.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/16/obama-whistleblower-prosecutions-press_n_3091137.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/20/doj-fox-news-james-rosen_n_3307422.html
http://www.businessinsider.com/james-risen-case-obama-journalism-press-freedom-2014-8
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/30/barack-obama-press-freedom-strong-media-stop-donald-trump
Call us if Trump ever pulls anything like the above.
If not, then just wail away to laughter and pointing.
"Too much dissent is too noisy! Too burdensome!"
Sometimes it just blood on the carpet and progress is impeded.
And the CIA guys are still beating war drums along the Mohawk, actually daring Trump to speak out in public. Those guys probably plan to use up a Warehouse full of False Flags during the Choreographed CNN Days of Riot coverage.
Trump's men will have to arrest their asses between now and Friday.
"What you permit, you promote. What you allow, you encourage. What you condone, you own. What you tolerate, you deserve."
What you don't listen to and can't face, you get wrong.
CC: "Did you ever upload a single piece on his massive conflicts of interest, and the emoluments clause violations?"
Wow. Not even President yet and already in violation. This is going to be fun.
Commander Crankshaft: "What you don't listen to and can't face, you get wrong."
Information that would have been more useful to Hillary's campaign and the major media 6 months ago!!
Call us if Trump ever pulls anything like the above.
I'm sure someone will.
If not, then just wail away to laughter and pointing.
As with everything else, using Obama as your excuse to let Commandant Drumpf do whatever he wants will probably, and probably very rightfully backfire. No one is talking about Obama and most of the "surprise voters" who tilted the election to him were two-time Obama voters anyway.
But you so infrequently criticized Obama, honestly, on left-wing grounds, anyway. You were too busy hating on the same left that won Drumpf the election.
Maybe it'd be more cool for DJT to start w/ the press where they are. And then, a week after being in office DJT can have the press bring in cardboard boxes to gather their office stuff and then they can be marched off the premises. Of course this walk of shame would recorded for playback re Tweet link. This would go over very well w/ the real Americans who voted for DJT and hate the lame stream librul liar media.
That'll MAGA.
Oh, scratch that plan. I thought of a better process. DJT goes to the podium looks that the evil media in the room and tells them they're fired from the building, and he says it's Sad!. And then, he has the card board boxes brought out and all the evil media must immediately clean out their stuff and hit the road. Of course all is recorded for youTube distribution via Tweet link and comments about the loser media etc.
I'm an idea person, w/ brilliance like this I think I could be working in the DJT admin.
Modern times require a modern press.
I dont see a First Amendment value in being in a given physical location in order to receive official communiques from the great leader, or to listen to the ritual obfuscations of his professional spokesman, or to ritually harass said spokesman.
In this modern world all the above, if at all useful, can and should be done remotely, and more substantially.
And on the critical matter, I suppose, of selecting a limited few to ask questions, it seems quite undemocratic to be limited by professional standing or status as the paid reoresentative of a major corporation. That seems rather elitist if not corrupt. Why not a call-in show or reddit's Ask-me-anything?
By the way, whats the discussion status for Obama drone killing American citizens overseas without due process?
Seems that one went by the wayside awfully quickly and it never even tarnished his Nobel Peace Prize!
BTW, it's been 8 years since the last one, isn't Obama owed another award by now?
Short of prestige, why should the press care where they report from?
I think it's good symbolism, and the symbolism will be even better when a Democrat becomes President and invites his teammates back into the White House.
CC,
Do you believe that the prioritization of Access has been good for our journalism? Has it led to good election coverage?
YoungHegelian said...
"You mean with the contractors? Oh, yuck! Why don't we just have press conferences in the fucking Starbucks on the corner of Penn & 17th?"
Holy Crap Batman!!!
You mean the Starbucks where the Obama Staff go and meet with the Press and Lobbyists to decide on the next MSM news cycle? Thus avoiding that "transparency" issue, having agreed to publish the Visitor logs?
Wow. Not even President yet and already in violation. This is going to be fun.
Yeah, right. Five days to prepare and he already has a spectacle press conference with phony folders of blank papers talking about how his supposedly severed business arrangements will be compliant, which they obviously aren't. Five days, though. You guys are really last-minute? Very confidence inspiring, not.
Don't jerk anyone's chain. He has no interest in complying. He just floated a plan that was completely inadequate. It's how he does everything. You're starting to buy the showman's elixier. He's as phony as they come.
If there is one thing we know about the left, they are all about Press Freedom and individual rights!
Hey, when is the next rally in support of Castro and Maduro?
Trump is expected to pretend there are journalists in the Press Room.
The thing is, he can do that just as well if the room is empty as he can if it's full of Dem operatives with bylines.
I'm heartened to see that Althouse is expressing concern over this. It does speak to Trump's respect for those who are entrusted to report on and investigate the President. That is their job, that is what we expect of the Press. For Trump to expect the Press to do his bidding smacks of Putinesque thinking. People need to be alert as to how this President honors or dishonors our Constitution.
Commander Crankshaft: "Yeah, right. Five days to prepare and he already has a spectacle press conference with phony folders of blank papers talking about how his supposedly severed business arrangements will be compliant, which they obviously aren't."
Phony folders. Blank papers.
Well, case closed I'd say. But, just to be thorough, would you mind presenting your evidence for that? If for no other reason than to avoid lapsing into that horrible conservative "Fake News" column.
By the way, whats the discussion status for Obama drone killing American citizens overseas without due process?
Yes. Right-wing "sympathy" for a man, an imam, named "Anwar al-Awlaki" is so credible and not at all empty opportunism. We know the right-wing will definitely protect the freedoms of Muslim American clerics giving aid and comfort to the enemy abroad. It's just that important to them. As important as denigrating dead kids of Gold Star Families.
We can play this game all day long. Trump is not your savior of the right-wing. Trump will bring it to an ignominious end.
@Drill SGT,
You mean the Starbucks where the Obama Staff go and meet with the Press and Lobbyists to decide on the next MSM news cycle? Thus avoiding that "transparency" issue, having agreed to publish the Visitor logs?
Yes, exactly that same Starbucks.
CC: "He just floated a plan that was completely inadequate."
I completely disagree with you.
You are completely wrong.
And you are wrong for entirely partisan purposes.
And that's that.
Well, there you go PB&J.
There are few things which would be more popular, for a few minutes anyway.
For greater long term success I suggest a weekly contest, for the prize of an interview with the President. Something like Thunderdome for access. They can vary the contest according to what the contestants, picked by lottery, bring to it. Anything from boxing to singing or cooking. Imagine the ratings.
More, the interviews themselves are likely to be consistently surprising, eclectic, and interesting.
@CC,
Trump will bring it to an ignominious end.
'Cause you guys have been prescient about so many things this election cycle, right?
Cassandra.
I see CC can offer no criticism of obamas extra-judicial killing of an American citizen abroad without due process rights.
Gee, I wonder what Teresa1960 has to say about that? She being so concerned with the constitution and all.
Phony folders. Blank papers.
Well, case closed I'd say. But, just to be thorough, would you mind presenting your evidence for that? If for no other reason than to avoid lapsing into that horrible conservative "Fake News" column.
This is Drago's way of saying that perhaps Trump is something other than a pathological liar who can basically be mistrusted nine times out of ten.
He gets no benefit of the doubt for a reason. What he tweets is more often inconsistent and conflicting than serious and coherent. And that's his primary means of communicating with the public. You know it, and I know it. The public doesn't trust this narcissist, and never will. But hey, perhaps one time he got something right. I guess that's a win, in your book.
Hold on to him as tightly as you can though, Drago. I can hear your fingernails ripping through his coattails, practically.
I completely disagree with you.
You are completely wrong.
And you are wrong for entirely partisan purposes.
And that's that.
You can't find anyone who professionally advises on ethics for a living to agree with you and the law firm that sold you your rationale was voted "Best Russia Law Firm of 2016."
You're effectively a puppet's puppet. How does that feel?
"How does that feel?"
Apparently some folks like a hand up the backside.
harrogate said...
that WH press pass is a huge badge of honor and they will gnash teeth to see the badges taken away.
Collecting cool badges is a DC tradition. In my circle, I was cool when I had the "guys with guns" hat trick of badges:
- Pentagon,
- FBI,
- IC
I'm down to only one now as I no longer do real work in that space.
PS: I also had Yankee White, but not at the same time, and no longer do.
"Trump will bring it to an ignominious end."
'Cause you guys have been prescient about so many things this election cycle, right?
About what? Drumpf running as a phony progressive? No, I didn't predict he would do that. Did you? Or is it just about "you guys?" Whichever guys they may be.
You are being like Trump and using troll tactics against what you feel is troll behavior, when it's just a public who can't stand the liar and a media that is rightly acting on that.
CC: "You can't find anyone who professionally advises on ethics for a living to agree with you and the law firm that sold you your rationale was voted "Best Russia Law Firm of 2016." "
LOL
Keep telling yourself that.
Trump should bring in some Mexican journalists and set them up in the press room. Maybe they'll do the job Americans journos are no longer willing to do.
Shouldn't the for profit Press have to pay fair market value for the work-space, in any federal building? Otherwise, conflict of interest, no? We need a wall of separation, in order to guarantee no entanglement between the private Press and the government they are supposedly disinterestedly covering.
Drago, Trump wanted to bring back torture, I'm sure killing Islamic Terrorist enemies with drones or whatever will be welcomed by Trump. What do you think Trump wil do? Stop the drone strikes? LOL!
CC: "You're effectively a puppet's puppet. How does that feel?"
I couldn't hear you over the democrat silence of Obama killing an American overseas without due process.
You have zero moral superiority to lecture anyone else and everyone knows that now, not that it will stop you or your fellow puppet tribesmen.
Carry on!
"Trump should bring in some Mexican journalists and set them up in the press room. Maybe they'll do the job Americans journos are no longer willing to do."
Works for staff at Mar a Lago.
Teresa,
There are several assumptions in your comment that bear examination.
- Why does the press deserve "respect"? Or rather, any given member thereof?
- Who "entrusts" any given member of the press with the special role you cite? Why shouldnt any person assume this role by right? Why is CNN and its employees deserving of a special status not given to, say, Althouse?
- Who is "we"? I certainly didn't give CNN this "job".
- And what is that "job"?
In this era of rethinking assumptions, it would be interesting to examine these, among so many others.
Teresa1960: "Drago, Trump wanted to bring back torture, I'm sure killing Islamic Terrorist enemies with drones or whatever will be welcomed by Trump"
Explain obamas actions first before lecturing others.
Otherwise, no one is listening to you...nor should they.
@CC,
You are being like Trump and using troll tactics against what you feel is troll behavior, when it's just a public who can't stand the liar and a media that is rightly acting on that.
What troll tactics? No one, but no one got this election cycle anywhere near right. But, now you're the one who wants to play the prophet?
What I'm saying is that there is a massive political re-alignment afoot in this country, & that all of us, and that includes especially you, needs to face the future with a good dose of humility.
LOL
Keep telling yourself that.
Snopes-like websites will gain paramount importance over the next couple years. I don't have to tell myself anything. You're the one choosing to give full faith and credit to a known pathological liar. And the only reason you do so is because he's slightly less detested than Hillary was.
Now if that's not partisan hackery I don't know what is. But I'm pretty sure it can't last. Not without trying to turn our country into what his man-crush turned Russia into.
But I'm sure you wouldn't mind that.
Drago, no one should listen to you.
Trump really is after the lamentations of their women.
Teresa1960 said...
Drago, Trump wanted to bring back torture, I'm sure killing Islamic Terrorist enemies with drones or whatever will be welcomed by Trump. What do you think Trump will do? Stop the drone strikes? LOL!
So Trump is going to authorize the same actions as Obama which makes Trump Hitler and Obama a champion.
Needs work!
Somebody call a whambulance.
What troll tactics? No one, but no one got this election cycle anywhere near right.
Ad hominem. Red herring. No one brought up the election. And no one cares, either. Only he uses it as an excuse to shield himself from criticism. Well, his puppets do, too, it seems. I guess they now need to look to him for examples in diversion. Pretty sad.
What I'm saying is that there is a massive political re-alignment afoot in this country, & that all of us, and that includes especially you, needs to face the future with a good dose of humility.
I need to do no such thing. I knew the realignment was economic all along. I knew HIllary couldn't win as easily as the progressive candidate, all along. I also knew that right-wingers couldn't cast this as a "culture war" win, either. It WAS about working class voters. Period. But now Trump will proceed to wreck all sorts of other things that the election wasn't about. I can and will speak out about that as will the vast majority of the country and that's just all there is to it. He won an election. Big deal. I'm not surprised. But I will not be the supine force that the right-wing is in using that to shoehorn in all their other issues. When he wants to stop talking about himself and Russia and the press and start doing something to raise the working poor's standard of living, give me a call. Until then, he can piss off.
Trump advocates torture, yet he will stop drone killings overseas? Oh my god, you people are expecting him to stop drone strikes! Hahaha, man you folks are messed up.
Yeah, toss 'em. Maybe Obama can make some space for them in the basement of his new place.
robother said...
Shouldn't the for profit Press have to pay fair market value for the work-space, in any federal building?
and pay for their own coffee :)
"Works for staff at Mar a Lago."
Well if you don't like that idea, I guess Trump could just close the WH facility and open a press room in Ciudad Juarez.
"and pay for their own coffee :)"
That's the cover for the secret Starbucks meets.
Commander,
"Professionaly advises on ethics for a living" is an interesting job category. I wonder at how such a profession is, among other things, ethically defined, or where its stock of professional knowledge and standards comes from. And yes, I have met some of these people, "ethicists".
Being a cynic, it seems to me that they are simply, at worst, would-be political-ideological enforcers, and at best over-educated public relations advisers.
A legal adviser is something else.
A real person who advises on ethics for a living would be your parish priest.
Oh, scratch that plan. I thought of a better process. DJT goes to the podium looks that the evil media in the room and tells them they're fired from the building, and he says it's Sad!. And then, he has the card board boxes brought out and all the evil media must immediately clean out their stuff and hit the road.
booring...that's been done already...1992 White House travel office......
Teresa1960: "Trump advocates torture, yet he will stop drone killings overseas? Oh my god, you people are expecting him to stop drone strikes!"
Trump will continue what Obama has been doing and I expect the same reaction from the left: silence.
"Professionaly advises on ethics for a living" is an interesting job category. I wonder at how such a profession is, among other things, ethically defined, or where its stock of professional knowledge and standards comes from. And yes, I have met some of these people, "ethicists".
Being a cynic...
Yeah, well, if you're a cynic you're practically admitting that you don't care about ethics, either - along with everything else.
Teresa1960: "Drago, no one should listen to you."
And no one should vote for Trump.
And no one should challenge political correctness on campus.
And no one should challenge the political wisdom of the TV talking heads.
And no one should challenge the democrat operatives with bylines in the Press.
File all under D, for "Dustbin of History".
Ethics experts are for losers:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/reince-priebus-ethics-careful_us_587b9be8e4b0e58057ff493e
Got it.
Commander,
I think Diogenes would disagree with you.
To the MSM:
Every Republican Administration is Watergate and
Every Democratic Administration is Camelot.
Don't believe me?
Ask yourself, who were the Woodward and Bernstein's of the Obama Administration?
Bueller? Bueller?
"Harkin,
I watched Fareed's Zahkaria's show. Bernard Levy did not call for rioting in the streets. He was surprised there wasn't any. Try reporting the segment accurately."
I didn't say he called for them. I said he practically did. You confirmed by noting his surprise.
Try reading comprehension.
Ethics experts are unlikely to actually be ethical, in a general sense. The mere assumption of ethical expertise outside of a particular religious world view is unethical presumption.
JSF,
Wouldn't we need to look at who got impeached?
Lyin'PB_Ombudsman: "Ethics experts are for losers"
They are not "Ethics experts". They are leftists abusing their professions in the service of their own political desires, and doing so in a tremendously unethical way.
And your problem, and the problem for the left in general, is everyone knows it. Thus, the old rules of leftists simply making appeals to authority and shutting down the conversation are over. You are going to have to engage on the merit of the issues.
And that is something the left hasn't done in about 50 years.
UnknownInga blathers:
"In NotMyPresident country we have the liberal and progressive media like the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, NBC, Vanity Fair, New Yorker, Vogue, Rolling Stones and so many thousands more. You can call them elitist - we don't care. We love 'em"
Ah yes, Rolling Stone - the outfit which just lost a defamation suit for publishing fake news about a gang rape which existed only in the head of a disturbed young woman.
Yep. that's the sort of organization beloved by "elites" (puhleeze, you, an "elite?" Only if you're in the running for Head Internet Idiot.) People who positively enjoy being lied to, ie liberals, love those publications.
The rest of us have some basic common sense.
Let's see how effective Drumpf is at stopping political correctness excesses on college campuses. He can start with Trump University.
Well, maybe that might not be the easiest priority. But I guess he can do something to permanently and substantially help the living conditions of the working poor - seeing as how that's what he ran on and that's what won him his narrow majority in four crucial states.
Nah! Fuck it! It's right-wing party time! Opportunism knocks.
A lot of money was spent to upgrade the press facilities during the Bush administration. While the work was being done the press were moved out of the White House for 10 months. Probably no one noticed any difference, although Bush's popularity happened to plummet during that period (August 2006 to June 2007). Coincidence?
buwaya: "Commander, I think Diogenes would disagree with you."
Diogenes was a Greek and the left has made it perfectly clear that Dead White European males and their opinions and ideas are no longer needed to perfect humanity within a leftist political paradise.
Lyin'PB_Ombudsman: "Ethics experts are for losers"
They are not "Ethics experts". They are leftists abusing their professions in the service of their own political desires, and doing so in a tremendously unethical way.
And your problem, and the problem for the left in general, is everyone knows it. Thus, the old rules of leftists simply making appeals to authority and shutting down the conversation are over. You are going to have to engage on the merit of the issues.
And that is something the left hasn't done in about 50 years.
Translation: I don't care about the emoluments clause and Trump won and no one cares and he won't even be president for five more days anyway so we have all the time in the world to pretend that we care about the things we don't care about anyway and who cares who's on Trump's payroll or vice versa and which foreign entities control him he's our last ticket ever to a right-wing agenda so blah blah blah!
readering: "Probably no one noticed any difference, although Bush's popularity happened to plummet during that period (August 2006 to June 2007). Coincidence?"
I'm guessing there were more than a couple variables involved.
Not about impeachment, but about investigating whomever is in power.
Again, which reporters held the Obama Administration to the fire?
Waiting......
For those relying on the "fact-checkers",
Politifact on "if you like your plan you can keep it":
2010: "mostly TRUE".
2014: "LIE of the year".
"ChrisW said...
Good move Trump! Honoring the Fisrt Amendment like that. So smart. So American."
I'd ask you how kicking the press out of the WH is a violation of the First Amendment but I don't think you would know or answer. You're a sound bite clown.
Drago,
Sounds good to me. I know we can trust DJT to not try to use power and position to enrich himself. He used to do that, for his entire life, but now he just wants to MAGA.
Sure, he lied a lot during the election:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/03/22/all-of-donald-trumps-four-pinocchio-ratings-in-one-place/?utm_term=.5ec46cc7b84e
But now he just wants to MAGA. His word is his bond, and that's good enough for you and me.
Re Emoluments Clause blather, get back to us when a foreign state gives Trump something of value and he accepts it.
Bonus points: Would it pass Constitutional muster if a foreign state gave something of value to Trump's foundation?
i have no doubt whatsoever that the right wing is just debauched enough to pretend that a guy who narrowly wins four states on a message of economic populism for the working class is their mandate for a total right-wing agenda and no compliance with any legal or ethics standards whatsoever.
Sure. It shows how confident they are in what they want to use him for. Confident parties always have little regard for strong oversight over what they do.
CC: "Well, maybe that might not be the easiest priority. But I guess he can do something to permanently and substantially help the living conditions of the working poor - seeing as how that's what he ran on and that's what won him his narrow majority in four crucial states."
It's not just those 4 crucial states and it's not just the working poor. It's also the middle class. Lots more but I think you've basically got it.
Just think how easy it would have been for Hillary to pull this out if at any time in the last 8 years the dems reached out to this group and put together a plan to address their needs. Even rhetorically if nothing else. Just something to say: Hey, we know there are issues and we are doing what we can.
But the dems didn't. Instead, the dems and the media elite basically told those people that they are losers, idiots, morons and they should drop dead as soon as possible to clear the way to a brave new world.
Very unsurprisingly, those people decided voting against dems was preferable to an early demise.
Go figure.
Trump is no genius. He's just the guy walking down the street hearing everyone say that 2+2=5 and he said, no, 2+2=4. OMG, what a genius!! Not.
But it was lightyears better than the other guys.
I'm enjoying Commander Cuntface's sputtering rage. If he didn't have a 10th grade vocabulary instead of a 7th grade one, I would say that Bitchtits Mahal had returned with a new sock puppet.
@CC,
I need to do no such thing. I knew the realignment was economic all along. I knew HIllary couldn't win as easily as the progressive candidate, all along. I also knew that right-wingers couldn't cast this as a "culture war" win, either. It WAS about working class voters. Period.
It was all that, but much, much more. And it's nowhere near done.
I don't expect you to change. But don't kid yourself that you've got either a grip or most especially, the grip on things.
Because you don't & the Trump administration as it unfolds will bear that out.
LyinPB: No one is listening to you about lying.
Ask yourself why that might be (hint: focus on the Clintons and rapturous response given to them since 1991 for their supreme spinning and skirting ethics)
Everyone looked around and said, why are we playing by these rules when the left doesn't, and it just reached critical mass.
Welcome to the world you and yours created. Congratulations! It couldn't have happened to a crappier bunch of folks and, it's true, I am loving it.
JSF,
Maybe if BHO had been involved in breaking into the Rs you'd have a point re Nixon. Likewise if BHO had interns blowing him in the oval office, there'd be some Nixon-y/Clinton-y reporting and hub bub.
From a certain POV, this avoidance of breaking in and getting blown is a feature of BHO, not a bug. OTOH, folks who like reporting drama couldn't go wrong in 16: both major candidates ensured fodder for all sorts of fussing by reporters, whichever one won.
For the record, and feel free to re-post this as often as it gets forgotten (which seems to be frequently), I agree with Drago's 2:52 and have for at least a good six to eight months now already.
I have no problem with the electoral message given to the D party in the form that it ran its campaign and if they fail to heed it, that's on them.
Any questions? What else?
I've said this over and over again. Trump just happens to bring into the mess a whole host of other issues. But I'm under no obligation to not criticize that just because of the D party's well-deserved electoral failings.
If I felt I was, then the name for me would be, "opportunistic partisan."
Drago, no one is listening to you about anything.
So, according to the Althouse Leftist commentariat:
Never investigating a Democratic Administration is good because....Virtue Signaling.
Hence why Trump won.
"So, according to the Althouse Leftist commentariat:
Never investigating a Democratic Administration is good because...."
How many Benghazi hearings were there? Too many to count.
It was all that, but much, much more. And it's nowhere near done.
Check out YH's bill of attainders, everyone!
He's got a list of grievances and he intends to act on them! With zeal!
Now if he could only figure out where that list is and how he's going to avenge it.
I think it started on cash register tape somewhere under his bed and unravelled far enough to roll out the window and down the block. He's not done filling in the list of all those enemies and their crimes but by golly, some day he'll finish it off! It's the never-ending infinite grievance loop that never terminates. Gives the guy something handy to do. Thinking of enemies to hate and slights to avenge all day long.
At least Nixon had the decency to try to record it all in real-time. YH can't even get around to remembering who he hates and why and how the Trump win is a vindication for every ounce of his political fury that will now serve as a microscopic lens with which to focus it, as if upon ants in the driveway under a bright sunlight ray.
You go, YH. Get your vengeance-sword ready! Chop off some heads!
It's trivial, but I always like DJT's ballsy-ness re the presser where he displayed not-Trump steaks w/ labels still showing the were not-Trump steaks, but he told the world that they were Trump steaks.
There's something interesting about that nonchalance and sloppiness re lying that seemed quite unusual.
Anywho. Getting rid of pushback of the press should help DJT be even less concerned w/ keeping up the appearances of being truthful. So, imagine where we'll end up since we're starting w/ this steak stuff level of ballsy-ness. Cool.
Carry on.
Teresa,
That was inter-governmental investigations.
I'm asking media investigations.
C'mon, either Truth to all power Liberals or none. This is the world you made.
Who were the investigative reporters of the Obama Administration?
CC: "He's got a list of grievances and he intends to act on them! With zeal!"
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2013/05/15/obama_said_quotpunish_our_enemiesquot_amp_the_irs_did_307774.html
Your side has no legs to stand on even though you think you speak to us from Olympus. Your side set the rules now you will live by those rules as well.
Tough for you.
JSF,
There was plenty of pushback regarding drone killings. But what should the Press have investigated Obama over? What did Obama do to warrant such investigation? Compare Trump and Obama. Obama is squeaky clean.
"Cmdr Crank:
"I have no doubt whatsoever that the right wing is just debauched enough to pretend that a guy who narrowly wins four states on a message of economic populism for the working class is their mandate for a total right-wing agenda and no compliance with any legal or ethics standards whatsoever. "
Debauched is pushing through a complete takeover of the health insurance industry based on nothing but lies, corruption of the CBO and other agencies, scare tactics and ZERO support of the opposition party.
No wonder it's cratering.
Teresa1960: "Drago, no one is listening to you about anything"
200 counties flipped from Obama to Trump because "no one is listening" to the republican side!
LOL
Please, please, keep telling yourself that!
Of course, the smarter set on the dem side are listening now but they will have to fight thru the lunatics like you to get the dem party back to a winning posture.
Drago,
No, the TPers were not enemies of BHO, they were non-political.
Hence tax free status.
You're not suggesting that the IRS should have looked at and then denied them tax free status because they were political. Right? If so, the IRS reviews got it wrong, since they granted tax free status.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy
Carry on.
Teresa1960: "JSF, There was plenty of pushback regarding drone killings."
There was zero.
This is known as #FakeNews.
Your pathetic after-the-fact lies now offered to justify your immoral silence then combined with your hilarious before the fact convictions of Trump now render you useless as a rhetorical weapon in the communications battle to come.
Drago,
How could you suggest that a reasonable person would think that the TPer organizations could possibly be politically minded?
Impossible.
Absurd.
Drago, all I hear from you is blah blah blah, like a Peanuts cartoon. Tell everyone again how Trump will stop the use of drones to kill Islamic terrorists in foreign countries, lol.
The Obama admin and IRS, in violation of all ethics and rules, targeted conservative groups.
This information, along with all the rest is what gave you Trump. Stop trying to defend the indefensible.
You'd be much better served by saying yes, it happened, it was wrong, and it will never happen again.
But you can't, because "leftist".
So, once again, you made the rules. Now you have to live by them. Given what you guys pulled I can understand your discomfort at the idea of a Trump admin doing to you what you happily did to the right.
Live with it suckers. And remember, you asked for it.
Teresa1960: "Tell everyone again how Trump will stop the use of drones to kill Islamic terrorists in foreign countries,"
Tell us first why you didn't stop Obama.
But you won't, because you can't. Because "leftist".
Your schtick is no longer operative. But it is amusing.
Sadly amusing.
Oh please. They are not journalists, they are Winston Smiths all the way down. Not only did they get EVERYTHING wrong about the election, their false narratives blinded their own party. Worse, they conspired with the DNC to cheat Bernie Sanders out of the nomination.
WHY do they still have jobs? Their analysis was wrong, their punditry was wrong, and their polling was wrong. I you or I screwed up as badly as the media has (in addition to cheating) we would be shown the door. They should all be fired. I can get analysis as poor as theirs from Huffpo for free.
Stash them in the Steampipe Distribution Venue and lose the key.
And speaking of being completely out of touch with flolyover country, someone should explain to the MSM that the only reason they are not hanging from lamp posts is because that would be illegal.
No MSM, we are not "disappointed" in you. We are not concerned about your bias. WE LOATHE you and wish you would suffer and die horrible deaths.
If CNN or NYTs headquarters buildings collapsed into a pile of rubble and killed everyone inside, many of us would (discretely) open champagne bottles and call it a good start.
So out of mercy, a word of advice: if you ever find yourself alone out in "flyover" country, do NOT tell anyone you are with the media.
And Obama was investigated by the Press for the IRS issue. They didn't ignore it.
Oh please. They are not journalists, they are Winston Smiths all the way down. Not only did they get EVERYTHING wrong about the election, their false narratives blinded their own party. Worse, they conspired with the DNC to cheat Bernie Sanders out of the nomination.
WHY do they still have jobs? Their analysis was wrong, their punditry was wrong, and their polling was wrong. I you or I screwed up as badly as the media has (in addition to cheating) we would be shown the door. They should all be fired. I can get analysis as poor as theirs from Huffpo for free.
Stash them in the Steampipe Distribution Venue and lose the key.
And speaking of being completely out of touch with flolyover country, someone should explain to the MSM that the only reason they are not hanging from lamp posts is because that would be illegal.
No MSM, we are not "disappointed" in you. We are not concerned about your bias. WE LOATHE you and wish you would suffer and die horrible deaths.
If CNN or NYTs headquarters buildings collapsed into a pile of rubble and killed everyone inside, many of us would (discretely) open champagne bottles and call it a good start.
So out of mercy, a word of advice: if you ever find yourself alone out in "flyover" country, do NOT tell anyone you are with the media.
Oh please. They are not journalists, they are Winston Smiths all the way down. Not only did they get EVERYTHING wrong about the election, their false narratives blinded their own party. Worse, they conspired with the DNC to cheat Bernie Sanders out of the nomination.
WHY do they still have jobs? Their analysis was wrong, their punditry was wrong, and their polling was wrong. I you or I screwed up as badly as the media has (in addition to cheating) we would be shown the door. They should all be fired. I can get analysis as poor as theirs from Huffpo for free.
Stash them in the Steampipe Distribution Venue and lose the key.
And speaking of being completely out of touch with flolyover country, someone should explain to the MSM that the only reason they are not hanging from lamp posts is because that would be illegal.
No MSM, we are not "disappointed" in you. We are not concerned about your bias. WE LOATHE you and wish you would suffer and die horrible deaths.
If CNN or NYTs headquarters buildings collapsed into a pile of rubble and killed everyone inside, many of us would (discretely) open champagne bottles and call it a good start.
So out of mercy, a word of advice: if you ever find yourself alone out in "flyover" country, do NOT tell anyone you are with the media.
Oh please. They are not journalists, they are Winston Smiths all the way down. Not only did they get EVERYTHING wrong about the election, their false narratives blinded their own party. Worse, they conspired with the DNC to cheat Bernie Sanders out of the nomination.
WHY do they still have jobs? Their analysis was wrong, their punditry was wrong, and their polling was wrong. I you or I screwed up as badly as the media has (in addition to cheating) we would be shown the door. They should all be fired. I can get analysis as poor as theirs from Huffpo for free.
Stash them in the Steampipe Distribution Venue and lose the key.
And speaking of being completely out of touch with flolyover country, someone should explain to the MSM that the only reason they are not hanging from lamp posts is because that would be illegal.
No MSM, we are not "disappointed" in you. We are not concerned about your bias. WE LOATHE you and wish you would suffer and die horrible deaths.
If CNN or NYTs headquarters buildings collapsed into a pile of rubble and killed everyone inside, many of us would (discretely) open champagne bottles and call it a good start.
So out of mercy, a word of advice: if you ever find yourself alone out in "flyover" country, do NOT tell anyone you are with the media.
Quite frankly, if the dems had listened to the wing of the dem party represented by CC/R&B, they might very well have pulled it out.
CC/R&B was scathing in his critique of Hillary and dem establishment, and rightfully so.
Fortunately for Trump and the republicans, the dems did not listen to R&B (or Bill Clinton or Joe Biden or the folks on the ground in WI, IA, MI, PA). Nope. The dems listened to their "bubble wing" (like "lyinPB", "Teresa1960", etc). Listening to those dopes pretty much guarantees a republican win.
Come out of the bubble, Drago:
"In January 2014, the FBI told Fox News that its investigation had found no evidence so far warranting the filing of federal criminal charges in connection with the scandal, as it had not found any evidence of "enemy hunting", and that the investigation continued. On October 23, 2015, the Justice Department declared that no criminal charges would be filed."
Blogger Teresa1960: "And Obama was investigated by the Press for the IRS issue. They didn't ignore it."
Another pathetic lie that no one believes because it's BS.
Your schtick is exposed. You are over.
For now.
You don't have the ability to come back from this but lucky for you there are quite a few on the dem side who get it. But will those smart guys be able to work around you lunatics?
I'm betting they eventually will but I'm hoping they can't.
In that ironic sense, I'm rooting for LyinPB, Teresa and the rest!
Clinton's email issue was also investigated by the Press ad nauseum. Benghazi was investigated by the Press. Why should they lay off of Trump, who has FAR more possible issues.
Stay in the bubble LyinPB.
Please stay in the bubble.
Remember, you are correct about everything! Everything!
Don't let any dem tell you you're not!
Carry on!
Debauched is pushing through a complete takeover of the health insurance industry based on nothing but lies, corruption of the CBO and other agencies, scare tactics and ZERO support of the opposition party.
That's funny. You know, there are more industries in healthcare aside from just insurance. There are hospitals, there are physicians, there are all their employees. They have all learned to cope quite nicely with reimbursement based on incentivizing for good health outcomes over the outdated and inefficient fee-for-service model and will lobby intensively to keep your goons from implementing the massive disruption and abandoned insurance for 20 million that would be caused by this bogus bs of a plan they have to repeal without replacing. If you think people will stand idly by as their community hospitals are made to collapse and all those jobs go too, along with the insurance you'll now revoke from 20 million +, you're either more craven than I thought or have another thing coming.
But the armchair pontification on complex industries such as health care is always fun to watch. It's like apes resolving political disputes by chest pounding and other displays.
I'm "over"? LOL! You think so? Litttle Trump wannabe?
Did Fen just pull off a quadruple re-post? I don't think I've ever seen that.
How does something like that strike the moderators? Do we live in an age of reducing excessive bureaucracy or not?
Teresa1960: "Clinton's email issue was also investigated by the Press ad nauseum. Benghazi was investigated by the Press. Why should they lay off of Trump, who has FAR more possible issues."
No one is fooled by these fake "investigations".
In the same way that the recently announced investigation into the election will NOT include the tarmac discussion between Bill and Lynch, Hillarys servers or content, etc.
Gee, how convenient, eh?
It's no wonder the left falls in line like a bunch of Soviet apparatchiks.
Carry on!
Let me guess: you don't have a single conservative friend, do you?
Don't be so narrow-minded, YoungHegelian.
Drago,
As I've noted in these threads, I didn't vote for HRC. And, just because I'm staring at my Hillary For Prison bobble head and my MAGA hat ornament (w/ gold trim), I definitely would never vote DJT. I went w/ the pot head.
Anywho, the evidence indicates that you've got a projection thing goin' on when you see knee jerkers all around you.
Just sayin'
Still, not a single lefty can defend obamas actual actions.
Well, we'll just leave it there then because, what else is left to do?
It was probably unfair to expect the lefties to challenge their earth-bound Messiah. That would be blasphemy!
Carry on!
"Fake" investigations? Says Drago. Hahahaha!
It's no wonder Trumpi falls in line like a Soviet apparatchik.
FTFY
Teresa1960: ""Fake" investigations? Says Drago. Hahahaha"
Get back to us right away if the FBI ever takes an actual look at the DNC server.
Because up to now they haven't.
What a very strange totally NOT FAKE investigation that is, eh?
Hahahahahaha!
Carry on!
FBI didn't investigate Clinton over her server? LOL! Drago, you are crackin' me up.
Teresa,
I think he wants DJT to raid the offices of the DNC to gather documents.
Nixon should have done it that way.
Move on, panderpressers.
Pandering to my political junkie side I've been watching the complete election night coverage on ABC, MSNBC, CBS, CNN, NBC, PBS. On election night each of these major stations had their best political reporters stationed at an election night desk. And close by they had a rotating group of political columnists. In this entire group there was only one Trump supporter, Alex Castellanos on ABC, whereas Clinton, Sanders and the GOPe all had several to many representatives.
As a result when the election began to go against Hillary there was almost no informed discussion. They got in Michael Moore who it turns out actually predicted a Trump win because the workers in the upper Midwest were so angry that they would breach the blue wall. But he depicted the vote he predicted as a primal scream, an irrational action which would be regretted. Alex Castellanos pointed out the Trump voters were tired of the bi-coasties.
This coverage makes it seem that there was no reasoning behind a Trump vote. And it has continued. And this kind of coverage could just as well go on at the Executive Office building. There they can have their precious bubble, there they can sit at desks with laptops putting Democratic party talking points into their own slightly changed language, there they can cry hysterically and publish detailed accounts of their own irrationality and pettiness.
While ignoring Trump's success in getting back American jobs.
That's all we have for a free press, a fact-free press.
Move on. It's what you deserve, you don't report and it won't affect anything but your status.
Might as well snag some servers and the NYT, too.
Said it for years. We need real reporters and real newspapers. It doesn't even have to be about politics. Look at Duke LaCrosse. Or the NBC exploding Chevy trucks story. Or CBS and Audi sudden acceleration.
Abie Someone wrote: You can call them elitist. We don't.
Call her "Legion" for she is many.
Trump should move the press room to Fairbanks.
"...why should they have been in the business of understanding the forgotten voter?"
Forgetting them is bad. Expressing reverence for the ones who aren't motivated to make their lives better is much worse, imho.
Cons like to, in various ways, point out that some minority communities need to suck it up and pull themselves up w/ boot straps and so on and so forth. We're told that these folks have suffered economically because of societal coddling and shielding from harsh truths.
I can't see how mainstreaming this coddling for other demos of so-called forgottens is anything other than a disaster.
If you live is some shitty rural area (or wherever) and you think DJT, or Rs, or Ds are going to fix your situation as the 21st century unfolds, you are a Fing fool and you deserve the smack up the head that's coming your way.
Oh my god, you people are expecting him to stop drone strikes!
No,we expect him to continue the "Bush Drone Strikes" and for the media to suddenly find them reprehensible and Nazi-like.
There is no reason that the "press room" must be in the actual White House. There is no reason for the super extra special press people to have offices in the White House, especially with today's instantaneous communications abilities.
The "press room" currently is too small. Is a security hazard to have people in the White House. And....too elitist.
By putting the place where the "press" can have news conferences in a multitude of other locations as already mentioned. By having a larger venue, other media reporters can also assemble and ask questions.
The current elitist (Democrat controlled) press are all butthurt because they will be losing their extra special status and have to share access to the Office of the President with a bunch of icky non special journalists types. Maybe even .....gasp.....bloggers! Oh the humanity!!! Maybe even some common everyday people might get to ask a question, town hall style. Gasp....sputter......
I look forward to it.
The Trump voters for the most part were not poor nor were they rural. They were the vast majority of white men for one thing, and the majority of white women, and average per capita probably much better off materially than the average Democratic voter.
Its on the margin that Trump picked up a larger proportion of "poor whites" than previous Republican candidates, and that made the difference. But the average was certainly not "losers".
More, the Trump voter was, knowing these people very well, the vast majority of the muscle bone and sinew of the physical US economy, the sine qua non, the responsible, the people with the switches of your life in their hands. And the "civil society" and "social capital" that Putnam et. al. natter about, thats nearly all them.
Entire societies can devolve into trying to live on some sort of rents, with most people spending their time consumed in competition for rents.
There are places in Europe like that, and in the US. This is not unpopular, if not sustainable for long.
Perhaps the Press can telecommute to save energy and reduce emissions. There is no justifiable cause for them to be present in person. Do it for Gaia! Who hates you all and cannibalizes/Plans your parts and colorful clumps of cells every century or so.
buwaya:
if not sustainable for long
It's worse. Perpetual smoothing functions, especially non-contributory entitlements (e.g. welfare), are spiritually destructive, and a leading cause of progressive corruption. They should be applied sparingly with a focus on rehabilitation.
But the Un-DJT voters included the vast majority of the urban lower class, which greatly outnumber the rural poor. They didn't turn out quite as expected, making the other part of the result.
If they add the online sites for news that have blossomed as the anti-establishment press we will all benefit.
The Trump press conference in New York had 300 reporters in attendance. A larger venue is in order. It will bring the large media to earth. Painful for them to lose the exclusivity but they earned it.
You can certainly have a country which lives by group rights. Most traditional forms of government did.
Spain and Belgium just to start, in Europe today, and some of it in most places there.
India is quite a bit like that still.
The Ottoman empire was run like that, the millet system, with internal laws, legislated economic roles, and formal intra-group negotiations.
If course it often leads to revolts and wars, as with the many Spanish struggles over fueros.
But it could be and is being done.
Trump should bring in some Mexican journalists and set them up in the press room. Maybe they'll do the job Americans journos are no longer willing to do.
Hahahahaha. Make them live by their own rules, indeed. The best part is we'll get to call the Democratic press agents racists when they protest.
Lyin'PB_Ombudsman said...
Harold,
That's quaint. But, mooching on gov land and rolling on dirt is not the key to the 21st century in a connected world.
Let's get serious about solutions and expansion/growth/innovation, rather than pretending this is 1817.
Mooching, yep. Funny how even the non-ranchers in the states where grazing occurs on federal lands don't think of it as mooching, but only liberals who eat the meat produced on those lands. Big question is, why does the FEDERAL government own HUGE tracts of land in violation of the Constitution of the United States? But you refer to it as mooching. And rolling on paved roads in rural America might be nice, and would reduce atmospheric particulates. But who's going to pay for them? Or are you planning on forcibly depopulating us kulaks, and not worrying about the food shortage that follows? By the way, I don't know about air particulates and EPA air quality judgments in the vast middle of the country. But if drive cross country you'll notice that there are an awful lot of interstate highway exits on to DIRT roads. People in cities and suburbs read about them as a quaint thing of the past. The rest of us live with them as a real part of the present. Expansion/growth/innovation all require that people be fed. The space program, the military, modern infrastructure, the pipelines and drilling, electrical production, every bit of it depends on one simple agricultural fact. Farmers produce more food then their family requires, and sell the excess. Even Amish survival as a culture relies on that simple fact. I buy Amish produce every summer. As do a lot of locals.
Flippant Assholery is so 2016, Pee-Wee.
Oh how I love every bit of the idea of the democrats with bylines getting kicked out of the White house. Seriously, what is the downside for trump? The media will shit on trump anyway, so why not stick your thumb in their eye from the get go? Or if he does keep the media room hand out slots to the Oklahoma Intelligencier and other fly over state press. Seriously, fuck these guys! Start over.
Fine Harold,
You're right, feeding cows and driving on dirt will MAGA.
What I'm saying is that there is a massive political re-alignment afoot in this country, & that all of us, and that includes especially you, needs to face the future with a good dose of humility.
I wish this were true, but I don't really see any evidence of it. If you break down the demographics, people voted pretty much the same way they always vote, and in the end it boiled down to turnout. A few thousand more votes for Clinton in the right places and she wins. Those were votes she could have gotten, too, with the right organization on the ground. Would you have believed a "massive political re-alignment afoot" if she had?
Note:
Tribalism in the US is very much a leftist project.
To the extent that white tribalism is showing up, this is the reaction to a deliberate policy of directed ethnic organization.
The project to create an ethnic Mexican elite in Southern California for instance, in the Cal State system, which through the numerous university Chicano La Raza political/social fraternities sought to create a tribal identity as opposed to social integration. The kids were pressured to stick with their own kind, often in quite scary ways. This is a very important thing in creating post-education social and political networks. This explains a lot about CA politics.
And school curriculums, etc. and teacher training are skewed to prevent integration into a US identity. This is organized, directed propaganda. I have seen tons of it. The kids are explicitly urged to see themselves as ethnic blocks, with grievances against the whole, and the highest ethical status is granted to agitating for group benefits.
Pee-Wee Hats!
And school curriculums, etc. and teacher training are skewed to prevent integration into a US identity. This is organized, directed propaganda. I have seen tons of it. The kids are explicitly urged to see themselves as ethnic blocks, with grievances against the whole, and the highest ethical status is granted to agitating for group benefits.
At the so Cal high school I teach at, we no longer have wood shop, metal shop or even cooking..but we have an ethnic studies class, and it was just announced that next year we will have a women's studies class.
Feeding cows certainly has helped MAG.
Harassing these people less certainly will help MAGA.
Or is expensive milk supposed to be a modern improvement?
Like expensive gasoline, expensive electricity, high rents and high taxes I suppose.
At the so Cal high school I teach at, we no longer have wood shop, metal shop or even cooking..but we have an ethnic studies class, and it was just announced that next year we will have a women's studies class.
And they say there's no religion in the schools.
Can somebody point me to the Supreme Court cases that defined the Emoluments Clause as Leftists allege?
I come up empty.
Birkel: It's magikal thinking.
Can somebody point me to the Supreme Court cases that defined the Emoluments Clause as Leftists allege?
Even the leftists don't believe it. It's just another strand of spaghetti they're throwing desperately against the wall.
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