Tony Bobulinski handed over 3 cellphones, emails, texts, etc., and Hunter Biden left a laptop full of Lord knows what, a copy of which the FBI sat on for a year, which the US media and social media effectively blacked out pre-election …all of which may provide ‘evidence’ of things far more disruptive than the possibility that Trump will barricade himself in the Oval Office with an AR-15.
However, I may be wrong.
I would love to see a return to more non-partisan politics, even though it is less intense here it is bad enough.
How to get past that division is the million dollar question. How to hold people accountable for the things they have done without falling into arguments that just end up entrenching opinions and stoking further divisions.
I think individual and community level actions are where there is most hope for positive and constructive dialogue. Mighty oaks from small acorns and all that.
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I think both sides admitting and acknowledging the role they have played in creating this division would be a start. But I’m not holding my breath.
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And both sides putting a stop to judging each other by their worst elements. That would be good.
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Yes there is something about owning your part, although it is easier said than done.
On an individual basis it is hard enough… I think because by saying ‘I’m sorry’ it can feel like you are taking responsibility for all the bad stuff, and maybe helping the other person to feel excused from anything they’ve done.
Given the partisan nature of politics, can you imagine being the first side to break ranks and try and be reconciliatory? It is very easy to imagine the field day your political opponents could have with that.
Of course it would be better for everyone if both sides worked together. But the lure of self-preservation is strong. Classic game theory!
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I listened to most of the most recent Dark Horse podcast just now. I tried to be open minded. I wish I could say I felt I learned something I didn’t expect, but it was as I’d expected. They did nothing to dig into whether any of the election fraud lawsuits are based on anything substantial. They didn’t mention Trump’s career-long history of fraudulent lawsuits. I can see that they are people with training in physical science who are probably very smart in their areas, but they don’t seem to be applying their critical thinking skills to historical/political/social issues quite so much.
I listened to a podcast you suggested, so I’d suggest: Slate political gabfest; or for British, Talking Politics. Both of them have a whole range of different guests from different political angles, and imho, a bit more digging into different possible perspectives, and a bit less conspiracy theory.
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Thanks, I’m always open to new sources/ information. I’ll have a look.
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What balance means might look different to you, but I personally feel that, as a white person, I need to make conscious efforts to read and listen to as many black and brown peoples perspectives as possible. I’ve learned a lot from the 1619 project. Here’s a list of podcasts: https://mashable.com/article/podcasts-black-hosts-pop-culture-true-crime-politics-history/
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Fox seems to me much more analogous to News of the World or the Sun. A lot of it is not serious reporting. But they do have a few actual journalists, who are in a weird position.
That’s a fair comparison. I would add that the News of the World and The Sun are comparable to the worst aspects of Fox. Just the tabloid rubbish. Like you say, Fox does have some decent, credible journalists. Up until a few years ago The Sun had a picture of a naked women on page 3 everyday. It honestly blows my mind that that was a thing.
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And CNN surely has to be comparable to the News of the World or Sun in terms of their reporting quality. In the same way that Fox has a glaring bias it’s obvious that CNN has it’s own blatant bias.
I like Rueters and the Associated Press as far as news sources go. I also read a couple online newspaper that are conservative to balance the more liberal leaning tv news. My local paper is fairly balanced, just not a great quality.
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I’m sure you’ll be aware of Thomas Sowell @Hailstrom.
His story’s quite amazing and he’s still going strong at 90.
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I refuse to watch Fox News and MSNBC. However, regardless of tilt I’m able to pull out the actual news and ignore the punditry.
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There was either a time when I used to watch straightforward, unbiased news reporting, or I was too young to know I was being manipulated.
And I don’t know which of these is correct, without a time machine.
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Most of my views on the world are based in my experience. Harder to be manipulated when I don’t rely on the views of others. ESPN is my favorite news source.
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All news reporting is biased. It’s in its nature. 100%. Already in the choice of subjects there is bias. ESPN is highly biased towards American sports. As long as you know that and try to find different coverage from as many angles as possible it’s OK IMO. As long as you know what angle the medium is looking from, who owns the medium, whose interest are served, what tricks are used, how well the news they bring can be verified. Everything needs to be checked and everything is suspect. And of course I am manipulated too because we all are. We can only try to have an open mind and try to be as alert as possible. I read everything or at least as much as I can, on social media, newspapers, networks, just as long as it’s not totally clear lies. I have my humanity and I try to use that as my compass.
Anyway. The Amircan two party system sucks big time. (American) politicians are by definition narcissists. Both parties are responsible for the mess American politics is. However, the current outgoing president has raised the bar and not by a little.
He has set whole new standards. He is a pathological liar and a narcissistic psychopath. He has no interest in the good of the nation or the world, only in himself and his glory. I honestly truly don’t understand how people can’t see the difference with other politicians. This guy is truly evil. His only politics are his own personal gain. He doesn’t give a fuck about his voters.He doesn’t give a fuck about politics. He doesn’t give a fuck about the republican party. Het gives fuck all about everything but himself and his own little clique. And it’s the republican party and not the democratic one that has enabled him, that has given itself up to him, that is now reliaing on him and his supporters.
@Charlesfreck And yes, I do deem it possible he’d try to stage a coup, for his own glory and self image. He’s a dangerous lunatic. You will not hear him say that he will. I’ve never heard anyone plotting a coup say beforehand they were going to. Would be kind of counterproductive right? He does however scream his lies over and over again about how he actually won this election. How there’s massive fraud with ballots. How he is the only real president of the United States. It’s him filing lawsuit after lawsuit that have no chance of succeeding but that all serve his purpose of undermining trust in the American democratic system and creating a climate that is receptive to an autocrat.
And no, I don’t think there will be a coup. I don’t think he has enough support for that yet. But here’s a quote for you by Florida Governor Gov. Ron DeSantis . This from the November 6th International Herald Tribune:
“Especially if you’re in those states that have Republican legislatures like Pennsylvania and Michigan and all these places, call your state representatives and your state senators,” DeSantis said on Fox News Thursday. “Under Article 2 of the Constitution presidential electors are done by the legislatures and the schemes they create and the framework. And if there’s departure from that, if they’re not following law, if they’re ignoring law then they can provide remedies as well.”
End quote. The article continues:
Section 1 of Article 2 of the Constitution says: “Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress."
Saying that under American law it it possible to exclude the voters and have a state’s house of representatives decide on it’s electoral college.
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Ahh the Unfaithful Electors. There was 7 of them in the 2016 election.
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I think this is something different Derrek. See this article from the (terribly biased) NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/article/electors-vote.html
Oh yeah, you’re right. The chances of that are very low.