- Trump: the media are “enemies of the people”;
- Billionaire owners of LA Times and WaPo refuse to allow their papers to endorse Harris;
- Trump spells out his facist intentions; NYT says, believe him;
- Trump offered to pay for a soldier’s funeral, and didn’t; Musk’s and Fox News’ latest lies; Christian Nationalists’ poor education; Republicans no longer support the military; Yes Russia is spreading disinformation; How democracy is threatened by a global crisis in masculinity.
- Straight out of the authoritarian playbook. Salon, Griffin Eckstein, 24 Oct 2024: “Enemy of the people”: Trump attacks press at Arizona rally, subtitled “As Trump lobs threats towards political opponents and faces fascist labels, he attacks the media as ‘enemies'”. Comment: so many enemies!
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More about billionaires, and how they align themselves with Republicans, even Trump. Despite the opinions of those who write for the newspapers they own.
- Salon, Dan Froomkin, 25 Oct 2024: Billionaires have broken media: Washington Post’s non-endorsement is a sickening moral collapse, subtitled “If democracy dies in darkness, why won’t the Post pick a preferred presidential candidate?”
- The Guardian, 25 Oct 2024: Patrick Soon-Shiong: the billionaire LA Times owner who blocked Harris endorsement, subtitled “Biotech tycoon’s decision to refuse to allow presidential endorsement led to resignations and subscribers’ revolt”
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Can he say it any more plainly?
- The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, 22 Oct 2024: Trump: ‘I Need the Kind of Generals That Hitler Had’, subtitled “The Republican nominee’s preoccupation with dictators, and his disdain for the American military, is deepening.”
- NY Times, The Editorial Board, 25 Oct 2024: Donald Trump Says He Will…
- Prosecute his enemies; Order mass deportations; Use soldiers against citizens; Play politics with disasters; Abandon allies — BELIEVE HIM
- Salon, Marin Scotten, 23 Oct 2024: “It doesn’t cost $60,000 to bury a f**ing Mexican”: Trump was outraged at cost of soldier’s funeral, subtitled “Trump had offered to cover the cost of U.S. solider Vanessa Guillen’s funeral after she was murdered in 2020” And he didn’t pay to cover the funeral.
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Lying again.
- Mediaite, 22 Oct 2024: Elon Musk Fact-Checked to Mars on X for Posting Outright Fake News About ‘The Atlantic’.
- JMG, 23 Oct 2024: Fox Shamelessly Lies About Trump’s McDonald’s Stunt
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The essence of tribalism, where stories matter but facts do not.
- Right Wing Watch, Kyla Mantyla, 22 Oct 2024: Why Do Christian Nationalists Like Rob McCoy Know So Little About The Constitution?.
One of the defining characteristics of Christian nationalist activists is a willingness to misrepresent history, as time after time they spread blatant falsehoods in defense of their right-wing ideology. Often, this is rooted in their own ignorance about the Founding Era and the creation of the Constitution, as right-wing pastor, former mayor and city councilman Rob McCoy demonstrated during a recent appearance on “The Heidi St. John Podcast.”
While insisting that the United States was created with “a Christian form of government,” McCoy rattled off a series of completely false statements.
- Right Wing Watch, Kyla Mantyla, 23 Oct 2024: America Belongs To ‘Us and Our Posterity,’ Says White Christian Nationalist Pastor Joel Webbon
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Odds and ends.
- Remember when Republicans supported the military? Not if the military threatens their cult leader, apparently. JMG, 24 Oct 2024: Newsmax: Revoke Medals From Trump’s Generals
- Axios, 24 Oct 2024: Russia leveraged hurricane disinformation to deepen U.S. divisions. Comment: there are all sorts of players in the world who don’t care so much about American politics as about making Americans politics seems irreparably broken.
- Salon, Chauncey DeVega, 25 Oct 2024: “They’re being called to save the country”: Jackson Katz on how MAGA masculinity sells men purpose, subtitled “The global crisis in democracy is tied directly to a crisis in masculinity” Comment: again, this is easily understood in the context of the transition from tribal mentality to the modern world.
