I find when people are under oath, they say, as Art Likletter used to say, "the darndest things." MSM could start each day with headlines like "Trump lies again."
It pains me to see congressional hearings where, it seems, none of the members have learned "the art of cross examination." It pains me to see even some former proseciutors who are so full of themselves that they give speeches and monopolize their time when cross exam techniques could establish points that can be actionable.
Most MSM and even some of our pundits are lazy and don't work up evicence that might be used to undermine the lies.
Headlies in the "paper of record," the NYT today, "Analysis Trump’s Language Upends Principle of a Nonpartisan Military" should be TRUMP LIES AGAIN TO MILITARY.
"President Trump’s suggestion of cities as “training grounds for our military” is in tension with what the armed services have long sought to preserve." should be TRUMP WANTS TO BE DICTATOR.
Oh, "Mainstream Media", I had to look it up. Sure they could be direct and honest, but you know the big corporations behind them won't allow that, and today someone like Cronkite or Murrow would be quickly fired. Anyway Americans are taught to "be polite" in public and would be branded as "troublemakers" if they told the hard truth about the lies.
And I agree with you about the speeches--and I never could figure out who these windbags in Congress were posturing to. Their base already agrees and nobody else is going to pay attention. But you know, much of that is meaningless. When I worked in a state government someone told me that the vote on every important bill was decided beforehand in private meetings, and the subsequent speeches on how people should cast them were done just for show.
I think the hearings are getting better, Daniel. I like Representatives Raskin, Moskowitz, Swalwell, Lee, Sherrill, Tlaib, and Crocket. All lawyers that know how to get to the point and get them on record. AOC is one of the best, despite not being a lawyer.
Reporters and TV hosts know what to say and not to say, to please the editors and producers, they self edit. On TV they all have earbuds, with a voice in the control room giving them instructions including censorship, they need their job so they comply and comply in advance.
The editors and producers are either ideologues, or in turn answer to a chief,, and it works its way up the chain of command to the CEO, who hires people who will not only comply with his desires but anticipates.
The CEO is hired by the Board of Directors, which is basically controlled by the Chairman of the Board, who quite often like Brian L Roberts of MSNBC and NBC, Chairman and CEO of Comcast.
If you go off script on TV, you wind up like Joy Reid and Katie Phang or Keith Olbermann. If a field reporter for print media, you have to get past the editor, who knows what is and is not acceptable.
Eveb televised reporting, like that of Anderson Cooper, is edited before presented.
William, then why does Lawrence O'Donnell and Rachel Maddow still have their jobs? They criticize tRump daily and have guests that back up what they say. Lawrence has been unrelenting, calling him stupid, demented, sex trafficker criminal etc.]
Because MSNBC has a limited audience, baby boomers and older portion of Gen X
Old tired, comfortable, retired or semi retired, look at what corporations advertise on MSNBC insurance, pharmaceuticals. Do you think that Gen y and z, and younger gen x are the targets of these corporatiions.
And what do we do precisely, we moan, grown, kvetch, commiserate, find solace in people like us, pat ourselves on the back when we show up on a street corner with signs.
MSNBC is a pressure relief valve, and an illusion, more of an illusion though, it's audience is of no or little effect. We post on substack, turn out for protests, then assemble at at Starbucks or a bar and pat ourselves on the back.
What Boomers and old GenX aren't watching MSNBC is watching Fox, along with some Gen Y. The advertisers also are PhARMA and insurance, but add in gold and silver, gold plated coins and other scams which suck in the morons who watch Fox.
Above all MSNBC is a for profit corporations. The ultimita owners of MSNBC once you work your way past the parent corporations are Brian L. Roberts who is also the CEO and Chairman of ComCast, institutional investors are Vanguard, Blackrock and state Street Group, these institutions also own major shares in virtually all other sectors of our economy and society.
What you see is market segmentation. a marketing term, where a corporation or product carves up a portion of an unserved market.
Look at MSNBC's programming, Early in the morning with coffee it is conservatives . in the evening it is us old geezers, the harmless ones who need to blow off steam and have their fears confirmed, but at end of day we are too old to cause problems. Even then they have instructions to go so far, but no further, if they overstep whey wind up like Keith Olbermann, Joy Reid, Katy Phang.. and to make sure they don't they have an earbud connected to the producer in the control room,
Look at the items that Rachel and Lawrence don't cover. Rachel grabs on subject and expounds on it for an hour. Lawrence O'Donnell plays it safe.
All the hosts bloviate over the same three subjects, each in their own way.
Any mention of the voter rigging in Pennsylvania? How much mention of Midway Blitz, the attack on Chicago, have they covered that in depth, how about the fact that Hegseth and Trump called the Generals to Quantico, to tell them that they are going to have to go at war in the cities, and if they don't like it then submit your retirement papers and get out of the way.
William, Rachel came out strong in Reid's defense. She is often the first anchor that actually reports on breaking news. O'Donnell covered the Generals, the attack on South Shore Chicago, Pete Hegseth and voter suppression, and he held nothing back. However, you are correct, I am relieved that someone is coming out and saying it like it is. He has had Whitehouse, Raskin, Marc Elias, Andrew Weissman, Neal Katyal, and many more who supported his claims. We may be old and infirm, but we vote, unlike Gen z and younger people.. Nicole Wallace is another outspoken, former republican, regarding the tRump administration. She has had a wide variety of guests both young and old. I can't comment on the people behind the MSM and Cable news, however, I agree they are bringing this country down to their knees. They are the oligarchs that tRump admires. Bring back the Fairness Doctrine that Reagan got rid of and update it. Break up the monopolies like AT&T. Organize and mobilize truth squads that can respond in real time. Bring Ice Agents to court. Of course, my suggestions can only work if we get rid of the current administration. A pipe dream I know William.
Why are we so focused on the GOP method of lying in political language to ‘give an appearance of solidity to pure wind?’ The Democrats have been like rats when it comes to being complicit with the lies when they have not effectively challenged those Republicans operatives who promulgate such manipulative untruths. I am going to make it my mission this weekend to start a list of their failure to contradict falsehoods pitched to the public.
But I noticed your timestamp and ‘7’ is one of the lies I have not been able to correct. There is no legal reason for them, meaning the government, to hide behind the destructive excuse of ‘6’ to ruin my life 24/7 for more than two decades. And I mean RUIN.
The point of all my comments linking illicit government activity aided by thousands in the public sphere is that it should not have occurred at all. No one seems to be able to legitimize the lengthy invasion of our lives without any way to confront it. This effort to establish an honor for my husband has become ruthless, and they are going to win no matter whose lives they destroy.
Perhaps not everyone who responds with any of the numbers or codes understands that I did not encourage/nor want this abuse of my life; nor did anyone respond to my requests to stop. In fact, they seemed to relish my situation for their own benefit. For instance, San Diego City Council’s current president, Joe La Calvo, heard from me as a fellow Democrat and member of the Pacific Beach Club, where he solicited our support for his run for the city council. ‘4’ does not in any way validate their destructive behavior, nor the use of my mentally disabled son and now his mentally disabled wife.
I am in a situation where I cannot even hire a lawyer to help me with the aggressive violation of my civil rights. The lawyers tell me they do not want the surveillance to shine on their business. I am so sick of needing to report the accusations and activity that greets me as soon as I open my eyes, like this morning - cars going up and down the street in code, the fire department sounding its horns and engines, the cruise ships sounding their horns in code, and so it goes. Whether I like it or not, it sends my cortisol levels sky high.
Lest I forget the airplanes at the airport like to fly low over me when I hike along the estuary that parallels the airport. Then at code times the navy airplanes roar their engines on the ground across the bay at the naval base.
I have just showered and of course since the surveillance is 24/7 they see me naked and when I go out to hike this morning hundreds know when I pick up my keys and stalk me along the route to the estuary and pace along me as I walk in coded colors and numbers ect.
That is why I am demanding they stop and that at the least compensated monetarily for this longtime abuse.
This morning I was in a discussion about a South American stock that is tanking. The moderator would not permit me to say it was TRUMPED by Brazilian tariffs.
Results last month in Argentina local eletions put the candidate for Milei’s La Libertad Avanza (LLA) party, or Liberty Advances, Diego Valenzuela, who captured 34 percent, far behind Gabriel Katopodis, the Peronist left-wing challenger who received 47.4 percent.. So Trump came to the rescue.
Meanwhile, China has ramped up soybean purchases from Argentina, with Chinese importers booking numerous cargoes in late September after Argentina temporarily suspended export taxes on grains and other products. This move makes Argentine soybeans more attractive to Chinese buyers, who have effectively stopped purchasing from the U.S. due to the ongoing trade war, leading to a significant increase in China's Argentine soy buying.
Like I said yesterday, soybean farmers are incensed. and an estimated 31 Republicans in Congress are personally affected. “I'll be meeting with President Xi, of China, in four weeks, and Soybeans will be a major topic of discussion,” Trump posted yesterday.
Trump is not going to subsidize them,he knows better,that is why he is subsidizing them in the first place, and honestly it really doesn't matter
And it doesn't matter anyway, even without the subsidizes they are still humping his leg.
Money, economics are only secondary factor, the most important fact to them is the culture war. Rural America is religious as all get out, it is their social life, peer pressure, preachers, teachers, friends, neighbors and then there is Fox news. They are hooked, true believers and nothing will sway them
Isn't it curious that the less minorities there are in a population, the more prejudiced, exclusive and bigoted the population.
Religion has been terrorizing people for thousands of years, however, the Jews, have taken the majority of blame Since St. Paul and miraculously has managed to survive christianity's goal of eliminating them. It's similar to Iran's charter in 2025.
The president of what association and who is this president and what has he flipped on?
And if one man has flipped, that does not a trend make.
Just like everything Daniel, including unions, The leader of a union may have endorsed Kamala, but that doesn'tmean that the members fell in behind him.
The party of five Pinocchios has an impressively coordinated flim-flam campaign. Rarely do you ever find a Republican off-message, i.e. letting the truth slip out. But so much of this started with Rush Limbaugh's emotionally charged lies and Newt Gingrich's glossary of anger-inducing terminology. Now we have the destruction of the truth and trust essential to a functioning democratic republic.
"I see the same sort of behavior as a male chimpanzee will show when he is competing for dominance of another."--Jane Goodall in an MSNBC interview
She had just been shown several clips of TRump during the 2016 race for the White House. Dr. Goodall would know; her degree was in ethology: the science of animal behavior as well as aspects of human behavior.
The lying is part of the "owning" in the Republican world these days. It's fun to gas-light and confuse the simplest issues---monumental issues like the climate crisis. The minute we kick these liars to the curb, we must get back on track to do our part.
That is a beautiful picture of both of you, Thom. What great work you two have contributed. It's a jungle out there. I will see you in the streets.
I have often believed that the Dems are working on their master's degree in lying, and the Repubs have already been awarded their doctoral degree. Yes, Republicans have become an ever-present lying machine. Ever since Ronald Reagan, their most prominent lie or con is that they are the party of the working class; nothing could be further from the truth. Somehow, they have convinced millions of lower- and middle-income people that, using smoke and mirrors, they are doing their job with their well-being in mind. The modern Republican Party exists to work to appease its donor class, and only, with some rare exceptions, the very wealthy and corporations are its donor class. They don't believe in government by, for, and of the people, but government by, for, and of the very wealthy. That may not have been true before Ronald Reagan, but it is absolutely true of the modern Republican Party.
That's true, and as Thom pointed out in the article, the fault lies with the Democrats for not fighting back with the same weapons. This "we go high when they go low" is why Trump is now the dictator.
Daniel, you should take your show with William on the road. I know William does respect you. Both of you are not only entertaining, but are great educators as well.
Josh Levin published a detailed biography of Linda Taylor’s life of crime in his book “The Queen.” Her story didn’t reflect the lives of most women receiving aid who were honestly in need. Quite frankly, these women were too busy trying to survive to engage in the sort of scams Linda Taylor carried out. Reagan did a vast disservice to people who were trying to survive by exaggerating Taylor’s scams and dishonestly suggesting they were common to all welfare recipients. Linda Taylor was in a class of her own when it came to scams.
Ms. Hughes. It is difficult for me to understand how Taylor could have gotten away with fraud against the welfare system, as she should have been caught by a welfare social worker, almost immediately.
I was a social case worker for the Aid to Dependent Children [ADC] program in Detroit before Reagan's "revolution". I had 100 clients in my caseload. I found one... 1... who committed fraud. She had parents living in the suburbs who were supporting her, so she did not need welfare from the state. 98 of my clients were Black African American women; two were White. The fraudster was White.
Regan's immense, cruel, dishonesty was a forerunner of Trump.
Her case was unusual, because she was able to masquerade as different people. You’re right, a case worker should have been able to catch her immediately. I think part of the reason they did not was because she would dress herself as different people, with different appearances, names, IDs and dates of birth. Reagan’s presenting Linda Taylor as representative of all welfare recipients was unfair to the honest and beleaguered majority of honest people in genuine need. Ms. Taylor appears to have been a genuine con artist. She was successful for periods of time, but she was caught, arrested, convicted, and did do prison time for some of her scams. Worst of all, she wound up helping to destroy AFDC and replacing it with TANF, and I fear that Trump will eviscerate even that.
I think Reagan’s false description of Ms. Taylor as representative of all people on welfare was dishonest, cruel, demeaning, and damaged the lives of the majority in need. I also think it represented his contempt for poor people. Reagan was born poor, his father drank, and when he became a pitchman for G and badmouthed Medicare as socialism. You’re correct, Reagan had a mean streak that he hid somewhat more effectively than Trump does. Trump lets his hate and contempt for others show all the time. If you read Josh Levin’s book, he shows how Ms. Taylor carried out her scams. The author doesn’t criticize welfare recipients or the help they may need, he just details Linda Taylor’s life of crime.
"It’s way past time that Democrats, our news media, and the rest of us start telling the truth about the nearly-continuous firehose of modern Republican lies."
I wasn't at work more than 5 minutes this morning before being asked had I heard what the Democrats had done to our country by shutting down the government. This coming from a not entirely lost person. I said that's a bad take. They said "well we're losing childcare benefits over this and Trump wants to fix it".
Considering the proliferation of antidemocratic propaganda recently (HUD website for example), we as individuals have a lot of work to do in establishing facts within our own spheres of influence.
The answer Sir Okie is the culture war, and at the root of the culture war is male insecurity/dominance. The root of MAGA is male grievance., the Incel and Viagra coalition.
Sir Okie Doke. "The real question is.....suckers?"
The Marxists have a term for this. They call it "false class consciousness."
The significant dimensions of social class are economic, not cultural.
3% of Americans own the means of production in society and administer our economy. They use it to generate wealth for themselves in the form of profits.
97% of Americans are controlled by the means of production. Their work produces the wealth for the owners.
Thus, we have 2 social classes. However, people are easily misled into believing in and being caught up in the divisions in our society which we all "cultural" issues. Mr. Farrar's comments about "culture wars" express this well.
Lest we forget, it is only a lie if the person saying it knows it to be false. In that Trump lives in a fairyland pretty much 24/7 these days I'm pretty sure that at least part of his BS he sincerely believes to be true. A recent clear example is Trump's recent post to Pam Bondi where he said "...What about Comey, Adam “Shifty” Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.” and "They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!! President DJT" This is a man who believes his own bullshit, a sign of narcissism. He is incapable of listening to criticism; upon hearing it he immediately, and probably quite unconsciously, reframes it as an unjustified attack by his enemies. In that he has Likewise, people who don't support him and/or his policies constitute "the enemy within", aka half the population.
I'm the first to admit I'm not a psychologist but a little delving into the DSM 5 around Trump's obvious narcissism brings up the criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Grandiosity, brings up the following criteria:
1. Grandiosity with expectations of superior treatment from other people
2. Fixated on fantasies of power, success, intelligence, attractiveness, etc.
3. Self-perception of being unique, superior, and associated with high-status people and
institutions
4. Needing continual admiration from others
5. Sense of entitlement to special treatment and to obedience from others
6. Exploitative of others to achieve personal gain
7. Unwilling to empathize with the feelings, wishes, and needs of other people
8. Intensely envious of others, and the belief that others are equally envious of them
9. Pompous and arrogant demeanor
So lying? No. Nuts (to use a nonclinical term)? Yep, I'm pretty sure. I would really, really rather have a crook like Nixon than a person who is incapable of telling the difference between reality and fantasy. People like Trump can get us all killed. The 25th Amendment was written with people like him in mind.
Robert. Normally I am somewhat skeptical of psychological reductionist explanations of human social behavior. But this time you have nailed it. IMHO Trump is psychotic.
HI, Gerald. Good to hear from you again. First to be clear, although I have noted criteria, I am in no way an actual diagnostician. The best that we can say is that he has obvious traits that mirror the condition, nothing more. As for being psychotic, no, he's not. That is another ballpark altogether, one that I wouldn't wish on anyone, even Trump.
There are 20 points to Dr. Hare's psychopath test. That's another one to look at.
Pretty sure he inherited it from his father. I'm guessing it's why they sent him to military school, and it might be why his mom went back to Scotland when he came home in the summer.
Good catch, alis, I had completely forgotten about Hare. Off the top of my head, I gave him a 27. What about you?
There are individuals in his family who were quite intelligent, a trait that he most definitely does not demonstrate. He does have flashes of it but is incapable of sustaining it for any length of time. Quite probably he is unaware of when it comes and goes; he fixates on the 5% when it manifests and folds it into the other 95% when it most assuredly does not.
So here we are with a man whose feet are dangling over the abyss and we, lashed to his cankles like Ahab to his Whale, not sure iwhether we are going to live or die because of his genetics.
Didn't run the numbers, but I got a kick out of the "lashed to his cankles" crack, Robert. More frightening the older he gets. Rep. Dean's caught on tape confrontation of Speaker Johnson about TRump being "unwell" was on all the MSM. He didn't say no---that means he's in deep do-do.
Dr. Hare is 91 and retired. Concerning TRump, he's stuck to his ethics. He won't assess anyone he has not examined and tested. He's a researcher I'd love to thank. What a hard space to inhabit; he named his company Darkstone Research Group. Fitting.
On the plus side, Hare met his wife (still with her) in abnormal psychology class. Thought that a was funny origin story. I read he admires her social work as a child psychologist.
Ah, twoo love! (lifted from The Princess Bride). What a marvelous tale to tell the grandkids, though since they are so old, the great-grandkids.
It's fun to delve into domains one has no right to be in, like my giving Trump the label of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Grandiose from out of the depths of the DSM 5. At the same time...
Considering the date I typed in, I was off bu 20,000 years. I wonder what will be around in 20,000 years. I bet it would scare the XXX out of the Alien.
There is an easy simple response to all of these Republican lies - simply tell them PROVE IT - give us the FACTS that reveal whether it’s TRUTH or a LIE
It’s obvious that a minority of Americans believe the lies being spouted. Either they are totally ignorant, uneducated or the lies further their racism. Chances of getting through to them is nil. So how do we deal with this?
The military event may have been the tipping point. I see shocking dementia stories, and the impeachment word. Omg the thought that a person out of his mind can push the red button! Wouldn't a bloodless coup be better than being rule-bound? Here's the dementia takedown I like best: https://youtu.be/l_IWsfLb2xA
Been watching Dr. Gartner for a while on Shrinking Trump Podcast.
Think you are right SUE. Rep. Madeline Dean confronted Speaker Johnson by saying Trump is "unwell" after the disastrous meeting. He didn't defend Dear Leader, and he didn't know they were being taped. It was all over the MSM. Johnson is going to be skewered.
Of course I have my own beliefs regarding the "father of lies". It just serves to terrify me more.
Truth be told I'm more angry than frightened. I'm a nurse, you can't scare me. I am so ready to take up my weapons and fight a holy war against the government we have now and it doesn't have to "holy" and I will welcome anyone who feels the same as I do because I was raised to know EVERY LIFE MATTERS. My family truly believed that. How that happened in a world of hate and World Wars, I don't know but it did happen and I can point out friends of mine here in what has turned red who still believe that. I am Woke, I am a pacifist, I am so Blue I blend right into the sky!
Thom and I have something else in common besides being anti-war protesters in E. Lansing. Our fathers were both for Barry Goldwater and when I was in my teens I thought, as he did, that he was the best thing for the country.
“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”
“If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.”
--George Orwell
I find when people are under oath, they say, as Art Likletter used to say, "the darndest things." MSM could start each day with headlines like "Trump lies again."
It pains me to see congressional hearings where, it seems, none of the members have learned "the art of cross examination." It pains me to see even some former proseciutors who are so full of themselves that they give speeches and monopolize their time when cross exam techniques could establish points that can be actionable.
Most MSM and even some of our pundits are lazy and don't work up evicence that might be used to undermine the lies.
Headlies in the "paper of record," the NYT today, "Analysis Trump’s Language Upends Principle of a Nonpartisan Military" should be TRUMP LIES AGAIN TO MILITARY.
"President Trump’s suggestion of cities as “training grounds for our military” is in tension with what the armed services have long sought to preserve." should be TRUMP WANTS TO BE DICTATOR.
Oh, "Mainstream Media", I had to look it up. Sure they could be direct and honest, but you know the big corporations behind them won't allow that, and today someone like Cronkite or Murrow would be quickly fired. Anyway Americans are taught to "be polite" in public and would be branded as "troublemakers" if they told the hard truth about the lies.
And I agree with you about the speeches--and I never could figure out who these windbags in Congress were posturing to. Their base already agrees and nobody else is going to pay attention. But you know, much of that is meaningless. When I worked in a state government someone told me that the vote on every important bill was decided beforehand in private meetings, and the subsequent speeches on how people should cast them were done just for show.
When they lie to us, it's privileged, political speech. When they lie to Congress, it's actionable.
Cool headlines---I'd read those stories!
I think the hearings are getting better, Daniel. I like Representatives Raskin, Moskowitz, Swalwell, Lee, Sherrill, Tlaib, and Crocket. All lawyers that know how to get to the point and get them on record. AOC is one of the best, despite not being a lawyer.
I'm sorry to report that I know some of them and mostly THEY DON'T.
Moscowitz, Swalwel, Crocket anctually tried cases, and know how to do it. They are only in certain committeesand in a few hearings.
I know Raskin....IMHO screwed up the impeachment.
Reporters and TV hosts know what to say and not to say, to please the editors and producers, they self edit. On TV they all have earbuds, with a voice in the control room giving them instructions including censorship, they need their job so they comply and comply in advance.
The editors and producers are either ideologues, or in turn answer to a chief,, and it works its way up the chain of command to the CEO, who hires people who will not only comply with his desires but anticipates.
The CEO is hired by the Board of Directors, which is basically controlled by the Chairman of the Board, who quite often like Brian L Roberts of MSNBC and NBC, Chairman and CEO of Comcast.
If you go off script on TV, you wind up like Joy Reid and Katie Phang or Keith Olbermann. If a field reporter for print media, you have to get past the editor, who knows what is and is not acceptable.
Eveb televised reporting, like that of Anderson Cooper, is edited before presented.
William, then why does Lawrence O'Donnell and Rachel Maddow still have their jobs? They criticize tRump daily and have guests that back up what they say. Lawrence has been unrelenting, calling him stupid, demented, sex trafficker criminal etc.]
Because MSNBC has a limited audience, baby boomers and older portion of Gen X
Old tired, comfortable, retired or semi retired, look at what corporations advertise on MSNBC insurance, pharmaceuticals. Do you think that Gen y and z, and younger gen x are the targets of these corporatiions.
And what do we do precisely, we moan, grown, kvetch, commiserate, find solace in people like us, pat ourselves on the back when we show up on a street corner with signs.
MSNBC is a pressure relief valve, and an illusion, more of an illusion though, it's audience is of no or little effect. We post on substack, turn out for protests, then assemble at at Starbucks or a bar and pat ourselves on the back.
What Boomers and old GenX aren't watching MSNBC is watching Fox, along with some Gen Y. The advertisers also are PhARMA and insurance, but add in gold and silver, gold plated coins and other scams which suck in the morons who watch Fox.
Above all MSNBC is a for profit corporations. The ultimita owners of MSNBC once you work your way past the parent corporations are Brian L. Roberts who is also the CEO and Chairman of ComCast, institutional investors are Vanguard, Blackrock and state Street Group, these institutions also own major shares in virtually all other sectors of our economy and society.
What you see is market segmentation. a marketing term, where a corporation or product carves up a portion of an unserved market.
Look at MSNBC's programming, Early in the morning with coffee it is conservatives . in the evening it is us old geezers, the harmless ones who need to blow off steam and have their fears confirmed, but at end of day we are too old to cause problems. Even then they have instructions to go so far, but no further, if they overstep whey wind up like Keith Olbermann, Joy Reid, Katy Phang.. and to make sure they don't they have an earbud connected to the producer in the control room,
Look at the items that Rachel and Lawrence don't cover. Rachel grabs on subject and expounds on it for an hour. Lawrence O'Donnell plays it safe.
All the hosts bloviate over the same three subjects, each in their own way.
Any mention of the voter rigging in Pennsylvania? How much mention of Midway Blitz, the attack on Chicago, have they covered that in depth, how about the fact that Hegseth and Trump called the Generals to Quantico, to tell them that they are going to have to go at war in the cities, and if they don't like it then submit your retirement papers and get out of the way.
William, Rachel came out strong in Reid's defense. She is often the first anchor that actually reports on breaking news. O'Donnell covered the Generals, the attack on South Shore Chicago, Pete Hegseth and voter suppression, and he held nothing back. However, you are correct, I am relieved that someone is coming out and saying it like it is. He has had Whitehouse, Raskin, Marc Elias, Andrew Weissman, Neal Katyal, and many more who supported his claims. We may be old and infirm, but we vote, unlike Gen z and younger people.. Nicole Wallace is another outspoken, former republican, regarding the tRump administration. She has had a wide variety of guests both young and old. I can't comment on the people behind the MSM and Cable news, however, I agree they are bringing this country down to their knees. They are the oligarchs that tRump admires. Bring back the Fairness Doctrine that Reagan got rid of and update it. Break up the monopolies like AT&T. Organize and mobilize truth squads that can respond in real time. Bring Ice Agents to court. Of course, my suggestions can only work if we get rid of the current administration. A pipe dream I know William.
Why are we so focused on the GOP method of lying in political language to ‘give an appearance of solidity to pure wind?’ The Democrats have been like rats when it comes to being complicit with the lies when they have not effectively challenged those Republicans operatives who promulgate such manipulative untruths. I am going to make it my mission this weekend to start a list of their failure to contradict falsehoods pitched to the public.
If democratic leadership organized truth squads that responded to the lies in real time, perhaps, their methods of operation would change.
True, Eadie.
But I noticed your timestamp and ‘7’ is one of the lies I have not been able to correct. There is no legal reason for them, meaning the government, to hide behind the destructive excuse of ‘6’ to ruin my life 24/7 for more than two decades. And I mean RUIN.
The point of all my comments linking illicit government activity aided by thousands in the public sphere is that it should not have occurred at all. No one seems to be able to legitimize the lengthy invasion of our lives without any way to confront it. This effort to establish an honor for my husband has become ruthless, and they are going to win no matter whose lives they destroy.
Perhaps not everyone who responds with any of the numbers or codes understands that I did not encourage/nor want this abuse of my life; nor did anyone respond to my requests to stop. In fact, they seemed to relish my situation for their own benefit. For instance, San Diego City Council’s current president, Joe La Calvo, heard from me as a fellow Democrat and member of the Pacific Beach Club, where he solicited our support for his run for the city council. ‘4’ does not in any way validate their destructive behavior, nor the use of my mentally disabled son and now his mentally disabled wife.
I am in a situation where I cannot even hire a lawyer to help me with the aggressive violation of my civil rights. The lawyers tell me they do not want the surveillance to shine on their business. I am so sick of needing to report the accusations and activity that greets me as soon as I open my eyes, like this morning - cars going up and down the street in code, the fire department sounding its horns and engines, the cruise ships sounding their horns in code, and so it goes. Whether I like it or not, it sends my cortisol levels sky high.
Lest I forget the airplanes at the airport like to fly low over me when I hike along the estuary that parallels the airport. Then at code times the navy airplanes roar their engines on the ground across the bay at the naval base.
I have just showered and of course since the surveillance is 24/7 they see me naked and when I go out to hike this morning hundreds know when I pick up my keys and stalk me along the route to the estuary and pace along me as I walk in coded colors and numbers ect.
That is why I am demanding they stop and that at the least compensated monetarily for this longtime abuse.
There is something liberating about hearing the truth, even if it is painful. Somehow I'm feeling some hope here.
Let us also remind Americans of the $20 billion Trump has promised Milei in Argentina in hopes of propping him up.
This morning I was in a discussion about a South American stock that is tanking. The moderator would not permit me to say it was TRUMPED by Brazilian tariffs.
Results last month in Argentina local eletions put the candidate for Milei’s La Libertad Avanza (LLA) party, or Liberty Advances, Diego Valenzuela, who captured 34 percent, far behind Gabriel Katopodis, the Peronist left-wing challenger who received 47.4 percent.. So Trump came to the rescue.
Meanwhile, China has ramped up soybean purchases from Argentina, with Chinese importers booking numerous cargoes in late September after Argentina temporarily suspended export taxes on grains and other products. This move makes Argentine soybeans more attractive to Chinese buyers, who have effectively stopped purchasing from the U.S. due to the ongoing trade war, leading to a significant increase in China's Argentine soy buying.
Like I said yesterday, soybean farmers are incensed. and an estimated 31 Republicans in Congress are personally affected. “I'll be meeting with President Xi, of China, in four weeks, and Soybeans will be a major topic of discussion,” Trump posted yesterday.
Probably too late. Farm bankruptcies are rising. https://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2025/07/farm-bankruptcies-this-year-already-exceed-2024-levels/. Mostly registered Republicans.
Yet the soybean farmers, and farmers in general, are steadfast in support of Trump. It appears that the culture war trumps economics.
When he stops subsidizing them, things will change. Unfortunately, it might be too late.
Trump is not going to subsidize them,he knows better,that is why he is subsidizing them in the first place, and honestly it really doesn't matter
And it doesn't matter anyway, even without the subsidizes they are still humping his leg.
Money, economics are only secondary factor, the most important fact to them is the culture war. Rural America is religious as all get out, it is their social life, peer pressure, preachers, teachers, friends, neighbors and then there is Fox news. They are hooked, true believers and nothing will sway them
Isn't it curious that the less minorities there are in a population, the more prejudiced, exclusive and bigoted the population.
Think about that one.
Religion has been terrorizing people for thousands of years, however, the Jews, have taken the majority of blame Since St. Paul and miraculously has managed to survive christianity's goal of eliminating them. It's similar to Iran's charter in 2025.
Just another assumption. The president of their association has flipped.
The president of what association and who is this president and what has he flipped on?
And if one man has flipped, that does not a trend make.
Just like everything Daniel, including unions, The leader of a union may have endorsed Kamala, but that doesn'tmean that the members fell in behind him.
Your Google needs to be fixed. You really are a cynic.
https://soygrowers.com/news-releases/asa-responds-to-argentina-soybean-actions/
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/9/30/2346127/-Cries-From-Trump-Supporting-Soybean-Farmer-Caleb-Ragland-On-Coming-Farmaggedon
Your links are to the officers of the ASA.
Try this one Soybean farmers still support Trump
https://www.fb.org/in-the-news/bloomberg-businessweek-farmers-still-support-president-trump-despite-trade-woes
Damn right I am a cynic and my cynicism is well earned, at least I am not an ostrich or a polyanna.
The party of five Pinocchios has an impressively coordinated flim-flam campaign. Rarely do you ever find a Republican off-message, i.e. letting the truth slip out. But so much of this started with Rush Limbaugh's emotionally charged lies and Newt Gingrich's glossary of anger-inducing terminology. Now we have the destruction of the truth and trust essential to a functioning democratic republic.
WAPO has ended the program.
"I see the same sort of behavior as a male chimpanzee will show when he is competing for dominance of another."--Jane Goodall in an MSNBC interview
She had just been shown several clips of TRump during the 2016 race for the White House. Dr. Goodall would know; her degree was in ethology: the science of animal behavior as well as aspects of human behavior.
The lying is part of the "owning" in the Republican world these days. It's fun to gas-light and confuse the simplest issues---monumental issues like the climate crisis. The minute we kick these liars to the curb, we must get back on track to do our part.
That is a beautiful picture of both of you, Thom. What great work you two have contributed. It's a jungle out there. I will see you in the streets.
RIP Jane.
I have often believed that the Dems are working on their master's degree in lying, and the Repubs have already been awarded their doctoral degree. Yes, Republicans have become an ever-present lying machine. Ever since Ronald Reagan, their most prominent lie or con is that they are the party of the working class; nothing could be further from the truth. Somehow, they have convinced millions of lower- and middle-income people that, using smoke and mirrors, they are doing their job with their well-being in mind. The modern Republican Party exists to work to appease its donor class, and only, with some rare exceptions, the very wealthy and corporations are its donor class. They don't believe in government by, for, and of the people, but government by, for, and of the very wealthy. That may not have been true before Ronald Reagan, but it is absolutely true of the modern Republican Party.
What we Dems ACTUALLY say is misquoted, mnisinterpreted or based on what our enemies want you to think our positions might be.
Read this and get back to us. https://blueprint.democrats.org/
That's true, and as Thom pointed out in the article, the fault lies with the Democrats for not fighting back with the same weapons. This "we go high when they go low" is why Trump is now the dictator.
You don't follow politics. Takes place in coatrooms in Congress.
We don't have a tenth of the funding. We don't have the MSM.
When Dems try to negotiate, you mischarqacxterize it as a sign of weakness. When Reopublicans are willing to negotiate, you tell us not to...
Daniel, you should take your show with William on the road. I know William does respect you. Both of you are not only entertaining, but are great educators as well.
Josh Levin published a detailed biography of Linda Taylor’s life of crime in his book “The Queen.” Her story didn’t reflect the lives of most women receiving aid who were honestly in need. Quite frankly, these women were too busy trying to survive to engage in the sort of scams Linda Taylor carried out. Reagan did a vast disservice to people who were trying to survive by exaggerating Taylor’s scams and dishonestly suggesting they were common to all welfare recipients. Linda Taylor was in a class of her own when it came to scams.
Ms. Hughes. It is difficult for me to understand how Taylor could have gotten away with fraud against the welfare system, as she should have been caught by a welfare social worker, almost immediately.
I was a social case worker for the Aid to Dependent Children [ADC] program in Detroit before Reagan's "revolution". I had 100 clients in my caseload. I found one... 1... who committed fraud. She had parents living in the suburbs who were supporting her, so she did not need welfare from the state. 98 of my clients were Black African American women; two were White. The fraudster was White.
Regan's immense, cruel, dishonesty was a forerunner of Trump.
Her case was unusual, because she was able to masquerade as different people. You’re right, a case worker should have been able to catch her immediately. I think part of the reason they did not was because she would dress herself as different people, with different appearances, names, IDs and dates of birth. Reagan’s presenting Linda Taylor as representative of all welfare recipients was unfair to the honest and beleaguered majority of honest people in genuine need. Ms. Taylor appears to have been a genuine con artist. She was successful for periods of time, but she was caught, arrested, convicted, and did do prison time for some of her scams. Worst of all, she wound up helping to destroy AFDC and replacing it with TANF, and I fear that Trump will eviscerate even that.
I think Reagan’s false description of Ms. Taylor as representative of all people on welfare was dishonest, cruel, demeaning, and damaged the lives of the majority in need. I also think it represented his contempt for poor people. Reagan was born poor, his father drank, and when he became a pitchman for G and badmouthed Medicare as socialism. You’re correct, Reagan had a mean streak that he hid somewhat more effectively than Trump does. Trump lets his hate and contempt for others show all the time. If you read Josh Levin’s book, he shows how Ms. Taylor carried out her scams. The author doesn’t criticize welfare recipients or the help they may need, he just details Linda Taylor’s life of crime.
Per Thom -
"It’s way past time that Democrats, our news media, and the rest of us start telling the truth about the nearly-continuous firehose of modern Republican lies."
I wasn't at work more than 5 minutes this morning before being asked had I heard what the Democrats had done to our country by shutting down the government. This coming from a not entirely lost person. I said that's a bad take. They said "well we're losing childcare benefits over this and Trump wants to fix it".
Considering the proliferation of antidemocratic propaganda recently (HUD website for example), we as individuals have a lot of work to do in establishing facts within our own spheres of influence.
This is all very unwell and abnormal.
The gop's 2nd BIG Lie ? . . . It's that neither the President's nor the gop Congressional legislature's voluminous, explosive, liquified poop stinks.
The real question is: Why are their voters such dependably self-sabotaging suckers?
The answer Sir Okie is the culture war, and at the root of the culture war is male insecurity/dominance. The root of MAGA is male grievance., the Incel and Viagra coalition.
If it weren’t so sad it would be funny.
Sir Okie Doke. "The real question is.....suckers?"
The Marxists have a term for this. They call it "false class consciousness."
The significant dimensions of social class are economic, not cultural.
3% of Americans own the means of production in society and administer our economy. They use it to generate wealth for themselves in the form of profits.
97% of Americans are controlled by the means of production. Their work produces the wealth for the owners.
Thus, we have 2 social classes. However, people are easily misled into believing in and being caught up in the divisions in our society which we all "cultural" issues. Mr. Farrar's comments about "culture wars" express this well.
Lest we forget, it is only a lie if the person saying it knows it to be false. In that Trump lives in a fairyland pretty much 24/7 these days I'm pretty sure that at least part of his BS he sincerely believes to be true. A recent clear example is Trump's recent post to Pam Bondi where he said "...What about Comey, Adam “Shifty” Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.” and "They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!! President DJT" This is a man who believes his own bullshit, a sign of narcissism. He is incapable of listening to criticism; upon hearing it he immediately, and probably quite unconsciously, reframes it as an unjustified attack by his enemies. In that he has Likewise, people who don't support him and/or his policies constitute "the enemy within", aka half the population.
I'm the first to admit I'm not a psychologist but a little delving into the DSM 5 around Trump's obvious narcissism brings up the criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Grandiosity, brings up the following criteria:
1. Grandiosity with expectations of superior treatment from other people
2. Fixated on fantasies of power, success, intelligence, attractiveness, etc.
3. Self-perception of being unique, superior, and associated with high-status people and
institutions
4. Needing continual admiration from others
5. Sense of entitlement to special treatment and to obedience from others
6. Exploitative of others to achieve personal gain
7. Unwilling to empathize with the feelings, wishes, and needs of other people
8. Intensely envious of others, and the belief that others are equally envious of them
9. Pompous and arrogant demeanor
So lying? No. Nuts (to use a nonclinical term)? Yep, I'm pretty sure. I would really, really rather have a crook like Nixon than a person who is incapable of telling the difference between reality and fantasy. People like Trump can get us all killed. The 25th Amendment was written with people like him in mind.
Robert. Normally I am somewhat skeptical of psychological reductionist explanations of human social behavior. But this time you have nailed it. IMHO Trump is psychotic.
HI, Gerald. Good to hear from you again. First to be clear, although I have noted criteria, I am in no way an actual diagnostician. The best that we can say is that he has obvious traits that mirror the condition, nothing more. As for being psychotic, no, he's not. That is another ballpark altogether, one that I wouldn't wish on anyone, even Trump.
There are 20 points to Dr. Hare's psychopath test. That's another one to look at.
Pretty sure he inherited it from his father. I'm guessing it's why they sent him to military school, and it might be why his mom went back to Scotland when he came home in the summer.
Good catch, alis, I had completely forgotten about Hare. Off the top of my head, I gave him a 27. What about you?
There are individuals in his family who were quite intelligent, a trait that he most definitely does not demonstrate. He does have flashes of it but is incapable of sustaining it for any length of time. Quite probably he is unaware of when it comes and goes; he fixates on the 5% when it manifests and folds it into the other 95% when it most assuredly does not.
So here we are with a man whose feet are dangling over the abyss and we, lashed to his cankles like Ahab to his Whale, not sure iwhether we are going to live or die because of his genetics.
Didn't run the numbers, but I got a kick out of the "lashed to his cankles" crack, Robert. More frightening the older he gets. Rep. Dean's caught on tape confrontation of Speaker Johnson about TRump being "unwell" was on all the MSM. He didn't say no---that means he's in deep do-do.
Dr. Hare is 91 and retired. Concerning TRump, he's stuck to his ethics. He won't assess anyone he has not examined and tested. He's a researcher I'd love to thank. What a hard space to inhabit; he named his company Darkstone Research Group. Fitting.
On the plus side, Hare met his wife (still with her) in abnormal psychology class. Thought that a was funny origin story. I read he admires her social work as a child psychologist.
Ah, twoo love! (lifted from The Princess Bride). What a marvelous tale to tell the grandkids, though since they are so old, the great-grandkids.
It's fun to delve into domains one has no right to be in, like my giving Trump the label of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Grandiose from out of the depths of the DSM 5. At the same time...
Letter 233 doctors signed.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-george-conway-anti-psychopath-election-b2634614.html
I found it unnerving that that letter was from 2024, BEFORE the election.
I thought one of the letters was dated 2017.
24 October 22024. Did I miss one?
No, you were unable to open it.
Considering the date I typed in, I was off bu 20,000 years. I wonder what will be around in 20,000 years. I bet it would scare the XXX out of the Alien.
Another letter signed by a group of psychiatrists years ago.
https://www.businessinsider.com/psychiatrists-submit-warning-trumps-mental-health-deteriorating-2019-12
This quote is behind a pay wall for me.
You are right. I don't have a subscription either, however, I was able to read the article. This is the one dated 2017. Sorry.
Was there a link to this one?
It's the link that you were unable to open, but if you go out on the NET-type 27 psychiatrist sign letter, you should be offered some sites.
There is an easy simple response to all of these Republican lies - simply tell them PROVE IT - give us the FACTS that reveal whether it’s TRUTH or a LIE
They bear the burden of proof.
It’s obvious that a minority of Americans believe the lies being spouted. Either they are totally ignorant, uneducated or the lies further their racism. Chances of getting through to them is nil. So how do we deal with this?
The military event may have been the tipping point. I see shocking dementia stories, and the impeachment word. Omg the thought that a person out of his mind can push the red button! Wouldn't a bloodless coup be better than being rule-bound? Here's the dementia takedown I like best: https://youtu.be/l_IWsfLb2xA
Been watching Dr. Gartner for a while on Shrinking Trump Podcast.
Think you are right SUE. Rep. Madeline Dean confronted Speaker Johnson by saying Trump is "unwell" after the disastrous meeting. He didn't defend Dear Leader, and he didn't know they were being taped. It was all over the MSM. Johnson is going to be skewered.
Nice song. But I'm kinda deaf and I miss reading the lyrics.
Of course I have my own beliefs regarding the "father of lies". It just serves to terrify me more.
Truth be told I'm more angry than frightened. I'm a nurse, you can't scare me. I am so ready to take up my weapons and fight a holy war against the government we have now and it doesn't have to "holy" and I will welcome anyone who feels the same as I do because I was raised to know EVERY LIFE MATTERS. My family truly believed that. How that happened in a world of hate and World Wars, I don't know but it did happen and I can point out friends of mine here in what has turned red who still believe that. I am Woke, I am a pacifist, I am so Blue I blend right into the sky!
And I'm ready for a new revolution!
Thom and I have something else in common besides being anti-war protesters in E. Lansing. Our fathers were both for Barry Goldwater and when I was in my teens I thought, as he did, that he was the best thing for the country.