We all know that Fox is the culprit for disinformation and propaganda that glamourizes the stormers of the capital. Did you know that if you pay for cable tv you are directly funding Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity with your monthly subscription fees.
Advertisers have left Fox Business in droves and currently it is only getting revenue from contracted flat monthly fees of about $2.50 per subscriber per month. Fox is currently renegotiating this contract and needs to receive up to $3.50 per month to continue to exist in current format. They are actively campaigning to have their viewers call in and ask that cable renew and pay for the new contract.
Thom Hartmann and the followers, as we are true lovers of democracy, need to actively participate and show up to this debate. Please call your cable provider and ask them to not increase the share of subscription fees received by Fox and Fox Business, tell them that you don't watch it, you don't want to pay for it and that it is damaging to our nation and offensively and intentionally misguiding the limited viewers that continue to watch.
I also ask that Mr. Hartmann make a daily call to action on this and that each caller remind the listeners and that all bloggers push for this issue to be a daily topic. This is the time to act and this is when your voice can make a difference. We must be persistent and determined to preserve our democracy and combat the institutions that benefit from division and misinformation.
This topic demands the most rigorous of tree-shakings. It must be sorted - truthfully, transparently, and timely (as in now). I thank Thom for circling back to this frequently. 1/6 - "Never Forget".
Military life for rank-and-file grunts is tough, even when not deployed to a war zone. It’s not for everyone. Long, strange hours are the norm, with a constant regimen of intense training under harsh disciplinarians breaching no dissent. Lawful orders are to be followed without question or delay. That’s how it works.
“Big government” (the biggest ever) owns your funky ass lock, stock, and barrel (pun intended), even when off duty. The trade-off is that big government relieves you from worrying about barely scraping by trying to make ends meet working some crap job as a civilian. Uncle Sam makes sure you are well-fed, clothed, and housed with 100 percent free medical care. In return, your superiors command you to violate perhaps the strongest instinct of being human: to murder other human beings.
Worse yet, they also expect you to die in the line of duty when all else fails, overcoming the most basic instinct of all, the ultimate, much-vaunted sacrifice one must make — a soldier’s creed, the stuff that earns the medals. Your life is worth less than the success of the “critical” mission. There is no way to sugar-coat that bottom-line proposition, and it takes a special type of person to accept the sobering terms.
Is it any wonder then in this insane world of constant warfare, living in history’s largest and most powerful military empire, when more and more warm bodies are needed to step into the breach, that recruiting pampered, soft-belly civilians is becoming increasingly difficult? In their never-ending quest, the military brass has swept their lax recruitment standards under the carpet for several decades now, attracting “warriors” with different mentalities, with their own authoritarian agendas, willing to fight and die for a cause different from Uncle Sam’s. Our modern military is full of these freaks, and the generals are right to be worried about the monsters of their own creation in the age of Trumpism.
In the long, sad history of colonialism by white-dominated military empires, this is nothing new. Watch “The Nightingale.” (Available on Netflix.) Although the story is fictional, the actual historical setting with the subtext of white privilege taken to the extreme is all too true.
I have a "different" opinion. To me, the attack on the USA was done by traitors, plain and simple, but once it failed, why they may be what saves the USA from losing our free market economy and representative democracy.
I still think we should arrest EVERYONE known to participate in the attack or preparations or coverup, tuck them away at Guantanamo while we investigate fully, and prosecute to the full extent of the law, but to be 100% fair we should also give them a Tee-shirt that says "I woke up America by trying to kill her".
They are clearly seditious murderous traitors. Too bad we don't have a congress that will do what we elected them to do.
One thing I gotta correct you on, Thom. The "dragging a SCOTUS wife into it". It's not dragging when she is half a mile ahead of everyone else.
What pisses me off is one thing. If a 16 year old black kid stole a chicken to feed his starving mother, he might or might not be convicted, but without any doubt he'd be thrown in prison while the investigation went on.
P.S. There was one text message shown in the hearings, from Mark Meadows to Sean Hannity (I think, not sure. I know the message was between them). The message said, "We've got to take care of Hunter." How many Hunters are there? Hunter Biden was all up in it in Ukraine. Come on! He was also a drug addict who would do anything to cover up his predilections. I've been in recovery for 11+ years; I know. I also think there's an underlying hatred for his father; Jealousy, perhaps because Beau was the favored son? Read Hunter's book. Read Biden's book. Read Kathleen's, the ex-wife's book. Read Jill Biden's book. The facts don't mesh in any of them and there's a ton of sugar-coating by all four. Pathological lies. I am not a conspiracy theorist. I do not watch Fox News and have not been brain-washed. I read The NY Times, watch PBS Newshour; I am a social justice liberal. But, I don't trust Biden any further than I can throw him. Best defense is an offense, right Joe?
Because Biden is one of them. Think about it. How exactly did Biden come from being in 5th place our of the New Hampshire and Iowa primary/caucus to overwhelming win in Carolina? The 2016 election was rigged (a 5th grader can hack a voting machine in 11 minutes). The 2020 election was rigged too. I just don't believe that a Senator who was in office for 40 years and then VP is innocent in all of this and that goes for the other Democratic 'saviors' too. I do think there's some good people in Congress; Bennie Thompson, Kinzinger, a few others are honest or at least trying to be. Cheney? Well, let's just remember who her father is....
The military is a microcosm of this country, and the same holds true for the jobs members do while serving. I thought I'd love it---I didn't. I would never tell someone not to join, but I do tell them they must accept the fact that nobody can tell them what it will be like. Egocentric people will try to do that, but then they are the people that assess everything by what has happened to them. The experience for any individual is a crap-shoot. The last two decades they stopped being choosy about volunteers because of the wars. Surely less desirable people have been promoted or put in charge of missions as well. So, here we are extremely divided in the civilian world and the military reflects it.
I liked the ideas expressed by the former generals in The Post article, but I think they left something critical out of their training ideas. The troops need to know how and how much Russia, China, and other countries are capable of f*cking with THEM as individuals. Classes on disinformation and social media manipulation have to be taught, and they need to be tested on it. When the troops know, they're going to be pissed. The information war is on, service members have to fight it, and this is one way to unite them.
I realize a lot of the disinformation is coming from within, but it's being amplified and even created by foreign sources much of the time.
Yes. That's the main point: the military is a reflection of society, widely varied with many opportunities for advancement in many different fields, depending on one's interests and abilities, especially nowadays when advancing technologies and asymmetric warfare means a huge, highly educated population behind the lines for every grunt in the mud. The experience is as different as the people. But no matter which path one chooses, life is life, people are people, both saints and sinners along the way.
The old adage "hurry up and wait" is also a soldier's life: long periods of boredom interrupted by intense moments of extreme FUBAR that can make or break a person. That's when all the training supposedly kicks in. On the squad level with a tight team, cohesion and camaraderie are all important, creating friendships that last a lifetime. You take care of each other. Being a liberal, I'm convinced that most people are good in their hearts and souls. When given the opportunity to perform under duress, they want to do the right thing.
In essence, the military's only job is to blow things up and kill people in defense of the nation and the families back home. Oh, how far we've strayed...
Betrayal by leadership is the worst that can happen, forcing good people to fight bad wars -- "the poor man [or woman] fighting the rich man's war."
We all know that Fox is the culprit for disinformation and propaganda that glamourizes the stormers of the capital. Did you know that if you pay for cable tv you are directly funding Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity with your monthly subscription fees.
Advertisers have left Fox Business in droves and currently it is only getting revenue from contracted flat monthly fees of about $2.50 per subscriber per month. Fox is currently renegotiating this contract and needs to receive up to $3.50 per month to continue to exist in current format. They are actively campaigning to have their viewers call in and ask that cable renew and pay for the new contract.
Thom Hartmann and the followers, as we are true lovers of democracy, need to actively participate and show up to this debate. Please call your cable provider and ask them to not increase the share of subscription fees received by Fox and Fox Business, tell them that you don't watch it, you don't want to pay for it and that it is damaging to our nation and offensively and intentionally misguiding the limited viewers that continue to watch.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/31/1933075/-If-you-have-cable-you-are-subsidizing-Fox-News-It-might-be-time-to-cut-the-cord-Here-s-how
I also ask that Mr. Hartmann make a daily call to action on this and that each caller remind the listeners and that all bloggers push for this issue to be a daily topic. This is the time to act and this is when your voice can make a difference. We must be persistent and determined to preserve our democracy and combat the institutions that benefit from division and misinformation.
This topic demands the most rigorous of tree-shakings. It must be sorted - truthfully, transparently, and timely (as in now). I thank Thom for circling back to this frequently. 1/6 - "Never Forget".
TRUMP NEEDS TO BE PUT IN PRISON FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY! GODDAMN HIM!
Military life for rank-and-file grunts is tough, even when not deployed to a war zone. It’s not for everyone. Long, strange hours are the norm, with a constant regimen of intense training under harsh disciplinarians breaching no dissent. Lawful orders are to be followed without question or delay. That’s how it works.
“Big government” (the biggest ever) owns your funky ass lock, stock, and barrel (pun intended), even when off duty. The trade-off is that big government relieves you from worrying about barely scraping by trying to make ends meet working some crap job as a civilian. Uncle Sam makes sure you are well-fed, clothed, and housed with 100 percent free medical care. In return, your superiors command you to violate perhaps the strongest instinct of being human: to murder other human beings.
Worse yet, they also expect you to die in the line of duty when all else fails, overcoming the most basic instinct of all, the ultimate, much-vaunted sacrifice one must make — a soldier’s creed, the stuff that earns the medals. Your life is worth less than the success of the “critical” mission. There is no way to sugar-coat that bottom-line proposition, and it takes a special type of person to accept the sobering terms.
Is it any wonder then in this insane world of constant warfare, living in history’s largest and most powerful military empire, when more and more warm bodies are needed to step into the breach, that recruiting pampered, soft-belly civilians is becoming increasingly difficult? In their never-ending quest, the military brass has swept their lax recruitment standards under the carpet for several decades now, attracting “warriors” with different mentalities, with their own authoritarian agendas, willing to fight and die for a cause different from Uncle Sam’s. Our modern military is full of these freaks, and the generals are right to be worried about the monsters of their own creation in the age of Trumpism.
In the long, sad history of colonialism by white-dominated military empires, this is nothing new. Watch “The Nightingale.” (Available on Netflix.) Although the story is fictional, the actual historical setting with the subtext of white privilege taken to the extreme is all too true.
WARNING! This is most difficult to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfBv9C_Ie8c
I have a "different" opinion. To me, the attack on the USA was done by traitors, plain and simple, but once it failed, why they may be what saves the USA from losing our free market economy and representative democracy.
I still think we should arrest EVERYONE known to participate in the attack or preparations or coverup, tuck them away at Guantanamo while we investigate fully, and prosecute to the full extent of the law, but to be 100% fair we should also give them a Tee-shirt that says "I woke up America by trying to kill her".
They are clearly seditious murderous traitors. Too bad we don't have a congress that will do what we elected them to do.
One thing I gotta correct you on, Thom. The "dragging a SCOTUS wife into it". It's not dragging when she is half a mile ahead of everyone else.
What pisses me off is one thing. If a 16 year old black kid stole a chicken to feed his starving mother, he might or might not be convicted, but without any doubt he'd be thrown in prison while the investigation went on.
WHY AREN'T THESE TRAITORS IN PRISON ALREADY?
P.S. There was one text message shown in the hearings, from Mark Meadows to Sean Hannity (I think, not sure. I know the message was between them). The message said, "We've got to take care of Hunter." How many Hunters are there? Hunter Biden was all up in it in Ukraine. Come on! He was also a drug addict who would do anything to cover up his predilections. I've been in recovery for 11+ years; I know. I also think there's an underlying hatred for his father; Jealousy, perhaps because Beau was the favored son? Read Hunter's book. Read Biden's book. Read Kathleen's, the ex-wife's book. Read Jill Biden's book. The facts don't mesh in any of them and there's a ton of sugar-coating by all four. Pathological lies. I am not a conspiracy theorist. I do not watch Fox News and have not been brain-washed. I read The NY Times, watch PBS Newshour; I am a social justice liberal. But, I don't trust Biden any further than I can throw him. Best defense is an offense, right Joe?
Because Biden is one of them. Think about it. How exactly did Biden come from being in 5th place our of the New Hampshire and Iowa primary/caucus to overwhelming win in Carolina? The 2016 election was rigged (a 5th grader can hack a voting machine in 11 minutes). The 2020 election was rigged too. I just don't believe that a Senator who was in office for 40 years and then VP is innocent in all of this and that goes for the other Democratic 'saviors' too. I do think there's some good people in Congress; Bennie Thompson, Kinzinger, a few others are honest or at least trying to be. Cheney? Well, let's just remember who her father is....
The military is a microcosm of this country, and the same holds true for the jobs members do while serving. I thought I'd love it---I didn't. I would never tell someone not to join, but I do tell them they must accept the fact that nobody can tell them what it will be like. Egocentric people will try to do that, but then they are the people that assess everything by what has happened to them. The experience for any individual is a crap-shoot. The last two decades they stopped being choosy about volunteers because of the wars. Surely less desirable people have been promoted or put in charge of missions as well. So, here we are extremely divided in the civilian world and the military reflects it.
I liked the ideas expressed by the former generals in The Post article, but I think they left something critical out of their training ideas. The troops need to know how and how much Russia, China, and other countries are capable of f*cking with THEM as individuals. Classes on disinformation and social media manipulation have to be taught, and they need to be tested on it. When the troops know, they're going to be pissed. The information war is on, service members have to fight it, and this is one way to unite them.
I realize a lot of the disinformation is coming from within, but it's being amplified and even created by foreign sources much of the time.
Yes. That's the main point: the military is a reflection of society, widely varied with many opportunities for advancement in many different fields, depending on one's interests and abilities, especially nowadays when advancing technologies and asymmetric warfare means a huge, highly educated population behind the lines for every grunt in the mud. The experience is as different as the people. But no matter which path one chooses, life is life, people are people, both saints and sinners along the way.
The old adage "hurry up and wait" is also a soldier's life: long periods of boredom interrupted by intense moments of extreme FUBAR that can make or break a person. That's when all the training supposedly kicks in. On the squad level with a tight team, cohesion and camaraderie are all important, creating friendships that last a lifetime. You take care of each other. Being a liberal, I'm convinced that most people are good in their hearts and souls. When given the opportunity to perform under duress, they want to do the right thing.
In essence, the military's only job is to blow things up and kill people in defense of the nation and the families back home. Oh, how far we've strayed...
Betrayal by leadership is the worst that can happen, forcing good people to fight bad wars -- "the poor man [or woman] fighting the rich man's war."
Off topic Geeky Science Alert!
Look at this and not feel humbled...
This is Comet Leonard, moving against the backdrop of the Milky Way.
https://twitter.com/ThePlanetaryGuy/status/1473326981479550981?s=20
Venus looks like a “fake” Christmas star - LOL!
Notice the solar wind creating the “tail” in front of the comet.