IssuesConnect

The Mainstream Media Must Start to Resist Trump

2/26/2017

How should the Mainstream Media (MSM) contend with Trump and his lies? Peter Alexander of MSNBC, used the right method for resisting Trump's lies. The press should ask Trump real questions about his use of fake news and disinformation to divert attention from topics and questions he finds uncomfortable. For example, Trump used Twitter about the hit Broadway play, Hamilton, to detract from his $25 million settlement for defrauding students who attended his bogus "univerisity".

Alexander directly confronted President Trump about how his misinformation about the electoral vote could undermine trust in other issues. Trump, never one to take personal responsibility for errors looked cornered and whimpered that others had misinformed him.

Instead of asking why some news organizations were kept out of the press gaggle, they should ask him if the White House used the unprecedented block as a way to deflect the media from it's attention to Reince Priebus and White House abuse of power leaning on FBI to make pro-Trump statements.

Jay Rosen,New York University Professor of journalism, is on the right track as he recommends that news agencies send interns rather than seasoned reporters to daily press briefings. By sending interns, agencies can probably get the same amount of information and can get more to the point of refusing to normalize Trump.

Besides - there is little point in asking Trump a policy question. Trump does not understand policy. Instead, reporters should ask him about his lies, distortions and bizarre behavior.

Donald Trump has announced that the MSM is the enemy of the people and his white supremacist guru, Steve Bannon, has added that the administration will be at war with the MSM. It should occur to the MSM that they must fight back. Peter Alexander has shown the way.

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Donald Trump is Not the Problem - The Republican Party is the Problem

2/21/2017

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Donald Trump is not the problem. Trump voters and the Republican Party are the problems that threaten American values and is on the verge of dismantling U.S. democracy.

GOP leaders are so intent on the promise of enacting their legislative agenda, they are willing to support a President who is neither fit in terms of temperament nor ability. Despite his ignorance of government, his narcistic needs for adoration, and his devotion to conspiracy theories, the Republican Party and its voters selected Trump as their candidate to run against Hillary Clinton. If, as the GOP claimed, Hillary was too corrupt to be President of the United States, it makes little sense that they would nominate Trump whose own record was certainly as dodgy as hers – especially when they had other prospects who more closely represented the values that they told us were theirs.

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Trump Needs to Protect Americans from White Supremacist Terrorism

2/15/2017

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Donald Trump,the GOP, and his administration are racists. This truth is not simply a moral judgment or a pejorative criticism. It is an assessment that describes a critical risk facing the U.S. Instead of providing a risk assessment of terrorism based on intelligence and analysis, Trump and his administration succumbed to their bias against non-white people. More specifically, the Administration's white supremacists believe that white people are endangered by immigrants from the Middle East and from Latin America.   Their primary objective is to stop immigration, rather than disrupting terrorism.

This week, following one of Trump's disturbing rants where he demeaned the media for not adequately covering terrorist attacks, he produced a list of 78 violent events from September 2014 to December 2016. Commentators have reviewed the list to disprove that these were uncovered events. The list is difficult to use because does not have a definition of what is terrorism or what areas of the world are covered.

The President of the United States, responsible for keeping all Americans safe, does not include the threat from white supremacists. This omission is especially disturbing when there are recent, important examples currently being covered by the media.   Just this week, six people were murdered at the Quebec Islamic Cultural Center . The terrorist here is a 26 year old pro-Trump student described by acquaintances as a far-right ultra nationalist white supremacist. Prime Minister Trudeau called this horrible crime an act of terror.   Trump was silent, neglecting to extend sympathy or support to Canada.

The Trump list does not include Dylan Roof's cold blooded terrorist attack on the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina in which nine Black church members were murdered.   Roof's trial with his self-described hatred and terrorist intentions was recently extensively covered by the media, but is not included on Trump's terrorist list.

He does not include Robert Dear's vicious attack on a Planned Parenthood in November 2015 where he shot 27 and killed 3. It does not include Allen Scarcella's shooting of five protesters in a Black Lives Matter rally in Minneapolis.

Donald Trump has made a big deal about the power of categorizing a threat with a frank label; he has blasted Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for not using the term, "radical Islamic terrorists".   If this definition of a threat is helpful, we need President Trump to warn Americans about the threat from radical white nationalists.

The Trump list does not include Dylan Roof's cold blooded terrorist attack on the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina in which nine Black church members were murdered.   Roof's trial with his self-described hatred and terrorist intentions was recently extensively covered by the media, but is not included on Trump's terrorist list.

He does not include Robert Dear's vicious attack on a Planned Parenthood in November 2015 where he shot 27 and killed 3. It does not include Allen Scarcella's shooting of five protesters in a Black Lives Matter rally in Minneapolis.

Donald Trump has made a big deal about the power of categorizing a threat with a frank label; he has blasted Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for not using the term, "radical Islamic terrorists".   If this definition of a threat is helpful, we need President Trump to warn Americans about the threat from radical white nationalists.

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Moving to Ecuador to Escape Trump?

2/13/2017

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The election of Donald Trump and the Republican Party tilt toward fascism has led many U.S. citizens to consider moving abroad. One of the most favored places for U.S. ex patriots has been Ecuador. It is a beautiful country, with a variety of climates, a stable, albeit somewhat authoritarian government, friendly people, including a large ex patriot community, and one of the lowest costs of living in Latin America. While a recent imposition of import taxes on food has increased Ecuador’s cost of living, it is still considered about 40 percent of the U.S. cost of living and in its simplest terms unlikely to become prohibitive for those seeking a bargain.

Ecuador straddles the equator

In its simplest terms, proclaimed in numerous “come hither blogs,” Ecuador’s cost of living includes housing, food, utilities, public transportation, and health care. These items add up to a very reasonable life style on about $3,500 per month. There are, however, some items that are not typically included in cost of living considerations. Generally, these considerations include the costs private citizens must pay to make up for the goods and services that the government does not provide. When these costs are considered, the trade-off of higher cost of living for lower government spending is not as advantageous as the right wing claims. These considerations are as follows:

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What the DeVos Confirmation Should Teach Democrats

2/10/2017

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It is easy to pronounce Betsy DeVos’ confirmation as Secretary of Education a Democratic defeat. After all, Democrats used all the means at their disposal to stop the confirmation of this ultra- right, anti-public school activist. Democrats used DeVos’ confirmation hearing to show that she had used her fortune to finance the elections of other far right politicians, seek the privatization of public schools to the benefit of corporations in which she had invested, and to promote an extreme, Denominationalist Christian dogma. Most importantly, the hearing demonstrated beyond doubt that DeVos did not possess even the most rudimentary knowledge about education policy. Despite DeVos’ inadequacies, Democrats even with a massive outpouring of public opinion opposing her confirmation, could not stop her.

Nonetheless, resistance to the DeVos confirmation had three positive effects for the welfare of the Democratic Party. First, it showed Democrats how to capture the media and promote their framing of issues. Too often Democrats have attempted to use press releases to tell their stories, or worse, assumed the media would discover the truth about their stories. Because Democrats resisted the DeVos confirmation by publicly and loudly confronting her inadequacies in a disciplined way, the media was forced to cover the Democratic position and report the questions they raised.

Second, resisting the DeVos confirmation showed Democrats the effectiveness that a minority can influence the Republican majority when they present a unanimous opposition. Also, having successfully influencing the majority builds cohesion and discipline among the minority Senators and rank and file Democrats for future fights.

Third, because of DeVos’ obvious inadequacies, her ultimate confirmation demonstrated the extent to which Republicans will go to avoid challenging Trump. Only two Republicans, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, re-elected in 2016 and Susan Collins, facing re-election in Maine, were willing to vote against DeVos.

While the defection of two Republicans may show how obviously disqualified DeVos was, more clearly it shows the dedication of the other 50 Republicans to the Trump Administration. And, in light of the Administration’s rampant conflicts of interest, Islamophobia and white nationalism, and commitment to business, it also clearly shows the extent to which the Republican Party has become authoritarian, if not fascist.

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Evil Triumphs over Good: Super Bowl 51 and Donald Trump

2/8/2017

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Bill Belichick; Jim Rogash/Getty Images

The victory of the New England Patriots over the Atlanta Falcons was disheartening for some of us both because of the Patriots jaded history of NFL violations and the mutual adoration between the Patriots and Donald Trump. From illegally filming their opponent’s signals, dishonestly using their injured reserve list, to using deflated footballs, the Patriots have shown a flagrant disregard for following NFL rules. This disregard for rules is matched by Donald Trump’s disregard for rules and may be the basis of their mutual affection. Trump has often cited his great admiration and respect for the Tom Brady Patriots’ quarterback; Bill Belichick, Patriots’ coach; and Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft and they, in turn, have expressed support for Trump.

To make Atlanta’s loss even more disheartening, the Patriots came back from a seemingly overwhelming 28 to 3 Atlanta lead in the third quarter. Like Trump’s improbable victory over Hillary Clinton in the Presidential election, the outcome was stunning and raised questions about what the future portended for our side, the good guys.

But, the Patriots’ victory in the Super Bowl is not necessarily a template for how the bad guys can win any more than Trump’s victory was. Instead, these outcomes show first, that there is a degree of capriciousness in the outcome of most contests. This suggests that one cannot take winning lightly and assume “victory is in the bag.” Second, they show that experience is important ingredient for victory; the Patriots had 22 players with previous Super Bowl experience while the Falcons had 4 players. Trump is so lacking in experience he needed FBI and Russian interference to defeat Hillary. Third, playing defense is psychologically and physically harder than playing offense because defenders must try to anticipate or react to the offense. The Falcons’ defense faded and left the Patriots with an opportunity; Democrats need offense.

Perhaps next time, our teams will remember these lessons and play accordingly.

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Protests Are Working - Need Other Strategies Too

2/6/2017

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Protesters push a casket representing the "Death of Democracy" down Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach as President Donald Trump and his wife Melania attend the 60th annual Red Cross Ball at the Mar-a-Lago on Saturday Feb. 4, 2017. (Michael Ares / The Palm Beach Post)

On a daily basis, across the US, and across the rest of the world, protesters are rallying and marching against President Trump and against his executive order restricting the entry of Muslim, but but not Christian, travelers from seven Islamic countries. Residents in the Washington DC area can find a large protest in their area on almost any day of the week. The Super Bowl, usually the highlight of late-winter sports events, was somewhat overshadowed by protesters in Houston, Texas. Trump, trying to escape to Mar-a-Lago (now the Winter White House) could none-the-less hear some of the three thousands protesters on nearby Flagler Drive who chanted, "When will we go away?.... Never!"

As Trump is breaking all conventions and possibly some laws, we look to the comforting idea of checks and balances to restore moral and political order. . Instead the Republican members of the House and Senate abdicate their responsibility and abandon their previous objections to Trump's conflicts of interest. Failure to demand a rigorous investigation into Trump's relationship with Russia is seen by some as treasonous. Although Senators are usually forgiven for confirming a President's nominees with only passing scrutiny, the refusal of Republican Senators to vote against these obviously ignorant and corrupt nominees is a dereliction of duty.

With his neurotically thin skin, Trump considers a free press a threat and "the opposition team". Admittedly, the role of the media is much more complex in an age where the White House itself accepts "alternate facts" and where it has long designed coverage to present point-counterpoint arguments, suggesting that either "side" is reasonable. With so little hope of reason prevailing the protests are a welcome"voice of the people".

The tough truth here is that the protests must be followed with a concentrated larger protest movement that includes voter engagement efforts to impact local and state elections and a continued demand that the media call out Trump's deliberate falsifications and lies. The media must not be allowed to normalize the very abnormal events and edicts Trump has introduced.

So, protesters- keep up the marches, but organize something much more consequential.

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The Mainstream Media Must Start to Resist Trump

Donald Trump is Not the Problem - The Republican Party is the Problem

Trump Needs to Protect Americans from White Supremacist Terrorism

Moving to Ecuador to Escape Trump?

What the DeVos Confirmation Should Teach Democrats

Evil Triumphs over Good: Super Bowl 51 and Donald Trump

Protests Are Working - Need Other Strategies Too

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