How do you justify the grift?

[CNCAppsJames]

He's not wasting his time in the WH this time. He's covering an entire political career of corruption in just 8 months. 

For someone who does himself a lot of favors... allegedly, he sure doesn't do himself any favors. 



 

[neurosis]

For someone who does himself a lot of favors... allegedly, he sure doesn't do himself any favors.

Not to sound like I'm playing both sides, but he doesn't have to care about the optics at this point, and technically, he's not really doing anything illegal?  That we know of?

However, I would feel silly if I spent a lot of time criticizing the Bidens and ignored this. 

[CNCAppsJames]

I think it's refreshing to see some of the stuff out in the open. The sanctimony we've witnessed over the last over the last 30-ish years was nauseating honestly.

The flamethrower he's taking to certain things are absolutely what I voted for. At this point, I'm a big fan of scorched earth policy. Is it good? No. It's not. It's sad it's come to this. But here we are, so, yeah... just burn everything to the ground (procedurally, philosophically, just not physically).

I wish things were as they were when we could debate policy and not personality. But those days are LONG gone. Nancy Pelosi made certain of that that when she called conservatives "enemies of the state". That just can't be walked back so onward with the flamethrower.

 

[neurosis]

I think it's refreshing to see some of the stuff out in the open. The sanctimony we've witnessed over the last over the last 30-ish years was nauseating honestly.

It's funny because I wish we could go back to the 90's and I remember thinking that things sucked back then. If only we knew what was coming.

[MIL-TFP-41]

Can't remember. Do we say &Obama or &Hillary or &Kamala when we want to deflect?

I'm going old school. &Grant &Jackson &Buchanan &Roosevelt

[CNCAppsJames]

It's funny because I wish we could go back to the 90's blue dress and I remember thinking that things got sucked back then. 

Free fiss...

 

[Smit]

I'm going old school. &Grant &Jackson &Buchanan &Roosevelt

I expect there has always been a certain amount of grift from Presidents and their families/acquaintances throughout history. Maybe George Washington was above it, who knows? Even Jimmy Carter, generally regarded as the most moral human ever to hold the presidency, had his brother Billy and the Billy beer. Trying to make money from the name.

Furthermore, for most of the history of this country, the press has for the most part winked and ignored a lot of unsavory stuff from presidents and politicians in general. Stuff that makes the headlines and makes money now.

Having said that, the grift going on today is different level stuff. They no longer give a shit about deniability, then deny it anyway. It's fkn crazy! 

[mowens]

It's hard to compare what's going now to stuff in the past because the press has given up any pretense of impartiality.

You have the venerable BBC significantly altering video to push a certain point of view. And most large news outlets have their points of view, whether institutionally or from their reporters. So, you end up hearing stuff that's prejudicial. You usually have to sift through multiple sources just to get an idea of the truth. Just look at how different the headlines can be for the same event.

It gets to be to much to worry about because, essentially, we will always get fucked. It's just a matter of what position you're in when it happens.

I think I'm going to use a new symbol. Every time I'm tempted to say we're fuck no matter who is in office I'll just type #!

[CNCAppsJames]

US "Journalists" should not be able to claim "Independent" as their political affiliation. 

They KNOW damn well they've NEVER voted for a Republican in their entire lives... and chances are they've never voted for an "American Independent" candidate either. 

It's fraud to claim "Independent". 

#ChangeMyMind

 

[CNCAppsJames]

It's hard to compare what's going now to stuff in the past because the press has given up any pretense of impartiality.

Oh contraire mon frair... don't you know they are "Independent"?

 

[jstell]

Well Fox has been claiming to be "fair and balanced" for 35 years.  I've always thought that original lie should have gotten their broadcast license revoked at some point along the way.

Serve the community: Stations are legally obligated to provide programming that addresses local issues and problems.
Public interest programming: This includes airing public affairs shows, news, interviews, and public service announcements.
Documentation: Stations must document how they have met this obligation in public inspection files, which are available on the FCC's website.
License renewal: A station's license can be denied or revoked if the FCC determines that it is failing to serve the public interest.

[mowens]

Fox is no different than the other big news networks. They hid it for a while but no longer.

[rdshear]

Well Fox has been claiming to be "fair and balanced" for 35 years.  I've always thought that original lie should have gotten their broadcast license revoked at some point along the way.

Serve the community: Stations are legally obligated to provide programming that addresses local issues and problems.
Public interest programming: This includes airing public affairs shows, news, interviews, and public service announcements.
Documentation: Stations must document how they have met this obligation in public inspection files, which are available on the FCC's website.
License renewal: A station's license can be denied or revoked if the FCC determines that it is failing to serve the public interest.

If I'm not mistaken, those rules apply to over the air channels, not cable channels. Therefore CNN, MSNBC, Fox, etc... aren't held to the same standards as ABC, CBS, NBC, etc...

[jstell]

If I'm not mistaken, those rules apply to over the air channels, not cable channels. Therefore CNN, MSNBC, Fox, etc... aren't held to the same standards as ABC, CBS, NBC, etc...

That certainly is part of the issue, that cable is not a "broadcast".  But Fox does still broadcast over the air.  Just not The Fox News Channel.  (That's such a ridiculous thing to type.  News.  Ha!)

[CNCAppsJames]

If I'm not mistaken, those rules apply to over the air channels, not cable channels.

That is correct because they do not occupy part of the publicly owned frequency spectrum the FCC has jurisdiction over.