about six major corporations owning all our media outlets, Citizens United and the massive growth of lobbies and dark money super pacs.

If you give people inaccurate information, they will make an inaccurate decision based on that flawed viewpoint. That's the problem we have now, and so letting the hearings go on for a time should serve to 'catch the country up' by educating more people about what dirtbags the Republicans have become.

That lies to 40% of the country daily.

The person most at fault for Trump is Rupert Murdoch.

Some shit at us. In the last two days, Saw Indiana Senator Braun on local tv spewing 'nothing to see here', basically. And in my mailbox a totally unsolicited letter from the other, Senator Todd Whatever, which I have not yet opened, but I expect it to be laundering the failed emporer's robes. Maybe we should all start considering open letters as full page ads, like in Maine today, in the newspaper locally to answer this weaseling operation.

Last edited Sun Oct 13, 2019, 03:40 PM - Edit history (1)

Patrick. Excellent post.

I think you meant the for the post above mine.

...I would like to add this view. Because of the way the system is set up, many people do not know where to go to get accurate information about the news. They do base there opinions on .."inaccurate information."
..But even if knowing where to go is available, time is of the essence. ..Many people do not have "time" to get the accurate info even though it is easily available. Many people in the U.S.A. have time constraints, like second jobs, children, sick relatives, etc. These people would often like to just keep their current system of info going, than start a new info system.
..It is much easier to start a new system of information than ever, but that is not the obstacle. How one gets the system and the fear of changing how we get news is the issue. You got to want to change and that is the issue.

Wages have gone down, stagnated, and real purchasing power has gone down along with union membership.

Now, it is a given that you will have to either live with roommates, or you will have to have two incomes just to keep your nostrils above water. In the meantime, you get nickel and dimed. Student loans, planned obsolescence, unaffordable housing and all the rest.

At the same time, companies like Comcast earn huge profits ($11.3 billion in 2018) and their CEOs stratospheric 'salaries,' (For Comcast, the CEO 'earned' $35 million in 2018).

I was watching a movie that had a profound dialog in it. I will paraphrase: "It costs around $95,000 to get someone elected to the US House of Representatives, and the average tenure is 18 years. A Congressman is the BEST investment a company can make."

So, in this system based on lust to amass wealth and lust to amass power, we end up having a massive transfer of wealth to fewer and fewer individuals - billionaire parasites - while the rest of us fight over a smaller and smaller piece of pie. When the top 1% of 'earners' hold 42% of the nation's wealth, when 25,000 people in the world STARVE to death each day, when lies are propagated by big oil and plastics to cast doubt on their environmental impact just so they can keep making massive profits, when big pharma and for-profit healthcare line up billions of dollars in opposition to healthcare for all Americans, then we truly have a problem.

To facilitate this, those who wanted to create this criminal imbalance in the first place realized they needed to dumb down schools, take over the media and make it profit-driven and systematically control information. This is why Arjit Pai took away net neutrality, and why AM radio so proliferated in the 90s. It is why the bought-and-paid-for judges 'decided' in favor of Citizens United, and why the Chicago School of economics invented 'trickle down.'

Sure.

But we all have to do what we can, and those of us who can more easily 'do' should do more. Nothing excuses us each from fighting the good fight every day. We cannot give up, because this cancer of 'free market' shareholder-driven capitalism is in its last gasp and is unsustainable for us as a species. We will either have to rethink the way we organize ourselves, and the way we 'do' economics, or else we will end up extinct and this planet a smoking cinder circling the earth.

Right now, we are such a cancer on this earth that if we went extinct today, EVERY other form of life would be better off.

And that, my friends, is a truly terrifying reality to confront.

Kudos to Patrick for pointing out what I call “The Great Dumbing Down” , Education cuts have consequences! The people have really been bamboozled. The level of discourse in our public spheres and our media is way dumbed down compared to the 1960s. In the 1960’s the access to higher education by the working class resulted in a cultural revolution that was a real threat to the upper classes and the Military Industrial Complex. They have been tamping it down now for many decades and have finally been successful. Witness the Trump rallies for proof! Just buy an old news magazine from 1962 and you will be amazed at the high level of discourse.

The questions would be hard for any 18 year old current high school graduate. Then I got a curriculum reader. Again it would be difficult for 8-10 year old kids to answer the questions based on the text. I substitute teach elementary school students in a high preforming school and our educational system has become more dumbed down. Teachers used to have proven techniques and now they have to do prepared lesson plans because they standardized everything.

As with Watergate, the country supported impeachment as the hearings went along. The did not support impeaching Nixon at the beginning.

Back when Nixon was impeached there was still the fairness doctrine and no 24x7 cable news. There were actually journalists presenting facts on the news and not just entertainers and talking heads.

because many people dont use critical thinking skills. We have accepted this as the status quo. That says a lot about the American people.

In that case, people can really pick comments and reports apart.

Too many people are essentially "brain washed" - programmed with repeated propaganda. The propaganda community employs knowledge and skill from the world of marketing which, I am sure, has become quite scientific.

Try this: When watching a TV ad for some drug and when they start reporting the required information about risks and side effects, close our eyes and listen, blocking out the distracting visuals of smiling people, birds acting silly, etc.

The propaganda/marketing communities lead us around like sheep with a nose ring.

We must watch for shows and reporters who report "what they are doing, not what they are saying". Example, Rachel Maddow.

"Fair and balanced" sounds good, but it is nonsense. We need truth and more truth.

"I'm so busy with my kids, I don't have time to pay attention to political stuff." Among numerous excuses. Most have been and are still being conditioned to think that it doesn't matter... and for them it won't until it actually disrupts their chosen oblivion. That set of changes is coming up real fast through the wondshield and ducking isn't going to save us, that's when they can be bothered to pay attention.

Those people who say they don't have time are simply LAZY.

They are not my friends but people I try to reason with regarding the current state of affairs. Then they ask if I'll watch their kids regularly or something that I am not prepared or able to do.

I get so fed up with them, especially on days like today.

when they cease to be too busy for politics. Otherwise YOU are too busy.

We have been under a multi-prong attack since at least the time of Rotten Ronnie. Farms have been and are being transferred to corporations. Education is being starved for resources, including teachers, as salaries and retirement are cut to reduce the desireability of teaching. Communication is funnelled into fewer and fewer channels (ownership). Unions have been reduced to a fraction of what they once were, in order to create a bigger imbalance between employer and employed.

Power, in all its forms, has been transferred from citizens (voters) to corporations and their owners.

News and information is boring for some. Kardashians or whatever are much more fun to them.

Others hold the mindset that all people who hold office are corrupt, and it doesn't matter who does or says what.

Others feel powerless over their own lives and find other pastimes to occupy their times.

And both are fake as hell

Americans are the most entertained, and the least educated citizens of the developed countries.

Whether it is true or not can be debated, but it sure SOUNDS true. We may not know who our political representative is, but we sure know who is ahead on The Bachelor/ette (and opine as to whether they are a virgin, or not...), who the great sports teams are, and which videos have gone viral.

As seen in other countries, when serious shit hits the fan, the people hit the streets. Not here. We should have been in the streets EVERY weekend since his royal turdness defiled our White House. EVERY weekend's march should have been as big as the one after his pathetically small inauguration.

Corporate America's job in all this is to make sure we are CONSTANTLY seeing new, shiny objects to divert our attention from the ugly political under belly of making sure the little guy continues to make the rich, richer, while WE go into hock up to our eyeballs to HAVE that newest, shiniest object... They take that responsibility SERIOUSLY, to the bank.

Yes, there are pockets of brilliant and educated Americans, but most Americans have now gone through a public education system that has, by Republican controlled school board's design, LIMITED art, humanities, music, critical thinking, civics, and TRIES TO PROMOTE creationism as science, revisited versions of history that are biased, even inaccurate (because THEY control much of the printing of textbooks).

Republicans think long term, which is how they now control the basic education system (dumbing down the general populace), while at the same time they have managed to gerrymander their party into permanent control of state legislatures, when they DON'T receive the majority of the votes.

With our proud "herding cats" identity, we can't manage to focus on anything long enough to get it accomplished.

Our focus MUST be guided from the top. And we must be willing to face the challenges, not "keep our powder dry" for the battles that never seem to materialize...

38% believe in the biblical version of creation
37% can't name a single right protected by the Bill of Rights
30% don't know what year 9/11 happened
50% believe that Saddam Hussein provided support to Al Queda

Especially for the first three, it has nothing to do with the media but just mental laziness.

all sorts of ideas even in the face of irrefutable evidence. It has more to do with human nature than intelligence.

but not necessarily quickly - especially in the areas of politics and religion.

At the same time, they funded think tanks to craft their message & bought up radio stations to broadcast it. Forty years later pushing ignorance has paid off big time for them. The dems better have an artillery because the repubs have been playing the long game & they are playing for keeps.

...and that it's just a matter of time, I think they're wrong. And public support doesn't equate to conviction by the Senate. Getting 20 Republican Senators to convict will require a hell of a lot more than the Ukraine phone call.

What's the rush? Time is on Speaker Pelosi's side, I'm sure she will consult with others and act in our best interests.

Approve/disapprove, impeach/don't impeach, and Trump vs. any Democrat are all starting to look like the same poll.

Hypothetical matchup polls at this juncture are historically meaningless. Just ask President Dukakis.

That said, I'm hopeful, but the corruption is off the charts. Election fraud (voter suppression, foreign interference, etc.) will be rampant, as Trump is desperate to remain in office.

Anyway, as I said, the Ukraine call isn't enough to flip 20 Republican Senators. There better be some epic smoking guns.

Maybe Republicans will dump Trump and play the long game, but dumping Trump means electoral disaster for the GOP in 2020.

testimony.

was brought out at Friday's he we ring.

so why would we expect the country to at this point. Nancy was right and little by little,m the House is bringing them along.

Think about it.

until they see handcuffs and perp walks. Need a “Ratings Week” moment.

If democracy goes away, they’re fine with that because they assume that they will have won. What they want is not a democracy but a government that forces people to live according to evangelical beliefs, outlaws abortions and birth control, criminalizes miscarriages, forces LGBTQ people back into the closet and punishes those who dare disobey, disenfranchises minorities, forces all Muslims to leave the country, and shuts the door on any non-white immigration. They do not care about anything else, including the laws of the US Constitution. Trump is their man to accomplish their goals—the rest of us (the majority) be damned.

Fox is run by billionaires who deliberately air lies to protect trump.
Same with Limbaugh, WSJ, Wash a Examiner, daily Wire.
That’s what it says.

top 5 in almost every category and now rank in 25th-30th in the developed world and in math no higher than 30th. This has broad implications not just in politics. I'm not sure how we recover from the last 40 years of "dumbing down" but unless we do something things will continue to deteriorate. People might want to label those that value education as "elitist" but education is responsible for much of what we enjoy today. When you read that 40% of Americans cannot write a check for $400 for an emergency that should be a clear sign of huge problems we have in America.

brainwashed by Fox to believe that liberals are weak, spend thrifts etc. I mean look at the country when Clinton took over from Bush or Obama from Bush. Economic ruin. They deny the historical record because they are fed this “libtard” garbage day after day.

If someone commits a crime, prosecutors don't take a poll to see if the public approves of an investigation and indictment. It shouldn't be about polls or reelection of congressional representatives. Compelling evidence of crimes or corruption should be acted on.

A lot more people were against impeaching Nixon, but congress went ahead with impeachment inquiries regardless. It is the right thing to do.

Crimes on top of crimes have been committed by the President along with his family and his cohorts. The boil needs to be exposed and the festering corruption needs to be lanced and drained of its putrid pus. It's the only way to stop the infection and save the patient.

I see an impeachment inquiry as a way to expose the "boil", leaving no doubt as to how corrupt these people are. So far we've been living with a constant drip, drip of lies, deceit, and criminal acts, and I think people aren't seeing the sheer magnitude of what this administration has done. Impeachment investigations will be it all to the surface.

Also what I find scary is people could get used to all of this as the new normal.

is true.

To use the common measure, the typical college graduate, I've read, has an IQ of 120. Average person, 100.

But as many people have IQ's of 80 or below as 120 or above. That's why propaganda is so effective.

...and not enough people watch Rachel Maddow in particular.

Have MSNBC or make it an upgrade pkg. Many people don't have access.

I always comment on whether MSNBC was available. Every little bit helps. (And, I imagine I have been seeing MSBNC available more often.)

I've lived and breathed politics since I was a kid. It's in our blood. A family tradition. For the majority of Americans that's not the case. They live extremely busy lives, as our economy now dictates, are interested in other less dry things and don't have time to keep up with events as closely as we do. It simply takes time for news to spread. As it does, we'll see a Nixonian plunge. '73 / '74 all over again.

and hasn't for a long time

Hate radio and Fox "news" should have laughed out of the arena faster than Vince McMahon and his XFL. Instead all the other news outlets decided profits over facts as well.

What more do you need to convince you of the absolute ignorance & stupidity or criminality of 40% of the population

Last edited Mon Oct 14, 2019, 01:16 PM - Edit history (1)

What does that say?

Morons, each and every one of them.

...he was still polling 28% approval. Igolf Tweetler will have at least that many true believers willing to ride the Trump Train all the way to Jonestown.

Are some combo of dumb/racist/ homophobe idiot. 20+ years of Fox News/Limbaugh etc has changed whatever brains they had. It’s like intellectual CTE.

seriously disturbing how many people were so fooled

Then it will look petty and even reckless to impeach during wartime.

but I would think that if they really had a red hot smoking gun they wouldn't need the country to catch up. I'm not hugely in favor of impeachment, but if I KNEW they had him I would be. My fear is that it will backfire with a belch of vague policy-wonk technicalities that don't really hit Joe Voter where she/he lives, therefore giving Trump the next 4 years. With a real smoking gun? Go for it. I'll catch up.

... outlets can't align themselves with political parties unless they're open about it.

even with the cheating way to many dumb fucks out there.

The people need leadership. They need to be informed. The media is waiting to see what the dems do, so they can treat it like a horse race again.

The only people that matter are those who are educated voters, who are participating in Democracy. That being said: are we being fooled into believing our votes are being counted?

They outnumber Trump voters by 30 million.

has trumped patriotism and concern for other people.

are morons.