Politics Thread

[Masterofreality]

• Vil*i*fy*ing po*lice won’t af*fect crime. The fast-con*geal*ing con*sen*sus af*ter George Floyd’s mur*der was that most po*lice were racist, as was most of Amer*i*can so*ci*ety, and vi*o*lent protests against this were jus*ti*fied—even ad*mirable. Woe to any*one who pointed out that the vic*tims of these ri*ots and crime were mostly poor and mi*nor*ity com*mu*ni*ties.

Po*lice fund*ing was cut and bail laws eased in many cities. Eigh*teen months later we see the re*sult in ris*ing crime rates and a soar*ing mur*der count. A po*lit*i*cal back*lash now has even many De*moc*rats claim*ing they re*ally do want more fund*ing for po*lice.

We could go on—who can forget the knee-jerk solidarity with fabulist Jussie Smollett? But you get the idea. The reason so many Americans don’t trust the media is because they’ve learned from hard experience that the consensus they are told is unassailable truth will often turn out to be false.

END OF ARTICLE

[X-band '01]

And* peo*ple** won*der** why* I ** Dis*a*ppear*ed** for* a** full* Cal*en*dar** year.***

[bobbiemcgee]

Hello Paul: Your Dumpster Fire in action.

From Mediate:
“ President Joe Biden’s average approval among voters for his handling of the economy has fallen to the lowest point of his presidency, according to a new survey, representing the lowest rating of any president in history.”

Funny how polls and surveys never meant anything to you for a whole year..."biased" "WAPO", "CNN" , until you could find a negative one. Now they are suddenly relevant.

[X-man]

Funny how polls and surveys never meant anything to you for a whole year..."biased" "WAPO", "CNN" , until you could find a negative one. Now they are suddenly relevant.

Not funny; just sad, hypocritical, and delusional.

[Masterofreality]

Funny how polls and surveys never meant anything to you for a whole year..."biased" "WAPO", "CNN" , until you could find a negative one. Now they are suddenly relevant.

Hey, this guy is YOUR guy who all of the media pumped up to be the Savior, as opposed to a guy who was lied about and told to “F off” by the media. That “might” have hurt his approvals.
YOUR guy has been nothing but propped up for a year, so those ratings are organic from the bottom up.
Get ready for the Red Wave, bud. And we’ll see if Biden can even last 4 years through this Dumpster Fire.

[GoMuskies]

And* peo*ple** won*der** why* I ** Dis*a*ppear*ed** for* a** full* Cal*en*dar** year.***

You were gone?

[Masterofreality]

Not funny; just sad, hypocritical, and delusional.

See my response to Bobbie above.
Who’s sad and hypocritical?
Get out of your blue haze and see reality of an administration of a trash fire.

[xubrew]

Funny how polls and surveys never meant anything to you for a whole year..."biased" "WAPO", "CNN" , until you could find a negative one. Now they are suddenly relevant.

FWIW, I think they are relevant. Biden isn't popular. Dismissing that would be a huge mistake, which is why I think the Democrats will just dismiss it.

[xubrew]

“The year 2021 that ends this week wasn’t the re*turn to nor*malcy that Pres*i*dent Biden promised, but it was in*valu*able in one re*spect. This was the year when the con*formity that char*ac*ter*izes Amer*i*can pol*i*tics and me*dia was ex*posed for its mis*takes as never be*fore.“

Ok. So that posted. I’ll do it in sections.


By con*formity we mean the pro*gres*sive po*lit*i*cal and me*dia con*sen*sus that forms quickly around an is*sue and then re*in*forces it*self no mat*ter the com*pet*ing ar*gu*ments or new in*for*ma*tion. This isn’t a con*spir*acy in any for*mal sense; there are no or*ga*nized calls or Zoom meet*ings.

“
This is about a shared set of po*lit*i*cal val*ues and pref*er*ences that leads peo*ple to reach the same con*clu*sions about an event. The re*porters and com*men*ta*tors of the ma*jor pro*gres*sive me*dia—the Wash*ing*ton Post, Bloomberg, the Fi*nan*cial Times, the New York Times, the At*lantic, and more—all then re*in*force what they now like to call the “nar*ra*tive” of a story.

Politi*cians and the press feed the nar*ra*tive with leaks and the sto*ries they pur*sue—or, as im*por*tant, what they don’t pur*sue. Dis*agree*ment is rare to nonex*is*tent be*cause the cost can be os*tracism or lost ca*reers.”

• The Wuhan Vi*rol*ogy Lab ori*gin the*ory of Covid-19. In the early days of the pan*demic, even rais*ing this as a pos*si*bil*ity was taboo. Sen. Cot*ton was vil*i*fied for do*ing so. The Lancet, a sup*pos*edly open-minded sci*en*tific jour*nal, pub*lished a let*ter in Feb*ruary 2020 “to strongly con*demn con*spir*acy the*o*ries sug*gest*ing that COVID-19 does not have a nat*ural ori*gin.”

This year we learned that the Lancet let*ter was part of a co*or*di*nated ef*fort to quash the lab the*ory. We learned about the con*flicts of in*ter*est of An*thony Fauci and oth*ers who pro*vided fund*ing for the Wuhan lab. Even*tu*ally even the press no*ticed that China had blocked an hon*est in*quiry, and that no ev*i*dence for a nat*ural ori*gin has emerged.

• Lock*downs stop Covid-19. There was no fiercer con*sen*sus in the early days of the virus than the be*lief that lock*ing down the econ*omy to stop the virus was an unadul*ter*ated so*cial good. We felt the con*sen*sus wrath when we raised doubts, in an ed*i*to*r*ial on March 20, 2020, about the harm that lock*downs would do to the econ*omy and pub*lic health.

Two years later we now know that lock*downs at most de*lay the virus spread. The dam*age in lost ed*u*ca*tion for chil*dren, lost liveli*hoods for work*ers and em*ploy*ers, and dam*age to men*tal health is ob*vi*ous for all to see. Even Randi Wein*garten, the teach*ers union chief who did so much to keep schools closed, now claims she wanted to keep them open all along.

• The sup*ply side of the econ*omy doesn’t mat*ter. The Key*ne*sian con*sen*sus, which dom*i*nates the U.S. and Eu*ropean me*dia, has long held that the de*mand for goods and ser*vices dri*ves the econ*omy. The abil*ity or in*cen*tive to sup*ply those goods is largely ig*nored or dis*missed. Spurring de*mand was the the*ory be*hind the tril*lions of dol*lars in spend*ing by Con*gress and easy money from the Fed*eral Re*serve.

All that money did spur de*mand. But the Key*ne*sians ig*nored the dis*in*cen*tives to in*crease sup*ply from pay*ing peo*ple not to work and re*strict*ing work with lock*downs and man*dates. The re*sult was the surg*ing in*fla*tion that caught nearly all of them by sur*prise. Their de*mand-side mod*els never saw it com*ing.

• The Steele dossier and Rus*sia col*lu*sion nar*ra*tive. In 2019 the Mueller re*port ex*posed the lack of ev*i*dence for the claims that Don*ald Trump and the Krem*lin were in ca*hoots. This year the in*dict*ments by spe*cial coun*sel John Durham have re*vealed how De*moc*rats and the press worked to*gether to pro*mote the dossier that was based on dis*in*for*ma*tion.

Yet for four years nearly every*one in the dom*i*nant me*dia bought the col*lu*sion nar*ra*tive. One or two of the gullible have apol*o*gized, but most want every*one to for*get what they wrote or said at the time.

• Vil*i*fy*ing po*lice won’t af*fect crime. The fast-con*geal*ing con*sen*sus af*ter George Floyd’s mur*der was that most po*lice were racist, as was most of Amer*i*can so*ci*ety, and vi*o*lent protests against this were jus*ti*fied—even ad*mirable. Woe to any*one who pointed out that the vic*tims of these ri*ots and crime were mostly poor and mi*nor*ity com*mu*ni*ties.

Po*lice fund*ing was cut and bail laws eased in many cities. Eigh*teen months later we see the re*sult in ris*ing crime rates and a soar*ing mur*der count. A po*lit*i*cal back*lash now has even many De*moc*rats claim*ing they re*ally do want more fund*ing for po*lice.

We could go on—who can forget the knee-jerk solidarity with fabulist Jussie Smollett? But you get the idea. The reason so many Americans don’t trust the media is because they’ve learned from hard experience that the consensus they are told is unassailable truth will often turn out to be false.

END OF ARTICLE

What the...????

Was this dictated from Porky Pig??

I'm actually kind of interested in this, but only kind of. Not enough to give myself a headache trying to read it.

[GoMuskies]

WSJ is attempting to deter pirating of their content.