All Purpose News and Politics Thread Part IV: The Center Cannot Hold

[Rosa Luxemburg]

Antifa violently attacking anyone that doesn't agree with the extreme left. If it was just Neo Nazi's that would be one thing but now Nazi has become anyone who isn't fringe left. You also see Antifa violently attacking reporters for the crime of just being present during confrontations and recording them.

Antifa kicks ass, bro.

[Tendrin]

I guess ACAB stands for All Cops Are Babies now.

[Spike-X]

Ilhan Omar gets coverage because she's been on the cover of Rolling Stone with Nancy Pelosi.

Suuuuuuuuure. That's why.

[Spike-X]

I guess ACAB stands for All Cops Are Babies now.

Thin Blue Skin.

[worstblogever]

You would have different groups of people pissed off if someone like Candace Owens won a congressional race in a very conservative district and got the same level of promotion from the right as Omar got from the left.

Yeah, because your party is doing such a great job of electing women to Congress right now.

Truly, a fantasy world that you're pitching here, where the Republican Party is willing to do something like that.

[Tami]

Yeah, because your party is doing such a great job of electing women to Congress right now.

Truly, a fantasy world that you're pitching here, where the Republican Party is willing to do something like that.

Quote of the Day: College-Educated Republican Women are Extinct (August 1, 2018)

Advertise with Mother Jones

In a recent interview, Steve Bannon declared that “The Republican college-educated woman is done. They’re gone. They were going anyway at some point in time. Trump triggers them.”

The Washington Post’s Philip Bump decided to check this out, and it turns out that Bannon is right:

Working-class white men support Trump, but they’ve returned to reality a bit from the election and now support him by a net of about 28 points. Working-class white women and college-educated white men are bouncing around in the middle. But college-educated white women? They support Democrats by a net of nearly 50 points. And it shows no signs of bouncing back and forth. The more they see and hear of Trump, the more they hate him. Maybe this is the reason. I don’t know. But thanks to Trump, college-educated white women would apparently be pretty happy to see the Republican Party annihilated and replaced with something else.

Of course there are still educated women who are republicans, and some even support Trump. But I think that number is growing smaller and smaller, bit by bit.

[Kirby101]

Mets, maybe you can find any politician from your Party that has denounced Trump's racist screed against Cummings and Baltimore.
I can't. I hope you are proud of the Party you have aligned with. Do you think they all agree with Trump, or are just cowards?

[Malvolio]

Cops are such babies

So wait a minute. Bullet-proof vests can be damaged by a bucket or two of water? I'm calling shenanigans here.

[TheManInBlack]

What I’ve Learned From Collecting Stories of People Whose Loved Ones Were Transformed by Fox News
By Luke O'Neil

As a moderate, I had a very similar experience when my Dad was transformed by MSNBC and The Daily Kos. (yes, I know no one here wants to hear that, sorry, it's true.) He turned from a very logical person (a scientist, no less) to a raving lunatic who couldn't spend a single dinner without ranting about how Trump is ruining America, how social media is run by Russian spies, and how anyone who disagrees with Rachel Maddow on anything is a fascist. He's said CNN is far too 'right wing'. He's dropped lifelong friendships and cut out his moderate republican brother entirely, even though he's barely political. I'm afraid to even mention anything outside of far left views to him for fear of being disowned or at the very least screamed at. And it's not just him, I've also lost several long-term friends personally because I had the temerity to try to look at a few views from the other side. (playing devil's advocate and trying to understand other people's perspectives apparently makes me a 'Nazi' now.) I've also received 2 credible death threats from friends of a friend who fell headfirst into the black hole that is Antifa. Point being, it's not just Fox news radicalizing people. The media in general is fracturing people, and nothing's going to get better until it stops..

[jetengine]

As a moderate, I had a very similar experience when my Dad was transformed by MSNBC and The Daily Kos. (yes, I know no one here wants to hear that, sorry, it's true.) He turned from a very logical person (a scientist, no less) to a raving lunatic who couldn't spend a single dinner without ranting about how Trump is ruining America, how social media is run by Russian spies, and how anyone who disagrees with Rachel Maddow on anything is a fascist. He's said CNN is far too 'right wing'. He's dropped lifelong friendships and cut out his moderate republican brother entirely, even though he's barely political. I'm afraid to even mention anything outside of far left views to him for fear of being disowned or at the very least screamed at. And it's not just him, I've also lost several long-term friends personally because I had the temerity to try to look at a few views from the other side. (playing devil's advocate and trying to understand other people's perspectives apparently makes me a 'Nazi' now.) I've also received 2 credible death threats from friends of a friend who fell headfirst into the black hole that is Antifa. Point being, it's not just Fox news radicalizing people. The media in general is fracturing people, and nothing's going to get better until it stops..

I mean he's not wrong about Trump and whilst Social Media isnt run by Russian spies its certainly getting foreign governments using it to mess with people. Other then that its just the fact that the way the modern news is designed really messes with people. 24/hours awful coverage around the world.

[TheManInBlack]

I mean he's not wrong about Trump and whilst Social Media isnt run by Russian spies its certainly getting foreign governments using it to mess with people. Other then that its just the fact that the way the modern news is designed really messes with people. 24/hours awful coverage around the world.

The point is the way it deranged him and poisoned everything he does just like Fox. One can be angry about Trump and even protest without ranting about it every day like a lunatic and sitting in front of the TV, leaned forward and ranting the same way Fox news addicts do. MSNBC is designed to promote this reaction the same way Fox is, and I can't fathom why it's almost never called out for it. I mean, I know I'm gonna get the usual suspects in here with clever responses like 'Liar,' but putting one's fingers in their ears doesn't make it any less true. Even the linked article devoted a (small) paragraph to admitting that MSNBC causes the same reaction, though they try to downplay it.

[Gray Lensman]

As a moderate, I had a very similar experience when my Dad was transformed by MSNBC and The Daily Kos. (yes, I know no one here wants to hear that, sorry, it's true.) He turned from a very logical person (a scientist, no less) to a raving lunatic who couldn't spend a single dinner without ranting about how Trump is ruining America, how social media is run by Russian spies, and how anyone who disagrees with Rachel Maddow on anything is a fascist. He's said CNN is far too 'right wing'. He's dropped lifelong friendships and cut out his moderate republican brother entirely, even though he's barely political. I'm afraid to even mention anything outside of far left views to him for fear of being disowned or at the very least screamed at. And it's not just him, I've also lost several long-term friends personally because I had the temerity to try to look at a few views from the other side. (playing devil's advocate and trying to understand other people's perspectives apparently makes me a 'Nazi' now.) I've also received 2 credible death threats from friends of a friend who fell headfirst into the black hole that is Antifa. Point being, it's not just Fox news radicalizing people. The media in general is fracturing people, and nothing's going to get better until it stops..

I rarely watch MSNBC (I watch it when the only other choice is Fox News, I consider The Young Turks more balanced since they at least inform you of their bias right out of the gate) and have difficulty with Maddow's format - namely that she can't tell you the point without an eternity of background before even mentioning what the damned point actually is (John Oliver can do a deep dive, but he starts with the point and then tells you how we got here). I know why some people would have gone for Trump the first time, even if I didn't myself. The economic recovery left rural areas behind, partly because of the need for a larger and more educated pool of workers makes it incredibly unattractive to do stuff outside of cities for many industries. Rebuilding in that environment is hard, and it is easy to fall for someone promising to just bring the old stuff back.

My father, who only considers it unbiased news it it is Fox, has reached the point where he has to drop digs against the left in casual, non-political conversation, and my oldest Uncle is actually starting to openly speak of supporting the president seizing dictatorial powers (I normally disarm that by suggesting that anything the right can do the left can exploit as well if they ever become so inclined), so I am currently much more worried about the right than the left currently. Yes, Antifa is terrible, but their counterparts on the other side of the spectrum have a much higher body count (74%, and that number is 2 years old), so one worries me much more than the other.

[Gray Lensman]

The point is the way it deranged him and poisoned everything he does just like Fox. One can be angry about Trump and even protest without ranting about it every day like a lunatic and sitting in front of the TV, leaned forward and ranting the same way Fox news addicts do. MSNBC is designed to promote this reaction the same way Fox is, and I can't fathom why it's almost never called out for it. I mean, I know I'm gonna get the usual suspects in here with clever responses like 'Liar,' but putting one's fingers in their ears doesn't make it any less true. Even the linked article devoted a (small) paragraph to admitting that MSNBC causes the same reaction, though they try to downplay it.

Most of us here won't call you a liar unless you start posting stuff that is patently untrue, like suggesting the Dallas police shooter was part of BLM when he had associated with other groups (a few of which the Southern Poverty Law Center lists as hate groups).

[jetengine]

The point is the way it deranged him and poisoned everything he does just like Fox. One can be angry about Trump and even protest without ranting about it every day like a lunatic and sitting in front of the TV, leaned forward and ranting the same way Fox news addicts do. MSNBC is designed to promote this reaction the same way Fox is, and I can't fathom why it's almost never called out for it. I mean, I know I'm gonna get the usual suspects in here with clever responses like 'Liar,' but putting one's fingers in their ears doesn't make it any less true. Even the linked article devoted a (small) paragraph to admitting that MSNBC causes the same reaction, though they try to downplay it.

Considering Trump does something awful EVERY DAY its no surprise frankly. At least over here its not Brexit 24/7. Usually just twice a week.

[Tendrin]

As a moderate, I had a very similar experience when my Dad was transformed by MSNBC and The Daily Kos. (yes, I know no one here wants to hear that, sorry, it's true.) He turned from a very logical person (a scientist, no less) to a raving lunatic who couldn't spend a single dinner without ranting about how Trump is ruining America, how social media is run by Russian spies, and how anyone who disagrees with Rachel Maddow on anything is a fascist. He's said CNN is far too 'right wing'. He's dropped lifelong friendships and cut out his moderate republican brother entirely, even though he's barely political. I'm afraid to even mention anything outside of far left views to him for fear of being disowned or at the very least screamed at. And it's not just him, I've also lost several long-term friends personally because I had the temerity to try to look at a few views from the other side. (playing devil's advocate and trying to understand other people's perspectives apparently makes me a 'Nazi' now.) I've also received 2 credible death threats from friends of a friend who fell headfirst into the black hole that is Antifa. Point being, it's not just Fox news radicalizing people. The media in general is fracturing people, and nothing's going to get better until it stops..

Your dad sounds like a pretty cool guy.