Academy Award-Winning Movies In Trump's Alt-Universe

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Monday February 13, 2017 · 9:11 AM PST

2017/02/13 · 09:11

Recently I read this great satirical piece from Alexandra Petri of the Washington Post. In the piece, she says that

We have probably made Sean Spicer cry, and that is not what anyone set out to do.

There is a much simpler explanation for the list of Secret Media Terrorism Coverups and the Bowling Green Massacre and the “alternative facts” than this idea that somehow, the Trump administration is making up facts or misleading the American people. Nonsense. They are doing the best they can with the facts they have. They simply have come here from an alternative universe.

The idea of this Trumpian “alternate universe” got me thinking — perhaps there’s even more to it than facts. Perhaps the heroes and villains in their movies and books were different than the ones that you and I have read. This could explain why their solutions to the Bowling Green massacre seemed so right and the record-breaking throngs of people at Trumps alt-universe inauguration. Their heroes are different.

chuck4thegooddoctor

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Monday December 26, 2016 · 2:43 PM PST

2016/12/26 · 14:43

quote-i-want-we-re-going-to-repeal-and-replace-obamacare-obamacare-is-a-total-and-complete-donald-trump-148-48-36.jpg

Simple framing.

Republicans want to starve the ACA of the subsidies it needs to function.

Republicans want to steal the funds going to give people affordable health insurance and give it to Trump’s buddies.

The screw part — well, that’s obvious.

Three sentences that explain the Republicans strategy that are simple to understand, and ought to be repeated.

Um holy f*ck... Democratic House Members Were Also Targets of Russian Document Dumps

chuck4thegooddoctor

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Tuesday December 13, 2016 · 10:11 PM PST

2016/12/13 · 22:11

The New York Times unloaded this bombshell:

WASHINGTON — South Florida has long been a laboratory for some of the nation’s roughest politics, with techniques like phantom candidates created by political rivals to siphon off votes from their opponents, or so-called boleteras hired to illegally fill out stacks of absentee ballots on behalf of elderly or disabled voters.

But there was never anything quite like the 2016 election campaign, when a handful of Democratic House candidates became targets of a Russian influence operation that made thousands of pages of documents stolen by hackers from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in Washington available to Florida reporters and bloggers.

“It was like I was standing out there naked,” said Annette Taddeo, a Democrat who lost her primary race after secret campaign documents were made public. “I just can’t describe it any other way. Our entire internal strategy plan was made public, and suddenly all this material was out there and could be used against me.”

Read it once, be scared, and outraged. But then read it again, where you see that it was only Democrats targeted, it was known Russian disruptors surreptitiously getting a hold of local political bloggers, and the targets were chosen very carefully — in a dozen “toss-up” races that seemed like possible Democrat wins.

We are now potentially talking about Russia 1) going to individual districts for microtargeted document dumps, 2) trying to influence the balance of the house, and 3) having a specific agenda, possibly in collusion with the Republicans themselves, to have Republicans win more House races.

I mean, holy fuck. You’re trying to tell me this is only about Hilary Clinton anymore? There is no freakin’ way. You’re trying to tell me that this isn’t the equivalent of a 9/11 against our election system? There is no freakin’ way.

Trump's Philosophy on Winners and Losers Is A Long-Term Loser For Trump

chuck4thegooddoctor

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Sunday December 11, 2016 · 10:29 PM PST

2016/12/11 · 22:29

Everyone here should be honored, not just "winners" and "losers"

As I was sitting in a classical choral concert this afternoon, trying to get my mind off of the election, I realized something.

Trump consistently uses the language of dividing people into “winners” and “losers”, which extends to his supporters.

Among his base, they naturally believe they are the “winners” in this election, like Trump. Like Trump, they expect the “others” to fall into line, because they, to them, are “losers”.

Losers are expected to either admit failure and fall into line behind the “Winners”, which explains the pathological need for Trump fans to say people to “accept the result of the election”. It also makes a built-in excuse for any criticism of the election, no matter which branch of the intelligence community delivers a scary brief on the possibility of election tampering — that they are just “Losers” that cannot accept the results.

It should look familiar — it’s plain and simple bullying. But it also shows a very critical game for Democrats going forward — using that tendency of Trump’s and that of his supporters to win back everything.

chuck4thegooddoctor

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Thursday November 10, 2016 · 6:27 AM PST

2016/11/10 · 06:27

I’m enraged.

I’m enraged at myself, mostly.

I’m livid that the voters of America elevated a clown like Donald Trump to become our next President.

But at least part of that came from my cable subscription.

I had always put it off — saying, I’ll think about cancelling it eventually. I liked ESPN and sports. Sometimes, I like watching a show that’s not on Netflix.

But then Fox News, which was always over the pale anyway, went into full electioneering mode for Trump. I didn’t think it would make enough of a difference. But now I know better.

I decided today that my cable company, if they choose to support an electioneering outfit like Fox News, that I will no longer pay them a dime for their cable TV. I feel like my money went to the Elect Donald Trump campaign.

Is it too late? Yes. Am I incredibly upset that part of my monthly payment for cable went, essentially, as a check to Sean Hannity? More than you can possibly know.

But what I can say is, this is a step I take for myself and my family to actually make a positive change in the wake of this disastrous election.

I’ve got to do something, and even though this is a small thing, it’s something I can positively do rather than hit an inanimate object with a bat.

Imagine if everyone did this, the message it would send — if cable companies don’t dump the Trump propaganda wing from their cable systems, the already-significant number of cable subscribers cutting the cord will become a flood. Imagine what that could do to Sean Hannity’s paycheck. Imagine what that does to Roger Ailes.

Little to Show for Cash Flood by Big Donors? Uh, not exactly.

chuck4thegooddoctor

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Friday November 09, 2012 · 8:43 AM PST

2012/11/09 · 08:43

I don't write diaries often anymore, but this particular piece in the New York Times did catch my eye.

The most expensive election in American history drew to a close this week with a price tag estimated at more than $6 billion, propelled by legal and regulatory decisions that allowed wealthy donors to pour record amounts of cash into races around the country.
But while outside spending affected the election in innumerable ways — reshaping the Republican presidential nominating contest, clogging the airwaves with unprecedented amounts of negative advertising and shoring up embattled Republican incumbents in the House — the prizes most sought by the emerging class of megadonors remained outside their grasp. President Obama will return to the White House in January, and the Democrats have strengthened their lock on the Senate.

I highlight this last piece, because it's thrown in there as an afterthought, but it's the most critical part of the "cash flood" that did more to keep the status quo in the house than anything else.

As an example, we can talk about my legislative district, PA-8.

chuck4thegooddoctor

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Thursday October 02, 2008 · 8:45 AM PDT

2008/10/02 · 08:45

Come on, if I've come up with the frame for this, how come nobody else is?

http://news.yahoo.com/...

Hours ahead of the vice presidential debate, Sen John McCain (R-Ariz.) criticized the selection of PBS' Gwen Ifill as moderator because she is writing a book called "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama."

"Frankly, I wish they had picked a moderator that isn’t writing a book favorable to Barack Obama — let's face it," McCain said on "Fox & Friends." "But I have to have to have confidence that Gwen Ifill will handle this as the professional journalist that she is. ...

"Life isn’t fair, as I mentioned earlier in the program.""

Life isn't fair - that a black moderator is moderating a debate?

chuck4thegooddoctor

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Tuesday June 19, 2007 · 9:46 AM PDT

2007/06/19 · 09:46

Markos may still be upset about Bill Richardson's uninspiring stop on MTP, but in the meantime Bill Richardson (full disclosure: I've already decided that Bill Richardson has my primary vote, and I don't think baggage-laden Hillary Clinton, professional presidential candidates Dennis Kucinich or John Edwards, or political neophyte Barack Obama have a snot's chance to convert me) has made himself stand out as the only serious candidate with a plan to bring all the troops home.

It should be front-page news (and it briefly was on Yahoo!). But (what a surprise) here on Kos it's nowhere to be found. Can it be there's more threads on the... flu pandemic... than this?

chuck4thegooddoctor

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Wednesday April 11, 2007 · 2:48 PM PDT

2007/04/11 · 14:48

You may think that the whole Imus affair has everything to do with Imus saying a slur against African-American women. You can be forgiven for thinking this is true, but the truth is much stranger than that. Like Bonfire of the Vanities pointed out nearly two decades ago, there are bigger forces at work here not unlike the forces detailed by Tom Wolfe.

Missles in Iraq for Minutemen in New Mexico: How is this not a recommended diary?

chuck4thegooddoctor

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Wednesday April 26, 2006 · 12:20 PM PDT

2006/04/26 · 12:20

How is this not a front-page item on DailyKos? It is a front page story on Yahoo!

Senate Shifts Iraq Funds to Border Partols

The skinny is that a Republican-led coalition, pandering to their Latino-hating hearts, have actually led a vote to TAKE MONEY, BODY ARMOR AND MEDICAL CARE from OUR TROOPS and given it to "border security". Doesn't this frame itself? Read More

Tearing Brooks (NYT) A New One

chuck4thegooddoctor

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Thursday February 16, 2006 · 6:50 AM PST

2006/02/16 · 06:50

I really should know better than to read David Brooks in the morning. But I never seem to learn. In the event, I choked when I read this in Brooks' column today (reg'n required):

The Battle of Corpus Christi is but the latest example of our capacity to transform fact into stereotype.

On a personal level, the Cheney-Whittington accident was a sad but unremarkable event. Two men go hunting. Both are sloppy, and one friend shoots another. The victim is suffering but gracious. The shooter is anguished in his guilt.

...

In normal life, people would look at this event and see two decent men caught in a twist of fate. They would feel concern for the victim and sympathy for the man who fired the gun.

I couldn't stand it. I fired off the following to the New York Times and Brooks himself. It's there, in it's full glory, below the flip. Hopefully the NYT will print it.
Read More

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Academy Award-Winning Movies In Trump's Alt-Universe

Framing: Republican ACA Repeal Is Really Starve, Steal, and Screw

Um holy f*ck... Democratic House Members Were Also Targets of Russian Document Dumps

Trump's Philosophy on Winners and Losers Is A Long-Term Loser For Trump

Don't Just Be Mad - Hit Fox News Where It Hurts

Little to Show for Cash Flood by Big Donors? Uh, not exactly.

McCain criticizes Ifill Because of Race

Richardson Shows Iraq Leadership... and Kossacks sleep

"Bonfire of the Imus" - Imus situation and "racism" [UPDATED]

Even Bush's Puff Pieces are Disasters

Missles in Iraq for Minutemen in New Mexico: How is this not a recommended diary?

Tearing Brooks (NYT) A New One