January, 2024 archive
Strict Construction 0
The Rude One rudely demolishes the arguments of those who would pretend that Donald Trump should not be held accountable for insurrection under the 14th Amendment. (Warning: Language, and lots of it.)
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
The hunt for politeness continues.
The Privatization Scam, Medicare Disadvantage Dept. 0
Thom and Congressman Mark Pocan responds to a caller’s question about “Medigap” coverage. Thom also discusses the racist origins of the “Medigap” itself.
Vaccine Nation 0
Unfortunately, there is no vaccine against stupid.
All the News that Fits 0
In the midst of a longer post about the who-shot-john over Green Day’s having the unmitigated gall to express a political opinion, Vixen Strangely states an obvious truth–one which, like many obvious truths, is too seldom remarked on–and states it very well.
Fox News talking heads are not political analysts. They are propagandists.
The Ultimate Election? Reprise 0
Dick Polman lists three reasons to be (cautiously) optimistic about this year’s presidential election. Here’s one (emphasis in the original):
Follow the link for the others.
Dodging Deception on the Disinformation Superhighway 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, David Evans suggests that three simple questions can help us protect ourselves against deceivers on the Disinformation Superhighway (emphasis in the original).
- Who said it? (For any piece of data or information we are considering.) Many times the person conveying the information we are considering is more important (for our decision) than the information itself.
- What is the source of their information? Like the person conveying the information, the source of that information may be more important than the information itself.
- Do they have a personal stake in the information they are conveying? Will they get rich or gain power or importance by getting you to believe it?
Follow the link to read a real-life application of his reasoning.
A Notion of Immigrants 0
Farron discusses a Fox News reporter who called out a right-wing lie. (Yeah, I know, but stranger things have happened.)
The Ultimate Election? 0
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gene Collier is not sanguine. A snippet:
Follow the link for his reasoning.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Yet another “responsible gun owner” is polite to his child.
When they (police–ed.) arrived, a man said he was handling his gun when it accidentally went off.
His son was struck by the bullet and taken to an the hospital with serious injuries.
One more time, “accidentally” and “negligently” do not mean the same thing.
Courting Disaster 0
Above the Law’s Joe Patrice is less than impressed with Chief Justice Robert’s Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary.
Here’s a bit from his assessment:
Follow the link for context.
The Voter Fraud Fraudsters 0
Kim Bock, whose company was hired by the Trump campaign to investigate possible voter fraud, explains how his investigation proved that there was no there there. A nugget:
(snip)
More important, claims of voter fraud made by others were verified as false, including proof of why those claims were disproven.
Read the whole thing. It’s a fascinating look at the nuts and bolts of his investigation.
News You Can Lose 0
David explains why he has given up on cable news.
Me, I’ve gone him one better.
I gave up on broadcast news years ago, when I realized that
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1) broadcasters were choosing to sacrifice accuracy to entertainment and eyeballs and
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2) I can read more in ten minutes than some talking head on the telly vision or the radio can spout at me in an hour.
