The Many Faces of US Politics...

[J70]

https://twitter.com/ChiefHarteau/status/1267460683408564225

Is there any hope in the US with someone like this as a police chief?

He's not a police chief. He's a union boss. If this guy and the ones in NYC are any guide, it looks like you have to be a complete and utter tosser to ascend to the role.

[sid waddell]

What "mob"?
White polismen who kill black suspects?

https://www.latimes.com/visuals/graphics/la-me-g-lapd-race-20150319-htmlstory.html

Sometimes I truly get the impression that Irish (and most other european nationalities tbf) people are truly out of touch with reality in America despite having very strong opinions on how America should do things. I do understand this I was that person

Perhaps you should consider it may be yourself who is truly out of touch with reality.

I have considered that... but then I also consider the homogeneous simplistic way that I used to view the states vs the recognition of the complex diverse 50 states that I am actually living in and you can see which version I'd prob trust more.

So by your own admission, you've replaced believing in one straw man with believing a different one.

Just because you used to think a certain way doesn't mean you should assume that others do. Unfortunately, you do.

And thus you make the mistake of confusing cold hard, truth for "simplism", and simplism for nuance.

The zeal of the convert.

[sid waddell]

The NY Times is so intent on pissing all over the police that they have, to date... wait for it... ZERO articles about Officer Murashea Bovell, a whistleblower who kept records of all kinds of terrible misconduct over the past few years in the Mount Vernon police. Mount Vernon literally borders the Bronx to the north and is closer to Manhattan than many parts of Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island. The Gothamist, an NPR-afilitated local news website carried the story yesterday, but the Times has yet to bite. Didn't even make it to the bottom of the Metro section yet.

https://gothamist.com/news/mount-vernon-police-tapes-innocent-people-were-framed

J70....did you see what happened with Tom Cottons op ed?  Makes the NT Times look seriously stupid

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.com/homenews/media/501249-nyt-says-tom-cotton-editorial-did-not-meet-our-standards%3famp

Yes, it does. The world wasn't waiting to hear from Tom Cotton so urgently that they couldn't have demanded some changes first, instead of rushing it to print without proper review.

And if he refused, I'm sure there were plenty of other papers who'd take a piece from a prominent US Senator.

The Cotton article was an exemplar of everything I've been saying about the New York Times and its false "balance" and enabling of fascism.

Any "argument" for publishing that "opinion article" could be used just as easily to "justify" the publication of an "opinion article" calling into the question the existence of the Holocaust or arguing for the reintroduction of slavery.

[sid waddell]

https://pressrun.media/p/why-new-york-times-and-facebook-employees

Why New York Times and Facebook employees are rebelling
Fed up with Trump kowtowing

Eric Boehlert

Even during a pandemic that has unleashed historic unemployment and at a time when media jobs are vanishing at a stunning rate, some brave employees at Facebook and New York Times have had enough, and risked their careers by calling out their employers over the way they constantly bow down to authoritarian Republican power in the age of Trump. Having ignored outside criticism for years, Facebook and the Times now have to deal with internal revolts that are much harder to dismiss. This time, the howls of protest are coming from inside the building.

In both cases, the worker rebellions are being fueled by deep anger over corporate behavior that emboldens Trump's divisive and hateful ways. At Facebook, the resentment stems from how the social media giant has given Trump a green light to lie and use the global social media platform as a misinformation weapon this campaign season. Facebook has also allowed itself to become a sewer for racist content during a time of national disturbance and protest.

At the Times, the paper this week published an Op-Ed from a Republican senator who echoed Trump's rhetoric and basically urged that martial law be invoked, using the full force of the U.S. military as a way to silence nationwide protests that erupted in the wake of a Minneapolis policeman murdering an unconscious black man, George Floyd, by kneeling on his neck.

The stunning column, which urged the U.S. Army be sent into cities over the objection of local mayors and governors, came not only at a time of widespread abuse as peaceful protesters are beaten and tear gassed nationwide, but at a time when journalists are being targeted for unlawful assault by law enforcement.

Twitter immediately lit up the Times with criticism, which is not unusual given how often the paper strikes an errant chord in the Trump era. But then the unexpected happened —Times staffers started posting their own protests. Nikole Hannah-Jones, a correspondent for The New York Times Magazine, tweeted, "As a black woman, as a journalist, as an American, I am deeply ashamed that we ran this." Others cited the Cotton column and tweeted, "Running this puts Black @NYTimes staff in danger." The NewsGuild of New York, the union that represents many Times journalists, stressed in a statement that the Op-Ed "promotes hate" during this "particularly vulnerable moment in American history."

Responding to the immediate internal outcry, editorial page editor James Bennet insisted that in an open debate it's important to hear all sides and that the Times has an obligation to include many voices, even if they're unpopular. (Question: Would the daily run an op-ed supporting violence against law enforcement?) Basically, Bennet washed his hands of the decision-making process and suggested that the of course, the paper had to publish a Republican senator.

Bennet was initially supported by the newspaper's publisher. But then by Thursday evening, Times leadership issued a statement saying the Cotton piece had been "rushed" to publication and had not met the paper's standards. (So why did the publisher support its publication?)

Here's what helped doom the Times this week — the idea that anything a GOP senator puts his/her name on automatically means it's important and mainstream. The Times for years has actively refused to acknowledge GOP's dangerous, radical turn, and it started during Barack Obama's presidency.

Today, that timidity has transferred to its Trump coverage. Example: Last year the Times published a peculiar article about how White House communications director Hope Hicks faced an "existential choice" of whether or not to comply with a congressional subpoena. (That's not how subpoenas work.) Just last winter the Times compared Trump, whose presidency is defined by naked corruption, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, suggesting they're both "populists."

Meanwhile over at Facebook, CEO Mark Zuckerberg can't stop capitulating to Trump and his message of violence and civil unrest. Last week as protests erupted in the streets, Zuckerberg insisted any type of message from the White House that encouraged violence would by removed by Facebook. Then when Trump did exactly that ("when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!") Zuckerberg retreated and announced Facebook would take no action to remove the message.

On Monday, Facebook engineer Timothy Aveni publicly announced he was quitting in protest: "Facebook will keep moving the goalposts every time Trump escalates, finding excuse after excuse not to act on increasingly dangerous rhetoric." That same day hundreds of Facebook employees staged a virtual walk-out, in protest of the Zuckerberg's decision on Trump's hate posts.

Soon, dozens of influential early employees of Facebook, including the company's first chief of communications, as well as designers, engineers and policy executives, publicly condemned Zuckerberg's refusal to apply Facebook's clearly stated content guidelines to Trump. "We are devastated to see something we built and something we believed would make the world a better place lose its way so profoundly," they wrote.

It's true that the number of voices speaking out this week remain relatively small considering how large Facebook and the Times are. But it's important to understand the culture, especially at the Times, where defending the paper from criticism is considered an employment prerequisite. In recent years, a cult-like defense has permeated the newsroom, where staffers remained convinced Times critics were naïve and misguided. So for staffers this week to speak up is quite unusual.

The sad truth is that both Facebook and the Paper of Record appear to be deeply confused institutions right now in terms of how they deal with Trump. They both appear to be willing victims of Trump's bullying. Facebook has been running scared of the GOP since 2016 when the party launched an orchestrated campaign about how the company was "silencing" Republican voices, complete with Congressional hearings. Zuckerberg has been fixed in a permanent bowing position every since.

As for the Times, the paper does lots of amazing reporting, particularly during the pandemic and covering a nation in revolt. But when it comes to dealing with Trump and being honest with readers about his dangerous and radical ways, the Times and its D.C. bureau have been helping boost Trump for years. How else do you explain the paper's nonsensical policy of not calling Trump a "liar"? The newsroom is forbidden from calling Trump a liar, but the Times published a GOP screed basically arguing in favor of martial law?

No wonder staffers are pissed off.

[macdanger2]

I have considered that... but then I also consider the homogeneous simplistic way that I used to view the states vs the recognition of the complex diverse 50 states that I am actually living in and you can see which version I'd prob trust more.

Hold on, you live in all 50 states??? 

[whitey]

The NY Times is so intent on pissing all over the police that they have, to date... wait for it... ZERO articles about Officer Murashea Bovell, a whistleblower who kept records of all kinds of terrible misconduct over the past few years in the Mount Vernon police. Mount Vernon literally borders the Bronx to the north and is closer to Manhattan than many parts of Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island. The Gothamist, an NPR-afilitated local news website carried the story yesterday, but the Times has yet to bite. Didn't even make it to the bottom of the Metro section yet.

https://gothamist.com/news/mount-vernon-police-tapes-innocent-people-were-framed

J70....did you see what happened with Tom Cottons op ed?  Makes the NT Times look seriously stupid

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.com/homenews/media/501249-nyt-says-tom-cotton-editorial-did-not-meet-our-standards%3famp

Yes, it does. The world wasn't waiting to hear from Tom Cotton so urgently that they couldn't have demanded some changes first, instead of rushing it to print without proper review.

And if he refused, I'm sure there were plenty of other papers who'd take a piece from a prominent US Senator.

It was thoroughly vetted and edited according to Cotton. Hopefully he will release some emails

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/tom-cotton-new-york-times-op-ed-inside-story/amp/

[J70]

The NY Times is so intent on pissing all over the police that they have, to date... wait for it... ZERO articles about Officer Murashea Bovell, a whistleblower who kept records of all kinds of terrible misconduct over the past few years in the Mount Vernon police. Mount Vernon literally borders the Bronx to the north and is closer to Manhattan than many parts of Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island. The Gothamist, an NPR-afilitated local news website carried the story yesterday, but the Times has yet to bite. Didn't even make it to the bottom of the Metro section yet.

https://gothamist.com/news/mount-vernon-police-tapes-innocent-people-were-framed

J70....did you see what happened with Tom Cottons op ed?  Makes the NT Times look seriously stupid

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.com/homenews/media/501249-nyt-says-tom-cotton-editorial-did-not-meet-our-standards%3famp

Yes, it does. The world wasn't waiting to hear from Tom Cotton so urgently that they couldn't have demanded some changes first, instead of rushing it to print without proper review.

And if he refused, I'm sure there were plenty of other papers who'd take a piece from a prominent US Senator.

It was thoroughly vetted and edited according to Cotton. Hopefully he will release some emails

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/tom-cotton-new-york-times-op-ed-inside-story/amp/

We'll see what comes of it.

[J70]

Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) Tweeted:
Road Rage: Man with 'Wolverine Claw' Confronts Teens Who Reportedly Threw Objects at His Car https://t.co/SNePv2ekfo

J70....this guy is from your neck of the woods. Is he a mate of yours?

Guy looks deranged. What the f**k was that weapon?? Why would you have something like that in your car??

No doubt mouthing off at the teenage protesters, they throw something at him in response, then he does a ridiculous u-turn on a busy flyover (I know it well) and chases a bunch of sixteen year old girls and boys with some bizarre knife array.

Your man from the other day has been arrested whitey.

Not surprised! f**king eejit. And not the first time he's been in trouble with the law.

https://queenspost.com/man-who-attacked-protesters-in-whitestone-arrested-nypd
https://nypost.com/2020/06/03/queens-wolverine-man-has-long-list-of-arrests/

[sid waddell]

Jounalism is supposed to be about afflicting the comfortable, and comforting the afflicted.

The essential problem with the New York Times ownership, management and senior editorial staff is that they have taken the conscious decision that they are willing to afflict the afflicted, and comfort the comfortable, thus protecting untrammelled corporate power and privilege, even it means legitimising racism, science denial and authoritarianism.

They are by no means alone in this, it is a conscious strategy on behalf of the decision makers of many or even most traditional journalistic bastions.

This is indeed a betrayal of the many good journalists that work at these organisations, and a betrayal of journalism itself.

The right-wing industrial bullshit machine is massive enough as it is, and the world of social media is so out of control in terms of spreading far right propaganda, that it's imperative that traditionally reputable outlets do not add to it. Sadly a lot of them seem intent on doing just that.

It's not as if the New York Times doesn't have a history of doing such however - it denied Stalin's Holomodor in Ukraine in the 1930s.

Sadly its decision makers seem intent on following that path again and denying the existence of the American fascism of Trump and the Republican party.

[whitey]

Great commentary

https://jonathanturley.org/2020/06/05/mea-culpa-new-york-times-caves-to-protests-and-apologizes-for-posting-conservative-opinion/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

[Gmac]

Great commentary

https://jonathanturley.org/2020/06/05/mea-culpa-new-york-times-caves-to-protests-and-apologizes-for-posting-conservative-opinion/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

nyt have had op ed pieces by Putin , erdogan and some taliban leader before and seemed to be ok .

[glens73]

Great commentary

https://jonathanturley.org/2020/06/05/mea-culpa-new-york-times-caves-to-protests-and-apologizes-for-posting-conservative-opinion/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Do you ever post anything constructive? Something that logically argues your views of the US political scene, rather than just tweets and articles.

[whitey]

Great commentary

https://jonathanturley.org/2020/06/05/mea-culpa-new-york-times-caves-to-protests-and-apologizes-for-posting-conservative-opinion/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Do you ever post anything constructive? Something that logically argues your views of the US political scene, rather than just tweets and articles.

Given that I'm a descendant from Captain Boycott, I think it's good to mix it up and share perspective from other sources

[glens73]

Great commentary

https://jonathanturley.org/2020/06/05/mea-culpa-new-york-times-caves-to-protests-and-apologizes-for-posting-conservative-opinion/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Do you ever post anything constructive? Something that logically argues your views of the US political scene, rather than just tweets and articles.

Given that I'm a descendant from Captain Boycott, I think it's good to mix it up and share perspective from other sources

I'm not talking about perspective, I'm talking about your own opinion, not just endless retweets. I'd be interested in hearing why you think the way you do, even if I disagree with it.

[Gmac]

There really are 2 protests going on one is about George Floyd and police violence and the other is about trump , the question is do people let the protesters who are bandwagonBig iGeorge Floyd push them into voting for Biden or do they double down with trump . 6 monthxx Sc is a long time in politics.