I didn’t realize how shitty MSM reporting was until they reported on something I actually know a lot about. The half truths and ridiculous misrepresentations belie a lack of intellectual rigor bordering on unethical.

And someone is going to say, “But that’s not their role. They’re appealing to the masses and need to generalize.” I agree in our current system that’s probably the best they can do, but it is not what a free press should or could be.

Does anyone have an angle on the strategy here? Obviously Paxton, et al. know this is complete bullshit. Is it extortion of some sort? Get another above board bribe from a corpo?

I’m not buying it is purely optics. These fuckers don’t have to care about convincing anyone anymore so there’s gotta be a grift in there somewhere.

Additional conspiracy theory elements from this thread:

• J&J spun off Tylenol last year. Did they know this was coming? Are they complicit in the grift or did Kennedy know about evidence that actually indicated a link between autism and acet… aceta… what is it… Tylenol?

• Discovery is a part of the judicial process so will they discover there is no evidence that J&J knew anything? What then? Lie, of course, but to what end?

• Release the Epstein files.

Honestly surprised it is so low.

Anyone who didn’t see this as the pre-Nobel publicity stunt it was is an absolute nut sack of a human being.

I think I’m ok with this. Before you lynch me, let me explain.

In the halls of Congress there are super rich, long-term, and likely lobby-fed members, and then there are those average people who ran on people-focused platforms and got elected locally. The first group are not going to be hurt by stopping a paycheck that is probably a rounding error in their actual net worth. And those individuals could use a shutdown and the knowledge that the opposition can’t survive for too long without a paycheck to force capitulation. So, keep paying the opposition during a shutdown to remove some of the leverage the powerful elite have over those representing the people.

A lot of generalizations in there but that’s where my head goes. Still shitty for the country and certainly for those who end up furlowed or worse, for sure. But at least the lawmakers holding out for reform aren’t having their own destitution held over their heads.

This is an amazing nuance I think may be lost on many.

Ding ding ding!

Yeah, admittedly it is probably wishful thinking on my part.

Fucking do it. When the only news feed people have access to is state sponsored Fox News and AI generated MAGA memes on Facebook maybe we’ll get enough people waking up to make a difference.

You can’t just declare random people who hate Nazis a terrorist group

He just did. The rules mean less and less by the minute.

“That’s a ‘you’ problem.” – Tech bros, probably

Biden’s term solidified this for me.

We saw how weak and vulnerable our system of government was and we collectively did NONE of the things that could have actually made a difference. Weak-ass executive orders that could be reversed is just one of the half measures they did instead of packing the court and promptly prosecuting the former criminal in chief.

He’s gonna do something stupid. I’m surprised they haven’t already. The Epstein Files need distracting from. They tried troop deployments on US soil. Bombing in the middle east. Nothing dramatic on the Supreme Court docket.

If there isn’t a natural disaster right now they’re gonna pull some shit. Any guesses?

If they’re lying about the casualty rate then even rational people aren’t given the facts to make intelligent decisions.

I’d bet if they were told the truth no amount of incentive would get them to sign up.

Labelling this conspiracy means you haven’t been paying attention. This is exactly what they’ve been using lawsuits and settlements for over the last 18 months. That and the crypto bullshit to funnel bribes.

Alternate title: “The Atlantic publishes a story about MAGA that everyone with a brain knew for at least eight years.”

Welcome to the party.

To be fair, The Atlantic has been much better at addressing these issues than the rest of MSM, but still not far enough.

I think this is hard for people from other countries to understand. Our Democrats are not an opposition party. We don’t have that concept in our system. I’ll admit I was naive to it before Trump started Trumping. Even after the first Trump I was thinking, “Well, that was fucking dumb. Glad we found our sanity again.” And I was wrong.

I wouldn’t have been able to articulate this before. I credit my time on Lemmy for some of it. But in reality you can’t explain any of this shit show UNLESS you accept that our entire political system is now structured to serve the rich at the expense of the peasants. Universal healthcare is a no brainer. Infrastructure like rail and renewables is a no brainer. Affordable childcare and reasonable wages is a fucking no brainer. UNLESS the incentives for those in power are not aligned with the good of the people.

Democrats don’t care that they’re not in power, as long as the establishment keeps getting paid.

Now, of course, there can be those like AOC and Sanders who buck that trend. Leaders with those types of values do tend toward the Democratic party. But those are the exceptions. And they can’t save us.

This is the part I have a hard time with. I want to defend myself and my family, but pulling a weapon on authorities means you’re gonna die. These ICE/militarized PDs aren’t going to pause a second if they get any excuse to put you down. They might not even bother with the paperwork at this point.

Unless we’re in a “take as many of them with you when you go” situation. But that’s a different conversation than the “organize and call your lawyer” advice I’m seeing in this thread.

Your comment won’t be popular here in the fediverse among Americans, and neither will mine, likely. But as an American I wanted to say I can appreciate your position. What OP’s rant looks like to an outsider is almost the same as what OP is complaining about. I get that a vote for Dems was just a vote for a less shitty situation close to home. To someone whose family is being killed by American supplied arms it is fascist shit all the way down. The schadenfreude you are feeling toward America is the same as that OP is expressing toward non-voters. Some version of, “How do you like the results of your shitty actions?”

Being in the thick of it I have a hard time with the “tear it all down as fast as possible” position. But, I get it.

Upvoted for bringing broader perspectives to Lemmy. Whatever comes next we can’t afford not to see the bigger/biggest picture.

Voting by “vibe”. No critical thinking, and even less empathy.