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The thing that I find frustrating about the current climate is the lack of intellectual integrity on both sides, but on the right in particular. I grew up as a Republican and I used to be very proud of being one. However, the election of Obama in 2008 has transformed the party into a very narrow minded, inwardly focused monstrosity.

Living in Kansas and watching the TV commercials here is a nauseating experience. PRO-GOD, PRO-GUNS, PRO-BORDER SECURITY AND GOSH DARN IT......PRO-TRUMP! The toolbag that licks Trump's nutsack the longest wins. It makes me understand why my dad decided to move to rural Washington in 1983 to get away from the mind-numbing stupidity.

The future of our country goes far beyond what kind of guns you can buy at a store, how many 'spics they let across the border and what kind of being you worship, but the Republican Party has dumbed down the conversation. Farmers in Kansas gladly accept millions of dollars in welfare in the form of farm subsidies but those same jerkwads will generate spit bubbles when talking about their disgust at poor people of color getting welfare. I laugh when I see Pro-Life Republicans talk about how sacred life is and then follow it up with a commercial about how worthless immigrants are. It's amazing to realize that in the eyes of the Republican Party, a life is only sacred until it exits the womb. After that, poor bastard is on their own and if they don't like it...."move to Mexico!". People in red states love to rant about the importance of the second amendment while taking a dump on the first amendment.

People can talk about the liberal slanting of CNN, MSNBC or whatever, but I've never seen them blatantly lie on a nightly basis the way that Fox News does. In the past 10 years, the Republican Party quit worrying about trying to make our country as good as it could be so that they could start worrying about how profitable it can be. I don't enjoy paying excessive taxes and I don't want a world where liberals get to set the agenda without push-back, but I'm really sick and tired of Conservative Christians talking about what good people they are as they take a collective dump on everyone that isn't just like them and worry about how much money that they are getting to take home.

I miss the days where it felt that compromise seemed possible, but maybe it never was and I was just too naive to see it. I was proud to vote Republican from 1988 to 2008, but 2012 felt dirty to me and I could never vote for a despicable human being like Trump. I'm ashamed to be a Registered Republican these days.


Couldn't have said it better myself. I'm in 100% agreement.
 
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Two very simple questions, Flat.

Do you acknowledge the Constitution as the supreme law of the United States?

Do you acknowledge the first 10 Amendments (commonly referred to as the Bill of Rights) as having been lawfully approved as outlined in Article 5 of the US Constitution?

The Constitution is certainly the basis for our country's laws and the foundation upon which everything else is built upon. The interpretation of that Constitution? That's where it gets really tricky......and too often......political.
 
The thing that I find frustrating about the current climate is the lack of intellectual integrity on both sides, but on the right in particular. I grew up as a Republican and I used to be very proud of being one. However, the election of Obama in 2008 has transformed the party into a very narrow minded, inwardly focused monstrosity.

Living in Kansas and watching the TV commercials here is a nauseating experience. PRO-GOD, PRO-GUNS, PRO-BORDER SECURITY AND GOSH DARN IT......PRO-TRUMP! The toolbag that licks Trump's nutsack the longest wins. It makes me understand why my dad decided to move to rural Washington in 1983 to get away from the mind-numbing stupidity.

The future of our country goes far beyond what kind of guns you can buy at a store, how many 'spics they let across the border and what kind of being you worship, but the Republican Party has dumbed down the conversation. Farmers in Kansas gladly accept millions of dollars in welfare in the form of farm subsidies but those same jerkwads will generate spit bubbles when talking about their disgust at poor people of color getting welfare. I laugh when I see Pro-Life Republicans talk about how sacred life is and then follow it up with a commercial about how worthless immigrants are. It's amazing to realize that in the eyes of the Republican Party, a life is only sacred until it exits the womb. After that, poor bastard is on their own and if they don't like it...."move to Mexico!". People in red states love to rant about the importance of the second amendment while taking a dump on the first amendment.

People can talk about the liberal slanting of CNN, MSNBC or whatever, but I've never seen them blatantly lie on a nightly basis the way that Fox News does. In the past 10 years, the Republican Party quit worrying about trying to make our country as good as it could be so that they could start worrying about how profitable it can be. I don't enjoy paying excessive taxes and I don't want a world where liberals get to set the agenda without push-back, but I'm really sick and tired of Conservative Christians talking about what good people they are as they take a collective dump on everyone that isn't just like them and worry about how much money that they are getting to take home.

I miss the days where it felt that compromise seemed possible, but maybe it never was and I was just too naive to see it. I was proud to vote Republican from 1988 to 2008, but 2012 felt dirty to me and I could never vote for a despicable human being like Trump. I'm ashamed to be a Registered Republican these days.
I just don't think generalizing people- whether they are from red states or blue states– is fair or productive in the discourse of current affairs. This is how we get to the extremes and animosity so prevalent in the US right now. I live in a Midwest red state, like you. I'm a moderate, but know plenty of conservative Republicans who are really good people. They DO care about equality and fairness. They go to church and believe in God....but they don't believe they are better than those people who don't. Yes, there are those who fit the characterization you offer....but damn, the many people I've met in my rural, conservative community are kinder and more gracious ON THE WHOLE than most of the people I knew in my previous decades of living in Portland. But just to avoid hypocrisy, I admit I have a lot of friends and acquaintances who are liberal Democrats in Oregon who were/are really great people too. Maybe your experiences in Kansas are different, but the conservatives I've come across are nothing like the people you describe....even if they happen to watch Fox and voted for Trump....same goes for CNN-watching liberals & progressives. To use hyperbole and vitriol in describing a group of people because of their political leanings usually does nothing to bring people together....which is what needs to happen in this country, IMO.

Glad Cougar
 
I’m pretty sure I don’t get it. Please explain. What I get out of Mikalas’ rant and some others is that the perceived liberal leanings of academics and the media is some kind of threat that must be dealt with.

Today more than ever before, liberal and conservative are just labels with no real meaning. So what positions exactly are academia and the media pushing that are antithetical to your well being. Is it abortion, free trade, taxes, deficits, income inequality, race relations, unionization? Or is it all about Trump? As best I can tell, both people that call themselves liberal and people that call themselves conservative are all over the map on all of those issues (except possibly abortion).

1. What I said wasnt a rant. It was just saying, explaining how the media, academia, is about 85% left leaning.

It's not something that MUST change. Altho that would be nice. More important then changing it:

1. The USA isnt ALL liberal, conservative, whatever. It is mixed, divided. BUT the media, academia DOES NOT MIRROR that.

2. There needs to be a AWARENESS, that the media, academia is 85% left leaning, so that people are aware, realize that they might not be getting STRAIGHT news, info, etc, and that what is being put out there is the LIBERAL point of view.

3. This is important because some people think that what the 85% liberal media, academia says is TRUE, factual, objective, etc.

4. Because of that some people are MISLEAD, MISINFORMED, etc.

5. The way to deal with that is to RAISE AWARENESS of that. Get people to realize that, etc.

As far as differences, Liberal, conservative, are not just labels, and are not the same.

There are differences. Some are substantial. Some are fiscal, financial, some are moral, some are philosophical, some are methodology.

I could define what a Liberal, Conservative are, and what the differences are, but that would probably get too political.

Abortion, Socialism, Communism, free trade, taxes, free enterprise, capitalism, deficits, forced wealth redistribution, Property owner rights, guns, etc, are big issues, big differences.

Now what you are probably thinking of is DEMOCRAT VS REPUBLICAN.

Republican and Conservative are NOT the same. Democrat and Liberal are not the same. And Democrats and Republicans are more alike then people realize.

I myself am semi conservative to semi moderate, constitutionalist, libertarian. I identify with that more then REPUBLICANS.

In fact, if I had my way, there would be a 3rd party that would take what I think are the best parts of both parties, and have a powerful, mainstream, legit, etc, Conservative, Libertarian, Constitutionalist, etc, Party.

I realize that wont happen tho.

So I follow the party, candidates that best follow something like that.

Usually thats the libertarian, republican parties, and on rare occasions, even the democrat party.

I have supported Zen Miller, Joe Lieberman as democrats.

If the democrat party wants me to vote democrat, they need to stop choosing the most radical, extreme, worst candidates, and choose more centrist, moderate, blue dog democrats, like a Zen Miller, Joe Lieberman.

If Gore had been the VP, and Lieberman had been the presidential candidate, I would have voted Lieberman over Bush.

But oh no the Democrats had to choose the Radical Gore as the presidential candidate, and put Lieberman as VP.
 
The Constitution is certainly the basis for our country's laws and the foundation upon which everything else is built upon. The interpretation of that Constitution? That's where it gets really tricky......and too often......political.

Interpretation should be TEXTUALITY, letter by letter, word by word, sentence by sentence, parahraph by paragraph.

No place for: "Well what they(The founders), really meant is blah blah"

This is what Neil Gorsuch does.

Textual interpretatation, original text, should be used first, then Original Intent. Then precedent, other founding documents like bill of rights, federalist papers, declaration of independence, to help interpret constitution.

A SPOCKIAN approach should be used.
 
I just don't think generalizing people- whether they are from red states or blue states– is fair or productive in the discourse of current affairs. This is how we get to the extremes and animosity so prevalent in the US right now. I live in a Midwest red state, like you. I'm a moderate, but know plenty of conservative Republicans who are really good people. They DO care about equality and fairness. They go to church and believe in God....but they don't believe they are better than those people who don't. Yes, there are those who fit the characterization you offer....but damn, the many people I've met in my rural, conservative community are kinder and more gracious ON THE WHOLE than most of the people I knew in my previous decades of living in Portland. But just to avoid hypocrisy, I admit I have a lot of friends and acquaintances who are liberal Democrats in Oregon who were/are really great people too. Maybe your experiences in Kansas are different, but the conservatives I've come across are nothing like the people you describe....even if they happen to watch Fox and voted for Trump....same goes for CNN-watching liberals & progressives. To use hyperbole and vitriol in describing a group of people because of their political leanings usually does nothing to bring people together....which is what needs to happen in this country, IMO.

Glad Cougar

Don't get me wrong.....I'm not saying that every Republican where I live is a jerk. What I've seen where I live is that in response to Obama getting elected, the people entering politics shifting too far to the right for my liking and no longer working for the population as a whole and focusing their priorities to satisfy the hot button issues of their base. And people, being how they are, are too willing to allow themselves to be manipulated into hating "the others" and treating people different than them pretty damned poorly.
 
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The thing that I find frustrating about the current climate is the lack of intellectual integrity on both sides, but on the right in particular. I grew up as a Republican and I used to be very proud of being one. However, the election of Obama in 2008 has transformed the party into a very narrow minded, inwardly focused monstrosity.

Living in Kansas and watching the TV commercials here is a nauseating experience. PRO-GOD, PRO-GUNS, PRO-BORDER SECURITY AND GOSH DARN IT......PRO-TRUMP! The toolbag that licks Trump's nutsack the longest wins. It makes me understand why my dad decided to move to rural Washington in 1983 to get away from the mind-numbing stupidity.

The future of our country goes far beyond what kind of guns you can buy at a store, how many 'spics they let across the border and what kind of being you worship, but the Republican Party has dumbed down the conversation. Farmers in Kansas gladly accept millions of dollars in welfare in the form of farm subsidies but those same jerkwads will generate spit bubbles when talking about their disgust at poor people of color getting welfare. I laugh when I see Pro-Life Republicans talk about how sacred life is and then follow it up with a commercial about how worthless immigrants are. It's amazing to realize that in the eyes of the Republican Party, a life is only sacred until it exits the womb. After that, poor bastard is on their own and if they don't like it...."move to Mexico!". People in red states love to rant about the importance of the second amendment while taking a dump on the first amendment.

People can talk about the liberal slanting of CNN, MSNBC or whatever, but I've never seen them blatantly lie on a nightly basis the way that Fox News does. In the past 10 years, the Republican Party quit worrying about trying to make our country as good as it could be so that they could start worrying about how profitable it can be. I don't enjoy paying excessive taxes and I don't want a world where liberals get to set the agenda without push-back, but I'm really sick and tired of Conservative Christians talking about what good people they are as they take a collective dump on everyone that isn't just like them and worry about how much money that they are getting to take home.

I miss the days where it felt that compromise seemed possible, but maybe it never was and I was just too naive to see it. I was proud to vote Republican from 1988 to 2008, but 2012 felt dirty to me and I could never vote for a despicable human being like Trump. I'm ashamed to be a Registered Republican these days.

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Are you kidding me? You have never seen CNN or MSNBC lie on a nightly basis? Apparently you never watch them at all, or it would be impossible to notice some damn big lies.
  • Two and a half years of pushing Russian collusion when there wasn't a bit of evidence
  • The impeachment push
  • "Hands up, don't shoot."
  • Nick Sandman
  • "There are good people on both sides"
  • The protestors are peaceful
  • Etc, etc, etc
Do not interpret this as an exoneration of FNC, but your statement about CNN/MSNBC is ridiculous on the face of it.
 
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*******************

Are you kidding me? You have never seen CNN or MSNBC lie on a nightly basis? Apparently you never watch them at all, or it would be impossible to notice some damn big lies.
  • Two and a half years of pushing Russian collusion when there wasn't a bit of evidence
  • The impeachment push
  • "Hands up, don't shoot."
  • Nick Sandman
  • "There are good people on both sides"
  • The protestors are peaceful
  • Etc, etc, etc
Do not interpret this as an exoneration of FNC, but your statement about CNN/MSNBC is ridiculous on the face of it.
I'm just as concerned about the decisions made by editors/producers of these networks on what stories are covered, let alone how they are covered. Stories you see on Fox often get no coverage by the others and most of the time are written to defend Trump. NBC/MSNBC and CNN, specifically on their websites, will often have twice as many negative Trump stories at the top of the scroll than all other stories combined. Headlines are obviously written to get clicks and nearly always slanted or don't provide any objective context. One of the most egregious tactics, IMO, is interspersing "opinion" pieces with the news stories. They are labeled as such, but I'm not sure all readers distinguish the two anymore. Journalism in 2020 seems to require reporters/writers to have a preconceived conclusion to a news event or story and the appropriate sources and quotes are used to support that conclusion. My WSU communications professor would have flunked me for doing that, but that was in the late 1970s. It makes it hard for today's readers and viewers to truly know who is credible and who is not.

Glad Cougar
 
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In my opinion, the fact that major news outlets have political bias is not a conspiracy theory. But if you believe that way, I respect that.
I also believe that an increase in testing is the major reason for an increase in positive results. Again, just my opinion.
Number of deaths of people who test positive for Covid 19 at the time of their death (?) seems to be under-reported in all the media outlets.

I believe that in a lot of states, the ratio of positives to tests given has gone up. Increased testing will find more positives which is a good think because those people can be quarantined. But the number of cases seems to increasing also, especially since the tests aren't as targeted as they used to be; which would imply that the ration should go down. You used to have to be seriously ill or have great connections to get a test.
 
*******************

Are you kidding me? You have never seen CNN or MSNBC lie on a nightly basis? Apparently you never watch them at all, or it would be impossible to notice some damn big lies.
  • Two and a half years of pushing Russian collusion when there wasn't a bit of evidence
  • The impeachment push
  • "Hands up, don't shoot."
  • Nick Sandman
  • "There are good people on both sides"
  • The protestors are peaceful
  • Etc, etc, etc
Do not interpret this as an exoneration of FNC, but your statement about CNN/MSNBC is ridiculous on the face of it.

  • If you don't feel that Trump wasn't willing to accept assistance from the Russians and encouraged it......that's your right.
  • If you think it was ok for Trump to use congressional approved funding as leverage to try to harm his political rival........that's your right.
  • If you don't believe that there is a problem with people in our country being killed by police.....that's your right.
  • Nick Sandmann and his friends were arrogant little pricks. CNN obviously went over the line with their coverage, but I don't feel one bit of empathy for him and his friends overall. That one is a case of them failing to get the full story before reporting on the event, but those kids sucked. I'd punch my son in the mouth if I ever saw him on TV looking like those little f#cksticks.
  • If you think it's ok for Trump to say that neo-nazis and white supremacists are good people.....that says a lot about you.......
  • The vast majority of protests in this country are peaceful. Some of them were peaceful until police decided that it was time to take a dump on the first amendment and force the inspectors to "respect mah authoritah!". Some of the protests did involve looting and vandalism. The people involved in that kind of activity should all be in jail.
CNN and the "liberal" media is certainly guilty of slanting their coverage to project the messages that they believe. Nobody is denying that. Fox is willing to just flat out fabricate videos and try to retcon recent events in ways that boggle the imagination. Hell, they were trying to imply that Epstein died because of his acquaintance with the Clintons.....but the best recent picture that they could find of Epstein with Ghislaine Maxwell had to be cropped so it wouldn't show Donald Trump grabassing on his future wife with Epstein and Maxwell standing with them.

I'm not a "fan" of CNN or MSNBC. Frankly, I can't tell you the last time that I watched either one of them. I turned off my Sling subscription a few months back and haven't missed any of them. Still, I'd trust their liberally slanted coverage over the blatant fabrications of Fox News any day. For me, the funniest thing about Fox News is when they have some pretty young blonde girl start yelling party line rants at the camera and pretend like it's news because they know that for old crusty conservative guys.....that's practically porn.

The thing that blows my mind is the willingness of Republicans to accept some of the absolutely crazy and insulting things that Trump does. Hell, posting his picture with a commercial product with his thumbs up yesterday is an egregious ethical violation. If Barack Obama had done that, Fox News would have devoted 36 hours to the attacks on it. Trump does it.....and that crap is shrugged off. The lack of integrity and rampant selfishness of the GOP is astonishing. Fox News is the primary enabler of that.
 
I wanted to add that I voted Republican in the 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Presidential elections. I was a Republican 15 years before our current commits were born. Any criticisms I have of the party are based on the hard right move made by the leadership in the party as they've tried to use a handful of hot button issues as their carrot for the more radical parts of their base. I want to be proud to be a Republican again.
 
  • If you don't feel that Trump wasn't willing to accept assistance from the Russians and encouraged it......that's your right.
  • If you think it was ok for Trump to use congressional approved funding as leverage to try to harm his political rival........that's your right.
  • If you don't believe that there is a problem with people in our country being killed by police.....that's your right.
  • Nick Sandmann and his friends were arrogant little pricks. CNN obviously went over the line with their coverage, but I don't feel one bit of empathy for him and his friends overall. That one is a case of them failing to get the full story before reporting on the event, but those kids sucked. I'd punch my son in the mouth if I ever saw him on TV looking like those little f#cksticks.
  • If you think it's ok for Trump to say that neo-nazis and white supremacists are good people.....that says a lot about you.......
  • The vast majority of protests in this country are peaceful. Some of them were peaceful until police decided that it was time to take a dump on the first amendment and force the inspectors to "respect mah authoritah!". Some of the protests did involve looting and vandalism. The people involved in that kind of activity should all be in jail.
CNN and the "liberal" media is certainly guilty of slanting their coverage to project the messages that they believe. Nobody is denying that. Fox is willing to just flat out fabricate videos and try to retcon recent events in ways that boggle the imagination. Hell, they were trying to imply that Epstein died because of his acquaintance with the Clintons.....but the best recent picture that they could find of Epstein with Ghislaine Maxwell had to be cropped so it wouldn't show Donald Trump grabassing on his future wife with Epstein and Maxwell standing with them.

I'm not a "fan" of CNN or MSNBC. Frankly, I can't tell you the last time that I watched either one of them. I turned off my Sling subscription a few months back and haven't missed any of them. Still, I'd trust their liberally slanted coverage over the blatant fabrications of Fox News any day. For me, the funniest thing about Fox News is when they have some pretty young blonde girl start yelling party line rants at the camera and pretend like it's news because they know that for old crusty conservative guys.....that's practically porn.

The thing that blows my mind is the willingness of Republicans to accept some of the absolutely crazy and insulting things that Trump does. Hell, posting his picture with a commercial product with his thumbs up yesterday is an egregious ethical violation. If Barack Obama had done that, Fox News would have devoted 36 hours to the attacks on it. Trump does it.....and that crap is shrugged off. The lack of integrity and rampant selfishness of the GOP is astonishing. Fox News is the primary enabler of that.

Blows my mind how people ignore what they see with their own eyes and hear with their own ears. I’m not talking about what Hannity or Lemmon say, and sure there’s political media bias depending on where you tune in. I’m talking about mountains of evidence, live testimony from credible corroborating witnesses, publicly available documents, and FFS, Trumps own spoken words. Whether you think Trump should have been removed from office for what happened with Ukraine or the pre-election stuff is your prerogative. To dispute the evidence/testimony/dozens of criminally convicted Trump associates and cast aside as some left media conspiracy is bizarre to me. People twist themselves into F’ing pretzels to explain away this stuff that’s out there for the whole world to see.
 
Multiple Florida clinics posting 100% positive test results.

In fact, less than 10% positive.

Sure.....it's just a clerical error. Riiiiiight.[/QUO
Multiple Florida clinics posting 100% positive test results.

In fact, less than 10% positive.

Sure.....it's just a clerical error. Riiiiiight.
this seems to be a reasonable narrative on what happened in Florida. https://www.clickorlando.com/news/l...flaws-in-florida-department-of-health-report/.
 
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