I watched Canadian officials hold a presser on the Toronto plane crash and remarkably they're not blaming DEI or recklessly speculating about causes. They could never cut it down here in Trumplandia.
Robert Reich - Friends,
I want to talk today about the media’s coverage of the Trump-Vance-Musk coup.
I’m not referring to coverage by the bonkers right-wing media of Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News and its imitators.
I’m referring to the U.S. mainstream media — The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, National Public Radio — and the mainstream media abroad, such as the BBC and The Guardian.
By not calling it a coup, the mainstream media is failing to communicate the gravity of what is occurring.
Thursday’s opinion by The New York Times’ editorial board offers a pathetic example. It concedes that Trump and his top associates “are stress-testing the Constitution, and the nation, to a degree not seen since the Civil War” but then asks: “Are we in a constitutional crisis yet?” and answers that what Trump is doing “should be taken as a flashing warning sign.”
Warning sign?
Elon Musk’s meddling into the machinery of government is a part of the coup. Musk and his muskrats have no legal right to break into the federal payments system or any of the other sensitive data systems they’re invading, for which they continue to gather computer code.
This data is the lifeblood of our government. It is used to pay Social Security and Medicare. It measures inflation and jobs. Americans have entrusted our private information to professional civil servants who are bound by law to use it only for the purposes to which it is intended. In the wrong hands, without legal authority, it could be used to control or mislead Americans.
By failing to use the term “coup,” the media have also underplayed the Trump-Vance-Musk regime’s freeze on practically all federal funding — suggesting this is a normal part of the pull-and-tug of politics. It is not. Congress has the sole authority to appropriate money. The freeze is illegal and unconstitutional.
By not calling it a coup, the media have also permitted Americans to view the regime’s refusal to follow the orders of the federal courts as a political response, albeit an extreme one, to judicial rulings that are at odds with what a president wants.
There is nothing about the regime’s refusal to be bound by the courts that places it within the boundaries of acceptable politics. Our system of government gives the federal judiciary final say about whether actions of the executive are legal and constitutional. Refusal to be bound by federal court rulings shows how rogue this regime truly is.
Earlier this week, a federal judge excoriated the regime for failing to comply with “the plain text” of an edict the judge issued last month to release billions of dollars in federal grants. Vice President JD Vance, presumably in response, declared that “judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”
Vance graduated from the same law school I did. He knows he’s speaking out of his derriere.In sum, the regime’s disregard for laws and constitutional provisions surrounding access to private data, impoundment of funds appropriated by Congress, and refusal to be bound by judicial orders amount to a takeover of our democracy by a handful of men who have no legal authority to do so.
If this is not a coup d’etat, I don’t know what is.
The mainstream media must call this what it is. In doing so, they would not be “taking sides” in a political dispute. They would be accurately describing the dire emergency America now faces.Unless Americans see it and understand the whole of it for what it is rather than piecemeal stories that “flood the zone,” Americans cannot possibly respond to the whole of it. The regime is undertaking so many outrageous initiatives that the big picture cannot be seen without it being described clearly and simply.Unless Americans understand that this is indeed a coup that’s wildly illegal and fundamentally unconstitutional — not just because that happens to be the opinion of constitutional scholars or professors of law, or the views of Trump’s political opponents, but because it is objectively and in reality a coup — Americans cannot rise up as the clear majority we are, and demand that democracy be restored.
Issa Rae, celebrated creator and star of HBO's "Insecure," has canceled her sold-out event, "An Evening with Issa Rae," at the Kennedy Center, citing a breach of the institution's core values following Donald T/rump's appointment as chairman. Rae announced her decision via Instagram, expressing her disappointment in the venue’s new leadership and thanking fans for their support, with full refunds promised for ticket holders.
This move aligns with a wave of resignations and cancellations by other artists, including Shonda Rhimes and Ben Folds, in protest of T/rump’s controversial takeover, which included firing board members and reshaping the center’s programming direction.
#IssaRae #KennedyCenter #InsecureHBO
MEANWHILE IN CANADA (POLITICS)
4 NATIONS HOCKEY
The 2025 4 Nations Face-Off is an ongoing international ice hockey tournament that started on February 12, and will end on February 20, 2025. The games are being played in Montreal at Bell Centre and in Boston at TD Garden. Ironic - Maine-based TD Banknorth, is a U.S. subsidiary of Toronto-Dominion Bank CANADA.
So Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau and his son were at the hockey game last night in Montreal. Not in a box or protected area. Sitting surrounded by Canadians without security. Singing and enjoying the game.
My personal favorite is raising the retirement age. Harper raised it to 70 so I could see him doing that again. Trudeau lowered it back to 65. This breakdown is frightening. Share this post as you see fit …… J.T
Synopsis of Pierre Poilievre
●He voted to ban abortions
●He voted to cancel Veterans Disability
●He voted against workers rights
●He voted AGAINST housing initiatives
●He voted to raise the retirement age
●He voted to slash OAS/CPP
●He voted for scabs
●He refused security clearance . WHY??
●He instructed his MPs to keep silent on gay rights.
It is the opinion of Democracy Inc that LGBTQIA2S human rights will be compromised if Poilievre becomes PM
●He voted to cancel school lunch programs for children experiencing poverty
●Not a word about the death of Navalny!
●HE voted against aid for Ukraine
●He could care less about the climate
●He's been flying all over the country to put himself into power on our dime
●He shamelessly lies and misinforms
● He vowed to "wield the NOTWITHSTANDING CLAUSE " thereby taking our charter rights away
●He has publicly stated that he would not support Pharmacare and Dentacare (at least twice) thereby enriching insurance companies.
●He supplied coffee and donuts to the Trucker Convoy who were funded by MAGA and Russia. No wonder he voted against aid to Ukraine
●He advocated to replace Canadian money with Bitcoin, (unregulated , no intrinsic value,)
●He scapegoated Trudeau for causing inflation, while inflation was global and Canada had one of the lowest rates in the world
●He scapegoated Trudeau for causing the interest rate hikes, while Trudeau has zero power or influence
over the Bank of Canada.
●He constantly scapegoats Trudeau by falsely claiming (lying) that the air pollution fines are the main driver of inflation in Canada, even though he KNOWS that that is completely false and was proven so.
●He advocated for making drug addicts die sooner rather than later (since forced rehab doesn't work unless an addict WANTS to get clean, and requires violating 2 different human rights).
●He clearly stated that he intends to implement MASSIVE austerity cuts and measures on pretty much *ALL* federal gov't spending, which would be EXTREMELY harmful, disastrous, destructive, and deadly!
● He has publicly stated that he will defund the CBC
●He has consistently demeaned journalists who ask salient questions , but will give interviews to extreme right persons, such Jordan Peterson
AS BC BURNED LAST SUMMER, REMEMBER THIS QUOTE FROM PIERRE ON FEB 26TH 2024:
✔️"CONSERVATIVES WILL REPEAL ALL TRUDEAU’S ANTI-ENERGY LAWS AND UNLEASH CANADIAN ENERGY (OIL&GAS) FOR OURSELVES AND THE WORLD" -Pierre Poilievre, Feb 26 2024
IT'S ALL ON THE RECORD!
●He diagnostically fills several criteria for sociopathology (opinion)
ONTARIO
If he isn't voted out then we are no smarter than MAGA Americans!
He couldn't hold a candle to the two women running against him, he sweated, regurgitated his non-platform.
WHO WON THE DEBATE?
Weston is one of DoFo Ford's buddies and is the reason I refuse to shop in any Loblaw's or Shoppers' Drug Marts. I will pay more for Canadian goods elsewhere.
...congrats, is it true that Canadians are born with skates on?
ReplyDeleteHa. Really like the Trudeau/Trump (#7 photo I think)....if the mukluk fits one.
ReplyDelete