Friends, let us all congratulate and commiserate with Mike Johnson, who has been reelected Speaker of the House, with Donald Trump's fulsome support, and will now have to battle (vainly?) to shove Trump's agenda through a recalcitrant legislative body. Will he get America where it needs to go? Will he even survive as Speaker for two full years? Who can say. What we know for sure is that Republicans have averted disaster for at least a few days, and that's better than...the obvious alternative!
Meta's transformation from woke, Trump-bashing digital megaphone to even-handed, Trump-friendly online marketplace of ideas has been, in grand historical terms, remarkably speedy. The same platform that banned Trump four years ago is now embracing him, and conservatism, rather brazenly. One assumes that the Left will gird itself to punish and boycott Meta, which is okay by me, because that will only confirm Zuckerberg and friends in the assumption that the progressives have gone off the deep end.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: Well, I was having a good day and then I happened on a report on MSNBC's screed that President reelect Trump has been "ordered" by a New York "judge"(state , county, city? De nada, "same-same" for political considerations) to appear at his "sentencing" on Jan.10. My comments will be based on the very questionable assumption that this is accurate. MSNBC is the obsequious mouthpiece of antiamerica and could well be misrepresenting a less significant judgement. Jan. 10th: so "coincidentally" close to Inauguration Day, yes!?But if this report is honest: where to begin?
ReplyDeleteNY must be bound and determined to become THE pariah state of the Union. It should be deeply shamed before the country; believe me, we of the common sense patriotic electoral minority in this benighted "Empire State" , would, if we could , mitigate this. We are a one party dictatorship of the sort still intended for America by the far left.
I hope to see President reelect Trump tell our detestably presumptuous state to "step off" and refuse its "order" . What the hell do these dissemblers think they are and what do they hope to accomplish? THEY LOST! Their lawfare grandstand has collapsed! Had Himmler and Goering repaired to the Bavarian Alps in '45 they could hardly have presented a spectacle so ridiculous.
On Jan.21, the DOJ must commence the institution of criminal and /or civil and civil rights charges against frivolously radical NY gov't and judiciary for its partisan abuse of legal processes. Enough is enough. Federal occupation of the state , ala Reconstruction , should be on the table .
NY has freely chosen to extend the life of this execrable farce. Let it reap the whirlwind it has sown.
The race between Governor Hochul and Lee Zeldin was the closest I have seen in my adult life. And I feel it was for good reason.
DeleteTrump was convicted of 34 felony counts. Next Friday, he will receive a sentence with no punishment - no imprisonment, no probation and no fine. What the sentencing will do will rightly mark Trump as the only president to enter office as a convicted felon. That's good news for the rule of law.
DeleteIt's also good news for Trump. He can't appeal his conviction in New York without being sentenced. So, his appeal rights have been preserved. Given that the appeals court so far has ruled against him, it is unlikely he will prevail in any appeal, but he can try. Maybe the case will go to the Supreme Court where offers of expensive vacations to certain justices will get him a favorable verdict. Of course, they will have to have their vacations at Trump properties.
Rod
Social media companies can be interesting at times. Sometimes they push their agenda, other times, they'll actually prioritize the contrary to increase controversy, and indirectly, engagement. Which is the primary venue of them making money, advertising which can be supercharged by engagement.
ReplyDeleteFacebook/Meta has been known to go back and forth on that. And Zuckerberg and Crew seem to have a tendency towards social experiments as well.
Such as the social experiment they did in 2012 which they learned how to manipulate people's emotions through controlling what is promoted on their timeline.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: An analogy from our first civil war (1861-5) could be useful. We know now that the Confederacy was certainly doomed in Autumn of '64 but it did persist, even after the reelection of Lincoln sealed its fate. And it yet fought very hard , as accounts of the murderous fighting around Petersburg VA , the gateway to Richmond ,confirm. At the time, there was no unassailable assurance that the Union siege would succeed.
ReplyDeleteOf course antiamerica will continue its savage assault on America and all who defend it! They have not yet been dealt the repeated defeats which must eventually sap their fanatic resolve unto despair. Then our course is clear: accomplish the ongoing and eventually inexorable destruction of their neomarxist cause and purge it from the Anerican body politic. That done, we can return to normal American democratic political dynamic, free of radical presumption and imposition of tyranny.
RAY TO JACK
DeleteI'm not sure where you are going, or trying to go, with your references to our first Civil War of 1861-1865. Yes, I understand the analogy part to a certain extent, but then I come to a dead end. Maybe I'm being a "dunce" on this, and just don't know it.
As you know, that first Civil War (our second began with the hippie revolt in the 1960s), was at least fought between men of honor. (No, The South was wrong about slavery from day one, but most Southerners did not have slaves anyway.)
My point is, that at least many, if not most, of the commanders on both sides had attended West Point together, and there were some genuine friendships, and most all were Americans. I dare say none of them were woke. As far as I know Jubal Early was not transgender, or Stonewall Jackson gay.
In brief, the Civil War of 1861-1865 was a national tragedy, but our current culture war is a damned disgrace led from the Left by a bunch of social degenerates. I still say Robert E. Lee was an honorable man. However, I'm still glad the union was preserved.
Dilan from Jack: I hope you are right and that forces which can free NY state from its arrogant far leftist grip are advancing. Gov. Hochul has proven herself mainly committed to traditional far left concerns.Her emotional reaction to the alleged mistreatment of a criminal in state custody stands in sharp contrast to her "compassionate"support for ever more indecent excuses awarded to convicted NY monsters for whose victims and their families, there will never be reprieve, redress or relief! The victims just don't count and they know it.
ReplyDelete"Alleged" mistreatment? Have you not seen the video (and that's only the video from the cameras that were on. Most were left off)? Those guards need to do serious time.
DeleteRod
Dr. Waddy from Jack: Criminal justice is a zero sum , still highly faulty process. If you emphasize the rights of criminals you wrong crime victims. If you minimize the rights of criminals you wrong the innocent among them. A healthy society must choose the latter human imperfection. NY has of course chosen to honor the "rights" of some of the most blatantly guilty offenders. And in doing so it has become a haven for thugs; surprise, surprise.
ReplyDeleteI see Rod honors and upholds the rule of law...as long as the relevant judges do his bidding. I can go along with that. But Rod is right that the "judgement" about to be lodged against Trump represents a tactical retreat for the New York State "justice" system, which would have liked nothing more than to jail Trump based on any pretext. I hope Rod is wrong about Trump's chances of a successful appeal, because this ridiculous conviction ought to be vacated.
ReplyDeleteDilan, I fear you are right that what we are seeing at Facebook is not necessarily an ideological about-face but a calculated feint by people who remain, at heart, leftists and creatures of the establishment. If Trump and Republicans are regarded as the losers in 2026, it will be interesting to see if corporate America, the media, and most social media companies pounce and try to finish MAGA off.
Ray makes a good point that the social context for the U.S. Civil War and for the current culture wars and partisan struggle was and is very different. Indeed, one could argue that the Americans who tried to kill each other in 1861-65, and so often succeeded, had more in common with one another than Republicans and Democrats do now.
My guess is that Hochul will double down on Trump hatred and the "resistance" to Trumpism, and my guess would also be that she will do so successfully and win reelection. This is, after all, New York State.
The sad thing is that Democrats don't really need much more of a platform for their voters. But for this past NY state election, there had been less turnout of them in favor of Hochul.
DeleteThe contrast from 2014 to 2018 to 2022 it's pretty clear. Went from a 14% Democrat lead in 2014, to a 24% Democrat lead in 2018, and now in 2022 a 7% Democrat lead.
If Hochul's case of TDS isn't enough to reverse the steep downward decline in the % Democrats lead by in NY state, her reelection efforts might be in trouble for 2026.
That's what I'm seeing anyway.
Zuckerberg only cares about two things -- money and the power of having one of the most popular online platforms. He has no ideology. If the political winds are favorable to Democrats in 2026, that's where his money and influence will go. Right now, he figures he's better off sucking up to Trump.
ReplyDeleteRod
Rod,
DeleteI'm glad I'm not the only one who sees it. Targeted ad revenue is Facebook/Meta's main income stream currently, last I checked they're not selling many VR headsets or onboarding a ton of players in their Metaverse.
Sometimes promoting controversial content engages the audience a lot more. More engagements, including reacts and comments; means more data collected about the preferences of each audience members, which possibly means better click-through rates.
TLDR: The paragraph above means they bring more money from reacts and comments.
Rod from Jack: The use of the term "alleged" is customary when referring to yet unadjudicated charges. You can be confident that those officers will, if found guilty, do VERY serious time, being former C.O.s. Still, I see in Hochul's enthusiastic promise of justice in this case the anti law enforcement bias which anyone who has worked in that field in the criminals' playground, NY state, readily recognizes. And of course further measures further crippling the ability of C.O.s to legitimately maintain order and defend themselves will be forthcoming in profusion in our benighted state. And of course criminals will rejoice at that. Were the recording equipment available and the timing right, scores of similarly murderous events perpetrated against the general public by criminals, could be daily fare.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy fvrom Jack: In the Navy I had a friend from Mississippi who said "up here (Rhode Island ) might as well be a foreign country to me; its nothing like home". Considering mid 19th century travel and communications , those differences were probably far more pronounced. I noticed pronounced cultural differences between we northerners and southerners when we were all together on a ship. I think most southerners during the first Civil War just wanted Yankees to mind their own business and when we didn't they got riled.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, common sense America wants these radicals to keep their smoky dreams to themselves; go build a "commune" somewhere and see how long you can stand it. But STOP trying to force them on us because now you've got us motivated!