James Fallows
@JamesFallows
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Former blue-check person. On Substack: 'Breaking the News' On Bluesky 'jfallows' / Threads 'jamesmfallows'
Joined March 2009
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Last Seen Profiles
Actual question:
How would NYT, NPR, Sunday shows, WaPo have covered these few seconds if Biden did it?
Presumably they'd repeat the wall-to-wall "raises questions about..." coverage they gave to "President of Mexico"?
I haven't yet seen anything about this from them.
Wow the crowd goes silent as a confused Trump says: And Putin has so little respect for Obama that he's starting to throw around the nuclear word
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@KevinLevin
Like imagining that the D-Day sites in Normandy are monuments to the Wehrmacht.
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Two "takeaway" headlines from our leading paper today.
Guess which candidate got a larger share of his party's vote?
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JFC.
The cherry-on-top is Hur refusing to admit, "I said that." Instead the weasely "Those words do appear."
Swalwell: You said to President Biden, “you appear to have a photographic understanding and recall.” Did you say that?
Hur: Those words do appear in the transcript
Swalwell: Never appeared in your report
Hur: It does not appear in my report
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It never ends:
- Sunday show questions for newly elected gov of PA, and re-elected gov of MI, on (a) will they run for prez in 2024? and (b) do they support Biden in 2024.
This is a TOTAL waste of time.
Just don't.
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Now this is interesting:
- On left, NYT front page day before 2018 mid-terms under Trump. Headline—properly—is about uncertainty.
As it happened, Dems picked up 41 seats in House.
- On right, NYT front page today. Lead story and "analysis" are about doom for Dems.
C'mon guys.
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I agree. This is more significant than the bizarro-world histrionics of
@SenKatieBritt
's presentation.
In short: the graphic story she told about a victim of sex trafficking "at the border" appears to be flat-out provably false. As she would have known. Worth a follow up.
Well it looks like Jonathan M. Katz has caught
@SenKatieBritt
in a pretty significant lie.
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Yeah, the government of one sovereign ally would never comment on the "domestic political scene of a democratic ally."
Good thing Netanyahu never addressed a joint session of Congress to attack Obama's policy. That would have been "counterproductive to our common goals."
Israel is a sovereign democracy. It is unhelpful, all the more so as Israel is at war against the genocidal terror organization Hamas, to comment on the domestic political scene of a democratic ally. It is counterproductive to our common goals.
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Fox just now, with the ineffable Jesse Watters:
— So terrible that we have this senile Biden at the podium.
— And "South Carolina governor Kristi Noem joins us right now."
NO JOKE. He said that at 8:28pm ET. Check the tape.
[For the record: South DAKOTA gov K Noem]
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I've now lived in two countries where Voice of America reporters were suspended or black-listed for their coverage.
Once was when we lived in Beijing.
Steve Herman, Voice of America's chief national correspondent, has been suspended.
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Pls read
@atruper
thread, and watch the video.
My view (mini-thread):
Mace came primed to give two responses (not "answers") to everything George S said:
1) "That's rape shaming."
2) "It wasn't a criminal trial" [where Trump was found liable for rape + ordered to pay $80M]
/1
Wow -- Nancy Mace gets mad when George Stephanopoulos asks her how she can support Trump despite claiming to care about rape victims.
"You are trying to shame me this morning, and I think it's disgusting," she says.
But Stephanopoulos holds his ground!
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5 minutes ago, CNN w report on Biden-memory as "defining theme" in campaign.
Corresp gives eg of Biden gaffe: "Especially the claim that he did not remember when his son was born."
Meta point: EVERYONE MISSPEAKS. Including this correspondent right now. [ born ≠ died]
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'They were careless people. They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness and let other people clean up the mess they had made."
CONFIRMED: Twitter is now asking some fired workers to please come back
- Some were laid off by mistake
- Some were let go before management realized their experience is needed to build new features Elon Musk is planning
FFS 😆
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Today's puzzle challenge:
(A) Read first two paragraphs of this story.
(B) Look at headline, which of course is all that most readers will register or retain.
C) Present the narrative that takes a headline-writer from (A) to (B).
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Will re-up this once more: The depth of political-media fail in 2022 only becomes more stunning, the more the results clarify.
There has got to be some reckoning, response, or at least *acknowledgement* of what just occurred.
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We had several successive front-page NYT stories about Biden being an "elderly man with a poor memory," and why this was a crisis for the Dems.
So we'll have two or three front-pagers on this theme.
Right?
Haberman: Trump appeared to be asleep. His head would fall down… He didn’t pay attention to a note his lawyer passed him. His jaw kept falling on his chest and his mouth kept going slack.
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@mattyglesias
The lack of self-awareness, on the part of the NYT's political-coverage staff, will loom large in accounts of the media/politics of our age.
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—March 2024: Mitch McConnell calls it "grotesque" for Chuck Schumer to criticize Netanyahu policy. (Image 1)
—Jan 2015: McConnell and John Boehner invite Netanyahu to address joint meeting of Congress and criticize Obama policy. W/o alerting Obama. (
#2
)
Never change, Mitch.
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We rarely have unalloyed good news in political life.
But this is one of those rare moments.
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Will be seen as one of the most destructive figures in US history.
Among his achievements: ensured that the Senate would block any gun legislation after Newtown / Sandy Hook AR-15 massacre.
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Come on, WaPo.
Barr is not a "vocal Trump critic."
1) He did invaluable work *for Trump* in falsely de-fanging "Mueller report." Even Mueller (later) complained.
2) Like Bolton, Lehman, Portman, McConnell he is "critical" but finally obeisant.
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But watch for yourself.
On her
#2
: Civil and criminal cases are both "real" proceedings. And a jury did find Trump "liable" for sexual assault—thus the $80+ million—that the judge said constituted rape. Mace's whole riff is that somehow this didn't count, because "civil."
/end
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The US has put itself at the mercy of how Netanyahu decides to fight this war.
They accidentally bombed the humanitarian food aid workers. They accidentally bombed the humanitarian food aid workers three times.
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This speech was the beginning of the general election campaign.
Not going to bring over GOP base. (Note GOP not standing for any cheer lines.)
But for his party, hard to think how he could have presented his record, his values, *himself* more effectively. Important evening.
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Question a public editor might ask whoever wrote this headline:
What is an example, in US political history, of *any* trend being "guaranteed" to ensure an electoral result?
So why does it make sense to frame the 2024 "economy is good but 'feels' bad" phenomenon this way?
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Mike Pence's rendering of his final conversation with Trump.
Judge for yourself. (Trump expressing regrets, "genuine sadness in his voice," etc.)
The "don't bother" is a nice and believable touch, though.
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— I have never heard of anyone, of any nationality other than Russian, who died from "falling out of a window."
—Half the stories you read about influential / "difficult" Russians who die, involve "falling out of a window."
Oh sure.
One of the richest deputies of Russia died in India
This was reported by the NDTV. According to them, Antov died after falling from the third floor of the hotel on December 25.
Antov was twice included in the Forbes list in 2019. His fortune was estimated at $150 million.
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If this exchange happened in another part of the Anglosphere — w TV questioner who was Brit, Irish, Aussie, Kiwi, Canadian — the interviewer would not have sat there nodding at time 1:00 but would have interrupted to say, "Surely you don't mean to suggest..."
US exceptionalism!
BREAKING: Former Vice President Mike Pence tells CBS News that he's "closing the door" on testifying before the Jan. 6 committee. “Congress has no right to my testimony,” he tells
@margbrennan
.
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Presidential 'debates' have become purely performative —counterparts to Survivor or Bachelor or, in Trump's case, his shaving Vince McMahon's head on WrestleMania. This is 1000x true for any 'debate' involving Trump.
Not the place for unified media "stand."
The candidates-should-debate letter is out – it is signed by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News, The AP, C-SPAN, Univision, NewsNation, NPR, PBS NewsHour, and USA Today
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The US has put itself at the mercy of what Netanyahu thinks "necessary."
A disaster for, in order: people of Gaza; people of Israel; people of US; people.
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1/n Here's something about flying "general aviation" airplanes— basically everything but airliners or the military, from tiny crop dusters to big corporate jets.
Most of what you do is *public information.* Registration and tail numbers of airplanes. Certificate info on pilots.
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Wow. This is really a clinching sign, as if one were needed, that there is simply *no* room in the GOP except for the cult.
@RepGallagher
is exactly the kind of person you *want* to see in Congress (even if, like me, you disagree with him on numerous points).
NEW: Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher, chairman of the Select Committee on China, will not seek reelection this November.
He tells me he will leave Congress but plans to continue work on defense policy: via
@journalsentinel
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@elonmusk
You realize that "the government" at the time was under Republican control, right?
Both Presidency (Trump) and Senate (McConnell).
House (Pelosi) was under Dem control, but had no role in this.
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AG Sulzberger tells us that complaints about NYT coverage are often "aimed at intimidating independent reporting."
I don't think "independent reporting" is really the problem with nonstop Times framing of this sort.
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2/2 Why, in my view, this comparison is significant:
- The circumstances are as closely comparable as they can be;
- It's the same publication, same lay out, many of the same characters;
- Yet four years ago, their theme was "let's wait to see." Now "Dems in disarray."
Jeesh
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On Mace's
#1
, judge for yourself.
GS resolutely kept saying, "This is about Trump." To me it sounded less like Mace was "getting mad" than that she has decided on a line (that would by def put him at disadvantage) and used it unvaryingly every time, no matter what he said
/2
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2/2 Follow up to Pelosi:
Q (D Bash): Does McCarthy "have what it takes" as Speaker?
Pelosi: LET'S GET THROUGH THE ELECTION, OK?!
Q: You are uniquely qualif to know what it takes. Does he have it?
Pelosi: WHY WOULD I MAKE A JUDGMENT on something that may or may not ever happen
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We're going to buy an electric car.
We're not going to buy a Tesla. (Which we would have done, one year ago.)
"Elon Musk’s management of Twitter, including the banning of multiple journalists, has “severely damaged” market sentiment around Tesla & risks sparking a backlash from advertisers & consumers, a Wall Street analyst warned Monday" Really have to wonder: where's Tesla's board?
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1/2 NYT framing Biden's 96% in SC yesterday. h/t
@danmarkovitz
Note carefully the dek. Wholly different emph from what's in the piece.
In story itself, cautionary element is a one-sentence aside. Screen shot of sentence in next post.
Someone chose to frame the story that way
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Asymmetric risks in framing:
—If this turns out to be right, press is "prescient" and "realistic."
—If it turns out wrong, goes down the memory hole
NYT was all-in on unstoppable "red wave" in previews of 2022 midterms. That didn't happen; never went back for "lessons learned"
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Overreach of Alito's Dobbs ruling motivated male voters but of course female voters in much more visceral way.
I think grotesque overreach of Alabama IVF ruling might motivate male and female voters to almost equal degree.
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@elonmusk
But it's *what* you're charging for that causes "complaining"
—Charge basic subscrip: sure
—For ad-free feed: sure
—For edit function, better UI, better DM function, better app etc: sure
But for "blue check"?
-People who have one, won't pay
-People who pay, won't have "status"
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This clip is via Biden HQ but is 100% worth watching.
Newsom always shows up prepared.
(Who seems more serious here: politician or journalist? )
Q: Do you think it’s responsible for Joe Biden to be at the top of the ticket?
Gov
@gavinnewsom
: Responsible? I revere his record. What he's done in three years is a masterclass. Close to 15 million jobs is eight times more than the last three Republican presidents combined
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Agree 100% w
@jayrosen_nyu
here.
Frank Luntz prepared the soil from which the noxious 'fleurs du Trump' arose.
Frank Luntz is one of the authors of the events he brings before angry focus groups. He then seeks cultural standing as a kind of privileged listener to his earlier creations. And the news producers give it to him because they have their own "we're so divided" text to read from.
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@highbrow_nobrow
I think of him every time there is an AR-15 massacre.
He blocked Obama's attempt even to bring gun-safety measures *to a vote* after the Newtown / Sandy Hook massacre.
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Wisdom of the crowd:
*Who* is writing the English version of Zelensky's speeches?
This person should be known, and noted. The sustained achievement is remarkable, even apart from the wartime conditions.
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NBC News has hired the person you see below.
Eons ago, was controversial for news orgs to hire people who ever *worked* in politics. Safire/ Matthews/ Noonan/ O'Donnell / G Steph / etc.
Here is someone who admits she said things she knew were wrong in politics. Ie, "lied."
WATCH: Former RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel says she doesn’t support freeing those charged and convicted with crimes related to January 6th — something Donald Trump has promised to do if re-elected.
@kwelkernbc
: “Why not speak out earlier?”
@RonnaMcDaniel
: “When you’re the RNC…
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As a one-time Carter employee: Yes.
(Number of ethics / morals complaints about anyone involved in any way in the Carter era: Not zero, but much closer to zero than to the Hastert era or subsequent GOP rule.)
i think its insane how democrats dont talk at all about the fact that dennis hastert was a freaking pedophile and served as speaker of the house for 8 years. meanwhile we hear all the time about jimmy carter cause he wore a sweater and lost to reagan.
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Since Henry Ford in his 'Dearborn Independent' phase*, has any successful business leader torpedoed his reputation as rapidly and thoroughly?
Not aware of any.
__
* Dearborn Independent is where Ford launched his anti-Semitic jihad in 1920s.
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Re-upping:
We would all be better off if time, money, and effort that go into "analyses" and "predictions" on political races instead went into reporting and understanding of things that are actually going on in the world.
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People don't seem to believe this, but it's true:
Three sitting SCOTUS members were on the Bush Florida-recount team in Bush-v-Gore.
[Roberts; Barrett; Kavanaugh]
Some facts about the current Supreme Court.
1. Three justices were nominated by a president currently under investigation for espionage.
2. Five justices were nominated by presidents who lost the popular vote.
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Hannity, intro'ing Trump, says of US-Mex border:
"Single greatest national security threat in our lifetime."
Hannity's lifetime includes 9/11, rise of China, global pandemic, several major econ crises, Iran/Iraq/ NorKorea, constant wars. Even Cuban Missile Crisis!
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This is not "news"—it's from this summer. But in terms of real-world damage, it way exceeds anything that is happening with or to Twitter.
Grrrrrr.
“Elon Musk admitted to his biographer that the reason the Hyperloop was announced—even tho he had no intention of pursuing it—was to try to disrupt the California high-speed rail project to get in the way of that actually succeeding.” —
@parismarx
@gizmodo
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This isn't how you "break news."
New: NBC News staff are concerned that the hiring and abrupt firing of Ronna McDaniel will damage relationships with GOP sources, making it more difficult to break news. Some Republicans have been complaining to journalists at the network about the move.
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Amen.
Don’t pay Twitter $8 a month. Subscribe to your local newspaper instead.
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For students of rhetoric...
Obama: Mr. Walker has been talking about issues that are of great importance to the people of Georgia like if it’s better to be a vampire or a werewolf.. This is a debate that I must confess I once had myself.. when I was 7
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I talk with
@bokane
, longtime translator of Chinese, on the attention-getting 'lab leak' story from
@propublica
and what PP's followup did not address.
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-Schumer has no exec role whatsoever
-Schumer was talking in legis of his own country
-Netanyahu is head-of-gov
-He's being invited to speak at another country's legis, and presumably criticize its leaders
-This is like anti-Bibi forces inviting Biden to criticize him at Knesset
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Biden does his best at big set speeches like this. He's helped too by low expectations.
This is a good speech and Biden seems really fiery and keyed up.
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Be sure to read the last line of this.
Q: Do you need the abortion issue to win the election?
President Biden: No, I need the abortion issue to follow what’s right
Q: What will be your legacy on abortion?
President Biden: What will be your legacy as a newsperson?
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In Politico article I am inot linking to, every detail I've blanked out here is provided.
-Without the details, you get a rough sense of the range of people called to serve.
-With the details, far easier to ID or "doxx" these jurors.
Please stop. 1/2
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2/2
It's hard enough when citizens have to bear the costs—financial, moral, reputational—of decisions their own leaders make.
US citizens now exposed to all the costs of decisions Netanyahu is making, with apparently no control over those decisions. This is not sustainable.
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@arnoblalam
@atrupar
He is posting clips. I am suggesting that people watch them. Don't see the bias in any of that.
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When NYT dumped Public Editor, it asserted social media would ‘collectively serve as modern watchdog’
Watchdog has been barking on this same theme, ‘But her emails’ onward. At least Pub Editor could ask them to explain, on the record. Now just say it proves their independence
The NYT spends all day searching for bad news about Biden "and then they reserve a space nearly every day above the fold on the front page for whatever grain of grim shit the Biden hunters have managed to come up with," writes
@LucianKTruscott
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@AshleyRParker
I've spent decades observing people around the world, What's fascinating is that they're all cruel, albeit in different ways.
The Khmer Rouge and Chinese Red Guards were shameless. Whereas today's 'my prounouns!' crowd is too cute by half.
Who can tell the difference?
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Message for our moment, from Benoit Black in Glass Onion. [Not a spoiler.]
'It’s a dangerous thing to mistake speaking without thought for speaking the truth.'
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@davidrlurie
Both can be true.
—He is older than is ideal for the job.
—He has been remarkably effective.
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@lrozen
Everyone recognizes WSJ editorial / op-ed pages as agitprop inserts, which happen to come packaged inside an otherwise first-rate news operation.
A similar recognition would be useful for politics coverage vs rest of NYT.
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The Republicans won't stand up for "We're the United States of America!"
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Apart from Murdoch or Koch Bros, which other corp leader has as openly or recklessly chosen a team, at a time of great partisan division?
Let's assume he is "sincere." ~50% of users/advertisers will disagree.
(By comparison, Kochs have been below-the-radar.)
Actual question.
To independent-minded voters:
Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic.
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I bet I spent more of my childhood in Christian churches and learning Christian liturgy than this person.
What she says is odious and un-Christ-like beyond all imagining.
WWJD.
.
@JennaEllisEsq
on the Club Q shooting. The “people killed in the nightclub that night, there is no evidence/that they were Christians. Assuming they have not accepted the truth/affirmed Christ as the lord of their life they are now reaping the consequences of eternal damnation.”
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Trying to remember a NYT story framed this way about Trump opponents in the GOP.
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I stay out of "talking about people's faith" exchanges.
But having spent so much of my childhood in the shadow of The Book of Common Prayer (Thomas Cranmer 1549 edition), I will say:
Anyone who says what Trump does, including on Christendom's holiest day, can go to Hell.
On Easter morning, Trump posted an article in two separate publications that said he is “The Chosen One” and “a miracle” who was “sent by God” to save America. Story …
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@elonmusk
I bet if there were a poll of Twitter users, this would not be in the top 25 of wish-list items.
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2/
Audio of you talking to air traffic controllers. Flight plans you have filed, with origin and destination. "ADS-B" info identifying specific planes en route.
It is nothing like driving a car. (Even with occasional license-plate scanners.)
Everything is "on the record."
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Please read this thread.
National politics framing by the most prominent national publications will look extremely bad in retrospect, and does now.
From a few days ago:
I am shocked that the Pelosi story is not the lead of the Times and Post this morning. Are you?
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@RadioFreeTom
Thinking of long heritage of young rising-stars doing SOTU rebuttal.
This is making me think of Bobby Jindal's.
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4/4
(FYI, this is based on having my pilot-certificate info on public record since 1990s, and my aircraft info available since I got one 22 years ago. Plus recordings of interactions with air-traffic control. Everyone who operates in this world knows the rules.)
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3/
There are a million ways that people can vague up info — with LLCs for ownership, and other baffles.
But the basic assumption is, What goes on in the skies, is known on the ground, and is publicly available. Just fyi.
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Recently I mentioned anecdata: big surge in people I personally knew who were testing positive for Covid.
Here is
@EricTopol
with some actual info.
Agree entirely on his point about *cases* being underreported, because of home testing.
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Apropos of nothing:
Please be aware that you can download an archive of all your twitter activity here:
And then you can delete it.
It's proper routine maintenance — even under normal circumstances.
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Trump to Hannity, "They say that Making America Great Again, which we came up with, is probably the greatest expression in the history of this country. Probably the greatest in the the history of the world."
Sounds right to me! (Image: Cover of my 1989 book.)
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Modest proposal:
If you're writing a headline that includes the words 'feels like' or 'seems like,' go back and write a different headline that conveys what you actually know.
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The areas in which the press decides to be "tough."
A real exchange on Meet The Press this morning. (Transcript here: )
Kristen Welker and Nat Sec advisor Jake Sullivan.
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Cable never fails:
—On the one hand, GOP in circular-firing-squad mode over border issue. On both the politics and the substance.
—On the other hand, "Why isn't Biden 'messaging' this better?"
The both-sides instinct must be somewhere in the amygdala.
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Say what you will about the dreaded Boomers, but: we grew up with parents and relatives who had gone to war *AGAINST THE NAZIS.* If there was any shorthand for evil, it was being like the Nazis. (See also: how postwar generations felt in Germany.)
This resurgence is horrifying.
ALEX JONES: You're not Hitler. You're not a nazi. You don't deserve to be described as that.
KANYE: I see good things about Hitler, also.
(just now on Infowars)
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