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Reports of protests are overblown. A few incidents around the country, but nothing major.

5 (45.5%)

A few major incidents in capitals, but nothing much in DC.

5 (45.5%)

A major incident in DC, but nothing much around the country.

0 (0%)

More than 10 capitals have major upheavals, but nothing much in DC.

0 (0%)

A major incident in DC plus more than 10 capitals with significant upheavals.

1 (9.1%)

More than half the capitals around the country have problems with protesters, but DC is quiet.

0 (0%)

DC has major problems, while more than half the capitals around the country also have considerable trouble with protesters.

0 (0%)

Huge disruption to the day.

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 9

Voting closed: January 19, 2021, 10:49:21 PM

[barton]

How America Squandered its Cold War Victory

A bit ironic that the American values actually worth spreading (democracy,  enlightened pluralism,  cultural diversity) are really antithetical to striking poses of exceptionalism and world policing dominance. 

[REDSTATEWARD]

The New Times  reports that senior Facebook executive Andrew throws cold water on a favorite conspiracy theory of the political left:
So was Facebook responsible for Donald Trump getting elected?
Bosworth says :
I think the answer is yes, but not for the reasons anyone thinks.
He didn’t get elected because of Russia or misinformation or Cambridge Analytica. He got elected because he ran the single best digital ad campaign I’ve ever seen from any advertiser.
Period.
The NYT continues
(Cambridge Analytica was a political consulting firm and Trump campaign vendor which was accused of using personal data about Facebook users without their knowledge. The Federal Trade Commission recently settled a case with some of those involved, who agreed to destroy the data they collected and be honest with users in the future about data collection.)
The memo from Facebook’s
Mr. Bosworth continues:
To be clear, I’m no fan of Trump. I donated the max to Hillary. After his election I wrote a post about Trump supporters that I’m told caused colleagues who had supported him to feel unsafe around me (I regret that post and deleted shortly after).
But [Trump campaign digital media chief Brad Parscale ] and Trump just did unbelievable work. They weren’t running misinformation or hoaxes. They weren’t microtargeting or saying different things to different people. They just used the tools we had to show the right creative to each person. The use of custom audiences, video, ecommerce, and fresh creative remains the high water mark of digital ad campaigns in my opinion.
“Creative” is a noun in the marketing world, used to describe the particular advertisements designed to deliver messages. Mr. Bosworth fears that Team Trump is still really good at creating them and therefore he fears that Mr. Trump may win again.

As a committed liberal I find myself desperately wanting to pull any lever at my disposal to avoid the same result. So what stays my hand?,” asks Mr. Bosworth. He writes, “I find myself thinking of the Lord of the Rings at this moment. Specifically when Frodo offers the ring to Galadrial and she imagines using the power righteously, at first, but knows it will eventually corrupt her. As tempting as it is to use the tools available to us to change the outcome, I am confident we must never do that or we will become that which we fear.”

A self-serving piece if ever there were one.

Really, Red has spent the last three years insisting that the sole reason Clinton lost is because she labelled racists, sexists, homophobes and Islamaphobes "deplorable". Now this?

LOL.
Never let other views ruin your prejudices.

[Hairy Lime]

The New Times  reports that senior Facebook executive Andrew throws cold water on a favorite conspiracy theory of the political left:
So was Facebook responsible for Donald Trump getting elected?
Bosworth says :
I think the answer is yes, but not for the reasons anyone thinks.
He didn’t get elected because of Russia or misinformation or Cambridge Analytica. He got elected because he ran the single best digital ad campaign I’ve ever seen from any advertiser.
Period.
The NYT continues
(Cambridge Analytica was a political consulting firm and Trump campaign vendor which was accused of using personal data about Facebook users without their knowledge. The Federal Trade Commission recently settled a case with some of those involved, who agreed to destroy the data they collected and be honest with users in the future about data collection.)
The memo from Facebook’s
Mr. Bosworth continues:
To be clear, I’m no fan of Trump. I donated the max to Hillary. After his election I wrote a post about Trump supporters that I’m told caused colleagues who had supported him to feel unsafe around me (I regret that post and deleted shortly after).
But [Trump campaign digital media chief Brad Parscale ] and Trump just did unbelievable work. They weren’t running misinformation or hoaxes. They weren’t microtargeting or saying different things to different people. They just used the tools we had to show the right creative to each person. The use of custom audiences, video, ecommerce, and fresh creative remains the high water mark of digital ad campaigns in my opinion.
“Creative” is a noun in the marketing world, used to describe the particular advertisements designed to deliver messages. Mr. Bosworth fears that Team Trump is still really good at creating them and therefore he fears that Mr. Trump may win again.

As a committed liberal I find myself desperately wanting to pull any lever at my disposal to avoid the same result. So what stays my hand?,” asks Mr. Bosworth. He writes, “I find myself thinking of the Lord of the Rings at this moment. Specifically when Frodo offers the ring to Galadrial and she imagines using the power righteously, at first, but knows it will eventually corrupt her. As tempting as it is to use the tools available to us to change the outcome, I am confident we must never do that or we will become that which we fear.”

A self-serving piece if ever there were one.

Really, Red has spent the last three years insisting that the sole reason Clinton lost is because she labelled racists, sexists, homophobes and Islamaphobes "deplorable". Now this?

LOL.
Never let other views ruin your prejudices.

Your motto, I take it.

[oilcan]

The whole system of political ads as principal tool of a campaign rewards the mendacious.  All these kinds of analysis of the 2016 yield is:  be a better liar.  Winning is not virtue.  I think democracy is collapsing in the world because it's inherently flawed - most nations have no majority of informed citizens who will be swayed by facts and logic.  That's an illusion that political ruminators like us enjoy maintaining.  Most people just want to have a brand loyalty - they're consumers, not thinkers. 

[barton]

That's not new.  The problem is that the consumers and rooters no longer have fact-respecting icons they trust.  The liars have killed trust and defamed anyone with truth integrity.  What we need are fact-respecters who can also be street fighters - and that's a hard mix to find.  Bernie comes close.  Amy, too. 

I predict historians, 500 years hence, will call this era The Age of Big Fat Fucking Liars.  Or maybe something a bit more scholarly, but that's the gist.

Meanwhile, the planet-killer-in-chief has some more ideas on how to fuck the Earth...

President Trump on Thursday proposed a change to 50-year-old regulations that would speed the development of new mines, pipelines and hundreds of other projects around the country, including some that could harm the environment and accelerate climate change. The move also could prevent communities from having as much say about what gets built in their backyards.

The proposed rules would narrow the scope of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires federal agencies to assess the impact of a major project before a spade of dirt is turned and to include the public in the process.

And it would mean that communities would have little say about what is built in their neighborhoods. Environmental groups, tribal activists and others have used the law to delay or block a slew of infrastructure, mining, logging and drilling projects since it was signed by President Richard Nixon in 1970....

- Post, today

And what will the Big Lie be?  The usual:  you can't have prosperity AND protect the environment.  Tell that to all the urban children whose brains are 8% smaller, and lung function impaired, due to constantly breathing 1-2 micron particulates.

[barton]

BTW, where the holy mother of fuck has Mike Lee been for the past three years?  Is it like he just dropped a moral compass pill two days ago?  Has he been in cryogenic storage?  What?

"I find it insulting and I find it demeaning to the Constitution of the United States," Lee said, adding, “It’s un-American. It’s unconstitutional. And it’s wrong. ... They are appearing before a coordinate branch of government responsible for their funding, for their confirmation, for any approval of any military action they might take. They had to leave after 75 minutes while they were in the process of telling us that we need to be good little boys and girls and not debate this in public. I find that to be absolutely insane.”

[REDSTATEWARD]

What we need are fact-respecters who can also be street fighters - and that's a hard mix to find. 

As long as the “ facts” are in line with Barton’s “ facts”.

[kiidcarter8]

The New Times  reports that senior Facebook executive Andrew throws cold water on a favorite conspiracy theory of the political left:
So was Facebook responsible for Donald Trump getting elected?
Bosworth says :
I think the answer is yes, but not for the reasons anyone thinks.
He didn’t get elected because of Russia or misinformation or Cambridge Analytica. He got elected because he ran the single best digital ad campaign I’ve ever seen from any advertiser.
Period.
The NYT continues
(Cambridge Analytica was a political consulting firm and Trump campaign vendor which was accused of using personal data about Facebook users without their knowledge. The Federal Trade Commission recently settled a case with some of those involved, who agreed to destroy the data they collected and be honest with users in the future about data collection.)
The memo from Facebook’s
Mr. Bosworth continues:
To be clear, I’m no fan of Trump. I donated the max to Hillary. After his election I wrote a post about Trump supporters that I’m told caused colleagues who had supported him to feel unsafe around me (I regret that post and deleted shortly after).
But [Trump campaign digital media chief Brad Parscale ] and Trump just did unbelievable work. They weren’t running misinformation or hoaxes. They weren’t microtargeting or saying different things to different people. They just used the tools we had to show the right creative to each person. The use of custom audiences, video, ecommerce, and fresh creative remains the high water mark of digital ad campaigns in my opinion.
“Creative” is a noun in the marketing world, used to describe the particular advertisements designed to deliver messages. Mr. Bosworth fears that Team Trump is still really good at creating them and therefore he fears that Mr. Trump may win again.

As a committed liberal I find myself desperately wanting to pull any lever at my disposal to avoid the same result. So what stays my hand?,” asks Mr. Bosworth. He writes, “I find myself thinking of the Lord of the Rings at this moment. Specifically when Frodo offers the ring to Galadrial and she imagines using the power righteously, at first, but knows it will eventually corrupt her. As tempting as it is to use the tools available to us to change the outcome, I am confident we must never do that or we will become that which we fear.”

A self-serving piece if ever there were one.

Really, Red has spent the last three years insisting that the sole reason Clinton lost is because she labelled racists, sexists, homophobes and Islamaphobes "deplorable". Now this?

Nobody - even on our side - ever painted Trump as a great candidate.  Romney, had he waited, was better.  And we had some not in the race who may have had an easier time vs the failed candidate Clinton.

Just a meeting up of circumstance that put DT in the White House.

[kiidcarter8]

The whole system of political ads as principal tool of a campaign rewards the mendacious.  All these kinds of analysis of the 2016 yield is:  be a better liar.  Winning is not virtue.  I think democracy is collapsing in the world because it's inherently flawed - most nations have no majority of informed citizens who will be swayed by facts and logic.  That's an illusion that political ruminators like us enjoy maintaining.  Most people just want to have a brand loyalty - they're consumers, not thinkers.

Trump was lying in all the Facebook ads?

Do tell us more.

[REDSTATEWARD]

BTW, where the holy mother of fuck has Mike Lee been for the past three years?  Is it like he just dropped a moral compass pill two days ago?  Has he been in cryogenic storage?  What?

"I find it insulting and I find it demeaning to the Constitution of the United States," Lee said, adding, “It’s un-American. It’s unconstitutional. And it’s wrong. ... They are appearing before a coordinate branch of government responsible for their funding, for their confirmation, for any approval of any military action they might take. They had to leave after 75 minutes while they were in the process of telling us that we need to be good little boys and girls and not debate this in public. I find that to be absolutely insane.”

You miss the Tea Party?
Lee is the most conservative GOP Senator since 2011 with Libertarian nuances.
Look up his opinions of Climate Change and the Green New Deal.
Spoiler alert!  You won’t like them.

[Yankguy1]

It's kind of like when Red posts (without attribution of course, it's Red) a Ruth Marcus column that he approves of.   

[facilitatorn]

What we need are fact-respecters who can also be street fighters - and that's a hard mix to find. 

As long as the “ facts” are in line with Barton’s “ facts”.

Once again facts elude you as you run screaming from them, full diaper of your bullshit flapping in the wind behind you.

[LarryBnDC]

BTW, where the holy mother of fuck has Mike Lee been for the past three years?  Is it like he just dropped a moral compass pill two days ago?  Has he been in cryogenic storage?  What?

"I find it insulting and I find it demeaning to the Constitution of the United States," Lee said, adding, “It’s un-American. It’s unconstitutional. And it’s wrong. ... They are appearing before a coordinate branch of government responsible for their funding, for their confirmation, for any approval of any military action they might take. They had to leave after 75 minutes while they were in the process of telling us that we need to be good little boys and girls and not debate this in public. I find that to be absolutely insane.”

You miss the Tea Party?
Lee is the most conservative GOP Senator since 2011 with Libertarian nuances.
Look up his opinions of Climate Change and the Green New Deal.
Spoiler alert!  You won’t like them.

Mike Lee and Rand Paul are assholes.

So what? In this instance they are correct.

[REDSTATEWARD]

BTW, where the holy mother of fuck has Mike Lee been for the past three years?  Is it like he just dropped a moral compass pill two days ago?  Has he been in cryogenic storage?  What?

"I find it insulting and I find it demeaning to the Constitution of the United States," Lee said, adding, “It’s un-American. It’s unconstitutional. And it’s wrong. ... They are appearing before a coordinate branch of government responsible for their funding, for their confirmation, for any approval of any military action they might take. They had to leave after 75 minutes while they were in the process of telling us that we need to be good little boys and girls and not debate this in public. I find that to be absolutely insane.”

You miss the Tea Party?
Lee is the most conservative GOP Senator since 2011 with Libertarian nuances.
Look up his opinions of Climate Change and the Green New Deal.
Spoiler alert!  You won’t like them.

Mike Lee and Rand Paul are assholes.

So what? In this instance they are correct.

Good for them.

[REDSTATEWARD]

U.S. Believes Ukraine Plane Was Shot Down by Iran
The U.S. has a ‘high level of confidence’ in the assessment, official says, while a second official says the downing may have been a mistake