#Democracy
Has anyone damaged western, English-speaking democracies over the last 20-odd years worse than Rupert Murdoch?
“the media mogul had created an “anger-tainment ecosystem” that had left the US “angrier and more divided than it’s been at any time since the civil war”.
[…] without Fox and News Corp, Britain probably would not have exited the European Union and Donald Trump would not have been president.”
#murdoch #journalism #democracy #brexit #trump #US #newscorp
Today is #Bulgaria #IndependenceDay.
I would like to see my country as a reliable partner in #EU and #NATO and a predictable ally in defending #democracy and moral values in a strong and prosperous #Europe.
MSNBC
The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell:
Rupert Murdoch stepping down but 'Daddy will be watching'
Lawrence:
"According to Michael Wolff, who has been studying and reporting on Rupert Murdoch... for decades, Rupert Murdoch has always been in the pursuit of money and power. His pursuit of money succeeded, but the power he achieved, he was pathetically afraid to use when it mattered most, not just to him but to the world."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GysGPsrK6VY
Irgendwer hat mal gesagt:
"Anarchismus ist die Ziele von Demokratie einen Schritt weiter gedacht".
Und falls nicht, dann sag ich's.
Anarchie ist organisierter Respekt und systemische Liebe für alle.
Freiheit ist es nur wenn alle frei sind. Deshalb braucht es Teilhabe aller an allem. Also Rechte für Minderheiten und Individuen. Also geht es nicht ohne Organisationsstrukturen. Diese müssen lightweight sein und so wenige Machtpositionen habe wie möglich.
Glenn Kirschner:
Jim Jordan, who criminally defied a congressional subpoena, is now chairman of judiciary committee?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG3T0xgdMQk
#News #Politics #Trump #Democracy #Democrats #Justice #JusticeMatters
Raw Story:
Republicans trying to 'impose pain' on Americans to help Trump: Elizabeth Warren
"Sometimes demands were met by Kevin McCarthy and they change...their demands...
...They want to do whatever they can to help Donald Trump. That means, right now, to shut down the government, because it will impose pain on the American people."
A shutdown, Warren added, "will be damaging to the U.S. economy... "
https://www.rawstory.com/gop-impose-pain-for-trump/
Raw Story:
'Division and destruction': Rupert Murdoch slammed for creating 'MAGA propaganda factory'
the Lincoln Project was quick to send the Australian-born billionaire off with a good-riddance victory lap, calling him an "arsonist who set fire to American politics to make billions."
“Murdoch created an extremist MAGA propaganda factory that poisoned the minds of millions of Americans for power and profit."
https://www.rawstory.com/murdoch-division-slam/
The Warning with Steve Schmidt:
Steve Schmidt explains why Rupert Murdoch's retirement could mean the end for Fox News
"What can possibly be said beyond good riddance!"
"This terrible man has left an awful Legacy. What he has done is poison civics and the American people. He has turned them against one another with his propaganda machine. He monetized lies and division and hate and stoked it, and made billions... doing it"
👇 👇 👇
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIRVlxfRvT0
The US military establishment is rowing hard in one direction. Unless you're a traitor to this country you should be very glad of what they are doing and row hard with them and against Trumpism. #uspol #trump #democracy
The New Republic:
Rupert Murdoch Made the World Worse
Murdoch’s influence is both incalculable and fantastically corrosive. It is impossible to look at all of the most malignant aspects of the current news environment—its pace, its callousness, its rancor—without seeing his impact.
There is already hope in some corners that things will improve at Fox after Rupert’s exit. There is no reason to believe this will be the case, however.
https://newrepublic.com/article/175699/rupert-murdoch-made-world-worse
Along the way, #Milley deflected #Trump’s exhortations to have the US #military ignore, & even on occasion commit, #WarCrimes. Milley & other military officers deserve praise for protecting #democracy, but their actions should also cause deep #unease. In the #American system, it is the #voters, the #courts, & #Congress that are meant to #serve as #checks on a #president’s behavior, not the generals. #Civilians provide #direction, #funding, & #oversight; the military then follows #lawful #orders.
They're here to break things and cultivate despair. Even Kevin McCarthy now admits this.
@rik
"Figueres for years argued that oil and gas companies should have a seat at the table in climate policymaking" ; I though they have had one for years and they used it to stop any work on or even knowledge about the problem.
We need to stop thinking that the folks that caused a problem are going to fix it. We-the-people need to start controlling those who cause problems for the rest of us.
#Democracy is more than just how we vote. Its how we control.
In #Arizona, President Biden will make a speech about #democracy and pay tribute to a former Republican presidential nominee from the state, the late Sen. McCain. https://apnews.com/article/president-joe-biden-democracy-john-mccain-arizona-c83e5bf4d3612afb1234c0376970d511
"If Donald Trump can incite an insurrection, be impeached twice and indicted four times, and still remain standing strong, why would his fellow Republicans follow any basic norms of the rule of law that have traditionally held our democracy together?"
~ Big Picture and Todd Beeton
#Trump #Republicans #democracy
https://thinkbigpicture.substack.com/p/gop-trump-wisconsin-ohio-alabama
I think Biden's age and experience is exactly what #unitedstates #democracy needed to pass the test.
There will be challenges ahead but we can all rest easier knowing when the oceans are rough, a man who understands force and the winds can save the #voyage.
MAJOR COUP!
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If you love #DEMOCRACY and love GRASSROOTS Advocacy, Sign on to #INDIVISIBLE
WEBSITE: https://indivisible.org
(You can thank me now…I'm one of many who begged them to join the #fediverse. I have the BEST Indivisible group here in #florida! Find yours and join.)
FOLLOW HERE:
@indivisibleteam
The irony after a 70 year reign of #lies #disinformation facilitating #corruption #subversion of #democracy #billionaire #media mogul ‘Rupert Murdoch says in a note to staff today upon announcement of his retirement: "The battle for the freedom of speech and, ultimately, the freedom of thought, has never been more intense" https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/rupert-murdochs-70-year-career-australia-global-media-mogul-2023-09-21/
A quick reminder that despite #corporatemedia #concerntrolling the #autoindustry “already raked in $21 billion in profits this year so far, and handed $5 billion of those profits away to shareholders in the form of stock buybacks this year”
The #UAW #strike is in no way threatening the financial viability of the companies.
#Workers are fighting for what they deserve.
#union #solidarity #labor #auto #unionstrong #wgastrike #uawstrike #oligarchy #democracy #uspol
Filipinos: Why do we always end up with these autocratic 'strongmen'...??
☝️ Great backgrounder on the #Philippines' fragmented, short-termist and local/special interest focused politics and the legislative system.
Germany: Right-wing hostility toward #democracy growing
2,000 people between 18 and 90 took part in the most recent survey.... According to the researchers, 8% of respondents this time held a clear #rightwing #extremist orientation. In earlier studies, it was only between 2–3%.
Currently, across all age groups, between 5-7% of those surveyed support a #dictatorship with a single strong party and leader for #Germany. This result is double the long-term average.
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-right-wing-extremism-and-hostility-toward-democracy-growing/a-66881144
In the West, we substitute #science for wisdom to fill a gap #Christianity failed to fill but express the same bifurcation #karma as our ancestors since we never evolved better wisdom.
“Amazon’s generative-AI-powered Alexa is as big a privacy red flag as old Alexa”
https://arstechnica.com/?p=1969800
#Amazon
#Alexa
#OligarchBlitkrieg
#AIBlitzkrieg
#Surveillance
#SrveillanceCapitalism
#Privacy
#Democracy
nihilism
nī′ə-lĭz″əm, nē′-
noun
1.The doctrine that nothing actually exists or that existence or values are meaningless.
2. Relentless negativity or cynicism suggesting an absence of values or beliefs.
3. Political belief or action that advocates or commits violence or terrorism without discernible constructive goals.
Remind you of anyone?
#GOP #MAGA #ChaosCaucus
#Shutdown Speaker #MTG #Boebert #mccarthy #democracy vs #Fascism #Biden
@IBAHRI RT by @benedictrogers: TODAY, 21 September @ 1830 BST, Carlton House, #London - IBAHRI Director Baroness @HelenaKennedyKC is participating at #JimmyLai: Standing Up for #Freedom and #Democracy in #HongKong. @benedictrogers @hk_watch https://nitter.hongkongers.net/IBAHRI/status/1704861881322602801#m
Rupert Murdoch is stepping down from running Fox and News Corp's undermining of journalism around the world. He leaves that in capable hands.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/live/2023/sep/21/rupert-murdoch-fox-news-steps-down-chairman-lachlan-latest
#FakeNews #Journalism #Democracy #Fox
CNN:
Rupert Murdoch steps down as Fox and News Corp. chairman
Rupert Murdoch announced Thursday that he will step down as chairman of Fox Corporation and News Corp.
His son, Lachlan Murdoch, will become sole chairman of both companies.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/21/media/rupert-murdoch-steps-down-fox/index.html
📺WZB director Daniel Ziblatt and his Harvard University co-author Steven Levitsky spoke to @acosta on CNN about their new book "Tyranny of the Minority". They argue that American #democracy today suffers from outdated institutions and a lack of support.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ihv9XStzYM
As a first generation Dominican🇩🇴, I am excited to celebrate our diverse latino cultures, achievements and contributions to our nation🇺🇸
I am an advocate for health equity, recovery and mental health🫶🏽
🎯Support Small Business
🎯Community Health
🎯Volunteerism
📲I use my platform to lift the voices of those who do not have a platform.
Unidos | Stronger Together 💪🏾
#latinos #Dominican #Boston #democracy #StrongerTogether #Tbt #photography #HealthEquity #volunteer
“Generic #Communism designates a #free #associative #egalitarian #society where the activity of #polymorph #workers is not governed by regulations and technical or social articulations but is managed by the #collective power of #needs. In such a society, the #State is dissolved as a separate instance from public coercion. #Politics – much as it voices the interests of social groups and covets at the conquest of power – is de facto dissolved.
Thus, the purpose of #Communist politics aims at its own disappearance in the modality of the end of the form separated from the State in general, even if it concerns a State that declares itself #democratic."
Alain #Badiou - Highly Speculative Reasoning on the Concept of #Democracy (https://www.lacan.com/conceptsym.htm)
6% of Germans say they want a dictatorship with a single strong party and a "Führer" 😡
And quite a few more share far-right views.
🗞️Liberal democratic systems lead to a permanent increase in economic #growth. In their study, WZB researcher Vanessa Boese-Schlosser & Markus Eberhardt (University of Nottingham) show which democratic institutions make this effect possible. #economics #democracy
👉 https://wzb.eu/en/news/democracy-causes-growth
@S_Hellmeier
I'd be very happy to connect with anyone who wants to hear more, tell me something, or just ponder how to promote #democracy , #justice and #decency in this world.
The world is a mess, but I remain an optimist.
#Activism works, and many things have genuinely much improved from my youth.
Deployment of #renewable #energy is accelerating, faster than most people (me included) believed possible.
There will be defeats, losses and tragedies. But there will be victories, gains and triumphs too.
So here, in a (fairly large) nutshell, is why I say #democracy is non-negotiable.
I also happen to think that democracies have to protect each other. If democrats are divided, authoritarians can pick us off one by one.
For instance, #Russia has to lose the genocidal war it's waging in #Ukraine .
Any other result would encourage autocrats and very likely lead to more war in the future.
Hence, I'm a cautious supporter of #neoidealism . A great overview is here:
https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/the-rise-of-the-new-idealists
I would never claim that #democracy is a silver bullet that solves everything.
I wouldn't even claim that democracy is automatically sustainable. Current democracies aren't.
I only claim that democracy is the least bad of all the alternative proposals, let alone experiments, of running an industrial society.
And I claim that there are some democracies that do better than others.
The Nordic social democratic model consistently wins just about every metric measuring societal success.
Only in #democracy the grassroots groups of concerned citizens can reliably amass enough power and influence to stand against the encroachment of the powerful few.
Checks and balances.
A sustainable society needs powerful checks and balances, especially if it hopes to keep using powerful technologies.
The best bet for good enough checks and balances is to share the power to check and balance broadly and fairly.
That is, democratically.
Therefore, sustainability requires democracy.
The ONLY truly #sustainable solution for this two-pronged problem is, I firmly believe, #democracy .
Share #power and #resources fairly and equitably.
THEN it may be possible to set safe, universally respected #limits to the use of powerful technologies and finite resources.
Because only fair, democratic sharing
a. reduces the pressure to compete, and
b. gives those in danger of being exploited enough power and resources to defend themselves.
Every alternative to #democracy requires steep #hierarchy - some beings having unilateral power to make decisions over others.
And then we're back at the problem of benevolent dictatorship: they invariably become mere dictatorships in short order.
What's more, a hierarchical society incentivises #competition .
Hierarchies force everyone to compete. Either for a higher position, or to avoid losing position: in a hierarchy, those at the bottom are at the mercy of the more powerful.
This vicious cycle has to be broken before it breaks our human #civilization .
I've given the matter considerable thought yet haven't found durable solutions - except one:
distribution of #power .
To stop the cycles of exploitation and prevent new ones,
1. No being should have so little power that exploiting them is easy;
2. No being should have so much power that exploiting others is easy.
In other words, I believe #democracy is THE answer.
Hi you all!
I'm working for just, #sustainable #transition at the Social Democratic think tank Sorsa Foundation (www.sorsafoundation.fi) in #Helsinki, #Finland.
I've been trying to advance #sustainability since about 2007. I originally have a background in #engineering and #design, and did a PhD about technological substitutes for critical resources. However, #energytransition has been my main focus.
I firmly believe that broadening #democracy is THE key to sustainability.
Chaotic House Republicans don't have the votes to do jack squat and America's main media and punditry continues to report every #GOP fart, breathlessly.
And media CEOs wonder why their ratings suck.
@WarnerCrocker Fetterman is a national treasure and a brave and righteous MFR.
Raw Story:
Rudy Giuliani forced to appear in person for entire defamation damages trial
Rudy Giuliani is reportedly going to be required to appear in person for the entirety of a trial for damages after he was found liable for defaming two poll workers.
https://www.rawstory.com/rudy-defamation-damages-trial/
"We reside in a #media environment that promotes—whether it intends to or not—right-wing #authoritarian spectacle.
At the same time, as a culture, it’s consistently obsessed with who “won the day,” while placing far less value on the fact that the civic and #democratic health of the country is nurtured through practices such as deliberation, compromise, and sober governance. The result is... potentially tragic for #democracy."
https://newrepublic.com/article/175612/two-medias-trump-2024-spectacle
Christopher Miller
Ken Cuccinelli
Ben Carson, M.D.
Peter Navarro
I looked at the GOP Transition 2025 plan for the first time today. These four men are the four that I recognized immediately as being participants in the plan to overthrow the 2020 election. I'm sure others know who they are.
Democratic leadership must start exposing these people whether they do it in TV ads, on talk shows, in opinion articles or at the podiums when they speak to the public.
Guatemala’s new president-elect and his party filed an official request with the country’s supreme court for the prosecution of Guatemala’s attorney general on grounds of interference in the electoral process. @palabrasdeabajo #Guatemala #Democracy
https://progressive.org/latest/international-community-expresses-concerns-abbott-20230920/
The "Cancel Culture" Headline That Broke My Brain,
by @parkermolloy https://open.substack.com/pub/readtpa/p/the-cancel-culture-headline-that
"These safeguards [which Jack Smith is asking Judge Chutkan for] are needed because the person the GOP base overwhelmingly wants as their 2024 presidential nominee is that great of a threat. This again is yet another reminder of the danger posed by Trump and his fascist movement MAGA to our Republic."
#Trump #Republicans #MAGA #violence #democracy
https://deanobeidallah.substack.com/p/jack-smith-is-warning-us-that-trump
"The wall of hostility toward Biden and the will to drive him from office through impeachment or any means necessary is proportionate to his strength. Biden is a leader with his eyes on the prize: proving that democracy works in America, convincing people it is worth saving where it is under siege, such as in Ukraine, and encouraging it to return in places it has been vanquished."
~ Ruth Ben-Ghiat
#Biden #democracy #authoritarianism
https://lucid.substack.com/p/biden-is-the-democracy-defender-we
"Radical Republicans are unchastened and unbowed. Just look at what they have in store in the coming days and weeks:
• A bogus impeachment of the sitting Democratic president with no evidence of wrongdoing.
• A government shutdown for the sake of doing damage to the constitutional order.
• Renominating for president the cultish figure of Donald Trump for the office he once lost and tried to retain by force."
~ David Kurtz
#Republicans #insurrection #coup #democracy
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/cold-civil-war-national-crisis-trump-democracy
"If it’s Thursday, it must be impeachment. If it’s Saturday, it must be government shutdown. …
The double header indicates how both impeachments and government shutdowns – once seen as rare, dangerous and to be avoided at all costs – have become political weapons deployed with increasing abandon."
#Republicans #democracy #SmashingItAll #impeachment #shutdown
@AnthonyFStevens @jackLondon
"Poverty, inequality and Austerity" was delivered by a series of governments:
Elected by a minority of the Electorate,
Dependent on corporate "donations",
And committed to private " healthcare"
And its going to be soon replaced by.....another
"Most #oil & gas corporations in #Canada are foreign-owned & funded. They use a loophole to fund election activities. The loophole must be closed." https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/september-2023/big-oil-foreign-interference-elections/
#Cdnpoli #CorporateCapture #corporateGreed #Capitalism #BigOil #Democracy
@dangillmor “#Facism came, and we saw it, and we thought we understood what to do, but we did not do enough.” I am acting now so that this does not come true. #precinctchair #RegisterToVote #blockcaptain #Democracy #texasfascism #blueteam #Democrats
"In general, the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 discredited #fascism: either because #Europeans came to see fascism as a moral disaster, or because fascism claimed to be about winning and lost" - #TimothySnyder in 'The Road to Unfreedom' (p. 70)
The same can be said about Xi, Putin, Trump, Netanyahu, Orbán, Erdoğan, and other authoritarian leaders: they will eventually lose because of their inhumanity or because of their inability to win as propagandised.
Why Georgia’s Latest Assault on Free Speech Is So Chilling
https://news.yahoo.com/why-georgia-latest-assault-free-140000522.html
Nora Benevides, Free Press
"It is the largest, most sustained attack on free speech since the Civil Rights Movement"
I had no idea Britain was fitting migrants and asylum seekers with ankle bracelets and surveilling them to this level. It seems impossible that this is something people would think is right and just. The dystopian cruelty is mind-boggling. #Democracy https://www.codastory.com/authoritarian-tech/gps-ankle-tags-uk-migrants-home-office/?utm_source=werd.io&utm_campaign=mastodon&utm_channel=mastodon
Arundhati Roy:
"It is no longer just our leaders we must fear, but a whole section of the population. The banality of evil, the normalisation of evil is now manifest in our streets, in our classrooms, in very many public spaces."
"It would be presumptuous, arrogant, and even a little stupid of a writer to believe that she could change the world with her writing. But it would be pitiful if she didn’t even try."
https://scroll.in/article/1055943/arundhati-roy-the-dismantling-of-democracy-in-india-will-affect-the-whole-world
#ArundhatiRoy #Democracy
2/n
Arundhati Roy speaks and writes about the decline of Democracy and the rise of sectarianism, inequality and political violence in India but her words apply equally well to many other countries today.
What lessons can we learn and apply to our own fragile Democracies?
https://scroll.in/article/1055943/arundhati-roy-the-dismantling-of-democracy-in-india-will-affect-the-whole-world
https://lithub.com/approaching-gridlock-arundhati-roy-on-free-speech-and-failing-democracy/
#ArundhatiRoy #Democracy
1/n
"The mainstream media, as a machine, loves Trump. Or at least, the machine loves how useful he is. He seeks constant attention, he provokes, he’s self-centered, he’s bombastic; he and the media beast feed off each other. Biden, on the other hand, is none of those things, and he has qualities that the media beast finds uncompelling. He’s serious, knowledgeable, not flashy, not attention-seeking, and empathetic."
"When fairness and the truth are in conflict, journalism has to choose the truth. If it doesn’t, there goes democracy—killed off, in part, by the free press that is supposed to be its frontline defender.
A media environment that doesn’t put truth above all other considerations is by definition a media environment that promotes spectacle."
"We reside in a media environment that promotes—whether it intends to or not—right-wing authoritarian spectacle. At the same time, as a culture, it’s consistently obsessed with who 'won the day,' while placing far less value on the fact that the civic and democratic health of the country is nurtured through practices such as deliberation, compromise, and sober governance."
~ Michael Tomasky
#media #democracy #MediaFail
/1
https://newrepublic.com/article/175612/two-medias-trump-2024-spectacle
@flexghost They have always been compromised. He needs a private security detail and so does the VP. Members colluded in Jan6th and continue to actively support #MAGA #trump #undermine #democracy
We Have Two Medias in This Country, and They’re
Going to Elect Donald Trump
https://newrepublic.com/article/175612/two-medias-trump-2024-spectacle
'Ratings aren't worth our democracy': Legal experts trash Meet the Press' Trump interview #NBC #MeetThePress #Trump #Democracy #Ratings https://www.rawstory.com/trump-ratings-arent-worth-our-democracy/
Many on the left have a lot to admit to:
- they turned a blind eye to #RussellBrand 's toxicity because he was 'one of them'
- they said "Hillary and #Trump are as bad as each other" in 2016 and then complained about his assault on #democracy
- they over-fixated on the evils of the west and were totally ignorant to the realities of #Putin and what #Russia had become under him
We really should be hearing a lot more #meaculpa on this, but people have very selective memories
Just finished reading Part 1 of @pluralistic's book "The Internet Con" and it is FANTASTIC! Y'all should go get it right now (ebook through Verso and audiobook through LibroFM).
@ChristopherJM President #Zelensky probably doesn't qualify for the #Nobel peace prize, thanks to certain unavoidable technicalities, but damn if he isn't right up there with the best of the previous laureates. He stands on the fragile battle line between the increasingly collaborative, resurgent and belligerent despots and free peoples still believing in (more or less) liberal democracy.
A trained lawyer at a time when law seemed like a joke, he turned to comedy and... Ukrainians and all the rest of us should feel so lucky that he chose to run for office and win.
#Ukraine #UkraineWar #democracy #authoritarianism #imperialism
For #DemocracyDay we would like to recognize the Mississippi Free Press which does pro-democracy reporting 365 days a year.
A good example is this investigation of voting precinct changes.
https://www.mississippifreepress.org/35295/mississippi-officials-made-161-voting-precinct-changes-since-november-2022
They also keep a close eye on state government.
A #BrightSpot of Local Journalism
#Democracy #Elections #Wisconsin
Don Moynihan writes:
"Because of the actions of Republicans, the state is at a new and shocking low.
Threatening a judge who challenges the existing power structure by calling for more democratic representation is the sort of thing we associate with authoritarian regimes.
The removal of a troublesome official who will not go along with those seeking to overturn an election is banana republic stuff.
This is where Wisconsin is now." https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-heads-i-win-tails-you-lose-democracy
#musk is a threat to #civilsociety and #democracy
Every word of this, but particularly: "Cultural warfare was a political ploy designed to keep workers from recognizing our common ground and banding together against corporate abuses and thefts.” #Democracy https://tracydurnell.com/2023/09/14/an-endless-battle-for-the-rights-of-the-underclass/?utm_source=werd.io&utm_campaign=mastodon&utm_channel=mastodon
#musk is a threat to #democracy and #civilsociety
@georgetakei Republicans want voters gerrymandered districts better, along with making voting harder and harder.
Republicans so, no water is allowed in election lines and now lines, cannot be longer then two people./s Republicans need to make democracy harder or make it disappear.
#Repulcians #GOP #democracy #election #voting
3. "Trump continues to be covered mostly as an entertaining side show – his mug shot! His latest insults! – not a perilous threat to democracy, despite four indictments and 91 charges against him, and despite his own clear statements that his re-election would bring extreme anti-democratic results; he would replace public servants with the cronies who’ll do his bidding."