As a nation, we need a political re-alignment, now

Craig234 said:

The Jimmy Kimmel and Kirk situations make it clear - Republican leaders and oligarchs are just waiting to pounce on using the force of the government to silence and attack their critics as they try to force a one-party dictatorship on the country, over the will of a growing majority of the citizens.

The Jimmy Kimmel case shows zero respect for the constitution's free speech rights, which means zero respect for any constitutional rights, for anyone. Dozens and even thousands of examples fit the pattern of government intimidation and withholding of funds to take dictatorial control.

It is becoming truer and truer, that the same oligarchs who control the wealth, and control elections with that wealth, are also able to use that wealth to own and dictate the media in the country - with just a few of the impacts being removing the head of 60 Minutes, ending CPB, firing of various reporters, paying extortion, and now Colbert and Kimmel.

They have been able to push divisive narratives keeping the public from paying attention to and fighting their tyranny.

We need to recognize their and everyone else's rights are threatened, are not respected by this government. We need MANGA to recognize that's their rights also and unite with the rest of the country.

Looking ahead, this could get a lot worse. Even if MANGA does unite, the American people are in a situation they appear unlikely to be able to win a conflict with the forces of oligarchy and government and military united against them, a battle we don't want to have. We need a political re-alignment from the current situation, outside the parties, outside most of the media. It's a real question if and how people can do it.

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Craig234 said:

The Jimmy Kimmel and Kirk situations make it clear - Republican leaders and oligarchs are just waiting to pounce on using the force of the government to silence and attack their critics as they try to force a one-party dictatorship on the country, over the will of a growing majority of the citizens.

The Jimmy Kimmel case shows zero respect for the constitution's free speech rights, which means zero respect for any constitutional rights, for anyone. Dozens and even thousands of examples fit the pattern of government intimidation and withholding of funds to take dictatorial control.

It is becoming truer and truer, that the same oligarchs who control the wealth, and control elections with that wealth, are also able to use that wealth to own and dictate the media in the country - with just a few of the impacts being removing the head of 60 Minutes, ending CPB, firing of various reporters, paying extortion, and now Colbert and Kimmel.

They have been able to push divisive narratives keeping the public from paying attention to and fighting their tyranny.

We need to recognize their and everyone else's rights are threatened, are not respected by this government. We need MANGA to recognize that's their rights also and unite with the rest of the country.

Looking ahead, this could get a lot worse. Even if MANGA does unite, the American people are in a situation they appear unlikely to be able to win a conflict with the forces of oligarchy and government and military united against them, a battle we don't want to have. We need a political re-alignment from the current situation, outside the parties, outside most of the media. It's a real question if and how people can do it.

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Craig234 said:

The Jimmy Kimmel case shows zero respect for the constitution's free speech rights,

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aociswundumho said:

The hilarity of a "progressive" worried about free speech.

The FCC was a new deal creation under your hero FDR. ABC can't broadcast without a government license from it - and that's exactly the kind of state control people like you want. You made the bed, now lie in it.

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aociswundumho said:

The hilarity of a "progressive" worried about free speech.

The FCC was a new deal creation under your hero FDR. ABC can't broadcast without a government license from it - and that's exactly the kind of state control people like you want. You made the bed, now lie in it.

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soap box said:

You snap and blame FDR for the way trump is doing everything he can to suffocate dissent.

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soap box said:

The fact you're not accepting is that no other president abused the function of the FCC for his own personal aggrandizement.

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aociswundumho said:

It was FDR who gave Trump the power.

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aociswundumho said:

Welp, now they do, and it's not "abuse" if it's legal. If it's legal, then the agency is working as intended.

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soap box said:

And FDR himself didn't use the FCC to attack his opponents. Not even Nixon or any other president has abused this authority to squelch dissent.

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President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, for example, had little tolerance for those who questioned the New Deal. Some of his most vociferous opponents were conservative newspaper owners, who were increasingly critical after Roosevelt’s Supreme Court–packing scheme in 1937. Now, Roosevelt couldn’t go after them directly, thanks to that pesky First Amendment, but many of these newspapermen had begun to buy radio stations, and in that arena FDR could target them for special regulatory attention. As one former commissioner put it, Roosevelt “put the blow torch” on his FCC chairman, Larry Fly, to use various regulations to shut down the president’s enemies.

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(President Richard Nixon’s FCC would ultimately enact a cross-media ownership ban in an attempt to intimidate the owner of The Washington Post into easing up on the paper’s Watergate reporting.)

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soap box said:

Im sorry to disagree, but trump is abusing the authority of the FCC to intimidate media outlets. Free speech is not illegal. They are engaged in an abuse of power to stop the dissent that is involved in the 1st amendment. And you want to blame FDR for Trumps authoritarianisms.

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aociswundumho said:

Wrong. They both did:



...






The licensing scheme is what allows them all to do it. If you support government licensing, then you support censorship.

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aociswundumho said:

Wrong. They both did:



...






The licensing scheme is what allows them all to do it. If you support government licensing, then you support censorship.

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Craig234 said:

The Jimmy Kimmel and Kirk situations make it clear - Republican leaders and oligarchs are just waiting to pounce on using the force of the government to silence and attack their critics as they try to force a one-party dictatorship on the country, over the will of a growing majority of the citizens.

The Jimmy Kimmel case shows zero respect for the constitution's free speech rights, which means zero respect for any constitutional rights, for anyone. Dozens and even thousands of examples fit the pattern of government intimidation and withholding of funds to take dictatorial control.

It is becoming truer and truer, that the same oligarchs who control the wealth, and control elections with that wealth, are also able to use that wealth to own and dictate the media in the country - with just a few of the impacts being removing the head of 60 Minutes, ending CPB, firing of various reporters, paying extortion, and now Colbert and Kimmel.

They have been able to push divisive narratives keeping the public from paying attention to and fighting their tyranny.

We need to recognize their and everyone else's rights are threatened, are not respected by this government. We need MANGA to recognize that's their rights also and unite with the rest of the country.

Looking ahead, this could get a lot worse. Even if MANGA does unite, the American people are in a situation they appear unlikely to be able to win a conflict with the forces of oligarchy and government and military united against them, a battle we don't want to have. We need a political re-alignment from the current situation, outside the parties, outside most of the media. It's a real question if and how people can do it.

Click to expand...