Truthdig

[catherine]

I started reading Chris Hedges a little while ago, and that led me to the website Truthdig (https://www.truthdig.com), which I now go to regularly and I find I really like the articles. They tend to be bipartisan bashers of the status quo, and most the articles are pretty well written.

We sometimes talk about where do you get alternative news sources, and this is a good one. I can't say it doesn't have strong biases, but it least it exposes many issues that fall between the cracks in mainstream media--while CNN is reporting on the Mueller report ad nauseam.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I was recently thinking how much I respect Chris Hedges for usually being right on the facts. He doesn't pretend to be anything but a man of the left, so it's not pretending at unbiased.

Now if he's speculating about the future of the economy or approaches to change things all bets are off (he doesn't believe in electoral change at all, and that's real problematic).


CNN is reporting on the Mueller report ad nauseam.

CNN is particularly bad, they might be the worst "mainstream" news source out there, it's all propaganda, all the time, usually for some war or other. But if there aren't enough wars going on they have to resort to other stuff. :~)

[jp1]

I agree that truthdig isn't bad. I've read their site off and on for years.

But I would disagree about Mueller fatigue. What trump is likely guilty of is far worse than watergate. But because we've been hearing dribs and drabs about it for years now the full impact of the report was muted. It SHOULD be all over the news 24/7. One of the things I've been worried about for the past 3 years is that the insanity of a completely corrupt, criminal president who wants to destroy our governmental institutions would become normalized. Some people here poo poo'd my concern, but it's slowly but surely happening. The latest proof of that being that we now have Presidential Defense Attorney Bill Barr instead of Attorney General Bill Barr. Not to mention that Pence, in an interview the other day, made it clear the other day that team Trump intends to use Russia to help them win again in 2020. (yay america?) Pretending that all of this is normal and acceptable is tragic.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Not to mention that Pence, in an interview the other day, made it clear the other day that team Trump intends to use Russia to help them win again in 2020.

why bother, voting machines are infinitely hackable and probably have been hacked before (certainly some evidence of that). Get a state to rig the vote Trumps way, if it's close, that is probably what will actually happen.

Oh well Pence may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but those running the campaign will be.

[jp1]

why bother, voting machines are infinitely hackable and probably have been hacked before (certainly some evidence of that). Get a state to rig the vote Trumps way, if it's close, that is probably what will actually happen.



Which is why all voting machines should have to produce a paper trail.




Oh well Pence may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but those running the campaign will be.

I realize that trump will have to hire all new people for this election since most everyone that worked for him last time is going to prison but do you really think he’s going to find smarter people for this campaign than he did for 2016? Bigot Pence seems to be one of the smarter people around trump.

[Lainey]

I'm another long-time reader of Truthdig. I like that and AlterNet.org too.

[oldhat]

I've always found Hedges to be simultaneously admirable and exasperating. He's more right than wrong about a lot of things, especially the way the corporate world has co-opted all mainstream politics, both left and right. His analyses of upper-class greed and the triumph of the military-industrial complex and global capitalism are very close to the mark. And you have to admire his courage in standing up against the Iraq war hysteria, which resulted in his getting fired by the NYT.

But at the end of the day he's a classic example of making the perfect the enemy of the good. I was especially irritated that he endorsed Jill Stein over Bernie, the rare left-wing politician who stood a chance of bringing about some real change.

I suppose society needs its Jeremiahs. But Hedges seems incapable of accepting that politics is the art of the possible.

[LDAHL]

Maybe it's the cynic in me, but my first instinct is to discount any outlet with "truth" in the title.

[organictex]

"...But at the end of the day he's a classic example of making the perfect the enemy of the good.[/QUOTE]

i totally agree. his book "America: The Farewell Tour" is excellent, while very depressing, but his stance on
politics and the current moment can be aggravating (as are many "leftists" commentators). we have to realize
we're in a winner-take-all 2 party system, by design...

[oldhat]

This is only tangentially relevant to Hedges, but while we're on the subject of liberals being exasperating, I was gnashing my teeth again this morning as I read about the rehashing of Joe Biden's supposed mistreatment of Anita Hill. It's just like Dems to start circling the firing squad to take potshots at one of their likeliest candidates.

What the hell is wrong with people? Are they determined to see another four years of wannabe Mussolini? The Anita Hill thing was three decades ago, for God's sake. I remember thinking at the time nobody emerged from that mess looking particularly virtuous. Clarence Thomas should have been shot down by the Senate solely on the basis of being a mediocre hack. And while I'm sure his behavior was every bit as slimy as Hill claimed, she continued to cultivate a relationship with him as long as she thought it would boost her own career.

I just wish people would consider the price they might pay for the pleasure of wallowing in their ideological purity.

[LDAHL]

I see that phenomenon in the debate over whether the Boston bomber should be allowed to vote.

[ApatheticNoMore]

well my position on him being wrong to discard electoral politics entirely is certainly not a position that people should expect from electoral politics what they often do. That's a whole other delusion. Another lame choice like Biden isn't going to do anyone much good (him entering the race makes me literally depressed. I mean it, I was bummed! I liked the field better before). But Hedges discards even more local and lower level electoral politics etc., even new people running and trying to do stuff that way etc., it's really a blanket dismissal, and that's where it's likely wrong.

Other truthdig stuff, I don't read it a great deal, but maybe it's good, I saw the Chomsky article awhile ago, right enough about what the Russian distraction has become *IMO*.

[JaneV2.0]

well my position on him being wrong to discard electoral politics entirely is certainly not a position that people should expect from electoral politics what they often do. That's a whole other delusion. Another lame choice like Biden isn't going to do anyone much good (him entering the race makes me literally depressed. I mean it, I was bummed! I liked the field better before). ...

Oh yes--we have a bench with an array of bright, accomplished contenders, and the coach trots out a washed-up old hack whose most memorable achievements were plagiarism and patronizing Anita Hill.

As much as I complained about the older candidates, I really admire Elizabeth Warren. Kamala Harris impresses me, too. And many of the rest of them, save Hickenlooper who reminds me of a mid-century Republican. "Going back" should not be a Democratic talking point, IMO.

[bae]

Oh yes--we have a bench with an array of bright, accomplished contenders, and the coach trots out a washed-up old hack whose most memorable achievements were plagiarism and patronizing Anita Hill.


+1.


But, but, he got pizza at his neighborhood pizza place!

[JaneV2.0]

+1.


But, but, he got pizza at his neighborhood pizza place!

Proving that everyone, even washed-up political hacks, loves pizza!

And I should probably shut up about the Democratic candidates and let the opposition fire away.

[jp1]

To be fair, pizza is delicious. Especially if accompanied by a beer or two.

[jp1]

And I should probably shut up about the Democratic candidates and let the opposition fire away.

Socialism! Socialism! OMG! Did i mention socialism! And open borders to let scary brown people in! Aaaaack! Be very afraid.

[iris lilies]

Proving that everyone, even washed-up political hacks, loves pizza!

And I should probably shut up about the Democratic candidates and let the opposition fire away.
No, you need to complain loudly as a Democratic voter and knock some sense into them. For God sake Joe Biden.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Joe Biden: what if they had an election and noone under 40 came?*

(yes sander's is old, but his base spans generations and has a lot of youngish support, with Biden that's really how it is)

* heck maybe the cut off is much older than that, he's really is that out of touch

[catherine]

Joe Biden: what if they had an election and noone under 40 came?*

That's funny, ANM!

Yeah, what turned me off was his phone call to Anita Hill the night before his announcement to run. He had 25 years to apologize! We all know politicians are insincere most of the time, but this really goes over the top.

Plus, I also agree with ANM that Bernie is a young man in an old man's body, and he is speaking the language of the young today.

[JaneV2.0]

Though Bernie isn't my number one choice, I have a lot of respect for him--he's been banging the same drum for years and years--before it was fashionable--and he's hugely popular for it at home and in the world.