717 Comments

Be careful, Glenn. Soon they'll be calling you a misogynist.

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Bullying a young 28-year-old woman (who does national security reporting for the largest and most toxic corporate outlets).

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Her being 28 yo is part of the problem. It took me years and years of practice before I was able to become a competent dentist and gunslinger. Nothing, but nothing, can make up for experience. And she has precious little of it.

I'd feel much better if all our media were cynical 55 yo chain-smoking men.

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Only if we could learn dentistry on twitter by posting orange man bad a few times

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if you live in a blue precinct, you probably can. who the hell would know any better?

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Hopefully the ones you fixed teeth for when you were 28 don't read this forum :)

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He doesn't have to worry about the his practice targets.

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The unfortunate ones, indeed.

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In defense of younger people, John, I will point out that many older people react the exact same way as these younger female journalists do, and many older people in politics and journalism make the same errors as the younger ones do and do not display thicker skins. I concur that experience is important, but mere quantity of time in a certain business often does not guarantee thickness of skin or learning to do the right thing. Some people are natural critical thinkers or developed a lot of worldly experience beginning at a younger age. Just saying, my friend.

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How Dare You !!!!

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If she wants to play in the big leagues, she must take a bullet or two up there!

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GG was "packing", wasn't he! But careful with THOSE metaphors.

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taking a bullet metaphorically.

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What about "up there"?

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Yup. Definitely harassment! In fact, you're words are making her unsafe.

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Words and paras will break her bones, but truth will never grab her.

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literally shaking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Reminds me of how people treat AOC. She’s young and not very sharp but people hold her in very high regard. God forbid you point out her inadequacies.

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I never found any inadequacies in her. In fact, I'd say she's way, way above average for a politician. My secret? Always watched her on mute.

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If you can't stand the heat, don't work in a kitchen.

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for fbi and cia, the younger and more naive, the better.

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No, no, you were just providing a public service, giving her the opportunity to show her fans that she could take what she was dishing. Or, it's live by the "sword,".... Either way, I think she's toast.

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Like the breakfast I bully every morning.

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It's subconscious misogyny that you aren't even aware of. Get it? So stop denying. /sarc/

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Surely you are an incel, GG! Why, she refused to date you? You don't like her simps? /sarc/

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Wow, Glenn - you've certainly generated a healthy dose of hate tweets! I loved how Taylor Lorenz tries to brush you off, like she's too big for you. Hilarious and cringe-worthy. I think they hate you so much because they know deep down that you're right. You're calling them out for destroying Journalism, and because the criticism is spot-on, and coming from heavyweights like you, Matt Taibbi, and Michael Tracey, it hurts them bone-deep. Because they are on the younger side (except for the middle-aged Taylor Lorenz), they use magical thinking to turn themselves into victims. Probably victims of violence - violence perpetrated on them by you! You hurt their feelings, after all! Again, hilarious and cringe-worthy reactions from the Twitterverse.

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Clearly most posters on these threads are anti free speech and anti reality. It's dismaying to scroll through so much hate. Does no one understand what Glenn is doing his best to communicate?

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They *do* know what Glenn is trying to communicate, which is precisely why they get so angry at him. He is a threat to their anti-free speech and anti-reality agenda, plain and simple.

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Twitter is insane. Apparently we’re all misogynists and Neo Nazis. I had no idea.

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Lol. It’s so ridiculous.

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Omfg I just looked at those replies 🤢🤮

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I spent some of the happiest years of my life as a Russian Bot.

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Wow. Those comments make my brain hurt.

No engagement. Any criticism must be a product of your ego, regardless of what you write or what the subject of your criticism has done.

It's a plastic world.

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I'm genuinely curious about how your critics view Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, Tulsi Gabbard, Ashli Babbitt, and Amy Coney Barrett...

Would criticism of their political worldviews = misogyny?

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What's to criticize about Tulsi Gabbard? She's brilliant, pragmatic, advocated for the same basic social programs that Europe and Scandinavia enjoys, and most importantly, as a veteran military officer she spoke against the carnage created by US interventionist foreign policy.

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My main problem with her is anti-2a. I care about 4 things - free speech, right to bear arms, anti-forever wars, anti-critical race theory/identity politics. I am willing to compromise or even have discussions on shit like taxes and health care. But I don't entertain anyone against 1A or 2A.

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Yep. Those two were the first two purposely.

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But Ms. Gabbard, imo, isn't a gun-grabber at heart. I could be wrong, but I think she would "modify." Look, she certainly isn't a "culture" warrior. She isn't the typical Democrat. She is an out-sider. We should welcome her type with open arms, imo.

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She is less compromised than many of her peers.

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This is the only valid credit I've seen in this thread about her.

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Well well another DNC PR piece in a comment section showing the lies of the media and the DNC.

Tulsi got called a russian then shut her damned mouth until she was told to open it again. F her. Another lifer politician who puts party above people.

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Megyn Kelly is an opportunist - I put her in same bucket as Ben Shapiro. She started speaking out against identity politics ONLY when she herself became a victim after her unfair firing. But she was willing to exploit it for her advantage with Trump during the 2016 debates.

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I guess that makes you a misogynist, too?

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Literally shaking!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Back in 2016, nobody had heard of CRT and identity politics. What are you talking about? Besides, if you can't tolerate her, you will not tolerate anyone else on this side of the spectrum. Which is all we need. More infighting. Trump was an idiot to attack her. He accomplished nothing by that. Just made himself more popular to a rightwing minority and unpopular with moderates.

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No, their critics get to claim they engage in self-loathing, or have squandered the gains made during second wave feminism, elevating themselves at the pleasure of and to profit powerful white men. These women are the worst sellouts of all and must therefor be treated with extreme prejudice.

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No. "Misogyny" is a counterattack that only the favored may employ, as they are, by definition, above criticism.

The disfavored must put on their big girl pants and suck it up.

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Love Megyn, Candace and Tulsi. Not enough info on the other 2.

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The world would be a better and safer place if Tulsi Gabbard were president. To watch her brilliant performance during the one debate they allowed her on in which she humiliated Kamala Harris by stating her public record of being a cruel prosecutor, and also had the courage to speak on foreign policy which Sanders has to this day avoided and then watch the DNC and the liberal media destroy her campaign was painful.

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She is pure and true in a world of twisted lying scum. I am center right and gave her money for her run because i trusted her.

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same

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You're a good man, Andrew.

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I seriously wish she would sit down with some people from the gun owners community and get her views on 2A challenged. She seems to have a functioning brain, just can't stand anyone anti-2a.

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That would be a great idea, and it would surprise me, come campaigning time, that she did not do it.

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Are you high? She bended the knee and endorsed a lifelong politician warmonger police stater in Joe Biden about 2 weeks after her own party used McCarthyism on her.

Shes a joke like Bernie and proved she can toe the line like a good little jackboot.

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Ashli Babbitt is the 3 time Air Force veteran who got shot at Capitol Hill on Jan 6th while the politicians who sent her overseas to fight wars for them hid under desks.

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It's like they planned it. I can just hear the planning: "Ok, look guys, we need someone to get it early on, so it will appear serious enough for us to use it."

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Tulsi is a rising star in the World Economic Forum young hopefuls....these are posted on site. Schwab is very proud of them.

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Bwaaa!!! They can’t address the criticism so ad hominem.

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The Twitter comment about how Snowden will be living in what sounds like a 1980s vision of the Soviet Union is interesting. You can easily jump on Google Earth and “roam” the streets of any Russian town or city and get a decent view of what a lot of people’s living arrangements are. They do seem to incorporate wildflowers into their landscaping a lot. The horrors!

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As with China, Russia's true crime is not being woke. For that alone, woke propagandists are inciting a final world war.

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Not exactly. Their true crime is not letting their governments get bought by our guys.

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Oh it is bought alright. It's getting it cleaned little by little what gets the US upset.

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Yes, the part doing the cleaning is what I was referring to.

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I think they'd probably not be happy with the result. We might or might not "win" by some morbid definition, but their Twitter dream world would be gone forever.

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Badge of Honor.

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Absolutely fascinating to see these these twitter wars. There is a lone voice here and there asking to evaluate the arguments on their merits (what Glenn actually wrote and if true or not), but the vast majority just steamrolls over and is endlessly about gender, age, who has the "right" to call out whom - all about the woke pecking order and "hierarchy of oppression", nothing about the actual facts.

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A Medi-eval court of royal coutesans and debutantes, the stuff of media fantasy today.

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I wonder how many media types subscribe to your Substack, Glenn, simply so they can be the first to attack you on Twitter.

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“I figured out a way how to monetize social justice warriors” - Jordan Peterson to Joe Rogan dying laughing.

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Julia Ioffe: "We see you, Glenn."

So old, so Y2K. She really still is the braided child in her avatar.

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"Oh, Glenn, you're so not in the club!!!!!"

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These twitter comments are all part of a manufactured propaganda framework, some comments intentionally seeded by malicious actors, others from those gullible enough to be hoodwinked by the seeded comments.

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How effective can it possibly be if most people don't even pay attention?

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It's as though the reaction is fully scripted in advance. Probably just have the plug the variable into the old computer and the tweets and articles write themselves.

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Relevant funny video by Ryan Long (one of the best channels):

https://youtu.be/I7VEx2dviNk

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Excellent take-down of the pervasive "alternate-fact" purveyors and their masters. Would really enjoy reading your take on this morning's Senate sub-committee hearing on social-media algorithms; especially the testimony of the 'ethics' witness Mr. Harris.

As Usual,

EA

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Do those hearings ever achieve anything? All I have been seeing for past decade is hearings and grandstanding but nobody ever gets held accountable. And if they really get working, they make things worse.

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Re: CNNisFakeNews Apr 28 @~10 AM PCT

For those of us that are interested in gaining a better understanding of the causes and possible solutions to our society's problems, we have learned to ignore the partisan "grandstanding" and focus on the substantive discourse of both those on the dais and at the witness desk. Hapless complaining and repetitive criticisms of the bad actors, within or outside of government, are not the stuff of productive achievement on our part either.

As Usual,

EA

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Fair point. I will wait to see some accountability before having any hope again.

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Did you, perchance, "...see some accountability..." in Mr. Harris's testimony and answers to credible questioning?

As Usual,

EA

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I wish republican politicians or even Bernie had the balls like Glenn does when they get called mean words. Right now, they run at the very first sight of someone calls them some mean word and they give up their principles.

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Bernie? What a joke! Hes a proven liar and media shilled for Hillary after calling for an end to the "elite". Bernie Sanders is a con artist.

He probably taught Natasha a few tricks!

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repubes disgust me. the tuck their manginas bend over grab the ankles and ask for more. those cowards make me sick.

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Your metaphor disgusts me. Your language hurts the cause.

Are you a neo-liberal plant?

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no. you now what disgusts me? people like john mccain and mitt romney stabbing us in the back and selling us out for 30 years, just for a few belly rubs and head pats from the beltway news cycle.

my metaphor was disgusting, because these people are disgusting. we've played nice for three decades and been crapped on every step of the way. I'm done with that shit and I have no patience for those that still think you can convince lying traitors to be your friend.

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DC beltway attracts power mongers and other assorted psychopaths like moths to a flame. the most evil among us are in positions of power. this must be reversed.

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Glenn treats objects like women, man.

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As if by command, they do exactly what you predicted. You should change your handle to "Nostradamus."

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Too late...

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Let's be clear, we aren't talking about journalists. That's not the line of work.

This is counter-intelligence.

As William Casey allegedly said: "We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false."

Operation Mockingbird was discovered and documented by Congress' Church Committee in 1975; that program placed CIA operatives in high positions throughout mainstream media.

NOTHING was done to ensure this did not continue.

Treating CNN or NPR or FOX or any of that as "news" or "journalism" is like calling our actions in Vietnam or Iraq or West Africa during the slave trade "humanitarian." It is a pretense that should be abandoned.

Our narrative is being constructed; our enemies labeled; our heroes fabricated; our consent manufactured. Glenn and others have documented this ad nauseum for years. This is not, as people often claim, corporations making shit up because "it sells." It doesn't. The "news" part of these media empires is spittle in a bucket of profits; its value is in its ability to shape the world for the other, more profitable ventures.

Our mainstream media empire is an intelligence asset. Full stop. And "reporters" like Natasha Bertrand and Rachel Maddow are either direct employees or themselves assets. They aren't arrogant. They aren't bad journalists. They aren't lazy or unprofessional. They do a job and they do it reasonably well. It's just a different job than most Americans believe.

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"What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know, it's what we know for sure that just ain't so". ~ Mark Twain

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And it did, does, and will work.

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Less and less so though.

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Unfortunately, Americans aren't learning. Only Republicans and some independents seem to be learning as shown by this Gallup poll:

https://news.gallup.com/poll/321116/americans-remain-distrustful-mass-media.aspx

Media trust by Democrats is at an all time high of 73-76%. Independents is at 35% and Republicans is at the lowest 10%. Aka Democrats are buying whatever propaganda media is selling.

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I don't believe that that 73-76% represents media "trust," but instead the approval of today's media "capture" by the State. Of course, both interprets are astoundingly alarming.

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Glenn's invaluable; when he gets shut down, then we'll know the whip has really come down.

Normally, I don't give many people money; I figure I deserve my dollars more than anyone else. I made Glenn one of the exceptions -- and I'm glad I did.

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Same here. I don't even agree with him that often but a clear, unalloyed voice is almost completely missing in the current landscape and has to be supported.

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Taibbi, Greenwald, and Sullivan are my source of news, and I'm glad I'm spending money on them!

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I use to follow Sullivan, but his Trump derangement syndrome articles were too much for me.

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I don't ever want to find myself in an echo chamber, and Sullivan is my guarantee that I won't. I agree with him less frequently than I agree with Matt or Glenn, but that's exactly why I pay for his reporting.

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Jimmy Dore and Aaron Mate is a good alternative.

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Ditto

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I am disappointed in Sullivan. He knows how to remain calm and rational and make good arguments. Decades ago I remember reading his article on the conservative's arguments for gay marriage. He changed my opinion on the matter. He just lets himself become unhinged when it comes to Trump and his supporters.

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I'm also partial to Sharyl Attkisson. She has an interesting way of learning things. She finds people involved in issues, asks them questions, and then reports her findings. It's like she really wants to learn what someone has to say. Extraordinary!

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Sharyl is awesome! I wish she had a Substack newsletter. I don’t click on any twitter stuff anymore so hard to catch up.

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Viva Frei and Robert Barnes are great too - a Canadian lawyer and an American lawyer. Their weekly live streams are outstanding. I pay for their Locals board membership too.

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Same here. Add Taibbi and McWhorter. Funny thing is I wouldn't agree with half their policy positions, but am proud to support those who are willing to speak up and who stand up for those great planks this whole experiment rides on. I also recently bought a CD (I'll likely never play!) from a rapper...I don't even like rap, but Tom MacDonald has some hard hitting work on YouTube. Another voice who should be rewarded for having the stones to take the heat and speak up.

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Same here. Hate rap. However, I listen to each of Tom MacDonald’s songs at least once and send him money simply because he has the integrity to call it all out. He also is self supporting and has spurned the recording industry vultures.

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Well said.

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I truly don't understand why there are only about three journalists who will call this kind of garbage out. The rest of them know that they're despised and no one trusts anything that they say, why don't they care? Even prostitutes take pride in their profession, why not the presstitutes?

Keep smearing their noses in it, Glenn. Maybe someday they'll clean up their broken industry, but I sincerely doubt it. There's too much money to be made by selling lies.

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The rest of them aren't journalists at all, but as you said, presstitutes. Media whores.

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I love the term "presstitutes".

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I think it's fear, self-doubt and careerism. Eventually the people with a moral journalistic compass get weeded out of the profession.

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Deep down most "journalists" such as Natasha Bertrand, Rachel Maddow, et al understand their role is as propagandists for the deep state, although they would never admit to it. As crazy and naive as it sounds, I think Natasha and her ilk in the msm truly believe the spin/disinformation they convey on a daily basis is for the greater good.

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....when the rest of us just know it's selling their souls to the devil.

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Because unfortunately you are wrong about "no one trusts anything that they say, why don't they care".

Only Republicans and some independents seem to be learning as shown by this Gallup poll:

https://news.gallup.com/poll/321116/americans-remain-distrustful-mass-media.aspx

Media trust by Democrats is at an all time high of 73-76%. Independents is at 35% and Republicans is at the lowest 10%. Aka Democrats are buying whatever propaganda media is selling. And since 95% of media is registered democrats, they are doing exactly what their base is buying.

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Except if that poll specified FOX the exact opposite results would occur.

That is to say no majority truly trusts our press (no way, not possible) but as long as they lie for my side I'll look the other way.

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Idk, I am right leaning but I don't watch/trust FOX either. Fox may have a few right leaning hosts but outside the 8pm-11pm window, they aren't right leaning. Weekends are even worse. Anecdotal but I also have quite a few right leaning friends who feel like same and don't watch FOX. A lot of us are supporting independent journalists - even of opposite politics as long as they are anti-establishment. One of the reasons I support Glenn.

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Not to nitpick on Gallup* in particular, I have a simmering distrust of polling in general .. . and lies, damned lies and statistics more specifically.

Polling is not an exact science.

*At best .. . "The political polarization that grips the country is reflected in partisans' views of the media, which are now the most divergent in Gallup's history. Recent Gallup/Knight Foundation polling has shown that although Americans increasingly see bias in news coverage, they nonetheless believe that an independent media is key to democracy." ~from the link

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This is a symptom of a failing country. It always happens this way.

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So true! Becomes the Ministry of Propaganda

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You think that medieval courtiers got ahead by calling rulers out?

You think prostituts attract more johns by telling them that the only way they'll get laid is if they pay for the privilege?

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Why would they call themselves out?

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Re: Jay Apr 27 @~8 PM PCT

Might I commend this piece of writing to your journalist reservoir; both the author and the subject of his treatise may well deserve your enhanced awareness and listing.

https://consortiumnews.com/2021/04/11/a-history-how-the-espionage-act-ensnared-julian-assange/

As Usual,

EA

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They don't advance when they don't toe the line in the eyes of their seniors who did.

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Trump’s greatest achievement wasn’t an all-time record breaking economy; it was the exposure of the intelligence agencies and the permanent government writ large as being in bed with the Democratic Party. FDR warned what would happen if the federal government ever unionized. It’s all pro-Dem top to bottom. Lois Lerner didn’t need a memo over at the IRS. None of them need direction. There are plenty of lone wolf lefties throughout the bureaucracy and now even in uniform. Strangely, in a profound juxtaposition, the enlisted ranks are becoming more Republican while the brass is more Democratic. We effectively have one party rule even when the opposition controls the executive and both houses of the legislature. That’s just the way it is and will remain so for the foreseeable future. I remember when I trusted and believed in the government. Now I don’t believe anything they say without proof. I guess I should’ve taken the blue pill.

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At this point, the Democrats might simply be a front for the intelligence agencies, like the media is.

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To be fair, the spooks don't care about party so much as they about Empire.

Just that Team D happens to be a more hospitable host at this time. They'll get their wars, but they'll have to do more human rights talk first.

Team R was the better vehicle for empire around the tine of 9/11.

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That's 100% true, and your kitty is awesome. I remember during the early 2000s, we libertarians had tons of allies on the left. War on Drugs, ending actual wars, warrantless wiretapping, upholding civil liberties. At that point it was clear that the GOP was the biggest offending party.

But it turns out all those positions were simply political posturing to hurt Bush. When Obama got elected, all that stuff disappeared without a trace.

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FYI, the pic is a selfie.

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In that case, I love YOU! And admire your typing skills! Most felines don't have the patience for editing.

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LOL!!

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I make a lot of typos.

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You sound like a pig trying to shmooz a lesser-equal into, I don't know, spying on the sneaky mice (pigs aren't so capable, eh?)

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The L party isn't much better than other politicians, that's true. I find it hard to vote for anybody, to be honest.

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Libertarianism is NOT Anarchy (unregulated "capitalism"; scare quotes because "unregulated Capitalism" is an oxymoron, and "regulated Capitalism" is redundant.)

Libertarians want maximum individual freedom, caging the agent of individual security (the State, with its military, to defend from threats originating OUTSIDE the borders, and its police, to defend from threats originating within the borders, and its courts of law, to determine guilt and adjudicate contractual disputes in a properly REGULATED free market economy, all of which is beautifully espoused (Declaration) and effectively implemented (Constitution)).

The ONLY reason libertarians don't refer to themselves as Capitalists today, is the State-minded have effectively besmirched a fine descriptive word, and fooled the People into thinking Capitalism means its opposite, crony-Capitalism, the coining of which term was part of the foolery. The State must be corralled, ever-vigilantly, by the People, because the State hates individual freedom, and wants to destroy Capitalism, the system of maximum individual freedom. The over-bearing State creates monopolies by protecting them from competition, thereby co-opting private sector corporations, who also naturally detest competition. The free market destroys naturally occuring local monopolies with naturally occuring competition through the beautiful free market pricing and profit feedback loops. The looting of the capital markets (stealing INDIVIDUAL capital) and looting of INDIVIDUAL income/property with unConstitutional tax structure is done by the State. The State stole from the People in '09 (bail-outs of Big Banking and GM, entities that the free market is perfectly suited to reforming) and in '20 (unfairly picking winners and losers in a used, mild, State-caused pandemic, and then allowed to bail-out those created losers with our children's freedom (public debt)).

Sorry to spew my opinion at you. I believe we are both classical liberals, but I think your definitions are partly to blame for leading us astray of Classical Liberalism, another wonderful phrase that means Capitalism, properly defined.

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Oligarchs and their servants and wannabes will embed themselves anywhere they can.

Contemplate The Iron Law Of Oligarchy and its corollary, The Iron Law Of Institutions.

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I’m interested to know what you’re referring to by “Empire”.

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If that is in fact an honest question, the United States is an empire by any reasonable definition of the word. Look up the words "full spectrum dominance", for instance.

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It was an honest question. Apologies if it came across as a troll. Appreciate the reply and I'll take a look at reference you cited.

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"full spectrum dominance"? Good grief. Sounds like other peoples have realized the benefit of relatively free trade with what still is the wealthiest, most productive, free-est, least economically-corrupt, not to mention magnanimous and friendly and goodwill-spreading, not to mention environmentally-cleanest, not to mention generous with help defending against REAL empires, peoples/nation that has ever existed. Where do the poor the world over risk their children's lives just for a chance. I could go on, but you get my point.

Oh, we have our problems, boy do we, and the future is unwritten, but:

"the United States is an empire by any reasonable definition of the word."?!?!

Sorry that I couldn't just say, "I disagree." You don't deserve my emotional response (the substance of which I stand by).

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The United States is none of the things you describe, by any measure. Start by looking at the prison population, which is abnormally high for such a magnificently free country.

Then one might look at our unending wars of aggression, or will you tell us about how Iraq was chock-a-block with WMDs, how the people of Yemen are begging for genocide, etc.,.etc

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Having global interests (like an interest in freedom and civil rights the world over) does not an empire make. An empire must expand State control geographically, physically taking control of more population, or removing them. Tell me, when was the last case of a Western Civilization nation forcefully (i.e. not by indiginent choice) empiring, i.e claiming jurisdictional control over someone else's dirt by force and fiat?

We are not an empire today. China and Russia (maybe Iran, but THAT's kinda funny) are today's obvious empires.

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Your definition is idiosyncratic, to put it mildly.

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...(T)he inside job! http://www.ae911truth.org (Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth)

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Maybe but I’m thinking the party is the real power...or whoever is really controlling the party. My guess: Obama

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He's too lazy and is happy getting stoned in Kalorama. It's the cabal that put Obama in place. He was as much of an empty suit as Biden, but he was great on the teleprompter, mouthing someone else's words.

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Ya that hopey changey thing-- sorry to use Sarah Palin's line but in retrospect she was right

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Getting stoned is the only thing he did which I support. But, I'd pass him my doobie if he'd lend me his ear. I'd ask him who's really running things, anyway. I think he would say, truthfully, he does not know, either, he's just playing his part. I'd take a deep toke, pass the roach (or hold it for him, or use his clip, his is probably monogrammed), and tell him THAT was his problem all along.

Sometime in the next few years, the People are going to realize (because history does tend to repeat, learning must take repetition) the State is their eternal enemy, and take action. The State doesn't stand a chance. That's what the control/secrecy freaks fear most: Will their gig last their tenure, or is their gig up.

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the party is a collection of powerless hacks, hired from central casting, with a few real people (enough to make things look real but pose no threat).

It's a tool, not an engineer.

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And if the People don't use the Party as their tool, the Party will use them as tools, because fools are nothing but tools.

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AOC is the latest tool added to the toolbox.

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Why wouldn't it be? Who and what would stop the CIA (in league with global corporate agendas) from doing so?

I'd assume the GOP too -- including making it a punching bag that permits the Democrats to turn liberal voters into campaigners for censorship. If it weren't for extremists in the GOP (and Trump, of course), it would have been impossible to turn the binary thinking up to 11. Heck, probably couldn't have passed off a Biden victory in a non-Trump environment either.

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Yep. While the REAL anti-war people (Tulsi, Ron Paul) get labeled as foreign agents. Sure is a coincidence!

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(Tulsi, Ron Paul, DJT), imo. (Sorry to hijack your spot on opinion.)

I really did believe, even as I voted for him in '16, that DJT would empire and war like the cameras were on him preening at the Statist podium. Boy, did he prove me wrong.

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At least Trump, despite all his flaws, told you exactly what he wanted to do even if you criticized him for it. Democrats on the other hand will tell you one thing while doing the opposite.

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I have seen quite a few politicians and executives in their native environments.

Their behavior is indistinguishable from that of high-functioning sociopaths. Keep in mind that power is to sociopaths what catnip is to cats.

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Another great achievement of President Trump was to prevent the four or five likely Republican party nominees from loosing comfortably to the Clinton team.

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Love my country, hate my government

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The top ranks of the US military were decimated by Obama. Over 200 flag officers (generals) were fired/forcibly retired during his administration for daring to be patriots who love America.

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Obama or not, the Pentagon and its minions are well-fattened to this very day. Too much so. So fucking top-heavy it's no wonder this country is tipping over right off its "Exceptional" plinth.

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Hmm Second World War a bit different then now.

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Any president who wants to truly address international shenanigans (Obama didn't want to, he chose to placate the existing structure) would have to fire lots of people in the military and intelligence services. It's clear that if you want to reform these powers as president, they have potential to successfully undermine your presidency. If I were an incoming president, I would work to find out who was willing to do that in the recent past and I would fire those people.

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These "lone" wolf Statists-at-heart are the rule now. That's the scary development of the last decade.

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You give Trump waaaayyy too much credit. Google “Frank Church”…Democrat…from Idaho.

Maybe the USA would have better Dems if the right would stop assassinating them.

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The enlisted men come from one strata of society while brass from another strata. What do you think are the chances that at some point the enlisted will not take orders from the brass? Too far fetched?

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Thank you, Glenn. I keep asking this, but what's really in this for Bertrand - and the others like her in the media? Having been in the media for 30 years I just don't get it. My theory is this: it used to be that really smart people went into the media. Sometimes they were corrupt, sometimes they really cared about reporting the truth, sometimes they were drunks wanting a paycheck while writing their novel. But now the people going into media are the pencils who aren't simply not the sharpest, but the pencils in the stack who never ever got sharpened ever. But still I ask, why would you go into the field of reporting if you didn't have a drive to report the truth or that novel you're working on. It's a pathetic career choice to be Bertrand. She's a courtier who'll be thrown to the recyclable heap when she's no longer useful, while Rachel Maddow won't take her calls and will have her millions. But I feel that way about Maddow, too. She's doing propaganda and the people she's doing it for don't respect mere millionaires, only trillionaires. Btw, I just received and started reading Securing Democracy - this book should be read by everyone.

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My guess is Natasha buys her own BS. She's a young woman early into her career who's being showered with praise and promotions from those above her. In her mind, she must be doing something right. And remember, nobody is the villain in their won life story.

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Let's be fair (and here I will be accused, myself, of misogyny). She's also cashing in at the right time. If Natasha looked like Lotte Lenya, she never gets this opportunity.

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Liars are ugly people regardless of what they look like.

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I know several girls here in Canada who voted for Trudeau twice because he looks cute..........

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If San Francisco reduces its voting age to, say, 14 (you think I'm joking?), the kids should organize and vote in an 18 yr. old mayor. What delicious spectacle that would be.

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Could an 18 year old be any worse than the last few SF Mayors? Free Mountain Dew might just be the solution to $hitting in the streets!

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Don’t give them ideas Tim!!! There’s never a stupid idea they didn’t like!

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Misogyny requires intent, so as long as you don't work for the NYT, you should be in the clear.

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"own" life story

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The original reads nicely.

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I loved "won." It indicates one's pride in achievement, regardless of legitimacy. it brings out the sadness of an indoctrinated and mis-mentored and used once-innocent young skull full of mush.

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Her seniors also taught her how to cry "harassment!" anytime she gets called out.

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A paycheck and lots of cocktail parties. Oh and being part of the ruling élite, obviously. POWER is a hell of a drug.

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Right on!

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Seems like with all the money spent on a journalism degree, the school could at least send her on her way with a box of sharpened pencils. Alas, probably no room what with all the trophies.

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How would the journalism school raise funding -- the illustrious (sic) alumni-- LOL!

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If the establishment is good at nothing else, it is very good at determining whom to buy off, whom to co-opt, whom to ignore, whom to neutralize.

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Decades of increasing practice of spreading rot, much like an even stealthier non-novel coronavirus.

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Many readers are asking themselves just why would "journalists" do what Bertrand, Goldberg, etc. do... Beside the obvious motives -- money and career.

A possible answer is -- "in shared interests" ---- to analyze how many among them are "beloved Bibi's" Likudniks and have they ever addressed the Gaza open air concentration camp and terror on Palestinians in apartheid Israel.

The US administrations are sadistic regimes - irrespective if under Obama, Trump, and Biden -- that thrive on the misery of nations. Syria, for example, was once a self-sufficient country -- before America decided (remember 17 years ago !!) that secular socialist Syria needs “democracy and freedom”.

CIA aligned itself even with Al Qaeda (!?!) for regime change -- who else has been weekly bombing Syria -- for years.....??

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It was Woodward and Bernstein. Every reporter rather than doing hard investigative reporting started cozying up to intelligence agency sources to feed them their scoops.

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You asked "What's in it for Bretrand?"

The answer is: The same thing that was "in it" for a renaissance courtier, whose job description also consisted of flattering those in power and coming up with elaborate justifications for their actions.

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As accurate a parallel as any could possibly be. That's because in both cases the source is way too much entrenched Statism.

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To answer your question: Power and prestige, some money to go with it. Honestly I do not see what the mystery is.

The line between government and media is so blurred, she is more of a government advocate.

The article actually notes right from the beginning- this is how people are advancing their careers. This isn’t new. How do you think a “journalist” in north korea advances her career? Her status and security?

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The money and perks aren't what they used to be for journalists. They're just servants rewriting dozens of press releases. So I still don't understand. They could go right into PR and make way more. It's like when I see the young female journalists fawning over Jen at the WH press conferences, thanking her for cookies. How can they stay awake?

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"The pencils that never get sharpened."

Public education indoctrinated paint jobs.

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Just another corporate drone playing for the big promotion, pay raise and power. It’s all too common.

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You forgot these types LOVE to hob knob with 'important"(sic) people-- get invited to the right parties etc. Just like in the kings court days-- true apparatchiks

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yeah some time ago and without anyone noticing mainstream journalism passed a tipping point where the best people generally don't want to be involved in it anymore. everything since is accelerating consequences

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I was sort of waiting for Glenn to tell us how we can buy signed copies of Securing Democracy. Did I miss my chance?

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