tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post7359992405676952313..comments2024-03-28T16:08:29.578-04:00Comments on Sardonicky: Distractions In the Time of CholeraKaren Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-5023327811973973922017-10-04T14:03:17.749-04:002017-10-04T14:03:17.749-04:00The whole Puerto Rico/Trump disaster is just fake ...The whole Puerto Rico/Trump disaster is just fake news by neoliberals. They desperately want to create another Katrina, even though the Feds are working far more efficiently to help the people of that island than Obama's crony government ever would. <br /><br />Trump is a builder and actually understands the infrastructure issues:<br /><br /><br />“Well, the math stuff I was fine with up until about seventh grade. But Malia is now a freshman in High School and I’m pretty lost.”<br /><br />- Dear Leader Obama (Transferred trillions to Wall St.)<br /><br />Trump is now being blamed by corporatists for the neglect Puerto Rico suffered under many presidents.Jamienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-206198611507655182017-10-04T12:26:05.407-04:002017-10-04T12:26:05.407-04:00Jay,
I was shocked when Trump blurted out that Pu...Jay,<br /><br />I was shocked when Trump blurted out that Puerto Rico's debt should be wiped out. That is against everything sacred and neoliberal, a real slap in the face to what was once called the "Washington Consensus" policies designed to punish the Global South. Of course he is probably bullshitting as usual, or maybe planning on turning Puerto Rico into his own personal tax haven empire or some-such in exchange for his oafish beneficence. <br /><br />If those Puerto Ricans get too uppity, though, "his" military can always bomb the hell out of them, as Truman did. They have always been treated as second class citizens, so that Trump is treating them as such as well should come as no surprise. But of course, it does.<br /><br />Having family in Puerto Rico, I can also attest that it is still very much a mental colony. The rich, "pure-blooded" Spaniards literally live behind bars in luxury condos and estates. They fear and despise the rabble, who are a combination of Spanish, African and Taino aboriginal. Add the entrenched presence of the US military, which until quite recently used the island of Vieques as a bombing exercise field and poisoned at least half the humans there with mercury and other chemicals, and you have a perfect storm.<br /><br />Oh, but Trump caused an epidemic of cholera! Or, if he didn't, he probably will. And if you disagree, then it automatically makes you an unpatriotic right-wing enemy of the state. <br /><br />Great Mr. Fish cartoon and accompanying article by Hedges. Karen Garciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-89271832893118094362017-10-04T11:33:39.186-04:002017-10-04T11:33:39.186-04:00In light of what Trump said and did yesterday afte...In light of what Trump said and did yesterday after landing in Puerto Rico, it's a wonder Air Force One wasn't booed off the island. Puerto Ricans are slow to anger.<br /><br />No, the yellow flag of cholera has not been run up the flagpole in PR––yet, but, unless the whole population soon escapes to friends and family in the States, I can imagine the fever of Catalonia taking hold among the boricuas left behind in the ruins.<br /><br />Two administrations ago, a calendar maker from the Syracuse area made lots of dough from Bushisms. There were more than enough of Bush's malapropisms for every day of the year, for a few years. Is there no enterprising calendar maker who can do the same to memorialize the tweets and live utterances of our current leader? Dark laughter is the last safety net over the pit of depression.<br /><br />Monday, Mr. Fish had a keeper cartoon encapsulating the situation. It deserves to go viral.<br />https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-end-of-empire/Jay–Ottawahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10360356126450612113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-59539253008754243582017-10-04T09:40:45.004-04:002017-10-04T09:40:45.004-04:00Just as I signed up for facebook and never went ba...Just as I signed up for facebook and never went back, I signed up for Twitter some years ago and never wrote one single tweet. Call me a Luddite, but even creating this blog was an act of bravery for me. I didn't even know how to cut and paste links properly when I first got started!<br /><br />Somebody replying to my Krugman comment said he had been a member of Ezra Klein's notorious "JournoList" about 10 years ago. It was made up of about 200 "liberal" pundits, bloggers, and political operatives who brainstormed policy and Democratic talking points in an email echo chamber relying mostly on confirmation bias. That got closed down over some ridiculous "scandal" so its alumni are taking their talents to Twitter. By the way, Krugman had also retweeted that odious and discredited "PropOrNot" smear article against progressive sites without bothering to fact-check it first. He assumed it was definite proof of Russian meddling. Not being among his million or so Twitter followers, I don't know what else he's put out there with no verification or independent thought. <br /><br />Moon of Alabama has a good post up related to Annenigma's comment. He said all these Russian trolls and ads are nothing but clickbait taking you to sites that sell totally unrelated stuff.<br /><br />Sometimes when I check the stats for this blog, I'll notice a sudden huge uptick of "hits" from Russia. Obviously these are not real Russian people, they are referrer "bots" who hope someone on the Google blogger platform clicks on their traffic link. I naively did it once, when I was first getting started here, and was taken directly to a porn site. These ad bots have nothing whatsoever to do with the Kremlin planting fake news stories on blogs and social media platforms. Nonetheless, the new Cold Warriors are freaking out at the gleeful prospect of fighting misinformation with more misinformation, one distraction with another distraction to keep everybody properly distracted from the real hell of their lives. <br /><br />Karen Garciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-60086222313302293532017-10-04T07:16:27.021-04:002017-10-04T07:16:27.021-04:00"even real journalists make mistakes on Twitt..."even real journalists make mistakes on Twitter" <br /><br />Krugman demonstrates my belief that careful journalists do not post on Twitter, even if they spend many hours reading on Twitter (it seems to have become an obsession with journalists, a kind of info-porn).voice-in-wildernessnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-1380013172168913072017-10-03T20:52:51.452-04:002017-10-03T20:52:51.452-04:00According to an article at the Intercept, misinfor...According to an article at the Intercept, misinformation is deliberate because "Piqued emotion is a powerful commodity". <br /><br />"There are a few numbers these companies live and die by. One of these numbers is the quantification of “engagement,” a term kept deliberately vague so it can be expanded more easily; it essentially translates to “things happening on the website.” For Twitter, this means tweets, retweets, favorites, and various other clicking activities. “More” is directly equivalent to “better for business,” no matter what exactly there is more of."<br /><br />"There is, too, the problem that we just seem to enjoy being lied to and delight in abusing one another. Hoax posts and sketchy sites get traffic not just from fraud bots, but also from eager readers who care much more about tribalism and score-settling than about accuracy."<br /><br />'Stop Expecting Facebook and Google To Curb Misinformation - It's Great For Business' <br /><br />https://theintercept.com/2017/10/03/facebook-twitter-google-internet-fake-news/annenigmanoreply@blogger.com