FCC invokes 1960s-era policy to punish media after decades of minimal enforcement.
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The speech police: Chairman Brendan Carr and the FCC’s news distortion policy
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I can't tell whether you're taking a huge bong hit before you write this stuff, or if you abuse an LLM by telling it to rewrite the same ancient bog-standard screed about hypocrisy but purpler and more prolix.
In either case, worth only a chortle and a downvote.
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Why not? In the USA, the far-right has been rebranded as the right, and the center-right has been rebranded as the left.
Using binary language to describe a spectrum is incredible exclusionary.
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At least there's some comfort in watching YouTube videos of confused "conservatives" losing their savings, jobs and livelihood because "they voted for <insert felonous overweight traitor name> but not for this!"
Cretinous idiots, the sh*tshow that was the Presidential campaign showed you exactly what they would be about.
And to you Kaylee and Josh who didn't bother to vote because of your high-horse principles or "didn't know enough about her" attitude, you deserve what's happening to you.
I'm not sure how you'll get out of this, Americans, but seeing the most powerful country on Earth decide to scuttle itself based on "vibes", religion and social media is quite extraordinary.
Cretinous idiots, the sh*tshow that was the Presidential campaign showed you exactly what they would be about.
And to you Kaylee and Josh who didn't bother to vote because of your high-horse principles or "didn't know enough about her" attitude, you deserve what's happening to you.
I'm not sure how you'll get out of this, Americans, but seeing the most powerful country on Earth decide to scuttle itself based on "vibes", religion and social media is quite extraordinary.
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Seeing the constant ignorant replies of: "Europe has no free speech" and "We fund your healthcare", "knife stabbings in the UK"... on any comment section that shits on these fascists.
It really does feel like the 'Russia Today' people/bots we had before.
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Didn't Fox News try to get out of their troubles by saying they were just an opinion channel and didn't have anything that should be considered factual?
Maybe rebrand as CBS Gnews just to mess with them?
Maybe rebrand as CBS Gnews just to mess with them?
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While you don’t specify, that sounds like the figures for Poland. In the same period the Einsatzgruppen murdered at least 65,000 Polish (primarily Jews, socialists, intellectuals and anyone politically active) civilians. Of course its not a competition and all atrocities are atrocities whoever committed them and whatever their purported motives.
Assuming it was Poland (or any East European state conquered by the Russians after WW2 as the point holds for all of them) your ‘communists’ were Russians and their collaborators doing what Russia has always done after conquering a territory - murder, torture and disappear enough people that no one dares cause any trouble. They did it under the Romanovs, they did it under the Bolsheviks and now they’re doing it under Putin. The notional ideology of the Russian leadership has nothing to do with it. It’s just what Russia does; just as they always eventually try to invade Ukraine when it manages to free itself.
Adopting communism (or Bolshevism or Marxist-Leninism as you prefer) as a nominal organising principle had very little impact on the way the Soviet Union acted geopolitically compared to other iterations of the Russian state. The main difference was that it wound up the Americans, who for some reason seem to believe that Russian history started in 1917, and their fear of communist ‘contagion’ made them view the strategic threat on Europe‘s eastern flank in the same way that Europeans (especially east Europeans who had borne the brunt of Russian expansionist ambitions) had for centuries.
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The broadcast news corps had their chance to protect democracy by accurately reporting both Trump/Republican and Biden/Harris/Democratic actions and statements the past 10+ years. They totally failed. They sowed ice, now they reap the whirlwind. Their businesses are toast, their power and fortunes, are toast. They will now not only report only what Trump/Republicans prefer, they will pay bribes to Trump to stay in business anyway.
And since all that will disinform the public enough to keep Republicans in power perpetually, they will never get their chance again.
The conceit of big business that collaborates with fascists to destroy democracy for money and power loses it all to fascists. Here we go.
And since all that will disinform the public enough to keep Republicans in power perpetually, they will never get their chance again.
The conceit of big business that collaborates with fascists to destroy democracy for money and power loses it all to fascists. Here we go.
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Clearly don't care about being hated for everything they're doing. It's such a shitshow.
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That's a No True Scottsman fallacy. Conservatism has been in Federal power most of the time since Reagan took office in 1981, nearly half a century. Since a cornerstone Conservative value is to stop change (even to radically undo change) the only time Conservatives haven't been in Federal power has been when Democrats have had the electoral trifecta. That has been only a handful of years since the Reagan Era started - and even then Conservative Democrats have interfered much of the time. In the states, cities and counties Conservatives have had even more unbroken power runs.
So there's been oceans of time for generations for Americans to watch Conservatives, who won and kept power explicitly campaigning on flat out Conservatism, actually govern. Sometimes they didn't keep the Conservative policies they'd campaigned on, showing they're simply lying about having Conservative values. But they have made many, many Conservative changes for Americans to see.
And every Conservative policy has failed, usually catastrophically. There hasn't been an honest Conservative for generations, always lying about whether Conservatism failed, always lying that it was something else that failed Conservatism.
Conservatives are people who lie about having the values they say are Conservative. It's just a tissue of lies to get and keep power. It preys on people's fear of change and greed to keep unjust privileges.
This is both a Brave New World and Orwell's 1984. Brought to you by Conservatives and their lies. For generations, that first came of age with Barry Goldwater's 1964 campaign.
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Tell me exactly how "impartiality" works when one side is actively fascist?
What's the "impartial" stance between LGBT people should have rights, and LGBT people shouldn't be allowed to exist?
What's the "impartial" stance when Trump is flat out fucking lying?
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NO, they absolutely are conservatives. This is exactly what conservatives believe. They absolutely the fuck do not believe in the rule of law or personal freedoms.
I'm really sick and tired of people trying to distance conservatives from this. Conservatives voted overwhelmingly for Trump. This is conservatism. Deal with it.
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Tell me you have no idea what you're talking about without telling me you have no idea what you're talking about.
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robert.walter
Ars Praefectus
An early fascist superpower is chilling of freedom of speech and expression.
Trump has already done this to several big national white shoe law firms. Others are fighting back.
He will do it to everybody else if allowed to. Everybody needs to fight back.
Trump has already done this to several big national white shoe law firms. Others are fighting back.
He will do it to everybody else if allowed to. Everybody needs to fight back.
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The human ability for cognitive dissonance is impressive, but Americans are the most entertaining about it. Nobody voted for Bush twice, after all.
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My understanding is that the use of 'conservative' and 'liberal' as nouns is the result of Republican rebranding to foster division and extremism. Objective definitions of the two terms show them as adjectives for moderated or regulated behavior, and unregulated behavior. The most telling point of the blatant hypocrisy of Republicans calling themselves 'conservative' is that they do not support actual conservation or environmental protections. Seriously, how conservative is promoting industrial poisoning of our air and water and land?
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Or the fact that he has brown skin. That is what really set them off.
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The Most Stupid President Ever Elected in the Universe continues to show how he and his goonies are afraid of reality.
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The etymology of conservative, as it relates to politics, dates to the French restoration of the Bourbon monarchy and has nothing to do with ecological conservation. It has always been a matter of conserving hierarchy, and Republicans are genuine adherents.
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The main question is as to when we evolve from the current Ministry of Truth to the Ministries of Plenty, Love and Peace..
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I love how easily you conflate government censorship of media with platforms who chose to engage fact-checkers or use their own standards of content moderation. The beauty of the First Amendment and Section 230 is that it gives every platform the right to determine their own standards. Ars can have theirs; Facebook can require clickbait and rage content and Truth Social can ban truth entirely. The key factor is that people can choose to engage with those platforms or not.
There is only one US government, and we're stuck with it. That's why government censorship is far more pernicious than a platform who won't let you use slurs on their servers or on their pages. Government seeking punishment for disagreements about what "truth" is are precisely the kind of nonsense that is explicitly banned by the 1A and Carr should be tossed for it. Facebook taking down your post isn't in the same league at all, and your dishonest joining of the concepts is ridiculous.
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Whaddaya mean??? Every single thing they say about his Holiness the President and Sleepy Joe Biden is thruthy!!!
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"Two other former FCC chairs—Republican Alfred Sikes and Democrat Tom Wheeler—have urged Carr to change course."
SO reassuring that this bi-partisan pressure will now clearly make the MAGAOT see the error in his ways.
That was a narrow escape, phew!
/s
SO reassuring that this bi-partisan pressure will now clearly make the MAGAOT see the error in his ways.
That was a narrow escape, phew!
/s
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I remember years ago, when fox news "creatively" cut an Obama video to make it seems like he was talking about the consequences of his policies when in reality he was talking about the consequences of Romney's policies.
I guess the fact that nothing was done against such blatant manipulations is at least part of why we're here today.
I guess the fact that nothing was done against such blatant manipulations is at least part of why we're here today.
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I feel like there's a distinction between conservative (with a lower case 'c') and Conservative (with a capital 'C').
The first is a political philosophy/viewpoint. The second is an increasingly authoritarian and reactionary brand or identity based on beating down everyone else.
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"The letter argued that "Democrats and leftwing activist groups have repeatedly worked to weaponize" the government against free speech and that the FCC should "help guard against future abuses by Democrats and leftwing organizations"
lol, wut?
lol, wut?
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Thomas Cochrane
Ars Centurion
In the run-up to Brexit, The BBC was entirely guilty of attempted 'neutrality' by repeatedly broadcasting the crazy views of xenophobes, quacks, conspiracy theorists and grifters as counterpoints to professionals, professors and experienced journalists. Thus, the words of the crazies were given the same weight of trust as the serious people. Thus, a trusted broadcaster convinced a lot of people that Brexit would be great.
They still seem to have this policy, with right-wing crazies getting regular airtime because 'free speech'.
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A modest proposal:
Hypocrisy no longer matters, both to the electorate and the GOP.
So taking their broken rule of law and corrupt precedent should be the natural response to the MAGA GOP's self face-shooting, ensuring there is no pendulum and permanently knocking their political party out of viability entirely, with some vindictive taxation and citizenship stripping of rich conservative voters for spice to put the rest of them on notice that they are now taxed without representation as punishment for their sins.
This going through is as good a place to start as any for a Project 2032 balanced between working for the working-class voters and punishing the working-class gaslighters.
It's going to take getting the Democratic Party on the same page or it collapsing first to focus their message and be less worried about freedom of speech and democracy until after the GOP is gone, however...
Hypocrisy no longer matters, both to the electorate and the GOP.
So taking their broken rule of law and corrupt precedent should be the natural response to the MAGA GOP's self face-shooting, ensuring there is no pendulum and permanently knocking their political party out of viability entirely, with some vindictive taxation and citizenship stripping of rich conservative voters for spice to put the rest of them on notice that they are now taxed without representation as punishment for their sins.
This going through is as good a place to start as any for a Project 2032 balanced between working for the working-class voters and punishing the working-class gaslighters.
It's going to take getting the Democratic Party on the same page or it collapsing first to focus their message and be less worried about freedom of speech and democracy until after the GOP is gone, however...
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I think conservatism is more about conserving institutions and rejecting change. A lot of the times, those institutions align with preserving hierarchy (for example, slavery or Jim Crow). However, in this instance, the attacks are being made on institutions (courts, regulatory agencies, social programs, etc.). I would not categorize the current Republican party as small c conservative. I would categorize them as capital C Conservative.
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Edmund Burke in Reflections,
...by inspiring false ideas into men destined to travel in the obscure walk of laborious life, serves only to aggravate and embitter that real inequality, which it never can remove; and which the order of civil life establishes as much for the benefit of those whom it must leave in an humble state, as those whom it is able to exalt to a condition more splendid.
people should know their place in the hierarchy and never aspire to anything else.
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In the USA, any news article that isn't gushing praise for Glorious Leader is labeled "biased", "stirring the pot", and "trump hating" by many on The Right and they want that news agency shut down. I'm not kidding. I see this in comments many times daily when our local news channels post articles that are literally quoting what Trump said or did that day.
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"it will be a Trump on the throne forever."... Given the fact that he looks like he has the same constitution as Elvis... Is it too much to wish for the same outcome?
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This is just splitting hairs, because the natural end state of the former is the latter.
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What I genuinely wish would be the case:
1) The Democratic Party would wise up and play the political game the way the GOP is. They might have to light their high road political capital on fire to do it, but there's a good chance if they take the false accusations from the GOP that they are monsters as an invitation to actually BE complete monsters politically and economically to red areas, and forcing constitutional reform on the Electoral College to population centers and away from real-estate holdings, that they could win before the courts catch up (especially considering they need to expedite due process on impeaching six SCOTUS justices)
2) After all is said and done the Democratic Party makes it's own Roger Stone or Stephen Miller as a scapegoat for how evil they had to be once the Overton Window is firmly in the European center-left and espousing MAGA or AfD rhetoric is an economic sin liable to cost you your living.
Then simply co-opt the actually rational or even less controversial conservative ideas as their own, as long as the GOP simply doesn't exist anymore and its voters start paying political influence taxes on their votes. Effectively imposing a 2/3rds compromise on conservative voters for a century so it takes them 1.25x as many votes to win elections as their opposition, to force them to disband their donor networks.
Then attack conservative political parties in other countries the same way in the coming decades.
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This is the party that is starting a "School of Intelectual Freedom" at a university while requiring that department only represent their political point of view and limiting the academic freedoms of the rest of the school at the same time.
We have always been at war with Eastasia.
We have always been at war with Eastasia.
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Carr doesn't have the authority to enforce this. Remember when the GOP took the FCC to task and declared it couldn't do things like this without congressional authority?
Can't have it both ways, GOP. The distortion policy should be challenged.
Can't have it both ways, GOP. The distortion policy should be challenged.
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Punch the gas, I say.
The only way out is through.
Hope to push MAGA off the bike and cliff before ourselves and then survey the damage.
We're going to have to come within a halr's breadth of losing democracy itself in this country before MAGA voters are permanently disenfranchised with the ultimate victory being the dissolution of the electoral college to put the nail in the coffin of the century old corrupt cabals of the GOP donor networks and the associated new money billionaires/crypto bros/AI enthusiasts.
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The Projection is strong with this one. I'll never understand how these people look themselves in the mirror.
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The policy is tough to challenge. The rally outrageous thing in the investigation. Courts really don't have much power over federal investigations, only the outcomes of the investigations - any fines or failure to renew a license would be challenged in federal court.
The problem is that many areas of our government are built upon the idea that we'll have vaguely reasonable people in charge. That breaks down when the president and all his advisors act more like mafia dons shaking down the populace than a leader acting on behalf of a country.
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