Our Politics

Category: Establishment Media

  • With Trump’s impeachment trial over, President Joe Biden Discusses His Ambitious Agenda In CNN Town Hall Address

    With Trump’s impeachment trial over, President Joe Biden Discusses His Ambitious Agenda In CNN Town Hall Address

    President Joe Biden expressed optimism on February 16 that most US schools would be open by late spring and vowed to continue accelerating the country’s Coronavirus vaccination program, as he sought to elevate his agenda now the drama of Donald Trump’s impeachment trial is over. In a wide-ranging televised town hall that touched on the pandemic, economic relief, China-US relations, and race and policing, Biden also aimed to build public support for his $1.9 trillion Coronavirus relief plan, which is awaiting congressional action. “Now’s the time to go big,” he said during a CNN prime-time broadcast, as he fielded questions from voters at the landmark Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. “If we pass this bill alone, we’ll create 7 million jobs this year.”

    With the US Senate having acquitted former President Trump in his second impeachment trial on February 13, the White House is eager to press ahead with President Joe Biden’s proposals on the economy, COVID-19, climate change, and racial inequality. President Biden again made clear he would prefer to turn the page on the divisive Trump era. When CNN host Anderson Cooper asked him whether he agreed with Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that Republicans who voted to acquit were cowards, the president demurred. “For four years, all that’s been in the news is Trump,” Biden said. “The next four years, I want to make sure all the news is the American people. I’m tired of talking about Trump. He’s gone.”

    After a parent and a teacher asked how President Joe Biden planned to ensure that schools could open safely amid the pandemic, the Democratic president said he anticipated that “most” elementary and middle schools would have in-person classes five days a week by the end of his first 100 days in office. He also said he believes teachers should be moved closer to the front of the line for inoculation. “I think that we should be vaccinating teachers – we should move them up in the hierarchy,” Biden said, although he noted that states, not the federal government, have the authority to decide how to prioritize vaccinations. Biden said he expected everyone who wanted a vaccine would be able to get one by July when his administration will have secured enough shots to inoculate all Americans. But he also warned that the recovery from the pandemic that has killed more than 485,000 people in the United States would still take many months and urged people to wear masks, maintain social distance, and wash hands for the foreseeable future.

    The February 16 visit, as well as a trip scheduled for February 18 that will take President Joe Biden to a Michigan vaccine manufacturing site, offered the President an opportunity to tout the importance of a new relief bill even as Republicans remain largely opposed to its massive price tag. President Biden wants Congress to pass the legislation in the coming weeks in order to get $1,400 stimulus checks out to Americans and bolster unemployment payments. Some aspects of the bill, including Biden’s push to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, may have a difficult time gaining enough support to pass. After a small business owner raised concerns at the town hall address, Biden suggested he might be willing to consider a more gradual phase-in.

  • A Political Reading List (Left)

    A Political Reading List (Left)

    Books about Left-Wing Politics

    Listen Liberal by Thomas Frank – Understanding Democratic Party

    Noam Chomsky on Anarchism by Noam Chomsky – Understanding Anarchism- roots, Chomsky, being critical

    Who Rules the World? by Noam Chomsky – Foreign Policy and Global Economics

    Indefensible 7th myths of the Global Arms Trade by Paul Holden – Arms Trade Globally and Security

    A peoples History of the US by Howard Zinn – US History through Working-Class People

    Breaking through Power by Ralph Nader – US politics

    War is a Racket by Smedley Darlington Butler – Why all wars are connected to Banks

    Troops, Trolls, and Troublemakers: A Global Inventory of Organized Social Media Manipulation by Samantha Bradshaw, University of Oxford – How Social Media Influences Politics

    Viking Economics: How the Scandinavians Got It Right-and How We Can, Too by George Lakey – Progressive Economics applied the world’s happiest/most productive Workers

  • Predictions for 2020-2030

    Predictions for 2020-2030

    Many people are asking if the Democrats will take back the House of Representatives in 2018? I suspect they will make significant gains. Upsets in Pennsylvania and elsewhere have shown a weakened Republican party. The Republicans across the state have been slowly eaten by the Tea Party movement and even the Bannon movement where they have been running candidates and working hard to get rid of “moderates”, meaning centrists Democrat types like Bob Mendez (NJ) or others modern neo-liberal Democrats. What the media has been ignoring is “insurgents” candidates across the country that have been chipping away at the Democratic Machine.

    In America, money almost always determines victory in an election, but since the Sanders Movement during the 2016 elections we saw an underfunded candidate nearly take over America’s major political party (the Democratic Party). He created a group OUR Revolution which has affiliates in every state in America. Even Puerto Rico! America politics have just been changed forever and people don’t seem to understand it. Sanders victory would not have been winning the presidency, I don’t think he had the political muscle to get anything significant done, the Democrats hate him, the Republicans would have controlled congress, what could he have really done but slow down the de-funding of government? Another debate for another time. Now he goes around, traveling across the country, talking to the American people while Clinton goes on book tours trying to sell her book. He has built the infrastructure for a new style of American Democracy not seen since the 1960s. He has the largest support among millennial’s, now the largest voting block in America. He has a fairly good history on most issues and being on the right side of history except foreign policy (Sanders is relatively weak on anti-war policy). He should have won the black vote but the churches are so establishment-controlled that he couldn’t break through. The only thing Sanders needs is the backing of religious zealots who are progressive and can destroy the notion that Republicans are the only people who talk to God. Over time I doubt those groups will disappear, you’re looking at a long drawn out civil war on both parties, but worse off for the Democrats. You have a long history of political corruption in some states more than others and you have the truth. Its simple enough to pull up statistics and see that the percentages for big companies donating to Democrats or Republicans can be evenly split.

    The single-payer idea is the only rational policy and then you have the Democrats being unable to support it because their being funded by the same people destroying American healthcare. Over time with reforms, you could see insurgent candidates stay in power and continue to build stronger power bases for more “working class heroes” or Bernie Sanders-esque politicians. Where Ralph Nader failed in 2000, Sanders succeed in 2016, with many of the same issues, just different microphones. A graph I did personally at Monmouth University showed the vast majority of young MU college students under 50,000 support Sanders, even many in the upper income brackets, but as people get poorer because of the global economy and poor policies that increase poverty, will we see the rise of a new party growing inside the old? A party that is Democratic, a party that fails for a few years and then starts to rebirth the Democrat party? I think so, its the right time in America, unless there is a war where many troops are used then we could see the process speed up, as wars often do to these things. The Our Revolution groups have nowhere to go but up, the mainstream parties battling each other and the ‘insurgent’ candidates can really only become more unpopular as they fail to get real policy in place and start to bring in people who traditional aren’t in the process or haven’t been accepted as a decision maker. We see similar politics in the UK with labor changing under Jeremy Corbyn. We are seeing infrastructure for the Sanderist movement grow, where communication and cooperation between different groups are growing. They are running decent candidates, many of which will lose this time, but will be able to run again, and again, and again. The 2020 election is where everything will likely start to break down. Sanders is the Henry Wallace of his time, although this time labor is set for a huge victory, its the speed that is hard to figure out.

    Links
    https://ourrevolution.com/groups/

    History Of The Democratic Party


    https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/lobbying.php?cycle=2018&ind=H03
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Nader_presidential_campaign,_2000

    What the Dan Lipinski-Marie Newman Democratic Primary in Illinois Means

    Polling Shows Running on Progressive Policies Would Work in Swing Districts

  • “10 Minutes: Trump One Year President” Video Response

    “10 Minutes: Trump One Year President” Video Response

    This video by PressTV presents a review of President Donald Trump’s first full year in office. One year has passed since Donald Trump has been elected US President. Since then, the world has seen a US President unlike any other. One that is aggressive, impulsive, uninterested in politics, and egotistical. Despite coming into office with a grand series of promises to change American politics for the better, the case can be made that the policies pursued by the Trump Administration have changed American politics for the worst. Trump has thus far failed to realize any of his campaign promises, fanned the conspiracy flames regarding his relationship with Russia, contradicted and insulted his staff, and made enemies of allies throughout the world. Additionally, President Trump has attacked the governmental institutions he oversees, threatened to use his powers to ruin the lives of his political opponents, waged war against members of his own party, and engaged in race-baiting, sexism, ableism, and religious bigotry when pursuing his destructive agenda.

    One such area in which President Donald Trump left his mark during his first year was his immigration executive order banning (mostly Shi’a Muslim) immigrants, travelers, and refugees from seven majority-Muslim countries (Syria, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, and Libya). This action ignited a firestorm of protest and revealed the bigoted, white supremacist agenda underlying the Trump Administration’s policies. President Trump also rattled the nuclear-saber more than any other President in US history with his incitement of North Korea, going as far to threaten the North Korean government with “fire and fury.” Many politicians on both sides of the aisle worry that Trump has misused the moral authority surrounding the office of the Presidency through such statements and actions.

    President Donald Trump claimed during his first year in office that he has the unilateral authority to order the Justice Department to open or close investigations into his political opponents. Such rhetoric threatens to set a negative precedent in future Administrations that goes directly against the principles of separation of power spelled out in the US Constitution. President Trump’s outreach to autocratic regimes such as Saudi Arabia and Israel further characterized his first year in office. By backing the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, President Trump has given the green light for Saudi Arabia to escalate its three-year-long intervention in Yemen, which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent people and has encouraged hatred towards Shi’a Muslims throughout the world.  Additionally, President Trump’s choice to recognize Jerusalem (“al-Quds” in Arabic) as the capital of Israel has encouraged the Israeli regime to expand its crusade against the Palestinian people.

    President Donald Trump also left a negative mark within the realm of international politics and has adopted a firm, neoconservative view regarding the role of the US in the world. President Trump has repeatedly denounced the Iranian nuclear deal, calling it the “worst deal ever negotiated” despite the fact that it was upheld by numerous organizations, most notably the United Nations and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Additionally, President Trump has proposed a hardliner stance towards Iran, calling it a “terrorist nation” and calling for US military action to remove the current Iranian government from power.  These actions on the part of the President have led to many European leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron to rethink their reliance on US political and diplomatic leadership on the world stage.

    In terms of domestic policy, President Donald Trump generally has had an abysmal first year in office. Trump failed to follow through on repealing The Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) despite the fact that his party controls both houses of Congress, and has relied on Executive Orders more often than any other first-year President in US history. The only true legislative achievements of President Trump’s first year in office are his nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court and the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Many critics argue that the presence of Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court will move the Judicial branch far to the right and have a profound (and what many view as a negative) impact on decisions such as drug policy, women’s rights, abortion, gay rights, and electoral reform. Additionally, nearly all economic organizations point out that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is a clear giveaway to the wealthiest 1% and only serve to further the widening income gap between the wealthy and the poor.

    Here is the link to the video:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKLDqJqcBbI&index=12&list=LL1B7oixItfvf2Uqvx7886Vw&t=28s

  • “Street Fight” Political Documentary Summary

    “Street Fight” Political Documentary Summary

    “Street Fight” is a 2005 political documentary directed by Marshall Curry. The film documents the 2002 Newark mayoral election between 16-year incumbent Sharpe James, and his challenger, future US Senator Cory Booker. The film follows Booker and several of his campaign supporters over a period of four months from their earliest days of campaigning to election day. In his campaign for mayor, Booker positioned himself as an outsider candidate who would fight against the entrenched political machine of Sharpe James, which was characterized by high levels corruption and its use of underhanded campaign tactics to remain in power. Booker also highlighted the need to pass on the leadership of Newark to a younger generation of politicians to better address the pressing issues facing the city. Additionally, “Street Fight” presents an intimate view of urban politics, the nature of local political campaigns and the issue of race within the context of a political campaign.

    An example of a political communication theory shown in “Street Fight” is the different campaign strategies adopted by Cory Booker and Sharpe James to communicate their messages more effectively to the voters. For example, Sharpe James received endorsements from politicians such as former President Bill Clinton and New Jersey Governor James McGreevy and utilized their endorsements as a way to further establish his credibility as mayor and gain increased levels of support from those who viewed such politicians in a positive light. Another strategy used by James was to remind voters of his accomplishments as mayor and his experiences as an African-American political leader who came of age during the civil rights era. On the other hand, Booker adopted a campaign strategy of taking an offensive position on the issues and questioned the effectiveness of James’ policies on solving the issues facing Newark. Moreover, Booker argued that Newark’s 30% poverty rate, 60% drop-out rate, and the cities high murder rate would only improve if a change were to be made in the city’s leadership. By taking the offensive on such issues and highlighting the need for change, Booker was able to put James on the defensive on the issues and was able to raise doubts in the minds of voters regarding James’ record as the mayor of Newark.

    Newark Kids Count 2015 Graduation Rate
    Improvement continues in the graduation rate in Newark city schools due to the polices implmemented by Cory Booker when he was Newark mayor.

    Another political communication strategy highlighted in “Street Fight” is the types of campaign styles promoted by both Cory Booker and Sharpe James. Despite his middle-class background, Booker attempted to cast an image of himself as a defender of the poor residents of Newark by living in a public housing complex and by starting a non-profit organization meant to combat abuses committed by landlords. On the other hand, James highlighted the fact that he was able to become a success despite coming from a modest background. Additionally, James questioned Booker’s sincerity and advocacy for the poor residents of Newark. By following certain campaign styles and developing their own distinctive images, Booker and James were more effective in communicating their messages to the voters and their main bases of support.

    In conclusion, “Street Fight” explores the nature of local political campaigning through the 2002 Newark mayoral election between Cory Booker and Sharpe James. Some of the themes that are explored throughout the film include the role of race in political campaigns and the need for political change. Throughout the film, both Booker and James employ various forms of political communication to frame their messages and appeal to supporters. An understanding of the communication methods used by both Booker and James allows political scientists better to understand the effectiveness of political communication in municipal elections.

  • Does Media Bias Exist?

    Does Media Bias Exist?

    Elite Media is defined as reporting of news and political events in as narrow a focus as possible, presumably to influence the political agenda of other mass media. The Elite Media presents biased information that is tweaked to garner ratings and can be defined as sensational, manipulative or provocative. Mass media may be defined by the technology in which it is conveyed. Some examples are internet (web pages, internet sites, and blogs), television, print media (newspapers, magazines), radio shows, music, film and billboard. Mass media is just another way of saying “mainstream media”, which is defined by point-of-view and content. Mass media uses technology at hand to convey its message quickly as well as in a deeply penetrating way. It is quick, decisive and relentless in its broad effect and connection to a large amount of people.

    Both Elite and Mass Media cover stories that are considered newsworthy due to their relevancy to the public (Mass Media) or to a special audience (Elite Media). Of special consideration the emphasis on “gossip” and “celebrity news” tends to distance any audience from political and local news issues and helps to dilute the social and moral impact of news on the population. The selling of advertising for companies and products has driven the Media into a nearly trillion dollar industry. In our society competition for news, air time and advertising has reached a frenzied peak. News reporting in the United States has become a multi-billion dollar enterprise.
    Two examples of Elite Media networks in the U.S. are the Fox News Chanel and MSNBC. Both take on their own sides and present the news in a way that might be considered by some to be one-sided or biased. Programs from both networks were analyzed in order to see the differences in reporting styles and political viewpoints of both networks.

    The programs that were analyzed were on Fox News were America’s New Headquarters and the Fox Report, as originally broadcasted on October 26, 2013. Topics discussed included the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act, the protests in Washington DC regarding the allegations that the NSA engaged in spying on world leaders, and the recent ban on women from driving and Saudi Arabia. The programs analyzed from MSNBC were Politics Nation and Hardball with Chris Matthews, as broadcasted on October 28, 2013. Some of the topics discussed on both shows were the efforts of Senator Ted Cruz to derail the Affordable Care Act, the fact that the anti-abortion law passed by the Texas state legislature in June 2013 was blocked by a federal judge, the fact that there is still a great deal of controversy regarding the attack on the US embassy in Benghazi, Libya in September of 2012, and the differences in the campaign styles of Republican gubernatorial candidates such as Chris Christie in New Jersey and Ken Cuccinelli in Virginia.

    Overall, both news sources exhibited several instances of bias. For example, the hosts of Fox News tended to ask Democratic commentator more difficult questions than the Republican commentators and tended to portray the Affordable Care Act in a more negative way by highlighting its potential problems. Additionally, MSNBC expressed bias by having the hosts of its programming only interviewing more liberal pundits and by its hosts expressing openly-liberal viewpoints. Additionally, the topics discussed on the Fox News programming was presented in a reltively straightforward and superficial manner, whereas the topics discussed on MSNBC were preseted in a more in depth and detailed manner.

    To sum it up, the two methods of media reporting in the U.S. served to highlight the way that reporting influences cultural, political and sociological beliefs systems. Furthermore, an analysis of specific news programs on different networks and news events reported on in different styles helps us to understand the way that people perceived politics based on those reporting styles.