About Trump’s “Friendly” Relationship with Russia

Tribal forces are strong and counter-narratives are a bitch. Glenn Greenwald points out that on two key issues, Trump was most definitely not under Russian control. These incidents should have stopped Russiagate in its tracks, but they didn't.

Here's more evidence of the counter-narrative that was ignored and suppressed. It should have been big news and it should have given left-leaning news media pause. Acknowledging facts like this makes you less popular at your friends' cocktail parties.  Greenwald's words are harsh but well-deserved:

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Robert Wright: Make News Media Outlets Post Bonds

Robert Wright offer this idea to combat the decay of the so-called news media:

Other once mighty newspapers of record also lost much of their value early in the new millennium and in the process became politicized partisan shills once again. Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post is perhaps the clearest example but too many “news” articles read more like op-eds at most papers these days.

To once again enjoy a newspaper of record that publishes all the news in a “just the facts, ma’am” manner, another technological innovation will be necessary. A news outlet that posted a bond with a third party that would be forfeited if it insisted on publishing anything factually wrong, or crossed the line between journalism and punditry, could create the sort of trust that people once had in the New York Times and other papers of record, all of which essentially posted informal bonds backed by their reputations and expected future profitability.

Right now, journalists’ incentives are all wrong. Controversy and clickbait garner pageviews, which lead to revenue. The bonding mechanism would change that incentive because the ad revenue would be reduced, obliterated, or perhaps even reversed if gained through a deceptive story or misleading headline.

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Teaching Tolerance is Not Enough for Many Activist Teachers

I'm full-in for teaching students to be tolerant of each other. As I see it, the most important lessons are A) not to bully anyone, especially because they are seen as different and B) not to judge others because of how they look.

This is not enough for many teachers based on information Abigail Shrier has gathered. With regard to information relating to sexual relationships many middle school teachers are being encouraged to send one message to students, yet send another message to parents. Even more worrisome, many "lessons" about sexual relationships are turning into unauthorized therapy imposed on children without the knowledge of their parents. It is not surprising that many parents are outraged upon learning of these strategies. See here here and here.

Here's a dichotomy that works for me: Public schools should teach students how to think, not what to think. That boundary is not being respected in many schools, according to Shrier's recent article: "How Activist Teachers Recruit Kids: Leaked Documents and Audio from the California Teachers Association Conference Reveal Efforts to Subvert Parents on Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation." Here's an excerpt:

Incensed parents now make news almost daily, objecting to radical material taught in their children’s public schools. But little insight has been provided into the mindset and tactics of activist teachers themselves. That may now be changing, thanks to leaked audio from a meeting of California’s largest teacher’s union.

Last month, the California Teachers Association (CTA) held a conference advising teachers on best practices for subverting parents, conservative communities and school principals on issues of gender identity and sexual orientation. Speakers went so far as to tout their surveillance of students’ Google searches, internet activity, and hallway conversations in order to target sixth graders for personal invitations to LGBTQ clubs, while actively concealing these clubs’ membership rolls from participants’ parents.

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Krystal and Saagar Offer Non-Partisan Discussion of COVID

I often look forward to hearing the nonparisan analysis of the news offered by Saagar and Krystal. On this episode they talk about COVID in ways you will not hear on left-leaning or right-leaning legacy news outlets. You'll hear their views on the segments re the TV show, "The View," and on Saagar's own segment. They love the vaccines but are opposed to mandates. They believe that masks should be optional. They shoot down the hyperbole that we are hearing from the right and the left and they are highly critical of Fauci's arbitrary targets. They offer some statistics that I hadn't heard before, e.g., children are more like to die of the flu than COVID, which means they should be back in school. They urge that it's time for America to move on, as many Americans are now doing.

Krystal and Saagar also offer a worrisome segment about Joe Biden's physical and political performance (they have applauded Biden's decision re Afghanistan, and I agree). If you are trapped in the FOX bubble or the NPR/NYT/WP bubble, I recommend that you listen to an episode of Breaking Points.

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Caitlin Flanagan: What it’s Like to Turn 60 Years Old

Caitlin Flanagan is one of my favorite writers. She just turned 60 years old, which means that it's time to reminisce, celebrate and try to make deep sense of things.

[Y]ou have been on this Earth for a really, really long time. I have a photograph of myself at age 3, standing on the docks of Cork Harbor, about to sail to New York. When I look at the picture of that small child on her sturdy legs in the foggy past, I don’t feel any connection to her. The photograph looks like something I would discover after many days on Ancestry.com. It looks like a snapshot of my own great-aunt. There’s a reason the photograph looks like it’s from another time. Because it is from another time; it was taken more than half a century ago. How can I be in a photograph from that long ago? The math makes sense, but my own life doesn’t.

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