The Common Ills: 2025-01-05

Tuesday, January 07, 2025

Tuesday, January 7, 2025. Senator Patty Murray notes the cap on prescription drugs, Donald Chump whines and whines, one of his lackeys lies for him (how is that different from any other day), BLUESKY and much more.

Let's start off with BLUESKY. Ryan Cooper (TAP) reports:

One bright spot in the bleak year of 2024 was the rise of Bluesky. As someone who relied greatly on Twitter for news and my career—OK, I may have been somewhat addicted—before Elon Musk bought it and turned it into a snake pit of neo-Nazi filth, it was nice to see a Twitter-like replacement rise to relative prominence.

I joined in April 2023 as about the 47,000th user. Today, Bluesky has about 26 million users, and seems to be growing healthily. It actually has some notable improvements on Twitter, like the “starter pack” function where users can put together a group of accounts that one can follow at once (here’s the starter pack for Prospect writers, incidentally), or the “nuclear block” where if one participant in a conversation blocks the other, the entire conversation is zapped. This greatly cuts down on Twitter’s culture of aggressive pile-ons and abuse.

Unlike any other big platform, Bluesky does not censor posts with outgoing links. Indeed, it does not have any proprietary “for you” algorithm, instead defaulting to a traditional reverse-chronological feed, and allowing users to pick from algorithms that can be developed by others. This has major implications for publishers: Despite its modest size, The Guardian reports that Bluesky traffic has already outstripped that from Twitter, and here at the Prospect Bluesky traffic now regularly matches Twitter and is many times that of Facebook.

This ability to share outside the platform is proving so popular that Facebook’s Twitter clone, Threads, has belatedly altered its algorithm to include more posts from accounts you follow in an attempt to compete. And this disruption is being done on a shoestring budget—Bluesky has just 20 employees and about $23 million in funding, as compared to Meta’s 70,000+ workers and $156 billion in annual revenue.

It’s strong evidence that there is a large unmet demand for internet systems outside of the control of Big Tech monopolists. I don’t know if there can be a similar option for every walled garden on the internet—it’s hard to dislodge a giant—but there’s no question that there’s a lot of pent-up demand.

You can find out a lot on BLUESKY.

David Sirota is a constant namesearcher so if you don't want to see his posts you just have to mention that you think he's a doofus and he'll block you. Saves you the couple clicks!
— Cooper Lund (@cooperlund.online) January 2, 2025 at 2:54 PM

LMAO that he thinks this is a good tack to take here.

[image or embed]
— Nied (@nied.bsky.social) January 2, 2025 at 12:54 PM

David Sirota's always a dirty fool. Whether attacking the mother of an Iraq War veterans for speaking out against the Iraq War (and against the senator David worked for) or threatening us here because we pointed out what David left out when he attacked Tina in the column -- that the senator she was confronting was David's mentor and former boss. Sort of a basic disclosure required in journalism but David thinks he makes up his own rules.

He has a filthy mouth and a lazy brain and that's why, when he was wrongly nominated for an Academy Award (for co-writing a piece of crap), I attended every event ahead of voting to make sure he didn't get the award -- I attended and took along printed copies of the nasty, threatening, bullying e-mail he sent me.

It really exposed the true side of him to people who, like most of the world, would otherwise not even know his name.

POST-LEFT WATCH is on BLUESKY. We've noted them for a couple of months now. They're someone to watch and follow. They call out the crazy.

Jimmy Dore and Christian Parenti claim that there was no corporate and little government opposition to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. until he organized the Poor People's Campaign.

[image or embed]
— Post-Left Watch (@postleftwatch.bsky.social) January 6, 2025 at 10:08 PM

Christian Parenti is the son of Michael Parenti, he looks like the bad guy from a Die Hard movie, and he writes for the Peter Thiel-funded Compact Magazine.
— Post-Left Watch (@postleftwatch.bsky.social) January 6, 2025 at 10:15 PM

Christian Parenti describing the government opposition to MLK as "Bull Connor and clubs and all that" is something that would be too over-the-top to say if you writing a satire of these assholes.
— Post-Left Watch (@postleftwatch.bsky.social) January 6, 2025 at 10:24 PM

Isn't it great when a White man -- especially a liar like Christian -- wants to tell us about the targeting of a Black man and to explain it wasn't like what we thought it was.

He's such a damn liar and such a damn disgrace to his father. He's also a closeted Socialist but, remember, we're never supposed to talk about that.

So there he was on Jimmy Dore rewriting history like only a Democrat hating Socialist can.

It's hard for me to think of his nonsense without thinking of THE NEW YORK TIMES which launched a huge attack against Dr King and did so long before The Poor People's Campaign of 1968. THE NEW YORK TIMES not only attacked him repeatedly -- and is corporate media, therefore a corporation -- but continued to attack and to denigrate him long after he was dead.

And they carried the attacks over onto Coretta. When she died, please remember, NYT had 'playwright' (she was not that good and she certainly wasn't worthy of more attention than Coretta Scott King) on the front page, ran three or so columns on her passing, did an editorial on her, blah blah blah, it never ended.

"Why are you attacking me?"

That's what the paper's sole Black columnist at the time asked me.

Well, golly gee, you're Black and you have space on the op-ed pages and you're ignoring the fact that the paper is refusing to run columns -- because there were submissions by big name Black academics -- about Coretta's passing. You're on the op-ed pages and you're writing garbage columns when you could be highlighting a pioneering Black woman who fought for a better America for all and continued her husband's legacy after he was assassianted.

The guilt trip got Coretta into a column by Bob. Got her into it. It wasn't about her. But he worked in for two or three paragraphs.

And of course, Christian brings up the truth and the lies of NYT.

Put him on a minor media program with a small audience and he's telling the audience about how Dexter Filkins and John F Burns (NYT 'reporters') really were in the Green Zone. Dexter especially did whatever the US military told him. That included, Christian said on air, cancelling interviews when the US military conveyed that they'd prefer he not speak to this or that person.

Now if he was going on something mainstream, he'd say exactly the opposite. And of course when he was on an in-between program, he'd justify Dexy with comments like, 'The Dexter Filkins on the pages of THE NEW YORK TIMES is not the Dexter Filkins in Baghdad' -- meaning that it was the paper's problem and not Dexter bad journalism.

For those who don't know, our first weekend online back in 2004 called out Dexter for lies in print. He won awards for those lies. Is my face red? No. Because he covered up War Crimes with that article. He covered them up. They're known now but everyone looks the other way. In 40 years, people will be calling for the dead reporter to be stripped of the prizes for his lying.

In forty years when it no longer matters.

But don't expect Christian to tell you any of that.

On Iraq, this may be our last Iraq snapshot and the title may change to snapshot tomorrow. I need to check. Don't have time this second because we have other things still to cover.

BLUESKY is where it's happening.

TWITTER is for elderly hate mongers -- like Katrina vanden Heuvel of THE NATION who led the attacks on Kamala. But TWITTER's not the only cesspool. Travis Gettys (RAW STORY) explains:

Facebook's parent company will make changes to its fact-checking to more closely resemble the site formerly known as Twitter.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday morning that content moderation and other restrictions on speech would be lifted across Facebook, Instagram and other platforms as Donald Trump returns to the White House, reported Fox News.

"We’re going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms," Zuckerberg said in a video posted Tuesday morning. "More specifically, we’re going to get rid of fact-checkers and replace them with Community Notes similar to X, starting in the U.S."

The company's third-party fact-checking program was put into place following Trump's first election win to "manage content" and misinformation on its platforms, which executives conceded was the result of "political pressure," but they now say that system has "gone too far."

In other news, Convicted Felon Donald Chump is still being a big titty baby because he's the continual disappointment that his father loathed and he's the man that could never satisfy Ivana. He's just an immature jerk who never grew up and never stopped to grasp that there were other people on the earth and that they had feelings and the right to expect to be recognized. Chump doesn't want to appear in person or via the internet on January 10th when he is to be sentenced. His howler monkey Steven Cheung (who at 42 looks 97) declared, "The American People elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate that demands an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and all of the remaining Witch Hunts." Chump lied on official documents. There's no excuse for that and he can't pardon himself because it's not federal. Chump is a sleazy, two-bit crook and that's what the record is going to reflect this week and forever more.

As for a mandate?

No, Steven, the American people didn't give him a mandate.

As Elaine noted Friday, there is no mandate. 1.8% isn't a mandate. That's all Chump won by. Ronald Reagan in 1984? He got a mandate. LBJ in 1964? He got a mandate.

Convicted Felon? He squeaked by with 1.8% more votes. That's not a mandate. See Elaine's "Can they stop lying about the 2024 election?"

Steven's clearly confused. Must be overwork, right? Can't be personal since he has no personal life.

So it's work that consumes him. And let us be the first to reveal his heretofore never discussed acting career. For several years, Steven has appeared on the series AMERICAN DAD.

Don't know about you, but I think the jewels really make his eyes pop.

Speaking of idiots, Evan Williams (TAG24 NEWS) reports on one, "Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman had to be shamed into agreeing to lower US flags to half-mast in honor of the late ex-president Jimmy Carter." And now note this from the article:

Blakeman's original decision was seen as a response to rants made by Trump on Truth Social last week.

In response to the US flag potentially being left at half-mast during his inauguration, Trump said that Democrats "don't love our country" and are "giddy."

"In any event, because of the death of President Jimmy Carter, the Flag may, for the first time ever during an Inauguration of a future President, be at half-mast," Trump said.

Democrats don't love our country?

He was never fit to be president. He's a mad sociopath who is not fit to represent the American people and who only knows how to sew division.

Which makes him the ultimate LOVE CONNECTION for Elon Musk, right?

Yesterday was many things including the fourth year anniversary of the treasonous attack on our country. Rachel Maddow addressed that last night on MSNBC.

Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:

70,000+ seniors in Washington state, 4.5 million seniors nationwide will save hundreds or thousands of dollars each year thanks to the new annual cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for folks on Medicare Part D

***PHOTOS AND B-ROLL OF THURSDAY’S PRESS CONFERENCE AVAILABLE HERE***

In case you missed it: on January 1, a new provision that Democrats in Congress got signed into law went into effect, capping out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for seniors with a Medicare prescription drug plan at $2,000 a year. On Thursday, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined U.S. Representative Kim Schrier, M.D. (D-WA-08) at Northaven Senior Living in Seattle to highlight the new costs savings for millions of seniors.

The new cap is thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act Democrats passed through Congress in 2022—that every single Republican voted against—and it means millions of seniors will pay significantly less for their prescription drugs this year, lowering costs for families and giving them more breathing room.

“Starting January 1st, anyone with a Medicare prescription drug plan—also known as Medicare Part D—now has their out-of-pocket drug costs capped at two thousand dollars each year. That’s because of a law Democrats passed—the Inflation Reduction Act—that did all sorts of things to lower health care costs and make it cheaper and easier for folks to get the medications they need,” said Senator Murray. “As everyone knows, high drug prices come with other painful costs—like stress over how to make ends meet, or what bills to skip, in order to fill a prescription, or whether to take the risk of rationing medication. These are impossible choices that no one should ever have to make. But they’re the reality for so many people, and so many seniors especially. And make no mistake, when prescription drugs are too expensive for people to afford—that’s dangerous. Because even the best, most effective medication can’t do someone any good if they can’t afford to get it.”

Medicare Part D—a voluntary program that helps pay for prescription drugs for people with Medicare—provides prescription drug coverage for nearly 56 million Americans. More than 4.5 million older Americans enrolled in Part D are estimated to benefit from the new out-of-pocket spending cap that took effect January 1, 2025. Approximately 1.4 million Part D enrollees who reach the new out-of-pocket cap between 2025 and 2029 will see annual savings of $1,000 or more, and just over 420,000 will see savings of more than $3,000. In Washington state, at least 70,000 seniors are expected to see these new savings—nearly $1,900 in 2025—and that number will steadily increase over time.

The $2,000 annual cap is just one of the many actions Democrats took to lower prescription drug costs in the Inflation Reduction Act. Most notably, the law capped the cost of insulin for patients on Medicare at $35/month—which went into effect January 1, 2023—and it empowered Medicare to negotiate lower prescription drug prices for the first time ever.

In August, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced negotiated drug prices for ten commonly-used drugs in the first cycle of negotiations. The new, lower negotiated prices will go into effect on January 1, 2026, and will lower the prices people pay for some of the most common and expensive prescription drugs that treat heart disease, cancer, diabetes, blood clots, and more.
Allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug costs is expected to save American taxpayers $6 billion, with people enrolled in Medicare expected to save $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs in 2026 alone. 15 to 20 more drugs will be added to the negotiating table every year moving forward – all thanks to Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act.

See coverage of the landmark new prescription drug cap below:

Fox 13: Medicare prescription drug costs capped at $2,000 annually

Seniors on Medicare Part D will never pay more than $2,000 out-of-pocket for prescription drugs annually, thanks to a provision in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act which takes effect this year. The new benefit for seniors on Medicare Part D will cap out-of-pocket prescription drug costs at $2,000 per year. Once they reach this dollar amount, they will automatically receive “catastrophic coverage,” which means all out-of-pocket costs for Part D drugs will be covered through the rest of the year. […]

In Washington state alone, 70,000 enrollees will save nearly $1,900 in 2025, with the number of beneficiaries growing over time.

“[It’s] a change that will save millions of people, hundreds or thousands of dollars on their prescription medications, every year from now on,” said U.S. Senator Patty Murray, who is a senior member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “There is more to this story than just numbers—because as everyone knows, high drug prices come with other painful costs. Like stress over how to make ends meet, or what bills to skip, in order to fill a prescription, or whether to take the risk of rationing medication.” […]

“This cap means I can afford my medications without having to cut back on essentials like food or utilities,” said Katherine O’Hara, a local senior who is on Medicare.

Stephan Gerhardt, who lives with dystonia and degenerative disc disease, also praised the change.

“One of my anti-inflammatory medications isn’t covered by my insurance, but luckily, it only costs $45 a bottle and lasts six months,” Gerhardt said. “I’m fortunate compared to others.”

Gerhardt, who has been on Medicare for over a decade due to his disabilities, said the new law will help many seniors in his community avoid tough choices between essential needs.

“People I know often have to decide: ‘Do I eat, pay rent, or take my meds?’” said Gerhardt. “Almost everybody will choose to pay rent because they can’t survive being homeless; and then it’s, ‘How do I figure out food?’”

“This is life-changing for folks who can’t afford their medications,” said Gerhardt. “It reduces the strain on individuals and the healthcare system. If people can afford their medications, they’re less likely to end up in emergency rooms, which costs everyone more in the long run.”

Despite the bipartisan benefits, every Republican in Congress voted against the Inflation Reduction Act, a point highlighted by Murray. She warned of potential future efforts to repeal the law.

“This is about making life more affordable and ensuring no one has to risk their health because they can’t afford medication,” Murray said. “The President-Elect has talked about cutting everything, so he’s got everything in front of him, and we’re going to make sure this is not one he goes after.”

KING 5: Prescription drug costs now capped at $2,000 a year for some Washington seniors on Medicare

Sen. Patty Murray held a press conference Thursday in light of a cap on prescription drug costs for some on Medicare going into effect.

Out-of-pocket costs for prescription medications will be capped at $2,000 a year for seniors on Medicare Part D. Part D is a voluntary program that pays for prescription drug medication that covers nearly 56 million Americans.

The change was included in the Inflation Reduction Act that was passed in Congress in August of 2022. […]

“As everyone knows, high drug prices cause other painful costs, like stress over how to make ends meet, or what bills they needed to skip in order to take a prescription, or whether to take the risk of rationing medication,” Murray said. “Those are impossible choices that no one should ever have to make, but they’re the reality for many people and many seniors.”

Other provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act also take aim at drug costs for people with Medicare. The cost of insulin is capped at $35 a month and recommended vaccines like the flu, shingles, COVID-19 and RSV are free to everyone with Medicare Part D, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

###

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Iraq snapshot

Monday, January 6, 2025. We're not tolerating political closets and let's outline exactly how much damage those closeted, non-Democrats did to the 2024 election while pretending that they were Democrats.

Friday, we were talking about the way forward (you can also refer to Wednesday's "2024: The Year of Betrayal From Inside The Left") and how we use this platform this year. We're going to expand on that but two videos that went up here yesterday we are going to note at the top.

First, THE MAJORITY REPORT.

Where are we going to take the show? Sam asks that and it's something anyone with a platform should be asking. Here? We're not plaforming liars. Last night, in "A crazy mistakes herself for Paul Revere," we noted crazy Jessica Denson. We noted her before when she was with another outlet -- they have parted ways as she constantly insists, and we noted her a week or so after the election and noted that I was not interested in election lies. She was going to get the results overturned because she knew this or she knew that. And I noted that I would love for the results to be different but that they weren't. And I noted that different results would mean we lived in a far less racist country than we do.

Last night, I get on, at a party, to do an entry and the public e-mail account is swamped with over 70 e-mails insisting that Jessica's latest video has to be covered. It was garbage and I outlined why. We are done with her.

That's not the first person time we've had to wash out hands of people who are self-defeating. Another group like that was noted by Rebecca in "the oklahoma trash behind 'i've had it' podcast" on Friday.

We're also not noting you if you're in a political closet. Meaning? If I know you're not a Democrat but you're lying online that you are, I'm not interested in you. DEMOCRACY NOW! brought on one Socialist after another to slam Kamala during the general election and they presented as Democrat. That's how they lie.

There's nothing wrong being a Socialist. But a Socialist doesn't like Democrats. That's why you see so much praise for Bernie Sanders. The decades of racism, for example, slid right by. It takes a Black YOUTUBER -- such as Roland Martin -- to tell the truth about Bernie that not White YOUTUBER wants to. The left outlets attacked Kamala. But they found time -- COMMON DREAMS, THE NATION, DEMOCRACY NOW!, THE PROGRESSIVE, etc -- to praise Tim Walz? Why? They never told you and they want us to not know what happened or to not talk about it. Now. But in August Democratic Socialists of America bragged to the press -- and at their Twitter feed -- that they got Tim Walz on the ticket!!!! He was their guy!!!! (Sabby Sabs might get noted again because, if you look, she called them out in a response on that official Tweet.)

He was a lousy candidate. The debate between vice presidential nominees is always about drawing blood. Tim did not just fail to draw blood, he was an embarrassment. Sweating on camera, looking like a stooge, not knowing what word he was about to say next as he struggle to speak. An embarrassment.

Now ask yourself why these same outlets didn't tell you that? Because he was their guy. They, DSA insisted, got him on the ticket.

And they shielded him from any press critiques. Rebecca was right, the governor o Kentucky was the way to go. Not some looney tune who made Elmer Fudd look like a genius. And that's before we get into all the lies -- or, if you prefer, "whoppers" -- he kept telling during the campaign. We'll go into this more, I'm sure as the year goes along.

And we'll probably touch again on the SEP. I've noted them, we've noted their publication, WSWS. They are Socialists. I have no problem with Socialists. I do have a problem with Socialists who want to pretend that they're Democrats. Say what you are. The reason that they won't is because they know that'll cut their audience down and also make their arguments/lies be taken less seriously.

Some people get this, some people don't. Kamala lost because of voter suppression. Outlets on the left elected to attack her daily for three months solid. They repeated lies about her -- Amy Goodman made a point to air the attack on Kamala's race from Donald Trump repeatedly and only one time did she bring on a guest to refute it. They knew what they were doing and you need to know what they did and what they'll do again.

Because of their actions, the electoral college with give the presidency to Chump later today.

We can't afford them.

And if you're feeling sorry for the fake asses -- include Jill Stein in that --we can go over the debate that the fake ass Uncommitted 'movement' carried out. We can go over how they had Jill and Cornel there for a debate. And we can go over how they refused to allow the SEP's presidential candidate to be on that stage. How they lied to the SEP and claimed there would be another event but there wasn't. The closet cases just didn't want an out Socialist on the stage.

We may also go into how certain Palestinian-Americas did the front work for Uncommitted while the true organizers like Norman Solomon hid in the background.

Does it matter?

Second, I said two videos, Hal Sparks.

Cenk and Ana.

Ana says she didn't even vote for president.

Hmm.

Well the thing here is the grift. And the thing here is that the grift is not new.

I had a good friend decades ago who I haven't spoken to since because he was a Socialist who moved over to the right wing. He was hurt and didn't do it for money -- move over to the right -- but he stayed there because of the money. And I've seen that over and over.

Ana and Cenk are Socialists. That's why Bernie was all over Cenk's campaign until one too many disgusting details emerged about Cenk. That's why "Justice Democrats" came about -- Kyle and Cenk's Socialist election campaigns. See Mike's "Yea for Sarah McBride, remember when Socialist Kyle Kulinski was for Jill Stein, and Idiot of the Week."

They lied to you.

And then, in 2024, they lied some more.

But they lied all along because they weren't Democrats, they were Socialists.

Ana got a JACOBIN podcast which people want to forget but it happened and it is why JACOBIN doesn't want to call her out on her right wing drift because she knows a little too much about Socialists in closets.

They let Ana attack Katie Halper (also a Socialist) on their own podcast. They didn't drop her then. Even though she attacked Katie in a podcast where Ana's guest was Katie's co-host.

And that's another reason to dislike Katie. She was attacked and she didn't say a word. Acted like it didn't happen, acted like Nacho Noodlers or whatever the idiot's name was, hadn't joined Ana in attacking her.

She's pathetic.

But the point here is, right now everyone's noting how badly Cenk and Ana are betraying the Democratic Party and how they are stabbing it.

But people are still pretending that those two were Democrats. They were not. They're angry Socialists that are pimping the right wing. The Max Blumenthal 'left.'

They are not helping the Democratic Party.

We'll note criticism in 2025 of the Democrats. I'm sure I'll have plenty myself, but we'll note WSWS and others as well. They can be of the left and we'll note them. What we won't note is political closet cases because while we're trying to have an honest conversation, they're trying to trick and lie -- that's why they hide in their political closets.

If those who invested so much into Cenk and Ana over the years had know that the two were not Democrats, that they were Socialists, Cenk and Ana wouldn't have gotten away with as much.

Which brings us to the fake assery of BREAKING POINTS. Apparently, even they realize that they went too far too early. Which is why they're now burying a video they posted over the weekend. You can't find it at their YOUTUBE site. But it existed and Socialist -- not Democrat -- Briahna Joy Gray was the guest and she Tweeted about it:

Will the Democrats learn anything from their 2024 defeat?

@briebriejoy

says don’t count on it.

“They will do this quick mea culpa and then it’s going to be back to business as usual”

WATCH: http://youtu.be/cMeCKzOAmKM

Imagine that, before Chump's even declared the victor in the election, BREAKING POINTS is already telling you that Dems will sell out.

Why is that?

Because they're not Democrats.

People wrongly thing because of creepy guy being a Republican, that the show is about a Republican and a Democrat having conversations. It's a bigger fake assery than CROSSFIRE on CNN ever was.

We stopped noting them because Saagar was scapegoating gay men (glass houses?) over Monkeypox and then Krystal did her order that all must support Marianne Williamson -- you know, Krystal and Kyle's wedding guest that neither wanted you to know that fact?

I'm tired of liars. Bri is not a Democrats. She's a Socialist. So she was brought on to attack the Dems and by not explaining who she really is, it comes off much differently to the viewers. Titsy another Socialist. I'm glad she finally learned to wear a bra. I know Rania's streaming numbers dropped when she did but no one needed her delivering 'news' in tight shirts, no bra while she jumped around. Yes, she really was that pathetic. And who is she with now?

Oh, that's right: BREAKING POINTS.

Rania is not a Democrat. And let's go to one of her Tweets at random.

This is what Trump surrogates told Arabs in Dearborn, while Harris refused to even meet with them and kept insulting them.

It’s likely untrue, but his campaign repeatedly told Arab Americans they would stop the wars.

So if you want to be mad at someone, be mad at the Democratic Party for appealing to racists and republicans instead of their actual base and those hurting from a Democrat sponsored genocide.

Quote

Rania Khalek

@RaniaKhalek

Nov 1, 2024

At a Trump event in Dearborn, Michigan former Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell told me Trump will not appount Mike Pompeo or John Bolton or Jared Kushner to any role and said Amos Hochstein & Brett McGurk would get the boot.

10:56 AM · Nov 6, 2024

48.3K

Views

Rania lies about who she is politically and lies about everything. Kamala Harris did meet with Palestinian-Americans -- including Rashida Tlaib's sister. But there's Rania lying because a Socialist will tear apart a Democrat with lies. And many people know that which is why so many Socialists on the left lie about who and what they really are.

But look at that Tweet within a Tweet. Rania Tweeted it. As truth. She Tweeted Trump's lie as truth. That he would be better for Palestine.

Starting get why she had to use her (average size) breasts for attention for most of her career?

They're liars and we can't afford them. So they're not going to be noted. BREAKING POINTS is a Socialist platform that hides who they really are. They have right-wing Republican hosts who attack the Democratic Party and then they bring on the 'left' to attack the Democratic Party and never once let you know that these people are not Democrats.

It's a grift and it's a con.

And you're seeing the end results right now with Cenk and Ana. This is how it ends. We don't need to repeat this in 2028 or, for that matter, 2026. It's time to send a message that we will not let them stay in the closet and misrepresent who they actually are as they try to destroy the Democratic Party.

No.

Not going to happen.

And by eliminating the liars, we might be able to have an honest conversation.

Elaine served up some honesty on Friday:

Can they stop lying about the 2024 election?

That idiot James Carville is yammering away with more lies. I just wonder when can we get honest about this past election? C.I.'s "2024: The Year of Betrayal From Inside The Left" delivered a ton of honesty. At one point, before she edited it down (to a little over 11,000 words), she talked about the percentage and how people were being ahistorical about it to argue for their nonsense -- 'Dems should turn their back on trans rights!' and other nonsense.

So let's talk about that.

Let's start by noting the AP count for 2024's presidential election popular vote and we're looking at the percentage:

1.5%. That was the percentage that Chump won by.

Let's drop back to 2004:

Popular vote	62,040,610	59,028,444
Percentage	50.7%	48.3%

50.7% to 48.3%

Do you remember that? Bully Boy Bush won. John Kerry lost to him by 2.4%

Let's to back another 20 years.

Popular vote	54,455,472	37,577,352
Percentage	58.8%	40.6%

Ronald Reagan won. He got 58.8% of the vote to Mondale's 40.6%. Reagan won by 18.2%

Popular vote	43,129,040	27,175,754
Percentage	61.1%	38.5%

LBJ won with 61% of the vote. That's 22.6% that he beat Barry Goldwater by.

Are you getting the point yet? We're focusing on percentages because they don't change. The number of those voting.

Chump won. That's the story at the end of the day and I'm not trying to pretend it's not.

But the hand wringing that's taking place and the nonsense of Seth Moulton, James Carville and others is not about the results. If we're talking about results, the totals don't call for massive changes.

Chump is not going to make our lives better. Four years from now, the country will want a new direction. That includes those who voted for Trump.

Kamala got 1.5% less votes. The most likely reason for that is because of the non-stop attacks that THE NATION, COMMON DREAMS, THE PROGRESSIVE, DEMOCRACY NOW! and others carried out on Kamala from August through the end of October. It's past time for that to be addressed.

Kamala performed amazingly well considering that elements of the left media -- non-Democrats -- worked to dampen enthusiasm for her campaign every single day. That's reality. And that can never happen again.

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Sunday, January 05, 2025

A crazy mistakes herself for Paul Revere

A lot of people are depressed. I understand that completely. I also understand that those of us who supported Kamala Harris want her sworn in. That might make us prone to believe grifters.

Jennifer Denson has made a fool of herself. Some of you think she's amazing. She's not. She's run of the mill. Actually, she's worse than that.

Two hours ago, she posted "Evidence of HACK Surfaces in Breaking Election Investigation │ Lights On with Jessica Denson" to YOUTUBE. A Navy Seal is her guest in the bulls**t segment that goes on for over one hour and 20 minutes.

She doesn't know the first thing about journalism or the law. Ten minutes in, she's talking about everything but the "evidence of Hack." Ten minutes in.

She's talking about herself and how she left her last outlet and what she's doing and done and SHUT THE F**K UP.

If you have evidence of a hack, you bring that up at the top. You don't tease it out, you stupid idiot.

You do learn, as the video goes on and on, other things. 18 minutes in, for instance, you learn that Jessica so busy she can't sleep!!!! and that she learned of this -- whatever "this" is -- days ago. But it didn't go up on YOUTUBE until two hours ago.

If that's the truth, if there was a hack, you come forward immediately. You're an idiot or a liar to sit on it until hours before the electoral college votes.

Do you get that? She's a con artist. She's using this for views. "Maybe she believes in it!" Did you not read what I said about "until hours before the electoral college votes."

That's what a con artist does. Wait until it's too late.

And, yes, kids, it's too late.

I didn't believe the 2020 election was stolen. But, when Trump made questionable claim after questionable claim, I noted that he had until January 6th for this nonsense. Over and over, we noted that here.

Once the electoral college votes, that's it.

There's no do over.

There is no legal process to overturn the electoral college. Not in the Constitution. And so if Jessica The Con Artist got her nonsense correct, so what?

Nothing will happen.

The most you could hope for is that it would be appealed to the Supreme Court. Their decision would be -- most likely -- to refuse to grant cert because they'd argue that the electors represented the people and the electors weren't the ones suing.

So they'd argue that this group or this person(s) did not have standing, that they had no legal right to sue.

That would be the easiest way. This is an activist Court so they might attempt writing laws. They are a Trump appointed Court so, should they write law via a decision, that decision wouldn't change the electoral college vote.

She waited too late. Too damn late. Had she presented a video of a possible hack on Friday, that would still be late in the game but it would have given people time to start a conversation, to look at the data and the media could look at it too.

Sunday night before the vote is really too damn late.

And that's if what she's presenting about a hack is accurate.

If.

I'm 27 minutes into her stupid video and I've still not heard evidence of a hack. I still haven't even heard possible evidence of a hack.

Jessica is a stupid idiot. I tried to be sympathetic and planned to note her after things were certified thinking she might have a less tin-foil hat segment to deliver.

I don't care at this point.

Have you seen THE CHINA SYNDROME? Jane Fonda won the BAFTA for her performance (the British equivalent of the Academy Award) for Best Actress.

Jack Lemmon's the whistle-blower in the film. Jane's the journalist. As he's talking about what happened and scientists might be able to follow but the average person can't, Jane's character brings it into plain speak. Jessica doesn't do that.

If you have a proof of a hack -- or even think you do -- you open with the hack. You explain in your first three minutes what you think happened. Then you go into the weeds and discuss what happened.

32 minutes in, we still don't have evidence of a hack.

Is there evidence?

I have no idea.

Jessica's a con artist because (a) apparently streams were more important to her than breaking this news or 'news' in time to change anything and (b) she doesn't know how to do her damn job. Most people are not going to give you five minutes to get to the point, let alone over thirty. This is outrageous.

This helps no one.

The night before, a shoddy video that can't make a concise point quickly helps no one.

Now people can pursue this topic -- and they should -- because election integrity matters.

But Jessica's whole point -- the reason she left her previous outlets -- was that she was going to rally everyone and get the results or 'results' exposed.

And I'm honestly done. I'm at a party and I've wasted nearly 40 minutes of my time on her crap ass video.

She will never be highlighted here. I'm trying to celebrate with friends who deservedly won awards tonight and I've taken nearly forty minutes of my time and she still can't get to the damn point.

If she even has a valid point. If.

There's no THIRD this week, by the way. I'm tired. There wasn't one this past week. Ava and I did notes on the piece we'll right for next week. Did that the day after Christmas. But we haven't tried to write it yet (we'll be calling for a long running TV series to be canceled) because we're tired. And that's before I wasted nearly forty minutes on a video an idiot posted two hours ago claiming that there was a hack. Again, if there was, she wasted too long in getting the word out. Again, if there was, her organizational and journalistic skills are so poor that she doesn't know how to report.

In school, I did feature writing. I did not do news. I did feature writing very well. I was not interested in writing news.

When you write news, it's not a discovery process. It's not a linear story. You start off with the ending. For example"

Pearl Harbor was bombed yesterday.

The naval base in Honolulu, Hawaii was attacked by Japanese bombers in the early morning hours yesterday as people were finishing their breakfasts and starting their day.

The attack left at 2403 people dead, 2335 of them were US service members. The US service members were serving on the USS ARIZONA, the USS OKLAHOMA, the USS UTAH, the USS WEST VIRGINIA and the USS CALIFORNIA and at the the Hickman Field base.

The surprise ariel attack followed months of negotiations between the governments of the US and Japan with regards to who would control the Pacific Ocean. Secretary of State Cordell Hull had spent weeks negotiating with the Japanese. As he reported for work yesterday morning, Hull was informed that Kichisaburo Nomura, Japan's Ambassador to the US, was awaiting him. Hull was presented with a document summarizing the Japanese government's position and he declared, "In all my fifty years of public service, I have never seen such a document that was more crowded with infamous falsehood and distortion."

I'm not interested in doing that. We have done it before, when reporting on a Congressional hearing we attended or when a news outlet publishes an article and a transcript and, reading the transcript, you grasp how much actual news didn't get reported in the article. Otherwise, you're reading a conversation -- Keesha long ago dubbed it, a private conversation in a public sphere.

Again, Jessica took forty minutes of my night I'm never going to get back. Done. Finished. Don't care about you anymore.

I know people are depressed over the results. I am as well. But believing grifters and idiots isn't going to help us. And Jessica's laughable hail mary run is offensive. Depression is normal this time of year -- even without Kamala losing -- and you should try to get more sunshine The Harvard School of Public Health notes:

Vitamin D is both a nutrient we eat and a hormone our bodies make. It is a fat-soluble vitamin that has long been known to help the body absorb and retain calcium and phosphorus; both are critical for building bone. Also, laboratory studies show that vitamin D can reduce cancer cell growth, help control infections and reduce inflammation. Many of the body’s organs and tissues have receptors for vitamin D, which suggest important roles beyond bone health, and scientists are actively investigating other possible functions.

Few foods naturally contain vitamin D, though some foods are fortified with the vitamin. For most people, the best way to get enough vitamin D is taking a supplement because it is hard to eat enough through food. Vitamin D supplements are available in two forms: vitamin D2 (“ergocalciferol” or pre-vitamin D) and vitamin D3 (“cholecalciferol”). Both are also naturally occurring forms that are produced in the presence of the sun’s ultraviolet-B (UVB) rays, hence its nickname, “the sunshine vitamin,” but D2 is produced in plants and fungi and D3 in animals, including humans. Vitamin D production in the skin is the primary natural source of vitamin D, but many people have insufficient levels because they live in places where sunlight is limited in winter, or because they have limited sun exposure due to being inside much of the time. Also, people with darker skin tend to have lower blood levels of vitamin D because the pigment (melanin) acts like a shade, reducing production of vitamin D (and also reducing damaging effects of sunlight on skin, including skin cancer). (Source: https://nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/vitamin-d/)

The Mayo Clinic notes:

Vitamin D isn't naturally found in many foods, but you can get it from fortified milk, fortified cereal, and fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel and sardines. Your body also makes vitamin D when direct sunlight converts a chemical in your skin into an active form of the vitamin (calciferol).

The amount of vitamin D your skin makes depends on many factors, including the time of day, season, latitude and your skin pigmentation. Depending on where you live and your lifestyle, vitamin D production might decrease or be completely absent during the winter months. Sunscreen, while important to prevent skin cancer, also can decrease vitamin D production.

Many older adults don't get regular exposure to sunlight and have trouble absorbing vitamin D. If your doctor suspects you're not getting enough vitamin D, a simple blood test can check the levels of this vitamin in your blood.

Taking a multivitamin with vitamin D may help improve bone health. The recommended daily amount of vitamin D is 400 international units (IU) for children up to age 12 months, 600 IU for people ages 1 to 70 years, and 800 IU for people over 70 years.

If you're feeling depressed, you are not alone. But you'll be better off getting more sunshine, eating foods rich in vitamin D and taking a supplement. (I take a prescribed Vitamin D per my PCP for the last eight months. I have a huge deficiency.) You're really not going to improve your vitamin D level by watching a YOUTUBE video -- not even a good one.

Let's wrap things up with some news.

South African born, US president-elect, weirdo and national security threat Elon Musk is back in the news. He's targeting 158 Democrats in the US House of Representatives and using terms like "sully" which is hilarious when we're talking about a man with 11 kids by three different women -- in and outside of marriage -- but the MAGA goons were stupid enough to worship him without realizing that he'd at least twice utilized in vitro fertilization so this may work on them too.

In an attempt to distract the fools from how much he hates them (and them him) he took to his platform over the weekend to whine about this. Strangely, he failed to target the five Republicans House members that didn't vote at all.

Matthew Lynn (TELEGRAPH) notes of Elon's car business, "Its sales are falling. The share price has slumped. It is facing an end to many of the lucrative subsidies that have helped it to grow, and its chief executive is too busy helping out the president-elect – and meddling in global politics – to pay much attention to the company that made him the world’s richest man."

In condensed news, we have two items. THE HILL's Tara Suter's "Trump blasts the ‘corrupt’ and ‘broken’ legal system ahead of his sentencing" -- yes, it is corrupt and broken as demonstrated by the fact that on January 10th, he will face no jail time for his convictions. THE NEW REPUBLIC's Malcom Ferguson's "Johnson Denies Scratching Backs To Flip GOP Holdouts" -- yes, Mike is telling the truth. He doesn't scratch backs, he nuzzles crotches.

The following sites updated: