BOTH SIDESISM NOW

By Ruth A. Sheets

Republicans, trying to pretend they are in some way moderate have a technique that has been gaining ground for a while.  I think of it as “both sidesism.”  It usually appears in lines like “well, you know they all do it” or “politicians are all alike.” Or “both sides are trying to shove their preferred social values down each other’s throats” and other such statements.  If a Republican is accused of something, say, lying, the response, if the respondent acknowledges the lie at all is, “they all lie and none of them are any good.”  My guess is it serves the purpose of making Republicans look a little less radical and maybe it is working with some folks.

Our media display their both sidesism with their “fair and balanced reporting,” which is clearly neither fair nor balanced these days.  I first took notice of it 9 years ago when Donald Trump entered the 2016 presidential campaign and the media, not too excited by his presence at the beginning (you know that escalator ride), came to be consumed with Trump and his shenanigans, normalizing comments, insults, and anti-American rhetoric while covering other candidates as though they were just as disruptive.  Hillary Clinton got the biggest blasts of media frenzy when everything she said was ignored in favor of Ben Gazi and emails.  They were portrayed as worse than Trump’s diatribes against women and Clinton in particular  with “lock her up” and anti-abortion rhetoric,   claims of immigrants being rapists, mocking of anyone different from himself, calling the press “fake news.”  I’d have thought the press would have fought back, but instead doubled down on Trump coverage.

For the past 8+ years, Republicans have an agenda that is so far outside the realms of decency in a democracy they have decided they must change direction and let us see “a kinder gentler side.”  In the meantime, the media have portrayed President Biden as too old to function, inept, the cause of inflation, which for our media made it look like both candidates were equally bad, but Trump a bit better because he didn’t seem as old.  The June 27^th “debate” cemented that in many people’s minds, even though Biden had trouble, he didn’t spend the entire affair lying to the American people as Trump did, which the media noted only in passing. 

Trump survived an “assassination attempt” with hardly a scratch but the media projected him as a hero because he kept standing with his fist up (I have heard it said it looked like a Hitler salute).  We were told Trump was going to be “nicer” from then on and the Republican Convention was billed as the way for Republicans to unite the country, even better than Democratic claims.  All kinds of headlines poured out that message, but the convention actually presented none of that “unity” or “niceness.”  In fact, Trump, himself, recently told a crowd of his worshippers that if they thought he was becoming “nicer” after the incident in Butler, PA, they were wrong and he asked them if they minded.  No Democrat would have done that.

A few days ago, I was responding to comments on a piece by Joyce Vance on her Substack page.   One of the respondents was complaining that she should not have to have drag queens reading books to kids in her public library.  She could give  no explanation, other than that children shouldn’t have to be exposed to something as corrupt as those people.”  Than a guy chimed in that drag queens are groomers and children would not be safe around them.  He, of course had no evidence of this and when I challenged him with actual facts that if anyone is ”grooming” it is conservative clergy, he tried to defend his statement with insults and claimed that somehow I just couldn’t understand the logic of keeping kids safe and away from drag queens, (targets for right-wing self-righteousness). 

How the thread decayed into people being forced to attend drag shows and that the “left” gets to force people to do things against their religion is still unclear even after rereading the various comments.  My comment back to him was probably not as “civil” as I might have done at another time, but here is what I said.

“no one on the left is forcing anyone to go to Drag queen or drag king story hours or to bake cakes for LGBTQ couples. However, on the other hand, the right-wing IS trying to keep a lot of us from voting, to let a president have the powers of a dictator to do whatever he wants to anyone he does not like. No left-wing policy is an anti-American diatribe against this nation with an entire plan for systematically taking away people’s rights, as Republican-written and supported “Project 2025” from the Heritage Foundation is designed to do.  No Democrat intends to undermine our public schools in favor of rich private corporations who want to control what our children learn. No left-wing people want the ten commandments posted on classroom walls which is against our Constitution (OK, left-wing kids might enjoy checking off all the commandments Trump, their state's governor, and representatives have already broken and speculate which they will break in the future(. No left-wing person wants to impeach opponents they don't like because they just don't agree with them as they are trying to do to Kamala Harris (I guess in response to Trump having been impeached for actually committing crimes against this nation). No Left-wing people lie incessantly and enjoy the media ignoring that in favor of denigrating a president and vice president (Biden and Harris), who have improved lives for most Americans in the 3-1/2 years they have been in office. No left-wing politician is trying to wreck social security or Medicare or to deny struggling people Medicaid or SNAP.  Republicans have proposed all of these, but the media, it seems, since it can’t blame Democrats for such actions ignore them in favor of covering Trump’s rallies even though nothing Trump says is new.  That is until Kamala Harris stepped in as Democratic candidate for president when President Biden decided not to run.

I think you get the idea. Both sidesism is just ridiculous no matter what right-wing people believe. Those folks alas, already believe a lot of things that aren't true.  Unfortunately, I suspect that both sidesism will continue.  I keep hearing it’s because the media is now corporate.   Maybe so, but both sidesism is a lie no matter who is doing it.

WHAT’S UP WITH OUR MEDIA

By Ruth A. Sheets

Dear American Media,

I have  been a regular consumer of various media platforms for decades and have noticed some serious changes over the years that are not positive.  Our various media platforms today have so much more opportunity to reach the American people than ever before, albeit in different formats.  People don’t read physical newspapers and magazines as much as previously but online, newspapers, magazines, and newsletters are still pretty popular with people who want to know what is going on.  TV and radio news is still important as are the various online reports.

When it comes to covering events like natural disasters and significant criminal activities, most of our media are able to present the facts and even give some expert descriptions of what is going on.  That is not true when it comes to politics. 

I first noticed it about a decade ago when Donald Trump, a famous guy who claimed to be a great businessman and TV star of a fake “reality TV show decided to ride a golden escalator into a run to be President of the United States.  The various media went frantic.  They had to cover every aspect of this “newcomer” whose ideas were not at all positive or sensible, but filled with insults and blaming of immigrants for nearly every wrong Trump could think of. 

As the campaign rolled on, everyone but Donald Trump was moved to second tier or lower because Trump was just so exciting (or whatever it was).  He became the first or second story on nearly every newscast whether he had anything worthwhile to say or not, and continues in that position 9 years later.  When Hillary Clinton joined the 2016 presidential race, the most prominent things you media could say about her is Ben Gazi or emails.  Ben Gazi had been pretty much settled with hearings but it didn’t matter.  The American people, particularly on the right had no idea what Ben Gazi was, but were sure it must be something terrible.  Having a private server as Clinton did, was relatively common at the time and actually protected a lot of public materials from hackers, but that part was usually ignored by you. 

You all let cameras focus on an empty podium when Trump was late for a rally or speech.  I can’t recall the actual percentage of coverage of the race that went to Trump over Clinton but it was at least 2 or 3 to one.  That is not fair and balanced coverage.  When Americans were asked about Clinton’s positions on anything, mostly they only knew Ben Gazi and emails.  With Trump, at least, they knew he was supposedly fighting for them, the working people (which you knew he was not), and that he was going to stop immigrants from pouring over our southern border.  The implication there, Trump was going to save white Americans from being replaced by those horrible, scary people and Clinton was going to let them invade.  

Just as you media entities, with a little help from Russia, pushed Trump into the presidency in 2016, you all are trying again to crown Donald Trump.  What is your fascination, perhaps obsession  with this “Hitler wannabee?”  I don't get it and maybe that’s the point.  Maybe we’re not supposed to get why “legitimate media” are trying to boost a potential, self-declared  dictator (at least on the first day, then who knows after that).  Maybe you folks in our media think Trump was cheated of his second term in the White House when the January 6^th insurrectionists were foiled at the last minute.  I know you got months out of that day’s activities and probably would have liked to have more of it to “cover.” 

I can’t help but wonder if you in the media Have read about Hitler and his crew, the Holocaust (which guys was real by the way), and destroyed most of Europe, being responsible for many tens of millions of deaths.  Do you know how Hitler’s administration dealt with the press, particularly those who didn’t agree with every single word Hitler spoke in public.  The people left in the press were the believers who went along with the killings, slave labor, and general atrocities the Germans perpetrated and encouraged others to perpetrate. 

Knowing Trump’s dictatorial intentions, I would think you, our media would be on top of it, regularly educating the American people about Trump and his “team’s” intentions.  I have read and heard little of that.  We have heard from you all, the most listenable tidbits of Trump’s speeches, though, cutting out the parts that make no sense which is most of it so people don’t really know that Trump is moving into dementia and can’t remember what he is talking about unless it is the specific points he has been drilled on.  I keep wondering if Trump is wearing some kind of wire where people can feed him lines if he does not stay attached to the teleprompter.  Are you all wondering about that?

You all know well that Trump is old, almost as old as Biden is, yet it was Biden you in the media worked hard to bring down and let Trump merrily roll along with his lying, insulting, and name-calling, like a toddler who needs a nap.  You all ought to be ashamed, but I am guessing in this age, shame is not present in the media that are covering the power-grabbing and general lying on the Republican/conservative side of things.  You scrounge for positive things to say about the Republican candidates even though they are essentially pushing to bring down our democracy.  How is that OK with you?  How is it you practically ignore “Project 2025” which has been out for two years, yet few people even knew about it until very recently?  The 900+ page “document” was not a secret, and you are paid to investigate, yet you just didn’t.  You did not inform Americans about the autocracy “Project 2025” would usher in and its depth of racism, misogyny, xenophobia, homo/transphobia and more.  That’s irresponsible and the lack of coverage continues today too.

This pathetic coverage reminds me of how often you played a tiny chunk of a Trump speech and glowed that Trump was being “presidential.”  That was nonsense. Maybe you were hoping for something better than you were getting, so had to point it out to people who were also hoping.  You must admit you never had to say that about Joe Biden!  He was presidential nearly the whole time from when he entered the campaign through today.  Trump has never been; those chunks showed nothing but your minimal hope.  

I do wish I knew what game you in our media are playing because it is not healthy for anyone, not even Trump because deep down, I believe he knows he does not belong in the White House.  I guess his sycophants/handlers like what you are doing because you are giving power to a bunch of criminals and criminal wannabees and they are totally on board with it. 

I keep hearing your coverage and emphases have changed because you all are now corporate.  Does that mean money is the only thing that counts and that if the money is on Trump and friends, it is where you must be too?  What does that make you, Trump sycophants?  You now have a challenge because as you wanted, Joe Biden has  left the 2024 presidential race.  What you didn’t plan on was that Kamala Harris would be anointed to step up and the people really do want her.  In a fair fight, she will beat Trump.  Will you make the fight less fair as you have been doing or can you all decide to do something for the American people, this nation and our planet and either truly be balanced or lean a bit on the side of Harris?  It is not clear yet, but We the People are watching. 

What I can tell you as an outside observer is, you all need to get your act together on behalf of the American people or your jobs will be irrelevant!  Those jobs  are moving in that direction now.  The truth is we need you to report on the positives and negatives at every level of life in our country.  What we don’t need is promotion of a “Hitler Wannabee.”

WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?

By Ruth A. Sheets

It truly is appalling that 6 members of our Supreme Court have decided they have the right to rule this nation. They were not elected by the people so it appears they believe in ignoring the will of the people, even a well-thought-out will of the people LIKE abortion rights and personal accountability.  On July 1, 2024, they  “offered” a shocking ruling that a president in office (in this case, Donald Trump, is able to act with impunity, if he can call what he was doing, “official.”  What is that?  Permission to divide this nation even further, taking out opponents, forcing Americans to live as dictated by himself and his rich white benefactors, for his own selfish, whiny childish need to never be held accountable?

Where did these Republican seriously partisan members of the Supreme Court get the idea that “Supreme” meant, dictatorship?  It seems the Federalist Society, an ultra-right-wing “legal” organization led by Leonard Leo is at least significantly responsible.  Leo and his friends have been approaching vulnerable law students around the country, even our major elite institutions.  They helped brainwash those future lawyers to buy into the idea that our government has taken a wrong path.  They want their apprentices to believe “unworthy” persons are taking over and the Federalist Society must fix it.  Essentially, only white men of a certain quality background and a few token others should sit on all our courts so they can dictate what is legal and what is not.  Perhaps Leo knows he wil not get into power himself, so he rules by getting his proteges onto courts so he can push them to do whatever  he claims is true American, giving him power through the back door.  To make this happen, Leo and his crew demonstrate strategies for consistent lying about nearly everything, hoping We the People won’t notice, and we often don’t. 

The Leo folks are becoming more and more proficient with lying about our founders and our Constitution and that they should consult 17th century and earlier misogynists as well as "the Bible" to find sources to back up their warped rulings. All six of the conservative justices on our Supreme Court go along with it with nary a whimper; their clerks are on board too, probably why they are their clerks. The 6 have told all of us that it is they who can decide about which drugs can be prescribed and sold here, which environmental protections they will allow, and which work of which agencies is acceptable. No one gave them that authority; they just took it, and are running with it on behalf of their president of choice, Toddler-Donald Trump and their joint "Project 2025." 

The Supreme 6 ended this year’s term with some appalling decisions, very late in the term and so many at one time so the media could not successfully take them apart and explain them to us clearly before the next batch came down, something like 29 decisions in 2 weeks.  That should be unacceptable, but since our Supremes have a super-majority, they don’t have to do anything that makes sense, just whatever they and their donors want.  They are paid by the American people, but don’t feel they have to answer to us and what we want, only the guys who give them trips, buy things for them, and otherwise keep them in a style they have wanted to become accustomed to.  The 3 “liberal” justices can only sit and watch, writing dissents that are of high quality and are true, but pretty much irrelevant.    

Our Senate is supposed to monitor and have some regulation of the courts, but with the huge divisions, nothing has been done to stop the runaway power-grab John Roberts and his conservatives (cons) have been on lately as they work to give even more rights to corporations and less to the American people.  Despite our Constitution, they have permitted voting rights to be trampled in many states, permitted religious organizations the right to refuse service to people they don’t like, told our federal agencies the Court has the right to determine what those agencies can do even though the justices have no clue what those agencies do, and of course, have said states can decide the legality of abortion, citing people who had no clue as their reasons.  In the presidential immunity case, Roberts even used the case of Jesus and Pilate as his truly warped explanation as to why a president should be able to do whatever he wants (and I am sure it is a “he” they had in mind because they would never permit a woman president to have such freedoms). 

Now some white Republicans want to invoke the 1873 “Comstock Act” to make abortion illegal by making it illegal to send safe abortion medication through the mail.  Anthony Comstock was a sexually messed-up pseudo-Christian guy who basked in the power he got by talking Congress into trying to stop pornography and as a side push, he wanted to stop birth control and abortion information from going through the mail too (so very Victorian!)  The Comstock Act relates to the US male, so there is no reason Fed-X and UPS couldn’t send such materials because they are not our postal service, but are private.  I have no doubt Republican pseudo-christians and their Supreme 6 will find a way to twist even the Comstock Act (already a pretty twisted piece of legislation) to interfere in ways it could not possibly originally have been intended (so much for originalism).

So, let’s face it, it seems it is going to have to be up to We the People and our voting rights to end this power-grab and put out of office those who are perpetuating the fraud against this nation. 

We must think carefully about the hard work it is going to take to fix this monumental problem. First of all, Dems need to come together supporting Biden and Harris if we are going to stop Trump, Project 2025,” and the Supreme Court’s conservative usurpation of power.  The current Supreme 6 behavior is like a nearly silent coup, done in front of our faces, but with words so convoluted it is hard to follow the reasoning.  However, it looks as though the whole point is to keep us from following any kind of reasoning since the only logic is that the guys in charge at our Supreme Court and Republicans in Congress and behind the scenes want a corporate take-over of America (as though corporations have not already taken over much of our nation).  They want to believe private corporations will give them all the means to constantly feed their addiction to money and power, neither of which they deserve, but will do nearly anything to obtain.  People addicted to opioids and other drugs have nothing on Republican political operatives, who can actually use our legal system to get their money/power fixes and don’t have to depend on drug dealers, just American voters whom, they are sure, will do whatever they need them/us to do if shown enough lying ads and make enough promises that racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and homo/transphobia will be perfectly OK if only we elect them.  They are working hard in many places to undermine our voting process and suppress votes from non-white and female voters.  They are hoping the rest, those rich white men and the not-so-rich white men who wannabee rich white men, will come through for them, and so far they have. 

We non-rich, white men are the majority, so how is it we have not found a way to stand up to that minority who cares only about themselves and what they can get, “the takers” Republicans used to warn us about, except they were talking about struggling folks who need help through government programs.  The rich take so much more but we and our elected and appointed officials let them get away with it.  They point fingers at poor people and immigrants, scolding them for needing help while their left hand is scooping up billions in tax breaks and loopholes as well as enormous subsidies, all perfectly legal. 

I know it has been said many times, elsewhere, but I will say it again, and loudly!

• - Vote!  Mark Democrat down the ballot so Democrats will be able to protect our rights and keep unqualified, uncaring, self-centered people out of office as best we can.
• - Talk with everyone you know about what our courts are doing to us and, share some information about the fascist document “Project 2025” which as far as I can tell, has absolutely nothing positive in it for anyone, with the tiny exception, rich white pseudo-christian men. 
• - Sign petitions, write letters to representatives and senators, state and local to let them know how you feel about their need to work for the majority of the American people, not just the already haves.
• - Connect with organizations that work for the same issues you champion and stick with them.  --- Donate when you can, even if it’s just a dollar or two.

As though all of the above were not sufficient to scare us silly, now, we have an additional dilemma, the assassination attempt on Trump’s life may well make him seem like some kind of hero and people may in sympathy vote for him.  Reagan got a huge poll boost after his assassination survival which let a whole lot of people overlook his terrible governing decisions whose impacts are still being felt 40+ years later. 

It is a guarantee Trump will have learned nothing from his encounter with possible death.  He will become even more vengeful, blaming Democrats and anyone else that comes to his warped mind for what happened, even though it is not clear what the attempted assassin was championing.  Various of our media are obsessed with this event even though they have little understanding of what actually happened, yet.  We know from reports that Trump’s ear was hit, probably just grazed, but if Trump’s past is predictive of the future, the injury will increase exponentially over time to include partial deafness or some kind of massive headaches, which are unlikely side effects in this case, but his cult won’t care.  They will go along with whatever their baby says because that is what they do and truth for them has become irrelevant.

Our media should not minimize the attempt to assassinate Trump, but not magnify it either.  Trump is the minor victim of gun violence, but will not call for limiting gun possession in any way.  Hey, in Milwaukee, open carry of guns is legal.  It is going to be a nightmare for police and other law enforcement to try to protect all the Republican conventioneers and people of the city, but less talk of violence on the part of Republicans could lower the chances that someone will be worked up enough to do something violent.  The media and everyone interviewed talk about the need to stop talking up political violence, but the party that is talking violence is the Republican Party and now it is one of theirs that has been grazed while members of the crowd have been injured and one killed.  Maybe they should take that advice and just stop.  It won’t happen, but maybe . . .  The media will now have meat to chew on so they won’t have to address “Project 2025” and potential destruction.  They can go on endlessly about a grazed ear and two more victims of gun violence they choose not to look at either.  Good luck to all of us this year, but we have to make some of that luck by voting for President Biden and Vice-President Harris as well as Democrats down the ballot.