Resistance Action Items

NM11046 said:
STAND FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

TAKE NOTE:  Is your local TV Station owned by SInclair?  (map:  https://www.vox.com/2018/4/6/17202824/sinclair-tribune-map  and list:  http://www.businessinsider.com/sinclair-broadcast-group-stations-by-state-list-2018-4 )

WRITE:  Your local station manager (you can usually find name and address online)

SCRIPT:  A single media copany controlling 72% of local TV stations is a threat to our constitutional right to a free press.  As a regular viewer of (channel and call sign), I'm asking you to stay committed to quality, fact based journalism for our local community and reject corporate political agendas.  Thank you, (name & town)

ACTION: subscribe to your local paper and/or give paid subscriptions to friends & family.  The biggest threat to Sinclair's monopoly are consumers who read and support print media.
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I'm not a fan of Sinclair and their intent, but I can appreciate the irony of a "scripted" message used to bring down a "scripted" message.  

Thank you for the links to local news stations, that is helpful.  My concern isn't the "message" necessarily, but the ability to create the "norms" for the conversation.

 
NM11046 said:
You bet @funhusker  - can you explain more about what you mean in that last sentence?  
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No problem.  Media has opinions: FoxNews = conservative, and MSNBC = liberal, I don't have a problem with that; I don't think these companies really hide it.  But when a company starts buying up "local" accounts to create a new "middle ground", or basis of facts, that is a problem.  I'm sure many on the "right" would have a problem if Soros started buying up local TV stations.  

My thought: Local TV should be that: local.  How are current policies affecting our area?  It might be a tall order, but one I hope for.  I know I'm daydreaming, but I would actually watch local news if they led off with current policy decisions, and then set up a panel to discuss what it means.  But really I don't care to hear a segment from someone in Omaha about the situation in Syria followed by the cutest cats in the metro area....I will browse headlines of local news, but I never watch it because it seems to be really pointless.  

 
I'm very proud of the people that have refused to air Sinclair's nonsense propaganda even at the expense of their jobs. One of them in my neck of the woods (Central Nebraska!) even made CNN after he stepped down due to "obvious bias."

He explained the situation extremely succinctly - what Sinclair did was wrong because they co-opted the credibility of local anchors within their community to push a top-down directive (that not so subtly reinforces Trump's anti-media narrative and whining about fake news) under the guise of impartiality. Sinclair also runs these so called must-run segments with Boris Epshteyn, a Trump campaign lackey, that are essentially straight Trump propaganda.

I know two affiliates in the Kearney area - ABC & Fox - are Sinclair affiliates. Despite the most likely honorable work of the actual newspeople at those stations, I'm proudly a CBS local news man myself, and will not be watching either of those stations for news until Sinclair stops the shenanigans.

On this topic, we can call and complain to the stations, we can stop watching them & we can vote for people that will break up media monopolies like this. That's all we can really do.

 
Clifford Franklin said:
I'm very proud of the people that have refused to air Sinclair's nonsense propaganda even at the expense of their jobs. One of them in my neck of the woods (Central Nebraska!) even made CNN after he stepped down due to "obvious bias."

He explained the situation extremely succinctly - what Sinclair did was wrong because they co-opted the credibility of local anchors within their community to push a top-down directive (that not so subtly reinforces Trump's anti-media narrative and whining about fake news) under the guise of impartiality. Sinclair also runs these so called must-run segments with Boris Epshteyn, a Trump campaign lackey, that are essentially straight Trump propaganda.

I know two affiliates in the Kearney area - ABC & Fox - are Sinclair affiliates. Despite the most likely honorable work of the actual newspeople at those stations, I'm proudly a CBS local news man myself, and will not be watching either of those stations for news until Sinclair stops the shenanigans.

On this topic, we can call and complain to the stations, we can stop watching them & we can vote for people that will break up media monopolies like this. That's all we can really do.
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I'm really starting to wonder if we're related :) , literally.....I have a cousin out your way that echoes a lot of your posts!

Anyway, that's my issue with Sinclair: the local message has been co-opted by national interests.  I would rather watch or listen to a Nebraska based Maddow/Hannity (I try to listen to 1110AM in Omaha, but they are obviously catering to the national Rush audience before and after his show) that discusses the current news put forward by Washington than have some people in NYC tell me how the current news effects me.

I would rather hear the opinions of local bankers, farmers, builders, retailers, etc....Like I said: it's a pipe dream.

 
STAND WITH THE KIDS THAT OUR GOVERNMENT AND ICE IS LOSING:

Take 5 mins on this holiday weekend to Email or Call officials (all contact info is below, as well as a script you can copy & paste or copy and tweak).  Also, regardless of how you think your congresspeople feel about this issue, email, call ore Resistbot them to make sure they know your feelings.

Script: Dear [name],

During a Senate oversight hearing, Steven Wagner who holds a top position in the Department of Health & Human Services stated that the whereabouts of 1475 immigrant children are currently unknown.  Our nation has a moral responsibility to protect children and treat them with basic decency, regardless of immigration status. 

  • We must stop the inhumane practice of separating children from parents as an immigration deterrent. 
  • We must hold detention facilities accountable for child abuse.
  • We must vet caretakers thoroughly to prevent exposing kids to work and sex traffickers.   
  • We must track kids post-release to ensure their well-being—especially those currently missing.

As a taxpayer funding this egregious neglect of duty, I urge you to take full and immediate responsibility for the well-being and safety of vulnerable children and infants.

Sincerely, [name, state]

Contact the following officials using the script above.

Chief of Staff John F. Kelly

Address: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C. 20500

Phone: 202-456-1414

Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Address: US Department of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20530-0001

Phone: 202-353-1555 

DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen

Address: Secretary of Homeland Security, Washington, D.C. 20528

Email: DHSSecretary@hq.dhs.gov

Phone: 202-282-8495

Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan

Address: Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 500 12th St. SW, Washington, D.C. 20536

HHS Secretary Alex Azar

Address: Office of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201

Email: Secretary@HHS.gov

Phone: 202-690-7000

Acting Assistant ACF Secretary Steven Wagner

Address: Administration for Children and Families, 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201

Phone: 1-877-696-6775

ORR Director Scott Lloyd

Address: Office of Refugee Resettlement, Mary E. Switzer Building, 330 C ST SW, Washington DC 20201

Phone: 202.401.9246

Your two senators and one House representative

Even if you think they A. already agree or B. don’t care. They work for you.

 
Here is a pretty eye opening OPED from a progressive.  If we think that harassment of Trump officials at a cafe is rough, it may get much rougher.   For those of us old enough to remember

the later 1960s and 1970s we can remember the riots, cities burning, and bombings.  This is what this article is stating as our future.  With progressives like Maxine Waters stroking the fires, it won't be long before some wacko kills someone just like that shooter tried to do at the Republican practice for the congressional baseball game a year ago.  Both sides seem to be hell bent on confrontation. Trump could defuse this by ratcheting down his rhetoric and becoming more moderate in policy and listen to the voices of others.  But I fear that is not in his nature to do so - he apologizes to no one or admits he is wrong. While there remains a outside chance of impeachment, I think there is less of a chance as time goes by.  Besides, removing Trump may not remove the polarization. The other side feels disenfranchised and there are also players and feel they don't have a voice the Repub control of congress and the WH.  The congress has been an 'enabler' to Trump and has applied no brakes to his actions.  On the progressive side there are those who will stroke the fires of descent & all too willing to create crisis while using Rules for Radicals techniques.   Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we are at a critical point in our history and regardless of political persuasion.  It is important for cooler heads and Statesman/women to rise to the top and lead.  Unfortunately I don't see many.  

https://splinternews.com/this-is-just-the-beginning-1827099100

Note:  I removed some F bombs in these quotes - they are in the original article.

Do you think that being asked to leave a restaurant, or having your meal interrupted, or being called by the public is bad? My fascism-enabling friends, this is only the beginning.
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This is all going to get more extreme. And it should. We are living in extreme times. The harm that is being done to all of us by the people in the American government is extreme. To imagine that Mexican immigrants should happily cook for and serve meals to people who enable a man who is determined to demonize and persecute them as subhuman criminals is far more outrageous than the idea that those enablers should not be served in restaurants. I do not believe that Trump administration officials should be able to live their lives in peace and affluence while they inflict serious harms on large portions of the American population. Not being able to go to restaurants and attend parties and be celebrated is just the minimum baseline here. These people, who are pushing America merrily down the road to fascism and white nationalism, are delusional if they do not think that the backlash is going to get much worse. Wait until the recession comes. Wait until Trump starts a war. Wait until the racism this administration is stoking begins to explode into violence more frequently. Read history book. Read a recent history book. The U.S. had thousands of domestic bombings per year in the early 1970s. This is what happens when citizens decide en masse that their political system is corrupt, racist, and unresponsive. The people out of power have only just begun to flex their dissatisfaction. The day will come, sooner that you all think, when Trump administration officials will look back fondly on the time when all they had to worry about was getting hollered at at a Mexican restaurant. When you aggressively mess with people’s lives, you should not be surprised when they decide to mess with yours.

Stop working for this man. Stop enabling him. Stop assisting him. Start fighting him. The people who are responsible for what is happening are not going to get out of this with their happy wealthy respectable lives unscathed. This is a country that locks poor people in cages for decades for trying to make $20. This is a country that is “tough on crime.” Remember? And the ones who make the laws are not going to like what happens when America starts to regard them as the criminals.
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It seems like people are allowing their understanding of Maxine Waters' call to action to be clouded by the right-wing media establishment's portrayal of it and not by listening to her actual words. 

Here is what Waters actually said:
 

"Mr. President, we are not afraid of you … and while you think you have gotten away with everything that you’ve done, we are going to show you that you haven’t gotten away with anything. We want the children back. We want them connected to their parents. We want it done now. We are going to insist on it. If you think we’re rallying out here, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

"Already, you have members of your Cabinet that have been booed out of restaurants, who have protesters taking up at their house who sang, ‘No peace, no sleep. No peace, no sleep.’ And guess what, we’re going to win this battle ... so let’s stay the course. Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. And if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them and you tell them they're not welcome anymore, anywhere ... Mr. President, we will see you everyday, every hour of the day, everywhere that we are to let you know you cannot get away with this."
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Waters is being held up as an example of "both sides" inciting violence:  "With progressives like Maxine Waters stroking the fires, it won't be long before some wacko kills someone just like that shooter tried to do at the Republican practice for the congressional baseball game a year ago.  Both sides seem to be hell bent on confrontation."

It is very, very important not to succumb to messaging, but to read in plain English the words people actually use. 

There is a belief, largely based on Waters' statement, that there is a higher chance of violence in America today.  This hysteria is fueled by constant messaging from the right wing, and by inept messaging from the left. 

 
Knapp,  I would be concerned by this language if a Conservative Maxine Waters existed and was telling people  "if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd and you push back on them and you tell them they're not welcome anymore, anywhere".   By her statement she is encouraging people to make the lives of anyone associated wt this administration hell.    The rhetoric on both sides needs to be scaled back.  Trump failed big time when he didn't immediately condemn the alt-right protestors in Virginia (did he ever condemn them??).  He continues it wt his tweeter storms against anyone opposed to him - whether it be someone in Hollywood to a Senator in his own party.   So, In my opinion the issue starts with him. He sets the tone and he's decided on a tone of confrontation.  It, unsurprisingly, brings a response of confrontation.  His words

may eventually cause one of his cult members to do acts of violence - actually one could say his words have already done so wt the alt-right protest and the death of a counter protestor.

Regarding Waters, I understand her disgust and desire for equity however we know there are enough wackos are there to take it to the next and worse level.  No different than some anti-abortion speaker  rousing up the passions of some zealot who then goes into an abortion clinic and shoots a doctor.    I won't be surprised if some admin official is shot as a result.  And no, I do not listen to Fox and avoid talk radio.  My comments are based on my observation and the reading I've done.

 
Stop with the "both sides" BS.  It's complete garbage.  Peacefully protesting, "pushing back," is a hallmark of American freedom.  It is not the same thing, and should not be equated with the same thing, as "good people on both sides." 

How have we become so polarized as a country that we think these kinds of things are remotely similar?

 
knapplc said:
Stop with the "both sides" BS.  It's complete garbage.  Peacefully protesting, "pushing back," is a hallmark of American freedom.  It is not the same thing, and should not be equated with the same thing, as "good people on both sides." 

How have we become so polarized as a country that we think these kinds of things are remotely similar?
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Knapp, I don't think peaceful protesting is the same as the alt-right protesting or that of an anti abortion guy killing a doctor.   My post is about tone and not saying the issues are the same. 

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and state maybe I'm not doing a good job of communicating it. 

 
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