The Right-Wing Disinformation Machine

[ColoNoCoHusker]

I would imagine the White House's Spanish-language page coming down isn't an accident, and that at some point the Trump Administration is going to push for English to be America's official language.

No imagining. The website is built on Drupal which makes multi-language easier than ever. Drupal is what Yahoo.com and literally every online newspaper uses for content-sites. I am totally serious when I say it was way MORE work for them to REMOVE Spanish support from the site than to have kept it.

and that at some point the Trump Administration is going to push for English to be America's official language.

I could see this happening as well....since 31 States already have designated English as the official language of their respective State.

It's not something I would be against, either. I don't know the reasoning behind not having an official language. We clearly speak English as a primary language, so why not make it official?

As long as we don't stop making information available in other languages for people who haven't learned English yet, what's the issue?

When my ancestors came to America, they would work during the day, then take government-sponsored English language courses at night. I heard the same story from my in-laws about their parents. It makes sense to me to do that.

The ACLU did a write-up on this a few years ago but I'm not finding the piece. IIRC, the main issues with having an official language was it was impossible to prevent this trampling the Bill of RIghts & Civil Liberties. Would it be illegal to speak non-English at home? Would it be conspiracy if two people conversed in non-English on the street in public? With how laws & our legal system works, it would be almost impossible to implement these types of limits at the Federal level. By comparison, the ACLU actually supported this being a States' right to determine as well... I will post it if I find it.

With all of the Fake News running rampant through the world, Dear Leader has kindly provided us with a way to know which sources are not fake: campaign-style press clippings from Team Trump show where Real News comes from:



Your Trump-endorsed Real News sources:

ABC News (specifically, Jonathan Karl)

Fox News (specifically, Sean Hannity)

Chicago Tribune

The Wall Street Journal

USA Today

The Atlantic

Detroit News

Rasmussen Reports

Reuters

Washington Examiner

The Daily Signal

Politico

We'll update this as the endorsements roll in. What a time to be alive!

Seriously - just how small must his below the belt Mr. Trump be?

While I am obviously not a member of that group, there are many on this board that are. On their behalf, I take offense to you casting dispersions on the members of the below-the-belt-magnitudinally-challenged demographic based on the actions of one person (Trump). /sarcasm

 

[Danny Bateman]

I believe this is more than ample grounds to formally oust the chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee...

Good lord.

 

[Mierin]

I felt vomity reading that.

I've said similar things many many times here but the people who went through things like the Germans with Hitler didn't know it was coming or how bad it would get until it was too late. People need to stop thinking of Hitler comparisons as "crazy" and do something to stop this while we still can (if we can).

I have a Ukrainian friend who has lots of Russian friends here in the US and many of their older parents believe everything Putin and the state news say.

 

[knapplc]

The ACLU did a write-up on this a few years ago but I'm not finding the piece. IIRC, the main issues with having an official language was it was impossible to prevent this trampling the Bill of RIghts & Civil Liberties. Would it be illegal to speak non-English at home? Would it be conspiracy if two people conversed in non-English on the street in public? With how laws & our legal system works, it would be almost impossible to implement these types of limits at the Federal level. By comparison, the ACLU actually supported this being a States' right to determine as well... I will post it if I find it.

That's interesting, but I disagree with the ACLU on this one.

I envision it in much the same way as we have a national bird (Bald Eagle), national anthem (Star Spangled Banner), flag (Stars and Stripes), flower (Rose (betcha didn't know that one)), and motto (In God We Trust).

None of these are legally binding, with the exception of harming Bald Eagles, which is not dissimilar to prohibitions placed on hunting game out of season or harming some protected species. Otherwise, I'm free to burn the flag, refuse to sing the National Anthem, pick roses and not believe in a god. No harm comes to me because of my refusal to do so, and I don't think "harm" should come to those who don't speak English.

But, much like we have all these national symbols, we should have a national language. You should learn it/be able to understand it/speak it if you live here. I don't think that's an unreasonable request.

 

[knapplc]

I felt vomity reading that.

I've said similar things many many times here but the people who went through things like the Germans with Hitler didn't know it was coming or how bad it would get until it was too late. People need to stop thinking of Hitler comparisons as "crazy" and do something to stop this while we still can (if we can).

I have a Ukrainian friend who has lots of Russian friends here in the US and many of their older parents believe everything Putin and the state news say.

Godwin's Law was funny when it was just idiots on the internet defaulting to Everything Bad = Hitler. At some point in our history, someone was going to attempt the totalitarian route. If it's happening now, we have to be able to sound the alarm without nimrods yapping about Godwin.

 

[ColoNoCoHusker]

I felt vomity reading that.

I've said similar things many many times here but the people who went through things like the Germans with Hitler didn't know it was coming or how bad it would get until it was too late. People need to stop thinking of Hitler comparisons as "crazy" and do something to stop this while we still can (if we can).

I have a Ukrainian friend who has lots of Russian friends here in the US and many of their older parents believe everything Putin and the state news say.

Godwin's Law was funny when it was just idiots on the internet defaulting to Everything Bad = Hitler. At some point in our history, someone was going to attempt the totalitarian route. If it's happening now, we have to be able to sound the alarm without nimrods yapping about Godwin.

It could be avoided but "that guy/political party that Paul von Hindenburg beat in the 1932 German election" doesn't flow off the tongue quite as easily... Would help Google's traffic, tho

 

[Mierin]

I felt vomity reading that.

I've said similar things many many times here but the people who went through things like the Germans with Hitler didn't know it was coming or how bad it would get until it was too late. People need to stop thinking of Hitler comparisons as "crazy" and do something to stop this while we still can (if we can).

I have a Ukrainian friend who has lots of Russian friends here in the US and many of their older parents believe everything Putin and the state news say.

Godwin's Law was funny when it was just idiots on the internet defaulting to Everything Bad = Hitler. At some point in our history, someone was going to attempt the totalitarian route. If it's happening now, we have to be able to sound the alarm without nimrods yapping about Godwin.

I never did it before Trump and never to win an argument. But before Trump I've always been fascinated thinking about what I would do if it happened where I live, and I specifically always thought of the extreme case of Germany. What if strangers in my neighborhood were forced to go away? What if it was acquaintances? Friends? At what point would I risk my life? I can see why so many Germans didn't fight it or argue with it.
And no that's not happening (and I'm not talking about deportations) but what is happening is scary enough that it needs to be stopped before there is even a hint of things going farther. Journalists are being verbally attacked by the President and his press secretary and his fans in congress. Scientists seem to be next. I personally know people at UNL with EPA grants. They might lose their jobs for trying to keep Nebraska's water sources clean, because the president is anti EPA.

Studying things like that is a thankless job. People get mad when it goes wrong (Flint) but for the most part take it for granted. Who the hell is going to fund that research if not for the EPA?

Sorry, my rant wasn't very on point here but I am very fearful particularly for scientists, journalists and Muslims.

 

[Danny Bateman]

I would imagine the White House's Spanish-language page coming down isn't an accident, and that at some point the Trump Administration is going to push for English to be America's official language.

No imagining. The website is built on Drupal which makes multi-language easier than ever. Drupal is what Yahoo.com and literally every online newspaper uses for content-sites. I am totally serious when I say it was way MORE work for them to REMOVE Spanish support from the site than to have kept it.

 

[Making Chimichangas]

I am also for making English officially the language of the USA.

The problem with it, Republicans won't just make English the official language, they'll probably create additional legislation that'll make speaking another language a felony.

 

[ColoNoCoHusker]

I'm cool with an official language as long as it's either Anglish or Ol' English. Anything else has been done already...

PS: I'd be cool with Galactic Basic or Klingon if those are options...

 

[knapplc]

An anti-endorsement for MSNBC and CNN. Another plug for Fox - specifically, Fox & Friends (a morning show).

 

[Bigred_inSD]

How soon before Trump tries to gag the media and sign an executive order to stop SNL, CNN, and the New York times?

 

[TGHusker]

The more Trump praises Fox the more Fox will do his bidding and run stories favorable to him. Doesn't hurt that Fox is the most watched news network.

This reminds me somewhat of what I saw in the 1970s in my home town of Sioux Falls. There was a cult like group that some of my college friends got involved with. At first they weren't 'cult like' they listened to many

teachers of various backgrounds via cassette tape. Then one by one they started to find fault with this teacher, than that teacher and finally they settled on one guy - a guy with a powerful personality.

The group of around 200 became a cult like in all of its manners and habits - not deviating from the teacher's words and group think/mind control was very evident in my friends. The group eventually packed up their belongs as a whole and moved from S.F to Lakeland, Fl and still exists today. Suspicious of the outside world. Some have left their 'protective womb' and returned to the real world but some of those old friends are still in the group some 40 years later.

Well, when the administration talks bad about all of the news outlets but one or a very few, it starts to exhibit a persecuted, cult like personality centered around a powerful person - Trump. While I think it was wrong for Obama to single out Fox News consistently for their coverage (yes- take exception and confront their News stories if you disagree - I'm not talking about the Fox commentators - like O'Rielly, Hannidy, etc - that isn't news - it is opinion) , it is doubly wrong for Trump to single out every news outlet that runs a negative story. That is a persecution complex on display. That isn't healthy for the nation. It is Nixon like and we know where that took us.

 

[Oade]

How soon before Trump tries to gag the media and sign an executive order to stop SNL, CNN, and the New York times?

No chance. He needs them to win the next election.... They dedicate enough air-time to him, regardless of the tone of coverage, for him to undercut that. In terms of the election race, Trump probably received 70% or 80% of "on-air" coverage over the past two years. Maybe it wasn't praiseworthy coverage, but it undercut his opponents air time all the same.

On-air coverage is free, his campaign didn't have to spend a dime on it, all Trump had to do was post an outlandish tweet every 24 hours and it would keep his name at the top of the news ticker. He received more benefit from that type of coverage than what any other candidate received from 30-second paid ads.

 

[B.B. Hemingway]

I would imagine the White House's Spanish-language page coming down isn't an accident, and that at some point the Trump Administration is going to push for English to be America's official language.

If only that was the worst/most inconsiderate thing he would do.