7 ms·

I guess owning the Washington Post (Bezos paper), and its overwhelmingly anti Trump stance over the last 3 years, had its price. This is about Bezos IMHO, nothi

by cronix 7y ago

I guess owning the Washington Post (Bezos paper), and its overwhelmingly anti Trump stance over the last 3 years, had its price. This is about Bezos IMHO, nothing else.

tootie 7y ago
WaPo has been pretty fair if not overly gentle. Trump has mostly been flipping out over pretty bland and factual reporting that happens to be embarrassing for him because he keeps doing embarrassing things. And it's pretty grossly unethical to use your office to punish the media.
- dnautics 7y ago
  I'm no fan of trump, but in what way have the media been punished by the office? I get that there have been incendiary tweets indirectly resulting in private citizens being assholes who have made death threats against the media. Clearly trump is an asshole for doing those things. Have there been any official punishments by the authorities that I'm not aware of?
  - gonesilent 7y ago
    Pulling press pases, just about ending press conferences, Calling everything fake news. Current admin hates the media unless it reads from it's talking points.
    - dnautics 7y ago
      Calling something fake news is not a punishment (you could construe almost any action done by a president as a punishment for someone under any criteria sufficiently vague as to admit that), and pulling a press pass is hardly a punsihment given how farcical this governments press conferences are. Have any journalists been jailed, murdered, fined, or had a business licence revoked by the state? These things happen, and also in 'civilised' nations like EU member states. If trump has done this I would certainly appreciate knowing so as to criticize the administration for it.
      - detritus 7y ago
        "Calling something fake news is not a punishment" It is when the highest and supposedly most-respected seat in a country undermines the entire validity of the fourth estate in a time when there's no viable replacement. It's a personal, poisonous and Pyrrhic sort of punishment, but it's punishment nonetheless.
  - tootie 7y ago
    Threatening to end Amazon's contract because their owner also owns the WaPo. Also, constant harassment and threats and being labelled enemy of the people.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
akhilcacharya 7y ago
I genuinely wonder sometimes if we are on a slide towards a banana republic, and it makes me genuinely concerned that many people (40-46% of them) just wouldn't care if we did.
- empath75 7y ago
  Slide? We’ve been that since the day trump was elected.
- mschuster91 7y ago
  They would happily live in a banana republic just to spite the "libruls". Some people simply are not worthy of the privileges of living in a democracy, it seems.
mschuster91 7y ago
The thing is: being critical of the government is the literal job of journalists - everything other is propaganda. The press is supposed to be part of "checks and balances" - and the way Trump regularly attacks all press that doesn't lick his boots (=everyone except Fox) is worrying. And on the other side, the government should be impartial and only look at the financial and technological sides when procuring stuff or enforcing regulations. Trump's opposition to everything Bezos is obviously everything but neutral.
- CapricornNoble 7y ago
  >>>The thing is: being critical of the government is the literal job of journalists Except the bulk of them aren't even competent journalists. They hardly do any fact-checking or ground-level reporting. They are closer to socialist agitators than journalists. Take the Baltimore rat Tweet situation as a recent example (The "Covington kids" are another good example.) One America News interviewed Baltimore residents [1] and got a completely different vibe from what the MSM has been pushing. Meanwhile CNN's anchor with his forced fake tears about "Trump's racism" is getting savaged by black YTers [2][3][4] >>and the way Trump regularly attacks all press "All press" != "CNN/NYT/WaPo/HuffPo/MSNBC". Has Trump attacked Tim Pool? No, he invited Tim Pool to his White House Social Media event, despite Tim constantly calling Trump a crass person of bad character. Tim Pool gets more daily YT views that CNN gets TV viewers, BTW. >>>And on the other side, the government should be impartial and only look at the financial and technological sides when procuring stuff or enforcing regulations. Agreed. Or they should pay technical specialists what they're worth and develop and maintain internal government solutions. For some reason that's a bridge too far for us. [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU8aWfFijOc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU8aWfFijOc [2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHuTxgN7P7Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHuTxgN7P7Y [3]https://youtu.be/Bhcx3erphwU https://youtu.be/Bhcx3erphwU [4]https://youtu.be/Ui2rEkvqJs0 https://youtu.be/Ui2rEkvqJs0
Nasrudith 7y ago
The whole bloody point of the bureaucracy and institutions is to not care about the day to day politics and get the job done. That is why they have their protection and civil service exams. The fact it is being treated as relevant is deeply wrong and corrupt.

by cronix 7y ago

I guess owning the Washington Post (Bezos paper), and its overwhelmingly anti Trump stance over the last 3 years, had its price. This is about Bezos IMHO, nothing else.

tootie 7y ago

WaPo has been pretty fair if not overly gentle. Trump has mostly been flipping out over pretty bland and factual reporting that happens to be embarrassing for him because he keeps doing embarrassing things. And it's pretty grossly unethical to use your office to punish the media.

dnautics 7y ago
I'm no fan of trump, but in what way have the media been punished by the office? I get that there have been incendiary tweets indirectly resulting in private citizens being assholes who have made death threats against the media. Clearly trump is an asshole for doing those things. Have there been any official punishments by the authorities that I'm not aware of?
- gonesilent 7y ago
  Pulling press pases, just about ending press conferences, Calling everything fake news. Current admin hates the media unless it reads from it's talking points.
  - dnautics 7y ago
    Calling something fake news is not a punishment (you could construe almost any action done by a president as a punishment for someone under any criteria sufficiently vague as to admit that), and pulling a press pass is hardly a punsihment given how farcical this governments press conferences are. Have any journalists been jailed, murdered, fined, or had a business licence revoked by the state? These things happen, and also in 'civilised' nations like EU member states. If trump has done this I would certainly appreciate knowing so as to criticize the administration for it.
    - detritus 7y ago
      "Calling something fake news is not a punishment" It is when the highest and supposedly most-respected seat in a country undermines the entire validity of the fourth estate in a time when there's no viable replacement. It's a personal, poisonous and Pyrrhic sort of punishment, but it's punishment nonetheless.
- tootie 7y ago
  Threatening to end Amazon's contract because their owner also owns the WaPo. Also, constant harassment and threats and being labelled enemy of the people.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

akhilcacharya 7y ago

I genuinely wonder sometimes if we are on a slide towards a banana republic, and it makes me genuinely concerned that many people (40-46% of them) just wouldn't care if we did.

empath75 7y ago
Slide? We’ve been that since the day trump was elected.
mschuster91 7y ago
They would happily live in a banana republic just to spite the "libruls". Some people simply are not worthy of the privileges of living in a democracy, it seems.

mschuster91 7y ago

The thing is: being critical of the government is the literal job of journalists - everything other is propaganda. The press is supposed to be part of "checks and balances" - and the way Trump regularly attacks all press that doesn't lick his boots (=everyone except Fox) is worrying. And on the other side, the government should be impartial and only look at the financial and technological sides when procuring stuff or enforcing regulations. Trump's opposition to everything Bezos is obviously everything but neutral.

CapricornNoble 7y ago
>>>The thing is: being critical of the government is the literal job of journalists Except the bulk of them aren't even competent journalists. They hardly do any fact-checking or ground-level reporting. They are closer to socialist agitators than journalists. Take the Baltimore rat Tweet situation as a recent example (The "Covington kids" are another good example.) One America News interviewed Baltimore residents [1] and got a completely different vibe from what the MSM has been pushing. Meanwhile CNN's anchor with his forced fake tears about "Trump's racism" is getting savaged by black YTers [2][3][4] >>and the way Trump regularly attacks all press "All press" != "CNN/NYT/WaPo/HuffPo/MSNBC". Has Trump attacked Tim Pool? No, he invited Tim Pool to his White House Social Media event, despite Tim constantly calling Trump a crass person of bad character. Tim Pool gets more daily YT views that CNN gets TV viewers, BTW. >>>And on the other side, the government should be impartial and only look at the financial and technological sides when procuring stuff or enforcing regulations. Agreed. Or they should pay technical specialists what they're worth and develop and maintain internal government solutions. For some reason that's a bridge too far for us. [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU8aWfFijOc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU8aWfFijOc [2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHuTxgN7P7Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHuTxgN7P7Y [3]https://youtu.be/Bhcx3erphwU https://youtu.be/Bhcx3erphwU [4]https://youtu.be/Ui2rEkvqJs0 https://youtu.be/Ui2rEkvqJs0

Nasrudith 7y ago

The whole bloody point of the bureaucracy and institutions is to not care about the day to day politics and get the job done. That is why they have their protection and civil service exams. The fact it is being treated as relevant is deeply wrong and corrupt.