The Third Estate Sunday Review focuses on politics and culture. We're an online magazine. We don't play nice and we don't kiss butt. In the words of Tuesday Weld: "I do not ever want to be a huge star. Do you think I want a success? I refused "Bonnie and Clyde" because I was nursing at the time but also because deep down I knew that it was going to be a huge success. The same was true of "Bob and Carol and Fred and Sue" or whatever it was called. It reeked of success."
Stein has said,
we are in “a very dire situation that will be continued under both
Democrats and Republicans. So we say there is no lesser evil in this
race.” So I suppose that is her answer. How comes it that she so
outrageously denies reality. Is she blinded by the light of her 1
percent campaign? Is she blinded by the lure of the press coverage she
gets when she says such things? I don’t know. But now we have another,
and I think a more honest, albeit no less disturbing answer to why from
an exemplary activist who is arguably Stein’s most savvy and
accomplished supporter.
You may remember Kshama Sawant, Seattle’s socialist city council
member from 2010 to 2024. I won’t review her history. It suffices to say
she has been a singularly successful left candidate and has been on the
progressive, radical, and revolutionary side of issue after issue. She
has been courageous, brilliant, and committed. One need not have liked
her every move or her every allegiance to feel that she has been
exemplary in numerous ways.
But according to news reports Sawant recently went from Seattle to
Michigan to campaign for and with Jill Stein at a Stein Rally in
Dearborn. Sawant is highly knowledgeable. She is no one’s fool. She did
not say vote for Stein to express your conscience. She did not say vote
for Stein to show you are radical. She did not say vote for Stein to
build the Green Party. No. Sawant said,
“We need to be clear about what our goals are… We are not in a position
to win the White House. But we do have a real opportunity to win
something historic. We could deny Kamala Harris the state of Michigan.
And the polls show that most likely Harris cannot win the election
without Michigan.” And in case that didn’t express her intent clearly
enough, she added we are “fighting to defeat Harris, not just
symbolically but in reality.” Michigan “is ground zero to punish Kamala
Harris and defeat her…. We need to break the two-party system, and we
need to begin that by breaking this election for the Democrats in
Michigan.” Back in June, Trump made his oddly similar feelings about
Stein known. “I like her also, Jill Stein, I like her very much.,,, You
know why? She takes 100% from them.” I guess Trump could now say the
same about Sawant.
As
we go around the country speaking about the need to vote in this
election and the need to vote for Kamala Harris, we encounter a lot of
people who don't seem to feel that what's at stake is being properly
conveyed by the media. They don't doubt Kamala's grasp on the
importance of the election but they do doubt the media's.
For example,
on Saturday, speaking in Atlanta, Georgia, Democratic Party presidential
nominee Kamala Harris observed:
So
so much is on the line in this election. And this election is not 2016
or 2020. The stakes are even higher for obvious reasons -- including
because, just a few months ago, the United States Supreme Court
basically told the former president he is effectively immune no matter
what he does in the White House. And just think about this, right.
Before that ruling just a few months ago, at least there was some
possibility of threat of consequences for misbehavior, for breaking the
law. But just imagine now Donald Trump with no guard rails. He, who
has vowed that he will be a dictator on day one. He who calls Americans
who disagree with him "the enemy from within." Understand where that
comes from in history. And says he would use the American military to
go after American citizens. He who has called for the "termination" of
the Constitution of the United States of America. And let us be very
clear, someone who suggests that we should terminate the Constitution of
the United States should never again stand behind the seal of the
President of the United States of America. Never again. Never again.
That's pretty clear cut.
And she gets it.
But
so many people -- especially in swing states -- that we speak with
doesn't feel the media gets it and specifically does not feel that the
'independent' media (THE NATION, DEMOCRACY NOW!, IN THESE TIMES, THE
PROGRESSIVE, COMMON DREAMS, et al) gets it. They are already spinning
from the defectors of the left. They complain, for example, about
'feminist' Naomi Wolf is promoting racist Jack Posobiec, snake
oil, becoming anti-choice and so much more, about 'leftist' John Stauber
becoming a Laura Loomer acolyte and his constant attacks on transgender
people, on and on. They feel let down by 'independent' media.
And they should.
Left
outlets have failed with regards to accountability. Did you promote
John Stauber when he was a leftist? Then you are required to alert
people to the change and to call him out. We promoted him for years.
We stopped promoting him and explained why. (We've both also been
banned by him on Twitter. One of us -- Ava -- just for pointing out
that, despite his asinine Tweet, Cher did not do drugs in the sixties.)
It's a big tricker for us with Naomi in that we warned against her all
along. We noted how she stole her first book from Judith N. Shklar's
series of lectures. We noted how her third book revealed -- did she not
read what she wrote -- that her 'friends' raped a woman while she was
at their frat house and she never reported them but joined in the
morning after giggles. We noted what a mess her books after that were.
We never took on the book that had to be pulped -- and honestly felt
sorry for her over that -- but we noted her pill addiction and the
reality that she wasn't a feminist. She's going for Donald Trump in
2024 and, honestly, we don't see how a real feminist never found a woman
to support for president -- not Hillary in 2008, not Hillary in 2016,
not Elizabeth Kirsten, Amy, et al in 2020 and not Kamala in 2024. We've
long noted her fake assery and she's probably the person under 70 that
we've called out the most over the years.
But
it's amazing how THE PROGRESSIVE, for example, longterm promoter of
John Stauber, refuses to write about what happened to him and turned him
into a nutcase who see George Soros money everywhere.
What we are recommending to people we speak with is POST-LEFT WATCH -- a TWITTER account by leftists that calls out those who became racists, homophobes, sexists, transphobes and whores.
They call out all the liars, whores and idiots. Like Lee Fang of whom they note, "Person who did the Twitter Files is complaining about people being handed scoops."
POST-LEFT WATCH is doing important work and we applaud them for it.
We wish we could applaud 'independent' media. For example, an article last week? We really, really wanted to applaud it.
Sasha
Abramsky is what used to be called "tore up from the floor up." Though
born in 1972, he looks 20 years older than he is. Life has apparently
been very hard on him and we're about to join life in the pile-on.
After
months of talking around the obvious, the Democrats have realized that
it might be a good idea to call a fascist a fascist.
Throughout
the campaign, the Democrats have talked around the obvious—that, in his
rhetoric and in his calls to violence against his perceived enemies,
Trump has adopted full-throated fascist messaging. And Trump has done so
without provoking even a peep of indignation from the GOP leadership in
Congress.
The
Democrats have labeled him “weird” and “authoritarian,” denounced him
for being “erratic,” and called him out for his increasingly incoherent
babbling. Butonly in the last week, as Trump’s campaign trail message
has gotten ever darker, have both Democratic presidential nominee Kamala
Harris and vice presidential nominee Tim Walz come out and said their
opponent is a fascist.
The
Democrats have labeled him “weird” and “authoritarian,” denounced him
for being “erratic,” and called him out for his increasingly incoherent
babbling. Butonly in the last week, as Trump’s campaign trail message
has gotten ever darker, have both Democratic presidential nominee Kamala
Harris and vice presidential nominee Tim Walz come out and said their
opponent is a fascist.
Sasha
surely knows that politicians -- even strong leaders -- know that they
can't get too far out ahead of the people. The press will destroy you,
among other things.
You plant seeds, you move slowly and, as the seeds sprout, you continue to move forward and plant more.
That amplifies the issue and allows others to take cover if they're not willing to stick their necks out just yet.
You know, people like Sasha.
"Huh? Ava and C.I. he wrote the article!"
Yes.
Yes, he did.
It's
a bit like him writing an article saying smoking cigarettes causes
cancer and we should all stop . . . only to learn that he himself
smokes.
After reading his
article about how awful it was that Harris and Walz and other Democrats
weren't using the term "fascist" until recently, we spent a half hour
going through Sasha's TWITTER feed.
You know what we found?
Sasha has only used the word "fascist" in one Tweet -- the Tweet promoting the article we're talking about.
He's castigating others for not having used the term? Does he not grasp that he himself hasn't been using the term?
He's also doing nothing to promote Kamala's campaign.
Oh
sure, in July, he served up four Tweets about Kamala -- and he actually
wrote one all by himself as opposed to just reTweeting.
After that?
Nothing.
Nothing in August. Nothing in September. Nothing in October. Just 2
Kamla HQ reTweets in July, 1 Tweet directing people to his article on
Kamala and 1 Tweet directing people to Joan Walsh's article on Kamala.
That is his Kamala 'coverage.'
(He did Tweet about Walz once.)
50 Tweets and reTweets from July to present. How many times did the term "fascism" appear in those Tweets?
Again, none until is article on the topic was published at which point he Tweeted "My Nation column on Democrats finally calling a fascist a fascist." and provided a link to his own article.
Maybe we should Tweet this article and explain, "Our column on Sasha Abramsky finally calling a fascist a fascist"?
Maybe we could rewrite his entire article? Let's try three paragraphs where we make his silence the focus:
Astoundingly,
despite -- or maybe because of -- Trump's increasingly demented rhetoric,
hiss base has solidified around him, and he is riding as high in the
polls today as at any time since Harris became the Democrats' nominee.
This isn’t politics as normal; it’s a vastly dangerous departure from
the norms and rhythms of democracy, and, because the GOP and the
conservative media ecosystem have so wholeheartedly bought into the
Trump cult, it’s happening without much of the public being aware just
how radical this shift is.
Belatedly,
Sasha has realized that it might be a good idea to call a fascist a
fascist. After Trump said that the military should be used against his
enemies, Sasha finally called Trump out for being a fascist. That's
right, last week, Sasha finally said the obvious.
Sasha
should have done this months ago, instead of letting Trump rehabilitate
himself in the political imagination of millions of Americans. He
should have defined this terrible man, this man who, like so many
despots throughout history, revels in the language of violence and
intimidation, as what he is.
Not
only did Sasha not call Donald a fascist, he and the bulk of his
cohorts at THE NATION -- and elsewhere on the left -- write articles or
broadcast segments insisting Donald and Kamala are basically the same.
Amy Goodman and company did that last week when they pretended to
address immigration issues.
Reality
on immigration: The left has lost. They can work on winning but don't
think that's going to happen in a month or in two months.
Immigration
is a scary topic by its very nature. Immigrants are presented by the
media as "the other." We are taught in this country to fear the other.
When you can define someone as the other, you can do whatever you
want. We've done a lousy job on the left. In part, we've done a lousy
job because we let the right define immigration. Where are our
counter-proposals? Where are our articles with facts and figures?
Now
that's not our beat. We've tried to cover it from time to time over
the years but we have other things that are our focus. Seems like THE
NATION -- with all the writers they have on staff -- could have assigned
someone to the issue. Or THE YOUNG TURKS -- flush with Jeffrey
Katzenberg money -- and still interested in pretending to be left --
could have had someone on staff who made that their beat.
Didn't happen.
And while left outlets regularly avoided immigration every week, FOX "NEWS" spewed lies about immigrants on an hourly basis.
Kamala has to appeal to the electorate that our media -- All Things Media Big and Small -- (mis)informed and created.
She
didn't create the field. She had to hit the ground running a few
months ago and she knows she has to defeat Donald Trump in the election.
But a lot of idiots act as though they don't even know that.
Act as though they don't even know that and, worse, write as though they don't even know that.
That
would include writers like Julia Metraux at MOTHER JONES who is
incapable of actual thought so she writes garbage slamming Kamala.
Kamala, she wants you to know, does not say the right things about disability!!!!!
Donald
Trump has hidden 'concepts' for healthcare and his Project 2025 would
do away with Medicare but dumb idiot Julia Metraux is attacking Kamala
at left wing site.
We have watched this unfold. We know that we have to elect Kamala Harris for our country to survive.
And we marvel over the journalistic lice (nod to Joan Crawford) on the left who keep attacking Kamala.
Here's
some reality, there has never been a presidential election year where
the so-called 'independent' media like THE NATION, THE PROGRESSIVE, IN
THESE TIMES, DEMOCRACY NOW! and the rest have done so little positive
coverage of the Democratic Party nominee. Not even in 2000, when so
many tried to elect Ralph Nader. Yes, even when the presidential
nominee was Al Gore, they went out of their way to note this or that
aspect. They don't do that with Kamala. Black women especially are
noting this new purity standard that exists for Kamala. And there will
be hell to pay for it.
We're
lucky, we have money. So we don't need to go on disability. But some
people do and they often have to through months of not working in order
to qualify. Six months is not uncommon. This is a situation which
predates Kamala as vice president, as senator, as prosecutor. It's a
situation that needs to be addressed but obviously education on the
topic is required -- especially for the idiot writing for MOTHER JONES
-- because most Americans don't know the hoops required. It's almost as
difficult as getting a higher disability rating in the VA. Did we lose
you? Well, we've covered that topic here repeatedly but if you counted
on THE NATION, for example, we don't believe they've ever written about
the need for an electronic, integrated medical record that starts when
you enlist and follows you to the VA.
So
Kamala talks -- in a townhall -- about issues related to disability
ratings and MOTHER JONES' answer is to tut-tut and attack. You stupid,
stupid idiot.
This was not an informercial for ACA. This was a townhall with people asking questions that were on their mind.
And your answer is to have a fit that she didn't give a 15 minute lecture?
You
are so deeply stupid and you shouldn't be paid for your writing. You
should instead be forced to get a real job. And maybe when the cuts to
funding come in, you will be forced to get a real job. Or maybe, at least, be forced to stop writing in such a way that it reads like you ripped off Betsy Ladyzhets article for SICK TIMES that was published over three weeks before 'your' own writing.
2025
will hopefully be the year Kamala is sworn in as president. But 2025
will be a hard year for beggar media regardless. Give, give, give.
They ask over and over, forever begging, forever insisting that you need
them, that they keep you informed. 2024 is an election year and
they've done everything that they can to keep you uninformed. They've
done everything they can to destroy enthusiasm for Kamala's historic
run. They've elevated people in another region of the world as more
important than the people who suffer in this country and the people who
will be targeted if Trump gets back into the White House. The war on
Civil Rights and education doesn't matter to them, the attempt to
destroy LGBTQ+ rights doesn't matter to them, the attack on Latinos
doesn't bother them, the attack on women's health does not bother them,
the assault on overtime pay doesn't bother them. No issue, apparently,
is important but what happens in Gaza.
Grasp
for a moment what Trump plans to do with Latinos. He wants to round up
immigrants. That means he has to arrest them in the first place. How
does that usually happen? It generally involves profiling. Oh, how we
on the left especially miss Michael Ratner's strong voice today. So
since our country shares a border with Mexico, Latinos will be targeted
with profiling. Latinos -- American citizens and others -- will be
stopped on a regular basis. It will be "let me see your I.D." over and
over. And some will be deported by mistake under Donald Trump's plan
and, yes, he plans to break up families again with deportation. As
former US President Barack Obama explained in a speech in Nevada on
Saturday, "He wants you to believe that if you elect him, he will
just round up whoever he wants and ship them out and all your problems
will be solved." But that doesn't seem to matter too much to in
left media. For them, it's all about the Palestinians. Here's a tip
for the Gaza Freaks: You haven't seen anything yet.
Put
Donald back in the White House and you'll see what happens when a US
president actively seeks out a genocide. And have you noticed that while
Amy Goodman can't leave her status as a Gaza Freak behind, other
Americans have. Because they're dismayed that our country's at risk and
our lives are at risk and the Gaza Freaks are only focused on Gaza.
Good luck, under a Donald Trump presidency, building up a successful
movement to save the Palestinians -- especially after you've turned off
the bulk of Americans with your refusal to see the needs of those of us
in this country as even just a little bit important. There's a saying
that God don't like ugly. Equally true, Americans don't like selfish. It's a
reality the beggar media can't see but one we encounter in every state
we visit as we speak to group after group about the importance of the
2024 election.
1)
"In the year and a half following the Supreme Court Dobbs decision that
revoked the federal right to an abortion, hundreds more infants died
than expected in the United States, new research shows. The vast
majority of those infants had congenital anomalies, or birth defects."
-- Deidre McPhillips (CNN).
2)
"Donald Trump, 78, ranted at a town hall Sunday in Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, that he is “not close to 80”, a sign that the Harris
campaign’s increased focus on his age and cancellation of several
interviews in recent days has been getting to him." -- Oliver O'Connell and Joe Sommerlad (INDEPENDENT).
3)
"Bradley Peniston, the executive editor of the military defense
publication Defense One, has written an editorial warning of former
President Donald Trump's ambitions to potentially use the American
military on the country's own citizens. Peniston begins by citing
Trump's recent declaration that he could use the military to take care
of what he described as 'the enemy within' the country that includes
politicians such as Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)."
-- Brad Reed (RAW STORY).
4) "Donald
Trump came under fire Monday after not condemning an armed gunman who
was arrested for allegedly threatening FEMA workers trying to help North
Carolina victims of Hurricane Helene. Trump also continued to spread
lies about FEMA and the federal government’s response to that
devastating and deadly event." -- David Badash.
5) "If
you challenge them, they’ll fall back on one answer. It does not matter
what it is. housing, health care, education, paying for the bills, One
answer: Blame the immigrants." former President Barack Obama speaking in Nevada on Saturday about Trump and Miss Sassy JD Vance.
6) "Social Security could be drained of cash in just six years if Donald Trump becomes president in 2025, a report by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget warned Monday." -- Adam Nichols (RAW STORY).
7) "More economists believe that inflation will rise at a higher rate under former President Donald Trump than it would under Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a survey by The Wall Street Journal." -- Rich Johnson (NEWS NATION).
8) "Former Defense Secretary James Mattis was so worried that former President Trump would order a nuclear strike against North Korea that he slept in gym clothes in case of an emergency overnight call and spent private time at the National Cathedral praying that war could be avoided, according to revelations in a new book by journalist Bob Woodward." -- Leo Shane III (ARMY TIMES).
9) "Former President Donald Trump's mental acuity faces increased scrutiny after a strange conclusion to his Monday town hall where he danced to music for 30 minutes, along with his refusal to release his medical records -- two of the latest examples of what Vice President Kamala Harris and her allies have described, with increased frequency as Election Day nears, as signs of cognitive decline in the 78-year-old former president." -- Sara Dorn (FORBES).
10) Donald Trump -- as noted at the top with Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Dancing With Himself" -- has no rhythm and should never attempt to dance in public.
Convicted Felon Donald Trump -- pictured above in Isaiah's latest THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Diaper Duty" getting a diaper change from Miss Sassy JD Vance -- lies so often and so much
that it really is difficult to pick out his worst lie. But we do feel
comfortable picking out his wildest lie.
Possibly
concerned about his ever increasing utters that were formerly his
ManBoobs, Donald has begun telling small crowds that Kamala Harris, if
elected president, plans to ban cows.
Much
of Donald Trump’s 2024 pitch is rooted in fantasy. The former
president, for example, wants people to believe the economy is dreadful,
despite reality. He wants voters to believe crime rates are soaring,
despite all evidence to the contrary. He expects Americans to believe
conditions at the U.S./Mexico border are getting worse, even as they get
better. He insists that the White House is failing to respond to
natural disasters, even as other Republicans set the record straight.
But
there’s another dimension to this that often goes overlooked: The
Republican’s fantastical pitch also includes preposterous claims about
Kamala Harris’ agenda for the future.
To
be sure, given the unusual circumstances surrounding the vice president
and how she became the Democratic nominee, Harris did not initially
have much of a policy blueprint. But as the campaign has progressed, she
and her team have crafted a credible governing vision and presented it to the electorate.
26) "shannen doherty" -- Rebecca notes the passing of the TV actress.
27) "Bob Newhart" -- Marcia notes the passing of the TV sitcom star.
28) "Richard Simmons" -- Ruth notes the passing of the fitness guru.
29) "Obituaries -- thoughts on Sheila Jackson Lee and others"
-- Elaine notes the passing of Sheila Jackson Lee -- exposed as a crook
in Greg Palast's THE BEST DEMOCRACY MONEY CAN BUY -- and why we cover
the deaths we cover.
30) ''Gena Rowlands" -- Stan notes the passing of a legendary actress.
Sadly, the corporate media does a better job than our so-called
'independent' media does. I spent time writing eight paragraphs calling
out a dumb bitch at MOTHER JONES. Then I realized it's our topic --
Ava and my topic -- at THIRD where we'll also be noting Sasha's
nonsense.
I am so sick of it. I am so sick of supposed left
sites working overtime to depress turnout in this election so that
Trump ends up with four more years. You are all pathetic -- THE NATION,
DEMOCRACY NOW!, et al -- and you will find out what it's like to exist
on a real budget because funding dreams and goals are not going to be
met in 2025. Not after all the crap you have pulled in 2024. No, a lot
of you are going to have to get real jobs and do actual work for a
change.
The typical piece of garbage they write goes like this:
Vice
President Kamala Harris spoke today in Georgia and explained that
Americans love and need M&Ms and one of the first thing she'll be
doing as president, if elected, is funding M&Ms for all Americans.
However,
as everyone knows, we don't all eat M&MS and she was silent on
Snickers! Junior Mints, Hershey bars were all omitted! In her four
minutes on M&Ms in her speech, she never once mentioned the 150 year
Chocolate War or how the British took over the chocolate industry early
on in the 19th century. She seemed to think that her paltry offer of
M&Ms for all wiped the slate clean.
That's the
kind of garbage our 'left' and 'independent' media keeps serving up.
For now. I mean they're not independent. They count on donations and
it's not the five or ten dollars you give each month. They need the big
money and that's going to be denied to them after their performance
this year. So they'll find out what it truly is like to be
"independent." They won't be able to count on big donors because we've
all seen the crap they did with our money this year.
In
the past, John Kerry on M&Ms would have resulted in, "John Kerry
today in California spoke about the need for M&Ms for all Americans
and that's long overdue. The plan includes . . . "
Instead,
we're getting little bitches who are really bad online cash master that
can't understand why people won't give them money after the little
bitches have insulted and degraded their audience.
(Cash
masters are men -- and women -- who insult followers into humiliation
and make their money that way. They're all over TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and
ONLY FANS. If you need more information about that, DM Glennyth
Greenwald who is big time into being humiliated and degraded.)
There
are very real issues at stake here. And it's appalling to watch the
so-called left work so hard to elect Donald Trump. Because that is what
they're doing.
At a PA rally Trump rambled about the size of Arnold Palmer's genitalia, saying, "When he walked out of the showers other men would say, 'That's unbelievable.'" Causing Lindsey Graham to wonder, "Is there video?" pic.twitter.com/fddvX2U51O
