First I’m hearing of this. I’ll look into it.

Cool. Can we also get moving on Ranked Choice Voting?

Trumpism

is different than Trump the president.

The presidential actions taken by President Reagan are different than the choices Americans are making to endorse and follow Trump. It’s the actions Reagan took as president that have in large part brainwashed the public and created the environment where people are flocking towards people like Trump.

Trump the president is a symptom of the problems created by Reagan, Stone, Cheney, and the Heritage Foundation. Trump the brand is the epitome of Reaganomics and corporatocracy.

Reagan set the seeds for dismantling our trust in government and putting it into corporations and celebrities. Reagan (the actor?!) is the prime modern-time example of the people ignoring politics in favor of celebrity.

I would argue that Reagan’s influence and GOP brainwashing far surpasses Trump’s to the point that the vast majority of people in this country are wholly unaware of its existence. Though, yes, the extremism that Trumpism has fostered is certainly more dangerous to the public and democracy. I just don’t blame Trump for all of it. America chose to elect him president for a reason. I believe that has more to do with Reagan than with Trump.

Right, in hindsight, as far as actual policy and actions taken as president, Reagan is the worst in modern times. We wouldn’t have Bush or Trump or Project 2025 without Reagan.

If you were to remove everything around 9/11 and Iraq from Bush’s presidency, he’s relatively okay as both president and person. He, arguably, did great things to help immigrants and minorities and children. Not sure how No Child Left Behind is seen these days. I think Bush did more to help the disadvantaged than Clinton. But, to really assess each and every action a president takes would require a college semester. And your perspective on good or bad may be influenced by what you believe the job of government is. Reagan’s entire pitch and lasting legacy as a Republican icon was to dismantle the federal government, eliminate “social” programs, put “bad people” in jail, promote corporatocracy, fool the middle class to believe in the trickle down effect. Not to mention the entire Iran Contra ordeal. I mean, we don’t have super solid evidence about Trump’s associations with foreign countries / leaders. Trump’s probably too stupid and narcissistic to care about anything other than opening Trump buildings and golf courses in other countries.

Trump’s worst actions as president were his judicial appointments. He’s easily the worst person to hold the office as president in all of US history, but as far as worst president in modern times, I think Regan has it over on him.

Depends on what “recent” memory is for you. I’ve got Reagan and Trump neck-and-neck. While Bush should be tried for war crimes, he’s nowhere close to as bad as Trump. I’d put Bush and Clinton in the cage match.

I’d venture to guess that the dude has just checked out from politics and world events entirely.

That’s a perfect response to enforce my observation that people no longer have the sense of what words mean.

But isn’t so much journalism nowadays characterised by unsubstantiated speculation

No, by definition, a billion percent NO. I don’t understand how words have lost their meaning today.

your criticism amounts essentially to your dislike of the thesis of this piece.

Show me one word that criticizes “the thesis” of the piece. I have not. In fact, I think it’s well written and thought provoking (in the same vein as a 9/11 or UFO theory is). I have argued, not that an argument should need to be made because /reality/ and /definitions of words/, that it is a random person with no journalistic credentials making, and admitting to, unsubstantiated claims based on guesses and supposes. This, by definition, is not journalism - nor NEWS.

Dude. There is nothing wrong with the fucking article other than it is not fucking news.

How broken are people? Is it the fox newses that have broken you? TikTok? Reddit? Twitter? Do people have some false belief that armchair speculation, random ideas and theories with no source to back it up, is fucking NEWS?

Furthermore, the rules of this forum require a link be from an actual news source. This is not.

MacGyver
The Secret City
Mr. Wizard

Great question. I could list dozens of shows that were favorites, or have special meaning to me, or that I watched the most, or ones that had a more longterm impact on who I am. But, specifically about impacting my world as a young person, I’ll say these three.

Honorable mentions: Looney Tunes, Cheers, MASH, Family Ties, The Young Ones, Doctor Who, You Can’t Do That on Television, Ren and Stimpy.

I wasn’t upset at all until people started claiming that the unsubstantiated speculations by some irrelevant person is the same as world news.

It’s a great thought provoking piece of work. It’s just not news.

It’s fine. If the rules of this forum are no longer relevant, I just won’t subscribe to it anymore. The internet sucks.

What’s the difference between an opinion section and what you deem “speculative conspiracy theories”?

That’s wholly irrelevant. If you want to be an investigative reporter and get real facts to report, have at it and post it as news. You have not done this. You are making guesses. Guesses, by someone with no qualifications or influence, are not news.

Anything spoken / written by a political leader is news. If you were someone who influenced millions of people, your opinion would be news.

If I sat down and wrote out a blog about how I believe the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated, would that be News? I mean, I guess you would argue that it is but I am telling you, by definition, it most certainly is not.

I don’t know what makes you believe your armchair speculation is NEWS. The disconnect is so vast that my brain is breaking. I don’t understand how people on this earth have chosen to ignore the definition of words to suit their own narrative and feelings.

OP has written an article speculating how explosives could have been inserted into pagers. It’s not news, it’s speculation. Speculation is not news, it’s opinion.

Did you check his identity, papers or such?

I did. https://criticalresist.substack.com/about

Someone reporting news. OP is NOT reporting news. They are speculating. This is an opinion piece. They’re a fine writer and thinker but not a journalist and not reporting factual news.

News outlets very specifically include sections such as Opinion. They do not include speculative conspiracy theories on the front page (or anywhere) labeled as News.

How broken are you people to not understand what is news and what is speculative opinion? This is not a debate. This is a matter of facts.

You’re not a journalist and speculation is not news. You’re a basement dweller with no first hand account of anything.

There are appropriate places for your work. This is not the place.

Speculation from some random on the internet is not world news.

I have a strong opinion about people promoting their own speculation blog in a forum where that does not belong.

This most certainly is not “World News”. This is a self-promoting opinion piece bordering on conspiracy theory.

To me, this attack has the master’s prints all over it — the USA had to be involved.

Edit: I really don’t understand how this article is still up. This is written as a theory of how explosive material could have been inserted into pagers. I find the piece compelling and of interest but it is not news - it’s speculation. Is it now okay to post recipes from around the world in worldnews?

Right. Sorry!

Edit: Whoooosh