Current Affairs General US politics (ie, not POTUS related)

[Martin Alvito]

but would the fairness doctrine have had any remit over the likes of Fox or Rush Limbaugh?

Re: Limbaugh, yes. Anything remotely like Limbaugh was expressly forbidden. He was a serial failure as a radio personality for decades prior, and became an instant star thereafter.

Re: Fox: They'd have had to be a whole lot cagier about it. In the Fairness Doctrine era, bias showed up in what you chose to run, what not, and who presented it. There would be no Tucker Carlson, but they could talk about, say, dogwhistle issues all they wanted as long as the opposing viewpoint was presented. Having the opposing viewpoint presented by a doofus might have been going a little far, but a clever media mogul probably would have found a way to end-run it.

It's worth noting that the Fairness Doctrine applied to editorial/opinion content (which it mandated the presentation of, but in the above format) and not which stories ran and which did not. It's not hard to imagine a Fox News in the form of CNN of the day, just painting a different reality picture by highlighting different stories and having their own Crossfire where the liberal player(s) made a winning case about as often as the Washington Generals won basketball games.

 

[Martin Alvito]

Another point to bring up is that the Supreme Court let the Fairness Doctrine slide in a newspaper case since the paper (Miami Herald) was unlicensed, so we can't necessarily consider the above to have been settled law regarding Fox. I would imagine that the Court would have held that since cable providers required licenses, they were responsible for regulating the content they carried according to the doctrine, but I don't know that. CNN distributed by satellite to cable providers in the early days, so they were obviously subject to the doctrine since that broadcast spectrum was licensed.

As cable providers consolidated over the years, it's very possible that Murdoch could have talked someone into there being a market for the modern Fox News after pioneering the format elsewhere. He would have had to talk them into the legal risks, and I don't know the technical details of how he would have distributed to the various cable providers in a way that end-ran the satellite problem, but I'd imagine that a way could have been found.

 

[RAFUH]

yea, problem is that I thought it had gotten very bad, seems like it can get way worse.
And America could be in trouble too.

It is mind boggling.
Huge swaths of the GOP are crazed with reverence for "Murica" yet can't see past their own nose at the damage they are doing

 

[Ruairi77]

It is mind boggling.
Huge swaths of the GOP are crazed with reverence for "Murica" yet can't see past their own nose at the damage they are doing

Yea, I found the amount of people who voted for trump last time round quite shocking.
And since then, they ignore Jan 6 and fixate on vaccine mandates like Stalin is in charge.
The levels of delusion seem to be constantly ratcheting up.
I actually think the lack of any consequences for Trumps actions are by design as the Dems see him as bad for the opposition. Problem with that is that he and his supporters will torch the whole place if we let them.
I actually think, if this new brand of republicanism keeps picking up steam and minority rule really starts pushing vastly unpopular policy, you might see secession movements in California, Cascadia and New England.

 

[riddick]

The thing that annoys me with this VA thing is that the Senate is HEAVILY skewed towards smaller states. Yet the current Senate isn't doing anything to try to admit DC as a state. It's not even something that would require a filibuster proof whatever or anything more than majority vote. Get 2 more fn Senators in ffs.

 

[Pittsburgh Footy]

Yea, I found the amount of people who voted for trump last time round quite shocking.
And since then, they ignore Jan 6 and fixate on vaccine mandates like Stalin is in charge.
The levels of delusion seem to be constantly ratcheting up.
I actually think the lack of any consequences for Trumps actions are by design as the Dems see him as bad for the opposition. Problem with that is that he and his supporters will torch the whole place if we let them.
I actually think, if this new brand of republicanism keeps picking up steam and minority rule really starts pushing vastly unpopular policy, you might see secession movements in California, Cascadia and New England.

Beyond incomprehensible.

How in the world are we supposed to "find common ground" when that is the opposition

 

[Martin Alvito]

The thing that annoys me with this VA thing is that the Senate is HEAVILY skewed towards smaller states. Yet the current Senate isn't doing anything to try to admit DC as a state. It's not even something that would require a filibuster proof whatever or anything more than majority vote. Get 2 more fn Senators in ffs.

You need three-fifths for cloture on that measure. Budget reconciliation and nominations to executive and judiciary positions require a simple majority. There are a few other odd things like blocking arms sales and closing military bases that also require only a simple majority.

The Senate's rules are arcane. There are tools to end run them at any time, but neither side wants to use them because they know the other side will hit them where they live once they get back into power. McConnell publicly told Reid that he would regret invoking the nuclear option for lower court nominees to the federal bench, and he was right.

So you're right that in principle DC could be admitted by simple majority, but the Republicans might reply the next time they got unified control by carving new Republican states out of places like the northernmost parts of California and southern Oregon that would be solidly Republican and probably quite happy to be quit of Sacramento and Salem.

 

[Sassy Colombian]

The judge im Ahmad Aubrey case pretty much said “ I know this jury selection is racist" , but y’all go ahead This is how justice works for people of color in the US.





"The jury, which is made up of residents from Glynn County, where more than a quarter of the population is Black, includes 11 white people and one Black person."

In the Trial Over Ahmaud Arbery’s Killing, a Nearly All White Jury is Selected

After a grueling selection process, opening statements in the case against three white men accused of chasing down and killing Mr. Arbery are expected to begin on Friday.

www.nytimes.com

 

[LinekersLegs]

 

[Tin-Tin]

Admire the progressives. Why is the pressure being put on them to cave and not Manchin and Sinema? Hope they carry on holding their ground as im sure they know once they pass the Infrastructure bill, the BBB bill will get tanked.

Similar to our goverment recent antics. There should be a law that states government officials cannot work for another company, own stocks/shares whilst serving or accept corporate money. Dont like it then dont become a Congressman/woman, Senator, MP etc. How can you work for the people when you have financial interests in the decisions you are making. Gross

 

[LinekersLegs]

I know that MTG is only interested in this because some of her supporters are locked up but can still hold out hope that having witnessed the poor conditions first hand it might make her more sympathetic to general prison reform for everyone.

 

[Martin Alvito]

Admire the progressives. Why is the pressure being put on them to cave and not Manchin and Sinema? Hope they carry on holding their ground as im sure they know once they pass the Infrastructure bill, the BBB bill will get tanked.

Because they have safe seats and the moderates don't. The worst that can happen to the progressives is that they get primaried and replaced by a Democrat. The moderates can lose their seats to the opposition.

It's why campaigns for competitive House and Senate seats, as well as the presidency, end up running to the middle.

 

[TN Toffee]

I know that MTG is only interested in this because some of her supporters are locked up but can still hold out hope that having witnessed the poor conditions first hand it might make her more sympathetic to general prison reform for everyone.

Be serious. That sort of personal growth would require an individual to have at least something resembling a soul. Given her treatment of children who watched their friends die in school shootings, I’d say she sorely lacking on that front.

 

[LinekersLegs]

 

[Sassy Colombian]

Democrats really need to do a better job communicating to the American people what they have accomplished so far is much better than what Trump and Republicans did the previous four years.