219 Comments

Robert, I strongly support your continued unabashed critique of the NYT. Pillory away. Please don't waiver.

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I agree, Joe. Headlines matter. NYT knows this..most of us know this. We all tend to quote from headlines. I continue to hear people in groups I gather with say: “I am worried” as they quote another misleading, often, toxic headline from the NYT.

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The headlines are often the worst part of NYT's complicity. Sometimes, I'll read a story to find the connection and find that there is none, or it's tenuous at best.

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As we have seen for some time now, social media and the “likes” mentality has set the Times on a crash course of desperation journalism.

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NYT and some other papers are using yellow journalism and the yellow press which are American newspapers that use eye-catching headlines and sensational exaggerations for increased sales. Also called tabloid journalism.

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I do as well. Of course they have good reporters, but it doesn't make up for all of the other nonsense they print and those horrible headlines. I will never get over Maggie Haberman keeping information that put us all at risk from a security point, until she published her book. I say keep going Robert! For those that are offended, you can skip over it like I do for everything from the NYT!

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Jennifer, the reports of Maggie Haberman withholding national security info until she published her book is yet another example of “profits over country. Everyone seems to be embracing greed rather than integrity. We should also note that Mark Zuckerberg’s claim to being pressured by the White House to protect the well-being of people eager to embrace his platform. We will not forget that the record shows FaceBook knew of Russian interference as early as 2015, much earlier than the larger public. He appears to have drifted into the public persona of Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch’s entertainment nonsense.

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John, that is a powerful phrase “Profits Over Country”.

It could be used very effectively to push back against corporate greed as in: “(Name Your Corporate Executive of Choice) Stop putting Profit Country!”

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Facebook needs to be broken up.

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I agree with you, Joe English. And I wish the email addresses of the NYT editorial board were given so we could write and push back.

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Writing can and will easily be igored. If they were honorable they wouldn't even think of publishing trash. If they are of a mind to publish trash, if money comes before principle, then what will writing effect other than to reinforce that people are reading and paying! Cancel your subscription to push back and if you want to write something about your cancelation, let them know you're not going back (to them) either. Do the same for cable tv that forces paying for Fox News.

Financially supporting garbage then complaining about the smell is BS. How can we ever be well if we keep eating any amount of poison? How much poison is ok?

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I canceled many months ago.

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Me too!!

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"All The Trash That's Fit To Print"

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“All the trash that fools buy” or worse “Please dear God don’t let me wake up and actually confront the mess I’ve made” ;)

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Publications that engage in tabloid journalism are also known as rags. That goes for infotainment television and other media outlets.

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Good to note. Also, print newspapers make good rags to clean windows and pack boxes so at least the killing of trees and all the subsequent resources consumed won’t have been for naught.

Now if I could gainfully repurpose all the trash physical mailings and paper covered mailing packs! Honestly, we’re swimming in abundance and wasting like there’s no tomorrow. Humanity’s adolescent!

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Why don't you try writing here? In 2024, you can't really write "to" a journalist in most cases. But I do think if we can overwhelm their email intake mechanisms, we will have an effect.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/15/homepage/contact-newsroom.html

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Done ✔️ Thanks for the link!

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Totally agree! Corporate greed trumps the possibility of losing free speech???

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I agree! I used to subscribe to it, but I stopped about 7 years ago when they were skewing to the idea that Trump & his minions had legitimacy.

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Totally on board with this approach. Thank you, Robert! My wish is that the NYT feels the pain in its pocketbook. The paper is despicable and unsupportive of our country.

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Robert, As for readers who would advise you stop criticizing the NYTimes, I would underscore the words of former Federal Communications Commission member Nicholas Johnson who had asserted, “Whatever your first issue of concern, media had better be your second. Because without change in the media, progress in your primary area is far less likely.”

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I was a long time subscriber who unsubscribed and wrote them a letter noting my support for their reporters and my disappointment in their lack of critical, analytical writing.

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I like how you separated out the reporters from the editorial choices.

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Not all of the Times’ reporters are pure. Israel-Gaza-Palestine reportage often is awfully biased, for one example.

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I tried to cancel subscription on line but when I called because they were still charging me every month, it took many people to find my account but I finally got one staffer who could cancel those payments.

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Carol, While, like Kdsherpa, I, too, appreciate you distinguishing NYTimes reporters from the publication’s editorial analyses, I would note I view the Times as representative of MSM more broadly, whose problems are deeply entrenched and will change only with time and concerted effort. Hence my reason for amplifying the stakes by referencing former Federal Communications Commissioner Johnson.

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I am grateful to you for keeping on bringing up the NYT and how they are supporting fascism. Why, because they have become the story in their reporting, and an important story. Thank you for pointing out how large their reach is. I cannot hear another person tell me that their reporting is overall balanced, when on this very important issue it is not. We need to help their irrelevancy, by not supporting them. If your pointing out that they have gone down the drain helps get a few more people to stop giving them money, the more righteous your position is.

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Linda, I love what you said about the NYT and their wildly imbalanced reporting having itself "become the story in their reporting."

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I still love Joe Biden. The media, which needs to sell controversy, seems to continue pooh-poohing his accomplishments. But historians, who have the luxury of objective hindsight, will put Biden's amazing accomplishments in proper perspective; one of America's greatest presidents and a gift to all of us.

I'm quickly learning to love Kamala Harris. What a miraculous transition. And I believe she will win big-time on Nov 5.

We can see victory in the voter numbers starting at the 81 million who voted for Joe, in her contributions, in her engaging and hopeful messaging, in women's health choices, in her taking back to the Democratic Party the fundamental words of "freedom", "patriotism", "loyalty","joy", her outreach to all Americans, her dismissal of Trump as unserious thereby incapable of trolling Democrats, and so forth. Who to vote for is such a simple choice; Goodness and Joy or Trump and MAGA's Awfulness.

We can see victory in the tidal wave of new volunteers joining the millions of grassroots activists who have been working since 2016 to bring back a Democratic majority in Congress and the White House. This majority will arrive and pass historic legislation for Americans.

For all of us who grew up in the midst of Vietnam protests and the Civil Rights movements, we know the power of the most potent force in our democracy; The Consent of the Governed. Given time and diligence, it will overwhelm the the enemy we face; The Tyranny of the Minority.

Trump's final act will not be overthrowing our Democracy but finally electing a woman POTUS in America.✌️✌️

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Thank you for this, Merrill!

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I am writing to support Robert on the Rich Lowry (not Tom) because headlines make an impression and character has a clear meaning. Lowry, if he were really meaning "Character" as it is usually meant would not have written the article. His artical goes to being tough and having lots of testerone. He uses character to imply Harris was to weak to defeat Biden when she and all other candidates were behind Biden. He uses character to say she was too weak to stand up agains the progressive wing of the party. These are not character issues and the headline is misleading at best. True character is obeying the law, treating others as you would want them to treat you. Also recognizing there are peopel who need help and handicap people should not be mocked nor wounded or captured soldiers should not be held as less heroic than others. It is so clear Harris wins on character the NYT should make this clear and not allow a gross mischaricterizarion character as this article does.

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We see that the NYT is owned by a petulant, egomaniacal oligarch. Expect nothing high and everything low from them.

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He is also a "business-oriented conservative", the likes of which include Rich Lowry, Lindsey Graham and Mitt Romney, all of whom have either endorsed or acquiesced to the Trump 2.0 impending debacle.

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Mitt Romney has endorsed Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

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According to Ari Melber yesterday, Romney joins 200+ other Republicans who have endorsed Harris/Walz. Haven't seen this reported elsewhere yet.

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I'm surprised (and happy) about Romney. For a while I thought he was going to be an honorable holdout from Trump worship, but in the last few months he's been spouting Trump BS. Glad to see he's flip-flopped.

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I read it in the AP or Guardian and on a Substack that had a link to the article.

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That is a happy development, then!

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I had first heard of Mormons for Harris. That seemed to be a subset of Mormons who were having a zoom fundraiser for her. Wondering where my Mormon neighbors in Chicago stood on this. Then, I read that the Mormon Church was endorsing Harris-Walz, and I thought about the values that I know my Mormon neighbors have about being neighborly, and it made sense that they would not support someone whose character is so bad. I know I had heard Mitt Romney talking about this but he did not endorse Biden at the time, just said he could not support Trump. Now, he has signed on to this letter, but he is Mormon and he may have influenced the church or the other way around.

https://idahocapitalsun.com/2024/08/07/latter-day-saints-democrats-and-republicans-join-forces-to-support-harris/

https://www.newsweek.com/mormons-kamala-harris-arizona-1941103

I did not realize the Giles was Mormon until reading this. In this article it says much of the same, but also mentions top leaders say that straight ticket voting is a threat to democracy, which is them going beyond being neutral.

https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2024/08/07/mormon-voters-harris-trump-arizona-utah

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I might add to the NYT critique that the 21 questions are akin to “when did you stop beating your wife?” The NYT is an unserious publication.

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Go girl!

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That’s great…made me laugh. The media is sioooo missing the point of what they should be providing to the public. Balanced coverage? Not so much.

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I couldn’t remember what I had responded to…I took another look. Your comment still made me laugh…dark humor…everyone needs a dash of that!

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The "Trump wins on character" finally broke my back. Cancelled subscription.

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I did the same thing. They are are menace to our democracy.

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I am still on the fence but getting closer and closer.

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Aug 28·edited Aug 28

When Robert wrote "Several readers commented on my post yesterday and urged me to stop criticizing the Times. Their reasons ranged from “Don’t give the Times more attention,” “I ignore those stories,” and “The stories aren’t as bad as the headlines.”"

This reminds me of when someone says oh it's Trump being Trump. That is not a good excuse!

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Remember "When they came for______, I did nothing..." ?

That fence will collapse soon.

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I was too. I finally made it a financial/political decision as my SS check only goes so far. Their editorial/headline decisions just made it easier. I still get their e newsletters and it's very annoying when I see a story I'm interested in and I click to read more and the pay wall comes up. Guess I have to cancel those too!

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Go for it!

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Hey, Stefan. I canceled just a few weeks ago. Since then there have been many articles that without being gifted by others, I cannot read. Nor can I comment. I am tempted to resubscribe at a dollar a week just so I don't have to depend on a gifted link, I can also push back on what is being said, and sometimes help people read on a gifted basis.

I have not decided yet whether I should do it.

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Why pay money to be poisoned so you can complain about being poisoned? You can still write to the times when others bring their most egregious writings to your attention.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/15/homepage/contact-newsroom.html

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I have reluctantly kept my digital subscription for that very reason, Lynell.

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I have never been a NYT reader, but that is exactly the reason I keep subscribing to WaPo. It gives me some standing and influence that can accomplish exactly what you wrote about. Bonus: Jennifer Rubin.

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Biggest bonus of all: Alexandra Petri!

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Remarkable. My name is also Amy and I did the same thing yesterday.

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Yesterday’s NYT Headline: “Harris’s Polling Numbers Have Bounced. But Will It Last?”

The article covers the strength and strategic victories of the Harris campaign. The headline implies an impending doom. The NYT sews doubt when it should be heralding the abundantly positive accelerating momentum.

I counter these headlines with the headlines I wear on my Harris Walz T-shirt and my Dems Make Life Better T-shirt.

This is not a bounce. It’s a groundswell.

DemsMakeLifeBetter.org

BeantownStrong.com

Buy them. Wear them on every grocery run, 👕🛒 dog walk, 👕🐶 and errand. 👕🚗

50 eyeballs a week = 500 positive Harris headlines shared by 11/5. 👕👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀, Etc.

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Brilliant. We need a t-shirt that says this is not a bounce; it is a groundswell.

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"It's not a moment, it's a movement"

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It's not a honeymoon, it's a movement.

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My thought exactly. Thx for putting it in writing.

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I just received my Harris Walz T, with their names spelled out in stylized cat faces. I love it!!

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Love the globular cluster and the explanation of how many hundreds of thousands of stars in its midst. Speaking of globular cluster, Trump has a new indictment against him by Jack Smith brought to you by…a new grand jury. This is the fifth grand jury to say Trump is GUILTY. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington! Hoping Judge Chutkin acts so swiftly that Trump and NYT won’t know what hit them.

The cemetery scene was a desecration. For that alone, Trump and his goons should be arrested.

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FIFTH grand jury. An average of 23 people serve on each. So that's 115 people giving up weeks and months of their time -- all for nothing, thanks to the (once upon a time Supreme) Court. The orange sadist is eating up people's time, just like he is eating up our country, with that grotesque mouth of his.

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Agree with everything you said, Marlene. Five, count 'em, five grand juries have indicted Trump. I'm no lawyer, but I'm guessing that's about 80 randomly-selected regular Americans who consistently returned super-majority indictments against Trump. Yet his worshippers are still saying it's rigged, it's political retribution, it's Joe Biden's fault. Facts fly far above the heads of these worshippers. But their beliefs are so deeply rooted and cast in concrete that I don't think they will ever change. We have to isolate them and prevent their influence from spreading by talking to our neighbors and others who may be vulnerable to misinformation.

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115 randomly-selected regular Americans

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To clarify: grand juries do not make findings of guilt. They examine the evidence and come to a conclusion about whether there is enough to justify indictment. There is a distinct difference. Until trial, the defendant is considered innocent until proven guilty. We're working on that part.

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Thanks, Annie, for the important clarification.

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"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington!" Love it, Marlene!

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I have a T-shirt with those words on it!

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Yowsa, kd! Gonna get one, for sure!

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Actually, when I first heard about what was going on with the Special Counsel investigation, where it would take place, and who was leading it, I immediately thought: "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington!" I wondered if anyone else had that idea, and a month or so later googled the words + T-shirt, and found one. I don't remember the site, but I'm sure you can find one that way. Enjoy!!!

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Already ordered! Funny, When SC Smith came on the scene, I kept thinking of him as "Jack Smith" not "Mr. Smith"! I'm more than a bit slow on the uptake; so thanks for putting "Mr. Smith" front and center for me😉

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Jack Smith for AG please! We are all hungry, starving, for consequences for Trump and his goons who continue to break laws and human decency. Thank you to another grand jury who knows who he is.

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I hope, at some point, that Trump goes to prison for his crimes, even if he’s 85.

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That would be wonderful!!!

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Please continue criticizing the NYT. I believe they are listening to voices like yours. I cancelled my subscription in protest. You are now my voice and it is louder than mine ever was.

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founding

Except ---- They may listen (although I doubt it) but they do NOT change one iota.

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Gotta keep trying. Don't give up. Even the Vietnam War ended.

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Aug 28·edited Aug 28

Yes, again, DO focus on the NY Times. The fact, as you say, that the NY Times has its empire, has consequences for the narrative that many mainstream Democrats and left leaning independents believe about this election, Harris, and Trump.

It makes me sick when some of my friends and family who vote Democratic start to list Harris's weaknesses, their opinions are exactly how the NY Times frame headlines and articles, and editorials.

I am so sickeningly aware of how the NY Times conservative columnist spearheaded the attack on Hillary Clinton, as I wrote yesterday (see William Safire's nasty attacks on her back in 1996). It had everything to do with the unproven narrative against Clinton in 2016, regardless of the actual fraud and lies constantly perpetrated by Trump. Had we had the recognition then about how this false narrative was taking place, and fought back immediately and constantly at the time, would we have had Pres. Hillary Clinton?

And back then, the right wing set up "investigations" of Hillary and Bill and Whitewater, with no proof of anything; the famous PAC, Citizen's United, was allowed by the U.S. S. Ct. to spend millions on books and films about the "corruption" of the Clintons, which never proved anything, and was the subject of that famous, terrible S. Ct. decision.

The only way to stop the NY Times from being successful with this type of media branding campaign against Harris is to stop it immediately, call it out, and get those of us to brand the NY Times with what they are doing.

Complain long and loud. Use the points in this newsletter.

The only way really to stop all this is, if the hopefully growing pro-democratic coalition wins the house, senate and presidency, the house and senate immediately passes legislation to overturn Citizen's United and reinstates voting rights.

So, again, thank you Robert.

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Judy, thank you for pointing out the unusual degree of power the NYT has; they are not like other rags, they have a huge and historical reputation and they should be head and shoulders above reproach. But they are in the gutter. Thank you also for reminding us of significant negative consequences--the destruction of a Democratic presidency in 2016--that our not combatting their flawed, skewed reporting had in very real terms. If Trump wins in 2024, the NYT's hateful, illegitimate, and untrue reporting will in large part be responsible. (Along with Putin's hacks shaving enough points off enough electoral college tallies to tip the scales in Trump's favor.) We saw it happen in 2016. We are seeing them try to run the same playbook in 2024. Fight the NYT every day! It won't be Kamala Harris that loses--it will be the NYT, Trump's Team of Felons, and Vladimir Putin that win. Only if we let them.

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Christina, agree. This time we have Robert and others calling out the NY Times narrative, which I think weakens what they are doing.

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Some may have seen this graphic shared by Simon Rosenberg yesterday about Afghanistan Withdrawal Facts.📣

“A handy breakdown of all the ways Trump deliberately, maliciously sabotaged the Afghanistan withdrawal and murdered Sgt. Gee.”

https://x.com/stealthygeek/status/1828177920222994737

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Thank you for sharing this link. It should be part of a commercial produced by the Harris-Walz campaign.

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The Arlington scandal is a new low for the felon and another example for the biased NYT reporting. Calling fallen service member suckers and losers is bad enough. Abusing them and their families (who incredibly enough seemed to happily play along, according to the photos) as cheap campaign props is simply depraved and despicable. But then botching this vile publicity stunt with the stupid thumbs-up and fake smile posture the felon adopts whenever a camera is trained on him betrays more than stupidity and depravity. He simply is a mental case.

And the NYT? Well, they couldn't ignore the story, so they wrote a lengthy piece about it but opened it up with a photo of the felon, solemnly rearranging a wreath during the official act. Only at the end they put a link to a tweet by the Utah governor which (from far away) showed the felon with his thumbs up. Other photos circulating in the social media, much better depicting the vile character of the felon were not shown. Well, as they surely would have incensed too many people who still have a sense for decency and common sense editors probably judged publishing them as overly partisan.

Or they simply decided they didn't belong to "All the News that's Fit to Print."

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There is another side of the coin to see. If Trump needs to use props to get his message across which are staged it means he has no meaningful message and he is back to using his old bag of tricks which people are tired of. This event probably did not gain him any voters and the negativity was at least equal to any value he received but it made him feel better

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True. And that's why I consider him a basket case.

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It is the replay of “upside down bible” in 2020 ( really sign of the devil) part two. Regarding the NYT reporting Trump could have conducted a black Mass and NYT would have labeled it a prayer ceremony.

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Surreal.

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Trump cheapens everything. That's like one of Newton's laws of gravity. RH relates: "A source with knowledge of the incident said the cemetery official tried to prevent Trump staffers from filming and photographing in a section where recent U.S. casualties are buried." Trump is the same guy who wouldn't go to Normandy in the rain for fear his hair dye and mascara would run. He is classless. Our allies know this in their bones. Our allies will be skittish and withold vital information for the well justified fear that anything they share with Trump will either be shared publicly on "X", shared with Putin and Xi, or monetized and turned into a cheap pair of sneakers and hawked in the pro shop at Bedminster.

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It should be mentioned that the staff person was a woman. It is not surprising that Trump and his staffers would first disregard and bully a woman in authority and then would defame her mental status. Classic Trump. And of course he is lying about the footage and the solemnity of the moment. A thumbs up is not very solemn.

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