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In another sign of the coming apocalypse from the most dangerous man on the Earth (and no, I'm NOT being sarcastic - I firmly believe that's what he is) The White House has now launched its own "news" website, where the only news is fake or exaggerated tales of how wonderful the current President is and how everything he does is right.
If this sounds familiar, it's because every dictatorship on the planet does the same thing, be it North Korea, China or Russia. The only difference is that there's still a free press in the U.S. to report the other side. At least, for now. But expect attacks against the media to increase as this interminable term continues.
The White House Newswire
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I don't think that some politics on this board is a bad thing at all. If it was taking over then yes, but that is not what SOWNY is about, and politics is far from taking over the site. Also whether we want to admit it, a bit of politics (which often has a media connection anyway) makes SOWNY a more interesting place. We can only talk about the weather and what radio commercials we hate so many times...
And whether some on here like it or not, politics and media/broadcasting are often hard to separate. Trump is a very media focused politician, he talks about broadcasting, media, ratings, even showbusiness all the time, and he mixes all of this with regular politics and government.
Even though politics in Canada isn't as media focused as in the US, it is always good to compare the two styles of government and politics. Our election earlier this week is an example of how different the two countries really are concerning government and how politics is handled by media and the voter.
What I don't like that has happened a bit is when we get someone posting extreme positions or outright lies, or feel the need to use profanity which seems to be filled with anger. Mean spirited personal attacks are always a no-no and anyone who routinely goes over the line should be banned. Any routine offender should be given a chance to apologize once or twice. If that doesn't happen and they continue to cross the line...See ya..
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I think that some appropriate political discourse is beneficial. There are things occurring now that have not occurred in the first world for a very long time, and many in the broadcasting industry are being affected by it. Let them talk it out.
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RadioActive wrote:
67GreenRambler wrote:
'Have I forgotten anything?'
Yes. This is a SOWNY radio forum.Agreed. I'm also guilty of feeding into it (see the 60 Minutes thread) but at least that's about broadcasting.
Still, the fact that this thread has attracted an astounding 10,000 page views alone shows that it's of interest to people. So I've pretty much left it alone. Hopefully, the local election stuff will die down and this will eventually follow.
RA, you are a wonderful moderator with an even hand.
I think there is room for some political discussion as long as the entire board isn't devoured by it. This is one of only a few threads talking politics and I really appreciate some of the insights expressed here. What's happening in the U.S. does affect us.
Being one of very few threads that have turned political, it should be easy enough to skip if it offends someone.
Last edited by RayDeeOh (May 3, 2025 9:58 am)
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I'm going to reiterate my earlier prediction from last month that Trump and his cohorts are going to set up a massive crypto currency bubble. Think back to the insanity of the tech bubble from the mid-1990s to 2000 and plan accordingly. More importantly if you see friends or family falling for this scam, warn them to steer clear. This will undoubtedly bankrupt a lot of fools (especially Americans) as the collapse of the tech bubble did a generation earlier.
Edit: 764,000 MAGA suckers have apparently already been burned.
Edit:
Missouri becomes the first US state to eliminate capital gains tax on both STOCKS and CRYPTO, setting a major precedent
Investors who profit from selling stocks, real estate and other assets soon could reap an even larger benefit in Missouri, which is poised to become the first U.S. state to exempt capital gains from its income tax.
Legislation that won final approval Wednesday would halt the capital gains tax this year for individuals and could eventually eliminate it for corporations, if state revenues keep growing.
The tax repeal now heads to Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe, who has said he’s “very supportive” of it.
Though proponents hope it can spur the economy, detractors assert that the capital gains tax repeal will primarily benefit the rich and result in less tax revenue for public schools and services.
The Republican-led Legislature overcame objections by Democrats only after expanding the bill with greater tax breaks for seniors and disabled residents and new sales tax exemptions for diapers and feminine hygiene products.
Missouri’s unique income tax carve-out comes as Republican-led legislatures in at least eight other states have passed more traditional income tax rate reductions this year.
It also comes as Congress weighs whether to renew and expand income tax breaks enacted during President Donald Trump’s first term in office.
Removing paying taxes on any gains you make from selling your stocks and CRYPTO, is a sure-fire way to entice the rubes into investing and creating a bubble.
Last edited by TomTV (May 30, 2025 5:35 pm)
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From:
Applicants for US Visas are now required to list their social media handles on the application
The U.S. Department of State has mandated that visa applicants provide their social media usernames used in the past five years on application forms DS-160 (nonimmigrant visas) and DS-260 (immigrant visas). This policy aims to enhance national security by allowing consular officers to review applicants’ online presence for potential security threats.
As of April 2025, the U.S. government has expanded this scrutiny. Immigration authorities now actively review public social media posts for content deemed extremist or affiliated with flagged groups. This includes applicants for student visas (F-1, J-1, M), work visas (H-1B), green cards, and even tourists.travel.
It isn't to look for security threats. It's a continuation of the new US policy to only allow in those who are pro-Trump and his government.
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^I wonder what the reaction would be for anybody who stated they had no social accounts or marked them as N/A. I've never had a Twitter/Instagram/TikTok/BlueSky account and my Facebook account is covered in cobwebs.
Last edited by Binson Echorec (May 30, 2025 6:36 pm)
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Binson Echorec wrote:
^I wonder what the reaction would be for anybody who stated they had no social accounts or marked them as N/A. I've never had a Twitter/Instagram/TikTok/BlueSky account and my Facebook account is covered in cobwebs.
Your Palantir-generated Social Credit score will be negatively affected. Maybe not enough to be sent to the camps, but you'll notice it.
Online!
Binson Echorec wrote:
^I wonder what the reaction would be for anybody who stated they had no social accounts or marked them as N/A. I've never had a Twitter/Instagram/TikTok/BlueSky account and my Facebook account is covered in cobwebs.
My Facebook account is similar. You see my name, no photo or background information. I probably have no more than two dozen photos of myself with family and friends at a variety of social gatherings. I only share them with family and friends and have never posted any personal photos online.
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In this day and age, unless you are aged 60 and up, they would probably assume you are lying about not having a social media account and deny the VISA. It's sad that I have to suggest this, but if you don't have one right now, set up a burner account on one of the popular platforms and just post a few random things over the next year (obviously none of it can be anti-Trump).
This way, you can present it as your "real" social media account if you ever need to travel into the US for any reason, because they will ask to see it. You have to do it sooner than later since posts are time-stamped and they'd likely check your earliest post to verify this isn't some burner account set up to hide your real social media account.
Meanwhile, speaking of social media:
He's already hung up a huge, creepy banner of himself outside the Dept of Agriculture:
I'm still waiting for confirmation that he's really going to hold a $90 million military parade to honor himself after gutting Veteran Affairs and firing a ton of vets who work there.
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"Hey, that's not fair, that burning police car is from our last round of civil unrest!"
JFC, what a country.
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Of course, this is way off of our usual subjects here but let's use this thread to get it all out instead of posting others that aren't really relevant to broadcasting. But there is a tie-in - several reporters have already been injured covering the L.A. "riots."
Some Journalists Are Injured While Covering L.A. Protests
For those who were around back then, I'm getting flashbacks of the anti-Vietnam War protests in the 60s with what's going on now.
As for those who wonder why I haven't put a stop to this subject, it's attacted over 13,000 page views, meaning obviously there's a lot of interest in this. So while I try to keep politics out of here, unless it centres around broadcasting policy, I'm allowing this one to continue with the hope this will be the only such entrant and people can post their views on this here. And hopefully, only on this one thread.
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Whenever I see the National Guard, I always think of Kent State.
TomTV wrote:
In this day and age, unless you are aged 60 and up, they would probably assume you are lying about not having a social media account and deny the VISA. It's sad that I have to suggest this, but if you don't have one right now, set up a burner account on one of the popular platforms and just post a few random things over the next year (obviously none of it can be anti-Trump).
Late follow up but if I was in any danger of having to visit the States, I think I might just say that social media is "too woke for me" to explain why I don't have any accounts.
Last edited by Binson Echorec (June 9, 2025 11:39 am)
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Back to broadcasting for a moment, this just puts everything further over the top. I wonder what Oprah, who is responsible for this guy's initial fame, would have to say about this.
Dr. Phil was embedded with ICE during controversial Los Angeles immigration raids
"The footage is being incorporated into a special report on “Dr. Phil Primetime,” a program on McGraw’s conservative TV channel Merit TV, a spokesperson confirmed to CNN.
McGraw’s presence on the ground in L.A. reinforces the made-for-TV nature of Trump’s immigration crackdown."
Whoo boy. What's next?
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How has Oprah skated on unleashing both Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz? Talk about rock solid branding.
Meanwhile, here is some footage of an Australian reporter getting hit with a rubber bullet. The :17 second mark.
Last edited by Binson Echorec (June 9, 2025 12:49 pm)
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I wonder if the marines(!) that Trump now wants to deploy to California will also be using rubber bullets... I don't think it'll be long before reporters will have to wear bulletproof vests if they want to cover these types of riots.
Worth adding that if you've noticed that there's been a huge slew of ICE arrests and violent assaults over the past few days, there is a reason for ICE becoming so aggressive, and this links back to Nosferatu-lookalike Stephen Miller:
This is why ICE is invading Home Depots and restaurants in blue cities. The ghoul wants numbers.
.
From @newrepublic —
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller was enraged to hear that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers had been focusing on arresting only criminals, The Washington Examiner reported Monday.
Last week, 25 field directors from ICE’s Enforcement Removal Operations, as well as 25 special agents from Homeland Security Investigations, were called to Washington for a meeting. Officials told the Examiner that the president’s ghoulish immigration czar wasn’t happy.
“Miller came in there and eviscerated everyone,” said one official. “‘You guys aren’t doing a good job. You’re horrible leaders.’ He just ripped into everybody. He had nothing positive to say about anybody, shot morale down.”
The official told the conservative outlet that Miller didn’t want ICE to narrow its field to just undocumented immigrants with criminal records. “Stephen Miller wants everybody arrested. ‘Why aren’t you at Home Depot? Why aren’t you at 7-Eleven?’” the official recalled.
When one ICE official pushed back against Miller’s call to widen the deportation dragnet, citing border czar Tom Homan’s claims that ICE’s deportation efforts would target criminals, the deputy chief of staff seemed confused.
“What do you mean you’re going after criminals?” the official recounted Miller as saying. “Miller got into a little bit of a pissing contest.”
Last week, Miller and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced that the Trump administration had set a new quota of a minimum 3,000 ICE arrests per day. On Monday, ICE announced that it had completed its largest operation ever in Massachusetts and the Greater Boston Area—but as the number of arrests rose, so did the number of people detained with no criminal record or deportation order. Hundreds of so-called “collaterals” were arrested as part of the massive operation.
Now Miller, who was already something of a right-wing douchebag, may be doing this to transfer his anger towards innocent people after losing his wife to Elon Musk... the guy who loves to sleep around and father children with over a dozen women. One theory is that Elon Musk's black eye came from Stephen Miller punching him in the face (no one believes Elon's claim that it was from his own child during some playtime).
Some day, a very interesting movie is going to be made about this period in time.
EDIT: to make this a bit more relevant to this forum, Stephen Miller just had ABC News Washington reporter Terry Moran suspended from his job, after Moran posted a tweet about Miller:
“Miller is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred. He’s a world-class hater. You can see this just by looking at him because you can see that his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment. He eats his hate,”
Miller is your typical right-wing hypocrite, constantly crying about freedom of speech, until someone speaks negatively of him and then he has the reporter silenced. ABC, like every other US news organization out there, just won't stand up for their people, even when they're writing the truth.
This Instagram post summarizes what's wrong with US news media today (and for the past 20 years)
Terry Moran might have crossed the line for a journalist who’s supposed to remain impartial, but let’s be honest: in today’s media landscape, the rules are anything but fair. For over two decades, Fox News and a slew of right-wing outlets have been pumping out relentless bile and hatred toward Democrats and progressives, 24/7, with little pushback or consequence. They’ve built entire empires on outrage, conspiracy theories, and demonizing anyone left of center. Meanwhile, the rest of the media is expected to maintain total neutrality, even when faced with blatant lies and corruption.
It’s not an even playing field. Half the media is openly, unapologetically partisan, while the other half is forced to play by rules that don’t apply to their competitors. When someone like Terry Moran — the same journalist who pressed Trump on the clearly photoshopped MS-13 gang tattoo image in a now - infamous Oval Office interview—dares to speak bluntly and call out figures like Stephen Miller, writing, “Miller is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred. He’s a world-class hater. You can see this just by looking at him because you can see that his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment. He eats his hate,” he gets punished for crossing an imaginary line that right-wing pundits ignore every day.
So much for impartial media. When ABC keeps throwing money at Trump with that shameful $16 million settlement and suspends journalists like Moran for speaking truth to power, it’s hard to take their claims of neutrality seriously. We stand with Terry Moran, and hope he’s reinstated soon. The rest ofthe so-called journalists could learn a thing or two from him: courage, integrity, and a willingness to call out corruption instead of capitulating to it. If the press doesn’t grow a pair while the right-wing media runs wild, we’ll lose what’s left of our crumbling democracy.
Last edited by TomTV (June 9, 2025 11:29 pm)
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You beat me to it, BowmanvilleBob. I was just about to relay the news that ABC has now fired Terry Moran for taking a stand against Stephen Miller. It doesn't look like any of the major news organizations are going to call out Trump's increasing insanity.
More disappointing is the fact that Elon and Trump seem to now be trying to make amends. It would've been fun to see a clash of two planet-sized egos, but Elon bent the knee probably knowing Trump could ruin him since SpaceX is utterly dependent on US government contracts to survive.
EDIT: I also saw a few people on Twitter this morning trying to clarify that the news media is making the protests out to seem more violent than they actually are. Not really as big as it might seem according to this poster:
Last edited by TomTV (June 11, 2025 8:10 pm)
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The American cowardice, political, media and corporate, is pathetic.
Thank god these people weren't around when Hitler had to be dealt with.
Nauseating is what it is.
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And when Trump hits the G7 summit this month, will it be Kananaskis or Can I Ass Kiss?
I'm very worried it will be the latter.
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Dial Twister wrote:
The American cowardice, political, media and corporate, is pathetic.
Thank god these people weren't around when Hitler had to be dealt with.
The sad part during Hitler's rise is that their news media also bowed quickly to the regime, without even much force from the Nazis... (as this excerpt from a twitter post comparing Trump's rise to Hitler's mentions)
Stephen Miller is our modern equivalent to Goebbels (at the moment at least).
The thread also points out why it's vital to speak and act out NOW rather than later:
And I supposed Terry Moran is lucky that we haven't reached this phase of Trump's rise to dictatorship:
Last edited by TomTV (June 11, 2025 8:54 pm)
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Trade Deal currently being negotiated with US includes participation in Golden Dome missile shield military program. This seems absurd and shocking...
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Why not just hand it over and get 'er done with...
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BowmanvilleBob wrote:
I was able to Google it, but it says the page was removed, or not available.
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Jody Thornton wrote:
BowmanvilleBob wrote:
I was able to Google it, but it says the page was removed, or not available.
Interesting. Someone from a completely different milieu cited the Economist story, and then told me that a similar story was in the Globe, as well. And I can't find it. ...
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Saul wrote:
Interesting. Someone from a completely different milieu cited the Economist story, and then told me that a similar story was in the Globe, as well. And I can't find it. ...
Well I don't know why GreenRambler didn't just link the page so we could read the whole thing. All of the other news outlets seem to be saying that Trump and Carney are going back/forth but not disclosing terms in public.
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Jody Thornton wrote:
Saul wrote:
Interesting. Someone from a completely different milieu cited the Economist story, and then told me that a similar story was in the Globe, as well. And I can't find it. ...
Well I don't know why GreenRambler didn't just link the page so we could read the whole thing. All of the other news outlets seem to be saying that Trump and Carney are going back/forth but not disclosing terms in public.
I'm actually curious that two periodicals came out with a hot story that now seems to be gone ... puzzling.