While I somtimes "disapprove of what you say, but . . . will defend to the death your right to say it", today you are 100% on point. What you presented in your article was the political media's version of the kid's game "telephone." And I applaud you for your intelligence in not being drawn into it, but in recognizing the game for what it is. Bravo. 🙇♂️
Quote paraphased from Evelyn B Hall writing as S.G. Tallentyre in "The Friends of Voltaire"
There won’t be any there there until they decide that they want to look like they are yet again going after someone who is in the way. But thank you for letting us know what might happen.
Mary E...I don't know the exact numbers, but...I am confident...the modern day version of those trials...would see the equivalent of the most MASSIVE "GoFundMe" war chest you could ever imagine. Whatever it costs...Democracy loving Americans will raise it!
I hadn’t thought of the public fundraising aspect; the system might go down with the flurry of responses! Thoughts of this made my day, thank you, Jack.
Jack, what makes this piece so compelling is that you get two fundamental things right: the facts matter, and the process matters even when the person involved is someone you might not particularly like.
A FOIA response from ICE saying records exist and are being withheld under a law-enforcement exemption is not a presidential confirmation. Trump shared a link. He said nothing. Yet within nine hours, a form letter had become a presidential announcement, a rumor had become an attorney general personally assigned to the case, and a congresswoman had effectively been tried on X.
Seven steps. Nine hours. Zero new facts.
But your more important point comes at the end: “The part that concerns me…is how many people are now waiting for it.”
That moves this beyond one misleading headline.
History shows that political systems become dangerous not only when people accept propaganda, but when they become conditioned to expect it—to anticipate the next accusation, the next enemy, the next emergency. During the Red Scare, suspicion became evidence through repetition. After 9/11, extraordinary claims of threat helped normalize extraordinary government powers. Authoritarian systems have long understood the power of keeping people in a permanent state of anticipation.
The comparison isn’t that today’s America is identical to those periods. The warning is about the mechanism.
Once people are trained to expect a “bombshell,” evidence becomes almost secondary. An investigation becomes proof that wrongdoing occurred. A document withholding information becomes evidence of what the document supposedly contains. Repetition does the rest.
And this is why your insistence on “we don’t know yet” matters.
There may be a legitimate investigation into Ilhan Omar. There may be evidence. If evidence emerges, it should be examined seriously, regardless of anyone’s politics. But a FOIA exemption does not establish guilt, and Trump’s decision to share a link does not transform an agency letter into a presidential confirmation.
The historical danger is what happens when we stop demanding that distinction.
Because once a society becomes accustomed to certainty arriving before evidence, something real can become almost impossible to recognize. We spend so much credibility on rumors, insinuations and manufactured emergencies that the public becomes numb to the difference between documented fact and another “BOMBSHELL.”
Seven steps. Nine hours. Zero new facts.
That should concern all of us.
But the question you leave us with is the one that stays with me:
What happens when something real finally arrives—and we have already trained ourselves to believe everything?
Jack you are by far.. the best investment I’ve ever made my friend.. I’ve learned more from you than any class room. On another front the hubby’s place that got ransacked and stuff stolen.. oh they’re gonna be very sorry.. private property laws.. his BFF is a very well connected attorney to very wealthy people.. they’re so toast. And cameras will be installed this week.
It seems to me that this is a pattern. Take a small fact and turn it into a crisis or scandal by embellishment. Guaranteed to distract from all the evil perpetrated against all sorts of innocents around the world. Our news reports fall for it every time! This regime supports and protects human trafficking. They are stealing from our treasury and putting it in their own accounts. But we are looking at the thing-of-the-day 👹
As you said before jack in a democracy civil discourse is necessary. You don't have to agree all the time but fairness and the right to be defended are what makes America what it is. Lies and mistruths or twisting it to suit you is not part of any of that. We have all had disagreements but that dies not make us spew falsehoods. We must defend our country and keep others safe as well as ourselves. Thanks for showing this and as someone said this is like the game where people sit in a circle and say one thing and but the time it passes 6-8 people it does not look or sound lie what was said at the beginning.
Our version of the Nuremberg Trials is going to have to build a bigger courtroom.
A GIANT courtroom, Roberta. 100%.
-Jack
Maybe we can use trumps new ballroom?
Fantastic idea, Patricia!
-Jack
While I somtimes "disapprove of what you say, but . . . will defend to the death your right to say it", today you are 100% on point. What you presented in your article was the political media's version of the kid's game "telephone." And I applaud you for your intelligence in not being drawn into it, but in recognizing the game for what it is. Bravo. 🙇♂️
Quote paraphased from Evelyn B Hall writing as S.G. Tallentyre in "The Friends of Voltaire"
Thanks, BumpT.
The attacks...particularly on people of color/those who don't look like Hitler's ridiculous "superior race"....are only going to increase.
It's going to take all of us...to really DIG in...and spot as much of the propaganda as possible...and then REFUTE the hell out of it with truth.
We might actually be saving a LIFE...when we do so.
-Jack
There won’t be any there there until they decide that they want to look like they are yet again going after someone who is in the way. But thank you for letting us know what might happen.
Mary Ann...I'd say you are right on target.
You're welcome.
-Jack
How much did the Nuremberg Trials cost? $1.5 million (1946) is worth $25.8 million today; there were 24 defendants
Will the USA be able to afford Trials 2.0?
I am clueless how many defendants there may be, 350 perhaps?
Regardless, I hope the prosecutors begin with the underlings so we can watch them sing like canaries.
Mary E...I don't know the exact numbers, but...I am confident...the modern day version of those trials...would see the equivalent of the most MASSIVE "GoFundMe" war chest you could ever imagine. Whatever it costs...Democracy loving Americans will raise it!
-Jack
I hadn’t thought of the public fundraising aspect; the system might go down with the flurry of responses! Thoughts of this made my day, thank you, Jack.
Thank you for breaking this down!!
You're most welcome, BG.
-Jack
Jack, what makes this piece so compelling is that you get two fundamental things right: the facts matter, and the process matters even when the person involved is someone you might not particularly like.
A FOIA response from ICE saying records exist and are being withheld under a law-enforcement exemption is not a presidential confirmation. Trump shared a link. He said nothing. Yet within nine hours, a form letter had become a presidential announcement, a rumor had become an attorney general personally assigned to the case, and a congresswoman had effectively been tried on X.
Seven steps. Nine hours. Zero new facts.
But your more important point comes at the end: “The part that concerns me…is how many people are now waiting for it.”
That moves this beyond one misleading headline.
History shows that political systems become dangerous not only when people accept propaganda, but when they become conditioned to expect it—to anticipate the next accusation, the next enemy, the next emergency. During the Red Scare, suspicion became evidence through repetition. After 9/11, extraordinary claims of threat helped normalize extraordinary government powers. Authoritarian systems have long understood the power of keeping people in a permanent state of anticipation.
The comparison isn’t that today’s America is identical to those periods. The warning is about the mechanism.
Once people are trained to expect a “bombshell,” evidence becomes almost secondary. An investigation becomes proof that wrongdoing occurred. A document withholding information becomes evidence of what the document supposedly contains. Repetition does the rest.
And this is why your insistence on “we don’t know yet” matters.
There may be a legitimate investigation into Ilhan Omar. There may be evidence. If evidence emerges, it should be examined seriously, regardless of anyone’s politics. But a FOIA exemption does not establish guilt, and Trump’s decision to share a link does not transform an agency letter into a presidential confirmation.
The historical danger is what happens when we stop demanding that distinction.
Because once a society becomes accustomed to certainty arriving before evidence, something real can become almost impossible to recognize. We spend so much credibility on rumors, insinuations and manufactured emergencies that the public becomes numb to the difference between documented fact and another “BOMBSHELL.”
Seven steps. Nine hours. Zero new facts.
That should concern all of us.
But the question you leave us with is the one that stays with me:
What happens when something real finally arrives—and we have already trained ourselves to believe everything?
#HOLDFAST
Jack you are by far.. the best investment I’ve ever made my friend.. I’ve learned more from you than any class room. On another front the hubby’s place that got ransacked and stuff stolen.. oh they’re gonna be very sorry.. private property laws.. his BFF is a very well connected attorney to very wealthy people.. they’re so toast. And cameras will be installed this week.
What a waste. A waste of a great country, great people, precious time to solve vital problems that aflict our country and humanity.
It seems to me that this is a pattern. Take a small fact and turn it into a crisis or scandal by embellishment. Guaranteed to distract from all the evil perpetrated against all sorts of innocents around the world. Our news reports fall for it every time! This regime supports and protects human trafficking. They are stealing from our treasury and putting it in their own accounts. But we are looking at the thing-of-the-day 👹
As you said before jack in a democracy civil discourse is necessary. You don't have to agree all the time but fairness and the right to be defended are what makes America what it is. Lies and mistruths or twisting it to suit you is not part of any of that. We have all had disagreements but that dies not make us spew falsehoods. We must defend our country and keep others safe as well as ourselves. Thanks for showing this and as someone said this is like the game where people sit in a circle and say one thing and but the time it passes 6-8 people it does not look or sound lie what was said at the beginning.
#HOLDFAST
Teri