Isn't it ironic that Ms. Stefanik, a privileged Harvard graduate, would be bashing Ms. Gay, its president? And the height of hypocrisy after having voted not to expel Santos and voting against more aid to Ukraine? I saw her rant at the Congressional hearing and it was pure theatrics. The issue for her wasn't really anything connected to Israel, it was "look at me, I'm a star!." She has no principles, no morals, no dignity. Her faux outrage would have been the same if she had been discussing school lunches or puppies.
There just is no shame anymore for lies. That’s because the public does not seem to care and more importantly there is no accountability for not telling the truth. Even Nixon , an amoral man had a sense of right and wrong, tried to cover up his lies. When found out he was held accountable. That does exist now. 30,000 lies in office, 91 criminal charges, a fraudulent charity, school and now business practices and no accountability! The bigger the lie , the more positive the effect. This is on the lemming electorate for not holding these people accountable; for electing base loyalty not competence.
Love the subject today Steve. But what Orwell didn't see coming was the uniquely American form of doublespeak: the "I was just kidding when I said that" connotation. "Mexico would pay for the wall?" I was only kidding, didn't you get that? "I'll be a dictator for only one day?" I was only kidding when I said that. In fact, I'm not even sure that the MAGA faithful see this is 'doublespeak.' I think they understand it, with a wink and a nod, as "whatever-it-is-he-wants-it-to-mean" speak -- which is even worse than what Orwell predicted. The people aren't afraid of the language; they embrace and revel in its utter meaninglessness. Maybe MAGA stands for "Meaninglessness and Generational Antagonism ."
Is there anything good left in life - i don't mean individual lives, i live a very nice life, I am happy (for the most part) but so saddened by the insidiousness of anti-semitism (I am Jewish, i hate it I resent it), i have taken to wearing a very large Jewish star because it's a big part of who i am, not religiously, but certainly societally, culturally. I am proud of who and what I am - I lived through WWII and the holocaust, I was quite young, but it's part of my heritage. I have been to Auschwitz and Birkenau as well as one other (sorry name escapes me) It should be required visiting for every human being on the planet. Thanks Steve, as Joyce Vance says, we are in this together and we will get through this together. (Sorry Joyce had to use it.)
Trust Joyce more than Steve for she is a Biden supporter. We are all in it together but Steve is not all in with us. He suffers from bad judgement syndrome, like when he thought that Sarah Palin would make a good Vice President. OMG why are we supporting this blog? I would love a refund!
I believe he did say it was a mistake, we all make mistakes, and we all have bad judgment from time to time, and yes I do believe he will vote for Biden whether he likes him or not. If you are not happy here, just stop reading it and eventually your subscription will run out.
Patricia, I never read that Steve said it was a mistake becoming Dean Phillips campaign manager. How did I miss that? Are you saying that Steve is no longer Dean Phillips campaign manager? Are you sure about that? Some of the people on this list have good and interesting comments, so that is why I read. I would be happy to not comment if Steve gave me a refund for my year subscription, which I feel I bought under false pretenses, before he deserted Biden.
Marian, I read Patricia’s comment to mean that Steve had admitted that selecting Palin was a mistake. I am unaware that he has acknowledged his hurtful support and work for Phillips. As far as I know he is still involved. Many of us are unhappy about Phillips ads, influenced by Steve, tearing down Biden. Personally for me the ad raising of the specter of JFK with the not so subtle implication that Phillips is the 21st century equivalent of JFK was insulting. Of course I don’t think that Steve was alive when JFK was President. Nor does he vividly remember the events of Nov 22-26, 1963. I do. And I can say with great certainty that Phillips is no JFK. He also doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting the nomination, much less the presidency. And he shouldn’t. He lacks experience.
Steve's podcast with Goldman is worth its weight in Gold! So are many MANY of his newsletters. I don't agree with Steve on everything but he is a caring human being.
We all had to watch an Ad to be allowed to watch this interview. Half of Americans are as duped by the lies of ads as the communist nations and dictatorships were duped by doublespeak. Half of us are as duped by onging curse of the nephew of Freud, the one who taught Madison Avenue how to sell ANYTHING on TV. We are as vulnerable as any other nation to doublespeak's power to confuse, the curse which Orwell predicted. .Remember, when we were kids, and we watched Westerns on TV? TV ads sponsored "Wagon Train", using the salesmanship of Ronald Reagon for "20 Mule Team Borax" cleaning agent, and then later, General Electric used him for selling us their products, using GE as being ":A Name You Can Trust", --the folksy, trustable-looking, the equal to a Walter Cronkite figure;---Ronald Reagan--, a right wing precurser which led to Trump. Read "Freud on Madison Avenue", available on Amazon.
Let us not avoid the fact that 50% of American are doublespeaked ever since this nation began, all day long.
Steve is correct that George Orwell introduced the concept of doublespeak in his book “ 1984 “. And doublespeak does remain very prevalent and damaging today.
However, Steve should read Anna Funder’s book “Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life”. This is a biography of Orwell’s wife, Eileen, which shows that when it came to women, Orwell had his own kind of doublespeak. He claimed to respect women, yet treated many of them including his wife, like dirt. He had a host of sexual affairs, but blamed them on women who he claimed, had such a “voracious sexual appetite”.
Orwell was a great writer, but also a great hypocrite.
Moreover, regarding the critique of universities as in effect engaging in doublespeak by churning out ideologies rather than excellence: That might be the case at a few elite universities in America, but in Canadian universities this is very rare.
As a University Professor Emeritus in Canada, I know that most of our universities are truly centres of excellence.
So let’s not over-generalize about the prevalence of doublespeak.
Steve, who are you to talk about double speak? I paid you for a years subscription to The Warning only to be soon told that you were now supporting Dean Phillips for president. When I learned that Dean Phillips, who is a really rich guy with very little political experience, is now your way of making some money as his campaign manager, I was disgusted. You are a true double speaker IMO, I guess it takes one to know one. Why would a loyal Democrat take funds and attention away from Biden, which will only go to help Trump? Please answer me that. I am almost 80 years old and have all my mental marbles and lots of experience in various fields, so I am insulted that you say Biden is too old to keep our country and constitution safe. When you are in your eighties, then you too will know that your brain can still function.
Historical perspective is never black and white. Even our heroes sometimes have warts and blemishes which their advocates have airbrushed away. Take Mr. Schmidt's hero JFK. His speech about Harvard and privilege and universities sounds very good. Very well written. I have no doubt it was very well spoken at the time. But JFK himself had a few warts. For just one example take a look at this New Yorker article on the subject of JFK's Profiles in Courage. https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/jfks-profiles-in-courage-has-a-racism-problem-what-should-we-do-about-it. Not entirely courageous and certainly not something that measures up to his eloquent rhetoric.
Or take Woodrow Wilson. The Woodrow Wilson that JFK quotes. This was a man for whom American Blacks were to be excluded entirely from white American society. A racist in the most extreme sense. A man who segregated the federal government some four decades after the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment. Much can be said of the accomplishments of both men, but using their quotes in damnation of the current Harvard administration and leadership rings extremely hollow. Just sayin'.
As a historian I entirely agree that historical perspective is never black and white —- except that it is mostly white-authored.
Indeed, most of Americans’ historical heroes are white and like Woodrow Wilson, extremely racist.
In fact, from the beginning of American history, America’s celebrated commitment to freedom has been based upon the commitment to keeping Black Americans unfree, enslaved, segregated, and excluded from white American society.
A Passage from Madeleine Albright’s book Fascism: A Warning (p.29-31)
On the morning of March 23, 1933, an enormous banner stretched across the front wall of the Kroll Opera House, in Berlin. At its center was a giant swastika, symbol of the Nazis. The Opera House was the temporary home of the Reichstag, the German Parliament, whose permanent headquarters had been ravaged by arson four weeks earlier. Approaching the lectern was the country’s new chancellor, an Austrian by birth, who on January 30 had assumed power not via popular acclaim but because he commanded the most violent gangs and had Communists for enemies. The building in which he was about to speak was guarded on the outside by Heinrich Himmler’s secret police and on the inside by the brown-shirted Sturmabteilung (SA), the Nazi paramilitary force, already larger than the German army.
Adolf Hitler spoke quietly, in a soothing tone. The forty-three-year-old appealed to the legislators for their trust, hoping that they would not think too hard before voting themselves into oblivion. His goal was to secure approval of a law authorizing him to ignore the constitution, bypass the Reichstag, and govern by decree. He assured his listeners that they had nothing to worry about; his party had no intention of undermining German institutions. Should they pass the law, the parliament would remain intact, freedom of speech would be unhindered, the rights of the Church would not be altered, and Christian values would, as ever, still be cherished. The powers requested under the “Law for Removing the Distress of the People and Reich” would be used only to shield the country from its adversaries. There was no need for concern: legislators could count on the Nazis to act in good faith.
The chancellor sat down so that the leaders of other parties could have their say. One by one, the Catholics, conservatives, and centrists fell in line and slipped Hitler’s bit between their teeth. Only the spokesman for the Social Democrats resisted, saying that to be defenseless did not mean to be without honor. Hitler, no longer the conciliator, stormed back to the rostrum. “I do not want your votes,” he screamed at the Socialists. “The star of Germany is in the ascendant, yours is about to disappear, your death knell has sounded.”
The legislators cast their votes, approving the Enabling Law by a wide margin. Within weeks, the compliant political parties were abolished and the Socialists put under arrest. The Third Reich had begun.
“Truth” is turning extinct. The days of “Walter Cronkites and Huntley and Brinkleys” are long-gone. News-stations all have their ‘slants’, of course. Social media, - well, in a word: “feggedaboudit”; it’s mainly opinion-based but oh, so prevalent. And let’s throw “A-I” into the mix, with deep-fake technology, creating pseudo-images and voices to fool us all. The cherry-on-top is the T-rump administration making “alternative facts” and “fake news” into new-age ‘mantras’...so where the heck does “Truth” reside anymore. Not the churches, not our politicians, ...hopefully Fiji. I just may be headed that way, especially if T-rump wins!
Profound interview with Congressman Goldman. He looks tired and I felt it thru the screen. Steve, let Dan know that there are so many folks like us out there who are so very appreciative of his work (including everything he attempted to do for us all with the impeachment hearings). I will never forget patriots like him - not ever. I wish there was something more I can do. I am more than grateful to those of you who utilize your platforms to speak the truth to us Americans out here. The true and patriotic Americans ARE out here, we aren’t going anywhere, and we will support his (you too Steve) efforts all the way. It’s obvious what’s coming. We got this.
Republicans in the house are just the jokes. They can’t do anything. Even their smooth talking speaker says stuff with no truth or substance. Especially today, watching Zelensky along side Biden then switched to Johnson and you feel like only hot air coming out of Johnson, emptiness and lies.
Not only do the administrations of prestigious colleges need to actually face the evidence & remains of authoritarianism & fascism elsewhere, so do MAGA representatives & senators. All are ignorant of the realities those regimes bring to a society.
Isn't it ironic that Ms. Stefanik, a privileged Harvard graduate, would be bashing Ms. Gay, its president? And the height of hypocrisy after having voted not to expel Santos and voting against more aid to Ukraine? I saw her rant at the Congressional hearing and it was pure theatrics. The issue for her wasn't really anything connected to Israel, it was "look at me, I'm a star!." She has no principles, no morals, no dignity. Her faux outrage would have been the same if she had been discussing school lunches or puppies.
There just is no shame anymore for lies. That’s because the public does not seem to care and more importantly there is no accountability for not telling the truth. Even Nixon , an amoral man had a sense of right and wrong, tried to cover up his lies. When found out he was held accountable. That does exist now. 30,000 lies in office, 91 criminal charges, a fraudulent charity, school and now business practices and no accountability! The bigger the lie , the more positive the effect. This is on the lemming electorate for not holding these people accountable; for electing base loyalty not competence.
Love the subject today Steve. But what Orwell didn't see coming was the uniquely American form of doublespeak: the "I was just kidding when I said that" connotation. "Mexico would pay for the wall?" I was only kidding, didn't you get that? "I'll be a dictator for only one day?" I was only kidding when I said that. In fact, I'm not even sure that the MAGA faithful see this is 'doublespeak.' I think they understand it, with a wink and a nod, as "whatever-it-is-he-wants-it-to-mean" speak -- which is even worse than what Orwell predicted. The people aren't afraid of the language; they embrace and revel in its utter meaninglessness. Maybe MAGA stands for "Meaninglessness and Generational Antagonism ."
Is there anything good left in life - i don't mean individual lives, i live a very nice life, I am happy (for the most part) but so saddened by the insidiousness of anti-semitism (I am Jewish, i hate it I resent it), i have taken to wearing a very large Jewish star because it's a big part of who i am, not religiously, but certainly societally, culturally. I am proud of who and what I am - I lived through WWII and the holocaust, I was quite young, but it's part of my heritage. I have been to Auschwitz and Birkenau as well as one other (sorry name escapes me) It should be required visiting for every human being on the planet. Thanks Steve, as Joyce Vance says, we are in this together and we will get through this together. (Sorry Joyce had to use it.)
Trust Joyce more than Steve for she is a Biden supporter. We are all in it together but Steve is not all in with us. He suffers from bad judgement syndrome, like when he thought that Sarah Palin would make a good Vice President. OMG why are we supporting this blog? I would love a refund!
I believe he did say it was a mistake, we all make mistakes, and we all have bad judgment from time to time, and yes I do believe he will vote for Biden whether he likes him or not. If you are not happy here, just stop reading it and eventually your subscription will run out.
I appreciate your bringing issues of the day to us and demanding that we look, think, act.
Patricia, I never read that Steve said it was a mistake becoming Dean Phillips campaign manager. How did I miss that? Are you saying that Steve is no longer Dean Phillips campaign manager? Are you sure about that? Some of the people on this list have good and interesting comments, so that is why I read. I would be happy to not comment if Steve gave me a refund for my year subscription, which I feel I bought under false pretenses, before he deserted Biden.
Marian, I read Patricia’s comment to mean that Steve had admitted that selecting Palin was a mistake. I am unaware that he has acknowledged his hurtful support and work for Phillips. As far as I know he is still involved. Many of us are unhappy about Phillips ads, influenced by Steve, tearing down Biden. Personally for me the ad raising of the specter of JFK with the not so subtle implication that Phillips is the 21st century equivalent of JFK was insulting. Of course I don’t think that Steve was alive when JFK was President. Nor does he vividly remember the events of Nov 22-26, 1963. I do. And I can say with great certainty that Phillips is no JFK. He also doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting the nomination, much less the presidency. And he shouldn’t. He lacks experience.
Steve's podcast with Goldman is worth its weight in Gold! So are many MANY of his newsletters. I don't agree with Steve on everything but he is a caring human being.
We all had to watch an Ad to be allowed to watch this interview. Half of Americans are as duped by the lies of ads as the communist nations and dictatorships were duped by doublespeak. Half of us are as duped by onging curse of the nephew of Freud, the one who taught Madison Avenue how to sell ANYTHING on TV. We are as vulnerable as any other nation to doublespeak's power to confuse, the curse which Orwell predicted. .Remember, when we were kids, and we watched Westerns on TV? TV ads sponsored "Wagon Train", using the salesmanship of Ronald Reagon for "20 Mule Team Borax" cleaning agent, and then later, General Electric used him for selling us their products, using GE as being ":A Name You Can Trust", --the folksy, trustable-looking, the equal to a Walter Cronkite figure;---Ronald Reagan--, a right wing precurser which led to Trump. Read "Freud on Madison Avenue", available on Amazon.
Let us not avoid the fact that 50% of American are doublespeaked ever since this nation began, all day long.
Steve is correct that George Orwell introduced the concept of doublespeak in his book “ 1984 “. And doublespeak does remain very prevalent and damaging today.
However, Steve should read Anna Funder’s book “Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life”. This is a biography of Orwell’s wife, Eileen, which shows that when it came to women, Orwell had his own kind of doublespeak. He claimed to respect women, yet treated many of them including his wife, like dirt. He had a host of sexual affairs, but blamed them on women who he claimed, had such a “voracious sexual appetite”.
Orwell was a great writer, but also a great hypocrite.
Moreover, regarding the critique of universities as in effect engaging in doublespeak by churning out ideologies rather than excellence: That might be the case at a few elite universities in America, but in Canadian universities this is very rare.
As a University Professor Emeritus in Canada, I know that most of our universities are truly centres of excellence.
So let’s not over-generalize about the prevalence of doublespeak.
A a great hypocrite like Steve supporting Dean Phillips?
Steve, who are you to talk about double speak? I paid you for a years subscription to The Warning only to be soon told that you were now supporting Dean Phillips for president. When I learned that Dean Phillips, who is a really rich guy with very little political experience, is now your way of making some money as his campaign manager, I was disgusted. You are a true double speaker IMO, I guess it takes one to know one. Why would a loyal Democrat take funds and attention away from Biden, which will only go to help Trump? Please answer me that. I am almost 80 years old and have all my mental marbles and lots of experience in various fields, so I am insulted that you say Biden is too old to keep our country and constitution safe. When you are in your eighties, then you too will know that your brain can still function.
Historical perspective is never black and white. Even our heroes sometimes have warts and blemishes which their advocates have airbrushed away. Take Mr. Schmidt's hero JFK. His speech about Harvard and privilege and universities sounds very good. Very well written. I have no doubt it was very well spoken at the time. But JFK himself had a few warts. For just one example take a look at this New Yorker article on the subject of JFK's Profiles in Courage. https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/jfks-profiles-in-courage-has-a-racism-problem-what-should-we-do-about-it. Not entirely courageous and certainly not something that measures up to his eloquent rhetoric.
Or take Woodrow Wilson. The Woodrow Wilson that JFK quotes. This was a man for whom American Blacks were to be excluded entirely from white American society. A racist in the most extreme sense. A man who segregated the federal government some four decades after the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment. Much can be said of the accomplishments of both men, but using their quotes in damnation of the current Harvard administration and leadership rings extremely hollow. Just sayin'.
As a historian I entirely agree that historical perspective is never black and white —- except that it is mostly white-authored.
Indeed, most of Americans’ historical heroes are white and like Woodrow Wilson, extremely racist.
In fact, from the beginning of American history, America’s celebrated commitment to freedom has been based upon the commitment to keeping Black Americans unfree, enslaved, segregated, and excluded from white American society.
A Passage from Madeleine Albright’s book Fascism: A Warning (p.29-31)
On the morning of March 23, 1933, an enormous banner stretched across the front wall of the Kroll Opera House, in Berlin. At its center was a giant swastika, symbol of the Nazis. The Opera House was the temporary home of the Reichstag, the German Parliament, whose permanent headquarters had been ravaged by arson four weeks earlier. Approaching the lectern was the country’s new chancellor, an Austrian by birth, who on January 30 had assumed power not via popular acclaim but because he commanded the most violent gangs and had Communists for enemies. The building in which he was about to speak was guarded on the outside by Heinrich Himmler’s secret police and on the inside by the brown-shirted Sturmabteilung (SA), the Nazi paramilitary force, already larger than the German army.
Adolf Hitler spoke quietly, in a soothing tone. The forty-three-year-old appealed to the legislators for their trust, hoping that they would not think too hard before voting themselves into oblivion. His goal was to secure approval of a law authorizing him to ignore the constitution, bypass the Reichstag, and govern by decree. He assured his listeners that they had nothing to worry about; his party had no intention of undermining German institutions. Should they pass the law, the parliament would remain intact, freedom of speech would be unhindered, the rights of the Church would not be altered, and Christian values would, as ever, still be cherished. The powers requested under the “Law for Removing the Distress of the People and Reich” would be used only to shield the country from its adversaries. There was no need for concern: legislators could count on the Nazis to act in good faith.
The chancellor sat down so that the leaders of other parties could have their say. One by one, the Catholics, conservatives, and centrists fell in line and slipped Hitler’s bit between their teeth. Only the spokesman for the Social Democrats resisted, saying that to be defenseless did not mean to be without honor. Hitler, no longer the conciliator, stormed back to the rostrum. “I do not want your votes,” he screamed at the Socialists. “The star of Germany is in the ascendant, yours is about to disappear, your death knell has sounded.”
The legislators cast their votes, approving the Enabling Law by a wide margin. Within weeks, the compliant political parties were abolished and the Socialists put under arrest. The Third Reich had begun.
And we are now getting ready for a replay of that scene
Harvard has too much money, to the point where it’s obviously a problem.
“Truth” is turning extinct. The days of “Walter Cronkites and Huntley and Brinkleys” are long-gone. News-stations all have their ‘slants’, of course. Social media, - well, in a word: “feggedaboudit”; it’s mainly opinion-based but oh, so prevalent. And let’s throw “A-I” into the mix, with deep-fake technology, creating pseudo-images and voices to fool us all. The cherry-on-top is the T-rump administration making “alternative facts” and “fake news” into new-age ‘mantras’...so where the heck does “Truth” reside anymore. Not the churches, not our politicians, ...hopefully Fiji. I just may be headed that way, especially if T-rump wins!
Profound interview with Congressman Goldman. He looks tired and I felt it thru the screen. Steve, let Dan know that there are so many folks like us out there who are so very appreciative of his work (including everything he attempted to do for us all with the impeachment hearings). I will never forget patriots like him - not ever. I wish there was something more I can do. I am more than grateful to those of you who utilize your platforms to speak the truth to us Americans out here. The true and patriotic Americans ARE out here, we aren’t going anywhere, and we will support his (you too Steve) efforts all the way. It’s obvious what’s coming. We got this.
Republicans in the house are just the jokes. They can’t do anything. Even their smooth talking speaker says stuff with no truth or substance. Especially today, watching Zelensky along side Biden then switched to Johnson and you feel like only hot air coming out of Johnson, emptiness and lies.
The Republicans as a group have decided that their goals are so pure and important that it's OK to be dishonest in order to achieve them.
Not only do the administrations of prestigious colleges need to actually face the evidence & remains of authoritarianism & fascism elsewhere, so do MAGA representatives & senators. All are ignorant of the realities those regimes bring to a society.
Mike Johnson makes my blood boil and I thank James Carville for explaining why. https://youtu.be/F_CeqhkqFjs?si=IiTjAPM7TBfvl8FJ