It’s (rhetorically) funny how to Americans the phrase “Trump juror” means “someone serving on a jury in a trial of Donald Trump, while to the Fox News crowd it means “a juror who will acquit Trump no matter what.”
“And the fact that Juror No. 5 is a teacher is a problem, according to Constantine: “Usually I don't like teachers on the defense side … They’re usually very opinionated. They're very right-and-wrong.”
As opposed to Donald Trump, who is very open minded and famous for listening to a wide range of opinions, then running his decisions by many people to make sure he’s acting as objectively as possible.
I was truly at a loss for words when the juror information was also published on the Washington Post, also. This is so wrong: what part of anonymous jurors did they not understand? Trump's gag order was to avoid all this noise. I hope that in later court cases, the judges put a gag order on this information, too. We really just need to know what the arguments are and not to dissect the jurors defined by their place in life. They were chosen; that is it.
If it were just Jesse Watters, or just Fox, or even just Trump and the Trumpers, that would be bad enough. But it's not. This anti-democratic thread (I just typed "threat" -- that too) in U.S. history goes back a long, long time, at least to the Civil War. It's what connects, e.g., the Supreme Court's decisions in Citizens United and Shelby County with all the vote suppression measures in Republican-held states with what Jane Mayer wrote about in DARK MONEY (Doubleday, 2016). I'm currently reading Jacob Heilbrunn's new book, AMERICA LAST: The Right's Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators (Liveright, 2024) -- a fine follow-up to Rachel Maddow's PREQUEL, which looks at fascist movements in the U.S. up to WW2.
I don't expect journalists, especially reporters, to include all this history in their reporting, but this idea that Trump and Fox came out of nowhere and all will be well if/when they go away is a serious threat to our aspiring democracy.
Meadow raises that very question - to what extent is authoritarianism is in our genes? De Tocqueville had foresight to see tensions between a free open, democracy, and a move towards authoritarianism. I askwhich institution is going to have final say in balancing competing rights in a free society and addressing to totalitarian tendencies, is it the courts, the media?
"Authoritarianism" is an awfully complex characteristic to be embedded in our genes! An instinct to band together in times of danger, and to listen to individuals with useful knowledge -- I can see how these would enhance the survival both of the individual and of whatever genes are involved. Those instincts *could* lead to authoritarian tendencies but they could also lead in other, contradictory directions too.
Assuming that there's such a thing as a "final say", why would any institution have it? Institutions are made up of people, and people come, go, and change in place. As to institutions that have impacts on the ever-evolving outcome, I'd include schools and religions (meaning both the belief systems and the structures based on them) and, perhaps most important of all, the economic system that shapes all the others.
How are we EVER going to get to be a Christian Nation if people actually care about the rule of law and how our legal system both protects the defendant and requires a jury to consider actual EVIDENCE in the process of deciding for conviction or acquittal? 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄 No, our major task is to call into question all our traditions in the name of a traditional society simply as defined by what some folks think the "right" traditions` should be.
(Yes, the legal system clearly doesn't always do what it is supposed to--witness in particular that dread thing called institutional racism. But basically Watters arguments equate being a Democrat with being a member of the KKK. )
Watters is just another trump asshole.
It’s (rhetorically) funny how to Americans the phrase “Trump juror” means “someone serving on a jury in a trial of Donald Trump, while to the Fox News crowd it means “a juror who will acquit Trump no matter what.”
“And the fact that Juror No. 5 is a teacher is a problem, according to Constantine: “Usually I don't like teachers on the defense side … They’re usually very opinionated. They're very right-and-wrong.”
As opposed to Donald Trump, who is very open minded and famous for listening to a wide range of opinions, then running his decisions by many people to make sure he’s acting as objectively as possible.
These people hate this country so, so much.
Trump 2024 🇺🇸
Not a minute too soon..
Let the Dem/Commie 🤡🤡🤡 melt-down commence
I was truly at a loss for words when the juror information was also published on the Washington Post, also. This is so wrong: what part of anonymous jurors did they not understand? Trump's gag order was to avoid all this noise. I hope that in later court cases, the judges put a gag order on this information, too. We really just need to know what the arguments are and not to dissect the jurors defined by their place in life. They were chosen; that is it.
Jesse's mother must be so ashamed of him. He's just vile.
Watters is a turd expelled from his mother's anus.
🤣😂🤣
If it were just Jesse Watters, or just Fox, or even just Trump and the Trumpers, that would be bad enough. But it's not. This anti-democratic thread (I just typed "threat" -- that too) in U.S. history goes back a long, long time, at least to the Civil War. It's what connects, e.g., the Supreme Court's decisions in Citizens United and Shelby County with all the vote suppression measures in Republican-held states with what Jane Mayer wrote about in DARK MONEY (Doubleday, 2016). I'm currently reading Jacob Heilbrunn's new book, AMERICA LAST: The Right's Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators (Liveright, 2024) -- a fine follow-up to Rachel Maddow's PREQUEL, which looks at fascist movements in the U.S. up to WW2.
I don't expect journalists, especially reporters, to include all this history in their reporting, but this idea that Trump and Fox came out of nowhere and all will be well if/when they go away is a serious threat to our aspiring democracy.
Well said.
Thanks, and double thanks for STOP THE PRESSES. It's become a must-read for understanding media developments.
Meadow raises that very question - to what extent is authoritarianism is in our genes? De Tocqueville had foresight to see tensions between a free open, democracy, and a move towards authoritarianism. I askwhich institution is going to have final say in balancing competing rights in a free society and addressing to totalitarian tendencies, is it the courts, the media?
"Authoritarianism" is an awfully complex characteristic to be embedded in our genes! An instinct to band together in times of danger, and to listen to individuals with useful knowledge -- I can see how these would enhance the survival both of the individual and of whatever genes are involved. Those instincts *could* lead to authoritarian tendencies but they could also lead in other, contradictory directions too.
Assuming that there's such a thing as a "final say", why would any institution have it? Institutions are made up of people, and people come, go, and change in place. As to institutions that have impacts on the ever-evolving outcome, I'd include schools and religions (meaning both the belief systems and the structures based on them) and, perhaps most important of all, the economic system that shapes all the others.
How are we EVER going to get to be a Christian Nation if people actually care about the rule of law and how our legal system both protects the defendant and requires a jury to consider actual EVIDENCE in the process of deciding for conviction or acquittal? 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄 No, our major task is to call into question all our traditions in the name of a traditional society simply as defined by what some folks think the "right" traditions` should be.
(Yes, the legal system clearly doesn't always do what it is supposed to--witness in particular that dread thing called institutional racism. But basically Watters arguments equate being a Democrat with being a member of the KKK. )
Fox is a Putin asset. Watters is a Putin anal wart.
Sounds to me like these fox so-called news clowns need to be sued, just like, Juliannie was.