Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts

Thursday, November 29, 2018

The Truth about Donald Trump's Particular Kind of Lies

by Lee McIntyre, Boston University


President Donald Trump speaks to the media outside of the White House. AP/Evan Vucci

Recently, I heard an interesting remark by Russian-born journalist Masha Gessen. She compared three larger-than-life politicians, Vladimir Putin, Silvio Berlusconi, and Donald Trump. Specifically, she compared the manner in which they deceive the public and why they do so.
The way Putin lies, the way Berlusconi lies, and the way Trump lies are exactly the same. They all lie in a blatant way, you know... They do something that to Americans has been very difficult to absorb which is that they lie about things that are obviously not true in order to assert power.

Friday, October 6, 2017

Altruism or Anarchy? More Reasons Why Facebook Deserves Closer Scrutiny

 by Nomad

Facebook CEO

In Praise of Facebook

Until recently, most people believed that social media's influence on politics and on society was overall beneficial. It was the world forum for discussion. It allowed people a voice in nations where free speech was limited. Facebook supporters have often sounded like technocrat crusaders, determined to save the world through CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Aristophanes- Characteristic of A Popular Politician

by Nomad

Aristophanes' democracy

It doesn't look like things have changed much since 424 B.C.

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Mob Control: Do Trump's Mafia Connections Reflect His Lack of Ethics and Accountability?

by Nomad

Any presidential candidate should expect some in-depth scrutiny about his business relationships. In Donald Trump's case, his past contact with the Mafia opens up a lot of questions.


As a rule, front-runner presidential candidate Donald Trump likes to denigrate reporters who report things he doesn't like. Or things he doesn't want the public to become aware of.
As an egomaniac, he likes to be in control of the message. And the message must always display the positive side of the Trump story.

For instance, when New York journalist Wayne Barrett published an unauthorized biography of Trump, Trump blasted the author and his reputation.
Insinuating that the author was on some kind of personal vendetta, Trump called Barrett “a second-rate writer who has had numerous literary failures" and his book "boring, non-factual, and highly inaccurate.”

In fact, Barret has been an investigative reporter and senior editor for the Village Voice for over 20 years. Trump might try to paint Barrett as some kind of tabloid columnist but Barrett is currently a Fellow at the Nation Institute and contributor to Newsweek.
Barrett's bio reads:
He has been an adjunct at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism for years, teaching courses on investigative and political reporting, as well as advising students on investigative projects.
In addition, Barrett was awarded the 1990 Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Alumni Award as well as numerous other journalism prizes.
As far as the book, James B. Stewart, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, has called it "exhaustively researched"a penetrating portrait" and "the definitive account of how Trump got ahead and why he fell." If Trump fell, he was not too badly bruised or otherwise traumatized.

Trump might think otherwise or he might wish the rest of the world to think Barrett is "second-rate" but Barrett is no hack. Not any more than Trump is a failed real estate mogul.

Of course, the tycoon-turned presidential candidate has every reason to consider the author a threat and was apparently ready to silence him. 

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Political Theater: How Orson Welles Used Julius Caesar to Warn Against The Rise of Fascism

by Nomad

This post will take us on a merry ride through history, both ancient and modern. It involves a murder of a tyrant and a play about that murder and how that play served as a warning about the rise of another, more ruthless, dictator.


Like a Colossus


When the 22-year-old Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre players took on a Broadway production of Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, he made some interesting changes. 
Only a man like Welles would have had the audacity to "streamline" Shakespeare, but he dared to do so for a very good reason. 

In fact, anybody coming to see a Shakespeare play or yearning for a play of spectacle and diversion would have been in for a shock. For one thing, a modern-dress with sparse stage decoration.  But it wasn't just about costumes.