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Old Gyrene's avatar

"But the news media doesn’t really report on anything. It opines. It spins. It constructs story-lines for advantage, it gaslights, it perverts the consensus about reality out of existence, it just plain lies."

Once again, Mr. K put the full truth succinctly.

My first awareness of just how bad "the Media" is, was when I came home from my first tour in Vietnam in the Summer of '66.

What I was reading in the local paper and seeing on television, had nothing to do with the facts on the ground — and the misreporting only got worse as the years passed.

Trying to talk to my (ex) friends and neighbors was hopeless. I had to be lying about what was going on over there because "the newspaper" and "the TV" didn't lie.

I gave up after a week and just went back to Camp Pendleton three weeks early.

I was 19 years old at the time and my last comment to a particularly obnoxious neighbor ended with "...you, and the horse you rode in on", and I've never regretted saying that.

Almost 60 years later and that is still my basic response to the nay-sayers.

They do not deserve what our millions of war dead have earned for them.

Maria's avatar
1hEdited

God bless you for your service! I had the exact same experience. My family is from Cuba and I remember having to listen to idiot liberals tell me how great communism is. It was maddening to have first hand knowledge and these idiots believed the tv instead of eye witnesses. I gave up. I just leave the room now.

Jeff Keener's avatar

Right on, Gyrene!

Castelletto's avatar

Interesting that the group psychosis goes back that far. I don't know how you've stood it all these years. (I was captured by the group think until about the late 1990's.)

So it turns out the TDS is really the latest manifestation of a longstanding pattern of disturbance. In fact, I think it was Charles Krauthammer who first coined the phrase as Bush Derangement Syndrome.

There is already an ICD code for it, incidentally. It's really just a form of Delusional Disorder, a kind of encapsulated craziness in an otherwise sane and functional individual, like a woman that remains convinced that her therapist is in love with her, contrary to all available data, or a man who thinks one of his limbs doesn't belong on him. I've seen both.

UncleBob9's avatar

On behalf of my late dad, also a Marine, Semper Fi.

Gwennie's avatar

Thank you for your service to our country, Old Gyrene.

Mike Pflum's avatar

I would DEARLY love to believe every word of your commentary but I fear the numbers within the current American citizenry don't bode well for us. Tragically, America has a very poor memory and may well value the inconvenience they are suffering at the pump and in the market too much to stand up when called upon to do so. I'm deeply concerned that the brave souls we honor and charish today would be entirely disappointed to see the diminished value of the freedom they died to preserve. Hope I'm wrong. Hope Trump has an Ace up his sleeve, and there are enough of us left to back his play.

JohnAZ's avatar

What inconvenience at the pump? Please do not believe the BS in the press.

Gas has doubled, BFD, it still costs very little to move from place to place. A those poor businesses? They take the increased cost off their taxes. I will agree, if you own a gas hog, you are pissed right now, but you made the purchase decision. If doubling the cost of fueling an RV is a big problem, maybe another form of leisure is in order? I owned one for a year or so during Covid and understand what sticker shock gas prices can be, BUT it is your choice. Sell it and join Hotels.com.

JDaveF's avatar

If you'd ever run a business, you'd know that "taking the increased cost off your taxes" means you get a discount, not that anything rising in cost is free.

dbriz's avatar

“The full inflation bill from an oil shock does not arrive on the day oil moves.

It arrives roughly six months later.

That is because companies do not raise prices the morning after a barrel ticks up. They watch, they wait, they hope, they hedge, they argue with their boards, and eventually they pass the cost through, because the alternative is to eat the margin and explain the missing earnings to a hedge fund whose patience expired sometime during the Carter administration.

Reuters noted that several Wall Street economists have been modeling a delayed pass-through from the recent crude spike into U.S. headline inflation through the second half of 2026, which is a very polite way of saying the bill is already in the mail.

You do not get to refuse delivery on inflation. You can argue with the postman, but the envelope still gets opened.

The cruel part is that even if oil falls today, the part of the bill already in the mail is not coming back.”

Charley Garcia

Substack

Leskunque Lepew's avatar

Have you noticed how the retail price of gas ties in with the Commex?

Simbro Fatarzo's avatar

Are you a fucking idiot

I do not just get to "write off" the extra thousands of dollars in diesel costs I'm paying

Do you not know how taxes actually work? Do you think I get a dollar to dollar deduction for the huge costs I'm incurring?

Fuck's sake. Take some Twain advice and close your fucking mouth before opening it and showing your goddamned ass.

P. Robert Thorson's avatar

Looks to me like change is in the air. But much like with the Plandemic, the changes coming may not be what conservatives (and many liberals) want - or thought they were getting. Collapse of an Empire can go a lot of different ways, but from where I sit the history of the U.S. seems to be rhyming with Germany, circa 1933. There are still no adults in the room, and priorities are all askew from reality.

Things are looking, err, like it's about to get serious.

Casey Jones's avatar

Except that would be Mr Trump. To me, anyway.

izzy's avatar

It would certainly be a welcome change if rectitude was brought to all the things that need it. If our Grifter in Chief does have an Ace up his sleeve, it’s likely a golden one, and soon to be on sale along with all the other trinkets he offers in the Presidential gift shop. Even so, RFK Jr. is right about TDS. The country is a mindless mess.

Truman Verdun's avatar

A striking thing about JHK is, despite his perennial satiric sting, his essential optimism that everything will work out in the end. That is an American trait. (And after all, the intent of satire is to bring about a healthy correction--which the US and the West sorely needs.)

This is not to say that JHK is saying that everything will "return to normal" in a way we recognize or that we prefer -- but that things will return to a type of normal demanding by nature and physics. Systems will be systems, and run on energy.

It is true what MLK said: that the arc of history bends towards justice--especially when we include in the definitions of justice a type of "recalibration to gravity and reality." "To be true" means something to philosophers and moralists--but something very exact to carpenters and builders: something straight and structurally sound.

As some wise man or woman said, "Stupid shit can't last."

Casey Jones's avatar

I shall most definitely steal this: "recalibration to gravity and reality."

Thank you sir.

Corrin Strong's avatar

“But the news media doesn’t really report on anything. It opines. It spins. It constructs story-lines for advantage, it gaslights, it perverts the consensus about reality out of existence, it just plain lies.”

Another perfect paragraph James! We can’t hate them enough!

JohnAZ's avatar

I hav debated with folks many times that have very obvious TDS, and have read the opposing views on CFN for years. Most are legitimate viewpoints of people concerned about the situation in DC and Trump’s inability to do much about it. Some though hinge on delusion, vivid imaginations, and would qualify for an APA diagnosis. Like any other delusional situation, these folks can be dangerous, violent, and able to justify homicide. We seem to read about these people multiple times per week, and our law enforcement seems unable to stop them. What level of carnage will be allowed to occur before the people react, and how can they react.

Trump’s law enforcement effort in DC seems to have helped, or did the bums just move elsewhere?

William Wallace's avatar

Dem Bums are still in office 😉

Old Gyrene's avatar

"Dem Bums..."

You quoting Yogi Berra?

🤣

Scott Kinghorn's avatar

I wondered about that also. Have seen several videos about lawless juveniles in large groups terrorizing businesses in DC or the Navel District? Not sure where that is.

Double Mc's avatar

I think you mean the Naval district. Navel is a belly button. ;)

Scott Kinghorn's avatar

Yeah that Naval one. Lol

Paul B. Cohen's avatar

Well put. Thank you, Jim. Enjoy your day.

Howard Skillington's avatar

As the Five-Day Iran War passes the three month mark this week no settlement is in the offing, notwithstanding the president’s optimistic mouth noises. There is no conceivable intersection between any of our terms and those of Iran.

Iran will not be giving up its nuclear material. It would be fatally foolish to do so. After all the years of submitting to rigorous inspections, all of which confirmed Iran’s adherence to a strict proscription against developing nuclear weapons, during which Iran was ruled by a revered religious leader who expressly forbid doing so, Iran was still subjected to the murder of that leader and an existential threat by Israel and its American lapdog. Now it knows very well what must be done to assure its survival: the same thing North Korea has done to protect itself from Western aggression. Nuclear deterrence is the only thing that works, just as it is the only thing that has enabled Israel to continue to exist for this long.

Israel and the US have failed in this war, and Iran holds the cards – most critically, a stranglehold on the world economy which Wall Street has not even faced up to yet. The US has foolish depleted its inadequate weapons inventory, even withdrawing short supplies from allies like South Korea, while Iran has an enormous number of drones and missiles staged for continuing use, as needed.

Any Kelloggian declarations of putting US boots on the ground in Iranian territory is completely risible. Our war propaganda still contends that our total troop losses number in the teens. The unavoidable immediate loss of thousands in a failed land invasion would bring Trump down in a few days.

As for legitimate midterm elections, one can only hope, but what Miriam Adelson, AIPAC, and Trump himself did to Representative Massey last week is far from encouraging. Outspending Mr. Massey by 460 per cent, nineteen per cent of Gallrein’s votes were mailed-in absentee ballots.

James Howard Kunstler's avatar

Howard Skillington, you remain a bumptious ass. Where'd you learn how to write? At a Mitt Romney PAC?

Nobody At All's avatar

The loss of Massey was as tragic as it was predictable. No dissent allowed!

Alice Ball's avatar

It was not dissent not allowed, it was the voters who kicked out Mr Accomplish-Nothing Massie.

Demeter's avatar

There's dissent, and there's lies, sabotage, and Machiavellian manipulation of the truth. No loss dumping the second.

GonzoDon's avatar

I wouldn’t look for any kind of deal or any word of the deal falling apart until the markets open on Tuesday. There’s insider trading to be done.

Jeff Keener's avatar

I've read commentary that while the IRGC is bragging that they are using the ceasefire to "reconstitute" their army (🙄), Tehran's FARAJA are conducting hundreds of executions of dissidents who protested the regime last winter. Would the west's left be moved if we had better documentation of the horrors Tehran's islamists are inflicting on the Persian people? I suppose not. I reckon DNC-Media would ignore it.

The Illusion Of Human Progress's avatar

Iran has every right in the world to enrich uranium to power plant grade. In fact they have every right to produce weapon grade uranium like every other country on the planet. It’s not Iran’s fault that Trump tore up a perfectly good nonproliferation agreement in 2018. they would be fools to give that right up unless course Israel hands over their nukes first.

James Howard Kunstler's avatar

Illusion of Human Progress: your attitude isn't even intelligent enough to label as cynicism.

Steve S's avatar

To the Lefty left I would add the Righty right as they converge in an orgy of TDS and pro Iran nonsense.

Jorge Fernandez's avatar

Yes, indeed, there is a Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). However, things have changed .......

I've created an additional TDS category. I refer to them as TDS1 and TDS2. Let me explain ...........

We all remember the original TDS, which I refer to as TDS1. Concisely, TDS1 was (and is) the position believing that Trump "COULD DO NOTHING *RIGHT*". Under TDS1, Trump was "wrong on all things said and done; Trump was evil in everything; Trump was stupid on all views and decisions."

Then I began noting the exact **opposite** position - I called it TDS2. TDS2 was (and is) the position believing that Trump "COULD DO NOTHING *WRONG*". Under TDS2, Trump was "RIGHT on all things said and done; Trump was GOOD in everything; Trump was SUPER-SMART on all views and decisions."

As such, when people with TDS2 could not figure out what super-genius Trump was doing - something that "appeared" stupid - those people would conclude that Trump was "playing 7-dimensional chess, while the rest of humanity was in a sandbox playing tic-tac-toe."

In my own circles I've met people that suffer *extreme* forms of TDS2. If you dare speak anything negative about Trump, such as express any criticism of his words or actions, you'd better be at a safe distance.

So, yes, TDS exists. Now you know that there are two types of TDS - TDS1 and TDS2. Hopefully, you suffer from none of them but are instead grounded on objective reality.

Nobody At All's avatar

LOL! Soon to be reflected in the DSM-5 or 6.

Ben's avatar

Indeed, Jorge really is one of those people who simply can't understand what is wrong with everyone else and never realizes he is the one that is fucked up.

Typical full of shit liberal.

Inisfad's avatar

I watch TousiTV and if you’re interested in Iran, this is the best place to get any info. The various factions of the IRGC and Iranian government are at odds with each other, and there are actually factions on Iranian TV advising that there is no negotiation or prospective peace deal. There is not one faction who speaks for the entirety of Iran. Additionally, apparently Iran has buried enriched uranium in at least 3 separate places. Will they give all of this up? The answer (at least thus far) is a resounding NO. While I understand that President Trump likes to negotiate and make deals, there are some people with whom that is impossible. And Iran is one of those. ‘Negotiation-incapable’ is the perfect way to describe it.

Ben's avatar

It appears to always have been which is why Persia has been annihilated in its history by those who sought to negotiate with them.

Ask the Mongols about making deals with Persians.

I fear this is the only talk these people really understand.

Inisfad's avatar

I think that, at least currently, we need to differentiate between Persians (and the rest of the civilians that make up the Iranian citizenry) and the Islamic radicals that have governed their country for decades.

Ben's avatar

There is a difference however ignore history at your own peril there is in fact precedence for a level of insanity where pride and obstinance get one destroyed.

That is what it took before, and it might very well be what it takes now.

eckbach's avatar

If Iran wanted "the bomb," it would have made one years ago.

Good lord, people are stupid.

JohnAZ's avatar

Yeah, so ask yourself, why DIDN’T those nut jobs develop the bombs.

It is documented that they had yellowcake.

It is documented they have 60% uranium or plutonium.

They have not used any of it to increase energy production.

What exactly are they doing?

What did those B2s hit?

Why exactly are the nut jobs up to being so protective about that uranium?

Are we going to give SA et al around the Gulf, the bomb per our 1943 treaty, to offset Iran? Talk about a powder keg.

Gwennie's avatar

I feel like we need ICD codes for a lot of the things we've experienced in the last 10 years:

- One for what my 70 year old neighbor's children had when they uninvited their widower father from Thanksgiving because he was a Trump supporter

- One for injecting pregnant women, infants and children with an experimental gene therapy where there was no safety data to support it, and such conduct has been declared medially unethical for decades, and is in fact prohibited under law in most civilized countries

- A diagnosis for whatever caused doctors, nurses and hospitals to take bribes for specific medical 'treatments' and to preferentially assign patients to that treatment, killing many of them while staff practiced their hospital corridor dance routines

- Probably several codes are needed for 'parents' and 'doctors' who willingly put children's futures and genitalia in a blender while woke freaks and virtue-signaling nihilists egged them on, and then assigned hateful names for anyone who dared to question the wisdom of this approach

- One for all the "adult children" who have cut normal and loving parents from their lives, a social phenomenon that affects about a quarter of all families now, robs grandchildren of love and support, and leaves grandparents suicidal

- And one for the monetization of everything, from the most profane to the formerly most sacred.

We have been overtaken by madness...

Rich Mohlmann's avatar

Things better begin happening quickly. Time is running out. Tick tock

GonzoDon's avatar

I wouldn’t look for any kind of deal or any word of the deal falling apart until the markets open on Tuesday. There’s insider trading to be done.

Chris's avatar

Iran tried negotiating early on but their negotiators were slaughtered.