Chris, 3 comments: 1) it is a Gallup poll, and they lean right. I would wait for more data and not base your understanding based on a single poll from them. 2) The movement Gallup finds is almost certainly entirely within Republican voters, and not among Dems. 3) Please do not ask for a show of hands here, and turn this important discussion into some kind of litmus test. LGBTQ community I assume has broad and deep support in this community. So if only 150 people respond to you that gets turned into some kind of indictment of the Hopium community? We can dive into this important discussion in a more constructive way. Thank you and glad you are here with us fighting - Simon
And I will keep my eyes open for more polling. I think what has happened on many issues in recent years is that the right has become much more MAGA while Dems and indies haven't changed much but if all you do is report the aggregate number it looks like a broad decline rather than a change in the ideology of the American right.
I actually bet that Dems have become more supportive rather than less but I will see if I can find data on all this this week. It's a good and worthy discussion, and yes, Happy Pride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Basically I over freaked out about a Gallup poll showing declining support for LGBTQ rights and had asked for a show of hands for support here, and Simon then explained why I should wait for more data and not pose litmus tests on this chat.
Hi Chris - Anyone who supports democracy certainly supports the civil rights and social justice for all marginalized communities I would hope! Thanks for bringing up the topic and happy Pride month!
I have seen some throwing over of trans people in "pro-democracy" spaces, including the Dems in general, and specific message boards. I have never ever seen any kind of bigotry tolerated in Hopium. We all have to fight back hard when we see it.
Agree Annie. Trans folks are the freaking least of our worries, and my trans friends are special and valued and loved people. My primary care doc is a trans man - best and most caring doc I’ve ever had!
Yes! But on a side note, I am often perplexed at the term "LGBTQ community". Writing "community" in the singular seems both artificial and pretense, for it is anything but!
However much it seems unfair and unreasonable, protesters have to be impeccably peaceful! We have far too much to lose by people allowing themselves to be provoked by Trump’s outrageous mobilization of the National Guard and US Marines.
It is also time for those who have sworn an Oath of Office to stand up for our U.S. Constitution. Simple actions make a difference, like law enforcement officers taking a knee in solidarity with protesters.
I fully agree! Interestingly, the LAPD News Release, underscoring that protests were peaceful and explicitly thanking the protesters, essentially does that.
I wrote my Senators Van Hollen and Alsobrooks and urged them to hold a joint press conference to decry the awful situation caused by Trump & Miller in Los Angeles.
It seems accurate, but I still have to read the Executive Orders a bit more closely. Should we as an opposition try coordinating a Big Tech blackout? At least, a more effective one than before?
Thanks for your thoughts. I definitely will provide my own comments another day; I just wanted to read over the Executive Orders so that I could provide a truly informed opinion about the whole matter. I may even write a post about it, if need be. But I didn't want to shoot from the hip here. Especially in case Simon and others in the community thought the threat was overstated.
It seems that intelligent debates, or even attempt at such, has become "elitist".
I often quip that American education needs far more CRT – and by that I mean Critical Rational Thinking. This includes educating students to recognize false news, misinformation and disinformation; believe it or not, this is an integral part of the secondary school curriculum in e.g. Finland.
Recently, I was at a gathering. One person started going off on the Democrats. Said they were not really well informed and didn't read much about politics. Then, proceeded to have very strong opinions. All her "facts" were right wing talking points. So, on the one hand, they matter of factly stated oh I don't read that much about it but .... (right wing talking points). It was frustrating, maddening and disheartening. It was caught off guard bc I did not want to get in an argument. I was a guest. My position was clear but I said little. My long winded reply is basically, a lot of people, almost proudly admit they don't know much and then state right wing talking points as facts that they agree with 100%. When I pointed out that they were incorrect on one point, I was dismissed me with a hand gesture. They asked for a solution to the homeless problem. I said solutions don't come in sound bites.
I agree. I think we should start saying "Solutions Don't Come in Sound Bites". The person did sort of look puzzled and didn't have an answer.
I also often say "You can't deny the stench that comes with voting for Trump" when someone tells me they voted for Trump but don't agree with him, etc. To be fair, it's usually after they won't shut up. 😬
Thank you, Simon! This interview was so inspiring! Also excited for NJ, which, along with VA, has a governor's race this year. It would be great to send both of these kick-ass women to their statehouses. I thought Newsome did a good job of hitting back at Trump and I loved his earlier taunt of, "Come on and arrest me, tough guy, you know where I am. But leave 4-year-old girls alone." That's the attitude we need right now.
I called Congressman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen to ask them to get louder opposing Trump's billionaire budget and to get rid of RFK. Senator Alsobrooks, in particular, has been outspoken on issues of health and RFK. I'm writing postcards to NC voters today.
I've subscribed on YouTube to the Democrats' Daily Blueprint. It's gotten better in just a few days. So helpful to have a place where it's easy to learn the Dem position on important issues. I've shared it on Social Media.
We have a candidate! While I did not vote for Rep. Sherrill in the primary, NJ Dems have our orders, and they are to unite and defeat MAGA man. We are already organizing and registering our peeps. It's all about turnout, and I think she will be good at engagement and bringing the fight. I also would not be surprised to see one of the other candidates get appointed to her administration.
Going to call Rep. Chris Smith (Traitor-NJ04) and get on his case again re the Suicide Pact. Was not aware they were back to square one and marking up again till I saw some footage yesterday of DeLauro reaming Kegstand Pete.
Booker & Kim will get their calls, too.
Off to continue organizing for No Kings, we are all systems go to make a big showing in Asbury Park, and hope Rep. Sherrill can attend.
I get the impression NJ is a tougher fight than VA in terms of the governor's race this year? Is that a wrong takeaway from the politico discussion about New Jersey's shift to the right in 2024 (especially with the move in Latino voters towards the GOP)?
No, it is not. It will be tougher than usual, but turnout yesterday for Dems was far better than for Rs, and the Latinx community are becoming disillusioned w the Orange agenda so that should help. We have to push Unaffiliateds (more of them than Rs) to vote Dem. We desperately need partisan voter registration!
So happy to see Simon and Hopium included in Heather Cox Richardson's post today!
"Simon Rosenberg of Hopium Chronicles noted that Trump is “turning the world’s powerful military away from its focus on Russia and China toward a new enemy—the American people themselves.” He mused: “I’ve been saying that I felt Trump’s dramatic escalation in recent days was driven in part by Musk’s emasculation of him last week. I also wonder whether it’s being driven by Zelensky’s profound humiliation of Putin, and Putin lashing out at Trump for not delivering Ukraine to him.”
Self report from WI. I made a few rounds of calls to all 3 members of congress regarding tariffs/bill, ICE, and NIH,NSF and academia I asked my Dem Senator to hold a press conference to stand up for CA and Gov Newsome Sent an email to WI governor thanking him for speaking out against federalization of national guard and to strongly and outwardly stand with CA and Gov. Newsom. I sent an email to Gov. Newsom thanking him for his strong message. Feeling quite overwhelmed but staying in the fight. I’m thankful for your hard work, Simon and for the inspiration I receive from this community.
For the first time in several weeks I tuned into Morning Joe on msnbc. I was expecting some outrage and hard hitting pushback. Silly me.
I was aghast at the coverage. Jonathan Lemeire reported that the white house was very pleased how it was going., while slipping in a lukewarm phrase here or there about the opposition. It was so calm and normalized. I quickly turned it off. Msnbc... rhymes with bend the knee ( Rachel and Lawrence excepted)
Robert Hubbell was in a similar mood as me this morning and made this short video of the streets of LA.
I cancelled my subscription to NYT last fall and turned off MSNBC in November.
I'm just wondering if anyone has some ideas besides turning away in boycott. Is that our only tool to pushback on legacy media? It only took 3 minutes this morning to raise my bloodpressure. They are facilitating Trump...and fascism.
Still doing the work, called my reps today on reconcilliation and illegal occupation of the guard and marines.
I have never liked Morning Joe. I did turn away from mainstream media last year but have moved back in a haltering fashion. Over the weekend, CNN was covering LA well--I think because their big hosts don't work on the weekend. Then on Monday they were featuring Tom Homan! I do like Maddow and O'Donnell and sometimes Chris Hayes. And weekend coverage on MSNBC, led by Ayman, was pretty good. There, I thought MSNBC was a little hobbled by the recent downsizing, rather than political perspectives. CNN remains perhaps the best at on the ground reporting. I've gotten really frustrated with WaPo and find the Times a little better. I guess I don't have a coherent suggestion here! But I am far more reliant on the Substack and YouTube type ways of getting news than I used to be.
With every dollar we spend, we vote for the society we want.
– Do we order online from Amazon, or buy from a local brick-and-mortar store? (Or at least order online directly from a small business.)
– Do we buy our in-season produce from Walmart or the local Farmers’ Market?
– Do we buy our cup of coffee at Starbucks or from a locally-owned coffee shop?
– Do we give our subscription money to cable news, or support the likes of Hopium, The Contrarian, the American Prospect, Talking Points Memo, and Bolts Magazine?
Every single one of us has a vote – in fact, usually many votes a day!
And on a related note: Do we enable "surveillance capitalism" by having location software enabled on our cell phones, and using Google for our online searches?
Or do we turn off all location software when not strictly needed, and using e.g. DuckDuckGo for online seach?
I went Christmas shopping yesterday at a local board gaming store (to get ahead of tariffs and to save me time in December). My son made me promise not to tell the clerk I what I was doing -- he was embarrassed! And knows me well! 🤣
I no longer engage with legacy media in any form, especially televised. I stick with Pro Publica, Wired, Jay Kuo, Hopium, Contrarian, Bulwark (in small doses), Heather Cox Richardson and Meidas Touch. It’s bizarre, but among legacy media, the Wall Street Journal is actually leading the way in reporting these days instead of kissing trump’s ass and sane-washing like the others do.
I ditched the NYT and WaPo and I subscribe to the Guardian. I get the same news from them without the deference the MSM shows to the Trump regime. Because they are British, you get a bigger world view as well. Also, I realized that when I did subscribe to those two papers, I spent a lot of time reading the opinion columns and the comments. I far prefer the opinions from Substack columnists and the commentary from this community.
Re: Morning Joe. I got the impression that the former president was a fan and watched it regularly.
Those channels have to present things in a way that doesn't put people in a frame of mind so that they don't pay attention to what is being sold to them when they break for commercials.
I don't watch FOX, but I'll tune to a right-wing talk channel sometimes when I'm driving just to hear what is being presented. The commercials there are very much a symbiosis with the programming: All kinds of Doomsday stuff. Gold, guns, Ready-meals, home remedies, power generators, security systems, etc.
Simon, thank you SO MUCH for your / Hopium's support of Mikie Sherrill! We need to rally around her in New Jersey to defeat the R gubernatorial candidate in November.
Simon, I want to believe people are on our side but when I spoke to a person today who is an immigrant and he brought up how he opposes the protests in LA and then I see polling this morning that shows Americans have suddenly shifted to supporting Trump on immigration since the LA ICE fiasco I am hard pressed to be optimistic. Talk me off the ledge please. Thank you!
I hope Simon will address this tonight. I'm only seeing people supporting Newsom and so forth but that may be my algorithm. I don't know whether this correponds, but when the George Floyd protests began, many were worried that it would hurt the Democrats. That didn't happen, despite many bad actors in those protests. (And I supported them!) It's still early, and I think maybe we should see how these unfold. I feel Trump sort of raised Newsom's profile and made him the sort of hero the Democrats have been seeking.
Peter, share this data. Cannot ever do that again. Can't claim you've seen data and then not share it. I have been presenting lots of data here and reports from literally the most respected data guy in the business; and we know that there is a lot of bad, GOP polling that they use to flood the zone. I have not seen the data you describe and I am doubtful it exists. Need that data in the next 30 minutes or I am taking your post down.
That closing statement by Newsom should have been his opening statement. TLDR for most Americans. We have to get smarter about messaging.
So Great statement, yes. But Dem's have to stop with the formal Speech and Debate class approach, and start with the meat of the matter. The one that will inspire. We need to get out there and define the moment, set the terms what is happening at the get go.
I took an online Know Your Rights training last night from ACLU of MA hosted by Indivisible MA focused on ICE raids, how immigrants can prepare and react, and what bystanders can do (and that yes, blue states are being attacked). It was excellent. Find a training if you can.
Stand Up for Science WILL ALWAYS support the LGBTQ+ community ✊🏼 Happy Pride!
You are amazing! Keep up the good work, and let us know what we can do to support!
Thank you!! Go follow Stand Up for Science on socials, sign up for our mailing list at standupforscience.net
Please come and talk to us again! Wonderful conversation!
Thank you—Simon, what do you think? Am I allowed to visit again?
Chris, 3 comments: 1) it is a Gallup poll, and they lean right. I would wait for more data and not base your understanding based on a single poll from them. 2) The movement Gallup finds is almost certainly entirely within Republican voters, and not among Dems. 3) Please do not ask for a show of hands here, and turn this important discussion into some kind of litmus test. LGBTQ community I assume has broad and deep support in this community. So if only 150 people respond to you that gets turned into some kind of indictment of the Hopium community? We can dive into this important discussion in a more constructive way. Thank you and glad you are here with us fighting - Simon
Good points, Simon. I will pass this on to Erin in the Morning
And I will keep my eyes open for more polling. I think what has happened on many issues in recent years is that the right has become much more MAGA while Dems and indies haven't changed much but if all you do is report the aggregate number it looks like a broad decline rather than a change in the ideology of the American right.
I actually bet that Dems have become more supportive rather than less but I will see if I can find data on all this this week. It's a good and worthy discussion, and yes, Happy Pride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would also like to apologize for misusing this chat in relation to your third point
If you don't mind my asking, what exactly was the Gallup poll about? Can't tell from this comment thread.
Basically I over freaked out about a Gallup poll showing declining support for LGBTQ rights and had asked for a show of hands for support here, and Simon then explained why I should wait for more data and not pose litmus tests on this chat.
Hi Chris - Anyone who supports democracy certainly supports the civil rights and social justice for all marginalized communities I would hope! Thanks for bringing up the topic and happy Pride month!
I have seen some throwing over of trans people in "pro-democracy" spaces, including the Dems in general, and specific message boards. I have never ever seen any kind of bigotry tolerated in Hopium. We all have to fight back hard when we see it.
Agree Annie. Trans folks are the freaking least of our worries, and my trans friends are special and valued and loved people. My primary care doc is a trans man - best and most caring doc I’ve ever had!
Yes! But on a side note, I am often perplexed at the term "LGBTQ community". Writing "community" in the singular seems both artificial and pretense, for it is anything but!
However much it seems unfair and unreasonable, protesters have to be impeccably peaceful! We have far too much to lose by people allowing themselves to be provoked by Trump’s outrageous mobilization of the National Guard and US Marines.
Because that's exactly what he wants. We should not give ANY inch to him.
RAIN ON TRUMP’s PARADE
DC weather forecast for 14 June (Trump’s birthday & military parade):
Afternoon and evening thunderstorms. Rain: 0.43 inches.
https://www.wunderground.com/hourly/us/dc/washington/date/2025-06-14
Thunder, huh? What about lightning? You know, that Trump guy's a pretty big target....
Agreed. Take heed from the civil rights sit-ins. Do not be provoked. That is what they want.
It is also time for those who have sworn an Oath of Office to stand up for our U.S. Constitution. Simple actions make a difference, like law enforcement officers taking a knee in solidarity with protesters.
I fully agree! Interestingly, the LAPD News Release, underscoring that protests were peaceful and explicitly thanking the protesters, essentially does that.
Yes! ☮️ We hope to see peace and kindness everywhere. ✌️
I wrote my Senators Van Hollen and Alsobrooks and urged them to hold a joint press conference to decry the awful situation caused by Trump & Miller in Los Angeles.
Hello Simon,
What do you make of this story: https://loricorbetmann.substack.com/p/breaking-while-we-watched-musk-and?
It seems accurate, but I still have to read the Executive Orders a bit more closely. Should we as an opposition try coordinating a Big Tech blackout? At least, a more effective one than before?
A fascinating article, thanks for sharing. I do have some thoughts but will save those for a larger discussion.
Edit: David, perhaps it’s worth reposting this link another day, but adding your own thoughts and comments?
Hello ArcticStones,
Thanks for your thoughts. I definitely will provide my own comments another day; I just wanted to read over the Executive Orders so that I could provide a truly informed opinion about the whole matter. I may even write a post about it, if need be. But I didn't want to shoot from the hip here. Especially in case Simon and others in the community thought the threat was overstated.
🔸"Fascist politics seeks to undermine public discourse by attacking and devaluing education, expertise, and language.
🔸Intelligent debate is impossible without an education with access to different perspectives, a respect for expertise"
"How Fascism Works the Politics of Us and Them", Stanley, p63
It seems that intelligent debates, or even attempt at such, has become "elitist".
I often quip that American education needs far more CRT – and by that I mean Critical Rational Thinking. This includes educating students to recognize false news, misinformation and disinformation; believe it or not, this is an integral part of the secondary school curriculum in e.g. Finland.
Recently, I was at a gathering. One person started going off on the Democrats. Said they were not really well informed and didn't read much about politics. Then, proceeded to have very strong opinions. All her "facts" were right wing talking points. So, on the one hand, they matter of factly stated oh I don't read that much about it but .... (right wing talking points). It was frustrating, maddening and disheartening. It was caught off guard bc I did not want to get in an argument. I was a guest. My position was clear but I said little. My long winded reply is basically, a lot of people, almost proudly admit they don't know much and then state right wing talking points as facts that they agree with 100%. When I pointed out that they were incorrect on one point, I was dismissed me with a hand gesture. They asked for a solution to the homeless problem. I said solutions don't come in sound bites.
Well said! Republicans and MAGA voters have always had more succinct bumper stickers than we do.
I agree. I think we should start saying "Solutions Don't Come in Sound Bites". The person did sort of look puzzled and didn't have an answer.
I also often say "You can't deny the stench that comes with voting for Trump" when someone tells me they voted for Trump but don't agree with him, etc. To be fair, it's usually after they won't shut up. 😬
Excellent! I once joked about producing a pro-Warren bumper sticker: "I support well-regulated capitalism!"
(Yes, I’m well aware it doesn’t flow off the tongue, which is my point.)
I get it! 😂.
Thank you Simon for supporting Mikie and coming to New Jersey 💙💙
Thank you, Simon! This interview was so inspiring! Also excited for NJ, which, along with VA, has a governor's race this year. It would be great to send both of these kick-ass women to their statehouses. I thought Newsome did a good job of hitting back at Trump and I loved his earlier taunt of, "Come on and arrest me, tough guy, you know where I am. But leave 4-year-old girls alone." That's the attitude we need right now.
I called Congressman Raskin and Senators Alsobrooks and Van Hollen to ask them to get louder opposing Trump's billionaire budget and to get rid of RFK. Senator Alsobrooks, in particular, has been outspoken on issues of health and RFK. I'm writing postcards to NC voters today.
I've subscribed on YouTube to the Democrats' Daily Blueprint. It's gotten better in just a few days. So helpful to have a place where it's easy to learn the Dem position on important issues. I've shared it on Social Media.
We have a candidate! While I did not vote for Rep. Sherrill in the primary, NJ Dems have our orders, and they are to unite and defeat MAGA man. We are already organizing and registering our peeps. It's all about turnout, and I think she will be good at engagement and bringing the fight. I also would not be surprised to see one of the other candidates get appointed to her administration.
Going to call Rep. Chris Smith (Traitor-NJ04) and get on his case again re the Suicide Pact. Was not aware they were back to square one and marking up again till I saw some footage yesterday of DeLauro reaming Kegstand Pete.
Booker & Kim will get their calls, too.
Off to continue organizing for No Kings, we are all systems go to make a big showing in Asbury Park, and hope Rep. Sherrill can attend.
Keep going!
Asbury Park! And wish I could vote in Jersey. My son can tho. And he is all in. Hoboken proud.
Every time I see you put Traitor-NJ04 in a post I start to giggle and I have no ties to NJ and no knowledge of him. But I appreciate your framing!
He is such an a$$. Got in bc of Abscam, that's how long he's been there. UGH.
I get the impression NJ is a tougher fight than VA in terms of the governor's race this year? Is that a wrong takeaway from the politico discussion about New Jersey's shift to the right in 2024 (especially with the move in Latino voters towards the GOP)?
No, it is not. It will be tougher than usual, but turnout yesterday for Dems was far better than for Rs, and the Latinx community are becoming disillusioned w the Orange agenda so that should help. We have to push Unaffiliateds (more of them than Rs) to vote Dem. We desperately need partisan voter registration!
So happy to see Simon and Hopium included in Heather Cox Richardson's post today!
"Simon Rosenberg of Hopium Chronicles noted that Trump is “turning the world’s powerful military away from its focus on Russia and China toward a new enemy—the American people themselves.” He mused: “I’ve been saying that I felt Trump’s dramatic escalation in recent days was driven in part by Musk’s emasculation of him last week. I also wonder whether it’s being driven by Zelensky’s profound humiliation of Putin, and Putin lashing out at Trump for not delivering Ukraine to him.”
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-10-2025?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=20533&post_id=165684305&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=p0z68&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Love this!
I think she’s quoted Simon two nights in a row now.
Hmmm, more than 3 months since the first discussion these two had on March 5. Seems like a good time to put in a request for another one
Self report from WI. I made a few rounds of calls to all 3 members of congress regarding tariffs/bill, ICE, and NIH,NSF and academia I asked my Dem Senator to hold a press conference to stand up for CA and Gov Newsome Sent an email to WI governor thanking him for speaking out against federalization of national guard and to strongly and outwardly stand with CA and Gov. Newsom. I sent an email to Gov. Newsom thanking him for his strong message. Feeling quite overwhelmed but staying in the fight. I’m thankful for your hard work, Simon and for the inspiration I receive from this community.
I signed on to two of the letters from Stand Up For Science. Thanks for giving them exposure. I wasn’t aware they existed.
Hi Patrick - I signed too and it was great meeting Collette!
For the first time in several weeks I tuned into Morning Joe on msnbc. I was expecting some outrage and hard hitting pushback. Silly me.
I was aghast at the coverage. Jonathan Lemeire reported that the white house was very pleased how it was going., while slipping in a lukewarm phrase here or there about the opposition. It was so calm and normalized. I quickly turned it off. Msnbc... rhymes with bend the knee ( Rachel and Lawrence excepted)
Robert Hubbell was in a similar mood as me this morning and made this short video of the streets of LA.
https://youtu.be/Vp6_sTzvxqc?si=rrqJN6S1swaw0jpq
I cancelled my subscription to NYT last fall and turned off MSNBC in November.
I'm just wondering if anyone has some ideas besides turning away in boycott. Is that our only tool to pushback on legacy media? It only took 3 minutes this morning to raise my bloodpressure. They are facilitating Trump...and fascism.
Still doing the work, called my reps today on reconcilliation and illegal occupation of the guard and marines.
I have never liked Morning Joe. I did turn away from mainstream media last year but have moved back in a haltering fashion. Over the weekend, CNN was covering LA well--I think because their big hosts don't work on the weekend. Then on Monday they were featuring Tom Homan! I do like Maddow and O'Donnell and sometimes Chris Hayes. And weekend coverage on MSNBC, led by Ayman, was pretty good. There, I thought MSNBC was a little hobbled by the recent downsizing, rather than political perspectives. CNN remains perhaps the best at on the ground reporting. I've gotten really frustrated with WaPo and find the Times a little better. I guess I don't have a coherent suggestion here! But I am far more reliant on the Substack and YouTube type ways of getting news than I used to be.
Rachel Lawrence Jen Chris and Nicole have always been the best sources for facts. Turning them off is not healthy. Facts matter
I find CNN boring and lackluster. The “fight” is not longer in them
I watch BBC America interesting perspective
With every dollar we spend, we vote for the society we want.
– Do we order online from Amazon, or buy from a local brick-and-mortar store? (Or at least order online directly from a small business.)
– Do we buy our in-season produce from Walmart or the local Farmers’ Market?
– Do we buy our cup of coffee at Starbucks or from a locally-owned coffee shop?
– Do we give our subscription money to cable news, or support the likes of Hopium, The Contrarian, the American Prospect, Talking Points Memo, and Bolts Magazine?
Every single one of us has a vote – in fact, usually many votes a day!
And on a related note: Do we enable "surveillance capitalism" by having location software enabled on our cell phones, and using Google for our online searches?
Or do we turn off all location software when not strictly needed, and using e.g. DuckDuckGo for online seach?
I’d add @couriernewsroom
I went Christmas shopping yesterday at a local board gaming store (to get ahead of tariffs and to save me time in December). My son made me promise not to tell the clerk I what I was doing -- he was embarrassed! And knows me well! 🤣
I pay for the Guardian and am pretty satisfied with their coverage overall.
I no longer engage with legacy media in any form, especially televised. I stick with Pro Publica, Wired, Jay Kuo, Hopium, Contrarian, Bulwark (in small doses), Heather Cox Richardson and Meidas Touch. It’s bizarre, but among legacy media, the Wall Street Journal is actually leading the way in reporting these days instead of kissing trump’s ass and sane-washing like the others do.
I ditched the NYT and WaPo and I subscribe to the Guardian. I get the same news from them without the deference the MSM shows to the Trump regime. Because they are British, you get a bigger world view as well. Also, I realized that when I did subscribe to those two papers, I spent a lot of time reading the opinion columns and the comments. I far prefer the opinions from Substack columnists and the commentary from this community.
Re: Morning Joe. I got the impression that the former president was a fan and watched it regularly.
Those channels have to present things in a way that doesn't put people in a frame of mind so that they don't pay attention to what is being sold to them when they break for commercials.
I don't watch FOX, but I'll tune to a right-wing talk channel sometimes when I'm driving just to hear what is being presented. The commercials there are very much a symbiosis with the programming: All kinds of Doomsday stuff. Gold, guns, Ready-meals, home remedies, power generators, security systems, etc.
Simon, thank you SO MUCH for your / Hopium's support of Mikie Sherrill! We need to rally around her in New Jersey to defeat the R gubernatorial candidate in November.
Simon, I want to believe people are on our side but when I spoke to a person today who is an immigrant and he brought up how he opposes the protests in LA and then I see polling this morning that shows Americans have suddenly shifted to supporting Trump on immigration since the LA ICE fiasco I am hard pressed to be optimistic. Talk me off the ledge please. Thank you!
I hope Simon will address this tonight. I'm only seeing people supporting Newsom and so forth but that may be my algorithm. I don't know whether this correponds, but when the George Floyd protests began, many were worried that it would hurt the Democrats. That didn't happen, despite many bad actors in those protests. (And I supported them!) It's still early, and I think maybe we should see how these unfold. I feel Trump sort of raised Newsom's profile and made him the sort of hero the Democrats have been seeking.
Peter, share this data. Cannot ever do that again. Can't claim you've seen data and then not share it. I have been presenting lots of data here and reports from literally the most respected data guy in the business; and we know that there is a lot of bad, GOP polling that they use to flood the zone. I have not seen the data you describe and I am doubtful it exists. Need that data in the next 30 minutes or I am taking your post down.
That closing statement by Newsom should have been his opening statement. TLDR for most Americans. We have to get smarter about messaging.
So Great statement, yes. But Dem's have to stop with the formal Speech and Debate class approach, and start with the meat of the matter. The one that will inspire. We need to get out there and define the moment, set the terms what is happening at the get go.
Besides calling my Senators, Rep, and Governor today, a few notes:
Boston's Mayor Wu is speaking out and filing FOIAs to find out what ICE is doing with our immigrant neighbors who've been snatched. Are your elected officials pushing for transparency as well? https://www.wbur.org/news/2025/06/10/wu-boston-trump-ice-arrests-transparency
Is your local media covering how detainees are being treated? These cruel and incompetent fascists didn't plan for anything. Or maybe this is their plan. Disgusting. It must be exposed. https://www.wbur.org/news/2025/06/11/inhumane-detainments-burlington-ice-dhs-women
I took an online Know Your Rights training last night from ACLU of MA hosted by Indivisible MA focused on ICE raids, how immigrants can prepare and react, and what bystanders can do (and that yes, blue states are being attacked). It was excellent. Find a training if you can.
ACLU-MA also has a page on Know Your Rights for protesters. Maybe the ACLUs in your states do as well if you weren't able to find a training. https://www.aclum.org/en/know-your-rights/know-your-rights-general-guidance-demonstrations-and-protests
Thanks for that Know Your Rights link