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Mindy Greenwood's avatar

Greetings

I too have literally yes literally cut the wire on my

tell LIE vision!

Best decision I've made in years.

Also I HAD to distance myself on social media.

It was IMPERATIVE for my survival.

Couldn't bear to WITNESS anymore children burned alive in Gaza.

SELF PRESERVATION!

I stick mainly to Substack and other sources for my news. Also I find the audiences DON'T engage in juvenile name calling.

I AGREE however "we shouldn't concede our responsibilities as citizens"

IGNORANCE MIGHT BE BLISS, but we MUST stay informed in order to keep the "establishment" and the "system" in check.

Not a big reader of the associated press. I just figured they were part of the "Corporate Media" group and I steered clear of them. Again, we all might be disenchanted but we MUST stay informed.

Thank you ❣️

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Ken Tingley's avatar

Sounds like you are pursuing a good balance.

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Richie Bittner's avatar

"Most of all, we have to insist on truth, justice and the American way, and to fight like to maintain it." I couldn't agree more, but when the Supreme Court ruled on immunity for the ex president I lost faith. Trump got re-elected I lost more faith. The fact that more Americans voted for him than Ms. Harris I find myself wondering what happened to "Ask not what your country can do for you" had become to some in the news media saying the Harris lost the black youth because the Dems didn't do enough for them. When he said they are eating the cats, our media largely treated it as a rational statement by a candidate instead of saying out loud that he is insane and ignorant. No one predicted in the dawn of the internet age that the words "mis-information" and "dis-information" would become the best discriptors of the age of information. So yeah, I pay way less attention, and MSMBC is on the skids as is CNN but FOX a WWE is ascendant. We can't quite as you say, but at the same time, my desire to stay sane is at odds with my desire to remain informed. (from a New Yorker cartoon). The guardrails of democracy have been demolished by the Republicans and the courts they have created and the very sound principles of our democracy were built on the notion of honerable people holding the principles of law and justice in high regard and not as some loop hole to exploited for political advantage. That is where we are. So it's like watching an execution, some will stare as the victim breaths his last, but decent folk avert their gaze or don't show up at all. The republicans ran on and won by lying and the folks that voted for them bought it. The news media, largely owned by very few corporations did nothing to challenge the absolute insanity of the Trump campaign. And now as he nominates some absolute idiots to very important positions, the news concentrates of Gatez and sex, not RFK and whale heads and contrail theories. We are screwed, for a while anyway and the Information Age needs guardrails, and which the right wing thugs cry freedom of speech. Imagine if we had a law that said you need to back up your political claims with facts? That lying to get elected is a crime? Wouldn't matter, Trump gets away with everything and ABC news can go to hell. My 2 cents...

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Sara Idleman's avatar

Brilliant!

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Ken Tingley's avatar

Hard to argue with any of this, but it seems most of the complaints are with the televised media that is struggling for ratings. While print has its own set of problems, I still believe people have more faith in print, but then again I spent decades working there.

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Al Bellenchia's avatar

“The moment we no longer have a free press, anything can happen. What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed.” - Hannah Arendt

In many cases, we no longer have a free press serving the public, but a captured one.

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Ken Tingley's avatar

Or a press that is disabled by the lack of resources.

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Al Bellenchia's avatar

I think that goes hand in hand. It’s no longer viewed as a public trust.

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Sara Idleman's avatar

Of course Dan Stec is running. I wouldn't be surprised if he, like Stefanik, didn't acquire the Stec for Congress domain name years ago.

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Ken Tingley's avatar

Interesting point, but I'd be surprised if he obtained the "Stec for president" domain as Stefanik did.

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Sara Idleman's avatar

Agree. She is far more strategic. I listened to his interview on WAMC yesterday. His claim that his strength is his electability is rather juvenile. Not a surprise!

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Beth Ann Fitzgerald's avatar

Knew Stec the Snake would throw in.

He's worse than Stefanik - she led him around on a leash for years. Also he knows the difficulties of the North Country and I've not seen anything he's done to help us.

I do see he supports *patriots*, Stefanik and trump.

Gross.

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Ken Tingley's avatar

The Dan Stec who was the Queensbury supervisor is much different that the Dan Stec who bowed down to Elise Stefanik in recent years. That is regrettable. Stec could have done so much more good remaining in Queensbury and Warren County, but ambition seems to have gotten the best of him.

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mike parwana's avatar

Stec made some huge blunders and moved on to higher office before his mistakes came back to haunt us.

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Kevin Robbins's avatar

You’d probably know this, Mike. Are there primaries for the party candidate before they run in a general to replace our soon to be dearly departed? Or do they get anointed? There seem to be a substantial number throwing their hats in the ring in both parties.

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mike parwana's avatar

No primaries. There will be a special election called by the Governor if Stefanik resigns to take the UN post. Then candidates will be chosen by the 15 county chairs of each party, D, R, and I believe Conservative and Working Families. The Con and WF candidates will almost certainly be the same as the R and D respectively, because the Cons and WF are not real parties by my definition - virtually never running their own slate. So ordinary voters won’t get a chance to weigh in except by bending the ear of their county chair. It’s not the best system, but time will be too short to go through a full process.

The Gov will set 2 dates, one for selection of the candidates, and the other for the special election. Those dates are a bit flexible within parameters laid out in statute.

I believe that county chairs from each of the 15 counties wholly or partially within the district will all get 1 full vote, despite several counties only falling partially within NYY21

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Paula Collins's avatar

Actually, the county chairs will have weighted votes. I think that the weight is determined by the number of voters in the county, but perhaps the weight is the number of registered voters from the respective parties. On the Democratic side, the chairman from St. Lawrence County has the heaviest vote.

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mike parwana's avatar

Thanks for the correction! That is good to know.

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Susan Andrews's avatar

Stec’s statement reads like a page from Stefanik’s playbook. No doubt the same ghost-writing team that has spewed her double-speak-lies for years.

Stec has already taken a government oath of office twice…as a new Naval Officer… and as our NYS representative.

If he replaces Elise, he will utter the same false promises to defend our country from all enemies…foreign and domestic. Like Judas who sold out Jesus for $$$…denied him three times…Stec will likely deny and defy his oath to our U.S. Constitution the third time…selling us out for GOP $$$ and pseudo- prestige. He is already boasting about being “most electable.” Which translates —-> most bucks from gazillionaires who buy their candidates like thoroughbred horses with the best odds of becoming “winners.”

Yet, by supporting Trump and Musk and all the proposed candidates for incoming cabinet positions, Stec has already proven he is a loser.

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Ken Tingley's avatar

What is so unfortunate is Stec's first argument is that he is the best candidate to keep Republicans in power instead of the best candidate to serve the people and make a difference in their lives.

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Maggie's avatar

Yeah - "the most electable" isnt usually the first phrase of a "public servant's" mouth when they decide to run for office. Somewhere the serve & make a difference part has disappeared, I guess!

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Ibby's avatar

My head is with you, really, but my heart is broken.

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Ibby's avatar

About following the news, that is.

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Ken Tingley's avatar

Totally understandable. Hearts sometimes heal.

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Maureen V's avatar

Not surprised by Stec running for Stefanik's seat. Not one bit. Stec is a sycophant to Stefanik as Stefanik is to Trump. He will "serve" NY21 just as she did, by spouting lies and be subservient to MAGA GOP and Trump.

I just read Stephen Robinson's Public Notice Substack on how the press is ignoring the reality behind Trump and MAGA House Republicans attacks and demands for investigation, prosecution and imprisonment of Liz Cheney for her role on the House Committee investigating the brutal and violent attack and attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election on Jan. 6 2021. It is chilling indeed.

Trump's appointees and his loyal MAGA Republicans will do anything to ensure that Trump's desire for revenge and retribution against any and all of his perceived enemies will become reality. Stec, if elected, will be an obedient member and endorse it all, no matter how twisted and cruel it may be.

And, of course, the likes of MSNBC, CNN, NY Times, etc. will "sanewash" Trump's decrees, efforts and action by dumbing them down rather than risk raising the ire of Trump and becoming targets themselves.

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Rick Paula's avatar

I too am exhausted with national politics. Trump won so I’m going to sit back, get some popcorn and watch. I’m fortunate that I’ll probably be minimally affected by what he wants to do. I’ll get re-engaged in national politics in 2026 when it comes time for the mid-terms. I consider the race to replace Stefanik a local race and hope we can find some Democratic candidate to run. If local Dems can come out and flip the seat, we can really compromise Trump’s ability to govern in the House. But finding that candidate will be daunting. Who’s this Blake Gendebien? Why him? Who instead? Inquiring minds, yada, yada, yada.

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Diane's avatar

I noticed Dan said nothing about the needs of NY 21.

He is slimy, little sycophants of Stefanik's, who puts party over country

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Tanya Goldstein's avatar

I admit to taking a step or two back from the news. Skimming the headlines just to get the who, what, when, and where, and not delving too deeply into the how and why. When I do read the news one truly aggravating thing I’ve noticed is NOW, when it is too late, the mainstream media is telling the truth about Trump’s economic “plans” and what tariffs and mass deportations would actually do to our economy. Beforehand, it was all about how people felt about high prices and illegal immigration and how Trump was speaking to those feelings. If you wanted factual analysis you had to search it out on your own. Now even the shell of the Post Star is running articles and editorials explaining basic economic principles. Where was this zeal for educating the populace when it could have done some good?

And even now they are still sanewashing (best new word in decades!) things, pretending like now that the heated rhetoric of the election is over, Trump will actually govern rationally and abandon his more outrageous tendencies. Like ending birthright citizenship for instance. They all say well, that’s in the Constitution, it would take an amendment, so difficult to do, it would take years, etc. True in former times, maybe. But what’s to stop Trump from just announcing he’s doing it, and have “his” Justice Department start enforcing it, and the lapdog Supreme Court will find some heretofore undiscovered presidential power that allows him to delete Constitutional protections? Really, what’s to stop him? Democratic outrage? They feed on that!

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Jeremy mc's avatar

How's Stec scaring the elderly this time in the #21? His usual increase of rual drive by shootings ?

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Trip Shannon's avatar

Where he did little of note other than going deaf and dumb when asked about Elise Stefanik and MAGA.

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Bob Meyer's avatar

As tired and beaten down as many of us progressives feel we must not give in or give up. Resist!!!!

We all know that politics and society change in cycles. As long as we do not lose our democracy to fascism, the progressive movement will eventually win out.

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Don Shuler's avatar

Wasn’t there an old saying that went something like this: “My mind is made up. Don’t confuse me with the facts”?

I believe there is no presupposition less thinking. We all have our presuppositions, our biases, our assumptions, our thoughts, our beliefs, our experiences, our feelings, et al—that we bring to the table. We need to evaluate our own positions and sources in the face of the facts, in the light of reality.

For me, this is where a responsible press becomes essential. A responsible press presents us with the facts, with the truth. It has been shown and litigated that FOX news is not focused on the truth, on the facts, on reality. Unfortunately, FOX is the source for too many. And we all need to continually evaluate our own sources.

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Don Shuler's avatar

Also, as to tuning out the news, that is dangerous. We need to stay informed and active for democracy to survive. But we also need to maintain a wholistic outlook. As essential as politics is, there is life beyond politics.

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Ken Tingley's avatar

Well said!

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Walter Combs's avatar

With the incoming Trump mob of crooks, cranks and crackpots, tuning out now could be disastrous. Civil War couldn't destroy our system of government, but this group, vowing to destroy the administrative state but totally incompetent and nihilistic, just might be the ones to destroy us.

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