An opaque nonprofit affiliated with Senate Republicans, One Nation, has blanketed Georgia over the last five days with a new ad attacking Senator Jon Ossoff (D).
So what if it is? It won't reach the 78 million people seeing this ad. This sort of comment, with its 67 likes, completely misses the point and abdicates to the corrupt GOP. What are YOU going to do to counter them?
America is broken. This country is like a big dysfunctional family of cheats, liars and abusers. It is run by a man who does all of these things and, with all families, he teaches and pushes the family to his mold. Trump is a disease and he and his cronies have infected every part of this country. We need to either figure out the cure, or all go down in the plague that is Trump.
Indeed, it all starts at the top. It used to be that lies and betrayals were enough to get a politician banished. A misspelling, even (remember Dan Quayle?)
This country has certainly changed, and not for the better.
The country has changed because we are all in the sewer that is social media. Even when you are not on social media (like me), you are infected by its miasma. Congress has been self serving for generations and it now looks like the people running for office (or some holding office, see: Ohio), are not worthy of the position or even knowledgeable enough to do the job, but hey! the internet makes us all geniuses. Oh, no, that's AI.
Oh, yes, you are on social media. Substack is definitely part of the social media ecosystem. Just google (or “search it up” if you are a younger person, according to the NYS) and you will get at least six different posts from six different Substack authors discussing that very subject, one by one of the founders of Substack.
The country has changed because RW media led by FOX News and its lesser kin LIE and FABRICATE stories daily. Just a few days ago, Trump was willing to send an innocent man to prison for a DECADE because he couldn't admit his chosen reflecting pool contractor screwed up the installation, sticking to the bogus Vandalism lie, even after the charging DA--Pirro--dropped all charges.
RW media, led by FOX, are a poisonous cancer destroying this country. And all for what?! Just so they can keep the GOP in power, passing more tax cuts for the Epstein Class?! Truly disgusting.
Word. My dear departed mother was a kind, empathetic and good person who got sucked into the early days of Fox when they went after hound dog Bill Clinton. My mother saw that an older man with power should not be seduced by nor seduce a much much younger woman and Mom rode that bandwagon. But then she was hooked and try as we might, we could not get her to change the channel. It changed her. We got her back when Trump came along and she saw him for what he was. Not too late, but a lot of time lost in the morass of Fox blues.
I am on my email with Judd, my hero. That's it. And the NYT, Wapo (ugh) and the Boston Globe along with my local Berkshires paper. Nope, not on social media but everybody feeds social media into their news stories. That's enough for me. Not searching for anything although sometimes I want to see a photo or hear an outrage and I do search that and a SM page will pop up.
There are other great journalists on Substack. I no longer read (nor watch) the pathetic MSM either. Although the NYT seems to have gotten some balls back. Guess their owner finally let them.
NYT has its conservative angle, as it always has. In my lifetime, anyway.
Even WaPo still has some great pieces, IF you're willing to sift through the piles of pro-Oligarch slop obscuring them. I'm assuming even CBS has a bit of remaining journalistic talent. But as a truth seeker, can one justify the (extra) time needed to separate wheat from chaff?
There is no reason at all to justify keeping yourself well informed, as you obviously are. GOP gaslighting and lies are all they have left and will be getting worse as the midterms get closer. Your voice, Judd's and many others are needed to keep the truth visible.
Republicans are growing increasingly desperate and their coming votes to confirm Blanche and fund Trump's "not a war" with Iran will make their situation worse. So expect the lie filled ads funded by Musk and other oligarchs to accelerate to a fever pitch. And as always they will fool all of the MAGAs all of the time, and some of the rest of the people some of the time. The key question - will they fool enough non-MAGAs to make a difference?
We can't offer relief to families but we can repay billions to corporations who passed along 90% of the cost of tarrifs. Who paid for those tarrifs? Oh, we did but the American people won't see a dime of relief. We need to hear more about the corporate welfare state in this nation.
So because they know those things are not popular, they accuse the Democrat of supporting them when in fact it’s their own policies. How twisted can you get?!
How in the world can this be?????? How can bold-faced lies be okay to broadcast???? How are the people responsible for these lies not IMMEDIATELY fined heavily and required to spend a similar amount to publicly admit their lies/publish the truth???? How is it that the mainstream media doesn't call this out in no uncertain terms????
There is no way democracy will ever work if this kind of behavior is left unaddressed and unpunished, and mainstream media does not broadcast and label this behavior as completely wrong and unacceptable in a democratic country!!!!!!
According to the un-supreme court, it's a free speach issue. You see, if we made the liars admit they lied why we'd be TRAMPLING all over their 1st amendment rights, ya see?
Adam, thanks for this citation. Robert, i also appreciate your comments on Adam's. The simple truth is the world doesn't work if people lie. And certainly our democracy doesn't. Alex Smith lied about Sandy Hook. Trump lied about the 2020 election - and many other things. How's that working for the country? Free expression of ideas and opinions, however weakly supported, is protected speech. Not lies. Not statements in direct contradiction of incontrovertible observable, provable facts.
I am afraid to tell you that the court opinions are legion that lies are also protected speech. The limited exceptions are for libel, slander, fraud, negligence misrepresentation and fraudulent misrepresentation. Most of those arise in commercial settings. One political party lying about things against another political party, without inflicting some level of personal injury harm or damage simply are not actionable.
No, if it were legal to sue people whom you thought were “liars,” every court in the nation, state and federal, would be swamped by lawsuits, some meritorious, but most not - filed as extortion by greedy folks aided and abetted by greedy unscrupulous lawyers. However, we do have laws against slander and libel. Mr. Ossoff could bring such a suit, but as a “public figure” he would have to prove not only that the statements are false but also that they were made with actual malice. Why? To protect our much more important First Amendment rights. Who says? A much more liberal Supreme Court in New York Times v. Sullivan in 1964.
"Dude, seriously?" was my whole point. I can't live someone's life for them in a substack comment, or provide explanations for these basic questions about how the world works. The fact is that the answers are clear to anyone who actually makes an effort to think about them.
Whoosh. I'm not the one idiotically saying "We must be free of this menace", as if saying it does anything. We aren't going to be free of it -- duh. Wake up to the world's realities. Elsewhere you responded to my "Lots of things "should be". We need people to act, not dream." with "yup". Well, this is exactly the same thing ... "We must be free of this menace" is just dreaming.
And answering my question by asking the same of me is stupid tu quoque / whataboutism ... with that and your "Dude, seriously" you're just trolling me and for that I'm muting you.
This sounds eerily similar to an ad that was running recently against Rep Kathy Castor in Tampa, FL. Her seat was safely Democrat before Florida redistricting, but now she is in an uphill battle.
Republicans rely on an ignorant voter base to buy their lies, and it works.
According to Google AI (full disclosure: I have not checked the linked web site figures):
• 53% to 54% of U.S. adults get news from social media at least sometimes, according to data from the Pew Research Center and the Reuters Institute.
• 20% of Americans regularly get news specifically from social media influencers.
• Approximately 38% of U.S. adults report regularly getting news from Fox News, putting it on par with other major broadcast networks like ABC News (36%) and NBC News (35%).
• When asked to name a single primary outlet for political news, 13% of Americans name Fox News, making it the most commonly named individual source (compared to 10% for CNN).
I guess they calculate that most people's main source of information about anything is from advertising. Sometimes that seems to be true... but increasingly not so. The other side of the coin is to persuade the deeply frustrated to still vote. The Big Lies ad campaigns might even help get the frustrated off the couch, if Ossoff can inspire that, which he has done well lately.
I’d much rather spend Democratic money on Jon Ossoff than the intramural fighting in Michigan.
There does need to be a generational shift(despite clinging to Bernie)& fewer&fewer Democrats wanting to support Israel to the degree we do. AIPAC is almost a negative.
I assume Jon's public reaction to this will be knife-sharp, with names, dates, numbers, etc..
Please read my post above. I want it to be true, but it just ain't happening.
So what if it is? It won't reach the 78 million people seeing this ad. This sort of comment, with its 67 likes, completely misses the point and abdicates to the corrupt GOP. What are YOU going to do to counter them?
Not sure I fully understand. I personally cannot do much from Europe...other than enjoying Jon's character and encouraging his fans/followers/voters.
I can't stand the orange turd so a bit annoying that "I abdicate to the GOP"...must be my English...
it should be crime to defame any one. To lie about another person has to be treated as a crime
And the liar fined, wih the money going tothe victim
Thats simple.?
lauriemillerjadecom
Trump sues and claims defamation even when it’s truth said about him 🤦♀️😡
Always!
Especially then!
100% agree, Laurie!
There are so many "should be a crime's" in this country I can't count them all.
Lots of things "should be". We need people to act, not dream.
Yup.
America is broken. This country is like a big dysfunctional family of cheats, liars and abusers. It is run by a man who does all of these things and, with all families, he teaches and pushes the family to his mold. Trump is a disease and he and his cronies have infected every part of this country. We need to either figure out the cure, or all go down in the plague that is Trump.
Indeed, it all starts at the top. It used to be that lies and betrayals were enough to get a politician banished. A misspelling, even (remember Dan Quayle?)
This country has certainly changed, and not for the better.
The country has changed because we are all in the sewer that is social media. Even when you are not on social media (like me), you are infected by its miasma. Congress has been self serving for generations and it now looks like the people running for office (or some holding office, see: Ohio), are not worthy of the position or even knowledgeable enough to do the job, but hey! the internet makes us all geniuses. Oh, no, that's AI.
Oh, yes, you are on social media. Substack is definitely part of the social media ecosystem. Just google (or “search it up” if you are a younger person, according to the NYS) and you will get at least six different posts from six different Substack authors discussing that very subject, one by one of the founders of Substack.
I’m puzzled that you felt the need to correct Ms. Bolger. I’m not the only reader who understood her meaning.
I interpreted (misinterpreted?) the parenthetical phrase “like me” to be exculpatory - that she was one of those “not on social media”.
The country has changed because RW media led by FOX News and its lesser kin LIE and FABRICATE stories daily. Just a few days ago, Trump was willing to send an innocent man to prison for a DECADE because he couldn't admit his chosen reflecting pool contractor screwed up the installation, sticking to the bogus Vandalism lie, even after the charging DA--Pirro--dropped all charges.
RW media, led by FOX, are a poisonous cancer destroying this country. And all for what?! Just so they can keep the GOP in power, passing more tax cuts for the Epstein Class?! Truly disgusting.
Word. My dear departed mother was a kind, empathetic and good person who got sucked into the early days of Fox when they went after hound dog Bill Clinton. My mother saw that an older man with power should not be seduced by nor seduce a much much younger woman and Mom rode that bandwagon. But then she was hooked and try as we might, we could not get her to change the channel. It changed her. We got her back when Trump came along and she saw him for what he was. Not too late, but a lot of time lost in the morass of Fox blues.
I am on my email with Judd, my hero. That's it. And the NYT, Wapo (ugh) and the Boston Globe along with my local Berkshires paper. Nope, not on social media but everybody feeds social media into their news stories. That's enough for me. Not searching for anything although sometimes I want to see a photo or hear an outrage and I do search that and a SM page will pop up.
There are other great journalists on Substack. I no longer read (nor watch) the pathetic MSM either. Although the NYT seems to have gotten some balls back. Guess their owner finally let them.
NYT has its conservative angle, as it always has. In my lifetime, anyway.
Even WaPo still has some great pieces, IF you're willing to sift through the piles of pro-Oligarch slop obscuring them. I'm assuming even CBS has a bit of remaining journalistic talent. But as a truth seeker, can one justify the (extra) time needed to separate wheat from chaff?
I no longer watch CBS. Because fuck them. Scott Pelley’s firing from 60 Minutes was the final straw for me. Good points though, Nubs. 😉
There is no reason at all to justify keeping yourself well informed, as you obviously are. GOP gaslighting and lies are all they have left and will be getting worse as the midterms get closer. Your voice, Judd's and many others are needed to keep the truth visible.
But there's no point if we can't get the propagandized to put eyes on it.
Have you seen “The Brainwashing of My Dad”?
https://youtu.be/3-_VWcdd1qg?si=55P9pBiRM7QZFSdo
Yes! Great doc!!
That's kind of my family, too. Fortunately, most all of us my age and younger have decamped from Red to Blue.
YES YES AND YES!!!
Republicans are growing increasingly desperate and their coming votes to confirm Blanche and fund Trump's "not a war" with Iran will make their situation worse. So expect the lie filled ads funded by Musk and other oligarchs to accelerate to a fever pitch. And as always they will fool all of the MAGAs all of the time, and some of the rest of the people some of the time. The key question - will they fool enough non-MAGAs to make a difference?
That's not "desperation", it's them carrying out their decades-old plan.
I'd be willing to bet that most if not all of the imagery in this ad is AI-generated, too. Fabrications on top of fabrications.
We can't offer relief to families but we can repay billions to corporations who passed along 90% of the cost of tarrifs. Who paid for those tarrifs? Oh, we did but the American people won't see a dime of relief. We need to hear more about the corporate welfare state in this nation.
And now they, not we, are collecting millions in tariff refunds
So because they know those things are not popular, they accuse the Democrat of supporting them when in fact it’s their own policies. How twisted can you get?!
Ignorance is bliss. The Republicans have mastered this.
How in the world can this be?????? How can bold-faced lies be okay to broadcast???? How are the people responsible for these lies not IMMEDIATELY fined heavily and required to spend a similar amount to publicly admit their lies/publish the truth???? How is it that the mainstream media doesn't call this out in no uncertain terms????
There is no way democracy will ever work if this kind of behavior is left unaddressed and unpunished, and mainstream media does not broadcast and label this behavior as completely wrong and unacceptable in a democratic country!!!!!!
According to the un-supreme court, it's a free speach issue. You see, if we made the liars admit they lied why we'd be TRAMPLING all over their 1st amendment rights, ya see?
Citation: https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/fair-campaign-practice-laws
Adam, thanks for this citation. Robert, i also appreciate your comments on Adam's. The simple truth is the world doesn't work if people lie. And certainly our democracy doesn't. Alex Smith lied about Sandy Hook. Trump lied about the 2020 election - and many other things. How's that working for the country? Free expression of ideas and opinions, however weakly supported, is protected speech. Not lies. Not statements in direct contradiction of incontrovertible observable, provable facts.
I am afraid to tell you that the court opinions are legion that lies are also protected speech. The limited exceptions are for libel, slander, fraud, negligence misrepresentation and fraudulent misrepresentation. Most of those arise in commercial settings. One political party lying about things against another political party, without inflicting some level of personal injury harm or damage simply are not actionable.
Well, there's plenty of that to go around.
Bravo! You are most welcome. Way to go Thomas and we all thank you for it.
No, if it were legal to sue people whom you thought were “liars,” every court in the nation, state and federal, would be swamped by lawsuits, some meritorious, but most not - filed as extortion by greedy folks aided and abetted by greedy unscrupulous lawyers. However, we do have laws against slander and libel. Mr. Ossoff could bring such a suit, but as a “public figure” he would have to prove not only that the statements are false but also that they were made with actual malice. Why? To protect our much more important First Amendment rights. Who says? A much more liberal Supreme Court in New York Times v. Sullivan in 1964.
You know, I was expressing irony in a sarcastic manner but thanks for your reply.
👍
How is it that you don't know the answer to these questions? People need to wake up and understand the world they are living in.
Dude, seriously? Learn them and share them. It's on all of us to save our republic.
"Dude, seriously?" was my whole point. I can't live someone's life for them in a substack comment, or provide explanations for these basic questions about how the world works. The fact is that the answers are clear to anyone who actually makes an effort to think about them.
Another helpful comment.
Must be amazing to be all wise and all knowing. And totally condescending. 🙄
It is so disgraceful what they have done. We must be free of this menace.
And what's your plan of action to bring that about?
What's yours?
Whoosh. I'm not the one idiotically saying "We must be free of this menace", as if saying it does anything. We aren't going to be free of it -- duh. Wake up to the world's realities. Elsewhere you responded to my "Lots of things "should be". We need people to act, not dream." with "yup". Well, this is exactly the same thing ... "We must be free of this menace" is just dreaming.
And answering my question by asking the same of me is stupid tu quoque / whataboutism ... with that and your "Dude, seriously" you're just trolling me and for that I'm muting you.
I can’t use my time to argue with the likes of you.
Jibal jibal is a "gotta have the last word" freak. And only offers criticism and condescension.
Lol. "Waaaah, I'm muting you. You hurt my feewings you twoll."
This sounds eerily similar to an ad that was running recently against Rep Kathy Castor in Tampa, FL. Her seat was safely Democrat before Florida redistricting, but now she is in an uphill battle.
Too early to rank most dishonest ads of 2026. Republicans are just getting started.
Republicans rely on an ignorant voter base to buy their lies, and it works.
According to Google AI (full disclosure: I have not checked the linked web site figures):
• 53% to 54% of U.S. adults get news from social media at least sometimes, according to data from the Pew Research Center and the Reuters Institute.
• 20% of Americans regularly get news specifically from social media influencers.
• Approximately 38% of U.S. adults report regularly getting news from Fox News, putting it on par with other major broadcast networks like ABC News (36%) and NBC News (35%).
• When asked to name a single primary outlet for political news, 13% of Americans name Fox News, making it the most commonly named individual source (compared to 10% for CNN).
Thank you PI for this report!
That ad is so grotesquely inaccurate it should be banned.
Or, after it runs, there should immediately be a disclaimer ad running that clarifies that everything in that ad is a lie.
This is just typical Republican bullshit again — they don’t care about people, only the wealthy and powerful corporations.
Lots of things "should be". We need people to act, not dream.
Yes, you’re right about that. Nothing happened until somebody does something.
I guess they calculate that most people's main source of information about anything is from advertising. Sometimes that seems to be true... but increasingly not so. The other side of the coin is to persuade the deeply frustrated to still vote. The Big Lies ad campaigns might even help get the frustrated off the couch, if Ossoff can inspire that, which he has done well lately.
You have done the work, now the facts will/should be amplified by those who care about the truth. I don’t live in Georgia but I have a big mouth!
I’d much rather spend Democratic money on Jon Ossoff than the intramural fighting in Michigan.
There does need to be a generational shift(despite clinging to Bernie)& fewer&fewer Democrats wanting to support Israel to the degree we do. AIPAC is almost a negative.
It IS a negative.