I also blame an uninspiring and out-of-touch Democratic presidential candidate with shady ties to neoconservatives, Goldman Sachs, big business, and Wall Street.

The job of journalists only succeeds if the public is receptive to independent verification of empirical data. A proper work of journalistic integrity is wasted if the public is not galvanized to react in an appropriate way to the exposure, but instead chooses to dismiss or ignore what has been uncovered. Therein lies…

You just demonstrated my point. If you read the article, it simply summarized the findings of a recent Gallup poll (here is a more direct link if you like: http://www.gallup.com/poll/…. Yet, you dismissed the article (presumably) before you read it on the basis of the website's supposed reputation, instead of…

This campaign season has proven beyond a doubt one of the elemental principles of modern psychology: people don't base their beliefs on what is independently 'true,' so much as they choose what they want to believe is the truth (i.e. confirmation bias). As psychologist Jonathon Haidt says, the human mind works like…

The problem is that, yes, the proliferation of fake news in online media will obviously have a corrosive effect on democracy (as we have seen), but what is equal troubling is the dismissive attitude towards real factual journalistic coverage. Faith in the media is at an all-time low: [http://www.politico.com/blo…].…

I'm doubtful he would have spooked "many older voters" with his "avowed socialism." Once his message got out, a great number of people would realize that democratic-socialism is a humane form of governance and not the tyranny/slavery the capitalist class portrays it as. Plus, his firm pledge to expand Social Security…

If Bernie Sanders had been the Democratic nominee, not only would he have beaten Trump badly, the Democrats would also have taken the Senate (though maybe not the house.) Since HRC was such a terrible nominee (and, bear in mind, I voted for her, given the alternative), voters who the Democrats could have easily picked…

"Empty rhetoric for impossible things"

Completely agree. It's also why a large section of the American public have been conditioned to associate 'socialism' with tyranny/slavery and 'anarchy' with chaos - it's a way for the powerful to maintain the status quo by manufacturing the consent of the population against their very interests. A proper education,…

Yes, but there was once a time when the voting constituent of this country elected representatives who were actually qualified, reasonable, scientifically-inclined, and wise (see: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Lincoln, etc.)

This is the result of failing to teach critical thinking and philosophy in public education. Yes, one should exercise skepticism towards any and all information ("Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" - Carl Sagan), but one should also be able to discern which bits of information hold up to scrutiny and…

As this election has tragically demonstrated, those people who "post and re-post half-truths/lies/inflammatory content/conspiracies" are not necessarily in the minority - they have had a profound effect on the American democratic system (and, thus, by extension, the global landscape). Facebook is the largest news…

Democracy only functions properly if people are well-informed, knowledgeable, and exercise critical thinking and skepticism. If enough people are being misled, either intentionally or unintentionally, democracy fails.

Why anyone still uses Facebook is beyond me. Sure, there's the fact that the heads of Facebook are apparently unconcerned by levels of misinformation and propaganda assaulting the users' understanding of facts and knowledge (and thus a very attack on the backbone of democracy: "Whenever the people are well-informed,…

It was much too mawkish. There was a time for crying and disbelief, but that time has passed. Now is the time for action and for the people to make their voices heard. A "powerful cold open" would have reflected that.

There's already talk of Democratic insiders promoting a possible Tim Kaine presidential ticket for 2020. It's like they never learn…

If you had bothered to read my initial post, you would see i criticized Trump for floating the name of 'Ayn Rand-style capitalists.' This does not mean i am referring to Trump himself as a model on Ayn Rand-hero (though his behavior of excessive greed and avarice - at the expense of others - would certainly fit into…

The difference being…?

The FBI has always been a far-right institution (see: J. Edgar Hoover).

Ayn Rand is a useful figure to deploy because she serves as the personification of neoliberalism, and her "philosophy" propels greed to an "intellectual" status which should be seen as a virtue.