The really sad part is what I don't hear anybody talking about.

All these jobs that are supposed to come back to the US? All these companies bringing their factories back?

Um... has anybody mentioned the growing wave of robotics that is washing through industrial America? How, if those factories that do come back, if they do, are likely NOT going to furnish slews of new manufacturing jobs? The growing trend is toward robots working in the factories. And robots are cool because they don't need health care, Social Security, Medicare, pension funds, unions, or anything in some "free stuff" social safety net. Robots are cheaper and WAY better, to management's way of thinking.

Management is ALWAYS looking to cut costs, cut overhead (that means PEOPLE on the payroll, folks), cut expenses. People have these annoying complications called "needs". And robots don't. Hell, they don't even complain about bad treatment or neglect! IDEAL employees, 'eh?

With sulfur as incense.

Welcome to DU, arthurgoodwin!

Looks pretty creepy, doesn't it! Cold as ice, and incredibly forbidding.

If you really feel strongly about this, DU is no place to keep it. It needs to be SPREAD.

Spread out FARTHER than here.

Tweet to Joy. Tweet about THIS. Add @msnbc at the end of your tweet. Then it'll go to the main network. OR add one of the other shows to it - so THEIR teams see it too.

Email or hell, snail-mail it to the MSNBC brass. Or to the regular ol' NBC brass.

They've already tried shoving Greta Van Susteren down our throats. Happily enough, that didn't last long. Megyn Kelly is still in place and probably happy as a clam that Matt Lauer's gone since he seemed to be one very large and loud voice against her. And I've actually read that Carlson's people have been exploring possibilities for her on the air at NBC.

If you feel strongly enough, SPEAK UP! DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

IF THEY THINK YOU DON'T CARE, THEY WON'T EITHER!!!!!

https://twitter.com/JoyAnnReid

#AMJoy

#reiders

Send it to Rachel! | MSNBC
www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/send-it-rachel
Jun 30, 2015 - When you text the word “Rachel” to that number, it asks your e-mail address and subscribes you to the newsletter. Don't send 66866 to our phone number. That does nothing. EMAIL US: [email protected].

Dial (212) 664-4444 to speak to someone at MSNBC news if you have important information and can't wait for a response to an email or letter.

https://www.nbc.com/contact-us

www.facebook.com/msnbc

NBC News
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http://www.nbcnews.com/id/10285339/t/contact-nbc-news/

http://www.msnbc.com/contact

And if you want to contact individual shows, most of the time they run a graphic with the host's twitter handle right there.

Twitter seems to be a good way to get to folks like these directly.

I've seen and heard too many of 'em confirm this.

"He tells it like it IS."

"He talks just like the guys at the bar."

"He talks like the average Joe."

I have heard that from so many reports featuring, and quoting, focus groups and man-on-the-street Q&As. Over and over. And I find myself thinking - "so you think one of those 'guys at the bar' is fit to be President? Would you really want one of THEM running the country? You'd be okay with that? Seriously?"

Then why not put Archie Bunker in a tanning booth and a suit, and then trotting him out as a candidate? That's about their speed, 'eh?

Resentniks! OMG! That's FABULOUS!!!!!

That is a World-Class framing! A Magnificent Meme!

That's even better and more definitionally perfect than even "Deplorables."

"Resentniks," or "White Resentniks" - either one works!

I am SOOOOOOO stealing this!

THIS. Should be an OP.

At their peril.

And do not forget the sinister objectives of the Sinclair network. They've merged with Tribune. That brings them another 250-or-so local TV stations into their clutches, and they can then shove Boris Epshteyn down more people's throats with MORE far-right/alt-right propaganda that will, guaranteed, NOT feature an opposing view.

And you can thank ronald fucking reagan for that. HE was the one who did away with the Fairness Doctrine and Equal Time Provision that required stations to present more genuinely balanced news and information programming. reagan said TV and radio station owners didn't have to do that anymore. As it used to be - you had to prove you were responsive to your community's needs and issues, WITH YOUR PROGRAMMING, in order to keep your license to broadcast.

And you had to document it. It was called "ascertainment." I had to do this all the time, as a news director. So did my usual partner in these things: the public affairs director. You'd invite some local official or leader-type (government, law enforcement, academic, business) and do a public affairs interview with him or her, to fill one of the half-hour or hour-long public affairs slots that tended to cluster on weekend early mornings and overnights. After that, you'd keep him or her for a few extra minutes to do an ascertainment interview, asking what they considered the most important local issues facing the community. There was a form to fill out, and room to fill in the answers as well as the identifiers for the interview subject. I'd go according to the form and follow along with everything that needed to be filled out - issue-wise, and fill those out on the spot. Then, after walking the guest out and thanking them, the form went into BIG binders that were kept to show to anyone in the public who asked, to prove that we were dutifully "ascertaining" what various kinds of community leaders thought were the local issues of the day, and then developing programming to address those issues.

We kept those records, as all stations did, because when it came time for license renewal, those books provided proof that we were responsive to the community and therefore deserving of holding that precious broadcast license in the public interest. Those books were open to anyone who asked to see them, including potential license challengers. I remember working at one station that had ongoing legal troubles based on what its corporate owners had done much earlier, and its license was always being challenged by interested groups. One of those groups had the actress Marla Gibbs (from "The Jeffersons&quot as a member.

But reagan did away with those regulations because-regulations-are-horrible and now, basically, no station has to prove any community responsibility to anybody, any longer. Neat, huh?

That's my big inner dilemma. Yes. I believe in "when they go low, we go high"

but in politics the reality seems to be that taking the high road leads you straight off a cliff.

Welcome to DU, MikeydaDog!

We're lucky to have two distinguished, accomplished, and rather brilliant women on our side, speaking for us. I just wish they were about 10-15 years younger.