January 31: Jen Rubin speaks with three national intelligence experts, Ellen Blain examines the military’s latest DEI clash, and Jamie Schler & Atticus deliver some much-needed comfort to end the week
I admit to being an old-school consumer of news and opinion, but may I add my voice to those who are asking for transcripts of audio or video interviews? I am must more likely to read and enjoy than to watch a video or listen to a recording.
My 104 year old gram loved podcasts equally. I wish people would stop complaining. They are doing it the same as other outlets. Some things will be video, some audio, and some written.
Sorry, we’re not complaining. We’re asking for an alternative way of getting this news. We are subscribers. If we are true to our values, we have to stop filling the pockets of the likes of Bezos, Sulzberger, et al. But where then to get our news? Please give us transcripts or summaries. Thank you.
I don't have time to watch videos, but can read much easier - and I don't like the noise pollution of videos (no earbuds, they don't fit my tiny ears!) Watching videos is not interesting to me
I absolutely agree. I do not have any time whatsoever to watch these videos. They must take much longer to put together also. The only thing I listen to with my AirPods are meditations to keep me calm and help me get to sleep. I also listen to soothing music all day when at home.
I agree. Reading allows me to hit pause when I see a word/phrase/term I'm not sure I understand or am not sure is being used the way I understand it. Many words have multiple meanings. We can be very lazy with our vocabulary - which itself is diminishing. What is the average spoken vocabulary in today's discourse? Far less than it used to be.
I believe the Transcript link has existed since Jennifer Rubin created The Contrarian (it's below and to the right of each video), but I see posts like yours on every article here.
The Transcript link needs to be much more prominent, graphically speaking... maybe label a large neon yellow button, frame it with magenta, then animate it to blink every 2 seconds or so (only half-joking)!
If you're on a desktop, you can always access transcripts by hovering over the bottom right of the screen, where there is an icon that looks like a piece of paper
1. Call, email (or visit) your congresspeople at least daily with short pithy statements of your expectations. E.g. “Kash Patel is a vindictive,inexperienced Trump partisan, unfit to lead the FBI. I expect you to stand against his confirmation.”
2. Learn something new. In my case I’m practicing with Spanish c.d.s and brushing up on the basics of the mathematics of investment.
It is really hard not to succumb to panic. But we absolutely must learn to forge ahead.
I'm 81 and I'm still taking Spanish -- Spanish lit In an OSHER class. The "boom" authors.
Unfortunately here in Florida, we have no real representation. However, we may/may not have a window of opportunity to flip Congress. Attached is a wiki List of United States representatives who switched parties.
Charlie Crist wasn't in the House when he switched, but he was a Republican governor who ran later as a Democrat.
According to Trump, DEI caused the DC plane crash.
Ask Sen. Tim Scott whether the elimination of DEI is really the elimination of Blacks from government.
Same for Representative Byron Donalds of Florida, Representative Burgess Owens of Utah. Representative Wesley Hunt of Texas, and Representative John James of Michigan about the rejection of DEI as a pretext to discriminate on the basis of race.
How can they be Republicans?
Didn't they hear that the plane crash was caused by DEI? Did that mean the boogeyman did it?
We have three (3) Batistiano MAGATs here in Baghdad By the Sea, representing a Democratic majority electorate. Cubanos also happen to be beneficiaries of DEI. Some are Black.
Trump would send 30,000 deportees to Git-mo, which, even to MAGAT Cubans, should not be in US hands.
I keep sayin' that one size does not fit all. We need all kinds of Democrats. Biden and especially Bernie Sanders said stuff that was taken here to support a totalitarian dictatorship and the word on the street was that Harris was a communist. We could not rebut it. Due to effective psy ops, even Democrats voted for Trump.
Same should go for Republican members who oppose a Russian takeover. MAGA Mike Johnson fired the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Ohio congressman Mike Turner, who supported Ukraine. How many others strongly oppose Russian imperialism?
If you can, write postcardstovoters.org for Judge Susan Collins, running for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. I find writing the postcards therapeutic. The script is provided to you. You can get the postcards on VoterMailbag.com The postcard stamps are the most expensive part. Yesterday I wrote 40 postcards as it was raining very hard all day. Today I've already written 15 since I've been wide awake since 3 am.
We're very good at identifying the obvious catastrophic problems that face us. What we need is a roadmap for overcoming these problems. We need to start yesterday. We're not just going to whine until we're all throttled are we?
An executive summary or written article about this as a supplement would be helpful. I don't have time to sit through videos and I can reflect more deeply on written words. Thanks!
Saw Aaron Rupar, who has followed Trump for 8 years on Twitter/Bluesky now say this is much darker and much worse than the first time around. I agree - trying to stay sane but wow, it's a challenge. His finger pointing insanity and repulsive indifference to the loss of life yesterday seems like it was last year. Thanks to Jen for starting this community up.
I appreciate the Contrarian enormously -- but I do like to read, not to listen to articles and interviews. The automatic transcripts attached to the videos are hard to take in. Please, if you possibly can, provide well-formatted transcripts! Thank you.
Thank you once again Contrarians. I'd still like to be able to read transcripts of interviews as other readers hope for, too. I can't believe these corrupt and destructive people will really prevail, but then if anyone wants more dark reads, there's "The Prophet's Song" by Paul Lynch, for some reason set in post "troubles" Ireland , autocracy, civil war, mayhem will reward you. I'd advice going to "The Ministry for the Future" Stanley Kim Robinson, for more hopeful alternative future.
I don't have anything earthshaking to say about that dark place the country is in and our need to stayed engaged and connected. I just want to say thank you for all that you at The Contrarian do.
Donate to the groups of lawyers that are suing the Trump admin every day. Democracy Forward is one. There's also CREW, and look at what Marc Elias is doing. I'm as scared as the rest of you, but taking action makes me feel a tiny bit better.
Class action law suit perhaps! asking for a "ginormous" settlement, you know in the neighborhood of $450 billion to drain the Musk swamp. I'm kidding but sue them for sure.
I admit to being an old-school consumer of news and opinion, but may I add my voice to those who are asking for transcripts of audio or video interviews? I am must more likely to read and enjoy than to watch a video or listen to a recording.
I agree Steve I much prefer to read and I always have music on when home so not much for watching videos or listening to audio.
I agree
Me too! That's why I don't listen to podcasts or audio books. That tells you how old I am!!!
My 104 year old gram loved podcasts equally. I wish people would stop complaining. They are doing it the same as other outlets. Some things will be video, some audio, and some written.
Sorry, we’re not complaining. We’re asking for an alternative way of getting this news. We are subscribers. If we are true to our values, we have to stop filling the pockets of the likes of Bezos, Sulzberger, et al. But where then to get our news? Please give us transcripts or summaries. Thank you.
Jennifer Rubin was my favorite columnist at the WaPo so I joined here to read her columns/thoughts. Not complaining so much as requesting.
I don't have time to watch videos, but can read much easier - and I don't like the noise pollution of videos (no earbuds, they don't fit my tiny ears!) Watching videos is not interesting to me
I absolutely agree. I do not have any time whatsoever to watch these videos. They must take much longer to put together also. The only thing I listen to with my AirPods are meditations to keep me calm and help me get to sleep. I also listen to soothing music all day when at home.
I agree. Reading allows me to hit pause when I see a word/phrase/term I'm not sure I understand or am not sure is being used the way I understand it. Many words have multiple meanings. We can be very lazy with our vocabulary - which itself is diminishing. What is the average spoken vocabulary in today's discourse? Far less than it used to be.
I believe the Transcript link has existed since Jennifer Rubin created The Contrarian (it's below and to the right of each video), but I see posts like yours on every article here.
The Transcript link needs to be much more prominent, graphically speaking... maybe label a large neon yellow button, frame it with magenta, then animate it to blink every 2 seconds or so (only half-joking)!
I would like trascripts of the audio-video interviews.
If you're on a desktop, you can always access transcripts by hovering over the bottom right of the screen, where there is an icon that looks like a piece of paper
And if you're on an iPhone, there are three dots at the bottom right of your screen, which offer an option to show the text
These transcripts are hard to read. I would greatly appreciate well-formatted transcripts.
Same - prefer to read, I never watch the videos
Two suggestions from an old retired teacher:
1. Call, email (or visit) your congresspeople at least daily with short pithy statements of your expectations. E.g. “Kash Patel is a vindictive,inexperienced Trump partisan, unfit to lead the FBI. I expect you to stand against his confirmation.”
2. Learn something new. In my case I’m practicing with Spanish c.d.s and brushing up on the basics of the mathematics of investment.
It is really hard not to succumb to panic. But we absolutely must learn to forge ahead.
I'm 81 and I'm still taking Spanish -- Spanish lit In an OSHER class. The "boom" authors.
Unfortunately here in Florida, we have no real representation. However, we may/may not have a window of opportunity to flip Congress. Attached is a wiki List of United States representatives who switched parties.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_representatives_who_switched_parties Senators: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_senators_who_switched_parties
Charlie Crist wasn't in the House when he switched, but he was a Republican governor who ran later as a Democrat.
According to Trump, DEI caused the DC plane crash.
Ask Sen. Tim Scott whether the elimination of DEI is really the elimination of Blacks from government.
Same for Representative Byron Donalds of Florida, Representative Burgess Owens of Utah. Representative Wesley Hunt of Texas, and Representative John James of Michigan about the rejection of DEI as a pretext to discriminate on the basis of race.
How can they be Republicans?
Didn't they hear that the plane crash was caused by DEI? Did that mean the boogeyman did it?
We have three (3) Batistiano MAGATs here in Baghdad By the Sea, representing a Democratic majority electorate. Cubanos also happen to be beneficiaries of DEI. Some are Black.
Trump would send 30,000 deportees to Git-mo, which, even to MAGAT Cubans, should not be in US hands.
I keep sayin' that one size does not fit all. We need all kinds of Democrats. Biden and especially Bernie Sanders said stuff that was taken here to support a totalitarian dictatorship and the word on the street was that Harris was a communist. We could not rebut it. Due to effective psy ops, even Democrats voted for Trump.
The letter from super MAGAT Elvira Salazar, below, should give the Democrats an opening .... I remember when Congressman Mario Diaz Balart's brother Lincoln, flipped from a Dade County Young Democrat to the Republican Party. Republican MAGAT Congressman Carlos Gimenez had once been a Democratic county mayor. https://files.constantcontact.com/1849eea4801/cd2e90be-43c8-4171-b3c6-a357621f7db9.pdf?_gl=1*uo1jgf*_ga*MDMwMjhjMzctZTFlNy00YzExLWE3NTEtZGUxMmY1OGY0YjEw*_ga_14T5LGLSQ3*MTczNzc0NTk1My4zLjEuMTczNzc0Njg2Ny44LjAuMA..
Same should go for Republican members who oppose a Russian takeover. MAGA Mike Johnson fired the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, Ohio congressman Mike Turner, who supported Ukraine. How many others strongly oppose Russian imperialism?
Maybe Hakeem Jeffries can convince them to flip
If you can, write postcardstovoters.org for Judge Susan Collins, running for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. I find writing the postcards therapeutic. The script is provided to you. You can get the postcards on VoterMailbag.com The postcard stamps are the most expensive part. Yesterday I wrote 40 postcards as it was raining very hard all day. Today I've already written 15 since I've been wide awake since 3 am.
Thank you for this suggestion.
We're very good at identifying the obvious catastrophic problems that face us. What we need is a roadmap for overcoming these problems. We need to start yesterday. We're not just going to whine until we're all throttled are we?
An executive summary or written article about this as a supplement would be helpful. I don't have time to sit through videos and I can reflect more deeply on written words. Thanks!
Saw Aaron Rupar, who has followed Trump for 8 years on Twitter/Bluesky now say this is much darker and much worse than the first time around. I agree - trying to stay sane but wow, it's a challenge. His finger pointing insanity and repulsive indifference to the loss of life yesterday seems like it was last year. Thanks to Jen for starting this community up.
I appreciate the Contrarian enormously -- but I do like to read, not to listen to articles and interviews. The automatic transcripts attached to the videos are hard to take in. Please, if you possibly can, provide well-formatted transcripts! Thank you.
RFK Jr needs that job like he needs another hole in the head.
Or worm in his brain?
The worm won
Transcripts please!! Or am I missing them somewhere. I don't listen to videos/podcasts. They're too slow. I can read fastere.
Me, too.
Jen, thank you for sharing the valuable interviews. I appreciate all that you do to enlighten us.
that's a whole lot of listening. I could read their comments much more quickly.
Thank you once again Contrarians. I'd still like to be able to read transcripts of interviews as other readers hope for, too. I can't believe these corrupt and destructive people will really prevail, but then if anyone wants more dark reads, there's "The Prophet's Song" by Paul Lynch, for some reason set in post "troubles" Ireland , autocracy, civil war, mayhem will reward you. I'd advice going to "The Ministry for the Future" Stanley Kim Robinson, for more hopeful alternative future.
I don't have anything earthshaking to say about that dark place the country is in and our need to stayed engaged and connected. I just want to say thank you for all that you at The Contrarian do.
What is to be done?
Where is the resistance?
Where are our Democratic leaders forming an strong opposition?
Donate to the groups of lawyers that are suing the Trump admin every day. Democracy Forward is one. There's also CREW, and look at what Marc Elias is doing. I'm as scared as the rest of you, but taking action makes me feel a tiny bit better.
Thank you for these concrete suggestions.
I think all the fired federal employees need to band together and become a force to be reckoned with; or perhaps a militia?
Class action law suit perhaps! asking for a "ginormous" settlement, you know in the neighborhood of $450 billion to drain the Musk swamp. I'm kidding but sue them for sure.
More writing and less video, please: some of us need to get our news by reading!! Thanks for all you do!!