Liberal Democrat

Liberal Democrat
Individual Freedom For Everyone

Monday, September 10, 2012

Russia Today: Thom Hartmann: 'How & Why Other Countries Have Ended The 2-Party System'


Source:Russia Today which is own by Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin.

"Thom Hartmann will be leaving The Big Picture TV show (on RT TV and Free Speech TV) at the end of September. We’ve had a great run with The Big Picture and earlier this summer we decided to discontinue that evening show so we could focus more directly on our daily 3-hour midday show, The Thom Hartmann Program. 
Having complete editorial control over a TV show syndicated internationally into more than 700 million homes was a great (and rare) opportunity.  We worked hard not to do "sports" or "soap opera" when covering politics, and instead focus on issues; we believe we accomplished a lot in that regard.  We're grateful to RT for the opportunity, and for fully honoring our contractual independence at all times.
You’ll still be hearing and seeing me on The Thom Hartmann Program, which is growing weekly in the noon-3 PM ET daypart." 


"RT (formerly Russia Today or Rossiya Segodnya) (Russian: Россия Сегодня)[9] is a Russian state-controlled[1] international news television network funded by the Russian government.[16][17] It operates pay television and free-to-air channels directed to audiences outside of Russia, as well as providing Internet content in Russian, English, Spanish, French, German and Arabic.

RT is a brand of TV-Novosti, an autonomous non-profit organization founded by the Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti in April 2005.[8][18] During the economic crisis in December 2008, the Russian government, headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, included ANO "TV-Novosti" on its list of core organizations of strategic importance to Russia.[19][20][21] RT operates as a multilingual service with channels in five languages: the original English-language channel was launched in 2005, the Arabic-language channel in 2007, Spanish in 2009, German in 2014 and French in 2017. RT America (2010–2022),[22][23] RT UK (2014–2022) and other regional channels also produce local content. RT is the parent company of the Ruptly video agency,[5] which owns the Redfish video channel and the Maffick digital media company.[6][7]

RT has regularly been described as a major propaganda outlet for the Russian government and its foreign policy.[2] Academics, fact-checkers, and news reporters (including some current and former RT reporters) have identified RT as a purveyor of disinformation[58] and conspiracy theories.[65] UK media regulator Ofcom has repeatedly found RT to have breached its rules on impartiality, including multiple instances in which RT broadcast "materially misleading" content.[72]

In 2012, RT's editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan compared the channel to the Russian Ministry of Defence.[73] Referring to the Russo-Georgian War, she stated that it was "waging an information war, and with the entire Western world".[17][74] In September 2017, RT America was ordered to register as a foreign agent with the United States Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.[75]

RT was banned in Ukraine in 2014 after Russia's annexation of Crimea;[76] Latvia and Lithuania implemented similar bans in 2020.[77][78] Germany banned RT DE in February 2022.[79] After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Poland and then the entire European Union as well as Canada announced they were formally banning RT as well, while independent service providers in over 10 countries suspended broadcasts of RT.[80][81][82] Social media websites followed by blocking external links to RT's website and restricting access to RT's content.[83][84] Microsoft removed RT from their app store and de-ranked their search results on Bing,[85][86] while Apple removed the RT app from all countries except for Russia."  

From Wikipedia 

"Thomas Carl Hartmann[1] (born May 7, 1951) is an American radio personality, author, former psychotherapist, businessman, and progressive political commentator.[2] Hartmann has been hosting a nationally syndicated radio show, The Thom Hartmann Program, since 2003 and hosted a nightly television show, The Big Picture, between 2010 and 2017"  

From Wikipedia

This post was updated July 13, 2023.

U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy: Eulogy of Robert F. Kennedy (1968)

Source:American Rhetoric-  U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy (Democrat, Massachusetts) delivering the eulogy for his brother Robert F. Kennedy, in 1968.

Source:The Daily Journal 

“Your Eminences, Your Excellencies, Mr. President:

On behalf of Mrs. Kennedy, her children, the parents and sisters of Robert Kennedy, I want to express what we feel to those who mourn with us today in this Cathedral and around the world.

We loved him as a brother, and as a father, and as a son. From his parents, and from his older brothers and sisters — Joe and Kathleen and Jack — he received an inspiration which he passed on to all of us. He gave us strength in time of trouble, wisdom in time of uncertainty, and sharing in time of happiness. He will always be by our side.

Love is not an easy feeling to put into words. Nor is loyalty, or trust, or joy. But he was all of these. He loved life completely and he lived it intensely.

A few years back, Robert Kennedy wrote some words about his own father which expresses [sic] the way we in his family felt about him. He said of what his father meant to him, and I quote… 


“Ted Kennedy delivering the closing part of the eulogy at the funeral of his brother Bobby, using excerpts from Bobby’s famous speech to the students of a South African university in 1966.”
Source:Paddy Irishman- Robert F. Kennedy I believe running for the U.S. Senate in New York City in 1964. But I don't know for sure.


“Many more… What exactly was it that they were talking about? Why would there be so many people that do not want peace? What motive power do these people have controlling them?

Now it’s Ron Paul, but it’s more than just a few people this time. Millions, billions of people calling for peace.

We have no more that we can learn from this journey. It’s time to move on… or up.”

Source:Payton Pearson- President John F. Kennedy (Democrat, Massachusetts) and his brother Robert F. Kennedy, the Attorney General, I believe at The White House. But I don't know for sure.

From Payton Pearson

Imagine being in Ted Kennedy’s position right there in 1968: you are 36 years old and you are giving the eulogy of one of your older brothers Robert. You’ve already lost two older brothers, one you barely knew to World War II and the second who also happened to be President of the United States and you lose him to an assassination almost 5 years before you lose your brother Robert.

If you Ted Kennedy here, are considered to be the weakest link, a bit of a dumbass (if you will)  and immature of the Kennedy sons and not someone who is considered to up for a task like this, but it’s given to you because you are seen as the only one who is even capable of handling it. And yet you go up to the plate like you are at Fenway Park playing for the Red Sox in game 7 of the world series and you are down 2 runs in the ninth inning and knock it out of the park to win the series.

Under ridiculous pressure that’s exactly what Ted Kennedy did here for his brother Bobby. We never know how strong we really are in life until we are tested and put under intense pressure where the only choice is to fail or succeed. At Bobby Kennedy’s eulogy, his brother Ted delivered a World Series caliber home run and gave not just one of the best speeches of his life, but speeches that has ever been given anywhere.