Polybanderous Productions

A Seattle based production company.

[Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders]

Ask the American people: is health care a human right?

The vast majority will say yes.

[Cenk Uygur @cenkuygur]

I have to admit I underestimated the tribalism on our side. I thought once people realized that I am defending left-wing positions in front of right-wing crowds, they would understand that's not selling out, that's the opposite.

But no, most seem to think just the mere act of talking to the other side is an unbearable heresy. We should never talk, because that's appeasement, etc. Winning the popular vote doesn't give them legitimacy, but one left-winger talking to them does. The fact that people can't see how crazy that sounds shows you how thick the bubbles are.

I'm good with it. I'm always going to choose the most rational way to get to the policies we want, whether people get furious about it or not. No, I don't think the right-wing is going to magically give us everything we want. I also don't think yelling at them at the top of our lungs is going to accomplish that either. I know, because I've tried that, too.

I'm positive we can't get money out of politics unless both sides agree to work together. I'm positive that's the only way to get back our democracy. And I'm positive that unifying on things we agree on is the most rational strategy.

So, I'm good with the attacks and the accusations, because that's the only way out of this endless civil war. The only way to get to a better solution is by going through this minefield first, because we have to somehow start the conversation - and that alone triggers people to no end.

At some point, we have to dare to venture out of our own bubbles and see if we've been tricked into fighting each other instead of the people in power.

[Sen. Bernie Sanders @SenSanders]

The precedent set today should upset every American who believes in our democratic form of government.

It appears that from now on no major legislation can be passed without the approval of the wealthiest person in this country.

That’s not democracy, that’s oligarchy.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Incredibly well said

[The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart @weeklyshowpod]

Jon Stewart and @SenSanders discuss how to walk the tightrope of trying to work with the Trump Administration: finding where they agree, but preventing the crazy.

#TheWeeklyShow

[Polybanderous Productions @PolybanderousP]

Worth a 👂

[MAHA PAC🗽 @MAHA_PAC]

Bernie Sanders said this was “the most important point of the hearing.”

Dr. Califf admitted: “What’s going on here is that the food industry has figured out that there’s a combination of sweet, carbohydrate and salt that goes to our brains, and I think it’s addictive. That’s my opinion.”

“I think it’s the same neural circuits that are involved in opioid addiction and other kinds of addiction.”

Sanders: “You said the food industry is producing products which are unhealthy and addictive. The question of course is, that’s exactly what gone on, what the hell have we done about it over the last 15 years?”

[ZUBY: @ZubyMusic]

Never ever ever forget what they did.

[Scott Ritter @RealScottRitter]

@NSAGov You should already know.

You’ve been illegally monitoring my communications for years.

[Polybanderous Productions @PolybanderousP]

@elonmusk The speaker has a legitimate point. However, the talking heads of MSNBC trying to slow clap afterwards... Ugh, those sanctimonious fake talking heads of legacy media gotta go.

[Richard Hanania @RichardHanania]

Sam Harris on why critique of the media and the establishment must not turn into nihilism.

I know what it's like to read an article in the New York Times and to spot obvious lies. But the alternative to the failure of journalism simply isn't the firehose of lies, half-truths, and conspiracy theories that you find on X. Nor is it the calculated and ever-present distortion you find on right-wing news channels, which never had any journalistic standards to violate in the first place.  There's simply no alternative to healthy institutions that maintain their credibility, even when they make mistakes, by reliably correcting their errors. And when they fall short of this standard, they can be pressured to do better, because they have intellectual and moral scruples. It's an imperfect process, but it's the best we've got...

I understand how satisfying it is to find a new bully to beat up the other bullies who've been making you miserable. But the problem is, this new bully is worse. This new bully has no principles. This new bully has no journalistic, academic, or scientific conscience to appeal to. Whatever might be wrong with a person like Anthony Fauci, or Francis Collins, or any of the other doctors who have been demonized right-of-center for their approach to setting COVID policy—at least they are real doctors and scientists who have some professional scruples and reputations to protect among those who actually know something about medical science. RFK Jr. has none of that. He's just a cowboy taking shots at the establishment. The Joe Rogan podcast is not a substitute for the Wall Street Journal or the Kennedy School at Harvard. It is not progress to have a comedian like Dave Smith, who's apparently done his own research, interviewed about the history of the Middle East or the war in Ukraine like he's the next Henry Kissinger. All of this free access to information is making us dumber.

I agree with this. For all the problems with the media, they look like saints compared to many of their critics.

[Polybanderous Productions @PolybanderousP]

Bingo. Watched this happen live with band members/friends. The left lost it's damn mind somewhere between 2008 & 2016. Eh, more songwriting fodder I suppose. 🤙

[Coleman Hughes @coldxman]

Democrats have a remarkable ability to expel people from their own party with years of slander (racist, misogynist, etc.) and then wonder why those same people aren't Democrats anymore.

Rogan was a weed-loving, Christianity-mocking, Bernie Bro. And how did the NYT treat him?

[Justin Hart @justin_hart]

This is one of the funniest sets I’ve seen on SNL. Bill Burr talks about Trump’s big win.

[Kmele 🖐 @kmele]

The vibe shift is real, but I worry this framing is a bit too narrow. I suspect @thomaschattwill will mostly agree with this, so this isn’t a rebuttal—just unpacking of some thoughts.

Bottom Line Up Front:
This isn’t over. This is a forever war, and understanding the terrain is crucial to seeing that clearly.

“Wokeness” is just one manifestation of a deeper cultural defect—a flexible puritanical impulse that adapts easily to the shibboleths on both sides of our political divide, often with genuinely totalitarian potential.

This impulse ebbs and flows, intensifying on the left or right for a season and then receding for a time, but it never fully disappears. While “anti-wokeness” emerged to resist a form of this puritanism, it sometimes employs the same corrosive tactics, fueling a cycle of reprisals rather than addressing the core issue.

The tidy slogans of each “current thing” (Believe All Women, Black Lives Matter, Ban Critical Race Theory, Wear a Mask, Get the Shot, Stop the Steal) can obscure what we most need to confront (and safeguard). The real concerns are fundamentalist certainty, essentialism, and demands for conformity underlying each cause. Here, censorship and shaming take precedence over pluralism, with “sanctity” or “safety” invoked to suppress “bad” ideas. This impulse fuels graceless persecutions that eradicate the possibility of nuance and create a climate where any suspected heretic—or anyone insufficiently enthusiastic about enforcing orthodoxy—can become a target for swift cancellation. Just another “witch” for the pyre.

What I’m describing is a defect at the heart of our political and social order, one that breeds cycles of destructive purges and counter-purges. Perhaps it’s natural, like our capacity for envy. Nevertheless, if we don’t take the source of the rot seriously, it threatens to undermine free expression and, by extension, the very possibility of open debate and knowledge creation—the essence of any civilization worth preserving. Confronting this malignancy is a necessity, and doing so effectively demands clear eyes, unflinching resolve, and persistent vigilance.

[Lex Fridman @lexfridman]

It's great to see many people on the left doing some soul searching.

There's a lot of "How did we lose touch with everyday Americans?"

This makes me look forward to future elections. Hopefully there'll be great candidates that step up to reinvent & lead the left in America.

[Democracy Manifest @democracymanifo]

@wideawake_media Kennedy's prediction at the beginning of Covid

[Ian Carroll @IanCarrollShow]

Unpopular opinion-

Trump voters, now is the time to walk the walk. This is the unity party- if you want to heal this country you need to show real love and compassion to liberals and democrats.

You need to talk to them, listen to them- prove to them that what the media said about Trump was lies- what they said about Trump supporters was lies. You can’t mock them for calling you garbage and then act like garbage because you won.

Their greatest success in Trump’s first term was creating TDS- it is up to every Trump supporter to live out the counter narrative to their lies.

Making America great again is inseparable from dismantling the divisive psyop that Trump supporters are mean, uninformed, Nazis.

Be the bigger person, build the bridge and welcome someone across.

Otherwise four years from now America is even more divided and even more in danger.

No excuses. 🇺🇸

[Polybanderous Productions @PolybanderousP]

@BernieSanders Couldn't agree more, you were my vote in 2016 for a damn reason, thank you for your service!

[Sean Johnson 🔥 @intentionally]

I voted for her. I think he’s a bad guy.

But if you lose the senate, house, electoral college AND popular vote, and you think the lesson is half the country is racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, and stupid… wrong lesson. And the same thing will likely happen in 2028.

[Polybanderous Productions @PolybanderousP]

Perhaps the ideological rhetoric of the Democratic party doesn't resonate with the working class? Maybe progressive Orwelian policies aren't desirable to the average citizen? "Impossible", you say? "Old, white, men like me are Nazis"? Cool. 👍

[Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders]

It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.

While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change.

And they’re right.

[Michael Rietmulder @mrietmulder]

Seattle music venue reborn in White Center, more openings and closings

https://t.co/38mQJchwUd