CA Live Blog: The Polarizing Politics of Pronunciation

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SAN JOSE, CA — This place is packed! Some forty phone bankers are pitching some major woo. They’re doing a great job reading their scripts, except when they get to this part: “It’s time to move beyond the polarizing politics of the past.” Ok, sure, Scarlett Johansson pulls off this line in robo calls without a hitch, but for average people, it’s kind of a persistently perilous problem. Chuck from Chicago, who’s sitting next to me, has said the PPP at least 100 times, and he’s still not sure he’s mastered it. “I can’t figure out how to make it sound natural,” he said. It might be time to try out something else. Maybe our readers have some suggestions. Nattering Negativity of the Nineties?

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PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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