Toyota leads companies in election-objector donations

I think this LA time piece sums it up pretty well: Toyota political donations don't serve public interest - Los Angeles Times

 

More insurrection.
Insurrection? Leftist Agitators Blockade Every Entrance to the White House, Issue Demands to Biden (westernjournal.com)

 

You guys really think that $1,000 is a significant amount to a person with millions of dollars in campaign contributions each year? These are the people who have fund raisers with $50,000 a plate dinners. I hear they have even more expensive ones.. over $500K for some of the Trump fund raisers. I don't think they care much about the thousand dollar (or less) contribution from a car company's PAC.

Part of the angst seems to be that the COMPANY did one thing, but then the PAC (which is not the company) did something else. Here's an interesting site. Go to https://www.opensecrets.org/party-totals-section and search for the "Toyota Motor North America" PAC . There you will find that the PAC spent $583K for democrats in 2020, and also spent $578K for republicans the same year.

Don't know about you guys, but that clearly tells me that they are sprinkling money around anywhere that they think it will benefit the company and not supporting ANY position or ideology.

 

Totally apart from agreeing or disagreeing with your overall point, I completely agree with dbstoo here about whose responsibility it is to cite the sources that you believe support your position. If you've been through them and know where they contain material that's responsive, you're copping out if you just tell the reader to repeat your research, "do a google search", and hope to pick out the same stuff you are relying on. It's on you to identify what you're relying on (and specifically enough to make it easy for a reader to verify you've faithfully used it).

Sure, there are people in recent political life who are all about the "there's tons of information supporting my point, why are you too lazy to find it?" tactic, but that's probably not the company you really want to be lumped in with.

 

These aren't just one-time payments... Seriously embarrassed for you to make light of this extreme level of duplicity and dishonesty that Toyota leadership doesn't get, but the rest of the country's corporate leaders who are no angels clearly get and don't do it.

If you want to be an apologist for you kids or loved ones I get it... But if you want to be an apologists for a corporation that gives tens of thousands of dollars to polticians who support the violent overthrow of our government, as well as the nullification of our constitution you've got some really hard lessons in life coming your way.

 

Did they force their way into the White House? Attack the Secret Service?

 

I don't see any credentials to give this columnist any more credibility than any other blogger.

 

You need to do more research. In essence, there are limits per year, and the limits for a specific candidate are fairly low. A contribution to the PARTY can be much, much higher. From the feds: (FEC | PAC| Limits on contributions made by nonconnected PACs )

It looks better at that link. The formatting gets busted with cut and past.

 

Does the column hang chiefly on the personal credibility of the columnist, or on the sources of his information, which he clearly identifies and credits?

 

I generally like my columns to be written by someone who is an expert in the field. In general, columnists are entertainers and their interpretations / opinions are slanted to attract readers.

But that's just my way of looking at things.

 

Hard to have it both ways; you appeared upthread to be calling out another poster for acting like it's the reader's job to figure out what sources he relied on for what, and I thought you were on the mark about that; a writer ought to put those cards on the table for the reader.

Here, this LA Times columnist does that. Sure, a writer can use source material in a slanted way; putting the cards on the table is how the writer says "here, I've made it easy to check me on that."

I'm not down on expertise by any means, but if I had to rate three articles, say, where one is by "an expert in the field" and is clearly and responsibly sourced, and one is by somebody I don't know much about but is clearly and responsibly sourced, and one is by "an expert in the field" according to somebody and has a "you don't need my sources, I'm an expert" vibe, I would see a much bigger gap between the second and third than between the first and second.

Of course that third combination would be pretty weird among real experts, because a person who is an expert in a field usually got that way through a program that made sure they developed strong habits of identifying and citing their sources. Any "just take my word, I'm an expert" vibe is usually a pretty clear sign of someone who's anything but.

 

No, they weren't let into the White House like the protestors were let in at the Capitol building by the Police.

 

I've watched some action-packed video of those police at the Capitol "letting" those "protestors" in.

 

Kinda funny how EVERYBODY get to put "protesters" in quotes nowadays, huh?

 

Some are saying Toyota only donated a minor amount in the grand scheme of things. So, if I only gave $25 to the KKK then that's ok?
Answer: No.

Everybody makes their own purchase decisions. For some, they don't care that much about Jan. 6th or think all businesses are the same, or whatever. That's fine. Your choice. Your wallet. Your purchase.

For me, I try not to support businesses that do things I strongly disagree with. That's my choice. I hope everyone keeps this in mind while we discuss the ramifications of Toyota's decision to support the Sedition Caucus. Thank you.

 

The difference between you and I, is that you see them actively supporting a group that you've defined and that you have determined is evil.

I see a company that is legally sending money to virtually every candidate. I looked at the link that shows that Toyota contributes about an equal amount (and that's a large amount) to the DEMS and GOP every year. That link is still at https://www.opensecrets.org/party-totals-section . My interpretation is that they are not "supporting sedition". They are doing the same thing that they always do. They sprinkle money around so that the lobbyists have a better chance of getting the ear of the politician when the time comes.

 

I've both seen and participated in a number of protests over my lifetime wherein we somehow appeared, protested, and forgot to conduct armed assaults and occupations of government facilities while beating the crap out of the people sworn to protect them.

On occasion, my role was to wear a bright-colored band and walk between the protestors and whatever counterprotestors might show up. Admittedly, my last time in that role was ~ 35 years ago, when counterprotestor could be spelled without quotes too, and they would show up and counterprotest rather than accelerating vehicles into people.

As much effort as some people may put in to making it seem hard to decide where the quotes belong, it just ain't such a hard call really.

 

Ever heard of Citizen's United and the Supreme Court ruling related to it? Even more embarrassed for you that you don't understand that case and how it relates to past decade when it comes to rich people spending huge amounts of money to ensure there's no such thing as a free and fair elections anymore.

Money interpreted as a form of free speech is a horrible precedent when it comes to equity and equal representation under the law. We need to pass new laws severely restricting corrupt lobbyists like Toyota who only care about maximizing quarterly profits no matter how crooked or dishonest it makes them look.

 

Actually, what I said was "I try not to support businesses that do things I strongly disagree with."

Again, what I said was "That's fine. Your choice. Your wallet. Your purchase."

 

Lol, how about that @dbstoo dude... I bet if the attack on our country had succeeded and the MAGAs murdered enough Democrats to regain a majority in the house and senate and keep Drumph in power @dbstoo would be lecturing all of us about how our Constitution was outdated anyways and fascism is so much more fulfilling to his ego than democracy ever was.