Yes quisling makes sense but we must dig deeper if we want to restore democracy. Did you notice how the nightly news uses Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill descriptor whenever they discuss this bill? Our nation is ignorant.
The Koreans got rid of their tyrant because they weren’t ignorant. Learn how we became ignorant at WhiteChalkCrime.com and EndTeacherAbuse.org due to fascists having covertly taken over our schools and help end this ignorance.
We no longer have journalists or news outlets on regular media accessible to the public masses. It’s no wonder that 77 million people voted for this malignant narcissist and another 10s of millions didn’t vote at all. There’s no one to speak truth to power. No one will stand up to this greedy tyrant. We are f*cked.
Yes these are great, but not readily accessible to, or known to, the general public. Those of us who are aware of these alternatives are usually more informed generally. The masses will still be fed the half-truths and outright lies.
Many (perhaps most, we need help to collect the info) have no paywall. So, they are accessible. We agree they are not "known to" the general public. We created and promote the directory to try to address that.
There are a lot of good national sources, too. Many of which are also nonprofits. They need more promotion and support too. Just not what we are doing with our directory.
Claire, you're old enough to know that neither Trump nor the current pathetic Republican Party came out of nowhere. Neither did Americans' ignorance of economic issues, which has plenty to do with McCarthyism and what long preceded it: anything that smacked of economic (or racial) justice got branded socialist or communist. Some Democrats are *still* playing that game.
P.S. You identify yourself as a "yellow dog Democrat," so I'm curious about what that term means these days. It arose in the late 19th century, when "Democrats," especially in the South, were the party that supported Jim Crow. I'm sure that's not what you mean by it, so would you mind explaining what it means to you?
That's my reaction whenever I hear references to Trump's "presidential library." How can someone who doesn't read be associated with a library of any kind?
I like to think that eventually Trump's "library" will be an accounting of how anti-democratic the Republican Party has become. It'll have something in common with, say, Monticello, which now records the pro-slavery attitudes and practices of Jefferson and his peers, and with the efforts of countries like Germany and South Africa to understand and document their racist past.
Excellent analysis! Thank you for pointing out the 'news' networks and organizations court jesters that grovel at trump's feet and hope that trump strokes them fondly.
I wrote this comment today regarding a piece on Lincoln Square where the author was giving some examples of 'journalists' starting to stand up to trump (which they are not doing). Forgive the reporting but I thought it fit here as well.
Thanks for the 'good news' about so called 'journalists' but do you think if trump had 59% approval instead of 39% that these court jester, bobblehead, reporters - I really can't call them journalists in the real sense, since journalists are held to a higher standard. I understand the reluctance of highly paid talking heads wanting to get to the truth whe a fascist president and his mob of maga manics are pushing cultist lies continuously. What happened to the stories of the maga monster that killed one lawmaker and her husband in MN? Disappeared. Who is asking about maga cultist murderers? Also, the likes of CNN and NYT are losing viewers and subscribers by the hundreds of thousands and are becoming irrelevant.
Maybe the profits at all costs executives are seeing that lying and towing the trump line isn't helping their bottom line and people do not respect them now. Both CNN and NYT sanewashed trump and trashed Biden at every turn. I once watched CNN and subscribed to NYT, but no longer.
Give me Jim Acosta (formerly CNN), and Paul Krugman (formerly NYT) on Substack any day. Lincoln Square as well! But the talking heads like Collins, Joke Tapper, Hume, and so on will not be receiving ticker tape parades for broaching the truth on occasion. They greatly contributed to the mess we are in now. Eggs, eggs, eggs, and forget about job creation, lowering interest rates, and trade deals that kept goods in stores and prices within reach of most, along with rising wages.
Corporate media remains a dumpster fire,and a few drops of rain will not extinguish the blaze of lies, misinformation, trump sanewashing, and false equivalency that turned once respected organizations into Prava like entities of propaganda. I am not ready to forgive and forget the damage these organizations have caused to the truth, democracy, the rule of law, the Constitution, and their own supposed profession.
News organizations, like governments, are only as good as the people at the top and to the extent those folks buy into and wish to really stand for for what news organizations and governments are supposee to be about -- to serve the people. Democracy demands an informed public. At all levels. The big largely untold story is how local newspapers, mostly owned by out of town chains, have slashed staffs 75 percent across the board with little attention except maybe in trade journals. News organizations don't tattle on themselves and rarely on each other.
Many journalists now cut adrift from their long-standing organizations take the 'Net and platforms like this won. Whether it's working is like trying to look out that one clear spot on your frosted over windshield on a winter morning before the heater and deicer kicks in.
Local TV stations aren't far behind newspapers. Our local NBC affiliate is using Weather Channel meteorologists from the parent company in Atlanta for weekend forecasts (God forbid what happens in a severe storm in live time).
I recently asked a hotel staffer how to get the local TV news on the Roku set in my room. She didn't have a clue.
I still stick with WaPo and NYT because they DO have good stories--and even the WaPo Editorial Board blasts trump fairly frequently. I'm not going to throw out baby with bathwater unless the bathwater is impenetrably murky (as with the Fox & Ilk). I have a student subscription to both so they aren't making much money off me. Nor would my absence hit their bottom line much.
A tip for seniors: See if you can find a senior deal with a local university to audit courses. I my case, that gives me a .edu address and access to lots of student subscriptions to stuff. I audit one course every other quarter for a total cost of about $50/year. No one takes attendance of auditors, so if you like you can sign up and only go occasionally--or never. You still get the .edu address.
When I see something on those two MSM that bug me, I bitch at them. No subscription, no place to bitch. I do get most of my news from the other sources you mention, particularly The Guardian and BBC. Don't watch TV at all, so I've no idea what TV news is doing.
I quit watching the evening news when Nora O’Donnell became the anchor.
I quit watching the morning news show when Gayle King took part in that “women in space” farce.
I’m not giving up on Sunday Morning though. I’ve been watching it since it came on the air, and it’s as comfortable as an old shoe.
There’s nothing else on CBS that I can’t give up, which is funny, because I never used to even change the channel; it was CBS from before work until bedtime. 🤷🏼♀️
It was not an act of extortion. It was a plan so Paramount could transfer millions of dollars to trump while looking like a weak victim. I hope their viewership continues to decline and at some point CBS news becomes such a losing proposition they will abandon it.
Yes quisling makes sense but we must dig deeper if we want to restore democracy. Did you notice how the nightly news uses Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill descriptor whenever they discuss this bill? Our nation is ignorant.
The Koreans got rid of their tyrant because they weren’t ignorant. Learn how we became ignorant at WhiteChalkCrime.com and EndTeacherAbuse.org due to fascists having covertly taken over our schools and help end this ignorance.
I've complained publicly about how news orgs adopt right-wing branding like "Big, Beautiful Bill." ... Thanks for the links.
We no longer have journalists or news outlets on regular media accessible to the public masses. It’s no wonder that 77 million people voted for this malignant narcissist and another 10s of millions didn’t vote at all. There’s no one to speak truth to power. No one will stand up to this greedy tyrant. We are f*cked.
Yes, many outlets are awful.
But you can find some good (local and state) outlets in our local journalism directory.
https://www.mediaanddemocracyproject.org/journalism-directory/#directory
Yes these are great, but not readily accessible to, or known to, the general public. Those of us who are aware of these alternatives are usually more informed generally. The masses will still be fed the half-truths and outright lies.
Many (perhaps most, we need help to collect the info) have no paywall. So, they are accessible. We agree they are not "known to" the general public. We created and promote the directory to try to address that.
About 1/3 of the outlets are nonprofits.
Repeating the link: local journalism directory.
https://www.mediaanddemocracyproject.org/journalism-directory/#directory
There are a lot of good national sources, too. Many of which are also nonprofits. They need more promotion and support too. Just not what we are doing with our directory.
Claire, you're old enough to know that neither Trump nor the current pathetic Republican Party came out of nowhere. Neither did Americans' ignorance of economic issues, which has plenty to do with McCarthyism and what long preceded it: anything that smacked of economic (or racial) justice got branded socialist or communist. Some Democrats are *still* playing that game.
P.S. You identify yourself as a "yellow dog Democrat," so I'm curious about what that term means these days. It arose in the late 19th century, when "Democrats," especially in the South, were the party that supported Jim Crow. I'm sure that's not what you mean by it, so would you mind explaining what it means to you?
It means to me that I would rather vote for a yellow dog (or a cat, a mouse, or a frog) before I’d vote for a republican.
Whew. Thanks for explanation. But the term does have a history, and it's worth knowing.
I used to live in the South, and I heard the term "yellow dog Democrat" fairly often. It always meant what Claire said, without a Jim Crow connotation
Truth
Just canceled my Paramount+ subscription.
Excellent, although disheartening, overview. I appreciate your emphasis of those like the AP that have stood their ground.
The money is for his Library. On brand for America these days - libraries for non-readers. If it weren’t so tragic, it would be very funny.
That's my reaction whenever I hear references to Trump's "presidential library." How can someone who doesn't read be associated with a library of any kind?
I like to think that eventually Trump's "library" will be an accounting of how anti-democratic the Republican Party has become. It'll have something in common with, say, Monticello, which now records the pro-slavery attitudes and practices of Jefferson and his peers, and with the efforts of countries like Germany and South Africa to understand and document their racist past.
Excellent analysis! Thank you for pointing out the 'news' networks and organizations court jesters that grovel at trump's feet and hope that trump strokes them fondly.
I wrote this comment today regarding a piece on Lincoln Square where the author was giving some examples of 'journalists' starting to stand up to trump (which they are not doing). Forgive the reporting but I thought it fit here as well.
Thanks for the 'good news' about so called 'journalists' but do you think if trump had 59% approval instead of 39% that these court jester, bobblehead, reporters - I really can't call them journalists in the real sense, since journalists are held to a higher standard. I understand the reluctance of highly paid talking heads wanting to get to the truth whe a fascist president and his mob of maga manics are pushing cultist lies continuously. What happened to the stories of the maga monster that killed one lawmaker and her husband in MN? Disappeared. Who is asking about maga cultist murderers? Also, the likes of CNN and NYT are losing viewers and subscribers by the hundreds of thousands and are becoming irrelevant.
Maybe the profits at all costs executives are seeing that lying and towing the trump line isn't helping their bottom line and people do not respect them now. Both CNN and NYT sanewashed trump and trashed Biden at every turn. I once watched CNN and subscribed to NYT, but no longer.
Give me Jim Acosta (formerly CNN), and Paul Krugman (formerly NYT) on Substack any day. Lincoln Square as well! But the talking heads like Collins, Joke Tapper, Hume, and so on will not be receiving ticker tape parades for broaching the truth on occasion. They greatly contributed to the mess we are in now. Eggs, eggs, eggs, and forget about job creation, lowering interest rates, and trade deals that kept goods in stores and prices within reach of most, along with rising wages.
Corporate media remains a dumpster fire,and a few drops of rain will not extinguish the blaze of lies, misinformation, trump sanewashing, and false equivalency that turned once respected organizations into Prava like entities of propaganda. I am not ready to forgive and forget the damage these organizations have caused to the truth, democracy, the rule of law, the Constitution, and their own supposed profession.
News organizations, like governments, are only as good as the people at the top and to the extent those folks buy into and wish to really stand for for what news organizations and governments are supposee to be about -- to serve the people. Democracy demands an informed public. At all levels. The big largely untold story is how local newspapers, mostly owned by out of town chains, have slashed staffs 75 percent across the board with little attention except maybe in trade journals. News organizations don't tattle on themselves and rarely on each other.
Many journalists now cut adrift from their long-standing organizations take the 'Net and platforms like this won. Whether it's working is like trying to look out that one clear spot on your frosted over windshield on a winter morning before the heater and deicer kicks in.
Local TV stations aren't far behind newspapers. Our local NBC affiliate is using Weather Channel meteorologists from the parent company in Atlanta for weekend forecasts (God forbid what happens in a severe storm in live time).
I recently asked a hotel staffer how to get the local TV news on the Roku set in my room. She didn't have a clue.
"You mean, like, Fox News?" she easked.
I still stick with WaPo and NYT because they DO have good stories--and even the WaPo Editorial Board blasts trump fairly frequently. I'm not going to throw out baby with bathwater unless the bathwater is impenetrably murky (as with the Fox & Ilk). I have a student subscription to both so they aren't making much money off me. Nor would my absence hit their bottom line much.
A tip for seniors: See if you can find a senior deal with a local university to audit courses. I my case, that gives me a .edu address and access to lots of student subscriptions to stuff. I audit one course every other quarter for a total cost of about $50/year. No one takes attendance of auditors, so if you like you can sign up and only go occasionally--or never. You still get the .edu address.
When I see something on those two MSM that bug me, I bitch at them. No subscription, no place to bitch. I do get most of my news from the other sources you mention, particularly The Guardian and BBC. Don't watch TV at all, so I've no idea what TV news is doing.
First and foremost Zelenskyy has Integrity. He doesn't invite someone for a meeting then ambush him.
He fights for his people. He doesn’t get his daddy to write him an excuse.
He is a leader, not an oafish, senile cunt, who is burning he USA to make a buck.
Bribe
I quit watching the evening news when Nora O’Donnell became the anchor.
I quit watching the morning news show when Gayle King took part in that “women in space” farce.
I’m not giving up on Sunday Morning though. I’ve been watching it since it came on the air, and it’s as comfortable as an old shoe.
There’s nothing else on CBS that I can’t give up, which is funny, because I never used to even change the channel; it was CBS from before work until bedtime. 🤷🏼♀️
What about the NYTimes, Mark?
Thank you for spelling it out. I can’t watch the major network news anymore. They’ve all sold out to Trump.
WaPo and CNN are very reliably anti-Trump. That's not good enuf?
They put trump in office. Why would they oppose him now?
It was not an act of extortion. It was a plan so Paramount could transfer millions of dollars to trump while looking like a weak victim. I hope their viewership continues to decline and at some point CBS news becomes such a losing proposition they will abandon it.