18 Comments
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Lesley's avatar

great threads to pull, so many areas of investigation even the easily bored press oughta be able to stir itself. thank you, Mark, glad to see you cited around the internet, you're an essential read for those of us committed to staying informed and involved in the ever-unfolding chaos.

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Mark Jacob's avatar

Thanks fot the kind words, Lesley.

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KL Pierce's avatar

I don’t know how any true journalists can be “bored” by the firehose of criminality that tRump embodies. Maybe they’re not bored but just lazy and/or controlled by their right-wing corporate overlords.

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KMB's avatar

Good ideas all. A couple other suggestions: a comprehensive review why the SEC approved trump's Media & Technology Group merger with Digital World Acquisition and provided access for the company to trade on the stock exchange. That a company with revenue that never exceeded $3.4 million has brought trump billions so far needs closer scrutiny IMHO; also for someone who complains non-stop about his current trials, a retrospective look at some of the lawsuits trump has pestered people with over the years seems timely.

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Mark Jacob's avatar

Really good point re that merger.

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Stuart Weisbrod's avatar

Your article is a primer on the absolute failures of the mainstream media to deal effectively with Trump. Most GOP get their news from GOP aligned media like Fox, that revise or ignore news, or just spread disinformation. The fact that other mainstream media won’t shame them or take steps to report truth, not “both-sides” reporting of beliefs, leaves us in the perilous state we are today. It is embarrassing to watch the Sunday morning “news” shows now that feature GOP liars weekly, with virtually zero pushback on their lies.

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Rick Massimo's avatar

Political reporters are easily bored when they want to be. They are unflinchingly dedicated to uncovering the shocking truth that Joe Biden is old.

Kidding aside (although I wasn’t really kidding), all I’ve ever asked of them is to apply the same standards the rest of the newsroom does regarding the credibility of sources, the question of balance vs. accuracy, the desire to sniff out whether they’re being played. Even reporters covering local politics do better than this.

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Rhumond Tonique's avatar

I agree. The classified documents case is particularly irksome to me and I have posted about it several times.

https://open.substack.com/pub/drrhumondtonique/p/gathering-transmitting-or-losing?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=norcd

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Syd Griffin's avatar

Tr*mp seems a textbook example of the whole of government approach in creating a dictatorship or some form of fascism. This strikes me as a rich vein of inquiry for at least several books. Surely someone can wring a few measly articles out of it in our mainstream media. You know, maybe give people a heads up of where this can lead? A man can hope.

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Greg Parsons's avatar

I still don't understand how we're just finding out about the Alito-flag thing.

It's getting more and more difficult to believe we will get through this as a whole, United, States.

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Mark Jacob's avatar

Everyone is wondering that, but we may never know. Sometimes sources are afraid for a long time and then something triggers them and they come forward.

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𝓙𝓪𝓼𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓮 𝓦𝓸𝓵𝓯𝓮's avatar

I couldn't agree more! Our press is failing us miserably.

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Susan Linehan's avatar

Amen, and Amen again.

I really wish Substack would let us search for items in posts we have subscribed to. There is SO much good information on the posts I read. But who did that great analysis of X a while ago? If we knew, we could in our comments on MSM sites link to them whenever the MSM even alludes to X. At least where the MSM allows comments--I notice that more and more the NYT doesn't.

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Steve Caplan's avatar

If only it were so, but trust in media makes getting the message across hard. I wrote this for Salon…may be the surest path to inform voters (sadly).

https://www.salon.com/2024/04/06/money-in-politics-the-unlikely-hero-of-the-2024/

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Denise Heap (private)'s avatar

Without Aileen Cannon, the documents case - easily a slam dunk - should have gone to trial long ago. Justice is moving too slowly.

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Sabrina Haake's avatar

Getting accurate and fair MSM coverage of political issues shouldn't be as difficult as it has become. Too many people assume the 1st A and political question doctrine means courts won't intervene when Fox and other right wing outlets lie, but cases pursuing ordinary remedies of defamation (Dominion) and negligence damages (fossil fuels) are proceeding. Maybe it's time for voters to bring a class action against Fox for financial damages and personal injury, starting with J6.

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Jack A. Roe's avatar

What about his disastrous handling of the Covid 19 pandemic? I suggest criminal negligence.

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Sabrina Haake's avatar

Getting accurate and fair MSM coverage of political issues shouldn't be as difficult as it has become. Too many people assume the 1st A and political question doctrine means courts won't intervene when Fox and other right wing outlets lie, but cases pursuing ordinary remedies of defamation (Dominion) and negligence damages (fossil fuels) are proceeding. Maybe it's time for voters to bring a class action against Fox for financial damages and personal injury, starting with J6.

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