Donald Drumpf is an old school mafia boss. ABC is paying for "protection".
That is like when a child gives their lunch money to the school bully so he won't beat them up.
We all saw how he works during his previous term as mob boss. Government contracts only went to his corrupt buddies. They barely did any work, and blamed Democrats. (the Wall)
Phil, I consider the lawsuit against ABC and its quick capitulation to be a warning shot fired across the bow. It is a warning to all media that they will absolutely come under fire if they say or print something that Trump or his staff feels is threatening to them or their agenda of controlling what is projected as truth.
Now, we are all warned that for those who are effective at undermining Trump, they will encounter threats and eventually consequences. My statement above is not meant to increase fear among us, but to urge us to consider long range goals and planning effective actions to protect those that are the most vulnerable to the new administration's upcoming policies. If NPR and PBS news departments are to maintain their untainted reporting of the news, it is likely that their government funding will be diminished or cut and they will depend entirely on our financial support not only for the cost of operation of the news departments but the inevitable lawsuits lodged against them in an attempt bankrupt them for the costs of defending themselves.
We can probably expect that writing platforms such as Substack to come under pressure and repression also. We must stand by independent sources of truly free speech for the necessity of staying informed. Media operations such as Inequality Media may also encounter resistance from the Trump government and we should stand ready to support this platform in any way we can. Subscribing to progressive newsletters and monthly donations even if quite small will go a long ways in maintaining sources of untainted media.
Marc, then we need to find a cadre of pro-bono lawyers and others interested in the law to work to defend the various media and a lot of "ordinary" people to post regularly the truth on all platforms and drop off X and any others that deliberately put out lies, half-truths, and spend their efforts insulting, belittling, degrading, and otherwise doing harm to Americans. We need to let the Supreme Court 6 know that they do not have support of all the American people, only Trump and Kump and need to clean up their act. OK, I know, dream on. I am hoping people will want to protect our democracy. I hope I am right.
Lawyers for Good Government - L4GG.org - is one such organization. They are a large organization of lawyers, who volunteer their time and work pro bono on civil rights cases. They formed in 2016, as a response to harms done to migrants under the first trump regime - an in the trenches response to what was being done to the migrants. They are still going strong, and are so concerned about trump.2, that for the first time they mailed me a letter asking for support. You can find them on Facebook. I'm not an attorney, but a friend had told me about them, so I got on their Facebook list, and watched them grow during that first challenge. I remember allies who weren't lawyers, brought in pizza and other meals to feed their volunteer lawyers, who were working at the border, defending migrants, for such long hours that they didn't stop to eat. They helped a lot of people. They work differently from ACLU - but both are very valuable entities who stand for the honest and fair rule of law and against the spread of tyranny. It's worth it - and uplifting - to check them out.
Thanks for this! Had not heard of Lawyers for Good Government, but just subscribed to their mailing list. I will share this resource with my Indivisible group.
No you do not disagree, I said fear, you added a qualifier. Actually it is deeper than fear of loss of profits, the sudden and astounding embrace of Trump is not only motivated by money, but by personal safety
He has said he is going to wreak vengeance on organizations and people, Now they are believing him.
The real criminals are the corporations. They kill people, start wars, and are never punished, nor are their CEO's and Board of Directors punished.
The closest they come to punishment is bankruptcy or merger and then the people who make the decisions are never punished.
The talking heads,pundits, editors are all dependent for their livelihood, social status and lifestyle on these corporations, you will see no discussion, examination, criticism or condemnation of these corportions on TV or any corporate media.
Thus the sympathy for Brian L. Thompson, while the hundreds of thousand that he has killed are blithely ignored.
They wring their hands over the murder of one man, but ignore the murder of his victims
He did not shoot them with a gun, but he killed them never the less.
Death is death, dead is dead, it matters not how you do the deed.
Stalin said: Kill one person and it is murder, kill thousands and it is a statistic..
It’s over, over indeed. No white knights to our rescue. Greed won the election and there is no one left to save us. But even if there were, they’d have to check with the shareholders first. Yes, it’s truly over, indeed.
I think we need a media with principles. I think Mr. Reich points out Disney is big enough to defend itself. Since when do oligarchs need pro bono anything (they already have pro bono tax rates)? Really.
Marc - It's important to remember that dumpster's treasury dept. will soon have the unchallengeable right to declare any nonprofit media it doesn't like to be a terrorist organization. Biden probably wouldn't sign the bill in its current iteration, but the next one coming when there is a repugnant trifecta will no doubt be more draconian.
We need to remember history. Think of what hoover's FBI did with just rotary phones and shoe leather. They oppressed, jailed, destroyed an enormous number of people working within the freedoms granted by our constitution to make our country a better place for all, or to right systemic wrongs.
Now we have the surveillance state, daily increasing in power and thoroughness thanks to AI and our techbroligarchs. Yes, substacks such as this will probably be subject to harassing lawsuits which no private donations can hope to provide funds for successful defense at multi-billion and mulitnational corporate lawfirms.
I hate to say it, but it's over. the oligarchs won. unless, as I've noted before, biden uses the corrupt6 ruling to jail all the coup d'etat terrorists. it's that simple.
For the next few weeks, President Biden is our only hope of averting the dreadful coming reign of the great and terrible Trump.
He must use his SC-granted immunity protection as sitting president to round up these MAGA bullies in Congress and the SC,strip them of their assets, American citizenship and imprison them for the rest of their twisted lives.
No one committing treason or felonies should ever be permitted to run for or holdpublic office. Ever. But you all knew that, didn’t you? Wake up!
Ilene - keep up the advocating! if enough of us do it, it might result in saving our democracy. i've been advocating this very thing in this substack and numerous other places, including sending to white house, since the corrupt 6 issued their coronation orders in june. this must not be allowed to stand. there is no rule of law any longer except what the corrupt 6 allow. it's really that simple.
Why would you use the word "great" in reference to the tyrant? Just to complete the metaphor with the Wizard of Oz? There is nothing great about him except the size of his posterior.
My comment was not just to complete the metaphor so much has to remind us that the us Wizard of Oz story is a loosely disguised vision of a country under fascism by a charismatic leader.
But it is my impression that Biden is spineless and in decline but maybe Harris can step-it-up in her final days as VP: Standing in for the obviously ill President. I like to dream of miracles!
If President Biden is truly unable to bring himself to exert his authority to save our country, then yes, Joan, VP Harris should step up to the plate, let her boss know how she feels and tell him not to worry; that she will handle this potentially tragic impasse by implementing the items I mentioned in my post above. She should assure him that together they will make history as American heroes.
Ilene, this would be a holiday miracle for the people that would make history but the Trumpers would rebel, maybe even violently but the alternative would be worse! We'll hope for the best!
He betrayed his VP by not doing what he promised—not running for re-election. Harris with 1 or 2 years to campaign would have easily won. She would not have allowed the economy to become THE issue over Trump’s failure as President and his lack of character of a moral man. She got shafted by a man she trusted who stuck her in a closet to keep her from ever publicly criticizing or disagreeing with him.
The Big Corporate MSM did it to Themselves... CNN Legitimized DJT with its first DJT Townhall hosted by Caitlin Collins this Year... It was Good for DJT's Campaign, Good for Caitlin Collin's Career, and Bad for the USA.. The MSM Let The Viper Into Their Bed, And They Then Act Shocked When They Get Bit...
You're right, Apache. Big Media has absolutely done it to themselves.They have bent over backwards to normalise him/his ramblings and give him tons of free space. You saw very few ads for the Democratic Party candidate, but tons of ads for Trump. Now that he's going to be inaugurated (eww!), they're "obeying in advance."--a very bad thing when it concerns a dictator.
The trick is to keep all media outlets guessing. I agree about supporting this platform and others. It is easy to consider it more bluster than substance, but ABC caved because they figured they should, as I see things. Your comment, Marc, is spot on. I think you've crystallized what we're up against quite well.
Dear Narc, er Marc. . look up the meaning of "The Fourth Estate." It no longer exists because of for-profit drama-media. And to suggest that MAGA world and the likes of Trump are keeping it honest is a total "fail." The purpose of the Fourth Estate. . the media the journalists. . is to SEEK and REPORT truth. yes, some dramatize it for more clicks and driven by conservative advertisers, but when an interview like what Trump gave Meet the Press happens and the journalist interviewing fails to call him out that his statement is absolutely factually incorrect. . the Fourth Estate is dead.
I agree wholeheartedly with you. But how do we provide support and protection without committing financial suicide and opening ourselves to legal and personal intimidation and other abuses.
Well buckle up, it's about to get worse. ABC News, who had correctly identified Trump as a rapist, as did the trial judge in his case, has just caved in and decided not to fight Trump's lawsuit against them. The collapse of justice in the United States of America, now aided by the Fourth Estate, has begun.
Those media organizations need to fire back. He will lose any lawsuit. He's a waste of skin, orange or otherwise. On a side note, I'm not sure why so many of his followers hate people of color. Trump's not white, either. He's orange. How many orange people are there out there? Definitely a weird color and certainly not like other people, so they should hate him and deport him, right? The Germans can have the drumpfs back. We don't want 'em.
Be aware that Trump uses his supporters as hostages. He is telling them: "See, I have been victimized, just as you have. These lawsuits, critiques and accusations are attacks on you, also. We must fight them, and if we fight together we win!" The ploy has worked well for him thus far. Be careful. Caution is not cowardice.
Donald gets his support from the Maga/Republican contributors and subscribers on Substack. It is an open platform and everyone has access to the opportunity of free speech. I personally do not read any of their postings but there are plenty of them. I am not sure Substack is much of a threat to Donald. 🇨🇦
Jill, I certainly hope you are right about Substack being off of Trump‘s radar. It seems to be the last refuge of those who value free speech. We must respond and castigate those trolls who invade us just for the pure pleasure that destruction offers them.
I have had a few go after me but I just made a joke about how amazed I was how a Maga guy could be so irritated by a retired kindergarten teacher!! Haha
But how about the young girl in Russia who was sentenced to jail for putting little messages on market labels in the food store? 7 years, and who knows? it may be more if Putin decides to keep her there longer.
With Putin's track record she probably has a life expectancy in a Russian prison of less than 2 horrible years. Every reporter who interviews DT from now on should bring up this young girl. Then ask DT to call and ask his buddy Putin to pardon her. Handing him their cell phone would be great photo op. Can't wait to hear his response to that after he pardons all the Jan 6 traitors.
If you listen to the CEO of Substack discuss the mandate and focus of the platform, you will hear their purpose and direction. Chris Best explains it often in many podcasts. Worth a listen. 🇨🇦
I NEVER meant Trump. I always meant Bob Reich and and the people who make Substack possible.
I picked up a piece of of interesting info from NPR this morning. The very people who tried to say that Trump won Nevada four years ago (and same thing in another state) are now the electors for him. This "smells" bad to me. Did Trump actually win or was that "arranged" by the GOP in Nevada? When a newspaper woman in Iowa was sure that Trump would lose the state and then Trump won, something is smelling rotten.
I, for one, agree. Why were we so ready to cave into the results of this election with such narrow margins? The Redhats would certainly not have taken that scenario laying down. They didn’t in 2020.
We should have had recounts, like Trump was able to do. Te whole election feels "off". But nope the party immediately caved. And now all we're getting is ignored.
Lynn - The techbroligarchs and coup d'etat planners had four years, essentially unlimited money, and inside help from red and swing state elections apparati to subvert the election. they did this by stealing the coding for the voting machines in states where they're used and rewriting the code to perform whatever functions (many ways to do it) they wanted it to. they did this by bribing, extorting, and enlisting willing elections workers in red and swing states, they did this by essentially, and incrementally over time, replacing the election infrastructure in the states with their own. this is why dumpster said "you (we) won't need to vote anymore" or in another case, in extremely bored tone, "i don't need your votes". there were other similar statements. Remember how demented and bored and idiotic he was on the campaign trail this past summer? that was all deflection, distracting everyone from the astonishing sleight of hand going on. note his demeanor and presence now. it's completely different, isn't it.
Remember also that the states conduct elections, not the federal gov't. this makes every election theoretically subject to systemic manipulation and fraud. Which is why we used to have the voting rights act before the corrupt court emasculated it. because, y'know states' rights to conduct fraudulent elections and voter suppression.
Finally, any expectation that this can be righted at the next "election" is seriously delusional. the techbroligarchs won. AI will only solidify it all.
There was cheating. I'm not a tech bro but I felt it in my bones. What did Harris do? She caved. I would have been scrabling to get the money together for recounts. We're stuck with IT because neither Biden nor Harris will do the right thing. Just mouth platitudes about the "peaceful transfer of power" BS and issuing pardons. They deserted us just when we needed them most.
I kept geeting requests from a Harris group for more contributions to find more Kamala votes by correcting ballots. I think they did that, because in the weeks following Nov 5, her count kept rising.
Yes, Paul, they won, and it is America's loss. In The Edge, Nate Silver warned that this is no time to gamble, because we are at the edge of the abyss, but they din't pay attention.
Do you have any evidence of these acqusations? Or is it all speculation. Believable speculation, but nevertheless specualation.
We have a flawed voting apparatus, that shouldn't be this way. It was developed in the days of horse and buggy, before electrical communication.
Every ballot should have an Id number, associated with a voter. That way, everyone would have the ability to query a database of results, and verify that their ballot on the database matches their vote, and still remain anomeous. In addition, extra ballots, or missing ballots could be discovered.
Ted Rees - several things come to mind. 1) if it can be done, it will have been done. 2)earlier this year (or was it last year?) several elections workers were prosecuted for allowing unauthorized access to voting machines, in different states. michigan, arizona (?) wisconsin. swing and red states where if you've followed the progressive press, one sees the far greater number of voting transgressions not by voters, but by elections workers. 3) shortly after the election there were many concerns raised about the election, but the centrist dems would not touch it for fear of being unfairly compared to dumpster's years long whining about stolen 2020 election (documented in j6 hearings that he knew he lost)
4) many people were distracted by the unfortunate igorance about internet access to voting machines. there is none. that's why the issue of physical access to the machines by repugnant operatives is so critical.
5) our US history is replete with these types of criminal actions, a significant number of which have been perpetrated on other countries not playing by our corporate/capitalist ("national interest") rules. this would have, was an extremely easy switch (election infrastructure) to make, especially given the 4 year time period, and given the players in the red states who aren't concerned by the rule of law. (remember the states control all elections, even federal elections.)
6) the techbroligarch financing - bribes, extortion, code writers- this is chump change compared to what they've got. and what a return on investment! spectacular. hasn't (f)elon made a couple hundred million already since the election?
So yes, educated and informed speculation. I don't bet on an honest election in 2026, because with what i'm sure has been done, it will always be rigged for the repugnants.
and not to be snarky, but in 2026, if i'm still alive, I'll say "told you so"
Another con man, pretending he is a technical genuous, when he is actually a clever thief of other peoples creativity. Tesla? Founded by two engineers.
Musk talked someone in government to give him contracts for Space X. Government money started the company, and keeps it in business.
His sudden surge to richest man? He talked Biden to keeping the 7500 tax credit on his automobiles. Biden eliminated tax credits from EV's not assembeled in the US. But these tax credits collected by the buyer also lower the cost of the EV's purchased, using government money.
And even bigger he collected carbon credit money from the other car companies. Tesla already had 50% of the EV market, and didn't need any public money paying for subsidies. This move harmed his competition.
Now, Musk dumped money on Trump to help him win the election, and we see so that he can manipulate the government to get more tax payer money.
I agree, and because Biden really has nothing to lose at this point, he should be the first to fight back! He should instruct the DOJ to round up all of those in Congress who were involved with Jan. 6. He must have the info from the Jan. 6 Committee. He should just do it and never mind about the screaming and hollering from the GOP and other groups that are destroying our democracy. Those involved are domestic terrorists and deserve to be locked up immediately! If truly unlawful, Biden is immune to prosecution, since the supreme court said so. Show Trump he's not the only one who can go after people he deems harmed him.
As Commander in Chief, Biden has the legal authority to have the former commander in chief arrested by military police, and locked up in military prison, for treason. The former commander would then face a military court for sentencing.
Yes, Yes, and Yes, Mary. There are lots of things he and Garland could have set in place while still in power. It is hard being a Democrat when they just roll over. That is how a minority party, Republicans and Maga took control. After he won in 2020 and had 81 million voters behind him Biden never once called a press conference and told Trump to shut the f up about a rigged election and stop being a traitor. He ignored the threat and muted Harris. He passed some good legislation but he and Garland were clueless when it came to the danger of Maga and Trump taking over. Not until he stepped down and Harris took over did the Dems fight back. But by then it was way to little too late.
Exactly. He should be doing everything to try to save our democracy, but is he? Nope. He's just turning us over to the fascists. I wasted my vote, wasted the tiny donations I could afford, just to have it come to this.
Agree, Alan. I'm tired of this "when they go low, we go high" bullshit. The senior DEMs in the party should have seen this shit-storm coming from the GOP since Nixon. They continued to "play by the rules" as the GOP broke every one they could. They need some new blood at the top but just shot down AOC's bid for a leadership position. She is smart and a fighter. I'm going to send her some money tomorrow even though I'm half the country away in Illinois.
Cheers to AOC for being smart and brave enough to take on the old guard. I'm 78 and cheer every time someone like her steps up. GH
Only in the schoolyard, Drumpf is too chicken-s**t to do the work himself, so he co-opts other pre-adolescent thugs to do the beating up. He promises them a share of the take and then scams his cohorts out of it.
I can assure you, all pop culture mythologizing aside, The Dunceald is about as much like an old school mob boss as I am akin to late NFL great, Jim Brown. Donnie The Douche is a coward and a wastard at best. Like others of his ilk, he will knot his own noose. The real shame of that truth is that he will harm many others along the way. He is a disgrace and a menace. His selections of personnel to insulate him and follow his wicked lead with complete and utter servile self-abasement is evidence of how the demented and demonic mind of a despot churns.
Why does abc Tv news have 2 segments of Billy Grahams son probably billionaire son preaching Jesus Christ on line? This is the future of Big Brother TV? I am dropping ABC FROM MY TV STATIONS -
UNLESS THEY GRANT ALL THE OTHER RELIGIONS THE SPAME SPACE AND TIME! I’ve had it with these PSUEDO CHRISTIANS!!!!!
Roger, that's nonsense! It may be what business wants, but it certainly is wrong. When people's moral compasses if they ever had one are broken or not aligned with what is right, coming up with such nonsense is just what one would expect, then claim well, it's just business. It isn't. It's cowardice among other things.
when has business ever had ethics. actually, i should ask when has capitalism ever had ethics or morality? there might well be some businesses who operate within the law, mightn't there be?
It is a lack of spine, sure, but the problem is much more: lacking respect for and insight in the creation of justice. The law should be applied just in time, without selectivity.
Whet that principle is hindered you don't deserve to be called a democracy...
No Joan, I 'm afraid they know what they are doing, but they don't care because of fear of retribution. Where is the rebellion to the King of England, the freedom loving emotions that persist?
I see, from 5500mile distance, how afraid and submissive people have become. It is not ignorance to vote against your interest, but lack of respect for the values that guided American history and fear for the mob of oligarchs.
It's just about staying off the orange criminal's shit list and protecting corporate profitability going forward. ABC is but a fairly small part of Disney, a vast, multi-billion-dollar entertainment conglomerate. $16M, while not exactly chump change, was a fairly inexpensive price tag for two things. One is guaranteed access for ABC to the White House (not that Disney, like any other huge corporation, gives two shits about journalism or accurate news reporting). The other and much more important thing for Disney is to insure ongoing favorable tax, regulatory, and anti-trust treatment across all its many holdings and activities.
Said a little differently, it cost Disney $16M to make sure the orange criminal's administration won't mess with the goose that's laying piles of golden eggs for Disney.
You wouldn't have to squint very hard to look at the situation and see it as extortion.
Professor Reich: i was stunned when ABC did not stand by one of its journalists. what's the point of being a journalist for a large corporation when in fact, they hang you out to dry for your NOT crimes of mentioning FACTS about a rapist president, even before he gets into office? since ABC is part of a massive enterprise, my guess is that all other MSM will soon fall into line and help cover up all of the orange jesus's crimes. it's outrageous. not only that, but i wonder how corrupted our nation's history will become, what will future generations learn about how this nation has evolved -- if indeed, there ARE any future generations considering that the entire arctic and most other natural places will be dug up for oil so we as a species can commit suicide even faster?
I agree; that's why Americans should start looking to non-American news sources and alternate news sources if they want to know what is happening in their country.
just to mention one rather large problem: journo strikes resulting from the likely sale of the observer to tortoise media (a MUCH smaller venue than the examiner, which is somewhat like a minnow swallowing a whale)
the observer has a loooong and respected history that is not really captured in either of these linked articles, but is worth investigating on your own.
Off topic, but appreciate your input. Is it true Germany's economy is unraveling irreversibly as news outlets in US (Bloomberg, for one) are reporting? They cite spiraling energy costs and slumping exports.
Both true. The economy has shrunk a fraction of a percent in the last year, and unemployment is up, now 6.1%. Electricity here costs more than double the rates in the USA.
Greg Palast has been doing that for decades. They blacklist him, because the "powers that be " do not like what he reports. Same for Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman, and her team. Juan Garcia et al. look at who owns American papers. Very wealthy right wingers.
Also, OptOut news (U.S./international too) as well as the https://www.icij.org/ (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists): They exposed big worldwide corrupition, like the Panama Papers--hiding of laundered money, etc. I am hoping they focus on our new Administration next!
It’s clear that you get your “news” from fake, lying sources, because there were mountains of evidence of the Trump campaign’s collusion with Russia. You have been suckered into believing that real news is fake, and fake news is real. SAD.
He’s not only a sucker for right-wing propaganda, he arrogantly thinks that he’s smart for buying it, and the people relying on actual facts are being misled. SAD. Time to mute or block him. Just in the process of deciding which option to use.
Every media source has their right-wing opinion writers pushing their biased propaganda rather than reporting facts. Instead of cherry-picking your googled stories, try reading the actual reports from the intelligence community, the Mueller Report, and the bipartisan Report of the Select Committee on Intelligence United States Senate on Russian Active Measures Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 U.S. Election.
Trump and his minions, even his criminal campaign chairman Manafort, had tons of interactions with Russian operatives.
ABC is Disney. Disney like Amazon does business with the government and is easily intimidated. No media outlet should be owned by any entity that does business with the government. period.
Especially with the courts and legislators going along with it. But then the breakdown of all our guards against monopolies reforming started to fall with St. Ronnie Raygun.
"The paper would 'welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight' on issues of defamation and the First Amendment, the letter said.”
But Disney/ABC’s cowardly capitulation in a lawsuit they were almost certain to win emboldens the filthy con artist to bully, with SLAPP lawsuits, any journalist or organization that has the temerity to criticize him.
I wonder why the Biden Administration didn’t close down right-wing disinformation outlets propagating Trump lies, bashing civilians doing their jobs, and anyone who happens to be a democrat when it had the chance. Why leave it to lawsuits filed by afflicted parties—the voting machine manufacturers and Sandy Hook parents obviously but potentially Hunter Biden, Hillary Clinton, Tim Walz, Paul Pelosi, and Barack and Michelle Obama? They must have great cases too. I’d prefer prison sentences for the mendacious media monsters but knocking the outlets back to the Stone Ages financially is a kind of balm.
Skin thickness and an understanding of the importance of a free press have everything to do with why a whiny child like T-word screams and cries while an actual adult like Joe Biden shrugs.
I don't like some of those sources either, but we do have freedom of the press in our country. Those interested in balanced, fair reporting can seek it out. Biden shutting down media outlets -- any of them -- would make him no better than Trump.
as far as the arctic, maybe it will be too muddy because of permafrost melt for all that destructive machinery to work? wait! i know! i know! just collect all the methane being produced/released from the melting permafrost and sell that! plus then it could be turned into CO2 which is far better than methane for the enviroment. win/win, that's what we like. where's that ad campaign?
It makes me sick that all of these powerful people are capitulating to this traitor and he hasn’t even been inaugurated yet. He’s going to stand in front of a fraudulent Supreme Court Justice and swear to protect the constitution, the same document he said he wanted to rid this country of. Now he wants to scare every corporate media outlet from telling the truth about him. This is absolutely disgusting and it’s hard for me to believe that the people with real power are just going to bow down to this fascist pig and stand by and watch the destruction of this republic happen. It’s 1933 Germany all over again, and we are Poland.
They were more ignorant then. Now they know & almost all seem controlled by narcissistic billionaires who have no loyalty to truth, democracy or America. 🤯
Actually many decades before that. Walters interviews, and more media attention than perhaps some presidents.They ignored his criminal side almost entirely. Allowed him enormous air time as a "successful business man"...playing to the greed tendencies of their viewers. They helped create him to help them up their viewership and sell ads to bolster their bottom lines. Their lies were convenient lies of ommision IMO. 15MM is a cost of doing business and has nothing to do with right or wrong. They are just doing what they always do...protecting their bottom line at any and all cost to the greater American public whom don't have the foresight to recognize the actual costs to their society or themselves.
Remember also that the 1980s were 'the days of the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous' and being a known crook was "no problem if you were rich and famous."
I remember it well. It would seem a majority of our citizenry is inexplicably drawn to appreciate the activities and rewards of the abusive and wealthy members of our society.
They also seem to be drawn to the Roman like coliseum of dynamic and deadly confrontation...NFL brain damaging hits, hockey's on ice fighting, the need to join the military so they can kill legally (IDF) and celebrate publicly after they have slaughtered innocent women and children. This is to include the Hamas fighters that initiated this genocide activity.
Certain wealthy corporations and wealthy criminals amongst us and other populations around the world are much more concerned about themselves and their riches than they are about the lives and health of their fellow man.
You know what? That’s really a lot of bullsh*t. There’s been GREAT journalism out in this world for all this time, but the Supermarket Tabloids and Entertainment Tonight outlets get more attention because they are more like faux “Reality TV” shows — ENTERTAINMENT, not journalism. And they attract attention!!!! Everybody’s attention! Even ours, and we say we WANT responsible journalism, but we rush to see the outrageous crap just like everybody else…
“Media” includes all the broadcast content, from cartoons to Car Talk; from “Real American Housewives” to The Guardian in the UK.
Get real, you guys!!! We starve our ACTUAL news outlets in favor of lionizing the outrage we see in what-was-Twitter, and in all the sensational headlines everywhere. It GOES viral because it IS viral, and we lionize it {then some of us go and search out some REAL news and responsible media, because along with our dessert, we want a little bit of dinner}.
This demonizing of media — of journalism — enraged me. If we don’t WANT it, we won’t GET it, and we don’t seem to really WANT it as a culture. Not any more, anyway. We liked it for fifteen minutes a night from Water Kronkite. That was then….
If we as a CULTURE really wanted and supported quality journalism now, NO ONE would have had to chase a sensational headline, a killer quote from a news source, or a hot-hot-hot story to lead the night’s news in order to find an audience and survive in the media world.
THIS IS WHAT TOO MANY PEOPLE WANT — The WILD AND THE WOOLY!! It is literally what made Trump’s brand — his outrageous ego slathered all over buildings and boats and planes, and his interviews with Howard Stern! AND THEN A TV SHOW!!!
If we do not as a culture support the kind of journalism and media that all of us NEED, this garbage is what we are going to be fed from now on …And don’t blame “the media” — the “media” is what we ask for. You know that old saw about two beasts, a good one and a bad one .. which one will survive? The one we feed!
You’re right about entertainment vs. news, but that does not make the comment you replied to “bullsh*t.” The mainstream media normalized Trump, gave him the coverage he wanted, and largely ignored the dishonesty and corruption all around him.
NO, Robert. My comment was dead aimed at the culprit. It is not media that got us what we have, as the commenter said. It is US guiding media by our choices and preferences. I SAID good media has ALSO been available, but we raised up the bad that he talks about, as though media shaped US, instead of the other way around. I KNOW crappy and venal media proliferates…because we lionize it over the good stuff…
For sure, media DOES do the things mentioned…and sanewashing and normalizing does go on MORE now than it did … But it is the product we BOUGHT, and SHAPED by our own support of it…
If we don’t deal with the public’s APPETITE for a Trump…and we don’t figure out how to hold onto a responsible media, we are SUNK.
Responsible media costs money to keep, and our culture puts its dollars into the tasty garbage.
Let’s stop the media useless bashing, recognize where we as a culture were complicit in this, and figure a way to make it better.
No, Pat. Your initial salvo was that criticism of the MSM was BS. I agree with your followup post here, but the initial one did not contain the nuance of this one.
You are right, Pat, but the problem has deeper roots. Technological "progress" is gradually destroying us by making life easier for us. The telephone freed us from the need to write thoughtful letters. TV has freed us from the need to read and use our imagination. The internet has freed us from the need to build a real life. AI will make us completely irrelevant.
Good points Pat. How many hours has the media wasted in the last week covering the "drone" story out of NJ when they should be screaming with hair afire about how DT is preparing to dismantle our government!
I am concerned that too many here seem ready to abandon good though flawed legacy media, for example the Wash Post which is a really good paper. All sources have their bias.
It's not a "good paper" anymore. Bozo wouldn't allow the planned endorsement of Harris, and he has already bowed down before trump by giving his inauguration committee one million. Don't expect the WaPo to be very critical of trump.
and it's a pittance to them-if it was a real case and trump sued for a billion,they'd have fought-that's why trump settled for so little-a bragging point
Spot on. It's all a game to them... and we are along for the ride.
Trump was fully aware of his upcoming victory, well before hand, as he and others knew the playing field as it related to the limited capacity of the majority of the US voting public. That's why he has been able to skate along throughout this last election. Swaying to the music.
The play book was written years ago for many leaders in "how to take control of the masses" and the nations they reside in. We never learn from history as we never educate enough people to recognize... when they are experiencing it.
Voters were complacent while the bread and circus was inexpensive. Now they are hopping mad, Keep in mind that the party in power is held responsible..
Unless the incentives to act badly are changed, they will not change.
We fixate on individuals, personalities, because they serve as an outlet for our dissatisfactions. But changing the institutions and economics that shape people, and their pathologies, not nearly enough.
Might it be the case that crooked Trump won the election because more people were like him (he's one of us!) than like Harris? That his character flaws are now widely shared among the public which has suffered much evil? A depressing thought.
For me, they have been slowly working toward this goal. Sane washing the orange smears actions and words, constantly and forever putting his stupid orange mug on every single story and slowly starting to spew the same misinformation and propaganda that FOX has always done. MSM now belongs to the orange man. He is following Orban in Hungary's playbook. That is why I refuse to watch any of them and choose real and honest journalists from other sources!
Consistent repetition of ideologies is the key to effect the thoughts of those that don't and/or can't and/or don't care to think.
Our species predisposition to violence far outweighs the need for sharing unless trained and taught the value of one, over the other...an effective education and effective guard rails of behavior are the key...we have little to none of those things in this country or most others. Thus, we have Trump, the Oligarchs, and oppressive corporations leveraging off the basic needs of a mostly compliant work force...unable to quit as they have become entrenched in debt or in some cases happily complicit.
and in that regard, from a friend's book Widdershins Twisted Ways
After several decades of personal observations, it has become increasingly clear to me that the entire Human Race is stark, raving MAD! This evaluation of our species’ individual and collective irrationality is based upon my numerous experiences with profoundly idiotic judgments and asinine behaviors which seem to be some form of universal insanity that induces people to strive after meaningless goals and engage in destructive activities.
Humankind’s collective lunacy is evident in civilization’s violent history of constant wars, carnage, and genocide. Likewise, our civic structures exhibit irrational dysfunction: business enterprises that foul the environment for the sake of minimal profit; religious authorities that preach of charity and compassion from their opulent settings of ecclesiastical comfort; judiciaries that declare their impartiality while they wreak their vengeance on the guilty and innocent alike; and educational institutions that emote wisdom when teaching authoritative opinion and mediocrity; and democratic governance defiled by greed, corruption and hypocrisy.
On an individual level, to confirm beliefs of prominence and self-worth, people take immense pleasure in earning useless tokens of social affirmation. To gain status in the eyes of others. people will lie, cheat, steal, or even murder; waste vast amounts of time, wealth, and energy; endure intense pain; risk health, friends, family, dignity, and even life itself to gain (by fame or infamy) some notice of public recognition, for “Men are valued not for what they are, but for what they seem to be.” B. Lytton
To incite envy and affirm their own self-perceived grandiose nature, they go to great lengths to brag about their incredible personal attributes, affectations, attitudes, mannerisms, physical features and prowess, relationships with those who are rich or famous, possessions, reputation, wealth, sexuality, and all such similar, irrelevant trivia. It is from such pompous pretensions that people concoct the intricate artifices of ego-gratification which offer rationales to allay insecurity as to their imagined superiority; and to bolster their sense of personal worth.
All true, Steve. Here are some of the solutions offered in the past: Jesus: love each other and give up wealth and sex. Be like children and you will be admitted into the Kingdom of God.. Marx: abolish the private ownership of the means of production, and you will love each other. Stalin and Mao: make people fer each other and teach them to love the Leader.. Pol Pot: kill everybody upon reaching the age of 30. Procreation has been the cause of most of our conflicts. Fortunately, now we have effective contraception.
The audience they can find is the audience they are after — so many who WANT the sensational garbage … People are not admitting that the AUDIENCE drives the content…. If we want to know why too much media has gone sour, we need to look to US — the audience.
I applaud you, Peggy, for not being in that sick audience. But in a world of so many empty media calories, we are finding nutritious new sources harder and harder to find.
I hope we can help HRC and Prof. Reich and others of value to survive.
Our meager dollars can only go so far.
But we will get the media environment we can support — let’s hope we can manage some decency amid the drek.
My news sources are few, Pat, but I do trust them to report the truth. Unfortunately, many of the young people coming in to adulthood are reality tv driven and believe whatever the idiot box tells them. It is a shame, but I see no way to correct it. Technology has progressed too rapidly and there was no time to erect a firewall against the lies, propaganda and hate that has been produced. I'm old and I can still discern between outright bullshit and the truth. I'm not sure if the younger ones can or not. Good thoughts right back at you, Pat. We will get through this - perhaps a little scarred, but much, much wiser!
you're right-not much since Watergate,tho there have been exceptions-mcclatchy was against w.'s Iraq war,but those days are mostly gone-corporate ownership is a curse-the person who mentioned the guardian's ownership by a trust was right
The R’s have been structuring their CULTURAL takeover since Reagan {tried it with Nixon, but they overstepped — went back and did it more carefully with cultural influences as much as political ones … Even that bullshit from Saint Ronnie that government is not a solution, and disparaging the government as a helper {ask people if they want FEMA to show up after a disaster, and they’ll tell you about government that helps}.
Our culture has been courted and fed a diet of tasty garbage — faux “heroes” like Trump and WWF. Our civics education has been hollowed out for our kids; corporate take-over of media has been insidious {I worked for newspapers taken over by Fidelity Investments, and I’ve seen it happen}. Our culture has devalued teachers and journalists, and we’ve been fed a diet of ENTERTAINMENT media as news — but too many people have ASKED for that diet. It’s where we pay attention, it’s where we subscribe, it is where too many of us spend our dollars to watch …
If our culture does not value and support a responsible way to bring information to the public {even our FOUNDERS knew that would matter}, we won’t have an educated and informed electorate
That is foundational. The Atavistic Right does not WANT an educated public.
People here need to recognize what we are up against. It is easier to sell lousy news — and it’s tough to fund the hard work it takes to gather important news, without enough readers and support.
The sweet-tooth in people is driving obesity in our bodies — and our ENTERTAINMENT sweet-tooth is driving the destruction of our media environment.
Yes, we who value Prof. Reich and his organization need to keep up our support — but how to do we foster a healthy diet of media in a world that wants hype and viral content and ENTERTAINMENT.
Let’s get to the bottom of that.
It’s that sweet tooth that the corporate media takes advantage of.
How to we counter it with validity and accuracy and needed content?
And yes, even responsible media — facing this existential moment — has too often ‘sane-washed’ or been a part of normalizing Trump, in an attempt to remain “objective.” But, responsible media is being starved straight to death … How do we deal with that?
I heard on TV news that a whole cadre of expert attorneys say that ABC would have won the case. Accepting that as true, then they caved and opened the door to the ever-boastful and vengeful tRump and, as Prof. Reich notes, he is threatening the DesMoines Register for a POLL they ran and other reports say he is aiming for Bob Woodward - and who knows who else. It's tRump's m.o. and "the judicial system" and his many victims let him run roughshod over "justice."
Trump follows the example of Victor Orban, Hungary's Prime Minister who used various methods, including lawsuits followed by buyouts by wealthy loyalists to control the media. "Hungary has become a quite successful informational autocracy, or spin dictatorship, a quote by Peter Kreko, an analyst and head of the Political Capital think tank in Budapest. I recommend the World News article, "How Hungary's Orban uses control of the media to escape scrutiny and keep the public in the dark." in apnews.com.
I read that Orban visited Maralogo before the election. Trump admires dictators.
Hungary is now the poorest of the Euro countries (or maybe 2nd from poorest) The countries wealth is being siphoned off by Orban and his cronies.Rule by mobster.
Yes Trump does want to be a strongman dictator; fortunately for us, inside that mound of orange lard is a weak insecure little man-baby toddler who cannot control his own impulses and whose mind is a massive black hole for praise, applause and reassurance and money.
Except then we get JD Vance, and then really watch out as Project 2025 implementation accelerates with no brakes. At least on occasion Trump pumps the brakes (like saying no impacts to Social Security — we shall see on that one.)
That's the beauty of cults--especially a cult of personality; when the personality departs or dies, the cult will wither. Vance simply does not have that strange magnetic vibe that Trump seems to hold for his adherents. He will head up the MAGA cult for a while but Vance doesn't have an attractive personality and he hasn't the skill set to transform himself.
When Trump waddles off this mortal coil to whatever eternal reward he has earned (maybe just to be worm chow...I'm not into religion, so I have no idea), Vance will lead the remnants of the MAGA movement for a time but I doubt it will turn to him in any real way.
I don't know that death will stop the movement that he's created. He wants a dynasty so one of his family would attempt to step in. I really am sick of him and his bronzer. I don't want to hear him or see him or any of his family.
Cave to Trump once, and he'll raise the ante and come at you again. He isn't satisfied with winning; he has to repeatedly humiliate anyone he sees as his enemy or as having been his enemy, especially a defeated enemy (see how he's treating Canada and Trudeau after Trudeau bent the knee to him at Mar-a-Lago).
Disney Corp. is worth $205 billion. Seems to me they have the resources to bury DT in counter legal fights and filings. Mickey should be giving him the middle finger. The Disney leadership should be national hero's but instead but are just another bunch of corporate cowards. GH
There is no one left in the legacy press I trust. Despicable. I wonder how Stephanopoulos feels about, for all intents and purposes, being thrown under the bus.
I never unerstood: why were Rush Limbaugh and Fox News able to keep their license to operate? They were gushing out lies constantly. Are lies "free speech"? Lies, repeated constantly, become "truth" to an easily hoodwinked population. One more major way in which we are self-destructing organized social life? At the end of VWII, the US could stand as the country of hope for the future of humanity. All squandered, in great part by other monumental lies about its wars: Vietnam, Irak, Afghanistan. Lies to distract for the obscene inequality of wealth and jsutice. Truth and trust are gone. What a tragedy for the US, and the World.
Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News and other media, has been a fossil fuels defender for decades. Fossil fuels companies control the Republican party and dominate much of world politics. Still, the Democrats failure to recognize and act on the danger is baffling and unforgiving.
Thanks Elena. The clean, wholesome family business that Walt started has now become a apologist for a criminal and rapist. Try to explain that to your kids next time they want to visit Mickey at one of the parks or cruise ships. Shame on them... GH
Oh Catherine! Please don't be ashamed of your service to our nation! True, patriotic Americans love and appreciate our servicemen and women! You served your country which means you stood for Democracy, decency and the common good. I am so grateful for people like you because the military always made me feel safe and secure from enemies foreign and domestic. I thank you so much for your service and want you to know American citizens who love our country appreciate you.
Catherine. Never be ashamed of your service to our country. The shame is on DT for his continuing to bad mouth those of us who did serve and those who continue to serve. All the best to you... GH
Listen, we are never going to know the whole story. djt has been making 'deals' with every level of mob boss or business, state or foreign gov't for many years. He just does what he has to do to get what he wants or needs. He doesn't want anything recorded in any way. He has operated outside any rules or laws for years. Maybe his dad or Roy Cohn taught him that. He has said openly, "Don't come after me or I'll come after YOU." He will use whoever or whatever he can to make his 'deals'. He has an undercurrent of information about all manner of things. AND he has the loyalty of people and places we aren't even aware of. He is loyal to the powers that have helped him and will figure out how to repay them in some way with the power he has gained. He HAS to have protection not only because of the office he'll move into but also because he has wronged many people on his way up. He knows that he's lying to his base and they believe him because the more he says something the more it becomes true for them. It's a twisted, complex tale of dishonesty starring an individual who isn't right in the head. We'll never know all the undercurrents of his ascension into the White House! We can wonder and guess as we dance around to block his selfish maneuvers.
These truths are stranger than fiction. "You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, things and ideas. You've just crossed over into... the Twilight Zone."
Donald Drumpf is an old school mafia boss. ABC is paying for "protection".
That is like when a child gives their lunch money to the school bully so he won't beat them up.
We all saw how he works during his previous term as mob boss. Government contracts only went to his corrupt buddies. They barely did any work, and blamed Democrats. (the Wall)
Phil, I consider the lawsuit against ABC and its quick capitulation to be a warning shot fired across the bow. It is a warning to all media that they will absolutely come under fire if they say or print something that Trump or his staff feels is threatening to them or their agenda of controlling what is projected as truth.
Now, we are all warned that for those who are effective at undermining Trump, they will encounter threats and eventually consequences. My statement above is not meant to increase fear among us, but to urge us to consider long range goals and planning effective actions to protect those that are the most vulnerable to the new administration's upcoming policies. If NPR and PBS news departments are to maintain their untainted reporting of the news, it is likely that their government funding will be diminished or cut and they will depend entirely on our financial support not only for the cost of operation of the news departments but the inevitable lawsuits lodged against them in an attempt bankrupt them for the costs of defending themselves.
We can probably expect that writing platforms such as Substack to come under pressure and repression also. We must stand by independent sources of truly free speech for the necessity of staying informed. Media operations such as Inequality Media may also encounter resistance from the Trump government and we should stand ready to support this platform in any way we can. Subscribing to progressive newsletters and monthly donations even if quite small will go a long ways in maintaining sources of untainted media.
Marc, then we need to find a cadre of pro-bono lawyers and others interested in the law to work to defend the various media and a lot of "ordinary" people to post regularly the truth on all platforms and drop off X and any others that deliberately put out lies, half-truths, and spend their efforts insulting, belittling, degrading, and otherwise doing harm to Americans. We need to let the Supreme Court 6 know that they do not have support of all the American people, only Trump and Kump and need to clean up their act. OK, I know, dream on. I am hoping people will want to protect our democracy. I hope I am right.
Lawyers for Good Government - L4GG.org - is one such organization. They are a large organization of lawyers, who volunteer their time and work pro bono on civil rights cases. They formed in 2016, as a response to harms done to migrants under the first trump regime - an in the trenches response to what was being done to the migrants. They are still going strong, and are so concerned about trump.2, that for the first time they mailed me a letter asking for support. You can find them on Facebook. I'm not an attorney, but a friend had told me about them, so I got on their Facebook list, and watched them grow during that first challenge. I remember allies who weren't lawyers, brought in pizza and other meals to feed their volunteer lawyers, who were working at the border, defending migrants, for such long hours that they didn't stop to eat. They helped a lot of people. They work differently from ACLU - but both are very valuable entities who stand for the honest and fair rule of law and against the spread of tyranny. It's worth it - and uplifting - to check them out.
Thanks for this! Had not heard of Lawyers for Good Government, but just subscribed to their mailing list. I will share this resource with my Indivisible group.
Donna, thanks. I am going to check out l4gg.org.
Why did ABC cave?
Why is anyone going to cave, including Democrats?
Fear
As Roy Orbison sang:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9JArvEJ64M
All that is left now is guerrilla warfare, passive resistance, sabotage.
I disagree; it's FEAR OF LOSING PROFITS.
No you do not disagree, I said fear, you added a qualifier. Actually it is deeper than fear of loss of profits, the sudden and astounding embrace of Trump is not only motivated by money, but by personal safety
He has said he is going to wreak vengeance on organizations and people, Now they are believing him.
And they wonder why we all cheered Luigi.
The real criminals are the corporations. They kill people, start wars, and are never punished, nor are their CEO's and Board of Directors punished.
The closest they come to punishment is bankruptcy or merger and then the people who make the decisions are never punished.
The talking heads,pundits, editors are all dependent for their livelihood, social status and lifestyle on these corporations, you will see no discussion, examination, criticism or condemnation of these corportions on TV or any corporate media.
Thus the sympathy for Brian L. Thompson, while the hundreds of thousand that he has killed are blithely ignored.
They wring their hands over the murder of one man, but ignore the murder of his victims
He did not shoot them with a gun, but he killed them never the less.
Death is death, dead is dead, it matters not how you do the deed.
Stalin said: Kill one person and it is murder, kill thousands and it is a statistic..
It’s over, over indeed. No white knights to our rescue. Greed won the election and there is no one left to save us. But even if there were, they’d have to check with the shareholders first. Yes, it’s truly over, indeed.
I think we need a media with principles. I think Mr. Reich points out Disney is big enough to defend itself. Since when do oligarchs need pro bono anything (they already have pro bono tax rates)? Really.
Marc - It's important to remember that dumpster's treasury dept. will soon have the unchallengeable right to declare any nonprofit media it doesn't like to be a terrorist organization. Biden probably wouldn't sign the bill in its current iteration, but the next one coming when there is a repugnant trifecta will no doubt be more draconian.
We need to remember history. Think of what hoover's FBI did with just rotary phones and shoe leather. They oppressed, jailed, destroyed an enormous number of people working within the freedoms granted by our constitution to make our country a better place for all, or to right systemic wrongs.
Now we have the surveillance state, daily increasing in power and thoroughness thanks to AI and our techbroligarchs. Yes, substacks such as this will probably be subject to harassing lawsuits which no private donations can hope to provide funds for successful defense at multi-billion and mulitnational corporate lawfirms.
I hate to say it, but it's over. the oligarchs won. unless, as I've noted before, biden uses the corrupt6 ruling to jail all the coup d'etat terrorists. it's that simple.
For the next few weeks, President Biden is our only hope of averting the dreadful coming reign of the great and terrible Trump.
He must use his SC-granted immunity protection as sitting president to round up these MAGA bullies in Congress and the SC,strip them of their assets, American citizenship and imprison them for the rest of their twisted lives.
No one committing treason or felonies should ever be permitted to run for or holdpublic office. Ever. But you all knew that, didn’t you? Wake up!
Ilene - keep up the advocating! if enough of us do it, it might result in saving our democracy. i've been advocating this very thing in this substack and numerous other places, including sending to white house, since the corrupt 6 issued their coronation orders in june. this must not be allowed to stand. there is no rule of law any longer except what the corrupt 6 allow. it's really that simple.
Thanks for your support, Paul. We must all continue to voice our fealty to reality. Time is running out!
Bravo!
Why would you use the word "great" in reference to the tyrant? Just to complete the metaphor with the Wizard of Oz? There is nothing great about him except the size of his posterior.
My comment was not just to complete the metaphor so much has to remind us that the us Wizard of Oz story is a loosely disguised vision of a country under fascism by a charismatic leader.
My heart/soul are with you Llene on this approach: Our final chance to avert disaster!
But it is my impression that Biden is spineless and in decline but maybe Harris can step-it-up in her final days as VP: Standing in for the obviously ill President. I like to dream of miracles!
If President Biden is truly unable to bring himself to exert his authority to save our country, then yes, Joan, VP Harris should step up to the plate, let her boss know how she feels and tell him not to worry; that she will handle this potentially tragic impasse by implementing the items I mentioned in my post above. She should assure him that together they will make history as American heroes.
Ilene, this would be a holiday miracle for the people that would make history but the Trumpers would rebel, maybe even violently but the alternative would be worse! We'll hope for the best!
I. Think Biden is quite unwell!!
He betrayed his VP by not doing what he promised—not running for re-election. Harris with 1 or 2 years to campaign would have easily won. She would not have allowed the economy to become THE issue over Trump’s failure as President and his lack of character of a moral man. She got shafted by a man she trusted who stuck her in a closet to keep her from ever publicly criticizing or disagreeing with him.
Biden has one month left to do anything that he pleases with no repercussions. Can we send him a wish list?
Nah, VP are always kept out of the spotlight.
Biden is doing some stuff, as seen on youtube. But, likely too little too late.
Patriot Act! That's all Biden needs.
He seems dumb.
I don't think he cares for the rank and file democrats.
He's a Dino
This is how Repression starts... Study up on the Soviet Regime...
Goebbels was in favor of free speech that he liked. So was Stalin. Trump is the same.
Good point of history Joseph.
But the felon can say whatever he wants and threaten whomever he wants. Ain't gonna happen. We can't let it happen.
The Big Corporate MSM did it to Themselves... CNN Legitimized DJT with its first DJT Townhall hosted by Caitlin Collins this Year... It was Good for DJT's Campaign, Good for Caitlin Collin's Career, and Bad for the USA.. The MSM Let The Viper Into Their Bed, And They Then Act Shocked When They Get Bit...
You're right, Apache. Big Media has absolutely done it to themselves.They have bent over backwards to normalise him/his ramblings and give him tons of free space. You saw very few ads for the Democratic Party candidate, but tons of ads for Trump. Now that he's going to be inaugurated (eww!), they're "obeying in advance."--a very bad thing when it concerns a dictator.
Yes, Lights Seiferlein : Now these media will have to take dictation, which will put them out of business. Not a great future for journalists.
Not at all, Laurie Blair.
Yes! Way to go, Apache.
LIKE - button does not work
And yet he slandered Kamala, Cheney,Biden and more over and over by his doctored ads and his words, and they did nothing.
So, can his judgement of having been slandered and receiving money because of it be used to sue him for all his slanders?
The trick is to keep all media outlets guessing. I agree about supporting this platform and others. It is easy to consider it more bluster than substance, but ABC caved because they figured they should, as I see things. Your comment, Marc, is spot on. I think you've crystallized what we're up against quite well.
Dear Narc, er Marc. . look up the meaning of "The Fourth Estate." It no longer exists because of for-profit drama-media. And to suggest that MAGA world and the likes of Trump are keeping it honest is a total "fail." The purpose of the Fourth Estate. . the media the journalists. . is to SEEK and REPORT truth. yes, some dramatize it for more clicks and driven by conservative advertisers, but when an interview like what Trump gave Meet the Press happens and the journalist interviewing fails to call him out that his statement is absolutely factually incorrect. . the Fourth Estate is dead.
I agree wholeheartedly with you. But how do we provide support and protection without committing financial suicide and opening ourselves to legal and personal intimidation and other abuses.
I think the revolution has to be worth that....and Democracy is.
Yup, risk. It's worth it.
Seek Safety in Numbers, and Anonimity... Join Organizations like the ACLU...
On it
😳
Well buckle up, it's about to get worse. ABC News, who had correctly identified Trump as a rapist, as did the trial judge in his case, has just caved in and decided not to fight Trump's lawsuit against them. The collapse of justice in the United States of America, now aided by the Fourth Estate, has begun.
Those media organizations need to fire back. He will lose any lawsuit. He's a waste of skin, orange or otherwise. On a side note, I'm not sure why so many of his followers hate people of color. Trump's not white, either. He's orange. How many orange people are there out there? Definitely a weird color and certainly not like other people, so they should hate him and deport him, right? The Germans can have the drumpfs back. We don't want 'em.
Like. (Button doesn't work.)
Hi Daniel - It's funny, but my "like" button hasn't worked for quite awhile now! Oh, well.
Be aware that Trump uses his supporters as hostages. He is telling them: "See, I have been victimized, just as you have. These lawsuits, critiques and accusations are attacks on you, also. We must fight them, and if we fight together we win!" The ploy has worked well for him thus far. Be careful. Caution is not cowardice.
Exactly!!!!
How long before he shuts down Substack? 😢
Donald gets his support from the Maga/Republican contributors and subscribers on Substack. It is an open platform and everyone has access to the opportunity of free speech. I personally do not read any of their postings but there are plenty of them. I am not sure Substack is much of a threat to Donald. 🇨🇦
Jill, I certainly hope you are right about Substack being off of Trump‘s radar. It seems to be the last refuge of those who value free speech. We must respond and castigate those trolls who invade us just for the pure pleasure that destruction offers them.
I have had a few go after me but I just made a joke about how amazed I was how a Maga guy could be so irritated by a retired kindergarten teacher!! Haha
yeah, bigger fish to fry.
But how about the young girl in Russia who was sentenced to jail for putting little messages on market labels in the food store? 7 years, and who knows? it may be more if Putin decides to keep her there longer.
With Putin's track record she probably has a life expectancy in a Russian prison of less than 2 horrible years. Every reporter who interviews DT from now on should bring up this young girl. Then ask DT to call and ask his buddy Putin to pardon her. Handing him their cell phone would be great photo op. Can't wait to hear his response to that after he pardons all the Jan 6 traitors.
Good luck to her... GH
If you listen to the CEO of Substack discuss the mandate and focus of the platform, you will hear their purpose and direction. Chris Best explains it often in many podcasts. Worth a listen. 🇨🇦
If we stand behind him, we won’t have to worry about Substack.
I NEVER meant Trump. I always meant Bob Reich and and the people who make Substack possible.
I picked up a piece of of interesting info from NPR this morning. The very people who tried to say that Trump won Nevada four years ago (and same thing in another state) are now the electors for him. This "smells" bad to me. Did Trump actually win or was that "arranged" by the GOP in Nevada? When a newspaper woman in Iowa was sure that Trump would lose the state and then Trump won, something is smelling rotten.
I, for one, agree. Why were we so ready to cave into the results of this election with such narrow margins? The Redhats would certainly not have taken that scenario laying down. They didn’t in 2020.
We should have had recounts, like Trump was able to do. Te whole election feels "off". But nope the party immediately caved. And now all we're getting is ignored.
Nobody will answer why there were no recounts. Not even when it was close or in states normally Democrat. Nobody will say.
Lynn - The techbroligarchs and coup d'etat planners had four years, essentially unlimited money, and inside help from red and swing state elections apparati to subvert the election. they did this by stealing the coding for the voting machines in states where they're used and rewriting the code to perform whatever functions (many ways to do it) they wanted it to. they did this by bribing, extorting, and enlisting willing elections workers in red and swing states, they did this by essentially, and incrementally over time, replacing the election infrastructure in the states with their own. this is why dumpster said "you (we) won't need to vote anymore" or in another case, in extremely bored tone, "i don't need your votes". there were other similar statements. Remember how demented and bored and idiotic he was on the campaign trail this past summer? that was all deflection, distracting everyone from the astonishing sleight of hand going on. note his demeanor and presence now. it's completely different, isn't it.
Remember also that the states conduct elections, not the federal gov't. this makes every election theoretically subject to systemic manipulation and fraud. Which is why we used to have the voting rights act before the corrupt court emasculated it. because, y'know states' rights to conduct fraudulent elections and voter suppression.
Finally, any expectation that this can be righted at the next "election" is seriously delusional. the techbroligarchs won. AI will only solidify it all.
There was cheating. I'm not a tech bro but I felt it in my bones. What did Harris do? She caved. I would have been scrabling to get the money together for recounts. We're stuck with IT because neither Biden nor Harris will do the right thing. Just mouth platitudes about the "peaceful transfer of power" BS and issuing pardons. They deserted us just when we needed them most.
I kept geeting requests from a Harris group for more contributions to find more Kamala votes by correcting ballots. I think they did that, because in the weeks following Nov 5, her count kept rising.
Yes, Paul, they won, and it is America's loss. In The Edge, Nate Silver warned that this is no time to gamble, because we are at the edge of the abyss, but they din't pay attention.
Do you have any evidence of these acqusations? Or is it all speculation. Believable speculation, but nevertheless specualation.
We have a flawed voting apparatus, that shouldn't be this way. It was developed in the days of horse and buggy, before electrical communication.
Every ballot should have an Id number, associated with a voter. That way, everyone would have the ability to query a database of results, and verify that their ballot on the database matches their vote, and still remain anomeous. In addition, extra ballots, or missing ballots could be discovered.
Ted Rees - several things come to mind. 1) if it can be done, it will have been done. 2)earlier this year (or was it last year?) several elections workers were prosecuted for allowing unauthorized access to voting machines, in different states. michigan, arizona (?) wisconsin. swing and red states where if you've followed the progressive press, one sees the far greater number of voting transgressions not by voters, but by elections workers. 3) shortly after the election there were many concerns raised about the election, but the centrist dems would not touch it for fear of being unfairly compared to dumpster's years long whining about stolen 2020 election (documented in j6 hearings that he knew he lost)
4) many people were distracted by the unfortunate igorance about internet access to voting machines. there is none. that's why the issue of physical access to the machines by repugnant operatives is so critical.
5) our US history is replete with these types of criminal actions, a significant number of which have been perpetrated on other countries not playing by our corporate/capitalist ("national interest") rules. this would have, was an extremely easy switch (election infrastructure) to make, especially given the 4 year time period, and given the players in the red states who aren't concerned by the rule of law. (remember the states control all elections, even federal elections.)
6) the techbroligarch financing - bribes, extortion, code writers- this is chump change compared to what they've got. and what a return on investment! spectacular. hasn't (f)elon made a couple hundred million already since the election?
So yes, educated and informed speculation. I don't bet on an honest election in 2026, because with what i'm sure has been done, it will always be rigged for the repugnants.
and not to be snarky, but in 2026, if i'm still alive, I'll say "told you so"
Great idea.
And now we have Fony Stark, (elon musk) as "Techbroligarch" in chief.
Another con man, pretending he is a technical genuous, when he is actually a clever thief of other peoples creativity. Tesla? Founded by two engineers.
Musk talked someone in government to give him contracts for Space X. Government money started the company, and keeps it in business.
His sudden surge to richest man? He talked Biden to keeping the 7500 tax credit on his automobiles. Biden eliminated tax credits from EV's not assembeled in the US. But these tax credits collected by the buyer also lower the cost of the EV's purchased, using government money.
And even bigger he collected carbon credit money from the other car companies. Tesla already had 50% of the EV market, and didn't need any public money paying for subsidies. This move harmed his competition.
Now, Musk dumped money on Trump to help him win the election, and we see so that he can manipulate the government to get more tax payer money.
Because the Democrats wrongfully prioritize the high road of being good losers rather than fighting back.
I agree, and because Biden really has nothing to lose at this point, he should be the first to fight back! He should instruct the DOJ to round up all of those in Congress who were involved with Jan. 6. He must have the info from the Jan. 6 Committee. He should just do it and never mind about the screaming and hollering from the GOP and other groups that are destroying our democracy. Those involved are domestic terrorists and deserve to be locked up immediately! If truly unlawful, Biden is immune to prosecution, since the supreme court said so. Show Trump he's not the only one who can go after people he deems harmed him.
As Commander in Chief, Biden has the legal authority to have the former commander in chief arrested by military police, and locked up in military prison, for treason. The former commander would then face a military court for sentencing.
Yes, Yes, and Yes, Mary. There are lots of things he and Garland could have set in place while still in power. It is hard being a Democrat when they just roll over. That is how a minority party, Republicans and Maga took control. After he won in 2020 and had 81 million voters behind him Biden never once called a press conference and told Trump to shut the f up about a rigged election and stop being a traitor. He ignored the threat and muted Harris. He passed some good legislation but he and Garland were clueless when it came to the danger of Maga and Trump taking over. Not until he stepped down and Harris took over did the Dems fight back. But by then it was way to little too late.
Exactly. He should be doing everything to try to save our democracy, but is he? Nope. He's just turning us over to the fascists. I wasted my vote, wasted the tiny donations I could afford, just to have it come to this.
Agree, Alan. I'm tired of this "when they go low, we go high" bullshit. The senior DEMs in the party should have seen this shit-storm coming from the GOP since Nixon. They continued to "play by the rules" as the GOP broke every one they could. They need some new blood at the top but just shot down AOC's bid for a leadership position. She is smart and a fighter. I'm going to send her some money tomorrow even though I'm half the country away in Illinois.
Cheers to AOC for being smart and brave enough to take on the old guard. I'm 78 and cheer every time someone like her steps up. GH
Use your head not your nose.
And just what is that supposed to mean?
I would stand behind a raging bull before I would ever stand behind the worlds biggest lying con artist in the history of the USA, Trump.
Behind who? trump? I wouldn't stand down wind of Schitzenpantz.
Really Jim? Hitler made progress when folks held back.
🤣
Extortion, pure and simple.
couple of months
Only in the schoolyard, Drumpf is too chicken-s**t to do the work himself, so he co-opts other pre-adolescent thugs to do the beating up. He promises them a share of the take and then scams his cohorts out of it.
Agreed. It makes me sick.
I can assure you, all pop culture mythologizing aside, The Dunceald is about as much like an old school mob boss as I am akin to late NFL great, Jim Brown. Donnie The Douche is a coward and a wastard at best. Like others of his ilk, he will knot his own noose. The real shame of that truth is that he will harm many others along the way. He is a disgrace and a menace. His selections of personnel to insulate him and follow his wicked lead with complete and utter servile self-abasement is evidence of how the demented and demonic mind of a despot churns.
Why does abc Tv news have 2 segments of Billy Grahams son probably billionaire son preaching Jesus Christ on line? This is the future of Big Brother TV? I am dropping ABC FROM MY TV STATIONS -
UNLESS THEY GRANT ALL THE OTHER RELIGIONS THE SPAME SPACE AND TIME! I’ve had it with these PSUEDO CHRISTIANS!!!!!
THE
When amoral suits meet up in court with an amoral man, settlement is the only choice. It’s not right, it’s not wrong, it’s just business.
No! It may be couched as “ business,” but it IS WRONG. Let’s not provide undeserved cover by pretending otherwise…
Roger, that's nonsense! It may be what business wants, but it certainly is wrong. When people's moral compasses if they ever had one are broken or not aligned with what is right, coming up with such nonsense is just what one would expect, then claim well, it's just business. It isn't. It's cowardice among other things.
I wonder if Springfield, OH should sue JD, DJT, and/or the RNC for their false statements, and consequent damage to reputation.
He’s not smart enough to be a mafia boss and would last about 1 day
Tragic for the reputation of the U.S.--not excluding Biden regarding Gaza too.
Call it pre-capitulation by ABC, thinking long-term, not caring about the message that it would send to the rest of the media.
No time for a spine apparently…
It’s just numbers to the cost accountants and easier to pay off the grifters and move on with the revenue stream.
Money has no principles…
It’s not personal it’s business…
When business has no ethics, it is easily corrupted… This is capitulation to corruption. It only gets worse…
when has business ever had ethics. actually, i should ask when has capitalism ever had ethics or morality? there might well be some businesses who operate within the law, mightn't there be?
Rare to never...
Further down the rabbit hole, and the hole’s winning.
I wonder how quickly trump will squeeze Disney again. And Disney is to blame for showing him that they would cave.
Like putin, trump will claim the company for himself, or he will syphon all the value out of it.
Oh, well. Too bad so sad.
It is a lack of spine, sure, but the problem is much more: lacking respect for and insight in the creation of justice. The law should be applied just in time, without selectivity.
Whet that principle is hindered you don't deserve to be called a democracy...
Justice delayed is justice denied.
I used these words often. But do people without any connection with the circus in Washington have the feeling they do great damage to democracy?
Ignorance--sadly...
No Joan, I 'm afraid they know what they are doing, but they don't care because of fear of retribution. Where is the rebellion to the King of England, the freedom loving emotions that persist?
I see, from 5500mile distance, how afraid and submissive people have become. It is not ignorance to vote against your interest, but lack of respect for the values that guided American history and fear for the mob of oligarchs.
It's just about staying off the orange criminal's shit list and protecting corporate profitability going forward. ABC is but a fairly small part of Disney, a vast, multi-billion-dollar entertainment conglomerate. $16M, while not exactly chump change, was a fairly inexpensive price tag for two things. One is guaranteed access for ABC to the White House (not that Disney, like any other huge corporation, gives two shits about journalism or accurate news reporting). The other and much more important thing for Disney is to insure ongoing favorable tax, regulatory, and anti-trust treatment across all its many holdings and activities.
Said a little differently, it cost Disney $16M to make sure the orange criminal's administration won't mess with the goose that's laying piles of golden eggs for Disney.
You wouldn't have to squint very hard to look at the situation and see it as extortion.
or "premature-capitulation"
Accounts have no principles ; Just Spread Sheets…
Professor Reich: i was stunned when ABC did not stand by one of its journalists. what's the point of being a journalist for a large corporation when in fact, they hang you out to dry for your NOT crimes of mentioning FACTS about a rapist president, even before he gets into office? since ABC is part of a massive enterprise, my guess is that all other MSM will soon fall into line and help cover up all of the orange jesus's crimes. it's outrageous. not only that, but i wonder how corrupted our nation's history will become, what will future generations learn about how this nation has evolved -- if indeed, there ARE any future generations considering that the entire arctic and most other natural places will be dug up for oil so we as a species can commit suicide even faster?
I agree; that's why Americans should start looking to non-American news sources and alternate news sources if they want to know what is happening in their country.
The best I've found is the Guardian. They are owned by a trust to immunize them from the corporate world.
They are not a US organization. I repect their reporting too
well ... the guardian is going through some problems of their own right now.
Those being?
I'm not asking for "excruciating detail" to be clear - though I also won't complain if I get it.
just to mention one rather large problem: journo strikes resulting from the likely sale of the observer to tortoise media (a MUCH smaller venue than the examiner, which is somewhat like a minnow swallowing a whale)
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/dec/08/deal-observer-tortoise-media-scott-trust-guardian-journalists-strike
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/dec/04/journalists-strike-proposed-sale-observer-tortoise-media-guardian
the observer has a loooong and respected history that is not really captured in either of these linked articles, but is worth investigating on your own.
The Irish Times is good, too.
i read the irish times when i can. probably should subscribe to it since i seem to crash into paywalls a lot of the time.
“ The Guardian’ comes up all the time as being a notable source of news…On board
I am an American living in Germany. German news coverage of the USA is better than NYT or WaPo. Much less volume, much more honest truth.
Which ones are the best sources?
Off topic, but appreciate your input. Is it true Germany's economy is unraveling irreversibly as news outlets in US (Bloomberg, for one) are reporting? They cite spiraling energy costs and slumping exports.
Both true. The economy has shrunk a fraction of a percent in the last year, and unemployment is up, now 6.1%. Electricity here costs more than double the rates in the USA.
Greg Palast of The Guardian has said that he had to leave this county in order to report on it, because American papers weren’t interested.
Greg Palast has been doing that for decades. They blacklist him, because the "powers that be " do not like what he reports. Same for Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman, and her team. Juan Garcia et al. look at who owns American papers. Very wealthy right wingers.
That should be country, not county, of course.
Yes, The Rest is Politics UK is a great source.
Also, OptOut news (U.S./international too) as well as the https://www.icij.org/ (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists): They exposed big worldwide corrupition, like the Panama Papers--hiding of laundered money, etc. I am hoping they focus on our new Administration next!
There are very good independent US news cites on youtube. Prosecutors and journalists are keeping us up to date. See Legal AF and related content.
It’s clear that you get your “news” from fake, lying sources, because there were mountains of evidence of the Trump campaign’s collusion with Russia. You have been suckered into believing that real news is fake, and fake news is real. SAD.
He's a Trumper. Note and move on. The "collusion" in quotes and fake news clued me in.
He’s not only a sucker for right-wing propaganda, he arrogantly thinks that he’s smart for buying it, and the people relying on actual facts are being misled. SAD. Time to mute or block him. Just in the process of deciding which option to use.
The "Demshevik" clued me into the fact that he considers himself a real witty sort.
Every media source has their right-wing opinion writers pushing their biased propaganda rather than reporting facts. Instead of cherry-picking your googled stories, try reading the actual reports from the intelligence community, the Mueller Report, and the bipartisan Report of the Select Committee on Intelligence United States Senate on Russian Active Measures Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 U.S. Election.
Trump and his minions, even his criminal campaign chairman Manafort, had tons of interactions with Russian operatives.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Report_of_the_Select_Committee_on_Intelligence_United_States_Senate_on_Russian_Active_Measures_Campaigns_and_Interference_in_the_2016_U.S._Election_Volume_1.pdf
ABC is Disney. Disney like Amazon does business with the government and is easily intimidated. No media outlet should be owned by any entity that does business with the government. period.
nor should they be owned by an evil greedy oligarch.
William Randolph Hearst is smiling form his grave!!! GH
You got that right!
That is too brod in a free speech world. But giant media consolidation …monopoly … should be prevented. Hard o do tho
Especially with the courts and legislators going along with it. But then the breakdown of all our guards against monopolies reforming started to fall with St. Ronnie Raygun.
like Walt used to say,remember,all this was started by a mouse-well,this was pretty mousy/lousy
💯🎯 And what a contrast to the NYT response to his threatened defamation lawsuit in 2016:
https://patch.com/new-york/new-york-city/new-york-times-response-donald-trumps-lawsuit-threats-bring-it
"The paper would 'welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight' on issues of defamation and the First Amendment, the letter said.”
But Disney/ABC’s cowardly capitulation in a lawsuit they were almost certain to win emboldens the filthy con artist to bully, with SLAPP lawsuits, any journalist or organization that has the temerity to criticize him.
Those principled days of sunny 2016…
I wonder why the Biden Administration didn’t close down right-wing disinformation outlets propagating Trump lies, bashing civilians doing their jobs, and anyone who happens to be a democrat when it had the chance. Why leave it to lawsuits filed by afflicted parties—the voting machine manufacturers and Sandy Hook parents obviously but potentially Hunter Biden, Hillary Clinton, Tim Walz, Paul Pelosi, and Barack and Michelle Obama? They must have great cases too. I’d prefer prison sentences for the mendacious media monsters but knocking the outlets back to the Stone Ages financially is a kind of balm.
Skin thickness and an understanding of the importance of a free press have everything to do with why a whiny child like T-word screams and cries while an actual adult like Joe Biden shrugs.
The thing is, the press isn’t free when the billionaire owners of its outlets are currying favor with a fascist.
T-word. I like that. I’m gonna start using that, ok?
OK.
Use in good health.
I don't like some of those sources either, but we do have freedom of the press in our country. Those interested in balanced, fair reporting can seek it out. Biden shutting down media outlets -- any of them -- would make him no better than Trump.
they fell into line years ago.
as far as the arctic, maybe it will be too muddy because of permafrost melt for all that destructive machinery to work? wait! i know! i know! just collect all the methane being produced/released from the melting permafrost and sell that! plus then it could be turned into CO2 which is far better than methane for the enviroment. win/win, that's what we like. where's that ad campaign?
It makes me sick that all of these powerful people are capitulating to this traitor and he hasn’t even been inaugurated yet. He’s going to stand in front of a fraudulent Supreme Court Justice and swear to protect the constitution, the same document he said he wanted to rid this country of. Now he wants to scare every corporate media outlet from telling the truth about him. This is absolutely disgusting and it’s hard for me to believe that the people with real power are just going to bow down to this fascist pig and stand by and watch the destruction of this republic happen. It’s 1933 Germany all over again, and we are Poland.
100% Jennifer. 💯
Like Germany in the 1930s-- but not the same. Don't despair!
It almost seems like corporate media is trying to destroy its own credibility.
They did that starting 8 years ago when Trump got into politics.
They have been sane washing and normalizing Trumps behavior from the moment he came down that damn escalator.
They were more ignorant then. Now they know & almost all seem controlled by narcissistic billionaires who have no loyalty to truth, democracy or America. 🤯
Actually many decades before that. Walters interviews, and more media attention than perhaps some presidents.They ignored his criminal side almost entirely. Allowed him enormous air time as a "successful business man"...playing to the greed tendencies of their viewers. They helped create him to help them up their viewership and sell ads to bolster their bottom lines. Their lies were convenient lies of ommision IMO. 15MM is a cost of doing business and has nothing to do with right or wrong. They are just doing what they always do...protecting their bottom line at any and all cost to the greater American public whom don't have the foresight to recognize the actual costs to their society or themselves.
Remember also that the 1980s were 'the days of the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous' and being a known crook was "no problem if you were rich and famous."
https://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/161007155910-donald-trump-hillary-clinton-plaza-hotel-1990s-large-169.jpg
I remember it well. It would seem a majority of our citizenry is inexplicably drawn to appreciate the activities and rewards of the abusive and wealthy members of our society.
They also seem to be drawn to the Roman like coliseum of dynamic and deadly confrontation...NFL brain damaging hits, hockey's on ice fighting, the need to join the military so they can kill legally (IDF) and celebrate publicly after they have slaughtered innocent women and children. This is to include the Hamas fighters that initiated this genocide activity.
Certain wealthy corporations and wealthy criminals amongst us and other populations around the world are much more concerned about themselves and their riches than they are about the lives and health of their fellow man.
You know what? That’s really a lot of bullsh*t. There’s been GREAT journalism out in this world for all this time, but the Supermarket Tabloids and Entertainment Tonight outlets get more attention because they are more like faux “Reality TV” shows — ENTERTAINMENT, not journalism. And they attract attention!!!! Everybody’s attention! Even ours, and we say we WANT responsible journalism, but we rush to see the outrageous crap just like everybody else…
“Media” includes all the broadcast content, from cartoons to Car Talk; from “Real American Housewives” to The Guardian in the UK.
Get real, you guys!!! We starve our ACTUAL news outlets in favor of lionizing the outrage we see in what-was-Twitter, and in all the sensational headlines everywhere. It GOES viral because it IS viral, and we lionize it {then some of us go and search out some REAL news and responsible media, because along with our dessert, we want a little bit of dinner}.
This demonizing of media — of journalism — enraged me. If we don’t WANT it, we won’t GET it, and we don’t seem to really WANT it as a culture. Not any more, anyway. We liked it for fifteen minutes a night from Water Kronkite. That was then….
If we as a CULTURE really wanted and supported quality journalism now, NO ONE would have had to chase a sensational headline, a killer quote from a news source, or a hot-hot-hot story to lead the night’s news in order to find an audience and survive in the media world.
THIS IS WHAT TOO MANY PEOPLE WANT — The WILD AND THE WOOLY!! It is literally what made Trump’s brand — his outrageous ego slathered all over buildings and boats and planes, and his interviews with Howard Stern! AND THEN A TV SHOW!!!
If we do not as a culture support the kind of journalism and media that all of us NEED, this garbage is what we are going to be fed from now on …And don’t blame “the media” — the “media” is what we ask for. You know that old saw about two beasts, a good one and a bad one .. which one will survive? The one we feed!
You’re right about entertainment vs. news, but that does not make the comment you replied to “bullsh*t.” The mainstream media normalized Trump, gave him the coverage he wanted, and largely ignored the dishonesty and corruption all around him.
NO, Robert. My comment was dead aimed at the culprit. It is not media that got us what we have, as the commenter said. It is US guiding media by our choices and preferences. I SAID good media has ALSO been available, but we raised up the bad that he talks about, as though media shaped US, instead of the other way around. I KNOW crappy and venal media proliferates…because we lionize it over the good stuff…
For sure, media DOES do the things mentioned…and sanewashing and normalizing does go on MORE now than it did … But it is the product we BOUGHT, and SHAPED by our own support of it…
If we don’t deal with the public’s APPETITE for a Trump…and we don’t figure out how to hold onto a responsible media, we are SUNK.
Responsible media costs money to keep, and our culture puts its dollars into the tasty garbage.
Let’s stop the media useless bashing, recognize where we as a culture were complicit in this, and figure a way to make it better.
No, Pat. Your initial salvo was that criticism of the MSM was BS. I agree with your followup post here, but the initial one did not contain the nuance of this one.
You are right, Pat, but the problem has deeper roots. Technological "progress" is gradually destroying us by making life easier for us. The telephone freed us from the need to write thoughtful letters. TV has freed us from the need to read and use our imagination. The internet has freed us from the need to build a real life. AI will make us completely irrelevant.
Gad, Victor…don’t make me agree with that….Egad, I can’t be that negative, but that is scary….
Good points Pat. How many hours has the media wasted in the last week covering the "drone" story out of NJ when they should be screaming with hair afire about how DT is preparing to dismantle our government!
Just saying... GH
I am concerned that too many here seem ready to abandon good though flawed legacy media, for example the Wash Post which is a really good paper. All sources have their bias.
It's not a "good paper" anymore. Bozo wouldn't allow the planned endorsement of Harris, and he has already bowed down before trump by giving his inauguration committee one million. Don't expect the WaPo to be very critical of trump.
and it's a pittance to them-if it was a real case and trump sued for a billion,they'd have fought-that's why trump settled for so little-a bragging point
Spot on. It's all a game to them... and we are along for the ride.
Trump was fully aware of his upcoming victory, well before hand, as he and others knew the playing field as it related to the limited capacity of the majority of the US voting public. That's why he has been able to skate along throughout this last election. Swaying to the music.
The play book was written years ago for many leaders in "how to take control of the masses" and the nations they reside in. We never learn from history as we never educate enough people to recognize... when they are experiencing it.
it almost seems like people need tyranny in order to remember freedom and liberty
Sad but true.
Voters were complacent while the bread and circus was inexpensive. Now they are hopping mad, Keep in mind that the party in power is held responsible..
My question is will George S. keep his job or has he already left ABC. Never watch him. Don't really care, just curious. GH
It’s a conspiracy by the super rich
It started long, long before then though, both with respect to Trump and "others in the political establishment."
Remember "Bill's daddy, The Poppy Bush?"
Ever see this article from The Atlantic?
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/03/paul-manafort-american-hustler/550925/
Can’t LIKE that — but it’s so important! Wish we had an agree-but-crying emoji.
100% agree, Derek!
Credibility to corporate legacy media as is virtue to Matt Gaetz…
ABC is just surviving…figuring out what type of Nazi they want to be…just as many Germans did in the late 30s.
Sadly, most of big media's current owners have similar pathologies as Matt Gaetz.
Gaetz wants to be Trump.
Indeed they have very similar malignantly narcissistic pathologies.
Unless the incentives to act badly are changed, they will not change.
We fixate on individuals, personalities, because they serve as an outlet for our dissatisfactions. But changing the institutions and economics that shape people, and their pathologies, not nearly enough.
Might it be the case that crooked Trump won the election because more people were like him (he's one of us!) than like Harris? That his character flaws are now widely shared among the public which has suffered much evil? A depressing thought.
The tribal chieftain is the judge of what is good and what is evil.--but only for as long as he can protect the tribe.
What credibility??
In my view, Sam, they already have.
💯 but it's new to see them making it so obvious by barely pretending anymore.
For me, they have been slowly working toward this goal. Sane washing the orange smears actions and words, constantly and forever putting his stupid orange mug on every single story and slowly starting to spew the same misinformation and propaganda that FOX has always done. MSM now belongs to the orange man. He is following Orban in Hungary's playbook. That is why I refuse to watch any of them and choose real and honest journalists from other sources!
Consistent repetition of ideologies is the key to effect the thoughts of those that don't and/or can't and/or don't care to think.
Our species predisposition to violence far outweighs the need for sharing unless trained and taught the value of one, over the other...an effective education and effective guard rails of behavior are the key...we have little to none of those things in this country or most others. Thus, we have Trump, the Oligarchs, and oppressive corporations leveraging off the basic needs of a mostly compliant work force...unable to quit as they have become entrenched in debt or in some cases happily complicit.
and in that regard, from a friend's book Widdershins Twisted Ways
After several decades of personal observations, it has become increasingly clear to me that the entire Human Race is stark, raving MAD! This evaluation of our species’ individual and collective irrationality is based upon my numerous experiences with profoundly idiotic judgments and asinine behaviors which seem to be some form of universal insanity that induces people to strive after meaningless goals and engage in destructive activities.
Humankind’s collective lunacy is evident in civilization’s violent history of constant wars, carnage, and genocide. Likewise, our civic structures exhibit irrational dysfunction: business enterprises that foul the environment for the sake of minimal profit; religious authorities that preach of charity and compassion from their opulent settings of ecclesiastical comfort; judiciaries that declare their impartiality while they wreak their vengeance on the guilty and innocent alike; and educational institutions that emote wisdom when teaching authoritative opinion and mediocrity; and democratic governance defiled by greed, corruption and hypocrisy.
On an individual level, to confirm beliefs of prominence and self-worth, people take immense pleasure in earning useless tokens of social affirmation. To gain status in the eyes of others. people will lie, cheat, steal, or even murder; waste vast amounts of time, wealth, and energy; endure intense pain; risk health, friends, family, dignity, and even life itself to gain (by fame or infamy) some notice of public recognition, for “Men are valued not for what they are, but for what they seem to be.” B. Lytton
To incite envy and affirm their own self-perceived grandiose nature, they go to great lengths to brag about their incredible personal attributes, affectations, attitudes, mannerisms, physical features and prowess, relationships with those who are rich or famous, possessions, reputation, wealth, sexuality, and all such similar, irrelevant trivia. It is from such pompous pretensions that people concoct the intricate artifices of ego-gratification which offer rationales to allay insecurity as to their imagined superiority; and to bolster their sense of personal worth.
All true, Steve. Here are some of the solutions offered in the past: Jesus: love each other and give up wealth and sex. Be like children and you will be admitted into the Kingdom of God.. Marx: abolish the private ownership of the means of production, and you will love each other. Stalin and Mao: make people fer each other and teach them to love the Leader.. Pol Pot: kill everybody upon reaching the age of 30. Procreation has been the cause of most of our conflicts. Fortunately, now we have effective contraception.
I Agree. I sense there's nothing to be done as we have passed the tipping point.
It is truly a mad, mad, mad, mad ,mad world Steve. GH
The audience they can find is the audience they are after — so many who WANT the sensational garbage … People are not admitting that the AUDIENCE drives the content…. If we want to know why too much media has gone sour, we need to look to US — the audience.
I applaud you, Peggy, for not being in that sick audience. But in a world of so many empty media calories, we are finding nutritious new sources harder and harder to find.
I hope we can help HRC and Prof. Reich and others of value to survive.
Our meager dollars can only go so far.
But we will get the media environment we can support — let’s hope we can manage some decency amid the drek.
Good thoughts to you, Peggy.
My news sources are few, Pat, but I do trust them to report the truth. Unfortunately, many of the young people coming in to adulthood are reality tv driven and believe whatever the idiot box tells them. It is a shame, but I see no way to correct it. Technology has progressed too rapidly and there was no time to erect a firewall against the lies, propaganda and hate that has been produced. I'm old and I can still discern between outright bullshit and the truth. I'm not sure if the younger ones can or not. Good thoughts right back at you, Pat. We will get through this - perhaps a little scarred, but much, much wiser!
Well, I'd say that's been cumulative; there wasn't really much of a 'functioning press' back in the '70s, '80s and '90s, or after that either.
Way more 'apologizing and covering up" than 'revealing.'
you're right-not much since Watergate,tho there have been exceptions-mcclatchy was against w.'s Iraq war,but those days are mostly gone-corporate ownership is a curse-the person who mentioned the guardian's ownership by a trust was right
The R’s have been structuring their CULTURAL takeover since Reagan {tried it with Nixon, but they overstepped — went back and did it more carefully with cultural influences as much as political ones … Even that bullshit from Saint Ronnie that government is not a solution, and disparaging the government as a helper {ask people if they want FEMA to show up after a disaster, and they’ll tell you about government that helps}.
Our culture has been courted and fed a diet of tasty garbage — faux “heroes” like Trump and WWF. Our civics education has been hollowed out for our kids; corporate take-over of media has been insidious {I worked for newspapers taken over by Fidelity Investments, and I’ve seen it happen}. Our culture has devalued teachers and journalists, and we’ve been fed a diet of ENTERTAINMENT media as news — but too many people have ASKED for that diet. It’s where we pay attention, it’s where we subscribe, it is where too many of us spend our dollars to watch …
If our culture does not value and support a responsible way to bring information to the public {even our FOUNDERS knew that would matter}, we won’t have an educated and informed electorate
That is foundational. The Atavistic Right does not WANT an educated public.
People here need to recognize what we are up against. It is easier to sell lousy news — and it’s tough to fund the hard work it takes to gather important news, without enough readers and support.
The sweet-tooth in people is driving obesity in our bodies — and our ENTERTAINMENT sweet-tooth is driving the destruction of our media environment.
Yes, we who value Prof. Reich and his organization need to keep up our support — but how to do we foster a healthy diet of media in a world that wants hype and viral content and ENTERTAINMENT.
Let’s get to the bottom of that.
It’s that sweet tooth that the corporate media takes advantage of.
How to we counter it with validity and accuracy and needed content?
And yes, even responsible media — facing this existential moment — has too often ‘sane-washed’ or been a part of normalizing Trump, in an attempt to remain “objective.” But, responsible media is being starved straight to death … How do we deal with that?
Some corporate owners might want that….journalists f- ing do NOT!
You think.
I heard on TV news that a whole cadre of expert attorneys say that ABC would have won the case. Accepting that as true, then they caved and opened the door to the ever-boastful and vengeful tRump and, as Prof. Reich notes, he is threatening the DesMoines Register for a POLL they ran and other reports say he is aiming for Bob Woodward - and who knows who else. It's tRump's m.o. and "the judicial system" and his many victims let him run roughshod over "justice."
Trump follows the example of Victor Orban, Hungary's Prime Minister who used various methods, including lawsuits followed by buyouts by wealthy loyalists to control the media. "Hungary has become a quite successful informational autocracy, or spin dictatorship, a quote by Peter Kreko, an analyst and head of the Political Capital think tank in Budapest. I recommend the World News article, "How Hungary's Orban uses control of the media to escape scrutiny and keep the public in the dark." in apnews.com.
I read that Orban visited Maralogo before the election. Trump admires dictators.
Hungary is now the poorest of the Euro countries (or maybe 2nd from poorest) The countries wealth is being siphoned off by Orban and his cronies.Rule by mobster.
Yes Trump does want to be a strongman dictator; fortunately for us, inside that mound of orange lard is a weak insecure little man-baby toddler who cannot control his own impulses and whose mind is a massive black hole for praise, applause and reassurance and money.
And one morning we will read his obituary.......can't wait....
Except then we get JD Vance, and then really watch out as Project 2025 implementation accelerates with no brakes. At least on occasion Trump pumps the brakes (like saying no impacts to Social Security — we shall see on that one.)
That's the beauty of cults--especially a cult of personality; when the personality departs or dies, the cult will wither. Vance simply does not have that strange magnetic vibe that Trump seems to hold for his adherents. He will head up the MAGA cult for a while but Vance doesn't have an attractive personality and he hasn't the skill set to transform himself.
When Trump waddles off this mortal coil to whatever eternal reward he has earned (maybe just to be worm chow...I'm not into religion, so I have no idea), Vance will lead the remnants of the MAGA movement for a time but I doubt it will turn to him in any real way.
Terry Franzman, it's my nightly dreamsong! Although I may forgo reading anything further about the orange scumsucking mound of rotted lard.
I don't know that death will stop the movement that he's created. He wants a dynasty so one of his family would attempt to step in. I really am sick of him and his bronzer. I don't want to hear him or see him or any of his family.
But his wannabes will do the bad for him. Brown shirts all over again.
😕
His antics cost the defendants time, $$$ and psychic pain. He costs the public the truth.
Cave to Trump once, and he'll raise the ante and come at you again. He isn't satisfied with winning; he has to repeatedly humiliate anyone he sees as his enemy or as having been his enemy, especially a defeated enemy (see how he's treating Canada and Trudeau after Trudeau bent the knee to him at Mar-a-Lago).
The precedent is dangerous.
Disney Corp. is worth $205 billion. Seems to me they have the resources to bury DT in counter legal fights and filings. Mickey should be giving him the middle finger. The Disney leadership should be national hero's but instead but are just another bunch of corporate cowards. GH
In chess you often sacrifice a piece for strategic advantage. Tactical flexibility is a must if you want to survive.
Please do not repeatedly post your comment. It makes it difficult for others to participate on this forum.
Thanks Robert. GH
What is the full name of the oppositional disorder ? Trump has it.
Oppositional/Defiant Disorder?
Sorry, I don't know. I was basing my comment on his previous behavior.
ABC clearly submits to the same reasoning MSNBC’s Joe and Mika went to Lardo Margo…
Becoming a member of the Nazi party is not just a decision…it’s a process.
And we thought this past election cycle was painful…
Everyone wants to be Airborne until it’s time to do Airborne shit.
There is no one left in the legacy press I trust. Despicable. I wonder how Stephanopoulos feels about, for all intents and purposes, being thrown under the bus.
Maybe Stephanopoulos will join Substack as Paul Krugman, who recently retired from the NYT, has done.
I never unerstood: why were Rush Limbaugh and Fox News able to keep their license to operate? They were gushing out lies constantly. Are lies "free speech"? Lies, repeated constantly, become "truth" to an easily hoodwinked population. One more major way in which we are self-destructing organized social life? At the end of VWII, the US could stand as the country of hope for the future of humanity. All squandered, in great part by other monumental lies about its wars: Vietnam, Irak, Afghanistan. Lies to distract for the obscene inequality of wealth and jsutice. Truth and trust are gone. What a tragedy for the US, and the World.
Truth and Justice as the American Way, has always been just another lie.
We forgot that freedoms must be in balance. The freedom to spread lies means unfreedom for others.
anarchy is not freedom, and spreading misinformation to harm others is indefensible.
Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News and other media, has been a fossil fuels defender for decades. Fossil fuels companies control the Republican party and dominate much of world politics. Still, the Democrats failure to recognize and act on the danger is baffling and unforgiving.
ABC shouldn’t have pair one cent. Trump is a felon, rapist, liar and cheat. He should be in jail. A felon as president? NO
Thanks Elena. The clean, wholesome family business that Walt started has now become a apologist for a criminal and rapist. Try to explain that to your kids next time they want to visit Mickey at one of the parks or cruise ships. Shame on them... GH
Sounds like an old mafioso trick: paying for protection. trumpie boy / donnie convict is very good at that racket.
I’m so glad I’m leaving the States. I am embarrassed to be a citizen.
I am embarrassed, too. I'm too old to leave. I hope I can see the demise of Trump before I check out.
I served our nation for three decades, and I am ashamed of my service.
Oh Catherine! Please don't be ashamed of your service to our nation! True, patriotic Americans love and appreciate our servicemen and women! You served your country which means you stood for Democracy, decency and the common good. I am so grateful for people like you because the military always made me feel safe and secure from enemies foreign and domestic. I thank you so much for your service and want you to know American citizens who love our country appreciate you.
Catherine. Never be ashamed of your service to our country. The shame is on DT for his continuing to bad mouth those of us who did serve and those who continue to serve. All the best to you... GH
Me too, Linda!
We won't leave and abandon our children and grandchildren.
Me too Linda... GH
Listen, we are never going to know the whole story. djt has been making 'deals' with every level of mob boss or business, state or foreign gov't for many years. He just does what he has to do to get what he wants or needs. He doesn't want anything recorded in any way. He has operated outside any rules or laws for years. Maybe his dad or Roy Cohn taught him that. He has said openly, "Don't come after me or I'll come after YOU." He will use whoever or whatever he can to make his 'deals'. He has an undercurrent of information about all manner of things. AND he has the loyalty of people and places we aren't even aware of. He is loyal to the powers that have helped him and will figure out how to repay them in some way with the power he has gained. He HAS to have protection not only because of the office he'll move into but also because he has wronged many people on his way up. He knows that he's lying to his base and they believe him because the more he says something the more it becomes true for them. It's a twisted, complex tale of dishonesty starring an individual who isn't right in the head. We'll never know all the undercurrents of his ascension into the White House! We can wonder and guess as we dance around to block his selfish maneuvers.
These truths are stranger than fiction. "You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, things and ideas. You've just crossed over into... the Twilight Zone."
Everyone wants a piece of the Trump pie. If you can't beat him, profit off him. The rest of us, however, are fucked.
This 👆
Corrupt CONservative Cowardly corpoRATe Media