Jeff Jarvis has a pretty good rundown of why liberals are pissed at mainstream news outlets. It’s a good roundup piece for anyone who hasn’t been paying attention, but it still has this old chestnut in it:
I do not believe that these journalists at the Times, the Post,CNN, or NPR are in the tank for Trump. I will not cancel my subscriptions, for I both want to support the good and necessary journalism still produced there and to stay on the case of these institutions. […]
This is, frankly, nonsense, and I’m tired of hearing it. People like Jarvis, Jay Rosen, DougJ (who’s mentioned multiple times in Jarvis’ piece) and other media watchers can’t do their jobs without subscribing to mainstream media outlets. Of course they’re not going to cancel their subscriptions. But you or I don’t have that same professional burden. We want to be informed. And, even in the current fucked-up media environment, there are plenty of sources of information that aren’t controlled by billionaires or idiot failsons who force their media outlet to pull punches.
A few years ago, Makers Mark whiskey decided to water down their product. This was a stupid move, and they soon backtracked. But, in all of the discussion about people switching to a different full-proof bourbon, nobody shed tears over the possibility that this would put Makers out of business, that their distillery workers would be out of jobs, or that the craft of distilling would be forever damaged. The reason is simple: there’s plenty of fucking whiskey in the world, and people who have money to buy it will buy something else.
Similarly, there’s a shit-ton of journalism in the world, I’m a journalism consumer, and after I cancelled my Washington Post subscription (and sent a little note telling them why), I’m now in the market to spend my WaPo dollars on something else. That something else will probably be a couple of substacks, maybe the local Denver indy paper, maybe the Inqy, and perhaps something else that I haven’t yet discovered. But I will do that without a shred, scintilla or speck of concern over the supposed damage to journalism caused by my decision to re-direct my hard-earned dollars to an outlet that isn’t going to pre-emptively roll over for fascists.
The crisis in journalism isn’t caused by journalism consumers — it’s caused by people who long ago stopped consuming paid journalism and instead stick to cable (olds) and social media (everyone else, including some olds). As I wrote the other day, the traditional journalistic stalwarts like the Post and Times have an ever-lessening utility for those who want to understand politics, and most of that is their own damn fault. So just like Makers Mark, which stupidly lessened its utility as a tool for dulling the pain of our hell on earth, the Post and Times will have to feel the consequences of their actions, and perhaps they’ll turn themselves around. In the meantime, I’ve switched brands.
Anonymous At Work
My father is canceling his WaPo subscription reluctantly since he wants access to Alexandra Petri’s columns. That I work in academia means he can ask me to look them up for him, though.
twbrandt
Same. I canceled WaPo and set up a monthly donation to ProPublica.
Baud
The argument against canceling subscriptions to media is the same argument that’sm made against not enforcing laws against corporations and rich people — they’re too valuable and innocent workers will be hurt.
Elizabelle
Stay with that abuser! You know he wants to change!
Um, no. And the Bezos WaPost is doubling down.
Money and numbers is the only thing these megalomaniacs understand. Cancelling is a very good way to show readers’ betrayal and contempt. It’s not like we are firebombing their workplaces. We can eventually resubscribe. If they produce a good enough product.
What has been amazing to me is the amount and level of gaslighting these legacy outlets have been getting away with.
HumboldtBlue
I’ve left several comments on various columnists and reporters feeds saying something very similar. We don’t need the Post or the Times, they’re corporations and the reporters and columnists are nothing more than employees.
They like to pretend their presence is a bulwark of some sort for society. They’re not the guardians of truth and the American way, there’s nothing special about their reporting, they work to make a profit and when the product sucks badly enough people stop consuming it by the hundreds of thousands, maybe take a look inside at what you’re producing instead of blaming the people you demand consume your product.
They feel entitled to be kowtowed to, and to be honest, it’s fucking tiresome.
Steve LaBonne
WaPo just did a total bullshit “questions and shadows” story about Harris’s brother in law. And then there was the asinine feeding frenzy over whatever Biden said (hint to “journalists”- he isn’t running for anything.) I’m supposed to worry about the future employment of the malicious hacks who write this garbage? As far as I’m concerned they can’t starve to death fast enough.
Motivated Seller
Forget the Washington Post, you should set up a donation to Balloon Juice!
jowriter
Excellent tutorial on journalism brand-switching. I don’t drink spirits but understand the analogy–it’s a good one. As a consumer, I place a high value on utility. Have donated to ProPublica for a couple of years and can’t wait to use my NYT and WaPo sub money for more reliable sources.
narya
I didn’t cancel my FTFNYT subscription or my Post subscription in protest, per se; I cancelled because they became untrustworthy sources of news. I realize that there’s no Platonic ideal of objectivity (fuck, I wrote a whole dissertation on that), but I finally felt like I wasn’t actually getting anywhere near the information I was paying to get. Sanewashing is a particular kind of distortion, in the form of cleaning up syntax, etc., but when you’re also eliding what needs to be done to make something even vaguely resemble “sense” then you are not providing crucial information. I was basically not reading big chunks of the “news”; if that’s the case, then I’ll get the news elsewhere. And, for me, the games and recipes weren’t worth what I was paying.
BubbaDave
Archive.is has an ability to view snapshots and is my goto for reading paywalled articles.
I second the ProPublica recommendation, and also donate to the Guardian (though reluctantly, because they’re awful on JAQing around trans issues).
matt
Professional journalists have a financial incentive to promote paid journalism. It’s kind of like talking about doing DIY repairs with someone who works on houses for a living. They’ll tell you oh no, hire a professional, you can’t do any of that work yourself. Reflexive protection of their livelihood. People don’t even notice it after a while.
3Sice
Disruptive technology and all that.
No matter when it was the union workers running the presses and pulp mills getting the axe, but now the cuts are white collar.. CRISIS!
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Bezos and the WaPo are using a domestic abuser argument: you can’t leave me, what will happen to the children?
Their response to subscriber cancellations only confirms what we already knew, that they are toxically privileged, entitled, lying sacks of shit. They can go fuck themselves, die in a fire, and burn in hell for the next 100 billion years.
TaMara
I don’t know what Denver paper you were thinking of subscribing to, but this is the one I do, it’s really good and covers all of CO with some great reporting.
https://coloradosun.com/
HumboldtBlue
@3Sice: <p data-mce-fragment=”1
“>No matter when it was the union workers running the presses and pulp mills getting the axe, but now the cuts are white collar.. CRISIS!
Excellent point.Josh Marshall makes an excellent point as well in reaction to a shitshow of an article in Politico.
Baud
@HumboldtBlue:
Well said, and succinctly.
Mousebumples
I subscribe to The Recombobulation Area (Wisconsin focused). Might pickup a few more subs after the election.
Bezos is losing money on WaPo as is. If he wanted to continue to subsidize the paper, I don’t think subscribing or not will make or break that decision.
Math Guy
I would rather support smaller, high quality operations such as Talking Points Memo and the Washington Monthly. If I want recipes, sports, cartoons, and word games, I can find that elsewhere. Unfortunately, NPR seems more like a corporate outlet these days, though they do carry some good programming; I’m thinking of Marketplace.
Almost Retired
I canceled my Los Angeles Times subscription after over 40 years as a subscriber (um….I first subscribed in utero). The billionaire owner suggested that instead of an endorsement, the editorial board should compile a comparative list of the candidates’ attributes. FFS, that’s worse than a non-endorsement. I don’t even think the trains particularly ran on time in the late 2010s. I will not re-subscribe as long as the esteemed Doctor (who sought a position in the Trump Administration) is part of the picture.
I do miss “Pearls Before Swine,” but I can find it elsewhere.
Rose Judson
@HumboldtBlue: I switched over from WaPo to TPM. I want them to have more reporters.
HumboldtBlue
@Baud:
Yup, he nailed it.
Craig
Even if Maker’s went under the plant workers would be fine because Suntory would just produce other whiskey at that distillery.
Butch
I got into a discussion on this very subject on another site; I left when it became clear we were talking past each other.
Chris
Like I said the other day: when food goes bad, we throw it out, because it’s no longer food. It’s long past time we did the same thing here.
beckya57
@narya: you’ve summed up very well my reasons (I actually cancelled both NYT and later WaPo years ago). The MSM has shown itself over and over as untrustworthy, particularly re politics. I’m a long-time TPM member, and I did just start a subscription to the Philly Inquirer, and follow multiple people on Substack, including The Bulwark (because I value reading honest people that I don’t necessarily agree with). Brian Beutler had an excellent piece on his Substack earlier this week on how fed up liberals are with the way the MSM has dissed us and distorted their coverage over and over to chase the RW. I was definitely nodding along!
Ned F.
I’d cancel my NYT subscription, but I really need to know about the thirty two y.o. couples seeking homes with their limited budget of 800,000, and what they had to settle for.
Elizabelle
@Almost Retired: Did you see that Soon-Shiong also wants to bring in people like Scott Jennings (former McConnell staffer; froths at the mouth on CNN now)?
And that his daughter said there was no endorsement because Kamala is killing Gazans?
I am DONE DONE with the LA Times. Will miss Michael Hiltzik and Patt Morrison, and might write Mr. Hiltzik to say goodbye.
I was told by a very smart friend that Bezos had “saved” the Post, but if this is what we are getting from billionaire saviors, no thank you.
Weirdly, I was not angry with the LA Times itself for gaslighting, which I think they did less than either the BezosPost or Putz’s Vichy NY Times. You could stay away from Jonah Goldberg and known fabulists. The LA Times seemed pretty accurate, at least on the articles I read. I had subscribed to them for 16 or 17 years. Didn’t even live in CA when I first subscribed.
brantl
@BubbaDave: What is JAQing?
karen marie
I’ve also decided to reevaluate the value for money of my Amazon “membership.” It is up for renewal in March 2025, so I set it to notify me in time to cancel. You don’t need a membership to order stuff through them, and I doubt any shipping cost for the little I order will come close to that fee.
I’ve been on a Wapo/NYT ban for a while, eschewing even clicking on gift links except rarely. Yesterday I got a $1 trial sub to the Philly Inquirer. I’d send money to PBS and NPR but I refuse as long as they employ David Fucking Brooks and ride the Both Sides Express.
Almost Retired
@Elizabelle: Scott Jennings is already on the roster, as of earlier this year. Evidently Jonah Goldberg didn’t piss enough people off. HIltzik is hands down my favorite columnist, so I’ll seek him out elsewhere.
narya
@Ned F.: Not gonna lie, I DO miss that dumb little section. I miss a lot of the “lifestyle” articles, tbh, but I just got too fed up.
Elizabelle
@Almost Retired: Where could we find Hiltzik? All ears for that.
You probably saw it, but he reads David Anderson’s/Richard Mayhew’s posts. Referred to them in a column a few years back.
3Sice
The industry has always been full of self-dealing swine. Luce, Hearst, McCormick, and on and on.
Bezos not understanding he was going to lose a small fortune on the WaPo is LULZ. It must drive him nuts his ex is giving away all that money.
narya
@brantl: Just Asking Questions, sometimes referred to as JAQing off; it’s the Guy Who Is Just Asking, Why Are You So Upset? Basically, bad-faith questioning.
Chris
@HumboldtBlue:
This is very well put.
Scout211
I’ve never signed up for prime so I just wait until my order hits the $35 mark and I get free shipping. I’ve talked about that with family members but they can’t quit Amazon Prime for the streaming.
Almost Retired
@Elizabelle: The San Jose Mercury News used to run his columns. I’ll google around and see what I can come up with.
Another Scott
+1 on consumers voting with their dollars.
Meanwhile, …
Fight for 15!!
Forward!!
Grr…,
Scott.
mac
Speaking of news, does anyone have an opinion on Ground News? Trae Crowder advertises for them so I keep hearing about it from him, but haven’t heard about it from anyone else. It’s an interesting concept, not sure how well it works in practice.
Scout211
I wonder how long it will take for journalists, in particular political journalists, to turn into social media influencers with videos of themselves at their desks or in the field with breaking news accompanied by music and entertainment.
catclub
I think Craig’s list. Classified ad pages were a license to print money.
Elizabelle
@HumboldtBlue: And here is what Josh Marshall was responding to.
Initial Jonathan LeMire tweet: (and here is the White House transcript of Biden’s full remarks,
Remarks by President Biden on a Call with Voto Latino, October 29, 2024.
Rachel Bade of Politico:
Elizabelle
@Another Scott: Saw that. Virginia will vote blue, but what impetus to expand and reform the Supremes, pronto.
Marmot
@Another Scott: Gross!
We gonna get anything out of this other than the legal profession’s usual tripe?
“Boy, this could look bad for the Court.”
“Roberts’s reputation as an impartial jurist could be damaged!”
Elizabelle
@Almost Retired: Thank you!
I wonder if we will see some of Hiltzik and Rubin calibre columnists take their talents elsewhere.
Papa Boyle
Unfortunately I cancelled my Post subscription before Bezos’ billionaire bad behavior.
But I am cancelling my Prime subscription, I’m no longer going to Whole Foods, and I’ve reduced my Amazon purchases down to items I absolutely can’t get anywhere else. Not that I think this will hurt Jeff in the least. But it will make me feel a whole lot better not giving him thousands of dollars a year.
lowtechcyclist
@Anonymous At Work:
He should check the public library where he lives, to see if it provides online access to the WaPo. If he’s in the DC area, chances are excellent that they do.
Another Scott
@Math Guy: Marketplace is a Minnesota Public Radio show distributed by American Public Media.
I occasionally harp on the fact that US public radio is much, much more than NPR News. Stations have lots and lots of public radio distributors to choose from.
Supporting public radio is important, even if one can’t stand Morning Edition and All Things Considered (NPR News shows).
Cheers,
Scott.
Wvng
The beltway media is all in a dither over a thing the right wing media and political operatives are telling them that Joe Biden said that he didn’t actually say. And he isn’t even the nominee. If there has ever been a better example of them being in the tank for the right I can’t think of one.
Steve LaBonne
@Elizabelle: Sadly for Republicans and bootlicking “journalists”, the bell can’t be unrung- Puerto Ricans are PISSED and highly motivated now to turn out for Harris.
Another Scott
@Almost Retired:
Pearls Before Swine on GoComics.com
(I haven’t checked to see who owns GoComics…)
HTH!
Cheers,
Scott.
cmorenc
@Steve LaBonne:
Yes, Biden’s words are being deliberately distorted and wrenched out of context – but it was foolish and unnecessary for Biden to have made such an off-the-cuff where the slightest inadvertently garbled or stuttered delivery could be so easily (albeit dishonestly) distorted. The maxim about “when your opponent is shooting themselves in the foot, stay out of their way” applies. The media is already on fire frequently and accurately echoing the comments at the Trump rally. Biden brought no value-added even if he had spoken with spotless clarity, but because he didn’t, he created opportunity for a distracting side-story.
Starfish
@TaMara: I am glad that someone else mentioned the Colorado Sun.
I think we spend on Chalkbeat and Propublica.
I have given money to Denverite in the past, but I haven’t been consistent about it. I believe Andrew Kenney is there now, and I really like his work.
Citizen Alan
I doubt the paper losses of the post.Mean anything to him. If nothing else, he can always apply the losses to offset his capital gains elsewhere. His real mistake was failing to realize that if he had invested in the post as mostly liberal, government watchdog paper with a reputation for journalistic excellence, even if he lost money on the project, it could have rehabilitated his reputation among that part of the population that distrusts him because of amazon’s unsavory conduct. Instead, he is insured that the washington post is now on that list of “evil things.Jeff bezos has done.”
geg6
@Rose Judson:
Exactly. They do a great job.
Omnes Omnibus
@cmorenc: Fuck that.
Another Scott
@Citizen Alan: +1
I think lots of people are white-hot furious at him (as opposed to the guy who owns the LA Times) because his paper made a big deal of the masthead slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness” and it’s clear – in the most obvious way possible – that it’s just mouth noises. Killing the endorsement now is putting his $200B sacks of money on the scale right before a crucial election.
He’s going to lose a lot of the goodwill that slogan engendered, a lot of the subscriptions that resulted from the slogan, etc. Yeah, it’s pocket change for him, but burning goodwill ultimately hurts big companies.
Remember Sunbeam? Remember GE?
Remember Boeing??
Grr…,
Scott.
lowtechcyclist
TPM has a banner saying that the Supremes have voted 6-3 that the Virginia plan to purge supposed non-citizens from the voter rolls can go forward.
Fuck Roberts, Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett with rusty farm implements.
Steve LaBonne
@Omnes Omnibus: Yup. That’s a losing game. The right-wing fever swamps will ALWAYS find something to throw a toddler tantrum about. The “journalists” who rush to amplify every tantrum are the problem.
geg6
@Omnes Omnibus:
Co-signed.
Steve LaBonne
@lowtechcyclist: Or better, just put them in the minority by confirming half a dozen additional Justices.
louc
As a former journalist who has friends at both the Post and Times, I’m sympathetic to their argument. The Post, at least, is still doing terrific investigative work (unless Will Lewis pushes out the good people). John Woodrow Cox is a treasure as he chronicles the impact of gun violence on children, for instance.
That said, new nonprofits, particularly investigative ones, are cropping up all over the place. When the vultures who took over the Balt Sun flayed it to the bone, Sun reporters left and started the Baltimore Banner, which is doing great work.
In Virginia, there’s the Virginia Center for Investigative Reporting; in Chicago, Injustice Watch, where Pulitzer Prize investigative reporters fled the Chicago Tribune. In Pittsburgh, the Public Source does good work. The Texas Tribune unfortunately is slipping a little, but others are Mississippi Today, Florida Phoenix, Voice of San Diego, etc.
A national organization that deserves support is ProPublica. They’ve done some great work tracking women’s deaths after new anti-abortion laws, the interference in fair and free elections. They uncovered Project 2025 and its training videos.
Marmot
@HumboldtBlue:
This is great. I should have started counting the number of times I noticed this over the years, beginning with “did Obama call Sarah Palin a pig when he said, ‘this is like putting lipstick on a pig’!?” (No, he clearly referred to her argument.)
Relatedly, back around 2000, I knew a journalist from Mexico City. I was saying something disparaging about the ’80s, and his response surprised the heck out of me. “Are you kidding? There were so many great, big stories in the ’80s! The Challenger disaster!” and so on. (That’s the one I really remember.)
They’re often just sycophants who’re along for the ride. Music journalists, doubly so.
cmorenc
@Steve LaBonne:
Biden’s an experienced pol, and should have realized that before he spoke off-the-cuff.
Elizabelle
@Omnes Omnibus: Thank you, OO.
Steve LaBonne
@louc: In Ohio we have Ohio Capital Journal.
lowtechcyclist
@Steve LaBonne: Why not both? :D
EarthWindFire
@Baud: Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner. And none of us liberals wrung our hands about Anheuser Busch/InBev employees when conservatives boycotted Bud Light either. Why can’t liberals stop eating their own? Drives me nuts.
Omnes Omnibus
@cmorenc: So Biden should never speak? Again, fuck that.
Baud
@cmorenc:
It’s a ridiculous standard of perfection. We need to stop imposing it on our leaders. It doesn’t make us better people. It makes us a weak and easily manipulated people.
Steve LaBonne
@Baud: I’m so fucking tired of liberals being the people who won’t take their own side in an argument. That’s what has brought us to the edge of the abyss.
Elizabelle
@cmorenc: Because this was such trash out of Biden’s mouth, wasn’t it? And it’s amazing that he got this much out in the first place, since he has dementia, right? It’s what rightwing media tells me.
The demonization of Puerto Ricans, and any other targets of GOP — by their “comedians” or otherwise — is something that needs to be fought back against.
I am glad that you are always so well understood. And have only the best words and tactics.
Personally, I am proud of President Biden for going there. And he knows what whores the media are.
zhena gogolia
@cmorenc: Yes, of course it’s all Biden’s fault.
lowtechcyclist
SCOTUSblog on the Virginia voter purge
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus: This.
The Other Bob
I get a free subscription to WaPo as a result of my .gov email address. Should I cancel?
BTW – I came here for a bourbon recommendation and bummed I didnt get one.
HumboldtBlue
@cmorenc:
No he didn’t, the media created the story. Joe spoke plainly, the media distorted it into this bullshit.
Chris
@Marmot:
The best part about the score keeping about how effective Republican lies are is that 90% of how effective they are is how much the media is repeating them.
It’s literally the media talking about themselves.
Sure Lurkalot
There’s a research site, ProQuest.com that has publication databases. My Denver Public Library card gives me free access to articles from editions of the NYT, LA Times, WSJ, WaPo and the Chicago Tribune as well as thousands of other publications, journals, videos…
It’s not replicas where you easily point and click on articles but once you get the hang of the database structure, it’s a good resource. Love the NYT Book Review or Magazine but don’t want to subscribe? You can read the articles in just those sections.
Gloomy, cold interlude today in sunny, too warm for October Denver. It was 80 degrees on Monday and tonight we will have our very first freeze of the season.
zhena gogolia
@The Other Bob: I used to like Maker’s Mark. Haven’t drunk bourbon in many a year, though.
JPL
@lowtechcyclist: Bless the conservatives on the court hearts. Their cold black shallow hearts.
Marmot
@louc: Tell me more about this:
Not that I doubt you, since I agree on every other thing.
Chris Johnson
@mac: I know one way you can spot check Ground News’s veracity: do they cover information out of Dave Rubin and Tim Pool et al? Those are Russian-funded youtubers who take (or TOOK) pains to market themselves as ‘centrists’. You’ll find Russian-funded folks all over the place painting themselves as something they’re not, and Rubin and Pool got caught at it.
If Ground News correctly categorizes stuff like that, they’re legit. Real effort is put into inserting these ringers, so if they just go by ‘they say they’re centrist’ then they’ll be untrustworthy. Plenty of folks out there actively working as propagandists under cover of claiming they’re something else.
I bet machine learning can cut through some of that. It’ll be ‘the framing of this is 99% Russian propaganda, but the other 1% is the guy saying ‘but I don’t know, you decide”. Generally the bulk of the info feeds one wolf and then the other wolf is a halfhearted scrawny pup…
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: I don’t buy the argument journalists are making. They are not doing their job we are well within our rights to not buy their crappy product.
Steve LaBonne
@Chris: The only subject that actually interests them.
Marmot
@Chris:
For sure. And they’ll turn around and claim they have no choice. “It’s hard to match [TFG’s] ability to command attention!” they’ll say. “The camera loves him.”
Disgusting.
Steve LaBonne
@The Other Bob: Old Grand Dad Bonded- if you like a dryish high-rye bourbon it’s great bang for the buck.
tam1MI
The MSM, by way of the Washington Post, are finally… FINALLY! reaping what they have been sowing for the last 20+ years.
Long past due.
mvr
I’d like to switch supreme courts, but it seems I can’t. The current bunch just overturned ruling protecting voters in Virginia:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/supreme-court-allows-virginia-plan-to-purge-supposed-non-citizens-to-go-forward
Freemark
@cmorenc: If if the transcript is correct he said absolutely nothing wrong. He basically stuttered a little. Blaming Biden for reporters distortions is unfortunately a very liberal thing to do.
Elizabelle
@tam1MI: Yep. And they don’t like it. Sad!
Elizabelle
@Freemark:
Elizabelle
Blaming Biden for reporters distortions is another case of the eight mile wide double standard.
Media sanewashes Trump to an alarming and appalling degree, and lies in wait for any statement by a Democrat that can be taken out of context or used to mislead, and then reports — uncritically — on the deception.
It has to stop, and not giving these courtesans more money and clicks could play some small part there.
I think MSM wants to be in the cool clique. They actually don’t support or protect their truthtellers at all. We could make a long list of MSM journalists who told the truth and found themselves unemployed.
tam1MI
What’s hilarious about the whole, “Won’t SOMEBODY THINK OF THE JOURNALISTS!!!” whine we are hearing now is that political journalists are not, by and large, working class or middle class folks who have to work to eat. They are, almost to a man and woman, trust fund babies who went to elite colleges and went into political journalism as a way to live out their Mean Girl fantasies. Oh, boo hoo, the Washington Post went under and now you have to draw on your trust fund to pay for your penthouse apartment in NYC and your townhouse in DC. My heart bleeds.
p.a.
@schrodingers_cat: +10.
And the free access (talking more local tv news now, a different subject I admit) websites are absolute trash with popup ads, popup promos, formats that seem designed by highschool kids on speed.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@The Other Bob:
Ironically (given the framing story up in the top text), Maker’s Mark is one of your better options today in a bourbon market which has seen demand boom in recent years to the point where many other brands are now seriously overhyped and overpriced.
Maker’s Mark Cask Strength is a great value in high proof bourbons and much easier to find in stores than many of its competitors.
There is some applicability to journalism here – given new ownership & management, or management which receives enough of a shock from consumer protests & boycotts to make a radical change in course, a formerly bad product can turn around and become a very good product. But that takes time & effort and actually listening to consumers to tailor the product to what they want, not just lip service and bullshit.
Bupalos
@HumboldtBlue: Come on now. I’m definitely “both sides” on this one. It’s clear The Media as always would like to sell some controversy and have some dumbfuck roundtables that get angry eyeballs to monetize. And the easiest and stupidest eyeballs (and therefore most valuable) are Trumpers. And that’s bad. Absolutely an old story, but bad.
It’s also clear that Biden doesn’t have the physical skills to play electoral politics well anymore, and he straight fumbled a grounder here. He physically produced the line “the only garbage I see are Trump supporters'” by his stumbling and pausing and just not being able to communicate like a politician is expected to. Probably because he knew he was playing around explosives and basically got the yips and did the exact thing he was worried about.
The problem under all this is that the majority of our side fervently believes the thing that we fervently swear Biden didn’t mean to say. And that fact is just basic systemic knowledge, a kind of open secret everyone knows, which we send our politicians out to deny so that we can retain power and prevent catastrophe.
So in the end, whether he said the thing they swear he said, or meant to say the thing they swear he said, or didn’t say the thing that really is a deep political reality on our side… it’s all a little to the side of the functional reality. And this is a huge vulnerability for us, and we really shouldn’t have this particular player trying to field this particular ground ball.
Chris
@Baud:
@Steve LaBonne:
This.
scav
Think I’d rather trust the product of journalists who get out there and hustle rather than those who lean back and lecture us that we owe them a job.
Layer8Problem
@Bupalos: “How has Disappointing Joe Biden disappointed you today, with the disappointing and everything? Are you not disappointed?”
BC in Illinois
In the 1960s I delivered the WaPo.
In 1972, I read about the Watergate break-in, the morning after it happened, in the pages of the WaPo. From 1972-74, I kept my subscription to the WaPo, even when I moved to Indiana, just to follow the fall of Nixon.
Sometime in the internet era, I got online subscriptions to the NYT and the WaPo.
After 2016, I cancelled the NYT subscription, in disgust with how they treated Hillary Clinton.
Last week, I cancelled the WaPo subscription.
(Full disclosure, I will still get it until next August, when my year-long subscription runs out. I have until then to figure out how to follow Alexandra Petri and Ann Telnaes.)
+ + +
The next step: Figure out how to cut all ties to Amazon. One helpful book: How to Resist Amazon and Why. Here is a notice that doesn’t refer back to Amazon: https://thenovelneighbor.com/item/-K4ellCgote_Okmq1id8tg
RaflW
It’s bullshit to use our (reasonable) compassion for workers who might be displaced as a cudgel to keep us subscribed to a product whose owner is a sack of billionaire shit.
The American auto makers had to learn this lesson when foreign competition kicked their asses on price + quality. The tactic of “Buy American to save American jobs!” only worked so much, because people might give some grace for a bit, but if GM & Ford had kept making crap quality, they’d not have made it (I skipped Chrysler because I have never been convinced they’ve made quality cars. Not ever. Our 1970 Dodge 440 was garbage, as was dad’s 200x Chrysler Old Man Car -of name I can’t even bother to recall- and any rented Chrysler other than a Pacifica that I’ve had has been marginal at best).
Anyway. I’m grumpy and itchy (not literally). These six days feel interminable.
Sure Lurkalot
@Almost Retired: See if your library gives access to ProQuest.com…search Michael Hiltzik, enter in date range (say, last 30 days), sort the way you like and up pops a list of all his articles with links.
Totally agree with you and others that Hiltzik is worth finding a way to read other than subscribing to Billionaire Doc’s newspaper/play toy.
RaflW
@cmorenc: OK, so the president of the United States — who is not running for re-election because the press dogpiled him so badly that he was shoved in the political ditch — should not speak for the last two weeks before election day?
Huh.
I’m feeling really villago delenda est today.
Chris
@Elizabelle:
The best film ever made about the MSM is the French film Ridicule from the nineties, which I dearly wish had been shown widely in the U.S.
If you want to get technical, it’s actually about the Court of Versailles in the late eighteenth century. But its basic thesis is that the Court ran on middle school Mean Girls rules, where the only principle is to be one of the Cool Kids, which you achieve by being noticed, which you do by tearing down others. I leave it as an exercise to the reader to decide why that movie reminds me of the American MSM every time I think about it.
I should also note that this is truth in television, and that the king created Versailles and made it so that anyone who’s anyone would have to be there, because it would have the effect of turning the nobles from powerful warlords into useless socialites who would pose no more threat to him.
America might not have a king. But if you were one of the oligarchs who own the nation’s media and wanted to make sure the media was similarly neutered as far as you were concerned, tell me how your hiring practices would be any different.
Craig
@The Other Bob: Maker’s is a good airport bar whiskey. Michters makes a bunch of good whiskeys. I used to drink Blanton’s, but collectors made that way more rare, and prohibitively expensive.
Geminid
@louc: I ran into the Cascadia Advocate the other day while I was looking up Rep. Marie Gluesnkamp Perez. She’s in a tossup reelection race with knuckle draggger Joe Kent.
The Cascadia Advocate article on Perez’s race was pretty good, with a lot of detail and background. I found that the Advocate is put out by the Northwest Progressive Polcy Institute, and it covers plenty of Washigton state political stories.
FastEdD
I’ve been subscribing to TPM for a couple years now, throwing a little money at BJ too. Cancelled Wapo about 5 years ago and that was so long ago I can’t even remember what I was pissed about. News outlets are a consumer product. If you cannot trust what they produce, why would you buy their product? Daily Kos is okay, and it buoys my spirits sometimes, but I still remember right before the 2016 election. Banner headline, written by Kos himself: SHE’S GOT THIS. No, she didn’t. I know lots of us were surprised, and lots of us thought that. I can’t trust that information even if it makes me feel good.
Old School
@Bupalos:
He physically produced the line “”The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s—his—his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American,”
Note “is” and not “are”. Seems likely he was referring to one person.
(Especially since that what he said he was doing.)
Gvg
@catclub: yes, and i don’t understand how craigslist makes money. They always said if you can’t figure out where the profit is, you are the mark, but i still haven’t seen it. I think they charge commercial customers but it’s obvious plenty of businesses are skating past that rule and pretending to be individuals.
Ruckus
@HumboldtBlue:
They feel entitled to be kowtowed to, and to be honest, it’s fucking tiresome.
Many large or largish commercial concerns, or maybe most are like this. First they are in business to make money. As someone who has owned a corporation for years and made a living at manufacturing tooling for others to make products with, most small ones do not get rich but can be a decent living. But once a corp gets to a size and age where the corp exists as an entity and the owner/board/shareholders can change and a product or service is still produced and purchased, the corporation takes on a life of it’s own. All of us can likely name companies like this if we give it much thought. And yes the companies can be suppliers rather than producers, supermarket chains for example. And most of these became big and survive because they produce a product or a service that is widely needed or at least used. In today’s world many/most of them have laws and regulations that they have to work within, which is often a good thing, it can help control greed and often creates a better product. Vehicles are an example. Between manufacturing and regulations they are far better today than 50 yrs ago. Or that thing you carry in your pocket – a telephone. Or….
tam1MI
@Old School: Simple reading comprehension is not required when it comes to trashing Joe Biden.
Betty Cracker
@The Other Bob: Woodford Reserve is our go-to. Smooth as a baby’s bottom and not wildly expensive.
Regarding the Post, Times, etc., I agree subscribers are well within their rights as consumers to stop paying for a product they don’t value. At the same time, it’s possible to go too far in the other direction by haranguing people for consuming media from outlets that we personally eschew.
x-Twitter is a good example. I’m glad DougJ is there needling the celebrity political press. IMO, he is a brilliant satirist who helped start a conversation that really needed to happen.
I can understand why Anne Laurie and Adam use x-Twitter to compile info on topics like covid, Ukraine, etc., and why others use it to organize or get commentary, foreign news, etc., that isn’t easily accessible elsewhere.
After quitting that platform, going back briefly for baseball Twitter and then quitting it again when Musk’s antisemitism went off the charts, I realized what value I got from the platform was far outweighed by my disgust with the evil oligarch who owns it, so I don’t read/comment there anymore.
But that’s a personal decision, and I’m not going to scold anyone who decides differently. The same goes for the Post, Times and other MSM outlets. It’s not just professionals who have an interest in keeping track of the narratives hatched therein. I’m suggesting maybe we should cut each other a break instead of media shaming. (Not that you’re media shaming, MM — I’m referring to comments I’ve seen here denouncing a post for including a Post link, etc.)
Baud
Anyone remember when Obama said “you didn’t build that” and the Republicans made that the theme of their 2012 convention? They were obsessed with that idea.
JaySinWA
@mac: You can look at ground news without a subscription to get an idea of how useful it is. I didn’t find its approach helpful to me, so I passed on the subscription.
Here’s the link to the site. https://ground.news/
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Agree. No scolding others.
Although I don’t mind pointing out the reality that liberal dollars fund these propaganda machines. That’s just reality.
Marmot
@Baud: Yep. And the coverage, if I recall correctly, was all, “But how will this play in Peoria?”
louc
@Marmot: Political reporters are basically dressed up gossip columnists.
@Steve LaBonne: They also are alumni of the Columbus Dispatch, which used to be a great paper and uncovered questionable use of taxpayer dollars after Ohio allowed the privatization in public schools.(eg, White Hat)
Chris
@Baud:
Well, it was a matter of personal offense.
Rich people have staked their identity to a ridiculous extent on the notion that they’re the only ones at their companies who matter or do any work. Telling them “you didn’t build that” is the equivalent of telling a king “you’re not ordained by God actually.”
Bill Arnold
@Another Scott:
IMO, the punishment for improperly removing someone from the voter rolls should be identical to the punishment for illegally voting.
Remove 10000 people from the voter rolls who in fact should not have been removed, 10000 felonies if found guilty, and 10000+ years in prison.
Almost Retired
@Sure Lurkalot: Excellent! Just checked and I do indeed have access to ProQuest through my Los Angeles County Public Library card! I assume this is a common benefit with big city libraries?
Thanks for the tip!
ETA: Looks like my LA library card gives me free access to the Post, NY Times and LA Times, as well as other newspapers. Hello Michael Hiltzik and Pearls Before Swine!
Baud
@Chris:
Good analogy.
Baud
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Chris:
This can get incredibly toxic.
I once had the unpleasant experience of working at a privately owned medium sized business which has just been deeded over to a failson of the founder. This failson hated the employees because they had built the business, not him, and what was worse is that everybody knew it too, there was no concealing it. He once stood up at an all-staff meeting and told the employees that anybody who fucked up should commit suicide – and he was only half joking. This same asshole used to bring a concealed carry gun to the workplace and joked about shooting people that he did not want around anymore.
MB, formerly posted as C Stars
I see this as part of the great digital enshittification. Yah, you can have great journalism, but we’re also going to force you to cope with some fascist propaganda thrown in there to support our billionaire owner. Same with Amazon Prime. It FEELS easy, but half the time when I order something from Amazon it 1. doesn’t come in time, despite being promised within two days or whatever and DESPITE the fact that I live in a large coastal metropolis OR 2. Is broken or dented/damaged in some way. OR 3. It gets lost in shipping and they seem to have a new policy recently that you have to pay for it anyway (wth??)
I realize that I’ve just gotten accustomed to this shittiness and have happily been handing over my $140/year for prime membership. I’m privileged in that I live in a place where I can walk or quickly ride/drive to a drugstore or a corner grocery store or hell, even a local clothing store to buy 85% of the stuff that I’ve been buying off Amazon. It may cost a couple dollars more but I get it instantly, I know what I’m getting, I interact with people in my community (and put my money directly back into my community, not in rocket-dick’s pockets), and it’s not being processed by ill-treated warehouse employees and flown on an earth-destroying airplane specifically to meet my needs for smoked paprika or whatever.
Anyway, yes. Goodnight Amazon Prime. Good night Washington Post. Good night fucking Jeff fucking Bezos.
NotMax
@<a href="https://balloon-juice.com/2024/10/30/i-want-to-change-bourbon-brands-but-what-about-all-the-distillery-workers-and-the-craft-of-distilling-itself/#comment-9407911"?Old School
But- but- Dolt 45 afterward declared it a “lovefest.”
Like it was a modern day Woodstock.
“Don’t drink the brown Kool-Aid.”
;)
Mike S. (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
@twbrandt: I canceld the WaPo a few months ago and signed up for the Philly Inquirer which is semi-local for me. Like you I dediced to support Propublica.
I still have 3 months to go on my WaPo subscription, but now I’m even refusing to give them clicks.
Sure Lurkalot
Hope the twitterati on the good side move on from “garbage” to Mike Johnson’s blabbering about ending the ACA and pre-existing condition protections. I think many Americans might remember that particular aspect of health insurance prior to the ACA…whether it was finding coverage, being kicked off or denied care, not to mention the laundry list of conditions that were commonplace such as acne or asthma that were reasons to uninsure and deny.
There’s nothing they don’t want to commodify to make life harder for a large swath of Americans.
HumboldtBlue
I think Aubrey Plaza speaks for all us in this clip.
Velocifowl
For Bezos there is nothing any of us can do to hurt him. Amazon and Wapo aren’t where he makes his money. The profit comes from AWS. Amazon was a money loser but they figured out how to really run server farms and data centers and AWS is the dominant cloud leader especially in government circles by a massive margin. Only Microsoft Azure comes close. Google and Oracle are the others but it goes AWS > Azure > everything else.
Besides liberals already proved they can’t boycott worth a damn. Bezos knows this because he owns Whole Foods. The prior owner was no fan of labor and came out against government provided healthcare, and promoted conservative talking points in The Wall Street Journal. Everyone said they were going to boycott Whole Foods and that lasted less than it took Liz Truss to lose to a head of lettuce. Anyone with a clue knew how that would end. What were you going to do? Shop at Safeway or Wallmart like the riff raff? It was an empty threat.
It’s the same as the right boycotting Bud Light or smashing coffee machines. People always come back. Both liberals and conservatives have boycotted Starbucks how many times now? They always came back there as well.
I’m happy about this because it’s given Wapo a bloody nose. But I’m not under any illusions it will last or matter one bit to Bezos. For all the people who left twitter over Elon the vast majority of those same people still post X links or their sites and talk about stuff that’s on X. They haven’t made any point other than making themselves look silly.
Let’s focus on voting for people who are going to tax not just Bezos to hell and back but all the media talking heads as well. That’s the only thing that seems to register with them. Remember that Bloomberg and Schulz only jumped into the Democratic primary because Warren and Sanders were talking about taxing them and raising wages. Hit them there. We can get buy in because everyone hates these rich assholes.
StringOnAStick
I have a close friend who’s son is in D.C., fresh out of college and just added a paying job with one of our Senator’s office to his already impressive list of internships. He says the WaPo flap is a huge deal in D.C. political circles because that’s the town paper for a town that runs on politics. We’ll see what the fallout continues to be, but it’s a big topic there in the political class of D’s .
planetjanet
@cmorenc: Into the pie filter you go.
planetjanet
@Steve LaBonne:
Amen
hitchhiker
While I was basking in the beautiful shots of Kamala Harris’s closing speech last night, I kept seeing references to whatever Biden said and knew immediately what was happening.
The trap they lay goes like this.
It seems pretty obvious after all these years that they’re perfectly willing to make shit up and expect us to help them smear it around. All that’s required is to reply with one voice, “Come on. Biden has just spent the last 4 years making life better for all of us, and you know that. Stop playing games.”
Then we could talk about the rate of inflation. Unemployment. Factory jobs. Affordable insulin.
But instead we let them set the terms and focus on where the apostrophes are. It’s fucking stupid.
HumboldtBlue
Stupid motherfuckers are parsing a simple statement from Biden while in Texas…
jowriter
@Sure Lurkalot: This is good advice. I held onto NYT for far too long because I occasionally use their archives for research for my writing projects. Libraries provide free access for these records so I can still get what I need and not pay for what I don’t want.
Bill Arnold
@The Other Bob:
Access to Washington Post articles using a .gov email address will end on Nov 14. (I have been informed; haven’t verified.)
Baud
@hitchhiker:
When people never learn, it makes you wonder whether they want to learn.
planetjanet
@Bupalos: Into the pie filter you go.
lowtechcyclist
@Gvg:
It’s really more, if you can’t figure out where the profit is, you are the product. Is the info that Craigslist collects from/on its users something they can package and sell? I don’t know much about Craigslist, but that would be my WAG.
Citizen Alan
@Chris: “Cokie’s Law,” named for that vapid hag Cokie Roberts, basically said that journalists have an obligation to report on Republican lies with as much coverage as if they were true if “enough people are talking about it at the beauty parlor.”
NotMax
@Baud
Some folks’ check brain light is perpetually illuminated.
Bupalos
I think “defunding” the WAPO or NYT is something to consider, but if it’s just feel-good expressive politics without an actual game plan it’s likely worse than nothing. Like, are we taking that money to some other entity that is better positioned to do investigative journalism? Or are we doing a baby-bathwater thing? Because as things stand right now these billionaire-captured institutions still tend to be the main places where the shreds of important investigative journalism reside, as more local and regional sources have simply collapsed. Collapsed as in “do not exist in any meaningful way.”
Steve LaBonne
@hitchhiker: Well, after thinking about it some more I have come to a decision: I just can’t vote for Biden in this election.
Melancholy Jaques
@Wvng:
As was to be expected. They went full pitchforks & torches against Hillary Clinton for calling half of Trump’s supporters deplorable while ignoring the fact that half of Trump’s supporters were raging racists.
scav
Imagine some poo-bahs at the AMA opining majestically that the public really needs to get out there and overindulge in some more carcinogens because, gasp! Oncology departments might shrink otherwise. Think of the Interns!
Velocifowl
@Betty Cracker:
Old Crow whiskey. Loved by Mark Twain, Hunter S. Thompson, and Ulysses S. Grant.
NotMax
@scav
Love Canal bottled water.
“Mmm. Tangy.”
;//
Baud
@scav:
We need to continue to burn fossil fuels because of all the oil, gas, and coal jobs they produce.
StringOnAStick
@Layer8Problem: That’s a commenter that I just scroll on by anymore, too much yammering and bad faith. Autocorrect turned yammering into hammering, and given their behaviour on their hobby horses, that fits too.
hitchhiker
@HumboldtBlue: I have no words.
I started to type “unbelievable” — then realized that of course it’s believable. Hell, it was predictable.
Layer8Problem
@StringOnAStick: I get more value from the perky folks with the emojis and the exclamation points. Sophistry and even-handed concern-trolling? Not so much.
NotMax
@Velocifowl
Partial to Bulleit. Though their rye is a superior quaff, IMHO.
If you’ve a Costco membership or gift card (or know someone who does) the 1.5L bottle there is about the price of a 750ml bottle at other outlets.
Citizen Alan
@Bupalos: I keep meaning to pie you, but your comments are so lame that I can’t work up the energy to scroll back up to the top of the page.
Bill Arnold
@Bupalos:
Joe Biden literally did not say those words.
Ask yourself why you wrote that.
tam1MI
We are not dealing with a “to boycott or not to boycott” here. The Trust Thermocline has been breached.
M31
All of us need to buy and eat Boar’s Head listeria-tainted deli meat, because if we don’t, the workers will suffer.
the noble job-creator owners are the heroes here — they’re the real victims
Citizen Alan
I don’t even know who Ann Talnaes is, but if Alexandra Petri continues to put post columns that are thinly disguised “fuck-yous” to her own paper, I could see her moving on before your subscription runs out, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. She has a child due in January, and depending on how the election plays out, it may affect some of her career/life choices.
NotMax
@Citizen Alan
Our own little ray of sh*tshine, that one.
Bupalos
@Old School: Yeah, I agree the “is” doesn’t agree so there’s plenty of room (and in fact the most obvious interpretation) is the one you’re giving. I do think that’s what he meant and that he was even being very careful not to say even that Trump himself said it, that’s where he got himself tied up. Softening it and making it complicated and then just not being a smooth communicator.
I guess I’m pointing to 2 things here:
1. Biden is no longer a smooth enough communicator to play the political role he’s best suited for.
2. The reason any kind of statement corresponding to “Democrats have deep personal disdain for folks on the emerging populist right, bordering on dehumanization” has such power is because it’s more and more just a true sentiment. We end up with disavowals that amount to “well you ARE garbage, but our politicians are too smart to say it out loud. In fact they give you way too much benefit of the doubt.”
What we fail to realize with that second point is that we’re simply enabling the destruction of our democracy when we do the same kind of us-them politics they do. Fascism thrives on it.
cmorenc
I was handing out D voter guides at an early voting site in Wake County (Raleigh), NC last week, and was chatting amiably with my R counterpart – and learned something we donors to Harris and other down-ballot Ds have in common with R activists – their cell phone text stream gets just as constantly, overwhelmingly bombarded with campaign fund pleas as ours do. In case you are concerned about “consorting with the enemy”, like us, in most cases, the Rs don’t send their raging assholes to be their local representatives at polling places, they send the kind of folks who are pleasant to have and chat with as neighbors, um…if only you avoided talking about politics. I’ve done this several elections for the Ds, and so far, this is a consistent observation – with the caveat that in the context of a MAGA rally, a less wholesome picture of my counterparts would likely show itself. And part of the value in engaging them in casual civil conversation is that it disarms them a bit, and they are less guarded in speaking with their own partisan voters around you, and you learn something about their thinking and assumptions that’s not filtered through any intermediary media.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@NotMax: everyone is on edge these days, myself included.
Citizen Alan
I owned 3 Chryslers in a row … because my sister married into the family that ran the Chrysler dealership and they basically sold us cars at cost and gave free maintenance. When her father-in-law retired and sold the business (giving his son a big pot of money but otherwise no transferable job skills), my next car was a Honda Civic Hybrid. I really miss that car.
Layer8Problem
@Citizen Alan:
“I don’t even know who Ann Telnaes is . . . ”
Political cartoonist, Washington Post.
way2blue
For me—if Washington Post subscribers simply shrugged their shoulders and said, ‘well what can I do?. That would send a very clear message to wanna-be authoritarians & their enablers. The loss of subscription revenue won’t amount to pocket change for Bezos. But hopefully will give pause to others who think decent Americans are just going to roll over whenever they make their move…
M31
I already canceled my WaPo subscription back when they opined that Biden ‘was going to too many funerals’ — talk about bullshit
then I had to cancel my Baltimore Sun sub when that Sinclair media asshole bought it (though it had been going downhill for a long time)
now I get my local sports and restaurant news from the Baltimore Banner, which is pretty good — they had a $1/6 months deal, but then it reverted to the normal price of over $20/month which was a little too much for me, so when I went to cancel they offered $100 for a year, which was fine, so they kept my money
now the damn Ravens need to remember that they are a really good team — they forget sometimes and do dumb shit
ArchTeryx
Yay, just got finished early voting after a 1.5 hour line. Clifton Park, NY. Straight-ticket Working Families Party. (*)
(*) Context: New York State has a wacko fusion voting system, where candidates can run on more than one line. WFP doesn’t field their own candidate; they give their ballot line to the Ds and it counts for the D candidates. But the more votes WFP gets, the more state funding they get to do things like GOTV. Considering the utterly moribund state of the NYS Democratic Party, we need them right now. A lot.
The only time in my life I could vote third party and be 100% assured I’m not spoiling anything, but actually doing some positive good.
Steve LaBonne
@NotMax: I’m a rye drinker and Bulleit Rye is what I keep around as my regular tipple. Very good quality to price ratio in today’s market.
Baud
I believe in the free market. Someone will want our money.
twbrandt
@NotMax: I am so stealing this
TBone
“Thank you for contacting the abyss. Your screams are very important to us. Press one to set up automatic monthly payment.”
Eunicecycle
@Chris: we were just at Versailles this spring and our guide talked about all the backstabbing to get the King’s attention. One thing everyone wanted was to be there when the king got up in the morning and got dressed, as well as attending to his bodily functions! What fun!
Ruckus
@cmorenc:
One of my bon mots is that NO ONE is perfect. And as an old myownself, who is not all that much younger than Joe Biden, we will, the vast majority of us anyway, say things/communicate in a way that does not always hit it’s mark or does not fully express what we are trying to say. And often that is because the speaker and the listener are not on the same wave length or have the same perspective.
Add in spot lights, microphones and a public office (especially a rather high level one) and speech will almost always be taken wrong by someone. It’s humanity, it’s millions of brains, some of which seem to be working at a sub par level. (AND NO this is not directed to anyone here, just a general concept of speaking, listening and understanding) And yes I’ve stood on a stage at a podium, in a tuxedo, and given speeches – as in more than one but not all that many.
Bupalos
@tam1MI: I guess all I’m saying is to make sure we aren’t defunding investigative journalism. If you cancel, make sure you take that $ to a useful place wrt investigative journalism. And it’s fairly hard to find these places.
See if you have a local option like this one – The Portager, which is practically an experimental project but in their tiny way seems to be doing great things.
Layer8Problem
Who cares what Bezos feels in his wallet? He’ll know he fucked up the credibility of one of his properties. “Who trusts Bezos’ Washington Post?” is a hard cut on the self-image of someone who is self-evidently a smart thought leader, because immensely rich, don’tcha know? Vide Musk.
scav
Meanwhile, in other news, Chivas in Spain gets a year’s worth of water in 8 hours. Nothing to see here, of course, because it’s rained before and there’s even a word in Spanish for local downpours.
Omnes Omnibus
@Bupalos: I am shocked. Shocked I tell you.
Velocifowl
@way2blue:
I have WaPo, NYT, WSJ, and FT. I did not subscribe to any of them. At various jobs in I was given a subscription and it was never turned off. Which makes me wonder just how much of their subscription base is paid for by various firms and corporations vs individual consumers. I’m somewhat suspicious of what goes on as I’ve seen scandals reported differently between them when where I worked was paying for the staffs subscription.
frosty
@The Other Bob: Wild Turkey 81 for me. When I want to spend a lot Woodford Reserve Double Oaked. Figured these out on Kentucky distillery tour.
Willet is also good if you can find it.
NotMax
@Citizen Alan
Dodge Colt Vista (’84. 5-speed manual) was a reliable transport.
Elizabelle
@frosty: were you able to get into MVP’s rally last night? Really happy that you went.
ArchTeryx
@Omnes Omnibus: “Your winnings, sir.”
Geminid
@ArchTeryx: New York’s Working Families Psrty also endorses in Democratic primaries. I will be interested in what they do for next year’s Mayoral race in NYC.
The WFP line in New York’s 17th CD race was captured by a Republican. Democrat Mondaire Jones was expected to win the WFP line in his contest with Republican Mike Lawler, but WFP voters may have boycotted Jones becsuse he endorsed George Latimer in tbe neighboring 16th CD primary. Whatever the reason, a little-known candidate with a Republican background ended up with on WFP line.
Omnes Omnibus
I just got the invite. I am off the waiting list.
ArchTeryx
@Geminid: That’s the first time I’ve EVER heard of an R ending up on Working Families’ line. Usually they run on the Conservative Party line. The idea of an R accepting a WFP endorsement is bizarro-world.
Sister Golden Bear
@brantl: Guardian: “Are trans people even human? Just asking questions.”
Brant Lamb
@narya: Thank you, I drew a mental block on the acronym.
Ruckus
@Chris:
It’s literally the media talking about themselves.
Well then we know for sure that they are human…..
lowtechcyclist
@Bupalos:
Disdain and dehumanization aren’t even in the same category. The former doesn’t converge on the latter.
There are many people in this world I have great disdain for and disgust with, but that doesn’t change the fact that God loves them every bit as much as he loves me. I cannot bring myself to hate, let alone dehumanize, anyone God loves that much.
But that doesn’t take away my sight: I can still see who and what they are, and have low regard for them. But they’re still my fellow human beings, no matter what.
E.
I just quit Prime (Post was already gone) and set up a monthly contribution to ProPublica. I have always detested Josh Marshall’s writing, the constant hemming, hawing, needlessly narrowing his argument, ugh. But I just sent him 70 bucks too.
It reminds me a little of the time I removed Windows from my computer and installed linux, in 1998. A little bit of a load off.
cain
@Marmot:
Fuck music journalists, I know me and fellow Rush fans would roll our eyes every time there is an article about Rush (the band) and it would always contain the same 3 elements. They absolutely hated the band and could not figure out why it was a cult band at all.
Kosh III
@3Sice:No matter when it was the union workers running the presses and pulp mills getting the axe, but now the cuts are white collar.. CRISIS!
IIRC When the Enron scam happened and it put 6000 at Arthur Anderson out of business, suddenly white collar was too big to fail.
And we saw that writ large when we the people bailed out Wall Street crooks who got away with it. I’d cheerfully watch Jaime Dimon swing from the gallows.
Chet Murthy
@Layer8Problem: @Citizen Alan: Tweet with the cartoon that put her on my radar: https://x.com/gatormason/status/938171314212352000
And a story about that cartoon and … Texass:
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/blakemontgomery/police-removed-a-texas-yard-sign-showing-a-gop-elephant
Chris
@Eunicecycle:
I know. Can you just imagine the fits of giggling the king and the few people he actually cared about would’ve had to get into after hours? About the kind of hoops he’d made people jump through, and just how important and powerful the people doing the jumping were (supposed to be)?
Chris
@Bupalos:
We’re not. We’re defunding the Washington Post.
lowtechcyclist
@cmorenc:
I get bombarded by emails (which go to a separate email address), but how do they find your cell phone? I don’t get those texts.
Mind you, that’s not a complaint. But if I know how they find people’s cell phones, it’ll help me know what not to do so they continue to not find mine.
Brant Lamb
Though, it’s easy to understand the confusion.
frosty
@Elizabelle: Nope, I ended up in the overflow after waiting in line for 2 1/2 hours. I’m still pissed off. They sent out more “tickets” than they had capacity for and just shrugged it off.
DNC and the campaign didn’t even have the courtesy to tell us the gates were closed. Left it to a couple of volunteers.
cain
@Elizabelle:
Their customers are mostly centrists and liberals. MAGA are not reading their trash articles.
Ironic that they abuse our good nature to deliver these shit articles and then hope that we would wring our hands in panic. I’m sick of this cycle. I’m glad we are breaking it. They really depend on us not MAGA for their livelihood. We aren’t even asking for much, just a balanced coverage. Fuck em.
Layer8Problem
@Chris: I’m sure Louis XIV invented the passé simple. Just to piss me off.
Geminid
@ArchTeryx: This guy has no affinity with the Working Famies Party; he’s just a “stalking horse” intended to draw votes from Mondaire Jones. He’ll likely attract some WFP voters too, because the Latimer/Bowman race left some hard feelings. This could make a difference in a very close race, which it might be. Something to watch for next Tuesday night.
Brant Lamb
@The Other Bob: Yes, on principal.
frosty
@Omnes Omnibus: Hope it works out better for you than me. The invite was essentially meaningless.
Chris
@Layer8Problem:
“Who trusts Bezos’ Washington Post?” is a worthwhile goal for us to achieve on its own, period.
A shit ton of the problems with the mainstream media would immediately lessen if the general public’s perception of them was that they are right-wing house organs, as opposed to the mix of “they’re liberally biased,” “they’re objective and unbiased journalism,” and “they’re trying their best” that most people even on the left side of the aisle currently believe. We could literally have the exact same media environment that we have, and our relationship to it would be immensely healthier, simply because we’d recognize what it is, what it’s trying to sell, and what direction it’s trying to push us into. The idea that things like WaPo and CNN are anything other than the Wall Street Journal with a camera filter is bar none the most toxic misconception in U.S. politics.
Omnes Omnibus
@Bupalos: We can accommodate and respect people with very different views on policy. And we should. We cannot and should not respect people who deny the essential humanity of others. No compromise is possible there. I push back all the time when people dehumanize people here on this site. For example, calling Russians orcs. This isn’t always well received. So, please, no lectures about being nice to shitty people. TYVM.
Omnes Omnibus
@cain: Well, Rush does suck so there’s that.
Bupalos
@Bill Arnold: Because I had just heard it and didn’t look it up. He said “the only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.” That phrase hangs there on it’s own with pauses that make it sound like a complete thought. The entire delivery is a bumbly-mumbly bad-read of a written statement that didn’t intend that interpretation. But as delivered, that one phrase stands alone and does come off listening to it as referring to Trump supporters.
He didn’t intend it to sound the way it did sound. That’s called bad communication, which, BFD. The thing that ends up giving it legs is that we all know this is in fact a very widely shared sentiment among us. So we’re out saying (correctly) that he didn’t mean to say that, while on the other hand saying it’s true. I’m pointing to 2 political liabilities for Democrats and people who want to preserve democracy here. A small one and a big one: 1. bad communications. 2. a growing politics of us vs them in the Democratic electorate that actually feeds the growth of the fascist cancer.
Elizabelle
@frosty: Oh no! Although you were there for part of history.
Glad that MVP is a popular draw. This does not bode well for getting to see her inauguration in person, does it?
But. That is hardly the worst problem we could have.
lowtechcyclist
@RaflW:
My 1982 Dodge Ram 50 is still my favorite of all the cars I’ve had. Bought it used from a fellow church member in 1987 for $3000, sold it to a student of mine in 1996 for $600. Was also the vehicle on which I learned to drive a stick. Fortunately I was living in Newport News then, and it makes Kansas look hilly by comparison.
Melancholy Jaques
@Bupalos:
What this all comes down to is that the political media has been searching for some story that would be negative for Harris and they could not find one. So they are going to go with this and use it as an excuse to stop talking about Trump’s festival of racism and hate.
Velocifowl
@Chris:
The NYT and WaPo will always be thought of as “they’re liberally biased” because of cultural issues. Cultural issues are what the public understands and cares about. As WaPo and the NYT aren’t all in braying advocates of White Nationalism and Christian Nationalism they are going to be viewed as captured organs of liberalism. That’s the case from Joe Six Pack, to my in laws, to Leonard Leo and Sam Alito.
It doesn’t help that a huge swath of their consumers are Democrats who are liberal because of cultural issues and are open to the point of social spending right until it hits their pockets or means their kids will have competition.
They represent the establishment and elite. Anyone hoping for something else from them is going to be let down.
Bupalos
This plays the generalization game. Not all Trump supporters deny the essential humanity of others. I’d go as far as to say that not many do this explicitly, and few of the ones that do it implicitly have the intellectual or emotional capacity to understand what they are doing. Most Russians and most Trumpers are in fact victims, even as they are also perpetrators. Both their victimhood and their crimes are in critical danger of becoming worse in short order. I have little interest in the moral arbitrage here, the favorite but completely counterproductive domain of algorithmically-mediated internet discourse.
I have an interest in how to avoid it becoming worse without becoming a victim and perpetrator myself. Indulging in us-them politics makes us feel better and makes everything worse.
HumboldtBlue
@Citizen Alan:
Ann Telnaes, a brilliant political cartoonist, Art Buchwald style.
Eunicecycle
@Chris: it would be funny if it gave Trump some ideas, though! He’s already forced so many to give up their self-respect; now they have to watch him take a shit to really be in favor! On his golden toilet!
Ked
A number of replies upthread have talked about subbing to TPM.
I like Josh’s writing, and if Elon wasn’t forcing me to log in to see Twitter I’d certainly be reading him there (does he have bluesky yet?), but what’s always stopped me is that the actual produced content at TPM seems…thin, at least the surface bit that is still visible. I remember pre-paywall there seemed to be more articles and some okay forums, but how much is there? My impression is I get more actual content on a daily basis just scanning headlines and the rec list at GOS. Anyone who is subbed there, what’s your feeling?
Makers Mark was the first bourbon I really enjoyed, but in the last decade it feels like the flavor has gone out of it. Oddly I really enjoy the whiskey product of their new(ish) Japanese overlords, Suntory, but access to that around here is spotty at best (and pricey). And the older I get, the better that the basic Jim Beam tastes…
Citizen Alan
For what little it’s worth, I just cancelled Amazon Prime. No opportunity to say “It’s because Bezos is scum.”
Elizabelle
@Citizen Alan: Yay you! Not ordering anything else from them, but I do like Amazon Prime streaming.
Putting off the decision for a few months. Current sub is up January 18 or thereabouts.
I truly do think cancellations are important. Numbers speak, and for now, might be most of our voice.
Marmot
@TBone: Oh shit, that’s funny!
lowtechcyclist
@Bupalos:
Oh get real. Trump very explicitly and repeatedly does so, and they’re all in for him and are trying to put him in the White House where he would round up all the immigrants, put them in camps and try to deport them; end all medical care supporting gender transitioning; and deny women the control over their own bodies.
They’re denying the essential humanity of many others, even if they don’t explicitly think about it in those terms.
Marmot
@Chet Murthy: Sorry about your North Texas childhood, but will you please stop slurring us? Lots of us live here, trying to make things better.
Omnes Omnibus
@Bupalos: FFS. Did you read what I wrote? Did you read what Biden actually said? Not what you claim to have heard? Enjoy playing the One Reasonable Person ™. I am done with you.
Origuy
My local paper is the San Jose Mercury News. As far as I can tell, they haven’t made any endorsement for President. I’m not sure they have in the past. They do endorse local candidates, mostly Democrats, and that’s far more useful. The nonpartisan ones are the important ones for me, because I don’t know anything about the school board, county council, etc., and I figure the editorial board knows which ones aren’t flaming nutcases.
The proposition endorsements are also useful, but I don’t always follow those.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Ked: [disclaimer: I am a long time TPM subscriber]
TPM is not a general purpose news site. They have a very small staff. What they do have is a few very good reporters who specialize in certain topics. For example Kate Riga covering the Supreme Court and Congress.
They have broken a few big stories. That’s partly luck, but also perseverance.
Bill Arnold
@Sister Golden Bear:
100 percent accurate about the The Guardian’s trans coverage.
Steve LaBonne
@Mr. Bemused Senior: I find them quite worth the modest subscription cost. I also like Marshall’s political analysis.
lowtechcyclist
@lowtechcyclist:
Let me add what Baud says in the next thread: “We can’t tell who’s a good person or a bad one. Is a MAGA a bad person or just a victim of propaganda? No way to know. The only thing we know is the harm they are causing.”
As Jesus said, we will know them by their fruits.
Bupalos
@lowtechcyclist:
It’s a binary election. It’s completely counterproductive to ascribe to every voter every position of the candidate they are going to support. And in the case of MAGA or any of the other right-wing populist movements around the globe, it’s really kind of silly to ascribe particular real-world policy opinions to most of them at all. These movements come from a place of fear and social destabilization, and dwell in a dark fantasy world of us versus them.
Nothing that heightens the us-versus-them delusion can help here. It can only feed the cancer.
Marc
I’ve been a TPM subscriber for several years, as an alternative to subscribing to the NYT or WaPo. Pretty much the only thing behind the paywall is The Backchannel, a so-called member newsletter which basically provides Marshall’s extended opinions/analysis. TPM is a fairly small operation, they can’t cover everything, but they do seem to hit the areas I’m most interested in.
Bupalos
@lowtechcyclist: Politics isn’t about determining who is a good and bad person. In fact, that’s the end of democracy and end of politics.
Ruckus
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
not just lip service and bullshit
Are you trying to end 75% of the public information business? The government public information sector gets strict scrutiny – which can be useless depending on who is wearing the crown but still there are limits to what and how it can be stated and guard rails galore. And much of the concept of the commercial public information sector has at least some guard rails because it is normally repeating a government sector. But the non regulated public information business is like any other business – it is about profit. And do not misunderstand, a business, unlike government, does have to make a profit to stay in business – or at the very least break even. Now someone with billions in savings can take money from one place and put it in another with minimal pain so not every segment has to be profitable. They usually want it to be but it doesn’t always have to be. They have billions – they will survive.
Citizen Alan
@lowtechcyclist: Here’s how I see it: In 2024, there are two kinds of MAGA. The first type is driven entirely by a pathological need to hurt other classes of people out of pure cruelty. The second type isn’t really into that, but they will vote along with the first time if it means their taxes will stay low.
There is a word for a 1930s German who didn’t actually believe Nazi racial propaganda but voted for them anyway because of “the economy” or some such. That word is Nazi.
Chris
@Velocifowl:
There are plenty of Republicans who aren’t all in braying advocates of White Nationalism and Christian Nationalism and that we have no trouble at all identifying as Republicans. Prior to Trump, this was even what the media tried to tell us was the norm in the Republican Party.
The people who are this way, by and large, aren’t particularly liberal on cultural issues either, unless your definition of that is “I liked that MLK speech from sixty years ago.” The Venn Diagram of people who are upset that their kids will have competition and people who are upset that their kids will have to share a bathroom with someone who’s trans is a circle. Though I certainly agree that they’re the most rock-solid loyalists for outlets like the WaPo.
Correct, which is why the notion of them being liberal either culturally, economically, or in any way that remotely translates to “on the side of the Democrats and against the Republicans” continues to be risible.
persistentillusion
@TaMara: Not only a great paper, but you also get Mike Littwin’s useful and informative commentary.
zhena gogolia
@Citizen Alan: that’s about where I am
Tenar Arha
@Citizen Alan: 👍👍 FWIW it’s possible to tell them exactly why, but only if you want to spend the extra time.
I paused mine (it was the day before Jeffy’s big OpEd) and then requested customer service through the app chat feature. Note: I got bumped up to a supervisor as soon as I posted this “[polite greeting to CS Rep] I am pausing my Amazon membership because if Mr. Bezos thinks that he can live without democracy, then I’m going to try and live without his company. I didn’t cancel because I truly hope he changes his mind, but in the meantime, I’m not going to renew my membership next year.” With the supervisor, again very politely, & I asked for an acknowledgment that my reason for pausing was recorded. ;)
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus: Yay!
Chris
@Origuy:
Huh.
I mostly know that paper for having been the employer of Gary Webb, who got famous for having investigated the crack cocaine explosion in Los Angeles and traced it back to CIA-funded contras in Nicaragua. The book Dark Alliance is a depressing read, especially for the ending; his description of his conversation with his editor, who’s basically telling him that he won’t be allowed to print the full story because it’s too inflammatory, polemical, unproven, etc, is familiar to anybody who’s followed “news” in the last thirty or forty years.
Weftage
@Baud:
OK, now this is unnerving. From the article:
Charlotte Clymer has hitherto been a somewhat controversial activist, known for not-always-constructive commentary on Tw*tter and elsewhere. I’ve never been particularly a fan, but I’m surprised she’s involved in this.
Velocifowl
@Tenar Arha:
Are you going to cancel Netlix and a thousand other things as well? Because all of that runs of AWS which is where Bezos makes his money. If you aren’t willing to do that canceling Prime has accomplished nothing.
frosty
@Elizabelle:
I expect I’m gonna pass on the inauguration. Getting in and out of DC is a hassle — unless MARC puts on some trains in and out; plus it will be cold weather.
WMATA did a good job though.
Elizabelle
@Velocifowl: Well aren’t you strident?
Tenar Arha
@Velocifowl: No, and also I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to Citizen Alan.
Please note, your comment seems to assume I am ignorant of just how much that fuckin’ a-hole owns. For the record, how about you treat people posting on this blog as if they know things and have their own reasons for unsubscribing before you post.
I’m fully aware that I can’t quit everything that self-important dildo rocket owns, aka there’s no moral consumption under capitalism. I can however prepare to stop giving him an extra $140/year up front, & find alternatives for the services I was using.
Velocifowl
@Elizabelle:
I don’t mean to be and sorry if it came across that way it wasn’t my intention. My point is simply that quitting Prime or WaPo to stick it to Bezos while continuing to use services that are based off his cash cow is odd. If there’s a specific reason avoid Prime, I try my best to and use other stores, that’s another story.
Scamp Dog
@brantl: As others have answered, Just Asking Questions. My usual response to someone who says that is yes, I know you’re just asking questions, because you don’t listen to answers you don’t want to hear.
TBone
@Marmot: 😁
Elizabelle
@Velocifowl: I would be interested in a lot more info about precisely what AWS is involved in. Sounds very octopus-like.
That said, perhaps having seen Bezos’ callousness, any government agencies that use AWS might take a good hard look for any competitors once the contract is up for renewal.
Bezos is big problem with his monopolistic ambitions and terrible treatment, frankly, of his workforce. He’s a leviathan.
I think he and Musk have made themselves posterchildren for toxic billionaires. Soon-Shiong threw away his reputation too.
Velocifowl
@Elizabelle:
For starters AWS is the cloud for both CIA and DoD. For customers well… everyone. From Netflix, to Coke, to BMW, to Wall Street, to most non profits and charities.
Several million business and organizations use them… here’s a tiny fraction. https://spacelift.io/blog/who-is-using-aws#aws-customers-list
AWS Customers List
Name
Industry
Region
3M
Manufacturing
United States
Airbnb
Travel
United States
Canva
Software & Internet
Australia
Coca-Cola
Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG)
Americas
Formula 1
Automotive
United Kingdom
GoDaddy
Software & Internet
United States
Goldman Sachs
Financial Services
United States
Heineken
Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG)
Benelux
Johnson & Johnson
Life Sciences
United States
LaunchDarkly
Software & Internet
United States
MAN
Automotive
Germany
McAfee
Software & Internet
United States
Moderna
Life Sciences
United States
Netflix
Media & Entertainment
United States
Okta
Software & Internet
United States
Panasonic
Manufacturing
United States
Pinterest
Digital Marketing
United States
Salesforce
Healthcare
United States
Samsung Electronics
Electronics & Semiconductor
Korea
Siemens
Manufacturing
Germany
ŠKODA
Automotive
Czech Republic
Snap
Software & Internet
United States
Starbucks
Hospitality
North America
State Farm
Financial Services
United States
Thomson Reuters
Media & Entertainment
United States
Toyota
Automotive
United States
TUI
Hospitality
Germany
Vanguard
Financial Services
United States
Verizon
Telecommunications
North America
Warner Bros. Discovery
Media & Entertainment
United States
Wealthfront
Financial Services
United States
Zalando
Retail & Wholesale
Germany
Zomato
Hospitality
India
Velocifowl
Essentially everything runs of AWS and MS Azure now. AWS is much larger than Azure, and Azure dwarfs google cloud and Oracle which are distant third and fourths. That’s why Bezos doesn’t give a flying fuck about Prime or WaPo. Those are money losers. All the cash comes from AWS and you can’t avoid it. When over 1.4 million things use it, and some like Netflix are entirely based off it, it’s impossible.
Ruckus
@RaflW:
Chrysler was OK back in the 60s. Their quality was on par with the others – mediocre. But as someone who started working in manufacturing tooling for commercial products back in the 60s, that was true of most manufactured products, because the tools were basically only capable of that level. It started changing in the 70s and had gotten to be capable of high accuracy/production by the 1990s, and another level higher by 2000. I have no idea what the level is today.
Ruckus
I don’t really get that we can’t use anything certain people have invested in.
If you limit yourself to products/services that are only owned by people of the highest moral and monetary standards, you are likely to be living in a cave without hot and/or cold running anything. This not the entire nature of business or business owners but it is always out there and there will always be assholes and such with money and power. The one’s that abuse it are the major assholes. It has been this way since time started and it isn’t going to change anytime soon.
I’m not saying it’s right or that we should embrace it but it is humanity and humanity runs the entire range of decent to pure shit, and every way point in between. We have laws to make it not as bad as it used to be, so that more of us can at least enjoy life to some extent. And we seem to do at least not bad at that. Could it be better? Of course it could but then it is humanity and that runs from good and decent all the way down to pure shit walking. But never forget that money is more important than anything else to some. And that we all like to have enough.
Chris
@Ruckus:
Divesting from the Washington Post isn’t a good idea because Jeff Bezos is a bad person. It’s a good idea because it’s not news, any more than Fox or Sinclair are.
Ksmiami
AWS underpins nearly every major business and service today.
hitchhiker
@Chris: You keep saying this, and every time it’s true.
The Post is not reliable as a source of news, therefore there’s no point in paying for it if that’s what you’re looking for.
Everybody should know that Bezos can’t be touched when it comes to money, good grief. The thing I repeat all the time — because too many people don’t understand big numbers — is that a million seconds is about 11 days, and a billion seconds is about 32 years.
The scale of Bezos’s wealth ($200 billion and counting) is so absurdly off any chart that we can’t really imagine it. Of course my subscription to the Post means nothing to him. The $250 million he paid for the thing means nothing to him, nor does the $77 million annual loss the paper takes.
He didn’t buy it to make money. He bought it for reasons I suspect have to do with power and prestige, and now he’s buried that power and prestige with his nonsense about endorsements. It’s as if he bought a car factory, let it run on its reputation for a while, and then announced randomly that traditionally cars didn’t have brakes.
It’s no longer a car factory if it produces vehicles without brakes.
Chris
@hitchhiker:
All of this.
(Note that conversely, I have no plans to stop using Amazon or Amazon Prime, because those things actually do what they’re supposed to – not always very well, but well enough for my purposes and better than a lot of other options).
Josie (also)
In North Carolina we have an on line journal named The Assembly. They have a wide roster of experienced journalists, many of whom “retired” when the McClatchy newspapers contracted sharply. They were the first people to report on Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s porn viewing habits.
Eyeroller
@Baud: Not going to scroll down to the most recent comment in this thread, but Biden has a known fluency disorder (stuttering/cluttering) and a 50-year history of “gaffes,” most of which are related to his stuttering and some of which are just that he blurts things out. This should be well known to journalists. They have never accommodated his disability. (Fluency disorders can be official disabilities per the ADA). It’s quite obvious from the transcript what he meant. The larger issue here is, and I think Josh Marshall may have said this first, is that the political press is not just “wired for Republicans” but that the political press is oriented to cover “What are Republicans mad about today?” It is beyond tiresome.
Elizabelle
@Eyeroller: great to see you here.
Kednedub
@Steve LaBonne:
@Steve LaBonne: agreed
Bupalos
@Citizen Alan: can you please express this sentiment in terms of “baskets?” T
Because Trump knows a thing that you don’t – that this kind of confusion of what politics is about renders democracy defenseless and feeds its enemies – he’s literally driving a garbage truck.
Gloria DryGarden
@Sure Lurkalot: I love our library card access.
You know it also has academic search premier, so one can do college papers, etc?
i just walked my hose out, for the freeze, and put blankets on a few petunias, so I can enjoy th3m a bit longer. Brrrr.