Thank you for telling it like it is!! I am posting on social media a daily Cliff notes version of each chapter of Timothy Snyder’s ON TYRANNY; reposting stories from national park service rangers who were told they no longer have a park service career (am a retired former park ranger and live next to Acadia NP); have written to all my congress people regarding the Musk/Trump rampage through our government & our private financial information; and have protested in the 50501 capitol protest and am going again today, for Not My President’s Day. 👍
Timothy Snyder's and Ruth Ben-Ghiat's Substacks are indispensable these days. Too many USians, especially white USians, think of fascism as something that happened Over There and/or Back Then. Others among us have been watching the warning signs flashing brighter and brighter since early in the Reagan administration.
Have you been kicked off FB when you have posted pro-dem material recently? I was about 3 weeks ago, and posted a few times in a matter of 7 days, and then booted off with the message that I had virus (has NEVER happened before in 20+ years-have a macbook) so deactivated because of also being hacked several times over the last several years...wondering if this is happening to anyone else...they take away their fact checking dept., but then begin censoring? ...Maybe I am off base, so appreciate your perspective...ty!
Lisa, I use Facebook frequently and almost all my posts are about the horrors of now and pro-Dem & pro-democracy/anti fascism posts. I was warned during the campaign to not use “Hitler”. What happened to you sounds more hacking and/or virus. A friend who like I was censored for “a post seeking ‘likes’” (not the Hitler referenced one) we’re not booted. I’m less concerned about this than the spreading of lies & Musk’s access to and dismantling of all our government’s and our information.
Good for you for following this possibility that Mark Zuckerberg finds no end to his need for popularity -- even if from the loudest most ignorant power figure out there. Zuck must be called out everywhere.
Here's how badly legacy media has collapsed. Judd Legum's Substack blog Popular Information is headlined today: "In botched DEI purge, OSHA trashes workplace safety guidelines." By contrast, the NY Times's The Morning newsletter is headlined: "Cutting red tape." The author writes: "Democrats may not approve of Trump’s targets — foreign aid and consumer protection agencies — or the potential constitutional crisis he initiated when he tried to eliminate them. But some Democrats might envy the speed at which he cut through red tape."
It will be a long journey back to the type of journalism you describe.
I think it's that the current publisher, who is - what? - a fifth-generation Sulzberger, has a "moderate right" viewpoint, which he imposes upon the publication. So with a straight face, the current editor-in-chief, Joseph Kahn, states that he doesn't want to "take sides." There you have it.
Agree. There is a great interview from years ago where David Remnick tries to get the young Sulzberger (who was 39 at the time) to see that "bothsides" are not really the best way to cover Trump.
Obvs Sulzberger didn't see it the same way.
The NYT has been very complicit in getting us to where we are.
We have so many cringing cowards both in the media and in Congress. I quit WaPo after Bozo refused to back Harris — now it’s pretty clear he just wants to suck up and be one of the bros. I still subscribe to the NYT and see some hope in its reporting — but generally it’s rather muted.
Trumphuk’s abandonment of Ukraine is the latest horror and any respectable newspaper would decry this as being totally stupid and crazy. I’ll be looking to see if NYT slow rolls on this or say what it is—a capitulation to a venal dictator who invaded another sovereign nation. Clearly not taking sides on this would deserve absolute shaming and shunning of the NYT.
When we are critical of msm, I think we need to acknowledge some things about social media competition and its addictive appeal, no regulation, the outrage and sensational advantage, that its free, the group identity advantage, and so much more. Surveillance Capitalism literacy is key to democracy’s survival.
When it comes to headlines, the NYT is often worse than the Post. That's how bad things have gotten. But much smaller media outlets are doing excellent work.
I agree. I’m attempting to argue that neither matters today, because Social Media is exponentially stronger than news media. Understanding why is key. Understand the how, and develop the correct response. We are stuck in status quo bias. When truth telling is at advantage, how do we combat right wing fascist lies, propaganda, with the vehicles of delivery and radicalization? ( I don’t claim to know, I’m trying to find answers too)
I am completely gobsmacked by the turn my country has taken - embracing fascism, alignment with petty dictators. The incredibly tepid pushback by opposition groups. Agreed the press has to stand up and show some backbone but so do the American people. This is the country our grandparents & great grandparents were willing to die for in WWII? To serve Russia? Hungary? I refuse to believe that Putin & JD & the Silicon Valley bros are right that democracy is spent. But how do we shake people out of their stupor?
Many people do not care about Americans (and many others) who were "...willing to die for in WWII? We are more concerned with reality television than REALITY. It's more than a stupor. It's deeply held beliefs that escapism is acceptable.
Same. I don’t recognize this administration as being American in principles and values. It’s a techno christo fascist authoritarian regime change. America has jihadists too.
It's easy for the media to criticize Obama and Biden because they know there's no blowback. They are afraid of trump because they know he'll go after them.
To me the odd thing was that Healy also had a good dialogue with Gessen that somehow never quite managed to reflect on the NYT itself. There's a really weird split in the way the editorial board is talking about what's happening now and the studied, often ridiculous, way that their coverage avoids speaking directly to what's going on, the constant use of "experts say" and various kinds of sanewashing that strenuously pretend that this is just a slightly more extreme version of some fairly normal policy views in modern American life.
I have no idea how to reconcile Healy in this piece or the Healy-Gessen dialogue with Peter Baker's latest news analysis "If the US annexed Canada, the electoral math would shift in favor of the Democrats". It's like a German newspaper in February 1933 having an editor who writes about the need to keep Hitler from seizing absolute power while the main political reporter wrote a news story asking "If we conquered Poland, how many Poles would we have to murder to keep Germany racially pure? Not that it's likely, just wondering."
See my comment above. While I tend to agree with you, I think that credit needs to be given when there are articles that speak directly. Shawn McCreesh on wordplay.
Those stories are too few and separated. Before the election the NYT was adamant that it wasn’t their role to support democracy and for years they have been doing massive harm, attacking Dems with a fury missing in their stories and coverage of the right, especially Trump and MAGAlytes. And the evening news broadcasts have become parodies of themselves. ABC leads their broadcasts with weather stories. Not saying it isn’t news, but when that tops the Thursday massacre at DOJ and the wrecking ball we are seeing in DC, it’s pathetic.
Waiting for the new unemployment numbers to come out with these massive firings that don’t just affect fed employees but all of the businesses, NGOs, and other adjacent orgs.
IMHO, They have been doing that for decades now. Their allegiance appears to be toward the "monied" people. Honestly if they can still make money off selling the ashes of our burning democracy I think they will do it.
100%. Stating neutral while social media is the opposite. And which has the advantage and growth? One also has AI metrics on personal likes and clicks, engagement metrics, known emotional sensitivities and triggers, tracking, predicting models for serving up the next outrage story. This is all going on without the reader or viewer’s knowledge nor consent.
I look forward to your substack columns. You provide information and insight into the news media. You help me think more critically about the information I consume, which comes primarily through social media and the Washington Post. (The Post is my local newspaper. And many of its reporters have my respect and admiration.) I use Bluesky for much of my updates throughout the day and use substack for more indepth coverage of events and issues. I am much more critical and aware of coverage that uses words and phrase which "soft-peddle" the news. And, it is often, especially the Post. As i explained to a friend who doesnt wish to be alarmist: Our house is on fire! We are not waiting for every room to be engulfed in flames to scream "FIRE".
If we have any hope of preventing a full slide into permanent autocracy, the New York Times will need to take a direct, pull-no-punches posture in far more than its newsletters.
Unfortunately, that’s not a view shared by many people who a) should know better—especially in light of how the NYT has acquitted itself in recent years (including our estimable Ms. Sullivan), or b) still think of the NYT as the speaking-truth-to-power institution it once was when it put the Pentagon Papers on page 1.
That’s a question above my pay grade. But in my estimation few if any in the mastheads are inclined to do anything more/other than what they currently are.
Europe did. And brought lawsuits against the bigs.
Biden and Harris wanted to do the same. ( remember how she dealt with the big banks during the mortgage crisis? That is why Biden chose her).
So The big Techs dump Biden and start funding Trump.
And they pump Trump talking points big time. Elon‘s 290,000,000+ a couple other hundred million from the other Biggs can buy a lot of attention time on social media screens that do more than just pump a candidate social media has ways that are scientifically proven to persuade into manipulate and to do so without your knowledge as it’s happening. We are all at risk of this.
while journalist in MSM are reporting reality, newsfeeds in social media are telling an unreality story ( Rueben Gallego won AZ by addressing this his own way)
TRUMP WINS.
There is a method to this madness. Social media in so many ways, and behind the scenes, manipulates us without consent, in ways that we do not yet understand l. how manipulated are we? A lot! We are manipulated into believing post truth, alternative facts, unreality, Maga talking points, Bannon’s flood the zone, kind of bullshit.
I think it is unfair to be attacking mainstream media. They’re at a huge disadvantage to social media.
I think mainstream media does need to take a harder stance and not Saints playing fascism techno or Christo whatever the flavor du jour.
But also mainstream media maybe when it’s online and in your newsfeed needs its own algorithm science to draw people away from the madness that is Meta, Twitter, and Google .
Yes. We need, in this order: the unvarnished truth, a heart for defiance and solidarity with each other. Toward that end, I am going to the No Kings Rally at noon in front of the Federal Building here in Pittsburgh. It's single digit cold here, I'm an old lady and I don't care. Better some cold toes than cold feet. I hope some of your readers find one of these rallies, which are being held across the country, and get there today! We can't waste a minute.
The best coverage of Musk and his DOGE incels is found in WIRED and Fast Company. Unlike the WaPo, NYT, etc. their reporters understand tech, the complexity of computer code and, most of all, the mindset of these idiots. And these publications have their hair on fire about the risks that these clowns pose to all of us.
In Charlottesville, we have started a grassroots organization - Keep Going Together - to support local nonprofits targeted by Project 2025. We are a small, unruly band of mostly white women but we are embracing the needs of our community with joyful badassery. www.keepgoingtogether.org
Plus we're going to protests and calling our Congress critters like it's our (other) job.
We are reaping the whirlwind for not actively combatting the GOP plans when that was possible to do so. Where we are is a culmination of years of insistence that “it could never happen here” even as democracy was being hollowed out bit by bit.
FWIW Margaret, if the legit news media had done what they should over the past 20-30 years, we'd all be in a better place right now. For example, if had stood with the White House *against* Fox in 2009, we'd all be a lot better off.
And no, Fox is NOT news. They're propaganda, sprinkled with a little news, so that the lies are more believable.
Let's not pussyfoot around that either - news in the U.S. desperately needs standards of integrity, standards that most media orgs who bend to fascism would not be able to meet.
Have to get back to work, but generally a good list.
More than the media, the commercial companies that advertise in these publications and on these networks are almost always "American." I believe consumer boycotts can make a difference (to impact Fox, et al)
You’re doing wonderful work. Keith Olbermann also deserves a shoutout. His Podcast is fearless and brilliantly rendered. He goes for the main nerve and gives zero f***s.
Our daughter who worked the 2022-3 summers in Glacier National Park (we live in ruby-red Montana, although bluish Missoula) and 2024 in Acadia, has had the back-country position she was seeking in Glacier for 2025 frozen. It's hard for her to plan her life when the job she is seeking is frozen. I fear with Canadians protesting the U.S. by choosing not to travel here this summer coupled with inadequate staffing at our National Parks (Glacier and Yellowstone specifically) our tourist season in Montana is going to be a disaster. Every summer tourism generates about $3-4 billion. The National Parks freeze will hurt everyday Montanans with small businesses who rely on summer tourism. Thanks to Margaret Sullivan for her service as a park ranger in Acadia! Our daughter loves the work. It is a labor of love. You certainly don't do it for the pay!
They really are reaching deep into local school districts. The Ithaca Journal has been moribund for ten years, but Gannett shook off the cobwebs to report the Trump regime's assault on ours:
Thank you for telling it like it is!! I am posting on social media a daily Cliff notes version of each chapter of Timothy Snyder’s ON TYRANNY; reposting stories from national park service rangers who were told they no longer have a park service career (am a retired former park ranger and live next to Acadia NP); have written to all my congress people regarding the Musk/Trump rampage through our government & our private financial information; and have protested in the 50501 capitol protest and am going again today, for Not My President’s Day. 👍
Thank you! I will check out Timothy Snyder. Like you, I usually try to condense whatever I post on my Facebook page to a few pithy phrases.
Thanks for your service to our national parks
Timothy Snyder's and Ruth Ben-Ghiat's Substacks are indispensable these days. Too many USians, especially white USians, think of fascism as something that happened Over There and/or Back Then. Others among us have been watching the warning signs flashing brighter and brighter since early in the Reagan administration.
Hi Monica,
Have you been kicked off FB when you have posted pro-dem material recently? I was about 3 weeks ago, and posted a few times in a matter of 7 days, and then booted off with the message that I had virus (has NEVER happened before in 20+ years-have a macbook) so deactivated because of also being hacked several times over the last several years...wondering if this is happening to anyone else...they take away their fact checking dept., but then begin censoring? ...Maybe I am off base, so appreciate your perspective...ty!
Lisa, I use Facebook frequently and almost all my posts are about the horrors of now and pro-Dem & pro-democracy/anti fascism posts. I was warned during the campaign to not use “Hitler”. What happened to you sounds more hacking and/or virus. A friend who like I was censored for “a post seeking ‘likes’” (not the Hitler referenced one) we’re not booted. I’m less concerned about this than the spreading of lies & Musk’s access to and dismantling of all our government’s and our information.
Good for you for following this possibility that Mark Zuckerberg finds no end to his need for popularity -- even if from the loudest most ignorant power figure out there. Zuck must be called out everywhere.
This is great to hear!
This is excellent. I hope it has some effect.
Here's how badly legacy media has collapsed. Judd Legum's Substack blog Popular Information is headlined today: "In botched DEI purge, OSHA trashes workplace safety guidelines." By contrast, the NY Times's The Morning newsletter is headlined: "Cutting red tape." The author writes: "Democrats may not approve of Trump’s targets — foreign aid and consumer protection agencies — or the potential constitutional crisis he initiated when he tried to eliminate them. But some Democrats might envy the speed at which he cut through red tape."
It will be a long journey back to the type of journalism you describe.
Excellent example.
OMG what is wrong with the paper I admired for decades! The New York Times--WAKE UP!
I think it's that the current publisher, who is - what? - a fifth-generation Sulzberger, has a "moderate right" viewpoint, which he imposes upon the publication. So with a straight face, the current editor-in-chief, Joseph Kahn, states that he doesn't want to "take sides." There you have it.
Agree. There is a great interview from years ago where David Remnick tries to get the young Sulzberger (who was 39 at the time) to see that "bothsides" are not really the best way to cover Trump.
Obvs Sulzberger didn't see it the same way.
The NYT has been very complicit in getting us to where we are.
Indeed.
Cowards
A fifth-grade Sulzberger would be more apropos, given the jejune quality of "leadership" currently on offer.
We have so many cringing cowards both in the media and in Congress. I quit WaPo after Bozo refused to back Harris — now it’s pretty clear he just wants to suck up and be one of the bros. I still subscribe to the NYT and see some hope in its reporting — but generally it’s rather muted.
Trumphuk’s abandonment of Ukraine is the latest horror and any respectable newspaper would decry this as being totally stupid and crazy. I’ll be looking to see if NYT slow rolls on this or say what it is—a capitulation to a venal dictator who invaded another sovereign nation. Clearly not taking sides on this would deserve absolute shaming and shunning of the NYT.
When we are critical of msm, I think we need to acknowledge some things about social media competition and its addictive appeal, no regulation, the outrage and sensational advantage, that its free, the group identity advantage, and so much more. Surveillance Capitalism literacy is key to democracy’s survival.
When it comes to headlines, the NYT is often worse than the Post. That's how bad things have gotten. But much smaller media outlets are doing excellent work.
I agree. I’m attempting to argue that neither matters today, because Social Media is exponentially stronger than news media. Understanding why is key. Understand the how, and develop the correct response. We are stuck in status quo bias. When truth telling is at advantage, how do we combat right wing fascist lies, propaganda, with the vehicles of delivery and radicalization? ( I don’t claim to know, I’m trying to find answers too)
I am completely gobsmacked by the turn my country has taken - embracing fascism, alignment with petty dictators. The incredibly tepid pushback by opposition groups. Agreed the press has to stand up and show some backbone but so do the American people. This is the country our grandparents & great grandparents were willing to die for in WWII? To serve Russia? Hungary? I refuse to believe that Putin & JD & the Silicon Valley bros are right that democracy is spent. But how do we shake people out of their stupor?
Many people do not care about Americans (and many others) who were "...willing to die for in WWII? We are more concerned with reality television than REALITY. It's more than a stupor. It's deeply held beliefs that escapism is acceptable.
Same. I don’t recognize this administration as being American in principles and values. It’s a techno christo fascist authoritarian regime change. America has jihadists too.
It's easy for the media to criticize Obama and Biden because they know there's no blowback. They are afraid of trump because they know he'll go after them.
Just look at the psyches of those who say demcoracy is spent--they are weak and have very little core. They are "spent."
To me the odd thing was that Healy also had a good dialogue with Gessen that somehow never quite managed to reflect on the NYT itself. There's a really weird split in the way the editorial board is talking about what's happening now and the studied, often ridiculous, way that their coverage avoids speaking directly to what's going on, the constant use of "experts say" and various kinds of sanewashing that strenuously pretend that this is just a slightly more extreme version of some fairly normal policy views in modern American life.
Self reflection is not a regular feature there.
I have no idea how to reconcile Healy in this piece or the Healy-Gessen dialogue with Peter Baker's latest news analysis "If the US annexed Canada, the electoral math would shift in favor of the Democrats". It's like a German newspaper in February 1933 having an editor who writes about the need to keep Hitler from seizing absolute power while the main political reporter wrote a news story asking "If we conquered Poland, how many Poles would we have to murder to keep Germany racially pure? Not that it's likely, just wondering."
See my comment above. While I tend to agree with you, I think that credit needs to be given when there are articles that speak directly. Shawn McCreesh on wordplay.
Those stories are too few and separated. Before the election the NYT was adamant that it wasn’t their role to support democracy and for years they have been doing massive harm, attacking Dems with a fury missing in their stories and coverage of the right, especially Trump and MAGAlytes. And the evening news broadcasts have become parodies of themselves. ABC leads their broadcasts with weather stories. Not saying it isn’t news, but when that tops the Thursday massacre at DOJ and the wrecking ball we are seeing in DC, it’s pathetic.
Waiting for the new unemployment numbers to come out with these massive firings that don’t just affect fed employees but all of the businesses, NGOs, and other adjacent orgs.
That is if we even have a report.
I don't disagree. However, when there IS an article, posting, or news clip, I think that positive reinforcement is appropriate.
IMHO, They have been doing that for decades now. Their allegiance appears to be toward the "monied" people. Honestly if they can still make money off selling the ashes of our burning democracy I think they will do it.
100%. Stating neutral while social media is the opposite. And which has the advantage and growth? One also has AI metrics on personal likes and clicks, engagement metrics, known emotional sensitivities and triggers, tracking, predicting models for serving up the next outrage story. This is all going on without the reader or viewer’s knowledge nor consent.
I look forward to your substack columns. You provide information and insight into the news media. You help me think more critically about the information I consume, which comes primarily through social media and the Washington Post. (The Post is my local newspaper. And many of its reporters have my respect and admiration.) I use Bluesky for much of my updates throughout the day and use substack for more indepth coverage of events and issues. I am much more critical and aware of coverage that uses words and phrase which "soft-peddle" the news. And, it is often, especially the Post. As i explained to a friend who doesnt wish to be alarmist: Our house is on fire! We are not waiting for every room to be engulfed in flames to scream "FIRE".
Well said!
If we have any hope of preventing a full slide into permanent autocracy, the New York Times will need to take a direct, pull-no-punches posture in far more than its newsletters.
I don't think the NYT matters anymore.
Unfortunately, that’s not a view shared by many people who a) should know better—especially in light of how the NYT has acquitted itself in recent years (including our estimable Ms. Sullivan), or b) still think of the NYT as the speaking-truth-to-power institution it once was when it put the Pentagon Papers on page 1.
Can we help journalists and their publishers by demanding social media regulation like Europe has done?
That’s a question above my pay grade. But in my estimation few if any in the mastheads are inclined to do anything more/other than what they currently are.
Europe did. And brought lawsuits against the bigs.
Biden and Harris wanted to do the same. ( remember how she dealt with the big banks during the mortgage crisis? That is why Biden chose her).
So The big Techs dump Biden and start funding Trump.
And they pump Trump talking points big time. Elon‘s 290,000,000+ a couple other hundred million from the other Biggs can buy a lot of attention time on social media screens that do more than just pump a candidate social media has ways that are scientifically proven to persuade into manipulate and to do so without your knowledge as it’s happening. We are all at risk of this.
while journalist in MSM are reporting reality, newsfeeds in social media are telling an unreality story ( Rueben Gallego won AZ by addressing this his own way)
TRUMP WINS.
There is a method to this madness. Social media in so many ways, and behind the scenes, manipulates us without consent, in ways that we do not yet understand l. how manipulated are we? A lot! We are manipulated into believing post truth, alternative facts, unreality, Maga talking points, Bannon’s flood the zone, kind of bullshit.
I think it is unfair to be attacking mainstream media. They’re at a huge disadvantage to social media.
I think mainstream media does need to take a harder stance and not Saints playing fascism techno or Christo whatever the flavor du jour.
But also mainstream media maybe when it’s online and in your newsfeed needs its own algorithm science to draw people away from the madness that is Meta, Twitter, and Google .
Yes. We need, in this order: the unvarnished truth, a heart for defiance and solidarity with each other. Toward that end, I am going to the No Kings Rally at noon in front of the Federal Building here in Pittsburgh. It's single digit cold here, I'm an old lady and I don't care. Better some cold toes than cold feet. I hope some of your readers find one of these rallies, which are being held across the country, and get there today! We can't waste a minute.
Bundle up and carry on! Many thanks.
The best coverage of Musk and his DOGE incels is found in WIRED and Fast Company. Unlike the WaPo, NYT, etc. their reporters understand tech, the complexity of computer code and, most of all, the mindset of these idiots. And these publications have their hair on fire about the risks that these clowns pose to all of us.
Here's an example:
https://www.fastcompany.com/91278597/elon-musk-doge-cobol-language?utm_source=newsletters&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FC%20-%20Compass%20Newsletter.Newsletter%20-%20FC%20-%20Compass%202-17-25&leadId=68739&mkt_tok=NjEwLUxFRS04NzIAAAGYsqYFR4bydMXNcNJS-bkGzNiHGZFmpCb6rQm7eu9u2dnGyC7_g5AcCLJ3Nl_O32GTENxGGEH3s2x8ZzvgKL_1WyMlSLab6Ifx3-EvlX9P
That's a great piece in Fast Company, which I'm hearing about for the first time.
In Charlottesville, we have started a grassroots organization - Keep Going Together - to support local nonprofits targeted by Project 2025. We are a small, unruly band of mostly white women but we are embracing the needs of our community with joyful badassery. www.keepgoingtogether.org
Plus we're going to protests and calling our Congress critters like it's our (other) job.
I’m glad WIRED has stepped forward. As you noted, we desperately need journos who understand how tech works.
Another source is Cory Doctorow, who coined the word “enshittification”—perfect to use nearly everywhere in 2025. https://pluralistic.net/
Coryn is brilliant!!
Look at Judd Legum's Popular Information for more details on each of these matters. The details are often what make people pay attention.
The Philadelphia Inquirer does a great job telling what is happening every day. I live in South Jersey and our local Patch has nothing. https://www.inquirer.com/politics/new-jersey/ice-deportation-fears-new-jersey-agriculture-20250213.html?query=South%20Jersey%20farmers
I admire the Inky.
They are not as sophisticated as the NYT's but have been crying like Casandra in the wilderness for a long time.
We are reaping the whirlwind for not actively combatting the GOP plans when that was possible to do so. Where we are is a culmination of years of insistence that “it could never happen here” even as democracy was being hollowed out bit by bit.
I believe this whirlwind started with Regan, so it's been a slow, often cloaked, gathering of clouds that are now taking the form of a tsunami.
Goldwater, Buckley, and others perverted “classical liberalism” into the grotesquery of modern “conservatism.” Reagan was their front man.
How did American democracy fall?
“Two ways, gradually, then suddenly.”
So prescient in the current timeline.
Chomsky warned of hands unseen,
That shape the news and scrub it clean.
Manufactured consent takes hold,
Truth is bent, the script is sold.
Zuboff traced the silent theft,
Where clicks decide what story’s left.
Not editors, but AI feeds,
Serve us fear and tailored needs.
Putin took the airwaves first,
Orbán too—both knew the thirst
For narratives tightly wound,
Dissenting voices gagged and drowned.
But now control needs no brute force,
No midnight raids or threats, of course.
Why seize the press, why stage a coup,
When algorithms think for you?
Journalists chase the trending thread,
Bound by metrics, left unfed.
Deep reports fade, lost in scrolls,
While outrage fuels engagement goals.
Once the press held power’s feet,
Now it’s trapped in the algorithm’s beat.
A watchdog leashed, a fleeting spark
Lost in data, sold in dark.
Fiona Hill, a warning cast:
“Russia is your future past.”
A ghost that whispers, shows the way
Not with chains, but swipes per day.
FWIW Margaret, if the legit news media had done what they should over the past 20-30 years, we'd all be in a better place right now. For example, if had stood with the White House *against* Fox in 2009, we'd all be a lot better off.
And no, Fox is NOT news. They're propaganda, sprinkled with a little news, so that the lies are more believable.
Let's not pussyfoot around that either - news in the U.S. desperately needs standards of integrity, standards that most media orgs who bend to fascism would not be able to meet.
Have to get back to work, but generally a good list.
More than the media, the commercial companies that advertise in these publications and on these networks are almost always "American." I believe consumer boycotts can make a difference (to impact Fox, et al)
You’re doing wonderful work. Keith Olbermann also deserves a shoutout. His Podcast is fearless and brilliantly rendered. He goes for the main nerve and gives zero f***s.
Thank you.
Our daughter who worked the 2022-3 summers in Glacier National Park (we live in ruby-red Montana, although bluish Missoula) and 2024 in Acadia, has had the back-country position she was seeking in Glacier for 2025 frozen. It's hard for her to plan her life when the job she is seeking is frozen. I fear with Canadians protesting the U.S. by choosing not to travel here this summer coupled with inadequate staffing at our National Parks (Glacier and Yellowstone specifically) our tourist season in Montana is going to be a disaster. Every summer tourism generates about $3-4 billion. The National Parks freeze will hurt everyday Montanans with small businesses who rely on summer tourism. Thanks to Margaret Sullivan for her service as a park ranger in Acadia! Our daughter loves the work. It is a labor of love. You certainly don't do it for the pay!
Thank you for your succinct analysis.
They really are reaching deep into local school districts. The Ithaca Journal has been moribund for ten years, but Gannett shook off the cobwebs to report the Trump regime's assault on ours:
https://www.ithacajournal.com/story/news/2025/02/12/trump-department-of-education-investigating-ithaca-city-schools/78462582007/?utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook