Saving Sanity
Hey, Yeah You ... Take A Break ⇑ Good Music Will Sooth ⇓ » Saving Sanity « Trouble No More / Jimmy Rogers All Stars Blues Band Featuring Mick Jagger and…
Press Freedom Alert
Press Freedom Case Might Be Heard in Secret The scope of the public’s right to know should be decided in public. Who would argue with that? (more…)
Courage Required
• It's About Choices • The election is over. We know the cabinet picks. The stress level has gone up. But, we do not have to fall victim to the incoming hate…
Laugh Now, Cry Later: UPDATED
Red Wave. Blue Collapse. Blue Wave. Red Collapse. The Battle is ongoing. The Bullshit continues. It's Nothing New... Or Is It: UPDATED 11/14 - SEE BELOW (more…)
With Honours 11.11.24
Good Luck, America
It’s Not Complicated
Now Is The Time For All Good Women and Men To Come To The Aid Of Their Country
Swing State Press: The Report
* Hard Times For Press Freedom and Journos * A new report just out from Reporters Without Borders (RSF) takes a deep dive into press freedom in four U.S. 'swing states' just…
Compared: List of 20
A younger Trump, according to his first wife’s divorce filings, kept and studied a book translating and annotating Adolf Hitler’s pre-World War II speeches in a locked bedside cabinet. (more…)
A Spelling Bee
How Do You Spell Coward In American English (more…)
Words On Culture, Respect, Democracy
• The Blueprint • While our culture, traditions and religion may differ, we pride ourselves on working hard, educating ourselves as much as possible, striving for better lives for our children,…
Fear, Liberty, and Good Sense
There's been a flush of diarrhea from the mouth of the former guy (TFG) as the nation readies for the upcoming election on November 5. Devoid of any sensible attempt to inform…
Reminder, Part Infinity
~ Special Counsel Prosecuting Trump Shows Us A Revealing Brief ~ Jack's got a new brief. It’s a nice brief. It’s a good brief. It’s a brief brief; only a 165-page…
Jimmy Carter: American Hero
President Jimmy Carter Turns 100. Happy Birthday! Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States of America. Jimmy Carter, a courageous man, an honourable man, a wise and gentle man, and a…
Happy International Day of Older Persons
Ageing with Dignity: The Importance of Strengthening Care and Support Systems for Older Persons Worldwide ~ United Nations Theme 2024 ~ Population ageing is a major global trend reshaping societies worldwide. Life…
Words On Leaders and Politicians
Not Always The Same We cannot, of course, expect every leader to possess the wisdom of Lincoln or Mandela’s largeness of soul. But when we think about what questions might be…
“Woman, Life, Freedom”
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) * Press Release 2024.09.16 * On the second anniversary of the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protest movement, spurred by the death of Mahsa Amini, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has…
Still Doing The Heavy Lifting
~ Our Gratitude ~ The Violence Against Women Act Turns 30, Today By Professor Dale Margolin Cecka, director of the Family Violence Litigation Clinic at Albany Law School. Intimate partner violence…
SEPTEMBER 11, 2024
•• 23 YEARS •• NEVER FORGOTTEN
Felon and Flakes and Fairy Tales, Oh My
Far-right Republican Congressman Mike Johnson, who is Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and second in line to the Presidency, is at it again in his role as Supreme Lackey, conveniently…
Words On Politics and Truth: An Oxymoron?
~ News Media. Politics. Pop Culture. Truth. ~ News Media and Presidential Campaigns ~ The style of campaigning is symbolic of – and results from – the central role played by the…
For Some, No Labor Today
* What Is Labor Day In America About * Labor Day is an opportunity to celebrate you, the American worker! The founders of the holiday envisioned this day as a way to…
That Convention, Part 2
~ Give 'Em Hell JR ~ John Russell, a freelance reporter for More Perfect Union who has traveled the country to cover new federally funded projects, spoke to the DNC crowd about…
Now That Was A Convention
WOW! Talk about conventions! That was a convention, wow. Prime time entertainment at its best. Drama. Comedy. Music. Dance. Anticipation. And the must-have in any prime entertainment production: Leave The Audience Hanging.…
Words On Prejudices, Citizens, Imbeciles, and Elites.
Robert Heinlein. Abhijit Naskar. Bertolt Brecht. Robert Reich. You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic. Robert A. Heinlein.…
Narcissist Unhinged
Former occupant of the Oval Office who got booted out in 2020 said the civilian Medal of Freedom, like the one he gave to a billionaire donor, is better than the Medal…
A Call For Action
A coalition of more than three-dozen journalism, civil-rights and consumer-rights organisations released a letter Thursday, 15 August, calling on news outlets to do a much better job reporting on rising authoritarianism and…
Something Strange In America
Across the country Americans are overcome with a strange feeling. For some, it’s a new Thing; for others it’s familiar but been buried in the shit pail of chaos and the fears…
Emergency Call
Journalists in Ukraine Need Help
> Ukrainska Pravda <
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Those who cover the frontlines need first aid kits, medical supplies, flak jackets, helmets. Those trapped in towns and cities under fire need safe passage, relocation and humanitarian assistance.
More at International Federation of Journalists.
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Journalists in Gaza need your help. Here’s how:
International Media Support (IMS), the Danish-based media development organisation, is collecting donations for:
- Food, clothes, blankets and other utilities for journalists and their families
- Safety equipment and gear for journalists, such as press vests, helmets, cell phones and cameras.
- Psychosocial support for journalists
- Ongoing support to keep as many media outlets as possible operating.
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THE TRACKER
Freedom of the Press Foundation
Court says First Amendment means less free speech
[WHAAAAT ?!?!?!?]
If it sounds backward to use the First Amendment to undermine a law meant to protect free speech, that’s because it is.
Yet that’s just what a federal court of appeals did in a recent decision on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act — the federal law that shields online services from legal liability for posts made by their users.
We explain on our website how the court’s nonsensical decision threatens online freedom of speech by journalists and everyone else.
Jobs & Events
Opportunity for Young Journalists
Rising D.C. reporters can apply for a yearlong reporting fellowship. The National Press Foundation is accepting applications for the 2025 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship.
Fellows will learn more about the White House, the Pentagon, the Supreme Court, the Capitol and other key Washington institutions. They’ll review politics and policy with regulators, lawmakers, experts and the best reporters in the business.
To apply, submit two recent work samples, a letter of support from an editor or supervisor and a brief autobiography. Application Deadline is Dec. 2
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Color Of Change, in partnership with the National Education Association, invites you to watch “Educating for Equity: Brown v Board of Education 70 Years Later,” a short video featuring a range of young and older thought leaders talking about the groundbreaking case and the challenges facing our public education system today. Participants discuss what we need to do to protect education moving forward.
Issues
The Reading List
Lie Machines
How to Save Democracy from Troll Armies, Deceitful Robots, Junk News Operations, and Political Operatives
by Philip N. Howard
Lie Machines is full of behind-the-scenes stories from the world’s biggest and most damagingly successful misinformation initiatives.
Howard, not only shows how these campaigns evolved from older propaganda operations but also exposes their new powers, gives us insight into their effectiveness, and explains how to shut them down. Howard is a sociologist and communication researcher who studies the impact of information technologies on democracy and social inequality. Book Here:
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The ReMindEr
Speakables
The New Normal? ~ The first tool of authoritarian regimes is always informational control—both in the gathering of information on the public through surveillance and the filtration of information to the public through owned media. In its early days, the Internet seemed to pose a challenge to authoritarian regimes, but with the advent of social media, we are watching the construction of architectures that fulfill the needs of every authoritarian regime: surveillance and information control. Authoritarian movements are possible only when the general public becomes habituated to—and numbed by—a new normal. Christopher Wylie.
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What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. ‘What to a slave is the 4th of July’. 1852. Frederick Douglass.
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The First ~ Jessie Tarbox Beals (1870 – 1942)
The first published female photo-journalist in the United States and the first female night photographer. She is best known for her freelance news photographs, particularly of the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, and portraits of places such as Bohemian Greenwich Village. Her trademarks were her self-described “ability to hustle” and her tenacity in overcoming gender barriers in her profession.
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Repeat After Me
And it gets you elected
