Words On Pure Wind and Politics
George Jean Nathan. George Orwell. Shirley Chisholm. Politics. Pure Wind. Trivial Men. Politics is the diversion of trivial men who, when they succeed at it, become important in the eyes of…
Sure, It’s Just A Song. But, Man, We DO Need This Song
America, Where Did The Blue Skies Go ~ Let's Bring Them Back ~ (more…)
Words On Lessons For Mike Johnson
Abraham Lincoln. Warren G.Harding. Dwight D.Eisenhower. We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert…
International Workers Get A Day, And More…
Workers Around The World Celebrate May Day (more…)
Psychopaths and Sycophants, Together Again
Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas and the Islamic Republic of Iran are back in the news again; and not for good deeds, charitable contributions or for the overall betterment of the…
Mass Murder Still NOT Patriotic
A terrorist attack on 19 April 1995 at a Oklahoma City federal building killed 168 people including 19 children and over 850 were injured. The bomber Timothy McVeigh, a U.S. Army veteran,…
Words On Freedom, Choices and Politics
Audre Lorde. Utah Phillips. Martin Luther King Jr. (more…)
A Desperate Wannabe Is A Dangerous Wannabe
When A Wannabe Dictator Tells You He Will Be A Dictator On Day One BELIEVE HIM! The Assault On U.S. Democracy Is Not Over (more…)
Warning: Beware of False Prophets
Portraying Johnson as just a pious Christian causes the public to overlook the way he manipulates Christianity to exert power. Johnson has taught classes miseducating Americans about church-state separation and perpetuated the…
Stunning. Disheartening. Dangerous.
••• A Story in Words and Images A stunning report by Thor Benson, staff writer at CommonDreams.org, reveals an absolute threat to the future of U.S. Democracy. Safe to say the piece…
Joy Amidst The Chaos
No doubt the US is teetering on the edge of the abyss. No doubt the whole world seems to be following close behind; or, is it the other way around. Really, it…
Yes, Crying Clowns Can Be Dangerous
On February 2, 1653, New Amsterdam became a city in North America. For those who don't know, the city was later renamed New York City. Anyway, little known about the city's 1653…
Words On Dangers To America
We Must Start Urgently Talking About The Dangers Of A Second Trump Presidency With Trump’s victory in New Hampshire, the battle lines are drawn for November. Unless something very weird happens,…
The Press Act. It’s A Good Thing
ACLU Cheers House Passage of the PRESS ACT The bill protects journalists and their sources from government overreach and censorship. Press Release: American Civil Liberties Union The House of Representatives voted to…
1/6: Not Just Another Anniversary
We Know How This Plays Out There's a Commonality. It's Pathological. Resist. Believe What Your Eyes, Ears and History Are Telling You. There is no doubt about it, America is…
America Day 365: One Free – All Free
America Will Not, Can Not, Be Free Until All Are Free One Of Us - None Of Us None of Us Are Free / Solomon Burke
Poor, Broke Rudy
Rudy Sells His Soul. Rudy Lies and Smears. Rudy Pays. When former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani attached his run-down wagon to Trump's unhinged caravan of lies and smears, little doubt…
Putrid Smell And All…
By a vote of 311-114 on Friday, George Santos, House member from New York, was expelled from Congress. A two-thirds majority – for this resolution, 290 of the 435 Members - was…
Giving Thanks: HOPE!
Keep Hope Alive (more…)
Sometimes, It’s Just The Words and Music
~ The Never Ending Story ~ Going Home, To Find The Woman To Love (more…)
Words on Politics and Politicians: Impostor. A Thing. Fear.
Rousseau. Fromm. Martel. The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying This is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real…
Veterans Day 2023. Honors
Thank You For Your Service and Sacrifice
America Has A New Speaker: Danger Ahead?
Beliefs and Country: Contradictions On Display Mike Johnson, the newly seated Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, now second in line to the Oval Office, was first elected to…
Words On Politicians and Politics: Tomorrows, Remedies, And Morons
Churchill. Marx. Borowitz. A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain…
Intel Leaks, With Death and Destruction
~ via Newsweek 2023/10/09 ~ Donald Trump’s Israel Intel Leak Under Scrutiny After Hamas Attack Donald Trump’s sharing of alleged classified intelligence to Russian officials in the White House has come under…
The Cruel Price With The Ever-Flowing Tears
Israelis Made to Suffer the Cruel Price for Oppression of Palestinians in Gaza The threats of “flattening Gaza” prove only one thing: We haven’t learned a thing. The arrogance is here to…
You’re Messing With The Wrong Woman
~ Stupid People Doing Stupid ~ ~ Make Big Mistake Going After DA Fani Willis ~ Let's forget the bullshit about whether or not it was a good move by Fulton County…
Never Forget
2023.09.11 ‘You don’t get any new memories’
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
