Just Another Coward
~ Still Blaming His Wife ~ It's A Familiar Tune Blaming Wife for Insurrection Flags, Alito Refuses to Recuse From Trump Cases "It's hard to read this comically bad letter as…
IS SCOTUS LISTENING TO THE ALARMS
The former President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump, lives in an otherworldly fantasy where he was King or at least Authoritarian Fuhrer while in office (2016-2020), which would…
US Top Court – Maybe Not So Supreme
"Every federal judge [in the United States of America] is bound to an ethics code requiring them to avoid behavior that so much as looks improper, except for Supreme Court justices. Chief…
His Actions A Danger To Justice and Democracy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: OCTOBER 24, 2022 Thomas’ Actions Are An Affront to Justice and Democracy WASHINGTON, D.C.— Stand Up America Executive Director Christina Harvey issued the following statement in response to Supreme…
Flying Their True Colours
Last week 203 House Republicans voted against legislation preventing U.S. Presidents from using the Electoral Count Act to overturn the will of the People. The bill did pass 229-203: every House Democrat…
Elections Have Consequences: Life, Health and Personal Choice Edition
For Immediate Release:Tuesday, September 13, 2022 NARAL Pro-Choice America PRESS RELEASE NARAL Pro-Choice America Condemns National Abortion Ban Legislation Introduced by Republican Senator Washington, DC — Today, after months of the…
Hypocrites and Hucksters and History
In his opinion piece at The Washington Post, Dana Milbank lays bare the hypocrisy and dangerous 'new precedent' of the radical right-wing majority at the US Supreme Court. Yes, Americans should be…
The ‘Draft’ – A Right-Wing Mission Statement
The draft of Justice Samuel Alito's majority opinion overruling Roe, which was obtained by Politico, [a right-wing news outlet] is right-wing Republican politics masquerading as law. In the draft, Alito declares: "Roe…
Whispering In His Ear
Running With One Leg While You’re Telling Me All The Things I Want To Hear ~ Is This The Love Story That’s Ruining America? Ginni interviews Clarence in 2018: GINNI THOMAS:…
American Experiment, Crushed By Minority Rule
We Have Journeyed Far From Here ~ Supreme Court Blocks Biden The Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration from enforcing its emergency rule mandating that workers at large businesses get vaccinated or…
Roe and The Supremes
Going to go out on a limb here, but I’m pretty sure the Court would be seeing this differently if it was ruling on cocks and balls ~ Rusty coathangers are not…
Is This a Trick Question?
Is There a Republican Alive Who Still Believes in Democracy? Republican state governments are currently passing laws to restrict Democrats from voting in the future, while taking care not to suppress the…
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
