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…)
Democracy Can Be Messy and Ugly. Doesn’t Mean It Can’t Clean Up
America: Pass or Fail On Tuesday, 8 November, Americans will be tested: Does the Experiment continue – flawed as it might be – or will America fall in to the…
And Now A Few Words About Politics and Elections and…
... Leaders? Politics: the art of using euphemisms, lies, emotionalism and fear-mongering to dupe average people into accepting--or even demanding--their own enslavement. © Larken Rose. Voting rights are the most…
This Vote That I Have…
"We must come together as a coalition powerful enough to end and overcome the suppression and organize the resurrection of fusion politics in the South". The following are the prepared remarks from…
GAP Slams US Senate
Government Accountability Project Denounces Senate Rejection of the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act ~ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 20, 2022 WASHINGTON – Yesterday, the Senate blocked the Freedom to Vote:…
Prez Gave A Speech. It Was A Nice Speech. We Like Nice Speeches
President Joe Biden on Tuesday gave a speech in Atlanta endorsing eliminating the filibuster for the passage of voting rights bills. The speech had its moments. But speeches alone will not save…
McConnell’s Big Fear: If You Let It, Democracy Works
McConnell Thinks Fighting For Voting Rights Is ‘Radicalism’ – And Not The Good Kind U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday laid bare his reasoning for vehemently defending the use of…
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
Trump administration, allies move to punish outlets during his second term
From the first weeks of President Donald Trump’s second term, his appointees and allies in Congress joined him in taking steps to punish and intimidate news outlets that have covered him and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting those efforts to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more in this regularly updated report:
March 14, 2025 | Trump says negative press coverage “illegal” during speech at DOJ
Jobs & Events
Fellowships for Data Journalism Bootcamp [US]
Investigative journalists from minority groups or those from low-circulation papers, TV journalists and educators can apply for scholarships to attend this in-person training.
Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) is offering several fellowships for those interested in attending the Data Journalism Bootcamp on Aug. 4 to 7 in Columbia, Missouri.
Deadline to apply is May 6. Apply
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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
Intent to Destroy
Russia’s Two-Hundred-Year Quest to Dominate Ukraine
By Eugene Finkel
“Finkel’s Intent to Destroy spans several centuries, delving into some of the most heinous atrocities perpetrated by the Kremlin on Ukrainian lands. Despite the extensive scope, the text is rich in nuanced analysis, being equally valuable for scholars and accessible to readers unfamiliar with the region. What stands out most is Finkel’s approach: Rather than striving for unattainable objectivity, he bravely acknowledges his deep investment in producing responsible scholarship that is guided by honesty.”–Olesya Khromeychuk, director, Ukrainian Institute London
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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
