YES we all, Non readers as well as us readers, have to flood all major media, NYT, Wash Post, Wall St Journal. Like I did a couple of weeks ago to the Supremes re my outrage about them putting off the Immunity case for 7 weeks! Yesterday I was outraged that as Palestinians are starving, the Settlers have identified 6 plots of land in Gaza designated as settllements to be populated by Settlers!!!!! OMGosh! So many atrocities worldwide. Don't get me started on Johnson and the Ukraine funding vote!!! (And I wrote the prior words b4 Marjorie Taylor Greene slipped the scrap of paper, regular motion warning, into the box. And now the outrage that Johnson has sent them home for 2 week without approving the Ukraine funding, AND DOING THEIR JOB, while Ukrainians are dying on the battlefield and bombs hit their electrical grids!! So many letters to be flooded!!!
Did you really mean Project 2525 (The World Speed Project: Bus Conversion)… or Project 2025, the presidential transitional project basically developed by the heritage foundation?
Yes. I also did see a headline about Biden's stutter getting attention. I hope it is good attention except of course from Treacherous-treasonous-traitor-Trump! I think that they are getting a lot of negative feedback from their readership. While I still have WaPo, I got rid of the NYT. It has just become a publication I cannot support.
It really highlights the symbiotic relationship between T-T-T-Trump and the White Nationalist Evangelicals. He is their charlatan charismatic preacher. All the people interviewed are Christians who do not see the beliefs being espoused in these megachurches as Christianity, just as ISIS does not represent Islam. It ties what Trump and the pastors are saying to the election of T-T-T-Trump, and the Jan 6 uprising. It is good to understand where these people are coming from, and see what we can do to give them another picture than the one that they are being brainwashed with. I am so glad that Shawn Fein is clearheaded. Let us hope that his membership listens to him. I can imagine that a lot will listen to their pastors over their union leadership. The ones raising fear.
Linda, thank you for this cite. If people have never heard the fundies talk, they have no idea about how their "Christianity" penetrates their lives. Everything they do is ordained by God. They can't imagine or hear about any life beyond that bubble. I do have an ex-student who is a pastor who does speak out against death star as he told me, he is not a Christofascist. I hope he has influenced others.
This is the Rob Reiner documentary I've been hearing about - sounds like there is lots of backlash from right wingers. As there should be!! Truth is hard to hear.
I would like to think educators hate seeing American education dumbed downed and fictionalized. How are we suppose to learn (at least a little bit) from our mistakes? It would be interesting to know how many teachers support the idea that slavery was a good thing and other such stuff. I realize every country white washes their history. Russia and China must have bought out the supply of bleach.
I've also noticed a shift in reporting since just before the end of the year and see it continuing to improve. Even Fox has been reporting things that seem to gall them but they are reporting bits of trump's fall, the gop's failures and Biden's economy successes in drips and drabs. Not good enough but better. I am very hopeful that if Biden's economic efforts continue to show up in people's lives, the momentum will grow. We'll continue to hear more hopeful news if viewers embrace hope. I don't believe the polls and I find it hard to believe that trump will win the election. But I have also learned to take nothing for granted. But I thought 2024 was going to be awful, and while much of it is, I also see reason for hope under Biden's leadership.
I was just thinking the same thing Jon. I believe that Biden’s vigor and his on-target SOTU speech made a lot of voters re-think the “too old” trope. Plus his savvy, full on state-to-state campaigning.
Yes, and so have many Substack writers, as well as a bit of MSM. The SOTU was a slam dunk and the NYT and WaPo shut the f... up, for a few days, but leave it to pinhead Aaron Blake and others, well, thy have to justify their salaries and when you are as smart as a box of rocks, you go with the easy meme.
Biden's age is irrelevant and it's discrimination to label someone because of their age. Biden has done an remarkable job with the economy and creative thousands of jobs. The Stock Market is up and interests rates will start to go down.
This is the beauty of 40 years experience of serving your country.
Hell , in the house , we have Republicans that are have his age that don't know their right hand from the left hand in governing and serving the people of this country. It's disgraceful.
At 90 I consider Biden a rather young whipper snapper, though I admire his character and his dedication to the United States of America.
In sharp contrast I consider Trump an Antichrist whose enchantment with himself has already rendered him the worst president in America’s long history.
Professor Richardson. You often hit home runs, but today you hit another grand slam. It may not be the bottom of the ninth with two outs, but it sure feels like it on most day.s
Thank you so much for informing us about the neferious plans of the magas and white faux-Christian nationalists and their history.
And "faux-Christian" is definitely the right term! These people use religion as a cudgel to deny the rights of women, minorities, and just about anyone else who isn't a white Anglo-Saxon (Aryan??) male. It sickens me.
The challenge for me is that Faux-Christian is actually based on those "laws" of Christian churches (Catholic, Evangelical, Mormon among others) that have little relationship to the actual teachings of Jesus. These laws, disguised as paths to holiness, were actually created to support power structures within the organization - funny how many of them were about sex and/or affected women: no women priests, no abortion, no sex outside of marriage, no birth control, no homosexuality and more).
There are those churches, for example the American Episcopal Church, that are making important changes, but there are others that are not. It's the main reason I am a non-denominational Christian. I follow the teachings of Jesus as best I can, but I resist those laws that have nothing to do with "Love God with your whole heart...and your neighbor as yourself."
Amen Chaplain Terry, I’ve often said that the rule makers who cherry pick from the Old Testament ignore the reason Jesus came to preach the new gospel of love and acceptance.
Not only cherry pick the laws, but misrepresent them. The Torah tells us to welcome the stranger - unconditionally - more times that it tells us to keep the Sabbath or love God. The true perversion of Sodom was that they did not give charity or welcome strangers.
Yes, lin! In fact in seminary, we learned to say "Hebrew Bible" so as no longer to ID those books only in relation to the "New."
Also, I forgot to mention that the original "love your neighbor" is from the book of Leviticus, Chapter 19, which includes, among many "rules," vs 18, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Which is why I am so fond of Presiding Bishop Curry's " The Episcopal Branch of the Jesus Movement".
Christianity sold out to Empire and rejected the teaching of Jesus when Paul started writing letters and John's gospel was rewriten to declare Jesus was the christ.
I love Bishop Curry - I heard him speak at Georgetown on a panel on Christian Nationalsim and he was wonderful!
Not sure what you mean by rejected the teachings of Jesus when Paul started writing letters. He used his letters to spread the teachings of Jesus along with his traveling thousands of miles to a variety of cities. Christians were persecuted in Rome until Constantine issued the edict of Milan in 313 making Christianity legal; then ten years later it was made the official religion of the empire. I have a lot more to learn, but it is my understanding that when this happened, Jesus' teachings got lost in the power struggles.
Yes, Gary, thanks to Heather. I have heard about the 2025 project, but was unaware of this men only group. I think many females today are unaware of how recently women gained the ability to do certain things like have credit cards in their own name. And the right to vote is also fairly recent. I read a lot of history and right now I am in early 17th century India in the Mungol Empire where the women of the palace were unseen in the harem. The author does have a chapter about how women had influence in the background. One of the members of the royal family is the man who would become Shah Jahan and build the Taj Mahal.
Thank you We get his emails which I often read, but it depends on what I have to do in the am. I have read about it, but somehow missed this all male group. As a woman, I find that very threatening.
Definitely agree. This is why I am greatful for independent writers like Heather and other's to inform us about the truth of what is really going on in this country.
We ourselves have an responsibility to inform others of what we learned. Especially the voters who are undecided.
I only read the special sections like science and well and i do the crossword. I like the Palmer Report which makes no secret that it is liberal and often castigates the MSM. I do warn people, should they look this up, the terrible and inaccurate description of it, I think, on Wiki. It does have hyperbolic headlines, but the essays, especially those by Harrington and Palmer, are pretty good and to the point as what we can to do to help Ds win including a list of where to donate in swing districts and make your money matter.
A Republican friend of mine and I were talking yesterday about the pre-cable news information we were fed by CBS, NBC, ABC and the print media. The 30 minutes of evening national news covered the same stories whether it was delivered by Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Walter Cronkite or Frank Reynolds. And it all seemed to be driven by what the New York Times reported in the morning paper. Or maybe the AP or UPI and possibly the WAPO.
But today, we are bombarded 24/7 with "breaking news" which rarely is, and too often it is something sensation that TFFG has said or one of his sycophants. The Sulbergerger era of The NY Times doesn't seem to wield the same influence the paper did in the 1960's in my opinion. When the lead story day after day is Trump Trump Trump, it seems like they are more interested in the almighty dollar than fairly reporting the news.
I follow Paul Krugman and I just can't drop the NYTimes, but if he retired, I would rely on You and others here to reprint the important stories from the NYT.
I cancelled NYT and WAPO. I miss some columnists too. I bought a year subscription to WAPO a few weeks ago for 29$. It has gotten so bad I have hardly looked at it.
Substack and few trusted writers is a great news source today.
While he doesn't' cover everything, many of us here check out YouTube for "Beau of the Fifth Column" daily, and his "Roads with Beau" on Thursdays/Sundays.
Marj I have not subscribed to a print newspaper for nearly three years. I get the digital NYT and WAPO. In addition to Heather, I faithfully read on line The Guardian (some of its American investigative reporting matches ProPublica) and The Economist. The Atlantic has some daily postings that I consider must reads.
I am amazed by how many ‘top substantive stories’ are simply a one or two day flash in the NYT and WAPO. For days, a few weeks ago, there was nothing on the budget shenanigans in the House.
I can’t speak to PBS, since I do not watch daily TV/cable news shows.
The MacNeil Lehrer report on PBS was excellent when they were both involved, but then MacNeil retired and then Lehrer and after that it wasn't as good in my opinion.
Why not drop the NYT? I did two years ago and I've never felt better. It's shocking how one sided their reporting is. It seems to me that newspaper lives in another universe than I do. Especially since I read multiple versions of the same story. NYTs was always tipped to the right.
When I stopped my subscription, they asked why. I told them their reporting is prejudicial ...I'm sure it made no difference.
There is an effort at non-profit local reporting. This is something we should all fund for every small town. The cost of entry is the recruiting of local labor and IT support services. It is essential to engender these local journalists with the ideals of freedom and diversity so they can color the reporting to show both the strengths and weaknesses of our people. Is there someone out there who knows how to do such a thing? Perhaps the new news sources "the 19th" or "the Baltimore Banner". It is the loss of local journalism that allowed the train of progress we were making to jump the tracks. Let's bring them back.
We require local reporting so the city commission cannot vote to steal all the money with no public or newspeople in the room. All of us need to find a way to be sure the local newspeople are always in the room when the pie of resources is being cut.
I subscribe to the NYT, WAPO and LATIMES, which is hardly a paper anymore. I’m spending a small fortune and thinking of canceling all. I’ve subscribed to the NYT for 30 years and it’s not what it used to be. MSNBC is all Trump all the time and CNN is also all Trump, but in their effort to be “balanced” they elevate right wingers and their talking points. The town hall with Trump by Kaitlyn Collins was a disaster and it should never have happened.
Jen I find some of the comments on the digital NYT worth reading. Of course their editorial standards for posting are dreadful—they permit me to post comments at least seven times weekly on a range of subjects, from ‘don’t be a senior sucker’ to Netanyahu’s Armageddon and Trump’s/Johnson’s traitorous NYETs on Ukraine aid.
Jen A sign of your desperation? Starved for any news?
I am reminded of the jester who the king had sentenced to death because of his dreadful puns. At the last minute he relented. The jester responded: “No noose is good news.” KERPLUNK!
Jen You keep NYT Cooking, while I am appalled how the NYT have savaged other sections. At one time they had robust coverage of NY area sports teams. Now they have ‘homogenized’ their sports writers (either reassigned or terminated?) and imposed The Athlete, which provides no continuous coverage of NY area teams. I believe that access to The Athlete can also be purchased separately. AWWWK!
I skip all the sports coverage, "culture" which seems mostly about people I've never heard of and care nothing about. And all the buying or remodeling a really ridiculously expensive home stuff.
They used to do serious coverage. I'm thinking of the expose on drumpf financial fraud from a few years back. And maybe they will again. But I find little of use, and my favorite voices on comments seem maybe to have cancelled their subscriptions too.
Exactly why we stopped looking at the national broadcasts years ago. After the local news (WABI) ends, I hit the button and go and make dinner. A much better use of my time.
Mark, we often tune out the national news although I do like Lester Holt. Sometimes there are a few stories, usually nonpolitical we want to see. I am old enough to remember Cronkite.
Yeah, I know I'm missing a few things here and there (the same can be said for NPR, which I also dumped several years ago due to their incredibly weak both-sides coverage) but I've grown pretty much allergic to the harried, overly-dramatic presentation. That includes the bombastic music at the start, just before they report on how this, that, or the other thing is about to destroy us all. Oh, and how it's bad for Joe Biden.
I totally remember Cronkite. I remember my family having the news on during the Viet Nam war and worrying about the body counts, worrying if I had to go. I was only 9.
We used to listen to NPR while we were getting ready to go to work. We haven't listened to them in years. Now we have on all classical in Portland, Oregon, a wonderful soundtrack to the day.
In the 1960s New York was the center of the universe; "everyone" knew it. All television news agreed and was carefully prepared each evening to support the idea that the US was the best of all possible nations and New York was its center.
As others have said, thank you again, Heather for your wonderful, in depth news of the day! I sleep badly these days and often check my phone about 3 AM to see if your daily letter has hit yet. You are my sustenance!!
Cable news, like CNN, report more about polls than about what people need to know about how to vote. Trump is always in trouble and Biden is always losing. Nothings about if you want to keep affording healthcare or having to work until you’re 70. Next, women’s right to vote will be gone, but it won’t show up in a poll.
I worry about those of us who are only reading what they agree with—on either side. The main seam media may be annoying, but we need to know what others are reading. If we don’t, we become as insular as they are.
True, Susan, and this is why I so much appreciate Substack, writer's such as Dr. Richardson, Professor Reich, Dan Rather, Elliot Kirchner, TC in LA, and many many others give you an accurate and documented account of what is coming from both sides and they fact check. We also have writers from other countries like Graham Vincent, Edwin Ngetich, a whole bunch from the British Isles, Germany, and France who give us a world view, not just our own perspective. This May will be one year since, in a fit of temper with CNN, I had my cable disconnected. Guess what? I haven't missed a thing
I could not agree more. I am so sick of hearing the word "trump" that I don't even watch the morning news anymore. I could care less about the in's and out's of the foolish rants. Let's have some real news - that is news.
I can't listen to his voice or see his face without a whole body reaction that is not good. I read most of my news online so at least that eliminates having to hear his voice. I mostly rely on substack and the many true professionals whose thoughts are made available to us every day. It was suggested to me the other day that I should be watching Newsmax and I nearly flipped out on the person.
Virginia, my ability to sift through “the news” has greatly increased over the past several years. Of all the major networks that I receive through my minimal cable hook-up and my smart devices, NPR and PBS are the best of the lot. My Substack subscriptions are awesome!
Have you tried MSNBC? If it’s in your cable hookup, and laws, lawyers, and judges interest you, in these days, give it a try. Rachel Maddow does Monday nights and election nights, Jen Psaki is another bright one, past White House person (I forget her title).
Watching the recent PBS program on Dante and The Divine Comedy (which was EXCELLENT, btw!), it occurred to me that T***p really does represent the personification of all nine circles of the Inferno . . . gluttony, pride, lust, fraud, etc. the LOT. He fits in ALL of them.
If only they really did worry about fair and balanced, The breadth and depth of what is reported would expand dramatically. The balance they primarily serve is remote and kept at the bank.
Likely, their claim to "fair and balanced" is cover for trying to appeal to the broadest readership—read: money—as they discard their Fourth Estate responsibility.
I work with university students who believe a scholarly article is “biased” if it does not present opposing viewpoints as equally credible. When I ask them to find the evidence to support opposing viewpoints, they return to the argument that it should have been included in the article.
The April 2024 edition of Harper's Magazine has a brilliant discussion among seven participants entitled "Crime and Punishment." In fact, it reveals in a way that I never realized how we got to where we are politically and how our neighborhoods got segregated. Who would have ever thought that the construction of the Interstate Highway System played a role? I am going to re-read it today with marking pencil.
Thank you for recommending, 'Crime and Punishment' by Ras Baraka, Rosa Brooks, Barry Friedman, Christy E. Lopez, Tracey L. Meares, Brian O’Hara, Patrick Sharkey (my tip of the hat to Fyodor Dostoevsky) in the April, 2024 issue of Harper's Magazine..
Thank you for this, Fern. And, speaking of "Crime and Punishment," perhaps this is the year. It looks as though the Manhattan D.A. case against TFG will go in mid-April.
In my overestimation of the 'Rule of Law' as it has been touted in the US, I thought the abusive, creepy, lying, crook would be caught soon have taking the presidency with less votes than Hillary Clinton. There's a bit of a crook in our system, don't you think?
Our system is flawed, to be sure. There are things that the Founding Fathers simply could not have ever conceived, such as a nation of fifty states, stretching across the continent and across the seas, vast disparities in the populations of the states, instant electronic mass communications, and more. Will the primary problems (Electoral College and Filibuster) bring down the unity because of the unfairness? Perhaps. Aside from racism, what is the biggest problem? IMO, Christian Nationalism. Hopefully, historians will be able to report that what we're going through presently was the last gasp of each, white supremacy and Christian nationalism.
Richard, I believe that you have pinpointed what has been at the root of our mixed-identity, and I would add the modern twist in communication, the ability to talk together. The demise of local journalism and the domination of social media, the hub of propaganda, has logjammed the facts from the ground up.
Send them the news in undeniable numbers! I post to Fox and Newsmax to set the record straight, sharing facts that can't be denied, but I also post to the center and left leaning outlets too.
His rants and policies he's outlined are sonata-human all of our voters need to be aware of his horrid attitudes. The election season is in it's beginning stage. Voters will be informed of Biden's Policies, our economic recovery from # 45's tax gift's to industry and the upper 1% of our economy. Stephen Miller one of Trumps speechwritere's use of Goebble's characterization of Jews and other people as "vermin", "evil", cannot be forgotten.
Foolish and loud rants by a rich white man who inherited his positon and wealth make a lot more money for all media than the quiet, yet considerable accomplishments of the scion of immigrant white people. For the most part, all media need to be ignored as the handservants of rich white men that they are.
The problem is sensationalism. Biden is slow and steady and substance - no flash and drama.Also a problem is “fair and balanced “ at the expense of accuracy and unglamorous gritty laborious hard work.
The thing is that trumpers only see the prices at the grocery stores and at the gas pumps. Government budgets, gross national product, numbers on unemployment (unless they are unemployed), price capping on medicines (unless you use insulin or need an epi pen) mean nothing to them. Too abstract. It would be interesting to see ( in a worse case scenario) when they have their social security cut and have to work until they are 70 to get full benefits.
I would feel a lot better if the “liberal”media would talk more about Biden’s accomplishments and less about Trump’s foolish rants.
Or Biden's age.
Biden's statement on his budget versus MAGAt's says it all. If that statement is from one who is too old then being too old is a good thing.
Maybe if we each send that quote or HCR’s whole letter to 3 media outlets it will get on a front page someplace.
YES we all, Non readers as well as us readers, have to flood all major media, NYT, Wash Post, Wall St Journal. Like I did a couple of weeks ago to the Supremes re my outrage about them putting off the Immunity case for 7 weeks! Yesterday I was outraged that as Palestinians are starving, the Settlers have identified 6 plots of land in Gaza designated as settllements to be populated by Settlers!!!!! OMGosh! So many atrocities worldwide. Don't get me started on Johnson and the Ukraine funding vote!!! (And I wrote the prior words b4 Marjorie Taylor Greene slipped the scrap of paper, regular motion warning, into the box. And now the outrage that Johnson has sent them home for 2 week without approving the Ukraine funding, AND DOING THEIR JOB, while Ukrainians are dying on the battlefield and bombs hit their electrical grids!! So many letters to be flooded!!!
Good Idea!👍🏼
And I’m hoping people will report back on their results.
Thanks, for the shot in the arm, I'm starting to feel too old, maybe it IS a good thing! I mean I do feel more aware & maybe even a bit wiser!
With age comes wisdom, knowledge and experience.
Certainly we thought that about our grandparents.
Not sure if NPR will pay attention to my email about not yet covering project 2525 in-depth. Will keep trying.
NPR works quietly till they have their fact straight and ducks in a row, then they hit the mat like Ali!
Unless they don't. Not a spotless record.
Agree. No one has a spotless record.
Compared to Fox, Newsmax, and to a recent extent, CNN, I'll take NPR for accuracy and fairness.
Thank you…as a sustainer I will add my voice to that 👏🫶
Did you really mean Project 2525 (The World Speed Project: Bus Conversion)… or Project 2025, the presidential transitional project basically developed by the heritage foundation?
2025
You may have noticed that since March 7th we’ve heard a lot less about Biden’s age and a lot more about Trump’s divorce from reality.
Yes. I also did see a headline about Biden's stutter getting attention. I hope it is good attention except of course from Treacherous-treasonous-traitor-Trump! I think that they are getting a lot of negative feedback from their readership. While I still have WaPo, I got rid of the NYT. It has just become a publication I cannot support.
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Last night I watched a movie that a friend rented last night. It is called God and Country. You can rent the film for $5 here: https://watch.eventive.org/godandcountry/play/65e601a2a2d7070041c33efd
It really highlights the symbiotic relationship between T-T-T-Trump and the White Nationalist Evangelicals. He is their charlatan charismatic preacher. All the people interviewed are Christians who do not see the beliefs being espoused in these megachurches as Christianity, just as ISIS does not represent Islam. It ties what Trump and the pastors are saying to the election of T-T-T-Trump, and the Jan 6 uprising. It is good to understand where these people are coming from, and see what we can do to give them another picture than the one that they are being brainwashed with. I am so glad that Shawn Fein is clearheaded. Let us hope that his membership listens to him. I can imagine that a lot will listen to their pastors over their union leadership. The ones raising fear.
Linda, thank you for this cite. If people have never heard the fundies talk, they have no idea about how their "Christianity" penetrates their lives. Everything they do is ordained by God. They can't imagine or hear about any life beyond that bubble. I do have an ex-student who is a pastor who does speak out against death star as he told me, he is not a Christofascist. I hope he has influenced others.
This is the Rob Reiner documentary I've been hearing about - sounds like there is lots of backlash from right wingers. As there should be!! Truth is hard to hear.
Lets hope a lot of the unions vote blue.
I know the teacher's union will. Also, more and more graduate students are unionizing. I assume they will vote blue too.
I would like to think educators hate seeing American education dumbed downed and fictionalized. How are we suppose to learn (at least a little bit) from our mistakes? It would be interesting to know how many teachers support the idea that slavery was a good thing and other such stuff. I realize every country white washes their history. Russia and China must have bought out the supply of bleach.
Thanks. I'll check that out. "God and Country" is also available through YouTube and Amazon Prime Video and possibly elsewhere.
I've also noticed a shift in reporting since just before the end of the year and see it continuing to improve. Even Fox has been reporting things that seem to gall them but they are reporting bits of trump's fall, the gop's failures and Biden's economy successes in drips and drabs. Not good enough but better. I am very hopeful that if Biden's economic efforts continue to show up in people's lives, the momentum will grow. We'll continue to hear more hopeful news if viewers embrace hope. I don't believe the polls and I find it hard to believe that trump will win the election. But I have also learned to take nothing for granted. But I thought 2024 was going to be awful, and while much of it is, I also see reason for hope under Biden's leadership.
I was just thinking the same thing Jon. I believe that Biden’s vigor and his on-target SOTU speech made a lot of voters re-think the “too old” trope. Plus his savvy, full on state-to-state campaigning.
Would like a divorce from the US by tRump!
Dee, if it violates the terms of our pre-nup, and he has to pay bigly, yesssssssss!!!!
Gladly accept a divorce from the orange magat with pre-nups +
Fani Willis and Leticia James are already working on it. 👍🏻
I would too, but please don't conflate the worst president ever with what is an attractive secondary sex characteristic in both genders.
Yes, and so have many Substack writers, as well as a bit of MSM. The SOTU was a slam dunk and the NYT and WaPo shut the f... up, for a few days, but leave it to pinhead Aaron Blake and others, well, thy have to justify their salaries and when you are as smart as a box of rocks, you go with the easy meme.
Good!!!
Biden's age is irrelevant and it's discrimination to label someone because of their age. Biden has done an remarkable job with the economy and creative thousands of jobs. The Stock Market is up and interests rates will start to go down.
This is the beauty of 40 years experience of serving your country.
Hell , in the house , we have Republicans that are have his age that don't know their right hand from the left hand in governing and serving the people of this country. It's disgraceful.
Are you trying to tell me something?
At 90 I consider Biden a rather young whipper snapper, though I admire his character and his dedication to the United States of America.
In sharp contrast I consider Trump an Antichrist whose enchantment with himself has already rendered him the worst president in America’s long history.
I understand completely Keith. I just sent you a message. I appreciate clear comments on mine.
Professor Richardson. You often hit home runs, but today you hit another grand slam. It may not be the bottom of the ninth with two outs, but it sure feels like it on most day.s
Thank you so much for informing us about the neferious plans of the magas and white faux-Christian nationalists and their history.
And "faux-Christian" is definitely the right term! These people use religion as a cudgel to deny the rights of women, minorities, and just about anyone else who isn't a white Anglo-Saxon (Aryan??) male. It sickens me.
The challenge for me is that Faux-Christian is actually based on those "laws" of Christian churches (Catholic, Evangelical, Mormon among others) that have little relationship to the actual teachings of Jesus. These laws, disguised as paths to holiness, were actually created to support power structures within the organization - funny how many of them were about sex and/or affected women: no women priests, no abortion, no sex outside of marriage, no birth control, no homosexuality and more).
There are those churches, for example the American Episcopal Church, that are making important changes, but there are others that are not. It's the main reason I am a non-denominational Christian. I follow the teachings of Jesus as best I can, but I resist those laws that have nothing to do with "Love God with your whole heart...and your neighbor as yourself."
Amen Chaplain Terry, I’ve often said that the rule makers who cherry pick from the Old Testament ignore the reason Jesus came to preach the new gospel of love and acceptance.
Not only cherry pick the laws, but misrepresent them. The Torah tells us to welcome the stranger - unconditionally - more times that it tells us to keep the Sabbath or love God. The true perversion of Sodom was that they did not give charity or welcome strangers.
Yes, lin! In fact in seminary, we learned to say "Hebrew Bible" so as no longer to ID those books only in relation to the "New."
Also, I forgot to mention that the original "love your neighbor" is from the book of Leviticus, Chapter 19, which includes, among many "rules," vs 18, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Thank you Ned,
You've inspired a few more thoughts which I have added to my response to lin below.
Which is why I am so fond of Presiding Bishop Curry's " The Episcopal Branch of the Jesus Movement".
Christianity sold out to Empire and rejected the teaching of Jesus when Paul started writing letters and John's gospel was rewriten to declare Jesus was the christ.
I love Bishop Curry - I heard him speak at Georgetown on a panel on Christian Nationalsim and he was wonderful!
Not sure what you mean by rejected the teachings of Jesus when Paul started writing letters. He used his letters to spread the teachings of Jesus along with his traveling thousands of miles to a variety of cities. Christians were persecuted in Rome until Constantine issued the edict of Milan in 313 making Christianity legal; then ten years later it was made the official religion of the empire. I have a lot more to learn, but it is my understanding that when this happened, Jesus' teachings got lost in the power struggles.
Amen!!
I agree.
Yes, Gary, thanks to Heather. I have heard about the 2025 project, but was unaware of this men only group. I think many females today are unaware of how recently women gained the ability to do certain things like have credit cards in their own name. And the right to vote is also fairly recent. I read a lot of history and right now I am in early 17th century India in the Mungol Empire where the women of the palace were unseen in the harem. The author does have a chapter about how women had influence in the background. One of the members of the royal family is the man who would become Shah Jahan and build the Taj Mahal.
Michele, Greg Olear from Prevail has an excellent post about Project 2025. Here's the link: https://gregolear.substack.com/p/project-2025-the-cowboy-catholic.
Thank you We get his emails which I often read, but it depends on what I have to do in the am. I have read about it, but somehow missed this all male group. As a woman, I find that very threatening.
Yes, part of Heather's newsletter was a great historical read.
What liberal media?
The ‘liberal’ media. Another made up scary monster brought to you by thr forces of darkness.
The media are all owned by massive corporate interests. None of whom, I can assure you, are even remotely liberal. It’s bad for the bottom line.
Marla, I've been saying just that for years! Their interest is solely in paying the lower taxes that every Republican since Reagan has offered.
Definitely agree. This is why I am greatful for independent writers like Heather and other's to inform us about the truth of what is really going on in this country.
We ourselves have an responsibility to inform others of what we learned. Especially the voters who are undecided.
I only read the special sections like science and well and i do the crossword. I like the Palmer Report which makes no secret that it is liberal and often castigates the MSM. I do warn people, should they look this up, the terrible and inaccurate description of it, I think, on Wiki. It does have hyperbolic headlines, but the essays, especially those by Harrington and Palmer, are pretty good and to the point as what we can to do to help Ds win including a list of where to donate in swing districts and make your money matter.
Heather will have an event soon to provide additions to other lists: and where to volunteer:
https://www.mobilize.us/volunteerblue/event/610650/
Agreed
A Republican friend of mine and I were talking yesterday about the pre-cable news information we were fed by CBS, NBC, ABC and the print media. The 30 minutes of evening national news covered the same stories whether it was delivered by Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Walter Cronkite or Frank Reynolds. And it all seemed to be driven by what the New York Times reported in the morning paper. Or maybe the AP or UPI and possibly the WAPO.
But today, we are bombarded 24/7 with "breaking news" which rarely is, and too often it is something sensation that TFFG has said or one of his sycophants. The Sulbergerger era of The NY Times doesn't seem to wield the same influence the paper did in the 1960's in my opinion. When the lead story day after day is Trump Trump Trump, it seems like they are more interested in the almighty dollar than fairly reporting the news.
I follow Paul Krugman and I just can't drop the NYTimes, but if he retired, I would rely on You and others here to reprint the important stories from the NYT.
Thanks Faye for keeping us informed.
I cancelled NYT and WAPO. I miss some columnists too. I bought a year subscription to WAPO a few weeks ago for 29$. It has gotten so bad I have hardly looked at it.
Substack and few trusted writers is a great news source today.
I subscribe to Apple News and get access to WaPo, Politico, and other publications. Lots cheaper than my subscription was just to WaPo.
While he doesn't' cover everything, many of us here check out YouTube for "Beau of the Fifth Column" daily, and his "Roads with Beau" on Thursdays/Sundays.
Marj I have not subscribed to a print newspaper for nearly three years. I get the digital NYT and WAPO. In addition to Heather, I faithfully read on line The Guardian (some of its American investigative reporting matches ProPublica) and The Economist. The Atlantic has some daily postings that I consider must reads.
I am amazed by how many ‘top substantive stories’ are simply a one or two day flash in the NYT and WAPO. For days, a few weeks ago, there was nothing on the budget shenanigans in the House.
I can’t speak to PBS, since I do not watch daily TV/cable news shows.
The MacNeil Lehrer report on PBS was excellent when they were both involved, but then MacNeil retired and then Lehrer and after that it wasn't as good in my opinion.
Gary Agreed! It seemed to become less and less substantive.
Why not drop the NYT? I did two years ago and I've never felt better. It's shocking how one sided their reporting is. It seems to me that newspaper lives in another universe than I do. Especially since I read multiple versions of the same story. NYTs was always tipped to the right.
When I stopped my subscription, they asked why. I told them their reporting is prejudicial ...I'm sure it made no difference.
There is an effort at non-profit local reporting. This is something we should all fund for every small town. The cost of entry is the recruiting of local labor and IT support services. It is essential to engender these local journalists with the ideals of freedom and diversity so they can color the reporting to show both the strengths and weaknesses of our people. Is there someone out there who knows how to do such a thing? Perhaps the new news sources "the 19th" or "the Baltimore Banner". It is the loss of local journalism that allowed the train of progress we were making to jump the tracks. Let's bring them back.
We require local reporting so the city commission cannot vote to steal all the money with no public or newspeople in the room. All of us need to find a way to be sure the local newspeople are always in the room when the pie of resources is being cut.
We have a few local online only news sources. We keep the local rag online to read the obits. We also subscribe to the Oregonian online.
I find less and less to read in the NYT. Except the comments, which seem to also be less and less.
I keep thinking I'll drop it and just keep Cooking.
I subscribe to the NYT, WAPO and LATIMES, which is hardly a paper anymore. I’m spending a small fortune and thinking of canceling all. I’ve subscribed to the NYT for 30 years and it’s not what it used to be. MSNBC is all Trump all the time and CNN is also all Trump, but in their effort to be “balanced” they elevate right wingers and their talking points. The town hall with Trump by Kaitlyn Collins was a disaster and it should never have happened.
Cant stand Kaitlyn Collins.
They're their own worst enemies
Jen I find some of the comments on the digital NYT worth reading. Of course their editorial standards for posting are dreadful—they permit me to post comments at least seven times weekly on a range of subjects, from ‘don’t be a senior sucker’ to Netanyahu’s Armageddon and Trump’s/Johnson’s traitorous NYETs on Ukraine aid.
I usually read yours
Jen A sign of your desperation? Starved for any news?
I am reminded of the jester who the king had sentenced to death because of his dreadful puns. At the last minute he relented. The jester responded: “No noose is good news.” KERPLUNK!
Jen You keep NYT Cooking, while I am appalled how the NYT have savaged other sections. At one time they had robust coverage of NY area sports teams. Now they have ‘homogenized’ their sports writers (either reassigned or terminated?) and imposed The Athlete, which provides no continuous coverage of NY area teams. I believe that access to The Athlete can also be purchased separately. AWWWK!
Perhaps it's because other outlets cover it?
I skip all the sports coverage, "culture" which seems mostly about people I've never heard of and care nothing about. And all the buying or remodeling a really ridiculously expensive home stuff.
They used to do serious coverage. I'm thinking of the expose on drumpf financial fraud from a few years back. And maybe they will again. But I find little of use, and my favorite voices on comments seem maybe to have cancelled their subscriptions too.
Cooking is all I have and I am very happy with it.
Exactly why we stopped looking at the national broadcasts years ago. After the local news (WABI) ends, I hit the button and go and make dinner. A much better use of my time.
Mark, we often tune out the national news although I do like Lester Holt. Sometimes there are a few stories, usually nonpolitical we want to see. I am old enough to remember Cronkite.
Yeah, I know I'm missing a few things here and there (the same can be said for NPR, which I also dumped several years ago due to their incredibly weak both-sides coverage) but I've grown pretty much allergic to the harried, overly-dramatic presentation. That includes the bombastic music at the start, just before they report on how this, that, or the other thing is about to destroy us all. Oh, and how it's bad for Joe Biden.
I totally remember Cronkite. I remember my family having the news on during the Viet Nam war and worrying about the body counts, worrying if I had to go. I was only 9.
We used to listen to NPR while we were getting ready to go to work. We haven't listened to them in years. Now we have on all classical in Portland, Oregon, a wonderful soundtrack to the day.
In the 1960s New York was the center of the universe; "everyone" knew it. All television news agreed and was carefully prepared each evening to support the idea that the US was the best of all possible nations and New York was its center.
Unfortunately, Vietnam.
As others have said, thank you again, Heather for your wonderful, in depth news of the day! I sleep badly these days and often check my phone about 3 AM to see if your daily letter has hit yet. You are my sustenance!!
follow the money--- So many wonderful Substack writers----- one place where TRUTH can be found------supported by citizens !
Cable news, like CNN, report more about polls than about what people need to know about how to vote. Trump is always in trouble and Biden is always losing. Nothings about if you want to keep affording healthcare or having to work until you’re 70. Next, women’s right to vote will be gone, but it won’t show up in a poll.
You can't always depend on cable news. I don't believe in polls because they have a tendency to change from day to day.
I worry about those of us who are only reading what they agree with—on either side. The main seam media may be annoying, but we need to know what others are reading. If we don’t, we become as insular as they are.
True, Susan, and this is why I so much appreciate Substack, writer's such as Dr. Richardson, Professor Reich, Dan Rather, Elliot Kirchner, TC in LA, and many many others give you an accurate and documented account of what is coming from both sides and they fact check. We also have writers from other countries like Graham Vincent, Edwin Ngetich, a whole bunch from the British Isles, Germany, and France who give us a world view, not just our own perspective. This May will be one year since, in a fit of temper with CNN, I had my cable disconnected. Guess what? I haven't missed a thing
Might want to take a look at Tangle which looks at many sides of an issue. Substack I believe.
I think Judith was using the phrase ironically--at least that's how I understood her.
I could not agree more. I am so sick of hearing the word "trump" that I don't even watch the morning news anymore. I could care less about the in's and out's of the foolish rants. Let's have some real news - that is news.
I can't listen to his voice or see his face without a whole body reaction that is not good. I read most of my news online so at least that eliminates having to hear his voice. I mostly rely on substack and the many true professionals whose thoughts are made available to us every day. It was suggested to me the other day that I should be watching Newsmax and I nearly flipped out on the person.
" Newsmax?!" In what alternate universe is that considered " news?"
Reminds me of the time, years ago, that a friend of mine told me that if I would watch Fox I would know "the truth".
Jeanne, I am in that place with you!!!
Penny, I couldn’t agree more about the morning news. When I do listen to it (on NPR) and I hear his name,
I hope against hope that his eating habits, etc. have put him on the “stairway to heaven” or wherever he might be heading.
Having supported NPR for years, I quit them when they started giving equal time to **** (word choice up to the reader).
Virginia, my ability to sift through “the news” has greatly increased over the past several years. Of all the major networks that I receive through my minimal cable hook-up and my smart devices, NPR and PBS are the best of the lot. My Substack subscriptions are awesome!
Have you tried MSNBC? If it’s in your cable hookup, and laws, lawyers, and judges interest you, in these days, give it a try. Rachel Maddow does Monday nights and election nights, Jen Psaki is another bright one, past White House person (I forget her title).
I listen to MSNBC in the car on Sirius/XM and switch to Progressive Radio (channel 127) during commercials.
John Fugelsang on Progressive Radio is in Rachel Maddow's league in my opinion. He also does pod casts and live shows around the country.
Not to heaven., Sara....hopefully headed to burning in hell.
Watching the recent PBS program on Dante and The Divine Comedy (which was EXCELLENT, btw!), it occurred to me that T***p really does represent the personification of all nine circles of the Inferno . . . gluttony, pride, lust, fraud, etc. the LOT. He fits in ALL of them.
I was thinking that he would.
Michele, as a non-believer let me just say I envision him in the golf course next to Ivana in perpetuity.😉
My thoughts to a "t"...
I agree. I can’t even stand to see trump’s picture everywhere!
Exactly!!
Exactly. They worry about being 'fair and balanced' a little too much. (wasn't that Fox 'News' former motto??)
If only they really did worry about fair and balanced, The breadth and depth of what is reported would expand dramatically. The balance they primarily serve is remote and kept at the bank.
Likely, their claim to "fair and balanced" is cover for trying to appeal to the broadest readership—read: money—as they discard their Fourth Estate responsibility.
The joke that wasn’t
I work with university students who believe a scholarly article is “biased” if it does not present opposing viewpoints as equally credible. When I ask them to find the evidence to support opposing viewpoints, they return to the argument that it should have been included in the article.
Yesterday, I heard them talking about the stock market and the retirement fund gains that middle-class Americans are reaping.
Green reporters may be liberal, but editors less so and media executives not at all.
We really need both. People need to see how insane Trump's rantings are! They also need to be more aware of Biden's successes for them.
The MANNER of reporting is important. We need to SEE Biden live, not just hear others say he is fine.
We need context and fact-checking in real time with Trump.
I could not agree more. Trump needs to be exposed, and Biden needs to be revealed, for who they really are and what they do.
The April 2024 edition of Harper's Magazine has a brilliant discussion among seven participants entitled "Crime and Punishment." In fact, it reveals in a way that I never realized how we got to where we are politically and how our neighborhoods got segregated. Who would have ever thought that the construction of the Interstate Highway System played a role? I am going to re-read it today with marking pencil.
Thank you for recommending, 'Crime and Punishment' by Ras Baraka, Rosa Brooks, Barry Friedman, Christy E. Lopez, Tracey L. Meares, Brian O’Hara, Patrick Sharkey (my tip of the hat to Fyodor Dostoevsky) in the April, 2024 issue of Harper's Magazine..
A link to the article is below.
https://harpers.org/archive/2024/04/crime-and-punishment-5/
Thank you for this, Fern. And, speaking of "Crime and Punishment," perhaps this is the year. It looks as though the Manhattan D.A. case against TFG will go in mid-April.
In my overestimation of the 'Rule of Law' as it has been touted in the US, I thought the abusive, creepy, lying, crook would be caught soon have taking the presidency with less votes than Hillary Clinton. There's a bit of a crook in our system, don't you think?
Our system is flawed, to be sure. There are things that the Founding Fathers simply could not have ever conceived, such as a nation of fifty states, stretching across the continent and across the seas, vast disparities in the populations of the states, instant electronic mass communications, and more. Will the primary problems (Electoral College and Filibuster) bring down the unity because of the unfairness? Perhaps. Aside from racism, what is the biggest problem? IMO, Christian Nationalism. Hopefully, historians will be able to report that what we're going through presently was the last gasp of each, white supremacy and Christian nationalism.
Richard, I believe that you have pinpointed what has been at the root of our mixed-identity, and I would add the modern twist in communication, the ability to talk together. The demise of local journalism and the domination of social media, the hub of propaganda, has logjammed the facts from the ground up.
Send them the news in undeniable numbers! I post to Fox and Newsmax to set the record straight, sharing facts that can't be denied, but I also post to the center and left leaning outlets too.
Hammer it home at EVERY opportunity!
His rants and policies he's outlined are sonata-human all of our voters need to be aware of his horrid attitudes. The election season is in it's beginning stage. Voters will be informed of Biden's Policies, our economic recovery from # 45's tax gift's to industry and the upper 1% of our economy. Stephen Miller one of Trumps speechwritere's use of Goebble's characterization of Jews and other people as "vermin", "evil", cannot be forgotten.
Foolish and loud rants by a rich white man who inherited his positon and wealth make a lot more money for all media than the quiet, yet considerable accomplishments of the scion of immigrant white people. For the most part, all media need to be ignored as the handservants of rich white men that they are.
The problem is sensationalism. Biden is slow and steady and substance - no flash and drama.Also a problem is “fair and balanced “ at the expense of accuracy and unglamorous gritty laborious hard work.
Yes, I would to. This is a major problem for Biden. It's all about ratings. Which is wrong.
The thing is that trumpers only see the prices at the grocery stores and at the gas pumps. Government budgets, gross national product, numbers on unemployment (unless they are unemployed), price capping on medicines (unless you use insulin or need an epi pen) mean nothing to them. Too abstract. It would be interesting to see ( in a worse case scenario) when they have their social security cut and have to work until they are 70 to get full benefits.
Both?