Going Beyond the Mainstream Media

Newsstands for A New Age

If you read about the polling on the front page of today’s Los Angeles Times today, you’ll have heard that California has already descended into the dumpster of history. Or maybe the story is an indication of how far the LA Times has descended into the dumpster of journalism.

The premise for this report on California’s woes is a survey of 1004 US adults undertaken in collaboration with Leger, which calls itself a “strategic marketing company”  They are (under a earlier name, 360 Market Reach) the outfit that created a pathway for diamond seller DeBeers to move past their unsavory history and gain acceptance with younger consumers.

In other words, a company without a history of political polling used a teeny sample to elevate reactionary talking points about California. It’s not as classy as “Diamonds are Forever,” but getting the front page lead story (behind a paywall) in a nationally recognized publication is nothing to be sneezed at.

This story –true or not– is an example of what sort of drivel newspapers are passing off these days in the name of journalism. California has tons of problems. Unfortunately, they are being exploited for political gain by reactionaries seeking to discredit an entity they view as antithetical to their dark dreamstate.

I’m telling this story sans survey results to illustrate the effects of a shrinking pool of publications, thanks to tech bros, private equity hyenas, and the sucking up of ad dollars by the Amazon/Facebook/Google oligopoly. “If it bleeds, it leads” the saw about media priorities has been replaced by “If it clicks, it sticks.”

There isn’t much we as individuals can do about this. The window of normalcy is sliding toward approval of autocracy, mob rule, and praise for tainted wealth, and it’s not by accident. If Donald Trump’s sainthood on the right doesn’t convince you, take a look at how the Federalist Society has corrupted rule of law.

One thing we can do is to engage our intellects with the prodigious output of those publications that have put down roots outside the mainstream. I’m not talking “alternative” or “underground,” as outsider journalism was referred to back in the days of love, peace, and Grateful Dead music.

There are universes of investigative reporting, opinions, practical advice, and spiritual guidance waiting to be discovered. It’s the early days of this outburst of expressions, bringing to mind the Tower of Babel. Substack, Ghost,  Wordpress, Medium, or Patreon are all places where news and views are expressed. 

So, today I thought I’d share some of the best sources (there are more) popping into my email inbox. I started out on Wordpress, which is more demanding of attention to detail, and ended up on Substack. It’s not perfect (there are fascists lurking in the shadows), but it allows me to focus on writing and provides opportunities for outreach. I think of it as a Newsstand for a New Age.

Trust me, you’ll learn something(s) from today’s sampling.

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The Cause by LOL GOP: Journalism should be tax deductible

• But verily I say to you that journalism shouldn’t have to be a charity. It’s a public service essential for the sustenance of our democracy, like higher education but with a comment section.

• That’s why I propose a simple way to engage the public in the cause of saving journalism. Make the money you pay to subscribe to any publication a tax credit, directly subtracted to the amount of taxes you owe annually. (Yes, I put “tax deductible” in the title when I mean tax credit but the title doesn’t scan without it. SORRY!) Cap it at $100 or $300 if necessary. But make it enough so any American who earns enough to pay federal taxes can be guilted into subscribing to their local paper.

• Yes, this would feed some terrible right-wing publications. But you know what? They’re doing fine. And if they’re not, their billionaires don’t care. The right’s greatest advantage is how weak real journalism has become and how desperate “the left-wing media” is to engage in the faux Fox scandals that drive their clicks. 

• Will this open up all sorts of wild questions about what a “publication” is? Hell yes. But we suffer far worse vagaries for “churches” because of the First Amendment, often with the opposite of any benefit.

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Public Witness, a spiritual lens on the world: The War on Valentine’s Day

• The annual holiday of love is under attack this year. And it’s not from churches encouraging people to fast. Nor is it from clergy who plan to “celebrate” on Wednesday by wiping ash on people while telling them to remember their own mortality — though talk about a mood-killer! The threat isn’t from the mashup of Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday. The call for war is coming from the Russian Orthodox Church.

• Patriarch Kirill, who has been a top cheerleader for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, spoke recently about the importance of defending “traditional family values.” Framing Russia as a “Christian” culture specially blessed by God, Kirill aimed his ire at abortion, LGBTQ+ activism, and that holiday with heart-shaped candy.

• “Thank God, LGBT propaganda in our country was prohibited at the legislative level. However, it is important to go further. The celebration of the so-called ‘Valentine’s Day,’ imported from the West, also raises many questions,” Kirill argued. “Despite all attempts to ennoble it, [Valentine’s Day] still remains propaganda of relationships that have nothing to do with true love.”

I’m waiting on Fox News to pick up on this.

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The Deans Report by Dean Obeidallah:  The most powerful part of Jon Stewart's first show was his words on activism

• Jon Stewart is the Taylor Swift of comedy—given he angers some on the right but brings joy to millions more.

• Okay, I get that some of my fellow progressives viewed his jokes about President Biden and Donald “out on bail” Trump’s mental gaffes as dangerously “both siding” the issue. In defense of Stewart, if you think he’s a spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee, you have no idea what he or political comedians are about. Stewart has always been about comedically raising political and societal issues that often challenges people’s views--not toeing the party line.

• In fact, Trump world cannot be happy with Stewart showing clips of Trump repeatedly stating under oath at past depositions “I can’t remember” and spewing nonsensical comments at recent rallies such as bizarrely mispronouncing Pennsylvania and claiming Democrats want to change the name of the state. That last comment by Trump prompted Stewart to joke, "Biden's lost a step, but Trump regularly says things at rallies that would warrant a wellness check." 

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The Status Kuo by Jay Kuo The Ukraine Showdown

• In the horrific event that Ukraine funding fails because of GOP cowardice and capture by Russia, Democrats will need to work to restore the aid by retaking the House and relying upon the Senate to stay firm. The abandonment of a key ally, and the shift of the base of the GOP toward Russia and Putin, will become another rallying cry for November and another wedge issue that puts the GOP dramatically out of step with the voters, who still back Ukrainian funding by a strong majority.

• If the Senate supermajority in support of Ukraine is angry enough about that abandonment, it can seek to attach the aid to the budget that must pass in March. It’s unclear how or whether this might succeed, but the Senate is not without alternatives and power here. It is incumbent upon the Senate and the White House now to make sure the issue does not go away and that the political pressures upon the MAGA right continue to build on it. 

• Like the debt ceiling before it, failure here is not an option and would lead to horrific, if predictable, consequences. The sooner Speaker Johnson understands that he cannot hold the whole world hostage by leveraging his threadbare, three-vote majority in the House, the better chance the Ukrainian people will have of surviving this long nightmare and holding at bay, and ultimately defeating, an already weakened Russia.

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American Freakshow by Nina Burleigh: The Waiting Game - Trump's legal delay games will run out the clock before Election Day

• Hope, Nietzsche said, is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torment of man. The law is not going to stop MAGA and Trump. Prison won’t even do the trick.

• At a “Stop Trump Summit” in New York last fall, a worried but hopeful member of the liberal audience asked conservative lawyer George Conway what would happen if Trump is convicted and sentenced to prison before the election. Instead of pointing out how unlikely that scenario is, Conway gave an alarming answer: if Trump is elected after being convicted and imprisoned, American law will require that he be set free. Later, he told me: “If he’s elected president, I think Article II of the Constitution would require whoever is incarcerating him to spring him at noon on Jan. 20, 2025.”

• There is one truly viable legal solution. Only about two-thirds of the eligible American electorate turned out to vote in 2020 - still the highest rate since 1900. This year, we can break that record.

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How Things Work by Hamilton Nolan  It's Book Time - "The Hammer" is published.

• Writing a book taught me that writing a book is a long process that takes a lot of work by a lot of people. I now have a deep, unshakable respect for authors, and for the unseen teams of people at publishing houses who make books a reality. If you have ever written a book before—even if the “critics” didn’t say it was “good,” even if it wasn’t a “best seller”—I salute you. That’s a lot of words to write. I am not saying that sarcastically. You should be proud of yourself. I have also resolved to buy more new books in the future. If the journalism industry is going to collapse, we need to protect one last place.

• If you read this book, I thank you. If you support the labor movement, I thank you. If you would like to unionize your own workplace, reach out to EWOC. Sorry for today’s navel-gazing post. I may publish here less often over the next few weeks, but soon we will return to our regularly scheduled programming.

• Fight the power in 2024.

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The Message Box by Dan Pfeiffer: How to Navigate the Age Debate

• If you have been unfortunate enough to talk about politics in the last 96 hours, you have certainly spoken about Joe Biden’s age and the questions raised about his memory by Robert Hur, the Republican Special Counsel who investigated Biden’s handling of classified information. Democrats are equal parts angry and anxious. Republicans are triumphant, and the less engaged voters we need to win are confused and curious.

• I understand the anger at the petulant hackery from Hur (and Garland for naively appointing him). I share frustration with the way the media has covered Biden’s age and treated it akin to Trump’s dangerous demagoguery and rampant criminality. But in the end, the press will not change their stripes. Trust me, as someone who has fought with more reporters and encountered more transgressions than most people walking this planet, the political press is who they are. They will not cover politics the way we want them to. No matter how many times we tweet at them, email them, or threaten to withhold our subscription dollars. If there was no change after 2016, it will never come.

• While often justified, our anger at the media can divert energy away from the goal. In an election this close, we need every moment to be spent on constructive rather than cathartic things.

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Public Notice by Judd Legum and Tesmin Zekeria: You paid more in income taxes last year than a corporation with billions in profits

• Companies are able to pay little or no taxes in part due to "long-standing tax breaks preserved or expanded by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act," the signature tax policy of former President Trump. Companies can continue to take advantage of tax loopholes, including huge write-offs for giving executives stock options, shifting profits off-shore, and accelerated depreciation of equipment purchases. But the statutory tax rate was also reduced from 35% to 21%. So, companies are taking these deductions off of a much smaller base. 

• The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was supposed to "broaden the base" by eliminating loopholes and lowering the rate. It ended up just lowering the rate and keeping most of the loopholes. As a result, many companies are paying little to nothing. 

• And if Trump wins the 2024 presidential election, he may make even deeper cuts to the corporate tax rate.