love these!

Chavez in Venezuela discovered that they didn’t need to shut down the “fake media” but instead buy it and use it as a legitimizing tool. So the rich cronies just bought every media. It’s a playbook, nothing new, just new to you

the media turns blatant lies and abhorrent cruelty into talking points to be debated. and they know exactly what they're doing. i have no use for any of that, and neither should anyone else.

MSM has been failing us for a while though. Just look at last summer, when it accepted Trump’s denial of any connection or knowledge of Project 2025 and couldn’t stop talking about Biden’s age. I’ve found terrific sources outside of WP, NYT, and anything on network TV.

You can thank Ronald Reagan (no more Fairness Doctrine) and Bill Clinton (Telecom Act of 1996) for this. They sowed the seeds of this authoritarian takeover of our media system.

It required much effort to unwrap this Fed Ex box but a beautiful gift emerged—

open appeal to Columbia U. admissions office: is there some way that a university instructor could send a letter of recommendation directly to Admissions without trying to navigate the maze of Common App?

This story and your The Doll Master really unnerved me. And Doll Master is the only short story whose ending made me gasp out loud! @joycecaroloates.bsky.social

So grateful to @joycecaroloates.bsky.social for turning me onto the great Italian writer Alberto Moravia. I have a better edition of this one in storage, but I got this fun ppb at an antique mall.

Today's Cartoon-Epstein

Big Momma open.substack.com/pub/joycecar...

Why would Democratic governors allow this fascist administration redraw maps all over the county to keep him in power when they could neutralize this tactic by doing it in all the blue states? GET TO IT!!!

Seriously, why are we the only state with the guts to do this?

As a canadian.... USA democracy has always felt like a bad joke, espicially hearing that the USA is the "world's greatest democray" Everything is SO complicated, money is everywhere and a 2 party system feels so outdated, the electoral college is worse, and gerrymandering sounds so ANTI democracy

the Democrat Party needs to retire their elderly and give way to young people who have not been corrupted by APAC & the billionaires, still innocent to self serving wheeling & dealing, has the stamina to actually fight the fascists subjugating the population -USA needs fighters, not pencil pushers.

seems like, well--common sense? in short supply in some quarters?

how does a trained police officer "accidentally shoot tear gas" anywhere? just curious.

as Howard Cosell once wittily observed about boxing, though it is equally applicable to politics: "You can't wash mud."

"City After The Rain" - my oil painting

@joycecaroloates.bsky.social.

disclaimer/"trigger warning" though trigger warnings are now passé -- "too woke"--I feel obliged to say that my dear Substack editor will be posting a Hallowe'en-adjacent scary story of mine tomorrow titled "Big Momma" which is not a story that I could bear to read if I had not written it;

Fentanyl and coke are the new “weapons of mass destruction” lie. It’s Iraq all over again, folks. It’s always about controlling the oil.

Love "Nebraska," particularly "Atlantic City." Remember being entranced on first listen at P.U. Intriguing the comparison you point to; Dylan going from 'unplugged' to amplified, Bruce the reverse, & the reactions each evoked from fans. Also the different shades of an 'American' voice they evoke.

To @joycecaroloates.bsky.social — her style, her voice, remains ageless…. “The Frenzy”, The New Yorker (March 2025)

· we see Dylan as the virtuoso/experimental artist for whom subjects are expedient opportunities; Springsteen the achingly sincere, soul-scouring artist who transcribes his life & the lives of persons close to him into music.

highly recommend "Deliver Me From Nowhere"--beautiful nuanced performance by Jeremy Allen White as an artist struggling to make a transition to an unknown place while mired in obsessive memories of childhood; as audacious a film exploring the wellsprings of creativity as "Paterson."

Alain Delon may not solve the case but who cares? #NotICE

sunset moment, north Oregon coast 🤍🕊️ . . #artistsonbluesky #blueskyartshow #photography #oregon #sunset #womensartbluesky #photographersonbluesky #oregoncoast #ocean #clouds

having a cat is just sometimes being in bed and asking yourself "do i care enough to get up and see what they did now?"

Celestial Bodies ~ from my Cosmic Collection. I’ve painted the sun, moon & planets w/ stars on a background of earth, water, air & fire elements. I like the flow of the planets & rich background colors. #art #painting #artist #space #cosmos

what would likely happen is that just one student would report you & you would be dismissed. even with tenure, professors have few rights in Texas. recall when "woke mind virus" was touted by E M as some sort of terrorism.

a visitor at a Texas university reports that new Texas laws forbid instructors discussing gender in any circumstances; even if tenured, professors can be fired for teaching anything to do with LGBTQA+

Highly recommend!

Exciting news! A collection of short stories by my favorite writer and master of the macabre. @joycecaroloates.bsky.social's THE FRENZY is coming summer 2026. #writingcommunity #bluesky #booksky #writerslift #books #readers www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-frenzy...

the observation which I made was at the Nashville No Kings! rally. it has nothing to do with "privilege" or any other cliché of the era. just make your own observations, draw your own conclusions, do not include me in some sort of twinship with you.

were you at the Nashville No Kings! rally? no? then why are you contradicting what I saw there? weird that people on Twitter want others to lie, to confirm whatever bias they have. but you have to tell your own lies.

To respectfully disagree. You do not (I don't, anyway) look at a baby hippo and say "If it was a real hippo, it would weigh more than a ton."

This is Idaho 💙

This really is a GREAT sign!

7 million people marched today. That's greater than world's three largest militaries— combined.

This is what democracy looks like. #NoKings

I’m absolutely exhausted in the best possible way. I love us. We did it! #NoKings

I was at the Nashville rally reporting exactly what I saw. What’s your problem? Go out & observe for yourself.

NYC. This is the last 1/4, I’d say. Great crowd, happy, creative, DIVERSE. Bye, Trump. Take the Republicans with you when you leave.

in an actual police state we would have seen something very different, uniformed riot officers, with weapons willing to fire upon protesters. so it is gratifying that we don't have a police state--yet (!). & good to know that time might be running out before we have the real thing.

surprisingly,& pleasantly, there were virtually no law enforcement officers at the massive Nashville No Kings rally spread over several hills at the Capitol. I looked, & could see only two officers standing on a hill some distance from the speakers, matter-of-factly chatting with one another.

(I am here for the wonderful Southern Book Festival. quite a venue! quite a turnout. signed books until every book of mine at the Festival was sold.... such warm, sympathetic, book-loving audiences...my interlocutor was Cybele Raver, Vanderbilt provost & popular local personality.)

does anyone recall the old bad days of "Dog, the Bounty Hunter"-- "these are their stories."