The word "democracy" has been poisoned by people who love dictatorship. BIg Journalism poisoned its own well. We need to talk up "local/community news and information" if we want people to care about saving both.

"With five congressional seats at stake, virtually all of our national legacy media made the choice not to send anyone" to cover a hearing on whether what Texas did was illegal. Democracy Docket is there, however. More evidence that we now have to rely on small outlets. newsletters.democrac...

The once-sterling CBS News has been sucked into the right-wing vortex, and its fascist-supporting owners are making no pretense about what their plans are. So, for me, henceforth, it is CBS "News" -- and I say that with deep sadness for journalism, and our nation.

So Big Journalism is definitely in the tank for the Republican spin on the shutdown.

Trump is "exactly what George Washington feared could happen with an unscrupulous commander in chief," writes Tom Nichols in the Atlantic: archive.ph/Tsfv3 Meanwhile, Big Journalism mostly treats paranoid menace as just another political story.

"Who goes Nazi?" -- everyone should read this classic from the great Dorothy Thompson. harpers.org/archive/...

Trump regime didn't bring back a racist word despite the racism. They did it BECAUSE it is racist.

This is how the New York Times pretends to do journalism -- treating the Trump/Hegseth fascist military event as just routine partisan politics. The Times will go down in history as a quisling operation, and its bosses will be remembered for their cowardice.

Our "mainstream" media are consistently botching their jobs, directly -- and IMO willfully -- assisting the fascists who are destroying our nation. Occasional pieces of real journalism do not begin to fix Big Journalism's malpractice. Mike Masnick has more:

If you know anyone in the U.S. military at any level, please make sure they see The Orders Project, "a non-partisan program...to assist military personnel in understanding their options when faced with orders they believe may not be legal."

"Misleading talking points" -- GMAFB. As usual, the New York Times refuses to call blatant lies what they are -- apparently because they come from Republicans, who lie about almost everything but always, always get the Paper of Record's benefit of the doubt.

Can local/state law enforcement do anything about criminal feds? At least one blue state is going to try, it seems.

Just like the other Big Media payoff "settlements" to Trump in his string of bogus lawsuits, Google's millions are proof that he is a successful extortionist -- and that they are willing to pay bribes. Don't think otherwise.

Google deletes history:

Conde Nast has by far the most frustrating digital subscription system I've ever encountered. It would have to improve to be merely bad.

A rare bit of good news: right-wing media companies Nexstar and Sinclair decided the advertising money the Kimmel show spins off is more important than doing Dear Leader's bidding. This is a loss for Trump, at least for the moment.

All corruption, all the time in Trump world, Exhibit 56,045:

ByteDance (TikTok owner) valuation is north of $300 billion. Trump "deal" to give it to his oligarch supporters is "valued" at $14 billion, says Vance. So correct me if this is wrong: They're essentially nationalizing a foreign company and giving it to cronies who'll pay pennies on the dollar.

Trump regime has disappeared billions of dollars of taxpayers' money -- not even Congress has been able to trace what it's being spent on, and who's getting the loot. Congress isn't trying very hard -- the Republicans are complicit and the Democrats are not just powerless but incompetent. 1/3

I was a fan -- and regular customer -- of Chobani yogurt. No more, since its deal with the corrupt Trump family. www.yahoo.com/news/a... (Good grief, this article needs a copy editor to fix basic grammar...)

This is, without any exaggeration, exactly how Putin and Orbán proceeded — using antisemitism to discredit the idea of civil society and political opposition, and as an excuse to undo the rule of law. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/u...

Comey's blatantly political intervention in the 2016 election put Trump in the White House in the first place. Now the Trump regime has indicted him on transparently political grounds. It's a total abuse of power, and sickeningly ironic.

Increasingly common use of "AI" in workplaces is "not proving to be that useful, has not resulted in widespread productivity gains, and often ends up creating messes that human beings have to clean up." www.404media.co/emai... Solid roundup from 404 Media, one of the best new journalism orgs...

From Teen Vogue, which is doing some of the best journalism about the extremist cult now in charge of the U.S. government: www.teenvogue.com/st... We need to assume that every masked person kidnapping people off the street is a criminal, whether employed by the Trump regime or not.

Democracy Docket explains how Texas Republicans corruptly stole 5 House seats from Democrats with the help of a dishonest charade -- with lead roles played by a lying governor and Trump regime.

Peter Thiel is competing with Elon Musk for most evil tech lord, with a different strategy. Musk is doing a lot of his foul work in plain sight. It seems that Thiel is trying to keep the public from understanding what he's doing until it's too late to stop him.

The once-peerless BBC has followed in the footsteps of American media by normalizing extremism. Now it's planning programming changes so that fascists will trust it more. Downside is that people who want integrity from their media organizations will trust it not at all.

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

Is Disney is pulling a head fake by "reinstating" Kimmel show? With scores of Trump-ified affiliates still refusing to air it, Disney could announce soon that it can no longer afford to keep the program going. In other words, don't assume that Bob Iger has grown a spine.

A reminder that the most corrupt president in American history controls the most corrupt Supreme Court in American history. There has never been anything remotely like this.

South Korea president makes it clear that American trade extortion could trigger a financial meltdown in his country. Occam's Razor suggests Trump and his billionaire backers want a global collapse. Wipe out 90% of people's assets, go bargain hunting -- and own it all. www.reuters.com/worl...

From early on, TikTok has seemed like a shady, and potentially dangerous, operation. If Larry Ellison and his sleazy, Trumpist Silicon Valley compatriots control it, there will be no doubt whatever that it's a shady and dangerous outfit. Propaganda and psyops for the regime. Worst possible outcome.

The more our big media companies do the bidding of right-wing extremists, the more they are encouraging people to stop paying for their media -- including the good stuff. 1/3

All corruption, all the time in Trump world, exhibit 54,205: www.msnbc.com/msnbc/... (Note: Just a few days ago, the NY Times uncovered a multi-billion-dollar bribe to Trump. The biggest presidential bribe in history -- by far -- has already disappeared from Big Journalism's agenda.)

CNN's media critic, Brian Stelter, says Disney's CEO is in a "no-win" situation because he has to choose between Trump and his company's reputation. Think about that -- the notion that choosing integrity means losing. Think about what it says about American media in these grotesque times. 1/2

Trump regime now requires press to sign a document agreeing not to obtain or possess "unauthorized" information. archive.ph/3GGyU Anyone who agrees to this is not qualified to call himself or herself a journalist. But I'm betting most Big Journalism orgs will go ahead and sign.

By far the most annoying and relentless current spammer is an outfit calling itself 'National Republican Retirement Committee' -- my email filter marks it spam and then deletes it. What's your most annoying spammer?

The American Association of University Professors has sad advice for faculty members who want to speak their minds: Be afraid, and shut up. This kind of weakness failed during the malignant era of Joe McCarthy. When bullies see bended knees, they escalate the abuse.

When a company says it has "no plans" to enshittify its product, you should take that to mean it will proceed fairly soon with enshittification. Today's example is Samsung:

Please read Josh Marshall's take on the Trump regime's escalating attacks on freedom of speech -- Kimmel's removal only the latest but probably most extreme example. talkingpointsmemo.co... The most important thing in this piece is its call to action in a way that we can actually achieve. 1/8

Time to find a new ice cream... www.cbc.ca/news/busi... Speaking as someone who was a customer of Ben & Jerry's back when their empire was a defunct gas station in Burlington, Vermont...

It is essential for everyone to recognize that ABC didn't just fire Kimmel for daring to speak things that the Trump regime and its cult don't want spoken out loud. It was DISNEY that fired Kimmel. Disney owns ABC. The principal cowardice in this butchery of free speech belongs to Bob Iger, CEO.

Regarding the bogus notion that Charlie Kirk was doing politics "the right way," Mike Masnick nails it here: "When we praise bad-faith performers for “engaging” with their critics, we’re not celebrating democratic norms—we’re rewarding those who exploit them."

ABC, which capitulated to Trump months ago by paying him millions to "settle" his ridiculous libel lawsuit, should be seen for what it has become: a national media company that does right-wing bidding. The Hungary-izing of American media is accelerating.

Trump ally Larry Ellison, one of Silicon Valley's historically nastier characters, could soon control CNN and TikTok. (Other people are involved including the reprehensible Andreessen Horowitz VC firm and Ellison's son.) The Hungary-izing of "news" gets worse and worse.

No hiding from what the Washington Post has become: a right-wing tool.

Reminder: Any report on Trump's insane lawsuit against the New York Times that includes the absurd, demanded amount of damages is PR for Trump. And journalistic malpractice. Why? Anyone can sue anyone for any amount of money. They put in ridiculous amounts to get the media to do PR for them.

Please permit me to remind you that just as the First Amendment protects Nazis, who would suppress our speech, it also protects the New York Times, which has sold out every American right and value for the mess of Park Slope potage that is false equivalency, false neutrality, and access.

Arnold Schwarzenegger reminds us that he is, deep down, a right-wing Republican. Don't buy his "democratic principles" bullshit for a second as he condemns California's essential-to-pass response to Republican election rigging.

If any other president took a multi-billion-dollar bribe in return for computer chip shipments that endanger our national security, Republicans and Democrats would have impeached and removed him instantly. Trump is an absolute criminal, and he's getting away with it.