The list of cities where this is available simply reaffirms the AP’s take on dateline cities. It’s a useful list for geography buffs but incompetent at suggesting the scale of operations for anyone else.

That is an oddly specific tariff rate. Something like 66.67% would make sense going down to basis points, but what are those two figures hanging out past 55?

Well, this was a good way to distract myself from whatever the test results are from the blood work, x-rays and contrast CT. Why are hospitals so fucking cold?

I do this weird thing where I buy music instead of renting it. I like to pay for things only once.

Belief in anything is weird. Seriously? Some god? Y’all find weird ways to want some god to be involved.

That’s not remotely the problem. Women having agency allows many good things, and complaining about LGBTQ+ people wanting rights is bigoted.

That’s fair. Not a lot of people read Playboy for the articles.

I was more referring to this sort of coverage moving over to The Nation. When it hits The Economist, things will be set right, but even they will have to reconsider neoliberalism. What struck me is that I have written this sort of piece before … I want to have a beer with this guy, as he speaks with my voice. Throat-clearing and all. The cadence is uncanny.

Ten years ago, something this raw wouldn’t have been published. This is a fascinating take on how far the media have moved, but also society in general. And this also feels like that rare time where a columnist wrote the hed.

We live in an era where Nazis feel free to go nazi-ing and a CEO can be killed in broad daylight. Fixating on a pardon that was only necessary because of who someone’s dad is … is frankly absurd.

But the pardon power granted by the Constitution is not the problem. Yes, Trump will use it in all manner of terrible ways, but the problem here isn’t in the text, it’s in the modern context. When you elect a convicted felon president, the system has already failed.

I’m reminded of the SNL ad where they said something like “and the NFL is on Fox.” Pretty sure they also predicted Trump becoming president, and, well … no, you cant have two different sets of rules. But for those who came in late, the justice system exists to protect the powerful from the measly plebs.

This is a conversation to have, but it isn’t the right one.

Why not include legacy media? Same problem.

Right. China is the problem. “Look over there!”

That’s a very good point. I was more trying to point out that many independent outlets put the level of transaction in a reasonable spot that includes minimal info and no money. When news judgment drives production, detailed demographics are just extra data to sift through with no ROI.

Many independent outlets are not hard paywalled, e.g. 404 Media. Yes, you have to provide your burner email, but that’s really not a big ask in the era of mass government and corporate surveillance.

It’s not the public’s fault that they are gullible … it’s the fault of an entire community of professionals, politicians, academics, journalists, media owners and thousands of other people in the industry that don’t mind working and living in a world that has all it’s information funnelled through a very narrow opening owned and controlled by those with all the power and money.

That’s simultaneously reductive and painting with a broad brush. I can’t really speak to the motivations of those outside of journalism, but if there are reporters gleefully misconstruing things sted challenging their livers to a death match, I’ve not met them. Sure, the folks holding the purse strings have differing views, but they’re not the ones going around and committing journalism in broad daylight.

We don’t expect schools to report the news, so why should news orgs be teaching media literacy? This isn’t a flippant question; education was intentionally gutted in the states starting under Reagan to produce a gullible enough population to allow Trump’s grotesque ascent. Putting a government failure on your local paper (if you still have one) fans the distrust further, so that’s not only misguided disappointment but contributes to the precise collapse you lament.

The other thing to bear in mind is the number of seasoned journalists who’ve tapped out from the bullshit content-production grind that really gathered steam about a decade ago. We don’t want to produce what shareholders want us to run. So you have kids fresh out of college at national outlets who will be gnawed to the bone, spat out and replaced in three years. At least there isn’t that pesky copy desk draining resources by fact checking.

The people doing the work are not to blame. Casting it on them is demeaning atop the already miserable circumstances they didn’t sign up for when they were young and idealistic and thought journalism could be a fun way to change the world.

Unbridled capitalism, and specifically private equity, is the problem here. Our economy is no longer set up to encourage independent journalism at scale; blaming the victims in the newsroom is gaslighting at best and toeing the party line somewhere in the middle. When someone gets rear-ended on the road, nobody says the car that was hit was the problem in the first place.

Most of corporate media are. It’s no longer an independent branch of society. Holding an org accountable to shareholders instead of truth tends to end poorly. As with most civic institutions, there’s insufficient money to be made for unfettered capitalism to produce responsible stewards.

Eh?

That’s an interesting take that’ll take a bit to absorb. I’m used to not making the big bucks, which was made very clear as the price of admission at my college paper. However, the jobs were alleged to continue to exist. Reality didn’t get the memo.

The good news is, this particular emergent crisis has been solved by my mom, who didn’t like the idea that I did nothing for Thanksgiving. It’s enough to cover the car-insurance payment and stop the dominoes, plus a bit extra. I’m not going to be living extravagantly for the next week, but I won’t get down to powder.

I do appreciate everyone’s concern and the outpouring of support.

If I didn’t have the powder, I’d consider it. But I’m not lacking for calories in storage while many others are, so I’m not comfortable taking charity. There may come a day; it’s not pride so much as not wanting to fuck with karma by accepting when not in dire need.

I could see senators getting very concerned about their personal loss of power and pushing back on this, but I could also see them just following Trump’s orders and hoping their loyalty pays off.

That’s the weird one in this case. The choices are retain power and lobbyist income … or cede both in the hopes the rest of the coup works and they get cushy gigs in the junta.

I appreciate the sentiment, but I’ll be fine. I have some food and can still buy a few days’ worth before I switch over to meal-replacement powder for situations such as this.

It’s very difficult to find motivation to do much of anything.

An unexpected two-day hospital stay meant I couldn’t make the deadline to bill my time for the prior two weeks, forced a very unpleasant life change on me, and the next domino was a credit-card payment due last week. It used to be when I was a week past due, I could still access my remaining credit, but no more, and even scheduling a payment for next week couldn’t change that. So I have $11 for the next nine days without being in a food position that anticipated being down to so little. Guess it’s Chef Boyardee, bologna sandwiches and water for the next week!

The election looms over everything, but for me in specific, whose job is mostly rewriting press releases about federal grants for green energy and tech, it’s pretty clear that I won’t have anything to cover come Jan. 20. Which means even when I have money, I need to continue acting as though I don’t. I’ve been on this fucking seesaw since just before covid, and while some swings have been my own choices, the vast majority have been circumstance.

I don’t have the energy or will to go through yet another job search. And I can’t take a full-time position because wages will be garnished by creditors.