Anybody else get the sense that the press is upping their game and remembering their critical and adversarial responsibilities? We talk about the obvious catastrophic long-term effects of the last election, but this at least seems to be one good thing, a generation of reporters who’ve been forced by extreme circumstance to call a lie a lie when it occurs, which is repeatedly.
I think a lot citizens are getting Woke as well. Nothing like a bit of horror and uncertainty to get people protesting, writing congress, and going to Democratic party meetings.
Only to a very slight degree.
What I have noticed since the election is a concerted effort by media figures across the board to deny and obfuscate their own responsibility for the situation.
OTOH, one media figure who has dramatically lifted his game recently is Jamelle Bouie.
Pre-trump, he was a standard issue false-balance view-from-nowhere centrist milquetoast of the sort that dominates non-Fox US media. Ever since the election, he’s been absolutely on fire.
Puckish Delight
A layer of Meyer lemon curd over white chocolate mousse, hiding a nugget of dark chocolate ganache beneath.
At least in my mind.
But yes, really, grassroots efforts are what we the people can do. It’s great that SNL and Steven Colbert and John Oliver and Shia LeBouef are throwing serious laughtism at the current fuckery, but we really can’t do anything that impactful. I know my 47 Twitter followers aren’t going to influence anything. I’ve tried talking to those who believe and buy in to the FKB mindset, but they’re so caught in that loop of “they said he said, and he said they said, so it must be Truth” that no amount of reasoned logic and provable facts can change their minds. Showing up and holding your representatives accountable to the people they, in theory, represent at Town Halls is a great suggestion.
I called both of my Senators recently. One R, one D. Both thanked me for my call. But guess which one’s office offered a call back and an insistence that my Senator listened and took seriously the comments of his constituents? Yep, Sherrod Brown. Not the other one, who is from the south of my state and serves the interests there.
A Republican Utah Representative who actually seems to have a backbone:
In some related and happy news, remember this?
I am pleased 
Support your press. Lets hope that the WaPo hiring is a trend among all press entities The alternative is scary:.
"What should Americans watch out for—how does a modern dictator take away freedom?
In Russia, their first move was to subjugate all the important media. When they achieved that, the rest was easy. No matter how loudly you protest, without independent media, you are mute.
So, please learn this sad lesson: Stand for the freedom of press. Every lost battle there is going to cost dearly".
sigh Semantic games, not debunking. No, the Black Bloc aren’t going to hijack your protest, because there is no “Black Bloc”. But the network of people who apparently have no aims other than to Fuck Shit Up and use black bloc tactics might do that, and peaceful protests should have contingency plans to deescalate and leave them hanging all by themselves.
Oh Borowitz.
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/f-b-i-to-special-order-a-pair-of-tiny-handcuffs
OVERSHOOTING the wall.
A repeat of the DeVos confirmation?
(click for full context)
I’ll put this here because it made me laugh…
