Journalism Today

At the local level, we spend money on a paper owned by USA Today with a token view of Ithaca news. But, come on. On this past Monday they were headlining a fire... that took place last Wednesday. What?!?

And that's why I support an online-only paper, The Ithaca Voice. I get news about local politics, police actions, schools, and building and zoning prospects. In the first I read the comics and the advice column. (Okay, to be honest, during football season, I read the sports section too.) That's it.

At the national and world level, I read The New Yorker, The Week, Time magazine's online newsletters and The New York Times. I left my Time magazine subscription when the Koch brothers bought it, but not surprisingly in this world today, they're not the bad guys so much anymore. The brothers, only one now, have refrained from too much meddling. That's unlike the two tech billionaires who bought papers, The Washington Post and The LA Times, which have, this past week, refused to endorse any candidate for the president. 

Did they do this out of a sense of moral responsibility to the public, believing the public should come to their own conclusions? No. Both papers had prepared, expected and were ready to endorse. What happened was that these tech bros* decided to play nice with the bully, hedge bets or hope for insider positions - whatever anyone wants to call it. But, it sure wasn't for any journalist reason. 

Employees have resigned and subscribers have canceled at both papers.** Now, let's hope the owners' late-making decisions come back to bite them in the butt too. If America can be bought by spoiled billionaires spoiling for more of the pie, we truly are in trouble

What Can I Say?

*Tech bros are newer and younger and perhaps the richer relatives to the old white men I rail against. Sure of their opinions and wanting their way, there is no thought to values, others and what is best for the country. And, yes, I know not all white men and certainly not all tech people are in this group. But the ones I can't stand sure are.

Afterword. As of last night, two hundred thousand subscribers had canceled at the Washington Post. Previously, having read an oped on that very topic, that's not so good. It won't hurt Bezos but it will hurt all the people who work at the paper. The writer's opinion was that people should be canceling their Prime subscription instead. Makes sense, but it probably won't happen. Instead of hitting Bezos, the cancelations will be hurting the working class. How sad. These guys are so insulated regular Americans don't have much of a chance against them. Our best bet? Vote. Vote for people who will regulate them and work for the middle class.

Two Hundred Letters

with another 200 this month asking people to vote, and then one who did.

Doing my part for America. Getting out the vote, I hope!

Makes Four Hundred and One. 

On Our Walk

"Can't see me."

"Hey! That's my hat. Give it back!"

A Gnome

Color Comes

Fall Leaves

Hope Over Fear

We are less than two weeks away from the election, and every day it get harder to think about. I am working to remain hopeful, and yes, in my gut I think Harris will win, perhaps even win big, but it's hard.

Hard to be optimistic when we were shattered once before. Hard to believe that Americans can even contemplate a man monster such as he - he who is shameless. Palmer's penis size, one of the newest comes to mind. Hard to fathom a warped mess of a man such as he as the leader of this country. So, yes, it's hard. 

Reading helps, or it can, if I'm careful. Silver's poll article on his gut - Trump - but his, then, analysis for others' on Harris winning worked, and hey, he's a pollster and while still fixating on them, I've sure learned their polls mean little. Think Biden in '20 and all the others in '22. Another was Carville's on his faith in Harris (both from NYT), and now, this one from Time. Feeling over facts. 

Until otherwise, I'm sticking with hope. 

Every Day

So True

The Week Newsletter, 10/23

A number of years ago, I watched a 60 Minutes interview of Elon Musk, and I had a visceral reaction: I couldn't stand him. Talk about a white male. But, that was when many people (mostly men) admired him for his intellect in his field and, of course, his money. 

It didn't take many years for many of those friends to come around. Reading an article in New Yorker certainly cemented my beliefs, and now, from his behavior on X to his fawning over Trump, well, while not surprised, Musk does still disgust me. 

Two Stooges have become three. Dipshits all.

A Dipshit

As the World Turns

Two bits in my reading this morning. 

The first on wages in the world. A surprise: Alabamians' are making more on average than many people in other countries. I liked it and wished it more publicized to all those who complain about the economy under Biden. And while I still believe in what Biden has done, I have to wonder if that statistic might not be true if one put in health care costs....  But, back to the democrats and GOP, I'd still ask who is more willing to give money to health care and who did the first major legislation on it? Hmmmm. We all know the answer to that one.

The other, on unions. No surprise to me. With the haves making so much, so many hundreds times more than the middle class, I am wondering instead what took workers so long to come together. Until we can wrestle more of the corporate money to our working class, unions will be organizing. As they should. And, note: it happened under a democratic president, perhaps answering my wondering. Until a party came to power that supported the workers and not the CEOs, it couldn't happen. 

 

We Turn Too

Morning Light

 

Birds Bright

Life and Food

Last night after one more news report on Trump's latest worstness and then another on the polls and how close they are, I gave up and got up. To the kitchen and to the junk food cupboard I went. Enough. That bag of chips brought back from our last festival was going to be opened and eaten. And, yes, I did eat most of the bag. No apologies. One can resist only so long in this season of politics. 

This morning, what do I find? 

I find this.

I guess I'm not the only one.

Politics and Possibilities

Wall Art: A Moment in Time

Sunny October morning a little before eight created this: 

To the human eye the neon yellow was just the lighter shading of gray. 

 

Twenty minutes later? Taking another shot to show the displacement of the lamp shade, I also found this. 

Reality replacing the psychedelic. 

Captured ... and Gone

Keep It Simple

 

That's Effective 

Vote Forward

Doing my part. 

220 done and sent. 

Now we wait.