Yesterday, I posted this on my own Substack and Linked In:
Yesterday, in a small note at practically the bottom of its webpage, the Washington Post announced the resignation of its Opinion Editor, David Shipley, after owner Jeff Bezos announced that its opinion section from now on would focus on "personal liberties and free markets." The New York Times had already broken the story hours before (and in a much more prominent position).
The Post, once the very symbol of investigative journalism itself, the co-publisher of Daniel Ellsberg's "The Pentagon Papers" and home to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, whose reporting essentially brought Richard Nixon's presidency down in 1974, has now officially turned into a Trump-lite echo chamber. Scores of top-notch reporters and opinion writers have left, and hundreds of thousands cancelled their subscriptions after Bezos overrrode David Shipley and the entire Editorial Board by refusing to honor or publish their endorsement of Kamala Harris last October. The Post then jettisoned its liberal comment system in favor of a rinky-dink, organ-grinder's monkey version of an AI nanny bot overseeing all discussion and interfering with every post, losing tens of thousands more subscribers in the process. And now Shipley has made clear his refusal to abide by the Post's turn toward a party-line mouthpiece for President Musk and the guy sitting behind the Resolute Desk signing random pieces of paper which violate the Constitution, morality and common sense on a daily basis.
More than two centuries ago, Thomas Jefferson was asked if he had to choose between a free government or a free press, which would he choose? He didn't hesitate -- a free press was the only answer. Jeff Bezos shows why. We are already inside a coup, losing our republic to a dumb tyrant, aided by collaborators either hoping for a little bag of gold or too cowed to resist. The entire domestic social contract and postwar international order is being subverted every day, while once-free media outlets turn themselves into willing patsies. Worst of all, we did it to ourselves.
To those who say it's not that bad, I say the country has entered a darkened hall of shame and self-degradation from which no clear or easy exits are even visible yet.
This is why democracy is so fragile, and the enemies of democracy can easily prevail. While many of us defend and protect the freedoms that democracy brings; it requires we tolerate and defend hate speech, and all the rights that bigots, fascists and fascists spew in the name of freedom.
And it’s tyrants like Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg and Trump, as well as the rest of the malignant MSM, who routinely exploit the system; using it against us. It’s like bringing a book to an AR-15 gunfight!…:)
Bravo David Shipley! Our paths crossed in our youth, and lately I had been wondering how he was getting on with the turn of things at the Wapo over the last half year. I'm relieved he along with other principled journalists will use his talents and skills elsewhere.
This is why democracy is so fragile, and the enemies of democracy can easily prevail. While many of us defend and protect the freedoms that democracy brings; it requires we tolerate and defend hate speech, and all the rights that bigots, malignant sociopaths, and fascists spew in the name of freedom.
And it’s tyrants like Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg and Trump, as well as the rest of the malignant MSM, who routinely exploit the system; using it against us. It’s like bringing a book to an AR-15 gunfight!…:)
When Bezos spiked the editorial board's endorsement of Kamala Harris, my husband and I decided to keep the subscription we have had for over 50 years in solidarity with the Post's many fine writers. Yesterday's announcement by Bezos crossed our red line, and we have now cancelled. If reporters and editors are told what they can and cannot say, they no longer have the independence and integrity they must have to call themselves journalists. Many of the Post's writers have already left, and I suspect those who remain will follow them out the door. I wrote to those I most respect to let them know we were cancelling our subscription and why. I will look for their bylines elsewhere when they conclude they must leave the Post.
Ann Telnaes, the Post cartoonist, and Jennifer Rubin, a Post Columnist, have both started their own substacks. You can support them by subscribing. Jim Acosta formerly of CNN, has one now, too.
Thanks for writing kdsherpa. I would urge everyone reading this: if you still have your Post subscription, consider cancelling it. Given the rules Bezos is now instituting, how can a reader trust a story or an editorial in the paper? If someone is standing behind reporters telling them what they can and cannot say, how does a reader know if the reporter is telling the truth? What stories are they not covering at all. I know, I know: subscribing to lots of SubStacks is expensive. My own SubStack budget is wildly out of control. However, in this horrible era we are living through, we must know what is going on so we will know what to do about it. That means supporting people who are telling the truth.
You make excellent points: how will we know if what we're reading is the truth? how will we know what stories have gone untold? Like you, I subscribe to many substacks. Some of the best I've found are: "Raw Story"; Meidas+ Daily Bulletin; Heather Cox Richardson; Stephen Beschloss; Joyce Vance; Judd Legum; Jay Kuo; The Big Picture" (multiple writers); "Democracy Docket", and "The New Voice of Ukraine". Do you have other suggestions? Also, "The Guardian" is a good alternative for a daily newspaper.
Delighted to hear this. Particularly as my grandfather, father and uncle were all Guardian journalists - the Manchester Guardian, as it then was - and the paper has been in my house every day of my life (75 years) Don't miss today's piece by George Monbiot on the question of the capability of the UK to defend itself militarily AGAINST the USA.
ProPublica - US investigative journalism, no pay wall (but donate if you can).
AP, no doubt uninclined to go along with the administration after being kicked out of the White House pool. (AP probably sells to foreign media).
The Guardian, no pay wall (but donate if you can).
CBC (free), BBC (free), Le Monde in English (subscription, if you want to access more than an article or two a week - includes every story published in their print edition), even The Economist (despite its eyewatering price, it is the best print weekly extensively covering countries outside the US).
Undoubtedly there are far more English language international media options.
Thank you for great suggestions. I also subscribe to The Contrarian where Jennifer Rubin took her work when she left the Post. That site also includes essays by and interviews with many other contributors. Joyce Vance posts her Democracy Index there as well. In addition, I subscribe to The Bulwark. At first I was a little doubtful about doing that because most of the people who work there are former Republicans like Bill Kristol. However, they are all now solidly anti-Trump, and they have useful things to say.
I'll take a look at The Bulwark. I've heard good things about it. I do enjoy Rick Wilson's substack (also a former Republican; he was a cofounder of the Lincoln Project). I didn't mention Rubin's substack, but I now subscribe to her and Ann Telnaes (former cartoonist at the Post), as well as to Jim Acosta's new substack.
I love it. Tim Miller's daily podcasts are great, George Conway is always a good listen, and Sarah Longwell (the publisher) does focus groups that give insight into what different demographics are thinking. (Incidentally, I find it interesting that 2/3 of these people are gay).
I listen to The Bulwark podcasts regularly, and I like Bill Kristol, Sarah Longwell and some of the contributing writers, but they are awfully negative in their comments about Democrats (“my Democratic friends”) when we Democrats are the only Party left who believe in democracy. They often seem to forget that they were part of the Authoritarian Party just a short while ago. The Democrats are not at fault for getting us into this awful situation. So I can’t bring myself to pay for their content.
I don't like podcasts - I only read transcripts. If I am listening to something, it had better be NPR news, BBC News Service, opera, other classical music.
Hi Wendy, Thanks for writing. I understand completely. I am a lifelong liberal Democrat; my business card says I am a progressive activist. I wrote to Bill Kristol a while back to welcome him to our community. He didn't write back of course, but I think he got what I was saying.
I guess those old affiliations are hard to give up. One of our local on-line papers has a weekly dialogue between two guys, one of whom is a Democrat who worked in the Clinton White House and the other, a Republican who worked for Reagan and George H.W. Bush. The guy who worked for Reagan is now solidly anti-Trump/Musk but he still identifies as a Republican. For me, it's all about what those former Republicans are doing to oppose everything Trump/Musk stand for, even if they are nostalgic for a time when their former party stood for something they could believe in.
It will be interesting to see what happens to the Republican party once Trump is finally gone. In the meantime, I'm sure the Bulwark staff is glad you tune in even as an unpaid listener and reader.
Done two hours ago. I cancelled after Bezos' reneging on editorial recommendation of Harris. I felt badly for the reporters. I resubscribed in a few weeks, hoping that WaPo felt a little financial and prestige hurt for losing a quarter million subscribers and losing face. Now this! I re-unsubscribed an hour ago, and WaPo has run out of chances with me, unless Bezos sells it to an owner whose only business is the WaPo in the distant future. Fat chance! Bezos would keep it running no matter how much money it lost, and would likely take down paywalls if readers dwindled enough. This reminds me of another propaganda newspaper, the Washington Times.
I subscribed for a while, but was overwhelmed by all of my other subscriptions! Maybe I'll cut down a bit on my others, and re-subscribe. I saw that they had Barb McQuade one time. I love her work. She's now split off and had her own substack!
I get those begging emails daily. I ignore them the way WaPo ignored those of us who are terrified for our democracy. I’ll never resubscribe as long as bezos owns it. There are better, more deserving newspapers out there.
Thank you Professor. Sarcasm can be our only response, or outrage, to the WaPPo’s increased level of self serving ineptitude.
It looks like Bezos is deliberately trying to destroy a national treasure in the former Washington Post! Perhaps, he’s making so much money from Amazon, that he wants a complete tax write-off for the post.
And Ironically, The Wall Street Journal’s editorial pages are more factual, than the tone deaf owner and Opinion pages of the WaPPo! Good to know!…:)
Robert, I appreciate your response to Dr. Snyder’s post and reference to Bezos’ Amazon. I can’t find figures on the rate of amazon.com’s subscription cancelations, but in 🇨🇦 the rate is down by 11% since the chaos over tariffs emerged about 3 weeks ago. We’ve canceled WaPo and I was hoping that I could write something more appropriate to express our condemnation of Bezos’ action yesterday, but it doesn’t provide space for comments only ✅ boxes. Clearly, he’s not the least interested in our opinions.
Cam, I fully understand. I cancelled my subscription the day they refused to endorse Harris, and cancelled my Amazon Prime as well. I get that Amazon is experiencing a major decline, but it may not matter. If the economy tanks, a lot of the competition will go out of business.
These guys want monopolies. And a loss for Bezos at the post is a drop in the bucket. He now has a full fledge propaganda machine; geared up for him to manipulate the masses to his will. Same goes for Musk. I bet he sees SpaceX and Starlink as the future, and EV’s a distant third; if they survive at all.
Robert, you may be correct that the tech bros want monopolies, and that Bezos’ loss of subscribers at WaPo is but a drop in the bucket. He’s lucky, in a sense, that he has two huge separate and independent companies to rely on. I was looking at participation standards in 🇨🇦, and his denial to Quebec Amazon workers who voted for unionization were the big losers. He may deny until he’s blue in the face that that set back had no impact on his decision to pull all Quebec fulfillment centres was clearly linked to unionization. So we became the guinea pigs, but in the end we will win “bigly”, simply by getting rid of our Amazon habit and in a very small way, Canadians who subscribe to WaPo. As well Tesla sales have also dropped. If we stick together, we will have an impact on their BS style of management. I’m joining you tomorrow in my meager attempt to emulate your movement.
I truly hope you’re right. Either way, in the end it will fail. Hopefully sooner than later! Personally, I’m getting too old for this sh*t! I feel like we’re all stuck in purgatory!..:)
We need more people out there protesting the Tesla dealerships and calling the fugly Cybertruck the Swasticar. European Tesla sales have gone down 44% since Musk started being President and Trump being Vice President.
I like our host's name of "Mump" for the President. It's even more appropriate because RFK, Jr. is going after all vaccines, including childhood vaccines such as MMR (measles, mumps, rubella). The name is also perhaps appropriate because a certain percentage of boys and men are sterile after having had mumps.
The WaPo is following the example of the Washington Times "newspaper" (usually referred to as the "Moonie Times". The owners can afford to have 100% losses, and they are subsidized by the parent company because these are propaganda "newspapers".
Find a good VPN, or multiple VPNs, with international pathways, so that you can pretend to be in England and access news about the US.
I appreciated the focus. Prof. Snyder 'stayed on topic; and 'hammered' his points in': he truly delivered his message, judging by the other comments here.
Bezos is observing a distracted world, and he's trying to focus.
Focus; each and every one. Him; Zuck; Musk-trump...all want to focus.
These motherf*ckers, like Bezos, who have a megaphone have succumbed to total evil. A major sign of the total loss of integrity and competence is the belief “if I say it that makes it true”. It’s worked for their role models, the Muskrump, and are convinced every last one of us are dupes and morons and we swallow whole their every lying word.
Yeah, I would like to submit that to WP as new masthead.
"...are convinced every last one of us are dupes..."
Appreciate where you are going, but must disagree: they are in fact convinced that they don't need "every last one of us"; they got 70mill or so, lit up purty good...
and History, with the capital 'H' says that's sufficient.
They gots jest a mere handful to open the Overton Window; look where we are now.
"Total evil". Evil is the dominant character of roughly one third of every natural human population. It is the love of oneself that is vital in extreme survival situations. Any factor that increases the distance (in a broad, not just physical sense) between us fosters that survival instinct.
In modern nations excess wealth is the primary force that separates us.
For reposting on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok
White House New Management—One Star
After 5 weeks under new management, I give the President One Star. He's supposed to be watching the store but instead he's out playing golf, squeezing butts, going to football games and race tracks. He’s selling stuff on the side and not sharing. Rude! He hugged our enemies and told them he loved them. And then he insulted our friends. Rude! He gave his pals tax breaks and taking money from kids and their schools. Bad!
To top this off, he let rich guy Elon in the back door with his DOG-E (pronounced doggie). Elon’s DOG-E is crapping all over the place. Bad DOG-E! Stop shitting on my government DOG-E!
All in, I’d say Terrible Performance. Bad President. One Star.
Yes, and we can even do better than that. We can permit that one day to continue to inform us about the role our culture casts on us as consumers. We need to examine the marginal propensity to spend as much as we need to examine our relationship with "interruptions" that detract our focus, our effectiveness, and our life experience. Enjoying Chris Hayes new book "The Sirens' Call."
But if it is sunk, and Bezos had courage (he does not) the same would apply. Conversely, the way Bezos is acting is that it is not sunk and he is trying to “preserve” as much value as possible by “obeying in advance” in the worlds of Hannah Arendt and Timothy Snyder!
Nice idea for some subversive action. Every letter to the editor starts with the preface: I'm for free markets and individual freedom. However . .. . . .
Thank you for this ! I looked for a hidden phrase mixed in with the repetitions. Something like “imprison Trump”. But I will leave that kind of resistance move to any Washington Post opinion writer with the balls to try and get that past Bezos (who has his head buried so far up his ass that I’m not sure he can even read… so might not see it).
Bezos will not understand the irony in this column but then he doesn't want to. Here I am owning a Tesla and using Amazon to get my digital books. I find myself sinking to a new low.
Yesterday, I posted this on my own Substack and Linked In:
Yesterday, in a small note at practically the bottom of its webpage, the Washington Post announced the resignation of its Opinion Editor, David Shipley, after owner Jeff Bezos announced that its opinion section from now on would focus on "personal liberties and free markets." The New York Times had already broken the story hours before (and in a much more prominent position).
The Post, once the very symbol of investigative journalism itself, the co-publisher of Daniel Ellsberg's "The Pentagon Papers" and home to Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, whose reporting essentially brought Richard Nixon's presidency down in 1974, has now officially turned into a Trump-lite echo chamber. Scores of top-notch reporters and opinion writers have left, and hundreds of thousands cancelled their subscriptions after Bezos overrrode David Shipley and the entire Editorial Board by refusing to honor or publish their endorsement of Kamala Harris last October. The Post then jettisoned its liberal comment system in favor of a rinky-dink, organ-grinder's monkey version of an AI nanny bot overseeing all discussion and interfering with every post, losing tens of thousands more subscribers in the process. And now Shipley has made clear his refusal to abide by the Post's turn toward a party-line mouthpiece for President Musk and the guy sitting behind the Resolute Desk signing random pieces of paper which violate the Constitution, morality and common sense on a daily basis.
More than two centuries ago, Thomas Jefferson was asked if he had to choose between a free government or a free press, which would he choose? He didn't hesitate -- a free press was the only answer. Jeff Bezos shows why. We are already inside a coup, losing our republic to a dumb tyrant, aided by collaborators either hoping for a little bag of gold or too cowed to resist. The entire domestic social contract and postwar international order is being subverted every day, while once-free media outlets turn themselves into willing patsies. Worst of all, we did it to ourselves.
To those who say it's not that bad, I say the country has entered a darkened hall of shame and self-degradation from which no clear or easy exits are even visible yet.
Standing ovation... I applaud your remarkable essay.
Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent.Excellent.Excellent.
Bezos' offering - Open Windows- Ann Telnaes
.https://anntelnaes.substack.com/p/bezos-offering.
Excellent comment: Mic Drop!
This is why democracy is so fragile, and the enemies of democracy can easily prevail. While many of us defend and protect the freedoms that democracy brings; it requires we tolerate and defend hate speech, and all the rights that bigots, fascists and fascists spew in the name of freedom.
And it’s tyrants like Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg and Trump, as well as the rest of the malignant MSM, who routinely exploit the system; using it against us. It’s like bringing a book to an AR-15 gunfight!…:)
The United States of America will likely shrink in size and emerge from the darkened hall as a Chinese wind farm.
Quite descriptive!…:)
Thank you!
Bravo David Shipley! Our paths crossed in our youth, and lately I had been wondering how he was getting on with the turn of things at the Wapo over the last half year. I'm relieved he along with other principled journalists will use his talents and skills elsewhere.
Bravo, Corbin.
Excellent comment: Mic Drop!
This is why democracy is so fragile, and the enemies of democracy can easily prevail. While many of us defend and protect the freedoms that democracy brings; it requires we tolerate and defend hate speech, and all the rights that bigots, malignant sociopaths, and fascists spew in the name of freedom.
And it’s tyrants like Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg and Trump, as well as the rest of the malignant MSM, who routinely exploit the system; using it against us. It’s like bringing a book to an AR-15 gunfight!…:)
Repetition is the sincerest form of making a point! Thank you, Professor Tim for your service!
When Bezos spiked the editorial board's endorsement of Kamala Harris, my husband and I decided to keep the subscription we have had for over 50 years in solidarity with the Post's many fine writers. Yesterday's announcement by Bezos crossed our red line, and we have now cancelled. If reporters and editors are told what they can and cannot say, they no longer have the independence and integrity they must have to call themselves journalists. Many of the Post's writers have already left, and I suspect those who remain will follow them out the door. I wrote to those I most respect to let them know we were cancelling our subscription and why. I will look for their bylines elsewhere when they conclude they must leave the Post.
Ann Telnaes, the Post cartoonist, and Jennifer Rubin, a Post Columnist, have both started their own substacks. You can support them by subscribing. Jim Acosta formerly of CNN, has one now, too.
And Paul Krugman, formerly of NYT.
Thanks!
Thanks for writing kdsherpa. I would urge everyone reading this: if you still have your Post subscription, consider cancelling it. Given the rules Bezos is now instituting, how can a reader trust a story or an editorial in the paper? If someone is standing behind reporters telling them what they can and cannot say, how does a reader know if the reporter is telling the truth? What stories are they not covering at all. I know, I know: subscribing to lots of SubStacks is expensive. My own SubStack budget is wildly out of control. However, in this horrible era we are living through, we must know what is going on so we will know what to do about it. That means supporting people who are telling the truth.
You make excellent points: how will we know if what we're reading is the truth? how will we know what stories have gone untold? Like you, I subscribe to many substacks. Some of the best I've found are: "Raw Story"; Meidas+ Daily Bulletin; Heather Cox Richardson; Stephen Beschloss; Joyce Vance; Judd Legum; Jay Kuo; The Big Picture" (multiple writers); "Democracy Docket", and "The New Voice of Ukraine". Do you have other suggestions? Also, "The Guardian" is a good alternative for a daily newspaper.
Highly recommend the guardian. Excellent and just give them a few bucks now and then. We have to support good journalism or see what happens!
Agree! I have it set up to automatically pay monthly (like a regular subscription).
Delighted to hear this. Particularly as my grandfather, father and uncle were all Guardian journalists - the Manchester Guardian, as it then was - and the paper has been in my house every day of my life (75 years) Don't miss today's piece by George Monbiot on the question of the capability of the UK to defend itself militarily AGAINST the USA.
ProPublica - US investigative journalism, no pay wall (but donate if you can).
AP, no doubt uninclined to go along with the administration after being kicked out of the White House pool. (AP probably sells to foreign media).
The Guardian, no pay wall (but donate if you can).
CBC (free), BBC (free), Le Monde in English (subscription, if you want to access more than an article or two a week - includes every story published in their print edition), even The Economist (despite its eyewatering price, it is the best print weekly extensively covering countries outside the US).
Undoubtedly there are far more English language international media options.
Thank you for great suggestions. I also subscribe to The Contrarian where Jennifer Rubin took her work when she left the Post. That site also includes essays by and interviews with many other contributors. Joyce Vance posts her Democracy Index there as well. In addition, I subscribe to The Bulwark. At first I was a little doubtful about doing that because most of the people who work there are former Republicans like Bill Kristol. However, they are all now solidly anti-Trump, and they have useful things to say.
I'll take a look at The Bulwark. I've heard good things about it. I do enjoy Rick Wilson's substack (also a former Republican; he was a cofounder of the Lincoln Project). I didn't mention Rubin's substack, but I now subscribe to her and Ann Telnaes (former cartoonist at the Post), as well as to Jim Acosta's new substack.
I love it. Tim Miller's daily podcasts are great, George Conway is always a good listen, and Sarah Longwell (the publisher) does focus groups that give insight into what different demographics are thinking. (Incidentally, I find it interesting that 2/3 of these people are gay).
I listen to The Bulwark podcasts regularly, and I like Bill Kristol, Sarah Longwell and some of the contributing writers, but they are awfully negative in their comments about Democrats (“my Democratic friends”) when we Democrats are the only Party left who believe in democracy. They often seem to forget that they were part of the Authoritarian Party just a short while ago. The Democrats are not at fault for getting us into this awful situation. So I can’t bring myself to pay for their content.
I don't like podcasts - I only read transcripts. If I am listening to something, it had better be NPR news, BBC News Service, opera, other classical music.
Hi Wendy, Thanks for writing. I understand completely. I am a lifelong liberal Democrat; my business card says I am a progressive activist. I wrote to Bill Kristol a while back to welcome him to our community. He didn't write back of course, but I think he got what I was saying.
I guess those old affiliations are hard to give up. One of our local on-line papers has a weekly dialogue between two guys, one of whom is a Democrat who worked in the Clinton White House and the other, a Republican who worked for Reagan and George H.W. Bush. The guy who worked for Reagan is now solidly anti-Trump/Musk but he still identifies as a Republican. For me, it's all about what those former Republicans are doing to oppose everything Trump/Musk stand for, even if they are nostalgic for a time when their former party stood for something they could believe in.
It will be interesting to see what happens to the Republican party once Trump is finally gone. In the meantime, I'm sure the Bulwark staff is glad you tune in even as an unpaid listener and reader.
Adding to this fine list:
https://roberthubbell.substack.com/
Done two hours ago. I cancelled after Bezos' reneging on editorial recommendation of Harris. I felt badly for the reporters. I resubscribed in a few weeks, hoping that WaPo felt a little financial and prestige hurt for losing a quarter million subscribers and losing face. Now this! I re-unsubscribed an hour ago, and WaPo has run out of chances with me, unless Bezos sells it to an owner whose only business is the WaPo in the distant future. Fat chance! Bezos would keep it running no matter how much money it lost, and would likely take down paywalls if readers dwindled enough. This reminds me of another propaganda newspaper, the Washington Times.
Jen Rubin and Norm Eisen co-founded The Contrarian, which hosts quite a number of writers. They do some live-posting, as well.
I subscribed for a while, but was overwhelmed by all of my other subscriptions! Maybe I'll cut down a bit on my others, and re-subscribe. I saw that they had Barb McQuade one time. I love her work. She's now split off and had her own substack!
I canceled my subscription in October. Unfortunately, I found out that I had paid for an annual subscription in June, which was nonrefundable.
You can demand a WAPO refund, as I did successfully and used the refund to give more support to The Guardian.
Really? I was told that I couldn't receive a refund. I'll try again! Thank you. (Like you, I subscribe to The Guardian.)
Same here. WaPo begging me to "re-subscribe" for, like, $1...
I get those begging emails daily. I ignore them the way WaPo ignored those of us who are terrified for our democracy. I’ll never resubscribe as long as bezos owns it. There are better, more deserving newspapers out there.
After I canceled the NYT in June, they wrote me daily begging me to resubscribe for next to nothing.
I can get the daily and Sunday NYT for free at the public library a block from my apartment.
Smart!
If you ask to TERMINATE your subscription then you get the pro-rated refund.
Same here!
I did the same back in November...and yesterday.
Thank you Professor. Sarcasm can be our only response, or outrage, to the WaPPo’s increased level of self serving ineptitude.
It looks like Bezos is deliberately trying to destroy a national treasure in the former Washington Post! Perhaps, he’s making so much money from Amazon, that he wants a complete tax write-off for the post.
And Ironically, The Wall Street Journal’s editorial pages are more factual, than the tone deaf owner and Opinion pages of the WaPPo! Good to know!…:)
Robert, I appreciate your response to Dr. Snyder’s post and reference to Bezos’ Amazon. I can’t find figures on the rate of amazon.com’s subscription cancelations, but in 🇨🇦 the rate is down by 11% since the chaos over tariffs emerged about 3 weeks ago. We’ve canceled WaPo and I was hoping that I could write something more appropriate to express our condemnation of Bezos’ action yesterday, but it doesn’t provide space for comments only ✅ boxes. Clearly, he’s not the least interested in our opinions.
Cam, I fully understand. I cancelled my subscription the day they refused to endorse Harris, and cancelled my Amazon Prime as well. I get that Amazon is experiencing a major decline, but it may not matter. If the economy tanks, a lot of the competition will go out of business.
These guys want monopolies. And a loss for Bezos at the post is a drop in the bucket. He now has a full fledge propaganda machine; geared up for him to manipulate the masses to his will. Same goes for Musk. I bet he sees SpaceX and Starlink as the future, and EV’s a distant third; if they survive at all.
Robert, you may be correct that the tech bros want monopolies, and that Bezos’ loss of subscribers at WaPo is but a drop in the bucket. He’s lucky, in a sense, that he has two huge separate and independent companies to rely on. I was looking at participation standards in 🇨🇦, and his denial to Quebec Amazon workers who voted for unionization were the big losers. He may deny until he’s blue in the face that that set back had no impact on his decision to pull all Quebec fulfillment centres was clearly linked to unionization. So we became the guinea pigs, but in the end we will win “bigly”, simply by getting rid of our Amazon habit and in a very small way, Canadians who subscribe to WaPo. As well Tesla sales have also dropped. If we stick together, we will have an impact on their BS style of management. I’m joining you tomorrow in my meager attempt to emulate your movement.
I truly hope you’re right. Either way, in the end it will fail. Hopefully sooner than later! Personally, I’m getting too old for this sh*t! I feel like we’re all stuck in purgatory!..:)
We need more people out there protesting the Tesla dealerships and calling the fugly Cybertruck the Swasticar. European Tesla sales have gone down 44% since Musk started being President and Trump being Vice President.
I like our host's name of "Mump" for the President. It's even more appropriate because RFK, Jr. is going after all vaccines, including childhood vaccines such as MMR (measles, mumps, rubella). The name is also perhaps appropriate because a certain percentage of boys and men are sterile after having had mumps.
The WaPo is following the example of the Washington Times "newspaper" (usually referred to as the "Moonie Times". The owners can afford to have 100% losses, and they are subsidized by the parent company because these are propaganda "newspapers".
Find a good VPN, or multiple VPNs, with international pathways, so that you can pretend to be in England and access news about the US.
Excellent advice. Thank you!…:)
Seems reasonable. Seems reasonable….
I appreciated the focus. Prof. Snyder 'stayed on topic; and 'hammered' his points in': he truly delivered his message, judging by the other comments here.
Bezos is observing a distracted world, and he's trying to focus.
Focus; each and every one. Him; Zuck; Musk-trump...all want to focus.
These motherf*ckers, like Bezos, who have a megaphone have succumbed to total evil. A major sign of the total loss of integrity and competence is the belief “if I say it that makes it true”. It’s worked for their role models, the Muskrump, and are convinced every last one of us are dupes and morons and we swallow whole their every lying word.
" Democracy dies in Avarice"
Yeah, I would like to submit that to WP as new masthead.
"...are convinced every last one of us are dupes..."
Appreciate where you are going, but must disagree: they are in fact convinced that they don't need "every last one of us"; they got 70mill or so, lit up purty good...
and History, with the capital 'H' says that's sufficient.
They gots jest a mere handful to open the Overton Window; look where we are now.
"Total evil". Evil is the dominant character of roughly one third of every natural human population. It is the love of oneself that is vital in extreme survival situations. Any factor that increases the distance (in a broad, not just physical sense) between us fosters that survival instinct.
In modern nations excess wealth is the primary force that separates us.
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White House New Management—One Star
After 5 weeks under new management, I give the President One Star. He's supposed to be watching the store but instead he's out playing golf, squeezing butts, going to football games and race tracks. He’s selling stuff on the side and not sharing. Rude! He hugged our enemies and told them he loved them. And then he insulted our friends. Rude! He gave his pals tax breaks and taking money from kids and their schools. Bad!
To top this off, he let rich guy Elon in the back door with his DOG-E (pronounced doggie). Elon’s DOG-E is crapping all over the place. Bad DOG-E! Stop shitting on my government DOG-E!
All in, I’d say Terrible Performance. Bad President. One Star.
"White House New Management—One Star" I like this.
Bad DOG-E! Great remark.
24 hour spending boycott from midnight Thursday 27th to midnight Friday 28th.
WHAT NOT TO DO:
Do not make any purchases
Do not shop online, or in-store
No Amazon, No Walmart, No Best Buy
Nowhere!
Do not spend money on:
Fast Food
Gas
Major Retailers
Do not use Credit or Debit Cards for non-essential spending
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Only buy essentials if absolutely necessary
(Food, Medicine, Emergency Supplies)
ONLY support small, local businesses.
Try to buy from those small, local businesses on Thursday or Saturday ....PLEASE!!
Yes, and we can even do better than that. We can permit that one day to continue to inform us about the role our culture casts on us as consumers. We need to examine the marginal propensity to spend as much as we need to examine our relationship with "interruptions" that detract our focus, our effectiveness, and our life experience. Enjoying Chris Hayes new book "The Sirens' Call."
Remember when WAPO busted Nixon? Remember when WAPO busted Nixon? Remember when WAPO busted Nixon? Remember when WAPO busted Nixon? 😀
Civil liberties and free speech. Civil liberties and free speech…Civil Liberties and free speech…
His investment in the Post already represents a "sunk cost," so he has no interest in its survival or as a source of honest, good reporting. Sigh!!!
But if it is sunk, and Bezos had courage (he does not) the same would apply. Conversely, the way Bezos is acting is that it is not sunk and he is trying to “preserve” as much value as possible by “obeying in advance” in the worlds of Hannah Arendt and Timothy Snyder!
Let's call it a loss leader then.
Nice idea for some subversive action. Every letter to the editor starts with the preface: I'm for free markets and individual freedom. However . .. . . .
Thank you for this ! I looked for a hidden phrase mixed in with the repetitions. Something like “imprison Trump”. But I will leave that kind of resistance move to any Washington Post opinion writer with the balls to try and get that past Bezos (who has his head buried so far up his ass that I’m not sure he can even read… so might not see it).
Hope you're rinsing between repeats. :D
I think it's swishing
Bezos will not understand the irony in this column but then he doesn't want to. Here I am owning a Tesla and using Amazon to get my digital books. I find myself sinking to a new low.
You can order books at www.bookshop.org and support independent book sellers at the same time. A portion of each sale
goes to the local bookstore of your choice. Delivery takes a bit longer than the A word, but there is a new feature for downloading ebooks.
It's hard work and you may pay a little more but you will feel better if you stop supporting his enterprise.
Thriftbooks. But of course, I live in Berkeley, CA, which has more small bookstores than any other city of its size in the country.
I have even taken to ordering directly from the publisher to be sure the author gets the money
Truly an excellent suggestion!!! I ordered a couple of books from publishers last year.
And Abe books for old books. ! They sometimes have better prices on old books. I go back and forth
I will check it out!
It does cost more but my belief is that we have to support living artists. Writers and thinkers here on Substack !
I get a lot of old out of print books from Thriftbooks, which is very helpful.
. . . and to raise yourself to the surface you are selling your Tesla and purchasing your books elsewhere. I love my personal power!
Mea Culpa et Al
If Bezos had been running the Post in the '70s, Nixon might still be President.
Might?
Ha!
Perfect.
ThankYou.
I cancelled my WaPo subscription back at the non-endorsement. That just meant it would not be automatically renewed,
Yesterday I terminated my subscription and got a refund. Now to cancel my Amazon card - just in time for Feb 28 Economic Blackout ; )
You can say that again! And again!