Fascist Media Capture Is Happening

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This is real. We are witnessing anticipatory obedience by corporations to a fascist regime similar to what happened in Hungary and elsewhere.

The Washington Post’s editorial cartoonist quits after editors spike cartoon mocking tech billionaires (including Post owner Jeff Bezos) for sucking up to Trump

Ann Telnaes: “As an editorial cartoonist, my job is to hold powerful people and institutions accountable. For the first time, my editor prevented me from doing that critical job. So I have decided to leave the Post. I doubt my decision will cause much of a stir and that it will be dismissed because I’m just a cartoonist. But I will not stop holding truth to power through my cartooning, because as they say, “Democracy dies in darkness”. Read More

Ann Telnaes


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35 thoughts on “Fascist Media Capture Is Happening”

  1. 6 years ago it was “knowing empowers us…knowing helps us decide… knowing keeps us free”

    today: into the unknown?

  2. Well shit. Looks like Substack is about to have its newest subscriber. Ann Telnaes is a gifted cartoonist and it is beyond disturbing that she is leaving the post over an editorial decision about a cartoon that is not what I would consider particularly offensive. We are watching the beginning of the end of the most important clause of the First Amendment. 

  4. “not what I would consider particularly offensive”

    pogo, perhaps offense is in the eye of the caricatured in this case. maybe it wouldn’t have been scratched if Ann had only drawn Bezos a bit more macho or without the little potbelly and the other dudes uglier?  

  6. I’ve noticed guest on news program guests being more circumspect about Trump.  We need a cartoonist to show them walking on eggs.  Maybe the price of eggs is the problem.

     

  11. I’m still watching The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC….  Lawrence isn’t backing down or even flinching.

  12. Repetition was the problem? Get real.

    David Shipley, The Post’s opinions editor, said in a statement that he respected Ms. Telnaes and all she had given to The Post “but must disagree with her interpretation of events.”
    “Not every editorial judgment is a reflection of a malign force,” Mr. Shipley said in the statement. “My decision was guided by the fact that we had just published a column on the same topic as the cartoon and had already scheduled another column — this one a satire — for publication. The only bias was against repetition.”
    Mr. Shipley added that he had spoken with Ms. Telnaes by phone on Friday and had asked her to reconsider resigning. During the call, Mr. Shipley said he wanted to speak with Ms. Telnaes on Monday, after they had taken the weekend to think things over. He later encouraged her to hold off on quitting to see if they could work out the situation in accordance with her principles.
    Ms. Telnaes did not respond to requests for comment.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/03/business/media/washington-post-cartoonist-quits-after-jeff-bezos-cartoon-is-killed.html

  13. Renee, we still follow Lawrence too, and sometimes hang on for Stephanie. This is usually after we’ve watched whatever escapist movie or drama episode of the evening. 

  17. https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/04/us/smugglers-mexico-jason-de-leon-cec/index.html

    Smugglers love Trump, because it’s a lot of bluster, and migrants don’t know that, so they can jack up their prices quickly. I would say Trump is good for the economy of undocumented migration. Smugglers are going, “OK, if you want to come now, the price has doubled, because it’s so much more dangerous now,” even though it’s probably not. I remember having lots of conversations with smugglers, who would say, “I love Trump. He makes our job easier and makes it easier for us to justify higher rates.”

  19. Enjoy Lawrence, Rachel, et al while we can. Comcast is spinning off MSNBC, maybe even selling it, changing its name. I wouldn’t bet on most hosts making the cut in the next iteration.

  20. Douglas Brinkley, presidential historian, just told a story on CBS about Jimmy’s “stubbornness”: at a roadside cafe, he and Jimmy ordered Cokes with their lunch. The waitress said sorry, we only have Pepsi. Jimmy’s face got red and he replied, then bring me water! 

  21. I’ve been reading a Bloomberg article about Chinese hacking of public infrastructure in Guam as a tool of war. A good read and troublesome.
    Buried in the article was something that pertaines to todays discussion.

    The NSA initially asked Amazon Web Services, Lumen Technologies, Microsoft and Secureworks for their help investigating the situation across the US and preparing an advisory bulletin that would guide potential victims. 

    All across the Federal government there are 100 of billions of dollars up for grabs and Trump has proven that he is willing to use his power to punish.  Bezos needs to dump the Washington post. It was a fun toy, but it is interfering with business. 
    Jack

  22. I would be careful about passing on jokes about the soldier who committed suicide in Las Vegas. He was a highly decorated soldier trying to deal with life the best way he knew how. He had the capabilities of causing mass casualties but in the end he only hurt himself. A quote from one of his emails.

    “I needed to cleanse my mind of the brothers I’ve lost and relieve myself of the burden of the lives I took.”

    Jack

  23. It looks like winter time on the edge of the great plains. It is the warmest it is going to be for the week. freezing rain and snow tonight and tomorrow. Then several days with the high in the low 20’s. It is January, it is cold.
    Jack

  26. There might be a name on this list which is unknown to you.  Tim Gill.  Backstory: in 1992 Colorado, back when it was a red state, passed a Colorado change to it’s constitution, Amendment II.  Anti-gay all the way it was.  It prohibited any laws protecting LGBT people from any discrimination.  Of the many Gay people in Colorado one named Tim Gill decided to take action.  He supported the creation of organizations to advance legal protections for LGBT people.  Amendment II was declared unconstitutional by the (at the time) Supreme Court. 
     
    Tim is one of the billionaires not supporting sfb.  He is a wonderful man.  And, finally married to his long time SO.  This is a great honor for him.

  28. https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/concerning-elon-musk-calls-out-jeff-bezos-ex-wife-mackenzie-scott-for-16-billion-donation-7359138
     
    “Concerning”: Elon Musk Calls Out Jeff Bezos’ Ex-Wife MacKenzie Scott For $16 Billion Donation
    “In a recent social media exchange, Musk voiced his unease about Ms Scott’s philanthropic activities, specifically her massive donations totalling $19 billion over the past five years. 
    While some have praised her generosity, others, like Musk, have raised questions about the potential influence of concentrated wealth on societal norms and public policy.
    Musk had previously criticised Ms Scott‘ with a now-deleted social media post, suggesting that “super-rich ex-wives who hate their former spouse” could potentially contribute to the decline of Western civilization.”
     
    Pfffft! Elon bought the US presidency. There’s your decline of Western civilization.  He sounds like the weak, misogynistic little incels who follow Joe Rogan. Just because he’s a breeder, doesn’t make him a man. What a marooon. Denaturalize and deport him.   
     
     
     
     

  29. Craig

    Lawrence, Rachel et al are already available in podcasts.  It probably won’t be too difficult to continue in that way no matter which network airs the original broadcast.   Both Apple and Amazon Music carry.  I haven’t checked Spotify or SeriusXM.

  30. How do you turn off the post correction?  The darn thing doesn’t speak Latin, French or Spanish not to mention quirky coloquialisms.

     

  31. https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/02/asia/south-korea-president-arrest-warrant-hnk-latam-intl/index.html

    “South Korean investigators have suspended efforts to enforce an arrest warrant for embattled President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday, hours into a standoff in which authorities tried to detain the leader following his short-lived martial law declaration.

    Yoon’s declaration of marital law a month ago was met with widespread public backlash, with members of his own party turning on him to support the impeachment vote following his refusal to resign.
     
    Many of those backing the leader – widely seen as a conservative firebrand and staunch US ally tough on China and North Korea – held signs with the phrase “Stop the steal” printed in English, while others waved American flags.

    Investigators called off the arrest warrant enforcement Friday afternoon citing the safety of the people on the ground, according to a statement. The warrant, which is valid until January 6, remains in effect and could be extended.
     
    Yoon, who was stripped of presidential powers after lawmakers voted to impeach him last month, is wanted for questioning in multiple investigations, including accusations of leading an insurrection – a crime punishable by life imprisonment or even the death penalty.”

    *The tRUMPsky cancer continues to spread.

  32. We will need to mint a new term for the Trump era.

    Hoovervilles were shanty towns built during the Great Depression by the homeless in the United States. They were named after Herbert Hoover, who was President of the United States during the onset of the Depression and was widely blamed for it. The term was coined by Charles Michelson.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooverville#:~:text=Hoovervilles%20were%20shanty%20towns%20built,was%20coined%20by%20Charles%20Michelson.

  34. Well, it took 3 tries to get past the new captcha. We should be safe from bots. 

    patd, spent the day away from media and the site. I think a more plausible explanation for Shipley’s decision to kill Telnaes’ cartoon is the simplest, and it has nothing to do with potbellies or lack of masculinity of the suckups in the cartoon. I think the simplest, and most plausible, is that he knew he’d be talking with Bezos instead of Telnaes Monday if he ran the cartoon.

  35. Jack, I think your suggestion that Bezos dump the Post is a good one. It would benefit both of them and he and it would be freed up to pressure Dumbass to stop him from implementing his insane tariff model of international trade without the stench of self dealing on the part of the Post.

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