Newsletter 4.23.19
Hi all, here's this week's newsletter. Hope you enjoy!
-- Marco, Adam, Nima, and Florence
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Why Philly’s Reformist Prosecutor Finally Suppo...
2019-04-23 19:57:19 +0000 UTC View Post
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Ep. 73: Western Media’s Narrow, Colonial Definition of "Corruption"
"The scale of corruption in Africa is daunting," warns The Economist. "Corruption a Cause of Poverty in the Developing World," DW tells us. "Why corruption is holding Africa back," CNN laments. Everywhere we turn in elite media and halls of power, we are told the global South is poor, in part or ...
2019-04-17 15:38:28 +0000 UTC View PostNews Brief: Dem Leadership Helps Fuel Incitement Campaign Against Ilhan Omar
By capitulating to rightwing extortionists two months ago, Democrats legitimized and set up the increasingly unhinged attacks on the Minnesota representative.
2019-04-16 19:04:23 +0000 UTC View PostEp. 72 - John Stossel: Libertarian Billionaires' Inside Man
Though now a fixture of the fringe right-wing, libertarian pundit John Stossel was a longtime staple of mainstream, Serious Person media. With hour-long specials and a weekly segment on the ABC program 20/20, Stossel built his brand as muckraking Truth-Teller against Big Government and o...
2019-04-10 15:48:21 +0000 UTC View PostNewsletter 4.9.19
Hi all!
Hope you are well. Here's this week's newsletter. Be sure to look out for tomorrow's episode discussing the underrated awfulness of John Stossel.
-- Florence, Marco, Adam, and Nima
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Ep. 71: Laundering Imperial Violence Through Anodyne Foreign Policy-Speak (Part II)
Kinetic strikes. Limited military coercion. Robust sanctions. No fly zones. Military muscle. Modernization. All options are on the table.
So much of how we discuss U.S. militarism and imperialism is laundered through seemingly anodyne phrases, rhetorical thingamajigs that vaguely gesture to...
2019-04-03 15:03:35 +0000 UTC View PostNews Brief: Muellerites and The Great Disappointment
In this Patron News Brief we discuss the conclusion of the Robert Mueller investigation and what it means for Democrats, activists, and liberal media outlets.
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Newsletter 3.26.19
Hi all!
Here's this week's newsletter.
Just a reminder that the show is off tomorrow but will be back next Wednesday with the second part of our episode on anodyne foreign policy-speak. We'll also get you fine folks a News Brief in the meantime. Stay tuned.
Also, we'd like ...
2019-03-26 21:21:52 +0000 UTC View PostEp. 70: Laundering Imperial Violence Through Anodyne Foreign Policy-Speak (Part I)
Barack Obama unleashes "kinetic strikes” on Libya, Hillary Clinton lobbies for "limited military coercion" in Syria, Congress passes “robust sanctions” on Iran, and Trump gives “US generals more room to run” as he “ramps up” “pressure” on ISIS. The Center for American Progress c...
2019-03-20 16:15:54 +0000 UTC View PostNews Brief: Beto's Bad Obama Impression
In this Patron News Brief we discuss the elite media-focused launch of Beto O'Rourke's presidential bid, and what it says about the relevancy of bland, centrist place holders.
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Ep. 69: The Rise of the Inexplicable Republican Best Friend
It’s a trope that dates back more than a decade, but the rise of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has seen a recent resurgence in the liberal’s “Inexplicable Republican Best Friend,” a specific genre of concern trolling where a long-time Republican operative, politici...
2019-03-13 14:59:41 +0000 UTC View PostNewsletter 3.12.19
Hi all,
Thanks again for all your support. Here's this week's newsletter. Enjoy!
--- Florence, Adam, Nima, and Marco
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Ep. 68: A New Gun Control Debate - Dismantling Our Racist 'Lock 'Em Up' Approach
An uptick in mass shootings over the past decade - one that is well documented and indisputable - has provided the cultural and media context for a corollary effort by big city mayors and certain states to push for harsher, more severe gun laws.
This response to these national tragedies is ...
2019-03-06 16:50:31 +0000 UTC View PostNews Brief: Let's Relitigate the Shit Out of 2016 -- with Thomas Frank
In this News Brief we review the media coverage of Sanders and Clinton in 2016 and how this past is being written and rewritten to set the narrative for 2020.
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Guest
2019-03-01 02:28:47 +0000 UTC View PostEp. 67: The Gate-Keeping, Power-Serving Tautology of “Electability”
“How to Choose the Most Electable Democrat in 2020,” advises Politico. “Amy Klobuchar's best argument for 2020: Electability,” CNN reports. “Is Electability The Only Thing That Democratic Voters Want?” WGBH, the Boston NPR affiliate, wonders. These articles,...
2019-02-27 16:14:06 +0000 UTC View PostEp. 66: Whataboutism - The Media's Favorite Rhetorical Shield Against Criticism of US Policy
Since the beginning of what’s generally called ‘RussiaGate’ three years ago, pundits, media outlets, even comedians have all become insta-experts on supposed Russian propaganda techniques. The most cunning of these tricks, we are told, is that of “whataboutism” – a devious Soviet tact...
2019-02-20 14:25:04 +0000 UTC View PostNews Brief: Billionaires, NYTimes Come to Amazon's Defense
Amazon got a bit of push back from unions and activists in New York City and, in response, decided to take their ball and go home, We discuss the media reaction.
2019-02-20 03:21:15 +0000 UTC View PostNews Brief: Rubio and Trump's Cynical Venezuelan Aid PR Stunt
Despite the International Red Cross and UN warning the US not to do, the Trump administration and Senate Republicans decided to weaponize aid into Venezuela, attempting to spark a conflict and expedite their plan for regime change. Per usual, the American media uniformly fell for the PR stunt–...
2019-02-13 16:06:43 +0000 UTC View PostNewsletter 2.12.19
Hi all!
Hope you are well, here is this week's newsletter. Quick reminder that the show is off this week, but we will drop another News Brief for our patrons so you don't forget what our lovely voices sound like. Thanks as always for your support.
Enjoy!
Adam, Floren...
2019-02-12 17:39:20 +0000 UTC View PostNews Brief: NBC's Sleazy Tulsi/Russia Innuendo is a Dress Rehearsal for Attacks on Sanders
In this Patreon News Brief we dissect a bizarre NBC article linking Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to Russia using a "disinformation defense" company called New Knowledge––a firm backed by billionaire Democratic donor Reid Hoffman that was just caught using fake fake Russian accounts in the 2017 Alabama ...
2019-02-07 18:19:16 +0000 UTC View PostEp. 65: How Empire Uses ‘Feminist’ Branding to Sell War and Occupation
Since the dawn of the American Empire, thin moral pretexts in our politics and press have been used to justify our wars and conquest. The invasion of Cuba and Philippines in 1898 was declared to be a fight for freedom from Spanish oppression. Vietnam was about stopping Communist tyranny. T he pio...
2019-02-06 17:10:39 +0000 UTC View PostNews Brief: Venezuela and the NYT's Long History of Backing U.S. Coups
Friday's New York Times editorial supporting Trump's attempted coup in Venezuela is just the latest in decades-long tradition of overthrowing Official Bad Guys. Since 1954, the Times has supported nine out of nine CIA-involved coups in Latin America––always there to lend a helping ha...
2019-01-31 19:54:26 +0000 UTC View PostEp. 64: Mike Rowe’s Koch-Backed Working Man Affectation
In recent years, television personality Mike Rowe has amassed a wildly popular following due to alleged working-class straight talk about topics ranging from the affordability of college to reasserting a culture of pride in craftsmanship and labor. From his 5.2 million Facebook followers to his c...
2019-01-30 15:15:04 +0000 UTC View PostNews Brief: Jon Chait Goes After Liz Warren for Selling out to Big Teacher
Professional doofus Jon Chait thinks teachers unions––who fight for things like "students", "supplies" and "baseline worker protection"––are a big, evil interest that needs fighting. Mysteriously though, the billionaires who back charter schools and gutting teachers unions are scrappy and...
2019-01-23 21:36:20 +0000 UTC View PostEp. 63: Gambling and Neoliberal Rot - How Our Most Regressive Tax Flies Under the Radar
As more and more states turn to casinos and lotteries to ‘fill the gap” in 'falling' state budgets, the predatory and regressive nature of gambling as an alternative to increasing taxes on the rich avoids nearly any media scrutiny among centrists and liberals. Even the Left has mostly ignored...
2019-01-23 15:56:18 +0000 UTC View PostNewsletter 1.22.19
Hi all!
Hope you're having a good 2019. Here's this week's newsletter. Please enjoy.
- Florence, Sophia, Adam, and Nima
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Ep. 62: Sanitizing Our Settler-Colonial Past With ‘Nation of Immigrants’ Narratives
“The United States is a nation of immigrants.” It’s a phrase we hear constantly – often said with the best of intentions and, in today’s increasingly cruel environment, meant as a strong rebuke of Donald Trump and his white nationalist administration.
The metaphor of the “meltin...
2019-01-16 15:12:59 +0000 UTC View PostNews Brief: The Media's Marginal Tax Disinformation
Almost half the country––and nearly two-thirds of Republicans––don't know what a marginal income tax is. This type of ignorance is what rightwing and neoliberal media bank on when demagoguing calls for higher taxes, like those of House newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In this Patreon Ne...
2019-01-10 14:11:14 +0000 UTC View PostEp. 61: What The Hell Is Wrong With MSNBC? (Part II) - A Rebuttal
In Ep. 34: 'What The Hell Is Wrong With MSNBC', we discussed with our anonymous MSNBC informant, well, what the hell was wrong with MSNBC? Why do they routinely focused on inane horsera...
2019-01-09 16:54:13 +0000 UTC View PostNewsletter 1.8.19
Hi all!
We hope you had a great holiday and New Year. We're back tomorrow with new episodes. Here's this fortnight's newsletter, we hope you enjoy.
-- Florence, Adam, Nima, and Sophia