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Betty Fackler's avatar

CBS is over. Only watching Stephen Colbert until his show ends in May. Boycotting already and canceling all networks that have capitulated to the fascist dictator Frump and his evil regime.

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BlackExpat25's avatar

You skipped a step. Go and see what the Reagan administration did to the FCC regulations. That was the beginning of the end of free press and journalism. It’s always been biased because humans are inherently biased creatures but some reporters and journalists used to have a little integrity, now it’s all just click bait and fan mail for fascism. Entertain and enrage the masses with propaganda and lies.

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Hey! I’m Back!'s avatar

Hey Qasim! You’re not at all hyperbolic on the CBS/Bari Weiss issue. I once thought of CBS News as the last stronghold of truth in reporting, but now it’s just another outlet owned by a select few Trump allies. And now Bari Weiss is at the helm but doesn’t have to anyone but Ellison? I will not watch the lies and propaganda that CBS News is certain to pander prolifically. 🤮

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Loretta Sweet's avatar

Thank you for your reporting.

I recently subscribed to Ground News for a year and thus far have found it helpful. I appreciate the links to multiple news sources for the variety. Information is out there, but not always trustworthy. I have not watched television news for about ten years.

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Pam Short's avatar

Thank you, such great information. I subscribe to both 💙

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VEE LAVALLEE's avatar

So Qasim, what I'm hearing from all this chaos is that the Fourth Estate has now become the Fifth Column. Hitler would be so proud of his protege trump whom he managed to influence even from beyond the grave. America is now no longer the Land of Freedom of Speech and is slowly but surely losing all it's other much vaunted "freedoms" daily. If people don't like this takeover then they should use the only tool they have at their disposal besides not watching their shows. They should boycott the sponsors, because as always if you want to hurt them where it counts, don't buy their products. Then make sure they know why!

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letterwriter's avatar

How did you make it through this entire piece without mentioning Larry Ellison and David Ellison? How much money do you take from AIPAC?

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Clif Brown's avatar

I worked for ABC when it was a standalone network. It was then bought up by Capital Cities in one of the many leveraged buyouts of the 1980's and then swallowed by Disney. I once saw a graphic of the holdings of Disney and was astounded to see that ABC was a relatively small holding answering to the corporate behemoth. Mike Eisner was Disney CEO and a supporter of Israel. His successor, Bob Iger is a supporter of Israel, the presumed next in line is Dana Walden, a supporter of Israel.

Though there is little we the people can do to stand in the way of Zionist billionaires buying companies, we must break the grip of Zionism in our politics, exhibit 1 being Trump's obedience to his largest campaign donor, Israeli Miriam Adelson. The top question for any candidate for office in Congress must be "do you support liberty and justice for all, and will you prove it by pledging not to support Israel?"

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progwoman's avatar

As someone who went to journalism school in the 1960s, this feels so sad to me. My parents watched NBC (the Today Show, Huntley-Brinkley) while I watched Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow, and 60 Minutes. Much of their reputations stemmed from outstanding coverage of WWII; CBS reporting on Vietnam and racial issues was better than that of NBC. ABC was mostly a sports network then. What shocks me about this is how all of it came to be controlled by corporate power and wealth rather than any vested interest in the news. They've all put profit over purpose. (Long before Sherry Redstone's CBS caved for its Harris interview, the preponderance of drug ads for obscure conditions were weighing heavily on time for content on 60 Minutes.) I'm going to check out Ground News, but I still have some hope for PBS, even as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting seems to be severely weakened. Combined with the demise of local newspapers in most of rural and suburban areas, we are truly news-starved.

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Clif Brown's avatar

PBS depends on large corporate gifts, be wary of its reporting on Israel/Palestine.

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Hall's avatar

Disgusting. 🤮

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MJ Delaney's avatar

Let's go, America. CBS, Paramount, David Ellison, Skydance Media need to hear from the American people as loudly and powerfully as Disney ABC heard from us. Bari Weiss is a pro-Trump, far right, twisted apologist for Israeli war crimes. Remember all the padt decades when CBS took a leadsing role and stood for principled journalism, truth and facts? That's now ancient history. CBS is now run by the far right wannabe authoritarian oligarch crowd. Unsubscribe. Turn off CBS and Paramount. Marginalize them. Boycott them. Bankrupt them. We have the power to end this twisted tyranny. Economic resistance works. Let's go.

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J G Sandy Phillips's avatar

Two words are a large part of this situation, especially for the older (and should be wiser) voting public of retirees, a bloc that should be able to reasonably swing elected power:

DISPOSABLE INCOME.

The less you have, the more you are likely to conserve it. If your wage doesn't allow you to spend money at McDonalds and at the Grocery Store equally, you are more likely to take the family for Chicken McNuggets than to invest those dollars in paid media - more likely to put that extra five or ten dollars into health insurance or a health maintenance account than in staying informed truthfully. This pushes the average citizen into a down spiral, needing to chose that expenditure that will give the family some sort of social equality over the information that will help fight for living wages and health care. Besides, as the fingers that would hold the average worker down would represent - you don't have the money to influence those who can to make a difference.

It's the free media, like "Let's Address This," that helps to make a crack in that wall, just as it is the Union among workers that helps to fight the oligarchs who would prohibit the living wage from actually paying for a good living.

Those who can afford to pay to support independent media often don't because they are saving the disposable income for the next installment of personal or political tragedy. That's why we MUST encourage folks like Qasim, not only by subscribing if we can, but by encouraging our friends and coworkers to read and research such folks.

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Qasim Rashid, Esq.'s avatar

You're exactly right. It's one reason I make paid subscriptions entirely optional, and never a requirement. None of my writing and scholarship is behind a paywall, nor will it ever be. We need more access to high quality fact based insight, not less. Grateful for your support neighbor.

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James Rankin's avatar

Another excellent article! You are certainly a leader when it comes to fighting the oligarchy & getting the truth out! As strong as anyone else in the world of journalism & law.

I have a comment about that Ground News circular graph (or "pie chart"). There are 7 divisions within the circle, each with a different color (14 colors overall if you distinguish the lighter shade of each color in the inner circles from the darker shade on the outer circle), but only 6 keys (those dots below the graph identifying what each color stands for). Furthermore, there are 3 different colors from blue to purple on the pie chart, but only 2 in that color range among the keys; there are 2 different rosy colors (magenta/pink/maroon) on the chart but only one in that range among the keys; while there are 2 keys in the green to turquoise color range, but only 1 on the chart, unless you distinguish the lighter color on the inside from the darker color on the outside, which fit perfectly with the keys, but I'm pretty sure that the turquoise part of the circle doesn't stand for both individual & telecom news sources. Can you clarify that for us? It's very confusing!

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Qasim Rashid, Esq.'s avatar

Thank you, James. And wow great insight into the seeming inconsistency on Ground News. I'll ask them to provide an explanation.

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James Rankin's avatar

Thank-you, Qasim!

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Soraya's avatar

I stopped watching CBS the moment it was announced that Paramount paid $16 million to trump as a way to obey in advance. The moment that CBS canceled Steve Colbert’s show after he called them out on their corruption? That right there was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. That was the moment where it was time for me to boycott Paramount for good. I’m STILL boycotting them to this day. I didn’t even spend a penny watching the new Smurfs movie last summer because it was produced by Paramount! So I’m def gonna continue with the boycotting and supporting independent media like I’m still doing. Thank you again Qasim for all the work you do as always!

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Clif Brown's avatar

ChatGPT tells me that CBS (of the three old networks) has suffered the greatest loss in viewers in recent years, this before what will undoubtedly drop it even lower - Bari Weiss.

Fox News on cable is still riding high, though it is well known for its right-wing bias.

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VEE LAVALLEE's avatar

Fox appeals to the basic need in some people to make others suffer. Unfortunately that's one too many.

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Clif Brown's avatar

I see that in the behavior of ICE agents as well.

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VEE LAVALLEE's avatar

Yes indeed! He runs a administration built on cruelty. They like it because it’s WHO THEY ARE!

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Qasim Rashid, Esq.'s avatar

Yeah that $16M bribe was reprehensible and indefensible.

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James Rankin's avatar

Please keep it up! I have hardly ever watched, read or listened to any of their stuff for many years, so I can't do any better, and it will stay that way unless they make a marked permanent reversal of recent actions. It looks like CNN will soon be under the same ownership.

I can't imagine that Colbert would want to stay with CBS anymore, anyway, with what's going on in that conglomerate, and I'm sure he will have a wide array of good options when his time is up with CBS.

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Soraya's avatar

Thank you so much! I really appreciate this a lot! Oh believe me if I was Colbert himself I would start my own show somewhere else, which I have a feeling that’s probably what he’s gonna do. I would def support him that way if he does have his own channel elsewhere! And as far as CNN is concerned, I stopped watching them as well the moment they broadcasted trump’s speech on their channel, even though us viewers made it crystal clear to them NOT to show him ever. So I won’t miss CNN at all in case if they ever do fall under that ownership

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Kent Cooper's avatar

Bari Weiss is the enemy within for the LGBTQ community. She particularly despises trans people and has supported J. K. Rowling when Rowling was under fire for her anti-trans statements.

She is also a Zionist

She describes herself as a Jewish lesbian.

https://www.them.us/story/bari-weiss-cbs-news-free-press-anti-trans?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=ad&utm_mailing=THEM_TheAgenda_10925&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&utm_term=ard_the-source&bxid=68478ef2aef7f8c0e60ce3d7&cndid=89147661&hasha=713b12101879cd09eee3c37cd6a838ed&hashb=c5235a441c5ef33ca38945d1cbeecd4aaa87a133&hashc=b65ebc1769905d609a0be8ca87f22176efd574e80bc048e29f1e79cd1f56b17d&esrc=

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VEE LAVALLEE's avatar

Wow! A "Jewish lesbian" how does that jive with trump's right wing on "family values?" I guess she gets a pass if she hates all of their other long list of people to hate.

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Texas Strikes Back's avatar

She’s responsible for the murder of Refaat Alareer. She is a vile, devil of a human.

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Kent Cooper's avatar

I was unaware of this perfidy. But I looked it up and found that perhaps Alareer should not have posted a tasteless joke. Dovid Efune had reported a first responder had claimed "A baby was found in an oven, baked to death by Hamas terrorists."

In response Refaat Alareer from Gaza posted, "With or without baking soda?"

This is also perfidy. Imagine Netanyahu upon learning of children unable to obtain bread in Gaza (which he denied) posting in media "Let them eat cake." The outrage would have been enormous.

In this case evil Netanyahu proved to be smarter than a poet in Gaza.

Just so you know I'm not bullshitting anyone, here is the YouTube video blaming Weiss for Alareer's death. Pause at the 3:39 marker to see Refaat's response that marked him for death. https://youtu.be/2rz52wl9mAs?si=bHSLp8_xTljXY4kJ

Although this commentator says the baby in the oven is a lie, here is what the Jewish Chronicle reported on November 1, 2023:

"An Israeli emergency worker has claimed he saw the remains of a baby who had been baked to death in an oven by Hamas terrorists at Kibbutz Kfar Aza on

October 7.

Speaking in a video testimony, Asher Moskowitz of the United Hatzalah first responder group said he made the discovery on the fourth day of the war at a military base that had been set up as a centre for identifying those murdered by Hamas.

Moskowitz said the baby arrived in a small bag. Inside he saw the tiny body, burnt and swollen, bearing marks that he claimed to be able to identify as the result of the body having been pressed against a heating element.

“They took the baby and put it, literally, in a kitchen oven,” Moskowitz said, recounting the assessment of professional staff at the base.

“The body hardened and, unfortunately, appeared to have also swollen,” he said. “And really, the heating element of the oven was on the body itself.”"

--------------

Read the story for yourself. There is a video there of Asher Moskowitz stating on X what he saw. https://www.thejc.com/news/i-saw-a-baby-who-had-been-baked-in-an-oven-says-israeli-emergency-worker-qw2nn4os

Maybe the worker lied, maybe not. Maybe someone faked Dovid Efune's post and Alareer's response. But with Weiss in America, she probably believed it too! And this is why trusting media is so very fraught with danger. I now try to check multiple sources and even then, I sometimes get fooled.

If you are seeking for truth, you need to find it in person.

And I would only trust in being in person about half the time.

Shalom.

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Texas Strikes Back's avatar

You have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about. Genocidal POS. Fuck you! You think I’m going to believe what a bunch of Israeli Jews have to say? They are all just like Weiss. You don’t even know what side you’re on. Here you go. You want the truth, or are you going to recite Hasbara bullshit!!??Rapist Pedo!

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/refaat-alareer-was-assassinated-israel

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Kent Cooper's avatar

Well, you show your colors for sure. Qasim Rashid is a man of justice and fairness. You are not---but then few people of fairness have Texas in their name.

You've just shown you pick the shit you want to believe. I think shit media is idiocy to believe without multiple sources. I didn't say Weiss is an angel. She IS crap, but so are you for being the same kind of fool believing a source that is tainted with its own viewpoint. And you proved it by pasting something by Intafada. The Electronic Intifada (EI) is an online publication that covers the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a Palestinian perspective.

That cannot be anymore "fair" than the Jewish Chronicle.

Weiss and you -- you're both the same. Choosing to believe the shit your own side feeds you. Me, I hate the IDF AND Hamas. And one thing I've learned is that both sides are like Jesus---“He who is not with Me is against Me,” Matthew 12:30.

Well, I'm not on the side of any racist---Jewish or Palestinian.

Respond if you desire, I won't see it, because I've muted this thread.

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Texas Strikes Back's avatar

Yeah, Qasim is a good man. What does that have to do with you being an Israeli troll?

The Electronic Intifada covers it with a human perspective. One of the journalists is Jewish, but not a lying ass Zionist. You’re either clueless about the Zionists or just playing dumb. There isn’t one word of truth they speak, and the whole world knows it at this point. You hate people resisting occupation, land theft and murder of their people. That should say enough about who you are. You’ve shown your true colors as a genocide apologist and obvious Zionist. Fuck off!

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Benjamin's avatar

She has the strong contradiction of being for free speech and against cancel culture, but no one, not even Jews, have the right to criticize Israel. There's a good episode of Robert Wrights' Nonzero podcast discussing her ascension to CBS and the pro-Zionist takeover of American media generally, I also recommend a recent article on the Defector website that discusses her and the capitulation of CBS and other news organizations to the Trump regime. I'll steal a quote from that article: "She has the heart of a cop, and the brain of a tadpole."

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Kent Cooper's avatar

I would ask why Jews don't have a right to criticize Israel. As an American I can criticize my nation for failing Ukraine, deporting citizens and imprisoning thousands more, and cutting people off from Medicaid.

Now I know she is supporting Israel for all the destruction it is reeking on Gaza, but I support her right to be an ass. So do I particularly with regard to America. Trump loyalists ARE asses and I support their right to let their mouths be buttholes.

I loved your quote: "She has the heart of a cop, and the brain of a tadpole."

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Qasim Rashid, Esq.'s avatar

The contradictions within herself are mind boggling.

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Sharon Katz's avatar

CBS started as a place to advertise the Paley cigar company, so it's only fitting it should wind up as a cancer.

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VEE LAVALLEE's avatar

Well well. That came back to bite them in the ass! You can never escape your roots.

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