trump never watched, or allowed his children to watch, Sesame Street. Too woke for them back then, or even now. The show taught love, fairness, equality, and so much more. This country is so fortunate to have evil as its president. /s
What a shame to lose Sesame Street and the other children's shows. My son watched them in the 1970s, and we still know the characters and songs. What a loss!
Qasim, I’ve been reading Maria Ressas’ book about standing up to a dictator and your “state media” post started sparking connections in my brain. She mentioned how she was part of a study about state-bought online trolling. I wanted to share the link with you for a deeper dive/discussion topic for your future articles.
💙 love all your hard work and content!
“Patriotic Trolling: The Rise of State-Sponsored Online Hate Mobs”
We the people have learned in recent years that any news outlet that is commercially supported is not to be trusted. Thank goodness for the Internet that allows us all to seek and find solid sources for news. My favorite for Israel/Palestine is DropSite with Ryan Grim and Jeremy Scahill.
The mistake we made in years gone by was to believe the lie that commercial TV was "free TV" because it was advertising supported. As someone who spent his career with ABC and then ABC/Disney, I could not wait to retire from giving people what they wanted rather than what they needed. I don't have a TV and can hardly bear to endure it when I run into it in public spaces.
Substack is not free, though my own is, but the cost to access truth and to know exactly who it is that is running the substack is a good deal. The challenge is to choose from all the good stuff out there. In the process one gets educated.
“Why did they do nothing with this? Because NPR is more pro-Zionist than they would like to admit. They didn’t call out the crumbling Israeli lies of 7 October; they didn’t point out that ALL charges of rape by Hamas had been completely and thoroughly debunked; they didn’t report on the Israeli liar who admitted spreading those falsehoods; they didn’t report on this same man having admitted to spreading the lies about Hamas beheading 40 babies (which the Editor of the Jerusalem Post called out previously that “those who made up these lies can no longer be called Jews”); they didn’t call out the admissions of IDF soldiers bragging about stripping and raping Palestinian women and children — in public, in homes, in hospitals; they didn’t call out the discovery of bound Palestinians being recovered in the rubble of Al-Shifa hospital, having been executed by IDF soldiers (they called it a “successful operation”); they didn’t report on the children who were executed on those grounds during the “successful operation”; they didn’t report on the voluminous charges of rape performed on Palestinian women in front of their families, and the men executed who tried to stop it; they didn’t call out the NYT false “investigative” rape retort; they didn’t report that Zionists produced drama videos of IDF soldiers dressing as Hamas (without balaclavas) pretending to rape the Daisy Duke Israeli actress, or the Israeli actress playing the part of a Palestinian nurse from Al-Shifa (who had been identified including her real name); they didn’t challenge Biden or Trump or ANY politician over their complete lack of morals or ethics; they didn’t challenge Biden’s repeated lies, evasions, and obfuscations. NPR has become as worthless as any other news organization. Is it possible that NPR receives donations from Zionists and AIPAC? Maybe they should change their name to ZPR. (Update: As of 26 April 24 “700 bodies now discovered at Nasser hospital alone (1,500 uncovered at Al Shifa), patients, some with catheters still attached, children, with hands still bound, doctors and nurses, still wearing their scrubs, many shot in the back of the head at point blank range execution-style” — Carina Malatesta).
I stopped listening to NPR long ago. Terry Gross ("Fresh Air") always avoided Israel as a topic and Robert Siegel ("All Things Considered") the same. I don't know if either one of them are still on the air. Otherwise, I thought NPR content was pablum, the kind of thing that makes a comfortable person remain feeling comfortable while thinking he/she is in the know.
I read more of your posts. I read the current one in its entirety. Your other comments in substack and your observations are enlightening and unapologetically truthful. Of course I wasn’t aware about anything that NPR was omitting in their facade of unbiased journalism. I do know this, the more I learn the less I know, and many times knowing is painful. Take that as you will.
Thank you, Qasim! You are one of the first I subscribed ($) to when I found Substack. Appreciate your courage! Also please mention Pacifica radio network - only funded by the generous public. I give $50/month to KPFA, my local radio station. Plus - Democracy Now! and Amy Goodman hold up the truth on public airwaves M-F, all around the world. Amy is brave and relentless! Please remember these journalists as well. Thank you again!
Wow. It’s just like we’ve gone back to 1933, and Joe Goebbels has just been taken out of shrink wrap and given control over all news and entertainment media in the US. There are so many parallels that can be drawn here between the two dictatorships it’s incredible. 🤮
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is gone. My local NPR (KUT in Austin) put out an emergency message that "we're not going anywhere" and asking for emergency funding, and I gave. I give monthly also for years, and will continue to do so. Our local PBS (KLRU) I will continue to give monthly. Somehow, we will eke through these terrible times, but I lament the kids that will not have the great kid shows my kids watched, to entertain & teach them kindness and generosity.
I am discouraged, but will keep up the fight. I love the IDEA of our experiment in democracy, and do not want to lose it.
This control of the media is about rewriting history when it comes to racism. Or maybe not just rewriting it but enforcing old beliefs. Of course they don't want children growing up with a non-racial attitude. It makes them fear that their white race is having to share power. Not something they can understand so can't accept. I'm constantly amazed that a country so diverse as the US hasn't changed one iota from the way they were in the civil war times. Of course Trump wants to bring those times back. Replacing statues of slave owners is an example, but not the only one. Until America makes a concerted effort to discuss this issue they will for generations to come, be able to keep minority races under the threat of losing their perceived "freedom." The people behind Trump like Miller, will always be working overtime to to realise his world view. He knows he only has Trumps term to do it in. I think they are escalating on so many sides of this because it's inevitable that when Trump is gone so are their visions of their white race dominant society. I don't think the majority of Americans understand that the threat isn't just from Trump, the man, but from his controllers. Trump is a racist but if he didn't have those authors of Project 2025 leading him he wouldn't stand a snowballs chance in hell of accomplishing this end. Can I suggest that instead of constantly trying to dig up the dirt on Trump that maybe they should ALSO bring into view his enablers and the people that hold the strings.
Thank you for putting a spotlight on the "true players" behind Trump. The architects of project 2025 as well as the Federalist Society have used SCOTUS, the Republican party, and even Trump as pawns to achieve their ends. Which is why I wont delude myself in believing that this will all end with Trump. The rot of fascism is too ingrained inside the Republican party and Federalist Society will just install another pawn to take Trump place and as I observed since the 2024 election that JD Vance is malleable enough for the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society to deem useful.
I agree. This is going to get worse before it gets better. Though there’s no reason to believe it will get better. What they are doing to those institutions and to your allies around the world is going to leave America crippled. Most countries will help once he’s gone but his enablers, especially those elected to high office for their lifetimes are going to be difficult to square away with an “I’m sorry.” The system has to change, drastically to make sure this never happens again. Your governments only friends currently are the ones who were your enemies 6 months ago!
I agree. The rise of white nationalist fascism in this country owes much to the billionaires comprising the probably overlapping memberships of the Heritage and Federalist Societies. Together they have subverted SCOTUS and the Republican party, and installed a charismatic puppet as POTUS.
I agree with all you say Judith. Subverting SCOTUS isn't a new action committed by rethuglicans. Roberts was already following The Heritage Foundation's dictum since 2013 while on the Supreme Court. I believe that, obviously better screening is put into practise. It won't be of course! Trump the puppet has no REAL power, except that bestowed on him by THF & FS. So I think we should report more on their aims than Trump's. The people living silently in the background need to feel the pressure as much as Trump. If not even more. If you cut off the head off the The Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Foundation it will be expose who they really are! They are the dangerous USA propagandists using stupid Trump to further their agenda. From what I've read this has been going on for decades. They only needed a lowlife who only cares about being rich to put their plan into action.
Yes, the plan has been decades in the making, involving taking over local governments from school boards and town councils up and on to the county and state levels. It's a brilliant plan and the oligarchs have been persistent throughout, bringing it to its ugliest fruition.
Your comments allow me to say, you are extremely conversant in this 'stuff.' Technology has certainly helped with their aims. Money equals power. Can we stop this rollercoaster ride? I ask because I've never believed in the concept of the "inevitable."
Alas, I'm not "conversant" enough to have new answers. I think we have to keep persisting with GOOD TROUBLE - attending rallies, posting on social media, writing to Congresspeople, joining/supporting progressive organizations, supporting independent media, writing letters to local newspapers, and getting into the weeds regarding specific issues and specific groups under attack (eg, immigrant rights, women's rights, voting rights, environment/global warming, LGBTQ rights, public health, anti-poverty measures, misuse of federal troops and federal funds, and much more). The more people who visibly, vocally RESIST the ongoing fascist takeover, the better our chances to block and undo the loss of democracy.
The Fapweasel (Trump) didn’t grow up with Sesame Street. He is too old, but I don't think he would have learned anything from it. There was Captain Kangaroo, but he probably didn’t watch that. He missed every opportunity to become a descent human being. The main influence in his early life was his father, who was very unethical, so it’s not surprising that he is, too.
trump never watched, or allowed his children to watch, Sesame Street. Too woke for them back then, or even now. The show taught love, fairness, equality, and so much more. This country is so fortunate to have evil as its president. /s
What a shame to lose Sesame Street and the other children's shows. My son watched them in the 1970s, and we still know the characters and songs. What a loss!
Qasim, I’ve been reading Maria Ressas’ book about standing up to a dictator and your “state media” post started sparking connections in my brain. She mentioned how she was part of a study about state-bought online trolling. I wanted to share the link with you for a deeper dive/discussion topic for your future articles.
💙 love all your hard work and content!
“Patriotic Trolling: The Rise of State-Sponsored Online Hate Mobs”
https://legacy.iftf.org/statesponsoredtrolling/
😖
We the people have learned in recent years that any news outlet that is commercially supported is not to be trusted. Thank goodness for the Internet that allows us all to seek and find solid sources for news. My favorite for Israel/Palestine is DropSite with Ryan Grim and Jeremy Scahill.
The mistake we made in years gone by was to believe the lie that commercial TV was "free TV" because it was advertising supported. As someone who spent his career with ABC and then ABC/Disney, I could not wait to retire from giving people what they wanted rather than what they needed. I don't have a TV and can hardly bear to endure it when I run into it in public spaces.
Substack is not free, though my own is, but the cost to access truth and to know exactly who it is that is running the substack is a good deal. The challenge is to choose from all the good stuff out there. In the process one gets educated.
“Why did they do nothing with this? Because NPR is more pro-Zionist than they would like to admit. They didn’t call out the crumbling Israeli lies of 7 October; they didn’t point out that ALL charges of rape by Hamas had been completely and thoroughly debunked; they didn’t report on the Israeli liar who admitted spreading those falsehoods; they didn’t report on this same man having admitted to spreading the lies about Hamas beheading 40 babies (which the Editor of the Jerusalem Post called out previously that “those who made up these lies can no longer be called Jews”); they didn’t call out the admissions of IDF soldiers bragging about stripping and raping Palestinian women and children — in public, in homes, in hospitals; they didn’t call out the discovery of bound Palestinians being recovered in the rubble of Al-Shifa hospital, having been executed by IDF soldiers (they called it a “successful operation”); they didn’t report on the children who were executed on those grounds during the “successful operation”; they didn’t report on the voluminous charges of rape performed on Palestinian women in front of their families, and the men executed who tried to stop it; they didn’t call out the NYT false “investigative” rape retort; they didn’t report that Zionists produced drama videos of IDF soldiers dressing as Hamas (without balaclavas) pretending to rape the Daisy Duke Israeli actress, or the Israeli actress playing the part of a Palestinian nurse from Al-Shifa (who had been identified including her real name); they didn’t challenge Biden or Trump or ANY politician over their complete lack of morals or ethics; they didn’t challenge Biden’s repeated lies, evasions, and obfuscations. NPR has become as worthless as any other news organization. Is it possible that NPR receives donations from Zionists and AIPAC? Maybe they should change their name to ZPR. (Update: As of 26 April 24 “700 bodies now discovered at Nasser hospital alone (1,500 uncovered at Al Shifa), patients, some with catheters still attached, children, with hands still bound, doctors and nurses, still wearing their scrubs, many shot in the back of the head at point blank range execution-style” — Carina Malatesta).
I stopped listening to NPR long ago. Terry Gross ("Fresh Air") always avoided Israel as a topic and Robert Siegel ("All Things Considered") the same. I don't know if either one of them are still on the air. Otherwise, I thought NPR content was pablum, the kind of thing that makes a comfortable person remain feeling comfortable while thinking he/she is in the know.
Interesting, I haven’t found a comment to your post.
I read more of your posts. I read the current one in its entirety. Your other comments in substack and your observations are enlightening and unapologetically truthful. Of course I wasn’t aware about anything that NPR was omitting in their facade of unbiased journalism. I do know this, the more I learn the less I know, and many times knowing is painful. Take that as you will.
Read the post
Thank you, Qasim! You are one of the first I subscribed ($) to when I found Substack. Appreciate your courage! Also please mention Pacifica radio network - only funded by the generous public. I give $50/month to KPFA, my local radio station. Plus - Democracy Now! and Amy Goodman hold up the truth on public airwaves M-F, all around the world. Amy is brave and relentless! Please remember these journalists as well. Thank you again!
Wow. It’s just like we’ve gone back to 1933, and Joe Goebbels has just been taken out of shrink wrap and given control over all news and entertainment media in the US. There are so many parallels that can be drawn here between the two dictatorships it’s incredible. 🤮
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is gone. My local NPR (KUT in Austin) put out an emergency message that "we're not going anywhere" and asking for emergency funding, and I gave. I give monthly also for years, and will continue to do so. Our local PBS (KLRU) I will continue to give monthly. Somehow, we will eke through these terrible times, but I lament the kids that will not have the great kid shows my kids watched, to entertain & teach them kindness and generosity.
I am discouraged, but will keep up the fight. I love the IDEA of our experiment in democracy, and do not want to lose it.
I've been using Ground News now and then since my daughter told me about it during the summer of 2020. Using it more and more now.
I subscribed to Ground News some time ago based on your recommendation. Love it!!
Ditto!
This control of the media is about rewriting history when it comes to racism. Or maybe not just rewriting it but enforcing old beliefs. Of course they don't want children growing up with a non-racial attitude. It makes them fear that their white race is having to share power. Not something they can understand so can't accept. I'm constantly amazed that a country so diverse as the US hasn't changed one iota from the way they were in the civil war times. Of course Trump wants to bring those times back. Replacing statues of slave owners is an example, but not the only one. Until America makes a concerted effort to discuss this issue they will for generations to come, be able to keep minority races under the threat of losing their perceived "freedom." The people behind Trump like Miller, will always be working overtime to to realise his world view. He knows he only has Trumps term to do it in. I think they are escalating on so many sides of this because it's inevitable that when Trump is gone so are their visions of their white race dominant society. I don't think the majority of Americans understand that the threat isn't just from Trump, the man, but from his controllers. Trump is a racist but if he didn't have those authors of Project 2025 leading him he wouldn't stand a snowballs chance in hell of accomplishing this end. Can I suggest that instead of constantly trying to dig up the dirt on Trump that maybe they should ALSO bring into view his enablers and the people that hold the strings.
Thank you for putting a spotlight on the "true players" behind Trump. The architects of project 2025 as well as the Federalist Society have used SCOTUS, the Republican party, and even Trump as pawns to achieve their ends. Which is why I wont delude myself in believing that this will all end with Trump. The rot of fascism is too ingrained inside the Republican party and Federalist Society will just install another pawn to take Trump place and as I observed since the 2024 election that JD Vance is malleable enough for the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society to deem useful.
I agree. This is going to get worse before it gets better. Though there’s no reason to believe it will get better. What they are doing to those institutions and to your allies around the world is going to leave America crippled. Most countries will help once he’s gone but his enablers, especially those elected to high office for their lifetimes are going to be difficult to square away with an “I’m sorry.” The system has to change, drastically to make sure this never happens again. Your governments only friends currently are the ones who were your enemies 6 months ago!
I agree. The rise of white nationalist fascism in this country owes much to the billionaires comprising the probably overlapping memberships of the Heritage and Federalist Societies. Together they have subverted SCOTUS and the Republican party, and installed a charismatic puppet as POTUS.
I agree with all you say Judith. Subverting SCOTUS isn't a new action committed by rethuglicans. Roberts was already following The Heritage Foundation's dictum since 2013 while on the Supreme Court. I believe that, obviously better screening is put into practise. It won't be of course! Trump the puppet has no REAL power, except that bestowed on him by THF & FS. So I think we should report more on their aims than Trump's. The people living silently in the background need to feel the pressure as much as Trump. If not even more. If you cut off the head off the The Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Foundation it will be expose who they really are! They are the dangerous USA propagandists using stupid Trump to further their agenda. From what I've read this has been going on for decades. They only needed a lowlife who only cares about being rich to put their plan into action.
Yes, the plan has been decades in the making, involving taking over local governments from school boards and town councils up and on to the county and state levels. It's a brilliant plan and the oligarchs have been persistent throughout, bringing it to its ugliest fruition.
Your comments allow me to say, you are extremely conversant in this 'stuff.' Technology has certainly helped with their aims. Money equals power. Can we stop this rollercoaster ride? I ask because I've never believed in the concept of the "inevitable."
Alas, I'm not "conversant" enough to have new answers. I think we have to keep persisting with GOOD TROUBLE - attending rallies, posting on social media, writing to Congresspeople, joining/supporting progressive organizations, supporting independent media, writing letters to local newspapers, and getting into the weeds regarding specific issues and specific groups under attack (eg, immigrant rights, women's rights, voting rights, environment/global warming, LGBTQ rights, public health, anti-poverty measures, misuse of federal troops and federal funds, and much more). The more people who visibly, vocally RESIST the ongoing fascist takeover, the better our chances to block and undo the loss of democracy.
Thanks Judith for using your words to support the resistance! Here are some more easy ways to help!
DAILY WAYS TO SUPPORT THE ANTI-TRUMP & FIGHT THE OLIGARCHS RESISTANCE:
https://open.substack.com/pub/onemommy/p/everyday-ways-support-the-anti-trumpfight?r=113nff&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Resistance is the key to keeping Trump on the backfoot that's for sure.
How to bypass billionaire media platforms and broadcast your message directly
https://thedemlabs.org/2025/08/07/how-to-bypass-billionaire-media-platforms-broadcast-your-message-directly-fastalert-now/
TAKE A BITE OUT OF CORPORATE MEDIA: Crowdsource and share news that really matters with the free Padlet app
https://thedemlabs.org/2025/08/06/crowdsource-news-to-take-a-bite-out-of-corporate-media-padlet/
The Fapweasel (Trump) didn’t grow up with Sesame Street. He is too old, but I don't think he would have learned anything from it. There was Captain Kangaroo, but he probably didn’t watch that. He missed every opportunity to become a descent human being. The main influence in his early life was his father, who was very unethical, so it’s not surprising that he is, too.
I'd say fascism has passed the quick march stage, and become your reality today.
free speech - gone
human rights- gone
I believe your country was always wrong in its ridiculous "melting pot"
message.
you don't boil em down and remold.
Canada's mosaic has always been superior.
unfortunately your illness is contagious and the dumbass, wicked witch premier of alberta and IT'S ilk are sick too.
canada needs an impermeable wall.
Qasim - You are a beacon of hope! A light in the harbor! Thank you!
Dan Donohue
You're much too kind, Don ❤️✊🏽