And what happens if a trans female person submits an op-ed about the "personal liberty" of playing on a male sports team? What happens if a woman submits an op ed about the "personal liberty" of repro rights? What happens if a student submits an op ed about the "personal liberty" of school safety?
Watching Fascism grow and strengthen by the day in the most powerful country in the history of the world is a frightening and somewhat helpless feeling.
I don't think people know how to protest anymore. Protests in the past had a singular purpose, whether general strikes, marches, sit-ins etc. There needs to be a message large portions of the masses can rally around.
Because most of us can get fired any time, for any reason. Most people can’t afford to miss a single paycheck. A general strike will only happen once large numbers of people are already unemployed and have nothing to lose.
Will Eugene Robinson and Jonathan Capehart exit left and find another news outlet where they will be more comfortable? I hope so. They no longer fit the WAPO profile.
Don't they understand how utterly ludicrous they sound.
Not to mention hypocritical.
Singing the praises of "Freedom" whilst curtailing debate and freedom of the press.
They're much more interested in controlling the narrative and manipulating the political landscape than in our freedom.
The way to punish Bezos is to cancel your Amazon Prime Membership. Amazon makes $30 BILLION/year from Prime Membership fees and an estimated 95% ($28.5 billion) drops straight to the bottom line. These Membership fees represent a whopping 48% of 2024 net profit.
Here is Jeff Bezo's super yacht "support vessel". It contains all the toys like jet skis, helicopters, zodiac tenders, extra booze and motors with the super yacht wherever it goes.
The annual cost to maintain the super yacht and its support vessel is: ~$30 million
The new order loves hypocrisy. They don't care about ethics or morals unless it is their own, and fit whatever deranged "untouchable billionaire mood" they're in.
They feel they're owed and can't be slighted.
They said the Titanic couldn't sink or the tower of Babylon couldn't fall either.
Yes! It’s a dilemma ! Live on Island. No alternative right now. Detest FB but every other idiot is on it and only way to find out now what’s on in town! Never use Twitter. These people have us …..
I am going to have to expand my horizons ! It’s so dam easy to order from Amazon which is also an attraction. They bloody know how to press the right buttons to draw us in! I do order direct from some major stores but majority Amazon. Going to have to stop
We switched over to using Costco for just about every home delivery. There are still some things we get from Amazon, and the streaming service is okay (although many movies you have to pay for now) but trying to determine if we cancel Prime altogether.
"Free markets" means no subsidies for fossil fuel extraction and earned and unearned income are taxed at the same rate, correct?
"Personal liberties" means a woman has total control over her healthcare decisions and no books are banned, correct?
Having worked for a mercurial billionaire media owner – Rupert Murdoch, and yes please I’m aware – I can tell you from experience that it’s the anticipatory compliance that is the most insidious.
I did, however, once get a call from Murdoch, ordering my coverage to be favorable on a Fox movie
David Shipley presided over the long slide downward into irrelevancy. It was under his watch the decision was made to not make a presidential endorsement.
He’s not entirely above criticism, but I guess it got too putrid even for him…
If I wanted the Wall Street Journal, I’d subscribe to the Wall Street Journal. I’ve cancelled my WaPo sub. Still have NYT and now casting about for another quality paper.
You were right: FT is several hundred a year, too rich for a pensioner.
So I got WSJ for a cheapo one-year rate. At least they’ve always been consistent about who they are. And they did refer to the “dumbest trade
war” in history.
“…exits as Jeff Bezos steers the page in a new direction”. Are you fucking kidding me NY Times? How about “As Bezos kills editorial autonomy to curry favor with Trump, opinion editor quits in protest”. There. I fixed it for you. You are pathetic 🤦♀️
No earlier than that it was the NYT & the reporting of Judith Miller & Iraq war in 2002-2003 she later claimed she was "accurately conveying wrong information" on the weapons of mass destruction. They just eventually fired her & marched on
The reality is that the far right is not going to go to WashPost regardless of the editorial changes they make. The NYT didn't see a rush of new subscribers as they moved right.
How much US media is now right-wing & toeing the Trump line?
In the UK it's all been right-wing for many years apart from a couple of newspapers (Mirror & Guardian) & the BBC which attempts to convey both sides, but attracts much criticism in the process.
The media are destroying democracy, imho.
I spent last weekend writing 11 years’ worth of book titles (with authors and ratings) into a lovely journal I was given at Xmas. Then deleted my account. I loved Goodreads (and the reading challenges) but no more Bezos for me. (He bought it but didn’t create it FYI.)
AbeBooks, ThriftBooks, and Books-A-Million all have lots of titles. AbeBooks and ThriftBooks are quite good for all sorts of used books from many independent book sellers.
https://bookshop.org - a network of locally-owned book stores. You can adopt a store as the beneficiary of the profits on your orders, or if you don't adopt one, it gets divided among all of them.
Sad. RIP @washingtonpost.com @postopinions.bsky.social
Since this is confirmed, I will cancel my online Post subscription. I was holding out, hoping, but it’s over. I subscribed for decades. I have a framed picture of me in the Washington Post hanging on my wall. Sad that it’s over.
I think the call to action is for these highly respected, highly ethical people to form a new organization built to meet today's and tomorrow's challenges. News is not entertainment. Journalism is not opinion. Money is not speech. Time to recognize WAPO is part of the problem.
Personal liberties my bekeister. Have you read them? One is a plagiarized rework of a Trump talking point from 2018. The others seem to be written by fruit flies.
"I am of America and for America, and proud to be so,” Mr. Bezos said. “Our country did not get here by being typical."
Is Mr. Bezos totally blind that America is falling under fascistic rule at this very moment? I suppose not, since he's one of the few people who will benefit from that happening.
Why would the second richest bloke in the world want to prevent criticism of the richest bloke in the world if they both “just worked bloody hard” for their money?
Bezos turned WAPO from a great paper to a soiled, used rag. What next, will he be writing editorials à la Musk in X? Wrong way to go, Jeff! With all your billions, are you threatened by....opinions? What's wrong with you, dude?
They have not done anything remotely this bad. It's not just the content they are promoting, it's that the owner is now dictating editorial policy after years of being a light touch.
NYT's missteps have been misdemeanors at worst.
Can you focusing your griping more on crummy stories vs good ones?
I get it. The NYTimes is an imperfect institution. Mainstream media is slow to adapt and upholds the status quo too much. Let’s celebrate good work just as much as we complain about bad work. Just for balance.
Their excuse for spiking that Telnaes cartoon over which she left was that the editorial page had already covered the subject. I guess repetitively covering the same issues there is no longer a concern.
Will be interesting how they discuss "personal liberties" of transgender folks...
Comments
Must be so hard for you all now!
Not to mention hypocritical.
Singing the praises of "Freedom" whilst curtailing debate and freedom of the press.
They're much more interested in controlling the narrative and manipulating the political landscape than in our freedom.
PUNISH Bezos = CANCEL Amazon Prime
The annual cost to maintain the super yacht and its support vessel is: ~$30 million
And for me in a way a symptom of a failed society.
They feel they're owed and can't be slighted.
They said the Titanic couldn't sink or the tower of Babylon couldn't fall either.
Someone needs to set up a cooperative and ethical version.
Happy to pay 10-20% more and wait double the time for deliveries for an ethical alternative.
I have had no problem ordering stuff that I can’t get here from city retailers. Mostly arrives in a day or two.
Depending on what it is it’s often no charge for shipping.
Then again, a lot of brick and mortar companies are pretty bad as well.
@nytpitchbot.bsky.social
"Personal liberties" means a woman has total control over her healthcare decisions and no books are banned, correct?
It is not enough, but it is something. Bezos is clearly not even trying.
I did, however, once get a call from Murdoch, ordering my coverage to be favorable on a Fox movie
He’s not entirely above criticism, but I guess it got too putrid even for him…
So I got WSJ for a cheapo one-year rate. At least they’ve always been consistent about who they are. And they did refer to the “dumbest trade
war” in history.
In the UK it's all been right-wing for many years apart from a couple of newspapers (Mirror & Guardian) & the BBC which attempts to convey both sides, but attracts much criticism in the process.
The media are destroying democracy, imho.
I like Better World Books, and have been buying both new and used books from them for almost 20 years.
If you find a larger grocery store or pharmacy, they often have a book section, and may cheerfully order whatever you want.
Since this is confirmed, I will cancel my online Post subscription. I was holding out, hoping, but it’s over. I subscribed for decades. I have a framed picture of me in the Washington Post hanging on my wall. Sad that it’s over.
@mcuban.bsky.social
Is Mr. Bezos totally blind that America is falling under fascistic rule at this very moment? I suppose not, since he's one of the few people who will benefit from that happening.
amazon can kiss my ass.
Cool.
They'll be next.
Remember, they said Hitler was a nice guy.
:
https://www.nytimes.com/1933/01/31/archives/hitler-puts-aside-aim-to-be-dictator-german-cabinet-also-reveals.html
NYT's missteps have been misdemeanors at worst.
I get it. The NYTimes is an imperfect institution. Mainstream media is slow to adapt and upholds the status quo too much. Let’s celebrate good work just as much as we complain about bad work. Just for balance.
Will be interesting how they discuss "personal liberties" of transgender folks...
https://archive.ph/TkRDc