Notices by Dan Gillmor (dangillmor@mastodon.social)

1) AP calls Gulf of Mexico by the name it's had for 400 years. AP gets banned from attending Trump regime propaganda events.

2) The rest of the pathetic White House press corps talks journalism solidarity, but keeps on attending.

3) AP is getting the better deal here.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-ap-white-house-press-corps-pool-91535a6384d681fee1cd7e384ea6c627

All corruption, all the time in Trump-Musk world:

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/fda-staff-reviewing-musks-neuralink-were-included-doge-employee-firings-sources-2025-02-17/

I know this will be a shock to many of you, but a Harvard economics professor has written an article that provides a "textbook case of intellectual dishonesty."

https://prospect.org/economy/2025-02-18-intellectual-dishonesty-jason-furman/

(I strongly recommend the American Prospect for its relentlessly excellent journalism and commentary.)

It is completely unsurprising that "mainstream media" -- never mind the right-wing propaganda swamps -- obeyed the Trump-Musk wrecking crew, citing the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

I'd hoped they would at least put scare quotes around "Department".

But of course they didn't.

If you have a Kindle and "bought" ebooks over the years, you have a week to download and back up your files before Amazon blocks you from doing that.

There are scripts (see the thread below) that will bulk-download.

It's a reminder that Amazon is a rapacious monopolist.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=366171

You should ask yourself this question:

If the Trump regime was intent on destroying the United States, what would it do differently than things like wrecking public health and scientific research -- and essentially everything else it's doing?

I can't think of any rational explanation for the Trump regime's war on health and medical research except one, and it is ugly.

They want millions of Americans to die.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/nih-and-its-agencies-are-being-smothered/sharetoken/25af716a-54e2-442d-8d70-a31d9fd4ad9e

Brilliant NY Times article on Rupert Murdoch succession drama. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/13/magazine/rupert-murdoch-succession-family-trust-fight.html?unlocked_article_code=1.w04.cM5R.X1aRi4RXXx_m&smid=url-share

The old man and his favorite son are total sleazeballs, not that anyone should have had any doubt about that...

I gave Google Maps 1 star (out of 5) in a review of the Gulf of "America", saying this knee-bending misinformation was detrimental to the reputation of Google Maps itself.

The Team Fascist folks at Google deleted that -- and countless other -- reviews.

Unethical, but unsurprising.

I'm back online-ish after health matters required shutting down. Light posting, if any, for a while.

Wildly dismayed that "mainstream" journalism remains 95% clueless -- obviously on purpose at this point -- about the coup that's underway while Democrats publicly search for spines and voices.

Dems can't even make political hay of the Trump regime's killing off the agency that was trying to protect people from corrupt bankers.

Talking Points Memo editor Josh Marshall gets what most Big Journalism organizations refuse to consider, much less acknowledge:

"Musk Is In Charge of the US Government"

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/not-hyperbole-anymore-musk-is-in-charge-of-the-us-government

Our "news" orgs have barely begun to spot brush fires, much less the reality: Everything is burning.

Axios says Democratic "leadership" is pissed at people who ask Americans to call Congress members' office to demand they resist Trump lawlessness and vile policies.

If this is true, it pretty much sums up the sad condition of the official Democratic establishment.

https://www.axios.com/2025/02/12/democrats-jeffries-move-on-indivisible-trump

My new one-star (because there is no options for zero or minus-one) review of Google Maps:

"Bowing to the Trump regime's beyond-absurd renaming of this body of water harms Google Maps in several ways. Most importantly, it shows that you cannot trust Google Maps to be accurate."

Google is now officially a fascist tool, as its contemptible "Gulf of America" change shows -- and as removing progressive events from the calendar shows.

You MUST expect now that Google will gladly hand over your most personal information to the Trump regime or anyone the regime likes.

You never could trust Google, once it became an advertising company. You must now assume it is your likely enemy.

Some folks have asked if I've left. Short answer is no, still here and consider this my primary social media spot. Longer answer is I'm attending to health issues and they get priority over all the other stuff, though I check in here when I can; I'm glad this community exists, and is so robust.

"This is not reform, it is a coup cloaked in bureaucracy."

https://www.forever-wars.com/elon-musk-and-the-security-states-uvalde-moment/

Journalists: Trump tariffs are tax hikes on Americans. Please do your damned jobs and report that.

The flagrant lawbreaking by Trump, Musk et al is not, as Big Journalism says in its standard timid way, merely a push to expand presidential power.

It is testing whether there are ANY limits to presidential power whatsoever. It is testing whether Trump is king.

Why can't journalists get this?

Garrett Graff writes an article about what's happening in the US in the style a US journalist might use if covering the same events in a foreign banana republic:

https://www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/musk-s-junta-establishes-him-as-head-of-government

I recommend his newsletter. (Glad to say he doesn't use the odious Substack platform.)

Any journalists who are still actively participating at Musk's rancid platform are directly supporting him, his business, and his fascist friends.

They are collaborators.