News and commentary for understanding and coping with the years ahead...
Leadership
The governor of Illinois recognizes the simple truth about what is happening – a metastasizing American fascism – and vows to resist it with every fiber of his being. Contrast this with the indecision most Democratic politicians have been showing, and the pathetic weakness in what's left of "mainstream" journalism.
Pritzker demonstrates a quality we desperately need: leadership. Watch the video, please.
Silicon Valley's fascists are small minority, but they include the bosses
Tech CEOs and money men cozying up to the Trump administration have no shame about the the 180-degree contortions they have to perform to protect their investments. When Andreessen talks about the far-left “radicalizing” Silicon Valley’s college-educated employees and blocking startups with safety regulations, he’s really talking about his own far-right radicalization, and his resistance to the legitimate desire of tech workers and society at large to ensure that powerful new technologies serve the public good.
This Lost Angeles Times op-ed (one of the authors is a good friend) is a much-needed reminder that rank-and-file tech workers in Silicon Valley want nothing to do with the metastasizing fascism their bosses have embraced. It also points out the ugly hypocrisy of people like Marc Andreessen, who welcomed Democratic help when it suited his business interests. What a dangerous slimeball he has become.
Kudos: John Markoff, Lenny Siegel
Cryptocurrency corruption in Trump world, and far beyond
In the wake of President Trump’s unprecedented decision to launch a memecoin on January 17 (in which most people lost money, as I helped the New York Timesreport), other governments and government figures are jumping on board, and to even more catastrophic results.
Molly White's brilliant journalism is near the top of my must-read list. No one even approaches her reporting on the cryptocurrency "industry" – the collection of wildly corrupt operations that, from almost all appearances, serves as a platform for tax evasion and conning foolhardy speculators out of their money.
Crypto is naturally attractive to crooked politicians like Trump and, in a debacle that would be rejected by a publishing house as too ridiculous for a novel, Argentina's "populist" leader. They exhibit not a shred of sympathy for their victims, which of course is on-brand.
If you are considering what you imagine to be an investment in cryptocurrency, I beg you to reconsider. Don't give your money the sleaziest people around. That goes triple if they're also running governments.
Hat tip to the creators and contributors to this group-edited document – entitled "Some Actions That Are Not Protesting or Voting" – a spinoff of other documents on the web. It's already useful, and thought-provoking, and has the makings of an invaluable resource. I'll be looking for more of these kinds of things, and will share them with you.
A central theme in the document is taking action beyond voting and protesting. Those are, of course, vitally important. But at a time like this, it has never been more important for us all to remember that democracy doesn't depend solely on voting, or public speech. Democracy is at least as much, and I believe even more, about participation – politically, socially, and other ways that can help us improve our communities, large and small.
Participation seems to have fallen by the wayside among Democrats and liberals, too many of whom stood by over the decades while right wing acted on their convictions. Their answers to our problems were, and remain, abhorrent. But it started with participation. The emergent American fascism planted its modern roots in school board elections and other local institutions. People who want to save our democracy have a lot of ground to make up, but if they don't even try, we're done.
How I put this together
This newsletter is a compendium of the reporting and commentary that best explains the America's political, economic, and social conditions – and, most important, how we can find a way back from the dark days ahead. You will rarely find anything here from the New York Times or Washington Post or any of the other Big Journalism companies that failed us so completely during the 2024 elections and are now sucking up – even more than usual – to Donald Trump, his cult, and corporate oligarchs. My focus will be on smaller, more honorable outlets (and individuals). I hope you'll support them with your attention and your money. For more details, please read my About page.
Please send your suggestions
I spend a lot of time looking for essential coverage, and hope you'll help me by letting me know about the good stuff you find. Let me know.
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John Markoff and Lenny Siegel
Molly White
