Democracy
After the January 6 violence at the Capitol, Americans got a bigger national security state. What they didn’t get was solutions to any of the underlying forces that helped bolster right-wing extremism. It’s been a year since the Capitol riot, when Donald Trump supporters, whipped into a frenzy, ransacked governmental buildings, led directly to several
Media
Rightwing network presented a carnival of conspiracy theories casting blame anywhere other than on Trump and his supporters. Joe Biden marked the first anniversary of 6 January with a powerful, ideological speech about the choice between democracy and autocracy. It began a day of reflection in which Democratic Congress members and police officers spoke of
Capitalism
The scariest thing about Don’t Look Up is that as absurd as it is, it barely exaggerates. Much of our political elite are just as greedy and foolish, our media just as vapid, and our response to impending disaster exactly as mind-bogglingly irrational as in the movie. The times we live in are both shot through with
Media
China’s efforts to subdue the turkic-speaking Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region will be familiar to Techdirt readers. International awareness is increasing, too, not least thanks to the diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics that the US and other countries have announced. That presents an interesting challenge to the Chinese authorities: how to counter the growing evidence of pervasive
Media
Robert Reich – From favoring the status quo to indulging in false equivalence, the mainstream media engages in subtle, persistent biases. That’s why I read the Guardian. I’m often asked how I keep up with the news. Obviously, I avoid the unhinged rightwing outlets pushing misinformation, disinformation and poisonous lies. But I’ve also grown wary
Corporate Greed
The current conversation about inflation serves corporate interests. nflation is punching far above its weight in the minds of Americans immersed in louder and louder media alarms about rising prices — often stripped of any context or policy prescriptions that might complicate the narrative, embarrass the rich, or spotlight the predatory business practices of wildly