Bilal Baydoun

Mark Sanchez is doing football commentary the right way.

by Ezra Klein

💯

Greta Thunberg is braver than most of us, and I’ll never entertain any other opinion of her.

Will someone remind me why Greta Thunberg can be arrested but Benjamin Netanyahu can't?

My immensely talented colleague @aasthauprety.bsky.social made this for me. You are going to be seeing a lot of it. Share it around. Spread the good word about what FDR did.

Americans’ Trust in Media Hit a Record Low This Week. Only Public Media Can Restore It. - Roosevelt Institute Wednesday’s government shutdown was the final nail in the coffin of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which officially closed after having its funding rescinded by the Trump administratio...

Americans' trust in media hit an all-time low this week. But the trust numbers for public media look totally different. The public is wary of how commercial pressures impact news fairness and accuracy — and for good reason.

rooseveltinstitute.org/blog/trust-i...

How the two-state solution became a “big, expedient lie” In a new book, Robert Malley, a veteran US peace negotiator, argues it is well past time to think beyond an idea he spent much of his career pursuing.

“Over time, [the two state solution] did become something that people greeted with a yawn—and then as a joke, or a lie.”

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

New @rfunkfordham.bsky.social report on the 15th anniversary of Citizens United. The evidence is now clear, in part through Rachel's research, that CitUtd has:

-increased the influence of billionaires
-reduced state democratic performance
-made state governments more rightwing
-increased corruption

Graph showing billionaire spending in Presidential elections before and after Citizen's United.

NEW📝: A flood of billionaire money in elections started after the SCOTUS #CitizensUnited decision.

Since 2010, billionaire 💰💰 in elections has grown 160x, giving the wealthy huge power over policy while regular voters lose influence. 🧵1/3

Where are we 15 years after SCOTUS sanctioned virtually unlimited campaign contributions from billionaires and large corporations? @rfunkfordham.bsky.social's new report analyzes how the Citizens United decision is corroding democracy on multiple fronts, and calls for renewed urgency for reforms.

We simply have to become more serious people and less self-serious persons. I swear.

Its insane that American politics now more or less revolves around infrequently passing a single comically large overstuffed money bill instead of like... normal legislation

In Michigan news

‘UChicago was not risk-averse when it came to digital assets. The university’s financial statement shows it invested $64mn in cryptocurrencies in 2021. Samstein said the value of those holdings had “well more than doubled” since their acquisition (the school stopped publishing the value of the position after 2022). The investment has not yet generated any distributions, but Samstein said it was “not designed for cash flow.’

I’m sorry for the people who work at UChicago but its rake-stepping crypto-bro leaders are pretty funny, even before you think about the linkages with their famous economic ideology.

on.ft.com/4mK5vQS

This is not just a key point about the US but read across the two posts is one of the sharpest short analyses of Starmerism. Starmerism is when you think your opponent’s worldview was decisively affirmed and govern accordingly.

Yes. Even though he’s really not. Some people just don’t understand or can’t relate to the intellectual tradition he comes from.

I don’t think anyone is ready or fully grasping what this sweeping takeover will mean

Vowels were the biggest threat to American democracy all along. Who knew.

Would like to re-up my 6-word platform:

Stop corruption. Lower costs. End wars.

If they had a right-wing, “tough-on-crime” coded mayor there would be endless national profiles about him and how he finally brought sanity back to Chicago.

3.2M Americans could be lifted out of poverty. Its cost is less than a single tax break in Trump’s budget bill.

We can afford to do it.

In #FiresideStacks🔥, @socio-steve.bsky.social explores why it’s the perfect time to fix what’s broken in Social Security. www.firesidestacks.com/p/ssi-reform...

Threats to Free Speech Won’t End with Late-Night Comedians - Roosevelt Institute The media industry today is more consolidated than ever, with 5 companies controlling 90 percent of mass media, compared to 50 companies 30 years ago. Of course, this level of consolidation can act as...

Free speech depends on a diverse media landscape.

Consolidation hands politicians and corporations the power to decide which voices get heard—and which don’t.

Its impact is becoming increasingly evident every day, and it is a danger to democracy. rooseveltinstitute.org/blog/threats...

Reminder as well

If we don’t start treating our media system as core democratic infrastructure, we’re in real trouble. Hyper consolidated media conglomerates are accountable to their shareholders, not to the free expression that is the lifeblood of their industry and our democracy. My latest:

Threats to Free Speech Won’t End with Late-Night Comedians - Roosevelt Institute The media industry today is more consolidated than ever, with 5 companies controlling 90 percent of mass media, compared to 50 companies 30 years ago. Of course, this level of consolidation can act as...

Last night, Kimmel returned to ABC—except in the ~25% of markets controlled by Nexstar & Sinclair. As broadcasters like Nexstar pursue mergers, the FCC may be signaling that approval requires loyalty. @bilalb.bsky.social on how consolidation magnifies threats to free speech: https://bit.ly/4myICQe

The richest man on earth owns X.

The second richest man on earth is about to be a major owner of TikTok.

The third richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

The fourth richest man owns The Washington Post.

See the problem here?

100%.

If local media owners want to be right-wing hacks, or anything else, that is their business, but a single company like Sinclair controlling this many stations is simply too big of a chokepoint.

See also Facebook's acquisition of Instagram etc.

“If you’re editing a newspaper, you’re an editor. If your newspaper is the only media outlet in the country, you become a censor.” Good way to capture the inherently authoritarian and censorious threat of consolidation by @matthewstoller.bsky.social.

This could not be more correct. It's easier to censor media that is consolidated. Repeal the Telecommunications Act of 1996.