Changes for the New Year and Independent Media

I have been writing this for a couple of years now, and while I am extremely grateful for all of the subscribers and followers, it has largely been for my own amusement. The reason that this little newsletter has no brand is that I write about what I want to, regardless of topic. That will not change, but I do think the cadence will change somewhat.

I find that trying to put out an article everyday has cut into my creative writing time, a hobby I enjoy. So I am going to cut back a bit. In the next year, the general plan will be to have one article on something well-research on Mondays (working on a description of why imitative AI cannot solve its hallucination problem for example), with Thursday keeping the book reviews and whining about sports, Friday keeping the Failed Writer series and Sunday’s good reads every week. So not a huge turn down, but one that lets me use my time better. I hope. I’m likely to just write about whatever catches my eye anyway, but its good to have plans so that you understand just how badly you failed to follow them. Accountability is important.

More importantly, I am not a journalist in the sense that I gather news. Obviously, anything I write is based on research and reporting done by others. Unfortunately, the news media is almost entirely controlled by friends of the Administration, pushing real news out of the way for stories that favor the Administration’s preferred narrative. That means that other sources of reporting have to be prioritized, and there are a few listed below that I support and find reliable. If you have the money, it would be well spent supporting the people below:

• Brian Merchant. You should also buy his excellent book.

• Pro Publica. I know that are having labor issues, but I have faith that they will be resolved properly. In the meantime, they are the premier investigative reporting outfit in the country.

• NPR. The grand daddy of them all. It can be infuriating, but it still does really good work.

• Men Yell at Me. Excellent all around reporting, especially on Midwestern and feminist perspectives.

• Abortion Every Day. What it says on the tin. Excellent reporting on a subject baldy or mis-covered by the larger media.

• Talking Points Memo. Excellent politics focused reporting.

• The Down Ballot. Excellent reporting focused on non-Presidential races.

• Law Dork. Excellent reporting focused on the legal system.

• Off Message. Insightful look at Democratic politics.

Supporting any of the above will help ensure that we get at least some counter-balance to a media effectively own by the oligarchy. They are at least as good a use of money as a Blackhawks ticket (see, I told you the whining about hockey wouldn’t stop ….)

Thanks again for reading this year and I hope the New Year finds you happy and healthy.