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Arlene Westhoven's avatar

J.D. Vance's menu for the inaugural dinner

Carrot-top Soup

CATcciatori

RATatouille

Hot DOGS with CATsup

MOUSE Mousse

Black CAT Chardonnay.

A pale yellow wine redolent

Of urine

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Daniel (Danny) St. Andrews's avatar

For me, it was very simple. I immediately canceled my subscription, just as I had previously canceled my Twitter account when Elon Musk bought it. My actions were like taking a shower after shitting myself. However, I will continue to buy stuff from Amazon, which makes me a bit of a hypocrite. But at least I am not a coward like Bezos!

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TCinDC's avatar

"No one cares about the Washington Post’s presidential endorsement. It will not move a single vote."

I have to disagree. An endorsement isn't simply a header, "We endorse X for president," and that's it. A rational, well-reasoned, factual endorsement — starkly contrasting the two candidates — could influence undecided voters out there. These undecideds may not even read the Post, but it would be republished on social media and shared by Post readers with people they know.

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Laura Pauli's avatar

"Democracy dies in the dark and the Washing Post has gone dark." ~Carl Bernstein 10/29/24 NYC

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Michelle Poitras's avatar

Ok... so I'm eating a little bit of Crow. I hemmed and hawed for a few minutes about sharing this, but I'd forgotten my whole fire stick tv service was also Amazon... so yes I do now still have an Amazon account so I can watch TV in my room.

I am currently falling back on the fact that Bezos is not CEO and his ownership is only 10% to try not to feel so guilty. Anyway, I didn't want to leave things with me being so righteous and then not telling the truth about this.

Maybe I'm overthinking everything, and none of this matters, but one thing I've always tried to stand by is honesty whenever possible, even if it is to a bunch of strangers on a comment thread. 😏

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lisa orlando's avatar

JVL: you may already know this, but Frank Bruni cited you, and this article, in NYT. So don’t worry about people who are so out of it that they don’t know what a JVL is.

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CW Stanford's avatar

Some of us will remain with the Bulwark and with RVAT and with Country First regardless. Let us hope that this happens under a better sky.

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P. Skinner's avatar

“Democracy Dies in Darkness”, should be scrubbed as the WAPO’s official slogan. Preemptive obedience by the wealthiest amongst us to Trump’s authoritarian clarion call should be a gigantic red flag to Americans; however, the lure of authoritarianism is hard to resist by the Bezos’s of the world, who received so much from America, show they care little for her citizens.

A free society demands a free press. If the fourth estate falls, so does American democracy.

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Richard Seibert's avatar

Here is my suggestion:

If a company/person has a defense contract, they cannot own or control more than x % (20%?) of a social media platform, newspaper, radio or television station.

Think about it -- let's say I own a large part of a company that makes bombs or satellites. The President is having some political problems at home so he/she decides to invade/attack a country. The reasons to start such an attack are flimsy at best and the Nation's military and intelligence agencies are not in favor of this idea, but they hold their tongues. I also own a media platform and a newspaper -- so do I agree with the military that it is a stupid idea or do I decide I can make a lot of money and so I tilt my media sources to attack?

(Yes, I know that Congress is supposed to approve an attack against another country, but that has been ignored before...)

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CW Stanford's avatar

The days of regulating media ownership are long over. If Bezos wishes to sup with the Devil, I advise eating with an even longer spoon.

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Phoenix Rodman's avatar

The scariest thing about Anticipatory Obedience is it could be a self-fulfilling prophecy. The big players have calculated their risks and decided, rightly, that the cost of pissing off Trump is greater than the cost of pissing us off in the Left. We are forgiving and inclusive. The big cats are counting on that. But we have teeth too, our teeth just aren’t as obvious and immediate as imprisonment and confiscation of wealthy estates. Our weapon is slower, more nuanced and includes a redistribution of resources often in innovative yet-to-be-seen kinds of ways.

I predict the positive outcome of this will be a move from privatization, profit-seeking leadership, toward messier community-driven decentralized powers. Case in point, outfits like the Bulwark and Substack will rise in both popularity and impact while the Bezos and Musk owned media outlets will slowly implode.

The thing is they need us. Look at the pathetic MSG rally. They had Tucker giggling nervously, some dude performing an exorcist (?) and poor Hulk Hogan can barely tear his tank top. They need us to give life and love to their sad existence with our talented artists and thinkers. They want Beyonce’s songs, Eminem’s raps, Leonordo Dicaprio’s performances! They just don’t know how to get us like a caveman who is trying to woo the pretty cave woman. Nothing he tries works so he just bangs her on the head and carts her away. No one’s happy in that situation.

We will win this ultimately. It might feel like heartbreak right now (and be sure that it indeed is on an immediate level) but if you zoom out in time and space this moment is an important beginning. An awakening perhaps.

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Michelle Poitras's avatar

When I learned of this yesterday, I canceled my subscription to the Post and also canceled all accounts I had with Amazon, including deleting my shopping account & payment information from the website. I really should have done it a long time ago, because I already had misgivings about Bezos' business practices, but this was the last straw. My husband suggested that I shouldn't deprive myself of those services, since my cancellation won't make a lick of difference to Bezos, but if more people did that, eventually, it would make a difference. And anyway, it makes a difference to me. I can't in good conscience keep giving him my money.

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benedict ives's avatar

Ominous parallels are revealed by your valuable insight. Thank you. Somehow, all this behavior we are witnessing reeks of cowardice, a cowardice we all knew probably existed anyway. These titans feeding at the trough of capitulation is somehow just so obscene.

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Roman Buhler's avatar

Perhaps the most important guardrail against intimidation by authoritarian tyrants is an independent Supreme Court. Before it’s too late to matter, Harris and at least a couple of Democrats in close Senate races ought to back a permanent constitutional ban on Supreme Court expansion that would otherwise undermine the Court’s independence. Swing voters might notice! Republicans who are backing Harris ought to urge her to do so.

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Who?'s avatar

That branch of government is already under fascist control, Roman. And I would have never thought I’d type out that sentence ten years ago.

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I Just Gotta Say…'s avatar

The former guardrails are now alarms -Kelly, McMaster, etc

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Susan Borkowski's avatar

I hear that last night at the NYC rally, Trump said to the crowd and to Mike Johnson, “We have a little secret.” A secret with the Speaker of the House? OMG. So, finally we know why Trump has been behaving like a man who knows the fix is in? Will MAGA create so much chaos with election results that they can force resolution to the House of Representatives, where they can steal the election? Please tell me it can’t happen!

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Tara's avatar

sadly, they can. It is. If the vote is dead even, the vote will go to the house of representatives. Our only hope will be that there are enough brave republicans to say no. Those voting no will be targets of the mob Trump has enabled and nourished.

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Maryanne Khan's avatar

Great, measured, and wise article JVL.

From afar, this election looks like a power struggle against an emerging dictatorship, that is valiantly being waged by half the population that are not in thrall to it. The other half are.

However, your good work with the Bulwark looks exactly like what it is - a demand for accountability of the largest and most serious cult to ever hold sway over what was once the nation that led the world.

This election is crucial.

I’m holding my breath and as a Bulwark member since I first came across your various posts and commentaries several months ago, am doing all I can to support you excellent folks. I and some other Kamala supporters here will be watching all day Nov 6th ( we’re a day ahead of you).

When she wins, you’ll hear the distant sounds of corks popping and tears of relief from all the way down under. Listen hard, we've been here alongside you for a long time, shoulder to shoulder.

🇦🇺

Maryanne.

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