@Nonilex #LindellTV (AKA "the My Pillow guy's Youtube channel") is now in the Whitehouse press pool even as the Associated Press is still banned and boy do they ask some hard hitting questions.
https://x.com/CaraCastronuova/status/1904990967218012169

@gemelliz Was that reporter a #DanielleSmith stooge? I’d like to know which news media he represents. Anyone know? The fact he claims to be a reporter highlights the sorry condition of our #FourthEstate where clickbait gotcha questions are treated as serious questions. Shame on #CTVNews for even posting this. Canada’s economy is being attacked by our previous closest ally and Canadians are rallying together, #ElbowsUp, to protect our country. And this pathetic excuse of a reporter gets airtime!

@thevril @pluralistic @kino

#SurveillanceState

Which #Messenger To Replace the #DataKraken #WhatsApp with?

#FightTechnofeudalism

(10/n)

... of #Facebook's #CambridgeAnalyticaScandal:

https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/110536835544913854

No-one is safe from the FBI and the NSA anymore, as even during the #Biden Administration, illegal warrantless searches were frequent:

https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/114024972369241754.

Even the #FourthEstate, not only in #LatinAmerica, but also the #US has been targeted;

https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/113925430001498982:

...

Some #Republicans have accused #VOA & other publicly-funded #media outlets of being biased against *conservatives* [liars, criminals & extremists]. Last month, billionaire #ElonMusk, who is spearheading #Trump's government *downsizing* [destruction] effort, called for VOA & #RadioFreeEurope / #RadioLiberty to be shut down in a post to social media.

The Paris-based #ReportersWithoutBorders also blasted the move, w/its director general, Thibaut Bruttin, saying that it "threatens press freedom worldwide & negates 80 years of American history in supporting a free flow of #information."

The president of the #NationalPressClub in Washington, Mike Balsamo, released a statement on social media objecting to the moves at #VOA.

"For decades, #VoiceOfAmerica has delivered fact-based, independent #journalism to audiences worldwide, often in places where press freedom does not exist," Balsamo said.

The decision, he said, "undermines America's commitment to a free & independent press."

On its website, #RadioFreeEurope / #RadioLiberty notes that it has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian govt & warns readers in #Russia & Russia-occupied #Ukraine that they could "face fines or imprisonment for sharing, liking, commenting on, or saving our content, or for contacting us."

The #USAGM also terminated funding for #RadioFreeEurope / #RadioLiberty, which broadcasts to countries in #EasternEurope, including #Russia & #Ukraine, as well as for #RadioFreeAsia, which broadcasts to #China & #NorthKorea, acc/to letters seen by Reuters.

Multiple workers at #VoiceOfAmerica, an international #media broadcaster that operates in >40 languages, shared w/Reuters an email that placed them on administrative leave w/full pay & benefits "until otherwise notified."

The emails, sent by a HR executive at the #US Agency for Global Media, the #VOA's parent agency, instructed them not to enter their work premises or access internal systems.

Even longtime #Republican hawks on Capitol Hill, stunned by #Trump’s #revisionist #history that #Ukraine is to blame for its invasion by #Russia, & his Oval Office blowup at President Volodymyr #Zelensky, have either muzzled themselves, tiptoed up to criticism without naming Trump or completely reversed their positions.

…[#MartyBaron said], #Bezos’ closer proximity to #Trump at the inauguration & through #Amazon’s production deal on a #MelaniaTrump documentary did not appear to fulfill his public goal of increasing the #WashingtonPost’s independence. “It was a sign of dependence, not independence—the dependence of Amazon, #BlueOrigin & Bezos on Donald Trump," he wrote.

“There is no doubt in my mind that he is doing this out of #fear of the consequences for his other business interests, #Amazon (the source of his #wealth) & #BlueOrigin (which represents his lifelong passion for space exploration),” #MartyBaron wrote Wednesday. “He has prioritized those commercial interests over The Post, & he is betraying The Post’s longstanding #principles to do so.”

#Bezos ended the #WashingtonPost‘s decades-long tradition of presidential endorsements—& scrapped a planned #endorsement of #KamalaHarris—last fall, & he appeared alongside other #tech *leaders* [#technocrats / #oligarchs] at Trump’s inauguration…. He also donated $1M to #Trump’s inaugural cmte.

“It was only weeks ago that The Post described itself as providing coverage for ‘all of America,’” #MartyBaron wrote in his statement. “Now its opinion pages will be open to only some of America, those who think exactly as he does.”

…Baron also accused #Bezos of acquiescing to #Trump & the his attacks on the #press for his own business interests.

#MartyBaron — played by Liev Schriber in Oscar-winning movie Spotlight—served as the paper’s executive editor from early 2013, months before #Bezos purchased the Post, through to early 2021. He documented his relationship w/the #Amazon founder in his book Collision of Power: Trump, Bezos, & the #WashingtonPost.

In his statement, Baron wondered how Bezos’ support for personal liberties squared with his mandate for limited views on the #opinion pages.

#Bezos said on Wed he would mandate the paper’s #opinions section to focus on supporting #FreeMarkets & #PersonalLiberties, saying those pieces w/opposing views can “be left to be published by others.”

The move was rebuked by current & former #WashingtonPost staffers, though it was praised in a trolling post by #Trump’s WH.