There was a time when so-called “crusading journalism” was seen as something to be admired and imitated, not shunned in mainstream journalistic circles. The truth-telling of a Terry Moran would have been lauded, as figures such as Dan Rather, Bob Woodward, and Carl Bernstein, were during the unraveling of Watergate. But these days speaking truth to power gets you fired. I suppose it’s just as well I’m retired. At least I’m spared all that newsroom aggravation.
Watergate inspired me to apply to journalism school, and my joy at acceptance in 1975 was boundless. I’m now a drive-by copy editor, on Substack with my heroes.
But we have to remember it was a close thing: Nobody would touch the story with a ten-foot pole until Katharine Graham at the Post showed told her editors to run with it. Then the other "majors" came aboard. And although Nixon resigned to escape impeachment over the Watergate coverup (and Jerry Ford pardoned him for everything else), the people behind the throne and close to the oil industry and the religious right stayed in town, and 6 years later, Ronald Reagan and GHW Bush ascended the throne. The press rolled over for Ronnie like dogs.
Too many people unwilling to grow a spine, some guts & some OTHER ORGANS & stand up to an ABOMINATION. Does anyone remember the brave people standing up to the tanks at Tien An Men Square ? They were brave. What about Kent State in Ohio ? We need to possess a fraction of their spirit.
I don't want to die and TRump's regime won't hesitate to gun us down and ask questions later. I'm horrified, infuriated and extremely sad all at the same time. 😱😡😞
I agree. I am scared too, but since I have most of my years behind me I have to straighten up my twisted spine and remember I am doing it for my grandkids, and their kids, so they may someday have the type of life I look back at and smile.
I'm a regular reader of your newsletter, a progressive Christian clergywoman, and a writer. I want to share today's post by Diana Bulter Bass with you because you are a journalist. If you're not familiar with her work, she is a public theologican / historian with a PhD in religious studies from Duke. She is often contacted by the press for commentary on the intersection of politics and religion. https://dianabutlerbass.substack.com/p/war-and-prophetic-ecstasy
I'm trying to spread the word to journalists that knowledge of the religious history and theology that led to the unholy wedding of Trump and evangelicals is critical in fully understanding why the U.S. bombed Iran last night.
Her post was hard to read. It wasn't news to me. I've read about the beliefs that drive the Evangelicals. They can believe what they want. I just don't want them in charge, and numerically, they shouldn't be.
They want their own twisted version of a theocracy, with them dictating everything. It would be like Europe when the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH held sway over just about EVERYONE & EVERYTHING & literacy was quashed because you need ignorant superstitious SHEEP rather than well - educated, informed people capable of making informed decisions.
Religious people tend to turn a blind eye to the fact that religion is at the core of the cause of most conflicts, be it between nations or within a nation. Billionaires, especially those who are radical evangelical Christians, are the driving force of the current anti-democracy fascism in the US. If someone believes they are ensured a forever of opulence they will use any tool available to advance their "god given" destiny. That explains why the Christian Nationalists have hitched their wagon to a sack of shit like Trump.
Seems to me your comment substitutes the symptom for the disease. The disease is actually materialistic, BIG MONEY and its concentration of wealth. The resulting leading symptom is a resort to metaphysical explanations that establish a hierarchy of misleaders who should know better.
I don't believe this situ is a human error or mistake, except in the judgment to knowingly mislead folks into opportunistic easy answers that fill a vacuum where the lack of curiosity and independent research should be surveyed and appraised led by critical thinking, post mortems for failed policies and the mispractices of Pay2Play Politics as practiced in our Pay2Play nation (far from under God, unless one is of the faith that elevates a self-enriching materialist misleader like Oral Roberts and transforms him via Public Relations and media manipulation into some sort of metaphysical or spiritual leader....)
I grew up with those same bible studies, with church sponsored viewings of the Left Behind movies. I confess I don’t remember all the details, but I know the rise of the anti-Christ figures into the scriptures. Our felon in chief certainly fits that description.
Talk about manipulative!! Huckabee just led Trump down that bomb-laden path to save Israel, SAVE Jerusalem, by destroying Iran!! This article needs MUCH wider distribution!!
“The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries.” - James Madison
Oh, well. I hope the rapture takes them all once and for all. /s 😔
After hearing that TRump bombed Iran, I sat motionless for at least 30 minutes. The RepubliCons have started yet another never-ending war in the Middle East, without so much as a second thought about what this will do to an already incredibly unstable region. In all honesty, I'm bereft. I keep fighting, calling my representatives every day and posting factual information on social media, but I'm so very tired. Spain is looking pretty good about now. A good friend moved her family to Spain in January 2017 before TRump took office his first term and she has absolutely no regrets. Their quality of life is so much better there. Their healthcare, schools and social services are fantastic. Crime is way down in Spain and their GDP growth is the best in the world right now. The Socialist Workers Party is in power and the country is doing very well. It's a hard decision to just up and move thousand of miles away to a foreign land, but at this point, I'm really weighing my options. My Mom's ancestors landed in this New World in 1624, only 4 years after the Mayflower. It would be tough leaving my country, but I'm getting very discouraged, even when I see millions of people protesting TRump's disastrous policies. As a resident in Spain, healthcare would cost me $200-300 per month for full coverage medical care. No co-pays, no deductibles. I pay over $1200 per month here in California, plus co-pays, etc. Some may say I'm being selfish and unpatriotic, but, we only have one life to live and I want to live in peace and enjoy my remaining time on this planet without the fear and unbearable sadness I feel daily. I'm still exploring my options, but I'm not happy here at all. It's not healthy to live like this...😞
No secret on how Spain does so well. It cheats on sanctions on Russia by being the biggest importer of Russian LNG and no telling what else. Europe gets by on the back of the US being their great protector. They can have universal healthcare since they do not spend much on NATO defense. Our national debt subsidizes Europe so yes they have a better standard of living than us. How many Spanish ships are protecting the Red Sea?
“The party of FDR, Kennedy and Obama is clearly struggling to find effective messaging and a unifying strategy to hold the line against a belligerent Republican Party that has no lines. “ I can tell you exactly why the DNC is struggling to find effective messaging. It is because they have neither looked for an effective message, nor a platform. https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/a-just-movement?r=3m1bs
I am with you until you list Barack Obama with FDR and JFK (neither of whom, incidentally should be exempt from considerations of serious policy failures and relatively isolated examples of misleadership).
Here is Barack Obama and his most trusted advisors. This isn't about guilt by association. It is about self-enrichment at the expense of public policy. Nothing ideological about it. That ideological stuff is diversionary from key malady of our republic: Institutional & Individual Corruption:
Senator Elizabeth Warren in a better faith and serious ongoing investigation leading grilling of CEO's at U.S. Senate Banking Committee Hearings (televised yet received low viewer ratings):
Here is the search phrase that rewards with some of the best PUBLIC INTEREST TV clips in U.S. his\herstory: "Elizabeth Warren Senate Banking Committee Hearings grills CEO"
Earl, I’ll proudly stand right next to you in this fight for justice! Never could I imagine a president of our country doing something like this without approval 😡 and I’ll bet you their incompetence will be called out once we see what damage was done, and I’ll bet they didn’t do as much damage as they say they did. I mean they’ve already wasted millions of dollars trying to take out Houthis and they are still there…plus do you think that’ll be the end of it? They don’t think Iran will retaliate??? Hello, you can’t bomb someone three times and not expect some kind of response?? What worries me most is the danger he has put our military in 😡🤬
We are in no greater danger than before. Iran has been killing Americans using proxies since 1979. 240 American marines died in Beirut in 1983 with explosives supplied by Iran. They have under written all the mayhem in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen. America is the Great Infidel and there is no negotiating to change that mindset. We have allowed Iran to run amuck by playing nice guy. I liked Obama, but the Iran deal was so bad he did not have courage to get the US Senate to ratify it. Enough is enough.
This is not just a war between Iran and Israel. If Israel were not around, they would be coming directly for us.
Thanks for your concern for our military. However, out military has been at great risk to the tentacles of Iran since 1979. We have pussy footed around Iran for years and allowed them to create a terror network that should have been stopped in 1979. The Beirut bombing that killed 240 Marines was supplied and orchestrated by Iran. We have lost several thousand lives due to Iran. Obama negotiated the worst treaty in history with Iran. It was only to delay Iran from developing nukes, yet allowed them unfettered development of ICBM missiles to deliver the forbiden nukes. How many "Death to Ameria" chants does it take to realize we have been at war with Iran since 1979.
Last guy on the planet to support Trump as most of what he says and does nauseates me. But on Iran he has called it right. Previous administrations have tried to charm Iran and see what it has gotten us. Iran is the main weapons supplier of Russia being used against Ukraine.
Wake up America, our enemies will not leave us alone by being nice to them. It is a dangerous world that cannot be ignored or negotiated with. Russians break every treaty.
I don't believe this act of war is so much about Iran as it is about posturing to those who have protested against him that he can do anything he wants without Congressional approval and it is a brazen move to show he is not going to uphold The US Constitution
Thank you for your clear-eyed commentary Earl. You are correct that ‘late beats never’. And that Democrats should look past their minor differences, and squarely at the threat to US and world security which is the dotard in the WH. If the media continues to encourage Conold and Republican fascism then it is up to the people to take back their power. Perhaps Mussolini’s example is apposite. He was popular until he wasn’t. Conold’s popularity is now way underwater. At some point he will be blocked everywhere. Including internationally. Perhaps that point will be reached when US civilians and service personnel become casualties of his hubris, ignorance and petty tyranny. Good forbid it comes to this, but the potents for us all become clearer daily. The horsemen of the apocalypse are riding our way. Keep sounding the Alarm Earl.
Thank you! I agree 1000%! You couldn’t ask for a better snapshot of the Seven Deadly Sins than of the supposed Christians in the White House! Pride - check! Anger - got it in spades! Lust - Epstein files and multiple wives all around! Envy - oh myyyyyy! Greed- yuh think? Sloth - falls asleep every two minutes! Gluttony - Big Macs all around! So even by their own supposed “standards” they are reprehensible.
There was a time when so-called “crusading journalism” was seen as something to be admired and imitated, not shunned in mainstream journalistic circles. The truth-telling of a Terry Moran would have been lauded, as figures such as Dan Rather, Bob Woodward, and Carl Bernstein, were during the unraveling of Watergate. But these days speaking truth to power gets you fired. I suppose it’s just as well I’m retired. At least I’m spared all that newsroom aggravation.
Preach, brother!
Watergate inspired me to apply to journalism school, and my joy at acceptance in 1975 was boundless. I’m now a drive-by copy editor, on Substack with my heroes.
Good on ya!
But we have to remember it was a close thing: Nobody would touch the story with a ten-foot pole until Katharine Graham at the Post showed told her editors to run with it. Then the other "majors" came aboard. And although Nixon resigned to escape impeachment over the Watergate coverup (and Jerry Ford pardoned him for everything else), the people behind the throne and close to the oil industry and the religious right stayed in town, and 6 years later, Ronald Reagan and GHW Bush ascended the throne. The press rolled over for Ronnie like dogs.
And they’ve been rolling over ever since. Cuz “access”.
Too many people unwilling to grow a spine, some guts & some OTHER ORGANS & stand up to an ABOMINATION. Does anyone remember the brave people standing up to the tanks at Tien An Men Square ? They were brave. What about Kent State in Ohio ? We need to possess a fraction of their spirit.
I don't want to die and TRump's regime won't hesitate to gun us down and ask questions later. I'm horrified, infuriated and extremely sad all at the same time. 😱😡😞
I feel the same. *hugs*
I agree. I am scared too, but since I have most of my years behind me I have to straighten up my twisted spine and remember I am doing it for my grandkids, and their kids, so they may someday have the type of life I look back at and smile.
Earl, you are leading the charge, as always. You are forever on the right side. I’m with you, I’m with you.
Then we're with each other, Diane ...
Terry Moran is a truth-speaking hero.
That would be a good start
I'm a regular reader of your newsletter, a progressive Christian clergywoman, and a writer. I want to share today's post by Diana Bulter Bass with you because you are a journalist. If you're not familiar with her work, she is a public theologican / historian with a PhD in religious studies from Duke. She is often contacted by the press for commentary on the intersection of politics and religion. https://dianabutlerbass.substack.com/p/war-and-prophetic-ecstasy
I'm trying to spread the word to journalists that knowledge of the religious history and theology that led to the unholy wedding of Trump and evangelicals is critical in fully understanding why the U.S. bombed Iran last night.
Interesting, chilling piece.
Her post was hard to read. It wasn't news to me. I've read about the beliefs that drive the Evangelicals. They can believe what they want. I just don't want them in charge, and numerically, they shouldn't be.
They want their own twisted version of a theocracy, with them dictating everything. It would be like Europe when the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH held sway over just about EVERYONE & EVERYTHING & literacy was quashed because you need ignorant superstitious SHEEP rather than well - educated, informed people capable of making informed decisions.
Religious people tend to turn a blind eye to the fact that religion is at the core of the cause of most conflicts, be it between nations or within a nation. Billionaires, especially those who are radical evangelical Christians, are the driving force of the current anti-democracy fascism in the US. If someone believes they are ensured a forever of opulence they will use any tool available to advance their "god given" destiny. That explains why the Christian Nationalists have hitched their wagon to a sack of shit like Trump.
Seems to me your comment substitutes the symptom for the disease. The disease is actually materialistic, BIG MONEY and its concentration of wealth. The resulting leading symptom is a resort to metaphysical explanations that establish a hierarchy of misleaders who should know better.
I don't believe this situ is a human error or mistake, except in the judgment to knowingly mislead folks into opportunistic easy answers that fill a vacuum where the lack of curiosity and independent research should be surveyed and appraised led by critical thinking, post mortems for failed policies and the mispractices of Pay2Play Politics as practiced in our Pay2Play nation (far from under God, unless one is of the faith that elevates a self-enriching materialist misleader like Oral Roberts and transforms him via Public Relations and media manipulation into some sort of metaphysical or spiritual leader....)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_Roberts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6Ojk9beXjk
Ralph Nader’s Message to Doomers: "Stop Making Excuses!"
Current Affairs
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Tio Mitchito
Mitch Ritter\Paradigm Sifters, Code Shifters, PsalmSong Chasers
Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa (Refuge of A-Tone-ment Seekers)
Media Discussion List\Looksee
Religion /is/ all about wealth, power and materialism. Religion has always been a tool used to manipulate and exploit others through fear.
Agree
I grew up with those same bible studies, with church sponsored viewings of the Left Behind movies. I confess I don’t remember all the details, but I know the rise of the anti-Christ figures into the scriptures. Our felon in chief certainly fits that description.
Talk about manipulative!! Huckabee just led Trump down that bomb-laden path to save Israel, SAVE Jerusalem, by destroying Iran!! This article needs MUCH wider distribution!!
“The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries.” - James Madison
Oh, well. I hope the rapture takes them all once and for all. /s 😔
After hearing that TRump bombed Iran, I sat motionless for at least 30 minutes. The RepubliCons have started yet another never-ending war in the Middle East, without so much as a second thought about what this will do to an already incredibly unstable region. In all honesty, I'm bereft. I keep fighting, calling my representatives every day and posting factual information on social media, but I'm so very tired. Spain is looking pretty good about now. A good friend moved her family to Spain in January 2017 before TRump took office his first term and she has absolutely no regrets. Their quality of life is so much better there. Their healthcare, schools and social services are fantastic. Crime is way down in Spain and their GDP growth is the best in the world right now. The Socialist Workers Party is in power and the country is doing very well. It's a hard decision to just up and move thousand of miles away to a foreign land, but at this point, I'm really weighing my options. My Mom's ancestors landed in this New World in 1624, only 4 years after the Mayflower. It would be tough leaving my country, but I'm getting very discouraged, even when I see millions of people protesting TRump's disastrous policies. As a resident in Spain, healthcare would cost me $200-300 per month for full coverage medical care. No co-pays, no deductibles. I pay over $1200 per month here in California, plus co-pays, etc. Some may say I'm being selfish and unpatriotic, but, we only have one life to live and I want to live in peace and enjoy my remaining time on this planet without the fear and unbearable sadness I feel daily. I'm still exploring my options, but I'm not happy here at all. It's not healthy to live like this...😞
You're absolutely right. We've been living in a highly toxic & unhealthy society for far too long. 😞😢🥺
No secret on how Spain does so well. It cheats on sanctions on Russia by being the biggest importer of Russian LNG and no telling what else. Europe gets by on the back of the US being their great protector. They can have universal healthcare since they do not spend much on NATO defense. Our national debt subsidizes Europe so yes they have a better standard of living than us. How many Spanish ships are protecting the Red Sea?
Thank you, D. Earl, for being a most thoughtful, intelligent, and credible journalist. Please, continue on.
I appreciate your readership.
“The party of FDR, Kennedy and Obama is clearly struggling to find effective messaging and a unifying strategy to hold the line against a belligerent Republican Party that has no lines. “ I can tell you exactly why the DNC is struggling to find effective messaging. It is because they have neither looked for an effective message, nor a platform. https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/a-just-movement?r=3m1bs
I am with you until you list Barack Obama with FDR and JFK (neither of whom, incidentally should be exempt from considerations of serious policy failures and relatively isolated examples of misleadership).
Here is Barack Obama and his most trusted advisors. This isn't about guilt by association. It is about self-enrichment at the expense of public policy. Nothing ideological about it. That ideological stuff is diversionary from key malady of our republic: Institutional & Individual Corruption:
https://www.chronicle.com/article/larry-summers-and-the-subversion-of-economics/
https://www.npr.org/2008/11/24/97389037/obama-taps-geithner-summers-for-economic-team
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_Job_(2010_film)
https://www.salon.com/2010/10/27/barack_obama_wall_street/
Recurring quote from Liberal Massachusetts legislator Barney Frank in context of above links
and S&L Collapse\Crisis and muck raking coverage of Senate Banking Committee hearings:
(italics for emphasis)
"I don't hear confession...."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Frank
Senator Elizabeth Warren in a better faith and serious ongoing investigation leading grilling of CEO's at U.S. Senate Banking Committee Hearings (televised yet received low viewer ratings):
Here is the search phrase that rewards with some of the best PUBLIC INTEREST TV clips in U.S. his\herstory: "Elizabeth Warren Senate Banking Committee Hearings grills CEO"
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Elizabeth+Warren+Senate+Banking+Committee+Hearings+grills+CEO
You pays yer money, you takes yer pick....
Tio Mitchito
Mitch Ritter\Paradigm Sifters, Code Shifters, PsalmSong Chasers
Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa (Refuge of A-Tone-ment Seekers)
Media Discussion List\Looksee
The party of…”of” is a proposition. Hang in Mitch. The party is clearly struggling to find effective messaging and a unifying strategy.
Earl, I’ll proudly stand right next to you in this fight for justice! Never could I imagine a president of our country doing something like this without approval 😡 and I’ll bet you their incompetence will be called out once we see what damage was done, and I’ll bet they didn’t do as much damage as they say they did. I mean they’ve already wasted millions of dollars trying to take out Houthis and they are still there…plus do you think that’ll be the end of it? They don’t think Iran will retaliate??? Hello, you can’t bomb someone three times and not expect some kind of response?? What worries me most is the danger he has put our military in 😡🤬
He's put our citizens in grave danger, we can't protect ourselves here or escape retaliation.
We are in no greater danger than before. Iran has been killing Americans using proxies since 1979. 240 American marines died in Beirut in 1983 with explosives supplied by Iran. They have under written all the mayhem in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen. America is the Great Infidel and there is no negotiating to change that mindset. We have allowed Iran to run amuck by playing nice guy. I liked Obama, but the Iran deal was so bad he did not have courage to get the US Senate to ratify it. Enough is enough.
This is not just a war between Iran and Israel. If Israel were not around, they would be coming directly for us.
Thanks for your concern for our military. However, out military has been at great risk to the tentacles of Iran since 1979. We have pussy footed around Iran for years and allowed them to create a terror network that should have been stopped in 1979. The Beirut bombing that killed 240 Marines was supplied and orchestrated by Iran. We have lost several thousand lives due to Iran. Obama negotiated the worst treaty in history with Iran. It was only to delay Iran from developing nukes, yet allowed them unfettered development of ICBM missiles to deliver the forbiden nukes. How many "Death to Ameria" chants does it take to realize we have been at war with Iran since 1979.
Last guy on the planet to support Trump as most of what he says and does nauseates me. But on Iran he has called it right. Previous administrations have tried to charm Iran and see what it has gotten us. Iran is the main weapons supplier of Russia being used against Ukraine.
Wake up America, our enemies will not leave us alone by being nice to them. It is a dangerous world that cannot be ignored or negotiated with. Russians break every treaty.
Me too
I don't believe this act of war is so much about Iran as it is about posturing to those who have protested against him that he can do anything he wants without Congressional approval and it is a brazen move to show he is not going to uphold The US Constitution
Amen. And Jesus went to drink gin from the cat dish.
I have that in common with Jesus ...
Your sign-off, "Peace", felt like balm during this time of war.
We fight!! 💪🍊🐖💩
Thank you for your clear-eyed commentary Earl. You are correct that ‘late beats never’. And that Democrats should look past their minor differences, and squarely at the threat to US and world security which is the dotard in the WH. If the media continues to encourage Conold and Republican fascism then it is up to the people to take back their power. Perhaps Mussolini’s example is apposite. He was popular until he wasn’t. Conold’s popularity is now way underwater. At some point he will be blocked everywhere. Including internationally. Perhaps that point will be reached when US civilians and service personnel become casualties of his hubris, ignorance and petty tyranny. Good forbid it comes to this, but the potents for us all become clearer daily. The horsemen of the apocalypse are riding our way. Keep sounding the Alarm Earl.
Trump just added an anti war movement to No Kings.
Thank you! I agree 1000%! You couldn’t ask for a better snapshot of the Seven Deadly Sins than of the supposed Christians in the White House! Pride - check! Anger - got it in spades! Lust - Epstein files and multiple wives all around! Envy - oh myyyyyy! Greed- yuh think? Sloth - falls asleep every two minutes! Gluttony - Big Macs all around! So even by their own supposed “standards” they are reprehensible.
Thank you, Earl. Today is tough. This piece has helped. Much appreciated.
You-betcha, Tamra.