They tell you there is no money for CPB and cancer research and veterans healthcare but we have more billionaires than ever. Weird how that works.
“For the bourgeoisie, freedom of the press meant freedom for the rich to publish and for the capitalists to control the newspapers, a practice which in all countries, including even the freest, produced a corrupt press.” -Lenin
In these modern times, whether it news, day to day, or on here, I’m realising many American throw around terms with no idea of their fundamental meaning, just because they heard someone else using them.
It is so fucking confusing. And of course these are the kind of people that don’t like being told that they are making little sense, l failing to understand what a word means and the context in which to use it.
For example, both sides regularly call each other “the libs”. Then when you ask them what that is, you get two completely opposite concepts (obviously) of which both fundamentally oppose liberal thought, bar one or two specific of the many ideas.
It can only start from either a single misunderstanding or deliberate misinformation and then spreads like wildfire via types of media, because apparently many Americans hate taking a few seconds reading up on something prior to adopting it into their everyday outlook. The indoctrination is so easy and has been wildly successful.
So, watch more people adapt “grit” as a word, using it so out of context and so frequently, it may as well he “squanch.”
“Grift” not grit. Trump is bad-faith arguing that these public broadcasters offer no value and are just stealing from the public.
In reality this administration just doesn’t like them because journalism and facts fly in the face of their misinformation, disinformation, and political propaganda/spin.
That’s my point. Grift isn’t the correct term to use for that argument. But he’s heard it, he’ll use it, then we’ll have a bunch more people roaming around saying anything is grifting.
And they do the news. How does one grift the news without immediately being fact checked and called out? I can’t fathom a possible scam or swindle scenario.
“Another exclusive, Tom. We learn chickens are telepathic so we’re going live to get the opinions on the egg crisis with resident telepath, Kim Donovan. But only if Congress approves more funding, so write in those letters.”
I think it could be more tactical than simply not using the correct word. Trump has been a grifter his whole life; selling people things and not delivering on them…entering into contracts and not honoring his side of the agreement.
Being a grifter is a pervasive and consistent theme in his life, so when he accuses others of grifting, it indirectly softens those same accusations when levied at him.
"Germany spends $142.42 per person on its public media. Norway spends $110.73, Finland $101.29, Denmark $93.16. Leave Scandinavia for Western Europe and you see the U.K. at $81.30, France at $75.89, and Spain at $58.25. Heading a bit east? The Czech Republic’s at $60.08, Estonia $55.70, and Lithuania $32.71.
Only trust the Anglosphere? Try Australia $35.78, New Zealand $26.86, or Canada $26.51. How about Asia? Japan spends $53.15, South Korea $14.93. Africa? Botswana’s at $18.38, Cabo Verde $15.22.
And then there’s the United States — which spends $3.16, per person, per year, on public broadcasting. Ten quarters, four dimes, five nickels, and a penny."
Clearly this is another great money saving budget cut. It is apparent everything is just an excuse to do what they want and facts be damned.
Are they trying to get boomers to become Maoist Third Worldist? Because if more of these boomers start going to town halls and calling Republicans threatening to kill them for fucking with Medicare (and now NPR) I think we might be heading there.
So now they’re trying to redefine the meaning of ‘grift’ as well, are they. Fucking arseholes.
There’s an actual silver lining here: “will ask Congress”.
Holy shit, they’re admitting there are other branches of the government, and that they have to be asked for something, instead of simply ordered or ignored.
Speaking of radio. They used doge to kill VOA and Radio Free Europe funding (perhaps that’s where the “ask the congress” comes from). As I understand a judge reinstated the funding, so the next thing trump did was shuttinh down the satellite that was responsible for broadcasting to Russia.
Shows who his real masters are.
Off the top of my head I don’t know if PBS (likely the same as NPR) but NPR is not funded by fucking Congress!!! You fucking idiots don’t know what Congress does or does not fund. NPR gets grants from CPB (Corporation for Public Broadcasting) which was created by the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which LBJ signed into law. CPB only accounts for 1% of NPR’s annual budget.
If the dumbass wants something legitimate to complain about, then complain about what CPB gives grants for.
Funding for NPR comes from dues and fees paid by member stations, underwriting from corporate sponsors, and annual grants from the publicly funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPR
The CPB’s annual budget is composed almost entirely of an annual appropriation from Congress plus interest on those funds.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation_for_Public_Broadcasting
The big NPR stations in major cities get almost no money from CPB, but it’s a critical source of funding for rural stations. Sometimes the NPR station is the only source of news available in rural areas.
If the government cuts funding to CPB, big city NPR stations will be fine, but rural listeners might go from 1 radio station in range to 0 radio stations.
Like I said, just 1%. I should have said it wouldn’t be good if CPB grants stopped coming. I’m just more upset that the direct line of attack misunderstands what is really happening. These organizations are very important. To blatantly say Congress funds them isn’t just incorrect but potentially harmful to how other organizations that rely on outside money are treated.
Yep.
NPR operates independently of the U.S. government. And while federal money is important to the overall public media system, NPR gets less than 1% of its annual budget, on average, from federal sources.
https://www.npr.org/2023/04/05/1168158549/twitter-npr-state-affiliated-media
I saw the post on Whitehouse website in my feed, it’s written so hostile and misleading. They clearly want public broadcasts to be propaganda, though if their own site is an example, their bias is so blatant and their writing so amateur that it won’t fool any regular NPR or PBS follower any time soon.
Too bad there’s already plenty of privately owned propaganda…
This isn’t at all surreal to me. We saw this during the Trump Presidency #1. Just a toxic PoS with an insufferable staff spewing hostility.
And what did Biden do? Business as fucking usual. Taking the higher ground BS.
If 2028 is a fair election, and a hypothetical Democrat gets elected, I’m expecting more of the same. If Trump gets his 3rd term as he freaking demanded that happened, well – we continue to move the goalpost of rock bottom looks like.
God dammit. Why couldn’t THIS headline have been from the onion???
We should believe him because DJT is an expert on grift.
Good news is that the vast majority of NPR’s funding is not from the government.
That said, now is the time to set up reoccurring donations.
Depending where you live, your local station may take a bigger hit percentagewise. Not mine, because both Pasadena and Santa Monica have lots of people who listen and can give. But it’s the NPR stations in red states that may need most help and be an important source of sanity. If you give to your station, they can chip in their bit to NPR at large.
KCRW and KPCC…errr…The Laist (<-- stupidest fucking name change). Feels like they’re always asking for money.
Oh yes, although it’s usually seasonal, or when they had a budget shortfall (RIP Greater LA).
For a couple of decades there the pledge drives would start, I’d donate, then not tune in for 2-3 weeks.
Agree about the name change. They get a monthly pittance from me, it’s not changing although I do think I get good value from them since my alarm radio wakes me up with Morning Edition. But I might look into finding a station in an underserved community to give to.
I stopped my monthly tithe when my monthly income stopped. I did donate an old motorcycle to them once that ended up being over $2k.
Check if your employer will match as well.
says the guy who regularly sends emails to his citizens urgently asking them to send him money for his court cases.
but yeah, NPR is the grift. just insane levels of delusion. and people believe him.
And signed golden gym shoes, cheap guitars, medallions with his face on them, BIBLES…!! Grift?
Sez the guy hawking golden gym shoes and self-signed junk guitars.
Pot: “oh, hey!”
Kettle: “didn’t think i’d see you here!”
This is not a pot calling the kettle black situation
