The wokety-woke-woke world of public broadcasting

(They helped you; now you can help them)

The current administration has put public broadcasting in the crosshairs, and there was a public outcry in February when PBS eliminated their DEI unit. But, as this public editor letter said, when the news broke and angry people began writing in:

…here’s the reality I’ve come to know from numerous conversations with PBS employees and executives: The work by PBS to more accurately reflect demographics of the United States has not ended. PBS President Paula Kerger said in her note announcing the DEI decision (and then in a company-wide conference call) that the broadcaster remains “a welcoming place” for people from all ethnic and demographic threads that make up our national quilt.

Eliminating the DEI unit, I believe, was a necessary step to comply with an arguably legitimate presidential order.

“Arguably legitimate” is too polite, but I am not writing public letters.

Public broadcasting is a child of the ‘60s, back when Republicans and Democrats shared some goals, and their disagreements mostly centered around how to reach those goals. It wasn’t a simpler time — at all — and yet laws built up as guardrails to protect the idea of public broadcasting. Then came Trump, and despite decades of bipartisan support:

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have passed legislation on a narrow, party-line basis to eliminate all federal funding for public broadcasting for the next two years. That's $1.1 billion previously approved by the Republican-led Congress and President Trump. The reversal is notionally due to the need to cut funds to help pay for new Republican priorities, including an expansion of immigration enforcement and extension of Trump's prior tax cuts.

That this cut comes so the federal government can kidnap more brown people is the antithesis of the mission and message of public broadcasting.

So sure, there are a lot of tugs for your donation dollars, but if you are able:

Here’s where you can donate to PBS. Here’s another way.

Here’s how to donate to NPR. Or you can look up your local outlet. Remember: There are more of us than there are of them.

This is who we're losing to fascism

Meet Kelly Yu, of Phoenix

Because of Trump, we may lose Kelly Yu, restauranteur.

Kelly Yu, who’d been in the U.S. for two decades, is being held in a detention center in Phoenix.

Yu left China when she was a pregnant 18-year old. She had been trying to get citizenship, and meanwhile, as a restaurant owner, she’s been a giant contributor to her community. From 12News in Phoenix:

Over the years, Yu’s businesses — now operating two locations in Peoria — have become staples in the community, known not only for their food but also for their charitable giving. Kawaii Sushi has donated meals to local homeless shelters, supported Peoria police officers, and provided funding for high school baseball teams.

She’s been held since May. Legally, she is being “deported” (kidnapped and banished). Morally, this is beyond wrong, as it says in The Arizona Republic.

Her husband and daughter, both U.S. citizens, are trying to argue that she stay in the place where she’s done the most good, Arizona.

Kelly Yu is about as far from a criminal as you can get. As others have already said, the current president of the U.S., Cankles the Clown, has more felonies than 99.8% of the people he’s kidnapping. Please hold Kelly Yu and her family in your heart. And let us hasten an end to this evil madness.

Garbage in, garbage out

What's your go-to news source?

This matters.

Aaron Rupar, who publishes here on Substack, kept track yesterday of how much Fox’s floating mouth Maria Bartiromo mentioned Jeffrey Epstein, Trump’s child sex trafficker boon companion.

Obviously, yesterday’s coverage on CNN was quite different, in part because Barack Obama is no longer president and thus he is basically old news (no offense). The same goes for the coverage, even on disgraced ABC’s Sunday news shows, as well as disgraced CBS’s.

If you are ingesting propaganda (however you define that), then you are not getting good information and you are not making good decisions about your life. It’s as simple as that.

So. What are your top three news sources? Mine remain The New York Times (with an asterisk), NPR, and then I scroll through about 10 favorite news websites on Apple News.

You?

Edwin J. Feulner, co-founder of The Heritage Foundation, dies

What is there left to say?

The conservative Heritage Foundation — despite the diapered felon who rapes’ protestations — is the architect of Project 2025, the blueprint for the destruction of government as we know it.

So given that we do not speak ill of the dead, about all one can say about Heritage’s co-founder is

Thank you for reading my Substack.