The State of the Union is Not Good

Sometimes it's healthier to ignore the disaster around us.

I was on an organizing Zoom call last night, where activists were gaming out how to respond to 47’s address tonight¹ before a joint session of Congress.

I won’t be watching.

I will happily amplify the observations and hashtags of others in response to whatever word salad he delivers tonight. I will read analyses from writers I trust, after the speech is over (definitely looking forward to seeing what Heather Cox Richardson will make of it). I hope to see video of Democratic legislators opposing the regime.

But back in November when I realized we would have to endure another round of batshittery in the White House, I promised myself that my resistance would be different this time.

His first term left me feeling like an abused spouse; I cannot stand the sight and sound of him. So I vowed that this time around: I would NOT hang on every ridiculous utterance, would not wake up too early in the morning to check on what crazy thing he tweeted in the middle of the night - and when I really have to pay attention, that I would do so filtered through someone else who can stomach listening to him.

On Tuesdays, I take a painting class in the Koreatown section of Los Angeles. Tonight, my daughter and niece are meeting my husband and me down there for a nice, leisurely dinner. And I’ll catch up with the speech highlights later.

With the economy tanking and Project 2025 hurtling through to its horrible destination, it’s important to sit back sometimes and just be with the people you love.

When You Do Want to Stay Informed

We published another revision to our Alternate News Resources document last week. With each legacy news outlet’s kiss of the MAGA ring, a whole slew of trusted journalists goes independent. And as the DOGE boys close down government agencies, former federal employees and others are scrambling to fill the gaps of the factual information they once published.

The latest edition has the beginning of a Health and Science section so we might be able to still track what’s going on with Covid, flu (both human and bird), measles, and vaccines.

No one has the time to read ALL the publications on the list (not even me, who is currently subscribed to about 70 different newsletters). The list is there to give you a menu of voices you can choose to create your own news diet, and we will continue to add choices as we evaluate them.

In the meantime - in case some of our readers are wondering where to begin - I thought it would be nice to highlight a few of the sources we’ve included. And I’m going to start with the ones that are my daily “must reads” - the ones that are “enough” when I’m pressed for time.

I already mentioned the first one in the introduction above. I think “Letters from an American,” by historian Heather Cox Richardson, is essential for the way she distills the events of the day and puts them into context of what has happened in the past. A lot of other folks seem to agree - her newsletter is one of the most popular on Substack.

A new favorite of mine is one with a NSFW title: The Fucking News. Journalist Jonathan Larsen is a former staffer for Keith Olbermann, Chris Hayes, and The Young Turks (to name a few). He summarizes what’s going on with just the WTAF attitude this era calls for - managing to amuse and terrify at the same time. I always feel smarter after reading it.

And for breaking news, you can’t go wrong with the venerated Associated Press - especially since they have been targeted by the regime for refusing to go along with the ridiculous attempt to rename the body of water known to everyone but Google Maps as the Gulf of Mexico.

As journalist Matt Pearce notes, the Associated Press is “the most successful news cooperative in the history of the United States.” It has traditionally been financed by the news organizations who both contribute to and use its services, but as local news organizations have been downsizing and disappearing, its business model may have to change.

Its website is a fantastic place to keep up on news reported in the traditional, objective-focused journalistic method.

“The AP purchases journalists’ labor and distributes it to commercial and noncommercial publishers around the world who have paid to join the cooperative. Instead of having 3,000 publishers trying to hire freelancers in New Orleans at 4 a.m. on New Years Day to cover an apparent terror attack on Bourbon Street, the AP’s already got a worldwide network of journalists on the clock producing journalistically sound work that can be delivered to billions of consumers almost immediately.”

It is non-profit and free to access, but is in danger of being obliterated by a new partnership between Gannett and Reuters (with Wall Street money behind it). They do have a donation link for those who find their reporting useful.

We’ll talk about some of the others in future newsletters - I am certain that Karoli and Aliza will want to put in some good words for their favorites, too. And I invite you to add your own in the comments.

One Last Thing

If you caught last week’s MOMochat podcast, you heard Karoli invite me to do some penance for driving a Tesla by joining her at her local protest. I took her up on that invitation and it was really good! I’ve also received the first of the anti-Elon magnets Aliza gifted me with, so I’m feeling a little less awful right now. Especially when I see its stock price this week. Stuff’s working - let’s keep it up.

1. While we typically call this speech the “State of the Union,” technically, a newly sworn-in President hasn’t been in office long enough to deliver an assessment of where the country is.