{"id":8836,"date":"2024-10-25T22:25:59","date_gmt":"2024-10-26T02:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=8836"},"modified":"2026-04-02T20:23:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T00:23:21","slug":"democracy-dies-in-darkness-indeed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/democracy-dies-in-darkness-indeed\/","title":{"rendered":"Democracy dies in darkness, indeed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I unsubscribed from The Washington Post<\/em> today, immediately upon learning of its decision to join the Los Angeles Times<\/em> in declining to endorse in the 2024 presidential campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both papers have abandoned longstanding editorial policy conspicuously late in this historically critical election cycle, professing a sudden newfound impartiality. But this election is not a choice between a center-right elephant and a center-left donkey, and no newspaper’s editorial board should act like an uninformed, undecided swing voter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kamala Harris is the only sensible option for the interests of the media, the economy, domestic and foreign policy, and I don’t believe it’s too melodramatic to add: democracy itself. Declining to make an endorsement is an implicit rejection of Harris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both papers are owned by billionaires: The Post<\/em> by Jeff Bezos, and The Times<\/em> by Patrick Soon-Shiong. The Columbia Journalism Review<\/em> confirmed that Bezos spiked a drafted piece endorsing Harris<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I must infer these billionaires are cynically anticipating a second Trump administration, and fear reprisal for any truths spoken to power, now or in the past. They are making a bad bet. Any pretense of impartiality will not protect them from an emboldened fascist Trump administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remain a paid subscriber of The New York Times<\/em> (The Only Patriotic Choice for President<\/a>) and The New Yorker<\/em> (Kamala Harris for President<\/a>). I am also heartened to see the paper I grew up with, The Philadelphia Inquirer<\/em>, emphatically endorse Harris<\/a> today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In case there’s any confusion, this blog also endorses Kamala Harris for President.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Washington Post just effectively endorsed Donald Trump for president.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2249],"tags":[2223,1927,2228,2093,2226,2224,2091,2227],"class_list":["post-8836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","tag-democracy","tag-donald-trump","tag-jeff-bezos","tag-kamala-harris","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-washington-post"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/washington-post-trump.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-2iw","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5436,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/vote-for-joe-biden-kamala-harris\/","url_meta":{"origin":8836,"position":0},"title":"Vote for Joe Biden & Kamala Harris","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"November 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I clearly remember the November day four years ago, waiting in a line stretching around the block to vote for what would\/should have been the first woman President of the United States. Very late that evening, we sat at home weeping in front of the television. 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That hectic time brings back three distinct feelings for this blogger: bewilderment at the founding fathers' purpose for the Electoral College (as everyone no doubt remembers, it was never in doubt\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/recount-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/recount-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/recount-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/recount-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/10\/recount-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":301,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-dork-report-for-july-7-2006\/","url_meta":{"origin":8836,"position":2},"title":"The Dork Report for July 7, 2006","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Roger Ebert's Great Movies. But what on earth was he thinking with Ripley's Game? As someone who works at New Line \/ Fine Line (and in fact actually started to design the official web site), my impression was that it went straight to video not because of Lord of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Dork Report"","block_context":{"text":"The Dork Report","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/dork-report\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Dork Report","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":642,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/gone-baby-gone\/","url_meta":{"origin":8836,"position":3},"title":"Ben Affleck’s pervasively grim Gone Baby Gone","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Good ol' Bahstuhn Cahtholick Ben Affleck is an all grown-up, big-boy director now, and lookit, he made himself a pretty decent movie. That said, Gone Baby Gone is a big plate of grim, with side order of depressing. Affleck makes excellent use of location footage and local color. And not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/gone-baby-gone-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/gone-baby-gone-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/gone-baby-gone-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/gone-baby-gone-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/gone-baby-gone-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":82,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/willfully-ignorant-design\/","url_meta":{"origin":8836,"position":4},"title":"Willfully Ignorant Design","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"November 7, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"A profoundly depressing statistic from today's New York Times: \"According to a CBS News poll last month, 51 percent of Americans reject the theory of evolution, saying that God created humans in their present form. And reflecting a longstanding sentiment, 38 percent of Americans believe that creationism should be taught\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Personal"","block_context":{"text":"Personal","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/personal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5750,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/businessman-artiste-or-madman-we-live-in-public\/","url_meta":{"origin":8836,"position":5},"title":"Businessman, artiste, or madman? We Live in Public","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"September 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"If you dig the deeply cynical TV series Black Mirror, you\u2019ll love this documentary profile of businessman\/artiste\/madman Josh Harris. Love, hate, or pity him, Harris is undoubtedly a fascinating individual who succumbed to information-age and surveillance state delusion back during a time when we still used terms like \u201ccyber-surfing the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"We Live in Public","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/we-live-in-public.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/we-live-in-public.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/we-live-in-public.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/we-live-in-public.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/we-live-in-public.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8836"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8840,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8836\/revisions\/8840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}