Maybe! I’d like to do an annual yearbook. It’s a lot of fucking work. Anybody know a publisher or somebody who has experience doing Kickstarter books?
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That’s a great idea. I’d support anybody who wanted to take on that effort. I simply don’t have time to do it.
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idk, i’m not a constitutional lawyer. seems like a first amendment issue
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No idea, but this looks like a pretty good answer! If I write a letter to the president and mail it to the White House, where will it go? - Quora
Good question! This is how I try to live:
- Sleep. This is by far the hardest thing to do, but if I don’t get 7.5+ hours of sleep, I’m kinda worthless and insufferable.
- Eat well. Big fan of Michael Pollan’s rules for food: eat food, not too much, mostly plants.
- Exercise. Running, swimming, and occasional weight lifting.
- Meditate. I love the Headspace app. It’s the perfect amount of guided meditation.
- Friends. The answer is always “yes” when it comes to doing things. I suck at being proactive, so I pretty much always say yes when somebody asks to hang out.
I use to read for pleasure, but not so much these days. I also watch too much Netflix/HBO/Hulu as a way of coping from the long, dreadful days.
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I’ll try to include some additional coverage this week.
The first thing that jumps out to me is about the EPA:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/ap-exclusive-toxic-waste-sites-flooded-epa-scene-49584579
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I don’t think you can tell people to change their minds, just like you can’t tell people to stop being angry. Rather, I think you gotta let people arrive at the obvious conclusions on their own – just like allowing children to learn from their mistakes.
Part of why I went with such a direct name for What The Fuck Just Happened Today was that it drew a clear line in the sand – you either got it and with us, or you didn’t and you’re not. No sense in trying to appease everybody, ya know?
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Centralize to organize. The “movement” is too decentralized and difficult for the “normal” person to get involved. Like, I struggle to know how to involve myself with the, like, 12 different Indivisible groups in the Seattle area, each with their own action plans.
Also: stop calling yourself “the resistance.” I think labeling yourself is just othering yourself and making it more difficult for real people to get involved with the political process. It’s unapproachable.
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I’m not aware of any timeline or constraints on the investigation that would derail it. Then again I’m not super knowledgable on the legalities of a special counsel.
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I guess hiring John Kelly is trending in the “right” decision. I like that Baron is allowed to dress like a kid.
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Nah. I’ve been asked this a lot. I honestly don’t really understand why anybody is interested in seeing this.
Somebody asked this in another thread here and here’s my response:
- I don’t think trying to curate and make sense of the partisan media ecosystem really makes, well, sense. Partisan media is proactively curating their worldview as it is, framing and re-contextualizing a set of facts to fit an agenda (however noble or reprehensible). That doesn’t really serve the people – it just serves to further confirm your worldview. This was weaponized during the election (and I’ll argue it was weaponized long before that, but it was far less egregious or impactful).
- I simply don’t have the time. I’m just one dude trying to make this all work. I’m aggressively burning the candle at both ends right now trying to get things into a stable place so I can bring some people in and make this a sustainable project for however long this is necessary, both financially as well as emotionally.
- And finally, I’m not sure I agree with the premise that WTFJHT is an echo chamber. Yes, it’s not “fair and balanced” – it’s inherently biased as it’s one person’s view of the world from a skeptical-trying-to-make-sense-of-it-all viewpoint. It’s also not comprehensive – WTFJHT tracks the daily White House news. That’s it. It has never tried to do anything other than that. If you’re using WTFJHT to replace your world, national, and local news, you’ve made a mistake.
Fundamentally, I see WTFJHT as no different than a local news beat reporter. Instead of reporting specifically on high school football, I’m covering the White House. That’s it.
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No! Do you know one? I’d love to do an annual yearbook and somebody do a complete volume of this period.
I also think it’d make for a great Kickstarter project, so if anybody has experience running KS campaigns and knows the ins and outs of self-publishing, LET ME KNOW!
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Hey, thanks.
I was political and entrepreneurial from a very early age. I grew up listening to punk and hardcore. I ran a shitty record label out of my bedroom when I was 15. Later, I ran my college radio station and wrote for the local newspaper and alt weekly. I worked in media for a long time. I guess this is just a natural extension of who I am. Hella DIY and a rabble rouser.
I’m here as long as the community wants to support me, which I outlined here.
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lol this question is great.
I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I “grew up.” True story. I was a shy, introverted kid and “doctor” or “fire fighter” never agreed with me.
I was in 4th or 5th grade when I discovered punk music and with that I discovered the DIY ethic. I’ve always gravitated to making things and doing things that nobody else was doing. I always knew I wanted to run my own business. I just didn’t expect it to be a blog/newsletter. So I guess what I do today is an expression of who I wanted to be.
I would love to parlay what I’ve learned from running WTFJHT into a fellowship or a research project to help solve the issues surrounding local news. Local news is vital to democracy and so many local newspapers and alt weeklies have died, leaving the checks and balances, uh, unbalanced. Could a freemium membership model like WTFJHT work at the local level? I don’t know, but I’d like to find out.
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…and I think that’s that. Thanks to everybody to wrote in with a question. These were really fun to answer and look forward to continue the conversation in the member forum.
-Matt
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Terrific idea. This is my first foray into the forum, but when you mentioned it in the newsletter, I knew I wanted to check out what you had to say. I didn’t ask a question but thought the ones that were asked were mostly things I wanted to know. I’m a fan and keep thinking I want to participate more in this enterprise. Maybe this is the first step.
I’m actually part of team of people who run a small collaborative press which assists writers in self-publishing. I’ve also run a successful Kickstarter project. However, I don’t regard myself as an expert in either. Still, if you start pulling together a team to work on either or both of these, I will be paying attention to see if I can fit in.
Good work, Matt. As each day moves toward late afternoon, I start anticipating WTFJH.
Patricia
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Thanks for all of your interesting replies Matt.
I think I’m going to need more than a few glasses of wine to continue reading that link to the Musk quote. The reply thread is unsurprisingly depressing.
It’s given me a good starting off point to investigate deeper. I think a lot of us just think that Trump has the nuclear football with him at all times and if he gets pissed off he could just open it up and start pressing buttons.
I agree about “centralize to organize” completely. I don’t see anything wrong with “resistance” because that’s what it is. You even had quotes around “movement”. It has to be able to be referred to as something, something that isn’t labeled by political party. What would you call it? I think many people do identify with resistance. But that’s the only thing I disagree about. The rest of your advice is very solid. I believe we have to let go and compromise about some of our inclusive values and concentrate on fighting this administration and its worst crimes. We definitely don’t need what you describe in Seattle.
Let me know when you have a “Pre-Sale.” Let’s raise the funds to make it happen. My niece just helped a friend get an album released. Maybe I can get her to figure out how to get the wheels rolling on this. See if anyone else volunteers, and if not, I’ll initiate the contact.