Tag: Free Press

Destruction of the American Democracy

The first amendment to the United States Constitution.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The American democracy depends on a free press. Donald Trump continuously attacks the press. His favorite words are “fake news” whenever the press reports something that puts him in a bad light.

His admiration for Vladimir Putin (President of Russia), Saddam Hussein (deceased dictator of Iraq), Moammar Gaddafi (deceased dictator of Libya), Xi Jinping (president of China), and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (President of Turkey) to name just a few tells us what kind of presidency Trump wants in the United States. All of these government leaders have one thing in common. They have or had no opposition. There is no press to report on their misbehavior. That is Trump’s dream.

The National Review, a conservative publication, posted the following on its website
Our First Amendment freedoms give us the right to think what we like and say what we please. And if we the people are to govern ourselves, we must have these rights, even if they are misused by a minority.

The ACLU says we must defend free speech even when we disagree with the speaker. That organization did defend the KKK when it wanted to march through Skokie Illinois, a predominantly Jewish suburb of Chicago.

There was no free press in Nazi Germany. There is no free press in China, Russia and Turkey today. Donald Trump’s war on the press is the first steps to end our democracy. CNN’s “This is an Apple” campaign is an effort to tell all viewers that they will defend their right to report the facts. Everyone should be applauding their efforts.

We must all join hands to defend freedom of the press or soon there will be no free press. The day there is no free press a dictator will be on the rise.

A Demonstrated Benefit of Free Press

In less than one day the impact of America’s free press was demonstrated in Los Angeles County by the Los Angeles Times newspaper. In the morning edition of the paper there was a front page center article titled FAIR GROUP’S TAX STATUS AT ISSUE.

Here us the gist of the article.

The Los Angeles County Fair Association formed in 1940 to promote agriculture in an area that then had a booming agricultural industry. The non-profit organization’s annual fair was created to promote the industry and teach children for the next generation. The problem is that Los Angeles County is now an urban/suburban area of over 10 million people who are, for the most part, not part of agriculture.

The front page story includes a photo of portable spas that were on sale at the fair. When you walk through the fair buildings there are sales people hawking spas, motor homes, and vegetable blenders.

Experts say the high-paying L.A. County association’s businesses push the boundaries of its agricultural exemption. The president of the association receives a salary of almost $900,000 a year. His four vice presidents each receive pay of well over $300,000 per year. Other counties in California with fairs pay their fair manager less than $300,000 per year and San Diego’s manager receives less than $200,000 per year. In 2013 the fair lost over $3million.  The pay to those top executives almost makes up the loss.

This afternoon the Los Angeles Times reported that the county supervisors have called for an audit and possible renegotiation with the Los Angeles County Fair Association.

Obviously the supervisors read the Los Angeles Times.