Below is a special message from Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, about the importance of supporting Truthout at this critical time.
Dear Fellow Truthout Readers,
There are 1440 minutes in a day, and I use every one of them. But when my computer or phone indicates that I’ve gotten something from Truthout, everything stops for me, for at least ten minutes, until I can carefully see and internalize what’s there.
I don’t follow the mainstream media anymore. It’s utterly futile. It’s bought and paid for. Not only can’t we take Fox seriously, but it’s also next to impossible to get MSNBC to cover the important stories. We’ve had them ignore gigantic issues. This country has married weapons of mass destruction to crazy fundamentalist Christians, and the mainstream media, disgracefully, does not want to get involved with it – the story of our time. Truthout is telling that story. It’s telling it with Matt Harwood’s reporting on fundamentalism in the US military, William Astore’s reporting on the substitution of evangelism for PTSD care and more.
One of the greatest Americans that ever lived in this country was the peerless historian, author and activist Howard Zinn, who was a member of the Truthout Board of Advisers. I joined the Board of Advisers shortly after Zinn died, less than a year ago.
He once succinctly and sagaciously said, “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.” Indeed, seven words that rocked the universe.
According to Zinn’s standards, Truthout is the most patriotic American news organization out there.
Before Truthout existed, there was nowhere to go to make sure the important stories got out. And if Truthout went away, there’d be a fatal vacuum. There would be no place for real news with real-world consequences to go, which is always the tragic harbinger of a civilization’s demise.
Sincerely,
Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, member of the Truthout board of advisers
Please Join Mikey in supporting Truthout. Click here to donate:
Click here to donate.
(Truthout is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. EIN: 20-0031641)
You can also donate by check, made payable to:
Truthout, P.O. Box 276414, Sacramento, CA 95827
(Please help our effort to go green by including your email address on your check.)
Or donate by phone:
213.489.1971
If you’re one of our unemployed or underemployed readers, please save your money and help spread the word about our work.
Write in with your questions or suggestions to [email protected], or check out our Frequently Asked Questions.
—————
Please take two minutes to “white list” our messages by adding the following address to your email address book:
If you are having trouble figuring out how to do this in your email program or webpage click here to read our guide.
Browse our continually updating front page at truthout.org
Please visit our Donation page to help support Truthout here
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy