USA: losing rights, watched by Big Media, media entangled with state and banks
Ten articles on the United States: the erosion of rights (FISA, TikTok, book bans), media in the service of government and intelligence (Bernstein 1977), the entanglement of Big Media, banks and the state — and how to build the "government is captured" argument from evidence rather than assertion.
The case meant to measure the line between government and Meta, Google & Co. — and why it failed on standing.
SurveillanceFISA 702: mass surveillance renewed every two years278,000 improper FBI queries of Americans' data — and Congress renewed the program anyway. Sunset: April 2026.
Platform banTikTok v. Garland: the first US platform ban upheldThe Supreme Court unanimously upheld the divest-or-ban law. First-of-its-kind in US history.
Book bansSchool book bans: 10,046 instances in one school yearPEN America has counted since 2021 — nearly 34,000 bans to date. What a "ban" is, and what the debate reveals.
MediaCarl Bernstein 1977: 400 journalists on the CIA's payrollOperation Mockingbird is a legend as a name — the 1977 documents are not. What is documented, and what ends in 1977.
ConcentrationBig Media: few conglomerates, almost everythingFrom 50 companies (1983) to 5–6 conglomerates controlling 90% of US media. Facts without the "everything is scripted" leap.
Revolving doorThe revolving door between government and newsroomsFrom CNN's press office to the White House and back: the documented personnel churnal between politics and journalism.
Banks & stateThe Fed and the secret trillions$16 trillion in cumulative emergency lending 2007–2010 — revealed not by Congress but by a GAO audit and Bloomberg's FOIA suit.
LobbyingLobbying: $4.6 billion a year buys accessHow money shapes politics — from the legal baseline to the red line where democracy tips into oligarchy.
Money = speechCitizens United: when corporations became speakers2010: the Supreme Court allowed unlimited independent corporate spending. Since then, "dark money" is a business model.