Thanks for a great summary. So grateful to you and the Current for offering SB an alternative to the agitprop served up by 95 % of the supposed local sources of “ news”
We live in a truth desert in this city, and the Current is a welcome oasis
Jim- I appreciate learning the word and meaning Agitprop. Being a young boomer, I am constantly amused and embarrassed by the photos of my aging peers holding ridicules anti ICE signs and wringing their hands over the news (propaganda) that is spewed by the local democrat "leaders".
Mike: I don't mind the stupid signs they hold, it's the ridiculous chants they repeat in unison (using that term loosely) over, and over, and over, and over... Aaargh! The only things lacking in most of these "demonstrations" are copies of Mao's "Little Red Book."
The dog whistle agitprop at the mere mention of the former Santa Barbara NewsPress when it was purchased by conservative Wendy McCaw continues rabidly even today. I remain stunned how many times I still run into the comment "we would never read the NewsPress" barked out as a personal badge of honor. (BTW: how is the new online iteration of the newly purchased trade-mark letterhead SB News-Press doing?)
Closing down the last local print media daily, which offered a forum for non-Democrat party approved opinion, thought and letters to the editor remains a deeply felt community loss. Assume this was part of their total plan - bravo again to SB Current and its editors' courage to offer this community a healthy alternative.
elcx: thanks for the compliments. I don't know how the new iteration of the News-Press is going but I haven't seen it since it first launched. I don't believe, however, that it is particularly conservative and in fact from what I did see it seemed to lean left...
You mention The Village Voice. How many Santa Barbarans know that Marianne Partridge, editor and owner of The Independent, worked at, edited at and was schooled in Leftist “journalism” at The Village Voice? That's right, she is merely carrying on the news reporting tradition of a paper that, when I lived in NYC, even my most liberal writer friends rolled their eyes at because it was so by-the-books Marxist. Not just their so-called news reporting, but their culture reporting. Even their food reporting. I knew people who worked at The Voice and they were often very intelligent, likable people. But they were more devoted to Leftist politics than to journalism. Or friendship. Now, all the legacy media is devoted to Leftist politics. They showed in their “reporting” about Russiagate that they were willing to lie to uphold their politics. I saw this when Russiagate began and I'd ask my NYC journalist friends who worked for the big publications how they could demean their profession like this. Their answer? We're no longer “friends.”
But it's too simple to say that the media is doing Agitprop. Because what they've really been doing is protecting their own club. The real reason they hate Trump is because he's an outsider who doesn't play by club rules. The media has always been like this - at least during my lifetime.
When I was a kid, one of my lawyer father's clients was Lloyd Shearer who owned and ran Parade magazine. Parade's gossip column was hugely influential. Their readership was enormous. In the late sixties/early seventies, when Lloyd's kids were at college, starting their careers in journalism, I also saw how The Club worked. Lloyd's daughter was dating Strobe Talbott, a Yale student who precociously translated Krushchev's memoirs. (And the couple stayed at my family's house here in Santa Barbara that I now live in.) He was also the roommate of a student everyone knew was going places politically: Bill Clinton. Strobe became the head of Brookings Institute. All the Shearer kids worked for and with the Clintons. People often ask me why I am a cynical disbeliever in the mainstream press. Why wouldn't I be?
So Agitprop is not just agitation and propaganda for political ideological purposes. It is first and foremost about preserving the power of The Club. Enjoy your Sunday NYT.
Polly: I remember Strobe Talbott (how could anyone forget such a name?), but I don't recall the exact circumstances of the over-sized role he played at the State Department. Please fill me in if you do.
Strobe was the head of Brookings Institute. It's always been my understanding that Brookings played a huge role in Dem policies. And Strobe was considered a Russia expert. Hopefully, we'll find out whether or how much Brookings and/or Strobe was involved in Russiagate.
The "Santa Barbara Independent" is as "independent" as Bernie Sanders (I-VT). That's why I haven't even scanned it in ages. I swear, they even censor the obituaries. It seems as if every deceased luminary was a heavy contributor to Planned Parenthood, or volunteered at P.P.'s annual booksale. They are close to 100% predictable. Just mention an issue or subject and every astute political junkie can tell you in advance what the "Independent's" slant will be. Their political endorsements are a joke. Does anybody expect them to seriously consider a conservative or Republican candidate for an endorsement? For starters, in their universe, only Democrats exist. They won't even waste ink on mentioning who are the people running against Democrats, much less give effort and space to review their ideas, even in a quest to critique or badmouth them. Just ask Dr. Thomas Cole!
ahhh...reconsider....you are missing a steady dose of local entertainment...The Angry Poodle column rivals the best of SNL comedy, almost to the point of wondering if it is not actually "tongue in cheek". Rivals current City Council meetings...hard to believe they are serious...or paid.
Sorry! For entertainment, I watch the monthly rotation of free movies (w/ads) on Youtube. Try "When Harry Met Sally" or "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" - maybe "Vertigo" in August. Santa Barbara City Council and Nick Welsh are a waste of time. Besides, they really aren't funny, or entertaining!
David, TVW: Say what you will, Nick Welsh is a fine writer, nearly as good as PJ O'Rourke. The Angry Poodle's politics are far, far, left so he has become too predictable to expect any surprises from him, but he sure does have a way with words!
Yeah, Welsh is a professional writer. One needn't be a conservative writer to catch my attention. Last week, I had a beer at Mike Royko's hang-out in downtown Chicago (The Billy Goat Tavern) for inveterate left-of-center journalists. During the Truman and Eisenhower years, "Billy Goat" had a sign hung behind the bar that read "No Republicans Allowed". During Royko's heyday as a syndicated columnist, I read his stuff. I reminisce often of my glory days going to grad school in N.Y.C. and daily consuming the scribblings of the likes of Jimmy Breslin et al. They were much earthier than what came out of "The New York Times" and "The Wall Street Journal" op-ed pages. For the most part, graduating from a reputable J-school wasn't part of their resume, but they were intelligent, very well connected and the word "smart" was preceded by "street". They were men of the left but they weren't "Village Voice" left and probably not even "Dissent" and "Partisan Review" left. They began their writing careers on the graveyard shift and always put their columns together at bars frequented by journalists and working class people. If you drank and were interested in people, the Breslins of Manhattan (who all lived in Queens) could/would talk with you, no matter what your party politics were. That's just not the case today. If you're not loony tunes left, and don't genuflect in the direction of the top J-schools, in their eyes you're nothing. Not even toast - nothing!
I differ with you about Welsh. He's clever-ish, always spinning into the most predictable rant. That's not good writing, that's dressing up garbage. O'Rourke was in an entirely different league.
When The Village Voice was the only "alternative" paper in NYC, it covered events that the mainstream press didn't bother with. It also had some good writers, particularly covering the music scene and off-Broadway stuff, but as the East Village Other and other papers ascended the Voice became extremely doctrinaire and really boring. For awhile it had to compete with the new free papers (they were charging $1.50 per copy!) but very few people bought it by then.
You're right, the Village Voice published some really good critics like Peter Scheldahl, Jim Wolcott, Jeff Weinstein and let them write on art, music and restaurants that wasn't being covered in the mainstream press. I knew those guys, they were great writers. And the Debbie Nathan piece that blew apart the McMartin “satanic” sexual child abuse case was journalism at its best. And you're right, that era of the Voice morphed into a predictably Leftist take on everything which is all Partridge has in The Independent.
The Constitution is our compact with each other: how shall we live together in this country called the United States of America. Give and take required from all sides for the greater good.
This is a very important topic. In addition to the clear coordinated bias of the media in its reporting and commentary is the dangerous and intentional non-reporting of important issues and subjects.
Bernard: You have hit the target dead center! The non-reporting of, for example, the four-year invasion at our southern border was nearly unanimous in any of our major outlets. They solidified their position that Rush Limbaugh correctly defined as "Drive-by media." They would simply drive by and completely ignore anything that conflicted with the "narrative." Both major media and social media were complicit and without Elon Musk stepping up to buy Twitter, we may never have seen/read of their complicity. The Cackler may even have won the 2024 presidential election.
As a high school kid in 1970 I attended several anti-war Vietnam era Teach-Ins at Griffith Park and other places. They were informative, and fun gatherings of colorfully dressed yippies and hippies and even normal folks.
BUT I discovered that once I got home and watched the TV news that night that there had been RIOTS !!! Police rushing the crowd, arrests, misbehavior. All solemnly reported, disappointed in the people who didn't understand the Domino Theory.
Except, of course, I was THERE and none of that happened.
That set up in me a lifelong distrust of manipulative media.
When listed like this it becomes a truth the opposition does not want to see or hear.
At the City Council special meeting the City of Santa Barbara Attorney, gave a clear warning to the Council. Supporting the organization that wants to defend the illegals from the recent ICE enforcement, could lead to the City and employees being held liable for Federal charges.
It was not some nebulous person in the room or audience. It was the City of Santa Barbara Attorney.
Does anyone find it amazing that Sneddon wants to take specifically designated tax money to the tune of Half a Million Dollars to give to this group? At a time when the City is running what amounts to a multi-year deficit? Is it an issue of ethics when Harmon (attorney) states the City can through subterfuge take the money from the Flexible House fund. Then Councilwoman Harmon what amounts to stealing from Measure C tax fund by amending Measure C?
The words and dodging of positions was at the Council Meeting is a microcosm of Jim's article.
Love to see the readers of this article start going down the list of the same type of actions in the City of SB.
Thank goodness this is all documented in public for future review. Yes, it is shocking. But so has been the instant capitulation of any objective thought process during our other recent political mass hysterias. Kudos to the city attorney for putting this warning into the public record. I wonder when he will be looking for another job?
If liberalism is a disease, then what is its handmaiden ... rabid, partisan virtue-signaling at taxpayer expense? Besides clear grounds to throw all these bums out, but the infection has widely rotted out this particular community.
it is very true the Dems have mastered the art of propaganda. I just look at it like the Chinese and say that all news is propaganda.
The term Mockingbird Media has also been applied to the Mainstream media if you look at their reporting they all say the same thing the same point at the same time,hence the term Mockingbird Media.
And the left gobbles it up and repeats,repeats and repeats it. Then they all share the same lies on social media and viola we have the talking points of the day.
I believe that the left has somehow become brainwashed,whether it's due to the narcissistic nature or mental illness,that they cannot think for themselves.
I hope with the defending of USAid ,PBS and NPr along with Colbert gone and soon the view,let's hope we can have some real reporting in the future.
Rep. Salud Carbajal parroting Joe Biden's 2024 SOTU address was "fiery", just like 99% of all the other media talking heads at the exact same time, was a low point even for Salud.
Very enlightening article Jim. The notion that our “Press Corp” is bias and in the tank for the Dems is shocking….not!
BTW, don’t you think that the NYT and WAPO should be required to give back their Pulitzer(s) due to phony reporting of “Russia Gate” which was based on a complete fabrication and hoax? It would seem the Pulitzer committee doesn’t want to admit their “Prize” is based on promoting and spreading lefty talking points!
As for our local “Press Corp” (EDHAT, Independent, Newsfakers) it would seem they should have to provide a disclaimer at the bottom of the page, informing readers that they are tools of the local Dem machine, promoting their pack of lies of lefty propaganda and on everything Trump!
Other than that, the “Indy” makes a great liner for my Birdcage!
I suspect the front page feature Review in today's WSJ will be regarded as agitprop also: "The Conservative Women who are "Having it All". (8/2/2025)
But this time it will be sending the WSJ liberal followers into frenzy, because it is not attacking conservatives as has been the recent WSJ shift. Which however still remains alive and well in everything Peggy Noonan continues to write of late, including her companion op ed featured today. (Stop ICE raids in the workplace.)
This WSJ feature article today does far more than just highlighting the current GOP female stars who are juggling motherhood, family and marriage, it is also a study of their sustaining values which the WSJ presents in clear contrast to their own assessment of typical liberal female attitudes (burden, sacrifice, oppression, reliance on government) that contrasts to the consistent theme the author found among conservative women. (joy, faith, operational discipline, commitment, reliance on self).
I look forward to the follow up letters to the editor in response to this clear departure from the WSJ's anti-conservative values agitprop, which had become their recent journalism standard.
Did that recent earthquake and tsunami extend well beyond the Kamkatcha Peninsula and instead reach deep into the heart of the WSJ editorial board? Or is the WSJ also worried they are losing their many subscribers, who do not need to pay them for more liberal bias, and calculated anti-GOP agitprop?
elcx: Every article in a recent business wrap up in the WSJ was not only downbeat, but also snidely indicated tariffs were to blame. The paper is now shamelessly anti-Trump.
Jimmy, the Montecito Journal, which you sold/cashed out, to a group of wealthy, liberal, residents primarily residing in Montecito, is also “shamelessly anti-Trump”.
Agree, which makes me think this actually positive WSJ article about conservative political female stars was probably agitprop. Plus it was pretty biased against liberal women trying to have it all too, and failing. Who thought they would read that too, in the now degraded WSJ?
I shall pay attention to the follow-up comments and see which way they got the wind to blow after this total departure from their now 24/7 TDS stuff- even gratuitously throwing TDS in, when it did not even relate to any underlying article subject matter.
Or even worse, has the WSJ sunk to being intentional market manipulators, and decided it now time to boost all the stocks they so enjoyed disparaging, but in fact were buying low on the side? Will the PELOSI act impact any back-door manipulations now?
WSJ's roots were...and remain...open borders...motivated in no small part by endless advocacy for cheap labor wherein the profits are privatized and the costs are socialized.
TVW: You are right about that. I am a WSJ subscriber but I always bypass their "coverage" of the border and tariff negotiations. I know what their biases are and realise I'm not reading objective reportage. I've avoided Peggy Noonan's pieces for years now too. She's still a very good writer, but she has been won over by the dark side of the DC crowd and can't be taken seriously any longer.
Daniel: You have it backwards: it's Yes to tax cuts for taxpayers and No to free health care to able-bodied individuals too lazy to look for or find work.
there are many hardworking people not benefiting from todays society. The middle class is hollowing out is a common refrain. So yes there are some who free load on the system and there many genuinely needing help. To dismiss all for a few is very simplistic. And the cuts only come after the 2026 elections, cute, the party knows it too.
DH: Did you miss the entire DOGE investigations? It goes well beyond "a few freeloading off the system".
The current welfare system does plenty to "help those in need", including massive employment for layers of government bureaucrats who are not in need, but need to keep as much grift going for as long as they can for their own "welfare".
I recall, all the heavy costs of Obamacare were pushed not Obama's successor's administration. That was cute too.
Democrats got a twofer on that one after Trump won, they got to blame Trump for increasing the deficit when it was the intentional Obamacare cost castoff that triggered much of it. Tell us things we do not already know DH, and you may find we are on the right team after all.
Want to help "hardworking" and the middle class??? let them keep more of their paychecks...not shuffle those legitimate earnings to federal bureaucracies to redistribute inefficiently and selectively to pet partisan programs...including to people in this country illegally...that includes SB City Council.
Free healthcare pro-trip for the "poor": stop smoking, no alcohol, no junk calories, lose weight, exercise more, and find meaning and purpose in your own daily life that heals the soul. That the same health care that "rich people"always get first too.
DH: Considering the top 1% in California are paying 40% of all taxes, and these unfairly burdened wealthy tax generators are now leaving the state in droves, while getting replaced with net tax dollar burdening new residents, can you please pencil out your own preferred taxation plan ......that sounds in fact this time, and not just in unfounded party line dogma.
Thanks for keeping us up to speed as the local voice of the loyal opposition. Helps us work on our own best arguments and fact-ready rebuttals.
PS: No such thing as "fair share". There is the tax code, as written and amended from time to time. Period.
WEF is not only dead, it beclowned itself with its own leadership grift. Choose your own personal charities any way you wish, but "taxing the rich for their fair share" is a duck dead in the water. The rich are already the largest charitable givers of them all. Credit them where credit is due, as voluntary givers under the current taxation system.
We could spend the rest of our lives cherry picking sources to quote. The source you site is a left of center globalist organization that seeks to re-distribute the world's wealth. That's fine if that's what works for you and of course, you and your cohorts are free to promote that. The good news is that most Americans reject that mentality as evidence by the results of the last election and the current polling of the entire electorate.
I am amazed at the lack of knowledge or understanding surrounding the creation of capital and so called "wealth". The left seems to treat it as a finite pie that is not being distributed fairly. In reality that pie is continually growing...with exceptions of course. An example would be Leftists like George Soros, Reid Hoffman and Bill Gates, etc. Their wealth didn't come from the pockets of other people. They CREATED that wealth (all while being Leftists) and are entitled to the fruits of there "labors"...just as they entitled to give it away if they so choose.
Because there has been enormous wealth created in the last decade or two doesn't mean it was at the expense of others who were not as "successful"....which includes the major majority of us. I don't covet their wealth or success.
The data is clear that the lower economic rungs of our society have done very well during that same period of time. The Left always has to have a boogie man...it is part and parcel of their ideology. If the goal is take (confiscate) the fruits of another's successful efforts...then what comrades? I think the world has been down this road. Perhaps our schools need to do a better job of teaching history.
These "liberals" still try to cover their own grift of the system, by playing the guilt card against others with their tiresome "fair share, tax the rich" arguments.
They in fact are the ones who really want more than their fair share, and are doing a great subterfuge job already taking a lot of it. Case in point - government employees and they're grifting unions. Their public pensions now own all of Gen Z's future.
This will soon hit Gen Z when they see they are stuck paying for two government employees for every government position created: the present one and the one who recently retired and is now drawing down that major underfunded part of that persons lifetime pension plan.
How will Gen Z handle this when they finally watch the erosion in their own personal wealth drawn down, just to support retired government employees they never even knew, but now are the personal guarantors of their lifetime government pensions?
Higher taxes are not for pot holes, they are needed to cover ever increasing underfunded government employee pension costs. "While you slept" - the book that explains it all.
A little simplistic Daniel...a talking point without substance.
I can't think of a better group of people to get a tax cut than the wealthy...they're the ones paying the taxes. You're not going give a tax cut to a poor person ...they're not really paying taxes and certainly not net contributors. Not sure when it became popular to speak of the"wealthy' as a negative or pejorative...however I have no doubt about its' origin.
Democrats love to engage in class warfare arguments, as their own government employees have rapidly moved into the upper class, income wise.
What Democrats are not talking about is in fact their real message, not the smoke-screens they use to keep polluting real political discourse. Which is why Transparent California remains the best source to get fresh air blowing on their stagnant and always self-serving arguments.
Who is paying the tax dollars, and how do Democrat spend these tax dollars once they get their hands on them? That is the real issue we need to talk about. And why are they so existentially threatened when they even hear the words "tax cuts"?
Tax the rich, which today are the new upper class government bureaucrats, does have a nice ring to it.
yes it is simplistic. And the wealthy do not need a tax cut, tax rates here in the US are the lowest in the west. US tax revenues do not support the expenditures, there fore debt will rise and at some point interest rates will rise too. I am approaching this from it is poor accounting and nothing to do with left of centre socialist views. I find it interesting the left is the assumed bogeymen. Pure Mcarthyism once more and a facile shallow critique.
Your childish and silly "McCathryism" comment aside, you might want to review a chart of both the massive increases in federal spending (expenditures; debt) side of the ledger for the past 50-60 years as well as the attendant increases in taxes to feed that insatiable monster. Then I suggest you revisit your comment about rising interest rates, etc., ad nauseam. So much for public school.
I was living in NY then and during those days I guess you could call me an aspiring hippie. As you inferred in the article, John Lindsay was the mayor of NYC then. He was also a Republican, however, he was also more liberal than 90% of the radicals in the Dem Party today. Lastly, I wonder how many of your younger readers have ever heard of Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr. I would urge everyone to watch the iconic beach scene in the great movie "From here to Eternity" with Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr. There is more sensuality in that scene than any of the crap they put out as movies today.
Lou: Well, I guess you're correct in your assumption that Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr wouldn't be the first people to come to mind when discussing "The King and I." In fact, I'd guess that many would think the movie had something to do with Elvis... Presley that is. Or Martin Luther King, Jr., or hey, even Larry King (whose commercials online have kept him alive)!
Excellent article Jim: we’ve no media coverage from our typically left to far left biased propaganda media. Here’s some “truth” reported 2-days after the SB City Council’s Special Meeting on Thursday 7/31/25: Santa Barbara City Council Approves $500,000 to Immigrant Support Services - The Santa Barbara Independent
Vote 5-1-1 only Mayor Rowse opposed: D1 Community Activist Wendy SantaMaria abstains. Sneddon and Friedman expected to run against Rowse in 2026. Who will you be sending your campaign money contribution?
Where do you read that SB Council was put on notice Thursday of its unlawful intentional actions working against federal enforcement? KEYT failed to cover, Noozhawk remains silent, and Independent released above article on Saturday — today.
Apologising is the start of truth, honesty and integrity in reporting. But only a start. The policy of ICE is to deport the bad guys, the criminals. Yet the opposite is what is happening.
Nicole Acevedo of NBC News reported that on June 20 the U.S. was holding more than 56,000 people in detention centers, the highest number in U.S. history. Nearly 72% of those held had no criminal history.
By my schoolroom maths this is over forty thousand " unfortunate mishaps", not one or two.
This is an own goal of monumental proportions, or is it just intentiolnal conduct by ICE?
Wait I have an easy solution, straight from the MAGA playbook. Lets call it fake news, lets dissemble the information, the reporter, for reporting facts that we do not agree with. Where else do I need to do this? Yes, I got it! The jobs report. Let's fire US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) commissioner Erika McEntarfer.
Daniel: Please, why anyone would trust numbers or so-called "facts" from NBC News is a mystery. They and the rest of the media make numbers up and choose what seems to work best. I could report that one million migrants have been murdered by white vigilantes and no doubt some liberal a-hole would run with it on his latest blog. Before long some hack at NBC would refer to it as "fact," and if you disputed it you'd be labeled a conspiracy freak.
DH: You set up your own premise, then you back it with your own cherry picked facts and then you win your own arguments. Deportation of all those here illegally was the name of the game and 2024 voters endorse this. So there is nothing "one off" going on at all. Did you track Obama's deportations with the same vigor?
thank you for your condescending comments. They help me understand you better.
From Fed Reserve Bank of St Loius
Tax revenue has been roughly 17% of GDP since 1980.
Expenditure has been roughly 20% of GDP in the same time frame.
To make up the difference treasuries are issued with an interest payment. The interest goes up when confidence in the government's ability to pay declines.
“Agitprop”, thank you. I knew there had to be a word that describes tacos tactics. He starts his lies and repeats them over and over and over and over, then he gets his minions to repeat the lies, and they do in almost the exact same words he said. Voila! Agitprop.
Thanks for a great summary. So grateful to you and the Current for offering SB an alternative to the agitprop served up by 95 % of the supposed local sources of “ news”
We live in a truth desert in this city, and the Current is a welcome oasis
TRUMP SHOULD SEND ALL THE LYING "JOURNALISTS" AT THE SOCIALIST SANTA BARBARA INDEPENDENT TO ALLIGATOR ALCATRAZ TO PROTECT OUR COUNTRY FROM COMMUNISM
Jim- I appreciate learning the word and meaning Agitprop. Being a young boomer, I am constantly amused and embarrassed by the photos of my aging peers holding ridicules anti ICE signs and wringing their hands over the news (propaganda) that is spewed by the local democrat "leaders".
Mike: I don't mind the stupid signs they hold, it's the ridiculous chants they repeat in unison (using that term loosely) over, and over, and over, and over... Aaargh! The only things lacking in most of these "demonstrations" are copies of Mao's "Little Red Book."
The powers that seek to destroy our Nation need us angry and lawless to be successful.
The SB Current is our only access to reality.
Thanks Jim.
The dog whistle agitprop at the mere mention of the former Santa Barbara NewsPress when it was purchased by conservative Wendy McCaw continues rabidly even today. I remain stunned how many times I still run into the comment "we would never read the NewsPress" barked out as a personal badge of honor. (BTW: how is the new online iteration of the newly purchased trade-mark letterhead SB News-Press doing?)
Closing down the last local print media daily, which offered a forum for non-Democrat party approved opinion, thought and letters to the editor remains a deeply felt community loss. Assume this was part of their total plan - bravo again to SB Current and its editors' courage to offer this community a healthy alternative.
elcx: thanks for the compliments. I don't know how the new iteration of the News-Press is going but I haven't seen it since it first launched. I don't believe, however, that it is particularly conservative and in fact from what I did see it seemed to lean left...
You mention The Village Voice. How many Santa Barbarans know that Marianne Partridge, editor and owner of The Independent, worked at, edited at and was schooled in Leftist “journalism” at The Village Voice? That's right, she is merely carrying on the news reporting tradition of a paper that, when I lived in NYC, even my most liberal writer friends rolled their eyes at because it was so by-the-books Marxist. Not just their so-called news reporting, but their culture reporting. Even their food reporting. I knew people who worked at The Voice and they were often very intelligent, likable people. But they were more devoted to Leftist politics than to journalism. Or friendship. Now, all the legacy media is devoted to Leftist politics. They showed in their “reporting” about Russiagate that they were willing to lie to uphold their politics. I saw this when Russiagate began and I'd ask my NYC journalist friends who worked for the big publications how they could demean their profession like this. Their answer? We're no longer “friends.”
But it's too simple to say that the media is doing Agitprop. Because what they've really been doing is protecting their own club. The real reason they hate Trump is because he's an outsider who doesn't play by club rules. The media has always been like this - at least during my lifetime.
When I was a kid, one of my lawyer father's clients was Lloyd Shearer who owned and ran Parade magazine. Parade's gossip column was hugely influential. Their readership was enormous. In the late sixties/early seventies, when Lloyd's kids were at college, starting their careers in journalism, I also saw how The Club worked. Lloyd's daughter was dating Strobe Talbott, a Yale student who precociously translated Krushchev's memoirs. (And the couple stayed at my family's house here in Santa Barbara that I now live in.) He was also the roommate of a student everyone knew was going places politically: Bill Clinton. Strobe became the head of Brookings Institute. All the Shearer kids worked for and with the Clintons. People often ask me why I am a cynical disbeliever in the mainstream press. Why wouldn't I be?
So Agitprop is not just agitation and propaganda for political ideological purposes. It is first and foremost about preserving the power of The Club. Enjoy your Sunday NYT.
Polly: I remember Strobe Talbott (how could anyone forget such a name?), but I don't recall the exact circumstances of the over-sized role he played at the State Department. Please fill me in if you do.
Strobe was the head of Brookings Institute. It's always been my understanding that Brookings played a huge role in Dem policies. And Strobe was considered a Russia expert. Hopefully, we'll find out whether or how much Brookings and/or Strobe was involved in Russiagate.
I enjoy reading the Independent...my weekly dose of comedic satire...including its name....a literary gift to our community...literally.
The "Santa Barbara Independent" is as "independent" as Bernie Sanders (I-VT). That's why I haven't even scanned it in ages. I swear, they even censor the obituaries. It seems as if every deceased luminary was a heavy contributor to Planned Parenthood, or volunteered at P.P.'s annual booksale. They are close to 100% predictable. Just mention an issue or subject and every astute political junkie can tell you in advance what the "Independent's" slant will be. Their political endorsements are a joke. Does anybody expect them to seriously consider a conservative or Republican candidate for an endorsement? For starters, in their universe, only Democrats exist. They won't even waste ink on mentioning who are the people running against Democrats, much less give effort and space to review their ideas, even in a quest to critique or badmouth them. Just ask Dr. Thomas Cole!
ahhh...reconsider....you are missing a steady dose of local entertainment...The Angry Poodle column rivals the best of SNL comedy, almost to the point of wondering if it is not actually "tongue in cheek". Rivals current City Council meetings...hard to believe they are serious...or paid.
Sorry! For entertainment, I watch the monthly rotation of free movies (w/ads) on Youtube. Try "When Harry Met Sally" or "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" - maybe "Vertigo" in August. Santa Barbara City Council and Nick Welsh are a waste of time. Besides, they really aren't funny, or entertaining!
David, TVW: Say what you will, Nick Welsh is a fine writer, nearly as good as PJ O'Rourke. The Angry Poodle's politics are far, far, left so he has become too predictable to expect any surprises from him, but he sure does have a way with words!
Yeah, Welsh is a professional writer. One needn't be a conservative writer to catch my attention. Last week, I had a beer at Mike Royko's hang-out in downtown Chicago (The Billy Goat Tavern) for inveterate left-of-center journalists. During the Truman and Eisenhower years, "Billy Goat" had a sign hung behind the bar that read "No Republicans Allowed". During Royko's heyday as a syndicated columnist, I read his stuff. I reminisce often of my glory days going to grad school in N.Y.C. and daily consuming the scribblings of the likes of Jimmy Breslin et al. They were much earthier than what came out of "The New York Times" and "The Wall Street Journal" op-ed pages. For the most part, graduating from a reputable J-school wasn't part of their resume, but they were intelligent, very well connected and the word "smart" was preceded by "street". They were men of the left but they weren't "Village Voice" left and probably not even "Dissent" and "Partisan Review" left. They began their writing careers on the graveyard shift and always put their columns together at bars frequented by journalists and working class people. If you drank and were interested in people, the Breslins of Manhattan (who all lived in Queens) could/would talk with you, no matter what your party politics were. That's just not the case today. If you're not loony tunes left, and don't genuflect in the direction of the top J-schools, in their eyes you're nothing. Not even toast - nothing!
I differ with you about Welsh. He's clever-ish, always spinning into the most predictable rant. That's not good writing, that's dressing up garbage. O'Rourke was in an entirely different league.
When The Village Voice was the only "alternative" paper in NYC, it covered events that the mainstream press didn't bother with. It also had some good writers, particularly covering the music scene and off-Broadway stuff, but as the East Village Other and other papers ascended the Voice became extremely doctrinaire and really boring. For awhile it had to compete with the new free papers (they were charging $1.50 per copy!) but very few people bought it by then.
You're right, the Village Voice published some really good critics like Peter Scheldahl, Jim Wolcott, Jeff Weinstein and let them write on art, music and restaurants that wasn't being covered in the mainstream press. I knew those guys, they were great writers. And the Debbie Nathan piece that blew apart the McMartin “satanic” sexual child abuse case was journalism at its best. And you're right, that era of the Voice morphed into a predictably Leftist take on everything which is all Partridge has in The Independent.
US Constitution is not a set of “club rules”
The Constitution is our compact with each other: how shall we live together in this country called the United States of America. Give and take required from all sides for the greater good.
This is a very important topic. In addition to the clear coordinated bias of the media in its reporting and commentary is the dangerous and intentional non-reporting of important issues and subjects.
Bernard: You have hit the target dead center! The non-reporting of, for example, the four-year invasion at our southern border was nearly unanimous in any of our major outlets. They solidified their position that Rush Limbaugh correctly defined as "Drive-by media." They would simply drive by and completely ignore anything that conflicted with the "narrative." Both major media and social media were complicit and without Elon Musk stepping up to buy Twitter, we may never have seen/read of their complicity. The Cackler may even have won the 2024 presidential election.
As a high school kid in 1970 I attended several anti-war Vietnam era Teach-Ins at Griffith Park and other places. They were informative, and fun gatherings of colorfully dressed yippies and hippies and even normal folks.
BUT I discovered that once I got home and watched the TV news that night that there had been RIOTS !!! Police rushing the crowd, arrests, misbehavior. All solemnly reported, disappointed in the people who didn't understand the Domino Theory.
Except, of course, I was THERE and none of that happened.
That set up in me a lifelong distrust of manipulative media.
When listed like this it becomes a truth the opposition does not want to see or hear.
At the City Council special meeting the City of Santa Barbara Attorney, gave a clear warning to the Council. Supporting the organization that wants to defend the illegals from the recent ICE enforcement, could lead to the City and employees being held liable for Federal charges.
It was not some nebulous person in the room or audience. It was the City of Santa Barbara Attorney.
Does anyone find it amazing that Sneddon wants to take specifically designated tax money to the tune of Half a Million Dollars to give to this group? At a time when the City is running what amounts to a multi-year deficit? Is it an issue of ethics when Harmon (attorney) states the City can through subterfuge take the money from the Flexible House fund. Then Councilwoman Harmon what amounts to stealing from Measure C tax fund by amending Measure C?
The words and dodging of positions was at the Council Meeting is a microcosm of Jim's article.
Love to see the readers of this article start going down the list of the same type of actions in the City of SB.
Thank goodness this is all documented in public for future review. Yes, it is shocking. But so has been the instant capitulation of any objective thought process during our other recent political mass hysterias. Kudos to the city attorney for putting this warning into the public record. I wonder when he will be looking for another job?
If liberalism is a disease, then what is its handmaiden ... rabid, partisan virtue-signaling at taxpayer expense? Besides clear grounds to throw all these bums out, but the infection has widely rotted out this particular community.
I am truly dismayed every time Kristen Sneddon speaks, as you refer to as, "amazing." And to think she's going to run for mayor is just awful.
Great article!
Thank you Jim for your article.
it is very true the Dems have mastered the art of propaganda. I just look at it like the Chinese and say that all news is propaganda.
The term Mockingbird Media has also been applied to the Mainstream media if you look at their reporting they all say the same thing the same point at the same time,hence the term Mockingbird Media.
And the left gobbles it up and repeats,repeats and repeats it. Then they all share the same lies on social media and viola we have the talking points of the day.
I believe that the left has somehow become brainwashed,whether it's due to the narcissistic nature or mental illness,that they cannot think for themselves.
I hope with the defending of USAid ,PBS and NPr along with Colbert gone and soon the view,let's hope we can have some real reporting in the future.
Rep. Salud Carbajal parroting Joe Biden's 2024 SOTU address was "fiery", just like 99% of all the other media talking heads at the exact same time, was a low point even for Salud.
Very enlightening article Jim. The notion that our “Press Corp” is bias and in the tank for the Dems is shocking….not!
BTW, don’t you think that the NYT and WAPO should be required to give back their Pulitzer(s) due to phony reporting of “Russia Gate” which was based on a complete fabrication and hoax? It would seem the Pulitzer committee doesn’t want to admit their “Prize” is based on promoting and spreading lefty talking points!
As for our local “Press Corp” (EDHAT, Independent, Newsfakers) it would seem they should have to provide a disclaimer at the bottom of the page, informing readers that they are tools of the local Dem machine, promoting their pack of lies of lefty propaganda and on everything Trump!
Other than that, the “Indy” makes a great liner for my Birdcage!
LT: Of course they ought to give back their Pulitzers, but they have no shame nor self-respect, so I don't expect that will happen.
Not a chance they return the "prize"...Pulitzer currently does not occupy a place of respect or dignity...not convinced it ever did.
It also makes a good “fish wrap”
I suspect the front page feature Review in today's WSJ will be regarded as agitprop also: "The Conservative Women who are "Having it All". (8/2/2025)
But this time it will be sending the WSJ liberal followers into frenzy, because it is not attacking conservatives as has been the recent WSJ shift. Which however still remains alive and well in everything Peggy Noonan continues to write of late, including her companion op ed featured today. (Stop ICE raids in the workplace.)
This WSJ feature article today does far more than just highlighting the current GOP female stars who are juggling motherhood, family and marriage, it is also a study of their sustaining values which the WSJ presents in clear contrast to their own assessment of typical liberal female attitudes (burden, sacrifice, oppression, reliance on government) that contrasts to the consistent theme the author found among conservative women. (joy, faith, operational discipline, commitment, reliance on self).
I look forward to the follow up letters to the editor in response to this clear departure from the WSJ's anti-conservative values agitprop, which had become their recent journalism standard.
Did that recent earthquake and tsunami extend well beyond the Kamkatcha Peninsula and instead reach deep into the heart of the WSJ editorial board? Or is the WSJ also worried they are losing their many subscribers, who do not need to pay them for more liberal bias, and calculated anti-GOP agitprop?
elcx: Every article in a recent business wrap up in the WSJ was not only downbeat, but also snidely indicated tariffs were to blame. The paper is now shamelessly anti-Trump.
Jimmy, the Montecito Journal, which you sold/cashed out, to a group of wealthy, liberal, residents primarily residing in Montecito, is also “shamelessly anti-Trump”.
elcx: I know, to my everlasting shame. I had no idea they would go that way and shut me out of at least a political column. I hate that it happened.
Agree, which makes me think this actually positive WSJ article about conservative political female stars was probably agitprop. Plus it was pretty biased against liberal women trying to have it all too, and failing. Who thought they would read that too, in the now degraded WSJ?
I shall pay attention to the follow-up comments and see which way they got the wind to blow after this total departure from their now 24/7 TDS stuff- even gratuitously throwing TDS in, when it did not even relate to any underlying article subject matter.
Or even worse, has the WSJ sunk to being intentional market manipulators, and decided it now time to boost all the stocks they so enjoyed disparaging, but in fact were buying low on the side? Will the PELOSI act impact any back-door manipulations now?
WSJ's roots were...and remain...open borders...motivated in no small part by endless advocacy for cheap labor wherein the profits are privatized and the costs are socialized.
TVW: You are right about that. I am a WSJ subscriber but I always bypass their "coverage" of the border and tariff negotiations. I know what their biases are and realise I'm not reading objective reportage. I've avoided Peggy Noonan's pieces for years now too. She's still a very good writer, but she has been won over by the dark side of the DC crowd and can't be taken seriously any longer.
Her rapture about the sharp crease in Obama's trousers did it for me - back in ought 8. I blamed her for the Obama election.
National sovereignty is a multi-front war.
including from within....
tax cuts for the wealthy, health care cuts for the poor, that is real socialism in action.
Daniel: You have it backwards: it's Yes to tax cuts for taxpayers and No to free health care to able-bodied individuals too lazy to look for or find work.
Jim
there are many hardworking people not benefiting from todays society. The middle class is hollowing out is a common refrain. So yes there are some who free load on the system and there many genuinely needing help. To dismiss all for a few is very simplistic. And the cuts only come after the 2026 elections, cute, the party knows it too.
DH: Did you miss the entire DOGE investigations? It goes well beyond "a few freeloading off the system".
The current welfare system does plenty to "help those in need", including massive employment for layers of government bureaucrats who are not in need, but need to keep as much grift going for as long as they can for their own "welfare".
I recall, all the heavy costs of Obamacare were pushed not Obama's successor's administration. That was cute too.
Democrats got a twofer on that one after Trump won, they got to blame Trump for increasing the deficit when it was the intentional Obamacare cost castoff that triggered much of it. Tell us things we do not already know DH, and you may find we are on the right team after all.
Want to help "hardworking" and the middle class??? let them keep more of their paychecks...not shuffle those legitimate earnings to federal bureaucracies to redistribute inefficiently and selectively to pet partisan programs...including to people in this country illegally...that includes SB City Council.
Free healthcare pro-trip for the "poor": stop smoking, no alcohol, no junk calories, lose weight, exercise more, and find meaning and purpose in your own daily life that heals the soul. That the same health care that "rich people"always get first too.
DH: Considering the top 1% in California are paying 40% of all taxes, and these unfairly burdened wealthy tax generators are now leaving the state in droves, while getting replaced with net tax dollar burdening new residents, can you please pencil out your own preferred taxation plan ......that sounds in fact this time, and not just in unfounded party line dogma.
Thanks for keeping us up to speed as the local voice of the loyal opposition. Helps us work on our own best arguments and fact-ready rebuttals.
Real "socialism" in Europe today is now adding mandatory surcharges to their "free health care". They ran out of OPM. Imagine that.
Daniel,
You might find this “current” link below interesting & clearly supports your point.
https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories/do-the-rich-pay-their-fair-share/
PS: No such thing as "fair share". There is the tax code, as written and amended from time to time. Period.
WEF is not only dead, it beclowned itself with its own leadership grift. Choose your own personal charities any way you wish, but "taxing the rich for their fair share" is a duck dead in the water. The rich are already the largest charitable givers of them all. Credit them where credit is due, as voluntary givers under the current taxation system.
We could spend the rest of our lives cherry picking sources to quote. The source you site is a left of center globalist organization that seeks to re-distribute the world's wealth. That's fine if that's what works for you and of course, you and your cohorts are free to promote that. The good news is that most Americans reject that mentality as evidence by the results of the last election and the current polling of the entire electorate.
I am amazed at the lack of knowledge or understanding surrounding the creation of capital and so called "wealth". The left seems to treat it as a finite pie that is not being distributed fairly. In reality that pie is continually growing...with exceptions of course. An example would be Leftists like George Soros, Reid Hoffman and Bill Gates, etc. Their wealth didn't come from the pockets of other people. They CREATED that wealth (all while being Leftists) and are entitled to the fruits of there "labors"...just as they entitled to give it away if they so choose.
Because there has been enormous wealth created in the last decade or two doesn't mean it was at the expense of others who were not as "successful"....which includes the major majority of us. I don't covet their wealth or success.
The data is clear that the lower economic rungs of our society have done very well during that same period of time. The Left always has to have a boogie man...it is part and parcel of their ideology. If the goal is take (confiscate) the fruits of another's successful efforts...then what comrades? I think the world has been down this road. Perhaps our schools need to do a better job of teaching history.
These "liberals" still try to cover their own grift of the system, by playing the guilt card against others with their tiresome "fair share, tax the rich" arguments.
They in fact are the ones who really want more than their fair share, and are doing a great subterfuge job already taking a lot of it. Case in point - government employees and they're grifting unions. Their public pensions now own all of Gen Z's future.
This will soon hit Gen Z when they see they are stuck paying for two government employees for every government position created: the present one and the one who recently retired and is now drawing down that major underfunded part of that persons lifetime pension plan.
How will Gen Z handle this when they finally watch the erosion in their own personal wealth drawn down, just to support retired government employees they never even knew, but now are the personal guarantors of their lifetime government pensions?
Higher taxes are not for pot holes, they are needed to cover ever increasing underfunded government employee pension costs. "While you slept" - the book that explains it all.
A little simplistic Daniel...a talking point without substance.
I can't think of a better group of people to get a tax cut than the wealthy...they're the ones paying the taxes. You're not going give a tax cut to a poor person ...they're not really paying taxes and certainly not net contributors. Not sure when it became popular to speak of the"wealthy' as a negative or pejorative...however I have no doubt about its' origin.
Democrats love to engage in class warfare arguments, as their own government employees have rapidly moved into the upper class, income wise.
What Democrats are not talking about is in fact their real message, not the smoke-screens they use to keep polluting real political discourse. Which is why Transparent California remains the best source to get fresh air blowing on their stagnant and always self-serving arguments.
Who is paying the tax dollars, and how do Democrat spend these tax dollars once they get their hands on them? That is the real issue we need to talk about. And why are they so existentially threatened when they even hear the words "tax cuts"?
Tax the rich, which today are the new upper class government bureaucrats, does have a nice ring to it.
yes it is simplistic. And the wealthy do not need a tax cut, tax rates here in the US are the lowest in the west. US tax revenues do not support the expenditures, there fore debt will rise and at some point interest rates will rise too. I am approaching this from it is poor accounting and nothing to do with left of centre socialist views. I find it interesting the left is the assumed bogeymen. Pure Mcarthyism once more and a facile shallow critique.
Your childish and silly "McCathryism" comment aside, you might want to review a chart of both the massive increases in federal spending (expenditures; debt) side of the ledger for the past 50-60 years as well as the attendant increases in taxes to feed that insatiable monster. Then I suggest you revisit your comment about rising interest rates, etc., ad nauseam. So much for public school.
We need Robin Hood.
I was living in NY then and during those days I guess you could call me an aspiring hippie. As you inferred in the article, John Lindsay was the mayor of NYC then. He was also a Republican, however, he was also more liberal than 90% of the radicals in the Dem Party today. Lastly, I wonder how many of your younger readers have ever heard of Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr. I would urge everyone to watch the iconic beach scene in the great movie "From here to Eternity" with Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr. There is more sensuality in that scene than any of the crap they put out as movies today.
Lou: Well, I guess you're correct in your assumption that Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr wouldn't be the first people to come to mind when discussing "The King and I." In fact, I'd guess that many would think the movie had something to do with Elvis... Presley that is. Or Martin Luther King, Jr., or hey, even Larry King (whose commercials online have kept him alive)!
Lol
No to Hollywood sensuality.
Excellent article Jim: we’ve no media coverage from our typically left to far left biased propaganda media. Here’s some “truth” reported 2-days after the SB City Council’s Special Meeting on Thursday 7/31/25: Santa Barbara City Council Approves $500,000 to Immigrant Support Services - The Santa Barbara Independent
Vote 5-1-1 only Mayor Rowse opposed: D1 Community Activist Wendy SantaMaria abstains. Sneddon and Friedman expected to run against Rowse in 2026. Who will you be sending your campaign money contribution?
Where do you read that SB Council was put on notice Thursday of its unlawful intentional actions working against federal enforcement? KEYT failed to cover, Noozhawk remains silent, and Independent released above article on Saturday — today.
https://www.independent.com/2025/08/01/santa-barbara-city-council-approves-500000-to-immigrant-support-services/?vgo_ee=Ai%2BCZDmBwaroC18tOfB%2FKzBwoONyIG0ya5hSeVk5evH5%3AOCr695NyLF5n%2Ff0LTpq2Jwq1CzL%2BnJjb
Apologising is the start of truth, honesty and integrity in reporting. But only a start. The policy of ICE is to deport the bad guys, the criminals. Yet the opposite is what is happening.
Nicole Acevedo of NBC News reported that on June 20 the U.S. was holding more than 56,000 people in detention centers, the highest number in U.S. history. Nearly 72% of those held had no criminal history.
By my schoolroom maths this is over forty thousand " unfortunate mishaps", not one or two.
This is an own goal of monumental proportions, or is it just intentiolnal conduct by ICE?
Wait I have an easy solution, straight from the MAGA playbook. Lets call it fake news, lets dissemble the information, the reporter, for reporting facts that we do not agree with. Where else do I need to do this? Yes, I got it! The jobs report. Let's fire US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) commissioner Erika McEntarfer.
These are also behaviours taken from 1984.
Daniel: Please, why anyone would trust numbers or so-called "facts" from NBC News is a mystery. They and the rest of the media make numbers up and choose what seems to work best. I could report that one million migrants have been murdered by white vigilantes and no doubt some liberal a-hole would run with it on his latest blog. Before long some hack at NBC would refer to it as "fact," and if you disputed it you'd be labeled a conspiracy freak.
DH: You set up your own premise, then you back it with your own cherry picked facts and then you win your own arguments. Deportation of all those here illegally was the name of the game and 2024 voters endorse this. So there is nothing "one off" going on at all. Did you track Obama's deportations with the same vigor?
thank you for your condescending comments. They help me understand you better.
From Fed Reserve Bank of St Loius
Tax revenue has been roughly 17% of GDP since 1980.
Expenditure has been roughly 20% of GDP in the same time frame.
To make up the difference treasuries are issued with an interest payment. The interest goes up when confidence in the government's ability to pay declines.
Public school has its merits after all.
“Agitprop”, thank you. I knew there had to be a word that describes tacos tactics. He starts his lies and repeats them over and over and over and over, then he gets his minions to repeat the lies, and they do in almost the exact same words he said. Voila! Agitprop.