“Were it left to me to decide if we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
– Thomas Jefferson
Kittens, another weekend is upon us! And as usual, I have sourced a plethora of good reading to get you through the weekend, whether you are hunkered down in the cold or casually flirting with the idea of breaking our your spring clothing. (Don’t do that, crazy person!).
This week in news, we have the whole of the state of Virginia showing its ass, blackmail attempts, more government mess…look, it’s been a rough week. I’ve rounded up the best of serious and trivial reading for you to get you through the weekend without screaming.
How is this for sartorial goals?!
It has been really cold the past few weeks….
A YouTuber talks transparently about how they make money, what gendered issues some are up against, and what actually makes a business-successful influencer. I’m fascinated by “independent” media creators and think a lot (probably too much) about how bloggers and vloggers have changed the media landscape.
Virginia…are you okay?
This story is not at all surprising, but is still heartbreaking.
This seems like something we should be worrying about and working to prepare for now.
What the actual fuck is going on with Italian fashion houses right now? D&G, Prada and now Gucci have all done horrifically racist–or if you want to be extremely generous in a way I find mind bending to attempt, extremely tasteless and culturally ignorant–crap recently.
Honestly, The Financial Diet’s YouTube channel has been killing it lately.
CEO of Amazon Jeff Bezos has written a Medium post detailing his account of attempts by American Media Inc (AMI) to extort a decision from Mr. Bezos to end an investigation into how they got hold of negative information on his private life. This is of course the same company that has been revealed to use aggressive “catch and kill” tactics in other salacious media stories (most prominently with President Trump’s alleged mistresses). The Daily Beast and other journalists have weighed in to say they have experienced similar intimidation attempts from AMI in the past. In other words, it could be argued that extortion and blackmail are part of their business model. It could also be argued that trying to blackmail the richest man in the world was a hilarious undertaking and how on earth they thought they could coerce him to bend to their will is beyond me. Mr. Bezos accuses AMI’s actions of being politically motivated because of The Washington Post’s aggressive reporting into Mr. Trump’s businesses in particular. Which makes this story all the more weird! AMI is cooperating with law enforcement elsewhere in the Michael Cohen case, so how was this sort of action considered wise if you’re trying to cozy up to investigators?! (ETA: idiots.) Anyway, I applaud Mr. Bezos for detailing this publicly–even as I acknowledge how strange it is to be “on the side” of a billionaire who has cheated on his wife…
A fascinating reveal into Twitter’s actual numbers (and therefore outsized influence?).
Fahrenthold dropped his latest. It’s a doozy.
Everybody needs a Fuck Off Fund. Everybody.
I am very excited about this.
GIRL GANG GOOD NEWS, HANNAH’S BOOK REVIEWS:
Small Dog Syndrome 
I told a New York Times editor to fuck off (never, of course in those words) this week. I’m done. The ONLY way this was possible was because we have enough income and savings to forego the potential $3,000 I might have made from writing a story for him.
No one can ever be free when they are broke and scared. I wish every woman knew this BEFORE it’s too late.
Seriously. I’m in the midst of replenishing mine/ours thanks to changing my type of UK banking account, and redoing my monthly budget to re-prioritise a cash backup. We’ve been focused on paying of debt and haven’t focused on on the FOF, and I’ve realised that this is probably contributing to some of my financial background anxiety. There is nothing like knowing you have options and resources to bring to bear in any situation to make you feel more secure in your decisions and choices.
Until journalism basically died in the past few years, a FOF was always something we discussed in the industry — to protect your ethics and principles. There are too many places that will demand appalling behaviors that, without the means to flee, means not only doing stupid work but work you are ashamed of and that can hurt your future options.
I burned out completely at 30 and was very very lucky to have savings (thanks to an inheritance, I admit!) I took off an entire summer and read, slept, sailed, drew. Came back to myself. We are not robots. We need to be able to withdraw from a toxic environment, and they do exist.