The Washington Independent Passes into the Night
So the other afternoon I’m poking around the Huffington Post, you know, seeing how the other side lives, trying to be ecumenical and open minded, catch up on any stories I might have missed. Ok, I confess, I was just really interested in keeping up to speed on Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson snogging for the latest Harry Potter flick. Can’t get enough of that Hogwarts gossip, and Arianna’s site is the place for that.
I see the HufflePuff is weighing in on the Bristol Palin Dancing With the Stars controversy. It’s nice to see someone on the left finally take an interest in election fraud.
I also see that James Boyce still has his writer’s bio up on the Huffington Post:
A frequent on-air guest on MSNBC, James has been involved in the Huffington Post since the very first meeting in Arianna’s living room.
Hm. Isn’t he currently suing Arianna Huffington over that very point? Why yes, he is. Seems an odd lawsuit to me, though. Back in 2004-2005, every blogger and their dog was talking about setting up larger, newsier sites that would organize or aggregate blogs and blogging in some new way. Sites like this one and Hot Air, where I used to work, sprung up out of discussions like those. HuffPo was a successful part of an obvious trend. It’s not really a patentable technology as far as I can tell. And in the case of that lawsuit, both of the plaintiffs are still listed on the site as a contributor. But they do all belong to the party of trial lawyers, so it stands to reason that just about every dispute ends up in court. Eh, sue ‘em all and let an omnipotent judge sort it out. That’s the world the lefties want, isn’t it?
Anyway, while I was catching up on all the brilliant work at HufflePuff, I stumbled upon this post, which amounts to a requiem for the Washington Independent. That site will be closing its virtual doors on Dec 1. If you’ve not heard of the site and therefore have no tears to shed for it, you’re forgiven. Most folks haven’t heard of it either. I only found it accidentally, a few months ago. And it made a blip in the headlines in connection with the JournoList scandal. More about that in a bit.
Sad news today, as the three year-old Washington Independent is closing its doors. Launched with the noble goal of providing substantive reporting on a number of very underserved issues, the Windy garnered recognition and launched careers. But in the end, it seems that they were a victim of the very financial downturn that they covered, exceptionally.
The “Windy” as the PuffHost blogger calls it, wasn’t the victim of any “financial downturn,” at least not that I can see. It was the victim of a political downturn and a change in strategy. The Washington Independent is, or was, the flagship of an outfit called American Independent Media. American Independent Media will live on past its D.C. child, as will several of its state-by-state children. It’s just the eldest child, which is also apparently both the most expensive and the least effective, that’s getting killed off.
Killed off, I say? By whom? Why, by the man who’s apparently been funding it. Take a look at the “Donate” page of American Independent Media, and look toward the bottom. Here’s a screenshot, to focus in on the more interesting foundations that support the AIM.
Not to go all Glenn Beck here, but Open Society Institute is George Soros. So is the Tides Foundation, along with the Kerrys of Massachusetts. The National Education Association, by the way, is the teachers’ union that rents the Democratic Party from the trial lawyers and the larger labor unions. Interesting, that they’re pouring dues skimmed from hard-earned teacher salaries into some obscure nominally independent website.
There’s no way of knowing, based on that list, what percentage of AIM’s funding was coming from Soros (aka Open Society). But AIM is the kind of thing Soros has been investing in the past few years as part of his “shadow party.” Judging from the look of the site, commercial success was never really its intent. It was a home for wayward liberals, and home base for their brand of advocacy journalism.
Not that there’s anything wrong with the latter, by the way, as long as it’s not done under any sort of false pretenses. As to the former, here’s why “wayward” is a term that sticks.
Another Lib outfit goes bust. No staying power. Lib market too small and is saturated.
GQ seems to have figured it out recently. The Lib-tending mag will feature a couple HOT pics of Megan Kelly! THAT will sell some mags, by gum! You watch; they’ll start running things which appeal to Conservatives and sales will continue to grow. Money talks and B.S. walks. Libs, there’s the door. Don’t let it hit you in the @ss. Or do. I don’t care, as long as you hit the road.
In other news, let’s encourage George Soros to keep throwing good money after bad. Even he has to run out of discretionary cash sometime.
Minor grammatical point:shouldn’t it be, “I would have rung up….”?
Very informative article. Soros sure loves to spend his money on hopeless causes.
The issue isn’t where has Soros been that we know about, but where is he now that we don’t.
J Street, NPR, HuffPo, …tip of the iceberg.
We have gotten some wins, “Rathergate”, East Anglia hoax, but we continue to be bombarded with lies, distortion and propaganda. We are not doing nearly enough to defeat it, we are still playing defense.
We should hold a national rally against leftist fascism and their propaganda tools. Ten million patriots need to show up and say we are sick and tired of it and won’t take it any longer. It is time to say “Enough!” in unison.
I know “false pretense” is a legal lingo, nevertheless, is there “true pretense”? Isn’t “pretense” false in itself, since it’s “pretense”, like a little girl pretends to be a princess? Isn’t “false pretense” the same as “false falsehood”? Now there is a double negative …
AH Yes! that great delete key manned by the proletariat has clicked again. one less commie to deal with!!
C’mon ,it doesn’t take brains the write hate all day.Anyone can do it,it’s just that they don’t.If half of the people at MSNBC called themselves political reporters,it would be a double lie.
I actually used them to get a lib pov as they seemed to be less militant/retarded then Wa_Huff_Po…
not positive this is a good thing, if soros funding pulled…why? perhaps not left leaning enough?
Maybe Jay Rockefeller should read this article?
Every last cretin you mentioned in the article is Jewish. Why is that?
Why do you feel a need to point it out?
Most of us couldn’t care less if they’re Jewish, Mormon, Haptist or Zoroastrian. What’s important is that they’re lib so-called journalists who had ethicectomies at birth.
Patrick
Take a look at the names on the JournoList. And then kid yourself by saying it doesn’t make a difference. Like the fact that all terrorists are Muslim. That doesn’t make a difference either? When you stop PC’ing yourself, maybe you’ll be able to think clearly. When a group of people, small in number, are overrepresented in certain activities, there is a reason for it. And pretending to be holier-than-thou doesn’t make it go away. This is part of the ongoing discussion about why so many Jews are liberal. If it is a topic good enough for Norman Podhoretz, then it is a relevant question.
Take a look at the names on the JournoList. And then kid yourself by saying it doesn’t make a difference. Like the fact that all terrorists are Muslim.
Nice try, jackass, but have you heard of a little something called “correlation is not causation”? (Not to mention the basic fallacy of collectivist generalization.)
It is possible to establish specific links between Muslim beliefs and terrorist actions. While the same can ultimately be said about any arbitrary belief system, Islam is unique in these connections being quite a bit more specific than with the other major religions.
Besides, more and more Jews in America are waking up to how their leaders have been played (specifically, to how the Left co-opted and inverted American liberalism from within), and the stereotypical “leftist Jew” is slowly going the way of the dodo.
Mr. Preston:
“The Washington Independent Passes into the Night”
Yeah-yeah, that’s too damned bad… a tragedy how intertoobing pajamamanians are killing off established media outlets n’all.
If I happen across “Attackerman” begging in the subway, I might throw a coin on the edge of the siding so that I can boot him into the rail-bed when he bends over to fetch it,
But what we really want to know, Mr. Preston, the important stuff, is what is Laura Ingraham REALLY like?
Dish, you bum! Spill the beans on La Ingraham.
This outfit also carried the water for the dismissal of the New Black Panther case by the DOJ. More here:
http://electionlawcenter.com/2010/11/23/bye-bye-washington-independent.aspx
Soros is the puppet master……he is pulling the strings around the world to bring the United States to her knees. Do Your Home Work America before it is too late!!!!