by Adam Johnson | Apr 30, 2026 | Article, Israel, Media Criticism, Opinion, Politics and Movements: US, The Cultural Front
The Atlantic, along with the New York Times, is the quintessence of elite liberal opinion. It is popular with Democrat-aligned readers who are high-income and high-status, and shapes the Acceptable Range of Discourse on the American left, such as it is. What it publishes matters, but—more importantly—it matters to people who matter. Thus, it’s useful to, on occasion, stop and highlight their editorial priorities.
In the past two weeks, the Atlantic has published five stories with substantive discussion of left-wing Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, adding to a broader media outrage over the streamer’s alleged taboo comments on Hamas and shoplifting:
Israel Moderates Are Losing the Democratic Party (April 16) by Jonathan Chait: “The Democrats’ establishment opposes terrorism and backs a two-state solution; Piker and his allies want to cast that position as de facto support for the status quo, which is a single state controlled by Israel.”
The Problem With Hasan Piker’s Einstein Story (April 18) by Yair Rosenberg: “Critics on the right and left highlighted his refusal to condemn Hamas.”
Something Is Happening to America’s Moral Code (April 24) by Graeme Wood: “Piker said he would steal cars, ‘if I could get away with it.’”
Theft Is Now Progressive Chic (April 24) by Thomas Chatterton Williams: “At a time of kleptocratic governance and corporate oligarchy, Tolentino and Piker resort to a game of jaded whataboutism.”
Calling Trump a Tyrant Is Not a Call to Violence (April 28) by Jonathan Chait: “The prominence of Hasan Piker, an apologist for terrorism and a proponent of authoritarian regimes, has revealed a much broader comfort on the left with illiberal ideas and violent methods.”
This broader media panic, it’s worth
by Taya Graham and Stephen Janis | Feb 18, 2026 | AI, big tech, Inequality Watch, The Cultural Front, video
ChatGPT4o parent company Anthropic AI already has multiple lawsuits filed against it due to multiple grieving families alleging their loved ones committed suicide or even murder due the chat bots affirmation of delusions, paranoia and even isolating them from friends families and outside help. But there is another problematic aspect to AI which is underreported and underestimated the impact of AI Sycophancy on the overall emotional and mental health and well being of human beings and their relationships– and perhaps the very future of humanity.
Credits:
Studio/Post-Production: David Hebden
Written by: Stephen Janis, Taya Graham, Amanda Scherker
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.Taya Graham:
If someone told a teenager whose parents were trying to limit his screen time, that he should consider murdering them. You’d probably think they weren’t a great source of relational advice. If someone told a man who had come to believe he lived inside a matrix to stop taking his prescribed medications and increase his ketamine use all while cutting off contact with family and friends, you probably consider them pretty manipulative. If someone started calling you a divine messenger from God after just one hour of conversation, you might wonder if they weren’t just a little bit sycophantic. What I mean is that AI acts like your best friend even when you’re trying to figure out how to harm yourself. And that’s a big problem that the AI industry is simply brushing off and for good reason. I’ll provide some links to videos below as well as a lawsuit by the families who lost their
by Adam Johnson | Dec 5, 2025 | Article, Media Criticism, Opinion, Politics and Movements: US, The Cultural Front
Consistent with the United States’ continued slide into an economy powered almost entirely by LLM slop, financialization, and ever-pervasive exploitative gambling, “prediction market app” Kalshi “entered into an official partnership” with CNN this week to bring their “data to CNN’s journalism across its television, digital and social channels.” Soon, CNN will run live odds on world events where its viewers can gamble on them in real time on their smart phones. The “data” (see: betting markets) will, according to Axios, “be featured on CNN’s air through a real-time data ticker and can be referenced across CNN’s platforms when journalists discuss news predictions. The partnership will include prediction market content related to politics, news, culture and weather. The integration will be championed by CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten, who will tap into real-time insights from Kalshi in his reporting on air, both via linear TV and CNN’s new streaming subscription service.”
The day after this story broke, Wall Street news network CNBC announced a similar “exclusive partnership” with Kalshi, marking a grim turn for TV news. “Starting in 2026, CNBC will incorporate exclusive Kalshi predictions market data [see: betting props] into its programs,” the press release read. What are these events that viewers will be able to bet on? Some are seemingly harmless enough: who will win an upcoming election, the weather in Chicago, the federal government’s jobs numbers, or what will be said on Kroger’s next earnings call. But many offerings are on life and death issues that will, as a matter of course, reduce these issues to just another chip on a roulette table for Western audiences increasingly isolated
by Lara Witt, Prism and Maya Schenwar, Truthout | Nov 20, 2025 | Article, Economy and Inequality, Politics and Movements: US, Reprint, The Cultural Front
This story was originally published on Truthout on Nov. 19, 2025. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
On Nov. 3, Condé Nast announced that it was folding Teen Vogue into Vogue, thus laying off most of Teen Vogue’s staff. Most devastatingly, the layoffs primarily affected their Black, brown, trans, and queer workers and the publication’s entire political desk, which had provided readers with rigorous and accurate reporting on systems of oppression, the policies they took shape as, and the progressive and left movements pushing back against them, thanks to a small team of dedicated editors and reporters. Teen Vogue was an outlier in the Vogue-sphere and a rarity in mainstream media. The racial and gender diversity of Teen Vogue’s workers reached beyond representational politics; it was also present in how they covered the news. It pushed as close as you could get to movement journalism within the mainstream sphere, right up to the boundary where advertisers might get nervous.
Teen Vogue is a major loss for many young (and adult!) readers. But this is just the latest in corporate and mainstream media consolidations and closures for the sake of maximizing profits. The 1996 Telecommunications Act ushered in an era of deregulation and paved the way for mergers and acquisitions. Because of those consolidations, the large majority of for-profit news media are now owned by just six conglomerates. What we are witnessing today, however, can and should more accurately be described as media capitulating to President Donald Trump’s racist and authoritarian agenda or at the very least, newsroom leaders finding an opportunity to stop pretending that they
by Mansa Musa | Nov 10, 2025 | Politics and Movements: US, Prison Industrial Complex, Prisons and Policing, Racial Justice, Rattling the Bars, The Cultural Front, video
Rattling the Bars host Mansa Musa explores how a one-woman play, The Peculiar Patriot, reveals the human cost of mass incarceration and the enduring ties between slavery and the prison system. The artist behind the play, Liza Jessie Peterson, has worked with incarcerated youth for decades, bringing their stories to the stage and to national audiences. Performed in more than 35 US prisons and filmed at Louisiana’s Angola Prison—once a plantation, now a maximum-security facility—the play became the basis of the documentary, Angola: Do You Hear Us? (Paramount Plus / Amazon Prime). As the fight for abolition and prison reform gains momentum, this story reminds us that art is not decoration—it’s a tool for awakening, organizing, and freedom.
Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino
Transcript
Mansa Musa: Welcome to this edition of Rattling the Bars. I’m your host, Mansa Musa. In African tradition, we have what is known as the griot. The griot is a storyteller, but more importantly, the griot is one that translate our oral history into telling events, activities, and monumental accomplishments of African people. Today we have a griot, but more importantly, we have a revolutionary griot. We have a woman that has been inspired to take and tell the stories of African people that’s under the 13th Amendment, but more importantly to educate people about the humanity of these people that we call prisoners and to give them a space so their voices can be heard and the value can be turned up. Liza Jessie Peterson is an activist and actress, playwright, poet, author, and youth advocate who has worked steadfast with incarcerated populations for more than two decades. Her
by D Watkins | Oct 30, 2025 | Article, baltimore, Prison Industrial Complex, prison reform, Prisons and Policing, Reprint, The Cultural Front
This story originally appeared in Baltimore Beat on Oct. 28, 2025. It is shared here with permission.
Poet, actor, and playwright Liza Jessie Peterson is bringing her one-woman play “The Peculiar Patriot” to Baltimore Center Stage. The Philly native believes it’s the right place and the right time for this story.
“There’s an energy here that just feels familiar, like home,” Peterson said. “I love bringing this piece here because I know that it’s a Black Mecca. The play speaks to our people in a real way. I’m excited to see how Baltimore is going to receive it.”
“The Peculiar Patriot” taps into the deep humanity that exists within the confines of mass incarceration. In it, Peterson portrays Betsy Laquanda Ross, who regularly visits her incarcerated best friend Joanne. The play takes place over a series of wild conversations between the women. Ross keeps her friend updated about what’s happening in the neighborhood, her own life, and in the outside world. The play is inspired by the 20 years Peterson spent working with teens at New York’s notorious Rikers Island.
Liza Jessie Peterson Credit: Devin Allen.
At Rikers, Peterson served as a poetry and GED teacher, program counselor, and re-entry specialist. Her time at Rikers not only taught her about the evils of the prison industrial complex, and the great capacity all people have for change — but it served as a creative catalyst. Out of it came a memoir, “All Day,” which Peterson published in 2017. She also wrote monologues that later evolved into this play.Peterson originally intended to debut the play off-Broadway, but like many Black artists who dare to aim mirrors at
