The State of TAE Fall 2024

Francisco Goya The dog 1820-23

Exactly 4 weeks before the US Presidential election looks like a good point in time to address the state of the Automatic Earth. Not in the least because the news we cover will be heavily influenced by that election. And not just for those 4 weeks, says my gut feeling. Neither party seems likely to take a loss in stride.

First, about the state of the Automatic Earth. What I wrote ten months ago, in The State of TAE, is still true to a large extent. I have to hope that my readers continue to understand why we largely moved to the Debt Rattle format that’s focused on accumulating news from other sources.

That is, after the MSM nonsense, exacerbated by various forms of censorship, as we saw from 2015 onwards in the coverage of Trump, Covid, Ukraine and now Gaza and again Trump, I felt a great need to balance out that “news”. And not just by writing about it -that only goes so far-, but by providing (parts of) actual articles. Like those from RT and Sputnik.

And what do we see today? More calls for censorship. The Democrats want to protect your precious little innocent minds from opinions that are not theirs. For instance, there are -again- major calls to ban Russian sources even more than now. Because they’re “propaganda”. And CNN, MSNBC et al are not. No sirree.

On the financial front, I have no choice but to keep calling on your donations. It doesn’t look like we will ever get our ads back, not while Google monopolizes that field. And what an insane monopoly that is. Is there anything more UnAmerican? And ads should be one third of our revenues. Donations via Paypal and Patreon have to make up for that loss. And I am very stubborn in not wanting to put up a paywall. There’s far too many of them already.

I know a lot of people don’t want to use Paypal. The same may be true of Patreon. A suggestion that was made is to add Revolut to the mixture. If you think that is a good idea, please let me know in the comments. Also, ten months ago, I said if our core group of readers, 5,000 – 7,000 or so, all donate $1 per month, we would be fine, and then some. TAE is not a for-profit business, but it does have to stay alive. I work 12 hours a day on TAE, $12 a year should match that.

So much for the somewhat negative stuff. I have to say I’ve been feeling quite optimistic lately. Because Donald Trump has gathered a remarkable team of people around him. Sometimes you feel it’s despite himself, but it’s starting to look like he’s really learned from his first go at the White House. He appears to be delegating tasks now, to people he knows he can trust.

Elon Musk is a brilliant brain, who, other than his plan to go to Mars – think of it what you will-, and huge companies to run, has signed up to help streamline the government and bureaucracy. We know how he did that at Twitter. Robert Kennedy Jr. is a great brain in his own right. Very few if any people know more about the environment, drugs, chemicals and health than he does. Like Musk, he could revolutionize Washington. MAHA. Like Musk, RFK will have demanded a lot of room to move before signing up to endorse Trump. Who then allotted them that room. That there is where my optimism comes in.

And it’s not just those two guys. Vivek Ramaswamy is a great brain in his own right. It’s not clear in what role he would fit in, but he’s a great asset. If only to keep Trump honest. Tucker Carlson will be a great publicity “manager”, in one shape or another. Don’t let’s forget JD Vance, who’s done a good job so far as VP-to-be. And Tulsi Gabbard, Mike Flynn, Steve Bannon, etc etc.

Now imagine them not just as individuals, but as one force. It is formidable. And that makes me feel optimistic.

Vivek & RFK Drop Bombshells on Elon Musk

Thanks to @davidcarbutt_ & your team for the edit.@elonmusk @VivekGRamaswamy @RobertKennedyJr pic.twitter.com/LspUaSXzPT

— Farzad (@farzyness) October 6, 2024

Here’s me doing a copy and paste from last year again:

Most of you will know the drill of this by now: any (Paypal) donations ending in $0.99 or $0.37 go straight to the Monastiraki kitchen, while other donations go to the Automatic Earth -which also badly needs them, especially for Christmas-.

I dislike few things more than asking people for money, even though the Automatic Earth now runs primarily on donations, and there’s some sweet justice in that as well, in depending on people’s appreciation of what we do, instead of ad revenues.

But I cannot do this on my own right now. To get through the winter in one piece, the Monastiraki kitchen will realistically need about €1,000 per month. I don’t have that to spare. So I’m calling on you. [..]

So let’s see where we can get today, shall we? I want to write the perfect article with the perfect plea, but there is of course no such thing. Therefore, I will be back in a few weeks time with a reminder -and updates-, hoping that y’all have gotten the message.

I love all you people so much, and I’m sorry I can’t thank you all individually who have supported -and still do- the Monastiraki kitchen and the Automatic Earth all this time, and I ask you to keep on doing just that. The details for donations on Paypal and Patreon, for both causes, are in the top of the two sidebars of this site. Could not be much easier.

Love you. Thank you.

NOTE: The address for Checks and Money Orders is under “Store and Donations” in the menu (where else can you put it?):

Daniel Jarvis
494 Hamilton St. SE
Atlanta, GA 30316
USA

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