The good news is that the federal government is not the only — or majority — source of funding for public media. But it is significant, and it will harm mostly rural and small stations. Donating, especially to your local station, and especially on a monthly basis, is one way to blunt this cruel blow. Many employers will provide a match for donations as well; mine matches 100%, which effectively doubled my contribution.

I remember reading a Vox article many years ago that proposed that most people should try to donate 10% of their income. We're close to that, now, and I find it utterly demoralizing that so much of that 10% is now going to things that the federal government should be funding — and in many cases used to. The simple evil of the Trump regime needs no extra comment. But there's something about the "every man for himself" way they're doing things — attempting to isolate and divide and separate us — that I find so deeply monstrous.

Paul Wellstone told us that we all do better when we all do better. I used to feel like "all" could encompass so many people, including millions I would never meet, and now my circle of influence is shrinking so much. What are doing here, if not trying to make things better for everyone?

For thirty years, Republicans have attempted to defund PBS and NPR. Jesse Helms, a former Republican senator from North Carolina who had a history of racist remarks, led the campaign against these organizations for many years. Despite their persistent efforts, they were unsuccessful—at least until recently, when they finally achieved their goal. These are indeed dark days.

Like many who grew up in a small town, PBS was one of the only windows I had to the outside world. From Sesame Street to cooking shows to Monty Python, and on and on. PBS remains today a wonderful network with a lot of great content, including news. I've been a financial supporter for years and will increase that support when I can.

NPR? Not so much. They did A LOT of sane washing on the runup to this in the effort to not appear biased. Their news division is generally pretty good, but man I yelled at the car radio a lot during the campaign. The GOP was going to accuse NPR of bias no matter what, so I couldn't believe how much air they gave to bat shit politicians without hardly any pushback. There is a lot of fat NPR can cut. Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me? What a bad show, in my opinion. Not only is it a stupid show, it gives a Republican everything they need to argue that NPR is biased. Cut it! And there is more of that talk, talk, talk junk that could be cut from the budget in order to maintain the system for practical purposes like weather warnings, PSA and news.

All NPR stations should cease broadcasting on the same prescribed weekday, playing the following pre recorded AI generated message over white noise: “This Corporation for Public Broadcasting affiliate has currently been defunded by the Trump Administration. While not the sole source of revenue for this station, many in rural areas and smaller ones will be permanently terminated by this action. Please call your local congressman and vote accordingly in the next election”

I set up a $30 monthly donation to Arkansas PBS, with a matching gift from my employer. The lady there who handles major gifts left me a voicemail thanking me for being a helper, like Mister Rogers said. I admit I got a little weepy, y'all.