We're NOT Doomed: Jan 6, 2025

EVERY SINGLE ONE

OMG DID YOU HEAR??? MTV and PBS shut down!!!!!

If you are on any social media, I’m very confident that you heard at least one of these in the last three days.

They’re both false.

And the incredible thing is, there are going to be people who read this post, but only the first sentence, and use me as a source. So many people just read headlines, and that one sentence is the equivalent to a headline on social media.

Let’s start with the truth.

First up, MTV.

On October 10, Mark Savage at the BBC reported:

MTV, the world’s first 24-hour music broadcaster, is to stop showing rolling pop videos in the UK after almost 40 years when it closes five channels at the end of the year.

MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV and MTV Live will all stop broadcasting after 31 December, the BBC understands.

And on Oct 13, a spokesperson for Paramount Australia told Mediaweek the same thing would happen there.

In both UK and Australia, the MTV channel that shows reality TV didn’t go anywhere. Which, is all they’ve functionally had for a while anyway.

Now, the music channels going away is a big deal for the purposes of history, but not much else, at this point. You likely didn’t even notice they were still there. And, they haven’t shut down in the US either.

Thing is, “MTV SHUT DOWN!” is a far better story than “MTV MUSIC, THAT NO ONE WAS WATCHING ANYWAY, AND A BUNCH OF OTHER MUSIC STATIONS SHUT DOWN THE THE UK AND AUSTRALIA!”

And then yesterday it happened again.

This time with PBS.

In July, Trump signed a rescission package, which means he successfully clawed back money that had already been allocated by Congress, to the Corporation for Pubic Broadcasting for NPR and PBS, among other things.

CPB got their funding from Congress, without it they couldn’t keep running, so, instead of sitting dormant and giving Republicans somewhere else to turn into something evil, they have chosen to dissolve. CEO and President Patricia Harrison said:

When the Administration and Congress rescinded federal funding, our Board faced a profound responsibility: CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic values by dissolving, rather than allowing the organization to remain defunded and vulnerable to additional attacks.

Until their final moment, they are continuing with integrity to help save public media, which isn’t going anywhere. Now, some PBS and NPR stations ARE shutting down, cause just don’t have enough funding. And that is a tragedy of epic proportions, but NPR and PBS are not dissolving.

I mean, if you were a PBS Kid, you know the outros by heart. There are foundations that are still donating millions and “contributions from viewers like you.” It’s not gonna be sustainable long term, but that’s why it’s so important we take back the House, by a large margin, and hopefully the Senate too in November.

So, now that you know the truth, what are you going to do to stop this kind of disinformation in the future? Because that’s what it is. Someone had to knowingly spread this false information, because the articles about these stories aren’t hiding these facts. In fact most articles about the CPB don’t even mention PBS in the headline.

I won’t lie, accurate info is hard to come by. While it took about two seconds for me to find the CPB press release, it took about 20 minutes for me to find the MTV source articles, and I’m still not sure those are the articles that broke the news.

But if you can’t do that research, if you don’t have 20 minutes, if you can’t verify it yourself, don’t repost it, don’t quote it, don’t comment.

I don’t expect everyone to have that time, but the ONLY way we have even a shot of taking away the power that comes from disinformation is if we don’t spread it. If we make a conscious effort to check sources or just don’t spread something.

There is never a time when instant info, that might be wrong, is necessary. There is someone somewhere who HAS done their research, and does share their sources and their post will go viral if given the chance.

Let’s make a concerted effort to not do this again. It can have real world ramifications if something serious enough gets this mangled.

Media literacy matters, learn it.

On that note, let’s learn something else, some ways we’re not doomed, perhaps? And don’t worry, Doomerella has an opinion on all these stories too, and you can find that at the end of the post!

Texas

Wed, Dec 10 - The Texas Dem Party is not known for giving us much good news. I mean, Texas was the only place we really had major losses back in November 2025. But things are turning around, cause EVERY SINGLE SEAT on the legislature, State Board of Education, Judiciary race and US congressional race will be contested in the midterms.

Every

Single

One

Not only has that not been done by Dems in modern history, it hasn’t been done by Republicans either.

This is due to the Blue Texas program, which has been working tirelessly to change the Texas narritive

State Party Chair Kendall Scudder said:

No Republican gets a free pass in Texas. I don’t care where they live, or how long they’ve been in office– if they want to hold office in Texas, they’re gonna have to fight us for it.

And Katherine Fischer, Executive Director of Texas Majority PAC added:

We can’t win elections if we don’t even try, and we intend to fight for every single seat in 2026. Texas Democrats are prepared to make the case to every single Texan that Republican government has failed them and it’s time for new leadership.

And if this doesn’t perfectly encompass idea that we’re very much not doomed, I don’t know what does.

New York

Thu, Dec 18 - With every new archbishop, Pope Leo makes the catholic church leadership a little less Trumpian, and his newest appointment is no exception.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan is everything New York is not. I mean, he literally referred to Charlie Kirk as a modern day saint, when he died. He also prayed at both of Trump’s inaugurations. And while he was just starting to disagree with the administration on how they’re handling immigration, that’s about it.

Well, he’s 75, and so, he has reached the age of retirement, meaning, he’s being replaced.

His replacement is Bishop Ronald A. Hicks. He has a similar story to Pope Leo, he grew up in the Midwest and worked in South America. He spent five years in El Salvador working at an orphanage and is fluent is Spanish. His colleagues describe his leaderships style as being a listener.

Bishop Gerald Kicanas, his mentor, from the diocese of Tuscon, Arizona told National Catholic Reporter:

What Bishop Hicks does, and I believe he will do in New York, is he will want to listen. He will talk to many different people. He will try to understand what are the issues that are important for the church to address in this very complex organization like the Archdiocese of New York.

Listening. Well, that’s something we need more of these days.

He’s not perfect, but he’s one less Trumper and that makes me feel less doom.

Seattle, Washington

Fri, Dec 26 - What would you say would be the worst day for the Seattle Pride Match to be held?

Well I don’t know what the worst day would be, but the Iran/Egypt World Cup game certainly comes close.

The date was set long before the teams were chosen, it just so happens that two of the most homophobic countries in the world were the teams.

Of course, both countries are livid. And while they have both complained to FIFA, The Seattle Pride Match Advisory Committee hasn’t heard anything. And they’re not really planning on listening if they do, cause, get this…it is the visiting team’s job to respect the culture where the game is taking place.

Eric Wahl, a member of the advisory committee said:

I know Egypt are petitioning Fifa, but it raises ethical issues. In Qatar they said we had to respect the culture. I can’t anticipate what Fifa will do, I hope they do the right thing. We haven’t heard from them, and I am a little surprised they have not reached out, but in general Fifa’s approach is respectful silence - that’s good.

I don’t know if this will stay the case, maybe FIFA will get involved at some point, but they haven’t yet and so it’s just another reminder that we’re still not doomed.

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So, I hope you feel a little less doomed after this. Cause we’re not doomed and the more you realize that, the easier it is to push back in ways that make us progressively less doomed.

You got this!

Our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!