and if you read the back and forth on this link where Josh goes back and forth with disgruntled readers and donors to his subscription site...this is addressed by one poster connecting TPP to Big Pharma and how they want to benefit from TPP..
That whole discussion is interesting if you have time. If you don't have time he got pressured on Pharma Connections to how could he keep his site honest after what happened at the "Atlantic" (where Josh started out) where Scientologists were paying some of the reporters.
But, you and I might remember Josh from his early "MUCKRAKER DAYS" ...and Josh did try to go after Tom DeLay and many others when he was starting out. Tom DeLay is still free from prison and fighting his sentence. And Josh's TPM was a huge factor in exposing what Tom Delay and others did in his early years. I think Josh tried to "fight against the system" in his early years but marriage and two kids and having his car stolen in a parking lot...sort of started to change his views with his extra responsibilities. IMHO, Josh is a sign that you can come out fighting in your youthful idealism...but, you're going to end up eventually compromising if you don't have back ups "In the System."
I stopped reading him when he Compromised...(even though I knew it probably was coming) years ago. And, we all compromised who were there at that time when Bush II won Second Term...and what has followed.
When he started TPM was at that wonderful time when the "Principled Youth and Old" of the Dem Party were so frustrated by the "Selection 2000" that we BUILT THE INTERNET VOICES. Josh was a part of our hopes and he really did try at that time. (Do you remember back then?) I think the "revolution" just wasn't what he felt he could deal with anymore. But, that's just my speculation.
Just saying..didn't want to go further...but, that "practicality of funding his website" on just Google Ads when most of us use "AdBlock" these days meant he couldn't sustain what he had worked to build. So...it's "Sponsored Advertising." But, once one does that...where does their credibility go...and that's why the responses on this thread are interesting where his long time readers criticize and he answers:
HERE:
http://crookedtimber.org/2014/03/27/anyone-remember-tech-central-station/
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