Mid-month odds & ends

• I'll admit that -- as a former journalist & communicator -- I'm biased, but I wanted to cheer, reading Catherine Rampell's post-U.S. election tribute to the "mainstream media" (on an otherwise dismal day): "This election year, legacy media consumers came out on top."  (Subhead: "We’ve made our share of mistakes, but readers of traditional media understand the stakes of this election.")  
• I know I'm a dinosaur,  but every time I hear people saying they get their news from Facebook or Twitter/X or (God forbid) TikTok (!!), I want to scream. SOCIAL MEDIA IS NOT JOURNALISM/THE NEWS!!! 
• (It would have meant even more if the owner of Rampell's paper, the Washington Post, hadn't put the kibbosh on the editorial board's planned endorsement of Kamala Harris at the 11th hour -- and Rampell does allude to this in her article -- but, I digress...).  
• BBC News featured "The real reason for the rise in male childlessness" prominently on its home page recently.  The article quotes Robin Hadley, who is well known in CNBC circles as one of the few men speaking out about involuntary childlessness. 
• "I'm the Witch:" Colleen Addison on Substack and Medium, about how life and fairy tales converge. Absolutely gorgeous writing.  
• The New York Times had an article (on the front page, apparently!), about "The Unspoken Grief of Never Becoming a Grandparent," about dismayed Boomers (always the Boomers, of course...!) whose children are opting not to have children themselves. (Gift link.)  As usual, no acknowledgement of the fact that not all these children may not be CHOOSING not to have children (and that they might be feeling some grief over that themselves...!).  
• My comment here (I've spotted a few from other CNBCers -- there are more than 3500 right now!).  
• Earlier this year, there was a similar article (also on the front page!) in the Globe & Mail, which I wrote about here (includes gift links to the articles mentioned). 
• Also from the New York Times:  "Its Birthrate Falling, Russia Targets Child-Free Lifestyles." Subhead: "The country’s lower house of Parliament passed a law that would ban what it calls “propaganda” discouraging Russians from having children."  This so-called "propaganda" would include "material on the internet, in media outlets, in movies and in advertising that portrays child-free lifestyles as attractive." 
• Clearly (even though many of us did not choose this life), those of us without children must all be portrayed as forever wallowing in our misery, right?  :p