You may have seen the news that just two days after the auction sale of Gawker Media in bankruptcy, the company's flagship site itself announced it will cease operations next week. That's jarring news on many fronts. I discussed some of them here in Tuesday's post about the importance of independent media. But there's another aspect of this that's worth addressing.

First, let me say I don't know really anything about Gawker's internal revenue data. So as it applies to Gawker, what I'm about to write is just an educated hunch. But in general terms what I'm going to describe is definitely true. I know it from long experience in the industry. And it's worth knowing as a reader as you think about media, why publications you read do what they do and so forth.

Gawker.com will cease operations next week.

Some telling analysis of Trump's electoral strategy via the NYT:

With today's big news that the Justice Department that its ending its use of private prisons, I wanted to re-up our break out story on the private prisons industry. A great piece on an important topic.

A GOP memo to Republican members of all the county election boards in North Carolina, obtained by the Raleigh News and Observer via a public records request, reveals everything you suspected about GOP motivations in pushing for voting restrictions, including voter ID laws. It's not surprising, but it should still shock the conscience. Give this a read.

Steve Bannon seems like the most awesome guy.