Just a thought

Where do you get your information? I ask this because our President seems to get his information from less than reliable sources and then criticizes more legitimate sources for disagreeing with him.

Here are a few questions to ask of your sources:

– if a source of information screams at his audience while his head is turning a very scary shade of red, he might not be a good source of information.
– if a source of information has such a raspy voice from shouting at the wind and name calls everyone who he deems appropriate, then he might not be a good source of information.
– if you get your information from Facebook or Twitter, you need to look carefully at sources cited and use the Twitter feed for headlines only to cause you to dig further on more legitimate sources.
– if you are getting your information from a source that must advertise they are fair and balanced to make up for their bias and inconsistent veracity, then you might want to consider another source for validation.
– if you are getting your information from the current President, stop because he is an unreliable source and has been most of his life.

I encourage you to check multiple sources. I am often asked where I get my information. Several places – PBS Newshour, BBC World News America, NPR, Reuters, and The Guardian. I read articles from my browser feed which come from The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, New York Times, Newsweek, Time, etc. And, my local paper, The Charlotte Observee is a good source for local and state news.

A good sign a news source is reputable is they print errata or correct portions of stories that prove to be inaccurate. Admitting mistakes is a sign of intelligence.

I would also ask people who say inane things about their sources. Our President cites a couple of sources that are known for making things up or creating conspiracies. He even put one on the White House. And, he has actually appeared on one where the host is on record that the Sandy Hook massacre was staged, as an example of his lack of veracity.

Before someone claims fake news, he needs to make sure the things he is saying are legitimate whether it is about his electoral college landslide, voter fraud or unemployment or crime rates.

If you believe this, you may want to check your source

In our new post-truth environment, where people have made election decisions off information they believed to be true, but was not, it is time to do a few litmus tests. If you believe the following, then you may want to check your sources of information.

• If you believe the unemployment rate in the US is around 40% rather than beneath 5% per the Bureau of Labor of Statistics (BLS), you may want to check your source.
• If you still believe President Obama is either born in Kenya, a Muslim and/ or the anti-Christ, you may want to check your source.
• If you believe we are the most taxed country in the world, you may want to check your source.
• If you believe Hillary Clinton had a Lesbian affair with Yoko Ono or has staffers running a child pornography ring out of a pizza parlor in DC, you may want to check your source.
• If you believe that climate change is still a hoax and that 97% of scientists and every major science organization on the planet are wrong, you may want to check your source.
• If you believe President Obama caused a hurricane to hit President-elect Trump’s development and home in South Florida, you may want to check your source.
• If you believe Trump did not use his Foundation’s money for his own benefit, then you may want to check your source.
• If you believe Hillary and Bill Clinton had staffer and friend Vince Foster killed when he actually committed suicide, you may want to check your source.
• If you believe Donald Trump did not sexually assault and/ or harass women and has not had multiple affairs, you may want to check your source. There is a reason he won’t bring suit against these women, as he is their best witness.

The sad part of the above examples is I could go on. News sources are not all created equal nor are some sources even news based. Too many sites offer fake news designed to confuse the public. And, they do so at a price as there is an industry around fake news creation.

Please verify unusual stories and sources of information. It is more than OK to tell a Facebook friend that his or her source is sketchy or you do not believe that to be true.

The candidate scared of a woman with microphone

I find it amusing that a man running for President, who is touting how tough he will be with our enemies, is running scared. No, Donald Trump is not scared of terrorists, he is scared of Megyn Kelly of Fox News.

He has taken his sand toys out of the sand box and won’t be appearing on the next GOP Debate aired by Fox. The reason is Megyn Kelly who he feels is biased against him. She just might ask him a question he does not like as she did the last time. Or, as reported this morning, he doesn’t want his competition bringing up milestone statements from his history. His previous stances on issues like abortion or healthcare or his several bankruptcies and numerous litigations, might make him uncomfortable.

Truth be told, The Donald does not like anyone asking him questions. His candidacy is built on a foundation of attitude, platitudes and lies, so when someone asks him a legitimate question, he dodges it and then cries foul or calls him or her stupid, disabled, fat or loser. Like he did the other day with one reporter, he may even ask for an apology. Think about that for a second. Or, like he did with Chris Matthews the other evening, he may just continually not answer a specific question on his error of accusing the President of being born non-American.

Everything a voter needs to know about The Donald’s veracity as a candidate is in his history. Coupling that with his very-unpresidential discourse throughout the campaign demeaning most groups and individuals that get in his way, he does not present himself well as a candidate. Plus, he has even taken a shot at his own followers, in essence saying they are so blindly loyal, he could shoot someone and they would still vote for him. I do not care that he wraps himself in a blanket of political incorrectness, yet he has the thinnest of skins and is very litigious. Being political incorrect does not give you license to lie as evidence by a 76% untruthful record per non-partisan fact checkers.

But, back to the debate sand box. If he cannot stand up to questions from anyone, but in particular, a network female reporter who he also insulted for her earlier questions, how will he interact with leaders of other countries, both male and female? How will he react when Angela Merkel or Christine LaGarde disagree with his position? Will he make remarks about their times of the month like he did with Kelly, say how disgusting it is that they go to the bathroom like he did with Hillary Clinton or call them out on their looks like he did with Carly Fiorina.

People are going to vote for whom they see fit. But, this candidate needs to answer a lot more questions. His history and conduct warrant it.

 

Get really informed – stop watching Fox and MSNBC

My friends Barney and Hugh have noted often that the one thing worse than an uninformed voter is a misinformed voter. My friend Linda wrote an excellent post yesterday called “We, the people, have been had – Part I” which can be accessed by the following link: http://rangewriter.wordpress.com/2014/01/28/we-the-people-have-been-had-part-i/ which gives this issue more meaning.

Her point is to make our country work we have to be informed citizens and question our leaders. If we do not stay informed, we will be duped into believing what politicians and their funders want us to believe. Unfortunately, in our country, it takes so much money to get elected and with the Supreme Court’s inane ruling to permit more unfettered funding, our country is being controlled by a small few with great means.

The only guard against this is to stay truly informed, question leaders and organize in a grass-roots fashion toward common causes. The “Occupy Wall Street, etc.” movements were good and had merit in their mission, but were set up as rudderless ships and failed to move forward. On the other hand, the “Moral Monday” protestors who started in North Carolina to oppose limitations on the rights of voters, teachers, women and impoverished people, is picking up steam and scares the GOP led legislature here and elsewhere – they should be scared as this group is on the side of the Angels with their cause and data to back up their arguments.

Which leads me to Linda, Barney, Hugh and my point that we need to stay informed – and it is hard work. Let me start by making it easier for many – to be truly informed, stop watching Fox News and MSNBC. And, let me throw in to stop listening to entertainers disguised as pundits who are only trying to stir up extreme bases of listeners.

I have had three conversations in the last few weeks about how people watch both Fox News and MSNBC to get a balance of views. I say now, what I told them – do not watch either one of them. Why? These networks provide a biased view of issues reflecting their spin on the news. So, the water is not just fine, by getting the hot and cold version of an issue. A good example is the old joke about the northern relative who was visiting his home in Alabama. When the household dog becomes rabid and has to be destroyed, being the better shot, he was asked to put down the dog. The news in the northern papers was “Visiting relative puts down rabid dog” while the story in the Alabama paper was “Damn Yankee kills beloved pet.” Same story, but…

The other problem I have noticed is most news outlets cover the game of politics and not the issues. The issues are too complex and boring, so people do not want to pay attention to them. Yet, who wins and who loses is important news. Last night, one of the newscasts was tracking what people thought of the President’s speech. People who were not as informed as they should be were grading a speech. Talk is cheap; action is what matters. We need to understand the problems and ask our people to do something about it, not just grade them on how they spoke.

I tend to read and watch a variety of sources of news. It helps me detect when I am reading something biased. I was watching the BBC World News America the other day, and an expert was asked how this event would impact the US and he started to respond with the public relations impact. Katty Kay, the very astute host, said “no I mean the real impact, not how someone will be viewed.” I applauded her for stopping a “spin” comment. My other watching and listening sources of news are PBS Newshour and NPR, as they tend to have people who know the subject matter, sharing opinions without being talked over by someone who disagrees. In fact, if they are not civil, they do not get invited back. Plus, the hosts and reporters have a deeper understanding of what is going on and ask better questions and not whether Santa Claus was white.

Also, I am big on data, so I look for reasonable sources which are cited to support arguments. We have too many governing by anecdote. For example, there is no evidence of a significant voter fraud in this country. Our problem by far is not enough people voting. Yet, there are some who know a couple of instances of fraud, so because of that, there must be rampant fraud. When I have asked for data from politicians like I did last week, I get none.

So, let’s start be altering where you get your information. Seek out multiple sources who can give an even-handed view of the news and not a spun version. Read news columnists who cover issues and less on incumbents. There is one ultra-conservative writer who writes a variation of the same column every week – “I hate Obama because of (name reason).” Obama is far from perfect, but really, every week? You cannot write about our poverty, wealth disparity, global warming, infrastructure, etc. problems?

One of my favorite movies is “The American President” starring Michael Douglas. During the climax to the movie when he realizes he is being self-serving and not thinking of the country, he says something that supports Linda’s post of yesterday. “America is advanced citizenship. You have to want it real bad.” This means we must tolerate the right of someone to disagree with us, but it also means we must stay informed. Work hard at it. And, when you do get informed, be willing to share this with others and question our leaders. I used to think politicians were more informed than the average citizen – I no longer feel this way. So, please question and ask if they have data on their positions.

And, do share information with others and how you feel about an issue. Pete Seeger, who died this week, was quoted as saying be wary of great leaders; it is better to have many smaller leaders doing good things. This is another way of saying it takes a village. Thanks Linda.