2020 Democratic Primary

[Free]

This is what happens when you let conspiracy mongers keep posting nonsense. There are no consequences for them pushing this stuff, so they just keep doing it.

I am busy selling a bridge!

 

[Soen Eber]

Mostly I’ve identified some boots on the ground reporters and professional/educational experts that I follow and read. Most of them still work for print publications or are employed by research or university facilities where they do investigative work, cite sources, and stay out of the worthless pundit/op-ed bullshit sphere. Everything else mainstream has a “trust but verify” status depending on the nature of the publication.

Care to share your list? So far I've been mostly an NPR follower, with occasional glances at the BBC, Atlantic Magazine, the Guardian, and the Economist.

Thanks.

 

[Jolene Benoir]

Also, isn't it interesting how the people who swear by RT seem to curiously have the same viewpoints in relation to our democratic process? They all post from similar disreputable sources, they all consume disreputable media and they all insist that water is sand. Between them and Fox News/OANN America certainly seems to have bested Pravda in almost every way. At least the citizens of the former USSR generally knew they were being fed propaganda.

 

[Free]

This fighting is stupid. We'll keep on doing it ad nauseam, though.

Meanwhile, the soul of a country is up for grabs. Instead of worrying over if Biden should have worn white for his last wedding, or what his platform will be (though the latter is worth worrying over), what we should be focused on is A. winning the presidency, and hopefully the US Senate, and B. who gets real control over a Biden administration:

Rahm Emanuel won’t talk about his ongoing conversations with Joe Biden, but his pundit appearances offer hints

But RT is my news source yada yada.

 

[Eunoli]

What I've gotten out of this is that its totally cool to rely on state operated propaganda created by a country we've been at literal cyber-warfare with for the past four years so long as it confirms your beliefs, but totally not cool to point out that kool-aid is being consumed.

Because, you know..if you want to tear everything down, who better to help than those who really want to see it torn down?

Facts are facts. RT is propaganda arm of the Russian government created to sow disinformation in America. It literally isn't even a fact in dispute by any major agency charged with identifying such outlets. Believing the propaganda being spread doesn't make it real - it just means that you want it to be.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Care to share your list? So far I've been mostly an NPR follower, with occasional glances at the BBC, Atlantic Magazine, the Guardian, and the Economist.

Thanks.

This tweeter is a good follow: https://mobile.twitter.com/salstrange

 

[Free]

RT is propaganda arm of the Russian government created to sow disinformation in America. It literally isn't even a fact in dispute by any major agency charged with identifying such outlets.

But you don't have the right fact checkers!

 

[Salome]

Care to share your list? So far I've been mostly an NPR follower, with occasional glances at the BBC, Atlantic Magazine, the Guardian, and the Economist.

I don’t have a list. I cultivate a feed of sources I trust on different topics and generally find once you build that base those sources tend to share similar information from sources they‘ve cultivated. For example, there’s a reporter I follow for Market/financial information named Pedro da Costa. He tends to write from more the perspective of a watchdog advocating for more accountability and transparency in financial markets and institutions, and his focus is international as well as domestic. I’m not an expert on finance, but he often shares concerns and writings from academics and experts. So I use him as a data point of sorts and that helps me cultivate the information I take in on finance, etc. It’s not a perfect system, but I find that identifying ethical journalists, activists, etc, and weeding out the exploitation/outrage porn sect yields better streams of information. Also I’ve gone back to preferring most of my news in ”print” because I can more easily cross reference and look up things.

 

[Eunoli]

But you don't have the right fact checkers!

But...

 

[Free]

Square World Society is nothing but a bunch of squares...

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Putin and his ideologues, like Alexander Dugin and Vladislav Surkov, are quite open about their political views and their admiration of Ivan Ilyin, a Russian fascist and admirer of Hitler whom Putin officially rehabilitated in 2005 and whose essays are required reading for the Russian civil service -- Russia is what C21st fascism looks like, and they're very successful at spreading it to Europe and the US.

 

[Beebo Brink]

Putin is such an obvious closet case; it's almost embarrassing how obvious he is.

 

[Salome]

Anyway, a good sign that Biden’s team is taking voter suppression seriously:

 

[Lexxi]

When we stopped requiring Civics instruction in every classroom in the country, we set ourselves up for today, but even so the rot must have started earlier. Because that change required a generation of adults who no longer felt civics was a key value to instill in future generations. That lack of knowledge and understanding has turned our democracy into swiss cheese.

I did not know they stopped requiring Civics instruction. I had many classes associated with civics growing up, pre-college. Required, not elective. (and that doesn't even include the required community service work to graduate high school - I was 'forced' to work on a candidate's campaign, among other things (also cleaned up a park) - and this was requirement to graduate, not a 'punishment' for some action of mine) Then took more in college, and graduate school. I've seen a comment mentioning poor teaching of civics or the like, but either hadn't seen one indicating that civics is no longer required, and/or hadn't looked it up.

So I looked it up. According to a random article from 2018: A Look at Civics Education in the United States

Only nine states and the District of Columbia require one year of U.S. government or civics, while 30 states require a half year and the other 11 states have no civics requirement. While federal education policy has focused on improving academic achievement in reading and math, this has come at the expense of a broader curriculum. Most states have dedicated insufficient class time to understanding the basic functions of government.

*looks at chart at https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/reports/2018/02/21/446857/state-civics-education/* Shesh. They no longer require community service to graduate in Virginia?

 

[Pamela]

 

[Aeon Jiminy]

" It doesn't matter if they are victims of society... born out of wedlock.... without any conscience developing" - Putin Who said that? Must have been somebody real smart who had civics lessons.

 

[Aeon Jiminy]

We were lucky we found a clean one.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Guess there's no real difference between Biden and Trump, then.

 

[Free]

Guess there's no real difference between Biden and Trump, then.

Good thing you don't have to make that decision, huh?!

 

[Anya Ristow]

Larry Summers is advising Biden on economic policy.

Rahm Emanuel is advising him on economic policy and his VP selection.