Monthly Archives: November 2016

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On Line Mainstream News Brief User Guide

Let’s start with the worst.  MSNBC apparently thinks you are illiterate and hence is only providing videos for you to watch.  I suppose it’s all in an effort to get you connected with Lawrence O’Donnell and Rachel Maddow and tilted to the left.

Postmedia (Calgary Herald and Vancouver Sun among others) have finally figured out that you are deleting your cookies in an effort to circumvent their effort to get you to subscribe.  Now they just throw up a subscription box overlay preventing you from viewing an article.  The Globe and Mail is now doing the same thing. For some reason, Postmedia’s National Post still seems reasonably accessible.  This is their right and it is also your right to determine if you pay enough already through your monthly internet access and viewership of their advertisements.  Although their subscription rates are palatable, where does the nickel and diming stop? Does the whole internet universe deserve access to your email address? Should you decide to treat yourself to one subscription, would you then be denying yourself access to alternate editorials with differing opinions….thereby narrowing your lens of seeing the world?

The Washington Post and NY Times also eventually want your subscription dollar as does the LA Times and Boston Globe.  The Calgary Sun will get you a $0.99 rate but “conditions will apply”.  You may be as unenthused as I about researching the qualifiers and exclusions.

As for CNN, if you are looking for links on topics such as the top ten photos famous people don’t want you to see, this is the news site for you.

In lieu of the above, in Canada I find ctvnews.ca and your taxpayer subsidized cbc.ca the places which best cut through the crap without even the occasional spam box thrust upon your inquisitive eyes.  Reuters remains user friendly but surprisingly their content is leaner than what we would expect from such a large news organization.

Subject to edit based on future experience with aforesaid  and / or other on line news outlets.

Politics

Election Looming

Harry Reid believes the FBI is holding back on a Russia – Trump alliance of sorts and Democrat campaign Chief John Podesta wants to cast fault with FBI Director James Comey for acting his conscience in revealing new information relevant to the country’s national security.  There’s lots of finger pointing to go around with the newest email revelation but the huge fault rests with the electorate which installed delegates assigned to nominating these two highly flawed candidates for the presidency of the United States. With eight days until the election, every fatigued player of this political tempest including voters needs to stand tall on election day and muster a best effort in determining which one of these two characters can practically carry out an agenda for the true betterment of a society.  It’s now up to the individual to administer democracy absent from a strong political foundation traditionally presented by the country’s two main parties.

These are dark days for democracy will pass because cool heads will prevail when a new office of the President comes to power.  Fortunately, there will be stronger apolitical civil servants in the wings eager to execute a mandate.

Of great concern to the U.S. is the embattled monetary system and marginalization of the poor.  Just today, there is unrest in penitentiaries due to perceived enslavement of the incarcerated.  The administration of justice on the streets is an issue as is gun violence.  Elitists in Washington have been blind to the plight of the poor.  Irrespective of the mudslinging during this political season, this illumination should be considered a positive.  Whoever wins this election is going to need to rebuild some form of trust from the unfortunate position of lacking political capital.  Immediate attention will be drawn to demanding international matters while attending to systemic problems of debt, legacy debt, and hopelessness among a large population of African American people.  Legislative cooperation in Washington has been poor during the Obama Administration.  A lot needs to get figured out all at once.  Hopefully some White Knight with a conciliatory tone emerges whom has yet to step forth on a Sunday news segment.