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Your favorite news sites

Double Switch Jul 10 2019 06:58 PM

I wonder about this, as I mentioned having read here for a lot of years before deciding to take the "rejoin quiz." Where do you all get your trusted news? My primary news source for several years was Washington Post, but I allowed my subscription to lapse last week due to news overload. Now I use Vox, The Hill, whatever shows up in Google News, Guardian, MSNBC, YouTube clips, and NPR. I also confess to Mainichi Shimbun* and Asahi Shimbun* because they really don't dwell too much on USA news as manufactured by that slimebag Trump (OK, so now my own PoV is established). My wholehearted quest is to stay on a news diet, removing myself from this ongoing cess festival until it's time to start voting. Sticking to facts and turning away from opinion. * They are my sources for Sumo news as I am an ardent fan of Sumo wrestling

Johnny Lunchbucket Jul 10 2019 07:07 PM Re: Your favorite news sites

I downloaded the Washington Post app in the Trump runup and use it about 20 times a day in addition to the push notifications. I also use google news but try to keep to the "headlines" tab and not the "for you" section which is spying so hard on me it seems now to deliver news stories on topics I'm only thinking about. I consume a lot of news for my job and have certain sites and writers I trust more than others. I use Wifey's NYT account too. Should also get WSJ and charge it to my boss but don't. I used to read the Daily Snooze on the train every morning but my commute shortened twice. Nowadays I work in an office 1.5 miles from home and bike 5 minutes--not enough time, plus they practically killed the Snooze.

Ceetar Jul 11 2019 07:09 AM Re: Your favorite news sites

Twitter mainly. This has the benefit of really being ALL news sources, just somewhat filtered through people that are someone more trustworthy than just reading a random newspaper article blind, because there is a mountain of nonsense down that route. I'll flip through the Daily Show or Last Week Tonight a little bit, but I have very little tolerance for even competent breakdowns of how (much more) evil America is right now.

MFS62 Jul 11 2019 07:31 AM Re: Your favorite news sites

MSNBC, and when I want a general recap, my Yahoo news gives me headlines and teasers about all topics, from sports to entertainment to politics from many sources. Later

41Forever Jul 11 2019 07:44 AM Re: Your favorite news sites

=Ceetar post_id=15641 time=1562850549 user_id=102] I'll flip through the Daily Show or Last Week Tonight a little bit, but I have very little tolerance for even competent breakdowns of how (much more) evil America is right now.

You realize these are comedy programs?

Lefty Specialist Jul 11 2019 07:55 AM Re: Your favorite news sites

=41Forever post_id=15644 time=1562852675 user_id=69] =Ceetar post_id=15641 time=1562850549 user_id=102] I'll flip through the Daily Show or Last Week Tonight a little bit, but I have very little tolerance for even competent breakdowns of how (much more) evil America is right now.

You realize these are comedy programs?


Well, so is Fox News.

Ceetar Jul 11 2019 07:57 AM Re: Your favorite news sites

=41Forever post_id=15644 time=1562852675 user_id=69] =Ceetar post_id=15641 time=1562850549 user_id=102] I'll flip through the Daily Show or Last Week Tonight a little bit, but I have very little tolerance for even competent breakdowns of how (much more) evil America is right now.

You realize these are comedy programs?


Comedy _about_ the news?



I don't need talking heads to interpret things for me. Most of them are just actors anyway. That's not even what they're doing, news on TV, even 'real' news, is entertainment. So hell, give it to me funny. Rather a smart comedian with a writing team than some (I'd name names but I literally don't really know who these people are) talking head reading a teleprompter.

Lefty Specialist Jul 11 2019 08:03 AM Re: Your favorite news sites

My new favorite site is The Bulwark, written by non-Trump Republicans. (It's run by Bill Kristol). I like to know what the other side is thinking without the 'own the libs' bullshit. I like the BBC for their take on American issues. Insider NJ for Jersey politics. MSN because it gives me Washington Post articles without me having to buy a subscription. I have a subscription to the dead-tree version of The New York Times, but they're pissing me off more and more these days.

cal sharpie Jul 11 2019 08:24 AM Re: Your favorite news sites

NYT on paper also Washington Post and The Guardian.

Benjamin Grimm Jul 11 2019 08:35 AM Re: Your favorite news sites

John Oliver's staff does real journalism first and then they add the jokes. I think it's a valid source of information about featured stories, if not about day-to-day news. I listen to NPR when I'm in the car, and check my Google News feed throughout the day. I've blocked Fox News stories from coming up in the feed. There is a lot of clutter in there that I tend to skip over. I once did a Google search on the BBC show Call the Midwife because I was curious about the newborn babies that are seen in each episode. Then for months after that I kept getting stories about Call the Midwife in Google News. A momentary curiosity echoes back to you for months. They need to improve their algorithm. For a while I was getting so many "articles" conjecturing what certain actors would look like dressed as certain superheroes that it was starting to drive me insane. And I never cared about that at all! I also read the Daily News, but that's more for fun than for news.

batmagadanleadoff Jul 11 2019 08:39 AM Re: Your favorite news sites

Lefty Specialist wrote: =41Forever post_id=15644 time=1562852675 user_id=69] =Ceetar post_id=15641 time=1562850549 user_id=102] I'll flip through the Daily Show or Last Week Tonight a little bit, but I have very little tolerance for even competent breakdowns of how (much more) evil America is right now. You realize these are comedy programs?

Well, so is Fox News.

Great comeback!! Once every so often, I'll put on Fox News to try and get the other side's POV. I try. I really make a good faith effort. But I cant watch that channel for more than a few minutes. It's like total science fiction. That Fox's ratings are so strong is a sad state of affairs. I'll check out The Bulwark.

batmagadanleadoff Jul 11 2019 08:40 AM Re: Your favorite news sites

Benjamin Grimm wrote: John Oliver's staff does real journalism first and then they add the jokes. I think it's a valid source of information about featured stories, if not about day-to-day news. Well said.

TransMonk Jul 11 2019 08:45 AM Re: Your favorite news sites

I subscribe to the Washington Post and 90% of my Twitter follows are various journalists from all sides and sites.

metirish Jul 11 2019 09:15 AM Re: Your favorite news sites

NYT , Irish Times ( home page) , The Guardian..various journalists on Twitter https://www.irishtimes.com/

41Forever Jul 11 2019 12:29 PM Re: Your favorite news sites

John Oliver's staff does real journalism first and then they add the jokes. I think it's a valid source of information about featured stories, if not about day-to-day news. My concern here is that a comedy show doesn't have the ethical ideals of telling the whole story or a balanced story, but rather can tell a story in the way it is most funny. Watch a comedy show because it's funny. Hey, I was on the Colbert Report once. It was funny. He uses a kernel of truth as the peg for the jokes. But it's like saying you go to the Weekend Update skit of SNL to be informed. There are plenty of great journalists out there who need supporting. Just remember the difference between a journalist and a comedian.

RealityChuck Jul 11 2019 01:48 PM Re: Your favorite news sites

I use Fark.com. It's an aggregator, primarily listing weird and funny news items, with snarky comments, but the links do go to legitimate news sites and it covers them (and breaking news) quite well.

Edgy MD Jul 11 2019 03:54 PM Re: Your favorite news sites

I feel like my main contribution to Facebook every day is writing, "That's not a news source. It's a propaganda site."

Edgy MD Jul 11 2019 04:14 PM Re: Your favorite news sites

Even accepting entertainers delivering news as useful, you still owe a traditional reporter thanks because that's the source for the entertainer. They're the ones that work hard, stick their necks out, and publish. The entertainers just pick from that. In fact, it's a problem in the whole post-modern world. The more we feel delighted just remixing, reformatting, and regurgitation established information, art, and culture, the less original and unfiltered information, art, and culture is available to us. And that's a horrible state of things. Oh, and here's to Julie K. Brown and The Miami Herald. There's an American hero, right there.

Johnny Lunchbucket Jul 11 2019 04:46 PM Re: Your favorite news sites

What an absolute shitshow at the White House today.

Double Switch Jul 11 2019 05:55 PM Re: Your favorite news sites

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: What an absolute shitshow at the White House today. Which I don't know a thing about due to taking news hiatus. Thanks for the warning (certainly not a spoiler alert - since it's a daily shitshow) and I will try to maintain radio silence so when I pour my glass of wine soon, it won't curdle.

Vic Sage Jul 12 2019 08:52 AM Re: Your favorite news sites

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: What an absolute shitshow at the White House today. as opposed to what other day?

Johnny Lunchbucket Jul 12 2019 10:02 AM Re: Your favorite news sites

I know, but I feel a special kind of horror and disgust wrt the ongoing ass-wiping with the first amendment

Double Switch Jul 12 2019 06:26 PM Re: Your favorite news sites

I forgot to add BBC US news and the Daily Beast. Also, that is part of why I hang around here. Some of you share interesting stuff with cogent analysis I otherwise would miss. I commiserate with feeling special horror over the everyday antics perpetuated by this spirochete-infested administration. They must have a roomful of venal people, including Stephen Miller and Kellyanne Conway, whose every waking moment (and nightmarish dreams) is spent cobbling up Trump-justified daily atrocities, likely graded for the amount of outrage they can generate, that they work through starting every Monday until stuff like the Thursday Shitshow mentioned by Lunchbucket. Then skip the rinse and repeat the cess, ramped up for more outrage. I never tried Twitter and have decided it's a likely source for overload. I gave up FaceBook after two separate attempts. The reason I tried it at all had to do with another of my major interests where belonging to FB is part of staying abreast of the activities. But the pure, unfiltered hatred and sickness generated there shoved me back out the door. I got along without it before and am doing fine without again. As for comedians delivering news that we treat as genuine news, comedy is rooted in pain, sorrow, frustration, and - in the instance of our present debacle - nonstop criminality. It still is genuine news tempered with acerbic intelligence. I prefer my news filtered through Jon Stewart (who should no longer be labeled a comedian but instead a humanitarian activist), Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, Trevor Noah, SNL, Sam Bee and whomever else I have slighted here. They are beholden to no one and can state the truth, played for humor, to ease our pain and let us realize so many of us are on the same page, in deep pain together, waiting to cut out the Trump/GOP cancer that threatens our very existence. ETTD. I miss Al Franken.

Edgy MD Jul 12 2019 08:42 PM Re: Your favorite news sites

Well, with no specific disregard for any of those names listed, I have to disagree that they are beholden to no one. I grew up in a golden age of satire, and feel blessed, but I have to believe that satire has become way too large of a sector of our culture. When more people (often way more people) see the satire than what is being satirized, things are off-kilter.

Double Switch Jul 12 2019 09:21 PM Re: Your favorite news sites

Edgy MD wrote: I grew up in a golden age of satire, and feel blessed, but I have to believe that satire has become way too large of a sector of our culture. When more people (often way more people) see the satire than what is being satirized, things are off-kilter. I must have missed that golden age.

Lefty Specialist Jul 16 2019 08:39 AM Re: Your favorite news sites

Good satire is kind of impossible to do in the age of Trump. Long-form journalism is being done well by Mother Jones and the Atlantic, among others. Here I am, incongruously promoting the Bulwark again, because this piece on the 4th of July hits the mark. https://thebulwark.com/scenes-from-americas-nervous-breakdown/

Double Switch Jul 26 2019 07:16 PM Re: Your favorite news sites

Lefty Specialist wrote: Good satire is kind of impossible to do in the age of Trump. Long-form journalism is being done well by Mother Jones and the Atlantic, among others. Here I am, incongruously promoting the Bulwark again, because this piece on the 4th of July hits the mark. https://thebulwark.com/scenes-from-americas-nervous-breakdown/ Good satire will one day return once our daily lives become mature and professional again. No more food fights. Belated thank yous to everyone who provided their favorites. I have bookmarked most of them (not Twitter, because I'm trying to avoid overload and have never created an account - I will, however, read whatever is shared mainstream). I realized I began reading Mother Jones in print form long, long ago when I lived with a bunch of people in a house in Portland OR (that's also when I stumbled upon Harvard Lampoon). I look at Salon now and then and, when really in need of great cheerleading and uplift, I will seek out Robert Reich. I love global thinking accompanied with sped-up cartooning to make points. Thanks for all your viewpoints to keep me optimistic that most of us realize just how deep the manure is that we presently are working our way out of. To quote Dr. Jacoby, "shoveling our way out of the shit." Thanks for letting me join in and interject my two bits.

MFS62 Jul 26 2019 07:33 PM Re: Your favorite news sites

You told us that you liked this place because of the non-baseball threads. Thank you for starting an interesting one. I'm glad we didn't disappoint. Later

MFS62 Jul 26 2019 07:34 PM Re: Your favorite news sites

Double Switch wrote: Thanks for all your viewpoints to keep me optimistic that most of us realize just how deep the manure is that we presently are working our way out of. To quote Dr. Jacoby, "shoveling our way out of the shit." Thanks for letting me join in and interject my two bits. You told us that you liked this place because of the non-baseball threads. Thank you for starting an interesting one. I'm glad we didn't disappoint. Later

kcmets Dec 28 2019 10:15 AM Re: Your favorite news sites Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Dec 28 2019 02:08 PM

I let my NY Times Sunday paper delivery/online access lapse over the summer. I was never getting through the paper and found I was using the online less and less. I got an email today offering regular online access for $1/week for a year. Don't know if it's by invite only but that's almost 75% off the regular charge and worth checking out if anyone is interested.

Frayed Knot Dec 28 2019 01:54 PM Re: Your favorite news sites

I called to quit my Friday thru Sunday NYT delivery a few months back, much for the same reasons as you, and was immediately enticed to stay with a rate about 1/3 of what mine had been plus a promise of a continuation of that reduced rate if I asked again after that 'trial' period ran out. If you're actually willing to quit some service (cable TV for instance) there's likely a lot of good bargainer (or probably even a mediocre one) can get out of that threat. In this case I didn't call with the intention of trying to get a deal, they just threw it at me, but for those who are looking to knock down a price there's probably more out there than one suspects.

Double Switch Dec 28 2019 02:32 PM Re: Your favorite news sites

I had this same experience last week with Washington Post. I did not renew when it expired last July, deciding I was in news overload anyway. But last week when I looked at their front page, a window popped open offering me a year for $30, which was a shock since I'd paid $100 for the previous year. Needless to say, I re-upped for $30.

kcmets Dec 28 2019 02:49 PM Re: Your favorite news sites

They're dying, taking quarters on the dollar.

whippoorwill Dec 28 2019 03:06 PM Re: Your favorite news sites

I keep getting New Yorker ads in the mail for which I'd have to take out a third mortgage for a one year subscription, but banner ads for about a buck an issue on my email, but I'm sure that's a very short term

Frayed Knot Dec 28 2019 06:12 PM Re: Your favorite news sites

=whippoorwill post_id=29028 time=1577570772 user_id=79] I keep getting New Yorker ads in the mail for which I'd have to take out a third mortgage for a one year subscription, but banner ads for about a buck an issue on my email, but I'm sure that's a very short term

Yeah, based on the idea that it's tougher to cut off a product or service once you're used to it than it is to not subscribe in the first place, they're hoping that you'll simply either opt to not cancel when the intro deal runs out or simply neglect to. That's essentially what I did with the Times, I would never have signed up for the Full price but I would up paying full price for a lot longer than I was paying the intro-rate before I finally got around to taking the time to cut them off - only to be re-enticed by another bargain when I called to cancel. And, IIRC, it all needed to be done via a phone call which is what put me in touch with the live person who immediately offered me a new cut rate. Had I been able to cancel on my own just via a mouse click I would probably have been tougher to re-up, even for the same deal.

kcmets Dec 28 2019 06:45 PM Re: Your favorite news sites

Funny no politicians include a truth-in-rates in their stated platforms. It's criminal, the providers all rely on the laziness of current customers while offering new customers deep discounts. Anyone ever get an email slashing their cable/internet package price? Let the buyer beware? Fuck that.