Do Unto Others

 

You Get the America You VOTE For

 

First they came

 

How One Party Views Democracy

 

Discrimination: a short essay

 

John P Epstein

Novue0tS30mber a4,4 s20o1r1i8  · 

Shared with Public

Discrimination: a short essay

I was born into a Jewish home.

Currently there are thousands upon thousands of people in this country who hate me for what I am. They do not know me. They have never met me. But that is inconsequential to their hatred. I've experienced this hatred numerous times throughout my 62 years. And I have become accustomed to it.

I am not alone.

We live in a country today where the president regularly fans the flames of bigotry and hatred. He tells us to be afraid. That "they" are the enemy. That "they" are coming to get us. His followers believe him, harboring animosity towards people whose names they don’t know and whom they’ve never met. They identify those they hate solely by their surnames; by where they pray; by the color of their skin; by who they’re with; by where they're from; and by their politics.

The news of this past week should have been a wake-up call to all those who tried to convince us that this behavior would pass. That it was just a strategy or tactic he used to get himself elected. But the campaign never stopped. The fear-mongering, targeting and blaming never ceased. We are all living with the result.

And it's not going away any time soon. He has the unwavering support of powerful right-wing media that regularly distorts facts and misrepresents truths in order to instill fear and stoke resentment 24/7.

Real news doesn't harm. It informs.

We, the citizens of The United States of America, have an opportunity on Tuesday to shout loudly and clearly that this hatred does not define us. It is not who we are. We will not acquiesce to it. It is not who we will become. On Tuesday, voters in this country will express their acceptance or rejection of those who use hatred to advance their own agenda. His name may not be on the ballot. But the names of his supporters and enablers are.

I am too often reminded these days of the poem entitled “First They Came” written by Martin Niemöller, a German pastor who was disgusted that the German citizenry would not speak in opposition as their neighbors were being carted off by the Nazi regime. It ends with the words: "Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me."

On Tuesday, please speak for those who cannot, or dare not, speak up for themselves.

Please vote.

This is your chance to speak for everyone.

7 Days in January That America Won't Soon Forget

What a week.

Your great-grandchildren and their children will read about this week in their American history books for many years to come: 

1)  The number of COVID deaths in the U.S. top 4,000 a day for the first time. The total number of U.S. deaths is now in excess of 365,000, approaching the total number of Americans killed in all of World War II.  As he has been for the past several months, President Trump remains silent on the tragic milestone.

2)  The President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, was captured on an hour-long audio recording trying to strong-arm Georgia officials to "find 11,780 votes" and reverse the outcome of his election loss to Joe Biden in November.  It is likely he made similar attempts with officials of other states as Georgia, alone, would not have given him enough electoral votes to turn the outcome in his favor. 

3)  Two Democrats win seats in the U.S. Senate in Georgia -- one black and the other Jewish.  This outcome is unheard of in the deep south.  This follows Joe Biden's defeat of Donald Trump in the Presidential election in November -- a clean sweep for Democrats in a historically red state. 

4)  With the urging of the President of the United States and that of his personal attorney, right-wing protesters storm the Capitol Building forcing members of Congress to rapidly evacuate the House and Senate chambers and flee to safety as hundreds of Trump-loyalist rioters take over the building by force.  At least 5 people die in the ensuing conflicts with police and security forces. 

5)  Despite the above events, 147 Republican legislators refuse to recognize and vote to overturn Joe Biden's defeat of Donald Trump when the House and Senate are able to reconvene hours later. This, despite the fact that Biden won the electoral college by 74 electoral votes and the popular vote by more than 7,000,000 votes, garnering the most votes for any presidential candidate in American history. 

6)  Numerous Cabinet members and members of the White House staff resign in protest of the role the President played in inciting the Capitol Building riot. 

7)  Numerous prominent Republicans, including a number of Senate and House Republicans, publicly call for the immediate removal or resignation of the leader of their own political party -- even though less than 2 weeks remain in his Presidency. 

8)  The House of Representatives states that it is preparing an Impeachment order for the removal of President Trump as a direct result of his incitement of the rioters.  Several Republicans have threatened to sign on to the order if Trump does not resign beforehand.  If it passes, it will be the 2nd Impeachment of Trump, and the only time in history that a sitting President will have been Impeached twice. 

9)  President Donald Trump‘s ability to post on his social media accounts is severely hampered as Facebook, Instagram and others restrict his account due to his incitement of violence in his attempt to overturn the election.  Late Friday, Twitter announces that he is permanently suspended from their platform.

Fed Up With Fake News?

A Guide to getting Fake News out of your life for good

A large number of people are having a hard time discerning real news from fake news.  I'm happy to tell you that, if you follow the general guidelines I've outlined below, it is actually easier to get Fake News (and intentional misinformation and disinformation) out of your life than you thought.

 

The 4 Quickest Steps to Getting Factual (Real) News:

     1)  Stop getting your news from TV and radio personalities and from Internet memes

     2)  Identify credible sources

     3)  Learn how spot the difference between news and opinion

     4)  Make fact-checkers your friend

 

1. Stop Getting Your News From TV (and Radio) personalities and from Internet Memes

TV News can be a slippery slope.  Just because someone says their news is Real or Fair or Balanced, doesn't make it true.  If you must get your news from TV, the best places to find factual, non-biased news is from the major network newscasts.  Those would include:

 

DINNER HOUR Broadcasts:

-- The PBS NewsHour -- online here: pbs.org/newshour/ 

-- ABC World News Tonight -- online here: abcnews.go.com/WN 

-- CBS Evening News -- online here: cbsnews.com/evening-news/ 

-- NBC Nightly News -- online here:  nbcnews.com/nightly-news 

NEWS SHOWS TO AVOID:

1) Talking heads

2) Panel discussions, generally with a moderator or host

3) Those relying upon opinions, sensationalism, demonization, ranting or judgments of others

 

THE BEST SOURCE FOR CURRENT NEWS 

(at any time):

Google News -- news.google.com

Google News is an aggregator of sources and they present the news by topic with numerous media sources provided for each story or subject.  That way users can choose which source to read or can read multiple sources.  Plus it's easy to navigate.  This is my go-to source to obtain accurate news.

 

2. Identify Credible Sources

The Internet has made it easier to find both disreputable sources of news, and reputable ones.  In your quest for reliable news sources, the best place to start is with organizations that rate news sources on the basis of their political bias and reliability based upon concrete, identifiable methodologies.   Those would include:

-- Ad Fontes Media's Media Bias Chart* -- Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart 

-- All Sides -- All Sides media-bias-ratings

-- Media Bias Fact Check - A reliable source, but now omitted here because of a very confusing web site loaded with not-so-clearly marked 3rd party ad links to questionable web sites.

*Ad Fontes also offers a very helpful link with which you can look up the neutrality and reliability of almost ANY source

Ad Fontes rankings-by-individual-news-source

 

Based on Ad Fontes Media and on All Sides, the following news sources are considered to be the most fair, reliable and unbiased in their presentation of the news (not including opinion articles):

-- The Associated Press

-- Reuters

-- NPR News (online)

-- USA Today

-- BBC News

-- Axios

-- PBS

-- The Christian Science Monitor

-- ABC News

-- CBS News

-- NBC News

-- The New York Times

-- The Washington Post

-- The Wall Street Journal

-- Forbes

-- Bloomberg

-- The Hill

Once you know which sources are reliable, you can switch back and forth between them (i.e.-- like on Google News) in order to get different, factual angles of the same story.  One thing to note: reputable news sources will correct any reporting errors once they become known.  Disreputable sources don't.

 

 

3. Learn how spot the difference between news and opinion

This one is easy -- providing you are starting with reputable new sources.  Just be aware that almost every news source offers a combination of news and editorial/opinion/analysis.  Credible print/Internet sources will clearly identify the nature of opinion articles, generally at the top with designations such as "Op-Ed"; "Opinion", "Editorial" or "Analysis".  Expect these to have an opinionated viewpoint of the subjects they are discussing. 

 

 

4. Make fact-checkers your friend

Most major media outlets nowadays offer some degree of fact-checking.  If the fact-checking source is reputable, their fact-checking will be too.  But there are also several other fact checking organizations that can be utilized.  Once you know which are trustworthy, you can utilize your search engine to see which of the fact checkers have addressed your inquiry.  

To fact check a questionable claim, simply put the words "Fact check" followed by the subject and claim you want to check.  If you don't get the results you are looking for, try rewording the claim or using a specific quote from the article or meme you are trying to check.  An example of this might be to search "Fact Check Does Facebook ban the posting of the Lord's Prayer?"

 

Here are some reliable third-party fact-checkers:

-- FactCheck.org 

-- Politifact 

-- Snopes

-- The Washington Post Fact Checker  

 

 

General Tips for Avoiding Fake News

-- Identify reliable sources and seek them out

-- Learn to recognize the difference between news and opinion

-- Ask WHY?  Does this make sense?

-- Verify doubtful/questionable claims using fact checkers

-- Avoid believing social media memes, talking heads, and cable news or radio personalities (on Fox, OAN, CNN, MSNBC, Limbaugh, InfoWars, etc.)

-- Read beyond the headline.  Headlines are often written to grab your attention with sensationalized claims

-- Trust your 'bullshit' detector.  If it sounds suspicious, look it up. 

-- If it makes a judgment or asks you to, it's not news

-- Read the news, rather than watch it.  It's harder to get away with lies and deceptions in print.

-- Use your search engine

 

Not all local media is trustworthy

Sadly, there has been a recent effort to deceptively portray corporately-sourced, partisan political opinions as coming from trusted local news anchors.  Ironically, the most abhorrent example of this came from Sinclair Broadcast Group and took the form of an editorial warning to viewers about "Fake News".  This warning was broadcast word-for-word on dozens of Sinclair-owned TV stations criticizing what they considered to be "Fake News" sources and describing them as "extremely dangerous to our democracy".  A number of journalists at those stations resigned rather than participate in the deliberate deception.  You can view a very creepy and disturbing video of the result here:  

Dozens of local Sinclair TV anchors reading the same script

Sinclair currently owns 193 TV stations in 100 American markets, owning multiple competing stations in some markets.  To see if your local station is one of them, you can view the database here: 

List of local TV stations owned or operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group

 

Learn to Identify Logical Fallacies

A Logical Fallacy is an attempt to use logical-sounding arguments to support illogical or intentionally erroneous conclusions.  Expressed another way, the underlying intent of a logical fallacy is to present falsehoods in a way that project the appearance of being factual.

Logical fallacies abound, especially on social media, talk radio and talk/opinion TV.  Here is a helpful link to a slide show which can help you:  1) identify them;  2) better understand what local fallacies look like;  3) and explain how users of logical fallacies try to manipulate you: 

12 Common Logical Fallacies and How to Debunk Them

 

Truth matters.  

Hopefully this post has made it easier for you to seek it out.