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looking for wholesome news sources


poptart

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Decided that 2021 will be when I really start monitoring and filtering my news.   There's nothing I can do about what's going on, I'm not a fan of how current events are being handled and there's nothing I can do about it anyway.  So, I figure I might as well filter out as much venom as possible.  Anyone have wholesome news sites?  Looking for holistic, wholesome things that have a focus on problem solving and a positive outlook, if possible.  Also, something preferably as politically neutral as possible.  If that's a no go, something centrist.  Thanks!

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7 hours ago, poptart said:

Decided that 2021 will be when I really start monitoring and filtering my news.   There's nothing I can do about what's going on, I'm not a fan of how current events are being handled and there's nothing I can do about it anyway.  So, I figure I might as well filter out as much venom as possible.  Anyone have wholesome news sites?  Looking for holistic, wholesome things that have a focus on problem solving and a positive outlook, if possible.  Also, something preferably as politically neutral as possible.  If that's a no go, something centrist.  Thanks!

I know you said your looking for wholesome news sources, tell you the truth, I dont know if that's possible to find. But let me tell you what I did about a year ago. Before the presidential campaign I got rid of my cable tv subscription. For the past 14 months I haven't watched one major news network. We watch funny and educational videos on YouTube and also netflix. I dont listen to a.m. radio anymore. It's funny, even though I try to avoid the news I cant fully because its everywhere, restaurants, gym, tackle shop, Google headlines and so on. But I find that I dont miss it at all. I've become happier and that was the goal. Anyways, I thought I would share my story with you incase you've actually felt the same way and just feel like turning it off. It is possible, you won't miss it.

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Like @AtlanticMikesays, there isn't any. Only varying degrees of bias and spin.

You take the recent US capitol shenanigans, for example. I don't know who to believe about it. On the one hand it was a bunch of Mr. T supporters going amuck, and on the other it was a bunch of Mr. T supporters opposing a bunch of Group A who were going amuck. And apparently there were some undercover military types embedded with the Group A people, and they were carrying out some secret operation. I've heard this despite my decision to stop listening -- it just seeps in around my Ignore blockade. Combine that with the fact that nobody in mainstream media can stand for anything related to Mr. T, and the noise to signal ratio goes to infinity. And if anyone decides to come onboard this post to tell me anything about it, I will ignore you, so just don't.

I decided a few weeks back that I just don't want to hear about it. So I unsubbed every single political YouTube channel, unfollowed every single political Twitter feed, as well as unfollowed every single Facebook friend I have that can't stop politicizing everything -- and then I stopped checking Twitter and Facebook. Except for a couple of groups on Facebook that talk about drone flying.

My life has become more peaceful as a result. I care, but I can't affect what is going down, so why bother with it?

I'm just going to concentrate on being the best Christian I can be, from this point onward.

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20 hours ago, Stargazer said:

You take the recent US capitol shenanigans, for example. I don't know who to believe about it. On the one hand it was a bunch of Mr. T supporters going amuck, and on the other it was a bunch of Mr. T supporters opposing a bunch of Group A who were going amuck. And apparently there were some undercover military types embedded with the Group A people, and they were carrying out some secret operation. I've heard this despite my decision to stop listening -- it just seeps in around my Ignore blockade. Combine that with the fact that nobody in mainstream media can stand for anything related to Mr. T, and the noise to signal ratio goes to infinity. And if anyone decides to come onboard this post to tell me anything about it, I will ignore you, so just don't.

When have I ever listened to someone telling me "don't"? You're missing out. Coup attempts are rare in the US.

Poptart, the key is to find reports you can trust. Dig for confirmation. Look for primary sources. If someone is mistaken occasionally that is okay. If they make lots of mistakes, stop listening. If they lie outright (especially if it is repeatedly) stop listening. Most media is biased in some way but look for the ones that won't lie to you because of it. Eventually you will find sources you can usually trust. If the story puts forward something that seems very unlikely check around to see how others are reporting the story. If no one is it is probably garbage.

If a story makes you want to believe it or want to disbelieve it take the opposite approach to that impulse. If someone is telling you what you don't want to hear dig a little deeper before dismissing. If someone is telling you what you want to hear be suspicious.

Also if someone commenting or delivering the news has ever had their lawyers argue in court that their use of misinformation is not a crime because the nature of their reporting is such that no reasonable person can believe them don't go to them for news. Tabloids and some TV and radio commentators fall into this category.

We are in for an interesting week. I monitor some darker corners of the web and have been involved with the online hunt to identify and locate people and there are more violent attacks being planned. Most of those "plans" are imaginative theorycrafting but some could be authentic. I obviously hope none of them are.

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3 hours ago, The Nehor said:

monitor some darker corners of the web and have been involved with the online hunt to identify and locate people

I was wondering if you would join that effort.  Some of those arrested already do not give me hope it will be that quiet given their arsenals or background. Hopefully most will be tracked down because they got overconfident they were going to be on the winning side and therefore were more public about their intentions. 

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Reading the AP news service itself might help cut down on the venom.  PBS tends to be civil (they have a variety of guests so you can get a wider view) though not centrist for sure.  I also read Reuters and BBC as they tend to be less aggressive.  I haven’t tried that hard to find a relatively civil biased to the right source as my husband provides it when I want it.  Would be interested in any suggestions. I don’t mind bias in reporting facts as it is natural, it is self righteousness commentary or emotional arguments in what is supposed to be a factual description or civil debate that bugs me. 

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9 hours ago, Calm said:

I was wondering if you would join that effort.  Some of those arrested already do not give me hope it will be that quiet given their arsenals or background. Hopefully most will be tracked down because they got overconfident they were going to be on the winning side and therefore were more public about their intentions. 

Most don't realize how easily they can be tracked. Unless they turned off their phones and removed the batteries or didn't bring their phone they are almost certainly going to get caught. There has been a massive online identification blitz. The people I have worked with are careful. Once we are sure you put it out there and we have already had dozens of people get fired, booted off from community and government positions, and things of that nature. At least six members of state legislatures were there and at least one broke into the Capitol. He was a dummy and was caught on video yelling "[His Name] is in the Capitol!" The fallout broke up at least one polyamorous polycule/family. All the info gets passed on to the FBI. Most of it is a puzzle of matching clothing, hair, etc to try to determine what they did, comparing photos to previous rallies and photo ops, etc.

The first arrests have been done. Most likely the FBI is using standard interrogation techniques which means most of them are going to implicate others as well. That is probably why they referred to a "geometric" increase in their briefing today. They will probably start hitting the no fly lists in the next day or two.

There is also a great deal of caution amongst those who do this. Fingering the wrong person openly is very wrong. The people I work with if they are unsure they pass it on without outing people. There was a mistake with identification in the summer connected to an attack but it was quickly corrected thankfully.

I still wonder if this below "sting" was the FBI or another government agency or just an independent person with a delightfully wicked sense of humor. What he says actually happened (except for the Pokemon and Tough Guy cosplay bit) though it is heightened for comic effect and is a parody. Hearing it dubbed over this is much more entertaining than me explaining it:

We are not dealing with a bunch of budding Moriartys.

In addition Parler was one of the main sites for planning. It got taken down for violating terms of their contract by inciting violence and plotting violence. Before it went down some independent hackers quasilegally pulled a copy of virtually the entire website including all posts. It is in a grey area. Security on the site is so bad that it may not be a crime at all. It is probable that some government agency did too. The funny part is that the site asked for driver's license photos to sign up and the metadata often contains the exact location of the person posting and all this was captured. People have already made density maps of where most of their posters in the US. Competent social media sites get this with the original data but scrub it as they don't want to be responsible for it. The data pull also includes deleted posts because the site just put a delete "tag" on the data instead of wiping it so even if someone thought better of what they posted this will bite them. This is going to be very valuable to the FBI. The site is probably doomed. There aren't that many hosting companies and I doubt anyone will sell to them now. Ironically their best bet going forward may be to try to host it in Russia.

Fun reminder that some of these people are afraid of taking the vaccine because it is purported to have a tracker in it.

The planning has moved to about a dozen different other sites. I also hear there is at least one competently secretive one on the dark web.

The cleanup in the Capitol will take awhile and a lot of electronics will probably have to be replaced or screened for bugs and malware. I admit I was surprised that the Capitol computers don't log off after a period of inactivity so data may have been accessed. There are also rumors of missing files. At least one person stole a mailed letter and the Post Office is reportedly interested in hitting him hard. The Post Office has an enforcement unit and they are arguably better at their job than the FBI. Feces were also smeared in at least one hallway and tramped into the floor. The plan to take members of Congress hostage thankfully failed but the zipties (identifying that guy was actually kind of hard) suggest it was a serious plan to at least some of them. One member of Congress after they had been told by the sergeant-at-arms to not reveal their location tweeted the location of the Speaker. There are talks of expulsion and/or criminal charges there. The Speaker's lectern was also stolen but it is not clear how far the thief got with it. It is likely they have recovered it as the thief was arrested. Someone posted a sales item for it on Ebay but that was probably a joke.

Security is being increased and there are reports to be 15,000 National Guard getting ready for the next few weeks. I thought it was a typo at first and someone put in an extra zero but looks like that is the plan. They are also trying to screen everyone in the new group for radical sympathies and the quest is on to figure out why security was so bad and why the Police in some areas seemed to let them in and pose for selfies with them while others resisted. There are also concerns about how long it took for help to arrive. It looks like a lot of Congress were calling everyone they knew to try to get a hold of someone who could help. Several National Guard units in Maryland were ready to go but it took forever to get an authorization.

This is going to be analyzed over and over again for a long time. It is a trope of schlock B-movies for terrorists to break into Congress or the White House and the writers said the hardest bit was coming up with plausible ways for them to get in and now that seems silly. Security was much better at the BLM protests and even when a group of nuns showed up to protest for the dreamers security was much more extensive. Photos from the Library of Congress Book Fair show they had better security then. It is very odd and several government agencies saw this coming. The FBI sent reports and warnings. About half the internet that was following the situation knew it was a strong possibility. There are going to be a lot of investigations.

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14 hours ago, The Nehor said:

When have I ever listened to someone telling me "don't"? You're missing out. Coup attempts are rare in the US.

Poptart, the key is to find reports you can trust. Dig for confirmation. Look for primary sources. If someone is mistaken occasionally that is okay. If they make lots of mistakes, stop listening. If they lie outright (especially if it is repeatedly) stop listening. Most media is biased in some way but look for the ones that won't lie to you because of it. Eventually you will find sources you can usually trust. If the story puts forward something that seems very unlikely check around to see how others are reporting the story. If no one is it is probably garbage.

If a story makes you want to believe it or want to disbelieve it take the opposite approach to that impulse. If someone is telling you what you don't want to hear dig a little deeper before dismissing. If someone is telling you what you want to hear be suspicious.

Also if someone commenting or delivering the news has ever had their lawyers argue in court that their use of misinformation is not a crime because the nature of their reporting is such that no reasonable person can believe them don't go to them for news. Tabloids and some TV and radio commentators fall into this category.

We are in for an interesting week. I monitor some darker corners of the web and have been involved with the online hunt to identify and locate people and there are more violent attacks being planned. Most of those "plans" are imaginative theorycrafting but some could be authentic. I obviously hope none of them are.

I hang out in some of those dark corners too I think.  It's spooky some of the things you see and hear.  

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46 minutes ago, poptart said:

I hang out in some of those dark corners too I think.  It's spooky some of the things you see and hear.  

My own nephew's comment on a post showed up to me on FB where he said there had to be a civil war, there's no other way. Is this the sentiment among these people? I'm not that close with this nephew and haven't seen him in years, he's in CA. But that scared me, I don't have the comment anymore, but he might just be a part of these problems. :(

Also, it sounds like the FBI is going to be in over their heads, I wonder if they take volunteers. 

Edited by Tacenda
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20 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

My own nephew's comment on a post showed up to me on FB where he said there had to be a civil war, there's no other way. Is this the sentiment among these people? I'm not that close with this nephew and haven't seen him in years, he's in CA. But that scared me, I don't have the comment anymore, but he might just be a part of these problems. :(

Also, it sounds like the FBI is going to be in over their heads, I wonder if they take volunteers. 

I have friends like that IRL, also I suspect I have some of the gov't friends/family some people here do.  That's a big reason why IRL I keep my mouth shut, smile and nod.  After what my father pulled what kept them from thinking I was just another piece of garbage like most of that side were is my profession and taking care of mom.  People here really don't take care of family anymore, sad. 

Anyway, I deactivated my facebook a few years ago, this year out of curiosity I'd reactivate it for a few minutes at a time just to see what people I knew were up to and what they had to say about the riots and covid, wow.....
I went forward with just deleting it last fall before the elections went the way they did.  Considering what's happened i'm glad I did.  Didn't really have anything to lose, the people here I do keep in touch with I email.  The family I am close to are mostly in Hawaii and distrust social media as much as I do.  They've been watching all this from Maui and shaking their heads.  One of my cousins won't allow that in her home, she screens what her kids watch.  She's not as strict as grandma was but compared to the discipline I see from parents here?  Yeah different story lol.

People assume just because you're friends on facebook they have your best interests in mind.  What scares me is if you're been on social media for a while someone can find an old post, screencap it and do whatever they want with it.  With programs like Tor and/or a VPN, it can be very difficult to track down someone trying to slander you.  I remember growing up mom telling me don't talk to strangers.  Hmmm, well gee on social media you sure are talking to a whole bunch of them aren't you?  Makes sense to me to keep the idea of stranger danger in the back of your head.  Zuckerberg doesn't care about your well being.

Have you seen the movie The Social Dilemma?  Highly recommend it.

 

Edited by poptart
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3 minutes ago, poptart said:

I have friends like that IRL, also I suspect I have some of the gov't friends/family some people here do.  That's a big reason why IRL I keep my mouth shut, smile and nod.  After what my father pulled what kept them from thinking I was just another piece of garbage like most of that side were is my profession and taking care of mom.  People here really don't take care of family anymore, sad. 

Anyway, I deactivated my facebook a few years ago, this year out of curiosity I'd reactivate it for a few minutes at a time just to see what people I knew were up to and what they had to say about the riots and covid, wow.....

What gets me is so many people are ill informed and doing really, really dumb things.  People in general either have no idea what the long term consequences of their choices are going to be and/or don't care.  It's their children who are going to really suffer from all this.  I got off the phone with an old friend, retired US Marshal and Vietnam vet (marine), he's glad he's out of law enforcement, this is uncharted water. 

Jesus was onto something when he said if they won't listen shake the dust off your feet and leave. 

Oh dear, I hope people aren't inciting these things to bring on the return of Jesus, or the end of the world. :(

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48 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

My own nephew's comment on a post showed up to me on FB where he said there had to be a civil war, there's no other way. Is this the sentiment among these people? I'm not that close with this nephew and haven't seen him in years, he's in CA. But that scared me, I don't have the comment anymore, but he might just be a part of these problems. :(

Also, it sounds like the FBI is going to be in over their heads, I wonder if they take volunteers. 

Tacenda, I hope this will make you feel safer. I'm fairly right wing, but not so much that I would consider  marching to the Capitol to do what these idiots did. But I do interact with some of these people and trust me, there all bark and no bite, for the most part. Your going to have crazies on both sides but there's no way I or any one I know who thinks like me would ever join the people who think a civil war is the only way to solve problems. And I admit they're out there. And despite what you might here on the news, most right wingers like me will accept Joe Biden as president once he's sworn in. I hope he does a fine job even though we dont agree fiscally. This is being blown way out of proportion and your going to have to deal with it for a month or more probably. But it will calm down. Most rednecks like me aren't going to "rise up", that would be stupid on my part. I'm just ball parking a number, but these people who you are worrying about, are probably only 1 to 2% of the Republican party. The other 98% of Republicans like me will beat the **** out of them before they get to you, I promise. 

Edited by AtlanticMike
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24 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

Oh dear, I hope people aren't inciting these things to bring on the return of Jesus, or the end of the world. :(

Just my opinion here, lets see what happens to these guys once the feds get their hands on them and ruins their lives.  What would worry me is what either side does as far as recruiting felons and other people who have little to lose.  We have a ton of those in society nowadays.  That being said, yeah sheltered well fed people who've never had much to worry about make lousy revolutionaries.  I'm just sitting back and watching the fun.  Just when I think people can't be even more foolish, someoneone does something to put a smile on my face. 

BTW, although i'm a cultural Christian at best i've always been a fan of the more old school mainline idea of God.  Man sins, his heart hardens, God removes his grace and leaves. 

 

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39 minutes ago, AtlanticMike said:

Tacenda, I hope this will make you feel safer. I'm fairly right wing, but not so much that I would consider  marching to the Capitol to do what these idiots did. But I do interact with some of these people and trust me, there all bark and no bite, for the most part. Your going to have crazies on both sides but there's no way I or any one I know who thinks like me would ever join the people who think a civil war is the only way to solve problems. And I admit they're out there. And despite what you might here on the news, most right wingers like me will accept Joe Biden as president once he's sworn in. I hope he does a fine job even though we dont agree fiscally. This is being blown way out of proportion and your going to have to deal with it for a month or more probably. But it will calm down. Most rednecks like me aren't going to "rise up", that would be stupid on my part. I'm just ball parking a number, but these people who you are worrying about, are probably only 1 to 2% of the Republican party. The other 98% of Republicans like me will beat the **** out of them before they get to you, I promise. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I've never felt so fearful. I will take your advice! Edit to add: I know the 98% Republicans are good people, so you won't have to kick any of my friend's and family's *****! ;) 

Edited by Tacenda
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1 hour ago, poptart said:

I have friends like that IRL, also I suspect I have some of the gov't friends/family some people here do.  That's a big reason why IRL I keep my mouth shut, smile and nod.  After what my father pulled what kept them from thinking I was just another piece of garbage like most of that side were is my profession and taking care of mom.  People here really don't take care of family anymore, sad. 

Anyway, I deactivated my facebook a few years ago, this year out of curiosity I'd reactivate it for a few minutes at a time just to see what people I knew were up to and what they had to say about the riots and covid, wow.....
I went forward with just deleting it last fall before the elections went the way they did.  Considering what's happened i'm glad I did.  Didn't really have anything to lose, the people here I do keep in touch with I email.  The family I am close to are mostly in Hawaii and distrust social media as much as I do.  They've been watching all this from Maui and shaking their heads.  One of my cousins won't allow that in her home, she screens what her kids watch.  She's not as strict as grandma was but compared to the discipline I see from parents here?  Yeah different story lol.

People assume just because you're friends on facebook they have your best interests in mind.  What scares me is if you're been on social media for a while someone can find an old post, screencap it and do whatever they want with it.  With programs like Tor and/or a VPN, it can be very difficult to track down someone trying to slander you.  I remember growing up mom telling me don't talk to strangers.  Hmmm, well gee on social media you sure are talking to a whole bunch of them aren't you?  Makes sense to me to keep the idea of stranger danger in the back of your head.  Zuckerberg doesn't care about your well being.

Have you seen the movie The Social Dilemma?  Highly recommend it.

 

I started to watch awhile back but didn't get far, but will pick it back up and watch! Oh, how I wish we never had FB, Twitter... they're all so far reaching! As much as I enjoy the good, fun, fluffy, flowery posts, I'm about to give them up. :( I appreciate your advice and will try to think positive, thank you! :)

Edited by Tacenda
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2 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

I started to watch awhile back but didn't get far, but will pick it back up and watch! Oh how I wish we never saw FB etc. now! As much as I enjoy the good, fun, fluffy, flowery posts. :( I appreciate your advice and try to think positive, thank you! :)

I remember my space, we were just more careful.  It was Facebook and Twitter that brought the mainstream, people who always assumes society would watch out for them.  Still have friends who have it, thing with social media is it's how people communicate.  I think it's done a disservice to people, civility is gone.

Maybe resdiscover mother nature?  I talk to animals when I see them.  If I ever pull off a saint Francis and manage a miracle with a sermon to birds and other happy woodland critters I'll let you know.

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2 minutes ago, poptart said:

I remember my space, we were just more careful.  It was Facebook and Twitter that brought the mainstream, people who always assumes society would watch out for them.  Still have friends who have it, thing with social media is it's how people communicate.  I think it's done a disservice to people, civility is gone.

Maybe resdiscover mother nature?  I talk to animals when I see them.  If I ever pull off a saint Francis and manage a miracle with a sermon to birds and other happy woodland critters I'll let you know.

AWWW, I love this! I believe we need to take our cues from animals and nature, God is looking down and wishing we'd get a clue right now!

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37 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

AWWW, I love this! I believe we need to take our cues from animals and nature, God is looking down and wishing we'd get a clue right now!

People did it for thousands of years, never too late.  Either that or one of my Fav saints, Hubertus.

Wilhelm_R%C3%A4uber_-_Die_Bekehrung_des_

 

 

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54 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

As much as I enjoy the good, fun, fluffy, flowery posts, I'm about to give them up

Just get picky about who you read and unfollow everyone else.  I have a couple of groups I follow with my hobbies and health issues...they don’t get into politics at all, I have several family and friends’ ones that just post uplifting comments about politics if they post at all, and then a couple of political ones that ‘fit’ my approach to keep me clued into stuff I am interested in...but I can skip those often.  I have slowly narrowed down to a tenth of what I had and I don’t feel bad if I decide to unfollow anyone else.

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21 minutes ago, Calm said:

Just don’t watch them hunting or eating.

Not a fan of gore, still predators have a place in the circle of life.  Look at deer, without predators they'd explode population wise and decimate vegetation and spread disease. 

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10 minutes ago, poptart said:

Not a fan of gore, still predators have a place in the circle of life.  Look at deer, without predators they'd explode population wise and decimate vegetation and spread disease. 

Agree, but not exactly the method humanity needs to be using.

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