Where to get Accurate News

1. Stay away from cable news. It's all info-tainment - a small nugget of actual information, surrounded by opinionated talking heads to make it look 'fair and balanced.' Really they just want you to keep watching the ads. It's not worth your effort to spend time sorting the wheat from the chaff here.

2. Don't believe anything on Facebook or Reddit (or Twitter or any social communication channel) without independent verification. Something in your Facebook feed sounded outrageous? Probably because it's not true. Even the things you want to believe.

3. Newspapers are still the -best- source of well-reported, factual information. Sure, they get it wrong occasionally, but they also have set-in-stone correction policies and publish said corrections as soon as possible.

4. Your hometown paper is a good source of info on local political issues, elections, candidates and scandal/corruption/etc. Sure, it's likely anemic and doesn't do huge, hard-hitting investigative journalism, but you should pay for their web access subscription anyways. It's likely the only source of information about your schools, your city council, and the things that effect you most directly.

5. For national and international news, go the major metro papers. The New York Times is killing it with a full digital team in the newsroom - data driven reporting, great interactive presentations, and huge reputation and reach. These guys, along with the LA Times and Washington Post, etc. can get access and sources that no other organization can, just ask Edward Snowden. Pick one and subscribe online.

6. Go International. Checkout the U.K.-based Guardian, which has really stepped up it's U.S. coverage in the last few years. Check out the BBC. For a really different perspective, check Al Jazeera, the Doha, Quatar based agency that pumps out some solid reporting.

7. PBS. Fund drives, endowments and public funding sources mean the pressure to please advertisers and gain 'eyeballs' is less intense. This results in a sometimes dry reporting style, but tends to be packed with information. News magazine shows on PBS, like Frontline, Nova and Nature are also well-reported and not sensationalist as one expects Dateline or 20/20 to be. You'll never see a "To catch a predator" Frontline documentary, but you might find it tough to keep your blood pressure in check nonetheless.

8. NPR & PRI. Again, public funding means less pressure to please advertisers. Some argue that NPR has gotten soft on corporate reporting as public funding has fallen off. It's possible I suppose, but I still get more info from NPR than whatever jackasses are on KISS FM during my commute. Plus, we have a strong public radio network in my state, so I get a good mix of local, national and international news just by never changing my radio dial.

9. fivethirtyeight.com for data-related reporting, like polling and surveys. These guys are actual statisticians and data scientists that also happen to do reporting. Most of the time, data-reporting is done by journalist with journalism degrees. Nothing wrong with that, but... just saying.

10. If you're really hardcore, look for the insider publications. Wall Street Journal is kind of in this category, targeting traders and NYC bankers, but it's become a bit more mainstream now. Autonews.com is a good one for the automotive industry, for example, or poynter.org for news about journalism. Yup. There's news about news.

But... these are all biased Mainstream Media sources run by The Man...

How do you know if a story is biased? Well, good luck. The Hostile Media Effect pretty much guarantees that you'll feel as though some stories are biased. The best thing to do for this is seek out alternative news sources from around the country and world, and make up your own mind. How is the LA Times reporting this story? The BBC? The Guardian? These are reporting organizations that have their own reporters stationed all over the world.

Take a look at Fox News, or Brietbart even. What are their sources, how does their reporting jive with the other news agencies? If they differ, Why do you think they differ? Is there an agenda?

Undoubtedly many of these news sources are run by large corporate organizations. Reporting is an expensive, resource intensive, and potentially very dangerous endeavor. Journalists need organizations like the New York Times Company, Tribune Company, and, heck, even Gannett to back up their reporting with lawyers and dollars. It's hard to avoid big money, which is why public-funded sources, as well as international sources (which are likely to have different motives than domestic sources, -if- there is a motive present) are important.

Also, understand how news agencies like the Associated Press work. These are usually well-reported, well-vetted articles, but pay attention and realize that when you're reading an AP story in your local newspaper, it's likely that same story has been chopped up and printed in every newspaper in the country and often across the world. This isn't bad, but it can sometimes make it difficult to find different sources of the same event.

IF YOU ONLY DO ONE THING, avoid listening to the talking heads on TV. These are people whom the shows producers know are good at talking on live television, are fairly predictable and will be able to prattle on about what-ifs and maybes for hours if needed. Don't let them replace your own thoughts with theirs.

Source: four years of journalism school, six years working in newspapers, four years working in government. It's tough out there, but reliable sources still exist. Pick your bedfellows wisely.

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Donald Trump is President and the Environment will Suffer

Trump's 100 day plan includes allowing for coal/oil/shale extraction from protected sites, a strong arm for pipelines through protected areas (specifically pointing to Keystone as his champion cause), promises to gut $50 billion of environmental spending to UN programs, promises to undo sanctions on pollution, and also has a bunch of clauses which, if implemented, would impact all fields, but including and especially climate science (such as his desire to require two regulations be removed arbitrarily if one regulation will be passed).

He is appointing a leading climate change denier to the EPA, which he has discussed dismantling all together. He has discussed removing the FDA all together, removing educational advisement from his cabinet, and rewarding companies with tax incentives to expand in destructive areas while simultaneously promising to remove the restrictions put in place to mitigate harm done to the environment in the process.

A lot of this he can get done via executive order. A lot of it beyond that he can get done with house and senate support, which he has.

This is not an instance of conspiracy theories or "what ifs" being thrown around. He has promised these things, and has the tools to deliver. It would literally take him saying "naw nevermind" to stop this from happening.

Any one of the items listed above would cause damage to the environment that will take decades, if not longer to reverse, if it even can be reversed at this point, during a time that we are already losing an uphill battle to protect our environment. And he's not talking about one item. He's talking about all of them, and has the ability, and intent, to do everything he says.

And that's just environment. People have a right to be afraid. I would be afraid with a Clinton presidency because I wasn't sure she'd do enough. I would be afraid with a blue house/senate to stand in Trumps way, because I'd be worried they wouldn't do enough. What we actually have, is a scenario where people who deny climate change are now in un-checked power, and are salivating at the chance to make a quick buck off immeasurable damage to our planet.

The planet will recover and move on, the question is if we will be around when it happens. This is not an issue that we can really afford to "wait 4 to 8 years and vote better next time." We have already reached the emergency point according to any scientist worth listening to.

Forgive me if I don't see much opportunity for "it won't be so bad" when it comes to specifically climate change. I could ignore everything else he's doing (which I won't, but we're speaking hypothetically here) and I think stress and alarm is still perfectly in the scope of reason regarding his promises. Even if we "think" he'll do a ton of damage, but he only does a lot of damage, the damage is too severe and has ramifications too drastic to ignore.

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Welcome to IT

Lets say you work at a company that is a large small business (40-50 million revenue yearly, 100-200 people). Your IT department is a 1-3 man team, because "you're an expense" ...most business people think only sales people make them money. Don't worry that you can't make money if shit doesn't work, only sales makes you money.

Now lets pretend your last major upgrade to the servers was accomplished with a $75,000 budget. Getting that budget with the equipment you demanded was required was hard fought. Some corners were cut on "not absolutely necessary" things, things like a second slightly smaller and slightly slower server to run as a mirror of the first one, a server where you could do all your testing on. That "saved" the company $30,000, right? You just like to spend money, you never make the company any money.

Then, a year later you have something that absolutely has to be done to the server. You are pretty sure it will work, your outside support people are confident it will work, you have no server to test it on because all your other servers are much too small to handle it or are already tasked with other "critical" services. So you go with your best judgement and go live with a big change during the wee hours to cause the least interruption.

1 AM SHIT GOES BAD.

Now you're scrambling. By 5AM you're in a frantic attempt to get back online before major business starts, nothing you or your vendor have tried has worked, they've called in a half dozen of their T3's and developers all to no avail. People are rolling in, shit isn't working. Calls are happening. Pages are going out. 6AM, the owner rolls in. His shit isn't working. You're now thinking about reverting to last night's backup because the changes you were told would work without a hitch were nothing but a giant frozen boot in the nutsack hitch. People are getting really frantic about not being able to do business, nobody can order anything, nobody can sell anything, nobody can maintain inventory, nobody can do anything but sit around with their thumbs up their asses and surf the web. You're just an expense, you don't make the company money.

6:30AM, you make the decision to give up attempts at fixing and instead roll back to the last backup. You start the restore telling everyone "this should be resolved by 9:30AM everyone we have is on it and a full restore should take 2 or 3 hours tops."

9:35 rolls around, 9:40... 10:15 the backup fails at the last point. What the fuck? How the fuck? This is impossible! You make some calls, you explain that you have to attempt rolling back to the offsite backup, yes you understand that will lose the half the day's business and everything will have to be manually entered when the system is back up. You're given the "Well for Christ sake get it back up what do we pay you for!?!" (The go ahead. They have utmost confidence in your abilities.) You start the other restore. It works, but was much slower than the onsite one because fibre is only so fast. 3:00PM you're back online, things seem to be stable again.

3:30, nobody in IT has slept in 32 hours. You're called into a meeting with management. People want answers. You explain that you were assured everything would go smoothly by the vendor, you tell them that you were confident on your role in the upgrade as well. What should have been a 2 hour downtime during the night turned into a 17 hour ordeal. It was an unforeseeable incident. You mention that, "Had we had a working test environment to try this on first, we would have discovered the problem and avoided it."

Nobody wants to hear it. Everything is about reentering the previous day's sales, orders, receivables, inventory adjustments, etc. 4:30 the business day is basically a wipe. The downtime has cost the company a couple hundred thousand in lost business for the day. You're just another expense, you don't make the company any money.

Nobody learns from it other than yourself, a few other people in IT, and the vendor who "has never seen this problem before".

Your request for a new sandbox server is declined. Your request for a 2nd local backup server is seen as "another" frivolous idea.

You're just another expense, you don't make the company any money.

Welcome to IT.

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Exercises to Reduce Back Pain

I just finished a round of physical therapy for back related pain. I switched from an active lifestyle to a "desk job" and that murdered my back. Sure I got some occasional pain from a long spin of gaming, but nothing bad enough to send me to the doctor until I was doing 10+ hours a day on my ass.

While I have been a daily stretcher for years to keep some pains at bay, I left PT with 6 new stretches that took me from literally having moaning in pain by the end of the day (I have felt organ failure, so that's no small amount of pain) and could neither sleep nor get frisky without being completely blinded by the back pain.

While most of them were ones I have been doing for years, I needed to make some adjustments and to learn to use more of my core muscles than rely on my limbs and joins for stabilization.

Here's what's added to my routine which might help others:

• Open Book - While this works the shoulders and upper back, I spend a lot of time with forward tilted shoulders while working. Loosening the tension up top helps all the way down. This may have been the most beneficial of them for me, personally. This was not in my routine until the last month. It removed pain I didn't even realize I had. Additional note, if you are pretty flexible already you may notice that you can move your arm back really far...and then feel a tingly or numb feeling. You are pinching a nerve. Pull your arm up a little to relieve it.
• Thoratic Cat and Camel - This had already been in my routine, but I wasn't set in a neutral position core-wise. Basically at the "start" position, do not have your back bend, flex your core, and hold it straight. Do not Buddha belly out or flex your back. Only flex back when doing an "up" set. Return to neutral.
• Lumbar Extension Push Ups - I use the bottom picture and slowly lower and lift my body from the ground. If you are short on time, as in refuse to do more than 2 minutes of stretching, this one will give you the most short term pain relief in the lumbar seat. if you eliminate the push up action and just hold yourself up, this is basically the Snake Pose in Yoga.
• Not sure what this one is called, but let's call it a Pelvic Tilt. Alternative instructions would be to lay on your back, knees up, and tilt your pelvis forward in order to have the small of your back lie flat on the ground. You should feel your core tighten. If you don't, squeeze those muscles and fake it. Follow up with an additional step: While one leg is stationary, slowly tilt your knee outward about an inch and then back again. Do on both sides. You can increase the distance you move as time goes on. This will work your core, lower back and inner thighs.
• Lumbar Prone Spinal Extension - AKA Thumbs Up Superman. Thumbs up optional, it just makes you look cool. Image explains itself.
• Quadruped Upper and Lower Extremity Extension - I had to work up to this as my core was not strong enough for a few weeks to not make me want to fall over. You can do just the arms, or just the legs at first to build up to it. Remember to keep a neutral position and engage your core as in the Cat and Camel.
• Not sure what this is called but has been in my routine for at least 4 years. This can be a bit harder if you are female, like me, and have wider hips. However, sticking a foam pad beneath will reduce the feeling of grinding you hip into the floor. This can be held for a long time. Heck, plop on the floor with a pet or read a book while holding.

Obligatory: Everyone's body is different. Listen to your body if it hurts too much. Don't push yourself too hard. If you can I would highly recommend a few visits with a Physical Therapist to set yourself up with something you can do a few times a week. I only needed three visits in order to make additions and adjustments that made a world of difference. 15-30 minutes of your week to stretch is worth being able to work and play in front of your computer with pain-free focus.

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Donald Trump v. Bill of Rights: a Megalist of his Unconstitutional Positions

All of the unconstitutional opinions Trump has spouted:

First Amendment: Freedoms, petitions and Assembly

Amendment Pronouncement	Trump’s Unconstitutional Opinion
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;	Trump Promises for Nation ‘Under One God” if he’s President
""	Trump calls for Blanket Ban on Muslims entering the US, Pence agrees
""	Trump says there’s “absolutely no choice” but to close mosques
or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;	Trump suggests ‘Freedom of Expression” hurts fight against terrorism
""	Trump vows to ‘open up’ libel laws to make suing the press easier
""	Trump sends many threats to press with bad coverage of him
or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.	Trump on rally protester: “Maybe he should have been roughed up"
""	Trump says renewed call for’ law and order’ can deal with situations such as Charlotte protests, says they ‘must end now’
""	Trump’s plan to ban lobbyists would stop them from exercising right to petition the gov’t for a redress of grievances

Second Amendment: Right to Bear Arms

Amendment Pronouncement	Trump’s Unconstitutional Opinion
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed	Trump says inner-city stop-and-frisk programs would allow officers to take guns away from “people who they think may have a gun”

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Third Amendment: Quartering of Soldiers

Donald Trump has not yet said anything that suggests he would break the third amendment.

Fourth Amendment: Search and Arrest Rights

Amendment Pronouncement	Trump’s Unconstitutional Opinion
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.	Trump wants to reinstate unconstitutional stop-and-frisk programs, which constitute as unreasonable search and seizures

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Fifth Amendment: Rights in Criminal Cases

Amendment Pronouncement	Trump’s Unconstitutional Opinion
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury	Trump says he will unilaterally impose a mandatory death sentence for anyone who kills a police officer
except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger;	Trump takes exception to the limit and beyond, saying we need to “take out the families’ of terrorists
nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law	In 1989 Trump called for the death penalty on Central Park Five even with conclusive DNA evidence showing they’re innocent. In 2016, doubles down on Central Park Five and still says they’re guilty.
nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.	Trump has a long history of eminent domain abuse for personal gain

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Sixth Amendment: Right to a Fair Trial

Amendment Pronouncement	Trump’s Unconstitutional Opinion
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation;	Trump would send US citizens accused of terrorism to Guantanamo for Military Tribunal trial, take away right of jury
to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to [have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.	Trump is upset that terrorism suspect will be “represented by an outstanding lawyer”, and will have a case that will “go through the various court system for years”, two basic 5th amendment rights

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Seventh Amendment: Rights in Civil Cases

Trump has not yet said anything against the seventh amendment, which would be expected from someone who deals with civil lawsuits so frequently.

Eighth Amendment Rights related to Bail, Fines and Punishment

Amendment Pronouncement	Trump’s Unconstitutional Opinion
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, [nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.	Trump calls for even worse torture methods, says “we must do the Unthinkable” when it comes to prisoner interrogation
""	Trump on waterboarding: it works, but even “if it doesn’t work, they deserve it anyway”

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Ninth Amendment: Unenumerated Rights

Amendment Pronouncement	Trump's Unconstitutional Opinion
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people	Trump has shown a history of making promises of executive overreach, including a specific tax on Ford if they didn’t move plants back to US, and forcing Apple to make products in the US, both out of executive power's reach.
""	Trump Calls Obama’s use of executive orders “irresponsible,” but he sees that as “[leading] the way” and he won’t refuse to use them at will, just for “the right things”.
Sidenote:	Furthermore- Trump lacks basic knowledge of the Constitution (saying he wants to protect a non-existent ‘Article XII’), how can he understand the concept of unenumerated rights?

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Tenth Amendment: State’s Rights

Amendment Pronouncement	Trump's Unconstitutional Opinion
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people	Trump says he’s strongly for ‘state’s rights’, but flip-flops between opinion of states’ rights in some cases: with pot legalization, Trump has said both “ I think it’s bad and I feel strongly about it” due to “big problems” in Colorado, but he’s also said “if they vote for it, they vote for it” on states’ right to legalize
""	Trump has also flip-flopped between states and federal rights on the handling of abortion rights, minimum wage, healthcare, and so on.

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Amendment	Pronouncement	Trump's Unconstitutional Opinion
11th	The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.	This amendment lays the basis for sovereign immunity, a concept that allows the US to not be sued by other countries. Trump recently criticized Obama for vetoing the 9/11 Lawsuit Bill- a bill that may upset that longstanding principle I was incorrect, the 11th amendment is for sovereign immunity between states, not nations
14th	All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.	Along with re-starting unconstitutional stop-and-frisk programs, Trump has also called for heavy profiling such as limiting travel and immigration of Muslims based on their religion, even calling for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the U.S.". Additionally, Trump believes his mass immigrant deportations should deport birthright citizens who are guaranteed citizenship by this amendment.
15th	The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.	Trump’s talk of observing polling locations in “certain areas” (i.e. predominantly black neighborhoods) harkens back to 1870’s anti-black voter intimidation white militia groups such as the White League and Red Shirts
19th	The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.	Nothing from Trump directly, but his supporters coined the hashtag #Repealthe19th when a only-male-voters map showed Trump winning, which was retweeted by Trump’s son to show momentum

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The Thought Process of a Baby Boomer

Be a Baby Boomer

Go to a land grant state university that gets massive research funding from the government for almost no tuition

Be able to afford it with a part-time job and graduate with zero debt.

Get a high-paying job in manufacturing as the industrial world still rebuilds but before the developing world develops.

Put your money in a savings acount that actually generates interest.

Get a mortgage from heavily-regulated lenders (regulations put in place by the Greatest Generation to prevent a new Depression).

Pay taxes that actually pay for services.

Get a house and kids. Decide you're sick of paying taxes.

Vote for Reagan.

Eliminate the finance regulations designed to prevent a depression (and the inequality of the Gilded Age).

Decide colleges are turning out too many smug liberals, vote for reps and governors who promise to cut their funding. Besides, this whole affirmative action thing is reverse racism.

Decide you're sick of smug academics and TV personalities telling you everyone is equal. Call your representative and ask them to repeal the Fairness Doctrine.

Decide you don't like that UN-loving Ted Turner and his CNN. Turn on this new thing called Fox News from Roger Ailes, the Nixon political hack who helped build the Republicans' racist Southern Strategy and helped Lee Atwater make the Willie Horton ad.

Make a fuck-ton off the Clinton economy while calling Clinton the worst president ever.

Celebrate the repeal of Glass-Steagall and the final vestiges of the protections your parents and grandparents' generations set up to prevent another Depression.

Respond to news stories about skyrocketing college costs with smug diatribe about how you worked your way through your $500/year college.

Blame NAFTA for the fact that Europe & Japan rebuilt after WWII, sapping US manufacturing jobs, while the former USSR joins the world economy, as does China and to some extent India. Ignore the fact that the world manufacturing base is now gigantic and America has competition it never had. Also ignore robots, which means rich countries need a fraction of the # of humans to run the same size factory as before. Blame it on immigrants, too, for reasons.

Make money off the tech bubble while Gen X loses its first savings account. laugh.

Vote for George W. Bush because he promises to give the federal surplus (yes, there was a surplus) to you instead of paying down the national debt.

Inequality reaches 1890s levels but who cares? greed is good.

Support Iraq after protesting Vietnam because fuck it, you're not going this time.

Somehow decide the 2007-08 financial crash was because things are too regulated.

Incoherently argue that the center-left Democrat Barack Obama (but you always say his middle name), who wants to accomplish an agenda item the democrats have pushed for 70 years, is a radical. For some reason.

Cheer on smug turtle Mitch McConnell as he prevents the government from doing anything.

Call Obama a dictator for trying to work around Mitch McConnell.

Read about how whites will be a minority in 2040

Talk about how Trump is "our last chance" to "take back America." Ask what's wrong with saying black people are more criminal. Ask what's wrong with saying latino immigrants will ruin our culture.

Insist to your kids, who are crippled by student debt, but whom you chastise for not having a home or kids yet, that they just don't understand how money works.

Be completely ignorant that every generation before you and every generation after you has always considered the Baby Boomers to be the most titanically selfish group of humans to ever live and die on this earth.

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Republican Hypocrisy

Trump isn't the problem, voters are. Some examples of Republican hypocrisy:

• If we win the presidency, our Supreme Court nominees should be confirmed. When you win the presidency, we will block you at every turn.
• If Trump wins, the election is legitimate and the people have SPOKEN. If Hillary wins, it must be RIGGED.
• Donald Trump is accused of forcing himself on over ten women. STICK TO THE ISSUES. Bill Clinton accused of misconduct by four women. His wife should be disqualified from office and imprisoned.
• Hillary Clinton has not directly mentioned any of Trump's accusers. She needs to stop distracting from real issues. Trump has a press conference with four of Bill Clinton's accusers, gives them front row seats to the debate, and mentions them during debate. Great job taking the gloves off, president Trump.
• Bill Clinton cheats on his wife. Impeach him. Trump proudly brags about sexual assault (has 5 kids with 3 wives and has cheated on his wives). Elect him.
• Hillary oversaw the Department of State while four people died in an embassy attack. JAIL HER. Two Republicans were in office while over 200 people died in embassy attacks. No problem.
• Immigrants don't pay taxes. Round them up and kick them out. Trump doesn't pay taxes. He's a business genius.
• Independent fact checkers found Trump is likely the least truthful candidate in the history of modern politics. He tells it like it is. Hillary is statistically more truthful than most politicians according to fact checkers. She is the most untrustworthy, lying liar who has ever run for political office.
• The Clinton Foundation only spent 87% of their donations helping people (average amount is 75%). CROOKED. Trump's foundation paid off his debts, bought paintings of him, and made political donations to avoid investigations for a fake university while giving less than 5% of funds to charity (and he got shut down by NY State). So savvy...put him in the White House.
• Trump made 4 billion dollars in 40 years, when an index fund started at the same time with the same "small loans" he received would be worth $12 billion today... without a trail of bankruptcies, thousands of lawsuits and burned small business owners. He's a real business whiz. Hillary took a loss of $700k. She's a criminal.
• Trump is the first candidate in the modern era to not release his tax returns, and he took a almost billion-dollar loss in one year. Genius. Hillary releases 40 years of taxes. Corrupt. Trump denies saying things (on the record) he actually said (on the record). He's just telling it like it is.

Their arguments are nonsensical and their willful ignorance of facts is disturbing. The double standards and eagerness to blindly support and recycle misleading rhetoric is frightening. Opinion and memes are not fact. Hypocrisy does not make for responsible governance. Eisenhower is rolling over in his grave over what they have done to the once-great Republican party.

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Why Trump is a Facist

1. He's ultra-nationalistic.

2, He promises a sort of total national rebirth, re-invigoration and regaining of honor ("Make America Great Again").

3. He's running on a "stab in the back" narrative involving weak and feckless internationalist "elites" and scheming, advantage-taking "allies". Just look at his words on NATO and trade deals.

4. He has a weird, semi-incoherent corporatism philosophy which involves giving lots of benefits and free rein to businesses, but is also heavy on things like tariffs and promises lots of social and monetary benefits to his preferred class of people.

5. He's running as a strongman. He doesn't care for or understand the lawmaking process laid out in the nation's constitution, nor does he seem to care about his own party, federalism, separation of powers, etc. etc., yet he still claims he will fix all of America's problems unilaterally. Oh, and he wants to throw his main political opponent in jail and thinks he can personally force business employees to say "Merry Christmas".

6. He's an obvious authoritarian. He casually suggests torture, killing the innocent family members of terrorists, pillage and plunder in war, nuclear first use and "unpredictability", revoking the rights of suspected terrorists (even denying them emergency medical care), making it legally harder for the press to criticize the powerful, and so on. Further, he worships and fetishizes police and excuses even their most flagrant abuses.

7. He blames the country's problems on oft-disliked minorities with little political power: Muslims, immigrants (particularly Mexicans), blacks etc., and has blatantly authoritarian plans for all of them (mass deportations, a bigger police state, monitoring of religious minorities, etc.).

8. Oh, and as the historical cherry on top of the ideological cake: his campaign is supported by and associated with prominent anti-Semite, neo-Nazi, and white supremacist activists/communities, all of whom have connections to the last major fascist movement the whole world banded together to destroy.

It's textbook.

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Legal Creep, or Why Privacy Matters

It's the legal creep of many, many laws like this. Pass a law that circumvents the law to break up the Mob back in the 40s, used to go after anti-Vietnam War protestors in the 60s and low-level drug offenders in the 80s and beyond.

Hell, even the smallest example works:

When Mandatory Seatbelt laws were put into effect the public were promised they were only for Insurance purposes (insurance wouldn't cover you if you weren't wearing one). They called people who brought up the idea of "Seat Belt Checkpoints" "Fear mongers." Within 5 years of the law passing the police started setting up Seat Belt Checkpoints to ensure motorists were wearing their seatbelt. Today we have "Click it or Ticket" and cops will pull you over if they see you driving without one. No one questions it because a Seatbelt does make you safer. And perhaps you agree with the law as is, but that's beyond the point. The point was promises were made about how the law "would never be used" when it was initially passed, and it's used exactly that way today.

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There is a logical fallacy called "Reductio ad absurdum" or "Reduced to the absurd". Whenever someone raises a fear about how the law could potentially be used those proposing it accuse them of Reductio ad absurdum. Using the absurdly dramatized versions of how authorities could do something, but never would waste their time.

IE if you told those proposing the use of military style weapons, tactics, and vehicles against "hardcore drug kingpins and traffickers" back in the 1990s that one day those laws would be used to send a military chopper and a SWAT team with assault rifles after a 90 year old woman with a single marijuana plant... you'd be told you were using a reductio ad absurdum argument. That that characterization of what the laws could potentially be used for was absurd, and you were a frivolous person to make such an argument.

However (as those who were on Reddit yesterday saw) that's exactly what happened. And it happens with frequency now, military level force against low-level drug users.

Legal creep always always always happens. Its impossible to prevent future lawmakers and authorities from abusing a law passed with good intentions if it makes their abusive actions legal.

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So authorities pass a law to reduce privacy rights and go after Pedophiles, Child Pornographers, Terrorists, and Human Traffickers. They say that those privacy reductions will never be used for other things, and promise to monitor themselves. And they say anyone who argues against the privacy reductions is protecting terrorists and pedophiles. Then a few years later we have this, the Government Computers logging and reading every email sent regardless of content and it is perfectly legal for them to do so. And even still if you argue against it the argument is "so you want to protect terrorists and pedophiles?! Do you really think the government cares what your email to grandma said? Don't be a cook man, it's a small sacrifice of privacy in order to make sure terrorists and pedophiles are caught."

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Why Medical Care in Hospitals is so Expensive in the US

That really means very little to me. The fact that they charge $16,000+ to deliver a baby in the first place is the problem. And let's face it, on top of that, they probably get another $200 in parking fees from people coming to see the baby/mom, another $300 from the gift shop, another $500 from the cafeteria, etc.

Then, in three months, the insurance company will reject part of the bill and they will recalculate it and forward it on at a higher rate to the patient, as they always do.

The reason everything is so expensive, of course, is that a hospital used to be a singular organism--even in the US just 25 years ago. But now it's like a fucking Portuguese Man-O-War.

See, it goes like this:

• First there's the REIT or Real Estate Company that owns the actual hospital building and land it sits on.

• Then there's the Custodial company that manages the building and keeps it clean.

• Then there's the Landscaping company that manages the grounds. - Then there's the Parking company that manages the parking lot / garage.

• Then there's the Housekeeping company that manages all the linens and sanitation stuff that is not part of the building.

• Then there is the Catering company that manages the cafeteria.

• Then there is the Dunkin Donuts franchisee that owns the coffee shop.

• Then there is the Hallmark franchisee that owns the gift shop.

• Then there's the Pharmaceutical company that runs the on-site pharmacy and hires the pharmacist.

• Then there's the Pharmaceutical procurement and delivery company, which is actually separate and way more expensive than you'd think.

• Then there's also a separate Medical Goods Procurement and delivery company that might bring blood and organs and other materials necessary along with parts for machines or just regular old IV bags, etc.

• Then there's at least one separate Ambulance company.

• Then there's the Nursing Staffing Company (there may be two or more of these) that hires the nurses and purchases the medical equipment to provide the care.

• Then there's the Security company that hires the guard out front and installs cameras and creates logs and routes to protect the drugs etc

• Then there's the Temporary Staffing Agency that provides daily personnel support so that everyone else on this list can run as lean as possible.

• Then there's the Insurance Companies, who will have onsite staff to protect their interests who must be paid.

• Then there's the Hospital Network that negotiates against the insurance companies and functions as the marketing arm of the hospital.

• Then there's the Medical Billings, Coding and Records company. They probably carry whatever in-house IT staff there is, but they will only help these people, they are not typically supposed to support the nurses, for example.

• Then there's the Rehabilitation Company who hires the physical therapists and others who are there to help people recover.

• Then there's the Laboratory and Radiology work, which often can also be outsourced to separate companies.

• Then there are the Doctors, who are each usually acting and billing as independent for-profit corporations in-and-of-themselves.

• Finally, there's the Hospital Administration, whose job it now is to manage this big fucking mess to try to make the whole thing work together as best they can.

Every single one of these steps comes complete with its own separate shareholders and its own separate CEOs and other C-officers and their own separate branding and marketing and HR office and hiring practices and payroll systems with its own separate boards of directors and Vice Presidents and everyone else in a corporate tower downtown somewhere who also have to be paid and supported.

It wasn't terribly long ago that a city hospital downtown, or a non-profit religious hospital might have offered full services with all of these functions integrated under one roof with not a single shareholder or CEO earning a penny. These still were not the only or most common types of hospitals 25, 30 years ago, but they were way more common than today.

Now hospitals operate like shopping malls, and it's one big pile of business leaches jammed into a building that tries desperately to maintain the façade that it is a single functioning entity that exists to serve sick people...when in fact, it's nothing of the sort. It's actually a colony of dozens of for-profit companies each attempting to maximize the money they can extract from patients and their visitors for providing the most narrow of services possible. This has the bonus effect of confusing the living hell out of liability claims too...

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Republican Newspapers Endorsing a Democrat for the First Time

Dallas Morning News Endorses: Clinton *First Democrat in 76 years

We don't come to this decision easily.

Trump's values are hostile to conservatism. He plays on fear — exploiting base instincts of xenophobia, racism and misogyny — to bring out the worst in all of us, rather than the best. His serial shifts on fundamental issues reveal an astounding absence of preparedness. And his improvisational insults and midnight tweets exhibit a dangerous lack of judgment and impulse control.

Hillary Clinton has spent years in the trenches doing the hard work needed to prepare herself to lead our nation. In this race, at this time, she deserves your vote.

The Cincinnati Enquirer Endorses: Clinton *First Democrat in 100+ years

We have been traditionally considered a conservative newspaper, having endorsed Republicans for the last hundred years. While Clinton has been relentlessly challenged about her honesty, Trump was the primary propagator of arguably the biggest lie of the past eight years: that Obama wasn't born in the United States. Trump has played fast and loose with the support of white supremacist groups. He has praised some of our country's most dangerous enemies – see Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un and Saddam Hussein – while insulting a sitting president, our military generals, a Gold Star family and prisoners of war like Sen. John McCain.

Our country needs calm, thoughtful leadership to deal with the challenges we face at home and abroad. We need a leader who will bring out the best in all Americans, not the worst.

That’s why there is only one choice when we elect a president in November: Hillary Clinton.

The San Diego Union-Tribune Endorses: Clinton *First Democrat in 148 years

Trump is "vengeful, dishonest and impulsive". Terrible leaders can knock nations off course. Venezuela is falling apart because of the obstinance and delusions of Hugo Chávez and his successor. Argentina is finally coming out of the chaos created by Cristina Kirchner and several of her predecessors.

Trump could be our Chávez, our Kirchner. We cannot take that risk.

This paper has not endorsed a Democrat for president in its 148-year history. But we endorse Clinton.

The Arizona Republic Endorses: Clinton *First Democrat in 126 years

Trump’s inability to control himself or be controlled by others represents a real threat to our national security. The president commands our nuclear arsenal. Trump can’t command his own rhetoric.

Were he to become president, his casual remarks — such as saying he wouldn’t defend NATO partners from invasion — could have devastating consequences. In a global economy, he offers protectionism and a false promise to bring back jobs that no longer exist.

Trump’s long history of objectifying women and his demeaning comments about women during the campaign are not just good-old-boy gaffes. They are evidence of deep character flaws. They are part of a pattern.

Trump mocked a reporter’s physical handicap. Picked a fight with a Gold Star family. Insulted POWs. Suggested a Latino judge can’t be fair because of his heritage. Proposed banning Muslim immigration.

Each of those comments show a stunning lack of human decency, empathy and respect. Taken together they reveal a candidate who doesn’t grasp our national ideals.

The Arizona Republic endorses Hillary Clinton for president.

USA Today Endorses: Voting against Trump *First endorsement in 34 years

In the 34-year history of USA TODAY, the Editorial Board has never taken sides in the presidential race. Instead, we’ve expressed opinions about the major issues and haven’t presumed to tell our readers, who have a variety of priorities and values, which choice is best for them. Because every presidential race is different, we revisit our no-endorsement policy every four years. We’ve never seen reason to alter our approach. Until now.

This year, the choice isn’t between two capable major party nominees who happen to have significant ideological differences.

This year, one of the candidates — Republican nominee Donald Trump — is, by unanimous consensus of the Editorial Board, unfit for the presidency.

The Desert Sun Endorses: Clinton *First Democrat in 90 years

Trump has struggled to demonstrate a “presidential” temperament despite efforts by various campaign chiefs to add polish to the erratic, boorish, belittling candidate who blustered his way through the GOP primaries.

History will not forget that Trump avoided deep policy debate through deflection, demeaning rivals in childish fashion: “Little Marco” Rubio, “Lyin’ Ted” Cruz, “Low Energy” Jeb Bush, “Crooked” Hillary Clinton.

Name-calling demeans the office he seeks, yet it’s just one unsettling aspect of the xenophobic, nativist campaign Trump has waged. He has pricked the worst impulses of a frustrated American electorate.

While Trump’s misogyny and demonization of Hispanics and Muslims has ushered him to the threshold of the White House, a coalition built on “us vs. them” bodes ill for the nation’s future. The world will be a much more dangerous place if our next president is motivated by personal vendettas conveyed through vile, monosyllabic utterances

Great leaders tap our better angels.

By these measures, there is no other choice for president this year than Hillary Clinton.

The Houston Chronicle Endorses: Clinton *Third Democrat in 70 years

The Chronicle editorial page does not typically endorse early in an election cycle. We make an exception in the 2016 presidential race, because the choice between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is not merely political. It is something much more basic than party preference.

Any one of Trump's less-than-sterling qualities - his erratic temperament, his dodgy business practices, his racism, his Putin-like strongman inclinations and faux-populist demagoguery, his contempt for the rule of law, his ignorance - is enough to be disqualifying. His convention-speech comment, "I alone can fix it," should make every American shudder.

He is, we believe, a danger to the Republic.

The Detroit News Endorses: Johnson *First Non-Republican in 143 years

We abandon that long and estimable tradition this year for one reason: Donald J. Trump.

Trump is not a conservative. Except, of course, of those who wrongly e­quate conservatism with racism, sexism and xenophobia. Trump has attracted support from too many of those who represent the worst of human nature.

We have seen no hint that Trump has a guiding set of principles. He changes positions hour to hour.

But the most worrisome thing about Trump is that he is willing to stir the populace by stoking their fears of sinister forces at work from within and without to tear down their traditions, values and families. He has found profit in dividing Americans from each other, and from the rest of the world.

His sort of populism has led to some of history’s great tragedies. Donald Trump is unprincipled, unstable and quite possibly dangerous. He can not be president.

The Harvard Republican Club No endorsement *First Non-endorsement in 128 years

Donald Trump holds views that are antithetical to our values not only as Republicans, but as Americans. The rhetoric he espouses –from racist slander to misogynistic taunts– is not consistent with our conservative principles, and his repeated mocking of the disabled and belittling of the sacrifices made by prisoners of war, Gold Star families, and Purple Heart recipients is not only bad politics, but absurdly cruel.

If enacted, Donald Trump’s platform would endanger our security both at home and abroad.

Perhaps most importantly, however, Donald Trump simply does not possess the temperament and character necessary to lead the United States through an increasingly perilous world.

We call on our party’s elected leaders to renounce their support of Donald Trump, and urge our fellow College Republicans to join us in condemning and withholding their endorsement from this dangerous man.

WIRED Magazine Endorses: Clinton *First endorsement in 25 years

Perhaps you feel like this is a low bar: Support a candidate because she believes in science? Get behind a politician because she approaches policymaking like a professional?

The country can go one of two ways, right now: toward a future where working together in good faith has a chance, or toward nihilism.

Trump’s campaign started out like something from The Onion. Now it has moved into George Orwell.

Ultimately, it’s impossible to judge Trump’s claims as actual statements of belief or intention. We don’t know if President Trump would totally renege on that Paris commitment or actually pursue his policy of Muslim exclusion; but we have to assume he’ll try. We have no way of knowing if he actually believes that vaccines cause autism, as he claimed in a debate, but they don’t. Does he really think that wind power kills “all your birds”? Who knows. But it doesn’t; cats kill all your birds.

Here’s the thing about Donald Trump: In his 14 months as a political candidate, he has demonstrated an utter indifference to the truth and to reality itself. He appears to seek only his own validation from the most revanchist, xenophobic crowds in America. He is trolling, hard.

Through five election cycles ...we’ve avoided telling you, our readers, who WIRED viewed as the best choice.

Today we will. WIRED sees only one person running for president who can do the job: Hillary Clinton.

Wall Street Journal Editorial Board member Dorothy Rabinowitz Endorses: Clinton

Trump would be the most unstable, profoundly uninformed, psychologically unfit president ever to enter the White House.

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