Donald Trump's bizarre behaviour has got me hooked on American News, and I have been reading the online Washington Post trying to keep up with it all. Unfortunately, it seems that the Post has a Pay Meter and I now get this message:
To keep reading it would cost me the same as Photoshop and Lightroom, so I'm thinking there must be alternative online newspapers with the same honest, and independent editing as the Post. Can you people that live me give me a heads up? If anyone suggests Fox News, they had better add the winking emoticon 
The Post has a great layout of stories as well as great content, with a hard copy newspaper look to it. That works well for me, and I'd love to find similar. Apparently you can get the Post online free for six months if you are an Amazon Prime customer, but I'd prefer to avoid Amazon Prime.
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Obama angered quite a few people with his executive orders too. That's not what bothers me about the new guy (even if I don't like some of his executive orders). What bothers me in what he's done so far is how he keeps trying to push obvious lies (called "alternate facts" by his press secretary) about things that don't matter (the numbers at his inauguration), but are easily proveable. Either he's mentally deranged or he is trying to make it seem like there is no truth or facts in the media and we should only ever listen to him. BOTH of which are dangerous.
Anyway, we should leave politics out of the forums as much as possible. 
Szalam wrote:
What bothers me in what he's done so far is how he keeps trying to push obvious lies (called "alternate facts" by his press secretary)
People have been debating what 'truth' is for thousands of years.
The truth is that I am one of the most brilliant people on the entire planet. Reality however tells me otherwise.
Cactus Cowboy wrote:
Szalam wrote:
"Anyway, we should leave politics out of the forums as much as possible."
Yes, I didn't want to start what could be a fiery debate. It would be ironic if forum mods had to lock the treads they themselves were involved with
The problem with Google News is that it links back top the original stories, and some of the more interesting headlines take me to the Washington Post and the Pay Wall block. I've taken to sitting in front of an acre of screens while reading the story on my little iPhone 5s, because at least the WP app still works (so far.
I like the layout of the New York Times, but the content not quite as much, and it is another subscription site. The fact is, each new day's developments from the White House are making me more depressed — but I won't get into the details, because that would continue the debate we are trying to avoid.
But I will share this one story that seems to sum the situation up. If the link does not work Google that headline on the Washington Post.
Cactus Cowboy wrote:
Szalam wrote:
"That being said, I am seriously considering moving abroad"
I agree with you. I think you should move. This country's no place for you. Oh yea, and take that Madonna ***** with you.
No thanks! I'd happily leave her behind too. 
D Fosse wrote:
Szalam wrote:
it's best to keep politics off of these forums
Why can't we discuss politics?
Because politics can get too personal too quickly. Note how I was told I should leave the country (coupled with rude words for a female artist) despite me trying to be good-humored and non-confrontational. I mean, I don't even understand how that artist ended up as part of the conversation. She did say some bad things recently, but why I should be lumped in with her is unclear.
D Fosse wrote:
- orginazations helping women with family planning, worldwide, should have their funding cut
- state subsidized health insurance for poor people is bad
I understand people not wanting to fund abortions. They don't see it as "telling women what they can and can't do with their bodies"; they see it as preventing the murder of (unborn) humans. This is an area that could use some healthy discussion. For example, if the federal government is going to help fund Planned Parenthood, they might consider stipulating that federal money doesn't go towards abortions. That would be a better options than cutting funding entirely and it wouldn't be a bad thing since abortions are such a small part of what Planned Parenthood does. Again, this is the kind of thing that should be allowed to be discussed when having political discourse.
I also have heard some decent arguments for why the federal government should not be involved in health insurance. This one should be allowed to have discussion around it too and not just shut down. I mean, there is no provision for the US government to be involved in health care in the constitution. It could be argued that involvement here is overstepping the bounds of authority that they have been given. HOWEVER, something must be done because our health care situation is a nightmare. We pay shockingly more per capita for health care than any other country in the world and yet our health care isn't among the best. Plus, despite how much we spend, so few Americans have health insurance. One serious illness and they're in debt for life or don't get help and are dead. It's a ridiculous choice. Should the federal government be directly involved? Should they just pressure states to put together their own programs? Or should they butt out entirely? One could make a decent argument for any of those.
But the rest of your list, yes - and much more you could have added to it! "Climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese to make American businesses unable to compete", is one shining example off the top of my head.
In general, I consider myself somewhat conservative - at least fiscally - and I used to consider myself a Republican (although, I was a bit uncomfortable with some of their stances - such as marriage equality - consenting adults should be allowed to marry each other). So, one might think I would support a Republican president - especially one that waved a rainbow flag around one time and claimed to be a friend of gay people - but the amount of just outright ridiculous things being said by our new guy is unprecedented. I mean, it's hard to really grasp the craziness of it because there is just too much. You don't have time to get a handle on one thing before a new one comes along. It's like a DDOS attack on our sanity. I could forgive his inexperience if he had good people around him. And, while he's got a few decent cabinet picks, some are just awful and there are too many other advisors and people around him that I just don't trust. I mean, Steve "I want to tear the entire US government down" Bannon, Mike "Let's give gay people electroshock treatment to turn them straight" Pence, Rick "Let's get rid of the Department of Energy" Perry, Kellyanne "They're not 'lies', they're 'alternative facts'" Conway, and the list goes on...
Also, for acting so concerned about cyber threats to national security ("we should lock her up over her emails") during his candidacy, now that he's president, he doesn't seem to care at all! He continues to constantly use an out-of-date Android phone that is vulnerable to a wide number of exploits and attacks. Android is, in many ways, the least secure mobile OS as it is, but an OLD one is even worse. I would be surprised if his phone hasn't already been compromised.
I will say, though, that he has provided some truly hilarious moments. One of my favorites was during his "victory tour" when the crowd started chanting "lock her up" and he said, "Aw, c'mon! Now that we won, we don't care about any of that stuff. She's a nice lady" (Or something like that.) And the crowd was all, like, "Wait, what!?!?" He went on to say, "I wasn't being serious about any of that stuff I said during the campaign - as I'm sure you know because we were all in on this joke together: it was just to get me elected." And the crowd looked even more befuddled. Like, they wanted to cheer (because that was why they had come to this rally in the first place) and he was saying "Haha we won we are all so smart", but they couldn't cheer because he wasn't saying stuff that made sense to them because they were NOT in on that joke and they all totally thought he was serious about "Crooked Hillary".
Okay, maybe not hilarious, more like funny and sad.
Anyway, I say all of that to explain that, while I used to be more of a fiscally conservative Republican-leaning guy, this current election pushed me over the edge to being definitely an independent. So, yay, freedom?
Anyway, that wall of text is another reason why we should try to keep politics out of these forums.
Note how I was told I should leave the country (coupled with rude words for a female artist) despite me trying to be good-humored and non-confrontational.
What?? 
I (foolishly, evidently) assumed that a.) you must be friends and b.) that he was kidding. 
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