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Comment Re:Seems like this mostly hurts rural/minority are (Score -1, Troll) 60

calling npr leftist is wild

but then again thats the intention isn't it, slander anything center/moderate/liberal as far left propaganda to legitimize your own right wing propaganda, only they have the truth

Not in the slightest. I don't know about leftist (whatever the hell that is supposed to mean) but there is an undeniable and blatant selection bias, both in terms of reporting and NOT reporting, towards whatever narrative the Democratic Party wants.

This piece is written by a 25 year veteran NPR editor (who still works there, by the way.)

https://www.thefp.com/p/npr-ed...

Like many unfortunate things, the rise of advocacy took off with Donald Trump. As in many newsrooms, his election in 2016 was greeted at NPR with a mixture of disbelief, anger, and despair. (Just to note, I eagerly voted against Trump twice but felt we were obliged to cover him fairly.) But what began as tough, straightforward coverage of a belligerent, truth-impaired president veered toward efforts to damage or topple Trump’s presidency.

Persistent rumors that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia over the election became the catnip that drove reporting. At NPR, we hitched our wagon to Trump’s most visible antagonist, Representative Adam Schiff.

Schiff, who was the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, became NPR’s guiding hand, its ever-present muse. By my count, NPR hosts interviewed Schiff 25 times about Trump and Russia. During many of those conversations, Schiff alluded to purported evidence of collusion. The Schiff talking points became the drumbeat of NPR news reports.

But when the Mueller report found no credible evidence of collusion, NPR’s coverage was notably sparse. Russiagate quietly faded from our programming.

It is one thing to swing and miss on a major story. Unfortunately, it happens. You follow the wrong leads, you get misled by sources you trusted, you’re emotionally invested in a narrative, and bits of circumstantial evidence never add up. It’s bad to blow a big story.

What’s worse is to pretend it never happened, to move on with no mea culpas, no self-reflection. Especially when you expect high standards of transparency from public figures and institutions, but don’t practice those standards yourself. That’s what shatters trust and engenders cynicism about the media.

Russiagate was not NPR’s only miscue.

In October 2020, the New York Post published the explosive report about the laptop Hunter Biden abandoned at a Delaware computer shop containing emails about his sordid business dealings. With the election only weeks away, NPR turned a blind eye. Here’s how NPR’s managing editor for news at the time explained the thinking: “We don’t want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories, and we don’t want to waste the listeners’ and readers’ time on stories that are just pure distractions.”

But it wasn’t a pure distraction, or a product of Russian disinformation, as dozens of former and current intelligence officials suggested. The laptop did belong to Hunter Biden. Its contents revealed his connection to the corrupt world of multimillion-dollar influence peddling and its possible implications for his father.

The laptop was newsworthy. But the timeless journalistic instinct of following a hot story lead was being squelched. During a meeting with colleagues, I listened as one of NPR’s best and most fair-minded journalists said it was good we weren’t following the laptop story because it could help Trump.

When the essential facts of the Post’s reporting were confirmed and the emails verified independently about a year and a half later, we could have fessed up to our misjudgment. But, like Russia collusion, we didn’t make the hard choice of transparency.

There's more in there (a lot more) but you get the idea. I honestly couldn't care less if you want to deny it, downmod me, etc. Everything he's saying here is verifiable. The truth is there for you to see it, whether you want to or not.

Comment Uhhh... (Score 1) 60

The org noted that the rescission of all of CPB's federal funding came after years of political attacks. "For more than half a century, CPB existed to ensure that all Americans -- regardless of geography, income, or background -- had access to trusted news, educational programming, and local storytelling," said CPB president/CEO Patricia Harrison.

Every American has or can have access to the internet thru various free/subsidized broadband access as well as free/subsidized smartphones, and even internet access subsidized in schools and libraries.

I don't think there is a problem for anyone to get access to PBS/NPR content - is there some benefit to watching PBS/hearing NPR off the public airwaves, or is streaming either acceptable.

The CPB money went to buy programming and run transmitters/studios, that's about it.

Comment Re:Sure they'll delete it. (Score 1) 41

You also have the choice of deleting the photos now.

When I was accidentally forwarded financial info for a non-profit organization I'm a member of, I had the opportunity to see what a lot of people were donating. I trashed the email, emptied the trash, and then told the sender what happened and that I had done so.

Comment Re:Fuck "Eat the Rich" (Score -1) 91

Sure. Like me. I must have cheated or inherited.

I was dirt poor in college. At one point I had more bills due than net worth, thus negative net worth.

I got a job, then a better job, I worked my ass off, took all the hours I could get, got raises while other kids were getting fired for slacking, took over their work, got more hours and money.

By the time I graduated with no debt, (I never took a penny in loans, grants, etc) and had real job experience, I took that attitude to industry and quickly climbed from new kid to manager and retired as CTO from my last position with many millions in the bank by age 50.

You're right, I totally cheated the system by working harder than everyone around me, being better and getting rewarded for it. What kind of cheating asshole works harder than everyone else?

My father is dead a long time ago. I didn't get a penny from that. My mother is alive but unwell. I'm down well into 6 figures taking care of her. Wan't I supposed to inherit millions from my parents, not eat their expenses or get nothing? I've spent more on my mom in the last few years than my parents spent on me in my entire life. Apparently I'm doing this inheritance thing wrong.

You slackers who want to stick your hands into the pockets of productive hard working people make me sick. Earn your own.

I did.

Comment Fuck "Eat the Rich" (Score 4, Insightful) 91

Not all "rich" people got rich by cheating.

But when people who work hard all their lives, and achieve modest, barely-there success see people who skate and fake-it-'til-they-make-it raking in dough hand over fist, and holding positions of power... ...it makes even the most saintly of law-abiding citizens bite their tongue and grin n' bear it, instead of skinning the motherfuckers alive in the town square.

I hope this sentiment plays a large role in our next election. Or our next civil war, whichever comes first.

Comment Re:the last of us (Score 1) 62

sounds like there is nothing to be done for this one. if it is resistant to everything how can we combat it?

We can't. Best we can hope for is a new superhero origin story based on this unstoppable fungus. :-) Seems more like a DC thing than Marvel... Anyone got a good name for him/her/it?

Not to be contradictory for y'all, but if we read the story, there are three medications in testing now. FTA:

"The review calls for improved efforts to raise awareness about the fungal disease via better surveillance mechanisms, especially in resource-poor countries. It notes that three new drugs that are currently in clinical trials could likely become available for treatment of this fungal infection soon."

Comment Re:the last of us (Score 1) 62

It's an indictment of the poor way the US treats health care, not just the poor health care system but also the "quick fix" attitude of many Americans. If they get any illness they'll demand the doctor gives them magic pills (a broad spectrum cure, like azithromycin(zithromax)) rather than suffer through a minor illness and of course, the for profit health care system is more than happy to oblige (as is the greater corporate America, who don't want their serfs taking a week off to get better). Overuse of medication when the patient will get better with rest and isolation is why pathogens evolve to become resistant to them.

Yes, there are issues within the US where we overprescribe drugs that often suppress the immune system. But you have somehow made our healthcare system cause a global problem. Fortunately, this does not exist anywhere else in the world, where they do things the right way... Where only people in the US have an issue, based on your "proof". While the erst of the world is hale and healthy... But sumpin's wrong here.

A Fungus discovered in Japan, and now resident in 61 countries - Pray tell us how this is the fault of the USA, and the USA only. You made the claim.

As soon as people like you spout your usual anti-USA hatred, and employ your mad dash to blame every problem in the world one the country you love to hate, it gives you a credibility rating of 0. At least with people who don't use soundbite rhetoric as their entire argument. In your toxic view, fixing the US healthcare will fix a global problem.

Comment Re:the last of us (Score 1) 62

We don't combat it, we die. That's why epidemiologists have been warning about the overuse of anti-biotics for decades.

Antibiotics do nothing against fungus.

True, dat. I'm more concerned about people happily gobbling medications that are immunodepressants. Not done any actual research, but on the television shows my wife watches, The commercials give me the impression that the list of drugs that do suppress the immune system, often for trivial issues, is pretty big, and looks like it is growing.

A fertile field for candida auris to do its work.

Comment Re:the last of us (Score 1) 62

We don't combat it, we die. That's why epidemiologists have been warning about the overuse of anti-biotics for decades.

And it isn't just antibiotics. So many maintenance drugs pushed on people today have as one of their side effects, damaging our immune system, It makes for an enlarging market for the new opportunist diseases. So we scramble for new treatments at the same time we purposely nuke our immune systems.

https://www.goodrx.com/drugs/s... The list grows, and take your maintenance meds people!

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