I made a grilled cheese sandwich that was only about 75% successful. And yet, it's still a grilled cheese sandwich.

What's weird is that one of the people who's decrying mainstream media is very liberal.

Bernie bro? Anti-GMO?

What's weird is that one of the people who's decrying mainstream media is very liberal.

Bernie bro? Anti-GMO?

No! That's why I'm so confused! Though she does overcompensate with the "there are always 3 sides to every story" belief. (My reaction was "There are NOT 3 sides to the EO banning immigrants from 7 countries; there are Nazis and there are civil liberties. There's no truth in the middle that's being missed.")

No! That's why I'm so confused!

Hmm.

I feel like I need a retreat from the news to keep my head straight. Like I need to prioritize the things that I want to happen so that I can spend all of my time advocating for those. But there is so much to fight against that I can't figure it out.

So if you could only fix two things that are going on at the federal level right now, what would they be?

I have a dream scenario (it involves a Scandal like plot where there is an extrajudicial law enforcement group headed by someone who is a cross between Joe Morton's character, JD from Heathers and Dick Cheney who targets Bannon). But that seems unlikely (and untenable).

My 2 things would be DeVos and Sessions.

I think overwhelming the public is the whole point. Shock and awe.

Supreme Court and Sessions.

It's a magician's trick. A huge spectacle of a challenge to what's normal and decent and expected to get people focused in uproar and protest, to mask the change or move in defiance of law and custom going on underhand.

"Look! Look here!" *Shiny object=madly waving colorful silk kerchief* of an appalling objectionable action in one hand, and *dastardly mean and unlawful horribleness* close to the vest while people are distracted by objecting and protesting the shiny object.

I don't think the mainstream media is super trustworthy, but I think the bias is towards sensationalism rather than partisanship.

Well yeah, but the fringe media is worse on both counts, so...

Mainstream media, to varying degrees, is beholden to their corporate masters.

Corporate masters with the ability to pay you whether or not your story goes viral, very little time or interest in interfering in the day-to-day operations of reporters, teams of people officially tasked with maintaining the journalistic standards of the brand, and professional fact checkers verifying that your story isn't bullshit before you publish it.

Vs your average anti-MSM blogger whose main concern is either (a) getting enough clicks to keep him/her from needing a day job or (b) promoting a deeply held personal ideology which may or may not ever align with actual reality.

So if you could only fix two things that are going on at the federal level right now, what would they be?

Steve Bannon and Betsy DeVos. And Jeff Sessions and the Supreme Court.

Ok, so I guess my main two things are actually Trump and Putin and lack of a time machine back to Nov 7th?

I had a colleague say that she didn't know who Steve Bannon was. I let another colleague gently (and accurately) explain who he is, and did not leap a cubicle wall frothing at the mouth. I get a gold star, right?