What I Learned In The Past Two Years - Confirmed

I've not trusted the press since the the very early 1990s and the Bork nomination to the SCOTUS. I got to watch, in real time people lie to the American Public with smiles on their face and a gleam in their eye. I remember thinking, back then, that Don Henley got it right in Dirty Laundry.

This weekend I came to the conclusion that we can't trust ANY press and it's their own fault. If I can't trust them to truthfully report on a movie, how on earth can I trust them to report correctly on politics or war or anything? I can't.

Well, I coulda been an actor
But I wound up here
I just have to look good
I don't have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear
Give us dirty laundry 

Connie Chung and her infamous words to Newt Gingrich's elderly mother called that song to mind. The the events just like that happened more and more often and it was never anything newsworthy, it was always salacious. It was always "gotcha!" in the best Woodward and Bernstein vein. If you want to blame anyone for today's cess pool that is the American Press corps, you can lay it at the doorsteps of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Every bright eyed J School grad had dreams of bringing down a president. WTF is this reporting on cats in hats? What is this reporting exactly what you see and not what you feel when there are fat cats to bring down and pose with as trophies?

We can do the Innuendo
We can dance and sing
When it's said and done
We haven't told you a thing
We all know that Crap is King
Give us dirty laundry

For the past two years we, the American  Public have heard nothing but Russia, Russia, Russia on the news, in the papers, online sights and all of it promising harsh punishment to Trump and anyone who voted for him because Hillary didn't win. Because, what no one is reporting, NO ONE, is the fact that Hillary's campaign people cooked this up within 24 hours of her hilarious loss in 2016.

Donald Trump has endured the very worst they have to offer for the past nearly three years and for the first time in my life, he threw mud back. I stood and cheered the first time he did it and I've continued to do so. However, I didn't vote for him. I didn't trust him, although I held admiration and respect, I didn't necessarily think he'd do well in the highest office in the land. I was so very wrong and I've never been happier to be so wrong.

So, no. I don't trust the news. I don't trust anyone, because everyone, at some point has lied to me. However, I will go to people who admit they got it wrong and print retractions and corrections in the same manner they broadcast the original story. Let just say here, I can count them all on one hand and still have fingers left over.

I scour the news sites. Not just English language. Let me just interject here that Google Translate is horrible, but useful. This is why I know people everywhere who can help me translate what I am seeing second hand. It makes my news a lot slower than the breathless college co-ed grabbing an article off Jezebel or *snort* Salon and tweeting it all over Twatter. But, I know it's the truth and I'm happy with that.

I also know a lot of people all over in high and low places. I ask them questions, and when they can, they answer them. I do the same for them. If I don't know, I tell them that and try to find where they can find out, knowing I'd want them to do the same for me. That is the free flow of information they want to stop. They don't want you to know the truth. They want you to know what they tell you is truth. Pravda ain't just a Russian word, it's a lifestyle for journalists.