Week 6

Topic 1
   I follow my local towns paper "The Lebanon Express," and I also follow the state paper "The Oregonian" on Facebook and I do follow the somewhat local news stations like "Koin 6." My family and I do not subscribe to a newspaper. I do hear some things through friends, they'll share some thing with me in text, word of mouth, or tag me in a story on Facebook. Obviously I do get a lot of my news and other info from Facebook in some form. I try to fact check as much as I can, there's only so much you can do. Sometimes it's pretty obvious it couldn't be fake because they have live coverage/footage. Other times if I question a story I try to search for it online either to find a trusted source or sources that did report on it, a lot of new sources list their sources which can help. Sometimes I question things and there are just no clear answers to whether its accurate or not which can be frustrating especially if people use it to back a claim of truth.

 So far I do not subscribe to any news sources. The only things I really subscribe to are Hulu and Netflix which obviously aren't news sources. I would potentially be willing to pay for some of it, but at the moment I don't have to. For now most of the things I read and watch (not counting the cable bill) are free. There's a possibility I wouldn't pay because its hard to say what I would chose when it hasn't happened yet, but I figure that would be if I felt it was to expensive or maybe what I was getting was not worth the price I was paying.

I suppose I would grade myself with a 4 out of 5, I feel like I am pretty informed for the most part, but not thoroughly. Honestly, some days the news is just too much to handle. I have to just ignore it, or not read about not because I don't want to be informed, but because it just seems like one horrible thing after the next at least when it comes to US news or actually even the local news. It's always covering stabbings, shootings, horrible horrific things. I mean it has to, but it starts to become draining. But I would still say I'm pretty informed. Even when I avoid things I eventually hear about them days or weeks later. Actually lately since I have been kind of avoiding the news and sad stuff on Facebook I have been trying to attend local in person events. Recently, I went to Lebanon's "Guitars under the Stars," and while it wasn't necessarily informative it was a community event and I was a part of it! I also am planning to attend Lebanon's "National Night Out," which I have never attended before so I'm excited. Plus my uncles band, a local band, Fate 55 is the entertainment. 

*(Here's a picture of me at Guitars under the Stars :-P )

Topic 2

   I think it's ridiculous, unnecessary, and dangerous. And I do not agree with him. He seems to have a problem with anything that is critical or as he sees it, negative of him or his decisions. When most of his decisions are negative and include continuously rolling back Obama era policies whether its protecting wildlife, land from fracking, environmental protections... I could go on and on. Its dangerous and irresponsible to block out the truth and it's also dangerous and irresponsible to pretend everything is going "great" when really it's crumbling..  

    I agree with those journalists. Infact, just today I was watching "All in with Chris Hayes" and he did a good piece on Trump/The White House declaring the press "the enemy of the people" which starts with footage of people berating, cursing, and flipping off the press. I went ahead and provided the link for what I watched today, it's at approximately 32:02 when this story starts and goes to about 42:22. 
Heres the link: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6r9gvm

   He's literally never "telling it like it is." It is weakened because the more he tells his base that legitimate news sources are lying, the more they get their "fake news" from actual sites telling straight lies. Still blaming President Obama for everything and still mentioning Hillary, making up conspiracies about school shootings not being real, etc. While ignoring the real injustices right in front of their eyes. 
This next clip with Stephen Colbert literally has Trump saying "What you're seeing and what you're reading are not whats happening," and I did look up this speech and found it multiple places, it is from the VFW 119th annual national convention on 7/24/2018. The next part is where it can really be harming democracy. He wants to strip clearance from lobbyists who have criticized him, and that's just ONE instance.
Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I562JHh8reM

Heres one last link with John Oliver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xecEV4dSAXE