If you're a progressive news junkie read RawStory

If you're a progressive news junkie read RawStory

by Hal Brown

Posted Sept. 26, 2022 updated Sept. 27, 2022

There are several aggregate non-partisan websites to choose from so you don't have to click on individual websites to keep up with news as it breaks and the best opinion stories of the day.

Click image for link

Update from RawStory staff on Twitter where three of their writers react to my tweets:

As these RawStory journalists (above) remind me they indeed do have original reporting! The website has gone far beyond merely being an excellent aggregator and now stands on its own as a unique combination of aggregated and summarized reports coming from other media, opinion, and original reporting.

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While I look at Google News, have several keyword Google News email notifications enabled, and subscribe to Yahoo News, and have friends who are satisfied to use Facebook in this way, my preferred website as a liberal is RawStory.

This is a highly partisan progressive website. The website acquired a similar website, AlterNet, in 2018. Recently they also began to cross publish stories which were originally published on Salon and Salon posts some original RawStory articles. 

RawStory publishes original opinion pieces by senior editors Travis Gettys, Sarah Burris, Bob Brigham, and Tom Boggioni. While not as well known as other opinion columnists from major media like The New York Times and The Washington Post, and progressive websites like Salon, they are just as good. What they lack by way of columnists is someone as adept as writing satire as Dana Milbank (Wash. Post) and Heather "Digby" Parton (Salon). I'd also like to see them have an editorial cartoonist, it would be great if they could publish someone as good as Ann Telnaes from the Washington Post.

They also have staff reporters like Matthew Chapman and  Jordan Green who covers extremism. Green spent 16 years writing for alt-weeklies and freelancing for the Washington Post and other publications (his story today).

One of the benefits of RawStory is that they are more than a aggregator because it summarizes articles from other websites with enough excerpts so you get the gist of the story and explanations of the main points of the articles, and then they provide a link to the article. This enables you to follow articles on websites to which you don't have a subscription.

Another plus of RawStory is that they have a comments section. It previously used Disqus, but now they use their own comment platform. Once you register or sign in with Facebook or Google it is easy to post your comment and you can even include images. When you post an image it makes your comment stand out. Because they don't have between 1000 and 3000 comments like some stories in The New York Times and The Washington Post (both subscription websites) you will often find more give and take between a smaller number of commenters. If you want to make a comment to a story they write about which for example, appeared on Daily Beast or Salon which don't allow comments, you can post one on RawStory or just read what other comments had to say.

Update:

Here's an example of a Salon top of the page story which also was the lead story on RawStory until it was bumped down by a news story. This is a difference between the websites. Salon usually keeps the same story in a primary location for much of the day while the same story moves down the page quickly as newer stories are posted.

I couldn't make a comment on Salon but could post this on RawStory:

Click to enlarge

Last, but certainly not the least benefit of RawStory as a aggregator of breaking news of interest to progressives is that they manage to get their story online very rapidly. For example within an hour after something is discussed on an MSNBC show RawStory reports on it with a link. For example reporting on a segment from Morning Joe:

The only fault with RawStory is that in their rush to get a story online they occasionally make minor typos. This is easy to do when you don't have a proofreader so I forgive them. Since I read it so frequently I send in corrections so I suppose I am at least one of their unofficial proofreaders. It is to their credit that they not only fix the errors rapidly they also send me a personal email thanking me. 

Click above and below to enlarge images.

Here's the Wikipedia page on RawStory.

If you read the Wiki page you'll see that the website isn't perfect. They have made mistakes. Also this is from Media Bias Factcheck.

In review, Raw Story is primarily a news aggregation site that aggregates news from AFP and Reuters. Raw Story also summarizes information from other sources such as this: “Irate customer drags salon owner 50 feet to her death after running out on manicure without paying.” Infrequently, they publish original stories such as this: Trans activists detained in Arizona and threatened with deportation due to bureaucratic catch-22. Raw Story consistently utilizes strong, emotionally loaded headlines such as “Trump insists border wall will be ‘all concrete’ — except where it’s ‘see-through’: ‘Makes sense to me!’” and “MSNBC’s Morning Joe mocks ‘confused’ Trump over shutdown boasts: ‘Voters are blaming him.’”

Raw Story generally sources credible media outlets such as the Washington Blade, Las Vegas Review-Journal, and the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Generally, story selection always favors the left and frequently has an anti-Trump tone. Raw Story has published misleading articles promoting miracle cures such as this: Scientists discover virus that kills all grades of breast cancer ‘within seven days.’ This headline is misleading, as, within the article, they clearly state, “but not in normal mammary epithelial cells.” Regarding consensus science, they sometimes promote anti-GMO propaganda; however, they also publish credible, scientifically sound information.

Failed Fact Checks

• A factual search reveals a Half-True claim from Politifact, a false claim, and an Unproven claim with Snopes. They have also promoted misinformation during the 2020 election.
  

Overall, we rate Raw Story Left Biased based on story selection that favors the left and Mixed for factual reporting due to half-true, false, and unproven claims, as well as the promotion of mild pseudoscience misinformation. (5/15/2016) Updated (M. Huitsing 08/10/2022)

 I suggest using good sense when reading stories that report on things that seem almost too good to be true if you're a progressive. Use due diligence in following up to see if the same story is being reported independently by other media known for scrupulous fact-checking.

I compared RawStory with Daily Kos on a review website called sitejabber.   Daily Kos is the site which banned me after I posted over 1,700 stories there. I tried not to engage in sour grapes and be objective in my review:

I find Kos pales in comparison for aggregating political news article published elsewhere along with excerpts to RawStory. The later recently added original articles. The pluses are that Kos allows anybody to post their own stories, called diaries, and that there's often thought provoking discussing in the comments. The minus is that community posted stories rarely include original material and opinion, in fact they don't even have an opinion section like major newspapers. For my take on why my story got me banned, with the story removed from the site, without any reason sent to me, can be found if you Google my name, Hal Brown, and a keyword like Daily Kos or Trump. That will get you to my blog.

Tip for consumers:

I do not find Daily Kos to be a particularly useful site for political news or opinion.There are better websites to do this with. If you want to post your own material it is the only liberal website I know of where any registered member of what they call their community can do so and potentially get up to 2000 readers and over 200 comments as I did a about a dozen times with my over 1,700 posts there before I was banned without them letting me know why.

Stories that piqued my interest when I first posted this blog story:

I adore alliterations. I am a wee bit ashamed to admit that I have been known to use the thesaurus to build on an initial idea with only three or four words. For example in describing Trump using a magic wand to declassify top secret documents I wrote he was a flying fat fatuous fantasy flailing fairy. 

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Main points from Washington Post Column on possible Russian use of nukes:

Demonstration shot over uninhabitated area- least likely because it wouldn't be shocking enough. 

This explosion would not require a nuclear response by the United States. To prevent further escalation, President Biden could call for Russia’s international isolation (China and India, for example, would quickly distance themselves), impose extraordinarily harsh new sanctions and issue warnings of grave consequences should Russia proceed with additional explosions.

Low-yield weapon. Russia could fire a “low-yield” nuclear weapon on a Ukrainian military target. The explosion would kill hundreds or thousands and cause significant damage.

This might be the most likely scenario. Again, it would not require a “response in kind” by the United States, though some would urge that. The likely response, in addition to those in scenario one, would be massive increases in military aid to Ukraine and possibly concerted NATO or U.S. strikes on the Russian units that launched the attack.

Large-yield weapon. Putin could dial up the explosive force of the attack to the 50- or 100-kiloton range, or about three to six times the Hiroshima bomb. 

This would almost certainly trigger a direct U.S. or NATO response, though not likely nuclear. The United States and NATO have sufficient precise, powerful conventional weapons that they could use to devastate Russian forces in Ukraine and command headquarters, including those units responsible for the attack. This would likely be accompanied by large-scale cyber operations.

Nuclear attack on NATO. This is the least likely scenario. Russian first-use doctrine includes the option of striking NATO targets.This could trigger a nuclear response. Some would argue a limited nuclear counterstrike was necessary to preserve nuclear deterrence. More likely is an all-out conventional assault to try to eliminate either Putin himself or the weapons he commands before he strikes again.

These are horrible scenarios to consider. If you are worried, you are having the appropriate reaction. We should do all we can now to prepare a massive political response that might deter Putin from crossing the nuclear line.

Click above to read

About Daily Kos:

I have a negative opinion about Daily Kos since I think I am justified in believing they unfairly banned me for a story I posted there without ever letting me know why or giving me a chance to appeal. I wanted to check out if I was still banned, something I could do just by clicking on a story to see if I could make a comment. I couldn't, so I know I am still banned. I noticed that they are tracking how many times I click on a story and asking me for a donation. I consider this crass chutzpa even if it is done automatically. I certainly won't be donating to them and will refrain from clicking on any of their stories. 

Words that jumped out in Jennifer Rubin's column

 Words that jumped out to me in Jennifer Rubin's column

by Hal Brown

Stories breaking through the day that piqued my interest are on the bottom of the page.

QAnon lunacy about harvesting live children plus the world of incels

QAnon lunacy about harvesting live children for  fictional super-powerful psychedelic, adrenochrome which came from Hunter S. Thompson, plus the world of the wacky incels.

by Hal Brown

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Breaking news will be posted on the bottom of page.

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Photograph credited to "Cashman Photo Enterprises, Inc." Published by Random House. - Originally published on the back of the dust jacket for the 1972 first edition of Thompson's novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, published by Random House. 

We now know where a belief central to the QAnon list of certifiably insane claims comes from. 

Thom  Hartmann, American radio personality, author, former psychotherapist, businessman, and progressive political commentator took a deep dive into the "dangerous mental illness" of Donald Trump and how he has spread it to his followers. In doing this he reveals where one of the most bizarre claims coming from QAnon originated. 

It came from the mind of American journalist and author who founded the gonzo journalism movement, none other than Hunter S. Thomspon.

The following is the portion of this long Thom Hartmann article which explains this.

When I was young my favorite writers were Ernest Hemmingway and Hunter S. Thompson, and my favorite Thompson novel was his Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Which is why a caller last year who started on a rant about Democrats harvesting “adrenochrome” from children caused me to both cut him off the air and go back to my copy of the novel to see if my memory was right.

Sure enough, there it was. Thompson was bemoaning running out of hashish and being almost out of opium when his “fat Samoan” sidekick offered an alternative: 

“As your attorney,” he said, “I advise you not worry.” He nodded toward the bathroom. “Take a hit out of that little brown bottle in my shaving kit.” 
“What is it?” “QAnon lunacy about harvesting live children came from Hunter S. Thompson,” he said. “You won’t need much. Just a little tiny taste.” 
I got the bottle and dipped the head of a paper match into it. 
“That’s about right,” he said. “That stuff makes pure mescaline seem like ginger beer. You’ll go completely crazy if you take too much.” 
I licked the end of the match. “Where’d you get this?” I asked. “You can’t buy it.” 
“Never mind,” he said. “It’s absolutely pure.” 
I shook my head sadly. “Jesus! What kind of monster client have you picked up this time? There’s only one source for this stuff…” 

He nodded. 
“The adrenaline glands from a living human body,” I said. “It’s no good if you get it out of a corpse.”

When Thompson pushes his “attorney” about where the adrenochrome came from, the fictional character tells the fictional tale of having once been hired to represent a child molester/murderer who’d presumably extracted it from one of his victims:

“Christ, what could I say?” Thompson’s sidekick told him. “Even a goddamn werewolf is entitled to legal counsel. I didn’t dare turn the creep down. He might have picked up a letter opener and gone after my pineal gland.” 

That little seed, entirely fictional, planted in the national subconscious back in the early ‘70s, has now blossomed into a full-blown flower of a belief held by literally millions of Americans. 

As Rightwing Watch documents, uber-Trump cultist and “journalist” Liz Crokin explains in one of her many videos:

“Adrenochrome is a drug that the elites love. It comes from children. The drug is extracted from the pituitary gland of tortured children. It’s sold on the black market. It’s the drug of the elites. It is their favorite drug. It is beyond evil. It is demonic. It is so sick.”

People who have been ensnared by the

 QAnon cult and are gullible enough to believe this kind of thing are the explicit targets now in Trump’s crosshairs....

There is another group being courted by Trump which is every bit as weird as the QAnan cray-cray. These are young men who consider themselves to be proud and superior Incels. 

You probably heard this term and know it has something to do with attitudes towards women and may even know that the letters stand for involuntarily celibate. This article explains that at least many of these men aren't involuntarily celibate. Rather, they embrace their celibacy and eschew any intimate relationship with women.

This is explained in this Salon article:

Excerpts:

The affidavit blandly describes America First, an ardently pro-Trump group, as motivated by "a belief that they are defending against the demographic and cultural changes in America." The deeper truth is this group — whose members call themselves "groypers" — is among the most shamelessly fascist of the many far-right gangs that invaded the Capitol that day. Their leader, Nick Fuentes, has declared that "Trump was awesome because he was racist," engaged in Holocaust denialism and heaped praise on various historical dictators, including like Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler. Indeed, he did the latter at a conference attended by Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona, signaling how far Fuentes' fascist worldview has crept into the Republican Party. 

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It's not just that Fuentes and other groypers identify as "incels," a nickname for the virulently misogynist online movement of "involuntary celibates." Fuentes has tried to reinvent "incel" as an aspirational identity, telling his followers that pursuing sex with women is degrading and will only distract groypers from their true calling as warriors for the brand of white nationalism (mixed with far-right "trad" Catholicism) he's peddling. As Tess Owen at Vice reported in July, "Fuentes has called himself a 'proud incel,' urged his supporters to abstain from sex, and made bizarre assertions like 'all sex is gay.'"

No, seriously, this is his argument for why heterosexual sex is "gay": "Think about it this way: What's gayer than being like 'I need cuddles. I need kisses … I need to spend time with a woman.' That's a little sus."

Wikipedia hasn't been able to copyright the term Wiki so it isn't surprising that there are lots of websites using the word, and there's even this one:

Vector Stock royalty free

Two from the BBC: 

The woman who founded the 'incel' movement

By Jim Taylor
BBC Radio 5 Live

Published
30 August 2018

Incels: Inside a dark world of online hate
By Jonathan Griffin
BBC Trending
Published
13 August 2021

From Foreign Policy:

Incels Are Radicalized and Dangerous. But Are They Terrorists?


Some of my thoughts:

I do not know where members of this group stand on male masturbation. If they are adamantly against it. For all the material about healthy masturbation there is a cottage industry of books giving advice on how to stop this supposedly terrible addiction:

One might say that if a movement can harness the frustrated normal strong impulse to masturbate in post pubescent males , it would be akin to discovering how to create cold fusion to safely fuel the plant, and thus these groups would be unstoppable.

Instead what will inevitably happen is that almost all of the men in the group of incels will eventually go stark raving mad with pent up sexual frustration unless they decide to pursue healthy sexuality whether it is with solo sex or with a partner.

Rioting on January 6th might have been a temporary sexual release, but how many of these men went to bed that might and had a wet dream about storming the Capitol and experienced an orgasm when they marched like maniacs carrying their stupid Trump flags?

Click above to enlarge

Search Google for Trump flag images.

Perhaps is is ironic that Trump is a serial molester of women and adulterer. He is their titular leader if not their divine gift from God or the Second Coming and may or may not be currently involuntarily celebrate depending of what sexual favors Melania deigns to bestow on him. 

I have an impression that he likes golfing because using his little putter is for him a phallic symbol which he  believes demonstrates his sexual prowess whenever he sinks a ball.

Ann Telnaes got it right in her cartoon, Trump is a fat flying declassification fairy

Ann Telnaes got it right in her cartoon, Trump is a fat flying declassification  fairy

By Hal Brown 

I hadn't even considered making Trump into a fairy when wrote my story yesterday. I am thankful someone with a far, far greater readership than I have on my teeny-weeny blog gets.

I'm not a cartoonist, but here's my crude version of  the Ann Telnaes version of Trump as a fairy using his magic wand to declassify top secret documents. Mine has him as a svelte mythical being, albeit with the fat head I added. 

Fairy from Wiki Commons

I got it wrong yesterday when I compared Trump declassification of top secret documents using his mind to Mr. Spock and Carnac the Magnificent. 

Cartoonist Ann Telnaes from The Washington ton Post nailed him by depicting his as an orange faced fat fairy with pink wings and a magic wandssaying "If you're the president of the United States, you can declassify just by says it's declassified, even by thinking about it." This was featured in the Opinion section of The Washington Post today and on Twitter:

I really like the characterization of Trump as a flying fat fatuous fantasy flailing fairy because if by chance he should see it this might really get under his thin skin.

I suggested Trump had mastered Mr. Spock's Vulcan Mind Meld to use it to declassify top secret documents.

There's no way Trump could have done this. Even using Trump and Mr. Spock in the same sentence is an insult to the valiant Vulcan.

I also likened him to Carnac the Magnificent.

I wonder what Johnny would be saying about Trump if he still was hosting The Tonight Show. Consider this:

I am sure, like today's late night TV show hosts, he would in his own inimitable gentle humor be ripping Trump a new one.

This is what Trump posted about Carson when he was still on Twitter:

It is not true that Carson never discussed politics. For example here's what he said about Trump:

“Don’t worry about Gennifer Flowers, she got a new job — she got fired, you know — she was a receptionist at an unemployment agency, she got canned, but she got a new job today as a Donald Trump backup mistress,” Carson quipped, to roaring laughter from the audience. "If for any reason Marla Maples is unable to fulfill her duties, Gennifer steps in."

Vintage Trump magical mind quote reported here:

Trump lashes out at 'lonely and pathetic' critic in late-night attack on CNN: 'I was probably the only one watching'

"The former president doesn't have any moves left, and you can also see, across the spectrum, that he is running out of moves and running out of lies," D'Antonio said. "That comment about how he could declassify things in his mind is the same lie that he told when he was deposed around 15 years ago when he said, 'Well, the value of my company is based on how I feel inside.' So this is a person who has never expected concrete reality, but he is running out of people who will listen to him when he offers his delusions."

Did Trump use Vulcan Mind Meld to declassify?

Did Trump use Vulcan Mind Meld to declassify?

Written and illustrated by Hal Brown

Comment on stories from the bottom of this page, or you can make them on Facebook here, or re-Tweet or reply with your opinions on Twitter here. Click to enlarge images that aren't links to stories. Archives are in right column.

Breaking news on bottom of page.

You've no doubt read or heard about how trump said he had the ability to declassify top secret documents with his mind.

Before you break a gut rolling on the floor with laughter, consider this possibility. 

Trump may have mastered a version of the Vulcan Mind Meld which is effective on top secret documents!

Not that anyone could have missed these make-your-eye-bug-out reports:

"There doesn't have to be a process, as I understand it. You know, there's different people, say different things," Trump told Sean Hannity. "If you're the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying, 'it's declassified' — even by thinking about it."

Attorney and former FBI Agent Asha Rangappa joked, "he’s actually invoking the Secret Telepathic Unilateral Preemptive Irreversible Declassification (S.T.U.P.I.D.) defense."

More:

Watch video here:

Let's back up here. What do legal experts and former FBI agents know about the actual powers residing in the deep recesses of the Trump mind?

Those of you who are old enough probably remember Johnny Carson as Carnac the Magnificent.

Top secret stamp added

Longtime sidekick Ed McMahon ritualistically and bombastically introduced the Carnac routines. The announcement implied Carnac was responsible for some scandal or disaster currently in the news, as "And now, the great seer, soothsayer, and sage, Carnac the Magnificent." After Carnac entered and stumbled, Ed would continue as follows:

"I hold in my hand the envelopes. As a child of four can plainly see, these envelopes have been hermetically sealed. They've been kept in a mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnalls' porch since noon today. NO ONE [at this shout, Carnac always acts startled] knows the contents of these envelopes – but you, in your mystical and borderline divine way, will ascertain the answers having never before heard the questions."

"Sis boom bah." "Describe the sound made when a sheep explodes."

—Ed McMahon's favorite Carnac the Magnificentpunchline^[5]

The act involved a variation of the magician's billet reading trick: divining the answer to a question written on a card sealed inside one of the envelopes, announcing it to the audience, then tearing open the envelope to reveal the question.

Oh ye of little faith! 

It may have been an act with Johnny but there are many people who say Trump is, if not the Second Coming, at least Jesus quite literally shared the Oval Office with him and even guided his Sharpie when he signed executive orders.

Trump has managed magical feats hitherto thought impossible. Had he not possessed, if not magical, perhaps divine powers, he'd long ago either be residing in prison or living in a cardboard box on his beloved New York City's Skid Row.

Who then is to conclude that Trump, who has succeeded in leading a cult composed not only of pinheads but a sprinkling of actual college graduates, doesn't have supernatural powers?

Afterthought:

Perhaps Trump fancies himself as a Mr. Spock bent on destroying Democracy and making himself the Klingon King (really as Trekkies know he'd be a Romulan ruler since the Klingons were peaceful and the Romulans spun off from them and were evil). 

Meanwhile::::

Yesterday was, to understate the gravity of the news for Trump, a worrisome Wednesday for Trump, or in his delusional "what me worry" state at least it was for his lawyers and Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric.

By most counts there are at least six things in the legal arena Trump ought to be losing sleep over or gorging on Big Macs, chocolate malteds, and KFC to the point of becoming a Mr. Creosote. 

Whether he will lose it remains to be seen.

The number six prompted me to make this illustration:

Most of the news reports list the six areas where Trump faces legal jeopardy but they usually don't include number seven:

Is Trump actually worried? I mean worried in the way a person who isn't a delusional grandiose narcissism who believes he's untouchable would be. This is impossible to determine. What we do know is that he is lashing out at at least one of his nemesis's. 

I thought his social media platform would be more appropriately renamed as follows:

In other news:

Trump-appointed judge backtracks on her previous ruling after 11th Circuit delivers stinging rebuke

I sure hope this got through to her thought I have my doubts. 

Trump continues heaping 'racist' abuse on Letitia James over fraud lawsuit

"Racist A.G. Letitia 'Peekaboo' James, the failed Gubernatorial candidate, is now running second to strong crime fighter MICHAEL HENRY," Trump posted. "This could be a big upset because she has been a terrible A.G. when it comes to protecting the people of New York State. Murder, Rape, and Drugs are totally out of control-There has never been a more dangerous time than this. She is grossly incompetent, her staff knows it, and so does everyone else. MAKE NEW YORK SAFE AGAIN!!!"

"Trump's new nickname for NY Attorney General Leticia James is 'Peekaboo,'" added progressive commentator Thom Hartmann. "Is this his code word for the word you get when you replace "peek" with "Jig"? Sure looks like it..."

Click to enlarge my comment

This is long but well worth reading

I augmented the photo used for this article.