Navigating Fox News

Did a lot of nyt.com and foxnews.com during the elections. NYT’s deceptions are subtle, usually with the data. Sometimes the chart timeline is specifically cut to prove their point, sometimes Y axis is exaggerated to show the inflection points. 

Foxnews.com on the other hand is the opposite. Typically the main page will have an explosive headline, featuring AOC, Pelosi or anyone to catch the reader. (one example that got me to click before inauguration was - 'Pelosi made national guard sleep on the Capitol floor'), then you click in and read the actual (and very factual I must say here) article (this will have the details of NG sleeping on the floor, had nothing to do with Pelosi) and if required at the very end a kind of legal captcha. 

This video (https://youtu.be/nA-10vPcA-4) is a screengrab taken on November 19. 

1. Main page headline - Giuliani detailing election fraud.

2. Click through and article headline is different - Trump campaign is dropping the lawsuit - that was what Giuliani said in that press conference

3. Read through what was said in that conference (and a lot of hook ads) and get to last two paragraphs where they put the legal captcha - ‘Trump lost MI by 155k votes & nobody has found any evidence of election fraud’

🙂

Green New Everything Deal

One habit I've tried to carry on from the 2020 elections is to look everything up at the source where data is available. Pretty much all election count information and details were posted on the respective county websites. 

The Green New Deal - have been hearing about it for ever. Had an idea it is about addressing climate change, probably by some extreme measures. Never gave much attention to it given everyone dismissing it as far left and will never pass. 

The congress website has all these and you can read the green new deal as introduced HR109 here: https://www.congress.gov/116/bills/hres109/BILLS-116hres109ih.pdf

I do see why so many folks are opposed to it. The bill covers the damage climate change causes and goes about setting goals to address this. But then, it also reads like a bucket list of everything else that was ever on the table which may or may not have anything to do with climate change. Just pasting a few from the bill: 

 - ensure prosperity and economic security for all people of the US

 - promote justice and equity

 - repair historic oppression of indigenous people......etc.

 - cleaning up hazardous waste sites

 - guarantee a job with a family sustaining wage

 - strengthen and protect the right of all workers to organize unionize and....

 - strengthen workplace health safety anti discrimination....

 - provide high quality healthcare for all people of the US

 - affordable housing

 - economic security

So is this something cleverly devised to call me a climate denier or an actual plan to fight climate change? 

    

Mask Mandate!

After losing my Dubai Malayalam radio station on TuneIn, I recently started listening to Radio Malayalam 98.6FM from Qatar. Heard them go "Remember to wear your masks. We still have the 200,000 Fine and 3 year prison term in effect". 

So obviously googled it up and found a press release on 17 May 2020 with the $55,000 fine and 3 year jail term. 

And the next thing I thought was how did COVID do in Qatar. And I really do not have to say anything about this next chart and what happened to it in June 2020 :) 

Persistence!

Our 6 y/o: Can I play on the iPad please?

Mom: No

6yo: Let me know when you change your mind

Mom: I am not planning to change my mind. 

6yo: Well, you can always change your plans! 

Vaccine News

 Vaccine news: it started with the trials and things that went wrong...and once vaccinations started, it switched to who is refusing to get vaccinated, who got an adverse reaction...new strains...etc.

More than 68 million vaccine doses have been administered in the United States so far and the count of vaccinated people who got hospitalized for / who died of COVID-19 is ZERO!

It has been 100% effective at preventing serious illness and death.

Am sure whenever the first vaccinated patient is hospitalized, the news will be there, having a field day with it...till then they will try their best to stay away from that one stat that really matters