Covid-19 info (3 Viewers)

[hotel3alpha]

All,

Went to a jewelry store (Lee Micheals) today at The Shops of La Cantera to buy daughter #2 a graduation present. The shops was sadly empty, yet the jewelry store was fully staffed and although we had an appointment the other sales reps (not know we had an appointment) were chomping at the bit to help us. Anyway, the took our temperature and made us sign in with our phone number AND the temperature reading. Though at first I thought we were being pumped for email info and what not, I was not insulted or put out by it. Translation: temperature check, tracing info and free hand sanitizer, gloves and masks on request...and you better heed to it because there was a monster of a security guard sitting there armed to the teeth.

So, no more window shopping. Come masked or not come at all. Do what they ask of you or you ain't shopping. Your money is good, but no messing around when it comes to shopping in their store. Like I said, I don't have a problem with it at all, in fact I appreciate the extra pre-cautions to keep me, the wife and the staff safe to best of everyones ability. I wish I had to time to talk to the security guard to see if I could pull a "unruly-non-compliant customer" war story because I know there are some.

I guess this is the new norm, like one of our members said about flying after 9/11. Sure its a pain in the *** to wear a mask in 97 degree heat today, but whatever man I am not inconvenienced at all. After that we picked up some PF Changs "to go" and again (sadly) the restaurant was empty. I saw maybe three tables that had customers and a couple at the bar eating. All the waiters were wearing masks, gloves and when I ordered a ice tea "to go" I gave the kid a $5 tip just for being there working. So, for all the rah-rah for Texas being "open" (and other states) I don't see people rushing to go to the store/mall leisurely shopping. Some stores still have those "temporary closed" signs and of course none of the kiosks are open.

I think the old adage that say "the market will tell you how much it's worth" still rings true. The consumer is going to dictate whether they will shop with you and spend money your way. You can have all the checks and balances in place, but if the consumer does not have confidence in shopping (let alone going out of the house) then retail businesses are still where they are months ago. I guess we as a populace have deduced what is a want and certainly what is a need to be worth going out for and from what I saw today, there are no people out shopping for wants. Except us I guess who are trying to over compensate/celebrate our daughters graduation that was cut short due to COVID.


Just some thoughts to the NEW and IMPROVED TOY SOLDIER FORUM-COVID-19 INFO-THREAD-2020...maybe 2021 too.

John from Texas

 

[BobZ]

Wipe makers stocks crash tomorrow . . .

https://www.foxnews.com/health/cdc-...s-not-spread-easily-via-contaminated-surfaces

 

[tdubel]

Wipe makers stocks crash tomorrow . . .

https://www.foxnews.com/health/cdc-...s-not-spread-easily-via-contaminated-surfaces

You beat me to it, in this nutty world, NOW the CDC says this. Holy Smokes.

On another COVID Note - Timonium Fairgrounds Poll regarding holding Great Scale Model Train Show in October:

(39.7%) selected 5 (Definitely will be here)
(17.4%) selected 1 (Definitely won’t be here)
(16.7%) selected 4 (Probably will be here)
(16.4%) selected 3 (Wait and see)
(9.8%) selected 2 (Probably will not be here)


Interesting results, if you summarize - Probably be there and above - 72.8%, Probably not attending - 27.2% . Interesting results, I guess folks have cabin fever.

Maybe a better sign of consumer confidence to come.
TD

 

[Louis Badolato]

All,

Went to a jewelry store (Lee Micheals) today at The Shops of La Cantera to buy daughter #2 a graduation present. The shops was sadly empty, yet the jewelry store was fully staffed and although we had an appointment the other sales reps (not know we had an appointment) were chomping at the bit to help us. Anyway, the took our temperature and made us sign in with our phone number AND the temperature reading. Though at first I thought we were being pumped for email info and what not, I was not insulted or put out by it. Translation: temperature check, tracing info and free hand sanitizer, gloves and masks on request...and you better heed to it because there was a monster of a security guard sitting there armed to the teeth.

So, no more window shopping. Come masked or not come at all. Do what they ask of you or you ain't shopping. Your money is good, but no messing around when it comes to shopping in their store. Like I said, I don't have a problem with it at all, in fact I appreciate the extra pre-cautions to keep me, the wife and the staff safe to best of everyones ability. I wish I had to time to talk to the security guard to see if I could pull a "unruly-non-compliant customer" war story because I know there are some.

I guess this is the new norm, like one of our members said about flying after 9/11. Sure its a pain in the *** to wear a mask in 97 degree heat today, but whatever man I am not inconvenienced at all. After that we picked up some PF Changs "to go" and again (sadly) the restaurant was empty. I saw maybe three tables that had customers and a couple at the bar eating. All the waiters were wearing masks, gloves and when I ordered a ice tea "to go" I gave the kid a $5 tip just for being there working. So, for all the rah-rah for Texas being "open" (and other states) I don't see people rushing to go to the store/mall leisurely shopping. Some stores still have those "temporary closed" signs and of course none of the kiosks are open.

I think the old adage that say "the market will tell you how much it's worth" still rings true. The consumer is going to dictate whether they will shop with you and spend money your way. You can have all the checks and balances in place, but if the consumer does not have confidence in shopping (let alone going out of the house) then retail businesses are still where they are months ago. I guess we as a populace have deduced what is a want and certainly what is a need to be worth going out for and from what I saw today, there are no people out shopping for wants. Except us I guess who are trying to over compensate/celebrate our daughters graduation that was cut short due to COVID.


Just some thoughts to the NEW and IMPROVED TOY SOLDIER FORUM-COVID-19 INFO-THREAD-2020...maybe 2021 too.

John from Texas

John,

Congratulations to your daughter!:salute::

 

[Warrior]

"

I think the old adage that say "the market will tell you how much it's worth" still rings true. The consumer is going to dictate whether they will shop with you and spend money your way. You can have all the checks and balances in place, but if the consumer does not have confidence in shopping (let alone going out of the house) then retail businesses are still where they are months ago. I guess we as a populace have deduced what is a​

want

and certainly what is a ​

need

to be worth going out for and from what I saw today, there are no people out shopping for wants."

This nails it.

You can lift all the restrictions you want, tell everyone they can go back to stores, bars and restaurants all you want, bottom line is it will be up to each person as to whether they will act on it or not.

I think stores, restaurants and conventions are going to be hurting for awhile, if people are feeling bulletproof and lucky "This is Murica, no one is gonna tell me where I can and can't go!!", have at it, good for you, go have a ball, let me know how you make out...……………………...I'm staying put and will be ordering as much stuff on line as possible...…………..

​

 

[Warrior]

You beat me to it, in this nutty world, NOW the CDC says this. Holy Smokes.

On another COVID Note - Timonium Fairgrounds Poll regarding holding Great Scale Model Train Show in October:

(39.7%) selected 5 (Definitely will be here)
(17.4%) selected 1 (Definitely won’t be here)
(16.7%) selected 4 (Probably will be here)
(16.4%) selected 3 (Wait and see)
(9.8%) selected 2 (Probably will not be here)


Interesting results, if you summarize - Probably be there and above - 72.8%, Probably not attending - 27.2% . Interesting results, I guess folks have cabin fever.

Maybe a better sign of consumer confidence to come.
TD

Yeah...………………………..so anyway, moving the 16.4 who said wait and see and the 16.7 who said probably will be there into the will be attending is fine and dandy, but when you move it to not attending, it's more like closer to 60% will not be there, 40% attendance is dismal.

People predicting what they will be doing 6 months from now is laughable...……………...

 

[Warrior]

Wipe makers stocks crash tomorrow . . .

https://www.foxnews.com/health/cdc-...s-not-spread-easily-via-contaminated-surfaces

So much for people wearing gloves and masks to open packages, drowning them in Lysol and leaving them in their garage for a week and using cans of Lysol to spray down their mail on top of it.

Unbelievable.

Lysol should have paid the CDC some hush money to keep this under wraps.

 

[marco55]

It's just better I say nothing.^&confuse^&grin
Mark

 

[Warrior]

It's just better I say nothing.^&confuse^&grin
Mark

Say whatever you want; just leave politics out though................:wink2:

I guess the thing I don't get is if this is true about surfaces, how did it spread like wildfire...………………...I give up, I really do.

 

[hotel3alpha]

Well,

Im still wearing gloves while using the debit cards machines...I don't care. Debit card machines are grossest things in the history of mankind. THE HISTORY, I say! A cesspool of funk, petri-dish of disease, a gross nose pickers dream who just coughed in his hand and scratched his junk. Yes, my friends debit card machines at every point of sale in all of our shopping places are disgusting, disgraceful, a sham and a hoax of safety.

There has to be a better way to pay. There NEEDS to be a better way to check out and the CDC should caution the obvious; use protection while using public paying platforms. But no, no alarm is raised and they should be using a post script stating:

FEAR THE FINGA

John from Texas

 

[marco55]

You have to throw in physical money and the mouth.^&grin In all seriousness though the medical people have made mistakes but they are human and humans make mistakes.Thousands upon thousands of them are working around the clock trying to conquer this little monster.They have given everything they have including their lives.God bless them.:salute::
Mark

 

[Louis Badolato]

One of the things I find most interesting is the incredibly varied symptoms that people infected with Covid display. They range from not even knowing that you are infected to death. My cousin, a widow who lives with my family worked in an essential job, and got Covid. A co-worker friend of hers also got infected, and passed it to her husband, who was the same age as my cousin, and had no high-risk conditions. My cousin had around a 100 fever for about 9 days, and flu-like symptoms, but made a full recovery, as did her co-worker. Her co-worker's husband died. I have read that as many as 40-50% of people testing positive did not even have symptoms. Do these people have a natural immunity? Are the people with dramatically worse symptoms subject to unknown predispositions? The medical people risking their own health to figure this out and save lives will hopefully find and answer. In the mean time, as Mark said, bless them!

 

[Desertkiwi]

One of the things I find most interesting is the incredibly varied symptoms that people infected with Covid display. They range from not even knowing that you are infected to death. My cousin, a widow who lives with my family worked in an essential job, and got Covid. A co-worker friend of hers also got infected, and passed it to her husband, who was the same age as my cousin, and had no high-risk conditions. My cousin had around a 100 fever for about 9 days, and flu-like symptoms, but made a full recovery, as did her co-worker. Her co-worker's husband died. I have read that as many as 40-50% of people testing positive did not even have symptoms. Do these people have a natural immunity? Are the people with dramatically worse symptoms subject to unknown predispositions? The medical people risking their own health to figure this out and save lives will hopefully find and answer. In the mean time, as Mark said, bless them!

Having worked along side a colleague whose became infected with the virus and having good contacts with medical staff who’ve been treating it, I would agree with you Louis. While over 96% of folks that get it recover without on going issues, sadly those with other serious underlying health issues are often not so lucky.

In saying that 2.6 million of the world’s population die on average each year from respiratory related illnesses, where about 300.000 have reportedly died from this nasty so far.

With all the hype surrounding Covid it’s easy to forget that we lose hundreds of thousands of the world’s population each year, but we don’t fly into a panic and shut down the world’s economies as a result.

The last 5 years have seen our hospitals here in NZ swamped every winter with influenza related illnesses and Covid hasn’t come remotely close to filling our hospitals here, in fact most are almost empty as a result of the lockdown and many medical staff have little to do.

Im not buying into this Covid Criss at all, while I respect that people have died, we lose way more to other illnesses every year and the reaction to this so far makes no sense to me at all.

 

[GICOP]

Great to see a new Covid-19 thread. I enjoyed reading the comments from several of the Forum members including.......

Mike, Louis, John from Texas, Warrior and Tom.

Can't chat now just going out to buy milk and bread



Stay safe all

Martyn

 

[tdubel]

Great to see a new Covid-19 thread. I enjoyed reading the comments from several of the Forum members including.......

Mike, Louis, John from Texas, Warrior and Tom.

Can't chat now just going out to buy milk and bread

View attachment 261506

Stay safe all

Martyn

Martyn, love the mask!!!!!!!! That should be the next postings - a display of all of the masks. I am awaiting the arrival of my Florida State Seminoles one!!!! Got to be fashionable.
TD

 

[Louis Badolato]

Great to see a new Covid-19 thread. I enjoyed reading the comments from several of the Forum members including.......

Mike, Louis, John from Texas, Warrior and Tom.

Can't chat now just going out to buy milk and bread

View attachment 261506

Stay safe all

Martyn

Martyn,

Did you lose weight? Your face looks . . . thinner!{sm4}

 

[tdubel]

Having worked along side a colleague whose became infected with the virus and having good contacts with medical staff who’ve been treating it, I would agree with you Louis. While over 96% of folks that get it recover without on going issues, sadly those with other serious underlying health issues are often not so lucky.

In saying that 2.6 million of the world’s population die on average each year from respiratory related illnesses, where about 300.000 have reportedly died from this nasty so far.

With all the hype surrounding Covid it’s easy to forget that we lose hundreds of thousands of the world’s population each year, but we don’t fly into a panic and shut down the world’s economies as a result.

The last 5 years have seen our hospitals here in NZ swamped every winter with influenza related illnesses and Covid hasn’t come remotely close to filling our hospitals here, in fact most are almost empty as a result of the lockdown and many medical staff have little to do.

Im not buying into this Covid Criss at all, while I respect that people have died, we lose way more to other illnesses every year and the reaction to this so far makes no sense to me at all.

I believe it is real, people have died and unfortunately more will, but I hear what you are saying about the panic and shutdown. Really bad data and continual reliance on that bad data started it off.

The other issue you have here is that the panic this pandemic has caused. Seemingly really smart people in the US (Experts) have appeared at times completely overwhelmed and lost. They got stuck on 3.5M Americans dropping like flies in the street. It is the only thing I can figure, almost like they thought the US was going to be a scene out of the Walking Dead overnight. I am hoping that science and level heads will prevail. BUT look at the "science", there is a whole lot of disagreement between lockdown thoughts and the "Sweden" Model. There is now further change to how the science thinks it spreads, is is literally a new revelation every day. It is a mystery on a lot of levels.

Look at the mass populated areas, I get why folks in New York and NYC are worried, dense population, danger. That said, there are a lot of contagions out there that will kill you. I do firmly believe the best way to combat this virus is common sense hygiene and where you go. All of this said, fortunately, NY does not have overwhelmed and overcrowded hospitals either.

I will say this a thousand times and I don't care if it sounds like a broken record. Once the bad data got out, the resulting panic has been exacerbated by continuous doom and gloom headlines with little rationality applied. No matter what people say, when they read or hear something, it sticks even if you try to ignore it, it is human nature. Personally, I have lost all confidence in our national press at all levels and thought corners, to me quite frankly they "ALL ABSOLUTELY SUCK" (Just to be clear on my position). Furthermore, I categorically point the proverbial finger at our "Current Free Press" and blame them for fueling a lot of discourse and fires currently burning here in the US. I guess it angers me that as a supposedly fairly intelligent nation, we put up with this BS daily. I am done trying to rationalize our press. It is nearly all agenda driven from all corners and I guess I hate it all and believe it or not as I posted before, I have a young man who is going to make a career in it and knowing his drive, he will excel and I will be proud. I just dont know that I am currently happy with his choice.

TD

 

[nysoldiers]

I believe it is real, people have died and unfortunately more will, but I hear what you are saying about the panic and shutdown. Really bad data and continual reliance on that bad data started it off.

The other issue you have here is that the panic this pandemic has caused. Seemingly really smart people in the US (Experts) have appeared at times completely overwhelmed and lost. They got stuck on 3.5M Americans dropping like flies in the street. It is the only thing I can figure, almost like they thought the US was going to be a scene out of the Walking Dead overnight. I am hoping that science and level heads will prevail. BUT look at the "science", there is a whole lot of disagreement between lockdown thoughts and the "Sweden" Model. There is now further change to how the science thinks it spreads, is is literally a new revelation every day. It is a mystery on a lot of levels.

Look at the mass populated areas, I get why folks in New York and NYC are worried, dense population, danger. That said, there are a lot of contagions out there that will kill you. I do firmly believe the best way to combat this virus is common sense hygiene and where you go. All of this said, fortunately, NY does not have overwhelmed and overcrowded hospitals either.

I will say this a thousand times and I don't care if it sounds like a broken record. Once the bad data got out, the resulting panic has been exacerbated by continuous doom and gloom headlines with little rationality applied. No matter what people say, when they read or hear something, it sticks even if you try to ignore it, it is human nature. Personally, I have lost all confidence in our national press at all levels and thought corners, to me quite frankly they "ALL ABSOLUTELY SUCK" (Just to be clear on my position). Furthermore, I categorically point the proverbial finger at our "Current Free Press" and blame them for fueling a lot of discourse and fires currently burning here in the US. I guess it angers me that as a supposedly fairly intelligent nation, we put up with this BS daily. I am done trying to rationalize our press. It is nearly all agenda driven from all corners and I guess I hate it all and believe it or not as I posted before, I have a young man who is going to make a career in it and knowing his drive, he will excel and I will be proud. I just dont know that I am currently happy with his choice.

TD

I will keep politics out of this.....
Tom and I will probably debate this as long as we have breath in our bodies!

I have Studied the history of journalism in America from pre-Revolution to our current society. But I will be brief here.
There have always been biases, mistakes and outright falsehoods from our "Free Press". Pre-Revolution the American Colonies
had the highest standard of living in the world which unfortunately slavery helped. Most of the colonists did not want to break away
from Great Britain but merely wanted more representation as British citizens. American "radicals" such as Thomas Payne and
John Adams stirred up the population with propaganda, embellishments and outright lies. Of course there were legitimate
gripes as well but my point being that there would not be an independent America without the "liberal" biases of the press.

Tom has many good points that I agree with but his over generalizations and impugning of the entire "free press" are misguided
and even dangerous. The "free press" is the corner stone of our Democracy and while I am sure this is not his intention, attacking
the free press is a strategy for authoritarian leaders to solidify their power.

Think of all the good the free press has done; exposing corruption in government and corporations, highlighting health issues,
helping to evaluate and educate us on government policies and social institutions, leading the fight for Civil Rights, Women's rights,
worker's rights, Gay rights and many other causes.
There are courageous journalists who travel to war zones, natural disasters, oppressive regimes, famine stricken and diseased areas
to expose the dangers and find the truth. Lets not throw them in with the pundits and overly biased outlets.

The current state of our "news" is a product of two major underlying phenomena in our society.

First our economic system of Capitalism where profit more often takes precedence over truth, ethics, morality, and even health and life.
News outlets must make profits to survive and both owners and employees enjoy the benefits of profits and resultant high salaries.
Look at what some of the leading pundits get paid....Hannity, Ingram, Carlson, Lemon, Maddow....millions if not tens of millions of dollars!
Their motivation is to find an audience, understand their beliefs and play to them. Their motivation driven by greed is to feed this audience
what they want to hear with no regard to truth, objectivity or debate.
In reality the "Free Press" is not Free and if it was a non-profit institution maybe it would be more objective but would it even survive?

Second, we have a population that is overwhelmingly ignorant about politics, civics, history and science. I am not calling all these people
stupid. Many just don't have the time or motivation to do research and listen to more than one or two sources for their news and information.
It is human nature to find both friends and news outlets that fall into your comfort zone of beliefs. In addition there are many people in our
country who are angry, scared and dissatisfied with their lives. It is easier to blame than to understand and come up with a better solution.
So many value entertainment over education because it is easier and provides instant gratification.
Our profit driven press and politicians prey on this.

It is really up to our consumers that dominate our economy to be more open minded and critical of who and where they get their news from.
If you understand the biases and agendas of the news media up front and if you are willing to listen to opposing views then there is a
chance for reform. If you stop getting all your "news" from one source or a pundit we can become a more informed and objective public.
If you could make the time to educate yourself and do some research you could then hold more news outlets to higher standards.
We have the power to change the news industry.

I read editorials from at lease 20 newspapers (I am set up on a custom program) from the most liberal to the most conservative. I watch
many news/editorial stations and listen to actual interviews with politician, historians and economists.....I have the time and motivation which
most people don't.

I have been volunteer teaching High School students a course in "Evaluating our News and Marketing Truths". It combines methods for researching
and fact checking news reporting and truth in advertising.
In 2015 I was honored to receive the "New York City Volunteer Teacher of The Year Award".

So yes our news industry has changed for the worse in many cases and we have to be diligent about fact checking and finding the honest news brokers.
But attacking the free press monolithically without finding solutions that can change it is counter productive.
Education is the key and I am lobbying the NY education department and city government to add a course like mine to the curriculum.....an uphill battle!
I think a national movement to adopt this teaching into our curriculum will greatly help to change our society for the better.

 

[BobZ]

So much for people wearing gloves and masks to open packages, drowning them in Lysol and leaving them in their garage for a week and using cans of Lysol to spray down their mail on top of it.

Unbelievable.

Lysol should have paid the CDC some hush money to keep this under wraps.

I'm still planning to wipe down packages, groceries etc. because, well, it can't hurt. CDC is fully capable of reversing themselves again. Besides, I just scored a big box of wipes at Costco and have to do something with them. :smile2:

 

[tdubel]

I will keep politics out of this.....
Tom and I will probably debate this as long as we have breath in our bodies!

I have Studied the history of journalism in America from pre-Revolution to our current society. But I will be brief here.
There have always been biases, mistakes and outright falsehoods from our "Free Press". Pre-Revolution the American Colonies
had the highest standard of living in the world which unfortunately slavery helped. Most of the colonists did not want to break away
from Great Britain but merely wanted more representation as British citizens. American "radicals" such as Thomas Payne and
John Adams stirred up the population with propaganda, embellishments and outright lies. Of course there were legitimate
gripes as well but my point being that there would not be an independent America without the "liberal" biases of the press.

Tom has many good points that I agree with but his over generalizations and impugning of the entire "free press" are misguided
and even dangerous. The "free press" is the corner stone of our Democracy and while I am sure this is not his intention, attacking
the free press is a strategy for authoritarian leaders to solidify their power.

Think of all the good the free press has done; exposing corruption in government and corporations, highlighting health issues,
helping to evaluate and educate us on government policies and social institutions, leading the fight for Civil Rights, Women's rights,
worker's rights, Gay rights and many other causes.
There are courageous journalists who travel to war zones, natural disasters, oppressive regimes, famine stricken and diseased areas
to expose the dangers and find the truth. Lets not throw them in with the pundits and overly biased outlets.

The current state of our "news" is a product of two major underlying phenomena in our society.

First our economic system of Capitalism where profit more often takes precedence over truth, ethics, morality, and even health and life.
News outlets must make profits to survive and both owners and employees enjoy the benefits of profits and resultant high salaries.
Look at what some of the leading pundits get paid....Hannity, Ingram, Carlson, Lemon, Maddow....millions if not tens of millions of dollars!
Their motivation is to find an audience, understand their beliefs and play to them. Their motivation driven by greed is to feed this audience
what they want to hear with no regard to truth, objectivity or debate.
In reality the "Free Press" is not Free and if it was a non-profit institution maybe it would be more objective but would it even survive?

Second, we have a population that is overwhelmingly ignorant about politics, civics, history and science. I am not calling all these people
stupid. Many just don't have the time or motivation to do research and listen to more than one or two sources for their news and information.
It is human nature to find both friends and news outlets that fall into your comfort zone of beliefs. In addition there are many people in our
country who are angry, scared and dissatisfied with their lives. It is easier to blame than to understand and come up with a better solution.
So many value entertainment over education because it is easier and provides instant gratification.
Our profit driven press and politicians prey on this.

It is really up to our consumers that dominate our economy to be more open minded and critical of who and where they get their news from.
If you understand the biases and agendas of the news media up front and if you are willing to listen to opposing views then there is a
chance for reform. If you stop getting all your "news" from one source or a pundit we can become a more informed and objective public.
If you could make the time to educate yourself and do some research you could then hold more news outlets to higher standards.
We have the power to change the news industry.

I read editorials from at lease 20 newspapers (I am set up on a custom program) from the most liberal to the most conservative. I watch
many news/editorial stations and listen to actual interviews with politician, historians and economists.....I have the time and motivation which
most people don't.

I have been volunteer teaching High School students a course in "Evaluating our News and Marketing Truths". It combines methods for researching
and fact checking news reporting and truth in advertising.
In 2015 I was honored to receive the "New York City Volunteer Teacher of The Year Award".

So yes our news industry has changed for the worse in many cases and we have to be diligent about fact checking and finding the honest news brokers.
But attacking the free press monolithically without finding solutions that can change it is counter productive.
Education is the key and I am lobbying the NY education department and city government to add a course like mine to the curriculum.....an uphill battle!
I think a national movement to adopt this teaching into our curriculum will greatly help to change our society for the better.

A lot of good points and I applaud your efforts. You are correct, I don't think opinion news is good in any way, but good lord it sells, holy smokes. One network who pays the most and can all because of ratings. I think I looked and they literally lead 24 out of 25 slots, so I get why those hosts make the money they do and I also get why trailing networks pay theirs to try and catch up. Nuts.

I guess what irritates me the most is seemingly the "regular" news outlets have adopted the same strategy from the front page to the last page, that is sad that it has come to that, but yes, you are correct, it is the only way to survive. Real news journalism just doesn't sell anymore or "we" have not found a way to make it sell. I feel like at most newspapers, traditional news outlets, they have all given up to a degree in that they can't survive without playing to opinion journalism. That is sad. You are correct, it is NOT all of them, but my goodness, I feel like it is a full scale exercise of epic academia to find the factual journalism!

I agree the press is good for exposure of corruption, dictators, authoritarian ideas, etc. BUT it needs to be done without an agenda and bias and honestly, we don't have that the majority of the time. It is not a level playing field and I know the old adage life is not fair, BUT when I was a kid, I thought (maybe I am looking back with rose colored glasses) BUT I thought that Walter Cronkite, Peter Jennings, Bernard Shaw, etc were fair. The only bias I really remember (and I was born a decade after) was the "Kennedy Legacy", there was a public protection of "Camelot" until there wasn't. The exposure of the Kennedy family in general came out as more and more memoirs and people passing on. That said, I understand why that was in place, it was the respect for the office of the President of the USA. Even Nixon carried on and gained respect after his debacle, again, I would like to believe it is a respect for the office.

SO, in conclusion, I don't think we really are after anything different and I believe that is what most of our Country wants, we are a majority in thought but a minority in representation!

On a lighter note that affects everyone. I read and I cant find it right now but it was a white paper of sorts written in plain English that discussed how highly rate cable news shows have put a severe hurt on what we all consider "normal" tv. Basically, it is very hard to greenlight serial dramas, action shows or even comedies that last. In other words, traditional television shows used to have 26 plus eps a season and they usually had an overall story arc. Now, it is hard and most shows barely make the 22 ep max and are more likely the 13 ep mini season or worse - cancelled all together. Additionally, getting a show to last 5 years is a miracle. The only shows that really compete are the reality dramas. Kind of nuts don't you think when you remember all of the television shows over time that were real wonders - Dallas, Hawaii Five O, Macgyver, Magnum PI . Today, the redos actually last longer than new shows. One show that seemingly bucked the trend is the Law And Order Series and the CSI series. However, even those had to use various spinoffs to accomplish the same. Crazy.

TD