The Coffee House

[terri37 8]

The New England coast can make you weep with its beauty! It has scenery to rival the CA coast. Heck, the lighthouses along Michigan's Great Lakes are beautiful, for that matter.

North America in general is pretty amazing.

 

[smoke665]

North America in general is pretty amazing

No argument there.

 

[limr32 1]

@limr and @Wayday rather than delve into a debate on things that will most likely get me censored by the moderators, I'll simply repeat this line from my earlier post.

"When everyone, realizes that they have to act on what is the best for the country as a whole and not their own personal agendas, then maybe change will come."

Then I'll simply reiterate my comment as well: the idea that "acting on what's best for the country" is in direct opposition to "continuing to speak one's native language" is a false dichotomy that drastically oversimplifies an imaginary problem.

The subscribers' forums are available if further discussion is desired.

 

[smoke665]

The subscribers' forums are available if further discussion is desired.

I'll pass on the subscribers forum as it falls somewhere in the realm of the 24 hr news channels which I also pass on. Lots of negativity and little in the way of solutions.

 

[Gary A.]

Gary likes Netflix.

 

[Gary A.]

Gary likes cable news channels, CNN, MSNBC and Fox.

 

[limr32 1]

Gary likes movies, too.

 

[Gary A.]

Gary likes movies, too.

Yep, he's about to drop one into the player.

 

[Gary A.]

A movie and a glass of vino. (Split)

 

[Frank F.]

Not really. I tried to be helpful and funny but they just tried to win a rethoric war. We were on the same page but obviously not in the same book and on the same planet ....

 

[Frank F.]

Another non-political difference comes to mind when I think of Germany and the US: Even on a lonely beach Americans love to see your finer parts covered all the time while in Germany esp Eastern Germany it is totally acceptable to spontaneusly jump into a river or lake "as god made us" if you eg did not think about swimming and forgot you trunks...

... adversely it is considered rude to wear anything but your own skin on FKK beaches (FKK = free body culture), which are defined as RAW ONLY.

So when in Germany be ready to face Adam and Eve in the raw, even in the middle of the Munic public park called the "English Garden". US-compatible representation: English Garden, Munich

 

[smoke665]

Another non-political difference comes to mind when I think of Germany and the US:

Ah but times may be changing slightly. We travel a lot in an RV and have noticed that there are more resorts geared toward the "all natural" experience. Earlier this month I was surprised to note that there was one just down the road. I knew this because the sign at the road was pretty clear about the amenities. What surprised me was it's location in an otherwise conservative family vacation area.

I thought it would be a good place to practice my "people" photography but the wife wasn't buying it

 

[smoke665]

Gary likes cable news channels, CNN, MSNBC and Fox.

The problem I have with all the cable news channels is the commentary. In my previous ,news days we were very careful to report the news, and not become a part of the news, unlike today's "Jerry Springerish" fare. I haven't looked at the stats lately but back in 2012 Pew did a study and found that 85% of MSNBC's programming was commentary, Fox was 56%, and CNN was 46%. I would suspect that it's only gotten worse. The other issue is that to many otherwise intelligent people in this country form opinions based on the comments provided by the "so called" experts, who spout their opinions as the gospel, never stopping to think who might be actually paying for the "opinions", nor doing their own research. If ever we needed a reincarnation of Walter Kronkite, it's now.

 

[Gary A.]

Gary likes cable news channels, CNN, MSNBC and Fox.

The problem I have with all the cable news channels is the commentary. In my previous ,news days we were very careful to report the news, and not become a part of the news, unlike today's "Jerry Springerish" fare. I haven't looked at the stats lately but back in 2012 Pew did a study and found that 85% of MSNBC's programming was commentary, Fox was 56%, and CNN was 46%. I would suspect that it's only gotten worse. The other issue is that to many otherwise intelligent people in this country form opinions based on the comments provided by the "so called" experts, who spout their opinions as the gospel, never stopping to think who might be actually paying for the "opinions", nor doing their own research. If ever we needed a reincarnation of Walter Kronkite, it's now.

In Gary's opinion cable "news" is closer to 100% commentary. For real news Gary looks to mainstream newspapers, LA Times (of course), NY Times, Washington Post, and AP. In the evenings, after a cycle of cable news, Gary and Mary Lou will watch the local Tv channels ... more news and less commentary. Gary is highly suspect of news sources of which he didn't grow up with or know them in his previous life. Things like BuzzFeed, Huffington, Mother Jones, Breitbart, Infowars, Politico, et al, Gary is very very leery. Because Gary grew up in a political family and later became a journalist, he devours news, especially world event and political.

Unfortunately and in general, because the stakes are so high in politics for special interests, there is a lot of money to be made generating and planting fabricated, made up, stories on web sites that look legitimate but were actually created to host "fake" news. Real news isn't cheap. Real news requires resources and money and staff to research and interview. Investigative reporting is terribly expensive, all the hours, weeks even months of research and following leads and not generating anything printable/airable is very very expensive. Few news organizations have the resources for investigative reporting. News organizations have staff who get paid week-in and week-out cross checking stories for accuracy prior to publication, staffers who check grammar and word usage.

You are right smoke, to beware of cable news. As it is far more commentary than news.

 

[smoke665]

For real news Gary looks to mainstream newspapers,

My news feeds are set to search primarily on articles on those companies in which I have an interest in or am looking for future opportunities. Other than that I generally scan the WP,WSJ, and USA Today. During the day I might leave it on FoxB or CNBC for little tidbits. Local Morning and Evening news round out the news.

Regardless of the choice, you still have to take what you read sometimes with a grain of salt. Funny point to illustrate - Many years ago our steel plant closed putting so many people out of work. The WSJ contacted our mayor at the time (a shrewd politician) about coming to town to do a story of the sad state of affairs. The Mayor and a couple of other good old boys, met the reporters at the airport shortly after lunch on the appointed day. They immediately drove them to the largest and most popular country western honky tonk in the county "The Fuzzy Duck". A rowdy place where the music and food was always good, and the females plentiful and friendly. By the time the Duck closed at 4 am, they only had time to gather their stuff for the ride back to the airport. The delegation had to help the still inebriated reporters on the plane. A few days later the headline read something to the effect "Economy Bad, But The Fuzzy Duck Is Alive And Well" with glowing reports of prosperity in the midst of adversity.