The Not Fake News Update, 9 July 2023

Hello, good evening, and welcome to another edition of the Not Fake News Update. Are you sitting comfortably? …Good.

It’s been a slow news week since the sub imploded, and media outlets around the world have begun poking random billionaires with long sticks to see if they can provoke them into doing something newsworthy. Alas for them, this has been ineffective thus far; however, there is still some hope of the Zuckerberg/Musk cage fight.

As always, however, things continue to happen around the world that major media has ignored and/or downplayed, though for what reason we at The Not Fake News can’t even hazard a guess. Lest our readers somehow miss something important, here are a few of the most newsworthy items:

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Donation-Based Media: How It Works

Or: I’m a Republican. Why the hell should I buy you a coffee, ya freeloader? Go get a job and buy your own damn coffee! I do my donating at church!

That’s what you’re thinking. I know because that’s the way I thought about it for a lot of years. Why should I pay for news when I get it for free? Why pay for a newspaper when I can just read it on their website? After all, I pay enormous sums for cable T.V., not to mention two different streaming services; CNN gives me news for free so everyone should!

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About The Student Loan Thing

EDITORIAL

This may startle some of our more conservative readers, but I’m actually in agreement with the dissenting opinion in Biden v. Nebraska, the recent 6-3 decision that struck down the Administration’s student loan forgiveness program.

I’ve got a bone to pick with Biden on this, mind you. It’s clearly Presidential overreach, a cash giveaway that, if the Court hadn’t stopped it, Congress would have. Since he obviously knew this going into it, that makes it a stunt to get votes — and a particularly cruel one, since an awful lot of people out there are very deeply in debt during what anyone but a Boomer would have to admit are some of the worst economic times since the Depression.

BUT. Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson are in the right, and the other six Justices in the wrong.

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BREAKING: Affirmative Action Is Racism

This morning, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down another 6-3 ruling, including the conservative majority and the moderate Chief Justice, striking down Affirmative Action in higher education as opposed to the principles of the Fourteenth Amendment.

(Incidentally: Groff v. DeJoy was also decided today, 9-0 in favor of the plaintiff, who sued on the basis of religious discrimination for being disciplined for choosing not to work Sundays. This is not minor, and should not be neglected in your attention.)

But what does this mean, and what is implied? What institutions are shaken, which are weakened and which strengthened? For this, a deeper analysis of the ruling is essential.

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Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

It’s a year since the Dobbs decision, and, at the moment when pregnancy charities anticipate a spike in demand for their services, donations have collapsed.

Leaving morality entirely to one side, let’s examine cold hard fact. The average price tag for an abortion is $1500; the cost of giving birth ranges between $12-25,000, not counting the $10,600 per year that a child costs to raise. And nobody is stepping up to pay it.

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The Not Fake News Update, 20 June 2023

The headlines are filled with up-to-date reporting of the missing submersible that carried high-ticket tourists to view the wreck of the Titanic, which is doubtless very exciting and interesting, especially to those involved.

But while the poor (or, rather, rich in money only) passengers remain suspended in a Heisenbergian limbo of uncertainty, other things are happening in the world and it’s worth not losing sight of them.

Read on for details!

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Obstruction Is Its Own Reward

The Secretary of Labor can’t get confirmed. Her own party is blocking her.

Normally, this wouldn’t be worth commenting on, even though Julie Su is not only fully qualified but also is actually doing the job right now. The Democrats, as we all know, are their own worst enemies and always have been. Rather than focusing on their opponents, they spend most of their time in office eating their own young. It’s been going on so long now, it’s acquired the force of tradition.

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The Not Fake News Update, 29 May 2023

They’ve made a deal on the debt ceiling with nearly a week to spare, and citizens across a relieved nation breathe a sigh of heartfelt relief following the close of this artificial crisis. After all, it only happens because politicians of both parties want it to, so they can blame the massive overwhelming national debt on each other.

It’s important to remember that, during this time of hype and propaganda, real events have actually continued to happen, some of which were even slightly important. For some insight into these news items, read on!

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Blacksmiths, A.I., and Artists

My people were blacksmiths.

My grandfather’s forge was a working concern through the 1980s. His neighbors would bring him holed pots, and when he was finished they’d be better than new.

Granted, this wasn’t his job in the 1980s; he’d retired long since. He was a machinist, trained to repair bombers in the Second World War. He worked in the family garage, and later on construction equipment. And he kept and used hammer and anvil from time to time.

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