Puffs

Living in a ‘rural’ area of the United States, I suspect many of us receive our National news from our TV. We are not forced to be instantly informed and ‘live’ in a society and work place where the national news is the primary source of discussion and entertainment. Our TVs have become one of our primary sources of information and entertainment.

TV is not all bad, but it certainly is not all good either. I know of individuals who do not have a TV in their homes.

Over the past many years I have received a few bits of advice: “Don’t watch FOX news on TV . . .” or “Rush Limbaugh doesn’t know a thing . . .” Etc.

What I have concluded from the well intentioned (if not sometimes silly) advice was that all accurate “News” come from the major networks: NBC, ABC or CBS, or even CNN. Those others sources cannot be trusted.

Interesting outlook on life. They conclude their source of news from one place is enough and can be trusted to be ‘true and accurate.’

All this, in spite of my inclination to “get my news from more than one source.”

I have noted the above several times before, but wanted to repeat it before starting the following.

“The Equality Act” is the latest bit of black magic the new federal governmental people are trying to tell us what is good for us. The Equality Act isn’t getting a lot of publicity, but the House of Representatives has passed it on a straight line political party vote. The traditional “News” outlets certainly are promoting it from what I’ve seen.

To help circulate a little information about this “Equality Act” consider the following. Most all of the following comes from the United State Council of Catholic Bishops. To be honest, I haven’t seen any of it on the national news shows.

“Human dignity is central to what all of us believe.  Every person is made in the image of God and should be treated accordingly, with respect and compassion. That means we need to honor every person’s right to be free of unjust discrimination.

“The Equality Act purports to protect people experiencing same-sex attraction or gender discordance from unjust discrimination. Although this is a worthy purpose, the Equality Act does not serve it. And instead of respecting differences in beliefs about marriage and sexuality, the Equality Act discriminates against people of faith precisely because of those beliefs.  In the process, the Equality Act codifies the new ideology of “gender” in federal law, dismissing sexual difference and falsely presenting “gender” as only a social construct.

“The Equality Act: • Exempts itself from the bipartisan Religious Freedom Restoration Act, in an explicit and unprecedented departure from one of America’s founding principles, thereby infringing on religious freedom and making it more difficult for individuals to live out their faith.

“• Forces religiously operated spaces and establishments, such as church halls, to either host functions that violate their beliefs or close their doors to their communities.

“• Requires women to compete against men and boys in sports, and to share locker rooms and shower facilities with men and boys.

“• Forces faith-based charities that serve all people to violate their religious beliefs, and threatens the welfare of thousands of beneficiaries of charitable services such as shelters and foster care agencies, by forcing a multitude of them to be shut down.

“• Jeopardizes existing prohibitions on the use of federal taxpayer funds for abortion, likely pressuring or even mandating the performance of abortions by health care providers in violation of their consciences, and ultimately ending more human lives.

“• Hinders quality health care, by forcing health care professionals, against their best medical judgment, to support treatments and procedures associated with “gender transition.” 

“The Catholic Church is the largest non-governmental provider of human services in the United States, helping millions of Americans in need through its parishes, schools, hospitals, shelters, legal clinics, food banks and charities.  Our core beliefs about the dignity of the human person and the wisdom of God’s design motivate both our positions on marriage, life, and sexuality, and our call to serve those most in need and the common good. By running roughshod over religious liberty, the Equality Act directly undermines the Church’s ability to fulfill that call.”

I have “never” heard NBC, ABC or CBS report on the above view points. Hence one of the reasons I often try to present an opposite point of view from what is so often, the only thing reported on the above news outlets.

I am no smarter or have any better insight concerning the national news than anyone else, but I do listen to both the usually liberal sources, NBC, ABC or CBS, but I also listen to, or read other news outlets.

A O

I thank Royce Schott for his remarks in last week’s edition of the Locomotive-Gazette. He has practiced what I’ve been preaching for many a year: “Get you news from more than one source.”

I have to admit that when I first saw the figures I used, I wondered how accurate they were and I did not use them right away, but checked into them. What I found was not identical to what I had, but they seemed to favor those figures.

I was not aware of the source he gave for his figures as (unless I forgot) this was the first time I’ve said anything about COVID-19 numbers from any state.

I will however, make a statement about sources . . . Ten, 15, or maybe it was 20 years ago. This “Fact Checking” thing was really promoted as being “The” one way to tell if something was correct. I used several of those at times.

Until, I began to wonder about how good they were and I looked to see if anyone was ‘checking’ the “Fact Checkers.”

I was amazed at what I found. Quite a few of them were nothing more than a person (in one case a man and his wife) providing the ‘Fact Checked’ information from the basement of their home. Little or no investigation went into their opinions. And yes, the Republicans have their ‘Fact Checkers’ and the Democrats have their ‘Fact Checkers,’ and they don’t always agree with each other.

I have since questioned most sources, even information coming from Federal sources and universities, unless it is something from scientist, and then I try to determine if they have put any “political” spin on the report.

I have no quarrel with Royce as I’m grateful for his remarks. If I’m wrong, I like to be told I’m wrong, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate his remarks and I like to think we’re still friends.

I would however, like an explanation as to why (using his figures) New York (with fewer COVID cases) had more deaths than Florida. (New York had .028 percent of their COVID cases die and Florida had .016 percent COVID cases die.)

I repeat, if all you get your News from is NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, or one of those celebrity ‘Talk Shows’ on one of those channels, please search for additional sources.

A O