Since my start as a podcaster when I produced The SuperflyOz Podcast from 2017 to 2019, and then when I continued my punditry under my current blog, I have been on a continued quest for seeking out the best sources of information on news and events.
The process of finding sources, especially in the current American media environment, is challenging to say the least. With the fragmentation of the news media into a “me versus you” thinking, which is more noise than knowledge, in my opinion, one who wishes to know must be quite selective in their news choices.
What I have come to discover in the four years of seeking, is that the sources of information to trust are going to be ones that other like-minded people like you listen to first.
This was the case with Tim Pool. Until my friend who tracks politics told me about his Youtube channel, of which he does 20-minute spots and longer spots, I would have never known this voice existed. So, about a year and one half ago, I started listening.
Now I will say I don’t agree with everything he says, and sometimes I find his points of view opposite to what I am thinking. But he does back up his stories with sources that are fact-checked, and typically does not expound or “add fluff” and assumptions to the subject from the sources.
So, I listen to at least one of his episodes during the week, typically on my drive to the office.
Another source that came to my attention, and I pay attention to now, came from a source on Facebook. Not entirely sure who it was, but they had a link to the musings of Heather Cox Richardson.
In her public profile, Cox Richardson is described as an American historian and professor of history at Boston College, where she teaches courses on the American Civil War. She currently provides her insight on current political activities on her Facebook page just about every evening (Hawai‘i time). Some of her posts are more a digest of activities that happened that day – a Supreme Court judgment, something important said by someone, etc.
Sometimes she will do longer single-subject pieces which have an academic and analytical perspective. While some will say that Richardson leans Left in her perspective, I find her angling more toward the center, politics-wise.
PC: “walter cronkite” by theNerdPatrol is licensed under CC BY 2.0
But don’t be fooled, she does not like Trump and is not gentile with the current activities of the national Republican Party – just warning my more Conservative friends. I typically read her stuff just before or during my evening walk with my dog, Legacy.
A third source came from a fellow Hawai‘i blogger, Ian Lind. In a post that he put up a few months ago, he cited a news site called “Lawfare”. On the website, they have long-form articles on several subjects which they do deep dives on a variety of issues of the day.
What I find, though, more valuable is their daily news digest that you can get in your email. At their “subscribe” site you can sign up for their “Today’s Headlines and Commentary”. The email that comes to you will take no more than 2 or three minutes to read – five if you read every single word. But if you’re a person that wants to know the most important news going on, and at least have knowledge of it for watercooler talk, this is a digest to consider. I typically read it on my lunch break as they transmit during the morning time, Hawai‘i time.
While I might not speak about the topics in these sources, on my blog, more times than not I am speaking about these things with other pols in my circle. Being informed without the fluff is important especially when, at times, you and your friends start taking on hefty political subjects.
But the seeking continues. If you have one that I should look at, that is not entirely in the mainstream, let me know by posting it on my Politics Hawai‘i Facebook page.