Weekend Reading: June 17, 2017

Welcome to Father’s Day weekend. Here are the most interesting blogs, stories, videos and books from the week (from what I saw and thought, at least). I’ve only got a short post for you today, as I’m in the midst of a two-day golf tournament with my dad (can you think of a better way to spend Father’s Day weekend???).

Let’s get going…

One thing that caused me to shake my head this week was the continual blatant opinion-based headlines and “news reporting” from the news networks and major media outlets. It’s as if they are in a race to outdo one another in showing how partisan they can be. Here’s a screenshot of my iPhone’s curated stories from the week. Notice how blatantly partisan each news organization is (of course the left controls most of these outlets so they stand out the most):

Then, of course, there were items like this: Trusted Source In News. CNN Claimed Trump Did Not Visit Scalise In The Hospital

This is why I don’t watch cable news if I can help it at all. Gone are the days of real reporting, where journalists were scrupulously ensuring their stories were balanced and fair. Al Mohler, who I really respect a great deal, likes to point out how papers like the NY Times and Washington Post have all these editorial levels, which separates them from the average blog or radio talk show you would consume.But the reason I wanted to point this out was that if you’re watching or listening to this stuff for several hours each day, then you are necessarily feeding a certain perspective. A couple of hours of talk radio each day and you will think Obama is the spawn of Satan, and Trump is God’s gift to mankind.

But it Mohler’s point makes it all the worse when there can be layer upon layer of editorial input, and still, you end up with this trash – the TV networks are especially bad. Fox, CNN, and MSNBC are pretty much unwatchable for me.

I guess I’m only bringing this up because I know a lot of people who listen to talk radio all day or watch Fox or whatever, and they are just being spoonfed everything they already agree with. The same goes for the other side. It’s such a disservice to our country that real reporting is vanishing, mostly because our minds are being closed to any opportunity for checking our worldview or assumptions. And frankly, if you’re a conservative or a liberal, you don’t need someone telling you their opinion about politics all day long, once you read some straight journalism on the news of the day, I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to form a coherent opinion of your own. .

Rant over…

3 Stories I saved for my own weekend reading:

WSJ: Mueller Probe Examining Whether Donald Trump Obstructed Justice

NYTimes: How We Became Bitter Political Enemies

Challies: Consecutive Exposition Is Not the Only Way

And from the continual theme of “words matter”: A Judge Just Cited a Trump Tweet When Ruling Against Him. Again.

US OPEN: He Brought the U.S. Open to a Cow Pasture. All It Cost Was His Fortune.

Foreign Policy: Otto Warmbier, Cincinnati native held by North Korea, comes home in a coma

Mohler for Ligonier: How Will We Live Now?

Stupid News of the Week: Demi Moore reveals she’s missing her two front teeth

Capitalism Vs. Socialism…from National Journal: The Kids Aren’t Alright

Batman Died: Why Adam West will always be the true Batman Forever