A couple of weeks ago I subscribed to my local newspaper, The Freelance Star. I was hoping to avoid online news sources a bit, and be able to keep up on local news while avoiding the web site / Facebook page, and the community of bigoted racists that seem to live in the comments there. After a couple of weeks. I'm not really impressed and questioning if it's worth even the paltry $12 a month I'm paying.

1. The Section A news is often only 4-6 pages. I do appreciate the longer form writing and lack of ranting I find there, and I do feel like I'm staying informed while still avoiding the worst of online. However, I think I could get the same from skimming BBC.com every morning.

2. The sports section is useless to me. I don't care about local high school sports, and any professional / college sports I care about I'm following in near real time, so I don't need a newspaper for results.

3. The local news section has been forgettable, but that might be the time of year. Did I really need a feature article on why people go out on Black Friday?

4. Why is Dear Abby still published, and who is reading it?

5. The comics I care about are delivered via RSS feeds every day, and only one of them is in the paper anyway.

6. People still check stock prices in the newspaper?

7. I'm pretty sure over 50% of the paper is ads on any given day. That was 95% on Thanksgiving.

8. The paper is physically smaller than it used to be, and I think the font is smaller too. Or that might be my aging eyes. Either way, it's hard to read.

9. I could not care less about the lifestyle, religion, or any of the other fluff sections that make up the majority of the paper.

10. Even with all the ads, almost none are relevant to me. I'm not car or electronics shopping, and the stuff we buy at the grocery store is almost never connected to a coupon. We aren't the types to change stores weekly to save $10, so I'm not going to comparing the price of a gallon of milk at Giant, Wegman's, and Weis to plan our shopping trip. We are going to Wegman's every Sunday, at least until the Lidl opens up. (We did try Weis when it opened up. Didn't seem any cheaper than Wegman's and the selection is more limited.)

Local news is important. Somebody needs to be attending the city council meetings and reporting on what happens there. I wonder if a weekly local paper is a viable business model? I feel compelled to read the paper if I'm paying for it. I'll give it a few more weeks, but the early returns are not promising.

In the storied 20 year history of ODonnellWeb we have never endorsed a candidate for any office. However, the events of 2016 leave us no choice but to endorse Hillary Clinton for President. The simple fact is that she is the only one running even remotely qualified for the job. She spent 8 years in the White as First Lady, she was in the Senate for 12 years, and she was Secretary of State. We are quite impressed by Jill Stein's time on town council. but it doesn't quite measure up. Likewise, Gary Johnson was a decent governor for NM, however he did it during a booming economy. He didn't have to make any tough calls, like remembering the name of a foreign leader.

Over her career Clinton has been a tireless advocate for important issues such as children's health care and the rights of women to not be sexually assaulted by an orange asshole, or asshole of any color for that matter. Yes, she may a little too chummy with Wall Street, but at least she will keep the SEC intact, unlike Gary Johnson, who apparently looks at the 2008 financial meltdown and wonders how much farther he can push it with even more unrestrained capitalism.

We have surveyed our overseas networks of friends via Twitter and Facebook, and 100% of them have asked us what the hell is wrong with our country that anybody can take Trump seriously for anything. These are people that live in counties with functioning health care systems that don't bankrupt families, education systems that result in citizens smart enough to recognize that Trump is a joke, and transportation systems that don't grind to a halt at the sight of a roundabout. They are clearly smarter than us, and we should heed their concerns.

Trump is a sexual predator that has bilked investors and taxpayers out of billions, and vendors out of hundreds of millions of dollars, while screwing over three wives. His VP thinks evolution and climate change are liberal conspiracies. Gary Johnson is a decent enough person, just hopelessly naive about the effects of unrestrained capitalism and market based solutions to problems markets can't solve. I don't disagree with Jill Stein on much. but a local politician winning the White House and getting shit done is a movie plot, not the basis of real life change.

Our best bet for a more progressive future starts with electing Hillary Clinton as President in November.

Aren't you glad we have all these super smart people making sure we don't screw up?

When you need to hide your guns in plain sight.

From the 2016 Republican Party Platform, as adopted on July 18...

We uphold the right of individuals to keep and bear arms, a natural inalienable right that predates the Constitution and is secured by the Second Amendment. Lawful gun ownership enables Americans to exercise their God-given right of self- defense for the safety of their homes, their loved ones, and their communities.

We salute the Republican Congress for defending the right to keep and bear arms by preventing the President from installing a new liberal majority on the Supreme Court. The confirmation to the Court of additional anti-gun justices would eviscerate the Second Amendment’s fundamental protections. Already, local officials in the nation’s capital and elsewhere are defying the Court’s decisions upholding an individual right to bear arms as affirmed by the Supreme Court in Heller and McDonald. We support firearm reciprocity legislation to recognize the right of law-abiding Americans to carry firearms to protect themselves and their families in all 50 states. We support constitutional carry statutes and salute the states that have passed them. We oppose ill-conceived laws that would restrict magazine capacity or ban the sale of the most popular and common modern rifle. We also oppose any effort to deprive individuals of their right to keep and bear arms without due process of law.

We condemn frivolous lawsuits against gun manufacturers and the current Administration’s illegal harassment of firearm dealers. We oppose federal licensing or registration of law-abiding gun owners, registration of ammunition, and restoration of the ill-fated Clinton gun ban. We call for a thorough investigation — by a new Republican administration — of the deadly “Fast and Furious” operation perpetrated by Department of Justice officials who approved and allowed illegal sales of guns to known violent criminals.

Contrast that with Hillary's view of the 2nd Amendment...

"If it is a constitutional right, then it, like every other constitutional right, is subject to reasonable regulation."

As with most on the left, there's no part of the Constitution she doesn't seek to destroy.

Also known as "progressives."

He's doing exactly what he said he'd do.


H/T to Ballseye's Boomers.