cycling, coping and moving beyond cocoon-bubble

[shootingstar]

Only until a few days ago, I returned to baby distance bike rides since we had some huge snowfalls and very cold temp. ---25 to wind chill -30 degrees C.

With the exception of commenters on my personal blog, Teamestrogen forums and another male-dominant American, dominant Internet forum for the past decade, I don't have any other dialogue with Americans.
I will say this: I understand this is a cycling/fitness forum and needs to remain that way. The current situation in the U.S. which can have some reverberations in Canada has caused this for me: I have closed off a blog post that I wrote a few years about the Canada -U.S. 49th parallel border as a CAnadian tourist: what I've seen from the perspective as a cyclist, bus rider, train rider and hiker. There are border points which I've gone through from British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.
And with it, I have always treasured my CAnadian passport. I make sure it's renewed, etc. Like many CAnadians, even on domestic airflights we use our Canadian passport as the strongest govn't ID. Yea, I fly several times/annually within Canada and over 90% of people around me in the line-ups, show their Canadian passport. NOne of us, are boarding an international flight at that time. Honest, I am proud to show my Canadian passport.


I have also told people, I haven't been to Asia yet. I've never seen Asia yet in person. I know this sounds odd/terrible but that is deliberate on my part to get some people to change their mind that the face they see, someone like me they meet on the street, is never assume their country is overrun with "foreigners", etc. The same problems that happen in U.S. at times, happens at times in Canada.

Just to let you know: I'm reading the Washington Post several times / wk. In past years, I didn't read any American newspaper --except 2-3 times per year. I figure it's a good starting point.

[smilingcat]

I'm not so sure about getting your info from an American papers. They have to watch their bottom line and access to the politicians who make the news. Since your DH speaks fluent German, why not get him a subscription to Der Spiegel or freebie access. It's bit more in depth than Times magazine and definitely much better than most American papers I think. If you or he want more substance, you can get a subscription to Die Zeit. Typisch Deutch price (expensive) but well worth it.

Or go for BBC news. You should be able to get BBC World News. It's in British English so should have no problems understanding it.

Or if you understand French, Le Monde is another fantastic and well respected "rag"

Today's Washington Post is far cry from Watergate days with Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. I'm getting old... I was reminiscing just the other day when a store clerk said we didn't have to show our IDs for a senior discount Came home and was listening to "What the World Needs Now", "Abraham, Martin and John", and Pete Segers "Where have all the flowers gone" on a lighter side of things "Georgie Girl" some Petula Clark, "The Way We Were"... I thought republican party was finished, history, with the scandal. But I guess its the dems who have decided to blink.

[shootingstar]

I'm not so sure about getting your info from an American papers. They have to watch their bottom line and access to the politicians who make the news. Since your DH speaks fluent German, why not get him a subscription to Der Spiegel or freebie access. It's bit more in depth than Times magazine and definitely much better than most American papers I think. If you or he want more substance, you can get a subscription to Die Zeit. Typisch Deutch price (expensive) but well worth it.

Or go for BBC news. You should be able to get BBC World News. It's in British English so should have no problems understanding it.

Or if you understand French, Le Monde is another fantastic and well respected "rag"

Today's Washington Post is far cry from Watergate days with Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. I'm getting old... I was reminiscing just the other day when a store clerk said we didn't have to show our IDs for a senior discount Came home and was listening to "What the World Needs Now", "Abraham, Martin and John", and Pete Segers "Where have all the flowers gone" on a lighter side of things "Georgie Girl" some Petula Clark, "The Way We Were"... I thought republican party was finished, history, with the scandal. But I guess its the dems who have decided to blink.

So what can I consult for national American press? I see no other alternative, from what you've said so far. Not TV --when I don't get it and besides, it's soundbytes and shorter news with too much sensationalism and focus on visuals. I agree that BBC news gives the most "international" flavour of news.

By the way on a male dominant cycling forum, in an area we're all talking about news, truth and Trumpster right now. It is rather interesting the willingness of men to talk and critique U.S. president /current situation vs... this forum. It's civilized conversation with some minor jokes which is a good thing so far. In the past, there was a lot more mud-slinging...in the past decade. I make this observation as a participant here and there for the same amount of years.

So where do folks here talk about all this upsetting stuff that's happening in the U.S. , if it isn't just with face to face people?

[emily_in_nc]

So where do folks here talk about all this upsetting stuff that's happening in the U.S. , if it isn't just with face to face people?

Facebook and Daily Kos for me, mostly. LOTS of discussion in the comments of the various articles there.

[ny biker]

Actually I think the Washington Post has changed recently, for the better. For a while they were cutting costs by getting rid of a lot of really good writers. I have numerous reasons for hating Amazon but since Jeff Bezos bought the Post, I think they have turned things around. They did excellent work investigating and writing about Trump during the campaign, so much so that I became a subscriber. I also like Vox.com, which was started by a former Post columnist/blogger. I also agree about the BBC -- when I stopped reading the Post's website for news a few years back I started to check the BBC's site.

I think we have had limited discussions here about politics because this forum was set up to be free of that sort of conversation.

My passport expired some years ago and I never got around to renewing it. I think at this point it's been expired too long and I may need to get a new one. I have no plans to travel out of the country, but you never know.

[Crankin]

I am very happy the Boston Globe is still an in depth newspaper, that is not afraid to print opinions of all kinds. Yes, it has a liberal slant, but since the majority of people here are very progressive, it's all good to me. I am one of the few people I know that still gets the paper in paper form. I love the ritual of sitting with it and eating breakfast daily. I can read it on the I Pad (stemming from a horrible paper delivery person in my last house and an 800 ft. driveway that was icy in the winter), but I generally reserve that for when we are away. I also read the New Yorker magazine weekly. I started getting it because I felt ignorant compared to my other English teacher colleagues when I was teaching, but there are lots of politically based articles by really good writers. I have learned so much! Yes, I read the fiction, too, but sometimes I have to force myself, as it's not always fun reading.
I read some things online, but nothing regularly. I get newsfeeds from several liberal groups. I also watch the national news nightly. I have found that CBS is really digging in with detailed, serious stories since the election and they are not letting up on Trump. I used to watch NBC news at night, but, about 15 years ago, our stations switched affiliations, and I could not abide the local news on the new NBC station, so I started watching CBS.
My son, in the military is addicted to NPR. He has it on all of the time, on his computer while he is studying (in his last semester, yay!). I honestly don't like the sound of the reporters, as they sound kind of monotonous to me. I know it's a silly reason, but I tried listening, but quit.

[Helene2013]

I like to read a few on-line accessible for free (at least a few articles until you need to get a paid memberships) newspapers from other countries. I like the NYTimes, some from France and England and a few across Canada. I read the local ones for Montreal but get fed up of the same old same old stuff...

My passeport has expired this past December and because of our Cdn $ so weak vs US$ and the Trump issues, border crossing across USA becoming more of a hassle than anything else, I have decided not to renew it for now and I already booked our summer vacation and will remain in Canada. Not happy as we love heading to Nashville or Colorado to visit friends and ride bikes, etc but it is a choice I made and will live with it. We used to cross the borders to head to Vermont or Mass for cycling and shopping (while camping), even for long weekends only, but because of Trump and our weak $Cdn we've stopped it all.

Maybe next year things will have improved on the political side and exchange $ will be better, then we'll resume our US traveling but for now, for every $1,000US I spent when in the USA, it costs me right now $350 more for nothing in return because of the exchange rate... that is a lot of money when we are on a month long trip. I could not travel last summer to the USA (nor Canada) as we had to spend over $6,000 on our pets' surgeries and missed it. Again this coming summer there are no US trips but at least I can plan something while remaining in Canada. Can't get everything they say...

[Geonz]

My journalist friend passed away Dec. 28 suddenly... but he had noted that teh washington post has been doing more consistent solid reporting of late. (Some stuff is still, oh, celebrity kinds of things...)

This infographic has been making the rounds -- and getting good feedback from people I respect
(here's a link that prob'ly will look better

[Helene2013]

Thank you Geonz. I like that infographic. I will keep it for looking at some of those newspapers later on.

[lph]

My journalist friend passed away Dec. 28 suddenly... but he had noted that teh washington post has been doing more consistent solid reporting of late. (Some stuff is still, oh, celebrity kinds of things...)

This infographic has been making the rounds -- and getting good feedback from people I respect
(here's a link that prob'ly will look better

Yep, based on a similar overview I've started following Wall Street Journal and The Hill. Both to balance out my own bias (and that of all my friends), but also in an effort to understand more. The comment sections are very useful, reasonable people who disagree politely are a great resource for learning new things.

[shootingstar]

As mentioned earlier, I skim Washington Post daily for past 2 months.

From Canadian perspective/news media: Globe and Mail (national news), National Post (a little more right wing), Vancouver Sun, Toronto Star and my city's newspapers online.. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) website (they have tv, radio also). I do regional news skimming since I've lived in 3 different cities and sometimes there are different regional differences.

This is Canada's rate of rejection for cases heard by the Immigration and Refugee Board, it is Canadian federal government tribunal that hears cases of people wanting to claim asylum/refugee status:

In 2015, more than 6,400 claims referred to the Immigration and Refugee Board were either rejected (5,332) or withdrawn (1,085), according to data the board provided to Global News http://globalnews.ca/news/3268281/as..._campaign=2014