Do you find the news cycle overwhelming to the point that you're not clear on what is going on?

Yes and no.

There is so much information available today via internet, tv, radio, print, that it is impossible to keep up. We are drowning in it. So in that sense yes. But so much of it is bullshit or selective, there is only a very small amount of valuable information. So in that sense no. The difficulty we face today, contrary to the difficulties of a century ago, is the time required to locate the valuable information and, because it is so scattered, to synthesise it.

I have a pretty good idea (certainly not complete) of what's going on in the spheres that matter to me but I am cranky about how much effort I have to put into it.

I first heard about this being used on oatmeal, which is supposed to be healthy. I ended up switching to organic oatmeal.

It's my strategy and works for me. I can keep up with the news without spending a lot of time.

Per your thoughts -

I use a variety of sources with different backgrounds. Headlines from four commercial news sites plus sometimes the national broadcaster, current affairs articles from a few independent sites. They contradict each other so between them I get a reasonable view.

It's a different situation in the US.

First of all I don't extend trust to ANY news organizations, at all. To me every news organization, including independents like "Democracy Now!" is seriously tainted with biases. Fox News is similar to your Sky News AU except Fox is in the bag for everything deep-state right so can't be trusted a lot either.

What I do trust are individuals with track records of reasonable accuracy. I've already named a few here.

The point is I don't trust news organizations to say the actual truth the same way I don't trust businesses to make decent moral decisions.

Tim described glyphosate as a "dessicant", IE it dries out vegetation, and he said that big farms use glyphosate as a treatment on crops being harvested to help with harvesting.

BULLSHIT I thought. "It's just a weedkiller".

Then I hopped online and did an AI query about agricultural uses of glyphosate. BINGO *ding* *ding* *ding* *ding* Timmy the Beanie was right!

Glyphosate is sprayed on all kinds of crops (wheat, barley, chickpea, canola, etc) to help with harvesting.

Glyphosate is officially in ALL of our corporate food. It's not an additive but it's used on living about to be harvested crops.

Do a search on "glyphosate inflammatory". Glyphosate fucks with your body. I have some chronic medical conditions and I've gotten very interested in "clean eating".

The point is, on even a minor geeky scientific point, he was 100% correct and I learned from his video.

I always thought O'Reilly was too mainstream so it's more of a recent thing that I've tuned into him. He seems to be somewhat of a voice of reason and will call Trump out when he sees fit, even though he considers him a friend.

That's too bad about Styx. Perhaps his fame got to him. Seem like a rational guy but it's hard buy him as credible when he keeps getting himself in trouble. I do recall the last couple videos I saw that, judging by his comments, many of his followers turned on him. He's not as smart as he portrays himself as.

Oh I was watching Steve Bannon for awhile but haven't turned in lately. He's usually on when I'm working but he tends to drone about the same stuff over and over again.

I've seen some O'Reilly videos and generally his takes seem good but I just tend to think of him as too mainstream to follow much. (I avoid most mainstream.) But I think he's OK, he's pretty much off the Fox plantation.

Styxhexenhammer666 has fallen off of a cliff. A year or so ago he was arrested for domestic violence in New Orleans, and he had quite a few videos where he's been back and forth for court appearances. I believe he's still wanted there. At home in Vermont he had a live in girlfriend who busted him in the face and broke out a front tooth which he has still not gotten fixed. Additionally he had charges for domestic violence and/or firearms in VT. At present it seems like he's living with a different girlfriend who has mental issues somewhere in NYC, basically avoiding being arrested on these warrants. Here's his Twitter - https://x.com/Styx666Official Just check out the comments on about any post.

He's a fucking mess right now, very broken and angry and on the run. It's very sad. I unsubscribed, his stuff has gotten so bad.

Do you have a strategy for keeping up with the current affairs?

I tend to scattershot my consumption with a bunch of Youtube channels about 70% on the conservative or former MAGA side and the remainder being independent skeptics' channels such as Jimmy Dore and Corbett Report. I especially gravitate to former military channels (big example, Shawn Ryan, but there are many others) because their analysis of events seems most realistic.

The last thing I do or would recommend is just listening to one side or one cluster of opinions.

I used to have a pretty good lock on reality. Up until maybe 2 years ago. Reality doesn't even seem like "a thing" now.