The Itinerant Librarian: Journalism and News

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Saturday, January 10, 2026

Holiday Post 2025: What the heck happened?

Welcome to the fourth and last post in the 2025 holiday posts series. For me, being Puerto Rican, I am still in the holidays spirit well into January. In fact, as I am typing this, Tuesday was Dia de Reyes (Three Kings Day) in Puerto Rico and much of the Hispanic world. In Puerto Rico we keep going with "las octavitas." So still plenty of holiday cheer to go around. The weather has been between seriously cold and unseasonably warm this winter season so far. I do appreciate the warm days as it makes it easier for me to do my morning runs, but I am also aware it may be a sign of climate change getting worse. Best I can do is take it a day at a time.

In this post, I take a look at what happened in 2025. Boy, I thought 2024 was a pain in the ass, but damn, 2025 is a year I am definitely glad is gone. 2025 was a year I made sure to stay up to midnight not to celebrate but to make sure it got the fuck out of here. Not that 2026 is looking any better given that I woke up on Sunday, January 4th, 2026, logged into social media only to see people ranting about the Pendejo In Chief invading Venezuela (story via CBC) and kidnapping President Maduro. This will most likely make it to the top events list when I write the "what the heck happened?" post for 2026 next year. To be honest, as I am looking over the articles I am compiling for this year's summary, and I look back at the 2024 post, heck, 2024 is starting to look like a picnic compared to the hellscape of 2025, and sadly, it is not going to get better anytime soon.

Top news events of the year

Once again, the year that was is on track to be among the hottest on record. Al Jazeera reported 2025 was on track to tie for the second hottest year on record.
Truthout also covers the story of the 2025 top rank as one of the hottest years.
Time Magazine named the "architects," also known as the rich tech bros who threw money in, of artificial intelligence, better known as AI Slop, as their "person of the year." Story via BBC, but it has been covered in a few places. 2025 certainly feels as the year when those assholes really put in the effort to shove AI Slop into anything and everything. Sadly a lot of people, including some who should know better, keep falling for their scam machines.
For Counterpunch, 2025 was the year the U.S. stopped giving a fuck about democracy. From what I have read and learned, I think the U.S. never gave a fuck about it, or gave it lip service at most, but last year the American Empire did go into full overdrive.

What the heck happened?

(Big news overviews)

For 2025, I did not find much in terms of the usual big news summaries, like CNN for instance, or I did not find them as interesting, pretty much the same. What I did find was a variety of smaller and niche summaries of the year looking at a variety of topics, so here is a selection of what I found to help us recall what was going on, especially besides the usual.

In technology,

As if AI Slop was not bad enough, there are also hackers and cyberattacks. The Street looks some of the cyberattacks of 2025. It is the sort of stuff that makes you wish you could just go off the grid.
The Verge offers their tech year in review, and of course, AI Slop figures prominently. This is a podcast episode you can listen to.
Truthdig notes that 2025 was the year that tech bent the knee to Trump. I think they did more than just bend the knee. If you have not figured it out by now, the article explains how Big Tech was never liberal; they just kept a good mask on until now where we all can see them for the predatory assholes they really are.
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) presents The Breachies, the worst data breaches of the year.
EFF also has their 2025 in review feature.

In climate and environmental news, Grist notes that 2025 was the year the U.S. said fuck it on any efforts to address climate change while the rest of the world steps up as they see they need to do without the United States.
Despite all the awful stuff of 2025, the United Nations points out we did have some good health advances in 2025.
Type Investigations highlights their 5 must-read stories of the year.
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) has their most read posts of the year. Their summary: "The rise of authoritarianism was the big story of 2025, and the censorship that goes along with it. The resistance to the dismantling of democracy continues to be underreported. The power of tech bros looms. And Israel/Palestine continues to be the greatest international concern."
Pro Publica offers their most read stories of the year and their 25 investigations you may have missed. Some good stuff here.
Dissent Magazine also lists their most read stories.
Mother Jones offers their list of heroes and monsters of 2025, and boy did we have quite a few monsters this year.
Speaking of monsters, Counterpunch looks at the year that was 2025 in ICE abductions and abuses. Please note the story came out before ICE killed that woman up in Minnesota at the start of 2026.

Despite that, Counterpunch somehow managed to find 10 good things that happened in 2025.

FactCheck.org looks at the "Whoppers of 2025." No, these are not burgers. These are the big lies of the year, in other words, a sampling of politicians talking.
Open Secrets has a wrap up for 2025, and if you are interesting in topics like following the money this may be for you.
The Daily Yonder has their rural year in review.
Washington Blade has their top 10 LGBTQ+ national news stories.
In libraries and library science, LIS News has their 10 stories that shaped 2025. Yes, AI Slop made this list too.
In higher education.

Inside Higher Ed has a list of 16 nonprofit colleges that closed or died off in 2025.
Impact of Social Sciences looks at the culture of academic publishing in 2025 and they look at research in the age of AI.

In science.

Knowable Magazine offers their top science stories of the year.
Brujula Verde (Spanish language source) offers their 24 extraordinary archeological discoveries that amazed us.

Finally, here is what I often consider the best end of year wrap up, and that is the Rude Pundit's annual haiku end of year event. He has people submit a haiku over a few days, and he publishes them on his blog. The haikus are great brief summaries of what happened in the year and how people respond. I always enjoy reading these.

A bit from around the world

From Latin America:

Task Force on the Americas has their 2025 in review.
From Puerto Rico, Centro de Periodismo Investigativo has their list, in English, of their most read investigations for 2025. A lot of local corruption along with abuses from the gringo colonial overlords went on.
From Puerto Rico, La Perla del Sur reports that 2025 ended on the island with 426 homicides based on police reports.

Across the pond in the United Kingdom, Freedom News (UK) reports that "2025: A gilded year for the right, hubris fulfilled on the left."
Washington Blade lists their top 10 LGBTQ+ international stories.
The Walrus (Canada) has their 2025 year in review from around the world. They also report on the year in business, or as they say, a year without money (well, for the rest of us), and they managed to find some things to bring us joy.

Film, music, and television

While I do enjoy media, I am not obsessive about keeping up with the newest and latest. I will add that these days a lot of media comes out of the paid streamers, and since I do not subscribe to any of those, I just go on blissfully with my life. Usually I know enough of what is in film, music, and television to be aware. Like yes, I am aware such a show exists, but that may be about it. So looking over these lists helps me see in a quick glance what has been coming out and making waves for some people over the year. If any of you is a fan of anything that came out or was chosen this year, let me know. Maybe I will check it out.

Movies and film.

Here is Rolling Stone's list of best 25 movies. From the list, the new at this time Frankenstein and Weapons are the only ones I've heard about. I'd heard of Eddington only because I've seen it featured on some YouTube folks' worst films of the year list.
Rolling Stone also ranked their best horror films. Naturally, Frankenstein and Weapons made this list too. Sinners is the one I keep hearing about; I am a bit skeptical as I am not a fan of the "one actor playing twins" gimmick, but a vampire film does make me curious enough to seek it out down the road.
Out Magazine offers a list of 11 top LGBTQ+ films of the year. Only film I heard about from the list was the Wicked sequel, and probably because it is mainstream enough many, including me, would not have thought of it as an LGBTQ+ film. I also learned there is another remake of Kiss of the Spider Woman.
The Detroit Metro Times just lumped their lists of best films and television together, so here ya go.
And we need to have at least one worst movies list, and UPI delivers it. Aside from the Minecraft Movie, which has gotten panned in other places, the rest of the list items I had not heard about until now.

Television.

Here is Rolling Stone's best television list. Most of the stuff is from streamers because to be honest legacy television ain't putting out much worth a damn. From the list I've heard of Andor, mainly because Star Wars in social media often won't shut up about it. The other show on this list I've heard about is The Pitt, again, because folks on social media keep yapping about it. At times this is a reason I don't feel much of a need to seek out articles on a movie or show. Social media folks, if it is a big deal to them, will keep talking it up. If it sounds good, I look it up and add it to my list of things to watch. If it does not interest me, I had the title to the filter list on social media to not see it again.
Variety also has their best TV shows list. There is a bit of overlap with the previous list, but not much.
Out Magazine has their list of best LGBTQ+ shows for the year.
If reality TV is your thing, Reality Blurred has their list of the best reality TV for the year. They provide a small overview of the year, and the author notes the list is from shows they actually watched. To be honest, aside from a cooking show here or there, reality TV is just not my thing, and most of these again are on streamers. But feel free to comment and make a case why I should watch one of these shows or not.

Music.

The Guardian lists 50 best albums.
Variety has their list of best albums too.
Rolling Stone has a list of best Latin and Spanish language albums.
Out Magazine has their list of best LGBTQ+ albums and their list of best songs.
Louisville Public Media offers a list of 10 best classical music albums.

Books and reading

I already did a holiday post on books and reading, so this covers some lists I found interesting that I may have missed and/or came after that post, plus some trivia about books and reading. On a side note, let me mention that I will be writing and posting my end of year reading list and report later this month on this blog, so stay tuned to see what I read in 2025.

Literary Hub presents the 29 best (old) books they read in the year. Everyone always does the best books they read in the year, and they are usually books published in that same year. This is a nice idea for a change. There are a few really old books here and some interesting choices.
Inquest has their year in books. From this list, I have read This Book is Free and Yours to Keep (link to review).
Gizmodo had 20 authors pick out their favorite books of the year in science fiction, fantasy, and horror.
The Comics Beat has their list of best comics of the year.
Not every book is great or good, and Steve Donoghue lists his worst fiction of 2025. Do you agree? Have you read any of these? Feel free to comment.
Literary Hub also has a list of the most scathing reviews of 2025.
Claridad (Puerto Rico, Spanish language) looks at the vices and virtues of end of year book lists. They also list some books in Puerto Rican history and culture.

Adult and risque

If this is not your thing or interest, you can just scroll down to the final category. I do enjoy some adult entertainment, and I find the trivia around it interesting, so here are some stories from the adult entertainment and porn world.

Pornhub released their annual trends report, which among other things reveals details like top online searches on various topics. Unfortunate for me, Kentucky is one of those retrograde states pushing for privacy violating age verification, which I am not doing, but if you live in a better state you can see the report. Highlights from the report can be found at Pride.com, at AVN, and XBiz.
For gay folks, someone sorted out their top 5 gay sex positions. Via Pride.com.
Clips4Sale gets a bit into the "word of the year" with their fetish of the year, which was gooning. You can read more about it and see their list of other growing fetishes for the year on their blog. Hat tip to AVN.
In awards, via AVN.

The 2025 Adult Empire Awards announced “which honor the best and most popular stars and movies on the award-winning platform within a given year."
The 2025 Femdom Awards announced.

Miscellaneous

These are stories that did not fit any of the categories above and/or just random trivia.

Contenders for "word of the year."

Dictionary.com named "67" (whatever the hell that was) as their word of the year. Story via ABC (US).
Macquarie Dictionary went with "AI Slop" for their choice. Story via ABC (Australia).
Merriam Webster kept it short and chose "slop" as their word of the year (story via NBC).
The venerable Oxford Dictionary decided on "rage bait." Given how angry the year was I would say this is a pretty good choice.
The Conversation has an overview of words of the year, highlighting some of the above a few others. A common theme they saw is digital disillusionment.

Best video games. I suppose I could have put these up with the other media, but they did not quite fit for me. Video and computer games are not an area I really keep up with. I do enjoy a game here or there, but I am pretty much seriously casual in my video and computer gaming, so these stories help bring me up to speed on the topic.

Here is Rolling Stone's list of best video games for 2025. Apparently this was a pretty good year given there were a lot of releases. They list 25 games. A few are sequels of classics, but to be honest most of these I did not hear about until I read the article.
The Toronto Sun has a list of 10. At least three titles here overlap.
Maxim offers a list of their top 20.

In photography, My Modern Met offers 45 photos from around the world.
In liquor and booze:

Maxim has their list of "The Best American Single Malt Whiskeys Of 2025."
Drinkhacker offers "The Top 20 Whiskeys of 2025."
The Drinks Business looks at "The biggest drinks acquisitions of 2025."

Marion Nestle has a food politics roundup for the year.
The Pen Addict shares "Stationery Things I Learned In 2025."
Teen Vogue sums up the "11 Biggest Celebrity Breakups of 2025."
Quartz highlights a report on "The 8 richest families in the world." You know, the rich assholes making life hard for the rest of us.
Some anarchist reading.

Top posts from Polar Blast.
Top posts from The Slow Burning Fuse.

Deaths of the year.

The Toronto Sun's In Memoriam. (video segment) From this list, for many I am sure Pope Francis passing was the highlight of the year. There are a few folks I missed that said to myself omg they died this past year. Ozzie Osbourne was a hard one for me this year. For me, Dick Cheney and Charlie Kirk fall into the good riddance category.
Out Magazine has a list of "16 LGBTQ+ celebs who passed away in 2025."
Literary Hub lists "Notable Literary Deaths in 2025."

Predictions for 2026

A fluffy cat with a cloth on head, necklace, and crystal ball. Text: Let me check my crystal ball.

Predictions was a new category I added to this in 2023. People love to make all kinds of predictions about new year, and I found quite a few. This year I am breaking this down into trends, you know the pundits, experts, and gurus who tell us what to expect, and into esoterica where we look at things like astrology, Tarot, and other esoteric ways to predict what will happen.

Trends:

Metro (UK) has a list of predictions (slide show) based on Old Moore's Almanac. Extreme weather will continue in 2026 is one of their predictions. That seems straightforward enough.
Quartz predicts prices will keep rising as they look at what is likely to cost more in 2026. To be honest, this one is not predicting much that we do not know already like rising grocery and utilities pricing.
Fitch Ratings expects higher education to keep deteriorating. Story via Higher Ed Dive. This is another prediction that seems more like it's already happening.
Al Jazeera looks at "all the big elections to look out for in 2026" including the 2026 midterm elections in the United States, where we will see if gringos finally get their fucking act together or if they keep going down the abyss.
Not quite a trend, but maybe we can make it a trend and care for our mental health in 2026. The San Juan Daily Star has a list of "9 ways to take care of your mental health in 2026."

Predictions and looking at the future:

On an interesting note, Metro (UK) went back to see if their resident soothsayer, dubbed "The New Nostradamus," got their predictions right or not from 2025. For 2026, he is predicting the Ukraine and Russia war will end. He also predicts the AI bubble will burst. I admit I can see that bubble bursting, but not quite sure yet if 2026 will be the year for it, so we will see.
From Om Times.

Their 2026 Tarotscope forecast. I read my sign, and it looks pretty good.
Their 2026 astrological overview. It foresees a rise of spiritual warriors, and given the Hard Times I can certainly hope.

Lisa Eddy of Angelorum offers "2026 Astrology: Complete Horoscopes for All 12 Zodiac Signs."
From Theresa Reed, the Tarot Lady.

She has her ultra-deluxe superfly astrology guide for 2026.
She also figures out the Tarot card for the year. This is a universal card, but you can also figure out your own individual card; this is usually based on your birth date. I probably should check mine for this year, but I digress.

Collective World has "What Each Zodiac Sign Should Be Excited About Going Into 2026."
Teen Vogue has "2026 Astrology Guide: Retrogrades, Eclipses, and Tarot Card Pulls for Your Zodiac Sign."
Finally, I did a small Tarot spread for 2026. It is not predictive, but more a bit of advice and lessons to keep in mind in 2026.

Sunday, June 22, 2025

Some random thoughts on how I get my news

This piece is prompted by two things. One, this report from PEW Research on "how Americans get local political news" and two having read the book Avoiding the News (link to my review). The book is based on a series of interviews the authors did with people who both enjoy following the news as well as people who avoid the news completely. In one of the appendices the book includes the interview questions they used. I decided to use some of the questions to help me reflect on my own news engagement and how I was socialized into reading news and keeping up with news and current events. As the title of this blog post states, these are some random thoughts. Questions from the book are as provided. The replies are my own.

"What do you see as the most important issues in your life day to day?"

Pretty much making it to the end of another day and hoping Trump and his administration do not make things worse but knowing he will. While I am not in as bad a situation as other people out there, I certainly am vulnerable and there but for the amusement of the Cosmic Joker go you and me. It is not just one thing. It is really the overall sense of dread wondering what will happen next in the current clusterfuck. I am also concerned about things like inflation, price gouging, so a bit anxious not to spend money on non-essentials. Better to save that money just in case.

"How about in your community? What kind of things are your neighbors worried about? What about your coworkers? What about friends /family?"

I have no idea what the neighbors worry about, but given that they are all pretty much Trump and GOP people they probably do not worry much, including the one neighbor with the cutesy sticker on her SUV of "God, Guns, and Trump." I am sure she is feeling fine as long as someone else is getting the shaft. I could not care less what the neighbors worry about or not.

These days what remains of my family, outside my immediate family at home, does not talk about politics much if ever, and I am good with that.

At work, my coworkers in varying degrees worry about current events and the regime, but once the first few days of the 2024 elections in the U.S. passed on, they sort of quieted down and settled in.

"Do you feel like you have all the information you need to know enough about what's happening in your community? Where do you turn to for information about what's happening in your community?"

I feel that there is enough in terms of local information. Not a lot, but what there is suffices. Locally, the Berea Citizen weekly is pretty much the main source. It is not that great, but it is what is available. I try to give it a quick read when I can though not as often as I used to do when I moved into town. Some city agencies here use Facebook of all things to make announcements, etc.. I've mostly stopped using Facebook, due to various reasons up to and including their horrible ethics, but I find I do not really miss it. If I need to find some local information, I know where to look and who to ask. I know one or two local people who are connected to the local networks I can ask if needed.

"Do you feel like you have all the information you need to know enough about what's happening in the United States [and the world]?"

In terms of overall news, I have a variety of news sources lined up on my RSS reader. I scan through the sources once a day during the work week. On weekends, I mostly disengage from formal news reading, although as we all know by now some news always makes it to your social media, and my social media, mainly Bluesky and Mastodon these days, is no exception to that rule. In addition, I am an academic librarian, if I need to find additional information sources, I either know the sources already or know where to find them or who to ask.

"Would you say it is important to stay informed about the news?"

For me, yes, it is important to stay informed and at least have a sense of what is going on. A big issue in the United States is the large amount of uninformed citizens who vote. We'd probably not have as many problems as we do now if people actually bothered to read news, be informed, and also evaluate the news they get. If all you do is watch Fox News, you have no advantage over someone who just does not read nor watch news at all. If anything, the uninformed person may have a slight advantage over the Fox News viewer. I know staying informed is not easy, but if you are going to be a responsible and decent citizen you need to make the effort.

Being informed is also important to be able to navigate the world we live in. For me, as a librarian, being informed helps me do my job better, which enables to help others get the information they need better.

"Growing up, did anyone in your family read the newspaper or follow the news?"

I remember at home growing up we had at least one newspaper, often two or three. My dad was the one who read the newspapers regularly, often at the end of the day when he got home. Mom, who was a stay at home mom, would read them during the day. At the time, in Puerto Rico, the main two newspapers were El Nuevo Dia, which still operates today, and El Mundo, long gone. There was also El Vocero, which still exists also though it seems to have changed over the years. At the time, El Vocero was basically the local crime sheet. It was known for taking the worst crimes, picking the most gruesome one on a given day, and splashing it on the front page with a headline written in red letters. Mom would often say on seeing it that the newspaper would be bleeding. They basically had "click bait" and "rage bait" before they was the thing it is now. Once in a while we might get an edition of El Vocero if a headline interested my parents.

At the time, there was also an English language newspaper, The San Juan Star, which my dad began a subscription when we started learning English. He was likely hoping it would help us learn the language, and for me at least it worked since I did start reading it here and there.

Finally, in terms of newspapers, there was Claridad, which still also operates. Claridad was the socialist party pro-independence newspaper. Mom would buy it once in a while; she was independendista. However, my memory of reading Claridad comes from one of our neighbors at the time. We used to share carpooling to go back and forth to school. Dad would take us and a kid or two from the neighborhood in the morning, and often one of their parents brought their kid and us back home. One of those parents was also independentista, and he read Claridad regularly. He put a copy in my hand one day telling me that it was important, essential for me to read and be informed, and to read it all, not just what the major mainstream news published. When Claridad was at home, I'd do my best to read it too.

While I was not a huge news reader, I read enough to know what was going on. I particularly liked science stories. This was the time when Voyager spacecraft were making new discoveries in the Solar System and NASA's Space Shuttle was the new wonder of the time. I found those stories fascinating, and I even would clip a few of them, especially the photos.

These days, I still read, or at least glance at news sources from back home. El Nuevo Dia and Claridad have RSS feeds, so I have them on my feed reader. I usually check the headlines of the former, may read an article if it interests me, but I do read from Claridad more often. There is also a new to me newspaper, La Perla, that also has an RSS feed, so I read that one too. When it comes to news from Puerto Rico, I read just enough to have a sense of what is going on. I have not lived in the island for many years now, and my return looks unlikely, so I don't feel a need to have a depth of knowledge. However, if I needed that depth, I can likely catch up with ease.

As for other news sources, dad often kept the radio in the car on the news station. Keep in mind this was before AM radio became the right wing talk wasteland it is now. The radio news station mostly provided headlines and a bit of information on the headline every hour on the hour, which could get a bit repetitive. On Sundays, the station did have a political talk program-- the program featured local political pundits, but they did make an effort to somewhat balance the politics unlike today-- that dad also listened to, at least until mom got tired of it and told him to change the station. As for television, you got news during the week in the morning, around 10am if I recall, then 6pm and 10pm for the late viewers. If you did not catch one of the broadcasts you missed it that day. Things like VCRs did not come until a bit later, so you had to make the effort to watch the news if you wanted to do so. However, if you missed the news broadcast, you did have the option of reading the newspaper the next morning.

Even though news sources were accessible at home, to be honest, my parents and family did not talk about news very much at home or with other family when we went to visit or they came to visit our home. Part of it I think was the old rule of "things not spoken in polite company," which tend to be politics and religion, news often gets included in that.

Anyhow, that is how, in a nutshell, I got socialized to reading news and keeping up with news.

"Was news ever talked about when you were in school?"

To be honest, not really. I remember there were some school programs to provided newspapers in schools for students to read, but I never was in a school that offered it. Teachers just stuck to whatever the curriculum was at the time. High school seniors had to take a year of Puerto Rico history, and no, nothing current was really taught nor discussed. Given that pro-independence sentiment is on the rise on the island now, I wonder if that has changed any in schools, but at the time, no, not really. And my peers pretty much could not have cared less about news or talking about news. Someone like me who read a lot, news and books, was seen as the nerd type, so I did my reading on my own, and talked about whatever else it was kids talked about in school at the time.

"Have you ever felt the need to take a break from the news? Deliberately changed your media habits?"

After the 2016 U.S. elections, given the results, I felt a need to take a break. I declared a self-moratorium on reading anything related to politics, social issues, and activist topics. Before that, I used to read news, and other things, in those topics regularly to stay informed as well as keep learning. Also, I did it to stay informed in order to be a good reference and instruction librarian. After the 2016 elections, I just got burned out. While I did not totally tune out those topics, I made a conscious effort to minimize my exposure. I read and skimmed just enough but I did not share any of what I was reading as I usually do on social media. In fact, I had a small penance where if something I read in those topics moved me enough to share it on social media, I would post pictures of kittens right after to cleanse the social media feeds. It was a bit of light humor in the Hard Times.

For the most part I managed to keep the moratorium going fairly well. However, with the results of the 2024 U.S. elections, I have found myself drawn into the politics, social issues, and activist materials news cycle, so I have been gradually phasing out the moratorium. One, there is way too much stuff, most of it bad, that I DO need to know about so I can stay alive in the Hard Times. Two, again, in order to help patrons I feel the need to be informed so I can answer their questions. And three, completely tuning out is not a viable option, not if you are going to try to survive and help others do the same as well. So I am reading more news in those topics, and more importantly, reading books on such topics again, which I then write reviews on this blog. For me, reading and reviewing those books is a small way to provide reader's advisory, to inform others, and hopefully help others be educated and informed so they can do the work. It's my small form of doing the work.

"Do you TALK or SHARE a lot of news with others?"

In person, not much. Online, yes, I do share a bit of what I read through my social media. Sometimes it is serious. Other times I just share the news item with a bit of humor and/or snark. While I appreciate if others respond to it, politely, I do it mostly for myself to remember and/or entertain myself a little in the Hard Times. For the most part, people on my social media feeds react positively. Part of it I am sure is I have my social media fairly well curated, including blocking as needed, so the explainers, pedants, hardcore partisans, and other assorted fuckbagels get little to no chance of coming in my feeds to bother me and others who may follow me. For anyone who wants to say some bullshit along the lines of needing an open mind or listen to others, I say fuck you. I do not owe anyone my time and my space, and I sure as hell do not owe anyone a "debate." You can take yourself elsewhere with that crap.

Sometimes folks do ask me for information, and I am happy to help out where I can. However, one thing I stopped doing long ago was any form of fact checking in social media. Given people online really are not interested in facts, I found it is not worth the effort trying to provide those people with accurate information if they do not want it. Some folks are just beyond any redemption, and I am not bothering with them.

And there you have it, some random thoughts on how I get my news. I ended up writing a bit more than I planned, but I needed to write it out. How about folks out there? Feel free to share how you get news, your experiences, so on in the comments below. If you have a blog, and you write a longer piece, you can share the link in the comments. I will do my best to check it out when I can. If you read this far, thank you for stopping by.

Friday, June 06, 2025

Signs the economy is bad: June 6, 2025 edition

Welcome to another edition of "Signs the Economy is Bad" here at The Itinerant Librarian. This is the semi-regular (as in when I have time and/or feel like doing it) feature where I scour the Internet in search of the oh so subtle hints that the economy is bad. Sure, pundits may say things are getting better, but what do they know? And to show not all is bad, once in a while we look at how good the uber rich have it.

My goodness. It has been a while since I wrote one of these, really, since 2023. What can I say? I've been busy with a few other things, reading and reviewing some good books, and just overall trying to stay alive in the Hard Times. Anyhow, I decided to keep an eye out this week for possible stories and see if I could get enough to make a post. The RSS feeds and social media did not disappoint. So let's have a look at some of the signs the economy is bad this week.

Education News

AI seems to be coming for more jobs as computer science majors, including all those people told to "learn to code," are finding lower employment options. Story via Futurism. Not only that, but if they manage to get hired, their odds of getting laid off or getting replaced by AI technology are also high. One of the reasons, according to a business consultant cited in the article: "Entry-level roles are vanishing, unpaid internships are still rampant, and companies are offshoring or automating the very jobs these grads trained for." So exploitation is the story of the day pretty much.

Adding salt to the wound, an "expert" states that artificial intelligence (AI) will bring massive job losses in the United States. Who is the expert? Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. Now, a shit ton of people will be losing jobs within five years, according to his vision, but think of the positives. Amodei states: “'Cancer is cured, the economy grows at 10% a year, the budget is balanced — and 20% of people don’t have jobs,' said Amodei, describing one potential scenario." Hmm, curing cancer may sound pretty good; it also sounds like serious self-interested hype.

Rural News

The Kentucky Lantern reports that GOP cutting funds to food assistance would be seriously bad for rural America. Gee, imagine that. Why is that an issue for rural people? Well, for one, they "are more dependent on food stamps, the largest anti-hunger program in the nation."
And speaking of poor rural areas that may be affected by those funding cuts, Kentucky would be one of them. The state, according to a recent study, is in the top ten of poorest states in the U.S. Story via Fox56. You mean all those wonderful GOP supporters here who helped elect the Pendejo In Chief might have some economic issues as a result? Say it ain't so.

Meanwhile back in the US colony

(Puerto Rico news)

Via Periodico La Perla (PR, Spanish language news),monthly costs of food, housing, and transportation are going up for the general population.

The story is based on MIDA's (The Chamber of Food Marketing, Industry and Distribution (MIDA by its acronym in Spanish) report on consumer report for 2025 (link to press release, Spanish language); they released a preview of the report, which is not due until middle of June 2025. The study also reveals concerns over cuts to federal programs like SNAP (PAN by its Spanish acronym) and Medicare.
For an English language account, the San Juan Daily Star also picked up the story.

Meanwhile, the University of Puerto Rico publishes a research based profile of PAN (SNAP in English) recipients on the island. Story via the San Juan Daily Star. The profile of households "shows that most include an older adult, while half include a member with a disability."

The Bad Economy Around the World

Across the pond in Great Britain, via the BBC an account of a working person who is homeless. The man works full time, and is "lucky" he sleeps on his mother's living room floor. As often happens, it does not help that rents are high and if you lack a credit score, landlords just outright refuse to rent.
Meanwhile in Canada we get the story of a family who lived in a hotel for a year after losing their home. Story via CBC. Often, all it takes in a family is for one family member to lose a job, thus losing an income stream, and off to the streets they go. As I often say to my four readers, there but for the amusement of the Cosmic Joker go you and me.

Speaking of AI, this headline from The Walrus says it all: "Companies Are Outsourcing Job Interviews to AI. What Could Go Wrong?" The issue, well, for one: "Critics warn that hiring algorithms can be biased, opaque in their goals, or just plain junk, causing real harm to candidates and preventing qualified people from getting jobs." But corporate greed and making sure the stakeholders and investors get paid means cutting jobs and letting the bot do your hiring. Indeed, what could go wrong?
In the U.S. where foreign tourists are not welcomed as the official rule, and they risk being deported to an El Salvadoran gulag, tourist destinations in the U.S. are finding that business is a little short. Things may be getting a little desperate as these tourism operators are giving a variety of discounts to entice travelers, especially Canadian travelers. Story via CBC. Maybe the Pendejo In Chief saying he wants to annex Canada is not a good idea. Just saying.

Uber Rich

Apparently some of the uber rich are having some cash flow issues as they are not purchasing as many second home and/or vacation homes as they used to buy. Story via Axios. This observation is based on mortgages data that found there are less mortgages being written for second and/or vacation homes. Apparently in the Hard Times "even wealthy cash buyers are watching their wallets."
The United States has recently acquired a reputation of not welcoming immigrants anymore. That is far from the truth as there is at least one type of immigrant that is welcomed with open arms: the wealthy immigrant willing and able to spend some serious money to get a golden visa. Story via NPR. For $5 million dollars you can get in the express lane to enter the United States. For that price you can get the gold card, which is "a glorified green card that would allow them to live and work in the U.S. without going through the usual hassle or red tape. Apparently, the card's $5 million price tag is not scaring off the jet-setters looking to make the U.S. home. Or at least one of their homes." We all know the uber rich are special and so they should not suffer the indignities of having to apply for a green card or visa like the rest of the peons. So if you got the money, America says, "come on over, we got a place for you."
Overall, the United States is not doing as bad as some naysayers say. After all, according to a new report, the U.S. had a massive rise in the number of millionaires in the nation. Story via Quartz.

If you are curious, here is the Capgemini report the story is based on (link to press release, which includes link to the report's download).
Meanwhile, regarding the hoi polloi "according to the latest Census Bureau data, nearly 37 million people in the U.S. were living in poverty in 2023."

Wednesday, February 05, 2025

Book Review: Lies that kill

Elaine C. Kamarck and Darrell M. West, Lies that kill: a citizen's guide to disinformation. Lanham, MD: Brookings Institution Press, with Rowman and Littlefield, 2024. ISBN: 9780815740728.

Genre: information literacy, media literacy

Subgenre: political science, current affairs, media, technology

Format: trade paperback, but I also had an ARC for it from Edelweiss

Source: Hutchins Library, Berea College

For the record, I read this book before the election results of 2024 became known. Looking at the situation now, I feel this book is even more timely. It does take us right up to 2024 right before the elections.

In seven chapters the authors discuss the various ways that disinformation is not only dangerous but outright lethal. They then add one more chapter where they present a series of solutions. The authors wrote the book as a guide to help ordinary people learn about and understand what disinformation is and how it works. The authors discuss how disinformation works in the following areas:

elections
climate change
public health
race relations
war
governance

The authors combine case studies, analysis, and documentary material to present their points. The material is presented well with good organization and clear explanations. The preface provides a road map of the book's structure and basic thesis. The first chapter goes over the basics of disinformation and how it works. Chapters 2 to 7 look at disinformation in the areas listed. Chapter 8 provides their solution proposals.

I felt some of their solutions were either a bit too optimistic or outright not right. For example, wanting universal real name registrations online is not only unrealistic, but it raises all kinds of privacy rights issues and security concerns that the authors seem to ignore in the interest of making a point.

For the most part, the book is an easy read. Each chapter starts with a case study, then presents and explains the concepts in a clear way. The book does work well as a text for regular people. Jargon is kept to a minimum. For regular people wanting to learn what disinformation is and why it is dangerous, this is a good option. Each chapter includes endnotes for documentation.

Overall, I really liked the book. I do recommend it for public and academic libraries. The book could also be a good selection for library schools and training librarians in information literacy. We ordered it for our library, and I will promote it locally.

4 out of 5 stars.

Additional reading notes:

What social media research shows:

"Indeed, contemporary research on social media sites has shown that people who have extreme views and are deeply suspicious of experts and traditional media are the ones most likely to be influenced by false narratives and disseminate them to their friends and acquaintances" (8).

Disinformation defined:

"We define disinformation as material that is:
false
organized
intentional and malicious
harmful
fast" (8).

A sampling of people you encounter in the book:

"In this book, we will encounter people who have been accused of crimes they never committed or been pronounced dead of COVID but are still alive" (12).

What AI has done for disinformation:

"The result of this AI innovation has been a digital space that now has few safeguards in place, less active content moderation, and new tools to spread lies" (42).

Best way to fight disinformation:

"The best way to fight disinformation is to educate the public about ways to evaluate political narratives and be skeptical about information sources" (127).

As an information literacy librarian I do my part to teach these skills to our students (even as certain faculty rush right in to embrace AI, but that is another story).

Disinformation is big business, and it needs to be demonetized. I agree, but given the very large financial incentives I do not see it happening, especially in the U.S. where money is a god basically:

"Practitioners find it easy to make money from subscriptions, ad revenue, and merchandise sales associated with false narratives. Some sites make millions peddling false content about elections, climate change, public health, government, and race. Unless we take significant action, we will never stop the flow of deadly information about these and other topics" (135-136).

Knowing what I know and my skill set, if I had bad ethics or no ethics at all, I would would be making bank. The thought does occur to me now and then, but my decency and integrity are not for sale even if, as attributed often to P.T. Barnum, there is a sucker born every minute.

Qualifies for the following 2025 Reading Challenge:

Sunday, January 05, 2025

Holiday Post 2024: What the heck happened?

Welcome to the fourth and last post in the 2024 holiday posts series. For me, being Puerto Rican, I am still in the holidays spirit well into January. In fact, as I am typing this, tomorrow is Dia de Reyes (Three Kings Day) in Puerto Rico and much of the Hispanic world. In Puerto Rico we keep going with "las octavitas." So still plenty of holiday cheer to go around, even with today's serious winter storm going on in our area. In this post, I take a look at what the heck happened in the previous year, and boy has 2024 being a royal pain. Last year, I thought 2023 had been a hot mess, but apparently 2024 took that as a personal challenge to be worse. Anyhow, I will also add some predictions and outlooks for the new year, and we'll see how things go from there.

Top news events of the year

The top news in the United States has to be that the Pendejo In Chief was re-elected (via Reuters) to the presidency. You'd have thought that being a convicted felon, among other issues, may have kept him from public office, but as a man wiser than me once wrote, and I paraphrase, never underestimate the empowerment Americans feel in being able to say fuck you. It did not help that Kamala Harris did not exactly run (via BBC) a brilliant campaign against him. In fact, at one of those times she was visiting Michigan and Dearborn, MI, which has a big Muslim community that she managed to alienate (see Reuters here and Al Jazeera here), I said it would likely make things difficult for her, and sure enough. And while the post-mortems on what the Democrats failed to do came out pretty much right away, you can already tell they will not learn anything. I've lived in the States long enough to know the Republican Lite party is notorious for snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory. The bottom line is we are in for a rough four years ahead.
And while folks fuss about the election and its results, the climate continues to break heat records in weather. Story via The Daily Climate. I honestly do not see much hope of anything being done about this. Between the robber barons who don't give a fuck and a society that just let's them get away with it, it will just keep getting worse.
NPR reports as the Atlantic hurricane season ends that the season was the deadliest in nearly two decades.

What the heck happened?

(Big news overviews)

Graphic with a big question mark. Text: What happened?

Here is UPI's overview of top stories for 2024. Their highlights include the U.S. elections, wars, and the clusterfuck that is now Boeing.
Vox considers "what really matters in 2024" for their annual review. Among their highlights are the rising bird flu epidemic (the one no one in the U.S. seems to be concerned about. Anyone feeling deja vu in light of COVID-19?), the rise of AI, and the insurance CEO shooter. Now that last is a story that will stay with us for a while as the shooter has basically risen to become a folk hero. I don't think I need to explain why. The article also does a bit of looking back at previous years to see what if anything from previous time we still remember.
ABC News looks at the stories "everyone was talking about" in 2024, at least according to them. Among their highlights we find school shootings, hurricanes, and the insurance CEO shooter.
FAIR (Fairness and Accountability in Reporting) has their most-read stories for 2024. This includes some of the usual for last year line of "the economy is fine, look at the numbers you ungrateful peons," which for me boils to asking the wrong questions. But, as I often say, I am not a pundit nor play one on TV.
ProPublica also has their list of most read stories for 2024. Unlike FAIR's list, this list is a bit more balanced and realistic. Among their topics, we get stories on American militias, the company that helps insurance companies deny you coverage (and then some folks wonder why people want to free Luigi), and the fraud of Walmart's financial services.
The Root has their list of worst Black moments of 2024. I usually avoid stories with slide shows, but I figured this topic was worth a look. Among the highlights are some notable deaths including James Earl Jones and Nikki Giovanni.
Religion News Service has their list of top 10 religion stories of the year. Among the highlights, the Roman Catholic church had their Synod on Synodality and the United Methodist Church actually did something constructive and overturned their ban openly LGBTQ+ clergy and same sex marriages. There is also a story about what could be my dream job: being a (Roman Catholic) church approved hermit. This particular story is better because the hermit recently came out as being transgender, and the church so far is going along with it.
If you are in Texas or have an interest in Texas, the Texas Observer has their list of most-read stories for 2024. One or two of my four readers may recall I did a sojourn in Texas. It being Texas we get stories on government corruption, Neo Nazis, and Christofascists.
In keeping it rural, The Daily Yonder has their year in review. Among their highlights was a story on queerness in rural areas. They also highlight some rural prison journalism and some environmental stories.
In higher education and academia, according to Inside Higher Ed, it was a year of closures and mergers.
Colossal has their list of top articles of 2024. If you want to read a few things on topics like arts, this may be for you.
RAND Corporation, the think tank, lists their big policy stories for 2024. Topics include competition with China, education, and the rise of AI.
ABC News at the billion-dollar disasters of the year. We are talking natural disasters, not fuckery like the 2024 elections in the US.
In photography:

For some humor, My Modern Met has a list of amusing photos that won the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.
Reuters has a 2024 in photos feature. It highlights a lot of floods that happened in 2024.
Religion News Service has their list of photos of the year.

JStor Daily lists their most popular stories for the year. Want to read something other than the usual news, this is a good option.
And we wrap up this part with the Rude Pundit's annual tradition of haikus for the end of the year.

A bit from around the world

The Walrus has "2024: Year in Review." This list of stories has a more international perspective and offers stories about the rest of the world because no, contrary to what gringos think, it is not all about the U.S. Topics here include women in Afghanistan, dissidents in India, and mass market mountaineering (this you may want to read).
My Modern Met offers a list of 45 best photos from around the world in 2024. Check this out to see some beautiful photos.
Reporters Without Borders reports on the many lost lives of journalists covering war zones and repressive regimes around the world.

Film, music and television

An old time movie projector

Though I stay aware about media through reading about it, media is not really something high on my list of priorities. I am very much a reader, and I prefer to read books and articles over watching and/or listening to film, music, television, and other media. As I have written before, I tend to enjoy the comforts of watching or rewatching older media than worrying about whatever the heck is considered the latest. Yet in order to stay informed, in part because I am a librarian, I do read on the topic, and thus I take time to look over the annual highlight in film, music, and television. I am sure my four readers have probably experienced some of the things listed, so feel free to leave me a comment with your favorites, or perhaps which ones to avoid.

Film. Since I gave up going to movie theaters years ago, movies and film is not an area I worry too much about. I read enough to know what is in theaters, plus in social media people often can't shut up about whatever they're watching in theaters or streaming, so I manage to stay informed. For me, I usually watch stuff when it makes it to physical media, so I can borrow it from the library, or much later find it on a free streamer like TubiTv. Anyhow, let's see what others considered good or not in 2024.

Sojourners lists their top movies of 2024. From their list, I had heard of Furiosa (the Mad Max movie), Dune: Part 2 (I am waiting to watch this once it is complete, and I may want reread the book), and Conclave.
Rolling Stone always has lists of pop culture items in various categories. Here are their 10 best horror movies for 2024. I admit that aside from the new remake of Nosferatu I had not heard of any of these movies on their list. From their list, the South Korean film Exhuma is the one catching my eye. On a side note, I do enjoy international films, and I have often found some very good selections on TubiTv. Exhuma is the kind of thing they might pick up down the road.
UPI offers a list of "2024 worst movies." A lot of these are pretty much remakes, rehashes, and other recycled material no one really asked for, but the studios said fuck it and went for one more cash grab only to fail at the box office and/or critically.

Music. This is certainly an area I do not follow very much, so I make this list to remind myself of what is out there and maybe find a thing or two to listen. I'll be honest. I pretty much stayed within my decade of the 1980s, and outside of that, the things I like are few and far between, but I am happy when I do discover something new to me that I end up liking.

Associated Press has a list of 2024's best new holiday albums. I probably should have highlighted this story sooner. Some are new, some are reissues such as Toby Keith's 1995 Christmas album making the rounds again; the man passed away in 2024. List overall combines new albums with some reissues.
Among their end of year lists, Rolling Stone has their best country music albums and their best Spanish-language songs for the year.
The Guardian lists their best global albums of 2024.
Teen Vogue lists 15 best non-English albums of the year.

Television. Yes, I am aware of the various television shows out there. No, I do not give a hoot about most of them, but if they bring you joy, go for it. There are one or two shows I am amazed are still on the air, especially in the reality television genre, but it is what it is. I tend to take comfort watching old favorites. This month, for example, I am rewatching the Granada Television Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett. For newer things, I just keep an eye out, and if they are good and get a DVD release, I may borrow from the public library. Anyhow, let's see what everyone else seems to be liking or not.

Decider has a list of the saddest cancellations in television in 2024. I was not sad but apparently some people were. Most of the items on the list were apparently on pay streamers that I just don't have nor care about, so that is probably why I missed them and did not care. I see the first responders drama/soap opera genre, a la Third Watch (which I recently rewatched on Tubi) is alive and well on the list. If they're good, I may catch those down the road or not. No rush here. So, were you sad about any of these? Feel free to comment and give me reasons to seek out any of the shows listed, or warn me away from them.
Reality Blurred lists what they consider the best reality TV of 2024. This is a selection of what the author has watched. Article also gives a bit of an overview of the reality TV landscape for the year. Most of these to be honest I could not care less and there are at least one or two I never heard of, and I am at peace with that. I am a bit amazed Survivor is still hanging on. They also have a list of best true crime documentaries for the year. That list I may need to check out as I do like true crime now and then. The article is part of their "best evidence" series where they look at true crime in various ways. You can find a link for the "best evidence" series at top of the article.