And Another Reminder

      If you make claims in comments that I cannot verify, your comment will not be published.  Links, or it didn't happen -- and maybe not even then, depending on the veracity of the links.  Primary sources preferred, or at least a path back to the primary source from your link.

      If your comments make it clear that you cannot tell the difference between the news pages and the opinion pages, in print or online, they will not be published.  The distinction matters.  It matters if you like what they're saying, it matters if you dislike or disagree with what they say and it matters even if you have no opinion about it yourself.

      Don't repeat as fact things you haven't checked.  Time and again, I get comments telling me that "they," or the mainstream media, or even (rarely) the right-wing media is ignoring or glossing over some newsworthy occurrence and yet when I go looking, the supposedly suppressed news is being covered six ways from Sunday by the exact people who were said to be burying it at a crossroads while the Moon was eclipsed.  The flip side of this are the "news stories" that turn out to be purest fantasy, and are not being covered because they never actually happened.

      If you want to live in a custom-curated reality, go for it!  But don't expect me to go along just because you are delighted with it. 

      If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  If it sounds too awful to be believed, better check before you go sharing. Real life is slightly dull but not entirely uneventful, and that's as much of a yardstick as I can offer.