Seriously, Y'all - Look at It!

At the bottom of yesterday's Links, I told you all to have a look at the difference between Republicans' and Democrats' perceptions of Trump. A couple days before that, I talked about how not to do a survey; the survey (surveys?) under discussion had to do with press trustworthiness.

Well, today, I want to conflate those and show you all the difference between Republicans' and Democrats' perceptions of press trustworthiness - specifically, as opposed to Trump's trustworthiness.

Look at this, guys:

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Holy cow, y'all! I don't even know how to analyze that.

I fundamentally cannot comprehend how anyone could trust Trump after all the lies...

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...and after aligning himself with a literal white nationalist who wants to bring down the actual government.

Not content to simply cast aspersions  on the press or undermine confidence in the Fourth Estate (or try and drum up fake data with questionable survey techniques), Trump has taken to blocking them from press briefings.  CNN, the New York Times, and other reputable media were barred - although Bretibart was there. Remember Breitbart? Yeah, those asshats. The 'news' site previously run by the crazy white nationalist mentioned above, Bannon, before he was elevated to his current position in the actual government he wants to bring down.

How do 78% of Republicans still trust this guy at all? Why do half of the Independents either trust him or are unsure which is more reliable? And that 7% of Democrats - what are they thinking?

I mean, I guess I'm glad that the majority of Americans have their heads on straight, and that only 37% are literally crazybeans, but...I just don't get it. I really don't.

But...it's hard, I know...step back from all that insanity and take a good long look at the difference in those numbers. 78% Republicans opposed to 86% Democrats. These groups have vastly different understandings of reality, because our understandings of reality are in large part shaped by what sources we trust for information that shapes those understandings. It's not a small or surface disagreement. How do we find common ground when we don't live on the same planet?

I got nothing, folks. Let me know if you do.

I don't have a 'pretty' picture today; instead, I have one that sums up my reaction to this entire thing:

Links!

• Library Land
• Accused of having an incorrect visa, Mem Fox detained by immigration officials at LA airport
  

  AUSTRALIA’S best-loved children’s author, Mem Fox, was left sobbing and shaken after being detained for two hours and aggressively interrogated by immigration officials at Los Angeles airport.

  Fox says she’s unlikely to ever travel to the United States again after being made to feel like “a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay”.

  President Donald Trump had created the climate for this sort of behaviour, she said, adding: “This is what happens when extremists take power.”

  En route to Milwaukee for a conference on February 9, where she was to deliver the opening keynote address at a literacy conference, Fox was ushered into an airport holding room and told she was travelling on the wrong visa. This was incorrect and the US Embassy in Canberra has since apologised. 

• The New Relevance of the Fantasy Novel "Stories matter. Right now it might be the stories skirting reality which matter most of all."
• Professor’s Research of Segregated Public Libraries in the South Available Online "Although he will publish his research as a book, Griffis designed the project as more than just routine scholarship. He is also completing interviews with surviving patrons of these libraries, recording their recollections of using them in the days before integration. While segregated libraries were not uncommon in the days of Jim Crow, Griffis’s project is one of the first to focus exclusively on all 12 of the Carnegie-funded ones and to include interviews."
• Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker goes from censorship to killing state nature magazine "A search of the magazine's archives shows there hasn't been a story regarding climate change or global warming in the past three years. Walker now wants to kill the publication once and for all."
• Health, Science, & Technology 
• How to Fight the War on Science and Win  "President Trump’s decision to muzzle key areas of scientific research signals an important milestone. The latest battle in the War on Science has shifted into high gear."
• The implications of the end of net neutrality "The effects of the end of net neutrality go well beyond the average internet user’s day-to-day experience. When you consider the impact it would have on everything from content creation to digital advertising, it’s clear the fallout would be colossal and far-reaching from both a business and broader economic perspective. While nothing is set in stone just yet, the future of net neutrality looks grim, and businesses all over the world should prepare accordingly."
• FCC votes to lift net neutrality transparency rules for smaller internet providers "The newly Republican-controlled FCC took its first steps to scale back net neutrality today by voting to lift transparency requirements from smaller internet providers. Internet providers with fewer than 250,000 subscribers will not be required to disclose information on network performance, fees, and data caps, thanks to this rule change." 
• Related: FCC chips away at net neutrality rules "Net neutrality is the idea that all traffic on the internet should be treated equally. The transparency rule, which was the only part of the original 2010 FCC rules that survived a court challenge in 2014, requires broadband providers to inform customers when their internet traffic is being slowed." 
• It might feel good, but February’s intense heat is a very bad sign "But the early thaw — what scientists call “season creep” — can have disastrous consequences for ecosystems. Flowers are already beginning to emerge in Chicago, which has gone a record 67 days without an inch of snow. Early blossoms may wilt before they can be pollinated. Farmers in the region may see their crops bud after an early thaw only to perish in a late-season frost.
• How smart is a bumblebee? Smarter than you'd think, say scientists. "Once considered the exclusive domain of humans, then primates, and then birds and cetaceans, tool-use has historically been thought a hallmark of highly intelligent animals. Now, bees are buzzing into the club." I love bees. I want my next tattoo to be a bee tattoo. That's how much I love bees.
• Randomnesses 
• Stop Yelling About What Poor People Eat  "In my youth, I saw my friends’ parents argue about whether to pay for food or electricity. Food or winter clothing. Food or medical care. Food or bus fare to work. Food or math tutoring. $9/lb for pork chops (which is what I charge for mine) isn’t something they could afford if they just 'valued food more.' They’d have to value it at the expense of their jobs, children, shelter, and immediate health."
• Intolerant Liberals  "The progressive liberal agenda isn’t about being nice. It’s about confronting evil, violence, trauma, and death. It’s about acknowledging the ways systemic power, systemic oppression, systemic evil, work in our world around us. I’m not fighting for diversity. I’m not fighting for tolerance. I’m fighting to overturn horrific systems of dehumanizing oppression."
• U.S. News 
• Here's your "ALL THE NOPES" winner of the day:  Jameis Winston: I used 'poor word choice' when I told girls 'to be silent' "What started as a speech about Winston’s three life rules -- God, school, and the idea that you can do anything you put your mind to -- turned into Winston telling the third, fourth, and fifth-grade girls in the audience that they’re 'supposed to be silent' as 'ladies.'"
• Speaking of out-spoken ladies: Giffords to lawmakers avoiding town halls: 'Have some courage'  "On Tuesday, Rep. Louie Gohmert invoked [Giffords's] 2011 shooting that killed six people as a reason not to hold a public town hall in his district....Those comments didn't sit well with Giffords. 'To the politicians who have abandoned their civic obligations, I say this: Have some courage. Face your constituents. Hold town halls.' And if lawmakers are worried about gun violence at such events, Giffords suggested they consider the proposals advocated by her organization." 
• FBI refused White House request to knock down recent Trump-Russia stories  "The direct communications between the White House and the FBI were unusual because of decade-old restrictions on such contacts. Such a request from the White House is a violation of procedures that limit communications with the FBI on pending investigations."
• Chaffetz doesn't want to investigate Trump - he has bigger fish to fry: like Sid the Science Kid and this: Rep. Chaffetz Vows To Investigate Utah Park’s Tweet Welcoming Bears Ears Monument The park tweeted the welcome the day after the monument's new designation, so Chaffetz thinks they must have had prior knowledge, because...I guess he thinks it takes more than a day to compose a tweet? Related: How far will Republicans go to ignore Trump’s Russia scandal? 
• The Trump administration just handed the private prison industry an enormous gift "....President Obama’s deputy attorney general Sally Yates (who would later be removed from office by president Trump) wrote that private prisons 'simply do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs, and resources; they do not save substantially on costs; and as noted in a recent report by the Department’s Office of Inspector General, they do not maintain the same level of safety and security.'” 
• TrumpBeat: Is Trump Already Messing With Government Data?  "It’s much too soon to declare that Trump will undermine government data. But it’s not too soon to start paying attention. After all, that data is often the only way to know whether Trump — or any president — is keeping his promises."
• Speaking of messing with data: White House quietly removes data from transparency website 
• Trump's Statements About Needing More Nukes Is Wrong and Dangerous I mean, the title pretty much says it all, but you should read the post, too.