More fresh picks for balanced, satisfying news consumption.
It’s been almost a year since DOGE kneecapped public broadcasting. Time to check in on predictable cracks in the media landscape.
How about that pointless victory this spring? On March 31, a federal judge ruled that Trump’s order targeting NPR and PBS was unlawful, unenforceable, and exactly the kind of viewpoint retaliation the First Amendment is supposed to prevent. Great, what happens now? <crickets>
The ruling did not restore the $1.1 billion Congress clawed back from public broadcasting last year. It did not bring back the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which has since dissolved after nearly 60 years. It did not refill local station budgets, rebuild the shared infrastructure, or un-yank support for children’s programming, music licensing, emergency alerts, rural transmitters, archives, and local coverage in places where “the market” has never cared enough to send anyone with a notebook.
This was the kind of victory where the house is still on fire, but someone agrees the arson was rude.
And public media is only one part of the collapse. CBS is ending The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on the 21st of this month – an odd move for a top-rated show that just won an Emmy. The outlet’s new editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, came Trump-approved and has reliably delivered sycophantic coverage on White House cabinet members and a super weird Erika Kirk townhall.
Now Paramount Skydance is moving to absorb Warner Bros. Discovery, which would put CBS and CNN under the same corporate roof if the deal closes. So, sure, maybe this is all normal business. Or maybe the people buying, settling, merging, canceling, and “rebalancing” the news have noticed that media is more profitable when it works for power rather than people.
Either way, the old arrangement is over. For years, Americans were told that being informed meant picking a few respectable outlets and letting the professionals sort it out. That bargain looks worse every month. Public media gets starved. Corporate media gets captured, softened, consolidated, or scared into good behavior. Cable news sells panic by the hour. Social media turns every crisis into a carnival game where the prize is brain damage.
So now the work falls back on us: a healthy news diet today takes assembly from a variety of independent news sources.
You need the legal analyst who actually reads the filings. The professor who knows the history. The war watcher who understands logistics instead of cosplay. The labor reporter, climate scientist, cult expert, local watchdog, policy nerd, community organizer, data person, election obsessive, and oddball with footnotes who can explain the story under the story.
These content creators exist. They are not always easy to find, and they rarely arrive in one neat package. Some post daily. Some disappear until their subject erupts again. Some record between actual jobs, family obligations, deadlines, and whatever fresh nonsense has forced them back online with a quick explainer and a stack of sources. Some have newsletters, podcasts, or Substacks orbiting nearby, but the real value is the same: someone who knows a subject cold, speaking plainly when the headlines need context.
Taken together, they form something like a grassroots information network: expert knowledge moving through accessible, digestible channels, filling in the gaps left by mainstream news. The trick is not finding one perfect source. It is building a varied shelf — people with different beats, different blind spots, and enough receipts to earn a place in the rotation.
Information is power, sure. But it is also a resource — closer to food, shelter, or clean water than most people want to admit. And when the usual supply chains get shaky, it helps to know who is still cooking, what they know best, and where to find them when the next piece of current sh*t hits the fan. This list below is Part Two in our series on news habits for peace, truth, and sanity (see Part One here).
The Rapid Response Shelf
For when the news is moving fast and you need the first layer sorted.
Letsdiscusssomething
White House press briefings, Trump appearances, political interviews, rapid recaps, and blessedly short fact-checks.
A public service for anyone whose nervous system can no longer tolerate watching officials lie in real time. He watches the White House briefings, Trump appearances, and assorted political interviews so the rest of us do not have to, then speed-talks through the important parts in under 10 minutes with context, corrections, and the occasional necessary “are you hearing this?” It is less deep analysis than civic triage: what happened, what they claimed, what they left out, and what a reasonably alert person should know before the next outrage replaces this one. Come here for the briefing without losing 45 minutes, three blood-pressure points, and your remaining faith in sentence structure.
YouTube: @Letsdiscusssomething1
Instagram: @letsdiscusssomething
Tabitha Banks / Tabitha Speaks Politics
Daily political breakdowns, right-wing messaging, Trump-world strategy, media spin, and plainspoken civic sanity.
Here’s the person at the table who lets everyone talk for a minute, then calmly explains what actually just happened. As Tabitha Speaks Politics, she offers daily breakdowns of U.S. political news with a sharp eye for right-wing messaging, bad-faith framing, and the little tricks that make nonsense sound official. She is especially good when a story is moving fast and the headlines feel designed to confuse more than inform. Come for the daily political read. Stay for the directness, the receipts, and the blessed relief of someone saying the obvious thing out loud.
YouTube: @TheRealTabithaSpeaks
Instagram: @therealtabithaspeaks
Threads: @therealtabithaspeaks
Linktree: @therealtabithaspeaks
Aaron Parnas
Breaking political news, Ukraine, Trump-world fallout, rapid context, and pro-democracy headline triage.
Aaron Parnas brings an unusual close-up view of Trump-world without letting the backstory swallow the work. His father, Lev Parnas, was tied to Rudy Giuliani’s Ukraine pressure campaign during Trump’s first impeachment scandal, giving Aaron a personal window into political corruption, media spin, and foreign-policy chaos. But the reason to follow Parnas now is speed: he posts frequent breaking-news updates with quick context, fact-checks, and a clear pro-democracy lens. He is the rapid-response guy — useful when the news is moving too fast and you need the first layer of “wait, what just happened?” sorted quickly.
YouTube: @aaronparnas1
Substack: Aaron Parnas
Instagram: @aaronparnas
TikTok: @aaronparnas1
Adam Mockler
Gen Z political commentary, MAGA talking points, live-panel debates, rapid news reactions, and staying calm while grown men lose the plot.
One of those young commentators who makes the “kids these days” crowd sound especially tired. He is sharp, quick, and unusually steady in hostile rooms — especially at Abby Phillip’s CNN table, where he has a gift for catching the spin, naming the dodge, and refusing to let confidence cosplay as evidence. His strength is not deep historical context; it is counterpunching in real time. Come here when a clip is already circulating and you want the quick political read without getting pulled into the shouting match.
YouTube: @adammockler
Website/Substack: Adam Mockler
Podcast: The Adam Mockler Show
Instagram: @adammockler
TikTok: @adammockler
The Long View
For history, context, and recurring patterns in today’s headlines.
Amanda Nelson / Amanda’s Mild Takes
American history, civics, political power, court-watch updates, and democracy-defense morale.
The rare political commentator who can explain a constitutional crisis without making you want to crawl under the couch. As Amanda’s Mild Takes, she uses American history, civics, and political analysis to show how power works, where we’ve seen these patterns before, and what ordinary people can still do about it. Her twice-weekly “Trump’s Ls” roundups are especially handy: quick, sourced reminders that authoritarianism does not only advance — it also loses, often in ways that get buried under the next outrage cycle. Amanda’s work is not false comfort. It is perspective, with receipts.
YouTube: @Amandas-Mild-Takes
Substack: Amanda’s Mild Takes
Instagram: @amandasmildtakes
Threads: @amandasmildtakes
Tad Stoermer
American history, resistance movements, revolutionary politics, civic courage, and historical context when the country feels like it is coming apart.
A historian and professor who brings the long view to moments that can feel brand-new and impossible. His videos connect today’s authoritarian pressure to older American fights over liberty, power, dissent, and who gets to count as “the people.” He can be grouchy, intense, and gloriously unimpressed, but that edge works when the news itself has become insulting. Come here for resistance history, receipts, and the reminder that this country has always been contested ground — and ordinary people have pushed back before.
YouTube: @Tad.Stoermer
Website: Tad Stoermer
Bio/link page: Taylor Stoermer
James O’Brien
British political perspective, call-in debates, Trump/Farage-style populism, media literacy, and hearing America from outside the American panic room.
A British radio host with a gift for calm, patient demolition. On LBC, he takes calls about Brexit, Trump, immigration, media spin, conspiracy thinking, and whatever fresh nonsense has crossed the Atlantic wearing a new hat, then asks reasonable follow-up questions until the talking point runs out of road. For American viewers, the extra value is the view from across the pond: how U.S. politics sounds to people affected by American power but not trapped inside our cable-news weather system. Come here for outside perspective, media literacy, and the quiet thrill of a bad argument meeting a working follow-up question.
LBC app/full show: LBC app
YouTube clips: @LBCOfficial
Podcast: Full Disclosure
Instagram/LBC clips: @lbc
The World Stage
For science, foreign policy, civic action, and other truth bombs.
Angry MaleVet
Military perspective, U.S. foreign policy, geopolitical headlines, anti-fascist analysis, and daily news through a veteran’s lens.
Angry MaleVet brings a combat veteran’s eye to a news cycle full of armchair generals, flag pins, and people who talk about war like it is a branding exercise. His short, steady videos filter the day’s headlines through military strategy, foreign policy, geopolitics, and the larger fight against oligarchy and authoritarian power. He is especially useful when U.S. politics and global conflict blur together — Ukraine, Iran, military loyalty, authoritarian alliances, or the latest politician cosplaying as a wartime leader from behind a podium. Come here for a blunt daily check-in and the reminder that war is not a vibe, democracy is not self-cleaning, and oligarchs are not going to regulate themselves.
YouTube: @AngryMaleVet
Substack: Angry MaleVet
Instagram: @therealangrymalevet
TikTok: @angrymalevet
Jolly Good Ginger / Russell Ellis
Veteran perspective, anti-racism, anti-fascism, civic action, protest-ground interviews, and plainspoken moral clarity.
Big-bearded veteran energy to the fight for peace, democracy, human rights, and basic decency — which, somehow, still needs defending out loud. His work blends commentary, interviews, civic action, and on-the-ground perspective, often from the D.C. area, with plainspoken moral clarity on anti-racism, anti-fascism, freedom, and the ways cruelty gets wrapped in patriotism. Come here for civic courage, veteran perspective, and the reminder that speaking truth does not have to sound polished to be powerful.
YouTube: @Jolly_good_ginger
Instagram: @jolly_good_ginger
Linktree: Jolly Good Ginger
Cody Dahler / MrCodyDahler
Political absurdity, British perspective, comic breakdowns, bad arguments, and the blessed relief of laughing at something that is still, unfortunately, real.
Not the most prolific poster on this list, but when one of his videos lands, it tends to land hard. A British comedian with a sharp eye for political nonsense, Dahler breaks down current events by following the logic until it trips over its own feet. His “Thicky Thicky Dumb Dumb” persona is silly on purpose, but the analysis underneath is often sneakily precise — especially when U.S. politics gets wrapped in solemn language that disguises how ridiculous, cruel, or logically busted the argument really is. Come here for the laugh. Stay for the little “wait, he’s right” that follows.
YouTube: @mrcodydahler
Instagram: @mrcodydahler
Book info: The State of This!
Sheila Zolnoor
Criminal law, courtroom perspective, authoritarian power, Iran, and the immigrant-kid view of America’s blind spots.
A Florida criminal defense lawyer with the rare gift of sounding both furious and completely reasonable at the same time. Her videos often start with the law — courts, charges, rights, procedure, prosecutorial choices — then quickly widen into the human story underneath. As the daughter of Iranian immigrants, she also brings a perspective too often missing from American coverage of Iran: lived proximity without lazy simplification. Come for the legal read. Stay for the moral clarity, immigrant-kid side-eye, and sharp reminders about how easily whole countries become props in someone else’s war speech.
YouTube: @SHEILAZOLNOOR
Florida Bar profile: Sheila Zolnoor
Avvo profile: Sheila Zolnoor
Hannah Fry
Science, math, artificial intelligence, data, algorithms, risk, and the strange places human behavior meets technology.
The kind of science communicator who can make math feel less like punishment and more like a backstage pass to reality. A mathematician, professor, author, and broadcaster, Fry specializes in the hidden systems shaping ordinary life: algorithms, data, probability, risk, technology, human behavior, and all the ways numbers can help us understand the world — or badly misunderstand it. Her AI-agent experiment, where an artificial intelligence built and destroyed a novelty mug business in a week, is a perfect example: funny, unsettling, and clearer than another panel of executives saying “innovation” until the room loses oxygen. Come here for the science. Stay for the warning label.
YouTube: @fryrsquared
Instagram: @fryrsquared
Website: Hannah Fry
Cambridge profile: Hannah Fry
The Culture Lens
Revealing art, gender, and dogma in popular narratives.
Will Hitchins
Bro culture, misogyny, dating scripts, manosphere logic, and the little performances men use to avoid hearing women.
Not so much for breaking news. He is a good go-to when the news has a gender problem, which is to say: often. His short videos and remixes pick apart bro culture — the jokes, dodges, dating scripts, and wounded-male monologues that make sexism sound casual, harmless, or even charming. A lot of feminist commentary, understandably, speaks to women first; Hitchins often seems to be talking across the room, translating the obvious for men who may not hear it until another man says it out loud. He is not the final word. But he can be a useful bridge: funny, pointed, and good at making the rot easier to see.
YouTube: @willhitchins
Instagram: @willhitchins
Linktree: Will Hitchins
Seema Rao / Artlust
Art history, museums, visual culture, historical context, and current events through a wider human lens.
Her videos have a wonderful way of making art feel less like homework and more like a secret passage. Artlust connects paintings, objects, artists, museums, and visual history to the world we are living in now — not by forcing a lesson onto the art, but by noticing what has been sitting there all along. Rao is thoughtful, funny, informal, and deeply accessible, the kind of guide who can make a painting from another century suddenly feel uncomfortably current. Come here when the news needs a little less screaming and a little more space to think. Art gives us a fuzzy gray place between certainty and surrender — and Rao knows exactly where to look.
YouTube: @art_lust
Substack: Artlust
Instagram: @art_lust_
Website: Seema Rao
God / The God Show
Political satire, American hypocrisy, moral clarity, daily absurdity, and the occasional divine smiting of bad arguments.
God has entered the chat! The God Show delivers funny, fearless commentary on American politics, media, hypocrisy, and whatever fresh moral emergency humans have managed to invent before lunch. When the news feels apocalyptic, it makes sense to check in with the Boss. 3.6+ million Facebook followers can’t be wrong.
YouTube: @TheGodShowLive
Newsletter/Substack: The God Show
Facebook: The Good Lord Above
What do you think? Click the links for more information. Did we miss a must-read source? Have a favorite creator who deserves a seat at the table? Please drop your recommendations in the comments below, or email us at editor@nwlocalpaper.com to help shape a third helping of trustworthy media from across the political spectrum (coming soon!).
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