The purpose of this site is three-fold, along with a design philosophy constraint. The first purpose is to provide news on particular relevant subjects (via sidebars), which makes reading news about these topics accessible. Second, to provide articles relevant to particular topics today; thus, rather than just posting a torrential feed of 'new stuff', the site tries to collect related articles together. Third, to provide an easily searchable resource (via ctrl+F).
The design philosophy constraint is to leave out JavaScript where possible, and have a static site based entirely on HTML and CSS. This is for two reasons - the first is to be accessible to those who turn JS off, a common practice among the security concerned. Second, by having everything available on a static site, it makes searching for things easier, as well as for the pages to load more robustly for those with weak internet connections. I have a 'less is more' approach to design - it is in dealing with the constraints of 'less' that you can find interesting and neat ways to make things work.
It is tempting to say this site tries to 'cover what mainstream media doesn't'. This is not wrong, but not on a flimsy basis such as 'mainstream media bad' (MSM fails to cover A LOT, especially labor, but I'd say their dishonesty lies in what they leave out, not in what they actually write - perhaps they write propaganda I disagree with (ie The Economist), but I trust the integrity of their reporting overall). Reasons vary, but for example, sometimes I may leave content out that is (or has become) 'mainstream' enough where documenting it is not a priority (probably MSM has covered it fairly enough, in my view), in favor of news that isn't as well documented or covered. But more critically, this site aims to fulfill the above-three goals. To provide a robust, stable repository of sources related to particular topics, both for quick and easy reference for your own reading, but also for you to pull up instead of simply saying "I read an article that said that...", a paper-thin reference which is easy to trample over. Instead, you can go to this site, type ctrl+F (or use the search function in your browser if you're on mobile), and find the relevant articles. For larger topics, such as the Texas storm, I try to write a summary which gives contexts to the sources, so you can go through the summary and identify the particular relevant sources when the time comes.
This isn't to take the arrogant position that this is the ultimate repository of sources on a given topic. Far from it. But by using an RSS feed pulling from dozens of sources, I hope to at least give a robust basis for the issues (if you find relevant sources you think I should include, get in contact with me). Finally, this isn't to say that a 'consensus' opinion is the correct opinion. However, different sources focus on different aspects of an issue, or raise important points.
This website runs on a Vultr server, and is Amazon Web Service (AWS) free :) consider doing likewise when making your own site (at least in avoiding AWS). This site is maintained through a Linux workflow which combines, the newsboat RSS program (a CLI vim-like program), generally Firefox to read the articles, and vim to update the site.
This site is maintained by me, as a hobby, and the server is rented (I guess) through Vultr (as I pointed out). I try to keep at least the side bars fairly up to date (although always, there are things left behind), but if it's a little out of date... you know why. I try to keep all parts of the site up to date, but as the busy-ness of life ebbs and flows, my priority will focus most on the content appropriate for the sidebar in the main page.
In an effort to keep the site a good reference point, but in acknowledgement that I can't read everything I post (about 60-80 articles/headlines a day), I am tagging things I haven't read with this [!] at the end, so you know I haven't read it. Just feel that is responsible to let you know what I haven't read, but still wnat to keep it a good reference point :)
Since many news articles end up going to multiple different places, and I try to keep news updated in a time-referencable way, I have adapted a nice procedure for site updating. This is made stupid easy thanks to Vim. The actual site maintenance stuff (assuming I'm not actually writing anything, just updating news articles onto the site) doesn't take too long in total, maybe 10-20 minutes. The procedure I've adopted over time seems to be the following:
A. Main update protocol - I might do this several times a day.
B. Global site update (Once a day) Then on the next day, I do the following:
And repeat. This also means if you want to be on the "bleeding edge" of the news, you can check the substream and landing pages (linked above), although sometimes some articles in the landing page may ultimately be removed (if a better alternative is found, or if I find it is a waste of time to read)
(all stock photos): Background photo created by tirachard - www.freepik.com (for recycled wallpaper/cardboard picture), via pexels: Bruno Scramgnon (sunrise), Pixabay (statue of liberty). Designed and put together in GIMP - use free and open-source software (FOSS).
NOTE 1 - Think in Terms of Structure, Not Conspiracy: Capitalists are waging class war not because they are fundamentally evil people that want to destroy society and values, or they're part lizard, or any of that, but because they want to maintain a system which reinforces their power, and that system stems from their control of the economic sphere. That's why organized labor is such a potent force against them, that's why they are always crying about "socialism" and "leftist radicals". I'd be crying too. It's that simple, no big conspiracy. Now I'm not saying there AREN'T "evil" capitalists (ie people who really enjoy hurting people), but they aren't the fundamental problem. In the medieval feudal days of royalty and peasants, there were probably good kings, and evil kings - it was still a fundamentally unjust system. As Flanders says, "hate the sin, not the sinner", or Michael Brooks "hate systems, not people" (or something like that).
NOTE 2: This configuration is also why it is silly to argue that capitalists are enabled by government (ie to make the Libertarian case for why there is "crony capitalism"). The reason the government helps out capitalists is because capitalists have captured the government, and have turned it into their private biggy-bank. To indict the government for engorging capitalists is like indicting farmers for the world hunger crisis. It's simply misguided. Likewise, it's stupid to say there is an "alliance" between progressives and capitalists, and that is why the major government reforms lately have been with respect to LGBTQ+ rights. No, the reason those are the primary reforms are because LGBTQ+ rights expansions do not challenge capitalists' monopoly on economic power. This is NOT to diminish the importance of winning LGBTQ rights either - on the same note as their allowance of LGBTQ+ rights expansions, they are just as thoughtless when it comes to rolling back LBTQ+ rights, and other rights (as we see today). There is no "collaboration" of capitalists and progressives here - it's simply a political reform that the overwhelming might of the capitalist ruling class does not oppose, and is therefore achievable, given the unorganized and relatively weak progressive political wing in the country.
NOTE 3: The views given in any given posted article are not necessarily those of mine. Their posting here does represent good reporting or solid analysis, in my view.