Always follow the money.

Given the plummeting regard for the media, it's clear that the bulk of Americans have developed a habitual skepticism for news outlets.

And that's a good thing, given the narrative-not-news approach we see every day. All of the so-called news networks are money-losing subsidiaries of multi-national corporations with interests which trump (rimshot!) actual news reporting.

It's why you see things like NBC running straight ChiCom propaganda.

NBC is a subsidiary of Comcast, and Comcast is building a massive theme park outside of Beijing. So NBC is not going to run anything critical of the regime that inflicted the current pandemic on the world.

The stream of sweet, sweet yuan is too important to be interfered with by anything as inconsequential as integrity.

See also, the National Basketball Association.

On a related note, I have become a big proponent of smashing things to bits with the Sherman Anti-Trust Act over the past two years.

But you will still see some outlets try to present something as a consensus of disinterested experts.

How can you really tell you are being peddled BS?

It seems self-evident that if an expert's expertise supports his partisan inclinations, you might be getting spin.

So how can you determine the partisan affiliations of a non-politician?

Think back to a wise saying:

"Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

If they are sending their post-tax money to one side of the political divide, you just might be getting a political ad presented as expertise.

And thanks to the wonders of partial transparency, you can track someone's political contributions here.

While an excellent resource, understand it has its limits: no donations below an aggregated total of $200 are a matter of public record. So my deeply-regretted donations to two candidates in the distant past, one GOP and one Dem, will not show up.

WHEW.

But remember that people can be passionate partisans who keep their donations below the limits.

All that said, let's try it with this seemingly-damning article from Vox presenting a seemingly-formidable array of expert criticism of the motion to dismiss the prosecution of Michael Flynn.

Lisa Kern Griffin of Duke: All donations to Democrats.

Diane Amann: All donations to Democrats.

Renato Mariotti: All donations to Democrats.

Jessica Levinson: No donations found.

Joshua Dressler: All donations to Democrats.

Miriam Baer: All donations to Democrats or the big-money Democratic pro-choice PAC "Emily's List."

Jimmy Gurule': No donations found.

Ric Simmons: No donations found.

Jens David Ohlin: No donations found.

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy: No donations found.

Christopher Slobogin: No donations found.

Bottom line: 5 of the 11 "legal experts" are Democrats. There's not a single donation to a Republican from any of them. And it's safe to say that some of the non-donors don't exactly sound like dispassionate observers.

You need money to fight a war. In an age where American politics is religious warfare by another name, you can learn a lot from donation patterns.