Since Donald Trump's rise in the polls, a panicky nation has turned to the media for a rational analysis of the numbers. Instead, they respond to our questions of "What will happen?" with a series of "This! No, that! Sorry, this! ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN!" stories that seem scientifically engineered to keep both parties in a constant state of panic. Such measured alarmism is good for business: On Tuesday, celebrity prognosticator Nate Silver had a nation of Democrats anxiously retweeting his post headlined, " On a Scale of 1 to 10, How Much Should Democrats Panic? " He cryptically and subjectively concluded that the answer was "6," based less on a surging Trump and, more, self-fulfillingly, on Dems' own default level of fear.

Our most respected news sources consistently reach wildly different conclusions with the same set of numbers and facts, often within the same day. This is unnerving: We know this is a post-fact election, but that's supposed to be the fault of InfoWars and Rush Limbaugh, not reliable sources like The New York Times, FiveThirtyEight or the always accurate SPY.

To showcase the problem, SPY collected a few recent stories from major news organizations and paired them with other stories claiming the near-to-exact opposite, sometimes appearing on the same exact day. We've given each pair a whiplash score to express how violently they jerked readers from one extreme to the other.

Whiplash Scale

1: Sleep it off

2: Two Advil and a glass of wine

3: Oversized neck brace for a week

4: 1-800-LAWYERS

Hillary Clinton is losing a key minority voting bloc/Hillary Clinton is soaring, thanks to a key minority voting bloc

"Black Turnout Falls in Early Voting, Boding Ill for Hillary Clinton" (The New York Times, Nov. 1)

"African-Americans are failing to vote at the robust levels they did four years ago in several states that could help decide the presidential election, creating a vexing problem for Hillary Clinton as she clings to a deteriorating lead over Donald J. Trump with Election Day just a week away."

"Trump, Waking a 'Sleeping Giant,' Helps Clinton Build an Unlikely Firewall" (The Times, Nov. 2)

"By driving women, educated white voters and, most significantly, growing blocs of minorities away from the Republican Party, Mr. Trump has hastened social and political changes already well underway in two key regions, the interior West and the upper South, that not long ago tilted to the right."

Whiplash score: 2

The Trump/Russia connection is more nefarious than we thought/The Russians don't deal with Trump at all

"A Veteran Spy Has Given the FBI Information Alleging a Russian Operation to Cultivate Donald Trump" (Mother Jones, Oct. 31)

"Mother Jones has reviewed that report and other memos this former spy wrote. The first memo, based on the former intelligence officer's conversations with Russian sources, noted, 'Russian regime has been cultivating, supporting and assisting TRUMP for at least 5 years. Aim, endorsed by PUTIN, has been to encourage splits and divisions in western alliance.' It maintained that Trump 'and his inner circle have accepted a regular flow of intelligence from the Kremlin, including on his Democratic and other political rivals.' It claimed that Russian intelligence had 'compromised' Trump during his visits to Moscow and could 'blackmail him.' It also reported that Russian intelligence had compiled a dossier on Hillary Clinton based on 'bugged conversations she had on various visits to Russia and intercepted phone calls.'"

"Investigating Donald Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russia" (Times, Oct. 31)

"Law enforcement officials say that none of the investigations so far have found any conclusive or direct link between Mr. Trump and the Russian government. And even the hacking into Democratic emails, F.B.I. and intelligence officials now believe, was aimed at disrupting the presidential election rather than electing Mr. Trump."

Whiplash score: 4

The early vote numbers are a great predictor of the winner/Pay no attention to the early votes!

"Early voting predict who wins. This is good news for Democrats." (The Washington Post, Nov. 1)

"Political scientist Seth Masket at FiveThirtyEight, who analyzed 2012 early vote data, argues that it isn't a good predictor of the eventual outcome in a state. But using a different set of data, we find that early vote numbers tell us a lot about which candidate will win."

"Early Voting a Poor Predictor of Final Results" (Real Clear Politics, Nov. 2)

"As we wind down this election, we begin to hear the familiar chime: The election is over and/or can be predicted because of what we see in the early vote. Don't buy it."

Whiplash score: 2

Trump can never win/Trump has a chance

"No Matter How You Cut It, Trump Is 3 Electoral Votes Short of a Path to Victory" (New York, Nov. 1 )

"And there, as has been the case for much of the general-election campaign, Clinton has the strategic advantage of many routes to 270 electoral votes, while Trump's path is, well, problematic."

"Election Update: Yes, Donald Trump Has A Path To Victory" (FiveThirtyEight, Nov. 1 )

"Trump remains an underdog, but no longer really a longshot: His Electoral College chances are 29 percent in our polls-only model — his highest probability since Oct. 2 — and 30 percent in polls-plus."

Whiplash score: 3

Comey's Weiner probe is going to flip this election/The Weiner probe didn't change anyone's mind

"Computer seized in Weiner probe prompts FBI to take new steps in Clinton email inquiry" (The Post, Oct. 28 )

"The announcement could reshape a presidential race that Clinton, the Democratic nominee, has been leading in most public polls."

"Poll: Comey's bombshell changes few votes" (Politico, Oct. 31 )

"The race for the White House is tight, but it has not been radically changed by the FBI director's bombshell announcement last week."

Whiplash score: 4