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Old 12-07-2016, 08:21 AM
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whell whell is offline
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FAKE NEWS EXPOSED: A Service of PoliticalChat.org

For all of you concerned about the proliferation of so-called "fake news" sites, I'm here to help. I know you're all so very concerned that "gullible people" might not be able to discern between internet news stories that are parodies versus those that are "real" and put out by "reputable" journalists. As patriotic Americans, we just can't let such misinformation go unchallenged.

So, I'll post here - for the world to see - news that is obviously fake, or certainly of questionable origin. We'll look at individual stories, and we'll look at sites that put out dubious information specifically designed to fool folks who might believe just about anything they read on the web.

Let's start with a trip down memory lane, and have a look at a couple of our old, whacky friends: those tricksters and politicsusa.com and the Huffington Post. I fear that these two "digital rags" have contributed mightily to the cases of "post-election stress syndrome" (PESS) that is so pervasive these days among folks who lean left in their views.

Here are a couple key examples of why PESS abounds:

The folks at politicsusa.com were merciless in fooling poor lefties, using dubious polling data (pollsters being another fertile source of fake news), polling that suggested Clinton was going to win last month's election.

Huffington Post is even more aggressive on this point, with information left on their website that suggests to some gullible folks that Hillary might yet pull out a win with more than a 5 point polling lead. In fact, they bravely declare that their modeling more than 99% of the time predicted a Clinton win. Maybe still fanning hope for an upset in the electoral college vote?

Now, fast forward. Fakenewswatch.com is a site that provides a service that identifies sites that publish fake news. The "bad" category is occupied by sites that are "FAKE/HOAX NEWS WEBSITES", defined as sites that "....are satire sites that are not funny. They are an attempt to play on gullible people who do not check sources and will just pass the news on as if it were really true."

Here's a story that comes from a site categorized as FAKE/HOAX NEWS": newsmutiny.com. newsmutiny.com describes itself as "Satire for the wise. News for the dumb." Horrifying.

A lead story today on newsmutiny.com is this one:

Trump Nominates Chris Christie Ambassador to Fatfuckistan

Now, in case there are some poor folks out there who believe this is true, as a service to our readers let me state that this is story is categorically false. The Trump folks have already stated that they will look to aggressively cut government spending. Since Mr. Christie insisted as a condition of acceptance for the ambassador role that the purchase of two adjacent seats for any government air travel to accommodate his girth was a requirement, Trump retracted the job offer.

I'm proud to support this effort to inform, and help counteract the corrosive impact of "fake news".

Last edited by whell; 08-02-2023 at 02:41 PM.
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Old 12-07-2016, 08:39 AM
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finnbow finnbow is offline
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The right conflates opinions they disagree with, humor they don't get, and inaccurate polling with fake news in an effort to say "everybody's doing it" or "all news other than Fox News, Breitbart and talk radio are fake news." You've fallen for the scam. Congrats.

Meanwhile, Trump's National Security Advisor and Trump himself suck up this stuff like a vacuum cleaner and tweet it out to the masses and Trump installs one of the great purveyors of fake news as his primary White House policy advisor.
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Old 12-07-2016, 09:14 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by finnbow View Post
The right conflates opinions they disagree with, humor they don't get, and inaccurate polling with fake news in an effort to say "everybody's doing it" or "all news other than Fox News, Breitbart and talk radio are fake news." You've fallen for the scam. Congrats.

Meanwhile, Trump's National Security Advisor and Trump himself suck up this stuff like a vacuum cleaner and tweet it out to the masses and Trump installs one of the great purveyors of fake news as his primary White House policy advisor.
There, there Finn. It's OK. I know these are troubling times for you. I can see it in your posts. Its with folks like you in mind that this thread was created. I just want to help with your recovery and healing.

Trump was named "Person of the Year" by Time Magazine. I suspect you'll rush to make the lame point that Hitler and Stalin were once named Person of the Year as well, so I'll save you the trouble of embarrassing yourself with that, since its really not the point.

The point is the observation that the writer of the story makes about the electorate:

For those who believe this is all for the better, Trump’s victory represents a long-overdue rebuke to an entrenched and arrogant governing class; for those who see it as for the worse, the destruction extends to cherished norms of civility and discourse, a politics poisoned by vile streams of racism, sexism, nativism. To his believers, he delivers change—broad, deep, historic change, not modest measures doled out in Dixie cups; to his detractors, he inspires fear both for what he may do and what may be done in his name.

So, there you are Finn. The writer understands your fear, and that your fear motivates you and colors your perceptions. Take heart that you're not alone, but also take heart that folks are here to help.

Oh, and Fox News polling forecast a Hillary win, too. So I guess Fox contributed to fake election news as well.
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Old 12-07-2016, 12:20 PM
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finnbow finnbow is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by whell View Post
There, there Finn. It's OK. I know these are troubling times for you. I can see it in your posts. Its with folks like you in mind that this thread was created. I just want to help with your recovery and healing.
Unlike you, I'm skeptical of politicians on both sides (and didn't vote for Hillary - Kasich was my guy). For whatever reason, manipulation and manipulative people have long been things I strongly dislike, find disreputable, and often strike out against. That's my primary beef with Trump and the campaign he ran, which featured "fake news" as a primary component. Trump helped normalize this behavior with his constant lying and retweeting fake news are things he should be held to account for.

Now that this has come to the fore with Comet Ping Pong (a place I know well and have eaten at several times), I find the concerted effort by Trump and his minions in right-wing media to deny the existence of fake news and how Trump benefited from it distasteful and dishonest.
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Old 12-07-2016, 12:34 PM
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Tom Joad Tom Joad is offline
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Unlike you, I'm skeptical of politicians on both sides (and didn't vote for Hillary - Kasich was my guy).
Thanks for showing your true far right stripes.

Kasich would have been worse than Hillary.

If the election had been Kasich vs. Hillary, or any of the other Republicans other than Trump vs. Hillary, I would have voted for Hillary.

The only candidate on the Republican side that was better than Hillary was Trump.
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Last edited by Tom Joad; 12-07-2016 at 12:36 PM.
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Old 12-07-2016, 06:45 PM
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whell whell is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by finnbow View Post
Unlike you, I'm skeptical of politicians on both sides (and didn't vote for Hillary - Kasich was my guy). For whatever reason, manipulation and manipulative people have long been things I strongly dislike, find disreputable, and often strike out against. That's my primary beef with Trump and the campaign he ran, which featured "fake news" as a primary component. Trump helped normalize this behavior with his constant lying and retweeting fake news are things he should be held to account for.

Now that this has come to the fore with Comet Ping Pong (a place I know well and have eaten at several times), I find the concerted effort by Trump and his minions in right-wing media to deny the existence of fake news and how Trump benefited from it distasteful and dishonest.
I find this fascinating, really. The selective indignation is stunning. We still have folks right here on this forum this still believe the Gabby Giffords shooter was inspired by Sarah Palin. The story ran ad naseum in the "mainstream" news. The NY Post ran a story headlining that "Giffords Blood was on Palin's Hands". There was ZERO evidence that the shooter saw or even cared about Palin's "target" ad. Didn't matter a whit, the story was debated in the press for weeks.

Yet you guys are all spun up about a few tweets. Amazing.
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Old 12-07-2016, 08:10 PM
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finnbow finnbow is offline
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Originally Posted by whell View Post
I find this fascinating, really. The selective indignation is stunning. We still have folks right here on this forum this still believe the Gabby Giffords shooter was inspired by Sarah Palin. The story ran ad naseum in the "mainstream" news. The NY Post ran a story headlining that "Giffords Blood was on Palin's Hands". There was ZERO evidence that the shooter saw or even cared about Palin's "target" ad. Didn't matter a whit, the story was debated in the press for weeks.

Yet you guys are all spun up about a few tweets. Amazing.
You're grasping at straws, dude. The has never been a presidential candidate with such a casual relationship, even contempt, for truth and facts. Trump's own surrogate proclaimed "there are no such thing as facts" as she defended her boss's incessant lying and forwarding of fake news tweets from Infowars and Breitbart (measure at ~75% of what he said - about triple any other candidate present or past). Then he hires one of the premier purveyors of fake news, Steve Bannon, as his key advisor while his national security advisor retweets verifiably fake news, the same fake news which caused some clown to shoot up a local pizza joint. Maybe I take it a bit personally that one of my preferred pizza places gets shot up by some asshole reacting to fake news distributed by, among others, the National Security Advisor and his chief of staff (and son). Unlike you, I expect more from the National Security Advisor.

As for it being just "a few tweets," how about ~30,000 tweets, in which the most frequently source for his retweets was Breitbart. For whatever reason, I expect the president to be a bit more discriminating as to the source of his "news." Meanwhile, he blows off intelligence briefings and defies the intelligence community when they show compelling evidence of Russian involvement in the election.

There's a reason why the Oxford Dictionary announced a couple weeks ago that "post-truth" was its 2016 word of the year and yer boy, The Donald, is the driving force behind that choice. I guess you're OK with him accusing Ted Cruz's father of conspiring to assassinate JFK - so very presidential of him. If it helps you sleep at night to believe that Trump is a virtuous, dignified person, have at it. I'll pass.
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Last edited by finnbow; 12-07-2016 at 09:17 PM.
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Old 12-08-2016, 08:45 AM
MrPots MrPots is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by finnbow View Post
The right conflates opinions they disagree with, humor they don't get, and inaccurate polling with fake news in an effort to say "everybody's doing it" or "all news other than Fox News, Breitbart and talk radio are fake news." You've fallen for the scam. Congrats.
The right also believes that if they don't win an election, it's been rigged.
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Old 12-08-2016, 09:21 AM
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whell whell is offline
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The right also believes that if they don't win an election, it's been rigged.
The left believes that if they don't win an election, they need to blow up the electoral college.
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Old 12-08-2016, 09:36 AM
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The right also believes that if they don't win an election, it's been rigged.
Reminds me of WC Fields complaining about a card shark: "...And besides, I know what I dealt him."
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