2016 Elections

[Mr.B]

"I have sicced Snopes on several liberal friends posting..."

" I called out the semi-racism in a "Reply All" including the Snopes link."

The Old Reliable snopes.com
"David Mikkelson founded snopes.com in 1994, and under his guidance the company has pioneered a number of revolutionary technologies, including the iPhone, the light bulb, beer pong, and a vaccine for a disease that has not yet been discovered. He is currently seeking political asylum in the Duchy of Grand Fenwick."

[Vrede too]

I read an article today that argued those fake "news" sites were hugely responsible for the results of this election. I've said it before, but people take those Facebook memes that pop up as literal truth without even considering that they could be complete bullshit. People like to be outraged at something and memes are the perfect suppository to deliver that vessel of outrage for that huge chunk of the electorate that likes to talk out of their asses.

I was on the phone with my mother the other day. She was telling me about one of the outrage memes she heard about and was outraged herself. Nothing more than word of mouth hearsay taken at face value. I think this is more common than we realize, and I think even moderately intelligent people are susceptible to some extent unless they have enough self restraint and awareness to realize every tidbit of info ought to be reasonably scrutinized before acceptance.

Studies contradict what Mark Zuckerberg is saying about Facebook

... Throughout the campaign cycle, fake news headlines appeared on Facebook, especially after the company fired its Trending Topics team in August; headlines like “Pope Francis endorses Donald Trump,” to name one example. (To be sure, fake news is not only a problem on Facebook; at the moment, Google’s top election story says Donald Trump won the popular vote, which is not true.)



... It’s also not unrelated that an Anti-Defamation League report on the rise of anti-Semitic abuse on Twitter concluded that “a disproportionate volume” of the abuse came from Trump supporters....

44% of adults get news on Facebook ...

Since getting rid of human editors, Facebook has repeatedly surfaced fake news

... But back in August, Facebook fired its editorial staff after reports surfaced on Gizmodo that the section actively leaned toward liberal news (and away from conservative news). And then things got worse. The weekend following the firing of the editorial staff, a false news story became a top hit on Facebook's Trending section.



(This is not real, yet Facebook highlighted it for hours to its billions of users.)

Facebook's response to the false report? To remove it. No editorial update. No mea culpa. The millions of people who read it had no way of knowing they'd read a false report.

And in the weeks since Facebook's big change, the situation has only gotten worse. In a new report from The Washington Post, a variety of false stories have been surfaced on Facebook's Trending section over the past several weeks.

"In the six weeks since Facebook revamped its Trending system — and a hoax about the Fox News Channel star subsequently trended — the site has repeatedly promoted 'news' stories that are actually works of fiction," WaPo's Caitlin Dewey writes....

Google Links To A Fake Site As Top Election News Result
It says Donald Trump won the popular vote. He did not.

... The link leads to a site called “70News,” a site created on WordPress which features “Hillary’s Health” as its primary vertical, before Politics, Finance, and News.

... This is not the only fake news story of the site. The “Hillary’s Health” section is filled with disproved conspiracy theories, and Under “Politics” is a story that incorrectly connects the Council on American-Islamic Relations to Al Qaeda.

The site also supports the popular alt-right theory that anti-Trump protesters in California were being paid....

Directly or indirectly, now we know where Mr.B gets his "news".

Donald Trump Won Because of Facebook

... The Pope endorses Trump. Hillary Clinton bought $137 million in illegal arms. The Clintons bought a $200 million house in the Maldives. Many got hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of shares, likes, and comments; enough people clicked through to the posts to generate significant profits for their creators. The valiant efforts of Snopes and other debunking organizations were insufficient; Facebook’s labyrinthine sharing and privacy settings mean that fact-checks get lost in the shuffle. Often, no one would even need to click on and read the story for the headline itself to become a widely distributed talking point, repeated elsewhere online, or, sometimes, in real life. (Here’s an in-the-wild sighting of a man telling a woman that Clinton and her longtime aide Huma Abedin are lovers, based on “material that appeared to have been printed off the internet.”) ...

Facebook has repeatedly trended fake news since firing its human editors

... There was the thinly-sourced story, on Aug. 31, of a Clemson University administrator who kicked a praying man off campus. (The sordid tale, aggregated by a right-wing outlet, has been soundly debunked by the school.) ...

Perpetual victim believers routinely bear and swallow false witness.

The BRD cons that ran screeching to CPF were ahead of their time. More than anything else they hated us for regularly proving them to be gullible fools, and they hated themselves for not having the stones to admit that they'd screwed up.

[Mr.B]

"Directly or indirectly, now we know where Mr.B gets his "news".

Unbelievable! Why, I'm flattered Vrede! You spent all that time copying and pasting and researching all that awesome news just to prove your obsession with me...! I'm at a loss for words of gratitude...
Seriously though, I'm one of the biggest "harper" about fake news on Facebook.

You are right though, there's people who swallow that crap hook, line, and sinker....but, I'm not one of them.
If a relative of mine posts some sort of fake garbage, I let 'em have it. (get "un-friended much?")

Being a conservative does not mean one believes everything that so-called 'conservative' sites publish.

[Boatrocker]

Ouch Mr.B, that one would hurt if you weren't so inherently dishonest and cowardly.

I have sicced Snopes on several liberal friends posting that shit as fact. I double check even left-leaning memes.

Ditto, though unlike internet cons my friends appreciate being corrected and have the stones to tell anyone else that they spread misinformation to that they were wrong.

This is one I've seen more than once:

Poached Eggs
Photographs show residents of Costa Rica poaching sea turtle eggs?

One time it was accompanied by semi-racist finger pointing. That one wasn't a friend, I was just on some overlapping acquaintance list. I called out the semi-racism in a "Reply All" including the Snopes link. She was not amused.

I have found that replying "All" with a Snopes link gets me off of a lot of mailing lists I don't wanna be on to begin with, along with a few nasty replies from all those "Snopes is a librul commie pinko fag conspiracy funded by Soros" kinda idiots. That, of course, just encourages me to offer more links, with concern at all about who is amused. Well, except for me.

[Boatrocker]

Yo...

Remember Glenn Beck? The dude with the chalkboard on Fox news way back?

Well Glenn Beck seems to have done a complete 180. He's warning us about Trump. Being critical of Trump's white house. What happened?

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/ ... ness-brain

What happened is he's a huckster (probly one of the smarter ones) grasping at relevance.

[rstrong]

What happened is he's a huckster (probly one of the smarter ones) grasping at relevance.

Yup. He made his living being the most extreme conspiracy theorist liar monetizing the wingnuts and racists. But along came Breitbart and did a better job of that.

And now the head of Breitbart is your new Karl Rove.

[Mr.B]

Obama: "Just take the friggin' picture!"

[rstrong]

Trump's attitude towards the Presidency is much like his attitude towards women. He shows a lot less desire after gaining consent.

[Vrede too]

Is a "basket of deplorables" the same thing as a cracker barrel?

[Vrede too]

We need a new direction in the Democratic Party.

Petition to DNC committee members and Democratic elected officials:
The results of this election demonstrate that deep, structural change is needed in the Democratic Party and at the DNC (Democratic National Committee). When the priorities of donors and lobbyists are heard over ordinary Americans, voters notice.

Please pledge to work intently to fundamentally reform the DNC and elevate economic populists into the leadership of the Democratic Party, including a proven progressive as chair of the DNC.

This election proves beyond a doubt that the Democratic Party’s current leadership is out of touch with the party base and with the mood of the country.

The corporate wing of the Democratic Party had a chance. It’s time for deep, fundamental change.

We desperately need bold, new leadership at the DNC and in the Democratic Party. We need progressive leaders who can provide an inspiring, people-first alternative to Donald Trump’s hate-filled agenda.

Sign the petition: The Democratic Party must fundamentally overhaul the DNC and elevate proven progressives to lead the party forward.

Democrats faced a ticket led by historically unpopular Donald Trump. And yet now Republicans control the presidency, the House, the Senate, the Supreme Court, and state governments across the country.

Don’t let anyone tell you there weren’t clear warning signs:

The Brexit vote that blindsided political elites in Britain. Donald Trump’s shocking primary victory. Bernie Sanders’s journey from laughingstock of the political establishment to winning 22 states and 47% of the vote in the Democratic primary.

Democratic Party leadership ignored those wakeup calls. Real change can’t be put off any longer.

Today’s DNC is largely a fundraising machine. And when the priorities of campaign donors are heard over working Americans, voters notice.

Huge numbers of working Americans who voted for President Obama didn’t feel the Democratic Party was fighting for them. They voted accordingly, and now Donald Trump will be president.

We need a party leadership that can return the Democratic Party to its roles as the voice of working people against corporate interests.

Sign the petition: Overhaul the DNC and Democratic Party leadership so that the concerns of working people are put first.

No doubt that there are Dems thinking about how to serve corporate interests better next time.

[bannination]

Ouch Mr.B, that one would hurt if you weren't so inherently dishonest and cowardly.

I have sicced Snopes on several liberal friends posting that shit as fact. I double check even left-leaning memes.

Ditto, though unlike internet cons my friends appreciate being corrected and have the stones to tell anyone else that they spread misinformation to that they were wrong.

This is one I've seen more than once:

Poached Eggs
Photographs show residents of Costa Rica poaching sea turtle eggs?

One time it was accompanied by semi-racist finger pointing. That one wasn't a friend, I was just on some overlapping acquaintance list. I called out the semi-racism in a "Reply All" including the Snopes link. She was not amused.

I have found that replying "All" with a Snopes link gets me off of a lot of mailing lists I don't wanna be on to begin with, along with a few nasty replies from all those "Snopes is a librul commie pinko fag conspiracy funded by Soros" kinda idiots. That, of course, just encourages me to offer more links, with concern at all about who is amused. Well, except for me.

Oh god, I get the same replies, snopes is some kind of "conspiracy". Their completely source-less emails are the truth.

[O Really]

You guys need some new acquaintances.
But I can sympathize. I knew a guy who was not quite real friend, but more than casual acquaintance. Lady O and I went to dinner with them occasionally, or some event. Anyway, he sent around the forward-forward-forward piece of bullshit lamenting how awful it is that Congress has this special health plan that nobody else can have. I sent him an email saying that his source was mistaken, and that Congress is eligible for the same health plan choices as other federal employees, and quoted the applicable regulation. I also suggested, politely, that he might want to check his sources before sending stuff around. Never heard from the guy again.

[Mr.B]

When I get a "forward-forward-forward piece of b.s." , it automatically gets deleted. Plus, those senders don't have sense enough to use the BCC setting.

[rstrong]

I suppose that as a Canadian, I should be thanking America:

Wall Street Journal: Immigrants Founded 51% of U.S. Billion-Dollar Startups

(Original report - PDF)

...including Google, SpaceX, Tesla, Uber, Cloudfare and more.

And it doesn't even count second generation immigrants. For example Apple, founded by the son of a Syrian refugee and the son of Polish immigrants.

Based on an examination of the biographies of company founders, if S.2394, a bill by Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL), had been in effect over the past decade, few if any of the billion dollar startup companies with an immigrant founder would have been started in the United States.

But now Canadian tech firms will have their pick of overseas talent thanks to Trump's anti-immigrant policies. Not only has he promised to end H-1B immigration AND end immigration from refugee zones, but he'll be scaring off many from the developed world too.

The Verge: Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon suggests having too many Asian tech CEOs undermines ‘civic society’

Thanks for demonstrating my point, Trump's White Supremacist Karl Rove!

[Vrede too]

I read an article today that argued those fake "news" sites were hugely responsible for the results of this election....

Viral Fake Election News Outperformed Real News On Facebook In Final Months Of The US Election
A BuzzFeed News analysis found that top fake election news stories generated more total engagement on Facebook than top election stories from 19 major news outlets combined.



... Of the 20 top-performing false election stories identified in the analysis, all but three were overtly pro-Donald Trump or anti-Hillary Clinton. Two of the biggest false hits were a story claiming Clinton sold weapons to ISIS and a hoax claiming the pope endorsed Trump. The only viral false stories during the final three months that were arguably against Trump’s interests were a false quote from Mike Pence about Michelle Obama, a false report that Ireland was accepting American “refugees” fleeing Trump, and a hoax claiming RuPaul said he was groped by Trump.



... One example is the remarkably successful, utterly untrustworthy site Ending the Fed. It was responsible for four of the top 10 false election stories identified in the analysis: Pope Francis endorsing Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton selling weapons to ISIS, Hillary Clinton being disqualified from holding federal office, and the FBI director receiving millions from the Clinton Foundation. These four stories racked up a total of roughly 2,953,000 Facebook engagements in the three months leading up to Election Day.

Ending the Fed gained notoriety in August when Facebook promoted its story about Megyn Kelly being fired by Fox News as a top trending item. The strong engagement the site has seen on Facebook may help explain how one of its stories was featured in the Trending box.

... The Burrard Street Journal scored nearly 380,000 Facebook engagements for a fake story about Obama saying he will not leave office if Trump is elected....

[Boatrocker]

You guys need some new acquaintances.

Truthfully, it's mostly my rabid red state in-laws in deepest, dumbest LA.

[Mr.B]

We need a new direction in the Democratic Party.

Y'all should'a turned right back at that last turn.

"We desperately need bold, new leadership at the DNC and in the Democratic Party. We need progressive leaders who can provide an inspiring, people-first alternative to Donald Trump’s hate-filled agenda."
"Hate-filled agenda..." As opposed to the love, tolerance, and hands-holding in the streets of many cities when the
peace-loving lambs of the left looted and burned ? That was an "inspiring, people-first alternative"....

[JTA]

Yo...

Every morning I wake up its like Christmas time for me.

I actually wake up BEFORE that damnable alarm goes off just to browse the news to see what outrageous mind fuckery is going on with the president elect and his new forthcoming administration.

I bet Trumps gonna rage in twitter one night and accidentally spill the beans about aliens being real or some shit.

[Vrede too]

... see what outrageous mind fuckery is going on with the president elect and his new forthcoming administration....

Trump lied on Twitter, and the media spread it far and wide
Trump took credit for saving a Ford plant that was never in any danger in the first place.

This isn’t just a photo of Ivanka Trump. It’s a middle finger to democracy.
Shredding democratic traditions, one image at a time.

Trump is stocking his administration with white nationalists
It’s not just Steve Bannon.

The grassroots Jewish movement to get Steve Bannon out of the White House
While major Jewish organizations stay silent, young activists say they will “stand up instead.”

If anyone knows Nazis . . .

14 disturbing tweets from Trump’s new National Security Adviser
This radical warhawk doesn’t shy away from demonizing Islam and turning a blind eye to police brutality.

[Mr.B]