Fraud claims in Michigan and other states

Fucking Trump (yes, there will be rants in this post) has been claiming rampant voter fraud for years, and he has a chorus of Republicans and conservative media backing him up. None of them are honest about the level of fraud or where it is. Fraud is a convenient claim, so helpful for saying 'we deserve this' and 'the other guys are evil.' 

This year, with covid, it was clear that many people would be mailing in their ballots. It was completely predictable, but the GOP had to turn it into a divisive issue, where mail-in ballot were suspicious, loaded with fraud, and unAmerican. 

Trump summoned GOP lawmakers from Michigan to the White House. Some folks were panicked about this, but the signs mostly indicated that the Michiganders wouldn't succumb to pressure. A long article about many chapters in the Michigan saga, including rallying the screamers for ballot-counting the next, and taking a stand on certification. Many Republicans hate anyone who isn't working on overturning the results, so principles be damned.

The state election canvassers were facing an unprecedented choice: certify or venture into unknown territory. Another story about the canvassers. More on the initial counting of ballots. And the BBC looks into claims of 10K dead voters and find that the list is bogus and full of holes... and live people. 

In a moment of ironic levity, a star witness of ballot processing in Detroit repeatedly spoke over a Republican representative at a formal hearing, insulted him, becoming a real-life example of a character from Saturday Night Live. The real-life caricature is unbowed and unrepentant. 

A judge in Michigan was petitioned to stop a certification, and he told each side to submit their 7 strongest affidavits. You know, all those thousands of great affidavits proving the fraud? Well, the Michigan GOP either chose very badly or their affidavits were junk, because they lost. It turns out that affidavits are evidence, but not necessarily solid, credible evidence. Ooops. Speculation doesn't count, it seems. 

The Pennsylvania federal circuit court of appeals blasts Trump's claims and reminds him and his lawyers that you don't invalidate votes like that. We are Americans and our votes matter. In Pennsylvania, there have been so many lawsuits its hard to keep up with all of them. Some have tried to throw out a few ballots, but that doesn't help much, so most suits have tried to throw out A LOT of ballots. So the arguments are that fairness requires millions of votes get thrown out. These suits have not gotten too far. Some GOP legislators are trying to be put aside the election. Again, go against the tradition and throw out the election. It's not getting a warm welcome. 

In depth - Accusation for pre-printed ballots for Biden in Georgia

So an experienced poll observer told about a group of ballots that appears to be pre-printed with votes for Biden. Hmmmm, an experienced worker is much more credible than some new screamer who doesn't know what's normal and what isn't. She is called to testify at court, but doesn't say much except that the ballots were pristine instead of having worn edges. (Similarly in her affidavit.) However, in the video she embroiders on the claims, saying that the vote markers looked the same for all the ballots, but she didn't make that claim while under oath. 

Even more interesting is the seven hours of hearings by a Georgia subcommittee. A great cross-section of fraud and other complaints. 

Image: pennlive.com

Extras. A roadmap of the strategy the GOP might use to overturn the election. Live updates of the recount in two counties in Wisconsin. The margin was tight, but Wisconsin rules are even tighter, so Trump's campaign had to pay for it. An explanation on why a signature check in Georgia is worthless. It is also not legal under current law. More information about signature checking in Georgia. A Georgia legislator finds the names of constituents she personally knows on a list of supposed fraudulent voters. A monitor hired by the state to watch Fulton County talks a bit about what he saw. 

A mathematical theory debunked. A typical claim from Trump, being divorced from reality. Another claim, that 80 million ballots were sent out. It was 44 million, and that included California and states that have had vote-by-mail for years. 

Wisconsin was the only state not to settle all its (in-state) issues by safe harbor day. Maybe I'll have to post a followup if it gets interesting. Oh, and at least one WI legislator thinks the legislature should choose the electors instead of following the usual process. I wonder what party he's in? 

Arizona. The GOP in Arizona is split between the crazies and the not-crazies. The governor and a bunch of others are now being reviled for following the election laws instead of following the true law of doing what helps Trump. Some important articles about the Arizona recount sponsored by the deluded and partisan AZ senate Republicans. It starts. Not looking so good. The election board of Maricopa County explains elections. And gives even more technical details. 

What was the fraud complaint? Could you explain that please? And another. And two more. 

A transcript of a news conference that Giuliani gave with Sidney Powell, who had promised a 'kraken' that would crash many states and the entire election. Her beliefs were a mishmash including vote-switching software from Venezuela, a countrywide algorithm that was supposed to switch just enough votes, servers in Germany, and thousands for people who bought the voting software with plans to benefit by guaranteeing their wins. Update on kraken failure to engulf states. Monsters of the deep aren't what they used to be. 

A Florida attorney solicits Floridians to move to Georgia to swing their senate seats in the runoff. However doing that is illegal. Ooooops. 

A collection of the disinformation being circulated. A kitchen sink of the evidence by the evidence believers themselves. 

Major report from the GOP-lead Michigan Senate. No major fraud. Sorry guys, couldn't find it. A judge in Michigan grills Trump attorneys at a hearing about allegations of misconduct. 

MyPillow CEO kept claiming he had proof of voting machine tampering, but it was a bunch of bullshit. 

Summary of the election lawsuits where evidence was presented and was the basis for the decisions. 

Update 5/13/2022. The Secretary of State that Trump tried to strong-arm into 'finding' extra Trump votes is dedicated to finding fraud--that is, real fraud or malfeasance. He found about 2000 cases of non-citizens registering and 4 cases of ballots cast for dead people. 

Update 12/14/23. The slate of fake electors in Michigan is being investigated in public hearings. Some details of the plans and what occurred. Smart ones stayed away or got covid and couldn't attend. 

Update 7/27/26. Trump had ballots subpoenaed and seized from Atlanta, GA (Fulton county). Lawfare critiqued the affidavits for the warrant. Another helpful link -- to the report of the GA Secretary of State into 5 voter fraud complaints. Conclusion: No violations found. 

July links

Tangled mess. A knitting site has banned political discussions due to animosity between Trump supporters and opponents. I sympathize. Maybe it was the right move if people were arguing too much and not sharing enough knitting tips.

Election disinformation starting. Example #1 is about Kamala Harris.

NRA meltdown. This is something to watch. The NRA is embroiled in scandal. But it's also a big player in elections. Will we see any effects? Possibly not because it works mostly locally, not from the top down.

2020 forecast. The prediction by a forecaster who did well in the 2018 election.

Russia laughs at Trump display.  Russian media jokes about the lame military display for the Fourth of July. Oh really? Well, who lost the Cold War? That's right, suckers.

Police misbehaving. This isn't really a surprise. Police in a major city are caught making biased remarks on social media, including white supremacist remarks. However, I thought the comment section was worth reading.

Legal analysis on regulation. From a conservative source this time. An analysis of a recent Supreme Court decision. His prediction is a rolling back of government by regulation. I can't comprehend that, and wonder about chaos ensuing until the Supreme Court finds a good balance.

Historical footnote on rich people getting away with crime. Jeffrey Epstein was a known pedophile, and how did he stay out of jail? Good question. It's harder to charge him than you might think, until someone does it and then the other prosecutors look like wimps or worse. One of them being Trump's secretary of labor, now having resigned.

Trump's master stroke. After the grab-them-by-the-pussy video, Trump barely survived. However, he saved himself by going into attack mode during the next debate, and that was admired by much of the GOP.

Image: newstimes.com

June links

Negotiations with Iran. Trump does a U-turn because he wants something done. Also he might be trying to head off Bolton's push to war.

Hong Kong protests. China is trying to depress freedoms in Hong Kong, again. That's a difficult situation, and those are brave people.

Did tax cuts help the economy? Economists were in a race to check for the indicators before they were swamped by Trump's trade wars. The data is rather muddy.

Shaming Congress. Jon Stewart speaking with such humanity and passion to a bunch of butt-kissing politicians. This is the kind of person we need in Congress, not the ones we have now. (Scroll down for video of his full speech.) An economist tells Trump why too many sanctions are harmful.

Shaming a politically correct college. Oberlin College was hit with a massive judgment for abetting trumped-up demonstrations by students against a local business.

Special considerations when pregnant women are jailed. I have never considered this issue, but it seems that the jail and prison managers haven't either, and they have no excuse.

Forged videos and fake news. The fakers now have even better tools for the lies they may want to spread. Yikes!

The internet remembers everything. And Twitter rewards 'mean,' so you're screwed if you've used it, and you're nobody if you haven't.

Image: giphy.com

Lies, damned lies, and GOP lies

The Mueller report is finally out. As I wrote earlier, there weren't many surprises. Most of the information had been revealed either in the press or in indictments. As I noted, the MSM has been fairly accurate and good at self-correction, at least from what I've seen and how I've interpreted it. Maybe when I read hyperbolic speculation, I shake my head and move on, not remembering MSM declarations that Trump worked with Russia. My impression was that most reporters and most left-of-center folks were waiting for Mueller to sort it out. Of the regular commenters I knew on Bloomberg, only two were declaring that Trump had conspired. That leaves most of them not expressing that opinion.

The GOPers/conservatives were usually exaggerating what others said, and they were definitely still doing it as the report was released. They accused others of being WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, while failing to notice what others had actually said. Frankly, I don't know how often talking heads on CNN or MSNBC declared that Russia owned Trump. My guess would be that they hedged. I asked my sweetie, who is more left than me. My sweetie expected about 50% chance of a conspiracy where there was enough evidence to indict. So maybe I'm not in touch with those further left without being the looney left.

1. So the first GOP lie is that all of the left prejudged Trump as guilty and are now pretending that they didn't do this. <------- LIE

Another GOP lie is that the MSM hasn't been reporting the facts. In fact, the MSM has been out front on this. I recall the NYT reporting on the Trump Tower meeting. Reporting a bit, waiting for the Trump team to respond, which it did usually with a cover story replete with lies. Then the NYT would release a bit more, and finally it released the emails of Trump Jr. that showed what was going down.

Now I expect a certain amount of spin from the presidency, but a news org should be as honest as it can be (an idealistic hope). However, there is no comparison. The MSM was telling the truth here, and the administration was lying. This was repeated over and over. That's one reason why I wasn't surprised by the Mueller report - because I followed the news, mainly through online MSM sources, and they were very accurate.

2. The MSM spread FAKE NEWS about the investigation. <------- LIE

Should I move on to some of the crazier lies? Maybe so, and turn the rest of this post into a rant against the lies.

3. All the Russian contacts were entrapment attempts by the deep state FBI/CIA. Cue the search for rumors that each contact actually was aligned with the deep state, not the Russians.

4. The Steele dossier was believed by the left. (No, it was labeled from the very beginning as unverified in screaming letters.)

5. The left took over the CIA, NSA, FBI, State Department, and God knows what else.

6. They all conspired to create this Russian hoax and try to overthrow Trump.

7. The coup was orchestrated by Clinton, Obama and their minions all over government and the MSM.

7.1 Obama didn't do anything about the Russian hacking and interference while it was happening, and instead spied on Trump's campaign.

8. Clinton, Obama, et al are going to jail in a streak of rightful payback.

9. Mueller is part of the deep state and hired Cllinton lackeys to help with the frame job.

10. The Mueller report found there was NO COLLUSION AND NO OBSTRUCTION AND NO EVIDENCE OF WRONGDOING by the Trump campaign.

11. The Dems are going to continue with the hoax because the coup attempt can't stop.

12. The real enemies of America are the Dems. Russians are preferable to them.

Image: twitter@Rob_Rogers

Extras. The FBI warned Trump about contacts with Russians. GOP liars deny this.

Update 4/23/19. I just found an example of GOP lies. Here's an article full of speculation, but it's not labeled as speculation. It's not attributed to unnamed sources (presumably vetted), which news organizations with ethics use. Instead, it's presented as ... um, fact? The big assumption in the article is that the woman Russian lawyer at the Trump Tower meeting was working for FusionGPS to entrap Trump campaign leaders. They also state (wrongly, if I'm not mistaken) that the Trump Tower meeting was used as evidence to secure a FISA warrant. I've looked at the redacted copy of the FISA warrant and didn't see anything about the Trump Tower meeting. I suspect that the author was making it up or repeated unsubstantiated rumors floating around Wingnutlandia.

Update 6/14/19. Trump had an interview with ABC news and he flat out lied about telling McGahn to fire Mueller. Read his lying words.

August links

Alex Jones banned. The conspiracy theorist that Trump loves has been suspended on a bunch of major social media sites. A good article that focuses not on Alex Jones, but on the issues of moderation on social media. Twitter lagged behind, but it's not clear why. Lack of clarity was a theme.

Stalin's useful idiots updated. A great article by someone with a Russian name. Full of energy and unfamiliar angles. I think conservative talk radio types have been incredibly useful to the Russians, but the author points out it's not just them.

Success of solar and wind. Having excess energy due to solar and wind generation is happening more and more. Power companies may not be happy, but this is what I wanted as an environmentalist and someone who cares about the future.

China's misbehavior. China demanded and probably deserved some slack as it was developing, but it's quite a developed nation now. A former Obama administration official gives a blunt assessment that she didn't have the candor to give while Obama was in power. China also wants to make sure it has plenty of company as an authoritarian country. It's even helping Venezuela.

Reference link to save. Concerning where terrorists are most active. Great graphics with some interactive features.

Image: storymaps.esri/com

Making stuff up

I think there is a lot of fake news floating around, and I suspect conservatives channel a lot of it. Remember the scare about Jade Helm? How Seth Rich was murdered because of the DNC hack? Pizzagate? Ambassador Stevens sodomized before he was killed?

Here's one that I learned today. Peter Strzok grew up in Iran, and then moved to Saudi Arabia. From that snippet, plus a letter signed by Peter Strzok where he is identified as a Section Chief, a fake news generator spins the most marvelous stories.

Peter Strzok didn't work for the FBI but was a deep state guy who slid into whatever position was required, working both for the FBI and CIA. This is all based on Strzok's signature on an FBI letter.

According to another fake news article, Strzok was:

...the key Middle Eastern Intel operative for the Iranian airline Mahan Air’s purchase of United States government planes during the Obama administration from 2011 to 2013. -- Big League Politics

Did this actually happen? I looked into it, and found an article about Iran trying to skirt sanctions and buy planes. 

The fake news article goes on to accuse Strzok of fixing the email investigation and then conveniently getting in on the Mueller investigation. What is this based on? "An insider." Or maybe someone making shit up.

With a quick search, I find that the FBI does indeed have 'section chiefs.' So that conclusion that Strzok really worked for the CIA was nothing but a lie.

I don't know how many people in our country work at fabricating these stories. Or how many more repeat them on youtube, websites, or fake news sites like InfoWars? How many more people then read this trash and believe it? It's insidious, and it should be exposed whenever possible. With extreme prejudice to the purveyors.

Image: bigleaguepolitics.com

October roundup of links

GOP releases a tax plan outline summary thumbnail. In keeping with GOP inability to deal with reality including policy making, the tax plan is 5 pages stretched onto 9 pages. It doubles the standard deduction! Cheers! And quietly takes away exemptions. It's the usual cake for the wealthy with a bit of frosting for the middle class. A good list of misleading sales pitches.

Admitted fake news author dies.  He wasn't trying to be a con artist, but rather a satirist. But, according to him: "[Trump's] followers don't fact-check anything — they'll post everything, believe anything. His campaign manager posted my story about a protester getting paid $3,500 as fact. Like, I made that up. I posted a fake ad on Craigslist."

Fake news generators on Facebook outed by Facebook. At some point, most reality-based GOPers will have to stop pretending that there wasn't Russian interference in the US election. Facebook announced more than 3000 fake ads were purchased by accounts that appear to be Russian.

The new world order that didn't happen. Interesting thought. The world was supposed to gradually accept American values by acclamation amid peace and prosperity. Ooops, it didn't happen. The inevitable wasn't inevitable.

Amazing short summary of Islamic terrorism. Maybe it's too simple, but it holds together in my opinion.

The media misreports probability. The problem includes how media reports weather predictions and the 2016 election predictions. The fact of uncertainty isn't clearly conveyed.

Critique of  The Bell Curve. The 1994 book contained the thesis that blacks were genetically cognitively inferior to other groups. The book caused an uproar. Cognitive scientist formed a committee and wrote this critique of what was wrong with the book and its handling of evidence. I've had to refer to this critique several times.

Image: fivethirtyeight.com

Last outpost of crazy: Mars child trafficking

Alex Jones may be the most despicable person in the US. He has his "Sandy Hook hoax" nonsense, which inspires his followers to harass bereaved families. He had his Pizzagate nonsense. Some of his latest nonsense is the idea that children are being kidnapped, sent to Mars, put into slavery, frightened to produce adrenaline, slaughtered, and dismembered for their body parts.

To be fair, this isn't Alex Jones' theory. Just the theory of one of his guests, and Jones can't be held responsible for giving this nutjob bandwidth... are can he?

Jones contributes to the idea. Jones mentions blackouts of probes whenever they go close to Mars. NASA has lots of secrets, etc. But Jones also says "I'm not sure about ...." as though that inoculates him. The scumbag newscaster and his scumbag crazy stories have forced NASA to waste time in denials of this ludicrous fairy tale. Of course, some fools will go on believing it, and nothing will dissuade them, ever. Thank you, Alex Jones, for another false story that will never die.

Image: johndenugent.com

Following the wild goose of fake news

Trump had done a relatively decent job of handling the blowback from his epically stupid accusation that Obama ordered wiretaps on him during the campaign. He hadn't repeated the accusation, his surrogates weren't repeating the accusations. A few, like Kellyanne Conway, were going out on a limb and trying to explain what he might have meant. But generally, Trump and his camp were saying 'Let Congress investigate this and report on it.' Yawn, another long, boring Congressional investigation signifying nothing and concluding nothing. That was a pretty good strategy for containing the issue--letting it dry up and die since it was only words.

That lasted over a week (a long term strategy by the standards of the Trump administration). Then on 3/16/17, Sean Spicer, the press secretary, repeated some fake news (verbatim) from Fox contributor Judge Andrew Napolitano who claimed that three intelligence sources told him that Obama got the British intelligence services to do the dirty work. I suppose that means that no paperwork exists in the US, and no Americans can be called in front of Congress who could admit to it or lie and commit perjury. So this story is now impossible to disprove!

Well, it was always impossible to disprove. Who would be naive enough to believe those liars from the FBI, CIA, NSA, etc. who might swear that Obama didn't order such a thing? No red-blooded American would fall for those weasly denials, that's for sure!

The big question: when will the Trump administration learn not to repeat what they hear on Fox News, Breitbart, etc.?

Sean Spicer air quotes

Image: daytondailynews.com

Extras. The top national security adviser General McMaster supposedly apologized to the British privately. Supposedly Sean Spicer did too. And more fun--I found new sources that are hybrids of news and infotainment: news with snark, and news with misleading captions. No, Trump and the British prime minister didn't have a joint news conference this Friday 3/17/17, but on 1/27/17. The bonus here is a longer report from estimable judge and fake news innovator Napolitano.

Update 4/7/17. "Even if it turns out not to be true..." Will anyone be surprised?

Belated update 7/6/17. Napolitano at first claimed that his sources talked to Fox News. The anchors on Fox News didn't back him up. Doesn't that look like lying? Napolitano was out for just a few weeks... because Fox doesn't fire people for lying.

Trump swallows fake news, barfs it back up.

Image: twitter.com

This is what happens when an undiscerning person watches conservative media. The newbie, twit, or whatever term you want to use hears/sees something, and stupidly thinks it's true. Maybe it's reporting that a pizza restaurant in DC is a front for a child sex ring. Maybe it's about a secret planet behind the sun. Maybe it's that Obama ordered wiretaps on Trump during the campaign.

So Trump hears this story from a fake news source that he doesn't realize is fake news. Why doesn't he realize? I don't know. Maybe he's actually incredibly stupid. Maybe he forgot how to question authority decades ago, and had enough money so that he didn't get his ass kicked. Maybe most people are that stupid, and it's just a matter of what propaganda captures them first. Whatever.

So Trump blasts out some tweets about how terrible it is that he was wiretapped. Trump doesn't wait for evidence, an investigation with various findings of facts. No, out it goes on Twitter. Trump has now accused the prior president of extreme malfeasance.

Is Trump going to walk this back? Is he going to explain, like he did with the 'attacks in Sweden,' that he misunderstood, but it still was important and real? Frankly, it's going to be fun seeing how this plays out. Supposedly James Comey, head of the FBI, has already said it's not true, but he has to wait for someone high enough in the Justice Department to approve and receive a statement to that effect.

So where did this fake news come from? Mark Levin. A name I already know because he's blatantly lied before. The guy is such scum.

Now Mark Levin will be partially responsible for millions of people believing until their dying day that Obama tapped Trump during the election. (Only partially responsible because the idiots deserve part of the blame too.) This is going to be birtherism all over again. MARK MY WORDS. Well, I hope not, but it certainly could turn out that way.


Extra. Maybe this is the real story behind the wild exaggerations and lies of Mark Levin. Strange activity by a server in Trump Tower--yes, I had heard of that.

Update 3/6/17. Trey Gowdy, a House Republican, doesn't believe Obama ordered such wiretaps and asks Trump to have the Department of Justice to release evidence of it.
3/7/17. Devin Nunes doesn't believe it either. Allahpundit tries to explain it to HotAir readers, to no avail.
3/14/17. Two more reports on surveillance on and round Trump and his advisers. Nothing that is both big and new, and nothing that corroborates Trump's claims. He hasn't repeated his claims, and is uncharacteristically quiet as he waits for the investigation to drag out and people to stop caring about that particular blather of his.
3/31/17. Fox News seems to be repeating what Devin Nunes claims and labels it as news. So stilted. A never-Trump conservative tries to explain all the threads of the investigation. I find Devin Nunes comical. It's amazing the lengths he's going to in order to shore up Trump's tantrum tweet. This opinion writer agrees.

Last output of crazy: Daddy, they're being mean

How can I describe the thin-skinned egotistical asshole that we currently have as president? Maybe the best thing is just to let him out himself with the bizarre things he does.

Now, an adult knows that there are ups and downs in business. An intelligent, honest, non-corrupt president knows not to interfere to help the business dealings of friends, families, donors, and supporters. But Trump isn't intelligent, honest, or free from corruption. So he tweets this when his daughter's fashion line is dropped by a major retailer:

Image: enidnews.com

The idiocy and corruption doesn't stop with Trump, however. Kellyanne Conway told viewers to go out and buy Ivanka Trump merchandise. But it turns out (reasonably) that federal employees aren't supposed to plug commercial enterprises while on the job. That applies when the commercial enterprise is owned by the prez's dear daughter. Imagine that: you aren't even supposed to use all that power to enrich yourself and your family. Who designs these rules?

And what does the pro-Trump, fake news purveyor Breitbart do? A huge article about how the retailer is going to suffer, but how Ivanka Trump is a trooper and will just be stronger. It reads like a bad People magazine article. Barf!

So far Nordstrom's stock took a brief loss and then bounced back. A more important question is whether the asshole president will take a well-deserved hit for this. He truly doesn't seem to understand what his job is now. It sure as hell isn't promoting his businesses or his friends' businesses. A mountain of shame on him and his idiotic supporters.

Real massacres versus fake news

Fake massacres should be news for just a short time--as long as it takes to refute, debunk, and search for the origins of the false story. Right now in the news is the story of Kellyanne Conway and her statements (plural) about the 'Bowling Green massacre.' There was no such massacre. She mistook some talking points (spoon-fed to her, most likely) about the arrest of two terrorist/refugees from Iraq in the town of Bowling Green, and erroneously conflated it with some other massacre that did occur. Everyone is fallible, but Conway seems to be quite careless about facts. This was a talking point for her on at least three occasions. I wonder whether she or someone on her staff will fact-check her talking points more carefully from now on. It would be a good idea, but I don't expect it to happen.

In the meantime, fake news entrepreneur Alex Jones (and friend of Trump) has peddled a story that the Sandy Hook school massacre of children and teachers didn't really happen, but was an anti-gun hoax perpetrated by unethical gun control proponents. This is one of the fake news stories I often reference when I make points about fake news not being a new phenomenon. (I also mention birtherism, Jade Helm, and Pizzagate.)

This lowlife purposely peddles lies that anyone with a conscience wouldn't touch. It takes no time at all to find strong evidence of the Sandy Hook massacre, but none of that stops that worm Jones. Nor does it stop his legions of gullible, stupid zipperheads. They regularly make life hell for the families of the victims.

A thread that connects these two massacres, one real and one fake, is the eagerness of right-wingers to embrace false information (that is, LIES) in their pursuit of a narrative supporting their opinions. Truth be damned and run over by a freight train. God, how I hate these liars. I wish I could think of an appropriate punishment severe enough for Alex Jones.

Image: pinterest.com

Extras. Florida prof to be fired for being a stupid lowlife zipperhead. Fake news for liberals, since the right wing nut jobs shouldn't have a monopoly. NYT opinion piece that maybe the Bowling Green massacre will mark the beginning of the end for fake news. I doubt it.

Update 6/18/19. A publisher of a conspiracy theory book about Sandy Hook has apologized to a grieving parent. What the fuck is wrong with these people who will believe such garbage and not take a moment to consider that they could be wrong and vilifying innocent people.

And in news of the scummiest person in American, Alex Jones raged against the lawyers for plaintiffs suing him. The cleaner version and the candid version.

Cultivation of a fake news story

Supposedly Clinton blamed her loss partially on 'fake news' stories. Conservative commenters scoff at the idea of fake news, though they never try to tease out what might be real news versus fake news. They pretend that fake news is a liberal term for news that conservative media covers but mainstream media doesn't cover.

I know differently because I've researched some fake news, otherwise known as LIES. It's sad that the state of all media is so degraded that no sources are generally reliable for giving the whole view. However, MSM doesn't generally lie, and are called to account when a media source does lie.

Conservative media, on the other hand, frequently deals in lies and fabrications, and no one is called to account. No one in conservative media suffered for the lying, distorted editing of the Shirley Sherrod video, at least from what I've heard.

But this is repetition of a complaint I've made before. The new info is about a clear case of fake news. Alex Jones of Infowars was promoted the idea that the Clintons are involved in child trafficking. Supposedly the evidence is in the form of 'code words' in the Podesta emails. Jones kept promoting this story until a gunman (influenced by the stories) went into a pizza restaurant to investigate Jones' allegations, fired off a few shots (luckily injuring no one), and was arrested.

Of course Jones can't admit that he was wrong. Instead, he said that the restaurant is now the focus as a coverup of the real trafficking operations. He's still absolutely sure that something is going on.

This is such disgusting lying and incitement. Jones takes no responsibility, and he also is uninterested in whether anything he implies is true or not. Evidence that can be discovered, examined, and tracked to further evidence holds no interest for him at all. He's not an investigator, he's a lying, manipulative conman. It's important to watch his video in this story to see how unrepentant he is. He pretends that he hasn't focused on the pizza restaurant, which is a blatant lie when you look at his website, with its claim that "Pizzagate is global" and its picture of the restaurant itself.

Image: infowars.com

This is the mindset of too many conservative media purveyors, and it becomes the mindset of their listeners. They don't have a clue how to access for truth, for evidence, for possible falsehood in the information they consume. They will make amazingly heinous accusations, like a pizza restaurant sells the opportunity to sexually abuse children. These accusations are based on someone's sense of 'code words' and their interpretation of logos and artwork. Solid evidence isn't necessary--it's fine to broadcast these suspicions because, even though the accusations involve some of the most brutal and repugnant acts, the accused don't deserve a fair hearing. They're just a bunch of libs--not real people. So you (an average real American) shouldn't be accused like that, or your brother, or a preacher, but it's fine to do to those horrible libs.

I suppose that's what it boils down to--it doesn't matter what you say about libs. It can be true, false, scandalous, fictitious, whatever. Just go ahead, because they are horrible and deserve whatever treatment they get. Ugh. There is no honesty, no ethics, and no principles in that way of thinking, but that's where a lot of these conservative are.

Image: knowyourmeme.com

Extras. An interview with Pizzagate gunman. He doesn't sound like a rabidly bad person--religious, concerned. That was lucky, and may account for why no one was hurt. Aide on Trump's transition team is fired for spreading this stuff. Threats to another restaurant due to Pizzagate fake news stories.

Update 12/13/16. More details of the gunman's preparations and what he did in the restaurant.