Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

Fake news isn't going anywhere: It's hugely profitable -- and right-wingers love it
Salon | Amanda Marcotte | 08/08/17

Fake news: Conservatives love to share it, liberals love to hate it and social media companies rake in the cash

Eight months after a torrential campaign of disinformation, memorably christened "fake news" by BuzzFeed, helped hand Donald Trump his narrow electoral win, the state of objective truth, especially on the internet, is still up in the air. Despite all the negative press, fake news is as popular as ever, especially on the right, with bots and alt-right trolls spreading hoaxes to propel right wing values far and wide. If anything, the problem seems to be getting worse, not better.

Part of the problem is that Trump himself immediately appropriated the term "fake news," using it as a slur to demonize any and all fact-based journalism he finds displeasing, a move that further confused the public discourse over what is true and whether truth even matters. But the larger problem is simply that fake news is deeply appealing, particularly in online circles devoted to defending Trump's administration. It's hard to fight back against a phenomenon that is wildly popular.

A recent study out of Hohenheim University in Germany demonstrates, yet again, that the main propulsive element of a fake news story is the eagerness of audiences, particularly on the right, to believe it. ... Read more

***When a Candidate Conspired With a Foreign Power to Win An Election
Politico | John Farrell | 08/07/17

It took decades to unravel Nixon's sabotage of Vietnam peace talks. Now, the full story can be told.

Sometimes Nixon needed to blow off steam: demanding that a reporter from The Washington Post or The New York Times be banned from his campaign airplane for writing an offending story. ("Times and Post off," Haldeman recorded. "Times forever.") One such call came at midnight, from Nixon's co-op apartment on Fifth Avenue: Haldeman dutifully noted that the stirring score to the World War II documentary Victory at Sea, which Nixon so enjoyed, was playing on a phonograph in the background.

Other calls were steeped in intrigue. In one series of scribbles, Haldeman reported Henry Kissinger's willingness to inform on his U.S. diplomatic colleagues, and keep Nixon updated on President Lyndon Johnson's furious, eleventh-hour efforts to end the Vietnam War.

Sometimes Nixon needed to blow off steam: demanding that a reporter from The Washington Post or The New York Times be banned from his campaign airplane for writing an offending story. ("Times and Post off," Haldeman recorded. "Times forever.") One such call came at midnight, from Nixon's co-op apartment on Fifth Avenue: Haldeman dutifully noted that the stirring score to the World War II documentary Victory at Sea, which Nixon so enjoyed, was playing on a phonograph in the background. ... Read more

Forget Flash Floods. Flash Droughts Are Even More Terrifying.
MotherJones | Eric Holthaus | 08/07/17

An intense drought has quickly gripped much of the Dakotas and parts of Montana this summer, catching farmers and ranchers off-guard. The multi-agency U.S. Drought Monitor recently upgraded the drought to "exceptional," its highest severity level, matching the intensity of the California drought at its peak.

The Associated Press says the dry conditions are "laying waste to crops and searing pasture and hay land" in America's new wheat belt, with some longtime farmers and ranchers calling it the worst of their lifetimes. Unfortunately, this kind of came-out-of-nowhere drought could become a lot less rare in the future. "The damage and the destruction is just unimaginable," Montana resident Sarah Swanson told Grist. "It's unlike anything we've seen in decades." ... Read more