Home · News · News Aug 2017 · Aug 08 2017
Tuesday August 08, 2017

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

Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Tuesday, August 08 [11:33]
Democracy Now! U.S. and World News Headlines for Tuesday, August 08 (FULL) | 59:02
Note: on the full 59:02 video look for small white (or black) circles on the Progressbar they denote the different news stories. You can move the pointer on the Progressbar to jump to each story, and around the video.
Note2: You might have to scroll the windows down 1/2 inch to capture the full video.
  1. Headlines
  2. Meet the Senior Federal Official Blowing the Whistle on Trump's Suppression of Climate Science
  3. Formerly Jailed CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou: Jeff Sessions Is Extending Obama's War on Leaks
  4. Head of Bombed Minnesota Mosque Denounces Trump for Stoking Hate & Violence Against Somali Community
***Larry Wilkerson -> Trump is Clueless on North Korea | TRNN | 08/08/17 | 13:43
As the US pushes through new sanctions on North Korea, direct negotiations are the only way to defuse the nuclear standoff, says Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson
Veteran reporter Charles Glass -> Shifting Battlefield in Syria's Proxy War | TRNN | 08/08/17 | 11:47
The Trump administration's halt to a CIA program arming anti-Assad militants makes the Syrian battlefield less complicated, but only the cooperation of outside powers can end the war, says veteran reporter Charles Glass.
**Generals Easily Manipulate Child Trump On Afghanistan | TYT | 08/07/17 | 8:19
Even Square-Jawed John Kelly Can't Slow Trump's Twitter Roll | TYT | 08/07/17 | 3:55
Trump's New Twitter Feud With Richard Blumenthal | TYT | 08/07/17 | 6:28
Trump's PC Police Purging The Term 'Climate Change' | TYT | 08/07/17 | 9:26
NPR (National Public Radio) - www.npr.org/
PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) - pbs.org/
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Mike Pence Looks Thirsty For The Presidency In 2020 | Stephen Colbert | 08/08/17 | 5:31
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
The New World Order Under Trump | TheDaily Show | 08/07/17 | 3:34

08.08.2017. 10:52



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