Jon Christian, writing in The Atlantic, reports that Facebook has not been successful in identifying and screening out fake news (Campbell Brown–a close friend of Betsy DeVos– was hired by Facebook to lead this effort earlier this year). No matter how outlandish the story or the headline, people will read it and believe it if it confirms their own views.
Facebook’s fact-checking efforts are on the rocks. Five months after the social-media giant debuted a third-party tool to stop the spread of dubious news stories on its platform, some of its fact-checker partners have begun expressing frustration that the company won’t share data on whether or not the program has been effective.
In the absence of that official data, a study by Yale researchers made waves last week by suggesting that flagging a post as “disputed” makes readers just a slim 3.7 percent less likely to believe its claim. Among Trump supporters and young people, the fact-checking program could even backfire: Those respondents were more likely to believe unflagged posts after they saw flags on others.* That concern was echoed earlier this year by the actor James Woods, who tweeted that a disputed tag on Facebook was the “best endorsement a story could have.”
The study—as well as ongoing revelations about how Russian troll farms might have used Facebook ads to meddle with the U.S. presidential election—has been stirring up the debate about whether and how social-media companies ought to police misinformation and propaganda on their platforms. Facebook claims that its efforts are working, and criticized the Yale researchers’ methodology, but a growing body of scholarship shows how difficult fact-checking has become online. With roots in old-fashioned cognitive biases that are amplified by social-media echo chambers, the problem is revealing itself to be extraordinarily difficult to fight at an institutional level.
Open the link to read the full article and the embedded links.
Facebook is no doubt the most powerful media platform in the world. If it spreads lies and conspiracy theories, this poses a huge problem for everyone. It is an especially big problem for a democracy, which relies on having an informed public. If the public is fed a steady diet of lies, the liars win.
The Founding Fathers believed that the great enemy of sound government was ignorance. They could not have imagined a world in which lies and propaganda are even worse than ignorance. And travel faster.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I watched segment on 60 minutes re how Trump hired a computer person that targeted his supporters. It worked!
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Diane Enter: The significance of truly-public institutions of education in a democracy. NOT to merely teach “information” but to teach how to collaborate and to develop self-knowledge (how to spot one’s own biases). It’s our continued ignorance of Plato’s “know thyself” and “an un-examined life is not worth living” coming back to haunt us.
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F. William Engdahl is an award-winning geopolitical analyst, strategic risk consultant, author, and lecturer. He has authored nine books that have been translated into 14 foreign languages including Chinese, German, Japanese, including the international best-selling A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics; Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation; Full Spectrum Dominance: Totalitarian Democracy in the New World Order. His works trace the basis of the rise of the US as an international superpower, the emergence after 1945 of America as a new kind of Empire, one not based upon sole military occupation. It was an ‘informal empire,’ where control of finance, of the basic food chain, of energy—above all of oil, would be the basis for what would become the greatest concentration of power in history, an American Hegemon, after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Both the Author’s Forward and the Author’s Introduction to his new book, The Lost Hegemon: Whom the Gods Would Destroy, reveal how important Facebook and other social media were to the CIA’s/U.S. Empire’s plans to spark uprisings in the Middle East, Russia, and China, in the failed attempts to expand the U.S. global empire of domination and exploitation.
Read about it here:
INDISPENSABLE BOOKS: F.W. Engdahl’s The Lost Hegemon – The Greanville Post http://www.greanvillepost.com/2017/10/08/indispensable-books-f-w-engdhals-the-lost-hegemon/
Once Facebook and other social media are seen as tools of the U.S. Empire, which has been controlled by war-loving, imperialist neoconservatives since at least President Carter’s regime, it becomes easy to see why, and how, Facebook would block articles critical of “school choice” and use a right-wing, regressive source to allegedly “screen” fake news. Zuckerberg wants to “lead” the U.S. Empire. If Trump can, then anyone can.
So-called “Christians” (KKKristians) such as Betsy DeVos, want to destroy the public school system not only out of greed for corporate profits, but for ideological zeal to make sure young Americans are indoctrinated in the murderous myth of U.S. hegemony being part of “God’s plan”. They don’t care that theocracy is fatal to democracy. Their religious zealotry trumps (pun intended) all.
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Ed Ciaccio I went “hmmmm” . . . when I read in your note about the US and its : ” . . . failed attempts to expand the U.S. global empire of domination and exploitation.”
Actually, I think there is some truth to it, at least by some of the corporate and oligarchic forces that have existed and still DO exist here in the US (a common subject here on this site). But your comment speaks ONLY to those forces, and not to democracy itself.
And so I DON’T think that’s the whole story. On principle (and concretly for many), it’s about clearing the way for, and spreading democracy and democratic institutions, or forms of it according to each cultural history. And democracy, by its very nature and structure, is not about “domination and exploitation.”
Need I explain to you what democracy is about? and why, though it harbors no guarantee that people will democratize WELL (as is clearly obvious here in the US as we speak), it’s still the best avenue towards peaceful co-existence that history has come up with.
As a general point, often when we focus on a polemic about what is bad about something, we inadvertently assure its continued success.
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Wow, time to open your eyes. If you want to see what the U.S. means by “spreading democracy”, you need only look at what kind of “democracy” (sic) we spread in Argentina, Chile, the Phillipines, Iran, most of the Middle East and numerous other nations. “Spreading democracy” is just a nice, polite way of talking about spreading American hegemony and imperialism in favor of American corporate interests.
If you really believe that we are actually spreading democracy in terms of self-governance, find me an example of a time that we actually did that, preferably since WWII.
Incidentally, in case it wasn’t already clear, our last election demonstrated pretty plainly that we don’t even have democracy ourselves.
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dienne77 You apparently didn’t read the nuance in my note. I cannot help you there.
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I guess what I can’t seem to help you with is the fact that it’s not about democracy. Keep believing that, though, if that’s what helps you sleep at night.
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dienne77 Okay–it IS the source of what hope there is left to us. But what exactly, then, are you reaching for? And what were they reaching for when they wrote the Constitution (a more perfect union, etc.), and a raft of other equally historical examples? You live in its wake. Is it all bad? or is it just those who are trying to destroy it who are bad. And if you are so dead-set against “reform” and privatization of education, what would be good about keeping education public? Some of us think there is hope in keeping faith with what we know to be the best way to do things, regardless of efforts otherwise.
I am certainly not blind (as you suggest) to what’s actually going on in the world (good grief!), and that has been going on for a very long time. But “let’s all just wallow in the evil of real-politic” doesn’t do it. And if we don’t recognize the better angels among us, their intentions, and their activities, and the institutions that support those ideals, then all there is left to do is wallow in our own disgust. Nada.
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“Failing” implies they are actually trying to do otherwise.
Never assume incompetence when profit better explains the facts.
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Bingo.
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Why would anyone get their “news” from Facebook?
It was started by a proven liar and thief.
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SomeDAM poet Yes. Facebook was started by an inquisitive little boy who had not developed morally yet and who got lucky. Unfortunately, such success commonly stunts one’s intellectual and moral growth. . . . sigh . . .
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Um, no, Facebook was started by that little boy’s friend. That little boy stole it from his friend. Zuck deserves not one iota of credit for the development of Facebook.
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dienne77 I had to laugh–you are right on that one. He’s also fallen off his learning curve.
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With friends like Zuckerberg, who needs Facebook?
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While the internet is the information highway, we must also realize that it is also the misinformation highway. The internet and certainly Facebook can instantly reach a wide audience. Without a filter it is also able to spread lies quickly to those that are receptive to a particular type of message. A certain amount of censorhip is necessary to protect people from outrageous falsehoods or dangerous messages.
Algorithms probably put people into categories with other like minded people. However, this seems to not be true for family members. My brother, who passed away in March, was a conservative. He often posted junk from Fox News. I chose to ignore some of his posts unless he started on public schools. Then I would confront his assertions. I still cannot understand why NPE’s post was pulled from Facebook. Facebook posts other articles by supporters of public education as well as some that are critical of charter schools. There is nothing false or slanderous about NPE’s post. My guess is the advertisement was pulled on the basis of an arbiter’s bias.
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Campbell Brown’s concept of fake news is anything based on facts and reality. Real news to Brown is conspiracy theories and stories with no basis in fact and reality.
Brown supports alternative history that never happened. She must be a fan of Harry Turtledove who writes alternative historical fiction that includes fantasy and science fiction. But Brown would drop the science and just stick with the fantasy world she wants to build.
If Brown doesn’t like what’s really happening, she comes up with an alternative history that’s what she wants to think is real.
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So you are advocating that Facebook (to start with) CENSOR what we read? Who made them the little GODS to determine what we can be allowed to read? Who made them the GATEKEEPERS OF TRUTH?
The heck with that being a slippery slope. It is a cliff.
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Linda,
Are you okay with Vladimir Putin placing ads onFacebook to elect Trump?
Is that kind of like treason?
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Yes, because if facts are there I won’t be swayed. Lies, emotionalism, and one-sided half truths are no match for an inquiring mind seeking knowledge.
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Does your inquiring mind know that Facebook has acknowledged running more than 3,000 Ads targeted to persuade people to vote for Trump? Does your inquiring mind know that both Twitter and Google have publicly admitted running posts created by Russian troll farms?
I am not making that up. That’s what Facebook, Twitter, and Google have admitted themselves.
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Does you inquiring mind realize FB is now and always has been “selling”. The buyer should ALWAYS BEWARE.
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Right. The ad you are reading on Facebook may have been placed by the Kremlin in an effort to elect a “moron” as our president (to quote his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson).
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Do you realize that companies like FB and Twitter are private companies and as such do NOT HAVE TO PROVIDE YOU WITH THE TRUTH. They will provide whatever their advertisers will PAY for. Companies have been selecting your information for years. You will find as much fake news out there whether you are liberal OR conservative.
Right now their trend is to censor any and all conservative voices. They took money from Russian ads, but Twitter just DENIED an ad from a conservative running for Senator Bob Corked’s soon to be vacant Senate seat. Marsha Blackburn was denied ad space because she mentioned that she was one of the members that saw the sale of “baby body parts” by Planned Parenthood ended successfully. They said it was to “inflammatory”.
If this historical trend of censorship continues it will erode all of the individual rights this country has given to us. There is plenty of evidence … North Korea and Venezuela come immediately to mind.
It is hard to think for yourself. It is time consuming to ferret out fact from fiction. It is not easy to evaluate the hidden motive in what someone says. But if you want information cherry picked for you by others … you are blindly trusting that they have your interests at heart. That is a fool-hardy path to follow. When things change and they always do, you will be the one censored … without a doubt.
George Soros uses this tactic to undermine democracies all around the world, over seventy have fallen to his methods at last count. First he goes for group mind think (individual thinkers are to hard to control), then he promotes groups like BLM and ANTIFA to disrupt and create chaos. People want the chaos to go away and readily “give” away their rights without realizing they will NEVER get them back. Soros openly admits in his memoirs that his most favorite time was as a child when he was helping the NAZIS gather his family and friends and cart them off to the ovens. Yet the left continues to follow the Pied Piper of globalism. Everyone is different and should not be forced into one mold. Visions of hundreds of school children doing the same thing, saying the same thing … WITHOUT THINKING … reminds me of communist China, or life in North Korea. Venezuela is still building to this crescendo.
Ripples on a pond. Ask yourself what would that action look like in five years, twenty years, fifty years. Look at good and bad variables and how those changes will affect human rights. Look at other societies throughout history where those “minor” changes have been implemented. How did things turn out historically?
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Putin used social media to elect a “moron” as our president (see Tillerson, Rex)
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Diane, you are aware that Tillerson held a press conference debunking that story. Knowing that Donald Trump NEVER allows anyone to “attack” him I don’t think the “moron” story passes the stink test. Tillerson is still Secretary of State. View that next to the Twitter banter between Trump and Senator Bob Corner. No, it fails the smell test.
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Tillerson held a press conference and when asked directly whether he called Trump a “moron,” he didn’t answer. He changed the subject.
That is not what I call “debunking.”
I promise you that Tillerson will be gone by this time next year, probably much sooner.
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Did not say he debunked it I simply pointed out the likelihood of it being factual is remote at best since the prez has been rather silent on the comment, which is out of character for him.
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He told Forbes his IQ is higher than Tillerson, which is unlikely since Trump had four bankruptcies and Tillerson had none.
Only one way to know: they should take IQ tests and release the results.
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Trump’s father gave him the money that he used to start his business empire and when Trump failed, daddy bailed him out and when daddy was dead, and Trump failed again, Trump’s sibling’s bailed him out.
It has been estimated that Trump has burned through more than $5 billion in bankruptcies and taking government subsidies to keep his business empire afloat. Government subsidies to the private sector business world are no different than welfare for the working class. Because of these repeated failures and HUGE losses, U.S. banks stopped loaning money to Trump so Trump had to turn to German banks, Chinese banks, and Russian banks to get his loans. He also depends on partners and many of those partners are Russians that have been linked to the Russian mafia.
Tillerson became CEO of Exxon by climbing the corporate ladder and being more ruthless and a better performer than his competition. His daddy didn’t buy him the position. He earned it even if we might not approve of what he did to get there. The corporate world is a ruthless one.
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Tillerson appeared to be a natural for Trump. After all, Putin awarded him a Friendship Medal for putting together a $500 million oil-exploration deal for Exxon-Russia.
Trump passed over Corker for Secretary of State because he thought he was too short and didn’t look the part.
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You need to get a sense of humor. It is like watching piranhas going after a piece of meat in the water.
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Yeah, only that piece of meat has his stubby little finger on the nuclear button and is threatening to start a nuclear war. That’s no joke.
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We stand a much greater threat from North Korea and Iran than we do from anything the president might do. Those two countries openly want the U.S. destroyed. Any threat from within would come from radical groups funded by Soros money. He wants America destroyed and has successfully destroyed over seventy countries around the world already.
As of this morning the stock market is UP $5.2 TRILLION DOLLARS since November, 2016 and unemployment is at a SIXTEEN YEAR LOW. He is on a roll to BUILD, not destroy.
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Linda,
He is a moron.
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Yet you provide no facts to support your position.
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The daily news and his big mouth are evidence that he is a moron.
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Daily news sources are subjective these days, very few are factual. To much “opinion” and not brought factual information. For a “moron” he is getting a lot done and confidence in his plan is growing. We have a lot of do nothing democrats and RINO’s all trying to keep him from being successful. In a lot of ways it turns people to him because they realize his focus is on their needs.
During the campaigning in 2016 the one common thread from those citizens that had an opportunity to interact with the candidates … dems and republicans … was the genuineness that was felt coming from Trump. More often than not candidates from both parties avoided contact with people, not Trump. He would stroll on in, order pancakes, burgers or whatever anyone else was eating and sit there and talk with them about their needs, hopes and ideas. No other candidate did this. You would never hear that from most news sources. Trump doesn’t fit liberal media’s political narrative. Just one problem news is supposed to be unbiased…equal time to both sides. Opinion pieces are just that opinion. They have all of the political bias of the individual. If you get political bias 24/7 it turns into propaganda and propaganda will kill a democracy or republic in the end.
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Linda,
That is not true. Reputable newspapers have fact checkers. There are real facts and there is propaganda. Trump tells an average of five lies per day. He is a world class liar.
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Linda Giffin Who is that orange-haired moron who keeps saying and doing moronic things that the Press only SHOWS to us. The press doesn’t even have to say or “report.” All they have to do is hold a microphone up to him–daily.
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Linda Giffin Go to jail. Go Directly to jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.00.
Your reply to DR who said Trump is a moron. “Yet you provide no facts to support your position.” That’s the funniest most head-banging comment I have EVER read on ANY blog ANYWHERE. HA HA HA HA !
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The jail should be one in a third world country with a dictator in charge. In other words, what Trump wants for the U.S.
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You need to check your facts. Trump does not want a dictatorship which was the direction this country was heading when his election stopped it. The following excerpts are from Mark Penn. Penn’s original article was for THE HILL, but has since been picked up by others, including DennisMichaelLynch.com.
Mark Penn – was a pollster for twice failed Hillary Clinton during her bids for the White House. Penn says Trump’s low poll numbers are based on the same polls which claimed Hillary would win.
“The polls that failed to detect the full strength of President Trump on Election Day continue to underestimate the president’s support for the job he is doing, paying way to much attention to the Twitter wars and ignoring the public support for many of the actions (he) is undertaking,” Penn wrote in a piece for THE HILL.
Penn also recognized that people approved more of Obama’s “speech pattern and leadership style”, “they just opposed many of his policies, so Obama’s numbers gave a false sense of approval”, Penn said. Penn also says the “same scenario” is playing out in reverse for Trump.
Penn, who also worked as a pollster in the Clinton White House says he has never seen Trump’s support from Republicans below 80%. Trump also gets 65% approval for hurricane response and 53% approval for economy and fighting terrorism.
Penn also says that when Trump tweets the media covers it and he (Trump) “usually ends up winning the underlying policy argument.”
This from a long time democratic pollster…
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Linda,
Your allegations that Diane did not provide sources is a lame tactic used every chance they get by deplorables from the far right. When we use sources and evidence, we are ignored but every time we don’t, we are challenged.
You can use Google as easily as anyone can to prove what you think is wrong. Why do we have to keep providing evidence and sources repeatedly that people like you ignore waiting for the one comment where we don’t provide evidence and sources to attack?
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You need to be able to provide details to support your argument, whatever it might be. That is a basic element in every communication class, technical writing or other class where making yourself clearly understood is important.
Just because “group think” calls someone a moron does NOT make it so. It is clear he does not meet the medical definition of “moron” so clarification on the part of the individual as to how they view the meaning in this situation is required. Looking something up is no big thing, but to do so some clarification or context is feudal.
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Group think didn’t call him a moron. The Secretary of State called him a moron.
The chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said that the White House had become an Adult Day Care Center and that his staff has to contain him.
Bob Corker Says Trump’s Recklessness Threatens ‘World War III’
Maybe you are okay about getting into a nuclear exchange with North Korea. I have grandchildren and I want them to live.
Senator Sasse of Nebraska said Trump has violated his oath of office by threatening the freedom of the press.
That’s not my opinions. These are reputable Republicans.
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“Maybe you are okay about getting into a nuclear exchange with North Korea. I have grandchildren and I want them to live.”
Nuclear war should be avoided at all costs. There is a reason that most of the world argreed to ban nuclear weapons tests.
North Korea threat: What is a nuclear warhead? How far does nuclear fallout travel?
The spread of nuclear fallout is irregular because it depends on the direction of the wind, but it can be carried out over hundreds of miles. …
According to the The National Academies and the US Department of Homeland Security, fallout is worst at the explosion’s epicentre, but deadly levels of radiation can be observed even miles away.
When the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine suffered a meltdown in 1986, the incident directly contaminated around 100,000km2of land.
Increased levels of radiation, carried on by winds, were noted all across Northern Europe in places such as Wales – over 2,300 km (1,400 miles) away.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/842032/North-Korea-nuclear-attack-what-is-warhead-how-far-fallout-travel
On Fri, Oct 13, 2017 at 2:26 PM, Diane Ravitch’s blog wrote:
> dianeravitch commented: “Group think didn’t call him a moron. The > Secretary of State called him a moron. The chair of the Senate Foreign > Relations Committee said that the White House had become an Adult Day Care > Center and that his staff has to contain him. Bob Corker Says Trum” >
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Yet the Secretary of State says he does not have a problem with the president. What difference does it make what he calls the president? That does not define the president. Just like the verbal barbs hurled toward me on this blog do not define me. The fact is they are working well together.
Yes, I do have a tendency to disregard some of your links. The majority of the time they do not have the journalistic integrity required to be fact pieces. They are usually just opinion, and sometimes just made up noise. I try not to get sidetracked arguing the merits of a link, as well as the original point. Besides your links do not provide a wide variance of ideas, they follow one narrow line of thinking.
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“The majority of the time they do not have the journalistic integrity required to be fact pieces. They are usually just opinion, and sometimes just made up noise.”
That is mostly crap allegations – a response that is trollish, to say the least.
if you are going to make an allegation like that, provide those sources and links from my comments so we can examine them one by one. If not, then your claim is nothing but diarrhea flowing from your keyboard.
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Lloyd Lofthouse Yes. Rhetorical excrement. I’ll not read any more of LB’s posts.
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Start with a number of pieces written that the news has had to make corrections to, or flat out correct lately. Suddenly, we are inundated with “unnamed sources” and expected to accept them as gospel. This is not just a liberal thing. I see it in conservative news as well. To many of the stories, right and left, are solely for the purpose of chumming the water and stirring up “fears” within the reader. Rather than informing the reader, the purpose has become one of getting the reader to make the decision the media wants.
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Your comment is more of what I think of as Trollish crap.
Here is an example of where I look for my sources and data.
“How satisfied are you with the quality of education your oldest child is receiving? Would you say you are completely satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied or completely dissatisfied?”
35 percent were completely satisfied.
44 percent were somewhat satisfied
14 percent were somewhat dissatisfied.
7 percent were completely dissatisfied.
That response was based on the answers from the parents of actual K-12 students.
http://news.gallup.com/poll/1612/education.aspx
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Writing questions for polling purposes is not easy … If you want to remain unbiased. Any information needs to be checked against multiple sources. The most glaring failure of the polling process was a parent during the 2016 election cycle, but can be seen elsewhere as well.
To many times a bias, one way or the other, is visible.
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Delete
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Your attempt to diminish that Gallup study burns your Trollish brand deeper than it was before.
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Polls today are more biased than say twenty-five years ago.
I listened to part of the Munk Debate that was held in Toronto last week this afternoon. One point came through … the liberals were afraid of what Trump MIGHT do. They readily agreed he had not done anything, but they were afraid of what he might do. Paranoia is not a healthy mindset for anyone.
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Linda,
You are SO right. I am afraid of what Trump might do. He might start World War III. He might destroy public education. He might strip healthcare from millions of people. He might start a war with Iran. He might bring back the air pollution that was commonplace 40 years ago.
He scares me.
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Are you going to become paralyzed by fear of the unknown? We teach, at least we used to, our children to stand up to their fears. To not accept the “monster under the bed” fear. Let the light in you just may find the monster is just a pair of pants you forgot about.
The night of fighting that inspired France’s Scott Keyes to write the Star Spangle Banner shows the stark contrast between those patriots and the mentality of some today. The British would stop firing if the flag was lowered. The flag and flag pole took many direct hits during the night. In the morning the flag was tattered and the pole stood at a strange angle, but it was not lowered. All through the night, patriots held up the pole. Many died and as they did their bodies were recovered and replaced with other patriots. They did this so future generations could be free from the governing tyranny they had endured. They did not let the fear of “what might happen” consume them. Fear did not define them.
If you had been in such a position the flag would have been lowered and the freedoms we have would not exist. Would you be comfortableliving in that world? You really would have a lot to “fear” then. Don’t let fear of the unknown consume you. Look at the power and control and self-determination that has been returned to the people and stop fretting about what you don’t know might happen…that’s life.
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I am afraid of being governed by a moron
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dianeravitch That must be why “they” continue to like Trump so much. They are alike and so they resonate with his dimwitery.
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Xenophobia is treatable.
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But stupidity is not treatable
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There is also no known treatment for a malignant narcissist.
In “Can Malignant Narcissism be Cured?” the simple answer is “NO!”
“Narcissists rarely, if ever, seek professional care or ever want to change because they like themselves just the way they are and loathe working on self-improvement. Very few psychology professionals are even trained or equipped to deal with them. So, if they choose to change (which the probability for is close to zero), very few professionals will be able to treat them competently anyway. And even if they are treated by a competent therapist who teaches them to become aware of their depravity and how to temper it, they will still lack compassion and empathy, and they will continue to fake the new “behaviors” to con you and others to serve none other than themselves. They will remain unable to love and sustain the behaviors that support reciprocal emotionally healthy relationships. They will still think like and be narcissists.”
Defined: Kernberg described malignant narcissism as a syndrome characterized by a narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), antisocial features, paranoid traits, and egosyntonic aggression. Other symptoms may include an absence of conscience, a psychological need for power, and a sense of importance (grandiosity).
Malignant Narcissism: Collision of Two Personality Disorders
The intentional destruction of others while pathologically loving self
Posted Feb 22, 2017
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/neurosagacity/201702/malignant-narcissism-collision-two-personality-disorders
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You might want to read the Psychology Today article from 2012 about Xenophobia. It includes the story of the teacher that did the blue eyes, brown eyes experiment with her class. It clearly demonstrates how easily baseless fears can take hold in a population.
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There’s also the Stanford Prison Experiment to discover how the perception of power corrupts individuals. The people in this experiment were not rich and powerful to start with.
Donald Trump was born into wealth and clearly started out in business already corrupted by his racist and corrupt father. His perception of power as an alleged billionaire (evidence says he has never been a billionaire because of the huge debts he has and the huge losses his failed business ventures have had) has been magnified a thousand times as President of the United States.
And it didn’t take the Stanford Prison Experiment to discover this. Lord Acton talked about this in the 19th century.
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Lloyd Lofthouse I doubt anything will ever “sink in.” Let me guess: LG will just come back with another off-kilter “argument.” LG is apparently governed by an extreme ideology that won’t EVER let you or anyone else be right about anything, especially if it conflicts with that ideology. Any truth you might have rolls off her consciousness like water off a duck’s back. She is dead-to-learning. Insight-proof. I admire your patience. However, she doesn’t deserve you. I see her name and “delete.”
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LG is no different than a former friend of mine who became brainwashed by Denis Prager and evangelical fundamentalist Christians. That is why a friendship that lasted almost 60 years ended.
I didn’t leave that comment for LG, so it doesn’t matter how LG responds. I left it for anyone that reads her comment so LG is not the only voice. Reason must also be present to counter-programmed voices like LG.
Whenever LG spouts off, someone else should respond with reason and support that reason with facts that lead to reputable sites that LG will continue to claim are not reputable. But many people have not been seduced by the dark side so the facts and links will help them keep their minds free.
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Lloyd Lofthouse Understood and appreciated.
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I provided the question in my comment for that pole. How was that question biased?
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Linda, you are true to form. When we provide evidence with links to the sources, you either ignore that evidence or dismiss it be attacking the source as liberal. And when we say something we’ve said many times before but without that evidence or links to the sources, you attack for not providing the evidence and links you would have dismissed or ignored anyway.
The last laugh is on you.
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Yet you still cannot provide anything more than a “because I said so” type response.
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Linda,
Read what George W. Bush speechwriter wrote this morning about your hero:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/republicans-its-time-to-panic/2017/10/12/5775d558-af76-11e7-be94-fabb0f1e9ffb_story.html
How do you feel about him “grabbing you by the p—-“?
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An “opinion” piece to be sure. Have you ever watched a cat chase a light around the room trying to catch it? Trump is that light that liberal “cats” are trying to catch, yet never will because they are looking in the wrong place.
During his first 10 months in office he has eliminated more cumbersome regulations than others presidents did during their entire times in office. Trump ran on “returning to the rule of law”. He could have taken advantage of a policy established by Obama, how would you feel about this scenario?
In 2016, Federal courts determined it was not legal for the president to authorize payments to healthcare insurers as subsidies because that power rests ONLY WITH CONGRESS. Dems want Trump to continue making those ILLEGAL payments. Okay, say he did that. Why then couldn’t he just use his “phone and pen” to build the border wall, rewrite healthcare, rewite anything he wanted to rewrite … all without congress. That doorway that Obama opened left this country vulnerable to an unscrupulous, power hungry individual that would destroy this country with his “phone and pen”.
Thank heavens that is not our President’s mission. He wants the rule of law returned and is doing everything he Can to make that happen. Personally, I enjoy watching cats chase the light … always have.
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The return of the rule of law would mean this moron would be forced out of office for violating the Constitution, specifically the emoluments clause.
You didn’t answer my question: do you want Trump to grab your “p—-“?
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Diane Giffin thinks that government regulations are necessarily all bad–doesn’t realize that without them, the whole nation will be like the water in Flint, Michigan. I think “she” is a troll.
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Linda Giffin Watch Trump–there’s a plethora of evidence for “moron,” every day. That’s all you need to do. And the evidence for your willful ignorance and troll-type responses is that you ignore some posts here and respond to others. I said the above before, but I guess you blocked it out. Go away.
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Think about this.
Soros is the only billionaire the far right can demonize for supporting alleged liberal or progressive causes like ending poverty, saving Social Security and Medicare and paying off the national debt by raising taxes on all the billionaires and millionaires like the U.S. did after World War II.
How many billionaires support the far right’s agenda with psy-ops propaganda campaigns through an alternative media that focuses on spreading false allegations, conspiracy theories and lies?
The billionaires that belong to ALEC (an organization started by the Koch brothers) are worth a collective $2.4 TRILLION.
Does the Walton family belong to ALEC?
Besty DeVos does and so do many more.
Soros appears to be the lone wolf on the left while there is a huge flock of billionaire vampires supporting the right and all the billionaires linked to Russia are far right freaks.
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Linda Giffin Perhaps Trump rerouted his anger through Bannon.
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Someone initiated L.G seems to be happy by representing herself as a person in “Adult Day Care.” We have no reason to bother a person like her who is inherently or deliberately(she sounds like both, to me) obtuse.
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Ken Watanabe A troll gets involved with a blog to either (a) spread false information and/or to (b) detract, aggravate, and take up the time and energy of those who are involved in authentic discussion, often at the behest of some puppet-troll-master with a large bank account, or just because they are hateful and mean-spirited.
LG’s continued “obtuseness,” unreasonableness, and unwillingness to respond to reasonable notes about “his/her/its” half-baked arguments are all GIANT CLUES to the presence of a troll.
Here’s another clue that’s probably in the works: the claim that disagreement on a site, for instance with Diane’s positions about privatization, equates to the claim that “the writer must be a troll!” for instance, LG. Should that claim be in the works, I refer the writer to the above bold-print paragraph, not to mention authentic disagreements that have appeared on this site without troll-calling.
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Why must liberals always attack the individual when someone does not follow “group think”? Where is your crystal ball that says your way is the only way? Or, the right way? When did this become a society that devalued the individual? Teaching is about educating the individual on how to educate themself. Indoctrination is telling them what to think and how stupid they are if they don’t fall in line and lock step with what you say. There are ALAWYS, AT A MINIMUM three positions … yours, mine, and a mutually agreeable position.
If you think only your way has merit and refuse to listen and consider other ideas you are being closed minded … limited in your thinking. Today it seems the ideals that built this country are being attacked. Why? The groups doing the attacking all have a common thread, they are determined their way is the only way and everything else must be destroyed.
You may feel the teaching profession is under attack, but I don’t see it that way. Parents want the teaching profession back. It has been hijacked and we are not happy about it. Knowledge used to be well-rounded and include the building blocks that got us to this point in history. Free-thinking, seeing pros and cons in a situation, being certain of one’s position to stand firm when challenged and able to express WHY that position is being assumed … those are some of the things we see lacking in education today. We remember being told as kids we use only 10% of our brain. Then we see our kids and grandkids come home and they cannot even use that meager 10%.
Safe space NEVER was meant to imply that your feelings won’t get hurt there, but today it does. Our children are being made weak and easily manipulated by the teaching profession today in many places. Those pockets do NOT encompass the methods of all teachers .. thankfully.
Please note … you, as I have used it here, is the general, collective you and NOT the personal you.
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I will let the Christian Science Monitor reply.
“Yes, a shadowy Russian firm with ties to the Kremlin bought about $100,000 worth of Facebook ads intended to sway voters during last year’s presidential campaign, the social media giant disclosed earlier this month.
“Does it matter? Given the tens of millions spent on political ads in 2016 that’s a bucket of water thrown down a storm drain. And influencing elections with ads is a delicate science. It requires coordination, timing, and finesse – three things the Russian ad buy doesn’t seem to have had.
“The problem is, those Russian-bought online spots might be just a hint of a darker, undetected flood of attempts at influence, according to experts in political communication. To use a different analogy they might be the equivalent of the Watergate break-in. That was a petty crime that by itself didn’t sway the 1972 election. Its real importance was rooted in the vast, illegal conspiracy of which it was a symbol and product. …
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2017/0919/What-s-really-important-about-Facebook-Russia-Ads
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Facebook does censor people. http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2017/10/watching-gatekeepers.html Are you okay with that?
Anyway, the issue here is not censorship, it’s promotion. Facebook’s algorithms seem oddly bent to promote articles full of fake news. Are you okay with that?
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Facebook will not allow NPE to promote its FB sites.
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Fakebook is really just a joke.
It’s basically a rehash of the worst aspects of high school and it is no accident that the basic idea was developed by spoiled Harvard brats (Winkelvoss brothers)
It’s a means for people to brag about how great they are — how much they have accomplished, how many Friends they have, etc.
If people did not use Facebook, they would not even be exposed to the “fake news” and all the rest.
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Lloyd, Soros isn’t the only one to name, only the highest profiled one. He has openly been trying to destroy America for decades. He has destroyed over 70 nations around the world with his method. Even his own country of birth does not trust him. Given his hatred of America I have never understood why he became a citizen, but considering he never paid his back taxes it must be about the money.
Tom Steyer, Rockefellers, Rothschilds, these a just a few more of the elites in the world ( over 2,000 worldwide) that think they know what is best for us and their efforts always move us toward a world will diminishing individual rights, declining education that become indoctrination … a growing sense that “government, controlled by their ideals, will take care of us. Some of us do NOT want to be taken care of … We can and will do it ourselves.
Take the “great” Bill Gates. Doesn’t it concern you about his position on education for public schools? Or, have you never checked out the kind of education his son gets at his private school and compared it to public schools? Or, his use of women in third world countries to test the new birth control method. If approved, it will work forever. Of course it is not an easy in easy out method, so governmental approval would take place to “control” the population. He is testing it in a place without the strict conditions that are required in the U.S. A country of guinea pigs at his disposal … unfettered medical experimenting. Troubling…
We try not to overwhelm with facts, because it seems to trigger unnecessary and unproductive outbursts from certain people. We understand the psychology of telling some one the same thing over and over and over until they believe it is true. We don’t play in that sandbox.
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