2017: Can’t tell if it’s fake news or the real thing? California has a bill for that

Sacramento Bee  "Here’s something that absolutely, undeniably, 100 percent happened: California lawmakers introduced legislation to help students become more media literate.
     "Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez, D-Los Angeles, and Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, on Wednesday both announced bills that would direct a state curriculum board to develop resources for schools to teach students how to distinguish what news stories they can trust.
     “ 'Recently, we have seen the corrupting effects of a deliberate propaganda campaign driven by fake news,” Gomez said in a statement. “When fake news is repeated, it becomes difficult for the public to discern what’s real. These attempts to mislead readers pose a direct threat to our democracy.”
     "The phenomenon of “fake news” – made-up articles on what may appear to be legitimate journalistic websites, often appealing to hyperpartisan sentiment and shared across social media – exploded into controversy during the 2016 election.
     "False stories about President-elect Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton were widespread throughout the campaign, sometimes leading to real consequences, as when a man fired a rifle inside a Washington, D.C. pizzeria while investigating claims that it housed a child sex abuse ring led by Clinton.
     "Warnings that Russia helped spread the disinformation in an effort to influence the outcome of the election and undermine U.S. security led Congress to pass funding for new government efforts to identify and counter foreign propaganda.
     "Gomez’s Assembly Bill 155 envisions incorporating analytical skills for online information into subjects ranging from English to science at the high school and middle school level, while Dodd’s Senate Bill 135 would add media literacy training to social sciences standards for first through 12th grades. A recent study out of the Stanford Graduate School of Education found that students were easily duped by fake news sites and sponsored content.
     “ 'By giving students the proper tools to analyze the media they consume, we can empower them to make informed decisions,” Dodd said in a statement." . . .

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Georgetown Works With Slave Descendant Groups Demanding Reparations

Legal Insurrection

"Georgetown has worked very hard to right the wrongs of the past. Last year, the school issued a formal apology for slavery connections but apparently that’s not enough.

"The College Fix reports:

Georgetown works with slave descendants group amid demands for cash reparations

Georgetown University leaders have done much in recent times to make amends for the institution’s involvement in slavery, but after a cadre of slave descendants recently said those efforts are not enough — they still want cash — campus leaders have pledged to continue to work “toward reconciliation.”

“Following many conversations and dialogue with members of the Descendant community, the University and the Jesuits earlier this month reached out to members of the Descendant community to propose a framework for long-term dialogue, partnership and collaboration,” a campus representative told The College Fix in an email.

“Georgetown and the Jesuits are committed to working with Descendants in a process that recognizes the terrible legacy of slavery and promotes racial justice,” the statement added. “Georgetown has been working to address its historical relationship to slavery and will continue to do so.”

. . . 

The “Descendant community” consists of families of more than 200 slaves whose sale nearly two centuries ago benefited Georgetown University." . . .

Ultimately the movement would like to make this nationwide, prompting the question:

Does Reginald Denny owe reparations to those trying to kill him?
Must this store owner pay reparations to these youths?

North Koreans good; Trump and Pence bad: American media

American Thinker

When Democrats Won’t Campaign With Bill, the Clinton Era is Officially Over

Legal Insurrection

In the era of #MeToo the former president has become “toxic” for many Democrats.

 

"Less than two years ago, Hillary Clinton was the star of the show at the Democratic National Convention. Former President Bill Clinton was an honored guest who got rock star treatment. Now that the party has embraced the #MeToo movement and even jettisoned Al Franken, there’s no room for Bill on the stage.

"Some Democrats don’t even want to campaign with him.

Edward-Isaac Dovere writes at Politico:

Dems: Bill Clinton too toxic to campaign in midterms

Democrats are looking to embrace the #MeToo moment and rally women to push back on President Donald Trump in the midterms—and they don’t want Bill Clinton anywhere near it.

In a year when the party is deploying all their other big guns and trying to appeal to precisely the kind of voters Clinton has consistently won over, an array of Democrats told POLITICO they’re keeping him on the bench. They don’t want to be seen anywhere near a man with a history of harassment allegations, as guilty as their party loyalty to him makes them feel about it.

“I think it’s pretty tough,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), vice chair of the House Progressive Caucus and one of the leading voices in Congress demanding changes in Washington’s approach to sexual harassment. His presence “just brings up a lot of issues that will be very tough for Democrats. And I think we all have to be clear about what the #MeToo movement was.”…

"Howard Kurtz of FOX News makes an excellent point about this article by suggesting this isn’t just about Bill. Democrats are ready to leave Hillary in the dust as well:

Clinton’s history—Monica Lewinsky, Paula Jones, Gennifer Flowers, Kathleen Willey, Juanita Broaddrick—looks far different to many Democrats in 2018 than it did in 1998, when the Senate acquitted him, or even 2016. His presence would detract from the Democrats’ ability to make the midterms about Donald Trump, Rob Porter and Roy Moore.

. . .
Bill's undershorts have long been a favorite of editorial cartoons. This cartoonist skillfully connects Hillary with that subject. TD

 

Divisive Democrats, United by Hate

One of the more recent examples came from Barry Bluestone, a Northeastern University professor, who said of Trump during a public lecture, "Sometimes, I want to just see him impeached.  Other times, quite honestly ... I wouldn't mind seeing him dead."

Peter Lemiska  "There isn't much room in today's Democratic* Party for independent thought or moderate positions.  Whether it's about the right of a fetus to live versus the right of a woman to choose, the inherent rights of American citizens versus the perceived rights of illegal aliens, or religious freedom and traditional values versus another new category of people seeking special protection, Democrats are of one mind.  They all stand together on the far left, a place where dissent is never tolerated.  Like clichéd characters in a science fiction movie, they appear to be individual organisms, but their minds seem to be linked to some enormous, pulsating brain deep within the bowels of the Democratic National Committee. 

"Nothing unites Democrats more than their loathing of one man and their disdain for the American voters who elected him.  Donald Trump has succeeded in undoing much of the legacy left us by his leftist predecessor.  And he's not done undoing.  So it's easy to understand how the Democrats' boundless love for Barack Obama would translate into mindless hatred for Donald Trump." . . .
. . . 
Blinded by their own hatred, liberals can't see that they, not Donald Trump, are responsible for the deep division in the country.  Whatever Trump's flaws, those things that he stands for were never considered divisive in the past.  Republicans and Democrats alike once stood together for personal responsibility, religious freedom, national pride, border security, and prosperity for all.  And they all stood for the National Anthem." . . .

Peter Lemiska is a military veteran and retired senior special agent of the U.S. Secret Service. 

*I prefer to not use "Democratic", but "Democrat" instead. TD

Special Report: Spare Us the ‘Conversation’

The American Spectator 

Let the Kimmels and Colberts say what they want about those musty old schools, with their “silly” morning prayers, codes of discipline, and starchy moral lessons. At least those schools weren’t scene of mass shootings. The teachers in those days didn’t preach gun control but self-control. Now their successors preach the reverse and wake up to dead colleagues and pupils.

"The pols and pundits most insistent upon holding a gun-control “conversation” in the wake of mass shootings at schools did the most to turn them into nihilistic wastelands. From the puffed-chest phonies on CNN and MSNBC, we hear a lot about sinister “lobbies” that intimidate passive, cowardly pols. The insufferable Chris Cuomo, whose partisan arrogance is impossible to overstate, rips into this or that Republican for not “standing up” to the NRA. When has Cuomo ever stood up to the morally bankrupt teachers’ unions that turned America’s public schools into assembly lines of pathology?

"Cuomo, full of cheap outrage, seized upon Trump’s blameless tweets about the shooting. He pronounced them “stupid.” It is not clear what Trump could possibly have said to satisfy Cuomo. Was he expecting Trump to call for the confiscation of all guns? The imposition of martial law?

"The liberal elite’s hoped-for “conversation” about guns would never proceed like one. They are not looking for a dialogue but an occasion to diatribe without ever having to answer for their own role in the demise of civil society.

"The rise of school shootings is due not to the absence of laws but to the absence of a civilized culture that taught students to follow them. Few lobbies have contributed more to that crisis than the liberal elite’s cherished one, the teachers’ unions. They overflow with self-interested hacks whose pensions fattened as schools disintegrated. Before these educrats laid waste to them, public schools didn’t need” gun-free zones” and little armies to protect them. Teachers took the shaping of minds and souls seriously. But all that discipline and rigor vanished under the ridicule of a ruling class that now treats the debased condition of schools so solemnly. How, they gasp, did a student from an “alternative school” (it is still not clear what that means) invade the school’s “gun-free zone” and wipe out 17 people?" . . . Full article.

From Hot Air: Why Didn’t Democrats Pass Gun Control When They Controlled Congress In Obama’s First Term? . . . "Issue two: Gun control. David French lamented this morning on Twitter that it’s impossible to have a useful conversation about mass shootings until the left believes that the right wants to stop mass shootings too. But I tweeted back at him that that’s impossible; their worldview rests on the belief that the right operates in bad faith in all things. " . . .

It seems to me that we can’t even begin to have a meaningful public discussion about dealing with the contagion of mass shootings absent agreeement that Second Amendment supporters want to stop mass shootings too.

Comforter in Chief

I want to speak now directly to America's children, especially those who feel lost, alone, confused or even scared: I want you to know that you are never alone and you never will be. You have people who care about you, who love you, and who will do anything at all to protect you. If you need help, turn to a teacher, a family member, a local police officer, or a faith leader. Answer hate with love; answer cruelty with kindness.

US News and World Report  "What is the correct response to mass shootings? Is it legislation or leadership? At the national level, it should be the kind of consistent, persistent leadership that comes from a clear vision and the right words.

"President Donald Trump displayed an important flash of leadership on Thursday in his address to the nation after the school massacre in Florida. His words were thoughtful, comforting and even inspiring. But playing comforter in chief for the length of a news cycle won't be enough. It is the responsibility of Trump, and of other leaders, to try and make a lasting impact on the culture of a nation that, increasingly, seems emotionally lost.

"Impacting culture with one's words is a tall order. It requires a compelling vision, tremendous communications talent and message discipline.

"Trump's address to the nation contained an outstanding vision – of a world where we "work together to create a culture … that embraces the dignity of life, that creates deep and meaningful human connections, and that turns classmates and colleagues into friends and neighbors."

"Bingo. This is the real answer to mass shootings, and it can't be done through Congressional hearings, committee markups, votes or signing ceremonies.

"Those words, and indeed Trump's entire statement, also showed us that communications talent is available to the president. It was one of those wonderful scripted moments (versus his spontaneous verbal and written outbursts that skew heavily to the self-indulgent, coarse or mean spirited) where we can see that the president has truly gifted speechwriters.

. . . 

"Another example of communications talent is this section of Trump's address, where he reached out directly to young people who might kill or be killed:" . . .

Text above the link.

The anti-Trump propaganda machine just found a higher gear, no matter how effective this president may be.

Republicans, bad; North Korea, good.  One would think this President had been seen playing golf after this terrible act. TD

Sharyl Attkisson Explains the Origins of the 2016 'Fake News' Narrative in TedX Talk

"When interests are working this hard to shape your opinion, their true goal might just be to add another layer between you and the truth," Attkisson concluded.

Now, on to examples of this subject in a different context from just the past couple of days after the Florida school shooting:

Networks Push Fake News Trump Made It Easier for Mentally Ill to Buy Guns

"Fresh off their disinformation campaign in the immediate aftermath of the Parkland, Florida school shooting in which they falsely claimedthere had been 18 school shootings this year, the three major network news outlets (ABC, CBS, and NBC) moved on to another fake news topic they wanted to push on the American people: President Trump and the GOP made it easier for mentally ill people to buy guns.

"The accusation that a bill designed to remove restrictions and allow the mentally ill to purchase guns was passed by the GOP and signed by President Trump had long been debunked. As the National Review’s Charles C.W. Cooke wrote over a year ago, what got removed was “in layman’s terms: The rule would have allowed bureaucrats within one of our federal agencies to bar American citizens from exercising a constitutional right — and on the highly questionable grounds that to be incapable of managing one’s finances is, by definition, to be a ‘mental defective.' ’” . . .

ABC’s Vega Rips Trump for Not Having a ‘Serious’ Gun Control Discussion

. . . "Vega’s snide comments urging a push for gun control came after she bizarrely tried to link the shooting with White House “turmoil” over the Rob Porter domestic abuse scandal."

So very sick of this propaganda. BIZPAC Review has their take on it as well

ABC inexplicably links Florida shooting to Trump in ‘turmoil’ over Robert Porter scandal  "Even in the midst of an unfolding tragedy, the mainstream media looks for ways to take potshots at President Trump." . . .

Update: 

Via George Alan Cawood at Libnorants

Grandmother thwarted Washington school shooting by looking at student's journal, cops say

"His Grandmother Saw Something, Then She Said Something" RedState

Fox News  "A student in Washington state was arrested Tuesday after his grandmother called authorities to report "upcoming and credible threats" of a plot in his journal to attack a high school after flipping a coin, officials said.

Red State

"The Everett Police Department said in a news release the grandmother ontacted authorities around 9:30 a.m. and showed police excerpts of the journal, which "detailed plans to shoot students and use homemade explosive devices at ACES High School." Officers were also told by the grandmother that 18-year-old Joshua Alexander O'Connor had a rifle stored in a guitar case, which she discovered after reading the journal.

" 'That would have probably been one of the hardest calls she has probably ever made, but I think that the content of the journal and some of the other evidence in the house was enough that she was alarmed enough," Everett Police Officer Aaron Snell told Q13 News.

"Authorities arrested O'Connor at the school, where he was found carrying marijuana and a knife. During his arrest, the student managed to slip one of his hands out of the handcuffs and tried to run from police, kicking an officer during the attempted escape." . . .

This hits close to home, and what Mr. O’Connor’s grandmother did is probably the best way to prevent mass shootings:  . . . "His grandmother is brave. By turning her grandson in, she risks retribution by Mr. O’Connor if or when he gets out of the slammer. But that’s how it’s done. In recent history, in the county where I live, there have been two other mass shootings, so we’re unfortunately well aware of the “see something, say something” mantra." . . .

. . . "Anyway, I’m glad that ACES High School shooting won’t be added to the database. At minimum, the prevention of this potential mass shooting will save us from yet another diatribe on Morning Joe on banning semiautomatic rifles."

About That White Supremacist Link To The Florida Shooter? Eh, Not So Much

RedState  "Earlier today an internet rumor started that Nikolas Cruz, the young man who murdered 17 students at a Florida high school, was affiliated with some white supremacist militia. Allegedly, he belonged to some group called the “Republic of Florida.” The source of this was the claim by the group’s “captain,” some mope named Jordan Jereb."

"Outlets, like the Daily Beast, ran images like this trying to link the shooter to Trump:

. . . "Then the story started to unravel. Vox.com’s Zack Beauchamp, who is most famous for discovering a bridge linking Gaza to the West Bank that the Israelis regularly block to f*** with the Palestinians (I am not making this up, read the correction), started asking questions of people who research these groups:

Zack Beauchamp

✔@zackbeauchamp

I'm surprised at how many outlets and reporters are flatly asserting that the Florida shooter was a white supremacist. The evidence is actually pretty thin!

. . .  

Pence Calls out ABC News, Joy Behar for “Religious Intolerance”

Todd Starnes.

....Vice President Mike Pence delivering a jaw-dropping rebuke of ABC television after “The View” host Joy Behar compared Christianity to mental illness.     “To have ABC maintain a broadcast forum that compared Christianity to mental illness is just wrong,” Pence said Wednesday on C-SPAN. “It is simply wrong for ABC to have a television program that expresses that kind of religious intolerance.”

     Behar’s anti-Christian remarks were in response to a segment on Omarosa Manigault Newman, the reality television star turned White House staffer turned reality television star.
     “As bad as you think Trump is, you would be worried about Pence — everyone that is wishing for impeachment might want to reconsider their life,” Omarosa said in a clip from “Celebrity Big Brother.”  

     The vice president said “The View” hosts insulted the “vast majority of the American people who cherish faith.”

      “It demonstrates how out of touch some in the Mainstream Media are with the faith and values of the American people that you could have a major network like ABC permit a forum for invective against religion like that,” he said" . . .

‘The View’ Cuts Off Meghan McCain During Condemnation Of Her Cohosts

. . . "She pointed out to the cohosts that they claim to be tolerant of other people but often don’t extend that tolerance to anyone who thinks differently from them.

“ 'I think we are living in an incredibly divisive times right now,” McCain continued. “As a Republican, I feel like sometimes liberals say, ‘we need to be tolerant to everyone, we need to be tolerant of everyone,’ except pro-lifers, except Trump supporters, except gun owners, except for everyone in the red in the middle of the country.”

“ 'I’m going to stop you because that’s not — that’s not actually true,” Whoopi Goldberg said, cutting McCain off. “And I’m stopping you for a reason.' ”

What Did Comey Tell President Trump about the Steele Dossier?

Andrew C. McCarthy

"The Rice email outlines Obama’s strategy to withhold key details of the Russia investigation."

 "On her way out the White House door and out of her job as national-security adviser, Susan Rice writes an email-to-self. Except it’s not really an email-to-self. It is quite consciously an email for the record. 

"Her term having ended 15 minutes before, Rice was technically back in private life, where private people have private email accounts — even notepads if they want to scratch out a reminder the old-fashioned way. Yet, for at least a few more minutes, Rice still had access to her government email account. She could still generate an official record. That’s what she wanted her brief email to be: the dispositive memorialization of a meeting she was worried about — a meeting that had happened over two weeks earlier, at which, of course, President Obama insisted that everything be done “by the book.” 

"Funny, though: The “by the book” thing about contemporaneous memos is that they are, well, contemporaneous — made at or immediately after the event they undertake to memorialize. They’re written while things are as fresh as they will ever be in one’s mind, before subsequent events motivate the writer to spin a decision, rather than faithfully record it.

" An email written on January 21 to record decisions made on January 5 is not written to memorialize what was decided. It is written to revise the memory of what was decided in order to rationalize what was then done. 

"The Trump–Russia Investigation as of January 5" 

"January 5 was the day President Obama was presented with the ballyhooed report he had ordered to be rushed to completion by multiple intelligence agencies before his administration ended, “Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections.” 

Read more.