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TEDx talk: Sharyl Attkisson explains the origins of the 2016 'Fake News' narrative (VIDEO)

Debra Haine
PJ Media
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 13:26 UTC
fake news
© Sascha Steinach / Global Look Press
In a Tedx Talk at the University of Nevada a couple of weeks ago (watch the video below) investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson revealed the origins of the "fake news" narrative that was aggressively pushed by the liberal media and Democrat politicians during the 2016 election, and how it was later flipped by President Donald Trump.

Attkisson pointed out that "fake news" in the form of tabloid journalism and false media narratives has always been around under different names.

But she noticed that in 2016, there seemed to be a concerted effort by the MSM to focus America's attention on the idea of "fake news" in conservative media. That looked like a propaganda effort to Attkisson, so she did a little digging and traced the new spin to a little non-profit called "First Draft," which, she said, "appears to be the about the first to use 'fake news' in its modern context."

"On September 13, 2016, First Draft announced a partnership to tackle malicious hoaxes and fake news reports," Attkisson explained. "The goal was supposedly to separate wheat from chaff, to prevent unproven conspiracy talk from figuring prominently in internet searches. To relegate today's version of the alien baby story to a special internet oblivion."

She noted that a month later, then-President Obama chimed in.


Comment: This is all true, except that it targets all dissenting views, not just 'conservative' ones.

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Cards

California senator plays de race card and suggests racism behind suspension for alleged sexual misconduct

Kathleen Ronayne
Yahoo! News
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 13:11 UTC
California Senator Tony Mendoza
© AP Photo/Steve Yeater, fileIn this Jan. 3, 2018, file photo, California Sen. Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia, announces that he will take a month-long leave of absence while an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against him are completed in Sacramento, Calif. He has sued the state Senate for suspending him amid a sexual misconduct investigation. Mendoza is seeking reinstatement in his lawsuit filed Thursday, Feb. 15, with one of his constituents as a co-plaintiff.
Sacramento, Calif. (AP) - A California lawmaker suspended amid a sexual misconduct investigation sued the state Senate on Thursday, seeking reinstatement and arguing he's been unfairly treated by his colleagues.

The lawsuit by Democratic Sen. Tony Mendoza of Artesia marked yet another twist in the California Legislature's increasingly dramatic sexual harassment scandal. Mendoza, who is Latino, argued for the first time that race is playing a role in his treatment, noting Sen. Bob Hertzberg, who is white, has not been asked to step aside despite allegations he inappropriately hugged people. Hertzberg did not comment.

Mendoza has been accused of acting inappropriately toward three young women who worked for him dating back to 2008. The allegations include inviting a young woman to his home and offering another alcohol when she was underage.

One of his former staff members, Adriana Ruelas, filed a discrimination complaint with the state alleging she was fired last year for complaining about Mendoza's behavior toward one of the women.

Comment: We aren't given any details of Mendoza's supposed sexual misconduct, apart from this:
Mendoza has been accused of acting inappropriately toward three young women who worked for him dating back to 2008. The allegations include inviting a young woman to his home and offering another alcohol when she was underage.
What exactly constitutes 'inappropriately'? Why is it wrong for a man to invite a woman to their home? Did he know that the one he offered alcohol was underage? In what context was she offered alcohol? Until we get more information, this may or may not be another case of exaggerated sexual accusations. Still, playing the race card merely distracts from the pursuit of the facts and the delivery of justice!

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MIB

CIA says the public can't see classified information it has already given to 'trusted reporters'

Will Racke
The Daily Caller
Thu, 15 Feb 2018 12:30 UTC
CIA-Logo,CIA-Einrichtung
© AFP 2017/Saul Loeb
Intelligence officials can selectively release classified information to trusted journalists while withholding the same information from other citizens who request it through open records laws, CIA lawyers argued Wednesday.

In a motion filed in New York federal court, the CIA claimed that limited disclosures to reporters do not waive national security exemptions to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Intelligence and law enforcement agencies frequently deny records requests on the basis of protecting sensitive national security information, one of nine exemptions written into the federal FOIA law.

The case stems from lawsuit against the CIA by New York-based independent journalist Adam Johnson, who had used FOIA to obtain emails between the agency's public information office and selected reporters from the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and The New York Times. The emails the CIA provided to Johnson were redacted, leading him to question why he was not allowed to see the same information that had been given to uncleared reporters.

Johnson challenged the redaction in court, arguing that the CIA, once it has selectively disclosed information to uncleared reporters, cannot claim the same information is protected by a FOIA exemption.

Comment: This can be easily explained by the fact that the CIA owns much of the media. Therefore, when they give them classified information, in the eyes of the CIA they are not giving it to the public but to their own people.

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Brick Wall

UK ruling shows all pretence is over in persecution of Julian Assange

Craig Murray
Craig Murry Blog
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 14:16 UTC
Julian Assange
© Peter Nicholls / ReutersWikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, Britain, May 19, 2017
The "judge" who dismissed Assange's case yesterday was "Lady Arbuthnot of Edrom", wife to Tory peer, former Tory junior Defence Minister and government whip Lord James Arbuthnot. Not to mention Chairman of the Conservative Friends of Israel. Arbuthnot was naturally Eton educated, the son of Major Sir John Sinclair Wemyss Arbuthnot. Of course Lady Arbuthnot's children were all sent to Eton too.

At the first hearing, I was stunned by reports of completely inappropriate comments by Lady Arbuthnot, including responding to representations about Assange's health by the comment that medical care is available in Wandsworth prison. As the official charade is that Assange is wanted for nothing but jumping bail, for which a custodial sentence is rare, that callous attempt at gallows humour was redolent of Arbuthnot's Tory mindset. She also remarked - and repeats it in yesterday's judgement - that Assange has access to fresh air through the Embassy's balcony. That is simply untrue. The "balcony" floor is 3 feet by 20 inches and gives no opportunity to exercise. Julian does not have access to it. He is confined to a small area within the Embassy, which still has to function. The balcony is off the Ambassador's office. He has been given access to it on average about twice a year. But "Lady" Arbuthnot showed a very selective attitude to getting at the truth.

Comment: More on Mrs. Arbuthnot's questionable activities.

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2 + 2 = 4

New gun policies won't stop mass shootings but maybe personal responsibility will

David French
National Review
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 12:39 UTC
It is the responsibility of a free people to be aware, to have courage, and to care for one another.
Stoneman Douglas High School
© WSVN.com/via Reutersfullscreen Students are evacuated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., February 14, 2018.
The United States is facing a puzzling paradox. Even as gun crime has plunged precipitously from the terrible highs of the early 1990s, mass shootings have increased. Consider this: 15 of the 20 worst mass shootings in U.S. history have occurred since the Columbine school shooting in 1999. The five worst have all occurred since 2007, and three of those five were in 2016 and 2017.

It's horrifying, and governmental solutions are hard to find. Twitter's fondest wishes to the contrary, the unique characteristics of mass shootings mean that they often escape the reach of public policy. The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler (hardly an NRA apologist) famously fact-checked Marco Rubio's assertion that new gun laws wouldn't have prevented any recent mass shootings and declared it true. Time and again, existing laws failed, or no proposed new gun-control law would have prevented the purchase.

Comment: It's quite possible that our culture of victimhood is partly responsible for some of the nihlistic feelings that lead to people wanting to cause harm to others.

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Pistol

Radicalized policewoman arrested in Paris 'no-go zone' after stealing firearms

Chris Tomlinson
Breitbart
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 12:11 UTC
firearm gun
A 20-year-old policewoman, who has been described as "radicalised" by colleagues, has been arrested in the heavily migrant-populated Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis after being accused of stealing firearms.

The 20-year-old woman was arrested late last week for allegedly stealing two Sig Sauer 9mm calibre pistols. Three other suspects have also been arrested in connection with the case including a member of the French military, Le Parisien reports.

Colleagues of the 20-year-old officer described her as having an unpleasant personality and said they suspected she might hold radical Islamic extremist sympathies.
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Info

Women & human rights coalition tackle female genital mutilation in Egypt

Rahma Diaa
Al Monitor
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 12:11 UTC
Egyptian flag
Women and human rights organizations in Egypt marked the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Feb. 6 by announcing an "Anti-FGM Action Plan" to create new policies and mechanisms to reduce these practices against women and young girls in Egypt.

According to the most recent gender-based violence survey conducted by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics in 2015, 9 out of 10 women in Egypt have undergone FGM. In 2014, that figure was about 92% of married women aged between 15 and 49, with 78.4% of the operations performed by doctors and nurses.

Representatives of 146 organizations were present at the press conference, including the Tadwein Gender Research Center, the New Woman Foundation, the Centre for Egyptian Women Legal Assistance, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, the Women's Center for Legal Guidance and Awareness, Salemah for Women's Empowerment, the Cairo Center for Development, the Egyptian Coalition on the Rights of the Child and the Union of Associations to Combat Harmful Practices against Women and Children.

Comment: The Arab Weekly reports more on this disturbing situation:
There is a wrong perception that a girl whose genitals are mutilated is more chaste than another who has not come under the knife," said Azza Ashmawi, the secretary-general of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood, the national agency that defends the rights of children. "This is totally wrong and must change."

National figures show how widespread FGM is. An estimated 92% of females aged 15-47 have been circumcised, a 2017 census indicated. The survey also found that in the 15-17 age range, 61% of girls had suffered FGM.


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Magnify

FBI admits it investigated YouTube Florida school shooting threat, but failed to identify author

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 11:45 UTC
Nikolas Cruz threat YouTube Florida shooting
In the latest humiliation for the scandal-plagued FBI - one which this time had deadly results - the FBI agent in charge of the Florida shooting probe admitted that the Bureau had investigated a school shooting threat made on YouTube last year but could not identify person behind it even though Nikolas Cruz used his real name to sign the threat. Perhaps it was too busy unmasking member of the Trump administration?

And so, nearly half a year later and long after one of America's most deadly school shootings, the FBI said on Thursday that it was finally investigating whether or not a disturbing YouTube comment reported to them in September was posted by the suspect in Wednesday's deadly Florida school shooting rampage.

A Mississippi man told CBS that he warned the FBI last September about a social media comment allegedly posted by Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz. Ben Bennight says he saw a comment on a YouTube video that troubled him and notified the FBI, Pegues reports. The comment on Bennight's YouTube video said, "I'm going to be a professional school shooter," Bennight said.

Comment: Context: RT reports that a Nikolas Cruz left a similar message (now deleted) under a YouTube documentary about the 1966 Texas University massacre.

In both cases, he signed as Nikolas Cruz. Yet the FBI couldn't find him?

From Twitchy:
NOT GOOD: FBI explains why it didn't do anything on the Nikolas Cruz tip in 2017

Officials and law enforcement are briefing the press in Parkland, Fla. right now and FBI Special Agent in Charge, Robert Lask, just explained that they couldn't identify Nikolas Cruz as the person who wrote in the comments on a YouTube video, "I want to be a professional school shooter":


From Lasky: ""The FBI conducted database reviews [and] checks, but was unable to further identify the person who actually made the comment."


And we're still waiting to hear more from YouTube:


Related:




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2 + 2 = 4

10 students show up to UCLA hosted campus talk on 'toxic masculinity.'

Mark McGreal
The College Fix
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 11:23 UTC
empty theater seats
Some 42,000 students attend UCLA, and whether many of them think "toxic masculinity" is a pressing concern is unclear, if the attendance at a recent campus forum on the subject is any indication.

When the UCLA Intergroup Relations Program recently hosted an event to allow the campus community to discuss "toxic masculinity," 10 students showed up.
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Newspaper

Trans man risks adopted baby's health and life by attempting to breast-feed

Jonathon Van Maren
The Bridgehead
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 11:03 UTC
man breastfeeding
© Trevor MacDonald
I've been saying this over and over again, but it seems like every day new evidence surfaces: The trans movement pretends to have the best interests of young people at heart, but the sad reality is that their movement is doing incalculable damage to thousands of kids. Beyond the psychological confusion, the mastectomies, the castrations, the hormone therapy, the halting or delaying of puberty, and the growing (although ignored) trend of "reverse transitions," there is also the simple fact that the trans movement is fundamentally claiming that they can transform reality. Thus you have a sudden and bizarre uptick in "pregnant men," which, as the kids like to say, isn't a thing.

But this recent story from the Daily Wire may just take the cake, revealing how dangerous and irresponsible trans activists can be-as well as showing that the progressive cheerleaders are perfectly willing to sacrifice the safety of children in pursuit of this new ideology:
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