The Bowling Green Massacre

Fictitious Claims by Counselor to The President

As much as President Trump complains about fake news, he and his advisors perpetuate the fake news cycle.

Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the President, not once but twice, referred to the "Bowling Green Massacre" when defending Donald Trump's executive order on immigration.  The problem.... there was no massacre.  She cited the fictitious massacre in an interview with MSNBC's Chris Matthews in which she states, "Two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized, and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre.  Most people didn't know that because it didn't get covered."

Later in an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine she states, "Why did he do that? He did that for exactly the same reasons. He did that because two Iraqi nationals came to this country, joined ISIS, traveled back to the Middle East to get trained and refine their terrorism skills and come back here and were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre of taking innocent soldiers' lives away."

CNN reportedly declined an offer for Kellyanne Conway to appear on their show State of the Union due to credibility issues.  [1 image, 2 links, 2 quotations, 182 words]

Nunes Memo: Fact or Fiction

Republicans want the Nunes memo released immediately to American citizens.  The Democrats are opposed to its released but if it is they want a memo from their party to be released at the same time.  Republicans aren't keen on that idea either.

How can we, as mere citizens, determine if the GOP memo is factual and truthful?  Which political party do we believe?  Which organizations can we believe?  After all, Republican memo is about the FBI's surveillance practices.

The FBI doesn't want the memo released either.  Just this morning FBI director Christopher Wray warned the White House, "As expressed during our initial review, we have grave concerns about material omissions of fact that fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy." 

Not only is releasing a memo that omits facts which impact its accuracy irresponsible, it should also be filed under the category as "fake news'. [1 image, 1 link, 1 quotation, 143 words]

Fake News Spawns Fake Videos

Does the saying "I'll believe it when I see it" still hold true with the advancement of Artificial Intelligence software?  What used to take hours upon hours of editing to create a fake video now only takes a couple of hours and can be managed by software that is readily available to the consumer.  "Home-computing hardware is now cheap enough for this sort of thing to be done by anyone" according to Bay Area artist and engineer Alexander Reben.

The technology is so advanced that it's hard to discern the fake videos from the unaltered videos.  Take for example a video that was created by a research team at the University of Washington.  They obtained fourteen hours of President Obama's weekly addresses and used them to train a neural network to sync his lips to the audio.  The result is a video of President Obama lip syncing to an audio compilation of him.

Engineers are not only writing algorithms to combat fake news, now they are dealing with fake videos. [1 image, 1 link, 1 quotation, 169 words]

Entertainment Lawyer Dan Goodes Doesn't Exist

"NFL Lawyer, Who Claimed Super Bowl Is ‘Rigged’, Found Dead"

A recent article published on the website YourNewsWire claimed that entertainment lawyer, Dan Goodes, was murdered immediately following the attorney's claim that Super Bowl LII was rigged.  There is one small problem with this story.  Dan Goodes does not exist.  The NFL confirmed that they have not and do not employ an attorney by the name of Dan Goodes.  They also state that no claims have been made stating that Super Bowl LII is rigged.

YourNewsWire has been established a source of fake news.  CBS news compiled a list of 22 fake news sources to steer clear of and YourNewsWire took the number five spot. [1 image, 4 links, 1 quotation, 115 words]

A Fine Line Between Satire and Fake News

Satirist, Andy Borowitz, recently wrote an article for The New Yorker stating that President Trump's physician, Dr. Ronny Jackson, wrote a note excusing him from speaking with special counsel Robert Mueller.  "The doctor’s note offered a laundry list of ailments afflicting Trump, including flu-like symptoms, upset stomach, headaches, dizziness, confusion, and what Jackson called a “wartime foot injury that appears to be acting up.”

For those not familiar with Andy Borowitz and his comedic writings one would assume that the article was factual news.  Some may even be screaming "Fake News" and claim this to be yet another fake article by the liberal media against President Trump.

My advice, due your homework people!  Don't take things at face value!  Snopes is your friend. [1 image, 3 links, 1 quotation, 123 words]

Pope  Francis Weighs in on the Evils of Fake News

 January 28, 2018

In an official Vatican document, The Truth Will Set You Free - Fake News and Journalism for Peace, Pope Francis decries the evils of Fake news likening it to the first recorded Biblical deception by the snake in the Garden of Eden. In this document the Vatican asserts that the work by journalists is not just a job, but “a mission”. The Pope stated that false news reports can influence important economic, political and social agendas and that journalists and the public must be wary of the serious consequences of spreading and accepting fake news.The urged the public to be vigilant, saying, "we need to unmask what could be called the 'snake tactics' used by those who disguise themselves in order to strike at any time and place." In this document he urges the public to become more aware and educate themselves on sources of fake news and how to discern what is real and what is false in the news arena.[1 Picture, 2 Links, 2 Quotes, 162 Words]

Junk Science, Fake News and Health Fads

 January 28, 2018

The popularity of de-tox diets, which claim to remove harmful chemicals from your body have no basis in scientific fact. “Detoxification, or the practice of ridding the body of toxic or harmful substances, is promoted on countless websites and endorsed by a host of celebrities.”  Toxins are substances that our bodies produce naturally as biproducts of our metabolic processes. Toxins can also be introduced into the body through exposure to chemicals in the environment. However, there is no evidence to suggest that any juices or “cleanses” can rid these from our bodies.  Our kidneys ,livers, and colons are the major organs for ridding our bodies of “toxins”. “In 2011, researchers at Georgetown University conducted a comprehensive review of the medical literature and found absolutely no scientific support of the practice of detoxifying the colon. In fact, colon cleanses can do more harm than good, according to Gershon.” [1 Picture, 2 Links,  147 Words]

Diet Pill Celebrity Weight Loss Hoax

January 28, 2018

News reports claiming that various celebrities had lost weight using a particular diet pill were found to be false news. These fake news sites reportedly “will include the logos of reputable media outlets, like Today, Woman's Day and The New York Times, claiming the product has been featured there too. MousePrint.org, a consumer advocacy website, cites EntertainmentToday.co and NewsReport247.org as offenders, for articles that claim McCarthy's weight loss and Gwen Stefani's physique are due to weight loss pills.” These sites have names that resemble real news sites and provide links to buy products. Both celebrities have denied using diet these diet pills to lose weight. Additionally, fake news sites extended the weight loss pill lie to include McCarthy’s weight loss as the reason for the cancellation of her show Mike and Molly. [1Picture, 1 Quote, 1 Link, 132 Words]

The Johns Hopkins Cancer Update Email Hoax

January 28, 2018

The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center of Johns Hopkins University posted on their website that a widely distributed email was disseminated, purportedly from Johns Hopkins Cancer Center, providing false information about the causes and prevention of cancer. On their website Johns Hopkins Cancer Center provides clarification regarding this misinformation. According to Johns Hopkins,” emails offering easy remedies for avoiding and curing cancer are the latest Web-influenced trend. To gain credibility, the anonymous authors falsely attribute their work to respected research institutions like Johns Hopkins. This is the case with the so-called “Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins.” [1Picture, 1 Quote, 2 Links, 101 Words]

Combating “Fake News” That Affects Vulnerable Cancer Patients

 January 28, 2018

In order to prevent the dissemination of misinformation or  “fake news”  regarding cancer treatments, The Macmillan Cancer Support Group has hired a nurse full time to answer questions for patients seeking answers online about their diagnosis.  There are many websites on the internet touting bogus cancer treatments. According to an online article by the Independent Newspaper, “an estimated 3,450 people, or 4 per cent of Scottish cancer patients, who looked online for information thought they were going to die.” Many of these patients are seeking information about their diagnosis but are finding misinformation including websites that have claimed that “chemotherapy is a bigger killer than cancer itself”, or that “baking soda can cure cancer”. The role of the nurse will be to answer questions for patients who about their illness and to direct patients to reliable websites to gain the information they are seeking.[ 1PICTURE, 1 Quote, 3 Links, 148 Words}

There's Fake News and There's Fake News

[EXAMPLE POST]

Is it possible to have lived in the U.S. in the last 18 months without hearing the term "fake news" at least a few times? Whether it's @POTUS describing the main stream media (among other things) or Russian news agencies purposefully trying to muddy the waters here in the States, "fake news" is everywhere. The term might be Trump's favorite jab on Twitter because he mentions it so much, mostly directed at the media. But whatever your opinion on Trump, there is a legitimate problem with fake news; just take #pizzagate as an example. In December 2016, "a powerful mix of fake news and social media led an armed North Carolina man to investigate the rumors about the pizza place, Comet Ping Pong" in Washington D.C. The fake news that he had read (and even the research he did), convinced him to fire his weapon in the pizza parlor where he was later arrested. This blog, Finding Fake News, is about both kinds of fake news. Hopefully, in the end, we will all be better informed so we don't make our own humiliating mistakes. And whatever our political beliefs, our country will be much better for it. [1 image, 4 links, 1 quotation, 197 words]