Tag: Fake News

Gun control advocates predictably wrong again

The scene was barely a few minutes old in Jacksonville, Florida before David Hogg was making statements about politicians and the NRA.  Another activist took to Twitter to list all the lax gun laws in Florida.  But none of it ended up being relevant.  The Florida shooter was actually a Maryland shooter who was down for the weekend.  He bought his guns in Maryland, which is the 7th strictest state regarding gun laws.  Additionally, he had been admitted for mental issues twice, which would have prevented him from buying his guns if Maryland’s background check system had caught it.  The shooter made several violent tweets before heading to the video game tournament, and those were forwarded to the FBI.  The shooting took place in a gun free zone, which is where 98% of mass shootings happen.  Once again, the facts make fools of gun control advocates.

Gun control activists hope for smoking gun, get same old story instead

Lanny Davis has now admitted that he was the unnamed source in the CNN story about Trump knowing ahead of time of the Trump Tower meeting.  This has been an embarrassing episode of fake news for CNN akin to the Dan Rather memogate scandal.  Davis, as an anonymous source, told CNN that his client Michael Cohen had knowledge that Trump knew about the infamous but not illegal Trump Tower meeting.  CNN ran with the story in July based on the anonymous tip.  Davis later made the claim publicly, before recanting and denying it publicly on CNN.  However, CNN ignored their own story and continued to run with the claim based on their anonymous source.  Now we know that source was Lanny Davis himself.

Lanny Davis admits he was anonymous source for his own fake news

Americans don’t support impeachment.  This is according to a new poll reported by left leaning Axios.  According to the poll, 64% believe Michael Cohen when he says he paid off Stormy Daniels.  But only 44% believe impeachment proceedings should begin.  In our opinion though, this is a stupid poll.  Trump said back in May that Cohen paid off Stormy Daniels and was reimbursed through his legal retainer, not out of campaign funds.  There is nothing there to impeach Trump for.  If anything, it shows that half of Americans are not keeping up with this mess.

Americans still against impeachment

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is back in hot water after her tweet that #abolishICE didn’t really mean #abolishICE.  She admitted she actually supports deportations.  It turns out “abolish” is simply the new “occupy” or “punch a nazi”.  It doesn’t mean anything, it’s just a dog whistle to her crazy supporters to show up armed and masked and destroy private property.

But perhaps even worse, Ocasio-Cortez said that #abolishICE meant we need ICE to stop “sexually assaulting women with impunity”.  I would love to see her meet with all 20,000 ICE employees in front of their families and say that to their faces.

#AbolishICE redefined as “Keep deporting, stop raping women”

Did Trump say flipping should be illegal?

CNBC is reporting that Trump wants to make “flipping” illegal.  Flipping is the term generally used to describe when someone is in hot water and flips on their associates in crime to work out a deal with Justice.  So did Trump really say he wants to make flipping illegal?  Or is this fake news?

As usual, there is nuance in what Trump is saying.  You can see a portion of the interview here.  Trump spoke about flipping in the context of Cohen “making stuff up”.  In fact, he reiterates several times that he’s talking about when someone gets themselves in deep trouble and makes stuff up to get a lower prison sentence.  Trump says this kind of flipping should be “almost illegal”.

Trump mentioned the curious case of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz’s IT guy Imran Awan, who was arrested under suspicion that he had possibly been involved in the DNC server hack and may have stolen from the DNC.  Awan struck a deal in July and was convicted for lying on a loan application.  The charges against his wife were dropped.  The case has led to plenty of conspiracy theories and there has been zero media interest as to what Awan might have given up in his plea deal.

In the interview, Trump also pointed out that Cohen’s accusations about Trump campaign violations are wrong.  Trump said that the payments to reimburse Cohen came out of his retainer paid from his businesses to Cohen.  As the John Edwards case showed, that is not a crime.  In fact, in Edwards case it was campaign donors who paid off his mistress, not his personal attorney in the process of creating an NDA.  That would make what Trump did even more innocent than what Edwards did.

Trump did in fact tweet about the payments back in May.  So Cohen’s revelation is hardly news to anyone who is interested.  Trump tweeted that he reimbursed Cohen through his legal retainer and not from campaign funds.  At the time Trump also claimed that there was no affair, that Daniels was attempting to extort him, and that they would pursue action against her based on the arbitration provisions in the NDA.  Perhaps this is why Cohen still has no cooperation agreement despite his claims of dirt on Trump.

I wonder if the question will ever come up if Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis, is making these claims to affect the outcome of an election?  Davis is a Clinton ally and has been speaking on Cohen’s behalf.  He is a liberal Democrat who hates Trump and wants Republicans to lose in November.  There doesn’t appear to be any evidence at this point to support some of his outlandish claims.  But those claims being repeated over and over in the media will certainly affect the election in November.  Maybe some forms of “flipping” should be “almost illegal”.

8/15/18: What’s going on in Turkey

Tensions have continued to rise between the US and Turkey.  At the center of the dispute is a US pastor who was arrested as part of retaliation for a failed coup in Turkey in 2016.  Andrew Brunson is being held under house arrest and charged with espionage, but the US denies all charges.  To get Brunson back, Trump has used tariffs as more than just economic retaliation for another country’s tariffs, but is now using them for diplomatic pressure as well.  Turkey’s court of appeals refused to release Brunson this week.

Trump hits Turkey with tariffs, Turkey responds in kind over detained pastor

In an update to a story we brought you a few days ago, there are now over 200 papers in the US set to write anti-Trump editorials to supposedly prove that they are unbiased and don’t deserve to ever be called out for fake news.  Media outlets led by CNN’s cry baby Jim Acosta and the Boston Globe have feared that the “fake news” label on news that isn’t true is going to cause violence against the media.

Meanwhile, as we reported on our Facebook page yesterday, CNN’s Chris Cuomo made a feeble attempt to ask Antifa to cool it when it comes to actually physically assaulting members of the media.  Cuomo’s rambling charge against Antifa seemed to suggest that they were ok to be violent as long as it was against bigots, but that they really ought to leave the press and the cops alone.  He ignored their attacks on non-white supremacist Trump supporters who happened to be in the area and were assaulted.

200+ Media outlets set to attack Trump to show they aren’t biased

Twitter has joined the ranks of social media platforms in banning Alex Jones, but only for a short period of time after he violated one of their rules with a video he linked to.  Twitter had stated that they would not ban him unless he violated one of their rules.  The current restriction is temporary.  Jones has gotten a lot of mileage out of the bans on other social media platforms.  Alex Jones’ site, Infowars, tends to be a cesspool of conspiracy theory and Jones’ lawyer admitted in a recent court battle that he is “playing a character” in his role as a media personality.

At Political Brief, we don’t follow Alex Jones.  We support his right to free speech and expression, but we also support the right of private businesses to make the economic decision to discriminate when it comes to hosting private individuals.  Consumers will need to decide for themselves if blocking Alex Jones is enough to get them to leave those social media platforms.  It also is a good caution to consumers to remember that political commentators have an agenda.  Be sure to double check sources and treat any political story with skepticism, whether it’s Alex Jones or Jim Acosta.  Also, know that Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and other platforms are privately run and push content to you.  The best way to navigate politics online is to do your research and find people you trust.

Twitter restricts Alex Jones after video violation

8/11/18: Press coordinates attack on Trump to prove they aren’t biased

Trump has stated that the press is not the enemy of the people.  He said fake news is the enemy of the people.  Trump has maintained this stance and repeats it when the media lies about him or produces fake news.  The media, only all too happy to prove him right, has taken the phrase “enemy of the people” very personally.  Media outlets have continuously charged that Trump was calling all news the enemy of the people.  I suppose that’s their mea culpa.

Trump’s charge that the media is biased stems from their coverage of the Russian collusion fake story.  While Trump has never been the target of a Russian collusion investigation, and while Hillary Clinton is the candidate who demonstrably colluded with Russia, you can ask any friend on the left and they will tell you Trump colluded with Russia.  It’s a fake narrative created by the media.  Trump has good reason to criticize the media for bias.

The media isn’t helping themselves.  On Friday, Marjorie Pritchard of the Boston Globe called on media outlets throughout the country to write coordinated editorial attacks against Trump.  70 media outlets have agreed to the coordinated attack on Trump to prove they aren’t biased.

70 papers agree to coordinated attack on Trump to prove they aren’t biased fake news

The US Navy is back in the South China sea to enforce sanctions against North Korea.  North Korea has taken some symbolic steps towards peace and the end to their nuclear program, but continues to develop ballistic missiles.  The Trump administration had stated that sanctions would remain in place until Kim completely and verifiably eliminates their weapons of mass destruction program.

US sanctions on North Korea continue

Republicans and Conservatives are taking full advantage of the Ocasio-Cortez gaff machine.  And we are enjoying every bit of it.

 

 

Need to Know 8/6/18

While CNN’s Jim Acosta continues to suffer PTSD from being yelled at at a Trump rally, Carlos Bayon was just arrested in New York for threatening the families of Republican Representatives Steve Scalise and Cathy McMorris Rogers.  Bayon was apparently responding to the fake news reports detailing Obama’s era of putting illegal immigrant kids in cages as Trump era policy.  Bayon said in his threatening phonecalls that he would “feed them lead” referring to Scalise and McMorris Rogers’ families.  “Ojo por ojo, diente por diente. [“An eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth.”] That is our law and we are the majority. Have a good day.”  This comes as CNN commentators continue to fear that Trump calling fake media reports fake news will lead to violence against the press.

The threats from the anti-immigration enforcement terrorist come just over a year after Steve Scalise was shot at a Congressional soft ball game practice.  And only weeks after the Left led by Maxine Waters and Ocasio-Cortez began calling for ICE to be abolished.

Leftist terrorist threatens families of Republican lawmakers over immigration 

David Hogg was at it again.  Hogg showed up at the NRA headquarters to protest, among other things, America.  One one side he had Therese Okuomo, who he calls one of his biggest inspirations.  Okuomo is known for getting protesters together and chanting about America being fascist and horrible.  On the other side, Hogg ironically had armed guards.

David Hogg inspiration calls America a fascist KKK nation.

Twitter is in hot water after suspending the account of Candace Owens, a conservative commentator with Turning Point USA.  Owens crime was taking one of New York Times editorial writer Sarah Jeong’s many violent, racist tweets and replacing the word “white” with “Jew” and “black”.  While Jeong was left alone by Twitter when her attacks were towards white people, Owens was blocked despite the rest of the verbiage of the tweet being the same.  Twitter has since unblocked her account after the uproar and apologized.

Twitter thinks Sarah Jeong’s tweets were racist.  But only when someone else says it.

Sanders v. Acosta

This is a great bit of video.  Jim Acosta, butt hurt from getting booed at a Trump rally, asked Sarah Sanders to make a statement that the press is not the enemy of the people.  Well, he asked, pestered, interrupted, and talked over her but eventually got the question out.  This was in response to Ivanka Trump saying the press is not the enemy of the people, and President Trump agreeing, tweeting that the media is not the enemy of the people.

Perhaps Acosta thinks all of the media is fake news and that’s where he’s getting confused?

Anyway, Sanders didn’t give Acosta what he wanted, but rather reminded him of the many times the media has personally attacked her and that she is the first press secretary to require secret service protection.  Acosta got up and stormed out when she was done.  Here’s the clip of her response:

Need to Know 7/31/18

Republican candidate Austin Petersen had his Twitter account suspended for 12 hours after thousands of antifa communist Democrats are triggered by a Stalin gif he posted.  No, this isn’t the Babylon Bee.  Petersen posted the gif in response to one pundit’s ridiculous assertion that Petersen had paid the Russians off to hack Claire McCaskill’s email account.  Petersen is in an uphill battle in the Republican primary to take on McCaskill for her tenuously held Senate seat in Missouri.  He has caused a splash with his AR-15 and 3D gun printer giveaways through the campaign.

Communists triggered by Stalin gif

Is North Korea building new ballistic missiles?  That’s the claim by Washington Post citing unnamed US spies who decided to share classified intelligence with the news agency on the condition of anonymity.  Of course, we’ve seen so much fake news coming from unnamed sources through WaPo and others that there really can’t be too much stock put in this.  It would absolutely benefit Democrats in November to blunt the progress Trump has made with North Korea.  And it seems like a very big risk for people in our spy agencies to tell the Washington Post something so sensitive.  So for now, we’ll stick with the official story.

WaPo publishes classified intel on North Korea, claims anonymous sources

There was no collusion, and even if there was it’s not a crime.  That’s the latest from Trump attorney Rudy Guiliani.  Guiliani made the claim Monday on Fox & Friends.  Depending on the facts and circumstances, he’s correct.  If Trump didn’t commission hackers to break into the DNC’s servers or somehow cause them to break the law, then any other sort of collusion is meaningless.  Even if Trump arranged and met with the Russian attorney in Trump Tower, which he didn’t, it still wouldn’t be a violation of the law.  In fact, compared to hiring a British spy get paid dirt from Russian operatives and then giving that phony info to the FBI to start an investigation, even the worst allegations against Trump are trivial.

Considering Trump has never been the target of a criminal investigation having to do with Russia and considering Hillary Clinton colluded more than even the most wild allegations against Trump, I think it’s time to stop beating this dead horse and move on.

Trump didn’t collude, and even if he had it wasn’t a crime

Fake News Alert: Social Security

Welcome to 2016.  It’s the year that Dan Rather called on the media to be more biased and Brian Williams complained about fake news. And of course, both were praised and accorded credibility on the left for their laments.  Fake news is the thing right now.  It’s why Trump won, it’s how Russia infiltrated the brains of the electorate and forced them to vote for Trump, and it is defined of course as right wing sources only.

Just as there is an Alt-Left, there is left wing fake news.  Usually it’s unrecognizable because it comes in the form of mainstream media publication.  A great example came on December 9th when Ethan Wolff-Mann (yup) wrote an article for Yahoo! Finance about how Republicans are going to massively cut Social Security. Rather than citing what was proposed, Wolff-Mann cited Center for American Progress’s twitter account as his source.

According to Wolff-Mann, and Talking Points Memo who he also cites, the Republican proposal will drastically cut benefits for the poor and runs contrary to a bi-partisan effort to save Social Security through a payroll tax increase for those under the Obama threshold of what constitutes being “rich”.

Meanwhile, the actual bill is not quite as drastic and gloomy as the “press” reports.  The Sam Johnson plan, which is actually different from the Paul Ryan plan, would increase the retirement age for younger workers and adjust how inflation is calculated for benefits. Aside from that, his proposal should be a dream for liberals.

The Johnson plan would reduce benefits for wealthy retirees.  It includes means testing which is basically a tax on the wealthy.  It also takes away cost of living increases for the wealthy. Johnson, who calls his proposal the start to a fact-based conversation, also calls for benefit increases for some.

No solution has been determined for Social Security yet.  In the end it will likely be an adjustment in inflation, an increase to the retirement age, but it also may include private accounts which can earn far more and can’t be cut by the government. For all the fear mongering, we are far from a final solution for Social Security.

Perhaps a better headline would have been “Wolff-Mann Scares Seniors”.