Month: February 2021

Former President TrumpDonald TrumpSacha Baron Cohen calls out ‘danger of lies, hate and conspiracies’ in Golden Globes speech Sorkin uses Abbie Hoffman quote to condemn Capitol violence: Democracy is ‘something you do’ Ex-Trump aide Pierson planning run for Congress MORE ruled out the possibility of forming a new political party during his address to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Sunday.

In his speech, the former president lambasted the media for reports that he was in discussions with advisers about possibly forming a new political party. According to The Wall Street Journal in January, Trump floated calling such a party the “Patriot Party.”

“You know, they kept saying, ‘he’s going to start a brand new party,'” Trump said, before adding: “That was fake news. Fake News.”

“We have the Republican Party. It’s going to unite and be stronger than ever before. I am not starting a new party,” he continued.

The former president indicated that forming a new party would divide the GOP electorate as the party seeks to reclaim majorities in the House and Senate.

“Wouldn’t that be brilliant? Let’s start a new party and let’s divide our vote, so that you can never win. No, we’re not interested in that,” Trump said.

The former president’s speech is his first major public address since his departure from the White House, and comes amid continued unsubstantiated claims that he was the legitimate victor of
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A spokesperson for Mercola disputed that his website published misinformation, adding: “Dr. Mercola has been subjected to harassment from Bill Gates’ front groups like TBIJ for some time, and your direct conflict of interest and self-appointed title of ‘Ministry of Truth’ is ridiculous.”

The work of the Bureau is funded by 20 organisations, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Bureau has never given itself the title “Ministry of Truth”.

Alex Kasprak, a senior writer at the fact-checking site Snopes who covers science, believes Mercola’s influence goes far beyond his owned and operated pages on social media.

“Ultimately if you follow the claims back, it has its origins in a Mercola article,” he said. “The talking point emerges even when he himself does not emerge as the source on Facebook. It’s an indication of his power … or it’s an indication of Facebook’s inability to act in a way that is effective.”

Mercola appears to have done quite well from spreading misinformation. According to a 2017 affidavit cited in The Washington Post, Mercola was worth more than $100m, derived mainly from his network of private companies.

The financial benefits of Nepute’s activities online are less clear. But his success in building an online presence is easy to see. Nepute had just 8,000 followers at the end of February last year. Over the course of April 2020, when his misinformation first caught the attention of fact checkers, he added more than 335,000 followers. Despite the fact checks and FTC warning,
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I suggest a new slogan for our time:  “It is important to recognize when you are being lied to — even by your friends.”

President Donald Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims while in office (Veracity of statements by Donald Trump—Wikipedia).  While politicians have long made false and misleading statements, Donald Trump is like no other.

To protect ourselves from disinformation and “fake news” a good resource is a book: “Don’t be fooled, a citizen’s guide to news and information in the digital age,} second edition, by John McManus, PH.D.  This book addresses a number of forms of bias in news and media and clearly describes how to defend against it.  Other resources include fact checking organizations: FactCheck.org; PolitiFact.com; and snopes.com.

— Mike Schultz, Chico

They can be funny, disturbing, or down-right alarming. The term deep fake comes from deep-learning artificial intelligence which is what gives these videos their uncanny realism. The AI analyzes several different videos, learning someone’s mannerisms, facial structure, and voice. So, when debating real news versus fake news, always ask questions. Look for unusual URLs or website names, weird lighting or missing shadows, audio that seems out of sync, and face discolorations or blurriness where the face meets the neck or hair.

Naderi cookies (Koloocheh) were reported to be carcinogenic in the foreign (international) Persian-language media, according to a German publication. After the necessary examinations and tests, the health of this product was reaffirmed.

As reported by the public relations (PR) of the Business Development UNESCO Club, this product was re-examined and re-tested following the publication of news in the foreign Persian-language media about the carcinogenicity of Naderi cookies (Koloocheh), according to a German publication.

The samples were carefully and scientifically examined in reference laboratories inside and outside the country. After receiving the test result and a clean bill of health from the competent authorities, the previous claim that this product is carcinogenic is refuted according to the documentation provided.

In response to the World Health Organization (WHO) announcement, the Director-General of the Food and Beverage Supervision of Iran Food and Drug Administration (IFDA) also announced that all Iran’s export products are produced in accordance with WHO regulations, Codex Alimentarius, and IFDA.

Robabeh Shaykh al-Islam, president of Iran’s Scientific Association for Healthy Food and Nutrition, also reacted and stated that this product does not contain any microbial and chemical according to the documentation provided, inspections and tests performed contaminants hazardous to human health and it is safe to consume.

The Iranian Food Science and Technology Association also denied the claim of the German publication and confirmed the health of the company’s products. Accordingly, it considered the health of consumers on the sidelines of food security.

Business Development UNESCO Club was established
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Fake news entered our collective vocabulary during the
Trump presidency, but the concept is nothing new according
to the Head of Humanities and Creative Arts at the
University of Canterbury (UC), Associate Professor of
History Peter
Field.

“Trumpians seemed to insist that fake
news was something new, but they’re wrong. Long, long ago
– 26 centuries ago in fact – Plato and Thucydides were
convinced that the democracy was being fed a false way of
seeing the world, that the intellectuals and teachers were
duping the people.”

Like Trump, the two Greeks were
outraged, however their contempt was directed at “the
decline and failure of their democracy”, rather than
potential damage to their own personal brand.

“Trump
blamed the media and the university-educated elites and the
deep state. Thucydides identified the culprits as Homer, the
Sophists and a bad education,” Associate Professor Field
says.

While the consequences of Trump’s presidency
continue to be debated, the ancient Greeks paved the way to
an outcome that still frames and influences our thinking
today.

“Plato and Thucydides were desperate to
replace the myths of Homer, the ‘fake news’ of ancient
times. Their replacement was science, a science applied to
city and people. We call that social
science.

“Athens seems to me to be the one place in
the world where one can sit among the ruins and feel not the
end but the beginning of
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