Fake News

[willedoo]

There seems to be so much talk about so called 'fake news' these days, I thought it was deserving of it's own thread.

 

Fake or not? Will we ever know.

 

I'll kick it off with this image from Al Jazeera. It's probably a real photo and maybe I just need my eyes tested, but it looks like something out of a 3D game to me.

 

Cheers, Willie.

 

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[Marty_d]

I don't know where the photo originated, but SBS ran it too - twice, a fortnight apart. Must be considered a "stock" photo for Syria.

 

Deadly clashes grip flashpoint area near Syria capital

 

Air strikes, clashes mar Syrian truce

 

 

[old man emu]

I'd back it to be something from a video game. There are too many background objects that don't ring true for a scene in the Middle East.

 

1. Portable barrier with wire mesh infill
    
   
2. 44 gal drum undamaged
    
   
3. Light metal A-frame ladder
    
   
4. Plaster wall rendering to right of door.
    
   
5. Skylight frame over door.
    
   
6. The bricks appear to have edges that are too regular, typical of kiln-fired bricks, not sun-dried.
    
   

 

And the same photo for stories two weeks apart ... F.A.K.E.!

 

OME

 

T

 

 

[willedoo]

Yes, it's an odd one. If there was a setting on the camera or post editing to make a real photo look like that, that wouldn't make sense as they would be opening themselves up to claims of faking reports.

 

As far as I know, Al Jazeera used the photo first. Possibly not, but they ran the photo well before Christmas, compared to mid January for SBS.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Here's some more #Fake news from Amy Mek ( Gab.ai /amymek )

 

Swedish Police Chief advises girls: "Don't go out after sunset or you'll be raped" #SundayMorning #ACLU

 

Amy Mek is a well known crap stirrer. . .so believe the video or believe it not.

 

RF Poster friend 'Polardroid' lives 'Up country' in the Swedish sticks and can neither confirm or deny this report . . .but he says that the Government have literally given the country to the incomers and publicly admitted this. . . 'It is THEIR country now. . .' Unquote . . . .

 

Utterly amazing. . .

 

Immigration had formed Britain. . .and Australia BUT . . .over a steady period of time. . .not all of a sudden rush inside of 2 years, with no time given for any kind of cultural integration whatsoever . . .Is this pushing integration a little too far and too fast ?

 

 

[willedoo]

There's a few grey areas that might come under the umbrella of fake news.

 

First, there's obvious fraud like the bunch in Egypt arrested recently for painting fake blood on kids and posing them outside a derelict building to portray Aleppo bombing victims. Thankfully it wasn't main stream media, just some clowns uploading to social media.

 

Then there's government spokespeople telling the odd porkie. That's nothing new, has been going on since Adam was a boy.

 

The grey area is omitting certain facts or editing out bits of interviews that can change the context to give the punters the preferred narrative. Omitting inconvenient truths seems to be most prevalent these days. It's not illegal and technically not lying. Morally wrong maybe, but only decent journalists are bothered by that. Lucky for us, there's still some good journalists out there.

 

 

[dutchroll]

This Civil War photo has been doing the rounds recently with some suggesting the image has been photoshopped due to the timescale of the 1841 model artillery piece. Others have said the horse just doesn't look right.

 

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[Phil Perry]

This Civil War photo has been doing the rounds recently with some suggesting the image has been photoshopped due to the timescale of the 1841 model artillery piece. Others have said the horse just doesn't look right.

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Actually it's not that, it's that the uniform the officer is shown wearing was not introduced until 3 years after the Civil war ended. . .this is proved by the characteristic 'Missing' 4th button down from the collar. This was due to chafing from the diagonally worn leather lanyard fouling the fourth button. All later uniforms had a full complement of buttons when the Leather lanyard was discontinued in favour of a belt. And as for the field piece,. . .well. . . . need I go on ?. . . .

 

I would appreciate it Sir, if you would check history somewhat more diligently prior to ejaculating publicly upon possibly #IncorrectNews. . . .

 

I remain SIr, your obedient servant.

 

Jason P Cornpone. ( USMC ( retd. )

 

 

[dutchroll]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/us/politics/bowling-green-massacre-kellyanne-conway.html?_r=0

 

Senior Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway, creator of the now famous "alternative facts" meme, kicked another spectacular own goal yesterday, creating her own fake news and accusing the media of not covering it.

 

She referred to the "Bowling Green massacre" to justify Trump's immigrant executive order. Except there never was a massacre in Bowling Green, Kentucky, ever. Or anywhere in the USA around that time.

 

This somewhat exxplains why the media didn't cover it. Of course, Twitter had a field day.

 

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[old man emu]

Bowling Green

 

The Everly Brothers

 

Way down in Bowling Green

 

Prettiest girls I've ever seen

 

A man in Kentucky

 

Sure is lucky

 

To live down in Bowling Green

 

Bowling Green folks treat you kind

 

In Bowling Green you walk your own line

 

They let you think your own mind

 

A man in Kentucky

 

Sure is lucky

 

To live down in Bowling Green

 

Kentucky sunshine makes the heart unfold

 

It warms the body

 

And I know it touches the soul

 

A man in Kentucky

 

Sure is lucky

 

To live down in Bowling Green

 

Bluegrass is fine

 

Kentucky owns my mind

 

The fields down in Bowling Green

 

Have the softest grass I've ever seen

 

A man in Kentucky

 

Sure is lucky

 

To lie down in Bowling Green

 

Bowling Green girls treat you right

 

They wear dresses cut country tight

 

 

[Marty_d]

Isn't it funny that these protest-vote winners (ie Trump and Pauline Hanson) surround themselves with equally unreliable and mentally unstable people...

 

 

[fly_tornado]

Can you see Senator Hanson and President Trump discussing her Easter Friday $5.99 Perch and Chips specials and other business matters, because that's what business people folks, they talk business.

 

 

[dutchroll]

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[Gnarly Gnu]

You are easily amused. I don't like this lady much and agree she needs to be careful what she says but this one does seem a fairly mild error of speech. Like hyper-bowl. Did you get equally steamed about Hillary's intentional whoppers (Bosnia etc etc etc)?

 

She was apparently referring to the two Iraqi terrorist enablers who lived in Bowling Green and were arrested in 2011 for sending money and weapons to Al Qaeda in Iraq. These were very serious crimes, one got 40 years and the other a life sentence. The fingerprints of one of the Iraqis was claimed to match those on an IED which makes the above tweet in very poor taste; very likely American lives were lost and it may have even been a massacre, just not in Kentucky.

 

 

[dutchroll]

..... but this one does seem a fairly mild error of speech.

Conway's quote:

 

“I bet it’s brand new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalised and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre, It didn't get covered.”

 

Let's tease it apart:

 

“..... President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program"

 

That is false. He initiated a stricter vetting program which slowed the refugee intake down.

 

".....after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalised"

 

That is false. They were not radicalised in the USA. That is not a trivial mistake, given the big problem of radicalisation.

 

".....and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre,”

 

There never was any such massacre. Conway argues she meant to say "Bowling Green Terrorists" (her exact words not mine). So in other words, she meant to say: "they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green Terrorists" which barely even makes sense.

 

"It didn't get covered".

 

The Bowling Green Massacre didn't get covered because there was no such thing. The arrest of the two Iraqis for plotting to send weapons overseas did get covered by CNN, CBS and the Associated Press among others. Take your pick, Gnu. Wrong, or wrong.

 

In isolation I could accept a slip of the tongue, but she went into the interview defending Trump's bans and arguing a string of false "alternative facts", ending with yet another attack on the media for not reporting something which didn't happen, except that the thing which did happened was actually reported by the mainstream media. In fact the only thing she got right was that there were two Iraqis and they lived in Bowling Green. Impressive to you maybe, but not to me.

 

"The fingerprints of one of the Iraqis was claimed to match those on an IED...

Yes that was the claim by the FBI, than one man's fingerprints matched those found on one unexploded IED.

 

....which makes the above tweet in very poor taste; very likely American lives were lost and it may have even been a massacre, just not in Kentucky.

Oh come off it Gnu. Is there absolutely nothing on this planet that you can't fabricate a bunch of dots between? No-one is joking about the loss of American lives to IUDs in Iraq. Conway was specifically referring to a non-existent massacre plotted by immigrant terrorists in the continental USA and perpetrated against the domestic American population, which is what the whole "don't let 'em in" is all about. The tweet is referring to a non-existent SEAL team which foiled a non-existent massacre.

 

Conway clearly and deliberately was trying to use this example to argue:

 

1) refugees are a direct threat to American security, and

 

2) that the media is not reporting this.

 

People are having a field day poking fun at the apparent willingness of Conway to either fabricate stuff completely, or to be so hopelessly misinformed that little of what she alleges is either true, or makes sense. They are not having a joke at the fact that two Iraqis conspired to send weapons overseas, nor that they boasted of participating in attacks on US soldiers during the conflict in Iraq.

 

You are easily amused.

That's pretty rich, given.....

 

Hilarious, I'm loving it. There was apparently no problem at all when Obama ruled by executive order for eight years

Hahahaha it's becoming kook central.

Hahahahahahaha the bigots and racists are weeping and gnashing their teeth!

Hahahah I love it! The sky is falling Marty, the sky is falling! It cracks me up that you believe this AGW tosh even a tiny bit.

I love it, I love it I don't like President Trump as a person and wouldn't vote for him but this is totally worth it all..... oh my sides Only thing better will be the day when Hillary and Humaenter the slammer.

[Gnarly Gnu]

Your obsession is getting creepy.

 

 

[dutchroll]

Actually it is the first time I have ever retrieved your historical comments in my time on the forums and those were only the first lines of the first page - I couldn't be bothered going any further. I recalled that you have often made a habit of introducing commentary with snarky laughter and wanted to check whether my recollection was accurate. Turns out that it is.

 

I normally have zero interest in your past commentary, so to call it an "obsession" is quite inaccurate.

 

It was merely a tool to point out an exemplar level of hypocrisy. Don't let it worry you.

 

 

[old man emu]

Ladies! Ladies! Ladies!

 

We are fast approaching the point of serious personal attack. If you wish to continue, please use the "Conversations" facility.

 

 

OME

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

Fukushima Nuclear Reactor radiation at extraordinary levels! Unimaginable levels even!

 

...the radiation levels - as high as 530 sieverts per hour - are now the highest they've been since 2011 when a tsunami hit the coastal reactor. "To put this in very simple terms. Four sieverts can kill a handful of people," he explained. "The worry is with 300 tons of radioactive water going into the Pacific every day, what is that doing to the Pacific Ocean?"

 

We are doomed! Or maybe not so much

 

TEPCO and the Japanese government carefully measure the radioactivity in the water being released, and report it regularly. Their

[/url]February 1 report

records only one significant radionuclide in the water: tritium, the third hydrogen isotope. The radioactivity level is between 780 and 820 Bq per liter of water. What does this mean? Well, the

U.S. EPA safety standard for tritium in drinking water

sets an upper limit of 740 Bq/liter. Basically, you wouldn't want to drink it, right there at the outflow into the Pacific, for any extended length of time -- although it probably wouldn't hurt you.

 

The take-away line:

 

The third thing we learned -- and I think probably the most important thing -- is to never trust a journalist writing about anything involving radiation, the metric system, or any arithmetic more challenging than long division.

 

[fly_tornado]

yet GNu is happy using media polling to justify your bigotry about muslims

 

 

[Yenn]

"Never trust a journalist" The rest of that sentence was superfluous.

 

No matter where you look there are mistakes or deliberate porkies put out by journalists. About the only one I give much credence to is Ian Mc Namarra on Sunday morning.

 

 

[M61A1]

This Civil War photo has been doing the rounds recently with some suggesting the image has been photoshopped due to the timescale of the 1841 model artillery piece. Others have said the horse just doesn't look right.

[ATTACH=full]48107[/ATTACH]

Surely the giveaway would be the digital timepiece just sticking out from the jacket sleeve?

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

Yes Yenn and it's a shame as objective investigative journalism is very valuable to society.

 

 

[Jabiru7252]

Way back in the late seventies I used to know a well known (Adelaide) journo who once said to me "never spoil a good story with the truth".