Politics

Our Side Needs to Stop Falling for Fake News

Published

2 years ago

May 17, 2021

The left is great at putting the right on the defensive, lumping us all in with a handful of extremists and making us defend them. As I’ve written previously, the left has figured out how to label conservative principles as conspiracy theories, racism or other distasteful characterizations, making us run from our own views.

Part of the reason they get away with the conspiracy theory label is because we get caught spreading stories that may cross that line, and so the left then lumps in perfectly legitimate suspicions with them. This took place far too often regarding the presidential election.

Studies have shown that the right is more susceptible than the left at falling for fake news. This is because the left is up to so much corruption that gets swept under the rug by the left-leaning legal system and MSM that many of the stories seem plausible. The relatively new conservative satire site Babylon Bee is now almost as popular as The Onion, which has been around for years and likely has a far bigger budget, because there is so much craziness believable about the left.

The problem is there is so much information out there now, how do you determine whether something is accurate or not? Legitimate major conservative websites don’t have the time to vet everything. There is no major conservative fact checking site (I have been attempting to start one in order to combat this). So unless you have time to watch an endless stream of 45-minute long videos, what can be done? I am buried with requests from conservatives to watch videos made by people I have never heard of, and cannot keep up with it all. It got worse during the 2020 presidential election, when everyone and their brother made a video about election fraud. COVID-19 compounded things, with all the videos about masks and vaccines.

The fake news videos that tend to get the most steam are ones done by apparent “experts.” You want to believe retired military intelligence and nurses, why would they lie? Well it’s much more complex than that. Here’s what’s going on. A lot of people take a piece of information and run with it before thoroughly vetting it. Because we’re too overloaded with information, we lack time and become sloppy. We hear something that sounds good, from someone good, and we are wired to want to believe it. We may not spend the full hour watching the entire video before sharing it. Or something halfway through it jumps out as a red flag, but we ignore it because the rest of the video seems so good.

Patrick Byrne, the former CEO of Overstock who got involved with President Trump’s legal team challenging the election, revealed in an exposé after the fact on January 27 that Michael Flynn drafted a plan for Trump to bring in the National Guard and U.S. Marshals. None of this ever materialized, of course. But it got leaked at the time to activists who ran with it. They probably only heard hyped-up versions of the plan which had become distorted being passed person to person, which made it seem likely to happen (if anyone has ever really studied Trump however, they would know such drastic action is not his style). What retired military intelligence officer doesn’t believe Flynn? Flynn comes across as a very honest man. While he probably proposed the plan, it was never under serious consideration.

Another recent example is Mike Lindell’s “Absolute Proof” documentary about election fraud. While much of it seemed plausible, there was one lengthy segment discussing foreign hacking of voting machines that was noticeably lacking in evidence. The movie displayed logs of the alleged hacking, and cited just one person, Mary Fanning, who has little information available about her on the internet. There is no explanation as to how Fanning obtained the logs nor any of the technical details about how it worked. For something that serious, that incredulous, you can’t just expect people to believe some little known woman claiming it’s true. If she didn’t reveal more details because she was afraid for her safety, then why did she reveal her name and as much as she has?

Maybe clear, irrefutable evidence will come out that there was foreign hacking, so the investigations need to continue. But one person saying so with some logs that could have been made up isn’t enough to get anywhere, so it allows the left to pile on and claim the right is making up conspiracy theories.

One more way these types of unproven stories pop up is in a vague, general style. The activist will use a lot of attention getting words, like patriots, terrorism, God bless, prayer, collusion, Russians, hacking, mysterious deaths, the elites, etc. There isn’t any real coherent message, and the dots never connect. It’s just a jumbled mess of hysteria (I know someone semi-famous who does this constantly). While it might sound good at a campaign rally, it serves little purpose other than to waste time and divert people from figuring out what’s really going on.

I believe the vast majority of these people are patriots who think they are doing the right thing. But the left will use their sloppiness to discredit the rest of us. Those of us who are really laboring to get to the bottom of issues like election fraud get lumped in with their efforts, and we end up wasting a lot of time defending them instead of doing the tedious work required to hold up to the Democrats’ intense scrutiny.

They also waste our time watching and then researching all of their ideas. I don’t have time to vet every video out there. The videos usually end up the same; usually a grain of truth stretched to an unrealistic conclusion, with lots of vague, attention-getting words. Stop blindly promoting them; if you don’t have time to vet them, don’t share them.

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Elections

Lawfare, Coercion, and Intimidation at the U.S Department of Injustice

Th DOJ fraudulently claims this mission: “Uphold the rule of law, to keep our country safe, and to protect civil rights”

Published

6 days ago

September 18, 2023

Jeff Davidson

Lawfare is impacting society in horrendous ways, many of which ultimately impact your life and your experiences. What is lawfare? Derived from combining the words “law” and “warfare,” it is the employment of legal approaches to delegitimize, damage, or destroy an opposing party or to hinder their ability to employ their own legal rights.

While lawfare has been used among nations seeking to resolve military conflicts, hamper an opponent’s strategies and tactics, or accuse others of serious crimes, here I am only focusing on domestic issues.

The U.S. system of justice has become overtly contentious, straying from the original mission and objective of our legal system. Unfortunately, the U.S. Department of Justice adopted lawfare tactics en mass during the Obama Administration, under the sordid leadership of Attorney General Eric Holder.

Long Term Damage

Lawfare was employed against individuals whom the DOJ had targeted, to damage or disparage their character, waste their money and time, or triumph over them for public relations purposes. Today the DOJ persecutes, coerces, badgers, and prosecutes Americans, mainly conservatives, time after time.

The agency’s conviction rate is 93%, or 14 out of 15 cases. Yet, in countless instances, DOJ lawyers pursuing cases do not have sufficient evidence or even legal grounds. How do they prevail? Repeatedly, these government attorneys intimidate defendants to confess to “process” crimes, much like what the special prosecutors under Robert Mueller did with many of Donald Trump’s associates.

If no real crimes existed, DOJ attorneys, well-versed in lawfare, pushed for prosecution in one way or another, HUNDREDS of times. Conviction represents career bonus points for eager DOJ attorneys.

Garland: Corrupt Beyond Belief

Bill Barr, appointed by Donald Trump, was utterly corrupt – a swamp creature of the highest order. He sat on the Hunter Biden revelations. He ignored voluminous evidence of worldwide bribes taken by Joe Biden. He covered for Jeffrey Epstein’s clients, and likely lied about Epstein’s demise. He had insider knowledge of the numerous bogus plots against Trump and said and did nothing.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, now head of the DOJ, has raised lawfare to justice-destroying heights. The DOJ has become the chief agency of injustice. Under Garland, Catholics, parents concerned about the education and welfare of their children, peaceful protesters, and legions of others have had their rights violated.

We know that both the FBI and DOJ have sought to lay heavy crap on Rudy Giuliani, Matt Gaetz, Don Trump, Jr., Jared Kushner, many of Trump’s advisors, and so many others.

Injustice on Demand

Garland’s DOJ implements lawfare in virtually everything it does. The agency has no qualms about incarcerating people for indeterminate lengths, staging show trials, bleeding defendants financially dry, and threatening them with jail sentences unless they capitulate. These are perilous times, especially for anyone who is opposed to the Biden Administration or speaks up in ways that the DOJ does not approve.

It is not difficult with the vast databases to undertake intense snooping and other nefarious methods. In record time, the “Department of Injustice” can ruin a person’s reputation, even after a lifetime of accuracy in their work, in their claims, and in how they comport themselves.

The DOJ can destroy reputations in less than 24 hours, particularly if that person is vulnerable with relatives or children. They raid homes with guns drawn when a simple knock on the door would suffice. The Democrats of today, can get to anyone they want, and will shake their targets to the core.

The GOP Must Win in 2024 or We’re Doomed

Everything described above should have no place within the U.S. Department of Justice. Lawfare should have no place. Meanwhile, the DOJ fraudulently claims that its mission is to “Uphold the rule of law, to keep our country safe, and to protect civil rights.” In actuality, it fails miserably on all three counts.

Claiming independence and impartiality, the agency states, “We work each day to earn the public’s trust by following the facts and the law wherever they may lead, without prejudice or improper influence.” Yes, Hunter Biden will verify that. The DOJ claims, “Our employees value differences in people and in ideas and treat everyone with fairness, dignity, and compassion.” Not exactly.

The only tenable solution to vanquish the runaway DOJ and their insidious practice of lawfare, intimidation, and coercion is for a Republican to win the 2024 presidential election, replace Garland, and quickly reverse the serious damage that has been done to our nation.

If Democrats successfully re-cheat their way to victory, may God help us all.

– – – – – –

Elections

DO YOU EVEN RECOGNIZE AMERICA TODAY?

Published

1 week ago

September 15, 2023

Terry L. Paulson, Ph.D., CSP, CPAE

Do you feel like you wake up every day to a bad dream and then struggle with the fact that your nightmare is actually reality in America today? Thankfully, the polls of Democrats and Republicans alike are sending a clear message—we’ve had enough of dementia Joe. He is often incoherent with or without his teleprompter. After speaking, he consistently wanders waiting to be guided to an exit. He tries to kiss and grope women who fall into his meandering web. Heaven help him if he would actually have to handle an open press conference with unscripted questions. The man seldom even works; he majors in rest and vacations.

And yet, somehow, Biden manages to keep making executive orders and decisions that move America further into “progressive” darkness. Obviously, somebody other than the President is managing the puppet strings and moving America faster and further into institutionalizing leftist policies.

Fearful of Biden facing Trump in the 2024 election, the Democrats have managed to tie up the leading Republican candidate with 91 indictments. Their hope is that the legal quagmire and trials will restrict his ability to mount an effective campaign. Be clear. The Democrats have one goal—keep Trump out of office and hopefully in jail.

Speaking of jail, where are the investigative reporters unraveling the crimes of “the Big Guy” Biden. We have recorded statements by Joe bragging about bribing Ukrainian leaders with US funds conditional on firing the Ukrainian district attorney looking into prosecuting Burisma. Vice President Joe Biden stopped the man whose investigation could have implicated his son, Hunter Biden. The Democrats keep claiming that Hunter’s problems have nothing to do with the President.

Unfortunately for Joe, in spite of such claims more and more evidence is mounting that the President and the Biden family benefited from Hunter’s influence peddling. Hunter Biden’s email to his daughter Naomi Biden that recently became public makes clear the father’s involvement. The email has been verified by the Washington Post and is clearly damning.

According to Hunter’s statement in that email, President Joe Biden demanded and received payment for his influence. It reads, “I hope you all can do what I did and pay for everything for this entire family for 30 years. It’s really hard. But don’t worry unlike Pop I won’t make you give me half your salary.”

This email and related information could have been made public two years ago. It could have impacted the 2020 election. If the House of Representatives initiates an impeachment inquiry, more of this information will be front and center and hard for the left-leaning media to avoid covering. With Joe Biden using aliases to send hundreds of additional incriminating emails, the evidence is just now coming to light.

If Biden is innocent of any wrongdoing, he should be cooperating and welcoming an investigation. Instead, he has already created a “war room” to be ready to fight any impeachment inquiry. Even with an inquiry, it’s unlikely that the Senate would have the votes to Impeach the President. But the more evidence that comes out, the more Democrats behind the scenes will likely be asking Biden to step down. Republicans did it with Nixon, and the Democrats would be wise to do it with Biden rather than risk him running again, losing, and taking their majority down with him.

The President’s future legal problems are not the only thing that is wreaking havoc on the American society. There is sexual confusion that is enraging many voters on the right and the left. In many states, biological men are claiming to be women and being allowed to compete in sporting events and winning against biological women. Politicians and even judges are refusing to define what a woman is. Most of us are pretty sure we know!

One meme that has been circulating makes the difference very clear. The world population is 8,030,610,062. People born from women: 8,030,610,062. People born from men: 0. They go on to suggest, “Feel free to fact check.” If men who call themselves women want to compete in sports, let them compete against other men instead of forcing their way into women’s locker rooms to live a lie.

In America today, they are not content limiting sexual confusion to adults. Many leftists are condoning trans surgery of young children to “change their sex” without parental approval. Schools can’t give an aspirin without parental approval, but in some states, children can decide to have irreversible surgery that mutilates their bodies. The parents are still responsible for caring for their children when they have to pick up the pieces from this child abuse.

Supporters call it “gender affirming care,” and it’s not all that rare. From 2016-2020, the American Medical Association reports 3,678 gender affirming surgeries done on children twelve to eighteen years of age. Columbia University has found that 3,315 children had breast surgery and 405 had genital surgery at a young age. This is not “care” of any kind! If anyone wants to do this to their body, wait until they are an adult and pay for it themselves.

If this is not enough, we have an administration claiming we have a secure border when millions continue to stream across our border in record numbers. Even sanctuary cities like New York have had enough. America takes pride in welcoming legal immigrants. It’s time to close down the flood of illegals.

Add to that the dismal performance in public schools around the country. Our kids are falling behind, and Democrats, coveting the support of teacher unions, refuse to even consider school choice. Minority parents want it, and Biden and his administration stand in the way.

It’s clear that America is hard to recognize as the country we once loved and cherished. It’s rapidly becoming a leftist loony bin in need of an intervention! Let’s hope that comes in November of 2024.