Fact or Bullshit?

 Occasionally, I'll encounter someone on the right who's consumed the Koolaid, but doesn't insult me when engaged.  Today was such a day and the context was around what this person considered as overwhelming evidence Covid vaccines were killing scores of people.  Our meeting was over something one of the worst pieces of right wing garbage, Stew Peters, posted.  (below)

This is a perfect example of the innuendo tactic I'll be mentioning in an upcoming entry.  The goal of this one was to keep his readers on the hook, believing the claim of numerous deaths caused by the Covid vaccine.  I've already debunked most of that package of nonsense here, but the person I was interacting with hadn't read the post, much like the rest of the planet.  Like many on the right, she blindly accepted what she was told by right wing influencers.  

The purpose of this quick entry is to say "don't do that" and share the process I use when I'm presented with something that would be considered a game changer.  This isn't so much a formal process, but a set of litmus tests I apply to everything.

They include:

- Confirm credibility of the source - This can include the source sharing a claim and/or the data presented

- Verify the existence of what's being presented - Can you even find the article / data in an internet search?

- If it exists, does it say what is claimed? - This one can require some time, depending on what's been presented for you to believe.  For example, I spent a few days poring through the VAERS database to validate right wing claims of widespread severe reactions to the vax.  (those claims were bullshit)  Likewise, I present factual data to provide a compelling argument that carrots are deadly.

- Can the claim be independently validated? - Can you find corroborating evidence from other sources?  This is a big one!

- Why haven't I heard about this already? - If it's so earthshattering, why am I only hearing about it from some no name influencer?  Mainstream media coverup is NOT an unacceptable answer; I outline why in this post.  

Let's walk through this particular instance.  Despite the "article" not specifying vaccines, the innuendo was there, so I'm broadening my scope to include them.   

With respect to credibility, I've encountered too many lies broadcast by right wing media to trust them on anything.  To be clear, I'm referring to empirical facts and not subjective opinion pieces.  As a recent example, one of the outlets (Newsmax, OAN, or Gateway Pundit) posted a story stating the CDC was actively investigating a strong link between the vax and strokes.  However, if you read the CDC statement, it very clearly stated they only had anecdotal evidence of the link, but would monitor the situation.  In other words, they lied to stoke fear and outrage among those who may be more vulnerable to manipulation.  I've always taken the position that if I catch someone in a lie, they're a liar.  

Considering the asshat in question for this example has posted complete fabrications at least once per day, he also lacks any sort of credibility.  

The article wasn't anywhere on line.  Mr. Staines has been good enough to compile all of his articles on his professional website and this one isn't present.  Also note the lack of any sort of identification of the publication itself.  Note this is common with the right wing.

Validation on this one is nonexistent.  There's no evidence of a spike in deaths, period. Which makes answering why I haven't heard about it from sources other than right wing influencers easy.  Not even Fox News has made a peep.  

In this example, you should reach the same conclusion I have (repeatedly).  This tweet is bullshit, meant to push a bullshit narrative.  

Another resource for true facts has been linked below.

Factual data

Evil is Welcome Here

 According to Twitter, I've been a bad boy and more than once.  Early yesterday afternoon, I received an email advising my account was locked for violating some non-specified portion of their rules.  This is my fourth suspension in the past three months, so I was rather miffed.  You'll understand why, later.  When I discovered the penalty for this latest infraction, I felt a mix of outrage and depression.  

Before addressing my latest horrible act, I think it makes sense to quickly review what previously got me thrown in Twitter jail.

The first was a result of referring to Q Bitch Sporkfoot MTG as a "classless bimbo."  That one may have just edged the TOS, but no one can argue the statement wasn't factually correct.

The next two both involved the right wing looneys' favorite crybaby teen, Kyle Rittenhouse.  I was punished for referring to him as an "attention whore" and a then, a "teenage pansy".  I take serious issue with both of those, not only because of their accuracy, but because they flat out don't violate the TOS.  In fact, one of the gif options IN THE TWITTER APP specifically says "Attention Whore"

I'll say that again:  I was suspended for using a phrase Twitter allows you to pic as a gif!

For each of these three heinous non-offenses, I received a week long timeout.  

Because rules are nothing if they don't equally apply to everyone, I happened on the tweet below that clearly violated the rules against making disparaging comments regarding someone's sexual orientation.  Stew Peters is one of the most malignant right wing slime balls on the site and was behind the Suddenly Dying movie.  Anyway, I reported the tweet and received a message from Twitter saying the tweet didn't violate TOS.  

This evil fuck calling Lindsey Graham a HOMO sure as fuck violates your TOS, Space Karen!  But the rules don't apply to everyone, now do they?

That brings us back to my latest infraction.  The offending tweet was in response to a story on Newsmax about Ron DeSatan confirming himself to be a distasteful piece of waste, by stating he was serious about making criminals out of teachers who violated his bigoted, racist laws and they would see jail time.  My response was "Except for minorities and LGTQ, who will be summarily executed."  I was intentional in my wording for two reasons.  First was to emphasize what a hateful little prick he is and second, I wanted to see how many likes such a nasty sentiment would get from the right wing idiots.  The answer is twelve (and zero challenges on being a horrible human being), which absolutely disgusts me.

At this point, you may be wondering what penalty I received for suggesting minorities and LGTBQ should be executed.  If insulting heroes of the stupid got me three, one week suspensions, surely my account would be under serious review for advocating something so vile.  Nope, I received a twelve hour suspension, which has obviously been served.  

An intelligent human being would never look at these situations and consider them as proof Elmo is treating his right wing sycophants in a more favorable manner to those he disagrees with, but it does make one wonder.

Paul Pelosi And The Right Wingers

 The attack on Paul Pelosi has become yet another flashpoint for right wingers.  They've desperately been attempting to portray it as a gay lover's quarrel or some sort of fetish play.  There is a hammer fetish in the BDSM community, but it appears

My initial thought was they were just being their usual racist Karen selves until today, when one shared that proving their theory would logically disprove the early claims of the attacker being a MAGA right winger.  

Well, MAGAT's, I have some bad news for you, because while it doesn't appear the attacker was a part of MAGA, he was definitely a right wing looney.  

In depositions, it's been shown that the attacker broke in to the Pelosi home to catch Nancy.  Rather than try to write a script, from what's been proven, here's a portion of the criminal complaint that includes statements by him.

a. DEPAPE stated that he was going to hold Nancy hostage and talk to her. If

Nancy were to tell DEPAPE the “truth,” he would let her go, and if she “lied,” he

was going to break “her kneecaps.” DEPAPE was certain that Nancy would not

have told the “truth.” In the course of the interview, DEPAPE articulated he

viewed Nancy as the “leader of the pack” of lies told by the Democratic Party.

DEPAPE also later explained that by breaking Nancy’s kneecaps, she would then

have to be wheeled into Congress, which would show other Members of Congress

there were consequences to actions. DEPAPE also explained generally that he

wanted to use Nancy to lure another individual to DEPAPE. 

The entire criminal complaint filed by the FBI can be found here:

Pelosi Attacker Complaint

Sorry to dash your hopes of the guy not being one of you.

Woke

You wouldn't expect M&M's, Xbox's power saving mode, and Splash Mountain to have anything in common.  In a normal world, they wouldn't, but the country we live in has become far from that.  The uniting thread amongst these three disparate things is they've all become sources of ire for the right wing, who claims they're all woke.  Merriam Webster defines "woke" as aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).  To put a finer point on it, we're talking about racial and LGTBQ equality, and our impact to the environment.    Personally, I think being woke is a positive thing, but the term has become an epithet to the to the right.  Something to be scorned and railed against, regardless of how trivial.

Their favorite phrase is "go woke, go broke", indicating corporations with inclusive policies should be punished.  Funny, when I was a member of  the Republican party, one of our pillars was there should be a free market, without any sort of outside intervention from the government.  But I digress, as usual.

In fact, there's nothing in conservatism that supports anti woke doctrine; as a lifelong conservative, I'd know.  The anti woke movement is nothing more than hatred, bigotry, and racism. 

We all know that the US isn't made up solely of straight, white people.  The numbers below clearly illustrate that.

Percentage of US Population

Black - 13.6% (not biracial)*

LGTBQ - 7.6% (adults only)**

Trans / Non-binary - 1.4%***

Woke means a society that's inclusive for those in the above groups, being culturally sensitive and affording the same respect as the majority.  No one in our society should be shunned, looked down upon, or worse because of the color of their skin or who they love.  Even ugly people.

A decade ago, it seemed the country was moving in a more positive direction in this respect, but once a certain Cheeto faced traitor came into the picture, that forward momentum stopped on a dime and began to reverse course.  One of my favorite quotes sums him up perfectly.  "Donald Trump gave people permission to be their worst selves." 

Those people at their worst are hateful toward anyone who isn't like them.  Instead of protecting the rights of their constituents, many at the state level are working harder than ever to eliminate the "woke threat".  The biggest offender is Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, who kicked off his crusade against equality with his famous "Don't Say Gay" law.  His most recent acts of fascism include banning Advanced Placement African American Studies curriculum (developed by the College Board!), stating it "has no educational value" and banning numerous books from schools his Hitler youth decency cabal consider as pornographic or indoctrinate children.  The perfect example of how batshit evil this fuck is, one of the books he banned is "And Tango Makes Three", a story about two male penguins coming together and raising a chick as a family.  It's a fucking true story and fucking harmless!  If that weren't sufficiently reprehensible, he's banned all books about black history prior to 1970.  He's single handedly attempting to erase both the black and LGTBQ populations from the education system in his state.  

For the purposes of this article, we can use "indoctrination" and "grooming" interchangeably.  I'll stick with the former, because the latter universally applies to those who cut dogs' hair and right wing males who are the primary abusers of children.  Incidentally, I'd feel more comfortable dropping my kids with a pair of drag queens than white clergy members; statistics show they'd be much safer.  What DeSatan, and other right wingers, are concerned your children will be indoctrinated to hate the US and they'll become gay.  How 1950's of them.  

First, the country does have flaws, plenty of them and particularly in our past.  Learning that blacks were (and continue to be) the targets of discrimination, hatred, and horrendous acts of violence is not indoctrination; it's the fucking truth.  Much as the right wingers would like to pretend "Song of the South" was an accurate depiction of life for blacks post Civil War, with singing and happiness, it fucking wasn't.  These fucks want to keep Confederate monuments because "we can't ignore history",  and yet they desperately want to suppress real black history in America.  

Anyone who thinks learning about such things will turn kids against their country is a flaming idiot.  Providing a dumbed down, rosy version of history is unhealthy, when it comes to childhood development.  Reading opposing viewpoints exercises young folks' critical thinking skills; take that away and we'll be left with an entire generation of drones, unfit for the real world.  Even worse, we're perpetuating the hatred toward minorities.  Perhaps that's just fine for the right wing klan, but it sure as hell isn't for the majority of Americans.

This also applies to them becoming gay, simply by learning gay and trans people exist and maybe not trying to kill them like a dumb redneck.  Becoming more educated about the LGBTQ community won't cause little Johnny to come home and want to cut his dick off and dress like George Santos.  Despite some mouth breathers' assertions, LGBTQ folks aren't out recruiting younger members.  These are fantasies made up by the right, who still think homosexuality is a mental illness.  Except I'm fairly certain they're a lot less hateful to someone with severe depression than that "gay affliction".  

Being gay or trans isn't a choice; the human brain is an incredibly complex organ and you can't just reprogram something that's intrinsically hard wired into someone.  

Make no mistake, these measures by the inbred hate crowd want so badly will have a dire impact on the children they're claiming to want to protect.  Forcing LGTBQ young people to be ashamed of and suppress who they are will result in more suicides and substance abuse.

Right wingers are deathly afraid of anything that they perceive as jeopardizing their white, straight influence in society, their way of life.  And they'll fight those perceived threats with intense ferocity and hatred, hence the increase in violence toward these groups.  What makes things worse is how right wing media amplifies some of the issues with outright fabrications.  

For the record, I understand where these hate filled people are coming from.  I grew up in a rural portion of Pennsylvania in the 80's, so my attitude toward these groups wasn't exactly friendly.  However, something happened that changed my perspective; I grew the fuck up.  Perhaps others may benefit from this same transformation. 

Circling back to the atrocities I mentioned at the beginning, the M&M controversy was because the brand apparently designated certain colors as spokescandies supporting for LGTBQ and making them less sexualized.  Tucker Carlson was particularly animated about this one.  It's a fucking candy, you malignant fuck!  Get over it!  

The Xbox power saving mode, where it powers down when not in use, was accused of being woke about climate change, something these idiots still deny (they do that with a lot of things).  How much of a fucking moron must you be to radically object to a feature that lowers your electric bill?  

Splash Mountain shut down because it's based on "Song of the South", a movie so rife with destructive racial stereotypes that Disney permanently removed it from their catalog a couple of decades ago.  Again, the right is crying about "destroying history", but as usual, it's only the history they believe that matters to them, regardless of accuracy.  

I'll throw in one last current outrage for the right, which is potential regulation of gas stoves.  It isn't fucking woke to want to address a cooking method that accounts for 12% of childhood asthma, you dimwits; it's about protecting those kids you're so concerned will be indoctrinated.  You remember them, don't you?  Ultimately, this anti woke movement has nothing to do with concern for children, as anyone who listens to these people already know.

This so-called conservative movement is one of sensitive snowflakes, becoming upset over the least perceived slight.  It's only made worse by them solely consuming right wing media, which exists solely to rile these people up.  But that's another entry.

But for fuck sake, you right wing looneys are ready to give yourselves coronaries over chocolate candies, then claim it was the vax that caused it.  Seriously, get a life.

Don't forget to read about another example of Twitter's multiple sets of rules.

https://theinsightfulbachelor.blogspot.com/2023/01/protection-for-some-under-elmo.html

* US Census 2021

** Gallup study

***UCLA study

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/23/desantis-banning-african-american-studies-00079027

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/24/florida-manatee-county-books-certified-media-specialist

Protection For Some Under Elmo

 When I awoke this morning, I was greeted by the email below.  

As you can see, my Twitter account was locked specifically for         .   It wasn't terribly unexpected; something set me off on somewhat of a tear yesterday, calling out right wing stupidity with very little filtering.  I may have even dropped a few F-bombs.  Logging into Twitter, I was greeted with the same message, taking me to the offensive tweet that precipitated my time out.  

This is my third Twitter timeout for saying horrible, nasty things to right wing idiots.  The first was the result of my referring to Q Ho Sporkfoot Marge Greene as a "classless bimbo".  

The second was another horrible instance, where I called Kyle an "attention whore".  And now, I'm suspended again for calling the pansy a pansy.  For the record, pansy to me is a whiny little fuck and has nothing to do with sexual orientation, which would be against Twitter's policies, maybe?  Who knows with Elmo at the helm.  I've been called a lot worse multiple times by right wing mouth breathers, but none of them seem to be receiving time outs.  

Because rules are nothing if they don't equally apply to everyone, I happened on the tweet below that clearly violated the rules against making disparaging comments regarding someone's sexual orientation.  This guy is one of the most malignant right wing instigators on the site.  Anyway, I reported the tweet and received a message from Twitter saying the tweet didn't violate TOS.  

So, remember kids, there are two permanent sets of rules on Elmo's abortion; one for his right wing bootlickers and another for the rest of us.  Fuck Elmo.

President Biden & The Classified Docs

Classified documents were found in the possession of President Biden; this, we all know.  However, there are a lot of narratives swirling around that, quite frankly, don't pass the sniff test.  This entry will attempt to make sense of what happened and when.

I'll start with what we do know, which is 10-15 documents (pages actually) marked classified were discovered packed in with his paperwork at his think tank, The Penn Biden Center.  This discovery was followed by another 7 or so, discovered in his garage, intermixed with other paperwork, I recall from his VP office.  This was followed by a few more that were discovered in his home, likely office.  In each case, the discoveries were immediately followed by notification to NARA and DOJ. 

The first discovery happened in early November, while sifting through the aforementioned paperwork.  The most recently found docs were the result of a thorough search specifically for any remaining classified docs. In reality, most of these are being described as single pages, not complete documents. 

That's all we actually know.  Here are things we don't know.

- Level of classification and subject matter of the material.  

- Who packed the material

- Whether Biden was aware of what was in his possession

Anyone who claims to know any of this is lying or gullible.

What makes sense to me?

In my opinion, the docs were not intentionally retained by Biden for the past several years.  They were in his possession and his staff collected and packed the paperwork, both from his think tank and his VP office.  They were likely in piles and obscured or the staff and was  not trained on classification.  That it was the staff doing the packing is an important distinction; he definitely had staff to address these things.  It was only when those boxes were gone through that it was recognized they remained in Biden's possession.  Again, in my opinion, this makes sense.

How about what doesn't make sense?  

- Biden intentionally retained the docs for the past six years, using them for some nefarious purpose.  Put yourself in Biden's place, imagining this scenario.  You would do whatever you could to hide the stolen docs, placing them where they wouldn't be discovered.  You would definitely not stick them in your garage.  Once you were done with them, you'd destroy that incriminating evidence.  For sure, you'd never advise NARA and DOJ you had it.

Every time I read this one, I scratch my head and wonder, once again, how some people can be so obtuse.  As though he had a box in his garage, labelled "Top Secrit Stay out!

- Hunter shared the material with his business partners.  If no one was aware the docs in garage were there, how could he share them?  Would he copy them and shove them back into the random places he found them?  Maybe top secrit box?  Not likely.  

If Biden didn't pack the material, which is likely, or know the docs were in his possession, also highly likely, what crime did he commit?  The only potential issues lie with him having the docs in the first place.  I can't comment on that, because it's not cut and dried and I'm not an attorney.  Perhaps that's the reason he's been quiet and the original discovery wasn't shared with the media until months after.  Make no mistake, the White House keeping a lid on this for months was an unforced error and makes things look worse than they are.

Finally, there have been many who claim that Biden's situation is as bad or worse than Trump's.  That's unmitigated horseshit.  

Trump:

• Intentionally removed at least 23 BOXES of classified material, some of which was labeled with the highest level, SCI.
• Definitely knew he had the material; some were found in the same desk drawer as his passports.  
• These were not declassified.  Regardless of what he's said on social media, Trump has not argued he declassified anything in his court filings.  
• Ignored requests from NARA to return what he had.
• Finally sent some back, along with a sworn statement there was nothing left in his possession, a lie.
• Refused to return the remainder, despite no less than three further requests from NARA, which is why a search warrant was issued.
• Not all known SCI material has been recovered.

 Check out my latest entry about how Twitter is happy to protect right wingers, but not others.

https://theinsightfulbachelor.blogspot.com/2023/01/protection-for-some-under-elmo.html

The Media - Who's Being Brainwashed

 

Aside from ad hominem attacks and accusations of pedophilia, a common theme of (non) retorts from the far right individuals I've attempted to engage with is being a slave to CNN or MSNBC.  These two news channels are seen by the far right as brainwashing their audiences and acting as fluff pieces for the left.  In order to test this, I decided to screen grab the home pages of CNN and five right wing news outlets to see how they differed.  I've broken down stories into three categories:  fact based reporting, opinion, and fluff.  

Fact based is just that, but may include quotes from the sources of said story.  An example would be CNN's top story of Russia warning the US about shipping Patriot missiles to Ukraine.  

Opinion stories are interviews or more frequently Op Eds from supposed experts on a controversial subject.  Readers should take note of these pieces, because they're written from a single point of view and because they're someone's opinion, there's no representation of being factual.  In other words, these are the pieces that would be most likely to indoctrinate a reader to a particular viewpoint.  

Because this entry's intent is to uncover bias, I consider anything beyond this scope to be fluff.  Also, I don't give a shit whether William screamed at Harry or not, so it automatically hits the fluff category.  Because certain people won't read stories, this may not be the best representative sample of what people are consuming, but I don't watch much TV and prefer reading to watching videos; I can get through the stories much faster.  That being said, I didn't read most of the homepage articles because of time constraints.  Also, because of how each outlet's homepage is structured, spending time on actual numbers is a fool's errand.  I'm fairly certain you can identify trends without this data.

I'll start with the baseline and alleged brainwashing outlet, CNN.  Of the stories, I see a smattering of fact based and fluff, with two exceptions.  First is labelled "Opinion", with the other being "Ex-Trump White House lawyer makes prediction".  Lots of stories, but fairly straightforward, with most of the stories addressing what the average American is interested in, I guess.

Moving on to Fox News, you can understand why I'm not quantifying; the number of stories located on the homepage differs between each outlet.  The left column is nothing but opinion, with two fluffers.  The top story is fact based, but if you read the article, it's chock full of comments from the GOP deriding the bill, with one quote from a Dem.  The four in the center consist of two fact based, an opinion, and a fluff.  In summary, opinion pieces are the most common on this site.

Moving down the ladder in quality, but up it in bias, we hit Newsmax.  The main story is fact based and sourced from AP, with the Newsmax TV box populated by all opinion, save the Kirk Cameron hard right fluff piece, which is an opinion piece in disguise.  Another page even more dedicated to opinion.

Moving on to OAN, we see the top story as an opinion piece, along with the stories about Trump and Mayorkas.  The remainder could be considered as fact based, as they report what others have said and done, but when what those people have said are lies, I'd argue they don't fit in that category.  

There's no way anyone could categorize RSBN as anything but a Trump propaganda outlet.  There's nothing but Trump fluff pieces and opportunities to join in with other Trump supporters.  

Finally, I decided to include Red State, just for the hell of it.  As you can see, there's nothing there except for opinion pieces with an obvious hard right slant. 

Having gone through this exercise, I noticed a massive gap in what I was seeing; there was only one story each on Hunter Biden's laptop and the Twitter Files.  Also, no Bannon or other of the grifters.  I'd originally intended not to go down the rabbit hole to the basement of right wing media, but I wanted to see at what level the real conspiracy shit showed up. So, down the rabbit hole I went, using the sources noted by right wingers on the shooting message boards I spend time on.  

Let me tell you, there are a ton of them.  Just a cursory stroll through a few days of posts, I found links to the following:

Breitbart - This is semi mainstream, but delves into some conspiracy nonsense

Gateway Pundit - It's really hard to find the articles, but they're there and a hair below Breitbart

The Blaze - Lots of links to loons like Glenn Beck, who spew conspiracy lies

Citizen Free Press - One long page of links to other sources; some legit (MSN, ABC, AP) and others to some way out shit

The Federalist - Anti Biden, Pro Trump, light conspiracy stuff

American Wire News - More of the same

American Gulag - Fun stuff like J6 was a benign party

After identifying the ones above, I lost interest and my eyes began to glaze over.  How the hell can there be so many right wing media outlets?  Granted, they're all online only, but they do tend to run together.  What's notable is the lack of really hardcore conspiracies.  Sure, there were multiple stories about the laptop, and one about the federal government covering for Biden (but not alleging him being a criminal).  Of the eight reasons given, four were about the laptop and the rest were utter nonsense, meant to boost the total.  It should go without saying that there were a ton of non conspiracy lies, but again, nothing bonkers like I've seen on Twitter.  That begs the question of where are the right wing folks getting the information for the out there crap, like Biden being in China's pocket?  I have guesses, but I'm bored with this entry.  

Wrapping this up, it's become clear to me that the further one goes down the right wing media food chain, the further away from fact based information you become.  It's also crystal clear right wing media is far more interested in indoctrinating their users than the MSM.  In fact, some are outright propaganda.  This all leads to a question for the right, which is are liberals the ones being brainwashed?