I'm very familiar with fake news because I've been following the subject of climate change since 1997, where every prediction about the future climate is fake news.
So far we've had 40 years of wrong predictions, starting with predictions of a coming global cooling catastrophe proclaimed by some scientists in the mid-1970s.
How many decades of wrong predictions are needed before we start ignoring climate change zealots?
Their predictions are wrong because they claim carbon dioxide levels control the climate, ignoring the past 4.5 billion years that provides geologists and other scientistswith no evidence that CO2 ever controlled the climate !
If you don't know what controls the climate, any prediction of the future climate is fake news.
Ten examples of fake news
after the 2016 election:
(1)
November 22, 2016:
Tri-State 2016 Election Vote Counts Hacked !
New York Magazine's Gabriel Sherman claimed “a group of prominent computer scientists and election lawyers” were demanding a recount because of “persuasive evidence that (election) results in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania may have been manipulated or hacked.”
The truth:
On November 23 at FiveThirtyEight.com's Nate Silver explained that it was “demographics, not hacking” that explained some curious voting data.
“Anyone making allegations of a possible massive electoral hack should provide proof,” Silver wrote, “and we can’t find any.”
(2)
December 1, 2016:
Mnuchin Forecloses Old Lady for 27 Cents !
At Politico, Lorraine Wellert claimed Trump’s pick for Secretary of the Treasury, Steve Mnuchin, ran a company that “foreclosed on a 90-year-old woman after a 27-cent payment error.”
According to Wellert: “After confusion over insurance coverage, a OneWest subsidiary sent [Ossie] Lofton a bill for $423.30.
She sent a check for $423.
The bank sent another bill, for 30 cents.
Lofton, 90, sent a check for three cents.
In November 2014, the bank foreclosed.”
The truth:
Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Ted Frank discovered the old woman was never foreclosed on, never lost her home, and “It wasn’t Mnuchin’s bank that brought the suit.”
(3)
January 20, 2017:
White House Website Purges Climate Change References !
On inauguration day, New York Times writer Coral Davenport published an article on the Times’s website whose headline claimed the Trump Administration had “purged” all “climate change references” from the White House website.
The truth:
You had to read the whole article to find out a website “purge” was routine every time a new administration took over.
(4)
January 20, 2017:
Trump Removes Bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. From Oval Office !
TIME reporter Zeke Miller wrote that a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. had been removed from the White House oval office.
He didn't ask anyone in the White House if the bust had been removed.
He merely assumed it had been removed because “he had looked for it and had not seen it.”
The truth:
The statue was where Obama left it, but was temporarily blocked from view by a large crowd in the oval office.
Miller later issued a retraction.
(5)
January 20, 2017:
Betsy DeVos Favors Guns in Schools
During her confirmation hearing, education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos was asked whether guns should be allowed in schools.
NBC News reported DeVos pointed out that one school in Wyoming had a fence around it to protect the students from bears.
“I would imagine,” she said, “that there’s probably a gun in the school to protect from potential grizzlies.”
THE WEEK magazine reported: “Betsy DeVos tells Senate hearing she supports guns in schools because of grizzly bears."
The truth:
DeVos used one school, that had a very unusual problem with bears, as an example of why local school control is best.
(6)
January 26, 2017
Mass Resignations at the State Department
Washington Post’s Josh Rogin wrote “the State Department’s entire senior management team just resigned.”
And the resignation was “part of an ongoing mass exodus of senior Foreign Service officers who don’t want to stick around for the Trump era.”
The truth:
Acting State Department spokesman Mark Toner put out a press release saying: “As is standard with every transition, the outgoing administration, in coordination with the incoming one, requested all politically appointed officers submit letters of resignation.”
(7)
January 31, 2017:
Trump Travel Ban Causes Muslim Mother to Die
The Detroit Fox TV affiliate reported:
“A local business owner who flew to Iraq to bring his mother back home to the US for medical treatment said she was blocked from returning home under President Trump’s ban on immigration and travel from seven predominately Muslim nations. He said that while she was waiting for approval to fly home, she died from an illness.”
The truth:
The man lied about when his mother died.
The Fox affiliate quietly corrected the story later.
(8)
February 2, 2017:
Trump Easing Russian Sanctions
NBC News national correspondent Peter Alexander tweeted: “BREAKING: US Treasury Dept easing Obama admin sanctions to allow companies to do transactions with Russia’s FSB, successor org to KGB.”
The truth:
Alexander later posted another tweet: “Source familiar [with] sanctions says it’s a technical fix, planned under Obama, to avoid unintended consequences of cyber sanctions.”
(9)
February 2, 2017:
Trump Renames Black History Month
Trump proclaimed February the “National African American History Month.”
And TMZ claimed a “senior administration official” said that Trump believed the term “black” was outdated.
TMZ also claimed: “Every US president since 1976 has designated February as Black History Month."
The truth:
President Obama also declared February the “National African American History Month”.
TMZ updated their piece later.
(10)
February 2, 2017:
House of Representatives Eases Gun Control Measures
The Associated Press tweeted: “BREAKING: House votes to roll back Obama rule on background checks for gun ownership.”
A Washington Post headline that followed said: “House votes to roll back Obama rule on background checks for gun ownership”.
The truth:
The House voted to repeal a narrowly tailored rule from the Obama era that Democrats wanted to repeal.
Anyone who receives Social security or Social Security Disability, and needed third party help to help manage those benefits due to some sort of mental handicap, may have been barred from ever purchasing a firearm.
The Obama rule was opposed by many leftist organizations who wanted it repealed, including:
The American Association of People With Disabilities; ACLU; Arc of the United States; Autistic Self-Advocacy Network; Consortium of Citizens With Disabilities; National Coalition of Mental Health Recovery; and many other liberal disability advocacy organizations.
