From Pine View Farm

Hypocrisy Watch category archive

The Rupture 0

At The Charlotte Observer, pastor Kate Murphy reacts to reports that some commanders have tried to convince their subordinates that the Trump maladministration’s war on Iran is sanctioned by God.

Spoiler Alert: She ain’t buying it.

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Grokking the Disinformation Superhighway 0

At the Psychology Today website, Richard Restak warns that, “(t)hanks to the technology of the Internet and AI, misinformation is vastly increasing.” He points out that, not only can AI distort the present, it can distort the past:

Nor is the difficulty in distinguishing the real from the fake limited to the present. AI can provide a phony version of the past by altering photos or introducing characters who never existed into a specific historical context. George Orwell presciently anticipated this in 1984, a Comrade Ogilvy “who had recently died in battle under heroic circumstances.” But although no such person as Comrade Ogilvy ever existed, “a few lines of print and a couple of faked photographs would soon bring him into existence.”

Read the whole thing and remind yourself that, even if you see it on a computer screen (perhaps especially if you see it on a computer screen from “social” media), it ain’t necessarily so.

Afterthought:

I wonder how long it will be before the Trump maladministration starts to deploy AI in our national par–oh, never mind.

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All the News that Fits 0

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The Establishmentarian and the Nine Commandments 0

I guess he is leaving out the one about “bearing false witness.”

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Still Rising Again after All These Years 0

Bob Cesca looks at Donald Trump’s post to “social” media of Barack and Michelle Obama apes and states the obvious that too many ignore, or, worse, deny.

The gist:

And the truth is, racism has always been the iron core of the MAGA movement.

Follow the link for the evidence.

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The Me Veneration 0

Seth identifies the governing principle of today’s Republican Party.

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Both Sides Don’t 0

Steve M. is fed up with the false equivalence.

Afterthought:

Once evil becomes proven, presumption of good no longer applies.

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Russian Impulses 0

A caller to Thom sees a pattern.

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Stray Question 0

What’s a good word for someone who used–er–questionable means so as not to go to war, but who quite happily places others in the line of fire?

Inquiring minds want to know.

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And the Winner Is . . . . 0

John Young offers his selection for the hypocrite of 2025.

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A Picture Is Worth 0

Title:  Thanksgiving.  Image:  Picture of Native American and Pilgrim captioned,

Via Balloon Juice.

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All the News that Fits 0

Michael in Norfolk bemoans the false equivalence in dis coarse discourse. A snippet:

. . . the Felon too often is depicted as “another politician” when in reality no president, even Richard Nixon, ever engaged in such unlawful and abnormal conduct.

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Self-Driven to Destruction 0

When all else fails, blame the victim.

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News You Could Lose 0

At AL.com, Kyle Whitmire notes that some government officials and agencies, including the Trump maladministration, are suddenly interested in freedom of repress. He gives several examples of government threats against reporter for, well, reporting.

Here’s a tiny excerpt, in which he talks about Trump’s threatening to sue news agencies for reporting that his bombing of Iran may not have been the glorious shattering victory that he claimed it to be (emphasis added):

Iran knows whether we blew up its nuclear program. They don’t need anybody to tell them. There’s no state secret lost by the New York Times and CNN reporting on what was in the Iran intelligence report, which has now been roughly corroborated by the United Nations. The reason the Trump Administration is upset is because the report contradicts what the president wants the public to believe. It embarrasses him.

Follow the link for the rest.

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All the News that Fits 0

A caller calls out Jake Tapper for his recent book about Joe Bidden and Tapper tries to weasel-word himself out her criticism. David Shuster dissects the dissumulation.

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If One Standard Is Good, Two Must Be Better 0

At the Tampa Bay Times, Daniel Ruth finds a slight whiff of a double standard in the current who-shot-john stirred up by Jake Tapper’s recent book alleging that Joe Biden is getting old. A snippet:

Did Biden not remember the name of actor George Clooney? Yes. Not good. Trump can’t remember the emoluments clause.

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The Disinformation Superhighway 0

At Psychology Today Blogs, Vanessa LoBue takes a look at how dis- and misinformation spread on the disinformation superhighway. She notes that researchers have determined the following:

First, they* found that fake news stories were 70 percent more likely to be retweeted than real news stories. Second, they found that it took real news stories 6 times as long to reach 1,500 people as fake ones (Vosoughi et al., 2018). This makes us all incredibly susceptible to believing fake news stories simply by the fact that we’re more likely to hear them, and we typically don’t hear them just once.

She goes on to offer some techniques to avoid falling for fabrications.

I commend her article as a timely read in this disinformation age.

___________________

*Citations at the link.

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Emoluments 0

The editorial board of The Philadelphia Inquirer follows the money. They suggest that

While Trump feeds the masses bread and circuses, he is laughing all the way to the bank.

Follow the link for an inventory of the illicit income.

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“Just a Little Off the Top, Please” 0

Florida Man.

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Republican Family Values 0

At the Idaho State Journal, Mike Murphy makes a compelling case that a particular Idaho legislator is, well, just plain nutz.

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