Buzzfeed & Facebook Fake News: Study Methodology Questioned

Buzzfeed & Facebook Fake News: Study Methodology Questioned | National Review:
"Buzzfeed is coming under fire for the methodology of its Facebook exposé.
The presidential election proved to be fertile ground for the growth of fake news stories. 
As people became annoyed by tall tales such as “Pope Francis Endorses Donald Trump for President” popping up in their Facebook feeds, the mainstream media decided it was time to fight back.
As calls for action from Facebook grew louder, Buzzfeed released a bombshell report:
Fake news outperformed real news on Facebook in the final months of the election.
This was then widely taken as fact, but it turned out to be, well, untrue. 
As Tim Carney reports at the Washington Examiner, Buzzfeed’s research methodology was a mess: ...Buzzfeed narrowly defined “real news” to exclude widely read sources such as Yahoo News, Reuters, the Daily Mail, Associated Press, and all newspapers outside New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. 
...No one should dismiss the spread of fake news, which is a very real problem.
But the media have their own problems to confront at the moment.
...As Erick Erickson pointed out, the mainstream media have an ugly history of peddling fake news that suits their own agenda: I could spend days documenting all the crap, lies, and outright errors pushed on Vox, but the Left would not believe it.
A Vox writer, you will recall, actually wrote about a bridge between the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which does not exist.
And that Vox writer has now been hired by the New York Times, a newspaper that to this day has never apologized for misreporting on then President George H. W. Bush’s experience with a supermarket scanner.
...It may indeed be reasonable for Facebook to restrict Macedonian sites that peddle falsifiable stories, but reporting will still be full of convenient falsehoods that serve certain agendas.
Will liberals call on Facebook to punish Buzzfeed for its misleading statistics about Trump-related news? 
Don’t hold your breath."

About time!-----'Economic Terrorism': Bill Proposed to Crack Down on Rioters

'Economic Terrorism': Bill Proposed to Crack Down on Rioters | Fox News Insider:
"A Republican state senator plans to propose a bill that would make it a felony to participate in protests that cause what he labels “economic terrorism.”
Washington State Sen. Doug Ericksen, who served as the deputy director for the Donald Trump campaign in The Evergreen State, says the bill would allow felony prosecution of people involved in protests that block transportation and commerce, damage property, threaten jobs and put public safety at risk.
On "Fox & Friends Weekend" this morning, Ericksen said that he supports citizens' right to protest, but this bill is targeting those who "take it to the next level."
"You have a right to protest. You do not have a right to do harm to people or personal property," Ericksen said. "This is intended to protect the citizens of my state and people around the country from those that get out of control or from the organizers of these protests that get out of control."
He said the response to the bill has been "amazing," although some people have misunderstood it as an assault on the right to protest.
"You cannot do harm to other citizens in your protest. You can protest, wave the signs, do what you want, but once you cross that line and harm other people, that's where this type of legislation would come into play."
Watch more above, and let us know what you think about this proposal in the comments."

Rule Change Will Make Trump Cabinet Confirmation Easy | The Daily Caller

Rule Change Will Make Trump Cabinet Confirmation Easy | The Daily Caller:

"A senate rule change championed by outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid could leave Democrats powerless to stop any of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet appointments."

10 Of The Absolute Best Cars To Ever Come Out Of The '60s!

10 Of The Absolute Best Cars To Ever Come Out Of The '60s!:
#10. Mini Cooper
The Mini Cooper defined the 1960’s as much as any car on this list. 

It’s tiny and economical, but more fun than you could realistically fit into the back of one.

 The Mini is probably the only car that could’ve possibly stolen the spotlight off the Miura’s opening scene in the Italian Job..."

AM Fruitcake

History for November 21

History for November 21 - On-This-Day.com:
François-Marie Arouet (Voltaire) 1694 - Writer, historian, philosopher, William Beaumont 1785 - Surgeon, known as the "Father of Gastric Physiology", Stan Musial 1920 - Baseball player


Marlo Thomas (Margaret Julia "Marlo" Thomas) 1938 - Actress ("That Girl"), Harold Ramis 1944 - Actor, director, writer, Goldie Hawn 1945 - Actress


1783 - The first successful flight was made in a hot air balloon. The pilots, Francois Pilatre de Rosier and Francois Laurent, Marquis d'Arlandes, flew for 25 minutes and 5½ miles over Paris.


1877 - Thomas A. Edison announced the invention of his phonograph.


1942 - The Alaska Highway across Canada was formally opened.


1953 - British Natural History Museum authorities announced that "Piltdown Man" was a hoax.


1963 - U.S. President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, arrived in San Antonio, TX. They were beginning an ill-fated, two-day tour of Texas that would end in Dallas.


1973 - U.S. President Richard M. Nixon's attorney, J. Fred Buzhardt, announced the presence of an 18½-minute gap in one of the White House tape recordings related to the Watergate case.


1980 - An estimated 83 million viewers tuned in to find out "who shot J.R." on the CBS prime-time soap opera Dallas. Kristin was the character that fired the gun. (Texas)


1980 - 87 people died in a fire at the MGM Grand Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas, NV.

The BRUTAL Truth About the Electoral College The Left Just Doesn't Get | The Federalist Papers

The BRUTAL Truth About the Electoral College The Left Just Doesn't Get | The Federalist Papers:

"Another way to look at the Electoral College is to consider it like the World Series. Sure, throughout the entirety of the series one team may score more runs than the other team, but it is the result of each game that determines the winner of the series.

Just because one team outscored the other by 100 runs does not mean that the team with the most runs wins. It is the team that wins the most games. The same principle applies to the Electoral College."

"I understand you’re angry. I understand you’re disappointed. I understand you feel like you don’t know your country anymore. But I need you to understand something.

Fans of Best of the Web Today:-David P. Bossy--Pretty good personal statement that I am reposting…
"I understand you’re angry.
I understand you’re disappointed.
I understand you feel like you don’t know your country anymore.
But I need you to understand something.
It’s how I felt when you helped elect Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.
Believe it or not, I thought he was pretty-dangerous too. 
I thought he held some pretty radical points of view, too.
Most of all, I dreaded what he had in mind for our country’s direction. 
And you know what? 
He succeeded in fomenting, presiding over, and implementing so much of what I feared.

• My sister-in-law called two days before the election devastated her family of five’s private health insurance policy jumped $500 a month.
• I’ve watched cops protested and assassinated while American cities roil and burn. 
• I’ve watched people tie up traffic and “occupy” streets and places of business.
• I’ve seen a chicken sandwich restaurant attacked because its founder supports traditional marriage and a beer company attacked because its owner supports a Republican candidate.
• Some of my favorite comedians have complained their comedy is no longer welcome on college campuses because what was once a punch line is now “dangerous speech.” 
• My favorite entertainers suggest because I don’t support their candidate, I’m somehow a racist, sexist, or a homophobe.
• I’ve been told tougher screening of certain groups tied to terrorism and more secure borders is somehow anti -American while watching our citizens gunned down by radical jihadists is dismissed as “random acts” of “workplace violence.”
• It took hacked emails to discover the nation’s media works directly with one of the nation’s major political parties to manipulate coverage of their opponents and curry favor for their chosen nominee.
• College students now account for over a trillion dollars in student loan debt, while job prospects for them remain slim and low paying...."

Read it all!

Rule Change Will Make Trump Cabinet Confirmation Easy

Rule Change Will Make Trump Cabinet Confirmation Easy | The Daily Caller:
"A senate rule change championed by outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid could leave Democrats powerless to stop any of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet appointments.
In 2013, Sen. Reid and other Democrats pushed forward with a rule change dubbed the “nuclear option” to eliminate filibusters for all presidential nominations except Supreme Court justices.
This means that a simple majority of 51 votes instead of 60 votes is necessary to confirm executive office appointments.
The Republicans are set to enter 2017 with at least 51 senators and can gain another seat with a likely win in the December senate run-off race in Louisiana.
So while Democratic National Committee interim chairwoman Donna Brazile has called for the senate to reject Trump’s nomination of Republican Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general, Trump’s cabinet will get confirmed as long Republicans vote along party lines.
Many Democrats have publicly displayed a lack of regret for the rule change..."

Obama to anti-Trump protesters: March on | Fox News

Obama to anti-Trump protesters: March on | Fox News:

"The president fielded a question on the protests during a joint news conference in Berlin alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"I suspect that there’s not a president in our history that hasn’t been subject to these protests," he answered. "So, I would not advise people who feel strongly or who are concerned about some of the issues that have been raised during the course of the campaign, I wouldn’t advise them to be silent." "

On his way out, Obama cedes Arctic energy control to Russia

On his way out, Obama cedes Arctic energy control to Russia « Hot Air:
"This isn’t really the same as prying the W’s off the keyboards in the Oval Office, but Barack Obama seems determined to leave some unpleasant going away presents for his successor on the domestic energy front.
Before leaving office, the President has modified the agreement for future oil exploration leases to eliminate nearly all Arctic sites. 
Needless to say, the energy industry isn’t exactly ecstatic over this. (Politico)
President Barack Obama is throwing up roadblocks to Donald Trump’s pledges to expand offshore drilling, with a new plan that will declare parts of the Arctic off-limits.
Obama’s Interior Department on Friday issued its final five-year road map for offshore oil and gas drilling that took two areas in the Arctic out of contention, dealing a win to environmental groups and obstructing a path to new offshore drilling in the area...
...This comes on the heels of a decision earlier this year to reverse another set of plans which would have allowed for limited energy exploration in the Atlantic between Georgia and Virginia.
Here’s the thing to keep in mind about that. 
That stretch of the Arctic Ocean represents our entire share of the undersea oil deposits in that part of the world. 
The Russians are already competing with us heavily up north. 
...Walking away waving the white flag is basically ceding the field to Russia..."

Keep crying wolf about Trump, and no one will listen when there’s a real crisis

Keep crying wolf about Trump, and no one will listen when there’s a real crisis | New York Post
"...Instapundit blogger Glenn Reynolds’ characterization of reporters as “Democratic operatives with bylines” is taking root in the American mind.
Among independents, according to Gallup in September, the media had an approval rating of 30 percent; among Republicans 14.
Almost everyone but Democrats think the media are biased, and support for that view goes way back.
In November 2008, Washington Post ombudsman Deborah Howell said readers who complained about shallow coverage and pro-Obama bias were “right on both counts,” publishing tallies that proved the paper had been far more critical of Obama’s opponent Sen. John McCain than of Obama. A few weeks later, “Game Change” co-author Mark Halperin said the media showed “extreme pro-Obama coverage” in a “disgusting failure.”
In 2012, The New York Times’ public editor Arthur Brisbane said the paper “basked a bit in the warm glow of Mr. Obama’s election in 2008” and cited a study that showed the Times’ coverage had been far more approving of Obama than it had been of President Reagan and both Presidents Bush.
In January 2008, NBC’s Brian Williams was honest enough to point out that the network’s reporter covering Obama had said, “It’s hard to be objective covering this guy.” Williams immediately demanded the reporter be fired for admitting to being unable to do his job.
The media should wait for something to actually happen before it declares the end of the world.
Just kidding: Williams praised the reporter, calling him “courageous.”
In 2016, the media didn’t even pretend it wasn’t working in Hillary Clinton’s interests. The blue whale of information,
The New York Times, virtually signaled to the journalistic universe that it was time to abandon all pretense of objectivity in a now-notorious front-page column on Aug. 8 that advised journalists “you have to throw out the textbook American journalism has been using for the better part of the past half-century” and “move closer than you’ve ever been to being oppositional.” 
...This fall WikiLeaks confirmed everything conservatives have been saying about the media for more than 20 years.

• CNN, you have been busted. You allowed Democratic Party operative Donna Brazile to get hold of town-hall questions in advance and help Hillary Clinton prep with them...
• John Harwood, New York Times/CNBC reporter and Republican debate moderator, you have been busted. You asked John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chair, for questions you could pose to Jeb Bush in an interview.
• Dana Milbank, Washington Post columnist and longtime phony “nonpartisan” political reporter, you have been busted. You reached out to DNC flack Eric Walker and asked for help putting together a “Passover-themed 10 plagues of Trump” story. Not only are you evidently an undercover Democratic Party operative who should be drawing checks from the DNC instead of from The WaPo, you’re a tired hack who can’t even come up with his own column ideas without assistance.

Should the media be antagonistic to Trump?
Yes, they should be antagonistic to all public officials.
Their job is to expose bad judgment and wrongdoing, not to fawn and mewl..."

Lunch video-----Celebrating The Life Of Bob Hoover (1922-2016)

Celebrating The Life Of Bob Hoover (1922-2016) [Live] - World War Wings:
"The Pilot’s Pilot.
The loss of Bob Hoover is fresh in our minds, he is gone but not forgotten.
He was honored with the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Soldier’s Medal for Valor, the Air Medal with Clusters, the Purple Heart, the Croix de Guerre.
But today many veterans of the aviation community are coming forward to honor the life of Bob Hoover."

Noon-toon

Trey Gowdy's Speech At Liberty? HOLY MOTHER OF MIC DROPS. - Chicks On The Right

Trey Gowdy's Speech At Liberty? HOLY MOTHER OF MIC DROPS. - Chicks On The Right:

"It’s not political, really. It’s just pure awesome. Perhaps you’ve seen it already, but I hadn’t, and am assuming others may not have. In this, Gowdy explains the power of persuasion, talks about the best communicators he knows, and tells the captivating story of a man who put the lives of strangers ahead of himself.

There’s a reason this video is captioned as a “pin drop” speech. Just listen to the amazing silence of the audience."

UK Researchers: Tax Food to Reduce Climate Change

UK Researchers: Tax Food to Reduce Climate Change | Watts Up With That?-Guest essay by Eric Worrall
A group of researchers in Oxford University, England have suggested that imposing a massive tax on carbon intensive foods – specifically protein rich foods like meat and dairy – could help combat climate change.

Pricing food according to its climate impacts could save half a million lives and one billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions

Taxing greenhouse gas emissions from food production could save more emissions than are currently generated by global aviation, and lead to half a million fewer deaths from chronic diseases, according to a new study published in Nature Climate Change.

...Much of the emissions reduction would stem from higher prices and lower consumption of animal products, as their emissions are particularly high. The researchers found that beef would have to be 40% more expensive globally to pay for the climate damage caused by its production. The price of milk and other meats would need to increase by up to 20%, and the price of vegetable oils would also increase significantly.

...“If you’d have to pay 40% more for your steak, you might choose to have it once a week instead of twice,” said Dr Springmann...

The abstract of the study;

Mitigation potential and global health impacts from emissions pricing of food commodities

Marco Springmann, Daniel Mason-D’Croz, Sherman Robinson, Keith Wiebe, H. Charles J. Godfray, Mike Rayner & Peter Scarborough

...levying greenhouse gas taxes on food commodities could, if appropriately designed, be a health-promoting climate policy in high-income countries, as well as in most low- and middle-income countries. Sparing food groups known to be beneficial for health from taxation, selectively compensating for income losses associated with tax-related price increases, and using a portion of tax revenues for health promotion are potential policy options that could help avert most of the negative health impacts experienced by vulnerable groups, whilst still promoting changes towards diets which are more environmentally sustainable.

Read more: 
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate3155.html

This proposal, from a group of people who have probably never missed a meal in their lives, is totally obscene. 

High income countries often have a lot of poor people who would be hard hit by increases in the price of food.

Needlessly exacerbating the risk poor people don’t get enough to eat, especially children and pregnant mothers, who are especially vulnerable to adverse health impacts from lack of protein in their diet – if this ghastly proposal is ever implemented, future generations will look upon it as a crime against humanity."

Pre-Crime Software: 'Holy Grail' Or Biased Against Minorities?

Pre-Crime Software: 'Holy Grail' Or Biased Against Minorities?:
"As predicted, pre-crime software has swept the nation, with departments at all levels trying to benefit from the Utopian promise of catching them before they commit. 
However, critics are realizing that is turning into a new method of profiling from which there can be no escape.
Sgt. Charles Coleman popped out of his police SUV and scanned a trash-strewn street popular with the city’s homeless, responding to a crime that hadn’t yet happened.
It wasn’t a 911 call that brought the Los Angeles Police Department officer to this spot, but a whirring computer crunching years of crime data to arrive at a prediction:
An auto theft or burglary would probably occur near here on this particular morning.
Hoping to head it off, Coleman inspected a line of ramshackle RVs used for shelter by the homeless, roused a man sleeping in a pickup truck and tapped on the side of a shack made of plywood and tarps.
“How things going, sweetheart?” he asked a woman who ambled out. Coleman listened sympathetically as she described how she was nearly raped at knife point months earlier, saying the area was “really tough” for a woman.
Soon, Coleman was back in his SUV on his way to fight the next pre-crime.
Dozens of other LAPD officers were doing the same at other spots, guided by the crime prognostication system known as PredPol.
“Predictive policing” represents a paradigm shift that is sweeping police departments across the country. 
...But privacy and racial justice groups say there is little evidence the technologies work and note the formulas powering the systems are largely a secret.
They are concerned the practice could unfairly concentrate enforcement in communities of color by relying on racially skewed policing data.
And they worry that officers who expect a theft or burglary is about to happen may be more likely to treat the people they encounter as potential criminals..."

Move Over Turducken, PIECAKEN Is The Dish To Beat This Thanksgiving

Move Over Turducken, PIECAKEN Is The Dish To Beat This Thanksgiving:

What is it with humans and stuffing things into other things?
Wait--that sounds dirty.
Don't answer that.
Instead, feast your eyes upon the latest homage to gluttony our species has created....PIECAKEN.

It is a PIE BAKED INSIDE A CAKE. 

Yes, an entire pie. 

Yes, the combinations are virtually endless. 

Yes, your mind is blown right now.

Clarence Thomas urges conservative crowd to complete Scalia’s work – TheBlaze

Clarence Thomas urges conservative crowd to complete Scalia’s work – TheBlaze:

"Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas used a rare public appearance Thursday night to warn against the dangers of unchecked executive, legislative and judicial powers. In particular, he criticized SCOTUS for its movements in recent years to protect “newly discovered fundamental rights,” or rights not found in the Constitution.

The high court has too often worked to “grant” new freedoms rather than simply interpret the Constitution, he said "

A FEW WEEKS AGO, THE HAMILTON CAST HELD A HILLARY FUNDRAISER. LAST NIGHT, WITHOUT REALIZING IT, THE…

Instapundit » Blog Archive » 

A FEW WEEKS AGO, THE HAMILTON CAST HELD A HILLARY FUNDRAISER. 

LAST NIGHT, WITHOUT REALIZING IT, THEY HELD A TRUMP FUNDRAISER. 

Note Trump’s deliberate use of SJW “safe-space” and “harassment” language. Not an accident, I’m sure. 

Choose the form of your Destructor, indeed.

UPDATE: Ouch. “Tonight, libs booed Pence at ‘Hamilton.’ Tonight, HRC sits alone, drinking, blaming men, and sobbing. We win.”

Plus: “Pence didn’t require a safe space or ask to pet puppies afterwards.”

Also: “For the record, Alexander Hamilton was an immigration hawk who endorsed the Alien and Sedition Acts and wanted to deport troublemakers.”

...From the comments: “Being a dick to people who paid to see you is #HowYouGotTrump.”

...And: “It’s funny because the left right now is all ‘I don’t feel safe!’, but they are the once blocking the roads, turning theatre nights into verbal attacks, and rushing the speakers on college campuses.”

Also: “The cast are not scared of Pence. 

If they were, they wouldn’t insult him. 

It takes no bravery for you to mock someone that all your social peers think is terrible. 

It takes no bravery for you to claim the moral high ground over someone you and the media paint as a backwards reject from the 1950s or earlier. 

This was craven; people who think it took courage to speak out against someone the media wants us to hate need to readjust their definitions of courage.”