Disinformation

The folks at Fox were quick to repeat and amplify the deranged tirades of our malignant narcissist president who blamed diversity, equity and inclusion programs for the recent catastrophic fatal crash of a military helicopter and commercial airline over the Potomac. When grieving families and shocked Americans needed words of sympathy and reassurance Trump was more than happy to terrify and provoke. At the time of President Trump’s hateful statements authorities didn’t know the identities of anyone involved in the disaster. Trump assumed with no evidence that the crash was the result of a degradation of hiring standards.

This might be the scariest fact we've ever seen about social media. You know it's bad, but this bad? And it explains a lot about how crazy political discussions have gotten online. 0.1% of users? No really. The amount of disinformation is staggering. And what does it do to our brains? Plus: What people miss when Trump lies. When we roll our eyes, we miss the point. And - despite the challenges in front of us - why is Joe optimistic about how we can break out of the funhouse? Read "Inside the funhouse mirror factory" here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352250X24001313 Read the Atlantic article here: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/01/january-6-justification-machine/681215/?gift=bcL26f46jRxbKrUp1kTCRFgu6En8nVf7xwPsSYEqCiU&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share And visit getrealnews.org.

Truth in politics has become an oxymoron. In this episode Rick is joined by veteran journalist and author Steven Brill to discuss his latest book, "The Death of Truth." Brill, the founder of NewsGuard, dives into how social media and the internet have become powerful tools for spreading disinformation, influencing politics, and polarizing society. The conversation covers the impact of generative AI, programmatic advertising, and the role of bad actors like Russia, China, and Iran in propagating falsehoods. Brill shares insights on combating these issues, including potential regulatory measures and political reforms. Steven's book, "The Death of Truth," available now.

Wannabe "Strongmen" have been using disinformation to create legends about themselves and deceive the masses for as long as there have been unscrupulous, power-mad people - in other words, forever. That makes the current ones no less dangerous.

The media still underestimate Biden and their own role In fueling MAGA. Joe Trippi writes that the problem of what the media misses is almost as bad for democracy as what it reports.

Turns out advertisers don't like their brands associated with funding the rantings of depraved, racist, homophobic anti-Semites. Thanks to Check My Ads, the money is drying up.

Putin, like war criminals before him, is using terrorism in an attempt to break the will of the Ukrainian people and snuff out democracy. He will fail.