Want to know how to tell if a report is true or false? Some things are complicated, but others are really easy to check. Here are three simple tips for do-it-yourself fact checking, and three good fact checking sites for back-up. Continue reading
Because this is OUR country: Myrlie Evers Williams on Martin Luther King Day
Myrlie Evers-Williams at the Missouri Theatre in 2015. Photo by Mark Schierbecker, published under Creative Commons license.
She heard the shots ring out, that long-ago summer night. Inside the house, she heard her husband’s car pull up, and then the shots that killed him. One of the bullets came through the living room window, into the house where she and their three small children waited for a father who would never walk in the door again.
At today’s Martin Luther King Day breakfast, Myrlie Evers Williams recalled that night, Continue reading
Filed under human rights, organizing, race
Dave Snyder’s very good idea
Dave Snyder on MNA picket line (photo courtesy of Dave Snyder.)
In this increasingly awful political climate, I resolve to write to or call a politician every week, even when it feels like throwing words into the wind. Beyond words, I resolve to put my body on the line, some line, some march, some meeting, some protest, once every week.
One difficulty comes in choosing who to call and about what, with emails and Facebook messages and texts pouring in, each of them urgently asking me to contact Congress about X, where X is some godawful cabinet appointment, some threat to civil rights, some new move to roll back health care coverage or Medicare or workers rights or consumer protection. Dave Snyder is a friend, an organizer, and a very smart guy. With his permission, I want to share one of his recent Facebook posts, which offers a very good idea about making activism effective. I hope someone or some organization picks it up and runs with it. Continue reading
Filed under organizing
Sex, Russians, and the Affordable Care Act
Sex. Russians. Sex and Donald Trump and the Russians.
Now that I have your attention, consider this: whatever Donald Trump did in a Russian hotel is far less damaging to the United States than what the Republican Congress is doing right now in Washington, D.C. Continue reading
Filed under health care, health insurance, human rights, Tracking Trump
Fact-checking the news: January 10
Image by kkirugi, posted under Creative Commons license
The flood of news and propaganda continues, and so I’m occasionally drawn into fact checking. Here are some of my fact checks for the past 24 hours. Continue reading
Filed under analysis, media, news, Tracking Trump
Russian bear or Washington weasel?
Wikipedia: “Wikipedia: In English-speaking areas, weasel can be a disparaging term, noun or verb, for someone regarded as sneaky, conniving or untrustworthy. Similarly, weasel words is a critical term for words or phrasing that are vague, misleading or equivocal.” [Image from Fotolia – https://us.fotolia.com/id/48296139#%5D
Filed under elections, media, Tracking Trump
What’s wrong with the “Russian election hacking” meme
Boris Badenov, Natasha Fatale, and Fearless Leader were cartoon representations of Russian spies in the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon (1959-1964). Any resemblance between comic cartoons and current political rhetoric is purely intentional.
On December 29, the New York Times headlined, Obama Strikes Back at Russia for Election Hacking. As news consumers, what questions do we need to ask about that story?
Question #1: What is this “election hacking?” Continue reading
Vetting the refugees: how it really works
U.S. government graphic shows nine steps in multi-year vetting process. Click here to view complete graphic.
St. Patrick’s Catholic parish in Hudson, Wisconsin was asked to help receive five Syrian refugee families, a total of 11 adults and 15 children. Hatemongers stirred up opposition, and the church and community divided. (Read that sad story here, as reported by MPR.) In Hudson, and across the country, hatemongers stir up fear against refugees, saying that the government doesn’t vet their applications well enough. Truth – political refugees get screened by multiple government agencies and Syrian refugees get the most stringent vetting anyone has been able to devise. Here’s how it works. Continue reading
Filed under immigration, refugees
Confirmation bias: I really wanted to believe
The Guardian article about Julian Assange, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, and Vladimir Putin was one I wanted to believe.
I read The Guardian, and rely on this British publication for accurate, wide-ranging reporting on world news, including U.S. news, since we are part of the world. I also read and rely on The Intercept, a publication edited by Glenn Greenwald, Betsy Reed, and Jeremy Scahill, and funded by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. So when The Intercept said an article in The Guardian was “completely false,” they got my attention. Continue reading
I’m moving on: 2016 into 2017
Photo by deux-chi, used under Creative Commons license
I published 131 News Day blog posts in 2016, which got more than 21,000 views from about 15,000 visitors (readers). I also finished a novel in 2016, completed a first draft of another during NaNoWriMo, joined a writers’ group, and published my first poetry chapbook. Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
Mary Turck
