ActRight

I’ve largely tried to avoid most of the controversy about “fake news” because I think there’s too much muchness to the whole thing. But this morning, I heard a story on NPR about the immortal conspiracy theories that FDR knew about the Pearl Harbor attack in advance and did nothing about it. The host referred to it as “fake news 75 years ago” or some such (the piece was fine, though it would’ve been nice to have Charles Beard’s name come up). This is on the heels of the relentless coverage of the “Pizzagate” nuttery being called “fake news.” My understanding was that fake news was exactly that: Websites — many run from abroad — that deliberately and knowingly make stuff up and exploit social media for clicks and profit. Conspiracy theories aren’t fake news. They’re conspiracy theories. I think a lot of mainstream media outlets are deliberately or inadvertently muddying this distinction — which is kind of ironic given their denunciations of fakery. But I also think conservatives are muddying some distinctions as well. Yes, there have been times when the MSM has promulgated what could fairly be called fake news. The New York Times won a Pulitzer for fake reporting about the famine in the Ukraine. Janet Cooke and Stephen Glass both fabricated stories (Glass fabricated a lot of them). I would argue – and have argued — that Katie Couric would have a hard time defending herself against the charge of fakery.  But a lot of the examples of liberal/MSM “fake news” aren’t really comparable to the clickbait operations that knowingly make up news. Few have been harder on Dan Rather than yours truly, but I think his crime was letting ambition, animus, and groupthink drive him to drop due diligence and journalistic skepticism. The guy at Vox who imagined that bridge from Gaza surely didn’t deliberately commit that blunder.  I agree with pretty much everything Jim Geraghty says here,  but I also think some of the conservatives rushing to push back against the anti-fake news cause are making a mistake. Last night, my friend Tucker Carlson suggested that the fight against fake news is really a fight against opposing views liberals don’t like. If and when that’s the case, I agree it should be fought. But actual fake news sites aren’t pushing different opinions, they’re peddling fabrications as facts. His guest, Bill McMorris of the Washington Free Beacon, said “fake news is whatever people living in the liberal bubble determine to be believed by the right.” I think this is wrong, or at least not entirely right. Yes, some liberals are trying to lump inconvenient news, facts, and opinions under the rubric of “fake news.” But that doesn’t change the fact that there is, in fact, a cottage industry of actual fake news out there. And I don’t think it’s a good idea for conservative journalists to give the impression that that’s ok.  I’ve opposed anything that smacks of “journalism licensing” for years. And if that’s where Chuck Schumer & Co. want to go, I’ll oppose them. Also, I’m no lawyer, but I would think that the current libel and defamation laws would cover some of this. If you knowingly lie about facts in a story claiming to be news, I don’t think it’s crazy that you might face some legal sanction. If a fake news site ran a story that National Review was a clandestine pedophile ring, I would hope we would sue.  But even if the law protects organizations that deliberately fabricate slanderous falsehoods, I don’t see anything wrong with companies like Facebook doing what they can to limit the ability of these grifters to deliberately deceive their customers. By all means, conservatives should fight any attempt to exploit the fake news problem to silence opposing points of view. But I don’t see any reason for conservatives to rally to the defense of professional liars-for-profit either. 

Although there has been scuttlebutt that some electors who were designated to vote for Donald Trump might reject that and vote for someone else without stepping down, it was only scuttlebutt among Republican electors—until Monday. A Texas Republican elector, Art Sisneros, resigned last week rather than vote for Trump, but he will be replaced. But Texas GOP elector Christopher Suprun, a paramedic who was a first responder to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, stated he will not vote for Trump - and he is not stepping down.

In an interview with Billboard, Madonna called out women who voted for Donald Trump in the presidential election.

It's more than a month before Donald Trump even enters the White House, but Joe Biden says he's running for president in 2020...maybe.

report this ad Al Gore says that Trump’s daughter Ivanka is very committed to climate change policy that makes sense…. to Al Gore. Watch below: Sooo… will we be looking forward to . . .

The military feared Congress would use the confidential data as an excuse to slash defense spending.

ANGELA Merkel today completed an astonishing U-turn as she formally endorsed a full burka ban following a backlash over her open-door migration policies. The German chancellor made the comments at …

The government should cancel its multibillion-dollar order for new Air Force One presidential planes, Donald Trump declared Tuesday, serving notice he's ready to jump in and start making decisions six weeks before his inauguration. Costs for the two Boeing 747s are "totally out of control,"...

Florida Republican Party Chairman Blaise Ingoglia went on with Lou Dobbs on Monday to discuss the threats and harassment Republican ...

Milo Yiannopoulos, poster boy for young Team Trump was censored from speaking at his old school because exposing pupils to anything other than a liberal viewpoint could be damaging.

Trump easiliy passes the test of Federalist 68, but Suprun's relied upon authorities may not. . .

“After the election, my professors went crazy”

Presidential recount continues in more counties after two counties started process Monday.

"We want Boeing to make a lot of money, but not that much money," Trump says.

Folks a quick hit here to make sure that everyone is aware.  Last night the New York Times published a piece from a Texas member of the Electoral College who says that he will not vote for Donald Trump.  A faithless elector. This individual has decided that he knows whats best for the people of ?

Comedian Adam Carolla exposes Hollywood's hypocrisy, mainly in the area of taxes and money. When it comes to paying your "fair" share, apparently we should d...

CNN apologized for a producer who made a distasteful joke about Donald Trump's plane crashing. No one should expect The Washington Post will apologize for their Sunday magazine "humorist" Gene Weingarten writing poetry about the delight of dropping Trump out of an airplane to his death. Then Hillary Clinton stood up, and she smiled, too. “You know, I’ve a far, far better idea for you! Throw no cash. Throw out just one Donald Trump And bring joy to a hundred million people, chump.”

Today's women's movement is out of touch with reality.

When President Jimmy Carter, in 1978, said he was ending diplomatic relations with the Nationalist Chinese government in Taiwan, The Dallas Morning News, a journal widely admired at the time for its...

With Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi the latest political casualty of the populist wave surging across Europe and the United States, a photograph from April is going viral that shows just how much the political situation in the West has changed in just a few tumultuous months.

Angela Merkel has called for a burqa ban in Germany and said the refugee crisis “must never be repeated” while making her pitch for a fourth term as Chancellor. Addressing her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, Ms Merkel said she would support a nationwide prohibition on Islamic veils covering the face.

Paul Ryan STILL thinks he’s the boss. He just doesn’t understand that he takes a backseat to Donald Trump. Ryan ...

At least 2,000 educators around the country reported racist slurs and other derogatory language leveled against white students in the first days after Donald Trump was elected president. But the gr…

Someone let Barbara Boxer know.

Enough with the lies. Here’s what needs to happen.