Fake news

I like my ability to be able to write about things and have it available to others to read.  I believe that privilege comes with a responsibility to write truthfully and sometimes carefully to be sure you properly represent facts and not just conjecture.   I read something today that dealt with gossip about Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani breaking up.   It’s common these days to start out with something shocking and usually false and follow it up with the truth in the article.  What’s the purpose?   Sell magazines or subscriptions of course.   In this case it seems that while other rumors had Blake proposing to her on “The Voice”  he was merely trying to quell that rumor and say that they were going slower.   It makes me crazy that anyone with a computer can just throw lies out there for whatever reason.   I see it all the time and it creates a lot of confusion.   There seems to be a lot of competition out there for stories to report and it creates a lot more sloppy journalism and sometimes just blatant misreporting.  This is another example of the negative effects of such a media connected world.  News outlets are now in competition with essentially everyone who can report, and it just gets out of control.   I have seen a lot more of stories changing over time as facts become known.  They have to get something out there or get left behind, so they report what they know or think they know and fix it later.   Very Sloppy and irresponsible.

Crazy world in action

I knew before this election that the Donald was going to be a problem.  I think he’s typical of just about anyone who looks at things they don’t like in the highest office and believes that if he had the power he could just change it.  He doesn’t have a firm understanding of what it takes to get something done or how many political hoops you have to jump through to get there.  I’m a great armchair quarterback too.   I have those moments of believing I could change the world given time, money, power, and a large lever.

The reality for people who are in that position is that it doesn’t take into account what you don’t know.   We know only what the media gives us and what we hear and observe.   We may think we know the solution, but it doesn’t take into account all those unknowns that we can only be privy to if we get the big job.   Bullying that may work in business, doesn’t work in all situations.   It might work in business when you have leverage, but there are so many more factors to consider when you are on the largest stage in the land. and every move is supposed to be transparent and is examined under a microscope.

The last couple of weeks has been a crazy roller coaster of deception and lies that come out of the White House.  It’s a serious problem with you have competing stories that are released.   It’s hard to tell the real from the fake news.

FBI director Comey was fired.   That is under a lot of scrutiny, especially since there was a lot happening concerning ties to Russia during the Trump campaign, and Michael Flynn.   The original story was that Comey was being too tough on Hillary Clinton during the campaign and after.   Nobody with a brain bought that reasoning.  Trump himself called for Hillary’s head during the campaign.  Wanted crooked Hillary jailed.  He also praised Comey for what he did with the emails and without a doubt Comey helped discredit Hillary and make it easier for Trump to be elected.    There was a lot more behind what happened here, but while Comey was ramping up the Russia investigations, he get’s fired by Trump who apparently didn’t want Flynn further investigated.  At a minimum, it was extremely bad timing to fire him while this investigation was underway.  It looked bad and like Trump had something to hide.

Along comes leaking secrets regarding ISIS to Russia right on the heals of the firing.  The White House issues a statement that there were no classified information passed, then Trump basically doesn’t deny it, but defends his right to do so as president.  The president can declassify information by law and share it, but it doesn’t make it a good or right thing to do.   I’m pretty sure that you can legally do that sort of declassifying on the fly, but still be guilty of treason.

It’s been an insane week and there has been a LOT of activity for both republicans and democrats alike.  The word impeachment has been spoken louder and even republicans are calling for more information so they can decide their course of action.  It should be far more interesting going forward.   I’ll update later.