A few diaries have recently been written about fact checking efforts at Facebook and the Washington Post. Based on my reading of the comments, many Kossacks here think that such efforts are #FineAndDandy, and wish that they had already been implemented like yesterday. This diary is primarily addressed to them.

You know that awesome technology currently being developed to mock and ridicule Trump, and to suppress “fake news”? Yeah, in the wrong hands that technology can also be used to mock and ridicule YOU and to suppress discussion of controversial issues that YOU truly care about. For example, is the #NoDAPL movement a worthy cause that we should hear more about? Or is it the actions of trouble-makers who deserve no sympathy whatsoever? The elites view them as troublemakers, of course, as is anyone who stands between them and their next $$$. Obama asked the pipeline builders nicely if they could please cut it out, but they ignored him. If only there was something more that he could do …. The “credible” media has been pretty much silent on this issue, but “fake news” guys like Jordan Chariton, Tim Black, and the Young Turks have been doing their best to keep the story alive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmjsIWaWzI8&feature=share

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVR6euP2G2o

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkCI61pzITw&feature=share

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Typically it is Republicans who fail to see the dangers of such “solutions”, and us overly-cerebral Democrats are the ones who cry out for others to slow down for a minute and think. Typically it is Republicans who are eager to be rid of that pesky Bill of Rights, except for that second one, and it is we Democrats who understand the necessity and value of fighting for minority rights.

Be careful about what you wish for.

And try to remember that Republicans,

many of whom who preach that climate change and evolution are both a hoax,

are about to gain control of ALL THREE PARTS of government.

Who decides what is a “fact” and what is not?

This is a very important question, a question that should not be answered lightly.