Former "Real Housewives of New York" star Heather Thomson called out the show for creating "staged" and "faked" storylines.

Thomson criticized the show while talking to a New York Post photographer outside the high-end Japanese restaurant BondST in New York City.

Heather Thomson criticized "The Real Housewives of New York" in a recent interview. (Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

The reality TV star specifically called Sonja Morgan's engagement to Harry Dubin during season 12 "fake." Dubin proposed to Morgan while Luann de Lesseps was crying over her breakup with Jacques Azoulay.

"It was completely staged and totally fake," Thomson told the outlet. "It was a ring that Ramona was wearing. And she took it off and gave it to Harry to pretend that it was his it was oneupmanship."

RHOBH STAR KYLE RICHARDS SAYS DORIT KEMSLEY IS NOT SO GREAT AFTER HOME INVASION: PTSD, FOR SURE

"The authenticityismissing," she said. "The women were self-producing, and many storylines were forced and contrived."

Thomson originally left "RHONY" in 2015, but has since made appearances on the reality TV show.

Thomson did defend the women who decide to join the "Real Housewives" franchise and instead laid the blame on the "machine."

Thomson accused the show of creating "staged" and "fake" storylines. (Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

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"Generally speaking, the women that join the show are not self-absorbed, catty, horrible people. Theyre birds in gilded cages. They go in there with the right intention, but then you get sucked into this system of what the viewers want," Thomson said. "These women are part of a machine that has awarded them and fed them for outrageous behavior. Its a career. Its their check. And they dont have other jobs outside of it. And so you become a product of the environment of what the fan is looking for.

"Lets be honest: Watching women behaving well and doing great things for each other doesnt make must-see TV."

Thomson officially left the show in 2015 but has made appearances since. (Jared Siskin/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

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She also blamed the audience.

"You cant really talk about the people without talking about the system," Thomson said. "Everybody has culpability in this the viewers, the network, the women on the show. Were all complicit."

See the original post:

Former 'RHONY' star Heather Thomson says show's storylines are 'staged,' 'fake' - Fox News

HOUSTON, TX The NFL Dead Zone continues. Training camps are still a few weeks away and the sports world, between the resumption of key 2020 events, like the European Championships (although, now that the Belgian Red Devils are out of the draw, we fully expect ratings to fall with a Cal McNair-like certainty) and the Summer Olympics (which may yet not turn into a COVID-super spreader dumpster fire), the NBA Finals (where the Phoenix Suns seem to be in good position with their experienced point guard, who this city may or may not remember when he suited up for them for a spell) and baseball (even if the sport is going through trashcan-banging and Spider Tack withdrawal), is awash in plenty of non-football type events. Given the dearth of football activity, the extra-curricular activities of some of its stars will garner headline news.

Normally, most organizations would like to be somewhat in the headlines, as that portents increased attention and mentions in social media. Most teams. For the Houston Texans, well, not exactly...

Thank [Easterby]!!! Between the 4th of July and the NFL Dead Zone, I am sooo needing a break from the madness that has been 2021. I know most people look to 2020 as the hell-year, but you talk with any of the staffers that havent quit, gone mad or thrown themselves off the roof of NRG Stadium, and it is just nice that we are actually NOT trending on social media exclaimed one unnamed staffer.

Just think about what has gone on with this team? When it is universally regarded that the best moment of the year was the last game of the previous season, which we lost to the in-bred idiots in our typical, stupidly entertainingly fashion to finish 4-12you know that everything is just plain EUBAR/SNAEU*I cant take any more bad headlines. Everything we have done, and I mean everything, since then has just been a certified nightmare for us all.

IIIcant take it any more!!! cried another staffer in the Public Relations department. I just cant make up another feel good story about another Joe-Schmo linebacker/running back who was once on an NFL roster for a hot minute and the team signed in order to improve the characthe characthe char [loud, long retching noiseforcing us to leave the room for 5 minutes]

After a half-hour break, where said staffer used 4 smelling salt packets and 2 full tumblers of an Easterby Cleanser (which, as far as we can tell, is a mix of lemon juice, Southern Comfort, Russian homemade vodka (or engine degreaser) and bleach**), the interview resumed.

Good lord, I so needed that. Some people in the office are up to five of those for breakfast. Yeah, all of those free agents, and almost no one knows or cares. Then you have that whole loss of Watt, which killed our social media trending strategy. Mix in the situation with last seasons starting quarterbackyeah, hold on [immediately chugs some sort of clear, alcohol-smelling type liquid, which could be anything from Everclear to hydrochloric acid].WHHHOOOOOOO!!!!! Yeah, and dont get me started on the posting the Kyle pressers.I just cant.

When we wondered if the team considered some sort of mental, psychological or spiritual help, noting that in the era of COVID, there is a greater emphasis on worker mental and psychological help, Texans CEO and main figurehead Cal McNair had this to offer:

We feel that we have the best, strongest organization when it comes to spiritual and mental health. Yes, there have been quite a few stressful moments for this team, but as I aid in previous statements, the employees, like the fans, have to trust that we, the team brainy-part/smartiest-type people, know what we are doing, and that it is in the best interest of the Easterby, er, the organization...gotta work on that last part...Anyway, we have a strong spiritual base, so for any whose faith in the Texans are wavering, we have a special heart-warming ceremony to strengthen the resolve of our employees.

As for mental health, and breaks, why, we have some of the best entertainment in the business. For example, we have the latest installment of Building the Texans. Just take a look.

[Immediately after this started showing on all the monitors at the Texans facilities, five employees made a beeline for the windows, frantically opening them and jumping over the thresholdeven at the highest levels of the office. We also received word that the custodial staff is protesting, as they cant keep cleaning/disinfecting agents on hand in sufficient quantities for post morale-boosting events. Whether it is for excessive clean-up, or that the various staffers are purloining the liquid for their own personal consumption, we are not sure.]

Perhaps all the turmoil explains the current dearth of seemingly relevant, key Texans football news. Well, desperate times call for desperate measures. Yes, we had big plans for the 20th anniversary of the franchise, but given what has gone on this off-season, and we just cant shut down our team page with a slide saying See you in 2022, we figured we would just post highlights of the Texans beating up on inferior teams to show a few of its better moments noted a team executive who didnt give its name, but whose profile looked very similar to a new team president.

Until then, the team will continue to go with past highlights, ignoring any and all mentions of the greatest players that either no longer play for the team, or are in a bit of legal limbo. Perhaps this is an anathema to the modern media world, but for the staff of the Texans, no news is good news. Will it stay that way before training camp? Stay tuned.

View post:

Totally Not Fake News: All Quiet on the Texans Front - Battle Red Blog

President Joe Bidens election might have made the media feel good, but its done very little for the industrys reputation with news consumers.

In the latest demonstration of the difficulties the news media face, a sizable 58% of likely voters told Rasmussen Reports that they believe the media are truly the enemy of the people, a phrase coined by former President Donald Trump.

Some 46% disagreed, but the highest number (34%) said that they strongly agree with Trump.

As with similar surveys during the Trump era, Democrats believe the media far more than Republicans. Now, 56% of Democrats trust the news they receive versus 58% of Republicans who dont.

The partisanship is not surprising.

But there was some agreement on fake news, another Trump phrase, being a serious problem. A supermajority of Republicans, 92%, said it is a problem, as did 74% of Democrats. Overall, 83% said it is a big problem.

Notably, said Rasmussen, independents generally agree with Republicans on the enemy of the people question, at 61%.

Said the pollster, Voters overwhelmingly believe fake news is a problem, and a majority agree with former President Donald Trump that the media have become the enemy of the people.

Washington Examiner Videos

Tags: Washington Secrets, Rassmussen Polls, Biden Administration, Joe Biden, Media, Media Bias, Polls

Original Author: Paul Bedard

Original Location: True: 58% agree media are the enemy of the people, 83% hit fake news

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True: 58% agree media are the enemy of the people, 83% hit fake news - Yahoo News

Newly appointed Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Anurag Thakur and Minister of State (MoS) L Murugan held extensive review meetings of the ministry and have focused on ensuring effective communication by government departments of the work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.

Two-three departments have been directed to make detailed presentations to the minister daily. Moreover, each official has been tasked to put forth practical and innovative ideas to improve the brand of the country.

Thakur has also mainly demanded enhanced communication by government departments regarding the measures they took to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.

He has also emphasized refuting any negative perceptions regarding the government, including that in the international press.

The way PIB of every department communicates has to be more enterprising and suited to contemporary needs... the ones who understand this have to be promoted and there should be training for the rest, one of the senior officials in the know of the developments told The Economic Times.

Also, the new ministers will be looking to combat how the international press exploited the pictures of Indian crematoriums amidst the second wave of the pandemic a few months back.

Here is the original post:

New I&B Ministers To Focus On Proactively Combating Fake News And Negative Perception Of Govt In International Press - Yahoo India News

Jean-Claude Louis phone rang around 4 a.m. on Wednesday, July 7, jolting him awake in his home outside of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

On the other line, a friend told him he heard Jovenel Mose, the countrys president, may have been assassinated. Louis scoured the news for more information, and the official confirmation came about an hour later. It was on all the networks, the social networks, everybody interpreting it their own way recalled Louis, the coordinator of Panos Institute, a Haitian nonprofit that trains journalists and youth on media literacy and identifying disinformation.

The attack plunged Haitiwhich has no functioning parliament and has long been riven by protests calling for Moses resignation over corruption allegationsinto a deeper political abyss.

When I reached Louise by phone on Wednesday night, Haitis acting prime minister, Claude Joseph, had imposed martial law, and people were still struggling to make sense of a shocking act of political violence that left Moses body riddled with bullets and signs of torture. There are still issues that are still not clarified, so there are many unknowns about this assassination, he told me.

The unresolved circumstances of Moses death have left Haitians with an information void thats being filled with rumor and conspiracy. In the hours and days after Moses murder, Louise a former reporter saw speculation and disinformation abound. There are so many rumors and so much fake news, he said, with a weary chuckle. Everybody is using their own theory to justify what has happened.

On Wednesday morning, the acting prime minister, Claude Joseph, said the attack was carried out by an armed commando group that included foreigners, and some assailants spoke Spanishan allegation fueling speculation and fake news, Louis said. Among the rumors circulating are claims that the killers may have been hired assassins from the Dominican Republic, where local officials are investigating if the attackers used the country to escape, according to reports from the Dominican newspaper Diario Libre.

On social media, a video circulated of a man, allegedly near where the attack took place at the presidents home on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, yelling in English over a megaphone: DEA operation. Everybody stand down.

Late Wednesday evening, Haitis ambassador to Washington, Bocchit Edmond, told the Guardian the men who killed Mose claimed they were U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration members when they entered his home. Haitian officials told the Miami Herald the attackers were not part of the DEA. Officials with the Biden administration said the DEA was not involved and a U.S. State Department employee called the claim absolutely false. But that hasnt prevented the steady hum of conspiracy. People are alleging that the president might have done some wrong deal and the DEA guys came for him, Louis said. This is not official news, he added. This is fake news.

On Facebook, a Haitian radio and media personality with more than 41,000 followers wrote Mose was assassinated in his private residence by a Venezuelan and Colombian commando. Louis shared a post of unknown origin circulating on WhatsApp claiming the unit that killed Mose included two members of the Haitian National Police. He said he also saw speculation online questioning the role of the countrys national intelligence service and why it was unable to prevent the attack.

The disinformation over Wednesdays events spread to people monitoring events from afar. U.S.-based Brian Concannon, founder of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, a coalition of Haitian and U.S. human rights advocates, said he came across a WhatsApp post that had been reshared from someone who said they believed the attack was a DEA operation gone bad. Not saying thats true, just what people are reporting, he told me. Im seeing a lot of stuff. Some of the things I think are people trying to get the best information, and then theres some thats probably intentional disinformation.

The prevalence of disinformation in Haitis digital ecosystem predated Moses attack. Louis said fake news is primarily spread on WhatsApp, which people prefer using because they are able to send voice memos. In the summer of 2020, Panos surveyed 288 Haitians on their media consumption habits, and more than half said they used WhatsApp and Facebook as their primary means of accessing news. 62 percent of people surveyed said disinformation eroded their trust in local leaders and the media.

There are many people who think everything said on WhatsApp is true and they forward it without analyzing it and thats an issue, Louis said. Social media is an information tool but at the same time it can destroy you.

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Assassination of president plunges Haiti into conspiracy theories, rumor and fake news - Coda Story

A FAKE memorandum praising the abrogation of Article 370, CAA and demanding a law to stop alleged forced conversions in lieu of marriage, that went viral on social media, has created ripples not only in Kashmirs political circles but also within the Sikh community.

Initially assumed to be the original submitted by a delegation led by the chairman of All Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee Baldev Singh Raina to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the memorandum provoked strong responses from the Kashmiri Sikh community, including senior leader Jagmohan Singh Raina, who criticised the Sikh delegation and the demands made in the document.

It has now come to light that the original memorandum submitted by the delegation had no mention of section 370 or the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

The fake copy is intended to mislead the people of J&K and create social disharmony. It is most egregious and wrong on the part of those who are deliberately circulating incorrect information to create misunderstandings about the Sikh community in the public domain, said Baldev Singh Raina.

The Kashmiri Sikh community was in the eye of a storm last month after an alleged forced conversion of a Sikh girl and her subsequent marriage to a Muslim man. However, police sources had told The Indian Express that the girl told the magistrate she had married of her own free will. A few days later, she was sent back to her family, and later married off to a Sikh man in Srinagar.

Talking to The Indian Express, Kashmiri Sikhs said they have struggled to present their real concerns over alleged forced conversion as the narrative in popular media is often dominated by fake news.

Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee president Manjinder Singh Sirsa, and his rival in Delhi gurdwara politics, Paramjit Singh Sarna, had gone to Kashmir in the last week of June to investigate allegations of a Sikh girl being kidnapped, forced to convert to Islam and marry.

Jagmohan Singh Raina said, There was no gunpoint abduction in that case. The facts of the case were manipulated to stir tension. It is Kashmir not Afghanistan.

Kashmiri religious leaders like Mufti Nasir-Ul-Islam have condemned the incident and said that no nikaah is possible without the presence of the girls parents. So such statements are in themselves law against forces conversions and marriages. Defaming Kashmir is neither in the interest of the nation nor the Sikh community, he added.

There were some false reporting and claims in this case. It has hurt the Sikh community inside and outside Kashmir. There was no abduction at gunpoint. The age of the girl too has been misreportedBut we wanted investigation into the allegations of forced conversion, said Dr Kulbeer Singh Badal, a Kashmiri Sikh who has completed his PhD from Punjab University, Patiala, on the topic State, Society and Economy in Suba-I-Kashmir Under Sarkar-i-Khalsa (1819-1846).

Dr Kulbeer said he has been moderating discussions on social media platforms after the recent case in Kashmir.

There is another aspect involved also. Local Kashmiri Muslim religious leaders spoke on the issue and condemned such marriages only after Sirsas entry, which made locals realise that Sikhs cant be taken for granted. Earlier, there was hardly anyone in Kashmir paying attention to the voices of the Sikhs. At the same time, Sikh leaders should be very careful and any effort to milk the situation for political or personal gain may hurt the community in the long run, he added.

When contacted, Sirsa said he was not from the BJP or RSS: It is very easy to blame someone. I am not a BJP man when I support the farm protests. But I become a BJP man just because I visited Kashmir? On Tuesday, two more Sikh families from Kashmir have approached me with allegations that their daughters were taken away. What should I do now? Should I refuse to meet them? Not only this, I know of a similar case from Haryana where an upper-caste Hindu man allegedly abducted a minor Sikh girl. Such allegations against me dont make any sense. I am just standing with my Kashmiri Sikh brothers.

Komal J B Singh, a Kashmiri Sikh who has done her PhD on the topic Sikhs in Kashmir: a study of key moments in the identity formation, said: Sikhs of Kashmir represent the plurality and diversity of Kashmir. They have stood here despite all. They have genuine concerns, and its time that their struggles are recognised. Their demand of investigation shouldnt be snubbed. However, vilification of an entire community needs to be condemned.

Insecurity cant arise from just one incident: Akal Takht Jathedar

Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh said: These were the Kashmiri Sikhs who had reached me with a demand for an anti-conversion law. The Sikh community in Kashmir cannot feel threatened by just this one incident. There must be some history and ground to this fear. It is not difficult to understand that the unrest over the recent incident within Kashmir has its roots somewhere else.

See the article here:

Caught between fake news and real worries, Kashmiri Sikhs walk on edge - The Indian Express

DALLASIt comes at no surprise that disdain for mainstream media is a common theme among attendees and speakers alike at this weekends Conservative Political Action Committee conference this weekend in Dallas, Texas.

I love CPAC because it blows up the fake news narrative of the liberal media time and time again, Kimberly Guilfoyle said in a speech to the crowd on Friday afternoon.

Jeff Johnson, an attendee who sells large print copies of the Declaration of Independence, echoed the sentiment. The liberal media is glossing things over and were just being destroyed, Johnson said. Were being destroyed by evil.

But skepticism and disdain of the press at CPAC has drifted and found a surprising targetone of the major sponsors of the event, Fox.

Richard Hedges, who drove from Houston to the Dallas confab, said he hasnt watched Fox News since November, when he said the outlet became increasingly anti-Trump. While Hedges said he occasionally watches NewsMax, he said he mostly reads things he finds online.

The far-right Gateway Pundit picked up on the CPAC trend, boasting in an article that attendees are removing their lanyards because Fox News streaming service, Fox Nation, is listed as a marquee sponsor.

Fox Nation sponsored the whole CPAC, and then theyre deplatforming Ivory [Hecker] when shes talking at CPAC with Project Veritas, said Beth Anne Keller. Its horrifying. Its like we are in Communist China...screw you Murdoch.

On Saturday, The Daily Beast witnessed Ivory Hecker accusing a Fox staffer of censorship. You cut the live feed while I was speaking on stage last night, Hecker said, who later posted a video of the confrontation on Twitter.

A spokesperson for Fox Nation said the feed was never cut and that the service had already stopped streaming the event.

Hecker previously worked for the local Fox outlet in Houston until she was fired after interrupting a live on-air report to accuse the station of muzzling her.

Several women in Heckers videos said they dont watch Fox. I will never watch Fox. I watch One America News Network, one said. Thats all I watch.

While the majority of Republicans still say they regularly watch Fox News, according to two recent polls in March, the same polls suggest a growing core of conservatives are increasingly gravitating toward far-right outlets like Newsmax or One America News Network.

This shift occurs at a time when the share of Republicans who trust the media is at an all time low. As of 2020, only 10% of Republicans say they trust the media a great deal, compared to 73% of Democrats and 36% of independents.

These changes in media habits appear to be reflected in the media habits of CPAC attendees. Out of dozens of attendees that were asked by The Daily Beast, fewer than half said they regularly watch Fox. Most said they dont trust mainstream media at all.

Carl Lautenschlager, who came in from Washington state, felt similarly. He said he never watches Fox and occasionally watches Newsmax. Lautenschlager said he mostly reads things he finds on Telegram channels or CloutHub. CloutHub is a social networking app similar to Parler that has become popular among conservatives as fringe-right influences have been banned from Twitter and Facebook.

For those who said Fox News was a part of their regular media diet, some emphasized that it was a decreasingly significant part.

Sometimes I watch Fox, but I dont like it anymore, said Jamie Honeycutt, a resident of a suburb of Dallas. Honeycutt said she likes The Epoch Times, but also relies on Ground News, an app that allows her to compare news stories from different sources.

While Honeycutt said she occasionally watched Newsmax, she said wasnt as much of a fan of outlets like OANN, which she believes are too divisive. It depends on what your end goal is, Honeycutt said. Do you want a civil war, or do you want to bring the country together?

Grizzly Joe, a conservative podcast host who made headlines on CNN for saying that Trump lost the election, said that he does still watch Fox News, and that those who no longer do are upset over Foxs decision to call the election for Biden.

A lot of those people are people who got angry because Fox called the election too early, podcast host Grizzly Joe said. The people who say dont watch Fox News are very set in their beliefs and are not interested in hearing other views.

According to research by FiveThirtyEight, Republicans who get their news from OANN or Newsmax tend to be more extreme in their beliefs. Those who prefer OANN and Newsmax are more likely to believe in QAnon theories, to oppose getting vaccinated, and to agree that the election was stolen.

Joe said he occasionally watches Newsmax, a growing favorite among CPAC attendees, but said that some outlets are too fringe for his taste. I cannot watch One America News Network, because if I pay to watch them, Im also supporting InfoWars, because theyre a part of the same package.

Joe said his disdain for InfoWars stems from the conspiracies they peddled after 9/11. My earliest knowledge of them and Mr. Jones is that they were 9/11 truthers who say it was a setup, Joe said. I was an NYPD officer on 9/11. I was there. I have very little patience for anybody that said 9/11 was a setup.

But plenty of attendees didnt hold the same reservations with supporting outlets that increasingly traffic in conspiracy theories.

Darrin Martin, an oil and gas executive from the Frisco area, said that he still regularly watches Fox News, and while he occasionally tunes in to CNBC and CNN, he increasingly supplements it with OANN and Newsmax.

I think theyre all good, Martin said. Just different sources.

Continue reading here:

CPAC Attendees Turn on Conference SponsorFox Nation - The Daily Beast

Editor's note: This is a roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts.

CLAIM: The Pfizer coronavirus vaccine is made up of 99.9% graphene oxide, a toxic compound.

THE FACTS: Graphene oxide is not among the ingredients found in Pfizer's covid-19 vaccine, despite alarmist claims to the contrary on social media. Videos spreading widely on Instagram and Twitter on Thursday touted a report from Spain that allegedly claimed to find graphene oxide -- a material made by oxidizing graphite -- in a vial of the Pfizer shot. "There's no other reason for this to be in here except to murder people," said a woman in one of the videos. The woman also baselessly claimed the compound would cause an inflammatory immune reaction called a cytokine storm in people who got the vaccine. In reality, there's no graphene oxide in the Pfizer vaccine, according to the ingredient list and Kit Longley, senior manager of science media relations at Pfizer. There's also no evidence to suggest the Pfizer vaccine would cause a cytokine storm, Longley said. The coronavirus itself, however, has caused this type of immune response in some patients. Chemical and medical experts who are not associated with Pfizer confirmed to The Associated Press that there is no way graphene oxide would be found in the vaccine. "It is not in the ingredient list, and there is no way it could be present," said Allen Myerson, a professor of chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Utter nonsense," said Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. There has been research on potentially using graphene oxide in other vaccines, but the amounts would not be toxic to human cells, according to Johns Hopkins infectious disease specialist Dr. Amesh Adalja. The report cited in some of the viral posts lists Spain's University of Almeria on its title page, and appears to be written by a professor at the university. The university has said it was not involved in research indicating the presence of graphene in the vaccine. The university added in a statement that it supports vaccines and disavows the conclusions of the professor's unofficial report. The report has not been peer reviewed and is not published in a scientific journal. It includes a disclaimer that its findings do not represent any institutional position of the university.

-- Associated Press writer Ali Swenson in Minneapolis contributed this report.

CLAIM: The delta variant of the coronavirus is fake.

THE FACTS: A widely circulating Facebook post denying the existence of the coronavirus delta variant ignores science and the reality that the highly contagious variant has spread rapidly across the globe. The post is a meme featuring former President Donald Trump holding up an executive order he signed in 2017. In place of the executive order text are the words, "The Delta Variant Is Fake News." Commenters on the post accused Democrats of making up the delta variant to "keep the pot stirred up" and "keep everyone living in fear." In fact, nonpartisan scientists and health officials worldwide have acknowledged the existence of the delta variant, a version of the virus that experts say spreads more easily than other variants because of mutations that make it better at latching onto cells in our bodies. The variant, which is named after the fourth letter in the Greek alphabet, has been identified in more than 90 countries since it was first detected in India. Studies have shown that full doses of the available vaccines protect against variants, including the delta variant. The delta variant poses the most danger in places where vaccinations are sparse. In Africa, for example, coronavirus cases are rising faster than ever before, partially driven by the mutation, according to the World Health Organization.

-- Ali Swenson

CLAIM: Photo shows President Joe Biden kneeling down to the Israeli president, "pledging unconditional support to Israel."

THE FACTS: Multiple media outlets wrote about the photo, which actually shows Biden kneeling before Rivka Ravitz, chief of staff for the Israeli president, after learning she had 12 children. The interaction happened at a June 28 meeting between Biden and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin at the White House. At the meeting, Biden assured Rivlin that he will not tolerate a nuclear Iran, The Associated Press reported. A photo of Biden kneeling during the meeting with Rivlin and Ravitz circulated on social media with a false caption. "Biden Kneels Before Israeli President; Pledges Unconditional Support to Israel," states an Instagram post that misrepresented the photo. The false post also circulated on Facebook. Haim Zach, a press photographer for the Israeli government, took the photo. Zach told the AP in an email that Ravitz is an ultra-Orthodox Jew and when Biden reached out to shake her hand, Rivlin explained to Biden that she doesn't shake hands with men, adding that she's a mother of 12. Zach said Biden then knelt and told Ravitz that as a Catholic man he wanted to show his admiration to her as a mother of 12. During the meeting with Rivlin, Biden underscored his support to normalize relations between Israel and countries in the Arab and Muslim world. A White House briefing issued after the meeting reads: "President Biden conveyed his unwavering support for Israel's security and his commitment to deepening the cooperation between the two countries across all fields." The statement did not use the phrase "unconditional support."

-- Associated Press writer Arijeta Lajka in New York contributed this item.

CLAIM: Players on the U.S. women's national soccer team "turned their backs" on a World War II veteran playing the national anthem at a game Monday.

THE FACTS: Before the United States defeated Mexico on Monday during the women's final match before the Olympics, the U.S. players turned to face an American flag located near the stadium's scoreboard during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Following the match, false posts circulated on social media claiming members of the team turned their backs on WWII veteran Pete DuPre as he played his rendition of the national anthem on a harmonica. Players on Mexico's national team also turned to face their flag located near the scoreboard at the Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn., during the playing of their national anthem. "Several members of the U.S. womens national soccer team turned their backs on a 98 year old World War 2 veteran as he played the national anthem on his harmonica," a Facebook user wrote, in a now-deleted post. The false claim also circulated widely on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Several media outlets also wrote about the false claim. "Not true. No one turned their back on WWII Veteran Pete DuPre during tonight's anthem," the U.S. soccer communications team tweeted on Monday night. "Some USWNT players were simply looking at the flag on a pole in one end of the stadium. The players all love Pete, thanked him individually after the game and signed a ball for him." That evening, Carli Lloyd, a player for the U.S. team, tweeted, "We turned because we faced the flag." Video also showed the soccer players greeting DuPre after the game and signing a soccer ball.

-- Arijeta Lajka

CLAIM: A photo of a man lying on the pavement in blue pants covered in blood shows Haitian President Jovenel Moise after his assassination early Wednesday.

THE FACTS: The photo has been circulating online since August 2020 and shows a slain lawyer, not the assassinated president. As news broke of Moise's assassination, the Haitian diaspora began circulating the old photo on WhatsApp as proof of the 53-year-old president's death. The photo is really from the Aug. 29, 2020, killing of Monferrier Dorval, a prominent lawyer who was shot outside his home. Dorval was head of the bar association in the capital of Haiti. During a September 2020 protest demanding justice for Dorval, an AP photographer captured a protester reenacting the lawyer's death. The protester placed graphic photos of Dorval dead on top of his body during the reenactment. The photo used by the protester matches the photo that circulated on social media falsely identified as showing the death of the Haitian president. The misrepresented photo was also shared in Spanish online. Moise had denounced Dorval's killing, calling it a "great loss for the country." Moise was killed and first lady Martine Moise was seriously injured during the attack on their residence. The president had been ruling by decree for more than a year after the country failed to hold elections. In recent months, the opposition demanded he step down.

-- Associated Press writer Beatrice Dupuy in New York contributed this item.

CLAIM: A tweet by Victory News Network shows that 4th place runner Rebecca Washington is set to replace Sha'Carri Richardson on the U.S. Olympic team. The Mormon athlete says she hopes to help inspire the nation's children to say "no" to drugs.

THE FACTS: Victory News Network posts parody on social media. The 4th place runner in the Olympic trials for the 100-meter race is Jenna Prandini, and she will be Richardson's replacement on the U.S. Olympic Track and Field team. On July 2, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced Richardson had accepted a one-month suspension after testing positive for marijuana, The Associated Press reported. Her win in the Olympic trials for the 100-meter race was also disqualified, and her name was left off the Olympic roster released Tuesday by USA Track and Field. Following the news, a tweet from parody account Victory News Network showed split screen photos of Richardson and Prandini. "4th place runner Rebecca Washington is set to replace Sha'Carri Richardson on the U.S. Olympic team. The Mormon athlete says she hopes to help inspire the nation's children to say "no" to drugs," reads the tweet. The misleading post was picked up by social media users on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, who framed it as presenting accurate information. After the tweet gained traction on social media, Victory News Network clarified that none of what it posts is real. "This is a parody account," Victory News Network posted on Twitter on Monday. "We write funny fake news. If you see someone taking one of our made-up stories way too seriously, please let them know it's a joke." The post falsely claims a photo of Prandini shows "Rebecca Washington." But no one named Rebecca Washington is listed on the USA Track and Field website as having qualified for the women's 100. Prandini also denied making any statements regarding Richardson's suspension. In a Twitter post, Prandini mentioned she was "saddened to have to address the hateful and fake articles now circulating." The post continued: "Any article claiming I have made statements regarding the current situation are completely false."

-- Associated Press writer Terrence Fraser in New York contributed this item.

FILE - In this Sept. 1, 2020 file photo, a demonstrator lies on the pavement imitating the lifeless body of Bar Association President Monferrier Dorval, covered with photos of the murder scene, during a protest to demand justice for Dorval, who was fatally shot in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. On Friday, July 9, 2021, The Associated Press reported on claims circulating online wrongly asserting that a photo of a man lying on the pavement in blue pants covered in blood shows Haitian president Jovenel Mose after his assassination early Wednesday. The photo is really from the Aug. 29, 2020, killing of Dorval, a prominent lawyer who was shot outside his home. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery, File)

FILE - In this Thursday, June 10, 2021 file photo, the United States women's national soccer team starters pose for photographers before an international friendly soccer match against Portugal, in Houston. On Friday, July 9, 2021, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly asserting players on the U.S. womens national soccer team turned their backs on a World War II veteran playing the national anthem at a game Monday. Not true. No one turned their back on WWII Veteran Pete DuPr during tonights anthem, the U.S. soccer communications team tweeted on Monday night. Some USWNT players were simply looking at the flag on a pole in one end of the stadium. The players all love Pete, thanked him individually after the game and signed a ball for him. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

In this March 2021 photo provided by Pfizer, a technician inspects filled vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the company's facility in Puurs, Belgium. On Friday, July 9, 2021, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly asserting the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine is made up of 99.9% graphene oxide, a toxic compound. But, chemical and medical experts who are not associated with Pfizer confirmed to The Associated Press that there is no way graphene oxide would be found in the vaccine. (Pfizer via AP)

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NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn't happen this week - Arkansas Online

By Bernie Rabik| Special to The Times

The Trump era is the hoax era. But not in the way he or his cheerleaders claim.

Dictionaries agree that hoax is an act intended to trick or dupe: something accepted or established by fraud or fabrication.

Donald Trump has shouted hoax hundreds of times, about everything from climate change, to Supreme Court rulings, to impeachments, to the pandemic, and to the 2020 election for president. At this point, his myriad of claims about hoaxes add up to a hoax. And through the history of his use of this single word, we can see how he has fooled his biggest fans but failed to persuade almost everyone else.

The word hoax is one of the Trump worlds weapons. According to linguist John McWorter, Its the quintessence of Trumpian self-expression Hoax is an angry and mean word. Hoax carries an air of accusation, of transgression. The hoaxer is being accused of deliberately hoodwinking the public. Hoax just calls out as malevolent."

Before running for president, Trump used the word to dismiss global warming. It is a total and very expensive hoax he tweeted in 2013. He continued to shout about global warming hoaxters in 2014; then dropped it for a while. Fake news became his mantra after the 2016 election.

Factbase, a database of the presidents tweets, speeches, and interviews, confirms that in the first year of his presidency Trump cried out hoax! 18 times; in 2018, 63 times; and in 2019, a whopping 345 times. It was a logical leap for a pathological president who indulged illogical conspiracy theories and led a war on truth.

Having no truth to tell the public, ever, Trump has set people against each other, stirring up strife. He has told the public not to believe their own eyes and ears; and, he thought he could get away with it; because, arguably in his own reality he always did. Dont believe what you read. Journalists are enemies of the people. What youre seeing and what youre reading is not whats happening. That was the biggest hoax of all.

Trump dismisses all criticism as just part of an info op against him, a hoax where the content of the criticism is just a cover for manipulation by some vast, murky conspiracy.

The problem is obvious. Close-mindedness and ignorance have become core conservative values, and those who reject those values are the enemy, no matter what they may have done to serve the country.

The politicization of everything inevitably creates huge tension between conservatives and institutions which try to respect reality.

The modern GOPis no home for people who believe in objectivity. Right-wingers have gone all-in on ignorance, so they are bound to come into conflict with every institution, including the military who has traditionally leaned Republican.

We must heed the poignant advice of Dr. Jonathon Holloway, president of Rutgers University, when he opines that if we Americans listened to one another, perhaps we would recognize how absurd our discourse has become. It is our own fault that political discussions today are hotheaded arguments over whether the hooligans storming the halls of the Capitol were taking a tour or fomenting an insurrection.

There are many problems in America, but fundamental to so many of them is our willingness to learn from one another, to see and respect one another, to become familiar with people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds and who hold different political views. It will take work to repair this problem.

Do we feel good as Americans? Are we better off? Is America?

Bernard J. Rabik, a Hopewell Township attorney, is an opinion columnist for The Times.

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Bernie Rabik: Hoax trumps the truth - The Times

The Malaysian government is calling on the media to double its efforts to fight fake news and inaccuracies across all platforms. Asia News Today reports that Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, the countrys Communications and Multimedia minister is calling on all media outlets to cooperate in the fight against fake news, whether thats on television, radio, in print, or online.

The minister has issued a press release in which he points to an increase in fake news related to Covid-19 matters, including vaccines and health matters, as well as social and political issues. He says the Communication and Multimedia Ministry is working with relevant bodies to react in a timely manner to curb the spread of fake news and that since March 2020, around 464 fake news stories have been detected and stopped. The minister adds that since March of this year, emergency powers have been introduced to remove Covid-related fake news and take action against those spreading it.

In the context of sharing information, the media not only reports true and accurate reporting, but protects the people from any potential fake news, especially when the government is fighting the Covid-19 pandemic as well as maintaining the well-being and stability of the country. The media also works with the government to fight fake news in various media, covering television and radio stations, print media, and online platforms. All efforts will be doubled to identify and expose any fake news, to raise awareness about fake news, and steps to prevent it. I am confident in the publics maturity in evaluating fake news. Lets work together to curb fake news.

SOURCE: Asia News Today

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Malaysian government urges media to double its efforts against fake news - The Thaiger

MANILA Comedy superstar Vice Ganda blasted a website on Tuesday over an article it published claiming he tweeted against Kapamilya stars who left ABS-CBN, amid its broadcast crisis.

On Twitter, the Its Showtime host linked to the article in question, from the website Philippine News, with the title, Vice Ganda Has This Patutsada Against John Lloyd Cruz, Bea Alonzo?.

The story falsely claimed that Vice Ganda had tweeted, then deleted, the following statement: Ang kapal ng mukha ng mga taong nagsasabing nauubos na ang mga Kapamilya Artist. Kung dyan kayo Masaya, bahala kayo basta sinabi ko na dati pa, wala kayong future dyan sa Kabila. Charot!

Alonzo recently signed with GMA-7, while Cruz has appeared on programs of the TV station. Both Alonzo and Cruz are homegrown talents of rival network ABS-CBN.

Vice Ganda, a Kapamilya for over a decade, has been a vocal supporter of ABS-CBN amid the crisis resulting from the denial of its franchise of congressional panel in mid-2020.

Reacting to the article, Vice Ganda wrote, unedited: Kadiri tong FAKE NEWS na to!!!!!! Pero mas KADIRI yung mga sumakay!!!! Pero PINAKA KADIRI yung mga sumusweldo at kumikita sa FAKE NEWS!!!

Mga taong sa panahon ngayon chismis, paninirang puri at fake news pa din ang trabaho YUUUUICCCCKKK!!!! Mas mababa pa kayo sa TAE! Yan ang #FACT! he added, in a subsequent tweet.

As of writing, the fake news item from Philippine News remained published.

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Vice Ganda blasts website over fake news alleging he tweeted vs stars who left ABS-CBN - ABS-CBN News

IntroductionAs observed last week, eight of the worlds top ten producers of barrels of oil per day are National Oil Companies, NOCs. As a group these NOCs account for 55 percent of global crude oil production. Utilizing techniques that are applied universally, available estimates of the average effective rate of taxation for Guyanas oil and gas sector under the present PSA rules and arrangements reveal results ranging from 50 to 60 percent. The IDB study that I have been using to illustrate my presentation on this topic has arrived at an estimate of 51 percent.

As I have observed on several previous occasions, this ratio yields an amount of windfall petroleum revenues over the years that is enough to remove the scourge of income poverty from Guyana. Instead of addressing this potential as the priority or golden opportunity for the economic and social transformation of the country, the noise and nonsense mis-informers are claiming Guyana is only getting crumbs from producing petroleum under the ruling PSA. Often this is reduced to scarily ill-informed environmental and other outdated dogmas, which are then proffered as reasons to justify leaving our petroleum wealth where it is presently buried. That is, to remain out of production forever, in order to contain ghg emissions. This shows a scary and disturbing willingness to sacrifice the Guyanese poor (the other).

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Guyanas Oil and Gas Sector: More on the abuses of mis-information, deceptions, and fake news - Stabroek News

There are an awful lot of issues in the news right now. A lot of them are pretty depressing. So on this Friday, we thought wed start with something pretty amusing.

Back in 2015, our governments so-called intelligence community, which is not intelligent or a community, announced that it was embarking on a new five-year mission. The goal, according to the Obama administration, was to funnel more resources to every spy agency in the country -- the CIA, NSA, FBI, DIA and so forth. Even the Coast Guard's in-house intelligence operation was slated to get a bigger budget.

Under normal circumstances, an announcement like that would set off fear trembling among our opponents around the world. Theyd be shaking in their caves. The Chinese might think twice before bribing more Harvard professors or sending Eric Swalwell a new secret agent to have sex with. But in this case, they just laughed. Because they knew that money wasn't going to buy drones, or more sophisticated surveillance equipment, or more agents in the field. Instead, it was earmarked for new platoons of "equity and inclusion" consultants and HR administrators.

The point of the money was to make the intelligence community more "diverse," meaning less White and male. Finally, America's spies would look different. Which is essential if you want to to to well, actually were not sure why its essential. What does the race and gender of intelligence agency employees have to do with keeping America safe? They never told us. Instead, they told us something wed heard once or twice before: "Diversity is our strength."

PENTAGON SAYS DIVERSITY TRAINING ESSENTIAL IN DEFENDING THE NATION

KAMALA HARRIS: knowing our diversity is our strength and our unity is our power.

PELOSI: And I say to them, our diversity is our strength.

OBAMA: Our diversity, our patchwork heritage, is not a weakness. It is still and always will be one of our greatest strengths.

BERNIE SANDERS: Our diversity is one of our greatest strengths.

BIDEN: I think this is an opportunity to establish that out of our diversity comes enormous, enormous strength.

How does that work exactly? Shut up. Just read the clich. Its on the card.

AIR FORCE ACADEMY PROFESSOR PUSHES FOR MILITARY ACADEMIES TO TEACH CRITICAL RACE THEORY

Enormous strength. We are now officially much stronger. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has just released the proof: its called the "Annual Demographic Report for Fiscal Year 2020: Hiring and Retention of Minorities, Women, and Persons with Disabilities in the United States Intelligence Community." Youll want to get a copy in time for Christmas not to read it. It isnt meant to be read. In fact, its unreadable. But for the pictures. The pictures are amazing. We now have conclusive photographic evidence that our spy agencies employ several people with different color skin. There's even a woman in a wheelchair, as well as a man who appears to be blind.

How do we know hes blind? We dont make assumptions like that. Because he's got Ray Charles glasses, a cane and a seeing-eye dog. If that seems like a lot, remember: the best spies have a backup plan. Lets say Russian assassins come after our blind intel agent as hes picking up a dead drop of microfilm in a park in East Berlin. They somehow manage to take out his seeing-eye dog. Maybe with a net.

Thats OK. He can manage. Hes still got both the cane and the glasses. And by the way, we assume the cane shoots curare darts. At the CIA, they think of everything. Its their job.

US MILITARY OFFERED WOKE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSES ON DIVERSITY, EQUITY

Whats the blind guys job exactly? What does he do in our fabled intel community? How is he keeping America safe? We dont doubt that he is, but how? Well, we dont know, because the report doesnt tell us. Nor does it explain why there seems to be some sort of dark halo around the lower part of the blind mans body in the picture? What is that? Spy vapor?

Another question: where are the old people in the picture. A lot of Americans are pretty old. The intel community says it's diverse. So where are the senior citizens? Where are the 80-year-old super spies? Youd hate to think that for all its famous sensitively the Biden people fell prey to ageism. We may need a class action suit to sort this out. And while were at it, honestly, we didnt see many trans women, non-binary pansexual two-spirits, or a single person from Malawi. That picture which we greeted with joy is starting to look problematic.

And in fact, it is. According to freelance intelligence analysis on Twitter experts on digital manipulation -- this image isnt real. These people were never in the same room at the same time. Some dont even work for their federal government. Maybe none of them. The whole thing is a disinformation campaign. Its a Soviet-style fake. Apparently, the intel community spent some of its "diversity budget," not to achieve diversity, but to buy a stock image from a website called "Shutterstock."

TUCKER CARLSON: US MILITARY HAS GONE FULL WOKE, WAGING WAR ON THOSE WHO DISAGREE WITH THEM

That picture is entitled, quote, "Portrait Of Multi-Cultural Office Staff Standing In Lobby." You could buy it too and put it on your next Christmas card if you wanted to.

But apparently, the stock photo of the multi-cultural office staff wasn't multi-cultural or diverse enough for the Biden people. So, they inserted two other stock images into the picture.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

One of those images -- also available on Shutterstock -- is called, quite literally, "Blind young man with guide dog on white background." Which is, what it is. The other is entitled, creatively enough, "Beautiful businesswoman with tablet computer in wheelchair on white background."

Huh. So those arent really intel agents. Theyre stock photos. On one level, this is good news. The intelligence community hasn't really outed the identity of its most attractive wheelchair-bound spy, or its blind 007. So theyre safe.

This article is adapted from Tucker Carlson's opening commentary on the March 26, 2021 edition of "Tucker Carlson Tonight."

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Tucker Carlson: They're trying to trick us with Soviet-style fakes - Fox News

A government that can terrify a population can usually do what it wants with it. If nothing else survives of his journalism, HL Menckens warning from 1918 will never perish: The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.

British Conservatives and the US Republicans have added a modern game to the demagogic playbook. They are creating an imaginary fear that elections are being rigged in order to rig elections. They will protect democracy by removing the right to vote.

Boris Johnsons hobgoblin is a fake voter, almost certainly from an ethnic minority. These masters of disguise steal honest citizens ballots by pretending to be them at polling stations. When the honest citizens arrive, election officials tell them that they have already voted and call the police.

Fake voters are a fake. If they werent, you would have read hundreds of articles about people whose identities had been stolen. The governments own research found that personation fraud at the polling station accounted for just eight of the allegations of electoral fraud made in 2018. When Lutfur Rahman, the corrupt mayor of Tower Hamlets, was found guilty in the biggest electoral fraud trial of recent times, the fraud consisted of funnelling bribes to Bengali organisations that were totally ineligible for public money, not for arranging for body doubles to flood polling stations.

Voter suppression, the deliberate attempt to influence the outcome of an election by stopping poor and black voters opposing the conservative elite, is normally accompanied by lies about stolen elections. Donald Trump and the US Republicans had a strategy to brainwash their supporters after their defeat in the 2020 US presidential election. They fed them allegations of double voting, the dead voting, and out-of-state voters moving into states with tight contests. Not one allegation stood up in court, but at least Trump made the effort to provide a cover story.

British democracy is so decayed Johnson does not feel the need to lie. He happily admits the hobgoblin is a fantasy from his calculating mind. Asked by Ian Blackford of the Scottish National party last week how he could justify his Trumpian tactics, Johnson said he wanted to protect elections from the idea of voter fraud. Not the reality of a crime that barely exists for you would need thousands of impersonators to swing an election but from the idea, the notion, the paranoid fear that it might exist, even though it doesnt.

He is attempting to disfranchise poor voters by demanding that everyone produces photo ID before they vote. Ministers dismiss concerns about the 2.1 million people without ID by saying that councils can issue the requisite passes, while knowing full well that most voters wont know how to apply for them. Meanwhile, in trials of voter ID in local elections, 750 of the 2,000 people polling stations turned away for having no ID never came back. Maybe they could not be bothered to go home and search through their documents, or had to go to work. No one checked, but the point remains that Johnsons laws against a phantom menace will stop not only people without a driving licence or passport voting, but others who do not have the time or inclination to negotiate his new bureaucracy.

His willingness to attack fundamentals of democracy marks Johnson out as an extreme rather than a mainstream right-winger. The division between the two is nowhere as clear-cut as it appears. Professor Tim Bale, a historian of British conservatism, invites readers to consider who delivered a speech saying that a liberal elite was turning the British into foreigners in their own land. Talk about tax and they call you greedy. Talk about crime and they call you reactionary. Talk about asylum and they call you racist. It wasnt Nigel Farage during the Brexit referendum in 2016, but William Hague, the leader of the Conservative party, in 2001.

Farage had his opportunity when David Cameron briefly moved the Conservative party away from Euro-extremism and a hard line on immigration in the early 00s. And all he did was mouth the slogans of previous Tory leaders. The fringe does not always take over the mainstream and pull it to the right or left. Often, it is impossible to disentangle the two and decide who is the monkey and who is the organ grinder.

In Riding the Populist Wave, published next month, political scientists from across Europe emphasise that the difference between the radical and mainstream right is as much about means as ends. Almost by definition, populists are disloyal actors who do not accept the rules of the democratic system that mainstream politicians abide by.

Johnsons attempt to deny the vote to secure an electoral advantage, along with his attacks on parliament and the independence of the judiciary, BBC and civil service, marks him a member of the Trump club of rightwing extremists. Meanwhile, his policies are designed to ensure that a party such as Ukip never outflanks the Conservatives on the right again, and Westminster is filled with bellows to punish asylum seekers, cut international aid and damn England footballers who protest against racism.

I am not sure the Conservatives will listen to my advice, but I am going to give it anyway. They need to watch their backs. The mainstream Republicans in France moved so far to the right to see off Marine Le Pen that Emmanuel Macron and his centrists were able to destroy them.

David Davis, who is hardly a woke liberal, told me the prime minister acts like a caricature metropolitan elitist who thinks Leave voters are thick, ugly and racist rather than men and women concerned about tax bills and public services. His stunts reveal a populist who doesnt understand his people, and thinks they will be satisfied with stupid arguments and mindless cruelty.

As if to prove the point, research by the Electoral Commission found that 90% of the public thought voting at polling stations was safe. Boris Johnsons hobgoblin does not even haunt the nightmares of most of his core supporters. Perhaps one day a few of them will tire of a prime minister who treats them as if they were terrified toddlers and put a cross against another politicians name.

Nick Cohen is an Observer columnist

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Fake voters exist only in Boris Johnsons fevered imagination - The Guardian

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An ambassador and trained facilitator under Eco Femme (a social enterprise working towards menstrual health in south India), Sanjina is also an active member of the MHM Collective- India and Menstrual Health Alliance- India. She has conducted Menstrual Health sessions in multiple government schools adopted by Rotary District 3240 as part of their WinS project in rural Bengal. She has also delivered training of trainers on SRHR, gender, sexuality and Menstruation for Tomorrows Foundation, Vikramshila Education Resource Society, Nirdhan trust and Micro Finance, Tollygunj Women In Need, Paint It Red in Kolkata.

Now as an MH Fellow with YKA, shes expanding her impressive scope of work further by launching a campaign to facilitate the process of ensuring better menstrual health and SRH services for women residing in correctional homes in West Bengal. The campaign will entail an independent study to take stalk of the present conditions of MHM in correctional homes across the state and use its findings to build public support and political will to take the necessary action.

Saurabh has been associated with YKA as a user and has consistently been writing on the issue MHM and its intersectionality with other issues in the society. Now as an MHM Fellow with YKA, hes launched the Right to Period campaign, which aims to ensure proper execution of MHM guidelines in Delhis schools.

The long-term aim of the campaign is to develop an open culture where menstruation is not treated as a taboo. The campaign also seeks to hold the schools accountable for their responsibilities as an important component in the implementation of MHM policies by making adequate sanitation infrastructure and knowledge of MHM available in school premises.

Read more about his campaign.

Harshita is a psychologist and works to support people with mental health issues, particularly adolescents who are survivors of violence. Associated with the Azadi Foundation in UP, Harshita became an MHM Fellow with YKA, with the aim of promoting better menstrual health.

Her campaign #MeriMarzi aims to promote menstrual health and wellness, hygiene and facilities for female sex workers in UP. She says, Knowledge about natural body processes is a very basic human right. And for individuals whose occupation is providing sexual services, it becomes even more important.

Meri Marzi aims to ensure sensitised, non-discriminatory health workers for the needs of female sex workers in the Suraksha Clinics under the UPSACS (Uttar Pradesh State AIDS Control Society) program by creating more dialogues and garnering public support for the cause of sex workers menstrual rights. The campaign will also ensure interventions with sex workers to clear misconceptions around overall hygiene management to ensure that results flow both ways.

Read more about her campaign.

MH Fellow Sabna comes with significant experience working with a range of development issues. A co-founder of Project Sakhi Saheli, which aims to combat period poverty and break menstrual taboos, Sabna has, in the past, worked on the issue of menstruation in urban slums of Delhi with women and adolescent girls. She and her team also released MenstraBook, with menstrastories and organised Menstra Tlk in the Delhi School of Social Work to create more conversations on menstruation.

With YKA MHM Fellow Vineet, Sabna launched Menstratalk, a campaign that aims to put an end to period poverty and smash menstrual taboos in society. As a start, the campaign aims to begin conversations on menstrual health with five hundred adolescents and youth in Delhi through offline platforms, and through this community mobilise support to create Period Friendly Institutions out of educational institutes in the city.

Read more about her campaign.

A student from Delhi School of Social work, Vineet is a part of Project Sakhi Saheli, an initiative by the students of Delhi school of Social Work to create awareness on Menstrual Health and combat Period Poverty. Along with MHM Action Fellow Sabna, Vineet launched Menstratalk, a campaign that aims to put an end to period poverty and smash menstrual taboos in society.

As a start, the campaign aims to begin conversations on menstrual health with five hundred adolescents and youth in Delhi through offline platforms, and through this community mobilise support to create Period Friendly Institutions out of educational institutes in the city.

Find out more about the campaign here.

A native of Bhagalpur district Bihar, Shalini Jha believes in equal rights for all genders and wants to work for a gender-equal and just society. In the past shes had a year-long association as a community leader with Haiyya: Organise for Actions Health Over Stigma campaign. Shes pursuing a Masters in Literature with Ambedkar University, Delhi and as an MHM Fellow with YKA, recently launched Project (Alharh).

She says, Bihar is ranked the lowest in Indias SDG Index 2019 for India. Hygienic and comfortable menstruation is a basic human right and sustainable development cannot be ensured if menstruators are deprived of their basic rights. Project (Alharh) aims to create a robust sensitised community in Bhagalpur to collectively spread awareness, break the taboo, debunk myths and initiate fearless conversations around menstruation. The campaign aims to reach at least 6000 adolescent girls from government and private schools in Baghalpur district in 2020.

Read more about the campaign here.

A psychologist and co-founder of a mental health NGO called Customize Cognition, Ritika forayed into the space of menstrual health and hygiene, sexual and reproductive healthcare and rights and gender equality as an MHM Fellow with YKA. She says, The experience of working on MHM/SRHR and gender equality has been an enriching and eye-opening experience. I have learned whats beneath the surface of the issue, be it awareness, lack of resources or disregard for trans men, who also menstruate.

The Transmen-ses campaign aims to tackle the issue of silence and disregard for trans mens menstruation needs, by mobilising gender sensitive health professionals and gender neutral restrooms in Lucknow.

Read more about the campaign here.

A Computer Science engineer by education, Nitisha started her career in the corporate sector, before realising she wanted to work in the development and social justice space. Since then, she has worked with Teach For India and Care India and is from the founding batch of Indian School of Development Management (ISDM), a one of its kind organisation creating leaders for the development sector through its experiential learning post graduate program.

As a Youth Ki Awaaz Menstrual Health Fellow, Nitisha has started Lets Talk Period, a campaign to mobilise young people to switch to sustainable period products. She says, 80 lakh women in Delhi use non-biodegradable sanitary products, generate 3000 tonnes of menstrual waste, that takes 500-800 years to decompose; which in turn contributes to the health issues of all menstruators, increased burden of waste management on the city and harmful living environment for all citizens.

Lets Talk Period aims to change this by

Find out more about her campaign here.

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A former Assistant Secretary with the Ministry of Women and Child Development in West Bengal for three months, Lakshmi Bhavya has been championing the cause of menstrual hygiene in her district. By associating herself with the Lalana Campaign, a holistic menstrual hygiene awareness campaign which is conducted by the Anahat NGO, Lakshmi has been slowly breaking taboos when it comes to periods and menstrual hygiene.

A Gender Rights Activist working with the tribal and marginalized communities in india, Srilekha is a PhD scholar working on understanding body and sexuality among tribal girls, to fill the gaps in research around indigenous women and their stories. Srilekha has worked extensively at the grassroots level with community based organisations, through several advocacy initiatives around Gender, Mental Health, Menstrual Hygiene and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) for the indigenous in Jharkhand, over the last 6 years.

Srilekha has also contributed to sustainable livelihood projects and legal aid programs for survivors of sex trafficking. She has been conducting research based programs on maternal health, mental health, gender based violence, sex and sexuality. Her interest lies in conducting workshops for young people on life skills, feminism, gender and sexuality, trauma, resilience and interpersonal relationships.

A Guwahati-based college student pursuing her Masters in Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Bidisha started the #BleedwithDignity campaign on the technology platform Change.org, demanding that the Government of Assam installbiodegradable sanitary pad vending machines in all government schools across the state. Her petition on Change.org has already gathered support from over 90000 people and continues to grow.

Bidisha was selected in Change.orgs flagship program She Creates Change having run successful online advocacycampaigns, which were widely recognised. Through the #BleedwithDignity campaign; she organised and celebrated World Menstrual Hygiene Day, 2019 in Guwahati, Assam by hosting a wall mural by collaborating with local organisations. The initiative was widely covered by national and local media, and the mural was later inaugurated by the events chief guest Commissioner of Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) Debeswar Malakar, IAS.

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YKA Conducts Workshop On Identifying Fake News And Misinformation On The Internet - Youth Ki Awaaz

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Action will be taken against those spreading fake news on social media in Madhya Pradesh's capital Bhopal.

Bhopal Collector Avinash Lavaniya has issued an order saying that those spreading fake news will be punished under the IT Act.

The administration is fearing that fake news will deteriorate the law and order situation in the city.

In his order, the Collector has written that recently it has come to the notice that some people put misleading news, false and objectionable messages, videos, pictures, and audio clips on social media. Such information creates panic among the public without any reason. These types of messages can sometimes provoke religious sentiments of different communities.

The notice says, "Do not send or share any such thing which is full of degrading discrimination against any community and religion, creates a state of fear or doubt in the public. If found doing so, legal action will be taken under Section 188 under the other provisions of the Information and Technology Act.

Also read: Facebook showed ads for fake Clubhouse for PC app with malware

Also read: Maharashtra HSC, SSC Exams 2021: Gaikwad dismisses fake news, no decision announced yet

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Action to be taken against those spreading fake news on social media in Bhopal - India Today

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YouTube: Unbiased Plattform Overview

Photo credit: The featured image has been taken by Filip Mishevski.

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Unbiased Uses AI and Big Data to Fight Fake News - TechAcute

The Kumbh Mela has become a matter of concern for several people who had defended the Tablighi Jamaat when they had deliberately spread the virus by hiding in mosques, spit in places, pelted stones at police personnel and even defecated in hospitals. Almost determined to undermine Hindus and obfuscate facts, the propaganda has been at its highest. In the midst of this, Siddharth Varadarajan has resorted to spreading fake news again. In fact, the same fake news that the Logical Indians had apologised for just a day ago.

Siddharth Varadarajan took to Twitter to tweet The Wire article, with a comment why godi media warriors were not demanding he be arrested under the IPC and NDMA and Epidemic Diseases Act?, referring to the BJP leader Sunil Bharala.

The headline that was visible in the tweet preview of the article he plugged read, BJP MLA Says He Visited Kumbh Mela and Was COVID-19 Positive. The preview headline clearly insinuates that Bharala was actually COVID-19 positive at the time he visited the Kumbh Mela.

This, however, is not accurate. Logical Indian, that had first reported this, had just a day ago taken to Twitter to a apologise for spreading fake news.

In their statement, The Logical Indian said, The Logical Indian earlier reported that Uttar Pradesh BJP leader Sunil Bharala tested positive for COVID-19 and still attended the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar. However, in an interview with NDTV, the leader said that he attended the event and later added that he is currently COVID positive.

We wish to acknowledge that we inadvertently misrepresented the facts. The Logical Indian apologizes for the incorrect statement that claimed he attended the event while he was infected with the virus, he added.

In the fake news post, TLI attributed a fake quote to Sunil Bharala. The fake quote said, Im COVID positive myself. I still went to Kumbh. Dharma is above Corona guidelines. The news post further claimed that Kumbh Mela has become a Covid hotspot.

Interestingly, even after The Logical Indian apologised for spreading fake news, Siddharth Varadarajan took to Twitter to spread the same fake news and even demand that other media houses join in.

The article that The Wire wrote itself seems to have been updated since it does acknowledge that the Logical Indian apologised for spreading this news, however, Siddharth Varadarajan craftily took to Twitter to spread the fake news further and refused to delete it despite several people pointing out his error to him.

One Twitter user pointed out that if the Uttar Pradesh Government books him for deliberately spreading fake news, Varadarajan would cry FOE (like he had done before).

Another simply plugged the apology statement by The Logical Indian and assumed that Varadarajan had the IQ to understand that he was spreading fake news.

Another demanded that the Uttar Pradesh police arrest him for spreading fake news.

However, despite several such tweets, Varadarajan has refused to delete his post till the time this article was written.

In April 2020, two FIRs had been registered against The Wire Founder-Editor Siddharth Varadarajan for spreading fake news against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Varadarajan, in a bid to whitewash the deeds of Tablighi Jamaat. At that time, he hadwrongly attributed a fake quote to the UP CM.

Mrityunjay Kumar, the media advisor to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, had informed that despite the warning from the state government, Varadarajan neither deleted the false article and nor apologised for the same. Therefore, an FIR had been registered against him.

In January 2021 as well, a complaint was registered in Uttar Pradesh against The Wire Editor Siddharth Varadarajan forpublishingand circulating false propaganda with intent to cause violence after he had tweeted an article void of any facts pertaining to the death of a rioter during the tractor rally.

The complaint was registered against Varadarajan under Section 153B and 505of the IPC in Rampur police station for trying to instigate the crowd by peddling false information about the death of a rioter named Navreet Singh, who had died during the tractor rally after his tractor turtled.

In fact, after the FIR was filed against Siddharth Varadarajan for spreading fake news in a bid to shield the Tablighi Jamaat, several liberals had come out to cry Freedom of Expression and even threatened the Yogi Adityanath government with USA pressure to ensure that the case against Varadarajan was withdrawn.

It is clear that Siddharth Varadarajan has a habit of spreading fake news against Uttar Pradesh, its Chief Minister and its ministers and when the government takes action, he and his coterie cry freedom of expression to shield themselves. If under the current situation, the Uttar Pradesh government decides to act against him, it is almost a certainty that he and his cohorts will cry about how media freedom is under threat while refusing to delete the blatantly fake news that he has clearly chosen to spread.

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Siddharth Varadarajan of The Wire spreads fake news a day after The Logical Indian apologised for the same: Read details - OpIndia

TALLINN: A fake news site attacking a NATO member recovering from the pandemic is part of the fictional scenario in an alliance cyber war game this week billed as the world's largest.

In the exercise, non-NATO member Crimsonia attacks vital infrastructure such as water supplies and mobile networks on the island state of Berylia, as well as the financial sector.

Crimsonia is also engaging in information warfare, persuading the people of Berylia that their government is responsible for a series of accidents through fake news and social media posts.

The Locked Shields 2021 exercise included 2,000 experts from 30 countries and was organised by the Estonia-based NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE).

This year the exercise featured several new dilemmas, said Commander Michael Widmann, Head of the CCDCOE Strategy Branch.

The exercise examined how evolving technologies, such as deepfakes, will shape future conflict. The cyber domain and information warfare operate hand in hand in the modern environment, he said, calling for governments to have strong strategic communication policies to mitigate these risks.

In the exercise, he said the teams had to find ways for the government of Berylia to communicate in a manner that does not confuse or, worse yet, panic members of the general public.

Adrian Venables, a British academic who has been involved in the exercise for the past seven years, told AFP that while the information campaign part of the exercise was voluntary it was designed so that teams taking part would score higher.

Venables said the information warfare elements provide additional realism and context although the main focus of the exercise is still technical.

The exercise was taking place alongside a real-world cyber defence conference in Tallinn at which NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana on Thursday warned that the pandemic has made countries more vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Russia and China have tried to use the Covid-19 crisis to exploit vulnerabilities, including those in cyberspace, with cyber-enabled disinformation campaigns, designed to sow distrust and division in our democratic societies, he said. AFP

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Fake news attacks feature in NATO cyber war game - The Star Online

Amidst rising Coronavirus cases in the country, pro-Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) vlogger Dhruv Rathee blamed the BJP for risking the lives of people by continuing with its election campaigning in West Bengal.

In a Facebook post on Monday (April 19), Rathee alleged, Rahul Gandhi, Left Parties and Mamata Banerjee have all stopped their election campaigns now. Furthermore, he added, Only Modi and Shah are shameless enough to continue playing with peoples lives. For them, politics >your life. His remarks were directed against the BJP for conducting large gatherings ahead of the 6th phase of polls in West Bengal.

While Dhruv Rathee had made the allegations on Facebook, he did not re-upload the post on his Twitter timeline. However, his post about an actor named Nakuul Mehta supposedly exposing the harsh reality in India can be found on both social media platforms. Dhruv Rathee has a history of peddling fake news and has often been called out on Twitter. As such, he perhaps planned to evade backlash over his baseless allegations by simply not re-posting it on the microblogging site.

In order to cross-verify his claim that all parties with the exception of BJP have stopped their election campaigns, we first visited the official Facebook page of Mamata Banerjee. The first post on her Facebook timeline was a live stream of an election rally at Hemtabad in Uttar Dinajpur district. A simple search debunked the claim that the Trinamool Congress supremo has stopped conducting election campaigns.

As a matter of fact, Mamata Banerjee was accompanied by thousands of Trinamool Congress workers during her massive roadshow from Dhakuria Bridge to the Kalighat crossing yesterday. While the West Bengal CM remain seated in her wheelchair, her supporters followed her with complete disregard to social distancing guidelines.

We had also exposed how Mamata Banerjee and the ruling Trinamool Congress dispensation has been able to successfully evade public scrutiny by shrewdly avoiding live streaming of political rallies on Twitter. While a concerned Mamata Banerjee tweets to Election Commission about rising Coronavirus cases on Twitter, her Facebook timeline is filled with videos of election rallies violating social distancing guidelines.

This strategy also seems to be working as a quick scan of major mainstream media coverage will show how they have not been covering most of her rallies while they have been going hammer and tongs against the BJP rallies.

Dhruv Rathee had also explicitly mentioned the name of Congress scion Rahul Gandhi in a bid to target the BJP and give a clean chit to the Congress. It must be mentioned that on Sunday, Gandhiattributedelection rallies to the rising Coronavirus cases in the country. This is despite the fact that he had addressed a large gathering in Goalpokhar in West Bengal ahead of the 5th phase of Vidhan Sabha polls just a few days back.

Afterrealisingthat election rallies wont be of much help to the partys prospects, Rahul Gandhi decided to call them off. But despite the Congress leaders diktat, party MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury continued to attend crowded rallies. On Sunday, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had shared pictures from his rally at the Naoda Vidhan Sabha Constituency in support of the alliance-backed candidate. He also shared pictures from a rally in Malda in support of another candidate.

This runs counter to the claim of Dhruv Rathee that Congress has stopped conducting election campaigns. At the same time, Gandhis announcement of cancelling his rallies in West Bengal appears to be a tactic only to earn plaudits on social media. The reality on the ground is quite different.

On April 16, CPI(M) leader and former Rajya Sabha member Md Salim posted a tweet declaring that since the Coronavirus is raging across the country, the CPI(M) had decided not to hold any big political event. In his tweet, he even urged the Prime Minister of India and West Bengal chief minister to act responsibly and put the country before the party.

However, hours after taking the moral high ground and pompously announcing that his party would not be organising any big political event, Md Salim took part in a huge political roadshow organised by CPI(M) at Hemtabad in Bengal for canvassing support for Sanjukta Morcha supported CPI(M) candidate Bhupen Barman. In a tweet dated April 17, the party presided over a big political roadshow where participants were seen flouting basic social distancing protocols and not wearing masks.

In another instance, on April 18, two days after Md Salim claimed that CPI(M) had called off big political events in the light of the coronavirus outbreak, a public meeting was organised by the party in support of Fuad Halim, CPI(M) candidate from the Ballygunj constituency.

Its clear that the claims made by pro-AAP vlogger Dhruv Rathee are false and motivated. Although he tried to make a case against the BJP through his shrewd Twitter strategy and the art of cherry-picking, it only exposed his bias.

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Pro-AAP vlogger Dhruv Rathee spreads fake news about only BJP campaigning for Bengal elections, gives clean chit to TMC, Left, and Congress - OpIndia