Looks like “Fake English” when a fake word wins “Word of the Year” by Macquarie Dictionary

When a word that isn’t a word wins Word of the Year prize, we know Macquarie has lost it.

Bowing to the God of Political Correctness, Macquarie Dictionary has just named “Fake News” as Word of the Year.

In real English, “Fake news” is two words, otherwise known as a phrase. Separately both words have real and easy-to-understand meanings. Together they have become the the latest meaningless slur as the mainstream media realize they are losing power and influence to the real news on blogs and in the alt-media. The old-media is  trying to stop the bleed by labeling the new media as “fake”. Instead of namecalling, the old-media could win easily if it just reported the real news.

When a word that isn’t a word wins Word of the Year prize, we know Macquarie has lost it. If any Macquarie products are on your back-to-school booklists, buy something else. Who wants to teach our kids fake English?

This is the latest attempt by wordsmiths to destroy the language honest people use. We need accurate words to slice and dice arguments of parasites, freeloaders, and self-serving fools. “News” used to mean the whole story and all the facts that matter. Fake news is what happens when a reporter hides half the story from their audience.

h/t and thanks to David B.

9.4 out of 10 based on 108 ratings

199 comments to Looks like “Fake English” when a fake word wins “Word of the Year” by Macquarie Dictionary

  • #

    The Macquarie dictionary lost the plot about 20 or so years ago, so this is really nothing new.

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    mmxx

    It seems time that the “alternative facts” word/phrase is given equal recognition in this hitherto-prevailing Washington media swamp’s PC lexicon.

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    Rereke Whakaaro

    There is already a perfectly good word they could of used, that word is “fark”.

    The word was coined by Drew Curtis as the title of a book about bizarre and amusing stories in the press.

    It has now transmogrified into fark.com, a community website that allows members to comment on news that is not news, but “fark”.

    Wiktionary informs us that, “In Australia and New Zealand, fark is only very slightly less offensive than “similar sounding” words. After all, whot is in a vowel?

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    • #
      KinkyKeith

      Bowels are the least important parts of a word.

      The “gist” of many a sentence can be seen without bowels.

      For example:

      JliGllrd ws Astrlas grtst fmlprm mnster.

      Not 100% prfct but then neither was the sbjct.

      KK

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        KinkyKeith January 25, 2017 at 7:37 pm

        “Bowels are the least important parts of a word.”

        When sitting on the terlit, straining, ….bowels are the only thing of import! ‘Ask any doctor’!

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            TedM

            Not on this site Keith, save that for RealClimate.

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            • #
              KinkyKeith

              Ouch.

              That hurt.

              Feels like I’ve been disemvowelled.

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              • #
                Environment Skeptic

                Ok, now that you are softened up, it is time to subject you to the ‘Mandella Effect’. 🙂

                ” 20 Examples Of The Mandela Effect That’ll Make You Believe You’re In A Parallel Universe
                Maybe it’s parallel universes or time travel, maybe it’s just bad memory — either way, it’s fascinating. “

                https://www.buzzfeed.com/christopherhudspeth/crazy-examples-of-the-mandela-effect-that-will-make-you-ques?utm_term=.yuzzvggN9p#.bsM79BBZPe

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                Environment Skeptic

                Before————————————-After
                Bananna………………………………Banana
                Specialise……………………………Specialize
                Colour……………………………….Color
                Marginalise…………………………..Marginalize
                Standardised………………………….Standardized
                sceptic……………………….Skeptic

                The list is huge and growing by the day.

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              • #
                Speedy

                That’s TERRIBLE! You should be hung, drawn and quoted.
                Cheers,

                Speedy

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              • #
                KinkyKeith

                True ES the Mandela Effect; hadn’t heard of it before but the memory is remarkably fluid.
                The brain takes current input and mixes it with maybe 3 times the amount of previous experience in similar situations and that mix is our new experience.
                We rely on previous experience more than we realise.

                KK

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                brill

                When I was at Uni I read a paper that showed the memory cannot distinguish between reality, dream or fantasy. It is constantly checking all input against reality. Example, when we wake from a dream we realize where we are and that it was a dream. I encounted a few real experiences of this phenomenon through my life. In a conversation with my son when he was about 18 he insisted we went to a certain place (can’t remember where) when we were in NZ.. He was 3/4 when we were in NZ for 9 months. Could not convince him we didn’t go anywhere near the place. Another time a friend told the story of when they were very young and left in the car in a shopping centre. Her brother drove the car around and re-parked it in a different spot. Mum was a bit confused but no big deal was made of it. Later when they were all adults the topic came up and all 5 of them remembered it as a dream. In their memories it had never actually happened.

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              • #
                KinkyKeith

                Hi Brilliant

                That’s the beauty of having a scientific approach to life.

                We check and cross check to confirm reality.

                Your comment on NZ experience is not that unusual.

                The brain is able to take some real experience, you were all in NZ, and mix it with later events, detail of a place only read or talked about, and create a m interesting story.

                Some serious cases can occur with “recovered memory syndrome” and these can sometimes lead to a lot of pain.

                KK

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              • #
                KinkyKeith

                Brill

                Spellchecker is a nuisance.

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      • #
        TdeF

        You have gone back to Hebrew, a written language without vowels. So YHWH is what you make of it but you are not allowed say it anyway.

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    • #

      How did they overlook the word “ignoranus”, when it so well describes alarmist trolls?

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      Environment Skeptic

      There is already a perfectly good word they could of used, that word is “fark”.

      Nah, ‘fark’ wouldn’t work because of the extended ‘a’ when it is pronounced. Fark [pronounced: fahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-ark]

      There are many examples where use of the word ‘fark’ have taken over a minute to annunciate making it to expensive to use on media where air time is at a premium.

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      TdeF

      Great book. I loved the bit about the annual hurricanes in Florida, 15 a year. Always the same man on the same pier with the same waves and the same helicopter view. Despite the dire predictions, the predicted Climate Change has actually reduced the frequency and severity of hurricanes, which at least gives the reporters a break from Fark.

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        TdeF

        He also planted a fark news story and just watched it ripple through the press. No one really cares if it is true or not. It is all an attempt to get people to click through to more advertising.

        A proof of that is news.com.au which always lists stories by popularity at the end. Now that is of little interest to readers but of consuming interest to editors, because that is all they care about, not the truth. Truth in advertising is an absurd concept and the internet news channels have given up pretending it is news. I have seen headlines like “Why Donald Trump gets away with lies” and refuse to click through. It’s all farknews.

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          Dennis

          True story: I read about Japanese prisoners of war in Asia during WW2, apparently a camp commander was unhappy about the Australians behaviour and lack of respect towards their captors so he called a parade and prepared to lecture the men. He started with “you think I know F nothing but I assure you all that I know F all.

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          • #
            TdeF

            Sounds like a Furphy but entertaining. A neighbour has the end of a Furphy Water Cart on the wall. Soldiers told tall tales around the Water Cart in WW1 and these became known as Furphies. In earlier generations the same happened at sea around the water barrel, known as a scuttlebut.

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          • #
            Graeme No.3

            Dennis,
            think German and Colditz castle.

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  • #

    Must be because of all the FakeNews on FlakeBook, or is that Flake News on Fake Book. The media however still don’t get that they are the Fakers, mostly by omission.

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    scaper...

    Is warmist in that dictionary? If it was, what would be the meaning?

    Come on guys…I need a good laugh.

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    • #
      Peter C

      I wish I could see the Joke scaper. I am not in a laughing mood right now.

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      • #
        bobl

        El Gordy,

        I actually wrote back to that “scientist” and asked him to explain how his innoculations would work in context with the truthful innoculants that could be planted from the Sceptic side, that is, how his debunking of the Oregan petition using logical fallacies (Strawmen arguments) would survive if all the flaws with the Cook study were known to the participants and where the participants were actually familiar with the math of the Cook study and CAGW.

        In other words I pointed out that his technique only stood a chance of working on people who are totally ignorant of the facts around global warming and the Cook study. Given a fully informed person, innoculation would have zero effect.
        He should choose a new headline

        “Ignoramuses can be immunised against facts”

        It’s a bit like

        Elephants are pink
        Elle is an Elephant
        Therefore Elle is pink…

        compare

        All Scientists agree CAGW is real and dangerous
        Bob is a scientist
        Therefore Bob must agree that CAGW is REAL and DANGEROUS

        Perfectly logical and consistent except Elephants aren’t pink and nowhere near all scientists actually agree with CAGW.

        Best that can be said from the Cook fabrication is that 97% agreed that man might impact climate more than nothing – given UHI and the effects of microclimates even I agree with that. Plant a tree and you change the climate under the tree. The microclimate in my front yard has cooled significantly since I moved in because of the plants this man and his wife put there.

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      tom0mason

      “Come on guys…I need a good laugh.”…

      Others omitted from that dictionary –

      Goralize: inconveniently fake climate news.
      Green-blob: advocates for unnatural human regression.
      Ice-free: term indicating fake research; method of ensuring others pay excessively for sea travel.
      Wadhams: Measure of Arctic ice (currently between 12,000 and 13,000 Wadhams)
      Torrential drought: see California’s unending drought January 23, 2017.
      UN-IPCC press report: see fake news.

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        AndyG55

        “Wadhams: Measure of Arctic ice (currently between 12,000 and 13,000 Wadhams)”

        Actually, its well over 13 Wadhams 🙂

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    • #
      Yonniestone

      Warmist: A cloud of tiny water droplets suspended in the atmosphere that exceeds 37°C often expelled form the mouth as a result of incoherent ranting.

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    doubtingdave

    ” FAKE DICTION ” = Words or Phrases usually found in publications that are controlled , supported or funded by authoritarian establishments , in a futile attempt to counter the effects of free thought and opinions found in free thinking media that they do not control, examples of ” FAKE DICTION ” can be found in officially sanctioned dictionaries such as Macquarie , Newspapers like The Washington Post or The Guardian and establishment run Television broadcasters such as the ABC or BBC . PS however , if its just examples of consistently poor grammar from the uneducated that you are looking for , you will find it here in abundance under the user name ” doubtingdave ” 😉

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  • #
    Peter C

    Jo,

    You highlight a really serious problem here. Accurate language is crucial to critical thinking. If our language is not precise concepts cannot be understood. Any argument becomes meaningless in no time.

    Fake news means “lies”.

    Unfortunately the Trump Team has not managed Fake News well. The poor turnout of spectators for the Inauguration Parade was trumpeted by the media but described as “Fake News” by his media team.
    Sorry I can’t find the reference to the media interview right now.

    That is likely typical Trump but it is not truthful.
    Trump team should have responded by saying the DC residents stayed away ,because they are all Democrat voters, but the faithful who turned out came from far away at (great personal cost) to see their President installed. Then call them the Real America.

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    • #
      Peter C

      While I was writing a few other comments have gone up. So I should have included “Alternative News”.
      The phrase “Alternative News” is means even worse lies.

      The Media is a Tragedy!

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        Environment Skeptic

        From http://changingminds.org/techniques/general/reframing.htm
        “Watzlawick, Weakland and Fisch (1974) describe the ‘gentle art of reframing’ thus:

        To reframe, then, means to change the conceptual and/or emotional setting or viewpoint in relation to which a situation is experienced and to place it in another frame which fits the ‘facts’ of the same concrete situation equally well or even better, and thereby changing its entire meaning.”

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          Lionell Griffith

          The gentle art of “re-framing” is nothing more than shifting the context of the discussion to something else. Since it is the context of the discussion that give the discussion its interpretation, the shift of context changes the interpretation.

          The important question to ask are the facts in the discussion abstracted from their actual context? If so, the interpretation is more likely to be consistent with what actually was/is the case. If not, then the the interpretation of the same set of facts will be based upon a misrepresentation of the context. Thereby, the interpretation will likely be inconsistent with what actually was the case.

          Since truth MEANS to be consistent with what actually is the case, re-framing changes the interpretation of an apparently same set of fact to a lie. If purposefully done, it is an attempt to steal the aura of truth from the valid interpretation and apply it to the invalid interpretation.

          At best, re-framing is an example of sloppy thinking by commuting the logical error of equivocation. At worst, it is an intellectual bully’s attempt to force faulty thinking on the part of his target in order to intellectually destroy his target.

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          • #
            Lionell Griffith

            Oops, in last Paragraph: “commuting” -> “committing”.

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          • #
            bobl

            When I left school we called that SPIN, copiously produced by graduates of communication humanities degrees called SPIN-DOCTORS perhaps we should stick with that definition.

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            • #
              Lionell Griffith

              Those who use words as weapons keep doing the same things but try to use new words to make what they do sound better. They lack the courage to be up front and open about what they do and try to use verbal stealth.

              Call it spin, re-framing, or whatever the next term will be, and the next. It is all an attempt to steal the aura of truth from a legitimate context and attach it to their illegitimate context. The goal always being to destroy the ability of their target(s) to think clearly and to make correct decisions. I call them intellectual bullies.
              Spin Doctor is a much too honorable name for them.

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          AndyG55

          Ahhh . I get the picture!

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    • #

      Peter C January 25, 2017 at 7:11 pm
      “Jo, You highlight a really serious problem here. Accurate language is crucial to critical thinking. If our language is not precise concepts cannot be understood. Any argument becomes meaningless in no time. Fake news means “lies”.

      OK So what? Such has been prevalent\ordinary, from government from time immemorial.

      “Unfortunately the Trump Team has not managed Fake News well. The poor turnout of spectators for the Inauguration Parade was trumpeted by the media but described as “Fake News” by his media team.”

      Perhaps the new team are inexperienced at true vivid Bull Shit, unlike your WITCH and her crowd of liars!

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      ivan

      The poor turnout of spectators for the Inauguration Parade was trumpeted by the media but described as “Fake News” by his media team.

      It was indeed ‘Fake News’ as can be seen from Interactive CNN gigapixel here that CNN put up after they realised that not a lot of people believed their ‘fake news’ story. Note, you will need a browser that can display HTML5 graphics to view it – I assume that is another way of trying to limit the number of people viewing it.

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      • #
        brill

        I saw that the other day and assumed it was correct. While reading the comments here I started wondering which picture was accurate and which was the fake news.

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  • #
    Ian Hill

    When cyclist Lance Armstrong was busted his books were relegated by librarians to the fiction section. Seems like a good place for the dictionary in question, not to mention many books on climate change.

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      Graeme No.3

      I notice that in the latest DVD catalogue sent to me that Brian Cox DVDs are selling for just under $10. About the same as Chips Rafferty (remember him) but half the price of the Two Ronnies.

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        Ian Hill

        I must confess to owning a Brian Cox DVD (Wonders of the Solar System) which I selected when redeeming a $50 ABC Shop gift card given to me by my brother for my 60th birthday some time ago. I think that was part of a 2 for $25 deal then. I also selected something called “Coast Australia” but could only watch one episode. A Scotsman who is not Billy Connolly doing a documentary about Australia just doesn’t work!

        Sorry, Chips Rafferty was before my time, but the Two Ronnies, pure gold!

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        • #
          Len

          Chips Rafferty was in a war film. Chips in his bushman accent said “Stone the crows, another Japanese patrol”. When things got too boring on exercises in patrolling in Australia, someone would
          repeat what Chips said, “Stone the Crows, another Japanese Patrol”.
          Another saying was “All the way with LBJ”. Laugh. Then someone whould say “Mu Fullow Mercans” imitating LBJ. Chips served in the RAAF in WW2.

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  • #
    Geoffrey Williams

    We know those responsible for the fake news – they are the same one’s responsible fo the faking lies . . .
    GeoffW

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    Asp

    The designation of fake news has wider implications than just the old media having a sling at new media. Angela Merkel has announced that her government will be taking steps to control ‘fake news’. Most likely she will draw on the East German model to control news that may cast some of her recent decisions in a bad light. Actually, this has already been happening with the full cooperation of the old media.

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  • #
    el gordo

    Fake News is nothing new, Orwell’s book is selling well, something to do with Trump and Newspeak.

    https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/24/george-orwell-1984-sales-surge-kellyanne-conway-alternative-facts

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      Peter C

      Thanks El Gordo.

      That is the reference I was looking for.

      Orwell was on the money, even though he would likely not have agreed with us.

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      • #
        graphicconception

        We need to remember that when Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty Four he intended it to be a warning and not a manual.

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          TdeF

          Did anyone actually publish figures or is this just a story circulation, a self evident proof of the evil of Trump? Was it like the hottest year ever, by 0.02C?

          That 1984 observation fits the meme that Trump is a dictator and that the educated middle classes have seen the parallels with 1984 and are buying the book. Firstly, is it true. Even if true, maybe it is on a school curriculum, but the coincidence is intended to indicate the opinion of the masses. No. More Fark, very selective random news to fit the picture being painted. Sales of the Bible may have gone up too, but that does not fit the story.

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            TdeF

            Just checked Amazon. Trump is #9 and George Orwell is #15. 1984 is a common school test but Trump is unlikely to be on a curriculum anywhere, except perhaps business school.

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  • #
    RoHa

    But when I offer corrections to bad grammar, misuse of words, or incorrect (and therefore misleading) punctuation, I get told that it doesn’t matter because everyone understands.

    The traditional Trivium of grammar, logic, and rhetoric has been abandoned. Fashionable nonsense and propaganda have taken their place.

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      Radical Rodent

      I’m with you one that, RoHa. Oft times, when pointing out an error in the language, I get castigated, often along the lines of: “It’s a living language; this is its evolution…” (Or, perhaps even worse: “Its a living language; this is it’s evolution…”).

      In my simple mind “fake news” is not necessarily a lie, but an article of absolutely no relevance to anything or anyone other than the subjects of the story – e.g. “sleb A” has had a falling-out with “sleb B.” So what? Who cares (apart from “slebs” A & B, and – possibly – their families)? (“Sleb,” of course, being another word “created” by the uncreative, being a truncation of the term “celebrity.”)

      Mind you, one good example of “fake” news, where the agencies issue false information – i.e. actually lie – took place last Friday, when previously-respected news media took part in massive misinformation, showing vast swathes of unoccupied lawn in Washington at some unspecified time, and implied that the audience was not that great (I mean, who really wants to see the person who has really upset the apple cart of the privileged metro-elite being inaugurated into his job) – later footage during the actual ceremony showed those areas to be pretty packed with people, a point utterly ignored by the BBC, CNN, et al.

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    • #
      Geoff Sherrington

      The trivium HAS taken their place?
      Point made.
      Pedant Geoff

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  • #
    neil

    Macquarie Dictionary is a very second rate publication, who actually uses it? I’m sure there are some left leaning education departments that insist we need an “Australian” Dictionary in schools but educated people use The Oxford for English and Webster for American (which is not English).

    Macquarie totally lost the plot when they held a press conference to announce they were changing the meaning of “misogyny” because Julia Gillard used it against Tony Abbott but didn’t appear to understand what it meant so they changed it to what she thought it meant. Now they don’t seem to understand what the word “word” means.

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      mike restin

      I’ve never heard of it.

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      TdeF

      Gillard’s area was education, even if that seems a little odd for her background and ‘hyperbowl’, but Macquarie are a business and Gillard was building the Education Revolution. Schools are the biggest book market by far, especially for dictionaries and novels like 1984. Macquarie wants to be the standard text for schools and bookstores are extremely left, so it makes perfect business sense for the Australian meaning of mysogyny to be whatever Gillard wanted. You know what they were hoping.

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      • #
        Dennis

        An honory doctorate purchased with our money from University of Adelaide, only cost $100 million.

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          Dennis

          And then the Clinton Foundation education fund received a much larger gift of our money and they have since appointed their benefactor to chair the board of the fund.

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    scaper...

    OT. It’s good to see a scientist awarded Australian of the Year. Much better than the people whom have got the gong in recent times.

    http://www.news.com.au/national/spinal-cord-injury-research-professor-named-australian-of-the-year/news-story/88639e01bc379e0c779233afced26e3c

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    RAH

    The left has made a business of corrupting the English language to suit their purposes at a particular time. One that has bothered me very much down through the years and is still used frequently is “reverse discrimination”. Another more recent invention is “homophobia”.

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    Leo G

    “Fake news” – disinformation and hoaxes published on websites for political purposes or to drive web traffic, the incorrect information being passed along by social media.

    As the Macquarie Dictionary website published on its News Page: “The Committee’s Choice for the 2016 Word of the Year is fake news.”
    I wouldn’t disagree.

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    Turtle

    For “fake news” read “thought crime”.

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    • #

      “He who controls the present controls the past.”

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      tom0mason

      Thoughtcrime
      Ideas expressed against the correct prevailing consensus, as in these guilty people listed HERE

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        Greg Cavanagh

        An incredible display of gullibility… Thought crime indeed.

        Scientists questioning the accuracy of IPCC climate projections

        Scientists arguing that global warming is primarily caused by natural processes

        Scientists arguing that the cause of global warming is unknown

        Scientists arguing that global warming will have few negative consequences

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          tom0mason

          Does Wikipedia have a similar list for scientists researching other topics but not holding the consensus line? NO.
          So all other scientific fields have no-one against the consensus, or perhaps other fields of research are truly scientific and does not resort to maintaining a consensus view of its theories.
          Either way, why does Wikipedia believe there is a need to publish those scientists names?
          It just shows how political the topic has become.

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          • #
            James Murphy

            No one seemed to complain about CERN and the LHC with its (at least) 2 distinct schools of thought regarding the predicted mass of the Higgs boson.

            No one seemed to complain about the 2 different approaches to developing a successful polio vaccine either…

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    pat

    I’ve been digging into a FakeNewsMSM meme this week, which was a story that went viral worldwide claiming:

    ‘Recently-departed CIA director John Brennan said MR. TRUMP “should be ashamed of himself”’

    once I switched off the radio news & went online, it turned out Brennan said nothing. instead, it was his “former deputy chief of staff Nick Shapiro” who spread the story. in Shapiro’s tweet, it wasn’t even MR. TRUMP, but simply TRUMP.

    TWEET: 21 Jan: Nick Shapiro: Former CIA Dir Brennan is deeply saddened and angered at Trump’s despicable display of self-aggrandizement…(1/2)…
    …in front of CIA’s Memorial Wall of Agency heroes. Brennan says that Trump should be ashamed of himself.” (2/2)
    FROM REPLIES:
    Thank GOD IN HEAVEN you are no longer in the CIA…

    Glad you’re renting rooms now instead of being CIA…

    were CIA people applauding Trump and his mad speech though? CNN’s @Acosta says they were…

    The applause was out of respect, the “standing ovation” was protocol for an executive officer…

    why are you gossiping? Because you’re merely a “former” spokesman for a former president with only 5,000 followers. No 1 cares…

    I do have to (applaud) you @jaketapper for this tweet and “reporting” the truth from Nick as U try to make up a controversy…

    more to come…

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    pat

    what I’ve now discovered is, Shapiro allegedly gave “a statement” to FakeNewsNewsweek, whose UPDATED/CORRECTED article is a piece of work:

    21 Jan: Newsweek: Trump Pledges Support, Aims to Bury Russia Feud in Campaign-Style Visit to CIA
    President draws applause as he blasts the media, ETC
    By Jeff Stein
    Updated | President Donald Trump gave a campaign-style speech at CIA headquarters Saturday afternoon, drawing enthusiastic applause and cheers from a few hundred assembled workers with a pledge that “we are going to start winning again, and you’ll be leading the charge.”…
    Trump told the assembled spies, analysts and managers that “the dishonest media” had “made it sound like I had a feud” with them, implying that he ***only had a beef with CIA Director John Brennan, who resigned Friday, and other ***top spy agency officials…

    But Trump’s seemingly warm reception might have been somewhat stage-managed, according to various accounts. The Washington Post’s longtime CIA watcher, Greg Miller, tweeted Saturday that the audience was “a self-selected bunch: CIA employees who signed up to come in on a Saturday to see the new POTUS. Mostly Trump voters.” A pool reporter selected to witness the closed event indicated “the cheering and clapping was not from the CIA staffers but people who accompanied Trump,” according to The Post’s fact-checker Glenn Kessler. He later clarified on Twitter that it was “unclear who the people on the side were. But the folks in the front apparently did not react until the end.”…

    A different pool reporter wrote that Trump initally received an enthusiastic response from the 400 attendees, but as his remarks “strayed…the cheering was coming primarily from stage right…***where the rank and file employees were seated. The ***senior staff, seated directly in front of POTUS, was noticeably far more subdued.”…

    ***Brennan deplored the rally-style event, according to his former deputy chief of staff Nick Shapiro. Brennan “is deeply saddened and angered at Donald Trump’s despicable display of self-aggrandizement in front of CIA’s Memorial Wall of Agency heroes,” Shapiro said ***in a statement provided to Newsweek. “Trump should be ashamed of himself.”
    George Little, former CIA Director Leon Panetta’s spokesman, also took deep offense at Trump’s staging the event in what amounts to hallowed ground at the agency.
    Little wrote on his Facebook page. “This will go down as the most disastrous speech ever given at CIA Headquarters.”
    “This wall is so special to me,” Trump said, speaking from a lectern in front of it…

    A former top CIA official under Brennan dismissed the crowd’s apparent enthusiasm for the new president…
    “They are good, polite people,” the former official said on the usual terms of anonymity that intelligence officials employ. “He’s the president and he is kissing their ass, why wouldn’t they clap?”…

    Trump took the occasion to also digress again into attacks on the “dishonest media.” … and mocked an erroneous account by Time magazine, quickly corrected, that he had removed a bust of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. from the Oval Office…

    Returning to another standard campaign theme, Trump told the CIA workforce that ”radical Islamic terrorism has to be eradicated off the face of the earth,” and vowed, “We’re going to end it.”
    “We are all on the same wavelength,” Trump said to rousing applause. “We are going to do great things.”
    An earlier version of this story reported that the cheering response to Trump’s CIA speech came only from the president’s retinue. According to a new account, the CIA audience consisted of “self-selected” workers who came in on a Saturday to welcome Trump. This story has also been updated to include a quote from one of the pool reporters at the event.
    http://europe.newsweek.com/trump-pledges-support-buries-russia-feud-campaign-style-visit-cia-545993?rm=eu

    allegations the cheering crowd was debunked in the above, yet it went viral:

    Huffington Post: “Donald Trump’s Laugh Track Is Tricking America. The president is engaging in psychological warfare with Americans.”

    The Daily Beast: “CBS: Trump Brought Cheering Crowd to CIA Visit.”

    Raw Story: “Trump loaded up CIA event with cheering supporters, intel sources claim.”

    Trump spoke directly to the cheering/applauding overflow crowd of CIA personnel as he ended his talk:

    21 Jan: ZeroHedge: In Speech to the CIA, Trump Offers to Build Them a Room Without Columns: ‘Do You Understand That?’
    by The_Real_Fly
    At the end of Trump’s speech to a room filled with 400 employees of the CIA, Trump said, rather cryptically, that maybe he’d build them a bigger room ‘by someone who knows how to build and we won’t have columns, do you understand that?’
    For those of you who are (EXPLETIVE DELETED) and haven’t the slightest clue what that could mean, I suggest you read up on the fifth column theories — which are essentially the existence of a shadow government…
    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-21/speech-cia-trump-offers-build-them-room-without-columns-%E2%80%98do-you-understand-that%E2%80%99

    FROM THE TRANSCRIPT:
    “I will tell you the final time: although I will say it, when you let in your thousands of other people that had been trying to come in, because I am coming back.
    “We may have to get you a larger room. [laughter, applause] We may have to get you a larger room.
    “And maybe – maybe – it’ll be built by somebody that knows how to build and we won’t have columns [laughter] You understand that? We’d get rid of the columns.
    “I just wanted to really say that I love you. I respect you. There’s nobody that I respect more. You’re going to do a fantastic job. And we’re going to start winning again. And you’re going to be leading the charge.
    “So thank you all very much. Thank you, beautiful. Thank you all very much.”

    more to come…

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    tom0mason

    Fake News Dictionary has just named “Macquarie” as the official Fake Word of the Year.

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    Macquarie Dictionary…fake philology.

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    Richard Ilfeld

    Altering the meaning of words and phrases into sinister misunderstandings is standard for the left.
    Heck, I feel like committing kintetic overseas activity every time I hear….
    Wait for it…..
    ….
    Climate Change!

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    Ruairi

    Two into one will not go,
    Though Macquarie may wish it were so,
    But P.C. these days,
    Can’t see ‘fake news’ as a phrase,
    Or even a two word combo.

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    pat

    VIDEO: 57secs: 24 Jan: MRC TV: Curtis Houck: CNN’s Jim Sciutto Falsely Claims Trump Didn’t Pay Respects to CIA Memorial Wall
    http://www.mrctv.org/videos/cnns-jim-sciutto-falsely-claims-trump-didnt-pay-respects-cia-memorial-wall

    CNN Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto with Wolf Blitzer plud six more of the CNN (CIA News Network) mob were instantly ready to attack Trump’s CIA visit. Sciutto calls President a liar (usually a no-no)…claims people inside the CIA – some speaking to him privately (points to his phone), some publicly – John Brennan, Ryan Crocker (to Blitzer) who was speaking to Robin Wright, who you had on your program earlier:

    CNN Transcript: Aired January 23, 2017
    JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Listen, if I can disagree on the reset point there, because the reset only works if it’s not just the promise to tell the truth, but if you actually tell the truth.
    And I just want to take issue with his description of the CIA speech by the president. Right? The key issue there was not crowd size. It was Donald Trump saying that the dispute with the intelligence community was manufactured by the media, which is factually not true…
    His (Spicer’s) answer to that, his sole answer was, there was a five-minute standing ovation, which there was not. There were people clapping.
    And it’s our understanding that this was a ***self-selecting crowd, one, and there were many staffers who did that. But that doesn’t — regardless of how many people were clapping, it doesn’t wipe away that ***the president told a lie at the CIA to say that the CIA — that the media created this dispute, when he has repeatedly publicly undermined the intelligence community…
    Just one more point I would make, there was an opportunity here, which the president missed in front of that Memorial Wall at the CIA, was to say anything about the sacrifice of the 117 stars representing the people who died in the field for the Central Intelligence Agency…So, it’s two opportunities missed with what became really one of the core critiques from people inside the CIA, some who have been speaking to me privately, but some publicly. John Brennan, Ryan Crocker, speaking to Robin Wright, who you had on your program earlier, they were upset that the president went there and he didn’t say, I — at the equivalent of their Arlington and didn’t make a comment about that. I think that’s an enormous missed opportunity for the press secretary.

    (JAKE) TAPPER: I want to say one other thing just to bring the viewers into the world of Washington press.
    And I don’t want anyone to think that I’m complaining about this. But Sean Spicer, the order in which he called on people suggests that it is a new day when it comes to whom this White House considers to be priorities in terms of being called on.
    Again, I’m not griping. But normally what happened for decades, as far as I know, is the first question goes to the Associated Press, which is front row center. The Associated Press is an organization that a lot of media organizations, newspapers use. It’s considered impartial, down the middle.
    He didn’t call on the Associated Press first. He did call on them, but he didn’t call on them first, second, third or fourth. He called on “The New York Post,” which is, I think it’s fair to say, Donald Trump’s favorite newspaper, the newspaper that he has used and read and provided all sorts of interesting tidbits to for decades.
    He also called on second the Christian Broadcasting Network, which is significant. That’s a Christian — that’s obviously for conservative Christians largely. And he called on them second. He called on Univision, called on FOX. He was trying to set a tone about this is a different era. We are going to call on different people…

    (DAVID) GREGORY: … to Jake’s point, is that press is also — the White House press corps has got to hang together, because, yes, fine it’s a new day. You want to call all over the room. They are making a point. They’re doing that deliberately. That’s fine. Nobody is going to cry for us.
    But the ability to do what Jake has done and Dana has done in the White House, what I tried to, what you did, where we follow up on each other’s questions, that’s how you go deeper on the issue of Syria. Are they willing to work with Assad and Russia to fight ISIS? We want to know that…
    http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1701/23/cnr.07.html

    more to come…

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    pat

    different strokes for different folks:

    24 Jan: Spectator: Jeffrey Lord: Obama Caught on Tape Cracking Jokes in Front of CIA Memorial Wall
    Media Trump/Obama double standard recorded by New York Times.
    As reported by Politico, the transcript of the Trump remarks has the President saying the following:…
    “The wall behind me is very, very special. We’ve been touring for quite a while, and I’ll tell you what — 29? I can’t believe it”…
    There was more. He said he loved them. And so on.
    But the media? The media was horrified. Why? Because he upbraided the media for their reporting and, most horrifying, stood in front of the CIA’s tribute to its fallen — the above referenced 29 stars — to do it…
    There was more. He said he loved them. And so on.

    But the media? The media was horrified. Why? Because he upbraided the media for their reporting and, most horrifying, stood in front of the CIA’s tribute to its fallen — the above referenced 29 stars — to do it…
    But where was Mr. Exum and those offended CIA employees when President Obama stood in front of that very same wall and said, on April 20, 2009, according to the CIA’s own transcript, this:…
    ” And thanks for those of you who prepared, from the CIA gift shop, the t-shirts — (laughter) — the caps, the water bottles. (Laughter.) Michelle and the girls will appreciate that very much. (Laughter.)”…
    Yes, of course there is video of the moment, as supplied here by none other than the New York Times (LINK), that graphically shows both then-CIA Director Leon Panetta, the President, and the CIA employees themselves all joking, laughing, and cheering in a manner that would never even be considered at, say, Arlington Cemetery. At one point Obama even jokes to the audience response, “I got an Amen Corner around here” — which is greeted with a gale of laughter…

    Got a good look at that? There is the President of the United States making his first appearance at the CIA. Not one day after being sworn in, as was true of President Trump, but three months later. And what does he do? He opens by cracking jokes about t-shirts, caps, and water bottles. By bringing the visit back to his family. And being greeted by, according to the transcript, repeated “laughter.” Worse still, he was introduced by his new CIA Director, Leon Panetta, who was, again according to the CIA’s transcript, greeted by CIA employees with “Extended cheers, applause” and three rounds of laughter. All vividly evident on video. And by Monday night of this week there was Panetta on CNN Monday night wondering if Trump realized he was president when he made his remarks at the CIA…

    Where, exactly, was the horror from the media at Obama and Panetta’s performance? Where were the rants about Obama — and Panetta and all those cheering, laughing CIA employees — dishonoring the CIA’s Memorial Wall? Cheapening a sacred space? Cracking jokes, being self-referential and narcissistic?
    That’s right. As you might expect there was none of this. Zero. Zip. Nada. There is enough hypocrisy here to choke not just a horse but the entire entry list at the Kentucky Derby.
    Which goes, ironically, right to the point that President Trump was making in his CIA talk when he said of the media: “I always call them the dishonest media.”…READ ALL
    https://spectator.org/trump-at-the-cia-the-medias-double-standard/

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    pat

    the Newsweek reporter, Jeff Stein (posted earlier, comment in moderation) is “a member of…the Association of Former Intelligence Officers”- Wikipedia, and he protects the Time Magazine guy who spread the fakenews about the MLK bust, by not naming him.
    reporter is Zeke Miller and, when he apologised, he only apologised in a tweet to his FakeNewsMSM “colleagues”. it has been reported he also apologised personally to Trump’s Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, who accepted the apology, BUT HE HAS NOT APOLOGISED TO PRESIDENT TRUMP OR TO THE PUBLIC.

    Tweet: Zeke Miller, Time Magazine: 20 Jan: Tweeting again: wh (White House) aide confirms the MLK bust is still there. I looked for it in the oval 2x & didn’t see it. My apologies to my colleagues
    FROM REPLIES:
    Jeanne N: If you guys would give up the whole “gotcha” reporting thing, you wouldn’t fall into your own traps so often.

    TruthOverNarrative: You wanted it to be true so badly… You should find a new line of work with that mindset.

    Betty Ann: Apologies to your “colleagues?” Is your only concern for your colleagues. Not the fact that you & they misinformed the public?

    Broadway: “To your colleagues”? Suuure, THAT is who needs your apology, you shameless hack.

    the totally over-the-top piece by Robin Wright, referenced by Jim Sciutto, in the CNN transcript posted above:

    22 Jan: New Yorker: Robin Wright: Trump’s Vainglorious Affront to the C.I.A.
    Trump’s remarks caused astonishment and anger among current and former C.I.A. officials. The former C.I.A. director John Brennan, who retired on Friday, called it a “despicable display of self-aggrandizement in front of C.I.A.’s Memorial Wall of Agency heroes,” according to a statement released through a former aide. Brennan said he thought Trump “should be ashamed of himself.”
    Crocker, who was among the last to see Ames and the local C.I.A. team alive in Beirut, was “appalled” by Trump’s comments. “Whatever his intentions, it was horrible,” Crocker, who went on to serve as the U.S. Ambassador in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, and Kuwait, told me. “As he stood there talking about how great Trump is, I kept looking at the wall behind him—as I’m sure everyone in the room was, too. He has no understanding of the world and what is going on. It was really ugly.”
    “Why,” Crocker added, “did he even bother? I can’t imagine a worse Day One scenario. And what’s next?”…

    John McLaughlin is a thirty-year C.I.A. veteran and a former acting director of the C.I.A. who now teaches at Johns Hopkins University…
    “It’s simply inappropriate to engage in self obsession on a spot that memorializes those who obsessed about others, and about mission, more than themselves,” he wrote to me in an e-mail on Sunday. “Also, people there spent their lives trying to figure out what’s true, so it’s hard to make the case that the media created a feud with Trump. It just ain’t so.”…
    John MacGaffin, another thirty-year veteran who rose to become the No. 2 in the C.I.A. directorate for clandestine espionage, said that Trump’s appearance should have been a “slam dunk”…
    “What self-centered, irrational decision process got him to this travesty?” MacGaffin told me. “Most importantly, how will that process serve us when the issues he must address are dangerous and incredibly complex? This is scary stuff!”…
    http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/trumps-vainglorious-affront-to-the-c-i-a

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      The word for Brennan–I just thought of it–is “puritanical”. So earnest, so self-righteous… so utterly worthless a human being, because he is a spineless acolyte of Islam and Obama.

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    pat

    the most amazing bit – who is Nick Shapiro whose tweets/statement claiming to speak for Brennan, got picked up by the monolithic FakeNewsMSM worldwide?

    24 Jan: CanadaFreePress: Cliff Kincaid: Rather than quote Brennan, shouldn’t the media investigate the former CIA director?
    Will Trump’s CIA Investigate Itself?
    When President Trump was greeted with cheers and strong applause at CIA headquarters, you knew that Obama’s CIA director John Brennan would decide to strike back. The liberal media were quick to quote Brennan as saying that he was “saddened” and “angered” by Trump’s remarks. But where did these quotes come from? Who provided them to the media?
    The rest of the story sheds light on how politically partisan the CIA became under Brennan, and how rank-and-file CIA officers who want to “Make America Great Again” seem so happy that he is gone.

    Nick Shapiro, the source of the Brennan quotes, is a “former CIA Deputy Chief of Staff,” which sounds impressive until you learn that Shapiro was a partisan mouthpiece not only for Brennan but for President Obama and, before that, John Kerry.
    The controversial Brennan admittedly voted communist before joining the CIA and reportedly converted to Islam when he was in Saudi Arabia as CIA station chief. He was in charge of President Obama’s pro-Muslim Brotherhood policy that decimated the Middle East with endless wars that have produced millions of refugees.
    “Ex-CIA chief Brennan bashes Trump over speech during CIA visit” was the headline over the predictably partisan CNN story. “Former CIA Director Brennan is deeply saddened and angered at Donald Trump’s despicable display of self-aggrandizement in front of CIA’s Memorial Wall of Agency heroes,” Shapiro said in a statement. “Brennan says that Trump should be ashamed of himself.”
    Shapiro’s quotes, attributed to Brennan, were picked up by many other media outlets as well…

    It was clear to any objective observer with a set of eyes and ears that Trump’s speech at CIA headquarters was a tremendous success. He was interrupted by applause 11 times.
    Brennan, on the defensive for Obama’s policies that have left Europe in a refugee crisis that shows no sign of ending, decided to use Shapiro, a public relations operative, to bash the President.
    Despite his CIA affiliation, Shapiro graduated from Tulane University in 2002 with no background in intelligence matters or foreign affairs. He had a Bachelor’s degree in communications and went to work for a public relations agency. He worked on Democrat John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign and then as Deputy Press Secretary on Barack Obama’s 2008 election campaign. He went to work for President Obama, handling “national reporters on a 24/7 basis,” according to one account. It looks like he was then dispatched to the CIA to help Brennan with the national media.

    Those kinds of media manipulation skills were on display when the media lapped up the anti-Trump allegations from Brennan’s CIA, packaged in the form of anonymous sources. They were designed to depict Trump as winning the presidential election unfairly with the help of the Russians…
    During the current controversy, Shapiro put Brennan’s comments on his Twitter feed and then promoted a CNN story attacking Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS), Trump’s nominee to run the CIA.
    In other words, this is more politics from those who were running the CIA under Obama. They seem to be afraid that Trump and Pompeo will shake up the agency and get to the bottom of the damage that Brennan has inflicted on the CIA.
    Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump, was absolutely correct on ABC News’ “This Week” when she called Brennan a “partisan political hack” for criticizing the President’s speech. She noted that Trump got a standing ovation.
    On “Fox News Sunday,” White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus indicated that Brennan was “bitter” over being replaced…
    Rather than quote Brennan, shouldn’t the media investigate the former CIA director? If that’s not possible because of past media collusion with Brennan’s CIA, the job will have to fall on the shoulders of Trump’s new CIA Director Pompeo, and the House and Senate intelligence committees.
    http://canadafreepress.com/article/will-trumps-cia-investigate-itself

    Shapiro works for Airbnb, so how would he even be speaking for Brennan?

    Sidewire: Newsmaker: Nick Shapiro
    Fmr. CIA
    Nick Shapiro is the former Deputy Chief of Staff to the CIA Director. Previously, he served the Obama administration as the Senior Advisor to the Deputy National Security Advisor and as a Spokesperson for the President. Currently, he is the Global Head of Crisis Communications and Issues Management at Airbnb…

    Aug 2016: CNN: Obama’s staff is taking over Silicon Valley
    by Seth Fiegerman
    Marantis was one of the first Obama staffers to head west to be part of the tech scene. Since then, dozens of officials from all parts of the Obama administration have followed in his footsteps, including prominent figures like campaign manager David Plouffe (Uber), Environmental Protection Agency head Lisa Jackson (Apple (AAPL, Tech30)) and most recently Attorney General ***Eric Holder (Airbnb)…
    But so many members of Obama’s administration have gone to San Francisco that one former political official now in the tech industry likened it to American expats hanging out in Paris after World War I…
    “It wasn’t a goal of mine,” says Nick Shapiro, former deputy chief of staff at the CIA who joined Airbnb in December to head crisis communications. “But time and time again you get hit up by companies in San Francisco who see what you’ve done in government and where you’ve been. They’re looking for people who understand the intersection of ***press, politics and policy.” …
    “I’m surrounded by many of the same people I was surrounded by in the White House itself,” Shapiro says. “There’s a feeling of familiarity knowing you have a strong support network. Probably if I needed something at another company, one of my first calls would be to another Obama alumni.”
    Even Obama himself has hinted at a desire to dabble as a venture capitalist after his presidency ends…
    “The younger folks at the White House thought it was really cool,” Nick Papas, director of public affairs PR at Airbnb, says of the reaction from colleagues when he left to join the travel startup. “Some of the folks who were a little older thought I was going to start a bed and breakfast.”…
    http://money.cnn.com/2016/08/11/technology/obama-staff-silicon-valley/

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    pat

    final words from a genuine reporter, Sharyl Attkisson:

    Oct 2014: NY Post: Kyle Smith: Ex-CBS reporter’s book reveals how liberal media protects Obama
    When the longtime CBS reporter asked for details about reinforcements sent to the Benghazi compound during the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack, White House national security spokesman Tommy Vietor replied, “I give up, Sharyl . . . I’ll work with more reasonable folks that follow up, I guess.”
    Another White House flack, Eric Schultz, didn’t like being pressed for answers about the Fast and Furious scandal in which American agents directed guns into the arms of Mexican drug lords. “Goddammit, Sharyl!” he screamed at her. “The Washington Post is reasonable, the LA Times is reasonable, The New York Times is reasonable. You’re the only one who’s not reasonable!”…

    Now that she’s no longer on the CBS payroll, this pit bull is off the leash and tearing flesh off the behinds of senior media and government officials. In her new memoir/exposé “Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama’s Washington” (Harper), Attkisson unloads on her colleagues in big-time TV news for their cowardice and cheerleading for the Obama administration while unmasking the corruption, misdirection and outright lying of today’s Washington political machine…
    Calling herself “politically agnostic,” Attkisson, a five-time Emmy winner, says she simply follows the story, and the money, wherever it leads her…

    Reporting on the many green-energy firms such as Solyndra that went belly-up after burning through hundreds of millions in Washington handouts, Attkisson ran into increasing difficulty getting her stories on the air. A colleague told her about the following exchange: “[The stories] are pretty significant,” said a news exec. “Maybe we should be airing some of them on the ‘Evening News?’ ” Replied the program’s chief Pat Shevlin, “What’s the matter, don’t you support green energy?”
    Says Attkisson: That’s like saying you’re anti-medicine if you point out pharmaceutical company fraud.
    A piece she did about how subsidies ended up at a Korean green-energy firm — your tax dollars sent to Korea! — at first had her bosses excited but then was kept off the air and buried on the CBS News Web site. Producer Laura Strickler told her Shevlin “hated the whole thing.”…
    In green energy, for instance: (Attkisson) “Imagine a parallel scenario in which President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney personally appeared at groundbreakings for, and used billions of tax dollars to support, multiple giant corporate ventures whose investors were sometimes major campaign bundlers, only to have one (or two, or three) go bankrupt . . . when they knew in advance the companies’ credit ratings were junk.”
    Attkisson continued her dogged reporting through the launch of ObamaCare: She’s the reporter who brought the public’s attention to the absurdly small number — six — who managed to sign up for it on day one…

    One of her bosses had a rule that conservative analysts must always be labeled conservatives, but liberal analysts were simply “analysts.” “And if a conservative analyst’s opinion really rubbed the supervisor the wrong way,” says Attkisson, “she might rewrite the script to label him a ‘right-wing’ analyst.”
    In mid-October 2012, with the presidential election coming up, Attkisson says CBS suddenly lost interest in airing her reporting on the Benghazi attacks. “The light switch turns off,” she writes. “Most of my Benghazi stories from that point on would be reported not on television, but on the Web.”…
    When the White House didn’t like her reporting, it would make clear where the real power lay. A flack would send a blistering e-mail to her boss, David Rhodes, CBS News’ president — and Rhodes’s brother Ben, a top national security advisor to President Obama…
    http://nypost.com/2014/10/25/former-cbs-reporter-explains-how-the-liberal-media-protects-obama/

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    PhilJourdan

    In real English, “Fake news” is two words, otherwise known as a phrase.

    Bless you! I have had to correct so many folks spouting that nonsense (word versus phrase). I am no wordsmith of the English language, but I try to use the correct terms. Words do have meanings. And it is the imprecise use of language that begets Newspeak.

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    Andrew McRae

    Spicer’s tepid answer to the HOTTEST YEAR EVAR non-problem:
    https://youtu.be/g9t4JqtJkIM?t=42m8s
    “There’s a balance. … We can do things that are smart for the environment… as well as doing things that create economic growth and job creation.”

    Hasn’t quite distanced Trump from Obama with such a wishy-washy remark, but there’s likely more fireworks in store when Pruitt gets unleashed.

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    Oliver K. Manuel

    Thank you, Jo Nova, for reminding us of the comical “fallout” from society’s awakening to reality.

    This confirms the success of your blog!

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    Speedy

    I suppose the Macquarie Thesaurus will also include “fake news” as an entry.

    Can I suggest “ABC 7:30 Report” as an automatic entry????:)

    Cheers,

    Speedy

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    grahamd

    What a day to expose fakes here in Australia, after all it is Australia day-better known as Lamb on the BQ day- media and sheep do spring to mind. Penelope Arthur’s article “Sorry PETA … but this is a lamb!” 16 Apr 2015 – is one not to be missed.

    http://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/story/3366265/sorry-peta-but-this-is-a-lamb/?cs=4733
    Slim Dusty – Waltzing Matilda our real national anthem……
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwvazMc5EfE

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    tom0mason

    Fake News like the sophistry of the left may have some attractive forms, indeed some could be considered objects of beauty were it not for their deliquescence, and the overuse of a green fetid aura palette.

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    Another Ian

    Two bits of news

    “Fukushima residents exposed to far less radiation than thought:”

    http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2017/01/the-sound-of-se-562.html

    And

    “#FakeNews: ABC News Admits To Editing Ari Fleischer’s Praise Of Trump’s Press Secretary To Sound Like Attack”

    http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2017/01/your-moral-and-402.html

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    David Maddison

    Quote:

    If you control the language, you control the argument
    If you control the argument, you control information
    If you control information, you control history
    If you control history, you control the past
    He who controls the past controls the future.” – Big Brother, 1984

    https://lfb.org/the-war-on-words-and-facts/

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      tom0mason

      Gavin ‘the hottest year evah!’ Schmidt version —

      “I control the past climate records so control the future scenarios.
      I control the present climate records thus I adjust the past climate records.”

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        Greg Cavanagh

        There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set. You are about to participate in a great adventure. You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the inner mind to — The Outer Limits.
        — Opening narration, The Control Voice, 1960s

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    David Maddison

    The word “farm” is used to describe wind and solar subsidy farms.

    They use the word farm rather than some other word like “installation” or “plant” because farm is an innocuous sounding word that has connotations of lush green fields and all-round niceness and does not reflect the horrors and destruction inflicted upon civilised industrial society by these super-expensive, Intermittent, diffuse (low energy density), view destroying and health destroying (for windmills) parasitic energy “sources”.

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      bobl

      Not really, it comes from engineering EG Server Farm, it just means a large collection of like things, as in the monocultures usually raised on farms, row after row of watermelons. In fact you could probably call The Greens a farm, row after row of watermelons…

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      John F. Hultquist

      Wind Park is also used.
      Then there are “drive ways” where you park,
      and “Park Ways” where you drive.
      Also, Expressways where you express frustration for lack of getting anywhere.

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    ianl8888

    As far as “fake news” goes, here is a very familiar technique employed by people who promote such fakery:

    http://tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com.au/2007/04/in-my-view-brainwashing-in-anti-smoking.html

    The author has genuine credentials beyond reproach, yet still he was smeared close to the point of oblivion for stating the truth of a situation. Infact, he was told directly that a propaganda position was more important than his scientific integrity.

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    Frank

    It does draw attention to attacks on reason and truth, now escalated to “alternative facts” by the Trump admin.

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      Alternative facts are alternative facts. In any situation there are facts that suit one argument and facts that suit another. They are all facts.

      The freeloaders and cheats choose facts that are irrelevant, half-the-story, or based on the wrong instrument — like reminding us how much the world warmed from 1979 – 1999, but ignoring the rest of the 500 million year history that doesn’t suit.

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    Rick Will

    Dramatic Drop in Deep Ocean Temperature During 2016
    NOAA’s Argo ocean monitoring buoys show that the global oceans released an average of 0.1W/sq.m throughout 2016 causing the average temperature to drop 0.012K in the top 700m. This is the region of the oceans that stores the energy in Earth’s climate system. The massive loss of energy, being some 1.3ZJ (that is 10e21), from the climate system will have a long lasting cooling effect on the global surface temperature if it continues.

    OK – so that is not a headline and story you will read anywhere but here. However it is interesting that the Argo buoys show cooling in all corresponding quarters between 2015 and 2016 in the decadal climate sensitive 0-700m.
    https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/3M_HEAT_CONTENT/basin_avt_data.html
    Of course you have to have some faith the ocean temperature can actually be measured to 3 decimal places of a degree.

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      David Maddison

      A 12mK drop in temperature is significant? And how can something like that even be measured give the huge area covered by each buoy?

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        David Maddison

        What I meant to say is that a 12mK change in temperature is not significant, whether cooling or warming.

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          Rick Will

          Isn’t that the margin that gets 2016 surface temperature over the line as the hottest year evahh!

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          Rick Will

          I like the 12mK though. Looks more impressive than 0.012K – something to remember.

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            David Maddison

            In the past I have done low temperature measurements at liquid helium temperatures for the purpose of measuring the thermopower of electrically conducting polymers and got used to thinking of temperature in mK. A calibrated platinum resistance thermometer with a quadrature balance for measuring resistance is good for 1mK accuracy or better.

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    el gordo

    News Break

    A mechanism has been found which produces extreme weather, apparently when the sun is on the blink it produces a wayward jet stream on earth and you can see it operating in both hemispheres as we speak.

    ‘In 1988, Bucha showed decreased solar activity causes a wavy jet stream along with low aa-index of geomagnetism in line with my findings above. Thus, the solar minimum will cause extreme weather as well as global cooling which might begin in 2020 when the ocean inertia of 14 years is added to 2006 (phase change year of solar activity).’

    – See more at: http://notrickszone.com/#sthash.cLDzxG7a.dpuf

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    tom0mason

    My personal favorite word rarely used these days is kludgy

    Many decades ago a work colleague (a Scotsman with a broad Glasgow accent) used this word a lot when referring to poorly designed equipment, or people who had knowledge beyond their capability to understand.
    The sound of Jock’s missive of “You daft kludgy” or “He’s a gold-plated kludgy” often echoed around the workshop and usually caused a chuckle.

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    RB.

    Macquarie lost any respect from me when misogynist included men who looked at their watch when a woman was waffling on in a speech.

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    el gordo

    There is great benefit for our side in the highlighting of ‘fake news’, because of the irony.

    The conversation has already begun in my milieu and human induced global warming must rank as the biggest folly of the century, but nobody wants to talk about that.
    Its all fear and loathing of Trump.

    Undaunted I’ll prepare some one liners and try a different approach.

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    Rick Will

    Forget Fake News here is the Real News Network headline from 23 Jan 2017:
    Leading Ocean Researcher Says We Could See An Iceless Arctic in 2017

    Peter Wadhams has repredicted the collapse of the Arctic:
    http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=18120
    “It wasn’t really… it’s got worse these last couple of months as winter comes on, and the ice has failed to advance properly. But it was also at a record low right the way through 2016, right from the autumn of 2015, when I was up there on an icebreaker, the Sakoolihat(?), and we found the ice in the Beaufort Sea failing to advance in autumn as it should be doing. And that failure led to a slower rate of advance right through the winter, so that every month of 2016, there was a lower area of ice than in any previous month… similar month. Except, for that, just a little period in September which is the absolute minimum time, when there was slightly more ice around this year, slightly more ice around than in 2012, which was the record-holder.”

    That is how you explain 2016 was worse than the lowest year so far, 2012, but wasn’t the lowest when it was the warmest – if you get what I mean.

    By the way if you feel the urge to encourage this outstanding series of predictions then you can support Peter W by purchasing his book:
    https://www.bookdepository.com/A-Farewell-to-Ice-Peter-Wadhams/9780241009413?redirected=true&utm_medium=Google&utm_campaign=Base1&utm_source=AU&utm_content=A-Farewell-to-Ice&selectCurrency=AUD&w=AF45AU992GQH82A8078M&pdg=kwd-104399950179:cmp-680104063:adg-32696820702:crv-151943499815:pid-9780241009413&gclid=COXvvoHk3tECFUEHvAodX8EBGA

    This was the PW 2013 prediction:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7139797.stm

    PW’s 2017 prediction has just taken a wrong turn:
    http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/icecover.uk.php
    If only the ice would cooperate with the predictions. He needs an ice homogeniser so he can get the data to support the prediction.

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      Graeme No.3

      An ice homogeniser can be purchased from Harvey Norman; just ask for a blender (but you knew that didn’t you?).

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    pat

    u have to see the pic…the Fake excuse is even funnier:

    25 Jan: Newsbusters: Kyle Drennen: ABC’s Photoshop Fail: Creates Fake Image to Promote Trump Interview
    After being caught deceptively editing comments from former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer during a report on Monday’s Nightline, on Wednesday, ABC News was again embroiled in a fake news controversy after the network used a badly photoshopped image to promote World News Tonight anchor David Muir’s upcoming interview with President Trump.

    The picture showed Trump looking out the window of the Oval Office in a pretty standard pose, however, outside that window there appeared to be a massive blizzard (Click on the image above to enlarge). The only problem? It hasn’t snowed in Washington D.C. in weeks and certainly no storm that intense has hit the area so far this winter. In fact, the weather on Wednesday was unseasonably warm – sunny and 60 degrees.

    An ABC spokesperson told TVNewser: “When the marketing team created the promo, they included the wrong image by mistake. They updated it with a new photo as soon as they realized the error. We regret the mistake.
    http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/kyle-drennen/2017/01/25/abcs-photoshop-fail-creates-fake-image-promote-trump-interview

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    pat

    ‘Overblown’ or FakeNews?

    25 Jan: DailyCaller: Michael Bastasch: Veteran Federal Workers Fire Back At ‘Overblown’ Media Reports Of A Trump Gag Order
    News outlets frantically reported President Donald Trump’s team ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to temporarily freeze grant spending and stop sending out social media posts or talking with reporters. Similar memos were sent to Health and Human Services, the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture employees

    When EPA employees leaked the memo to news outlets, the media went wild. The Hill newspaper wrote “Trump bans EPA employees from giving social media updates.”
    “Trump silences government scientists with gag orders,” the Verge reported. The Guardian wrote “Trump bans agencies from ‘providing updates on social media or to reporters.’”…

    But veteran federal employees disagreed. Those who spoke to the New York Times said the Trump administration acted no differently than the Obama administration did when taking over the reins of government in 2009…
    “I’ve lived through many transitions, and I don’t think this is a story,” an unnamed senior EPA employee told NYT. “I don’t think it’s fair to call it a gag order.”
    “This is standard practice,” the employee said. “And the move with regard to the grants, when a new administration comes in, you run things by them before you update the website.”…

    Similar news came out about a “gag order” for a small branch of the Department of Agriculture, which led to Buzzfeed to report “USDA Scientists Have Been Put On Lockdown Under Trump.”…
    But Trump never ordered the “lockdown.” In fact, the memo to USDA researches was sent by Agriculture Sec. Tom Vilsack, President Obama’s appointee…

    Concern over gag orders came as official government social media accounts supposedly went rogue in defiance of Trump…READ ON
    http://dailycaller.com/2017/01/25/veteran-federal-workers-fire-back-at-overblown-media-reports-of-a-trump-gag-order/

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    pat

    25 Jan: WashingtonTimes: Douglas Ernst: ABC issues apology for misleading quote about Sean Spicer: ‘We are fixing the piece’
    A mangled quote by ABC News about White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s job performance forced the network to apologize late Tuesday.
    Complaints by former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer regarding the way “Nightline” represented his opinions prompted him to defend President Trump’s attacks on the media. The network said it would fix a Monday segment that chopped comments about Mr. Spicer that could be misconstrued…

    “Nightline aired a segment Monday night about the first three days of the new administration including Sean Spicer’s statement to the press on Saturday,” the network said in statement, The Hill reported Wednesday. “As part of the report, we interviewed former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer. In editing the piece for air, his quote was shortened and as a result his opinions mischaracterized. We are fixing the piece online to include his full quote and context. We apologize and regret the error.”
    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/25/abc-issues-apology-for-misleading-quote-about-sean/
    COMMENT Freerepublic: I noticed that Spicer went to The Washington Times first when the question segment of today’s press conference started.

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    pat

    25 Jan: Breitbart: Edwin Mora: White House: ‘No Idea’ Where ‘CIA Black Site’ Draft Came From
    White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Wednesday that an alleged draft executive order titled “Detention and Interrogation of Enemy Combatants” “is not a White House document.”
    “I have no idea where it came from,” stressed Spicer.
    Various mainstream media outlets, including the New York Times (NYT) and the Washington Post (WaPo), published the contents of this document, suggesting it was a legitimate draft from White House officials…(PLUS BBC, REUTERS, TIME, SMH, AFR, UK SUN, & MANY MORE)
    http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/01/25/fake-news-white-house-says-no-idea-detention-interrogation-doc-obtained-mainstream-media-came/

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      Oliver K. Manuel

      If the swamp is actually drained, I would not be surprised to see that the CIA, like the US NAS (National Academy of Sciences), actuall worked for the UN (United Nations).

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    sophocles

    Once upon a time there was News and Opinion.
    Now there is News and Fake News.

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      sophocles

      So what is News and what is Fake News is a matter of Opinion.

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        PhilJourdan

        No, it is a matter of fact. There is still news and opinion. We just have fake news now in addition (although it always was there, just hidden by retractions on page A-42)

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    Phillip Bratby

    The BBC and the Grauniad are the biggest purveyors of fake news in the UK. Followed by Channel 4…..

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    pat

    Fake News:

    25 Jan: UK Independent: Ian Johnston: Climate change is making birds uglier after ‘dramatic’ U-turn in evolution, finds study
    Elaborate ornaments used to signal sexual fitness, which have delighted generations of birdwatchers, COULD start to disappear as animals come under pressure from global warming
    http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-make-birds-drab-u-turn-evolution-study-wildlife-global-warming-environment-nature-a7543836.html

    for some reason “yawn” appears above the headline. thought it might suggest The Week was parodying the Independent’s article, but no, it’s serious:

    24 Jan: TheWeekUK: Climate change is making birds boring
    http://theweek.com/speedreads/675447/climate-change-making-birds-boring

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    Andrew

    I use it as one word, spelled in CamelCase with a capital Hashtag.

    And it IS word on the year – the leftist meeja (MSM plus FB) used it to censor non-Illary speech but found it buried back at them deservedly. It has destroyed their brands – the have burned 100 years of mastheads.

    And Macquarie invented it. They literally wrote a #FakeDictionary the day after Gillard abused Privilege to smear A666ott and cover up for Slippery. She levelled a lie at her opponent and so they published a new dictionary to defend her. The ultimate in the genre.

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    tom0mason

    ¯
    ¯
    O/T but readers here may be interested in “Just How Much Does 1 Degree C Cost?” at https://co2islife.wordpress.com/2017/01/25/just-how-much-does-1-degree-c-cost/

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    Analitik

    Just deplorable

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    Wayne Job

    My pet hate for the hijacking of the meaning of a word is organic, as in food grown without pesticides or herbicides. Being old never in my life have I seen inorganic food of any description.
    Green is a colour, not a type of electricity, nor is it a type of transportation, when someone says the grass is green it is a descriptor it does not mean that the grass is PC on has to despair at what they are teaching our youngsters in school.

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    AndyG55

    OT: Arctic sea ice update: Data from

    ftp://sidads.colorado.edu/DATASETS/NOAA/G02135/north/daily/data/

    day 25 2017 is now above day 25 of 2006, 2011 and 2016

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    Roy Hogue

    Fake English

    No, no, no! English is a language that, like the United States Constitution can grow and change to suit the whims needs of the moment. If the language or the constitution written in that language were not permitted to change just think about how boring that would be. Just think about how many constitutional lawyers would be out of a job, how many English teachers would be displaced by a computer — the list would go on and on. And don’t forget the poor students who would sit in the same boring English classes year after year all the way through school.

    No! We need those constitutional changes of convenience and those new fake-English words. Variety is the spice of life. So get with it folks, let’s spice it up. 😉

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    doc

    First let me say thank you to the brave few scientists that have stood their ground and
    held to the scientific method and to their principles – people such as Jo. This has no doubt come at huge cost in money and professional standings.

    To actually make the AGW argument dead, cremated and buried, our politicians should not be allowed to slink away into a quiet corner until the era becomes a forgotten, unspoken of memory. They have cost the nation $Billions in all manner of ways easily tabulated. They have treated the people abominably. They are willing to see people freeze or fry in their pursuit of ‘saving the world’. They refused all reality of life to be lead as outcomes of their policies, refusing to even consider the future they were creating for the nation and the destruction of our economy. They considered themselves Gods by proclaiming a science they had no expertise to judge and they demeaned every citizen that kept the faith of reason and in the science of the modern era. Australia cannot allow these people to simply walk away from their destruction of nations and of the living standards of the people. They have joined in an effort to destroy the progress of the Western democracies in the false guise of ‘saving the planet’ but instead aimed to force the Democracies to bow to an antidemocratic world governing central body similar to the UN or the EU Commission.

    As our politicians seek to slink away under the banner of ‘It wasn’t me’ so they aren’t joined in history as members of the greatest fraud to attempt to control the planet, we must pursue them for every horrid abandonment of principle for a gain of personal power.
    They have to be figuratively burned on the same stakes they have hoist everyone that has had the temerity to refuse to bow to their humiliating suppressive misuse of the power of government. This has to be done to deter any other group of megalomaniacal miscreants from trying on the same power plays in the future.

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