Fake News & Fake Science

What do you think of when you think of #fakenews?  CNN?  MSNBC?  The whole gaggle of mainstream media?  If you do, regardless of what else you might think of Donald Trump, you must admit that he's a PR mastermind.  Because - you may recall if you think hard about it - the origin of the #fakenews stories was actually the mainstream media.  They were in the first stage of the 5 stages of grief, right after the election: denial.  They were so upset that Trump had been elected that they sought to de-legitimize the election in any way possible and one of the refrains they came up with was "#fakenews" - they claimed that people had been hoodwinked by "fake news" articles on Facebook and elsewhere (pot, meet kettle?) and somehow that threw the election to Trump.  The left, in their coastal elite bubbles, simply could not (and still cannot) fathom that there are still people out there who would vote for Trump.  But today, when most people think of fake news, they think of CNN, MSNBC, the NY Times or the rest of the mainstream media gaggle.  That was solely thanks to the brilliant marketing move by Trump to brand (over and over) CNN et. al. as fake news, and it stuck with the American people.  He turned the whole narrative on it's head and redirected it back at the mainstream media.  It's that same PR saavy that won him the election.  He branded Ted Cruz as "Lyin Ted" even though Cruz doesn't appear to have lied about anything- but it stuck, and people bought it because the mainstream media gave Trump an estimated $2 billion in free media coverage.  Why?  Because their ratings soared when they covered Trump- Trump kept things interesting and that drew crowds and drew viewers.  The mainsteam media never dreamed that he actually had a chance of being elected.  

The ironic thing is that the mainstream media's visceral hatred of Donald Trump is resulting in their demise right before our eyes.  By the time the next election cycle rolls around, the 'mainstream media' will be a shadow of their former existence, and they won't have any viewership to speak of, so it won't matter if they learned their lesson about providing Trump free coverage or not.  They have been disintegrating as they struggle to take down Trump regardless of ethics, regardless of facts.  It's that extreme bias and lack of an obligation to the truth that has resulted in CNN's ratings being beat by the History Channel, ESPN, HGTV, and Nick at nite.  CNN in particular has been exposed by James O'Keefe's Project Veritas as having lost their compass and flat out lying to try to create some magical connection between Trump and Russia where none exists.

It turns out that the American people have been lied to, regularly, by the media, by government officials, and now it turns out (no surprise to me) by government funded scientists as well.  A recent peer reviewed study by scientists Dr. James P. Wallace III and Dr. Joseph S. DAleo and statistician Dr. Craig D. Idso have determined that the global average temperature datasets (GAST) have been generated using altered data in order to trump up claims of impending global warming and were in fact "totally inconsistent with published and credible U.S. and other temperature data.”  In other words when climate change alarmists have been warning of dire consequences from CO2 emissions, it's all been - you guessed it - #fakenews.  'Scientists' at complicit organizations including NASA, NOAA, and the UK Met Office were modifying the raw temperature data to bolster the narrative of impending catastrophic warming.

In this chart you can see where temperatures were 'adjusted.'  The blue indicates where temperatures were artificially lowered and the red indicates where temperatures were artificially elevated.  According to the study, “Each dataset pushed down the 1940s warming and pushed up the current warming.  You would think that when you make adjustments you’d sometimes get warming and sometimes get cooling. That’s almost never happened.” 

Duke University recently admitted that a Duke scientist being funded by a $200 million EPA grant had faked experimental data in research studies on air pollution and lung function.  Numerous published studies had to be retracted because of data manipulation that was fabricated or falsified.  In my view, this is why most government funded 'science' or 'research' is neither science nor research.  Real science means following the evidence wherever it may lead.  Government science means following the money to reach the conclusion that the funding agency is looking for, in order to keep the money coming.  Clearly, if a scientist reached conclusions that ran contrary to the goals of the funding organization, they would no longer be awarded any research grants.

The theme of this entire article is that many in our society have simply lost their moral compass and drive for the truth.  At fault might be such motives as greed, power, hatred, or even jealousy.  For many in the government, media, academia, and science, it's too late.  They have destroyed their credibility and the only success or solace that can be found is by changing career paths.  Political agendas should never get in the way of the facts and the truth, for the truth shall set you free.