Bruce's Singing Cyclist Musings

Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).

How to Debunk:

1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.

2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.

3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.

4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.

5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.

"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.

"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."

"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."

Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge

Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.

In the spirit of how to debunk misinformation and disinformation, I encourage you to examine The Financial Services Forum, The American Accountability Foundation, The Epoch Times, Fox News, and One America Network(OAN), among others, using the media literacy skills taught by the News Literacy Project from #1 above under "How to Debunk."  Click on the News Literacy Project link to start your work.

Please read South Dakota Senator John Thune’s reply to President Joseph R. Biden’s State of the Union Address on Thursday, March 6, 2024. His short statement is, at best one lie or partial truth after another. I guess that it is the best that the modern MAGA-led Republican Party can come up with at this point.

In an interview that Thune did with the PBS News Hour before Biden addressed the nation, he said that the United States under President Biden was “going in the wrong direction.” Thune is one of the front runners to take over the broken Republican Senate Minority. How appropriate that he uses gaslighting, a popular tool among propagandists to convince people that something that they see happening with their own eyes isn’t really happening.

In case you missed the above link, here is the text of Thune’s comments:

“President Biden’s tenure will be defined by rampant inflation, lawlessness at the southern border, and a weakening of America’s standing on the world stage.

“No amount of words from the president tonight could have erased the actions he’s taken to undermine America’s economic security, energy security, and national security.

“The consequences of these actions are felt at home and abroad, in the grocery store and at the southern border, and these consequences will linger far beyond President Biden’s term in office.

“We must reverse course – and Republicans are eager to lead the way. We have Republican solutions to unleash American energy, strengthen our military to prepare for the rising threats in today’s world, and finally secure the southern border. Unfortunately, for the past three years, we haven’t had a willing partner in the White House to help us achieve these goals.

“Though the president and I have sharp differences in opinion when it comes to policy, one thing we can agree on is that we are fortunate to live in the greatest country in the world. The blessings that we have as Americans are made possible by the brave men and women in uniform who defend our interests around the globe – and tonight, and every night, I thank them and their families for their service and sacrifice."

Legal scholar and political analyst Barbara McQuade takes a hard look at how tactics like those that Thune is exhibiting in this piece are the foundational tactics used by totalitarian rulers and their propagandists to undermine and attempt to discredit their democratic opponents.

In her book, “Attack From Within” McQuade presents who, why and how strongman ruler wannabees attract and keep their followers and the threat that they present to free societies everywhere.

Sen. Thune’s comments exhibit a destruction of the truth, repeat a series of un- and, at best, half-truths to distract the American people from the “Big Lie” by guarding it with a very large collection of smaller lies that are repeated and repeated and repeated.

He keeps the message simple: we good, they bad. He avoids insult, because insult is not a tool that you want to use in plain sight and earshot of those who haven’t bought into the MAGA hellscape. Republicans can only tell the lies to their devoted followers in order to exploit divisions, undermine critics, appeal to emotion over reason, stoke violence, seek to dismantle public institutions (like the Supreme Court) and, as McQuade puts it, “create an image of the Great Leader as both an Everyman and a strongman.” This is reserved for private White Nationalist self flagellation parties.

So, I have a few clarifying questions for Sen. Thune (you can answer them too). Start each one with “If we are headed in the wrong direction then…

1. is forgiving student debt heading in the wrong direction?
2. is the fact that unemployment is steadily dropping heading in the wrong direction?
3. is increasing domestic production of oil is at an all time high for any nation in the world? (One can argue this quite vehemently, but I mention it here because this doesn’t fit with the great leader’s message about the future of energy.)
4. is raising taxes on the wealthiest of America’s One Percenters a bad thing for anyone but the One Percenters?
5. is steadily lowering inflation a bad thing?
6. are “making smart investments in America, empowering workers, and promoting competition to lower costs and help small businesses” a bad thing? Source: The three pillars of Biden’s plan to restore the American economy and build it for the future.
7. Is providing health care for millions of Americans who otherwise couldn’t afford it a bad thing?
8. is strengthening voting rights a bad thing?
9. is preparing for a clean energy future a bad thing?
10. why does over 40% of the world’s population remain optomistic about the future of the planet?
11. what is your direction?
12. does a woman’s right to choose what she does with her body not matter to you?
13. does a Supreme Court that makes up it’s own version of the Constitution work for you?
14. why is the Financial Services Forum pissed off with President Biden? (watch for the ads that say the economy is struggling)
15. will Vladimir Putin be our next president?
16. does that mean that the three R’s are “Reading, ‘Riting and ‘Rithmatic” and not “Resentment, Revenge and Retribution”
17. where will the Republican Party lead us under Donald Trump?
18. what is the right direction?

A few questions to ponder.

Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).

How to Debunk:

1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.

2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.

3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.

4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.

5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.

"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.

"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."

"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."

Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge

Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.

In the spirit of how to debunk misinformation and disinformation, I encourage you to examine The Financial Services Forum, The American Accountability Foundation, The Epoch Times, Fox News, and One America Network(OAN), among others, using the media literacy skills taught by the News Literacy Project from #1 above under "How to Debunk."  Click on the News Literacy Project link to start your work.

Black history is American history (A satirical clip from Michael Moore’s “Bowling for Columbine” 2002 summarizes American history in 3:42).

Any honest depiction of a comprehensive history of the United States must include Black history. More broadly speaking , Black history aside from being a story of the African diaspora in America for the past 500 years, is the story that serves as a spotlight on what it means to not have white skin in America. That is a story for another month, but one that is inextricably joined at the hip with Black History.

Perhaps it is more accurate to say that American history is merely a part of the larger story of America’s Black history. Black history is a comprehensive look at the whole of history not just cherry picked parts of it. The study of Black history is the study of long suffering as laid out in the Bible. Black history is the study of politics and the patience and perseverance required to pass the Civil Rights Act and to add the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution after the Civil War. Black history is the history of the struggle of women to be treated as equals to men. Black history is enduring unspeakable physical and emotional abuse and teaching what forgiveness looks like. Black history is enduring the ravages of time knowing that a greater kingdom awaits. Black History is raw and honest unlike White History.

Studying and at least partially understanding Black history opens up the window to the soul of America. It also opens up the window to truth, reconciliation and healing that will help mend our torn nation.

Black history is more important than white history. It is the real deal. It is the flesh and blood reality of the idealism set forth in the Constitution. All of the happy and all of the sad. It is the real deal. Nothing sugar-coated about it. It’s the real thing.

Black history is the thing that white America doesn’t want to hear, but must hear. As this Black History Month draws to a close, don’t let your interest in it fade away just because it is no longer February. Read, watch, talk and listen to America through the lens of Black History. We continue to ignore it at our peril.

Here’s some material to help in our continuing study of Black history.

Peace be with you.

Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).

How to Debunk:

1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.

2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.

3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.

4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.

5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.

"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.

"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."

"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."

Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge

Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.

In the spirit of how to debunk misinformation and disinformation, I encourage you to examine The Financial Services Forum, The American Accountability Foundation, The Epoch Times, Fox News, and One America Network(OAN), among others, using the media literacy skills taught by the News Literacy Project from #1 above under "How to Debunk."  Click on the News Literacy Project link to start your work.

I’m done spending any time on Trump. He’s a two-bit puppet-man grifter working for President Putin of Russia and President Xi of China. Putin pulls Trump’s strings and Xi operates behind the scenes to support Russia and protect it from Western sanctions against Russian oil proceeds as Putin continues on his mission to undermine Western democracy.

Authoritarians stick together. Putin and Xi have lots of experience in this area. Xi is careful not to dirty his own hands, but is more than willing to have Putin dirty his in the quest for global domination.

My personal attention now is on how can Putin and Xi be diminished to the point where they no longer have the power to maintain control over one of America’s two main political parties? The Republican Party is getting it’s marching orders from Moscow. Of that, there is very little to no question. The chaotic and disjointed behavior of GOP legislators at the state and federal levels in recent years is the smoke. Putin and Xi lit the fires. Cut at least one of the heads off this two headed snake and the Republican Party will mercifully die and provide room for a new party committed to the American Constitution to take it’s place. One that is free and clear of the outsider interest that brought us Trump in the first place.

This won’t happen over night, but with help from the American voter in 2024, the process can be nudged along in that direction.

No longer will the United States be openly and brazenly hacked by foreign powers. No longer will gun violence be allowed to run unabated; No longer will common criminal behavior be allowed in positions of great political power and influence; No longer will Americans be subject to the obscene levels of mis- and disinformation that come with direct outside involvement in our domestic politics; No longer will Americans die or suffer unnecessarily because rationality and science are ignored; No longer must we accept that we are Red and Blue; No longer will “alternative facts” interrupt our decision making processes; No longer will immigrants be demonized;

Trump is a waste of your time. We need to throw water on Putin and Xi and see what emerges from the smoke!

God bless us all.

Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).

How to Debunk:

1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.

2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.

3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.

4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.

5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.

"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.

"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."

"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."

Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge

Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.

In the spirit of how to debunk misinformation and disinformation, I encourage you to examine The Financial Services Forum, The American Accountability Foundation, The Epoch Times, Fox News, and One America Network(OAN), among others, using the media literacy skills taught by the News Literacy Project from #1 above under "How to Debunk."  Click on the News Literacy Project link to start your work.

Like I said in a previous post, I’m a big picture thinker. I’ll also confess to being a political conspiracy theorist. The difference between most Right Wing conspiracy theories revolving around the 2020 Election is that there is no evidence to back up any of the claims. It is based on virtually nothing, nada, zip, zero, zilch factual information.

On the other hand, my Conspiracy theory is that Russian President-for-Life Vladimir Putin successfully tampered with the 2016 election in order to get Donald Trump elected president. He has his claws sunk deeply into Donald Trump. Donald Trump has his claws sunk deeply into the MAGA controlled Republican Party. The MAGA controlled Republican Congress is holding up aid to Israel and Ukraine despite massive concessions in a Bi-partisan bill that offers Mexican border security provisions that past iterations of the Republican Party would have tripped over themselves to pass.

There is at least some smoke coming from my conspiracy theory campfire. The 2020 Election denial theories are, well, simply based on pure fiction. And the fiction is about as good as fiction can get.

Why is the MAGA controlled Republican Congress refusing to address the Bi-partisan bill? Speaker Mike Johnson in the House of Representatives is calling the Senate-produced bill “dead-on-arrival.” He will not even allow the bill to reach the House floor for debate. Does Trump’s relationship with Putin have anything to do with this decision by Mike Johnson?

I have more questions than answers, but, be honest, who doesn’t like a GOOD Conspiracy theory? Stay tuned, the fun is only beginning.

Instead of trying to offer an inadequate summary of the evidence in the Putin-Trump connection, read it here for yourself. Pick and choose which evidence you want to read, there’s 448 pages of it.

Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).

How to Debunk:

1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.

2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.

3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.

4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.

5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.

"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.

"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."

"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."

Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge

Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.

In the spirit of how to debunk misinformation and disinformation, I encourage you to examine The Financial Services Forum, The American Accountability Foundation, The Epoch Times, Fox News, and One America Network(OAN), among others, using the media literacy skills taught by the News Literacy Project from #1 above under "How to Debunk."  Click on the News Literacy Project link to start your work.

The “Battle of the Bulge” is widely called the greatest battle in U.S. Military history. World War 2 was nearing it’s end and it was just before Christmas (December 16, 1944), when an unexpected German counter offensive in the Ardennes forest of Belgium caught Allied forces off guard. The offensive resulted in a giant bulge in the 85 mile long Allied front line in the densely forested area.

German tanks and infantry actually breached the line on Day 1 of the military action. Reinforcements were called in to support the battle weary troops in the bitterly cold, wet and foggy and snowy conditions of the Ardennes over the next several days. One of the units called in to reinforce the beleaguered American soldiers was the 101st Airborne Division, a battle hardened group that was asked to to hold the vital transportation hub of Bastogne. Things remained bleak for Allied forces and Bastogne was surrounded by German forces.

On December 22, the German Commander sent a message to the Commanding General of the 101st. Upon receipt of the message, Gen. Anthony McAuliffe was said to have replied with the one word answer, “Nuts!”

Three days later on Christmas Day, the weather broke allowing allied aircraft to take control of the skies over the Ardennes. The 101st held on until Gen. George S. Patton’s 3rd Army arrived to liberate Bastogne and drive German forces back across the Rhine into Germany. Within five months, the war in Europe would be over thanks to the heroic actions of American soldiers throughout the Ardennes.

So what does this have to do with anything? It was a battle fought early eighty years ago far away in Europe. Who cares?

Well, I bring it back into the light because to me it seems analogous to the political battle being waged against democracy in the United States. In America, we thought that the war was won (The Revolutionary War) and that we would be able to occupy our place of power in the world using a Capitalist economic system covered by a thin veneer of Democracy.

That thin veneer of democracy is bulging now and the opposition forces have breached the lines and have surrounded the people and institutions trying to hold on against the counter offensive of those that want democracy to fail.

A Legislative body that is hell bent to do nothing in defense of Democracy, a Judicial branch that has been turned into a partisan shit show and the very real possibility that the Executive Branch will be controlled by a petulant, vindictive, delusional and well protected former president that has no future outside of prison unless he becomes president again.

So, in the words of the commanding general at Bastogne, I say “NUTS!” to the surrounding forces asking us defenders of democracy to surrender. The fight is just beginning, the clouds are starting to part and reinforcements are on the way.

God bless you all regardless of where you stand (or sit) on the political spectrum. It’s going to be an interesting 2024 and I plan on not being a spectator.

Bruce