Axios has a bit in their morning email thingie that made me think about the message of War Games (odd emboldening and enigmatic use of bullets is theirs):
Welcome to our sad, new, distorted reality — the explosion of fake: fake videos, fake people on Facebook, and daily cries of “fake news.”
- This week, we reached a peak fake, with Facebook saying it had deleted 2.2 billion fake accounts in three months … a fake video of Speaker Pelosi going viral … and Trump going on a fresh “fake news” tear.
- A Pew surveylast year found that two-thirds of tweeted links to popular websites came from non-human users (bots or other automated accounts), per Axios’ Neal Rothschild.
OK, so what, ‘Grain?
Be smart: Fakes and personas have existed on TV, radio and print for years. But as the N.Y. Times notes: “Legislators have failed to stay on top of social media platforms, with their billions of hard-to-track users from all over the world.”
What’s next: The inevitable result of a fake information universe is real crisis manufactured by fake news.
- Misinformation about vaccines has led to an alarming number of measles outbreaks.
- And fake online pharmacies have led to a spike in deaths.
The phrase real crisis manufactured by fake news is what got me.
One could argue it has already happened (well, maybe not like War Games), but with The Russian Usurper calling for the death penalty for his political enemies based upon his self-generated fake news of being spied upon, we’ve entered a whole, new phase.
This is not creeping fascism, we’re already here. This is full-on despotism, our democracy has failed us, and whatever we do next is not a drill. This is NOT a game.
Trump's war on justice itself and Barr's selective declassification can only work if news outlets play along. The best response is to ignore whatever Barr tries to promulgate.https://t.co/QZjqmRhqu8
— David Atkins (@DavidOAtkins) May 25, 2019
Mock Paper Scissors 
It’s a nightmare from which we cannot wake. Every day, more and more breaches in the wall of democracy are happening. And when we fix the most egregious breaks, more follow.
I just saw that Facebook acknowleged the Pelosi faked videos but won’t pull them because they think it’s up to the public to make their own decisions about them. If the videos aren’t labeled as fake, is it really fair to let them stand? Does Pelosi have grounds for legal action?
Every damned day, it’s overwhelming. Fascism is here.
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A manufactured war with Iran comes to mind.
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Whoever is behind this is QUITE familiar with the tactics that led Germany in the 30s to where they ended up in the 40s – except for that part about being on the losing side, of course. Hey, it worked before, with grand results, they just couldn’t figure out how to maintain an army that was stretched far too thinly, an economy that couldn’t sustain perpetual war, and a populace that finally grew weary of war, after being awakened too late to stop it.
And as TG has often pointed out, the mastermind is NOT the “Stable Genius.” But, there ARE many minds that are convinced of their righteousness, and how to factor in theocracy so as to obtain the desired results – the quiet takeover of our Representative Republic into a corporo-theo-fascist nation that will have no other destiny than to fall apart eventually, collapsing under its own weight. These bastards are only cognizant of the history that permits them to do this, without realizing the end result is inevitable. It’s happened time and time again throughout history, and nothing is all that different from what’s occurring now.
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