The Funding of False Facts—Advertising Money is Fueling Conspiracy Theories | Opinion

Patricia Duff and Tom Rogers , The Common Good CEO; Newsweek editor-at-large
On 2/18/21 at 6:00 AM EST

https://www.newsweek.com/funding-false-factsadvertising-money-fueling-conspiracy-theories-opinion-1569967?utm_source=spotim&utm_medium=spotim_recirculation


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The report found that brands advertising on election misinformation sites include Progressive Insurance, Walmart, Procter & Gamble, Disney, American Express, AT&T, Bloomingdales, Best Western, Best Buy, Verizon, Michaels, New Balance and a range of nonprofit groups such as AARP, Harvard University, American Cancer Society and Planned Parenthood.

The report goes on to say these and other well-known companies have had their ads show up on websites such as ZeroHedge, The Gateway Pundit, OANN, Sputnik and American Thinker, all of which have pushed spurious conspiracy theories and falsehoods about the election.

NewsGuard found that the problem was especially pronounced for the largest digital ad exchanges like Google's DoubleClick advertising service, which placed ads on more than 80 percent of election misinformation sites, and The Trade Desk, which placed ads on more than half.

NewsGuard further found that there were 1,668 brands that funded election misinformation sites, and of those, close to half ran ads on multiple sites. Progressive Insurance was found to have run on the largest number of election misinformation sites, with 298 ads across 25 separate such sites.

According to NewsGuard, Walmart ran ads on 11 election misinformation sites, including NOQ Report, a site that has claimed "that the CIA worked with Democrats to change voting machine results ... and that COVID-19 was planned by Bill Gates and other billionaires."

Even Disney, a company with huge sophistication in digital media, placed ads on CharlieKirk.com, a site that peddled election falsehoods and claimed that COVID-19 was a hoax. According to NewsGuard, major advertiser American Express had ads on Sputnik, a Russian government mouthpiece site that promotes propaganda and perpetuates lies to U.S. audiences.

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Patricia Duff is CEO of The Common Good, a non-profit, nonpartisan group that encourages informed understanding of critical national issues.

The heads of ERCOT's board of directors don't even live in Texas

Abigail Rosenthal

The heads of ERCOT's board of directors don't even live in Texas

Feb. 16, 2021
Updated: Feb. 16, 2021 4:01 p.m.

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Just an FYI, five members of the ERCOT board of directors live out of state. the chair lives in Michigan and the vice chair is an economics prof in Cologne Germany. Experts, but not people affected by the failure.
— rgratcliffe (@rgratcliffe) February 16, 2021


ERCOT manages the flow of electric power in Texas and is responsible for ensuring the one independent power grid in the country is up and running as it should. And in a historic and life-threatening cold snap, it's still unknown when millions will get the heat back on in their homes.

ERCOT Chair Sally Talberg lives in Michigan and served on the Michigan Public Service Commission until 2020, according to her ERCOT biography. She was elected to the board earlier this month.
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Vice Chair Peter Cramton is a professor at the University of Cologne in Germany and the University of Maryland. According to his LinkedIn page, he lives in Del Mar, California. Cramton has served on the board since 2015.

ERCOT, which manages the flow of electric power in Texas, initiated rolling blackouts early Monday morning. However, the blackouts quickly became serious as millions of Texans lost power for hours in frigid temperatures. As of Tuesday morning, more than 1.37 million people were still without power in Houston, according to the Houston Chronicle.


Written By
Abigail Rosenthal

Trump Fans Charged In Capitol Attack Didn't Like Antifa Getting Credit For Their Work

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-capitol-attack-antifa-202303502.html

Ryan J. Reilly·Senior Justice Reporter, HuffPost
Tue, February 16, 2021, 2:23 PM


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“Don’t you dare try to tell me that people are blaming this on antifa and BLM,” Mellis wrote, referring to Black Lives Matter. “We proudly take responsibility for storming the Castle. Antifa and BLM or [sic] too pussy … We are fighting for election integrity. They heard us.”

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https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/4ZxhXgh099bMunH5XUllQg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTcwNQ--/?cache=9hqW1P2Tzy
Brandon Straka (top left), Jonathan Mellis (top right), Karl Dresch (bottom left) and Ryan Nichols (bottom right, right) were all upset that their fellow Trump supporters were giving Antifa credit for their work. (Photo: FBI Handouts)

“Listen up: I hear so many reports of ‘Antifa’ was storming the capital [sic] building. Know that every single person who believes that narrative have been DUPED AGAIN!” wrote Ryan Nichols, who was charged alongside his fellow insurrectionist Alex Harkrider. “Sure, there may have been some ‘Antifa’ in DC, but there wasn’t enough to ‘Storm the Capital’ [sic] themselves.”

“Okay all you conspiracy theorists 😜 don’t worry I loves yous all just setting the record straight,” wrote Karl Dresch. “antifa did not take the capitol.that was Patriots, I can’t guarantee there weren’t some shit birds in the crowd but what multi-million crowd can you guarantee?.don’t give them the thunder, we the people took back our house, the news is all bullshit.and now those traitors Know who’s really in charge.”

“It was not Antifa at the Capitol,” wrote Brandon Straka, a “Stop the Steal” organizer with ties to Trump who was charged last month. “It was freedom loving Patriots who were DESPERATE to fight for the final hope of our Republic because literally nobody cares about them. Everyone else can denounce them. I will not.”

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If anyone in an area around Marble falls needs a hand or some groceries or blankets or medication delivery I can get around very well with our Freestyle.

EDIT: WEDNESDAY MORNING: first the good news - it was 30F when I got up!

Now the bad: I abou - power went out about twenty minutes -t went down the steps in a bad way going to feed the cats. We have a SLIPPERY thick ice on everything. I am stuck here for now.



One more piece of good news: Gov Abbott is getting the blame heaped on him. Rightly or not, it pleases me.