Can you tell if it is FAKE NEWS or False Information?

Every Sunday morning, I watch one of my favorite long time shows, CBS Sunday Morning. I know they may lean toward the left a bit, but I believe they really try the stay in the middle. This morning, one segment was about how their educational institution. Where is this educational institution you ask?  It is the country of Finland. Finland is and has been the leaders in education for decades. Far above ANY country in the world. 

For years, the Finnish instructors have taught the students how to identify fake news and information. They begin this instruction in kindergarten, and it goes all the way through graduation of primary schooling. They have taught trends they have found Fake News Spreaders use all most always. The spreaders start with the basic truth, and then twist it here and there until the ending sounds almost truthfully. But in reality it is not true. That sound like a program we in the United States need to implement. maybe that program was why the people in Finland did not believe the lies Hitler spoke during his attempted domination the Europe, and fought back vocally and physically.

People in Finland call themselves 'Suomalaiset' (the Fins) have a saying they use often: "You are welcome to have your own opinion, but you are not welcome to have your own fact."  A fact is the ONLY truth.

No one can deny, our education system has a lot to desire. Maybe if we had a system like Finland, we would not have some candidates like we do. I am not saying our educational system is bad, just that it should be improved. I am not a highly educated man, but I guess I  did pretty well as a B- student. But I also had a mother who taught me some golden rules of life … 'Never lie and never steal'.

Fake news is spread by people who love to disrupt the flow of the truth. Many of those spreaders of Fake News and falsehoods NEED people to believe that spreader is better than they really are. So they say things like, "I am richer than you can imagine." Or something like, "First she said she is black and then she says she is that. So which is it?" What matters is the person, not their color of their skin or ethnicity. Racial slurs and misleading or ligament lies eventfully come around to bite you in the ass. Trump, Vance and Lake have been called on their false statements and lies and try to back pedal out of it by saying, "Well that isn't what I really meant." Or "I did say that."  or "It was taken out of context"  Eventho it was recorded and broadcasted live or radio and TV.

I know I keep beating the same old drum on how people need to research for the truth. I know it takes time, and time is time for us all. But, would you not want to know the REAL truth when you are told, heard or read something? I DO! Trust is a very hard thing to have in someone. Look beyond their words and seek the honesty in their eyes, their movements and most of all, their actions. Then you see their true self. Take care.

I have always been curious … sometime about odd things.

1. Why do we drive on the right? The world is politically divided, well in some countries, like ours. While in the Air Force, I received orders to Europe in 1968. I automatically thought they drove on the left side of the road like Great Britain, but they don't. I was glad actually. I did not have any trouble adapting to their driving regulations, similar to the USA. But I often wonder why, a former colony of England, we don't drive on the left side of the road. Many early, early auto manufacturers built car with the steering on the right unlike the modern cars. The reason is the road infrastructure in the USA was already started and it was a common law with wagons, and horses traveling on the dirt road, you were to ride on the right. So since people did not like change, the car began to be built with steering on the left and thus we drive on the right side of the road.

2. Who invented the 3 day weekend? After decades of Americans working 6 and 7 days weeks in the 1800s and 1900s, workers  protested for shorter work weeks. Some protest became really bloody like the one at the early Ford Automotive plant in Michigan. So after several decades of protest the government listened (which is odd in itself) and made holidays that fell on a Friday of Monday resulted to a 3 day weekend. Some holidays actually moved to make it such. Labor Day is one, and established in 1882 to recognize workers of all jobs and trades.

3. Who started Day Light Saving Time? In 1918, during World War 1, DST was implemented to save energy for the war effort.  After the war, I guess it went away until 1942 to 1945 President Franklin Roosevelt re-established it and it was called "War Time". In 1966, the "Uniform Time Act" sort of made DST the standard, except for Hawaii and us in Arizona (thank goodness). It has been attempted bills several time to make it permanent, but still never passed in the House. I have heard many states are debating to overturn DST and go back their regular time zone.

4. When was the postal Zip Code implemented? As our country spread, the Post Office was having trouble catching up with all the new addresses. So in 1963, the Zip Code was started to actually point to a defined area and address. In 1983 the Postal Service fine tuned the Zip Code with the "Zip + 4", which a believe few people use, except for the government and advertisers sending 'Junk mail'.

5. Why do people refuse to use their turn signals for ANY change in direction they travel in a car/truck? This my personal  'Pet-Pave'. Either their indictor switch is broken, or a bulb is burned out, or they are just too lazy to flip the handle on the steering column. I said it, I am done.

6. Will 'AI' be the down fall of human workers? In my opinion, AI will replace a thousands of workers, and someday get out of control because big business see it as a cost cutting, more efficient and timesaving,. I am not against advancements (since I am at a computer now). Think about this, how many cashiers do see at the grocery compared to 15-20 years ago? How many automated calls do you get to confirm your doctor's appointment? How often do you actually speak to a human when you call Tech Support?  Automated answering message, "Hello, I am the 'Verizon Assistant'. How can I help you?" When I want a tech support person, I DON'T want a computer!

7. Why do people tend to believe the false bad facts instead of the REAL truth? I believe people believe what they already believe, and it very hard to change their opinion about anything, eventho they are shown clear facts debunking their belief.

I guess this blog edition is  not what I typically write but, I was bored today. Plus, we all read or listen to the big news anyway, so you probably did not want me to rehash that. So I write something to think about and smile.

Here's one more thing to smile at. Flashback from April 1971. Do you think they got it right?

Let's face the facts … Are they yours or mine?

First of all, let me tell you, I am a registered Independent. I hold NO obligation to either party, But I DO stand on the side of truth and honesty. I am a Christian, which means I believe in Jesus and worship him/she, BUT I DO NOT let that influence my government or election choices.

Ok, now that is out of the way, let me give you some cold hard facts, verified through legitimate source as the honest truth. I other words, the sources for the honest and factual truth. 

But before I start, let me say secondly, most people believe what they already believe is true when in fact it may not be the truth. Example, if you are Republican, you probably watch or listen to Fox news or related affiliates. If you are a Democrat, you probably watch or listen to CBS, CNN, NBC or their like minded affiliates. I am not either and I get the truth by going to the sources of a statement like government transcripts and or independent agencies.

Now hear are the TRUE VERIFIED FACTS people mostly complain about,

1. Economy -  has been on an up swing for the last 5 years. - Department of Economy
2. Crime - is at the lowest in 30 years - Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I)
3. Illegal immigration - Is at a 3 year low - Department of Immigration
4. 65% of people believe information from sources of what they already believe in. - Harvard University national polls of average individuals
5. The open social media venues should not trusted - Harvard University national polls
6. Abortion bans - over 70% of average citizens believe abortions should be allowed if needed and not controlled by the government, churches or anyone other than the female and her doctor -National polls taken by organizations faithful to neither side of the political aisle. 

I believe (and so did the founding fathers) that religion should NOT interfere with any part of government. It's call "Separation for church and state". I also believe that any donation to a candidate, or organization that sponsors a candidate should be closely scrutinized to follow where the money is coming from.

Obviously there are individual cases that turn people to think these facts are not true. Such would be cases of an illegal person who rapes and kills an innocent lady. Or people who upset because eggs and milk prices have skyrocketed at grocery stores like Kroger's. Kroger's has publicly admitted they were gouging consumers and will soon rectify that.

Should we totally close the southern border? Do you want to pick oranges or cabbages or any tree or ground grown crops? Probably not. Who does that? Immigrates. Do you think you could build homes, lay brick, do lawn service? Who does a lot of this? Immigrates. Should the border be regulated, of course like other countries, but Congress can't get beyond their party way to pass a descent bill and enact it.

I'll be honest to you right now, I can NOT bring myself to vote for ANY candidate who has been convicted 30+ times as a felon, a person who belittles women and believes they are inferior, who mocks died service members, and who latterly lies to the public on national TV/radio, in ads, to his own staff, and his wife daily. AND, I will not vote for any candidate who endorse him and believes they are the same and thinks they can do the same things and not get punished. 

We are a country that was built on the back of immigrates, strong women, People of color trying to be equal, and mostly honest hard working middle class people that are smart enough to not believe lies told to their faces. 

I don't want a candidate who will cut Social Security, eliminate the Justice Department, ban abortions totally, turn the Police into military, deport ALL immigrates if they are not citizens, and turn our right to vote free into a dictatorship for one person, a person who admitted to admire Putin, and someone who can not face legal and verified many times defeat. That is not the person I want for President. I hope you see the truth through all the lies that are floating around. Because if you do not, our country will not be the America as we knew it anymore. Stay safe.