Quick reminder for some - don't share rumors or things that can't be confirmed, don't have dates, etc -

[demmiblue]

Quick reminder for some - don't share rumors or things that can't be confirmed, don't have dates, etc - even if it's seemingly good news. That only confuses an already very bad situation. There are MANY good journos and photogs on the ground doing fantastic work. Look for and amplify that.

— Aaron Cynic (@aaroncynic.bsky.social) 2025-09-06T19:10:30.099Z

That salt truck video is a great example. It appears to have originated either on TikTok or Threads, & a lot of Bluesky versions don't even have audio on them. So very little context. The TikTok version has audio & the narrator mentions that they're around Grant Park and the Taste of Chicago.

— Aaron Cynic (@aaroncynic.bsky.social) 2025-09-06T19:30:35.682Z

Sure, I WANT to believe that the City would deploy those for good reasons, but literally most of history points towards them just being deployed for things like the Taste, or for bad reasons! More than one mayoral administration has deployed salt trucks before large protests.

— Aaron Cynic (@aaroncynic.bsky.social) 2025-09-06T19:33:35.383Z

And if you're a person cribbing videos or photos with no attribution and adding rumors or unfounded context. Stop. Please stop. You're not helping anyone. You're actually doing people who are in Chicago a disservice.

— Aaron Cynic (@aaroncynic.bsky.social) 2025-09-06T19:38:32.636Z

[gab13by13]

1. Can you please provide me a list of reliable sources?

Many sources are used here that I consider right wing, like The Hill.

Also, even if the source is reliable, can you provide me with a list of writers who are reliable? There are writers who write for reliable sources who I consider right wing.

We don't all share the same definition of reliable here it seems to me. I even disagree with SNOPES at times.

Remember back when Gallup was considered the gold star of polls? Remember back when they put bad data in its formula and predicted a Romney win?

[gab13by13]

5. Did you forget the sarcasm thingy?

Back when Gallup put bad data in its formula, not sure if it was done on purpose, I used my critical thinking to not believe the supposed king of pollsters. Following your advice I should have believed the most reliable pollster and not given my opinion that Romney was not going to win?

The thing is that I have chosen a handful of sources to get my news from, maybe just 5 or 6 sources. I form my opinions from those sources so I can lean on them and feel confident.

The #1 thing I learned in college was not to believe everything I read in the newspaper or see on TV. This was back in the 60's before the explosion of the internet.

I didn't go to Duke or Michigan, but I went to Penn State if that's OK?

[demmiblue]

13. Lol...

[littlemissmartypants]

15. Is it sea-lioning or sincerity?

Last edited Sun Sep 7, 2025, 09:31 AM - Edit history (1)

Sealioning (also sea-lioning and sea lioning) is a type of trolling or harassment that consists of pursuing people with relentless requests for evidence, often tangential or previously addressed, while maintaining a pretense of civility and sincerity ("I'm just trying to have a debate" ), and feigning ignorance of the subject matter.[5][6][7][8] It may take the form of "incessant, bad-faith invitations to engage in debate",[9] and has been likened to a denial-of-service attack targeted at human beings.[10] The term originated with a 2014 strip of the webcomic Wondermark by David Malki,[1] which The Independent called "the most apt description of Twitter you'll ever see".[2]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealioning

I believe it's sincere.

[NNadir]

24. Well, I never knew there was a word for that often experienced "thing."

Been there, experienced that, more times than I care to remember, often in religious contexts but in other settings as well.

Thanx.

[littlemissmartypants]

31. My pleasure, friend.

[marble falls]

32. Sealions trade on their sincerity. "Nothing personal, but ..."

[littlemissmartypants]

37. "Don't tutch the but."

The "but" will get you every single time.😉

[marble falls]

39. I read a book on negotiation, it considered 'but' as a form of self forgiveness and warning ...

... "I don't want to insult you, BUT I'm going to anyways."

[littlemissmartypants]

62. Oh, yes.

It's a big warning sign.

Thanks for sharing that, mf.

[NNadir]

45. Possibly personal but, if one were to encounter a talking sea lion, the conversation might be interesting.

I used to see a lot of them swimming around the docks at Monterrey, mostly they just barked.

None of them engaged in conversation, though.

[niyad]

41. One of the MANY, MANY things I love about DU. Did not know there

was a specific name for this behaviour.

[littlemissmartypants]

43. ❤️

[marble falls]

47. DU has been an importand place for me to learn, maybe equal to being a source of trustworthy news, and new ...

... ways of looking at things. I have been cornered into changing my mind and attitudes about plenty of things.

[marble falls]

28. Jebus but there are a few of those here!

[NNadir]

55. Yes but, while I respect what you say about me...

...can you offer a specific instance where I have badgered you endlessly to indicate which seallike instance in which I've badgered, I mean sealed you?

I'm just asking.

[marble falls]

56. If I even implied that about you I am embarrassed and will gladly delete it, I have nothing but high regards ...

... for you and your opinions. While we may have had some minor disagreement, I respect your argument and sources.

Please forgive me.


EDIT

28. Jebus but there are a few of those here!

If this is what you are referring to, I assure you I was not specifically pointing out anyone specifically, and certainly if I were thinking of anyone specifically, you would never be on that list. I am sorry for causing you to think I was.

[NNadir]

57. Bark. Bark. Bark. Feed me a fish.

[marble falls]

58. Refering to my joke about the sea lions not speaking to you: that they were snubbing you? I'll delete it right now.

[NNadir]

59. Trying to joke, but weakly.

[marble falls]

60. Me, too. I look to hard for a punchline sometimes. Just as long as we are still good.

[NNadir]

61. We are indeed my friend.

[rickford66]

21. We are ...

curious, skeptical people.

👍

[littlemissmartypants]

10. I used the Snopes bot. Snopes didn't have any credible information on it either way. ...

The bot says it's satire.

The problem with using the bot is it draws from everywhere on the web and the web is not reliable enough anymore with more than 50% of the reported news being disinformation. This makes all AI/Bot queries suspect.

I deleted it. Just because it's already made the rounds here. I have read support for and against. I thought that the discussion here seems to have been played out. I guess that I was premature in that notion.

I guess that the bigger discussion we need to have is about AI and how it can propagate disinformation.

The newest research, which I posted and referenced here before, indicates that more than 50% of what's on the web is disinformation now anyway. It didn't get much attention.

I've just about quit reading all of it all together.

That's why you don't find me posting much of anything anymore.

Because I either have my nose in a book or I'm reading about new sign-ups in MIRT. Or serving on jury duty here. Which is almost every time that I show up lately. ❤️

https://www.snopes.com/factbot/?query=Did+Chicago+mayor+deploy+trucks+against+ICE+

[Kaleva]

16. LBN is far more reliable then GD

[Irish_Dem]

2. Quick reminder for some:

I live in a gd free country and I will read what I damn well please.
And pass along info I think is suitable or of interest.

[Kaleva]

4. Do you then support what Fox News is doing?

[gab13by13]

6. I don't support generalized, broad statements.

FOX has said a few things that I support, but I never watch FOX.

[Kaleva]

20. The 1st Amendment is itself a very broad statement .

[marble falls]

33. That's exactly the priciple Fox acts on.

[Kaleva]

53. Yes

[Irish_Dem]

7. I support my right to read whatever the hell I want to read.

And say whatever I want to say.

People bossing me around, ordering me to do this or that does not go over well at all.

If I want to read a Fox News article it is no one's damn business.

[Gimpyknee]

9. When I say whatever I want to say, my posts get removed here.

[marble falls]

35. Pay closer attention to the ToS.

[womanofthehills]

46. Sometimes it doesn't matter what source you reference

If someone doesn’t like what you are referencing. Twice I posted from Politico and was told it was a right wing site and another time I was quoting direct from CDC but someone didn’t like the quote. That’s when it gets frustrating.

[Kaleva]

18. As pointed out, one can't do that here

You’d have been flagged for review long time ago if you did.

[Hekate]

22. On the other hand, if you quote Fox News as a source here, it becomes everybody's business

Nobody’s “ordering” you to do anything — just reminding the community that we come here for truthful, accurate, sources — not propaganda or wishful thinking.

[Kaleva]

52. Actually you can't do that here and you accept it

You agreed to abide by the TOS which limits what you can say.

[hamsterjill]

54. Amen.

We are all responsible for our own research of what is and is not factual, etc.

There are times that I really get tired of posters on DU feeling the need to "control" what others post, how they write and what they say. If someone doesn't like a post, they can always alert (which I think is usually pretty childish), or they can choose to disregard that post and move on.

There is one particular poster who acts like a freaking school marm and follows people around telling them "now, we are better than that!!!!" I find it infuriating.

[Blues Heron]

44. Do you have any evidence for that statement?

[Kaleva]

51. Do you know the difference between a statement and a question?

I did not make a statement. I asked a question.

[gab13by13]

8. John Solomon once was a big shot at The Hill

He wrote over a dozen articles for The Hill claiming that the 2020 election was stolen from Krasnov.

The Hill is one of the top sources for news here, it lost my trust a long time ago.

I also don't believe that Oswald killed Kennedy or that Epstein hung himself, sorry, I have no proof.

[littlemissmartypants]

11. The Hill is a rag. It's just like the Daily Mail.

[gab13by13]

12. It must be considered a reliable source here,

from the number of times it is cited.

[littlemissmartypants]

14. It's not. And I usually trash those posts.

[littlemissmartypants]

17. Who's Aaron? And why should I trust anything he says?

[Heidi]

19. Exactly!

ETA: This post was edited six times because the subject line will not allow me post the word https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/touch%C3%A9 (probably due to the French accent aigu).

[littlemissmartypants]

25. I knew what you meant, Heidi. I have had the same problem. ...

It will let you post touché but only in the reply box and not in the title box. ❤️

[Heidi]

26. Thank you!

Good grief.

[littlemissmartypants]

29. ..

[eppur_se_muova]

34. Been that way since the Great Hack of 2016. Several special characters were evidently exploited by the hackers ...

Not sure how, but a number of punctuation marks in English have special meaning in Unix/Linux OSs, so I'm guessing someone figured out how smuggling them into titles could wreak havoc .... not a Unix guru, just speaking from general knowledge.

[muriel_volestrangler]

36. To get accented characters in titles, use & eacute; without the space after & - "touché"

& ouml; for o with an umlaut
& Agrave; for a capital A with a grave etc.
https://www.ou.edu/research/electron/internet/special.shtml
If you use 'preview' or edit, you have to type that out again

[Heidi]

40. Thanks so much!

[Historic NY]

23. A reverse picture search takes a minute to find a source..

in this world of AI bullshit.

Tineye is one.

https://tineye.com/]

[SSJVegeta]

27. Trump is dead.

Oh wait. Sorry. 😞

[littlemissmartypants]

30. Snort

[muriel_volestrangler]

38. How about "don't post without pointing out the origin or date is unknown"?

Because it might also be true, and pointing out you haven't been able to verify it might get someone else to do so.

[gab13by13]

42. This is how I feel about news sources,

I don't belong to TikTok, X, BlueSky, Facebook, with that said I think it's fine for anyone to belong to all of them.

If I did belong to one or more of those sites, I certainly wouldn't use the sites for a source of my news. At least with the MSM we know who the authors are. (most of the time)

I mainly get my "news" from 3 people on MSNBC, freespeechtv.org - Zerlina Maxwell, Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann.

I limit my sources to a handful of people who I trust.

Many times I am listening to them on Sirius radio so I can't provide a link, unless the video becomes available later. Malcolm Nance is on Stephanie Miller almost every Wednesday, and I have quoted remarks that he has made on her show. Is he always right, hell no, but he is right more than wrong.

[hunter]

49. DU is my only social media aside from a few technical sites where political discussions are discouraged..

I find the noise on sites like bsky.social, the site-formerly-known-as-twitter, facebook, etc., to be intolerable, which is why I block them. They simply don't exist in my personal internet universe.

I feel the same about television news and opinion. This includes videos on YouTube, TikTok, etc.

Maybe that's the engineer in me. It's my nature to attribute a Signal to Noise Ratio to all communications and collected data and I try to minimize the noise.

Curious observation: I see less than a third of the posts on this thread. That's my ignore list at work.

[flvegan]

50. But then where will we get our hyperbolic clickbaity content?

How will we survive without clickbaity YouTube videos (complete with mandatory all caps thumbnails with giant yellow arrows)? How will we go on without monetizing some random idiot's account? I would think everyone would want their algorithm filled to the brim with bullshit.

Spreading disinformation truly is the American Way! Asking people to spend 30 seconds verifying is simply asking too much.

Come on, clout isn't going to chase itself.