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posted by cmn32480 on Sunday June 11 2017, @06:36PM   Printer-friendly
from the just-look-at-the-comments-below dept.

NASA chief scientist weighs in

Americans are "under siege" from disinformation designed to confuse the public about the threat of climate change, Nasa's former chief scientist has said.

Speaking to the Guardian, Ellen Stofan, who left the US space agency in December, said that a constant barrage of half-truths had left many Americans oblivious to the potentially dire consequences of continued carbon emissions, despite the science being unequivocal.

"We are under siege by fake information that's being put forward by people who have a profit motive," she said, citing oil and coal companies as culprits. "Fake news is so harmful because once people take on a concept it's very hard to dislodge it."

During the past six months, the US science community has woken up to this threat, according to Stofan, and responded by ratcheting up efforts to communicate with the public at the grassroots level as well as in the mainstream press.

"The harder part is this active disinformation campaign," she said before her appearance at Cheltenham Science Festival this week. "I'm always wondering if these people honestly believe the nonsense they put forward. When they say 'It could be volcanoes' or 'the climate always changes'... to obfuscate and to confuse people, it frankly makes me angry."

Stofan added that while "fake news" is frequently characterised as a problem in the right-leaning media, she saw evidence of an "erosion of people's ability to scrutinise information" across the political spectrum. "All of us have a responsibility," she said. "There's this attitude of 'I read it on the internet therefore it must be true'."

No editorial comment included.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @11:27PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @11:27PM (#524022)

    More likely, a pair.
    They'd want a crossfire to ensure a kill.
    One on The Grassy Knoll and the other in the Dallas Textiles Building. [google.com]

    Both are unmarried Italian orphans (and won't be missed when they disappear).
    After the hit, the assassins are rubbed out.

    Thom Hartmann has written books with Lamar Waldron.
    Thom calls him The Rainman of JFK stuff. [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [thomhartmann.com]
    Did the Mob Kill JFK? [google.com]
    Who Killed Kennedy? "The Hidden History Of The JFK Assassination" [conversationswithgreatminds.com]

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2017, @08:01AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2017, @08:01AM (#524192)

    So Oswald was #1, but who was #2 at the grassy knoll? since you know he is a Italian orphan?
    And where #2 whacked?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2017, @11:51AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 12 2017, @11:51AM (#524292)

      Nope. Oswald was the patsy.
      He was employed by the Texas Schoolbook Depository.
      Completely different building from the ideal trajectory.
      ...and at the time of the shooting, he was seen in the cafeteria.
      The photos of him "holding the rifle" in his yard are phony; the shadows are all wrong.
      It was the 1960s version of bad Photoshopping.

      Oswald was a lousy marksman. [google.com]
      Only a fool would have selected him for this job.

      Oswald was never charged with killing the president.
      He was arrested for the murder of Dallas PD Officer J.D. Tippet with a handgun.

      since you know [#2] is a Italian orphan

      Both #1 and #2 were.
      The idea is to have 2 people that no one will miss (foreigners smuggled into the USA; no kin) and make them disappear after the job.
      I'm relaying what Lamar Waldron learned about standard practice in mob hits on high-profile targets.

      -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]