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Tag: American politics

Media Analysis Reveals Fox News Only Tells The Truth 22% Of The Time

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Less than half the “facts” broadcast on Fox News are even partially true, according to an ongoing analysis by an independent fact-checking project.

Some recent lies told by on-air personalities and guests seem designed to stoke fears over the safety of refugees living in the United States and to spread untruths about American support for gun control laws.

Punditfact, a joint project by the Tampa Bay Times and media analysts from Politifact, offers “scorecards” on the accuracy of the TV networks and major TV personalities.

Last updated in January, the Punditfact scorecard for Fox News shows that just 10 percent of statements made on the network have been “True” and another 12 percent “Mostly True” since the project began in 2014. Even generously including the 19 percent of statements deemed “Half True” reveals that just 41 percent of Fox News statements can be deemed “true” to some degree.

Despite Anti-War Claims, Sanders Endorses President Obama’s Foreign Policy

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

On Sunday, Bernie Sanders endorsed President Barack Obama’s violent, expansive foreign policy in an effort to distance himself from accusations of inexperience in matters of war.

At the beginning of an interview on CBS’ “Face The Nation” between John Dickerson and the Vermont senator, Dickerson noted:

“Senator, while you were in New York, North Koreans launched a long range missile. As President, you’d face that kind of thing all the time, very often. And what Secretary Clinton is saying is that you don’t have the experience to be ready for those kinds of challenges on day one.”

Sanders responded:

Tax Revenue Expected To Reach $125 Million As 2015 Colorado Cannabis Sales Near $1B

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Colorado’s legal marijuana business boomed last year, with total sales in the state nearing the $1 billion mark, according to current estimates.

Official figures for marijuana sales in December won’t be available until next month, but Ricardo Baca, a staff writer for The Denver Post’s The Cannabist, reported on Jan. 13 that total marijuana sales, including for both recreational and medicinal purposes, had reached $895 million by November.

With cannabis taxed in three ways by the state, including two different kinds of sales tax, Colorado had earned $121 million through that month. That figure represents an especially important windfall for education, Baca noted:

Anti-Corruption Gyrocopter Pilot Seeks Return To Congress, This Time By Election

Posted in Archive, Journalism, and MintPress News

After illegally landing a miniature helicopter on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol last year, Doug Hughes is determined to return to the Hill as a member of the House of Representatives.

“I’m coming back to Congress by ground. And this time I’m not going to be outside the building — I’m going to be inside the building!” the former U.S. Postal Service employee from Florida told MintPress News on Monday.

Hughes garnered international attention in April, when he landed a gyrocopter directly on the front lawn of Congress. The personal aerial vehicle contained letters for members of Congress, demanding that they fight the influence of money in politics.

Poll Finds 37% Of Americans Believe Israel Has Too Much Influence Over US Politics

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

Poll results released last month show that Americans are sharply divided over the influence of Israel on U.S. politics, and those divisions often fall along party lines.

On Dec. 4, The Brookings Institution, a highly influential Washington-based think tank, released the results ofa study of American attitudes toward Israel and the Middle East. The report comes after a year in which Israel’s influence on America’s governance and foreign policy received heightened scrutiny, especially following a controversial speech to a joint session of Congress by Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu on March 3. AIPAC, the powerful Israeli lobbying group, also faced increased criticism.

The bulk of the poll was based on the opinions of 875 randomly selected Americans, but the study’s author, Shibley Telhami, a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings’ Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World, also polled an additional 863 additional Americans who self-identify as Evangelical or Born-again Christians to determine how their attitudes differed from the average.

Despite Increasing Threats And Violence, Americans Show Support For Muslim Neighbors

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

As Muslims in America face an unprecedented wave of violence in the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, Americans of many faiths are coming together to show solidarity against these disturbing threats.

According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest advocacy group for Muslims in the United States, there have been 29 cases of attacks or vandalism against mosques in 2015 — the most for any year since the organization began tracking incidents in 2009.

“November 2015 was the most significant spike, with a total of 17 mosque incidents, with all but 2 of those incidents occurring in the wake of the November 13 Paris terror attacks,” CAIR reported.