Thursday, January 17, 2019

Need a safe place for these

Wow. Has it really been this long since I have been here?  That's inexcusable.

But I need a safe place for some links to debunk the site Neon Nettle. So here we go.

Topic: Laura Loomer

Laura Loomer paid some people to break into Pelosi's home.  There is no evidence they were asylum seekers or even undocumented.
So they were not asylum seekers but part of a publicity stunt.
https://www.newsweek.com/right-wing-activist-laura-loomer-nancy-pelosi-house-1291083

She was banned from Uber and Lyft.
https://www.newsweek.com/uber-new-york-lyft-laura-loomer-699261

Banned from Twitter for TOS violations.  Posting hate about Rep. Ilhan Omar.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/laura-loomer-banned-twitter-after-criticizing-ilhan-omar-n939256

Topic: Neon Nettle

We know that it is a Conspiracy theory site full of psuedoscience. It is registered in the UK via TUcows, so the registrar information is blocked in the US (imagine that)
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/neon-nettle/

They list their business office in London.
https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/neonnettle.com 

but their IP servers are in Wayne, Pennsylvania.
https://whatismyipaddress.com/ip/74.208.156.58
http://neonnettle.com.websiteoutlook.com/

Their rating on Snopes is "Mostly False" news with the 20 or so articles I sampled over the the 6 months falling in the "false" or "mostly false" category.
https://www.snopes.com/tag/neon-nettle/  

Politifact ranks them as "Pants on Fire" in terms of truth in reporting
https://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2017/apr/04/blog-posting/doctors-deaths-were-not-connected-fake-news-websit/

and describes them as Fake News
https://www.politifact.com/punditfact/article/2017/apr/20/politifacts-guide-fake-news-websites-and-what-they/

Described as a fake news sites with demonstrably false articles by Mic
https://mic.com/articles/188404/partisan-pundits-and-conspiracy-theorists-still-rule-facebook-analysis-shows#.gM4WXw6I7

Ranked #38 for number of stories pushed onto Facebook. All described as fake.
https://www.newswhip.com/2018/03/top-reporters-on-facebook/

News Stories are written by anyone, not actual Journalists. 
https://neonnettle.com/jobs 

Their ad for hire asks for content covering "Politics, GMO's, UFOS, Government corruption, Financial corruption, Mysteries, Entertainment".
They pay roughly $35 per article or about 2 cents per word (point of reference I can get 4 to 5 cents per word on contract writing. I never take a job for less than 3 cents per word).
https://www.upwork.com/job/Article-writer-for-alternative-news-site-neonnette-com_~01acf780ae5df01e5e/

They were featured as a fake news site in Dale Michelson's 2018 book "Fake News vs Real News: Learning the Essentials".
https://smile.amazon.com/Fake-News-Vs-Real-Essentials/dp/1720911002/

Featured in an article on fake news on Medium
https://medium.com/@Shesreallyfat/fake-news-means-nothing-is-sacred-2241e6aff337

And on Vice
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bjx8ed/no-brad-pitt-did-not-confirm-hollywood-is-a-child-sex-ring

Cameron University in OK (a former Baptist, now publis, university offering degrees in Library Sciences, HLC accreditated) lists it as fake news
https://cameron.libguides.com/FakeNews/List

FactCheck.org lists them in their Misinformation Directory
https://www.factcheck.org/2017/07/websites-post-fake-satirical-stories/

Meida Matters
https://www.mediamatters.org/stories-and-interests/fake-news

Fake News Codex
http://www.fakenewscodex.com/fake-site/neon-nettle/