NewsGuard's Media Blacklist

art credit: inforrm.wordpress.com

Microsoft Teams with Establishment ‘NewsGuard’ to Create News Blacklist:

Without consulting with its users, Microsoft has installed an establishment media browser extension, purportedly designed to rate the accuracy of news websites, as a default setting on mobile versions of its Edge browser. In practice, it creates a news blacklist by warning users away from sites including Breitbart News, The Drudge Report, and the Daily Mail.

The browser extension, called “Newsguard,” presents users with a red warning label if they navigate to a website that it judges to be unreliable. A “green” rating is given to websites that NewsGuard considers trustworthy.

A number of pro-Trump websites, including Breitbart News, are given a “red” rating by the extension.

NewsGuard itself is not new, but its installation by Microsoft is. In a related Breitbart story titled “Bill Kristol Correctly Describes NewsGuard: ‘Establishment People’ Like ‘Establishment Websites’”:

In a March 2018 interview with NewsGuard Executive Editor James Warren, establishment conservative Bill Kristol correctly noted that NewsGuard, an app and browser plug-in which allows users to avoid what it considers “fake news” websites, would face skepticism since “establishment people” like “establishment websites.” NewsGuard has added Breitbart News, the Drudge Report, and the Daily Mail to its “fake news” blacklist.

. . .

NewsGuard lists Breitbart News, the Daily Mail, and the Drudge Report as fake news websites, but gives the all-clear to CNN, Buzzfeed, the Guardian, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Vice News, despite recent high profile fake news stories from a variety of these approved sites.

CNN? Buzzfeed? New York Times? Good grief. Who is making the decisions about what is and is not Fake News. Yet more media and social malpractice.

UPDATE 8:35pm on 1/23: A reader posted this as Reply #3 at the Lucianne aggregator:

While I think this is terrible, it is only on the phone version of [Mircrosoft's] Edge. Since the three users of that browser work for Microsoft I am not sure that anyone will notice. 

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Trump Supporters Protest Bill Kristol Fundraiser In The Rain

Cleveland Deplorables

This just in: Patrick Howley at Big League Politics reports:

 A handful of indefatigable Deplorables protested Bill Kristol’s appearance at a $300-a-plate luncheon for the Cuyahoga County Republican Party in Ohio Friday.

#NeverTrump town crier Kristol’s speech at the luncheon inflamed Trump-supporting Ohio Republicans, who remember the difficulties of taking on the GOP Establishment to elect Trump on John Kasich’s home turf.

Brian Wollet, an executive committee member of the Cuyahoga County party, had his Trump sign ready to go to meet Kristol and the luncheon guests.

Wollet described it as “A cold and rainy morning that felt more like November than May.”

Nevertheless, Wollet told Big League Politics that the protest was “fun.”

Cleveland Tea Party and Main Street Patriots co-founder Ralph King told Big League Politics that the public appreciated the protest, which took place outside the Marriott East.

“The weather was literally terrible. It was cold, it was windy, it was rainy. But we had a good reception among the cars that were driving by. So we were well received by traffic and the public. Friday morning, raining, nasty, blowing, I was happy with the response,” King said.

“I’m still floored that they had William Kristol to come in to address anybody. When you read this guy’s stuff or look at what he stands for, two things come to mind. The snobbery of the Establishment elite is why the American public rejected both the Democrat and Republican parties and elected Donald Trump. William Kristol, listening to him talk, you would think the Democrat Party would bring him in to talk. The way he continually criticizes President Trump? He should be used as a fundraiser for the Cuyahoga County Democrats.”

King pointed to Kristol’s current Weekly Standard article “After Trump,” which he calls “absolutely ridiculous.”

“William Kristol is a cheerleader for the Democrats. You know, being in DC, that the Democrats and establishment Republicans are the same. There’s no difference,” King said.

“The party was doing everything they could to increase attendance. Most of the people I associate with would never go to anything like this,” he continued.

“They don’t get why Donald Trump was elected. They think it was because of the Republicans. No! It didn’t have anything to do with you. Conservatism? That was rejected too. Ted Cruz didn’t win. People wanted somebody to get things done. If they wanted conservative ideology, they would have elected T-shirt Ted Cruz, the T-shirt preacher.”

Kristol, his preferred candidates vanquished in the primaries, led a harebrained scheme to run a third-party challenger against Trump in the general election to help Hillary Clinton’s chances. General James Mattis, now the Defense Secretary, considered Kristol’s offer but turned him down. After a lot of searching and speculation — involving Mitt Romney among others — Kristol backed no-name National Review writer David French for president. French declined to run. Kristol then supported the independent bid of Evan McMullin, who ran in Utah to peel off Mormon votes from Trump to try to stop the Republican nominee from reaching 270 in the Electoral College.

McMullin, known colloquially as “McMuffin,” and Kristol failed.

Kristol’s star has dimmed considerably since the Iraq War, a failed experiment based to a large degree on Kristol’s own inaccurate and dishonest projections. But despite helping to tank a Republican administration and fighting tooth and nail against a Republican nominee, Kristol still lingers in Republican circles, talking to people for $300 a pop. 

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