Friday, August 28, 2020
Headlines for Aug. 28, 2020
Worst, Most Misleading & Funniest Headlines for August 28, 2020
*William Shatner rails against Space Force officer ranks in op-ed
Captain Kirk insists space commanders are “Captains”, not “Colonels”!
*Bucks boycott Game 5 of NBA playoff series to protest social injustice
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/08/26/bucks-boycott-nba-playoff-game/ [Headline since changed, but still avoiding the word “strike”]
*Led by N.B.A., Boycotts Disrupt Pro Sports in Wake of Blake Shooting
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/26/sports/basketball/nba-boycott-bucks-magic-blake-shooting.html
*What we know and don't know about the boycotts that stopped sports
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29749540/what-know-know-boycotts-stopped-sports
Boycotts are done by customers withholding their money; when employees (workers) withhold their labor, it’s called a strike, or in this case, really a wildcat strike. BBC calls it a “walkout” which is also ok.
*Natalie Harp said Trump saved her life. Experts doubt that’s true.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/08/25/natalie-harp-bone-cancer-trump/
False headline. Accurate headline based on the article: “That’s not true.” There’s no doubt about it, and no “experts” are needed to say so.
Two months before Trump even signed the law, Harp had already spoken online about receiving her new treatment. Medical experts say such applications — called “off-label use” — are common in cancer treatment and long predated the law. Right To Try, on the other hand, was supposed to help patients gain access to drugs that have not been “approved or licensed by the FDA for any use.”
*Postal service battles could also mean delays for those second $1,200 stimulus checks
What $1200 checks? Even the subhead acknowledges: “…crucial deliveries Americans are counting on. That could include a second round of stimulus checks, if Congress authorizes them.”
*Merkel Demands Kremlin Answer After Poison Found in Navalny
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpVzl36g_oM
Bloomberg can’t keep their story straight. The video’s title says “Poison found in Navalny” but even the subtitle says he was “likely poisoned”; no poison has been “found”. They have found symptoms which suggest poisoning, but eight days later no poison has been identified.
*A Dictatorship in Belarus Is Shaken
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/14/opinion/belarus-protests.html
Lukashenko has been elected multiple times & by all accounts at least until recently he was quite popular. Despite this, NYT (& others) call him a “dictator”. Jeanine Añez seized power in a military coup; NYT calls her “Bolivian President” or “interim President”. Never dictator.
*Belarus opposition candidate flees to Lithuania amid crackdown on election protests
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/11/europe/belarus-opposition-leader-flees-intl/index.html
Article also claims she “was forced out of the country”, but there’s no evidence for either description. She left, voluntarily, without making any claim of being threatened.
*Putin: Russian forces ready to enter Belarus to end protests
It’s not “Russian forces”, meaning military, it’s Russian police. I realize that US cops are more militarized than most armed forces, but that’s not true of cops everywhere.
*With a mix of covert disinformation and blatant propaganda, foreign adversaries bear down on final phase of presidential campaign
“Bear down” (meaning “step up”) implies an escalation of activity; there is zero evidence in this article any such thing is happening.
“At least three countries — Russia, China and Iran — have taken aim at the campaigns themselves and tried to stir the passions of voters, with a mix of covert “information laundering” and some ham-handed propaganda.”
Here’s one line from the article: “Whereas China will often use stolen social media accounts with random followers or bots that have no followers at all…”
Republicans shatter norms by using government roles during political convention
Those weren’t just “norms” being shattered, they were laws.
*As Politicians Clashed, Bolivia’s Pandemic Death Rate Soared
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/22/world/americas/virus-bolivia.html
It wasn’t “clashing politicians” that was the problem, it was a right-wing U.S.-supported coup government that is the problem. Here’s how the NYT describes that coup: “But its ability to respond was undermined by a contested election that led to the ouster in November of the then-president, Evo Morales, a socialist. An interim president, Jeanine Añez, a conservative, stepped in with a promise to govern until elections could be held.”
*Wearing a neck gaiter may be worse than no mask at all, researchers find
Yeah, no.
*Save the Gaiters!
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/17/well/live/coronavirus-gaiters-masks.html
“Both gaiters [single layer and double layer] prevented 100 percent of very large, 20-micron droplets from splattering another foam head just 30 centimeters away. Both masks blocked 50 percent or more of one-micron aerosols. The single layer gaiter blocked only 10 percent of 0.5-micron particles, while the two-layer gaiter blocked 20 percent. Notably, when the single-layer gaiter was doubled, it blocked more than 90 percent of all particles measured. By comparison, a homemade cotton T-shirt mask, recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, blocked about 40 percent of the smallest particles.”
KFC suspends its 'finger lickin' good' slogan because of coronavirus
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/24/business/kfc-slogan-coronavirus-trnd/index.html
Not The Onion
