politics

As Eminem once said, “You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow because opportunity knocks once in a lifetime.”

That’s how the son of Kansas Rep. Roger Marshall felt during a quick photo op at his father’s swearing in ceremony. As House Speaker Paul Ryan turned and smiled for the camera, Marshall’s son went for a quick, inconspicuous, and heroic dab.

That’s when Ryan, perhaps, smelling dissent in the air turned and shut it down, like so many public healthcare initiatives.

via CNN

Ryan asks the young man, “Are you going to sneeze?”

The boy, having just taken his only opportunity to embarrass his father, future self, and the guy who’s only dream is to have 100% privatized healthcare, put his hand down for the picture. The people, once again, have been crushed.

Aftermath:

Paul Ryan admits that he’s totally out of touch with young voters:

Just finished swearing-in photos. Nearly 300 members. Countless cute kids. Still don't get what dabbing is, though. pic.twitter.com/E2hFgyPYZT

— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) January 3, 2017

Rep. Marshall jails his son for something that’s clearly protected by the First Amendment:

Just so you know @SpeakerRyan: He's grounded. https://t.co/PGGhYXEfQv

— Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) January 3, 2017

Keep fighting.

Fake news is a serious problem. In fact, bogus headlines might have been partly responsible for very real headlines, like ones about a “pizzagate shooter” and a billionaire reality TV game show host winning the presidency.

To arm yourself against Fake News, the only thing you can do is be vigilant. It’s clear that critical thinking and media literacy are not at the top of most school’s lesson plans, so NPR put together a solid list of things to look out for when reading the news. After you check out the list, send it to any family members or former classmates who keep clogging our newsfeeds with this stuff. 

via YouTube

Pay Attention to Domain and URL

Addresses that end in “[dot] com” — good.

Addresses that end in “[dot] com [dot] co — bad.

Read the "About Us" section

According to NPR, if the “melodramatic and seems overblown, you should be skeptical. Also, you should be able to find out more information about the organization's leaders in places other than that site.”

Read the quotes in the story

Journalism, of the most part, relies on first person accounts to get the stories. Traditionally, although becuase of the internet this has been dwindling, it’s a journalistic responsibility to speak to more than one source.

If you’re reading a story and there aren’t that many quotes, raise your eyebrows and look into who they’re quoting.

Read the comments

This goes against smart practices, but if you think something might be fake, read the comments. Because so many comment sections are linked to other social media sites, there’s a good chance someone is already calling the article “fake” in the comments.

Reverse image search

Honestly, if you’ve already gone through the other steps and still can’t whether it’s fake news or not, either check another news outlet or get off the internet. But if you really want to know how to do this, NPR says, “You can do this by right-clicking on the image and choosing to search Google for it. If the image is appearing on a lot of stories about many different topics, there's a good chance it's not actually an image of what it says it was on the first story.

BONUS: See who’s writing this garbage

If every article is written by Jimmy Rustling, and they include headlines like “DRUGS IN COLORADO: New Deadly Strain Of Marijuana Turning Users Gay,” you’re on a fake news site, buddy. 

BONUS BONUS

Jimmy Rustling’s bio on abc.com.co is unbelievable.

via ABCNews.com.co

TGIF, Daily Whaters.

We’ve been through a lot this week. From a public frozen fish graveyard to a washing machine with a brick in it on a trampoline, this has been one for the history books.

But a lot happens in a week, and we are but one website. With that in mind here are some stories that we didn’t get to but think are worth your time.

Enjoy or don’t, the choice is yours!

The World Said Goodbye to Big Mac Creator, Michael Jame Delligatti, who died at 98 via The New York Times.

Domino’s decided not to have reindeer deliver pizza because duh via Mashable.

Nike released its first pair of self-lacing sneakers (for $720) via QZ.

Guns ’N Roses brought a grotesque Trump piñata to their concert in Mexico City and let fans hit it with sticks via The AV Club.

White Supremacist’s former classmates raise money for refugees via The Daily Dot.

This furniture is assembled like Legos and is surprisingly comfortable and affoardable via Mashable.

Unused copies of Newsweek’s Madam President cover are selling for almost $10,000 via NBC.

Speaking of which, private citizen Hillary Clinton leads President-elect Trump in popular vote by 2.5 million via Time.

Speaking of which, a CNN reporter can’t believe what Trump voters believe on the internet via The NY Daily News.

Have a great weekend!