Fake Facts Update: George Zimmerman and the 46 Calls

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Bob Somerby is not pleased:

We live in a culture which runs on fake facts….And one fact is plain above all:

Absolutely nobody cares! Paul Krugman won’t complain about this. Kevin Drum won’t talk about this; neither will E. J. Dionne. And when our best and our brightest won’t mention this problem, this problem will fester and spread.

Hmmm. Should I be happy to be put in the same company as Paul Krugman? Or unhappy to be lumped in with all my fellow slugs who refuse to complain about fake facts?

Maybe both! The truth, of course, is that there are too many fake facts out there for any of us to pay attention to all of them. Krugman, Dionne, and I write about plenty of phony narratives, but plenty of them escape our gimlet eyes too. That’s why it’s a good idea to read lots of different bloggers. We all have our own hobbyhorses, and none of us covers everything. I mean, where has Bob been during the tsunami of liberal misreporting about that McDonald’s budget planner?

Anyway, Bob’s current example of fake facts is all about George Zimmerman and the 46 calls. Click the link for more.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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