Random memes

[The Question]

Whoever made this meme is ignorant of history. Well, ignorant in general, evidently, but...

The KKK was a Democrat paramilitary domestic terrorist group. Yes, there's a glut of historical revisionism (from Democrat-aligned quarters, what a shocker) claiming this isn't so.

Except it is so, as evidenced by the fact that the Klan targeted Republicans as often as blacks:

KKK founded

In Pulaski, Tennessee, a group of Confederate veterans convenes to form a secret society that they christen the “Ku Klux Klan.” The KKK rapidly grew from a secret social fraternity to a paramilitary force bent on reversing the federal government’s progressive Reconstruction era-activities in the...

www.history.com

 

[jack]

You'd have to have a time machine for that to make sense I'm afraid. Today's Klan is Republican affiliated and has been for quite some time. There was a major shift in politics after the Civil War.

That was then. This is now.

 

[The Question]

There was a major shift in politics after the Civil War.

Or, after they were beaten, Democrats adopted lying as the cornerstone of their strategy, and that's why you've grown up to be somebody who is convinced that the parties flipped. You probably can't explain LBJ saying,

“These Negroes, they're getting pretty uppity these days and that's a problem for us since they've got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we've got to do something about this, we've got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference. For if we don't move at all, then their allies will line up against us and there'll be no way of stopping them, we'll lose the filibuster and there'll be no way of putting a brake on all sorts of wild legislation. It'll be Reconstruction all over again. [Said to Senator Richard Russell, Jr. (D-GA) regarding the Civil Rights Act of 1957]”
― Lyndon B. Johnson

LBJ being a Democrat and... correct me if I'm missing the mark here, but... pretty sure 1963 was pretty far removed from the Civil War era.

Or how about the fact that the late Senator Robert Byrd, a Democrat, got into politics through the gate of founding a chapter of the KKK in the 1940s?

These things are tough to explain if "the parties flipped" -- but they require no explanation at all, in fact, because the parties didn't flip; it's just a popular lie told by Democrats to absolve themselves of their own history of organized domestic terrorism.

 

[jack]

CLAIM: The Ku Klux Klan was formed by the Democratic Party.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The Ku Klux Klan was not formed by the Democratic Party.

THE FACTS: The Klan first emerged after the Civil War in an effort to intimidate Southern blacks to stay out of politics and to exploit their labor. It was created in Pulaski, Tennessee, by Confederate veterans: Frank McCord, Richard Reed, John Lester, John Kennedy, J. Calvin Jones and James Crowe. Mark Pitcavage, senior fellow at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, told The Associated Press that it was originally designed “purely for entertainment, with no political motivations.”

Pitcavage said members engaged in social antics that grew to incorporate cruel pranks. The Klan gradually took on a political tone and by 1867 it began engaging in violent acts.

According to Pitcavage, many KKK members were Democrats since the Whig Party had died out and white Southerners disliked the Republican party. He says, though, that the Klan was not started by the Democratic Party “ nor did it have ideological motives until later.”

By the 1870s the Klan had died out since white Southerners had retaken control of state governments “through their campaigns of violence and intimidation.” When a new Klan emerged in the 1910s, it attracted members from both parties, as well as members affiliated with no parties.
___
The Associated Press reviewed this story after it was surfaced to third-party fact checkers as part of an initiative with Facebook to assess the accuracy of news content.

 

[The Question]

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False

That's correct; AP's assessment is false.

 

[jack]

Nice edit there

 

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[The Question]

Nice edit there

See, the AP's assessment doesn't account for the fact that the KKK targeted Republicans in the 19th and 20th centuries, and that its members were exclusively Democrat-aligned well into the mid-late 20th century. But I can account for it:

The AP runs cover for the Democrats, who want to distance themselves from their past connection to a domestic terrorist organization.

50 years from now, they'll be claiming that Antifa was a Republican organization, too. Because they lie. That's what they do.

 

[jack]

How Does The Factual Rate News Sources?

The Factual analyzes more than 10,000 news stories every day to help readers find the most informative, least-biased articles. Our news-rating algorithm scores each article along four metrics: (1) cited sources and quotes, (2) publication history, (3) writing tone, and (4) author expertise. These scores combine in a weighted average we call a Factual Grade, which ranges from 0–100%. (See our How It Works page to learn more about our algorithm.)

For this study, we analyzed ~1,000 articles each from 240 news sources. The average Factual Grade for the entire dataset was 62.5%. Based on these averages, we can compare the performance of news sites across the media ecosystem. The entire dataset can be explored in greater detail here.
How Factual Is the Associated Press?

The Associated Press scored an average Factual Grade of 68.8%, scoring in the 79th percentile of our dataset. This score reflects the AP’s consistent, reliable reporting, which typically involves direct quotes and neutral language. Likewise, the AP employs a vast network of journalists, many of whom routinely or regularly cover the same topics for AP.

Like any news source, scores for articles from the AP varied widely based on factors like author expertise and cited evidence. For example, some scored above 80%, while others scored below 50%.

 

[The Question]

How Does The Factual Rate News Sources?

The Factual analyzes more than 10,000 news stories every day to help readers find the most informative, least-biased articles. Our news-rating algorithm scores each article along four metrics: (1) cited sources and quotes, (2) publication history, (3) writing tone, and (4) author expertise. These scores combine in a weighted average we call a Factual Grade, which ranges from 0–100%. (See our How It Works page to learn more about our algorithm.)

For this study, we analyzed ~1,000 articles each from 240 news sources. The average Factual Grade for the entire dataset was 62.5%. Based on these averages, we can compare the performance of news sites across the media ecosystem. The entire dataset can be explored in greater detail here.
How Factual Is the Associated Press?

The Associated Press scored an average Factual Grade of 68.8%, scoring in the 79th percentile of our dataset. This score reflects the AP’s consistent, reliable reporting, which typically involves direct quotes and neutral language. Likewise, the AP employs a vast network of journalists, many of whom routinely or regularly cover the same topics for AP.

Like any news source, scores for articles from the AP varied widely based on factors like author expertise and cited evidence. For example, some scored above 80%, while others scored below 50%.

See, your kneejerk response is to ask, "Well, what do people say about..?"

But have you asked yourself the questions I listed? If the KKK is a Republican organization, why did they attack Republicans? If the KKK is a Republican organization, why have all the most notable figures within it been Democrats*?

The AP's assertion doesn't answer those questions. Mine does: The KKK was a Democrat-aligned organization.

*David Duke, according to Wikipedia, was a Republican. Except, oh wait... according to Wikipedia, not always, he wasn't. Up until the 1990s, David Duke was a Democrat. If there was a "switch in parties", it was Democrats switching to the GOP. Why? Most likely, to hide from voters the fact that they were Democrats. Think Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney, John McCain, et al.

Wikiwand - Electoral history of David Duke

David Duke is an American neo-Nazi, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, far-right politician, convicted felon, and former grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. From 1989 to 1992, he was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives. He has been a perennial candidate for various...

www.wikiwand.com

 

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[The Question]

So many self-described "conservatives" give a lot of lip service to being opposed to government overreach -- but forget that the boots on the ground applying that overreach are on the feet of cops.

 

[jack]

So many self-described "conservatives" give a lot of lip service to being opposed to government overreach -- but forget that the boots on the ground applying that overreach are on the feet of cops.

Amen.

 

[The Question]

And speaking of government overreach:

 

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[jack]