https://www.independent.co.uk/...-kabul-b2729391.html

quote:

A US military cargo plane that flew into Afghanistan last week has sparked speculation that America could retake control of the strategic Bagram air base.

According to local media reports, the C-17 aircraft took off from Doha’s Al Udeid military base, arrived in Afghanistan via Pakistan on Sunday, and landed at Bagram.

The aircraft was said to be carrying senior US intelligence officials, including CIA deputy chief Michael Ellis, and military equipment, Khaama Press reported.

The outlet claimed the Taliban had handed over the base, which president Donald Trump expressed interest in reclaiming during his presidential election campaign, to the US.


The claim was swiftly denied by the Taliban's chief spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid, who described it as “propaganda”. He said the Taliban had complete control of the air base.

An American takeover of the base was “impossible”, Mr Mujahid said, and “there is no need for any country’s military presence in Afghanistan at present and the Islamic Emirate will not allow such an action”.

Zia Ahmad Takal, a deputy spokesperson at Afghanistan’s foreign ministry, issued a denial as well. “This news is not correct,” he told The Independent.

The Pentagon is yet to comment on the reports, but a US defence source told The Independent that “there is no US military presence in Afghanistan”.

This is fake news, apparently fabricated by a questionable Afghani "journalist" by the name of Zark Shabab who first made the claim on the social media site Medium, from where a number of Afghani and Pakistani social media accounts picked it up and ran with it, followed by a bunch of circular "reporting on that guys' reporting" by actual news sites.

For example, even the Khaama Press article quoted by The Independent as their source for their story merely states that a guy name Zarb Shabab on the social media site Medium made this claim. Not that the claim is actually accurate or true. Just that he made the claim.

So now here we have a major Western news site reporting on something, because a small Afghani news agency reported on something, all because one unknown guy on social media made a claim with zero corroboration or evidence backing up his claim and some other people shared it.

And naturally, it's now spreading like wildfire on American social media, because it's shocking and outrageous and intriguing and all the other stuff that makes things go viral, and by golly we gotta let everyone know by spreading it ourselves too!

Yet not one single person, from the news agency reporters to all the folks sharing it on social media, bother to stop and say: Hey... Before we spread this, shouldn't we wait and see if there's any evidence besides this one random guy's unverified social media claim?

Nope. It's more important to just get those clicks and likes and retweets.


Furthermore, the C-17 that supposedly landed at Bagram with senior intelligence officials onboard was claimed to be "MOOSE59", yet publicly available tracking records show this aircraft transiting Afghani airspace on its way to/from Tajikistan, but not landing in (or even passing over) Kabul.

There is no way

We shouldn't have given it up in the first place.

I heard that Xi has become a Pentecostal, has dissolved the Communist Party, and wants China to become the 51st state (which would give them 150+ seats in Congress, three times as many as California).

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
I heard that Xi has become a Pentecostal, has dissolved the Communist Party, and wants China to become the 51st state (which would give them 150+ seats in Congress, three times as many as California).

I just checked FaceBook and didn't see anything about this! Could you please post it there so I can verify it as true?

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:

I just checked FaceBook and didn't see anything about this! Could you please post it there so I can verify it as true?

It was posted on NextDoor. The neighborhood Karens already verified it is fact.

quote:

Originally posted by F_L:
We shouldn't have given it up in the first place.

I disagree.

We needed to give up Bagram as a smoking, decidedly radioactive 2- mile radius 500-foot deep crater with a sign saying: Fuck Around Again.

quote:

The aircraft was said to be carrying...military equipment....

Didn't we leave enough there that we could use?

It shows what a powerful weapon lies are.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
So now here we have a major Western news site reporting on something, because a small Afghani news agency reported on something, all because one unknown guy on social media made a claim with zero corroboration or evidence backing up his claim and some other people shared it.

And naturally, it's now spreading like wildfire on American social media, because it's shocking and outrageous and intriguing and all the other stuff that makes things go viral, and by golly we gotta let everyone know by spreading it ourselves too!

Yet not one single person, from the news agency reporters to all the folks sharing it on social media, bother to stop and say: Hey... Before we spread this, shouldn't we wait and see if there's any evidence besides this one random guy's unverified social media claim?

Nope. It's more important to just get those clicks and likes and retweets.

Sum Ting Wong with this story?

quote:

Originally posted by Expert308:

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
So now here we have a major Western news site reporting on something, because a small Afghani news agency reported on something, all because one unknown guy on social media made a claim with zero corroboration or evidence backing up his claim and some other people shared it.

And naturally, it's now spreading like wildfire on American social media, because it's shocking and outrageous and intriguing and all the other stuff that makes things go viral, and by golly we gotta let everyone know by spreading it ourselves too!

Yet not one single person, from the news agency reporters to all the folks sharing it on social media, bother to stop and say: Hey... Before we spread this, shouldn't we wait and see if there's any evidence besides this one random guy's unverified social media claim?

Nope. It's more important to just get those clicks and likes and retweets.

Sum Ting Wong with this story?

but it was confirmed by Ho Lee Fuk and Wee Tu Lo

quote:

Originally posted by FenderBender:
but it was confirmed by Ho Lee Fuk and Wee Tu Lo

Actually I had it on good authority from Bang Din Ow

I heard that Xi has become a Pentecostal, has dissolved the Communist Party, and wants China to become the 51st state (which would give them 150+ seats in Congress, three times as many as California).

This had me laughing out loud!!!!! Wonderful!!!

Wouldn't they be the 52rd state, after Canada?

Rouge nail'd it, here's similar via video

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:
Rouge nail'd it

"Rogue Calls Bullshit", coming soon to Youtube, Twitter, Medium, Nextdoor, and flyers posted on telephone poles.

Ya'll be sure to like and subscribe so I can get internet famous.


Folks, you MUST develop a finely-tuned bullshit detector and a healthy skepticism if you're going to be on the internet in general, and especially on social media in particular.

The internet is a great way to rapidly spread information to all the corners of the world, and gather information from all corners of the world... But that's a double-edged sword, and more often than not these days, the information that's being shared ranges from mildly inaccurate to downright fabricated. That goes double on social media.

If you find something interesting, the next step should be to do some research. Look into it. Verify the sources. And not just whether it claims to be from a credible source, but whether that source they're quoting even says what it's claimed to have said. Then see if there are other sources for it, or just one single claim.

Next, is there evidence? Is the evidence credible? See if it passes the "sniff test". (As in does it smell fishy...) As you can see, even news outlets sometimes report on unverified things. Or report on another person's report on another person's report. They're a business, built around driving traffic to their articles, not on spreading accurate information.

This applies even if you like it. Even if you agree with it. Even if it checks all the boxes of what you want. Or you think it's amazing. Or it makes you mad. Or you think it's incredibly important that everyone know about it. Or whatever.

Stop, take a breath, and see if it's accurate - starting with whether it makes sense or if it even happened at all - before you believe it.

And especially before you share it with other unsuspecting folks.

I don’t believe anything. I don’t even think you’re real.

That's a good start.

Perhaps I'm actually just a large language model AI created by the Russian government to suppress the spread of information and sew skepticism and discord among the right-wing American population.

Or maybe I'm actually a 14 year old Thai girl who's just cosplaying as a grumpy middle-aged ex-cop with an overly analytical/skeptical mind in order to get Youtube views.

You never know...

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Wouldn't they be the 52rd state, after Canada?

If Trump decides to make Canada the 51st state, it will be renamed "Gay North Dakota" according to my news sources.