How Many ‘Illegals’ Has Biden Let Into US? Does US President Have the Authority to Close the Border?

Donald Trump and his supporters assert, falsely, that President Biden has let in between 10 million and 13 million illegal aliens into the country. They also assert falsely that the President has the authority to close the border, and Biden has chosen not to do so. Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post's fact-checker clarified that …

An Absurd Movie On A New Civil War in the US

I'm all for persuasive arguments that the U.S. is not headed toward civil war. Alabama-based journalist Ryan Zickgraf, however, writing in the (UK) Telegraph, offers logical fallacies in his article, "Never Trumpers Are Gearing Up for a Second Civil War. Seven years of Trump-fueled panic attacks have fed into dangerous liberal delusions about the state …

How to Combat Political Misinformation

Sharon McMahon, a former high school government and law teacher on a mission to combat political misinformation by sharing non-partisan facts about the US government, democracy and history. She is the host of the top-rated “Here’s Where It Gets Interesting” podcast, seeking to inspire people to become more well-informed citizens. She spoke with Steve Schmidt, founder of his …

How to Persuade Conspiracy Theorists That The Moon Landing Actually Happened

More than a half-century ago, in July 1969, humans landed on the moon. Some conspiracy theory believers doubt that it happened. "Officials of the Fox network said that such skepticism rose to about 20% after the February 2001 airing of their network's television special, Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon?, seen by about 15 …

In 1960s Defamation Case, Court Ruled In Favor of Goldwater, Candidate Who Magazine Smeared As Insane

Update: At the last minute, as a public trial began, Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787 million dollars to settle a defamation lawsuit. It is one of the largest financial settlements in the history of media defamation. The case recalls other important libel cases in American history, most notably New York Times …

Can You Spot Misinformation?

Retro Report: "Jennifer Connell was called the “Worst Aunt Ever” after she sued her cousin’s son over a broken wrist. The story, full of misinformation, went viral. This video shows how to fact-check using lateral reading." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3fo8g8_SXY Educators, check out our collection: https://bit.ly/RR-MediaLit

Critical Thinking: Resources for a Unit

Adding to my collection on Critical Thinking on my Substack site, I've posted 7 Meditations on Logical Fallacies, Critical Thinking, Over-generalizing, Prejudices, and the Dying Art of Disagreement. + Confirmation Bias & Conspiracy Theories + Skills to Reduce Polarization on Social Media. And Why Learn History When It's All On Your Phone? History courses should …

Your Logical Fallacy Is…?

None of us is immune from logical fallacies. It is far better to receive cogent counter-arguments than to live in echo chambers, which most of us in the online world seem to do most of the time because it’s comfortable. Social media has become disturbingly tribal, Facebook especially, in that we tend to “defriend” those …

How Much Early Black American History Do You Know?

In my free Substack newsletter, I posed 15 questions about Black American History from the 1600s up to 1800. Test your knowledge. And subscribe to the free weekly e-newsletter here.

Pulitzer Vs. Hearst & The Birth of Yellow Journalism

Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911) was the chief rival to William Randolph Hearst. Pulitzer was "a Hungarian-American newspaper publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the New York World. He became a leading national figure in the Democratic Party and was elected congressman from New York. He crusaded against big business and corruption, and helped keep the …