California Governor Gavin Newsom has accused the Trump administration of deliberately spreading doctored and misleading images of recent protests in Los Angeles.
On X, formerly Twitter, the Department of Defense’s Rapid Response account posted a video that appeared to show burning, graffitied police cars during protests in Los Angeles this week.
However, the fact-checking website Snopes said the image showed protests in Los Angeles following the death of George Floyd in May 2020.
Snopes said the image showed protests in Los Angeles following the death of George Floyd in May 2020.
Isn’t it still fake then, if they claim they’re from yesterday? Politicians have to use simple words.
Also, they were already showing fake images back then. Or images of faked situations. Or fakely escalating situations, then taking pictures of them.
However, the fact-checking website Snopes said the image showed protests in Los Angeles following the death of George Floyd in May 2020.
The governor’s office wrote on X on Friday: “HUGE DEVELOPMENT: An official Department of Defense account is spreading fake images—from old protests—to justify Trump’s illegal militarization of Los Angeles. This isn’t just disinformation. It’s a propaganda campaign from the Pentagon.”
This is the next paragraph, I think the “however” refers to the posting, not newsoms reaction to it. Ultimately, old pictures are real and their use is deceitful. Calling them fake is adequate in my book, but not entirely accurate.
Common sense confirmed. Thanks.
Just to be clear: Snopes is not trustworthy, they lie with clear political motivation.
They’re not even trying to hide it, as they said “The available evidence is too scant to draw a solid conclusion.” about Elons saluting.
I have seen articles on Snopes that I personally find a little too conciliatory, but they don’t “lie”. I think they’re just really dedicated to fact checking. Do we think that Me-lon knew exactly what he was doing? There is no doubt in my mind. Can we know it as a fact? No.
We cannot read Musk’s mind to learn precisely what he intended by it.
I can see how this can be disappointing to some people.
BTW I suppose you are refering to this article: https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/01/20/musk-nazi-salute/
They quite clearly state that the salute had the (desired) effect anyhow:
Even so, Wired published that “the response from the neo-Nazi community across the globe was instant and unanimous.” Rolling Stone also noted much the same, with both publishers citing specific neo-Nazi accounts and other far-right users praising Musk’s gesture.
And there is plenty of fact that supports that Musk is a nazi, which Snopes also addresses.
I’m imagining a drawing, in crayon, that depicts a bunch of angry black and brown stick figures attacking blue stick figures followed by another one of an orange stick figure standing triumphantly over a white stick figure as other white stick figures cheer.
“This is what’s going on, you see. Horrible! Terrible things done by these protestors. And this one is how I am going to defeat Gavin Newsom and have him arrested.”
If it’s anything like his lawyers presenting papers written by chatgpt, they should check pictures for weird looking people and odd non-letters/words on protest signs.
One day we are going to feel nostalgic about those crude beginnings of generative ai. I suspect we’re going to be well and truly fucked by then.
RHAS
KU
Truer words have never been spoken
In one “photo,” the orange stick figure is peeing on the black and brown stick figures who are frowning and crying. In the next, a bunch of stick figures with melon-boobs are peeing on the orange stick figure.
