There’s nothing better than fact-checking a “story” [read: nonsense] written by an intrepid “reporter” [read: ninny Liberal blogger] regarding something Donald Trump has done [read: that he didn’t actually do].
It is so easy to actually fact-check claims these days, using Google and some common sense. Neither Liberals nor the mainstream media, however, are interested in the truth so they bypass these resources and go straight to forking out their own eyeball(s).
I reference the work of Gizmodo’s ace blogger Ashley Feinberg, whose entire history with Gizmodo appears to be writing one article after another vilifying Conservatives (surprise!), generating fake news (surprise!), while clearly suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome (surprise!). Feinberg seems to be obsessed with fake news, such as her December 9th post, “Why is HBO Refusing to Deny that Westworld’s Robots Poop?”
So we have every reason to not only believe, but extrapolate to the worst ends, Feinberg’s hot “scoop” that Donald Trump “Just Dismissed the People in Charge of Maintaining Our Nuclear Arsenal”. This is “according to an official within the Department of Energy”.
The headline is, of course, where most people stop reading and then rush to post the link to Facebook. This, it appears, is enough to prove that Donald Trump is a ______ (fill in appropriate hateful noun with colorful adjective).
A little research and one discovers what this alleged dismissal really means, including the fact that there were no dismissals.
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Here is what the NNSA is actually authorized to do:
(1) Maintaining and enhancing the safety, reliability, and performance of the United States nuclear weapons stockpile, including the ability to design, produce, and test, in order to meet national security requirements.
(2) Directing, managing, and overseeing the nuclear weapons production facilities and the national security laboratories. (3) Directing, managing, and overseeing assets to respond to incidents involving nuclear weapons and materials.
What Feinberg would like non-thinking Liberals and the mainstream media to believe is that somehow this non-dismissal means the Administrator himself is the only person who physically maintains our nuclear arsenal. As if he is the only person who dons a hazmat suit and inspects the bombs for radiation leaks, crawling around on his hands and knees, to make sure every bomb is up to snuff.
Feinberg wants us to believe that our entire nuclear arsenal will be left to just rust away, that somehow our entire nuclear arsenal is at some kind of unspecified risk, that nukes are left out in the open somewhere, that nobody is watching over them, and that some idiot can just launch them (that’s DoD’s purview).
Based on Feinberg's brilliant insight, it sure seems like she punked her readers unintentionally.
If you read the legislation regarding the National Nuclear Security Administration, it is perfectly clear that there is administrative staff which "shall perform the functions of the Administrator...as the Administrator shall provide". (Sec. 3218).
And there are 2,500 such staff members.
In fact, what will actually happen is the same thing that happens with all departments both public and private, when the boss is canned or departs. The outgoing Administrator will instruct everyone to do their jobs until a new Administrator is appointed. i.e. "perform the functions of the Administrator.”
It turns out that Feinberg does mention this indirectly further down in her article, quoting an actual person with knowledge of how things work in the real world.
It’s also worth noting that Feinberg originally reported that Trump’s team had told the NNSA people to leave and “clean out their desks” by January 20. Feinberg has since had to issue a correction, after DefenseNews.com reported that her claims were not correct.
There was no “dismissal”. Resignations were submitted but the staff in question offered to stay on to facilitate a smooth transition, if asked.
Feinberg also had to change the headline to “Trump is Letting Go the People in Charge of Maintaining Our Nuclear Arsenal”. Yeah, minor boo-boo there.
The problem with nonsense reporting like this, with inflammatory headlines, is that they are designed to 1) scare the low-information reader, 2) reinforce cognitive bias, and 3) cobble together a bunch of backlinks. Nowhere in there is there anything about reporting the truth.
Worse, Feinberg’s scoop was picked up and restated by Business Insider, Esquire, Wonkette, Yahoo News, International Business Times, Teen Vogue (huh?), and numerous left-wing blogs.
Maybe she will double-check her sources next time, or stick to reporting on pooping androids.
This is what we can expect of the Left going forward – nonsense, fake news, and shoddy reporting. You know, the same things we’ve been experiencing for quite some time.
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