Big conspiracy theory right now is that NPR "mistakenly" published news on what conspiracy theorists believe was a planned faked invasion ahead of time. Just look at the time when this was published and look at the headline they are saying! Here's why that's idiotic.

Here's the URL to that story. Notice something about the end of it? https://t.co/KTpdsjl0Mz sections/congress-electoral-college-tally-live-updates/ 2021/01/06/953616207/ diehard-trump-supporters-gather-in-the-nations-capital-to-protest-election-resul
The end of the URL often encodes a page's original headline. And in this case that looks like "diehard-trump-supporters-gather-in-the-nations-capital-to-protest-election-resul" not the violence piece.
Via the Wayback Machine we can get a snapshot of it from about when it was published, and yep, a different headline. https://t.co/38O7tynorf
Why is that? Well news organizations often run a story in the morning and update it throughout the day as events unfold. When events change substantially, they often change the headline as well.
But this is yet another reason relying on your own logical powers is a really bad idea. Critical thinking won't save you here, only someone that knows something about newspaper publishing or someone that has a habit of hitting the web archive will.
And it's yet another example on how conspiracy theories are not that creative. This "how did they publish it before it happened must be a conspiracy" is the oldest trope in the book, familiar to anyone who has looked at 9/11 conspiracy theorists.
Part of my recent interest in *tropes* rather than narratives is that the main tactic of these people when producing content is to know the tropes (reporting published before the event) and then just go out and look for media/events they can pair with the trope.
That's why they can create this stuff so quickly. They don't have to sit around and figure out original ways to connect events to narratives. They work from the tropes backwards.
It's also why so much of this is stunningly uncreative (same stories, again and again) but also stunningly effective (everyone knows the trope so you don't have to explain it).
Sharing the version of this false conspiracy theory here without a red line through it so that medialit people can run it as a prompt in their classrooms.
(Also note the questioning technique here in the snapshot, which is classic -- connect these dots I just gave you, and only these dots, and "come to your own conclusion")

More from Trump

1. Yes, Trump will claim to intend to target GOP senators up for reelection in '22 (like he did to Thune with Kristi Noem) if they don't join in @HawleyMO's sedition on Jan. 6, but the fact is, it's not clear whether Trump will be successful in ANY of those efforts & voting yes


2. to hedge off these threats will also create fissures & fractures for these incumbents among other elements of their party that could complicate their renominations. Indeed, what worries me the most about the potential for the country to slip into @anneapplebaum territory is

3. that what should be robust and intense push back from the party establishment against actually ending democracy- bc that's what Trump's request would do, if it was granted, is fairly muted. What we SHOULD be seeing from the mainstream of the party is threats to strip committee

4. assignments, chairs, privileges, even reelection funds, if anyone gets involved in this bullshit- in the House & the Senate, and the fact that you don't see it is more than a story of McConnell & McCarthy being afraid of Trump & his base. Its a story of receptivity, of the

5. level of receptivity the congressional and party leadership is dealing with both within the rank and file membership of the party and within its donor class, and THAT, my friends, is why you find me so concerned. That, and my decision to finally pull @anneapplebaum's book
Having a Twitter account is not a right.

If you incite violence on Twitter, the company can - and should - stop you. Good call.


Plans for “future armed protests” are spreading on Twitter and elsewhere, the company warned, “including a proposed secondary attack on the US Capitol and state capitol buildings on January 17, 2021”.

Yes, people who boosted their careers off of Trump - his sycophants, his kids & people like Haley, who helped him attack and undermine human rights around the world - are boo-hooing right now.

Always beware of powerful people pretending to be victims.

https://t.co/0A5D5eJFvL


But no one should react with glee. The president of the United States has been inciting violence, and Republican Party leaders, along with a willing, violent mob, have been aiding his attempts to overthrow the democratic process.

That's the real story here.

The dangers are real, and we've all seen them. That Twitter even had to contemplate banning any politician for inciting violence is awful. That they had to ban the sitting president for it is even worse.
I missed that DOJ has posted the individual certificates listing what offenses Trump pardoned for each person listed in his January 19 master clemency warrant, which had names but didn't spell out the covered crimes. https://t.co/oL44VoCVbr
Here's Steve Bannon's, for example.


Here's Elliot Broidy, a Trump fund-raiser who admitted to a role in a covert campaign to influence the administration on behalf of Chinese and Malaysian interests.

https://t.co/tvpHORLrps


Here's Ken Kurson, a former Giuliani speechwriter and former editor of a newspaper Jared Kushner owned, who had been charged with cyberstalking
https://t.co/HxcexSK4Sc


Here's Aviem Sella, an Israeli who had been a fugitive from 1987 esionage and subversive activities charges related to recruiting a spy against the United States, Jonathan Pollard. (He was never extradited and pardoning him was a favor toNetanyahu.)

https://t.co/neHjN57ok3


Here's Dwayne Michael Carter a/k/a Lil Wayne, who had pleaded guilty to firearm offenses
https://t.co/yixm1fTR2b

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This is NONSENSE. The people who take photos with their books on instagram are known to be voracious readers who graciously take time to review books and recommend them to their followers. Part of their medium is to take elaborate, beautiful photos of books. Die mad, Guardian.


THEY DO READ THEM, YOU JUDGY, RACOON-PICKED TRASH BIN


If you come for Bookstagram, i will fight you.

In appreciation, here are some of my favourite bookstagrams of my books: (photos by lit_nerd37, mybookacademy, bookswrotemystory, and scorpio_books)