GuessTard says Fact-Checker sites only report "facts" - F'ing Idiot

festeringZit · Dec 22, 2016

[h=1]Snopes Co-Founder Accused Of Embezzling Company Money, Spending It On Prostitutes[/h][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
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PETER HASSON
Reporter, Associate Editor

6:02 PM 12/21/2016

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[FONT=&quot]The founder of mythbusting website Snopes, which was recently tapped by Facebook as one of four “fact-check” organizations patrolling the site for “fake news,” embezzled $98,000 in company funds before spending it on “himself and the prostitutes he hired,” according to legal documents filed by his ex-wife reviewed by the Daily Mail.
After divorcing from his first wife, Barbara Mikkelson, David Mikkelson married Elyssa Young, a former porn star and current escort who now works for Snopes as an administrator, according to the Daily Mail.
The Daily Mail also revealed that top Snopes “fact-checker” Kim LaCapria claimed on her personal blog that she has “posted to Snopes” after smoking marijuana. As TheDC previously revealed, LaCapria describes herself as “openly left-leaning” and once claimed that Republicans fear “female agency.” (RELATED: Fact-Checking Snopes: Website’s Political ‘Fact-Checker’ Is Just A Failed Liberal Blogger)
As originally reported by TheDC, Snopes almost exclusively employs leftists as fact-checkers, many of whom have exhibited a clear distaste for Republican voters. TheDC could not identify a single Snopes fact-checker who comes from a conservative background. (RELATED: Snopes, Which Will Be Fact-Checking For Facebook, Employs Leftists Almost Exclusively)

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Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2016/12/21/s...ney-spending-it-on-prostitutes/#ixzz4TaH6TCtQ[/FONT]

festeringZit · Dec 22, 2016

[h=1]EXCLUSIVE: Facebook 'fact checker' who will arbitrate on 'fake news' is accused of defrauding website to pay for prostitutes - and its staff includes an escort-porn star and 'Vice Vixen domme'[/h]

Facebook has announced plans to check for 'fake news' using a series of organizations to assess whether stories are true
One of them is a website called Snopes.com which claims to be one of the web's 'essential resources' and 'painstaking, scholarly and reliable'
It was founded by husband-and-wife Barbara and David Mikkelson, who used a letterhead claiming they were a non-existent society to start their research
Now they are divorced - with Barbara claiming in legal documents he embezzled $98,000 of company money and spent it on 'himself and prostitutes'
In a lengthy and bitter legal dispute he is claiming to be underpaid and demanding 'industry standard' or at least $360,000 a year
The two also dispute what are basic facts of their case - despite Snopes.com saying its 'ownership' is committed to 'accuracy and impartiality'
Snopes.com founder David Mikkelson's new wife Elyssa Young is employed by the website as an administrator
She has worked as an escort and porn actress and despite claims website is non-political ran as a Libertarian for Congress on a 'Dump Bush' platform
Its main 'fact checker' is Kimberly LaCapria, whose blog 'ViceVixen' says she is in touch with her 'domme side' and has posted on Snopes.com while smoking pot

By Alana Goodman For Dailymail.com
PUBLISHED: 14:57 EST, 21 December 2016 | UPDATED: 19:19 EST, 21 December 2016

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One of the websites Facebook is to use to arbitrate on 'fake news' is involved in a bitter legal dispute between its co-founders, with its CEO accused of using company money for prostitutes.
Snopes.com will be part of a panel used by Facebook to decide whether stories which users complain about as potentially 'fake' should be considered 'disputed'.
But the website's own troubles and the intriguing choice of who carries out its 'fact checks' are revealed by DailyMail.com, as one of its main contributors is disclosed to be a former sex-blogger who called herself 'Vice Vixen'.
Snopes.com will benefit from Facebook's decision to allow users to report items in their newsfeed which they believe to be 'fake'.
It is asking a number of organizations to arbitrate on items which are reported or which Facebook staff think may not be genuine, and decide whether they should be marked as 'disputed'.

Husband and wife: David Mikkelson is now married to Snopes.com staff member Elyssa Young - but also engaged in a bitter legal battle with his former wife Barbara with whom he set up the site

Wedding: Elyssa Young - who maintains a website offering her services as an escort - and Davik Mikkelson married in November. The wedding party included two other Snopes.com workers

Arbiter: Facebook announced that Snopes.com was one of the organizations to which it would turn for 'fact-checking' when questions are raised over the veracity of news stories

The others include ABC News, the Associated Press and 'fact-checking' websites including Politifact.com.
Now a DailyMail.com investigation reveals that Snopes.com's founders, former husband and wife David and Barbara Mikkelson, are embroiled in a lengthy and bitter legal dispute in the wake of their divorce.
He has since remarried, to a former escort and porn actress who is one of the site's staff members.
They are accusing each other of financial impropriety, with Barbara claiming her ex-husband is guilty of 'embezzlement' and suggesting he is attempting a 'boondoggle' to change tax arrangements, while David claims she took millions from their joint accounts and bought property in Las Vegas.
The Mikkelsons founded the site in 1995. The couple had met in the early 1990s on a folklore-themed online message board, and married before setting up the site.
Profiles of the website disclose that for some time before it was set up, the couple had posed as 'The San Fernardo Valley Folklore Society', using its name on letterheads, even though it did not exist.
A profile for the Webby Awards published in October describes it as 'an entity dreamed up to help make the inquiries seem more legit'.
David Mikkeleson told the Los Angeles Times in 1997: 'When I sent letters out to companies, I found I got a much better response with an official-looking organization's stationery.'
In 2015, their marriage ended in divorce - but a bitter legal dispute continues.
Both stayed on as co-owners of Snopes - which is registered under its legal name of Bardav, Inc. and were its sole board members.

Staff member: Elyssa Young is also know as Erin O'Bryn and maintains a website adveritising her services as an escort with photographs of her over the years

Political: Elyssa Young, under her other name Eryn O'Bryn, keeps her escort website running. An online review of her services was posted in March 2015

Adult model: Elyssa Young was a model for adult magazines in the 1990s, and appears to have continued posing for photographs until recently. She is now an administrative worker at Snopes.com and travels with her husband David Mikkelson, its co-founder

Active: The most recent review online of Elyssa Young's services was posted in March 2015

Legal filings seen by DailyMail.com detail a lengthy financial and corporate dispute which stretches long after their divorce, and which one lawyer describes as 'contentious' in court documents.
In the filings, Barbara, 57, has accused her former husband, 56, of 'raiding the corporate business Bardav bank account for his personal use and attorney fees' without consulting her.
She also claimed he embezzled $98,000 from the company over the course of four years 'which he expended upon himself and the prostitutes he hired'.
When contacted by the Dailymail.com, David said he was legally prohibited from discussing his ex-wife’s allegations.
'I'd love to respond, but unfortunately the terms of a binding settlement agreement preclude me from publicly discussing the details of our divorce,' he said. Barbara Mikkelson said: 'No comment.'
In court records, Barbara alleged that her ex-husband removed thousands from their business accounts between April and June of 2016 to pay for trips for him and his 'girlfriend'.
She claimed he spent nearly $10,000 on a 24-day 'personal vacation' in India this year and expensed his girlfriend's plane ticket to Buenos Aires.
'He’s been depleting the corporate account by spending monies from it on his personal expenses,' said Barbara in a filing last June.

First wife: Lawyers in court documents described Barbara Mikkelson's split from David, with whom she co-founded the Snopes.com website, as contentious.

She added that he needed to be suspended from using the company checkbook and debit card 'right away before there are no funds left in the corporate account'.
David and his attorneys countered that the India visit was a legitimate business trip, and that he only expensed a fraction - 22.5 per cent - of the total cost of the excursion.
He said he was considering setting up a fact-checking website in India, and wanted to get a sense of the culture. He also said he went to Buenos Aires to attend an international fact-checking conference.
Meanwhile, his attorneys blasted Barbara as 'a "loose cannon" who simply must have her way'.
One major point of contention was David’s 2016 salary – which Barbara was responsible for approving.
David wanted his salary raised from $240,000 to $360,000 – arguing that this would still put him below the 'industry standards' and that he should be paid up to $720,000 a year.
'As I said, based on industry standards and our revenues, my salary should be about 2x to 3x what it is now,' he wrote in an email to Barbara in April 2016. 'I'll settle for $360K with the understanding that it’s to be retroactive to the start of the year.'
Barbara responded that his request was 'not even in the galaxy of reasonable'.
So bitter was the dispute, that they even fell out over the arbiter they had appointed to settle disputes, meaning that Facebook's arbiter cannot even agree on its own arbiter.
The court papers also detail the substantial financial rewards 'fact-checking' brought the former couple - and how they have even fallen out over remuneration.
The divorce settlement stipulated that David Mikkelson receive a salary of $240,000 a year in 2015, while both of the former couple were due to receive $20,000 a month as a draw against profits, as well as a share of any net profit the company made after those payments.
The settlement also noted: 'Each party waives his or her claim upon Bardav's revenues received by Husband into his ****** account and spent by him, accountant's fees for restating tax returns to reflect previously unreported income...'
The nature of those revenues and fees, and of the unreported income is not disclosed.
The settlement saw savings, IRAS and stockholdings of well over $1.5 million given to Barbara, while she renounced claim on their marital home in Calabasas, California, in return for a payment of $660,000.
David kept their joint baseball card collection, a savings account with $1.59 million balance, and other savings worth more than $300,000. They also agreed to split the company checking account's $240,000 balance at the end of 2015 after his salary had been paid and a $50,000 float left.

Accusation: The claim of embezzlement was made in court documents seen by DailyMail.com

Contentious exchange: Barbara Mikkelson suggested a plan to relocate Snopes.com might be a 'boondoggle' and David demanded a $360,000 annual salary

The arbiter needs an arbiter: How details of spending were described by Barbara Mikkelson's legal team

They later increased the $20,000 monthly payment to $30,000.
That has not ended the difficulty however; court documents show that a decision on David's salary for 2016 became bogged down in legal argument when Barbara refered it to an arbiter, and the appointment of the arbiter became itself a matter of dispute.
Snopes.com will be asked by Facebook to be an arbiter on the veracity of news.
Attorneys for the former husband and wife also conducted a lengthy exchange on what was actually true about the actions of the former couple.
In correspondence his side disputes her right to 'decide what is and is not a legitimate business expense', while her side accused of him of making false claims about the appointment of the arbiter.
In the time since the couple split, David has run the company's day-to-day operations, and authored a number of 'fact checks'.
He has also made hires – including Elyssa Young, 47, an administrative assistant at Snopes.
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She is also a long-time escort and porn star who has worked for decades under the name 'Erin O'Bryn' - and now his wife.
Mikkelson married Young last month in Washington state, and pre-wedding photos show the happy couple traveling the world and posing provocatively with tigers while wearing 'Snopes' hats and t-shirts.
The wedding party included two of the site's workers. The newlyweds honeymooned on the Jungle Cruise at Tokyo Disneyland.
Although Young lists her job as 'administrative assistant at Snopes' on LinkedIn, her escort websites and Twitter accounts still appear to be active. it is unclear if she is still working as one.
She describes herself on her Twitter page as 'a mature and experienced courtesan, idealist, activist & dreamer.'
On her escort website, she calls herself 'an elite and discreet companion' who 'understands that while pleasure and passion may be explored in the bedroom, it is hardly the only place.'
'I only accept a very limited number of new lovers because I'm only seeking long term engagements,' she wrote.
She also wrote: 'Here's the donation I request for my time, companionship, and entertainment', with 'non-negotiable' rates of $1,200 for her minimum four hours and $5,000 for 24 hours.

Fact checker: Kim LaCapria is the principal fact checker at the website but also blogged as Vice Vixen and wrote about her 'domme' side and offered sex toy recommendations

Online reviews suggest that she was working in Las Vegas as an escort in March 2015.
While David Mikkelson has denied that Snopes takes any political position, his new wife has a background in politics.
She ran for U.S. congress in Hawaii as a Libertarian in 2004, during which she handed out 'Re-Defeat Bush' cards and condoms stamped with the slogan 'Don't get screwed again'.
[h=3]LUCRATIVE FACTS[/h]Financial details of Snopes.com disclosed in court papers show that the website appears to be healthily profitable.
In February 2016, it had gross advertising sales of $216,199 and a gross profit of $150,599.50.
Expenses were notes as $2,500 for 'server expense' and $4,470 to Brooke Binkowski, which was marked as 80 per cent of payroll expenses.
Binkowski described herself as the editor of Snopes.com.
Her remuneration, which would be equivalent to $53,640 per annum, pales in comparison to that of David Mikkelson.
His 2015 annual salary was $240,000. On top of that the divorce settlement stipulated a $20,000-per-month draw on profits, with he and Barbara later upped to $30,000 - a package that would be the equivalent of $500,000 a year.
He is seeking a pay rise to '2x or 3x' the $240,000, court documents show, although he was prepared to settle for $360,000.
On top of that the court documents show that he had previously been able to charge other things to the company rather than paying for them himself.
In court papers his lawyers said: 'Prior to separation, Barbara wrote off every trip David took that involved visiting historical landmarks, sites, monuments; or museums; or any other site of pop culture significance (including baseball games), as a business expense.
Further court documents showed some of the details of the couple's personal wealth.
They included: a $205,000 home in Las Vegas; a $1,525,000 home in Calabasas, Los Angeles; two savings accounts with $3,064,993; a cash account with $81,785 and a stock account with $47,588; IRAs valued at $455,101; and a baseball card collection which was not valued.

'Let's face it, I am an unlikely candidate. I fully admit that I am a courtesan,' she wrote bluntly on her campaign website.
Her upstart campaign faced a number of obstacles – including a lack of funding and a bad spot of media attention after Young misspelled her Republican opponent's name on her campaign website.
But Young still managed to get on the ballot without spending any money, an accomplishment she touted on her campaign website.
'NO BULS***...I got ON THE BALLOT with the least possible waste,' she wrote, adding, 'Lets get less REAL boobs in office...'
In the end she pulled in three percent of the vote, losing the seat to Democratic incumbent Neil Abercrombie.
She is not the only Snopes employee who is frank online about their sex life.
One of the lead fact-checkers, Kim LaCapria, has also been a sex-and-fetish blogger who went by the pseudonym 'Vice Vixen.'
She described her blog as a lifestyle website 'with a specific focus on naughtiness, sin, carnal pursuits, and general hedonism and bonne vivante-ery.'
She regularly provided intimate advice and reviewed sex toys, including a vibrating wand that 'drives boys mad.'
'If you are doing something to your fella, and you apply this to the base of his cash-and-prizes while you carry on, he will scream and perhaps cry,' she wrote.
She also recommended one book with the review: 'How to Tell A Naked Man What To Do seems like the perfect how-to for the dominatrix-in-waiting, or any girl looking to get in touch with her domme side. Mine, I wish I could shut her up sometimes, but there you go.'
In others posts, LaCapria claimed to be 'addicted to smutty HP [Harry Potter] fanfic.'
Describing her day-off activities on another blog, she wrote that she 'played scrabble, smoked pot, and posted to Snopes.' She added, 'That's what I did on my day "on," too.'
David Mikkelson told the Dailymail.com that Snopes does not have a ‘standardized procedure’ for fact-checking ‘since the nature of this material can vary widely.’ He said the process ‘involves multiple stages of editorial oversight, so no output is the result of a single person’s discretion.’
He also said the company has no set requirements for fact-checkers because the variety of the work ‘would be difficult to encompass in any single blanket set of standards.’
‘Accordingly, our editorial staff is drawn from diverse backgrounds; some of them have degrees and/or professional experience in journalism, and some of them don't,’ he added.
LaCapria did not respond to a request for comment.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...porn-star-Vice-Vixen-domme.html#ixzz4TaHgUFqS
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Dave007inVegas · Dec 22, 2016

That's a hoot

festeringZit · Dec 22, 2016

[h=1]Snopes Fact-Checker Bethania Palma Defended Racist Professor, Linked Trump to KKK[/h]

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by CHARLIE NASH22 Dec 2016126

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[h=2]Facebook’s new fact-checking partner Snopes seems to be almost solely staffed by left-wing employees. As previously reported, fact-checker Arturo R. Garcia complains about “white privilege” and doesn’t like Donald Trump, but he’s not the only extremist employee at Snopes.[/h]Snopes fact-checker and journalist Bethania Palma has written and shared articles attempting to associate Donald Trump with the Ku Klux Klan, defended notoriously racist college professor Saida Grundy, and complained, “The fact so many people are babbling about ‘anti-white’ racism is testament to the complete breakdown and failure of education.”
Yet despite her clear political biases, Palma could soon be instrumental in helping Snopes determine which news outlets should be considered “fake news” or not on Facebook in their new partnership with the social network.
“The fact so many people are babbling about ‘anti-white’ racism is testament to the complete breakdown and failure of education,” posted Palma on Twitter last year, along with the hashtag “#SaidaGrundy”, in reference to controversial college professor Saida Grundy.
Grundy was embroiled in controversy after claiming on Twitter last year that white people were the “problem population” before announcing: “Every MLK week i commit myself to not spending a dime in white-owned businesses.”

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Bethania Palma @BPalmaMarkus

The fact so many people are babbling about "anti-white" racism is testament to the complete breakdown and failure of education #SaidaGrundy
11:18 PM - 11 May 2015

“Racism is a structural system of oppression. It can be seen in statistics, not in tweets that make you squirmy,” continued Palma, referencing popular left-wing talking points on the subject to defend Grundy. “Racism is a caste system – what is done to groups as groups in a society. It is not white guys who are butt mad about Twitters.”

Follow

Bethania Palma @BPalmaMarkus

Racism is a structural system of oppression. It can be seen in statistics, not in tweets that make you squirmy. #SaidaGrundy
11:18 PM - 11 May 2015

Follow

Bethania Palma @BPalmaMarkus

Racism is a caste system - what is done to groups as groups in a society. It is not white guys who are butt mad about Twitters. #SaidaGrundy
11:20 PM - 11 May 2015

In other tweets, Palma defended Black Lives Matter protester Joseph Kent after he was arrested during the Freddie Gray riots, proclaiming, “Imagine the uproar from the right if some white gun fanatic was pushed into an armored vehicle by paramilitary cops,” while she recently retweeted a story about a victory rally being held by the Ku Klux Klan to celebrate Donald Trump’s election.

Follow

Bethania Palma @BPalmaMarkus

Imagine the uproar from the right if some white gun fanatic was pushed into an armored vehicle by paramilitary cops like #JosephKent
10:42 PM - 29 Apr 2015

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Bethania Palma @BPalmaMarkus

When will the white community start worrying about white-on-white crime????? http://www.vox.com/2014/8/21/6053811/white-on-white-murder … #Ferguson
1:01 PM - 23 Aug 2014

[h=2]White-on-white murder in America is out of control[/h]An under-discussed problem.
vox.com

As a journalist, she has frequently written for outlets such as Raw Story and has penned articles attempting to conflate Donald Trump to racism, delve into the “science of white privilege,” and attack or criticize various conservative politicians.
Some of Palma’s articles include: “Donald Trump has some enthusiastic new admirers: White supremacists“, “The science of white privilege…“, “These conservatives are freaking out about Trump calling for Russian ‘cyber warfare’ against the US“, “WATCH: Donald Trump just gave his most f*cking bonkers press conference yet“, “Anti-debt crusader Rand Paul owes businesses more than $300,000 after failed 2016 campaign“, “Donald Trump Jr. claims Obama ‘plagiarized’ his RNC speech — and is promptly slapped down“, “Right-wing radio host questions the loyalty of Muslim dad whose son died serving US Army in Iraq“, “Republican National Convention staffers scrambling to remove Jim Crow-like ‘white elevators’ signs“, “WATCH: MSNBC interview gets heated when Tamron Hall confronts Trump-loving actor over sexist tweets“, “WATCH: CNN interview on Black Lives Matter spins out of control as conservative sheriff berates host“, and “White woman walks through Chicago’s South Side wearing ‘Black America, I’m sorry’ sign.”
Snopes has allowed Palma to write most of her fact checks about Donald Trump, his Cabinet, and the Republican Party, despite her strong partisan opinions on those subjects.
Palma has also written two hit-pieces for Snopes on Donald Trump’s White House Chief Strategist and former Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon, writing two articles: “Steve Bannon Accused of Domestic Violence” and “Steve Bannon Accused of Having White Supremacist Views” on the same day.
Palma is also cited as a “contributing writer” for the left-wing and “progressive” non-profit “Truthout.”

ScottL · Dec 23, 2016

Zit I had to pick up some Rx at the CVS drive-thru yesterday. When you exit you go through the back parking lot where all the dumpsters are located. Every dumpster has the name of the company that owns it printed on the side. There was this one little dumpster where all the RATS had congregated. On the side was spelled, 'VILE'. I couldn't help but laugh.

festeringZit · Dec 23, 2016

Scott L said:
Zit I had to pick up some Rx at the CVS drive-thru yesterday. When you exit you go through the back parking lot where all the dumpsters are located. Every dumpster has the name of the company that owns it printed on the side. There was this one little dumpster where all the RATS had congregated. On the side was spelled, 'VILE'. I couldn't help but laugh.

Haha. And instantly a certain poster came to mind...