Are Facebook, Instagram and YouTube Good Replacements For Mainstream Media For News? Short Answer-No. Mark Zuckerberg. who is the guy who controls FB's and Instagrams policies, when asked if Facebook ever edits info these platforms, also provided a straightforward answer to this question. And, also "no." He said FB is a technology company which provides for "communication." But it does not vouch for accuracy, Indeed, it makes a lot of money by spreading info which Mr. Zuckerberg and others know is false, discriminatory, hateful, and misleading. Facebook has allowed Holocaust denial messages to circulate throughout its network. Apparently, one in ten Millenials and Gen Z Americans (18-39 years old) believe Jews caused the Holocaust. See the 50 State Survey on Holocaust Knowledge, released by the Claims Conference on September 16, 2020. One in two of the survey respondents said they have seen Holocaust denial or distortion posts on social media or elsewhere online. (Hello Facebook.) Almost one in two Alaskan survey respondents did not know what Auschwitz was. This was the case in a number of other states, including California and Tekas. The survey results, broken down by state, and nationally, is available online. Looks like we have work to do. It starts by avoiding Facebook, Instagram, and other antisocial media for info about basic historical info. Or for info about science. One is left to wonder what school teachers and parents are not doing when it comes to allowing young people to use the internet. Everyone should know that Facebook, Instagram or YouTube is the worst place to get info on elections, on historical matters, on our Constitution, and all sorts of things. Why? Because someone is paying them to provide this info without context. And with a hidden agenda. And with algorithms and confirmation bias built in to lead users to more bad info. You know, maybe the Holocaust is a hoax, spread around by Democrats, the radical left, Antifa, the deep state-right? Wrong. Spending just a little time doing some fact-checking is the casiest, and responsible, way to inform yourself, your friends, your family. This helps everyone. Everyone should do this before liking or forwarding messages about things you don't know about. And when you hear or read some ads or messages. especially in this year's elections, attacking Alyse Galvin or Al Gross, do an internet search for "General James Mattis and the Atlantic". That should pull up his June 2020 statement which begins with, IN UNION THERE IS STRENGTH. Read that, and you will understand why you do not want to vote for Mr. Sullivan or Mr. Young. They are helping to divide Alaskans. Most of us, whether Gen Z or Boomers, can always use some more info, especially when it comes to matters we know little about. wikipedia.org is one crowd sourced and crowd funded site which seeks to give people access to the truth. You can search "Facebook" on wikipedia to learn more about FB and its impact on our democracy, and your lives. Voting For Republicans This Year Is a Vote For More Covid-19 Infections, Hospitalizations, and Death. This Will Continue To Be Terrible For Our Economy, Our Health Care Delivery, And Our Shared Values To Do The Right Thing To Help Each Other For whatever bizarre reasons. Republicans this year, at the federal level, and the state level, decided that they would attack America's own scientists, including those at the Centers For Disease Control, rather than do what people all over the world are trying to do-pay attention to the science. We are learning that things are so much worse than we thought, or would ever have had a reason to believe. Republican political appointees, without any qualifications to do so, actively overruled our scientists almost every time they came up with checklists for how to limit the viral spread. This includes food processing facilities. It includes school openings. It includes bars and restaurants. Mr. Trump and his Republican supporters claim they have done a great job, because only 220,000 (and climbing) Americans are dead from this public health crisis. And because less than 10 million Americans have not tested positive for the virus, yet. We need changes. And that includes voting Republicans out of office at the national level, and the state level. When they actively increase the human, emotional, and economic suffering to Americans, just because they do not want to lead, or follow science, it is time to vote them out. But you have to vote for Democrats (or at least not vote for Republicans), if you want rational pcople, who accept evidence, facts, and science, back in control of your lives. And elected officials who honor their constitutional oaths. Those who do not need to hear from Mitch McConnell to decide what to do. Here is Something You Will Not Hear About on Facebook, Instagram, or Youtube That WillI Make a Major Change in Your Lives One billion dollars. On September 30, 2020, ConocoPhillips announced, from Houston (Texas), not Houston, Alaska, that third quarter financials were looking very good, even at 40 dollar oil. So good, in fact, that it was resuming it's share buyback program. This means that it is buying back its own shares, and spending one billion dollars. From available cash on the balance sheet. Not investing in Alaskan jobs. Not helping Alaska's economy. Not helping save the PFD. Buybacks do not increase production. They leave less money in producers' available cash balances to invest in Alaska, and to increase production here. Look at all of the "Save Jobs and the PFD" signsand messages Alaskans are being bombarded with by our friends at OneAlaska, funded by ConocoPhillips, Exxon and Hilcorp, all headquartered in Texas, so OncTexas is more accurate. These guys' ads would make you think that they are struggling to exist with Covid 19, demand destruction and 40 dollar oil. They have been deceived. And they are trying to deceive you. And they are not under any requirement to pass along relevant info to Alaskan's, such as ConocoPhillips' income and profits on our fegacy oil fields. These are the Prudhoe, Kuparuk, and Colville units. To calm everyone down, Joe Marushack, president of ConocoPhillips Alaska, reassured Alaskans that iffwhen Ballot Measure I passes this year, "regular" operations at Prudhoe, Kuparuk, and Colville will continue. See, ADN article, page one of the October 5, 2020 edition. Of all the people involved in the industry, Mr. Marushack knows what he is talking about when he says regular operations at our legacy fields will continue when/if Ballot Measure I passes. And these three fields, the only ones covered by the ballot measure, cover more than 80% of the oil produced from our North Slope. So those jobs are safe. At current prices, ballot measure I is only estimated to increase Alaska's revenues from each of the three producers by less than Sio0 million cach. Other work will depend on oil prices, as it always has. Vote Yes on 1 It is time for Alaskans to stop subsidizing producers with our most valuable oil wealth, at the expense of revenue to our state treasury. We need the money more than they do for share buybacks. Particularly since our legislators thought it was a good ihing to spend some 16-18 billion dollars of our savings, without considering where our revenue went. Having a stable tax policy is a good thing, but not after we got a tax policy put together by ConocoPhillips and its employees. Some of those employees were acting legislators when SB 21. our current oil fiscal fiasco, was passed in 2013. One of them is our current Lt. Governor. So now you know why you things, Other oil owners would not put up with oil buyers telling them what the owners will receive. But Alaska is different. Obvious conflicts of interest do not cause the better side of our elected oficials to act in the best interests of Alaska. They are cut from different ethical and moral cloths than most of us, Having ConocoPhillips spend one billion dollars from its savings accounts for share buybacks does nothing for Alaska's economy or for Alaska jobs. It does nothing for saving ihe PFD. SB 21 is not a good deal for Alaska. It is a very good deal for producers, because it transfers our iraditional legacy field production revenue to them, under a guise of increased production, without any checks and balances to protect Alaskans for what they gave up in SB 21. SB 21 should not be supported by any legislator. For any Alaskans who have not voted yet, and who still have any lingering doubts, (understandable given the massive repetitive misinformation received from OneAlaska) they should go to alaskasfairshare.com for more info on this matter. This is your website. This contains the info you do not receive from OneAlaska, and the info kept from you by your own legislators, because they would not allow public hearings on these issues. Call if you have questions or comments. 907-349-4980. Thank you for reading. sharing. and voting. David Carter, retired attorney. Anchorage, Alaska. Are Facebook, Instagram and YouTube Good Replacements For Mainstream Media For News? Short Answer-No. Mark Zuckerberg. who is the guy who controls FB's and Instagrams policies, when asked if Facebook ever edits info these platforms, also provided a straightforward answer to this question. And, also "no." He said FB is a technology company which provides for "communication." But it does not vouch for accuracy, Indeed, it makes a lot of money by spreading info which Mr. Zuckerberg and others know is false, discriminatory, hateful, and misleading. Facebook has allowed Holocaust denial messages to circulate throughout its network. Apparently, one in ten Millenials and Gen Z Americans (18-39 years old) believe Jews caused the Holocaust. See the 50 State Survey on Holocaust Knowledge, released by the Claims Conference on September 16, 2020. One in two of the survey respondents said they have seen Holocaust denial or distortion posts on social media or elsewhere online. (Hello Facebook.) Almost one in two Alaskan survey respondents did not know what Auschwitz was. This was the case in a number of other states, including California and Tekas. The survey results, broken down by state, and nationally, is available online. Looks like we have work to do. It starts by avoiding Facebook, Instagram, and other antisocial media for info about basic historical info. Or for info about science. One is left to wonder what school teachers and parents are not doing when it comes to allowing young people to use the internet. Everyone should know that Facebook, Instagram or YouTube is the worst place to get info on elections, on historical matters, on our Constitution, and all sorts of things. Why? Because someone is paying them to provide this info without context. And with a hidden agenda. And with algorithms and confirmation bias built in to lead users to more bad info. You know, maybe the Holocaust is a hoax, spread around by Democrats, the radical left, Antifa, the deep state-right? Wrong. Spending just a little time doing some fact-checking is the casiest, and responsible, way to inform yourself, your friends, your family. This helps everyone. Everyone should do this before liking or forwarding messages about things you don't know about. And when you hear or read some ads or messages. especially in this year's elections, attacking Alyse Galvin or Al Gross, do an internet search for "General James Mattis and the Atlantic". That should pull up his June 2020 statement which begins with, IN UNION THERE IS STRENGTH. Read that, and you will understand why you do not want to vote for Mr. Sullivan or Mr. Young. They are helping to divide Alaskans. Most of us, whether Gen Z or Boomers, can always use some more info, especially when it comes to matters we know little about. wikipedia.org is one crowd sourced and crowd funded site which seeks to give people access to the truth. You can search "Facebook" on wikipedia to learn more about FB and its impact on our democracy, and your lives. Voting For Republicans This Year Is a Vote For More Covid-19 Infections, Hospitalizations, and Death. This Will Continue To Be Terrible For Our Economy, Our Health Care Delivery, And Our Shared Values To Do The Right Thing To Help Each Other For whatever bizarre reasons. Republicans this year, at the federal level, and the state level, decided that they would attack America's own scientists, including those at the Centers For Disease Control, rather than do what people all over the world are trying to do-pay attention to the science. We are learning that things are so much worse than we thought, or would ever have had a reason to believe. Republican political appointees, without any qualifications to do so, actively overruled our scientists almost every time they came up with checklists for how to limit the viral spread. This includes food processing facilities. It includes school openings. It includes bars and restaurants. Mr. Trump and his Republican supporters claim they have done a great job, because only 220,000 (and climbing) Americans are dead from this public health crisis. And because less than 10 million Americans have not tested positive for the virus, yet. We need changes. And that includes voting Republicans out of office at the national level, and the state level. When they actively increase the human, emotional, and economic suffering to Americans, just because they do not want to lead, or follow science, it is time to vote them out. But you have to vote for Democrats (or at least not vote for Republicans), if you want rational pcople, who accept evidence, facts, and science, back in control of your lives. And elected officials who honor their constitutional oaths. Those who do not need to hear from Mitch McConnell to decide what to do. Here is Something You Will Not Hear About on Facebook, Instagram, or Youtube That WillI Make a Major Change in Your Lives One billion dollars. On September 30, 2020, ConocoPhillips announced, from Houston (Texas), not Houston, Alaska, that third quarter financials were looking very good, even at 40 dollar oil. So good, in fact, that it was resuming it's share buyback program. This means that it is buying back its own shares, and spending one billion dollars. From available cash on the balance sheet. Not investing in Alaskan jobs. Not helping Alaska's economy. Not helping save the PFD. Buybacks do not increase production. They leave less money in producers' available cash balances to invest in Alaska, and to increase production here. Look at all of the "Save Jobs and the PFD" signsand messages Alaskans are being bombarded with by our friends at OneAlaska, funded by ConocoPhillips, Exxon and Hilcorp, all headquartered in Texas, so OncTexas is more accurate. These guys' ads would make you think that they are struggling to exist with Covid 19, demand destruction and 40 dollar oil. They have been deceived. And they are trying to deceive you. And they are not under any requirement to pass along relevant info to Alaskan's, such as ConocoPhillips' income and profits on our fegacy oil fields. These are the Prudhoe, Kuparuk, and Colville units. To calm everyone down, Joe Marushack, president of ConocoPhillips Alaska, reassured Alaskans that iffwhen Ballot Measure I passes this year, "regular" operations at Prudhoe, Kuparuk, and Colville will continue. See, ADN article, page one of the October 5, 2020 edition. Of all the people involved in the industry, Mr. Marushack knows what he is talking about when he says regular operations at our legacy fields will continue when/if Ballot Measure I passes. And these three fields, the only ones covered by the ballot measure, cover more than 80% of the oil produced from our North Slope. So those jobs are safe. At current prices, ballot measure I is only estimated to increase Alaska's revenues from each of the three producers by less than Sio0 million cach. Other work will depend on oil prices, as it always has. Vote Yes on 1 It is time for Alaskans to stop subsidizing producers with our most valuable oil wealth, at the expense of revenue to our state treasury. We need the money more than they do for share buybacks. Particularly since our legislators thought it was a good ihing to spend some 16-18 billion dollars of our savings, without considering where our revenue went. Having a stable tax policy is a good thing, but not after we got a tax policy put together by ConocoPhillips and its employees. Some of those employees were acting legislators when SB 21. our current oil fiscal fiasco, was passed in 2013. One of them is our current Lt. Governor. So now you know why you things, Other oil owners would not put up with oil buyers telling them what the owners will receive. But Alaska is different. Obvious conflicts of interest do not cause the better side of our elected oficials to act in the best interests of Alaska. They are cut from different ethical and moral cloths than most of us, Having ConocoPhillips spend one billion dollars from its savings accounts for share buybacks does nothing for Alaska's economy or for Alaska jobs. It does nothing for saving ihe PFD. SB 21 is not a good deal for Alaska. It is a very good deal for producers, because it transfers our iraditional legacy field production revenue to them, under a guise of increased production, without any checks and balances to protect Alaskans for what they gave up in SB 21. SB 21 should not be supported by any legislator. For any Alaskans who have not voted yet, and who still have any lingering doubts, (understandable given the massive repetitive misinformation received from OneAlaska) they should go to alaskasfairshare.com for more info on this matter. This is your website. This contains the info you do not receive from OneAlaska, and the info kept from you by your own legislators, because they would not allow public hearings on these issues. Call if you have questions or comments. 907-349-4980. Thank you for reading. sharing. and voting. David Carter, retired attorney. Anchorage, Alaska.