Totals for today’s 24 stories are 19 noise, 2 signal 1, and 3 normal. The signal 1 stories were:
6. China cancels 12,000 metric tons of US pork shipments. This damages the US economy.
12. Demonstrators stage ‘die-in’ at HHS to protest cuts to HIV programs - Funding cuts on HIV programs at the Department of Health and Human Services have been proposed. HIV is a significant health problem. Cuts would damage the US economy and quality of life.
The US is undergoing an authoritarian takeover, hidden by a firehose of distracting noise news events that hide the signal. As the graph shows, this strategy is working like a charm. In fact, media coverage is so shallow that both signals were type 1: Trump is destroying the American economy. The press (and hence the public who depends on the press to keep them informed) is totally oblivious to what really matters: the signal.
How the tracker works and what the true signals are is explained in this article.
Noise - The distraction pattern is staff ineptitude.
197 articles - 92% high factuality - Ground News story.
Noise - The distraction pattern is Trump’s outrageous behavior.
253 articles - 77% high factuality - Ground News story.
Noise - The distraction pattern is corruption. Billionaires are donating $1 million or more to Trump in return for favors, such as ambassadorships and favorable legislation or executive branch treatment.
6 articles - 100% high factuality - Ground News story.
Normal - The phrase “despite Trump’s efforts” can be ignored. Permitting is a normal time-consuming regulatory hurdle.
16 articles - 100% high factuality - Ground News story.
Noise - The distraction pattern is staff ineptitude and staff infighting. Steve Bannon criticized Elon Musk for “putting his own interest” before the country’s interests.
4 articles - 50% high factuality - Ground News story.
SIGNAL1 - This damages the US economy.
14 articles - 88% high factuality - Ground News story.
Noise - The distraction pattern is a false common enemy. Trump has long painted immigrants pouring through the Mexican/US border as full of criminals that are a dangerous threat to America. For example, a video at the Republican National Convention in July 2024, characterized “illegal migrants” as committing “Horrific crimes, murders, gang attacks against our police, child sex crimes and the brutal killing of a nursing student on her college campus.”
1 article - 0% high factuality - Ground News story.
Noise - The distraction pattern is attack your enemies fallaciously. Most article sources were on the far right. They are promoting attacks on the left. MacCallum, a Fox News host, attacked Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, and accused her of “woke ideology”, etc. See this short article from a center right source for fairly objective coverage.
19 articles - 13% high factuality - Ground News story.
Normal - It’s normal to report on polls showing trends in voter beliefs related to the President.
7 articles - 83% high factuality - Ground News story.
Noise - The distraction pattern is using data to lie. Ground News rates Fox News as having “mixed factuality,” meaning its reporting is unreliable and biased. While some Fox News polls appear to be sound, this one is biased.
The single article said “The poll, released Thursday, finds 4 in 10 (41%) think the U.S. should continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes to win, while roughly the same amount (44%) thinks there should be a limited time frame for U.S. support.” The implication is Americans are ambivalent about supporting Ukraine. However, these are leading, limiting poll questions.
More accurate is the question Gallup, a reliable polling organization, asked in this March 18, 2025 story. For the question of “Thinking about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, do you think the United States is doing too much to help Ukraine, not enough or the right amount?” 46% chose not enough, 23% chose the right amount, and 30% chose too much. Implied is this support should continue indefinitely until no longer needed. That support is 46% + 23% = 69%, versus 30% who do want to reduce support. 69% versus 30% indicates strong support for Ukraine, a far different poll result compared to the Fox News poll.
1 article - 0% high factuality - Ground News story.
Normal - This is a normal sensational ongoing news story.
11 articles - 29% high factuality - Ground News story.
SIGNAL2 - Funding cuts on HIV programs at the Department of Health and Human Services have been proposed. HIV is a significant health problem. Cuts would damage the US economy and quality of life.
1 article - 100% high factuality - Ground News story.
Noise - The distraction pattern is Trump's outrageous behavior. According to this center article, the order violates international law by bypassing “a long-running round of UN negotiations on mining in international waters.” In addition, deep-sea mining is environmental dangerous.
188 articles - 87% high factuality - Ground News story.
Noise - The distraction pattern is corruption. Long-term, poor management can negatively impact the economy, but that’s not the main story here.
2 articles - 50% high factuality - Ground News story.
Noise - The distraction pattern is staff ineptitude.
25 articles - 71% high factuality - Ground News story.
Noise - The distraction pattern is attack your enemies fallaciously. Most articles are from far-right sources. These articles imply former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is somehow racist, even though the story is about what Buttigieg discovered in the process of adopting a black child. The process indicates racism. Sample headlines from far-right sources are:
Pete Buttigieg sparks ‘gross’ reaction with ‘cringe’ chat about adoption, saying black babies are on ‘discount’
What Did Pete Buttgieg (sic) Just Say About Adopting Non-White Kids?
Buttigieg Opens Up About His Black Adopted Children, Says There Is ‘a Discount’ Depending on Whether You Adopt Black Kids or White Ones
8 articles - 29% high factuality - Ground News story.
Normal - This is a normal appointment.
18 articles - 62% high factuality - Ground News story.
Noise - The distraction pattern is attack your enemies fallaciously. Trump “is suing Perkins Coie for alleged unlawful acts, claiming Howell is biased against him.” In response, “Perkins Coie is suing Trump, claiming his executive order was retaliatory.” One article with high factuality said “The judge hearing the lawsuit filed by Perkins Coie against the Trump administration found that its labeling “diversity, equity, and inclusion” as ‘dirty words’ to be both “jarring and puzzling.” That they are dirty words is fallacious.
22 articles - 40% high factuality - Ground News story.
Noise - The distraction pattern is corruption, as reported in this center article.
6 articles - 100% high factuality - Ground News story.
Noise - The distraction pattern is false common enemy. All except one article are from the far-right. “The White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that the Trump administration is committed to speeding up deportations of illegal criminals despite a temporary Supreme Court order pausing some actions under the Alien Enemies Act.”
14 articles - 27% high factuality - Ground News story.
Noise - The distraction pattern is staff ineptitude in the form of racism. “Ed Martin, Donald Trump’s interim U.S. Attorney for D.C., apologized for praising Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, a convicted Jan. 6 defendant and known Nazi sympathizer, stating, 'I’m sorry' about his previous praise and that he 'denounced' Hale-Cusanelli's views completely.”
17 articles - 67% high factuality - Ground News story.
Noise - The distraction pattern is staff outrageous behavior.
19 articles - 7% high factuality - Ground News story.
Noise - The distraction pattern is attack your enemies fallaciously. All articles except one are from right-wing sources.
The gist of the articles is that Trump is doing a good thing by going after universities, especially Harvard, for antisemitism behavior. This recent behavior has occurred and stems from campus protests in response to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Harvard has taken some action and is attempting to take more, but the Trump administration says it’s not enough. An April 11 letter from the US Department of Education, Health, and Human Services required Harvard to essentially let the US government take over partial control of Harvard by: (source)
Submit to federal oversight of university governance structures, including leadership and administrative appointments.
Implement merit-based admissions and hiring policies, effectively eliminating existing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.
Conduct an audit of campus programs and curricula to assess and ensure "viewpoint diversity," with the process overseen by a third party acceptable to the administration.
Prohibit the use of face masks during campus protests to prevent anonymity among demonstrators.
De-register student groups accused of antisemitic activities, including the Harvard Palestine Solidarity Committee and similar organizations.
Provide detailed records about foreign students, particularly those on student visas involved in protests or activities deemed "illegal" or "dangerous" by the administration.
Allow federal oversight of academic departments, especially those related to Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African studies.
As a result, Harvard has sued the Trump administration, arguing these demands constitute an unlawful intrusion into academic freedom and self-governance. In addition, over 150 university presidents have signed a joint statement condemning these demands as unprecedented government overreach into higher education.
Note how Trump’s demands were not the result of a careful examination of the problem. They were sudden and arbitrary. The demands went far beyond the small corrective measures needed to curtail antisemitism behavior. Yet this aspect of the issue was not included in the articles. This is the strawman fallacy. By omitting the broader issue, the articles painted a fallacious picture of the problem and reported on that. Here the enemy under attack is universities.
12 articles - 60% high factuality - Ground News story.
Noise - The distraction pattern is staff ineptitude and attack your enemies fallaciously.
According this center article, “The Trump-Goldberg interview comes less than a month after National Security Adviser Mike Waltz inadvertently added the top Atlantic editor to a Signal chat in which top defense advisers discussed a US attack on locations in Yemen. The resulting “Signalgate” scandal shocked US officials and journalists alike, intimating a significant lapse in security protocols and care on the officials’ part.” That’s ineptitude.
“The president claimed the conversation will allow him to judge whether The Atlantic can truthfully write a story about him, alleging the publication writes ‘fictional stories’ without offering proof.” That’s attack your enemies fallaciously.
84 articles - 62% high factuality - Ground News story.
The next day’s tracker is here.
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