Lies, Statistics, and the Palantir's Founders Film plans to make right-wing propaganda films--everything old is new again

We start this week with a return to Statistics, specifically Trump's nominee to lead the Ministry of Truth (the Bureau of Labor Statistics). Trump's nominee (which we somewhat gleefully note) is being savaged in conservative media as, well, completely incompetent, and is seen as evidence that Trump wants someone to manipulate the numbers rather than present the truth. We examine why this is significant for constituencies that usually support Trump unequivocally and look forward to the drama that is likely to unfold. We also explore the plan by the Palantir corporation—a data gathering and analysis firm that uses all your data available anywhere on the web—to create a film production company. The goal is to make pro-American films featuring military action, anti-Chinese themes, and heroes from the right. Their list of projects sounds tediously boring and somewhat offensive. Shades of Project Vertas. Anyway, Hollywood has a glorious past and well-deserved high regard for the propaganda films it has made, especially in times of crisis. And there is no shortage of wacked-out right-wing military glorification on mainstream media. So what is the new agenda of this group? Finally, we wonder why Trump wants to sell our most sensitive computer chips, which are highly restricted in sales, to the highest bidder as long as the government receives akickback from the sales. Can this possibly be legal? We all know felon Trump doesn't care if it is.