As it turns out, complaints have been cropping up all over #Facebook saying posts that are demonstrably true about #Project2025 are being labeled as false, and the labels always come from #TheDispatch.

I decided to do some research and add some of that context The Dispatch seems to be so concerned about. First, let's explore what The Dispatch is, and then whether it is truly "independent" or truly qualified to check facts.

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WHAT IT IS

"The Dispatch is an American conservative subscription-based and advertisement-free online magazine founded by Jonah Goldberg, Stephen F. Hayes, and Toby Stock. Several of The Dispatch's staff (including Hayes) are alumni of The Weekly Standard, which is now defunct." (Wikipedia)

Immediately, what jumps out at me are the words "conservative" and "The Weekly Standard," because I don't think I'd heard of any of those three founders.

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So who are the founders? Let's start with Goldberg.

Jonah Goldberg was a writer for the conservative magazine "The Weekly Standard," which is now closed, and he was a vocal supporter of the Iraq War both before and after it began. He published numerous articles and appeared on news shows claiming Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and was in bed with al Qaeda before and after the started. It turns out his assessment was completely wrong.

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There were no WMDs and no ties to al Qaeda. He apparently didn't check his own facts, but Meta believes he and his staff are capable of fact-checking other people.

In 2009, Goldberg published the book "Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the Left From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning," which certainly sounds like a fun and fact-filled ... Oh, hell. No it doesn't.

The title is as intelligent as this quote from Goldberg: “John Kerry is a sphincter. Okay, that's a bit juvenile.”

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Stephen F. Hayes is next up.

Hayes is former Editor in Chief of The Weekly Standard and another hawk on Iraq. In 2004, he wrote a book based on the (false) premise of a connection between Hussein and al Qaeda. His employers have included the New York Post (a Rupert Murdoch tabloid), the right-wing Washington Times, Fox News, and he is now (surprise, surprise) editor of The Dispatch’s “fact checking” newsletter.

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According to Wikipedia, “In September 2014, Hayes' name was added to the United States Department of Homeland Security's Terrorist Watchlist after receiving additional scrutiny on several airline flights. He has since been cleared and is currently not on the terrorist watch list.”
Are we sure? Was this fact-checked. I guess we'll never know because the terrorist watch list ISN'T PUBLIC.

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Last and possibly least (after all, he is a lawyer) is Toby W. Stock.

Stock is a conservative attorney and is chief strategy officer of the National Constitution Center, which claims to be a non-partisan center and is chartered by Congress. One of its recent projects gathered three groups – libertarian, liberal, and conservative – to each rewrite the Constitution. That’s not scary at all, eh?

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While Stock's resume is somewhat weightier and his social media presence somewhat thinner than his partners', his gravitas is undermined by two things: One, he's in business with these other two jokers, and two there's one previous employer who bears scrutiny.

Stock was a senior staff member of the American Enterprise Institute, a largely Koch-funded conservative think tank, for more than 10 years.

These are who Meta has "fact checking" other people's posts. Fair and balanced? Not even.
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