"Fake news means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but we are specifically focused on the worst of the worst -- clear intentional hoaxes" After taking heat for the spread of lies masquerading as news on its platform, Facebook has announced a new system that pairs user reporting with fact checkers to slow the stream of fake news. (If Kanye West meeting with President-elect Trump is the real news, maybe we're better off with the fake stuff.)

+ Jeff Jarvis: Facebook steps up. (If Facebook itself is determined to fight fake news, maybe you can help out by making your unctuous family holiday photos a little more realistic this year.)

+ Fake news is a big problem. But there are other more subtle (but often more powerful) ways the media had an impact on election 2016. One of them is the amount of coverage given to certain topics. I covered that in this post: The First Rough Draft of History is Too Rough. Another is the simple timing of stories. For example, two big stories came out on October 7. Only one went viral. (And it wasn't the one about Russian hacking). This is how pus*y won.

"At least 368 gymnasts have alleged some form of sexual abuse at the hands of their coaches, gym owners and other adults working in gymnastics. That's a rate of one every 20 days. And it's likely an undercount." People had a feeling that the kids in gymnastics programs were being abused, "but no one knew how widespread the problem was." An IndyStar investigation found out just how bad the problem is, and just how hard some officials have worked to hide it. A 20-Year Toll.

"Grozny, Dresden, Guernica: some cities have made history by being destroyed. Aleppo, once Syria's largest metropolis, will soon join their ranks ... [and] he world has seen what happens when values cannot hold back the chaos and anarchy of geopolitics. In tragic, abandoned Aleppo the fighting has been merciless. The people who have suffered most are the poor and the innocent." The Economist with a good summary of a bad story: When interests triumph over values terrible things can happen.

Earlier this week, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte bragged that he used to personally kill suspected criminals "just to show to the guys that if I can do it, why can't you?" Is that admission enough to get him impeached? (That outcome would be a lot more likely if his killing spree wasn't gaining such widespread support.)

+ "You could be on the list for committing petty crime, living on the streets, keeping the wrong company, or getting high from the cheap drug rugby -- a Filipino version of sniffing glue. The drug is an effective hunger suppressant, making it an attractive crutch for those living rough" From Vice: The reality of life on a kill list in Duterte's Philippines.

You gotta give Yahoo some credit for the way they've rolled out these announcements of hacks on their network. Each one is bigger than the last. In the one they finally told us about yesterday, more than a billion accounts were accessed (including info such as passwords and security questions.) At this point, Yahoo has been hacked so many times and has so many fake accounts, hackers are basically stealing information from other hackers.

+ You might not still use Yahoo, but even if they shut down the whole service, it wouldn't do much to limit the damage of these old hacks. To do that, you'd need to start using different passwords on different services.

Think you've got a lot of holiday cards and email to contend with? Imagine being one of the electors. Some people see glimmers of hope that they'll go against the popular vote in their states, so the Electors have been inundated from all sides. AP interviewed a lot of them. Bottom line? Don't look to the Electoral College to upend Trump victory.

+ In North Carolina, GOP lawmakers are looking at a different solution to deal with an outcome they don't like. They are stripping away powers from the state's governor and Supreme Court.

+ On Twitter, the prez-elect lashed out at Vanity Fair and its editor after the magazine suggested that the Trump Grill could be the worst restaurant in America. (I don't know why Vanity Fair criticized Trump Grill. I ate there and the borscht was excellent.)

+ Is the Trump team having so much trouble luring top talent to the inauguration that they're offering ambassadorships to talent managers? I'd take that one with a grain of salt. But it is true that no DC marching bands applied to participate in the parade.

"The world dismisses them as economic migrants. The law treats them as criminals who show up at a nation's borders uninvited. Prayers alone protect them on the journey across the merciless Sahara. But peel back the layers of their stories and you find a complex bundle of trouble and want that prompts the men and boys of West Africa to leave home, endure beatings and bribes, board a smuggler's pickup truck and try to make a living far, far away." And when you peel back those layers, what you'll find is another example of the far-reaching impact of climate change. From the NYT: Heat, Hunger and War Force Africans onto a Road of Fire.

Uber's self-driving cars took to the street yesterday. But it turns out they did so without the approval of the state's DMV. It probably didn't help that one of the specially equipped Ubers was caught on video running a red light near SF MOMA. Uber blamed the red light running on human error. (I'm not sure who we blame for creating a society where everything that happens is caught on video.)

"I tried to downplay it to our offense my first year: ‘Ah, it's just another game,' But the first time I walked out on the field, it's electric. I've been to the Iron Bowl, I've been to The Swamp … it doesn't compare. The pressure these kids feel, they're aware of how much bigger it is than them. What it means to so many people around the world who are watching the game at 3 a.m. in Afghanistan, or wherever." SB Nation's Steven Godfrey takes you inside Army's top secret, years-long plan to finally Beat Navy.

Not much came out of the much-anticipated meeting between Trump and the Valley's top tech leaders. But at least, Amazon has a new 404 page.

+ Wired takes a crack at explaining why LaCroix is so addictive. I've done my own tests. It turns out, it's the can. Seriously, pour some into a glass or cup and it loses all its superpowers.

+ Looking for a reliable Santa? Try LinkedIn.