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tenderfoot
tenderfoot's Journal
tenderfoot's Journal
November 22, 2019
Baron Cohen spent the rest of his speech systematically dismantling a recent address given by Zuckerberg at Georgetown University in which he defended Facebook’s limited attempts to combat its massive problems and explained away its inaction as a defense of “free expression.”
Calling that argument “ludicrous,” Baron Cohen said, “This is not about limiting anyone’s free speech. This is about giving people, including some of the most reprehensible people on earth, the biggest platform in history to reach a third of the planet. Freedom of speech is not freedom of reach. Sadly, there will always be racists, misogynists, anti-Semites and child abusers. But I think we could all agree that we should not be giving bigots and pedophiles a free platform to amplify their views and target their victims.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/sacha-baron-cohen-uses-adl-speech-to-tear-apart-mark-zuckerberg-and-facebook
Sacha Baron Cohen Uses ADL Speech to Tear Apart Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook
Sacha Baron Cohen accepted the International Leadership Award at the Anti-Defamation League’s Never is Now summit on anti-Semitism and hate Thursday. And the comedian and actor used his keynote speech to single out the one Jewish-American who he believes is doing the most to facilitate “hate and violence” in America: Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
He began with a joke at the Trump administration’s expense. “Thank you, ADL, for this recognition and your work in fighting racism, hate and bigotry,” Baron Cohen said, according to his prepared remarks. “And to be clear, when I say ‘racism, hate and bigotry’ I’m not referring to the names of Stephen Miller’s Labradoodles.”
Baron Cohen spent the rest of his speech systematically dismantling a recent address given by Zuckerberg at Georgetown University in which he defended Facebook’s limited attempts to combat its massive problems and explained away its inaction as a defense of “free expression.”
Calling that argument “ludicrous,” Baron Cohen said, “This is not about limiting anyone’s free speech. This is about giving people, including some of the most reprehensible people on earth, the biggest platform in history to reach a third of the planet. Freedom of speech is not freedom of reach. Sadly, there will always be racists, misogynists, anti-Semites and child abusers. But I think we could all agree that we should not be giving bigots and pedophiles a free platform to amplify their views and target their victims.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/sacha-baron-cohen-uses-adl-speech-to-tear-apart-mark-zuckerberg-and-facebook
November 21, 2019
Today, Neil Young made it official. In another Neil Young Archives post, Young writes that he and his Archives are no longer going to use the platform:
https://www.stereogum.com/2065635/neil-young-will-no-longer-use-facebook-because-of-its-obvious-commitments-to-republicans/news/
Neil Young Will No Longer Use Facebook Because Of Its "Obvious Commitments" To Republicans
It’s increasingly obvious to anyone paying attention that Facebook is not a politically neutral organization. The platform has recently made it clear that it won’t take down political ads, whether or not they’re false. Last month, there was leaked audio of Facebook chief executive talking in a meeting about how an Elizabeth Warren presidency would “suck for us.” Yesterday, NBC News reported that Zuckerberg and Facebook board member Peter Thiel had a previously undisclosed dinner with Donald Trump at the White House last month.
Last month, rock icon Neil Young talked about the possibility of leaving Facebook entirely. On the website of his Neil Young Archives reissue project, Young wrote:
We keep looking at Facebook and wondering if we should be using that platform at all, given the latest news. It’s a problem we face together. FB gives you more than you want and it’s not all good. A lot of it is very bad misinformation about political campaigns and ads that are outright falsehoods. These are fine with Facebook, but not with NYA. If we were to leave Facebook with our social outreach we would lose communications with millions. If we continue to be on Facebook, we are conflicted about who we are.
With that in mind, don’t be surprised if we drop all references and contacts with the platform. We recently ran an article describing how to delete the FB platform. It’s not easy to disengage but it is possible… if you believe them.
Today, Neil Young made it official. In another Neil Young Archives post, Young writes that he and his Archives are no longer going to use the platform:
Facebook is facing criticism for sponsoring the annual gala of the Federalist Society, the powerful right wing organization behind the nomination of the conservative supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh.
This turn of events, in addition to the false information regularly supplied to the public on Facebook, with its knowledge, has caused us to re-evaluate and change our use policy.
I don’t feel that a social site should be making obvious commitments to one side of politics or the other. It further confuses readers regarding truthfulness in coverage and message.
NYA, no longer interested in further links with FACEBOOK, will be discontinuing use.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause to you.
Thanks,
NY
https://www.stereogum.com/2065635/neil-young-will-no-longer-use-facebook-because-of-its-obvious-commitments-to-republicans/news/
November 19, 2019
New York (CNN Business)James "Jimmy" Finkelstein, the owner of The Hill newspaper, is not a widely known media executive, but he is one of the era's most consequential.
Finkelstein resides at the nexus of President Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and John Solomon, the now-former executive at The Hill and current Fox News contributor who pushed conspiracy theories about Ukraine into the public conversation.
While Solomon has received significant media attention for his work at The Hill, Finkelstein has stayed out of the headlines, despite having himself played a crucial role in the saga.
Beyond his relationship with Solomon, Trump, and Giuliani, Finkelstein was Solomon's direct supervisor at The Hill and created the conditions which permitted Solomon to publish his conspiratorial stories without the traditional oversight implemented at news outlets. And he has kept a watchful eye on the newspaper's coverage to ensure it is not too critical of the President.
<snip>
Finkelstein has been friends with Trump for decades. In fact, according to a former employee at The Hill, he "boasts that he's a close friend" of the President. "Getting a phone call from Trump would fill him with joy," the former employee told CNN Business.
Trump himself has also privately acknowledged his relationship with Finkelstein. During an Oval Office interview with The Hill, according to a person with direct knowledge of the incident, Trump asked one of the outlet's staffers to send along his greetings to Finkelstein. "Tell Jimmy I said hello," Trump told the staffer.
Finkelstein's wife, Pamela Gross, who worked at CNN but left in 2017, is close with Melania Trump. Gross threw a baby shower for Melania Trump, according to a person familiar with the event.
Finkelstein and Gross are also both close with Giuliani, who currently serves as Trump's personal attorney. Finkelstein often hosts social gatherings at his Hamptons home and, according to a person familiar with the matter, Giuliani and his girlfriend spent multiple weekends at the residence this past summer.
<snip>
None of it would have been possible without Finkelstein, who hired Solomon in July 2017 as an executive vice president at The Hill and initially charged him with leading the newspaper's video division.
"Jimmy is the one who hired John Solomon," a former employee told CNN. "The editors didn't want him there."
A person close to Finkelstein noted that as owner, Finkelstein personally hires members of The Hill's senior management.
Almost immediately after Solomon's hiring, staffers at The Hill newspaper grew worried about his work.
"I remember almost immediately thinking, 'Why is he writing?'" the former veteran employee told CNN, noting that Solomon already had earned a reputation for conspiratorial work when he reported on things like the "deep state" for Circa, a now-defunct conservative news website.
Eventually, when his stories started getting more attention, employees inside The Hill's news division protested to newsroom leaders.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/18/media/jimmy-finkelstein-the-hill-ukraine/
The Hill is trash.
"Jimmy Finkelstein, the owner of The Hill, has flown under the radar. But he's played a key role in the Ukraine scandal"New York (CNN Business)James "Jimmy" Finkelstein, the owner of The Hill newspaper, is not a widely known media executive, but he is one of the era's most consequential.
Finkelstein resides at the nexus of President Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and John Solomon, the now-former executive at The Hill and current Fox News contributor who pushed conspiracy theories about Ukraine into the public conversation.
While Solomon has received significant media attention for his work at The Hill, Finkelstein has stayed out of the headlines, despite having himself played a crucial role in the saga.
Beyond his relationship with Solomon, Trump, and Giuliani, Finkelstein was Solomon's direct supervisor at The Hill and created the conditions which permitted Solomon to publish his conspiratorial stories without the traditional oversight implemented at news outlets. And he has kept a watchful eye on the newspaper's coverage to ensure it is not too critical of the President.
<snip>
Finkelstein has been friends with Trump for decades. In fact, according to a former employee at The Hill, he "boasts that he's a close friend" of the President. "Getting a phone call from Trump would fill him with joy," the former employee told CNN Business.
Trump himself has also privately acknowledged his relationship with Finkelstein. During an Oval Office interview with The Hill, according to a person with direct knowledge of the incident, Trump asked one of the outlet's staffers to send along his greetings to Finkelstein. "Tell Jimmy I said hello," Trump told the staffer.
Finkelstein's wife, Pamela Gross, who worked at CNN but left in 2017, is close with Melania Trump. Gross threw a baby shower for Melania Trump, according to a person familiar with the event.
Finkelstein and Gross are also both close with Giuliani, who currently serves as Trump's personal attorney. Finkelstein often hosts social gatherings at his Hamptons home and, according to a person familiar with the matter, Giuliani and his girlfriend spent multiple weekends at the residence this past summer.
<snip>
None of it would have been possible without Finkelstein, who hired Solomon in July 2017 as an executive vice president at The Hill and initially charged him with leading the newspaper's video division.
"Jimmy is the one who hired John Solomon," a former employee told CNN. "The editors didn't want him there."
A person close to Finkelstein noted that as owner, Finkelstein personally hires members of The Hill's senior management.
Almost immediately after Solomon's hiring, staffers at The Hill newspaper grew worried about his work.
"I remember almost immediately thinking, 'Why is he writing?'" the former veteran employee told CNN, noting that Solomon already had earned a reputation for conspiratorial work when he reported on things like the "deep state" for Circa, a now-defunct conservative news website.
Eventually, when his stories started getting more attention, employees inside The Hill's news division protested to newsroom leaders.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/18/media/jimmy-finkelstein-the-hill-ukraine/
November 18, 2019
State Department staffer resigns after allegations she inflated her resume
Mina Chang was accused of creating a fake Time magazine cover with her face on it, which she denies.
Mina Chang, a high-ranking State Department staffer who vaulted into the public spotlight after NBC reported she had inflated her resume, has resigned from her position.
Chang, the deputy assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stability Operations, was accused of overstating her academic credentials and creating a fake Time magazine cover with her face on it. Chang has rebutted NBC’s story, arguing that her academic statements were not misleading and that she did not commission the doctored Time cover.
“Resigning is the only acceptable moral and ethical option for me at this time,” Chang wrote in her resignation letter, obtained by POLITICO. Her resignation is effective immediately.
<snip>
“In already difficult times, the Department of State is experiencing what I and many believe is the worst and most profound moral crisis confronting career professionals and political appointees in the Department’s history,” Chang wrote. “Department morale is at its lowest, the professionalism and collegiality — once a hallmark of the U.S. diplomatic service — has all but disappeared.”
Chang also takes the State Department to task for not defending her.
“A character assassination based solely on innuendo was launched against me attacking my credentials and character,” she said. “My superiors at the Department refused to defend me, stand up for the truth or allow me to answer the false charges against me.”
A spokesperson for the State Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Chang said she didn’t have any further comment beyond the letter and a rebuttal document she wrote about NBC’s story. NBC didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about Chang's push back.
https://www.politico.com/news/2019/11/18/state-department-chang-resigns-resume-071385
November 18, 2019
Over the course of three decades, one woman in Philadelphia taped CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and other news programs for 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Marion Stokes, a former communist activist who died in 2012, recorded over 70,000 Beta and VHS tapes that are now recognized as a treasure trove chronicling recent American history.
Stokes and her recordings, which have been acquired by the Internet Archive in Richmond, California, are the subject of director Matt Wolf’s new film called "Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project.”
Wolf first heard about the tapes from media coverage from when the collection was transported from Philadelphia to the Bay Area. He makes films about archival footage and thought Stokes’ collection was “unprecedented.”
“It felt like an archive that could include anything and everything,” he says. “And that challenge and that possibility really appealed to me.”
<snip>
In the end, he only digitized 100 of the tapes and says those 700 hours are “a tiny scratch into the surface of what's there.”
At the time Stokes began recording, television stations had been deleting archives for decades, Wolf says.
The film includes moments in history that she captured like a scene that displays four different television screens playing morning shows on 9/11.
But the collection contains far more than news coverage of historical and forgotten events, Wolf says. The commercials, public service announcements, talk shows and sitcoms that Stokes captured serve as a historical record along with the news.
“That material truly doesn't exist anywhere. It tells us so much about who we were and how the world became what it is today,” he says. “That kind of information and insight into who we are, it doesn't exist except in a collection like this.”
https://recorderfilm.com/
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2019/11/14/recorder-the-marion-stokes-project
I bet there's a stark difference in news coverage when she began the project to today!!!
'Recorder': Meet The Woman Who Recorded 70,000 Tapes Of American News
Over the course of three decades, one woman in Philadelphia taped CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and other news programs for 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Marion Stokes, a former communist activist who died in 2012, recorded over 70,000 Beta and VHS tapes that are now recognized as a treasure trove chronicling recent American history.
Stokes and her recordings, which have been acquired by the Internet Archive in Richmond, California, are the subject of director Matt Wolf’s new film called "Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project.”
Wolf first heard about the tapes from media coverage from when the collection was transported from Philadelphia to the Bay Area. He makes films about archival footage and thought Stokes’ collection was “unprecedented.”
“It felt like an archive that could include anything and everything,” he says. “And that challenge and that possibility really appealed to me.”
<snip>
In the end, he only digitized 100 of the tapes and says those 700 hours are “a tiny scratch into the surface of what's there.”
At the time Stokes began recording, television stations had been deleting archives for decades, Wolf says.
The film includes moments in history that she captured like a scene that displays four different television screens playing morning shows on 9/11.
But the collection contains far more than news coverage of historical and forgotten events, Wolf says. The commercials, public service announcements, talk shows and sitcoms that Stokes captured serve as a historical record along with the news.
“That material truly doesn't exist anywhere. It tells us so much about who we were and how the world became what it is today,” he says. “That kind of information and insight into who we are, it doesn't exist except in a collection like this.”
https://recorderfilm.com/
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2019/11/14/recorder-the-marion-stokes-project
I bet there's a stark difference in news coverage when she began the project to today!!!
November 17, 2019
more: https://www.truthdig.com/articles/errol-morris-is-as-scared-as-you-are/
Errol Morris Is as Scared as You Are
Nearly midway through his new film about Breitbart co-founder and former White House adviser Steve Bannon, “American Dharma” director Errol Morris makes a familiar confession. Their roles as documentarian and subject briefly reversed, Bannon asks, “How could you possibly make ‘Fog of War,’ and how could you make ‘What Known Unknowns’ [sic]? How could you make this, and then vote for Hillary Clinton?” To which Morris replies, “Because I was afraid of you guys. I still am!” He adds, “I thought that she was the best hope of defeating Trump. And Bannon. I did it out of fear.”
What emerges from “American Dharma” is a portrait of a narcissistic personality suffering from delusions of grandeur. Bannon may see himself as Gregory Peck or John Wayne (himself a white supremacist, it should be noted), but his self-styled heroism craters under the most minimal inquiry. When Morris calls his populism a sham, serving only the interests of the rich, all Bannon can do is twitch with rage. Like a drunken college freshman, he repeatedly intones that “revolution is coming, as night follows day” without ever elucidating what that means or articulating a coherent vision of the future. Its stage burned to the ground, the documentary concludes with Bannon almost literally wandering off into the woods—a scene that may foreshadow his own
" target="_blank">failed crusade in Europe. (Far-right leaders in Austria and France have distanced themselves from him, and last month, the Italian ministry evicted his think tank, Dignitatis Humanae Institute, from a 13th century monastery.)
Days before White House adviser Stephen Miller’s leaked emails to Breitbart exposed him as an overt white nationalist, Morris spoke with Truthdig over the phone about “American Dharma’s” critical reception, the nature of propaganda and whether Bannon actually believes his own bullshit. What follows is a lightly edited transcript of our conversation.
<snip>
JS: Then let me return to the film’s reception, which you’ve said you were “hurt” by. Do you think the last three years have altered what we expect from our art?
EM: Why do you think people reacted negatively to the movie? Let me interview you for a moment.
JS: My guess is that people desperately wanted to see you dismantle this guy. I’m not a film critic, but I happened to think the film did just that, so I was a little puzzled by that response in some quarters.
EM: I too am puzzled. I have been doing Q&As after screenings here in Los Angeles. I did several in New York last week. Watching the movie, how anyone could think that I didn’t confront Bannon. … I tell him I think he’s crazy. I tell him he’s a racist. I tell him that his populism is essentially bullshit. It’s anti-populism.
JS: Seeing what has become of Bannon in the year or so since the film was made, do you take any kind of validation in your portrayal of him?
EM: I wouldn’t speak of it in terms of validation. I would say that the idea that somehow you can make him go away by ignoring him is not going to be, in the end, terribly effective and is going to be ultimately self-destructive. This is not a magic slate, where you just lift up the acetate window and it just goes away. This is a political movement. Whether we like it or not, Trump did become the 45th president of the United States, and there is a real danger that he could be reelected. Confronting what happened in 2016, trying to understand it better is, to me, the first step in preventing a recurrence of the same.
<snip>
JS: Then let me return to the film’s reception, which you’ve said you were “hurt” by. Do you think the last three years have altered what we expect from our art?
EM: Why do you think people reacted negatively to the movie? Let me interview you for a moment.
JS: My guess is that people desperately wanted to see you dismantle this guy. I’m not a film critic, but I happened to think the film did just that, so I was a little puzzled by that response in some quarters.
EM: I too am puzzled. I have been doing Q&As after screenings here in Los Angeles. I did several in New York last week. Watching the movie, how anyone could think that I didn’t confront Bannon. … I tell him I think he’s crazy. I tell him he’s a racist. I tell him that his populism is essentially bullshit. It’s anti-populism.
JS: Seeing what has become of Bannon in the year or so since the film was made, do you take any kind of validation in your portrayal of him?
EM: I wouldn’t speak of it in terms of validation. I would say that the idea that somehow you can make him go away by ignoring him is not going to be, in the end, terribly effective and is going to be ultimately self-destructive. This is not a magic slate, where you just lift up the acetate window and it just goes away. This is a political movement. Whether we like it or not, Trump did become the 45th president of the United States, and there is a real danger that he could be reelected. Confronting what happened in 2016, trying to understand it better is, to me, the first step in preventing a recurrence of the same.
more: https://www.truthdig.com/articles/errol-morris-is-as-scared-as-you-are/
November 16, 2019
The Hill reports:
WH Defends Stephen Miller: Why Does The Left Consistently Attack Jewish Trump Admin Staffers?
The Houston Chronicle reports:
A prominent Texas Democrat is joining calls from Congress for the resignation of a White House adviser credited with shaping President Donald Trump’s immigration policies after the Southern Poverty Law Center published emails showing the adviser promoting white nationalist viewpoints.
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a San Antonio Democrat who leads the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, on Thursday called Stephen Miller “a white nationalist” who “has no business serving in the White House.”
“It’s clearer than ever that Stephen Miller is a far-right white nationalist with a racist and xenophobic worldview,” Castro said in a statement issued with the leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “His beliefs are appalling, indefensible, and completely at odds with public service.”
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, a San Antonio Democrat who leads the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, on Thursday called Stephen Miller “a white nationalist” who “has no business serving in the White House.”
“It’s clearer than ever that Stephen Miller is a far-right white nationalist with a racist and xenophobic worldview,” Castro said in a statement issued with the leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “His beliefs are appalling, indefensible, and completely at odds with public service.”
The Hill reports:
The White House has scoffed at the source of the documents, painting the SPLC as a discredited group and defending Miller in an indication that one of Trump’s longest tenured and most influential aides will weather the controversy.
“I work with Stephen. I know Stephen. He loves this country and hates bigotry in all forms – and it deeply concerns me as to why so many on the left consistently attack Jewish members of this Administration,” deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley said in a statement.
“I work with Stephen. I know Stephen. He loves this country and hates bigotry in all forms – and it deeply concerns me as to why so many on the left consistently attack Jewish members of this Administration,” deputy White House press secretary Hogan Gidley said in a statement.
November 14, 2019
Up 4.1 million compared to Watergate
https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1195074552663101443
Hearings that lacked "pizzazz" somehow draws 13.1 Million Viewers
https://twitter.com/BenMullin/status/1195072981237747712Up 4.1 million compared to Watergate
https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/1195074552663101443
November 14, 2019
They're getting ratioed big time....
While the shooting in Santa Clarita was taking place, the NRA tweeted this...
https://twitter.com/NRA/status/1195001186862223360They're getting ratioed big time....
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