July 5 and 6, 2017


News and Views


SINCE SHAUB IS UNDOUBTEDLY BRINGING INFORMATION OF VALUE TO THE NON-PROFIT, I WONDER IF TRUMP WILL BE GLAD ABOUT THIS OR SORRY? THE RULES IN QUESTION SEEM TO BE ABOUT LOBBYING, BUT I HAVEN’T FOUND A NICE, CLEAR STATEMENT OF THE RULES, AND I THINK THAT IF A NEW SCANDAL LIES BURIED IN THIS STORY, WE’LL HEAR ABOUT IT LATER. THE MOST INTERESTING THING I SAW IS THAT TRUMP AND SHAUB HAD A DIFFICULT INTERACTION FROM THE BEGINNING, EXCHANGING HOSTILITIES, ETC.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/the-trump-russia-political-crisis-a-timeline-in-breaking-news-982780483789?cid=eml_mra_20170705
Government ethics director who prodded Trump resigns
Associated Press
JULIE BYKOWICZ
Associated Press July 6, 2017

Photograph -- FILE - In this Jan. 23, 2017 file photo, Walter Shaub Jr., director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics walks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Shaub, who prodded President Donald Trump’s administration over conflicts of interest is resigning to take a new job, at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit in Washington that mostly focuses on violations of campaign finance law. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government ethics director who prodded President Donald Trump's administration over conflicts of interest is resigning to take a new job.

Walter Shaub, director of the Office of Government Ethics, is joining the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit in Washington that mostly focuses on violations of campaign finance law.

Both Shaub and the Campaign Legal Center posted the news on their Twitter accounts, and Shaub confirmed his move to The Associated Press.

President Barack Obama appointed Shaub, a longtime OGE employee, to director of the office in 2013. His term was set to expire next year. In his resignation letter to Trump, dated Thursday, Shaub wrote that the employees he led "are committed to protecting the principle that public service is a public trust."

Beginning shortly after Election Day, Shaub and Trump's attorneys have engaged in an unusual bit of warfare that played out in eight months of OGE tweets, letters between them and OGE responses to congressional requests.

After Trump made it clear in January that he would not sell off his global business empire to avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest, Shaub spoke out.

He said Trump's plan to retain financial interests in the Trump Organization while handing over leadership to his adult sons and a senior executive "doesn't meet the standards" of Trump's own Cabinet nominees and four decades of previous presidents.

Since then, the OGE has unsuccessfully asked the White House to punish a senior adviser to the president over inappropriately promoting Ivanka Trump's fashion line. The office succeeded in pressuring the White House to release information about ethics waivers it has granted to employees seeking to avoid running afoul of rules against interacting with previous employers*. However, Shaub objected to White House lawyers handing over undated waivers — suggesting some of them may have been given retroactively.

"It's become clear to me that changes are needed to strengthen the executive branch ethics program," Shaub said Thursday.

Shaub said his work at the Campaign Legal Center will focus on government ethics, including at the congressional and state level. He said he will work from the outside to strengthen an executive branch ethics program that is designed to help thousands of federal employees avoid conflicts of interest.

___
https://interactives.ap.org/trump-ethics/



I JUST THOUGHT I WOULD HIGHLIGHT THE WHITE HATS AMONG THE REPUBLICANS. I’M VERY INTERESTED IN JOHN KASICH. I BELIEVE HE CARES ABOUT PEOPLE OF “THE LOWER CLASSES” (FINANCIALLY LOWER, I MEAN.)

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-governors-healthcare-20170702-htmlstory.html
Meet the 6 governors leading the charge against the Senate health plan
By Kurtis Lee
July 2, 2017

Photograph -- Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), left, and Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) participate in a bipartisan news conference to discuss the Senate healthcare bill in Washington. (Mark Wilson / Getty Images)

In today’s political climate, it’s rare to find bipartisanship. But as President Trump calls on Senate Republicans to pass a bill in the coming weeks that would overhaul the Affordable Care Act, governors from both sides of the aisle are unified in opposition.

The Senate GOP healthcare bill would cut Medicaid spending by $772 billion over the next decade, leaving millions of low-income people uninsured in states where Medicaid was expanded under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.

The governors from states that took advantage of the Medicaid expansion have worked together in crafting letters, holding teleconferences with reporters and hosting private meetings with members of Congress. Some have called for no repeal, others a more measured approach. Who are they? Here’s a look:

John Kasich
John Kasich ( Mark Wilson / Getty Images)
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R)
Medicaid expansion: 2014

Ohioans covered since expansion: 682,922

Impact:

Expansion has helped increase coverage for those with mental health and substance abuse issues. Nearly a third of the enrollees covered by Medicaid in the state have depression or anxiety disorders, according to an Ohio Department of Medicaid study. The study found nearly a third of Medicaid recipients also had some sort of drug or alcohol dependence. Like many states, Ohio is dealing with an opioid abuse epidemic and some officials, including Kasich, fear cuts to Medicaid will hinder access to drug abuse treatment.

“I believe these are people who need to have coverage,” Kasich said at a recent news conference, alongside Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. “If you don’t have a system that does that, then you have a problem.”

Political future:

Throughout the 2016 campaign, he assailed Trump for harsh rhetoric toward, among others, women and Muslims. After Kasich withdrew from the GOP presidential primary, he never endorsed Trump. Many political observers believe that if any Republican challenges the president in 2020, Kasich will be in the best position to do so. He’s term-limited in 2018.

John Hickenlooper
John Hickenlooper (Mark Wilson / Getty Images)
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D)

Medicaid expansion: 2014

Coloradans covered since expansion: 421,111

Impact:

Before Medicaid expansion in 2014, more than 14% of Coloradans were uninsured. That number is now about 6%, according to the nonpartisan Colorado Health Institute. Expansion has benefited many people who live in rural counties along the state’s southern border.

Political future:

Hickenlooper’s term ends in 2018 and in recent months he’s been asked by reporters — on several occasions — if he plans to run for president in 2020. His response? Wait and see. The former Denver mayor, a quirky guy who was once a beer brewer, could also run for a Senate seat in 2020, challenging Republican incumbent Sen. Cory Gardner.

Brian Sandoval
Brian Sandoval (David Becker / Associated Press)
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R)

Medicaid expansion: 2014

Nevadans covered since expansion: 203,929

Impact:

The state’s uninsured rate was 23% in 2012 — one of the highest in the country. By 2015 it had fallen to 11%. Sandoval was among the first Republican governors to enroll his state — where many lower-income workers a re the backbone of the tourism and hospitality industry — in Medicaid expansion. “This is a way for me to protect these people,” Sandoval told the Associated Press when he announced his support for expanding Medicaid.

Political future: A moderate Republican, Sandoval won reelection in 2014, but has not hinted about his plans once he exits office. Before Sandoval became governor, he served as a U.S. district court judge. He’s currently the vice chairman of the National Governors Assn.

Doug Ducey
Doug Ducey (Angie Wang / Associated Press)
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R)

Medicaid expansion: 2014

Arizonans covered since expansion: 416,349

Impact:

Like Ohio and other states, Arizona is dealing with an opioid epidemic. In June, Ducey declared a statewide health emergency to combat the growing number of opioid deaths in the state — about two a day last year. Healthcare officials estimate tens of thousands of Arizonans who rely on Medicaid to treat substance abuse could lose coverage if Obamacare is repealed. Although Ducey has repeatedly called Obamacare “flawed,” he asked Congress to not repeal it without a solid replacement.

Political future:

Ducey, a former state treasurer, emerged from a primary field of a half-dozen GOP gubernatorial candidates in 2014 and easily won the general election. Ducey, 53, is relatively young for a governor and is running for a second term in 2018.

Steve Bullock
Steve Bullock (Matt Gouras / Associated Press)
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D)

Medicaid expansion: 2015

Montanans covered since expansion: 70,000 (estimate)

Impact:

Medicaid expansion dropped the uninsured rate in Montana from 15% in 2013 to about 7% in 2016, according to the governor’s office. Bullock and Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards held a joint phone call last month to urge the Senate to not pass its healthcare bill. Bullock said the bill would "disproportionately affect" rural states like Montana, and it would slash Medicaid reimbursements that help keep many rural hospitals afloat.

Political future:

Bullock was narrowly elected to a second term in 2016 as Trump won the state by 20-percentage points. Many political observers in Montana speculate Bullock might have sights on a possible 2020 presidential run. Or, perhaps, he could opt for Senate bid that year against incumbent Republican Sen. Steve Daines.

John Bel Edwards
John Bel Edwards (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press)
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D)

Medicaid expansion: 2016

Louisianans covered since expansion: 300,000 (estimate)

Impact:

Joining the Medicaid expansion, Bel Edwards said, would prevent Louisianians from “slipping further into poverty and give them a fighting chance for a better life.” It was a sharp departure from his predecessor, Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, who opposed expansion.

Political future:

Before winning election in 2015, Bel Edwards had served in the state House since 2008. The state often votes Republican in presidential races, but a handful of Democratic governors have been elected since the early 1990s.

kurtis.lee@latimes.com
Twitter: @kurtisalee
Times staff writer Sean Greene contributed to this report.



AFFLUENZA? ALTHOUGH THERE IS ALSO A MOVEMENT/MOVEMENTS AMONG MEN, SAID TO HAVE ORIGINATED IN THE 1960S AND EARLY 70S IN REBELLION AGAINST THE WOMEN’S LIBERATION MOVEMENT -- BEING BASED ON THE IDEA THAT MEN (PROBABLY SINCE THEY ARE NO LONGER ALLOWED TO BEAT THEIR WIVES WITH IMPUNITY), HAVE BEEN TREATED “UNFAIRLY.” WOW!! THE ALT-RIGHT SPONSORS THOSE VIEWS, AND BREITBART IS INVOLVED IN PUSHING IT ON THE PUBLIC. LET’S NOT FAIL TO ADD THE TALIBAN IN THE GROUP, AS WELL. THE “CONSERVATIVE” AREN’T JUST BEHIND MAINTAINING A RIGID SOCIETAL STRUCTURE WHEREVER THEY OCCUR, BUT ALSO THE WHOLE PATRIARCHAL SYSTEM.

THE WIKIPEDIA ARTICLES BELOW TALK ABOUT THAT. THERE IS ALSO A HYPERMASCULINITY TREND, WHICH LOOKS REALLY DANGEROUS TO ME, IN THAT IT PROMOTES EMPATHY WITH THOSE WHO DO TREAT WOMEN AGGRESSIVELY.

SIMILARLY, THERE HAVE BEEN AT LEAST THREE OF THE CAMPUS RAPE STORIES IN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS. THERE IS THE MATTER OF RAPE CASES BEING GIVEN SHORT SHRIFT ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES IN GENERAL, BASED ON THE IDEA THAT THOSE “NICE YOUNG MEN” ARE ONLY DOING WHAT COMES NATURALLY. SUCH A CROCK! IT IS NO COINCIDENCE THAT THOSE MEN ARE FREQUENTLY ON THE SPORTS TEAMS, WHICH, IT IS WELL KNOWN, ARE ONE OF THE GREATEST MONEY-MAKERS IN ALL OF THE UNIVERSITY SYSTEMS.

BAYLOR, SPECIFICALLY, (A CONSERVATIVE BAPTIST INSTITUTION), IS SAID, IN THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES, TO HAVE A “SHOW ‘EM A GOOD TIME” POLICY TO ENCOURAGE HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS APPLICANTS TO CHOOSE BAYLOR. THIS ISN’T THE FIRST TIME I’VE HEARD THAT, EITHER. THERE WAS EVEN A SEX AND ATHLETICS SCANDAL JUST A YEAR OR TWO AGO AT MY DEAR ALMA MATER, UNC-CHAPEL HILL.

THE CASE AT UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IS BELOW: A KEY QUOTATION IS, "HIS FAMILY IS VERY WELL CONNECTED ...."ON THE ONE HAND IT’S ABOUT GENDER PREFERENCES, AND ON THE OTHER IT’S ABOUT MONEY. AS THEY USED TO SAY WHEN I WAS IN SCHOOL, “S.O.S.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/university-of-alabama-wrongful-death-lawsuit-megan-rondini-rape-claims-suicide/
CBS NEWS July 5, 2017, 7:36 AM
Alleged rape victim who committed suicide felt betrayed by investigators, parents say

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The family of Megan Rondini, a former University of Alabama student who was allegedly raped and later took her own life, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit. Rondini's parents say her rape claims were mishandled by sheriff's investigators and school officials. They also believe her alleged attacker escaped prosecution because of his prominent and wealthy family.

ctm-0705-megan-rondini.jpg
Megan Rondini

According to her parents, Rondini blossomed from a shy introverted girl into an outgoing honors student during her first two years on campus. That all changed in July 2015 after she reported being raped. Her parents say she felt betrayed by the people she thought were going to help her, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann.

Rondini spoke to a sheriff's investigator hours after escaping her alleged rapist's house.

ctm-0705-megan-rondini-parents.jpg
Parents Cindy and Michael Rondini CBS NEWS

"I had already said like I needed to leave, and he just wasn't really responding to that," Rondini said in the interrogation.

"I feel like I wanna like throw up," she also said.

She thought that she was being treated like a suspect because when she fled, Rondini said she found and accidentally fired her alleged attacker's gun and also took three dollars from his wallet to pay for cab fare.

"I'm really sorry, like, I didn't, I just – " Rondini could be heard saying.

"Well, and that's, you know, I told you we just gotta touch base on everything," the investigator responded.

"It was then that we started to learn that this wasn't going like a normal investigation," father Michael Rondini said.

"She's like, 'Mom, they think it's my fault,'" mother Cindy Rondini said, crying. "Like, 'It's not your fault baby, it's not.'"

Cindy drove from Texas to Alabama to comfort her daughter.

"It was the most heartbreaking moment of my life," Cindy recounted in tears.

Investigators also questioned Terry Bunn Jr., the man Rondini said raped her.

"I appreciate y'all's professionalism. And I appreciate the way y'all have handled this," Bunn told the investigators.

"If it was me on the other side, I'd want to do the same thing for me," the investigator responded.

A grand jury later declined to indict Bunn, whose family owns a large construction company in town. When he was appointed to a state conservation board, the local paper wrote a glowing profile.

"His family is very well connected," Michael Rondini said.

When Megan Rondini sought counseling from the university, her first therapist had to withdraw because she personally knew Bunn.

A federal lawsuit filed by the Rondinis on Monday accuses Bunn, members of the sheriff's department and two university officials of causing "Megan extreme depression, anxiety, PTSD" and "feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness... which directly led to Megan's loss of life."

"We would get phone calls where she would be afraid. She's like, 'mom there's a car outside and it keeps circling.' She didn't feel safe," Cindy said.

Rondini committed suicide in February 2016, shortly after transferring to a college in Texas.

The University of Alabama told CBS News its employees "handled their responsibilities with care at all times keeping Megan's well-being as their absolute highest priority."

Bunn's attorney said: "The allegations against my client as set forth in this baseless lawsuit are simply false. No sexual assault occurred."

CBS News legal analyst Rikki Klieman said the sheriff and his deputy are immune to the lawsuit under state law, but university officials could be vulnerable.

"Assuming that you could prove causation of their actions to the ultimate suicide many, many months later," Klieman said.

The sheriff's office would not comment for this story. We also reached out to Bunn but didn't hear back. The Rondinis say no amount of money will bring their daughter back, but any money they win through the lawsuit will be given to groups that help rape victims.


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/family-student-killed-alleged-rape-sues-school-article-1.3298632
University of Alabama sued over rape victim's suicide
BY Elizabeth Elizalde
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, July 3, 2017, 10:08 PM

Photograph -- Megan Rondini, a 20-year-old University of Alabama student, killed herself after claiming she was raped by a Tuscaloosa man. (Facebook)

The family of a University of Alabama student who committed suicide last year after claiming she was raped has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her alleged attacker, school staffers and law enforcement over the weekend.

Michael and Cynthia Rondini, parents of Megan Rondini, are accusing two University of Alabama employees, Beth Howard and Cara Blake, Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ron Abernathy, sheriff deputy Joshua Hastings, and investigator Adam Jones for not taking their daughter's rape allegations seriously.

The suit says Rondini, of Texas, met a man at a Tuscaloosa bar and was allegedly drugged before being raped in his home in July 2015.

Terry Bunn Jr., Rondini's alleged attacker, hasn't been charged. He was 34-years-old at the time and wasn't a student at the university.

Related: Ex-Baylor regent disparaged female students as 'tarts'

Case investigators were most interested in figuring out whether the 20-year-old Rondini had committed a crime, according to the complaint.

She withdrew from the university in October 2015 and moved back to Texas. She was suffering from depression and anxiety, which led to her death, the suit says

Rondini died after hanging herself on Feb. 26, 2016.

The university is also accused of denying Rondini psychological treatment. One counselor told her that she couldn't treat her because she had ties to the Bunn family, and another counselor refused to see her unless she started taking anxiety medication, the suit alleges.

The school said it was "deeply saddened" by Rondini's death.

Leroy Maxwell Jr., the family's lawyer, said the suit was filed to prevent similar incidents like Megan's from happening.



THE NEXT MSN ARTICLE IS VERY SIMILAR, BUT AT A FAMOUS PRIVATE BAPTIST UNIVERSITY -- SAME THING, HOWEVER. OUR MEN ARE IMPORTANT, OUR WOMEN ARE A LIABILITY.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaafb/ex-baylor-regent-called-female-students-perverted-little-tarts/ar-BBDxbD7
Ex-Baylor regent called female students 'perverted little tarts'
Sporting News Sporting News
Ron Clements
July 5, 2017 3 days ago

Photograph -- © (Getty Images) Baylor football

Emails disclosed in a Title IX lawsuit against Baylor have revealed several disparaging remarks about female students by a then-Board of Regents member.

Neal "Buddy" Jones, who was on Baylor's board of regents from 2003 to 2013, blasted female students suspected of drinking in emails sent in 2009.

Jones, who was the board chairman from 2011 to 2012, sent the emails to Tommye Lou Davis, who was associate dean of the classics department and honors college and a faculty advisor. In the emails, obtained by the Waco Tribune, Jones referred to female students he suspected of drinking as "perverted little tarts," "very bad apples," "insidious and inbred" and "the vilest and most despicable of girls."

A lawsuit filed in January alleged that 31 Baylor football players committed at least 52 acts of rape between 2011 and 2014. The lawsuit, which claims Title IX violations and negligence by Baylor, alleges the football program promoted a "show 'em a good time" policy that used sex as a recruiting pitch for high school athletes.

Ten women suing Baylor claim the school had a "culture of violence" toward women and used its "alcohol policy as a pretext to shame, silence and threaten to expel a female student.”

Jones, a former prosecutor and Texas state representative who has been called one of the most powerful people in Texas, emailed photos of female students drinking at parties and alleged those women were underage. He also blamed the girls for violating university rules that prohibit drinking. He also referred to alumni association representatives as "terrorists."

"I am an old district attorney and will produce more evidence if I need to," Jones wrote to Davis. "Please don’t make me. All of this should be sufficient… I would take this one to trial and would win it outright.

"This is a group of very bad apples," another email said. "No wonder Standards won’t deal with infractions. They are as guilty as others. It is insidious and inbred. Worse than the BAA.

"I am just sick," he added. "Those perverted little tarts had better be thanking their lucky stars that my guns are all aimed at a worse group of insidious scoundrels than themselves for the time being.

"It is not you I am disgusted with," Jones wrote to Davis. "It is the system. And (if I have any energy left in me after this BAA issue is settled) we will change it, too.

MORE: Baylor confirms NCAA investigation, could release sexual assault reports since 2003

"When this stuff can all be sanctioned at a Christian school, something needs to be done. Besides, once this alumni outreach is fixed what else will there be to do? I don’t want to be bored."

The sexual assault scandal at Baylor that exploded in late 2015 and unfolded in the news throughout 2016 has already led to the firing of coach Art Briles, the resignations of athletic director Ian McCaw, who is now at Liberty University, and university president Ken Starr. The multiple Title IX lawsuits claim Baylor athletic department officials and school administrators overlooked multiple rape allegations.


SEE ALSO THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_movement
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_liberation_movement
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masculism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriarchy
http://www.jack-donovan.com/axis/
http://www.apa.org/about/division/div51.aspx, Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinity
GAMERGATE CONTROVERSY WIKIPEDIA

DANGEROUS ANTI-FEMINISM IS ON THE RISE, FOR THE FIRST TIME WITHIN MY MEMORY, AMONG WESTERN CIVILIZATIONS, AT LEAST AS AN ACTUAL MOVEMENT. AS AN OFFSHOOT OF SOME ISLAMIC GROUPS, IT’S WELL KNOWN, OF COURSE. THE FACT THAT THIS GAMERGATE IDIOCY IS CONNECTED WITH BREITBART AND DONALD TRUMP, MAKES IT AN IMPORTANT LINK WITH THE COLLEGE CASES ABOVE. A GREAT PART OF THE PROBLEM IS THE FACT THAT THERE SEEMS TO BE NO CONTROL BEING EXERCISED OVER THE INTERNET AS A SOUNDING BOARD FOR HUMAN EVIL, AND THOSE WHO ESPOUSE IT. SEE THE ARTICLES BELOW.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamergate_controversy
Gamergate controversy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"GamerGate" redirects here. For other uses, see Gamergate (disambiguation).

The Gamergate controversy concerns issues of sexism and progressivism in video game culture, stemming from a harassment campaign conducted primarily through the use of the hashtag #GamerGate. Gamergate is used as a blanket term for the controversy, the harassment campaign and actions of those participating in it, and the loosely organized movement that emerged around the hashtag.

Beginning in August 2014, supporters of the Gamergate movement targeted several women in the video game industry, including game developers Zoë Quinn and Brianna Wu, as well as feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian. After Eron Gjoni, Quinn's former boyfriend, wrote a disparaging blog post about her, #gamergate hashtag users falsely accused Quinn of an unethical relationship with journalist Nathan Grayson. Harassment campaigns against Quinn and others included doxing, threats of rape, and death threats. Gamergate supporters claimed unethical collusion between the press and feminists, progressives, and social critics. These concerns have been dismissed by commentators as trivial, conspiracy theories, groundless, or unrelated to actual issues of ethics.

Gamergate supporters typically organized anonymously or pseudonymously on online platforms such as 4chan, Internet Relay Chat, Twitter and Reddit. Gamergate has no official leaders, spokespeople, or manifesto. Statements claiming to represent Gamergate have been inconsistent and contradictory, making it difficult for commentators to identify goals and motives. As a result, Gamergate has often been defined by the harassment its supporters committed. Gamergate supporters have frequently responded to this by denying that the harassment took place or by falsely claiming that it was manufactured by the victims.

The controversy has been described as a manifestation of a culture war over cultural diversification, artistic recognition, and social criticism in video games, and over the social identity of gamers. Many supporters of Gamergate oppose what they view as the increasing influence of feminism on video game culture; as a result, Gamergate is often viewed as a right-wing backlash against progressivism.

Industry responses to Gamergate have been predominantly negative. Gamergate has led figures both inside and outside the industry to focus on better methods of tackling online harassment.



WHAT GAMERGATE SHOULD HAVE TAUGHT US ABOUT THE ALT RIGHT
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/01/gamergate-alt-right-hate-trump
What Gamergate should have taught us about the 'alt-right'
The 2014 online hate-storm presaged the tactics of the Trump-loving far right movement. Prominent critics of the president elect should take note
Matt Lees
Thursday 1 December 2016 02.12 EST

It’s understandable that the world didn’t much care about Gamergate. The 2014 hashtag campaign, ostensibly founded to protest about perceived ethical failures in games journalism, clearly thrived on hate – even though many of those who aligned themselves with the movement either denied there was a problem with harassment, or wrote it off as an unfortunate side effect. Sure, women, minorities and progressive voices within the industry were suddenly living in fear. Sure, those who spoke out in their defence were quickly silenced through exhausting bursts of online abuse. But that wasn’t why people supported it, right? They were disenfranchised, felt ignored, and wanted to see a systematic change.

Is this all sounding rather familiar now? Does it remind you of something? If you’re just discovering the world of angry, anonymous online dudes masquerading as victims – hi, come in. Some of us have been here for a while.

The similarities between Gamergate and the far-right online movement, the “alt-right”, are huge, startling and in no way a coincidence. After all, the culture war that began in games now has a senior representative in The White House. As a founder member and former executive chair of Brietbart News, Steve Bannon had a hand in creating media monster Milo Yiannopoulos, who built his fame and Twitter following by supporting and cheerleading Gamergate. This hashtag was the canary in the coalmine, and we ignored it.

Brianna Wu, software engineer and the found of Giant Spacekat, was one of three woman targeted for abuse and death threats.

Brianna Wu was one of women targeted for abuse and death threats. Photograph: Boston Globe/Boston Globe via Getty Images

Lest we forget, Gamergate was an online movement that effectively began because a man wanted to punish his ex girlfriend. Its most notable achievement was harassing a large number of progressive figures - mostly women – to the point where they felt unsafe or considered leaving the industry. Game developer Zoe Quinn was the original target. Anita Sarkeesian’s videos applying basic feminist theory to video games had already made her a target (because so many people have a difficulty differentiating cultural criticism from censorship) but this hate was powerfully amplified by Gamergate – leading to death threats, rape threats, and the public leaking of personal information. Other notable targets included developer Brianna Wu, actor Felicia Day, and prominent tech-culture writer Leigh Alexander, whose provocative article on the tyranny of “game culture” offered stark warnings that still resonate powerfully: “When you decline to create or to curate a culture in your spaces, you’re responsible for what spawns in the vacuum.”

Other than harassment, very little was achieved, with tiny changes held aloft as great victories: media publications felt the need to publicly clarify pre-existing ethical measures, others implemented small new additions to account for shifts in the ethical landscape caused by modern funding tools such as Patreon and Kickstarter; games writers were duty bound to declare their support for projects they financially aided in these ways. But it quickly became clear that the GamerGate movement was a mess – an undefined mission to Make Video Games Great Again via undecided means.

Many had embraced Gamergate because they felt it wholly matched their ideals, and yet – quite consistently – no one in the movement was willing to be associated with the abuse being carried out in its name. Prominent supporters on Twitter, in subreddits and on forums like 8Chan, developed a range of pernicious rhetorical devices and defences to distance themselves from threats to women and minorities in the industry: the targets were lying or exaggerating, they were too precious; a language of dismissal and belittlement was formed against them. Safe spaces, snowflakes, unicorns, cry bullies. Even when abuse was proven, the usual response was that people on their side were being abused too. These techniques, forged in Gamergate, have become the standard toolset of far-right voices online.

Steve Bannon is calling the shots in the White House. That's terrifying
Lawrence Douglas

In 2014, the media’s reaction was often weak or overtly conciliatory – some sites went out of their way to “see both sides”, to reassure people that openly choosing to be affiliated with a hate group did not make them in any way responsible for that hate. Olive branches were extended, but professional lives continued to be ruined while lukewarm op-eds asked for us to come together so we could start “healing”. The motivations may have been sound, but it’s the language Trump and his supporters have used post-election to obliterate dissenting voices.

In 2016, new wave conservative media outlets like Breitbart have gained trust with their audience by painting traditional news sources as snooty and aloof. In 2014, video game YouTube stars, seeking to appear in touch with online gaming communities, unscrupulously proclaimed that traditional old-media sources were corrupt.

Everything we’re seeing now, had its precedent two years ago.

Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images, Steve Bannon and Donald Trump days before the 2016 US presidential election.

The stark parallels between Gamergate and the political atmosphere of 2016 may come as a surprise, but it shouldn’t: both saw their impact and reach amplified by self-interested parties who underplayed the obvious nastiness they were also promoting. With 2014’s Gamergate, Breitbart seized the opportunity to harness the pre-existing ignorance and anger among disaffected young white dudes. With Trump’s movement in 2016, the outlet was effectively running his campaign: Steve Bannon took leave of his role at the company in August 2016 when he was hired as chief executive of Trump’s presidential campaign. Despite Bannon’s distance from Breitbart in an official capacity, the outlet’s ideology and relentless support of Trump remained unchanged – with editor-in-chief Joel Pollak notably sending an internal memo to staff that ordered them not to support Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields after allegations she was attacked by Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.

Breitbart’s aspirations to directly influence politics extend a long way into Europe, too – Bannon is openly keen to collaborate with the far-right Marine Le Pen in France, and hired UKIP’s Raheem Hassam to co-run the Breitbart London office. These movements are gaining ground by finding political figures who will legitimise them in return for the support of their swollen online communities. The young men converted via 2014’s Gamergate, are being more widely courted now. By leveraging distrust and resentment towards women, minorities and progressives, many of Gamergate’s most prominent voices – characters like Mike Cernovich, Adam Baldwin, and Milo Yiannopoulos – drew power and influence from its chaos. These figures gave Gamergate a new sense of direction – generalising the rhetoric: this was now a wider war between “Social Justice Warriors” (SJWs) and everyday, normal, decent people. Games were simply the tip of the iceberg – progressive values, went the argument, were destroying everything. The same voices moved into other geek communities, especially comics, where Marvel and DC were criticised for progressive storylines and decisions. They moved into science fiction with the controversy over the Hugo awards. They moved into cinema with the revolting kickback against the all-female Ghostbusters reboot. Despite colonising the world with pointless tech and plastering modern film and TV with fan-pleasing adaptations of niche comic books, nerds still had a taste for revenge. They saw the culture they considered theirs being ripped away from them. In their zero sum mindset, they read growing artistic equality as a threat.

Milo Yiannopoulos -- Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Facebook Gamergate figureheads such as Milo Yiannopoulos weren’t taken seriously. Now he is synonymous with Trump and the ‘alt-right’, we have no choice. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

For a long time, we didn’t take these characters seriously. Breitbart’s Milo Yiannopoulos in particular seemed such a desperate opportunist that we never predicted his rise to prominence, having explicitly stereotyped gamers in the past as “overweight” and “embarrassing”. A disgraced journalist and entrepreneur who had to close his tech site The Kernel due to unpaid debts, leaving staff uncertain if they would ever be paid, he’d then spent the next few years spouting insincere hateful ideas to a burgeoning Twitter audience who responded to his anti-feminist, anti-establishment invectives. He was eventually banned from the platform after finally abusing a woman who was apparently just famous enough for Twitter to respond.

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Using 4chan (and then the more sympathetic offshoot 8Chan) to plan their subversions and attacks made Gamergate a terribly sloppy operation, leaving a trail of evidence that made it quite clear the whole thing was purposefully, plainly nasty. But the video game industry didn’t have the spine to react, and allowed the movement to coagulate – forming a mass of spiteful disappointment that Breitbart was only more than happy to coddle. Historically, that seems to be Breitbart’s trick - strongly represent a single issue in order to earn trust, and then gradually indoctrinate to suit wider purposes. With Gamergate, they purposefully went fishing for anti-feminists. 2016’s batch of fresh converts – the white extremists – came from enticing conspiracy theories about the global neoliberal elite secretly controlling the world.

The greatest strength of Gamergate, though, was that it actually appeared to represent many left-leaning ideals: stamping out corruption in the press, pushing for better ethical practices, battling for openness. There are similarities here with many who support Trump because of his promises to put an end to broken neo-liberalism, to “drain the swamp” of establishment corruption. Many left-leaning supporters of Gamergate sought to intellectualise their alignment with the hashtag, adopting familiar and acceptable labels of dissent – identifying as libertarian, egalitarian, humanist. At best they unknowingly facilitated abuse, defending their own freedom of expression while those who actually needed support were threatened and attacked. Genuine discussions over criticism, identity and censorship were paralysed and waylaid by Twitter voices obsessed with rhetorical fallacies and pedantic debating practices. While the core of these movements make people’s lives hell, the outer shell – knowingly or otherwise – protect abusers by insisting that the real problem is that you don’t want to talk, or won’t provide the ever-shifting evidence they politely require.

Drain the Swamp sign at a Trump rally
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As with Trump, Gamergate appeared to represent many left-leaning ideals such as stamping out corruption and pushing for better ethical practices. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP
The beauty of this anti-establishment standpoint is, when any mainstream media source seeks to challenge the collective beliefs of the movement, it’s merely used as further evidence that journalists are untrustworthy and aloof. This is a challenge the press must be ready to face in today’s political climate: confronting these movements comes with a cost – it has never been possible to write openly about Gamergate without attracting a wave of online abuse. In 2017, the tactics used to discredit progressive game critics and developers will be used to discredit Trump and Bannon’s critics. There will be gaslighting, there will be attempts to make victims look as though they are losing their grip on reality, to the point that they gradually even start to believe it. The “post-truth” reality is not simply an accident – it is a concerted assault on the rational psyche.

The strangest aspect of Gamergate is that it consistently didn’t make any sense: people chose to align with it, and yet refused responsibility. It was constantly demanded that we debate the issues, but explanations and facts were treated with scorn. Attempts to find common ground saw the specifics of the demands being shifted: we want you to listen to us; we want you to change your ways; we want you to close your publication down. This movement that ostensibly wanted to protect free speech from cry bully SJWs simultaneously did what it could to endanger sites it disagreed with, encouraging advertisers to abandon support for media outlets that published stories critical of the hashtag. The petulance of that movement is disturbingly echoed in Trump’s own Twitter feed.

Looking back, Gamergate really only made sense in one way: as an exemplar of what Umberto Eco called “eternal fascism”, a form of extremism he believed could flourish at any point in, in any place – a fascism that would extol traditional values, rally against diversity and cultural critics, believe in the value of action above thought and encourage a distrust of intellectuals or experts – a fascism built on frustration and machismo. The requirement of this formless fascism would – above all else – be to remain in an endless state of conflict, a fight against a foe who must always be portrayed as impossibly strong and laughably weak. This was the methodology of Gamergate, and it now forms the basis of the contemporary far-right movement.

'Alt-right': why the Guardian decided not to ban use of the term
Guardian style editors
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We have no idea where this will lead, but our continued insistence on shrugging off the problems of the internet as “not real” – as something we can just log out of – is increasingly misled. 2016 has presented us with a world in which our reality is being wilfully manipulated. Fake news, divisive algorithms, misleading social media campaigns. The majority of people who voted for Trump will never take responsibility for his racist, totalitarian policies, but they’ll provide useful cover and legitimacy for those who demand the very worst from the President Elect. Trump himself may have disavowed the “alt-right”, but his rhetoric has led to them feeling legitimised. As with Gamergate, the press risks being manipulated into a position where it has to tread a respectful middle ground that doesn’t really exist.

Prominent critics of the Trump administration need to learn from Gamergate. They need to be prepared for abuse, for falsified concerns, invented grassroots campaigns designed specifically to break, belittle, or disgrace. Words and concepts will be twisted, repackaged and shared across forums, stripping them of meaning. Gamergate painted critics as censors, the far-right movement claims critics are the real racists.

Perhaps the true lesson of Gamergate was that the media is culturally unequipped to deal with the forces actively driving these online movements. The situation was horrifying enough two years ago, it is many times more dangerous now.



I THINK THE PENTAGON HAS HAD NORTH KOREA IN THEIR SIGHTS EVER SINCE THE END OF THE KOREAN WAR, AND WHILE I HAVE NO ADMIRATION OR LOVE FOR THEM, I DON’T WANT A NUCLEAR WAR, EITHER. HOPEFULLY, THEREFORE, OUR DIPLOMATS WILL TRY HARDER AND LONGER TO BRING ABOUT A BETTER SITUATION BETWEEN US.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/north-korea-says-tested-icbm-carry-nuclear-warhead-004938533.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=0f201ff2-4afb-11e5-a268-fa163e6f4a7e&.tsrc=notification-brknews
U.S. prepared to use force on North Korea 'if we must': U.N. envoy
Reuters
By Michelle Nichols
Reuters July 5, 2017

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States cautioned on Wednesday it was ready to use force if need be to stop North Korea's nuclear missile program but said it preferred global diplomatic action against Pyongyang for defying world powers by test launching a ballistic missile that could hit Alaska.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told a meeting of the U.N. Security Council that North Korea's actions were "quickly closing off the possibility of a diplomatic solution" and the United States was prepared to defend itself and its allies.

"One of our capabilities lies with our considerable military forces. We will use them if we must, but we prefer not to have to go in that direction," Haley said. She urged China, North Korea's only major ally, to do more to rein in Pyongyang.

Taking a major step in its missile program, North Korea on Tuesday test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile that some experts believe has the range to reach the U.S. states of Alaska and Hawaii and perhaps the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

North Korea says the missile could carry a large nuclear warhead.

The missile test is a direct challenge to U.S. President Donald Trump, who has vowed to prevent North Korea from being able to hit the United States with a nuclear missile.
He has frequently urged China to press the isolated country's leadership to give up its nuclear program.

Haley said the United States would propose new U.N. sanctions on North Korea in coming days and warned that
if Russia and China did not support the move, then “we will go our own path.”

She did not give details on what sanctions would be proposed, but outlined possible options.

"The international community can cut off the major sources of hard currency to the North Korean regime. We can restrict the flow of oil to their military and their weapons programs. We can increase air and maritime restrictions. We can hold senior regime officials accountable," Haley said.

Diplomats say Beijing has not been fully enforcing existing international sanctions on its neighbor and has resisted tougher measures, such as an oil embargo, bans on the North Korean airline and guest workers, and measures against Chinese banks and other firms doing business with the North.

“Much of the burden of enforcing U.N. sanctions rests with China,” Haley said.

The United States might seek to take unilateral action and sanction more Chinese companies that do business with North Korea, especially banks, U.S. officials have said.

China's U.N. ambassador, Liu Jieyi, told the Security Council meeting that the missile launch was a "flagrant violation" of U.N. resolutions and "unacceptable."

"We call on all the parties concerned to exercise restraint, avoid provocative actions and belligerent rhetoric, demonstrate the will for unconditional dialogue and work actively together to defuse the tension," Liu said.

TENSIONS WITH U.S.

The United States has remained technically at war with North Korea since the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty and the past six decades have been punctuated by periodic rises in antagonism and rhetoric that have always stopped short of a resumption of active hostilities.

Tensions have risen sharply after North Korea conducted two nuclear weapons tests last year and carried out a steady stream of ballistic missile tests

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the ICBM test completed his country's strategic weapons capability that includes atomic and hydrogen bombs, the state KCNA news agency said.

Pyongyang will not negotiate with the United States to give up those weapons until Washington abandons its hostile policy against the North, KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

"He, with a broad smile on his face, told officials, scientists and technicians that the U.S. would be displeased ... as it was given a 'package of gifts' on its 'Independence Day,'" KCNA said, referring to the missile launch on July 4.

Trump and other leaders from the Group of 20 nations meeting in Germany this week are due to discuss steps to rein in North Korea's weapons program, which it has pursued in defiance of Security Council sanctions.

Russia's deputy U.N. envoy said on Wednesday that military force should not be considered against North Korea and called for a halt to the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system in South Korea.

He also said that attempts to strangle North Korea economically were "unacceptable" and that sanctions would not resolve the issue.

The U.S. military assured Americans that it was capable of defending the United States against a North Korean ICBM.

Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis noted a successful test last month in which a U.S.-based missile interceptor knocked down a simulated incoming North Korean ICBM.

"So we do have confidence in our ability to defend against the limited threat, the nascent threat that is there," he told reporters. He acknowledged though that previous U.S. missile defense tests had shown "mixed results."

The North Korean launch this week was both earlier and "far more successful than expected," said U.S.-based missile expert John Schilling, a contributor to Washington-based North Korea monitoring project 38 North.

It would now probably only be a year or two before a North Korean ICBM achieved "minimal operational capability," he added.

Schilling said the U.S. national missile defense system was "only minimally operational" and would take more than two years to upgrade to provide more reliable defense.

For graphic on interactive package on North Korea's missile capabilities click: http://tmsnrt.rs/2t6WEPL

For map locating the missile test on July 4 click: http://tmsnrt.rs/2sGWo8C
(Additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton, Phil Stewart and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by James Dalgleish and Peter Cooney)



https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/

Watch the International Space Station pass overhead from several thousand worldwide locations. It is the third brightest object in the sky and easy to spot if you know when to look up.
Visible to the naked eye, it looks like a fast-moving plane only much higher and traveling thousands of miles an hour faster!

245,208 people are Spotting The Station



https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Space Station Updates
Dragon Cargo Craft Flies Away From Station
17 hours ago

Dragon Cargo Craft Flies Away From Station
17 hours ago
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MADDOW ON THE WORLD – IMPORTANT SUBJECTS

NOTE: IN THIS BLOG RACHEL TALKS ABOUT TRUMP’S KILLING AN EXISTING AGENCY DEDICATED TO ENSURING THE RIGHTS OF VOTERS AND THE EASE OF DOING IT. IT HAS BEEN DEFUNDED. IF IT’S GOOD, TRUMP ET AL WILL KILL IT AS SOON AS THEY THINK THEY CAN GET AWAY WITH IT. TRUMP THINKS THE TIME IS NOW.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show

THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 6/30/17
Maddow: Trump behavior hurts the presidency, but he doesn't care
Rachel Maddow explains that because Donald Trump does not own or value the presidency, the harm his offensive behavior does to the office and the U.S. generally for political gain is not something he cares about. Duration: 22:30


WHAT IS IN THE LETTER SENT TO ALL STATE GOVERNMENTS REQUESTING/DIRECTING THEM TO TURN OVER ALL PERSONAL INFORMATION ON ALL VOTERS IN THEIR STATE, WHICH INCLUDES NOT ONLY POLITICAL PARTY, BUT VOTING HISTORIES. THEY SAY ITS’ TO FIND AND ROOT OUT ANY DECEPTIVE VOTING, BUT I FEEL SURE IT’S TO SET UP AN ADDENDUM TO THE BIG BROTHER FILE THAT WE NOW HAVE ALREADY OF TELEPHONE NUMBERS, THOUGH SUPPOSEDLY IT IS FOREIGNERS ONLY, BUT SOME HAVE BEEN CAUGHT UP “INCIDENTALLY” WHEN THEY WERE TALKING TO SOMEONE FROM OUTSIDE THE COUNTRY.

THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 6/30/17
New Trump voting rolls project met with rejection from states
Rachel Maddow reports on a new initiative from the Donald Trump administration, led by Kris Kobach, to gather lots of personal data from state voting records, a request that is not being well received by state officials. Duration: 6:46



THE DELIGHTFUL ELIZABETH MONTGOMERY, CAREER AND LIFE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAiqlKpQC9A


ABOUT INHERITED WEALTH AND THE HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL (POST TO BERNIE SANDERS OUR REVOLUTION)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzQYA9Qjsi0


WHEN IT ALL HAPPENED

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/the-trump-russia-political-crisis-a-timeline-in-breaking-news-982780483789?cid=eml_mra_20170705