August 22, 2017
News and Views
A BIT OF HONESTY AND INTELLIGENCE FROM ONE OF THE REPUBLICANS WHOSE VIEWS I REALLY DON’T LIKE, BUT HE IS CLEARLY STANDING UP AGAINST DONALD TRUMP’S IDIOCY ABOUT “FAKE” AND “REAL” NEWS. THANK YOU, SENATOR MCCONNELL!
https://origin-nyi.thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/347368-mcconnell-most-news-is-not-fake-news
McConnell: 'Most news is not fake'
BY JORDAIN CARNEY - 08/21/17 01:22 PM EDT
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) defended the media on Monday, just hours after President Trump lashed out at "fake news" on Twitter.
"My view is that most news is not fake, but I do try to look at a variety of sources," McConnell said at a Louisville Chamber of Commerce event when asked what publications he reads amid "accusations and counteraccusations about fake news."
The Senate GOP leader added that he gets synopses that round up what's being reported every morning.
"I try not to fall in love with any particular source," he said.
McConnell didn't mention, and wasn't asked about, the president's frequent criticism of the media.
But his comments — made during a Q&A with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — highlight one of the divisions between tight-lipped GOP senator and Trump's yearslong feud with the press.
Trump earlier Monday had praised evangelical Christian leader Jerry Falwell Jr. for defending Trump's response to violence earlier this month at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., while criticizing the "fake news media."
TAGS MITCH MCCONNELL STEVEN MNUCHIN
ANOTHER GREAT SOUL FROM MY CHILDHOOD IS GONE. THE TRIBUTES TO HIM ARE NUMEROUS AND LOVING. AMEN TO THEM ALL.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jerry-lewis-dead-comedians-stars-react/
CBS NEWS August 20, 2017, 4:12 PM
Comedians and stars react to Jerry Lewis' death
Comedy legend Jerry Lewis died at his Las Vegas home on Sunday, his agent and his publicist confirmed to CBS News. The comedian, actor and filmmaker touched the lives of many with his life's work over the years.
Celebrities and comedians paid tribute to the 91-year-old on social media after news of his death broke Sunday.
"That fool was no dummy. Jerry Lewis was an undeniable genius an unfathomable blessing, comedy's absolute! I am because he was!" Jim Carrey tweeted Sunday.
"It was incredible knowing & laughing with the Amazing Jerry Lewis! He'll keep'em laffin in the ever after!" Samuel L. Jackson wrote.
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Samuel L. Jackson ✔ @SamuelLJackson
It was incredible knowing & laughing with the Amazing Jerry Lewis! He'll keep'em laffin in the ever after!
2:46 PM - Aug 20, 2017
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"Jerry Lewis passed today, millions around the world loved him, millions of kids he helped w/his telethons. R.I.P. & condolences 2 his family," Whoopi Goldberg posted on Twitter.
"Condolences to the family of Jerry Lewis. The world is a lot less funnier today," actor William Shatner tweeted.
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William Shatner ✔ @WilliamShatner
Condolences to the family of Jerry Lewis. The world is a lot less funnier today. ☹️
1:52 PM - Aug 20, 2017
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"Jerry Lewis has passed on. I sincerely hope his afterlife is a warm, peaceful… haven," comedian Patton Oswalt tweeted.
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Patton Oswalt ✔ @pattonoswalt
Jerry Lewis has passed on. I sincerely hope his afterlife is a warm, peaceful...
...haven.
1:47 PM - Aug 20, 2017
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"We have lost a great comedian and even greater heart. Thank you for the laughs and the feels, Jerry Lewis," George Takei wrote.
Comedian and actress Chelsea Peretti referenced comments Lewis made in 1998, expressing his distaste for female comics. "even tho u said women arent funny rest in peeeeeeeaaacccccceeeeee," Peretti tweeted Sunday.
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Chelsea Peretti ✔ @chelseaperetti
even tho u said women arent funny rest in peeeeeeeaaacccccceeeeee https://twitter.com/nydailynews/status/899327029165912064 …
1:57 PM - Aug 20, 2017
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"Always funny. Always helpful. Always honest. I will miss you Jerry Lewis. The world has lost a true innovator & icon," comic Dane Cook wrote alongside a photograph with Lewis.
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Dane Cook ✔ @DaneCook
Always funny. Always helpful. Always honest. I will miss you Jerry Lewis. The world has lost a true innovator & icon.
2:06 PM - Aug 20, 2017
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"Dick Gregory and Jerry Lewis were two of the funniest, most legendary and prolific entertainers of our generation and I bow to their genius," Margaret Cho wrote on Twitter.
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Margaret Cho ✔ @margaretcho
Dick Gregory and Jerry Lewis were two of the funniest, most legendary and prolific entertainers of our generation and I bow to their genius.
2:14 PM - Aug 20, 2017
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WATCH THIS EXCELLENT VIDEO OF INCA BUILDING WITH LARGE STONES VERY MUCH LIKE THOSE AROUND THE EUROPEAN CONTINENT FROM THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD, AND ESPECIALLY THOSE ON MALTA. THESE INCAN STONES LOOK MORE LIKE NATURALLY OCCURRING BOULDERS THAN SHAPED STONES, BUT THE VIDEO DOES MENTION SIGNS OF WORKING, AND THEY CLEARLY HAVE BEEN LEVELED OFF TO ALLOW FOR STACKING. IT IS AN AMAZING SIGHT.
AS USUAL, THERE ARE IDIOTS WHO CLAIM THAT THIS “COULDN’T HAVE BEEN DONE BY THE NATIVE PEOPLE THERE,” BECAUSE THEY ARE SO CLEARLY INFERIOR. ONE OF THE PROBLEMS WITH MODERN DAY WHITE PEOPLE IS THAT THEY TOO OFTEN BELIEVE THE ANCIENTS AND “PEOPLE OF COLOR” ARE “UNABLE” TO DO SOMETHING WHICH -- DUE TO THE LOSS OF TECHNOLOGICAL HISTORY OVER THE PASSAGE OF SEVERAL THOUSAND YEARS -- WE NO LONGER UNDERSTAND HOW TO DO. A LA, IT MUST HAVE BEEN SUPERNATURAL! WHY ARE WE SO SELF-CENTERED AND SILLY?
https://youtu.be/M9J_ivMwTxc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9J_ivMwTxc Andes Inca megalith constructions c. 1500 AD
The Living Stones of Sacsayhuaman
Ombio Productions
Published on Feb 22, 2015
The documentary "The Living Stones of Sacsayhuaman"
At the beginning of July 2012 the Ministry of Culture of Peru invited a group of Russian geophysicists to research the issues dealing with the soil of the archaeological complex of Sacsayhuaman. In the course of completing this task there were collected interesting historic and archaeological data and a substantial amount of photo and video materials that were provided the basis for production of this movie.
http://www.arcanafactor.org/
https://www.facebook.com/ArcanaFactor
ombio@yandex.ru
SEE ALSO THE WGNTV.COM STORY BELOW ON “SHADOW SNAKES” OR “SHADOW BANDS.” “INTERFERENCE OF DIFFERENT TEMPERATURE AIR CELLS ....” I BELIEVE I HAVE SEEN SOMETHING VERY MUCH LIKE THIS IN MY CHILDHOOD. WE HAD A LARGE OIL FURNACE TO HEAT THE CENTER ROOM OF THE HOUSE AND THE BEDROOMS AROUND IT. SEVERAL TIMES I HAVE SEEN WAVY LINES IN THE AIR OVER THE STOVE THAT LOOK LIKE THESE. I DON’T REMEMBER THE LIGHTING, BUT IT MUST HAVE BEEN WINTER, SO THE SUN WOULD BE AT A LOWER PLACE IN THE SKY THAN IN SUMMER. SEE THE 1900 PHOTOGRAPH OF THE PHENOMENON IN THE WGNTV ARTICLE. I HAVE ALSO SEEN SIMILAR LIGHT RIPPLES IN SHALLOW MOVING WATER. “SHADOW SNAKES!” HOW EXCITING!
I WON’T GO OUT AND TRY TO SEE THIS ONE, BUT I DID SEE ONE IN CHAPEL HILL, NC, IN THE 1970S. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. MY FAVORITE, THOUGH, IS A LUNAR ECLIPSE. “AND THE MOON SHALL TURN TO BLOOD...” I SAW THIS ONE NIGHT ON MY WAY BETWEEN THE CAFETERIA BUILDING AND MY DORM AT COLLEGE IN 1963. IT WAS VERY EERIE AND BEAUTIFUL. IT’S EASY FOR ME TO SEE HOW PRE-SCIENTIFIC CULTURES WOULD VIEW THIS AS A PREMONITION FOR SOME DISASTER. THE REASON I LIKE SCIENCE SO MUCH IS THE SAME AS MY REACTION TO THESE NEWS ARTICLES. THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING NEW OR MIRACULOUS.
ON LUNAR ECLIPSES, GO TO: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_eclipse.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/solar-eclipse-august-21-2017-what-scientists-hope-to-learn/
By DAVID MORGAN CBS NEWS August 21, 2017, 8:57 AM
What scientists hope to learn from total eclipse
Scientists will be studying Monday's total solar eclipse to learn more about some of the mysteries of the Sun and Moon.
Derrick Pitts, Chief Astronomer and Planetarium Director for the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, and his team will observe the eclipse from St. Joseph, Missouri, within a 70-mile-wide path of totality.
solar-eclipse-sun-corona-promo.jpg
Scientists will be studying the mysteries of the Sun's corona during a total solar eclipse. CBS NEWS
"I'm really excited about what's going to happen here today," Pitts told "CBS This Morning." "I'm looking forward to seeing totality. Any time I have the opportunity to stand in the shadow of the moon, I'm happy. And today I'll get two minutes and thirty-nine seconds of a nice bath of moon shadow."
Pitts said scientists will be taking the rare opportunity of totality to examine the sun's corona, "the pearly glow of atmosphere around the sun. The corona is incredibly hot, millions of degrees, and astronomers don't understand why the corona is so hot given that the surface of the sun is just about 11,000 degrees."
Astronomers will also be studying the sun's magnetic fields, and the moon's orbital velocity as it passes between the Earth and the sun.
But Pitts will also be looking for an extremely rare sight called "shadow bands."
Dazzling solar eclipse photos that won't fry your eyes
26 PHOTOS
Dazzling solar eclipse photos that won't fry your eyes
"It's a really interesting phenomena that happens just before totality and just after totality," he said. "What you actually see on the ground are these rippling lines of light and dark, like shadows and light rippling along the ground. This is caused by interference of different temperature air cells in the Earth's atmosphere with the light from the sun coming through, but only at the point where it's just before totality. Other than that, you don't see it. These are rare and hard to capture.
"That's part of my particular interest, seeing if we can see these shadow bands because they're so rare. But it would be really, really cool to see them, especially because it can only happen during a total solar eclipse and you can't see it anywhere else -- you can't go out to space and see it. You can only see it on the ground around you when [totality] is just about to occur."
How to stream the American solar eclipse of 2017: Start time, livestream and more (CBS News)
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Photographers gear up for August solar eclipse
Bill Nye the Science Guy on an eclipse's beauty and the wonder of science
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Nashville will be largest city to experience total solar eclipse
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Solar eclipse enthusiasts take Amtrak in Illinois
Complete CBSNews.com coverage: Great American Eclipse
http://wgntv.com/2017/08/18/look-for-shadow-bands-before-and-after-the-total-eclipse/
Look for ‘shadow bands’ before and after the total eclipse
POSTED 10:32 AM, AUGUST 18, 2017, BY TRIBUNE MEDIA WIRE
A total solar eclipse will be seen across the United States on August 21st, but the entire show won’t be up in the sky.
Mysterious shadow bands will streak across the landscape seconds before and after totality. NASA says that scientists don’t fully understand what they are.
Shadow bands are described as thin wavy lines that move in parallel over plain-colored surfaces.
G.F. Chambers: The Story of Eclipses, 1900, NASA reports that there have been many attempts to explain the phenomenon over the years: GO TO THIS WEBSITE FOR SHADOW BANDS, PHOTOGRAPHED IN 1900.
“Because shadow bands are unpredictable from eclipse to eclipse, there does not seem to be a firm connection with the relatively fixed circumstances of an eclipse. Instead, the intensity, motion and direction of these bands seem to be related to the same phenomenon that makes stars twinkle. In the upper atmosphere there are turbulent cells of air that act like lenses to focus and de-focus the sharp-edged light from the solar surface just before totality. The movement of these atmospheric cells is random between each eclipse and each viewing location, so the appearance and movement of shadow bands cannot be predicted beforehand.”
The bands are rarely captured on camera. NASA says that you can help investigate them by using video cameras or rapid still photography to capture the fleeting images.
NASA says that this is a good method to record the bands:
“A large 1-meter square piece of white paper or poster board is essential. Use this as the screen and set up y0our camera to photograph or record continuous video of this screen as the crescent of the solar surface disappears at the start if the eclipse, and re-appears at the end of the eclipse. Place your digital camera in ‘sports photography’ movie mode so that when you depress the button your camera will take a continuous stream of still images. Make sure a meter stick is placed on the screen so that you can establish size. Also make sure that your pictures or video are time stamped so you can determine their speed, and changes in intensity and direction. Also on the screen, draw a line pointed in the direction of the eclipsing sun during totality, and a line directed North-South and East-West.”
A GROUNDSWELL IS EMERGING. I HOPE IT DOESN’T FALTER AS TIME PASSES SINCE THE CHARLOTTESVILLE MELEE. WATCH THIS PBS VIDEO PRESENTATION. IT’S BEAUTIFUL AND VERY MOVING.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/charlottesville-rally-u-s-cities-say-theyll-take-confederate-statues/
NATION
After Charlottesville rally, these U.S. cities say they’ll take down their Confederate statues
BY JOSHUA BARAJAS
August 15, 2017 at 3:09 PM EDT | Updated: Aug 17, 2017 at 5:18 PM
Photograph -- tues
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BY JOSHUA BARAJAS August 15, 2017 at 3:09 PM EDT | Updated: Aug 17, 2017 at 5:18 PM
A woman who supports Confederate symbols and monuments is held by her husband (R) as she exchanges words with a counter-protester as they wait for members of the Ku Klux Klan to rally in support of Confederate monuments, such as the statue of General Stonewall Jackson behind them, in Charlottesville, Virginia, on July 8, 2017. Photo by Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Cities and states across the country have called for the removal of Confederate monuments from public spaces after a white nationalist rally aiming to protect such a monument in Charlottesville, Virginia, led to a deadly car attack.
The Southern Poverty Law Center tallied more than 700 Confederate statues and monuments across the country in a report last year. Three states alone — North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia — account for about 300 of those.
RELATED LINKS
Scenes from Charlottesville invoke racist legacy in the present day
Robert E. Lee opposed Confederate monuments
The conversation about Confederate symbols last swelled in 2015, after a racially-motivated shooting left nine black worshipers dead at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. The gunman, Dylann Roof, said he wanted to start a “race war.” Since then, SPLC has counted at least 60 of these “publicly funded symbols of the Confederacy have been removed or renamed.”
Saturday’s violence revived calls to take down monuments to Confederate-era battles and leaders. Here are the cities and states that have signaled their intentions to remove or relocate them.
Lexington, Kentucky
A monument to Confederate General John Hunt Morgan stands encased in a protective scaffolding because of local construction, outside the Historic Lexington Courthouse in Lexington, Kentucky. Photo by Bryan Woolston/Reuters
A monument to Confederate General John Hunt Morgan stands encased in a protective scaffolding because of local construction, outside the Historic Lexington Courthouse in Lexington, Kentucky. Photo by Bryan Woolston/Reuters
Lexington Mayor Jim Gray said in a Facebook post on the day of the Charlottesville, Virginia, attack that he wanted to move two Confederate states from the grounds of an historic courthouse.
“Mayors are on the razor’s edge,” Gray told CBS News. “When you see the tension, when you see the violence that we saw … in Charlottesville, then you know that we must act.”
Jacksonville, Florida
City Council President Anna Lopez Brosche said the Confederate monuments in the city should be moved.
“In response to the horrific and unacceptable incidents that occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia, I am asking that the city … conduct an inventory of all Confederate monuments, memorials, and markers on public property,” she said in a statement, according to the Associated Press.
Brosche’s statement came on the same day a Confederate statue in Gainesville, Florida, was relocated from downtown to a cemetery farther outside the city center. The removal of the statue was debated for months, “but in the end no protesters showed up,” The Gainesville Sun reported.
A Confederate memorial park in Tampa was also recently vandalized with red paint, authorities said.
Durham, North Carolina
Protesters didn’t wait for officials to jump-start an official process for removing a Confederate statue. Using a rope, a group of protesters took down a statue Monday in front of a courthouse building. The incident was caught on video and circulated on social media.
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Derrick Lewis @DerrickQLewis
#BREAKING Protesters in #Durham topple confederate monument downtown
7:15 PM - Aug 14, 2017
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North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, shortly after the incident, posted on Twitter: “The racism and deadly violence in Charlottesville is unacceptable but there is a better way to remove these monuments.”
Authorities are now seeking charges against the protesters involved in the toppling of the statue.
Memphis
Officials announced that they plan on suing the state of Tennessee to remove the two Confederate monuments from city land. The Tennessee Historical Commission, which has previously resisted calls to remove monuments, requires local jursidictions to apply for a waiver in order to move them.
City Attorney Bruce McMullen told the Commercial Appeal that the city will file a waiver for one of the monuments within 30 days, but expects the commission to reject it.
The city filed a waiver to remove the second statue — of slave trader and one-time KKK member Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest — in 2016. The commission rejected it, but before the new rules requiring waivers took effect. This gives the city another chance at a waiver, McMullen told the Commercial Appeal, but he expects the commission to reject it again.
From there, the city could follow through with an appeals process that would go to the state’s Supreme Court. That could take years.
Baltimore
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Baltimore BLOC @BmoreBloc
Crane is here at #Tubman (Wyman) dell park to remove the #JacksonandLee monument
2:18 AM - Aug 16, 2017
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Crews in Baltimore removed four Confederate statues overnight, a process that began Tuesday, after the City Council voted unanimously to relocate the monuments.
Mayor Catherine Pugh defended her decision to move the statues “quickly and quietly” in a news conference Wednesday.
“I thought that there was enough grandstanding, enough speeches being made. Get it done,” the mayor told reporters, adding that she told the City Council that the current climate of nation helped expedite the removal decision.
“I did what was right for my city,” Pugh said.
The mayor previously pledged on Monday to remove the monuments in the city, suggesting one option would be to redirect them to Confederate cemeteries, the Baltimore Sun reported.
On Wednesday, the mayor said it’s up to a city committee to decide where the monuments will ultimately reside.
Annapolis, Maryland
The statue of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Roger B. Taney sits outside the Statehouse in Annapolis. Taney is best known for a 1857 decision against Dred Scott, which ruled that blacks could not become U.S. citizens.
House Speaker Michael E. Busch told the Baltimore Sun that the statue “certainly doesn’t belong here.”
“It’s the appropriate time to remove it,” he said, adding that not moving the statue “would send a message that we condone what took place, that slavery is [all right].”
Washington, D.C.
Some congressional Democratic leaders have called for the removal of 10 Confederate statues around the nation’s capital. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said these symbols have “no place in this country.” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also called for their removal Thursday and asked House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., to join her. A spokesman for Ryan told the Associated Press the decision about statue removal was up to the states.
WATCH: The shifting history of Confederate monuments, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAqUwum79W8
ANOTHER POLICE ATROCITY, AND THIS WAS DONE BY WOMEN. “CAMMACK SAYS CORLEY IS SUING FOR $15 MILLION AND THE CIVIL CASE IS SET TO GO TO TRIAL IN JANUARY 2018.” THESE STRIP SEARCHES HAVE BEEN LITIGATED FOR, IT SEEMS TO ME, SOME TWENTY YEARS, BUT THEY STILL HAPPEN, AND IN THIS CASE, NEITHER OFFICER WAS PUNISHED. THE REASON BLACK LIVES MATTER IS SO STRONG IS THAT THESE THINGS DIDN’T HAPPEN A HUNDRED FIFTY YEARS AGO, BUT JUST LAST MONTH. IS IT WHITE PRIVILEGE, OR POLICE PRIVILEGE AT WORK HERE? OR IS IT JUST TYPICAL BULLYING, IN WHICH THE PERSON WHO IS LEAST ABLE TO PROTECT HIM OR HERSELF WILL BECOME THE NEXT VICTIM? WHITE RIGHTS GROUPS LIKE TO CALL PEOPLE LIKE ME A “RACE TRAITOR,” BUT TO ME IT WOULD BE COWARDLY AND ABETTING EVIL TO FAIL TO STAND WITH THE SIDE OF GOOD IN TIMES LIKE THESE.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lawsuit-cops-subjected-woman-to-11-minute-body-cavity-search-during-traffic-stop/
By JULIA DAHL CBS NEWS August 18, 2017, 3:45 PM
Lawsuit: Cops subjected woman to 11-minute body cavity search during traffic stop
Photograph -- Charneshia Corley, far right, handcuffed beside her car on June 20, 2015 VIDEO COURTESY SAM CAMMACK
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – On the evening of June 20, 2015, 20-year-old Charneshia Corley was pulled over by Harris County deputies for allegedly running a stop sign.
According to a lawsuit Corley filed against the county, deputies claimed to smell marijuana coming from her car, but found none in a search of the vehicle. And that's when things escalated.
A dashcam surveillance video, released Monday by Corley's attorney, shows a handcuffed Corley being thrown to the ground by a female officer. Although the video is somewhat obscured, the lawsuit claims that deputies took off Corley's pants, opened her legs, and searched her, shined a flashlight onto her "naked genital area" and "penetrated her vagina," all in a convenience store parking lot.
The video shows Corley lying on the ground with her legs open while two female officers alternately stand and kneel over her for approximately 11 minutes. A male officer stands close by, his back mostly to Corley and the other officers. CBS News decided not to publish the full video, due to its graphic nature.
According to Corley's lawsuit, "officers claimed to have found .02 ounces of marijuana" on Corley. The suit claims she was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and resisting arrest, but those charges were dropped.
corley-2.gif
A still image from the dashcam video that appears to depict officers conducting an 11-minute cavity seach of then 20-year-old Charneshia Corley VIDEO COURTESY SAM CAMMACK
In June 2016, two of the deputies were indicted on charges of official oppression for allegedly mistreating Corley while on the job. According to Harris County District Attorney's Office Civil Rights Division Chief Natasha Sinclair, if the deputies had been found guilty, they would have faced up to one year behind bars, and/or a $4000 fine, and would likely have lost their jobs. The case was scheduled to go to trial on Monday, August 7, but according to Sinclair, their office "found significant new evidence that we believed we had to present to the grand jury."
So, on the Friday before the trial was to begin, prosecutors dropped the charges and presented the case to a new grand jury. That grand jury declined to indict the officers.
Corley's attorney, Sam Cammack, told CBS News' Crimesider that Corley did not testify in front of the second grand jury.
"I've never seen anything like it," said Cammack.
Sinclair could not comment on the evidence that occasioned the dismissal and new grand jury, or on who did or did not testify.
Corley's lawsuit against the county - which was filed in August 2016, soon after the deputies were originally indicted - alleges that the officers broke the law "by conducting an unreasonable and illegal strip search and an unreasonable and illegal manual body cavity search prior to arresting Ms. Corley, without a warrant and without any probable cause," and that Harris County "failed to properly train, supervise and discipline its officers...in regards to searches of persons," leading to Ms. Corley's rights being violated.
The Harris County Sheriff's Office did not respond to questions about whether the deputies involved were investigated or disciplined by the department, but confirmed that the two who were initially indicted are still employed at HSCO. The department also issued a statement saying that HCSO policy "prohibits deputies from conducting strip searches without a warrant. In cases in which a warrant is obtained, strip searches must be conducted in a private, sanitary, and appropriate facility."
Sinclair said that she expects people who see the video will be disturbed.
"As a woman and a prosecutor it's upsetting to watch," she told Crimesider. "We condemn these types of searches."
In 2015, just months after Corley was pulled over, the Texas legislature passed a bill outlawing warrantless body cavity searches.
"It would have protected Ms. Corley," she said. "The changes came too late."
But, said Sinclair, this new law does not impose a criminal penalty on those who break it.
Cammack says Corley is suing for $15 million and the civil case is set to go to trial in January 2018. He told Crimesider he plans to ask for an independent prosecutor to look into the DA's handling of the case against the deputies.
TRUMP HAS RESPONDED TO THESE MASS RESIGNATIONS AS THOUGH IT WEREN’T IMPORTANT TO HIM, BUT I KNOW IT IS. HE STILL HASN’T GOTTEN OVER THE FACT THAT OBAMA’S CROWDS HAVE DWARFED HIS WHEN HE GOES TO SPEAK. HE’S REALLY VERY SENSITIVE.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/arts-and-humanities-committee-members-resign-in-protest-of-trump/
By JOHN BAT CBS NEWS August 18, 2017, 1:43 PM
Arts and Humanities Committee members resign in protest of Trump
In a fiery letter delivered to the White House on Friday, 16 members of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities announced their resignations in protest of the Trump administration.
The letter drew issue with the president's blaming of "both sides" in the injuries and deaths at the violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend.
"Reproach and censure in the strongest possible terms are necessary following your support of the hate groups and terrorists who killed and injured fellow Americans in Charlottesville," the letter by the committee members stated. "The false equivalencies you push cannot stand."
The White House said President Trump had already decided against renewing the advisory committee for budgetary reasons, the Associated Press reported.
The only member whose name did not appear was Broadway director George C. Wolfe, the Associated Press reported. Representatives for Wolfe at Creative Arts Agency told the AP Friday that he was also resigning and that his name would be added to the letter.
Members involved with the letter, according to CBS News' Julianna Goldman, are mostly holdovers from the Obama administration, and they were set to leave eventually. Nevertheless, the language contained in the five-paragraph missive is strong in its condemnation of the president. The first letter of each paragraph, when combined, spells out "RESIST."
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Letter announcing resignations from the President's Committee on Arts & the Humanities
11:42 AM - Aug 18, 2017
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The letter listed the reasons for the resignations: the president's budget-cut proposals for the arts, pulling out of the Paris climate agreement, reevaluation of the Civil Rights Act, trans rights in the military, the travel ban and the president's bellicose language when discussing foreign threats.
"Ignoring your hateful rhetoric would have made us complicit in your words and actions. We took a patriotic oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic," the letter read.
In the last paragraph of the letter, committee members said it was time for Mr. Trump to resign as well.
"Supremacy, discrimination, and vitriol are not American values," it read. "Your values are not American values. We must be better than this. We are better than this. If this is not clear to you, then we call on you to resign your office, too."
The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities began in 1982 under the Reagan Administration. For the last three decades, the committee has been tasked with supporting arts and humanities education through coordination with both public and private sectors. First Lady Melania Trump currently serves as the committee's honorary chair.
Earlier in the week, Mr. Trump canceled two business advisory councils after some of the manufacturing council's members, including major CEO's, resigned in response to the president's statements about Charlottesville. On Thursday, Mr. Trump took it a step further and disbanded his infrastructure council.
CBS News has reached out to the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities for comment but has not received a response.
On Friday afternoon, a White House spokesperson released this statement: "Earlier this month it was decided that President Trump will not renew the Executive Order for the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH), which expires later this year. While the Committee has done good work in the past, in its current form it simply is not a responsible way to spend American tax dollars. The PCAH merely redirects funding from the federal cultural agencies (NEA/NEH/IMLS) that answer directly to the President, Congress, and taxpayers. These cultural agencies do tremendous work and they will continue to engage in these important projects."
I HOPE HE WON’T DIE, BUT RATHER WILL HAVE A REMISSION, AND IF HE DOES HAVE TO DIE, THAT IT WILL BE AS PAINLESS AS POSSIBLE. I WILL REALLY MISS HIM, BECAUSE HE’S ONE OF MY FAVORITE SENATORS. TRUMP’S – AND SOME OTHER REPUBLICAN’S – BEING DISRESPECTFUL AND UNKIND TO HIM OFFENDS ME MIGHTILY.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mccain-battling-brain-cancer-completes-first-round-of-radiation-chemo/
CBS/AP August 18, 2017, 10:25 PM
McCain, battling brain cancer, finishes first round of radiation, chemo
Photograph -- Senator John McCain (R-AZ) speaks during a press conference about his resistance to the so-called "Skinny Repeal" of the Affordable Care Act on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 27, 2017. AARON P. BERNSTEIN / REUTERS
PHOENIX -- The daughter of U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona says the 80-year-old lawmaker has completed the first round of radiation and chemotherapy as he battles an aggressive form of brain cancer.
Meghan McCain also tweeted Friday afternoon that her father's "resilience & strength is incredible. Fight goes on, here's to small wins."
McCain tweeted Friday "thank you to the wonderful team Mayo Clinic -- we appreciate everything you do!"
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John McCain ✔ @SenJohnMcCain
Thank you to the wonderful team @MayoClinic - we appreciate everything you do!
8:13 PM - Aug 18, 2017
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McCain, the Republican presidential nominee in 2008 and a six-term senator, was diagnosed last month with glioblastoma. CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook called glioblastoma a "very serious type of brain tumor."
John's Notebook: Fight like John McCain
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John's Notebook: Fight like John McCain
"The problem with glioblastoma is at the time that it is discovered, there are almost always microscopic cells that have spread elsewhere in the brain because it spreads along the nerve cells," LaPook said.
Doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix say they removed a blood clot above the senator's left eye and managed to remove all of the tumor that was visible on brain scans.
McCain says he expects to return to Washington next month.
THE TRUMPS WILL NOT ATTEND KENNEDY CENTER AWARDS SO AS NOT TO BE “A DISTRACTION.” HOW ABOUT TO AVOID BEING PERSONALLY HUMILIATED INSTEAD? PEOPLE ARE UPSET IN THIS COUNTRY RIGHT NOW, AND HE KNOWS IT’S HIS FAULT. I EMPATHIZE. I DON’T ENVY HIM. I JUST WANT HIM OUT OF OFFICE, AND AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-first-lady-pull-out-of-kennedy-center-honors-to-avoid-political-distraction/
By STEFAN BECKET CBS NEWS August 19, 2017, 4:12 AM
Trump, first lady pull out of Kennedy Center Honors to avoid "political distraction"
President Trump and first lady Melania Trump will sit out this year's Kennedy Center Honors after several honorees said they would boycott a traditional reception at the White House ahead of the December ceremony.
"The President and First Lady have decided not to participate in this year's activities to allow the honorees to celebrate without any political distraction," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement Saturday morning.
Kennedy Center chairman David Rubenstein and president Deborah Rutter said the Center respects the decision. In a statement, Rubenstein and Rutter said "the Administration has graciously signaled its respect for the Kennedy Center," adding they "are grateful for the gesture."
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A Statement from Chairman David M. Rubenstein & President Deborah F. Rutter Regarding the 2017 Kennedy Center Honors
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The Trumps' decision to skip the festivities in Washington, D.C., comes after three of the five recipients of the 2017 honorees said they would skip the now-canceled White House reception.
Television icon Norman Lear said in early August that he would decline the invitation to the White House but attend the award ceremony. Lionel Richie said on Tuesday he was also considering a boycott. Dancer Carmen de Lavallade told the Washington Post on Thursday she would be skipping the reception.
"In light of the socially divisive and morally caustic narrative that our current leadership is choosing to engage in, and in keeping with the principles that I and so many others have fought for, I will be declining the invitation to attend the reception at the White House," she said in a statement to the Post.
Singer Gloria Estefan, however, had said she would attend the reception and take the opportunity to talk to Mr. Trump about immigration. LL Cool J will become the first rapper to receive the prestigious award and was tentatively scheduled to attend the reception.
The 2017 Kennedy Center Honors ceremony will be held on Dec. 3 and air on CBS and CBS All Access on Dec. 26.
ON THE ARTICLE TITLE, “HATE RISING,” I HAVE NOTICED IT AS A TREND IN THE NEWS FOR THE LAST TWENTY YEARS OR MORE. READ THE NEWS AND YOU WILL SEE IT, TOO. HEIDI BEIRICH OF THE SPLC SAID BELOW, "WE'VE NEVER SEEN THEIR IDEAS PENETRATING THE MAINSTREAM THE WAY THEY ARE. I WOULD SAY MOST AMERICANS DON'T REALIZE HOW MUCH OF THIS THERE IS." I WILL SAY THIS JUST ONCE. PEOPLE DO KNOW. THEY JUST DON’T GIVADAM. BELIEVE ME, IF WE DO HAVE STREET WARFARE LIKE WHAT WE SAW LAST WEEK IN CHARLOTTESVILLE ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY, WE WILL START TO CARE.
IF I WERE TO SAY THAT THERE IS AN EPIDEMIC OF EBOLA IN THE USA, WE WOULD BE REALLY SCARED, BUT ON THE WHOLE ISSUE OF RACIAL/RELIGIOUS/SOCIAL HATRED, WE SIMPLY SAY TO OURSELVES THAT WE DON’T WANT TO SIT IN A DARK THEATER BESIDE A BLACK MAN, EITHER. THAT’S THE TRUTH. THAT’S NOT NEW. WHAT IS NEW IS THIS POLITICAL MOVEMENT OF WHITE NATIONALISM. THE HATERS IN THE OLD DAYS WERE MARGINALIZED, BUT NOW THEY ARE BOLD AND STRIDING OUT OF THE DARKNESS WITH THEIR DAMNED TIKI TORCHES. THAT’S WHAT’S NEW.
WILL WE HAVE “HATE REFUGEES” SOON? THAT’S WHAT CERTAIN WHITE NATIONALISTS WANT. THEY AREN’T JUST WHITE SUPREMACISTS; THEY WANT NO ONE OF COLOR TO LIVE IN THE USA AT ALL. JUST THINK ABOUT THE IMPLICATIONS OF THAT. THINK “THE FINAL SOLUTION.” AMERICANS NEED TO WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE. WE HAVE TO SAY TO OURSELVES, “LOOK AT THIS. I HAVE FEET OF CLAY!!” AMERICA IS NOT “THE CITY UPON A HILL,” BECAUSE IN THE REAL WORLD THERE IS NO SUCH THING. “AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM” DOESN’T REALLY EXIST. THERE WERE NAZIS IN THE USA AT THE SAME TIME AS THEY TOTALLY TOOK OVER THE GOVERNMENT AND THE POPULACE IN GERMANY AND SOME HALF DOZEN OTHER COUNTRIES IN THE 1930S.
IT’S A WAY OF THINKING AND NOT A NATIONALITY. OR, TO PUT IT ANOTHER WAY, IT’S SIN/INSANITY. IT’S AN UNCONSCIOUSLY CHOSEN STUPIDITY. AS JESUS SAID, MANKIND IS “SICK WITH SIN.” SO MANY CHRISTIAN CHURCHES PLACE A HUGE EMPHASIS ON “BEING SAVED” IN ORDER TO AVOID A “LAKE OF FIRE,” (VOLCANO, OBVIOUSLY) AND AVOID THE WHOLE ISSUE OF WHAT IS GOOD AND EVIL AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, HOW THOSE TWO ARE DIFFERENT. THE DEVIL DOESN’T MAKE ANYBODY DO ANYTHING. SMALL-MINDEDNESS AND SIMPLE-MINDEDNESS, FLAVORED WITH SEVERAL DASHES OF PSYCHOSIS, ARE OUR PROBLEM IN THIS COUNTRY.
SEE ALSO THE SINGLE SUBJECT CBS ARTICLE A COUPLE OF ENTRIES DOWN ON CLIMATE REFUGEES IN KIRIBATI.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbsn-on-assignment-episode-four/
CBS NEWS August 21, 2017, 6:28 PM
Hate Rising; Cyber Soldiers; Deadliest Assignment; Climate Refugees -- "CBSN: On Assignment"
HATE RISING
Hate Rising: White Supremacy in America
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Hate Rising: White Supremacy in America
"In all of our years of tracking, we've never seen this many [hate] groups," Heidi Beirich told CBS correspondent Tony Dokoupil. Beirich is the director of Southern Poverty Law Center's (SPLC) Intelligence Project, which monitors hate group activity online. "We've never seen their ideas penetrating the mainstream the way they are. I would say most Americans don't realize how much of this there is."
It's been a little over a week since neo-Nazis marched in the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, chanting "Jews will not replace us." In the intervening days, debate has raged over just how America's national conversation has become a real-time discussion of white supremacy and its place in the U.S., muddied by President Trump's ambiguity on the matter. The groups in question -- who openly espouse racist views and have felt newly emboldened since the recent presidential campaign -- find themselves firmly back in the mainstream.
The nation witnessed what's considered one of the largest white supremacy marches in decades as hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Charlottesville. During the rally, a car rammed into a crowd of anti-fascist protesters, injuring dozens and killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer. All this against a backdrop of a national debate around the rights and wrongs of maintaining statues that celebrate the Confederacy.
The SPLC estimates that there are currently more than 900 hate groups -- organizations with beliefs that attack an entire group of people -- operating in the country. Many of these hate groups subscribe to the ideals of white supremacy.
In fact, Beirich says the number of hate groups has doubled over the past two decades -- a trend that appears to follow the impact of minorities, financial crisis and political elections have on society.
According to the SPLC, there's a new generation of so-called white nationalism being run by millennials. Matt Heimbach, one of the main organizers of the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, is the face of this movement.
"Well, we have energy, I think, because Donald Trump's election showed that the majority of white American's social, working class America believes in sovereignty," Heimbach told "CBSN: On Assignment."
Cyber Soldiers
Cyber Soldiers: Who protects your information?
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Cyber Soldiers: Who protects your information?
Since 2015, almost all healthcare organizations have reported at least one cyberattack. Dr. Jennifer Pugh runs their emergency room at Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo, New York, the largest U.S. hospital attacked in the U.S. 2017 so far.
She was on staff the morning the hackers infiltrated their system, sending a ransomware note demanding bitcoin equivalent to $44,000. They froze staff out of their machines, rendering patient files inaccessible in a now-familiar M.O. for hackers. "Honestly, I think it's disgusting … they're attacking some of the most vulnerable members in society by coming after a hospital," Pugh says.
The hospital's CEO, Thomas Quatroche, decided not to pay the ransom, but the hack will cost them a lot of money. "This is a form of terrorism… we decided not to pay that ransom but make no mistake about it this ... it's going to cost us a lot of money in the long run," he says.
Thousands of these attacks, of all scales, take place every day. "White-hat hackers" are the good guys -- paid by companies to hack their systems and find flaws before they are exploited by cyber criminals, or "black-hat hackers".
White-hat hackers from India report more vulnerabilities to companies from here than hackers anywhere else in the world. One of the world's best white-hat hackers, Sandeep Singh, better known by his online moniker "Geekboy," has hacked companies like Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Uber and AirBnb -- with good intentions. And he is paid well for it -- companies offer 'bug bounties' to people who find vulnerabilities in their systems which they can then patch. "How much I make in one day, my friends make in one year," Singh says.
Geekboy hopes he can stop the hackers who are exploiting people for money. "I feel disgusted - what they are doing is very bad," Sandeep says. "From this side I will always try to oppose [them]... everyone and every company should hire good guys."
The Deadliest Assignment: Where reporting can get you killed
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The Deadliest Assignment: Where reporting can get you killed
Mexico has become one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. Reporting on cartel violence and government corruption has led to 100 journalist killings in the past 25 years, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. This year alone 8 journalists were killed, including Miroslava Breach, one of Mexico's leading investigative reporters. She was gunned down outside her home after reporting on collision between cartels and government.
Luis Chaparro, 28, is a freelance journalist who worked closely with Breach at "El Norte," a newspaper based in Cd. Juarez. CBS News correspondent Manuel Bojorquez met with Chaparro in downtown Juarez, just steps from the United States.
"Every journalist in Mexico is a target now," Chaparro said. "She was brave. I felt that bullet was too close for me."
Oscar Cantu, the owner of "El Norte," where Breach's articles were published, said Breach knew she was publishing dangerous content, but never told him she felt in danger, though "she must have known."
Cantu showed CBS News Breach's final report in which she wrote, "by either threat or just being complicit, the heads of narcos in all of these regions (Chihuahua State) have infiltrated local governments."
Cantu believed it was likely that exact report lead to her death.
Climate Refugees
Climate Refugees: Nations under threat
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Climate Refugees: Nations under threat
Kiribati, the Pacific island nation with a population of 100,000, faces looming threats due to sea level rise and climate change. The archipelago is made up of 33 coral atolls and lies halfway between Hawaii and Australia.
Kiribati native Tearei Tekita's says her home was destroyed by an extremely high tide, known as a "King Tide," when the water surged up from the shoreline without notice as she and her niece lay sleeping. She points to what is now a pool of water, where her home, and many others, once stood.
Scientists have said that the island nation, along with other low-lying Pacific nations, could be uninhabitable within decades. According to Ben Strauss, Vice President for Sea Level and Climate Impacts at Climate Central, "Sea level is rising 50 percent faster than it was 20 years ago and that is a real cause for alarm, so it is not a future thing we are really seeing that acceleration." Kiribati, pronounced "kir-ah-bahss" by locals, has an average elevation of just 6 feet above sea level.
For Strauss, and for the people of Kiribati, every increment of sea level rise poses great threat. "If your maximum elevation is six feet then by the time we get to three feet I think you are in existential stress, you are going to have to have to evacuate". For the remote country's 33 small islands that are scattered across the ocean, spanning an area the size of Alaska, evacuation is not easy. Residents told CBS News correspondent Seth Doane that they would want to leave Kiribati due to the extreme weather they face, however, the UN does not recognize climate change as grounds for refugee status.
I HAVE ALWAYS HAD A FONDNESS FOR GENERAL LEE AS A GENTLEMANLY PERSON, BUT THAT WAS A DEADLY AND BRUTAL WAR, AND SLAVERY IS A HORRIBLE THING. AND BESIDES, THE AVERAGE SOUTHERN FARMER DIDN’T HAVE SLAVES. AS MY FATHER SAID, QUOTING HIS GRANDFATHER, “IT WAS A RICH MAN’S WAR, AND A POOR MAN’S FIGHT.” I PERSONALLY BELIEVE IN PRESERVING HISTORY, BUT IF IT IS GOING TO MEAN AN INTENSIFICATION RATHER THAN A LESSENING OF “THE WHITE BACKLASH," THEN I’M FOR REMOVING THEM. I WOULD CAUTION EVERYONE, HOWEVER, THAT TO REMOVE THEM MAY SIMPLY RESULT IN GREATER VIOLENCE. NORTHERNERS HAVE SPAT ON SOUTHERNERS FOR AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER, AND WEALTHY WHITES HAVE MISTREATED POOR WHITES AS WELL. ALL OF THAT CREATES HATRED, AND THOSE POOR WHITES, WHO USED TO HAVE A “HIGHER” POSITION THAN BLACKS NEEDED IT TO BOLSTER THEIR INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP EGOS. UNFORTUNATELY, IF THEY WOULD DO THE RIGHT THINGS – STUDY, GO TO COLLEGE AND GET A BETTER JOB OUTSIDE OF THE BACKWATERS – THEY WOULDN’T HAVE TO RETAIN AND FOSTER ALL OF THAT HATRED INSIDE THEMSELVES. IT’S SAD. I SUGGEST THAT EVERYBODY IN THE USA WHO HAVEN’T SEEN THEM YET, SHOULD WATCH THESE MOVIES – “THE HELP,” AND “12 YEARS A SLAVE.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/duke-university-removes-statue-of-robert-e-lee/
CBS/AP August 19, 2017, 8:38 AM
Duke University removes statue of Robert E. Lee from campus chapel
Photograph -- A statue of Robert E. Lee in the entrance to a chapel at Duke University that was defaced before being removed on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2017. WNCN-TV
DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke University removed a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee early Saturday, days after it was vandalized amid a national debate about monuments to the Confederacy.
The university said it removed the carved limestone likeness early Saturday morning from Duke Chapel where it stood among 10 historical figures depicted in the entryway. Another statue of Lee was at the heart of a violent protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, that turned deadly a week ago.
What should America do about Confederate monuments?
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What should America do about Confederate monuments?
University president Vincent Price said in a letter to the campus community that he consulted with faculty, staff, students and alumni about the decision to remove the statue. Officials discovered early Thursday that the statue's face had been damaged by vandalism, CBS affiliate WNCN-TV reports.
"I took this course of action to protect Duke Chapel, to ensure the vital safety of students and community members who worship there, and above all to express the deep and abiding values of our university," Price said in the letter.
Durham has been a focal point in the debate over Confederate statues after protesters tore down a bronze Confederate soldier in front of a government building downtown. Eight people have been charged with tearing down the statue during a protest on Monday.
Hundreds marched on Friday through downtown Durham in a largely peaceful demonstration against racism, leading to an impromptu rally at the site where the bronze statue was toppled.
Other monuments around the state have been vandalized since the Charlottesville protest. There have also been calls to take down a Confederate soldier statue from the campus of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Gov. Roy Cooper has urged the removal of Confederate monuments from public property around the state, though his goal would be difficult to achieve because of a 2015 state law restricting their removal. Duke is a private university and outside the scope of that law.
THE OCCURRENCE OF CLIMATE REFUGEES IS NOW BECOMING A PROBLEM. IT’S A PREDICTABLE SITUATION THESE DAYS, BUT NOT ONE WHICH I REALLY EXPECTED WITHIN A TEN YEAR TIME FRAME, AS IS CLEARLY OCCURRING. IT IS HITTING ISLANDS FIRST, AND PLACES LIKE JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA WITH AN ELEVATION OF 16.8 FEET, OR NEW ORLEANS WHICH IS BELOW SEA LEVEL IN PLACES, WITH THE RESULT THAT A LARGE HURRICANE WILL INUNDATE THE LAND FOR MILES. MY OLD HOME STATE, AT THE OUTER BANKS, IS SEVERELY DAMAGED BY STORMS EVERY TEN OR SO YEARS.
THE LAST INSTRUCTIONS I SAW – THEY ARE PUBLISHED IN A LARGE FOLDING SHEET LIKE OLD-STYLE MAPS – SAID THAT MY LOCATION IN NORTH JACKSONVILLE IS SAFE; BUT WHERE I LIVED BEFORE ON ATLANTIC BLVD SOME TEN MILES WEST OF THE OCEAN IS AN EVACUATION ZONE. IN A HEAVY RAIN STORM WE MAY GET 2” IN AN HOUR’S TIME HERE, WHICH IS ENOUGH TO CAUSE STREET FLOODING, AND A TROPICAL STORM – HEAVEN FORBID A HURRICANE – BRINGS AS MUCH AS TEN INCHES IN A FEW HOURS.
I REALLY HATE THIS WHOLE RESISTANCE WITHIN OUR SOCIETY TO OUR DECENTLY AND LOGICALLY ACKNOWLEDGING THAT THERE IS A NEED TO MODIFY WHAT OUR PET POPULATION, CORPORATE BUSINESS, IS ALLOWED TO DO. FIE UPON ALL REPUBLICANS AND OTHER RIGHTISTS. THE RESULT OF OUR STUBBORNNESS IS THAT WE HAVE PROVEN OURSELVES TO BE UNABLE TO ADAPT. ONE WORD FOR THAT IS “STUPIDITY.” THEY WON’T EVEN TRY TO ADAPT, SO WE THE CITIZENS WILL HAVE TO. WE’LL HAVE TO MOVE FARTHER INLAND, FOR INSTANCE, WHICH WHEN EVERYBODY STARTS TO DO IT, WILL JUST INCREASE OUR OVERCROWDING IN CITIES AND DESTRUCTION OF OUR ONCE BEAUTIFUL WOODLANDS AND MEADOWS. A RELATED PHENOMENON IS THE APPEARANCE INSIDE CITIES OF WILD ANIMALS. JACKSONVILLE HAS HAD NUMEROUS ALLIGATORS, DEER, RATTLESNAKES, FOXES AND RACCOONS, AND EVEN TWO BEARS. NO PANTHERS SO FAR.
THE NAIVETE OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC, SO EASILY SWAYED BY ARGUMENTS BASED ON RELIGION OR GROUP IDENTITY OVER REASON AND INCLUSIVENESS, DISCOURAGES AND ANGERS ME. IT ISN’T ENOUGH THAT WE HAVE NOT EDUCATED OUR POPULATION NEARLY WELL ENOUGH, BUT WE GIVE THEM A LINE OF PHILOSOPHICAL/PSYCHOLOGICAL BRAINWASHING THAT MAKES THEM BELIEVE THAT READING ANYTHING CHALLENGING OR THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX WILL LAND THEM IN HELL. WHO WE ARE, AS A POPULATION, IS OUR OWN FAULT.
IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF EACH OF US AS AN INDIVIDUAL TO ADVANCE BEYOND NARROWNESS AND INTO ENLIGHTENMENT. THAT’S A GOOD PART OF MY “RELIGION.” I’M A UU, WHICH IS A VERY “LIBERAL” RELIGION. WE BELIEVE IN THE INCLUSION OF ALL PEOPLE RATHER THAN SEGREGATION, AND THE PRESERVATION OF THE ECOLOGY BY SUCH MEANS AS DECREASING THE CO2 WHICH GOES DAILY INTO THE SKY. IT’S CAUSING GLOBAL WARMING AND ACID RAIN, HENCE OUR CLIMATE REFUGEES.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/behind-the-lens-climate-refugees-kiribati-cbsn-on-assignment/
By SETH DOANE CBS NEWS August 18, 2017, 4:33 PM
Behind the Lens: Climate Refugees
Kiribati* is on the frontier. On a map, this tiny island nation looks like a little speck in the middle of the South Pacific. Just over the international date line from America, it's one of the first countries in the world to see a new day and scientists say it'll be among the first to feel catastrophic effects of climate change.
When I think about our shoot in Kiribati, one of the images that sticks in my mind was bumping along a rutted, dirt coastal road on an outer-lying island. We were in the back of an open truck (one of the few large vehicles on the island) with our camera equipment while most residents were riding bicycles or little mopeds or walking. Through the palm trees and tropical plants lining the road, we'd see the most stunning vistas and glimpse lives that seemed to be trapped in time. Folks live in simple huts with thatched roofs made from palm trees. We could see families cooking on open fires or drying coconut in the sun. Fisherman would be stitching together fishing nets. Most didn't have cars, running water or what we'd consider "the basics".
Their "carbon footprints" are among the lowest in the world. These are not people who travel by air or drive gas-guzzling vehicles. For many, on this remote island in Kiribati, electricity is a luxury. They're not the big carbon polluters but they're the ones who'll be among the first to have their lives disrupted by climate change through rising sea levels and extreme weather.
cbsn-oa-kiribati-6.jpg
The turquoise Kiribati sea is central to the lives of Kiribati residents, and an ever-increasing threat to the future of their homeland. CBS NEWS
We met many folks who already had to leave homes as the seawater encroached and contaminated groundwater and crops or, in some cases, pulled homes into the ocean. Some told us how they've contemplated relocating. Kiribati purchased land in Fiji as a "back-up" plan in case huge numbers of people had to flee.
The water that we'd see at every turn was always changing colors. At points it was turquoise sea green, or sometimes a brilliant, deep purple. For generations in Kiribati the sea has been at the center of life, but now, that beautiful, stunning water threatens their very existence.
One man we interviewed told us that the idea of moving away from these islands was overwhelming. Here in Kiribati, he explained, nature had always provided what they needed: they could climb a tree and pick a coconut to eat or could pick up his fishing spear and catch dinner.
I've visited parts of the U.S., like New Orleans, where technology (and money) allows entire neighborhoods to exist below sea level. I've traveled around The Netherlands where a significant portion of its land mass would be below water were it not for advanced engineering. But those are places with money and resources. Kiribati's development index is one of the lowest in the world and fancy engineering is – at least now – out of reach.
While many in Kiribati are forced to deal with the possibilities of sea level rise, extreme weather exacerbated by climate change, they were not the ones who caused it. One woman told us they were looking toward the "big" countries. They caused the problem, she said, "now when will they help?"
THE “PARTISAN DIVIDE” MENTIONED HERE JUST SHOWS THE DEGREE TO WHICH WE HAVE BRAINWASHED OUR POPULATION – THE BETTER TO EXPLOIT THEM. MANY “CONSERVATIVE” PEOPLE JUST DON’T BELIEVE THAT EDUCATION IS NECESSARY OR EVEN A GOOD THING. GENERALLY, I DO TEND TO ASCRIBE THAT TO A PRETTY DEEP LEVEL OF IGNORANCE ON THE PART OF PARENTS AND NEIGHBORS, AND EVEN A HOSTILITY TO “INDEPENDENT” THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS IN THE SOCIETY IN GENERAL. EXPRESSING AN IDEA LIKE BLACKS BEING EQUAL TO WHITES COULD GET YOU KILLED IN SOME PLACES. THAT ONLY HOLDS TRUE THESE DAYS IN RURAL OR SMALL TOWN AREAS, AND ESPECIALLY WHERE ACCESS TO “THE OUTSIDE WORLD” IS LIMITED, SUCH AS THE APPALACHIAN AREAS AND OTHER VERY POOR PLACES.
AN EXTREME AND INTERESTING CASE IS THAT OF THE OLD ORDER AMISH, WHO STILL USE THE ONE ROOM SCHOOL TAUGHT BY “A YOUNG UNMARRIED WOMAN,” AND WHOSE LESSONS – “READIN’, RITIN’ AND ‘RITHMETIC” ONLY -- STOP AT THE EIGHTH GRADE. THE TEACHERS WHO ALSO, HAVE AN EIGHTH GRADE EDUCATION, EMPHASIZE THE COMMUNITY AND COOPERATION AMONG THE MEMBERS. THERE IS, AFTER THAT, “A STRUCTURED LEARNING PROGRAM SUPERVISED BY THEIR PARENTS.” THIS ARTICLE STATES THAT THE REASON GIVEN FOR THE 8TH GRADE LIMIT IS THAT THE YOUNG PEOPLE AT THAT AGE BECOME “NATURALLY” INCLINED TO RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENT. I THINK THIS MAY VERY WELL BE TRUE, BECAUSE I HAVE NOTICED THAT THE TEEN YEARS DUE TO PUBERTY ARE A TIME OF EMOTIONAL GROWTH AND INTENSIFICATION IN GENERAL. THIS INFORMATION COMES FROM HTTPS://LANCASTERPA.COM/AMISH/AMISH-SCHOOLS/. HAVING HEARD THEIR EXPLANATION OF WHAT THEY ARE DOING WITH YOUNG PEOPLE, IT MAKES SENSE, THOUGH I REALLY DON’T AGREE WITH IT. WHEN A “SIMPLE LIFE” AND MODESTY ARE AMONG THE KEY VIRTUES, AN ADVANCED EDUCATION THAT MIGHT TEND TO MAKE ONE ARROGANT WOULD NOT BE A GOOD THING.
ABOUT THIS DEEPENING SOCIETAL DIVIDE OVER RACE, SEE THE ARTICLE BELOW.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/americans-divided-over-trumps-response-to-charlottesville-cbs-news-poll/
CBS NEWS August 17, 2017, 7:00 AM
Partisan divide over Trump’s response to Charlottesville: CBS News poll
By Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus, Kabir Khanna and Anthony Salvanto
Nearly two-thirds of Americans consider the attack that led to loss of life in Charlottesville an act of "domestic terrorism," a view that spans partisan lines. But President Trump's response to Charlottesville finds more division.
Graphic presentations -- CBS NEWS POLL
He gets majority disapproval overall for his response to the events, while most Republicans approve. Republicans interviewed following Tuesday's press conference also feel Mr. Trump is assigning blame accurately in the matter, while Democrats and Independents, and the country overall, disagree.
Post-Tuesday afternoon, views on the president's description of events are tightly tied to overall views of his handling of the matter. Independents and Democrats, and the country overall, feel his description of blame in the events is inaccurate; Republicans feel it is accurate.
Interviewing for this poll began the night before Tuesday's press conference and continued for two nights after it. Disapproval of the president's handling of events rose following the press conference.
Republicans interviewed prior to Tuesday's press conference were at 68% approval of President Trump's overall handling of the response to Charlottesville and 66% following it — ending up at 67% approval.
Democrats were at 12% approval prior to the Tuesday conference and ended up at 10% approval.
Both partisan groups showed at least slight ticks up in disapproval, with Republicans becoming a bit more disapproving and Democrats even more so.
Sixty-three percent of Americans consider the attack that led to injury and loss of life an act of "domestic terrorism." That includes large majorities of independents and Democrats and just over half of Republicans.
The poll, which began Monday night, asked about the president's Monday statements, and most Americans felt those statements were a necessary clarification of his remarks from the previous Saturday.
Overall, Americans are more apt to say Mr. Trump's policies have encouraged racial division rather than racial unity, but there are big partisan splits here, too, as Democrats see division and Republicans see no impact. Views on this appear to be entrenched for now, as these percentages are similar to what this poll found in April.
A large majority says the way in which the president handles issues of race and race relations matters a lot to them.
This poll was conducted by telephone August 14-16, 2017 among a random sample of 1,223 adults nationwide. Data collection was conducted on behalf of CBS News by SSRS of Glen Mills, PA. Phone numbers were dialed from samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The poll employed a random digit dial methodology. . . . .
THIS ARTICLE COMES FROM A WOMAN REPORTER WHO EMBEDDED WITH THE WHITE NATIONALISTS AND DID INTERVIEWS. IT'S INTERESTING, IF DISTURBING.
https://newrepublic.com/minutes/144341/racists-get-news
Where racists get their news.
Brian Beutler
August 15, 2017
Where racists get their news. Our former New Republic colleague Elle Reeve embedded with white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, for Vice News this past weekend, and produced this remarkable, haunting feature. I won’t spoil the segment, except to note that about 20 minutes in, as she interviews her subject, the camera catches his laptop and some unread content awaiting him.
The miracle and the horror of social media resides in its power to connect all kinds of people to all kinds of content. Occasionally Nazis happen upon my articles, and alert me to their findings with tweets or emails concerning the happy thought of murdering me.
I don’t know if this particular Nazi finds his reading through social media or brand loyalty, but this appears to be the story he’d clicked on. The Federalist isn’t Daily Stormer, but you can see why a white supremacist might be drawn to a piece characterizing the “rise of white nationalism” as a rational response to liberal, pro-equality activism rather than as a vice without any justification.
THIS IS THE COMPANION PIECE TO THE ARTICLE ABOVE. DO WATCH IT. IT’S A CHARLOTTESVILLE VIEW THAT YOU HAVEN’T SEEN.
“.... THIS PARASITIC CLASS OF ANTI-WHITE VERMIN...” – THESE PEOPLE ARE NOT EXERCISING FREE SPEECH. THEY ARE VIOLENTLY AGITATING TO PRODUCE “RACE WAR,” WHICH SO MANY OF THEM ESPOUSE AS A GOAL. THEY’RE NOT MERELY DOING EVIL. THEY’RE COMMITTED TO IT.
https://news.vice.com/story/vice-news-tonight-full-episode-charlottesville-race-and-terror
VICE NEWS TONIGHT ON HBO
http://thefederalist.com/2016/05/23/how-anti-white-rhetoric-is-fueling-white-nationalism/
How Anti-White Rhetoric Is Fueling White Nationalism
White people are being asked—or pushed—to take stock of their whiteness and identify with it more. This is a remarkably bad idea.
David Marcus By David Marcus
MAY 23, 2016
I opened Twitter recently and saw 20+ notifications. Most of the time that means the new generation of white nationalist Twitter trolls are filling my feed with racist and anti-Semitic cartoons. It was the trolls, but this was different. They were celebrating my use of the word “anti-white” in a tweet. They saw it as a victory that a “mainstream conservative” was using this term that for so long has been their calling card.
They had a point. Until recently I would have been unlikely to use the term. Not because I didn’t believe some people harbored animosity towards whites, but because that was a fringe attitude removed from power, which represented little real threat. That is no longer the case. Progressive rhetoric on race has turned an ugly corner and the existence of “anti-white” attitudes can no longer be ignored.
In the past year, all of the following headlines have appeared, in well-read publications:
The White Guy Problem:
ARTICLES ON THESE SUBJECTS BELOW LOOK INTERESTING, BUT IT DOES CREATE THAT WAR OF THE RACES FROM THE BLACK SIDE, OR PERHAPS THE SJW GROUP. I DO THINK WE REALLY DO NEED TO EXAMINE OUR CONSCIENCES ONE BY ONE, ALL RACES, AND BOTH WOMEN AND MEN. IT ISN'T USUALLY DISCUSSED, BUT THERE ARE PLENTY OF RACIST WOMEN OUT THERE, TOO.
White Men Must be Stopped: The Very Future of Mankind Depends on It
I Don’t Know What To Do With Good White People
Ten Things White People Need To Stop Saying
Dear White People: Here’s a List of Things We’d Wish You’d Stop Doing
What is new is the direct indictment of white people as a race. This happened through a strange rhetorical transformation over the past few years. At first, “white men are our greatest threat” postings tended to be ironic, a way of putting the racist shoe on the other foot. They were meant to show that blaming an entire race for the harmful actions of a few individuals is senseless.
Then the tenor changed. What started as irony turned into an actual belief that white people, specifically white men, are more dangerous and immoral than any other people. Loosely backed up by historical inequities and disparities in mass shootings, this position has begun to take a serious foothold.
Don’t Ask White People to Be More Tribal
Strikingly, this shift in rhetoric undermines what was once the core of anti-racist efforts. Treating people equally has given way to making all of us ambassadors for our race. This is a classic theme in critical race theory, that people of color carry a burden of representation that white people do not. But foisting the baggage of representation onto white people doesn’t solve that problem. It makes it worse.
Treating people equally has given way to making all of us ambassadors for our race.
White people are being asked—or pushed—to take stock of their whiteness and identify with it more. This is a remarkably bad idea. The last thing our society needs is for white people to feel more tribal. The result of this tribalism will not be a catharsis of white identity, improving equality for non-whites. It will be resentment towards being the only tribe not given the special treatment bestowed by victimhood.
A big part of the reason white Americans have been willing to go along with policies that are prejudicial on their face, such as affirmative action, is that they do not view themselves as a tribe. Given the inequality of resources favoring whites in our society, it is a good thing that white people view themselves as the ones without an accent. Should that change, white privilege (whatever one views that to be) will not be eviscerated—it will be entrenched.
The Tipping Point of Whiteness
All of this comes at a time when the last immigrants from the great wave of white immigration from 1850-1920 have died off. In the past, most whites identified with their European ethnicity: Irish, Italian, German, etc. As white people gravitate away from such identities, many see themselves as a neutral, “non racial” population. The Left criticizes this refusal to see themselves as “white,” but it is far preferable to the alternative: an American white population that views itself as a special-interest group.
The Left criticizes this refusal to see themselves as ‘white,’ but it is far preferable to the alternative.
The recurring, tired refrain that we should have a white history month if there is a black history month, or white student unions on campuses, is unintentionally being given new life by the Left. Celebrations or organizations of whiteness do not exist because we don’t need them. White people do not face the same kinds of systemic discrimination that people of color do. But progressives are doing a very good job of convincing white people that they do.
When parents of Virginia high school students complained about a white privilege video being shown to their kids, they rightfully noted that their kids were being singled out based on their race. The video featured a foot race in which people of color were burdened by impediments while the white people ran free. It was absolutely fair for them to interpret this as a message to their kids saying, “Your accomplishments are easier and less valuable than those of your peers of color.”
Many parents object to this method of teaching about race relations. While some white people, especially those in the academy and the arts, find the acceptance of privilege and its associated guilt liberating, many do not. Privilege theory is also not being offered as one of many ways to confront and consider racism; it is being offered as the central way. This was brilliantly explored in 2010 by the Midwestern Critical Whiteness Collective’s (MCWC’s) article in Harvard Education Review, “McIntosh as Synecdoche: How Teacher Education Focus on White Privilege Undermines Anti Racism.”
Privilege Theory Is the Wrong Track
The McIntosh in question is Peggy McIntosh, whose 1988 essay “Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack” formed the foundation of privilege theory. The essay is mostly a list of ways in which white people receive better treatment in society. The MCWC describes McIntosh’s theory as a synecdoche because it has come to define the totality of education’s anti-racism efforts. It is meant to be the magic pill that clarifies things and sets us on the right course once consumed.
They found that many disadvantaged white students reject the notion of their grand privileges and resented the key confessional component of white privilege education. One case study involved an education student named John, from a small, non-diverse town. In his final essay for the class John explained his reaction to McIntosh: “I got the feeling from it that it was more about trying to make white males feel guilty for things they most likely had no control over. Being a white male I got a little worked up about the whole list since I don’t feel like I have anything to apologize for.”
John rolled his eyes at privilege theory. However, his teacher reported that other ways of exploring racism and multiculturalism such as films on race relations and historical texts broadened John’s empathy towards non-white people. John was able to reject confession while still becoming a better anti-racist educator. This made John’s teacher wonder whether confessional white privilege is the universally beneficial educational tool it is made out to be. The collective found that it is not.
In its blunt conclusion, the collective writes: “McIntosh’s conception of white privilege has been at the center of anti-racist thought and action in teacher education. We argue, however, that McIntosh’s ideas simplify white racial identity in dangerous ways. We also demonstrate that white privilege pedagogy demands confession, but that confession is a dead end. Finally, we propose that white supremacy needs to replace white privilege as the central concern of our anti-racist efforts.”
Abetting White Supremacy
When privilege theory took root in the 1990s, society roundly condemned the outward expression of racist attitudes. This is why the focus shifted to the ways in which white people were racist without even knowing it. Importantly, all white people were guilty of this form of racism. The act of confessing privilege became the means through which white people discovered this hidden racism.
The shift to the privilege model had an unintended consequence that is abetting white supremacy.
But, as the past year has shown us, good old-fashioned white supremacy was not gone; it was simply driven underground. Not only was white supremacy still extant, it was going more or less unaddressed. The shift to the privilege model had an unintended consequence that is abetting white supremacy.
One can teach against white supremacy by encouraging students to treat everyone as equal, or at least as individuals not defined in important ways by their race. Privilege theory does not allow for this approach. It demands that differences be front and center and that we always consider a person’s race in considering him. This focus on “valuing differences” over “the colorblind model” unlocked the door to the white supremacist revival that today’s anti-white rhetoric has kicked open.
White Grievance On the Rise
It surprises many people that an increasing number of white Americans over the past decade believe whites face more discrimination than blacks. Obviously this feeling is inconsistent with economic data. Many have argued that a white fear of losing the dominant economic place in society is behind this belief. But what if the discrimination that white people are feeling and expressing is not primarily economic in nature?
He was upset at having to confess guilt for events he had no control over. Many whites feel this way.
This brings us back to John. What got him “worked up” about privilege theory was not that he’d have to compete for jobs with minorities. He was upset at having to confess guilt for events he had no control over. Many whites feel this way. Moreover, many resent the pedagogical transformations that their history and culture are undergoing. White historical figures once held in too high esteem have swung the other way into utter disrepute. Also, the histories of no other peoples are being held to these lofty standards.
Mohandas Gandhi’s racism, the Black Panthers’ vicious murders, and Santa Anna’s barbarism are understood within the context of their positive contributions. Increasingly, white Americans perceive that Columbus, Jefferson, Jackson, and many other core white historical figures are consistently brought down a peg in order to decentralize whiteness in history. This assault on their history has a deeper impact than many on the Left are aware of, or willing to admit.
Rise of the White Race Baiters
The combination of the confessional and universal aspects of white privilege and the reconstruction of white history has opened the door for white racial grievance-mongers. From 2014 to 2015, the number of active Klu Klux Klan chapters in the United States grew from 72 to 190, a massive increase for a group so closely associated with hatred. Along with these organized efforts, social media has given a dangerous new platform to white supremacists.
One of the key components to the success of this racism is the almost-daily parade of silly micro-aggressions and triggers, specifically on college campuses. Conservative media seize upon disputes over the cultural appropriation of taco night or banning hoopskirts as evidence that minority racial grievance has gotten unhinged.
In emerging white nationalist journals such as Radix, this constant drumbeat of attack against white insensitivity is viewed gravely. What results is a belief among a growing number of whites in the concepts of “white genocide” and “racial realism.”
Both “white genocide” and “racial realism” harken back to the worst elements of American racial history. The former reacts in horror to the races mixing sexually for fear of resulting offspring being impure. The latter pretends to take a cold, scientific look at demography to prove the superiority of the white race. Ideas of this ilk, until recently thought to be confined to a fringe dustbin, have taken on new life in our hyper-racialized society.
Young white men, reacting to social and educational constructs that paint them as the embodiment of historical evil, are fertile ground for white supremacists. They are very aware of the dichotomy between non-white culture, which must be valued at all times (even in the midst of terror attacks), and white culture, which must be criticized and devalued. They don’t like it.
Same Tactics, Different Sides
The result of these societal double standards is for many a desire to lash out against it. For every white college student who dutifully accepts his privilege, many more resent the idea and wish to fight it. The sharpest arrow in their quiver is to be offensive.
In reducing all phenomena to a question of race, both the alt right and the progressive left ensure the dominance of racial resentment as the lynchpin of our society.
This desire to be offensive has given rise to the “alt right.” Supporters of this loosely assembled white nationalist movement understand a playful aspect to its use of slurs. But just as the Left shifted from using anti-white rhetoric as an ironic device to an actual indictment of white culture, so has the alt right come to believe much of its troubling rhetoric.
Do the alt right Twitter trolls really want Jews turned into lampshades, or believe blacks are apes? Many of their supporters say no, that such rhetoric is simply meant to shock the system. They feel oppressed by political correctness and they challenge it, in over-the-top, offensive ways.
If this seems familiar, it should. It is exactly the same approach taken by social justice warriors and purveyors of anti-white rhetoric. The shocking “White Men Are Bad” hot takes *serve the same purpose. They are also meant to shock the system. Just as the alt right is willing to denigrate minorities to make plain what they view as racist speech codes, the Left is willing to denigrate straight, white men to make plain what they view as widespread systemic racism.
For both groups the central theme is identity. That theme quickly calcifies into attitudes too brittle to hold up serious discourse. In reducing all phenomena to a question of race, both the alt right and the progressive left ensure the dominance of racial resentment as the lynchpin of our society.
Let’s Find Another Way Forward
W.E.B. Du Bois was born just three years after the end of slavery, but was bullish on the prospects of equality, he writes in “The Souls of Black Folks.”
Work, culture, liberty,—all these we need, not singly but together, not successively but together, each growing and aiding each, and all striving toward that vaster ideal that swims before the Negro people, the ideal of human brotherhood, gained through the unifying ideal of Race; the ideal of fostering and developing the traits and talents of the Negro, not in opposition to or contempt for other races, but rather in large conformity to the greater ideals of the American Republic…
Modern progressives don’t talk about the “greater ideals of the American Republic.” Rather, those ideals have become suspect, empty words used to justify slavery and genocide. But for Du Bois, who was closer to slavery than any of us will ever be, this was not the case. The facile notion that some inherent evil of whiteness must be expunged is anathema to his entire vision of equality and reconciliation.
Put simply, our anti-racism efforts must be refocused away from guilt and confession and towards equality and eradicating irrational judgments based on race. Some on the Left will object, saying that racism is so systemic in society it must be purged before anyone can pretend to treat of others without taking race into account. Some on the Right will object, saying that everything from IQ tests to crime statistics prove something meaningful about the capabilities of individuals based on their race.
Both of these perspectives must be rejected. In their place, we must return to the goal of treating people as individuals, not as representatives of their race.
David Marcus is a senior contributor to the Federalist and the Artistic Director of Blue Box World, a Brooklyn based theater project. Follow him on Twitter, @BlueBoxDave.
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Photo Elvert Barnes / Flickr
HOT TAKES*
WHAT IS A HOT TAKE? GO TO MY SINGLE BLOG LAST WEEK CALLED “HOT TAKES AND A GOOD CUP O’ JOE.” SEE BELOW THE EXCELLENT ARTICLE FROM NEW REPUBLIC ON THE SUBJECT. I PERSONALLY ENJOY COMMENTS THAT ARE ATTACHED TO NEWS ARTICLES, AND SOMETIMES PUT THEM INTO MY BLOG. JUST BECAUSE SOME NON-PROFESSIONAL COMMENTARY IS RACIST OR OTHERWISE ASININE, DOESN’T MEAN THAT IT ALL IS.
I DO WANT TO HEAR EXACTLY WHAT JOHN Q. AMERICAN, OR JOE SCARBOROUGH, OR OTHER NON-SCHOLARLY SOURCES HAVE TO SAY, JUST AS I VERY MUCH ENJOY A POLITICAL DISCUSSION WITH FRIENDS. I’M LESS A FAN OF TWEETS, UNLESS THEY ARE CLEAR IN THEIR MEANING, AS SO MANY VERY SHORT COMMENTS ARE NOT CLEAR AT ALL. ALSO THEY ARE SO OFTEN NOTHING BUT “SMACK-DOWNS.” I BELIEVE THE MORE LENGTHY FORMS OF “HOT TAKE” ARE ACTUALLY OFTEN INFORMATIVE, ON THE OTHER HAND, AND WHEN PEOPLE DO HAVE THE COURAGE TO EXPRESS THEIR TRUE OPINION, IT’S A GREAT THING. THE PSEUDO-SCHOLARLY COMMENTS BY SOME PROFESSIONAL COMMENTATORS AND WRITERS ANNOY ME, JUST AS ALL CONCEIT DOES.
IN A SOCIETY LIKE THIS ONE WHERE THE TRULY AVERAGE CITIZEN IS STILL NOT IN DANGER OF A STINT IN PRISON OVER WHAT THEY SAY, THEY OFTEN INTEREST, ENCOURAGE, TITILLATE AND INFORM ME. I DON’T WANT A SOCIETY IN WHICH A NEO-FASCIST IS ELECTED TO PRESIDENT WITHOUT A PEEP FROM MR AND MS. PUBLIC. IT’S THE TRUE AMERICAN WAY, SO HOT TAKERS, KEEP IT UP! WHERE I COME ACROSS A WELL-MEANING CITIZEN TRYING TO MAKE A SERIOUS POINT ON A VERY SERIOUS SUBJECT, I WILL OFTEN JUMP IN AND DEFEND THEM, THOUGH I DO TRY TO DO IT IN A WELL CONSIDERED WAY, AND NOT AS A PERSONAL ASSAULT – THOUGH I HAVE OCCASIONALLY DONE THAT, TOO. MY BAD!
IF WE WOULD READ COMMENTS AS WELL AS ARTICLES, WE MIGHT NOT BE LEFT TOTALLY IN THE DARK ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT A DONALD TRUMP WILL BEAT HILLARY CLINTON, THOUGH BY AN ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTE AND NOT THE POPULAR. TO ME THAT JUST MEANS THAT DONALD TRUMP GAVE THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS ROUND THE NATION TO ELECTORAL COLLEGE VOTERS. THAT PARTICULAR BODY IN EACH STATE DOES NOT IMPROVE DEMOCRACY, AND ALL PROVISION FOR IT – ALONG WITH OTHER UNAMERICAN PASSAGES – SHOULD BE TOTALLY REMOVED FROM THE CONSTITUTION. THE AVERAGE WOMAN/MAN/TEEN ON THE STREET THESE DAYS IS NOT ILLITERATE, NOR STUPID. DON’T SQUELCH THEIR VOTE!! (THIS IS MY “HOT TAKE” OF THE MOMENT.)
https://newrepublic.com/article/121501/history-hot-take
A History of the Hot Take
BY ELSPETH REEVE
April 12, 2015
A strange thing happened on the internet a few days ago. Explaining why he’d deleted a post by one of his writers that was critical of one of BuzzFeed’s advertisers, editor Ben Smith announced: “We are trying not to do hot takes.” Calling something a “hot take” is an increasingly popular way to dismiss the value of a piece of writing—bad, stupid, disingenuous, or some other subset of the broad category of “bullshit.” You would think the internet would have cheered Smith on—there were about 500 tweets mocking one hot take or another on that Friday alone. But that did not happen. Instead, the internet rebelled: The post was not, in fact, a hot take. Smith’s assertion that the post was bullshit was itself bullshit. He eventually capitulated and reinstated the post, but pledged to keep thinking about “the place of personal opinion on the site.”
The steady climb of hot take.
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Slate editor-in-chief Julia Turner responded with a stirring defense of “the most unfashionable thing in journalism.” Because the internet offers so much information, “readers are more reliant than ever on commentators who can analyze and interpret it,” to explain what it all means. Just because some commentary is bad doesn’t mean it’s all useless—in other words, not every take is a hot take.
It felt, all of a sudden, like the fate of journalism in the digital era rested on a collective judgement on the hot take. It may seem like the hot take is as old as time, or as old as Twitter, maybe. But despite its ubiquity, the term is a surprisingly recent invention. I went out in search of an answer to this question, interviewing countless (12) hot take scholars and scouring the internet for evidence of the hot take’s true ancestry. Here is what I found.
[A note about sourcing: Alert readers will notice that almost everyone quoted in this article is a dude. When I searched for hot take scholars, I initially could only think of dudes; when I asked them to name other hot take scholars, those dudes named dudes. When I suggested one female writer to a male source, he said, “Yeah, she definitely wants to be part of the boys club.” When I checked Urban Dictionary for its hot take definition, I found the entry was written by—and I think it’s fair to read symbolism into this—a user named Penis Armada.]
Common “hot take” usage on Twitter.
What is a hot take?
As the term “hot take” has become more popular, its essence has been diluted. It’s often used to dismiss an assertion you don’t agree with. But the true hot take is a piece of opinion journalism hastily written in a scolding tone, often by older men (see sourcing note above) who have achieved enough status in media that they don’t have to work so hard anymore. There’s a “just telling it like it is” attitude, even if, according to the best available data, it is not like that at all. “It’s a useful phrase to describe a scourge that became a scourge almost as quickly as it became widespread,” Gawker editor-in-chief Max Read said. “It’s the perfect media phrase because it allows the person who uses it to 1) dismiss something 2) contemptuously using 3) a bit of insidery jargon.”
A very hot take.
Salon’s Simon Maloy, who makes a lot of hot take jokes, said, “a hot take is a piece of deliberately provocative commentary that is based almost entirely on shallow moralizing.” Maloy points to Erick Erickson, editor of the influential conservative site RedState.com. An essential Erickson hot take came in 2013, when he argued that working moms are bad for kids because male animals tend to dominate female ones. When criticized, Erickson responded that it was “a matter of fact” that kids with moms who stay home are better off. It was not a fact. In February, Erickson argued that gay rights activists, who want to make it illegal for businesses to discriminate against gays, have a lot in common with ISIS, which crucifies children. “The divide between Islamic extremists and gay rights extremists is at death,” Erickson asserted. “The gay rights activists who yell ‘bigot’ at those who disagree with them are the Imams of America’s cultural ghetto.”
Tomás Ríos, editor-in-chief of Vice Sports, points to liberalish Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen. “The thing about a lot of hot take writers is they just kind of burn out over time,” Ríos said. Instead, “Cohen has just somehow consistently managed to find a tiny island of personal absurdity that only he can occupy. So you know, all credit to him.” Cohen suggested in 2013 that people with “conventional views” “must repress a gag reflex” when they see the interracial family of the mayor of New York.
For a take to be truly hot, “it’s not necessarily intentionally contrarian, but it is written in such a way that you can tell it’s a bit of a troll,” The Washington Post’s Philip Bump said. “There’s an implied artificiality to it. And also, it’s a crappy piece.”
Some hot takes on Iran.
Rusty Foster, who writes the Today in Tabs newsletter, said the “prototype hot take” is when news breaks, and then “somebody will rush out an opinion piece a couple hours later that comes to some really grand conclusions based on this one thing that happened that maybe we don’t even have all the facts about yet.”
Where did the hot take come from?
A startlingly high number of “hot take” users don’t know its origin or age. “I realized that it feels like it’s always been, but it hasn’t always been,” Foster said. Dave Weigel, a Bloomberg Politics reporter and major hot take denouncer, sounded surprised when he searched his own Twitter history and found his first #hottakes tweet dated back only to October 2014. Gawker editor Alex Pareene said the political Twitter world embraced hot take last year, “though it definitely feels older.”
The hot take—both the phrase and the thing it describes—has a long history in sports, as Ríos explained in an August 2013 history of bad sports writing for Pacific Standard. Sports writing in the 1920s and 1930s was dominated by mythmakers like Grantland Rice (the namesake of Bill Simmons’s sports-entertainment-opinion site), who used purple prose to turn athletes into godlike heroes. Then, in the 1960s and 1970s, sports writers began wrestling with larger societal problems in their columns. “Rather than manufacture heroes out of athletes,” Ríos wrote, stalwart New York Daily News sports columnist Dick Young “applied the standards of heroes to athletes and promptly eviscerated anyone who fell short of his impossible ideal.” The athlete wasn’t the hero; the columnist was.
The phrase “hot take” seems to have reached critical mass in the sports world sometime in 2012, amid a flood of Tim Tebow coverage, according to Caitlin Kelly, a New Yorker web producer. (For a while, Tebow was to the sports internet as Kim Kardashian is to the rest of the whole internet.) That was also the year Eric Koreen, a basketball reporter for the Toronto-based National Post, tweeted one of the earliest modern uses of “hot take.”
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Koreen said the notion could perhaps be traced to the baseball blog Fire Joe Morgan, which “railed against columnists or announcers supporting their own long-held beliefs with flimsy evidence that defied math,” even if the blog’s writers never used the term “hot take.” Morgan was a baseball player in the 1970s who became a commentator for NBC Sports and ESPN in the 1990s and 2000s. Morgan’s analysis came from his gut at a time when fans increasingly wanted analysis that at least acknowleged the validity of advanced statistics. In a 2005 interview with Tommy Craggs (now the executive editor of Gawker Media) for SF Weekly, Morgan explained why he hated Moneyball, the Michael Lewis book about using statistics in sports management. It is the very essence of hot-take thinking:
Why would I wanna read a book about a computer, that gives computer numbers? ...
Why would I wanna read the book? All I’m saying is, I see a game every day. I watch baseball every day. I have a better understanding about why things happen than the computer, because the computer only tells you what you put in it. I could make that computer say what I wanted it to say, if I put the right things in there. ... The computer is only as good as what you put in it. How do you think we got Enron?
Sure enough, if you scan the Fire Joe Morgan archives, you can see the beginnings of the anti-hot-take movement that would eventually rally the new media world. An excerpt from a post from January 2008:
Here’s a little ditty entitled “Attitude Can’t Just Be a Platitude for Sox,” by legendary comic actor Dave van Dyck (The Dave van Dyck Show, Diagnosis: Murder.) [DAVE VAN DYKE??? – SIC, SIC!] The thesis is that what the 2007 Chicago White Sox lacked was not “hitting” or “pitching” or any of those other pesky “tangibles,” but rather: a certain je ne sais quoi.
You can see a parallel to this in the political writing world, like, say, in the Joe Scarborough vs. Nate Silver fight of 2012. Silver held the view that polling data showed President Obama as the overwhelming favorite to win re-election over Mitt Romney, and Scarborough argued but but but the race feeeeels close. The day before the 2012 election, Peggy Noonan offered this hot take, “While everyone is looking at the polls and the storm, Romney’s slipping into the presidency.” Why? Well, for one, “In Florida a few weeks ago I saw Romney signs, not Obama ones.”
How did the hot take spread from sports?
It’s hard to conceive of a thing until you name it. “There are certain words,” Radiolab host Jad Abumrad explained in a 2010 episode about language, “that don’t just give you a name for something; somehow they give you access to a concept that would otherwise be really hard to get or even talk about. … It’s really hard to talk about thoughts, without the word ‘thoughts.’ Or what is time without the word ‘time?’ It’s a really freaking hard concept. These words are like bridges. Somehow they get you to some new mental place that otherwise you’d be cut off from.”
“I remember the first time I think I ever sort of deconstructed a take was, there was a profile of Chris Matthews that I did in 2008,” The New York Times Magazine’s Mark Leibovich said of the MSNBC host. “We were in a spin room and basically it was kind of a flea market for people giving and taking takes.” Leibovich had written at the time, “Matthews seemed compelled to give his ‘take,’ which is how he describes his job each night at 5 and 7, Eastern time, on ‘Hardball’—‘giving my take.’ … He can also be unsparing in his criticism of those who run afoul of his ‘take.’” Leibovich said now, “That’s obviously moved seamlessly to Twitter, which is like Take Central.”
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“Though ‘my take on ___’ is as old as the hills, the ironic ‘sizzling hot take’ or what-have-you is, I’m pretty sure, from people making fun of ESPN [”Around the Horn”] sports bros,” explained Pareene, long known for his takedowns of hot take writers. “My theory has always been that political writers either wish they were sports writers or music writers so there is a similar sensibility there—‘I’m saying what no one else has the guts to.’”
Think of the movie Contagion, in which a bat virus merged with a pig virus to infect Gwyneth Paltrow and then ravage the United States. “Way back before ‘hot takes’ were in politics, political reporters would link to each other’s work and earnestly say ‘smart take,’” Pareene said, noting a 2013 Gawker post titled “Word Terrorism: When ‘Smart Takes’ Aren’t.” Once that phrase became sarcastic, “the smart take married the sports hot take, and the rest was history.”
“For a while ‘smart take’ was the phrase used to indict a piece for being stupid and conceived for traffic,” Weigel said. “Someone pointed out to me that ‘smart’ implies that someone sat down with a quill and glass of brandy or whatever it is smart people use when they’re writing and really wanted to show something with what is essentially stupid. Whereas the ‘hot take,’ I think, or at least the way I have interpreted it, implies that the author wants traffic and doesn’t give a crap about whether the take makes sense.” The evolution makes sense. Ríos said, “One of the only arenas in all of culture that can compete with sports in its tendency to mythologize the participants is politics.”
And it’s not a coincidence that hot take writers in sports and politics look a lot alike. “The realm of the hot take has always been the realm of the male, specifically the white male,” Ríos said. “National sports columnists are overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly male. The reason you can be successful writing hot takes is not that you have controversial opinions, it’s actually because your opinions are quite milquetoast to a certain brand of consumer.”
Hot take parodies skewer the banal presented as something brave. At Grantland, Andrew Sharp writes a satirical #HOTSPORTSTAKES column. Last year, when Richard Sherman, a really good football player, said on TV he was really good at football, outraged hot takes exploded across the internet. Sharp wrote, “The guy who turns sportsmanship into a punch line is bad, but the culture that laughs along with him is far scarier.”
Last year, Pareene and I worked for the failed political satire site Racket, where we launched a protest blog called Racket Teen. Our most popular posts were usually the daily Hot Takes Board, a collection of headlines that combined self-righteousness with idiocy:
The driving force behind the board was our colleague Michael Pielocik, an outsider-expert on hot takes, once as a writer for The Onion and now in late-night comedy. Pielocik emailed:
Whether you call it a “hot take” or whatever, everyone really is trying to point out something that has not been pointed out a million times before. But a lot of writers also want it to get clicks and have their work read and keep their jobs, so you have to put topical #viral stuff in there too. So writing a headline like “Is Autism the New Gangnam Style” or “What ‘Game of Thrones’ Teaches Us About Ferguson” or whatever, it makes a point that probably hasn’t been made before... but that might be because it’s dumb as hell.
What will become of the hot take?
“Mark Leibovich—I hate to say a sentence like this now, but he had a tweet that really stuck with me,” Weigel said. “He, like a bunch of veteran reporters, I think, is really tired of how dumb a lot of internet commentary has gotten, and he had this tweet years ago saying, ‘We’re drowning in takes… enough with the fucking takes.’”
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Mark Leibovich @MarkLeibovich
So many people are giving us their "take" on this...We are a nation drowning in "takes!"
3:45 PM - May 9, 2012
1 1 Reply 8 8 Retweets 2 2 likes
The takes have not stopped coming since that tweet. As John Herrman argued at The Awl last year, sometimes a story, like stolen celebrity nudes, “generates an enormous surplus of attention, much more than news can meet.” Demand for new information about the nudes outstrips supply. And so the news industry offers the take.
Everyone with an outlet—or, really, everyone, since the great democratization of Take distribution tools coaxed previously private Takes out from bars and dining rooms and into the harsh sunlight—found themselves under the spell of that horrible force that newspaper columnists feel every week, the one that eventually ruins every last one: the dreadful pull of a guaranteed audience.
The Today in Tabs Take Tree.
Rebecca Greenfield, a writer most recently at Fast Company who was my colleague at the now defunct Atlantic Wire, explained that the site was a take innovator out of necessity. “Hot take is an evolution of the blog post… it was easy to block quote and write a clever headline, so the Wire had to do one better with the same amount of resources (none).” The take industry is only growing more efficient at supplying enough takes to meet reader demand. Surveying the wave of Apple Watch reviews, Foster began Thursday’s edition of his Today in Tabs newsletter, “The second day of the Take Cycle is usually my favorite. I sometimes ignore a whole first day’s worth of takes because the second day’s are always better (slash worse).”
What allows hot takes to spread also makes it easier to avoid them. Ríos doesn’t read hot takes anymore, thanks to Twitter: “It’s always pretty obvious when someone is genuinely saying, ‘Hey, this is a really good piece, everyone should read it,’ and ‘Hey, this is a really shitty piece, and I hate it, and now I’m going to introduce it into your life so that you can hate it as much as I do.’”
And the phrase “hot take”? It could be doomed.
“It probably has a few more months,” Foster said. The phrase is showing signs of stress, as in the BuzzFeed incident. “The purgatory in between when something becomes a cliché and when it dies is some kind of ironic treatment of it,” Leibovich said. “Twitter is in some ways the race to irony.” Does it kill all jokes? “You have to be in on the joke to be aware that the joke is a cliche or that the joke has been killed.” Bump said, “I think Twitter is like one of those chair-testing machines they have on display at Ikea. You put a joke in and Twitter beats the shit out of it and then you know how resilient the joke is and also the joke has been smashed into dumb pieces and only idiots would want to use it.”
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
ILLEGAL, OR NO? IF NOT, WHY NOT??? IT'S OBVIOUSLY FREQUENTLY USED TO PRODUCE AN ARREST AND PERHAPS GET A RAISE. THE IDEA IS TO WATCH A SUSPECT LONG ENOUGH TO FIND COLLEAGUES WHO ARE ALSO EXTREMISTS, OR TRACK THEIR INFORMATION SOURCE, WHICH IS A SMART MOVE I WOULD SAY. IF IT DOES END WITH A BASICALLY INNOCENT PERSON BEING LURED INTO SOMETHING EVIL, HOWEVER, IT IS REPREHENSIBLE CERTAINLY, AND SHOULDN'T BE ALLOWED -- GROUNDS FOR FIRING AT LEAST. THAT'S MY HOT TAKE ON THE SUBJECT!
https://newrepublic.com/minutes/144328/fbi-creating-extremists-instead-catching-them
Why is the FBI creating extremists instead of catching them?
Moira Donegan
August 15, 2017
Why is the FBI creating extremists instead of catching them? The events in Charlottesville this weekend demonstrated that America has a violent, racist right, and that it is organized, mobilized, and ready to kill. But instead of going after these already dangerous radicals, the FBI is busy radicalizing people who otherwise might not have bothered with political violence. This much is evident in the case of Jerry Drake Varnell, a man who was arrested in Oklahoma yesterday for a plot to bomb a bank that appears to have been entirely instigated by the Bureau.
Varnell is not a nice guy. He is said to have been motivated by hatred of the federal government and by far-right ideologies that he found online. How he found those ideologies, and who pushed him toward extremism, is unclear. What is clear, from a criminal compaint filed against Varnell, is that he was in contact with undercover FBI agents and informants who persuaded him to enact a violent plot, then staged that plot in order to arrest him for it.
The bombing that Varnell believed he was planning was entirely fake, concocted by the FBI to entrap him: What he thought was a bomb was not, what he thought was a stolen cargo van was not, what he thought was a detonator was not. The apparent entrapment was made more sinister by Varnell’s insistence, in conversations with the FBI agents whom he thought were his co-conspirators, on setting off the bomb at night, so as to minimize casualties. To some commentators, that sounded like the behavior of someone who wouldn’t have committed violence if the FBI hadn’t put him up to it.
It’s part of a long tradition for the FBI. Take, for instance, the three Brooklyn men the FBI arrested in 2015, who likely would not have wanted to travel to Syria or join ISIS if undercover agents had not convinced them that it was a good idea. Or think of the Somali-American teenager in Portland, Oregon, who was convinced to detonate a bomb in a parking lot by undercover agents he met through his mosque. In fact, what seems most unusual about the entrapment of Varnell was that this time the FBI targeted a right-wing white man, using a tactic that it most often reserves for young men of color.
It is interesting that the arrest of a white right-winger in an FBI sting comes just as the country is gripped by the events in Charlottesville. That various law enforcement agencies were caught off-guard by the danger these white supremacists pose only underscores the FBI still has no idea how to deal with the real far-right threat.
http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/donald-trump-retweeted-post-calling-him-a-fascist-w497861
Donald Trump Retweeted Post Calling Him Fascist and Cartoon of Train Running Over CNN Reporter
By Us Weekly Staff August 15, 2017
Photograph -- Donald Trump makes a statement on the violence this past weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia at the White House on August 14, 2017 in Washington, DC. Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images
Oops. President Donald Trump made two mistakes on Twitter on the morning of Tuesday, April 15, by retweeting a pair of controversial posts.
Donald Trump's Most Outrageous Quotes Ranked
Both tweets were in reply to a Fox & Friends article with a headline that read, “Trump ‘seriously considering’ a pardon for Sheriff Joe Arpaio.” The former Phoenix-area sheriff was convicted for failing to comply with a U.S. court order to stop traffic patrols that targeted immigrants.
Celebrities’ Biggest Social Media Fails
First, Trump, 71, mistakenly retweeted someone who called him a fascist. Twitter user @MikeHolden42 replied to the article, writing, “He’s a fascist, so not unusual.” According to ABC News, Trump deleted the retweet after about fives minutes.
View image on Twitter
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Mike Holden @MikeHolden42
I'm announcing my retirement from Twitter. I'll never top this RT.
7:13 AM - Aug 15, 2017
945 945 Replies 8,426 8,426 Retweets 31,554 31,554 likes
The president also retweeted a violent cartoon of a train running over a person with a CNN logo covering their head. “Nothing can stop the #TrumpTrain!!” the post by Trump supporter @SLandinSoCal read.
View image on Twitter
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SL @SLandinSoCal
Replying to @SLandinSoCal and 2 others
Nothing can stop the #TrumpTrain‼️
7:01 AM - Aug 15, 2017
1,421 1,421 Replies 1,300 1,300 Retweets 3,823 3,823 likes
According to The New York Times, a White House official said on Tuesday that the train tweet was posted inadvertently and was deleted as soon as it was noticed.
Celebs Fight Back on Twitter!
The timing could not have been worse for the ill-advised train tweet. During the Charlottesville violence on Saturday, August 12, a driver drove his car into a crowd of counter-protestors, who were standing up against a white supremacist rally. A 32-year-old woman was killed and 19 others were injured.
This isn’t the first time a CNN cartoon has gotten Trump into hot water. In July, the former Celebrity Apprentice host posted a video of himself wrestling and punching a figure whose head was replaced with a logo for the TV network. The video was edited from WrestleMania 23 in 2007 when Trump competed against WWE executive Vince McMahon during a staged fight.
WHEN EXACTLY WAS BANNON FIRED? COULD IT BE THAT TRUMP GAVE GROUND TO PELOSI HERE?
https://www.mediaite.com/trump/nancy-pelosi-calls-for-firing-of-steve-bannon-after-charlottesville-attack/
Nancy Pelosi Calls for Firing of Steve Bannon After Charlottesville Attack
by Aidan McLaughlin | 4:20 pm, August 14th, 2017
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called for White House chief strategist Steve Bannon to be fired in a statement following Saturday’s terror attack in Charlottesville, in which a white supremacist plowed his car into a crowd of protestors, killing one person and injuring 19 others.
Bannon’s standing in the White House, as the former chairman of Breitbart News — a website he once described as “the platform of the alt-right” — has drawn intense criticism from Democratic lawmakers since President Donald Trump’s inauguration. And this isn’t the first time Pelosi has called for his ousting.
But in light of the terror attack at the Virginia white supremacist rally, and Trump’s ambiguous statement in response to the incident, calls to purge the White House of its far-right staffers have re-ignited — as #FireBannon trends on Twitter.
In Pelosi’s statement, she claims that Trump’s equivocations in his initial statement on the attack are “a direct reflection of the fact that his chief strategist, Steve Bannon, is an alt-right white supremacist sympathizer and a shameless enforcer of those un-American beliefs.”
Trump on Monday delivered remarks from the Roosevelt Room explicitly condemning the “KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups” — though critics dismissed his comments as coming days late.
Pelosi called the comments “long overdue,” before noting that if “the President is sincere about rejecting white supremacists, he should remove all doubt by firing Steve Bannon and the other alt-right white supremacist sympathizers in the White House.”
Read the statement below:
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Nancy Pelosi ✔ @NancyPelosi
If @realDonaldTrump is sincere about rejecting alt-right white supremacists sympathizers, he should start at the White House. #FireBannon
2:42 PM - Aug 14, 2017
1,208 1,208 Replies 5,000 5,000 Retweets 10,719 10,719 likes
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ATTACK BY AUTOMOBILE HAS BECOME THE FAVORITE WAY TO COMMIT A MASS KILLING THESE DAYS. I WISH WE COULD CATCH THESE PEOPLE BEFORE THEY GET TOTALLY OUT OF HAND LIKE THIS. IT MIGHT HELP IF FAMILY DOCTORS, TEACHERS, PASTORS WOULD IDENTIFY THOSE WHO EXHIBIT SYMPTOMS OF MENTAL ILLNESS, ESPECIALLY BEING JUST TOO “QUIET,” HAVING SUDDEN OUTBURSTS OF ANGER, LACK OF ATTENTION, WON’T MEET ANOTHER’S EYE, CAN’T INTERACT WITH PEOPLE ON A REASONABLY EQUAL LEVEL –“TONGUE TIED” FOR INSTANCE. IF IT’S PERSISTENT, ESPECIALLY IF THEY AREN’T DEALING WITH A RELATIVE STRANGER, THAT’S ABNORMAL, NOT JUST “SHY.”
“IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING” IS A GOOD RULE IN SO MANY SITUATIONS, FROM THE BACKPACK LEFT ON A PARK BENCH, TO A PERSON WALKING ALONG MUMBLING UNDER HIS BREATH OR SHOUTING, AND CALLING THE POLICE OR AN AMBULANCE IS REASONABLE, BUT AT LEAST – IN THE CASE OF A SCHOOL OR CHURCH SPOTTING THE SYMPTOMS. NOTIFYING THE PARENTS IMMEDIATELY IN PERSON AND EXPRESSING CONCERN ABOUT IT WOULD BE THE FIRST STEP, IN MY OPINION. A LETTER SENT TO FAMILY MEMBERS IN THE MAIL MAY GO UNOPENED.
THESE SYMPTOMS OF WITHDRAWAL MAY BE ALL THE PERSON WILL SHOW. IT’S HARD TO TELL WHETHER THEY ARE HALLUCINATING OR HAVE A SOME OTHER BIZARRE TURN OF MIND. AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT I’M SPEAKING OF HERE IS THE NEWS REPORT ABOUT 6 MONTHS AGO OF A PLEASANT CITY NEIGHBORHOOD WHICH WAS BESIEGED BY A MALEVOLENT PERSON WHO WAS CATCHING PEOPLE’S NICE PET KITTIES AND SHAVING THEM. HE WAS NEVER CAUGHT.
PEOPLE WHO DO THINGS LIKE THAT HAVE SOME SORT OF “REASON” FOR THE BEHAVIOR WHICH WILL STRIKE ANY OUTSIDE OBSERVER AS BEING VERY “BIZARRE.” I DON’T MEAN A SIMPLE TENDENCY TOWARD NERDINESS, BUT BELIEVING THEY ARE BATMAN, PERHAPS. IF THEY START WEARING SWASTIKAS ON THEIR CLOTHING, THAT’S A BAD SIGN, ESPECIALLY THESE DAYS WHEN THE ALT-RIGHT IS SO ACTIVE ON THE INTERNET. I’M SAYING THIS BECAUSE INSANE PEOPLE DO USUALLY GIVE SOME SIGNS, BUT IT’S SUBTLE. WHENEVER THIS HAPPENS A NEIGHBOR OR FAMILY MEMBER WILL SAY, “HE WAS SO QUIET.” WE DO TEND TO TRUST THOSE WHO DO NOT TELL US OUTRIGHTLY “WHERE WE CAN JOLLY WELL GO,” BUT PERHAPS IT SHOULD BE THE OTHER WAY AROUND.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/barcelona-police-van-jumps-sidewalk-causes-injuries-153049916.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=69f70237-124f-3ea9-acd0-fc922af945e2&.tsrc=notification-brknews
Attacker drives van into Barcelona crowd; 12 dead, 80 hurt
BARRY HATTON and JOSEPH WILSON
Associated Press August 17, 2017
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A white van jumped up onto a sidewalk and sped down a pedestrian zone Thursday in Barcelona's historic Las Ramblas district, swerving from side to side as it plowed into tourists and residents. Police said 13 people were killed and more than 50 wounded in the terror attack.
The attack left people sprawled out on the ground in the city in northeastern Spain, some spattered with blood, others with broken limbs. As witnesses and emergency workers tried to help the wounded, police brandishing hand guns launched a search of side streets amid reports that at least one perpetrator and maybe more were holed up in a nearby bar.
Police immediately cordoned off the city's broad avenue, which is popular with tourists, and ordered stores and nearby Metro and train stations to close. They asked people to stay away from the area so as not to get in the way of emergency services. A helicopter hovered over the scene.
A few hours later, Catalan police tweeted: "We have arrested one man and we are treating him as a terrorist." They said no one was holed up in a Barcelona bar but began to evacuate stores on the sprawling avenue where dozens of people had taken cover.
State-owned broadcaster RTVE reported that investigators think two vans were used — one for the attack and a second as a getaway vehicle.
Las Ramblas, a street of stalls and shops that cuts through the center of Barcelona, is one of the city's top tourist destinations. People walk down a wide, pedestrian path in the center of the street but cars can travel on either side.
A taxi driver who witnessed the attack, Oscar Cano, told TV3 the van jumped onto the central pedestrian area at a high speed and swerved from side to side.
In photographs and videos, at least five people could be seen lying on the ground in the street Thursday afternoon, being helped by police and others. Other video recorded people screaming as they fled the van.
Keith Fleming, an American who lives in Barcelona, was watching TV in his building just off Las Ramblas when he heard a noise and went out to his balcony.
"I saw women and children just running and they looked terrified," he said.
He said there was a bang — possibly from someone rolling down a store shutter — and more people ran by. Then police arrived and pushed everyone a full block away. Even people leaning out of doors were being told to go back inside, he said.
Fleming said regular police with guns drawn and riot police were at the end of his block, which was soon deserted.
"It's just kind of a tense situation," Fleming said. "Clearly, people were scared."
Carol Augustin, a manager at La Palau Moja, an 18th-century place on Las Ramblas that houses government offices and a tourism center, said the van passed right in front of the building.
"We saw everything. People started screaming and running into the office. It was such a chaotic situation. There were families with children. The police made us close the doors and wait inside," she said.
U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter: "The United States condemns the terror attack in Barcelona, Spain, and will do whatever is necessary to help. Be tough & strong, we love you!"
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered assistance to authorities in Spain and said U.S. diplomats in Spain were helping Americans there. He vowed the United States would never relent in tracking down terror suspects and holding them to account.
"Terrorists around the world should know that the United States and our allies are resolved to find you and bring you to justice," Tillerson said in a statement.
British Prime Minister Theresa May said the U.K. "stands with Spain against terror." European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said "this cowardly attack has deliberately targeted those enjoying life and sharing time with family and friends. We will never be cowed by such barbarism."
Spain has been on a security alert one step below the maximum since June 2015 following attacks elsewhere in Europe and Africa. Spanish police have also been involved in the arrests of more than 200 suspected jihadis since then.
Cars, trucks and vans have been the weapon of choice in multiple extremist attacks in Europe in the last year.
The most deadly was the driver of a tractor-trailer who targeted Bastille Day revelers in the southern French city of Nice in July 2016, killing 86 people. In December 2016, 12 people died after a driver used a hijacked trick to drive into a Christmas market in Berlin.
There have been multiple attacks this year in London, where a man in a rented SUV plowed into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing four people before he ran onto the grounds of Parliament and stabbed an unarmed police officer to death in March.
Four other men drove onto the sidewalk of London Bridge, unleashing a rampage with knives that killed eight people in June. Another man also drove into pedestrians leaving a London mosque later in June.
___
Hatton reported from Lisbon. Ciaran Giles in Madrid also contributed.
THIS ARTICLE IS SEVERAL DAYS OLD, BUT IT CONTAINS GOOD BASIC INFORMATION SO I HAVE KEPT IT.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40988081
Barcelona attack: Government says terror cell dismantled
August 19, 2017 5 hours ago
From the section Europe
Photograph -- Younes Abouyaaqoub, 22, has emerged as the main suspect in the Barcelona attack
The terror cell behind the attack in Barcelona that left 13 people dead has been dismantled, Spain's Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido says.
"The cell has been fully dismantled in Barcelona, after examining the people who died, the people who were arrested and carrying out identity checks," he told a news conference.
But the regional Catalan government said there could be further arrests.
A key suspect linked to the Barcelona attack and a later one is still sought.
Thursday's attack in the Catalan capital saw a van driven at high speed along Las Ramblas - the pedestrianised avenue popular with tourists and residents alike.
Spanish police are searching for Moroccan-born Younes Abouyaaqoub, 22, who they suspect may be the driver who escaped the scene on foot.
Only hours later, early on Friday, there was a second van attack in Cambrils, west of Barcelona.
Media captionWATCH: What is the mood in Barcelona?
A woman was killed and police shot dead five suspected attackers, including Moussa Oukabir, 17, originally reported as the key suspect in the Barcelona attack.
Oukabir is suspected of using his brother's documents to rent the van used in Barcelona and another found hours later in the town of Vic, north of Barcelona, that was intended as a getaway vehicle.
The terror cell is reported to comprise 12 men. The Catalan Interior Minster, Joaquim Forn, stressed that the police operation could not be considered over until all those suspected of being part of the cell were in custody.
Media captionCCTV footage shows the van speeding down Las Ramblas
Police say the suspects had been planning more sophisticated attacks, but an explosion on Wednesday at a house in the town of Alcanar deprived them of bomb material, so they carried out simpler attacks using vehicles.
Abouyaaqoub lived in the town of Ripoll to the north of Barcelona. Three people have been arrested in Ripoll, and one in Alcanar.
In Ripoll the apartment of an imam was raided on Saturday.
Another van, a Renault Kangoo, is also being sought, amid reports it may have been driven across the border into France.
What we know so far:
Barcelona tells world 'I'm not afraid'
Barcelona rejects hate after attacks
map
Security is being stepped up, though the security alert level is staying unchanged as there is no information suggesting an imminent attack.
American honeymooner killed in Barcelona
Spain attacks timeline
Spain's long anti-terror experience
Special police controls were introduced at Saturday's two La Liga football matches in Barcelona and Girona.
Who are the suspects?
So-called Islamic State (IS) said it had carried out the Las Ramblas attack, though it is not clear whether any of the attackers were directly connected to the group or simply inspired by it.
(L-R) Moussa Oukabir, Said Aallaa, Mohamed Hychami and Younes AbouyaaqoubImage copyrightAFP
Image caption
(L-R) Moussa Oukabir, Said Aallaa, Mohamed Hychami and Younes Abouyaaqoub
Killed: Five suspected jihadists shot dead by police in Cambrils - Moussa Oukabir, 17; Said Aallaa, 18; Mohamed Hychami, 24; two unnamed men
Arrested: Three in the town of Ripoll - Driss Oukabir, 28, the brother of Moussa, who turned himself in saying his documents had been stolen to rent vehicles used in the Las Ramblas attack; Sahal el-Karib, 34; Mohammed Aallaa, 27; one unnamed person in Alcanar, following the house explosion there on Wednesday
Hunted: Younes Abouyaaqoub, now suspected to be the driver in the Las Ramblas attack
What do we know about the victims?
Ian Moore Wilson and his wife ValerieImage copyrightVANCOUVER POLICE
Image caption
Ian Moore Wilson, pictured with his wife Valerie, is the latest named fatality from Las Ramblas
Five of the dead have been named so far:
American Jared Tucker, 43
Canadian Ian Moore Wilson
Spaniard Francisco López Rodríguez, in his 60s
Italian Bruno Gulotta, 35
Italian Luca Russo, 25
A 74-year-old Portuguese woman, a 40-year-old woman with dual Argentine and Spanish citizenship, and a Belgian were also killed, their governments said.
Media captionWhat was it like to be caught up in the Barcelona attack?
The whereabouts of seven-year-old Julian Cadman, a dual British-Australian national apparently separated from his injured mother during the attack, remains unclear. He was widely reported to be missing.
However, the Catalan police, responding to inquiries, tweeted that they had neither been looking for nor found any missing child. The victims and the injured had all been located, they said.
Catalan emergency services gave a new breakdown of the injured on Saturday:
Barcelona attack: 12 critical, 24 serious, 11 less serious, 3 minor
Cambrils attack: 1 serious, 2 less serious, 1 minor
More on the victims
The mood in Barcelona: Patrick Jackson, BBC News, Las Ramblas
The Mellouli family from Tunisia on holiday in Barcelona, 19 August 2017
Image caption
The Mellouli family from Tunisia on holiday in Barcelona
Pegged on strings between the lamp-posts and plane trees on the packed boulevard, more and more sheets of white paper flap in the breeze.
Imprinted with a red love heart, each contains a message left by a stroller, reflecting on the attack. Messages of love for Barcelona abound but there is anger too. "Now we need to take action," reads one. "I don't want to run any more. Let's not run away from them, let's run after them."
The Mellouli family's message, in French, says: "Sousse (Tunisia) supports Barcelona against terrorism". Sousse, the holiday resort where a gunman killed 38 people just over two years ago, now shares sorrow with Barcelona.
"We are very upset by what happened here," says the father, Slah, who is here on holiday with his family. "We are all against terrorism. Islam is against terrorism too. What happened here is not Islam. Nobody can be safe from terrorism now and we must unite against it."
Timeline of events
Map showing route of van which drove into crowds in Barcelona
Alcanar, Wednesday evening: An explosion rips through a house in the small town, 200km south of Barcelona. One person dies. Police chief Josep Lluis Trapero said it appeared the residents at the house had been "preparing an explosive device". A Catalan government official says a cell may have intended to use gas canisters in the Las Ramblas attack
Barcelona, Thursday 16:50 (14:50 GMT): A white Fiat van drives down Las Ramblas in central Barcelona, killing 13 people and injuring scores. The driver flees on foot
Vic, Thursday 18:30: Police find a second van, thought to be a getaway vehicle, in the town, 80km north of Barcelona
Sant Just Desvern, Thursday 19:30: A car is driven towards officers at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Barcelona. They open fire. A man is later found dead in the passenger seat of the car with stab wounds. The dead man is not linked to the Las Ramblas attack, officials say, but investigations are ongoing. One theory is that the car was stolen and the man was killed by the carjacker, who is still at large
Cambrils, Friday 01:00: A second vehicle attack takes place in the resort south of Barcelona. Police kill five terrorist suspects said to be linked to the Las Ramblas attack. They include Moussa Oukabir, 17, initially thought to be the Las Ramblas attacker. Police later say another man, Younes Abouyaaqoub, is being hunted.
SO, IS FOX COVERING FOR THE FAR-RIGHT CONNECTION AT CHARLOTTESVILLE BY DISHING UP STEW ON BARCELONA? RACHEL MADDOW HAS POINTED OUT THAT THOSE OUTRAGEOUS TRUMP TWEETS, "NEWS" ANNOUNCEMENTS, THREATS TO GO TO WAR, ETC. COME AT CONVENIENT TIMES TO DISTRACT PEOPLE FROM TRUMP'S RUSSIA PROBLEM OR THE WHITE HOUSE UPHEAVALS, ETC. BUT, WHY NOT COVER BOTH STORIES? I PERSONALLY HATE IT WHEN CABLE NETWORKS ABANDON ALL OTHER NEWS TO COVER A STORY -- NO MATTER HOW EXCITING -- NON-STOP FOR DAYS. I WILL MAKE AN EXCEPTION FOR THOSE REALLY SCARY OR SAD STORIES -- 9/11, THE DEATH OF AN IMPORTANT FIGURE IN THE WORLD, ETC.
AS FOR BARCELONA VS A USA STORY OF SIMILAR IMPORTANCE, I WANT MORE INFORMATION ON THE US STORY, AT LEAST UNTIL ALL THE FACTS ARE OUT. I DO THINK THAT STORIES ABOUT LEGISLATORS WHO SPEAK OUT ON THE CHARLOTTESVILLE ISSUES AND IN DEPTH COVERAGE ON THE RIGHTIST ADVANCE HERE IN THE USA, ARE MORE IMPORTANT TO US THAN IS BARCELONA.
REPUBLICANS AND FOX NEWS HAVE PERSISTENTLY FOCUSED ON INTERNATIONAL ISIS-RELATED TERRORISM, AND NOT ON OUR WHITE NATIONALISTS HERE IN THE US. THE REASONS FOR THAT ARE CLEAR.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/08/18/barcelona-is-the-big-story-on-fox-news-on-cnn-and-msnbc-its-still-charlottesville/
The Fix Analysis
Barcelona is the dominant story on Fox News. On CNN and MSNBC, it’s still Charlottesville.
By Callum Borchers August 18
When a van plowed into a crowd in Barcelona on Thursday, killing at least 14 and injuring scores of others, Fox News quickly pivoted to wall-to-wall coverage of the latest terrorist attack. Their shift was typical of how cable news channels have covered breaking news about similar events, such as last summer's vehicular rampage in Nice, France.
But CNN and MSNBC continued to focus primarily on Charlottesville-related headlines, while also bringing viewers the latest news from Spain.
The pattern extended into Friday morning. CNN's “New Day” led off with Barcelona news and did so at the top of each hour, but it devoted most of its discussion time to topics such as ongoing criticism of President Trump's response to last weekend's violence in Virginia and his defense of confederate statues. MSNBC's “Morning Joe” unfolded in much the same way.
Virtually all of “Fox & Friends,” however, centered on Barcelona and the broader threat of Islamic extremism. When the show did turn to domestic affairs, it was to highlight the elevated security level in Times Square on Friday.
The networks' contrasting coverage priorities show, once again, how easy it is for voters to insulate themselves in bubbles that validate their worldviews. If you think Trump's handling of Charlottesville was just fine and believe the media should drop it, watch Fox News. If you think the president emboldened white supremacists and believe he deserves every degree of heat he is taking, tune to CNN or MSNBC.
Also: If you think Fox News does everything it can to shield Trump, then its undivided attention on Barcelona will reinforce that perception. And if you think the other networks are obsessed with bashing the president, then their less-extensive coverage of Barcelona will serve as evidence.
In a bit of a twist, the New York Times on Thursday obtained a Charlottesville-themed email sent earlier in the day by James Murdoch, chief executive of 21st Century Fox, Fox News's parent company. Here's an excerpt:
It has not been my habit to widely offer running commentary on current affairs, nor to presume to weigh in on the events of a given day save those that might be of particular or specific concern to 21CF and my colleagues. But what we watched this last week in Charlottesville and the reaction to it by the President of the United States concern all of us as Americans and free people. …
I can’t even believe I have to write this: standing up to Nazis is essential; there are no good Nazis. Or Klansmen, or terrorists. Democrats, Republicans, and others must all agree on this, and it compromises nothing for them to do so.
Murdoch added that he and his wife, Kathryn, will donate $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League.
On the day that Murdoch decided to speak out against Trump, his network decided to move on.
Which approach makes more sense? Ratings aren't everything, but consider this: MSNBC beat Fox News in total-day viewership on Wednesday and was the most-watched cable news network for the first time ever. We'll have to wait to see the numbers for Thursday and Friday, but it appears that there is a demand for tough Charlottesville coverage that Fox News is not meeting.
Or, viewed another way, MSNBC is making a strategic play for eyeballs by filling its air with Trump critiques.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/08/19/bannon-basically-trumps-campaign-was-a-fraud/?tid=pm_politics_pop
The Fix Analysis
Bannon, basically: Trump’s campaign was a fraud
By Callum Borchers August 19 at 8:00 AM
Stephen K. Bannon says he will be “covering” for President Trump on the outside, but the former White House chief strategist made a breathtakingly candid admission in the hours after his exit on Friday.
“The Trump presidency that we fought for, and won, is over,” Bannon told the Weekly Standard. “We still have a huge movement, and we will make something of this Trump presidency. But that presidency is over. It’ll be something else. And there’ll be all kinds of fights, and there’ll be good days and bad days, but that presidency is over.”
What, exactly, did Bannon mean? Well, he got specific:
“I just think his ability to get anything done — particularly the bigger things, like the wall, the bigger, broader things that we fought for, it’s just going to be that much harder,” Bannon said of Trump.
And what will be the effect of the remaining White House advisers on Trump?
“I think they’re going to try to moderate him,” Bannon said. “I think he’ll sign a clean debt ceiling; I think you’ll see all this stuff. His natural tendency — and I think you saw it this week on Charlottesville — his actual default position is the position of his base, the position that got him elected. I think you’re going to see a lot of constraints on that. I think it’ll be much more conventional.”
Former White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post)
The line about Trump's “natural tendency” is exactly what Bannon meant about covering for the president. When Trump fails to deliver something he promised, as a candidate, Bannon will assure the faithful that their president's heart was in the right place but that the swamp got in his way.
But the bigger takeaway here is that Bannon believes Trump will fail. The wall? Probably not going to happen. Sweeping tax cuts? Bannon predicted “they’ll do a very standard Republican version of taxes.” Repealing Obamacare? Please. Bannon called the GOP plan that Trump backed “a half-hearted attempt at Obamacare reform.”
That's right — “reform.” Bannon wouldn't even call it a repeal effort.
The short translation is that Trump's campaign was a fraud. The ideas that Trump sold and his supporters bought are unlikely to turn into actions, according to Bannon.
It sounds like Bannon, who will return to Breitbart News, will pin the blame on everyone around the president, rather than the man himself. The question is whether the voters who put Trump in the Oval Office will be so charitable.
THIS IS A REALLY IMPORTANT, NOT MERELY PLEASANTLY TART, MADDOW VIDEO. IT POSES QUESTIONS THAT WOULD HELP CLEAR UP THE TRUMP QUESTIONS. WHERE DID HE HEAR OF HIS CABINET MEMBERS? ANOTHER RUSSIAN OR UNETHICAL MONETARY CONNECTION?
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 8/18/17
Bannon uniquely odd among Trump's many weird staff choices
Rachel Maddow reviews some of Donald Trump's weird staff picks, many of whom, it turns out, are united by a connection to Russia, but Steve Bannon, though also a weird choice, has a different explanation for how he got there. Duration: 18:45
“FOR SO MANY OF US, WE ARE NOW LIVING IN A NIGHTMARE.” THIS STATEMENT FROM NINA TURNER OF BERNIE SANDERS’ OUR REVOLUTION SAYS EXACTLY WHAT I FELT ON ELECTION NIGHT, 2016. WE’LL MAKE IT THROUGH, BECAUSE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, THE CONSTITUTION, THE BILL OF RIGHTS, THE SPLC, THE LEGISLATURES BOTH NATIONALLY AND BY STATE, AND THE INNER SOUL OF EVERY PERSON WHO HAS BEEN BROUGHT UP PROPERLY – ALL OF THESE THINGS ARE STRONG AND RESILIENT. GOD BLESS AMERICA!
https://mg.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=ccqud6rgfgqm0#605596639
The "Alt-Left"
Nina Turner, Our Revolution
Lucy Warner
Our Revolution
Lucy,
We have a president who insists on siding with white supremacists. He will not denounce those with hate in their heart who murdered a young woman for supporting equality. For so many of us, we are now living in a nightmare. It is unconscionable to compare those who fight for equality with those who believe that the color of one's skin determines superiority.
As I said recently, my heart is skipping beats to think about all that my fore-parents endured to get to this point in time in America’s history. And to have, in the 21st century, the president of the United States not boldly stand up and denounce racial violence is atrocious. Not only does he refuse to condemn the actions of people who would protest the funeral of someone they murdered, but he also dares to try and equivocate the actions of liberal protesters, the so called “alt-left,” with those of Nazis and white supremacists. It is a disgusting false equivalency.
There is no such thing as the “alt-left.” Those who believe Medicare should be available to all Americans are not the same as Nazis. Those who believe that we must fix a broken criminal justice system that is unfair to black, brown and poor are not the same as Nazis. Those who think we should remove statues that were erected as a reminder of white supremacy are not the same as Nazis.
What happens next is crucial for the future of our country. We must stand united for a better life for all, regardless of color, gender, sexual orientation, religion or class. It has never been more clear what the differences between the two sides are. There is the side of justice and the side of injustice. It is obvious what side Trump is on. There are more of us standing on the side of justice and together we will overcome the forces seeking to regress our nation. Our stories are our strength share yours with us. What motivates you to fight for social justice?
In solidarity,
Nina Turner
President
Our Revolution
VEEERY INTERESTING! AT LEAST IT IS, IF YOU CARE ABOUT LIFE FORMS AND DEEP TIME. I REALLY LOVE THIS NEW SCIENTIST TRIAL SUBSCRIPTION. I SUSPECT, THOUGH, THAT WHEN THEY ASK ME FOR $15.00 OR MORE I WON’T PAY IT UNLESS IT COMES AT THE FIRST OF THE MONTH WHEN I HAVE SOME FREE CASH.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23531391-100-the-porker-paradox-a-very-human-dilemma/?utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=ILC&utm_campaign=webpush&cmpid=ILC%257CNSNS%257C2016-GLOBAL-webpush-pigpork
Our complex relationship with pigs started more than 11,000 years ago
Vincent J. Musi/National Geographic Creative
By John Bradshaw
Magazine issue 3139, published 19 August 2017
John Bradshaw is the author of The Animals Among Us: The new science of anthrozoology (Penguin Press)
This article appeared in print under the headline “A porker of a paradox”
After 11,000 years, we still can't decide whether to eat pigs or cuddle up with them. Can the book Pig/Pork help us?
Photograph -- Our complex relationship with pigs started more than 11,000 years ago
Vincent J. Musi/National Geographic Creative
PIGS might once have rivalled dogs for the title of humanity’s best friend. While one in three of the hunter-gatherer societies that survived into the 20th century kept dogs, an impressive one in 10 kept pigs as pets. The women of the Maring people in New Guinea treated their piglets like their own babies. The Hokkien of Taiwan fed their pigs on papaya and plums – though these “pets” were destined to be sacrificed to the gods.
Like dogs, pigs were sometimes buried with their owners, showing more than a culinary relationship. Although pet pigs are fashionable in the West, we are less devoted to them than our forebears were, to judge by the 300,000 abandoned annually by owners in the US.
There have been hundreds of books about dog history, but few about the domestic pig, so Pía Spry-Marqués’s Pig/Pork – 9781472911391 -- fills a key gap. As an archaeologist, she anchors her account in the pig’s journey from wild boar to tame porker, including recent upsets in the conventional account generated by analyses of DNA.
After those upsets, the new consensus is that, like dogs, wild pigs domesticated themselves around 11,000 years ago by scavenging around human settlements in what is now Turkey. However, domestication was a slow, haphazard process. For the first few thousand years, the domestic strains kept one trotter firmly in the wild, interbreeding with wild counterparts before settling into the forms (and breeds) that we know today.
There’s also an intriguing link between the domestication of pigs and cats. Both turn up unfeasibly early in Cyprus, too far from Turkey for either to have swum there. The implication is that both must have been carried there in ships. An unusually small type of wild boar – hence probably on the way to domestication – appears in the archaeological record around 11,500 years ago. This may have been a feral population, beginning with a few pigs that escaped from one of the earliest settlements on the island.
Similarly, the story of the domestication of the cat, once thought to have begun in Egypt some 6000 years ago, was thrown into disarray by the discovery of a cat buried in Cyprus in the same grave as its owner 3000 years earlier. As with the pig, DNA placed the initial domestication of the cat (on the adjacent mainland) closer to 10,000 years ago.
“Are pigs intelligent, resourceful animals that deserve respect, or bacon and chorizo machines?”
The book’s title reflects our contradictory feelings about the domestic pig. Are they intelligent, resourceful animals that deserve respect, or bacon and chorizo machines? There is even a handful of recipes for dishes based on pork products at the end of each chapter, although the final one is surprisingly lacking in meat.
The book also contains much history and some sociology. A chapter is devoted to religious prohibitions on eating pork, adherence to which has undoubtedly protected believers against the parasites that can be caught from eating the meat raw or underdone. However, Spry-Marqués is sceptical that the bans were based on any awareness of this connection.
Pork is by no means the whole story: pig byproducts turn up in unlikely places, including biodiesel, make-up, antifreeze, bone china, glue, even the brake shoes on German trains. Today, we must also take account of the impact pigs and their excrement have on global warming. But as born recyclers, it’s an impact that pigs could offset by making short shrift of the West’s mountains of wasted food.
As an ethologist, I was slightly disappointed to find little about the way pigs think, feel and perceive the world when there is so much recent research.
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