FEBRUARY 24 AND 25, 2019

NEWS AND VIEWS

HALF A DOZEN PEOPLE HAVE CRITICIZED BERNIE OVER THIS. HE DID NOT SAY, HOWEVER, THAT HE WANTS MADURO TO REMAIN IN OFFICE; BUT THAT WE DON’T NEED TO BE UP TO OUR NECKS IN ANOTHER WAR. GUAIDO NEEDS TO WIN ON HIS OWN. FOR US IT WOULD BE ANOTHER "QUAGMIRE." SANDERS JUST HAS GOOD COMMON SENSE. HE KNOWS THAT LIFE IS BETTER IN PEACE TIMES.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/22/trump-pushes-overthrow-venezuela-sanders-warns-against-repeating-historys-mistake
Bernie Sanders
As Trump Pushes for Overthrow in Venezuela, Sanders Warns Against Repeating History's Mistake
Published on
Friday, February 22, 2019
byCommon Dreams
byJon Queally, staff writer

PHOTOGRAPH -- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speaks at a campaign rally in October of 2015. (Photo: Getty Images)

Progressive voices opposed to war, meddling in the complex political conflicts of foreign nations, and concerned about the very likely negative results of yet another U.S. foreign intervention are siding with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) after he drew fire from pro-interventionist forces within the Democratic Party for his stance against regime change in Venezuela.

In an interview with Univision on Thursday, Sanders said that while he doesn't believe it is his place to say whether or not opposition leader Juan Guaido—who last month, in coordination with the Trump administration, declared himself the "interim president"—should be considered be [sic] the legitimate leader of Venezuela, he does back pro-democracy efforts in the country even while opposing anything that resembles a U.S.-backed overthrow of President Nicolas Maduro.

"I think the United States has got to work with the international community to make sure that there is a free and fair election in Venezuela," Sanders said. However, he added, the U.S. "must not use military force and intervene again as it has done in the past in Latin America… whether it was Chile or Brazil or the Dominican Republic or Guatemala. The United States has a very bad record of intervening in Latin American countries and that must not happen again. The future of Venezuela must be left to the Venezuelan people."

Watch the full interview:

VIDEO – BERNIE SANDERS UNIVISION INTERVIEW WITH JORGE RAMOS

Sanders' remarks come as political pressure continues to build inside Venezuela, with opposition forces led by Guaido joining forces with the Trump administration to orchestrate a conflict at the Colombia border this weekend with a showdown over supplies and foreign aid.

Robbie Martin
@FluorescentGrey
we're now at a ~72 hour countdown to a potential violent provocation in Venezuela by the opposition spurred on by John Bolton, Elliott Abrams, Mike Pompeo, Donald Trump, Mike Pence and Marco Rubio. this is not a false alarm, this is really fucking serioushttps://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/21/venezuela-crisis-maduro-and-guaido-set-for-humanitarian-aid-showdown.html …

432
8:13 PM - Feb 21, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy

'Everyone is afraid': Venezuela's opposition prepares for aid showdown against Maduro's armed forces
Venezuela's opposition lawmakers are forging ahead with plans to confront a government blockade that has kept tens of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid, mostly supplied by the U.S., from...

cnbc.com

While the editorial pages of newspapers like the Washington Post continue to treat what's happening near the border as a legitimate effort to bring humanitarian aid to struggling Venezuelans, critics say there is no reason whatsoever to treat members of Trump's foreign policy team—including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, national security advisor John Bolton, and the State Department's special representative to Venezuela Elliott Abrams—as having anything but ulterior and nefarious motives. As journalist and media critic Adam Johnson wrote for TruthDig on Friday:

No one actually thinks the same Donald Trump who kicked off his run for the White House by calling Mexicans rapists, and subsequently, as president, left Puerto Rico for dead after Hurricane Maria, cares at all about the Venezuelan poor. No one actually thinks the murderers row of Cold Warriors—led by two of the most extreme right-wingers in American politics, Venezuela envoy Elliott Abrams and national security adviser John Bolton—cares at all about the starving people in Venezuela or their plight. No one reading this, be they right, left, center, libertarian, or communist, actually buys the prevailing narrative that the U.S. is sending "aid" to Venezuela as a humanitarian gesture.

So why is everyone pretending otherwise?

In a recent video at The Intercept produced for his "Intercepted" podcast, journalist Jeremy Scahill and his guests laid out some of the key background on the current situation in Venezuela alongside historical context:

VIDEO – THE INTERCEPT: YANKEE PLOT ...

According to Scahill, the Trump administration has been "openly plotting to bring down the government of Nicolas Maduro in Caracas. It is being openly promoted as a campaign to steal Venezuelan oil for the benefit of U.S. corporations, and some powerful Democrats are cheering Trump on and joining the conspiracy."

But as the crisis contines to snowball, human rights lawyer Alfred de Zayas, former U.N. Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order, has been among those criticizing the Trump admininstration, lawmakers from both parties, and members of the corporate media in the U.S. for their ongoing push for regime change in Venezuela:


Alfred de Zayas
@Alfreddezayas
History repeats itself: Media hysteria prepares naked aggression in #Iraq, #Libya, #Syria -- and now in #Venezuela. #HandsOffVenezuela #HandsOffVenezuelaTrump

46
9:55 AM - Feb 22, 2019

Meanwhile, in response to Sanders standing firmly against a new regime change effort by the U.S. government—this time in Venezuela—Rep. Donna Shalala (D-Fla.) told Politico that because of such a position, "He is not going to be the nominee of the Democratic Party." While Shalala represents a district where many Venezuelan-Americans and Venezuelan ex-patriots opposed to Maduro live, she charged that Sanders "has demonstrated again that he does not understand this situation" and said, "I absolutely disagree with his imprecision in not saying Maduro must go."

As Sophie Weiner put it in her Friday morning headline for Splinter News: "Bernie Sanders Isn't Pro-Coup Enough for Florida Democrats." According to Weiner:

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is a dangerous dictator who needs to be ousted from power immediately! All good and honest politicians in America, left or right, should completely support any and all intervention in this matter, and should recognize the opposition party leader, Juan Guaidó, as the rightful ruler of the country!

This is the U.S. foreign policy blob's line. And god help you if you even stray from it even a little bit, as 2020 Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders has.

In his response to comments by Shalala and others, Sanders' deputy chief of staff Ari Rabin-Havt said that such arguments for intervention—without taking into account the consequences—represent "the long and horrific history of American politicians imposing their will on the people of Latin America." His boss, Robin-Havt reiterated, "stands with the Venezuelan people to demand free and fair elections and for self-determination for all people around the world."

Ben Rhodes, meanwhile, who served as deputy national security advisor under former President Barack Obama and no dove when it comes to U.S. foreign policy, appeared to agree with those calling Shalala's remarks a "bit of an overreaction" and warned that it remains very possible to be critical of the Maduro government—as Sanders has been—while still warning against another U.S.-backed overthrow of a foreign government.

"It is possible to think that a) Venezuelans would be much better off without Maduro, and b) Trump's policy (and bluster) is creating the impression of U.S.-imposed regime change which raises lots of risks, including military intervention," Rhodes said in a four-part thread on Twitter on Friday morning.

"It doesn't help that Trump is obviously disingenuous," Rhodes continued. "He embraces dictators around the world while talking up democracy in Venezuela and Cuba. And he unsubtly—in his SOTU and in Miami—views Venezuela as a domestic political issue tied to his 2020 reelection campaign."

He concluded by saying that "the political-media consensus that Dems should have no daylight with Trump on Venezuela adds to a tradition: it is seen as politically damaging to oppose U.S.-imposed or supported regime change, despite the results of those efforts (which often get worse after regime change). This mindset leads to repeated mistakes and the removal of any nuance from hugely impactful policy debates."

While others made clear their skepticism of Rhodes as a reliable voice of anti-interventionist wisdom, journalist Glenn Greenwald gave credit to the comments even as he noted their "(pleasantly) surprising source":


Glenn Greenwald
✔
@ggreenwald
An important and oft-overlooked point, coming from a (pleasantly) surprising source:

Ben Rhodes
✔
@brhodes
Replying to @brhodes
3/4 The political-media consensus that Dems should have no daylight with Trump on Venezuela adds to a tradition: it is seen as politically damaging to oppose U.S.-imposed or supported regime change, despite the results of those efforts (which often get worse after regime change)

189
10:11 AM - Feb 22, 2019

According to Greenwald, Shalala's objections to Sanders' position of non-intervention—especially given the people with whom she is aligning—create a troubling indictment of her foreign policy thinking, not his:

Glenn Greenwald
‏
Verified account

@ggreenwald
Follow Follow @ggreenwald
More Glenn Greenwald Retweeted Rep. Donna E. Shalala
Donna Shalala unites behind Trump, John Bolton, Elliot Abrams & Jair Bolsonaro in cheering their regime change plot in Venezuela, & somehow thinks that reflects badly on ... Bernie Sanders, rather than herself:Glenn Greenwald added,
Rep. Donna E. Shalala
Verified account

@RepShalala
I’ll make it clear, @SenSanders does not reflect the majority of the Democratic Party and our support for Venezuela’s interim president @jguaido and the Venezuelan people. Maduro is a dictator and must go. https://www.google.com/amp/s/slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/02/bernie-sanders-maduro-castro-latin-america-socialism.amp … #VenezuelaLibre
3:16 PM - 21 Feb 2019

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License


MR. BANNON, IT WASN'T "WITHIN A WEEK." IT WAS TWO DAYS. I WONDER WHAT OTHER SLY LITTLE COMMENTS YOU WILL BE SLIPPING INTO THIS ARTICLE, WHOSE WHOLE PURPOSE MAY POSSIBLY BE TO DAMAGE SANDERS BY THROWING IN SEEDS OF DISTRUST AND WORRY TO STAIN HIM AS BEING INCOMPETENT. CAN HE HOLD ON TO HIS SUPPORTERS? I BELIEVE HE CAN, YES; AT LEAST I CAN SPEAK FOR MYSELF ON THAT. NEVER UNDERESTIMATE BERNIE SANDERS. HE'S ONE OF A KIND, AND WHETHER HE WIN'S THE CANDIDACY OR NOT, HE IS HONEST AND INTELLIGENT -- A GOOD MAN. BESIDES, THIS PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT IS MORE THAN ONE OR TWO ELECTIONS OR CANDIDATES. IT'S AN "IDEA," NOT A GAME PLAN, I BELIEVE IT'S HERE TO STAY. OF COURSE, YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE. YOU'RE A POLITICAL PUNDIT. WELL, PUND AWAY! IT'S YOUR JOB.

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/431297-bernie-is-back-with-a-bang-but-can-he-hold-on-to-his-supporters
Bernie is back with a bang — but can he hold on to his supporters?
BY BRAD BANNON, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 02/24/19 08:00 AM EST 535 THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL

Bernie is back with a bang!

Earlier this week, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) officially announced his candidacy for president. Within a week, he raised a boatload of money and his supporters completely dominated the world of social media. Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden (who has not announced a 2020 presidential bid) are the front runners in the race. But front runners are not favorites in the volatile universe of fickle Democratic primary voters.

Start your engines

Most political observers gave Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) good grades for her announcement a few weeks ago. She raised $1.5 million within the first day of her candidacy and she set a ratings record for CNN when she appeared the cable network's Town Hall Summit.

Then Sanders blew her out of the water. The first day fundraising for Sanders dwarfed her take and my guess is the Vermont senator's appearance on the CNN Summit tomorrow will be an even bigger ratings bonanza than the previous record.

Sanders will have money to burn for his second presidential run. He raised $5.9 million in the first 24 hours after he officially launched his presidential candidacy on Vermont Public Radio. The haul came from approximately 225,000 people averaging about $27 a contribution.

This big base of small donors is priceless in a long presidential marathon for two reasons. First, these hardcore supporters are hard bodies for grassroots organizing efforts. The Sanders campaign can also go back time and time again to solicit these supporters whenever there's a need to make an expensive media buy.

On top of this early haul of grassroots dough, Sanders already had $9 million dollars in the bank left over from his 2018 U.S. Senate race. This kind of early money will be especially important in this campaign since the delegate selection schedule is so front loaded.

Californians will begin to vote absentee on Feb. 3, 2020, the same day as the Iowa Caucuses. It's one thing to buy Des Moines TV before the caucuses but it will cost a fortune for a campaign to buy Los Angeles TV before voters return their mail ballots in the Golden State. Sanders will have the money to do it and deluge the media markets in Texas only a month later.

Is twice the charm?

Sanders didn't even think he had a chance to win when he entered the 2016 race but he came within a whisker of taking the Democratic nod away from the prohibitive favorite, Hillary Clinton. Early polls suggest he starts this race ahead of all the potential candidates except Biden. But there are also signs that the thrill is gone as many of his 2016 supporters are looking for new blood and moving onto greener pastures.

The best way indication of the slippage in his support is his position in Iowa. Sanders finished in a virtual 50-50 tie among Iowa caucuses goers with Hillary Clinton in 2016. But a survey of Iowa Democrats in December by the Des Moines Register indicated that many Bernie supporters had bailed on him. Only a fifth (19 percent) of the Democrats who planned to caucus in 2020 said they would support the senator from Vermont.

What happened to all those Bernie supporters?

Back in the day, Sanders was the only game in town if you didn't like the establishment candidate, Clinton. That was then. This is now. If Democrats want to vote against the establishment candidate Biden, they have a dozen choices aside from Sanders to choose from. Two of those choices, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) and progressive activist Marianne Williamson were big-time Sanders supporters in 2016 but are now running against him.

Then there's the threat to Sanders that comes from the other prominent progressive populist in the race, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Warren will battle Sanders in New Hampshire, which holds the first in the nation presidential primary. The outcome of this neighborhood bar brawl in New England could seriously damage one of their candidacies.

There’s not a dime’s worth of difference in the stands between the positions of the two populist Democratic senators. Warren is a fierce advocate of everything Sanders and his followers stand for. She aggressively supports his Medicare for All plan, his comprehensive job program and his stand to negate the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.

There's something unique about Sanders that could carry him through tough times. He is the ultimate political outsider but he's been in office without interruption for the last 38 years and in Congress for the last 28. That's a long time to be in politics without selling out your principles and Americans are more than ready to stand on principle after two years of President Trump in the White House.


Brad Bannon is a Democratic pollster and CEO of Bannon Communications Research. He is also a senior adviser to, and editor of, the blog at




HERE IS MORE ON THE NC VOTE FALSIFICATION CASE THAT WAS PERFORMED BY A REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE AND SOME OTHERS WHO OBEYED HIS ORDERS. HE HAS FINALLY CALLED FOR A NEW ELECTION. THAT’S GOOD, BUT SHOULD HE STILL BE A CANDIDATE AFTER SUCH BLATANT CHEATING? IS THERE NOT A LAW AGAINST THAT?

https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/431115-north-carolina-reporter-says-harris-was-struck-by-sons-testimony-in-ballot
North Carolina reporter says Harris was 'struck' by son's testimony in ballot tampering case
2/22/2019
— Julia Manchester

VIDEO --

North Carolina reporter Joe Bruno told Hill.TV on Friday that he believed Republican Mark Harris had decided to call for a new election in his disputed House race after listening to his own son's testimony in a state hearing into alleged ballot-tampering fraud.

Harris's son had testified that he had warned his father that a political operative hired by his campaign could be engaged in unlawful work.

"I think the key moment that really struck Mr. Harris is when his son John essentially testified against him," Bruno, a reporter at WSOC-TV, told hosts Jamal Simmons and Buck Sexton on "Rising."

"They pulled up the emails that showed that John [Harris] was warning his father that [Leslie] McCrae Dowless could be operating in this illegal scheme," he continued.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections voted unanimously Thursday to call a new election in the state’s 9th Congressional District after holding an evidentiary hearing this week to look into allegations of ballot fraud in the November race.

The allegations centered on McCrae Dowless, a political operative hired by Harris’s campaign who has been accused of paying workers to illegally collect absentee ballots from voters in rural Bladen County.

Initial results from the election showed Harris leading his Democratic opponent, Dan McCready, by 905 votes.

However, the state's board of elections had refused to certify the results, leaving the race's outcome unresolved for months.

Witnesses and election officials have come before North Carolina's State Board of Elections over the past four days to describe Dowless's operation.

Bruno said Harris had likely found the evidence of potential fraud convincing.

"I think Mark Harris got to that point because he sat in that room, he listened to all of the testimony for three days, including from one woman who said she went around and collected absentee ballots, went as far as to change and trace over the ink on certain ballot envelopes, and make sure that the witness signatures had the same ink on them," Bruno said.

"There's been allegations that some votes were filled in for people when they left certain races blank, allegations that the early vote results were leaked ahead of time," he added.

— Julia Manchester



MSNBC MADDOW

CAN TRUMP PARDON MANAFORT’S STATE CRIMES?

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/state-charges-considered-against-manafort-would-be-pardon-proof-1447162947524
State charges considered against Manafort; would be pardon-proof
Barbara McQuade, former U.S. attorney, talks with Rachel Maddow about the legal ins-and-outs of charging Paul Manafort for state crimes when he is already charged with federal crimes. Convictions at the state level would not be subject to pardons by Donald Trump.
Feb. 23, 2019


ALEX ACOSTA SUED OVER EPSTEIN CASE AS HE SERVES AS SEC OF (LABOR?) UNDER TRUMP. MADDOW. DECISION DUE IN 14 DAYS.

Acosta deal for Epstein treated victims as 'throw-away girls'
Julie K. Brown, investigative reporter for the Miami Herald, talks with Rachel Maddow about why Alex Acosta, former prosecutor and now Trump Labor Secretary, made such an easy deal with Jeffrey Epstein and kept it secret from Epstein's victims.
Feb. 22, 2019



ELIZABETH I, UNMASKED

https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p06npby0/is-this-the-real-face-of-elizabeth-i-?ocid=gnl.display.house-banner.bbc-gnl..BBCReel



THE GREEN MAN OF BRITISH POETRY, MYTHOLOGY AND ART (SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT, FOR INSTANCE)

https://www.bbc.com/reel/playlist/hidden-histories?vpid=p06tqjz4
The surprising roots of the Green Man
11 JANUARY 2019|HISTORY
Alastair Sooke discovers the origins of the eerie, foliage-covered faces found in churches throughout Britain.
BBC Culture



https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/20/touche-crazy-bernie-calls-trump-racist-sexist-xenophobe-and-fraud
Published on
Wednesday, February 20, 2019
byCommon Dreams
Touché. 'Crazy Bernie' Calls Trump 'A Racist, a Sexist, a Xenophobe and a Fraud'

The Sanders campaign responded to the insult by saying the only thing "crazy" in this historical moment is that a person like Trump remains the president
byCommon Dreams staff

PHOTOGRAPH -- The Sanders campaign responded to President Donald Trump's tweet on Wednesday morning by saying the only thing "crazy" in this historical moment is "that we have a president who is a racist, a sexist, a xenophobe and a fraud. We are going to bring people together and not only defeat Trump but transform the economic and political life of this country." (Photo: Gage Skidmore/flickr/cc)

A day after Bernie Sanders officially announced his 2020 presidential bid, he offered President Donald Trump a taste of how he might handle the insulter-in-chief on Wednesday morning after the president referred to the senator as "Crazy Bernie"—not the first time he's used the pejorative nickname.

"Crazy Bernie has just entered the race," Trump tweeted. "I wish him well!"

In response, the Sanders campaign responded by saying the only thing "crazy" in this historical moment is "that we have a president who is a racist, a sexist, a xenophobe and a fraud. We are going to bring people together and not only defeat Trump but transform the economic and political life of this country."

Touché.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License



REMEMBER THE SLENDER MAN AND THE NUMEROUS CASES OF HIGH SCHOOLERS AND EARLIER CASES OF BULLYING ON THE INTERNET CHAT SITES? THE INTERNET HAS NOT BEEN AND ISN’T NOW A SAFE PLACE FOR KIDS. I WOULD RECOMMEND DEALING WITH IT BY TALKING HONESTLY, FREQUENTLY AND IN DEPTH WITH YOUNG PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY IN THAT YOUNG TEEN BRACKET WHEN THEY ARE PARTICULARLY EMOTIONAL, UNDERCONFIDENT AND LESS ABLE TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN TRUTH AND LIES.

I WOULD RECOMMEND THAT FOR ADULTS, TOO, WHO ARE NOT NECESSARILY EMOTIONALLY STABLE OR MENTALLY FULLY SANE. I WOULD LIKE FOR MY INTERNET TO BE BLOCKED TO PORN SITES BECAUSE THEY ARE DISGUSTING. SUICIDAL THOUGHTS ARE ALL TOO COMMON EVEN WITHOUT A HOW-TO SITE, AND PARENTS AREN’T USUALLY AWARE OF DEPRESSION IN A KID, WHICH CAUSES PEOPLE TO BE SUSCEPTIBLE TO CARRYING IT OUT. THEY ARE MORE LIKELY TO PUNISH THE CHILD/TEEN FOR THEIR “TALKING BACK” AND OTHER “MISBEHAVIOR,” THAN TO TRY AND FIGURE OUT WHERE THE ANGER IS COMING FROM AND WHY.

IT’S IMPORTANT THAT PARENTS TALK TO THEIR KIDS AND EVEN MORE IMPORTANT THAT THEY LISTEN TO THEM. MOST PARENTS ARE SURPRISED WHEN A SUICIDE ATTEMPT OCCURS. I THINK PARENTS NEED TO BLOCK SITES ON THEIR KIDS’ COMPUTER, OR BETTER STILL, NOT ALLOW THEM TO HAVE A COMPUTER IN THEIR ROOM OR INTERNET ON THEIR SMART PHONE.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/youtube-kids-inappropriate-horrified-mom-discovers-suicide-instructions-in-video-on-youtube-and-youtube-kids/
Horrified mom discovers suicide instructions in video on YouTube and YouTube Kids
BY SOPHIE LEWIS
FEBRUARY 23, 2019 / 2:53 PM / CBS NEWS

Warning: This article features disturbing content and mentions of suicide.


Video promoting self-harm tips -- spliced between clips of a popular video game — has surfaced at least twice on YouTube and YouTube Kids since July, according to a pediatrician and mom who discovered the video.

The suicide instructions are sandwiched between clips from the popular Nintendo game Splatoon and delivered by a man speaking in front of what appears to be a green screen — an apparent effort to have him blend in with the rest of the animated video.

"Remember kids, sideways for attention, longways for results," the man says, miming cutting motions on his forearm. "End it."

The man featured is YouTuber Filthy Frank, who has over 6.2 million subscribers and calls himself "the embodiment of everything a person should not be," although there is no evidence that Frank, whose real name is George Miller, was involved in creating the doctored video. He did not immediately respond to CBS News' request for comment.

When Free Hess found the video on YouTube last week, she posted it on her blog -- warning other parents to take control over what their kids may be watching.

"Looking at the comments, it had been up for a while, and people had even reported it eight months prior," Hess told CBS News on Friday.

Shortly after she published her blog post, YouTube took the video down, saying it violated the site's community guidelines, according to Hess.

Hess said she spotted another version of the same video on YouTube Kids in July last year. She said she and many other parents from Facebook groups came together to report it, and the video was eventually taken down after one parent directly contacted an employee at Google. Google has not responded to CBS News' inquiry about the steps that led to the video's removal.

Hess said after seeing higher rates of suicide in children in her own emergency room over the last few years, she made it her mission to bring awareness to disturbing and violent content being consumed by children on social media. She said she's reported hundreds of unsettling videos to YouTube, with some success. On Friday, she found and reported seven more disturbing videos on YouTube Kids, and said they were just the tip of the iceberg.

"I had to stop, but I could have kept going," Hess said. "Once you start looking into it, things get darker and weirder. I don't understand how it's not getting caught."

YouTube Kids is meant to be a kid-friendly version of YouTube site for children who are 8 years old and under, but trolls have founds ways around YouTube's algorithm and are posting potentially harmful videos.

"They're awful. Absolutely awful," Hess said about some of the content on the YouTube Kids app.

She said she logs onto the app posing as a child, rather than an adult, so that she can see exactly what kids around the world are seeing. The videos Hess has found contain mentions or visuals of self-harm, suicide, sexual exploitation, trafficking, domestic violence, sexual abuse and gun violence, including a simulated school shooting. She said many of the kids she treats in the ER list videos on YouTube as a method used to learn destructive behaviors and self-harm techniques.

A YouTube spokesperson told CBS News on Friday the site works hard "to ensure YouTube is not used to encourage dangerous behavior." The spokesperson also said YouTube has "strict policies" that prohibit videos that promote self-harm.

"We rely on both user flagging and smart detection technology to flag this content for our reviewers," the spokesperson said. "Every quarter we remove millions of videos and channels that violate our policies and we remove the majority of these videos before they have any views. We are always working to improve our systems and to remove violative content more quickly, which is why we report our progress in a quarterly report and give users a dashboard showing the status of videos they've flagged to us."

However, YouTube kids has a history of letting disturbing and violent videos slipping past its algorithms. In 2017, searching the word "gun" on the app surfaced a video on how to build a coil gun, Mashable reported. Other videos at the time featured Mickey Mouse in a pool of blood and Spider-Man urinating on Elsa, the princess from "Frozen," prompting backlash.

"The YouTube Kids team is made up of parents who care deeply about this, so it's extremely important for us to get this right, and we act quickly when videos are brought to our attention," a YouTube spokeswoman told CNET at the time. "We agree this content is unacceptable and are committed to making the app better every day."

Since the backlash in 2017, YouTube has outlined steps it is taking to improve safety on its Kids app. In November 2017, the company outlined a new set of guidelines, including "faster enforcement" of community guidelines and "blocking inappropriate comments." In April last year, YouTube announced three new parental control features to give parents the ability to curate what their child is seeing on the app. There are also a number of other ways for parents to make the app safer, but non of them [sic] are automatic.

This week, new cases of inappropriate content prompted high-profile responses, including from Disney and Nestle, which pulled advertising from YouTube after a blogger described "a wormhole into a soft-core pedophilia ring" on the site.

YouTube said Thursday it was taking aggressive action, banning more than 400 accounts and taking down dozens of videos.

Critics say its approach to safety across platforms just isn't working.

View image on Twitter

Philip DeFranco
✔
@PhillyD
UPDATE: @YouTube @YTCreators left a comment and provided an update on what they’ve done to combat horrible people on the site in the last 48 hours.

TLDR: Disabled comments on tens of millions of videos. Terminated over 400 channels. Reported illegal comments to law enforcement.

14.2K
10:12 PM - Feb 20, 2019
2,033 people are talking about this
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Parents remain concerned about safety both on YouTube and YouTube Kids. "We should start by educating ourselves, educating our children, and speaking up when we see something that is dangerous for our children," Hess wrote on her blog. "We also need to fight to have the developers of social media platforms held responsible when they do not assure that age restrictions are followed and when they do not remove inappropriate and/or dangerous material when reported."

First published on February 23, 2019 / 2:53 PM

© 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



https://www.bbc.com/reel/playlist/hidden-histories?vpid=p06t4zfp
The island uncovering a hidden past
HISTORY
Two archaeologists take us on a journey through the lasting remains of ancestral heritage that is being consumed by the sea in the Orkney Islands, Scotland.


https://www.bbc.com/reel/playlist/hidden-histories?vpid=p06tqjz4
The surprising roots of the Green Man
11 JANUARY 2019|HISTORY
Alastair Sooke discovers the origins of the eerie, foliage-covered faces found in churches throughout Britain.
BBC Culture


https://www.bbc.com/reel/playlist/hidden-histories?vpid=p06sztys
The ancient symbols hidden in a cave
HISTORY
The Wemyss Caves in Scotland house the mysterious ancient Pictish carvings that date from the 600s and 700s AD.
Reporter: Amanda Ruggeri and Video Journalist: Adam Proctor.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-BtC6Pr0Sw
Time Team - Season 6, Episode 12 - Nevis: Part 1 (Nevis Island, West Indies) SLAVE LIFE, SUGAR, MOLASSES, OTHER THINGS