Category: Domestic Affairs,

Trump’s racist tweet circus & the part the media plays

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Race,Leave a comment

Were Trump’s comments about the Squad newsworthy? I can answer that, I think: Of course they were. But let’s go a level down. Why were they so much more newsworthy than anything else? What made them more newsworthy than, say, the memo revealing that the Trump administration has basically abdicated the job of prosecuting white-collar criminals, or Senate Democrats’ continuing efforts to pass a bill that would address the asylum crisis in a humane way?

Part of the problem here is that the media isn’t a “we.” For all the claims of media bias or conspiracy, we’re actually a collection of outlets in competition with each other for the audience’s attention. When everyone else is covering something, it’s hard not to also cover that thing. Moreover, we’re a collection of outlets navigating a shaky business model: Trump coverage means traffic, and traffic is part of the business. In practice, those incentives do not enter our editorial conversations explicitly, but they are part of the context in which those decisions are made.

…The effort to avoid normalizing Trump has been operationalized by, in effect, lowering the bar to covering Trump. We’re on high alert for his abnormal statements — moments of racism, sexism, or bigotry; outright lies; flirtations with fascist ideas or autocratic leaders — so all he needs to do to refocus the political media and thus the country on the worst possible conversation is to make a comment that falls into one of these buckets.

But what if we reversed that approach? What if instead of lowering the bar to cover Trump, we raised it? Perhaps Trump’s behavior — the lies, the insults, the ignorance, the feuding that happens outside the realm of official administration policymaking — shouldn’t get coverage.

…We have set up a very particular incentive structure for not only [Trump] but everyone else in politics, where the coverage that can be generated by abnormal, offensive behavior far outweighs the coverage on offer for simply trying to do a good job and be a decent person.

Trump’s racist tweets: is the media part of the problem? – Vox

hmmm

Peter Thiel slams Silicon Valley’s ‘extreme strain of parochialism’

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,Leave a comment

Thiel, a billionaire tech investor who co-founded Paypal, cast his eyes around at his peers and branded them “incurious” to the issues beyond their own bubble.

…”The Silicon Valley attitude sometimes called ‘cosmopolitanism’ is probably better understood as an extreme strain of parochialism, that of fortunate enclaves isolated from the problems of other places — and incurious about them,” he wrote.

Peter Thiel slams Silicon Valley’s ‘extreme strain of parochialism’ – Business Insider

hmmmm

‘I Beat That N***r Like He Owed Me Money’: New Jersey Cop Faces Up to 40 Years for Federal Charges Including Using Excessive Force

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,Leave a comment

On Tuesday, Frank Toledo pled guilty in U.S. District Court in Newark to conspiracy to violate people’s civil rights, using excessive force, and filing a false police report.

…On the false police report charge, Toledo, 30, would work with fellow officers Matthew Torres, Eudy Ramos, Daniel Pent and Jonathan Bustios — who have also been charged in the probe along with two other officers not involved with Toledo — to stop and search vehicles without justification. The officers would loot the vehicles of valuables and cash, splitting it among themselves. And stealing money wasn’t just reserved for traffic stops. The newspaper also reported they’d stop and frisk people on the street and steal their money.

…There were also apparent admissions of using excessive force on residents, which resulted in three charges.

‘I Beat That N***r Like He Owed Me Money’: New Jersey Cop Faces Up to 40 Years for Federal Charges Including Using Excessive Force

When police officers are allow to commit crimes without legal consequences this is what you get: violent, criminal behavior.

Until every single police department in the country stops covering up the crimes of its officers this behavior will only get worse.

ThinkProgress: Steve Bannon knows how often you go to church

On By peanutgallerynhIn Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Privacy,, Religion,Leave a comment

Steve Bannon and the conservative group CatholicVote used cell-phone location data for people who had been inside Roman Catholic churches in Dubuque, Iowa, in 2018 to target them with get-out-the-vote ads, ThinkProgress has learned.

…“If your phone’s ever been in a Catholic church, it’s amazing, they got this data,” Bannon told director Alison Klayman as they sat in his Washington, D.C., home on the eve of the 2018 midterm elections.

“Literally, they can tell who’s been in a Catholic church and how frequently,” Bannon added. “And they got it triaged.”

…CatholicVote planned to use the data to send targeted get-out-the-vote ads on election day telling Catholics that it was their duty “to support President Trump,” according to Bannon.

…CatholicVote would not say more about how the group collected and used data in 2018.

The technology Bannon was alluding to is called “geofencing” or “ring-fencing.” It’s become popular over the last several years with advertisers, campaigns, and advocacy groups that want to find people who may be receptive to their message.

When Klayman asked Bannon, on-camera, where he got his data from, he answered, simply, “the phone companies.”

“And the data guys sell it,” Bannon added.

…Geofencing creates a virtual fence around a geographic location, allowing data brokers and digital marketing firms to either serve ads to people while they are inside the fence or capture their phones’ unique IDs for later use. The ads themselves appear in apps or on websites as the person uses their phone, whether they’re served up while the user is in the geofenced area or at a later date.

…Here’s how geofencing information is collected: Our phones constantly give up our locations. Experts who spoke with ThinkProgress said there are several ways that brokers can collect that data. One method estimates the location of a phone based on the cell towers it pings as it looks for a signal. In other methods, some of a smart phone’s apps collect location data from its GPS chip or the wifi networks it connects to. Many of the biggest app makers then monetize that data, selling it to brokers and digital ad firms.

…In 2017, Copley Advertising settled with the Massachusetts attorney general’s office after it used geofencing to help anti-abortion groups target ads to women who visited Planned Parenthood clinics.

…The New York Times reviewed some of the location data that app makers sold to a broker, the paper was able to identify individual users and track them to a Planned Parenthood clinic, a middle school, an emergency room, and to their homes and offices.

The technology news site Motherboard went a step further, paying a bounty hunter to locate a specific phone in Queens, New York, after T-Mobile sold the user’s location data, gleaned from cell towers, to a broker who then re-sold it to third-party dealers.

Exclusive: Steve Bannon knows how often you go to church

sigh…

U of Hawaii pursues controversial Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea

On By peanutgallerynhIn Environment,, Hawaii,, Media and Culture,, Religion,Leave a comment

Hawaiians’ protests have attracted the support of many across academe, who see the TMT — in the words of geneticist Keolu Fox of UC San Diego and physicist Chandra Prescod-Weinstein of the University of New Hampshire — as colonial science.

“Far from some replay of an ancient clash between tradition and modernity, this is a battle between the old ways of doing science, which rely on forceful extraction (whether of natural resources or data), and a new scientific method, which privileges the dignity and humanity of indigenous peoples, including Hawaiians and the black diaspora,” they wrote in The Nation. “It is a clash between colonial science — the one which, under the guise of progress, has all too often helped justify conquest and human rights violations — and a science that respects indigenous autonomy.”

Hulali Kau, a writer and advocate working in Native Hawaiian and environmental law, said, “To anyone that continues to try to frame TMT as a science versus culture argument, I would say that this struggle over the future of Mauna Kea is actually about how we manage resources and align our laws and values of Hawaii to connect a past where the state has subjected its indigenous people to continued mismanagement of it lands with its uncertain future.”

Among many concerns, including the university’s past management of the observation space, Kau said she worries that the TMT will include two 5,000 gallon tanks installed two stories below ground level for chemical and human waste. 

Mauna Kea, a conservation district, is home to the largest aquifer in Hawaii, she said. “There are still questions as to the environmental consequences.”

Kau noted that the university was previously embroiled in an indigenous space dispute, when it attempted to patent three strains of taro, or “kalo,” a popular food source. It finally dropped the patents several years later, in 2006. 

U of Hawaii pursues controversial Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea and is leading indigenous institution

hmmmm

Trump vows to end birthright citizenship with executive order

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Race,Leave a comment

President Donald Trump said in an interview that he plans to sign an executive order ending “birthright citizenship” for the children of non-American citizens who are born on U.S. soil, a move that would likely be challenged immediately in the courts over its constitutionality.

…According to the 14th Amendment, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

…”The 14th Amendment is explicit on this question: Persons born in the U.S. are citizens of the U.S. and of the states in which they reside,” said Sarah E. Turberville, director of The Constitution Project with the Project on Government Oversight.

“You can quibble over whether this is a good policy, but you can’t quibble over what the Constitution very specifically says on the manner,” she said.

…In a 1982 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that even if a person enters the country illegally, that person is within U.S. jurisdiction and “is subject to the full range of obligations imposed by the State’s civil and criminal laws. And until he leaves the jurisdiction – either voluntarily, or involuntarily in accordance with the Constitution and laws of the United States – he is entitled to the equal protection of the laws that a State may choose to establish.” 

“No plausible distinction with respect to Fourteenth Amendment ‘jurisdiction’ can be drawn between resident aliens whose entry into the United States was lawful, and resident aliens whose entry was unlawful,” a footnote to the decision for Plyler v. Doe reads.

…The 14th Amendment was adopted in 1868, after the Civil War. It was largely intended to grant citizenship to newly freed slaves and undo the 1857 Dred Scott decision in which the Supreme Court ruled that slaves were not citizens, but property.  

The concept of birthright citizenship was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1898 in United States v. Wong Kim Ark when the court affirmed the citizenship of a man born on U.S. soil to parents who were Chinese nationals. 

…Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said Trump was trying to “rewrite the Constitution on his own.” 

“An executive order to eliminate birthright citizenship would be a violation of his oath of office. And it reveals who he is – a man who longs to return to the days when African Americans and members of other ethnic minorities are denied the equality promised by Jefferson and Lincoln that is enshrined in our Constitution as America’s moral North Star,” Kaine said in a statement. 

Trump vows to end birthright citizenship with executive order

hmmmmm

There are ‘Nazis’ in Congress, says former Republican leader John Boehner

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Race,Leave a comment

“We’ve got some of the smartest people in America who serve in the Congress, and we’ve got some of the dumbest”, Mr Boehner said. “We have some of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet, and some that are Nazis.”

There are ‘Nazis’ in Congress, says former Republican leader John Boehner | The Independent

hmmm

NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo in Eric Garner’s chokehold death should be fired, judge recommends

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Race,Leave a comment

“This has been a long battle. Five years too long. And finally, someone has said this cop has done something wrong,” Garner’s daughter, Emerald Garner Snipes, said at a news conference following news of the recommendation.

…She called on New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill to “do your job” and fire Pantaleo.

NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo in Eric Garner’s chokehold death should be fired, judge recommends

Unless the NYPD would like to publicly acknowledge that in, in their own estimation, police officers are licensed to kill without cause and without consequences they need to fire and charge the coldblooded murderers within their own ranks.

TMT protesters took to social media to make their case ― and build support nationally

On By peanutgallerynhIn Hawaii,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

The conflict over TMT has also made it onto the national political stage, with presidential hopefuls Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeting their support for protesters.

Sanders, though, subsequently deleted his tweet.

Buente said in his estimation, TMT protesters have upped their game since the opposition began.

“The core movement has always been there, but they’ve learned a lot since 2015 on how to effectively use social media,” Buente said.

“By acting in kapu aloha, the message will survive in our current attention economy where people have so many movement options in front of them.”

TMT protesters took to social media to make their case ― and build support nationally

hmmm

Democrats express alarm over debate’s negative tone

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,Leave a comment

[Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.)] said there is “concern” within the caucus of the increasingly vicious attacks, particularly against the front-runner, former Vice President Joe Biden.

…[Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)] said, “Just the incessant focus on these relative minor divisions between candidates might make for good TV but I don’t think gives people an accurate portrayal of the stakes of this election.”

…“If we get all focused on the differences between, say Bernie [Sanders] and Cory [Booker] and Mayor Pete [Buttigieg] and [John] Hickenlooper, we’ll lose sight of the fact that it’s Donald Trump who’s now trying to reduce health care, destroy health care, get it rid for everybody,” Schumer said, adding, “That’s a trap we shouldn’t fall into.”

…Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) said he’s concerned the party infighting over health care obscures what he sees as the more important topic of the 2020 election: the difference between Trump and the Democrats.

“I think we’re digging into this whole Medicare debate in such detail that we’re missing the obvious. What this president is trying to do with existing health care should be the issue,” he said.

Democrats express alarm over debate’s negative tone | TheHill

hmmmm

Mitch McConnell Received Donations from Voting Machine Lobbyists Before Blocking Election Security Bills

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,Leave a comment

Mitch McConnell squashed two bills intended to ensure voting security on Thursday, just one day after former special counsel Robert Mueller warned that Russians were attempting to sabotage the 2020 presidential elections “as we sit here.”

…Thursday’s first bill, presented by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer would authorize $775 million to bolster election security and require states to keep paper trails of all votes cast. The second, presented by Senator Richard Blumenthal, would require political candidates and their staff and family members to notify the FBI about any offers of assistance from foreign governments.

…McConnell said he wouldn’t allow a vote on the bills because they were “so partisan,” but, as previously reported, earlier this year McConnell received a slew of donations from four of the top voting machine lobbyists in the country.

Mitch McConnell Received Donations from Voting Machine Lobbyists Before Blocking Election Security Bills

sigh…

Facebook’s privacy agreement with the FTC does little to constrain it

On By peanutgallerynhIn Domestic Affairs,, Media and Culture,, Money, Class, and Poverty,, Privacy,Leave a comment

The $5 billion penalty is all-but-inconsequential to a company as profitable as Facebook. The new oversight structure has some major flaws and weaknesses. The settlement does little to limit Zuckerberg’s power and doesn’t hold him personally accountable for the actions of a company that he alone controls. And the agreement does almost nothing to stop the collection and sharing of data — or the use of it for targeted advertising — that was at the heart of the company’s privacy violations.

Facebook’s privacy agreement with the FTC does little to constrain it – Business Insider

Jeezus…

Why run for N.H. Legislature? It’s not for $100, fame or a license plate

On By peanutgallerynhIn Granite State,Leave a comment

Experts say the accessibility of New Hampshire’s Legislature is a big draw for those looking to test the political waters, but with low pay and huge membership come drawbacks for those with grander political aspirations.

University of New Hampshire Associate Professor of Political Science Dante Scala says, unlike other states, those elected to the Legislature in the Granite State have an uphill battle being recognized, making it tough to parlay a House seat into a lobbyist position or a higher-ranking elected position, whether it be governor or a congressional seat.

…Legislators here are among the lowest paid in the country, with the meager salary producing a body whose makeup is far different from states like Massachusetts, whose lawmakers often are career politicians.

…“They really run because they can. Unlike in states with professional legislatures, the barriers to entry are very low in New Hampshire,” Scala noted.

Experts say the low pay and many members also benefit those with political aspirations because potential candidates don’t need to have established a name for themselves before running or have a huge war chest to mount a campaign.

“You just need to have time on your hands,” Scala said.

…“At the end of the day whether you are far on the Republican side, far on the Democrat side, or smack dab in the middle, you are nothing more than a volunteer with a glorified title,” he said.

Scala said some might enter the Legislature with grand aspirations and find their support is largely local.

“They think their status means a lot outside of Concord, and it isn’t necessarily so,” Scala noted.

…”At least the members aren’t on the take,” Pantelakos said.

Why run for N.H. Legislature? It’s not for $100, fame or a license plate – *GJ_FOSTERS_NEWS – fosters.com – Dover, NH

hmmm

‘Surreal’ feeling for Philly man cleared of murder after spending half his life behind bars

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,Leave a comment

The key witness in Miller’s trial — the only substantial evidence linking him to the killing of a man in a parking lot outside 30th Street Station in 1996 — had insisted for two decades that his initial statement to police was a lie.

…The key witness in Miller’s trial — the only substantial evidence linking him to the killing of a man in a parking lot outside 30th Street Station in 1996 — had insisted for two decades that his initial statement to police was a lie.

The witness, David Williams, who faced robbery charges when he spoke to investigators, recanted his statement at Miller’s preliminary hearing in 1997 and denied it again at trial a year later. A jury had voted to convict Miller anyway.

Then, in 2002, Williams did something even more unusual: He wrote a letter to Miller’s mother, apologizing for his false assertion that had helped secure her son a life sentence — and confessing that he was the one who had pulled the trigger, saying he had acted in self-defense.

‘Surreal’ feeling for Philly man cleared of murder after spending half his life behind bars

Wild!

Federal prosecutors say they can’t find files on investigation into Rocky Flats nuclear arms plant

On By peanutgallerynhIn American Injustice System,, Domestic Affairs,, Environment,Leave a comment

The U.S. Department of Justice has lost track of more than 60 boxes of documents from a 27-year-old criminal investigation into safety and environmental violations at a former nuclear weapons plant in Colorado, officials said Tuesday.

…Seven groups representing environmentalists, former nuclear workers, nearby residents and public health advocates filed a motion in federal court in January asking that the files be made public. The groups say the documents could show whether the government did enough to clean up the site before turning part of it into a wildlife refuge and opening it to hikers and bicyclists.

Government attorneys are fighting the request.

Federal prosecutors say they can’t find files on investigation into Rocky Flats nuclear arms plant – The Colorado Sun

Jeezus…