WE ALL KNOW THE ANSWER, DON’T WE?
Archive for 2021
November 22, 2021
I DO NOT TRUST THE INTERNET OF THINGS: U.S. FTC recommended lawsuit against Amazon over privacy breaches at Ring.
CHRISTIAN TOTO: J.K. Rowling Stands Tall After Doxxing, Endless Death Threats.
The author says the trio of activists who doxxed her assumed the tactic would shut up her. They were mistaken.
“They should have reflected on the fact that I’ve now received so many death threats I could paper the house with them, and I haven’t stopped speaking out. Perhaps – and I’m just throwing this out there – the best way to prove your movement isn’t a threat to women, is to stop stalking, harassing and threatening us.”
The media often rushes to defend celebrities who endure death threats and/or overly rude posts. When nasty, race-based taunts targeted Leslie Jones of “Ghostbusters” fame the media decried the wave of hate, and rightly so.
Twitter even banned a right wing personality, Milo Yiannopoulos, from the platform because it deemed he helped inspire the rage attacks.
So where’s the press accounts about Rowling’s doxxing and death threats? The Post Millennial shared the initial doxxing details. A good faith search on Google News finds no other major outlets have shared the news yet.
No enemies to the left. Dave Chappelle and Rowling have plenty of “f**k you money,” which makes them somewhat more difficult to cancel. But the trans activists are eager to move in the goal posts of what everybody else can openly discuss.
Last month, Jim Treacher noted: You Can’t Say a Man Isn’t a Woman, Because Science Is Bad Now. “You’re not allowed to say Rachel Levine is a man, even though she is. It doesn’t matter what biology says. Jack Dorsey loves science, except when it’s not trendy. So obey the rules, and quit asking what the rules are. Don’t say the wrong thing, which can change at any moment and for any reason. As Titania McGrath puts it: ‘If all opinions that I disagree with were made illegal, fascism would be over.’”
OVERTRAINING IS, HOWEVER, TO BE AVOIDED: No, ‘Overtraining’ Is Not The Reason For Your Weight Loss Plateau. Here’s Why. Also, I’m not sure I’m persuaded by this study. A bit of cycling is not the right exercise tor researching overtraining — that’s more often seen with heavy weight training, which puts a much higher strain on the body’s recovery systems.
BYRON YORK: The Fall of Black Lives Matter. “Back in the summer of 2020, at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, a federal agency, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, ruled that BLM was not political or partisan, and therefore federal employees could express support for the movement while on duty — such as wearing BLM shirts — without violating federal rules against partisan activity in the workplace. A new poll shows just how wrong that ruling was. It would be hard to imagine a more partisan movement than BLM. . . . At this point in its history, BLM is a partisan political movement, no matter what the federal government said back in 2020.” The federal government says a lot of things.
HOW’S THAT SPACE PROGRAM COMING ALONG? NASA taking aim at asteroid is first step toward planetary defense.
SUICIDE BY SILENCE? It’s no secret by now that corporate media has no problem demonizing or delegitimizing what they perceive as “right-wing” media. Tucker Carlson, once America’s favorite conservative, is now depicted as pure evil, somewhere to the right of Genghis Khan. In fact, the phrase “right-wing” itself is attached to the name of some outlets as a sign by left-leaning media to signal to readers that their readers should immediately ignore whatever factual information that the outlet might be presenting, much the same way hoboes in the 1930’s would leave chalk marks on the street in front of houses to warn others of a dangerous approach, say, a jealous husband with a shotgun or a mean dog.
The Biden government has this week presented that same corporate media with a moral dilemma that, if ignored by corporate media, may be a form of suicide. The Associated Press reported this morning that in opposing James O’Keefe and Project Veritas’ motion to designate a Special Master to review the documents seized by the FBI in an early November raid, federal prosecutors told the court that the motion should be denied, in part because:
“Project Veritas is not engaged in journalism within any traditional or accepted definition of that word. Its ‘reporting’ consists almost entirely of publicizing non-consensual, surreptitious recordings made though unlawful, unethical, and or/dishonest means.”
Of course, we ought to be free to dislike — or even disparage — any outlet or voice with which we disagree. That goes for Alex Jones and Rachael Maddow alike. But the mainstream media has a dog in this fight, whether they like it or not: the use of hidden cameras or surreptitiously obtained audio has become not just a staple of investigative reporting, but a moneymaker for outlets who normally express a disdain for any platform that publishes material they deem “non-woke” or “right-wing” or otherwise offensive to their sensibilities.
There are two streams of thought that ought to encourage corporate media to take an aggressive stand in O’Keefe’s defense. One is the stream that flows from no lesser an authority than the U.S. Supreme Court, in a line of cases from Bartnicki v. Vopper, where a third-party had published allegedly illegally obtained material with no hand in the illegal acquisition of the material. Professor Jane Kirtley of the University of Minnesota and former director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is far from being a conservative, but in an opinion piece published today expressed the all-too-rare quality of an honest liberal putting principle before preferences. Her dislike of Project Veritas is made clear right up front:
“Many journalists repudiate Project Veritas and its methods, contending that the organization is ideologically driven and routinely violates established norms of media ethics. As a professor of media ethics and law, I’ve been grappling with how to think about Project Veritas and its escapades for years. Like many media lawyers, I wish it would just go away.”
But Kirtley knows — and most laudably — expresses her respect for the Constitution and the Rule of Law. She continues to say, quoting Bartnicki, that :
“A stranger’s illegal conduct does not suffice to remove the First Amendment shield from speech about a matter of public concern,” Justice John Paul Stevens wrote. If Project Veritas was not involved in the theft of the diary, it could also be covered by the Privacy Protection Act of 1980, which bars both federal and state law enforcement from seizing journalists’ work product and documentary materials except in very limited circumstances.
In fact, the Justice Department has been prohibited from even subpoenaing journalists by Attorney General guidelines that date back to 1974 – although investigations into leaks of classified information led to notable exceptions to this rule during the Obama and Trump administrations […] If Project Veritas is found guilty of a crime, any journalist who transports leaked or “stolen” information across state lines could be charged with violation of the law. It’s unclear what that means today when so many documents are transmitted electronically. Or, if the government narrowly defines “the press” based on its political outlook or ethics, then no news organization is safe from attacks by future administrations.”
Kirtley is correct, of course, in that allowing O’Keefe to be defined as a journalist simply because of his political agenda or outlook creates an unsafe (I’d say soviet) future for journalism. But another stream runs down the same mountain that ought to encourage outrage from the press and cause a serious re-think from the Biden administration, to whom the Justice Department ultimately answers.
Corporate media has made millions of dollars and spent untold lucre defending the exact same reporting techniques that Biden’s prosecutors would have “disqualify” O’Keefe from First Amendment protection.
If the use of hidden cameras, undercover stings and “illegally obtained” information is now a judicial litmus test as to who is and isn’t deserving of First Amendment protections, then NBC better close up shop today. In Wilkins v. NBC, the network used hidden cameras to produce the “Hardcore Hustle” report, which exposed the then-growing practice of charging for so-called “toll-free” 800 lines which provided callers with access to 900-number type adult entertainment lines. (This was before the Internet, back when one had to put some effort into getting their smut). In that case, ultimately, the public interest in the story surmounted the private interests of the parties who were surreptitiously filmed.
Similarly, if the Biden Justice Department is able to re-define journalism as they wish here, ABC needs to sell their equipment and find new work for their investigative team. In Desnick v. ABC fake patients were sent into an ophthalmologist’s’ office to record evidence that Sam Donaldson breathlessly told viewers “[I]n our undercover investigation of the big cutter you’ll meet tonight, we turned up evidence that he may also be a big charger, doing unnecessary cataract surgery for the money.” It would be wise of the Justice Department to heed well Judge Posner’s stern holding in that case:
“Today’s “tabloid” style investigative television reportage, conducted by networks desperate for viewers in an increasingly competitive television market constitutes-although it is often shrill, one-sided, and offensive, and sometimes defamatory-an important part of that market. It is entitled to all the safeguards with which the Supreme Court has surrounded liability for defamation.”
The list of cases where major networks used hidden cameras or surreptitiously obtained material is lengthy, and often praised by those who traffic in that style of reporting. Who can forget the glee with which every media outlet rebroadcast the secretly made videotape of Mitt Romney telling donors “that 47% of Americans are dependent on the government” and “believe they are victims.” Of course, no context challenging the meaning of Romney’s words was provided, but no matter: The secretly taped video was posted online by Mother Jones magazine in the fall, several months after the fundraiser in May in Boca Raton where Romney spoke. The video created a national uproar as President Obama and his Democratic allies used Romney’s words to illustrate how the Republican was out of touch. But to the best of my knowledge, no FBI raids were conducted upon Mother Jones or any of the hundreds of outlets who republished the video. Nor should there have been.
There are a few signs that smarter and perhaps more honest journalists and their lawyers are, like Kirtley, seeing the dark clouds that the Justice Department’s actions portend. Asking if O’Keefe is a journalist in the eyes of the law, Politico’s Josh Gerstein also interviewed Kirtley and others, and noted that:
While many of O’Keefe’s tactics are unsavory, they are far from unknown in the mainstream press. Hidden-camera stings and undercover reporting have fallen out of fashion at most traditional news organizations, but they were once a staple of network television news magazines. In the 1970s, the Chicago Sun-Times bought a rundown bar and rigged it out with hidden cameras, successfully capturing city inspectors demanding bribes. NBC’s popular and controversial series, “To Catch a Predator,” revolves around hidden-camera stings.
If corporate media wants to survive into the next administration — and the ones after that — they will have to step up to the plate and pressure the Biden Administration to rethink this new effort at “disqualifying” outlets because of either their views, or their investigative techniques when properly executed. American government simply does not have the right to “license” or “define” journalism. In Turkey, CNN famously avoided broadcasting images of ongoing anti-Erdogan demonstrations and instead broadcast a documentary about penguins. Penguins.
Perhaps major media, who have already cut their investigative reporting to the bone, are planning as we speak on making exclusive deals with the San Diego Zoo. Because footage of penguins may be all that news outlets are allowed to publish.
HE GETS LITERALLY EVERYTHING WRONG: Biden Pressuring Israel To Rejoin UNESCO: A UN- Palestinian Tool Denying Jewish Heritage In Israel.
DEAL OF THE DAY: TurboTax Deluxe 2021 + $10 Gift Card [Amazon Exclusive] Tax Software Federal Returns Only w/ Federal E-file [PC Download]. #CommissionEarned
THE RATIO OF PAPERWORK TO SCIENCE, AND ADMINISTRATORS TO SCIENTISTS, IS LIKELY THE PROBLEM: The Rise and Fall of Science.
DON’T TRUST CHINA. CHINA IS ASSHOLE: China and the IOC Say Missing Tennis Star is Safe. Should We Believe Them?
BE PREPARED: Augason Farms Lunch and Dinner Variety Pail Emergency Food Supply 4-Gallon Pail. #CommissionEarned
GOOD LORD: Parents protest the Rhode Island school board after district covered up coach’s inappropriate behavior with students. “Parents protested before the North Kingstown School District in Rhode Island on Tuesday after administrators withheld reports of the school’s basketball coach having student athletes strip naked to conduct ‘fat tests’ behind closed doors.”
RASHIDA TLAIB MAKES SURPRISE IN-KIND CONTRIBUTION TO GOP’S 2022 MID-TERM ELECTIONS! Rashida Tlaib becomes increasingly irritated with Axios’ Jonathan Swan for reminding her what she’s repeatedly said about prison reform (video): “Let a thousand GOP ads bloom and flood suburban and rural households.”
MATT MARGOLIS: The Media Can’t Stop Lying About Kyle Rittenhouse.
THE INTERNET OF THINGS: Tesla app outage left drivers locked out of their cars. “This weekend some Tesla drivers didn’t have to imagine that teeth-grindingly irritating reality, as the official app’s outage meant that you would be locked out of your car if you didn’t take your key with you and relied just on your smartphone instead.”
Meanwhile, another division of NBC is eager to wish you a cheerful holiday greeting: MSNBC: Thanksgiving’s About White Settlers Who Brought ‘Genocide and Violence.’
Many of us are still waiting for white Americans to bring some value — still waiting for white Americans to match the mythology of Thanksgiving. Freedom, justice, equality, reparations for two and a half billion acres of stolen Native land — reparations for 246 years of stolen labor — reparations for stealing Native children. Stop the killing — it’s still happening. Stop the theft — it’s still happening. Return the land — match the mythology. Then, and only then, we can all be equally thankful. Peace.
In sharp contrast, America’s Newspaper of Record is focused on true racial healing during these troubled times: Black, White Americans Join Hands Around Common Cause Of Launching Journalists Into The Sun.
EVEN THE NYT IS ASKING: When Can the Covid Masks Finally Come Off?
SEGREGATION NOW, SEGREGATION TOMORROW, SEGREGATION FOREVER! Segregating kids by race — even as a class exercise — will only fuel endless racial conflict.
This coming week, 7th and 8th graders at the Lower Manhattan Community School will spend two days immersed in exercises designed to “undo the legacy of racism and oppression in this country that impacts our school community,” as a message to parents reads.
Teaching about America’s troubled past of slavery and segregation is absolutely necessary. But that isn’t what’s happening at this junior high school. Instead, the children are going to be separated and divided into groups along racial lines prior to lessons about how “racial identities influence our experiences.”
African-Americans and Hispanics will be put in one group, while whites, Asians and multi-racial students will each have their own. A fifth group will be provided for those who choose to opt out of what amounts to a racial-selection process.
The ostensible purpose is to increase sensitivity to race. But kids understand that people from various backgrounds have different experiences. After all, the school has a population that is 44 percent Asian, 29 percent white, 15 percent Hispanic and 8 percent black.
Public education in a country committed to racial equality would not, however, seek to reinforce the notion that race is what defines us as individuals. And it would never pressure a diverse group of students to essentially re-enact the shameful racial segregation that was once commonplace in American schools.
I’m so old, I can remember when we judged people by the content of their character, rather than the color of their skin, a concept the left appeared to have deliberately forgot.
TO BE FAIR, IF ‘BBB’ FAILS IN THE SENATE, HE’LL PROBABLY TRY: Rep. Ocasio-Cortez Thinks Joe Biden Can Bypass Congress to Spend Trillions.