U.S.
NYT Columnist Bret Stephens Emails Professor’s Boss After Being Called a Bedbug in a Tweet with 9 Likes
Published
3 years agoon

- David Karpf, a professor at George Washington University, posted a tweet calling conservative New York Times columnist Bret Stephens a bedbug after news broke that The Times’ newsroom had become infested with the insects.
- Stephens took offense to the joke, which only had nine likes at the time, and emailed the professor and his provost.
- Karpf posted the email, which prompted a wave and backlash that eventually pushed Stephens to deactivate his Twitter account.
Bedbug Comments
After news broke Monday about a bedbug infestation at The New York Times’ newsroom, a college professor took to social media to make a joke about one of the papers’ columnists.
“The bedbugs are a metaphor,” wrote David Karpf, an associate professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University. “The bedbugs are Bret Stephens.”
The bedbugs are a metaphor. The bedbugs are Bret Stephens. https://t.co/k4qo6QzIBW
— davekarpf (@davekarpf) August 26, 2019
Stephens, a Times conservative writer, was not tagged directly in the tweet, which initially only picked up nine likes and no retweets. However, the post still managed to catch Stephens’ attention.
A few hours after posting the tweet Monday, Karpf was surprised with an email from the writer — an email that was also sent to Karpf’s provost at the university.
“I’m often amazed about the things supposedly decent people are prepared to say about other people — people they’ve never met — on Twitter. I think you’ve set a new standard,” Stephens wrote.
“I would welcome the opportunity for you to come to my home, meet my wife and kids, talk to us for a few minutes, and then call me a ‘bedbug’ to my face. That would take some genuine courage and intellectual integrity on your part.”
“I promise to be courteous no matter what you have to say. Maybe it will make you feel better about yourself.”
Karpf eventually tweeted out the email, leading to waves of backlash against Stephens and of course more attention to the initial bedbug tweet.
Alright fine… here is the email: pic.twitter.com/A4E5I6CoB6
— davekarpf (@davekarpf) August 27, 2019
Stephens Faces Backlash
After reading the email, many people were angry that Stephens copied Karpf’s superior on the email, saying he was likely hoping to get the professor fired.
Others were critical of him for reacting so poorly to the comment, as someone who has long been vocal about protecting free speech. Of course, many others threw out their best jokes, knowing now how much it would bother him. By Tuesday morning, both #Bretbug and “Bret Stephens” were trending topics on Twitter.
Bret Stephens, a guy who professionally laments "PC culture" and "safe spaces" is upset someone jokingly called him a bedbug on Twitter. https://t.co/GzUSTLtbej
— jordan (@JordanUhl) August 27, 2019
And I just cannot get over how mild an insult “bedbug” is. Stephens and his ilk would simply drop dead after being a woman, black, queer, or some combination thereof online. My day started with being called a rancid cunt and it’s just Monday.
— roxane gay (@rgay) August 27, 2019
I mean come on, @nytimes. pic.twitter.com/KVN9ZReeUI
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) August 27, 2019
Subject line: From Bret Stephens, New York Times
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) August 27, 2019
Dear Merriam-Webster twitter account,
It was brought to my attention that you subtweeting me. Would you dare do this in front of my wife & kids? Put up your dukes, dictionary!
Bret Stephens
cc: Your manager. https://t.co/D021TA7lLG
I want to make sure this gets spread as far as possible
— emigre80 (@emigre80) August 27, 2019
Bret Stephens, the thin-skinned bedbug#BretBug #BretStephens pic.twitter.com/nfkmxzNAuc
Stephens, who joined the Times in 2017 and is also an MSNBC contributor, is not unfamiliar with backlash. In fact, his takes on climate change and race have already prompted outrage from readers in the past, with many canceling subscriptions over his pieces. He has also been known to hit back at critics, which he did once before in an email exchange with a Deadspin writer.
But the outrage over his reaction to a seemingly minuscule tweet prompted the writer to deactivate his entire Twitter account. “Twitter is a sewer. It brings out the worst in humanity,” Stephens tweeted before closing his account.
“I sincerely apologize for any part I’ve played in making it worse, and to anyone I’ve ever hurt.
It appears that Bret Stephens has deactivated his Twitter. I’d be curious to hear his take on what’s happened over the past 24 hours. pic.twitter.com/pahYy0W83l
— Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) August 27, 2019
Karpf Speaks Out
In an interview with The Washington Post, Karpf complained about the columnist’s decision to email his superior. “He not only thinks I should be ashamed of what I wrote, he thinks that I should also get in trouble for it,” Karpf said. “That’s an abuse of his power.”
Karpf told the Post that he would have been willing to take Stephens up on his offer to chat in person had he not included his boss on the email.
“You need to work very hard to find a tweet that obscure, and then work harder to find the writer’s email and their provost’s email to CC them, too,” he said. “I would have treated this as an opportunity for conversation and dialogue if he hadn’t CC’d my provost, which was clearly an attempt to threaten me with punishment.”
“I’d be happy to have a dialogue, not just about the tenor of Twitter comments but also about power and how to appropriately use it,” he added. “But I assume he won’t want to talk. He ought to be embarrassed.”
As far as why he’s not a fan of Stephens’ work, Karpf said, “He tends to write pretty lightweight, poorly researched columns about things that I know something about. So I’ve always seen him as this person that everyone complains about but we just can’t get rid of. He’s a bedbug.”
Stephens Addresses the Issue on MSNBC
Meanwhile, Stephens told the Post that his email “speaks for itself.” He later went on MSNBC Tuesday morning to say he had no intention of getting Karpf in professional trouble, but he said institutions should be aware of how their staff members interact with “the rest of the world.”
When addressing the bedbug insult he said, “Analogizing people to insects is always wrong. We can do better. We should be the people on social media that we are in real life.”
“There’s a bad history of being called…of being analogized to insects that goes back to a lot of totalitarian regimes in the past.”
See what others are saying: (The Washington Post) (Business Insider) (Fox News)
U.S.
College Board Changes AP African American Studies After Backlash From DeSantis Amid Education Culture War
Published
5 days agoon
February 1, 2023By
Lili Stenn
As requested by DeSantis, the College Board removed lessons on contemporary topics including Black Lives Matter, queer studies, and reparations.
College Board Rolls Out Curriculum
The College Board, which oversees Advanced Placement high school courses, announced an official curriculum framework for its new, landmark Advanced Placement African American studies on Wednesday.
The announcement, made on the first day of Black History Month, has faced scrutiny for seeming to scale back a number of relevant subjects that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and other state education officials had criticized.
In January, DeSantis said that the new course would be banned in Florida unless changes were made, arguing that a draft version of the course was “woke.”
Education officials claimed that the class, which had been in the making for nearly a decade, violated a recent state law dubbed the Stop WOKE Act. The legislation regulates public school instruction on race by banning critical race theory and any education that describes some groups as oppressed and others as privileged based on race or sex.
Democrats denounced DeSantis’ action as a political stunt and urged the College Board to maintain its principles.
According to reports, many historical topics like slavery largely remain intact from the previous draft. However, important contemporary issues like Black Lives Matter, affirmative action, queer studies, reparations, and intersectionality — all of which Florida leaders objected to — were removed from curriculum requirements and are no longer part of the AP exam.
Instead, those areas of study have been downgraded to be part of a list of options students can pursue for a mandatory research project. The College Board also added a new research project idea to that list that will certainly please the right: “Black conservatism.”
It has additionally been reported that the organization pulled names of multiple Black authors the state education officials had flagged as problematic, including many famous and pioneering Black scholars who wrote about critical race theory, the queer experience, and Black feminism.
The College Board defended itself against criticism in a press release announcing the changes, claiming that the process of developing the framework “has operated independently from political pressure.”
DeSantis’ Ongoing Culture War
DeSantis’ attempts to influence the national curriculum of an AP course are just his latest in a much broader effort to control what is and is not taught in public schools.
Just one day before the College Board announced the revised course, the governor outlined what The New York Times described as “his most aggressive swing yet at the education establishment.”
Specifically, he proposed a massive overhaul to higher education in the state that would defund and eliminate diversity and equity programs, mandate courses on Western civilization, and reduce tenure protections that are essential to ensure professors have freedom of expression.
Furthermore, the effects of another law DeSantis signed last year are now just beginning to materialize. The policy, which went into effect this July, requires every school book to be age-appropriate, “free of pornography,” and “suited to student needs.”
To follow those guidelines, school books have to be approved by a certified media specialist who has undergone specific training.
Notably, the law also states that teachers can be charged with third-degree felonies if they “knowingly or unknowingly” give students access to a book that the specialists say is harmful — meaning that they could face up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Last month, the state education department clarified that the rule does not just apply to school libraries, but also to any books a teacher keeps in their classroom too.
Multiple outlets reported this week that records they obtained show at least two school districts have now directed teachers to either remove their books or hide them until review to avoid the possibility of going to jail.
See what others are saying: (The New York Times) (The Washington Post) (The Associated Press)
U.S.
Biden Announces Plan to End COVID Emergency in May
Published
6 days agoon
January 31, 2023By
Lili Stenn
The decision would drastically change the government’s long-standing pandemic response and shift Americans’ access to COVID-related services.
Emergency Declarations at an End
In a statement Monday, The White House announced that it would be ending the COVID national emergency and public health emergency declarations on May 11.
The move will entirely restructure the federal government’s response to the pandemic to treat it as endemic and upend policies that have been in place for the last three years. Although more than 500 people in the U.S. are still dying from COVID on average each day — which is around two times the number of daily deaths during a bad flu season — life has largely returned to normal.
Most Americans are vaccinated, and even President Joe Biden himself said the pandemic was “over” back in September. The new announcement comes in part as a response to resolutions Republicans brought to the House floor last week that would end the declarations immediately.
“An abrupt end to the emergency declarations would create wide-ranging chaos and uncertainty throughout the health care system — for states, for hospitals and doctors’ offices, and, most importantly, for tens of millions of Americans,” the White House argued.
Lapses in Coverage and Care
Federal officials decided that a phase-out would make more sense because the U.S. has come to rely on several systems and benefits under the emergencies.
One of the most significant changes that will have the biggest impact on Americans in their day-to-day lives is access to COVID tests, treatments, and vaccines that have been free throughout the pandemic.
Once the emergencies end, a very complex wave of changes will take place that differs from person to person depending on their insurance — or lack thereof — and even possibly what state they live in.
Currently, people with private health insurance or Medicare coverage have been allowed eight free COVID tests a month and insurers had to cover those tests, even if they were administered out of network.
Once the emergency ends, some Americans will have to pay out of pocket, as well as for antiviral COVID treatments like Paxlovid.
Notably, it has been reported that vaccines will still be included for all those people covered by both private and public insurance. That, however, may not be the case for those without insurance — a group that is also more likely to be the most affected by rising costs for tests and treatments.
Jen Kates, a senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation, told The Washington Post that when the emergency declarations end, states that opted to provide Medicaid coverage for tests, treatments, and shots will lose the federal funds that matched costs at 100%.
“To me, that’s the biggest issue for the general public to think about,” she said. “The uninsured and underinsured have no guaranteed access to covid vaccines, tests or treatments.”
When it comes to vaccines, those costs could be significant. Moderna and Pfizer have both said they might charge as much as $130 per dose of vaccine once the federal government stops paying and the shots are transitioned to the private market. That figure is nearly quadruple what federal offices have paid for the doses.
The shift to the private market could happen fairly soon, especially because Republicans have refused Biden’s request that they put billions of dollars towards additional free COVID testing and shots to extend those efforts.
There could also be a spike in the number of uninsured or underinsured Americans because the $1.7 trillion spending bill passed last year ends a rule that banned states from kicking people off Medicaid, leaving millions at risk of losing coverage.
Other Possible Outcomes
Ending the declarations could also set up a battle around immigration because the Biden administration has said the move will bring an end to Title 42 — the Trump-era public health measure that placed restrictions on border crossings and other migrant policies.
Biden has previously tried to cut the program, but the Supreme Court kept it in place. House Republicans rejected the White House’s claim that the program would be terminated, arguing it is not tied to the public health emergency.
Beyond that, the termination of the declarations would require health providers to make numerous adjustments because many of the flexibilities they were allowed in a number of areas would be cut.
As a result, the administration says a phase-out of those policies over the next few months is necessary, arguing that hospitals and nursing homes “will be plunged into chaos” if they are cut immediately. House Republicans, however, are insistent on moving forward their legislation that would do just that, though the Democratic-controlled Senate could block their proposals.
See what others are saying: (The New York Times) (The Washington Post) (The Associated Press)
U.S.
Conservatives are Mad at “Woke” Xbox for Minor Climate-Related Updates
Published
2 weeks agoon
January 25, 2023By
Lili Stenn
The fury comes after Xbox announced it was slightly altering existing consoles to better utilize and save energy.
Same War, New Battlefield
Mere days after M&M canceled their “spokescandies” due to backlash from the right, led largely by Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, conservatives have found a new front for their ongoing culture war: Xbox.
Carlson spent months complaining that small character redesigns were “woke” because they made the animated anthropomorphized M&M’s — in his own words — “less sexy.” His campaign finally proved successful on Monday when the company announced it would be doing away with the spokescandies and replacing them with actress Maya Rudolph.
A message from M&M'S. pic.twitter.com/EMucEBTd9o
— M&M'S (@mmschocolate) January 23, 2023
Conservatives, now facing a sudden dearth of non-issues to complain about, quickly found a new issue to rage against. Xbox announced in a blog post earlier this month that it is making minor updates to lower its environmental impact as part of an effort to reach Microsoft’s goal of being carbon-negative by 2030.
Now, instead of having an Xbox wake up to update games, apps, and software during random times of the night, it will do that at a time of night when a user’s local energy grid is generating the most power it can from renewable sources.
Xbox also said it would automatically update some older consoles to a power-saving mode that aims to reduce electricity consumption when it is turned off — a feature that is already the default on newer consoles.
According to The Verge, the only difference for users is that an Xbox in power-saving mode takes around 15 seconds to boot up instead of doing so immediately as the console does in “sleep” mode. The change is a small price to pay for what the outlet described as “significant” energy savings.
Xbox Under Fire
To many leading conservative voices, the minimal shifts were just another example of “woke” culture.
While discussing M&M’s spokescandies Tuesday morning, “Fox and Friends” co-host Ainsley Earhardt brought up Xbox’s new changes with Fox radio host Jimmy Failla.
“So Xbox has also announced that they’re going woke too, you know, because of climate change,” Earhardt said.
“I mean, it’s crazy what they’re doing, but we understand what this is. It’s not that it’s actually going to offset emissions, okay — the level of reduction is infinitesimal,” Failla claimed, without evidence. “But they’re trying to recruit your kids into climate politics at an earlier age; make them climate conscious now.”
“Yeah, I didn’t think of that — you’re right, they’re going after the children,” Earhardt agreed, despite the fact that internal data from Microsoft shows just around 10% of Xbox owners are under the age of 18.
Other prominent conservatives also did their part to bait Americans into anger on social media, including America’s Foundation, which posted a tweet stating that “the woke brigade is after video games.”
Lol now the woke brigade is after video games all in the name of climate change.
— YAF (@yaf) January 24, 2023
Xbox will force gamers to power down to fight climate change, touting the first 'carbon aware console' https://t.co/wIwbCTh2Zy
The post linked an article from the right-wing website TheBlaze, which asserted that “Xbox will force gamers to power down to fight climate change.” That, however, is false — Xbox has said users can switch back and change the settings any time they want
Still, top lawmakers continued to share the article and spread its false claims, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tx.).
“First gas stoves, then your coffee, now they’re gunning for your Xbox,” he wrote in the post, which was flagged by Twitter and given an “added context” warning.
First gas stoves, then your coffee, now they're gunning for your Xbox. https://t.co/MpaH2ntWAz
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) January 23, 2023
The same warning, however, was not placed in a very similar post by Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Tx.), who also shared the article.
“They want to take your guns. They want to take your gas stoves. And now they want to take your Xbox. What’s next?” he wrote.
— Congressman Troy Nehls (@RepTroyNehls) January 23, 2023
See what others are saying: (The Washington Post) (The Daily Beast) (VICE)

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