Politics
Facebook and Twitter Refuse to Remove Controversial Pelosi Video
Published
3 years agoon
By
Lili Stenn
- President Donald Trump posted a video that was edited to make it look like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ripped up his State of the Union speech while he recognized special guests.
- Democrats demanded Facebook and Twitter remove the video, while others said it would set a dangerous precedent concerning parody videos.
- Facebook refused to remove the video, saying that it did not violate the platform’s new policy on manipulated media.
- Twitter also said it would not remove the video because its new policy on manipulated videos does not go into effect until March 5, and the company will not apply it retroactively.
Controversial Video
Facebook and Twitter have refused to take down a controversial video shared by President Donald Trump that was edited to look like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tore up the president’s State of the Union speech while he was honoring special guests.
The video, shared by Trump on both social media platforms Thursday, took actual footage from the now-viral moment when Pelosi tore up his speech following his State of the Union address.
The video, however, spliced the real footage so that it appeared as though the speaker was tearing Trump’s speech while he was recognizing one of the last Tuskegee Airmen, a reunited military family, and others.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 6, 2020
Response
Many House Democrats responded to the video in posts on Twitter, arguing that it was misleading or doctored and calling for it to be taken down.
Hey @Twitter, this video is clearly edited in a way that’s intended to mislead viewers. You should take it down. https://t.co/agXJlvRirf
— David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) February 7, 2020
This video is doctored. It has been up, and pinned to the President's page, for nearly a day.
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) February 7, 2020
Trump posted it to deceive Americans about @SpeakerPelosi's actions and record.
If I posted a doctored video it would be a clear violation House Rules.@Twitter should take this down. https://t.co/zTc2OHntQ5
This video is clearly another deceptive effort by @realDonaldTrump to mislead and manipulate the American people.
— Rep. Veronica Escobar (@RepEscobar) February 7, 2020
Hey @jack, show your commitment to cut down on the misinformation corroding our nation and take down this fake video. https://t.co/C2uAFPfWzL
On the other side, plenty of people also shared and defended the video, like Suzanne Nossel, the chief executive of the free-speech advocacy group PEN America, who argued that the video “would open door to ban a great deal of parody.”
“Viewers can tell she didn’t rip up speech multiple times in exact same way. Harsh, nasty, underhanded, yes,” she wrote. “But parody often is.”
Demanding takedown of this #Pelosi video would open door to ban a great deal of parody from @facebook @twitter etc. Viewers can tell she didn't rip up speech multiple times in exact same way. Harsh, nasty, underhanded, yes. But parody often is. https://t.co/8rBAZ408oc
— Suzanne Nossel (@SuzanneNossel) February 7, 2020
Benny Johnson, the chief creative officer of Turning Point USA, the conservative nonprofit that originally made the video, defended the move in a thread on Twitter.
“Here is how we made it: We took real lines from the President’s State of the Union speech and then used a real footage of Speaker Pelosi tearing up Trump’s speech as a transition for each clip,” he wrote. “That’s it. Real events that really happened, in a timeline.”
First: watch the video.
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) February 8, 2020
Here is how we made it:
We took real lines from the President’s State of the Union speech and then used a real footage of Speaker Pelosi tearing up Trump’s speech as a transition for each clip.
That’s it.
Real events that really happened, in a timeline.
Johnson also argued that removing the video would set a bad precedent.
“Would you call a Super Bowl highlight reel ‘doctored’ because the footage of the big play it did not show every play before and after in sequence?” he wrote. “Is a news package ‘doctored’ when they clip just a small part of a politicians speech? No!”
The precedent set here is horrifying.
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) February 8, 2020
Would you call a Super Bowl highlight reel “doctored” because the footage of the big play it did not show every play before and after in sequence?
Is a news package “doctored” when they clip just a small part of a politicians speech?
No!
Twitter and Facebook Respond
Pelosi’s Deputy Chief of Staff Drew Hammill called for Twitter and Facebook to remove the video in a tweet on Friday.
“The latest fake video of Speaker Pelosi is deliberately designed to mislead and lie to the American people, and every day that these platforms refuse to take it down is another reminder that they care more about their shareholders’ interests than the public’s interests,” he wrote.
The latest fake video of Speaker Pelosi is deliberately designed to mislead and lie to the American people, and every day that these platforms refuse to take it down is another reminder that they care more about their shareholders’ interests than the public’s interests.
— Drew Hammill (@Drew_Hammill) February 7, 2020
In an unusual move, Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone responded to Hammill’s tweet.
“Sorry, are you suggesting the President didn’t make those remarks and the Speaker didn’t rip the speech?” he asked, to which Hammill responded, “what planet are you living on? this is deceptively altered. take it down.”
what planet are you living on? this is deceptively altered. take it down.
— Drew Hammill (@Drew_Hammill) February 7, 2020
Stone later told reporters over the weekend that the video did not violate Facebook’s new policy from January on manipulated media and deepfakes.
He specifically pointed to a specific part of the policy that says Facebook will remove that kind of content if it “has been edited or synthesized – beyond adjustments for clarity or quality – in ways that aren’t apparent to an average person and would likely mislead someone into thinking that a subject of the video said words that they did not actually say.”
Facebook also said in their post announcing the new policy that the platform “does not extend to content that is parody or satire, or video that has been edited solely to omit or change the order of words.”
A Twitter spokesperson separately told reporters that it too would not remove the video because its new policy regarding manipulated media, which it announced last week, does not go into effect until March 5 and will not be applied retroactively.
The spokesperson also did not answer hypothetical questions about whether or not the new policy would apply to videos similar to the edited one of Pelosi in the future.
According to Twitter’s new policy, users cannot “deceptively share synthetic or manipulated media that are likely to cause harm.” Twitter may also label those kinds of tweets.
Although notably, the criteria outlined by Twitter for what it will consider when removing or labeling posts includes, “Whether the content has been substantially edited in a manner that fundamentally alters its composition, sequence, timing, or framing.”
The video of Pelosi is expected to be an important test case for how social media companies deal with manipulated media at a time when there is mounting pressure on these platforms regarding the spread of misinformation.
See what others are saying: (Business Insider) (Politico) (Fox News)
Politics
Feds Investigate Classified Files Found in Biden’s Former Office
Published
3 weeks agoon
January 10, 2023By
Chris Tolve
The documents reportedly include U.S. intelligence memos and briefing materials that covered topics such as Ukraine, Iran, and the United Kingdom
What Was in the Files?
President Biden’s legal team discovered about 10 classified files in his former office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington D.C., the White House revealed Monday.
The Department of Justice has concluded an initial inquiry into the matter and will determine whether to open a criminal investigation.
According to a source familiar with the matter who spoke to CNN, they include U.S. intelligence memos and briefing materials that covered topics such as Ukraine, Iran, and the United Kingdom.
A source also told CBS News the batch did not contain nuclear secrets and had been contained in a folder in a box with other unclassified papers.
The documents are reportedly from Biden’s time as vice president, but it remains unclear what level of classification they are and how they ended up in his office.
Biden kept an office in the. Penn Biden Center, a think tank about a mile from the White House, between 2017 and 2020, when he was elected president.
On Nov. 2, his lawyers claim, they discovered the documents as they were clearing out the space to vacate it.
They immediately notified the National Archives, which retrieved the files the next morning, according to the White House.
What Happens Next?
Attorney General Merrick Garland must decide whether to open a criminal investigation into Biden’s alleged mishandling of the documents. To that end, he appointed John Lausch Jr., the U.S. attorney in Chicago and a Trump appointee, to conduct an initial inquiry.
Garland reportedly picked him for the role despite him being in a different jurisdiction to avoid appearing partial.
Lausch has reportedly finished the initial part of his inquiry and provided a preliminary report to Garland.
If a criminal investigation is opened, Garland will likely appoint an independent special counsel to lead it.
The case mirrors a similar DoJ special counsel investigation into former President Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified materials and obstruction of efforts to properly retrieve them.
On Nov. 18, Garland appointed Jack Smith to investigate over 300 classified documents found at Trump’s Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago.
Trump resisted multiple National Archives requests for the documents for months leading up to the FBI’s raid on his property, then handed over 15 boxes of files only for even more to be found still at Mar-a-Lago.
“When is the FBI going to raid the many houses of Joe Biden, perhaps even the White House?” Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday. “These documents were definitely not declassified.”
Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the new chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told reporters he will investigate the Biden files.
Republicans have been quick to pounce on the news and compare it to Trump’s classified files, but Democrats have pointed out differences in the small number of documents and Biden’s willingness to cooperate with the National Archives.
The White House has yet to explain why, if the files were first discovered six days before the midterm elections, the White House waited two months to reveal the news to the public.
See what others are saying: (CNN) (The New York Times) (BBC)
Politics
Lawmakers Propose Bill to Protect Fertility Treatments Amid Post-Roe Threats
Published
1 month agoon
December 15, 2022By
Lili Stenn
The move comes as a number of states are considering anti-abortion bills that could threaten or ban fertility treatments by redefining embryos or fetuses as “unborn human beings” without exceptions for IVF.
The Right To Build Families Act of 2022
A group of Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill Thursday that would codify the right to use assisted reproductive technologies like in-vitro fertility (IVF) treatments into federal law.
The legislation, dubbed the Right To Build Families Act of 2022, was brought forward by Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Il) and Patty Murray (D-Wa.) alongside Rep. Susan Wild (D- Pa.). The measure would bar any limits on seeking or receiving IVF treatments and prohibit regulations on a person’s ability to retain their “reproductive genetic materials.”
The bill would also protect physicians who provide these reproductive services and allow the Justice Department to take civil action against any states that try to limit access to fertility treatments.
The lawmakers argue it is necessary to protect IVF because a number of states have been discussing and proposing legislation that could jeopardize or even ban access to the treatments in the wake of the Roe v. Wade reversal.
“IVF advocates in this country today are publicly telling us, ‘We need this kind of legislation to be able to protect this,’” Murray told HuffPost. “And here we are after the Dobbs decision where states are enacting laws and we have [anti-abortion] advocates who are now starting to talk, especially behind closed doors, about stopping the right for women and men to have IVF procedures done.”
Fertility Treatments Under Treat
The state-level efforts in question are being proposed by Republican lawmakers who wish to further limit abortions by redefining when life begins. Some of the proposals would define embryos or fetuses as “unborn human beings” without exceptions for those that are created through IVF, where an egg is fertilized by a sperm outside the body and then implanted in a uterus.
For example, a bill has already been pre-filed in Virginia for the 2023 legislative session that explicitly says life begins at fertilization and does not have any specific language that exempts embryos made through IVF.
Experts say these kinds of laws are concerning for a number of reasons. In the IVF process, it is typical to fertilize multiple eggs, but some are discarded. If a person becomes pregnant and does not want to keep the rest of their eggs. It is also normal that not all fertilized eggs will be viable, so physicians will get rid of those.
Sometimes doctors will also implant multiple fertilized eggs to increase the likelihood of pregnancy, but that can result in multiple eggs being fertilized. In order to prevent having multiple babies at once and improve the chance of a healthy pregnancy, people can get a fetal reduction and lower the number of fetuses.
All of those actions could become illegal under proposals that do not provide exemptions.
“In my case, I had five fertilized eggs, and we discarded three because they were not viable. That is now potentially manslaughter in some of these states,” said Duckworth, who had both of her daughters using IVF.
“I also have a fertilized egg that’s frozen. My husband and I haven’t decided what we will do with it, but the head of the Texas Right to Life organization that wrote the bounty law for Texas has come out and specifically said he’s going after IVF next, and he wants control of the embryos,” Duckworth added.
In a hearing after Roe was overturned, Murray also raised concerns about “whether parents and providers could be punished if an embryo doesn’t survive being thawed for implantation, or for disposing unused embryos.”
Experts have said that even if anti-abortion laws defining when life begins do provide exceptions, it would be contradictory and confusing, so providers would likely err on the side of caution and not provide services out of fear of prosecution.
“[Abortion bans] are forcing women to stay pregnant against their will and are, at the very same time, threatening Americans’ ability to build a family through services like IVF,” Murray said in a statement to Axios. “It’s hard to comprehend, and it’s just plain wrong.”
The federal legislation to combat these efforts faces an uphill battle. It is unlikely it will be passed in the last few days of lame duck session, and with control of Congress being handed to Republicans come January, movement in the lower chamber will be hard fought.
Duckworth, however, told Axios that she will keep introducing the legislation “until we can get it passed.”
See what others are saying: (Axios) (HuffPost) (USA Today)
Politics
Hundreds of Oath Keepers Claim to Be Current or Former DHS Employees
Published
2 months agoon
December 13, 2022By
Chris Tolve
The revelation came just weeks after the militia’s founder, Stewart Rhodes, was convicted on seditious conspiracy charges for his involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
An Agency Crawling With Extremists
Over 300 members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group claim to be current or former employees at the Department of Homeland Security, the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) reported Monday.
The review appears to be the first significant public examination of the group’s leaked membership list to focus on the DHS.
The agencies implicated include Border Patrol, Coast Guard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Secret Service.
“I am currently a 20 year Special Agent with the United States Secret Service. I have been on President Clinton and President Bush’s protective detail. I was a member and instructor on the Presidential Protective Division’s Counter Assault Team (CAT),” one person on the list wrote.
POGO stated that the details he provided the Oath Keepers match those he made in a sworn affidavit filed in federal court.
The finding came just weeks after Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was convicted on seditious conspiracy charges for his involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“Law enforcement agents who have associations with groups that seek to undermine democratic governance pose a heightened threat because they can compromise probes, misdirecting investigations or leaking confidential investigative information to those groups,” POGO said in its report.
In March, the DHS published an internal study finding that “the Department has significant gaps that have impeded its ability to comprehensively prevent, detect, and respond to potential threats related to domestic violent extremism within DHS.”
Some experts have suggested the DHS may be especially prone to extremist sentiments because of its role in policing immigration. In 2016, the ICE union officially endorsed then-candidate Donald Trump for president, making the first such endorsement in the agency’s history.
The U.S. Government has a White Supremacy Problem
Copious academic research and news reports have shown that far-right extremists have infiltrated local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies.
In May, a Reuters investigation found at least 15 self-identified law enforcement trainers and dozens of retired instructors listed in a database of Oath Keepers.
In 2019, Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting found that almost 400 current or former law enforcement officials belonged to Confederate, anti-Islam, misogynistic or anti-government militia Facebook groups.
The Pentagon has long struggled with its own extremism problem, which appears to have particularly festered in the wake of the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Nearly one in four active-duty service members said in a 2017 Military Times poll that they had observed white nationalism among the troops, and over 40% of non-white service members said the same.
The prevalence of racism in the armed forces is not surprising given that many of the top figures among right-wing extremist groups hailed from the military and those same groups are known to deliberately target disgruntled, returning veterans for recruitment.
Brandon Russell, the founder of the neo-Nazi group AtomWaffen, served in the military, as did George Lincoln Rockwell, commander of the American Nazi Party, Louis Beam, leader of the KKK, and Richard Butler, founder of the Aryan Nation.
In January, NPR reported that one in five people charged in federal or D.C. courts for their involvement in the Capitol insurrection were current or former military service members.
See what others are saying: (Project on Government Oversight) (Business Insider)

Britney Spears Asks For Privacy After Fans Called Cops to Conduct a Wellness Check on Her

200 Children Seeking Asylum in the U.K. Are Missing

Meta Reinstates Trump on Facebook and Instagram

Conservatives are Mad at “Woke” Xbox for Minor Climate-Related Updates

Razzies Apologize For Nominating 12-Year-Old, Adopt Age Rules For Future Nominations

Washington State Launches Investigation Into Abuse at Private Special Ed. Schools

SeatGeek CEO Calls to Break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation in Senate Hearing Following Taylor Swift Debacle

Mass Shootings in Half Moon Bay, Oakland Rock California

Alec Baldwin and “Rust” Armorer Charged With Involuntary Manslaughter Over Death of Halyna Hutchins

Meta Encouraged to Change Nudity Policy in Potential Win For Free The Nipple Movement

TMZ Slammed For Reporting Britney Spears Had “Manic” Meltdown at Restuarant

Mia Khalifa Shuts Down Death Rumors, Sparks Conversations About Plastic Surgery and Adult Film Industry

Influencer Coconut Kitty Accused of Editing Nude and Suggestive Photos To Make Herself Look Underage

Dixie D’Amelio Responds to Rumors That She Faked Seizures to Get Out of Class

Joe Rogan Denies Spotify Censorship Rumors, According to Alex Jones

Netflix Apologizes and Changes Marketing Materials for “Cuties” After Backlash

Conservatives Slam Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion Over “WAP” Lyrics

Corinna Kopf Accused of Scamming Fans With OnlyFans Launch

Influencers Exposed for Posting Fake Private Jet Photos

Skincare Influencer Susan Yara Apologizes for Misleading Fans By Promoting Brand She Secretly Owned

Lil Nas X and Bella Poarch May Have Abandoned Plans To Participate In TikTok NFT Program

Belle Delphine Calls Out YouTube for Double Standards After It Terminated Her Channel

Why The Internet Is Freaking Out About The Cringiest Man On The Internet & Today’s News

“She Is Evil!” What Addison Rae Religious Backlash Reveals, Joe Rogan, Jake Paul, Teacher Shortage

Alex Jones Was Just Exposed BY HIS OWN LAWYERS! lol WOW! Beyonce Backlash, GenZ Debt, & Today’s News

These Ninja Scamming Accusations Expose A Growing Problem & How Spiders Are Causing Massive Fires

The Problem With Will Smith’s Apology Video & Taylor Swift Climate Backlash, Taiwan, & Today’s News

PewDiePie Backlash Grows After Mocking Deaf TikToker, Jon Stewart Unloads on Cruel Cowards, & More

Leave Shawn Mendes Alone You Weirdos! He’s Not The One You Should Be Angry At… (And Today’s News)

The Logan Paul, Nope, Pink Sauce Backlash Really Exposed 4 Key Things…

Why Dave Chappelle Can’t Get Cancelled…Even After He Gets Cancelled & What FaZe Clan’s Flop Exposes

Get These People Off TV If They’re Going To Be This Dumb! Plus AOC Arrested, Student Loans, & More

HE IS A DRUGGED-OUT MAN BABY! Why People Are Talking About Joe Rogan, Zack Snyder, Climate Change, &

U.K. Ad Authority Bans Demi Lovato Album Poster For Causing “Serious” Offense to Christians

Conservatives are Mad at “Woke” Xbox for Minor Climate-Related Updates

“Ruthlessly Productive”: Marketing Agency Using AI Interns

Court Upholds Misogynist Influencer Andrew Tate’s Arrest

Razzies Apologize For Nominating 12-Year-Old, Adopt Age Rules For Future Nominations

FAA Lifts Order to Ground All Flights in U.S. After Systems Failure

Feds Investigate Classified Files Found in Biden’s Former Office

TMZ Slammed For Reporting Britney Spears Had “Manic” Meltdown at Restuarant

Meta Further Restricts How Targeted Ads Reach Teens

Amazon Labor Union Receives Official Union Certification

SeatGeek CEO Calls to Break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation in Senate Hearing Following Taylor Swift Debacle

Britney Spears Asks For Privacy After Fans Called Cops to Conduct a Wellness Check on Her

200 Children Seeking Asylum in the U.K. Are Missing

Meta Reinstates Trump on Facebook and Instagram

Conservatives are Mad at “Woke” Xbox for Minor Climate-Related Updates

Razzies Apologize For Nominating 12-Year-Old, Adopt Age Rules For Future Nominations

Washington State Launches Investigation Into Abuse at Private Special Ed. Schools

SeatGeek CEO Calls to Break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation in Senate Hearing Following Taylor Swift Debacle

Mass Shootings in Half Moon Bay, Oakland Rock California

Alec Baldwin and “Rust” Armorer Charged With Involuntary Manslaughter Over Death of Halyna Hutchins

Meta Encouraged to Change Nudity Policy in Potential Win For Free The Nipple Movement

TMZ Slammed For Reporting Britney Spears Had “Manic” Meltdown at Restuarant

Why The Internet Is Freaking Out About The Cringiest Man On The Internet & Today’s News

“She Is Evil!” What Addison Rae Religious Backlash Reveals, Joe Rogan, Jake Paul, Teacher Shortage

Alex Jones Was Just Exposed BY HIS OWN LAWYERS! lol WOW! Beyonce Backlash, GenZ Debt, & Today’s News

These Ninja Scamming Accusations Expose A Growing Problem & How Spiders Are Causing Massive Fires

The Problem With Will Smith’s Apology Video & Taylor Swift Climate Backlash, Taiwan, & Today’s News

PewDiePie Backlash Grows After Mocking Deaf TikToker, Jon Stewart Unloads on Cruel Cowards, & More

Leave Shawn Mendes Alone You Weirdos! He’s Not The One You Should Be Angry At… (And Today’s News)

The Logan Paul, Nope, Pink Sauce Backlash Really Exposed 4 Key Things…

Why Dave Chappelle Can’t Get Cancelled…Even After He Gets Cancelled & What FaZe Clan’s Flop Exposes

Get These People Off TV If They’re Going To Be This Dumb! Plus AOC Arrested, Student Loans, & More
