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theliterateape · 3 years

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We Killed Jason Todd

By Matt Markman

In 1988 my friends and I killed a kid.

He was just a boy really. We had help it wasn’t just me and my pals. there were adults involved, lots of them. I mean we were young we were just thirteen and really couldn’t comprehend the ramification of our actions, the adults knew what they were doing. I’m painting it to sound way more sinister than it was, and in today’s society, wouldn’t trend on Twitter but maybe in the ’80s, it was probably considered quite ominous.

To set your mind at ease, it was Jason Todd. You know, Batman's sidekick, The Boy Wonder, Robin—well, the second Robin anyways. And I helped kill him.

I was big into comic books but my favorite was, The Dark Knight, The Caped Crusader, The Batman… He donned the best costume, he had all the money and was the most intelligent of all the superheroes. That last trait right there, the fact that he was considered a superhero and he had no actual super powers made him cooler than the other side of the pillow. You know how The Big Bang Theory has convinced the world it’s an Emmy-winning sitcom worth watching? I think it’s the fact that Batman was someone any one of us could actually be. Sure we needed to start with a base coat of genius followed by a splash of handsome billionaire playboy then train overseas in martial arts for several years, but if you had those things you, too, could be a vigilante. You ask me today and I'd stand by the fact that Batman would beat Superman in a fight, say ten out of ten times. This is not debatable because super beings from another planet are not real.

My favorite thing about Batman, though, is his ability to balance out good and evil. He spawned one of the greatest comic book villains and fictional characters ever created, The Joker. They have tried and tried again but in my opinion never got close to the Clown Prince of Crime—maybe Negan from The Walking Dead, he's pretty ruthless. The Joker is what would happen if a stand-up comedian became a criminal mastermind, so basically the plot of the 2019 film Joker.

My love for Joker made sense because growing up I was always more into the bad guys than the good guys. Watching and playing with G.I.Joe, I was always on the side of Cobra Commander, the twins Tomax and Xamot, and Zartan because they were always more glamorous and eye-catching than the boring ass Joes. Just once, I’d like that “knowing is half the battle” part at the end of the cartoon to have been Storm Shadow giving us kids a tip on how to fuck up Shipwreck and his stupid Parrot. Megatron, Skeletor, Shredder, Mumm-ra…

The list goes on, but the antagonists always resonated with me. they had a much better and more intriguing agenda than the good guys did. I know that wasn't the purpose, we were supposed to cheer on the good guys, like the idea of saving the world and all, but the mayhem… It’s like Alfred Pennyworth said, “Some men just want to watch the world burn.” It’s odd because the bad guys in my life were real, the bullies and I didn't like them at all. They tormented me daily unprovoked because I was short and had big ears. Perhaps my love for the dark side stemmed for my desire to be on that side because in real life there was no Superman swooping in to rescue me from the clutches of Lex Luthor.

There were two sides, and good had a lack of champions looking out for the weaker, smaller good guys. The bad guys in my neighborhood, well, they were real and never really foiled and more importantly, they always got the girl in the end. Fuck the good guys!

My admiration for evildoers achieving their agenda was tested in 1988, Batman was running a four-part series called A Death in the Family. It was your typical Batman arc. Somehow, The Joker was going to get the upper hand on The World’s Greatest Detective only to be bested in the end by Batman. But this time, the third comic decided to do something nobody had never seen in the industry. The writers were going to give the fans the opportunity to decide where they were going to go with the story, only it was an option between two different roads, one quite unconventional. Apparently a few years earlier, one of the writers, Dennis O'Neil, had seen a sketch they did on SNL where Eddie Murphy held up a Lobster—Larry the Lobster—and was asking viewers to decide whether Larry was boiled and eaten or was to be set free. The choices were offered in the form of two phone numbers both costing fifty cents a call. One number was a vote for him to be freed and the other number was a vote for Larry to be murdered, smothered in butter, and devoured by Axel Foley. Ultimately, after nearly 500,000 calls, the people voted for Larry the lovable lobster to be pardoned with a 12,000 call margin. The popularity of this bit intrigued O'Neil and A few years later he decided to implement it in his Death in The Family storyline.

In the third book, The Joker had taken Batman's sidekick, the Boy Wonder, hostage. He’d beaten him bloody with a crowbar leaving a cliffhanger to be wrapped up in the fourth book. The last page of the comic was full page and at the top read in true ’80s Do the Right Thing fashion: “Robin will die because The Joker wants revenge, but you can prevent it with a telephone call!” They even phrased it to steer you down the hero’s path, like you can literally be Batman with one phone call. Underneath the imploring verbiage were two numbers, dial one number; The Joker fails and Robin lives, Batman would once somehow saves the day. However, call this other number and The Joker succeeds and Robin dies. Gruesomely.

Wow! They were going to let the fans decide the fate of Robin, really this was one of my earliest introductions to a reality voting competition type show. In my opinion, it was a bad idea. Robin was always the worst. Go back and read through an adventure or two involving Jason Todd and tell me he wasn't always whiney and bellyaching. He was never going to be iconic or cool like Bruce Wayne or even his predecessor Dick Grayson—the first Robin. See, Dick got pissed off, decided he was tired of being in Batman's shadow, ditched the Robin costume, threw on a black blue and gold costume, moved to another city and became Nightwing. Dick was a go getter, ambitious. Grayson’s Robin was a winner, Todd's Robin was an irritating little bitch; he was not an innocent lobster.

I went to my mother and asked if I could make a call that was going to cost just fifty cents and I would pay her back or she could just take it out of my allowance. She wanted to know what it was for and mostly wanted to confirm it wasn't for an adult sex line, which costs more than fifty cents a minute, but that’s a different story. It was nothing as tawdry as phontercourse, I just wanted to help murder an annoying teenage sidekick. My mother response was “Oh, yeah, that’s fine.”

I think after it was exposed that it wasn't phone sex anything else I said went in one ear and out the other, surely she didn't think I was actually voting for a plucky comic book sidepiece to be murdered by The Joker. So that’s what I did. I cast my vote along with a majority of DC comic book fans that shared my detest for the boy wonder. Ten thousand votes were recorded with a narrow margin going to Robin dying. I think the writers never suspected that fans would go that route.

O’Neal himself voted for Robin’s stay of execution. A man of his word, Batman issue #429 was released and Robin was killed by The Joker in an explosion and we were to blame for it. Sad to say but you give a bunch of comic book nerds the power I think it would go bad every time. That day we were all proud to be The Joker's henchmen. I felt like a soldier at the end of Star Wars cheering madly while The Joker received his metal shouting, “I helped that happen!”

So many shows these days embrace our fascination with the anti-hero with the success of The Sopranos, The Shield, Breaking Bad, hell Narcos had me rooting for Pablo Escobar—Pablo fucking Escobar. I wouldn't say I was a bad person growing up. Quite the contrary, I was a shy nerd with no power to do anything but pick my books up after they were smacked to the ground. What I’m saying is don't give me the power to make important life or death decisions with your franchise because myself and the other dorks will have the bodies of Orko, Snarf, and Jimmy Olson lying in a shallow grave, just tell me what number to dial… or text.

Matt started performing standup comedy in 2004 in Las Vegas and is now a regular at every major comedy club on the Las Vegas strip. He released his first comedy album in 2016 titled Uncut available on iTunes. More about Matt and his upcoming appearances can be found on MattMarkman.com.

#Matt Markman #Matt Markman Comedian #Matt Markman Comedian Las Vegas #Las Vegas Comedians #G.I. Joe #Skeletor #Joker #Batman #Joker kills Robin #Jason Todd

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childfc · 7 years

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OH MY GOSH I DIDN'T KNOW YOU LIKE GIRLS MEET WORLD. Tell me everything. All your opinions.

Honestly, Girl Meets World is one of my favorite TV shows, and I have so many thoughts on it and conspiracies and everything! I’m so sad to see it end. I have been seeing everywhere that fans are really trying to get Netflix to pick it up, and I think that’s a great idea, and I really hope something comes out of it. I’ll share a few of my thoughts and opinions about the show and what I ship and everything, but feel free to come talk off anon about it with me!

SHIPS

I’m not in the Girl Meets World fandom, so I don’t know a lot of the proper ship names, but I definitely ship Riley and Farkle and well as Maya and Lucas and also Zay and Smackle. Zay and Smackle especially after Sweet Sixteen! I think they have a nice friendship. But I would also love to see Lucas and Smackle together because I thought that moment they had in Topanga’s was really cute, even if it was to prove to Farkle that Smackle has feelings for him.

I also think that Riley is bisexual because there is undeniable chemistry between Maya and Riley even though I don’t ship them. And I don’t ship Riley and Lucas anymore. I did in the first season, but Lucas has matured a lot since the seventh grade, and I feel like it’s taking Riley a lot longer to grow into the person she’s supposed to be while it feels like Lucas is pretty set in stone. I just feel like Riley’s gotten more ditzy as the seasons have gone on while Lucas has only gotten stronger. I don’t see or feel any chemistry from them anymore, and I haven’t since Ski Lodge pt. 2.

Honestly, everything about the Texas episodes was great. Especially with Maya. And I don’t care, but I know that Maya only gave away Lucas to Riley because Riley gave him away to her. I believe Maya might’ve gotten lost a little bit with her friendship with Riley, but I don’t think that Maya wanted to be Riley. I think she wanted what Riley had, but I don’t think she wanted to be Riley. I also think that Maya’s feelings for Lucas weren’t because she absorbed part of Riley.

And of course, my OTP is Cory and Topanga. They were my OTP before I even knew what an OTP was. And I love Maya’s mom with Shawn! I wish we could’ve seen them together more since I Do, but it’s whatevvvvs. I love Shawn Hunter with my whole heart. He’s my babe and always has been. I mean look at him.

CONSPIRACIES

I think Farkle suffers from depression. It was in season two when he stopped wearing bright colors and being his crazy, cute little Farkle self. And I really noticed these changes in Zay’s first episode, The Secret Life, when Zay doesn’t understand Farkle the way the rest of the group does. I think part of his depression is triggered by the fact that Lucas, who is apparent to us to be his only male friend, is preoccupied by his friend from back home. From that episode, Farkle starts to loose his sparkle, looses his turtle necks, and begins to wear black. I think Farkle’s extremely jealous of Zay because of his friendship with Lucas, and I think it explains his reasoning behind the gift he gave to Zay during Secret Santa in season three.

I think they knew all along that this was going to be the last season. Disney Channel shows have a trend of changing their intro during the last season. Like in Austin and Ally, Hannah Montana, and Wizards of Waverly Place, both shows have different intros during their last seasons! Liv and Maddie also has a different intro this season, I believe.

Maya is the only person in the group who is an only child. It makes sense that she’s an only child. Her and her mother struggled a lot in her growing up, and there would be no reason for her to climb in Riley’s window if she had a friend at home. I think Zay has older sisters, Farkle has a younger brother or sister, Lucas definitely has brothers and sisters. I think his family is pretty big. And Smackle most definitely has an older brother. A brother who is MUCH older, though. Zay’s siblings also go to Abigail Adams High School.

OTHER OPINIONS

I DON’T THINK CHARLIE GARDNER IS CREEPY. I don’t. I loved Charlie Gardner and I wished he was in Season Three at least once. I didn’t want him to just be a “love interest” for Riley. I would’ve liked to see him every now and again for other reasons. I also think Charlie Gardner was great with Auggie. I would like to see him as a human in the show. With thoughts and opinions.

I think Riley is childish and in the real world, I don’t think she’d have a lot of friends and I also don’t blame Riley for creating Jexica in that episode. I think whatever happens in the next episode, if Girl Meets World is to be picked up by Netflix or later picked up somewhere else, will harden her. I don’t think one person can be so optimistic all the time, either, but I get that it’s a kids show, so I’m not too butthurt over it.

I see everyone always calling Lucas and Peyton Meyer in general a piece of bread. And they always show everything great that the rest of the cast is doing and then just says that Peyton’s being like a normal kid, which is okay too. I think Lucas and Peyton get an unnecessary amount of hate for no reason. I know he’s said some controversial things, and though I’m not sure the entire story of it, I don’t think it’s fair to judge him or hate him for something. Especially because he’s still a child. I don’t think any child should be hated or judged for making mistakes. Making mistakes is a part of life, and I think mistakes are first and foremost a learning experience. Your brain isn’t done developing until your well into your adulthood. I don’t think it’s fair to Peyton or any other child in the spotlight to be hated for being human and making mistakes.

IF IT GETS PICKED BACK UP...

If Girl Meets World is to ever get picked back up for whatever reason, these things are things that I want to happen:

Lucas Friar development. All I know about him is that he wears a lot of blue, he’s from Texas, he wants to be a veterinarian, he has a Pappy Joe, he held the record for riding a sheep, he’s a year older than everyone in his grade, and he got kicked out of his school for anger issues. WHICH DOESN’T JUST GO AWAY OVER NIGHT. THAT WOULD’VE BEEN PRESENT IN ALL THREE SEASONS AND WE ONLY SAW IT TWICE???? I don’t get it. I want to see more. I want more for him.

Siblings. I want to meet the siblings of the gang besides just Auggie. The writer’s room on twitter confirmed that they aren’t all only children, and I’d really like to meet them. I talked about siblings up there ^^^.

More Katy and Shawn. I love them. Even if they’re just sitting there.

More Josh. I know people don’t like Uriah and don’t think Maya and Josh are a good thing, but I don’t mind them. I don’t think that they’re bad for each other at all. Especially because they aren’t in a relationship. I think Josh would be a good person for Maya to spend her time with and vent to when things with her friends get rough or when things at school are too hard.

More fights between Maya and Riley. Best friends aren’t always friends. I would like to see more drama between the group just in general. The first couple of episodes of High School were great. Also, I would like to see more episodes about bullying too.

More mother/daughter moments. I don’t have a mom, so I love seeing Riley and Topanga moments as well as Maya and Katy moments. I even die a little when Minkus and Jennifer have moments with Farkle.

I would love to see more of Mr. Feeny as well.

I also want more episodes that aren’t in the school. Like a vacation episode or more dances! Or another party episode where they deal with the pressures of drugs and alcohol. Of course, that would be a stretch.

So those are all of my opinions and thoughts I have for now! I honestly could talk about this show for days. It’s one of my favorites, and I’m super upset that it’s getting cancelled. We definitely deserve at least one more season.

#girl meets world #a #Anonymous

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ethelbertpaul444-blog · 6 years

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Leo Dottavio Had A Complete Meltdown On Twitter Betches

Happy Thursday! I’ve woken up in a world where recent Bachelor in Paradise reject, Leo Dottavio, had a very public meltdown on Twitter last night. You know, the guy who gaslighted the sh*t out of Kendall, threw a drink in Joe’s face, and otherwise trashed whatever goodwill he’d earned on The Bachelorette. Over the past 24 hours, Leo has tweeted what some perceive to be attacks on former friends, threats of violence, and messed-up views on masculinity. While we expect this kind of behavior from our government, it’s much more unsettling when it comes from a Bachelor in Paradise contestant. Let’s take a look at how this spiraled out.

Apparently, things kicked off with this tweet from previous contestant Amanda Stanton.

Just got a lovely DM from Leo calling me a “piece of shit” & that my tweet about him last night is going to “come back to haunt me”…so i guess he can never blame “editing” #BachelorinParadise

— Amanda Stanton (@amandastantonnn) August 29, 2018

Oh, and in case you were wondering the HEINOUS tweet that sparked his outrage:

Catching up on #BachelorInParadise from last week. Thoughts: 1. I’m glad Jacqueline went home. She was too good for this show. 2. I love seeing @JubileeSharpe1 face on my TV! 3. Leo scares me.

— Amanda Stanton (@amandastantonnn) August 28, 2018

There was also, reportedly, a comment about Leo’s place of employment. The Daily Mail reported that Amanda said, “Slightly off topic but Leo did get fired from WaterWorld, right? Need to make sure before I take the kids…”

Apparently Leo has some sort of Jonathan Cheban-level radar for his name (as one commenter pointed out, she didn’t even tag him).

Original tweets have been deleted from this point on, but luckily US Weekly has done some detailed reporting, and Instagram account @thebachelorbanter is here with the receipts. Leo reportedly fires back with the following:

Hide yo kids, hide yo wife! . . . #thebachelorbanter #batchybantz #bachelorinparadise #bip #thebachelorette #thebachelor #thebacheloretteabc #thebachelorabc #bacheloretteabc #bachelorabc #bachelornation #thepsychopathtest #bachelor #bachelorette

A post shared by The Bachelor Banter (@thebachelorbanter) on Aug 29, 2018 at 9:07pm PDT

If you’re unclear what this is about, please see Bekah and Leo’s interactions from earlier this month. Basically, Bekah got some DMs from women alleging Leo had sexually harassed them. He denied everything and had his lawyer send Bekah a letter demanding she retract her statements and issue an apology. He insisted, as he still does, that the harassment claims are false.

At this point, Tanner (another former contestant), suggests that Leo needs help. Leo responds with a joke about being a narcissist, then tells him he wants to fight him. Again, I’d recommend reading this in full, but he really gets into the masculinity politics with the ending: “When I knock you out can I stand over you and call you a beta?” I can only hope this is a joke and real men don’t call each other “betas” and “alphas”, except I read enough Reddit to know that there are absolutely people out there who use those terms in earnest. I just can’t be sure if Leo is one of those people.

With that tweet, Leo sets off Nick Viall’s spidey senses for when a sensitive male Bachelor contestant is needed. Either that, or he felt an interaction involving the Bachelor franchise had just gone on too long without him. He chimes in with the following tweet:

Breaking news: Self proclaimed Alpha suggests Charity boxing match with someone they have a clear physical advantage over as means to inflate their own ego all while further demonstrating their deep insecurities. https://t.co/EyyR0qC6xZ

— Nick Viall (@viallnicholas28) August 29, 2018

Look, Nick Viall’s never been my favorite person. But someone if someone is going to call out toxic masculinity, the guy who cried in every episode of The Bachelor seems like a good candidate. Again, Leo deleted his responses, but US Weekly reports the following response: “Hey nick how about you and tanner at the same time vs me?… For allllll the marbles let’s goooooo.” Nick’s response to this is still up—as are the comments.

Wait … you can beat us both up at the same time? … that’s like sooo cool https://t.co/TNcyTnUBnS

— Nick Viall (@viallnicholas28) August 29, 2018

Now, maybe there’s some fun new youth lingo I’m missing out on, but I truly had no idea where Leo was going with the “marbles” comment. So I have to say that Dean’s responses are my absolute favorite here. NO, NOT JUST BECAUSE HE’S SO PRETTY. (Hi Dean!) Look how funny this is:

Are marbles still a thing? Why would anyone want ALL the marbles. Honestly, that seems like a burden.

— Dean Michael Unglert (@deanie_babies) August 29, 2018

A BURDEN. Dean. I’m laughing, I’m crying, I’m gazing into your blue, blue eyes…ugh. This brief moment of lightness is interrupted by Leo’s now-deleted tweets back at Nick, reportedly saying the following:

“Jesus your forefathers would frown at your weakness my friend…This kind of adherence to physical altercation is what makes high school kids turn to guns. Be a good example and stand up to a cyber bully like I am… in person.”

I don’t think Leo knows what “adherence” means or how to use it. But I think he meant to say that refusing to engage in physical violence is the reason why kids shoot up schools…? It’s not the guns that are the problem; it’s the fact that boys are no longer beating the sh*t out of each other on a regular basis. Someone call Betsy DeVos and get mandatory fight clubs in school across the nation.

Finally, I happily don’t have to deal with his “forefathers” comment, because Nick Viall did it for me:

Apologies for the delayed response. I went to a WaterWorld to look for you but you weren’t there.

To be honest, my forefathers might have frowned at my support of feminism and gender/race/sexual orientation equality too …so like, it’s fine https://t.co/iAPuaRg8CP

— Nick Viall (@viallnicholas28) August 29, 2018

For those of you who have lives outside of this, the WaterWorld dig is a reference to the fact that Leo reportedly works or worked there. And look, I hate to give Nick Viall the “feminist hero” title he’s so blatantly vying for, but if the gender-neutral cape fits…

Even Deanie Babies, who in all other instances wins me over, was a little off the mark with his response. He commented “I would have forgotten we’re living in the 1920’s without it,” which misses the point that sadly, this kind of garbage is as prevalent in 2018 as it ever was.

Leo ended the feud with a very confusing comment that amounts to “real men don’t shoot up schools”. No, I’m not sure how he got there, either, or if he watches the news. What I’m also not sure of? How many brain cells I lost in following this feud.

Mostly, my feelings from all this are outrage toward ABC. ABC, you need to screen your contestants better before you give them a national audience. First of all, for the safety of ALL contestants, and second of all, to give our eyes a break from this guy who is, at best, woefully inept at successfully pulling off sarcasm. 2017 me is shocked to hear me say this, but praise be for Nick Viall and Deanie Babies—the true heroes of last night’s saga.

Images: Twitter; Instagram; Twitter

Read more: https://betches.com/?p=35311

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ralphmorgan-blog1 · 6 years

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Leo Dottavio Had A Complete Meltdown On Twitter Betches

Apparently, things kicked off with this tweet from previous contestant Amanda Stanton.

— Amanda Stanton (@amandastantonnn) August 29, 2018

Oh, and in case you were wondering the HEINOUS tweet that sparked his outrage:

Catching up on #BachelorInParadise from last week. Thoughts: 1. I’m glad Jacqueline went home. She was too good for this show. 2. I love seeing @JubileeSharpe1 face on my TV! 3. Leo scares me.

— Amanda Stanton (@amandastantonnn) August 28, 2018

Apparently Leo has some sort of Jonathan Cheban-level radar for his name (as one commenter pointed out, she didn’t even tag him).

A post shared by The Bachelor Banter (@thebachelorbanter) on Aug 29, 2018 at 9:07pm PDT

— Nick Viall (@viallnicholas28) August 29, 2018

Wait … you can beat us both up at the same time? … that’s like sooo cool https://t.co/TNcyTnUBnS

— Nick Viall (@viallnicholas28) August 29, 2018

Are marbles still a thing? Why would anyone want ALL the marbles. Honestly, that seems like a burden.

— Dean Michael Unglert (@deanie_babies) August 29, 2018

Finally, I happily don’t have to deal with his “forefathers” comment, because Nick Viall did it for me:

Apologies for the delayed response. I went to a WaterWorld to look for you but you weren’t there.

To be honest, my forefathers might have frowned at my support of feminism and gender/race/sexual orientation equality too …so like, it’s fine https://t.co/iAPuaRg8CP

— Nick Viall (@viallnicholas28) August 29, 2018

Images: Twitter; Instagram; Twitter

Original Article : HERE ; This post was curated & posted using : RealSpecific

=> *********************************************** Read Full Article Here: Leo Dottavio Had A Complete Meltdown On Twitter Betches ************************************ =>

Leo Dottavio Had A Complete Meltdown On Twitter Betches was originally posted by News - Feed

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theconservativebrief · 6 years

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Lawmakers spent several hours on Wednesday grilling top executives from Facebook and Twitter on Russian misinformation online, whether Twitter is biased in how it monitors online accounts, and a few other topics for good measure.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey first answered questions about what their sites are doing to prevent Russian and other foreign actors from sowing discord on their platforms during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. Later, Dorsey faced down lawmakers during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing in which they accused Twitter of showing political bias in how it promotes and monitors accounts.

The marathon day of hearings didn’t yield too many revelations — Facebook and Twitter are apparently working hard to take down fake accounts foreign operatives, but there’s still a lot to do. Some Republican lawmakers hounded Dorsey with questions about anti-conservative bias on the site; others asked about harassment, bullying, and hate speech.

But more than the substance of the hearings, the day seemed to be defined by drama on the sidelines, including a bizarre confrontation between conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).

Here’s a recap of what you might have missed.

Russian interference was the main focus of the first hearing, though lawmakers and tech CEOs didn’t offer many new revelations about attempts to spread false information by Russia or other foreign actors.

Instead, they focused on what social media platforms have done in the past year to help combat foreign interference and fake accounts online — and what’s still missing.

In her opening statement, Sandberg acknowledged that Facebook had been slow to act, but was now investing heavily in people and technology, including artificial intelligence, to help “find bad content and locate bad actors.” She cited shutting down accounts, increasing transparency for ads, requiring documentation for political ad buys, and collaborating with partners like law enforcement to root out problems.

Dorsey, who tweeted his opening statement, also acknowledged missteps on Twitter’s part, but said they were now taking similar steps on his platform.

We‘ve made significant progress recently on tactical solutions like identification of many forms of manipulation intending to artificially amplify information, more transparency around who buys ads and how they are targeted, and challenging suspicious logins and account creation.

— jack (@jack) September 5, 2018

Lawmakers acknowledged their efforts, but said more had to be done. Among the areas that came up: protecting users’ privacy; alerting users so they know they’re interacting with bots; and alerting users that they’ve interacted with inauthentic accounts.

“This problem is not going away,” Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said. “I’m not even sure it’s trending in the right direction.”

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

An empty chair played a starring role at the Senate hearing.

Google’s top executives declined an invitation to appear alongside Twitter and Facebook, and lawmakers made their ire known by leaving an empty chair and placard to represent the tech company.

“I’m deeply disappointed that Google, one of the most influential digital platforms in the world, chose not to send its own top corporate leadership to engage this committee,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said during the hearing.

The tech company had reportedly offered to send its senior vice president of global affairs, Kent Walker, but Burr and Warner weren’t satisfied with that substitution, leaving the empty chair instead.

Google chose to release a statement online instead of attending the hearing, saying it’s “committed to working with Congress on these issues.”

Come for the policy discussions about foreign interference, stay for the bizarre confrontation between Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Infowars’ sAlex Jones.

Jones and other conspiracy theorists and alt-right figures who have been banned for violating rules on various social media platforms showed up at the hearings, in an apparent protest of what they see as censorship.

Jones accosted Rubio as he was answering questions about foreign interference and misinformation on social media, interrupting the senator and shouting at him. Rubio tried to ignore Jones’s comments, until Jones tapped Rubio on the shoulder, as Vox’s Emily Stewart detailed:

“Don’t touch me again, man. I’m asking you not to touch me,” Rubio told Jones.

Well, sure, I just patted you nicely,” Jones said.

“I know, but I don’t want to be touched,” Rubio said. “I don’t know who you are.”

Jones talked over him, saying he wanted him to be arrested, and Rubio said he didn’t know who Jones was.

“You’re not going to get arrested, man. You’re not going to get arrested; I’ll take care of you myself,” Rubio said.

Jones, surprised, looked at reporters and said, “Oh, he’ll beat me up.” He told Rubio he wasn’t ��going to silence me” and called him “a little gangster thug.”

Wow, this video. Alex JONES calls RUBIO a “frat boy” and touches Rubio on the shoulder. Rubio tells Jones not to touch him and that he won’t be arrested because I’ll “take care of you myself.”https://t.co/AGRMrDBMGa

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) September 5, 2018

Rubio later claimed that he thought he knew of Jones, he didn’t know what he looked like until their encounter this afternoon.

The incident served to highlight the strange Republican coalition that has developed under Trump. As Vox’s Jane Coaston has written, while some Republicans are sympathetic to conservative claims that they face bias on social media platforms, “most mainstream Republicans … prefer their support to be at least one step removed from characters like Jones… all of whom have made a living off blatant racism and accusing mass shooting survivors of being paid actors.”

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing on Wednesday afternoon devolved partisan finger-pointing — a markedly different tone from the largely bipartisan and cordial Senate hearing this morning.

Republicans asked questions about whether the social media platforms’ attempts to monitor content on the site was unfairly biased against conservatives, an issue that Trump has complained about in recent weeks.

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) told Dorsey that: “We wouldn’t be having this discussion if there wasn’t a general agreement that your company had discriminated against conservatives.”

Democrats, meanwhile, criticized Republicans for wasting a hearing on a fake controversy, rather than tackling the actual problems with social media, from foreign influence to bullying and trolling. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), the committee’s ranking member, complained in his opening statement about the purpose of the hearing.

“Over the past few weeks, President Trump and many Republicans have peddled conspiracy theories about Twitter and other social media platforms to whip up their base and fundraise,” Pallone said. “I fear the Republicans are using this hearing for those purposes instead of addressing the serious issues raised by social media platforms that affect American’s everyday lives.”

Another House member, Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD) read a list of White House controversies that Congress should be investigating instead of grilling Twitter about alleged anti-conservative bias.

Dorsey, throughout the hearing and in his opening statement, said Twitter is working and studying accidental bias in its algorithms to ensure impartiality, and trying to correct any unintentional bias.

Our technology was using a decision making criteria that considers the behavior of people following these accounts. We decided that wasn’t fair, and corrected. We‘ll always improve our technology and algorithms to drive healthier usage, and measure the impartiality of outcomes.

— jack (@jack) September 5, 2018

In one of the most bizarre moments of the day, Laura Loomer, an alt-right activist, interrupted the House hearing to protest Twitter censorship. But rather than drown out the proceedings, she got interrupted — by a congressman doing an auctioneer bit.

Loomer began shouting in the middle of the hearing that Dorsey was “trying to influence the election, to sway the election, so that Democrats can steal the election!”

House members called for order, and in the confusion that followed, Rep. Billy Long (R-MO) decided to do a quick, comedic turn as an auctioneer. It’s something he’s done before, but here’s the video from Wednesday’s hearing:

Original Source -> 5 things you may have missed from the Facebook and Twitter hearings on Capitol Hill

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

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fisayotower · 7 years

Text

THE OBAMA YEARS: A REVIEW

Wow, wow, wow, 8 years gone quickly! As they say in Africa…President come…president go..only God remains on the throne! The Obama presidency is wrapping up soon!

So let’s get straight to it. We review his administration on the following major areas.

(1) Healthcare: The passing of the Affordable Care Act ACA (Obamacare) was a huge achievement for the Obama Administration. It’s amazing that the richest country like the USA did not have a comprehensive health care plan. Despite the initial challenges, millions of people have signed up- great! For people with pre-existing medical conditions and the very poor this was a major win. I mean- look at this video of a life-long republican thanking Obama for saving his life. However, for most ordinary/ middle class people with no pre-existing condition: not soo good! This year, premiums are set to rise by 25% for many people! Why this this happened? Simply because the ACA was written by healthcare lobbysists. And these days when corporations and lobbyists make laws, guess who get screwed- oh yes, the average joe. I would have thought a county like the USA will have Universal healthcare like their counterparts in Europe (Here is Donnie Trump talking about Scotland’s healthcare)- arhh the lobbyists and health insurance firms do not want that and Obama was too weak to implement a radical change in the healthcare system.

(2) Economy: When Obama took office 20 January 2009, the global economy was in chaos. Thanks to Brother George Bush and our blessed friends from Wall Street. Unemployment rate was 7.8% and a lot of people with failed mortgages were getting thrown out of their houses. Now the unemployment rate is 4.8%. 11.3millions jobs under President Obama- Jobs added for 75 straight months super! Credit to Obama for bailing out the auto industry However, on a closer look , one observes that the policies taken in the wake of the recession were almost similar to what was done by right wing Governments in Europe (e.g UK).- bail out the banks, auto industries in the hope that they turn around and stimulate the economy. Guess who got richer- the top 1%! Obama even made 82% of the George bush tax cuts for the right permanent in 2012 – what! These guys are just one big club looking out for the interest of the elite. Please see the chart below of income growth in the USA (the source is Robert Reich former Labour secretary under Bill Clinton; a Democratic lending Professor). Despite the jobs added, it’s the top 1-5% in the 95th percentile (see the graph below), who have seen their wages grow under

Obama. The rest are working more with little wage growth or at worse earning less! (P.S: Obama said he was s surprised trump won- completely out of touch! Ask Bill Clinton campaign manager James Carville : it’s the economy!!!!)

Even the democrats know this but they pretend and lie in public. Here is the current chairwoman of the Democratic National Party- Aunt Donna in public (Twitter)

Under President Obama, the economy has experienced a record 70 straight months of private-sector job growth. Over 14 million jobs!

But in private, the same Aunty Donna (John Podesta emails)

I think people are more in despair about how things are — yes new jobs but they are low wage jobs. HOUSING is a huge issue. Most people pay half of what they make to rent,”

So how do we analyse the economy under Obama- it depends on where you are on the income ladder! And what verdict do we give Obama for the economy- well, we got trump!

(3) Foreign Policy: How do I describe this- The take down of Osama, The Iran deal and the Cuba deal were great. Unfortunately for the rest- fail! Fail! Fail! Pants on fire!!!!! For many Americans, this may come as a shock to you because your mainstream media does not tell you- the whole Middle East is boiling! Your handsome looking president who you think can never hurt a fly dropped 26,171 bombs in the middle east last year.

His number one mistake was appointing Clinton as his Secretary of State. In 2007, he ridiculed her experience. Then all of a sudden he tells us she is the most qualified person ever. In a moment of humility, Obama mentioned that Libya was his greatest regret- and who was responsible for it- Hillary Clinton!.

Apart from Libya- Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia- arming “moderate rebels”who then decamp to terror groups. Spending $500m to train 4-5 rebel fighters was just epic! I can go on and on. John McCain warned us (by the way, not even sure John McCain would have been better) but we were swayed by the smooth talking politician and were ignoring most of his foreign policy disaster as it unveiled in real time.

Oh and the Russia Russia Russia rants. These guys want war with a nuclear power. Are you gadamn insane!

Hold on- but Obama as awarded the Nobel peace prize- wow!

(4) Civil rights, Human Liberties and Race relations: Let’s divide this into two parts- If you are LGBTQ or transgender- fantastic you had a wonderful president. My reasoning for this is that corporations and lobbyists do not really have any issue with them. If they had, Obama will have balked under their pressure.

For other minorities- sorry! Despite the barrage of killings, Obama was too weak to enact legislation that could help curtail the unnecessary deaths- Speech after speech but no action. You will think a black president will look out for African American and minority folks. Unfortunately the sad state of inner cities in places like Chicago remains in place.

Finally many of the insane laws that give the government unauthorized ability to snoop into your “business”. He used them; he did not prosecute any of the perpetuators of the 2003-date war in Iraq. He is handing over all these to Donnie Trump- wow!

(5) Freedom of the Press and Freedom of information: Obama kept talking about “protecting democracy” and freedom of press in beautiful speeches. However, his actions did not match his words. His administration denied more Freedom of Information acts than any other administration (even that of George bush). His administration has gone after journalists who try to expose the corruption in the administration big time! And in October came the biggest surprise- the media colludes with Democratic Party and politicians to edit articles before posting. I thought only republicans will do such a thing- turns out the democrats are worse. SO much for free speech sir!

(6) Political tactics and strategy: we were all told that Obama was the master political tactician, a master in strategy, understands the pulse of the people, had a fantastic data operation and was a 3Dimensional political Ludo player. However, we saw that the republicans took him for wild ride in almost every aspect. He did not understand how to use the “bully pulpit” (as Theodore Roosevelt will say) to finish them off by taking his message directly to the people . In fact, my research shows that the Obamacare law was a refined version of the health care law passed by republican Mitt Romney in Massachusetts. Yet the republicans still bashed Obamacare and he let them win on that point! What kind of 3D politics was he playingSo what are his actual results? He came to power (won the Whitehouse) and had a democratic majority in the senate, congress. He now leaves the top job with democrats having lost control of the senate, congress and with democrats in general holding less elected offices at any time since the 1920s! (source: npr.org). I’ll stop here

CONCLUSION:

I think credit is due to Mr Obama and his team for Healthcare reform and rescuing the economy from the depth of recession. But that’s it really. Maybe we expected too much from him.

We have been talking about changing the system (please see older Donvuz Masterclass posts on this blog to understand this) and we expected a president who would change the system got a president who kept the system just the way it is. Apparently, Americans were tired themselves and we have Donnie Trump. Weep not for Mr Obama though, he will go about making speeches and do very financially for himself.

Please note if Trump is able to initiate the kind of Universal Healthcare in Europe and improves the financial conditions of the working middle class, the credit I gave Obama above will be finished and his presidency will be forgotten in a jiffy!

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