States Call on Facebook to Launch Hate-Speech Hotline
WASHINGTON—A group of Democratic attorneys general jumped into the debate over monitoring content on social media Wednesday, urging Facebook Inc. to take additional steps to combat harassment and hate speech. In a letter to Facebook executives, the attorneys general for California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois and other states called on the social-media platform to offer live, real-time assistance so users can report intimidation and harassment.
Source:Wall Street Journal
August 05, 2020 21:13 UTC
The celebrities who have donated to the Black Lives Matter movement
Celebrities have donated to causes related to the Black Lives Matter movement as the nation continues to grapple with protests related to systemic racism and police brutality. A renewed focus was placed on the Black Lives Matter movement after the death of George Floyd on May 25 while in he was in police custody in Minneapolis. He then suggested people donate to Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective, Black Lives Matter, Equal Justice Initiative, Fair Fight and the Transgender Gender-Variant & Intersex Justice Project. Youth Justice Coalition, Black Lives Matter, Campaign Zero, NAACP, Equal Justice Initiative.”BTSThe Korean pop band BTS donated $1 million to the Black Lives Matter organization, according to Variety. We love you, we LOVE YOU...and BLACK LIVES MATTER," they concluded their statement.
Source:Fox News
August 05, 2020 21:11 UTC
It’s Trump Jr. vs. Trump Sr. Over an Alaskan Mineral Mine
It was unclear whether he had mentioned his concerns to the president recently, but the person said Donald Trump Jr. had raised it several times since the 2016 election. President Trump, asked Wednesday evening about his son’s tweet, was noncommittal but said, “I will look at both sides of it.”Nanci Morris Lyon, a fishing guide and the co-owner of Bear Trail Lodge on the Naknek River near Bristol Bay, hosted Donald Trump Jr., his son Donald III and his brother Eric Trump in July 2014 for Eric Trump’s bachelor party. Ms. Lyon, who said she had been an outspoken opponent of the mine for more than a decade, spent a lot of time with the Trumps over 10 days. “I’ll guarantee you he heard about Pebble Mine,” she said, referring to Donald Trump Jr. “Because if you go fishing with me, you’re going to hear about it.”Ms. Lyon said that Donald Trump Jr. and his brother were “very grateful” to have had the experience of fishing in such an untouched, wild place. “They understood how ludicrous this expansive mine was.”Mr. Ayers did not respond to questions about why he opposed the mine.
Source:New York Times
August 05, 2020 21:08 UTC
Two Canadian Arctic ice caps have completely disappeared, satellite imagery shows
(CNN) New satellite images from NASA show that Canada's St. Patrick Bay ice caps have completely disappeared. The very hot temperatures in the summer of 2015 reduced the longevity of the St. Patrick's Bay ice caps. There are other glaciers near the now gone St. Patrick's Bay ice caps, such as the Murray and Simmons ice caps, which sit at a higher elevation. The disappearance of the St. Patrick's Bay ice caps is "an exclamation point of what's happening in the Arctic," Serreze added. Satellite images taken in July 2020 show the disappearance of the St. Patrick's Bay ice caps.
Source:CNN
August 05, 2020 21:00 UTC
The Universal Loneliness of Powfu
That’s especially true on “Im Used to It,” which begins with a harmony of coos and oohs and zzzzs, and unfolds into a lovelorn tale about not feeling good enough about yourself except for when one special person pays attention. “I didn’t want to ask you out, ’cause I’m not who you talk about,” Powfu raps just before the chorus, at which point he turns to pained nasal singing: “Your boyfriend’s a douche that thinks he’s cool/And doesn’t deserve a girl like you.”That dynamic also shapes “Popular Girl, Typical Boy,” which is a “You Belong With Me” for socially reluctant e-boys. What’s most absorbing is how the verses and choruses function in tension with each other — singing the hook, Beabadoobee (the Dido to his Eminem here) sounds reluctant and a little distant, but the lyrics teem with sweetness. It’s exactly the sort of pop song that feels so specifically interior that it could only grow to what it’s become, one broken soul at a time. Powfu“Poems of the Past”(Columbia)
Source:New York Times
August 05, 2020 21:00 UTC
In Belarus, Veteran Leader Alexander Lukashenko Faces Unexpected Challenger
MOSCOW—Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, one of Europe’s longest-serving leaders, is facing an unprecedented challenge from a 37-year-old newcomer ahead of Sunday’s presidential election, a sign of the groundswell of frustration with Mr. Lukashenko’s 26-year reign. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has tapped Belarusians’ anger over allegations of human rights abuses, economic stagnation, and Mr. Lukashenko’s erratic handling of the coronavirus crisis. The widespread frustration has pushed tens of thousands of people to take to...
Source:Wall Street Journal
August 05, 2020 20:36 UTC
NBA releases testing results, no players confirmed positive
The league released its latest results Wednesday for coronavirus tests performed on players participating in the restarted season at Walt Disney World, and the numbers are still perfect. Of the 343 players tested since results were last announced July 29, none has been confirmed positive. That means no player has tested positive since entering the so-called bubble last month. There were two players who tested positive on arrival at Disney, with neither of those making it out of quarantine and potentially exposing anyone inside the bubble. “I think not only has the league, but I think the players and everyone, they’ve followed through.
Source:Fox News
August 05, 2020 20:26 UTC
How Twitter's Massive Hack Went Down
Ryan Knutson is the co-host of The Journal. Previously, he spent more than four years in the newsroom covering the wireless industry, and was responsible for a string of scoops including Verizon's $130 billion buyout of Vodafone's stake in their joint venture, Sprint and T-Mobile's never ending courtship and a hack of the 911 emergency system that spread virally on Twitter. He was also a regular author of A-heds, including one about millennials discovering TV antennas. Previously, he reported for ProPublica, PBS Frontline and OPB, the NPR affiliate station in Portland, Ore. He grew up in Beaverton, Ore. and graduated from the University of Oregon.
Source:Wall Street Journal
August 05, 2020 20:26 UTC
Ex-Atlanta cop accused of killing Rayshard Brooks sues city, mayor over firing
The former Atlanta police officer accused of shooting Rayshard Brooks in a Wendy's parking lot is suing the mayor and interim police chief for firing him, claiming the dismissal violated not only his constitutional rights but also city code. Rolfe was fired on June 13, a day after he fatally shot Brooks. But when officers told him he’d had too much to drink to be driving and tried to handcuff him, Brooks resisted. Brooks grabbed one of their Tasers and fled, firing the Taser at Rolfe as he ran away. The proper steps, outlined in the city code, were not taken before Rolfe was fired by then-Chief Erika Shields, who resigned the same day.
Source:Fox News
August 05, 2020 20:15 UTC
Rape survivor who appeared in Netflix documentary dead by suicide
Daisy Coleman, a victim of high school sexual assault and advocate for rape survivors whose story appeared in the 2016 Netflix documentary ‘Audrie & Daisy,’ has died by suicide. Her mother announced her death Tuesday night on social media, and the SafeBAE foundation, which she co-founded, also issued a statement on social media. “My daughter Catherine Daisy Coleman committed suicide tonight,” Melinda Coleman wrote in a Facebook post. The Netflix documentary details how Coleman’s family was outcast and ostracized by the community after the incident. But we want to be mindful of all the young survivors who looked up to her.
Source:Fox News
August 05, 2020 20:15 UTC
Susan Rice on her Trump-supporting son: ‘I love him dearly’
Former UN Ambassador Susan Rice opened up about her right-leaning son in an interview Wednesday, saying blood is thicker than politics. "I have a 23-year-old son whom I love dearly, whose politics are very, very different from my own and from the rest of our family," the former Obama administration cabinet member told NPR. And yet, at the end of the day, you know, I love him dearly, and he loves me." "We agree, for example, on the importance of the United States playing a responsible, principled leadership role in the world,” Rice said of her son. We agree on the importance of American allies, and in a continued American commitment to NATO,” the younger Rice said.
Source:Fox News
August 05, 2020 20:03 UTC
Fact check: Trump makes at least 20 false claims in Fox & Friends interview
The state of the pandemic: Trump said, "Much of the country's in really good shape." Nevada's plans for mail-in voting: Trump said that, under Nevada's plans for mail-in voting, "anybody that ever walked will get" a ballot. NATO and Obama: Trump said President Barack Obama, unlike him, did not even "talk about" the need for other NATO countries to increase their defense spending. Facts First: Obama certainly used gentler public language than Trump has, but Obama : Obama certainly used gentler public language than Trump has, but Obama did urge members to hike spending. Facts First: Trump : Trump did not sign a bill and did not "re-institute" anything; he simply issued an executive order urging the government to prosecute people to the fullest possible extent under existing laws.
Source:CNN
August 05, 2020 20:03 UTC
Hiroshima 75th Anniversary: Preserving Survivors’ Message of Peace
TOKYO — The hibakusha, as the survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are known in Japan, have achieved a powerful feat of alchemy, transforming their nightmarish memories of the blasts and their aftermath into a visceral force for promoting a world free of nuclear arms. Each year for over half a century, many of them have gathered in the early hours of Aug. 6 at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park to mourn the city’s destruction by the American military during World War II, and to serve as a living testament to the abiding dangers of the bomb. But on Thursday, as Hiroshima marks the 75th anniversary of the nuclear assault, the hibakusha will be a diminished presence, a victim of the twin forces of the coronavirus pandemic and advancing age. “There were people who questioned whether it was OK for hibakusha to participate in the ceremony in the midst of the pandemic,” said Kunihiko Sakuma, chair of the Hiroshima branch of the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers’ Organizations.
Source:New York Times
August 05, 2020 20:00 UTC
Where Are We? Theatrical Adventures in Digital Dislocation
In the case of “we need your listening,” the production that started in the theater’s lobby, the disconnection was often literal, with pesky audio and video glitches hindering stretches of the 30-minute-long webcast. Clubbed Thumb’s Summerworks is AWOL and Ars Nova’s ANT Fest on hiatus, but the 27th edition of Ice Factory went virtual, along with Dixon Place’s Hot Festival in July and the upcoming Corkscrew Theater Festival. The three Ice Factory shows were indicative of the challenges of trying to test form and function online. (A fourth production, the musical “A Burning Church,” runs Aug. 13-15, but is not open for review.) At just over half an hour, the show is made up of micro scenes in which the actors engage with a single viewer at a time.
Source:New York Times
August 05, 2020 19:54 UTC
F.B.I. Searches Jake Paul’s California Home
executed a search warrant early Wednesday morning at the California home of Jake Paul, a brash YouTube provocateur who was recently criticized for hosting a large house party during the pandemic, according to the agency. The search of Mr. Paul’s residence in Calabasas, northwest of Los Angeles, was conducted as part of an investigation, said Rukelt Dalberis, a spokesman for the F.B.I.’s Los Angeles field office. Mr. Dalberis said he was prohibited from disclosing details of the investigation that prompted the search. The contents of the warrant are under seal, he said, adding that he could not say when they would be made public. Mr. Paul was not home at the time, she said.
Source:New York Times
August 05, 2020 19:53 UTC