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The sources who lie and the reporters who protect them

Protecting anonymous sources – or covering-up government misconduct?

Imagine you’re a major media outlet like The Washington Post or CNN. You have a huge platform on the web, in print, or on TV. You publish consequential stories with information from anonymous sources on Trump/Russia collusion, an email Donald Trump, Jr. received about a Wikileaks release, and President Trump’s instructions to a Georgia election investigator to “find the fraud.” Your stories shape agendas and become national news. They fuel conspiracies, divide Americans, and influence elections.

And then you realize you’ve been played. Your anonymous sources gave you false information. You have to issue a correction. Why should that be the end of the story?

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Twitter defends its child sex trafficking users, cites Section 230 immunity protection for pedophiles

A new lawsuit alleges that Twitter is aiding and abetting child sex traffickers and pedophiles by allowing them to buy and sell children, as well as spread child pornography, on its platform. Twitter, in its own defense, says the immunity protections outlined in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) do not require the social media service to act on behalf of innocent children who are being exploited.

If it was Donald Trump attempting to tweet about the fraudulent 2020 election from a separate account – Trump’s personal account was banned by Twitter several months ago – you can be sure Twitter would immediately flag and remove the “offending” tweet, as well as the account used. Since we are talking about children being raped and abused, however, Twitter is not at all concerned.

According to Jack Dorsey and Co., the lawsuit should be dismissed because Twitter bears no responsibility in removing child pornography and those who create and spread it from its platform. Section 230 of the CDA ensures this, which is why many are now calling for it to be rescinded.

“Given that Twitter’s alleged liability here rests on its failure to remove content from its platform, dismissal of the Complaint with prejudice is warranted on this ground alone,” the company insists.

According to reports, Twitter is not only supporting child sex trafficking and child pornography – it is also benefitting from it financially. Nearly every time an incident is reported, Twitter takes its sweet time responding, if it ever even responds at all.

“Twitter is not a passive, inactive, intermediary in the distribution of this harmful material; rather, Twitter has adopted an active role in the dissemination and knowing promotion and distribution of this harmful material,” the lawsuit states, further blaming “Twitter’s own policies, practices, business model, and technology architecture.”

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Modern art was CIA ‘weapon’

For decades in art circles it was either a rumour or a joke, but now it is confirmed as a fact. The Central Intelligence Agency used American modern art – including the works of such artists as Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko – as a weapon in the Cold War. In the manner of a Renaissance prince – except that it acted secretly – the CIA fostered and promoted American Abstract Expressionist painting around the world for more than 20 years.

The connection is improbable. This was a period, in the 1950s and 1960s, when the great majority of Americans disliked or even despised modern art – President Truman summed up the popular view when he said: “If that’s art, then I’m a Hottentot.” As for the artists themselves, many were ex- communists barely acceptable in the America of the McCarthyite era, and certainly not the sort of people normally likely to receive US government backing.

Why did the CIA support them? Because in the propaganda war with the Soviet Union, this new artistic movement could be held up as proof of the creativity, the intellectual freedom, and the cultural power of the US. Russian art, strapped into the communist ideological straitjacket, could not compete.

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Teen Vogue’s Black Editor in Chief Forced To Resign After Old Tweets Criticizing Asians Resurface

Alexi McCammond, the newly hired and already fired editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue, a publication that teaches teenage women about the joys of promiscuous lifestyles and anal sex, was forced to resign after “racist” tweets she wrote in 2011 resurfaced. McCammond, a woman of color, made allegedly racist statements against Asians in the decade old tweets.

In one 2011 tweet, McCammond wrote, “Outdone by Asian. #Whatsnew.” In another, she wrote, “Now Googling how to not wake up with swollen, Asian eyes…” In a third, McCammond mused, “Give me a 2/10 on my chem problem, cross out all of my work and don’t explain what I did wrong… thanks a lot stupid Asian TA [teaching assistant]. You’re great.”

Despite the tweets being a decade old, and despite McCammond herself being a black woman, this warranted a media frenzy that ultimately resulted in her early departure from Teen Vogue, despite a public apology from McCammond.

“I should not have tweeted what I did and I have taken full responsibility for that,” wrote McCammond. “I wish the talented team at Teen Vogue the absolute best moving forward. Their work has never been more important, and I will be rooting for them.”

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