Monthly Archives: January 2021

Liberals cant have it both ways (letter to the editor) – SILive.com

Posted: January 13, 2021 at 4:51 pm

Its amazing to me that Dr. Frusci would demand Nicoles resignation, but not surprising as CSI has become a brainwashing liberal college. My son went there for a year and left after he could not take being ridiculed or chastised by professors who did not let any Trump supporters voice their opinions.

Where was the doctor when the far left was saying we need unrest in the street, and our city and others were being trashed and burned to the ground? Lives were destroyed then, and not a word from the doctor or any other far-left hypocrites. We, as a nation, should stop the nonsense of only one side counts.

We should focus on getting back to normal and if there is corruption on either side, lets eliminate it. But you cannot have it both ways, Doc. I dont condone any violence anywhere, but all parties need to wake up and concentrate on making America a better place.

Right now, we are in sad shape and, as my mother always said: It takes two to fight, so dont blame one side and not the other.

(John Coughlin is a Meiers Corners resident.)

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JIM VIBERT: Theres no clear front-runner in Liberal race – The Guardian

Posted: at 4:51 pm

Jim Vibert

The Chronicle Herald

[emailprotected]

@JimVibert

The race to replace Premier Stephen McNeil is moving into its final frenetic lap without a clear front-runner.

In less than a month on Feb. 6 Iain Rankin, Labi Kousoulis or Randy Delorey will win the leadership of Nova Scotias Liberal Party and, very soon thereafter, become the premier of the province.

Who among them will be the partys chosen one is anybodys guess. The race has tightened to the point where none of the Liberals I talked to this week would hazard such a guess. (The campaign insiders and other Liberals interviewed for this column agreed to speak on background, which means, while I can disclose what was said, I cant identify the source.)

As with so many things during the pandemic, this leadership race is unlike any before in Nova Scotia, at least in living memory. There are no rallies, no coffee klatches or tea parties crowded with local party faithful trying to size up those who would be their leader.

Just one of four all-candidate encounters had the contenders in the same room. The other three were disappointing, technology-dependent events erroneously billed as debates that produced very little political heat and not much more light.

And so, after four months of COVID-limited campaigning described as always difficult and sometimes painful by one campaign insider we are nearer to knowing who will be the next premier, but only as measured by the calendar.

Key players on each of the three campaign teams believe their man has secured more than a third of the vote or, more accurately, of the points but none expects to win on the first ballot, which would require a candidate to take 50 per cent plus one of the available 5,500 points. (Each of Nova Scotias 55 ridings is worth 100 points, assigned based on vote share.)

When the race began four months ago, many Liberals felt that Delorey was the man to beat. He came out of the starting blocks with the backing of several caucus and cabinet colleagues and a potent campaign team headlined by well-known and better-connected Grits like Kirby McVicar, McNeils former right-hand man and John Gillis, MD and former party president.

Judged by the company he kept, Delorey was almost immediately dubbed the establishment candidate. Im not quite sure who the establishment is, but Delorey is the candidate of continuity; the guy who will mostly stick to the direction set by McNeil.

Iain Rankin, another former McNeil cabinet minister all three candidates served in McNeils cabinet but resigned to offer for the leadership was, in those early days, expected to give Delorey the best run for the top.

Like Delorey, Rankin has considerable support from his caucus and cabinet colleagues. At 37, hes the youngest of the three candidates and from the outset has been advocating the most progressive policies among the three.

Dont go to sleep on Labi, was the advice one prominent, long-time Liberal offered this week, echoing the opinion of a number in the party who believe Kousoulis, initially considered the longest shot in the short field, is outperforming expectations and, in the view of some, his two opponents.

Kousoulis is the son of Greek immigrants who worked in the family restaurant in his youth, then worked his way through university. After stints in banking and with Wilsons, he started his own business, just like Stephen McNeil, he reminds his Liberal listeners.

The three candidates have made a plethora of promises and policies announcements and on most of the major issues theres not much difference between them. But as the vote draws near, predictably, the barbs are becoming a little more frequent.

Kousoulis proposes to twin the highway from Sydney to Yarmouth, a promise Rankin has derided as a low priority with a big price tag. Conversely, Rankins drawn criticism from the other camps for pledging to get Nova Scotia off coal by 2030, because to achieve that goal, they say, power bills will go through the roof. Friday, 56 per cent of Nova Scotias electricity was generated by burning coal.

Wednesday evening, when most folks were still glued to screens watching the horrific Trump-inspired attack on the U.S. Congress, the candidates had their final debate. Like the earlier versions, it was more Q-and-A than give-and-take.

Delorey, who bills himself as the most experienced candidate all three were first elected in 2013, and all three served in cabinet, although Delorey arguably held more senior portfolios in health and finance said, now more than ever, we need a proven leader.

While that may well be true, Liberals have to pick a leader from among these three guys, and exactly how any of them has proven his leadership chops escapes me.

The final words are from a former Liberal MLA and cabinet minister in a long-gone government:

Taking the measure of a candidate is incomplete without face-to-face connection. Tasting skimpy samples of statements, debates and stories are part of a meager buffet. It is strangely comforting to be detached and yet very challenging to decide on who best to lead.

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In a bid to oppose UPs anti-forced religious conversion law, Liberals end up endorsing paedophilia – OpIndia

Posted: at 4:51 pm

On Tuesday, the liberal-secular self-proclaimed journalists and activists attempted to not only mislead the public by peddling false propaganda on a recent incident that had allegedly occurred in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh but also endorsed paedophilia in their bid to oppose Uttar Pradesh governments recent law to stop forced conversion.

Self-proclaimed liberals took to Twitter to share a Times of India report that claimed that Bengaluru man who flew to UP to meet girl was thrashed and detained by the Uttar Pradesh. The Times of India carried out a report that claimed that a 21-year-old Muslim youth flew down from Bengaluru toLakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh to see a Hindu girl he had met online.

Reportedly, the youth was allegedly beaten up by some right-wing groups who later handed over the guy to the local police station. The man, who worked as an engineer in Bengaluru allegedly started talking to a teenager girl online since April last year. As it was her birthday, the youth wanted to see her, so he booked a flight, brought gifts a soft toy, chocolates and sweets and reached Lucknow.

The report claimed that when he got there, the parents of the girl asked him who he was. As he revealed his identity, the neighbours gathered and soon a group of right-wing outfit joined, who beat him up and informed the police, the report claimed adding that the groups acted on the apprehension of forced conversion.

The usual fake news peddlers descended on social media platform to peddle misleading information on the incident. Rohini Singh, associated with leftist propaganda website The Wire, took to Twitter to claim that a Muslim man was jailed and beaten as he wanted to wish the girl on her birthday.

Singh, who has a complicated relationship with the facts, insinuated that the youth was beaten up as he was a Muslim youth and went on to deliberately ignore the real facts pertaining to the issue.

Rana Ayyub, the Islamist troll masquerading as journalist, as usual used the opportunity to spew venom against the country. Sharing misinformation, she claimed that Muslim youth was thrashed and detained by Uttar Pradesh police for meeting a Hindu girl. Shockingly, without any shame, Ayyub called India a shithole country.

Vidya Krishnan, who claims to be a Health reporter, also ignored the facts of the case and instead shared a misleading article put up by Times of India, which was devoid of facts in the first place. Vidya then went on to blame Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the alleged incident.

Shehla Rashid, who wants Dalits to give up their reservations for Muslims compared PM Modi to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

However, the claim that the youth was beaten up by the right-wing groups only because he was a Muslim is a blatant lie.

The report by Times of India has left out important facts pertaining to the incident. It seems like Times of India has deliberately chose to ignore certain facts in the case as it fails to mention that the Hindu girl was a minor. The 21-year-old Muslim youth had reportedly lured the minor girl on social media platform and got access to her phone number.

Most importantly, the minor girl did not even recognise the Muslim youth when he visited her house in Uttar Pradesh. The accused did not visit to the residence of minor girl alone, but was accompanied by one of his companions, whofledfrom the spot after neighbours confronted them.

Contrary to the reports that the youth was in a relationship with the Hindu girl, in reality, the youth had only talked with the girl a few times on social media. However, there was no relationship between the two. The Muslim youth was in an one-sided affair, who mistook their conversations as some kind of relationship and reached Lucknow to meet the minor girl.

Despite the fact that the Muslim youth was chasing a minor Hindu girl and was in a one-sided relationship, the liberal-secular intelligentsia and the left-wing trolls on social media continue to spread false propaganda on the issue by claiming that the Uttar Pradesh government was harassing consenting inter-faith couples. However, it is not true.

In their hurry to target the Uttar Pradesh government over the recent law to stop the forced religious conversions, especially the Grooming Jihad cases, the left-liberals have not gone to the extent of supporting the heinous act of paedophilia.

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Liberals accuse Facebook of lying about its moderation of ‘Stop the Steal’ content – Washington Examiner

Posted: at 4:51 pm

Liberals are criticizing Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg's claims that her platform is not responsible for the attack on the U.S. Capitol despite significant evidence of violence being incited on Facebook in the days before the attack.

I think these events were largely organized on platforms that dont have our abilities to stop hate, and dont have our standards and dont have our transparency, Sandberg, the company's chief operating officer, told the Reuters Next conference on Monday.

Media Matters for America, a liberal watchdog that has been monitoring Facebook content, said that Sandberg's claims are designed to deflect attention from Facebook and shift the blame to other platforms like Parler or Gab, which are popular among conservatives.

On Monday, at the same time that Sandberg made these comments, there were at least 70 active Stop the Steal groups active on Facebook, according to Media Matters, meaning that tens of thousands of Facebook users are still using such groups and racking up millions of interactions. Forty-six of these Stop the Steal groups were private, and so it would be difficult for the public to know the communications occurring within them. The "Stop the Steal" phrase refers to President Trump's claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.

Democrats have accused Sandberg of making false statements and being disingenuous in her denial of Facebook's role in fomenting violence that led to the Capitol attack.

"Its amazing how effortlessly Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg can lie through her teeth," said Jon Cooper, an ally of President-elect Joe Biden who has worked for both Biden's and President Barack Obama's campaigns in the past.

"This is demonstrably false," Rachel Cohen, communications director for Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, said of Sandberg's claims. Cohen on Twitter cited news articles with evidence of Facebook allowing its users to organize and incite violence before the Capitol attack.

Some went so far as to call Sandberg to leave her leadership role at Facebook.

"Is a Sheryl Sandberg denial a prelude to a Zuckerberg apology? Either way both are inadequate and demonstrate why they both need to resign," Democratic Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky said on Twitter on Tuesday.

Sandberg on Monday admitted that Facebook's content moderation enforcement "is never perfect, so Im sure there were still things on Facebook."

Just hours after Sandbergs comments on Monday, Facebook announced, many weeks after the election and five days after the attack on the Capitol, that it would remove all content containing the phrase "stop the steal" in an attempt to curb misinformation that could incite violence during Biden's inauguration.

Media Matters, the liberal watchdog, said Monday that Facebook's actions to censor "Stop the Steal" content was "once again too little, too late."

Facebook's explanation Monday for the delay was that they have been allowing robust conversations related to the election outcome and that will continue."

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Letter: The culture war is just as much liberal as it is conservative – Deseret News

Posted: at 4:51 pm

Regarding Jennifer Grahams opinion piece (The culture war will continue to rage in 2021, Jan. 3), it lays out clearly that there is a culture war and it is mainly over such as things as abortion, same-sex marriage and religion. She seems to blame the war part on conservatives (seven times); Republicans, including Trump and Reagan (3 times); and Santa Claus (once). Santa is the only one on the left. She never mentions Antifa, Black Lives Matter or riots. She seems to praise Biden (who blames Trump for killing more than 300,000 Americans) for wanting to be president for all Americans. If you oppose the lefts agenda to change American culture, you are a culture warrior.

She should have read the adjoining article (Gordon B. Hinckleys Standing for Something turns 20, and its the handbook our politics needs today, Jan. 1), which quotes President Hinckleys book and public statements on the growing moral deficit in America and that religion has left the public square and substituted human sophistry for the wisdom of the Almighty. We should add his name to the leaders who are waging cultural warfare by opposing abortion and supporting virtue.

As the scriptures indicate, there will always be a culture war between good and evil.

Lee Farnsworth

Provo

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Letter: The culture war is just as much liberal as it is conservative - Deseret News

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Review: ‘Cobra Kai’ is poignant and funny – News from southeastern Connecticut – theday.com

Posted: at 4:49 pm

Corn Nuts. Fotomat. A Truckasaurus rally.

The 1980s are alive and kicking in the San Fernando Valley courtesy of "Cobra Kai's" Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), a hard-drinking, heavy metal holdover from an era when Twisted Sister ruled the charts and "No Fat Chicks" bumper stickers were commonplace.

The karate dramedy's lead carries Season 3, which premiered New Year's Day on its new platform, Netflix. The streamer picked up the YouTube Premium series last year, delighting loyal "Kai" fans by adding the first two seasons to its catalog and announcing there would soon be a third.

Season 3 of the self-aware, kitschy soap takes place 36 years after the original "Karate Kid" movie, on which the series is based. Though Johnny and Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) are now in their 50s, their long-simmering rivalry has spilled over to the students of their competing dojos. Now the Valley is home to an all-out struggle between karate gangs. These food-court warriors include LaRusso's earnest daughter, Samantha (Mary Mouser); Johnny's delinquent son, Robby (Tanner Buchanan); and Johnny's neighbor, high schooler Miguel Diaz (Xolo Mariduena). And Johnny's former teacher, Kreese (Martin Kove), who stole his dojo, is more than happy to fan the flames.

Campy, fun and nostalgic, this series from Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg continues to build pop culture lore around the aging film franchise, looking toward the future by drawing from the past. The main characters' fortunes have reversed since they battled it out at the All-Valley Karate Tournament way back when. Rich kid Johnny is a broke, divorced handyman who lives alone in a crappy Reseda apartment. Poor kid Daniel is a successful businessman who lives in the upscale West Valley with his seemingly perfect family.

But while a lot has changed since 1984, Johnny is not part of the evolution. Watching the Coors Banquet-drinking, "Tango & Cash"-loving waster navigate today's Valley, with its vegan menus, overpriced rental market and confusing array of craft cocktails, is a blast.

The unapologetic throwback still calls women "babes," wears a long-sleeved thermal under his flannel shirt and rocks out to the Cre's "Kickstart My Heart." Pretty much everything he says is politically incorrect, and not in a Rush Limbaugh sort of way. Snowflakes are still just frozen water to Johnny.

Those of us who grew up in the Valley in the '80s will recognize Johnny as a former classmate or perhaps a version of our clueless, high school selves "Dude!" "Bro!" He'll either make you shudder or laugh. I did both.

But there's a charm and innocence in the way he views modern times through vintage Ray-Bans. Facebook is mostly still a mystery to him, but when he does manage to type a message out, it's in ALL CAPS. Why would that imply he's a serial killer?

Season 3 of "Cobra Kai" capitalizes on Johnny's woefully out-of-touch ways and the steep learning curve he faces while trying to impress an old flame, at once helping the viewer understand the character's time-capsule quality and poking fun at it. The teens he trains in karate even coach him on the basics of living in the 21st century: Bullying is bad, sexism is worse, and it's not OK to nickname students things like "penis breath." (Hand-to-hand combat never drops out of fashion in the world of "Cobra Kai" though.)

There are too many spoilers to get into plot specifics, but if you liked the last two seasons, you'll love the new one. Original characters from the first film appear throughout, giving the sense that the series has a much wider arc than it really does, while new characters continue to push the story forward.

"Cobra Kai" has already been renewed for a fourth season, so expect more high-flying kicks in the tony homes west of Ventura Boulevard and in the dilapidated mini-malls of Reseda. Or is it Van Nuys? Johnny doesn't care where it is or how the place has changed . The Valley is still the Valley, where rock rules and karate is as bitchin' as ever.

COBRA KAI

Where: Netflix

When: Any time

Rating: TV-14 (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 14)

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Celebrity birthdays for the week of Jan. 17-23 – Minneapolis Star Tribune

Posted: at 4:49 pm

Celebrity birthdays for the week of Jan. 17-23

Jan. 17: Actor Betty White is 99. Actor James Earl Jones is 90. Talk show host Maury Povich is 82. Singer Chris Montez is 79. Singer William Hart of The Delfonics is 76. Actor Joanna David ("Downton Abbey") is 74. Actor Jane Elliott ("General Hospital") is 74. Former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor is 73. Singer Sheila Hutchinson of The Emotions is 68. Singer Steve Earle is 66. Singer Paul Young is 65. Actor-comedian Steve Harvey is 64. Singer Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles is 62. Writer-Director Brian Helgeland ("42," Mystic River," L.A. Confidential") is 60. Actor Jim Carrey is 59. Actor Denis O'Hare ("The Good Wife," True Blood") is 59. Actor Joshua Malina ("The West Wing," Sports Night") is 55. Singer Shabba Ranks is 55. Drummer Jon Wysocki (Staind) is 53. Actor Naveen Andrews ("Instinct," "Lost") is 52. Electronic musician DJ Tiesto is 52. Musician Kid Rock is 50. Actor Freddy Rodriguez ("The Night Shift," Six Feet Under") is 46. Actor-writer Leigh Whannel ("Saw" and "Insidious" movies) is 44. Actor-singer Zooey Deschanel ("New Girl") is 41. Singer Ray J is 40. Country singer Amanda Wilkinson of The Wilkinsons is 39. Actor Ryan Gage ("The Hobbit") is 38. DJ Calvin Harris is 37. Drummer Jeremiah Fraites of The Lumineers is 35. Actor Jonathan Keltz ("Reign," Entourage") is 33. Actor Kelly Marie Tran ("Star Wars: The Last Jedi") is 32. Actor Kathrine Herzer ("Madame Secretary") is 24.

Jan. 18: Singer-songwriter Bobby Goldsboro is 80. Comedian-singer Brett Hudson of the Hudson Brothers is 68. Actor-director Kevin Costner is 66. Country singer-actor Mark Collie ("Nashville") is 65. Actor Mark Rylance ("Bridge of Spies," The Other Boleyn Girl") is 61. Actor Alison Arngrim ("Little House on the Prairie") is 59. Actor Jane Horrocks ("Absolutely Fabulous") is 57. Comedian Dave Attell ("Insomniac") is 56. Actor Jesse L. Martin (TV's "The Flash," Law and Order") is 52. Rapper DJ Quik is 51. Singer Jonathan Davis of Korn is 50. Singer Christian Burns of BBMak is 47. Actor Derek Richardson ("Men in Trees") is 45. Actor-screenwriter Jason Segel ("How I Met Your Mother," Freaks and Geeks") is 41. Singer-actor Samantha Mumba is 38. Actor Ashleigh Murray ("Riverdale") is 33. Actor Zeeko Zaki ("FBI," "24: Legacy") is 31. Actor Mateus Ward ("Hostages") is 22.

Jan. 19: Actor Tippi Hedren is 91. Journalist Robert MacNeil is 90. Director Richard Lester ("A Hard Day's Night," "Superman II" and "III") is 89. Actor-singer Michael Crawford is 79. Actor Shelley Fabares is 77. Country singer Dolly Parton is 75. TV chef Paula Deen is 74. Singer Martha Davis of The Motels is 70. Singer Dewey Bunnell of America is 69. Actor Desi Arnaz Jr. is 68. Actor Katey Sagal ("Sons of Anarchy," Married... With Children") is 67. Comedian Paul Rodriguez is 66. Keyboardist Mickey Virtue (UB40) is 64. Actor Paul McCrane ("ER") is 60. Singer Whitfield Crane of Ugly Kid Joe is 53. Singer Trey Lorenz is 52. Actor Shawn Wayans ("White Chicks," Scary Movie") is 50. Singer-guitarist John Wozniak of Marcy Playground is 50. Actor Drea de Matteo ("Joey," The Sopranos") is 49. Comedian Frank Caliendo ("Frank TV," Mad TV") is 47. Actor Drew Powell ("Gotham") is 45. Actor Marsha Thomason ("Las Vegas") is 45. Actor Bitsie Tulloch ("Grimm") is 40. Actor Jodie Sweetin ("Full House") is 39. Actor Shaunette Renee Wilson ("The Resident") is 31. Actor Briana Henry ("General Hospital") is 29. Actor Logan Lerman ("Percy Jackson" films) is 29. Rapper Taylor Bennett is 25. Actor Lidya Jewett ("Hidden Figures") is 14.

Jan. 20: Singer Eric Stewart (10cc, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders) is 76. Director David Lynch is 75. Drummer George Grantham of Poco is 74. Guitarist Paul Stanley of Kiss is 69. Bassist Ian Hill of Judas Priest is 69. TV host Bill Maher ("Politically Incorrect") is 65. Actor Lorenzo Lamas is 63. Actor James Denton ("Desperate Housewives") is 58. Bassist Greg K. of The Offspring is 56. Country singer John Michael Montgomery is 56. Actor Rainn Wilson ("The Office") is 55. Actor Stacey Dash ("Clueless") is 54. Actor Reno Wilson ("Mike and Molly") is 52. Singer Edwin McCain is 51. Actor Skeet Ulrich is 51. Drummer Questlove of The Roots is 50. Drummer Rob Bourdon of Linkin Park is 42. Singer-songwriter Bonnie McKee is 37. Country singer Brantley Gilbert is 36. Singer Kevin Parker of Tame Impala is 35. Actor Evan Peters ("American Horror Story") is 34.

Jan. 21: Opera singer Placido Domingo is 80. Actor Jill Eikenberry is 74. Guitarist Jim Ibbotson (The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) is 74. Singer-songwriter Billy Ocean is 71. Actor Robby Benson is 65. Actor Geena Davis is 65. Actor Charlotte Ross ("NYPD Blue") is 53. Singer Marc Gay of Shai is 52. Actor Karina Lombard ("The L Word") is 52. Actor Ken Leung ("Marvel's Inhumans," Lost") is 51. Rapper Levirt of B-Rock and the Bizz is 51. Drummer Mark Trojanowski of Sister Hazel is 51. Singer Cat Power is 49. DJ Chris Kilmore of Incubus is 48. Singer Emma Bunton (Baby Spice) of the Spice Girls is 45. Actor Jerry Trainor ("Wendell & Vinnie," iCarly") is 44. Singer Nokio of Dru Hill is 42. Actor Izabella Miko ("Coyote Ugly") is 40. Actor Luke Grimes (TV's "Yellowstone," film's "Fifty Shades") is 37. Actor Feliz Ramirez (TV's "Grand Hotel") is 29.

Jan. 22: Actor Piper Laurie is 89. Singer Steve Perry (Journey) is 72. Bassist Teddy Gentry of Alabama is 69. Actor John Wesley Shipp ("The Flash," Dawson's Creek") is 66. Actor Linda Blair is 62. Actor Diane Lane is 56. Country singer Regina Nicks of Regina Regina is 56. Rapper-actor DJ Jazzy Jeff is 56. Celebrity chef Guy Fieri is 53. Actor Olivia D'Abo ("Law and Order: Criminal Intent," The Wonder Years") is 52. Actor Katie Finneran ("The Michael J. Fox Show") is 50. Actor Gabriel Macht ("Suits") is 49. Actor Balthazar Getty is 46. Actor Christopher Kennedy Masterson ("Malcolm in the Middle") is 41. Jazz singer Lizz Wright is 41. Singer Willa Ford is 40. Actor Beverley Mitchell ("Seventh Heaven") is 40. Guitarist Ben Moody of The Fallen (and formerly of Evanescence) is 40. Actor-singer Phoebe Strole ("Glee") is 38. Rapper Logic is 31. Actor Sami Gayle ("Blue Bloods") is 25.

Jan. 23: Actor Chita Rivera is 88. Actor-director Lou Antonio ("Cool Hand Luke") is 87. Jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton is 78. Actor Gil Gerard is 78. Singer Anita Pointer of the Pointer Sisters is 73. Bassist-keyboardist Bill Cunningham of The Box Tops is 71. Actor Richard Dean Anderson ("MacGyver") is 71. Singer-guitarist Robin Zander of Cheap Trick is 68. Singer Anita Baker is 63. Bassist Earl Falconer of UB40 is 62. Actor Peter Mackenzie ("black-ish") is 60. Actor Boris McGiver ("House of Cards," Boardwalk Empire") is 59. Actor Gail O'Grady ("American Dreams," NYPD Blue") is 58. Actor Mariska Hargitay ("Law and Order: Special Victims Unit") is 57. Singer Marc Nelson (Az Yet) is 50. "CBS Evening News" anchor Norah O'Donnell is 47. Actor Tiffani Thiessen ("Beverly Hills, 90210") is 47. Bassist Nick Harmer of Death Cab for Cutie is 46. Actor Lindsey Kraft ("Living Biblically") is 41.

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Banned from Twitter and Facebook, which sites are the pro-Trump movement using now? – Sky News

Posted: at 4:49 pm

The attack on the US Capitol prompted unprecedented action from Twitter and Facebook, amid criticism that the president was using their platforms to foment an insurrection.

Tens of thousands of accounts, pages and groups tied to the more extreme parts of the pro-Trump movement have been suspended and banned following the attack - as have Donald Trump's own accounts - driving his supporters to fringe websites.

One alternative platform, Parler, was removed from Apple and Google's app stores over the weekend - with Amazon kicking Parler's website off its hosting infrastructure. Now, many of Mr Trump's supporters are seeking services that can resist action taken by tech giants and governments.

Sky News has observed a rise in the number of conversations and engagements taking place on platforms such as Gab, MeWe, Telegram and CloutHub.

The scale of the bans on mainstream social networks is not clear. Twitter says it has removed 70,000 accounts that promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory - but many users operated multiple accounts, so the size of the movement on the platform was smaller than it first appeared.

Facebook announced that it would begin removing posts quoting the QAnon catchphrase "stop the steal" ahead of Joe Biden's inauguration on 20 January due to the risk of additional violence.

But these messages have found new spaces to flourish, as Sky News found through direct observations and data from CrowdTangle, a public insights tool owned and operated by Facebook.

Social networks like Gab and MeWe are offering a replacement for Facebook and Twitter - while other aspects of the movement continue to foment on even more fringe forums including 4chan, 8chan, and The Donald.

Gab

Gab was launched as a self-proclaimed free speech website in 2016 by Andrew Torba and Ekrem Buyukkaya. It is now widely considered to be a digital haven for far-right extremists, with researchers linking it to radicalisation and offline violence.

Its users include US politician Marjorie Greene, a newly elected Republican member of the House of Representatives, who has regularly supported the QAnon conspiracy theory.

Ms Greene had posted a picture of herself on Facebook holding a rifle next to images of Democratic congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib - stating it was time to "go on the offence against these socialists who want to rip our country apart". Facebook deleted the image for inciting violence.

In a new post on Gab, Ms Greene said: "Dems are the hypocrites that call for violence. The people see through it all. No amount of censorship will hide the truth."

Gab's app was removed from the Google Play store in 2017 for violating hate speech policy, and it is not listed in Apple's app store for similar reasons.

Despite this, Google Trends data shows an increase in searches for Gab following Mr Trump's suspension from Twitter on 8 January - notably in traditionally conservative states such as Alaska and North Dakota.

CrowdTangle - which tracks public interactions such as likes, comments and shares on public Facebook posts - also shows an increase in interactions on posts that mention Gab. It recorded over 290,000 interactions on these posts since Sunday.

Following the move to take Parler offline, Gab claimed that it was adding more than 600,000 new users every day in a tweet that was subsequently deleted. Independent metrics gauging the social network's popularity are not available.

As the site appeared to deal with the apparent influx of new visitors, the company's chief technology officer said they had brought 10 new servers online and quoted Mr Trump in stating: "The best is yet to come."

Gab's owners have regularly used their Twitter accounts to express support for Donald Trump and actively market their platform on the basis of being sympathetic to causes popular with the far-right, including conspiracy theories they claim are being unfairly targeted for censorship.

Alongside these posts, the platform features news articles from Russia Today, as well as pseudo-religious messages from QAnon followers calling for the community to keep the faith, with one stating: "Do you have any idea what's going to happen next? Good. Neither do they."

MeWe

MeWe was founded in 2012 by Mark Weinstein, initially as a privacy-positive version of Facebook. The social networking service has grown in popularity with Mr Trump's supporters as a result of moderation efforts pushing some of them away from more mainstream platforms.

CrowdTangle data shows a rise in interactions with public posts mentioning MeWe following 8 January, with nearly 100,000 interactions recorded on the following day. There was also a marked increase in public interactions on posts of this kind in the weeks that followed the election.

MeWe has jumped almost 100 places in the US app store rankings over the past two days - and according to Sensor Tower, it is now the seventh-most popular free app. It also saw a surge in popularity after November's vote.

The app's pro-Trump user base appears to have been increasing over recent months - although it has not been courted by Mr Weinstein.

He has said: "I think sites where anything goes are terrible. At MeWe we have strict rules in our terms prohibiting content inciting violence, posting hate, bullying, breaking the law, etc."

Telegram

Telegram is one of the most popular apps outside of the English-speaking world, especially among protesting communities.

It offers end-to-end encryption (although not by default), as well as large chat rooms - both public and private - where users can share photos, videos and files with each other.

Pro-Trump Telegram channels have noted the increasing number of influential conservative commentators joining Telegram after Parler was taken offline.

Like Gab and MeWe, CrowdTangle shows an increase in interactions on public posts mentioning the word Telegram on Facebook in the days leading up to and after Trump's suspension from social media.

Membership appears to be growing especially significantly in extremist Telegram chats, according to Professor Megan Squire. She warned on Twitter that white nationalists are attempting to win over Trump supporters who are joining the platform due to the actions taken by Twitter and Facebook.

The Washington Post reported that talk of guns and potential violence was "rife" on the messaging app ahead of the mob attack on the Capitol following the president's rally.

Telegram has climbed up the app store rankings in the days since 8 January - where it now occupies the second spot, according to Sensor Tower.

This may be partially driven by privacy concerns regarding WhatsApp rather than by supporters of Donald Trump.

CloutHub

Founded in 2018, CloutHub markets itself as "the people's platform" for users engaged in political, social and community activism. Like Gab, they have been vocal about their opposition to perceived censorship by Big Tech.

CloutHub has enjoyed a surge in interest in recent days. There were 512 interactions on public Facebook posts mentioning CloutHub on 512 - but according to CrowdTangle, this rose to 32,100 a day later.

This came after the anti-Democrat #WalkAway campaign announced it was moving to CloutHub following its removal by Facebook.

Google Trends data also indicates an increase in interest in the site in the US through its analysis of search queries.

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Extremists spread across platforms

According to Fred Burton, a former special agent, the distribution of potential extremists across fringe platforms doesn't necessarily make things more difficult for law enforcement monitoring potential threats.

The executive director of the Centre for Protective Intelligence at Ontic said: "The US intelligence community is geared for these kinds of investigations.

"The ability to go back and look at some of these individuals that are on these fringe kind of elements, the howlers that are out there, whether it be on fringe social media platforms - even with Parler being shut down now - law enforcement is very good at looking and ferreting out those kinds of individuals.

"Since 9/11, technology has been enhanced to the point that all of your digital signals can be looked at from an investigative perspective if there's probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed, or if someone's on there fomenting hate speech.

"Social media is a double-edged sword, we all know that, but it also provides law enforcement with the opportunity to be able to do some continuous monitoring of individuals that might be predisposed towards that kind of violence."

Mr Burton, who has worked in the arena of protective intelligence since the 1980s, said: "The ones that you can see are the ones that - yes, at times, you have to worry about - but there are others [that you can't see] always, that you really have to be concerned about."

Addressing the threat posed by these individuals "takes more human intelligence efforts, and the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force - again another byproduct of what happened after 9/11 - are very good at ferreting out those kinds of individuals".

Far-right terrorists have been known to use sites such as 4chan and 8chan, which aren't replacements for social networks clamping down on some of Mr Trump's supporters, but remain key locations fomenting many of the ideological messages that drive the movement on other platforms.

Shortly before the mass shootings at two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch, the gunman posted a link on 8chan to the Facebook page where he would livestream his attack, as well as a copy of his manifesto.

8kun/8chan

Following two other domestic terror attacks in the US in August 2019 - one involving a mass shooting at a Walmart in Texas, and another at a bar in Ohio - 8chan lost its hosting provider and renamed itself 8kun.

Its original founder, Fredrick Brennan, now disavows the site entirely. Mr Brennan accuses its current owner, Jim Watkins, of facilitating the person or group behind the QAnon conspiracy theory.

The eponymous "Q" came to fame by posting their messages on the forum. The QAnon community now dominates the site with numerous boards dedicated to understanding the quasi-religious prophecies that the account posts there.

As a result of significant efforts to deplatform the site, 8kun now features only hundreds of posts every hour - compared with tens of thousands at its pinnacle.

However the discussions show the extremist influences on the pro-Trump movement, including extensive neo-Nazi and antisemitic imagery.

One post seen by Sky News read: "To any ******** who doesn't believe there'll be a civil war, here's a newsflash - it's already happening. We're already in the beginning stages.

"We're gonna soon experience the full effects pretty soon. Get trained, get prepared. Our side has already thrown some blows."

As examples of these "blows", the post listed neo-Nazi terrorist Dylann Roof, the Unite the Right white supremacist rally, and the date of the Capitol building attack.

4chan's Politically Incorrect board

4chan's notorious Politically Incorrect discussion board (known as /pol/ due to its URL) has become one of the most significant fringe communities online for the far-right.

Although the forum is owned by Japanese entrepreneur Hiroyuki Nishimura, it is not known who the board's controlling moderators are, despite the significant editorial control they can wield over what threads are allowed to remain on the site.

Alongside 8kun, 4chan was one of the primary locations for QAnon conspiracy theories to be developed. Numerous false claims about electoral integrity which would eventually be articulated by unreliable media outlets - including the debunked conspiracy theory regarding Dominion Voting Systems computers - originated there.

The Donald

The Donald originated as a page on Reddit before that social media platform banned the community in June 2020 for trying to "weaponise parts of Reddit against other people".

The moderators of the forum, who are also anonymous, created a mirror on a new domain. The site appears to be much busier following the moves from Twitter and Facebook.

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There Is No Sex and the City Without Samantha – Rolling Stone

Posted: at 4:49 pm

There are many reasons And Just Like That,the forthcoming HBO Max reboot ofSex and the City, is a terrible idea. Theres the fact that the most recent installment of the franchise, Sex and the City 2, was released more than a decade ago, roughly the same time as the Eyjojakfull volcano, or eons ago in internet years. Theres the fact that Sex and the City 2was critically reviled due to its bloated two-and-a-half-hour run time, inherent Islamophobia, and clunky screenplay featuring such sterling wordplay as Lawrence of my labia. And theres the fact that, while critically acclaimed and hailed as subversive at the time of its release, Sex and the Cityitself has aged rather poorly, presenting a fantasia of New York City in which everyone is white, thin, heterosexual, and prone to wearing oddly positioned belts.

But the primary reason the Sex and the Cityreboot is a bad idea is the glaring absence of one of its four main characters the one who constituted the heart and soul, and arguably the moral center, of the entire franchise: the sexually voracious publicist Samantha Jones, played by Kim Cattrall.

Cattrall has been publicly warring with the other main players in the Sex and the Citycast in case you just woke up from a coma: Sarah Jessica Parker as navel-gazing writer Carrie Bradshaw; Cynthia Nixon as uptight attorney Miranda Hobbes; and Kristin Davis as WASPy gallerist Charlotte York for years, accusing them of forming a mean-girl clique that excluded her at every turn. (Naturally, at one point there was a dispute over being invited to a rental property while shooting in the Hamptons.) She repeatedly told interviewers that she would not participate in another installment of the franchise. Whether or not you think her stance is justified depends on numerous factors, like whether you tend to align yourself with the underdog (in this case, Cattrall) or youre a fan of celebrity-branded $400 shoes (SJP). Regardless, anyone actively rooting for a SATCreboot knew in their hearts that it would be one without Samantha, which last weeks release of the And Just Like Thatteaser confirmed.

But aSex and the Cityreboot without Samantha is noSex and the Cityat all. Its a paltry cash-grab, a facsimile of its former self, a screen grab of a Xerox copy of the very elements that have engendered such a rabidly loyal fan base to this day. Because as even the biggest SATCcritics know, at its core Sex and the Cityis neither about sex nor the city, nor shoes nor Chris Noths cleft chin, nor inexplicably wearing belts around your midriff its about the enduring power of female friendship. And the absence of one of the core group of female friends at its heart betrays that very idea.

In a different world, on a different series, and with a different actor, Samantha would have failed to rise above a mere caricature. She is libidinous to a comical degree, with a level of horniness rarely seen outside a MILF porn or tweets about Jon Ossoff. She has a propensity for snappy, Mae West-esque one-liners (dirty martini, dirty bastard, she purrs as she splashes a drink on a loutish ex-lover) and a level of confidence that seems borderline chemically induced, a fortysomething version of a homophobes conception of a drag queen. Indeed, more than one person has referred to the character as effectively a gay man in drag, though that perspective says a lot more about a persons views of gay male sexuality than it does about Cattralls portrayal.

But despite the cartoonishness of the character, and some of the politically incorrect lapses for which the show has been retroactively flagellated (see: the one time Samantha dated a man of color, referring to his big black cock), Samantha also has a bounty of admirable qualities. She is unapologetic about her lifestyle, continuously rebuffing judgmental health care professionals and snooty society wives. In the face of adversity, she is indefatigable, as seen in the final season when, struggling with breast cancer, she delivers a frank, vulgar speech at a cancer benefit, culminating in all the attendees proudly tossing their wigs into the air. Above all else, she is fiercely loyal to her friends, taking their sides even in petty skirmishes. At a baby shower, when Charlotte accuses a pregnant woman of stealing her future baby name, Samantha doesnt hesitate in calling the pregnant woman a bitch and ushering Charlotte out of the party; when a fragile Carrie tells her she is having an affair with her shitty ex, Samantha is unflappable, coolly telling Carrie that judging her for such a transgression is not [her] style. Critics have accused the four women at the heart of Sex and the City of being pathologically shallow and self-involved, but that applies the least to Samantha. In fact, despite being the most hedonistic, vice-indulging member of the quartet, she is arguably the most ethical.

Its hard to overemphasize just how large a role Cattralls performance plays in this. A less deft performer would play Samantha as little more than a man-eating cougar, Mrs. Robinson meets Jessica Rabbit with a dash of RuPaul thrown in for good measure. But while Cattralls campy delivery of punny lines like, Youre dating Mr. Big, Im dating Mr. Too Big is not beyond parody (and Christina Aguilera did so to pitch-perfect effect on an old episode of Saturday Night Live), she consistently imbues it with a level of fragility that goes above and beyond the material the writers gave her. Theres no better example of this than when she is betrayed by Richard (James Remar), the loutish hotelier who is the only man to truly scale Samanthas steely exterior. After she walks in on him giving oral sex to a random woman, she smashes a painting of a heart over her knee. There. Now your hearts broken too, she sobs. In the hands of a lesser actor, the line would be laughable. But Cattrall delivers it with such exquisite sorrow and conviction that its hard not to have your heart break along with hers.

Critics are not shy about pointing outSex and the Citys multifarious flaws, its attitudes toward race and sexuality among them (remember when Samantha becomes a lesbian?), as well as its healthy doses of Catskill comic-level puns. Few have singled out Cattralls virtuoso performance, how nimbly she fills out what should have been a wolfish caricature with warmth and vigor which is even more impressive considering how miserable Cattrall says she was during the duration of the series. (She claims she was subject to the worst treatment of all by Parker; the fact that Parker publicly has been nothing but kind and infuriatingly gracious in response makes Cattrall look terribly petty and makes me believe she is telling the truth.) People often single out Nixons understated, Emmy-winning performance as an example of real acting on the series, but nothing will ever make me laugh or make my heart soar more than Samantha triumphantly defending her life choices to Carrie by proclaiming she will blow whoever she wants as long as she can breathe or kneel.

Theres been much discussion over how theSATCreboot will deal with Samanthas absence. Cattrall has said she would like to see the character recast, perhaps with a woman of color or a nonbinary person, a laudable goal if not one that glosses over the privileged, white femaleness of the character. Meanwhile, Parker has responded to fans objections by primly saying: Samantha isnt part of this story. But she will always be part of us. No matter where we are or what we do. This leads me to believe that the writers have probably killed her off, perhaps by the breast cancer that she so valiantly fought in the shows final season. This strikes me as both a betrayal of the character and of Cattrall herself. All of the main characters on the show are fantasy versions of women, and fantasies by definition do not die, especially one with as much vibrancy as Cattrall gave Samantha. To casually murder the woman she spent nearly two decades embodying at great personal cost, according to her seems like nothing short of a slap in the face. But above all else, SATCwithout a Samantha is an insult to the fans who have spent 20 years falling in love with the world the show has built and the women who live in it and they should accept nothing less than the complete version of the real thing.

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After 27 years, the Indian Charlie newsletter is out of business – Horse Racing Nation

Posted: at 4:49 pm

Itwas always irreverent, often controversial and fiercely independent. As of thisweek, Indian Charlie is no more.

Thesardonic newsletter that Ed Musselman distributed free of charge for nearly 27years, first on racetrack backstretches in Kentucky and more recently throughdigital media, was posted for the last time Monday, according to its leadstory. (See the final issue here.)

Notbeing able to interact directly with horsemen and women at both racetracks andat horse sales due to the coronavirus took away any advantage we had to reporton issues and stories not otherwise covered in mainstream Thoroughbred racingpublications, the story said.

Withoutgetting into specifics, the note to readers mentioned some mistakes wemade last year that also entered into this decision, that Indian Charliewas a bit of a rerun in 2020 and that, in some ways, the game has passed usby.

Musselmanturned down a request from HRN for an interview Monday.

Inits familiar legal-sized format, but without the usual back page full ofadvertisements, Mondays edition was the first in two months, although aThanksgiving-to-New Years Day break has been the norm for years.

Withits slogan we never let the truth get in the way of a good story, IndianCharlie was equal parts TMZ and The Onion. Its biting, anti-establishmentattitude made it popular with many backside denizens. But it also was polarizing.

Itsstaunchest supporters praised its no-boundaries, take-no-prisoners style, whileits loudest critics said Indian Charlie was too often racist and sexist.Churchill Downs, Keeneland and racetracks run by the New York RacingAssociation and The Stronach Group took turns banning it when their executives believedits content was too politically incorrect.

Aflashpoint came in 2014, when Louisville Metro police were called to investigatethe report of a fistfight at Churchill Downs between Musselman and one of thenewsletters frequent targets, trainer Dale Romans. Yes, it was over somethingthat Muggins wrote.

IndianCharliewent down swinging Monday, saying the new Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act bringshope that it will be the answer (to) suspect governing bodies like theKentucky Horse Racing Commission and the New York State Racing and WageringBoard calling balls and strikes in our sport.

Thelast of its trademark caricatures, always with an accurately depicted face,lampooned horse owner Don Gamble, perhaps making him the answer to a triviaquestion about the history of Indian Charlie.

Therewas also a serious editorial calling into question the absence of trainers DavidWhiteley, Richard Hazleton and Dickie Small; jockeys Larry Snyder and JohnLively; and horses Nodouble and Broad Brush from the National Racing Museum andHall of Fame.

TheLast Word took a swipe at animal-rights activists while being 100 percent allin for the federal intervention and tightening of all approved medications exceptLasix.

Musselmandid not go into detail about plans for his future. Instead, it was left tothe newsletter to say whatever direction we go in, any new pursuits going forward,will be announced first on this website.

IndianCharliearchives will remain available at IndianCharlie.com.

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After 27 years, the Indian Charlie newsletter is out of business - Horse Racing Nation

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