#facebook beacon

[dwuerch-blog]

Let's Find Common Ground

I thought of this song when I watched opposing news commentaries speaking about how divided we are as a Country. “You’re my brother. You’re my sister. Take me by the hand.Together we will work until He comes.There’s no foe that can defeat when we’re walking side by side.As long as there is love, we will stand.” True love doesn’t often come easy — especially at times like these when we seem so…

[onlyonewoman]

Current AO3 news from Facebook group:

ADMIN: “Just a few things. Yes, the attacks are still happening so site availability will be spotty at best. This is NOT an attack on the actual content. All stories, user data, etc are safe. DDOS attacks basically overwhelm the servers with requests to the point they cannot handle the load and failover. DDOS attacks last until one of two things happens, either the person/group gets bored and moves on to a new target. Or the site owner finds a way to fortify the servers against the attack. That means this could last for a while. With that in mind, let's all try to keep the panic, humorous or otherwise to a minimum. It's annoying and frustrating, certainly, but it's not the end of the world. The site will eventually be back, it's just going to take time and patience.” In short: - Our content is safe. - Our user data, stories etc are safe. - It’s a DDOS attack meaning it’s basically an attempt at overwhelming the servers, meaning: - DON’T KEEP REFRESHING THE AO3 PAGE!!! - It will last for a while, but there is no need to panic. Copied from one of the reblogs: “To simplify:A DoS or DDoS attack is analogous to a group of people crowding the entry door of a shop, making it hard for legitimate customers to enter, thus disrupting trade and losing the business money.” Also, YES, KEEP REBLOGGING to let people know! The less of us trying to reload the page the better! In the meantime, this is basically me:

Edit again, because this little post got a life of its own and now I feel like Pippin lighting the beacon of Minas Tirith :D

UPDATE AROUND 18:30~ish CET:

YAY!

[enigma2meagain]

🚨🚨 URGENT! Congress trying to pass anti-LGBT bill under the guise of “child safety”!

UPDATE 09/05/2023:

Well well well, if it isn’t the consequences of her bigotry

So Marsha Blackburn, in her infinite wisdom, decided to admit in an interview with the bigoted Family Policy Alliance that the Kids Online Safety Act is a GIANT anti-transgender bill (or at the least, it’s so poorly written that it makes targeting transgender people easier). Naturally, after this blunder, she and Blumenthal are trying to do damage control. But WE have the videos, and people’s responses to this open confession in the links below:

Alejandro Caraballo’s Tweet with the Video.

Erin Reed’s followup article

Attempts at damage control commented on by Ari Drennen

PinkNews’ article about it.

Beacon Broadside Article

Mashable Article

So with all that in mind, please make way to the Bad Internet Bills website to tell your Senators that you STRONGLY advise them to drop their support/refuse to support this awful bill in light of this, or that their re-election chances will drop considerably.

-----

UPDATE 02/14/2023: Richard Blumenthal is a lying snake who’s trying to get both KOSA and EARN IT Act back into law.

He persistently continues to ignore all of the backlash against these bills, the criticisms and highlighting the serious flaws of the bill by numerous human rights and LGBTQ organizations, and it’s telling that there seems to be no one who opposed the bill at the hearings today.

Fortunately, there are those are speaking up against it, such as Evan Greer from Fight For The Future.

Keep your eyes and ears open. We will be hearing more about these bills as time goes on.

----

UPDATE 01/30/2023: Well, Chuck Schumer has chosen to backstab human rights and pro- LGBTQ communities, as well as the internet by trying to fast-track KOSA. The time table is as follows:

REINTRODUCTION OF THE BILL IN FEBRUARY

HOLDING MARKUPS IN MARCH

And holding a floor vote in JUNE

https://twitter.com/evan_greer/status/1620088145554579456

KEEP IN MIND, this was the man who blocked legitimately good anti-Big Tech bills like AICOA on the pretense they would be “too much”, but was perfectly fine with the travesty of KOSA.

This man is in Big Tech’s pockets, because only they can afford to pay the fines that such a restrictive pro-censorship bill would enforce. The only people this bill helps are the exact people it claims to stop, while LGBTQ people have to pay the price for the greed of the corrupt congressmen and women.

All of the relevant links are still below, but I will be updated this as we go.

---

UPDATE 01/17/2023: Nothing has happened yet, but there have been rumblings of our “favorite” Senator Blumenthal talking about trying to push KOSA in again. I’ll mostly be keeping an eye on things for now, and you guys should too on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media and news outlets.

---

UPDATE 12/20/2022: KOSA BILL HAS NOT BEEN INCLUDED IN THE FINAL OMNIBUS BILL! WE DID IT!

https://twitter.com/evan_greer/status/1605261800479547392

That being said, this is very much a reprieve, since Blumenthal and Blackburn, and their cohorts have made it clear they intend to get this bill back into Congress next year. But WE DID IT. We managed to get this bill stopped from being added in the omnibus bill.

I want to thank all of you who helped to reblog this post, signed the various petitions and the open letter, and especially if you went and called your Senators. Without your effort, this might have turned out VERY differently!

Thank you all, and I hope the rest of this year is a pleasant one!

----

So, this is a particularly long post, but it’s an absolutely IMPORTANT ONE. PLEASE REBLOG! LIKING IS USELESS!

UPDATE 12/14/2022: Two weeks ago, 90+ human rights, LGBT, and tech orgs signed onto an open letter telling Senators NOT to pass this bill. in response, over 230 orgs led by the American Psychological Association signed a letter urging senators to push this bill forward.

An updated version of the bill has been pushed forward by Senators Blumenthal and Blackburn, who claim to have changed the bill in response to feedback, but insight by the likes of Evan Greer and Ari Cohn have made it clear that the changes are superficial at best, and arguably fail to properly address the problems of the original bill.

https://twitter.com/evan_greer/status/1603139423071309825

We got blindsided by this, and we REALLY need your help!

Further explanation HERE: https://www.tumblr.com/fullhalalalchemist/703545300138262528/urgent

POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA like Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, etc. about your opposition to this! The more voices speaking out the better, and we can’t do this alone!

The Hashtags are:

#KOSA

 #STOPKOSA

 #KidsOnlineSafetyAct

“Kids Online Safety Act” (no hashtag and quotes, just the regular words)

And PLEASE call your Senators at (202-224-3121).

ESPECIALLY CALL THESE THREE, SINCE THEY ARE THE MAJOR PEOPLE WHO COULD END UP PUTTING THE BILL INTO THE OMNIBUS/MUST PASS SPENDING BILL:

Maria Cantwell (202) 224-3441

Chuck Schumer (202) 224-6542

Nancy Pelosi (202) 225-4965

LINKTREE WITH ALL INFO HERE: https://linktr.ee/stopkosa

----

ORIGINAL POST:

In a particularly scummy move, the Kids Online Safety Act is going to be put into the must pass end of year spending bill: www.axios.com/…

The two laws best positioned to get rolled into big year-end legislative packages, according to advocates and lawmakers, are:

The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which would require platforms to guard kids from harmful content using new features and safeguards and to make privacy settings "on" by default for children. The law also mandates privacy audits and  more transparency about privacy policies.

At first glance, the bill doesn’t sound bad, since it’s about helping “protect children” online. But like every “protect the children” type law, this would censor the internet of anything “harmful” to children aka any LGBT, NSFW, or whatever the Right doesn’t like, force everyone to upload their govt ID’s to even access anything online, and surveil everyone else. Gutting everyone’s privacy in an era where we see massive state violence and encroaching fascism globally. This is not only pushed by the same people (Senator Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn) who created the awful EARN IT Act, but also has many of the same flaws, such as pro-censorship, anti LGBT resources and content, and pro-mass surveillance.

But the biggest problem, as Mike Stabile has pointed out, is HOW the mechanism to which this works: The State Attorney General.

This addition would allow states like Texas and Florida to sue companies for having LGBTQ+ content, along with sex education resources, incentivizing these platforms to ban that content. To be more specific, the bill allows the state attorney general to sue if they believe that platforms do not protect minors from a list of harms that includes politicized terms like "grooming" which, as we've seen can include any sort of LGBTQ information, entertainment or literature.

RuPaul on TikTok?

A clip on transgender youth on Facebook?

A gay character in a Disney movie?

Suicide hotlines for gay youth?

Cue a suit from Texas or Florida targeting the entire web.

And the problem is that given the current political climate and the cruel behavior of a number of GOP aligned political groups in positions of power, this only ends up making things RIPE for abuse and mass censorship (since companies will probably end up choosing to acquiesce to their demands rather than risk being subject to liability) not to mention the damage this would cause to children who might need resources regarding LGBT or sex education.

Furthermore, the definition of “sexually exploitative material”, “grooming”, and “child porn” has been used in the past year to target transgender people, drag queens, and the wider LGBTQ+ community by likening their very existence as sexually violent. Yet another way this bill’s language will be used to target a community that is already facing violence. Every night, Fox News blasts a story on “sexualization of children '' to fear-monger around the LGBT community. One needs to not look any further than the right-wing ecosystem to see how KOSA would easily be weaponized.

This article by Mike Masnick on Techdirt also goes further into KOSA and its adjacent bills.

To make matters even worse, on top of the usual suspects of NCOSE ( They used to be called Morality in Media, and are a far right group disguised as an anti sex trafficking org infamous for being religious assholes who HATE anything to do with sex or LGBT) supporting this travesty of a bill, it’s been revealed that the Senate leader is claiming there’s no opposition.

This is literally giving the fascists a dangerous tool to abuse, all for the sake of political brownie points against ‘Big Tech’. A tool that far right groups like the Heritage Foundation have OPENLY stated will abuse to silence LGBTQ+ or sex-ed content for youth everywhere if it passes.

The ONLY way this works is by making sure who is and isn’t a minor is to have some form of age-verification scheme. And the only way to do that is through a third party like ID.me which has recently come under scrutiny for, you guessed it, data leaks. So everyone who accesses anything online will be forced to upload their govt IDs. How is this protecting anyone’s privacy?

With all that said, what can we do?

Well, the same thing we did for the EARN IT Act; we make a LOT of noise, and get the word out.

If you have read all of the above and want to fight this, sign this open letter against KOSA.

And PLEASE call your Senators at (202-224-3121).

ESPECIALLY CALL THESE THREE, SINCE THEY ARE THE MAJOR PEOPLE WHO COULD END UP PUTTING THE BILL INTO THE }OMNIBUS:

Maria Cantwell (202) 224-3441

Chuck Schumer (202) 224-6542

Nancy Pelosi (202) 225-4965

There is a call script with phone numbers here.

Fax them, email them. Tell them they MUST oppose this bill. CONTACT any major human rights, LGBT, and cybersecurity related organizations aligned and let them know about this bill, and the harm it can cause to LGBT rights and children! If you need more information on KOSA, we have a LINKTREE HERE.

EMPHASIZE THE HARM TO CHILDREN WHEN YOU CONTACT PEOPLE, SINCE THEY’RE TRYING TO CLAIM THAT THIS WILL HELP PROTECT CHILDREN’S PRIVACY, WHEN IT DOES THE EXACT OPPOSITE.

There’s also a Petition by the Electronic Frontier Foundation  and from Fight For the Future.

[truevedicastrology]

Venus in Signs Unveiled 🌌

Embarking upon the cosmic tapestry, we unravel the intricacies of Venusian manifestations. 🔥

In the fiery realm of Aries, ardor reigns supreme, igniting a fervent pursuit. The thrill of an elusive paramour captivates them, yet ennui looms post-honeymoon. Their ardency, however, knows no bounds. 💖

In the sensual abode of Taurus, desire craves opulence. Lavish dates and regal treatment define their romantic utopia. Physical intimacy and emotional proximity intertwine, creating an immersive experience with their beloved. 💑

Gemini's Venus, an aficionado of spontaneity, hungers for intellectual engagement. Monotony befalls them swiftly, and commitment becomes an elusive concept. Their affections gracefully dance among multiple partners. 🕺💃

Cancer's Venus seeks a haven in their partner, a refuge akin to home. Nestled in cuddles, cinematic escapades ensue. Evading ephemeral dalliances, they gravitate towards enduring commitments. 🏡❤️

The regal Venus in Leo yearns to be the coveted prize, basking in public displays of affection. Loyalty intertwines with a penchant for inciting jealousy, creating a theatrical romantic landscape. 🎭👑

Virgo's Venus communicates love through acts of service. Nurturing their partner brings fulfillment, tempered with constructive criticism from a place of genuine care. 🌱💕

Libra's Venus craves equilibrium, desiring a relationship as a tranquil sanctuary. Discomfort breeds passive-aggression, a covert expression of unspoken grievances. Their loyalty surfaces when the cosmic scales align. ⚖️💏

Scorpio's Venus hungers for an immersive, profound love, scorning superficial connections. The tempest of excitement and chaos fuels their ardor, warding off the specter of ennui. 🌪️❤️

Sagittarius' Venus, an ardent admirer of romance, weaves tales of unparalleled significance. Charismatic honesty coexists with a penchant for exploring diverse romantic vistas. 📖🌍

Capricorn's Venus values mature, responsible partners. Love unfolds methodically, grounded in trust and reliability, transcending mere emotional fervor. 🧘‍♂️💖

Aquarius' Venus craves a camaraderie-fueled romance, where jest and banter abound. The shackles of a stifling union suffocate their individualistic essence. 🤣🤔

Pisces' Venus yearns for a soulmate connection, transcending the mundane. Their love, profound and unconditional, becomes a beacon for those drawn to exploit their open-hearted benevolence. 🌌💗

Follow our Facebook page Mage Magic Touch for personal consultations https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61565561190268

[world-of-wales]

❥ 27 APRIL 2024 | A previously unseen photograph featuring The Prince and Princess of Wales was released by Duffryn Mawr Country House, where they had stayed during their two-day visit to South Wales Valleys and Mid Wales in April of 2023.

In a post shared on their Facebook page, they wrote -

"It's been 1 year since we welcomed William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales, to Duffryn Mawr!

We were delighted to welcome William and Kate for a night here when they visited The Brecon Beacons. So kind and friendly, itwas a pleasure to have them stay here."

[luvtonique]

I wanna tell a little story. Just a little one. [Edit after typing: Yeah I ranted for a while. Oh well.]

I grew up with a dad who was extremely racist, extremely homophobic, and extremely abusive. Used to beat me and my brothers for 20+ years of my life, left us all with mental disorders and trust issues, you name it.

One such story of his homophobia and beatings is that my brother had a boyfriend at one point, and my dad hit him with a belt and screamed at him until he agreed to break up with said boyfriend, which he did.

Now cut ahead 20 years, my dad met an openly gay celebrity online and became friends with him. All the sudden, my dad was Mr. LGBT Pride. He was a writer, and suddenly started writing a book about a gay cowboy called Buck Justice. He would rent movies with gay actors in it, or gay themes, and was suddenly super pro gay.

It just left all of us disgusted, my brothers and my mom. We knew this man, but people on Facebook didn't. He had this huge friend group all the sudden of people calling him "Dad" and "Big Bob" and shit (When in reality, my dad called himself N*gger Bob and even had that written on the whiteboard next to his phone number), and he kept telling us all these stories and laughing and having a good time about how "Cool gay people are."

You see, it left a poor fucking taste in our mouth.

Because we had personally seen how horrible this man was. He beat us. He beat my bisexual brother. He was a fucking monster, but now that he was in some clique with a big popular movie star friend, he was suddenly this shining beacon of gay pride.

That's what bothers me when I see people on the internet acting the same way. I see the disingenuous nature of their actions. I see the popular people they're brown-nosing, I see the big popular bloggers and streamers they're trying to be friends with who are spouting the same bullshit.

And the reason it bothers me is because I know who these people are. I go back in their blogs like 1 month and find death threats, calls for violence, mental instability, extreme rage.

I go to their YouTube channels and find videos of them watching rats die on glue traps.

I get invited into their Discord servers and scroll back through the history of them talking with their friends and see just mountains of hate posting, calling for violence, wishing people would be killed, celebrating the death of people they hate.

That's why I don't do that shit. And why I don't tend to hang out with people who do. Because I know those people aren't really respectful people. I know they don't truly want equality.

I know the truth. From 20 years of belt marks on my back.

I know y'all are fucking disgusting people who are just pretending to be respectful advocates for equality and peace because the big celebrities and vloggers and streamers you wanna be friends with are saying the same shit.

You people aren't real. You are NPCs spouting NPC dialogue in hopes of getting some pseudo social credit score with big e-celebs while all it takes is 10 seconds of scrolling through your blog to find out you are the most disgusting, violent and unhinged person on the internet.

Case in point, y'ever seen a cat owner before?

Tell a cat owner you don't like cats.

Watch what happens.

It's been 9 years since I made a post saying I don't like cats and I still get those fucking psycho pieces of shit sending me extremely descriptive anon asks about how they want my throat to be ripped out by a dog in my sleep. That's who these people really are.

All it takes is one thing that sets them off and they go from your 11-year-running best friend of all time to a person who sends you multiple paragraphs of descriptive ways they hope you die.

I've learned from experience with my dad.

Y'all want equality? Just treat people with respect no matter what. Don't act like there's versions of people or groups of people who deserve more or less respect, because guess what, THAT'S CALLED PREJUDICE YOU FUCKING DIPSHIT.

If you have to say "I am LGBT friendly"

You clearly have something to hide (which I guarantee is like 10 posts down in your blog and is horrifically violent and descriptive) and you are the last person I would expect to actually be LGBT friendly, or any kind of friendly.

[apeekintothepantry]

Meet Violet Fielding, my original historical character from 1918 Boston!

I've been doing some workshopping with my custom historical characters because I've been a little bored with AG's historical offerings of late, and because it's a fun excuse to dig into moments in time that interest me personally, but AG probably wouldn't produce a similar character themselves. (I say that, but my 1940's Hawaii character predates Nanea, so who knows! Maybe I'm manifesting some future stuff I can borrow for my gals.)

Violet is the youngest of three siblings. Her older sister Alice is in her early 20's and either a nurse or a Hello Girl, leaning towards nursing because I'm not sure I want her to go overseas and she could work at a hospital in Boston during the war. Her older brother James is 19 and enlists in the Marines once the US enters World War I. I think by Violet Saves the Day, he's returned home dealing with quite a bit of "shellshock" and that becomes a somewhat major theme.

Her parents are pretty wealthy, and the family lives in a brownstone on Beacon Hill in Boston. Her dad is a doctor and mom is a suffragist who also gets involved in causes supporting the war effort. Both parents are very supportive of their kids following their passions and getting themselves out there in this still relatively new century, which is why Alice has been allowed to go to school instead of immediately marrying some wealthy guy.

Vi herself is a precocious and creative kid. I think she likes to draw and paint and generally be crafty and creative, which comes in handy when brainstorming ways she can support her brother overseas and the war effort more broadly. While she's not afraid to get her hands dirty, she does like typically girly things like having teatime and looking at catalogs filled with new dresses. Her book series would theoretically cover 1917 through 1919 or so, and touch on the war, Women's Suffrage, the Spanish Flu, shellshock, and possibly the Boston Molasses Disaster.

Currently I'm trying to come up with a best friend character for her, as she really needs a Nellie or Ruthie in her life with the age difference and both siblings being off doing exciting and scary things without her. There are a lot of different directions I could go in with said friend - fellow wealthy-ish kid feels boring, Boston had a lot of new immigrant communities in the 1910's, some of whom did live in a specific part of Beacon Hill, Boston historically struggles with insidious covert racism but was still a city with a number of prominent Black and Jewish communities - and nothing's quite clicked as perfect just yet.

Violet is a Marie-Grace doll with a Nanea wig. Someone was selling her on a Facebook group a few years ago and I immediately felt like she was a Violet and needed to join my crew. Her last name was inspired by Lady Dorothie Fielding, a British woman who drove an ambulance during WWI and received several awards for bravery and service. Fielding's letters home were published after her death and are a really fascinating look at what it was like on the front lines doing this incredibly dangerous and important work. I used it as a major primary source for an educational interactive I helped develop in one of my previous jobs.

[llyfrenfys]

Some really good notes from my post courtesy of @margridarnauds about that person accidentally using a white nationalist slogan to support the Welsh language:

I know someone who is doing a PhD on the Far Right and the co-option of cultural movements and these tags are bang on. Its the difference between a healthy nationalism and an unhealthy nationalism. A lot of this goes for Irish nationalism as well as it does for Welsh nationalism.

There's nothing wrong with (and arguably a lot right with) minority language preservation. It can be used for great good (strengthens community ties, preserves culture) but if co-option is not guarded against readily, it can also be used for great evil (see: using minority language struggles as an argument against immigration, for example).

The Far Right sees the cultural preservation of anything (white) and it's like a bat signal. These things are magnets for white supremacists and assorted fascists of all kinds. Which is why it is so goddamn important to be vigilant against people like that hijacking your movement.

I see a worrying amount of Welsh nationalists use (accidentally or not) the language of the far right to argue for Welsh language preservation. It can be as innocuous as advocating for a Welsh Academie Francaise to as obvious as insinuating that Wales must be kept "ethnically" Welsh in order to keep out foreign influence on the language. I see this go unchecked all the time in various Facebook groups for Welsh independence (most of which I've left since admins of these pages either don't know or don't care that people use their groups to share these sentiments).

Nationalism ��� Fascism - but if you don't keep an eye on the company you're keeping, any well-meaning nationalist/independence or language preservation movement can be hijacked to promote hate. I only know a scant amount because I was only vaguely considering joining Yes Cymru a few years before they all went sideways (but I remember Owen Exie Hurcum talking about this on Twitter at the time) but the leadership of Yes Cymru began to squeeze out minorities from the group- nonwhite folks, gay people, trans people etc. Whole thing put me off from joining. I don't remember the full details but from the testimonies of others, the group was hijacked and steered into a reactionary way of being. Considering a large amount of Welsh nationalists also idolise groups like the FWA (Free Wales Army - a Welsh nationalist group formed in 1963 which tried to emulate the IRA in Ireland, with little success- mostly just playing paramilitary dress up) - whose symbol is this flag:

Even if the flag itself is based on Welsh folklore and is supposedly an entirely innocent, non fash design- it still is like a beacon to the Far Right who will take any amount of symbolic validation as a cue to join your movement and derail it for their own ends.

Which is why Celtic scholars, people with casual interest in Celtic languages and/or their respective cultures and civic nationalists alike need to be vigilant against those who would co-opt the field for their own twisted hate campaign.

So, one final thought,

Returning to my original post responding to that American chiming into Welsh politics from overseas. Please PLEASE be careful when wading into politics that isn't yours. Where the Far Right are involved, it doesn't take much to cause a dumpster fire - if you aren't 'on the ground' with these issues so to speak, you aren't in the firing line if your comments go sideways and enable/provoke the Far Right in this country.

If you have an interest in Celtic languages, countries and politics- you have a duty to be responsible with what you do and say. This isn't to say that you cannot engage with these topics- but that you should exercise caution lest you accidentally worsen an already delicate situation.

This has been your regularly scheduled Celtic anti-fascist tedtalk. Please reblog to make sure more people become aware of how delicate things can be and how to prevent fascists from getting a foothold in this field. Thank you.

[aimasup]

👋Hello

I am Ghada from Gaza. As the war intensified and completely tore our lives apart, my family and I had no choice but to flee to the southern part of the strip. We lost everything—our home, our belongings, and even our sense of security. We now find ourselves living in a school for displaced people in the south, struggling to survive in extremely unstable conditions. 💔

We are in desperate need of your help. Whether by sharing the link to our campaign or through donations, your support will make a profound difference in our lives. It will help us escape this tragic situation and start a new chapter of our lives. 🙏🏻

Please share our campaign on Facebook, Instagram, or X. Every contribution or share, no matter how small, is a beacon of hope for us and brings us one step closer to a new beginning. Your kindness means the world to us. 🌹

Thank you for standing with us during this indescribably difficult time. ❤️🙏

.

[feminismisstillahatemovement]

The Google Gemini rabbit hole just keeps on getting deeper: the author Peter Hasson, whose book "The Manipulators" examines the left-wing bias of Silicon Valley giants like Google, Facebook and YouTube (owned by Google), asked the Google AI program for a summation of his book and was given entirely made-up quotes condemning it.

Link to the actual Free Beacon review

Cannot find any trace online of a New York Times review of the book by Emily Bazelon, or any article there about it by Ben Smith. No mention of the book at all, in fact, by the NYT. Searches for a review by Emily Dreyfuss in Wired also came up with nothing.

So Google's AI program really did just make up three fake articles out of thin air to try justify it labeling the book "lacking in concrete evidence and relying on anecdotal information".

That's damn creepy. I don't know if Hasson could sue them for this (maybe for libel?) but if it's possible, I hope he does.

[dwuerch-blog]

Happy Independence Day!

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” – Excerpt from the 1776 Declaration of Independence. Today, we celebrate the birth of our nation, marking 248 years since the Declaration of Independence was signed. It’s a day to…

[eretzyisrael]

by Chuck Ross

The New York Times over the weekend published a splashy profile of Arab-American activists in Michigan, detailing Muslim voters' anger over President Joe Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

It didn't tell readers, however, that several of the people featured in the piece, titled "Here’s How Joe Biden Loses Michigan," have praised Hamas or called for the destruction of Israel, providing a window into the nature of the opposition even to the Biden administration's tepid support for the Jewish state.

The activists featured in the video essay include:

Amer Zahr, an activist based in Dearborn, Mich., told the Times the United States is "actively funding" genocide in Gaza. What they didn't tell us: Zahr, a former surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), said at a Dearborn rally in December 2017 that he "stand[s] with every resistance against Israel and every resistance against the occupation … whether it's called Hamas, whether it's called Hezbollah." In a Facebook video in December 2021, Zahr urged Muslims and Arabs to "stop condemning anti-Semitism."

Imran Salha, the imam of the Islamic Center of Detroit, told the Times he would only vote for Biden on a ballot signed with "blood" thanks to Biden’s funding for "genocide" in Gaza. What they didn’t tell us: Salha said at a pro-Palestinian rally in Detroit days after Hamas's invasion of Israel that Muslims have a "fire in our hearts that will burn that state until its demise," the Washington Free Beacon reported. In a sermon at the Islamic Center of Detroit in May 2023, Salha referred to the "sick, disgusting Zionist regime" and prayed: "may Allah eradicate them from existence."

Wissam Charafeddine, whom the Times identified as an employee of the Dearborn public school system, told the paper he would not vote for Biden, "and no one will be voting for Biden that I know of." What they didn’t tell us: He has called in social media posts for the "elimination" of Israel and sided with Hamas over the Jewish state. "Israel deserves elimination more than Hamas given the genocide and thousands of massacres," Charafeddine wrote in April. In February, he stated: "Hamas should not negotiate with terrorists."

Nidal Jboor, a physician, asserted to the Times that "no Americans should vote for a president who supported genocide." What they didn’t tell us: Jboor is the cofounder of Doctors Against Genocide, an anti-Israel group that planned to hold a protest in December against the Jewish state inside the United States Holocaust Museum. The museum called the protest "deeply offensive to survivors and the memory of the victims to exploit Holocaust history."

Biden, who beat former president Donald Trump in Michigan by 150,000 votes in 2020, narrowly trails the Republican in recent polls, according to FiveThirtyEight. And according to the Times, anti-Biden sentiments among Michigan’s sizable Arab- and Muslim-American communities are "more than enough" to swing the battleground state against Biden. "This enclave may pick America’s next president," a Times narrator says.

Biden has sought to alleviate his eroding support in Michigan, dispatching White House and campaign officials to meet with Arab-American leaders in Dearborn, some of whom have expressed support for Hamas.

Team Biden met earlier this year with Arab American News publisher Osama Siblani, who has referred to Hamas and the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah as "freedom fighters." In 2022, Siblani urged Arabs to "fight" Israel with "stones" or "guns," the Free Beacon reported. The Times has quoted Siblani in multiple stories in its coverage of Biden's relationship with Arab and Muslim voters without mentioning Siblani’s sympathetic views of terrorist groups.

The Times did not respond to a request for comment.

Here is a 2021 Amer Zahr Twitter post - EY

[slitherpunk]

👋Hello

I am Ghada from Gaza. As the war intensified and completely tore our lives apart, my family and I had no choice but to flee to the southern part of the strip. We lost everything—our home, our belongings, and even our sense of security. We now find ourselves living in a school for displaced people in the south, struggling to survive in extremely unstable conditions. 💔

We are in desperate need of your help. Whether by sharing the link to our campaign or through donations, your support will make a profound difference in our lives. It will help us escape this tragic situation and start a new chapter of our lives. 🙏🏻

Please share our campaign on Facebook, Instagram, or X. Every contribution or share, no matter how small, is a beacon of hope for us and brings us one step closer to a new beginning. Your kindness means the world to us. 🌹

Thank you for standing with us during this indescribably difficult time. ❤️🙏

shared!

[whencartoonsruletheworld]

👋Hello

I am Ghada from Gaza. As the war intensified and completely tore our lives apart, my family and I had no choice but to flee to the southern part of the strip. We lost everything—our home, our belongings, and even our sense of security. We now find ourselves living in a school for displaced people in the south, struggling to survive in extremely unstable conditions. 💔

We are in desperate need of your help. Whether by sharing the link to our campaign or through donations, your support will make a profound difference in our lives. It will help us escape this tragic situation and start a new chapter of our lives. 🙏🏻

Please share our campaign on Facebook, Instagram, or X. Every contribution or share, no matter how small, is a beacon of hope for us and brings us one step closer to a new beginning. Your kindness means the world to us. 🌹

Thank you for standing with us during this indescribably difficult time. ❤️🙏

^^^

[heirofglee]

So I made my own king

[beardedmrbean]

The Washington Post — reeling from a mass exodus of subscribers over its refusal to endorse Kamala Harris — “aggressively ramped up its paid advertising campaign” on social media platforms that boost stories critical of Donald Trump, according to a report.

Owner Jeff Bezos has faced backlash over his decision last week to kill the endorsement for the vice president, which has led to the resignations of several high-level staffers and a loss of more than 250,000 digital subscribers.

On Thursday, the news site Semafor reported that the publication had rolled out an ad blitz at the start of the week on social media sites such as Facebook that boosts its anti-Trump coverage.

The promoted stories centered around the former president’s campaign rhetoric, misstatements, supporters leaving his rallies early and Trump’s controversial comments about migrants in Ohio eating dogs, Semafor reported.

By contrast, the promoted stories about his Democratic challenger were neutral in tone and informative, Semafor found.

Before Monday, the newspaper had run around a dozen ads on Facebook for the month of October, mainly promoting the Washington Post brand and steering clear of any mention of Trump.

The New York Post reached out to the WaPo for comment.

A source close to the situation told the New York Post that the Washington Post’s promoted stories on social media reflect high-performing content.

The content of the advertising posts is directly pulled from the respective reporting, according to the source.

“This isn’t new,” the source insisted.

The Washington Post’s promoted posts span a mix of its content across all of its verticals, including climate, style and other sections, the source added.

The Beltway paper’s increase in paid ads this week could also be a reflection of Facebook parent company Meta’s policy that prohibits new ads during the week of the election, which is set for Tuesday.

A source said the Washington Post was likely getting some new ads up before the tech giant freezes new ad buys.

As of Thursday, at least 250,000 readers — or 10% — canceled their digital subscriptions to the Washington Post in apparent protest of Bezos’ move to end the paper’s decades-long practice of endorsing a presidential candidate, according to National Public Radio.

Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon, published a guest essay Monday saying the decision to forgo endorsements was a matter of “principle” intended to dispel the notion that his newspaper was biased.

But the move elicited howls of protest from readers on social media as well as journalists who are either current or former employees of the Washington Post, such as award-winning Watergate sleuths Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

At least three editorial staffers resigned from the paper.

After Bezos’ decision was announced last Friday, some of the paper’s top editors and columnists met to discuss the controversy.

David Shipley, the newspaper’s opinion editor, listened as his colleagues blasted Bezos for harming the publication’s reputation as an “independent journalistic organization,” according to the Washington Free Beacon, which obtained audio of the meeting.

One staffer reportedly told Shipley that the “one thing that can’t happen in this country is for Trump to get another four years.”

Shipley responded by telling staffers that they were welcome to vent their frustration but that they would then need to either come to terms with Bezos’ decision and move on — or resign.

“Whatever you decide, I’m good with it,” Shipley said.

“What I really do want to impart is that you do not get stuck in the middle. Don’t be here if you don’t want to.”

Shipley told his colleagues that he spent an hour on the phone with Bezos in an effort to get him to change his mind and allow the editorial board to issue its endorsement of Harris — but the mogul refused to budge.

He said that while he agreed with the “principle that you do not have to do presidential endorsements,” he took issue with Bezos’ “timing, and the way in which the timing could be read.”

A similar dynamic has been playing out at the Los Angeles Times, where billionaire owner Patrick Soon-Shiong blocked the editorial board from publishing an endorsement of Harris.

Soon-Shiong said he wanted the editorial board to present a side-by-side comparative analysis of the two candidates and their positions so that readers could decide for themselves whom to support.

At least three LA Times staffers quit in protest and between 10,000 and 18,000 readers canceled their subscriptions to the paper, according to reports.