DragonI

Facebook Let Advertisers Target “Jew-Haters.” It Doesn’t End There.

Slate placed an ad targeting people interested in “killing haji,” “ku-klux-klan,” and more.

www.slate.com

Yet when Slate tried something similar Thursday, our ad targeting “Kill Muslimic Radicals,” “Ku-Klux-Klan,” and more than a dozen other plainly hateful groups was similarly approved. In our case, it took Facebook’s system just one minute to give the green light.

This isn’t the first time the investigative journalism nonprofit has exposed shady targeting options on Facebook’s ad network. Last year, ProPublica found that Facebook allowed it to exclude certain “ethnic affinities” from a housing ad—a practice that appeared to violate federal anti-discrimination laws. 

Below are some of the targeting groups Facebook allowed us to use in the ad. Many were auto-suggested by the tool itself—that is, when we typed “Kill Mus,” it asked if we wanted to use “Kill Muslim radicals” as a targeting category. The following categories were among those that appeared in its autocomplete suggestions under the option to target users by “field of study:”

• How kill jewish
• Killing Bitches
• Killing Hajis
• Pillage the women and rape the village

• Threesome Rape


Under “school,” we found “Nazi Elementary School.” A search for “fourteen words,” a slogan used by white nationalists, prompted Facebook to suggest targeting users who had listed their “employer” as “14/88,” a neo-Nazi code. Other employers suggested by Facebook’s autocomplete tool in response to our searches:

• Kill Muslimic Radicals
• Killing Haji

• Ku-Klux-Klan

• Jew Killing Weekly Magazine
• The school of fagget murder & assassination

Commerce: International tourism to U.S. dips by 700,000

About 700,000 fewer international tourists visited the U.S. during the first three months of the year, according to the Commerce Department.

www.usatoday.com

Overall, the 15.8 million international tourists during the first quarter were down 4%, or 697,791 visitors. The decline represented nearly $2.7 billion in reduced spending, according to an estimate by Tourism Economics of Wayne, Pa., which analyzes travel data widely used in the industry. 

The U.S. dropped two slots in international rankings of desirable tourist destinations even before the administration’s travel policies, according to the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report in April.

“We are going to be left behind. This pie continues to grow. Our slice is getting smaller if we don’t go after it.”, Patricia Rojas-Ungár, vice president for government affairs at the U.S. Travel Association. 

The travel industry warned of an anticipated drop in inbound tourism after President Trump’s “America first” rhetoric in his inauguration speech, his call for a wall along the border with Mexico and his proposal for a temporary travel ban for citizens of six Muslim-majority countries.

An American tourist gave the Nazi salute in Germany — so a stranger beat him up, police say

www.washingtonpost.com|https://www.facebook.com/RickNoackTWP/

The tourist was identified only as a 41-year-old American man who was “severely drunk,” according to police. He suffered minor injuries, while the stranger who assailed him fled the scene, police said.

Police said the U.S. national is under investigation for violating German laws prohibiting Nazi symbols and that they are still seeking the passer-by for causing personal injury, according to the Associated Press.

Germany outlawed the salute after World War II, along with Holocaust denial and other symbols and signals associated with the Nazis. A conviction can carry a prison sentence of up to three years, although courts often impose fines instead.

Our left-right media divide told through Charlottesville

How partisan Twitter users saw and shared different narratives of Charlottesville and the aftermath.

www.politico.com

After violence erupted in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 12, media coverage differed on what aspect of the event to cover.

Using analyses from Cortico and the Laboratory for Social Machines at the MIT Media Lab, we looked at what partisan Twitter users shared during and after the events of Charlottesville. We found a clear split in the story as told through partisan sources.

In Charlottesville, that long trail emerged once again into plain view not only for America, but for the whole world to see. The crazed, angry faces illuminated by torches. The chants echoing the same anti-Semitic bile heard across Europe in the 1930s. The neo-Nazis, Klansmen, and white supremacists emerging from dark rooms and remote fields and the anonymity of the web into the bright light of day on the streets of a historically significant American city.

If it wasn’t clear before, it’s clear now: We are living through a battle for the soul of this nation.

We have fought this battle before—but today we have a special challenge.

Today we have an American president who has publicly proclaimed a moral equivalency between neo-Nazis and Klansmen and those who would oppose their venom and hate.

We have an American president who has emboldened white supremacists with messages of comfort and support.

You, me, and the citizens of this country carry a special burden in 2017. We have to do what our president has not. We have to uphold America’s values. We have to do what he will not. We have to defend our Constitution. We have to remember our kids are watching. We have to show the world America is still a beacon of light.

Joined together, we are more than 300 million strong. Joined together, we will win this battle for our soul. Because if there’s one thing I know about the American people, it’s this: When it has mattered most, they have never let this nation down.

Tillerson: Trump 'speaks for himself'

Rex Tillerson said that Trump "speaks for himself" when asked whether the President's response to the violence in Virginia raised questions about his values.

www.cnn.com|Eli Watkins

Tillerson said on "Fox News Sunday" that the United States was committed to freedom and "equal treatment of people the world over" when posed the question by anchor Chris Wallace.

"I don't believe anyone doubts the American people's values," Tillerson said.

"And the President's values?" Wallace asked.

"The President speaks for himself," Tillerson said.

Tillerson's comment was in response to a line of questioning about a United Nations committee issuing a warning to the United States about racism and hate crimes, saying US leaders had not sufficiently condemned white supremacy.

Who is he?

More Bannon than the just-fired Steve Bannon, Miller joined the far right in high school, agitating against diversity initiatives. A former aide to Jeff Sessions, Miller helped write Trump’s incendiary inaugural speech. He shocked the nation when he said on TV that “the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned.”

Why is he dangerous?

A rabid supporter of anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim initiatives, including the travel ban, Miller was hailed by a prominent white supremacist as someone in the administration who has “a clearer understanding of race.” He knows how to stay in Trump’s good graces; after Miller scared America with his bizarre TV appearance, Trump tweeted: “Great job!”

What’s his weakness?

Miller pushes Trump to extremes and reinforces the president’s worst instincts. He is also dismissive and disrespectful toward mainstream conservatives. With Bannon’s ouster, Miller’s position has become more precarious.

• Scott Pruitt
• Mick Mulvaney
• Kris Kobach
• Sebastian Gorka
• Betsy DeVos

Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse

The most dangerous people in America.

www.thenation.com

Adapted from Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse: A Field Guide to the Most Dangerous People in America, by John Nichols. Copyright © 2017.

1. Scott Pruitt: MR. SECRETS AND LIES
2. Stephen Miller: HE WHO WILL NOT BE QUESTIONED
3. Mick Mulvaney: THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF THE MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
4. Kris Kobach: THE KING OF VOTER SUPPRESSION
5. Sebastian Gorka: THE JIHAD WHISPERER WITH THE ANTI-SEMITISM BADGE
6. Betsy DeVos: THE INVESTOR WHO GOT A HIGH RETURN

• Ignorance is Strength
• War is Peace
• Agenda of Hate
• Institutional Racism
• White Privilege
• Oligarchy
• Feudalism
• Dismantling Democracy
• Dismantling America

Gorka wore a medal signifying membership in the Vitezi Rend, a Hungarian group that collaborated with the Nazis in World War II, when he attended Trump’s inaugural ball in January, LobeLog reported. Members of the group told the Forward that Gorka is a member of the Vitezi Rend, but Gorka has said the medal belonged to his father and that he wears it in memory of his father’s anti-communist efforts in Hungary.

The Vitezi Rend debacle prompted reporters to dive into Gorka’s past. Gorka, who was born in Britain to Hungarian parents, founded a political party in Hungary in 2007. The party’s members were politicians who had previously belonged to Jobbik, a party that has espoused anti-immigration, anti-Semitic and homophobic positions, the Forward reported. Gorka expressed support for an anti-Semitic Hungarian militia called the Magyar Garda in August 2007, the Forward found. The European Court of Human Rights accused the group of working to create “an essentially racist legal order.”