DragonI

Outcry after Facebook sponsors gala featuring Brett Kavanaugh

Company is listed as a ‘gold circle’ sponsor for rightwing group Federalist Society dinner where justice will be keynote speaker

www.theguardian.com|Edward Helmore

Facebook is facing criticism for sponsoring the annual gala dinner of the Federalist Society, the powerful rightwing legal group behind the nomination of the conservative supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh.

The Federalist Society has played a key role in the decades-long Republican strategy to pack US courts with conservatives, which has been advanced under Donald Trump’s administration. The group’s executive vice-president, Leonard Leo, advised the president on Kavanaugh’s controversial appointment.

Facebook’s sponsorship of the Federalist Society’s dinner, which was first reported by Popular Information, will now renew anxiety about a company which recently decided that it will not vet political advertising for accuracy in the run-up to the 2020 US elections.

The event drew protests on Thursday evening, including a large video screen playing the testimony of Dr Christine Blasey Ford, the California psychologist who accused Kavanaugh of sexual assault. Kavanaugh’s appointment was subsequently confirmed despite Ford’s testimony.

I’m so glad @RepAdamSchiff called trump out for witness intimidation based on his real time tweets about Yovanovitch WHILE she was testifying, and how visibly shaken the witness was in hearing those attacks. #witnessintimidation #ImpeachmentInquiry #TrumpBribery 

— Mueller, She Wrote Podcast @MuellerSheWrote

• 'Very intimidating': Yovanovitch responds to Trump's mid-testimony Twitter attacks, MSNBC
• 'Witness intimidation in real-time': Democrats see more evidence of Trump obstruction, Politico
• Democrats to consider Trump Twitter smear in articles of impeachment, The Guardian

Opinion | If Trump Were Anyone Else …

The president would be fired and perhaps subject to a criminal investigation.

www.nytimes.com

Suppose that a low-ranking government official, the head of a branch Social Security office, intervened to halt a widow’s long-approved Social Security payments. The widow, alarmed that without that income she might lose her home, would call the branch director to ask for help.

“I’d like you to do me a favor, though,” the director might respond. He would suggest that her Social Security payments could resume, but he’d like the widow to give him her late husband’s collection of rare coins.

Likewise, imagine that a high school principal expelled the police chief’s son but offered to readmit the boy if the police department would just open a criminal investigation into his ex-wife before their child custody hearing.

Or suppose that the head of a public hospital offered to provide free medical care to employees of a construction company if it remodeled his kitchen?

Whether we’re Republicans or Democrats, we would all recognize that it’s inappropriate for a federal official to use his or her power over government resources to extract personal benefits.

Remember all this as we hear Trump’s defenders try to divert attention to the whistle-blower, to Hunter Biden or to anything else. 

Mulvaney held up missiles to Ukraine out of fear Russia would be angry: State Department official

Among the many revelations in the transcript of Ukraine Special Adviser Catherine Croft’s testimony to the House is the fact that acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney put a hold on a shipment of Javelin missiles to Ukraine not just as part of an […]

www.rawstory.com

Among the many revelations in the transcript of Ukraine Special Adviser Catherine Croft’s testimony to the House is the fact that acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, who also oversees the Office of Management and Budget, put a hold on a shipment of Javelin missiles to Ukraine not just as part of an apparent scheme to force Ukrainian officials to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden, but also out of concern that Russia would be angry.

“In a briefing with Mr. Mulvaney, the question centered around the Russian reaction,” said Croft in the transcript. When pressed, she added the fear was specifically “that Russia would react negatively to the provision of javelins to Ukraine.”

Facebook prompts outcry after including ‘alt-right’ website Breitbart in ‘high quality’ news section

Inclusion comes amid criticism of tech company's relationship with right-wing groups

www.independent.co.uk

Earlier this month, Mr Zuckerberg was criticised by liberal commentators for hosting informal talks and off-the-record dinners with conservative journalists, including Fox News host Tucker Carlson. ... and Lindsey Graham

• “Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos had worked directly with a white nationalist and a neo-Nazi to write and edit an article defining the “alt-right” movement and advancing its ideas.”, The Guardian
• Breitbart writer Jack Hadfield caught running a secret White Supremacist Facebook Group, Think Progress

Breitbart, a publication that has been criticised for repeatedly inaccurate and incendiary reporting, has raised concerns about Facebook’s editorial judgement.

• In 2018, Wikipedia editors voted to ban the publication as a source of fact in its articles “due to its unreliability”.
• During the 2016 presidential election, Breitbart promoted a widely-debunked conspiracy theory about senior Democratic Party figures being involved in a child sex ring and spread baseless claims that Huma Abedin, a Hillary Clinton aide, was involved with terrorism.
• It has also repeatedly published anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant views, as well as publishing journalists who deny climate change.
• However, it has also faced criticism for its reluctance to crack down on white nationalism and far-right hate on its platform.

Facebook has also been criticised in recent weeks for its policy decision to not fact check political adverts.

• “Facebook is paying some publishers $1 million to $3 million a year”, Bloomberg
• “Watch Mark Zuckerberg duck a question about including Breitbart in Facebook's News tab ”, Mashable

Trump’s War on the ‘Deep State’ Turns Against Him

The impeachment inquiry is in some ways the culmination of a battle between the president and the government institutions he distrusted and disparaged.

www.nytimes.com

Mr. Trump described his war with the deep state as fundamental to his presidency.

“If it all works out, I will consider it one of the greatest things I’ve done,” Mr. Trump said. “I think with the destruction of the deep state, certainly I’ve done big damage,” he added. “They’ve come after me in so many different ways; it’s been such a disgrace. But I think it’ll be one of my great achievements.”

But over the last three weeks, the deep state has emerged from the shadows in the form of real live government officials, past and present, who have defied a White House attempt to block cooperation with House impeachment investigators and provided evidence that largely backs up the still-anonymous whistle-blower.

The parade of witnesses marching to Capitol Hill culminated this week with the dramatic testimony of William B. Taylor Jr., a military officer and diplomat who has served his country for 50 years. Undaunted by White House pressure, he came forward to accuse the same president who sent him to Ukraine a few months ago of abusing his power to advance his own political interests.

“With all the denigration and disparagement and diminishment, I think you are seeing some payback here, not by design but by opportunity,” said Representative Gerald E. Connolly, a Democrat from Washington’s Virginia suburbs who represents many federal employees. 

The witnesses heading to Capitol Hill do not consider themselves part of any nefarious deep state, but simply public servants who have loyally worked for administrations of both parties only to be denigrated, sidelined or forced out of jobs by a president who marinates in suspicion and conspiracy theories.