Fascinating story of how Milo Yiannopoulos might have created a fake charity and pocketed the money when he thought everyone had forgotten about it.
The media have reached a turning point in covering Donald Trump. He may not survive it.
The media have reached a turning point in covering Donald Trump. He may not survive it.
It happened because the Post’s David Fahrenthold and some other reporters did what journalists are supposed to do. They raised questions about Trump’s fundraiser, and when they didn’t get adequate answers, they investigated, gathered facts, and asked more questions.
It was excellent work — time-consuming, difficult, and ultimately paying dividends in public understanding. And Trump’s attack on them for doing their jobs the way those jobs are supposed to be done couldn’t have been better designed to get every other journalist to want to do the same. They’re no different than anyone else: When you make a direct attack on their professionalism, they’re likely to react by reaching back to their profession’s core values to demonstrate that they can live up to them. Trump may have wanted to intimidate them, but it’s likely to have the opposite effect.
Wow, journalism. It gets stuff done.
Thiel Shows Why Tech Billionaires Are The New Robber Barons
Thiel Shows Why Tech Billionaires Are The New Robber Barons
Thiel appears to have a political and social viewpoint grounded on a subversion of libertarian principles, in which what’s good for him, or his companies, is, by extension, a public good. Hence, destroying Gawker is not just revenge or a kind of political act, it’s in Thiel’s words “philanthropic.”
Thiel Apologists Still Having a Hard Time
Using the civil courts as an instrument of private vengeance rather than to compensate or punish injuries corrupts the legal system. Doing so in secret deprives the public and the jury of the knowledge which would create some self-correcting mechanism to limit such abuse. It’s as simple as that. Comparing this to lawsuits brought by the ACLU or a conservative public interest law firm is either silly, dishonest or stupid. (via Thiel Apologists Still Having a Hard Time)
Defending gawker reminds me of defending Too-Live-Crew in the 1990s. I’m cringing but it’s the right thing to do. Thiel seem to think his hurt feelings trump the free speech of others. I don’t see a single difference between that Thiel is doing and what the right calls “Social Justice Warriors” silencing others.
12 bad reasons for rejecting scientific studies
12 bad reasons for rejecting scientific studies
One of the best posts on false skepticism I’ve seen in a very long time. Worth a read.
Maher did it again
Bill Maher has been raked over the coals on his irrational, anti-scientific attitude towards vaccines; his own guests have scorned his views on his own show; he’s been confronted repeatedly with the evidence and the rebuttals. He’s got to know by now that there is no rational justification for claiming that vaccines or thimerosal cause autism, or that the drug companies are profiting hugely by including poisons in their vaccines (which makes no sense, even if you do believe in greedy pharmaceutical mega-corporations).
So what does he do? He invites anti-vax crank extraordinaire, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to sit around and commiserate with one another about how they’re called cranks and liars for merely denying the scientific consensus.
Maher wants it both ways. He want to be just an comedian and also a serious public intellectual. The last one to pull that off was Mark Twain and he is no Samuel Clemens.
When The Economist blamed Irish peasants for starving to death
When The Economist blamed Irish peasants for starving to death
its extraordinary blindness to how real life economic power relations work is reminiscent of the magazine’s beginnings in the 19th century, when it fulminated at the very idea that the British government should do anything about the Irish famine that was happening on its doorstep. After all, it was the peasants’ own fault that they were starving.
Laissez faire is often used as an excuse to blame victim.
Robert Reich: Why Anyone Should Care that Bill O’Reilly Calls Me A Communist
Robert Reich: Why Anyone Should Care that Bill O’Reilly Calls Me A Communist
Bill O’Reilly, the tumescent personality of Fox News, said on his Friday show “Robert Reich is a communist who secretly adores Karl Marx.” (This came after Fox News’ Neil Cavoto called me a “sanctimonious twit” for suggesting the rich should pay more in taxes.)
O’Reilly’s accusation is odd, to…
Welcome to the 2011 Salon Hack List
Welcome to the 2011 Salon Hack List
The Salon Hack List is a list of our least favorite political commentators, newspaper columnists, political news show hosts, and constant cable news presences, ranked roughly (but only roughly) in order of awfulness and then described rudely. Criteria for inclusion included being wrong about literally everything, shameless sycophancy, appearing on “Morning Joe” and being “Morning Joe.”
Who are the liberal birthers?
41 percent of Republicans say Obama was definitely or probably born in another country.
Why do so many Americans believe such a silly thing? And why are Republicans so much more likely to believe it?
From Poll: 41 percent of Republicans think Obama wasn’t born in America – Birthers – Salon.com
If the media does in fact have a liberal bias, there should be some liberal media equivalent to the birther. What liberal falsehood does 40% of the population believe? Or even 10%? It must be something clearly and demonstrably disproved that a large segment of the population believes because the media propagates the myth.