20 September 2021⚡️ From Facebook to the Secret Service, a WTH edition
Most Americans support $3.5B infrastructure bill; FBI fires agent who sat on Larry Nassar complaint in 2015; at most of the 50 largest public colleges and universities, vaccines are optional
Last week, The Wall Street Journal published a bombshell five-part investigation showing how Facebook ignores or deflects reports relating to flaws in its platform “that cause harm.” The series is largely based on internal documents and shows that the company often discounts problems that its own employees discover.
Facebook employees had previously flagged comments made on posts as a largely unaddressed problem, according to a former employee and the documents reviewed by the Journal. Research in 2018 and 2019 found that comments were what one memo described as “an important source of misinformation, even on seemingly innocuous articles.”
“Misinformation, toxicity, and violent content are inordinately prevalent among reshares,” according to an internal memo. According to the WJS, a whistleblower has turned over some documents to Congress and the Security and Exchange Commission.
How Facebook Hobbled Mark Zuckerberg’s Bid to Get America Vaccinated, 17 September
Facebook Employees Flag Drug Cartels and Human Traffickers. The Company’s Response Is Weak, Documents Show, 16 September
Facebook Tried to Make Its Platform a Healthier Place. It Got Angrier Instead, 15 September
Facebook Knows Instagram Is Toxic for Teen Girls, Company Documents Show, 14 September
Facebook Says Its Rules Apply to All. Company Documents Reveal a Secret Elite That’s Exempt, 13 September
Remember when Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel and Donald Trump had a secret dinner?
How to read the WSJ for free (other than using your local library’s eservices).
The problems highlighted by the Journal were consistent with what Facebook critics have been saying for a long time: Executives are consumed with revenue growth and engagement. (CNBC)
There is a growing divide in the GOP. Last week, Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH), who voted to impeach Donald Trump, announced he will not run for re-election.
One GOP lawmaker in a safe red seat spoke candidly on condition of anonymity about the conundrum facing the party… “The majority of the Republican base feels that Jan. 6 was justified… Every day, I hear the word ‘Civil War’ — every day.”
However, one thing about the GOP that has not changed is the sound of silence at Trump’s billing taxpayers for millions, both during and after his time in the White House.
While President, Trump visited his own properties more than 280 times, milking the public for at least $2.5 million. For example, his Bedminster, N.J. club charged the Secret Service $17,000 a month, every month from May to November, to rent a cottage for when Trump or a kid would visit. When Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago, the club billed us more than $7,000 for a 30-person dinner.
Presidents are entitled to Secret Service protection for life. Trump has been charging his security detail $396.15 per night for the space they use at Mar-a-Lago. From January 20 to April 30, his Florida club billed taxpayers more than $40,000.
But the bigger outrage is this: just before leaving office, Trump mandated 24-hour Secret Service protection for his four adult children and two of their spouses as well as former treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, former chief of staff Mark Meadows and former national security adviser Robert C. O’Brien. There was no public executive order or public statement announcing this unprecedented extension.
According to the Washington Post, this extra six months of Secret Service protection cost taxpayers at least $1.7 million. In June taxpayers spent more than $52,000 to guard Mnuchin, a multimillionaire, on a business trip to Israel and Qatar.
The Secret Service spent about $347,000 on airfare, hotels and rental cars while protecting Ivanka Trump and her husband, former White House adviser Jared Kushner, the records show. The receipts showed the pair visiting resort destinations: Hawaii, Utah ski country, an upscale Wyoming ranch and Kiawah Island, S.C.
The week in quick review
Upcoming, Climate Night. On Wednesday, Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee, James Corden, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and Trevor Noah will focus their programming on climate change. Climate Night is part of Climate Week NYC, a weeklong summit hosted annually by the international non-profit the Climate Group in conjunction with the United Nations, and in partnership with the COP26 and the City of New York.
Someone fax this to Manchin: a FOX News poll released on Sunday reveals that voters favor (56-39%) the U.S. House infrastructure bill that has been blocked by Senate Republicans and by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV). The bill includes spending to address childcare, climate change and health care. Democrats support the bill (87%) as do independents (54%) versus only 1-in-4 Republicans. Survey margin of error, +/- 3%.
Washington Examiner: “Manchin has gone from one of the only Democrats who would work with Trump to one of the only Democrats who will stymie President Joe Biden’s eagerness to placate congressional liberals.”It’s not just plastics in the ocean. Old (“waste”) American clothes are being shipped abroad where they clog beaches and dumps. According to CBS, in the past three decades, Americans are buying five-times as much clothing, but we wear each item “only an average of seven times.” The US is the number one exporter of second-hand clothing. In Ghana, about 15 million items of used clothing from Western countries land in the markets every week. The country’s population: 30 million.
Long overdue. The FBI has reportedly FINALLY fired Michael Langeman. In 2015, Langeman was the supervisory special agent in the Indianapolis office who interviewed gymnast McKayla Maroney about serial sexual abuser Larry Nassar. Nothing happened until after the Indianapolis Star began publishing its investigation in late 2016.
From Simone Biles on Wednesday: “I didn’t understand the magnitude of what all was happening until the Indianapolis Star published its article in the fall of 2016 entitled ‘Former USA Gymnastics doctor accused of abuse.’ ”The nation’s largest public colleges and universities are on the fence regarding Covid-19 vaccinations. On Wednesday, AP reported that 26 of the 50 largest public institutions of higher ed have not mandated that students be vaccinated. These 26 account for about 55% of students enrolled at the 50 that AP analyzed. “Universities with vaccine mandates are concentrated in the Northeast and California. Almost all of those without mandates are in states that have restricted the ability to implement COVID-19 vaccine requirements, including Florida, Texas and Arizona.”
No prison for global cybercrime. The Department of Justice announced on Tuesday that three former U.S. intelligence and military operatives — Marc Baier, 49; Ryan Adams, 34; and former US citizen Daniel Gericke, 40 — confessed to providing prohibited computer technology and services (“hacking”) to the United Arab Emirates. The “hacking and intelligence-gathering systems … were used to break into computers in the United State and elsewhere in the world.” The three men paid a fine — $1.7 million— but will face no prison time if they cooperate and stay clean for three years. The technology includes a “zero-click” exploit “that Baier bought from an unnamed U.S. company in 2016” which allows companies to break into mobile devices without users doing anything.
Gates raises climate change profile. Also on Tuesday, GeekWire (and national outlets) reported that the Bill Gates is expanding his public profile on climate change and energy issues. Breakthrough Energy, a firm he started in 2015 “to fund clean tech companies,” launched Cipher news: Dispatches on Climate, Technology and Getting to Zero.
Tech tips. At Last: Transcription Software That Works. Breaking the News, James Fallows, 19 September 2021. Cannot wait to try the free version of this service.
🤓 Recommended reading
Dramatic Partisan Differences On Blame for January 6 Riots. PRRI, 15 September.
Fighting fire with fire to protect sequoia trees. AP, 16 September.
How 9/11 changed life for Muslim American athletes. Sports Illustrated, 10 September.
Peter Thiel Gamed Silicon Valley, Donald Trump, and Democracy to Make Billions, Tax-Free. Bloomberg, 15 September 2021.
Peter Thiel’s Origin Story. His ideology dominates Silicon Valley. It began to form when he was an angry young man. NY Magazine, 20 September.
Refusing the Covid vaccine is the ultimate sin of omission for Catholics today. The Jesuit Review, 25 August 2021.
The ‘JusticeForJ6’ Rally Wasn’t a Joke — It Was A Warning. Rolling Stone, 18 September 2021.
Troll farms reached 140 million Americans a month on Facebook before 2020 election, internal Facebook report shows. Tech Review, 16 September 2021.
💉 COVID-19 week in review
🏥 Hospitalizations: on Saturday 18 September, US hospitals were treating 83,965 coronavirus patients, down from 97,924 on 01 September 2021. We appear to have peaked. Again.
Twenty-two states have hospitalization rates greater than the national average (28/100,000, 20 September 2021): KY (57), WV (54), GA (53), AL (51), SC (49), TN (49), FL (46), TX (46), ID (40), MS (38), IN (37), MT (37), OK (36), AR (36), WY (35), OH (34), NC (33), MO (31), NV (31), AK (29), DE (29) and ND (29). Note that health authorities report that hospitalization numbers are decreasing due to deaths.
🪦 Deaths per day (seven-day average) reached 1,926 on Saturday (18 Sept 2021), which is more than a two-fold increase in a month (821 on 18 Aug 2021). The last time the reported death rate has been this great was 02 March 2021.
📷 Photo of the week
Rita Kochmarjova, Adobe Stock Photo.
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