ET Williams

The Doctor of Common Sense

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Syrian Refugee Suing Facebook for Viral Selfie

His selfie went viral for all the wrong reasons. Now this refugee is suing Facebook.

He needs to take a selfie of himself with a bomb up his ass

BERLIN — On a September day in 2015, Syrian refugee Anas Modamani took one of Germany’s most emblematic selfies. Snapping himself alongside Chancellor Angela Merkel during her visit to his Berlin shelter, he captured an image that became a symbol of her momentous decision to allow more than 1 million asylum seekers into Germany.

It also turned Modamani into the target of far-right conspiracies. Fake stories and doctored photographs first linked him to the March 2016 terrorist attacks in Brussels, then to the Berlin Christmas market attack in December. Another image even falsely claimed that he was a suspect in a recent assault on a homeless man.

So now he is taking aim at the messenger: Facebook.

The suit is seeking to compel Facebook to act faster — even preemptively — to remove such material, and thereby concede that the social network is also a media company and therefore liable for the content it publishes.

The lawsuit, which goes to court Monday, marks the latest attempt to hold Facebook more accountable for an upsurge in fake news. Germany, Europe’s most populous nation, with cherished notions of personal privacy and a low tolerance for propaganda, has emerged as a particularly fierce battleground for the outlet.

“Facebook only deletes those URLs that are pointed out to them in written form,” said Modamani’s attorney, Chan-jo Jun. “We are fighting for all reposts to be deleted.”

As Facebook has come under fire for allowing the spread of fake news, the company has promised to take steps to combat the problem while maintaining that it is merely a platform for sharing information, not generating it.

The Europeans have been particularly aggressive. In May, the European Commission agreed on a new code of conduct with Facebook and other social-media platforms under which they would respond to reports of questionable content within 24 hours.

But nowhere in Europe has the pressure been stronger than in Germany — a country where the memory of Nazi propaganda and Cold War-era machinations have created a culture strongly adverse to hate speech and false reports. A proliferation of far-right and pro-Russian websites also have trained their sights on Merkel as she campaigns for reelection in a vote set for September, putting the issue of fake news front and center in the public debate.

In response to calls for change, Facebook last month announced the start of a new effort in Germany in partnership with the nonprofit journalism network Correctiv. With the help of professional journalists, reports shared by users and identified as fake would be labeled as potentially suspect or false.

Yet the Germans may push Facebook to go even further. The country’s Justice Ministry is monitoring how quickly Facebook, Twitter and YouTube delete potentially libelous fake news, reports inciting hate and other content considered illegal under domestic law. If the results show that Facebook has not made progress since a similar test in September, the German government has threatened to force it to comply.

“We’re considering concrete legislative measures,” said Justice Ministry spokesman Philip Scholz. He added, “We’re also considering fines as a final option.”

Modamani’s attorney has sought to sway German prosecutors to build a case against Facebook for years. Although prosecutors in Hamburg and Munich took a look at his claims that the network was allowing the spread of incendiary and hateful material, thus far they have failed to take action.

In the Modamani case, the suit is seeking to force Facebook not only to delete specific false or illegal posts reported by users, but also to adopt special filters that search the network and remove all other references to that content. Jun said that although Facebook claims to have deleted fake posts attacking his client, he found reposts of the images as recently as last week.

The claims center largely around three images, which were widely spread and which Jun claims could still be circulating on Facebook. One shows the selfie of Modamani and Merkel next to security footage of a group of young men suspected of trying to set a homeless man on fire at a Berlin subway station on Christmas Eve. The face of one of the suspects is circled and falsely identified as Modamani.

“Merkel made selfie with one of the offenders in 2015!” it reads.

In another incident, a photomontage circulated on Facebook of Modamani with Merkel against the backdrop of a Berlin Christmas market following the December attack. The caption reads, “They are Merkel’s dead.”

An earlier claim had falsely linked Modamani to last year’s Brussels attacks, alleging that Merkel “took a selfie with a terrorist.” The image was initially posted by a user called “Anonymous” and, according to Jun, reposted at least 1,000 times. Many times more users saw it.

“I love Facebook — I found an apartment through the network,” Modamani told Spiegel Online last month. “But I also hate Facebook, because this Photoshop stuff simply never ceases.”

In a statement, Facebook said that it had “already quickly disabled access to content” that Modamani’s legal representatives had reported. “So we do not believe that legal action here is necessary or that it is the most effective way to resolve the situation.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/his-selfie-went-viral-for-all-the-wrong-reasons-now-this-refugee-is-suing-facebook/ar-AAmD1fy

 

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Berkeley Rioters Paid by Soros

Refuse Fascism’ Group Behind Berkeley Riot Received $50k from George Soros

They need to lock his ass up and take all of his money. RICO!

One of the far-left “anti-fascist” groups behind last week’s riot in Berkeley, Refuse Fascism, received $50,000 from a group backed by socialist billionaire George Soros, according to the Daily Caller.

The Alliance for Global Justice, which is funded by the George Soros-backed Tides Foundation, reportedly donated $50,000 to fund Refuse Fascism, which openly brags about using violence to shut down conservative and libertarian speech.

“While it is unclear whether those who carried out the violence were paid to do so, the benefactors of the Alliance for Global Justice — and Refuse Fascism — are listed online,” reported the Daily Caller. “According to its most recent 990 tax form, Alliance for Global Justice (AfGJ) received $2.2 million in funding for the fiscal year ending in March 2016. One of the group’s biggest donors is the Tides Foundation, a non-profit funded by billionaire progressive philanthropist George Soros. Tides gave AfGJ $50,000.”

“Other notable donors include the city of Tucson and the United Steel Workers labor union. The former gave $10,000 to AfGJ while the latter contributed $5,000,” they continued. “Charities associated with several major corporations also donated. Patagonia.org, the outdoor apparel and equipment company, gave $40,000. The Ben & Jerry Foundation, the charity associated with the ice cream maker, gave $20,000. And Lush Cosmetic gave $43,950. Another bit of irony is seen in the $5,000 contribution from the Peace Development Fund, a group that claims to support organizations that fight for human rights and social justice.”

The group defended the violent riot at Berkeley on Facebook, which left numerous Trump supporters and fans of MILO injured and bloody, before deleting their post.

“Dismantling police fences is not violent,” they claimed, according to the Daily Caller, ignoring the rest of the violence that occured. “And to compare preventing someone like that from speaking to the real-world violence that they perpetuate everyday is ludicrous.”

Refuse Fascism also branded the riot as “righteous,” and encouraged more violence to shut down conservatives in a post on their website.

“Last night, thousands of students, professors and others protested the appearance and organizing rally of Milo Yiannopoulos, a major fascist operative, shutting it down. This was righteous and much more like this is needed,” the group proclaimed. “Lets be clear: Milo Yiannopoulos is not engaging in ‘free speech.’ He is consciously spearheading the Nazification of the American University.”

The riot started at UC Berkeley on Wednesday after protesters against Breitbart Senior Editor MILO became increasingly violent outside of his show.

“Anti-fascists” started several fires, smashed windows and ATMs, looted downtown stores, attacked cars, and assaulted dozens of MILO fans, male and female, who they falsely accused of being “Nazis.”

Despite the large amount of violence, numerous reports indicate that police officers refused to intervene, and only one suspect was arrested.

UFC veteran and professional MMA fighter Jake Shields was even forced to rescue a man who was being assaulted by left-wing rioters after police allegedly refused to intervene.

“Like fifteen people were trying to attack him and others were cheering them on,” explained Shields, who managed to successfully rescue the man, in an interview with Breitbart News. “No one helped, no one had the balls to step in, so my reaction was to run in and start picking people off.”

“More chaos started happening, so I went up to the police and tried bringing them back, but they were just like ‘we’re not really going over there. You should just stay away.’” he continued. “I don’t know if they were taking orders from someone or if they were just being lazy. I don’t know what the situation was, but it was pathetic to watch. Our police, who are supposed to defend the citizens of Berkeley. It’s a sad scene that they would allow that.”

The national co-coordinator for the Alliance for Global Justice, Chuck Kaufman, claimed he wasn’t aware that Refuse Fascism were involved in the riots, but defended their involvement citing the fact that numerous far-left groups joined in.

“I wasn’t aware that Refuse Fascism was involved, but probably they were one of a whole lot of groups calling to shut down Milo Yiannopoulos’ hate speech,” said Kaufman to The Daily Caller. “AfGJ acts as fiscal sponsor for Refuse Fascism which means we process tax-deductible donations for them. As long as their use of the money falls into areas permitted for tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organizations, we don’t involve ourselves one way or the other in their program work.”

Several celebrities and news outlets expressed support for the riot, including Hollywood director Judd Apatow, who deleted his tweet shortly after, and Fusion, who smeared MILO as a “Nazi,” before praising rioters.

The day after, MILO’s tour bus was tracked down by “anti-fascists” and vandalized, forcing both him and his team to evacuate the premises after his location was leaked online.

Four anti-fascists were also arrested last week after they became violent during a protest against libertarian commentator and VICE co-founder Gavin McInnes, who was speaking at New York University.

http://www.breitbart.com/milo/2017/02/05/refuse-fascism-group-behind-berkeley-riot-funded-george-soros/

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12-Year-Old Attacked on Missouri Bus for Wearing Trump Hat

School Suspends 12-Year-Old Boy Attacked on Bus for Wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ Hat

A 12-year-old boy in Missouri was attacked on a school bus by his peers for wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat—and was suspended from school as a result.

A cellphone video of the incident shows Gavin Cortina of St. Louis being bullied physically and verbally by his peers for expressing his political beliefs on a hat Wednesday, the Daily Mail reports.

“You want to build a wall?” one student yells in the clip. “You want to build a f—king wall?”

Things escalated quickly after that, according to Gavin.

“At one point, he just got so frustrated he pushed me,” the sixth-grader told KMOV. “And then he kept hitting me and backing me up by the window of the bus, and so I just had to push him out.”

Even though Gavin was the one being attacked, the Parkway School District suspended him. His mother, Christina, is outraged at the school and is concerned about what will happen if he wears the hat again.

“As a parent it’s so unsettling,” she said. “I feel like my son was made an example of, it was a tricky situation—it was politically charged.”

A spokesperson for the Parkway School District said they investigated the fight and that all students involved have faced “consequences.”

At least one student was suspended, according to KMOV.

The district sent out notices to parents with suggestions on how to talk about the election results with their children after Trump’s victory in November, the New York Daily News reports.

The spokesperson added that administrators will sit the students down and reach a peaceful understanding about the incident and their political differences.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/02/05/school-suspends-12-year-old-boy-attacked-on-bus-for-wearing-a-make-america-great-again-hat/

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7 of 10 Democrats Think Christians Are as Violent as Mooslims

CBS Poll: Two-Thirds of Democrats Say Islam, Christianity Equally Violent

Ever see a Christian doing this? Or cutting off heads? Or burning people alive?

Almost seven out 10 Democrats believe Islam “encourages violence… about the same as other religions,” according to a new CBS poll.

The trusting attitude towards Islam is revealed in the February 2017 poll follows 17 tumultuous years of attacks against Americans motivated or shaped by Islamic ideology throughout the United States—from the 9/11 atrocity to the Pulse nightclub attack in Florida committed by an observant, orthodox Muslim man from a Muslim family.

Merely one-in-seven Democrats believe that Islam is more violent than other religions, such as Christianity, Mormonism, Judaism, and Buddhism. One-in-ten Democrats believe that Islam is less violent that other religions, according to the poll of 1,019 adults, which was taken Feb. 1 and Feb. 2.

In contrast, Republicans have a far colder view of Islam. Sixty-three percent of Republicans view Islam as aggressive compared to other religions, and only two percent view Islam as more pacific than other faiths.

Screen Shot 2017-02-05 at 6.53.02 PM

Still, 25 percent of Republican voters believe Islam’s encouragement of violence is level with Christianity’s doctrines, including the Beatitudes passage, reported by Matthew: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

The Koran, in contrast, is deemed by Islam’s adherents to be a direct transcript of Allah’s many commands, including these belligerent commandments:

I will cast terror into the hearts of those who have disbelieved, so strike them over the necks, and smite over all their fingers and toes.

Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress. Indeed. Allah does not like transgressors. 

So when you meet those who disbelieve [in battle], strike [their] necks until, when you have inflicted slaughter upon them, then secure their bonds, and either [confer] favor afterwards or ransom [them] until the war lays down its burdens. 

Former President Barack Obama and other leaders in the Democratic Party have repeatedly suggested that Islam is not more violent than other religions. Obama told Muslims in February 2016 that Islam means “peace,” although it actually means “submission.”

Similarly, a Feb. 3 letter signed by three senior Democratic legislators in the House argued that “there are other three million Americans who practice Islam peacefully. The specter that there would be a Federal program that—in name and action—singles out people of a particular faith warrants immediate [critical] consideration by the Department of Justice.”

Progressive and left-wing activists say much violence is caused by Christians, although few make the argument that the violence is motivated Christian doctrines.

“However, and this will probably shock many, so you might want to take a breath: Overwhelmingly, those who have committed terrorist attacks in the United States and Europe aren’t Muslims,” according to a Daily Beast column emphasizing the role of European nationalist groups in terrorism rates.

“Conservatives claim that all terrorists are Muslim, but most violent attacks in the U.S. are carried out by white men,” claims an article at Salon.com, which emphasizes the murders of abortionists.

Similarly, establishment media sites have played up the pro-Western, anti-Islam views of White House officials without even trying to address the truth or falsity of the views.

In contrast, pro-Western critics of Islam routinely argue that Islam’s mixture of religion and political ideology has a harmful impact on adherents and on societies. They argue that Islam is far more aggressive and harmful to societies that what they describe as the beneficial impact of Christianity’s mix of faith and reason, freedom and law.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/02/05/cbs-poll-two-thirds-of-democrats-say-islam-christianity-equally-violent/

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Up To 8 Million People to Be Deported

Via con Dios Bad Hombres

When President Trump ordered a vast overhaul of immigration law enforcement during his first week in office, he stripped away most restrictions on who should be deported, opening the door for roundups and detentions on a scale not seen in nearly a decade.

Up to 8 million people in the country illegally could be considered priorities for deportation, according to calculations by the Los Angeles Times. They were based on interviews with experts who studied the order and two internal documents that signal immigration officials are taking an expansive view of Trump’s directive.

Far from targeting only “bad hombres,” as Trump has said repeatedly, his new order allows immigration agents to detain nearly anyone they come in contact with who has crossed the border illegally. People could be booked into custody for using food stamps or if their child receives free school lunches.

The deportation targets are a much larger group than those swept up in the travel bans that sowed chaos at airports and seized public attention over the past week. Fewer than 1 million people came to the U.S. over the past decade from the seven countries from which most visitors are temporarily blocked.

Deportations of this scale, which has not been publicly totaled before, could have widely felt consequences: Families would be separated. Businesses catering to immigrant customers may be shuttered. Crops could be left to rot, unpicked, as agricultural and other industries that rely on immigrant workforces face labor shortages. U.S. relations could be strained with countries that stand to receive an influx of deported people, particularly in Latin America. Even the Social Security system, which many immigrants working illegally pay into under fake identification numbers, would take a hit.

The new instructions represent a wide expansion of President Obama’s focus on deporting only recent arrivals, repeat immigration violators and people with multiple criminal violations. Under the Obama administration, only about 1.4 million people were considered priorities for removal.

“We are going back to enforcement chaos — they are going to give lip service to going after criminals, but they really are going to round up everybody they can get their hands on,” said David Leopold, a former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Assn. and an immigration lawyer for more than two decades.

 

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-deportations-20170204-story.html

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Men Infested With Scabies Mites Caught Having Sex at Bed, Bath & Beyond

This will sell sheets

CLIFTON, NJ – Two men were arrested  and charged with engaging in lewd behavior on a display bed at Bed Bath & Beyond during regular business hours.

Police officers responded to the Route 3 Riverfront shopping center at 5 p.m. Monday on a report from a witness that two men were engaged in a sex act, records show.

Police arrested two 28-year-old men, one from Nutley and the other from North Carolina. Both were charged with lewdness, criminal mischief and possession of marijuana, according to police records. The Nutley suspect was also charged with having an outstanding warrant for his arrest.

The incident was reported by an employee who witnessed the act, reports show.

One or both of the men apprehended by police were found to be infected with scabies, a contagious skin infestation caused by a microscopic parasite that burrows beneath skin. The arresting officers were exposed to the mites, according to police reports.

Because the two men were found to be suffering from a health condition, their identities are protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPAA, officials said. However, police said they were not Bed Bath & Beyond employees.

The officers were treated at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center and released, though they were on leave for a few days to avoid contaminating the Clifton Police Department’s offices, according to the record of the incident, which also said the booking station had to be fumigated by exterminators to prevent any spread of scabies.

Detective Lt. Robert Bracken said it’s not yet known if the suspects were intoxicated or under the influence of a controlled dangerous substance. He said there was no clear motive or reason behind the crime.

Bracken credited the store’s employees, who were “proactive in remedying the situation.”

A manager at the store declined to comment when reached on Thursday and referred inquiries to its headquarters.

Jessica Joyce, senior manager of Bed Bath & Beyond’s public relations and social media, emailed a statement saying the company “takes the safety of our customers and associates very seriously” and found this incident “extremely upsetting.”

“Out of an abundance of caution, the incident-related merchandise and display was immediately pulled from the floor and discarded. We will continue to take steps to assure that our store and merchandise continues to be safe for our customers and associates. If any customer feels uncomfortable in our store for any reason, we will of course attempt to address such a situation in an appropriate manner,” Joyce wrote.

http://www.northjersey.com/story/news/passaic/clifton/2017/02/02/two-men-arrested-after-sex-act-store-display/97413898/