They need to be regulated and maybe investigated for trying influence the Election.
A video recorded by Google shortly after the 2016 presidential election reveals an atmosphere of panic and dismay amongst the tech giant’s leadership, coupled with a determination to thwart both the Trump agenda and the broader populist movement emerging around the globe.
The video is a full recording of Google’s first all-hands meeting following the 2016 election (these weekly meetings are known inside the company as “TGIF” or “Thank God It’s Friday” meetings). Sent to Breitbart News by an anonymous source, it features co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, VPs Kent Walker and Eileen Naughton, CFO Ruth Porat, and CEO Sundar Pichai. It can be watched in full above. It can and should be watched in full above in order to get the full context of the meeting and the statements made.
It was reported earlier this week that Google tried to boost turnout among the Latino population to help Hillary Clinton, only to be dismayed as the usually solid Democratic voting bloc switched to the GOP in record numbers. This video shows a similar level of dismay among Google’s most high-profile figures.
These individuals, who preside over a company with unrivaled influence over the flow of information, can be seen disparaging the motivations of Trump voters and plotting ways to use their vast resources to thwart the Trump agenda.
Co-founder Sergey Brin can be heard comparing Trump supporters to fascists and extremists. Brin argues that like other extremists, Trump voters were motivated by “boredom,” which he says in the past led to fascism and communism.
The Google co-founder then asks his company to consider what it can do to ensure a “better quality of governance and decision-making.”
VP for Global Affairs Kent Walker argues that supporters of populist causes like the Trump campaign are motivated by “fear, xenophobia, hatred, and a desire for answers that may or may not be there.”
Later, Walker says that Google should fight to ensure the populist movement – not just in the U.S. but around the world – is merely a “blip” and a “hiccup” in a historical arc that “bends toward progress.”
CEO Sundar Pichai states that the company will develop machine learning and A.I. to combat what an employee described as “misinformation” shared by “low-information voters.”
Key moments from the video can be found at the following timestamps:
(00:00:00 – 00:01:12) Google co-founder Sergey Brin states that the weekly meeting is “probably not the most joyous we’ve had” and that “most people here are pretty upset and pretty sad.”
(00:00:24) Brin contrasts the disappointment of Trump’s election with his excitement at the legalization of cannabis in California, triggering laughs and applause from the audience of Google employees.
(00:01:12) Returning to seriousness, Brin says he is “deeply offen[ded]” by the election of Trump, and that the election “conflicts with many of [Google’s] values.”
(00:09:10) Trying to explain the motivations of Trump supporters, Senior VP for Global Affairs, Kent Walker concludes: “fear, not just in the United States, but around the world is fueling concerns, xenophobia, hatred, and a desire for answers that may or may not be there.”
(00:09:35) Walker goes on to describe the Trump phenomenon as a sign of “tribalism that’s self-destructive [in] the long-term.”
(00:09:55) Striking an optimistic tone, Walker assures Google employees that despite the election, “history is on our side” and that the “moral arc of history bends towards progress.”
(00:10:45) Walker approvingly quotes former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s comparison between “the world of the wall” with its “isolation and defensiveness” and the “world of the square, the piazza, the marketplace, where people come together into a community and enrich each other’s lives.”
(00:13:10) CFO Ruth Porat appears to break down in tears when discussing the election result.
(00:15:20) Porat promises that Google will “use the great strength and resources and reach we have to continue to advance really important values.”
(00:16:50) Stating “we all need a hug,” she then instructs the audience of Google employees to hug the person closest to them.
(00:20:24) Eileen Naughton, VP of People Operations, promises that Google’s policy team in DC is “all over” the immigration issue and that the company will “keep a close watch on it.”
(00:21:26) Naughton jokes about Google employees asking, ‘Can I move to Canada?’ after the election. She goes on to seriously discuss the options available to Google employees who wish to leave the country.
(00:23:12) Naughton does acknowledge “diversity of opinion and political persuasion” and notes that she has heard from conservative Google employees who say they “haven’t felt entirely comfortable revealing who [they] are.” and urged “tolerance.” (Several months later, the company would fire James Damore allegedly for disagreeing with progressive narratives.)
(00:27:00) Responding to a question about “filter bubbles,” Sundar Pichai promises to work towards “correcting” Google’s role in them
(00:27:30) Sergey Brin praises an audience member’s suggestion of increasing matched Google employee donations to progressive groups.
(00:34:40) Brin compares Trump voters to “extremists,” arguing for a correlation between the economic background of Trump supporters and the kinds of voters who back extremist movements. Brin says that “voting is not a rational act” and that not all of Trump’s support can be attributed to “income disparity.” He suggests that Trump voters might have been motivated by boredom rather than legitimate concerns.
(00:49:10) An employee asks if Google is willing to “invest in grassroots, hyper-local efforts to bring tools and services and understanding of Google products and knowledge” so that people can “make informed decisions that are best for themselves.” Pichai’s response: Google will ensure its “educational products” reach “segments of the population [they] are not [currently] fully reaching.”
(00:54:33) An employee asks what Google is going to do about “misinformation” and “fake news” shared by “low-information voters.” Pichai responds by stating that “investments in machine learning and AI” are a “big opportunity” to fix the problem.
(00:56:12) Responding to an audience member, Walker says Google must ensure the rise of populism doesn’t turn into “a world war or something catastrophic … and instead is a blip, a hiccup.”
(00:58:22) Brin compares Trump voters to supporters of fascism and communism, linking the former movement to “boredom,” which Brin previously linked to Trump voters. “It sort of sneaks up sometimes, really bad things” says Brin.
(01:01:15) A Google employee states: “speaking to white men, there’s an opportunity for you right now to understand your privilege” and urges employees to “go through the bias-busting training, read about privilege, read about the real history of oppression in our country.” He urges employees to “discuss the issues you are passionate about during Thanksgiving dinner and don’t back down and laugh it off when you hear the voice of oppression speak through metaphors.” Every executive on stage – the CEO, CFO, two VPs and the two Co-founders – applaud the employee.
(01:01:57) An audience member asks if the executives see “anything positive from this election result.” The audience of Google employees, and the executives on stage, burst into laughter. “Boy, that’s a really tough one right now” says Brin.
Update — After Breitbart News published this article, a Google spokesperson replied to a request for comment with the following statement:
“At a regularly scheduled all hands meeting, some Google employees and executives expressed their own personal views in the aftermath of a long and divisive election season. For over 20 years, everyone at Google has been able to freely express their opinions at these meetings. Nothing was said at that meeting, or any other meeting, to suggest that any political bias ever influences the way we build or operate our products. To the contrary, our products are built for everyone, and we design them with extraordinary care to be a trustworthy source of information for everyone, without regard to political viewpoint.”
Hell Yes I’m Lying! my Lips Are Moving So That Is What I Do.
Barack Obama was supposed to be campaigning for Congressional candidates in California on Saturday, but that wouldn’t stop him from talking about himself.
A lot.
All told, Obama referred to himself at least 63 times during his 23-minute speech. That’s an average of once every 23 seconds.
Responding to chants of “Yes We Can,” Obama referred to himself 8 times in the first minute.
“It is good to be back in California. It is good to be back. I love you, too!” Obama said.
“I do. I, um, I, I, I just, I, I just had time to spend with some amazing Democratic candidates for Congress,” he said.
But before he could focus on them, he had to focus on himself.
After saying he was going to talk about the candidates, Obama said, “But before I do so, I was telling them I went to Disneyland twice when I was younger.”
After telling the crowd he was kicked out of the park for smoking, he said, “At the time I was a teenager, I was rebellious.”
“I love you, Obama!” a fan interrupted moments later.
“I love you, too,” he responded.
“I gave a long speech yesterday,” he said, referring to the 64-minute speech at the University of Illinois in which he referred to himself at least 102 times, “and so today is a different role.”
But it wasn’t all that different from Friday’s appearance, except in Illinois, it was only once every 38 seconds. “Only.”
Obama’s favorite word seemed to be “I,” which he repeated at least 87 times, followed by more than a dozen references to “my” or “me,” The American Mirror reported on Friday.
“By the time I left office, household income was near its all-time high, and the uninsured rate had hit an all-time low, and wages were rising, and poverty rates were falling. I mention all this just so when you hear how great the economy is doing right now, let’s just remember when this recovery started,” Obama told the students.
“When you hear about this economic miracle that’s been going on – when the job numbers come out … and suddenly Republicans are saying, ‘It’s a miracle!’ I have to kind of remind them: actually, those job numbers are the same as they were in 2015 and 2016,” he said.
All told, Obama referred to himself 63 times during the Anaheim appearance, saying “I” 61 times, and “me” and “my” once each.
He devoted just 5 minutes — or about 20 percent — of his speech to talking about the candidates he was promoting.
Suffolk County officials say one of the machines, offering pipes for $2.00, was on Middle Country Road in front of the Coram Commons shopping center.
The town of Coram had received complaints from residents about the vending machine on Sunday. A town official went to the machine, which dispensed one of the pipes.
Police held a news conference on Monday to say two other machines were also found. One was found in front of the Home Depot in Coram and another was found on a road in Medford.
The dispensers had the word “pens” displayed on the top of them. The ceramic pipe the machines dispensed also came with a filter to hold the crack. All of the machines have been removed and police continue to investigate.
Look up idiot in the dictionary and you may see this picture.
President Donald Trump’s actions and words in office have tarnished America’s image and the very idea of the country far more than the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough on Tuesday, which marked the anniversary of strikes in New York and Washington D.C.
Scarborough, a frequent critic of Trump, was expounding on an op-ed he wrote for The Washington Post and described how the country was able to rebuild and come together after the attacks. Unlike the way in which he claimed the president had damaged the nation’s image around the globe.
“Forget about knocking down buildings in the financial district. Forget about running planes into the Pentagon. Those are tragedies, but those tragedies bring us closer together. America is an idea, you gut America of that idea that’s when you do the most harm,” Scarborough said.
He specifically noted the president’s travel ban on immigrants from predominantly Muslim-majority countries, as well as Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s refusal to speak about the ban during his confirmation hearings.
“The accumulation of that, the retweeting of neo-Nazi videos, Charlottesville. I mean I could go on and on, what he said about majority black countries. That is tearing more at the fabric of America than attacks on the Twin Towers did. We rebuilt from that. We became stronger because of that. But this seems to me a far graver threat to the idea of America,” Scarborough said.
Scarborough also pointed to failed American policies since the attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives at New York’s Twin Towers, the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. The country has since fought two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with troops still stationed in each Middle East nation and no end in sight.
“Sixteen years of strategic missteps have been followed by the maniacal moves of a man who has savaged America’s vital alliances, provided comfort to hostile foreign powers, attacked our intelligence and military communities, and lent a sympathetic ear to neo-Nazis and white supremacists across the globe,” Scarborough wrote in The Post op-ed.
Scarborough continued: “For those of us still believing that Islamic extremists hate America because of the freedoms we guarantee to all people, the gravest threat Trump poses to our national security is the damage done daily to America’s image. ”
The president started Tuesday morning by firing off a tweet regarding his ongoing feud with the FBI and Justice Department over the Trump-Russia probe, rather than a message commemorating the lives lost on 9/11.
However, Trump and first lady Melania are scheduled to participate in a ceremony in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, at the memorial for flight United 93.
Colin likes dudes and that is why he really takes a knee.
Former San Francisco 49er and original anthem protester Colin Kaepernick took to Twitter on Sunday, to thank the two Dolphins players who took a knee during Sunday’s games.
By late afternoon, only two players had taken a knee in protest during the national anthem, Dolphins players Kenny Stills and Albert Wilson. After their actions, Kaepernick tweeted out his thanks to his “brothers,” ESPN reported.
“My Brothers @kstills and @ithinkisee12 continue to show their unwavering strength by fighting for the oppressed!,” Kaepernick tweeted. “They have not backed down, even when attacked and intimidated. Their courage will move the world forward!
My Brothers @kstills and @ithinkisee12 continue to show their unwavering strength by fighting for the oppressed! They have not backed down, even when attacked and intimidated. Their courage will move the world forward!
Fellow former 49er, Eric Reid, also tweeted out his thanks to the two Dolphins players.
Stills and Wilson were not the only players to mount some form of protest. Fellow Dolphins player Robert Quinn raised his fist. 49ers receiver Marquise Goodwin also raised his fist as the 49ers prepared to take on the Minnesota Vikings. In addition, Jalen Ramsey and linebacker Telvin Smith Jr. of the Jaguars stayed in the locker room during the anthem.
Kaepernick, of course, created the protest during the national anthem at the start of the 2016 NFL season and fellow 49er Reid was quick to join him in the attention-getting act. Both Kaepernick and Reid, though, have been on the sidelines and without a team, once they each went free agent, Kaepernick at the end of the 2016 season and Reid in 2017.
Both players have also filed separate grievances against the NFL claiming that the league, owners, and coaches “colluded” to keep them from pursuing their NFL careers. Recently an arbitrator ruled that Kaepernick’s challenge would go to trial.
Friday on the HBO weekly airing of “Real Time,” Bill Maher and actor Jim Carrey addressed Republicans “running” with the term “socialism” when it comes to far-left candidates.
Carrey defended socialism, arguing it is not a failure in Canada, where he grew up.
“I grew up in Canada, OK, we have socialized medicine,” said Carrey. “And I’m here to tell you that this bullshit line that you get on all of the political shows from people is that it’s a failure — the system is a failure in Canada. It is not a failure, and I never waited for anything in my life. I chose my own doctors. My mother never paid for a prescription — it was fantastic.”
look at this freak!
He continued, “I just got back from Vancouver, and I keep hearing, ‘Canadians are so nice. Canadians are so nice.’ They can be nice because they have health care — because they have a government that cares about them that doesn’t say, ‘Sink or f***ing swim, pal, or you live in a box.’ There are certain people in our society that need to be taken care of.”
Maher replied, “I’ve always said the United States has been quasi-socialist for a hundred years, for crying out loud.”
The actor then said Democrats should just embrace socialism.
“We have to say yes to socialism — to the word and everything,” he proclaimed to Maher. “We have to stop apologizing.”
