First Thiel, now the Trumps: how billionaires threaten free speech; Guardian, 8/23/16

Trevor Timm, New York Times; First Thiel, now the Trumps: how billionaires threaten free speech:

"The Guardian reported late on Monday night that Melania Trump’s lawyers have sent threatening letters and are considering filing lawsuits against a variety of media organizations – including the Daily Mail, Politico and the Week – for reporting on rumors of Melania Trump’s past, including her alleged immigration status when she came to the United States.

This is the quintessential example of the disturbing precedent Peter Thiel has just set by creating a blueprint for billionaires to destroy news organizations they do not like. He has shown that all they need is a little persistence. And in a media landscape that is increasingly dominated by the rich and powerful, that should give even Gawker’s most ardent critics pause...

In the end, even if you think Gawker deserved punishment, media organizations should not face the financial death penalty for a mistake, even a deplorable and egregious one. After all, there is probably one billionaire or another who hates pretty much every news organization in the world worth their salt. If they all decide to go down the path Thiel took, how many publications will be left when they’re done?"

"Vetting"; robrogers.com, 8/10/16

Rob Rogers, robrogers.com, Brewed on Grant:

"Vetting"

Melania no more: why did Donald Trump take down his wife's website?; Guardian, 7/29/16

Dan Tynan, Guardian; Melania no more: why did Donald Trump take down his wife's website? :

"Melania Trump’s personal and professional site, the Huffington Post reported on Wednesday, has disappeared. A search of Google’s cache reveals that sometime after 22 July, MelaniaTrump.com was redirected to Trump.com, the official site for the Trump Organization.

Speculation immediately centered on a claim made on Ms Trump’s online biography that she obtained “a degree in design and architecture at University in Slovenia” shortly before embarking on her modeling career.

An an unauthorized biography of Ms Trump, published in February, claims the prospective first lady left the university after a year without obtaining her degree. Critics have accused the Trump campaign of deleting the site in order to hide her biography.

An image posted to Melania’s Twitter account earlier today states: “The website in question was created in 2012 and it has been removed because it does not accurately reflect my current business and professional interests.”"

By Russian Standards, Melania Trump Would Be a Plagiarism Amateur; New York Times, 7/22/16

Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times; By Russian Standards, Melania Trump Would Be a Plagiarism Amateur:

"A study published in the newspaper Novaya Gazeta found that out of 450 members of Parliament, about 200 claimed advanced degrees and at least 49 had been accused of plagiarism, including the speaker. (He denied it.)

Dissernet started work in 2013 after a political appointee with a limited academic record was tapped to lead a prestigious mathematics school. Academics began pouring over his history dissertation line by line, which inspired Mr. Rostovtsev to write software to automate the process.

The Dissernet group knew that an electronic synopsis of every doctoral thesis was posted online in Russia. Its software selects a thesis and compares it with all others in the system. If there is more than a 50 percent overlap, the computer flags the material and a volunteer compares both full works manually.

The software makes comparisons 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and a band of about 50 volunteers does the rest. The results are published on Dissernet.org."

The significance of CNN’s Chris Cuomo dropping the ‘L’ word (lying) on Trump’s campaign chairman; Washington Post, 7/20/16

Callum Borchers, Washington Post; The significance of CNN’s Chris Cuomo dropping the ‘L’ word (lying) on Trump’s campaign chairman:

"The Trump campaign's refusal to admit obvious plagiarism undermines the Republican presidential nominee's credibility, as he attacks Clinton for dishonesty. And Trump's general unwillingness to acknowledge mistakes raises questions about how he would handle missteps as president. That's why a seemingly small issue like borrowing language from a Michelle Obama speech matters in the election — and why Cuomo and the rest of the press won't just let it go.

Cuomo's unvarnished assertion that Manafort "keep[s] lying" matters, too, because mainstream journalists have been so reluctant to attach variations of the word "lie" to the Trump campaign. Reporters have mostly stuck with less-loaded terms such as "factual inaccuracies," or "false statements." Word choice is significant because "lie" suggests intent; calling a statement "false" or "inaccurate" leaves open the possibility that the speaker got it wrong but didn't mean to."

Melania Trump Plagiarized Her Convention Speech From Michelle Obama; Huffington Post, 7/19/16

Christina Wilkie, Huffington Post; Melania Trump Plagiarized Her Convention Speech From Michelle Obama:

"Trump communications adviser Jason Miller, in a response early Tuesday, acknowledged that Melania Trump plagiarized “fragments” of her speech and referred to a “team of writers,” essentially refuting her claim that she wrote the speech.

“In writing her beautiful speech, Melania’s team of writers took notes on her life’s inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking,” Miller said in a statement. “Melania’s immigrant experience and love for America shone through in her speech, which made it such a success.”"