In defending Trump’s reaction to the murder of a U.S.-based columnist, Utah Rep. Stewart says ‘journalists disappear’ all the time; The Salt Lake City Tribune, December 4, 2018

Thomas Burr, The Salt Lake City Tribune; In defending Trump’s reaction to the murder of a U.S.-based columnist, Utah Rep. Stewart says ‘journalists disappear’ all the time

"Rep. Chris Stewart defended President Donald Trump’s dismissal of CIA findings that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince was complicit in the killing of a U.S.-based journalist, noting that America needs relationships with some countries with which it doesn’t always agree.

And, Stewart noted, “journalists disappear” all over the world.

Stewart appeared on CNN on Tuesday not long after a bipartisan group of senators received a closed-door briefing by CIA Director Gina Haspel about the killing of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, who was reportedly slain and dismembered inside a Saudi consulate in Turkey.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was a “wrecking ball” and that “he’s complicit in the murder of Mr. Khashoggi to the highest level.”

“There’s not a smoking gun — there’s a smoking saw,” Graham said, referencing a bone saw that was apparently used in the consulate to dismember Khashoggi’s body."

'Killed for speaking the truth': nine journalists murdered in 2018; The Guardian, December 5, 2018

Aamna Mohdin and Bibi van der Zee, The Guardian; 'Killed for speaking the truth': nine journalists murdered in 2018

"Over 30 journalists – including Jamal Khashoggi – have been murdered so far this year. With the help of colleagues and relatives, or in their own words and pictures, we pay tribute to some of them here."

Graham ties Saudi crown prince to Khashoggi killing: 'There's not a smoking gun — there's a smoking saw'; NBC News, December 4, 2018

Garrett Haake and Dartunorro Clark, NBC News; Graham ties Saudi crown prince to Khashoggi killing: 'There's not a smoking gun — there's a smoking saw'

"Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on Tuesday that the evidence connecting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the brutal killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was so strong, it amounted to "a smoking saw."

“There’s not a smoking gun — there’s a smoking saw," Graham said after leaving an intelligence briefing by CIA director Gina Haspel for a small group of senators. "You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of MBS and that he was intricately involved in the demise of Mr. Khashoggi.""

The truth is finally catching up with Trump; The Washington Post, November 27, 2018

Dana Milbank, The Washington Post; The truth is finally catching up with Trump

"In the beginning, they proffered “alternative facts.” Later, they told us that “truth isn’t truth.”

All along, President Trump and his lieutenants were betting that Jonathan Swift was correct when he wrote more than three centuries ago that “falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it.”

But after two long years, the truth is finally catching up with Trump and his winged whoppers."

Facebook’s board is throwing public support behind Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg — who are on Facebook’s board; Recode, November 15, 2018

Kurt Wagner, Recode; Facebook’s board is throwing public support behind Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg — who are on Facebook’s board

[Kip Currier: Take note of the deliberate choice of words in the Facebook Board's statement copied below: 

"grossly unfair"

The Board doesn't say that allegations that Zuckerberg and Sandberg "knew about Russian interference and either tried to ignore it or prevent investigations into what had happened" were untrue. It says that the allegations were "grossly unfair". Those are two different things. The former is of a more objective nature. The latter is more subjective--and self-serving.

That "grossly unfair" phrasing telegraphs oodles of insight into the exculpatory mindset and run-the-clock-out public relations positioning of Facebook leaders: in the words of the New York Times' 11/14/18 bombshell behind-the-scenes reporting, "Delay, Deny and Deflect". 

And that "they're-doing-this-to-us" mindset is also evident in the 11/17/18 New York Times-reported words of Elliot Schrage, Facebook's former vice president of global communications and public policy, who--at an 11/14/18 Q & A for employees with Zuckerberg and Sandberg--said that "Facebook was in a difficult news cycle, and that things would eventually calm down".

Oh, and the actual makeup of the Board? You guessed it...Zuckerberg and Sandberg are "both on Facebook’s board". So, as this Recode article wryly observes, "it looks like Facebook’s executives are throwing public support behind ... themselves."

In a sense, the well-documented history of half-truths and obfuscations (see here and here) of these conflicts of interest-riven Facebook Heads shouldn't surprise us (--read Helaine Olen's 11/15/18 WaPo piece The moral and ethical rot at Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg's Facebook): they're adhering to their long-standing Utilitarianism-derived principle that "the needs of the few (i.e. anyone employed by or enriched by Facebook) outweigh the needs of the many" (i.e. the world's billions of users AND non-users who have been and continue to be impacted by Facebook's relentlessly revenue-driven, public good-eschewing practices).

The incoming House of Representatives must hold Facebook and its leaders accountable for its actions and inaction. Bring Facebook's leaders in front of Congress, under Oath, and get the answers and remedies the American people and the World are owed. That's the rightly fair thing to suggest demand from Facebook and the elected officials who represent us.

#FacebookAccountability]

"That story got us asking: Who from Facebook might be fired for the company’s missteps?

Whoever it is, it doesn’t look like it’ll be Zuckerberg or Sandberg. At least not right now.

Facebook’s board of directors issued a public statement defending the company’s efforts in fighting Russian election meddling efforts following the 2016 presidential election. It also called the story “grossly unfair.” Here’s the full statement.

“As Mark and Sheryl made clear to Congress, the company was too slow to spot Russian interference, and too slow to take action. As a board we did indeed push them to move faster. But to suggest that they knew about Russian interference and either tried to ignore it or prevent investigations into what had happened is grossly unfair. In the last eighteen months Facebook, with the full support of this board, has invested heavily in more people and better technology to prevent misuse of its services, including during elections. As the U.S. mid-term showed, they have made considerable progress and we support their continued to efforts to fight abuse and improve security.”"

This is the scariest comics panel I’ve seen in ages; Polygon, November 9, 2018

Susana Polo, Polygon; This is the scariest comics panel I’ve seen in ages

"Tom Taylor’s X-Men Red is one of the best comics of 2018, and this week, in its penultimate issue, it delivered the most unsettling comic book moment I’ve read in a while...

[Spoilers for X-Men Red #10]

The Jean Grey video is a deepfake.

A lot of the technology we see in comic books is science fiction, or so cutting edge as to not be readily available, all to make our heroes seem like they’re cut out to do what normal people can’t. But videos that convincingly make a person look like they’ve done or said something they never did aren’t tomorrow’s technology.

Deepfaked video, and audio, is a reality that online spaces are scrambling to confront even now. The potential uses of deepfakes are spooky enough. What’s spookier is the connection that X-Men Red #10 makes in this scene.

There is a commonly available real-world technology that can do what comics books used to have to invent clones, evil twins and shapeshifters for.

Trinary points out that the video of Jean is not a perfect fake, and can be disproven. But the damage is already done.

“There will still be people who want this to be reality so much they will reject any proof,” Storm replies. “They want the worst. This supports their narrative. No amount of truth will sway them.”

J.K. Rowling Roasts Sarah Huckabee Sanders With George Orwell ‘1984’ Quote; Huff Post, November 9, 2018

Lee Moran, Huff Post; J.K. Rowling Roasts Sarah Huckabee Sanders With George Orwell ‘1984’ Quote

"“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth,” Rowling wrote, referencing Orwell’s tale about a society controlled by a lurking totalitarian dictator."

White House shares doctored video to support punishment of journalist Jim Acosta; The Washington Post, November 8, 2018

Drew Harwell, The Washington Post; White House shares doctored video to support punishment of journalist Jim Acosta

"The video has quickly become a flashpoint in the battle over viral misinformation, turning a live interaction watched by thousands in real time into just another ideological tug-of-war. But it has also highlighted how video content — long seen as an unassailable verification tool for truth and confirmation — has become as vulnerable to political distortion as anything else."

The world has a question for the White House: When do murders matter?; The Washington Post, October 19, 2018

Emily Rauhala, and Anton Troianovski, The Washington Post; The world has a question for the White House: When do murders matter?

[Kip Currier: The price of freedom of speech and a free press can be incredibly high. This was indelibly illuminated these past few weeks via the brutal murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whose last piece What the Arab world needs most is free expression was published this week in The Washington Post, as well as via subsequent ham-handed and obfuscatory cover-up tactics by the responsible "masterminds", perpetrators, accomplices, and apologists, both domestic and global.

It's equally important that we remember other fact-seekers who have suffered and continue to suffer injustice and death for seeking and reporting information: Panama Papers investigative reporter Daphne Caruana Galizia who was killed last year in a bomb blast while investigating corruption in Malta; Viktoria Marinova who was reporting on corruption and was raped and killed this month in Bulgaria; Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo who were shedding light on the plight of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims and were recently sentenced to 7 years in prison for collecting and obtaining "confidential documents"; and myriad others.

Every day, and especially at times like these when the world is watching the aftermath of efforts to silence reporter and free expression advocate Jamal Khashoggi, while, unintentionally and paradoxically, elevating him to a worldwide audience, what our leaders say--and don't say--is of profound importance in communicating our most cherished values, and where our "lines in the sand" are on free speech, free and independent presses, truth, accountability, and the value of human life. 

Leaders must remember that we and all of the world are watching to see what is done and is not done in matters of human rights and the rule of law. We must continue to hold them responsible for their action and inaction. History and future generations will as well.]

   

"For nearly three weeks, the world has watched President Trump downplay the disappearance and apparent slaying of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and waited for the most powerful man in the world to act. They are waiting still.

Trump’s inconsistent and cautious remarks about the case have renewed questions about U.S. credibility and complicated the global response, emboldening adversaries such as Russia and China and discouraging robust action by traditional allies, according to analysts and former U.S. officials.

“This is a drastic break from American practice,” said Vali R. Nasr, dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. “It signals a very different foreign policy that does not hold governments accountable for things that are outside normal legal or ethical parameters.”

“In effect,” he added, “The U.S. is setting a new standard for itself” — and in so doing, may be setting a new standard for the world."

Daniel Radcliffe and the Art of the Fact-Check; The New Yorker, October 15, 2018 Issue

Michael Schulman, The New Yorker; Daniel Radcliffe and the Art of the Fact-Check

 [Kip Currier: I saw Daniel Radcliffe on MSNBC's Morning Joe program today, talking about the debut of a new Broadway play, "The Lifespan of a Fact", in which he stars, along with Bobby Cannavale and Cherry Jones. The play's exploration of "truth" is timely and intriguing.

A bit later, I heard reporter Robert Costa on MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle discussing "disappeared" and presumably murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Koshaggi's final piece for The Washington Post, which was submitted before he was last seen and was published yesterday, with a note from his editor: "Jamal Khashoggi: What the Arab world needs most is free expression". Koshaggi's observations are prescient, poignant, and thought-provoking. Costa made the excellent point that truth goes hand-in-hand with the ability to have the freedom to seek and report truth.]

"Fact: the actor Daniel Radcliffe is currently starring in the Broadway show “The Lifespan of a Fact,” as a magazine fact checker with an aviation inspector’s zeal for accuracy. The play is drawn from a real-life skirmish: in 2005, Jim Fingal, an intern at The Believer, was tasked with fact-checking an essay by John D’Agata (played by Bobby Cannavale), about a teen suicide in Las Vegas. D’Agata had more of a watercolorist’s approach to the truth. When Fingal tried to correct his claim that Las Vegas had thirty-four licensed strip clubs—a source indicated that it was thirty-one—D’Agata said that he liked the “rhythm” of thirty-four. Their epistolary tussle was expanded into a book in 2012.

Not long ago, Radcliffe arrived at the offices of this magazine, wearing a maroon cap and a green jacket and clutching a latte. He had come to try his own hand at fact-checking, with the help of The New Yorker’s fact-checking department."