Free Republic

Social media users quickly criticized Ivanka Trump on Monday morning for discussing the "level of viciousness" she has seen in Washington. "There is a level of viciousness that I was not expecting," President Trump's daughter said during an interview on "Fox & Friends.” "I was not expecting the intensity of this experience, but this isn't supposed to be easy." Many on Twitter slammed Ivanka Trump for her remarks, bringing up her father's actions during the campaign and since becoming president. Critics brought up President Trump's calls for opponent Hillary Clinton to be jailed and the frequent chants of "lock her...

A proposed German law designed to heavily penalize social media firms for “hate speech” will scare Facebook and other social media giants into suppressing content that is legal, argues Nick Wallace.German laws criminalizing hate speech and defamation are already some of the most restrictive in Europe. But a new bill going through the Bundestag, intended to combat hate speech, will create powerful incentives for online platforms to suppress content that is not even illegal, and inhibit the development of data-driven tools that offer more sophisticated ways of fighting extremism. The proposed law, backed by the governing CDU/CSU/SPD grand coalition, would...

After so many years, I recently closed down my FB account. Too many people, good or nominal to begin with, become total %&*@!%&^ on social media. Its the computer anonymity, I believe, in many cases. That said, I now have three relatives I am no longer on speaking terms - and why? Because they could not keep their petty insults in check. Few people in FB are ever persuaded by logical arguments and polite discourse.

Every morning I wake up before 5am Eastern and switch on the TV to watch the early version of ″Fox & Friends″. Aside from enjoying my breakfast with the lovely Heather Childress, I learn what the ′Big News′ item is for the day ahead. The big topic this morning was a Midnight tweet on Twitter by President Donald Trump. The story is that he allegedly misspelled the word ′coverage′ when he wrote ′covfefe′ instead in a tweet about the negative press. As a Shaolin Master Abbott of the Temple of Trump Fu, I saw the true purpose of the...

President Donald Trump tweeted late Sunday that the "fake" news media wants him to stop using social media because it's how he get's the truth out. "The Fake News Media works hard at disparaging & demeaning my use of social media because they don't want America to hear the real story!" — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2017 The tweet followed two about Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare: "I suggest that we add more dollars to Healthcare and make it the best anywhere. ObamaCare is dead - the Republicans will...

Saudi Arabia rolled out the red carpet for US President Donald Trump on his inaugural overseas trip, but a moment involving a glowing orb had observers scratching their heads. Trump attended the opening of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology on Sunday alongside his host, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, reported the state-run Saudi Press Agency. As the lights dimmed, the three leaders officially "activated" the new center by placing their hands on an illuminated globe as a four-minute introduction video displayed on large screens behind them, according to local media.

In a story that encapsulates just how reckless social media can be in disseminating fake news — and how gullible people can be — a false report that Fox News’ Tucker Carlson was killed in a car crash swept across Facebook. A fake news site claimed Tucker “succumbed to his injuries and died overnight after being hit head-on while driving home,” according to The Inquisitr. …and the death hoax was shared on Facebook more than 16K times overall.

Without saying the words "Russia," "Hillary Clinton," or "Donald Trump," Facebook acknowledged Thursday for the first time what others have been saying for months. In a paper released by its security division, the company said "malicious actors" used the platform during the 2016 presidential election as part of a campaign "with the intent of harming the reputation of specific political targets." The paper, by two members of Facebook's threat intelligence team and its chief security officer, noted that "fake news" has been incorrectly applied as a catch-all for a variety of techniques used to influence users of the platform. The...

Original title: 20 Diversion Tactics Highly Manipulative Narcissists, Sociopaths And Psychopaths Use To Silence You Toxic people such as malignant narcissists, psychopaths and those with antisocial traits engage in maladaptive behaviors in relationships that ultimately exploit, demean and hurt their intimate partners, family members and friends. They use a plethora of diversionary tactics that distort the reality of their victims and deflect responsibility. Although those who are not narcissistic can employ these tactics as well, abusive narcissists use these to an excessive extent in an effort to escape accountability for their actions. Here are the 20 diversionary tactics toxic people...

The Facebook anguish continues. A Medium post investigating declining Facebook reach has set off the most recent alarm bells among publishers. Kurt Gessler, deputy editor for digital news at the Chicago Tribune, posted that since January, the Tribune has seen a significant drop in the reach of its posts on Facebook, despite having grown its fan base. The post sparked a sigh of validation across publishers as others chimed in on social media that they’re seeing similar declines. @kurtgessler This looks somewhat familiar to me as well. It's not just you. — rob blatt (@robblatt) April 19, 2017 @whet @kurtgessler...

Breaking News: Trump sends free airline ticket to Kim Jong-un to discuss nuclear weapons program

But part of the phenomenon long precedes YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and social media dictating the news. It's the American cult of victimization You’ve been snookered folks! By that poor elderly doctor who was involuntarily dragged from his seat, had his face smashed in, and was beaten unconscious by the evil airport security at the behest of United Airlines. Because there’s no evidence any of that was true. It was in fact a premeditated temper tantrum gone viral, comprising one 69-year-old Vietnamese-American David Dao, a medical doctor who lost his license, planning a lawsuit from the moment United first politely asked...

A sexually explicit video of a high school girl in La Porte, Indiana was posted this past week on Facebook Live and other social media. Authorities suspect the underage girl was coerced into making the video in response to a “sextortion” threat. This is but the latest shocking example of social media’s role in coarsening our culture. It no longer is enough for the unredeemed to commit unspeakable acts; they also feel compelled – demonically so – to memorialize their grave sins against God on Facebook Live, YouTube, Periscope, LiveMe.com and other such online platforms. That includes Derek Medina, a...

Federal investigators are examining whether far-right news sites played any role last year in a Russian cyber operation that dramatically widened the reach of news stories — some fictional — that favored Donald Trump’s presidential bid, two people familiar with the inquiry say. Operatives for Russia appear to have strategically timed the computer commands, known as “bots,” to blitz social media with links to the pro-Trump stories at times when the billionaire businessman was on the defensive in his race against Democrat Hillary Clinton, these sources said. Russian President Vladimir Putin is accused by the FBI of ordering a campaign...

In an article for the Washington Examiner last week, writer Mark Grabowski pondered the idea of whether Twitter’s routine censorship could be unconstitutional. “Most Americans know they can speak their mind in the public square, thanks to the First Amendment. Speech on social media, however, can be censored because private companies own those cyber spaces,” wrote Grabowski on Tuesday. “But a recent Supreme Court oral argument suggests Twitter’s practice of banning controversial right-wing pundits could be deemed illegal.” Grabowski explained how the internet is now the popular public square, and how legally it should be treated as such. Driving the...

There appears to be a persistent popularity among those that strive to avoid the machinations of the MSM of George Orwell’s novel 1984. It fits in well with those that distrust the “Big State” and who prize personal freedom above all else. And although it is studied in many schools across the world, the lessons and warnings that we can take from it are being largely ignored. Supposed freethinkers and “Liberals” are actively engaged in practices that have almost exact parallels with Orwell’s dystopian classic. This is essentially a list of parallels that those familiar with the book will likely...

Jiebo Luo and Yu Wang did not set out to predict who would win the 2016 U.S. presidential election. However, their exhaustive, 14-month study of each candidate’s Twitter followers–enabled by machine learning and other data science tools–offers tantalizing clues as to why the race turned out the way it did. “We wanted to understand how each of the candidate’s campaigns evolved, and be able to explain why someone won or lost,” says Luo, an associate professor of computer science. Luo and Wang, a dual PhD candidate in political and computer science, summarized their findings in eight papers during the course...

UPDATE, 5:20 PM: Six months ago Hillary Clinton probably assumed she would be celebrating today’s International Women’s Day as America’s first female President of the United States. Well that didn’t happen, but now the ex-Secretary of State has taken to social media on A Day Without a Woman to spread a message that makes the fairly reticent, defeated candidate sound a lot like a leader in a resistance. “There’s a lot to fight for, Planned Parenthood, education, healthcare, jobs,” Clinton said this afternoon on the recently IPO’d Snapchat. “Every issue is a women’s issue. So stand up, resist, run for...

New York (CNN)A former reporter who was fired for fabricating sources was arrested Friday and accused of making some of the bomb threats against Jewish institutions that have so rattled Jews recently.... ...Juan Thompson, 31, was charged with one count of cyber-stalking for making at least eight threats as part of an attempt to intimidate a particular person after their romantic relationship ended, according to a criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of New York. The complaint alleges Thompson had emailed and phoned in threats to the Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish institutions. Some of those threats mentioned a...

One of the course designers, Doreen Bradley, director of learning programs and initiatives at the U-M Library, says misinformation, disinformation, half-truths and propaganda have always been around, but are these days so readily sharable that students encounter a much greater volume than ever before. Students taking the class will: •Learn how to find trusted sources of statistics. •Be challenged to confront their own biases. •Consider how their opinions, and the opinions of others, can affect the interpretation of news items. •Practice dissecting a news graph in order to understand the message that graph is trying to convey. •Assess how their...