Saturday, February 22, 2020
New ‘Purity Test’ Tool to Scan Hollywood Scripts For ‘Diversity Bias’
Chilling echoes of Soviet realism.
Major Hollywood studios are set to use a new tool that scans movie & TV scripts and flags up any examples where “diversity” is not portrayed positively in a chilling new development that has echoes of Soviet realism.
Called ‘Spellcheck for Bias’, the tool was developed by the Davis’ Institute on Gender in Media and USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering. It is set to be implemented by Universal Pictures, DreamWorks Animation, Focus Features and NBC Entertainment within the near future.
“The tool supposedly breaks down diversity in material such as scripts and advertising briefs by scanning for mentions of LGBTQ, race, and disabilities, and then identifying how positively such things are portrayed,” writes Zachary Leeman.
‘Beetlejuice’ actress Geena Davis has also partnered with Universal Filmed Entertainment Group to use the program “to police gender roles in scripts.”
Are we entering into an era where movies will not just be given age ratings, but also political correctness scores, with films that don’t hit diversity quotas being restricted from enjoying widespread theatrical release?
“Instead of broadening their horizons and opening their gates to more filmmakers and scripts, they’d rather invite in a police-state like tool that feels like a discarded bit from George Orwell’s ‘1984.’ Forced diversity is not diversity at all — we’ve seen how it works out at the box office — and an app developed by people trapped in the very same industry they are trying to fix sounds more like a swing for headlines than real change,” writes Leeman.
Running art through an Orwellian purity test before it can be allowed to...
12 Times Gun Owners Defended Themselves and Others
Many lawmakers around the country welcomed in the new year by pursuing legislation that would severely curtail the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms.
Meanwhile, law-abiding citizens began 2020 just as they ended 2019—by showing repeatedly just how instrumental that right is to the security of a free state.
According to almost every major study on the issue, Americans use their firearms defensively between 500,000 and 3 million times each year. Even if we assume the lower end of this range, it means an incredible number of times that Americans relied on the Second Amendment—not government getting there on time—to protect their inalienable rights.
During every month of last year, we highlighted some of the stories of average, everyday Americans who used their guns to protect their lives and livelihoods from criminals.
The first month of 2020 provided still more examples of citizens exercising their Second Amendment rights in defense of themselves and others. Here are 12:
- Jan. 1, Dublin, California: A lawful gun owner relied upon his Second Amendment rights to defend his life when an ex-girlfriend and her armed acquaintance assaulted him in his own home. Police said the ex-girlfriend and acquaintance showed up purporting to want some of her possessions back, but instead threatened the resident with a gun. He fired at his two attackers as he fled and called police. The ex-girlfriend was killed, and her acquaintance wounded in the exchange of gunfire. Police determined that the lawful gun owner acted in self-defense. The armed acquaintance was charged with her death under the state’s Provocative Act Doctrine, since he ultimately provoked the violent confrontation.
- Jan. 4, Columbus, Indiana: A homeowner shot and killed an intruder wielding a baseball bat who broke into his home in the middle of the night. The intruder may have been in the middle of a mental health crisis, as the Department of Veterans Affairs recently had requested that local law enforcement take the man to a hospital, but he refused to go. Neighbors reported that, in the minutes before the shooting, the man was seen walking up and down the street in a highly agitated manner, smashing windows and cursing loudly.
- Jan. 7, Pascagoula, Mississippi: A man suspected in a string of burglaries picked the wrong house to break into, at the wrong time. The armed homeowner returned in the middle of the morning to find the burglar in his bedroom. The burglar tried to pull his gun, but the homeowner instead shot and killed him.
- Jan. 10, Dallas: A concealed-carry permit holder was socializing with guests at a home cookout when three armed men attempted to rob them all at gunpoint. The permit holder drew his own handgun and fatally shot one of the robbers. The other two fled.
- Jan. 11, Tulsa, Oklahoma: A homeowner’s son was asleep in the living room when he was awoken by the family dogs barking at a man on the porch. The man demanded to see his fiancée but was told he had the wrong house and needed to leave. Instead, the man broke into the family’s car, then tried to kick in the back door. The homeowner’s son warned the man multiple times that he was armed and would shoot him if he stepped foot in the house. Nonetheless, the man barged inside. True to his word, the son shot and wounded the man, who retreated and was later arrested.
- Jan. 12, Pittsburgh: A young father used his handgun to defend himself, his fiancée, and their 10-month-old child after an intruder broke into their...
Trump impeachment witness, ex-ambassador Deep State Operative Marie Yovanovitch signs book deal ‘worth seven figures’
It’s really not a secret.
News of a seven-figure book deal for the rights to former diplomat Marie Yovanovitch’s memoirs is just the latest example of how it’s done. Giant corporations controlled by progressives, particularly media companies, are serving as the means for rewarding bad behavior by those who are in a position to sling arrows at those targeted by the liberal leadership … even when they miss their mark.
Yovanovitch was most recently the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, appointed by Pres. Barack Obama in 2016. In November 2019, she emerged from a relatively obscure U.S. Foreign Service career as an impeachment inquiry witness called by House Democrats to give testimony that was in effect, pointless.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), a Boston-based publisher, confirmed on Friday in a news release that it acquired Yovanovitch’s planned memoir. Two people familiar with the deal told the Associated Press that it will be worth “seven figures.”
At this point, it is noted that social media is NOT ablaze with the news.
Nonetheless, the publisher is going through the motions, trying to drum up some excitement about it. The PR statement reads:
“Ambassador Yovanovitch has devoted her entire career to public service, fighting for freedom and democracy against the forces of corruption and authoritarianism around the globe. Little did she know that she would need to bring that same fight right here, to Washington. Her recent congressional testimony electrified the nation,” said Bruce Nichols, HMH SVP and Publisher. “We could not be more excited to publish her inspiring and urgently needed story.”OK. “Her recent congressional testimony electrified the nation.” … perhaps the book will be shelved in the Satire section?
As for the publisher’s motivations, given the suspect prospects for profit, it’s revealing to examine the record of political donations by members, owners, and families connected with the...
Two Sets Of Rules: DIA Employee Charged With Leaking While FBI Leakers Walk Away
The Justice Department announced Thursday that an employee of the DIA pleaded guilty to leaking classified national defense information to two journalists in 2018 and 2019, which could land him in prison for a maximum of ten years.
Leaking classified information is, of course, against the law – that is, unless you are former FBI Director James Comey or former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. There are others too, for example a former deputy assistant director of the FBI’s international operations division, who also was called out by the DOJ’s Inspector General for allegedly leaking to reporters and accepting gifts from the media, as reported in The Washington Examiner.
Further, FBI officials altered Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant applications to spy on Carter Page, a U.S. citizen, who happened to be a volunteer for President Donald Trump’s campaign. Now, years later, after multiple investigations it was discovered that those same FBI officials, Comey and McCabe, among others, signed off on the phony warrants.
Still, senior government officials in the FBI – as well as other agencies – have escaped prosecution for leaking classified information and or lying under oath. Others have not been so lucky.
Defense Intelligence Agency employee Henry Kyle Frese is one of the unlucky leakers. Frese, a 31-year-old resident of Alexandria, Virginia, is expected to be sentenced on June 18.
Frese “was entrusted with Top Secret information related to the national defense of our country. Frese violated that trust, the oath he swore to uphold, and engaged in felonious conduct at the expense of our country. This case should serve as a clear reminder to all of those similarly entrusted with National Defense Information that unilaterally disclosing such information for personal gain, or that of others, is not selfless or heroic, it is criminal,” ” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Robert Wells, Acting Assistant Director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division said “Frese violated his sworn oath to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States by using his access to the United States’ most sensitive information and steal state secrets for nothing more than personal gain. The men and women of the FBI who investigated this case swore the same oath but unlike Mr. Frese, they chose to uphold it. I am proud of the work they did to hold Mr. Frese accountable for his actions.”
There is no argument that Frese should pay the price for leaking classified national security information to the press but what does it say when the DOJ refuses to prosecute former senior FBI officials, who were referred for prosecution on similar grounds. What does it say when leadership within the FBI, like Comey, sets a precedent that leaking for personal convictions won’t land you in prison. Couldn’t Frese argue that same point?
Over the past three years it appears there is one set of rules for those with friends in high places and another set of rules for those without. Last year, nearly half a dozen federal employees with the “FBI, DEA, a U.S. attorney and U.S. marshal officials were allowed to retire, do volunteer work, or keep their jobs as they escaped criminal charges that everyday Americans probably would...
The Latest Russia Hoax is Already Debunked
Welcome back, Russia hysteria!
While it’s no secret that Russia meddles in foreign elections, the evidence that they backed any one candidate in 2016 has always been lacking. The aim of Russian election interference is more often to create chaos and division rather than back one particular candidate.
Despite the secretive FBI investigation which morphed into Robert Mueller’s special counsel exonerating Trump from claims of collusion, the Washington Post reported last night that Russia is up to their old tricks again.
According to them, Joseph Maguire had been considered to be nominated for the DNI post, but Trump’s opinion shifted last week after he learned from a Republican ally that the intelligence official in charge of election security (Shelby Pierson, who works for Maguire) gave a closed briefing last Thursday to the House Intelligence Committee. The Post claims that while we don’t exactly know what Pierson said in the meeting, “the president erroneously believed that she had given information exclusively to Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the committee chairman, and it would be helpful to Democrats if released publicly, the people familiar with the matter said.”
And what did the Post claim that information was? According to their narrative: “Intelligence officials warned House lawmakers last week that Russia was interfering in the 2020 campaign to try to get President Trump re-elected, five people familiar with the matter said, in a disclosure that angered Mr. Trump, who complained that Democrats would use it against him.”
But according to CNN of all places, it’s mostly B.S.
Jake Tapper writes:
A national security official I know and trust pushes back on the way the briefing/ODNI story is being told, and others with firsthand knowledge agree with his assessment. “What’s been articulated in the news is that the intelligence community has concluded that the Russians are trying to help Trump again. But the intelligence doesn’t say that,” the official says. “The problem is Shelby” — Pierson, the elections threats executive in the intelligence community — “said they developed a preference for Trump. A more reasonable interpretation of the intelligence is not that they have a preference, it’s a step short of that.
“It’s more that they understand the president is someone they can work with, he’s a dealmaker. But not that they prefer him over Sanders or Buttigieg or anyone else. So it may have been mischaracterized by Shelby” at the House Intel briefing last week. “And by the way,” the official says, “both Democrats and Republicans were challenging this at the briefing.”
Then there’s the matter of the tense meeting between President Trump and erstwhile Acting Director of National Intelligence Admiral Maguire. “The President was upset that he had to hear about an intelligence conclusion from a Member of the House Republicans rather than from the intelligence community. So he was out of joint with...
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