Three Additional Bonus Videos:
Monday, February 13, 2023
'Free Speech for Whom?': Former Twitter Executive Makes Chilling Admission on the 'Nuanced' Standard Used For Censorship
Toward the end of the hearing, she was asked about that standard by Rep. Melanie Ann Stansbury (D., NM). Her answer captured precisely why Twitter’s censorship system proved a nightmare for free expression. Stansbury’s agreement with her take on censorship only magnified the concerns over the protection of free speech on social media.
Even before Stansbury’s question, the hearing had troubling moments. Ranking Member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md) opened up the hearing insisting that Twitter has not censored enough material and suggesting that it was still fueling violence by allowing disinformation to be posted on the platform.
Navaroli then testified how she felt that there should have been much more censorship and how she fought with the company to remove more material that she and her staff considered “dog whistles” and “coded” messaging.
Rep. Stansbury asked what Twitter has done and is doing to combat hate speech on its platform. Navaroli correctly declined to address current policies since she has not been at the company for some time. However, she then said that they balanced free speech against safety and explained that they sought a different approach:
Instead of asking just free speech versus safety to say free speech for whom and public safety for whom. So whose free expression are we protecting at the expense of whose safety and whose safety are we willing to allow to go the winds so that people can speak freely.Rep. Stansbury responded by saying “Exactly.”
The statement was reminiscent to the statement of the former CEO Parag Agrawal. After taking over as CEO, Agrawal pledged to regulate content as “reflective of things that we believe lead to a healthier public conversation.” Agrawal said the company would “focus less on thinking about free speech” because “speech is easy on the internet. Most people can speak. Where our role is particularly emphasized is who can be heard.”
Navaroli was saying that it is not enough to simply balance free speech against public safety (a standard that most free speech advocates would oppose as ill-defined and fluid). Instead, Navaroli and her staff would decide “free speech for whom and public safety for whom.”
The suggestion is that free speech protections would differ with the speakers or who was deemed at risk from the exercise of free speech. It takes a subjective balancing test and makes it even more ambiguous and...
“23 Baltimore Schools Have Zero Students Proficient in Math”
After another State of the Union address which promised more education spending, behold what you get for a $1.6 billion budget with $21,000 in per student spending.
Do the math.
The Maryland State Department of Education recently released the 2022 state test results known as MCAP, Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program.I blame systemic racism.
Baltimore City’s math scores were the lowest in the state. Just 7% of third through eighth graders tested proficient in math, which means 93% could not do math at grade level.
But that’s not all. WBFF combed through the scores at all 150 City Schools where the state math test was given. In 23 Baltimore City schools, there were zero students who tested proficient in math.
Among the list of 23 schools, there are 10 high schools, eight elementary schools, three middle/high schools and two elementary/middle schools.
Exactly 2,000 students, in total, took the state math test at these schools. Not one could do math at grade level.
It’s also important to note that another 20 Baltimore City Schools had just one or two students test proficient in math.
Governor Wes Moore is black, Mayor Brandon Scott is black, as are 10 out of 14 city council members, as is “Dr.” Sonja Santelises who heads the school system, but if the black Memphis cops can be evidence of systemic racism, why not?
The answer is always to spend more money. Here’s what Baltimore is spending.
Baltimore City Schools will be spending about $21,000 per student this year, thanks to a massive education funding increase. Maryland lawmakers passed the bill, known as Kirwan, two years ago. Now that funding is kicking in, the question is whether more taxpayer money will result in better student outcomes.
For this coming school year, City Schools’ budget has ballooned to $1,620,788,542. That’s nearly $230 million more than the previous year’s budget of $1,393,777,695. It amounts to about a 16 percent increase. Enrollment in City Schools is going down and has been for years. So, that’s a lot more money for fewer students.
And worse results, but maybe if we spend $1.6 billion per student, he’ll finally be able to get a...
Report: James O’Keefe on the Verge of Being Ousted From Project Veritas as Board Attempts ‘Hostile Takeover’
The Project Veritas Board of Directors will reportedly decide whether to remove him from his leadership position in a meeting scheduled for Friday.
Project Veritas put out a statement in response to this news Wednesday evening, saying that the board is conducting an “internal evaluation to assure our long term success.”
“Like all newsrooms at this stage, the Project Veritas Board of Directors and Management are constantly evaluating what the best path forward is for the organization,” the statement read. “There are 65+ employees at Project Veritas dedicated to continuing the mission to expose corruption, dishonesty, waste, fraud, and other misconduct in both public and private institutions,” the statement read. “To our supporters: We hear you, we care about you, and we will never give up.”
Project Veritas’ Official Response to Today’s News Reports
Despite what the Corporate Media tries to portray about our organization, know this: We have never been more motivated and dedicated to our mission than now. pic.twitter.com/sB7Cz97b5MEarlier Wednesday, according to New York Magazine’s Intelligencer, Veritas’ executive director, Daniel Strack sent an internal message to Project Veritas employees saying that O’Keefe would be taking “a few weeks of well-deserved PTO.”
— Project Veritas (@Project_Veritas) February 9, 2023
In the message, Strack reportedly referred to what he called “a distracting time” at the organization and said that a board meeting had been held to discuss “the health of the organization.” Strack added that while “we have not come up with final solutions yet we have made a few immediate decisions.”
Strack was formerly the managing director (MD) at Goldman Sachs, but was ousted after less than three years. He reportedly joined Goldman in 2001, made MD in 2013 and left the company in September of 2016.
According to reports, O’Keefe recently fired two top Project Veritas executives—Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) Barry Hinckley and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Tom O’Hara—due to their alleged insubordination. O’Hara, according to his Project Veritas bio, has over 25 years of experience in business, accounting, financial and reporting operations. He joined the organization in October of 2018.
Hinckley, who has pronouns in his LinkedIn bio, became CSO at Project Veritas in November of 2022.
Reportedly, Project Veritas is divided between “a group of employees who are perceived to be loyal to O’Keefe, including his communications adviser, R.C. Maxwell, and the board, which has been dissatisfied with what it perceives as O’Keefe’s mismanagement.”
A letter dated February 6 was circulated at Veritas featuring eleven pages of testimonies from anonymous employees criticizing O’Keefe, with one staffer allegedly calling him a “power-drunk tyrant.”
Hinckley, according to the Intelligencer, later wrote a message to the staff saying he had “stood up to a bully” and had lost his job as a result.
An anonymous source from the pro-O’Keefe camp, shared his version of events with a Veritas insider. The source alleged that Matt Tyrmand, a member of the board, O’Hara, and Hinckley led “a six-and-a-half hour struggle session versus James where they subjected him to...
The 90 Miles Mystery Video: Nyctophilia Edition #1293
Before You Click On The "Read More" Link,
Please Only Do So If You Are Over 21 Years Old.
If You are Easily Upset, Triggered Or Offended, This Is Not The Place For You.
Please Leave Silently Into The Night......
The 90 Miles Mystery Box: Episode #1993
You have come across a mystery box. But what is inside?
It could be literally anything from the serene to the horrific,
from the beautiful to the repugnant,
from the mysterious to the familiar.
If you decide to open it, you could be disappointed,
you could be inspired, you could be appalled.
This is not for the faint of heart or the easily offended.
You have been warned.
Sunday, February 12, 2023
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