Hope For A Debtter Tomorrow
December 16, 2021
The Good News
- Harris rolls out plan for electric vehicle charging network (The Hill)
- Pfizer jabs protect 70% against hospitalization from omicron (ABC)
“Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like asking a peeping tom to install your window blinds.” – John Perry Barlow
Tracked Lives Matter
Internal Los Angeles Police Department documents, obtained by the Brennan Center for Justice through public records requests, reveal the law enforcement department made use of a social media monitoring software from Edge NPD during October and November 2020 to collect tweets regarding the Black Lives Matter and “defund the police” movements. Edge NPD typically works in advertising and marketing by ensuring campaigns aren’t infiltrated by bots or trolls. They have no experience with law enforcement, and are based in Warsaw, Poland.
The LAPD’s one-month trial with the software tracked about 200 keywords and gathered millions of tweets. According to Edge NPD’s CEO, Dobromir Cias, tens of thousands of tweets were about the Black Lives Matter protests. Edge NPD monitored six topics using a dashboard: “civil unrest”, “American policing”, “domestic extremism and white nationalism”, “election security”, “potential danger” and the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which had sparked protests locally in L.A. around that time. Keywords like “BLM,” “abolish the police,” “lapdchiefmoore,” and “acab” were all monitored, and Cias took it upon himself to forward tweets he came across on his own as well. Cias wasn’t concerned about whether what he forwarded was real, saying, “I think it’s up to law enforcement to really verify if it’s true … We don’t do fact checking.”
Records reviewed by the Guardian show that the tweets were intended to help the LAPD respond to “negative narratives” and to flag threats. However, no records were released that show what the department did with the tweets it gathered. The LAPD did not decide to continue using the software, ending the contract after their trial was over, but the department sent a thank you letter that said “The product is definitely working,” and that it had helped them identify “threat-related content.” Tech companies have been eager to secure contracts with law enforcement as online monitoring becomes more popular, and the NYPD and LAPD have some of the largest budgets in the country, making them attractive test subjects.
Experts raised concerns about collecting so much data in so little time. While it’s normal for law enforcement to monitor social media, the lack of discernment was unique. Steven Renderos, executive director of national racial justice organization Media Justice, said of the sheer volume of tweets, “It creates a much larger haystack of data that doesn’t actually lead to any real, tangible, positive outcome for communities…instead it just equips the police department with more data that helps it kind of justify its own efforts to tell a better story about itself.” Activists, for their part, were not surprised. Bree Newsome Bass, who gained attention for climbing a flagpole in 2015 and removing a Confederate flag, said, “They’re making the case for defunding the police even further. They’re using taxpayer dollars to monitor our social media where we’re talking about how we’re wasting money on police.” (Guardian)
Our Daily Spread
- World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned that the Omicron variant of Covid-19 has spread faster than any previous variant, and that dismissal of the variant as “mild” is a mistake. During a news conference on Tuesday, Tedros revealed that the variant had been detected in 77 countries and mulled over the idea that it has probably spread even further.
- The variant has rampaged across the globe, with the United Kingdom reporting that Omicron has outpaced the Delta variant and the United States seeing a major increase in circulation in just one week. While data from South Africa suggests Omicron might be causing milder symptoms than previous variants, public health experts stress it’s too early to make firm conclusions.
- Anthony Fauci said it is unclear why symptoms are milder in South Africa, but it could be because many in the community have been infected before so have some level of protection. “Whatever it is, the disease seems to be less severe, whether it’s inherently less pathogenic as a virus, or whether there’s more protection in the community, we’re just going to have to see when it comes in the United States.” (CNN)
Philippine The Script
- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced on Tuesday that he would be dropping out of the race to become a senator following his preferred successor’s decision to quit the presidential race. This is the latest twist in an election cycle that has had political experts on the edge of their seats.
- Duterte initially planned to pursue vice presidency in the upcoming 2022 election, but opted instead to look for a seat in the senate – however, after longtime aide, Senator Christopher “Bong Go,” withdrew from the presidential race, Duterte decided to drop his run for a senate position.
- Duterte, who has made as many enemies as allies during a presidency fraught with government scandals, has come to global infamy due to the staggering death toll from his war on drugs. His daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, continues to run for vice president alongside the son of the late dictator, Ferdinand Marcos. Some analysts believe Duterte’s move signifies a transfer of support base to his daughter and Marcos, who are early frontrunners of the election period. (CNN)
Additional World News
- The Nobel Peace Prize That Paved the Way for War in Ethiopia (NYT, $)
- EU ready to take “unprecedented measures” against Russia (Reuters)
- Scientists cautious as erupting Spanish volcano falls quiet (AP)
- North Korea Executes People for Watching K-Pop, Rights Group Says (NYT, $)
- Blaze traps hundreds in Hong Kong tower, 13 hospitalized (ABC)
- Portugal has one of the top vaccination rates but isn’t taking chances with omicron (NPR)
- Toronto police release video of ‘suspect’ in billionaires’ 2017 murders (BBC)
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A Perry Offensive Take
- On Tuesday, the House passed a bill aimed at combating Islamophobia worldwide. The legislation comes a month after Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert made anti-Muslim remarks against Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, insinuating that she was a terrorist and calling her part of the “jihad squad.”
- The bill states that the State Department must appoint a “Special Envoy for monitoring and combating Islamophobia” and that the Department must include “state-sponsored Islamophobic violence and impunity” in its yearly human rights reports. The “Special Envoy” would lead in establishing a “comprehensive strategy for establishing U.S. leadership in combatting Islamophobia worldwide.” The bill passed the House 219-212 along party lines.
- Things got tense when GOP Rep. Scott Perry took the floor, stating: “Aside from the attempts to placate an anti-Semitic member of this chamber, all that’s really happening here is that House Democrats are deflecting from the real issue confronting the House of Representatives, and that is that the maker of this bill has no business sitting on House committees, has no business in this chamber.” He also implied that Omar, the lead author of the bill, had ties to terrorist organizations, but refrained from elaborating on his claims. (ABC News)
Hope For A Debtter Tomorrow
- Both the House and Senate passed legislation raising the nation’s debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion on Tuesday night, averting a default by the government as the clock ticks down on its loans. The bill is now on President Biden’s desk for signature. The resolution passed the Senate 50-49 along party lines and the House 221-209 with one Republican crossing the aisle to vote in its support.
- Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer predicted the increased debt limit would last the country until 2023, after next year’s midterm elections. Schumer also shouted out Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for “reach[ing] out across the aisle in good faith to bring us to this point.”
- Schumer was happy with the partisan effort in discussions, saying, “No brinksmanship, no default on the debt, no risk of another recession: responsible governing has won on this exceedingly important issue. The American people can breathe easy and rest assured there will not be a default.” (CBS News)
Additional USA News
- Biden gets three seats to fill on 4th, 6th Circuits as judges take senior status (Reuters)
- Joe Manchin reelection plans loom as Democrats court his critical vote (CNN)
- A leader of an Ohio Muslim organization was fired for spying for a hate group (NPR)
- Mark Meadows: House votes to recommend criminal contempt charges against Trump ex-chief of staff (Guardian)
- Revealed: Biden administration was not legally bound to auction gulf drilling rights (Guardian)
- Supreme Court upholds New York’s vaccine mandate for health care workers (NPR)
- Joe Manchin signals major changes needed to win his support on Biden’s safety net plan (CNN)
Bars And Stripes
- After four months on the lam, two zebras who had escaped a farm in Maryland returned home and were reunited with their herd on Tuesday. Their owner, Jerry Lee Holly, owns a 300-acre farm in Upper Marlboro. He informed officials that the zebras had been captured and “humanely returned” to their herd by his employees.
- Holly, 74, is licensed to have 39 zebras at his property as an exotic animal breeder and trader. The zebras were brought to his farm not long before they escaped. Holly’s lawyer said in a statement, “Like the other zebras, they are healthy, well-fed and cared for,” which is a suspicious thing to feel the need to clarify.
- Holly was charged back in October with animal cruelty after one of his three escaped zebras was caught in a snare trap and died. His lawyer described him as a “respected businessman in Prince George’s County.” County officials said they will continue to investigate the incident and take “appropriate legal action” against Holly. (NBC)
Additional Reads
- Volunteers are growing oyster gardens to help restore reefs (NPR)
- Bugs across globe are evolving to eat plastic, study finds (Guardian)
- Rocket scientists and brain surgeons not necessarily smarter than public, study finds (CNN)
- Norway bans serving of alcohol in bid to halt Omicron outbreak (Reuters)
- Crucial Antarctic ice shelf could fail within five years, scientists say (WaPo, $)
- Prehistoric Site Shows Modern Humans Weren’t First to Change the World – WSJ (WSJ)
- 21 Things That Made the World a Better Place in 2021 (Wired)