Facebook Threatens Christian Site Over ‘False’ CNN Story

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Christian satire site The Babylon Bee received a terse warning from Facebook this week after the “independent fact-checkers” at Snopes reported that one of the site’s humor articles was “false.”

Adam Ford, who runs The Babylon Bee, was warned by Facebook that a recent satire article about CNN “contains information disputed by (Snopes.com) an independent fact checker.” Repeat offenders, Ford was told, “will see their distribution reduced and their ability to monetize and advertized [sic] removed.”

The story in question pokes fun at CNN with the headline: “CNN Purchases Industrial-Sized Washing Machine To Spin News Before Publication.” Anyone with even a sliver of a funny bone tucked away behind their appendix would know that it wasn’t a serious news piece, but, alas, the humorless dolts at Snopes had to spell out the obvious.

This past December PolitiFact discussed its partnership with Facebook and explained how it works. “Our partnership with Facebook is part of a push by the social media company to clean up its news feed and become a more trustworthy platform,” PolitiFact’s Aaron Sharackman wrote. “Facebook introduced a new tool after the 2016 campaign that allows users to mark a post as a ‘false news story,’ and if enough do, the post is sent to fact-checkers like PolitiFact, Snopes and Factcheck.org.” . . .

Factcheck.org, PolitiFact, and Snopes all have reputations for being biased in favor of liberals, so it’s no wonder Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, a flaming liberal himself, is relying heavily on these organizations to be arbiters of truth in the Facebook universe. The company that utterly failed at keeping Russian bots from interfering in the 2016 election now has apparently set its sights on conservative websites. (Read more from “Facebook Threatens Christian Site Over ‘False’ CNN Story” HERE)

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Judges Warning: ‘Hundreds’ of Crosses at Risk

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Hundreds of crosses at war memorials across the nation are at risk because a panel from the Fourth U.S. Court of Appeals condemned the Bladensburg World War I Veterans Memorial to destruction and the full court refused to reconsider, contends one of the judges.

The warning came from Fourth Circuit Judge Paul Niemeyer. . .

“The holding not only violates [precedent], it also needlessly puts at risk hundreds of monuments with similar symbols standing on public grounds across the country, such as those in nearby Arlington National Cemetery,” he said.

“Because this ruling has such far-reaching and unnecessary consequences, it should be reheard by our court en banc, and I dissent from the vote not to do so.”

The non-profit legal group First Liberty has been fighting the lawsuit filed by atheists who contend the presence of the cross on government property — the land was private when the memorial was built — violates the First Amendment. (Read more from “Judges Warning: ‘Hundreds’ of Crosses at Risk” HERE)

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This Pop-Up Restaurant Asks Whites to Pay More

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By The Daily Wire. As part of a month-long “social experiment,” a pop-up restaurant in New Orleans is asking white customers to pay extra for their meal in the name of wealth redistribution.

According to Civil Eats, the pop-up called Saartj gives white customers – and only white customers – the option to pay “$12 for lunch or the suggested price of $30” while black customers are “charged $12 and also given the option to collect the $18 paid by a white patron as a way to redistribute wealth.”

Restaurant creator Tunde Wey says that his project seeks to educate patrons on the “nation’s racial wealth gap,” using statistics, according to Civil Eats’ coverage from an EPI study that looks at income distribution broadly, similar to the debunked 22-cent “gender pay gap” statistic.

“After they order, Wey tells each diner about the nation’s racial wealth gap, pointing to stark facts, such as higher education increases a Black family’s median income by $60,000, where as it increases a white family’s median income by $113,000,” reports Civil Eats . . .

Once the conversation finishes, Wey then asks his white customers how much they will pay. The “white guilt” definitely pays off, with close to 78% of his white customers paying more than double the required price, according to Wey. This guilt, which Wey calls “positive social pressure,” is entirely intentional and designed to elicit payment. (Read more from “This Pop-Up Restaurant Asks Whites to Pay More” HERE)

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Restaurant Charges Whites More for the Same Meal Than Non-Whites

By Kevin Boyd. The Times-Picayune has uncovered a racist restaurant in New Orleans that is charging different amounts for meals based on race. Even more startling, this restaurant is working with Tulane University and Loyola University on this scheme.

Except the Times-Picayune is praising the racism in question. That is because the racism is targeted towards white customers.

A restaurant run by Tunde Wey at the Roux Carre’ food court in Central City is embarking on what they call a social experiment on racial and economic disparities in New Orleans. The restaurant is charging white customers $30 for a plate of Nigerian food and non-whites $12 for that same plate.

From Nola.com:

Walk up to a window manned by chef Tunde Wey at Roux Carré, 2000 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., order his Nigerian food and the experiment begins. If you are white, you will be asked to pay $30. If you are black, Latino or Asian, the bill will be $12.

Any diner can elect to pay $12 and be served. The point is not to charge people more for lunch based on their race, Wey said. The point, he said, is to make people experience, in a concrete situation, how income disparities — which, in New Orleans, starkly run along racial lines — affect daily decisions like what to pay for lunch, as well as life-altering opportunities and even personal health.

(Read more from “Restaurant Charges Whites More for the Same Meal Than Non-Whites” HERE)

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Democrats to Propose Weapons Ban, Gun Confiscation Powers in Bill Inspired by Trump

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Senate Democrats said they will introduce a gun control bill that would expand background checks, ban certain weapons, and give the courts the power to temporarily take guns away from people who are deemed to be a threat to themselves or others, after President Trump offered support for these goals in a White House discussion Wednesday.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the only way to advance the measure in the GOP-led Senate is with the endorsement and help from President Trump. He described a scenario in which the Senate could pass Schumer’s proposal with mostly Democratic support and a few Republicans encouraged by Trump.

“The NRA has had the Republican Party in a headlock for decades,” Schumer said. “Only the president — this president — will have the power to overcome their strength and get his Republican allies on Capitol Hill to move to a place that embraces common sense gun safety policies.”

Schumer acknowledged GOP leaders aren’t likely to simply bring up the proposal for a vote without pressure from the president. He said he has not yet spoken to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., about the bill . . .

Trump on Wednesday upended the stalled gun control legislation debate during a televised meeting with lawmakers in which he appeared to side with Democrats. During the meeting, Trump told lawmakers he endorsed universal background checks, raising the age for gun purchases, and said he would even consider supporting a ban on guns like AR-15 style rifles like the one that was used in the high school shooting in Florida last month. (Read more from “Democrats to Propose Weapons Ban, Gun Confiscation Powers in Bill Inspired by Trump” HERE)

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Trump Criticized After Georgia Teacher Taken Into Custody Following School Shooting

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Police in Georgia have responded to a reported school shooting at Dalton High School Wednesday.

A teacher who was barricaded inside a classroom is now in custody, police say. No children were harmed, and the school has been evacuated.

This is a developing story. We do not have the facts. We do not know what happened. Police are still investigating.

Yet without the facts, individuals on social media are using the shooting to criticize President Donald Trump’s proposal to permit armed teachers or faculty in schools.

This is a developing story.

Update:

Dalton Police officials held a briefing to update the press. The teacher, identified as 53-year-old Randal Davidson, surrendered to police. He had locked himself into his classroom, allowing nobody in, and fired a shot from a handgun through an exterior window of the classroom when the principal attempted to enter the room. The spokesman said that it “did not appear that it was aimed at anybody.” (For more from the author of “Trump Criticized After Georgia Teacher Taken Into Custody Following School Shooting” please click HERE)

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This Is What China Is Banning From the Internet in Censorship Crackdown

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The Chinese government is in the middle of an unprecedented internet crackdown in an effort to stall or silence criticism of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s decision to extend his termed presidency into a lifetime appointment.

China already has a stranglehold on how much information Chinese citizens are allowed to glean from the World Wide Web. Most social media sites don’t operate inside the Communist nation — China has its own versions of Twitter and Amazon — and the government controls most, if not all, of the news media . . .

As a result, George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” has been wiped off the web, and Chinese citizens can no longer access the single most biting critique of Communist government ever published. They’ve also banned a specific “Winnie the Pooh” cartoon that shows the lovable Disney bear clutching a pot of honey, near the words, “Find the thing you love and stick with it” (an apparent reference to Xi Jinping’s self-granted lifelong appointment), and references that connect Xi Jinping to Mao Zedong.

The government also, inexplicably (and temporarily), banned the letter “N,” making it next to impossible to access much of the internet for several days. Experts on Chinese policy told the UK’s Evening Standard that it’s possible Chinese dissidents were using a lone letter “N” as a code to find each other on the internet, or that certain dissident literature had been marked with the letter, though it’s not clear how the Chinese would be able to strain every use of “N,” especially if it appeared in photos or in PDF files. (Read more from “This Is What China Is Banning From the Internet in Censorship Crackdown” HERE)

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Google Censors Guns… Searches for Water Guns, Guns and Roses, AR-15 Come up Blank

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Google apparently has its own idea of gun control.

The search-engine giant reportedly censored any search results related to the word “gun” in its shopping section.

Any combination of words that used the term “gun” was censored until late Tuesday, leading to completely unrelated terms being impacted as well.

The full-fledged censorship ended up docking results for terms such as “glue gun,” “Guns and Roses” and even the word “burgundy.”

While the search restriction was eventually lifted for the word late Tuesday, the term “AR-15” and “revolver” appear to still be suppressed, according to Breitbart News.

Some took to Twitter to express their frustration with the search engine’s decision to censor words with “gun” in it and provide examples of how the stunt turned out.

In an op-ed for the Washington Examiner, contributor Philip Wegmann noted that Google can do as they please since they are a private company.

However, he noted that the effort is ineffective, pointing to a 2013 piece by The Washington Post that revealed purchasing firearms on the internet is extremely difficult.

Wegmann concluded his piece by stating that Google’s “war on the gun was really quite silly and pointless.”

“The virtue-signaling stunt only exposed their own stupidity,” he added.

While Google’s recent attempt at gun censorship may appear to be a surprising one, it isn’t the first time the company has attempted to ban gun-related searches.

In 2012, Google notified merchants that they would not allow them to list firearms or firearm-related items on their shopping list, according to a 2012 report from Search Engine Land.

The letter Google sent to various merchants stated that they would “begin to enforce a set of new policies for Google Shopping in the coming weeks,” that included a list of prohibited products such as “guns, ammunition and knives.” (For more from the author of “Google Censors Guns… Searches for Water Guns, Guns and Roses, AR-15 Come up Blank” please click HERE)

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Man Behind Vanessa Trump’s White Powder Attack Had Disturbing Ties to Dem Party

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Daniel Frisiello, the man charged with sending envelopes with white powder to Donald Trump, Jr., donated to Democratic causes and expressed dislike of the president on social media.

Police arrested Frisiello in Beverly, Massachusetts, Thursday in connection with sending five cryptic, threatening but evidently harmless letters to Trump and other figures, including a sitting Democratic senator and a Republican congressional candidate.

All five envelopes also contained a mysterious white substance which reportedly sent Trump’s wife, Vanessa, to the hospital after she opened the letter.

“You are an awful, awful person,” the note to Trump, postmarked Feb. 7, said.

“I am surprised that your father lets you speak on TV. You make the family idiot, Eric (Trump), look smart. This is the reason why people hate you, so you are getting what you deserve. So shut the (expletive) UP!”

Frisiello made one donation of $75 to Act Blue in April 2016, earmarked for the Massachusetts Democratic State Committee, according to records from the Federal Election Commission.

The filing indicates that Frisiello was unemployed at the time.

Frisiello followed a number of progressive causes on Facebook, and according to his public profile, he frequently shared posts critical to President Donald Trump and Republicans, including one meme shared Nov. 7, 2016, the day before the election, which compared Trump to Adolf Hitler.

“Called it!” Frisiello commented on the image.

The other powder-filled envelopes Frisiello allegedly sent were addressed to Michigan Democratic Sen. Deborah Stabenow, the U.S. Attorney for California, a professor at Stanford Law School, and Antonio Sabato Jr., who recently announced his candidacy as a Republican for a California congressional district.

“All five envelopes contained a white powder,” officials said. “At this point, testing has determined the powder in each envelope to be nonhazardous.”

One Twitter user pointed out that, according to Frisiello’s Facebook, he is a fan of Rep. Adam Schiff and Joe Scarborough.

A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.

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State Senate Passes Bill Banning Abortions on Babies With Beating Hearts

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On Wednesday, the Iowa Senate passed landmark pro-life legislation known as the “Heartbeat Bill,” which if put into law would outlaw aborting babies with detectable heartbeats.

Pre-born babies’ hearts begin to form around 21 days into pregnancy, and are detected on ultrasounds just a few weeks later . . .

The only exception would be for pregnancies that threaten a mother’s life.

Sinclair also asserted that the anti-abortion measure is not a war on women, noting, “roughly fifty percent (50%) of the people we are electing to protect here are indeed women, so in fact a failure to pass this bill would be the true war on women in its most pure sense.”

Sen. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, who served on the subcommittee which produced the legislation, said he believes culture has been moving towards a pro-life view for decades – a view that has become repulsed by a “holocaust of death” related to abortion. (Read more from “State Senate Passes Bill Banning Abortions on Babies With Beating Hearts” HERE)

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‘Frozen’ Director Open to Making Main Character a Lesbian in Sequel

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Lending credence to rumors which surfaced a couple years ago, principals involved in the making of Disney’s Frozen 2 are keeping alive the possibility of Elsa coming out of the closet as a lesbian.

In fact, everyone involved with the production seems to love the buzz that speculation about Elsa’s sexual orientation is creating regarding the planned sequel.

“I love everything people are saying [and] people are thinking about with our film ― that it’s creating dialogue, that Elsa is this wonderful character that speaks to so many people,” said writer and co-director Jennifer Lee in an interview with the Huffington Post. “It means the world to us that we’re part of these conversations.”

“Where we’re going with it, we have tons of conversations about it, and we’re really conscientious about these things,” Lee added in the HuffPo interview. “For me … Elsa’s every day telling me where she needs to go, and she’ll continue to tell us. I always write from character-out, and where Elsa is and what Elsa’s doing in her life, she’s telling me every day. We’ll see where we go.”

Idina Menzel, who lent her voice to Elsa in the original Frozen, told PrideSource in 2016 she was “really happy” that it was her Frozen character that stirred so much interest in the possibility of a gay or lesbian Disney kids’ film character. (Read more from “‘Frozen’ Director Open to Making Main Character a Lesbian in Sequel” HERE)

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