ABOVE: Save it for a rainy gay.
Anti-gay fascist Bolsonaro (GIF via GIPHY)
BUZZFEED: Ryan Broderick writes — persuasively, terrifyingly — how Facebook, Google and other mostly U.S.-based social media giants have swiftly radicalized the planet. Here is a taste, but please read the whole thing:
Alex Stamos, Facebook’s former chief security officer, published a piece in August saying that it was already too late for Facebook to protect the 2018 US midterm elections from misinformation campaigns from Russia and Iran. Maybe we’ll fix it by 2020. There’s also a chance that, for more developed countries — or for the richer citizens — things will stabilize.
In most countries, reliable publications are going behind paywalls. More services like Amazon Prime and Netflix are locking premium entertainment behind subscriptions. Which means all of this — the trolls, the abuse, the fake news, the conspiracy videos, the data leaks, the propaganda — will eventually stop being a problem for people who can afford it.
Which will most likely leave the poor, the old, and the young to fall into an information divide. This is already happening. A study released this month from the UK found that poorer British readers got less, worse news than wealthier readers. And according to a new study by Pew Research Center, only 17% of people over the age of 65 were able to identify fact from opinion. Teenage Instagram wellness communities are already transforming into mini Infowars-style snake oil empires.
TELEGRAPH: In response to the gross abuses occurring on Twitter, and the fomenting of right-wing violence, the social media company has come up with a plan — eliminate the like button. Not kidding.
CNN: Germany's Angela Merkel — a dominant force in Europe and the person some would say is the current leader of the free world — will step down as her party's leader in 2021.
NEWNOWNEXT: Check out Scott Nevins's piece on how LGBTQ people can help Dems win big in the midterms, with an assist by BuildTheWave.org.
A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge looked like a Catalina porn flick! (Image via New Line Cinema)
JUNKEE: Very, very, very gay horror films!
Taiwan Pride! 🌈 pic.twitter.com/Kaxt6o7Jjh
— 💀 Eldritch Mode Hadley 💀 (@Voidmancer) October 27, 2018
INDEPENDENT: Best snaps from Taiwan Gay Pride.
NBC: A teacher at Nixon-Smiley High School in Texas stands accused of outing a male student in front of her class by telling the student's GF:
He's gay. He's just using you for a cover.
Incredibly, the teacher admits she said it, and hasn't lost her job over it. The kid's father is incensed, mainly because his son is now being bullied over it and because the teacher has skated. He's looking into suing. IMHO, calling someone gay in normal circumstances is not a lawsuit-worthy offense. However, calling one of the minors you're teaching gay in a classroom setting should result in the teacher's firing and could very well lead to a legit lawsuit. It could be very damaging to out a kid like that, and if he isn't gay, can also lead to a lot of mental stress, whether the boy in question is anti-gay or not. Inexcusable.
Christopher Thomas John Yarema, 43, and Stephanie Lynn Burnham, 35 (Image via WPLG)
WPLG: This Key West couple — nice-lookin' folks — were arrested after deputies alleged they attacked a gay couple off Wisteria Island:
Adam Linhardt, a spokesman for the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, said two gay men from Hollywood, California, had rented a large boat with an inflatable dinghy Saturday to explore the waters off Wisteria Island. Around 4:30 p.m., as the men prepared to leave, Yarema and Burnham approached the couple's dinghy on a skiff and began yelling anti-gay slurs and other expletives, Linhardt said.
According to the arrest report, the couple appeared to be upset because of the men was wearing a Speedo-style swimsuit.
One of them shouted "Hey, Mr. Speedo [expletive], get the [expletive] off our island," the report said.
"You have five seconds to get off, or I will kill you," Burnham told the men, according to the report.
The male assailant also slashed at the couple, deflating the dinghy they were barely able to use in order to escape.
TRUE CRIME DAILY: Nutty white lady who accosted and threatened two black sisters for standing and talking near their apartment building in North Carolina, randomly bragging about her salary, was fired from her job — and is the subject of four criminal summonses. She may also face a lawsuit from the women she threatened.
HUFF POST: Trump continues to brand the media the “enemy of the people,” days after CNN was the recipient of some pipe bombs from one of his rabid supporters, Cesar Sayoc.
KENNETH IN THE (212): Do not click here if you're allergic to hairy, barechested selfies.
TWITTER: Lynnette Lederman, former prez of Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue, strongly tells Trump to stay out of Pittsburgh:
Lynnette Lederman, former President of Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue: "I do not welcome this President to my city ... He is the purveyor of hate speech. The hypocritical words that come from him tell me nothing." (via CNN) pic.twitter.com/1tgJnsAMzl
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 29, 2018
COMMENTS