Author: Data and Research Manager

QAnon has receded from social media — but it’s just hiding

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On the face of it, you might think that the QAnon conspiracy has largely disappeared from big social media sites. But that’s not quite the case. 

True, you’re much less likely to find popular QAnon catchphrases like “great awakening,” “the storm” or “trust the plan” on Facebook these days. Facebook and Twitter have removed tens of thousands of accounts dedicated to the baseless conspiracy theory, which depicts former President Donald Trump as a hero fighting a secret battle against a sect of devil-worshipping pedophiles who dominate Hollywood, big business, the media and government.

Gone are the huge “Stop the Steal” groups that spread falsehoods about the 2020 U.S. presidential elections. Trump is gone as well, banned from Twitter permanently and suspended from posting on Facebook until 2023. Continue reading.

Texas Republicans renew efforts to pass voting restrictions in special session

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Republican lawmakers in Texas on Thursday launched their second effort this year to pass new voting restrictions after Democrats blocked them in May with a dramatic walkout at the state Capitol.

The legislature convened Thursday for a special session called by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to enact a laundry list of conservative priorities, including a ban of transgender athletes on youth sports teams and beefed-up border security. But Abbott has made clear that “election integrity” is a top priority, and Republicans filed bills in the House and Senate that include many of the same voting provisions they sought to enact earlier in the year.

The new election proposals include a number of restrictions championed by former president Donald Trump. The measures would ban several election programs implemented last year to help people vote during the coronaviruspandemic, including drive-through voting and 24-hour and late-night voting. Voting rights advocates noted that voters of color used these programs disproportionately, meaning they could disproportionately feel the impact of the restrictions. Continue reading.

Critics: Postal Service plans imperil community newspapers

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The U.S. Postal Service’s plan to raise mailing rates could present one more damaging blow to community newspapers already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic and advertising declines, a trade group says. 

Rates on periodicals would increase by more than 8% as of Aug. 29, according to agency filings. The price jump is part of a broad plan pushed by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to overhaul mail operations. 

The impact of the periodical rate increase is expected to be felt most by small daily and weekly newspapers, as well as rural newspapers, which depend on the Postal Service since they have shifted from using independent contractors for deliveries. Continue reading.

TV news crews are increasingly threatened with violence on the job

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TV reporter Dillon Collier went to cover the aftermath of a house fire in a San Antonio neighborhood Monday morning. A routine story, he thought. But it turned out to be much more than that.

As he interviewed family members on the sidewalk outside the burned home, a man emerged from it shouting epithets at Collier and his station’s video journalist Joshua Saunders. The man also had two handguns — one of which he began firing. Collier, Saunders and members of the family scattered as bullets flew in their direction.

Police later fatally shot the gunman after he fired on them from the house. Collier and his colleague were unhurt but shaken. “I think I’m okay,” the reporter told The Post on Tuesday evening. “It’s going to take a while to process this.” Continue reading.

Civil rights leaders find meeting with WH ‘encouraging’ amidst voting rights battle

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President Biden met with civil rights leaders for almost two hours on Thursday as part of a broader effort by his administration to focus on voting rights, a key part of his agenda that has struggled to overcome the roadblock that is the evenly split Senate. 

The civil rights leaders emerged from the meeting, which included discussions on voting rights legislation and police reform, describing the U.S. as in a state of emergency. 

They cited restrictive voting laws imposed this year in states such as Georgia and Florida, and a recent Supreme Court ruling that upheld Arizona’s voting restrictions. Continue reading.

Report: 2 Seattle police officers broke law during DC riots

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SEATTLE — Two Seattle police officers who were in Washington, D.C., during the Jan. 6 insurrection were illegally trespassing on Capitol grounds while rioters stormed the building, but they lied about their actions, a police watchdog said in a report released Thursday.

“They were both standing in the immediate vicinity of the Capitol Building in direct view of rioters lining the steps and climbing the walls,” the Office of Police Accountability said in its report, citing video evidence. “OPA finds it unbelievable that they could think that this behavior was not illegal, contrary to their claims at their OPA interviews.”

After the release of the OPA report, Chief Adrian Diaz said he will hold accountable any Seattle Police Department officer involved in the insurrection, including disciplinary action up to and including termination. He said he would make a decision within 30 days. Continue reading.

Pentagon pushes back at GOP lawmakers over critical race theory claims

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“There is no contradiction here,” the Pentagon’s top spokesperson said.

The Pentagon is defending comments made by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after GOP lawmakers claimed the military chief misrepresented the department’s stance on the teaching of critical race theory.

On Wednesday, an Air Force Academy professor wrote an op-ed in defense of discussing the subject with cadets, which prompted the lawmakers to criticize Austin, who said last month that the military does not teach critical race theory.

“There is no contradiction here. The Secretary’s comments stand,” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby told POLITICO Thursday. “That a professor at an academic institution such as the Air Force Academy teaches a given theory as part of an elective course does not in the slightest way signify some larger effort by the Department to teach, espouse or embrace said theory. Continue reading.

Pfizer to seek FDA authorization for booster of COVID-19 vaccine

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Pfizer and BioNTech announced Thursday that they plan to seek authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a third dose of their COVID-19 vaccine, saying it would provide even stronger protection.

In a statement released Thursday afternoon, the companies said they have seen “encouraging data” from an ongoing trial of the booster shot, adding that it provides levels of neutralizing antibodies five to 10 times higher, when administered six months after the second dose. The companies plan to submit data “in the coming weeks.”

It will be up to U.S. regulators — the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — whether to recommend a third dose. Continue reading.

Why Mike Pence exploded at Trump — and 5 other stunning details from a new report on their finals days

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It’s no secret that former President Donald Trump’s last days in office were a political rollercoaster. Some of the chaos happened in plain sight, especially before he was kicked off Twitter. But despite his Twitter obsession, there were still things that occurred behind closed doors that are just coming to light. 

A new report published by The Wall Street Journal on Thursday sheds light on the unceasing chaos that ensued as the clock ticked down to 0 on Trump’s presidency. The author Michael C. Bender offered a detailed depiction of what went on behind the scenes of the Trump administration.

  1. Most of those around Trump actually believed he would eventually concede and do the right thing: Vice President Mike Pence and Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman Ronna McDaniel believed time would eventually give Trump the space he needed to process the devastating loss, Bender reported. Even his daughter Ivanka, who presumably knows her father better than others in his orbit, also thought he would come around and maybe invite Biden to the White House. That never happened, of course, and even now Trump insists he really won the election. Continue reading.

Biden says U.S. has accomplished its primary objectives in Afghanistan as he defends troop withdrawal amid Taliban gains

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President Biden said Thursday that the country had accomplished its objectives in Afghanistan of killing Osama bin Laden and undercutting al-Qaeda’s ability to launch more attacks on the United States as he defended his decision to bring a 20-year war to an end.

Biden, during a White House speech, was defiant in the face of gains by the Taliban since he announced a planned U.S. troop withdrawal in April and said the Afghan people needed to dictate their own future.

“We did not go to Afghanistan to nation-build,” Biden said. Continue reading.