Search ideas and policy for liberty

32+ min ago (220+ words) What Swift's defenders didn't realize, however, was that they were pushing back against a false narrative that had been seeded and amplified by a small network of inauthentic social accounts. Worse, they were helping to disseminate those bad-faith allegations by earnestly engaging with them. A representative for Swift did not immediately return a request for comment." "The internet is fake," says Keith Presley, GUDEA's founder and CEO, only half-jokingly. He notes that some 50 percent of the web is now made up of bots. "This is something that we've seen escalate on our corporate side " this type of espionage, or working to damage someone's reputation." The intersection of networks and the similarity of their strategies across two separate topics demonstrate a certain "sophistication" in the expanding industry of facilitating reputational harm across social media, Presley says. "They know what they're doing,…...

1+ hour, 51+ min ago (548+ words) On Monday, the hard-right political commentator Nick Fuentes appeared on Piers Morgan's YouTube programme Uncensored. Introducing Fuentes, Morgan told his viewers: "The reason you're hearing about him is because he's popular." Carlson pulled punches during his interview with Fuentes, and was rightly criticised for it " so Morgan vowed to press him harder. During the conversation, which has already been viewed more than two million times on YouTube, Fuentes openly embraced his racist and misogynistic beliefs, while playing coy about his antisemitism in ways familiar to anyone who has followed his rise. But what the interview did demonstrate is the method he has used to fuel his influence. Fuentes survives on contradiction. His constant shape-shifting is the very thing that has allowed him to build such a large audience. The 27-year-old has clearly made an effort to craft a slick style,…...

3+ hour, 35+ min ago (266+ words) Shakespeare tells us that Cleopatra's barge burned on the water like a "burnish'd throne" made of gold, with silver oars and purple sails filled by "lovesick" winds. No one is really sure how much of this is down to the Bard's poetic licence and how much is fact. That may be about to change, however, as archaeologists have discovered the 2,000-year-old wreck of an ancient Egyptian pleasure barge similar to that said to have been used by Cleopatra to show Julius Caesar the sights of Egypt. Found off the coast of Alexandria, submerged in the port of the island of Antirhodos, the boat, or thalamagos, is the first of its kind to be discovered, despite being described by the writer Strabo in the first century BC. The 23m-long timbers of the Egyptian equivalent of a superyacht had a breadth of…...

3+ hour, 35+ min ago (465+ words) Laura Loomer took to X, formerly known as Twitter, and shared a lengthy tweet in which she called Milo Yiannopoulos an "illegal alien." Further in the tweet, she accused Milo of doing Marjorie Taylor Greene's "dirty work." Loomer tagged ICE, amongst others, calling for deporting Milo. In the tweet, Laura Loomer continued by claiming that Milo Yiannopoulos was in a "sham marriage" with a man named John. Loomer wrote, "Milo Yiannopoulos is allegedly an illegal alien who is living in California with Dov Charney when he's not living inside the Rome, Georgia residence of @mtgreene doing her dirty work." Loomer accused Milo of spreading lies about Charlie Kirk and attacking Trump and wrote, "Milo is allegedly a visa overstay who is violating @StateDept policy by pushing out Holocaust denial and interfering in our elections by attacking Donald Trump and spreading…...

3+ hour, 35+ min ago (457+ words) Home " Longer Life News Reviewed by John Anderer Research led by Andrew McHill (Oregon Health & Science University) Americans who regularly sleep fewer than seven hours a night may be cutting their lives short, according to extensive research that examined sleep patterns and life expectancy across every county in the United States. The relationship holds true whether someone lives in a wealthy suburb or a rural town, has access to top-tier healthcare or none at all. The research team from Oregon Health & Science University examined responses from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a massive telephone survey conducted monthly across the country. Participants answered a straightforward question: "On average, how many hours of sleep do you get in a 24-hour period?" The pattern repeated across the country. Researchers found strong correlations in all but three…...

3+ hour, 35+ min ago (381+ words) By Andrew Goudsward and Mike Scarcella WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Jack Smith, the former U.S. Justice Department special counsel who prosecuted Republican President Donald Trump following his "first term in the White House, is teaming up with three other ex-prosecutors "to launch a new law firm. Smith is starting the firm with Tim Heaphy, David Harbach and Thomas Windom, each "a former federal prosecutor with decades of public service. Heaphy in a statement said the firm will launch in January and provide full-service legal work, including investigations and litigation. He said the team will design a legal practice focused on "integrity, commitment, and zealous advocacy" for public and private clients. The "lawyers all played leading roles "investigating Trump during his years out of power. Smith and two members of his team, Harbach and Windom, obtained indictments against Trump for attempting "to overturn…...

4+ hour, 9+ min ago (130+ words) Republicans dash to finish health care solutions ahead of an expected vote on extending Obamacare enhanced subsidies, favored by Democrats. Senate to Vote on GOP Alternative to Expiring Obamacare Subsidies The Senate said on Dec. 9 that a vote will come later this week on a GOP health care proposal intended as an alternative to extending the enhanced Obamacare subsidies set to expire after this year. The Senate will vote on the proposal on Dec. 11, Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters on Tuesday. Should All Information Be Open to the Public? Readers Weigh In Lawmakers Release Bipartisan Plan for Obamacare Patch as Deadline Approaches Congress Debates Health Care as Obamacare Deadline Looms: What to Know UK Agrees to Pay More for US Medicines After Trade Negotiations...

4+ hour, 41+ min ago (38+ words) LUCE: Trump choosing broligarchs over his base... (First column, 5th story, link) Related stories:Hot Mic Catches President Lashing Out Over Failed Picks...'I Can't Appoint Anybody!'Wax figure removed from museum after being repeatedly punched in face......

4+ hour, 44+ min ago (241+ words) The Department of Justice is suing the Loudoun County, Va. school board after the district punished Christian students who oppose sharing bathrooms with students of the other biological sex. "Students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate," Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in a statement Monday. "Loudoun County's decision to advance and promote gender ideology tramples on the rights of religious students who cannot embrace ideas that deny biological reality." The lawsuit follows an incident at Loudoun's Stone Bridge High School in which a biologically female student used a men's locker room and took pictures of male students. Two male students, whom the DOJ described as Christians, spoke out against the infraction, leading the school district to suspend them for 10 days because they did not use the female student's preferred pronouns. According to the DOJ,…...

5+ hour, 1+ min ago (364+ words) Some of Hollywood's most ardent anti-Israel activists are flocking to Saudi Arabia this week for a government-sponsored film festival'and the kingdom is compensating them well for their time. "I'm not doing it," he said. "Then they doubled the bag. It was a significant bag. But I'd already said no. I took a principled stand. You don't 9/11 your friends." Dave Chappelle, meanwhile, used his performance at the festival to bash the United States'after signing a gag order shielding Saudi royals from criticism'because it was "easier to talk here than it is in America." The Sound of Metal star signed an open letter last May accusing Israel of committing a "genocide" in Gaza and promoting unsubstantiated claims that the Israeli military was "targeting civilians" and "deliberately killed" journalists. "As artists and cultural players, we cannot remain silent while genocide is taking place…...