“Trump Made a Racist Joke in a Phoenix Megachurch and the Crowd Went Wild.” That is the title of a Wednesday The Intercept article by Robert Mackey. Sounds like a major story that could sink President Donald Trump’s chance of reelection, heh? However, it is clear from the first paragraph of the article that what happened at Trump’s Tuesday speech is very different from what the article title suggests. Trump told a pun that played on his contention that coronavirus originated in China and a form of fighting associated with China, and many people in the audience seemed to like the pun. That’s all.
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‘Racist’ Joe Biden
Democratic primary presidential candidate Joe Biden, in the 1990s when he was a member of the United States Senate, said racist stuff in two speeches. That is an insinuation of a Monday The Intercept article by Aída Chávez. The basis for this insinuation? Biden in the speeches, Chávez reports, called people who commit violent crimes “predators.”
You may be concerned about Facebook and other companies restricting what may be communicated and who may communicate on the companies’ social media platforms, as well as those companies limiting the ability of people to easily see the posts of people and organizations they follow. The Intercept writer Mehdi Hasan is concerned about something else. He thinks Facebook is doing too little to suppress speech, especially speech critical of Islam and Muslim people.
In a Friday The Intercept editorial, Mehdi Hasan wrote that President Donald Trump “and his acolytes” have been “banging their anti-Semitic drum in plain sight” since United States House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s September 24 announcement of an impeachment inquiry in regard to Trump. But, Hasan then offers no substantial evidence to back this bold claim.
Yes, the harassment travelers in American airports are forced to undergo for security, or, as some people call it, “security theater,” can become worse. Travelers already arrive early to stand in long lines before having their carry-on baggage inspected and their bodies scanned by machines of questionable safety. In some cases, travelers are frisked. All this despite there being no reason to suspect the particular travelers have committed or will commit a crime. “It’s all for your safety,” a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employee may say if asked why the mass harassment occurs day in and day out.
Yet, there can always be more harassment added to the mix. Don’t be surprised if travelers in America one day are required to answer questions presented by a computer avatar before they can take a flight, or maybe a bus or train ride. Suppose the connected computer program determines some of your answers are not truthful, then no travel for you or, at least, no travel without you being subjected to additional scrutiny. That is the nature of a program now being tested in Europe.