Category: Tech Media

Longtime Political Analyst Chris Cilizza Unloads on People Downplaying Trump Assassination Attempts

Daily Caller News Foundation

Trump faced a second assassination attempt on Sunday but experienced no injury this time as a Secret Service agent fired shots at a man with a semi-automatic rifle while the former president was golfing at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Cillizza, on his YouTube channel, said people who minimize the gravity of the attempts on Trump’s life undermine “our democracy” and must stop.

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NY Times Stealth Edits Column Suggesting J.D. Vance Is a Literal Fascist After Receiving Heavy Criticism

Daily Caller News Foundation
JD Vance

The New York Times quietly changed the headline of a Saturday column linking Republican Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance to a Nazi slogan.

NYT opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie headlined his column “JD Vance’s Blood-and-Soil Nationalism Finds Its Target,” referencing a Nazi slogan to suggest that Vance’s comments about the Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, and other past rhetoric, demonstrate the Republican vice presidential candidate is a racist who should “immediately” resign his office to atone for his “ethical transgressions.” Later Saturday, after receiving heavy criticism, the Times updated the piece’s headline to read, “Shouldn’t JD Vance Represent All of Ohio?” and decided against including an editor’s note to bring attention to the change.

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YouTube Censors Police Video of Jon Bon Jovi Talking Distraught Woman off Nashville Bridge During Music Video Shoot

Tom Pappert
Jon Bonjovi

A Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) spokesman confirmed to The Tennessee Star on Thursday that YouTube pulled its video of legendary musical artist Jon Bon Jovi talking a “distraught woman” off the ledge of a Nashville bridge, potentially saving her life.

MNPD Public Affairs Director Don Aaron confirmed to The Star the video was originally published to a YouTube channel operated by the police department, and that it was removed from the platform by YouTube. The platform did not impose additional punishment to the MNPD-operated channel beyond removal of its video, Aaron told The Star.

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Trump Says ABC’s License Should Be Yanked over Debate Moderators’ Performance

Daily Caller News Foundation
Debate Moderators

Republican nominee Donald Trump said on Wednesday that ABC’s license should be revoked over their alleged bias toward Vice President Kamala Harris at the presidential debate.

Trump told the co-hosts of “Fox & Friends” that ABC moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis were “dishonest” for not correcting Harris’s false statements about the Charlottesville riot in 2017, his support for in vitro fertilization (IVF) and The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. The former president said the ABC moderators unfairly fact-checked him while allowing Harris to state false and misleading claims.

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Commentary: A Viewer’s Guide to Harris vs. Trump Debate

RealClearWire
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will soon meet in a high stakes nationally televised debate, perhaps the only one of this campaign.

In previous elections – 1960, 1976, 1980, 2000, and 2020 come immediately to mind – the election contests were heavily influenced by such encounters. This year, for sure, it is “high risk, high reward.” With an election so close, we believe this debate will be important – maybe even decisive – in determining the winner.

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YouTube Takes Down Conservative Podcast Network Tied to DOJ Russia Indictment

Daily Caller News Foundation
Lauren Chen

YouTube terminated the accounts of a conservative influencer and her media company Thursday evening, one day after the Justice Department indicated the company was tied to a Russian scheme to influence the 2024 election.

The accounts for Tenet Media and Lauren Chen were removed one day after Attorney General Merrick Garland held a press conference Wednesday announcing an indictment of two Russians in an alleged scheme to influence the 2024 election. A note on Tenet Media’s channel states that it “violated our Community Guidelines” and Chen’s personal account on the Google-owned video site was listed as “not available” Friday morning.

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TikTok May Be Held Liable for Girl’s Death, Upending Three Decades of Tech Immunity

Just the News
Montana TikTok Ruling

The Twenty-Six Words That Created the Internet” may not be as powerful as believed by the bipartisan chorus demanding reform of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

TikTok’s biggest immediate problem now may be its own users, their parents, and state attorneys general, rather than the state and federal lawmakers seeking to ban the Chinese-owned company and force ByteDance to sell it to an American entity, following a 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling Aug. 27 that denies TikTok legal immunity for an algorithm choice.

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Big Tech Liable for Breaking Promises to Users that Led to Suicide, Death Threats: Appeals Court

Just the News
Smart Phone Filled with Apps

Days before the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent Big Tech lawyers scrambling by upending three decades of judicial precedents on Section 230 immunity from liability, its West Coast counterpart warned platforms their immunity had limits, too.

While far smaller in scope than the 3rd Circuit’s ruling that TikTok could be held liable for a little girl’s death by algorithmically recommending the video she fatally copied, likely to provoke Supreme Court intervention, the 9th Circuit ruling Aug. 22 against third-party Snapchat app developer Yolo also suggests judges are growing skeptical of maximalist views of the 1996 law.

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Commentary: Time and Again, Kamala Harris Demonstrates She is ‘The Committee’s’ Candidate

American Greatness
Kamala Harris, CNN interview

So on Thursday, Kamala Harris was finally allowed out to meet the press.

Well, she was allowed to sit for about 18 minutes for a carefully scripted interview on a Dem-friendly network — CNN — with a partisan media head — Dana Bash — who came with a satchel of softballs. Apparently, Harris has yet to be certified for solo flight, however, since she was chaperoned by her pick for VP, Minnesota governor and serial fantasist Tim Walz.

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Top Kamala Campaign Staffers Aided Biden-Harris Admin’s Social Media Censorship Efforts

Daily Caller News Foundation
Teenager on Computer

Two campaign staffers for Vice President Kamala Harris were previously involved in efforts to censor Americans for spreading purported “disinformation” about COVID-19 while working in the Biden-Harris White House.

Then-administration officials Rob Flaherty and Aisha Shah are named as having been involved in the government’s efforts to censor Americans in legal filings related to the Murthy v. Missouri lawsuit, which alleged that the federal government violated the First Amendment by pressuring social media companies to censor content related to the pandemic and other hot-button topics. On the Harris campaign team, Flaherty is now a deputy campaign manager and Shah is the director of digital partnerships, according to their respective LinkedIn profiles.

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Commentary: Cell Phone Bans in Schools Is a Growing Trend

Admin
Student with Cell Phone

Navigating the complexities of smartphone use in K-12 education is a collective effort that requires ongoing adaptation as technology evolves. We expect the Tennessee General Assembly to draft legislation on this issue in the next session. There is an increasing push to safeguard young individuals from spending too much time in front of screens.

States and public school districts are advocating cellphone bans in schools, driven by concerns about distractions and their adverse effects on student well-being. This growing trend should not just be about restrictions but about creating a more focused and conducive learning environment. Teacher buy-in is critical to this process.

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Commentary: Irresponsible School Districts Force Teachers to Create Amazon Wish Lists

Admin
Teacher

For several weeks, social media has been flooded by teachers’ posts with Amazon wish lists, soliciting others to stock their classrooms with basic supplies. Creating these lists has been commonplace in recent years as teachers look outside their schools and districts to fill their supply needs.

Some of the most popular requested items are dry erase markers, Kleenex, Lysol wipes, erasers, tape, pens, colored copy paper, file folders, and pencil sharpeners. Others request educational items such as a microscope, map, or globe, which seem essential for student learning.

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Commentary: American Natural Gas Is America’s Clean Energy Standard

RealClearWire
Natural Gas Drilling

Abundant and affordable energy drives America’s powerful and productive economy. That’s been true throughout our nation’s history, and America’s recent achievement of energy independence provides the most concrete illustration of that fact.

But to keep our nation firing on all eight cylinders, we need government policies that prioritize providing adequate, reliable and secure domestic energy supplies.

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Feds Plan to Send Polluted Waste to Michigan

The Center Square
Niagara Falls Storage Site

Michigan lawmakers are expressing alarm at an unexpected federal decision to send thousands of tons of radioactive waste from New York to a disposal facility in Wayne County.

The Niagara Falls Storage Site, which holds World War II era radioactive byproducts and waste from uranium processing during the atomic bomb project, will send 6,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil and concrete and 4,000 gallons of groundwater with elevated radiation levels to Wayne Disposal.

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‘People Don’t Want This Anymore!’: Donna Brazile Shouts Down Reince Priebus over Trump’s Record

Daily Caller News Foundation
Donna Brazile, Reince Priebus

Political strategist and former chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Donna Brazile clashed with former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus on Sunday as he tried to defend former President Donald Trump’s record while discussing his campaign messaging.

The two political figures appeared on ABC News’ “This Week” to discuss Republicans’ internal conflict over Trump’s messaging against Harris as some want Trump to focus on policy rather than personal attacks. As Priebus tried to discuss how Trump is faring in the election and appealing to voters on key issues, Brazile interrupted, stating that voters don’t want a president “who basically divides us.”

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Commentary: Cell-Phone Free Classrooms Will Unleash Student Success

RealClearWire
Students on Cell Phones

Amid the many battles over how to improve American schools, it’s often forgotten that what’s taught in the classroom is but one component of ensuring that students receive a high-quality education; it’s also important to remove barriers to children’s learning.

And the idea to remove one major impediment – cell phones in K-12 schools – has gained significant traction over the past year, most recently in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

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Study Finds TikTok Manipulates Content to Favorably Promote Chinese Government

Just the News
TikTok

TikTok uses an algorithm to promote content that puts the Chinese government in a favorable light in order to sway users’ views, according to a new study from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI).

The study builds off a previous report from December that found the social media site likely promotes pro-China content, as the app faces bipartisan criticism over national security concerns. The app is already facing a potential ban in the United States if the Chinese parent company ByteDance doesn’t divest its shares of the platform on time.

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Warning Issued About Pennsylvania State Rules and Broadband Costs

The Center Square
Internet Install

As plans for an infusion of federal money to expand broadband in Pennsylvania continue, a telecom trade group warns of state rules that could handicap that very expansion.

As the Broadband Communications Association of Pennsylvania sees it, the state’s insistence on classifying workers as linemen, which drives up the price of the required wage, will hold the state back when federal funding rolls out over the next few years.

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Commentary: Every Leading Large Language Model Leans Left Politically

RealClearWire
LLMS

Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly integrating into everyday life – as chatbots, digital assistants, and internet search guides, for example. These artificial intelligence (AI) systems – which consume large amounts of text data to learn associations – can create all sorts of written material when prompted and can ably converse with users. LLMs’ growing power and omnipresence mean that they exert increasing influence on society and culture.

So it’s of great import that these artificial intelligence systems remain neutral when it comes to complicated political issues. Unfortunately, according to a new analysis recently published to PLoS ONE, this doesn’t seem to be the case.

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Former Health Officials Slam FDA Duplicity on ‘Puberty Blockers’ in Light of New Evidence

Admin
David Gortler

Former officials in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration condemned what they described as the FDA’s duplicity in allowing off-label use of so-called puberty blockers while loudly condemning the use of far safer drugs to treat COVID-19.

“During the Trump administration, the media falsely accused us daily of ‘politicizing America’s public health agencies.’ Yet the same media is now silent on [Vice President Kamala] Harris and [President Joe] Biden’s FDA’s anti-science, purely political insanity,” Brian Harrison, former chief of staff at HHS and now a member of the Texas House of Representatives, told The Daily Signal in a written statement.

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Commentary: ‘Zuck Bucks’ Need to Be Stopped Cold

Daily Caller News Foundation

It is less than 90 days to Election Day, and right on queue the group behind the “Zuck Bucks” campaign of 2020 is back with a new scheme. This time, the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) is doling out millions in grant dollars to rural election administrators in 19 states.

Election officers beware. The group is trying to turn the government offices that run elections into bastions of partisan progressive activism. Election officials striving for nonpartisanship should steer clear.

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Virginia’s Open Records Laws Show Room for Improvement in Key Areas, Says Expert

The Center Square
Megan Rhyne

The Freedom of Information Act exists to promote governmental transparency, although it doesn’t always accomplish that end, according to the Executive Director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, Megan Rhyne.

And though Virginia’s not unique in that regard, it’s difficult to compare states’ open records laws because they can differ by many variables, according to Rhyne. 

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Feds Give Georgia $14.3 Million for Airport Block Grants

The Center Square
Georgia Airport

The Federal Aviation Administration has awarded Georgia nearly $14.3 million to help rehabilitate nonprimary airports statewide, officials said.

The money, part of $636 million for 320 grants in 46 states and American Samoa, ostensibly aims to improve airport infrastructure. It was awarded as part of the 2024 Airport Improvement Program’s fourth round of grants, and the Georgia award includes more than $13.3 million in entitlement spending and $924,275 in discretionary spending.

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Disinformation Police Officer NewsGuard Goes After Free-Speech Lawyer, Olympics Narratives as Peers Fall to Scrutiny

Just the News

Two months after the for-profit business NewsGuard came under congressional investigation for whether its business relationships with domestic and foreign governments are tantamount to state-sponsored censorship, the self-described “only apolitical service rating news sources” is taking on new targets like the Olympics and a high-profile free-speech lawyer.

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Michael Patrick Leahy: Elon Musk-Donald Trump Conversation on X Was a ‘Game Changer in Political Dialogue and Communication’

Kaitlin Housler
MPL Speaking

Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO and editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, said the conversation between billionaire and owner of X Corp. Elon Musk and former President Donald Trump on the social media platform X was a “game changer in political dialogue and communication.”

On Monday evening, Trump and Musk held a two-hour conversation via X Space, which has since been viewed over a billion times.

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Arizona Board of Regents Appoints New Executive Director

The Center Square
Chad Sampson

Chad Sampson will be the new Executive Director for the Arizona Board of Regents.

Sampson has been serving in the position in an interim capacity since March, when John Arnold stepped aside in order to focus on the University of Arizona’s $177 million budget shortfall as their chief financial officer. However, Sampson, an attorney, has served on the board in different roles since 2010. The deficit has since been projected to be down to $52 million after major spending slashes, according to Higher Ed Dive. 

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New Platform Aims to Halt CCP Influence on States

Admin
Ryan Walker

There’s a new tool available for lawmakers and American citizens to combat the threat of the Chinese Communist Party. Today, Heritage Action for America launched the website CounterTheCCP.com, exposing the ways in which China stands to harm America’s sovereignty and offering model legislation and resources to deal with that threat.

“To win the new cold war with China, the United States needs a comprehensive strategy,” Ryan Walker, Heritage Action executive vice president, said in a statement.

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National Kroger Settlement Brings Funding to Michigan Communities Damaged by Opioid Addiction

The Center Square
Kroger Store

Michigan’s local governments have until Aug. 12 to request funds from the $1.2 billion National Kroger Settlement on opioid abuse.

The Great Lakes state is expected to receive $42 million over the course of 11 years. Eligible communities, at the city or county level, can apply for the funding to be used toward drug abuse treatment. Agreements are expected to be effective by early fall.

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Report Shows Harris and Emhoff Donated to Defund Police and Pro-Sanctuary City Group

Just the News
Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff

Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff donated to a liberal legal group in favor of defunding the police and permanently designating Washington, D.C as a “sanctuary city” that does not report illegal immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to their joint tax returns.

Harris and Emhoff donated $1,000 in 2021 and 2023 to Legal Aid DC, noted a Washington Examiner report.

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Venezuelan Dictator Suspends X After Sparring with Elon Musk

Admin
Nicolas Maduro

Venezuela’s dictator Nicolas Maduro temporarily banned X from the country on Thursday after accusing the platform’s owner, Elon Musk, of using it to stoke opposition against him.

Maduro declared himself the victor in the country’s July 28 elections, despite credible concerns that the race was rigged against his political opposition. Musk has been publicly critical of Maduro’s refusal to step down from power, and Maduro has now suspended X from Venezuela in retaliation.

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Kamala Harris Takes Questions from Reporters 18 Days After Becoming Nominee

Admin
Kamala Harris

On Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) finally took questions from reporters after being criticized for dodging the media for nearly three weeks after becoming the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.

As Fox News reports, Harris spoke to journalists on the tarmac at the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport after a rally in Michigan. Her unplanned press gaggle took place after former President Donald Trump held an hour-long press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in the early afternoon.

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Ex-County Commissioner Pleads Guilty to Theft from Ohio Fair Group

The Center Square
Jessica Dicken

A former Ohio county commission admitted to racking up thousands of dollars worth of personal credit card charges in the name of a group that runs the county fair.

State Auditor Keith Faber said former Hocking County Commissioner Jessica Dicken pleaded guilty to two felony charges and one misdemeanor for misusing more than $19,000 in public funds while serving as secretary of the Hocking County Agricultural Society.

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Bipartisan Bill Introduced to Better Monitor Terror Threats on Foreign Mobile Apps Like TikTok

Just the News
Rep. August Pfluger and Rep. Jimmy Panetta (composite image)

Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence, and Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., introduced a bill to “conduct annual assessments on terrorism threats to the United States posed by terrorist organizations utilizing foreign cloud-based mobile or desktop messaging applications, and for other purposes.”

Pfluger said that cloud-based technology has given “terrorist groups even more tools to use in their pursuit of deadly chaos” more than 20 years since the 9/11 attacks.

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