Facebook is a cesspool

I rarely use it anymore. They have done a poor job of keeping right-wing lies off their site.

My first story for the NYT is up. It's a look at how Facebook has tried and failed over the last two years to deal with the racist abuse of English soccer players. https://t.co/sB5y0RR9Vw
— Ryan Mac🙃 (@RMac18) August 11, 2021

NEW:

"Seriously? People are literally dying" – White House officials texted each other as Facebook deflected during vaccine misinformation talks.

What led Biden to say Facebook was "killing people?"@KannoYoungs and I show the months long battlehttps://t.co/KIVZ8bws6h
— Cecilia Kang (@ceciliakang) August 10, 2021

Why did FB choose last night as the moment to shut down NYU researchers' accounts?

According to one of them, @LauraEdelson2, it happened "hours after we informed Facebook that we were studying the spread of disinformation about Jan. 6."

cc @FBoversight https://t.co/1gYMfe7cUY
— David Gilbert (@daithaigilbert) August 4, 2021

"Researchers found that vaccine resistance among people who get their info from Facebook was second only to Newsmax viewers…” https://t.co/vL9TIp1pNH
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) July 28, 2021

NEW w/@merica: Emails between the Biden campaign and Facebook show how worried and pissed off Democrats were getting with Facebook in the final weeks of the presidential campaign. https://t.co/QifOadaAVY
— Donie O'Sullivan (@donie) June 23, 2021

The top-performing link posts by U.S. Facebook pages in the last 24 hours are from:

1. Ben Shapiro
2. Ben Shapiro
3. Dan Bongino
4. Ben Shapiro
5. Dan Bongino
6. Ben Shapiro
7. Ben Shapiro
8. Dan Bongino
9. ForAmerica
10. Fox News
— Facebook's Top 10 (@FacebooksTop10) June 17, 2021

1. @NewsWhip's list of top Facebook publishers from May shows how Facebook's algorithm creates a distorted reality that DOES NOT EXIST IN ANY OTHER CONTEXT

The Daily Wire, a right-wing aggregation site, was 5X bigger than the NYT, which employs thousands of journalists pic.twitter.com/b7mceZLVys
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) June 11, 2021

Trump may still be banned from Facebook, but Trumpism dominates the platform i https://t.co/Ay7lyksywY
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) May 5, 2021

Facebook banned Trump from its platform on June 7, however, over the past two months, Facebook has had no problem running some 2,000 ads from Trump’s Save America Joint Fundraising Committee. https://t.co/3nXyJB5zrE
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) August 12, 2021

National Kool-Aid Day – 8/13/21

I have not been a big consumer of Kool-Aid. Kool-Aid was invented in Nebraska and they celebrate Kool-Aid Days there.

My biggest memory of Kool-Aid concerns theft. I used to get neighborhood crime reports when I was association president. One time, someone stole 365 packets of Kool-Aid. I had to know – were these in boxes or individual packets? I went to the market. The Kool-Aid was sold in individual packets so I guess the police had to count all 365 out.

The big red guy replaced Bugs Bunny, who was doing a poor job of getting kids to drink the Kool-Aid. https://t.co/63atxRZKKQ
— Mental Floss (@mental_floss) September 2, 2022

Coincides with National Kool aid Day..https://t.co/f1OOwukrZT
— Jacarama (@aka_alias1) August 5, 2021

Reminder that Trump is not getting reinstalled on August 13. But it is National Kool-aid day.

No really, it is.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) August 10, 2021

Whenever Johnny Bench saw the Kool-Aid man, he would put his hand down his pants. No one knew why, but it troubled us all. pic.twitter.com/fbPuo3gfUk
— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) July 2, 2022

Not sure whether it’s weirder that the Kool-Aid Man immediately recognizes Ben Franklin or that Franklin breaks the ice with “I’m hot and thirsty” like some kind of fucking psycho … pic.twitter.com/xfTIdPLwrv
— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) July 4, 2023

The Kool-Aid Man once injured a kid by not getting a bunt down 😂pic.twitter.com/Sc5XA8qABV
— Baseball’s Greatest Moments (@BBGreatMoments) May 21, 2024

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Weekly World News (@weeklyworldnewsofficial)

Covers: Don’t Look Back (The Temptations song)

“Don’t Look Back” is a fine 1965 Temptations record that was covered in 1978 by Peter Tosh with Mick Jagger also on vocals. They performed it on Saturday Night Live.

John Hersey

I admit that I have never read Hiroshima by John Hersey. I have read several of his novels – A Bell for Adano (1944), Too Far to Walk (1966) and Under the Eye of the Storm (1967).

A Bell for Adano has been made into a good film which has never been on DVD or Blu-ray. TCM broadcasts it occasionally and I recommend it.

Guys. I have been trying to track this down forever: the original August 31, 1946 issue of the @NewYorker, which contained John Hersey’s “Hiroshima” report WITH the original white paper band … and this treasure was just unearthed in storage at the John Hersey High School in IL: pic.twitter.com/UnNqxf8dB0
— Lesley M. M. Blume (@lesleymmblume) August 10, 2021

Atheist night with the Mr. Paul Aints in 2015

I’m an atheist and think this was a great idea.

Polls show support for mask mandates

There is public support for mask mandates for some or all people. All you see on TV are people who are violently opposed to them.

Two new polls find very broad support for various mask mandates, including among GOP-leaning demographics. This suggests that if GOP officials hadn't adopted Trump's project of stoking Covid conflict wherever possible, things might be very different today:https://t.co/5MiexqE3WI
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) August 11, 2021

Joe Biden won the election with 51.3% of the popular vote. 69% of the US population wants at least an indoor mask mandate in public places. Sounds like a no-brainer even for a politician. https://t.co/ABCl9fA9TF
— Dana Ludwig (@danaludwig) August 8, 2021

Completely agree. This is just like CNN always interviewing Trump cult/QAnon supporters but never interviewing Biden supporters. Biden supporters are boring because we believe in facts and don't spread outrageous conspiracy theories.
— Harris Levy (@HarrisL585) August 11, 2021

A poll released Wednesday found that 62 percent of Florida voters support a mask mandate for schools. At first blush, you might think that might cause DeSantis to rethink his position. pic.twitter.com/JktRu6A36P
— Jack Mobley (@Greenerpalmbea) August 9, 2021

"DeSantis’s position is horrible policy and rotten politics. A recent St. Pete poll finds that 62 percent of Floridians want a mask mandate in schools…" https://t.co/SF6us0sedY
— BrownEyedGirl (@Wandrwoman) August 5, 2021

This is what the media covers:

The parking lot after a school board meeting last night in Franklin, the wealthiest place in Tennessee. Parents harassed medical professionals who had spoken in favor of masks in schools. “We know who you are. You can leave freely, but we will find you.” pic.twitter.com/SzR0uvMeE7
— Natalie Allison (@natalie_allison) August 11, 2021

In June Americans opposed mask mandates 60%-40%. Now they favor them 55%-45% — a big, sudden U-turn that reflects growing fears about Delta. The problem? Almost none of this extra caution is coming from unvaccinated people. The new @YahooNew @YouGov poll: https://t.co/7sAUvgsRpS
— Andrew Romano (@AndrewRomano) August 4, 2021

Scotland is investigating Trump

So far, nobody in our country has held Trump accountable. Maybe Scotland will.

NEW: A judge has ruled that Scotland can pursue a money-laundering investigation into Trump's golf courses, after lawyers cited the Trump Organization criminal cases in New York.
— Kaivan Shroff (@KaivanShroff) August 11, 2021

UK joins US, NY, GA DC in investigating Trump. https://t.co/5fSMJixkDl
— Jill Wine-Banks (@JillWineBanks) December 13, 2021

Interesting.

They’re pushing for an “unexplained wealth order,” which is designed to combat money laundering — and which would force Trump to explain his funding and why he’s kept a property that’s lost over $60 million since 2014. https://t.co/6sC9YoYHeU
— Angry Staffer (@Angry_Staffer) October 27, 2021

New satellite photos allegedly show Trump's destruction of sensitive sand dunes despite promises to preserve them https://t.co/RZPsryilJN pic.twitter.com/V8WV8zUNvP
— The Hill (@thehill) October 16, 2021

Mexican food I have had during the pandemic – Baltimore

Support local restaurants! Here are pictures of Mexican food in Baltimore I have had during the pandemic.

Blue Agave:

R&R Taquiera:

Taco Bell (alright I cheated once and got a chain Mexican meal):

Taco Town:

Cholita’s Tacos:

Little Miner food truck:

Nacho Mama’s:

Teal Mares:

New York Times article on the ethnic aisle in supermarkets

I had no idea that the original purpose of the "ethnic aisle" in grocery stores was to serve returning World War II soldiers who had tasted foods from countries like Italy, Germany and Japan while abroad https://t.co/dk1WczdqYp
— Jordyn Holman (@JordynJournals) August 11, 2021

Photos of the American Food Aisle in Grocery Stores Around the World

Deeply entranced by the "America" section at this Irish grocery store pic.twitter.com/8UWP4SzLaK
— Themperor Kennedy🐸🏳️‍🌈 (@kennedytcooper) January 2, 2022

Texas governor Abbott’s terrible approach to Covid

The ban on mask mandates raises to a new level the Abbott strategy of increasingly overriding choices by blue-trending big urban centers as a way of mobilizing his exurban/rural base. https://t.co/2ZogwgFyhB via @TexasTribune
— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) August 10, 2021

Greg Abbott is hoping nurses will come from other states to aid Texas's overflowing hospitals — letting them wear the masks that he won't ask Texans to wear. https://t.co/VsylFM0y3b
— Philip Bump (@pbump) August 10, 2021

It's disgusting that Greg Abbott is calling for outside help with Texas's Covid surge while barring local officials from acting to protect residents from that same surge. He and Ron DeSantis have shown new depths of contempt for public service. My latest:https://t.co/o9NsJUoq0E
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) August 10, 2021

I have now become aware of the best term of art for the willful antivaxxer, pro-COVID party represented by DeSantis, Abbott, Rand Paul, et al.

"Spreadnecks."

That's so money.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) August 10, 2021

The Dallas Independent School District says that everyone — students, employees and visitors — must wear a mask while on school property, starting today.

The mandate was imposed in defiance of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. https://t.co/LT2FBqrZtD
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 10, 2021

What are odds that highly partisan & ideological TX State Supreme Court will support any lawsuit to overturn Abbott's order? Will raise question of whether Biden Admin might find a federal cause of action to support the cities (which were, after all, the core of his TX support) https://t.co/7J5lSXbo1U
— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) August 10, 2021

My op-ed piece today in the @dallasnews, on Gov. Abbott’s misguided attempt to prohibit public schools from requiring masks.

A law that is supposed to allow a governor to respond to disasters is instead being used to prevent responses to a disaster.

https://t.co/0krFwc6pw4
— John Turner (@TurnerForTX) August 10, 2021