Politics
Help Keep Snopes Afloat with a GoFundMe Donation
Fake News. Everybody knows about it, and it’s for real. Some use the term to falsely accuse legitimate sites, news channels, and sources of lying simply because they use facts to disprove a patently false claim; while almost paradoxically, certain sites, news channels, and sources actually are real examples of fake news. With all of the information available at our fingertips, sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s real and what isn’t. Who has the time to scour the Internet for information on whether or not a school gymnasium once hosted a hi-tech “7D” hologram or if several European and American cities are ruled by Islamic Shariah law? Well, fact-checking sites do, because the people who work at those sites are paid to do just that. We need fact-checking sites now more than ever, which is why you should probably help Snopes out by donating a bit of money.
Snopes is one of the larger and more trusted fact-checking sites on the Internet, but it has recently come into a bit of financial trouble. No, it isn’t because the CIA has stopped funding the site or whatever cockamamie claim conspiracy theorists have come up with. According to a post on the Snopes website, it has done its best to avoid funding by sponsors or outside investors, which means it has solely relied on advertising. However, one of Snopes’ owners, Proper Media, won’t let the site run advertisements, which obviously causes some financial problems. A CNET article states that this problem started when Proper Media sued Snopes founder David Mikkelson and his company, Bardav, for breach of contract and cut off advertisement from the site. Mikkelson/Bardav countersued and claimed Proper Media didn’t provide the services it promised via a contract, which has turned this legal battle into a huge “he said, she said” piece of drama I’m not even going to bother getting into. Point is, Snopes relies on advertising but can’t run advertisements, which means the only way to keep the site running is to ask for donations.
Snopes’ #SaveSnopes fundraising campaign is currently active on GoFundMe, and the campaign is fairly popular, as it raised over $250,000 of its $500,000 goal in nine hours. Not only will the money keep Snopes online, but the donations will also help pay Mikkelson’s legal fees in his upcoming fight with Proper Media. Unlike crowdfunding campaigns such as those on Kickstarter, this GoFundMe campaign doesn’t offer anything like stretch goals, and all donations are non-refundable, even if the campaign doesn’t reach its $500,000 goal — although, that seems highly unlikely. If you rely on fact-checking sites to determine what is and isn’t fake news (and participate in fundraisers for other independent sources of information, such as NPR), I highly recommend donating some money to Snopes. You might not get a playable alpha build of a game or a special music soundtrack, but I daresay helping one of the most trusted names on the Internet stay up and running to fact-check another day is a better use of your money than funding any video game. Yes, even Shenmue III.
Industry and Service
Republican lawmakers and Apple CEO Tim Cook meet in Washington
Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, is traveling to Washington, D.C., to meet with Republican lawmakers who will probably lead committees that regulate the tech sector.
Republican representatives Jim Jordan of Ohio, Darrel Issa of California, and Cathy McMorris Rogers of Washington are among those with whom Cook has booked meetings.
The meetings were probably planned several weeks, if not months, beforehand. Top conservatives have criticized Apple since the beginning, and many of them have joined with Twitter CEO Elon Musk in their recent dispute with Apple.
Jordan has publicly expressed his support for Elon Musk, as Bloomberg notes.
When the GOP wins over the House in 2023, Jordan is also set to serve as chair of the House Judiciary Committee. The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s chairman is most likely to be McMorris Rodgers.
They both will play a key role in developing the GOP’s technology policy agenda for 2023.
What is particularly on the agenda is unclear. Even when he is not called to testify about big tech, Cook travels to Washington, DC, on several occasions each year.
Gadgets
EPA establishes a new office devoted to civil rights and environmental justice
The goal is to make sure marginalized people are considered in environmental decisions.
According to Reuters, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established a new office to assist underserved communities in coping with the additional responsibilities of pollution and climate change. 200 EPA workers from the Washington headquarters and 10 regional bureaus will work in the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights.
“The establishment of a new office dedicated to advancing environmental justice and civil rights at EPA will ensure the lived experiences of underserved communities are central to our decision-making while supporting community-driven solutions,” remarked Kamala Harris, vice president of the US.
As part of a $60 billion investment in environmental justice, one of the main responsibilities of the new office will be to supervise the distribution of $3 billion in grants for environmental justice that were made possible by the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act. Additionally, it will ensure that other EPA initiatives adhere to President Biden’s Justice40 initiative, which aims to ensure that 40% of certain government spending go to underserved communities. Finally, it will assist localities in obtaining funds, upholding human rights legislation, and resolving environmental disputes.
The opening of the new office took place in Warren County, North Carolina, the scene of demonstrations against the disposal of toxic waste there in 1982. While the 22-acre dump was not stopped as a result of the civil disobedience actions and arrests that followed, the current environmental justice movement was born. Participants remembered the protests’ 40th anniversary last week.
Politics
Pewdiepie has Gotten into Trouble Yet Again
The competition between Pewdiepie and T-Series has been going on for quite a while. I say this mostly because if Pewdiepie was in the middle of a smear campaign, I would certainly believe that it was all a ploy by T-Series in order to make him lose popularity. However, it seems like T-Series doesn’t have to do much as Pewdiepie is no stranger to getting himself into trouble.
So, what did Pewdiepie do this time? Well, in his most recent edition of “Pew News,” a semi-satirical series where Pewds offers his own take on news events or YouTube discussions, he dedicates the last portion of the video to shouting out smaller YouTube creators he enjoys watching. One of those creators is E;R (otherwise known as “EsemicolonR”), an essayist who often includes anti-Semitic, sexist, homophobic, and cruel language in his videos.
At least that’s what TheVerge and so many outlets/other YouTubers are saying. I took a look at E;R’s content and saw mostly meme videos about political stuff. The guy even made a tribute to Tay AI. You can see a whole documentary made about this by Internet Historian down below:
However, the subjects tackled in the videos can be a bit more problematic because of the current political climate with Pewdiepie. As such, we can assume that a lot of people don’t find this very funny and even reprehensible. Especially when the US is caught in the middle of tension thanks to laws like FOSTA, which are an indirect cause of Tumblr’s collapse right now.
Ever since Pewdiepie has made the shoutout, the channel has gained over 15,000 Subscribers. Of course, this also means that the ire of the people who are against him has risen even more. As such, we’re in this situation where Pewdiepie has gotten himself into trouble yet again despite knowing that the current situation is tense. I guess some people will never learn.
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