Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

Let’s finish the job.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

No Justins, No Peace

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

T R E 4 5 O N

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

In my day, never was longer.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

Good lord, these people are nuts.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

I really should read my own blog.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / President Obama: Challenges to Democracy In the Digital Information Realm (LIVE) at 3:15 ET

President Obama: Challenges to Democracy In the Digital Information Realm (LIVE) at 3:15 ET

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President Obama will deliver a keynote address at Stanford University on April 21 about disinformation and challenges to democracy in the digital realm. The event is co-hosted by the Stanford Cyber Policy Center and the Obama Foundation.

Open thread.

Reminder: Social Media training zoom is tonight (Thursday) at 8 pm Eastern.  If you don’t have the zoom link, please let me know.

Reader Interactions

82Comments

  13. 13.

    zhena gogolia

    He just called out BJ: “Does this person who’s typing in his underwear in his mother’s basement seem like a credible source?”

  20. 20.

    frosty

    Comments 14 through 19. This is the kind of expert intellectual discourse that keeps drawing me back to Balloon Juice.

  22. 22.

    BC in Illinois

    The conclusion was good. He talked about the Russian TV editor with a handwritten antiwar sign on a Russian newscast.

    The handwritten sign was a tool. The TV is a tool. The internet is a tool. Social media is a tool. At the end of the day, tools don’t control us. We control them. And we can remake them.

    It’s up to each of us to decide what we value, and then use the tools we’ve been given to advance those values. And I believe we should use every tool at our disposal to secure our greatest gift — a government of, by, and for the people for generations to come.

    And I hope you agree with me, and I look forward to you joining in the work.

    If this were a campaign speech, he could have roused the crowd by pointing out that those who oppose voting are against government of the people; those who are ruled by dark money are against government by the people; and that the entire Republican Party is against government for the people.

  25. 25.

    stacib

    Totally OT

    Sometimes, my company really makes me proud.

    Providing Support for Ukraine

    Fresenius Kabi is part of a nationwide campaign with blood centers in the United States to provide needed blood-collection and transfusion supplies to those impacted in Ukraine.

    “We’re committed to helping the people of Ukraine,” said Dean Gregory, president, Global Commercial Operations, Transfusion Medicine and Cell Therapies at Fresenius Kabi.  “In addition to our ongoing work donating medicines and supplies through humanitarian aid organizations, this initiative is bringing together the blood-collection community in the US to support Ukraine.  Blood is a critical component of patient care, and we are proud to support this important nationwide campaign.”

  27. 27.

    Old School

    I see the Florida Department of Education has provided examples of problematic elements from textbooks.

    You might not believe it, but CRT does not seem to be included in math textbooks.

  30. 30.

    Dangerman

    @Old School: It’s invisible. That’s how good the Lefties are now.

    Put on the special polarized glasses we can send you for the low, low price of…

  33. 33.

    trollhattan

    This guy’s headed into a world of hurt. Talk about taking a bad situation and making it worse. (Special Florida Man edition.)

    April 21, 2022 at 4:58 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard

    “A Florida man has been arrested for allegedly pepper spraying officers at the Capitol on Jan. 6, and who law enforcement officials say then allegedly made a menacing call to the FBI special agent investigating his role in the riot,” NBC News reports.

    “Barry Bennett Ramey, who officials say was affiliated with the Proud Boys, was arrested in Florida on Thursday.”

  35. 35.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @trollhattan:

    Earlier this month, according to the FBI affidavit, Ramey called the FBI special agent investigating his case and read aloud the agent’s home address. He then texted the agent the agent’s former vehicle identification number.

    I wonder how what charges that will generate, how threatening (stalking?) a Fed compares to physically assaulting a cop

  39. 39.

    Steve in the ATL

    @frosty: I concur.  Well played, gentlemen. And Omnes.

    @kindness: I still have a few issues to take up with Leland Stanford.

    @Baud: blue state to blue state mass transit is both CRT and Marxism.

  42. 42.

    debbie

    In other good news:

    BREAKING: Russian military research facility, apparently involved in development of at least some of the S-series surface-to-air missiles and Iskander ballistic missiles, is on fire with dead & many injured. pic.twitter.com/Hd5MLzP8KL
    — Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) April 21, 2022

  43. 43.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Omnes Omnibus: you seem to have forgotten that on this very blog I was promised a high tumbrel number since I’m not a total management stooge, just a partial one!

  46. 46.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Steve in the ATL: I didn’t forget.  Sure, you get a high tumbrel number, but that’s for the guillotine.  The up against the wall for the firing squad people are on a different list.  Poor negotiating on your part.

    ETA:  I suspect I am pretty high on that list too.

  48. 48.

    NotMax

    OT.

    Perhaps missed any previous mention of the announced death of Robert Morse at age 90.

  51. 51.

    laura

    @NotMax: we used to go to the movies as a family back in the day before the 24/7 service economy and all its freedom. How to get ahead in business (without really trying) was so memorable and so imprinted Robert Morse as a loveable rapscallion and what a career he made of his persona.  Rest in Applause. ??

  55. 55.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    It’s a gorgeous animal. The word “disturbing” didn’t occur to me. But I’m not sure I would have wanted to be on that boat at that moment.

  60. 60.

    prostratedragon

    @Old School:  Was just coming to mention the Popular Info story. Seems the objections are as jejune as many of us thought:

    Functions Modeling Change [a banned advance high school textbook] contains 10 mentions of “race” but all are related to running and biking. There is no discussion of racism and no math problems that deal with racial issues.

  65. 65.

    Spanky

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    The Number Zero: All numbers are either positive or negative. That’s just basic math.

    The number Zero is a positive number. That’s just basic math.

  67. 67.

    prostratedragon

    @debbie:  Further down that thread, a big fire at a chemical plant miles away on the other side of Moscow has been reported.

  70. 70.

    Spanky

    @Baud: Nah, I just felt this place needed some excitement.

    In other matters, while we were noshing some good dark chocolate I just asked Mrs. Spanky if she could think of any holidays that didn’t feature either the flag or chocolate. She named MLK Day. I, with a mouth full of water, immediately pictured kids biting the heads off of chocolate Martin Luther Kings.

    That was a mistake.

  72. 72.

    Villago Delenda Est

    The greatest challenge, in my view, is mass media consolidation.  Break them all up.  The four major broadcast networks, Twitter, Facebook, Google, Time-Warner.  And prohibit them from re-consolidating.  The mistake was made with Ma Bell.  Never again.

  77. 77.

    realbtl

    In the 50s my family lived in SanDiego and at around 5-7 years old my dad and I took a whale watching cruise.  We were chugging along 10-15 knots and all of a sudden the Captain slammed it into reverse.  A (blue I think) whale was breeching about 50′ feet ahead.  Quite the sight for a kid.

  78. 78.

    Sure Lurkalot

    In the not too far future, the only thing left that will be acceptable to teach kids is how to how to duck and run from active shooters. Think of the money we’ll save!

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