August 10, 2024

Elon Musk's X just sued a nonprofit advertising group out of existence

CNN - A major ad industry group is shutting down, days after Elon Musk-owned X filed a lawsuit that claimed the group illegally conspired to boycott advertising on his platform.

“GARM is a small, not-for-profit initiative, and recent allegations that unfortunately misconstrue its purpose and activities have caused a distraction and significantly drained its resources and finances,” the group said in a statement Friday. “GARM therefore is making the difficult decision to discontinue its activities.”

The group, Global Alliance for Responsible Media, also known as GARM, is a voluntary ad-industry initiative run by the World Federation of Advertisers that aims to help brands avoid having their advertisements appear alongside illegal or harmful content. GARM confirmed it is still planning to defend itself in court.

snip

The end of GARM could raise concerns for other media watchdogs, though a judge has sided with a nonprofit in a similar suit. X also sued the Center for Countering Digital Hate, alleging the nonprofit group violated its terms of service when it studied, and then wrote about, hate speech on the platform and blamed it for driving away advertisers. (A federal judge tossed the suit in March, blasting it as an attempt to punish CCDH for protected speech.) X also sued the progressive watchdog group Media Matters over its analysis highlighting antisemitic and pro-Nazi content on X — a report that appeared to play a significant role in a massive and damaging brand revolt late last year. The case is set to go to trial next year.

Read More: https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/09/tech/elon-musk-garm-advertisers-lawsuit/index.html

July 4, 2024

Feels like we're living in the Twilight Zone these days

so it seems only right to spend the 4th binge watching the Twilight Zone on SyFy channel all day.....

February 9, 2024

I have been kicked off the voter roll in Broward County, Florida!

UPDATE: I decided not to wait for them to send me new forms in the mail so I just got in my car and drove to the nearest election office (in my case it was at Southwest Regional Library). Good news - they handed me the new forms to fill out and re-entered my name and driver's license back in the system and I will be able to vote in both the primaries and the general after all! Whew!



All my family members have been receiving mail in ballots for years and today everyone got theirs, except me.

I thought maybe it was just lost in the mail so I went on our county website to check (browardvotes.gov) and apparently I no longer exist. I called their phone number (954)357-7055 and was told that the records show that my name was removed because they could not verify that I provided proper identification when I first registered (over 40 years ago) and I must do that now. Whaaat? I informed them that of course I provided proper ID or how else could I have even gotten a voter's registration card in the first place - it's not like I showed up with a Costco card! So now in order to rectify this I must re-register to vote with proper ID but there is no guarantee that this will be rectified in time for me to vote in our local (mayoral) election next month.

I was lucky to catch this in time so that at least in the November elections I will be set to go. Others may not be so lucky and be unexpectedly turned away at the polls or run out of time waiting for their mail in ballot so PLEASE check your voter status NOW before it is too late. And tell your friends and family to do the same.

I live in Broward County - we have over 500,000 registered Democrats (twice as many as repubs) we can not afford to lose one single blue vote especially in a bloody red state that keeps finding more and more ways to oppress us.

February 6, 2024

Thank you so much for the heart, I feel the love!

I haven't been on DU as much as I used to be in past years, but boy oh boy, how nice to find a heart waiting for me when I logged on - it made my day!

September 10, 2023

It's my 10,000th post already....

My, how time (and words) fly!
I don't really have anything profound or earth-shattering to say - just "thank you" DU for being there for me. Through good times and bad and everything in between. I'm not online as much as I used to be, but my heart (and fight) are still with you, always.

June 12, 2023

JP Morgan to Pay $290 Million in Settlement With Epstein's Victims

New York Times - JPMorgan Chase reached a tentative settlement with sexual abuse victims of Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased financier, after weeks of embarrassing disclosures about the bank’s longstanding relationship with him, the bank and lawyers for the victims said in a statement on Monday.

David Boies, one of the lead lawyers for the victims, said the bank was prepared to pay $290 million to resolve the lawsuit. The parties initially had agreed not to disclose the settlement amount in their joint statement, as it was set to be included in a court filing within the next week.

The proposed deal would settle a lawsuit filed last November in Manhattan federal court by an unidentified woman on behalf of victims who were sexually abused by Mr. Epstein over a roughly 15-year period when they were teenage girls and young women, the suit said. The number of victims could potentially rise to more than 100.

In the statement, the bank and the lawyers for the victims said they had reached “an agreement in principle to settle” the lawsuit on behalf of the victims and the “settlement is in the best interests of all parties, especially the survivors who were the victims of Epstein’s terrible abuse.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/12/business/jpmorgan-settlement-jeffrey-epstein-victims.html

March 31, 2023

Insecure, Indicted Man Checks In With His Friends

Great headline, btw

TalkingPointsMemo - Caught off guard. The New York Times and the Washington Post both used that same language last night to describe how Donald Trump and his team at Mar-a-Lago felt as news broke that the former president had been indicted by the Manhattan’s DA’s office. No one was expecting it.

While Trump has reportedly been in frequent communication in recent weeks with several of his friends on Capitol Hill who are using their new House majority to do little more than breathe life into Trump’s grievances, the former president reportedly spent his first night as an indicted man making sure his friendships weren’t fair-weather.

snip

Graham appeared enthusiastic, emotional even, as he urged viewers to donate to Trump’s campaign and described the indictment as a “ballot box” issue. Earlier in the night, Trump’s campaign not only released a statement chalking the whole indictment thing up to “Election Interference at the highest level in history,” his campaign also began fundraising off of the moment, selling $47 indictment t-shirts.

Even if they didn’t speak, the loyal foot soldiers clearly got the memo.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/insecure-indicted-man-checks-in-with-his-friends

February 14, 2023

Thank you so much for the hearts!

So sweet of you to think of me.

February 13, 2023

Thank you for the sweet hearts!

I am not on DU as much as I used to be, but what a happy surprise to find hearts when I get here!

February 9, 2023

Thank you so much for the hearts!

Haven't been able to spend as much time here on DU lately, but what a pleasant surprise to find! Thank you my dear DU friends.