Happen to miss The Larry O’Connor Show today? Recap today’s program by checking out the topics Derek Hunter covered while filling-in for Larry:
If We Silence Hate Speech, Will We Silence Resistance? (NY Times)
Apple, Facebook, YouTube, Spotify and most other major internet distributors took a bold step this week when they all but banned content from Infowars, a website run by the right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. The tech companies cited their policies against hate speech for their decision, rather than the trafficking in fake news by Infowars.
It’s tempting to applaud this move, but we should be wary. While Mr. Jones’s rhetoric is certainly repugnant, mounting pressure from the political left to censor hateful speech may have unintended consequences, especially for people of color.
That’s because “hate” is a dangerously elastic label, one that has long been used in America to demonize unpopular expression. If we become overzealous in our efforts to limit so-called hate speech, we run the risk of setting a trap for the very people we’re trying to defend. [Read More]
The Russia Hoax: The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump (Amazon)
#1 New York Times bestseller
Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett reveals the real story behind Hillary Clinton’s deep state collaborators in government and exposes their nefarious actions during and after the 2016 election.
The Russia Hoax reveals how persons within the FBI and Barack Obama’s Justice Department worked improperly to help elect Hillary Clinton and defeat Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
When this suspected effort failed, those same people appear to have pursued a contrived investigation of President Trump in an attempt to undo the election results and remove him as president. [Read More]
White supremacists and other hate groups visiting Washington, D.C., this weekend for the second Unite The Right rally will be barred from eating at some restaurants in the city, while other eateries plan to close altogether.
Several local business owners told The Washingtonian that concerns for their staffs’ safety prompted the decisions to refuse service or shut down for the weekend.
“Our mentality is we’re going to protect each other. This is our city. Our house. Our people,” Founding Farmers owner Dan Simons told the website. Simons owns three restaurants in the city that will all refuse service to anyone wearing white supremacist or neo-Nazi apparel this weekend. [Read More]
Fact-checking Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s media blitz (The Washington Post)
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the 28-year-old self-described “democratic socialist” who unexpectedly toppled a top Democratic incumbent in the primary for New York’s 14th Congressional District, is a sudden media star even though she has not been elected to Congress. (She has no real competition in the general election.)
With celebrity comes scrutiny. Ocasio-Cortez has come under fire for dismissing concerns about the anticipated costs of her proposals and offering too-glib answers.
For instance, in an appearance on CNN on Monday, when challenged on the costs of government-financed health care, she answered: “Why aren’t we incorporating the cost of all the funeral expenses of those who died because they can’t afford access to health care? That is part of the cost of our system.” [Read More]
Fight breaks out when tourists refuse to move for selfie at famous fountain (METRO UK)
A mass eight-person fight broke out at the Trevi Fountain after two women refused to give way for the perfect selfie. The fight erupted on Wednesday evening after two tourists wanted to use the same spot in front of the famous fountain in Rome for a photo. Local media reported that neither tourist, a 19-year-old Dutch woman and a 44-year-old Italian-American women, wanted to move from the spot. [Read More]
Kanye West Wasn’t Kidding About His Trump Support (Rolling Stones)
On Thursday night, Kanye West returned to Jimmy Kimmel Live for his first public interview since his disorienting run-up to Ye, in which he endorsed President Trump, called slavery a choice and announced that he was bipolar. Over the course of his interview, West doubled down on many of the divisive points he’d espoused over the past three months. If there were any lingering beliefs that his pivot to poorly explained conservatism was a ploy to stir up attention ahead of an album release, he put them to rest.
“Just as a musician, African-American, a guy living out in Hollywood, everyone around me tried to pick my candidate for me. And then told me every time that I said I liked Trump that I couldn’t say that out loud or my career would be over,” he told Kimmel. “It took me a year and a half to have the confidence to stand up and put on the hat, no matter what the consequences.” [Read More]
Omarosa tells NPR she heard tape of Trump using the N-word, contradicting her book (USA TODAY)
Did she or didn’t she?
In an interview on Friday with NPR, former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman said she has heard President Trump on an “Apprentice” tape using the N-word.
But in her new memoir “Unhinged,” she never says she has personally heard the tape.
She told NPR something different on Friday. In an interview with reporter Rachel Martin, Omarosa claimed to have heard the tape with Trump using the slur.
“Hearing it changed everything for me,” she said. [Read More]
CALL: 202-432-WMAL (9625) | 888-630-WMAL (9625)
Email The Show
