Trump vows to release FISA docs now that Mueller probe is concluded, slams 'treasonous' FBI

President Trump, in an exclusive wide-ranging interview Wednesday night with Fox News' "Hannity," vowed to release the full and unredacted Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants and related documents used by the FBI to probe his campaign, saying he wants to "get to the bottom" of how the long-running Russia collusion narrative began.

Trump told anchor Sean Hannity that his lawyers previously had advised him not to take that dramatic step out of fear that it could be considered obstruction of justice.

"I do, I have plans to declassify and release. I have plans to absolutely release," Trump said. "I have some very talented people working for me, lawyers, and they really didn't want me to do it early on. … A lot of people wanted me to do it a long time ago. I'm glad I didn't do it. We got a great result without having to do it, but we will. One of the reasons that my lawyers didn't want me to do it, is they said, if I do it, they'll call it a form of obstruction."

Trump added: "Frankly, thought it would be better if we held it to the end. But at the right time, we will be absolutely releasing."

Trump also accused FBI officials of committing "treason" – slamming former FBI Director James Comey as a "terrible guy," former CIA Director John Brennan as potentially mentally ill, and Democrat House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff as a criminal. Redacted versions of FISA documents already released have revealed that the FBI extensively relied on documents produced by Christopher Steele, an anti-Trump British ex-spy working for a firm funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee, to surveil Trump aide Carter Page. At least one senior DOJ official had apparent concerns Steele was unreliable, according to text messages exclusively obtained last week by Fox News.

The leaked dossier, and related FBI surveillance, kickstarted a media frenzy on alleged Russia-Trump collusion that ended with a whimper on Sunday, when it was revealed Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe concluded finding no evidence of such a conspiracy, despite several offers by Russians to help the Trump campaign. Page was never charged with wrongdoing, and he is currently suing the DNC for defamation.

Citing a high-level source, Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul late Wednesday tweeted that anti-Trump ex-CIA Director John Brennan had internally pushed the dossier. Fox News has not independently verified Paul's source.

"I think Brennan's a sick person, I really do," Trump said. "I believe there's something wrong with him, for him to come out of the CIA and act that way was so disrespectful to the country and to the CIA. He was not considered good at what he did. He was never a respected guy." Brennan was one of the loudest and most virulent voices to trumpet the Russian collusion theory over the past two years, asserting falsely just weeks ago that Mueller was likely planning to indict members of the Trump administration's family in a scene reminiscent of the "ides of March” and the assassination of Julius Caesar. Trump, who revoked Brennan's security clearance last year amid concerns Brennan was improperly hinting that he had inside information about ongoing federal probes, called those remarks "horrible" on Wednesday.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-vows-to-release-fisa-docs-now-that-mueller-probe-is-concluded-slams-treasonous-fbi

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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-vows-to-release-fisa-docs-now-that-mueller-probe-is-concluded-slams-treasonous-fbi

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Media panel discusses today’s state of journalism

On Tuesday night, four area journalists representing a variety of media came together to discuss the state of journalism in the world today at Monroe County Community College.

In the modern era of misinformation, journalism may be more important than ever.

On Tuesday night, four area journalists representing a variety of media came together to discuss the state of journalism in the world today.

Held at Monroe County Community College, the event was sponsored by the Agora, the college’s student newspaper.

The panel topic was inspired by this year’s One Book, One Community read “News of the World” by Paulette Jiles, which tells the story of Capt. Jefferson Kidd, a former printer who, since the end of the Civil War, has been wandering from town to town in Texas reading stories he’s collected from various newspapers.

Throughout the evening, two print and two radio journalists discussed a variety of topics such as social media, sensationalized stories and “fake news.”

“The term fake news is non-sensical,” said Michigan Radio’s program director Zoe Clark. “If it’s fake, it’s not news.”

Managing editor of The (Toledo) Blade, Dave Murray, agreed, but said it is important to also look through the lens of a reader.

“Even though we don’t like to think there’s something called fake news, a lot of our readers do,” Murray said.

To combat the problem, Murray writes a column called “Inside the News” which he says explains to people why journalists do what they do.

Another problem facing journalists, yellow journalism, is straight from the pages of this year’s One Book read.

Evening editor and special projects manager at MLive and The Ann Arbor News, Khalil AlHajal said a few years ago, the desperate reach for readership ushered in a new type of sensationalized journalism — click bait.

“You won’t believe what happens next!” Clark said, referring to the headlines used by click bait websites to draw in readers.

AlHajal said, though sensationalized websites are still a problem, he sees the pendulum swinging in the other direction.

“But now we’re starting to see things come back around, in part because it’s just ridiculous and doesn’t have a lot of value,” he said. “But also, because the websites that did that discovered there wasn’t a lot of money in doing it that way either.”

Despite the problems, Murray said it’s an exciting time to be a part of journalism

“We are currently living in the golden age of newspaper publishing,” he said.

Murray spoke of the advent of online storytelling and how media is adjusting itself.

Michigan Radio’s Rick Pluta agreed.

“People starting out in this will look back at this as the good old days,” Pluta said. “Our industry is collapsing and reinventing itself at a rate that is just mind boggling.”

The transition from a world of print to online media has many questioning what even counts as a journalist nowadays.

“Anyone who is purveying information — that includes opinion journalists — who is devoted to accuracy,” Pluta said.

Clark agreed with her “It’s Just Politics” co-host, adding a good editor is also important.

“Every now and then a piece doesn’t get as good an edit as it needs,” she said. “But I really really really believe in a good editor.”

https://www.monroenews.com/news/20190328/media-panel-discusses-todays-state-of-journalism

>>5940128

Trump administration charges Facebook with 'discriminatory' housing advertising practices

The Trump administration charged Facebook on Thursday with "discrimination" in its advertising practices for housing.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is seeking damages for any person who was harmed by Facebook's advertising policies, which until recently allowed employers and landlords to limit their audiences on the basis of race, ethnicity or gender. Facebook settled a lawsuit with the ACLU over the practice last week and overhauled its systems as a result.

"[Facebook] holds out its advertising platform as a powerful resource for advertisers in many industries, including housing and housing-related services," the complaint says. But, "because of the way [Facebook] designed its advertising platform, ads for housing and housing-related services are shown to large audiences that are severely biased."

HUD is asking for unspecified monetary damages and "the maximum civil penalty" against Facebook for each violation of housing laws. A Facebook spokesperson said the company is surprised by HUD's charge.

"While we were eager to find a solution, HUD insisted on access to sensitive information — like user data — without adequate safeguards," the spokesperson said. "We're disappointed by today's developments, but we'll continue working with civil rights experts on these issues."

Facebook also pointed to a blog post published last week, in which the company said the advertising overhaul marked an important step for the platform and thanked the civil rights organizations that helped improve the ad tools.

"There is a long history of discrimination in the areas of housing, employment and credit, and this harmful behavior should not happen through Facebook ads," COO Sheryl Sandberg said at the time. "Our policies already prohibit advertisers from using our tools to discriminate. We've removed thousands of categories from targeting related to protected classes such as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and religion. But we can do better."

Facebook has drawn harsh criticism for its ad-based business model in recent months. The service allows advertisers to customize their audience based on specific and often user-supplied criteria for demographics and stated interests. That's how advertisers were able to target posts to "Jew-haters," for example.

The self-service portal is also how Russian agents were able to purchase tens of thousands of dollars worth of inflammatory posts around U.S. elections.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/28/trump-administration-sues-facebook-over-discriminatory-advertising-practices.html

>>5940439

thank you fren…

another Pepe for me collection!

>>5940478

Twitter is considering labeling Trump tweets that violate its rules

Twitter is considering labeling tweets that violate its rules but should remain on the platform because they’re in the public interest.

Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s head of legal, policy and trust made the announcement during an on-stage interview with the Washington Post on Wednesday.

The social media company is trying to find a way of maintaining its standards while adding context to tweets from politicians and other figures that may be offensive but are important for public debate.

Twitter has come under fire from some critics who say President Donald Trump’s tweets often violate its rules against bullying, dehumanization and threatening harm.

In response to a question about whether Twitter’s current approach means Trump gets total immunity for whatever he says, Gadde said the social media platform wants to find a way to keep tweets up for their newsworthiness, while also noting if a tweet violates their rules.

“One of the things we’re working really closely on with our product and engineering folks is, ‘How can we label that?'” she said, without naming the US president. “How can we put some context around it so people are aware that that content is actually a violation of our rules and it is serving a particular purpose in remaining on the platform.”

Trump regularly insults people on Twitter. He called a former staffer a “dog” and posted an altered video from a WWE wrestling match showing Trump beating up a man with a CNN logo superimposed on his head.

Though similar tweets by others might be removed for violating Twitter’s rules, the platform currently grants an exemption for world leaders and tweets it considers newsworthy.

Gadde said that doesn’t give leaders complete immunity, and it would draw the line on some content.

“An example would be a direct violent threat against an individual that we wouldn’t leave on the platform because of the danger it poses to that individual,” she said.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how it would go about labeling content or when the new system would be rolled out.

Social media companies have been struggling with how to police speech on their platforms for years, but the pressure has ratcheted up in recent months.

On Wednesday, Facebook announced it was banning all “praise, support and representation of white nationalism and separatism” on Facebook and Instagram.

The move comes less than two weeks after the suspect in the terror attack at two New Zealand mosques streamed the massacre live on the platform. A manifesto allegedly written by the suspect revealed white nationalist views.

Gadde said Twitter is considering limiting the visibility of dehumanizing tweets. A user would have to click through in order to view the tweet.

This, she said, would “force people to acknowledge what this is and make the choice of whether to see it or not versus it just being on the platform with full visibility.”

https://wqad.com/2019/03/28/twitter-is-considering-labeling-trump-tweets-that-violate-its-rules/

>>5940601

So since there is "no collusion", we are now going to go with "Compromise".

WTF?

>>5940722

EBS?