Anonymous ID: 0931b2 May 12, 2019, 12:47 p.m. No.6480998   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>1046 >>1132

Facebook takes down "fake" Italian accounts ahead of EU election

MILAN (Reuters) - Facebook said on Sunday it had taken down numerous Italian accounts on its platform that were false or were spreading fake news ahead of a European parliamentary election later this month.

 

The European Union has warned of foreign interference in campaigning for the vote of May 23-26, and in April the European Commission urged Google, Facebook and Twitter to do more to tackle fake news before the poll.

 

“We have removed a series of false and duplicated accounts which violated our authenticity policy, as well as several pages due to violation of rules on name changing,” a spokesman for Facebook in Italy said in an emailed statement.

 

“We also took action against some pages that repeatedly spread incorrect information,” he said, adding that an investigation by online activist group Avaaz had prompted the decision.

 

Avaaz said on Sunday that Facebook had taken down 23 Italian accounts with a total of more than 2.46 million followers which were spreading “false information and divisive content” over issues such as migration and vaccines as well as anti-Semitism.

 

More than half the accounts taken down supported either the 5-Star or the League, the two parties in the Rome government coalition, Avaaz said.

 

Keen to avoid more heavy-handed regulation, the tech giants had pledged in October to fight the spread of fake news.

 

“We’re committed to protecting the integrity of elections within the European Union and in the whole world,” the Facebook spokesman said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-italy/facebook-takes-down-fake-italian-accounts-ahead-of-eu-election-idUSKCN1SI0M4

Anonymous ID: 0931b2 May 12, 2019, 1:07 p.m. No.6481095   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>1136

>>6481076

 

A Wall St. Star's Agonizing Confession

 

Larry Kudlow seemed a master of the universe. Being a top Wall Street economist was not the half of it. Mr. Kudlow had been a prominent member of President Reagan's economic team. He helped conceive and fight for the tax-cut proposal that helped Christine Todd Whitman become Governor of New Jersey. One of the nation's most articulate and charismatic commentators on financial issues, he has become the economic guru of Jack Kemp and of the conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, as well as a regular on television interview programs and a speaker commanding hefty fees. He even starred in Cadillac ads.

 

To hear some leading Republicans, the 46-year-old Mr. Kudlow has nowhere to go but up. They consider him a hot political property, a potential challenger for the Senate seat of Daniel Patrick Moynihan in New York or, should a right-leaning Republican like Mr. Kemp win the White House in 1996, a shoo-in for a Cabinet position. John Sweeney, executive director of the New York State Republican Committee, last week called him "one of the brightest stars."

 

But last week, in an interview, Larry Kudlow had a confession to make: behind the polished facade lived a troubled and deeply unhappy man who has been battling an addiction to drugs and alcohol.

 

Swiveling in his chair in the offices of his new employer, National Review magazine, Mr. Kudlow lighted yet another Merit Ultra Light and began an explanation that many others would not summon the courage to make: Fifteen months ago he took a four-week medical leave of absence from his Wall Street firm, Bear Stearns.

 

"I went into drug rehab," Mr. Kudlow said, deciding to discuss his problem after being told he was the subject of a profile. "I had an alcohol and substance-abuse problem that needed to be taken care of."

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He said that for 15 months he has been attending twice daily a self-help program for recovering addicts.

 

"I am willing to share with you my problem," he said, following the example of many people in programs like Alcoholics Anonymous. "Anyone who blames Bear Stearns is not right. I take full personal responsibility."

 

Then this dapper man in a blue pinstripe shirt and monogrammed cufflinks, a man sometimes described as poker-faced, began to cry. Sounding scared, not at all like the suave raconteur and deft name dropper of two hours earlier, Mr. Kudlow said he lived in fear of sliding backward. "I live my life day to day," he said.

 

Mr. Kudlow said he was talking largely because he wanted to be honest and because his story might benefit other families with alcohol and drug problems. "I'm on top of this thing, God bless," he said. "Maybe somebody reading about this somewhere will be helped."

 

Mr. Kudlow is still striving to understand what drove him to depend on drugs and alcohol, and the elaborate lying and dodging that are required to conceal such habits from friends, family and colleagues. Whatever the reasons, it is clear that there are many Larry Kudlows. One in 10 Americans has some form of alcohol or drug-abuse problem, recent studies show. America's success-conscious society is full of people who are less afraid to snort a line or put away a fifth than they are of letting someone else see that they are not all they appear to be. Everyone knows someone talented, ambitious and magnetic who has a serious problem but chooses to ignore it for a long time, hoping that other people will look the other way too because he's so valuable.

 

Several people inside and outside Bear Stearns say Mr. Kudlow used cocaine. Mr. Kudlow refused to say what drug he used or to be specific about how his drug use began. He did say that he began drinking regularly in the second half of 1970's and that his drinking led to drugs.

https://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/03/business/a-wall-st-star-s-agonizing-confession.html

Anonymous ID: 0931b2 May 12, 2019, 1:28 p.m. No.6481158   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>1228

>>6481135

sure you know this but for other's

Look how long Akebono lasted.

Record‎: ‎654-232-181

Retired‎: ‎January 2001

Highest rank‎: ‎Yokozuna (27 January 1993)

Championships‎: ‎11 (Makuuchi)