U.S. District Court Judge Murray Snow on Friday ordered another judge to rule on whether Joe Arpaio, the Republican sheriff of Arizona’s Maricopa County, and a deputy should be held in criminal contempt of court for repeatedly ignoring court orders to stop racially profiling Latinos.
.. Two years later, Snow found that Arpaio had intentionally flouted his order, citing the sheriff’s own public comments, such as a 2012 interview with Fox News in which he declared, “I’m not stopping anything” and said he was “not going to bend to the federal government.”
.. Arpaio’s opponent in the Aug. 30 Republican primary is Dan Saban, a former local police chief who ran against him in 2004 and 2008. During their 2004 race, Arpaio opened an investigation into Saban for allegedly raping his own adoptive mother decades earlier. The case was dropped, and Saban sued Arpaio unsuccessfully for defamation.
.. In June, Penzone likewise threatened to sue Arpaio if he recycled ads from their 2012 contest, when the sheriff accused him of beating his ex-wife.
Leslie Jones and Twitters’ Troll Economics
as a private company, Twitter has no legal obligation to let anyone use its service, the activities at issue here—targeted harassment, as well as posting faked tweets—violated the company’s terms of service, and they weren’t speech that any business would feel obliged to protect. If customers in a coffee shop behaved as Jones’s trolls did, they would immediately be booted.
.. The company has reasonable rules in place to prevent such abuse, but it is often justifiably criticized for failing to monitor for violations and enforce its guidelines rigorously and consistently. While Twitter responded quickly to Jones’s concerns, it has not done anywhere near as well in responding to similar reports from non-celebrities. And this very selectivity has led people like Yiannopoulos and his supporters to claim that they’re being punished for their conservative ideology, rather than for their incivility.
.. But if Twitter wants to stick with this approach and grow its business, it needs to recognize that identifying and stopping abusive behavior isn’t optional. Its value depends, in large part, on what economists call network effects: the more people on the network, the more valuable it becomes to users. But trolls can create reverse network effects—the more of them there are, the less valuable the network becomes.
.. That’s why it has long been clear to other media organizations that if fostering robust and healthy discussions in comment threads is part of your business model, then moderation is a must. For a service on the scale of Twitter, the challenge is obviously much greater.
Donald Trump: Sociopath?
Taking his biographer’s claim seriously
Tony Schwartz, the writer of the best-selling book, said that he “genuinely believe[s] that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes, there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization.”
.. I’m not here to be Trump’s doctor. He has a doctor, and his name is Harold Bornstein—the fellow who wrote in his official doctor’s note, “I can state unequivocally [that Trump] will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”
.. And in the context of an election where Trump has repeatedly, strategically branded people with single words that seem to have proven influential—“Little Marco,” “Lyin’ Ted,” and “Crooked Hillary”—would “Sociopathic Donald” be an intellectually honest equivalent?.. different people define the terms differently, with understandings converging around the feature of lacking “a conscience.”.. Narcissistic Personality Disorder, which the Mayo Clinic defines by “an inflated sense of [one’s] own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others. But behind this mask of ultra-confidence lies a fragile self-esteem that’s vulnerable to the slightest criticism.”.. He had tweeted about me frequently in the weeks following its publication—often at odd hours, sometimes multiple times a day—denouncing me as a “dishonest slob” and “true garbage with no credibility,”Coppins recalls. “For two years, Trump continued to rant about how I’m a scumbag, or a loser, or ‘just another phony guy.’”.. Manipulativeness: Frequent use of subterfuge to influence or control others; use of seduction, charm, glibness, or ingratiation to achieve one’s ends... Steve Becker, a psychotherapist who specializes in Narcissistic Personality Disorder, has written that “we’ve reached the point where we expect our politicians to behave like psychopaths.” We view psychopathic traits as acceptable, perhaps necessary, and even advantageous attributes of politicians... some thought it telling that when Melania Trump spoke of her husband on Monday night, she delivered an endorsement that could have come from anyone. She said nothing of him as a husband, lover, or father to her child—the insight that many were hoping she would provide. On Tuesday, his daughter Tiffany was somewhat more illustrative, saying that her father would write notes to her on her report card... In one incident, he sent The New York Times’ Gail Collins a copy of her column, having circled her photo and scrawled “The Face of a Dog!”
House Democrats’ Gun-Control Sit-In Turns Into Chaotic Showdown With Republicans
The House chamber on Wednesday became the site of an hours-long sit-in by dozens of House Democrats who defied the Republican majority and demanded that they hold a vote on a gun-control measure before a weeklong recess for Independence Day.
The Democrats — including senior party leaders — plunked down in the well of the chamber, effectively paralyzing all legislative business as they chanted, “No bill, no break!” They took turns making impassioned speeches against gun violence, interspersed with chants demanding a vote on measures to tighten the nation’s gun laws.
But shortly after the sit-in began, Republicans forced the House into recess, cutting off the microphones and the televised feed that broadcasts floor proceedings live on C-Span. Democrats refused to relinquish control of the chamber and enlisted new technology — the Periscope live-stream feature of Twitter — to overcome the Republican blackout.
C-Span picked up the feed and broadcast as if the House was in session, albeit with the unavoidably shaky camerawork by lawmakers using their cellphones.
.. Yet even by the hyperpartisan standards of modern Washington, it was a brazen disruption that underscored the outrage many lawmakers have expressed about the failure of Congress to act in the aftermath of numerous mass shootings.
.. Even if all Senate Democrats and the independents who caucus with them voted in favor, which is hardly assured, at least 14 Republicans would need to agree to reach the 60-vote threshold for advancing the measure. Ms. Collins still seemed far short of that number on Wednesday.