It’s time once again for news and views that you can peruse! It’s time for another Weekly Reader! As always, if you have something that you want to share, drop a link in the comments!
Who Owns 4chan? (from Wired): “In addition to being 4chan’s silent partner, Good Smile has struck major deals with some of the world’s largest entertainment companies, including Disney and Warner Bros. Good Smile also produces figurines depicting underage anime girls in various states of undress.”
Why billionaire John Malone’s shadow looms over CNN (from Vox): “But complicating that narrative is the fact that Malone has repeatedly wished, in public, for CNN to remake itself. And his prescription happens to sync with the new CNN agenda: a plan to steer the channel away from what Malone and others call a liberal bias they say muddles opinion and news. And to shift it toward a supposedly centrist, just-the-facts bent.”
Social Media Was a C.E.O.’s Bullhorn, and How He Lured Women (from The New York Times): “Mr. Price’s internet fame has enabled a pattern of abuse in his personal life and hostile behavior at his company, interviews with more than 50 people, documents and police reports show. He has used his celebrity to pursue women online who say he hurt them, both physically and emotionally. Ms. Margis is one of more than a dozen women who spoke to The New York Times about predatory encounters with Mr. Price.”
Lindsey Graham Introduces Nationwide Abortion Ban Weeks After Saying It’s Up to States (from Rolling Stone): “The South Carolina senator proves once again that everything Republicans say about abortion is bullshit”
GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham introduces 15-week abortion ban in the Senate (from NPR): “Graham acknowledged at a press conference on Tuesday that the legislation has very little chance of becoming law in the near future, and that’s not just because Democrats control Congress and the White House. The proposed legislation includes exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the mother but it has not received the backing of any GOP leaders.”
Selling “longtermism”: How PR and marketing drive a controversial new movement (from Salon): “Yet, MacAskill adds, “giving too much prominence to earning to give may nevertheless have been a mistake.” As the EA movement gained more attention, this marketing decision seemed to backfire, as many people found the idea of working for “evil” companies in order to donate more money to charity highly objectionable.”
One of Long COVID’s Worst Symptoms Is Also Its Most Misunderstood (from The Atlantic): “For example, Robertson’s brain often loses focus mid-sentence, leading to what she jokingly calls “so-yeah syndrome”: “I forget what I’m saying, tail off, and go, ‘So, yeah …’” she said. Brain fog stopped Kristen Tjaden from driving, because she’d forget her destination en route. For more than a year, she couldn’t read, either, because making sense of a series of words had become too difficult. Angela Meriquez Vázquez told me it once took her two hours to schedule a meeting over email: She’d check her calendar, but the information would slip in the second it took to bring up her inbox. At her worst, she couldn’t unload a dishwasher, because identifying an object, remembering where it should go, and putting it there was too complicated.”
Former Gov. Phil Bryant helped Brett Favre secure welfare funding for USM volleyball stadium, texts reveal (from Mississippi Today): “And while the state-of-the-art facility represents the single largest known fraudulent purchase within the scheme, according to one of the criminal defendant’s plea agreement, the state is not pursuing the matter in its ongoing civil complaint. Current Gov. Tate Reeves abruptly fired the attorney bringing the state’s case when he tried to subpoena documents related to the volleyball stadium.”
The middle school boys thought their teacher was a ‘creep.’ So they tracked how he treated the girls. (from The Boston Globe): “The teacher, who was also a coach and involved with extracurricular activities, told the students that he’d weathered parents’ complaints for nearly 30 years, and there was nothing anyone could do to him.
“By seventh grade, some of the boys had started taking notes, documenting what the teacher was saying and doing, particularly to the girls, at the school.”
Meta Seeks Out Secrets From Over 100 Companies to Win Antitrust Suit (from Bloomberg): “Meta has asked for documents relating to some of the most important and sensitive elements of how competitors do business, according to court filings, including how they acquire users, scale up products and make money from features. It also wants materials on rivals’ marketing and sales strategies, quality metrics, contact information for their biggest advertisers, and details on their efforts to attract users from competitors, among other secrets.”
Teens were sent to Wyoming ranches for therapy. They say they found a nightmare of hard labor and humiliation. (from NBC News): “Once the women from Trinity Teen Solutions were released, they said they tried to report what happened to them in every venue they could think of. They filed complaints with the Wyoming Department of Family Services dating back at least 15 years, left negative Yelp reviews, posted TikTok videos, and most recently filed a federal lawsuit with former Triangle Cross Ranch residents. But in response, they said, they faced inaction from government authorities.”
Secret Amazon Reports Expose the Company’s Surveillance of Labor and Environmental Groups (from Vice): “Internal emails sent to Amazon’s Global Security Operations Center obtained by Motherboard reveal that all the division’s team members around the world receive updates on labor organizing activities at warehouses that include the exact date, time, location, the source who reported the action, the number of participants at an event (and in some cases a turnout rate of those expected to participate in a labor action), and a description of what happened, such as a “strike” or “the distribution of leaflets.” Other documents reveal that Amazon intelligence analysts keep close tabs on how many warehouse workers attend union meetings; specific worker dissatisfactions with warehouse conditions, such as excessive workloads; and cases of warehouse-worker theft, from a bottle of tequila to $15,000 worth of smart watches.”
The End of Kiwi Farms, the Web’s Most Notorious Stalker Site (from Wired): “In the wake of her swatting, Sorrenti began a campaign, Drop Kiwi Farms, to sever the forum’s access to digital service providers. In particular, she drew attention to its web security provider Cloudflare. Kiwi Farms has been allowed to operate for years as a fringe site, but the campaign pushed it into the mainstream eye as Sorrenti gave countless interviews, launched a Twitter campaign, and gathered supporters to put pressure on Cloudflare.”
That’s all for this week, but don’t worry. I’ll be back with more reading material for you soon. Until then, have a great rest of your week and happy reading!
Iacon East 