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Monday, July 29, 2019

EOC400.3008--Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX) District 4 Profile--A RESUME INNOVATIVE PARADIGM MODEL

EOC400.3008
J. L'Angelle
Univ of Nevada, Reno
Fall 2019

Ethnicity, Income, Poverty and Opioids


     (Late Entry)--Emphasis has been placed lately not just on Congressional representatives'  particular ethnic backgrounds and countries of origin as fair play in political criticism, but also on their track records as members of Congress reflecting conditions in their districts. The former was recently in the spotlight for the new Congresswomen collectively known as the "Squad," the latter with reference to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and his Baltimore district.
     The President has selected another new face in the crowd from the halls of Congress to be the Director of National Intelligence, Rep. John Ratcliffe  (R-TX). Media has already begun to put the representative under the microscope as to his qualifications for the DNI post but for what appears to be reasons unrelated to his current job, which appear his former stints as mayor of a small Texas town, his experience in a US attorney's office and what little he has had as congressman.
     If the criticisms for the Squad and Elijah Cummings are valid, then a new paradigm can be established to further examine the qualifications of Rep. Ratcliffe with respect to the conditions in his Texas District (4).  For instance, are the arguments of ethnic distribution, poverty, crime and other social factors valid in determination for his qualification for the national intelligence directorship? The answer is affirmative as it reflects his ability to be in command, to take responsibility and make the necessary decisions to insure the welfare of those in his district.


     Ethnicity of TX District 4 clearly shows predominately White at nearly 75% with a median income of $56K yearly. (Wikipedia)  Validity however of Wikipedia data is always questionable and may or may not be accurate. That considered, poverty rates are based on FRAC;
"...interactive map provides data for every Congressional District on the percent of all people living in poverty, based on the 2017 American Community Survey (ACS). You can scroll over a Congressional District on the map to view its poverty rate, along with data for the state and nation as a whole. The margin of error for each estimate is shown in parentheses." (FRAC)
Clearly, the map shows that even though the ethnicity is predominately White with an impressive income, the number of children below the poverty line approaches 20%,  in line with the remaining 25% of Black-Asian-Hispanic in a total population of nearly 750K. Does the paradigm suggest that only the non-White children live in poverty? Possibly.
     Catherine Krantz, the Democrat who lost 3-1 to Ratcliffe in the 2018 campaign, indicates the state of the state of District 4 in 21st century technology;
     " 'Don’t even get me started on High Speed Internet,' Krantz says, 'It is more than just the digital divide, we are creating Technology Deserts that will have lasting effect for generations.  80% of homework requires internet and across the district, we have kids doing homework in the parking lot of the library.  Not to mention the effects poor connectively has on our businesses, our agriculture, even our national security.' " (Krantz)
Krantz mentions the stone age radio comm systems of the local first responders that are in dire need of upgrade, which are probably still in use even after the successful bid by Ratcliffe for reelection.
     One of the more striking stats was for opioid overprescriptions in District 4, as reported by Scott Morgan of KETR, Northeast Texas Public Radio;
     " But in Congressional Districts 4 and 1, which cover almost all of Northeast Texas, the rate of opioid overprescription was just shy of 90 percent – 89.67 percent and 89.35 percent, respective to Districts 4 and 1." (KETR)
The overprescription is the highest in Texas, which had a local average of 58% as opposed to the nation 2016 average of 65% For his part, Ratcliffe offered little in his tepid response concerning the epidemic;
     “this new information underscores the pressing need to continue the important work I’ve been doing in Congress" (KETR)
Obviously, his work isn't that important to him in the district to be chasing after the DNI job.
    Though incomplete even by the best analysis, the preceding reflects an innovative new paradigm model that might be used to define a candidate's resume. With respect to appointment to a higher position in the government; it is based not on typical bland resume details but with reference to critical newsworthy debates over issues involving ethnicity, poverty and current conditions in the applicant's district.


Works Cited
Ethnicity, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas%27s_4th_congressional_district
FRAC, http://www.frac.org/maps/acs-poverty/acs-poverty.html
Krantz, http://catherinekrantzforcongress.com/
Morgan, S., Opioids, https://www.ketr.org/post/4th-congressional-district-leads-texas-opioid-overprescriptions

Monday, July 22, 2019

EOC400.3003---Breaking News--#AOC Extends Worm Lifespan---NY STATE SCIENCE FAIR

EOC400.3003
J. L'Angelle
Univ of Nevada, Reno
Fall 2019

"Researching for a cure, scholarship"..

     Enough cannot be said about the diversity of the Congressional newcomer. Here we see her skill as a budding scientist experimenting with the C. elegans;



     "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 16-year-old junior at Yorktown High
School, also made it to the final round. She studied the effects of an-tioxidants on the life span of C. el-egans, a roundworm species, and said she was elated with the out-come. Her research found the antioxi-dant dimethyl sulfoxide extended C. elegans lifespan from the aver-age 12 to 17 days to 51 days. 'That's really significant,' she said. 'It was really rare to have an extension that huge. It extended life span more than 300 percent' "  (Catherine L Foley, Journal News)
Congratulations Congresswoman AOC in your recent work in  lifespan extension at the science fair!! (text transcoded utilizing OCR software)



Works Cited,
Foley, CL, researching for a cure, scholarship, The White Plains Journal News, 04 April 2006, Page 11.
OCR, https://www.onlineocr.net/

Thursday, July 18, 2019

CH212.3001--"America for Americans" 1935--DEMOCRATS HAWK DEPORTATION OF FOREIGNERS


CH212.3001
J.L'Angelle
Univ of Nevada, Reno
Summer 2019

HR4860, The Dies Committee, RR Reynolds, et al.


      Republican rhetoric isn't the only place where "go back to your own country," language can be found. In radio broadcasts and subcommittee hearings (HR4860) as far back as 1935-40, Democrats such as JJ Dempsey from New Mexico voiced similar ideology;
     "I do not care whether a man is a Communist or a Nazi or a Fascist, if he is not satisfied with our form of government and wants to substitute the form of government of his own country, he should return to his own country and not bother us."  (Dempsey, Gov Printing Office)
Sentiment ran high for deportation as rising tides of revolution and war swept across Europe and Russia with Hitler and Stalin coming to power.
     But Dempsey wasn't the only Democrat with a desire to run everyone out of the United States who wasn't American. In his radio address to the nation titled "America for Americans" delivered in May of 1935, Congressman Martin Dies (D-TX) was even more explicit on determination to run foreigners out of the United States;


     "But you ask, and properly so, what are we going to do about it? I agree with you that there is nothing we can do so long as our policy is dominated by sentimentality, fatuous internationalism, industrial greed, and alien political influence. So long as we permit America to be made the asylum for the peoples of other lands and the dumping ground for Europe and so long as politicians fear the vote and influence of alien groups and blocs in the great cities, there is nothing that we can do." (Dies, DNA Learning Ctr)
Taking it one step further, Rep. Dies pegs the kidnapping of the Lindbergh child by foreigner Bruno Hauptmann to lax immigration policy (Detroit Free Press) Demonization of foreigners as a disruptive force in the American way of life appears to have champions on both sides of the aisle in the halls of Congress.
     Further hyping the anti-foreigner agenda in the period that led to the outbreak of World War Two was Senator RR Reynolds of North Carolina, one of Roosevelts New Deal Democrats. In keeping with a states rights perspective, many of his ideas and legislative efforts were directed at making North Carolina great again;
     "His anti-communism notwithstanding, Reynolds supported Roosevelt’s recognition of the Soviet Union so that the communist nation might buy North Carolina goods.  A staunch unilateralist, he opposed U. S. adherence to the World Court, for he considered it a tactic to enter the failed League of Nations.  During his senatorial career, Reynolds advocated strict limits on immigration, the registration of all aliens, and the deportation of alien criminals.  In particular, the nativist Reynolds deemed most aliens as a threat to American security, values, and jobs, so he co-authored the Reynolds-Starnes Bill (1936) that called for cutting immigration quotas by 90%." (North Carolina History)
Rather naïve when it came to Nazi deception and scheming, his reported anti-Semitic stance was used to their advantage at his expense, but the image damage was done, possibly due to his allegiance first to North Carolina.
     Yet another attempt to exploit anti-foreigner sentiment originated in the (Martin) Dies Committee and the effort to expel Australian born Harry Bridges of the west coast Longshoreman's Union and subsequent attempt to impeach the Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins. (JSTOR)
     At the HR4860 hearings in 1935, John Thomas Taylor of the American Legion had this to say about bigotry;
     "Resolved, That we urge national legislation that will punish American citizens who advocate the overthrow of our Government by force, fraud, or violence, or seek to promote race or religious prejudice, and deport all aliens who do like- wise. " (HR4860)
The sentiment to condemn anybody in the United States who chose to promote hatred on cultural grounds was clearly in the minds of veterans before the outbreak of the Second World War.
     Singling out a particular representative of the government, whether it be the president or members of Congress is nothing more than a political move to create partisanship amid catcalling and name tagging such as "racist," and "bigot." From the official record, Democrats have just as many guilty in their political party as do Republicans. Now is not the time to create an even greater cultural fissure of ideology but to offer remedies to the difficult issues surrounding foreigners and immigrants.

Works Cited
 Dempsey, JJ, HR 4860,  https://www.loc.gov/law/find/hearings/pdf/00108304534.pdf
Dies, M., https://www.dnalc.org/view/11023--America-for-Americans-Radio-address-of-Hon-Martin-Dies-of-Texas-May-6-1935-about-deportation-1-.html
Lindbergh baby, (Detroit Free Press, 10 Jan 1935, Page 5.)
Reynolds, https://northcarolinahistory.org/commentary/senator-robert-rice-reynolds-an-atypical-tar-heel-politician-and-isolationist/
Mansfield, HC., Impeach Perkins, Public Administration Review, Vol. 1, No. 3 (Spring, 1941), pp. 281-286

Dies Committee photo, Pictured as the final hearing closed are, left to right, seated: Rep. Harold G. Mosier, Ohio-Chairman Martin Dies. and Rep. J. Parnell Thomas of New Jersey. Standing, left to right: Rep. John J. Dempsey of New Mexico; Ree. Stripling, Secretary to the committee, and John Metcalf, Chief Investigator, 12/18/38 (Wikimedia)

Tuesday, July 9, 2019

JOUR304.3001--Conway, Congress and the Catfight,--TWITTER PROMOTION CAMPAIGN RESULTS


Status curent for 09 July 2019
Conway, Congress and the Catfight, Etymology of Sexist Language: Slide004 & 005:-- promoted on Twitter--results--cc #Pelosi #AOC #KellyanneConway



There are definite advantages to utilizing the auto promo tool at Twitter for a given flat rate and a billing cycle as opposed to alternatives.
Facebook has new rules regarding posting of political content ads on its social media platform that are a definite turn off for the publisher and might be extremely harmful to its future in the advertising racket. Twitter has no such rules and its Wild West style of allowing freedom in posting, to a reasonable extent, reflects the early days of the web when government and self-regulation weren't even a vague consideration for posting content.  

JOUR304.3001--Conway, Congress and the Catfight--ETYMOLOGY OF SEXIST LANGUAGE

JOUR304.3001
James L'Angelle
Univ of Nevada, Reno
Dr. Paromita Pain
10 July 2019

LATEST :  JOUR304.3001-- Capitulation, Segregation, Marginalization--THE NEO-DIXIECRATS VS THE "SQUAD" OF COLOR

ETYMOLOGY OF SEXIST LANGUAGE:


     (This Just In)  White House adviser KA Conway has stepped into the ring as referee in the floor fight between the Speaker and The Squad;
“Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called Kellyanne Conway "sexist" for saying the New York Democrat's feud with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was a "catfight."  (Washington Examiner)



   The term with reference to political infighting has some history that can be traced at least to 1873 when US Grant nominated George H. Williams to Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. (Offbeat Oregon) However, his wife became a problem.



     On 31 December 1873, the Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester, NY had this to say about Kate’s extreme unpopularity with her social network:


“...the post of honor at table. But, in spite of all doubts that the parties in interest keep alive in the general discussion of this momentous nonsense, the majority agree that the rank runs smoothly down to the fourth degree in the social house that Jack built: the president, the chief-justice, the vice-president and " Mr. Speaker. " Beyond this, society is in a catfight, and every once in a while a feminine paw reaches over into the domains of the four, and calls forth spiteful spittings that are terrible to hear. (Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, 31 Dec 1873)



     Wrapup: Brett Arends had his own take on Marketwatch concerning the feud, but was directed at the battleground, not the participants;




Mr. Arends putdown of Twitter is patently false. Anyone who has attended recent college level journalism classes, and received credit for them, will see how completely wrong his argument is, no matter its relevance to him or to the “Fourth Lady,” Nancy Pelosi. The Squad knows its value in spite of those from the old school who don’t.

Works Cited:

Rank, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, 31 December, 1873, Page 2.
Arends, B., Twitter, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/nancy-pelosi-is-absolutely-right-about-twitter-2019-07-09

THIS JUST IN:  Current analytics of the Facebook promote of this blog post (07/10/2019/2000hrs)












Monday, July 8, 2019

JOUR304.3001-- Assignment: Profiling The (Twitter) "Squad"--SPEAKER PELOSI'S EXISTENTIAL THREAT

JOUR304.3001
James L'Angelle
Univ of Nevada, Reno
Dr, Paromita Pain
Summer 2019



     Etymology of the word "squad" to describe the four new members of the House of Representatives goes to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) herself as Abby Gardner reported in Glamour last November;
"This one photo features the youngest person elected to Congress, the first black woman to represent Massachusetts, the first Palestinian American woman elected to the House, and the first Somali American Muslim and first woman of color to represent Minnesota." ( Glamour)
     The latest skirmish between the House Speaker and The Squad came over two versions of money for the ongoing totally convoluted mess at the border involving immigrants. Pelosi made an attempt to peg the four freshmen (women?) as "kid-haters" over their posture to prevent any money going to the opposition that might be used for something other than conditions in the camps.
    The battleground, however, has shifted from the halls of Congress to mainstream media, with the recent interview the House Speaker had with a New York Times columnist last weekend;
"All these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world," she told (Maureen) Dowd. "But they didn't have any following. They're four people and that's how many votes they got." (Killough, Foran, CNN)
Not content with keeping the fight on Capitol Hill and at the Times, the Speaker now blames ground zero itself as territory where she appears to be losing the war. So what's the battleground look like over there on social media?


     Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) signed on to Twitter in August 2008, she has 2.66 million followers. She has only 10 "likes," the last one being in January, 2017. Her bio reads;
"Speaker of the House, focused on strengthening America's middle class and creating jobs; mother, grandmother, dark chocolate connoisseur." (Twitter) A recent post, July 6, shows a photo of the Speaker sitting with the Dalai Lama on his 84th birthday, calling him "His Holiness."  He was recently shamed for sexist remarks (Fox News)  about a successor and appears to be completely irrelevant with reference to the Squad.  Other than paying homage to any number of other issues  related to her job, in the Independence Day week, she makes little or no reference at all to the border crisis other than a letter sent out to the President on July 2, followed up immediately with business as usual on the Mueller report on the same day. Obviously, she needs to take seriously one of those IT people who spam the mail with offers to school her on the use of social media.


     Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) has 4.68 million followers on Twitter and a whopping 14.3 thousand likes. Her bio reads;
"Congresswoman for NY-14 (the Bronx & Queens). In a modern, moral, and wealthy society, no American should be too poor to live. % People-Funded, no lobbyist." (Twitter) The page appears far more active with recent posts related to climate change, immigrants and recent flooding. Her pinned tweet on top has something to do with a climate change video, has an image of what appears to be one of the Squad and shows 7.45 million views. She joined Twitter in April, 2010. The House Speaker has almost two years seniority over her at the social media site.



     Ayanna Pressley (@RepPressley) has but a paltry 116 thousand followers, which doesn't even qualify her as a rock star. She joined in January 2019 which seems extremely odd for someone with the authority she currently wields in Congress. Rep Pressley has just ove 1100 likes and just under 1000 tweets.  Her pinned tweet features an interview with Anderson Cooper  of CNN on July 3;
"What I saw at the border was horrifying, haunting, & sobering. Our humanity is tied and we are collectively under attack - from El Paso to the Massachusetts 7th. I will never stop fighting for the dignity, the humanity, & the preservation of immigrant families." (Twitter)
Many of her posts are related to the border crisis but there are meaningful tweets concerning other social concerns, which would be fitting for her status on social media and those she represents. Her bio reads;
"Official account of Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley. Proudly representing the Massachusetts 7th Congressional District. #MAPoli Instagram: https://bit.ly/2Dys6fy" (Twitter)



     Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) signed on to Twitter in December 2018, her bio reads;
"Proudly serving Michigan's 13th Congressional District. #13thDistrictStrong" and has 128 thousand followers. Rep Tlaib also shares a disdain for the immigration detention centers at the border and makes it noted in no uncertain terms at her page;
"These photos are just a glimpse into the horrors I witnessed two days ago. Please see them for yourself and join the call to #CloseTheCamps. This inhumanity is not who we are as a country." (Twitter)
Along with the #CloseTheCamps hashtag, she also has posts under #DemsAtTheBorder, #JusticeForOurChildren and #DontLookAway.



     Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) has 1.13 million followers, sharing the rock-star spotlight with @AOC.  Her bio reads,
"Mom, Refugee, Intersectional Feminist, 2017 Top Angler of the Governor's Fishing Opener and Congresswoman for #MN05. Join me " (Twitter) Ilhan's pinned tweet is from April 13;
"This country was founded on the ideas of justice, of liberty, of the pursuit of happiness. But these core beliefs are under threat. Each and every day. We are under threat by an administration that would rather cage children than pass comprehensive immigration reform."
She joined Twitter in August of 2012 with 15.3 thousand likes and personally following 1266 other social media users at the site.



     The "whatever" Speaker Pelosi referred to in her NY Times Maureen Dowd interview amounts to over 6 million followers for The Squad.




As rock-stars go, Katy Perry has 108 million followers, Lady Gaga has 79 million, and Ariana Grande has 64 million. They don't hold a candle to The Squad.

   






Works Cited
The Squad Photo, https://www.glamour.com/story/photo-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-new-congresswomen-squad-goals
Killough, A., Foran, C., Whatever,  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pelosi-stands-by-comments-about-members-who-opposed-house-border-aid-bill/ar-AAE2Dfa?ocid=spartanntp
@SpeakerPelosi, https://twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi
Dalai Lama,
@AOC, https://twitter.com/AOC
@RepPressley, https://twitter.com/RepPressley
@RepRashida, https://twitter.com/RepRashida
@IlhanMN,  https://twitter.com/IlhanMN

Sunday, July 7, 2019

JOUR304.2001--Final Papers: "The Dedicated and the Dilettante"--UNIV OF NEVADA, RENO, SUMMER 2019

JOUR304.3001
James L’Angelle
Univ of Nevada, Reno
Dr. Paromita Pain
Summer 2019


The Dedicated and the Dilettante

     “Mainstream media” is a phrase that can be traced all the way back to the early 1970s as found in a Chicago Sun-Times article concerning Beacon Press and the Pentagon Papers;
     “but the mainstream media shied away from Blanshard’s vociferous attack on one of America’s most influential denominations.” (Sun-Times)
This was in relation to a dispute between Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt and an article published relating to funding of parochial schools. Nowadays, the term has become synonymous with the big names such as CBS, NBC, CNN and similar multifaceted entities with presence across the board in news reporting. Although it has come under strong criticism lately as being the source of what has been characterized as “fake news,” these companies may still be the most reliable sources of up to date and accurate stories.


     There are any number of lists as to who qualifies as “mainstream,” at least one that is useful is that found at Wikipedia although how current it may be is questionable. (WHPC, Wikipedia) The White House Press Corps (WHPC) list contains well over 200 correspondents all of whom would have a presence on Twitter, considered as reliable sources for reporting the news. All, again, would ideally be credentialled reporters and journalists as the major news organizations presumably hire only those who have bona-fide degrees from colleges and universities. So what about everybody else on Twitter who claim to be “reporters” and “journalists?”    (Photo: Barkha Dutt of India, Twitter)
     Even though a given news organization might appear on the current WHPC list, that doesn’t necessarily mean it has credibility in the eyes of the public. The watchdog group, Statista, provides data on just how Jane and Joe Average view a particular news agency. For example, the graph of Huffington Post reveals the following;



     “Approximately 13 percent of registered voters in the United States view the Huffington Post as a very credible source of political news and information.” (Statista)
The graph also shows that 25% consider the agency “Somewhat credible.” Curiously, the graph also shows that nearly as many of those polled, 12%, have “Never heard of” the organization. On Twitter, HuffPost boasts 11.4 million followers, which is one-fourth of what the New York Times lists as their Twitter base. (Twitter) Several things can account for the status of a particular agency such as its bias and as important, the credentials of the reporters. It’s nothing new that bogus college degrees could be purchased without even spending one semester in class.



     “Operation Dipscam” was initiated by the FBI as long ago as the early 1980s in order to crack down on mail order college diplomas;
     “40 diplomas with transcripts were purchased, 16 federal search warrants were executed, 19 Federal grand jury indictments were returned, 40 schools were dismantled, and over 20 convictions were obtained.” (WikiVisually)
The article reports that over 12,000 “graduates” were identified. Note the use of the word “scam” in the operation, yet another precursor to modern internet-style language. How does all of this have relevance today?
     Twitter , the worldwide social media network of brief messaging where tweets are limited to a given number of characters, where the particular page has “Followers” that read and react to each tweet through commenting, sharing and “liking,” is currently the most popular site for news reporting, most of which is instantaneous. It is the home of most of the bona-fide “mainstream” news organizations, the “Dedicated” credentialled reporter and journalist. It is also the home of everybody else, for whatever purpose, including the fake, non-credentialled reporter and journalist, the “Dilettante.”



     According to the Haje Jan Kamps article in Medium in 2015;
     “Looking at the (above) graph, you’ll spot that even though Journalists make up 25% of the Verified users, they have a relatively modest number of followers (avg: 140k). Musicians are the obvious big outlier here, with on average 10x more followers than the average journalist.” (Haje, Medium)
This brings into the spotlight the concept of the “verified” account and its deeper implications of the “dipscam diploma” and its relevant byproduct, “fake news.” Although there is no direct evidence that fake news is the result of those who have not just fake credentials but fake accounts on Twitter as well, it would seem reasonable speculation that they would be the ones who stand the most to gain if their post, and link to some clickbait blog, went viral, attracting scores of followers in the process.
     Top current verified journalist accounts can be found in the recent Andrew Mercier story of the state of Twitter journalists, 2017:
     “This top 10 has some notable changes from 2013, mostly the inclusion of some journalists in India. Maybe to no one’s surprise, CNN’s Anderson Cooper remains on top.” (Mercier, MuckRack)
Those included from India are Barkha Dutt, with 6.9 million followers and Rajdeep Sardesai with nearly 9 million followers. (Twitter)




     The “Dilettante” style of reporting has become very acceptable on Twitter, with some of the non-credentialled so-called, self-styled “journalists” not required to show their papers. Take, for instance, the recent story concerning a “secret” Facebook group allegedly with members from the Customs and Border and Protection (CBP) agency of the Department of Homeland Security. The group called itself the “I’m 10-15” and the story first appeared in ProPublica in an article by AC Thompson;



     “ProPublica received images of several recent discussions in the 10-15 Facebook group and was able to link the participants in those online conversations to apparently legitimate Facebook profiles belonging to Border Patrol agents,” (Thompson, Propublica)
However, when that reporter tried to contact the particular users for verification, he failed. This is standard operating procedure that hints at fake news. It is a byproduct of years of mainstream media’s referencing “anonymous” sources that are taken to be credible, however unacceptable and unscrupulous the practice may be. Thompson’s only real claim to credibility is a brief bio at Wikipedia stating he was on the faculty at New College of California. In fact, that particular institution had its accreditation revoked in 2007 for dubious financial aid dealings. (New College, Wikipedia) This may or may not be an example of one of those so-called mail order dipscam diploma colleges.
     Attempting to follow up on the story at The Intercept, yet another reporter with dubious credentials, Ryan Devereux, adds to the unsubstantiated story on July 5, referencing alleged CBP agents by name;
     “Hendricks deleted his account soon after the ProPublica story broke. Garcia and Nunez did not respond to requests for comment.” (Devereux, The Intercept)
Devereux is described at the The Intercept as “award-winning investigative journalist,” with no credentials listed. He has over 25 thousand followers on Twitter. (Twitter)



     Media Bias/Fact Check has this to say about The Intercept;
     “They may utilize strong loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes), publish misleading reports and omit reporting of information that may damage liberal causes. Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy.” (Media Bias)
Not only are the reporters at ProPublica and The Intercept lacking in any bona-fide papers, their particular online agencies appear to be under the scrutiny of media watchdogs.
      Credibility in news reporting has taken a major back seat in the industry due to any number of more immediate concerns. They include primarily advertising, sponsorship, deadlines at the expense of trustworthiness of sources and verification of facts. In the end, the credible journalist working at a reliable organization finds himself hashtagged in the same Twitter category as the phony, the hack, out to deceive and deflect, many of whom have ten times the followers, all gullible and quick to react and condemn.

Works Cited
Sun-Times, Beacon Press, https://www.beacon.org/Assets/PDFs/pentagon_35.pdf
Press Corps, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_press_corps
Huff Post, https://www.statista.com/statistics/649139/huffington-post-credibility-usa/
Huff Post-Twitter, https://twitter.com/HuffPost
Op Dipscam, https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Operation_Dipscam
Jan Kamps, H., Verified, https://medium.com/@Haje/who-are-twitter-s-verified-users-af976fc1b032
Mercier, A., https://muckrack.com/blog/2017/07/31/the-2017-state-of-journalism-on-twitter
Dutt-Twitter, https://twitter.com/BDUTT
Sardesai-Twitter, https://twitter.com/sardesairajdeep
“I’m 10-15”, https://www.propublica.org/article/secret-border-patrol-facebook-group-agents-joke-about-migrant-deaths-post-sexist-memes
New College, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_College_of_California#Revocation_of_accreditation_and_financial_collapse
Devereux, R., https://theintercept.com/2019/07/05/border-patrol-facebook-group/
Devereux-Twitter, https://twitter.com/rdevro
The Intercept, https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-intercept/

Monday, July 1, 2019

JOUR304.3001--Assignment: The Facebook 10-15 Expose-REAL OR FAKE NEWS?

JOUR304.3001
James L'Angelle
Univ of Nevada. Reno
Dr. Paromita Pain
01 July 2019

     Sweeping across the border earlier today, a breaking story has hit the internet like a dust storm. Based on just one report by AC Thompson, of the independent news agency ProPublica, the story has already been picked up, not completely verified, by most of the major news media and the gossip mongers as well. How accurate is the report?
    There doesn't appear to be any confirmation from Facebook of the secret group, there is yet to be any quantifiable evaluation of just how many CBP personnel are involved, there doesn't seem to be any concern at all for the facts, just take "ProPublica" report at face value. Certainly it's the way journalism is done today and if it will help drive the mindless gossip mongering goons over to the breaking news pages loaded with targeted ads, so much the better.

     It isn't about the story at all any more. It's all about getting eyeballs attached to the page, clickbait, pure and simple, at the expense first of the border agents entrusted to the security of the borders, but also the immigrants who are grossly misaligned by, and for whatever reason, whether the story is newsworthy in the first place. As for any type of verification at all, here is what the Thompson report looks like at Huff Post;
     "ProPublica contacted three spokespeople for CBP in regard to the Facebook group and provided the names of three agents who appear to have participated in the online chats. CBP hasn’t yet responded." (Thompson, HuffPost)
Clearly it was a matter of deadlines that prompted ProPublica to print the story without any verification from either Facebook or the CBP agency. There has yet to be any formal statement released from Facebook regarding the alleged secret group, even though the news has been out for at least 12 hours. As for ProPublica itself, the whois information on the organization is scant  noting only its registrar as register.com. (ip-tracker.org)



    The Customs and Border Protection Agency has made comments about the alleged activity on its Twitter site, apparently without any evidence from a preliminary internal investigation as to the veracity of the claim from the online news publication;
"Today, CBP was made aware of disturbing social media activity hosted on a private Facebook group that may include a number of CBP employees. CBP immediately informed DHS Office of the Inspector General and initiated an investigation. " (CBP, Twitter)
The agency has taken for face value the word of some dubious news site on the internet for some unverified story, not by a reliable, well established news organization such as what is known as "mainstream media" and all but confirmed it. It is exactly this sort of acceptance of information that is at the heart of why the internet has become the scourge of journalism.

Thompson's explanation of how he received information about the secret group is documented in his report;
"ProPublica received images of several recent discussions in the 10-15 Facebook group and was able to link the participants in those online conversations to apparently legitimate Facebook profiles belonging to Border Patrol agents,: (Thompson, ProPublica)
He goes on to say that the link was made to their profiles. Indeed, in a time when everyone and anyone can have their profiles stolen and recreated, Thompson drew an immediate conclusion without contacting those whose profiles are in question and admits he has been unable to reach them. Instead he fluffs up the article by quoting a U of Arizona sociologist completely ignorant of the story.

     ProPublica, a hodgepodge of ex-mainstream journalists and venture capitalist directors, showing little or no scruples at all for publishing the article without at first consulting with the official border patrol agency, has not only undermined trust and security of agency personnel, but has betrayed public trust in media and social media as well. It has no sensitivity at all in the face of such a revealing expose and ought to be shamed itself for its display of no class. One might expect that the usual suspects like HuffPost would immediately grab on to the news, real or false, in order to promote its own feeble online agenda. The rest followed suit as expected.


Works Cited
Thompson, AC, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/inside-the-secret-border-patrol-facebook-group-where-agents-joke-about-migrant-deaths-and-post-sexist-memes_n_5d1a424ee4b082e5536da6bf
CBP-Twitter, https://twitter.com/CBP
Thompson, AC, ProPublica,
ProPublica, https://www.ip-trahttps://www.propublica.org/article/secret-border-patrol-facebook-group-agents-joke-about-migrant-deaths-post-sexist-memescker.org/lookup/whois-lookup.php?query=Propublica.org
Cowboy Image, https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/slide-show/photos/2018-Sep/USBP-Horse-Patrol-Unit-Carousel.png