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Arrest People Who Laugh at Offensive Jokes

CNN’s resident creepy clown Brian Stelter declared Monday that Joe Rogan does not have the credibility that the cable news network does, and that its a big “problem” that more people trust “talk show stars” rather than “real newsrooms.”
Responding to <a href="https://summit.news/2022/01/31/video-joe-rogan-addresses-spotify-hate-train/">Rogan’s rebuttal</a> to his critics, Stelter spoke with Kate Bolduan, another CNN host (note how the CNN hosts always act as their own guests).
Stelter questioned what has taken Spotify so long to fall into line with other tech platforms that have been actively censoring anyone who doesn’t parrot the establishment narrative for years now.
“Basically [Spotify is] doing what Twitter and Facebook and other platforms did two years ago. This is nothing original, nothing novel, they are belatedly responding to the pressure from artists and subscribers,” Stelter declared.
He then proclaimed that “not all opinions are created equal,” adding “You think about major newsrooms like CNN that have health departments and desks and operations that work hard on verifying information on COVID-19. And then you have talk show stars like Joe Rogan who just wing it, who make it up as they go along.”
Stelter continued, “because figures like Rogan are trusted by people who don’t trust real newsrooms, we have a tension, a problem that’s much bigger than Spotify, much bigger than any single platform… that’s what’s at the heart of this right now.”
Watch:
This is the guy who has for years now <a href="https://summit.news/2021/02/01/video-cnn-clown-stelter-argues-censorship-is-ok-when-the-left-does-it/">campaigned for outright censorship</a> of <a href="https://summit.news/2020/11/17/video-cnn-clown-stelter-presents-hit-list-of-conservative-media-outlets/">any and all</a> of CNN’s competitors no matter who they are.
Last week he was <a href="https://summit.news/2022/01/24/video-cnns-stelter-visits-school-kids-being-taught-how-to-spot-misinformation/">in a school lecturing kids on what ‘misinformation’ means.</a>
He has also peddled ‘Russia stole the 2016 election’ crap for five years straight, and continues to do so.
<figure class="wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter"></figure>
Yesterday he and his guests <a href="https://summit.news/2022/01/31/video-cnn-labels-joe-rogans-millions-of-listeners-as-less-enlightened-than-their-few-thousand-viewers/">declared that Joe Rogan’s millions of viewers are ‘less enlightened’</a> than the few thousand who have failed to work out how to turn off CNN.
The idea that this fool has any credibility whatsoever is laughable.
Rogan, who <a href="https://summit.news/2021/09/08/video-joe-rogan-says-he-may-sue-cnn-for-making-sht-up-about-him-taking-horse-dewormer/">found himself on the end of CNN slander</a> last year over his use of Ivermectin to recover from COVID, has <a href="https://summit.news/2022/01/10/joe-rogan-slams-yellow-journalism-of-cnn-accuses-network-of-altering-footage-of-him/">repeatedly pointed out</a> how utterly devoid of credibility CNN has become, <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/01/12/cnn-sees-ratings-dive-by-90-from-2021-coverage/">losing 90 percent of its viewership</a> in 2021 alone, <a href="https://summit.news/2021/12/07/video-joe-rogan-blasts-cnn-as-f-ing-propagandists-their-ratings-are-dogs/">becoming ‘propagandists’</a> and the “right arm of Pfizer.”
Rogan previously <a href="https://summit.news/2021/06/18/video-joe-rogan-slams-fing-terrible-cnn-hosts-everybody-knows-theyre-not-real/">tore into Stelter and another fake broadcaster at CNN, Don Lemon</a>, declaring “the market has spoken and your show[s are] fucking terrible.”
“Everyone knows they’re not real. They’re not real humans,” Rogan asserted at the time.
New York Times correspondent Matthew Rosenberg raised a pertinent point Monday that Stelter should probably take into account:
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Joe Rogan is what he is. We in the media might want to spend more time thinking about why so many people trust him instead of us.
— Matthew Rosenberg (@AllMattNYT) <a href="https://twitter.com/AllMattNYT/status/1487887425863102464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2022</a></blockquote>
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source <a href="https://summit.news/2022/02/08/arrest-people-who-laugh-at-offensive-jokes/">https://summit.news/2022/02/08/arrest-people-who-laugh-at-offensive-jokes/</a>

revolution summit Arrest People Who Laugh at Offensive Jokes

CNN’s resident creepy clown Brian Stelter declared Monday that Joe Rogan does not have the credibility that the cable news network does, and...

The Supreme Court’s newest attack on voting rights, explained

On Monday night, the Supreme Court handed down a deeply alarming decision that suggests that the Court’s Republican majority is about to cut away one of the few parts of the Voting Rights Act that it hasn’t already gutted or killed.
The immediate impact of the Court’s 5-4 decision in <a href="https://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/21A375-1.pdf">Merrill v. Milligan</a> is that Alabama’s new congressional maps, which a three-judge panel that includes two Trump appointees determined to be an <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/1/22910909/supreme-court-racial-gerrymander-alabama-merrill-singleton-milligan">illegal racial gerrymander</a>, will take effect in the 2022 election. Under those maps, only one of the state’s seven districts — or 14 percent of the US House seats — has a real shot of electing a Black lawmaker. African Americans make up about 27 percent of the state’s population.
The lower court ordered the state to <a href="https://redistricting.lls.edu/wp-content/uploads/AL-milligan-20220124-opinion-and-order-granting-PI.pdf">draw at least two districts</a> “in which Black voters ... have an opportunity to elect a representative of their choice.” Thus, had the lower court decision taken effect, it is likely that the racial composition of Alabama’s congressional delegation would closely match that of the state as a whole.
Monday’s order only suspends the lower court’s decision until the Court can give this case a full hearing. But the allegedly racially gerrymandered map will be in effect for the 2022 election — and it could become permanent after the Supreme Court hears and decides the full case.
One reason the Court’s order in Merrill is disturbing is that Alabama’s lawyers offered an exceptionally weak legal argument when they asked the justices to block this lower court order. Their argument could potentially neutralize an important safeguard against racist gerrymanders. The Voting Rights Act provides fairly robust protections against racial gerrymanders — legislative maps that target voters of a particular race — but Alabama asked the Supreme Court to impose a new burden on plaintiffs challenging racial gerrymanders that <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/1/22910909/supreme-court-racial-gerrymander-alabama-merrill-singleton-milligan">may be impossible to overcome</a>.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a separate concurring opinion that would impose a novel new restriction on all voting rights cases. More on the specific convoluted restriction later. But in creating his new restriction, Kavanaugh relied heavily on <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/549/1/">Purcell v. Gonzalez</a> (2006), a decision which held that courts should be reluctant to change a state’s election rules as an election draws close. “Federal courts ordinarily should not enjoin a state’s election laws in the period close to an election,” Kavanaugh wrote.
There’s still a fairly obvious problem with Kavanaugh’s opinion. Alabama will not elect its new slate of US House members until November. It’s now February — nine months before the date of the general election and <a href="https://www.sos.alabama.gov/alabama-votes/voter/upcoming-elections">more than three months before the state’s next primary election</a>. The state simply is not in a “period close to an election,” unless we count the entirety of 2022, and therefore the entirety of any year in which an election is held, as “close to an election.”
Technically, Kavanaugh’s opinion is not a binding precedent. It was joined only by Justice Samuel Alito, not by a majority of the Court. But Kavanaugh is also the median vote on this Republican-dominated Supreme Court — in politically charged cases, there are normally four justices to Kavanaugh’s left, and four to his right. That means that his words carry an unusual amount of weight, since it is unlikely that a litigant will find five justices willing to contradict him.
The bottom line is that Merrill — even in its temporary form — is a disaster for voting rights. It suggests that the Court is going to escalate its <a href="https://www.vox.com/22575435/voting-rights-supreme-court-john-roberts-shelby-county-constitution-brnovich-elena-kagan">assault on the Voting Rights Act</a> — and on voting rights more broadly. And it suggests that even exceedingly weak legal arguments offered by red states have a very good shot of prevailing in this Supreme Court.
<figure class="e-image"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1644377483_5826_633418" data-cdata='{"asset_id":23226676,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/daKsoW_VC_vVYpT9H2764J2ly0g=/0x0:5327x3551/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:5327x3551):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226676/GettyImages_1332009310.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/dYrqer73hLgv5nD5xSOm86z21HU=/0x0:5327x3551/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:5327x3551):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226676/GettyImages_1332009310.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/BcByviPrsrSRrCLQoGE7BaET5a4=/0x0:5327x3551/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:5327x3551):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226676/GettyImages_1332009310.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/DSxNF0VKUQIgz2IhXRjRGDrdPNg=/0x0:5327x3551/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:5327x3551):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226676/GettyImages_1332009310.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/SuXEqER9HKFsMdR5qVFFVI8V450=/0x0:5327x3551/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:5327x3551):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226676/GettyImages_1332009310.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/9e8u65vUQ_OJdARf-9ZLc9kmd2c=/0x0:5327x3551/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:5327x3551):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226676/GettyImages_1332009310.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Loya3KwXJY3R_M3-e0AHEk7M_7M=/0x0:5327x3551/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:5327x3551):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226676/GettyImages_1332009310.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/L5nDpLy_eivJZihO-SzratwMwPc=/0x0:5327x3551/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:5327x3551):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226676/GettyImages_1332009310.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cmGElDEyhl6cTC3kJMyRThIJ34o=/0x0:5327x3551/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:5327x3551):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226676/GettyImages_1332009310.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img alt="" data-upload-width="5327" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6azyKwBAtjhyj9wgo1FyDBv2sQU=/0x0:5327x3551/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:5327x3551):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226676/GettyImages_1332009310.jpg" srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/CtzkFGxcmqBwpzONjnYPRbgJD2I=/0x0:5327x3551/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:5327x3551):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226676/GettyImages_1332009310.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/GAy2Mq35pi9Cjw8lm8Kh6pxtUU4=/0x0:5327x3551/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:5327x3551):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226676/GettyImages_1332009310.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/HA8A7dwUwvZKv4S0dAfNnMp-E7Y=/0x0:5327x3551/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:5327x3551):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226676/GettyImages_1332009310.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/IGoDyzaPz6hgHE5QxKqjYH9NUu8=/0x0:5327x3551/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:5327x3551):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226676/GettyImages_1332009310.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/gtjGwOV_2TLxfWbg9sPnwmUd6gU=/0x0:5327x3551/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:5327x3551):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226676/GettyImages_1332009310.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/WpJETGDzvGAJGa_O-OdfZqWxJEE=/0x0:5327x3551/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:5327x3551):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226676/GettyImages_1332009310.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OBAtriOrTzk4RKTDR3y3m1feSEE=/0x0:5327x3551/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:5327x3551):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226676/GettyImages_1332009310.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_d36SmceNwkYqk1BfMQfYZMz0WY=/0x0:5327x3551/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:5327x3551):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226676/GettyImages_1332009310.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OMbUvTlj2DUeLcLD2sR46z7sHaI=/0x0:5327x3551/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:5327x3551):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226676/GettyImages_1332009310.jpg 1920w" /></picture>
<figcaption>Hundreds of protesters rally outside the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, on August 2, 2021.</figcaption>
<cite>Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</cite></figure>
When Purcell was handed down in 2006, it largely went unnoticed by anyone who isn’t an election lawyer. Purcell warned that “court orders affecting elections ... can themselves result in voter confusion and consequent incentive to remain away from the polls,” and that <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/549/1/">this risk increases “as an election draws closer.”</a>
No justice dissented in Purcell, and its warning about court orders that disrupt elections is best read as a note of caution. Purcell was correct that voters might be confused about how to vote if, say, a court were to order a bunch of polling precincts to be relocated on the eve of an election. So the Court asked judges to be careful about such last-minute orders without actually forbidding them in especially compelling cases.
But as the Court grew more conservative, it seemed to treat Purcell less as a reason for caution and more like a firm command. The Court’s Republicans relied on Purcell, for example, to halt lower court orders that would have <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/4/6/21211378/supreme-court-coronavirus-voting-rights-disenfranchise-rnc-dnc">made it easier to cast a ballot at the height of the pandemic</a>.
Kavanaugh’s opinion in Merrill would expand Purcell even further if adopted. Alabama enacted its congressional maps on November 4, 2021, and the lower court handed down its decision striking down those maps on <a href="https://redistricting.lls.edu/wp-content/uploads/AL-milligan-20220124-opinion-and-order-granting-PI.pdf">January 24, 2022</a> — well more than nine months before the general election.
Moreover, as Justice Elena Kagan <a href="https://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/21A375-1.pdf">notes in a dissenting opinion</a>, the lower court heard “over seven days of testimony” and received “more than 1,000 pages of briefing.” The lower court opinion striking Alabama’s maps is <a href="https://redistricting.lls.edu/wp-content/uploads/AL-milligan-20220124-opinion-and-order-granting-PI.pdf">225 pages long</a>. It’s unclear how these three judges could have moved any faster and still worked through the complicated factual questions in Merrill in a careful and judicious manner.
So one upshot of Kavanaugh’s opinion is that the Purcell window — the period that counts as “close to an election” — should extend for more than nine months. That’s such a long period of time when courts cannot hand down “orders affecting elections” that it would be helpful if Kavanaugh informed us when, exactly, a judge is allowed to hand down an order impacting a state’s election laws.
In fairness, Kavanaugh does write that there are some cases when Purcell should not apply, even if an election is about to happen. But he writes that lower courts are bound by Purcell unless “the underlying merits” of a case “are <a href="https://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/21A375-1.pdf">entirely clearcut in favor of the plaintiff.</a>”
<figure class="e-image"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1644377483_3016_633419" data-cdata='{"asset_id":23226702,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/fEy7omCbWZNMXwM9j_IkqBl-bkM=/0x0:3000x2000/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226702/GettyImages_1027064682.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/k_GwGrtcQe3HZw5lFkwwzEJSiZ4=/0x0:3000x2000/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226702/GettyImages_1027064682.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zQYiN_OmmDX5tbW_SyfGp5CX9Ak=/0x0:3000x2000/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226702/GettyImages_1027064682.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/eBaEeBqKvTYxgVllWVcv_Fp0-so=/0x0:3000x2000/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226702/GettyImages_1027064682.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ewTMRTN2uc8yMtM2YyeNK2hBoYQ=/0x0:3000x2000/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226702/GettyImages_1027064682.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Cg2cp0L0fTK5I34HyFeNL34x9Hs=/0x0:3000x2000/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226702/GettyImages_1027064682.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Hw8xmou5-7IRMVRPzbm5zwLkY3Y=/0x0:3000x2000/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226702/GettyImages_1027064682.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/m5ZklNxwT2qii5igArrTkmO-nkc=/0x0:3000x2000/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226702/GettyImages_1027064682.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/PI4_HVXxausZQvmzEcstyEgVTr0=/0x0:3000x2000/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226702/GettyImages_1027064682.jpg 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img alt="" data-upload-width="3000" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Qd_miM70f9fesrTHeZi-6HXMMD0=/0x0:3000x2000/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226702/GettyImages_1027064682.jpg" srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Ba7EhxabWm19rVslX20JmjoHWJg=/0x0:3000x2000/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226702/GettyImages_1027064682.jpg 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_8fiy7Do_wdvXlEqhKlPzl64mgs=/0x0:3000x2000/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226702/GettyImages_1027064682.jpg 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/rVDUBVPb7mOvH4m1UsfN3iV7LFg=/0x0:3000x2000/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226702/GettyImages_1027064682.jpg 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/14NFpWfiG29almkUukfZu6GTcdY=/0x0:3000x2000/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226702/GettyImages_1027064682.jpg 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VTaeVoPwqOmN-dYOtmaOCKOFDP4=/0x0:3000x2000/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226702/GettyImages_1027064682.jpg 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/2uXimwaCWh05BzVdke4tvd8-WVs=/0x0:3000x2000/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226702/GettyImages_1027064682.jpg 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/X6EK5m2V7uErVm3kro2o2f4Gq0Y=/0x0:3000x2000/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226702/GettyImages_1027064682.jpg 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/PyJT3OKbDPpkDALPbk4za13-ZdE=/0x0:3000x2000/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226702/GettyImages_1027064682.jpg 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cOFZT8tQznXTGVKPy4UuJ7EP5cU=/0x0:3000x2000/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:3000x2000):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23226702/GettyImages_1027064682.jpg 1920w" /></picture>
<figcaption>Then-Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh holds up a small copy of the U.S. Constitution while answering questions before the Senate Judiciary Committee during the second day of his Supreme Court confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill on September 5, 2018.</figcaption>
<cite>Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</cite></figure>
Here as well, his opinion goes off the rails. As Chief Justice John Roberts writes in dissent, “the District Court properly applied existing law in an extensive opinion with no apparent errors for our correction.” (Roberts <a href="https://www.vox.com/21211880/supreme-court-chief-justice-john-roberts-voting-rights-act-election-2020">isn’t exactly known as a champion of voting rights</a>. The fact that he accuses his Court of going too far in a voting rights case is itself remarkable.)
The underlying merits of Merrill are clear under existing law. Kavanaugh’s suggestion that the proper outcome is unclear only makes sense if you presume that longstanding Supreme Court precedents should be tossed out.
Thus, the upshot of Kavanaugh’s opinion appears to be two-fold. First, Kavanaugh would extend the Purcell window so that it apparently encompasses the entire election year. And, second, he would forbid judges from ruling in favor of voting rights plaintiffs during this window, even if those judges faithfully apply existing law, if Kavanaugh personally believes that this law should be changed.
How else should we understand Kavanaugh’s implication that this relatively straightforward case is not clear-cut?
The Court’s precedents governing racial gerrymandering are, admittedly, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/1/22910909/supreme-court-racial-gerrymander-alabama-merrill-singleton-milligan">quite messy</a>.
When a plaintiff alleges that a state’s legislative maps violate the Voting Rights Act — like the plaintiffs in the Alabama case are alleging — courts typically must apply the multi-step analysis that the Court laid out in <a href="https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/478/30.html">Thornburg v. Gingles</a> (1986). The last step of this analysis requires judges to weigh at least nine different factors before striking down a state’s legislative map.
In Merrill, however, Alabama did not attack any of the more confusing parts of the Gingles framework. Indeed, it made the baffling decision to attack what may be the most straightforward part of this framework.
Under <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15006968277305129279&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr">Cooper v. Harris</a> (2017), a fairly recent decision applying Gingles, a plaintiff who believes that a state should have an additional district where a particular minority group is in the majority must show that this group is “sufficiently large and geographically compact” that it is actually possible to draw a new district where they “constitute a majority.”
The purpose of this requirement, as Justice Kagan explains in her Merrill dissent, is to require voting rights plaintiffs to prove from the outset that “what they are asking for is possible.” There’s no point allowing a lawsuit to move forward if a court cannot actually give the plaintiffs what they seek.
In any event, the plaintiffs in Merrill cleared this very low bar. One set of plaintiffs, for example, hired a mathematician to produce four sample maps that feature compact districts, and that include two Black-majority districts.
<figure class="e-image"><picture class="c-picture" data-cid="site/picture_element-1644377483_6533_633420" data-cdata='{"asset_id":23208238,"ratio":"*"}'><source srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/htGzNho_pzNwrZXOkArEkwR31Ds=/0x0:473x647/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:473x647):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23208238/temp.png 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/NlIaL8Ugi8oQkh_nPwQoEaOh4Yg=/0x0:473x647/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:473x647):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23208238/temp.png 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-Ed8X5quS7TCu-5Rs9QlDYh3Dzc=/0x0:473x647/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:473x647):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23208238/temp.png 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/qM8ETzVHQ1WuxiNhB-62IarJnhU=/0x0:473x647/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:473x647):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23208238/temp.png 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/nMteaSdsLb00zS1t39OG8Cr4re4=/0x0:473x647/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:473x647):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23208238/temp.png 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/qFN2KkzzPwn-rWNxGmBAXmrYa3o=/0x0:473x647/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:473x647):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23208238/temp.png 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/9eMT6eabPUipYDed2Fffgqb23vs=/0x0:473x647/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:473x647):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23208238/temp.png 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/35IygBlLFM66ldf6ewR5LmmKOCc=/0x0:473x647/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:473x647):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23208238/temp.png 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/_WS8E9A7s1jxkxBLu3J9AVE2l4w=/0x0:473x647/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:473x647):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23208238/temp.png 1920w" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" type="image/webp" /> <img alt="" data-upload-width="473" sizes="(min-width: 1221px) 846px, (min-width: 880px) calc(100vw - 334px), 100vw" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/QerTMaOTM0-GuAepZ9JGorGgXbY=/0x0:473x647/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:473x647):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23208238/temp.png" srcset="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/iZwQoiR_AUTDTRzJAABhS-l6R-o=/0x0:473x647/320x0/filters:focal(0x0:473x647):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23208238/temp.png 320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/MFbLqDSbz-wBgF5EWxS_vWMioL4=/0x0:473x647/520x0/filters:focal(0x0:473x647):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23208238/temp.png 520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/iD4xxqd3BZS2n4sbgUf127vsHDQ=/0x0:473x647/720x0/filters:focal(0x0:473x647):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23208238/temp.png 720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/p1SkXVciJ7c35ZZtBiZOi6waouM=/0x0:473x647/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:473x647):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23208238/temp.png 920w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/mQJ0Xn1_1Gcg8Ot9UYdgTYlX_fw=/0x0:473x647/1120x0/filters:focal(0x0:473x647):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23208238/temp.png 1120w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/j_Vhee0q50UYqVuvmN6pdQ-F-mg=/0x0:473x647/1320x0/filters:focal(0x0:473x647):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23208238/temp.png 1320w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ApniJQZjaaIuVZAH19Y22Yaxip8=/0x0:473x647/1520x0/filters:focal(0x0:473x647):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23208238/temp.png 1520w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3VwkpopBH6d9_ZJJHk2Krr7ng7Q=/0x0:473x647/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:473x647):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23208238/temp.png 1720w, https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/U__otkNn5cyJpvPgPoPf7OX95FY=/0x0:473x647/1920x0/filters:focal(0x0:473x647):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23208238/temp.png 1920w" /></picture>
<figcaption>Four maps produced by mathematician Moon Duchin show how Black-majority congressional districts could be drawn in Alabama.</figcaption>
<cite>US District Court for the Northern District of Alabama</cite></figure>
Alabama, however, asked the Supreme Court to impose a new restriction. According to the state, the Merrill plaintiffs erred because, in order to produce these sample maps, the plaintiffs had to “prioritize race first and consider other race-neutral factors second” — something the state claims is not allowed.
But this objection makes no sense. Again, Gingles and Cooper require a plaintiff who alleges that a state should have two Black-majority districts to first produce sample maps with two Black-majority districts. How is it even possible to complete that task without paying close attention to race?
As Kagan writes, “at no time has this Court held that plaintiffs must answer the race-infused question of the first Gingles condition without any awareness of race.”
Kagan does acknowledge one other possibility: “Plaintiffs can now use technology to generate millions of possible plans, without any attention to race,” she writes, and some of these randomly drawn maps would presumably contain two Black-majority districts.
But really, what’s the point of imposing such a burden on voting rights plaintiffs? Asking these plaintiffs to produce millions of random maps and then hunt through them to find some that include two Black-majority districts is a bit like asking Vox Media to fire its writers and replace them with a million monkeys banging away at a million typewriters.
Eventually, those monkeys would produce an analysis of the Supreme Court’s decisions that is just as trenchant as anything I could write — but only after churning out countless pages of gibberish.
In any event, Kavanaugh appears to believe that it is not “entirely clearcut” whether the Voting Rights Act requires the Merrill plaintiffs to use the monkeys-banging-on-typewriters method to produce sample maps.
While the Court figures that out, a total of five justices agreed to halt the lower court’s order and allow a racial gerrymandered map to be used in Alabama in 2022.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/2/8/22922774/supreme-court-merrill-milligan-alabama-brett-kavanaugh-racial-gerrymandering-voting-rights-act">https://www.vox.com/2022/2/8/22922774/supreme-court-merrill-milligan-alabama-brett-kavanaugh-racial-gerrymandering-voting-rights-act</a>

vox The Supreme Court’s newest attack on voting rights, explained

On Monday night, the Supreme Court handed down a deeply alarming decision that suggests that the Court’s Republican majority is about to cut...

Shock Video: Ottawa Police Assault, Arrest Elderly Man For Honking Horn

Video captured from Ottawa shows police harassing and assaulting an elderly Canadian for honking his horn.
The man recording the video captured two masked police officers harassing old man while trying to ascertain his identity.
“What did he do wrong?” the man recording asked one officer.
“None of your fucking concern, man,” the officer replied.
[embedded content]
The other officer can be heard asking the old man still in his vehicle where he was headed, to which the man recording yelled, “You don’t have to answer that!”
As the officer tried contending with the man recording, the elderly man, clearly upset, stepped out of his car and accused the officer of trying to take a “swing” at him after he “tooted his horn.”
“That is why you’re pulled over,” the officer told the old man.
The man recording had another theory: “It’s called communism,” he said, then told the old man he “didn’t do anything wrong.”
<div class="xO8jmvgj"><a href="https://www.infowarsstore.com/survival-shield-x-3-1-oz?ims=oscuk&utm_campaign=x3hero&utm_source=Infowars+Hero&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=x3hero" target="_blank"><img src="https://api.directus.libertycdn.com/uploads/_/originals/X3-hero-385-2.jpg" /></a></div>
“I know I didn’t!” the old man responded.
“You have the right to beep your horn. Why are you doing this?” the man recording asked the officer.
“Because it’s an offense. It’s an offense to beep your horn,” the officer answered. “Tell me it’s not! I have it written down that it is. It’s actually an offense.”
Absurdly, that’s actually now true: a judge issued a 10-day injunction Monday <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/breaking-judge-bans-honking-in-ottawa-for-10-days-freedom-convoy-responds-by-honking/" target="_blank">banning truckers from honking theirs horns</a> in downtown Ottawa.
“Because I tooted the horn, you’re pissed off!” the old man told the officer as he searched his wallet for his ID.
“That’s right!” the tyrant officer told him.
After the man recording told the “terrorist” officer to “stand down”, he immediately arrested the old man for “failing to ID.”
After a tense exchange with the first officer, the man recording then shamed the officers while they frogmarched the old man to their squad car.
“This is communism!” the man recording said.
<hr class="wp-block-separator" />
<a href="https://futurenews.news/watch?id=61fae258418dd436e1b41705" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">THE HONKING WILL CONTINUE UNTIL FREEDOM IMPROVES</a>
 
 
source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/shock-video-ottawa-police-assault-arrest-elderly-man-for-honking-horn">https://www.infowars.com/posts/shock-video-ottawa-police-assault-arrest-elderly-man-for-honking-horn</a>

news Shock Video: Ottawa Police Assault, Arrest Elderly Man For Honking Horn

Video captured from Ottawa shows police harassing and assaulting an elderly Canadian for honking his horn. The man recording the video capt...

NY Gov May Soon End Mask Mandate As First Responders Block Brooklyn Bridge In Protest

<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://api-assets.infowars.com/2022/02/2-7-21-vax-live.jpg" /></div>
With New York’s statewide mandate requiring proof of vaccination or a mask to enter an indoor business expiring on Wednesday, Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul recently hinted she may let it come to an end.
On Wednesday, Hochul told New Yorkers, “We put some protections in place to help our workplaces, help our employees and customers. We will be having a conversation about that, if you can just hold on until Wednesday’s news conference.”
The state’s mandatory mask policy for schools expires on February 21.
“We are going to assess our situation here in New York,” the governor said regarding the school mask mandate. “I’m going to continue to head in that direction, we are hoping to get to that, I’ve said that for weeks that is our goal.”
ABC News 10 reports on Hochul’s announcement in the following video:
Meanwhile, hundreds of New York City first responders and other concerned citizens marched across the Brooklyn Bridge on Monday in a demonstration against vaccine mandates, vaccine passports, mask mandates and more. 
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The city employee protesters marched from Metro Tech in Downtown Brooklyn, over the Brooklyn Bridge, and all the way to City Hall.
An estimated 4,000 NYC employees have until Friday to submit their vaccination cards or lose their jobs.
Democrat New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the city workers are quitting on the Big Apple.
“They’re not being terminated, they are quitting,” he said. “Because if the rules of you being employed means vaccinated and you’re not, that is a decision you’re making not a decision we’re making as a city. I say don’t quit on New York. Take your vaccine and booster shot.”
Also on Monday, Democrat New Jersey <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/07/nyregion/nj-school-mask-mandate-murphy.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Governor Phil Murphy announced</a> his state’s school mask mandate will end in the second week of March.
The Democrat governors of both Connecticut and Delaware followed Murphy’s lead.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true" readability="4.304347826087">
JUST IN: Connecticut Governor ends statewide mask mandate in schools
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) <a href="https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1490803258495016961?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2022</a></blockquote>
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JUST IN: The governor of Delaware on Monday announced his state would lift school mask mandates in the coming weeks, aiming for a return to normalcy as the surge in coronavirus infections fueled by the Omicron variant abates in their states. <a href="https://t.co/nxG7Oj0vSb">https://t.co/nxG7Oj0vSb</a>
— Newsmax (@newsmax) <a href="https://twitter.com/newsmax/status/1490771503918452737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 7, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Grassroots movements focused on opposing Covid lockdowns and mandates are popping up around the world as the people realize they’ve been had.
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<hr class="wp-block-separator" />
 
 
source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/ny-gov-may-soon-end-mask-mandate-as-first-responders-block-brooklyn-bridge-in-protest">https://www.infowars.com/posts/ny-gov-may-soon-end-mask-mandate-as-first-responders-block-brooklyn-bridge-in-protest</a>

news NY Gov May Soon End Mask Mandate As First Responders Block Brooklyn Bridge In Protest

With New York’s statewide mandate requiring proof of vaccination or a mask to enter an indoor business expiring on Wednesday, Democrat Gove...

Dad Suspects Vaccine After 10-Year-Old “Basically Died” from Heart Issue On Playground

<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://api-assets.infowars.com/2022/01/GettyImages-1236330763.jpg" /></div>
A dad from Ireland says he feels guilty for getting his 10-year-old son vaccinated after the boy reportedly suffered a nearly fatal heart issue while playing at school.
In a solemn <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@sean_eile/video/7061345489429482757?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">TikTok video</a>, Sean Eile describes how the Covid-19 vaccine given on January 15 almost led to his son’s death two weeks later.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" readability="9.0086206896552">
The awakening will be tough for many.
His 10yr old son had a heart attack 2 weeks after the 💉.
The hospital is denying any connection.
This is why we fight !!!! <a href="https://t.co/wloGgLrJzY">pic.twitter.com/wloGgLrJzY</a>
— Kat A 🌸 (@SaiKate108) <a href="https://twitter.com/SaiKate108/status/1490319068368629764?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2022</a></blockquote>
“Everyone in the house is vaccinated. I got my youngest son vaccinated on the 15th of January, and two weeks later, on the 31 of January, he was playing in school, and he had a… well I’ll show you,” Elie says holding up a printout of an EKG showing an extremely fast heart rate.
“He basically died,” Eile continued, adding, “The ambulance was able to [resuscitate] him.”
The man says despite the boy and his family never having suffered any past heart issues, doctors refused to acknowledge any possible link to the Covid-19 vaccine.
“We’ve been told, ‘No, it’s nothing to do with the vaccine…because it only happened once.’ I don’t know,” Eile said, before adding he feels “proper guilty” about getting the boy vaccinated.
“The fact that the consultant in the hospital denied any link, so that it won’t be recorded as associated with the vaccine – that’s not good,” the dad says.
Watch the dad’s full TikTok below:
<blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@sean_eile/video/7061345489429482757" data-video-id="7061345489429482757">
<section><a target="_blank" title="@sean_eile" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@sean_eile" rel="noopener noreferrer">@sean_eile</a> <a title="covid19" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/covid19" rel="noopener noreferrer">#covid19</a> <a title="vaccinecoronavirus" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/vaccinecoronavirus" rel="noopener noreferrer">#vaccinecoronavirus</a> <a title="vaccination" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/vaccination" rel="noopener noreferrer">#vaccination</a> <a title="fuckup" target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fuckup" rel="noopener noreferrer">#fuckup</a> <a target="_blank" title="♬ original sound - Seán Eile" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7061345483029105414" rel="noopener noreferrer">♬ original sound – Seán Eile</a></section>
</blockquote>
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<a href="https://banned.video/watch?id=6201012e3a4818018a2a3367" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Vaccine Deaths & Injuries – The Elephant In The Living Room – David Icke</a>
 
 
source <a href="https://www.infowars.com/posts/dad-suspects-vaccine-after-10-year-old-basically-died-from-heart-issue-on-playground">https://www.infowars.com/posts/dad-suspects-vaccine-after-10-year-old-basically-died-from-heart-issue-on-playground</a>

news Dad Suspects Vaccine After 10-Year-Old “Basically Died” from Heart Issue On Playground

A dad from Ireland says he feels guilty for getting his 10-year-old son vaccinated after the boy reportedly suffered a nearly fatal heart i...

The most outspoken Trump supporter in Silicon Valley is leaving Facebook’s board

<div><img class="ff-og-image-inserted" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/kXuxxdn3IH1Shbo_CIfcCvJWes0=/0x252:6000x3393/fit-in/1200x630/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23225200/1167013007.jpg" /></div>
Early Facebook investor Peter Thiel plans to resign from its parent company Meta’s board, the company announced on Monday.
Thiel’s departure is significant because he is a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-09-15/peter-thiel-gamed-silicon-valley-tech-trump-taxes-and-politics?sref=qYiz2hd0">rare outspoken supporter of Donald Trump</a> among Silicon Valley business leaders, and has been a key adviser to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on political issues.
Thiel is reportedly leaving to focus on supporting candidates running for office who align with the Trump agenda, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/07/technology/peter-thiel-facebook.html">the New York Times</a> and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/peter-thiel-at-center-of-facebooks-internal-divisions-on-politics-11576578601">the Wall Street Journal</a>.
During the 2016 elections, Thiel <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-09-15/peter-thiel-gamed-silicon-valley-tech-trump-taxes-and-politics?sref=qYiz2hd0">became one of Trump’s strongest allies</a> among largely left-leaning tech leaders. The famously contrarian business leader has drawn criticism inside and outside of Facebook because of his politics. Former Meta board member and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings reportedly told Thiel in August 2016 that he displayed <a href="https://www.vox.com/2017/8/8/16116662/facebook-board-reed-hastings-peter-thiel-donald-trump">“catastrophically bad judgment”</a> for publicly supporting Trump, according to an email <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/08/technology/the-culture-wars-have-come-to-silicon-valley.html?referer=">reported by Times</a>. But during Trump’s presidency, Zuckerberg turned to Thiel for advice — such as when he seemed to listen to Thiel’s input not to bow to public pressure to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/peter-thiel-at-center-of-facebooks-internal-divisions-on-politics-11576578601">fact-check political ads</a> in 2019, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
“Peter has been a valuable member of our board and I’m deeply grateful for everything he has done for our company — from believing in us when few others would, to teaching me so many lessons about business, economics, and the world,” said Zuckerberg, in part, in a <a href="https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2022/Peter-Thiel-to-Retire-from-Meta-Board-of-Directors-at-2022-Annual-Shareholder-Meeting/default.aspx">company press release</a> on Monday about Thiel’s plans.
Thiel was an early investor in Facebook, and has served on the company’s board since its infancy in 2005. He’s given Zuckerberg key leadership advice during formative moments, including <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/25/mark-zuckerberg-shares-the-best-piece-of-advice-peter-thiel-ever-gave-him.html">encouraging the CEO to take bigger risks</a>. Previously, Thiel co-founded and was CEO of PayPal; he is also currently chairman of <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/7/16/21323458/palantir-ipo-hhs-protect-peter-thiel-cia-intelligence">data analytics firm Palantir</a>.
“It has been a privilege to work with one of the great entrepreneurs of our time,” said Thiel in a <a href="https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2022/Peter-Thiel-to-Retire-from-Meta-Board-of-Directors-at-2022-Annual-Shareholder-Meeting/default.aspx">Meta press release</a> on Monday. “Mark Zuckerberg’s intelligence, energy, and conscientiousness are tremendous. His talents will serve Meta well as he leads the company into a new era.”
In the liberal bubble of Silicon Valley, Thiel established a reputation as a political contrarian. He contributed millions to super PACs that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/16/technology/peter-thiel-donald-j-trump.html">supported Trump’s campaign</a>, spoke at the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/7/21/12254284/peter-thiel-rnc-republican-national-convention">Republican National Convention</a> on Trump’s behalf, and served as an <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38315682">adviser to Trump</a>. He also drew headlines for being the secret funder of a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/25/peter-thiel-tech-billionaire-reveals-secret-war-with-gawker.html">lawsuit against the blog Gawker</a> that drove the company <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/8/18/12539390/gawker-dot-com-shutting-down-why">out of business</a> in 2016 (the website restarted last year <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/28/business/media/gawker-return.html">under new ownership</a>).
Former Facebook public policy director Katie Harbath, who was the company’s first Republican employee in DC, said that Thiel’s politics may have been a distraction from the company’s business agenda.
“I don’t think that Mark [Zuckerberg] wants politics or anything interfering with this attempt to pivot toward the metaverse, so I guess it’s somewhat of a long time coming,” said Harbath. The big question now is whether Meta will decide to replace Thiel’s position, and if so, if that person will also be openly conservative.
“My biggest concern is diversity of thought and voices,” said Harbath.
Zuckerberg still retains majority voting power over Meta’s board, so the decision about who might replace Thiel is up to the CEO. But Thiel’s departure will inevitably shift the political dynamics of the company’s leadership, given Thiel’s stance firmly to the right of most tech business leaders.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2022/2/7/22922558/peter-thiel-facebook-meta-board-resigning-trump-conservative-stepping-down-mark-zuckerberg">https://www.vox.com/recode/2022/2/7/22922558/peter-thiel-facebook-meta-board-resigning-trump-conservative-stepping-down-mark-zuckerberg</a>

vox The most outspoken Trump supporter in Silicon Valley is leaving Facebook’s board

Early Facebook investor Peter Thiel plans to resign from its parent company Meta’s board, the company announced on Monday. Thiel’s departu...