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A leadership candidate forAlberta's United Conservative Party iscalling on other candidates to condemn Rebel Media for its coverage of the deadly clash between anti-racism activists and white nationalistsin Charlottesville, Va.,on the weekend.

Doug Schweitzer, facing a tough battle against leadership front-runners Jason Kenney and Brian Jean, took to Twitter on Saturday to accuse the right-wing media outlet of defending white supremacistsduring its coverage of the violence.

Heather Heyer was killed when a car was driven into a crowd of counter-protesters. Suspected white supremacist James Alex Fields Jr., 20, has been charged with second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding and one count related to leaving the scene.

In a tweet over the weekend, Schweitzer a Calgary-based lawyer accused The Rebelof "defending Nazis" in its coverage.

Just before the fatal collision, Rebel personality Faith Goldy was livestreaming from the scene and condemning authorities for allowing counter-protesters to rally, after they declared the Virginia march an illegal gathering.

Goldy was still live when the car crashed into the crowd where she stood.

Schweitzer called on other UCP leadership candidates to distance themselves from the organization, which was founded by outspoken conservative commentator Ezra Levant.

"We heard the Rebel Media providing coverage on it, and right before the individual was hit by that car and died, they were offering soft support to some white supremacist groups that were out there,"Schweitzersaid to CBC News on Monday.

He said Rebel has evolved from a site that offered a "fresh voice for issues" into a platform for the alt-right.

"It has no place in United Conservative Party. We cannot be playing footsie with this and enough is enough," he said. "Conservative politicians should no longer be participating in a platform that allows for the facilitation of hate."

Levant himself issued a memo on The Rebel website Monday that distances his organization from neo-Nazis, marching through Charlottesville.

He also distanced the organization from the alt-right label, saying it has evolved from "unashamed right-wingedness, with a sense of humour" to something driven by white nationalists focused on race.

"That term now effectively means racism, anti-Semitism and tolerance of neo-Nazism," he wrote.

The statement wasn't enough for Schweitzer.

"I think that condemning them is obviously a step that they're doing. They're trying to do damage control over their current actionism."

Leadership hopeful Brian Jean tweeted on Saturday he agrees withSchweitzerthat white supremacists have no place in society.

At a media availability on health policy on Monday, Jean whose campaign manager is a director for Rebel Media again denounced racism, but did not explicitly condemn the right-wing outlet's coverage.

In an email, Kenney'scampaign team also denounced the weekend attacks,but did not condemnRebel Media's reporting of them.

"Jason has been building bridges between Canadian communities of all races,ethnicitiesand religions for over a decade,"KenneyspokespersonBlaiseBoehmersaid.

JeffCallaway, the fourth candidate for the UCP leadership, has not responded to requests for an interview.

Pollster Janet Brown said Schweitzer is using the issue to set himself apart in the leadership race.

"He's definitely trying to make Rebel Media a wedge issue," she said.

"He's really trying to separate himself from the other candidates, as someone who hasn't been involved with Rebel Media and doesn't have anyone on his campaign involved."

Brown said most Albertans identify as fiscally conservative, but are not comfortable with social conservatism.

"This really is the sort of weak link for the UCP, this is the quicksand they have to avoid," she said.

Brown said it looks as though Jean and Kenney are trying to avoid the "distraction of having a fight with Rebel Media" by not condemning the organization.

"I don't know that Rebel Media is really all that important that their success would live and die on them being aligned with Rebel Media," she said.

Schweitzer'stweet prompted a response from Goldy.

"Lawyer confused by concept of first amendment," she tweeted.

Schweitzerreplied: Hi@FaithGoldy- I'm not neutral on white supremacism. I oppose it. /1#ableg#ucp

The coverage was also the final straw for Brian Lilley, listed as a co-founder on The Rebel website, who posted to Facebook on Monday that he could no longer be part of the organization because ofits increasingly harsh tone on issues like immigration and Islam.

"There are ways to disagree on policy without resorting to us versus them rhetoric," he wrote.

"What The Rebel suffers from is a lack of editorial and behavioural judgment that left unchecked will destroy it and those around it. For that reason, I am leaving."

See original here:
Ezra Levant's 'damage control' not enough for UCP leadership ... - CBC.ca

Ever since he first started listening to KISS on his 2XL robot tape player, former AOL executive Mike Macadaan, knew that voice commands would be the future for computer interactions.

That obsession stuck with Macadaan through his long years as a technology executive focused on user interfaces and then again as a co-founder of the Santa Monica-based venture studio, Science.

With the emergence of Alexa and through the future envisioned in movies like Her Macadaan saw his chance to bring that long-held childhood dream into reality.

The vehicle for this new venture is a company called Ground Control, which, in partnership with the talent agency CAA, will be building a new platform for voice-based applications using the biggest names from sports, entertainment, and media.

Ground Control started because CAA developed an interest in the voice space, Macadaan tells me.

Macadaan was introduced to Michael Yanover, the head of CAA Ventures, and Michael Blank, who heads the agencys AR/VR and mobile business development arm, and the three men began hashing out their vision for how the agencys talent could tap the emerging voice-based technology systems on the market.

Ive always hated the fact that weve had to rely on these graphical interfaces and computer screens Voice is the first time where you can say, as a designer, No. You dont need any of that stuff,' Macadaan told me.

While Alexa and Googles Home may have liberated users from the tyranny of the mouse click, they remain, to Macadaan, kind of terrible.

In his mind, a better experience would be to have the ability to listen to the voices that are already a part of a daily routine the newscaster, the entertainer, the athlete, and the politician give you the information you need or guide you to the content you want.

In this world of voice, the interface is voice over actors, its writers, its people who do foley work and sound effects, says Macadaan. LA is the perfect place for this.

And CAA, he says, makes the perfect partner. The CAA roster of talent, coupled with all the people who are storytellers in LA and my background in user experience design? We put that together and we can do interesting things, says Macadaan.

Imagine, he says, a celebrity host emceeing game night in anyones living room. We have the chance to give celebrities this digital expression and give them an opportunity to make some money there and further their brand, he said.

Ground Control will be the home for those experiences, but itll also be working to develop software to make the process of integrating among different voice-controlled devices easier for developers.

Macadaan actually sees a three-tiered problem with the adoption and use of applications on current voice-controlled devices. The first is the usability itself, the second is discoverability, and the third is the integration of applications across platforms.

With Ground Control, he says, he hopes to solve all three problems.

See the rest here:
Ground Control launches with CAA to bring entertainment's biggest stars to Alexa, Siri, and Google - TechCrunch

President Donald Trump responds to questions from the media in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York on Tuesday.

My head is spinning, one White House aide says after the president also pins blame on the alt-left.

By ANNIE KARNI, ELIANA JOHNSON and NOLAN D. MCCASKILL

08/15/2017 04:27 PM EDT

Updated 08/15/2017 10:07 PM EDT

NEW YORK It took President Donald Trump two days to explicitly call out the white supremacists and neo-Nazis who engaged in violent protests over the weekend that resulted in the death of a 32-year-old Charlottesville woman.

It took him less than 24 hours to undo the damage control that had been foisted upon him by teleprompter-wielding, crisis-managing aides.

Story Continued Below

Bridling at the term alt-right, Trump attempted to redirect blame for the violence at the rally onto the other side.

What about the alt-left that came charging at the, as you say, the alt right? Do they have any semblance of guilt? he said at an unplanned news conference in the lobby of Trump Tower, referring to the alt-right protesters who gathered to protest the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue from a park.

Trump also said he has yet to speak to the family of the woman killed, Heather Heyer, but promised that he would be reaching out and applauded her mothers beautiful statement, in which she praised Trump.

With no teleprompter to keep him on a message crafted for him by his top aides, like chief of staff John Kelly, Trump reverted to the many sides language he ad-libbed on Saturday remarks that earned him criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike, and even pushback from his own top aides.

You had a group on one side and you had a group on the other, Trump explained Tuesday, and they came at each other with clubs and it was vicious and it was horrible, and it was a horrible thing to watch.

He added: I think theres blame on both sides.

The free-wheeling remarks represented an about-face for the president, who after two days relented to pressure from his administration to read the statement that included the words racism is evil, while calling out specific types of hate groups, including the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis.

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In his only appearance in front of the press on Tuesday, Trump was originally scheduled to make a short announcement on infrastructure from the lobby of his Manhattan home. He came equipped with charts to show how his administration was cutting the regulatory red tape to make building roads less onerous. Reporters were warned he would take no questions, and that two of his top aides, economic adviser Gary Cohn and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, would take questions after the president departed.

But Trump overruled his staff.

Kelly stood off to the side while Trump spoke, staring down at the marble floor as the president doubled down on his widely criticized many sides rhetoric. Kellys stiff body language appeared to reflect the feeling among many Trump aides.

My head is spinning, texted one White House aide watching the president unleash himself on television.

When asked whether he and other officials supported the presidents views on the protest, Cohn hedged. We share the presidents view that infrastructure is really important to America, and our infrastructure is crumbling, he said.

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, the two family members who serve in Trumps administration, were absent from Trump Tower on Tuesday they were on a two-day, pre-scheduled trip to Vermont, a White House official said, and were planning to rejoin the president at his Bedminster, N.J. golf club on Thursday.

Trumps charged statements on Tuesday inflamed the controversy his aides had just started to contain.

After Trump's original ad-libbed comments on Saturday, his communications staff went into immediate crisis control, according to a White House official. An anonymous press statement was released, stating that the president "condemns all forms of violence, bigotry and hatred. Of course that includes white supremacists, KKK, neo-Nazi and all extremist groups."

The statement was put out with no name on it because press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was on a brief vacation in Bermuda, the official said. The statement was written by another more junior press aide, Jessica Ditto, and the hope was that it would gird against the backlash to the president's own words.

But by Sunday night it was clear that a statement from a nameless aide was doing little to staunch the outrage, and that only the president could clean up his own mess.

While the revised statement on Monday eased some of the outcry, Trump was quickly hit by a fresh backlash including from prominent Republicans after his Trump Tower news conference.

We must be clear, House Speaker Paul Ryan tweeted on Tuesday afternoon. White supremacy is repulsive. This bigotry is counter to all this country stands for. There can be no moral ambiguity.

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said the white supremacist rally organizers are 100% to blame and that its dangerous to put some of the responsibility on the counter-protesters.

The #WhiteSupremacy groups will see being assigned only 50% of blame as a win.We can not allow this old evil to be resurrected, Rubio tweeted.

Later Tuesday, the White House circulated a talking-points memo to congressional Republicans emphasizing many of Trump's assertions during the impromptu news conference.

Among other things, the document asserted that "the president was entirely correct both sides of the violence in Charlottesville acted inappropriately, and bear some responsibility." The guidance also blamed the press: "The media reacted with hysteria to the notion that counterprotesters showed up with clubs spoiling for a fight, a fact that reporters on the ground have repeatedly stated."

The talking points also blamed the media for "inciting more division."

In his remarks on Tuesday, Trump cast himself as a cautious, fact-focused president, insisting that despite a long history of celebrating vicious attacks and reveling in conspiracy theories, he was simply reserving judgment until the full story unfolded.

Before I make a statement, I need the facts, he explained. So I dont wanna rush into a statement. So making the statement when I made it was excellent.

Trump described the alt-left as a very, very violent group that charged at protesters without a permit to even assemble in Charlottesville. He reiterated that he condemned hate groups but argued that not everyone was a white supremacist or neo-Nazi.

Many of those people were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee, Trump said. So this week its Robert E. Lee. I notice that Stonewall Jacksons coming down. I wonder: Is it George Washington next week, and is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you really do have to ask yourself, Where does it stop?

Trump, who appeared to relish his time battling with the press, even used the opportunity to promote one of his properties, a winery in Charlottesville.

"Does anyone know I own a house in Charlottesville? he said, pausing to continue bantering with reporters as he walked out of the lobby. I own actually one of the largest wineries in the United States in Charlottesville."

Trump claimed that he did not know that David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, attended the rally. But Duke further inflamed the situation when he thanked Trump on Tuesday afternoon, via Twitter, for his honesty & courage to tell the truth about Charlottesville and condemn the leftist terrorists in Black Lives Matter and anti-fascists.

Trumps show on Tuesday also lent new skepticism to the idea that Kelly, a retired United States Marine Corps general who has been trying to instill new order in the West Wing, would be able to affect any real change on a president like Trump.

At a press conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where Vice President Mike Pence was speaking shortly before Trumps new comments on Charlottesville, his No. 2 praised the man at the top for his forthrightness.

"We have an American President who says what he means, and means what he says," Pence said.

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Continued here:
Trump blows up damage control as he blames 'both sides' for Charlottesville - Politico

August 16, 2017 1:26 PM

CHICAGO (CBS) Organizers of a neighborhood summer basketball program said trash talking on social media is apparently what led to fights breaking out off-the-court at the United Center this week during the programs championship games.

Officials for the West Haven Safe Summer Basketball League said they learned after Mondays games had to be canceled, with several thousand fans inside the United Center and thousands of others outside, that 12- and 13-year olds had planned on social media to disrupt the championship event.

RELATED: Basketball Game Rescheduled After United Center Fight

Some of the individuals involved in the brawl were actually 12- and 13-years of age. They were planning to meet a rival group of individuals at the United Center and use that as a platform to engage in the activities that they did, said Program director Oji Eggleston.

Earnest Gates, executive director of the Near West Side Community Development Corporation and one of the organizers of the summer basketball league said, the difference was it went out on social media and we have no control over it and they said they were going to shake it up.

Gates became emotional as he said he wants the event to return to the United Center next year so kids will get a chance to play on the same basketball court as their NBA heroes, but hes not sure that will happen.

You have to see the look on those kids faces to appreciate what we do, Gates said.

He said the trouble caused Monday was the first in the programs nine year history.

This was the 5th year the championships were being held at the United Center. The previous four years, the event was held at Crane High School and Phoenix Military Academy. The three games canceled Monday night will be played Wednesday at Crane.

Gates does not blame the United Center security for what happened Monday night. He said there was more than enough security on hand.

The United Center has issued a statement that, since it opened in 1994, the United Center has hosted thousands of events and millions of fans, rarely encountering any security issues.

The statement goes on to say that it has supported the West Haven Safe Summer Basketball League championships for many years. It has always been our belief that when we can give back to our community with events such as this, our entire community benefits.

The United Center said the incident Monday night was initiated by a few individuals at the expense of many more.

The statement does not say whether the event would take place at the United Center next summer.

Gates calls the Safe Summer Basketball League program, a jewel and more than just that brawl.

Go here to see the original:
Safe Summer Basketball League Officials Learn Social Media Led To Fight At United Center - CBS Chicago

Saturday afternoon, President Trump, in a statement that should taint his family name until human extinction, decried the violence on many sides. He personally did not mention white supremacy specifically until Monday, and then only under fierce pressure from the public and the media. Abruptly but unsurprisingly, on Tuesday afternoon, he doubled back to his original stance and again blamed both sides.

On one side, you see, you have white nationalists and neo-Nazis carrying assault weapons and advocating for a white, Christian, fascist ethno-state in America. On the other side, you have people who would prefer not to be systematically exterminated. Both are equally bad! To put it another way, on one side, you have the guy who law enforcement officials say deliberately ran a woman over with his car and the people who are celebrating her death. On the other, you have the woman who got run over by the car. Both are to blame! (By the way, if you are a good liberal grousing about how some anti-fascists are just as bad as fascists, you are riding Trumps wake on this logical highway.)

During Trumps two-day silence, congressional Republicans smelled a P.R. disaster and responded decisively. Senator Orrin Hatch, of Utah, tweeted: We should call evil by its name. My brother didnt give his life fighting Hitler for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home. Senator Marco Rubio, of Florida, described the events in Charlottesville as a terror attack by #whitesupremacists. Senator Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, called it homegrown terrorism. Senator Cory Gardner, of Colorado, wrote, These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism.

Speaker Paul Ryan tweeted: The views fueling the spectacle in Charlottesville are repugnant. Let it only serve to unite Americans against this kind of vile bigotry. And then, White supremacy is a scourge. Senator Jeff Flake, of Arizona, declared: The #WhiteSupremacy in #Charlottesville does not reflect the values of the America I know. Hate and bigotry have no place in this country.

Really? Which America is that? Surely not the America that was stolen from indigenous peoples, that was built by slaves, that interned the Japanese, that has the highest maternal death rate in the developed world, that acquitted George Zimmerman, that has had one black president, zero female presidents, zero Jewish or Muslim presidents, and zero openly gay or trans presidents in its 241-year history. There might be freedom and love and audacity in the weft of our national fabric, but hate and bigotry are in the warp.

The views fueling the spectacle in Charlottesville have been meticulously seeded and nurtured by the Republican Party for decades. Sure, pre-Trump Republicans traded more in dog-whistles and plausible deniability than overt Nazi sloganeering, but the goal was the same: white men in charge, white women at their elbows. Systematically enforced poverty turning millionaires into billionaires. Bigots may have swapped subtext for the Jumbotron, but what is the substantive difference? David Duke used to have to winkingly pretend to be a little bit less racist?

It is easy to denounce Nazis. Republican lawmakers, if you truly repudiate this march and this violence, then repudiate voter-ID laws. Repudiate gerrymandering. Repudiate police brutality. Repudiate mass incarceration and private prisons. Repudiate the war on drugs. Repudiate the fact that black Americans have still not been compensated for the unpaid forced labor that was foundational to white financial stability. Repudiate gun control obstructionism. Repudiate the Muslim ban. Repudiate the wall. Repudiate anti-abortion legislation. Repudiate abstinence-only education. Repudiate environmental deregulation. Repudiate birtherism. Repudiate homophobia and transphobia. Repudiate your own health care bill, which would have led to the deaths of thousands more people than a Dodge Challenger driven into a crowd. Repudiate your president.

None of that will happen (except maybe the last one, as soon as it becomes politically advantageous), so heres whats actually important: White people, this is all being done in your name. If you dont want it, prove it. Put your body in between fascists and the future. Start now.

Continue reading here:
Republicans, This Is Your President - New York Times