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#Dana and Rebecca were robbed
kittenscookie · 6 months
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Okay I've been thinking about Owl House a lot lately and...Guys I'm just so damn angry. Because I rewatched the first episode of the finale and realized something. That first episode is a season finale—That whole episode is one season's worth of content crammed into a single episode. That's at LEAST 12 episodes in 60 minutes—five minutes for each damn episode. But remember the first season of toh was nineteen, the second was twenty-one. If we assume the team would have continued with around that many episodes the average is around twenty. Twenty fucking episodes is sixty minutes—THREE MINUTES AN EPISODE.
This then led me to thinking about my other cancelled show with LGBTQ+ representation—Steven Universe. It's basically the same shit, except somehow fucking worst. The diamond arc should have been it's own fucking season, curing the corrupted gems and them having to get reintroduced to gem/human society should have been a damn season too! The two year time skip makes sense when you really think about it—that's the least amount of time it would have taken to get all that shit done in universe! A year to get the gems readjusted, a year to dismantle the diamond empire—plus episodes filling in gaps/unanswered questions. No wonder Rebecca fought so damn hard for SU Future and the movie! It was a desperate attempt to give herself and the fans some kind of closure! And don't forget! Steven universe seasons were LONG—the median amount of episodes was twenty-four.
This shit wasn't bad writing, it was rushed writing. Desperate attempts to cram what should have been at LEAST two seasons into a few short episodes. Can you imagine this? Sitting with your coworkers and trying to figure out how to make at least forty episodes only 3–6? What can be kept and what has to be left to the imagination? Think of what we fucking lost at those tables—Spinel could have been teased and had a better build up, we could have gotten a Wittebane Brothers flashback, we could have explored the characters in both shows trauma. I'm not just mad—I'm livid and not even for us. For Dana Terrace, for Rebecca Sugar. To have something you created thrown away without a care. I'd be in fucking tears.
Fuck Disney, fuck Warner Brothers.
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250 Favorite Arrowverse-Episodes: Part 6: 125-101
Picked from Arrow, Supergirl, Black Lighting, The Flash E1.1-8.5, Legends of Tomorrow E1.1-7.7, Batwoman S1 and Superman & Lois S1. Shows and Seasons that are not in here were either never seen by me or are not considered part of the Arrowverse but rather the DC-TV-Multiverse.
 125.The Present (The Flash 3x9)
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55, Written by: Aaron and Todd Helbing, Lauren Certo, Directed by: Rachel Talalay
 Christmas and shadows of the Future.
 124.The Book of War: Chapter Three: Liberartion (Black Lightning 3x16)
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45, Written by: Charles D. Holland, Directed by: Salim Akil
 The Finale of Season 3 was not the end of the show, even if you thought so.
 123.The Book Markovia: Chapter Three (Black Lightning 3x12)
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41, Written by: Adam Giaudrone, Lynelle White, Directed by: Bille Woodruff
 Jen goes into Khalil’s mind.
 122. Who is Harrison Wells? (The Flash 1x19)
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19, Written by: Ray Utarnachitt, Cortney Norris, Directed by: Wendey Stanzler
 Wells is not Wells and he is not the only one who is not who he seems to be in this one.
 121. Medusa (Supergirl 2x8)
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28, Written by: Jessica Queller, Derek Simon, Directed by: Stefan Pleszczynski
 Thanksgiving would be nicer if Mon-El wasn’t dying.
 120. The Man in the Yellow Suit (The Flash 1x9)
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9, Written by: Todd and Aaron Helbing, Directed by: Ralph Hemecker
 It’s Christmas and Barry meets his Arch Nemesis.
 119. Reign (Supergirl 3x9)
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51, Written by: Paula Yoo, Caitlin Parrish, Directed by: Glen Winter
 Reign beats Kara up at Christmas.
 118.Turncoat (Legends of Tomorrow 2x11)
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27, Written by: Grainne Godfree, Matthew Maala, Directed by: Alice Troughton
 Oh, no. Rip, what are you doing?
 117. Running to Standstill (The Flash 2x9)
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32, Written by: Andrew Kreisberg, Directed by: Kevin Tancharoen
 The Rogues team up to kill the Flash but Leonard has other plans.
 116.The Book of Apokalypse: Chapter 2: The Omega (Black Lightning 2x16)
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29, Written by: Charles D. Holland, Directed by: Salim Akil
 The Season 2 Finale.
 115. Lawanda: The Book of Burial (Black Lightning 1x3)
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3, Written by: Jan Nash, Directed by: Mark Tonderai
 Anissa meets Grace and comes into her own.
 114.The Book of Markovia: Chapter 4 (Black Lightning 3x13)
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42, Written by: Charles D. Holland, Asheleigh O. Conley, Directed by: Salim Akil
 Black Lightning and his allys descend upon Markovia.
 113. Dead to the Rights (Arrow 1x16)
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16, Written by:Geoff Johns, Directed by: Glen Winter
 Tommy learns that Oliver is the Hood.
 112.Star City 2046 (Legends of Tomorrow 1x6)
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6, Written by: Marc Guggenheim, Ray Utarnachitt, Directed by: Steve Shill
 Old Man Oliver and the New Green Arrow meet the Legends in this one.
 111. It’s a Super Life (Supergirl 5x13)
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100, Written by: Robert Rovner, Jessica Queller, Derek Simon, Nicki Holcomb, Directed by: Jesse Warn
 Kara tries to change her life to make things better, it does not work.
 110. Broken Trust (Superman & Lois 1x6)
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6, Written by: Katie Aldrin, Directed by: Sudz Sutherland
 Tag is confused and angry and Jordan learns a lesson.
 109. Take your Choice (Batwoman 1x12)
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8, Written by: Ebony Gilbert, Directed by: Tara Miele
 There can only be one!
 108. An Un-Birthday Present (Batwoman 1x11)
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11, Written by: Chad Fiveash, James Stoteraux, Directed by: Mairzee Almas
There are two of her!
107. Deathstroke Returns/Promise Kept (Arrow 6x5-6)
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120/121, Written by: Ben Sokolowski, Spiro Skentos, Oscar Balderrama, Rebecca Belotto, Directed by:  Joel Novoa,  Antonio Negret
 Slade has problems with his spawn.
 106.The Magnificent Eight (Legends of Tomorrow 1x11)
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11, Written by: Marc Guggenheim, Greg Berlanti, Directed by: Thor Freudenthal
 Jonah Hex is introduced in this one.
 105. Back from the Future 1-2 (Supergirl 511-12)
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98-99, Written by: Dana Horgan, Katie Rose Rogers; Rob Wright, J. Holtman, Directed by: David Harewood, Alexis Ostrander
An evil Winn is making mayhem.
104. Girls Night Out (The Flash 4x5)
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74, Written by: Lauren Certo, Kristen Kim, Directed by: Laura Belsey
 Iris‘ Bachelorette Party did take a wrong turn and the boys did get locked up.
 103.The Ex-Factor (Legends of Tomorrow 6x3)
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85, Written by: Grainne Godfree, Tyron B. Carter, Directed by: David Geddes
 Who can win Da Throne and sing his or her way out of an Alien Invasion?
 102. A Girl Named Sue (The Flash 6x12)
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126, Written by: Thomas Pound, Lauren Certo, Directed by: Chris Peppe
 Look. Ralph, it’s your future wife!
 101.The Satanist’s Apprentice (Legends of Tomorrow 6x5)
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87, Written by: Keto Shimizu, Ray Utarnachitt, Directed by: Caity Lotz
 Astra hates her life and gets a Disney Moment.
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tabloidtoc · 4 years
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Globe, October 12
You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks
Cover: Devil cult burns JonBenet Ramsey’s grave 
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Page 2: Up Front & Personal -- Kaley Cuoco and her dog in a stroller in New York City, Donatella Versace off the coast of Italy, Johnny Depp gets a gander at fans in Spain 
Page 3: Jude Law jogging in London, Mama June Shannon gets her roots dyed, Jon Stewart lends his voice to support U.S. military vets in Washington, D.C. 
Page 4: Man-hungry Kathie Lee Gifford has a mad crush on Craig Ferguson but he’s married and since she’s isn’t about to be a homewrecker instead she cast him to play her kissy-huggy love interest in Then Came You a flick she penned and released a couple weeks back 
Page 5: Tyra Banks has turned Dancing with the Stars into a miserable sweatshop behind the scenes -- Tyra is not only the host but an executive producer and she takes that title seriously and even with all these big personalities and egos Tyra wants it to run like a military operation which was how she did things on America’s Next Top Model -- Carrie Ann Inaba is seething and Bruno Tonioli is revolted and Derek Hough is huffing with displeasure, Chris Rock revealed he’s in therapy seven hours a week after being diagnosed with nonverbal learning disorder meaning he doesn’t understand nonverbal signals when talking to people 
Page 6: Fierce fights during lockdown have shredded strong-willed sweethearts Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell’s 37-year love in -- Goldie and Kurt recently had their worst-ever clash which led them to axe plans to finally get hitched this winter, you’d think filming Elf would have been a ho-ho time but bad blood between star Will Ferrell and writer-director Jon Favreau killed plans for a sequel 
Page 7: Shocked by the frighteningly gaunt and frail appearance of Bob Newhart friends of the hard-working star fear he’s working himself into his grave 
Page 8: Queen Elizabeth’s personal wealth is estimated at $450 million but she could wind up in the poor house because most of her wealth is locked in her two sprawling country estates which cost a king’s ransom to run: Sandringham and Balmoral 
Page 9: Prince Harry is sporting a choppy-sloppy short-cropped haircut that makes him look like a pauper apparently given to him by his wife Meghan Markle
Page 10: Kirstie Alley has been firing herself into a frenzy about everything these days from her weight to world affairs and her yo-yoing antics are driving friends batty and she’s also becoming more of a recluse 
Page 11: Joan Collins claims she was haunted by her sister Jackie Collins after the novelist died from breast cancer in 2015 -- Joan recalls upon learning her little sis had passed away the electricity went out putting her and husband Percy Gibson in the dark, country music legend Willie Nelson admits to being far from a model husband in his no-holds-barred new book -- the four-time married Willie admits to cheating and says his wandering ways were too much for any woman to put up with 
Page 12: Celebrity Buzz -- Gabourey Sidibe (picture), Lisa Rinna laughingly brushes off claims that her husband Harry Hamlin had a steamy 2018 affair near their Canadian getaway home, Jane Fonda believes in ghosts because she’s seen the ghost of her mother who committed suicide when Jane was 12, Kim Cattrall is still hot and heavy for her British boyfriend of four years Russell Thomas and the two start each day with a cup of tea, not even two weeks after testing positive for COVID-19 Robert Pattinson dropped his mask at a London park to kiss girlfriend Suki Waterhouse even though production on his big-budget flick The Batman was thrown into a tailspin when Rob tested positive for the virus
Page 13: David Harbour grabs a bite in NYC (picture), Rebecca Gayheart runs errands in Beverly Hills (picture), Michael O’Keefe of Caddyshack plays a real-life caddie on Long Island to raise money for charity (picture), Tiffany Haddish isn’t joking when she says she tried for years to be on The People’s Court 
Page 14: The People’s Court’s judge Marilyn Milian enjoys filming her show from her Miami living room where she sees litigants testifying from their homes via remote and she can see how they live, it’s a true kiss and tell by Adam Levine who’s getting loose-lipped about a wet wild kiss he shared with the late Kelly Preston in the music video for Maroon 5′s hit She Will Be Loved, Fashion Verdict -- Gabrielle Haugh 3/10, Paris Hilton 2/10, Keira Knightley 5/10, Tilda Swinton 7/10, Janelle Monae 9/10 
Page 16: Leah McSweeney of The Real Housewives of New York City is sporting black eyes after getting a nose job, Storage Wars star Rene Nezhoda bought a storage locker abandoned by Daniel Baldwin that houses $2500 worth of model trains 
Page 17: The coronavirus plague, natural disasters, the stock market crash, civil unrest, raging wildfires and gruesome death are all signs we are now living in the biblical End Times as predicted by Edgar Cayce and Grigori Rasputin and Nostradamus 
Page 19: 10 Things You Don’t Know About Drew Barrymore, Wendy Williams has come clean about using binoculars to get an eyeful of the naked dude next door in the shower, The Real Housewives of Potomac star Ashley Darby dishes that she and husband have engaged in threesomes 
Page 20: American Justice -- dentist Seth Lockhart jailed for yanking a patient’s tooth while riding a hoverboard among other crimes, it’s game over for a deputy sheriff Pasquale Salas from Texas who was convicted of grooming and exploiting young girls he met while playing Minecraft with them online 
Page 21: Blake Lively is fed up with husband Ryan Reynolds’ juvenile practical jokes and she’s ordering him to knock it off and after years of putting up with ridiculous Ryan’s weird pranks her nerves have been rubbed raw since COVID lockdown, dog lover Jon Hamm handed a twice-rejected rescue pup a new leash on life and now the pooch Splash is turning him to mush 
Page 23: NeNe Leakes won’t be returning to The Real Housewives of Atlanta after a tumultuous season 12 which saw NeNe feuding with most of the cast, Lady Gaga claims superstardom helped feed her deep dark depression and she was terrified to leave the house and she was often catatonic and says she’d sit outside and spend hours chain-smoking and crying, the $6 crown that Notorious B.I.G. wore in his final photoshoot sold at auction for $594,750 
Page 24: Cover Story -- JonBenet Ramsey’s family is facing new horror after the murdered child’s grave was defiled in a shocking incident investigators fear is linked to Satanic rituals 
Page 26: Health Report -- anxiety linked to thyroid problems 
Page 36: Lindsay Lohan has pulled a vanishing act while begging pals for much-needed cash -- she’s been living out of a suitcase for years and very few people know how to get hold of her or where she is -- now a high-profile book publisher has sued her after forking over $365,000 for a tell-all that she failed to complete so she’s hitting up all the big contacts she can and the word is she’s running on empty 
Page 38: Real Life -- Alzheimer’s stricken granny’s home of 50 years was seized by cold-hearted bureaucrats because she owed a paltry six cents in back taxes 
Page 44: Straight Talk -- we’re tired of scripted reality shows 
Page 45: Just months after the deaths of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna his mother-in-law Sofia Laine says a shocking rift has shredded the close relationship she had with her daughter and Kobe’s widow Vanessa Bryant, Tom Petty’s kin have ended their feud that got so petty they sued each other over salad dressing and now the clan’s uniting to re-release his legendary 1994 album Wildflowers which was almost scrapped due to nasty infighting between Tom’s widow Dana and the grown-up daughters Adria and Annakim from his first marriage 
Page 47: Hollywood Flashback -- Jeff Goldblum as Tricycle Man in Robert Altman’s Nashville, Bizarre But True 
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newsfact · 3 years
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Teddi Mellencamp blames Dorit Kemsley robbery on Dana Wilkey for putting ‘RHOBH’ star ‘in danger’
Teddi Mellencamp is seemingly pointing fingers at Dana Wilkey.
On Thursday, the 40-year-old suggested in a since-deleted Instagram post that Wilkey, who has appeared as a pal on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” put Dorit Kemsley “in danger” by posting about the fashion designer before she was robbed during a home invasion at her Encino Hills house in California.
The LAPD confirmed to Fox News the burglary occurred at 10:50 p.m. on October 27. There were three male suspects and an unknown amount of property was stolen.
The 45-year-old was reportedly held at gunpoint while her two young children – 7-year-old son, Jagger, and 5-year-old daughter, Phoenix — were in the home. No one was harmed.
‘REAL HOUSEWIVES’ STAR DORIT KEMSLEY ROBBED DURING HOME INVASION
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Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave (pictured here) had some strong words for Dana Wilkey on social media. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images)
“I hope you sleep really well tonight,” Mellencamp commented on a snap of a deposition Wilkey had posted on Instagram, Page Six reported.
According to the outlet, it showed Kemsley’s LLC, which is named after her residential street. However, the document didn’t disclose Kemsley’s exact home address.
“You put her and her kids in danger by posting this,” said the wellness coach and daughter of John Mellencamp. “Disgusting.”
It’s unknown why Wilkey, 46, uploaded the document with the caption “Guess why I’m posting this?” to begin with.
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Kemsley’s husband, Paul “PK” Kemsley, claimed that the deposition is a “normal statutory document,” and that Wilkey shared to photo in question to spark drama, the outlet reported.
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According to Bravo’s website, Dana Wilkey “is known in Beverly Hills for her over the top, celebrity driven events.” (Photo by Rebecca Sapp/WireImage/Getty Images)
“The first [reason] is because she’s thirsty and wants more followers (don’t follow her) and thinks this will help,” the 54-year-old wrote in the since-deleted post, as quoted by the outlet. “The 2nd answer is because she’s trying to imply to her less informed followers that this public document in some way suggests we the Kemsley’s [sic] have done something wrong and are crooks/con people.”
“This is a statutory document that’s required by law and simply provides basic information about an LLC,” he continued. “Because you have attempted to hurt my family’s reputation in a sad attempt to garner more attention and I’m delighted to award you C.T. [alluding to the C-word] of the week.”
Reps for Mellencamp, the Kemsleys and Wilky did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
According to the DailyMail, Kemsley was sleeping when the men broke in. They broke through a door downstairs and entered her bedroom. She reportedly begged them, “Don’t hurt my babies. Don’t kill me. I’m a mother.”
One of the men allegedly said, “Kill her.” The burglars ransacked the house for 20 minutes and left with Kemsley’s jewelry and handbags.
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Dorit Kemsley was reportedly held at gunpoint while her two young children were in the home. No one was harmed. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/WireImage/Getty Images)
Kemsley had just returned from a wedding in London on Tuesday.
After the men left, she called 911 and her husband, who was still in London. A source said she is “traumatized” by the incident.
‘REAL HOUSEWIVES’ STAR DORIT KEMSLEY SEEN FOR FIRST TIME AFTER ROBBERY, CO-STARS ARRIVE AT HER HOUSE
The couple has lived in the 9,000-square-foot home since 2019. They purchased it for $6.475M.
It features “6 bedrooms, 7 full and 3 half baths. Inside, floor-to-ceiling glass doors open to a backyard with a pool, cabana, putting green, and a sports court. Additional features include a screening room and 3-car garage,” according to post on social media when it was listed for sale. It has since been taken off the market.
On Wednesday morning, Kemsley’s Bravo co-stars Erika Jayne, Lisa Rinna, and Mellencamp were spotted arriving at the Encino home after the incident.
Mellencamp isn’t currently on the reality TV show. She was previously a main cast member on Seasons 8 –10 and a guest on Season 11.
ANDY COHEN NEARLY PUNCHED BY A ‘REAL HOUSEWIVES’ HUBBY: ‘HE HAD A GUN’
Reps for Bravo, the network behind the franchise, didn’t immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
Fox News’ Jessica Napoli contributed to this report.
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Wednesdays with Writers : Cultivating Gratitude, Last Days of Sylvia Plath, Life Of William Faulkner, Mixed Harvest
Wednesdays with Writers continues to offer you just published books by authors during this Covid 19 Crisis.
Gardening is not a hobby; it is an essential part of being. Gardening is a survival skill and an art form. This lockdown has sparked an increased appreciation for the solitude and splendor of gardening. Goddess Gardener, Cynthia Brian, helps you cultivate artful gratitude.
Two books will be discussed by author Carl Rollyson,The Last Days of Sylvia Plath and The Life of William Faulkner.  The Last Days of Sylvia Plath highlights how a writer can be shaped after their death and the subsequent fallout from posthumous literary editing. Rollyson brings together a vast range of source materials, drawing a sharp and convincing portrait of Faulkner, a great artist and family man who heroically struggled to support friends and family during the depths of the Depression in the second biography.
After millennia on earth with little impact, the inadvertent transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture happened within a few thousand years. Mixed Harvest by Rob Swigart is the story of the Sedentary Divide, the most significant event in human history. Before, humans followed their food; after, diet had abandoned wild foods by domesticating, irrevocably changing, plants and animals.
Bio: Carl Rollyson is the author of fourteen biographies for adults on subjects ranging from literature and journalism (Martha Gellhorn, Norman Mailer, and Rebecca West) to politics (Michael Foot) and the theater (Lillian Hellman). He has published four biographies for children about Marie Curie, Pablo Picasso, Thurgood Marshall, and Emily Dickinson.  His biographies of Rebecca West and Amy Lowell, and his study, A Higher Form of Cannibalism? Adventures in the Art and Politics of Biography, were supported by NEH Fellowships. Three of his biographies of Marilyn Monroe, Dana Andrews, and Walter Brennan are part of the Hollywood Legends series published by the University Press of Mississippi. The Last Days of Sylvia Plath and The Life of William Faulkner are his most recent publications. www.CarlRollyson.com
Bio: Rob Swigart is a genre-fluid writer with sixteen published books and almost as many unpublished, including satire, science fiction; interactive fiction; thrillers; archaeology textbook/novels, an Audible collection of short stories based on computer jargon of the 1980s, and dozens of poems. From humble beginnings as a cub reporter, he moved on to teach English in Greece, become a medic in the army, work in college textbook publishing, and go to graduate school. Then he taught, was a technical writer and journalist, designed games, spent a dozen years as a futurist, and traveled to dozens of archaeological sites in order to write about the past. Being a commercial, instrument rated pilot and SCUBA diver did little to prepare him for the apocalypse. His black belt in aikido may prove useful. Mixed Harvest recently won a gold Nautilus award. www.robswigart.com 
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Death threats against journalists have been normalized, and reactions to the Capital Gazette shooting prove it
Death threats against journalists have been normalized, and reactions to the Capital Gazette shooting prove it
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In a targeted attack on June 28th, Jarrod W. Ramos used a shotgun to force his way into the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, where he shot and killed five innocent people: Robert Hiaasen, an assistant editor and Sunday columnist at the Capital Gazette since 2010, Gerald Fischman, an editorial page editor who had been at the paper for over 25 years, John McNamara, a journalist and sports writer who covered various topics at the local paper for more than two decades, Rebecca Smith, a new sales assistant at the paper who joined the staff last year, and Wendi Winters, an editor and community reporter who wrote several columns for the paper every week.
Prior to his attack, Ramos had made “general threats” against the Capital Gazette after the paper ran a 2011 column detailing a harassment case that involved him. In 2009 and 2010, after reconnecting with a woman (his former high school classmate), Ramos sent her several malicious emails - including one in which he told the woman she should “go hang yourself.” Ramos also called and emailed the bank where the woman worked, urging them to fire her. His actions led to her suspension.
Ramos plead guilty to harassment in 2011. A few days later, the Capital Gazette published a piece about the case, and the article apparently enraged Ramos. In retaliation, Ramos filed a defamation lawsuit against the owners of the paper, and later followed up with an invasion of privacy complaint. Both cases were dismissed by a judge, as were Ramos's subsequent appeals.
In an interview with NBC's Today on July 2nd, the woman he'd tormented for years said, “I was afraid he could show up at any point, any place…and kill me…As soon as they said it happened at the Capital newspaper and they couldn't identify their suspect, I picked up the phone and said, 'I know who your suspect is.' I knew if he was to do anything on a mass shooting level, it was going to target the Capital.”
It will shock you I'm sure to learn that one reason the shooter targeted the Capital Gazette is because they reported on his stalking and harassing a woman: https://t.co/4l9SOvV0Ju
- Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) June 29, 2018
In addition to his troubling history of harassing women, Ramos was also guilty of frequently attacking Capital Gazette journalists online. In one of his many volatile tweets, he expressed a desire to see the paper cease publication, but that “it would be nicer” to see two of its staffers “cease breathing.” In 2013, he directly addressed editor Rob Hiaasen, one of the five people he murdered during his targeted shooting in the newsroom. On June 28th, shortly before the shooting, he tweeted profanities from an account that appears based on the name of the judge who'd handled his defamation case.
The man arrested for the Capital Gazette massacre spent years on Twitter "where he routinely harassed journalists from the newspaper in scores of profanity laced tweets.” In one tweet he said “it would be nicer” to see two journalists “cease breathing.” https://t.co/b69bZngerf
- Carl Zimmer (@carlzimmer) June 29, 2018
Ramos killed employees of the Capital Gazette just two days after conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos told reporters he “can't wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists.” Following the attack, police in both New York and Los Angeles increased patrols at news outlets including the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. In a statement to CNN, Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism and Intelligence John Miller said, “The NYPD has deployed counterterrorism teams to media organizations in and around New York City.”
It isn't shocking to learn that, like so many other mass shooters, Ramos has a history of violence against women. It's also not shocking to learn that - like so many conservatives, including the current President of the United States - Ramos used violent rhetoric when talking about the press and reporters.
Yiannopoulos has insisted that he “wasn't being serious” when he advocated for shooting the media, but his statement is just one of many recent comments from prominent conservative figures that encourage violence against reporters.
Considering all that's known about the shooter's years-long history with the Capital Gazette, investigators cannot call these murders responses to Yiannopoulos's comments - but statements like Yiannopoulos's, in conjunction with Donald Trump's repeated claims that the media is the “enemy of the people,” have normalized violent ideology, putting reporters' lives and safety at risk.
According to CNN, “Threats against journalists have been on the rise in recent years. Press freedom groups have also reported an uptick in physical assaults on journalists, particularly at campaign events and other political venues.”
Earlier this spring, reporter April Ryan revealed that she had received death threats after asking White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders whether Trump has considered resigning. This winter, for Columbia Journalism Review, veteran culture writer Anne Helen Petersen wrote about the constant threats targeting reporters, especially women reporters.
Following the news of the Annapolis shooting, Petersen took to Twitter to re-share her report and her personal experiences:
“I've had people email death threats, threaten to cut my dog's throat, tell me I'd pay for my fake news. My mom told me to stop tagging my neighborhood on Instagram, I told her she was over-reacting,” Petersen wrote. “Whatever the motive of this shooter, people are going to say that journalists are overreacting. We're not. We've been under-reacting for years.”
When I wrote about how reporters dealt with menace, I talked to a dozen women who'd become so accustomed to abuse that it becomes just another part of the routine, like checking your email: https://t.co/TxxGjp8WQ6
- Anne Helen Petersen (@annehelen) June 28, 2018
Whatever the motive of this shooter, people are going to say that journalists are overreacting. We're not. We've been under-reacting for years.
- Anne Helen Petersen (@annehelen) June 28, 2018
One of the people who think journalists are “overreacting” is Yiannopoulos.
In response to the shooting in Annapolis and claims that his comments have incited violence, Yiannopoulos took to Facebook to defend his comment about “vigilante death squads,” claiming he was just trolling with a “private joke.” He went on to make several controversial speculations about the shooter, saying “Let's hope it's another transgender shooter, too, so the casualties are minimal.”
New: Milo Yiannopoulos responds to #AnnapolisShooting. "Let's hope it's another transgender shooter, too, so the casualties are minimal." pic.twitter.com/FoGAzTepOC
- Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) June 28, 2018
In response to reporter Amy Russo, who emailed Yiannopoulous to ask about his “encouragement of violence against reporters,” he said the media “deserve what's coming.”
A screenshot Russo posted on Twitter showed Yiannopolous's comments, which included the chilling statement, “If journalists keep lying, deceiving and manipulating the public, then they will reap the same hatred they are sowing against Trump and his voters.” Even in his explanation of his controversial comments, Yiannopolous continued to insinuate, even encourage, violence against reporters.
Responding to our story @Mediaite about his encouragement of violence against reporters, Milo Yiannopoulos sent me an ominous message: pic.twitter.com/PhRd9Dv39J
- Amy Russo (@amymrusso) June 26, 2018
Yiannopoulos may be one of the most outspoken and outrageous voices against the press, but he is far from the only conservative voice to encourage this kind of violence. In 2017, former Trump adviser and ex-Breitbart News editor Steve Bannon called the press the “opposition party” and told the media to “keep its mouth shut.” At a rally in South Carolina on June 25th, just three days before the shooting at the Capital Gazette, Trump attacked the press, once again calling it “the enemy of the people.” According to AP reporter Steve Peoples, his criticism of the “fake-newsers” in the back of the room was met with “angry shouts from the crowd.” Another source of loud and constant criticism of the media that calls legitimate reporting “fake news?” Conservative darling and the president's favorite TV station: Fox News.
"The enemy of the people," Trump says pointing at the free press at the back of the room. https://t.co/T1mBA0Gl2K
- Steve Peoples (@sppeoples) June 26, 2018
In the wake of the shooting, while other news outlets were scrambling for information on the victims and the suspected shooter's motive, Fox News checked the ideology of the Capital Gazette and reported that it was “very much a local paper.” According to anchor Trace Gallagher, Fox News wanted to know the paper's political slant in case it “plays into the motive of it all.” Neil Cavuto, a Fox News commentator, also speculated on air about the Capital Gazette's ideological bent, but concluded that he didn't “notice any rabid editorials.” Observers rightfully took serious issue with Fox News' decision to focus on this aspect of the paper, pointing out how inappropriate it is to imply that said ideology would be relevant to the motive.
Fox News says they "checked in on the ideological bent" of the Capital Gazette but decided it was "very local" with no "major ideological bent" - then acknowledges they don't yet know if this is at all relevant to the motive. pic.twitter.com/wEPI5w2FHC
- David Mack (@davidmackau) June 28, 2018
Glad Fox News checked to see if they deserved to be murdered or not https://t.co/F2IIQSNEiO
- Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) June 28, 2018
Fox "News" had to check out what Capital Gazette's political ideological was before they could figure of whether their journalists deserved to be killed, or not. https://t.co/ut6wCwBJ3m
- Facts Do Matter (@WilDonnelly) June 28, 2018
In another part of the internet, however, people had a completely different reaction to the murder of five newspaper employees. Following the tragic shooting in Annapolis, trolls on the far-right “celebrated” the violence inflicted upon the innocent people inside the newspaper office.
Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell posted a series of screenshots on Twitter that showed, as he puts it, an “active celebration in the worst parts of the Internet over the shooting in Annapolis.” Among the horrifying comments were things like “dead journalists can't spread leftist propaganda” and, as Ben Collins from NBC pointed out in another screenshot from the r/The_donald thread, “Here we go! Right on time.”
Active celebration in the worst parts of the Internet over the shooting in Annapolis: "dead journalists can't spread leftist propaganda" pic.twitter.com/L9pvddDIgr
- Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) June 28, 2018
Top two comments in r/The_donald's post on the Annapolis shooting. "Here we go! Right on time!" "so it begins" pic.twitter.com/MrfZuZqSQm
- Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) June 28, 2018
Some of the most chilling posts actually link back to Donald Trump's tweet from February 2017 calling the media “the enemy of the American People.”
Some are linking to President Trump's tweet calling the media "the enemy of the American People." A few anonymous posters are also talking to me: "I hope you're next!" pic.twitter.com/XtcvYlbdwM
- Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) June 28, 2018
That February tweet was not the only time Trump has referred to the free press as “the enemy,” and the president is far from the only person to wage an open war on journalists across the country. As CNN's Brian Selter put it, “This is a day many journalists have feared for a long time.”
Following the violence on June 28th, several members of the press asked Trump for a statement on the deaths of journalists in Annapolis, but Trump did not immediately respond. He later took to Twitter to thank first responders and say his “thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.”
"Can you please talk to us about the dead reporters in Annapolis?" “Do you have any words of condolence for the families, Mr. President?” "Why are you walking away?" Pres. Trump does not comment when asked about the deadly Maryland newsroom shooting.https://t.co/5ZcmEVQW9z pic.twitter.com/heIzI7S4Ck
- NBC News (@NBCNews) June 28, 2018
But as Capital Gazette staff writer and shooting survivor Selene San Felice told Anderson Cooper on CNN, she (and many others around the country) “couldn't give a fuck about [Trump's thoughts and prayers] if there's nothing else” that will be done. And a whole lot more needs to be done  - starting with changes in how the press is treated and discussed by the most powerful man in the world.
The post Death threats against journalists have been normalized, and reactions to the Capital Gazette shooting prove it appeared first on HelloGiggles.
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cowgirluli-blog · 6 years
Text
Death threats against journalists have been normalized, and reactions to the Capital Gazette shooting prove it
Death threats against journalists have been normalized, and reactions to the Capital Gazette shooting prove it
Tumblr media
In a targeted attack on June 28th, Jarrod W. Ramos used a shotgun to force his way into the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, where he shot and killed five innocent people: Robert Hiaasen, an assistant editor and Sunday columnist at the Capital Gazette since 2010, Gerald Fischman, an editorial page editor who had been at the paper for over 25 years, John McNamara, a journalist and sports writer who covered various topics at the local paper for more than two decades, Rebecca Smith, a new sales assistant at the paper who joined the staff last year, and Wendi Winters, an editor and community reporter who wrote several columns for the paper every week.
Prior to his attack, Ramos had made “general threats” against the Capital Gazette after the paper ran a 2011 column detailing a harassment case that involved him. In 2009 and 2010, after reconnecting with a woman (his former high school classmate), Ramos sent her several malicious emails - including one in which he told the woman she should “go hang yourself.” Ramos also called and emailed the bank where the woman worked, urging them to fire her. His actions led to her suspension.
Ramos plead guilty to harassment in 2011. A few days later, the Capital Gazette published a piece about the case, and the article apparently enraged Ramos. In retaliation, Ramos filed a defamation lawsuit against the owners of the paper, and later followed up with an invasion of privacy complaint. Both cases were dismissed by a judge, as were Ramos's subsequent appeals.
In an interview with NBC's Today on July 2nd, the woman he'd tormented for years said, “I was afraid he could show up at any point, any place…and kill me…As soon as they said it happened at the Capital newspaper and they couldn't identify their suspect, I picked up the phone and said, 'I know who your suspect is.' I knew if he was to do anything on a mass shooting level, it was going to target the Capital.”
It will shock you I'm sure to learn that one reason the shooter targeted the Capital Gazette is because they reported on his stalking and harassing a woman: https://t.co/4l9SOvV0Ju
- Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) June 29, 2018
In addition to his troubling history of harassing women, Ramos was also guilty of frequently attacking Capital Gazette journalists online. In one of his many volatile tweets, he expressed a desire to see the paper cease publication, but that “it would be nicer” to see two of its staffers “cease breathing.” In 2013, he directly addressed editor Rob Hiaasen, one of the five people he murdered during his targeted shooting in the newsroom. On June 28th, shortly before the shooting, he tweeted profanities from an account that appears based on the name of the judge who'd handled his defamation case.
The man arrested for the Capital Gazette massacre spent years on Twitter "where he routinely harassed journalists from the newspaper in scores of profanity laced tweets.” In one tweet he said “it would be nicer” to see two journalists “cease breathing.” https://t.co/b69bZngerf
- Carl Zimmer (@carlzimmer) June 29, 2018
Ramos killed employees of the Capital Gazette just two days after conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos told reporters he “can't wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists.” Following the attack, police in both New York and Los Angeles increased patrols at news outlets including the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. In a statement to CNN, Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism and Intelligence John Miller said, “The NYPD has deployed counterterrorism teams to media organizations in and around New York City.”
It isn't shocking to learn that, like so many other mass shooters, Ramos has a history of violence against women. It's also not shocking to learn that - like so many conservatives, including the current President of the United States - Ramos used violent rhetoric when talking about the press and reporters.
Yiannopoulos has insisted that he “wasn't being serious” when he advocated for shooting the media, but his statement is just one of many recent comments from prominent conservative figures that encourage violence against reporters.
Considering all that's known about the shooter's years-long history with the Capital Gazette, investigators cannot call these murders responses to Yiannopoulos's comments - but statements like Yiannopoulos's, in conjunction with Donald Trump's repeated claims that the media is the “enemy of the people,” have normalized violent ideology, putting reporters' lives and safety at risk.
According to CNN, “Threats against journalists have been on the rise in recent years. Press freedom groups have also reported an uptick in physical assaults on journalists, particularly at campaign events and other political venues.”
Earlier this spring, reporter April Ryan revealed that she had received death threats after asking White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders whether Trump has considered resigning. This winter, for Columbia Journalism Review, veteran culture writer Anne Helen Petersen wrote about the constant threats targeting reporters, especially women reporters.
Following the news of the Annapolis shooting, Petersen took to Twitter to re-share her report and her personal experiences:
“I've had people email death threats, threaten to cut my dog's throat, tell me I'd pay for my fake news. My mom told me to stop tagging my neighborhood on Instagram, I told her she was over-reacting,” Petersen wrote. “Whatever the motive of this shooter, people are going to say that journalists are overreacting. We're not. We've been under-reacting for years.”
When I wrote about how reporters dealt with menace, I talked to a dozen women who'd become so accustomed to abuse that it becomes just another part of the routine, like checking your email: https://t.co/TxxGjp8WQ6
- Anne Helen Petersen (@annehelen) June 28, 2018
Whatever the motive of this shooter, people are going to say that journalists are overreacting. We're not. We've been under-reacting for years.
- Anne Helen Petersen (@annehelen) June 28, 2018
One of the people who think journalists are “overreacting” is Yiannopoulos.
In response to the shooting in Annapolis and claims that his comments have incited violence, Yiannopoulos took to Facebook to defend his comment about “vigilante death squads,” claiming he was just trolling with a “private joke.” He went on to make several controversial speculations about the shooter, saying “Let's hope it's another transgender shooter, too, so the casualties are minimal.”
New: Milo Yiannopoulos responds to #AnnapolisShooting. "Let's hope it's another transgender shooter, too, so the casualties are minimal." pic.twitter.com/FoGAzTepOC
- Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) June 28, 2018
In response to reporter Amy Russo, who emailed Yiannopoulous to ask about his “encouragement of violence against reporters,” he said the media “deserve what's coming.”
A screenshot Russo posted on Twitter showed Yiannopolous's comments, which included the chilling statement, “If journalists keep lying, deceiving and manipulating the public, then they will reap the same hatred they are sowing against Trump and his voters.” Even in his explanation of his controversial comments, Yiannopolous continued to insinuate, even encourage, violence against reporters.
Responding to our story @Mediaite about his encouragement of violence against reporters, Milo Yiannopoulos sent me an ominous message: pic.twitter.com/PhRd9Dv39J
- Amy Russo (@amymrusso) June 26, 2018
Yiannopoulos may be one of the most outspoken and outrageous voices against the press, but he is far from the only conservative voice to encourage this kind of violence. In 2017, former Trump adviser and ex-Breitbart News editor Steve Bannon called the press the “opposition party” and told the media to “keep its mouth shut.” At a rally in South Carolina on June 25th, just three days before the shooting at the Capital Gazette, Trump attacked the press, once again calling it “the enemy of the people.” According to AP reporter Steve Peoples, his criticism of the “fake-newsers” in the back of the room was met with “angry shouts from the crowd.” Another source of loud and constant criticism of the media that calls legitimate reporting “fake news?” Conservative darling and the president's favorite TV station: Fox News.
"The enemy of the people," Trump says pointing at the free press at the back of the room. https://t.co/T1mBA0Gl2K
- Steve Peoples (@sppeoples) June 26, 2018
In the wake of the shooting, while other news outlets were scrambling for information on the victims and the suspected shooter's motive, Fox News checked the ideology of the Capital Gazette and reported that it was “very much a local paper.” According to anchor Trace Gallagher, Fox News wanted to know the paper's political slant in case it “plays into the motive of it all.” Neil Cavuto, a Fox News commentator, also speculated on air about the Capital Gazette's ideological bent, but concluded that he didn't “notice any rabid editorials.” Observers rightfully took serious issue with Fox News' decision to focus on this aspect of the paper, pointing out how inappropriate it is to imply that said ideology would be relevant to the motive.
Fox News says they "checked in on the ideological bent" of the Capital Gazette but decided it was "very local" with no "major ideological bent" - then acknowledges they don't yet know if this is at all relevant to the motive. pic.twitter.com/wEPI5w2FHC
- David Mack (@davidmackau) June 28, 2018
Glad Fox News checked to see if they deserved to be murdered or not https://t.co/F2IIQSNEiO
- Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) June 28, 2018
Fox "News" had to check out what Capital Gazette's political ideological was before they could figure of whether their journalists deserved to be killed, or not. https://t.co/ut6wCwBJ3m
- Facts Do Matter (@WilDonnelly) June 28, 2018
In another part of the internet, however, people had a completely different reaction to the murder of five newspaper employees. Following the tragic shooting in Annapolis, trolls on the far-right “celebrated” the violence inflicted upon the innocent people inside the newspaper office.
Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell posted a series of screenshots on Twitter that showed, as he puts it, an “active celebration in the worst parts of the Internet over the shooting in Annapolis.” Among the horrifying comments were things like “dead journalists can't spread leftist propaganda” and, as Ben Collins from NBC pointed out in another screenshot from the r/The_donald thread, “Here we go! Right on time.”
Active celebration in the worst parts of the Internet over the shooting in Annapolis: "dead journalists can't spread leftist propaganda" pic.twitter.com/L9pvddDIgr
- Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) June 28, 2018
Top two comments in r/The_donald's post on the Annapolis shooting. "Here we go! Right on time!" "so it begins" pic.twitter.com/MrfZuZqSQm
- Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) June 28, 2018
Some of the most chilling posts actually link back to Donald Trump's tweet from February 2017 calling the media “the enemy of the American People.”
Some are linking to President Trump's tweet calling the media "the enemy of the American People." A few anonymous posters are also talking to me: "I hope you're next!" pic.twitter.com/XtcvYlbdwM
- Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) June 28, 2018
That February tweet was not the only time Trump has referred to the free press as “the enemy,” and the president is far from the only person to wage an open war on journalists across the country. As CNN's Brian Selter put it, “This is a day many journalists have feared for a long time.”
Following the violence on June 28th, several members of the press asked Trump for a statement on the deaths of journalists in Annapolis, but Trump did not immediately respond. He later took to Twitter to thank first responders and say his “thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.”
"Can you please talk to us about the dead reporters in Annapolis?" “Do you have any words of condolence for the families, Mr. President?” "Why are you walking away?" Pres. Trump does not comment when asked about the deadly Maryland newsroom shooting.https://t.co/5ZcmEVQW9z pic.twitter.com/heIzI7S4Ck
- NBC News (@NBCNews) June 28, 2018
But as Capital Gazette staff writer and shooting survivor Selene San Felice told Anderson Cooper on CNN, she (and many others around the country) “couldn't give a fuck about [Trump's thoughts and prayers] if there's nothing else” that will be done. And a whole lot more needs to be done  - starting with changes in how the press is treated and discussed by the most powerful man in the world.
The post Death threats against journalists have been normalized, and reactions to the Capital Gazette shooting prove it appeared first on HelloGiggles.
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ungracefulswan-blog · 6 years
Text
Death threats against journalists have been normalized, and reactions to the Capital Gazette shooting prove it
Death threats against journalists have been normalized, and reactions to the Capital Gazette shooting prove it
Tumblr media
In a targeted attack on June 28th, Jarrod W. Ramos used a shotgun to force his way into the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, where he shot and killed five innocent people: Robert Hiaasen, an assistant editor and Sunday columnist at the Capital Gazette since 2010, Gerald Fischman, an editorial page editor who had been at the paper for over 25 years, John McNamara, a journalist and sports writer who covered various topics at the local paper for more than two decades, Rebecca Smith, a new sales assistant at the paper who joined the staff last year, and Wendi Winters, an editor and community reporter who wrote several columns for the paper every week.
Prior to his attack, Ramos had made “general threats” against the Capital Gazette after the paper ran a 2011 column detailing a harassment case that involved him. In 2009 and 2010, after reconnecting with a woman (his former high school classmate), Ramos sent her several malicious emails - including one in which he told the woman she should “go hang yourself.” Ramos also called and emailed the bank where the woman worked, urging them to fire her. His actions led to her suspension.
Ramos plead guilty to harassment in 2011. A few days later, the Capital Gazette published a piece about the case, and the article apparently enraged Ramos. In retaliation, Ramos filed a defamation lawsuit against the owners of the paper, and later followed up with an invasion of privacy complaint. Both cases were dismissed by a judge, as were Ramos's subsequent appeals.
In an interview with NBC's Today on July 2nd, the woman he'd tormented for years said, “I was afraid he could show up at any point, any place…and kill me…As soon as they said it happened at the Capital newspaper and they couldn't identify their suspect, I picked up the phone and said, 'I know who your suspect is.' I knew if he was to do anything on a mass shooting level, it was going to target the Capital.”
It will shock you I'm sure to learn that one reason the shooter targeted the Capital Gazette is because they reported on his stalking and harassing a woman: https://t.co/4l9SOvV0Ju
- Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) June 29, 2018
In addition to his troubling history of harassing women, Ramos was also guilty of frequently attacking Capital Gazette journalists online. In one of his many volatile tweets, he expressed a desire to see the paper cease publication, but that “it would be nicer” to see two of its staffers “cease breathing.” In 2013, he directly addressed editor Rob Hiaasen, one of the five people he murdered during his targeted shooting in the newsroom. On June 28th, shortly before the shooting, he tweeted profanities from an account that appears based on the name of the judge who'd handled his defamation case.
The man arrested for the Capital Gazette massacre spent years on Twitter "where he routinely harassed journalists from the newspaper in scores of profanity laced tweets.” In one tweet he said “it would be nicer” to see two journalists “cease breathing.” https://t.co/b69bZngerf
- Carl Zimmer (@carlzimmer) June 29, 2018
Ramos killed employees of the Capital Gazette just two days after conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos told reporters he “can't wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists.” Following the attack, police in both New York and Los Angeles increased patrols at news outlets including the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. In a statement to CNN, Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism and Intelligence John Miller said, “The NYPD has deployed counterterrorism teams to media organizations in and around New York City.”
It isn't shocking to learn that, like so many other mass shooters, Ramos has a history of violence against women. It's also not shocking to learn that - like so many conservatives, including the current President of the United States - Ramos used violent rhetoric when talking about the press and reporters.
Yiannopoulos has insisted that he “wasn't being serious” when he advocated for shooting the media, but his statement is just one of many recent comments from prominent conservative figures that encourage violence against reporters.
Considering all that's known about the shooter's years-long history with the Capital Gazette, investigators cannot call these murders responses to Yiannopoulos's comments - but statements like Yiannopoulos's, in conjunction with Donald Trump's repeated claims that the media is the “enemy of the people,” have normalized violent ideology, putting reporters' lives and safety at risk.
According to CNN, “Threats against journalists have been on the rise in recent years. Press freedom groups have also reported an uptick in physical assaults on journalists, particularly at campaign events and other political venues.”
Earlier this spring, reporter April Ryan revealed that she had received death threats after asking White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders whether Trump has considered resigning. This winter, for Columbia Journalism Review, veteran culture writer Anne Helen Petersen wrote about the constant threats targeting reporters, especially women reporters.
Following the news of the Annapolis shooting, Petersen took to Twitter to re-share her report and her personal experiences:
“I've had people email death threats, threaten to cut my dog's throat, tell me I'd pay for my fake news. My mom told me to stop tagging my neighborhood on Instagram, I told her she was over-reacting,” Petersen wrote. “Whatever the motive of this shooter, people are going to say that journalists are overreacting. We're not. We've been under-reacting for years.”
When I wrote about how reporters dealt with menace, I talked to a dozen women who'd become so accustomed to abuse that it becomes just another part of the routine, like checking your email: https://t.co/TxxGjp8WQ6
- Anne Helen Petersen (@annehelen) June 28, 2018
Whatever the motive of this shooter, people are going to say that journalists are overreacting. We're not. We've been under-reacting for years.
- Anne Helen Petersen (@annehelen) June 28, 2018
One of the people who think journalists are “overreacting” is Yiannopoulos.
In response to the shooting in Annapolis and claims that his comments have incited violence, Yiannopoulos took to Facebook to defend his comment about “vigilante death squads,” claiming he was just trolling with a “private joke.” He went on to make several controversial speculations about the shooter, saying “Let's hope it's another transgender shooter, too, so the casualties are minimal.”
New: Milo Yiannopoulos responds to #AnnapolisShooting. "Let's hope it's another transgender shooter, too, so the casualties are minimal." pic.twitter.com/FoGAzTepOC
- Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) June 28, 2018
In response to reporter Amy Russo, who emailed Yiannopoulous to ask about his “encouragement of violence against reporters,” he said the media “deserve what's coming.”
A screenshot Russo posted on Twitter showed Yiannopolous's comments, which included the chilling statement, “If journalists keep lying, deceiving and manipulating the public, then they will reap the same hatred they are sowing against Trump and his voters.” Even in his explanation of his controversial comments, Yiannopolous continued to insinuate, even encourage, violence against reporters.
Responding to our story @Mediaite about his encouragement of violence against reporters, Milo Yiannopoulos sent me an ominous message: pic.twitter.com/PhRd9Dv39J
- Amy Russo (@amymrusso) June 26, 2018
Yiannopoulos may be one of the most outspoken and outrageous voices against the press, but he is far from the only conservative voice to encourage this kind of violence. In 2017, former Trump adviser and ex-Breitbart News editor Steve Bannon called the press the “opposition party” and told the media to “keep its mouth shut.” At a rally in South Carolina on June 25th, just three days before the shooting at the Capital Gazette, Trump attacked the press, once again calling it “the enemy of the people.” According to AP reporter Steve Peoples, his criticism of the “fake-newsers” in the back of the room was met with “angry shouts from the crowd.” Another source of loud and constant criticism of the media that calls legitimate reporting “fake news?” Conservative darling and the president's favorite TV station: Fox News.
"The enemy of the people," Trump says pointing at the free press at the back of the room. https://t.co/T1mBA0Gl2K
- Steve Peoples (@sppeoples) June 26, 2018
In the wake of the shooting, while other news outlets were scrambling for information on the victims and the suspected shooter's motive, Fox News checked the ideology of the Capital Gazette and reported that it was “very much a local paper.” According to anchor Trace Gallagher, Fox News wanted to know the paper's political slant in case it “plays into the motive of it all.” Neil Cavuto, a Fox News commentator, also speculated on air about the Capital Gazette's ideological bent, but concluded that he didn't “notice any rabid editorials.” Observers rightfully took serious issue with Fox News' decision to focus on this aspect of the paper, pointing out how inappropriate it is to imply that said ideology would be relevant to the motive.
Fox News says they "checked in on the ideological bent" of the Capital Gazette but decided it was "very local" with no "major ideological bent" - then acknowledges they don't yet know if this is at all relevant to the motive. pic.twitter.com/wEPI5w2FHC
- David Mack (@davidmackau) June 28, 2018
Glad Fox News checked to see if they deserved to be murdered or not https://t.co/F2IIQSNEiO
- Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) June 28, 2018
Fox "News" had to check out what Capital Gazette's political ideological was before they could figure of whether their journalists deserved to be killed, or not. https://t.co/ut6wCwBJ3m
- Facts Do Matter (@WilDonnelly) June 28, 2018
In another part of the internet, however, people had a completely different reaction to the murder of five newspaper employees. Following the tragic shooting in Annapolis, trolls on the far-right “celebrated” the violence inflicted upon the innocent people inside the newspaper office.
Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell posted a series of screenshots on Twitter that showed, as he puts it, an “active celebration in the worst parts of the Internet over the shooting in Annapolis.” Among the horrifying comments were things like “dead journalists can't spread leftist propaganda” and, as Ben Collins from NBC pointed out in another screenshot from the r/The_donald thread, “Here we go! Right on time.”
Active celebration in the worst parts of the Internet over the shooting in Annapolis: "dead journalists can't spread leftist propaganda" pic.twitter.com/L9pvddDIgr
- Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) June 28, 2018
Top two comments in r/The_donald's post on the Annapolis shooting. "Here we go! Right on time!" "so it begins" pic.twitter.com/MrfZuZqSQm
- Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) June 28, 2018
Some of the most chilling posts actually link back to Donald Trump's tweet from February 2017 calling the media “the enemy of the American People.”
Some are linking to President Trump's tweet calling the media "the enemy of the American People." A few anonymous posters are also talking to me: "I hope you're next!" pic.twitter.com/XtcvYlbdwM
- Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) June 28, 2018
That February tweet was not the only time Trump has referred to the free press as “the enemy,” and the president is far from the only person to wage an open war on journalists across the country. As CNN's Brian Selter put it, “This is a day many journalists have feared for a long time.”
Following the violence on June 28th, several members of the press asked Trump for a statement on the deaths of journalists in Annapolis, but Trump did not immediately respond. He later took to Twitter to thank first responders and say his “thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.”
"Can you please talk to us about the dead reporters in Annapolis?" “Do you have any words of condolence for the families, Mr. President?” "Why are you walking away?" Pres. Trump does not comment when asked about the deadly Maryland newsroom shooting.https://t.co/5ZcmEVQW9z pic.twitter.com/heIzI7S4Ck
- NBC News (@NBCNews) June 28, 2018
But as Capital Gazette staff writer and shooting survivor Selene San Felice told Anderson Cooper on CNN, she (and many others around the country) “couldn't give a fuck about [Trump's thoughts and prayers] if there's nothing else” that will be done. And a whole lot more needs to be done  - starting with changes in how the press is treated and discussed by the most powerful man in the world.
The post Death threats against journalists have been normalized, and reactions to the Capital Gazette shooting prove it appeared first on HelloGiggles.
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Death threats against journalists have been normalized, and reactions to the Capital Gazette shooting prove it
Death threats against journalists have been normalized, and reactions to the Capital Gazette shooting prove it
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In a targeted attack on June 28th, Jarrod W. Ramos used a shotgun to force his way into the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, where he shot and killed five innocent people: Robert Hiaasen, an assistant editor and Sunday columnist at the Capital Gazette since 2010, Gerald Fischman, an editorial page editor who had been at the paper for over 25 years, John McNamara, a journalist and sports writer who covered various topics at the local paper for more than two decades, Rebecca Smith, a new sales assistant at the paper who joined the staff last year, and Wendi Winters, an editor and community reporter who wrote several columns for the paper every week.
Prior to his attack, Ramos had made “general threats” against the Capital Gazette after the paper ran a 2011 column detailing a harassment case that involved him. In 2009 and 2010, after reconnecting with a woman (his former high school classmate), Ramos sent her several malicious emails - including one in which he told the woman she should “go hang yourself.” Ramos also called and emailed the bank where the woman worked, urging them to fire her. His actions led to her suspension.
Ramos plead guilty to harassment in 2011. A few days later, the Capital Gazette published a piece about the case, and the article apparently enraged Ramos. In retaliation, Ramos filed a defamation lawsuit against the owners of the paper, and later followed up with an invasion of privacy complaint. Both cases were dismissed by a judge, as were Ramos's subsequent appeals.
In an interview with NBC's Today on July 2nd, the woman he'd tormented for years said, “I was afraid he could show up at any point, any place…and kill me…As soon as they said it happened at the Capital newspaper and they couldn't identify their suspect, I picked up the phone and said, 'I know who your suspect is.' I knew if he was to do anything on a mass shooting level, it was going to target the Capital.”
It will shock you I'm sure to learn that one reason the shooter targeted the Capital Gazette is because they reported on his stalking and harassing a woman: https://t.co/4l9SOvV0Ju
- Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) June 29, 2018
In addition to his troubling history of harassing women, Ramos was also guilty of frequently attacking Capital Gazette journalists online. In one of his many volatile tweets, he expressed a desire to see the paper cease publication, but that “it would be nicer” to see two of its staffers “cease breathing.” In 2013, he directly addressed editor Rob Hiaasen, one of the five people he murdered during his targeted shooting in the newsroom. On June 28th, shortly before the shooting, he tweeted profanities from an account that appears based on the name of the judge who'd handled his defamation case.
The man arrested for the Capital Gazette massacre spent years on Twitter "where he routinely harassed journalists from the newspaper in scores of profanity laced tweets.” In one tweet he said “it would be nicer” to see two journalists “cease breathing.” https://t.co/b69bZngerf
- Carl Zimmer (@carlzimmer) June 29, 2018
Ramos killed employees of the Capital Gazette just two days after conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos told reporters he “can't wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists.” Following the attack, police in both New York and Los Angeles increased patrols at news outlets including the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. In a statement to CNN, Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism and Intelligence John Miller said, “The NYPD has deployed counterterrorism teams to media organizations in and around New York City.”
It isn't shocking to learn that, like so many other mass shooters, Ramos has a history of violence against women. It's also not shocking to learn that - like so many conservatives, including the current President of the United States - Ramos used violent rhetoric when talking about the press and reporters.
Yiannopoulos has insisted that he “wasn't being serious” when he advocated for shooting the media, but his statement is just one of many recent comments from prominent conservative figures that encourage violence against reporters.
Considering all that's known about the shooter's years-long history with the Capital Gazette, investigators cannot call these murders responses to Yiannopoulos's comments - but statements like Yiannopoulos's, in conjunction with Donald Trump's repeated claims that the media is the “enemy of the people,” have normalized violent ideology, putting reporters' lives and safety at risk.
According to CNN, “Threats against journalists have been on the rise in recent years. Press freedom groups have also reported an uptick in physical assaults on journalists, particularly at campaign events and other political venues.”
Earlier this spring, reporter April Ryan revealed that she had received death threats after asking White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders whether Trump has considered resigning. This winter, for Columbia Journalism Review, veteran culture writer Anne Helen Petersen wrote about the constant threats targeting reporters, especially women reporters.
Following the news of the Annapolis shooting, Petersen took to Twitter to re-share her report and her personal experiences:
“I've had people email death threats, threaten to cut my dog's throat, tell me I'd pay for my fake news. My mom told me to stop tagging my neighborhood on Instagram, I told her she was over-reacting,” Petersen wrote. “Whatever the motive of this shooter, people are going to say that journalists are overreacting. We're not. We've been under-reacting for years.”
When I wrote about how reporters dealt with menace, I talked to a dozen women who'd become so accustomed to abuse that it becomes just another part of the routine, like checking your email: https://t.co/TxxGjp8WQ6
- Anne Helen Petersen (@annehelen) June 28, 2018
Whatever the motive of this shooter, people are going to say that journalists are overreacting. We're not. We've been under-reacting for years.
- Anne Helen Petersen (@annehelen) June 28, 2018
One of the people who think journalists are “overreacting” is Yiannopoulos.
In response to the shooting in Annapolis and claims that his comments have incited violence, Yiannopoulos took to Facebook to defend his comment about “vigilante death squads,” claiming he was just trolling with a “private joke.” He went on to make several controversial speculations about the shooter, saying “Let's hope it's another transgender shooter, too, so the casualties are minimal.”
New: Milo Yiannopoulos responds to #AnnapolisShooting. "Let's hope it's another transgender shooter, too, so the casualties are minimal." pic.twitter.com/FoGAzTepOC
- Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) June 28, 2018
In response to reporter Amy Russo, who emailed Yiannopoulous to ask about his “encouragement of violence against reporters,” he said the media “deserve what's coming.”
A screenshot Russo posted on Twitter showed Yiannopolous's comments, which included the chilling statement, “If journalists keep lying, deceiving and manipulating the public, then they will reap the same hatred they are sowing against Trump and his voters.” Even in his explanation of his controversial comments, Yiannopolous continued to insinuate, even encourage, violence against reporters.
Responding to our story @Mediaite about his encouragement of violence against reporters, Milo Yiannopoulos sent me an ominous message: pic.twitter.com/PhRd9Dv39J
- Amy Russo (@amymrusso) June 26, 2018
Yiannopoulos may be one of the most outspoken and outrageous voices against the press, but he is far from the only conservative voice to encourage this kind of violence. In 2017, former Trump adviser and ex-Breitbart News editor Steve Bannon called the press the “opposition party” and told the media to “keep its mouth shut.” At a rally in South Carolina on June 25th, just three days before the shooting at the Capital Gazette, Trump attacked the press, once again calling it “the enemy of the people.” According to AP reporter Steve Peoples, his criticism of the “fake-newsers” in the back of the room was met with “angry shouts from the crowd.” Another source of loud and constant criticism of the media that calls legitimate reporting “fake news?” Conservative darling and the president's favorite TV station: Fox News.
"The enemy of the people," Trump says pointing at the free press at the back of the room. https://t.co/T1mBA0Gl2K
- Steve Peoples (@sppeoples) June 26, 2018
In the wake of the shooting, while other news outlets were scrambling for information on the victims and the suspected shooter's motive, Fox News checked the ideology of the Capital Gazette and reported that it was “very much a local paper.” According to anchor Trace Gallagher, Fox News wanted to know the paper's political slant in case it “plays into the motive of it all.” Neil Cavuto, a Fox News commentator, also speculated on air about the Capital Gazette's ideological bent, but concluded that he didn't “notice any rabid editorials.” Observers rightfully took serious issue with Fox News' decision to focus on this aspect of the paper, pointing out how inappropriate it is to imply that said ideology would be relevant to the motive.
Fox News says they "checked in on the ideological bent" of the Capital Gazette but decided it was "very local" with no "major ideological bent" - then acknowledges they don't yet know if this is at all relevant to the motive. pic.twitter.com/wEPI5w2FHC
- David Mack (@davidmackau) June 28, 2018
Glad Fox News checked to see if they deserved to be murdered or not https://t.co/F2IIQSNEiO
- Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) June 28, 2018
Fox "News" had to check out what Capital Gazette's political ideological was before they could figure of whether their journalists deserved to be killed, or not. https://t.co/ut6wCwBJ3m
- Facts Do Matter (@WilDonnelly) June 28, 2018
In another part of the internet, however, people had a completely different reaction to the murder of five newspaper employees. Following the tragic shooting in Annapolis, trolls on the far-right “celebrated” the violence inflicted upon the innocent people inside the newspaper office.
Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell posted a series of screenshots on Twitter that showed, as he puts it, an “active celebration in the worst parts of the Internet over the shooting in Annapolis.” Among the horrifying comments were things like “dead journalists can't spread leftist propaganda” and, as Ben Collins from NBC pointed out in another screenshot from the r/The_donald thread, “Here we go! Right on time.”
Active celebration in the worst parts of the Internet over the shooting in Annapolis: "dead journalists can't spread leftist propaganda" pic.twitter.com/L9pvddDIgr
- Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) June 28, 2018
Top two comments in r/The_donald's post on the Annapolis shooting. "Here we go! Right on time!" "so it begins" pic.twitter.com/MrfZuZqSQm
- Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) June 28, 2018
Some of the most chilling posts actually link back to Donald Trump's tweet from February 2017 calling the media “the enemy of the American People.”
Some are linking to President Trump's tweet calling the media "the enemy of the American People." A few anonymous posters are also talking to me: "I hope you're next!" pic.twitter.com/XtcvYlbdwM
- Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) June 28, 2018
That February tweet was not the only time Trump has referred to the free press as “the enemy,” and the president is far from the only person to wage an open war on journalists across the country. As CNN's Brian Selter put it, “This is a day many journalists have feared for a long time.”
Following the violence on June 28th, several members of the press asked Trump for a statement on the deaths of journalists in Annapolis, but Trump did not immediately respond. He later took to Twitter to thank first responders and say his “thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.”
"Can you please talk to us about the dead reporters in Annapolis?" “Do you have any words of condolence for the families, Mr. President?” "Why are you walking away?" Pres. Trump does not comment when asked about the deadly Maryland newsroom shooting.https://t.co/5ZcmEVQW9z pic.twitter.com/heIzI7S4Ck
- NBC News (@NBCNews) June 28, 2018
But as Capital Gazette staff writer and shooting survivor Selene San Felice told Anderson Cooper on CNN, she (and many others around the country) “couldn't give a fuck about [Trump's thoughts and prayers] if there's nothing else” that will be done. And a whole lot more needs to be done  - starting with changes in how the press is treated and discussed by the most powerful man in the world.
The post Death threats against journalists have been normalized, and reactions to the Capital Gazette shooting prove it appeared first on HelloGiggles.
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Death threats against journalists have been normalized, and reactions to the Capital Gazette shooting prove it
Death threats against journalists have been normalized, and reactions to the Capital Gazette shooting prove it
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In a targeted attack on June 28th, Jarrod W. Ramos used a shotgun to force his way into the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, Maryland, where he shot and killed five innocent people: Robert Hiaasen, an assistant editor and Sunday columnist at the Capital Gazette since 2010, Gerald Fischman, an editorial page editor who had been at the paper for over 25 years, John McNamara, a journalist and sports writer who covered various topics at the local paper for more than two decades, Rebecca Smith, a new sales assistant at the paper who joined the staff last year, and Wendi Winters, an editor and community reporter who wrote several columns for the paper every week.
Prior to his attack, Ramos had made “general threats” against the Capital Gazette after the paper ran a 2011 column detailing a harassment case that involved him. In 2009 and 2010, after reconnecting with a woman (his former high school classmate), Ramos sent her several malicious emails - including one in which he told the woman she should “go hang yourself.” Ramos also called and emailed the bank where the woman worked, urging them to fire her. His actions led to her suspension.
Ramos plead guilty to harassment in 2011. A few days later, the Capital Gazette published a piece about the case, and the article apparently enraged Ramos. In retaliation, Ramos filed a defamation lawsuit against the owners of the paper, and later followed up with an invasion of privacy complaint. Both cases were dismissed by a judge, as were Ramos's subsequent appeals.
In an interview with NBC's Today on July 2nd, the woman he'd tormented for years said, “I was afraid he could show up at any point, any place…and kill me…As soon as they said it happened at the Capital newspaper and they couldn't identify their suspect, I picked up the phone and said, 'I know who your suspect is.' I knew if he was to do anything on a mass shooting level, it was going to target the Capital.”
It will shock you I'm sure to learn that one reason the shooter targeted the Capital Gazette is because they reported on his stalking and harassing a woman: https://t.co/4l9SOvV0Ju
- Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) June 29, 2018
In addition to his troubling history of harassing women, Ramos was also guilty of frequently attacking Capital Gazette journalists online. In one of his many volatile tweets, he expressed a desire to see the paper cease publication, but that “it would be nicer” to see two of its staffers “cease breathing.” In 2013, he directly addressed editor Rob Hiaasen, one of the five people he murdered during his targeted shooting in the newsroom. On June 28th, shortly before the shooting, he tweeted profanities from an account that appears based on the name of the judge who'd handled his defamation case.
The man arrested for the Capital Gazette massacre spent years on Twitter "where he routinely harassed journalists from the newspaper in scores of profanity laced tweets.” In one tweet he said “it would be nicer” to see two journalists “cease breathing.” https://t.co/b69bZngerf
- Carl Zimmer (@carlzimmer) June 29, 2018
Ramos killed employees of the Capital Gazette just two days after conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos told reporters he “can't wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists.” Following the attack, police in both New York and Los Angeles increased patrols at news outlets including the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. In a statement to CNN, Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism and Intelligence John Miller said, “The NYPD has deployed counterterrorism teams to media organizations in and around New York City.”
It isn't shocking to learn that, like so many other mass shooters, Ramos has a history of violence against women. It's also not shocking to learn that - like so many conservatives, including the current President of the United States - Ramos used violent rhetoric when talking about the press and reporters.
Yiannopoulos has insisted that he “wasn't being serious” when he advocated for shooting the media, but his statement is just one of many recent comments from prominent conservative figures that encourage violence against reporters.
Considering all that's known about the shooter's years-long history with the Capital Gazette, investigators cannot call these murders responses to Yiannopoulos's comments - but statements like Yiannopoulos's, in conjunction with Donald Trump's repeated claims that the media is the “enemy of the people,” have normalized violent ideology, putting reporters' lives and safety at risk.
According to CNN, “Threats against journalists have been on the rise in recent years. Press freedom groups have also reported an uptick in physical assaults on journalists, particularly at campaign events and other political venues.”
Earlier this spring, reporter April Ryan revealed that she had received death threats after asking White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders whether Trump has considered resigning. This winter, for Columbia Journalism Review, veteran culture writer Anne Helen Petersen wrote about the constant threats targeting reporters, especially women reporters.
Following the news of the Annapolis shooting, Petersen took to Twitter to re-share her report and her personal experiences:
“I've had people email death threats, threaten to cut my dog's throat, tell me I'd pay for my fake news. My mom told me to stop tagging my neighborhood on Instagram, I told her she was over-reacting,” Petersen wrote. “Whatever the motive of this shooter, people are going to say that journalists are overreacting. We're not. We've been under-reacting for years.”
When I wrote about how reporters dealt with menace, I talked to a dozen women who'd become so accustomed to abuse that it becomes just another part of the routine, like checking your email: https://t.co/TxxGjp8WQ6
- Anne Helen Petersen (@annehelen) June 28, 2018
Whatever the motive of this shooter, people are going to say that journalists are overreacting. We're not. We've been under-reacting for years.
- Anne Helen Petersen (@annehelen) June 28, 2018
One of the people who think journalists are “overreacting” is Yiannopoulos.
In response to the shooting in Annapolis and claims that his comments have incited violence, Yiannopoulos took to Facebook to defend his comment about “vigilante death squads,” claiming he was just trolling with a “private joke.” He went on to make several controversial speculations about the shooter, saying “Let's hope it's another transgender shooter, too, so the casualties are minimal.”
New: Milo Yiannopoulos responds to #AnnapolisShooting. "Let's hope it's another transgender shooter, too, so the casualties are minimal." pic.twitter.com/FoGAzTepOC
- Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) June 28, 2018
In response to reporter Amy Russo, who emailed Yiannopoulous to ask about his “encouragement of violence against reporters,” he said the media “deserve what's coming.”
A screenshot Russo posted on Twitter showed Yiannopolous's comments, which included the chilling statement, “If journalists keep lying, deceiving and manipulating the public, then they will reap the same hatred they are sowing against Trump and his voters.” Even in his explanation of his controversial comments, Yiannopolous continued to insinuate, even encourage, violence against reporters.
Responding to our story @Mediaite about his encouragement of violence against reporters, Milo Yiannopoulos sent me an ominous message: pic.twitter.com/PhRd9Dv39J
- Amy Russo (@amymrusso) June 26, 2018
Yiannopoulos may be one of the most outspoken and outrageous voices against the press, but he is far from the only conservative voice to encourage this kind of violence. In 2017, former Trump adviser and ex-Breitbart News editor Steve Bannon called the press the “opposition party” and told the media to “keep its mouth shut.” At a rally in South Carolina on June 25th, just three days before the shooting at the Capital Gazette, Trump attacked the press, once again calling it “the enemy of the people.” According to AP reporter Steve Peoples, his criticism of the “fake-newsers” in the back of the room was met with “angry shouts from the crowd.” Another source of loud and constant criticism of the media that calls legitimate reporting “fake news?” Conservative darling and the president's favorite TV station: Fox News.
"The enemy of the people," Trump says pointing at the free press at the back of the room. https://t.co/T1mBA0Gl2K
- Steve Peoples (@sppeoples) June 26, 2018
In the wake of the shooting, while other news outlets were scrambling for information on the victims and the suspected shooter's motive, Fox News checked the ideology of the Capital Gazette and reported that it was “very much a local paper.” According to anchor Trace Gallagher, Fox News wanted to know the paper's political slant in case it “plays into the motive of it all.” Neil Cavuto, a Fox News commentator, also speculated on air about the Capital Gazette's ideological bent, but concluded that he didn't “notice any rabid editorials.” Observers rightfully took serious issue with Fox News' decision to focus on this aspect of the paper, pointing out how inappropriate it is to imply that said ideology would be relevant to the motive.
Fox News says they "checked in on the ideological bent" of the Capital Gazette but decided it was "very local" with no "major ideological bent" - then acknowledges they don't yet know if this is at all relevant to the motive. pic.twitter.com/wEPI5w2FHC
- David Mack (@davidmackau) June 28, 2018
Glad Fox News checked to see if they deserved to be murdered or not https://t.co/F2IIQSNEiO
- Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) June 28, 2018
Fox "News" had to check out what Capital Gazette's political ideological was before they could figure of whether their journalists deserved to be killed, or not. https://t.co/ut6wCwBJ3m
- Facts Do Matter (@WilDonnelly) June 28, 2018
In another part of the internet, however, people had a completely different reaction to the murder of five newspaper employees. Following the tragic shooting in Annapolis, trolls on the far-right “celebrated” the violence inflicted upon the innocent people inside the newspaper office.
Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell posted a series of screenshots on Twitter that showed, as he puts it, an “active celebration in the worst parts of the Internet over the shooting in Annapolis.” Among the horrifying comments were things like “dead journalists can't spread leftist propaganda” and, as Ben Collins from NBC pointed out in another screenshot from the r/The_donald thread, “Here we go! Right on time.”
Active celebration in the worst parts of the Internet over the shooting in Annapolis: "dead journalists can't spread leftist propaganda" pic.twitter.com/L9pvddDIgr
- Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) June 28, 2018
Top two comments in r/The_donald's post on the Annapolis shooting. "Here we go! Right on time!" "so it begins" pic.twitter.com/MrfZuZqSQm
- Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) June 28, 2018
Some of the most chilling posts actually link back to Donald Trump's tweet from February 2017 calling the media “the enemy of the American People.”
Some are linking to President Trump's tweet calling the media "the enemy of the American People." A few anonymous posters are also talking to me: "I hope you're next!" pic.twitter.com/XtcvYlbdwM
- Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) June 28, 2018
That February tweet was not the only time Trump has referred to the free press as “the enemy,” and the president is far from the only person to wage an open war on journalists across the country. As CNN's Brian Selter put it, “This is a day many journalists have feared for a long time.”
Following the violence on June 28th, several members of the press asked Trump for a statement on the deaths of journalists in Annapolis, but Trump did not immediately respond. He later took to Twitter to thank first responders and say his “thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.”
"Can you please talk to us about the dead reporters in Annapolis?" “Do you have any words of condolence for the families, Mr. President?” "Why are you walking away?" Pres. Trump does not comment when asked about the deadly Maryland newsroom shooting.https://t.co/5ZcmEVQW9z pic.twitter.com/heIzI7S4Ck
- NBC News (@NBCNews) June 28, 2018
But as Capital Gazette staff writer and shooting survivor Selene San Felice told Anderson Cooper on CNN, she (and many others around the country) “couldn't give a fuck about [Trump's thoughts and prayers] if there's nothing else” that will be done. And a whole lot more needs to be done  - starting with changes in how the press is treated and discussed by the most powerful man in the world.
The post Death threats against journalists have been normalized, and reactions to the Capital Gazette shooting prove it appeared first on HelloGiggles.
0 notes