memeorandum: How Google's Ad Business Funds Disinformation Around the World (Articles and Investigations)

2:10 PM ET, October 29, 2022

Top Items:

Pelosi Attack Suspect Was A Psychotic Homeless Addict Estranged From His Pedophile Lover & Their Children — Berkeley resident David DePape was more in the grip of drug-induced psychosis than ideology-induced fanaticism. — Leading politicians yesterday blamed the political Right …

Discussion: HuffPost, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Daily Wire, Fox News and Insider

Washington Post:

Attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband follows years of GOP demonizing her — A man with right-wing views who broke into the House speaker's home yelled “Where is Nancy?” before assaulting Paul Pelosi with a hammer, police say. — In 2010, Republicans launched a “Fire Pelosi” project …

Los Angeles Times:

Accused Pelosi attacker David DePape spread QAnon, other far-right, bigoted conspiracies — In the months before police accused him of attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi, David DePape had been drifting further into the world of far-right conspiracies, antisemitism and hate …

Discussion: Politico, CBS News, Slate, New York Post, Insider, Fox News, NBC News, Breitbart, Daily Mail, Lucianne, CNN, The Daily Wire, Fresno Bee, San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian, Media Matters for America and RedState

Politico:

Police offer new details in Paul Pelosi assault — SAN FRANCISCO — Police said Friday evening the attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was “intentional.” — The man accused of entering the Pelosi home and attacking Paul Pelosi with a hammer specifically targeted …

Catie Edmondson / New York Times:

Pelosi Attack Highlights Rising Fears of Political Violence — The assault of the House speaker's husband inside their home comes as threats against members of Congress have increased in recent years. — WASHINGTON — Members of Congress have watched warily in recent years as threats …

Discussion: Axios, HuffPost, Washington Post, ABC7, ABC News, CNN, Bloomberg, Roll Call, The Daily Caller and CBS News

Associated Press:
Pelosi attack shocks country on edge about democracy threats

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Washington Post, Axios, Mother Jones, CBS News, The Hill, The Guardian, Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Althouse

Anita Chabria / Los Angeles Times:
'It's getting worse.' The sad part of the Pelosi attack is it doesn't surprise us

Discussion: Insider and Raw Story

Tess Owen / VICE:
Man Accused of Attacking Nancy Pelosi's Husband Left Trail of Far-Right Hate

Discussion: New York Times, NBC News, National Review and San Francisco Chronicle

Rolling Stone:
Paul Pelosi's Alleged Attacker Raged About ‘Pedos,’ Shared QAnon Beliefs

Discussion: The Guardian, The Times of Israel, Washington Examiner, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Beast, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, New York Post, Althouse, Kurt Nimmo on Geopolitics, New York Times, The Daily Dot, Mercury News and CNN

San Francisco Chronicle:
Suspect in Paul Pelosi attack booked on suspicion of attempted homicide

Ron Kampeas / The Times of Israel:
Man accused of attacking Pelosi's husband had spread conspiracy theories about Jews

Discussion: NBC News, ABC7, CBS News, Fox 8 Cleveland WJW, Rolling Stone, Fox News and Sacramento Bee

Davey Alba / Bloomberg:

Musk's Twitter Roils With Hate Speech as Trolls Test New Limits — In the wake of Elon Musk buying Twitter Inc., a tide of slurs and racist memes swelled on the platform, sparking concern that the site is entering an era of hateful speech. — Twitter has long wrestled …

Stuart A. Thompson / New York Times:
Antisemitic campaign tries to capitalize on Elon Musk's Twitter takeover.

Discussion: Robert Reich, Wired, Killer NewsTv, BuzzFeed News, One America News Network, Boing Boing, Bloomberg and The Times of Israel, more at Techmeme »

CNBC:
GM temporarily suspends advertising on Twitter following Elon Musk takeover

Politico:
'I think it's an earthquake': The political world reckons with a Musk-owned Twitter

BBC:

‘Massive’ drone attack on Black Sea Fleet - Russia — Ukraine has carried out a “massive” drone attack on the Black Sea Fleet in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, damaging one warship, Russia says. — Nine drones were used, a top official said. Ukraine has not commented.

Discussion: New York Times, TASS and The Western Journal

Washington Post:
Ukraine live briefing: Russia pauses grain deal after Ukraine strikes warships in Sevastopol

Discussion: The Hill, Politico, Telegraph, The Guardian, UPI, TASS and Al Jazeera

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

American Jews start to think the unthinkable — On the holiest night of the Jewish year earlier this month, my rabbi looked up from his Kol Nidre sermon — a homily about protecting America's liberal democracy — and posed a question that wasn't in his prepared text: “How many people …

Discussion: American Prospect

Steven Nelson / New York Post:

Knives out in House GOP whip race over Electoral College abolition — WASHINGTON — A top House Republican's little-known past job working with Democrats to change US elections and choose presidents by popular vote threatens to upend his bid to rise in the GOP ranks, The Post has learned.

Blake Hounshell / New York Times:
It's 2024. Trump Backers Won't Certify the Election. What Next, Legally?

Discussion: Outside the Beltway, Washington Times, ABC News, Bloomberg and NBC News

Reid J. Epstein / New York Times: Governor's Races Enter Final Sprint on a Scrambled, Surprising Map

Carol Rosenberg / New York Times:

U.S. Releases Guantánamo's Oldest Prisoner — Saifullah Paracha, 75, was accused of being a Qaeda sympathizer and was held for two decades. But he was never charged with a crime. — GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — The United States has released the U.S. military's oldest prisoner …

Discussion: CBS News, Mother Jones, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Mourning and Al Jazeera

U.S. Department of Defense:
Guantanamo Bay Detainee Transfer Announced

Discussion: CNN, UPI and NPR

New York Times:

Biden's Agenda Hangs in the Balance if Republicans Take Congress — On a wide array of issues like abortion, taxes, race and judges, President Biden's opportunities would shrink as Republicans vow to dismantle much of his legislative accomplishments. — WASHINGTON — For President Biden …

Discussion: Fox News, Townhall, CNN, Raw Story, The Hill and Washington Examiner

Washington Post:
Republicans oppose Democrats' plan to fund Ukraine with seized Russian assets

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Newsbusters, The Daily Caller, Reason and CNN

Christina Caron / New York Times:

Teens Turn to TikTok in Search of a Mental Health Diagnosis — While social media can help people feel less alone, using it to evaluate symptoms has several downsides. — About a year into the pandemic, Kianna, a high school student in Baltimore, was feeling increasingly isolated.

Discussion: Althouse

Insider:

Paul Pelosi secretly called 911 while in front of the intruder and spoke in ‘code’ to dispatcher to convey what was happening: ‘Why are you here? What are you going to do to me?’ — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband was attacked by an intruder at their San Francisco home Friday.

Discussion: New York Times, Axios, Los Angeles Times, TMZ.com, Mediaite, KTVU-TV, New York Post, Lucianne, Fox News, Raw Story and CNN

Herb Scribner / Axios:

U.S. faces “environment of fascism” ahead of 2022 midterms, AOC says — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said in an interview with MSNBC Friday that the United States is “facing an environment of fascism” similar to the days of Jim Crow in the leadup to the 2022 midterms.

Discussion: MSNBC and CNN

Nicole Sganga / CBS News:
Government warns of “heightened threat” to 2022 elections, fueled by rise in domestic violent extremism

Discussion: NPR and Washington Examiner

Articles and Investigations:

How Google's Ad Business Funds Disinformation Around the World — Google is funneling revenue to some of the web's most prolific purveyors of false information in Europe, Latin America and Africa, a ProPublica investigation has found. — The company has publicly committed …

Benjamin Lindsay / The Wrap:

Penguin Random House Staffers, Others Call for Canceling of Amy Coney Barrett Memoir … Hundreds of Penguin Random House staffers and other literary professionals are calling on the publishing company to cut ties with Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett and to cancel her upcoming book.

Discussion: National Review, The American Conservative, Fox News, Mediaite and IJR, more at Mediagazer »

Andrew Miller / Fox News:

Left-wing activists harass conservative reading Bible, steal book and rip it up, protester eats pages — The activists were protesting a speech by conservative author Matt Walsh at a Wisconsin college campus — Leftist protesters harass man reciting Bible verses, take Bible and rip up pages …

Discussion: RedState and New York Post

William Vaillancourt / The Daily Beast:

Lindsey Graham: Dem Senate Candidate's Fundraising Isn't ‘Legit’ — ‘THE MONEY IS REAL’ — While appearing alongside North Carolina Senate candidate Ted Budd on Friday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) tried to portray donations to Cheri Beasley, Budd's Democratic opponent, as suspicious …