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demmiblue's JournalJury Finds Rally Organizers Responsible for Charlottesville Violence
Source: NYT
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Jurors on Tuesday found the main organizers of the deadly right-wing rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 liable under state law for injuries to counterprotesters, awarding more than $25 million in damages. But the jury deadlocked on federal conspiracy charges.
The case in U.S. District Court in Charlottesville, was brought by nine plaintiffs, four men and five women, including four people injured in the same car attack that killed one counterprotester, 32-year-old Heather Heyer.
In addition to their physical injuries from the crash, including three concussions and a skull fracture, the plaintiffs testified that they suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, including insomnia, the inability to concentrate, flashbacks and panic attacks.
All were seeking compensatory and unspecified punitive damages, including payment for medical costs as well as $3 million to $10 million for pain and suffering depending on the degree of their injuries.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/23/us/charlottesville-rally-verdict.html
Prominent white supremacists Richard Spencer, Jason Kessler and Christopher Cantwell and others engaged in a conspiracy in advance of the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017, a jury has ruled.
The jury did not reach a verdict on two federal conspiracy charges, but did find that every defendant was liable for civil conspiracy under Virginia law.
The jury then awarded $500,000 in punitive damages against all 12 individual defendants, and $1 million against five white nationalist organizations on that conspiracy count. Other damages followed on further counts.
The 11 jurors need only to find “a preponderance of the evidence,” rather than the higher bar of “beyond reasonable doubt” in criminal trials. But they deadlocked on two federal claims of a race-based conspiracy, while agreeing that there was a conspiracy under Virginia state law and that the victims were entitled to compensation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/11/23/charlottesville-verdict-live-updates/
BREAKING: The Select Committee subpoenas individuals and organizations linked to the violent attack
• Proud Boys International, L.L.C.
• Henry “Enrique” Tarrio
• Oath Keepers
• Elmer Stewart Rhodes
• Robert Patrick Lewis/1st Amendment Praetorian
We believe the individuals and organizations we subpoenaed today have relevant information about how violence erupted at the Capitol and the preparation leading up to this violent attack.
https://twitter.com/January6thCmte/status/1463236997779230724
Video court exhibit released by US Justice Dept shows what happens as police tried to protect...
https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1462918564969697286WHITE HOUSE CHRISTMAS TREE: First Lady Jill Biden received the official White House Christmas tree
https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1462918883887783940
RNC agrees to pay some of Trump's legal bills in N.Y. criminal investigation
In October, the RNC made two payments totaling $121,670 to the law firm of Ronald Fischetti, a veteran defense attorney whom Trump hired in April. According to a person with direct knowledge of the payments, the requests came earlier this summer but were only voted on by the party’s executive committee in recent weeks.
Fischetti has been representing Trump as he faces investigations by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. (D) and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D). There has been no indication that either investigation involves Trump’s time as president, or any of his political campaigns.
A person familiar with the RNC’s decision who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal discussions said the organization was willing to foot the bills because James has made comments that she wanted to go after Trump. James in 2018 told supporters that she intended to investigate Trump, noting that “I will be shining a bright light into every dark corner of his real estate dealings.” James has said her investigation is following the law, and not guided by politics.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-rnc-legal-bills-ny-investigation-vance-james/2021/11/22/ef447f38-4bda-11ec-b73b-a00d6e559a6e_story.html
https://twitter.com/Fahrenthold/status/1462917171391123461
When opportunity knocks..
https://twitter.com/Yoda4ever/status/1462755238675320833
Trump receives honorary Taekwondo black belt
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1462555808210862087
The result of 2 professional dancers GETTING MARRIED
https://twitter.com/GoodNewsCorres1/status/1462529913454571521
Facebook's race-blind policies around hate speech came at the expense of Black users, new documents
Source: WaPo
Facebook’s race-blind policies around hate speech came at the expense of Black users, new documents show
Researchers proposed a fix to the biased algorithm, but one internal document predicted pushback from “conservative partners”
Last year, researchers at Facebook showed executives an example of the kind of hate speech circulating on the social network: an actual post featuring an image of four female Democratic lawmakers, known collectively as “The Squad.”
The poster, whose name was scrubbed out for privacy, referred to the women, two of whom are Muslim, as “swami rag heads.” A comment from another person used even more vulgar language, referring to the four women of color as “black c---s,” according to internal company documents exclusively obtained by The Washington Post.
The post represented the “worst of the worst” language on Facebook — the majority of it directed at minority groups, according to a two-year effort by a large team working across the company, the document said. The researchers urged executives to adopt an aggressive overhaul of its software system that would primarily remove only those hateful posts before any Facebook users could see it.
But Facebook’s leaders balked at the plan. According to two people familiar with the internal debate, top executives including vice president for global public policy Joel Kaplan feared the new system would tilt the scales by protecting some vulnerable groups over others. A policy executive prepared a document for Kaplan that raised the potential for backlash from “conservative partners,” according to the document. The people spoke to The Post on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal matters.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/11/21/facebook-algorithm-biased-race/
IOC president speaks to Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai
The former doubles world number one had not been seen or heard from publicly since she said on Chinese social media on 2 November that former vice premier Zhang Gaoli, now in his 70s, forced her into sex during an on-off relationship spanning several years.
Neither Mr Zhang nor the Chinese government have commented on her allegation. Ms Peng's social media post was quickly deleted and the topic has been blocked from discussion on China's heavily censored internet.
"Today, IOC President Thomas Bach held a video call with three-time Olympian Peng Shuai from China," the IOC said in a statement.
"At the beginning of the 30-minute call, Peng Shuai thanked the IOC for its concern about her well-being," it said, adding that "she explained that she is safe and well, living at her home in Beijing, but would like to have her privacy respected at this time".
"That is why she prefers to spend her time with friends and family right now. Nevertheless, she will continue to be involved in tennis, the sport she loves so much."
https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2021/1121/1262203-peng-shuai/
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