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Really, Facebook?!

05/29/2013 Nativegrl77

Grassroots Campaign Pressures Facebook Over Rape, Assault Imagery

More and more companies are dropping Facebook advertising over the social network’s refusal, heretofore, to address offensive imagery about rape and domestic violence posted by its users. More than a dozen companies have now dropped ads because of Facebook’s apparently permissive attitude toward images like this.

When asked about their policy, a Facebook spokesperson told ThinkProgress that content featuring battered women, rape, and violence falls under “poor taste” or “crude attempts at humor” and therefore does not violate its policies.

Meanwhile, just this weekend Facebook rejected an ad aimed at debunking the false claim that abortion leads to breast cancer because the ad featured the image of a breast. Facebook claimed the educational ad violated a ban on “adult products.”

The ad boycott has been gaining steam as a result of a grassroots campaign launched last week by Women, Action & the Media, the Everyday Sexism Project and other activists. According to Women, Action & the Media, “participants sent over 60,000 tweets and 5000 emails, and our coalition has grown to over 100 women’s movement and social justice organizations.”

This is not the first time in recent weeks that Facebook has come under pressure from progressives. After Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg founded and bankrolled a political group backing immigration reform that instead spent millions of dollars on ads touting dirty energy production and the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, progressive groups launched their own ad boycott and even held a protest outside Facebook’s headquarters. Facebook further enraged activists when it then banned ads going after Zuckerberg on the issue. The Zuckerberg group, FWD.us, also came under fire from others in Silicon Valley and two of its founding members — and top funders — dropped out of the group in protest.

BOTTOM LINE: Imagery celebrating rape and domestic violence is not merely in “poor taste” or just a “crude attempt at humor.” It’s time for Facebook to get serious about addressing the offensive and violent imagery posted by some of its users and to learn the difference between “adult content” and educational materials.

Late Breaking Update: Just as we were about to click send, Women, Action & the Media announced an agreement with Facebook:

Facebook addressed our concerns and committed to evaluating and updating its policies, guidelines and practices relating to hate speech, improving training for its content moderators and increasing accountability for creators of misogynist content.

Facebook has also invited Women, Action & the Media, The Everyday Sexism Project and members of our coalition to contribute to these efforts and be part of an ongoing conversation. As part of these efforts, we will work closely with Facebook on the issue of how Community Standards around hate speech are evaluated and to ensure best practices represent the interests of our coalition.

Here’s more from Facebook:

In recent days, it has become clear that our systems to identify and remove hate speech have failed to work as effectively as we would like, particularly around issues of gender-based hate. In some cases, content is not being removed as quickly as we want. In other cases, content that should be removed has not been or has been evaluated using outdated criteria. We have been working over the past several months to improve our systems to respond to reports of violations, but the guidelines used by these systems have failed to capture all the content that violates our standards. We need to do better – and we will.

Evening Brief: Important Stories That You Might’ve Missed

Drudge’s latest bogus scoop.

The Washington Post and sexist coverage of women leaders.

Gay soccer player became the first out male athlete to play in a major team sports league after coming out.

Former GOP senator: Republicans need to “rethink their approach as a political party.”

A part of Obamacare that’s working even though it hasn’t even gone into effect yet.

George Zimmerman’s lawyer went on national TV with inadmissible evidence in order to smear Trayvon Martin.

Here’s what it’ll take to turn Texas blue.

Big news on the housing market — and it’s good!

Justice Scalia wants innocent people to just sit in prison.

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Watch ABC News’ Reporting Unravel

05/29/2013 Nativegrl77

When ABC News hyped its false report that the administration’s Benghazi emails showed evidence of a political cover-up, it kicked off a media frenzy. Suddenly, after eight months of dismissing conservatives’ claims that Benghazi was a secret scandal, the networks were now featuring it as headline news.
After the report aired, the Benghazi “cover-up” led the Sunday shows not only on Fox News, but also on ABC, NBC, and CBS. On the May 10 edition of Fox News’ Special Report, Chris Wallace crowed, “The Benghazi story finally hit the mainstream media with a vengeance today…[because] of ABC.”
Click here to watch a short video of the unraveling of ABC’s false Benghazi story.

When the actual Benghazi emails were released, ABC News’ so-called “exclusive” was thoroughly debunked. However, according to ABC’s own poll from May 21, the false reporting stuck: a majority of Americans now think that the Obama administration is trying to cover up the facts about Benghazi.
ABC News has yet to address or correct its false report on the air. Coincidence? Doubtful.
Where are the corrections? Sign our letter to ABC News executives asking ABC to live up to its reputation and correct its false report:
http://action.mediamatters.org/tell_abc_news_correct_false_benghazi_report
More than 12,000 of you have already weighed in, stating that ABC News needs to acknowledge that it misinformed the American people. Urge ABC News to do the right thing by correcting its false report.
The letter will be delivered this week. So, be sure to sign it while you still can!Cynthia Padera Campaigns Manager Media Matters for America

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Help Save : Bristol Bay

05/28/2013 Nativegrl77

We only have until May 31 to convince the Obama Administration to protect the pristine rivers and lakes of Bristol Bay. If we don’t succeed, the bay will soon be nothing more than a pit mine.

Click to Add Your Name: Don’t Destroy Bristol Bay

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently collecting public comments on the fate of Alaska‘s Bristol Bay. Plenty of rich, powerful companies would love to get their hands on the bay and its plentiful natural resources. Those of us who care about the environment and wildlife have to speak up to save the bay!
Click here to automatically tell the EPA that you strongly oppose the destruction of Bristol Bay.
The Pebble Mine would destroy Bristol Bay. It would turn irreplaceable wild Alaska lands into an open pit mine that covers an area 50 percent larger than Manhattan, with dams the height of Hoover Dam, and the potential to hold more than 7 billion tons of waste.Instantly add your name to the petition urging the EPA to protect one of America’s last great wild places.

Thank you for taking action,
Colleen H.c
Care2 and ThePetitionSite Team

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Tell Target to Stop Supporting Slavery in Uzbekistan

05/28/2013 Nativegrl77

Dear Activist,Target often offers prices that seem too good to be true – so how do they keep their prices so low?It turns out some of Target’s products might be so cheap because they are made with slave-picked cotton from Uzbekistan and/or purchased from Daewoo International, a company that accounts for approximately 20% of all cotton processed in Uzbekistan.

Tell Target to sign the Daewoo Protocol to fight modern slavery in Uzbekistan.

Thanks for all you do!

Bob Fertik

Dear Activist,

We know – a great deal can be hard to resist. And Target often offers prices that seem too good to be true. It makes you think – how do they keep their prices so low? We’ve recently learned that some of Target’s products might be so cheap because they are made with slave-picked cotton from Uzbekistan and/or purchased from Daewoo International, a company that accounts for approximately 20% of all cotton processed in Uzbekistan. Every year, during the harvest season, over a million children and adults – including teachers, nurses and doctors – are ripped out of their homes, schools and jobs, and forced to work in the cotton fields of Uzbekistan to meet daily picking quotas. While Target has signed the pledge to not buy slave-picked Uzbek cotton, they are still doing business with Daewoo, a company that clearly profits from the exploitation of children and adults in Uzbekistan. If Target is truly serious about keeping slavery out of its stores, Target needs to stop doing business with Daewoo and agree to implement the Daewoo Protocol – a series of steps companies need to take to eliminate slave-picked cotton from their supply chains. Call on Target to eliminate the threat of slave-picked cotton in their stores by joining the Daewoo Protocol. We expect more from Target, a company that takes pride in holding the highest ethical standards for itself and for its business partners.So we called and asked Target to join the Daewoo Protocol which is supported by retailers declining to do business with Daewoo until it takes serious steps to stop sourcing slave-picked Uzbek cotton.

Target said they didn’t need to sign the Daewoo Protocol because they have a “No Uzbek Cotton” policy. But such a policy only works if you’re willing to enforce it.

Tell Target to sign the Daewoo Protocol and stop supporting modern slavery in Uzbekistan. After you take action, please take a moment to spread the word by forwarding this email to 3 of your friends. Thank you, Debra, Nick, Jacqui, Jessica, Hayley, Jess, Mich, Amy and the Walk Free Team

Walk Free is a movement of people everywhere, fighting to end one of the world’s greatest evils: Modern slavery.

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Justice for Everybody

05/27/2013 Nativegrl77 3 Comments

The White House, Washington

West Wing Week: “Justice for Everybody”

This week, the President continued his Jobs & Opportunity tour — highlighting bold new efforts in education and manufacturing in Baltimore. He gave the commencement address at Morehouse College, and hosted an array of guests here at the White House — including the President of Myanmar, eight immigration reform advocates and DREAMers, and Gershwin Prize winner Carol King and friends. And that was all before Thursday, when President Obama delivered a major counter-terrorism speech at the National Defense University.

Watch this week’s West Wing Week.

Infographic: Creating a Judicial Pool That Resembles the Nation It Serves

The Senate confirmed Sri Srinivasan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit — but there’s more to do. President Obama’s nominees embody an unprecedented commitment to expanding the racial, gender, and experiential diversity of the men and women who enforce our laws and deliver justice.

See some of the White House Photo Office’s favorite images from events including the Easter Egg Roll and President Obama’s visit to the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.

President Obama will travel to the Oklahoma City area to see firsthand the response to the devastating tornadoes and severe weather that have impacted the area on Sunday night and Monday. He will visit with affected families as well as thank first responders.

READ MORE