Sean “Alternative Facts” Spicer announces four new “softball seats” in White House press room

Branching out beyond the traditional press core [sic!!], the White House is extending video conferencing access via Skype to reporters that simply don’t have the resources to fly to Washington D.C. for briefings.

Trump routinely packs his events with shills to cheer and applaud him. The effect is to both affect the public perception of his popularity and bolster his sagging morale.

Now he is taking the tactic to the White House briefing room: handpicked supporters will be able to use Skype to toss softball questions to embattled Press Secretary Spicer.

If I were Spicer, I wouldn’t wait another minute. Poor guy needs all the help he can get.

Source: White House adds press room ‘Skype’ seats for remote reporters | Digital Trends

White House press secretary upends tradition in first briefing – NY Daily News

White House Press Secretary Spicer held his first regular briefing today. And not one member of the press corps asked which of today’s statements were “alternative facts.”

Where is Stuttering John now that we need him?

Source: White House press secretary upends tradition in first briefing – NY Daily News

Counter-Sting Catches James O’Keefe Comrade

The stinger gets stung. A left-wing political group released a new video Monday of a counter-sting that has uncovered evidence of right-wing activists trying to sow chaos at Donald Trump’s inaugural ceremony, an effort to portray critics of Trump who march against him as violent fringe figures.

Source: Counter-Sting Catches James O’Keefe Network Attempting To Sow Chaos At Trump’s Inauguration | The Huffington Post

The man who forced the U.K. film board to watch 10 hours of paint drying

Thanks to MrMild, we’ve learned that filmmaker Charlie Lyne made a 10 hour film of paint drying, then raised money on Kickstarter to pay the British Board of Film Classification to watch the damn thing.

Apparently, any movie shown in the UK must be rated by the Board, and getting rated costs about $10 per minute. Once a film is submitted with the proper fee, two examiners sit and watch it while taking notes. They then use those notes to decide on a rating.

You can imagine that Lynn doesn’t like the system, but he’s now forced a pair of those civil servants to sit in a dark screening room in Soho Square and watch 607 minutes of paint drying.

Let’s hoist a pint of warm beer to Charlie Lyne.

PS: The film was rated “U,” meaning “no material likely to offend or harm.”

Source: We talked to the man who forced the U.K. film board to watch 10 hours of paint drying

Planned Parenthood files lawsuit, loses media war

Planned Parenthood filed a federal lawsuit Thursday alleging extensive criminal misconduct by anti-abortion activists Center for Medical Progress, David Daleiden, and Troy Newman, who produced undercover videos targeting the handling of fetal tissue at some Planned Parenthood clinics.

The suit alleges that the activists engaged in a complex criminal enterprise to defraud Planned Parenthood, violated the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO Act), engaged in wire fraud, mail fraud, invasion of privacy, illegal secret recording and trespassing.

So the Bitemaster did a little Internet search to learn more and found only references to suits for fraud filed against Planned Parenthood.

Source: Planned Parenthood files federal lawsuit over undercover videos

Bilingual Arizona news anchor insists on pronouncing Spanish words properly

Arizona news anchor Vanessa Ruiz is bilingual and pronounces Spanish words and names correctly. There has been the expected blowback on the Interweb. For example:

“Please speak with out your accent! I hope I didn’t offend, but I love the first amendment without second hand accent.”

We totally support Ruiz’s attempt to educate Americans, but hope someone will establish a GoFundMe to send her to America latina (Latin America) so she can teach them to correctly pronounce English words, such as

  • United States (not Estados Unidos)
  • Baseball (not béisbol)
  • Americans (not Norteamericanos)
  • President Barack Obama (not Presidente Barack Obama)
  • New York (not Nueva York)

And the list goes on . . .

Source: Bilingual Arizona news anchor responds perfectly to criticism about pronouncing Spanish words properly

What’s wrong with Alice Goffman’s book on crime?

Since her book “On the Run” was published, the author has achieved a measure of fame that is rare​ for a young sociologist, but ​she now faces criticism over her facts and methods.

Alice Goffman’s book about low-income black men and their interactions with the police, On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City, was published last year to glowing reviews. Now the shit is hitting the fan.

Here are some things to consider:

  1. The Oprah Syndrome. Oprah frequently fell in love with supposedly non-fiction books which struck a responsive chord with her, only to find later that they were just made up. There is little doubt that some of the early encomia for Goffman’s work were by people who fell victim to the Oprah Syndrome.
  2. Schadenfreude. Now that Goffman has been built up, our jealousy is satisfied by tearing her down. If it weren’t for Schadenfreude, we here at Biteme.me would have nothing to live for.
  3. Steven Lubet, a law professor at Northwestern University, has raised the question of whether Goffman technically committed a crime during her six years of hanging with the black underclass of Philadelphia. For this, Lubet got himself prominently mentioned in the New York Times, which is more than than can be said for the ink-stained wretches here in the BiteCastle.
  4. Goffman wrote that she learned from Philadelphia police officers that officers visiting hospitals regularly run the names of patients and visitors through criminal databases, arresting those with outstanding warrants. Law professor James Forman has queried public defenders and civil rights lawyers in Philadelphia and found no one who could confirm Goffman’s account. This at least raises a serious question about the accuracy of Goffman’s reporting.
  5. The Times says that “some sociologists counter that ethnography is concerned not just with facts but with people’s perceptions of those facts, which powerfully shape their behavior and experience.” Sure, but if Goffman reports her subjects’ perceptions as if they were facts not perceptions, she’s engaging in polemics, hagiography, homiletics . . . or fiction.
  6. While we’re at it, the Times refers to “some sociologists” without naming which ones. Cute maneuver, there. By proximity, they imply that they’re referring to Philip Cohen, a sociology professor at the University of Maryland. But maybe not. Maybe they just pulled “some sociologists” out of their ass.
  7. Lastly, the Times attributes to ethnographer Victor Rios the opinion that Goffman’s focus on “outrageous criminal exploits” gives a distorted picture. But the Times only quotes three words out of Rios’ mouth: “outrageous criminal exploits.” They made up the rest.

Since everyone turns to the Bitemaster for guidance on how to think about such Important Issues, here’s our take:

  • Alice Goffman has written one hell of an interesting book.
  • There are some questions about its reliability.
  • As usual, the Times muddies the waters.
  • Other than that, you’re on your own, kiddies.

Source: Alice Goffman’s Heralded Book on Crime Is Disputed

Another side of the FIFA story

“These scum have stolen the people’s sport,” Andrew Jennings said. “So, yes, it’s nice to see the fear on their faces.”

In s story titled “How a curmudgeonly old reporter exposed the FIFA scandal that toppled Sepp Blatter,” the Washington Post credits reporter Andrew Jennings with breaking the FIFA story and causing the eventual arrest of the FIFA leadership.

Here at the BiteCastle, we’ve learned — unlike Oprah — to be skeptical of such media narratives. Nevertheless, the old curmudgeon does give good sound bite:

This journalism business is easy, you know. You just find some disgraceful, disgustingly corrupt people and you work on it! You have to. That’s what we do. The rest of the media gets far too cozy with them.

According to the Post, “He [Jenkins] said that most sports reporters wouldn’t touch these subjects for fear of losing access to top officials and athletes.”

That caught our eye. News articles frequently cite anonymous sources. Like “Sources at the Pentagon say . . .” Sometimes that could be an actual surreptitious source, afraid of being named. But mostly, it’s just a way for the government to to feed a story to a reporter without having to take responsibility for the consequences. Why do reporters play along? Because they’re afraid of losing access if they don’t.

When Jennings started investigating FIFA, he knew he would only get denials from top management. So he sought out the middle managers instead. His method of alerting them to his interest was simple. He went to a FIFA press conference and publicly asked FIFA President Sepp Blatter, “Have you ever taken a bribe?”

Six weeks later, he had his Deep Throat.

Source: How a curmudgeonly old reporter exposed the FIFA scandal that toppled Sepp Blatter – The Washington Post