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Smear campaign targets nominee who would be FCC’s first openly gay commissioner

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Smear campaign targets nominee who would be FCC’s first openly gay commissioner

A campaign to block the appointment of a commissioner to the Federal Communications Commission has turned ugly.

Gigi Sohn, who was first nominated in October 2021 to complete the FCC’s lineup of five commissioners, was recently the target of articles by DailyMail.com and FoxNews.com that sought to connect her work with a leading digital rights group to sex trafficking and a dominatrix. Sohn is on the board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, or EFF, a widely respected nonprofit that advocates for privacy and free expression online.

Those articles came after what has been a particularly long wait to have Sohn approved by the Senate, and they’ve triggered growing outrage.

“The press stories ginned up by Ms. Sohn’s opponents are beneath scurrilous and are beneath the dignity of this Committee,” wrote Preston Padden, a former president of ABC Television Network and a founding executive of Fox Broadcast Co., in a recent letter to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. 

Both articles referred to the EFF’s opposition to a law known as FOSTA-SESTA that aimed to crack down on websites for knowingly facilitating sex trafficking that was opposed by much of the tech community. The Daily Mail also pointed out that the EFF honored a dominatrix with its “pioneer award” for what the nonprofit said was her “research into sex work and equitable access to technology from a public health perspective” in relation to FOSTA-SESTA.

Padden, in a phone interview with NBC News, emphasized how shocked he was by the articles.

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“I’m old. I started doing legal lobbying work in the industry in 1973,” Padden, who is now the principal of the consulting firm Boulder Thinking, said. “And I have never seen anything like this. I’ve never seen anything like the micro targeting of senators to try to defeat a nomination. And I’ve never seen anything like this smear campaign.”

I’ve never seen anything like this smear campaign.

Preston Padden, a former president of ABC Television Network and a founding executive of Fox Broadcast Co

It remains unclear who or what was behind the articles by the Daily Mail and Fox News.

Neither the Daily Mail nor Fox News responded to a request for comment. 

Sohn declined to comment.

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The campaign against Sohn had already moved beyond traditional Washington lobbying. 

The American Accountability Foundation, which calls itself a “nonprofit government oversight and research organization that uses investigative tools to educate the public on issues related to personnel, policy and spending,” first called for the withdrawal of Sohn’s nomination in February 2022. A New Yorker investigation from April tied the foundation to a variety of aggressive political attacks on Biden nominees including Justice Ketanji Brown Jackon as well as many lower-profile nominees. The foundation’s website invites visitors to read what it calls the “hit piece” published by The New Yorker. The group’s funding is private.

An NBC News review of Facebook’s “Ad Library” showed that the American Accountability Foundation has spent at least $229,000 on ads attacking Sohn since April 2022, according to estimates published by Facebook, with 12 ads having been launched on Jan. 25 and 26. 

The most recent ads from the foundation prior to that recent purchase appeared in November. Most of the ads label Sohn as “too extreme” or her views on police reform, which are not relevant to her work at the FCC but have drawn scrutiny. Almost all the Facebook ads the foundation ran in the second half of 2022 and thus far in 2023 targeted Sohn.

The American Accountability Foundation did not respond to requests for comment.

The Fraternal Order of Police has taken issue with her “animus toward law enforcement officers” and her ties to the Electronic Frontier Foundation because of its promotion of encryption for messaging apps.

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Jim Pascoe, the order’s  executive director, told NBC News that his organization did not coordinate with any other group in attacking Sohn, and that he simply opposes Sohn because he believes law enforcement should be able to break encryption in times of emergency. The FCC does not have oversight of that issue. 

“If the FCC had a role, we would certainly be alarmed if she was a part of that role,” he said.

The nomination of Sohn, who would be the FCC’s first openly gay commissioner, languished in a Senate committee where united Republican opposition and inconsistent Democratic support have made her confirmation a low priority. President Joe Biden renominated her in early January.

“Chairwoman [Jessica] Rosenworcel believes Gigi Sohn is a knowledgeable nominee with a long record of commitment to the issues before the FCC,” Paloma Perez, the FCC’s press secretary, said in an emailed statement. “She has consistently re-iterated that the Commission was designed to have five commissioners and looks forward to that day.”

The already contentious nomination process went from aggressive to ugly with the articles about Sohn, which alarmed many of her allies and even some of her professional rivals.

Gary Shapiro, the president of the Consumer Technology Association, a large pro-business lobbyist group, has butted heads with Sohn for years over various issues.

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But he said the recent articles about Sohn cross a line.

“There’s a little homophobia going on here. It’s whispered around in the Senate,” Shapiro said. “And that’s a shame. It’s no secret that Gigi would be the first openly gay FCC commissioner. I like to think as a country we’re past that, but apparently we’re not. This smear campaign, it’s been two years already.”

I like to think as a country we’re past that, but apparently we’re not. This smear campaign, it’s been two years already.

Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Technology Association

“I think a major injustice is being done here to a super high-quality person,” Shapiro added.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has also praised Sohn. “Between her years working on behalf of regular Americans who lack affordable, reliable access to the internet and her experience inside the government, Gigi Sohn is the epitome of what an FCC commissioner should be,” he said in a statement days after the Daily Mail and Fox News articles were published. “No amount of astroturfed attacks on behalf of the Big Cable companies will change that. Ms. Sohn has broad support from across the political spectrum and should be confirmed as quickly as possible.”

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Sohn’s holdup means the FCC is unable to make some major moves, most notably around a law put in place by the Biden administration. 

Biden’s infrastructure bill, signed in November 2021, prohibits internet providers from discriminating against customers based on categories like race, a practice that scholars and journalists have repeatedly verified as a problem.

The law leaves it to the FCC to decide, by this November, how to define that discrimination, a decision that could cost the internet provider industry billions of dollars.

“This is a multibillion dollar-regulatory decision,” said Ernesto Falcon, senior legislative counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who specializes in some of the topics the FCC regulates, particularly internet access. “It’s the first time we’ve ever had a federal law that explicitly stated broadband access has to be given to people equally, regardless of their income, race, and a number of other protected classes.”

Industry players like AT&T have argued they prefer a definition that requires explicit evidence of intent to discriminate, like internal emails of executives saying they intend to discriminate against certain people. Many Democrats and public rights groups want to define it by evidence of who gets worse internet access, pointing to studies and investigative reports that show providers often offer high-speed internet in richer, white neighborhoods and slower speeds in poorer neighborhoods and communities of color. 

The FCC would be unlikely to pass rules promoting the access definition without Sohn or another Democrat to complete that majority.

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Alex Byers, director of communications and public relations at ATT, said in an email: “We have not taken a position on Gigi Sohn’s nomination, have not asked any third-party organization to take a position, and have not funded any campaigns against her nomination.”

One lobbyist who works on telecommunications issues said that pressure from police groups had taken a toll, most notably with Democratic senators who ran for re-election in 2022. Now, she faces the same issues with some who are up for re-election in 2024.

“You’ve got a couple of [Democratic] senators, last time it was folks up in 2022, who were afraid to vote for her because of some of the comments she’s made or positions that she’s taken that got her crosswise with law enforcement,” the lobbyist, who asked to withhold their name to discuss private conversations, said. “Now, the ‘24s are up. … If you lose two it’s done.”

The FCC is an independent government agency tasked with regulating interstate communications that started out overseeing the emergence of radio and eventually adding the television, satellite and wireless industries. Commissioner nominations for the FCC are usually dull affairs that rarely make news outside of trade publications. 

The FCC has five commissioners nominated by the president and approved by the Senate, with a partisan slant to whichever party holds the Oval Office. During President Donald Trump’s term, the FCC counted three Republican commissioners to two Democrats. During President Barack Obama’s term, there were three Democrats and two Republicans.

Biden’s FCC has been different, frozen at two Democrats, two Republicans and one empty seat. That leaves the FCC essentially frozen, unable to make major moves. It’s a situation that suits the major telecommunications companies just fine, with their primary regulator in suspended animation.

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Sohn’s appointment once looked straightforward. Sohn is well known in the telecom world, having worked under FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler from 2013 to 2016. Jessica Rosenworcel, who Biden nominated as FCC chair at the same time he nominated Sohn as a commissioner, easily passed a Senate vote in December 2021.

And while Sohn did draw rebukes from some Republicans, she did receive some support from right-leaning news outlets Newsmax and One America News network

More than a year later, Sohn has yet to receive a Senate confirmation vote. A third committee hearing was scheduled and then delayed.

“And that’s the definition of success for the lobbyists,” Wheeler said in a phone interview. “When the regulated get to pick their regulator, and delay the establishment of a democratic vote, they succeed in neutering the agency.”

FCC nominations can get contentious and have become a bit more high profile in recent years, most notably as internet regulation and net neutrality issues have gained national attention. And some have taken a while to go through. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, blocked Wheeler’s Senate confirmation out of concerns that he would push for more transparency around political TV ad buys.

Many who follow the FCC noted the aggressive lobbying of major telecom companies. Jessica Gonzalez, co-CEO of the media advocacy nonprofit Free Press, said the current situation is beneficial for them.

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“A 2-2 commission, like a split Republican-Democrat Congress, is good for them, because it means that less regulations are likely to flow and they will have to do less,” Gonzalez said. “This is all about them, minimizing the amount of money they have to spend and maximizing the amount of money they can make, and keeping the commission at bay by not allowing Biden to have his nominees confirmed is an effective strategy for all of the above.”

The telecom industry is among the most enterprising with its lobbying. Telecom companies spent more than $117 million on lobbying in 2022, according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks money in U.S. politics. Comcast, the parent company of NBCUniversal and NBC News, spent more than $14 million.

Sena Fitzmaurice, a Comcast spokesperson, referred to an earlier company statement on Sohn, which said she “would bring her tireless advocacy on the critical issue of connecting all Americans to broadband back to the FCC. We have long shared that commitment.”

Comcast did not answer questions about whether it had lobbied against Sohn.

There could be some momentum to get Sohn across the finish line. Padden, the former media executive, said he had recently emailed with Rupert Murdoch, his former boss, about Sohn. Murdoch had expressed “some misgivings about her candidacy.”

Padden said he told Murdoch about her experiences working with Sohn, most notably on securing FCC waivers needed to launch the Fox broadcast network.

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“I explained that to Mr. Murdoch. And his response to me was ‘I stand corrected,’” Padden said. “Now, he didn’t say he loved her, and he didn’t say he wanted to see her on the FCC, but he did say ‘I stand corrected.’”

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Facebook Faces Yet Another Outage: Platform Encounters Technical Issues Again

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Facebook Problem Again

Uppdated: It seems that today’s issues with Facebook haven’t affected as many users as the last time. A smaller group of people appears to be impacted this time around, which is a relief compared to the larger incident before. Nevertheless, it’s still frustrating for those affected, and hopefully, the issues will be resolved soon by the Facebook team.

Facebook had another problem today (March 20, 2024). According to Downdetector, a website that shows when other websites are not working, many people had trouble using Facebook.

This isn’t the first time Facebook has had issues. Just a little while ago, there was another problem that stopped people from using the site. Today, when people tried to use Facebook, it didn’t work like it should. People couldn’t see their friends’ posts, and sometimes the website wouldn’t even load.

Downdetector, which watches out for problems on websites, showed that lots of people were having trouble with Facebook. People from all over the world said they couldn’t use the site, and they were not happy about it.

When websites like Facebook have problems, it affects a lot of people. It’s not just about not being able to see posts or chat with friends. It can also impact businesses that use Facebook to reach customers.

Since Facebook owns Messenger and Instagram, the problems with Facebook also meant that people had trouble using these apps. It made the situation even more frustrating for many users, who rely on these apps to stay connected with others.

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During this recent problem, one thing is obvious: the internet is always changing, and even big websites like Facebook can have problems. While people wait for Facebook to fix the issue, it shows us how easily things online can go wrong. It’s a good reminder that we should have backup plans for staying connected online, just in case something like this happens again.

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Christian family goes in hiding after being cleared of blasphemy

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Christian family goes in hiding after being cleared of blasphemy

LAHORE, Pakistan — A court in Pakistan granted bail to a Christian falsely charged with blasphemy, but he and his family have separated and gone into hiding amid threats to their lives, sources said.

Haroon Shahzad (right) with attorney Aneeqa Maria. | The Voice Society/Morning Star News

Haroon Shahzad, 45, was released from Sargodha District Jail on Nov. 15, said his attorney, Aneeqa Maria. Shahzad was charged with blasphemy on June 30 after posting Bible verses on Facebook that infuriated Muslims, causing dozens of Christian families in Chak 49 Shumaali, near Sargodha in Punjab Province, to flee their homes.

Lahore High Court Judge Ali Baqir Najfi granted bail on Nov. 6, but the decision and his release on Nov. 15 were not made public until now due to security fears for his life, Maria said.

Shahzad told Morning Star News by telephone from an undisclosed location that the false accusation has changed his family’s lives forever.

“My family has been on the run from the time I was implicated in this false charge and arrested by the police under mob pressure,” Shahzad told Morning Star News. “My eldest daughter had just started her second year in college, but it’s been more than four months now that she hasn’t been able to return to her institution. My other children are also unable to resume their education as my family is compelled to change their location after 15-20 days as a security precaution.”

Though he was not tortured during incarceration, he said, the pain of being away from his family and thinking about their well-being and safety gave him countless sleepless nights.

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“All of this is due to the fact that the complainant, Imran Ladhar, has widely shared my photo on social media and declared me liable for death for alleged blasphemy,” he said in a choked voice. “As soon as Ladhar heard about my bail, he and his accomplices started gathering people in the village and incited them against me and my family. He’s trying his best to ensure that we are never able to go back to the village.”

Shahzad has met with his family only once since his release on bail, and they are unable to return to their village in the foreseeable future, he said.

“We are not together,” he told Morning Star News. “They are living at a relative’s house while I’m taking refuge elsewhere. I don’t know when this agonizing situation will come to an end.”

The Christian said the complainant, said to be a member of Islamist extremist party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan and also allegedly connected with banned terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, filed the charge because of a grudge. Shahzad said he and his family had obtained valuable government land and allotted it for construction of a church building, and Ladhar and others had filed multiple cases against the allotment and lost all of them after a four-year legal battle.

“Another probable reason for Ladhar’s jealousy could be that we were financially better off than most Christian families of the village,” he said. “I was running a successful paint business in Sargodha city, but that too has shut down due to this case.”

Regarding the social media post, Shahzad said he had no intention of hurting Muslim sentiments by sharing the biblical verse on his Facebook page.

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“I posted the verse a week before Eid Al Adha [Feast of the Sacrifice] but I had no idea that it would be used to target me and my family,” he said. “In fact, when I came to know that Ladhar was provoking the villagers against me, I deleted the post and decided to meet the village elders to explain my position.”

The village elders were already influenced by Ladhar and refused to listen to him, Shahzad said.

“I was left with no option but to flee the village when I heard that Ladhar was amassing a mob to attack me,” he said.

Shahzad pleaded with government authorities for justice, saying he should not be punished for sharing a verse from the Bible that in no way constituted blasphemy.

Similar to other cases

Shahzad’s attorney, Maria, told Morning Star News that events in Shahzad’s case were similar to other blasphemy cases filed against Christians.

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“Defective investigation, mala fide on the part of the police and complainant, violent protests against the accused persons and threats to them and their families, forcing their displacement from their ancestral areas, have become hallmarks of all blasphemy allegations in Pakistan,” said Maria, head of The Voice Society, a Christian paralegal organization.

She said that the case filed against Shahzad was gross violation of Section 196 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which states that police cannot register a case under the Section 295-A blasphemy statute against a private citizen without the approval of the provincial government or federal agencies.

Maria added that Shahzad and his family have continued to suffer even though there was no evidence of blasphemy.

“The social stigma attached with a blasphemy accusation will likely have a long-lasting impact on their lives, whereas his accuser, Imran Ladhar, would not have to face any consequence of his false accusation,” she said.

The judge who granted bail noted that Shahzad was charged with blasphemy under Section 295-A, which is a non-cognizable offense, and Section 298, which is bailable. The judge also noted that police had not submitted the forensic report of Shahzad’s cell phone and said evidence was required to prove that the social media was blasphemous, according to Maria.

Bail was set at 100,000 Pakistani rupees (US $350) and two personal sureties, and the judge ordered police to further investigate, she said.

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Shahzad, a paint contractor, on June 29 posted on his Facebook page 1 Cor. 10:18-21 regarding food sacrificed to idols, as Muslims were beginning the four-day festival of Eid al-Adha, which involves slaughtering an animal and sharing the meat.

A Muslim villager took a screenshot of the post, sent it to local social media groups and accused Shahzad of likening Muslims to pagans and disrespecting the Abrahamic tradition of animal sacrifice.

Though Shahzad made no comment in the post, inflammatory or otherwise, the situation became tense after Friday prayers when announcements were made from mosque loudspeakers telling people to gather for a protest, family sources previously told Morning Star News.

Fearing violence as mobs grew in the village, most Christian families fled their homes, leaving everything behind.

In a bid to restore order, the police registered a case against Shahzad under Sections 295-A and 298. Section 295-A relates to “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs” and is punishable with imprisonment of up to 10 years and fine, or both. Section 298 prescribes up to one year in prison and a fine, or both, for hurting religious sentiments.

Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, up from eighth the previous year.

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Morning Star News is the only independent news service focusing exclusively on the persecution of Christians. The nonprofit’s mission is to provide complete, reliable, even-handed news in order to empower those in the free world to help persecuted Christians, and to encourage persecuted Christians by informing them that they are not alone in their suffering.

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Individual + Team Stats: Hornets vs. Timberwolves

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CHARLOTTE HORNETS MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES You can follow us for future coverage by liking us on Facebook & following us on X: Facebook – All Hornets X – …

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