It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, November 09, 2022
Maxwell Alejandro Frost Elected as First Gen Z Member of Congress
The Associated Press projects the 25-year-old easily won his race for Florida's District 10, which includes Orlando
Maxwell Frost.PHOTO: STEPHEN M. DOWELL/ORLANDO SENTINEL/TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE VIA GETTY
Florida House candidate Maxwell Alejandro Frost made history Tuesday, becoming the first member of Generation Z to be elected to Congress.
The Associated Press projects Frost easily won his race for Florida's District 10 — which includes Orlando — with early estimates showing he had received nearly 59% of the vote to Republican Calvin Wimbish's 40%.
In a Tweet sent after his race was called, Frost noted "history was made," writing: "We made history for Floridians, for Gen Z, and for everyone who believes we deserve a better future. I am beyond thankful for the opportunity to represent my home in the United States Congress."
Twenty-five-year-old Frost is a Democrat, activist and former Uber driver who was heavily favored to win in the general election after clinching the party's nomination in a primary in August.
Speaking to PEOPLE in September, Frost spoke of his age as being not an obstacle but an advantage, in politics.
"What we're finding more and more, our generation is gonna have the most jobs in a lifetime than other times in history," Frost said at the time. "[Members of Gen Z] move around jobs a lot, we will own the least amount of assets and property, we carry the most personal debt."
Frost campaigned on a platform of meeting challenges affecting his peers, such as gun violence and rising housing costs.
"I don't think young people [on either political side] are interested in different issues — we all want resources, opportunities ... we want our friends and people we've never met before to enjoy their lives," he told PEOPLE. "We think about things like, 'How do we protect each other? How do we build a government that protects the most vulnerable?'"
New Hampshire House candidate Karoline Leavitt, a 25-year-old Republican and former Trump White House aide, was another Gen Z candidate who made headlines leading up to the midterms. Leavitt defeated Matt Mowers, a better-funded establishment Republican, in the September GOP primary, securing the nomination by emulating Trump's political style and more openly aligning with the former president.
She faces Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas in the general election, a race that could make her the youngest woman elected to Congress. As of press time, she was not projected to win, though results were still being counted.
SO MUCH FOR THE RED WAVE
THIS IS HOW TO DEFEAT IT
DENIAL OF MEDICAL HEALTHCARE
Tennessee lawmakers introduce bill to ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth
Brooke Migdon
Tennessee Republicans on Wednesday introduced a measure to prohibit transgender youth under 18 from accessing gender-affirming health care, stating the legislature has a responsibility to “protect the health and welfare of minors.”
The bill, titled the Protecting Children from Gender Mutilation Act, was introduced Wednesday by Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson and House Majority Leader William Lamberth, both of whom won reelection on Tuesday in the midterm elections.
Under the proposed measure, health care providers in Tennessee will be barred from providing gender-affirming medical care to minors “for the purpose of enabling a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex.”
The measure includes exceptions for youth that require treatments like puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries for reasons other than the treatment of gender dysphoria or “mental condition, disorder, disability, or abnormality.”
The state legislature is set to meet next in January.
“Cultural forces from the left would like us to accept an alarming new myth; that gender is not a biological reality,” Lamberth wrote in an October op-ed in the Tennessean announcing his intent to introduce the bill.
Lamberth said he was working with Johnson and conservative podcaster and Daily Wire columnist Matt Walsh.
Walsh has crusaded against gender-affirming medical care including puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries for transgender youth, accusing doctors of “mutilating” children and calling for penalties.
Social media posts from Walsh claiming that Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee “chemically castrates” minors went viral earlier this year, spurring Gov. Bill Lee (R) to call for an investigation into the hospital’s transgender clinic. Lee also won reelection on Tuesday.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center has accused Walsh of misrepresenting facts about the care provided to young transgender patients. Last month, the hospital announced it would be pausing gender-affirming surgeries for transgender youth for up to several months while it conducts a review.
Early last month, 60 Tennessee House Republicans signed onto a letter addressed to the hospital’s president and board of directors, calling the clinic’s practices “nothing less than abuse” and promising swift action from the state legislature.
Results: Arkansas rejects marijuana legalization that included a measure that would give stipends to law enforcement
Voters in Arkansas rejected Issue 4, which would have legalized marijuana and given stipends to law enforcement.
Proponents said that the measure is a step in the right direction.
Opponents like Gov. Asa Hutchinson oppose the legalization of marijuana usage.
Voters in Arkansas rejected the use of recreational marijuana for adults over the age of 21. Over half of voters said "no" on Issue 4, which, if passed, would have legalized marijuana use and given a percentage of proceeds to law enforcement officers.
Ballot measure details
Issue 4 would have legalized recreational marijuana use for adults over the age of 21 in the state of Arkansas.
The measure would have also established a 10% sales tax for marijuana and 15% percent of the tax revenue would have been allotted toward an annual law enforcement stipend. Support and opposition
Responsible Growth Arkansas sponsored the measure. Supporters argued the measure is a step forward in the right direction. Gubernatorial nominee Chris Jones called Issue 4 a "good first step toward Arkansas embracing a pragmatic cannabis policy," according to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
Safe and Secure Communities sponsored the opposition campaign against the measure.
Arkansas's Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson argued at the Arkansas Municipal Police Association Convention in August that supporters are "going to sell this as something that's going to help law enforcement. And so, once again, they're selling a harmful drug to the citizens of Arkansas based upon promises that looks good."
China spearheads social media campaign to attack civil society in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party targets opposition figures with Chinese government assistance
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a welcoming ceremony before talks at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, April 3, 2018. (Source: Reuters/Thomas Peter)
By Kenton Thibaut
Over the last several years, China has greatly expanded its investment in media abroad. From engaging in content-sharing agreements with local newspapers, to purchasing stakes in private media outlets, to expanding its network of foreign correspondents, China’s efforts in external propaganda have shown rapid growth year over year.
The impacts of Chinese investments in some regions of the world are far-reaching. A September 2022 report by Freedom House charts the effects of China’s media push in democratic countries across the globe, with different countries showing varying degrees of resilience to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence. However, the effects of China’s efforts are perhaps even more significant in countries where civic freedoms are already highly restricted, further entrenching authoritarian regimes by lending institutional power to legitimize the state and silence calls for democracy.
Recent events in Zimbabwe illustrate the potential impacts of China’s media influence in countries where civic freedoms are already limited.
Zimbabwe’s media environment is highly controlled by the state; Reporters without Borders ranks Zimbabwe at 137 out of 180 countries surveyed in terms of media freedom and protection. State-owned papers in Zimbabwe are often highly supportive of China. The ruling political party, Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF), has used its influence over state-controlled papers to attack civil society groups, journalists, and activists who have criticized Chinese business operations in the country, using such criticism as a rationale for engaging in political persecution.
Traditional media
The state-controlled organization Zimpapers operates the Zimbabwe Herald,one of the country’s leading newspapers by circulation numbers, which often uses its power to support the ruling ZANU-PF party. Ahead of the 2021 presidential election, for example, the head of Zimpapers requested that the organization’s media editors use their outlets to encourage readers to support ZANU-PF candidates. ZANU-PF also has a close relationship with Beijing, as China is one of the few investors in the country due to existing Western-led economic and political sanctions. Reports in 2013 and 2014 alleged that Chinese state entities bankrolled ZANU-PF candidate Robert Mugabe’s presidential re-election campaign.
There is a symbiotic relationship between Harare’s control over the media environment and Beijing’s desire to spread its message. State-approved journalists have been invited to China to attend training seminars, and China has donated computers and other equipment to the Herald. In 2021, the state-run television network produced a documentary praising China’s vaccine contributions, with the Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe giving remarks in the documentary. The Herald also cited Chinese election observers to legitimize the country’s troubled electoral process; for example, on the day of the 2013 election, the Herald ran a story reporting that Chinese election observers had dismissed accusations by the opposition MDC-T party that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission rigged the election in favor of Mugabe and ZANU-PF.
More recently, following Nancy Pelosi’s August 2022 visit to Taiwan, the Herald ran a total of thirty-two articles that month supporting China’s “One China” principle and condemning the visit as a US provocation. In contrast, the Herald ran zero articles addressing the Taiwan situation in July and September. The blitz of Taiwan coverage in the Herald followssimilarpatterns in China’s overseas media activities for the month of August.
Screencap of news articles from The Zimbabwe Herald pushing China-approved narratives about Taiwan. (Source: DFRLab via Event Registry)
The Herald also spreads anti-Western narratives about the war in Ukraine that are also supported by China, including claims that NATO expansion caused the war; conspiracy theories that biolabs in Ukraine were potential sources of the COVID-19 outbreak; and that Western criticism of Chinese human rights policies is “fake news” designed to “smear” China. Chinese state media often recycles Herald stories in its own content, depicting China-supplied narratives as original reporting from Zimbabwe. Similarly, Chinese state media content is disproportionately represented in local news environments, muddying the waters for local media consumers to distinguish between state propaganda, content from news-sharing agreements, and independent news reporting.
Screencap of news articles from state-owned media in Zimbabwe, pushing China-approved narratives. (Source: DFRLab via Event Registry)
In addition to content-sharing, state-controlled media outlets in Zimbabwe have also attacked civil society actors and other independent media organizations that criticize Chinese business operations in the country for polluting the environment and treating locals poorly. In one well-publicized account, ZANU-PF leveraged state-owned media to accuse independent newspaper The Standard and several NGOs that had criticized the Chinese government of being part of a United States-funded campaign to undermine the Zimbabwean government. The Herald claimed that the US State Department funded the campaign and that the US embassy was working with the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The article also suggested the US and MDC pay local journalists $1,000 per pitch to develop unfavorable stories criticizing China for “violating community and human rights” on both news and social media platforms.
The US embassy in Zimbabwe pushed back against the article. “An independent press is essential for democracy to flourish. #JournalismIsNotACrime,” it stated in a Twitter thread. The embassy continued: “We routinely provide training and U.S. exchange opportunities to journalists and other professionals in Zimbabwe and around the world to build expertise and relationships.”
Social media
China has also used social media platforms to spread its messaging. On WeChat, the Zimbabwe Chinese Network — an online WeChat page geared towards Chinese citizens in Zimbabwe who are engaged in business activities in the country — published an announcement warning the local Chinese business community, “The United States is trying…to incite, instigate, and even bribe some anti-China forces, individuals, and media…to deliberately slander [China]…and incite the masses…to carry out anti-China activities.” The Twitter account for the Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe also published tweets claiming that local NGOs were being paid by the US to undermine China-Zimbabwe relations, and by extension, the Zimbabwean government. A campaign using the hashtag #Mr1k (referring to the alleged $1,000 per pitch the US supposedly paid for negative China stories) attacked Zimbabwe-based NGOs and journalists for undermining Chinese businesses, claiming they were paid agents of the US.
In one tweet, the account of the Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe described news reports by independent local media outlet the Standard as “fake news,” and linked to an article from the Herald.
Screencaps of tweets from the Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe promoting the #Mr1k hashtag, asserting that local journalists were being paid by the US to spread “fake news” on China. Source: @ChineseZimbabwe/archive, left; @ChineseZimbabwe/archive, right)
The #Mr1k hashtag peaked on May 6, 2022, the same day that the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, a conglomeration of more than seventy civil society groups focused on democracy promotion in the country, issued a letter criticizing what they described as China’s exploitative business practices. Over the course of a year beginning in August 2021, the hashtag garnered 5.91 million impressions and reached 2.62 million Twitter users. Retweets comprised nearly two-thirds of hashtag mentions.
Metrics for the #Mr1k hashtag over one year beginning August 25, 2021. Activity peaked on May 6, when the Chinese embassy issued a statement on Twitter addressing public criticisms of the presence of the Chinese flag on the Chinese-constructed parliament building in Zimbabwe. The screenshot at the top shows a breakdown of tweet type over time, while the screenshot at the bottom shows impressions over time. Activity peaked on May 6, when an NGO coalition issued a public letter criticizing Chinese business practices. (Source: DFRLab via Meltwater Explore)
A tweet from the Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe’s Twitter account published on May 6 received the highest number of engagements of all tweets utilizing the #Mr1k hashtag, garnering 185 retweets, 73 quote tweets, and 393 likes. The tweet included “points of clarification” about China funding the construction of Zimbabwe’s new parliament building, and accused opposition journalists of “spreading falsehoods about China’s assistance to Zimbabwe so they are not kicked out of the queue for a handout from the paymasters.” These accusations of foreign funding provide political cover for the government to crack down on civil society actors.
The tweet directly targeted two prominent Zimbabwean opposition figures: Hopewell Chin’ono and Linda Tsungirirai Masarira. Chin’ono is an independent investigative journalist who has been arrested numerous times by the Emmerson Mnangagwa administration, most recently in January 2021 for “communicating falsehoods.” Chin’ono previously expressed fear for his life following a June 2020 press conference in which a ZANU-PF spokesperson publicly attacked him for undermining the integrity of the first family by exposing corruption. Linda Tsungirirai Masarira is a politician and activist who served as a spokesperson for the opposition MDC-T party and previously organized hashtag opposition movements against the late former president, Robert Mugabe.
Several pro-government Twitter accounts routinely retweeted the Chinese embassy account and promoted the #Mr1k hashtag. For example, the pro-ZANU-PF Twitter account @cry_gurende, which sometimes issues tweets attacking journalists investigating the Mnangagwa regime, retweeted the Chinese embassy’s May 6 tweet targeting Hopewell Chin’ono and Linda Tsungirirai Masarira. Previous tweets from the account have also criticized the same individuals targeted by embassy tweets, as well as other civil society actors.
Screencap of a representative tweet from the pro-ZANU-PF account @cry_gurunde attacking Hopewell Chin’ono. Source: @cry_gurunde/archive)
At the time of writing, @cry_gurende had more than 4,700 followers. The account’s biography states, “Patriot par excellence. God fearing politician. Critic and hater of puppetry.” Notably, the Chinese embassy account uses strikingly similar metaphorical languages regarding “puppetry.” For example, a May 2022 tweet stated, “Renewed puppet show is coming! #Mr1K and their string-pullers are returning for another season of their poor show, to smear development-supporting Chinese investment & sow hatred between Chinese and Zimbabwean people.”
Screencap of tweet from the Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe. (Source: @ChineseZimbabwe/archive)
According to the 2019 Freedom on the Net report from Freedom House, “ZANU-PF is believed to pay progovernment commentators to defend the new administration and attack opponents on social media.” Freedom House noted that during the 2018 election, President Mnangagwa urged supporters to “dominate social media,” and that his call “coincided with an increase in anonymous accounts on both Facebook and Twitter that attacked perceived government opponents, especially human rights defenders and opposition party members.”
As evidenced in this case study, China’s media influence abroad can have outsized impacts in countries where freedoms are already limited. In the case of Zimbabwe, China provided political cover for ZANU-PF to crack down on journalists and civil society actors by spreading a narrative that claimed opposition figures were supported by foreign powers seeking to undermine the government.
The implications of China’s influence in Zimbabwe extend beyond the media environment. Chinese approaches to social media control are reported to have inspired Harare to develop a cybersecurity bill that grants the government broad authority in cracking down on speech online and detaining those who spread “harmful” information. Zimbabwe made its first arrests under the law in August 2022, in advance of the 2023 general election in which ZANU-PF aims to maintain its grip on power. The government charged arrested journalists under the provisions of the law regarding “spreading false data messages” on social media platforms.
When seeking to understand the implications of China’s involvement in media environments abroad, the domestic political conditions of the countries with which it engages are important. Countries show varying degrees of resilience in terms of the penetrability of their information environments to undue influence. In countries with a low level of existing resilience, the impacts on democratic prospects are perhaps the most severe.
Jay, 24, who is Black and plus size, said she has experienced discrimination at clubs, bars and parties since her freshman year of college. But she decided to push those concerns aside to attend her friend's birthday party. That night, she waited in the tightly packed corridor of the club's entrance alongside several friends, including curve model and influencer Ella Halikas. While some in their group were admitted to the club, Jay and Halikas were stopped by the bouncer, they said.
"He looks me head to toe, takes his time, up and down, and goes, 'Not tonight,'" Jay said. "That's when I knew exactly what was going on and I said, 'It's happening.'"
The two models said they believe they were turned away for being plus size. They said what happened is just one example of how people with bigger bodies are discriminated against.
A spokesperson for Tao Group Hospitality, the parent company of The Highlight Room, said in a statement Monday that it is “aware of the Ella and Alexa’s experience and are actively engaged with them to discuss the incident further."
"We are always appreciative of feedback on our operations and continue to work on how to improve our guest experience," the spokesperson said. "Our company does not tolerate discrimination of any kind.”
Jay and Halikas confirmed they have been in contact with the club but said they have not received an apology.
The two decided Friday to share their story on TikTok, where a video on Halikas' page has been viewed more than 1.1 million times.
They said the humiliation they felt has inspired them to try to change the culture of how bigger bodies are policed in spaces like clubs.
“I said to my friend if it’s not me being discriminated against because I’m Black, it’s because I’m curvy," Jay said. "When does this end? Like, when does it end?”
The women also started the hashtag #NotTonight to encourage others who have experienced discrimination for being plus size to share their stories and to show the extent of the problem.
"This story isn't really even about me or The Highlight Room. Like, yes, I want an apology, but it's so much bigger than that. This is about all the girls who don't have a voice," Halikas, 25, said in a recent interview. "Even as a Sports Illustrated model myself, I could not get let into a club because I'm a size 14. That shook me to my core."
Some online — including body positivity advocates, fat empowerment activists and plus-size content creators — are sounding the alarm over a potential return to the “heroin chic” thinness of the 1990s and the early 2000s.
“I am of the generation of the first wave of this. We never fully recovered. I lost two decades of my life,” actor Jameela Jamil wrote on Instagram in response to a New York Post headline declaring “heroin chic” back in style.
“I’m BEGGING you to violently reject this, and to VIOLENTLY REJECT any people, or magazines or news outlets who are participating in the spread of this hell," wrote Jamil, who founded the “I Weigh” campaign, which encourages people to value themselves with qualities apart from their weight.
Jay and Halikas said they want to highlight how people with bigger bodies are treated offline.
They believe the bouncers at The Highlight Room should undergo sensitivity training.
Ultimately, they hope, the incident will lead to more inclusive spaces for people of all sizes.
It’s unclear how many people have used the #NotTonight hashtag since Halikas and Jay began promoting it. The hashtag shares the title of a popular EDM song, which has been used as a tag on TikTok.
The comment sections of both women’s videos have been flooded with remarks from others sharing stories about the times they also faced discrimination because of their size.
“I am the lead singer of a band and one time the bouncer of the venue I performed at TRIED TO TURN ME AWAY AT THE DOOR OF MY OWN SHOW,” one person commented.
Another commenter wrote: “I am that girl who doesn’t have a voice and I thank you both for this! It’s happened to me and I just walked away and cried in private.”
Newspapers in most parts of the world show disinterest in US elections
Nov 9, 2022
As the U.S. anxiously waits to determine which political party will gain control of Congress, the world's media watched Tuesday's election races with some curiosity, though most coverage appeared to be overshadowed by the COP27 climate summit, the war in Ukraine, and Meta’s announcement to lay off hundreds of employees.
La Repubblica
Several major European papers like The Guardian, Le Monde, and La Repubblica have covered the midterm elections closely –– some even launching live blogs –– though there was noticeably little to no coverage of the U.S. races in papers across Asia and in Africa.
Here’s a look at how some international media outlets covered the Tuesday elections so far.
THE VIEW FROM GERMANY
Bild: “The greatest winner is Trump’s greatest enemy”
Though not making the top of the site’s homepage or the world section, German tabloid Bild’s coverage of the midterm elections delves into thebiggest surprisesfrom Tuesday evening –– including Republican disappointment of not achieving a “red tsunami.” The report also highlights Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ win in the state, and what that might mean for Donald Trump if the two were to run as party rivals in the 2024 presidential elections.
Bild
Quoteworthy:
“For those in the party and at grassroots level who are fed up with Trump's antics but want a candidate with Trumpian content, a real alternative is coming up. Ronald instead of Donald. One like Trump, but without his political and legal baggage.”
THE VIEW FROM RUSSIA
TASS: “Medvedev skewers midterms, Ukraine’s ‘green’ leader: Global support for US course dying”
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's former president and current deputy chairman of the security council, told Russian state news agency TASS that results from the midterm elections so far show that "global support for the United States’ policy course is on the decline."
On his Telegram, Medvedev posted an illustration of a blue pig flying over the world, supported by balloons with the colors of national flags from other Western countries.
TASS
Quoteworthy:
“...grandpa Biden is slipping away, global support for US policy is on the decline, and betting on a ‘stoned hetman’ was a huge mistake,” Dmitry Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel on Wednesday.
THE VIEW FROM MEXICO
Milenio: U.S. Midterm election results | Latest news
As one of Mexico’s biggest papers, Grupo Milenio followed the midterms closely, launching a live blog detailing the results. The outlet also published a series of explainers on DeSantis and highlighted the young and LGBTQ candidates who won their races.
THE VIEW FROM AUSTRALIA
The Australian: “Trickle treat for Biden as red wave withers”
In Australia's most widely circulated broadsheet, reporter Adam Creighton described the anticipated “red wave” as more of a ripple, saying that Republicans, especially Trump, “face humiliation” as Republican ambitions to take hold of Congress “appear to be in tatters.”
The Australian
THE VIEW FROM INDIA
Hindustan Times: “Do voters want Joe Biden to run for president again? Exit poll says ‘not really’.”
Dehli-based English-language newspaper Hindustan Times published its latest story on the midterms just minutes before midnight on Tuesday. The piece leads with Biden “not having the best time” as midterm results roll in, and largely draws on a CNN poll showing that two-thirds of voters do not want Biden to run for reelection in 2024.
THE VIEW FROM SPAIN
El Mundo: “What if the referendum is about Trump?”
Similar to the leading story from Bild, Gina Montaner’s column in El Mundo, the second largest daily newspaper in Spain, examined how the outcome of the election may be more about Trump’s potential rivalry with DeSantis going into 2024.
El Mundo
Quoteworthy:
“DeSantis is emerging as one of the biggest threat [against the Democrats] who are wondering who the real rising star is,” Montaner wrote.
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