Elections bring out the very worst in celebrities.
Every four years we get a crush of videos demanding the plebes vote their way or it’s the end of democracy. In 2016 “Save the Day” gathered “Avengers” alum, including Robert Downey, Jr., to warn us that a Donald Trump presidency would be the end of everything (except energy independence, apparently).
The worst might have been white Hollywood’s 2020 response to Black Lives Matter.
The “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGYNboz90iM" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I Take Reasonability” clip</a> redefined cringe for a new generation, as white celebrities bowed down to the Identity Politics cult in serious, black-and-white confessions. Try looking at “Breaking Bad” alum Aaron Paul the same way after watching his portion of the video.
So much White Privilege.
Then again, what happened this week could technically be worse.
<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2024/07/30/white-dudes-for-harris-call-jeff-bridges-josh-groban-celebrities/74599110007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“White Dudes for Kamala”</a> fundraiser gathered some pretty famous faces to stump online for the vice president turned presidential candidate.
They shared her litany of legislative success stories, leadership on protecting Americans from violent illegal immigrants and more.
Just kidding.
They played the gender and race cards against themselves. “Please don’t cancel me!” “We’re doing as we’re told!”
The “dudes” in question? “Lord of the Rings” alum <a href="https://x.com/watchTENETnow/status/1818096753872134196">Sean Astin</a>. Actor <a href="https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/1818092480832606235">Josh Gad</a>, the voice of Olaf the snowman. Singer Josh Groban. Comedian Paul Scheer of “The League” fame. And, shockingly, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/30/politics/video/white-dudes-for-harris-raises-4-million-for-campaign-digvid">Jeff Bridges</a>.
Yes, that Jeff Bridges.
Et tu, Dude?
“I qualify, man. I’m white, I’m a dude, and I’m for Harris.”
Yes, the level of intellectual gamesmanship soared off the charts during the exchange. How could it not, with Biden sycophant-turned-Harris sycophant Mark Hamill joining the fray.
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TODAY-Join me along w/Pete Buttigieg-Gov. Roy Cooper-Rep. Adam Schiff-Bradley Whitford-Jimmy Williams-David Hogg-George Goehl-Ben Wikler-Josh Gad-Jon Cooper-Rory O’Malley-Michael Kelly-Misha Collins-Scott Galloway-Josh Groban &amp; countless others ALL dedicated to electing… <a href="https://t.co/mt2QAzhjLP">pic.twitter.com/mt2QAzhjLP</a>
&mdash; Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkHamill/status/1817883071338680551?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 29, 2024</a></blockquote>
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The gathering may be atoning for their collective White Privilege, but their real privilege is economic. They all can survive the inflation surges sending millions of blue-collar Americans scurrying for cover on Harris’ watch.
Their affluence protects them from soaring crime rates across the country, fueled by soft-on-crime Democrats like … Harris. 
She’s gone on record supporting the Defund the Police program and free gender transitions for anyone seeking it, <a href="https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1818364626515681345" target="_blank" rel="noopener">even convicted murderers</a>. And are we even allowed to talk about her definitive role as President Joe Biden’s border czar?
Bridges ignored all of the above.
&#8220;I can see her being president … I&#8217;m so excited. A woman president, man. How exciting! And her championing of women&#8217;s rights, I&#8217;m for that.&#8221;
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Jeff Bridges joins ‘White Dudes for Harris’ call" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bMFT4b9M13I?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Would “The Big Lebowski” star have voted for Nikki Haley? That’s rhetorical. 
Has Harris stood up for women being pummeled by trans female athletes? <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/lgbtq-celebrities-lawmakers-kamala-harris-rcna163542" target="_blank" rel="noopener">That’s not rhetorical</a>. 
Astin leaned into the feminist card like a man cornered at a Women’s March. Harris is “&#8230;qualified, tested, proven woman into the presidency, so that all girls for all time can know that that&#8217;s possible.&#8221;
Here’s betting parents can’t wait to share how Harris got her <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kamalas-former-lover-mentor-keep-voters-continually-guessing-what-her-ideology-is" target="_blank" rel="noopener">big start in politics</a>. Just hope those girls are over 18 when they hear that story.
“West Wing” alum Bradley Whitford clumsily threw President Barack Obama under the presidential bus with his hype game. He said he’s “never felt this kind of enthusiasm ever.”
“Hope and change” is so 2008, apparently.
Then again, perhaps replacing a “Weekend at Bernie’s” cosplayer with a deeply flawed candidate is just the euphoria Democrats craved.
Gad delivered one of those scripted memories that not even Karine Jean-Pierre would buy in his “White Dudes” close-up.
The actor says he &#8220;stood over my kids&#8217; bed and I wept&#8221; when Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in 2016.
“That feeling of dread, and that feeling of fear, and that feeling of shame is not something I’m ever willing or able to allow myself to feel again.”
“And … cut! Love it, Josh … let’s take five.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
&quot;On Election Night 2016, I wept. We had a chance to have a female president.&quot;
White Dudes For Harris meeting 💀 <a href="https://t.co/ruNLshd5cr">pic.twitter.com/ruNLshd5cr</a>
&mdash; End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) <a href="https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1818092480832606235?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Once again, back to identity. Not intelligence, accomplishments or gravitas. Gender.
The Harris agenda is simple and, potentially, successful. I am a woman who is both black and Indian American. Those are my qualifications. Ignore my record, radical statements and lack of accomplishments on core issues like the U.S./Mexican border.
Question me or my flip-flops and you’re a racist and a sexist.
And don’t give it a second thought that I haven’t let journalists ask me, well, anything, since announcing my candidacy.
Could Harris handle even softball queries at this point? Remember, President Biden turned down the Super Bowl of softball interviews. Twice.
We all know why. And, after hearing Harris’ word-salad spinnings for three-plus years we think we get her press strategy.
The White Dudes affair did give Americans some digital karma.
X <a href="https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/elon-musk-suspends-white-dudes-for-harris-twitter-x-1236089959/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">briefly suspended the White Dudes</a> for Harris account on his platform. Not cool, but if you can’t see the “turnabout is fair play” angle you haven’t been paying attention. The old Twitter regime aggressively canceled conservatives, fought back against “misinformation” on COVID that turned out to be true and much more.
The assembled White Dudes for Kamala said nothing about that, of course. They couldn’t man up then, and they sure aren’t manning up now.
Just know the Elon Musk variation of “The Twitter Files” will be on a single sheaf of paper. More importantly, any GOP attempt to field a similar fundraiser for a minority Republican candidate will be greeted with endless references to Hitler and the KKK.
* * *
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of <a href="http://www.hollywoodintoto.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HollywoodInToto.com</a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at <a href="https://twitter.com/HollywoodInToto?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@HollywoodInToto</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
<a href="http://www.amiracist.com/">WATCH THE TRAILER FOR &#8216;AM I RACIST?&#8217; — A MATT WALSH COMEDY ON DEI</a>
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly claimed Kamala Harris is black and Native American. She is black and Indian American.

2024 Disney Upfront

Et Tu, Jeff Bridges? The White Actors Who Gave Up Their Man Card On Kamala Zoom Call

2024 Election

actors

Hollywood

Kamala Harris

Presidency

Readers Pass

White Men

White Privilege

Zoom

President Joe Biden lashed out at Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) for raising concerns about the Democrat&#8217;s re-election prospects and Biden&#8217;s ability — or lack thereof — to &#8220;project strength, vigor, and inspire confidence at home and abroad.&#8221;
According to several reports including <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/07/16/nation/biden-allies-worry-he-is-not-getting-complete-information-about-race/">The Boston Globe</a>, Biden made the comments during a recent Zoom call, firing back after Crow warned that persisting in the &#8220;status quo&#8221; would likely result in losses for the president and others in the party come November.
&#8220;We know that without a major change we are facing losses in November,&#8221; Crow began, adding, &#8220;The status quo won&#8217;t work. Focusing just on Trump won&#8217;t work. Focusing on policy accomplishments the last four years won&#8217;t work. We need a major shift. We need a major change. What change to your campaign do you propose?&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Tense showdown between Biden and Army veteran <a href="https://twitter.com/RepJasonCrow?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RepJasonCrow</a> in which the president compares Crow&#8217;s Bronze Star to Beau Biden&#8217;s Bronze Star and dares Crow to name a more effective world leader. &#8220;Tell me!&#8221; Crow replies: &#8220;It&#8217;s not breaking through, Mr. President.&#8221; From <a href="https://twitter.com/juliaioffe?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@juliaioffe</a>: <a href="https://t.co/T1LBC3uhlN">pic.twitter.com/T1LBC3uhlN</a>
— John Hudson (@John_Hudson) <a href="https://twitter.com/John_Hudson/status/1813427042794319911?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 17, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Biden, clearly not pleased with what he heard, fired back, &#8220;First of all, I think you&#8217;re dead wrong about national security. Name me a foreign leader who thinks I&#8217;m not the most effective leader in the world on foreign policy. Tell me. Tell me who the hell that is.&#8221;
&#8220;Tell me who put NATO back together! Tell me who enlarged NATO, tell who did the Pacific basin,&#8221; Biden continued, pivoting to invoke his late son Beau Biden and simultaneously level a personal attack against Crow. &#8220;Tell me who did something that you&#8217;ve never done with your Bronze Star like my son — and I&#8217;m proud of your leadership, but guess what, what&#8217;s happening, we&#8217;ve got Korea and Japan working together, I put AUKUS together, anyway!&#8221;
Biden kept going, once again claiming he was the &#8220;most respected&#8221; world leader anyone had ever seen and was the only one who could bring about peace.
Crow, seemingly ignoring the insult, protested, &#8220;It&#8217;s not breaking through, Mr. President, to our voters.&#8221;
&#8220;You oughta talk about it!&#8221; Biden objected, listing his accomplishments again and adding, &#8220;On national security, nobody has been a better president than I&#8217;ve been. Name me one. Name me one! So I don&#8217;t want to hear that crap!&#8221;
Biden&#8217;s attack on Crow circulated on X, prompting a few to <a href="https://x.com/bonchieredstate/status/1813573174866682172" target="_blank" rel="noopener">point out</a> the full scope of its bad optics for the president. Beau Biden earned his Bronze Star after a year-long deployment with the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps, while <a href="https://crow.house.gov/issues/national-security?page=4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Crow earned his</a> while serving in three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne and the 75th Ranger Regiment.

I Am Vanessa Guillén Act

Biden Dresses Down Army Ranger Vet In Tense Call Over Re-Election Woes

Biden Dresses Down Army Ranger Vet In Tense Call Over Reelection Woes

Beau Biden

Elections

Executive

Joe Biden

Military

Politics

U.S. Army

Vishal Garg, the CEO of Better.com who fired hundreds of his staff in a Zoom meeting last week, has apologized for the way the situation was handled.
“I want to apologize for the way I handled the layoffs last week,” Garg wrote in a <a href="https://cdn.brandfolder.io/A8SA0YBW/at/ggkbfpsbjbvc335cprpv33bg/A_Message_From_Our_Founder___CEO.pdf">letter</a> posted on the company’s website. “I failed to show the appropriate amount of respect and appreciation for the individuals who were affected and for their contributions to Better.”
“I own the decision to do the layoffs, but in communicating it I blundered the execution. In doing so, I embarrassed you,” he continued. “I realize that the way I communicated this news made a difficult situation worse. I am deeply sorry and am committed to learning from this situation and doing more to be the leader that you expect me to be.”
“At Better, your dedication, focus and expertise are essential in the vital work we are doing to unlock the value, joy and opportunity of homeownership for our customers across the country. I couldn’t be more grateful for all you are accomplishing for the customers we serve,” Garg added. “We will talk more at our upcoming All Hands meeting about what to expect for the year ahead. I hope you’ll join me for the discussion. We are also taking fast steps to make sure we are very transparent and aligned as a company on the goals for 2022, the metrics that matter most, and how we can all work together even better to serve our customers and achieve our mission.”
“I believe in you, I believe in Better, and I believe that working together we can make homeownership better together,” Garg concluded.
Garg’s company, Better.com, is a New York-based mortgage start-up.
&#8220;Hi everyone, thank you for joining. I come to you with not great news. The market has changed, as you know, and we have to move with it in order to survive so that hopefully we can continue to thrive and deliver on our mission,” Garg <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59573146">announced</a> to staff in the call last week. &#8220;This isn&#8217;t news that you&#8217;re going to want to hear but ultimately it was my decision and I wanted you to hear it from me. It&#8217;s been a really, really challenging decision to make. This is the second time in my career that I&#8217;m doing this and I do not want to do this. The last time I did it I cried. This time I hope to be stronger. But we are laying off about 15% of the company for [a number of] reasons: the market, efficiency and performances and productivity.”
&#8220;If you&#8217;re on this call you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off. Your employment here is terminated. Effective immediately,” he said.
<a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/07/better-com-ceo-vishal-garg-apologizes-to-current-employees-for-blundering-the-execution-of-mass-layoffs/">TechCrunch</a> reported that “Earlier today, sources familiar with internal happenings within the company told TechCrunch the company’s VP of communications, Patrick Lenihan; head of public relations, Tanya Gillogley; and head of marketing, Melanie Hahn, have all submitted their resignations.”

Zoom Call

‘I Blundered The Execution’: Better.com CEO Apologizes For Mass Firing On Zoom

With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing workers to stay home for much of 2020, the videoconferencing utility Zoom made money hand over fist.
Zoom hauled in some $660 million in pre-tax profits in 2020, compared to $16 million in profits in 2019, <a href="https://itep.org/zoom-pays-0-in-federal-income-taxes-on-pandemic-profits/">according</a> to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
But the California-based company, founded in 2011 by Eric Yuan, didn&#8217;t pay a single dollar in U.S. taxes, according to reports. A simple application of the federal corporate tax rate of 21% would put the company&#8217;s IRS bill at $138,600,000.
&#8220;The Silicon Valley firm appears to have achieved that feat largely thanks to its use of stock-based compensation for employees, which helped reduce its worldwide tax bill by more than $302 million for the year ending Jan. 31,&#8221; the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/03/23/zoom-paid-no-federal-income-tax-amid-pandemic-profits/">reported</a>.
&#8220;Corporations that pay their executives in stock often benefit from a provision in the federal tax code that lets them write off expenses that appear far larger than their actual cost,&#8221; according to the Institute.
&#8220;Stock options aren’t the entire story behind Zoom’s success in avoiding federal income taxes in 2020,&#8221; Matthew Gardner, a senior fellow at the think tank, wrote in a <a href="https://itep.org/zoom-pays-0-in-federal-income-taxes-on-pandemic-profits/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blog post</a> detailing Zoom’s tax discount. &#8220;The company appears to have enjoyed tax benefits from accelerated depreciation and research and development tax credits. Notably, the combination of three tax breaks appears to be the recipe that Amazon and Netflix have used with such success to reduce their federal tax bills during the Trump corporate tax era so far.&#8221;
&#8220;&#8230; [C]ompanies that compensate their leadership with stock options can write off, for tax purposes, huge expenses that far exceed their actual cost. This is a strategy that has been leveraged effectively by virtually every tech giant in the last decade, from Apple to Facebook to Microsoft. Zoom’s success in using stock options to avoid taxes is neither surprising nor (currently) illegal,&#8221; Gardner wrote.
<blockquote>Zoom’s corporate tax avoidance has helped create a short-term cash bonanza for the company: Zoom ended the fourth quarter of 2020 with $4.2 billion in cash and equivalents. This prompted one analyst on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call to ask how the company planned to spend it all, to which Zoom’s CFO and CEO responded that while they haven’t yet mapped out a strategy to deploy their newfound mountain of cash, “if any of you have any great advice how to do that” they’d love to hear it.</blockquote>
Gardner noted that that may end soon under President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats, who have signaled &#8220;their intention to revisit the question of corporate tax reform, the breathtaking tax avoidance of these three companies gives policymakers a clear path forward for base-broadening tax reform. If lawmakers want to change this, they need only look to their own handiwork in failing to curb tax breaks in the past.&#8221;
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who has long called for higher corporate taxes, said that Zoom was taking advantage of a &#8220;rigged&#8221; corporate tax code.
&#8220;If you paid $14.99 a month for a Zoom Pro membership, you paid more to Zoom than it paid in federal income taxes even as it made $660 million in profits last year – a 4,000 percent increase since 2019,&#8221; Sanders wrote on Twitter. &#8220;Yes. It&#8217;s time to end a rigged tax code that benefits the wealthy &amp; powerful.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
If you paid $14.99 a month for a Zoom Pro membership, you paid more to Zoom than it paid in federal income taxes even as it made $660 million in profits last year – a 4,000 percent increase since 2019. Yes. It&#39;s time to end a rigged tax code that benefits the wealthy &amp; powerful. <a href="https://t.co/P6hQnpWAPT">https://t.co/P6hQnpWAPT</a>
&mdash; Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/1373638850619322372?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Zoom did pay about $5.7 million in global income taxes for the 2019 tax year, an effective tax rate of just 0.8%, according to the company&#8217;s annual report.

Young man distracted while on  video call from his home during lockdown

Zoom Profits in 2020: $660 Million. Zoom Tax Payment In 2021: $0.

Silicon Valley

Taxes

Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser reportedly told employees that she will be getting rid of internal video meetings on Fridays and encouraging workers to create scenarios that allow them to have a better work-life balance.
A person familiar with the matter told <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/23/citigroup-ceo-jane-fraser-calls-for-zoom-free-fridays.html">CNBC</a> that Fraser sent a memo to the 210,000 Citigroup workers around the globe on Monday. Fraser recently took on the role of CEO, replacing Mike Corbat.
″The blurring of lines between home and work and the relentlessness of the pandemic workday have taken a toll on our well-being,” Fraser said in the memo. “It’s simply not sustainable. Since a return to any kind of new normal is still a few months away for many of us, we need to reset some of our working practices.”
Fraser noted that Zoom conferences will still take place with clients and regulators on Fridays, but that &#8220;employees will conduct meetings over the telephone to give workers a break from nonstop videoconferences,&#8221; CNBC reports.
Fraser also classified Friday, May 28 as a holiday across the firm called &#8220;Citi Reset Day and encouraged employees to only schedule calls during what would be considered traditional working hours.&#8221;
Earlier, portions of the memo were reported on by <a href="https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/citigroup-ceo-jane-fraser-introduces-zoom-free-fridays-as-pandemic-takes-toll-on-staff-20210323">Financial News.</a> Fraser <a href="https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/citigroup-ceo-jane-fraser-introduces-zoom-free-fridays-as-pandemic-takes-toll-on-staff-20210323">wrote</a>, &#8220;After listening to colleagues around the world, it became apparent that we need to combat the ‘Zoom fatigue’ that many of us feel, so I overcame my initial resistance to this idea.”
“When our work regularly spills over into nights, very early mornings and weekends, it can prevent us from recharging fully, and that isn’t good for you nor, ultimately, for Citi,&#8221; she wrote.
Fraser also reportedly laid out what the environment would look like when employees are able to return to the office, noting that most would be working in a hybrid manner. The pandemic “has opened doors to new ways of working and shown that we are able to adapt to and even flourish amid adversity,” Fraser included. “Nothing should stop us from building a bank that wins, a bank that champions excellence and a bank with a soul.”
The report of Fraser&#8217;s actions comes after an internal survey of Goldman Sachs employees was distributed last week that detailed harsh work conditions and alleged abusive environments.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/junior-bankers-at-goldman-sachs-claim-inhumane-work-conditions-abuse-in-new-survey">The Daily Wire</a> reports,
<blockquote>The results of the survey were reported earlier by Bloomberg News and have raised increased awareness about the workplace environments of some junior talent at aggressive firms. The responses raise more concerns about the culture of the company, especially after a 22-year-old analyst at Goldman Sachs committed suicide in 2015. Survey respondents reported that since taking the job, their mental and physical health has declined 6 points and 6.7 points, respectively, on a scale of 1 to 10.
Analysts say that they have been working an average of 98 hours per week since January and typically sleep an average of 5 hours per night. All of the respondents said that their work hours have negatively impacted their relationships with family and/or friends. 77% said they felt as if they were a victim of workplace abuse and 75% admitted to seeking or considering to seek out therapy, counseling, or additional help for their mental health due to the stress of the job. </blockquote>
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon responded to the results of the survey in a voice memo to staff on Sunday.
“Let me say to everyone, and in particular to our analysts and associates: We recognize that people working today face a new set of challenges,” Solomon <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/22/goldman-ceo-addresses-junior-bankers-complaints-after-survey-goes-viral.html">said, according to CNBC reporting.</a>
“In this world of remote work, it feels like we have to be connected 24/7,” he said. “All of us—your colleagues, your managers, our divisional leaders—we see that. We’re here to provide support and guidance. This is not easy, and we’re working hard to make it better.”

865ABF6B-1EC5-45A3-9055-33F2DC7535A4_1_201_a

Citigroup CEO Bans Zoom Calls On Fridays To Combat Company Fatigue

A Zoom employee based in China aided Chinese censors in spying on Chinese dissidents in the U.S. and shutting down virtual meetings around the world for violating Chinese law, according to federal prosecutors.
The Department of Justice <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/china-based-executive-us-telecommunications-company-charged-disrupting-video-meetings">announced</a> on Friday that it had charged a China-based Zoom employee, known as Xinjiang Jin, with conspiracy to commit interstate harassment and unlawful conspiracy to transfer a means of identification. Prosecutors claimed that Jin used his post as Zoom’s “security technical leader” in China to provide information on certain Zoom meetings and users to the Chinese state and fabricate violations of Zoom’s terms of service to shut down meetings.
“The allegations in the complaint lay bare the Faustian bargain that the PRC government demands of U.S. technology companies doing business within the PRC’s borders, and the insider threat that those companies face from their own employees in the PRC,” acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme said in a statement. “As alleged, Jin worked closely with the PRC government and members of PRC intelligence services to help the PRC government silence the political and religious speech of users of the platform of a U.S. technology company. Jin willingly committed crimes, and sought to mislead others at the company, to help PRC authorities censor and punish U.S. users’ core political speech merely for exercising their rights to free expression.”
While Zoom is not directly identified in the charging document unsealed on Friday, the company released a <a href="https://blog.zoom.us/our-perspective-on-the-doj-complaint/">statement</a> identifying itself as the one at the center of the DOJ complaint. The company noted that it had fired Jin and suspended several others as it conducted its own internal investigation into the charges.
Zoom added that it has overhauled its internal review policies and “ceased the sale of direct and online services in China and launched engineering hubs in the United States, India, and Singapore.”
Zoom assigned Jin to serve as a liaison between the company and the Chinese government after Beijing shut off the company’s service in China in September 2019. The Chinese government, controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), forced Zoom to adopt a “rectification plan” in order to resume its service in China.
According to the complaint, Jin spoke with CCP officials as well as top level executives at Zoom. Jin used that access to shut down Zoom meetings that broke Chinese law, which bans any speech critical of the Chinese government or the CCP.
In several alleged incidents, Jin fabricated evidence against Chinese dissidents hosting meetings commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. Jin collected information on the hosts, including their names and IP addresses. He had agents infiltrate the meetings, then accuse the hosts of using the platform to support “terrorist organizations, [incite] violence or [distribute] child pornography,” according to the DOJ release.
“The fabricated evidence falsely asserted that the meetings included discussions of child abuse or exploitation, terrorism, racism or incitements to violence, and sometimes included screenshots of the purported participants’ user profiles featuring, for example, a masked person holding a flag resembling that of the Islamic State terrorist group,” the DOJ said. “Jin used the complaints as evidence to persuade Company-1 executives based in the United States to terminate meetings and suspend or terminate the user accounts of the meeting hosts.”
The company <a href="https://blog.zoom.us/improving-our-policies-as-we-continue-to-enable-global-collaboration/">apologized</a> for shutting down the meetings in June. In November, the FBI added Jin to its “Most Wanted” list.
Correction: Jin was an employee of Zoom prior to being assigned as the liaison between the company and the Chinese government. He was not hired into the role.

Zoom, Chinese national flag

Zoom Employee Doubled As Communist Agent To Spy On, Censor Chinese Dissidents, Feds Say

China

Chinese Communist Party

The internet exploded on Monday after reports emerged that Jeffrey Toobin, a New Yorker staff writer and longtime CNN analyst, was suspending by the magazine after he allegedly masturbated during a Zoom call.
Citing two sources &#8220;who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely,&#8221; Vice <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/epdgm4/new-yorker-suspends-jeffrey-toobin-for-zoom-dick-incident">said</a> &#8220;it was unclear how much each individual person on the call saw, but both of the people we spoke to said that they saw Toobin&#8221; masturbating during an &#8220;election simulation.&#8221;
&#8220;The two sources described a juncture in the election simulation when there was a strategy session, and the Democrats and Republicans went into their respective break out rooms for about 10 minutes,&#8221; Vice wrote. &#8220;At this point, they said, it seemed like Toobin was on a second video call. The sources said that when the groups returned from their break out rooms, Toobin lowered the camera. The people on the call said they could see Toobin touching his penis. Toobin then left the call. Moments later, he called back in, seemingly unaware of what his colleagues had been able to see, and the simulation continued.&#8221;
Stimulation? Oh, simulation.
Of course, the wags on Twitter grabbed the story and beat it hard.
&#8220;Another sad casualty of the shutdown,&#8221; conservative columnist Ann Coulter <a href="https://twitter.com/AnnCoulter/status/1318314451012112389">wrote</a>.
&#8220;Poor Jeff Toobin is going to have to cure cancer and invent time travel to keep the words &#8216;Zoom&#8217; and &#8216;d*ck&#8217; out of his obituary,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1318322110264213507">wrote</a> Rolling Stone contributing editor Matt Taibi.
Journalist Sasha Issenberg offered a still shot from the movie &#8220;There&#8217;s Something About Mary.&#8221; If you know the scene, you&#8217;ll get the joke.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
<a href="https://t.co/AGxLLLz8lb">pic.twitter.com/AGxLLLz8lb</a>
&mdash; Sasha Issenberg (@sissenberg) <a href="https://twitter.com/sissenberg/status/1318309704955686913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 19, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Even O.J. Simpson, who was acquitted on charges of killing his wife, got in on the act. Toobin covered Simpson trial for the magazine in the 1990s and turned his coverage into a book, which was used by FX to create “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story’’ in 2016, which drew praise from TV critics.
&#8220;Damn, Jeffrey Toobin. At least Pee Wee Herman was in an X-rated movie theater. I&#8217;m just saying,&#8221; Simpson said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Damn <a href="https://twitter.com/JeffreyToobin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JeffreyToobin</a> <a href="https://t.co/ZkS1gFsyyi">pic.twitter.com/ZkS1gFsyyi</a>
&mdash; O.J. Simpson (@TheRealOJ32) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheRealOJ32/status/1318348497272238080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 20, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Toobin on Monday said it was all an accident. “I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera. I apologize to my wife, family, friends and co-workers,&#8221; he said in a statement to Vice.
“I believed I was not visible on Zoom. I thought no one on the Zoom call could see me. I thought I had muted the Zoom video,” he added.
New Yorker spokesman Natalie Raabe told Vice: “Jeffrey Toobin has been suspended while we investigate the matter.” CNN also said in a statement: “Jeff Toobin has asked for some time off while he deals with a personal issue, which we have granted,” CNN said in a statement.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cnn-analyst-jeffrey-toobin-suspended-by-new-yorker-after-he-exposed-himself-in-zoom-call/">CNN Analyst Jeffrey Toobin Suspended By New Yorker After Seen Performing Lewd Act In Zoom Call, Report Says</a>

Jeffrey Toobin

Twitter Goes Wild After Report About CNN Analyst Allegedly Masturbating On Zoom Call

O.J. Simpson

The New Yorker

A bipartisan group of lawmakers including Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ben Sasse (R-NE) have written a letter to Zoom CEO Eric Yuan asking for answers after the teleconferencing company disabled accounts of two U.S.-based activists who were commemorating the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. The disabling of the accounts came at the request of China’s communist government.
“We write with deep concern regarding reports that Zoom, a U.S.-based company, deactivated the accounts of two U.S.-based, pro-democracy Chinese activists after they held a Zoom meeting on the June 4th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre,” said the Friday letter. “Your company has admitted that it did so at the request of the Chinese government to comply with the laws of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), because some of the participants resided inside the PRC.”
Zhou Fengsuo, one of the two U.S-based activists, participated in the original Tiananmen Square protests as a student and has accused Zoom of collaborating with the Chinese regime, reports <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/11/zoom-suspends-us-based-activists-account-after-tiananmen-square-commemoration-event.html">CNBC News</a>.
“It seems possible ZOOM acted on pressure from the CCP (Communist Party of China) to shut down our account. If so, ZOOM is complicit in erasing the memories of the Tiananmen Massacre in collaboration with an authoritarian government,” said Zhou.
The death toll from the massacre is not known, but on the day of the crackdown, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/04/world/crackdown-beijing-troops-attack-crush-beijing-protest-thousands-fight-back.html">The New York Times</a> reported student protesters as believing that “at least 500 people” were killed after Chinese troops rolled into the area.
In a blog post the previous day, Zoom revealed that it had taken “adverse actions” against three activists, two in the United States and one based in Hong Kong. Zoom made the decision after China informed them the Tiananmen Square meetings were “illegal in China” and demanded the company ban the meetings and terminate the accounts.
“Our response should not have impacted users outside of mainland China,” said the company, which explained that three accounts were terminated or suspended, but they have all since been reinstated.
The company also suggested that instead of shutting down the accounts, they should have blocked access to the meetings by country, a feature Zoom does not currently have at their disposal. The teleconferencing company plans to develop this technology in the coming days, and said that they won’t let requests from the Chinese government “impact anyone outside of mainland China” in the future.
Toward the end of the Senate’s letter to Zoom, the lawmakers requested the company answer questions about its relationship with China and the recent incident banning activists, including a request that Zoom identify the laws China cited and whether Zoom pushed back against them.
Lee Cheuk Yan, the Hong Kong-based activist, told <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/06/12/876351501/zoom-acknowledges-it-suspended-activists-accounts-at-china-s-request">NPR</a> on Friday that his meeting was the third in a series of talks about authoritarianism in China.
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

In this photo illustration a Zoom Video logo seen displayed

Zoom Facing Questions From Lawmakers After China Makes Successful Censorship Request

Censorship

A man in Singapore has been sentenced to death over Zoom.
Gizmodo <a href="https://gizmodo.com/alleged-drug-dealer-sentenced-to-death-by-hanging-via-z-1843559182">reported</a> that Punithan Genasan, a Malaysian national, was sentenced to death by hanging over the video conference platform for “allegedly introducing two drug dealers to each other in 2011.” He was extradited to Singapore in 2016 on charges of being “complicit in trafficking,” The Straits Times <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/drug-offender-gets-death-sentence-via-remote-hearing">reported</a>.
Genasan, a 37-year-old debt collector was implicated by the two drug couriers of masterminding a one-ounce (about 28.5 grams) sale of heroin. He allegedly told one courier to drive to Singapore to meet the other, the Times reported. More from the Times:
<blockquote>Punithan denied any connection to the pair and disputed their testimonies that he had recruited them to transport drugs, linked them up and arranged the transaction.
He called a friend and his wife as witnesses to support his claim.
But his alibi defence was rejected by High Court judge Chan Seng Onn, who pronounced the mandatory death penalty in a hearing on video-conferencing platform Zoom.
Justice Chan said the couriers had given detailed and cogent accounts of their relationships with Punithan. In contrast, Punithan was unable to explain how the couriers knew personal details about him.</blockquote>
The couriers were also convicted.  One was sentenced to life imprisonment and 15 lashings while the other was sentenced to death.
Gizmodo reported that Singapore has a “zero tolerance policy for drugs.” Due to the coronavirus lockdowns and social distancing rules, Genasan’s sentence was handed out over Zoom.
“It’s not clear if sentencing someone to death is against Zoom’s terms of service. Texas is currently experimenting with its first jury trial by Zoom, as Gizmodo reported <a href="https://gizmodo.com/texas-court-experimenting-with-its-first-zoom-jury-tria-1843519263">on Monday</a>. Zoom did not respond to an email sent early Wednesday, but human rights groups are understandably upset about the case in Singapore,” Gizmodo reported.”
Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch in Asia, told Gizmodo in an email that a man facing capital punishment should be able to confront his accusers in court, not over Zoom.
“The death penalty is inherently cruel and inhumane, and Singapore’s use of remote technology like Zoom to sentence a man to death makes it even more so,” Robertson told the outlet.
“It’s shocking the prosecutors and the court are so callous that they fail to see that a man facing capital punishment should have the right to be present in court to confront his accusers. The absolute finality of the sentence, and the reality that wrongful convictions do occur around the world in death sentence cases, raise serious concerns about why Singapore is rushing to conclude this case via Zoom,” he added. “Singapore tries to hide from the world that it executes scores of people every year but by remotely sentencing a man to die in this case, they have brought back welcome attention to their inherently rights violating practices.”
The Daily Wire, headed by bestselling author and popular podcast host Ben Shapiro, is a leading provider of conservative news, cutting through the mainstream media’s rhetoric to provide readers the most important, relevant, and engaging stories of the day. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/subscribe">member</a>.

Singapore flag

Singapore Sentences Drug Dealer To Death By Hanging Via Zoom

Death Penalty

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