14 percent shot at the number one pick…Time to turn to the higher power. Saint Anthony Mason @TheKnicksWall @nyknicks @KFCBarstool @TheClemReport https://t.co/l4BrNDZvxI
Ramadan is underway. On Sunday, May 5, many Muslims across the world began fasting for the month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, through Tuesday, June 4, contingent upon the sighting of the crescent moon. This is the holiest month for Muslims worldwide; it marks when the Qur’an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.
Observing Ramadan is more than a ritual. It is a month where I am able to renew myself spiritually despite the all the negativity that may be brewing in the world. As a minority woman who observes hijab to the best of my ability, my faith is visible and I am more likely to be viewed as a target by outsiders. Islamophobic sentiments are increasing and intensifying, from constant attacks on Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from President Donald Trump, to his attacks on Islam and Muslims. In April, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing to “examine hate crimes, the impact white nationalist groups have on American communities, and the spread of white identity ideology” as the Hill reports. To add to the pain, consider how, during a recent hearing to investigate the rise in hate crimes in the United States, the House Judiciary Committee asked Dr. Abu Salha, whose two Muslim daughters and son-in-law were murdered in a brutal hate crime in 2015, if he taught hate to his children and if Islam condones violence.
That the government is failing to adequately address the scope and magnitude of hate violence that disproportionately impacts Muslims of all backgrounds — including Black, South Asian, and Arab-American communities — is not surprising, but it is heartbreaking. Nor does the Trump administration seem committed to dismantling the complex motivations behind white nationalism or its effects, including hate violence. But that won’t stop us from forging ahead this Ramadan.
The inflammatory rhetoric against Islam is everywhere. It is is hurtful and trying. Yet I am hopeful. That’s what Ramadan — which comes from the Arabic word “ramad,” meaning intense heat — means to me. For many Muslims, Ramadan marks a time for purification and a concerted effort to strengthen our piety. Ramadan also reminds me of the struggles our nation is facing — the heat from opponents of Islam, and what they are trying to do break Muslims down.
Ramadan is known to be a time where observant people fast from before dawn until sunset. All Muslims who have hit puberty are obliged to fast during Ramadan; women who are pregnant, nursing, or on their periods, along with those who may be traveling, facing old age or chronic illness are exempt and can make it up later. Still, it’s often up to everyone else to fend for themselves in environments that don’t understand why someone would observe a month-long fast.
“It would be really helpful to have employers at least acknowledge Ramadan’s existence,” Sadeq Rahman, who is from San Jose, California, tells MTV. “There are times where someone in management won’t know about the value and practices of this month and they can judge Muslims poorly as a result.”
Rahman had once scheduled a job interview during Ramadan and was asked to have breakfast beforehand; because he declined, the whole interview was canceled because the other party was so offended. “Had the interviewer known what Ramadan entails, I doubt he would have been this mad. I can’t not fast,” he remembers.
The confusion isn’t exclusive to employers, either: Gulrana Syed, who lives in Palos Hills, Illinois, tells MTV News, “People at work need to realize that I am more tired than usual and can’t always hang out after work to eat or chill by eating with them because I am fasting. A lot of Ramadan has to with abstinence.”
As a Muslim American woman, I’m often asked if it’s hard to fast, often by people who have never felt a need or desire to do so. Like any regimen, it takes some time to adapt. Complicating matters is the fact that people simply aren’t as aware about Ramadan as they are for other holidays.
In fact, there is so much more to the month than the fast. The goal is to rise in spiritual ranks — abstaining from food and drink is just one part of that. Add in abstaining from entirely human tendencies like backbiting, gossiping, lying, and arguing, and things become far more trying.
Recently, there has been a push by Muslim and non-Muslim people alike to show solidarity with the community and speak out against anti-Muslim sentiment. But allyship also includes uplifting and making space for our traditions, too. Countries with Muslim majority residents reduce working hours during Ramadan and set up the whole year in such a way that those observing feel less pressure come this blessed time, but change at all levels helps. Party City now carries Ramadan decorations, and more employees are calling on companies to allow for flexible work schedules during Ramadan. These gestures may seem simple, but they make a huge difference for the Muslim population living in the United States.
“Ramadan is a time for Muslims to regroup, recharge, and recommit to God,” adds Hazel Gomez, a student who lives in Detroit, Michigan. “Be patient with us, [and] have our backs during this sacred time. True allyship means to deeply listen to those most affected and to recognize one’s own biases and prejudices.”
Amani Al-Khahtahbeh, the founder of Muslim Girl, agrees. “Understand that Muslims are not only fasting physically, but also spiritually, so they are working hard to avoid things like unnecessary conflict, or losing their temper or patience,” she tells MTV News. “So, really, just try to be nice! Take in the vibes and allow Ramadan to bring out the best in you, too.”
While Ramadan can feel like bootcamp, it is also a time when I can focus on resetting myself and take stock about how I can better myself, the world, and the lives of those around me. Most of all, Ramadan teaches me lessons of resilience. I may be exhausted, starving, and parched. I may want to say something snide, or gossip, or lose my anger when someone tests my patience. In the processes of embracing the flaws that make me human, I make a conscious decision to not give in. Ultimately, I have the choice to be kind. To not do so would be a lost opportunity.
In the process, I am able to reflect more deeply. Appreciate more frequently. Cherish the blessings, both small and big, more significantly. Empathize genuinely. This Ramadan, I’d like us to treat each other more humanely, whether or not you are fasting or recommitting to anything. Ramadan is for us; allyship can be for everyone.
Facebook is bringing back a highly useful feature that ended up causing a huge problem for the company and its users.
On Tuesday, Facebook announced that it was reinstating the “View As Public” functionality. This is a security feature that allows users to see what their profile looks like to people they’re not Friends with on Facebook. Users will also be able to easily make changes to their publicly available information with a new “Edit Public Profile” button.
Today, we’re making it easier for people to manage their publicly visible information on Facebook with two updates: (1) we’re bringing back the “View As Public” feature and (2) we’re adding an “Edit Public Details” button directly to profiles. pic.twitter.com/zI5bVwodjp
View As was a really simple and useful way to review what your publicly available profile looked like. So why did Facebook get rid of it in the first place?
In September 2018, Facebook announced that up to 50 million accounts had been breached, and later updated that figure to say that hackers accessed the personal information of 29 million users. The hackers turned out to be spammers trying to get personal information for marketing.
The hackers did their dirty work by exploiting a vulnerability in the View As feature. So while Facebook was investigating and shoring up its platform, it suspended the feature. Facebook updated its original September 2018 blog post with the news that View As was back Tuesday.
View As also let users glimpse their profile from the perspective of individual users, not just categories of people like the “public.” Apparently, that feature was more problematic from a security standpoint, so it isn’t back yet.
Mashable, MashBash and Mashable House are among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis, LLC and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission.
Should the New York Knicks win the 2019 NBA draft lottery, Zion Williamson may never play a game for the franchise.
Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic reported Tuesday the Knicks would focus on flipping the No. 1 overall pick in a trade package for New Orleans Pelicans star Anthony Davis.
Stadium @Stadium
Our NBA Insider @ShamsCharania with the latest on the Knicks plan if they get the top-pick in tonight’s #NBADraftLottery. https://t.co/pcPOQ0CjXM
In almost any other scenario, the opportunity to select Williamson would be too good to pass up. The Knicks, however, don’t appear inclined to wait on the Duke Blue Devils star to fulfill his massive potential.
New York made its intentions this summer clear when it traded Kristaps Porzingis to the Dallas Mavericks in January. As a result of the move, the Knicks could have a little over$72.9 millionto spend in free agency, which is enough to afford two max-level stars.
Kevin Durant is widely expected to be one of those stars. ESPN’sIan Begleywrote in April, “It’s easier to find street parking in Manhattan than it is to find an NBA executive, player or coach who doesn’t think Durant is going to sign with the Knicks in July.”
Stephen A. Smith spoke with similar conviction Monday onFirst Take, saying the team was prepared to do anything to sign Durant and Kyrie Irving.
If the Knicks were to acquire Davis, then signing Durant and Irving would prove difficult. Davis will make just under$27.1 millionin 2019-20 before he can opt out of his contract and become a free agent.
New York would have to shed more salary in order to accommodate all three players, but do so in a manner that doesn’t effectively leave the roster absent of enough depth.
As good as Davis is, one could make a strong case for keeping the top pick instead and opting for Williamson. After a monster freshman season for Duke, he has the potential to be an NBA All-Star.
Just as important for the Knicks, Williamson will be locked into the rookie wage scale for his first four years. According toRealGM, the first three years of his contract total a little over $25.5 million.
Of course, all of this is moot unless the Knicks win the lottery, something they only have a 14 percent chance of achieving.
It should come as no surprise to anyone existing in the year of our Lord 2019 that two pop culture behemoths reign supreme: Avengers: Endgame and Game of Thrones. But don’t tell that to Notorious RBG.
On Tuesday (May 14), the nominees for the 2019 MTV Movie & TV Awards were announced and Avengers: Endgame, Game of Thrones, and the Ruth Bader Ginsburg documentary RBG lead the nominations with four apiece. But Netflix charmer To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before isn’t far behind with three nods of its own — including recognition in top categories like Best Movie and Best Kiss for Lana Condor and Breakthrough Performance nominee Noah Centineo’s swoon-worthy smooch.
While lovebirds/relatives Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen weren’t nominated in that beloved category, Game of Thrones did score a nod for Best Show for the third year in a row, and earned not one but two nominations for her badass portrayal of Arya Stark in Season 8: Best Hero (going head to head with the night’s host, Zachary Levi) and Best Fight for her epic showdown with the White Walkers.
Meanwhile, new categories this year include Reality Royalty, Most Meme-able Moment, and Best Real-Life Hero, which includes nominees RBG, rock climber Alex Honnold, and tennis icon Serena Williams.
And the best part is you can start voting right now — yes, now! Vote for your faves at vote.mtv.com, and by direct messaging @MTVAwards on Twitter and Facebook Messenger. Don’t forget to tune into MTV Movie & TV Awards on Monday, June 17 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Vote now for your 2019 MTV Movie & TV Awards nominees:
BEST MOVIE
Avengers: Endgame
BlacKkKlansman
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Us
BEST SHOW
Big Mouth
Game of Thrones
Riverdale
Schitt’s Creek
The Haunting of Hill House
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A MOVIE
Amandla Stenberg (Starr Carter) — The Hate U Give
Lady Gaga (Ally) — A Star is Born
Lupita Nyong’o (Red) — Us
Rami Malek (Freddie Mercury) — Bohemian Rhapsody
Sandra Bullock (Malorie) — Bird Box
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SHOW
Elisabeth Moss (June Osborne/Offred) — The Handmaid’s Tale
Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) — Game of Thrones
Gina Rodriguez (Jane Villanueva) — Jane the Virgin
Jason Mitchell (Brandon) — The Chi
Kiernan Shipka (Sabrina Spellman) — Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
May is National Masturbation Month, and we’re celebrating with Feeling Yourself, a series exploring the finer points of self-pleasure.
He murmurs into your ear, his voice as soft as it is authoritative. Dazed, you don’t quite hear what he’s saying, but it sounds imploring, urgent — making your heart beat quicker, breath heavy, lips part.
This isn’t a sexual encounter. It’s a podcast. Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History to be exact. And I’m horny for it.
It’s about time we all acknowledged the unspoken eroticism of podcasts (at least, certain types of them).
For enthusiasts, podcasters whisper into our ears with honey-smooth voices on a weekly if not daily basis. (Oh, don’t worry, we’ll get to Michael Barbaro.) As we lay in our beds alone at night, they come with us, that soothing and familiar cadence washing over us, melting the day away until it’s just us … and that voice. Podcasters are also our constant companions, drowning out the noise and stress of daily routines, turning morning commutes into immersive journeys through sumptuous soundscapes of storytelling.
For the incurably perverted like myself, they can be a wake up call to the wondrous and under-explored world of audio porn. (Apologies to the hardworking creators who may never see their work the same way, but your content is definitely serving us in more ways than one .)
Everyone trying to pretend like podcasts don’t get them hot.
Image: vicky leta / mashable
The rise of the aural fixation
Those who’ve felt even the slightest titillation from that “aural fixation” are probably relieved to hear they’re not alone. A majority of you, however, most likely feel a bit disgusted to discover that rule #34 even infects the wholesome realm of podcasting.
But inarguably, there is a unique and unmatched intimacy embedded into the medium. For more people than you imagine, that makes podcasts the perfect avenue for a more humanized and personal type of masturbation. Both in terms of everyday podcasts and those purposefully trying to get you off.
“Being able to use your imagination to fill in the blanks can be incredibly sexy when many people are used to seeing porn that looks a certain way,” said Girl On The Net, a pseudonym for the sex blogger whose dulcet British tones voice some of the most popular auditory erotica on the web.
In the same way that some of us are auditory rather than visual learners, some of us are hornier for aural rather than visual porn. It’s a small, but growing niche. For Girl on the Net, that’s evident in how traffic to her audio porn page nearly doubled over the last year.
“I think people are becoming much more aware that tube sites aren’t the only place to go to get your rocks off — and I hope many are realizing tube sites aren’t the most ethical place to get your rocks off either,” she said, referring to porn sites that host user generated content.
Phoebe Judge’s voice is super hot. Inviting but authoritarian, a little hoarse.
People are even starting to monetize on the phenomenon, including a recent app called Dipsea that hosts erotic audio stories catered to millennial women. “It’s perfect for storytelling, it’s intimate, and it’s incredibly imaginative,” said Dipsea cofounder and CEO, Gina Gutierrez. “Listening to Dipsea you can feel like the voyeur, or you can become the character.”
Even harder core history
I don’t know when I first realized certain podcasts (always a solo host or narrator, so panel podcasters are safe) did it for me. But I remember the exact moment I discovered a voice could bring me to near orgasm, despite not having the words or understanding to know what was actually happening.
I remember the exact moment I discovered a voice could bring me to near orgasm.
I was watching the first Harry Potter movie in the theater, and Professor Severus Snape (played by the late, great Alan Rickman) was delivering his now iconic first year speech on the, “subtle science and exact art of potion-making.” A mounting quiver ran down my spine when his tongue clung to each curve of every “s” sound in the phrase “ensnare the senses.”
Snape later became the fictional man who guided me through my early sexual awakening, a fantasy that I could control through my imagination while losing myself to these newfound uncontrollable urges. A reoccurring scenario involved being blind-folded, leaving me in total sensory deprivation but for the sound of his silky voice, low and measured, describing everything he wanted to do to me.
Again, with sincerest apologies to Mr. Carlin, I was instantly brought back to those fantasies when I first started listening to Hardcore History.
The perfect boyfriend is the kind that stops talking when you press a button.
Image: vicky leta / mashable
It’s not about what he’s saying because, no, I do not get off to visceral descriptions of the greatest human atrocities ever recorded by man. Actually, for the process to work, the volume must be low enough for me to hear his impassioned teacherly intonations, but not so loud that I can’t replace whatever he’s talking about with what I actually want to hear instead. (In my defense, I do also go back and listen for the purpose of learning, too.)
To my relief, I found that I was’t alone in having the hots for pods, but also that others are specifically attracted to the idea of a scholarly, silky voice teaching you things.
“I have a huge crush on a guy who does a politics podcast I listen to a lot,” said Girl on the Net, not wishing to call out a specific name (though notably, Dan Carlin also has a political podcast). “There’s something intensely hot about listening to someone more knowledgeable than me discuss a subject I’m interested in. Why else would so many people crush on teachers? You’re definitely not alone in this!”
NPR’s podcasting hosts running away from our thirst.
Image: vicky leta / mashable
That also tracks with the trend of an increasing amount of people identifying as sapiosexual (someone physically aroused by intelligence). Maybe our hankering for podcasters comes down to the fact that nerds are in. And there’s no bigger concentration of nerds than in podcasts.
To be fair, those who know me know that there is little in this world I can’t find a way to sexualize. To be fairer to me, though, there does seem to be an underlying sensuality — or at the very least admission to intense emotional relationships — in even the most platonic explanations of podcasting’s appeal.
I wasn’t alone in having the hots for pods
A very unsexy (but fascinating) New Yorker article called it a “peculiarly intimate medium,” further noting that, “for a digital medium, podcasts are unusual in their commitment to a slow build, and to a sensual atmosphere.” NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcaster Glen Weldon even admitted to his own discomfort and revery for the one-way intimacy in our relationships to podcasters, equating binge-listening to nothing short of falling in love.
Perhaps nobody embodies the intense emotional connection podcasting can inspire more than the New York Times’ Michael Barbaro. In a way, he feels like everybody’s dream boyfriend: reliable, smart, useful, engaging, able to fit in your pocket — and you can turn him off whenever you’ve had enough of him.
The indisputable soft-spoken King of Podcasting, a New Yorker profile positively dripping with erotic subtext wrote that, “It’s hard to resist the empathetic vocables with which Barbaro punctuates his interviewees’ words,” later describing this as a, “quasi-therapeutic aural hovering.”
What they’re talking about is his tendency to interject emphatic, often prolonged hmms during interviews, to vocalize his engagement with what his guest is saying. It’s such an endearing and recognizable quirk that it now have its own Twitter fan page, which Barbaro actually follows.
Generally, he seems to be a man who accepts that this vocal tick touches on a particular nerve that people either love or hate. As another Twitter user begged, “Please please please do not stop the hmmmm!”
Not only seen, but heard
Despite its seeming perversion, though, the sexual attraction to podcasts and auditory erotica comes from a pretty wholesome place.
I’m listening to the do not disturb podcast with @itsarifitz and I’m realizing, women with SEXY ASS VOICES ARE MY FUCKING TYPE. Help. Me. -L
In large part, it’s about feeling like you know the person whispering into your ear like a lover. If the eyes are a window into the soul, then maybe the voice is like a sonic radar for the soul. There are so many human imperfections in your speech pattern, your personality embedded into every lilt, unspoken emotions communicated through each prolonged pause or sudden exclamation.
The best way to describe the vastly different experience between masturbating to visual rather than auditory porn is the difference between anonymous sex versus sex with a significant other.
Masturbating to visual rather than auditory porn is the difference between anonymous sex versus sex with a significant other.
Audio porn is also a more non-threatening outlet for masturbation, since the visual porn on tube sites often feels intimidatingly aggressive and catered only to heteronormative male desires.
The visual medium in itself limits you to a more external masturbatory experience, as you shut off your brain and consume other people as sex objects. But as a medium closer to literary erotica (or often an aural version of it), audio invites you to imagine rather than tell you what to like.
“Of all the audio I’ve made so far, the stuff that seems to get the strongest reaction is when it’s framed as ‘you.’ Instead of ‘I did this, he did that’ it’s ‘you did this to me,’” said Girl on the Net, pointing to this specific example. “Again, it’s focusing on the intimacy — making people feel like they’re a part of something. As if it’s happening to them in the moment.”
Also, she said, “most of my sex stories are true, which I think gives them an immediacy and intimacy off the bat.”
In essence, audio porn relies on a more direct relationship between you and what’s bringing you to climax.
“All sorts of complicated questions go through your mind when you’re watching visual porn,” said Gutierrez, the Dipsea cofounder. “Is she actually feeling pleasure? Is this ethically created? What creepy Airbnb is this happening in? You’re also removed from the action, and are distracted by the things that you don’t relate to — like other people’s (often unrealistic) bodies.”
Press play with me
The aural has an innately human power over us all. Before there was video, before there was picture, before there was written word, we knew each other by sound. As a collective, we told our first stories through the oral tradition. As individuals, we were first introduced to other human beings by hearing our mother’s voice from inside her belly.
Whisk us off to sleep, Podcasting Daddies.
Image: bob al greenE / mashable
The common adage that the brain is the largest sexual organ is unmistakably at play in aural erotica. Yet unlike purely text-based erotica, the humanizing addition of another person’s voice is one of the only ways to make masturbation feel less solitary.
Aural erotica is the best of all worlds when it comes to spank bank material: more personal, inclusive, approachable, ethical, and exploratory than visual porn — yet also more sensorily engaging than just textual porn.
Maybe you still think we’re just a minority of weirdos. But in my humble opinion, I think maybe I’m just one of a few willing to admit in plain speak that we’re all a little horny for Michael Barbaro’s voice.
“I hope that it turns out the Senate is an opportunity that [Steve BUllock] can consider at some point. But he wants to try for the big prize,” said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin. | Jose Luis Magana, File/AP Photo
Democrats also hope the Montana governor will run for the Senate if his presidential bid fizzles.
Top Democrats in Montana and Washington are really excited about Gov. Steve Bullock running — for the Senate, not the presidency.
The Montana governor’s seemingly quixotic presidential run comes as nearly everyone in the party is begging him to challenge GOP Sen. Steve Daines and transform the 2020 Senate map. Unlike any other Democratic candidate in the country, Bullock could make a virtually unwinnable Senate race competitive and give the party a real shot at knocking off a GOP incumbent and getting closer to a Senate majority.
Story Continued Below
“I wish he would have run for the Senate,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). “Sure you’d rather have Beto in the [Texas Senate] race. But it doesn’t go from solid red to toss-up instantly. This is the one that would change the game.”
Bullock has been unequivocal in shrugging off the Senate recruitment, which has included multiple conversations with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other Democratic senators. He doesn’t want to be one senator of 100, people who know him say, and fashions himself an executive, not a legislator.
“His answer on this question has been consistent and it is the same today. Gov. Bullock is not running for Senate,” said Galia Slayen, a spokeswoman for Bullock.
So party leaders have settled on a strategy: Let Bullock pursue the presidency, try not to antagonize him and wait until he realizes there’s little room for him to run in such a crowded field. Bullock argues that his 2016 reelection in deep red Trump country shows he’s got exactly what the party is missing, but Joe Biden appears to have locked up the centrist lane so far and there are a handful of other white men running.
Democrats hoping Bullock runs for the Senate don’t have many options other than that plan, but even a brief White House bid brings risks. A 2020 run could lead him to take more liberal positions to appeal to the party base and also be seen as a snub of his home state.
“I hope that it turns out the Senate is an opportunity that he can consider at some point. But he wants to try for the big prize. This is a world of ambition that we’re in, so you can’t be critical of that,” said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
Some Democrats felt bruised after Stacy Abrams in Georgia, Beto O’Rourke in Texas and John Hickenlooper in Colorado passed on competitive Senate races. But they’ve recruited a talented candidate in Texas in veteran MJ Hegar, have a crowded field of viable candidates in Colorado and see other strong Democrats considering a run in Georgia.
They find Bullock’s presidential run far more confounding.
“He’d be a great Senate candidate,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). “He’s terrific. And there’s such a huge field right now. So it’s hard to sort of understand more people getting in at this point in terms of the presidency.”
Democrats face an uphill battle to retake the Senate. They need to net at least three seats in 2020 and few are easy pickings. Right now, they are staring at toss-up races in Colorado and Arizona and trying to oust incumbents in North Carolina and Iowa, while holding onto Alabama. Making Montana competitive would make the GOP truly sweat.
“There are three or four people in L.A. that are excited about his [presidential] candidacy. Otherwise, everyone else wants him to run for the Senate out here,” said one Democratic senator. This senator said it’s still realistic for Bullock to change his mind because his presidential plan is “so f-ing stupid.”
Publicly, Democrats are laying off Bullock.
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Catherine Cortez Masto said of Bullock: “It’s his decision,” adding that the party could come up with another candidate in the race. Wilmot Collins, a Liberian refugee and mayor of Helena, became the first Democrat to challenge Daines on Monday, though he lacks support from party leaders at this point.
Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), the GOP’s campaign arm chairman, predicted simply that the party would keep the seat regardless of who runs. And Daines himself shrugged off Bullock’s decision.
“We are more than ready for whoever gets into the race,” he said in a brief interview.
In Montana, Democrats are universally complimentary of Bullock for his ability to push through Democratic priorities in a red state. But a number of Democrats wish he would advertise those accomplishments in a campaign for the Senate.
“I’d love to see him run against Steve Daines,” said Jean Lemire Dahlman, a DNC member in the state. “Unless someone else emerges who is a strong candidate, I would assume a lot of people would like to see him run against Steve Daines. But that person has not emerged yet and it’s really hard to unseat an incumbent senator regardless of party.”
Kim Gillan, a former Democratic state legislator who lost to Daines for a U.S. House seat in 2012, said Bullock would be the “perfect person” to run against the first-term senator.
“He’s still pretty young. There would be opportunities in the future and certainly serving in the Senate would provide a good launch pad in the future to run for president,” Gillan said. “The game plan everyone is hoping for is that after a couple months that he may change his mind.”.
State Sen. Jon Sesso, the Democratic leader in the chamber, said Bullock would be “formidable” against Daines, but said the two-term governor can run for wherever he sees fit.
“If he wants to take a run for the presidency, that’s great. If he were wanting to take a run for the nomination for the Senate, that’d be great too,” Sesso said. “He’s earned his stripes to do whatever he wants to do.”
Some Democrats shrugged off Bullock’s pass, arguing that little-known candidates can come from nowhere to win key Senate races. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) was a state senator when he first ran and won in 2006, and he went on to survive two difficult reelection campaigns.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said he seemed to understand the ambivalence of people like Bullock because there’s little reason to be excited about the Senate, which he referred to as an “expensive lunch club.”
“I get it, Senate recruitment is hard these days,” he said. “But I think by winning back the Senate we can start to make it work again.”
Of course, Bullock running for the Senate would make that goal a lot more realistic.
Unlike some of her fellow candidates, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) won’t be appearing on Fox News this cycle. She laid down a verbal hammer to explain her decision.
In a tweet on Tuesday morning, Warren called Fox News a “hate-for-profit racket that gives a megaphone to racists and conspiracy theorists.” The tweet contained a link to her website and asked visitors to sign a “petition” supporting the decision (i.e., join an email list for Team Warren).
Fox News is a hate-for-profit racket that gives a megaphone to racists and conspiracy theorists. I won’t ask Democratic primary voters to tune into an outlet that profits from racism and hate in order to see our candidates. Sign up now to join me and take a stand.
Warren also released a much longer statement on the decision, doubling down on her Fox News fire and saying the network “balances a mix of bigotry, racism, and outright lies with enough legit journalism to make the claim to advertisers that it’s a reputable news outlet.”
Elizabeth Warren has turned down an offer to hold a Fox News town hall. The news channel is a “hate-for-profit racket” that provides “cover,” she says, for the very thing she’s campaigning against: “corruption that’s rotting our government and hollowing out our middle class.” pic.twitter.com/NKhYBHw6jM
Warren closes by saying, “Fox News is welcome to come to my events just like any other outlet. But a Fox News town hall adds money to the hate-for-profit machine. To which I say: hard pass.”
Her announcement comes about a month after an interesting 17-tweet-long thread on the topic of Democratic candidates and Fox News from Angelo Carusone, president of Media Matters for America, which bills itself as “the nation’s premier progressive media watchdog.”
1/ Lots of chatter about Democratic presidential candidates partnering w/Fox News for town halls. There’s a lot of confusion, assumptions and conflation swirling about.
I’ve been knee-deep in this for long while. Lemme unpackage and help clear some things up…
In her statement, Warren echoed one of Carusone’s main points: that Fox was bringing in Democrats for these town halls as a way to sway advertisers after multiple rounds of bad press, including Jane Mayer’s deep dive for the New Yorker into the connections between the network and the Trump White House.
After Warren’s announcement, Carusone told me, “This is the exact decision that Democratic leaders should be making.” It’s also a matter of consistency, he says, noting the criticism that Fox News has received from many Democrats, including Sanders: “If you criticize the network as a propaganda outlet … then you should act accordingly.”
Carusone disagrees with the notion that Democratic candidates need Fox News to reach conservative voters. Pointing out that just over 60 million people voted for Trump, he tells me, “Fox News doesn’t have 60 million viewers every night … Really, it is a very small subset of the Republican Party, a core of the core of the base.”
He adds, “If you genuinely want to reach an audience for persuasion and maximum penetration of a wide spectrum of viewers, including conservatives, you don’t do that through Fox News. You don’t do that through partisan media. You do that through local media. You do that through radio.”
Given that the Democratic National Committee rejected all bids by Fox News to host any 2020 primary debates while Democratic candidates continue to squabble over appearing on the network, the issues isn’t likely to be put to rest any time soon.
I’ve reached out to Fox News for comment on Warren’s statement and criticism of the network. We’ll update the story with their response.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Twitter wants to improve its relationship with developers … yet again.
Today, the company announced that it plans to make significant changes to its API — the software developers use to create services that work with Twitter — and that it’s opening a new “Developer Labs” program for app makers to test-drive some of its new updates ahead of time. Twitter is now taking applications for the program, which will be open to any registered developer who wants to join.
The move amounts to a “major shift in strategy” for Twitter’s developer platform, according to the company’s product manager for Twitter’s developer platform, Ian Cairns. Practically, this means that yes, there will be more changes to Twitter’s developer platform. But for Twitter, which has struggled to win over developers for years, it’s also a new opportunity to show them it does actually care about what they think (even if it feels like the millionth time the company is attempting to turn over a new leaf).
“This is a way before we commit to the longterm plans for the API to really test new ideas and get feedback early and often from the people who use our API the most,” said Cairns, who compares the shift to the beta version of the Twitter app the company has been testing.
That in itself is significant when you consider the company’s past. To say Twitter has had a complicated relationship with developers is more than an understatement. The company gained the reputation early on its history, when it kneecapped developers who had gained popularity by building features not natively supported in Twitter, like photo-sharing, and for enforcing some of its policies unevenly.
Then, in 2015, Jack Dorsey took the stage at the company’s developer conference and promised a “reset.” He apologized for the company’s prior mistakes, and the company launched its Fabric developer platform.
But in 2017 the company abruptly sold Fabric to Google and canceled its annual developer event. Later that year, Twitter promised another reset, which was followed by a series of incredibly unpopular changes to its developer policies in 2018 that appeared to be designed to kill third-party Twitter clients.
So it’s fair to say that Twitter’s track record here is not particularly good. The company has promised to do better several times, and yet a number of developers have ultimately been burned. The fact that the company is looking for feedback on proposed changes ahead of time in this case is, perhaps, a good sign.
When asked if anything had changed since last year’s updates, Cairns didn’t comment on the API shifts that had negatively affected Twitter clients, but again repeated that Twitter really wants to alter the perception that it doesn’t care about what developers think.
“We want to change the way that we are listening to them and their needs and considering ways to build for them in the future,” he said.
Whether or not that means anything will actually be different this time around is another matter. But the company is, at least, taking some steps to prove otherwise. Hopefully history doesn’t repeat itself yet again.
https://t.co/XNSwRnKZfs
@FEELZ_____
.)
Daily Trends Hunter 