What A Day: You, media, and everyone we know

- Reading Rainbow's gentle prince Levar Burton hosting the National Book Award ceremony. Nobody threatens books and gets away with it on his watch!!!

Social media algorithms, which prioritize the most incendiary content and facilitate the spread of conspiracy theories, have not, if you can believe it, been good at disseminating accurate information about the Israel-Hamas war. 
 

• Social media giant TikTok announced on Thursday that it was “aggressively removing” videos promoting—wait for it—Osama bin Laden’s 2002 “Letter to America,” in which he explained why he orchestrated the September 11 terrorist attack. A TikTok spokesperson also told Semafor that the company has blocked the hashtag #LettertoAmerica, so that users will not be able to search for it. Google Trends data suggests that searches for the document began spiking around a week ago. The letter criticized U.S. support of Israel and accused the government of financing the oppression of Palestinians. Many users (particularly young users who make up most of TikTok’s base) posted videos saying the letter had “opened their mind” and that everything they had been taught about terrorism growing up in America “was a lie.” But bin Laden’s letter also contained a great deal of antisemitic language and tropes, like the idea that Americans have become “slaves to Jews.” 
   

• The Guardian, which had published the full transcript of the letter when it was released in 2002, took it down on Wednesday, saying, “The transcript published on our website had been widely shared on social media without the full context. Therefore we decided to take it down and direct readers instead to the news article that originally contextualized it.” Videos on TikTok related to this letter have racked up millions of views. The issue became so sprawling that even the White House weighed in on Thursday, saying, “there is never a justification for spreading the repugnant, evil, and antisemitic lies that the leader of Al Qaeda issued just after committing the worst terrorist attack in American history.” 
   

• In other social-media-induced-lunacy news, Tesla CEO, X (Twitter) owner, richest person in the world, and overall right-wing enfant terrible Elon Musk bolstered and co-signed an antisemitic post. A user claimed that Jewish people “have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them. I'm deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest shit now about western Jewish populations coming to the disturbing realization that those hordes of minorities that support flooding their country don't exactly like them too much,” to which Musk replied, “You have said the actual truth.” It was precisely the kind of antisemitic rhetoric cited by the perpetrator of the Tree of Life synagogue mass shooting. Musk has also criticized the Anti-Defamation League, an advocacy group that fights antisemitism, for what he calls “anti-white” messaging, and even sued them. He was removed from a list of speakers at the Asia-Pacific Economic Coalition on Thursday.

Now, back to the offline world.
 

• Protesters and police clashed outside of the Democratic National Committee headquarters on Wednesday night during a demonstration calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. The demonstration was organized by Jewish peace activist groups Jewish Voice for Peace and If Not Now. U.S. Capitol Police claimed that about 150 people were “illegally and violently protesting” in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, while protestors blamed police for the violence, saying the officers swarmed them without warning. One protester who traveled from Philadelphia for the demonstration said, “It is shameful the way that nonviolent protesters and members of our community were met with violence tonight. It is absolutely shameful.” 
   

• Demonstrators said that police arrived wearing riot gear, and began “pulling people to the ground.” Tensions continue to boil over as the majority of Congressional Democrats remain out of step with the majority of Democratic voters, about three-quarters of whom support a ceasefire. Of 213 House Democrats, the majority have supported continued aid to Israel in its counteroffensive, and only 31 have called for a ceasefire. In the Senate, only Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) has. Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg, who interrupted President Biden’s speech at a recent fundraiser in Minneapolis, was also present at the Wednesday night protest, and said that Democrats are “not listening to the people who they claim to represent.” She added that “actions like this are only going to increase…The call for a ceasefire is going to keep growing. And our representatives need to take action, yesterday.” 

Similar peaceful protests advocating for a ceasefire shut down bridges in San Francisco and Boston on Thursday.

The Supreme court just announced its first-ever code of conduct. But there’s just one problem: how is it actually going to be enforced? Strict Scrutiny host Leah Litman joined the What A Day Squad yesterday to break down the honor code and share her take on it. Tune into this episode on the What A Day feed now!

OpenAI has spooked teachers around the world by stoking widespread fear of cheating on homework and essays. Now, the company is exploring how to get its popular ChatGPT bot even deeper into the classroom. The company is forming an exploratory committee to uncover “educational applications'' of the technology. The company, backed by billions of dollars from Microsoft, kicked off the generative AI boom last November with the release of ChatGPT. The technology can create full term papers, complete science homework, even write novels and scripts. The tool was immediately seen by educators as a danger for cheating and plagiarism, which sparked many schools to ban the technology. But within a few months, OpenAI began pitching itself to educators as a way to assist with learning and education, and partnered with groups like Khan Academy to create AI-powered tutors and with Schmidt Futures to give grants to education groups in underserved communities. The potential benefits for, you know, actual student learning, are still opaque, and concerns over plagiarism have not been meaningfully addressed.

The special prosecutor tasked with investigating President Biden’s handling of classified documents is reportedly not expected to issue any charges. 

Prosecutors in Georgia asked a federal judge to revoke the bond of Harrison Floyd, one of disgraced former president Donald Trump’s co-defendants in the Fulton County election interference case. Floyd once led a group called “Black Voices for Trump,” and allegedly tried to pressure a Fulton County election worker to falsely say she had participated in election fraud.

David Depape, the man who attacked former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul Pelosi with a hammer during a break-in last year, was unanimously convicted of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official. 

A video of Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK) surfaced of him clearly supporting the Oklahoma Gamefoul Commission, a group whose mission is to legalize inhumane, illegal cockfighting. 

Workers at hundreds of Starbucks stores walked out during a key promotional event on Thursday known as Red Cup Day, demanding increased staffing and better schedules. 

A California man was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter after a 69-year-old pro-Israel protestor died in Southern California earlier this month after an altercation. 

The Los Angeles Times editorial board released a statement on Thursday calling for a ceasefire.

President Biden reported that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping “made progress” in their meeting outside of San Francisco this week, but that Xi is still “a dictator.”

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According to a new ethics report, Rep. George Santos (R-NY) used campaign funds to pay for OnlyFans adult entertainment, Botox injections, and Sephora, as well as a $4,127 purchase at Hermes. C’mon! No one is doing it like him! Hang his jersey from the rafters!

In related news, Santos announced that he will not seek reelection.

A millionaires’ tax in Massachusetts will cover tuition for 25,000 college students in the Bay State. 

The Supreme Court decided on Thursday that the Florida law that attempted to ban drag shows in the state will remain blocked. 

Snoop Dogg announced that he is quitting smoking “after much consideration and conversation with [his] family.” Is this his way of launching a line of edibles? Who’s to say!