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In a 25-minute-long documentary titled, War, Lies, and hashtags: Pakistans Twitter Battles, Al Jazeera documents the life of a Pakistani man, Farhan Virk, who has earned a name for himself in the Twitter community. Despite being a doctor, he identifies himself as a Twitter influencer who peddles anti-India propaganda on the platform. Farhan holds the potential to make any hashtag trending on Twitter.

Even though he claims to have received no patronage from the propaganda machinery of the Pakistani government, many suspect otherwise. Unlike others, he takes pride in calling himself a troll. Farhan runs a group, named, Team Imran Khan, and boasts of a whopping 1000 followers. They work in tandem to make anti-India hashtags viral on Twitter. He calls himself alt-right and seeks inspiration from the likes of Alex Jones and Steve Bannon, far-right political personalities in the US.

Despite being abused by Indians for his anti-India rhetoric, Farhan is firm in his resolve. Amidst escalated tensions between the two countries, the propaganda machinery of Farhan comes handy. In one instance, when he was about to lose a Twitter poll, Farhan received a call from the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan. He spent 10,000 PKR to change the Twitter poll results in his favour by hiring bots from foreign firms.

His wife, Iram, runs a group called Team Green and has about 100-150 active volunteers. They hatch plans to infiltrate Indian Twitter trends so that their tweets stay at the top of the trend. If someone calls me a troll of the army, then, it is a matter of pride, the wife of Farhan conceded. Following the Balakot airstrike that destroyed Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camps and neutralised 300 terrorists, a desperate Pakistan claimed that only a few trees fell during the aerial bombardment. As such, Farhan, in line with the State narrative, ran the hashtag #IndiaAgainstTreePlantation. And interestingly, the Pakistani news media picked up the trends and reported as if it was actual news.

The Al Jazeera documentary also highlights how Twitter warriors can create the mirage of a war, far-fetched from the reality on the ground. Even though there were no ceasefire violations at the Sialkot border, as testified by people living close to the border, netizens from both the countries talked about happy firing along the Line of Control (LoC). Apparently, Pakistan has occupied 25 Indian check posts, Farhan was quoted as saying.

Following the Balakot strike, Farhan got slammed by fellow Pakistanis after he tried to downplay the befitting reply of India through surgical strike 2.0. My ideology is of national interest. To protect your national interest, even if you say something thats not true, but it influences the people in a positive way, then, I do not consider it propaganda, the Twitter influencer conceded. During the dogfight that ensued between the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and Indian Air Force (IAF), Farhan and his Team Imran Khan participated in a Twitter trend, #PakistanStrikesBack, and was able to rank it as high as number two in global trends.

The propaganda material loosely revolves around altered images of politicians, doctored videos, and unverified and even defamatory news items. Reportedly, who has run over 4,500 propaganda hashtags through Team Imran Khan and is an asset for the current political dispensation in Pakistan to ward off political rivals or change narratives as per convenience, in case of international conflicts. He is a thought leader to his followers but remains a proud troll in the eyes of many.

While tweets cannot be monetised, Farhan has pinned his hopes on his youtube earnings. In one scene, he and his wife could be seen in a cafe and celebrating over a meagre earnings of $24. This is my hard-earned money. Hard work is the key to success, Farhan emphasised. Despite having a medical degree, he has chosen the profession of an unpaid propagandist as he is under the impression that the work of twisting narratives on social media is more important than being a doctor.

This is the age of social media warfare. Nowadays, the army needs to play a significant role on social media, Farhan highlighted. He revealed how the party leadership of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) come to him seeking for solutions to their problems but forget when the issues are resolved. Six months from the surgical strike, Irams account was suspended along with that of the volunteers of Team Green over their contentious tweets on Kashmir. With surmounting bills, Iram has moved on to mainstream media and remains hopeful to appeal to a wide range of audiences and become a successful news anchor.

As for Farhan whose life centered around social media, his Twitter account was eventually banned, for multiple violations, in December 2019. He now hopes to restart his medical career, earn money, and fight for elections. Despite his pro-government tweets, the IT cell of PTI has distanced itself from him. Farhan is a true representation of how the Pakistani government uses ambitious individuals, brainwashed by pseudo nationalism, into devoting their life for a cause that will remain unfulfilled forever.

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Popular Pakistani troll reveals how he makes sure PM Modi doesnt win any Twitter polls, how anti-India propaganda is organised and furthered - OpIndia

Watching stand-up in 2020 very quickly went from a pretty fun and normal activity to an escape from our terrifying, oppressive reality.

Luckily, there has been some truly fantastic comedy so far this year, giving us an excuse to laugh and smile at stories and observations from some of the industry's most talented performers. It is a bit odd, though, to view these specials which were filmed before the COVID-19 lockdown began in the U.S. in March knowing everything that has followed this year (so far).

We're living in a time when jokes can become dated very quickly, and that feeling only seems to have ramped up after March. In her special, Leslie Jones jokes about how 20 year olds shouldn't be out marching for anything, they should be living their lives. That might have been a fine joke earlier in the year, but amid the civil upheaval happening across the world in response to police brutality and racism, it just doesn't land properly. Similarly, Jerry Seinfeld's already tired and banal musings about buffets and smartphones in his special 23 Hours to Kill feel especially unnecessary and trite.

On the plus side, the bright spots in comedy are so much brighter. The rest of Jones' special, in which she takes us through the decades of her life and what she's learned, is great. And the more nuanced jokes from the comedians on this list (who are much better than Seinfeld) float above the current of news our collective rafts are stuck in, transcending the day-to-day to bring us moments of happiness.

Here are the seven best stand-up specials of 2020 so far. Added bonus: They're all conveniently streaming on various platforms right now.

Leslie Jones adds a reflective tone to her usual energy with "Time Machine."

In Time Machine, her first Netflix special after decades of performing, Saturday Night Live alum Leslie Jones brings a slightly subdued version of her intoxicatingly voluminous energy to a walk through the stages of life, plotted out in decades from her exuberant 20s to her current dont give a fuck 50s. She relates tales of her past,including an ill-fated attempt to seduce Prince with a dance performance at a club. She calls out a woman in her 20s in the front row for wearing a Little House on the Prairie sweater when she should be showing more skin at that age. And she pleads for men to thoroughly wash their privates. Jones is clearly having so much fun on stage, and that enjoyment pours out addictively. By the end, when she finally gets off her feet and sits on a stool for the first time and talks about what she would say to her younger self if she had a time machine, she brings the audience in close for a more muted but shockingly funny hypothetical with a lesson: You cant fix the past, cant see the future. You might as well live in the present and have some faith.

Watch it on: Netflix

Fortune Feimster has the crowd at her fingertips in her special.

Image: Peter Taylor/Netflix

Seasoned comedian, actor, and writer Fortune Feimsters first hour-long special is a showcase of flow and comfort on stage. She weaves stories about growing up Methodist and eating at Chilis after church, her youthful experiences with the Girl Scouts and the school swim team, and discovering her sexuality while watching the movie The Truth About Jane. Feimster covers a lot of ground in Sweet and Salty, and she has the kind of commanding stage presence that allows every great joke to land with raucous laughter from the audience. She presents a life in juxtaposition, from an early birthday experience at Hooters to attending a debutante ball also known as a coming-out party, but absolutely not coming out in the modern sense to her current life with her partner and the sometimes unattractive comforts that come with love and familiarity. And then the moment she impersonates her fathers thick Southern accent in response to finding out shes eating gluten-free: Gluten-free? Pussy, I understand, but gluten-free?

Watch it on: Netflix

Whitmer Thomas uses a mix of deep sadness and wry humor for this emo special.

The Golden One is an emo special. Whitmer Thomas, a 30-year-old musician/comedian/sad guy, takes the stage at a bar in Alabama where his mother, who passed away several years ago, used to perform music with her twin sister. The special revolves around the ache Thomas feels for his mother, the impact her death has had on him and his family, and some of the driest, shortest, funniest little jokes that are consistently surprising. The special is punctuated by Thomas performing songs with relevant themes and lyrics at the bar and footage of conversations with various family members, including his dad, who left when he was young but later returned, his older brother, and his mothers twin sister. The Golden One is simultaneously heartbreaking and hilarious, a common duality in great comedy. But the emotion that drips through this feels entirely unique.

Watch it on: HBO

Yvonne Orji's special is steeped in her Nigerian roots.

If youre a vocal Insecure fan, shouting, Do you have HAYCH-bee-oh? at the unsuspecting, as Yvonne Orji, who plays Molly, claims her mother does, you already count yourself among Orjis fans. But Momma, I Made It! is a must-see supplement to that fandom, and to anyone looking to expand their comedy repertoire. Orji packs in a potent hour of observational humor, mostly about her family and Nigerian background. She's so open and charismatic that you feel immediately in on the joke (if you arent chiming in on the A whole me? joke by the end, did you even watch?). The jibes at and also from her parents will resonate with any child of immigrants, and the interludes of Orji visiting Nigeria offer an intimacy few artists can create without divulging deep, personal details. Proma Khosla, entertainment reporter

Watch it on: HBO

Marc Maron's version of the return of Jesus is incredible.

Image: Adam Rose / Netflix

End Times Fun dropped on Netflix on March 10, right at the cusp of Americas reckoning with COVID-19 and a few months before the latest surge of protests against our abusive police system and racism. It seems prescient, as seasoned comedian, podcaster, and actor Marc Maron waxes in his seventh special (directed by the late, great Lynn Shelton) about signs of the end times and jokes about how we need something to bring people together, something big and bad to snap everybody out of their trances. Amid clever and relatable observations about turmeric and collections of old cables we cant seem to let go of, Maron cant ignore the big-picture stuff in global warming, clockwork California fires, and disturbing right-wing politics. He ends with a narrative story about an imagined return of Jesus, with wild and raucous twists that puts a big, brash, unforgettable cap on this hour of comedy.

Watch it on: Netflix

Hannah Gadsby returns triumphantly with her second Netflix special.

Image: Ali Goldstein/ NETFLIX

Hannah Gadsby, the Australian comic whose first Netflix special Nanette made huge waves in 2018, opens up Douglas with an outline of whats to come. Her prelude to what will be more than an hour of comedy shows just how meticulous her performances are, which is doubly amazing given how completely surprising they are with each turn. Douglas is inextricably tied to Gadsbys previous special Nanette which was lauded as one of the best specials of the year, if not the last decade and while that is acknowledged here, its not used as a crutch but rather a launch pad from which she delivers an even more hilarious performance with jokes and revelations about her autism diagnosis, her issues with the principles of Wheres Waldo? (why does he need to be found?), and a short lecture about Renaissance art that is one of the funniest observational bits of the year.

Watch it on: Netflix

Maria Bamford delivers an incredible, engrossing performance.

Legendary comedian Maria Bamford has proven over the last decade-plus of specials and albums that she is the master of delivery. With jokes about alt-right trolls, suicide, sexual role-playing, and labor, Bamfords points in Weakness Is the Brand are mesmerizing. She frames them within her own experiences and delivers lines with her fantastic impressions and excellent presence, occasionally looking straight into cameras to draw those not in the room into the intimacy she creates. She recounts her time on Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition and a self-induced Bible fight/Christianity competition with her "religious" mother, making poignant remarks about compensation, altruism, and the human condition punctuated by astounding humor that feels so effortless. Bamfords deft talent and weirdness just pulls the audience along. She flows through her set with imperceptible segues, mixing self-deprecation with self-affirmation and important takes with hilarious jokes in one of her best, most straight-forward specials of her career.

Watch it on: Amazon Prime Video

More here:
The best stand-up comedy specials of 2020 so far - Mashable

The Boys' Homelander and Queen Maeve are introduced to the newest member of the Seven, Stormfront, a character with a grotesque comic backstory.

Homelander and Queen Maeve meet their newest team member in a promo video for The Boys season 2. The Amazon Prime seriesfollows a team of vigilantes, The Boys,set on keeping the most powerful people on Earth, superheroes known as the Seven, from stepping out of line. After a successful season 1 with the characters, fans are already excited for season 2. Luckily, creator Eric Kripke and the main cast of the show gathered for a live stream event earlier today to discuss the upcoming season. They also revealedThe Boys will return this September, with a different type of streaming release schedule.

The latest addition to the Seven is Stormfront (Aya Cash), who will make her debut in season 2.In the original comic book run of The Boys by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, Stormfront is actually the first superhero ever created. She is also a male in the comics and was created by Nazi Germany, hence his racist ideologies and behavior that he espouses in the comics. However, to the public of The Boys, he is a reincarnated viking, and the leader of Payback, the comic's equivalent of the Avengers. Based on well-known superheroes Thor and Shazam, Stormfront can fly, has super-strength, and can manipulate the weather and electricity, putting him on the same level as Homelander in the comics. However, before he can bring down the sky on the world, the Boys end Stormfront by beating him to death.

Related:The Boys Season 2 Proves Homelander Was Always Evil

However, it seems the new take on the character will be quite different. In the promotional video for season 2 posted byThe Boysofficial Twitter account, Stormfront surprises Homelander and Queen Maevewhile filming a video for social media. Also making an appearance is Madelyn Stillwell's one-time assistant Ashley Barrett, played by Colby Minifie.The accompanying tweet asks in Billy Butcher style, "What the f***?", seeking clues about the newest member of the Seven.

While it is currently unclear exactly where Cash and Kripke plan on taking their version of Stormfront, it is clear they are putting a special amount of attention on the social media aspects of the character. Naturally, as part of the updating and changing of the story for modern audiences, Stormfront's social media following could point to how real-life neo-Nazis and the alt-right use social media to spread racist ideologies globally. It could make for an impressively timely take on the character.

Either way, as the writers of The Boyshave demonstrated in the past, they have an acute understanding of their characters. Introducing fans to Stormfront in this way shows the amount of thought and care that has been put into the show and the newest member of the Seven. Judging by Homelander and Queen Maeve's reactions in the video, it likely won't be smooth sailing for Stormfront. However, fans will have to wait until September to find out for sure.

More:The Boys Season 2 Should Avoid A Boring Comic Twist

Source: The Boys/Twitter

Henry Cavill Is Sherlock In First Images Of Millie Bobby Browns Enola Holmes

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The Boys Season 2 Promo Video: Homelander Meets New Member Of The Seven - Screen Rant

Instead of being angry at the defacing of the statue, Rodgers response was nuanced.

He expects and hopes that the figures will spark heated discussion. Thats the whole point.

Difficult public figures have difficult public histories, he said. We have never tried to hide that.

In order to show that understanding, Rodger and Caputo required that all the prime ministers be at ground level and be the same size as the people who would be interacting with them, instead of having them up on pedestals to instil a sense of awe.

Sculptor Ruth Abernethy had portrayed the figure of Sir John A Macdonald as holding two chairs and inviting a conversation.

But those careful design details were not a strong enough statement for whoever threw paint on the statue.

The first batch was thrown on Macdonalds statue sometime on Saturday night. Volunteers and township staff cleaned it off. By Tuesday it had happened again. The statue was briefly covered with a tarp. It was removed after Wilmot Township Coun. Angie Hallman said the statue should be shown with the paint still on it.

But before township council had a chance to have that discussion, a group of people cleaned off the statue themselves.

Brad Greulich, 31, was one of those people. I like my community and I dont like vandalism, he said.

Yet Greulich was careful to leave the red paint splattered underneath the statue, by way of acknowledging the complexity.

I understand why people poured paint on the statue twice, I get it, I sympathize with that, he told the New Hamburg Independent.

No ones hands are clean, but I think as a historical figure, its due a little more reverence than that.

Im not making the statue spotless, because the man wasnt spotless.

The heat is rising constantly in the extremist times we live in.

On Wednesday, a group demanding the removal of Macdonalds statue verbally clashed with another group thought to be affiliated to an alt-right organization.

Meanwhile, Hallman, who 18 months ago posed for a photo with the Kim Campbell statue along with two other women councillors, celebrating their historic entrance into the previously all-male council, has now proposed that the development of the Prime Ministers Walk be suspended.

No decent person wants to perpetuate suffering. But at the same time, policy shouldnt be made by an anonymous person with a bucket of paint.

We need honest public conversations, which comes with the pain of giving up pleasant illusions.

Macdonald is not the only prime minister with a mixed legacy. He is just the focus right now.

Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier also made racist decisions, including taking away the vote from Indigenous people and dramatically increasing the head tax on Chinese immigrants to Canada. Should we rename Wilfrid Laurier University?

William Lyon Mackenzie King, meanwhile, admired Hitler so much that he wrote in his diary (in 1938) that he will rank some day with Joan of Arc among the deliverers of his people. Under Kings watch no Jews were allowed into Canada as they tried to flee Nazi Germany. Thats shameful.

The only way to gracefully go forward is to have the statues presented, but with context that is lacking now.

Something, like a plaque or a recording, needs to be part of the installation, and explain the evil as well as the good.

All the prime ministers, Macdonald included, are part of the story of Canada.

Its just that the story isnt as pretty as we think it is.

Luisa DAmato is a Waterloo Region-based staff columnist for the Record. Reach her via email: ldamato@therecord.com

See the article here:
Opinion | A bucket of red paint on a statue can start a better conversation - Cambridge Times

The death of Ahmaud Arbery helped spur much of the anger and pain that have led to the massive movement for justice and racial equality across the nation. His death, at the hand of three white men who chased him while he jogged, has been on the tips of everyones tongues as they shout Black Lives Matter!

The 25-year-old Black man was gunned down after a struggle between him and three white men who had accused him of being responsible for a string of burglaries, despite having zero evidence.

The three men implicated in Arberys murder have been charged and indicted by a grand jury on nine counts, including felony murder.

The three men who have been accused in the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was on a jog through his neighborhood, were indicted on Wednesday by a grand jury on nine counts.

Gregory and Travis McMichael, a father and son, as well as William Roddie Bryan, were charged in May in the Feb. 23 killing of Arbery. But a grand jury was convened to officially indict the three men.

Cobb County District Attorney Joyette Holmes announced the indictment on nine counts, including malice murder, felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.

This is another step forward in seeking justice for Ahmaud. Our team from the Cobb Judicial Circuit has been committed to effectively bringing forward the evidence in this case, and today was no exception, Holmes said in a statement.

We will continue to be intentional in the pursuit of justice for this family and the community at large as the prosecution of this case continues.

The Coronavirus pandemic had slowed legal proceedings across the country. A grand jury is required to meet in person and, therefore, they werent able to convene until after June 12, once the state lifted stay-at-home measures.

Prosecutors in the U.S. have a lot of discretion when it comes to deciding on how to proceed with a criminal case. For one, a prosecutor themselves can examine the evidence (usually supplied by police officers) and decide to issues charges against a defendant.

Or they can present the evidence to a grand jury, who will decide if the state can bring charges against the defendant. There is little difference for the person charged with the crime but the process is different.

Gregory and Travis McMichaels, a father and son, had told police there had been break-ins in the neighborhood and that they began to chase Arbery in their truck when they saw him hauling ass.

They heavily armed themselves before hopping in their pickup truck and chasing down Arbery. They confronted him alongside a wooded road and, after a struggle with a shotgun, Arbery was shot by Travis.

No arrests were immediately made in the killing of the young Black man, and outrage intensified whencellphone video of the pursuitand the shooting was publicly released.

The handling of the case has been marred with conflicts of interest, since one of the men involved is a former investigator for the District Attorneys office and a former police officer. Several law enforcement officials have had to recuse themselves from the case because of their connections to the McMichael family.

Only after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation stepped in to investigate, were the suspects finally brought in on murder charges. Many, including leading politicians on both sides of the aisle, issued harsh statements condemning the manner in which Arberys murder was being handled.

Despite the frustration, Arberys family has held strong and has remained committed to making sure that his killers are held accountable for their actions, and that justice is served.

Excerpt from:
Alt-Right Members Are Attacking Bubba Wallace On Twitter After The FBI Decided That the Noose Found In His Stall Was Not A Hate Crime - mit inc