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Over the past few years, I have all but stopped using Facebook. There were several reasons for doing so, but a big one was that I kept getting gross right-wing content stuffed into my news feed, no matter what pages I followed or who my friends were. Life is too short to wade through idiotic Jordan Peterson videos so I can feel depressed about how many people I know from high school are now openly racist.

But the truly noxious nature of Facebook has become even more clear in recent months. The platform has become a gigantic factory of extremist conspiracy theories and genocidal hatred part of a general trend in which right-wing publications and political campaigns have come to dominate the site all while bleeding traditional journalism to death.

Facebook, in short, is destroying America.

Last week, Russell Brandom at The Verge reported that several people had notified Facebook that a right-wing militia group called Kenosha Guards had been making violent threats on the platform in advance of the alleged murders committed by a Trump-supporting teenager. Content moderators did nothing about it. On Monday, President Trump repeated a ludicrous fake story that antifa had loaded a whole plane to go and disrupt the Republican National Convention which turns out to have come from a months-old viral Facebook post, just one of many similar freakouts over wholly imaginary "antifa supersoldiers." Conspiracy lunacy about coronavirus and QAnon have also spread like wildfire on the platform in recent months.

This kind of thing doesn't only happen in the United States, either. A United Nations report found that the company played a "determining role" in the attempted genocide of Rohingya people in Myanmar, as extremists used the platform to coordinate and spread virulent hatred. A study of Germany found that where Facebook use was just one standard deviation above the average, racist attacks on refugees jumped by about half.

Now, it is not the case that Facebook is incapable of policing certain kinds of content. It stamps out pornography almost instantaneously, using tens of thousands of content moderators, because porn is a threat to Facebook's family-friendly brand and hence profits. (Incidentally, these moderators are horribly exploited, and experience serious trauma from all the nightmarish things they are forced to witness day after day. Facebook recently agreed to a $52 million settlement in compensation for moderators developing PTSD on the job.)

But the company is much more reluctant to police extremist political content for two reasons. First, tech platforms have long wanted to pretend as though they were above politics or regulation. They are, in fact, private dictatorships where company executives can and do regulate speech however they want, but this is an uncomfortable thing to admit when it comes to political content. Conservatives have taken advantage of this reluctance to get Facebook to bend over backwards to appease the right by constantly screaming tendentious lies about how it is biased against them, in much the same way as they bullied mainstream press outlets to do the same years ago.

Second, the company brass is increasingly openly reactionary. Former Bush administration staffer Joel Kaplan is Facebook's vice president of global public policy, and he pushes the same argument that it would be unfair to conservatives to shut down conspiracy garbage (implicitly conceding that most of that kind of junk is on the right, but never mind). The company's head of news partnerships, Campbell Brown, was previously a militant anti-teacher union activist who happily endorsed Betsy DeVos' campaign to gut and privatize public education. After the 2016 election, Facebook rewrote its internal rules to allow Trump to lie on its platform. Peter Thiel, the pro-Trump billionaire who secretly used his money to destroy a publication he didn't like, and is openly against democracy, is also on the Facebook board, where he argues against fact-checking political ads.

As a result, Facebook is now ludicrously dominated by right-wing content farms. As Kevin Roose reports at the New York Times, over one week in August, right-wing personality Ben Shapiro got more interactions than "the main pages of ABC News, NBC News, The New York Times, The Washington Post and NPR combined." Breitbart gets more likes than every Democratic member of the Senate put together. According to a Twitter account that documents the best-performing Facebook posts every day, other conservative figures like Dan Bongino and Franklin Graham are regularly at or near the top.

All these right-wing ghouls are very good at gaming the Facebook algorithm, but it simply cannot be the case that their operations generally skeleton crews surrounding a celebrity or two, that do almost no originally reporting are actually out-competing huge news organizations with dozens of expert social media employees. On the one hand, as John Whitehouse outlines in detail for Media Matters, Facebook shovels free attention to right-wing sources by selecting right-wing garbage as fact-checkers or "trusted sources," and directly boosting conservative content. On the other, Facebook exempts right-wing publishers from its own content standards, thus allowing them to win by cheating. As Judd Legum reports, Shapiro openly games the platform's algorithm through the use of multiple front pages that all coordinate to promote his content (and he probably isn't the only one doing this). This is a violation of Facebook's terms of service, but the company lets him get away with it, just as it forgave other right-wing accounts like Diamond and Silk, PragerU, Breitbart, and Charlie Kirk for flagrantly violating its misinformation policy. (Incidentally, Diamond and Silk had the top-performing post in the country on Tuesday.) On the contrary, Craig Silverman and Ryan Mac report at Buzzfeed News that when a Facebook engineer compiled evidence that the company was giving preferential treatment to right-wing content, he was fired.

Finally, Facebook is destroying journalism in this country. The online advertising oligopoly consisting of Facebook, Google, and Amazon have snapped up 70 percent of the digital advertising market, and as a result, all but the biggest media companies are being strangled a fifth of all newspapers have closed over the last 15 years, and most of those that remain have slashed their staff. Today, half of all American counties have only one (usually eviscerated) paper, and 200 have no paper at all.

At the recent House hearing involving all the Big Tech barons, Facebook stood out for the relative pointlessness of its core product. Amazon and Google may be ruthless and increasingly dysfunctional monopolists, but you actually can buy just about any product imaginable on the former and find just about any piece of information on the latter. Apple may exploit laborers in poorer countries and abuse its walled garden app store, but its phones are reliably some of the best you can buy. But Facebook is at best a sort of online White Pages that would be extremely easy to replace. If it were to vanish tomorrow, dozens of similar products would spring up the following day providing the exact same service the ability to talk to your friends and family. We had online forums 20 years ago, and they were straight-up better than Facebook at least they didn't seem to give you clinical depression.

That's what the government of Australia should keep in mind as it considers a law that would force Facebook to share revenue with publishers for being able to profit off their content. That threat to its monopoly profits naturally led the company to make a thuggish threat that it would forbid Australians from posting news articles about their country if it passed.

The government's response should be "bring it on." The company's refusal would open up space for an Australian Facebook replacement that wouldn't be so poisonous to local journalism, and could even compete worldwide by not being a propaganda arm of global fascism. I would join up immediately.

Continued here:
Facebook is setting fire to America - The Week

In a year where nothing about the preseason was normal, one thing did stay the same and that's cut day. The NFL's annual roster purge always occurs on the Saturday before the first week of the season and this year, and this season was no exception. Each of the NFL's 32 teams had until 4 p.m. ET on Saturday to get their roster down to 53 players, which means nearly 1,000 players will have been released before the weekend is over. The good news for anyone losing a job is that practice squads are expanding to 16 players this year, which means as many as 512 of the guys who were cut could be scooped back up before the start of the season.

The Jaguars actually got the ball rolling pretty early this year with cuts when they surprisingly decided to release Leonard Fournette earlier this week (Fournette has actually already found a new team in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers). Washington followed the trend of dumping veteran running backs by cutting Adrian Peterson on Friday. The Cowboys also made a surprising cut this week when they released Ha Ha Clinton-Dix.

There have also been some notable cuts in the AFC East. In New England, the Patriots cut both of their kickers (they don't currently have a kicker on their roster) while the Bills also decided to make a change at kicker (They cut veteran Stephen Hauschka, who lost his jobto rookie Tyler Bass). In Miami, the Dolphinsdumped former first-round pick Josh Rosen, who they acquired in a trade just last year. Miami sent a second-round pick to Arizona in exchange for the quarterback.

For a look at every cut that was made around the NFL on Saturday, be sure to check out our tracker below.

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): K Stephen Hauschka, P Lachlan Edwards, PR/KR Andre Roberts, LB Vosean Joseph, LB Corey Thompson, TE Jason Croom, RB Antonio Williams, CB Cam Lewis, LB Andre Smith, OL Brandon Walton, WR Duke Williams, DE Bryan Cox Jr., DT Vincent Taylor, QB Davis Webb, WR Robert Foster, OL Trey Adams, DB Brian Allen, TE Nate Becker, OL Evan Boehm, OL Marquel Harrell, DB Dane Jackson, DE Mike Love, DB Dean Marlowe, OL Victor Salako, DT Tanzel Smart, DB Josh Thomas, RB Christian Wade, DT Justin Zimmer

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): QB Josh Rosen, S Jeremiah Dinson, DE Avery Moss, CB Deatrick Nichols, WR Ricardo Louis, WR Chester Rogers, WR Andy Jones, DE/LB Trent Harris, RB Salvon Ahmed, CB Breon Borders, DT Brandin Bryant, OL Shaq Calhoun, WR Matt Cole, CB Tae Hayes, DB Nate Holley, OL Jonathan Hubbard, OL Danny Isidora, WR Gary Jennings, LB Kylan Johnson, DT Benito Jones, WR Kirk Merritt, TE Chris Myarick, DT Durval Queiroz Neto, DE Tyshun Render, OL Keaton Sutherland, CB Ken Webster, TE Nate Wieting, DB Nate Brooks, RB Kalen Ballage

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): WR Mohamed Sanu, CB Michael Jackson, DL Michael Barnett, QB Brian Lewerke, OL Ben Braden, WR Jeff Thomas, WR Andre Baccellia, TE Paul Butler, OL Tyler Gauthier, RB Lamar Miller, LB Terez Hall, FB Paul Quessenberry, DL Nick Thurman, CB Myles Bryant, CB D'Angelo Ross, TE/DE Rashod Berry, DL Tashawn Bower, TE Jake Burt, K Nick Folk, LB Scoota Harris, LB Cassh Maluia, DL Bill Murray, K Justin Rohrwasser, WR Devin Ross, RB J.J. Taylor, DL Xavier Williams, WR Isaiah Zuber

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL) :QB Mike White, LB James Burgess, OL Jonotthan Harrison, CB Lamar Jackson, CB Nate Hairston, CB Zane Lewis, WR Lawrence Cager, WR Jehu Chesson, CB Javelin Guidry, OL Jared Hilbers, TE Ross Travis, QB David Fales, RB Josh Adams, WR George Campbell, WR Josh Malone, WR D.J. Montgomery, TE Daniel Brown, TE Bronson Kaufusi, OL Josh Andrews, OL Jared Hilbers, OL Corbin Kaufusi, OL Brad Lundblade, OL Jimmy Murray, DB Shyheim Carter, DB Matthias Farley, DB Bennett Jackson

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL):TE Jerell Adams, LB Aaron Adeoye, DB Terrell Bonds, OL Trystan Colon-Castillo, DT Aaron Crawford, DB Khalil Dorsey, OL Parker Ehinger, OL Will Holden, QB Tyler Huntley, WR Jaylon Moore, LS Nick Moore, DB Josh Nurse, DB Jordan Richards, DE Chauncey Rivers, TE Charles Scarff, P Johnny Townsend, DB Nigel Warrior, LB Kristian Welch, RB Ty'Son Williams, DE Marcus Willoughby, TE Eli Wolf

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): QB Brandon Allen, DT Freedom Akinmoladun, DE Amani Bledsoe, DT Trey Dishon, QB Jake Dolegala, TE Jordan Franks, DE Kendall Futrell, LS Dan Godsil, S Trayvon Henderson, WR Trenton Irwin, OT Josh Knipfel, WR DaMarkus Lodge, CB Greg Mabin, C Frederick Mauigoa, DT Kahlil McKenzie, CB Torry McTyer, WR Stanley Morgan, HB Jacques Patrick, CB Winston Rose, TE Mason Schreck, S Maurice Smith, LB Marcel Spears Jr., WR Scotty Washington, TE Mitchell Wilcox

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): QB Kevin Davidson, QB Garrett Gilbert, RB Dontrell Hilliard, RB Benny LeMay, FB Johnny Stanton, WR Ja'Marcus Bradley, WR Damion Ratley, WR Taywan Taylor, OL Brady Aiello, OL Alex Taylor, OL Jon Toth, OL Michael Dunn, OL Willie Wright, DE Robert McCray, DE Chad Thomas, DT Daniel Ekuale, LB Solomon Ajayi, LB Willie Harvey, LB Montrel Meander, CB A.J. Green, CB Robert Jackson, CB Donovan Olumba, S Elijah Benton, S Javonte Moffatt

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): LB Tuzar Skipper, TE Kyle Markway, DT Cavon Walker, DB Trajan Bandy, WR Ryan Switzer, DL Daniel McCullers, DB Antoine Brooks Jr., QB Paxton Lynch; RB Kerrith Whyte Jr., RB Trey Edmunds, RB Wendell Smallwood, WR Saeed Blacknall, WR DeAndre Thompkins, WR Deon Cain WR, Amara Darboh, OL Christian DiLauro, OL John Keenoy, OL Derwin Gray, OL Anthony Coyle, OL Jarron Jones, TE Kevin Rader, DL Henry Mondeaux, DL Calvin Taylor, LB Jayrone Elliott, DB John Battle

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): QB Alex McGough, LB Daren Bates, DL Albert Huggins, TE Dylan Stapleton, OL Cordel Iwuagwu, OL Rick Leonard, LB Nate Hall, OL Greg Mancz, OL Kyle Murphy, OL Jerald Hawkins, S Jaylen Watkins, DT Auzoyah Alufohai, DT Angelo Blackson, OL Brent Qvale, LS Jon Weeks, LB Davin Bellamy, CB Anthony Chesley, LB Nate Hall, WR Chad Hansen, RB Karan Higdon, LS Anthony Kukwa, WR Steven Mitchell, OL Elijah Nkansah, DB Jonathan Owens, RB Scottie Phillips, WR Tyler Simmons, TE Jordan Thomas, WR Isaac Whitney

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): QB Chad Kelly, OL Joey Hunt, TE Xavier Grimble, CB Andre Chachere, DT Kameron Kline, TE Dominique Dafney, OL Jake Eldrenkamp, WR Daurice Fountain, TE Farrod Green, DE Gerri Green, WR DeMichael Harris, OL Brandon Hitner, WR Marcus Johnson, K Chase McLaughlin, OL Carter O'Donnell, OL Javon Patterson, CB Lafayette Pitts, CB Jackson Porter, DB Donald Rutledge, CB Tremon Smith, TE Andrew Vollert, DT Chris Williams, DT Robert Windsor, CB Travis Reed

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): RB Leonard Fournette, DE Caraun Reid, QB Mike Glennon, QB Josh Dobbs, RB Nathan Cottrell, TE Ben Ellefson, LB Nate Evans, TE Matt Flanagan, LB Joe Giles-Harris, WR Terry Godwin, WR Josh Hammond, OL Blake Hance, CB Amari Henderson, OL K.C. McDermott, OL Garrett McGhin, CB Parry Nickerson, LS Matt Orzech, OL Austen Pleasants, OL Ryan Pope, S J.R. Reed, WR Marvelle Ross, OL Tre'Vour Wallace-Simms, WR Mike Walker

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): DL Joey Ivie, QB Trevor Siemian, CB Kareem Orr, LB D'Andre Walker, LB Cale Garrett, WR Rashard Davis, LB D'Andre Walker, CB Tye Smith, CB Chris Milton, DB Ibraheim Campbell, WR Krishawn Hogan, OL Brandon Kemp, OL Zac Kerin, WR Mason Kinsey, RB Marcus Marshall, K Tucker McCann, DB Doug Middleton, RB Senorise Perry, DE Wyatt Ray, WR Kristian Wilkerson, WR Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, DE Jamal Davis, DB Kenneth Durden, TE Tommy Hudson, RB Jeremy McNichols, OL David Quessenberry, DL Teair Tart, DL Kobe Smith

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): OL Quinn Bailey, RB LeVante Bellamy, WR Trinity Benson, WR Fred Brown, OLB Malik Carney, S Douglas Coleman III, RB Jeremy Cox, WR Kendall Hinton, S Alijah Holder, LB Justin Hollins, OL Tyler Jones, S P.J. Locke, C Pat Morris, T Darrin Paulo, T Jake Rodgers, QB Brett Rypien, OLB Derrek Tuszka, ILB Josh Watson, T Hunter Watts, WR Cody White, DL DeShawn Williams, WR Juwann Winfree, CB De'Vante Bausby, TE Troy Fumagalli

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): S Adrian Colbert, OL Ryan Hunter, WR Gehrig Dieter, CB Chris Lammons, RB DeAndre Washington, QB Matt Moore, QB Jordan Ta'amu, OL Jackson Barton, DB Rodney Clemons, LB Omari Cobb, WR Maurice Ffrench, WR Jody Fortson, LB Darius Harris, TE Daniel Helm, DB Lavert Hill, DT Braxton Hoyett, DT Devaroe Lawrence, WR Kalija Lipscomb, RB Elijah McGuire, OL Greg Senat, WR Justice Shelton-Mosley, DE Breeland Speaks, DE Tim Ward, OL Darryl Williams

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): LB Asmar Bilal, RB Darius Bradwell, CB John Brannon, LB Cole Christiansen, WR Jeff Cotton, OL Josh Dunlop, NT Breiden Fehoko, LB Romeo Finley, DE Joe Gaziano, OL Nate Gilliam, RB Derrick Gore, OL Ryan Groy, FB Bobby Holly, LB Malik Jefferson, WR Darius Jennings, WR Tyron Johnson, DE Jessie Lemonier, CB Kevin McGill, DB Quenton Meeks, FB Gabe Nabers, OL Ryan Roberts, WR Dalton Schoen, OL Trent Scott, DT TJ Smith, OL Cole Toner, CB Donte Vaughn

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): CB Prince Amukamara, OL Jordan Devey, RB Rod Smith, CB Nick Nelson, DE Sharif Finch, OL Jordan Roos, S Damarious Randall, DL Chris Smith, LB Javin White, DL Datone Jones, RB Theo Riddick, WR Marcell Ateman, TE Nick Bowers, OL Lester Cotton, WR Keelan Doss, DB Madre Harper, CB Dylan Mabin, DT Mike Panasiuk, LB Justin Phillips, WR De'Mornay Pierson-El, OL Kamaal Seymour, LB Kyle Emanuel, LB Kyle Wilber, OL Sam Young

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): WR Devin Smith, QB Clayton Thorson, OL Adam Redmond, OL Mitch Hyatt, OL Wyatt Miller, OL Pace Murphy, OL Cody Wichmann, TE Charlie Taumoepeau, S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, DE Joe Jackson, DB Saivion Smith, CB Deante Burton, RB Sewo Olonilua, LB Francis Bernard, WR Tevin Jones, WR Jon'Vea Johnson, CB Chris Westry, S Luther Kirk, DL Justin Hamilton, DL Ron'Dell Carter, Justin Bernard, OL Isaac Alarcon, CB C.J. Goodwin, DL Ladarius Hamilton, OL Marcus Henry, WR Aaron Parker

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): QB Cooper Rush, QB Alex Tanney, LB Ryan Connelly, DT Chris Slayton, WR Johnny Holton, WR Alex Bachman, WR Derrick Dillon, WR Austin Mack, WR Binjimen Victor, RB Tavien Feaster, TE Eric Tomlinson, TE Garrett Dickerson, OL Jon Halapio, OL Eric Smith, OL Tyler Haycraft, OL Kyle Murphy, DL Daylon Mack, DL Niko Lalos, LB Josiah Tauaefa, DB Grant Haley, DB Montre Hartage, DB Brandon Williams, DB Dravon Askew-Henry, DB KeiVarae Russell, DB Jarren Williams, DB Prince Smith, Jr., LS Carson Tinker

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL):RB Elijah Holyfield, RB Adrian Killins, RB Michael Warren, OL Julian Good-Jones, OL Luke Juriga, TE Tyrone Swoopes, TE Caleb Wilson, WR Manasseh Bailey, WR Deontay Burnett, WR Travis Fulgham, WR Marcus Green, DB Grayland Arnold, DB Elijah Riley, CB Trevor Williams, DT T.Y. McGill, DB Michael Jacquet, DE Matt Leo, CB Sidney Jones, DE Shareef Miller, CB Rasul Douglas, DE Joe Ostman, OL Sua Opeta, DT Anthony Rush, TE Noah Togiai, OL Prince Tega Wanogho, DT Raequan Williams

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): CB Aaron Colvin, S Sean Davis, DE Nate Orchard, TE Richard Rodgers, T Paul Adams, DT David Bada, DE Jordan Brailford, WR Tony Brown, G Joshua Garnett, TE Hale Hentges, WR Johnathon Johnson, CB Ryan Lewis, QB Steven Montez, LB Jared Norris, T Timon Parris, LB Donald Payne, C Ross Pierschbacher, WR Trey Quinn, S Jeremy Reaves, WR Cam Sims, T David Steinmetz, WR Jester Weah

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL):RB Napoleon Maxwell, WR Alex Wesley, WR Ahmad Wagner, OL Corey Levin, DL Lee Autry, LB Keandre Jones, K Cairo Santos, DL Abdullah Anderson, CB Stephen Denmark, DL LaCale London, QB Tyler Bray, OL Lachavious Simmons, RB Artavis Pierce, OL Dieter Eiselen, PL Badara Traore, DT Trevor McSwain, LB Rashad Smith, LB Ledarius Mack, WR Rodney Adams, WR Thomas Ives, WR Reggie Davis, OL Sam Mustipher, S Xavier Crawford, LB Isaiah Irving, DB Kevin Tolliver, TE Jesper Horsted

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): G Oday Aboushi, G Beau Benzschawel, QB David Blough, WR Victor Bolden, DE Will Clarke, S Jalen Elliott, DT Frank Herron, RB Wes Hills, DT Albert Huggins, RB Jason Huntley, WR Tom Kennedy, WR Chris Lacy, TE Isaac Nauta, LB Anthony Pittman, S Bobby Price, DT Olive Sagapolu, P Arryn Siposs, TE Matt Sokol, DT Kevin Strong, CB Dee Virgin, G Kenny Wiggins, DT Kevin Wilkins, RB Jonathan Williams, LS Steve Wirtel, T Dan Skipper

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): WR Jake Kumerow, WR Darrius Shepherd, WR Reggie Begelton, WR Malik Turner, RB Dexter Williams, LB Tim Williams, TE Evan Baylis, FB John Lovett, CB Stanford Samuels, DT Willington Previlion, OL Alex Light, RB Damarea Crockett, OL John Leglue, OL Cody Conway, OL Zack Johnson, OL Jake Hanson, LB Krys Barnes, LB Tipa Galeai, LB Greg Roberts, LB Delontae Scott, DB DaShaun Amos, DB Will Sunderland, DB Henry Black

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): RB Tony Brooks-James, LB Jordan Fehr, DE Stacy Keely, DE Anthony Zettel, DB Josh Metellus, DB Myles Dorn, WR Alexander Hollins, DB Steven Parker, DT David Moa, OL Kyle Hinton, FB Jake Bargas, QB Jake Browning, QB Nate Stanley, OL Aviante Collins, OL Brett Jones, LB Blake Lynch, OL Blake Brandel, CB Nevelle Clark, WR Quartney Davis, TE Brandon Dillon, CB Mark Fields II, TE Nakia Griffin-Stewart, OL Jake Lacina, LB Blake Lynch, CB Nate Meadors, WR Dillon Mitchell, LB David Reese II

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL):DB Delrick Abrams Jr., DT Hinwa Allieu, OT Ka'John Armstrong, QB Kurt Benkert, DB Jamal Carter, DB Chris Cooper, RB Mikey Daniel, DE Austin Edwards, OG Justin Gooseberry, WR Devin Gray, WR Juwan Green, DB Tyler Hall, OG Sean Harlow, DB Josh Hawkins, OT Evin Ksiezarczyk, OT Sailosi Latu, QB Kyle Lauletta, WR Jalen McCleskey, TE Jared Pinkney, RB Craig Reynolds, LB Edmond Robinson, WR Chris Rowland, WR Laquon Treadwell, LB Ray Wilborn, DB J.J. Wilcox

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): DT Myles Adams, DB Quin Blanding, RB Reggie Bonnafon, OT Branden Bowen, DT Woodrow Hamilton, DT Bruce Hector, OG Mike Horton, DB Jameson Houston, WR Ishmael Hyman, DB Natrell Jamerson, DE Jalen Jelks, LB Jordan Kunaszyk, DE Austin Larkin, WR Marken Michel, OT Aaron Monterio, LB James Onwualu, LB Chris Orr, WR Cam Phillips, TE Giovanni Ricci, WR Darrell Stewart, C Sam Tecklenburg, TE Colin Thompson, K/P Kaare Vedvik, DB T.J. Green, TE Temarrick Hemingway

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): LB Anthony Chickillo, DE Mario Edwards, WR Bennie Fowler III, OL Patrick Omameh, DE Margus Hunt, LB Joe Bachie, WR Emmanuel Butler, WR Austin Carr, DE T.J. Carter, LB Andrew Dowell, TE Garrett Griffin, CB Kemon Hall, WR Lil'Jordan Humphrey, WR Juwan Johnson, RB Tony Jones, LB Wynton McManis, OL Jordany Steckler, TE Tommy Stevens, OL Calvin Throckmorton, OL Cameron Tom, DB Keith Washington, TE Ethan Wolf

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): G Zack Bailey, RB Raymond Calais, LB Kahzin Daniels, LB Noah Dawkins, LB Michael Divinity, S D'Cota Dixon, C Anthony Fabiano, K Matt Gay, WR Cyril Grayson, S Javon Hagan, TE Tanner Hudson, DL Jeremiah Ledbetter, G Nick Leverett, TE Codey McElroy, CB Herb Miller, WR Bryant Mitchell, RB Dare Ogunbowale, WR Josh Pearson, DL Benning Potoa'e, ILB Chapelle Russell, WR Spencer Schnell, C Zach Shackelford, QB Reid Sinnett, CB Mazzi Wilkins

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): TE Ryan Becker, OL Steven Gonzalez, OL Sam Jones, OL Brett Toth, CB Zane Lewis, DE Adam Shuler, CB Jalen Davis, WR Hakeem Butler, P Ryan Winslow, CB Chris Jones, CB Jace Whittaker, DB Kentrell Brice, DL Jonathan Bullard, TE Dylan Cantrell, DL Trevon Coley, CB Ken Crawley, RB D.J. Foster, CB Chris Jones, OL Koda Martin, WR Andre Patton, WR A.J. Richardson, LB Reggie Walker, WR JoJo Ward, RB Jonathan Ward, LB Evan Weaver

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL):K Austin MacGinnis, K Lirim Hajrullahu, DB Adonis Alexander, LB Daniel Bituli, TE Kendall Blanton, OL Cohl Cabral, OL Jamil Demby, WR Earnest Edwards, DB Jake Gervase, DB Juju Hughes, RB John Kelly, OL Jeremiah Kolone, WR J.J. Koski, DB Dayan Lake, DB Tyrique McGhee, LB Derrick Moncrief, WR Easop Winston, CB Donte Deayon, DT Marquise Copeland, DB Donte Deayon, DT Michael Hoecht, LB Clay Johnston, LB Natrez Patrick, QB Bryce Perkins, LB Christian Rozeboom, DE Jonah Williams

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): CB Jamar Taylor, OL Dakoda Shepley, WR Jauan Jennings, OL Ross Reynolds, DL Alex Barrett, WR River Cracraft, S Johnathan Cyprien, DL Darrion Daniels, LB Evan Foster, OL Hroniss Grasu, TE MarQueis Gray, TE Chase Harrell, CB Tim Harris Jr., RB JaMycal Hasty, FB Josh Hokit, CB Dontae Johnson, OL Jaryd Jones-Smith, DL Dion Jordan, DL Cameron Malveaux, S Jared Mayden, WR Shawn Poindexter, OL William Sweet, CB Jamar Taylor, LB Joe Walker, WR Kevin White

Players cut to reach 53 (FINAL): TE Stephen Sullivan, QB Danny Etling, DE/LB Shaquem Griffin, QB Anthony Gordon, WR Paul Richardson, FB Nick Bellore, OT Tommy Champion, DT Demarcus Christmas, WR Aaron Fuller, WR Penny Hart, CB Gavin Helsop, DT P.J. Johnson, DT Cedrick Lattimore, WR Lance Lenoir, TE Tyler Mabry, S Chris Miller, DB Ryan Neal, CB Debione Renfro, DB Jayson Stanley, WR Cody Thompson, OT Chad Wheeler

Originally posted here:
2020 NFL roster cuts tracker: See every cut from all 32 teams after initial rosters trimmed to 53 players - CBS Sports

For many players on Washington Football Team's roster, the lack of a typical offseason almost certainly has done more harm than good. Washington has one of the youngest rosters in the NFL, full of players that could benefit from every rep that was lost with no minicamp, OTAs and preseason games.

However, the lack of team-organized football activities over the past four months due to the coronavirus pandemic was not the worst thing for one Washington player: Running back Adrian Peterson.

In a Zoom call with local reporters on Friday, Washington running backs coach Randy Jordan said he believes the extra time off for the veteran will actually "rejuvenate" Peterson for the upcoming season.

"In terms of a guy that is older, this is something I feel like will rejuvenate him and hell come back just like he normally does in shape and ready to go," Jordan said.

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The running backs coach pointed to the two years of Peterson's career prior to joining Washington in 2018 as to why he feels the extended break could serve 'All Day' well.

In 2016, coming off a career-high in carries, Peterson suffered a torn meniscus, causing him to miss all but three games. In 2017, Peterson signed with the Saints, but only saw a handful of touches before getting traded to Arizona in Week 6. Over that two year span, Peterson had a total of just 193 carries, far less than he had during any singular season prior to that point.

"His longevity, people will not talk about this, is he had a stretch where he did not play a lot of football," Jordan said."In terms of that, he was able to pretty much get rejuvenated."

Peterson arrived in Washington the following season as a late camp addition. Frankly, Washington only signed the veteran back because then-rookie Derrius Guice suffered a torn ACL during the preseason.

Over the past two seasons, Peterson has been arguably Washington's most productive weapon on offense. In 2018, he immediately emerged as Washington's lead back and topped 1,000 yards for the eighth time in his career. Last year, he still finished with over 850 yards on the ground despite Washington having the lowest-scoring offense in the NFL.

Peterson's resume speaks for itself. He's a future Hall of Famer and arguably the best running back of the 21st century. He already ranks in the top 5 all-time for rushing yards and rushing touchdowns and will almost certainly moveup on both those lists before he hangs up the cleats.

However, while the running back may not want to admit it, very few running backs in the past have been productive at his current age. Peterson turned 35 in March. Only two running backs, John Henry Johnson and Washington great John Riggins, have topped the thousand-yard mark at age 35 or older.

Washington doesn't need Peterson to be a 1,000-yard rusher in 2020. Guice is fully healthy. Third-round pick Antonio Gibson has earned nothing but praise since arriving in Washington. Bryce Love hasfinally recovered from his knee injury in 2018, and the team signed two veterans, J.D. McKissic and Peyton Barber, in free agency.

But as Peterson has proved over the past two seasons, the inevitable 'Father Time' can wait a little longer. Jordan has little doubt that theageless wonder can still produce for Washington this season.

"When God made him, he just said 'hey, you a football player,'" Jordan said. "And gave him all the tools, the physical statue, the speed, the vision, being able to understand angles, a natural runner.Just God-given ability, things you cannot coach."

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Original post:
Adrian Peterson could benefit from the lack of offseason activities - NBC Sports Washington

We cant tell you who wrote this piece, or where they work. What we can tell you is its not Unity.

A little while ago, I said to a friend that working at a bookshop kind of sucks. He was clearly bamboozled. I thought working at a bookshop would be lovely and magical. Being surrounded by books, reading all day

I used to think so, too.

When I got my first job as a bookseller, at 16 years old, I was thrilled. I had wanted to work at my local bookshop since I was a child I hero-worshipped and crushed on the staff, was entranced by the shelves and the papery smell, and spent hours reading in the kids room while my Mum and Dad had coffee next door (note to parents: if your children are gremlins, this is not good practice).

I loved cutting up the Christmas wrapping paper and recommending childrens books to parents. I happily gave up half my weekend to be there, making friends Ive kept ever since. Through the bookshop Ive become more confident, met countless lovely customers, been introduced to excellent and thought-provoking books, and experienced the way that communities continue to support an industry that would otherwise disappear.

But after 10 years as a part-time bookseller, Im jaded. Ive become someone who frequently loathes other people. And this isnt just me being an asshole.

Lately, grumpy booksellers have been going public. Last year Anne Barnetson, a bookseller in Perth, started posting her comic series Customer Service Wolf to Tumblr and Instagram. She told the BBC Its unenacted fantasies that I think people have after a very long day when they think: It would just be great to stop all this right now.'

There have been books, of course: London bookseller Jen Campbell released Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores in 2012; five years later Scottish secondhand bookstore owner Shaun Bhythell put out what Russell Baillie described in the Listener as a funny, pithy, grumpy poignant memoir of a year in the shops life and its occasionally annoying clientele.

And, at the serious end of the spectrum, Sadie Stein, contributing editor for The Paris Review, opened a 2016 column with I love bookstores, but theres something that needs to be said: theyre often filled with lurking creeps.

All retailers know that just one unpleasant interaction someone who doesnt treat you as a real human, basically can ruin your day. These customers come in various forms: the creepy men, the entitled, the children-with-icecreams, the bigots, the (many) people who are outraged that we dont have a particular title, despite Covid-19 playing havoc with supply chains (NB: please call ahead!). Crucially, unlike most retail jobs, customers of bookshops want to discuss ideas, and that can lead to uncomfortable, sticky situations.

Plus, I now know that part of the bookshop smell is a carpet that has absorbed urine both canine and toddler so a bit of the olfactory charm has gone, too.

Probably weeing. (Photo: Martin Barraud/Getty)

The reality: working in a bookshop is sometimes a bit shit, more Black Books than Notting Hill. Let me list the ways.

When the customer is wrong

A woman once said to my manager, Do you have 20 Rules for Life?

Do you mean Jordan Petersons 12 Rules for Life? she asked.

Haughty look. No. Its 20 Rules.

My manager picked up a copy of the book, 12 Rules for Life. This one?

Well, thats the right author. But no. Im certain its 20 Rules. Ill call my son and get this sorted out.

When the customer is wrong and also racist

The number of times Ive had someone tell me I dont like Asian writers would be ridiculous and absurd if it wasnt so offensive. Generally, I assume such customers have read one Murakami novel and believe that hes It.

An incident that really sticks with me is when an older woman asked for a book recommendation, and I suggested A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara a Man Booker finalist, incredible, brutal, and one of my favourites. Recommending a book like this, which left me devastated and still has the power to choke me up, feels like extending an (emotionally laden) olive branch. Youre trying to share an experience that moved you, so its hard not to feel a bit miffed when you gush over something amazing and then the customer buys Jojo Moyes. But this time, the customer stopped me before I finished saying Its about four men

Oh no, she said. I dont read Asian authors.

A pause.

Hanya Yanagihara is American, I said. The book is set in New York.

Then whats with her name?

Long exhale through the nose. Her parents are from Hawaii.

She scrunched up her face and said no thank you and at that point I just had to walk away, leaving her to browse all the novels by men called John or Robert and women called Ann. How, I thought, did people still think these things, let alone say them aloud in public? Is it because people like me just walk away, rather than telling them it isnt right?

Its hard, though, to say what you think when youre in customer service. Even in a regular social situation my conflict-averse nature would make it difficult, but when a large part of your job is to ensure that your shop keeps getting five-star Google reviews and receiving happy paying customers, biting your tongue can feel like the only option, even when on the inside youre spitting nails.

When the customer is a creep

Sometimes, behaving like its all OK and putting on a pleasant face can really cause trouble. On and off for five years, from when I was 19, a middle-aged man stalked me in the shop. He would come in when I was on my own at night, tell me hed broken up with his girlfriend because he liked me better, call the shop repeatedly to ask me to coffee, say hed recently watched Fifty Shades of Grey and that Anastasia reminded him of me because, of course, shes so clever.

Anastasia Steele (as played by Dakota Johnson): really not renowned for her smarts. (Photo: Supplied)

At the start, I partly blamed myself for getting into this situation. Hadnt I chatted cheerfully with him? Hadnt I smiled? Hadnt I wryly told him that Fifty Shades of Grey is not great literature?

But of course this wasnt my fault. I was in customer service mode. I was being nice and accommodating because thats what youre expected to do, both as a customer service worker and as a woman. You get used to saying Yes, of course, and Oh, how interesting. Plus, I literally couldnt leave when he talked to me. The furthest away I could get was behind the till.

What most customers understand is that customer service workers are fakers. Sure, sometimes were happy, sometimes we even enjoy the chatting but its also our job, so generally it shouldnt be taken to heart. But some men oh, they take it to heart, and they keep it buried deep in their aorta, even when two years have passed and you duck upstairs whenever they walk through the door.

Our health and safety plan in a situation like that is to send a Facebook message saying CALL THE SHOP! to the work groupchat, wait for a colleague to ring, then pretend the friend on the phone is an annoying customer who might take hours to deal with, hoping that the actual annoying/unstable/stalker customer will get disheartened and decide to leave.

This is not totally reassuring, however, when youre alone with a man who is wearing a mesh singlet and covered in swastika tattoos.

When whats selling is extremely weird

Cultural trends are reflected in what people buy. In 2016, for example, we sold what felt like billions of adult colouring books. Obviously, that year everyone was stressed as hell and very susceptible to suggestion. After Christmas, the colouring books left and never came back, a weird blip in the book universe.

Over the past few months, since the police killing of George Floyd and the political protests and riots that followed, the trend has been to buy books that confront and oppose racism. How to be an Anti-Racist, Me and White Supremacy, So You Want to Talk About Race, White Fragility, and books by James Baldwin, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Michelle Alexander and others have been hugely in demand we keep ordering them in, there are stacks put away as special customer orders, and yet there are never enough copies on the shelves.

Black Lives Matter March For Solidarity in Auckland on June 1, 2020 (Photo: Jihee Junn)

The buying habits at our bookshop are just a microcosm of whats going on in the world. In early June, both the New York Times list of bestselling non-fiction and Amazons bestsellers list were suddenly dominated by books addressing racism.

In the UK, Reni Eddo-Lodge (Why Im No Longer Talking to White People About Race) and Bernardine Evaristo (Girl, Woman, Other) became the first black British women to top the countrys non-fiction and fiction charts, respectively.

Its refreshing to see these changes, despite how late theyve come, despite the incredible discomfort, articulated by Reni Eddo-Lodge, that it took the killing of an innocent black man to drive such widespread interest and care. Still, when I see people lining up to buy these titles, it feels considerably better than when the queue was for Lost Ocean: An Inky Adventure & Colouring Book.

When it all gets too much

Books are vehicles for ideas, ideology, and politics, even when that wasnt the authors intent (think of when Ted Dawes Into the River was banned, or the recent controversy surrounding American Dirt).

While bookshops are generally politically neutral spaces, in which Richard Dawkins is equally as welcome as Eckhart Tolle, there are times when both booksellers and customers dont see it that way.

A customer I remember well came into the shop one night and turned John Keys biography face-down on the table before leaving in a hurry. She then emailed the shop to say that she found it both distasteful and mystifying that a small business like ours would propagate such a book. We replied that we didnt push a political agenda, that our staff hold a variety of viewpoints (although, really, were mainly a bunch of lefties). End of discussion.

Possibly not an accidental juxtaposition. Kim Dotcom tweeted this in 2014, commenting in fine company (Photo: Twitter)

Really, though, were not always neutral and agenda-less. Nearly half of my colleagues studied politics, were in the book world because we enjoy discussing ideas, and were low-wage earners of course we have views, not only about the world, but about the books we sell. On occasion, thats led to some perhaps less-than-ethical behaviour.

Jordan Petersons self-help book 12 (not 20) Rules for Life is a good example. After becoming well-known for his views on free speech and gender-neutral pronouns, Peterson was adopted as a mascot of the alt-right. Boxes upon boxes of his books arrived in our shop, and most staff werent thrilled.

So after selling dozens of copies to both Peterson fans and people simply intrigued by the title, a few of my colleagues had had enough and ended up hiding Petersons books in a cupboard behind the till. Well sell them if someone asks, they said, but were not going to advertise them on the shop floor.

Surely it isnt the place of booksellers to censor or interfere in consumer trends, is it? But, equally, were human, were political beings rather than customer service robots. And sometimes, we snap.

Here is the original post:
Confessions of a jaded NZ bookseller - The Spinoff

This week I listened to an interview on Public Broadcasting Service with Jason Stanley, a professor of philosophy at Yale and author of the book How Fascism Works. He defined fascism as an ideology based on power, loyalty and fear of the other where the other is defined ethnically, or by nationality or religion, and the leader represents us.

His position was that we are in danger of fascism by President Donald Trump. It was his assertion that the entire reason Department of Homeland Security went into Portland was not to protect their federal properties from being destroyed (as is their job) but rather it was President Trumps political plan to provoke the rioters and create a scene of chaos and violence for the TV screens so that he could appear as the strong man to protect you against opponents who threaten the values you hold dear. Stanley is voicing a leftist position.

Stanley did not address the other cities where rioters and looters have been terrorizing those cities in the absence of federal officers but did point out that there can be a fascist social and political movement in a democracy, which is what we are seeing across the world, in the U.S. and Brazil.

Stanley states the press is undermining democracy from within. He said the goal is to undermine the institutions and create new fascist institutions. That was interesting to me because while he is thinking President Trump is doing that by DHS going into Portland, I am thinking the left is doing that because they want to change or tear down some of our basic institutions.

So, the left and the right are in fear of the other as fascist. Merriam Webster defines fascism as A political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.

The right believes the left is also practicing identity politics and exalting race and other identities above everything else above individualism and suppressing opposition and ideas. A good example of this is what is happening with censoring of conservatives on social media and by attacks from ANTIFA.

An early Antifa example is the uprising and protesting at Berkeley when conservative radio talk host and author Ben Shapiro was scheduled to speak in 2017.

Antifa wanted to cancel Shapiro because his ideas did not align with theirs. It is classic identity politics. The right was in danger of being attacked by the left.

A recent example is Bernell Trammell, age 60, a dreadlocked activist known for carrying handmade signs through the streets reading Vote Donald Trump 2020, and posting them on his storefront. He was gunned down by an unknown assailant on his sidewalk last Thursday afternoon, police said, according to the NY Post. I doubt we will see protests or riots over Mr. Trammells death.

This week I heard another well-known lesbian woman podcaster that was talking about how she was being canceled by the left because she wasnt acknowledging a persons proper group or identity. She said shes just tired of people being so demanding and sensitive. She was saying that people on the right have been far nicer and accepting of her.

The next thing to consider is intersectionality. This is a theoretical framework for understanding how aspects of a person's social and political identities (e.g., gender, sex, race, class, sexuality, religion, ability, physical appearance, height, etc.) might combine to create unique modes of discrimination and privilege.

What strikes me about identity politics and intersectionality is what clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson points to, that the natural conclusion of intersectionality is individualism. Furthermore, to attribute to an individual the attributes of that community on the basis of their racial identity is called racism. As if theyre homogeneous. Its the same with any group.

When you start identifying someone by all the groups they identify with, the possibilities are endless and at the end of it all is a unique individual.

We are all individuals and its antithetical to the idea of American individualism, where we believe that no matter who we are or where we came from that we can accomplish and go wherever our hard work will take us.

But somehow now, instead of being judged by our character as Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of, some in our culture are trying to reverse it and go backward. They are actually angry if you dont recognize and identify someone based on their skin color, or their gender. Why cant we just respect and honor everyone, no matter what their race, gender, class, religion, etc.?

It just seems like we are going backward.

Excerpt from:
Will the real fascist please stand up? - Fallbrook / Bonsall Villlage News