LEAKED VIDEO: Google Leadership’s Dismayed Reaction to Trump Election

Posted on September 12, 2018 by Luke Ford

00:00 Google’s left-wing bias
20:00 Stephen Miller’s Reform rabbi at 9yo goes after Miller again
52:00 Serena Williams’ outbursts at US Open, cartoon controversy
1:22:00 Tonight Show cancels Norm McDonald for downplaying #MeToo
1:28:00 Angry lesbian Aussie comic Hannah Gadsby
1:35:00 Lyz Lenz disses Tucker Carlson in CJR
1:47:00 Tenured prof suspended for revealing his university’s fake publishing racket (pay for publish)
1:54:00 Quillette: Academic Activists Send a Published Paper Down the Memory Hole
2:00:00 Bob Woodward – not as great as I thought

From Breitbart:

A video recorded by Google shortly after the 2016 presidential election reveals an atmosphere of panic and dismay amongst the tech giant’s leadership, coupled with a determination to thwart both the Trump agenda and the broader populist movement emerging around the globe.
The video is a full recording of Google’s first all-hands meeting following the 2016 election (these weekly meetings are known inside the company as “TGIF” or “Thank God It’s Friday” meetings). Sent to Breitbart News by an anonymous source, it features co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, VPs Kent Walker and Eileen Naughton, CFO Ruth Porat, and CEO Sundar Pichai. It can be watched in full above. It can and should be watched in full above in order to get the full context of the meeting and the statements made.

It was reported earlier this week that Google tried to boost turnout among the Latino population to help Hillary Clinton, only to be dismayed as the usually solid Democratic voting bloc switched to the GOP in record numbers. This video shows a similar level of dismay among Google’s most high-profile figures.

These individuals, who preside over a company with unrivaled influence over the flow of information, can be seen disparaging the motivations of Trump voters and plotting ways to use their vast resources to thwart the Trump agenda.

Co-founder Sergey Brin can be heard comparing Trump supporters to fascists and extremists. Brin argues that like other extremists, Trump voters were motivated by “boredom,” which he says in the past led to fascism and communism.

The Google co-founder then asks his company to consider what it can do to ensure a “better quality of governance and decision-making.”

VP for Global Affairs Kent Walker argues that supporters of populist causes like the Trump campaign are motivated by “fear, xenophobia, hatred, and a desire for answers that may or may not be there.”

Later, Walker says that Google should fight to ensure the populist movement – not just in the U.S. but around the world – is merely a “blip” and a “hiccup” in a historical arc that “bends toward progress.”

CEO Sundar Pichai states that the company will develop machine learning and A.I. to combat what an employee described as “misinformation” shared by “low-information voters.”

Key moments from the video can be found at the following timestamps:

(00:00:00 – 00:01:12) Google co-founder Sergey Brin states that the weekly meeting is “probably not the most joyous we’ve had” and that “most people here are pretty upset and pretty sad.”
(00:00:24) Brin contrasts the disappointment of Trump’s election with his excitement at the legalization of cannabis in California, triggering laughs and applause from the audience of Google employees.
(00:01:12) Returning to seriousness, Brin says he is “deeply offen[ded]” by the election of Trump, and that the election “conflicts with many of [Google’s] values.”
(00:09:10) Trying to explain the motivations of Trump supporters, Senior VP for Global Affairs, Kent Walker concludes: “fear, not just in the United States, but around the world is fueling concerns, xenophobia, hatred, and a desire for answers that may or may not be there.”
(00:09:35) Walker goes on to describe the Trump phenomenon as a sign of “tribalism that’s self-destructive [in] the long-term.”
(00:09:55) Striking an optimistic tone, Walker assures Google employees that despite the election, “history is on our side” and that the “moral arc of history bends towards progress.”
(00:10:45) Walker approvingly quotes former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s comparison between “the world of the wall” with its “isolation and defensiveness” and the “world of the square, the piazza, the marketplace, where people come together into a community and enrich each other’s lives.”
(00:13:10) CFO Ruth Porat appears to break down in tears when discussing the election result.
(00:15:20) Porat promises that Google will “use the great strength and resources and reach we have to continue to advance really important values.”
(00:16:50) Stating “we all need a hug,” she then instructs the audience of Google employees to hug the person closest to them.
(00:20:24) Eileen Noughton, VP of People Operations, promises that Google’s policy team in DC is “all over” the immigration issue and that the company will “keep a close watch on it.”
(00:21:26) Noughton jokes about Google employees asking, ‘Can I move to Canada?’ after the election. She goes on to seriously discuss the options available to Google employees who wish to leave the country.
(00:23:12) Noughton does acknowledge “diversity of opinion and political persuasion” and notes that she has heard from conservative Google employees who say they “haven’t felt entirely comfortable revealing who [they] are.” and urged “tolerance.” (Several months later, the company would fire James Damore allegedly for disagreeing with progressive narratives.)
(00:27:00) Responding to a question about “filter bubbles,” Sundar Pichai promises to work towards “correcting” Google’s role in them
(00:27:30) Sergey Brin praises an audience member’s suggestion of increasing matched Google employee donations to progressive groups.
(00:34:40) Brin compares Trump voters to “extremists,” arguing for a correlation between the economic background of Trump supporters and the kinds of voters who back extremist movements. Brin says that “voting is not a rational act” and that not all of Trump’s support can be attributed to “income disparity.” He suggests that Trump voters might have been motivated by boredom rather than legitimate concerns.
(00:49:10) An employee asks if Google is willing to “invest in grassroots, hyper-local efforts to bring tools and services and understanding of Google products and knowledge” so that people can “make informed decisions that are best for themselves.” Pichai’s response: Google will ensure its “educational products” reach “segments of the population [they] are not [currently] fully reaching.”
(00:54:33) An employee asks what Google is going to do about “misinformation” and “fake news” shared by “low-information voters.” Pichai responds by stating that “investments in machine learning and AI” are a “big opportunity” to fix the problem.
(00:56:12) Responding to an audience member, Walker says Google must ensure the rise of populism doesn’t turn into “a world war or something catastrophic … and instead is a blip, a hiccup.”
(00:58:22) Brin compares Trump voters to supporters of fascism and communism, linking the former movement to “boredom,” which Brin previously linked to Trump voters. “It sort of sneaks up sometimes, really bad things” says Brin.
(01:01:15) A Google employee states: “speaking to white men, there’s an opportunity for you right now to understand your privilege” and urges employees to “go through the bias-busting training, read about privilege, read about the real history of oppression in our country.” He urges employees to “discuss the issues you are passionate about during Thanksgiving dinner and don’t back down and laugh it off when you hear the voice of oppression speak through metaphors.” Every executive on stage – the CEO, CFO, two VPs and the two Co-founders – applaud the employee.
(01:01:57) An audience member asks if the executives see “anything positive from this election result.” The audience of Google employees, and the executives on stage, burst into laughter. “Boy, that’s a really tough one right now” says Brin.

* Jack Ryan Viewed from the Right

* Dupe Throat: Bob Woodward’s self-parody

* WP: ‘You’ve set back the Jewish contribution’: Stephen Miller’s former rabbi issues fiery rebuke on Rosh Hashanah

* NYT: Beauty Is More Diverse Than Ever. But Is It Diverse Enough?

* Sessions Open to Probe of Social Media Giants, Sources Say

* Variety: Are YouTube’s Algorithms Fueling Creator Burnout?

* Academic Activists Send a Published Paper Down the Memory Hole

* The Comedy-Destroying, Soul-Affirming Art of Hannah Gadsby

Sorry, My Boobs Don’t Want To Hang Out With You”

The mystery of Tucker Carlson

Newspaper doubles down with front page response to Serena Williams cartoon critics

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When Porn Still Mattered: The Luke Ford Story

Posted on September 9, 2018 by Luke Ford

I wrote about the porn industry from 1995 to 2007. ReactionaryMBA tweets: “Can you do a show on what you learned?”

I was interviewed for the 2011 documentary “After Porn Ends” about the lives of porn stars after they leave sex work.

Luke: “When you are involved in this industry, you lose your humanity. You are no longer treated as a human being by 80% of people out there. You are now scum. They may want to do certain things with you, but you’re still scum. They may be thrilled to have a roll in the sack with you, but when you leave, they will want to burn the sheets.”

“Happiness and success in life boil down to the quality of your bonds with other people. Having anything to do with the adult industry hacks away at those bonds, so you are isolated, alienated, pushed away to the margins, not treated as a human being, that’s a recipe for disaster.”

“Hookers are people looking for a quick buck with the least amount of effort so they turn tricks. Being a porn star is being part of the world’s oldest profession.” Porn stars are hookers without shame.

“People who are well adjusted and have good life skills and are doing something meaningful with their lives, they are not in the industry to begin with. People in the industry are broken, twisted souls without a lot of great job skills. They are turbulent souls. They are always going to be twisting and turning in the wind.”

“Is it possible to lead a normal life after you get out? This is forever. This is the scarlet letter. It never goes away. What tends to happen is that it isolates you and you so develop a fear of being rejected and so you put up walls between you and other people. When you are isolated, you are less likely to suffer rejection, but you are also isolated and living on the edge.”

“Here are some people you talked to who are leading normal lives? How the hell would you really know? Are they going to tell you about all the times they’ve been rejected and isolated and the horror and shame that their children confront and that their spouses confront and the shame that they’ve put their families through and the relationships permanently broken and all the burned bridges behind them because they’ve done sex work? Most families aren’t proud when their daughters become hookers.”

Here are a few of my other reflections.

* Most people equate what is legal with what is moral. If you legalize porn, people who make it and consume it will think it is not so bad.

* Porners will always push the limit. When they could get away with it, with child porn for example, they sold child porn until 1977.

* Society will always struggle to contain the contagion of a sex industry. There will always be STDs of the body and of the soul and they will invariably affect those who come into close contact with sex workers. The media likes to talk about cases of AIDS in porn, but there is AIDS of the soul. You can watch videos of where people catch AIDS and you can watch videos where people’s souls die.

* Pornography is the antithesis of civilization. It unleashes forces that tear down the restraints that make civilization possible.

* No matter how much you legalize sex work, like with drugs, you will always have to declare some of it illegal (such as with children).

* It verges on the impossible to have a normal life and work in the sex industry. Individuals who use it will inevitably feel a decrease in their ability to pray and to connect to God (and often other people). If you masturbate, you will quit praying. If you pray, you will quit masturbating. The two activities are not compatible. One will win out.

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The Happiest Time Of My Life

Posted on September 8, 2018 by Luke Ford

Claire Khaw wrote under the following video: “Tell us about the happiest time of your life, Luke.”

I like that question.

This was the happiest time of my life. It was in October of 1977, I believe, I was a few weeks into sixth grade at Pacific Union College Elementary School, and the most beautiful girl in the class, Cindy Jackson, dropped a note on my desk asking me, “Do you want to go with me?” I loved this girl. I thought about her constantly. I couldn’t believe that she was interested in me. I couldn’t believe that someone I loved might love me back. That was the happiest moment of my life. I was 11.

Runners-up:

* Spring of 1980. I met Mike Adamle (Bryant Gumble’s NFL partner) at Sea World where he was providing commentary for NBC Sports. He gave me about half an hour of his time talking about the world of broadcasting and he said I would be a big success in life. According to Wikipedia: “On February 7, 2017, Adamle said he was diagnosed with dementia, and that his doctor saw signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. He believes this and the past 19 years of epileptic seizures resulted from his concussions in football.[13] He officially retired from WMAQ-TV on March 24, 2017, at a send-off party with colleagues.”

* January 1, 1983. I was a junior in high school. After watching the exciting Sugar Bowl at the home of the Kime family (it was a church party for teens), I climbed into the attic with this girl I knew from high school and her friend and within an hour, I was making out with her friend. This girl taught me how to kiss and that gave me confidence. Six months later, I started kissing Rainy, a girl I loved at Pacific Union College. After we caught our breath after our first make-out, she said, “We could have been doing this a year ago.” But I didn’t know how then. And I didn’t have the confidence to try.

* Late 1984. With the phantom of delight just ahead of me, I could hardly breathe. I listened to her laugh with her friend. I could smell her perfume. That she was so sweet, so innocent and so right there, was so too much. I fled across the street and tried to walk away from her.

“Oh Luke.” I heard her cry my name. She smiled at me and beckoned. I crossed the street and walked to her; unable to breathe, unable to speak. More.

* December 22, 1985, I covered for KAHI/KHYL radio the San Francisco 49ers defeating the Dallas Cowboys 31-16 on the last regular season game of the year at Candlestick Park. I was in the press box for most of the game but got to go down to the field for the last two minutes and then into the locker rooms. On my way to the Cowboys room, I passed Tom Landry in the hallway talking about how he hadn’t spoken to Skip Bayless since about 1982. I put my mic into the conversation. I had been a big Cowboys fan since 1978 and now I was right next to my hero and I realized I could line up with anyone in life. Tom Landry today, why not the president tomorrow?

* January 26, 1986, I drove back to Pacific Union College and saw the end of the Super Bowl with the Muth family. I met a young woman there named Lori W., who knocked me out. Such a classy broad! She was wearing a white track suit when I met her and ever since then, I’ve thought of her as an angel, as a divine messenger (she served as an inspiration to me through years of befuddling illness for I knew that if I was worthy of one date with her, I was worthy of much better things in life than I had settled for in the past). Apparently all the guys at Monterey Bay Academy wanted to marry her. I was in the early stages of mononucleosis at the time, and spent most of the week on the couch listening to the Chariots of Fire soundtrack, but I took her out one evening that week to see The Jewel of the Nile and I’ve never forgotten the pleasure of her company. I never saw her again but those few hours together left me with a never-to-be-forgotten sense of God (and that He wants good things for me). Sometimes people like Lori come along just once in our lives but they leave us with intimations of a better way of doing things that is far beyond everything we have known till then. One date with Lori and I realized how impoverished my life was and how much more there could be for me.

The next few months were mono-hell but I had seen something reflecting back to me in her eyes that kept me going through all of my despair and failure.

* Circa August of 1986, I covered U.S. Senator Alan Cranston campaigning somewhere near Nevada City (in his race against Republican Ed Zschau). I rode on a press bus with a Los Angeles Times reporter and some other journos and I made them all laugh and I realized I was as smart and talented as them. One of the journos told me he wanted to write a book about our trip, an updated version of The Boys on the Bus.

* February 16, 1989, I lost my virginity in my second floor dorm room at Reiber Hall, UCLA. I guess I was loud because when I came out the door to wash up, a group of guys high-fived me.

* Circa April, 1989. My Economics professor, Russell Roberts, asked me to come see him at office hours. He wanted to know what I planned to do with my life. He said I’d make a great economist. Even though I was largely bed-ridden during my nine months at UCLA, I had no doubt that I belonged there, and that when healthy, I could make my way at any elite university and any elite setting. I was going to school with the top one percent and I fit in just fine. A few years later, Dr. Roberts discussed writing a book with me about Orthodox Judaism.

* January 28, 1994. On that Friday night at the conservative shul in Tampa Bay, Florida, I met Dennis Prager in person for the first time. The next day, he told me that he could die in peace knowing that I would continue his work for good values. He said he might have a job for me if I came to LA.

* March 31, 1994, a Thursday, I drove from Newcastle to UCLA, after making a partial recovery from six years of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I was ready to restart my life at the place where I had to drop out in June of 1989.

* May of 1994. I got talent agent — Debbie Durkin, who thought she could get me modeling work (particularly in Japan). She sent me out on about 30 casting calls for TV and movie roles (including as the Aussie weatherman in Jodie Foster’s sci-fi flick Contact). I got only one call back and landed no jobs. I didn’t have any rational expectation for making it as an actor but I thought the experience of trying would serve me well when I eventually transitioned to writing. One casting agent from this time ran into me in 2001 when I was a blogger frequently on TV and he said that the diligent way I went about pursuing my acting career back then made him think I was going to make it.

* June or July 1994. I was an extra on the set of Strange Days and someone like an assistant director found me terribly amusing and fought and lost to get me some lines in the movie.

* November 23, 2003. I was featured on 60 Minutes. I didn’t particularly like the bits they quoted from me, but the program had been a big deal to me for over two decades.

* October of 2008. My Alexander Technique teacher suggests I might consider becoming an Alexander Technique teacher.

* December of 2011. I graduate from the Alexander Training Institute.

* May of 2011. I attend my first 12-step meeting and feel like I belong.

* May of 2015. I attend my first Debtors Anonymous meeting and I see a simple path I can take to attain prosperity.

* As I look over my list of happy memories, it seems that most of them have to do with my gaining competence and confidence aka proving my manhood.

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Book Club: When Pride Still Mattered: A Life Of Vince Lombardi

Posted on September 7, 2018 by Luke Ford

00:00 Vince Lombardi bio
1:30:00 Kamala Harris, Cory Booker at the Brett Kavanaugh hearings
1:33:00 Boris Johnson heads for his second divorce, future PM of Great Britain
1:40:00 UK’s crime spiral, anarcho-tyranny
1:42:00 Bristol Palin and that term “trailer trash”
1:50:00 Rick Wilson and Republican consultants
2:04:00 Does Israel fund Al Qaeda in Syria?
2:10:00 Salvini vs Macron
2:30:00 Paul Hornung’s comments on black student-athletes at Notre Dame
2:35:00 History professor Otto Pohl in Kurdistan

From Amazon.com: “More than any other sports figure, Vince Lombardi transformed football into a metaphor of the American experience. The son of an Italian immigrant butcher, Lombardi toiled for twenty frustrating years as a high school coach and then as an assistant at Fordham, West Point, and the New York Giants before his big break came at age forty-six with the chance to coach a struggling team in snowbound Wisconsin. His leadership of the Green Bay Packers to five world championships in nine seasons is the most storied period in NFL history. Lombardi became a living legend, a symbol to many of leadership, discipline, perseverance, and teamwork, and to others of an obsession with winning. In When Pride Still Mattered, Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss captures the myth and the man, football, God, and country in a thrilling biography destined to become an American classic.”

* Christopher Caldwell: Macron vs Salvini: the ideological battle for Europe’s future

* RT: Report on IDF funding Syrian rebels pulled on request of ‘army’s censor’ – Jerusalem Post to RT

* Stacy McCain: CNN’s Favorite ‘Republican Strategist’

* Daily Mail: Bristol Palin in fresh divorce drama: Teen Mom star calls ex Dakota Meyer a ‘coward b**ch’ who did not deserve the Medal of Honor in texts posted by the marine, after she said he was holding her family photos hostage

* Breitbart: Trump’s Tight Labor Market Wins U.S. Construction Workers Higher Wages

* Boris Johnson splits from his wife.

* PJ Media: Kamala Harris Harasses Kavanaugh on Robert Mueller, Charlottesville, ‘White Supremacist’ Terms

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#67, Brett Kavanaugh, Talk Radio, Theater Thursday: State And Main (9-10-18)

Posted on September 6, 2018 by Luke Ford

00:00 State and Main
50:00 My friend Justin talks about Supreme Court nominee hearings in the U.S. Senate
1:05:00 Kevin Grace on Glenn Greenwald’s comments on anonymous resistance within Trump administration
1:12:00 Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin doesn’t get it
1:25:00 Nancy Pelosi graces the cover of Time magazine
1:35:00 CDs vs streaming vs artist revenues, Apple revenues
2:00:00 No more music for straight white men as music industry goes ghetto
2:08:00 Justin and Kevin discuss decline of talk radio

* Wikipedia entry.

* Glenn Greenwald: White House ‘Coward’ Behind Anonymous Op-ed Part of ‘Unelected Cabal’

* WP: Debate boils over about ‘confidential’ Kavanaugh documents

* Jennifer Rubin: The unnamed op-ed writer can’t be pleased

* TIME: Nancy Pelosi Doesn’t Care What You Think of Her. And She Isn’t Going Anywhere

* In defense of the CD

* A New Spotify Initiative Makes the Big Record Labels Nervous

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