A Teacher Is Suing Breitbart And Project Veritas For Defamation

Steve Wentz, the president of a Kansas teacher’s union, filed a defamation lawsuit in Orlando, Florida last week against Breitbart News and Project Veritas, the self-described investigative video site run by conservative activist James O'Keefe.

The 66-page lawsuit concerns a video Project Veritas posted and an accompanying article in Breitbart News from June 2016. In the video, Wentz, who was attending a conference in Orlando, is shown suggesting he's threatened students with physical violence. “Son, go for it and I’ll give you the first shot…I will kick your f***ing ass,” Wentz says in the opening of the Veritas video. The Breitbart article ran with the headline, “O’Keefe Sting — Teachers Union President Brags About Threatening Student: ‘I Will Kick Your F***ing Ass.’”

In the suit, Wentz's attorney alleges that the video — shot by a Veritas reporter — was “creatively edited…to make him appear violent and dangerous.” The lawsuit argues that the recording was made using a “concealed recording device…without Wentz's authorization.” Florida, where Veritas recorded the video, has a two-party consent law that makes it illegal to record a conversation if both parties involved haven't agreed to be recorded. The suit continues to say that Veritas' video and Breitbart's summary omitted “most of the reasoning and all explanatory detail from O'Keefe's story,” which then twisted the purpose of Wentz's words.

Wentz' attorney argues that the actual story he told to the Veritas reporter was part of a “particularly memorable anecdote of an incident when he had feigned force, or used 'tough love,' to connect with and eventually help a troubled student.” The suit suggests that Wentz had since reconnected with the student and that both “agreed to put this incident behind them.” Years later, the suit reads, “Wentz ran into that former student, who gave Wentz a hug.”

The timing of the suit, filed late last week, is perhaps inopportune for Project Veritas, which is in the middle of another big story. On Tuesday morning, O'Keefe and Veritas released a highly edited video of a man purporting to be a CNN producer, disparaging CNN's coverage of the investigation into Trump's Russia ties. Project Veritas has not responded to a request for comment.

As far as Breitbart's involvement, the suit alleges that the Breitbart article is defamatory as it “falsely explains that Wentz met with 'journalists,' when in reality, an individual who faked her identity and recorded Wentz covertly, without his permission, had tricked him.” Furthermore, the suit focuses on Breitbart's decision to append the story with the search tags for “child abuse” and “union corruption.” The suit alleges that when a visitor clicks through the “child abuse” tag, Wentz' photo and name is “sandwiched between a story about female genital mutilation and a mother who starved her children.”

From the Wentz/Breitbart suit.

In a slack message today obtained by BuzzFeed News, Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow notified employees of the suit. “Breitbart just got sued for a story connected to Project Veritas — not today's CNN video — I believe this one was from 2015,” he wrote. “It should go without saying that you should not comment on or tweet about the suit. Forward any media requests to me, Larry, and John Kahn please.”

Currently Wentz and his attorney are suing for unspecified damages to Wentz's reputation and name. Wentz is also suing for any money made by the video, which has 20,000 views as of this writing.

Breitbart has not responded to a request for comment.

Quelle: <a href="A Teacher Is Suing Breitbart And Project Veritas For Defamation“>BuzzFeed

Facebook Just Hit 2 Billion Users, Here's How Big That Number Is

Facebook is now used by 2 billion people each month, the company announced today

A number so big it's hard to comprehend

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But here is some context

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If you add up the populations of China, The United States, Mexico and Japan you get roughly 1.9 billion people (source: CIA)

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Each day, 1.9 billion Coke drinks are served (source: Coke)

100 years ago, the world's population was 1.9 billion people (source: Earth Policy Institute)

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Add up The BBC, Washington Post, New York Times and The Guardian's total audiences and you don't even hit one billion.

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For Facebook, 2 billion may be nice. But the company is aiming higher.

The world's population is currently 7.5 billion, so there's plenty of room to grow

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With great power comes great responsibility

Quelle: <a href="Facebook Just Hit 2 Billion Users, Here's How Big That Number Is“>BuzzFeed

After Denouncing Milo, Breitbart’s Editor Helped Him With New Venture

Alexander Marlow

Cindy Ord / Getty Images

In late February, the conservative troll and anti-political correctness crusader Milo Yiannopoulos resigned as tech editor of Breitbart News following the emergence of video in which he appeared to condone pedophilia.

The resignation came amid reports that “at least a half-dozen” Breitbart staffers had threatened to quit unless the controversial Yiannopoulos was fired.

The day of Yiannopoulos’ resignation, Breitbart’s editor in chief, Alexander Marlow, called the comments “indefensible,” “upsetting,” “appalling,” and “troubling.”

But according to emails and documents obtained by BuzzFeed News, less than a week after making these comments Marlow was involved in discussions about funding and staffing Yiannopoulos’ new venture, MILO, Inc. Marlow was also named in a preliminary editorial budget as an employee of the company, drawing an annual salary.

Two sources with knowledge of the emails confirmed their authenticity.

MILO, Inc.'s CEO, Alexander Macris, denied that Marlow was an employee of the company. “He was once on a wishlist but he did not join the company and his job is editor in chief of Breitbart,” Macris wrote in a statement to BuzzFeed News. “Mr. Marlow communicates with Milo personally from time to time, but not in any official capacity.”

In a February 27 email to Marlow at his personal Gmail account and Lee Habeeb, formerly the Executive Producer of The Laura Ingraham Show, Yiannopoulos attached an editorial roster, broken down by position, staff member, and potential salary. In the email, Yiannopolous wrote that the budget “was assembled by media executive Alex Macris” — then a Senior Vice President at Defy Media.

The last line item lists Marlow as “Executive Producer,” making $60,000 a year and receiving equity in the company. (Yiannopoulos’ proposed salary in the budget is $240,000 a year.)

“Alex has never accepted a dime from Milo,” Chad Wilkinson a spokesman for Breitbart, told BuzzFeed News.

Then, in a March 2 email to Marlow and Habeeb, Yiannopoulos asked his assistant, Marc Geppert, to suggest dates that the three could meet to “present the budget to investors.”

Marlow responded to the email, “In California likely through the 21st then free.”

Still, Breitbart denied that Marlow had any involvement in the new company.

“Alex hasn’t done any work on behalf of Milo at all,” Wilkinson told BuzzFeed.

Habeeb did not respond to a request for comment.

In April, Yiannopoulos claimed to have received $12 million in funding for MILO, Inc. In a press release, Yiannopoulos described MILO, Inc. as “a fully tooled-up talent factory and management company dedicated to the destruction of political correctness and the progressive left.” In practice, according to reports, the company will produce and publish its namesake’s various media and touring projects. That includes the publication of Dangerous, Yiannopoulos’ forthcoming book, which was dropped by Simon & Schuster following the pedophilia controversy.

Quelle: <a href="After Denouncing Milo, Breitbart’s Editor Helped Him With New Venture“>BuzzFeed