Latest news with #StreisandEffect
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The Independent
14-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Fox & Friends does just what Trump wants –pretending the Epstein fiasco doesn't exist
Two days after Donald Trump effectively turbocharged the MAGA meltdown over the Jeffrey Epstein 'no client list' memo by going full 'Streisand effect,' it appears that at least the president's favorite morning show is following his demand for his 'boys' and 'gals' to just let it go and move on. While the bulk of right-wing media is gripped in a state of chaos over Trump chastising his 'so-called 'friends'' for remaining obsessed over the Epstein files, which he suggested were fake and 'written by Obama,' Fox & Friends decided on Monday morning that the best course of action was just to ignore the raging firestorm completely. Since before his first term in office, Fox News' flagship morning program has largely served as Trump's daily agenda-setter, as it is typically the first thing the cable news-obsessed president flips on to start his day. Whether it is peddling the administration's talking points unvarnished or amplifying culture war outrages to grab Trump's attention, Fox & Friends is the first and most important stop in the president's day-to-day MAGA media diet. At the same time, whenever the conservative cable giant wants to send a message to the president about potentially changing course on a specific issue, the denizens of the curvy couch have stepped up in the past to warn Trump about potentially going down a specific path. That didn't appear to be the case on Monday, though, as Fox & Friends decided to heed his call to look the other way on Epstein. What makes this decision by the morning show stand out somewhat more, too, is that the weekend version of Fox & Friends outright warned Trump on Sunday that he couldn't just sweep the Epstein story under the rug while lashing out at his own base for continuing to focus on it. 'If there's anybody who could walk in and say, 'OK, we've resolved all of the questions and there is nothing here,' it would be President Trump and his crew,' Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Charlie Hurt said. 'The problem is, you can't really do it without giving some explanation. And there has to be some explanation. And I think that's why you have a lot of people still pretty with a lot a very valid questions.' Guest anchor Kevin Corke added that Trump could 'defuse this ticking time bomb if you simply get out there,' noting that 'you have to answer questions to the American people' because 'this story won't die and that is a distraction the president doesn't want.' Elsewhere on Fox News over the weekend, some criticism came the president's way as the right-wing network was forced to deal with the backlash from its MAGA audience over the Justice Department's memo that concludes there was no 'client list,' Epstein committed suicide, and he didn't appear to blackmail prominent figures who engaged in his underage sex trafficking. 'The refusal to release anything from Jeffrey Epstein has really struck a nerve — a deep nerve — among many Trump supporters, many people in the MAGA movement who say they feel betrayed,' Fox News media host Howard Kurtz acknowledged on Sunday's broadcast of MediaBuzz. One of Kurtz's guests, Washington Examiner editor Sarah Bedford, called it a 'huge PR disaster for the Trump administration' and that they could not 'have scripted a better way to keep the conspiracy theories alive than the way they handled it.' While other Fox News stars, particularly Laura Ingraham at this past weekend's Turning Point USA conference, have sounded the alarm that much of the president's base could turn on him over his handling of the Epstein fallout, the network seemed to do its level best to shrug it off starting Sunday night. Over on The Big Weekend Show, for instance, co-host Lisa Marie Boothe delivered a short report noting that 'President Trump is telling his attorney general to ignore the noise over the Epstein files and keep her eye on the ball arresting criminals and restoring integrity at the DOJ' before pivoting to the administration weighing criminal probes agsainst James Comey and John Brennan. Notably, some within the MAGA media universe are already wondering if the Brennan and Comey investigation is just an effort to 'distract us' from the Epstein case, specifically pointing out that Fox News was the one that got the 'scoop' on the probe. A little while later during his weekend evening show, Brian Kilmeade – who is also a co-host of Fox & Friends – flat-out ignored his guest Michael Shellenberger's observation that 'the elephant in the room' was the Epstein files and how Attorney General Pam Bondi and the FBI's leaders 'led everyone to expect that we would see them' and this could lead to an 'end of the honeymoon period for the Trump presidency.' By Monday morning, the message delivered appeared to be crystal clear – do not talk about the deceased sex predator under any circumstances. And that's just what Kilmeade and the rest of the Fox & Friends crew decided to do. While the cable news competition feasted on the story – MSNBC's Morning Joe, for instance, mentioned Epstein over 100 times and Bondi an additional 80 times on Monday – Fox & Friends found other things to fill out its three-hour block to distract its most crucial viewer. 'I'm sure he needed a nap right after,' Kilmeade joked during a segment about Joe Biden's recent interview with The New York Times in which the former president defended his use of an autopen, a Trump-made scandal that Fox News has heavily pushed. Elsewhere throughout Monday morning's broadcast, the Fox & Friends hosts also discussed how Gen Z men are using 'boy math' to invest in Pokémon cards instead of traditional stocks and a New York Times column about the need to stop cutting off MAGA family members. The attempt by Trump's morning buddies to put their heads in the sand and to pretend that MAGA isn't tearing itself apart over the Epstein memo – and now coming for the president himself over his lengthy relationship with the convicted sex offender– still won't make the issue go away, no matter how much Trump-pandering chum they try to throw into the water to distract viewers. 'Trump's persuasive power over his base, especially during his first term, was almost magical,' said alt-right conspiracist Mike Cernovich, one of the 15 conservative influencers whom Bondi handed the 'Phase 1' Epstein file binders in February of already-public information about the disgraced financier. That debacle blew up in Bondi's face and sparked a months-long backlash that culminated in last week's memo. 'The reaction on Epstein should thus be startling to him. No one is buying it. No one is dropping it,' Cernovich added. MAGA podcaster Benny Johnson, who spoke at this past weekend's TPUSA event that featured attendees raging about Trump becoming the 'deep state' and 'protecting pedophiles,' declared on Monday that the long-fabled 'Epstein client list' is now the 'number one motivating issue for the base.' 'You don't have a political movement if you don't have a base,' he insisted. 'And if that base feels like you're betraying them or not telling them the truth, then they're not gonna like that. With former Trump strategist Steve Bannon also warning that the president could lose 10 percent or more of his base over the Epstein memo and his administration's efforts to move past it, Bannon and other MAGA luminaries are pushing Trump to course-correct in an effort to tamp down the right-wing anger. Especially since conspiracy theories about Epstein – which Trump and much of his administration have long nurtured and fanned the flames of – have been a gravitating force of Trumpism for years now and an extension of the Pizzagate and QAnon pedophilia fever swamps. Amid the infighting within the administration over the controversy – FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino has threatened to quit following a clash with Bondi over the way the memo was handled – Trump officials and aides are reportedly considering at least three ways to try to defuse the Epstein mess. Still, even with these ideas being floated about, the administration is following the president's lead for the moment, which is no more talk about Epstein stuff. And that Bondi, Bongino and FBI Director Kash Patel are all doing a 'FANTASTIC JOB' and in 'good shape,' regardless of the obvious disarray taking place behind the scenes. 'The president said to put this behind us, so we're putting this behind us,' a top Trump adviser told Axios. 'If he changes, then the policy changes. Period.' This edict would appear to hold true for his curvy couch pals as well.
Daily Mail
01-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Now experts u-turn and say you SHOULDN'T blur your house on Google Maps - and warn doing so could actually encourage burglars to pay a visit
Whether it's a fancy new lock or an expensive security camera, people will go to extreme lengths to protect their homes. Recently, a security advisor suggested that blurring your home on Google Maps could help to deter burglars who use the tool to learn about entryways, security measures and possible possessions. However, experts have now u-turned - and warn that this popular trick might actually put you at a greater risk of a break-in. Cybersecurity consultant Joseph Steinberg says that your security will be 'worse off' if you decide to blur your home. The motivation for obscuring your home is that criminals will no longer be able to use Google Maps to plan a potential robbery. But Mr Steinberg says that hiding your home is likely to draw even more attention. He says: 'If you blur your house … that's interesting to me as a criminal, and I may drive by. 'My personal feeling is that you should not blur your house, in general.' Mr Steinberg points out that blurring your home could draw more attention to you in something called the 'Streisand Effect'. This refers to Barbra Streisand's attempt to sue a photographer who inadvertently took a photo of her California home in 2002. Ms Streisand claimed a violation of her privacy, but the case, which was thrown out the next year, ultimately drew widespread attention to the location of her home. In the same way, blurring your home on Google Maps might give criminals the idea that you have something worth hiding. A quick look along some of the UK's most expensive streets reveals that certain homeowners have already taken this step. For example, London properties in Phillimore Gardens in Kensington, Grosvenor Square in Mayfair and Knightsbridge have all been blurred out. However, Mr Steinberg says that trying to obscure your home is simply a way to 'draw attention to yourself for no reason'. He adds: 'This is a classic example of people not looking at the big picture and having a knee-jerk reaction.' Likewise, unless you are an exceptionally high-profile individual, criminals are unlikely to be actively scouting your house. Burglary, Mr Steinberg points out, is a crime that 'has to be done locally', 'They can come before and take [their own] pictures, if they want,' he says. According to the City of London Police, burglaries are largely opportunistic rather than carefully planned in advance. Criminals will typically drive or walk around to look for signs that homes contain valuables, such as packaging from expensive items left outside the door. Likewise, criminals often break into homes because they've spotted a vehicle they want to steal and believe the keys are inside the house. Open windows or doors with vulnerable features are also key signs that burglars will look for. City of London Police also points out that burglars often return to the same area multiple times, either to rob the same home or to break into a nearby house spotted during earlier crimes. That means blurring your house on Google Maps doesn't prevent criminals from spotting an opportunity to break in. There are also some concerns that blurring your home on Google Maps might not be as effective as many people believe. According to Google, anyone can request to blur their house if they prefer that it appear that way on Google Street View. 'Google Street View cars capture images from public roads, which might include your home,' their website reads. 'If an image contains inappropriate content, or you prefer your home not be shown, you can request it to be blurred.' However, on Reddit, users have complained that their homes were still visible when viewed from different angles or from above. One user complained that they were still able to see their blurred address by simply moving further down the road on Street View. On the other hand, many users also complained that Google's approach to blurring is too heavy-handed. Once the blur has been requested by the homeowner, it can never be undone at any point in the future, even after the original owner has moved out. In a post on Reddit, one user complained that their entire street was still blurred 16 years after they requested to hide their home, despite having moved out after a single year. The user wrote: 'Since I was somewhat responsible, I tried contacting Google multiple times. However, their response was always that the blurring was permanent. 'I wouldn't feel so bad since I moved away, but I still have a couple of good friends who still live on that street.' If you do still want to blur your address for any reason, you must first find it on Google Maps using your smartphone or computer. Open the Street View image that you want to blur, and in the bottom right, click 'Report a problem'. Complete this form and then submit. 'We'll review your report as fast as we can,' Google says. 'If you entered your email address in the form, we may contact you to get additional information or to update you on the status of your report.'
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The internet is using TACO memes to call Trump a chicken and the results are hilarious
Taco Tuesday is the best day of the week, but Wednesday may usurp it as the day President Donald Trump threw a fit after learning what TACO stands for. Amid the stock market's dramatic ups and downs as Trump institutes tariffs and then calls them off, CNBC's Megan Casella asked the president about Wall Street's new nickname for him during the May 28 event to swear in former Fox News host Jeannine Pirro as the new interim U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. 'Wall Street analysts have coined a new term called the 'TACO Trade.' They're saying Trump always chickens out on your tariff threats, and that's why markets are higher this week,' she said. Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong coined the term 'TACO Trade' earlier this month, and Trump predictably got angry when he head that it stand for 'Trump Always Chickens Out.' "I've never heard that,' Trump said. 'You mean because I reduced China from 145 percent that I set down to 100, and then down to another number, and I said you have to open up your whole country?" Trump said. "And because I gave the European Union a 50 percent tax—tariff—and they called up and said, 'Please let's meet right now.'" Trump has done about faces on the tariffs he's imposed on both China and the EU, and also put announced 'recirpocal' tariffs on dozens of countries in April before announcing a '90 day pause' on tariffs for all of the countries except for China, CNN reports. The president went on to brag about the U.S. being the 'hottest country anywhere in the world' under his administration before firing back at Casella by falling back on his tried and true misogynistic insult for women. "That's a nasty question. To me, that's the nastiest question,' he said. Somebody should really tell Trump about the Streisand Effect, the phenomenon where an attempt to censor information makes it go viral, because the internet immediately latched on to this new insult and within hours #TACO had gone viral and people started pumping out hilarious and insulting TACO Trump memes. There are AI-generated memes of Trump in a chicken suit, ones where his head has been turned into a taco, people joking that the Village People should now be singing 'Taco, Taco Man…I wanna be a Taco Man,' and people resurfacing old videos of Trump dancing with people in chicken suits. In short? If you need a little joy and serotonin in your life this week, Trump Taco memes are the answer. Keep scrolling to see the funniest Trump memes the internet has to offer! #TACO "Trump: I don't wanna #TACO bout it" "Trump always chickens out." "Congrats to CNBC's Megan Cassella for winning the 'Nasty' Question badge of honour. She is the only reporter with the balls to not bend a knee and ask the Toddler in Chief softball questions." "Taco, Taco Man… I wanna be a Taco Man" *laughing emojis* "Can confirm #TACO" "Did she say 'TACO' stands for Trump Always Chickens Out?" "#TACO" "Taco-Taco Man. I've got to be a Taco Man." "THERE ARE NO TRADE DEALS Because Trump Always Chickens Out" "Putin is laughing at Trump. Bibi is laughing at Trump. Iran is laughing at Trump. The world is laughing at Trump. The United States has never looked weaker. The United States have never been weaker. Good luck digging out of this hole." "TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO." "Right now outside Trump International Hotel at Columbus Circle." "Million dollar idea!" "Let's go TACO" "I should make it my profile picture." "Always. #TACO" "#TACO" "Breaking Trump announces 1 million percent tariffs on all Tacos!" "Trump's mad—if you RT this you'll get deported #TACO on tariffs" "TACO #TACOTrump Trump Always Chickens Out"
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The internet is using TACO memes to call Trump a chicken and the results are hilarious
Taco Tuesday is the best day of the week, but Wednesday may usurp it as the day President Donald Trump threw a fit after learning what TACO stands for. Amid the stock market's dramatic ups and downs as Trump institutes tariffs and then calls them off, CNBC's Megan Casella asked the president about Wall Street's new nickname for him during the May 28 event to swear in former Fox News host Jeannine Pirro as the new interim U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. 'Wall Street analysts have coined a new term called the 'TACO Trade.' They're saying Trump always chickens out on your tariff threats, and that's why markets are higher this week,' she said. — (@) Financial Times columnist Robert Armstrong coined the term 'TACO Trade' earlier this month, and Trump predictably got angry when he head that it stand for 'Trump Always Chickens Out.' "I've never heard that,' Trump said. 'You mean because I reduced China from 145 percent that I set down to 100, and then down to another number, and I said you have to open up your whole country?" Trump said. "And because I gave the European Union a 50 percent tax—tariff—and they called up and said, 'Please let's meet right now.'" Trump has done about faces on the tariffs he's imposed on both China and the EU, and also put announced 'recirpocal' tariffs on dozens of countries in April before announcing a '90 day pause' on tariffs for all of the countries except for China, CNN reports. The president went on to brag about the U.S. being the 'hottest country anywhere in the world' under his administration before firing back at Casella by falling back on his tried and true misogynistic insult for women. "That's a nasty question. To me, that's the nastiest question,' he said. Somebody should really tell Trump about the Streisand Effect, the phenomenon where an attempt to censor information makes it go viral, because the internet immediately latched on to this new insult and within hours #TACO had gone viral and people started pumping out hilarious and insulting TACO Trump memes. — (@) There are AI-generated memes of Trump in a chicken suit, ones where his head has been turned into a taco, people joking that the Village People should now be singing 'Taco, Taco Man…I wanna be a Taco Man,' and people resurfacing old videos of Trump dancing with people in chicken suits. In short? If you need a little joy and serotonin in your life this week, Trump Taco memes are the answer. Keep scrolling to see the funniest Trump memes the internet has to offer! — (@) #TACO — (@) "Trump: I don't wanna #TACO bout it" — (@) "Trump always chickens out." — (@) "Congrats to CNBC's Megan Cassella for winning the 'Nasty' Question badge of honour. She is the only reporter with the balls to not bend a knee and ask the Toddler in Chief softball questions." — (@) "Taco, Taco Man… I wanna be a Taco Man" — (@) *laughing emojis* — (@) "Can confirm #TACO" — (@) "Did she say 'TACO' stands for Trump Always Chickens Out?" — (@) — (@) "#TACO" — (@) "Taco-Taco Man. I've got to be a Taco Man." — (@) "THERE ARE NO TRADE DEALS Because Trump Always Chickens Out" — (@) "Putin is laughing at Trump. Bibi is laughing at Trump. Iran is laughing at Trump. The world is laughing at Trump. The United States has never looked weaker. The United States have never been weaker. Good luck digging out of this hole." — (@) "TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO TACO." — (@) "Right now outside Trump International Hotel at Columbus Circle." — (@) "Million dollar idea!" — (@) "Let's go TACO" — (@) "I should make it my profile picture." — (@) "Always. #TACO" — (@) "#TACO" — (@) "Breaking Trump announces 1 million percent tariffs on all Tacos!" — (@) "Trump's mad—if you RT this you'll get deported #TACO on tariffs" — (@) "TACO #TACOTrump Trump Always Chickens Out"
Indian Express
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
‘Naked' dresses and long trains? No Cannes do, except if you're a star
Try as it might, the oh-so-sérieux Cannes International Film Festival can't skirt controversy. In seeking to ensure that attention is not diverted from the great art of cinema to other, less exalted things — like what the A-list attendees choose to wear (or not wear) — the Festival has made sure this is all anyone talks about. The Riviera's own version of the Streisand Effect — the Croisette Effect. Here is what the new dress code, updated a mere day before the start of the festival, now says: 'For decency reasons, nudity is prohibited on the Red Carpet, as well as in any other area of the Festival. Voluminous outfits, in particular, those with a large train, that hinder the proper flow of traffic of guests and complicate seating in the theatre are not permitted.' Along with this, there is a reiteration of existing strictures, including the ban on sneakers ('elegant' shoes and sandals without heels may be worn). Considering that nobody has ever actually turned up on any red carpet unclothed, it is probably safe to assume that what the Cannes committee is really banning from the hallowed precincts of the Grand Théâtre Lumière is the so-called 'naked' dress which reveals — either through the sheerness of the fabric used or strategic cuts — parts of the wearer's body that are generally not made visible to the public. Which begs the question: Is a person really nude if they're wearing something, no matter how wispy or see-through that something is? After all, 'they might as well be' is not quite the same as 'they are'. At best, the updated dress code is designed to keep the focus firmly on the films at the heart of the event. If this is the case, the committee is either shockingly naive or wilfully ignorant. True, Cannes has long been one of the premiere festivals for cinema, but for just as long it has also been an unrivalled platform for publicity. Cineastes may decry the use of the Cannes red carpet by actors, models and influencers to grab attention, but this is not a recent phenomenon that can be pinned on the birth and proliferation of social media: As far back as 1954, when the Palme d'Or was still known as the Grand Prix, model and actor Simone Silva took off her top for the cameras at Cannes in order to raise her profile and get work in Hollywood (not that it helped, in those days of even greater policing of women's clothing). If anything, the festival has, in recent years, benefited as much — if not more — from the bold, outrageous fashion on its red carpet, as have the wearers themselves. Which is why it is hard to overlook the hypocrisy of dictating what women wear. The claims of 'decency' apparently extend only as far as the red carpet unrolls, because, on Cannes' topless beaches and the films at the Gala Screenings of the festival, women may dress as they please (except, as the 2016 burkini ban made clear, if they choose to do so in the interest of self-defined modesty). For the festival committee to clutch its pearls and call for smelling salts because the 'naked' dress may make an appearance, reeks of double standards, more so because it is hard to imagine that any of the A-list guests will actually be turned away for their more daring outfit choices. Not too long ago, actors Julia Roberts and Kirsten Stewart flouted an until-then unspoken ban on flats for women by walking barefoot on the Cannes red carpet. Stewart, memorably, switched from her Louboutin stilettos to Vans after posing for the paparazzi in 2016, while in 2023 Jennifer Lawrence lifted the hem of her Dior gown to reveal a pair of flip-flops. The festival responded by distancing itself from a rule it had enforced against less famous attendees. Already, the two new rules have been flouted: Model and television personality Heidi Klum came wearing an Elie Saab dress with a long, trailing skirt; Chinese actor Wan QianHui turned up in a voluminous Wang Feng gown and model Bella Hadid — whose penchant for the 'naked' dress peaked with three variations at last year's edition — posed in a Saint Laurent gown that was cut daringly high in the front and boldly low in the back. This could be because stars and their teams plan outfits for one of the most high-profile events months in advance and don't like to chop and change them at the last minute (jury member Halle Berry appears to be a rare exception, dropping her plans to wear a Gaurav Gupta gown with a large train). More likely, however, it is because they know that the Cannes International Film Festival needs them — and their incredible wattage — just as much as they need it.
