In the last few days, a massive scandal has exploded over the internet involving a Twitter account called “Libs of Tik Tok” after WaPo reporter Taylor Larenz exposed the person who runs the account, Right-Wing Religious Anti-Gay Bigot Chaya Raichik.
Clearly, this calls for the authoritative voice of Donald Trump Jr. to speak “Truth to Something” about this horrid affront to someone.
In a rant uploaded to the internet Wednesday, Donald Trump Jr. threw a fit over the Washington Post article revealing the identity of Chaya Raichik, the woman behind the right-wing "Libs of TikTok" account, which has been featured in Fox News and used to get LGBTQ teachers fired from their jobs.
The twice-impeached former president's son took particular aim at Taylor Lorenz, the reporter who helped investigate the story.
Lorenz, notably, did not ever reveal identify Raichik's address or contact information in the story, taking care not to post information that would actually put her in danger — but Trump Jr. still referred to it as "doxxing" and went on an incensed tirade that anyone would investigate the source of a right-wing harassment account.
"[Lorenz is] not showing up to Antifa homes and saying, hey, you looted, murdered, rioted, stole, arson, whatever, like, none of that," said Trump Jr. "She's not showing up to the teachers and saying, hey, it seems pretty clear you're trying to indoctrinate children. She won't question them. She shows up to a parody account! I mean, this should be grounds for a restraining order. After sobbing on TV two weeks ago, claiming she's been a victim of 'harassment,' she shows up at the house of relatives of just ordinary citizens and badgered them, according to the account. So, bullies are now claiming to be bullied!"
"It never ends, folks," said Trump Jr. "We've got to call out this hypocrisy. We've got to say, enough is enough. Okay? This is a billion-dollar industry. These are the people that work for them. You know, Taylor Lorenz doxxed Pam Geller's daughters, okay? They weren't involved in any political activism. And then she can cry about it, then all of mainstream media will get on her — you know, behind her and back her and they stand with her. This is not journalism. It's doxxing and smearing of a private citizen by a billionaire-controlled political entity, as far as I'm concerned, right? Antifa activists do this stuff."
First of all, there is no evidence — none — that anyone associated with Antifa engaged in “rioting”, “looting” or “murder” during the 2020 Floyd riots. Zero. Nobody associated with Antifa was arrested for any of these offenses or even identified as a suspect. On the other hand, various members of the Right-Wing Boogaloo Bois were arrested for violence, rioting, vandalism and even murder during the Floyd Riots and the Boogaloos were also involved in the attack on the Capitol on January 6th. There is nothing to be reported about “Antifa” here because that scenario isn't even real — it's a phantasm. It’s a delusion. There's also practically no evidence that the average teacher is “indoctrinating" children into anything. Lastly, Lorenz published Raichik's name, not her home address, not her workplace, not her phone number or her email account. Just her name, that's doing her job.
Junior berates Taylor for complaining about being harassed on the internet by Right-Wing trolls, but the fact is just how many people have recently gone to jail for online Death Threats who happen to be from the Right-wing?
Well, certainly not zero that's for sure.
One indicator of how “Libs of TikTok” has been handling the scrutiny has been the fact that they have been deleting thousands of their posts in an attempt to avoid being permanently suspended by Twitter.
The Twitter account of Libs of TikTok has been "desperately" deleting homophobic and other tweets in an effort to not get suspended from the social media platform, according to a noted anti-fascism researcher.
LibsOfTikTok, which has been called “an openly bigoted and homophobic social media account that reposts so-called 'liberal’ content ... to produce maximum engagement via rage clicks,” was unmasked by The Washington Post Tuesday as belonging to a former real estate agent.
"Chaya Raichik, the woman behind LibsOfTikTok, has been quietly deleting dozens of tweets in which she labels LBGTQ people as mentally ill," tweeted Chad Loder. The Intercept last year described Loder as an antifascist researcher while praising their "expert use of publicly available images to identify and track right-wing extremists."
"These tweets are clear violations of Twitter's ToS, and this type of content is what got LibsOfTikTok temporarily suspended," Loder, a developer and former tech CEO adds.
[...]
One of the deleted tweets reads: "This is a teacher promoting a book containing pornographic content. Groomer." The book is the award-winning memoir, "Gender Queer," by Maia Kobabe.
Not all the tweets listed as deleted are homophobic, transphobic, or generally anti-LGBTQ. One, ironically, berates another Twitter user for apparently posting the same TikTok video she had taken from TikTok, saying: "Please don’t steal my stuff."
Emma Vigeland from the Minority Report goes to town here on Tucker Carlson as he tries to promote Chaya’s “bona fides” on his program while smearing Larenz.
Discussing the Taylor Lorenz “Libs Of TikTok" story, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson says the Washington Post reporter should be registered as a foreign agent. Carlson claims German researchers, with help from the Biden Administration, conspired to out Brooklyn real estate agent Chaya Raichik, who's "Libs" social media account is used by conservative media outlets to conduct slander campaigns against LGBTQ+ teachers.
And yet the free speech warriors like Glenn Greenwald and Tucker Carlson once had a total connection over there or having a connection, yeah. I mean, by the way, I thought that they were all up in arms about people losing their jobs over not getting vaccinated, but they seem to be fine with gay teachers losing their jobs for their sexual orientation and the fact that this account-- their holder the holder of this account her was named in the article which was easily accessible, and I believe she hung up on Taylor Lorenz when Taylor was trying to get her to comment on this so she had the opportunity to respond but chose not to. And apparently, this is the free speech crisis of the modern era according to tucker and Greenwald, and others.
As TYT points out here Taylor was within her rights as a journalist to report on the public information that was Chaya’s phone number which was included in the domain record for her website.
Washington Post journalist Taylor Lorenz has been catching a lot of flack online for exposing the person behind the popular right-wing Twitter account “Libs of TikTok”. The account focuses on framing LGBTQ+ TikTok users are child predators and groomers and the page’s owner, Chaya Raichik, even made an anonymous appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show after it was suspended on Twitter just weeks ago.
"The internet is mad at Taylor Lorenz again, and this time it’s for reporting on the creator behind the popular Twitter account “Libs of TikTok.”In a Tuesday piece for the Washington Post, Lorenz wrote that Libs of TikTok “reposts a steady stream of TikTok videos and social media posts, primarily from LGBTQ+ people, often including incendiary framing designed to generate outrage.”The identity of the user behind the account, which Lorenz said is “secretly fueling the right’s outrage machine,” has been unknown. Last Thursday, they appeared anonymously on Tucker Carlson’s show after the account was temporarily suspended by Twitter.
The account has amassed a following of more than 664,000 thanks to its viral videos, and counts Joe Rogan, Glenn Greenwald and Meghan McCain as fans.Lorenz also reported that Fox News has sourced multiple segments from content found on Libs of TikTok. In one case, Libs of TikTok accused a woman teaching sex education to children in Kentucky of being a “predator.” That clip made it onto Laura Ingraham’s prime time Fox News show the next night.“When did our public schools, any schools, become what are essentially grooming centers for gender identity radicals?” Ingraham asked."
Let’s be honest, this isn't about exposing predators and pedophiles - or else “Libs of TIk Tok” would do a piece on the Conservative lawmaker who was just discovered texting messages with an alleged pedophile.
Holmberg, the longest-serving Republican in the North Dakota State Senate, is stepping down as chairman of the Legislative Management Committee and hiring an attorney after a report that connected him to a suspected sex offender.
"Recent events and discussions have made it clear to me that the interim governing body of the legislature, Legislative Management, does not need to be any part of that discussion," said Holmberg in an email on Wednesday. "Consequently, I will be stepping down as chairman of Legislative Management, effective immediately. This will allow Vice-chairman Chet Pollert to complete my term."
Holmberg, who used to work as a school counselor, had already declined to seek re-election to his seat, which will be up this fall.
"The announcement comes in the wake of an April 15 story by reporter April Baumgarten indicating that Holmberg had exchanged 72 text messages with a man jailed on charges related to child pornography. Holmberg has said he no longer has the text messages exchanged with 34-year-old Nicholas James Morgan-Derosier and has subsequently changed his phone numbers," reported Rob Port. "Holmberg has not resigned as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, a position which also places him on the influential Emergency Commission alongside Gov. Doug Burgum and other legislative leaders."
It wasn’t brave Conservatives who outed the Catholic Priest scandal of victimizing young boys — it was the “Liberal Media” — in this case, it was the Boston Globe who first reported that story. The Wisconsin DOJ has just revealed that after a one-year investigation they have discovered over 100 cases of clergy abuse.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ), after one year of investigation, has received 204 reports of abuse by members of the clergy accusing more than 150 individuals of abuse, according to a news release. Allegations were made publicly for the first time in 51 of the reports.
Last year, Attorney General Josh Kaul, along with the district attorneys of the five counties in which Catholic dioceses are based — Brown, Dane, La Crosse, Milwaukee and Douglas — launched a review of historical and recent abuse by members of the clergy in all faiths. In the cases recent enough that the statute of limitations hasn’t expired, the allegations have been passed to local law enforcement.
The reports to DOJ have come from survivors younger than 18 and older than 75 and include clergy and faith leaders from multiple religious organizations. In an update of the review in October, the department said 80% of the reports were allegations of abuse and the remaining 20% were complaints about how a religious institution handled an allegation.
Do we see Libs of TIkTok doggedly chasing that story? No, we don’t. Because telling the stories of actual abuse is not their goal.
It’s not like an account like this is what exposed Judge Roy Moore’s targeting of underage girls, or Gym Jordan’s ignoring a sexual abuse scandal at the University of Ohio, or the scandal of Matt Gaetz and the 17-year-old girl. It's not like there's taking a swing a someone like Larry Craig or Denny Hastert. Libs of TikTok is not going to report on all the female teachers — from Florida — who have underage “boyfriends” from their student body.
They’re only attacking LGBTQ teachers, who they automatically assume are *all predators* regardless of whether they actually are or not. It’s like assuming anyone gay is the equivalent of Harvey Weinstein mixed with Kevin Spacey.
I will say this, there have been some questionable posts that Libs of TikTok have put up — such as this one where an apparent Trans teacher argues that the term "Pedophile” is too harsh and that instead they should be called “Minor Attracted Person.” I think that's a load of crap.
No, I am not defending this person.
I think these comments are an real issue and should be exposed and discussed, but it’s not like this account is doing this in an even-handed manner — predators are predators, it doesn't matter if they're gay or straight — but their target here is LGBTQ people and the assumption is that they are all "mentally ill" and potential pedophile groomers.
That is some bigoted bullshit.