Yes, yes, we all know about the 187 minutes.
That's a story that's going to have to play out for a long long time.
However, another (more local) story played out in Pittsburgh yesterday.
This from Jay Roush of the P-G:
State lawmakers who represent the area surrounding Tree of Life synagogue — the site of the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history — criticized Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano on Thursday for paying Gab, the social media platform frequented by the accused synagogue shooter before the 2018 massacre, for “consulting services” for his campaign.
Mr. Mastriano, a state senator facing Democrat Josh Shapiro in the November election, paid $5,000 to Gab in April, a sum that Gab’s founder, CEO Andrew Torba, said was for an advertising campaign, Pittsburgh NPR Radio station WESA reported last week.
Mr. Torba and Gab legal officials have framed the site as a platform for free speech and an antidote to more liberal social media outlets. The Anti-Defamation League has called it a “haven for extremists, conspiracy theorists and misinformation.”
Ryan Deto of the Trib was there too:
A group of prominent Jewish and Black Pittsburgh leaders on Thursday condemned Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano for his ties to the right-wing social media platform Gab.
Gab is a site accessed by the accused Tree of Life shooter Robert Bowers, who used the platform to share conspiracy theories targeting Jewish people and wrote “Screw the optics, I’m going in” shortly before the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood in 2018.
WESA revealed recently that the Mastriano campaign paid $5,000 to Gab for consultation services. The Huffington Post then reported that new accounts on Gab automatically follow Mastriano’s account.
I wrote about PA State Senator (and now GOP cand. for Gov) Doug Mastriano's connections with GAB a few days ago.
Let me say here that perhaps the Tree of Life angle might not be the the important part of the story here.
For that, I'd ask, "What is Doug getting for his five grand?"
And as I wrote on the 18th, it's comments like this:
Does Doug denounce the antisemitism found in his base?
No.
That's the story.
But let's look at what's upfront at Gab right now (as of this writing):
The interesting thing here is that this "Zuckerbucks" story is about a year old:
Republicans and others are calling Mark Zuckerberg “Zuckerbucks.” The Anti-Defamation League wants that to stop, claiming the term suggests that “rich Jews are controlling levers of power.”
And:
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the term Zuckerbucks perpetuates an age-old antisemitic stereotype claiming that rich Jews use their money to exercise inordinate control over governments. Zuckerberg is the fifth-richest person in the world, according to Forbes, with a net worth of approximately $97 billion.
And that's what Torba and Mastriano were perpetuating - an age-old antisemitic stereotype.
The possessor of the Sword of David must be so proud of himself right now.
After speaking at the "Patriots Arise" event last weekend, Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano was awarded a "Sword of David" by QAnon conspiracy theorist hosts Alan and Francine Fosdick: "You are fighting for our religious rights in Christ Jesus." pic.twitter.com/FWc5F1A5Sh
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) April 26, 2022
Anyway, among the many other comments for Torba's "Zuckerbucks" post, there were these:
And Doug Mastriano gave Gab $5,000 in consulting fees for access to that crowd.
When will Doug Mastriano denounce the antisemitism on Gab?
He should take the advice from some fellow Republicans.
Doug Mastriano is facing blistering criticism from Jewish leaders — both Democrats and Republicans — following the disclosure that he’s using Gab, a social-media site favored by extremists and antisemites, to advertise his Republican campaign for governor.
The head of the national Republican Jewish Coalition on Thursday called on Mastriano to leave Gab, where he has 38,000 followers and has been posting frequently. Hours later state and local Democrats spoke out in Pittsburgh against Mastriano’s controversial strategy. A Pennsylvania-based coalition of Jewish Democrats also criticized his affiliation with the site.
“Jewish voters expect candidates to condemn antisemitism, whether it comes from the far left or the far right — and to shun those who espouse it,” said Matt Brooks, the Republican Jewish Coalition’s executive director. “We strongly urge Doug Mastriano to end his association with Gab, a social network rightly seen by Jewish Americans as a cesspool of bigotry and antisemitism.”
Denounce the hate, Doug. It's the right thing to do.
