Tulsi Gabbard Campaign Sues Google
[guest post by JVW]
Hawaii Congresswoman and Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard (be still my heart!) has filed a $50 million lawsuit against Google, alleging that the tech giant has interfered in the election against her interests. Here is the explanation posted on her campaign site:
On June 28th, 2019 in the immediate hours following the first Democratic Presidential debate, millions of Americans were searching online for information about Tulsi Gabbard. In fact, according to multiple news reports, Tulsi was the most searched candidate on Google. Then, without any explanation, Google suspended Tulsi’s Google Ads account.
For hours, Tulsi’s campaign advertising account remained offline while Americans everywhere were searching for information about her. During this time, Google obfuscated and dissembled with a series of inconsistent and incoherent reasons for its actions. In the end, Google never explained to us why Tulsi’s account was suspended.
The Gabbard campaign understandably believes that the lack of Google Ads starting at roughly 9:30 pm on June 27 and lasting until roughly 3:30 am on June 28 led to fewer visits to her campaign site and thus to fewer donations than she otherwise would have received. They also allege that their campaign emails were being redirected into the spam folders of Gmail users at a much higher rate than other Democrat candidates’ campaign emails. In addition to the $50 million, the campaign is seeking an injunction against Google to prevent them from favoring or disfavoring any other campaign sites during the primary.
This of course comes on the heels of Google’s appearance at Senate hearings regarding claims of censorship over the past month, as well as similar scrutiny being applied to Facebook and Twitter, among others. This site has had posts time and again about sketchy practices in which opinions that exist outside of the officially acceptable shibboleths of the progressive gentry-techie crowd are purposely suppressed. Thus far the criticism of Google has largely (but not exclusively) come from the right, but perhaps given the fractured nature of the Democrat Party there are more and more elements of the left that are left wondering if their views a now deemed problematic as well.
This could be an innocent mistake, though the amazing timing of it is certainly notable, or it could be the actions of a rogue engineer like we saw at Twitter, or it really could be a coordinated campaign to favor certain Google-approved candidates (Biden? Harris? Buttigieg?) over others. I don’t expect Rep. Gabbard’s lawsuit to go very far, but at least the it might help put the tech giants on notice that their behavior this election cycle will not escape scrutiny.
– JVW
I wonder what the Gabbard campaign would do with the $50 million.
JVW (54fd0b) — 7/25/2019 @ 4:31 pmVery interesting and news to me. Good post.
DRJ (15874d) — 7/25/2019 @ 4:33 pmGood luck to her! It will be interesting to see how this proceeds.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/25/2019 @ 4:38 pmIf only Google were run by Russians, we would call this election meddling.
Munroe (0b2761) — 7/25/2019 @ 4:41 pmSergey Mikhaylovich Brin (Russian: Серге́й Миха́йлович Брин; born August 21, 1973) is an American computer scientist and Internet entrepreneur. Together with Larry Page, he co-founded Google. Brin is the president of Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc. As of June 2019, Brin is the 13th-richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$50.1 billion.[3]
Brin immigrated to the United States with his family from the Soviet Union at the age of 6.
nk (dbc370) — 7/25/2019 @ 4:45 pmSend him back, eh?
Munroe (0b2761) — 7/25/2019 @ 4:46 pmBrin immigrated to the United States with his family from the Soviet Union at the age of 6.
I saw The Omen. I know enough to be fearful of 6-year-olds.
JVW (54fd0b) — 7/25/2019 @ 4:47 pmI read about this earlier, and thought, oh, no, I’m not posting about because JVW will!
Gabbard is currently polling at about 1.0%, and certainly isn’t a threat to any top-tier candidate. Thus I can’t imagine why she would be singled out, frankly, by anyone. To whom does she pose a threat? I know that she went after Kamala Harris big time this week, so perhaps she’s looking for a breakout moment to gain some traction (and name recognition)? No matter how cute she is, she just doesn’t seem like a political target at this point in time.
Dana (bb0678) — 7/25/2019 @ 4:58 pm“If only Google were run by Russians, we would call this election meddling.“
Post of the thread.
They didn’t give a rat’s … when Google/Twitter etc. we’re doing it to conservatives.
They are slow learners but maybe the REAL ramifications are starting to sink in.
harkin (0f62bd) — 7/25/2019 @ 5:03 pmOf course Google is part of the International Communist Conspiracy For World Domination and of course they would want to sabotage each and every threat to their puppet Donald Trump no matter how small or how remote that threat may seem to us.
nk (dbc370) — 7/25/2019 @ 5:06 pmAnybody who has been paying attention on this site just this past week alone has seen how they have already purged the Republican Party of counter-Trump elements.
nk (dbc370) — 7/25/2019 @ 5:10 pmI read about this earlier, and thought, oh, no, I’m not posting about because JVW will!
Thanks! I want to do what I can to help out my Aloha sweetie. (I just looked to see if there is an old Hawaiian song titled “My Aloha Sweetie” and I guess there is not, so I might have to try my hand at writing one.)
JVW (54fd0b) — 7/25/2019 @ 5:34 pmIndeed jvw, she subscribes to most of dem policies, shes less shrill than rutnik less imperious than emhoff, (gillebrand original name and Harris’s married name)
Narciso (aa2efd) — 7/25/2019 @ 5:41 pmThis may be an innocent mistake
Yeah, and you may get killed if you jump out a plane at 10,000 ft without a parachute.
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/25/2019 @ 5:44 pmI climbed up Kilauea
And got there just in time
To see my Tulsi wootsie
In the good old summertime
She’s my Aloha sweetie
nk (dbc370) — 7/25/2019 @ 5:45 pmWhere girls grow so pretty
My Aloha sweetie
From sunny Five-O
Has David French or Kevin Willamson written the “Conservative Case for censoring Gabbard” yet?
rcocean (1a839e) — 7/25/2019 @ 5:45 pmOK, got the first verse and chorus. Think of a fast-paced song in cut-time, backed by slack guitar, an upright bass, and a couple of ukuleles:
My Aloha Sweetie
by JVW
Over on the islands of Hah-why-ee
Lives my little sweetie named Too-loose-ee
Surfing in the pipeline for her vay-cay-shun
Before she heads back to Wash-ing-ton
If we all get lucky she’ll be Pres-i-dent
In her hula mu-mu she is Heaven-sent
Taking out Kamala, Joe, and Boot-edge-edge
My eternal love to only her I will pledge.
Hiding in a surfing shack in Waikiki
JVW (54fd0b) — 7/25/2019 @ 5:47 pmWith my Little Aloha Sweetie from Hah-why-ee.
I like yours too, nk. Maybe we can be the next Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer.
JVW (54fd0b) — 7/25/2019 @ 5:48 pmJust Marianne Williamson having some fun with her voodoo dolls…
Tulsi could well be a target for the handful of even bigger losers polling below her and trying keep their place on the stage.
Dave (240cf8) — 7/25/2019 @ 5:54 pmMine’s just a jingle, JVW. Yours is a Shakespearean sonnet, and the reason for the difference is obvious.
nk (dbc370) — 7/25/2019 @ 5:57 pmHonolulu Lulu
Queen of the surfer girls
She’s got stars in her eyes and knots on her knees now
Called that Poodleman Shultz a stinky, rank sleaze cow
Shootin’ at the Hadjis or lyin’ in the sand
She’s the hippest candidate in the land
And she’s my Honolulu Lulu
She’s my Honolulu Lulu
Queen of the surfer girls
Well, she handles all the big ones every year at Makaha
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/25/2019 @ 6:01 pmAnd all the surfers know her from Rincon to Baja
When the beach is quiet and you know we’re outta luck
We pray for surf while heading home for a f*ck
Just me and Honolulu Lulu
Me and Honolulu Lulu
Queen of the surfer girls
Ah, Colonel Haiku, I was hoping you would try your hand at it, and as usual you knocked it out of the park. Thanks.
JVW (54fd0b) — 7/25/2019 @ 6:06 pmGood Stuff, JVW, nk and Col.
mg (8cbc69) — 7/25/2019 @ 6:09 pmYou and nk class up the joint, JVW, I go all Kinky Friedman.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/25/2019 @ 6:10 pmI still say you need a Tulsi hula dashboard girl, JVW.
Dana (bb0678) — 7/25/2019 @ 6:10 pmThey ought to go home, they’re drunk for trying to stay in the race, Corey Booker has really with out his welcome,
Narciso (aa2efd) — 7/25/2019 @ 6:13 pmI hope she wins.
mg (8cbc69) — 7/25/2019 @ 6:20 pmThe lawsuit.
Do you remember when we couldn’t even get television from midnight to sunrise, we only got the test pattern, and most radio stations went off the air during that time too?
nk (dbc370) — 7/25/2019 @ 6:30 pmYes on a Setchell Carlson
mg (8cbc69) — 7/25/2019 @ 6:41 pmvertical and horizontal hold knobs
contrast knob
sound knob
25 foot antena
felipe (023cc9) — 7/25/2019 @ 7:21 pmOld timey baby by Dan HicksIts probably an algorithm gone wrong, or manipulated by someone, possibly by making the riht kind of complaints to the right people. If so, she would be far from the only victim.
Dana (bb0678) — 7/25/2019 @ 4:58 pm
She might be a threat to somebody else hoping to break out of the pack, or supporters of such a candidate. The more people who can do this, the more it is possible that somebody did this for political reasons.
Sammy Finkelman (27cd2c) — 7/25/2019 @ 7:26 pm30… excellent, felipe!
I miss Dan Hicks and his Hot licks… I pull up “Where’s the Money” for a grin every now and again
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/25/2019 @ 7:30 pmWell done, felipe. I have fond memories of seeing Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks at UCLA’s Royce Hall playing a bill with Clarence Gatemouth Brown and David Johansen & the Harry Smiths. It was the year of the Gray Davis recall.
JVW (54fd0b) — 7/25/2019 @ 7:43 pmI believe Project Veritas just had a Google engineer on that could offer some insight into the subject.
NJRob (4d595c) — 7/25/2019 @ 9:44 pmHere’s a treat… https://youtu.be/hBGeQ0zSifc
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 7/25/2019 @ 10:32 pmThanks for the video, Colonel. I count myself fortunate to have seen Dan Hicks at Dosey Doe in Houston, TX around 2012? His performance of “Hook or by crook” was as vibrant as ever. I never knew he was suffering from cancer.
felipe (023cc9) — 7/25/2019 @ 11:28 pmThanks, JVW. I wanted to join in on the fun. I had always wanted to see Dan Hicks, but the opportunity was never there until late into his career.
felipe (023cc9) — 7/25/2019 @ 11:31 pmLove Dan Hickx and his Hot Licks.
mg (8cbc69) — 7/25/2019 @ 11:58 pmBar Stool Boogie
“Do you remember when we couldn’t even get television from midnight to sunrise, we only got the test pattern, and most radio stations went off the air during that time too?“
Ahh memories.
Sunday morning in fall, late 60s. Waiting for the Notre Dame game replay from the day before on the Mizlou Network via KTLA…..or was it KHJ, KTTV or KCOP, I forget.
Went to Sat evening mass at St Bruno’s for my Sunday OUT card and nine straight hours of football.
And the the starting gun:
“Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds –
and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of –
wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence.
Hovering there I’ve chased the shouting wind along
and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air.
“Up, up the long delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
where never lark, or even eagle, flew;
and, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
the high untrespassed sanctity of space,
put out my hand and touched the face of God.”
https://youtu.be/IoL-KCFbIpA
harkin (58d012) — 7/26/2019 @ 6:40 am_