Is Trump the Rosenbergs? – Jewish Journal

Many Americans would just love to throw the book at Donald Trump, perhaps the most polarizing person in American history. Any book would do. Preferably, a heavy one but what most have in mind is a law book that comes with prison time and a lifetime ban from public life.

His presidency started with a Justice Department inquiry into his possible involvement with Russian meddling in the 2016 election that catapulted him into the White House. Another investigation has commenced regarding the January 6th Insurrection and an alleged plot to overturn the 2020 election, keeping him in the Oval Office.

After two Senate Impeachment Trials, a criminal prosecution against the Trump Organization still ongoing in Manhattan, a civil case brought by the New York Attorney General into Trumps business practices, and a criminal probe in Georgia that involves alleged election tampering, one wonders how Trump has managed to accomplish anything while being so relentlessly preoccupied with legal matters.

So far, not a single one of those legal actions have yielded a criminal conviction or civil penalty against the former president.

Yet, Trump might end up being better known as an American defendant than president. His post-presidency continues to be mired in legal entanglements. Theres never a dull moment on the Trump docket sheet.

We now have an FBI search of his very own Shangri-La, called Mar-a-Lago, to retrieve classified, top secret, special-access-only documents that should have been left with the National Archives and Records Administration and might pose a national security risk while in his possession. No former president has ever had his personal residence raided, or searched, and possibly subject to criminal charges of any kind.

Naturally, the presidents many supporters at least half the country are wondering about the double standard. Hillary Clintons private server, used to send and receive thousands of classified emails while she ran the State Department, apparently presented no threat to the nation and warranted no prosecution. The Hunter Biden laptop, and what it might reveal about influence peddling with foreign entities and associated benefits to his father, has sparked little interest by the Justice Department.

Entering the presidents home without his permission. Rifling through his personal effects. Removing documents that may be personal or subject to Executive or Attorney-Client Privileges. Trump and his lawyers maintain that they were in continuous contact with the National Archives and had already returned 15 boxes, containing 100 classified documents, back in January.

A heavily redacted affidavit in support of the search, which was publicly disclosed last week, answered no real questions about this unprecedented action.

The Attorney General has intimated that the mishandling of these sensitive materials didnt just overstep the Presidential Records Act, which is not a crime, but possibly violated the Espionage Act of 1917. This would be the most severe crime of all a singular act of disloyalty possibly causing irreversible damage to Americas national security.

Criminal charges of this nature would reduce all other legal challenges to mere misdemeanors. After all, if the Espionage Act had been passed by the Continental Congress, Benedict Arnold would have been convicted and received the death penalty, had he not absconded to England during the Revolutionary War.

In more recent times, the leaking of state secrets is the reason why Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden and Julian Assange were charged with violating the Espionage Act.

The Act was created shortly after the start of World War I to prosecute those who interfered with military operations and recruitment. The law has since been applied to punish insubordination, disloyalty and, most crucially, providing material support to Americas enemies.

Along the way, the Espionage Act clashed with the First Amendment. The freedom to express an opinion might be judged to interfere with the national defense. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes clear and present danger test arises from just such a case, one in which the Espionage Act prevailed over the First Amendment.

Avowed socialists such as Eugene V. Debs and the Soviet-sympathizing magazine, The Masses, ran afoul of the Espionage Act. The Red Scare put a good many allegedly subversive Americans either in jail, or had them deported, under the law.

Discussions about subversives have been an especially delicate subject for American Jews. From the earliest days of the Espionage Act, Jews found themselves implicated. In addition to Emma Goldman, who was deported to the Soviet Union, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for passing atomic secrets to the Soviets (it appears that Ethel was completely innocent of the crime); Morton Sobell and David Greenglass (Ethels brother) were imprisoned on similar charges; two lobbyists from AIPAC and Jonathan Pollard, in separate incidents, were indicted and imprisoned for disclosing national defense information to Israel; and, most recently, an FBI translator, Shamai Leibowitz, faced legal jeopardy under the Espionage Act.

Some possessed special military information and wished to provide Israel with a qualificative edge in its own national defense. That, of course, raises the specter of dual loyalty. The earlier cases evoke the Jewish flirtation with socialism. For those who wonder what possible appeal the Squad and Bernie Sanders could have to American Jews, its worth recalling the long history of radical politics among Jews on the hard left.

Sometimes the cause was worthy of democratic ideals. For instance, many Jews tested the limits of the First Amendment six of the 10 blacklisted McCarthy-era scriptwriters known as the Hollywood 10, and scores of TV and film actors, writers and directors suffered the consequences of their beliefs and were professionally ruined, with some landing in jail.

In an early and pivotal Espionage Act case that went before the Supreme Court, Abrams v. United States, all six defendants were Jews who distributed leaflets in Yiddish supporting the Russian Revolution and opposing Americas entry into WWI.

Theres a big difference between lawful political association and assembly activities protected under the Constitutionand clandestinely serving as an agent of a foreign government.

Throughout his sordid life, Trump has shown himself to be impulsive, reckless, irresponsible and implacably defiant of rules and protocols. Thats not the same as being a spy or spilling secrets.

No charges have yet been filed against Trump. Is he simply in possession of top-secret documents without evidence that he either attempted to destroy or disseminate them? All throughout his sordid life, Trump has shown himself to be impulsive, reckless, irresponsible and implacably defiant of rules and protocols. Thats not the same as being a spy or spilling secrets, which is usually how the Espionage Act has been deployed.

American Jews surely should know the difference.

Thane Rosenbaum is a novelist, essayist, law professor and Distinguished University Professor at Touro University, where he directs the Forum on Life, Culture & Society. He is the legal analyst for CBS News Radio. His most recent book is titled Saving Free Speech From Itself.

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Is Trump the Rosenbergs? - Jewish Journal

Mar-a-Lago and why intelligence agents matter to America – Washington Examiner

Why worry about former President Donald Trump's potential mishandling and possible exposing of "Human Intelligence Control System" information at Mar-a-Lago?

Well, because HCS information is considered extremely sensitive and highly restricted within the U.S. government. That's namely because it involves reporting from our agents in the field people from countries such as Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea whom the CIA has recruited to spy in service of the United States. These are the crown jewels of the CIA, our equivalent of the military's nuclear codes. We don't know that any HCS material was exposed, but we should absolutely want to find out.

I was a CIA case officer for many decades. There was nothing more sacrosanct to me than protecting my agent. Its the fundamental promise we make to another human being, who often is working for us at extraordinary personal risk to themselves and often to their families. Put simply, we absolutely need to figure out if Trump's document handling endangered any of our agents. No ifs, no buts. This is personal to me, as it is to any of us who "ran" agents overseas. Agents are the true heroes of the intelligence business, the absolute tip of the spear in defending America from our adversaries.

In my book Clarity in Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the CIA, I tell the remarkable true story of an agent of ours from the Middle East, who, during a training session on tradecraft before he went into the belly of the beast in a Middle Eastern nation, stopped me and looked me straight in the eye. He, in essence, said, Marc, my life is in your hands. These words stayed with me for the rest of my career. Thats the true bond we have with our agents. The responsibility is immense, and the price of failure can be awful. Tradecraft errors by a CIA case officer, moles within the U.S. government, and even the mishandling of classified information can all lead to the imprisonment or death of our agents. So I take this issue of the potential compromise of HCS information exceptionally seriously.

For very good reason, so does the U.S. intelligence community. We can expect Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, a well-respected national security official who enjoys broad support on Capitol Hill, to undertake a thorough and apolitical assessment of the risk to any human sources who may have been compromised in the documents found at Mar-a-Lago. Its also noteworthy that both Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), the chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, have asked for a review of the specific documents. This is a bipartisan concern.

That said, there is far too much speculation in the media on the damage that may have been done. Some are calling this a cataclysmic breach. This "end of days" talk reached a crescendo this past weekend, with some on Twitter correlating the breach with the CIA's reported loss of Iranian and Chinese assets in recent years.

It is incredibly irresponsible at this point to make this link with no evidence to support such a charge. Is the Mar-a-Lago concern on par with the worst intelligence disasters in U.S. history? Is it on a par with hostile spies and leakers such as Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, the Rosenbergs, Harold Nicholson, Aldrich Ames, and Robert Hansen? These are people who caused irreparable harm to America, to include the loss of life of our agents. At this point, it is impossible to say. But the intelligence community's damage assessment must, in sober and systematic fashion, determine the degree of compromise (if any) to our agents and collection methods.

Still, those on the Right who say it's "only documents" show a juvenile understanding of the national security world. "Only documents?" Well, the Soviet Union ran spies in our midst and obtained "only" documents that allowed them to build an atomic bomb. The "only documents" crowd should probably take a knee now; theirs is a ridiculous retort. In the intelligence business, obtaining documents from an adversary is actually the apex of a collection operation. Documents can be studied and restudied, providing value that is both immediate and durable. Those who attempt to downplay the potential breach without even knowing what the documents contain are doing America a disservice.

Am I personally concerned over the possible risk to our intelligence operations? Absolutely. But the key point stands: We need to know what was in the documents. Then we can proceed from that established, fact-based understanding.

One final point: Veterans of the intelligence world should leave the issue of Trumps possible criminality to the Department of Justice. What matters most in the intelligence lane is the need to uphold that promise that every CIA case officer makes to their agent to keep them safe as far as it is possible to do so. The same promise I made to that agent decades ago in the Middle East applies today. Our current agents and prospective ones as well, those who must constantly decide on whether they should accept literally existence-defining risks to spy for us, are all watching.

Marc Polymeropoulos is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. A former CIA senior operations officer, he retired in 2019 after a 26-year career serving in the Near East and South Asia. His bookClarity in Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the CIAwas published in June 2021 by HarperCollins.

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Mar-a-Lago and why intelligence agents matter to America - Washington Examiner

Grimes and Chelsea Manning break up – Page Six

That was fast!

Singer Grimes and whistle-blower Chelsea Manning, who just started dating in March, have broken up, a source tells Page Six.

Another source tells us the pair had been breaking up for a while.

Page Six first exclusively revealed the duo were an item in March. The pair linked up after Grimes, 34, had split from the father of her two children, Elon Musk, for the second time.

A source told us at the time that Grimes and Manning were getting serious. They U-Hauled it. Theyve been living together in Austin.

We were told that Manning, 34, had also kept her apartment in Brooklyn.

The same month it had been revealed in a Vanity Fair story that Grimes, real name Claire Boucher, hadwelcomed a second childvia surrogate with Musk. She told the reporter she would probably refer to him as my boyfriend, but were very fluid. We live in separate houses. Were best friends.

By the time the piece had printed though, theyd split.

Me and E have broken up *again* since the writing of this article haha, but hes my best friend and the love of my life, and my life and art are forever dedicated to The Mission now, Grimestweeted.

We hear the Oblivion, singer is currently back on the dating scene.

Former intelligence analyst Manning spent seven years in military prison after leaking classified documents to Wikileaks. She was sentenced to 35 years, but her sentence was commuted by Barack Obama.

Manning was released from prison in 2020. She has a memoir coming out in October called, README.txt.

Reps for both Grimes and Manning did not respond to request for comment.

In June, when asked about her romantic life, Manning told the Daily Beast, I prefer to keep my private life private.

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Grimes and Chelsea Manning break up - Page Six

Ex-prosecutor in Boston indicted on NYC rape charges – New York Daily News

A former prosecutor and prominent voice in the criminal justice reform movement was indicted Tuesday for allegedly raping a woman as she slept inside a Chelsea hotel room in 2017.

Adam Foss, 42, a former assistant district attorney for the Suffolk County prosecutors office in Boston, Mass., pleaded not guilty to rape and sexual abuse charges at his state Supreme Court arraignment in Manhattan. A judge released him under the condition he surrender his passport.

Foss is the founder of Prosecutor Impact, a nonprofit whose stated mission is to improve community safety through educating and training criminal prosecutors. Its website was down Tuesday.

Adam Foss is pictured speaking at the Berkshire Probate & Family Court in Pittsfield, Mass., in 2019. (Stephanie Zollshan/AP)

Manhattan prosecutors charge that Foss met a woman hed been speaking with on the phone and in texts for a month at the INNSiDE New York NoMad hotel on Oct. 21, 2017. He raped her as she slept and after she had repeatedly rejected his sexual advances, according to charging documents.

The 25-year-old victim was incapable of consent by reason of being physically helpless, according to the indictment.

Foss was publicly accused of rape in a 2020 online essay published by singer-songwriter Raegan Sealy on Medium, titled The Wolf and the Whisper Network. Prosecutors declined to confirm whether she was the victim in the case.

Describing Foss as a rapist in a feminist tee, Sealy wrote that she met him at a speaking event attended by Jennifer Garner, Cynthia Nixon, and Chelsea Manning, and a week later he followed up, wanting to hang out with her.

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A month after texting back and forth, Sealy wrote, her first date with Foss ended in a nightmare. She alleged that when Foss wouldnt take no for an answer, he had sex with her while she was unconscious.

In 2017, I was raped by a progressive, liberal, acclaimed social justice advocate, wrote Sealy. [Behind] Adam the feminist lives Adam the rapist. Not just Adam the player not even Adam the predator. Adam, the rapist. Adam the destroyer.

Sealy could not be reached for comment.

In 2021, Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins issued a public apology to two unnamed women in her office who were treated less than professionally, if not criminally while working under him.

Robert Gottlieb, Fosss lawyer, could not be reached for comment.

I thank this brave survivor, who had the courage to come forward and share her story, said District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

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Ex-prosecutor in Boston indicted on NYC rape charges - New York Daily News

What happened to Glenn Greenwald? The former trans ally now sides with right wing transphobia – Salon

In 2022, Pride month June gave way to an explosion of invective against LGBTQ rights, helped along by allies in right-wing media, particularly Fox News. But there's also rising anti-trans sentiment in the liberal-left sphere, and it's being driven by some elements of what might be called the "post-left," onetime champions of progressive outlooks who have now tilted to the right. Former Intercept writer (and Salon columnist) Glenn Greenwald is one of those leading the charge, turning his audience on to fringe elements of a growing hate movement.

It wasn't always like this. Greenwald was once a stalwart defender of trans rights perhaps in connection with his advocacy for U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning and his friendship with since-assassinated Brazilian politician and activist Marielle Franco. "If you want to get a taste for how widespread warped & creepy hostility against trans people is, mention Chelsea Manning & survey the bile," Greenwald tweeted on Sept. 10, 2016.

In 2017, Greenwald called Milo Yiannopoulos' notorious appearance on Bill Maher's show "the most trans-hating discussion I've seen on television." He referred to Maher's attacks on trans people in general as indicative of a complex of "thinking you're brave & subversive for mocking the most marginalized, while reliably sycophantic to actual power."

Greenwald recognized the extent of anti-trans bigotry and the dangers it posed in the U.K. at least as recently as June 2020. That month, he celebrated an article at the now-shuttered outlet the Outline wondering why British media had become so transphobic and said Harry Potter author and anti-trans advocate J.K. Rowling's "victimhood complex is suffocating & narcissistic."

In March 2017, Greenwald urged his audience to follow ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio for Trans Day of Visibility, as well as out lesbian tennis star Martina Navratilova because she had a trans coach. Today, Greenwald expresses great hostility toward Strangio, and cites Navratilova's skeptical comments on trans people as evidence of her courage and strength rather than exclusionary bigotry. "In 2019, Martina Navratilova was *expelled* by LGBT groups for questioning the fairness of trans women competing in the professional women's sports leagues she helped build," he tweeted on June 17, 2021, in a typical post that walked up to the line of endorsing the comments while giving himself an out.

Last fall, Manning directly addressed the person Greenwald has become, telling her onetime champion that she was "terrified" of him. "You're greedy, unprincipled, and I'm embarrassed for ever considering you a friend," Manning said. In response, Greenwald released private chat records showing Manning's messages to him when she was feeling depressed.

Last fall, Chelsea Manning directly addressed the person Greenwald has become, saying she was "terrified" of him:"You're greedy, unprincipled, and I'm embarrassed for ever considering you a friend."

How did this happen? One might date Greenwald's coming out as transphobic or at least trans-skeptical to a video interview he did with anti-trans media figure Katie Herzog in March 2021. During the conversation, the pair talked about how trans people, in their view, were taking up more than their share of a presumably limited amount of civil rights. "The minute you declare yourself nonbinary or trans," Greenwald declared, "you catapult up the ladder of oppression that absolutely confers concrete benefits."

A zero-sum view of civil rights doesn't easily allow for solidarity between marginalized groups. But Greenwald's shift on trans rights has also coincided with his tilt toward the far right in recent years. While Greenwald has long had a friendly relationship with extremist Fox News host Tucker Carlson, he's gone further and further down a conservative media rabbit hole since leaving The Intercept in late 2020. It would have once been nearly unthinkable to imagine Greenwald chumming it up onstage with the likes of social conservative Erick Erickson or giving a softball interview to notoriously homophobic conspiracy theorist Alex Jones but both of those things have happened. Perhaps cultivating a new audience of right-wing media consumers has pushed Greenwald to embrace social conservatism and bigotry against trans people.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

Greenwald recently laid out his view of the trans rights movement on June 23 during an appearance on the Vanguard YouTube show. In response to a question about his engagement in multiple culture-war issues, almost invariably on the side of the political right, Greenwald claimed that he was just asking questions about "what has become of the trans agenda."

"I know you get accused, if you say they're legitimate questions, of, like, empowering hatred against trans people," Greenwald continued, "which I think is incredibly an intellectually dishonest way to coerce and bully people, to accept your views that 'if you don't immediately accept all of my newfound promises about this new ideology I'm trying to get society to embrace that radically changes so many things about how we think about gender and sex and how we organize society.'"

A week later on an edition of his video streaming show on June 30 during which he interviewed Christopher Rufo, the hard-right intellectual force behind the panic over "critical race theory," who has now set his sights on LGBTQ rights Greenwald questioned "this new agenda of trans issues like, you know, demanding everybody say trans women are women." Rufo has made little secret of his intentions to propagandize against the LGBTQ community, laying out part of the strategy in a June 17 tweet in which he suggested that "Conservatives should start using the phrase 'trans stripper' in lieu of 'drag queen'" because "it has a more lurid set of connotations and shifts the debate to sexualization."

During his congenial, unchallenging discussion with Rufo, Greenwald pegged the beginning of the trans rights movement to the end of the same-sex marriage fight, saying that the push for trans civil rights was a byproduct of winning that battle. Faced with either going home victorious but unemployed or pivoting to a new fight, according to Greenwald's version of events, equality activists chose to keep the spigot of cash flowing. "Instead, they immediately switched to the trans movement, which they barely had talked about before, because there was nothing else for them to do," Greenwald said connecting to the zero-sum civil rights argument he made with Herzog over a year earlier.

The mean-spirited comments were notable, perhaps, but they're no longer particularly novel. Greenwald has been lobbing insults and attacks at trans people and trans advocates for well over a year.

His defense of the "Libs of TikTok" account after Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz dug into who was behind the social-media screen and using their platform to go after teachers and others for adopting accepting language toward LGBTQ people was that LoTT was targeted as a "real enemy" of corporate journalism and a group of "citizens with the wrong politics." Greenwald made championing the LoTT account a point of pride, boasting at one point that he was its "godfather," despite the fact that it has helped drive the recent spate of street violence and legislative restrictions against queer people.

At times, Greenwald affects concern for transitioning people who, he contended in May 2021, were at risk from "life-altering hormones and surgeries." Yet Greenwald's brand of anti-trans activist journalism could well lead to violence, even if that's not his intent. Media Matters LGBTQ program director Ari Drennen described on my podcast a "permission structure" created by major media and political figures for violence against marginalized communities. We saw the results of that permission structure as attacks on Pride events around the country increased in number and ferocity this year. An ongoing legislative assault at the state level, particularly though not exclusively in Florida, has added to the siege.

Earlier this year, journalist and commentator Katelyn Burns told me that some of those on the right who would prefer not to be tarred by the same brush as their allies in the anti-trans movement have pulled back slightly from the consequences of their rhetoric, particularly as legislatures in states like Florida have accelerated their attacks on trans people and also have gone after gay and lesbian Americans.

"All of a sudden they're concerned about the rhetoric and, well, you started this," Burns said. "You guys were the foundation for bringing moderates into the anti-trans movement, and now you're getting upset that it's turned against you. Trans people have been over here telling you this is what was going to happen."

But Greenwald doesn't seem to care about the consequences of his rhetoric about trans people commentaries that have become a hateful refrain aimed at a marginalized community under increasing attack.

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What happened to Glenn Greenwald? The former trans ally now sides with right wing transphobia - Salon

Elon Musk confirms he gave himself and son X matching haircuts – Page Six

Like father, like son.

Elon Musk and his son X AE A-XII sported matching haircuts after watching one too many episodes of Vikings.'

The tech billionaire, 51, took to Twitter on Sunday to share a snap of the duo with matching temple shaves.

Thanksgiving last year after watching one too many episodes of Vikings,' Musk captioned the family photo.

When a follower asked if he had cut both of their hairs, he simply said, Yeah.

Grimes, the toddlers mom, has also practiced her hairdressing skills after she previously showed off her sons first haircut.

Not sure this haircut went well but hes Viking now, the singer, 34, captioned a snap in January 2021.

The former couple welcomed their first child, whom theyinitially namedX A-12 Musk, in May 2020.

Shortly after, they wereforced to change his name to X AE A-XII because California law doesnt allow special characters and numbers.

My partner is the one that, actually, mostly, came up with the name, the Tesla CEO explained about the name choice. Yeah, shes great at names.

Page Sixexclusively revealedin 2018 that the pair was dating, just days before they made their couple debut at the Met Gala. However, they called it quits in September 2020.

Its mostly that my work at SpaceX and Tesla requires me to be primarily in Texas or traveling overseas and her work is primarily in LA, Musk told Page Six at the time.

Despite their breakup, the couple welcomed a second child together, daughter Exa Dark Siderl, in December 2021 via surrogate.

Grimes went on to date Chelsea Manning in March 2022, but the two ended things a few months later, as Page Six revealed.

On the other hand, Musk welcomed twins with Shivon Zilis, 36, in November 2021 one month before his second child with Grimes.

TheSpaceX founders kidsinclude twins Griffin and Vivian, who were born in 2004, and triplets Kai, Saxon and Damian, who arrived in 2006, with his ex-wife Justine Musk.

Elon and Justine also had a son named Nevada, born in 2002, but he died at 10 weeks old of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS.

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Elon Musk confirms he gave himself and son X matching haircuts - Page Six

Behind The Meaning of "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" By Aerosmith – American Songwriter

Released as the first single from Permanent Vaction (1987), Dude (Looks Like a Lady) began Aerosmiths late-80s comeback.

The song went on to find chart-topping success and generated a newfound love for the rock outfit. Across the nearly 40 years since its release, the song has become a staple in pop culturefinding success time and time again with placement across film and television.

But what is the meaning of the song? Lets dive into the song lyrics below.

The pervasive origin story of Dude (Looks Like a Lady) stems from Aerosmith imbibing during a night out with Mtley Cre, wherein the band left rolling their eyes at how every sentence the Cre guys said started with the word Dude.

Desmond Child, who co-wrote the song alongside Stevie Tyler and Joe Perry, recalled the moment in an interview with the Huffington Post.

Though Aerosmith hadnt previously worked with an outside songwriter before, Child was brought in to the fray following his work with Bon Jovi (Livin on a Prayer and Bad Medicine). Tyler showed Child some of the lyrics he had been working on for a song titled Cruisin for the Ladiesan idea Child immediately denounced as dull and already done.

Tyler reluctantly agreed and said that the proposed title was actually an alternate. He then revealed that the original version of the song was inspired by a night out at the bar not too long before, wherein after a few drinksTyler spotted what he thought was an attractive girl with teased, bleach-blonde hair.

When the girl eventually turned around, they realized it wasnt a girl at allit was instead Vince Neil from Mtley Crewho did indeed have some pretty luscious hair. That dude looks like a lady, one of the Aerosmith members apparently said, and then continued to repeat the catchy little phrase all night.

Child said he later let Vince Neil in on the joke: He had a good laugh. The incident is also acknowledged in Neils autobiography, so he must not have any hard feelings.

Cruised into a bar on the shoreHer picture graced the grime on the doorShes a long lost love at first biteBaby, maybe youre wrongBut you know its all right, thats right

So never judge a book by its coverOr who you gonna love by your loverLove put me wise to her love in disguiseShe had the body of a VenusLord, imagine my surprise

Child also took pride in how, with issues of gender identity in the headlines today, the song was way ahead of its time in its treatment of the subject.

He said, The idea of a transgendered character in a hit song being shown in a positive light was completely fresh and revolutionary. It was so catchy that even without knowing what the song was about, people everywhere started spontaneously singing it at the top of their lungs.

He continued, Even Mrs. Doubtfire was doing the broom dance to it and every little kid in America could sing all the words by heart. I heard one drunk guy on the street yelling, Do a naked ladyI guess thats what he probably wanted it to say. The other side of a song is the listener who always brings their own story to a song no matter what its saying.

While Child may think the song cast transgender individuals in a positive light, many members of the LGBTQ+ community would strongly disagree.

Despite its mainstream success, Dude (Looks Like a Lady) has often been accused of being transphobic with its lyrics. In a 2012 interview, Child revealed that Perry was concerned that the song would offend the gay community. To which Child replied Okay, Im gay, and Im not insulted. Lets write this song.

Despite any well-meaning intentions for the track, it has been used many times as a dig at transgender individuals since its release.

In 2013, Fox News played the song while introducing activist and whistleblower Chelsea Manning, a trans woman. Throughout her interview with the outlet, the hosts continually used masculine pronouns alongside Mannings original name.

Caitlyn Jenner also dubbed the track her theme song after transitioning in 2014. Backlash ensued from fans and LGBTQ+ activists.

The song has been a staple in pop culture for many years, finding widespread placement in television and film.

Concurrent with its chart run, the song played in the 1987 comedy film Like Father Like Son, starring Kirk Cameron and Dudley Moore.

In 1993, the song was prominently featured in the film Mrs. Doubtfire, during a montage of the main character bonding with his family in disguise as a woman. The song was also used in the films TV ads. The films writer, Randi Mayem Singer, credits the song as the biggest influence on the script. She was quoted as saying, Without Dude (Looks Like a Lady), there would be noMrs. Doubtfire.

The song was also featured in the movie Its Pat, where the title character (played by Julia Sweeney) sings a karaoke version at their wedding reception. The song nods to the running joke throughout the film that references Pats gender ambiguity.

Aerosmith performed the song live in the movie, Waynes World 2 and is also featured on the accompanying soundtrack for the film.

Photo: Katarina Benzova / ID PR

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Behind The Meaning of "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" By Aerosmith - American Songwriter

Nominations Open for the 2022 EFF Awards – EFF

For thirty years, the Electronic Frontier Foundation presented awards to key leaders in the fight for freedom and innovation online. EFFs annual Pioneer Award Ceremony celebrated the longtime stalwarts working on behalf of technology users, both in the public eye and behind the scenes. Honorees included visionary activist Aaron Swartz, human rights and security researchers The Citizen Lab, media activist Malkia Devich-Cyril, cyberpunk author William Gibson, and whistle-blower Chelsea Manning. We are forever grateful to all of our past Pioneers!

This year, were taking a new step to recognize the ways in which the digital world has fused with modern life. We invite you to celebrate the first annual EFF Awards.

The internet is not simply a frontier to conquer. Its a necessity in modern life and a continually evolving tool for communication, creativity, and human potential. Together we carryand must always stewardthe movement to protect civil liberties and human rights online. Will you help us spotlight some of the latest and most impactful work towards a better digital future?

Nominate a digital rights luminary for an inaugural EFF Award today!

What does it take to be an EFF Award winner? Nominees must have made a specific, substantial contribution to help ensure that technology supports freedom, justice, and innovation for all people. The contribution may be technical, social, economic, or cultural. Our community has celebrated people working in diverse fields including journalism, art, digital access, legislation, tech development, and law.

Who can submit a nomination? Anyone can nominate a potential EFF Award recipient. You may nominate more than one recipient, and you may nominate yourself or your organization. Please complete separate entries for each nominee.

What fields are required? All valid nominations must contain your reason, however brief, for nominating the individual or organization. Please include a means of contacting the nominee. If you don't have their personal email address or phone number, a link to their active social media account or website can be substituted. While anonymous nominations are accepted, we'd like to be able to contact the nominating parties in case we need further information.

Who is eligible for an EFF Award? Nominations may be made for individuals, systems, or organizations in the private or public sectors.

Who is not eligible? Past award recipients, current members of EFF's staff and operating board are not eligible.

What happens for the nominees that win? Persons or representatives of organizations receiving an EFF Award will be invited to San Francisco, CA (at EFFs expense) to participate in the live ceremony which will take place in October 2022. We encourage everyone to join us in celebration of the honorees!

Nominations close on Tuesday, August 2nd at 2PM Pacific, so don't hesitate! If you have questions, please email events@eff.org.

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Nominations Open for the 2022 EFF Awards - EFF

Famous whistleblowers who shocked the world – msnNOW

Throughout history, there have been many people who, for one reason or another, released classified information. Known as whistleblowers, they have alerted the public about other individuals, governments, or organizations who were secretly involved in illicit or unethical activities. From Edward Snowden to Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning, some call these individuals heroes, while others see them as traitors.

Reality Winner, the whistleblower who leaked a classified document about Russian interference in the 2016 US elections, is sharing her side of the story and emphasizing: "I am not a traitor." Winner, who was hit with the longest sentence ever imposed for unauthorized release of government information to the media, sat down for a '60 Minutes' interview after spending four years behind bars to clear things up.

When interviewer Scott Pelley asked Winner about her decision to expose the National Security Agency's knowledge of Russia's interference in the 2016 election, she said, "I knew it was secret. But I also knew that I had pledged service to the American people. And at that point in time, it felt like they were being led astray." CBS reports that the secret report was being kept secret partly because it revealed what the US knew about Russian tactics. Though Winner was charged with espionage, she remains adamant that she was "exposing a White House cover up."

Want to know more? Then check out this gallery to discover men and women who risked everything in the pursuit of truth.

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Famous whistleblowers who shocked the world - msnNOW

Grimes and Chelsea Manning Have Reportedly Broken Up – The Cut

Photo-Illustration: The Cut; Photos: Getty Images

After four months of dating, this years most unexpected couple has reportedly come to an end: A source tells Page Six that Grimes and whistleblower Chelsea Manning have broken up and had been breaking up for a while.

In case you forgot Grimes and Manning were even together, heres a catch-up: Reports that the pair were dating broke in March, shortly after Grimes revealed that she had a secret second baby and then broke up with her on-again, off-again partner, Elon Musk.After tweeting at each other for months, Grimes and Mannings relationship seemed to move quickly, with sources telling Page Six this spring that they were getting serious and had U-Hauled it, which apparently meantliving together in Austin, though Manning who spent years in a military prison for leaking government documents to WikiLeaks in 2010 also reportedly kept her apartment in Brooklyn.

Neither Grimes nor Manning has commented on the breakup. Manning, who has a memoir coming out in October, has previously said she prefers to keep my private life private.Grimes, meanwhile, is reportedly back on the dating scene, which probably means we have even more unexpected pairings to look forward to.

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Grimes and Chelsea Manning Have Reportedly Broken Up - The Cut