Category Archives: Transhuman News

The transformation of Sean Spicer from mere press secretary to human meme began the day after Trump became president. This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration period both in person and around the globe, Spicer said in a forceful statement to reporters on Jan. 21. He was sent out to dispute reports about the size of the crowd on Inauguration Day, but several of his key facts were wrong, and #spicerfacts became a Twitter meme. The joke was, #Spicerfacts were not, strictly speaking, facts.

[Spicer resigns as White House press secretary, Scaramucci to be communications director]

Spicer resigned as White House spokesmanon Friday, afterAnthony Scaramucci was appointed White House communications director. With Spicersresignation, its also time to say goodbye to the semi-fictional character the Internet created out of Spicer.

Spicer, the human meme, was at times the embodiment ofthe Trump administrations combativeness withthe mainstream media hence the lasting power of #spicerfacts. At other times, he was kind of a sequel to the character the Internet created of Jeb! please clap Bush a sad figure whose dreams were crushed by the surprise rise of Trump.

A few weeks ago, Funny or Die re-cut Sarah McLachlans famous ASPCA commercial to plead for help for Spicer. Being the White House press secretary was Sean Spicers dream, the parody says. He will have nowhere to go and no one to turn to. Sean Spicer needs your help.

The memes of Spicer hiding in or, more precisely among the bushes caught the Internets imagination so fully in May that someone made real cutouts of an image of Spicers headto place in real bushes. The idea went viral.Lisa Kadonaga, the creator of the cutouts, speculated in interviews that the meme spread in part because people feltkind of bad for the press secretary:

I think it really struck a chord with people realizing, Gee, that could be me up there, she said to a Canadian media outlet. Later, she added, I do feel sorry for the guy.

The memed version of Spicers short tenure as press secretary is often a bit more fan fiction than documentation, but there were several real-world moments that helped to fuel it. There was, of course, the bushes incident. But the most heartbreaking one was probably when Trump met Pope Francis: Spicer, a Catholic,wasnt invited to the meeting. Reporters publicly expressed sympathy:

When asked about the absence, a source close to the White House said the following to CNN: Wow. Thats all he wanted.

The Spicer meme character was always chaotic, a weird juxtaposition how Spicer did his job while defending the administrations statements and policies, and of the mans more lighthearted idiosyncrasies. Just days after his tense address to the media about the inauguration crowd size, a side story emerged about his longtime feud with Dippin Dots, the ice cream-like product. There was also the mystery of some truly strange tweets from his @PressSec account during his first week on the job (many speculated that perhaps Spicer had inadvertently tweeted his password).

But it was Melissa McCarthys portrayal of Spicer on Saturday Night Live that best captured the mix of absurdity and sympathy of the Internets vision for him. McCarthy played Spicer as an ineloquent bully, but onethe audience still sort of rooted for. When Spicer returnedto the show in May, this was in full effect.

But what if hes lying to you? a reporter asks McCarthys Spicer in the sketch.

He wouldnt do that; hes my friend, Spicer replies.

If hes your friend, why does he make you come out here and humiliate yourself every day? another reporter asks.

Spicer then abruptly leaves the news conference and heads to New York to ask the president, Have you ever told me to say things that arent true? Please watch, if you havent:

Upon news of Spicers resignation Friday morning, the Internet filled up with tributes to the character theyd created out of the mans six months as White House press secretary.

Well miss you, Super Deluxe tweeted Friday, after changing their Twitter name to Spicer Deluxe in tribute. The outlet known for its political satire then published a supercut of Spicer stuttering at the White House lectern.

More reading:

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It's time to say goodbye to Sean Spicer, the human meme of the Trump White House - Washington Post

UPDATED: Fri., July 21, 2017, 10:50 p.m.

After Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich Commissioned seven new deputies, this picture was posted on the sheriffs office Facebook page. From left to right the new deputies are Jeffrey Bailey, Matthew Peterson, Benjamin Ehlers, Jessica Baken, Shawn Lundgren, Collin Hayett and Scott McKenney (Spokane County Sheriffs Office Facebook page)

When the vice chairwoman of the Spokane Human Rights Commission, Ashley Torres, shared a post announcing the swearing-in of seven new Spokane County Sheriffs Office deputies on Facebook, it wasnt with a congratulatory message.

So much for diversifying our police force Torres wrote.

Torres didnt step in when another commenter wrote the group of deputies looked white-washed and that the woman in the picture was put out front so she wouldnt be missed.

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said he was disappointed by the post, especially since it came from a member of the Human Rights Commission, and that it sent a terrible message to the seven new deputies.

Welcome to Spokane and the first day of your new job, Knezovich said Thursday. You already have part of the community against you.

Knezovich, whose agency, like many other law enforcement agencies in the country, is struggling to fill open positions, demanded an apology.

Torres said she was just stating a fact that seven more white people had been hired.

I dont feel like the hiring process is working, Torres said. There are barriers to hiring minorities and those barriers need to be addressed.

Torres said she didnt immediately understand the white-washed comment as being racist.

She added that the post was not directed at the people in the photo, and that she did not intend to support sexist comments about the female deputy.

I understand how it could have been misconstrued, Torres said. But I have issues with the disparity within the sheriffs department, and Im not going to back away from that.

Knezovich said that pointing out there is a disparity issue in his agency is a Captain Obvious moment.

How about helping with a solution? Knezovich said. We reach out to every aspect of humanity we can think of when we hire.

Human Rights Commission Chairman John Lemus said the commission will apologize to Knezovich and the new deputies at its meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Ashley and I are not racists, Lemus said. Deputies have human rights, too, and this is never anything that could have happened on the commissions page.

Lemus, whos running for mayor of Spokane, also said hed issue a warning to commissioners on Tuesday.

We are appointed by the mayor and we are public officials, Lemus said. We have to think about what we are posting on social media and how its perceived by the community.

See the original post here:
Spokane Human Rights Commission will apologize to sheriff's office for comments on Facebook - The Spokesman-Review

July 21 at 8:00 PM

I was brought to tears by the story of the human chain that savedswimmers who were perilously close to drowning off a Florida beach [Florida beachgoers form a human chain to save 10 swept off by riptide, Politics & the Nation, July 12]. Dozens of beachgoers some of whom couldnt swim responded to the alarm, left their complacency behind and joined hands in a rescue effort, endangering their own lives in the process. This remarkable and spontaneous show of unity, this act of courage and compassion by strangers, left me in awe.

How badly is such a story needed now, when the daily headlines are filled with the hatred and division consuming our nation. Ill bet that human chain consisted of both Democrats and Republicans, people of different races, religions and sexual orientations. When disaster is at hand, these differences are utterly irrelevant; the human impulse to help one another is as strong as any force of nature. We should all learn from their extraordinary spirit of cooperation.

Rebecca Frank, Oakton

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A testament to the human impulse to help one another - Washington Post