The White House says it took Trump’s medical records from his doctor. The doctor calls it a “raid.” 🤔
Shortly after President Trump’s inauguration last year, the White House took medical records from his New York doctor.
Dr. Harold Bornstein said three men, including a former White House aide and a lawyer, showed up at his office in February of 2017 to collect Trump’s medical records. He said it made him feel “raped, frightened, sad.”
Speaking on behalf of the White House, Sarah Huckabee Sanders said it was “not her understanding” that it was a raid, but confirmed the White House “took possession” of the records.
“It would be standard procedure for a newly elected president's medical records to be in possession by the White House medical unit,” she added.
The larger context:
Remember when Trump produced a medical report that said he was in “extraordinary” health? Bornstein told CNN he didn’t write it, and that Trump dictated the whole thing. I don’t imagine this story will go away easily.
Facebook is up to some substantial changes
The first thing you need to know is that Facebook has begun ranking news organizations by trust.
The company launched a new system that assesses outlets based on trustworthiness, and it will promote or suppress content based on that metric.
Mark Zuckerberg told news organizations that Facebook had gathered data on how consumers perceive news brands. The company asked people if they’d heard of various publications and if they trust them. The new metric is based on this data.
Zuckerberg says Facebook will invest “billions” in a combination of artificial intelligence and tens of thousands of human moderators to manage fake news and deliberate propaganda.
But you also need to know:
Facebook is reaching its natural conclusion as a dating app, with a new feature announced yesterday. But don’t worry, you won’t be matched with your friends. People had some great jokes about the announcement.
The company is also going to launch a new feature that will let you delete your Facebook browsing history. Clear History (good name) will delete what you've clicked, websites you've visited, and other information Facebook gathers from websites and apps that use its ads and analytics tools.
Quick brief:
Australia’s largest bank lost the financial histories of 12 million customers and chose not to reveal the breach to consumers.
Iran joined Russia in banning the popular messaging app Telegram.
Snapchat’s stock is tanking following the app’s infamous redesign. It fell as much as 17% after earnings missed expectations.
A Toronto restaurant has to pay $10,000 for asking black customers to pay up front.
Alexandra Canosa, a Netflix series producer, filed a lawsuit saying that Harvey Weinstein repeatedly raped and abused her over a five-year period under threat of ruining her career.
Oh no, Kanye
Presumably because we’re in the Upside Down, Kanye West went on TMZ Live with conservative YouTuber Candace Owens to, uh, I guess further explain his recent screeds on Making America Great Again.
The whole thing was a lot, but the big moment everyone is talking about is when Kanye said, “When you hear about slavery for 400 years — for 400 years? — that sounds like a choice.”
After saying slavery was a choice, Kanye was called out by a TMZ reporter who took him to task. People think that reporter is a hero.
Kanye’s interview with radio personality Charlamagne tha God was also released yesterday. In it, he talked a lot about Jay-Z and Beyoncé. He’s also still pissed about Barack Obama calling him a “jackass.”
Cocaine deaths are rising at an alarming rate, and it’s because of fentanyl
It seems the opioid crisis is also turning into a cocaine crisis.
Just between 2015 and 2016, cocaine deaths across the US rose a staggering 52% according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The drug is now killing more than 13,000 people per year, on track to rival painkillers and heroin.
Researchers don’t fully know why cocaine deaths are spiking, but they know one of the biggest drivers is fentanyl. In just a few years, the synthetic opioid has taken over the illicit drug market, killing tens of thousands of people.
While some people use fentanyl by itself, most use it — knowingly or unknowingly — in combination with other drugs.
When it first hit the US, fentanyl was most often mixed with heroin, driving a surge of overdose deaths. In the past couple of years, it’s spread to other drugs too.
This teen’s video of her surprising her dad before prom is so pure
Vanessa Macedo and her family are very close. She said her dad works hard to support them and was working the night of prom, so couldn’t see her on the big day.
So she and her sister decided to surprise him by dropping in at his work, right before she headed out for the night.
Her dad’s response made the whole internet tear up — it’s so sweet.