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What Every Online Entrepreneur Needs To Know To Avoid Social Media Legal Disasters

What Every Online Entrepreneur Needs To Know To Avoid Social Media Legal Disasters

When I first launched my business, I have to admit that I was woefully unprepared from the social media perspective. I had a LinkedIn account, but only because I signed up at one point to try to find information about a long-lost friend. I had a Twitter account, but not any followers who were among my target group of clients. And I had a Facebook account that I used to keep up with old friends. But that was it.

That was not a sustainable model. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, YouTube . . . Social media is no longer optional. Nope, it is pretty much a required tool for all businesses. If you’re not on social media, you are leaving WAY too much value on the table. I’m no social media guru, and I can’t claim to be an expert at using each of the services. But I know that I need to be on social media creating and curating content for my potential customers.

The statistics pretty much speak for themselves. Wordstream’s post with a roundup of 40 Essential Social Media Marketing Stats is good read. Here are some highlights:

  • Facebook boasts 68% of adults in the United States as users (and the vast majority of those users visit daily)
  • Instagram is second with 32% of adults in the United States as users
  • Pinterest is a close third with 31% of adults in the United States as users
  • LinkedIn boasts an impressive 29% of adults in the United States as users (an impressive feat considering its professional focus)
  • Twitter has 24% of adults in the United States as users

These stats tell an impressive story – the social media networks allow businesses to reach their customers where they are and to deliver messages to them.

While social media marketing is important for all businesses, it is especially important to online entrepreneurs like you and me. Indeed, social media marketing (and advertising) are often a core aspect of building an online business. I guess you could try to build an online business without using social media, but why would you try?

As with all business tools, social media comes with its own risks. We’ve all heard about #fails on social media. If you’d like to relive the glorious mistakes, just type “social medial disasters” into the Google and you will find a slew of stories. I personally enjoyed the 7 Disasters from 2015 shared by Inc.com.

But I’m not a PR specialist or a general brand advisor. So I’m not here to warn you about these types of PR disasters. Nope, I’m here to help you understand the legal issues surrounding social media and the issues you need to avoid to ensure your social media practices don’t create a legal disaster for your company.

Yes, You Really Need To Worry About This Now

Before I get to the actual advice, I have to address a question I hear over and over again: Do you really need to address this now or can it wait?

If you read more than one of my blog posts (or watch my FB Live videos or tune into any of my other channels), you are going to hear me constantly beat the drum that you need to worry about these legal issues NOW, not later. For example, I explained why you need to address legal issues now in my epic blogpost about podcasting issues and I spent a whole FB Live video about podcasting on the subject.

It may seem like I’m beating a dead horse here, but too bad. I’m going to keep talking about this because it is an issue that comes up over and over again. And I am going to keep drilling this into online entrepreneurs’ heads because the consequences of not dealing with legal issues at the outset can be catastrophic.

Ignoring the problem is not a good solution. . .

I get it, we all like to ignore things that might be upsetting. But ignoring potential legal issues will not make them go away (or get less pressing). In fact, ignoring legal issues up front will often make them worse! As I explained in last week’s post about podcasting, when you make legal errors at the beginning, you are putting a time bomb into your business. And that time bomb is going to go off at the worst possible time. You won’t have the opportunity to course correct early on when the pain will be low. Nope, you’ll end up having to make changes (and potentially lose your platform) after you’ve built your business into something great.

There is actually a very special risk that comes up in the context of social media (beyond those that apply to all aspects of your business). With social media, your content may get taken down and your accounts may get shutdown if you ignore the legal rules.

I recently came across a Twitter thread that took me to a video where two social media mavens were complaining that YouTube had taken down their videos recently after they started to get traction. These mavens thought it was because of their political message, but as they described what had happened, I immediately understood that the issue was much simpler. They were infringing intellectual property owned by someone else, so YouTube took the videos down.

There is a law known as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. I won’t bore you with the details, but this law was passed when the Internet was still in its early stages (not its infancy, maybe somewhere around its gawky teenage years). There was concern that companies that provided forums and/or hosted websites might be held liable for the actions of the people posting on their sites or on websites they hosted.

To solve this concern, the law provides a method for copyright holders to lodge a complaint with these companies and demand that the infringing content be taken down. These are called DMCA Takedown Notices. Under the law, the companies are encouraged to comply because it provides them with a “get out of jail free” card. So long as they take reasonable actions in response to these notices, they are not liable.

Back to those social media mavens. . . YouTube had received a complaint because their videos contained unlicensed copyrighted material (they were playing music in the background).  The copyright holders had complained, so YouTube complied with its obligation and took the videos down.

YouTube is not alone in this practice. All of the social media platforms have crafted their terms of service to prohibit you from posting any infringing material, giving them the right to terminate your service if you are a repeat offender, and providing a mechanism to comply with the DMCA.  If you are interested take a look at provisions 6(d), 7(a), and 8 of YouTube’s Terms of Service. Or you’d rather not read a bunch of legal gobbledegook, you can take my word for it.

Although I joke, you actually should take the time to read the terms of service for each of the social media sites you use. This can be an eye-opening experience and it will provide you with a good guide for how to behave on that site.

The threat of having them take one post down is bad enough, but one of the key elements of the terms of service is not only that the social media platform will take down particular infringing posts, but also that they will suspend your service entirely if you are a repeat offender. So, if you violate the rules that are set out in this post, you not only risk having individual posts deleted, you risk having your entire account shut down.

Do I have your attention yet?

If not, go ahead a click away from this page. I know I shouldn’t be telling you to stop reading my content, but seriously go ahead.

Now on to the specific errors to avoid.

Don’t Appropriate Someone Else’s Brand

It’s all about the brand. . .

In creating your social media user names, you should be mindful to avoid using someone else’s brand name. Brand names are protected under trademark law, and the first person to use a name gets protection automatically. You can learn more about trademark law by checking out the 10 Things Every Entrepreneur Needs To Know About Trademarks. The important thing for today’s discussion is simply to understand that if a company is already using the name, that company has the exclusive right to use the name going forward.

Some people run afoul of this by intentionally choosing a name that will be confused with a famous brand (or famous person). This is a form of cybersquatting or impersonation, and it’s not allowed. I’d like to think that no one reading this post (or any of my work) would ever be in the camp of those who intentionally take someone else’s name. But if you are doing it, stop it. Seriously, stop it now. That’s not okay.

The more likely way that you might find yourself in this box is if you choose a catchy social media handle that infringes a trademark without realizing you are doing it. This issue tends to come up a lot in industries where there are some obvious puns or plays on words. It is definitely an issue for online entrepreneurs because there are only so many “preneur” words we can create. Chances are that if you think of it, someone else has already too.

Whether intentional or accidental, if you choose a social media handle that is the same as – or even confusingly similar to – an existing brand, you are putting yourself at risk. The company that used the name first will have the right to demand that you cease using the name.

Remember when I mentioned above that the consequences will come at the worst possible time? Here’s how that will play out in the case of a trademark issue. In many cases, the trademark owner will not learn about your use of its name at the outset. Indeed, the fact that the name is available is probably a good sign that the company is not currently using that social channel. Chances are the trademark holder also isn’t monitoring the site.

You will go about your business, including building your following on social media under the trademarked name. You will craft some amazing social media posts and curate content that is to die for. As a result, you’ll end up with a following of raving fans who can’t wait for your next post (okay, I exaggerate a bit for emphasis).

Then, at some point in the future, the trademark holder will decide to use the social network or will hear from one of its customers that someone else is using the brand name on the network. That is when the time bomb will go off. You will get a letter from the trademark holder demanding that you stop using the name. And there may not be much you can do other than stop using the name.

You will find yourself having to start again with a different name (luckily some sites will allow you to change your name without losing your following). Even if you don’t lose your following entirely, you will lose much of the goodwill you’ve built up with the name.

To avoid these issues, you need to check to make sure that no one else has trademark rights in the name you choose. And this involves more than simply searching to see if the handle is available. You also need to search Google to see if anyone is using the name generally and search the TESS system at the United States Patent and Trademark Office to see if anyone has registered a trademark for the name.

If someone else is already using the name for their business or has already filed a trademark registration for the name, it is not worth taking the risk. Pick a different name.

Don’t “Borrow” Copyrighted Material

One of the most common mistakes people make online – and especially in social media – is to appropriate someone else’s copyrighted material. In last week’s post about podcasts, I addressed this in the context of discussing choosing the right music (and not using copyrighted music). In the context of social media, the concern is much broader and can involve multiple forms of copyrighted material.

Borrowing isn’t cool when it comes to copyrights. . .

As a quick background, copyright law protects creative works, including images, written work, music, recordings, etc. You can learn more about copyright law in our post setting out 5 Things Every Entrepreneur Needs To Know About Copyright.

Because different social networks have different formats, you might infringe someone’s copyright by using any of the forms of copyrighted work. On YouTube, you might post a video that contains music or other videos without permission. On Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram, you might post a copyrighted image without permission.

In the example of the social media mavens who were complaining about YouTube taking down their videos that I described above, the error they made was to play music in the background of the videos. The artist (or more likely the company that holds the right to license the copyright to the music) heard the music on the video and demanded that YouTube take the videos down.

Facebook also has a good system for automatically detecting users who are using copyrighted music in FB Live videos. According to iag.me, Facebook has banned a number of users from going live “for up to 3 months for inadvertently or intentionally playing copyrighted music.” So in the case of Facebook, the copyright holder will not even need to complain. The system will likely detect the music and you’ll find yourself in some hot water.

Under copyright law, you are not allowed to play ANY of the music on your iTunes or other music account in the background of a video that you post on YouTube or anywhere else. In buying the record, CD, or MP3 file, you did not get the right to use the music in an online video. You only obtained the right to use it personally. So, don’t include any music on any videos or recordings that you post on social media unless you go through the process of getting a license to the music. As I explained in last week’s post about podcasting, if you want music, the best bet is a royalty free music site.

In the online world, images are probably the most infringed form of copyright. Many entrepreneurs go to Google Images or some other similar source to find and copy images that they then use on their websites and in social media campaigns. That is not allowed. Those images are protected by copyright law, so you may not use them without permission (what is called a “license”). Indeed, many entrepreneurs have received a letter from Getty Images (or another major image company) demanding payment for the use of an unlicensed image.

Ironically, Getty Images itself has been found to have infringed a copyright based upon similar activity. No seriously. In 2010, a photojournalist tweeted photos he took of the aftermath of the horrific earthquake in Haiti. Agence France-Presse (AFP) found the photos on Twitter and added the photos to its database and provided them to Getty Images. Getty Images added the photos to its own database, which was shared with numerous clients including news organizations that published the photos. The photojournalist sued AFP and Getty Images, along with other news outlets, for copyright infringement. AFP asserted that, because the photo was shared on Twitter, it had an implicit license to use the photos. (Under Twitter’s Terms of Use, an IP owner grants Twitter and others a “worldwide, nonexclusive, royalty-free license.”). The Court did not agree. It stated that AFP took and used the photos knowing that the photos were not AFP’s. AFP and Getty Images had to cough up $1.2 million.

This case provides a useful teaching point. Images that are shared on social media are fair game so long as you follow the protocol of that social network. Put another way, you can’t get in trouble for liking, sharing, retweeting, or otherwise making a post go viral according to the terms of service of the network at issue. But you can’t grab an image from a social media site (you know, right click then “save image as”) and then use it elsewhere or even on the same site but out of its original context.

The lesson with images is actually quite simple. Do NOT simply grab an image from any source on the Internet and use it. You may only use images for which you have a license. This could come from one of the various free image sites (Pixabay, Pexels), from a site that gives unlimited access for a membership fee (Storyblocks), or from a site that sells images individually (Shutterstock, Getty Images).

Get Agreements With All “Creators”

If you are creating 100% of your social media content (including all written content, all images, all videos), you can skip this point. Wait, on second thought, you need to pay attention anyway to make sure you’re not making this mistake elsewhere in your business. This is another point I am going to drill into your head in post after post and video after video. It really is THAT important.

If it isn’t in writing, it never happened. . .

You need written agreements with EVERY person who has any role in creating ANY portion of your online platform. This includes anyone involved in creating your social media posts.

Are you legally required to have an agreement with someone who is creating content for you?  Nope.

Is there a chance that you’ll be just fine without written agreements with these folks? Yep.

But you are courting disaster if you go without these agreements and could end up in a nasty dispute. What you need is a written agreement to make clear that YOU OWN the material they create. If you don’t have these types of written agreements, the person could later claim to continue to have an ownership interest in some aspect of your platform.

This may seem crazy to you, but I can’t tell you the number of times that companies end up in disputes with employees (and former employees) about ownership issues. Former employees will often claim to be an owner of a part of the business or of some aspect of the business’s platform.

If you find yourself in such a dispute, would you necessarily lose? Nope, you might win. But you might lose.

More importantly, however, without a written agreement you will end up paying me (or another lawyer like me) five or six figures to resolve the dispute. Now let me be clear, I’m not going to turn you away if you come to me down the line to defend you in one of these disputes. But wouldn’t you rather keep that money for yourself rather than paying me?

Getting written agreements in place with creators (and other employees) allows you to avoid a dispute in the future (or will make it quick, easy, and cheap to resolve if one should arise). Don’t put this matter off. Get written agreements with your creators now.

Don’t Give Complete Control To Employees

You are busy, so, as you grow, chances are that you will outsource at least some of your social media activity. It could be that you outsource some or all of your social media to an employee or an independent contractor or to a company that handles social media. This can be a HUGE time saver and make it possible for you to focus on your highest value work.

But what happens when the employee leaves or the independent contractor moves on? Would you lose access to your social media? This may seem like a silly question, but I have seen examples where a company gave full control of the social media to a single employee (even to the point of having the company’s Facebook page set up under that user’s account). The company was then left out to dry when the employee left because the company could not even access the accounts.

These mistakes can sometimes force companies to sue. In 2015, CDM Media had to sue a former employee because he failed to transfer back control of the company’s private LinkedIn group of CIOs and senior IT executives. Having to sue a former employee just to get access to your social media accounts may be a bit extreme, but it is a symptom of a broader problem – giving complete control to someone else.

You can avoid this issue by making sure that you have direct access to all of your social accounts as an “admin” user. This should ensure that you always have access and can always exert control.

Don’t Steal Someone’s Personality. . . Rights

As online entrepreneurs, we’ve been taught that social proof is HUGELY valuable. And while impressive social media follower stats and testimonials from customers can be important forms of social proof, one of the best forms of social proof would be if a celebrity (or a celebrity within our particular field) were to give us a thumbs up and endorse our products.

I mean, if I could get endorsements from all the top online entrepreneurs (you know, the ones that everybody looks up to), and could tell you all about those, you’d be more likely to listen to me, right? Of course you would.

The problem is that this reality can lead entrepreneurs (and even big companies that should clearly know better) to misappropriate rights held by celebrities. You see, everybody (celebrities and non-celebrities) has the right to control the use of their name, image, and likeness. This is called the “right to publicity” or “personality rights.” Although the contours of this right varies from state to state, one constant is that you can’t use someone as an “endorsement” without that person’s permission.

One famous example of this issue that IP lawyers like me tend to cite is the royal screw up by Duane Reade (a pharmacy chain). In March 2014, Duane Reade posted on Twitter a picture of actress Katherine Heigl leaving the store with bags in hand. Not only did the company post a picture of the actress, but it also tagged her. Specifically, the company tweeted: “Love a quick #DuaneReade run? Even @KatieHeigl can’t resist shopping #NYC’s favorite drugstore.

Duane Reade was clearly running afoul of the restrictions imposed by the right to publicity. It was using Heigl’s image and name to promote its brand and to create the implication that she endorsed the brand. And the company’s hubris was amazing because by tagging Heigl, they ensured that she would know what they had done. Seriously bad move. Heigl sued Duane Reade for unauthorized use of her publicity at a sparkling sum of $6 million. The case ultimately settled after Duane Reade had no doubt paid a bunch of money to a lawyer like me and then almost certainly paid something to Heigl.

So how might this come up in your business?

Let’s start with testimonials. We all love to get testimonials. But you MAY NOT USE a testimonial unless you get permission to do so. So if an enthusiastic customer emails you with a note about how great you are, don’t just add that to your webpage or social media as a testimonial. You have to ASK and get PERMISSION before using it. To be clear, this applies to everyone, regardless of whether the person is a celebrity. In most cases, your happy customers will gladly give you permission, but get that permission and get it in writing.

The bigger issue is that you aren’t allowed to note that some famous person or big-name online entrepreneur uses your product, listens to your podcast, or anything else without getting permission first. I mean, I know you would like to tell everyone that Bobby from Your Online Genius (because I am a lawyer, I naturally think I’m very important) thinks you are the best thing since sliced bread, but you can’t do that without asking me first. I joke here to try to make this a bit amusing, but you need to think about it carefully.

Another way you might run afoul of this provision is by including video that has other people in it on your social media account. You’ve no doubt seen reality shows in which there are people whose faces are blurred out in the background? Did you ever wonder why? Probably not, but it’s all about the right to publicity. Everyone has the right to control the use of their “image.” You can’t simply record a video of random people and then use it. You have to get a signed release before using that video.

Although this may seem like a lot of rules, the essential point is this – don’t try to profit using a person’s name, image, or fame unless you get permission first.

Require Employees To Sign A Social Media Policy

You should have your employees – especially those authorized to speak in any way on behalf of your brand – sign a social media policy. The point of this policy is to get everyone on the same page about what is expected, what is legally permissible, and what is off limits.

Most notably, your social media policy should reiterate to your employees (or contractors) that they should not share any of your company’s confidential information and must respect your (and third parties’) intellectual property rights. These aren’t necessarily controversial, but they are also important to safeguard your company’s secrets and maintain the trust of your clients.

This is not an issue that is unique to online entrepreneurs and it is not a mistake that lawyers are immune to. At a prior law firm, we filed a lawsuit against one of the major social media companies on behalf of a client. One of the junior lawyers on the case actually posted on THAT social network that we were “going to war” or something to that effect. And the lawyer did this from an account with no privacy settings (so the entire world could see the post). Our client was not all that happy to come across this post. Luckily, the post did not violate the law, but it was not exactly great for client relations. And it could have been avoided with a simple Social Media policy.

You should get a policy in place to make sure your employees understand what they may and may not share from their experience working for you.

Social media is a great asset to your business, but you need to be careful to avoid having it create legal jeopardy for your business. Following the rules set out in this post will allow you to avoid the legal landmines. You are on your own when it comes to the PR landmines. . .

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Call for application: Internship Knowledge Management

CTA has an opening for an intern within the Knowledge Management and Communication (KMC) Programme. CTA provides support to agricultural and rural development activities across the ACP regions through supporting knowledge management (KM) initiatives.

A small team works within the KMC Programme to support and develop the CTA KM capacity strengthening activities with partners. To better focus its interventions, CTA is developing a portal on Knowledge Management for Agricultural and Rural Development (KM4ARD). The intern works under the guidance and supervision of the Senior Programme Coordinators in charge of developing the capacity of CTA's ACP partners and implementing projects with them in the knowledge management area.

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Russia announces it has completed human trials of new COVID-19 Vaccine

Russia Announces It Has Completed Human Trials Of New COVID-19 Vaccine

Russian has announced it has completed the human trials of a new Coronavirus vaccine, adding that test patients used for the trials will be discharged soon and the vaccine could be available by August.

Russia sponsored and permitted clinical trials of two potential Coronavirus vaccines. The first one was developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology and carried out at the Burdenko Military Hospital, while the second one was given to test patients at the Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University.

According to Russian reports, 20 people volunteered for the trials and after they were injected they were asked to quarantine in the hospital for 28 days.

The tests performed on the volunteers in Russia reportedly showed that they were developing immunity to Coronavirus, but the name of the drug wasn’t revealed.

The country didn’t release information on when the vaccine would enter commercial production or distribution.

“The research has been completed and it proved that the vaccine is safe. The volunteers will be discharged on July 15 and July 20,” Elena Smolyarchuk, chief researcher for the Russian Center for Clinical Research on Medications at Sechenov University, told TASS newswire on Monday, July 13.

Russia has reported 719,449 cases of Coronavirus, with 11,188 people dying from complications caused by the disease.

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By ZANIS:Three hundred members from the opposition UPND in Nkanda Ward in Mongu Central Constituency have defected to the ruling PF.The defectors say they decided to leave the UPND because of lack of proper representation.Rosemary Mubita who spoke on behalf of other defectors said the people of Mawawa in Nkanda ward are tired of following a party which is taking them nowhere.Mrs. Mubita accused the UPND lawmaker for Mongu Central constituency for failing to assist in resolving the water crisis the people have been experiencing for many years.She said Nkanda residents were all convinced that working with the PF, under President Edgar Lungu, is the only way they can advance.And welcoming the defectors, PF Provincial Secretary Makokwa Kamwi thanked the defectors for deciding to join the PF.Mr. Kamwi said the PF is a loving party which does not segregate anyone based on tribal or cultural differences.Speaking at the same occasion, newly appointed Western Province Mobilization coordinator, Gleen Kalimbwe said the PF has started gaining ground in the province.Nkanda ward in Mongu Central Constituency fell vacant on September 20th, 2019 after the area councilor Clement Mukwamataba defected from the UPND to join the ruling PF. Post Views: 2
News Source: ZNBC

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Friday, May 22, 2020

Last Call For Tales From The Trump Depression, Con't

The Trump cult will never accept a Joe Biden win, and when they say they will settle 2020 with the bullet box if the ballot box doesn't work, it's time to believe them, especially in states like Michigan that will decide the election. Politico's Tim Alberta caught up with the cultists yesterday as the Trump Show resumed at a Ford plant in Ypsilanti.

In conversation after conversation with voters here Thursday, Trump supporters repeatedly—and completely unsolicited—say Democrats are attempting to steal the election from the president.
“I lived in Chicago for six years. We know how Mayor Daley stuffed the ballot box for JFK against Nixon.” says Keith Brudder, a 72-year-old landscape contractor from the nearby town of Willis. “That’s what the Democrats in charge here want to do, with this mail-in voting. There’s just no way to have accountability for those ballots like you do when people come to the voting booth.”
“In Wayne County alone, more than a million people who weren’t registered to vote in 2018 got to vote anyway, and that’s how Whitmer and these Democrats got elected,” says Matthew Shepard, a retired career military man who drove his hulking, orange paramilitary-style truck 90 minutes south from Shiawassee County to cheer on the president. (He offered no documentation for those statistics.) “That’s the only way Trump loses this election—this mail voting scam.”
Deborah Fuqua-Frey, who sits on the board of the Washtenaw County GOP and helped organize the pro-Trump rally here, says the United Auto Workers union “controls the outcome of the 2020 election.” And that terrifies her. “Because nobody knows how to stuff the ballot box like the UAW,” she says. “Trust me, I was a third-generation UAW member, and I know they’re always looking for new ways to cheat. That’s what they’re going to do with the mail system.”
According to Fuqua-Frey, this would represent a sinister final attempt to remove Trump from office, after the failure of the Mueller Report, the Ukraine-inspired impeachment process, and, most recently, the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Isn’t it kind of convenient that as soon as impeachment failed, we’ve suddenly got this virus?” she asks, alternating between puffs on a Winston and her inhaler. “This was domestic political terrorism from the Democratic Party. They’ve got all these numbers inflated, especially the deaths. Nobody can explain why nobody’s dying from other causes anymore. Most of these people who are ‘dying from coronavirus’ aren’t actually dying from coronavirus. It’s domestic political terrorism. But Trump will be fine. His voters know better. We aren’t falling for it.”
And so it went Thursday in Ypsilanti. With the president paying special attention to Michigan at a time of unprecedented turmoil in the state, touring a region rich in symbolic value for his reelection campaign, nearly every conversation with his die-hard supporters detoured into the dark and conspiratorial. Sure, there was talk outside the Ford plant of jobs created and regulations slashed and veterans taken care of. But much of that talk was perfunctory, a sort of rhetorical appetizer before digging into the red-blood entrees the president has chosen to serve up for his base.
Having obsessively covered the Republican Party from the ground-up over the past decade, from the twilight of George W. Bush through the first term of Donald Trump, I thought I’d seen it all, heard it all. But this was new. The warp speed at which alarms about voter fraud—and specifically, voting by mail—were synchronized from the president’s Twitter feed to the lips of his voters guarantees a volatile five months ahead, and a potentially volcanic period thereafter.
“This was the most exciting day of my life. Okay, the second-most exciting day, after the birth of my grandkids,” says Paula Stone, an Ypsilanti resident, after the president’s motorcade passes. Tonight, Stone says, like every other night, she’ll watch Fox News and click around the internet and social media for information about the president. But she’s not particularly interested in the highlights of his speech inside the Ford plant.
“I want to know more about this vote-by-mail fraud,” she says. “I’ve heard some shady shit is going down.”

There is no way these frothing lunatics will accept a Biden win or a Trump loss. These people are scared, angry, and facing an economic depression unlike anything before it, we all are.

But there's a very good chance that when these cultists realize their God-emperor is going to lose, they will lash out in unprecedented violence.  It's only going to take one spark, one wrong call by law enforcement or by a mob worked up to bloody rage and a lot of people will get hurt.

And like COVID-19, that bloodshed will spread like wildfire around the nation.

Trump will relish it, of course.

That's the real problem.

Alabama Goes Viral

Don't look now, but new COVID-19 cases in Montgomery, Alabama this month are starting to overwhelm available ICU beds.

Montgomery hospitals are starting to run low on intensive care beds, said Dr. David Thrasher, a critical care doctor at Montgomery Pulmonary Consultants. The four counties making up the Montgomery metro area have seen a combined 721 new confirmed coronavirus cases since May 4 – an increase of 110 percent.

Mayor Steven Reed said the virus is straining the city’s hospitals.

“I’m concerned about the current status of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Reed said. “We are seeing an increase in the number of people who test positive. Occupancy in our Intensive Care Units has reached a critical point and Montgomery hospital officials are now referring some cases to Birmingham.”

Beyond the numbers, Thrasher also has concerns about the faces he’s seeing. About 40 percent of his patients have been between the ages of 25 and 40. And although older people are more likely to die from the virus, he said he has treated many younger patients, including a couple hairstylists. Some of his younger patients haven’t survived.

Since May 1, 27 people have died of the virus across the Montgomery metro.

Last week, a couple pastors reached out to Thrasher for advice on whether to hold church services. He advised against it, since religious services have proved to be hot spots for coronavirus transmission. The ensuing exchange wound up on Facebook, where it has been shared many times.

“There is no way for me not to cry when I see and treat folks that I work with and are giving their all to help others,” Thrasher wrote. “Many are on vents. Just intubated a 26-year-old male who will probably die. It is hitting Blacks worse but nobody is safe. We have to have an economic engine, but we have to insist for people to use good sense.”
The economy must reopen, he said, but that doesn’t mean going all the way back to normal.

“I’m not for shutting down the city,” Thrasher told on Tuesday afternoon. “But I want people to be careful. Wear a mask in public. Wash your hands. Don’t go into groups unless you have to.

Expect this to be replayed throughout hundreds of smaller US cities in the weeks ahead. Everyone who thought the pandemic was "over" is about to get a nasty dose of reality...and maybe a nasty dose of a potentially lethal virus.

US cases are rising still, and we're "reopening" the states anyway.

Dallas, Houston, Southeast Florida’s Gold Coast, the entire state of Alabama and several other places in the South that have been rapidly reopening their economies are in danger of a second wave of coronavirus infections over the next four weeks, according to a research team that uses cellphone data to track social mobility and forecast the trajectory of the pandemic.

The model, developed by PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and updated Wednesday with new data, suggests that most communities in the United States should be able to avoid a second spike in the near term if residents are careful to maintain social distancing even as businesses open up and restrictions are eased.

But the risk for resurgence is high in some parts of the country, especially in places where cases are already rising fast, including the counties of Crawford, Iowa; Colfax, Neb.; and Texas, Okla. and the city of Richmond. Since May 3, Crawford County’s caseload has risen by 750 percent, and Colfax County’s has increased 1,390 percent, according to state data compiled by The Washington Post.

This is an anxious moment for the nation as people emerge from shutdowns and communities try to reinvigorate economic activity. Scientists and public health experts are monitoring rates of infections and hospitalizations, but it is difficult to forecast during this transitional period because models struggle to capture how people actually behave, including adherence to social distancing and hand-washing practices.

There are preliminary signs, however, that hot spots — new clusters of coronavirus spread — could soon flare across parts of the South and Midwest.

“As communities reopen, we’re starting to detect evidence of resurgence in cases in places that have overreached a bit,” said David Rubin, director of PolicyLab.

It's going to be a disaster within weeks at this point, and given the number of states where lawsuits are being actively pursued to prevent shelter-at-home orders, the virus is going to be impossible to contain.

When governors try to roll back openings, it's going to be a nightmare.

There absolutely will be armed protests in some of those states, lawsuits in others, and the simple act of wearing a mask, which would have helped contain the virus months ago, is such a political act now that enough of the country will refuse to do it that it makes trying to contain it pointless.

We're getting close to a major breaking point in the next six weeks or so.  It's going to be worst-case scenario at this juncture.

Don't expect Trump to lift a finger when that happens, either.

Biden, His Time, Con't

CNN's Harry Enten reminds us that despite Biden's good polling in May, Donald Trump is still the incumbent, and leading in May is a big difference from winning in November, as 2016 stands out as the big flashing neon sign that Democrats always have to fight as if they are losing.

Former Vice President Joe Biden is ahead of President Donald Trump in the presidential race. He leads in the swing states and is up somewhere between 5 and 8 points nationally, depending on what methodology you use.
Yet it's important to point out that even if the polls are an accurate representation of the current state of the race, presidential races can shift a lot during the final six months of the campaign.
Biden may be favored, but this race is far from over.
Take a look at every presidential election involving an incumbent since 1940. It's 13 races in total and gives us a good baseline from which to work.
There's been a 11-point difference between an average of May polls and the result in the average election. That would be more than enough to change the course of the 2020 race, if the shift occurred in Trump's direction.
Now some of these races (most notably 1964) had polling leaders with large margins that have never occurred in any modern presidential election and were bound to shrink during the course of the campaign. If we look at the only races where the polling leader had a 25-point advantage or less, the average difference between the polls at this point and the result has still been a fairly high 8 points.
If the 2020 race moved 8 points in Trump's direction, he'd win.
You could even concentrate on just the most recent incumbent elections of 2004 and 2012. Like 2020, opinions of the incumbents (George W. Bush in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2012) were hardened early. The final national results in those races differed from the May polls by 3 and 4 points.
If the 2020 race moved 3 to 4 points in Trump's direction, he might not win the popular vote, but he would have a pretty good shot of winning the electoral college.
Interestingly, there have been three presidents who have lost since 1940 (Gerald Ford in 1976, Jimmy Carter in 1980 and George H.W. Bush in 1992). Two of them (Carter and Bush) were actually ahead in the polls at this point. Carter was up by 6 points and lost by 10 points nationally. Bush was up by 8 points over Bill Clinton and 6 points over Ross Perot, and Clinton would defeat Bush by 6 points and Perot by 24 points. Meanwhile, Harry Truman and George W. Bush were trailing by small margins in the May 1948 and 2004 polls respectively, and both would go on to win by small margins.
Of course, just because something is possible doesn't mean it's likely.
Even if we saw a swing in the 2020 race, there's no guarantee it would go in Trump's favor. In the 13 races since 1940, seven times the incumbent did better than he was polling now. The other six times, the challenger did better. Just based on that data alone, it's really no better than a 50/50 proposition that Trump will do better in the results than he is polling currently.

Trump needs a three point shift to win the electoral college.

That's all he needs.

He can do that through GOP voter suppression alone.

Don't ever let yourself think Biden is winning easily. Don't ever relax. Remember 2016.  Clinton lost that election in the last ten days of the campaign thanks to James Comey.

Don't let up. The second we do, we lose everything.

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学生对 University of Houston 提供的 双语大脑 的评价和反馈

292 个评分
62 条评论

This course explores the brain bases of bilingualism by discussing literature relevant to differences in age of initial learning, proficiency, and control in the nonverbal, single language and dual-language literature. Participants will learn about the latest research related to how humans learn one or two languages and other cognitive skills....

Jan 18, 2018

This course helped me in understanding various aspects of how brain and mind works and how we can use these knowledge for studying different languages and also when we multitasks

Oct 31, 2016

A great course for those who are interested in the fascinating bilingual research going on in area. Clearly stated, up-to-date literature shared.

26 - 双语大脑 的 50 个评论（共 62 个）

创建者 Elena N

Sep 01, 2018

Very interesting and informative course. Thank you!

创建者 Dr. A D P

Jul 25, 2020

One of the best courses available on Coursera

创建者 Filipe G F d M

Apr 16, 2018

Nothing less than amazing and helpful.

创建者 Andrea M P

Aug 21, 2017

Great teacher, great lectures!

创建者 Valdéres R d S

Jul 23, 2020

This course is amazing!

创建者 Rudakova A

Apr 02, 2018

The course is perfect!

创建者 Carlos E M d L

Mar 28, 2020

Really insightful.

Jul 23, 2020

Excellent course

创建者 Jacqueline D F C

Oct 28, 2018

Nov 07, 2019

Jul 31, 2020

创建者 Amit K

Jan 05, 2019

Excellent information and well-presented. I think some of the early lesson videos were not timed very well (either too long or too short). An ideal video length for one lesson for me is 8-10 minutes. I liked the flow of the course, the planning of the lessons and the examples used. The subtitles were not always well-transcribed. The transcribers did not bother to check up non-English words, the real spellings of researcher names, and in one case actually got this professor's name wrong. End of unit quizzes being exact repeats of lesson quizzes made things a bit too easy to pass.

创建者 Luna L

Dec 17, 2016

The content of this course is really interesting and intriguing, but it would better if there are additional sources and information. Also, instead of mainly picture the teacher in the video, it would be nice if there could be more graphics and diagrams to illustrate the idea that the professor is trying to convey. Besides those minor deficiencies, I would say that this is a really good course and will worth your time.

创建者 Yoko L

Apr 30, 2020

As a Japanese English bilingual, I found this course very interesting as it gave me some insight into how I might've acquired the two languages and explain some of the phenomenons I experience day to day when switching between languages. It also gave me some fruit for thought on how I might expose the two languages to kids down the future.

创建者 Lisa G

Jul 03, 2017

I would have liked deeper explanations of the charts and diagrams that were used so it's easier for those of us not familiar with the studies or brain images to understand.

Overall I really enjoyed the class! I'm getting my MA in Linguistics and Language Acquisition in the fall, and this was a great warm-up into that.

创建者 Mariana C

May 31, 2020

Some really nice concepts and ideas shared, but sometimes questions at the end of the videos (and final assessment) were REALLY nonsense - related to little details which were not that relevant to the general knowledge we should gain after the course.

Other than that, it was really nice taking this course.

创建者 Isabel F

Jan 12, 2018

I enjoyed the course and learned quite a bit, yet I agree with all the improvements suggested by others here in the review section. Just videos and the same quizzes over and over is a bit monotonous. But still, I would recommend the course for anybody interested in the subject matter.

创建者 Linda

Jun 29, 2020

The course was interesting. Perhaps a little bit to much of a summary of studies, one after another. There were no assignments which could help to process the theories. But I did learn some interesting aspects of the bilingual brain.

创建者 Daniela L N D

Oct 22, 2017

The course is excellent and doctor Hernandez is an amazing professor. However, I believe it would be very good if we could have access to the studies and articles he talks about during the course.

创建者 Tyson P d M U

Oct 07, 2019

Very interesting and informative. Many aspects make you think of language, the mind, and the brain in a different way. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

创建者 Vita d G

Apr 06, 2018

Loved it. I hope there will be a follow up. I still have many questions about bilingualism

创建者 Elena A

May 04, 2017

Very good context, yet the modules could be better distinguished.

创建者 Carolina A V S

Jun 09, 2018

Very interesting information. Good course.

创建者 Angelina L

Feb 15, 2017

Very useful and scientific oriented

创建者 Claudia A M

Mar 05, 2019

It was interesting.


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By on Wednesday November 13, 2019

Living in a gated community comes with loads of benefits. You feel a heightened sense of security, as gated communities promise controlled property access, no solicitation, pedestrian safety… the list goes on and on. Most gated communities are equipped with a gate guard. Wearing that oh-so shiny security badge and a friendly smile, gate guards had originally been known as the ultimate gatekeeper and a true asset to the neighborhood’s security system.

Although they do provide many benefits to a gated community, guards are not invincible. As it turns out, guards at the community gate are humans just like us. That being said, they can make mistakes when it comes to receiving guests or communicating with members of the neighborhood. Human error can in fact cause a few mishaps. What are some of the most common mishaps that can occur at your community’s entrance gate?

Potential credential confusion
When a guest pulls up to a gated community’s guard house, they are expecting a swift entry into the neighborhood. First, the guard will take the guest’s identification and their reason for visiting. Then, the guard will try to contact or cross-reference the community’s resident list to match you up with your host. If there is miscommunication between the guard and the guest, the guard may contact the wrong resident, or even send you to another resident’s house that has a similar name to your host. Imagine showing up at some stranger’s house. Embarrassing, huh?

Lack of assistance when gate is understaffed
Since community guards are only human, they can only be stationed at one place at one time. If your community only employs one security guard at a time, this may leave some lulls at the guard gate when assistance is needed elsewhere. Your guests may not get the help they deserve in real-time.

Poor communication with community members
Sometimes, security guards can only be as effective as the technology they are equipped with at the gate. If the entry system is outdated or broken, the guard won’t be able to properly communicate with the community’s database or with the community members themselves. Antiquated technology leaves room for many more gatekeeping issues than expected.

Thankfully, modern technology is making its way to neighborhood security. How so? Innovative gatekeeping technology, like ZUUL Systems, prepares community guards with the tools they need to properly support an entire neighborhood. ZUUL is a modern way to deal with the age-old hassle of entering a gated community. It’s an app that enhances existing guest registry and entry systems within a secured neighborhood.

Community managers: don’t wait to experience cutting-edge community security today. Your residents, guests, and guards will thank you. To learn more, visit ZUUL Systems.

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