Names and faces
Embattled Fox News host Laura Ingraham has found some unlikely allies: Russian bots. Russian-linked Twitter accounts have rallied around the conservative talk-show host, who has come under fire for attacking the young survivors of the Parkland school shooting. According to the website Hamilton 68, which tracks the use of Russian propaganda on Twitter, the hashtag #IstandwithLaura jumped 2,800 percent in 48 hours this weekend. On Saturday night, it was the top trending hashtag among Russian campaigners. The website botcheck. me, which tracks 1,500 “political propaganda bots,” found that ingrahamangle, davidhogg111 and foxnews were among the top six Twitter handles tweeted by Russia-linked accounts this weekend. Ingraham is not on the air this week, telling viewers that she was taking an Easter break. She came under harsh criticism after she mocked Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg, who had spoken out about his disappointment at not being accepted by four University of California schools, including UCLA. Hogg has a 4.2 GPA and a 1270 SAT score. In response, Hogg took to Twitter to call on the companies that advertise on Ingraham’s Fox New program to pull their ads. Within days, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle, Hulu, Jos. A. Bank, Jenny Craig, Ruby Tuesday, Miracle-Ear and several other companies pulled their commercials from the show. Although Ingraham later apologized, Hogg called Ingraham’s apology an insincere “effort just to save your advertisers.” And this weekend, Hogg called Ingraham a “bully” on CNN, saying “No matter who somebody is, no matter how big or powerful they may seem, a bully is a bully, and it’s important that you stand up to them.”
Dallas police have recovered four guitars stolen from Nils Lofgren before the longtime member of the E Street Band was due to perform in the city. On Monday, Dallas police tweeted that they also have made an arrest in the theft. However, department spokesman Cpl. Debra Webb provided no further details. Lofgren tweeted his gratitude that his instruments have been recovered, saying: “Looks like my guitars are coming back to me.” Police haven’t said if a harp that was also stolen has been found. The instruments were left in a van parked outside a Holiday Inn Thursday. The theft was discovered Friday morning. The veteran rocker used borrowed instruments when he performed solo at the Kessler Theater in Dallas on Friday night. The E Street Band has backed singer Bruce Springsteen since 1972.