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Facebook Apologizes to Palin, Kerik Bashes Mosque on Twitter


By

John Del Signore

Published Jul 23, 2010

Modified Jul 23, 2010


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By

John Del Signore

Published Jul 23, 2010

Modified Jul 23, 2010


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Yesterday Facebook took down Sarah Palin's Facebook post about the proposed mosque and community center near Ground Zero. But the popular social networking site/major motion picture franchise later apologized, and explained that Palin's note was removed not because she's an insufferable asshole, but because the automated system made a boo-boo.

Websites like Free Williamsburg had encouraged readers to report Palin's essay (ha) as "Racist/Hate Speech," and it looks like they succeeded in triggering Facebook's auto censor. "The note in question did not violate our content standards but was removed by an automated system," Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said in a statement. "We're always working to improve our processes, and we apologize for any inconvenience this caused." You can now breathe easy New Yorkers, because the crazy Alaskan woman's advice for you has been reposted.

The past week has seen a flurry of Republicans rushing to boost their Tea Party cred by bashing the proposed mosque. So you can imagine how frustrating this has been for the former chief of police of 9/11 Town, Bernard Kerik. He's currently in the pokey for being a corrupt political hack, and in prison they don't let you go on Facebook, or even the Internet! (Which sounds like cruel and unusual punishment to us.) But yesterday Kerik found a way to share his opinion on the mosque debate, mysteriously tweeting a link to that anti-mosque commercial the networks refused to run. (A prison official speculated Kerik has someone on the outside using Twitter for him.)

So now we've heard from Kerik, Palin, Gingrich, Paladino, Lazio, and, let's not forget, the King of 9/11 Rudolph Giuliani. Who's left? Bush and Cheney have thus far stayed on the sidelines, as far we know. And why haven't we heard from old guard types like Henry Kissinger or Nancy Reagan? Where's the ghost of H. R. Haldeman on this?

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Bernard Kerik

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ground zero mosque

sarah palin


John Del Signore

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Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


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