Courtesy of The Guardian:
On Tuesday, the newspaper RBC published a major investigation into the work of a so-called Russian “troll factory” since 2015, including during the period of the US election campaign, disclosures that are likely to put further spotlight on alleged Russian meddling in the election.
The existence of the troll factory, which has a history of spamming Russian and English blogs and comment forums, has been reported on by many outlets including the Guardian, but the RBC investigation is the first in-detail look at the organisation’s activity during the election period.
RBC said it had identified 118 accounts or groups in Facebook, Instagram and Twitter that were linked to the troll factory, all of which had been blocked in August and September this year as part of the US investigation into Russian electoral meddling.
Many of the accounts had already been linked to Russian disinformation efforts in western outlets, but RBC said its sources at the troll factory had provided screenshots of the internal group administration pages of some of the groups, as proof they were run from Russia. It also spoke to former and current employees of the troll factory, all of whom spoke anonymously.
Perhaps the most alarming element of the article was the claim that employees of the troll factory had contacted about 100 real US-based activists to help with the organisation of protests and events. RBC claimed the activists were contacted by Facebook group administrators hiding their Russian origin and were offered financial help to pay for transport or printing costs. About $80,000 was spent during a two-year period, according to the report.
So another $80,000?
Oh but that is not all. Not by a long shot.
Courtesy of CNN:
A social media campaign calling itself "Blacktivist" and linked to the Russian government used both Facebook and Twitter in an apparent attempt to amplify racial tensions during the U.S. presidential election, two sources with knowledge of the matter told CNN. The Twitter account has been handed over to Congress; the Facebook account is expected to be handed over in the coming days.
Both Blacktivist accounts, each of which used the handle Blacktivists, regularly shared content intended to stoke outrage. "Black people should wake up as soon as possible," one post on the Twitter account read. "Black families are divided and destroyed by mass incarceration and death of black men," another read. The accounts also posted videos of police violence against African Americans.
And then there is this:
A group linked to the Russian troll farm behind thousands of fake Facebook ads paid personal trainers in New York, Florida, and other parts of the United States to run self-defense classes for African Americans in an apparent attempt to stoke fear and gather contact details of Americans potentially susceptible to their propaganda.
"Be ready to protect your rights... Let them know that black power matters," the group, known as Black Fist, wrote on its website promoting the events.
The group appears to have been set up in January 2017, and it ran events before stopping at some point this year, evidence that Russia's attempts to use social media to meddle in American affairs have extended far beyond the 2016 presidential election.
The events, which appear to have been designed to suggest a connection to the Black Lives Matter movement, were -- unbeknownst to the trainers who led them -- likely conceived by the Russian government-linked Internet Research Agency.
Seriously?
At this point nobody could possibly say that the Russian government was not all in to help Donald Trump get elected.
And you simply do not put this much effort into something unless you are getting a substantial, guaranteed, benefit.
Peep 'T'Ape>$hitgibbon:"the infamous “pee-pee tape” dossier that alleged he got a “golden shower” from Russian prostitutes was concocted by a conspiracy between the Democratic Party, the FBI, and the Russian government.
ReplyDelete“Workers of firm involved with the discredited and Fake Dossier take the 5th,”
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/trump-floats-conspiracy-by-democrats-fbi-and-russia-to-pay-for-pee-pee-tape-dossier/
Trump claimed that Russia, the FBI, or the Democrats paid opposition research firm Fusion GPS for the damning Steele Dossier, but in fact anti-Trump Republicans actually funded the Steele Dossier originally. As more and more of the Steele Dossier's unverified in parts charges prove to be uncomfortably accurate, conservatives circled the wagons to sell Trump's lies.
Deletehttp://www.politicususa.com/2017/10/19/trump-bender-lies-discredit-steele-trump-russia-dossier.html
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/oklahoma-school-bans-gestures-of-protest-in-new-rule-forcing-students-to-stand-for-the-national-anthem/
ReplyDelete"“expected” to stand for the anthem whenever it’s played — and that the school reserves the right to punish them if they don’t." “nothing in this policy is intended to make anyone go against their religious, political or social beliefs,” and is instead intended to serve as a tribute to military service members who sacrificed their lives for the country."
http://www.politicususa.com/2017/10/19/twitters-animal-farm-enforcement-tos-greenlights-misogyny-trump-followers-russian-bots.html
ReplyDelete"rump can retweet white supremacists without consequences. It’s why the tweeps who harassed and threatened Chris Suprun after he announced he would not cast his electoral college vote for Donald J.Trump did so with impunity."
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/congresswoman-faces-flood-of-threats-after-revealing-trumps-comments-to-gold-star-family/
Niger Niger Niger
ReplyDeletehttps://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/its-diversion-maddows-explosive-new-theory-about-the-niger-attack-spells-trouble-for-trump/
"“It’s not just distraction, it’s diversion."
"“That makes me really want to know what happened in Niger,”< RM
Donald Trump’s Niger scandal just turned into a (real) Benghazi scandal
DeleteBenghazi was a fake “scandal” all along. Niger is everything Benghazi wasn’t – and more.
...Four U.S. soldiers were killed in Niger two weeks ago, and no one knows what they were doing there – except that it came shortly after Niger curiously signed a military cooperation agreement with Russia. Donald Trump and his administration have been so desperate to keep the media and the public from paying attention to the Niger military op, he’s done everything from nixing a prepared statement acknowledging the deaths of the soldiers, to avoiding calling their families.
It’s now abundantly clear that Trump doesn’t want the American people to know what the military operation in Niger was about, or how those four U.S. soldiers were killed, or what they were doing when they died. Trump lost a U.S. soldier earlier this year when he ordered an ill advised raid in Yemen, yet he didn’t seek to cover it up. So it’s not as if this is merely his modus operandi for his military failures. No, there’s something specifically scandalous about this that he’s trying to hide – and considering that his entire presidency has been based around kissing Russia’s ass, the Niger-Russia connection cannot be overlooked.
Donald Trump’s Niger scandal is now everything that Benghazi never was, but was long falsely accused of being: a needless loss of four American lives caused by some combination of incompetence and underhanded motive on the part of the White House.
http://www.palmerreport.com/opinion/niger-benghazi-donald-trump/5593/
MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow has a provocative new theory explaining President Donald Trump’s decision to insult the memories of fallen service members. Maddow connected the dots on a pattern of damage control she has seen from this White House, suggesting that this could all be part of an elaborate cover-up.
Delete“It’s not just distraction, it’s diversion. Just barely related enough in terms of subject matter, doesn’t just challenge people to talk about something new but stands in for real scandal,” Maddow explained. “Muddies the real story’s storyline. Diverts energy from the initial news cycle that was difficult for the White House to deal with. Not just distraction, diversion.”
“That’s political tactic,” Maddow explained.”You can learn it or have it instinctively.”
Maddow then noted all of the unanswered questions about what killed American troops in Niger.
“Something about what happened in Niger has caused this president, apparently instinctively, to divert the conversation from what happened to those soldiers,” Maddow explained.
Trump would “rather have a national conversation about his own callousness and mistakes…he would rather talk about that, than what happened in Niger.”
“That makes me really want to know what happened in Niger,” Maddow noted.
Watch Rachel Maddow connect the dots (two parts):
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/its-diversion-maddows-explosive-new-theory-about-the-niger-attack-spells-trouble-for-trump/
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/10/what-we-know-niger-attack.html
DeleteS.E. Cupp: You Want Answers On Benghazi? You Should Want Answers About Niger
Deletehttps://www.mediaite.com/tv/s-e-cupp-if-you-wanted-answers-about-benghazi-you-should-want-answers-about-niger/
McCain Says Trump Admin Isn’t Being Upfront With Congress On Niger Attack
Deletehttp://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/mccain-trump-admin-not-forthcoming-niger-attack
Pentagon launches formal investigation into deadly Niger ambush
Deletehttp://thehill.com/policy/defense/356234-pentagon-launches-formal-investigation-into-deadly-niger-ambush
IT has been obvious from the beginning of that Republican assclown circus that this was a mob style take over of America. No concern for the safety of Americans. This joke did get out of hand. And don will not be the only one going down for it. Russia and the deplorable un-American filth trash have been working on this little nasty plan for years. Pathetic. Let justice be served to each of them.
ReplyDeleteLittle late to cry over stolen milk, eh?
DeleteWill Donald show up for his rally in florida? His pal spencer is speaking on his behalf. Gotta keep that hate alive right republicans?
ReplyDeleteNorth Korea sent slaves to work in Russia too.
ReplyDeletehttp://thehill.com/policy/defense/356166-north-korea-warns-us-of-unimaginable-nuclear-strike
DeleteBoth scummy leaders. Gross.
DeleteHELLo“is WARfare,” “I will tell you that when a country can come interfere in another country’s elections, that is WARfare. It really is, because you’re making sure that the democracy shifts from what the people want to giving out that misinformation,” “I find it fascinating because the Russians, GOD BLE$$ ‘em, they’re saying,
ReplyDelete‘Why are Americans anti-Russian?’ And why have we done the sanctions?
Well, don’t interfere in our elections and WE won’t be anti-Russian,” Haley said Thursday. “And I think WE have to be so hard on this and WE have to hold them accountable and WE have to get the private sector to understand they are responsible for this too. WeE all have to step up from this event.”
http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/19/nikki-haley-russia-meddling-warfare-243942
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-campaign-staffers-pushed-russian-propaganda-days-before-the-election
ReplyDelete"The discovery of the now-unavailable tweets presents the first evidence that several members of the Trump campaign pushed covert Russian propaganda on social media in the run-up to the 2016 election."
"Last month, after the account’s closure, someone launched a petition on the White House’s “We The People” site complaining about “a war on conservatives on Twitter.” The petition demanded the reinstatement of several alt-right Twitter accounts that had been suspended from the service, adding “My own account, @Tennessee_GOP, was banned on August the 23th.”"
Russia’s Pro-Trump Operation Keeps Expanding
Deletehttp://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/russias-pro-trump-operation-keeps-expanding
WATCH: Bush just delivered a stunning 16-minute repudiation of Trumpism — without ever mentioning his name
ReplyDeletehttps://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/watch-bush-just-delivered-a-stunning-16-minute-repudiation-of-trumpism-without-ever-mentioning-his-name/
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/the-face-of-the-resistance-internet-gobsmacked-after-george-w-bush-delivers-remarkable-anti-trump-screed/
George W. Bush Slams #MAGA: Nativism, Bigotry, ‘Casual Cruelty’ Pulling Us Apart
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mediaite.com/tv/george-w-bush-goes-off-on-nativism-bigotry-in-speech-casual-cruelty-pulling-us-apart/
https://thinkprogress.org/these-wealthy-institutions-are-quietly-financing-white-nationalism-5313db89b185/
ReplyDeleteThe business of HATE>Bud $eX?" “I have been struggling with this. I need to stay, if not clean, then clean enough,” Yiannopoulos wrote after an acquaintance advised him to avoid being identified as a white supremacist.
Yiannopoulos described Saucier in another email as “my best friend,” but in comments to Buzzfeed said he rejected white nationalist ideas."
" Mercer made his money as co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies, or “RenTech,” a quantitative hedge fund that uses computer algorithms to make investment decisions.
Mercer and his daughter, Rebekah, don’t just invest in Breitbart — they use it to push their own views and interests. Yiannopoulos served as a conduit for assignments from the Mercers to a pool of young Breitbart researchers, according to emails reported by BuzzFeed. As Yiannopoulos expanded from the website to live shows at college campuses, an employee of the Mercers’ production company, Glittering Steel, organized his tour."
" MILO Inc. Robert Mercer funded it. Just two weeks after being let go from Breitbart, Yiannopoulos received a wire transfer from “Robert Mercer’s accountant”
"According to Magerman’s suit, Mercer told him in a January 2017 phone call that the “United States began to go in the wrong direction after the passage of the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s.” Mercer said, according to Magerman’s account, that “African-Americans were doing fine” before the Civil Rights Act, which “infantilized” them. Magerman says Mercer told him that “the only remaining racist people in the United States were black.” Although Mercer said he does not believe any whites are racist, if they were it “is not something the government should be concerned with.”
"Renaissance Technologies now manages $45 Billion in a$$ets, up from $27 Billion at the start 2016, according to Forbes."
OT
ReplyDelete"Former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall:
“The legal system can force open doors, and sometimes even knock down walls. But it cannot build bridges. That job belongs to you and me.”
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/10/voter-suppression-wisconsin-election-2016/
OT;
ReplyDeletehttp://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-fugitive-couple-20171019-story.html