Dick Cheney said that once. Slippery ground.
Russia-linked Facebook ads and Twitter accounts from 2016 campaign released by House Intel Committee
I won’t: Perhaps it’s neither here nor there, but this morning I received an email from them, saying “Welcome!” and asking me to confirm that I had created an account with “n***ahs” in the name.
I, most assuredly, had not.
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Re: Dank Bernie Memes.
I know about 10 people, none from VT, who were wating for Bernie to run since the early '90s. We were big fans.
None of them were sharing these memes. I think the people fooled by those memes were -not- Sanders supporters - mostly HRC supporters.
There were a lot of complaints about “Bernie Bros”, but other than whomever was making those memes… i never met a Bernie Bro… just heard about em online, from people who, frankly, tend to put ‘bro’ after things in a totally not at all misandrist way.
We can address Facebook, and the other issues, as we should.
But not being fooled… it’s a matter of personal responsibility too. It really is not the governments job to protect your from your own preconceived notions and prejudices.
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The resurgence of right-wing populism in the industrialised West is a short-term, a medium-term, and a long-term problem that can only be addressed one way:
Defend the Values of Liberal Democracy
There are many ways to do this, including but not limited to: resisting the dangerous and retrograde policies of the current regime in Washington; working to elect as many of its opponents in 2018 to form a legislative counterbalance; stand up to fascist thugs and Confederate revanchists like those in Charlottesville; suport immigrants who want to partake of those values; join the ACLU and help defend the Bill of Rights; support the social justice efforts of BLM; listen to women who claim harassment; work for election and campaign finance reform; work to reform the Democratic Party into one that’s competent, effective and in-touch; support regulatory reforms for the financial services sector; call your representatives to back single-payer universal health insurance.
And yes, call out those who would make excuses for or downplay the efforts of the right-wing ultra-nationalist Russian autocrat who – make no mistake – considers those Western liberal democratic ideals his enemy and is expending resources throughout the West to undermine them. Russia alone is not responsible for the debacle in the U.S., but to ignore or downplay the Kremlin’s efforts in support of the domestic dysfunction that caused it is to pretend they are not carrying out a systematic geopolitical campaign to promote right-wing populism throughout the world.
In the short term they are the problem, and if we don’t defend liberal democratic values now it will only get worse later.
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And also…
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Russia was playing the popular game: “Let’s you and him fight!”
Here’s a write-up from the Texas Tribune:
"Heart of Texas, a Russian-controlled Facebook group that promoted Texas secession, leaned into an image of the state as a land of guns and barbecue and amassed hundreds of thousands of followers. One of their ads on Facebook announced a noon rally on May 21, 2016 to “Stop Islamification of Texas.”
A separate Russian-sponsored group, United Muslims of America, advertised a “Save Islamic Knowledge” rally for the same place and time.
On that day, protesters organized by the two groups showed up on Travis Street in downtown Houston, a scene that appeared on its face to be a protest and a counterprotest. Interactions between the two groups eventually escalated into confrontation and verbal attacks.
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If the vote is split 50-50, why raise the issue of Russian interference compared to any other group? The Koch brothers, Sheldon Adelson, etc.? There haven’t been hundreds of stories about that spending, on BoingBoing or elsewhere, although in my opinion it’s much worse for our democracy - especially because it is so normalized. If the Russian influence is within a margin-of-error so small, is it actually influence?
Xeni has been reporting extensively on Russian meddling in the election - I haven’t seen any stories from her about the generally poor state of campaign finance, super-PACs, etc. If she seems to believe that these other things had more of an influence on the election outcome, it is hard to see from her work, which seems to uncritically bring up Russia whenever it pops up in the news cycle. I’m still waiting for a correction on this false story.
As for giving corrupt Dems a pass, the “Russian interference” story has, from the beginning, been an attempt by the self-same corrupt Dems to deflect from their rampant corruption throughout this election season, most of which was aimed at stifling members of their own party. The level of press complicity in this operation is amazing, though not surprising, and others have definitely used the words “witch hunt”, “McCarthyism”, and so on to describe it. Here is Tabbi using the word ‘mass hysteria’, for example. I don’t think it’s beyond the pale given how little actual substance there is to this story.
This is exactly why I hate this story so much, by the way: because it is a dodge. It is a very boring, standard, political operation: make us look away from where the ball really is, while the game continues. The game, by the way, is selling this country down the river for political power.
I’ll wait to see if Xeni reports on Dona Brazile’s latest revelations about DNC and HFA corruption. My guess is, not. The Democrats remain a shambles of a party; the midterm elections are approaching rapidly. We are going to be deeply fucked, and we are still talking about this Russia non-issue more than a year on.
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Small margins are more easily manipulated by bad actors. As awful and destructive as the Koch brothers and Adelson are, they’re still Americans and they’re not autocratic heads of foreign states with long experience in disinformation, propaganda, and kompromat and with access to the kind of talent and resources a powerful nation-state has. I don’t think Putin is due one iota of influence in an American election, but perhaps you disagree.
Xeni and the rest of the Happy Mutants have also done extensive reporting on campaign finance, gerrymandering, voter disenfranchisement, and other GOP cheats, long before the 2016 election season. That the authoritarian head of a powerful foreign state would demonstrably support the Republican efforts last year (along with right-wing populist efforts in other countries) is a new and noteworthy addition to the dysfunction of American politics, but again, perhaps you disagree.
That Clinton and the DNC are trying to use the Russian interference to deflect attention from their own bungling and corruption (which BB has also reported on and which most of us also deplore) is not surprising, but that doesn’t change the indisputable fact that the Russian interference occurred or that other liberals and progressives should find it more disturbing and deplorable than it seems you do.
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This. As important as it is to tackle root causes, you have to deal with the symptoms, too.
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Im persuaded. Now where do I buy the beer?
At the Kremlin
#1 and #2 were known going in, which made it vital to avoid #3.
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I think Bernie had better chances to win than Clinton but it is what it is. So done with this current administration, wish i could just fast forward ]:
Looks delicious. And who is that plausible and might I say, devilishly attractive man drinking the beer?
Whoever he is, he looks like a man I could trust.
I’m very much looking forward to Donna Brazile’s book -
The US government thinks it has the right to interfere in the elections of other countries. I am afraid that once the US government elected itself the world’s policeman, people elsewhere started to wonder why they had no say in the matter.
As I say, a plague on both your houses (and on our own government and its delusions of imperial grandeur and playing the Great Game).
I can only quote my earlier response to him:
To be clear, I understand this is not what you’re claiming, but it is a standard “useful idiot” talking point.
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Ah well, IRL people call me a “useless idiot”, there is that.
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We obviously differ in our understanding of the situation. A lot of this is inevitably a matter of subjective judgement and interpretation rather than simple proof. This is just my take on it; I’m no less fallible than anyone else.
But to present my alternative perspective…
That was last year’s fight; we lost.
Fascist America isn’t a potential thing, it’s an actual thing. They aren’t at full intensity yet, but they’re working up to it. The process is likely to rapidly accelerate after the midterms, and/or when another war begins.
- Resistance in Washington.
Yes, it should happen, although the numbers mean that any such action is usually symbolic. Unfortunately, the Establishment Dems are barely resisting at all.
- Elections in 2018.
There are several problems with that.
Firstly, a thousand Puerto Ricans are already dead, and they are still dying. The civil society of Puerto Rico is being actively dismantled. The island will never recover if this process is allowed to continue.
Secondly, poor and Black Americans are still being routinely murdered by police, with no chance of justice.
Third, millions of poor and Black Americans are functionally enslaved in a brutally biased carceral state.
Fourth, one child is being killed every ten minutes by the US-backed Saudi attack on the people of Yemen.
Fifth, the US war machine is straining at the leash. Trump will launch a war. US Presidents always do.
Sixth, and most importantly: fascists are counting the votes. The Trumpists are bastards, but they aren’t all idiots. They know that they would be deposed if a real election were to be held. That is why they are actively, obviously and successfully working to prevent that possibility.
- Stand up to fascist thugs.
Damn right; with you 100% on that.
The folks doing that could use some help, though. Protest is expensive, and BLM and Antifa are working class. They don’t have a lot of resources to spare.
There’s also the “if you don’t want us to fight, show up with us and we won’t have to” angle. There have been some good demonstrations, but where are the millions of middle class people who showed up for the centrist-organised demos that happened in the first days of Trump?
- Support immigrants.
See this thread:
They ain’t doing too well. Trump is arresting undocumented Americans even faster than Obama did, and they are deliberately targeting the most vulnerable amongst them.
.
I could keep going, but you get the idea. Obviously, I do not think that this is a situation that calls for gradual, incremental reform or purely defensive resistance.
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I do not ignore the role of Russia; I was one of the first here to point it out, and one of the only people mentioning the implications of military alliance. They provide valuable hacking and propaganda support to their Trumpist allies.
Most of what the Russians are doing on social media appears to be focused on two areas. Firstly, they use botnets to manipulate the trending algorithms of Twitter/Facebook. You can see what they’re doing on a daily basis via sites like this:
In non-bot social media, they mostly appear to be limited to fairly crude and obvious driving trollies. However, for every Russian trolley, there are thousands of American shitposters doing the same thing, often much more skilfully.
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