Russian internet trolls are taking Trump’s lead by hijacking #TakeAKnee to stoke tensions in the US
Republican senator told the Homeland Security committee that paid Russian internet trolls are using controversy over NFL player protests to divide Americans.
“They were taking both sides of the argument this past weekend, and pushing them out from their troll farms as much as they could to try to just raise the noise level in America and to make a big issue seem like an even bigger issue,” Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) said before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, the Associated Press reported.
Sen. Lankford noted Russian paid social media users were using the hashtags #TakeAKnee and #BoycottNFL in their efforts to enflame emotions.
“The goal is heightened tensions,” said Clint Watts, a former FBI agent and current senior fellow at the Foreign policy Research Ins ute. “They’ll use organic American content to amplify to American audiences.”
“They would much rather use organic American content,” Watts explained. “It hits the audience better and it’s cheaper and more effective.”
Watts was a creator of the website Hamilton 68, which tracks 600 Twitter accounts “linked to Russian influence operations.”
The website currently shows that #NFL, #takeaknee and #boycottnfl were three of the top ten hashtags used by Russian trolls in the last 48 hours.
MAGA, which stands for Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan, was the top hashtag during the timeframe.
Watts explained President Donald Trump is easy to exploit with “active measures” campaigns designed to destabilize democracies from the inside.
“The Russians can just sit back and say: ‘Amplify on both sides. Make people angry.’ And it works, man, God, it works,” Watts said.
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/rus...e+Raw+Story%29
Trash LIED to his last ego-stroking rally: "Russia didn't help me"
Looks like TSA is done for.
Mueller gon take down dem memes.![]()
Corker's retirement.
Holy . In case you missed it:
It’s not unusual for a 65-year-old to announce his retirement, but a lot of people were caught by surprise when Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee did so on Tuesday. In a statement, the senator, who has found himself increasingly at odds with President Trump, said he he hadn’t planned to serve more than two terms in office. But is there more at work in the departure of this influential senator than simple adherence to a self-imposed term limit? What does it portend for the Republican Party establishment, Trump and the future of the party? There are a few ways to think about it.https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...rs-retirement/3. Corker’s ‘Take-’em-Down-With-Me’ mission
Although Corker might well have stepped aside to avoid a brutal primary challenge, he seems unlikely to go gentle into that good night. The statement announcing his decision contained a rather interesting little passage:
What does Corker think might happen over the next 15 months? (A request for comment from Corker’s office had not been returned by the time of publication.) For one thing, as head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at a time when there is much talk of Russian interference in the 2016 election, he could launch an investigation, as other congressional committees have done. Or he could simply step up his criticism of both the president and the Trump campaign’s possibly cozy relations with Russian influencers. In the early months of the Trump administration, Corker was vocal in his criticism of Russia. In December, he promised his committee would thoroughly review Russian hacking during the 2016 election, but in February, he stopped short of endorsing an independent commission to look into it. He has pushed for stronger sanctions against Russia, so it’s clear that he cares about the issue. But in July, a Tennessee paper called him out, saying that he’d been too quiet on the issue of Trump’s seeming affinity for Putin’s Russia. Corker told the paper: “I’m a guy you talk to on policy issues. Find somebody else to talk to about politics.”I also believe the most important public service I have to offer our country could well occur over the next 15 months, and I want to be able to do that as thoughtfully and independently as I did the first 10 years and nine months of my Senate career. [emphasis mine-RG]
It might be that with 15 months to go, Corker is willing to go out in kamikaze fashion: His political career might be dead, but he’s more than willing to set fire to some things on the way out."
Senator Corker seems to believe Trump will be impeached.
Damn, Darrin hates the USA.
Look everyone, Chris is back in the thread!
Again!
Post in it and he comes a-runnin'!
He's totally sprung!
Hey everyone, Chris is back in this thread again today!
Posting a meme!
He can't stay away!
But Darrin sed the Russians weren't the hackers.
Emails all good now?
Damn Mensch must have struck a nerve Russia getting scared lol
Russian ‘propaganda outlet’ RT tried to purchase Twitter handles to covertly influence 2016 election
exclusive report by Foreign Policy, Kremlin-backed media outlet RT (previously known as Russia Today) attempted to purchase Twitter handles that would allow them to covertly influence the election.
Following a report that RT claims the U.S. government has asked people associated with its U.S. arm to register as foreign agents, comes more information that
the media outlet sought not only to cover the election — but to be a player in the outcome.
The FP report states that RT sought to purchase dormant Twitter handles “@NotHillary” and “@NotTrump,” telling Twitter executives they wanted to use them to push their election coverage — but without identifying themselves as the owners of the accounts.
According to the report, Twitter said “no.”
Speaking with FP, a spokesperson for RT said the social media purchase was part of an attempt to reach undecided voters.
“Trump and Clinton both were entering the election with some of the highest ‘unfavorable’ ratings for presumptive nominees,” explained RT’s Anna Belkina,
“RT wanted to explore this subject deeper by engaging into a conversation with the people who were neither in favor of Clinton, nor in favor of Trump,
which is the opposite of ‘expressing a clear preference’ for either candidate.
As part of this idea, we were considering ways how to adapt it to Twitter, however, we discontinued the concept and did not pursue handle ownership.”
The report notes that two Twitter account names have been siting unused for some time prior to the 2016 election; @NotHillary since May 2014, and @NotTrump since April 2011.
According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, RT has been designated as the “Kremlin’s principal international propaganda outlet,” working hand-in-hand with Wikileaks — which has been credited for making former Secretary Hillary Clinton’s emails a central issue in the 2016 campaign.
The Foreign Policy report also notes that it is entirely possible that RT has other Twitter accounts not specifically linked back to them and used to push the Kremlin line.
https://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/rus...ection-report/
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/putins-real-long-game-214589
Who doesn't?![]()
Her and Morgan Freeman.![]()
So emails all good now Darrin?
I'm just saying, who doesn't use encryption? I keep my PC and phone encrypted.
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