Trump Supporters Biggest Purveyors of "Fake News"

We hear Der Trumpenführer and his supporters constantly labeling inconvenient facts and news reports as "fake news" whenever they do not support Trumps daily lies or his supporters prejudices and effort to deny objective reality.  Yet a new study has found that those who circulate false information - fake news, if you will - are Trump's supporters. The level of dishonesty among Trump supporters should perhaps come as little surprise since some 81 percent of evangelical Christians - the most dishonest element in American society in my experience - remain strong Trump supporters.  A piece in Alternet looks at the study findings.  Here are some highlights:

[N]o candidate in modern American history has benefitted more from the proliferation of "fake news" on social media than the former host of "The Apprentice." For evidence, one need look no further than the latest findings of Oxford University's Computational Propaganda Research Project.

After studying the Twitter feeds of 13,000 users across the political spectrum, the Project determined that Trump supporters are among the most prolific purveyors of "misleading, deceptive or incorrect information purporting to be real news about politics, economics or culture.” (For the purposes of its research, the Oxford team compiled a "watch list" of approximately 100 websites with a history of publishing conspiracy theories or overt propaganda.)

The numbers are striking. Less than 16 percent of the sample group—2,000 accounts who have either shared explicitly pro-Trump links or contain the hashtag #MAGA in their bios—were responsible for 55 percent of the "junk news" tweeted out. Of the 47,000 Facebook accounts the Project examined, Trump supporters posted 60 percent of the content deemed spurious or inaccurate.

"The social networks mapped from public Twitter and Facebook data show that the junk political news and information was concentrated among Trump’s supporters," the report concludes.

Lisa-Maria Neudert, one of the study's lead researchers, believes these findings may contain a "silver lining." As she tells Denise Clifton of Mother Jones, the fact that Trump dead-enders have distributed a disproportionate amount of this dreck "could suggest that most other groups are less susceptible to extremist or conspiratorial content." 

One thing is certain: When it comes to promulgating misinformation and outright lies, the president couldn't ask for a more pliant base. 

Will Zuckerberg, Facebook, Twitter and Others Face Robert Mueller’s Wrath?

A thought provoking piece at Vanity Fair looks at the role that Facebook, Twitter and social media more generally played in Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election. Among other things, it raises the question of why no one at these companies noticed the suspicious activities of foreign agents. Facebook can follow my shopping habits, but it did notice the buying activities of agents working in Moscow?  With Robert Mueller now having secured search warrants of some of the suspicious foreign accounts, one cannot help but hope that changes will be made to stop anything like this from happening again in the future.  Ditto for hate groups using the platforms to spread hate, bigotry and intolerance. Here are highlights from the piece:

Twenty thousand six hundred and fifty-eight. That’s a pretty big number, especially when you consider that it’s the number of people who are currently employed by Facebook. Those 20,000 employees include insanely smart people with degrees from Stanford, Harvard, and M.I.T., many of whom spend their days toiling away on various revenue products, particularly in advertising-technology features—or ad tech, as it’s known in the industry—that helped the company generate some $27.6 billion in total revenue last year.

So why is it that none of those employees noticed that Russian operatives were using Facebook to manipulate the U.S. electoral process? And why is it—months after Donald Trump was sworn in as president, and after deadly protests in Charlottesville—that those workers allowed organizations to buy ads on the platform targeting people who searched for phrases such as “Jew haters”?

This ad-targeting mess has quickly become the Exxon Valdez of the Internet. Google, for its part, has 72,053 employees, many of whom are also working on smart algorithms to improve the company’s ad revenue, which accounts for 88 percent of its income. And yet, on Friday, BuzzFeed reported that Google allows groups to target ads toward people searching for racist phrases. So when people type in search queries like “Jewish parasite,” “black people ruin everything,” or “the evil Jew,” ads can potentially be served next to those keywords, and Google makes money off the transaction. The Daily Beast, meanwhile, also reported that Twitter allows people to target users on the platform who use the n-word and other putrid, disgusting, racist terms.

Since the election (and even leading up to it), it’s become abundantly clear that social media presented itself as a profoundly useful tool for the Russians, extremists, and possibly even people within the Trump campaign, to potentially disfigure our electoral process. Before Trump co-opted the term “fake news” to describe entirely accurate, if unfavorable, stories about him, real fake news was being created and proliferated at scale. Algorithms on Facebook didn’t work to try to stop this from happening, but rather to ensure that these fake stories landed right on the digital doorsteps of the people who might find them most interesting, and who might change their votes as a result of that content. Twitter’s problem with political bots has existed for as long as I can remember.

This might seem harmless on some level, but these accounts had been disseminating incredibly divisive (and oftentimes fake) stories about Brexit, Ukraine, and Syria, plus anti-immigration articles from outlets like Breitbart and excessively schismatic articles from the Daily Mail. The researcher also found that these accounts only tweeted between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Moscow time, and only during the week—almost as if it were someone’s job in Russia to do so. The accounts have tens of thousands of followers, and the suspected propagandists behind them stoked the flames of dissent by creating far-left bots which would go after Trump and his supporters.

Of course people are going to try to manipulate these technologies. The larger issue, however, is that these enormous, profoundly wealthy companies aren’t doing enough to stop them, and are not being held accountable. (Twitter and Facebook have attempted to crackdown on trolls in some ways since the election.) Curiously, Wall Street, which still remains oddly buoyant in the Trump era (it’s amazing what the rich will sacrifice for tax reform) is not chastising Silicon Valley for the extensive role it played in the mess we find ourselves in today. Facebook is worth $491 billion, despite months’ worth of news stories indicating it allowed Russian accounts to buy and target pages and ads on its network during the election, which estimates say could have reached 70 million Americans. Twitter’s stock, while bumpy, has barely moved since news definitively broke about all of the “fake Americans” that Russia created and operated on the social network during the election.

There are also reports that there is now a “red-hot” focus on social media by special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the 2016 election. But in both of these instances, there needs to be real consequences. It doesn’t take 20,000 employees to see the apathy and neglect these platforms have played, and continue to play, in the attacks against democracy by the people who want to see it fall.

Senate Intelligence Committee Probe Puts Trump Squarely in the Crosshairs

While the House Intelligence Committee investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has turned into a circus with Republican chairman Devin Nunes more concerned with protecting Donald Trump and his fellow traitors than finding out the truth and protecting American.  Based on a press conference today, the Senate Intelligence Committee investigation is something far different with bipartisan cooperation and Mr. Trump himself firmly in the crosshairs. The contrast between the committees could not be stark with the Senate Committee definitely in the hands of adults versus Nunes' childish cover up attempt.  Talking Points Memo looks at the press conference.  Here are highlights:

One thing was made crystal clear in a Wednesday press briefing on the Senate Intelligence Committee’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election: this investigation is a very big and very serious deal.

In an hour-long appearance, committee Chair Richard Burr (R-NC) and Vice-Chair Mark Warner (D-VA) framed their probe as one of most ambitious investigative efforts ever taken on by a congressional committee. Burr, a 22-year veteran of Capitol Hill, framed the investigation as “one of the biggest” he’s seen in his tenure in Washington, D.C.

Warner concurred, saying, “When we started this, we saw the scope, what was involved, I said it was the most important thing I have ever taken on in my public life. I believe that more firmly now.”

Their solemn assurances to investigate the full scope of Russia’s involvement, to look into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russian officials, and to produce a truly bipartisan report on their findings offered a stark contrast from the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation, led by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA). The House’s probe came to a standstill this week over Nunes’ overly close relationship with the President

Here are the key takeaways about the Senate committee’s investigation from Wednesday’s press conference:

Whether Trump was involved is the probe’s core questionAsked if there was evidence of “direct links” suggesting the President played any role in Russia’s interference, Burr said that was the ultimate question the committee would seek to answer.

He and Warner also said it was too early to definitively reject coordination between Trump’s campaign team and Russian officials, saying they would “let this process go through before we form any opinions.”

The White House hasn’t interfered in or coordinated with the probeWarner said he has seen “no evidence” to suggest that the White House is “interfering in the integrity of this investigation,” pointing to Trump son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner’s offer to be interviewed by the committee as a “good sign.”

"If we see any attempt to stifle us with information or cut off the intelligence professionals giving us the access we need, you’ll hear from us,” he added.

Russia’s election meddling goes beyond the U.S.

The senators stated Wednesday that Russia is actively working to undermine or interfere with election campaigns underway in several countries outside the United States, including Germany, Montenegro, the Netherlands and France.

“We feel part of our responsibility is to educate the rest of the world about what’s going on because it’s now into character assassination of candidates,” Warner said.
“I think it’s safe by everybody’s judgment that the Russians are actively involved in the French elections,” he said.

This will be different from the House investigationBurr and Warner went out of their way to put distance between their probe and that of the House Intelligence Committee.

“This investigation’s scope will go wherever the intelligence leads it,” Burr said in his opening remarks. “And contrary to maybe popular belief, we’re partners to see that this is completed and that we’ve got a product at the end of the day that we can have bipartisanship in supporting.”

The senators emphasized information sharing between all members of the committee and reiterated their agreement to issue subpoenas to desired witnesses if need be.

The probe is looking at the role of “fake news”Warner said one of the most alarming findings so far in his estimation is the use of paid Internet trolls who promote false news stories and target them to specific geographic areas.

Saying that those trolls could have targeted states where the margin of victory was razor-thin, like Wisconsin and Michigan, with negative stories about Hillary Clinton in the run-up to the election, Warner vowed the committee has “got to find this out.”

Committee has more access to classified information than it had in previous probesThe senators said the classified information they have been able to access far exceeded what was available to them during their investigation of the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.

Seven committee staffers assigned to sift through thousands of intelligence documents have access to information typically only available to the most senior members of Congress, known as the Gang of Eight, the senators said.

The committee will move slowly and deliberatelyBurr said the committee would not release names of people who would be interviewed, nor ask them to come before the committee until the “appropriate time.”

Warner noted that the committee would not schedule its interview with Kushner, the only person named as an interview subject so far, until “we know exactly the scope of what needs to be asked” of him.

Both lawmakers emphasized the wide-ranging scope of the investigation, which will also look at Russian capabilities and previous influence campaigns.

Somehow, I don't think the press conference will help Der Trumpenführer,sleep well at night.  Trump may have his stooge in the form of Nunes on the House Committee, by the Senate investigation looks like it will be far different and one can only hope that it confirms Trump - and Pence's - collusion and that it takes them down.  Nothing is sweeter than to picture Trump in prison in prison garb, hopefully with plenty of black inmates who are well aware of the racism Trump peddled.

The Cowardice and Mindlessness of Trump Supporters

Over the years that I have been writing this blog, almost without exception the negative comments are left by (i) Christofascists or (II) right wing types.  In both instances the comments are left anonymously since these brave folks are too afraid to attach their names to the batshitery they spew. Gutless cowards as well as ignorant and/or living in a right wing news bubble.  Today an anonymous comment was left that sounded like it was straight from Brietbart of Fox News,  Here's a sampling:

Pretty big deal DOJ investigating Trump's campaign to ties with Russia, no way President Obama did not know about this. Wiretapping stories all over the newspapers like the New York times, so if they are to be believed then wiretapping did go on. Trump campaign people worked at Trump Towers including Michael Flynn who we know was wiretapped because his phone conversation was leaked to the Public, another crime, worked at Trump Towers. We know someone was listening because the conversation was leaked. These are all facts think you better go back and do some research.  

Let's review the true facts and make clear how clueless this cowardly character is in fact.  If anyone needs to do some research, it is this ignoramus.  A good start would be to change the dial from Fox News and/or Breitbart and similar purveyors of fake news.  Here's a review:

First, the wiretapping stories "all over the newspapers" are merely a reaction to Trump's unfounded accusations about Barack Obama ordering a wire tap of Trump Tower.  Most of the coverage is that wire tapping did NOT go on.  Obama spokesmen have denied it, Republicans in Congress have indicated that they have heard nothing to support Trump's claims. and the former Director of National Intelligence and the Director of the FBI have said Trump's claims are not consistent with the facts - a polite way to say Trump is a liar.

Mr./Ms Coward also brings up the intercepted conversations of Mike Flynn.  Yes, his conversations were subject to "listening" because the wiretapping was directed against the Russian ambassador, NOT Flynn or Trump Tower.  Indeed, ALL of the intercepted conversations to date were the result of monitoring known Russian agents and officials.  This type of surveillance of Russian operatives has gone on for years and in no way was directed towards Der Trumpenführer, I mean Donald Trump.  

What I find both frightening and mind boggling is that Trump's campaign officials and flunkies were so stupid that they did not realize that they were communicating with individuals under wire taps and other kinds of surveillance such as that conducted by the British and Dutch intelligence services. These folks make the Three Stooges look brilliant. 

Lastly, if the Justice Department or FBI did conduct a wire tap, (which seemingly was not the case from what is known) that means that the FISA Court found probable cause that crimes were being committed.  If this did in fact, occur, Trump and/or his henchmen has/have very serious problems.

The conclusion?  Despite the rant of the apparent Trump supporter, there has been ZERO evidence of wire taps aimed at Americans.  Those who have been caught communicating with the Russian were caught due to wiretaps and surveillance against the Russians involved, NOT the Americans.   Perhaps if the author of the comment got his head out of his ass and switched channels/radio stations to a legitimate news outlet, he/she would have known what I laid out.