In the wake of Wednesday’s Parkland, Florida, school shooting, which resulted in 17 deaths, troll and bot-tracking sites reported an immediate uptick in related tweets from political propaganda bots and Russia-linked Twitter accounts. Hamilton 68, a website created by Alliance for Securing Democracy, tracks Twitter activity from accounts it has identified as linked to Russian influence campaigns. As of morning, shooting-related terms dominated the site’s trending hashtags and topics, including Parkland, guncontrolnow, Florida, guncontrol, and Nikolas Cruz, the name of the alleged shooter. Popular trending topics among the bot network include shooter, NRA, shooting, Nikolas, Florida, and teacher.
While RoBhat Labs tracks general political bots, Hamilton 68 focuses specifically on those linked to the Russian government. According to the group's data, the top link shared by Russia-linked accounts in the last 48 hours is a 2014 Politifact article that looks critically at a statistic cited by pro-gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety. Twitter accounts tracked by the group have used the old link to try to debunk today’s stats about the frequency of school shootings.
The "so" tell for cognitive dissonance (don't worry, I do it to).Regardless, The attack on voter rolls was unsuccessful and did not affect the outcome, so we can remove that as a variable. The social media stuff appears to be highly unlikely to be significant when all other variables are considered. Facebook ads and shares and twitter retweets, considering the ocean of material out there, are likely to have been ineffective. Not to mention the sloppy and amateurish nature of many of them. I mean seriously, if this is the KGB's best effort, we might as well sit back and light up cigars.The DNC hack was enabled because Podesta fell for a phishing scam (allegedly) and the DNC email password was barely a step above '12345'. Furthermore, nothing in there was ever said to be untrue. Besides we don't even know that the emails really were hacked and not in fact leaked. The DNC refuses to allow the FBI to investigate its servers. The forensic analysis was performed by Crowdstrike, a firm linked to FusionGPS. Assange and Kim DotCom both claim that the material was leaked, not hacked. Even if it was hacking, it is known that hackers can disguise where they are from. It could be that they were hacked by the Russians, but something stinks in this whole Russian thing.Why does the DNC refuse to allow the FBI to do a forensic investigation of its servers?QuoteAn hour later Wikileaks (Russian intelligence) dumps John Podesta's emails.Wikileaks is not Russian intelligence. You're confusing momentarily converging interests with being 'Russian Intelligence'.QuoteWhat should have a been a campaign ending video tape was shadowed by hacked DNC emails, man. Your boy (DJT) bragged about grabbing women by the ***** and miraculously this story is pushed to the back burner (by the "LIBERAL" media) because of DNC emails.Actually this tape is what made it close. The campaign was effectively over when Clinton collapsed and was tossed into the back of a van like a slab of beef. I think you are failing to grasp the significance of that moment and how it did several things- It validated conspiracy theories about her health, it confirmed what Trump said about her "lacking the stamina", she came across as a liar yet again, but most importantly it made her look weak and a U.S. presidential candidate CANNOT look weak. I say if that Access Hollywood tape hadn't been released, Trump likely would have won New Hampshire, Minnesota, Virginia, Maine, and Nevada. Maybe Colorado too. It would have been an even bigger rout. Now, as for the timing, it's clear that Assange is NOT a fan of Clinton (I can't imagine why, she only talked about having him Drone Striked- again showing questionable temperament and judgment). That combined with her weak meddling in Russian politics PROVOKED these responses. She has no one but herself to blame. What was gained in those moments resulted in significant losses for her. She lacked the judgment, the temperament, and the stamina.
russki bots still hard at work;QuoteIn the wake of Wednesday’s Parkland, Florida, school shooting, which resulted in 17 deaths, troll and bot-tracking sites reported an immediate uptick in related tweets from political propaganda bots and Russia-linked Twitter accounts. Hamilton 68, a website created by Alliance for Securing Democracy, tracks Twitter activity from accounts it has identified as linked to Russian influence campaigns. As of morning, shooting-related terms dominated the site’s trending hashtags and topics, including Parkland, guncontrolnow, Florida, guncontrol, and Nikolas Cruz, the name of the alleged shooter. Popular trending topics among the bot network include shooter, NRA, shooting, Nikolas, Florida, and teacher.QuoteWhile RoBhat Labs tracks general political bots, Hamilton 68 focuses specifically on those linked to the Russian government. According to the group's data, the top link shared by Russia-linked accounts in the last 48 hours is a 2014 Politifact article that looks critically at a statistic cited by pro-gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety. Twitter accounts tracked by the group have used the old link to try to debunk today’s stats about the frequency of school shootings.Sharing is free--there goes the they didn't spend enough money argument.How long before sr/dm starts parroting the arguments pushed by the bots? Commencing countdown...
Nice to see the MSM/Left taking a fresh skeptical eye at the Russia Collusion narrative.https://www.thenation.com/article/russiagate-or-intelgate/https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/02/18/confessions-of-a-russiagate-skeptic-217024
There is, of course, plenty of public evidence that Trump was all too happy to collude with Putin. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” springs to mind, not to mention Trump’s endless invocation of WikiLeaks in the closing weeks of the 2016 campaign. What’s particularly eerie, too, is how Trump’s divisive racial rhetoric and claims about how the election was going to be “rigged” in favor of Hillary Clinton echoes the messages described in Mueller’s latest indictment. Not to mention the voluminous fodder Trump has given Mueller for a (very) hypothetical obstruction of justice case.
1. We don't know the attack on voter rolls was played a factor. You can hack into voter rolls and not change votes. You can hack into voter rolls and change someones address by one number which, in turn, causes that person to wait in line for a long time to vote. Say that person doesn't have the time to wait in line to vote....they leave. BAM voter suppression. Thank goodness Robert Mueller is investigating this.
2. Creating and sowing toxic political environments on social media was pure genius on the part of the Russians. At a time when the average person gets their news from FB it means this does have an impact on how people perceive candidates.
3. This being sloppy and amateurish, as you say, is part of the genius of it all. Russians knew how effective this campaign would be. Sergie Kisliac (SP?) speaking on the phone about meetings with Sessions openly? I mean Russians know the FBI/CIA listen in on their calls. Being sloppy and not giving a **** about it because of diplomatic immunity and no extradition factors into the genius of this attack.
Fancy Bear is though. And it is WIDELY known that Russian Intelligence uses 3rd party entities to do their dirty work. Again, speaks to the genius of this attack.
His skepticism doesn't seem all that persuasive, even to himself, and is based only on the idea that trumpy was too incompetent to collude. There's plenty of incompetent crooks, e.g. trump uni fraud, and the russkis weren't incompetent. That's an argument full of holes. the nation article is even less persuasive. One has to wonder about cohen.
If the electoral college had given Clinton a victory over a popular vote-winning Trump...
If the rules from the start was popular vote Clinton would have won no matter what regardless of Trump's strategy.
You mean this hacking story?https://theintercept.com/2017/09/28/yet-another-major-russia-story-falls-apart-is-skepticism-permissible-yet/
If the genius was to send America chasing this Russian stuff like a bull going after a Matador's cape and tearing itself apart with it, it was genius. If it was to get the Democratic Party so unhinged that they would spend their energy focusing on RUSSIA!!!!! instead of health care, it's genius. If it is to get Democratic voters to waste away their big lead in the polls for 2018 by telling voters in swing states "you voted for Trump because you were dumb and fell for Russian bot attacks", it's genius.
The genius of getting John Podesta to fall for a phishing scam? You do realize that the Podesta email scandal would not have happened if that phishing email had simply been deleted, right?
Very convenient of you. P.s. that story highlights that 2 of the 21 said they weren't hacked. 19 out of 21 is still significant. Oh and here is an updated article from your precious right-wing media.http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/dhs-official-russians-successfully-penetrated-voter-registration-rolls-in-several-states-before-2016-election/article/2648443
Yeah. You nailed. It was genius. I am not a democrat and I firmly believe the Democrats need not waste their energy on this story and let Robert Mueller figure it out. Democrats, generally speaking, are very weak. I would prefer an all out assault on single payer health care, comprehensive tax legislation so we can begin balancing out the historic wealth discrepancy, outrageous expenditure in the pentagon and national defense, gun regulations, renewable energies, decriminalizing drugs and turning the conversation into a national health crisis, getting rid of the industrial prison complex, higher investment into education, and the like.
In summary, human error (typo) caused this phishing scam to work. And work beyond their wildest dreams. Your point of how this crime could have been stopped is MEANINGLESS. A crime is a crime and it happened because of a minor typo and it led to significant political damage. Fancy Bear got lucky. And then turned the evidence over to Wikileaks who weaponized stolen material in the election.
I mean come on. Trump, July 27 "“I will tell you this, Russia: If you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said at a news conference. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”Dude called on a foreign advisory to commit a crime in order to help him win the election HAHAHA!
Me personally? I follow this story because it is awesome! I love history and politics so this era of Trump, Russia, Twiiter, etc is fascinating to watch and follow. The books that will be written, when this is all said and done, are going to be monumental.
I mean...they guy doesn't believe Global warming is a real thing!!!!!!
"These were people with excellent language skills, interpreters, university graduates," he said, "It's very hard to tell it's a foreigner writing because they master the language wonderfully."
Quote from: Life Improvement on February 20, 2018, 01:17:28 pm"These were people with excellent language skills, interpreters, university graduates," he said, "It's very hard to tell it's a foreigner writing because they master the language wonderfully."The language was off at times and full of errors...So I guess they did master the language of the internet wonderfully. Still doesn't mean they were effective above the massive amount of spending by both campaigns and all the PACs. At some point there's diminishing returns and when it comes to the Russians, at that point it's essentially nil. McDonald's having a 50% off sale on election day in Grand Rapids, MI would probably affect turnout more than those ads.
This year, the “Tap Project’s” most successful fund-raising year yet, continued to look at everyday habits, namely phone use. “We just built a very simple phone app,” one that donated to the cause for every 10 minutes spent sans smartphone, sponsors and partners would provide a child with water for a day.
You may have noticed this recent campaign. It was a small job ad in the classifieds. It described “The World’s Best Job” and offered an annual salary of $150,000. They were looking for the right person to become the caretaker of an island somewhere off the coast of far north Australia on the Great Barrier Reef–one of the most exotic locations in the world. They placed the ads in a few different places but, within a short time, the media picked it up and it began making headlines on television stations. After all, who could resist imagining themselves in such a dream job?Within four weeks, the campaign had generated media exposure that was valued at $89 million. And yes, it also appeared on CNN International–although, of course, not in a paid spot. It was a human interest news item that did not cost a single penny.
Mr. DHere is some tangible evidence explaining how the spread of disinformation (via russian bots and/or far right wing conspiracy theorists) can alter public perception on situations. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/16/586361956/as-an-american-tragedy-unfolds-russian-agents-sow-discord-online?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=politics&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20180220
Quote from: parkerynp on February 22, 2018, 08:53:17 amMr. DHere is some tangible evidence explaining how the spread of disinformation (via russian bots and/or far right wing conspiracy theorists) can alter public perception on situations. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/16/586361956/as-an-american-tragedy-unfolds-russian-agents-sow-discord-online?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=politics&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20180220Yes. Those ideas would have been pushed, have been pushed, and will be pushed by AMERICAN conspiracy theorists, primarily the Infowars crowd. More and more people are starting to push back at the excesses of this Russia narrative. And these are from voices on the left.https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-fundamental-uncertainty-of-muellers-russia-indictmentshttps://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/02/20/new_yorkers_adrian_chen_russia_social_media_marketing_bot_campaign_wasnt_effective.htmlhttps://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/02/the-russian-conspiracy-to-commit-audience-development/553685/https://www.thenation.com/article/what-weve-learned-in-year-one-of-russiagate/https://www.snopes.com/2018/02/19/bots-force-al-franken-resign/#.Wou1t90zm0s.twitter
They've got to tell a new story to keep getting clicks. Plus the tech writers are taking, dare I say, an elitist view towards the russki campaign.
The russki's political technology might not be fancy but it works.
Quote from: gogators! on February 22, 2018, 11:18:42 amThey've got to tell a new story to keep getting clicks. Plus the tech writers are taking, dare I say, an elitist view towards the russki campaign. Thank you for proving my point about the media-driven hysteria about the Russian stuff. They keep yammering on about it to get clicks and they are taking an elitist view that people who voted for Trump did so because they saw a retweet by a bot and suddenly went "That does it, I'm voting for Trump!". QuoteThe russki's political technology might not be fancy but it works.Again, if this Russian propaganda is so effective it changes something like an entire country's attitude towards homosexuality, why doesn't Russia use it to improve their economy? Why aren't they essentially dominating the globe? Because it's not magic. It's not as effective as you're making it out to be. The Russian Conspiracy Theory is like other conspiracy theories- relies on the "enemy" having some sort of magical superpowers and being all knowing and all powerful...yet not so powerful that they have to resort to Rube Goldberg-like schemes to pull everything off.
