Russian social media operation targeted at Afro-Americans, using African intermediaries

By artappraiser on Thu, 03/12/2020 - 5:18pm |

BREAKING: coordinated takedown across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

-Operation based in Ghana;
-Targeted the African-American community;
-Still in audience-building stage;
-No systematic reference to 2020 election;
-Linked to associates of the Russian IRA troll farm. pic.twitter.com/73mJr2v7ds
— Ben Nimmo (@benimmo) March 12, 2020

URL:

https://twitter.com/benimmo/status/1238210027330195460

Add new comment
11517 reads

Comments

An interesting new Russian operation using African intermediaries to target African-American communities in the United States.

Compatible with our analysis of Prigozhin-linked groups pushing disinformation inside of Africa from last October. https://t.co/n0m9pno4J5
— Alex Stamos (@alexstamos) March 12, 2020

by artappraiser on Thu, 03/12/2020 - 5:19pm

Huge new investigation from @clarissaward and team:

The same Russian troll farm that targeted 2016 US election has outsourced to Africa.

CNN tracked down the man running it in Ghana.https://t.co/3naeVL5JMj
— Donie O'Sullivan (@donie) March 12, 2020

by artappraiser on Thu, 03/12/2020 - 5:24pm

The FBI went on a snipe hunt for Black Identity Extremists, they found none. This Russian back program may also come up empty. Making the black community aware of this attempt at division by the Russians is a major part of the battle. Getting Trump out of office would go a long way in easing the current pain black people feel under the administration of the racist Donald J Trump. The majority of black people are ready to vote to accomplish this goal.

I think Russian efforts to trigger white supremacists represents a much larger danger.

by rmrd0000 on Thu, 03/12/2020 - 7:29pm

Blacks responded to the Russian attack in 2016

African Americans were targeted in 2016 by Russia's online trolls. NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks to Charlane Oliver of the Equity Alliance about how they plan to get out the black vote.

https://www.npr.org/2019/10/27/773817334/how-to-respond-when-election-interference-targets-african-american-voters

The black vote has been surging

Despite Sanders’s attempts to make inroads and Bloomberg’s ad campaign that garnered him a look-see, Biden ran away with the black vote throughout the Southern states on Super Tuesday. The first indication were the results out of Virginia, which was called for the former vice president immediately after the polls closed.

“As soon as those Virginia polls closed, it was pretty obvious that Bloomberg’s investment was not going to pay off, and that Biden’s surge was going to be real and that also, once again, black Americans are saving America from itself,” Bitecofer said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/12/black-americans-are-saving-america-itself-democratic-primaries/

There is little evidence that Trump's black outreach will work.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/01/17/sorry-conservatives-trump-isnt-going-get-surge-black-voters/

It is humorous to read books by black Conservatives on how blacks will re-elect Trump

"Coming Home: How Black Americans Will Re-Elect Trump"

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jan/5/black-americans-are-coming-home-gop/

"Blackout: How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Plantation"

Candace Owens

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/blackout-candace-owens/1132821815

I think black GOTV organizations are ready for the Russians

by rmrd0000 on Thu, 03/12/2020 - 9:44pm

They're not so much trying to re-elect Trump as to create societal chaos by stoking divisiveness and enforcing tribalism. They do the same thing in other countries for the same reason ramping up tribal resentments that they see as most prominent. They don't make it up out of whole cloth but look for examples already there that cause commotion and imitate those

Apparently in the U.S. they see stoking black resentment against white privilege as a most fruitful topic for causing more divisiveness. They do it over and over and over. Must work for some reason. Maybe because they see so many real Americans do it already and the see divisive results?

by artappraiser on Thu, 03/12/2020 - 9:55pm

Trump is simply another of their trolls. Therefore they were happy to have him become president, but Putin doesn't need him, he's got lots more and so we do even without Putin ramping it up.

Can't you see that the stuff illustrated in the original post is not something you in particular would object to if it weren't done by Russia? You learn nothing from that, about that type of material being counter-productive in making people better able to live together? That there's something about that kind of material that the Russians think is divisive?

by artappraiser on Thu, 03/12/2020 - 10:20pm

I understand. The point is to get people to think voting doesn't matter and to stay home. That will not work this time because blacks people have seen how racist Trump can be. Blacks want Trump out of office.

Police brutality etc. is fine with Trump. Staying home is not an option.

The black vote is not about living together with whites. The black vote is about choosing the candidate they feel is best for the black community. This time around, they selected Joe Biden. Black voters rejected the choice that white voters made in Iowa and New Hampshire. Black voters reminded white voters that Biden was the most viable candidate. Black voters saved the Democratic Party. Compare Trump's 11 minute lying rant to the Presidential speech on COVID-19 given by Biden.

There is an image of a black man being hassled by the police, and your first concern is that I'm upset by the picture. You feel that my outrage at the picture is the reason that we can't have racial harmony? Nonsense. You should be upset by the image. In your bubble, you make a picture of a black man all about you. Blacks are not going to be thinking about you when they go to the polls. Be as dismissive about images made to depict police harassment as much as you want. You are not going to get your demanded racial harmony until you show some compassion. Blacks want Trump out of office. The image is encouragement to get the racist Trump out of office. You simply do not get it.

Russia, if you're listening, post some more pictures of racist whites. Keep reminding blacks why they dislike Trump. See you at the polls in November. One black voter remained in line for six hours to cast a vote.

Not sitting out and pouting at home in 2020.

by rmrd0000 on Thu, 03/12/2020 - 11:36pm

I disagree that you understand.Again, it's not about Trump. It's to cause more tribalism in our society, to have it breakdown into "us. vs. them" groups. By contrast, then, his type of authoritarian regime getting the trains to run on time looks pretty good next to a chaotic tribal society with everyone hating "the other". I.E., every time you scream "racism!" at someone, every time you express hyper partisanship as if politics were a sports game, you're helping Putin. Every time you express the thought that someone like Flavius' Ted character must be shunned and hated, you're helping Putin. Don't you see how the trolls are copying the type of things you yourself say? The things they copy, they see them as usefully divisive.

by artappraiser on Sun, 03/15/2020 - 3:09pm

Remaining silent about racism is not going to make racists disappear. The racists already hate us. We did not create the hate. Trump was sued for housing discrimination because he is racist. Trump wanted the death penalty for the Exonerated Five and refused to apologize when they were found innocent because he is a racist. Trump said that Obama was not born in the United States because he is a racist. There are people willing to vote for a racist. Ignoring those facts will not make racists disappear.

Putin is helping me. Every image one of his people shows of police abuse makes it easier to remind black voters that Trump is a racist. Turnout has increased not because of a great Democratic plan, but because voters are tired of the Racist-In-Chief.

Flavius says that he never reached out to Ted. Nothing I do will influence Ted.

White supremacists have been screaming about the threat blacks represented since the beginning. There was fear of arming blacks in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. Blacks had to be lynched to prevent black men from raping white women, etc.

The urban vote and the suburban vote is turning against the racists. Rural areas are shifting as well. We are winning.

Your attack should be directed at the supporters of the guy in the White House. He is trying to kill us. Republicans are suppressing votes. Republicans are trying to deny people health care. That is where the focus should be. The danger we face it that Trump supporters are willing to vote against there own self interest to see ethnic minorities suffer.

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 03/15/2020 - 3:33pm

I have zero problem with how someone like Danny Cardwell, for one example, addresses the problem. I actually find his approach excellent, he reaches out to "the other," stresses common good. As does Flavius. As opposed to the rhetoric illustrated at the top of this post and by many of your comments over several years here supporting divisive identity politics, cancel culture, accusations of "cultural appropriation", browbeating over wokeness, and in general critical justice theory. Helping legitimize the far right's mirror tactics and the usefulness of Trump like trolling for reaction from your cohorts. How you reacted to this post is an example of many in kind, like it or not, you are myopically blinded by fierce partisan loyalty and victim olymics to the tolerance it takes to run a democracy. And people like Putin and his trolls are playing you for all they can.

If you're not ready to join with others right now that might have some problems with skin color prejudice like you yourself do, to fight a virus stalking homo sapiens of all tribes, we are lost. Putin will be happy to have ethnic Russians the last examples of the species on earth.

by artappraiser on Sun, 03/15/2020 - 4:06pm

Turnout in Democratic primaries has increased. Democrats are looking good in 2020. If I was having the negative effect you claim, that would not be true.
What concessions does the other side have to make?

BTW regarding culture,

Virginia is the latest state to pass laws banning hair discrimination. Virginia joins California, New York, New Jersey, California, Colorado, and Washington.

https://theglowup.theroot.com/virginia-becomes-the-latest-state-to-ban-hair-discrimin-1842132237

The fight against Confederate statues continues

The changes drew a sharp response from Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, who brought a rope to the podium, a symbol of the murder and violence African-Americans have faced throughout Alabama’s history. Most Confederate monuments erected in the late 19th and 20th centuries were intended to celebrate and glorify white supremacy, the foundational principle of the Confederacy.

Smitherman said the bill reminded him of his own painful experiences of racism, including being chased from school and suffering the indignities of segregation in the Jim Crow-era South. He called it “a slap in the face to black folks” and “playing to the racist side.”

“This ain’t nothing but racism,” Smitherman said. “That’s what this is. We are catering to that ... this is 2020. When are we as a state going to get past this stuff? Someone please tell me when are we as a state going to get past it?”

https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/2020/03/10/nothing-but-racism-senate-delays-monuments-vote-after-senator-invokes-alabamas-violent-past/5015757002/

Did I mention voter turnout is up?

I'm feeling pretty good

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 03/15/2020 - 4:52pm

It's really really sad that you think elections solve the problem. The minority is still there,the ones you hate are still there. whoever they are. They don't disappear just because you won an election. You have to live with them, tolerate them, this is a democracy. You don't let them seethe and want revenge, that doesn't work. One elected, those elected, they are supposed to serve EVERYONE. It's not a zero sum game, it's not game, it's life. And you don't win much at all in a election if you can't live and get along with the other tribes in your country.

Moderation is the key, the one improvement in your commenting rhetoric is that you've seem to come around to moderation all of a sudden, much to the chagrin of others here. It's like whatever the old folks in SC say to do, you're good with that. (Now go back and revisit Virginia and supposed anger about blackface in someone's college yearbook when they've become a totally different person, and how much that matters, how the grownups gave a shit or thought it unnessarily divisive)

by artappraiser on Sun, 03/15/2020 - 5:57pm

I want Democrats to win the 2020 election because Trump is a racist. I have zero obligation to tolerate racists. I am encouraged by the increased turnout. I am encouraged by the fight against hair discrimination, Confederate statues, voter suppression., etc. I don't have to tolerate any of that crap. Biden and Sanders are my options. Hillary was my option in 2016. There has not been a sudden change. Blacks are pragmatic voters. When blacks voted in large numbers in 2020, they supported Biden.

In Virginia black voters selected Northam. Northam became the selection when Fairfax blew up followed by the AG. There was a post here suggesting Northam should resign. That fell apart when the Virginia triumvirate blew up. The choice was Northam or the crazed GOP. Pragmatism won out.

What concession does the other side need to make?
It seems that to have racial harmony, you want blacks to become white.
MLK Jr didn't tolerate racists, he fought them

Reverend Barber doesn't tolerate racists

BLM doesn't tolerate racists

Maxine Waters doesn't tolerate racists.

Roxane Gay doesn't tolerate racists

Stacey Abrams

Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams called the Electoral College "racist" during remarks Friday at the National Press Club.

"The Electoral College is racist and classist," Abrams said. "We have to remember the Electoral College was not designed because people were worried about Idaho not having enough votes. We didn't know about Idaho. What we did know was that in the south, the populations in the south had equal or roughly equal populations to the north. However, because black people were not considered human or citizens, they wanted their bodies to count for the purposes of the population count but not their humanity."

The Electoral College was born out of that compromise, Abrams said. She added states in the north didn't want immigrants or those who were poorly educated to have a say in who picked the president either.

"It's racism and classism," she said. "Both of those things should be flung to the far reaches of history and the Electoral College needs to go."

https://freebeacon.com/politics/abrams-the-electoral-college-is-racist/

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 03/15/2020 - 7:05pm

What do the racists have to do to appease us?

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 03/15/2020 - 7:08pm

You're a racist, you need to look inside yourself for the answers about how other racists think. Just like Trump, you are fiddling while the world burns. All hands on deck, quit your frigging divisive talk.

by artappraiser on Sun, 03/15/2020 - 7:56pm

Nah.

I'm not going to shut up. The racists are still siding with Trump. Trump is trying to kill us.

Not fiddling. Checking on family around the country. Arranging deliveries via Amazon.

by rmrd0000 on Sun, 03/15/2020 - 8:03pm

Your "racists" control th government and are heading this pathetic pandemic response. So I don't know what the fuck you mean you don't have to "tolerate them" - they own your uptight ass. Every step you make, every breath you take. And if anyone thinks November will make a difference, remember how they rise from the dead and never paused a moment in Nov 2008, or how they used a Supreme Court tie breaker in Dec 2000 as a "mandate" to do whatever they want. Delusions of grandeur won't get us very far - you're more Veruca Salt than William the Conqueror.

by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 03/16/2020 - 12:53am

The racists are living rent free in your head. You have given up. You are of no use in the battle.
No rational person thinks the racists are going to disappear

You fight one battle at a time. You do not tolerate your oppression.
Realization that the racists exist is the first step.

Ranting that we talk too much about the racists means that you let them control you.

You center your main complaint on what blacks, Progressives, etc are doing that does not appease the racists.

You pine for moderation because you think people who will never change are going to take your peace offering in good faith.

Communities are fighting back to save their lives. Communities took the first steps. They didn't wait for the incompetent racists. They fought back. You, on the other hand, have given up.

by rmrd0000 on Mon, 03/16/2020 - 3:46am

When AA talks about moderates, I am again reminded of Martin Luther King Jr's takedown of white moderates in "A Letter from a Birmingham Jail". Moderates disappointed King. King was pragmatic and able to work with LBJ. King did not compromise with Bull Connor.

by rmrd0000 on Mon, 03/16/2020 - 4:19am

And a couple minutes ago I just heard Don Lemon on CNN talking about how his very close friend who has always been a diehard Trump supporter is finally learning not to trust Trump on everything. I repeat, Don Lemon called this person "a very close friend." Much worse than Flavius just deigning to talk to "Ted" once and a while. Guess Don's a traitor to the tribe you claim to represent calling it "the Afro-American community" on Dagblog....

The reason I feel like responding instead of ignoring: the whole "us vs. them" thing you seem to live for, it's a real killer now, deadly serious.

by artappraiser on Tue, 03/17/2020 - 2:07am

A bit of self-righteous grave mongering here. Put on MLK's shoes, scold a fellow traveling racist-enabling honky. Is this arcade free or costs 50 cents or...?

"What would MLK do?" for $400 please.

by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 03/17/2020 - 2:14am

Even Rep. Omar is dropping the us vs. them shtick.

by artappraiser on Tue, 03/17/2020 - 3:04am

I think you'll see her going after Trump in future posts.

Trump calls COVID-19 the "China virus"

Edit to add

More from Trump's tribe

A CBS News White House correspondent revealed Tuesday that an unnamed White House official referred to the deadly coronavirus as the “Kung-Flu” directly to her face. “Makes me wonder what they’re calling it behind my back,” Weijia Jiang wrote on Twitter. Erick Erickson, a conservative evangelical radio host and pro-Trumper, wrote in response to Jiang’s tweet: “I don’t care that you are offended by ‘Kung Flu,’ ‘Wuhan virus,’ or ‘Chinese virus,’” adding, “I’m sorry you’re that sensitive and eager to embrace Chinese communist propaganda, but I don’t care.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cbs-reporter-weijia-jiang-says-wh-official-called-coronavirus-kung-flu-to-her-face?ref=home

by rmrd0000 on Tue, 03/17/2020 - 1:25pm

AOC went on Fox in an attempt to warn Fox viewers about the dangers of COVID-19. The Fox audience is in the prime target age group for complications.

Omar is thankful that Trump is finally suggesting useful information

Neither is appeasing Trump.

by rmrd0000 on Tue, 03/17/2020 - 5:28pm

I don't believe I've ever seen anyone on this website say to appease Trump, not even Peter Unverified. Your old timey radical rhetoric just so blatantly sucks. Huge turn off. Worse than the Russian trolls.

by artappraiser on Tue, 03/17/2020 - 9:30pm

News: Your preferred candidate, Biden, just did a short live acceptance speech, anti-identity politics, pro-common good. E pluribus unum, that coronavirus doesn't care if you're Dem. or Repub. nor what color nor zip code...

by artappraiser on Tue, 03/17/2020 - 9:36pm

See below

by rmrd0000 on Tue, 03/17/2020 - 9:37pm

You best starting thinking about it now: when he becomes president, he will attempt to be the president of all the people, including Trump voters.

by artappraiser on Tue, 03/17/2020 - 9:39pm

For $400

King got the Civil Rights bills from LBJ

King never bent the knee to Bull Connor

What do the racists have to do to appease us?

by rmrd0000 on Tue, 03/17/2020 - 1:03pm

MLK used Bull for a photo-op - great marketing.

by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 03/17/2020 - 1:59pm

MLK got concessions from LBJ. He didn't meekly do outreach.

by rmrd0000 on Tue, 03/17/2020 - 2:55pm

So?

It's 2020.

I hear he's dead.

If not shld get tested.

by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 03/17/2020 - 3:46pm

by artappraiser on Mon, 03/16/2020 - 7:40pm

Obama pointing out that the GOP is insane

10 attacks Obama unleashed on Trump, GOP in midterm speech

1. "What happened to the Republican Party?"

The former Democratic President hit Trump and Republicans hard on a variety of issues including health care, voting rights, campaign finance laws, and the economy, arguing that some policies GOP leaders are pursuing today aren't conservative.

The former President questioned the GOP's approach to foreign policy, including its position on Russia, challenging climate change science, and embracing of conspiracy theories including those "surrounding Benghazi or my birth certificate."

2. "The politics of division and resentment and paranoia has unfortunately found a home in the Republican Party."

Obama argued that today's generation is the most diverse, "conditions that are ripe for exploitation by politicians who have no compunction and no shame about tapping into America's dark history of racial and ethnic and religious division."

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/07/politics/obama-list-of-attacks-republicans-trump/index.html

by rmrd0000 on Tue, 03/17/2020 - 12:54pm

To AA from above

Biden is being conciliatory as he should as the Democratic candidate.

Republicans will throw the kitchen sink at him

If Biden chooses a black woman as his Vice President, the racists will come out in full force.

The NYT has an excellent story of an Evangelical church in the heart of Trump company that came to reconciliation by directly confronting race rather than running away from the issue. These Evangelicals wound up supporting a ballot measure that effected mostly black children. The direct discussions lead to the church to form a group that supported the measure.

The back story of the ballot measure is as surprising as the margin of victory. In 2015, the national policing controversy arrived in Cincinnati when a police officer killed an unarmed black man. Mr. Mingo, who is black, felt called to be a voice for racial reconciliation. With the approval of the head pastor of Crossroads, who is white, a six-week program on racial reconciliation called Undivided was born. Participants were placed in small, multiracial groups where they held meaningful conversations and connect to fundamental truths about being Christians.

One of the first participants in the 1,200-person cohort was Carolyn Heck, a white evangelical. In 2015, she felt paralyzed by the racial divisions she saw in her city. She did not know how to connect her faith to her feelings of complicity with racism and was not active in politics.

“The first session was really emotional — I felt a weight confronting my own implicit subconscious biases about black and brown people,” Ms. Heck said in an email. She was surprised that she became uncomfortable and unsettled right away. “I quickly realized that much of what I had taken for granted was not the norm for black people in my own church. I had privilege stacked upon privilege.”

Cameron Smedley, a black Christian, was skeptical at first. “I was used to being shut down, discredited or having whites change the subject when things got real around race,” he said in an email. But he wanted to finally bring his full self to church. “I not only heard from black leaders, but heard white leaders telling the truth about racial history and the transformative power of empathy,” he wrote.

And so it went over six weeks together, as groups shared personal stories, wrestled with the racial wealth gap and housing discrimination and grounded themselves in the practices of empathy, listening, love and grace. During the last session, when everyone shared a meal in a home, Ms. Heck broke down in tears. “I felt ill-equipped to lead or contribute to address racism. My group listened and encouraged me,” she said, and “called out the ways I had grown during the program. These relationships continue to this day.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/opinion/ohio-megachurch-crossroads-race.html

Your approach is to run from race. You dismiss black concerns.

You are the most tribal person I know. When I talk about whites who voted for Trump you argue in their favor. You argue as if I am talking about all whites. Your core is tribal.

Fortunately people are talking about, not dismissing, issues of race. Your goal is for blacks to become white, whites don't have to change. Blacks have to change.

Edit to add:

Obama reached out

Republicans tried to make him a one term President

Republicans wanted to bankrupt the auto industry and crash the economy

Republicans blocked judicial nominees.

by rmrd0000 on Tue, 03/17/2020 - 10:29pm

I'm reminded that E.J. Dionne feels that the outreach has to between Democratic moderates and Democratic Progressives. In his new book, "Code Red", Dionne writes off the Republicans.

E. J. Dionne Jr. has spent a career searching for common ground among opposing groups, in the hope that it can become the foundation of a politics of consensus. In books like “Why Americans Hate Politics” (1991) and “Our Divided Political Heart”(2012), he tried to chart a course between left and right, suggesting that if we peer across the political divide with clearer eyes and more open minds, we can begin to build a postpolarization politics.

As part of this endeavor, he has often chided the right for its mounting extremism, but he never wrote it off. Which is why Dionne’s latest book should send our alarm bells shrieking. Though written in the same patient, even soothing, voice as his earlier works, the narrowed scope of “Code Red: How Progressives and Moderates Can Unite to Save Our Country” shows how much his view of politics has changed. The right barely factors into this new bridge-building project. Conservatives are, for all intents and purposes, a lost cause.

This means “Code Red” is not yet another call for bipartisanship (thank goodness). Nor is it a plea for centrism, which in an earlier era had been a defining feature of Dionne’s work. Here he has abandoned the idea of a center poised between left and right. “The political center cannot be defined as a halfway point between Democrats and a Republican Party that has veered far to the right,” Dionne writes. Instead it is something to be negotiated within the Democratic Party.

As a result, Dionne pleads with moderates and progressives to see one another as allies who have far more in common than they might think. And while his past calls for political unity seem to have failed, there’s reason to hope this one might succeed. The rise of Donald Trump and the radicalization of the right have been unifying forces for moderates and progressives. While the two factions disagree sharply on proposals like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal, they share a distress and disgust with the Trump presidency and the growing right-wing extremism that preceded it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/06/books/review/code-red-e-j-dionne-jr.html

Biden will reach out to Republicans, but he will be rejected

by rmrd0000 on Tue, 03/17/2020 - 10:59pm

The NYT reviews an upcoming book, "It Was All A Lie", written by a Republican who managed multiple campaigns. The book details the racism at the core of the GOP since the Goldwater days. The Republican Party has adopted racist themes. There voters may not be racists, but they are very willing to vote for and support racist politicians and racist policies.

Is the modern Republican Party built on race prejudice, otherwise known as racism?

Has it become, as Stuart Stevens — a media consultant with an exceptionally high win-loss record who was a lead strategist for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004 — puts it, the “white grievance party”?

Stevens has impeccable Republican credentials. In addition to Bush, his clients have included Mitt Romney and other current and former senators — Roger Wicker, Roy Blunt, Chuck Grassley, Rob Portman, Thad Cochran, Dick Lugar, Jon Kyl, Mel Martinez and Dan Coats — and current and former governors: Larry Hogan, Haley Barbour, Bill Weld, Tom Ridge and Bob Riley.

Nonetheless, Stevens’s forthcoming book, “It Was All A Lie,” makes the case that President Trump is the natural outcome of a long chain of events going back to the 1964 election when Barry Goldwater ran for president as an opponent of the Civil Right Act passed earlier that year.

“As much as I’d love to go to bed at night reassuring myself that Donald Trump was some freak product of the system — a ‘black swan,’” Stevens writes, “I can’t do it”:

I can’t keep lying to myself to ward off the depressing reality that I had been lying to myself for decades. There is nothing strange or unexpected about Donald Trump. He is the logical conclusion of what the Republican Party became over the last fifty or so years, a natural product of the seeds of race, self-deception, and anger that became the essence of the Republican Party. Trump isn’t an aberration of the Republican Party; he is the Republican Party in a purified form.

“I have no one to blame but myself,” he declares on the first page. “What I missed was one simple reality: it was all a lie.”

The article documents the racism that drives the Republican Party.

It is important to remember this fact. It is just as important to remember Republicans are more likely to believe that the Coronavirus pandemic is being overblown. Congressional Republicans gutted the portion of the House bill geared towards aiding regular citizens. One Republican was bold enough to say that helping by giving financial aide would make citizens lazy. Biden will have little luck reaching out to the Republican cult.

by rmrd0000 on Wed, 03/18/2020 - 11:01am

In the News

Russia plays weak hand in Palestine
Russia plays weak hand in Palestine

submitted by PeraclesPlease 11 months ago

The intra-Palestinian meeting in Moscow has precedent

Russia's hosted such meetings in the past, most recently Feb 2019

Russia has long lamented the US' "monopolization" of the peace process & tried to carve out a niche for itself: mediating among the disunited Palestinians/2
— Hanna Notte (@HannaNotte) February 29, 2024

Read the article at https://twitter.com/HannaNotte/status/1763116222256701787

Add new comment
Mother Jones is Reaching out to Alternative Party Voters
Mother Jones is Reaching out to Alternative Party Voters

submitted by HSG 11 months ago

Here's what I told them: https://halginsberg.com/vote-for-jill-stein-again/

Read the article at https://halginsberg.com/vote-for-jill-stein-again/

2 comments

Add new comment
Controversial Brazil law curbing Indigenous rights comes...
Controversial Brazil law curbing Indigenous rights comes into force

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

Controversial Brazil law curbing Indigenous rights comes into force https://t.co/pCoDg05irX
— Gareth Harris (@garethharr) December 28, 2023

Read the article at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/28/brazil-law-indigenous-land-rights-claim-time-marker?CMP=share_btn_tw

1 comment

Add new comment
Security Alert: U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince, Haiti (...
Security Alert: U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince, Haiti (December 25, 2023)

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

Location: U.S. Embassy and residential compounds

Events: Heavy gunfire is occuring around the area of the U.S. Embassy and residential compounds adjacent to the Trutier area of Tabarre. All Embassy personnel have been instructed to remain indoors and shelter-in-place until further notice. All others should avoid the area.

Actions to take:

Avoid the area;

Avoid demonstrations and any large gatherings of people;

Do not attempt to drive through roadblocks; and

If you encounter a roadblock, turn around and get to a safe area.

Read the article at https://ht.usembassy.gov/security-alert-u-s-embassy-port-au-prince-haiti-december-25-2023/

3 comments

Add new comment
Pakistan Is Creating the World’s Next Refugee Crisis
Pakistan Is Creating the World’s Next Refugee Crisis

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

By The Editorial Board @ Bloomberg.com, December 8, 2023

A mass expulsion of Afghan migrants could destabilize the region and fuel radicalization. The West should pressure Islamabad to change course.

Read the article at https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-12-08/pakistan-s-expulsion-of-afghan-refugees-risks-another-crisis

6 comments

Add new comment
Internet shut down in Chad
Internet shut down in Chad

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

All eyes on #Chad right now
Chad has two internet trunks coming into the country: One from the Red Sea via Sudan; the other from Cameroon. Not possible for the totality of the country's internet network to be shut unless done centrally. A lot of rumors swirling; few facts. https://t.co/N6bDJZ2ixO

Read the article at https://x.com/_hudsonc/status/1732891968709992511?s=20

2 comments

Add new comment
[Economy] where Joe's success falls short
[Economy] where Joe's success falls short

submitted by PeraclesPlease 1 year ago

Read the article at

3 comments

Add new comment
[CRIME News] 3 loss-prevention employees in Macy’s across...
[CRIME News] 3 loss-prevention employees in Macy’s across the street from Philadelphia City Hall stabbed

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

BREAKING: Three loss prevention employees in Macy’s across the street from Philadelphia City Hall stabbed, one of them has died from stab wounds, @PhillyPolice sources tell me. Police converged on the store as the three workers were rushed to Jefferson Hospital. pic.twitter.com/4U1eKycL4W

Read the article at https://x.com/KeeleyFox29/status/1731713272942940365?s=20

38 comments

Add new comment
Former U.S. Ambassador Arrested, Charged With Working As...
Former U.S. Ambassador Arrested, Charged With Working As Secret Agent For Cuba

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

Former US Ambassador Arrested, Charged With Working As Secret Agent For Cuba https://t.co/LDwo4ZJI1K
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) December 4, 2023

Read the article at https://www.huffpost.com/entry/manuel-rocha-ambassador-arrested-cuba_n_656d1e2ae4b028b0f3d07478

Add new comment
[War in Israel, Chapter II] UNRWA under scrutiny
[War in Israel, Chapter II] UNRWA under scrutiny

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

[Chapter I news is HERE, Oct. 7 til today]

You don’t get it.
It’s not about an UNRWA teacher who held an Israeli kid hostage in his house.
It’s all about how for 75 years you have destroyed the future of generations of Palestinians, including my family.
My cousins in Arab countries are still not citizens - not even the… https://t.co/nv6anubGhc
— George Deek (@GeorgeDeek) December 2, 2023

Note 'Community Notes' attached to UNWRA's statement.

Read the article at https://x.com/GeorgeDeek/status/1731020551328579863?s=20

58 comments

Add new comment
Maduro, Under Pressure, Holds Vote to Annex Territory From...
Maduro, Under Pressure, Holds Vote to Annex Territory From a Neighbor

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

Imperialism for me but not for thee?

It's wild that Venezuela is now holding a vote on whether 2/3 of Guyana actually belongs to them! Analysts suggest that Modoru may want military action to pump up his sinking popularity.

Could we have a war in South America?!?

"The people who live in Essequibo are largely… pic.twitter.com/QvMEjkkgwy

Read the article at https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/03/world/americas/maduro-vote-essequibo-guyana.html

6 comments

Add new comment
[Where is the GOP headed?] Divisions leave Florida’s House...
[Where is the GOP headed?] Divisions leave Florida’s House Republicans powerless

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

The lack of a cohesive delegation has allowed attention-seeking lawmakers to act on their own.

McCarthy: “You have [Rep. Matt] Gaetz, who belongs in jail…”

Gaetz: “Tough words from a guy who sucker punches people in the back. The only assault I committed was against Kevin’s fragile ego.”https://t.co/LctPuz6Pcf

Read the article at https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/29/divisions-leave-floridas-house-republicans-powerless-00129200

10 comments

Add new comment
‘She got so mad at me’: book on the ‘Squad’ details AOC-...
‘She got so mad at me’: book on the ‘Squad’ details AOC-Pelosi clashes

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

By Martinn Pengelly in Washington DC for TheGuardian.com, Nov. 30

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tells Ryan Grim life in Congress ‘completely transformed’ after Democratic leader stepped down

Read the article at https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/30/squad-book-aoc-nancy-pelosi?CMP=share_btn_tw

15 comments

Add new comment
US health insurers Humana, Cigna in talks to merge -source
US health insurers Humana, Cigna in talks to merge -source

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

@ Reuters, Nov. 29

Read the article at https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/us-health-insurers-humana-cigna-talks-merge-wsj-2023-11-29/

3 comments

Add new comment
Central Africa’s dinosaur regimes and the art of coup-...
Central Africa’s dinosaur regimes and the art of coup-proofing

submitted by artappraiser 1 year ago

"Both the AU and the intl community place more weight on whether elections are held than whether they are free and fair. Sanctions/expulsions occur when there is a coup but not necessarily when elections are rigged or if an “institutional coup” occurs." https://t.co/m9dNimJP0D
— Cameron Hudson (@_hudsonc) November 28, 2023

Read the article at https://africanarguments.org/2023/11/central-africas-dinosaur-regimes-and-the-art-of-coup-proofing/

Add new comment

From the Readers

Creative corner

From the Dagbloggers

Hits of the Day