March 2, 2018

DUers, don't ever be this guy, please...

https://twitter.com/zatchry/status/969401650443096067

February 28, 2018

HOW LIBERALS AMPED UP A PARKLAND SHOOTING CONSPIRACY THEORY

THE SHOOTING AT Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day inspired an energetic group of young activists to weigh in on the national debate on guns, safety, and personal freedoms. But as they found their voice, conspiracy theories purporting that they were “crisis actors”—frauds pretending to be students—spiraled across social media and into the mainstream.

As documented elsewhere, this idea of “false flag” operations and actors being used by liberals to stage media stories for political purposes is a long-running narrative in far-right media outlets like InfoWars (and, perhaps worth noting, something Russian propaganda networks have been caught actually doing multiple times in Ukraine). In this case, it is an easy if cynical tactic to discredit the voices of victims and undermine the moral weight behind their message....

....And, as our research group, New Media Frontier—which collects and analyzes social media intelligence using a range of custom and commercial analytical tools—recently outlined in an analysis of the #releasethememo campaign, there are many contributing factors to the amplification of American far-right content, including foreign and domestic bots, intentional amplification networks, and other factors. Whether it’s fully automated bot or semi-automated cyborg accounts, automation is a vital part of accelerating the distribution of content on social media.

But in looking at the case of the Parkland, Florida, shooting and the crisis actors narrative it spawned, there was another important factor that allowed it to leap into mainstream consciousness: People outraged by the conspiracy helped to promote it—in some cases far more than the supporters of the story. And algorithms—apparently absent the necessary “sentiment sensitivity” that is needed to tell the context of a piece of content and assess whether it is being shared positively or negatively—see all that noise the same.

https://www.wired.com/story/how-liberals-amped-up-a-parkland-shooting-conspiracy-theory/

This is a good illustration of why caution and discretion are great allies sometimes...

February 27, 2018

Why you gotta be that guy?

https://twitter.com/Malboury/status/968163458679263238

https://twitter.com/Malboury/status/968534477013209088

February 27, 2018

Do You Believe Her Now?

On the same fall night in 2016 that the infamous Access Hollywood tape featuring Donald Trump bragging about sexual assault was made public by the Washington Post and dominated the news, an Alaska attorney, Moira Smith, wrote on Facebook about her own experiences as a victim of sexual misconduct in 1999.

“At the age of 24, I found out I’d be attending a dinner at my boss’s house with Justice Clarence Thomas,” she began her post, referring to the U.S. Supreme Court justice who was famously accused of sexually harassing Anita Hill, a woman who had worked for him at two federal agencies, including the EEOC, the federal sexual-harassment watchdog.

“I was so incredibly excited to meet him, rough confirmation hearings notwithstanding,” Smith continued. “He was charming in many ways — giant, booming laugh, charismatic, approachable. But to my complete shock, he groped me while I was setting the table, suggesting I should ‘sit right next to him.’ When I feebly explained I’d been assigned to the other table, he groped again … ‘Are you sure?’ I said I was and proceeded to keep my distance.” Smith had been silent for 17 years but, infuriated by the “Grab ’em by the pussy” utterings of a presidential candidate, could keep quiet no more.

Tipped to the post by a Maryland legal source who knew Smith, Marcia Coyle, a highly regarded and scrupulously nonideological Supreme Court reporter for The National Law Journal, wrote a detailed story about Smith’s allegation of butt-squeezing, which included corroboration from Smith’s roommates at the time of the dinner and from her former husband. Coyle’s story, which Thomas denied, was published October 27, 2016. If you missed it, that’s because this news was immediately buried by a much bigger story — the James Comey letter reopening the Hillary Clinton email probe.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/02/the-case-for-impeaching-clarence-thomas.html


While some on the left still want to throw navel-gazing pity parties for Monica Lewinsky, never forget that Anita Hill went through much, much worse... And never forget that unlike Lewinsky, Hill *NEVER* consented to sexual contact, she has never used her tragedy to personally enrich herself and she has never been given the commercial outlets and celebrity image rehab that Lewinsky has enjoyed these past two decades...

And I'll just leave this classic from the archives here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10025702437

February 23, 2018

SO WHICH IS IT, THEN?!?

https://twitter.com/blackrosesyn/status/967111763106975744

February 22, 2018

Indian (Desi) DUers:

Are these wardrobes by Trudeau over-the-top or not???

https://twitter.com/OmarAbdullah/status/966218016286441472

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-43151115

February 20, 2018

MEANWHILE, at 3964 10th Avenue in New York...

https://twitter.com/MisterClasico/status/965629439102070785

February 20, 2018

MEANWHILE, in Wisconsin...

https://twitter.com/ABC/status/965807984730427392

February 15, 2018

Who proposes shit like this? Seriously

https://twitter.com/KevinMKruse/status/963906515882139648

And other bright conservative minds like Ben Carson and Tucker Carlson have been touting the "Quit being an unarmed coward and be a suicidal hero instead!" -meme

February 15, 2018

Is there anything more American than profiting off death?

https://twitter.com/BroderickGreer/status/964138677914882054