TomCat

Fringe Websites Parroted Russian Propaganda

Posted by TomCat at 12:46 pm Politics

Nov 272016

There has been considerable controversy about the fake news stories that spread from user to user on Facebook, and that companies unwillingness co control the fake news there. But from where did all that fake news come? Apparently over two hundred websites have been parroting Russian propaganda regularly to help elect Putin’s dog, our Fuhrer.

A sophisticated Russian propaganda effort helped fuel the spread of fake news during the election cycle, the Washington Post reported Thursday.

Two groups of independent researchers found that Russia employed thousands of botnets, human internet “trolls” and networks of Web sites and social media accounts to inject false content into online political talk and amplify posts from right-wing sites.

“They want to essentially erode faith in the U.S. government or U.S. government interests,” said Clint Watts, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute who co-authored a report about Russian propaganda. “This was their standard mode during the Cold War. The problem is that this was hard to do before social media.”

A similar report from PropOrNot, provided to the Post, identifies more than 200 websites that routinely pushed Russian propaganda to at least 15 million Americans, and found that false stories pushed on Facebook were viewed more than 213 million times.

Some stories originated from RT and Sputnik, state-funded Russian information services that are more akin to traditional news sites but sometimes include false or misleading articles.

The coverage was overwhelmingly favorable to Donald Trump, and some of the most notable examples of fake news garnering major traffic online centered on Hillary Clinton’s health, protesters that were allegedly paid to interrupt Trump events, and fears about vote tampering.

“The way that this propaganda apparatus supported Trump was equivalent to some massive amount of a media buy,” said the executive director of PropOrNot,…

From <Daily Kos>

If you want to take a look, here’s the list of websites that have regularly repeated Russian Propaganda. Several are sites I’ve been familiar with for a long time, that I do not consider intentional purveyors of Russian propaganda. Instead, I consider them useful fools that have long been popular with the wing-nut fringes. of both left and right. The best none site on the list is Wikileaks. While I can’s say with certainty that Assange sold out to the dark side, but at the very least, he echoed reams of material that he obtained from Russian s-called hackers without checking its authenticity.

That said, the biggest culprits of this fiasco are the Main Stream Media. If they were doing their job, Americans would not be s hungry for authentic news, that they were duped by Putin and Republican tolls.

Open Thread – 11/27/2016

Posted by TomCat at 12:45 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 272016

Wendy is about to leave. She rubbed and scrubbed a very stinky TomCat, did some light housework, and cooked me a rotini casserole. We had eggs over easy and O’Brien potatoes for brunch. She rubbed my shoulder with Icy Hot. I’m listening to the Chargers v. Texans meditation, and my Broncos meditate with the Chiefs this evening. May the holy Ellipsoid Orb shine its blessed light on your team, unless they live under an arch.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:01 (average 4:52). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: President-elect Donald “I’m supported by fear and hatred and ignorance” Trump has a fantastic new tax plan. Well, it’s not “new.” It’s basically the same shitty Republican tax plan that destroys the poor and working classes every time it gets enacted. Trump says the largest tax reductions are for the middle class. He also has a bridge in New York to sell you if you believe that. If you are wealthy, guess what? You will get to pretend that you are going to “create jobs” with your new found wealth—on top of the wealth you already have. If you are in the middle class? Sorry, Charlie!

Most married couples with three or more children would also pay higher taxes, an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found. And while middle-class families as a whole would receive tax cuts of about 2 percent, they’d be dwarfed by the windfalls averaging 13.5 percent for America’s richest 1 percent.

How about single-parent households that make decent money?

“If you’re a low- or moderate-income single parent, you’re going to get hurt,” said Bob Williams, a fellow at the Tax Policy Center.

[…]

But Lily Batchelder, a visiting fellow at the Tax Policy Center and former deputy director of President Barack Obama’s National Economic Council, estimates that roughly 7.9 million families with children would pay higher taxes under his proposals. About 5.8 million are led by single parents. An additional 2.1 million are married couples.

This has always been Republican tax policy. It’s raise YOUR taxes to give massive tax cuts to billionaires, aka No Billionaire Left Behind.

From NY Times: Nearly three weeks after Election Day, Hillary Clinton’s campaign said on Saturday that it would participate in a recount process in Wisconsin incited by a third-party candidate and would join any potential recounts in two other closely contested states, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

It’s about time!!

From YouTube (TYT Channel): It’s Time to Stand with Standing Rock

Amen!!

Cartoon:

Chomsky on Trump’s Election

Posted by TomCat at 9:01 am Politics

Nov 262016

1126chomsky_trump

Not many people get to my left without sailing off in to the land where they need rooms with nice soft walls. Noam Chomsky is one of them. For example, he favors open primaries, which I oppose, because I've seen the primary damage Republicans do in Open Democratic Primaries, when their own candidates have no primary opposition. Noam has a message for those voters who failed America, by refusing to help prevent Trump from winning.

Noam Chomsky Drops Truth Bomb on Trump's Election

Noam Chomsky has message for Trump apologists and normalizers post-election. "They're making a bad mistake," Chomsky said in an interview with Al Jazeera's Mehdi Hasan. While Chomsky initially backed Bernie Sanders in the primaries, he encouraged his supporters to back Clinton once she received the nomination. "There are two issues. One is kind of a moral…

Continue reading »

Open Thread – 11/26/2016

Posted by TomCat at 9:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 262016

My shoulder pain is still quite severe, so please pardon my brevity. Tomorrow is both a Wendy day, and a holy day in the Church of the Ellipsoid Orb. My Broncos have the evening meditation with the Chiefs.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:11 (average 5:30). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube {TYT Channel): Should There Be a Recount?

Cenk described my feelings exactly. All three states would have to flip to change the results, and I don’t think that will happen, but any chance is better than none.

From NY Times: There are not many issues on which Europe, Russia and China all agree, but there is one: ensuring that President-elect Donald J. Trump does not undermine the Iran nuclear deal.

There are legitimate grounds for concern that the incoming administration or Congress will sabotage the deal, which Mr. Trump has referred to as a “disaster” and vowed to “dismantle.” The president-elect has also surrounded himself with people like Rudolph W. Giuliani and John R. Bolton, both mentioned as potential secretary of state picks, who have said they want an immediate end to the deal and called for regime change in Iran. Mr. Trump’s pick to lead the C.I.A., Mike Pompeo, recently wrote on Twitter, “I look forward to rolling back this disastrous deal with the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.”

In the process the Fuhrer and Republican Reich will guarantee that we face a nuclear armed Iran that is even more hostile to the US five to ten years in the future, unless the Fuhrer plays ping pong with the nuclear football.

From The Nation: Fidel Castro is dead at 90. He took power in 1959, at the head of the joyful, raucous, and brash Cuban Revolution, which was immediately placed under siege by Washington. Castro almost outlasted 11 US presidents—Eisenhower, Kennedy, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, and passing in the waning days of Obama’s last term. Perhaps he just couldn’t bear the thought of President Donald Trump. Having been sanctimoniously lectured by all 11 US presidents on what constitutes proper democratic procedure, he might have thought Trump, about to take office with a minority of the vote and with significant voter suppression, a vindication.

Fidel was a President. Fuhrer Drumpfenfarten is just a resident.

Cartoon:

Personal Update – 11/25/2016

Posted by TomCat at 7:46 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 252016

First, it’s Black Friday and the news is slower than molasses. Second, I sprained my shoulder, and have no idea how. Just moving my right arm is most painful, so I’m going back to bed. FYI, I will do no shopping today. On Black Friday, I refuse to spend a dime.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:10 (average 5:29). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

1125Cartoon

How to Celebrate Thanksgiving

Posted by TomCat at 10:12 am Holiday, Politics

Nov 242016

Thanksgiving2012

Open Thread – 11/24/2016

Posted by TomCat at 10:12 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Nov 242016

Wendy’s niece couldn’t make it, but Wendy came. Last year, I lobbied my doctors for a week to talk them into allowing me to leave my unit and eat Thanksgiving dinner in the hospital cafeteria. For at least ten years before that, I cooked a holiday meal and shared it with people less fortunate than I. So it’s been a very long time since I had a holiday meal, home-cooked by someone else. Wendy brought turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, dinner rolls, creamed corn, cranberry sauce, and fruit salad. It was to die for. I contributed cherry pie, raspberry pudding ring, and truffles. Purrrr!!

Julie called this morning. Her girlfriend is now her wife. She and Killer Dawg send greetings to you all.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:14 (average 4:41). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Media Matters Channel): Journalism to be thankful for

May we get the journalism we need help us to RESIST!

From Daily Kos: Dan Rather is sounding the alarm and we would do well to listen and then take action:

Now is a time when none of us can afford to remain seated or silent. We must all stand up to be counted.

HIstory will demand to know which side were you on. This is not a question of politics or party or even policy. This is a question about the very fundamentals of our beautiful experiment in a pluralistic democracy ruled by law.

When I see neo-Nazis raise their hands in terrifying solute, in public, in our nation’s capital, I shudder in horror. When I see that action mildly rebuked by a boilerplate statement from the President-elect whom these bigots have praised, the anger in me grows. And when I see some in a pliant press turn that mild statement into what they call a denunciation I cannot hold back any longer.

Our Declaration of Independence bequeaths us our cherished foundational principle: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

These truths may be self-evident but they are not self-replicating. Each generation has to renew these vows.

E Pluribus Unum! E Pluribus Unum!! E Pluribus Unum!!! RESIST!!!!

From The Rachel Maddow Show: Long reach to find precedent for 2016 popular vote gap in US past

Rachel Maddow looks back 140 years to Reconstruction era U.S. history to find a remotely comparable gap between the popular vote and the electoral vote winner, and warns against leaping to conclusions about the significance of the 2016 popular vote.

Fuhrer Drumphenfarten is NOT MY PRESIDENT! RESIST!!

From The Last Word: Scientists call for swing state recounts

A group of computer scientists are urging Hillary Clinton to ask for a recount, claiming voting irregularities surfaced in three swing states. Gabe Sherman joins MSNBC’s Ari Melber to share his reporting.

Jill Stein is raising money for a recount. Although nothing she can do will ever make up for the way she helped get Trump elected by parroting and drawing attention to Putin’s disinformation on RT, Russia’s propaganda network, I am glad that she is is helping in this effort. Recount and RESIST!!

Cartoon:

Trump Infrastructure Plan a Scam

Posted by TomCat at 10:37 am Politics

Nov 232016

1123infrastructure

Yesterday, I published an article in which I stated that cooperating with Trump is not an ]option, we should not resist projects that benefit the American people, such as infrastructure spending. Bernie Sanders went even further tan I did, suggesting he would cooperate on such item. I’m sad to inform you the the Fuhrer’s plan is a scam, a tax break and stimulus for only billionaires masquerading as an infrastructure project.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called out President-elect Donald Trump’s plan on infrastructure, labeling it a “scam” and “corporate welfare.”

In an article posted to Medium on Monday, the senator said Trump rightfully promised to improve America’s infrastructure while on the campaign trail, but the president-elect’s plan has fallen short on that promise.

“Trump would allow corporations that have stashed their profits overseas to pay just a fraction of what the companies owe in federal taxes. And then he would allow the companies to ‘invest’ in infrastructure projects in exchange for even more tax breaks,” Sanders wrote. “Trump’s plan is corporate welfare coming and going.”…

From <Huffington Post>

Paul Krugman explained more about it.

There are three questions you should immediately ask.

First, why do it this way? Why not just have the government do the spending, the way it did when, for example, we built the Interstate Highway System? It’s not as if the feds are having trouble borrowing. And while involving private investors may create less upfront government debt than a more straightforward scheme, the eventual burden on taxpayers will be every bit as high if not higher.

Second, how is this scheme supposed to deal with infrastructure needs that can’t be turned into profit centers? Our top priorities should include things like repairing levees and cleaning up hazardous waste; where’s the revenue stream? Maybe the government can promise to pay fees in perpetuity, in effect “renting” the repaired levee or waterworks — but that makes it even clearer that we’re basically engaged in a gratuitous handout to select investors.

Third, what reason do we have to believe that this scheme will generate new investment, as opposed to repackaging things that would have happened anyway? For example, many cities will have to replace their water systems in the years ahead, one way or another; if that replacement takes place under the Trump scheme rather than through ordinary government investment, we haven’t built additional infrastructure, we’ve just privatized what would have been public assets — and the people acquiring those assets will have paid just 18 cents on the dollar, with taxpayers picking up the rest of the tab.

From <NY Times>

On the Rachel Maddow Show, Ron Klain, a former Obama administration adviser, talks with Joy-Ann Reid about why Donald Trump’s infrastructure plan is really just a tax break for investors in for-profit projects and doesn’t address America’s real infrastructure needs.

There it is, The Fuhrer wants to charge taxpayers more for projects that generate profit for billionaires, ignore our infrastructure needs, and create few new jobs, if any.

RESIST!!

Older Entries Newer Entries