meme viral remix

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wow, really belated 818, tho no formula /secret sauce?</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">prolly neglected</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see escalator/echo
</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">still interesting to look at what has and why?  has to do with amplifying feedback / network effect?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/09/republicans-keep-proving-semi-fascism/">https://www.alternet.org/2022/09/republicans-keep-proving-semi-fascism/</a></font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><strong>“The real fascist”</strong></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That’s when we witnessed the “<a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/ake7dk/maga-biden-speech-satanic" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"><b>meme</b>ification</a>” of Biden – endless Hitler comparisons that got #PedoHitler trending on Twitter.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/abughazalehkat/status/1565503143923834882" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Tucker Carlson</a> said Biden stood in front of a “blood-red Nazi background.” <a href="https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1565524388384055296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1565524388384055296%7Ctwgr%5Ec9bfdf7c0492c1287b31445d64b989623d4c3070%7Ctwcon%5Es1&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.jpost.com%2Famerican-politics%2Farticle-716200" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Marjorie Taylor Greene</a> layered a Hitler video over the speech to create a “deep fake” of Biden looking like Hitler.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">Texas state representative <a href="https://twitter.com/BriscoeCain/status/1565704192425082880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1565704192425082880%7Ctwgr%5Eb2bc99b2a48395e7579edad3012cd46918b08369%7Ctwcon%5Es1&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftexasscorecard.com%2Ffederal%2Ftexas-republicans-react-to-president-bidens-shameful-speech%2F" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Briscoe Cain</a> gave a subtler Hitler reference by saying he couldn’t understand Biden’s speech, because it was in German. <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/09/a-guide-to-the-intense-debate-over-bidens-democracy-speech.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Others</a> just called Biden satanic or lunatic.</p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><a href="http://w3.salemstate.edu/_{cmauriello/pdfEuropean/Paxton_Five%20Stages%20of%20Fascism.pdf}" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Robert Paxton</a> described five stages of fascism in an article published in 1998 (he wrote an <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210312204123/https://www.newsweek.com/robert-paxton-trump-fascist-1560652" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">op-ed</a> calling Trump a fascist in 2021).</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">These include:</p><ul class="ee-ul" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; width: 589.444px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><li>Group primacy over individual rights.</li><li>Group purity.</li><li>Group victimhood justifying attacks on enemies.</li><li>Fear of “cosmopolitan liberalism.”</li><li><b>Faith in authority of “natural male leaders.”</b></li></ul><span style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.openculture.com/2018/10/yale-professor-jason-stanley-identifies-three-essential-features-of-fascism.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Jason Stanley</a> writes of three essential features of fascism. They include “conjuring a mythic past” that the enemy has somehow destroyed, sowing division and attacking the truth with propaganda. This propaganda is usually particularly anti-intellectual.</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></p><p style="color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>[do not discount meme,</b> don't ignore; prop can be dumb and still work]</span></p></span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">omg</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/alex-jones-declares-independence-aliens/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></a></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/alex-jones-declares-independence-aliens/">https://www.alternet.org/2022/07/alex-jones-declares-independence-aliens/</a>
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">7 22 an</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Infowars host, notorious right-wing provocateur, and conspiracy

theorist Alex Jones has issued a proclamation urging Americans – or

whoever is as concerned as he is – to join him in rejecting the

tyrannical kakistocracy of humanity's sinister extraterrestrial

overlords.</font></span></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“I declare this July 4th, 2022 to be a Declaration of

Independence against the alien force on this planet today waging war

against humans and our biology and our very future that is attempting to

exterminate the majority of us and force the minority that's left to

<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><b>merge with AI computers and become cyborg slaves of Satan,</b></span></span>" Jones said

on his show.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watch below via Ron Filipkowski:</font></p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e32d810570f71498aca3b4f922d6c46a" id="38795">

</div>

</div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>READ MORE: </strong><strong><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/06/alex-jones-donald-trump-2024/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_self" title="view post: Alex Jones claims that 'Donald Trump is set to announce his run for 2024' on Monday July 4th" class="rm-stats-tracked">Alex Jones claims that 'Donald Trump is set to announce his run for 2024' on Monday July 4th</a></strong></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This

was not the first time that Jones has warned the public about the

opaque operations that are supposedly undertaken within the federal

government's purported evil netherworld.</font></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2017, Media Matters for America <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/alex-jones/alex-jones-guest-children-have-been-kidnapped-and-sent-slave-colony-mars" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">uncovered a clip of Jones</a>

giving a nod to an allegation that the National Aeronautics and Space

Administration was spearheading a kidnapping ring to deport young

Earthlings to Mars to work as forced laborers. </font></span></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He based this on

the occasional failures of exploratory scientific equipment and claimed

that he had primary source asseverations by NASA personnel.</font></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ex-Central

Intelligence Agency officer and fellow conspiracy theorist Robert David

Steele expressed to Jones that "this may strike your listeners as way

out but we actually believe that there is a colony on Mars that is

populated by children who were kidnapped and sent into space on a

20-year ride. So that once they get to Mars they have no alternative but

to be slaves on the Mars colony."</font></span></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jones gobbled up the bait.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Look,

I know that 90 percent of the NASA missions are secret and I’ve been

told by high-level NASA engineers that you have no idea, there is so

much stuff going on. But then it goes off into all that, that’s the kind

of thing media jumps on. But I know this: we see a bunch of mechanical

wreckage on Mars and people say, 'oh look, it looks like mechanics.'

They go, 'oh, you’re a conspiracy theorist.' Clearly, they don’t want us

looking into what is happening. Every time probes go over they turn

them off," he said. <b>"I don’t know about Mars bases, but I know they’ve

created massive, thousands of different types of chimeras that are alien

lifeforms on this Earth now."</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watch below:</font></p></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">say what you will, the guy can riff like  jazz musician:</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">wow:</font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: " background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Alex Jones complains about “Sandy Hook charade” and claims the lawsuit against him is part of a <b>“one-world government” plot</b></span></font></font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: " small="small"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</b></font></font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/alex-jones/alex-jones-complains-about-sandy-hook-charade-and-claims-lawsuit-against-him-part-one">https://www.mediamatters.org/alex-jones/alex-jones-complains-about-sandy-hook-charade-and-claims-lawsuit-against-him-part-one</a></span></font></font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-size: 18.9291px; background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">jONES (HOST)<b>: Front and center for them is to demonize and attack anyone that talks about this. I am here in Connecticut with the whole Democratic Party-funded, -run, anti-free speech, anti-gun Sandy Hook charade that's going on with their attempts to demonize me and set the precedent to ban everybody's speech.</b></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-size: 18.9291px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">And the first thing they brought up was, “You believe in a</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> new world order, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">you believe in one-world government. You believe in an armed overthrow of the new world order.</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">" </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">So again, they're trying to demonize me as a terrorist who opposes the one-world government that doesn't exist at the same time because The New York Times says so, even though just last week, Klaus Schwab had their big event in Dubai titled World Government Conference. And at it, Schwab and Harari, and all the rest of the same cast of characters -- James Bond villains -- said the post-human world is here and that the world economy is collapsing. But don't worry, they're going to build a new green system on its ashes, Build Back Better and Buttigieg came out and said the same thing here in the U.S.</span></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-size: 18.9291px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">But that's OK because again, they're allowed to push world government,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> corporate world government. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">We're just not allowed to oppose it.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> </span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">When we talk about it, we're crazy and violent, and it doesn't exist. That's gaslighting, that's brainwashing. So here's this former federal prosecutor who's prosecuting the First Amendment and all of our freedoms; in the first 20 minutes he spent hammering me for believing in an imaginary new world order and global government, and that I want to be violent and overthrow people -- which goes the whole January 6 narrative and how they're trying to brand any political opposition as violent. What they're doing, but all the Democrat violence is mostly peaceful. And Kamala Harris bailing out rioters and looters and people trying to burn down the federal courthouse in Oregon there in Portland, that's all OK as well.</span></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 18.9291px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">Now, I'm going to segue out of that. I'm just pointing out how we have global government up here, and we have their prosecutors now with<b> lawfare</b> trying to shut down our free speech at the grassroots level. And that's so that we cannot oppose the worldwide<b> bio-medical tyranny </b>that is the</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> basis of the world ID</span><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">, </span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">the world social credit score, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">the world carbon tax </span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">that they admit is now being rolled out on a planetary scale under the auspices of the vaccine passport.</span></font></font></p></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: " small="small"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">----</b></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">prolly neglected but </font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">is this recycled distortion of CIA import coke into ghetto 80's? or just RR BS welfare queen crack babies?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/free-base-pipe/">https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/free-base-pipe/</a></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx vid twt?</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>Right-wing website made up viral fake claim Republicans like Marco Rubio are now pushing: report</div><div>[Marco Rubio embarrasses himself again by doubling down on false attack of defense secretary]</div><div>
</div><div>David Badash and The New Civil Rights Movement February 10, 2022</div><div>   </div><div><b>This week Republican lawmakers and voters have had a great time pushing a false claim that the Biden administration is spending tens of millions of dollars to pay for "free crack pipes" for drug abusers</b>.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> The claim came from a report by the right-wing website Washington Free Beacon</span>, including a quote falsely attributed to an HHS spokesperson, according to The Daily Beast.</div><div>
</div><div>It's no surprise The Daily Beast is calling "a lie" made its way to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives and a U.S. Senator's Twitter account.</div><div>
</div><div><b>"The Washington Free Beacon seemed to take a big leap to assert that free crack pipes would be part of a harm reduction package</b>," The Daily Beast's Roger Sollenberg reports, calling it "a lie rocketed around conservative media."</div><div>
</div><div>The report, published Monday and titled <b>“Biden Admin To Fund Crack Pipe Distribution To Advance ‘Racial Equity,’” cited an HHS spokesperson as confirming that a sweeping harm reduction package “will provide pipes” to smoke, quote, “any illicit substance.”</b></div><div>
</div><div>The Free Beacon's article reads: <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“A spokesman for the agency told the Washington Free Beacon that these kits will provide pipes for users to smoke crack cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, and ‘any illicit substance.’”</span></div><div>
</div><div>The Daily Beast reviewed the email chain between the Washington Free Beacon and HHS. <b>It's unclear how the Free Beacon made the "any illicit substance" claim, given the HHS email specifically states no federal laws would be broken.</b></div><div>
</div><div><b>In fact, The Daily Beast reports the HHS spokesperson says the Free Beacon “omitted the information shared with him about the grantees needing to comply with federal, state, and local laws—the very language that would prohibit crack pipes.</b>”</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The damage has already been done. The "free crack pipes" claim is now one more myth in conservatives' false reality.</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Arizona far-right Republican U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Lesko made the false claim on the floor of the House of Representatives:</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Florida Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, linking to an article literally titled: "Biden administration denies funding programs that hand out crack pipes to prevent infection and promote 'racial equity'" says in a video posted to his Twitter account, "The Biden administration is going to be sending crack pipes and meth pipes, targeting minority communities," a claim he knows is a lie.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fox News entertainers Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity both made the most of the claim, with The Daily Mail reporting: "Tucker Carlson slams policy to hand out free crack pipes and needles warning it 'will result in addicts shooting up on the streets.'"</span></div><div>
</div><div>The genie is out of the bottle, and no one on the right has any intention or desire to put it back.</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see rhet god/devil terms</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">guns of course muy macho, kyle said he picked the AR15 b/c it looked cool = manly, warrior, lethal = power</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">note pedo-commie and bitch (co-opts black thug rap?]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">pudgey white suburban so gets invite/summons on facebook to  man up and go help the good guy cops who are besiged by black thugs [dylann r radicalized by blk on wht crime]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">aha anti commie, fag and semite:</font></div><div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>omfg <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">parasite</span> = cockroaches = exterminate  vermin carry disease dirty</b></font></div></div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/11/rittenhouse-2655770737/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.alternet.org/2021/11/rittenhouse-2655770737/</a></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx pix req</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rittenhouse verdict championed on right-wing social media as green light for killing protesters</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">[Charlottesville "Unite the Right" Rally. Far-right Oath Keepers patrol Emancipation Park. Credit:] </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>David Neiwert </b>and Daily Kos November 21, 2021</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">   </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The exultation on right-wing social media following Kyle Rittenhouse's acquittal has been sickeningly predictable: Mainstream conservatives loudly valorize Rittenhouse as a "hero," while more extremist voices, applying the same logic, demand that more Americans follow his footsteps—urging the likeminded to take to the street now to begin using guns to "<b>be like Kyle." They have even appropriated his name for their future plans, voiced in numerous celebratory threads: Any leftist protester shot by a right-wing "patriot" henceforth will have been "Rittenhoused."</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As we forecasted, the acquittal is now a beacon-like green light granting permission to violent right-wing extremists to openly wage the kind of "civil war" against "the left"—which ranges from liberal Democrats like Joe Biden to the "antifa" bogeyman they have concocted—that they have been fantasizing about for the past decade. In the words of Charlie Kirk's interlocutor, it's the signal that now they "get to use the guns."</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The bloodlust has been palpable. Online trolls celebrated that "it's Open Season on pedo-commies"</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);"> and boasted that the verdict means "there's nothing you can do about it." A neo-Nazi channel on Twitter urged readers to "let this win fuel your rage." A fan of pseudo-journalist Andy Ngo commented in a retweet: "Every one of these anarchist criminal thugs should be shot in the street like the worthless dogs they are."</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">Far-right maven Ann Coulter posted a meme showing a gantlet of [marvel nazi nerd wet dr]  <b style="">comic-book superheroes bowing to Rittenhouse</b>.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> On </span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Facebook, Ben Shapiro</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> framed any future violence as being left-wing: "The Left accepting the verdict in a peaceable manner remains the sizable elephant in the room.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The white-nationalist site VDare also extolled Rittenhouse's heroism:</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This much is true: Kyle Rittenhouse is the hero we've been waiting for throughout the turbulent summer of 2020, where a Black Lives Matter/Antifa/<b>Bolshevik revolution</b> has our country on the brink of total chaos.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">[Coulter-RittenhouseMeme.jpeg]</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Matt Walsh of the <b>Daily Wire</b> blamed the media for there even having been a trial:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The verdict is right and just but Kyle Rittenhouse never should have been on trial at all. Now the<b> media will go to work, like the demons </b>they are, to ensure that Kenosha burns because they did not get their blood sacrifice.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Walsh then added:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>I hope Rittenhouse bankrupts all of you dirtbags in media who smeared him as a white supremacist. [sue for libel based on verdict? // charlottesville ~ KKK case finished ]</b> I hope he ruins your life. I want you to suffer. It's what you deserve. It's justice.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>
</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Idaho legislator Tammy Nichols, a Republican, posted a meme featuring the Gadsden-flag "Don't Tread On Me" design, but with a graphic of Rittenhouse firing from a seated position as he did in Kenosha.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The Gun Owners of America (GOA)—a gun-rights extremist group headed by far-right militia figure Larry Pratt—joined in the celebration by announcing it was giving Rittenhouse a new gun.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Alert: GOA will be awarding Kyle Rittenhouse with an AR-15 for his defense of gun rights in America. Join us in saying THANK YOU to Kyle Rittenhouse for being a<b> warrior for gun <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">rights</span> and self defense rights</b> across the country!</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Other "<b>Patriot" Movement</b> extremists saw the verdict as vindication for vigilantism and militia organizing. The "Washougal Moms," a militia-friendly group from eastern Washington state, opined:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Today the jury and legal system has reaffirmed our <b>rights</b> as citizens. The <b>second amendment </b>in all aspects, to form a</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> well regulated militia</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, the right to bear arms in self defense, and</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> against <b>enemies </b>both foreign and <b>domestic</b>!</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Kurt Schlichter, the right-wing troll with over 380,000 followers, taunted MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan, who had expressed concern about the double racial standard that the verdict reflects, on Twitter.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Your pain delights me</b>. Kyle Rittenhouse killed two leftist<b> catspaws </b>and bisected the bicep of another and t<b>here's nothing you can do about it.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>
</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A white-nationalist Twitter account called "Based Teutonic" celebrated the verdict by posting a fantasy that Rittenhouse would now embark on an <b>action-hero-like mission</b>—with the help of Judge Bruce Schroeder, who oversaw the trial in markedly biased fashion.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">About to exit court room</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Judge yells from behind:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Rittenhouse turns around</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">You forgot this</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Tosses him his AR15</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Credits roll, Eye of the Tiger plays</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"Based Teutonic" wasn't alone in celebrating Schroeder's role in the verdict. On Telegram, a commenter in a <b>Proud Boys channel</b> observed:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Kyle's case shows how important is to have your guys in power on a local level. One vaguely conservative boomer judge made all of the difference in a monumental trial.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Other Proud Boys were more focused on their long-anticipated civil war. "There's still a chance for this country," wrote one. Another wrote: "The left wont stop until their bodies get stacked up like cord wood."</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">monitored a number of far-right chat forums (particularly Telegram) following the verdict, and found an outpouring of extremist bile, much of it anticipating the ability to inflict lethal violence on "leftists," as well as Black <b>"parasites"</b> and, of course, Jewish people. A user called The Western Chauvinist commented: "The parasites are planning multiple 'protests' across the United States."</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">One user calling himself "Proud Boy To Fascist Pipeline" replied to one of these comments mocking Black leaders protesting the verdict as <b>"parasites</b>": "Your 17 year olds are already armed and terrorizing our neighborhoods, n----er."</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fittingly, Charlie Kirk fans—following the example of his Idaho audience member—were focused on the violence: "Arm up and tell them fcking bring it!" one replied to predictions of leftist protests after the verdict. "Shoot these phukers," commented another.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Nick Fuentes' "Groypers" were also unbridled in their anticipation of gunning down their opponents. "The most American thing you can do is Killing Commies," opined one on the white-nationalist forum Gab</b>.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Another Gab user exulted with a meme showing Joaquin Phoenix as</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"> The Joker, dancing:</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"When you find out it's officially Open Season on pedo-commies.</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);"> Mocking "wannabe street thugs upset with the verdict," another Gab user replied, "you're gonna get Rittenhouse'd. Bitch."</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Gab-OpenSeason.png</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"Getting Rittenhoused" became a popular way of threatening leftists. After Ngo posted a handful of tweets from leftists angry about the verdict, hundreds of his fans piled on, making threats of violence against them. "Someone will Rittenhouse them too," one responded. Another replied: "I came here to say that!"</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>
</b></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);"><b>Antisemitism also was a common theme.</b> Right-wing troll Keith Woods, who has 23,500 followers on Twitter, declared after the verdict: "Huge L for the Jews." His followers piled on; one responded with a </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">GIF meme of Gollum and the text, "Curse you goyim</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);">." Another replied, "hopefully they take an L in Charlottsville trial too.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);"> WHITE BOY WINTER!</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);">"</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">White nationalist Eric Striker was more explicitly antisemitic, as well as strategic, in his commentary:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Beating the Jews to the narrative as incidents unfold is more important than anything that happens in court.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Once you frame a story with the facts (and the facts have to be 100% accurate) and disseminate it with an effective propaganda network, Jews will struggle to challenge it once it's cemented.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Notorious white nationalist and antisemite Mike "Enoch" Peinovich put out a statement through his National Justice Party: "This victory for Kyle Rittenhouse over the <b>cosmopolitan elite forces</b> that plague the nation isn't only a victory for the young man himself, it's a victory for justice and for <b>all White people who take a stand,"</b> Peinovich said.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On Telegram, a white nationalist commented: "The victory of Kyle Rittenhouse over the<b> jewish forces that plague the nation</b> isn't just a victory for the man himself, it's a victory for justice, and for the masses of disenfranchised White people which populate the globe.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The neo-Nazi group White Lives Matter had this advice for its white-supremacist followers:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Don't let this one victory lull you back to sleep. That's what they want. They know small "victories" can placate the angry masses more than anything else. Instead let this win fuel your rage. </b>Never forget the simple fact that this clear-cut self-defense should never have gone to trial in the first place. <b>Muslim, Hispanic, and African invaders have raped millions of our women, WHITE women. </b>Their time of<b> terror</b>izing our People with 0 consequences is coming to an end. The Rittenhouse verdict is a single tick in the scoreboard on our side<b>. Our enemy doesn't have a scoreboard big enough for their victories. Fight harder, stronger, fiercer, and with the same remorse they have shown us. None. Get going, White man.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>
</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"This might be interpreted across the far right as a type of permission slip to do this kind of thing or to seek out altercations in this way, believing that there is a potential that they won't face serious consequences for it," Jared Holt of the <b>Digital Forensic Research Lab at the Atlantic Council</b> told NPR. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">"I worry that that might end up being interpreted by some people as a proof of concept of this idea that you can actually go out and seek a 'self-defense situation,' and you'll be cheered as a hero for it."</span></div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div style="font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/12/trump-captiol-riot/">
</a></font></div><div style=""><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/12/trump-captiol-riot/">https://www.alternet.org/2021/12/trump-captiol-riot/</a></font></div><div style=""><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1/6 analysis, sm sample here</font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">12 21 raw an relationship coach kind // life coach?</font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Both men overtly invoke the apocalypse, and self-consciously make QAnon references in their respective podcasts.</span></div><p style="font-size: small; margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“What is going on here in America?” Cusick said in the Oct. 19 episode of his podcast. “<b>They have us — we’re enslaved</b>…. When the pilgrims came to America in 1620 — four hundred years from then goes to 2020 — <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">when did this awakening start in the United States? Everyone started realizing what was going on with our elections, with Hollywood, with all these elites. It started in 2020, thanks to our president, Donald Trump.”</span></font></p><p style="font-size: small; margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cusick offered an allegory, comparing Americans from the settling of the colonies in the 1600s to the Israelites who, according to the Old Testament, were enslaved in Egypt under the pharaoh. By way of explaining how the United States, which after all, was supposedly “founded on Judeo-Christian principles,” had been “enslaved” since before its founding, Cusick claimed that “<b>it was infiltrated and it became Satanic.</b>”</font></p><p style="font-size: small; margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For Cusick, Trump is to be credited for awakening a sense of nationalism in Americans and helping them define an enemy, which happens to be their fellow citizens.</font></p><p style="font-size: small; margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Trump’s the one who made people all of a sudden realize we have a country, and we have an opposition, whether you were on the left side or the right side,” Cusick said.</font></p><p style="font-size: small; margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While concerned with something entirely different — helping men have more sex, as opposed to saving souls for Jesus — Stedman offered a similar chronology in his Dec. 9 blog post entitled “Why Your Woman Stops Wanting Sex.”</font></p><p style="font-size: small; margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We have been experiencing a gradual dark night of soul these past 100 years; as I write this in December 2021 we are near the culmination of it,” he wrote. Then, he went straight to the apocalypse: <b>“In this collapse all that has been hidden is becoming seen. We are living through the <em>apocalypse </em>— the great revealing. <em>The great awakening</em>.”</b></font></p><p style="font-size: small; margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">After invoking apocalypse as a force for a transformation in gender relations, Stedman advised young men that they should strive for “consensual polarity” while making it clear that he was not advocating for equality: In his view, the men are protagonists; women are material to be “forged.”</font></p><p style="font-size: small; margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Such a relationship is well within your grasp,” Stedman advised. “In spite of all the programming, suitable women are all around; though many do need guidance — you will need to help forge them. But the limiting factor is you. Because you can only take a woman as far as you yourself have gone.”...</font></p><div style="font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/10/trumpists/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.alternet.org/2021/10/trumpists/</a></font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Black flag: Understanding the Trumpists' latest threatening symbol</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Chauncey DeVega and Salon October 12, 2021</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">   </div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It's an old truism that the "real bad men" (and bad women) "move in silence and violence." That's certainly true for the most dangerous and most effective of Donald Trump's allies, henchmen, henchwomen, and other followers. But for Donald Trump himself, and most of his political cult, that rule does not apply.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Trump and his followers were loud, exuberant and enthusiastic on Jan. 6. The lethal attack on the Capitol had been publicly announced weeks in advance, and should have come as no surprise. Trump's rallies and gatherings continue to celebrate violence and the prospect of revenge — and specifically of "getting even" with Trump's "enemies."</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Steve Bannon, Trump's former campaign chairman and White House strategist, has now threatened to recruit Republican-fascist "shock troops" with the apparent goal of undermining the U.S. government, and by implication multiracial democracy, if and when Trump and the Republicans regain control of both Congress and the White House.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>
</b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>On a daily basis Fox News and other elements of the right-wing disinformation propaganda machine use stochastic terrorism and other techniques to radicalize their audience into committing acts of political violence.</b> To this point, the Democratic Party and the political and news media class in general have remained in denial, and largely passive in response.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In one troubling new development, Trump supporters have begun flying all-black American flags, in an implicit threat to harm or kill their opponents — <b>meaning nonwhite people,</b></span><b> "socialist liberals," Muslims, vaccinated people and others deemed to be "enemies" of "real America.</b>" As media critic Eric Boehlert recently noted, the liberal opinion site Living Blue in Texas is sounding the alarm about the specific meaning of the black flag and the Republican-fascists support for terrorism and other political violence. That post, "Are Your Republican Neighbors Planning on Killing You?", merits lengthy quotation:</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It didn't take long to find hundreds of videos where these Trumpers and so-called patriots were hanging black American flags. ...</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>
</b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Black American flags are the flags that mean "no quarter shall be given." They are the opposite of the white flag of surrender.</b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">According to the people on TikTok and the Sun (British tabloid), the <b>black American flag originated in the civil war and was flown by the Confederates.</b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>
</b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>It means that they will not surrender, will not take prisoners, and are willing to die for their cause. It means they will execute their enemies</b>.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Who are their enemies? Pretty much any non-Conservative. You know, Democrats, Liberals, LGBTQ, BIPOC, and the vaccinated. ...</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>
</b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>So, we're the enemy, and they're openly professing to want to execute us. … So, why are they doing this</b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Covid vaccinations, mostly. They believe that Joe Biden has declared a civil war on them by mandating that employers with over 100 employees and the military have vaccinations</b>.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Yes, they say civil war, and they say it's already started. But, unfortunately, many of them also live in states where masks and vaccines are required by state governments, healthcare, and law enforcement.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">An alarming number of military members have been making Tik Toks talking about how they are being discharged because they refuse the vaccine.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);"> It's alarming because there is probably an equal number of guys on there talking about the civil war plans and actively using Tik Tok to recruit these military and ex-military members.</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The biggest message they have been sending out is, "it's time" or "the time is now." ...</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Although showing guns on Tik Tok is supposed to be against community guidelines, they show lots of videos of their guns, shooting them, wearing them, or sitting on their bed.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>They primarily use Tik Tok as a recruiting tool and let others know their willingness to commit violence. Then they tell people to message them or where to find them on Telegram.</b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">However you interpret these videos posted by Trump followers and other neofascists — which could be mainly performative — it is clearly true that the American right is increasingly willing to accept or condone violence as a means of expanding and protecting their social and political power. (Salon did not find licensed news photographs of these flags, and has made the editorial decision not to reproduce the images mentioned above, which are easy to find on social media.)</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Public opinion polls and other research have repeatedly shown that millions of Republican voters and Trump followers would support the use of violence to remove Joe Biden from office because of the "Big Lie" and their belief that that he is not a legitimate president. Similarly, a large proportion of Republicans believe that the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 were "patriots" whose use of violence was justified.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>And a new poll from the University of Virginia's Center for Politics even suggests that more than 50 percent of Trump supporters want "red states" to secede from the Union</b>. Republican elected officials and other right-wing opinion leaders have continued to escalate their threats of political violence against Democrats and other targeted groups.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);">In a recent speech to the North Carolina Faith and Freedom Coalition's "Salt & Light" conference, Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., issued what sounded like a declaration of war:</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);">
</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);">It is time for the American Christian church to come out of the shadows to say, "No longer are we going to allow our culture to be determined by people who hate the things that we believe in…. We are going to stand valiantly for God's incredible inherent truths that predate any version of government. Because, my friends, if we lose this country today, if we bend the knee to the Democrats today, our country will be lost forever, our children will never know what freedom is. It's our duty to stand up, Let us stand united as men and women of faith to fight for our country.</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">During an interview with MSNBC's Joy Reid, terrorism and national security expert Malcolm Nance said that Cawthorn's video "picks up on the themes that are not just coming from the Steve Bannon level and Donald Trump level, <b>they are coming from the Republican street — and that Republican street is armed. They're angry. They have been fed an entire line which makes them believe that America is no longer America and that they no longer want the America that the rest of us, the 60 percent of the country, live in. And they`re willing to take up arms for it."</b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Nance also noted that Cawthorn's propaganda video is thematically similar to the type of propaganda used by Islamic terrorist groups such as ISIS and al-Qaida to radicalize and recruit members.</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">During an interview with Scientific American magazine, Dr. Bandy Lee, the principal editor of the 2017 bestseller "</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump," explained how a mentally pathological leader can "infect" his followers and perhaps even an entire nation:</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">I have outlined two major emotional drives: narcissistic symbiosis and shared psychosis</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">.</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> Narcissistic symbiosis refers to the developmental wounds that make the <b>leader-follower relationship magnetically attractive. The leader, hungry for adulation to compensate for an inner lack of self-worth, projects grandiose omnipotence — while the followers, rendered needy by societal stress or developmental injury, yearn for a parental figure. When such wounded individuals are given positions of power, they arouse similar pathology in the population that creates a "lock and key" relationship….</b></span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">"Shared psychosis" </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">— which is also called "folie à millions" ["madness for millions"] when occurring at the national level or "induced delusions" — refers to the </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">infectiousness</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> of severe symptoms that goes beyond ordinary group psychology.</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);">When a highly symptomatic individual is placed in an influential position, the person's symptoms<b> can spread through the population through emotional bonds, heightening existing pathologies and inducing delusions, paranoia</b> and<b> propensity for violence — even in previously healthy individuals. The treatment is removal of exposure.</b></span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Trump and his regime gave permission and encouragement to his followers and other supporters to engage in antisocial and other anti-human behavior on a national scale. Once such a process has begun, and those forces are unleashed, it is not easy to stop. Fascism is not a simple machine with an on-and-off switch. In practice, fascism is given life and takes corporeal form through its followers, with each one being a potential carrier of the pathology.</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As Hussein Ibish warned in a recent article in the Atlantic, "The cancer of political violence is not an endemic American disease. At the moment, it is a Republican disease. No one but Republicans themselves can cure it. Until they do, the violence of the right is only going to keep swelling and crashing. From a Middle Eastern perspective, this is all appallingly familiar."</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Fascism is a highly virulent social disease that usually destroys the host body – but not before spreading the disease to many other people. In fact, if the original host dies, he or she can be elevated to the status of martyr for "the cause," serving to inspire existing followers and lure in new ones</b>.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Ultimately, Donald Trump, like other fascist and authoritarian leaders, is the symptom of a sick society. Trumpism is not actually the core disease. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);">For America to counteract the deep underlying illness that has made Trumpism possible will require a long-term cultural and moral reckoning. Anything less, and the disease of American fascism will only go dormant until it is resurrected again — perhaps in a more dangerous and virulent form.</span></div></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">morph/meld memes?</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">some wacko zip tied principal for masks, does not have kids (at that school?]</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mask and vax meld?</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">921 NO LNX an </font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Seminole County, Florida school board has been holding a marathon meeting on masks, which started Thursday at 8:30 AM, and is still going on after nearly nine hours. While there were many anti-science extremists, one parent's speech stood out.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A man who identified himself as Jeff James declared <b>"there are more variants planned," the vaccine is "not a vaccine it's an experimental drug," called mask mandates "charades," and falsely claimed that "masks don't work."</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>"Masks are pretty much a device to enslave children, make them obedient, </b>so they just learn to obey and not think for themselves. We need critical thinking. We don't need children that are going to be little puppets that don't say anything to speak out for themselves. We need leaders not followers."</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But James did not stop there.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"The deep state medical establishment </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">wants all of us to be depopulated,"</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> he declared, before announcing his support for far right wing doctors whose anti-vaxx and science denialism have been repeatedly debunked. "I know you guys think that's a conspiracy theory but it's not. It's a conspiracy fact, they're all in cahoots with each other, to depopulate us, they want us divided. They want all of us to fight each other so they can win," he said, without actually explaining who "they" are....</span></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div></div><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx twt</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Welcome back to HEATED, a newsletter for people who are pissed off about the climate crisis—written by me, Emily Atkin.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A new anti-climate leader</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dan Bongino, a climate denier who spread the Texas wind energy lie, is gearing up to take Rush Limbaugh's place today.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Emily Atkin </font><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">May 24</span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" white-space="white-space" pre="pre"> </span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dan Bongino at Fox News Channel Studios on June 18, 2019 in New York City. Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rush Limbaugh’s death in February left a deep hole where some of America’s most influential climate disinformation used to be. That hole will start being filled today, as far-right Fox News pundit Dan Bongino steps in to take Limbaugh’s place.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter avatar for @TPPatriots</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tea Party Patriots </font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@TPPatriots]</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Donald Trump to Be First Guest on Bongino's Show, Expect a Powerful Debut Episode in Limbaugh's Old Time Slot </b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dan Bongino will begin a new chapter of <b>conservative talk radio</b> Monday with former President Donald Trump as his first guest.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">patriotproject.com </font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">May 23rd 2021 </font><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">204 Retweets1,127 Likes</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Bongino, who in 2018 declared his life mission as “owning the libs,” is already an popular purveyor of general disinformation. </b>His </font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Facebook </b></font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">page, The Bongino Report, regularly boosts false claims of election fraud, among other things.</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Though the page only has about 135,000 followers, these posts “consistently land among the site’s top posts and outperform mainstream news outlets like The New York Times, CNN and Fox News,” reports Forbes</b>. That’s in part because Facebook’s algorithim rewards misleading content from conservative creators, as Wired reported in March:</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">According to researchers at the Cybersecurity for Democracy project at New York University, far-right purveyors of misinformation have by far the highest levels of </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">engagement</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> per follower compared to any other category of news source</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">. Indeed, the researchers found that while left-leaning and centrist publications get much less engagement if they publish misinformation, the relationship is reversed on the far right, where news organizations that regularly publish false material get up to 65 percent more engagement than ones that don’t. </span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Bongino is about to be rewarded even further with his new radio show. Though it’s yet unclear exactly how many of the 600 stations that once ran Limbaugh’s show will pick up Bongino’s, the opportunity to pick up some of Limbaugh’s 15 million regular listeners is large. In addition, earlier this month, Fox News also announced that it would start airing a new show on Saturday nights lead by Bongino, called “The Big Saturday Show.”</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Bongino is thus well-positioned to soon become one of the most influential sources of right-wing disinformation in America. Here’s what we can expect on climate front.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Less flagrant denial, more insulting liberals</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bongino is a straight-up climate denier, and for the most part, is not particularly shy about it. “These climate change alarmists have been wrong about just about everything. All their charts have been debunked,” he said on Fox in 2019. “The climate’s been relatively stable. There’s not any evidence that storms are out of control. All this stuff is made up.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>But just like the fossil fuel industry, Bongino’s anti-climate policy talking points lately have moved further away from flagrant denial. Instead, they promote more insidious falsehoods— like that wind energy was a significant contributor to deadly blackouts in Texas</b> following February’s deep freeze, and that liberals were trying to cover it up.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bongino delved into that subject specifically for a February episode of his podcast, which he began by strongly defending the quality of his own information regarding “What really happened with Texas and the energy system failures there.” “I never want to be first if I don’t have the facts,” he said. “I’m tired of the lies.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Bongino went on to disparage “These filthy people on the left who can never ever tell the truth,</b>” like MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, who he called a “sick little turd” for debunking Texas Republican officials’ prolific claims that wind energy was the culprit of Texas’s woes. Bongino did admit that natural gas and nuclear energy failed as well. But he said wind turbines had failed, too, and the only reason liberals were mad that Republicans were pointing it out was because they had to “protect their golden calf.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He said liberals were taking “advantage of an ongoing tragedy to score cheap political points,” and added: “The hacks at Facebook and soviet fact-checkers will ding this segment because the facts trouble them.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In reality, the blackouts in Texas were caused not by any particular power source, but by Texas’s failure to prepare for climate change-fueled extreme weather. In order to protect their “golden calf”—fossil fuels—Republican officials publicly sought to place the majority of the blame for Texas’s blackouts on wind reliability. Practically every major news outlet in the country debunked that lie, an attempt to use a tragedy to score political points.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Still, Bongino adopted wholesale the argument made by the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, which was that the only reason nuclear and gas failed during the deep freeze was because it was trying to make up for the gaps in wind power. Ironically, that editorial was debunked by the journal’s own news section.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[Twitter avatar for @EricKleefeld </font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Eric Kleefeld </font><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">@EricKleefeld</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Texas’ utter failure to winterize — despite a freeze and rolling blackouts 10 years ago — makes the choice of particular energy sources irrelevant. Their whole system is going down across the board!</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This happens when you only pursue short-term cost cuts, don’t invest in safety.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">February 18th 2021 </font><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">44 Retweets213 Likes]</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Green New Deal-bashing, arguments for human dominion</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here are some other trademark Bongino climate claims that we can expect to proliferate on conservative talk radio and Fox News as his profile continues to rise:</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">People who compare the challenge of climate change to World War II are participating in the “Moron Olympics.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Green New Deal is “outrageous,” “ridiculous,” and “expensive</b>.” It looks “like it was conceived by a high schooler” and “proofread by a bartender.” It’s also not actually about climate change at all. It’s a “bad joke.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The climate changes all the time. <b>Temperatures have been flat for 18 years.”</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We should care about the environment. It’s the right thing to do, if you’re really a God-loving person. But God gave us the world, not the other way around.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The Left is the one destroying their own credibility. Because ironically there are a lot of Republicans, me included, who are absolutely open to a conversation about a cleaner, better future, just not with a bunch of lunatics telling me the world is going to blow up.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Moving forward, it’ll be interesting to see which advertisers are willing to sponsor claims like these. Bongino’s interview with Trump airs at noon EST. So, you know. Right now.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bonus: Gina McCarthy on HBO]</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></p></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: currentcolor none medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px;">=</span></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: currentcolor none medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px;">body politic must be purged: </span></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">lots of analysis 321 an; meme remix? prphet/profit grift for non xian?  ghost dance?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/03/trump/">https://www.alternet.org/2021/03/trump/</a></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">salon</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lorie Ladd <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hju17fXIriQ" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">gazes into the camera</a> with glossy eyes, a look that mimics the long stare one gets after meditating. She's about to give one of her sermons, one of the "most challenging" ones she's ever had to make, she explains. Ladd says she's received a message that needs to be shared from "higher dimensional consciousnesses," what she refers to as the "Galactic Federation of Light." But before revealing the message, Ladd, a self-described "ascension teacher," advises her viewers to shed the stereotypes that have been "programmed" into them — "<b>polarities</b>," she calls them, like "Democrat" and "Republican" — and listen to her message: Donald Trump is a "massive and powerful lightworker."</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"To say that I was shocked was an understatement," Ladd tells her nearly 139,000 YouTube followers of her revelation. "I have been digesting information from my guides about what this lightworker in human form looking like Donald Trump has been doing for the human collective; this man has more charge around him than any other human on the planet right now."</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ladd goes on to explain that her video isn't a "political one," but a "consciousness one," and that she's not talking about "voting," but "ascension." Trump, as she explains in the next half hour, is here to help assist humans in what many in the New Age and spiritual communities refer to as a great "awakening" of consciousness. The idea behind the awakening is that human consciousness is approaching a "fifth dimension," which will eventually bring humans closer to the "Source."</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">A lightworker, as defined by well-being magazine <a href="https://www.happiness.com/magazine/inspiration-spirituality/what-is-a-lightworker-and-what-do-they-do-exactly/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Happiness</a>, is someone who feels "an enormous pull towards helping others." The term, they say, can be interchangeable with "crystal babies," "indigos," "Earth angels" and "star seeds"; "these spiritual beings volunteer to act as a beacon for the Earth, and commit to serving humanity," the story continues. The magazine states that the term was first coined by the New Age author Michael Mirdad.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">This rhetoric might sound cultish, but these phrases don't belong to any one specific religious sect. Indeed, such belief systems are part of a larger, more diffuse New Age culture embraced by the ever-<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/10/01/new-age-beliefs-common-among-both-religious-and-nonreligious-americans/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">increasing number of Americans</a> leaving organized religion in droves — or who were never religious in the first place — and turning to conspirituality by way of many self-described spiritual and wellness influencers online.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conspirituality, the term that defines this movement, was <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13537903.2011.539846?journalCode=cjcr20" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">coined by researcher Charlotte Ward</a>. She describes conspirituality as "a rapidly growing web movement expressing an ideology fueled by political disillusionment and the popularity of alternative worldviews." There is no official indoctrination video, no book to read; the hundreds of thousands of people who embrace these New Age-like beliefs find them on YouTube vlogs like Ladd's, as well as Instagram and Facebook. Recently, conspiritualists have begun to overlap with the far-right conspiracy theory <a href="https://www.salon.com/topic/qanon" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">QAnon</a>.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>This notion that Trump is a lightworker shares obvious parallels with the belief, held by some evangelicals, that Trump is comparable to Jesus; similarly, some QAnon followers believe that Trump is the "world leader" whose mission is to "save the children."</b></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yet what makes the lightworker theory especially odd is that it has emerged from a demographic that would have previously been described as apolitical, or even far-left.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, as the January 6 insurrection on the Capitol showed, QAnon and Trump adherents are no longer just middle-aged, conservative white men like the Republican Party of yore. Many of those who embrace right-wing fringe beliefs are yogis, and love-and-light types, too. Take Jake Angeli for example, the so-called "QAnon Shaman" who donned a horned hat and spear-tipped American flag as he stormed the Capitol building on January 6. The 33-year-old, who identifies as having "shamanistic" beliefs, was recently granted the right to be fed an <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-investigations/2021/02/03/arizona-jake-angeli-capitol-raid-organic-food/4376483001/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">all-organic diet in jail</a> in line with his religious practice.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ladd's declaration that Trump was a lightworker sent shockwaves through conspiritual and self-help communities. (Salon reached out to Ladd for comment, but did not receive a response.) Some spirituality and consciousness bloggers vehemently disagreed. But many influential figures in the community thought Ladd was onto something, including Christiane Northrup, a physician and best-selling author who has been spreading anti-vaccination rhetoric and has <a href="https://mainernews.com/dr-no/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">embraced QAnon</a>.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Matthew Remski, a co-host of the <a href="https://conspirituality.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Conspirituality</a> podcast and a cult dynamics researcher, described Northrup as a "conspirituality aggregator" who feeds what she finds most interesting to her followers, of which she has many.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"What I think is really brilliant about this particular iteration of QAnon — or 'soft' or 'pastel Q,' you could call it — is that it's really effective at evading content moderation,</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">" Remski said. "To only really say something positive about the person who's at the head of QAnon mythology and sort of soft-pedal all of the aggression and triumph that is going to be involved in his mission is a </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">really good way of brand-washing QAnon for the wellness set."</span></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Indeed, while social media companies like Twitter and Facebook have suspended many accounts sharing QAnon-related disinformation, the wellness influencers remain.</b> Dr. Ronald Purser, a professor of management at San Francisco State University and the author of "<a href="https://amzn.to/2PvYkBL" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">McMindfulness</a>," said that in uncertain times, societies see a rise of "<b>occultures," meaning "groups of people who are attracted to strange occult and esoteric ideas, mixing them in unforeseen ways with political movements."</b></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">"A common theme in such movements is the need for purification, purifying and purging unwanted elements – toxins, impurities, or anything foreign or other," Purser said. "This is why we see so many New Age yoga practitioners seduced by QAnon."</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Purser said there are parallels between the rise of "occultures" now and the role spirituality and mysticism played in Nazi Germany. Notably, the Third Reich <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29644591" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">appropriated the swastika</a>, a symbol used by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains; the word means "well-being" in Sanskrit.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Consider Hitler, who was obsessed with the occult, was a vegetarian, used astrologers [and] oracles," Purser said. "The Nazi Heinrich Himmler, head of SS, was enamored with Eastern mysticism, and he sent an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1938%E2%80%9339_German_expedition_to_Tibet" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">expedition to Tibet</a> in search of lost remnants of a secret and pure Aryan race; Hitler was seen as a 'light worker' [as in someone who's saving humanity] that would purge Germany of Jews."</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Purser added that Trump and his enablers have "mastered the ability of weaponized mass delusion through social media."</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Many of the New Agers drawn to QAnon are probably suffering from unresolved trauma – like many in Trump's base as well," Purser said. "It's easier to look to a savior and to find scapegoats than to face one's own fears and pain."</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When asked about the term lightworker, and where it derives from, Remski said he first heard it when he was in a "Course in Miracles cult" from 1999 to 2003. The name is a reference to a book, titled "A Course in Miracles," that was published by Helen Schucman in 1976; Schucman claimed the book had been spoken to her via "inner dictation" from Christ. Remski said the word "light" appears in the text frequently.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Light is not only the sort of keynote of this Manichaean universe in which things are either light or shadow, they're either good or bad, it's also like schizotypal as a universe, it is given this materiality as well," Remski said of Schucman's book. "Light is said to be something that can fill a person up, it can blow a person apart, it can enter a person, and I think it probably overlaps with some pre-modern ideas like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prana" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"><em>prana</em></a> or <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">ch'i</a> — </em>those kind of folk medicine ideas of vital force — but it's also associated with an absolute truth, an ontological transformation . . . like once once light enters into you, you are forever changed."</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Remski believes the conspiritual rhetoric around "light" started after the book was published. While the book "A Course in Miracles" doesn't include the term "lightworker," the theme of light itself runs throughout. "The key is only the light that shines away the shapes and forms and fears of nothing," a typical passage reads.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">One prominent figure who was deeply influenced by "A Course in Miracles" is former presidential candidate Marianne Williamson.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> In 1996, Williamson wrote a book, "</span><a href="https://amzn.to/2MM67KH" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of 'A Course in Miracles</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">,'" that was structured as a reflection on the original text. Williamson, too, has </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/williamsonmarianne/posts/a-light-worker-is-not-someone-who-ignores-the-darkness-its-someone-who-transform/10152377778760580/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">used the term</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> "lightworker" before; in a 2013 Facebook post, Williamson wrote, "A light-worker is not someone who ignores the darkness; it's someone who transforms the darkness."</span></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Obviously, Williamson and Trump are political opposites; Williamson, a Democrat, came down hard and repeatedly on Trump's policies during her 2020 campaign. Salon asked Williamson what she thought about the term "lightworker" being used to describe Trump. She replied via email: "I think it's insane. . . . Like many others, I don't understand it but I find it deeply disturbing."</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When asked why he believes people have been so eager to embrace this belief that Trump is a "lightworker," Remski said that it is because it can "offer all of the benefits of the conspiratorial mindset, without a lot of the drawbacks."</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Because you're saying something kind about him," Remski said, "as the social psychologists basically repeat over and over again."</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Remski believes conspiracy theories are attractive because they "satisfy epistemic needs." "Like, 'I'm now I'm going to know something that nobody else knows,' or 'I'm going to meet my survival needs, meaning this information is going to help me tolerate what's happening, but also maybe even preserve me from danger,'" he said.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But as the social media spread of the "lightworker" theory illustrates, conspiracy theories also open up their adherents to communities of people that they can hang out with, Remski mused.</font></font></font></p><div class="around-the-web" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="from-your-siteheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES</font></font></font></div><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; width: 589.446px; list-style: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></font><li class="from-your-siteitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2018/05/trumps-new-drug-pricing-plan-just-another-nonsensical-scam-designed-blame-foreigners/" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; font-weight: lighter; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">Trump's New Drug Pricing Plan is Just Another 'Nonsensical' Scam ... ›</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></li><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/03/trump-lawsuit-salwell/" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; font-weight: lighter; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">The favorite trick Trump could use in new case underscores how ... ›</a></li><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="http://admin.alternet.org/4-completely-bizarre-moments-trumps-sort-press-conference-mar-lago" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; font-weight: lighter; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">4 Completely Bizarre Moments from Trump's Sort-of Press ... ›</a></li></ul></div></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/02/stop-the-steal/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.alternet.org/2021/02/stop-the-steal/</a></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx twt</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ali Alexander, the lead organizer of the so-called Stop the Steal campaign, has resurfaced after going into hiding following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Streaming on Trovo Wednesday night, Alexander claimed that while he has been licking his wounds, <b>he has been plotting to restart rallies in March, abolish the media, and build a separate society for Trump supporters.</b></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>
</div><div>As former President Donald Trump faces an impeachment trial this week for inciting an insurrection with his speech at the Stop the Steal rally the morning of Jan. 6, it appears Alexander has yet to face charges for his role. Alexander rebooted the so-called Stop the Steal campaign the day after Election Day, when Trump's lead began to slip as mail-in ballots began to be counted. He pushed voter fraud conspiracy theories, embraced QAnon conspiracy theorists and far-right activists in his campaign, claimed to be doing God's work, and organized three massive rallies in Washington, D.C., that featured the Proud Boys hate group, paramilitary groups like the Oath Keepers, and other extremists.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Following Jan. 6, Alexander was booted off most major social media platforms and, as a result, is now streaming on Trovo, a gaming platform that appears to be growing in popularity among far-right actors kicked off other platforms.</b> On Wednesday night, Alexander lamented the “racist, bigoted, anti-Christian, anti-Southern, anti-Republican, anti-conservative, anti-human smear machine" that he says targeted him, and he promised to create chaos. “We've got to get back in the driver's seat," he added.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“They've done a great number on my life, they've cost me tens of thousands of dollars, they've really destroyed parts of my life, but in a lot of ways, I have no other choice but to announce that I'm building the future, so I'm making strategic investments in tools that fight deplatforming and to<b> create chaos on existing platforms,</b>" Alexander claimed.</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“America is going to have a choice, and I promise you that, between going onto this dystopian future or fighting in what I'm calling the American sovereignty movement," he said. “And I'm gonna get back, and I'm going to do rallies again starting in March, I'm gonna have indoor gatherings in March, in Michigan, in Arizona, in Georgia, in Texas. I'm going to do a media tour."</span></div><div>
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</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Alexander said he had been plotting how to do away with the free press and other “systems that control us": “So I want you guys to know that I've been licking my wounds, but I've been plotting, I've been planning, I've been scheming because we have to do away with this whole system. The free press is not free, and they're not the press, they need to be abolished. The systems that control us have to be abolished."</span></div><div>
</div><div>“I'm going to create a society, and a community, and a culture, and a language for [Trump supporters], and there are tens of millions of us. … Winning can just be 10 million people <b>creating a new megacity,</b>" he mused. <b>“Let's build our own city, let's seriously build our own city, let's build a back-up city in South America."</b></div><div>
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</div><div><b>Alexander also didn't miss the opportunity to push the claim that the insurrection was a <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“premeditated psyop."</span></b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Like everyone is saying the impeachment trial is proving that there was a premeditated psyop against both Trump and Stop the Steal, so how could we incite an insurrection that was premeditated by people we don't know?" he said. “And yet, are there big platforms welcoming me back saying we treated a Black man wrong because we wanted to pretend he was leading a white supremacy movement? No. These people are evil. And we will make lists of them, and they will not be welcome in this new society, they won't be welcomed on new platforms, those people who have tried to<b> force Marxism and thought control on us."</b></span></div><div>
</div><div><b>Alexander said that if the “deep state" charges him with a fake crime, he'd be prepared to fight: “If they want to charge me with a fake crime, if they want to martyr me, then I will meet them on that battlefield. I'm not somebody, I'm not somebody that talks a talk or tweets a tweet."</b></div><div>
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</div><div>“I've licked my wounds, I'm pissed off. I'm more pissed off than I was the night of the election I created Stop the Steal. We win. They lose. To God be the glory," he said in closing.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Ahead of the Capitol insurrection, Alexander embraced increasingly violent rhetoric, calling for revolution and rebellion. A short distance away from the White House the day before the insurrection, Alexander started a “Victory or death!" chant at a Stop the Steal rally. “Our government is only our government if it is legitimate," he declared at that rally. “1776 is always an option."</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>After the violence at the Capitol, Alexander posted a since-deleted video of himself saying “I don't disavow this. I do not denounce this." He encouraged viewers to tune into his Stop the Steal website, which he called “the home of the <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">rebellion against an illegitimate government."</span></b></div><div>
</div><div>This article was originally published at Right Wing Watch and is republished here by permission.</div><div>
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</div><div>FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES</div><div>Watch: House impeachment managers' damning video links Trump's ... ›</div><div>GOP congressman deletes tweet saying he met with 'Stop the Steal ... ›</div><div>Right-wing grifters launch Stop the Steal PAC to cash in on election ... ›</div><div>RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB</div><div>'Stop the steal': The deep roots of Trump's 'voter fraud' strategy - BBC ... ›</div><div>Transcript of Trump's Speech at Rally Before US Capitol Riot ... ›</div><div>Facebook Says It Is Removing All Content Mentioning 'Stop the Steal' ›</div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/02/qanon-origins/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.alternet.org/2021/02/qanon-origins/</a></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>The cult of QAnon is at a crossroads.</strong> Adherents of the conspiracy theory/new religious movement convinced themselves that Donald Trump was poised to purge the cannibal pedophile cabal and its traitorous enablers in a cleansing burst of political violence. But with Joe Biden in the White House, and Capitol rioters facing charges for their <b>insurrection of January 6, prophecy has apparently failed. QAnon has been banished from major social media platforms. You can't even sell Q merch on Etsy anymore. True believers are struggling to make sense of it all. Q himself has fallen silent. It has been over a month since his last dispatch to the faithful.</b>
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">In just three years, QAnon has exploded from an anonymous post on 4chan to a household word. The FBI has declared QAnon a domestic terrorist threat and the QAnon ideology has been the impetus for numerous terrorist attacks, not even counting the major role played by QAnon adherents in the assault on the US Capitol. QAnon has fractured families and destroyed lives. Astonishingly, we still don't know who Q is.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The enduring mystery of Q's identity has led to speculation about QAnon being an influence operation, (aka a psyop). Which raises the question of who's supposedly running this operation. QAnon's critics typically blame Russia or an alliance of Russia and Trump's inner circle. Disillusioned former QAnon sympathizers including Trump advisor Steve Bannon have also embraced a version of <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/steve-bannon/after-embracing-qanon-steve-bannon-now-presents-conspiracy-theory-fbi-psyop" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">the psyop theory</a>, claiming that QAnon was a deep state hoax designed to fool patriots.</font></p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Whatever role Russia may have played in promoting this conspiracy theory, the real problem is that there's a huge market in the United States for conspiracy theories that promise the violent overthrow of democracy.</font></h3><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Influence operations are typically military- or intelligence-led efforts to shape how a population thinks or feels without resorting to physical force.
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Russian intelligence operates within the vast QAnon ecosystem but QAnon is a home-grown phenomenon, deeply rooted in American prejudices and preoccupations. QAnon and its forerunner Pizzagate were forged on 4Chan, a crucible of both the Alt-Right and American conspiracy culture. Understanding the racist, ultranationalist, conspiratorial culture of /pol is key to understanding the likely origins of QAnon. It's also important to understand how contemporary conspiracy theorizing incorporates and elaborates on older conspiratorial themes.</font></p><h5 style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q is old conspiracies made new</font></h5><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Many of the central tenets of QAnon are retreads of the antisemitic hoax tract, "<a href="https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion,</a>" which purports to be the minutes of a criminal conspiracy of rabbis to take over the world. The Protocols, in turn, recycles the ancient antisemitic superstition known as blood libel, the notion that Jews are harvesting the blood of Christian children.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Q asserts that the Houses of Rothschild and Soros are "puppet masters" covertly manipulating historical events. (Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene notoriously speculated that a space laser from <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/marjorie-taylor-greene-penned-conspiracy-theory-laser-beam-space-started-deadly-2018" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">"Rothschild, Inc"</a> might have caused the Camp fire in California</b>. Video of Greene berating a Parkland shooting survivor as a <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/qanon-congresswoman-marjorie-taylor-greene-berated-parkland-teen-david-hogg-on-capitol-hill-video-shows?via=twitter_page&via=twitter_page" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">pawn of George Soros</a> resurfaced recently.)<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Many of the QAnon faithful have their own take on blood libel, with the cannibal pedophiles being said to harvest a molecule known as adrenochrome from the blood of their child victims.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Ironically, the Protocols were commissioned by the head of the Russian secret police in the late 19th or early 20th century. The goal was to set back the cause of liberalism by convincing Czar Nicholas the II that the rise of capitalism in Russia was a conspiracy by <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080528005157/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=%2Farchive%2F1999%2F11%2F19%2Fwzion19.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Jews and the Freemasons</a>.</span> The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was created by Russian conservatives to fool their own ruler, but the impact of the document was much broader. The forgery became the Ur-text of global conspiracy culture. Henry Ford's newspaper published the Protocols in 1920. The Nazis cited the Protocols to justify the Holocaust. The influence of the Protocols can even be seen in Dan Brown's bestselling <em>Da Vinci Code</em> novels.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2017, Vladimir Putin's personal confessor was hyping the idea that Czar Nicholas and his family were <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/tsar-nicholas-ritual-killing-jews-anti-semitism/28884466.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">ritually murdered by Jews</a>. (In fact, the deposed Nicholas and his family were assassinated by Bolsheviks shortly after the Revolution of 1917. The leader of the <a href="https://www.history.com/news/romanov-family-murder-execution-reasons" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">death squad</a> was commended by Lenin for his work.)</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>QAnon sprang from the primordial soup of 4chan's <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/the-measure-of-hate-on-4chan-627922/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Politically Incorrect board</a>, aka /pol. 4chan is an anonymous imageboard where anyone can post almost anything. 4chan is often described as the birthplace of the Alt Right. Users are known as "anons."</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Q" is short for "Q Clearance Patriot." Q purports to be a high-ranking US intelligence official leaking details of Donald Trump's campaign against his enemies in the deep state. Q's revelations began in late October of 2017. The researcher who posts as Q Origins on Twitter has <a href="https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2021/01/07/the-making-of-qanon-a-crowdsourced-conspiracy/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">published his findings</a> on the investigative news site Bellingcat.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some have speculated that various pro-Russian themes in Q's body of work are evidence that the QAnon phenomenon was a Russian influence operation, but this argument ignores the fact that Vladimir Putin's Russia is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-connections-to-the-alt-right-2016-11" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">organically popular</a> in the Alt Right and /pol. Q and his message board disciples may admire Putin's brand of hyper-masculine authoritarianism without being Russian agents.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In order to understand the origins of QAnon, it is necessary to understand the imageboard tradition of <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">LARPing. "In the 4Chan context, a LARP is when you pose as a big insider,</span>" explains the anonymous author of the Q Origins Project.</font></p><h4 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Q isn't a psyops</font></h4><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>There's a long history of imageboard anons pretending to be high-ranking national security officials who, for inexplicable reasons, have decided to divulge highly classified information to one of the web's most notorious cesspools</b>.<b> In imageboard culture, LARPing is like spinning ghost stories around the digital campfire. Most people know it's fake, but it's fun to pretend that it <em>might</em> be real. </b>Before Q, posters with names like FBIAnon and MegaAnon acquired followings as LARPers, often exploring themes that would later be featured in Q drops. LARPers will often entertain their followers with puzzles and cryptic predictions--a style that is familiar to anyone who has read Q drops. Followers become invested in decoding the riddles. A LARPer may gain respect if their predictions seem to come true.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The anonymous researcher behind the Q Origins project has painstakingly reconstructed the pre-history of QAnon. He notes that, like other LARPers before him, Q constructs his pronouncements out of conspiracy theories that are already popular on /pol.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>"They love them a conspiracy theory and Q built on that. He stitches together the various LARPs and just creates this Frankenstein that very quickly explodes off of /pol."</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The first major proselytizers for Q were two /pol moderators and a <b>YouTuber</b> named Tracy Diaz. Within weeks, they started spreading Q content to YouTube and other social media platforms.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">There is evidence that trolls from the Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency helped to disseminate the <b>forerunner conspiracy to QAnon, Pizzagate.</b> The breakout Q drop of 2017 continues the Pizzagate narrative of the year before. We're told that Hillary Clinton is going to be arrested.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>If Pizzagate is the Old Testament, QAnon is the New Testament. </b>Pizzagate diagnosed the cannibal pedophile problem and Q framed Donald Trump as the solution. Q is the prophet, the self-proclaimed intelligence insider who<b> reveals the "truths" the OPs of /pol expected to hear: Donald Trump is the messiah who is going to usher in a golden age through a spasm of apocalyptic violence.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee in order to sabotage Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. One of their prizes was a trove of personal emails by Hillary Clinton's campaign chair, John Podesta.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The basic tenets of the Pizzagate conspiracy <a href="https://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/1422" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">gelled on 4Chan's /pol board</a> on or about November 3, 2016, as users combed through Podesta's hacked emails. They fixated on banal emails chronicling Podesta's social life, which included references to DC restaurants like Comet Ping Pong as well as to home cooking. The anons decided that words like "cheese pizza" were actually code for "child porn." This collective world-building exercise eventually decreed that Podesta and Clinton were part of a network of pedophiles enslaving children in the (non-existent) basement of Comet Ping Pong.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Trump campaign, like the Republican community at large, were enthusiastic consumers and distributors of <a href="https://rewirenewsgroup.com/article/2020/09/29/how-dangerous-conspiracy-theories-like-qanon-find-a-home-in-anti-choice-politics/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">lurid anti-Clinton conspiracies</a>. Trump campaign luminaries like Gen. Michael Flynn and right-wing media outlets like Breitbart and InfoWars furiously amplified Pizzagate content. This content was discussed by anons on 4chan's /pol, reworked and elaborated into their conspiratorial worldview, including the next round of LARPs.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We know that accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency, the notorious Kremlin-linked troll farm, hyped <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/salvadorhernandez/russian-trolls-spread-baseless-conspiracy-theories-like" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Pizzagate</a> and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/russian-troll-accounts-purged-twitter-pushed-qanon-other-conspiracy-theories-n966091" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">QAnon</a>. Russian state-controlled media like <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-election-qanon-russia/small-but-growing-russian-support-for-qanon-conspiracies-seen-online-idINL1N2FP0DM" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Sputnik and RT</a> have also given sympathetic coverage to these narratives, in keeping with Russia's well-known strategy of amplifying existing rifts within the United States. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Russian disinformation takes many forms, including amplifying content created by others. It's easier and often more effective to amplify an American voice rather than to try to imitate one.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The researcher behind the Q Origins Project cautions against putting too much weight on the theory that QAnon was created by Russians</b>. We don't know exactly who Q is, but the researcher's investigations have convinced him that Q is primarily a domestic phenomenon. Q's writings show a deep familiarity with U.S. evangelical culture, he notes. The researcher observes that Q has an uncanny knack for distilling only those elements of /pol culture that would be acceptable on Fox News. Unlike his fellow chan anons, who have no compunctions about racial slurs, Q works just clean enough to be mainstream. In the researcher's opinion, navigating the subtleties of U.S. racial politics would be very difficult for someone who wasn't raised in the United States. Q also has a deep familiarity with US pop culture, particularly Hollywood movies. The famous "Where We Go One We Go All" slogan is from a 1996 Jeff Bridges sailing movie called White Squall, not the kind of material you'd expect an IRA troll to be familiar with. The researcher points out that the time stamps on the Q drops suggest that the author is working on West Coast time.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Whatever role Russia may have played in promoting this conspiracy theory, the real problem is that there's a huge market in the United States for conspiracy theories that promise the violent overthrow of democracy.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It's comforting to tell ourselves that QAnon is an exogenous phenomenon foisted upon us by a demonic Other. But that only distracts from the deeper rifts in our society that allow QAnon to flourish and thrive.</font></p><div class="around-the-web" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="from-your-siteheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES</font></div><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; width: 589.446px; list-style: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><li class="from-your-siteitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/how-a-qanon-conspiracy-theorist-won-a-georgia-gop-congressional-primary-battle-with-the-help-of-mark-meadows-and-jim-jordan/" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; 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</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">meme remix recycling?</font></div><div>
</div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/qanon-2650129695/">https://www.alternet.org/2021/01/qanon-2650129695/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no travis view twt</font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump's QAnon fans are not giving up hope that he will be reinstalled in the White House this year, with a new theory that has them planning on celebrating his inauguration on March 4th.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>According to a report from Vice, the latest theory being passed around by right-wing extremists is based upon writings from members of the fringe "sovereign citizen" movement and <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/88akpx/qanon-thinks-trump-will-become-president-again-on-march-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">a unique interpretation of American history</a>.</b></font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the Vice report notes, "Sovereign citizens believe that a law enacted in<b> 1871 secretly turned the U.S. into a corporation</b> and did away with the American government of the founding fathers. The group also believes that President Franklin D. Roosevelt sold U.S. citizens out in 1933 when he ended the gold standard and replaced it by offering citizens as collateral to a group of shadowy foreign investors."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>With that in mind, QAnon supporters are making common cause with the sovereign citizens -- a new development -- and focusing on the 1871 conspiracy theory to reassert their claim that Donald Trump is still president.</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">"Over the weekend, QAnon groups on Gab and Telegram, where most QAnon supporters have found a home since they were kicked off Twitter and Parler was de-platformed, commenters have been sharing documents describing the 1871 act, claiming it proves that Trump will be sworn in on March 4,"</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> the report states. "The source for this date is the fact that 1933 was also the year when inaugurations were changed from March 4 to Jan. 20 — to shorten the lame-duck period of outgoing presidents. QAnon followers believe that Trump will become the president of the original republic, and not the corporation that they believe the 1871 act created."</span>
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The belief that Trump might bolster the hopes of the QAnon followers who have been despondent that President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/qanon-2650036600/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">wasn't arrested on January 20th</a>.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A deeper explanation of this latest theory -- and its genesis -- can be found below:...</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">aha conspiracy theories just this stew of memes that get recycled and combined?  related to pseudo-populism? the system is rigged, just not in the way you think. triggered by klown kar coup rudy elite strike team and fluoride below</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/trump-voters-2649007931/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/trump-voters-2649007931/</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">roger s salon</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Plaintiffs in a number of the Trump campaign's <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/11/19/trump-called-two-gop-officials-before-they-tried-to-rescind-their-votes-to-certify-election-results/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">lawsuits challenging the president's electoral defeat</a> have peddled conspiracy theories and made <a href="http://www.salon.com/2020/11/19/trumps-michigan-con-his-supporters-are-so-blinded-by-racism-they-keep-falling-for-it/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">racist comments</a>. One of them, <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/11/17/giulianis-disgraceful-courtroom-election-fraud-arguments-are-from-a-fantasy-world-defense-says/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">a plaintiff represented by Rudy Giuliani</a> in federal court this week, was even implicated in an election fraud scheme of his own.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The new revelations, first reported by Salon, add another dimension of doubt to President Donald Trump's widely discredited, <a href="http://www.salon.com/2020/11/20/fox-news-reporter-calls-out-rudy-giuliani-after-crazy-press-conference-so-much-was-not-true_partner/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">last-ditch legal challenges</a> to <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/11/06/joe-bidens-victory-is-imminent-after-he-pulls-ahead-in-pennsylvania-georgia/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">President-elect Joe Biden's electoral victory</a>....</font></p></div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/report/disinformation-coronavirus-and-the-2020-presidential-election/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.rightwingwatch.org/report/disinformation-coronavirus-and-the-2020-presidential-election/</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">trump trains?!</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">boogaloo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">

</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">schol paper report</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://ncri.io/reports/cyber-swarming-memetic-warfare-and-viral-insurgency-how-domestic-militants-organize-on-memes-to-incite-violent-insurrection-and-terror-against-government-and-law-enforcement/">
</a></font></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://ncri.io/reports/cyber-swarming-memetic-warfare-and-viral-insurgency-how-domestic-militants-organize-on-memes-to-incite-violent-insurrection-and-terror-against-government-and-law-enforcement/">https://ncri.io/reports/cyber-swarming-memetic-warfare-and-viral-insurgency-how-domestic-militants-organize-on-memes-to-incite-violent-insurrection-and-terror-against-government-and-law-enforcement/</a>
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...Memes such as the boogaloo appear as either cryptic jargon or recreational subcultures to both </font><div style="left: 699.324px; top: 324.737px; transform: scaleX(0.842295);" data-canvas-width="1010.7675620915036"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Web users and security experts and thus, at first glance, seem an unlikely source for large-</font></div><div style="left: 699.324px; top: 366.577px; transform: scaleX(0.85762);" data-canvas-width="1030.973230392157"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">scale national security risks. But it is precisely this unfamiliarity that should signal profound </font></div><div style="left: 699.324px; top: 408.417px; transform: scaleX(0.847253);" data-canvas-width="1031.2481781045756"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">concern: Facing a similarly alien subculture of enthusiasts, national security pundits, the US </font></div><div style="left: 699.324px; top: 450.257px; transform: scaleX(0.845265);" data-canvas-width="1008.4155637254896"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Military, and intelligence and defense agencies, were entirely caught off guard at the rapid </font></div><div style="left: 699.324px; top: 492.097px; transform: scaleX(0.850883);" data-canvas-width="1062.5683088235294"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mobilization of ISIS and creation of the caliphate. Foreign fighters from all corners of the world </font></div><div style="left: 699.324px; top: 533.936px; transform: scaleX(0.842357);" data-canvas-width="1054.687470588235"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">having little knowledge of ISIS ideologies, religion, or cause—were quickly recruited from flash </font></div><div style="left: 699.324px; top: 575.776px; transform: scaleX(0.848941);" data-canvas-width="1079.9378316993466"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">to bang through savvy social media outreach. The strategy facilitated a contagious, new, hybrid, </font></div><div style="left: 699.324px; top: 617.616px; transform: scaleX(0.85132);" data-canvas-width="1070.278799019608"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">social media operation that allowed Jihadis to crowd-source terror and propaganda outside the </font></div><div style="left: 699.324px; top: 659.456px; transform: scaleX(0.849923);" data-canvas-width="1052.3892663398694"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">guidelines of every national security or military analyst’s playbook. According to our research, </font></div><div style="left: 699.324px; top: 701.296px; transform: scaleX(0.84035);" data-canvas-width="1036.9772516339865"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">boogaloo enthusiasts, who refer to themselves as the “Boojihadeen” may have stolen a page...</font></div><div style="left: 699.324px; top: 701.296px; transform: scaleX(0.84035);" data-canvas-width="1036.9772516339865"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="left: 699.324px; top: 701.296px; transform: scaleX(0.84035);" data-canvas-width="1036.9772516339865"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">

JOEL FINKLESTEIN, DIRECTOR, COFOUNDER Joel@ncri.io
JEREMY BLACKBURN, BOARD MEMBER, COFOUNDER Jeremy@ncri.io

Page 8 / 11

7
CYBER SWARMING, MEMETIC WARFARE AND VIRAL INSURGENCY
●
A CONTAGION AND IDEOLOGY REPORT
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS, CONTINUED
Memes such as the boogaloo appear as either cryptic jargon or recreational subcultures to both
Web users and security experts and thus, at first glance, seem an unlikely source for large-
scale national security risks. But it is precisely this unfamiliarity that should signal profound
concern: Facing a similarly alien subculture of enthusiasts, national security pundits, the US
Military, and intelligence and defense agencies, were entirely caught off guard at the rapid
mobilization of ISIS and creation of the caliphate. Foreign fighters from all corners of the world
having little knowledge of ISIS ideologies, religion, or cause—were quickly recruited from flash
to bang through savvy social media outreach. The strategy facilitated a contagious, new, hybrid,
social media operation that allowed Jihadis to crowd-source terror and propaganda outside the
guidelines of every national security or military analyst’s playbook. According to our research,
boogaloo enthusiasts, who refer to themselves as the “Boojihadeen” may have stolen a page
from the Islamic State’s playbook.
Uniformly, the recommendations in this report converge on two key suggestions. Firstly, law
enforcement and policy makers should consider that memetic warfare has evolved from mere
lone-wolf threats to the threat of an entire meme-based insurgency. Efforts to combat memetic
warfare should include projects to develop the capacity to share information centrally and
resources to develop the real-time analytic tools and approaches described in the subsections
above. Developing these resources will permit greater insight, dexterity, and actionable counter-
strategy in the cyber domain as these threats continue to evolve and become compounded by
bad actors. Indeed, evidence suggests that adversarial nations such as Iran and Russia, have
already begun to exert manipulation through conspiratorial memes to exacerbate these very
forces opportunistically and incite domestic unrest.
Secondly, a civil messaging/information vaccine approach against weaponized information
and malicious memes is merited by the methods we have outlined here. Quantitative tools can
index the DNA of the most dangerous and threatening memetic ideologies on social media.
Understanding these pathways and how memes and information inspire people to radicalize
and rally to calls for violence would allow us to better understand the radicalization process
from flash to bang. Such insights also leverage an optimal counter message, strategy, and
information vaccine to fight contagion. As we have shown in this report, these approaches
can be used to map “red zones” of hateful-memetic contagion, which shows where polarized
communities reside, both on social media and/or in the real world. Such information could
inform where and how civil counter messages and information vaccines are deployed. The
very tools which map the epidemic can repeatedly assess the success of civil campaigns and
calibrate counter messages adaptively. These methods not only provide novel solutions when
addressing challenges of terrorism and targeted violence—but do so while respecting individual
and civil rights, privacy, and civil liberty.
</font></div><div style="left: 699.324px; top: 701.296px; transform: scaleX(0.84035);" data-canvas-width="1036.9772516339865"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="left: 699.324px; top: 701.296px; transform: scaleX(0.84035);" data-canvas-width="1036.9772516339865"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Memetic warfare is still very much a mystery to both policy makers and officials working
within the American law enforcement community. In this ignorance, the worst actors amongst
boogaloo groups possess a distinct advantage over government officials and law enforcement:
They already realize that they are at war. Public servants cannot afford to remain ignorant
of this subject because as sites, followers and activists grow in number, memes can reach a
critical threshold and tipping point, beyond which they can suddenly saturate and mainstream
across entire cultures.

Page 8 / 11

</font></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/civil-war-talk-takes-on-a-life-of-its-own-as-far-right-extremists-coalesce-around-the-boogaloo/">
</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/civil-war-talk-takes-on-a-life-of-its-own-as-far-right-extremists-coalesce-around-the-boogaloo/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/civil-war-talk-takes-on-a-life-of-its-own-as-far-right-extremists-coalesce-around-the-boogaloo/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">dave n<b>

the

myths and conspiracy theories that fuel the radical right often take on

lives of their own: Think of how the QAnon phenomenon </b>began as a

handful of conspiracy theorists making groundless claims and predictions

about a coming “Storm” that metastasized first into a wildly popular

body of “Patriot”/militia conspiracism, and finally into a massive

submovement operating within the framework of the Trump presidency—while

producing a growing record of lethal violence by its unhinged

believers.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Something

similar appears to be coalescing around the “boogaloo”—the vision of

members of the far right of a coming civil war, which they claim is

being forced upon them by liberals who want to take their guns away as

the first step toward their incarceration and enslavement. In reality,

of course, a number of sectors of the far right have ginned up this kind

of rhetoric for decades—but now, a systematic study of its spread

through social media has found that it appears to be massing into a

movement of its own.</span>

The study, conducted by the

independent Network Contagion Research Institute, explores, according to

its subtitle, “how domestic militants organize on memes to incite

violent insurrection and terror against government and law enforcement.”

It focused on the “boogaloo” in large part due its increasing

popularity—particularly as a hashtag (#Boogaloo or #Boogaloo2020)—on

Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, as well as the extreme and often

callous expressions of violent intent that form the essence of the

chatter.

In its initial forms, the “civil war” talk was generated in different sectors of the radical right in different ways. <b>Among neo-Nazis, it generally has focused on a “race war”</b>—i.e., a genocidal conflict between whites and nonwhites—dating back to the 1980s and the classic white-supremacist blueprint, T<b>he Turner Diaries. </b>This

vein of rhetoric has produced a long record of lethal domestic

terrorism, including the 1984 neo-Nazi criminal gang The Order; the 1995

Oklahoma City bombing; and more recently, the 2011 attack in Norway

that killed 87 people and the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks in New

Zealand that killed 51.

<b>
Among the “Patriot” movement believers who form militias in resistance to “the New World Order,” </b>most of the rhetoric has focused on using arms against law enforcement, particularly the federal kind, as well as the mythic “<b>blue-helmeted” United Nations soldiers about to descend on them from black helicopters.</b>

In its more recent iterations among far-right Oath Keepers and “III

Percent” militiamen, the “boogaloo” talk has mostly revolved around

resistance to liberal gun-control legislation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This

reached its apotheosis in January when thousands of armed “Patriots”

from around the United States descended on Richmond, Virginia, to

protest imminent gun safety legislation making its way through the

state’s General Assembly. Before the rally, FBI agents arrested a trio

of neo-Nazis who were preparing to open fire on law enforcement at the

event.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>However,

one of the results of the broad emergence of popular “boogaloo”

rhetoric has been a blurring of the lines between the anti-government

extremists who foresee conflict with federal forces and the more extreme

white supremacists who lust for a bloody conflict between the white and

nonwhite races</b>. While many of the latter also eagerly participate

in the anti-government talk, many of the former appear to be warming up

to the race-war talk.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The

NCRI study found not only that the discussion of the “boogaloo” on

social media had surged, but that discrete groups were coalescing around

the discussion and creating the nascent forms of a movement. The <b>“boogaloo”

“topic network” produces “a coherent, multi-component and detailed

conspiracy to launch an inevitable, violent, sudden, and apocalyptic war

across the homeland,” it said, adding that the models created by

researchers “show that the meme acts as a meaningful <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">vector</span> to organize seditious sentiment at large.”</b></span>
<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
The

conspiracy, replete with suggestions to stockpile ammunition, may

itself set the stage for massive real-world violence and sensitize

enthusiasts to mobilize in mass for confrontations or charged political

events. Furthermore, the meme’s emphasis on military language and

culture poses a specific risk to military communities due to the similar

thematic structure, fraternal organization, and reward incentives.</span>
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">One

of the “boogaloo” groups featured in the study, calling itself “Patriot

Wave,” illustrated perfectly how the lines between militia “Patriots”

and alt-right white nationalists were completely blurred and submerged

in the larger project of fomenting a violent civil war. Its members wore

alt-right “Pepe the Frog” patches with the title “Boogaloo Boys,” while

others wore the skull balaclava generally associated with members of

the fascist Atomwaffen Division.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The

study also pointed to a particular area of concern: namely, the ability

of these extremists to simply blend into existing power structures,

including law enforcement and the military. <b>One “boogaloo”

enthusiast, Coast Guardsman Christopher Hasson, was arrested with a full

arms cache and a plan to assassinate liberal political leaders. </b>A

Patriot Wave member is quoted in the study: “Some of the guys we were

with aren’t exactly out of the military yet, so they had to keep their

faces covered.</span>”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The

spread of the “boogaloo” organizing on social media has been

facilitated with the use of hashtags #Boogaloo and #Boogaloo2020, which

are then accompanied by associated hashtags such as #2A, #CivilWar2, and

#2ndAmendment, as well as hashtags such as #BigIgloo, intended to elude

filters.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This

kind of informational conflict—or what the study calls “memetic

warfare”—has evolved, the study says, “from mere lone-wolf threats to

the threat of an entire meme-based insurgency.”
The NCRI report was

sent to members of Congress and the departments of Defense, Homeland

Security, and Justice, among others. Paul Goldenberg, a member of the

Homeland Security Advisory Council, told NBC News’ Brandy Zadrozny that

the report was “a wake-up call.”

“When you have people talking

about and planning sedition and violence against minorities, police and

public officials, we need to take their words seriously,” said

Goldenberg.

</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div class="mag-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h3 class="magcat-titlte entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 1px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/video-of-idf-bulldozer-dragging-body-of-palestinian-man-in-gaza-sparks-outrage-this-is-a-war-crime/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;">video of IDF bulldozer dragging body of Palestinian man in Gaza sparks outrage: ‘This is a war crime’</a></font></h3><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/jessica-corbett/" title="Posts by Jessica Corbett" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Jessica Corbett</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/common-dreams/" title="Posts by Common Dreams" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Common Dreams</a></span></font></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Human rights advocates are demanding that the Israeli military immediately open a criminal investigation into the incident.</font></p></div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">theconv 120</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-meme-endorsement-you-might-have-missed-and-why-it-matters-for-2020-130174">https://theconversation.com/the-meme-endorsement-you-might-have-missed-and-why-it-matters-for-2020-130174</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...O<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">n Jan. 19, the New York Times editorial board made history when it</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/01/19/opinion/amy-klobuchar-elizabeth-warren-nytimes-endorsement.html" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">endorsed two candidates</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, for president, concluding, “May the best woman win.”</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</span></font></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This came on the heels on another key endorsement, one that got far less media coverage: On Jan. 15, New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens, a private Facebook <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/whatwouldjanejacobsdo/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">meme group</a>, endorsed U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Within hours, Bernie <a href="https://twitter.com/drooliet/status/1217871003021389824" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">personally thanked</a> the group’s nearly 180,000 “NUMTOTs,” as they affectionately call themselves.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Why would a leading contender for the Democratic nomination so eagerly patronize a niche group on a social media site?</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2020, it’s simply smart politics – and a sign of how campaigning and political messaging strategies are rapidly changing. Bernie’s post on the Facebook group’s page now has over 16,000 reactions and nearly 3,000 comments.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
Though they might seem like humorous, pithy or even nonsensical digital artifacts, memes, <a href="https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/68980" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">as our research has shown</a>, wield the power to unite, divide, persuade and provoke voters. They’ve become an increasingly important – even indispensable – communication tool in politics, helping <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=SPwlDQAAQBAJ" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">ordinary voters</a> shape political debates and <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1080/00028533.2013.11821790" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">hone arguments</a> from their phones.<a href="https://makeamericameme.com/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">As experts on political memes</a>, we’re well aware of the ways memes and meme groups can influence politics on the sly.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s a radical departure from just a decade ago, when donors and legacy media outlets <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.5325/jinfopoli.6.2016.0129" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">largely set the tone</a>, defined the parameters and dictated the topics of debate.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With social media now a battleground for political debate, memes have become a key way for regular supporters of a candidate or party to unite around certain issues, generate talking points and crystallize policy platforms – regardless of what The New York Times, Fox News or The Washington Post has to say about it.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/732590680233889/?sorting_setting=CHRONOLOGICAL" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens</a> is a large, diverse meme group on Facebook. Created in 2017, the page attracts those who share an interest in urban planning, housing justice, transportation infrastructure and climate change.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
But with the 2020 presidential race well underway, the group has also been discussing the candidates and their policies.On Facebook, thousands of NUMTOTs engage in robust democratic debate; it just so happens that much of this debate often comes in the form of Pokemon or Winnie the Pooh memes. In the past few days, NUMTOTs have debated renters’ rights, fair housing policies, flood management for densely populated areas, public transit, income inequality and shelters for LGBTQ+ youth.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The page has an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/jul/05/meet-the-numtots-the-millennials-who-find-fixing-public-transit-sexy-urbanist-memes" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">outsized ability</a> – on Facebook, at least – to communicate members’ political positions. Endorsing Bernie could prove particularly effective for mobilizing young voters, since 90% of NUMTOT’s members <a href="https://www.citylab.com/life/2020/01/bernie-sanders-endorsements-2020-numtot-memes-youth-vote/605086/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">are under 34 years old</a>. [pix tweets]</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/maga-trolls/far-right-message-boards-push-murder-conspiracy-theory-regarding-rep-ilhan-omar">https://www.mediamatters.org/maga-trolls/far-right-message-boards-push-murder-conspiracy-theory-regarding-rep-ilhan-omar</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx twt pix many</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>A  new baseless conspiracy theory about Rep. Ilhan Omar can be traced back to far-right message boards</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WRITTEN BY ALEX KAPLAN</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PUBLISHED<b> 09/09/19 </b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">UPDATED 12/06/19 12:15 PM EST</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Update (12/6/19): On October 7, Danielle Stella, a Republican congressional candidate running against Omar and a supporter of the QAnon conspiracy theory, pushed the conspiracy theory about Omar on Telegram. She posted an image of a tweet that claimed that an “apparent hit man” for Omar “fails to kill [her] target, and kills look alike” and accused the mainstream media of trying to “desperately … label the targeted murder as ‘random.’</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">”</span></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Far-right message boards created and helped spread a baseless conspiracy theory suggesting that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) ordered a Washington, D.C., woman’s killing. The conspiracy theory has spread onto multiple social media platforms, where some content promoting it has gone <b>viral.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">On August 27, a young woman was reportedly stabbed to death while walking dogs in Washington, D.C. Despite reports that local police consider it to be a random attack by a suspect whose “adulthood has been marked by periods of <b>homelessness and hospitalizations for mental illness</b>,” far-right message boards have without any evidence connected the woman’s killing to Omar. The baseless claim has since spread onto social media platforms including YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>How the baseless claim spread</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">On August 29, an anonymous user on 4chan’s “/pol/,” a message board known for spreading white nationalism and conspiracy theories, claimed that the D.C. stabbing victim looked “very similar” to a woman who has alleged that her husband had an affair with Omar (which her husband has denied). The 4chan user claimed that the slain dog walker “could easily have been mistaken for” the other woman, calling it a “possible Omaracide.” The post received more than 300 replies, with many users agreeing that the conspiracy theory “seems likely” and lauding the original poster.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4chan Omar conspiracy theory</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Later that evening, a user on<b> pro-gun forum AR15.com </b>cited “/pol/” in asking, “Was the murder of a random redhead actually a political assassination plot to benefit Ilhan Omar?”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gun forum Omar conspiracy1]</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">During the morning of August 30, the baseless claim spread to subreddits “r/The_Donald” and “r/conspiracy</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">,” </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">both of which are also known for spreading conspiracy theories. The “r/The_Donald” user posted largely the same language as the 4chan post, and “r/conspiracy” posted an image of the 4chan post. The post on “r/The_Donald” received thousands of “upvotes,” ranking it higher on the subreddit and helping it to spread.</span></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Donald Omar conspiracy</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conspiracy subreddit Omar conspiracy]</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">That afternoon, a <b>far-right YouTube channel posted a video</b> pushing the conspiracy theory titled “Did Ilhan Omar Order a Hit Job On Her Boyfriend's Wife?!” <b>The video directly cited the post from “r/The_Donald” and has nearly 90,000 views.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">YouTube Omar conspiracy theory image]</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That evening, Twitter account @newanddangerous tweeted much of the same language as the 4chan post, and the tweet has received nearly <b>10,000 retweets</b>.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@newanddangerous Omar conspiracy]</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Among those who have shared @newanddangerous’ tweet include <b>conspiracy theorist Devon Stack; a Pizzagate conspiracy theorist who was previously thrown out of a Joe Biden event; and a former adult film star turned far-right conspiracy theorist. The tweet was also shared over Telegram</b> by a far-right channel.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Devon Stack conspiracy theory</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PG Howie Omar conspiracy theory</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jenna Jameson Omar conspiracy</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On the morning of August 31, a <b>verified YouTube channel supporting the</b> <b>QAnon conspiracy theory posted a video sharing the conspiracy theory and directly cited the 4chan post. The video has nearly 100,000 views.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">YouTube QAnon channel Omar conspiracy theory image]</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meanwhile, the conspiracy theory continued to spread on <b>Twitter, </b>including from multiple accounts promoting QAnon and its slogan, “Where we go one, we go all,” or “WWG1WGA.” Some of their tweets were also shared on Facebook, along with the 4chan thread and the conspiracy theory itself.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@PROUDPATRIOT45 Omar conspiracy theory]</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Also on August 31, another QAnon account on a site called poal also shared the 4chan thread, saying “/pol/” had “nailed it.”<b> Before It’s News</b>, a conspiracy theory site known for pushing falsities, including Pizzagate, cross-posted an article the following day questioning if Omar had “tried to murder her new lover’s wife.” It also cited 4chan.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Before It's News Omar conspiracy theory]</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The conspiracy theory also continued to circulate on 4chan -- one user even cited @newanddangerous’ tweet with language based on the original 4chan post -- and on “r/The_Donald,” where a user posted an image of the August 29 gun forum post. In total, there have been more than <b>400 posts on 4chan about the conspiracy theory.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/video-fake-trump-mass-shooting-twitter-carpe-donktum-meme-898890/">https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/video-fake-trump-mass-shooting-twitter-carpe-donktum-meme-898890/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>pr<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">o-Trump meme-maker Carpe Donktum, a.k.a. Logan Cook, was suspended from</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/t/twitter/" id="auto-tag_twitter" data-tag="twitter" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; transition: color 0.24s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) 0s; text-decoration-line: none; position: relative;">Twitter</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">on Monday following controversy over a video originating from a contributor to his website, Meme World. Following outcry from the right, however, Cook was quickly reinstated on the platform, prompting questions about censorship and Twitter’s response to allegations of political bias.</span></b></font></div><div class="c-content t-copy" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; line-height: 1.75rem; width: 709.125px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 0px; padding: 0.9375rem 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cook, who describes himself on Twitter as an “<b>Eternally Sarcastic Memesmith s</b>pecializing in the creation of memes to support President Donald J. Trump,” is the creator of MemeWorld, a pro-Trump meme site. MemeWorld became engulfed in controversy on Monday following a <em style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">New York Times </em>report that a violent July 2018 video created by MemeWorld contributor TheGeekzTeam was screened at the right-wing American Priority Conference last week. <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/gruesome-video-fake-trump-mass-shooting-898446/" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; transition: color 0.24s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) 0s; text-decoration-line: none; position: relative; font-weight: 600;">The video</a>, which is essentially a compilation of pro-Trump memes, features an edited version of a clip from the movie <em style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">The Kingsman, </em>which shows President Trump’s face superimposed onto that of actor Colin Firth as he guns down a crowd full of his critics, primarily members of the media. It was <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanhatesthis/trump-meme-maker-carpe-donktum-suspended-twitter" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; transition: color 0.24s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) 0s; text-decoration-line: none; position: relative; font-weight: 600;">posted on the subreddit r/TheDonald</a> last year and received thousands of upvotes.</font></p><div class="l-article-contentpull l-article-contentpull--left" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 2.1875rem 2.1875rem 0px calc(-14.2857% - 0.6875rem); max-width: 11.875rem; float: left;"><div class="c-related variant-original" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 15px 1.5625rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0.8125rem 0.3125rem; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.16) 0px 0.125rem 0.25rem; background-color: rgb(243, 243, 243); float: left; width: 12.5625rem; border-top: 0.3125rem solid rgb(211, 37, 49);"><h4 class="c-relatedheading t-bold t-bold--upper" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 0px; padding: 0.4375rem 0px 0.5rem; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: flex-start; text-transform: uppercase; line-height: 1; letter-spacing: 0.025rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RELATED</font></h4><div class="c-relatedimg" data-gtm-vis-recent-on-screen-9326027_25="82606" data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-9326027_25="82606" data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-9326027_25="100" data-gtm-vis-has-fired-9326027_25="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; flex-shrink: 0; width: 11.875rem; max-width: 100%; margin: 0px;"><div class="c-crop c-crop--size-related" data-gtm-vis-has-fired-9326027_25="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; position: relative; overflow: hidden; width: 175px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/cpsc-twitter-meme-library-of-congress-897096/" class="c-relatedlink" data-index="1" target="blank" data-label="related-article" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; transition: color 0.24s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) 0s; text-decoration-line: none; position: relative; display: block; align-items: center; padding: 0px;"><img src="https://www.rollingstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/consumer-protection-great-baby.jpg?resize=900,600&w=900" data-src="https://www.rollingstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/consumer-protection-great-baby.jpg?resize=900,600&w=900" class="c-cropimg wp-post-image visible" alt="Consumer Protection Safety Commission" data-gtm-vis-has-fired-9326027_25="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; height: calc(100% + 0.125rem); max-width: calc(100% + 0.125rem); transition: opacity 0.3s ease 0s; opacity: 1; object-fit: cover; position: absolute; object-position: 0px top; top: 57.5625px; left: 87.5px; width: calc(100% + 0.125rem); transform: translate(-50%, -50%);" width="900" height="600" /></a></font></div></div><h5 class="c-relatedcaption t-bold" data-gtm-vis-has-fired-9326027_25="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 0px; padding: 0.8rem 0px 0.8rem 0.625rem; position: relative; line-height: 1.15rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How a Government Agency's Offbeat Twitter Memes Landed in the Library of Congress</font></h5><h5 class="c-relatedcaption t-bold" data-gtm-vis-has-fired-9326027_25="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 0px; padding: 0.8rem 0px 0.8rem 0.625rem; position: relative; line-height: 1.15rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-anti-semitic-racist-rant-892230/" class="c-relatedlink" data-index="2" target="blank" data-label="related-article" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; transition: color 0.24s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) 0s; text-decoration-line: none; position: relative; display: block; align-items: center; padding: 0px;">Off-the-Rails President Takes to Twitter in Anti-Semitic and Racist Rant</a></font></h5></div></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 0px; padding: 0.9375rem 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a statement to the <em style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">New York Times, </em>Stephanie Grisham, the press secretary for the White House, said that while President Trump had not seen the clip, “based upon everything he has heard, he strongly condemns this video.” Yet many interpreted the clip as a casual endorsement on behalf of Trump supporters towards violence against the president’s critics. Critics of the clip also <a href="https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1183759972695306240?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; transition: color 0.24s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) 0s; text-decoration-line: none; position: relative; font-weight: 600;">accused Trump supporters of hypocrisy</a> in light of their condemnation of a similarly violent image of comedian Kathy Griffin holding what appeared to be a fake version of the president’s decapitated head. (Griffin is also depicted in the video being mutilated with an axe.)</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 0px; padding: 0.9375rem 0px;"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Initially, it was reported that Cook, who has been lauded as a “</span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/10/14/violent-spoof-video-trump-killing-his-critics-shows-how-memes-have-reshaped-politics/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; transition: color 0.24s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) 0s; text-decoration-line: none; position: relative; font-weight: 600;">genius</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">” by the president and </span><a href="https://twitter.com/mad_liberals/status/1146976696337391616" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; transition: color 0.24s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) 0s; text-decoration-line: none; position: relative; font-weight: 600;"> visited the White House as part of a “social media summit” last July,</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> was the creator of the video. While Cook denied this on Twitter, he confirmed that a “friend” who contributed to MemeWorld made the clip, and that that person would continue to be listed as a contributor. He also went on to endorse the message behind the video.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> “The Kingsman video is CLEARLY satirical and the violence depicted is metaphoric</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">,” Cook said in a </span><a href="https://www.memeworld.com/meme/the-nyt-launches-an-outrage-campaign-aimed-at-a-memeworld-contributor-and-the-american-priority-conference/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; transition: color 0.24s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) 0s; text-decoration-line: none; position: relative; font-weight: 600;">statement</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> on MemeWorld that he posted on Twitter</span><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> accusing the </span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"><b>New York Times </b></em><b>of launching an “outrage campaign” against him. </b>“No reasonable person would believe that this video was a call to action, or an endorsement of violence towards the media. The only person that could potentially be ‘incited’ by this video is <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/t/donald-trump/" id="auto-tag_donald-trump" data-tag="donald-trump" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; transition: color 0.24s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) 0s; text-decoration-line: none; position: relative; font-weight: 600;">Donald Trump</a> himself, as the main character of the video is him. THERE IS NO CALL TO ACTION.”</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 0px; padding: 0.9375rem 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The defense that violent content is sarcastic or intended in jest is common among right-wing memers, says Jennifer Grygiel, an assistant professor of communication at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. “This is a propaganda technique to avoid detection and removal,” they tell <em style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Rolling Stone</em>. “The bottom line is no, maybe they aren’t calling specifically for the president to go out and shoot the media, but these political memes have an indirect effect on our culture, and the political climate, which is already boiling over. In this case, the meme promotes attacks on the media, social movements such as <b>Black Lives Matter</b>, and Trump’s political opponents.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 0px; padding: 0.9375rem 0px;"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Shortly after Cook posted his statement, multiple news outlets reported that he had been suspended by Twitter. (The Twitter account for TheGeekzTeam, which posted the video, remains active.) News of the suspension prompted outrage on far-right corners of social media, who argued that Twitter was applying left-wing bias in suspending Cook. </span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Right-wing critics have long accused Twitter of harboring a bias against conservatives, </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">with many on the right arguing that big tech platforms censor or shadow-ban those who espouse conservative views (though there is </span><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/study-facebook-still-not-censoring-conservatives?redirect_source=/research/2019/04/09/study-facebook-still-not-censoring-conservatives/223384" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; transition: color 0.24s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) 0s; text-decoration-line: none; position: relative; font-weight: 600;">little evidence to support this claim</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">). </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Earlier this year, Republican U.S. Senator Josh Hawley introduced legislation advocating for big tech platforms to undergo an audit investigating allegations of left-wing bias, while many on the left have also accused CEO Jack Dorsey and Twitter of bending over backwards to appease conservatives, in part by<a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/jeffrey-epstein-clinton-conspiracy-theories-twitter-863446/" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; transition: color 0.24s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) 0s; text-decoration-line: none; position: relative; font-weight: 600;"> refusing to censor right-wing trending topics</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/06/27/inside-facebook-twitters-secret-meetings-with-trump-aides-conservative-leaders-who-say-tech-is-biased/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; transition: color 0.24s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) 0s; text-decoration-line: none; position: relative; font-weight: 600;">hosting dinners with right-wing leaders</a>.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 0px; padding: 0.9375rem 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Approximately half an hour later, Cook’s account was reinstated. In a Periscope,</b> he said that Twitter had decided to suspend him based on an <b>unrelated copyright violation </b>in a Feb. 2018 video, and that the suspension had been reversed. In the Periscope, Cook questioned this reasoning, claiming that the video featured no copyright infringement with the exception of a five-second song clip at the end of the video. In response to <em style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Rolling Stone</em>‘s request for comment, a Twitter spokesperson says that “per our<a href="https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/copyright-policy" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; transition: color 0.24s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) 0s; text-decoration-line: none; position: relative; font-weight: 600;"> copyright policy</a>, we respond to valid copyright complaints sent to us by a copyright owner or their authorized representatives.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 0px; padding: 0.9375rem 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Aside from Twitter, many big tech platforms like YouTube have been criticized for keeping the video online. Although YouTube, for instance, prohibits content that incites violence, the platform decided to age-gate the video and display a warning on the grounds that it contained “violence that is clearly fictional,” a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/14/tech/fake-trump-video-youtube-response/index.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; transition: color 0.24s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) 0s; text-decoration-line: none; position: relative; font-weight: 600;">spokesperson told CNN</a>.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 0px; padding: 0.9375rem 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a statement sent to <em style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Rolling Stone, </em>the activist network CREDO Action decried platforms’ willingness to keep the video up. “Hate speech and violent threats must be taken seriously by YouTube, Google, Facebook, Twitter, and the other big tech companies that are letting these messages run rampant across their platforms,” said CREDO Action campaign manager Jelani Drew-Davi. “The #TrumpVideo needs to be taken down immediately, as it actively promotes violence against specific people and members of the media.”</font></p></div><footer style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="c-tags" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; padding: 0.625rem 0px; line-height: 1.3125rem;"><p class="t-semibold" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-weight: 600;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In This Article: <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/t/donald-trump/" title="Donald Trump" class="c-tagsitem" style="box-sizing: border-box; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; transition: color 0.24s cubic-bezier(0.215, 0.61, 0.355, 1) 0s; text-decoration-line: none;">Donald Trump</a>,</font></p></div></footer><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/how-pro-trump-memes-mirror-the-frightening-ways-nazi-propagandists-got-their-message-to-the-people/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/how-pro-trump-memes-mirror-the-frightening-ways-nazi-propagandists-got-their-message-to-the-people/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How pro-Trump memes mirror the frightening ways Nazi propagandists got their message to the people</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Christopher Brauchli / Common Dreams October 27, 2019</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">150</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[A]fter the final destruction of the Nazi tyranny, they hope to see established a peace. . . which will afford assurance that all the men in all the lands may live out their lives in freedom from fear and want.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">—Atlantic Charter issued August 14, 1941</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It was all in good fun  It took place for Trump supporters the weekend of October 14, 2019, at the Trump National Doral Miami.  That was the Trump-owned resort that was to be the site of the G-7 meeting in 2020, until it wasn’t. It had been selected by Trump for the meeting of the G7 because, as Mick Mulvaney, Acting Chief of Staff explained: “Trump still considers himself to be in the hospitality business.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The event was organized by American Priority, a group that pretends to promote free speech.  It was attended by, among others, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and Donald Trump Jr.  In a room adjacent to the main ballroom at the hotel, a video that was produced by an anonymous person operating under the name of: “The GeekzTeam” was shown on a revolving loop. The video includes the logo for the trump 2020 campaign.  According to the New York Times‘s description of the video,  Mr. Trump’s head is superimposed on the body of a man entering the “<b>Church of Fake News. ” As he walks down the aisle he stops, pulls out a gun, and opens fire on parishioners who have the faces of his critics, or the logos of media organizations superimposed on their bodies. Among his victims are “Black Lives Matter”, and “Vice News.</b>” He continues walking down the aisle and as he approaches the alter, he is shown striking John McCain in the back of the neck, hitting Rosie O’Donnell in the face, and then stabbing  her in the head. He sets fire to Bernie Sanders’ hair. The video ends with Trump standing on the church altar and admiring the victims of his violent behavior.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reports suggest that there are many similar memes, as they are known, available on the internet, all depicting violent acts against critics of trump.  The Trump himself tweeted a video in which he participates in a wrestling match and body slams and beats up the CNN logo.  That tweet went viral among his supporters.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although lacking internet, the Nazis knew the value of film in order to get their message to the people<b>.  In 1930 the party established a film department. In Mein Kampf  Hitler wrote that: “The picture, in all its forms, including the film, has better prospects.  In a much shorter time, at one stroke I might say, people will understand a pictorial presentation of something which it would take them a long and laborious effort of reading to understand.”</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 1932, Hans Traub, a Nazi propagandist,  said that film is a “formidable means of propaganda.” Explaining its importance he said that: “Achieving propagandistic influence has always demanded a ‘language’ which forms a memorable and passionate plot with a simple narrative. . . . the most effective is the moving picture. . . . it has  an unimaginable richness of rhythm for intensifying or dispelling emotions.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Discussing films made in Nazi Germany, “Facing History and Ourselves” observes that although many films were made to glorify the Nazis, others were made to “dehumanize, criminalize, and demonize vulnerable minorities-particularly Jews.” The Trump and his supporters know how that works.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Noel King of NPR conducted an interview of Taika Waititi, the director of the movie, “Jojo Rabbit” on October 18, 2019, the date the movie was released.  The movie is a satire of Nazi Germany,  and is about a 10-year old boy named Jojo  Rabbit. Jojo is in the Hitler Youth Movement and he wants to be the best Nazi he can be. In the film Jojo says  “I swear to devote all my energies and my strength to the <b>savior of our country, Adolf Hitler.”</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The NPR interview concludes with a lengthy commentary from Mr. Waititi, that is especially timely in today’s world.  “So we think we live in the safety of 2019?  Yes, we don’t have to worry about Hitler and his retribution on us for making jokes about him.  [But} I mean, this film shouldn’t really need to be made.  In 2019 do I really need to make a film with the heart of the message being, you shouldn’t be a Nazi.  At the end of  World War II, there was a very clear and simple law.  If you’re a Nazi, you go to jail because there’s no room in this world for you and those ideas. Now, sadly, in America and other places, the law now is, if you’re a Nazi feel free to go down to the town square and have a little rally because we’ve got this thing called freedom of speech. And you can sort of say what you want, and you’re protected by that.  It’s become very twisted. And if anyone says [about this movie] “oh, well, another World War II film-we get it.  That was 80 years ago.” Well, we obviously don’t get it-because we’re getting dangerously close to this sort of thing happening again.  And we’re living in a world where there are world leaders who are very happy to promote hate and intolerance and ideas that were prevalent in the ’30s.'”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Waititi got that right.  Think Orban, Assad, Duterte, Putin, Xi, el Sisi, Erdogan, and, Trump, the spoiled, petulant, mendacious occupant of the White House, to name just a few. It’s frightening.</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref on memes quite good pix</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/how-facebook-right-wing-propaganda-machine-works">https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/how-facebook-right-wing-propaganda-machine-works</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx pix many</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>How the Facebook right-wing propaganda machine works</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WRITTEN BY NATALIE MARTINEZ</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PUBLISHED 08/31/<b>18 </b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> / Media Matters</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Facebook, right-wing meme pages play a vital role in condensing and recycling far-right talking points and keeping the MAGA base engaged online. These pages regularly post extremist content, arguably violating Facebook’s hate speech content policy, and often exploit tragic events in the news cycle, images of veterans, and violent anti-immigrant rhetoric for likes and shares. Although these pages’ visibility and their content should have been downgraded by Facebook’s algorithm changes targeting media publishers and engagement bait, right-wing meme pages have actually been performing better and gaining more weekly interactions -- as measured by reactions, comments, and shares -- since Facebook implemented these changes.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A recent Media Matters study of 463 prominent Facebook pages that regularly posted political content between January 1, 2018, and July 1, 2018, found that images posted by right-leaning pages were the highest performing content. A follow-up Media Matters study reviewing a sample of 26 right-wing meme pages found that on average, they earned more weekly interactions and saw a net increase in interaction numbers under Facebook’s algorithm changes.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The continued success of these pages goes beyond a shoddy algorithm on Facebook’s part. Some of the most popular right-wing meme pages have set up pathways to make their content viral, engaging in a seemingly coordinated effort to promote memes and posts between networks of pages and Facebook groups.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Media Matters reviewed hundreds of viral memes posted between January 1, 2018, and July 1, 2018, by both our initial sample of 26 right-wing meme pages and other right-wing Facebook pages that regularly post memes. In this new study, we tracked major narratives, found common meme sources for content, and mapped out how meme pages pushed their content through a network of Facebook pages and groups.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What viral right-wing memes look like</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Where right-wing memes come from</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How right-wing memes go viral on Facebook</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What viral right-wing memes look like</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The three most popular meme narratives over our six-month review dealt with immigration, guns, and President Donald Trump. Other less prevalent but still notable narratives we tracked over the six-month period included race-baiting, voter-suppression, veteran, and nonpartisan content.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Anti-immigrant memes went viral during virtually every week of our six-month study. These memes didn’t usually coincide directly with immigration-related events in the news cycle, but instead, they recycled common talking points about undocumented immigrants using government resources. Vague and sometimes false allegations against undocumented immigrants pushed the idea that, because of either limited government funding or actions by Democrats in Congress, resources provided for undocumented immigrants meant less were being provided for veterans and citizens.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Anti-immigrant memes on Facebook spiked as the Trump administration's zero tolerance immigration policy dominated the news cycle. </b>Some meme pages falsely claimed that the family separation policy originated with former President Bill Clinton and was enforced by former President Barack Obama’s administration. Others attacked asylum-seeking parents for attempting to enter the U.S. and smeared immigrant children as criminals.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some of the most disturbing anti-immigrant memes posted by these pages encouraged violence against undocumented immigrants. As of this writing, these six posts explicitly or implicitly calling for violence against undocumented immigrants had earned a total of over 446,000 interactions.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some of the top comments on these posts -- which attain top comment status as a result of earning the most views, reactions, or replies -- justified violence against immigrants, making arguments about immigrants using government resources and referring to immigration as a cultural invasion, echoing right-wing meme pages.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Pro-gun memes did not regularly go viral over the course of our six-month study, but their popularity spiked in reaction to the news cycle. </b>Pro-gun memes were some of the most popular memes on right-wing pages following shootings and gun violence prevention actions (such as the National Rifle Association boycott and March for Our Lives). The week of and the two weeks following the mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, memes supporting the NRA and attacking gun violence prevention went viral on a daily basis. These memes argued against gun violence prevention, often by claiming that generational differences have led to an increase in shootings, and asserting that the left was politicizing shootings. A series of engagement-bait memes rallying support for the NRA and its partners in light of the online pressure campaign from gun violence prevention activists also went viral. Following the March for Our Lives, a slew of memes criticizing student activism and belittling protesters for their age went viral. And as has been previously documented, right-wing pages also used memes to attack and smear survivors of the Parkland shooting and their activism against the NRA.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Pro-Trump posts were a staple of weekly meme narratives.</b> Pro-Trump memes and engagement bait tactics were used to rally support for Trump and his family. These tactics -- which ask users to like, reply, or share -- are the type of content that Facebook claimed it was downgrading in its algorithm changes.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pro-Trump memes often included attacks against people who disagree with or oppose Trump, with an emphasis on the idea that he is unfairly criticized for cleaning up government corruption. These types of pro-Trump memes often defended or divert attention from Trump’s own scandals.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Race-baiting memes </b>covered in terms of their focus, a wide range of topics including attempts to dispute white privilege and deflect blame for slavery. Race-baiting and racist memes often suggested that racism doesn’t exist and claimed there is a double standard against white people. Race-baiting memes attacking people for wearing sagging pants reappeared throughout our six-month review. In one instance, a viral meme called for the support of racist laws banning sagging pants. Some race-baiting memes overlapped with other narratives, including pro-gun and anti-immigrant memes.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The <b>biggest call for policy change in meme narratives over the six-month period rallied support for voter suppression measures, </b>like voter ID laws. </span>False and baseless allegations of voter fraud often accompanied calls for voter suppression laws. Voter suppression measures disproportionately affect minorities, and pages pushing memes supporting these types of policies also posted content about voter fraud conspiracies, which specifically used anti-immigrant rhetoric.. Most viral memes called for or raised the possibility of creating new voter ID laws; others mentioned intimidation tactics, such as posting ICE agents at polling stations.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Right-wing meme pages frequently exploited images of veterans for engagement-bait posts</b>. Some of the most common and successful engagement-bait content posted by right-wing meme pages were recycled images of veterans with requests for likes and shares as a show of support. Some pages posted memes of the same veteran multiple times over months. Right-wing meme pages essentially used recycled images of veterans to earn interactions and increase page visibility under the veil of calls for shows of respect and appreciation for veterans. Memes aiming to exploit outrage by making false and unproven allegations about acts of disrespect toward veterans and military service members were also recycled as engagement bait.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Although hyper-partisan content overwhelmingly dominated right-wing meme narratives, nonpartisan memes courting anti-establishment views periodically went viral.</b> One of the most popular category of arguments in nonpartisan memes was support for pay cuts, benefit reductions, and elimination of pensions for members of Congress. They also called on Congress to repay Social Security funds. Another common type of nonpartisan meme touched on “American values” and often referenced a generational divide (along the same line as some aforementioned pro-gun memes). These memes tended to be patriotic, didn’t align with a specific political party or politician, and tended to go viral when gun violence was in the news cycle.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Where right-wing memes come from</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Many right-wing memes that are circulated throughout Facebook on a daily basis aren’t original. Often, they’re memes or content originated on other social media accounts recycled through right-wing Facebook pages. Recycled meme content often comes from Facebook pages that produce branded meme content; other social media platforms like Twitter; Fox News and conservative media figures; and sometimes now-removed Russian propaganda accounts. Most popular right-wing meme pages share a combination of original and recycled content. By recycling content, right-wing meme pages are able to maintain consistent talking points between pages and reinforce uniform conservative messaging across media platforms.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There’s a subset of right-wing meme pages which are either mostly or wholly dedicated to producing memes branded with their logos. Source meme pages disseminate a large portion of memes that spread on Facebook and are recycled on a weekly basis. While these pages are generally smaller and share less viral content than most other right-wing meme pages, their content is frequently taken by larger meme pages and right-wing personalities and circulated throughout Facebook. Images from source meme pages usually contain a logo with the page’s name or Facebook URL, giving credit to the original page. In general, content circulated from source meme pages does not directly react to the news cycle, making it possible for right-wing meme pages to recycle their content for months or even years.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Some source meme pages are:</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Patriot Federation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PolitiPost</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Sage Page</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Redneck Nation Clothing</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Prepare to Take Back America</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">America First</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conservative Humor Gone Awry</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Flyover Culture</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conservative Post</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Liberty Eagle</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Common Sense Conservative</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stop Hillary in 2016</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">National Liberty Federation</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ThePatriotFederation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The Patriot Federation</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/PolitiPost/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">PolitiPost</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/The-SAGE-PAGE-1981442685426846/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The Sage Page</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/RedneckNationCo/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Redneck Nation Clothing</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/PrepareToTakeAmericaBack1/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Prepare to Take Back America</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/AmericaAlwaysFirst/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">America First</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/IWNRHCAMP/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Conservative Humor Gone Awry</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/FlyoverCulture/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Flyover Culture</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/heyconservativepost/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Conservative Post</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheLibertyEagle/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The Liberty Eagle</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheCSConservative/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">The Common Sense Conservative</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/stophillaryin2016" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Stop Hillary in 2016</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/libertyheadquarters/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">National Liberty Federation</a></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Content from other social media platforms, especially Twitter, often turns into memes on Facebook. Screenshots of tweets expressing conservative viewpoints go viral on a daily basis. Tweets come from far-right media personalities as well as unverified conservative accounts. Some popular social media accounts like Educating Liberals and conservative commentators like Mark Lutchman post screenshots of their own tweets, which sometimes get picked up and amplified by bigger right-wing meme pages. Some pages even copied text from tweets and converted them into memes.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Right-wing meme pages regularly feature Fox News and other conservative media figures.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Fox News’ official social media accounts frequently post images of political and media figures with quotes attached. Such images make it onto right-wing meme pages, usually in show of support for conservative politicians or commentators. Memes quoting conservative media figures like Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, and Rush Limbaugh also occasionally go viral on Facebook.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right-wing Russian propaganda from banned social media accounts is still circulating throughout Facebook. As previously covered by Media Matters, right-wing meme pages are still pushing Russian propaganda. Russian propaganda memes play into popular meme narratives, including anti-immigrant narratives related to government resources and voting rights, pro-gun content, and veteran engagement bait.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>How right-wing memes go viral on Facebook</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Some of the<b> most successful right-wing Facebook pages have established networks with both other pages and Facebook groups</b> (which are distinct from pages). They use those networks to create a pathway for content to circulate through conservative circles on the social media site.</span> Facebook pages coordinate the spread of their content through these networks, which also help them garner more interactions than they would organically from just individual posts. In a case study of the spread of right-wing memes on Facebook, Media Matters tracked memes from May 29 to 31 related to the cancellation of Roseanne Barr’s show after she tweeted a racist attack against Valerie Jarrett, a former senior adviser to President Obama. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">We were able to trace content as it originated on Facebook, made its way through right-wing pages and groups, and even spread beyond conservative circles on Facebook.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We chose this instance to track for two reasons. First, most content related to Barr was specifically made in reaction to ABC’s cancellation of her show, Roseanne. The timing of this corresponding news cycle event made memes related to Roseanne’s cancellation easier to track, because we were able to pinpoint their origin on Facebook. The second reason we tackled Roseanne cancellation memes is because they performed exceptionally well. These memes not only earned more interactions than memes from broader narratives, but they also went viral at a higher volume, making them a clear success for conservative meme pages.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>One way in which Facebook meme networks spread content is by posting a meme on their highest performing page and sharing that post throughout the network. </b>Less than an hour after news broke that ABC had cancelled Roseanne,<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> two major networks of right-wing meme pages began pushing posts defending Barr. The blue badge-verified Facebook page affiliated with far-right clickbait website The Political Insider was the first to post a meme attacking Jarrett and proclaiming “I stand with Roseanne!” The meme included a watermark of The Political Insider’s website on the bottom corner. Within five minutes, the post, which linked to an article from The Political Insider, was shared by four other Facebook pages, one of which appears to be run by The Political Insider, and three that are run by the conservative clickbait sites Headline Politics and Tell Me Now. The Political Insider, Headline Politics, and Tell Me Now’</span>s pages are all part of the same Facebook network: they all seem to exclusively post links to thepoliticalinsider.com and tmn.today; they share memes and videos originally posted by The Political Insider’s official Facebook page; and all three sites use the same Google Analytics ID, which suggests they’re all likely managed by the same person or organization. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Between these five coordinated pages,</b> this meme earned over 154,000 interactions, of which 120,700 came from the original post. From there, the meme spread to other conservative circles. The Political Insider post was shared by at least one more major pro-Trump page, and it was also shared to the pro-Trump Facebook group The Deplorables. Two other popular posts in pro-Trump Facebook groups featured the meme. And CNN right-wing commentator Ben Ferguson’s official Facebook page, which frequently posts right-wing memes, posted a version of the meme which cropped out the bottom portion where The Political Insider’s watermark would have been located.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Another network affiliated with the fake news site America’s Freedom Fighters </b>spread its engagement-bait meme showing support for Roseanne and her show in a similar manner as The Political Insider did. The network’s most popular Facebook page, Nation In Distress, posted the meme first, with the watermark “Nation In Distress.” In the following 10 minutes, eight other pages run by America’s Freedom Fighters shared the post. The original Nation In Distress post earned 208,000d interactions, and the meme earned an additional 14,800 interactions from the eight network shares. The post was also shared by another page tied to another Facebook network, where it earned over 12,000 interactions, and was posted to a popular pro-Trump Facebook group. Two pages belonging to a Facebook network run by the fake news site Mad World News also posted the meme with Nation In Distress’ logo ; those posts earned about 20,000 interactions.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One Facebook network used pro-Trump groups run by fake news sites to push its content through right-wing circles. <b>Five pages tied to the far-right website Right Wing News (rwnofficial.com)</b> each posted the exact same engagement-bait meme, calling for the cancellation of the TV show The View in light of Roseanne’s cancellation, within about an hour of each other. The most popular post in this batch had over 700,000 interactions. Between the five page posts, the meme earned almost 1.3 million interactions. Three pages in the same network shared the most popular post from Trump Republic later that night and earned an additional 41,700 interactions.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right Wing News also pushed this meme through its Facebook group. In a now-deleted post, the personal account of Amanda Shea, who runs two of Right Wing News’ pages, shared the most popular post from the Right Wing News’ batch of memes into the group “President Donald Trump OFFICIAL LLC” with the status text calling for a boycott of ABC. The post got over 8,400 interactions before it was deleted.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The group “President Donald Trump OFFICIAL LLC” was originally started by Right Wing News’ official Facebook page; six of the group’s 12 administrators are pages that are part of Right Wing News’ networks. Amanda Shea’s personal account, along with the personal accounts of administrators and moderators of the group, regularly pushes posts from Right Wing News’ network of pages to the President Donald Trump OFFICIAL LLC group’s 183,000-plus members. Right-wing meme pages and fake news sites are often behind some of these big pro-Trump Facebook groups: The 94,000-member group Tea Party has administrators and moderators tied to Big League Politics, Jews News, and Conservative Firing Line; the page Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children runs its own 100,000-plus member group; and the personal account of the meme source page The Sage Page is an admin for the groups Tea Party and President Donald Trump OFFICIAL LLC.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Among the memes related to Roseanne, the one that originated with Right Wing News’ network was by far the most popular. After the network initially posted it, the meme made rounds on other networks. Pages from America’s Freedom Fighters’ network helped spread it, beginning with Nation in Distress sharing Trump Republic’s meme. About 10 minutes later, four other pages in the network individually posted the meme, and two days later, Nation in Distress shared one of those posts. The America’s Freedom Fighter’s network earned nearly 170,000 interactions from this meme. A page tied to the fake news site TruthFeed posted the meme, and TruthFeed’s official page shared it; the two posts combined earned over 38,000 interactions. A few other individual conservative pages also picked up the meme. And Right Wing News’ meme also made it beyond conservative circles: A Facebook page connected to a Richmond journalist posted it as well.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">In total, this one Roseanne-related meme earned nearly 1.6 million interactions solely from its circulation through coordinated right-wing networks and conservative circles on Facebook.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Media Matters tracked over 40 other memes posted in reaction to Roseanne’s cancellation. </b>The most popular and successful content was pushed by various networks. The aforementioned Facebook networks we tracked produced a few other viral memes in the days following Roseanne’s cancellation. One meme from America’s Freedom Fighters earned about 95,000 interactions within the network and an additional 44,800 interactions from other pages. A meme posted by The Political Insider and pushed through its network earned almost 53,000 interactions. And another engagement-bait post from the Right Wing News network earned more than 96,000 interactions between two of its pages, and nearly 60,000 interactions from three other conservative pages.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meme source pages also demonstrated an array of tactics to push their content through conservative pages. Some pages, like Conservative Comedy Today, individually posted their content and it was then picked up by individual conservative pages. The meme source page The Sage Page coordinated the spread of its content by having a user account tied to the page share a meme to three pro-Trump groups. But the most aggressive tactic came from the popular meme source Facebook page The Newly Press (whose page was recently taken down), which posted 14 different -- but all seemingly related -- memes the day Barr’s show was canceled. Some of these memes were similar to each other, with slight tweaks in language but making the same claim. And all of them consistent messaging, arguing either that there is a double standard for holding conservative and liberal celebrities accountable for their comments, or that there’s a double standard for what comments white and Black comedians can make about race.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The virality of right-wing memes in this instance was logistically possible because of coordinated page and group networks; it was successful because of consistent messaging across Facebook’s landscape. All the memes we reviewed related to Roseanne’s cancellation rallied support for Barr and smeared her critics by making the argument that Barr was for being a white conservative. As the weekly meme narratives demonstrate, there is clear and consistent messaging shared across right-wing Facebook pages. They focus in the same topics, push the same memes, and recycle and amplify each others’ content, as well as content from other conservative media and social media. And as a result of this coordination in content and messaging, a direct impact on followers is evident, as they are also recycling the same messaging and feeding it back to meme pages through comments, shares, and other interactions.</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">racist memes 2016 IRA</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/30-batsht-crazy-mostly-racist-facebook-memes-the-russians-used-to-corrupt-your-mind" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.thedailybeast.com/30-batsht-crazy-mostly-racist-facebook-memes-the-russians-used-to-corrupt-your-mind</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://qz.com/1249579/r-funny-reddits-most-popular-meme-forum-was-a-hangout-spot-for-russian-propaganda-trolls/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://qz.com/1249579/r-funny-reddits-most-popular-meme-forum-was-a-hangout-spot-for-russian-propaganda-trolls/</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx many pix twt</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">escalator/ reddit?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Here's how a fringe smear targeting E. Jean Carroll reached Donald Trump Jr.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Blog ››› June 26, 2019 6:35 PM EDT ››› ALEX KAPLAN</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sarah Wasko / Media Matters</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After author and advice columnist E. Jean Carroll reported that President Donald Trump sexually assaulted her in the 1990s, the president's son, Donald Trump Jr., pushed a conspiracy theory that the claim was "ripped-off a plot" from a 2012 episode of NBC procedural Law & Order. Before being amplified by Trump Jr., the conspiracy theory was spread by a Twitter account associated with the QAnon conspiracy theory and another account whose content has regularly been shared by “seemingly-automated accounts.” It has also been pushed by the Daily Mail's political editor.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">On June 21, Carroll wrote in <b>New York magazine’</b>s The Cut that 23 years ago, Trump assaulted her in a department store dressing room. According to Carroll, Trump “lunge[d] at me, pushe[d] me against the wall, hitting my head quite badly, and [put] his mouth against my lips.” She wrote that he then pulled down her tights and assaulted her. Carroll told two close friends at the time, both of whom “confirmed the allegations to New York and to [The New York] Times.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Even though her friends confirmed that Carroll told them about the incident at the time, social media accounts and message boards have claimed that Carroll “ripped-off a plot” from an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit that dealt with a similar sexual assault against an actor. However, the episode aired in 2012, well over a decade after the incident allegedly occurred.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here’s how the smear spread from social media to message boards to some right-wing sites and to Donald Trump Jr.:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter user @RickMcCargar:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter user @tksusie:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter user @thebradfordfile (real name John Bradford Williams) also tweeted about the Law & Order episode. The Outline reported last year that Williams’ account has “more than 100,000 followers, a penchant for spreading far-right propaganda, and a curious network of seemingly-automated accounts regularly amplifying the reach of its tweets.” One of Williams’ former coworkers told The Outline that Williams “farms a significant portion of his engagement from direct-message based group chats on Twitter”:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">8chan’s "/pol/" amplified @thebradfordfile’s tweet:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter account @Trump454545 posted a clip of the episode in a tweet calling for Carroll to be prosecuted. The account's profile contains a hashtag of the abbreviated slogan for the QAnon conspiracy theory -- “where we go one, we go all” or “WWG1WGA”:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Reddit forum “r/The_Donald” amplified the smear </b>and @thebradfordfile and @Trump454545’s tweets:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitchy cited @thebradfordfile to push the claim:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter user @thebradfordfile then dug up this clip from “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” The detectives are interviewing a man who’s hired to play out women’s rape fantasies, and he mentions one in particular that took place … in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">No, for real.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>A user on 4chan’s “/pol/” cited the same link</b> that @thebradfordfile tweeted earlier.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>YouTube conspiracy theorist and far-right troll Mark Dice tweeted</b> another video of the episode (Donald Trump Jr. liked the tweet):</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Model and reality television star Mindy Robinson</b> later tweeted the same video as the account @Trump454545 did:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Multiple videos of the episode were posted on <b>YouTub</b>e to push the smear:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Gateway Pundit published a piece headlined “Fraud Gets Caught! Crackpot Trump Accuser’s Story Likely Stolen from Law and Order Episode of Rape Fantasy in Bergdorf Dressing Room (VIDEO).” </b>The article cited both @thebradfordfile and @Trump454545 to push the claim:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Boston Herald columnist Adriana Cohen quoted tweeted Robinson's post of the video.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald Trump Jr. also quote tweeted Robinson’s post of the video to push the smear, writing, “As long as the media gives these nut jobs unfettered air time they will keep coming”:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Multiple other conservative figures also pushed Robinson’s tweet, including right-wing commentator David Wohl, the Daily Mail’s David Martosko, former speechwriter for President George W. Bush Ned Ryun, and RedState:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Additionally, when searching for Carroll’s name on Google (via incognito search), the phrase “e jean carroll law and order” now appears as an automatic search suggestion:</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Posted In</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sexual Harassment & Sexual Assault</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Network/Outlet</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4chan, Reddit, Gateway Pundit, Google, Twitter</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Person</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald Trump Jr., David Wohl, David Martosko</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Show/Publication</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitchy.com, YouTube, RedState</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Stories/Interests</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fake News</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-much-power-can-one-image-actually-have-119507">https://theconversation.com/how-much-power-can-one-image-actually-have-119507</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">foto fr dtr drown rio grand</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">djt put-down nicknames related to BRANDING? a logo is a meme? a trademark is a meme? logo combines image and word sometimes, or sometime the image aspect stands in for word/name of co /product, which itself stands in or evokes a gestalt of emotions/associations? not unlike a metaphor triggers a spontaneous  cognitive/ affective unpacking</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">images bypass rational thought? (by bypassing language?)</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/04/right-wing-groups-are-training-young-conservatives-to-win-the-next-meme-war/">https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/04/right-wing-groups-are-training-young-conservatives-to-win-the-next-meme-war/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">april 2019</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx twit</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">POLITICS</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">APRIL 2, 2019</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“The Left Can’t Meme”: How Right-Wing Groups Are Training the Next Generation of Social Media Warriors</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Memes helped elect Donald Trump. Now well-funded conservative groups are using them to proselytize.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">STORY BY STEPHANIE MENCIMER, VIDEO BY MARK HELENOWSKI</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Benny Johnson took to the stage at the convention center in Palm Beach, Florida, before an audience of cheering young Trump supporters in December to lead a session titled “How to Own the Libs.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I ask myself every day: How do we own the libs?” said Johnson, at the time a reporter for the right-wing Daily Caller. “How do we do it in a way that makes a difference? Because these people deserved to be wrecked.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to Johnson, the answer to that question is memes. These bits of humor or political propaganda—generally images overlaid with a caption designed to go viral—are best known for littering social media, but some experts think they might have helped elect Donald Trump. Or as notorious internet troll Chuck Johnson has said, “We memed the president into existence.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Following that unexpected meme-driven success, well-funded conservative groups are making a more organized push to train young internet-savvy right-wingers in the art of meme-making</b>,<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> enlisting a growing army in what they see as the coming meme war of 2020.<b> Turning Point USA</b>, the conservative campus group that organized the conference, is merely one of these organizations seeking to sway hearts, minds, and elections via meme trainings. And it’s clear that when it comes to political memes, the left—which has never taken them very seriously—is trailing the right badly, and falling even further behind.</span></font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“Right-wing speaker training has been around for decades,”</b> says Angelo Carusone, president of the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters, which did a study of Facebook memes last summer. “Memes are a new front in the asymmetry. What you’re looking at here with memes is storytelling around the bend, and what you’re seeing is the future.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Memes are best known for littering social media, but some experts think they might have helped elect Donald Trump president.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Trump’s presidential campaign keyed into the power of memes early on, monitoring obscure meme sites and boosting pro-Trump images and videos onto mainstream platforms like Facebook</span>. Facebook’s algorithms favor images and videos over more nuanced text posts or links to news articles, so pro-Trump memes quickly went viral. During the campaign, memes also helped spread misinformation about Hillary Clinton’s health and the Pizzagate conspiracy theory that prompted an armed North Carolina man to show up at a<b> DC pizza parlor</b> to break up a nonexistent child sex ring supposedly led by Democratic Party operatives.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Perhaps no one understood the effectiveness of memes better than former Trump campaign strategist Steve Bannon, who had served as executive chairman of the far-right publication Breitbart News. In 2016, only 5 percent of Breitbart‘s posts were of images, but those images accounted for half of the site’s most-shared posts on Facebook.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Jeff Giesea, a consultant who has worked with venture capitalist Peter Thiel and the Koch brothers, is a self-described “memetics” expert.</b> During the 2016 campaign, he joined with men’s rights agitator<b> Mike Cernovich </b>to organize MAGA3X, a grassroots army of online trolls who worked to meme Trump to the White House. The effort produced tens of thousands of social media accounts, all working in concert to promote Trump, with a heavy emphasis on iconography. They even created a flash-mob meme generator to make it easy for Trump supporters to hook up in real life.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Giesea has long argued that memes are such a powerful tool they should be used as cyberwarfare to combat propaganda from ISIS and other foreign threats. In 2015, he wrote in a NATO journal on information warfare that “it seems obvious that more aggressive communication tactics and broader warfare through trolling and memes is a necessary, inexpensive, and easy way to help destroy the appeal and morale of our common enemies…Memetic warfare is about taking control of the dialogue, narrative, and psychological space. It’s about denigrating, disrupting, and subverting the enemy’s effort to do the same.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The same could be said of memes in politics. Cheap, subversive, and designed to provoke an emotional response, memes are a disruptive form of information guerrilla warfare. Republicans have gotten Giesea’s message, while Democrats have all but ignored it.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Right-wing speaker training has been around for decades,” says Media Matters president Angelo Carusone. “Memes are a new front in the asymmetry.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Johnson’s skill in this area launched him to Washington media fame for a while, until he was ousted from BuzzFeed and then the Independent Journal Review after being accused of plagiarism. He seems to have found his calling with Turning Point USA, the conservative campus activist group that sponsored the student convention in Palm Beach and is itself something of a meme factory.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Founded in 2012, TPUSA got its startup funding from Foster Friess, a wealthy Republican donor,</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> and it has since raked in donations from the oil and gas industry and organizations affiliated with the Koch brothers. With a budget of more than $8 million last year, TPUSA amplifies its campus presence by churning out endless “Big Government Sucks” memes on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Turning Point USA</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Like most memes, a few of TPUSA’s are clever and spread far, and many more have been trashed by internet trolls, who have created a whole meme subgenre they call “Toilet Paper USA.” Johnson was on hand in Florida to help TPUSA members up their game.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Johnson started his tutorial with “based Lindsey Graham,” a video montage of the South Carolina senator’s angry performance during the contentious confirmation hearing of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in high school. “That is a special moment,” he explained, noting that Kavanaugh was confirmed in spite of the allegations.<b> “In your lifetime, there has never been a culture war that conservatives have won except for this.”</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He proceeded to walk the audience through the evolution of Graham memes that went viral during the hearing and may have helped change public opinion on Kavanaugh. On the big screen, Johnson showed photos and a video he had taken of Graham coming out of the Capitol after a day of hearings. In the video, Graham is coolly adjusting his tie and smiling, while in the background, a police officer restrains a hysterical-looking woman who’s screaming at him about Kavanaugh. Johnson tweeted that he had just taken “the most thug life @LindseyGrahamSC photos of the entire Kavanaugh saga.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">View image on TwitterView image on Twitter</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Benny</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@bennyjohnson</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> I hate to brag.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I just took the most thug life @LindseyGrahamSC photos of the entire Kavanaugh saga. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[Story soon]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">From there, the internet took care of the rest. “Did this sucker meme?” Johnson asked, laughing. The answer was yes. Creative internet users tweaked and photoshopped the image, both still and video, as it spread. Johnson showed one meme of the tie-adjusting Graham superimposed on the burning Twin Towers. Then one featuring Joe Biden planting a kiss on the screaming woman. And finally, one that turned Graham into a “thug life” rap video star. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Embedded video</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Benny</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@bennyjohnson</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> ???? MUST WATCH: SOUND ON ????</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">???? MUST WATCH: SOUND ON ????</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">???? MUST WATCH: SOUND ON ????</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">???? MUST WATCH: SOUND ON ????</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">???? MUST WATCH: SOUND ON ????</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">???? MUST WATCH: SOUND ON ????#kavanaugh</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2,539</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">8:16 PM - Oct 7, 2018</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">818 people are talking about this</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter Ads info and privacy</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This is how you know you’ve made it in this profession,” Johnson told his audience. “When memes take life.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In February, TPUSA hired Johnson to do this sort of thing full time as its chief creative officer, a sign of just how seriously well-funded pro-Trump organizations are taking the business of memes. </b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The TPUSA conference also included a second, more interactive session on memes, hosted by two minor Instagram stars, Rogan O’Handley (Instagram handle DC_Draino) and Grant Godwin (the_typical-liberal), who got into the nuts and bolts of the art form—or, as Godwin explained, how to get your Pepe the Frog memes to go viral. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Two weeks earlier, meme training got top billing at the American Priority Conference, which billed itself as an “America First,” pro-Trump political gathering</b>. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Speakers included <b>Roger Stone,</b> the longtime Trump associate who was indicted the next month for obstruction and false statements in the special counsel investigation, and Anthony<b> Scaramucci,</b> who lasted less than a week as White House communications director. The conference featured a session on memetics by Tom Shadilay, a producer for Mike <b>Cernovich.</b> (Shadilay’s name may itself be a meme: It’s a popular hashtag on Gab, the social media site favored by the far right, and a code word for trolls on 4chan. Shadilay is the name of a 1986 Italian disco song by a band called P.E.P.E., whose album art featured a cartoon frog that resembles Pepe the Frog. Tom Shadilay does not appear to have any internet presence before his Twitter account was created in May 2017. He stopped responding to my emails after I asked whether that’s really his last name.)</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In January, Liberty Con, a national convention of libertarian students, offered advice from David Gay, a libertarian activist who runs the Facebook group Liberty Memes, which has nearly a half-million followers spreading his political message through memes. (Until late 2016, Giesea, the meme expert, was on the board of Students for Liberty, which sponsored the conference.)* Johnson has four events scheduled this month on college campuses on “winning the meme wars.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Boston University professor Gianluca Stringhini studies memes for a living. When I told him that well-funded right-wing organizations were specifically training activists for the next great meme war, he was surprised. Typically, he says, memes are seen as organic, emerging from the dark corners of the internet, not propaganda directed by people in politics. “Memes are tools for information warfare,” he says. “Probably this is a new way of doing politics. A new weapon that campaigns can use.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s not clear exactly whether memes do, in fact, change public opinion, but conservative groups working to train grassroots troops seem to think so. So do the Russians. In the 2018 report commissioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee to investigate the Internet Research Agency, a Russian troll farm that meddled in the 2016 presidential election, researchers discovered that the IRA was especially fond of memes put out by TPUSA. Using accounts that it created to look like ordinary Americans and spread misinformation and propaganda, the IRA gave TPUSA memes a boost across multiple social media platforms. But the researchers couldn’t determine exactly what the impact of all those memes was.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Last year, Stringhini and six colleagues published a study on the origins of memes, analyzing more than 2 billion social media posts on Twitter, 4chan, Reddit, and Gab, to<b> figure out where the most popular memes get their start. Stringhini says the most trafficked memes start on right-wing internet forums, places like 4chan’s politically incorrect /pol/ channel and Reddit’s /r/the_Donald/ subreddit. From there, the far right has been extremely successful in getting its stuff to take off on mainstream platforms. </b>Stringhini notes that after the 2016 presidential election, Trump’s campaign spokeswoman, Katrina Pierson, tweeted her thanks to 4chan and Reddit users for making it all happen, putting a sharp point on how much people on the right believe that memes are influencing public opinio</span>n.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As a result, conservative groups seem to be incorporating memes into their training arsenal for grassroots activists in a way that has no parallel on the left. In fact, “the left can’t meme” is itself a subgenre of memes, reflecting an idea accepted on both ends of the political spectrum that progressive activists are really bad at this form of political warfare.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One potential exception is long-shot Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, who has recently catapulted to fame thanks to memes. But those memes are coming from the same sources, on Reddit and 4chan, that promoted Trump, not from liberal groups, creating a bizarre movement of Yang fans among white nationalists.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Media Matters’ Carusone says people on the left are more concerned with nuanced facts and gray areas that can’t always be boiled down accurately into a photo with a caption.</b> On the left, he says, “every meme has to have a million qualifiers, so that it’s no longer a meme. It’s a Medium post.” Conservatives, on the other hand, tend to communicate their ideas “in ways that are very reductionist. They’re also much more comfortable lying, and their audiences are much more likely to accept it.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Benny Johnson has his own take on what makes a good political meme. The first step for successful lib ownership, he told the students assembled in Palm Beach, is to “challenge the culture,” as Graham did during the Kavanaugh hearings. Second, “join the conversation” by creating an interaction, but be sure it will “demonstrate the superiority of conservative ideas.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As an example, he played a goofy video he made with<b> Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai.</b> In the video, Pai is dressed like Santa Claus, wielding a light saber, and he defends his plan for “internet freedom” in response to criticism of the Trump administration’s move to end net neutrality. “We were trolling the internet,” Johnson said. And it worked.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He flashed through a host of viral memes that took off after the video was posted. In the video, there’s a shot of Pai in front of a screen eating popcorn and watching a movie. Meme-makers have swapped in clips to make it look like Pai is watching Hitler rallies or the burning Twin Towers. Even Luke Skywalker weighed in:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">View image on Twitter</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">View image on Twitter</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mark Hamill</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@HamillHimself</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Cute video Ajit "Aren't I Precious?" Pai ??-but you are profoundly unworthy 2 wield a lightsaber-A Jedi acts selflessly for the common man-NOT lie 2 enrich giant corporations. Btw-did you pay John Williams his royalty? @AjitPaiFCCorpShill #AJediYouAreNOT</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The third step in successful lib ownership, Johnson instructed the crowd, was critical: “Have more fun than the left.” He played a video he had made in 2015 of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz cooking bacon on a machine gun. “Can you think of three thing libs hate more?” he exclaimed with a laugh. “Ted Cruz, bacon, guns.” All the ingredients for a good meme.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Finally, Johnson concluded: “Smile. You’re on the winning side.”</font></div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Actor and ardent Trump supporter James Woods,</b> who is <a href="https://twitter.com/oliverdarcy/status/1124716825852428288?lang=en" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">not banned from Twitter</a>, but rather has refused to delete a post on his Twitter profile with the hashtag “#HangThemAll” that would result in his account being unlocked, was also featured as a “prominent” censored conservative voice.</span> Before being locked out of Twitter, Woods also shared a meme of the Christchurch shooter <a href="https://twitter.com/willsommer/status/1115346306300616709?lang=en" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">depicted as a clown</a>, part of a <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/white-nationalists-adopt-clowns-as-their-next-racist-symbol-yes-seriously/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">push</a> by white supremacists to find a new way to launder their voices into relevance.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/white-nationalists-adopt-clowns-as-their-next-racist-symbol-yes-seriously/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/white-nationalists-adopt-clowns-as-their-next-racist-symbol-yes-seriously/</a></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White Nationalists Adopt Clowns as Their Next Racist Symbol (Yes, Seriously)</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Jared Holt | April 4, 2019 2:54 pm</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Screenshot / 4chan)</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Online personalities in far-right and white nationalist online circles are attempting to attribute racism and anti-Semitism to an image of cartoon character Pepe the Frog depicted <a href="https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/apu-apustaja" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">poorly drawn</a> and as a clown, and that effort has gained notable traction in recent months.</b> Far-right proponents want the broader internet to believe the character directly represents their worldview, but the situation in whole represents an attitude shift in far-right circles online and a slow inching toward even more radical elements of the movement.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The clown render of Pepe the Frog, which <a href="https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/clown-pepe-honk-honk" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">KnowYourMeme</a> researchers have identified as being known as “Honk Honk” or “Honkler,” began spreading across the internet last year. In recent months, the meme has gained a foothold in the far-right and is bleeding into racist propaganda. <a href="https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pepe-the-frog" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">Pepe the Frog</a>, originally from the comic series “Boy’s Club,” was <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-pepe-the-frog-became-a-nazi-trump-supporter-and-alt-right-symbol" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">co-opted</a> by an iteration of the white nationalist movement that emerged in 2015 and dubbed itself the “alt-right”—a term created as part of a strategy to obscure the inherent racism and antisemitism of the movement in hopes of making its agenda more palatable among conservatives.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>On 4chan, there is an abundance of memes depicting the character lynching black people (depicted in stereotypically racist ways), operating gas chambers, and deploying racial slurs</b>. <b>On February 11, users on 4chan’s “politically incorrect” forum board <a href="http://archive.is/ACYmq" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">launched</a> “operation honk,” a campaign with the mission of spreading the character across the internet and boosting its popularity, and then returning the character back to 4chan where it could be associated with racism.</b>The “Operation Honkler” post cited by KnowYourMeme reads: “They will adopt our child, and post Honkler on social media under mainstream memes already in circulation. There will come a time when we must take him back. … Whether of the HONK or not, we must perpetuate this meme to show the world our ideas.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The sentiment of the “Honkler” meme has also appeared in written format on venues where images won’t fit. A clown emoji and a globe emoji together has been used to convey the phrase “clown world” where the phrase isn’t written out fully</span>. Such references can be found in numerous Twitter profiles, including that of <b>Rebel Media personality Martina Markota, </b>who Salon <a href="https://www.salon.com/2017/11/10/daily-caller-gone-wild-tucker-carlsons-site-descends-into-far-right-weirdness/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">reported</a> in 2017 as having ties to the far-right. “Honk Honk” memes were also used by “Microchip”—a pseudonym used by a <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/josephbernstein/from-utah-with-love#.snaKVW6k1k" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">far-right troll</a> who made waves propagandizing in favor of Donald Trump during the 2016 election— to replace slurs and curse words in his posts on Gab.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The phrase “clown world” and accompanying emojis unify far-right social media users in their exasperation over an <b>imagined state of collapse in the Western hemisphere</b>that they largely blame on immigrants and minority groups.</span> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The force driving “Honkler” across the far-right is the same bleak worldview that led white nationalists to <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/yang-gang-season" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">embrace</a> Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang. In their minds, if there is nothing that they can do to stop the supposed “great replacement” of white people in their “homelands” and no politicians who care enough about their cause to implement real policies that favor their agenda, they may as well accept the outcome and wrench whatever they can out of the system, like Yang’s promise of $1,000 per month universal basic income. This mentality is often referred to as “<a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=blackpill" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">black pilling</a>."</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[twt]</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Honkler” and “clown world” memes were recently incorporated into “<a href="https://angrywhitemen.org/category/groups/goy-talk/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">Goy Talk</a>,” a new but growing web-based white nationalist podcast. The show’s hosts advocate white nationalism in a detached way, and embody the same increasingly nihilistic attitude among the white nationalist and white supremacist movements in the United States conveyed in the repetition of the phrase “clown world.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Goy Talk” hosts express racist and anti-Semitic views as a <a href="https://angrywhitemen.org/2019/01/22/christopher-cantwell-i-used-to-think-holocaust-deniers-were-crazy-until-charlottesville/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">staple</a> of their programming, with guests that include David Duke, Christopher Cantwell, and Patrick Little. Nevertheless, they are ultimately nihilistic about the state of the world and their ability to change it without mass-organized action reminiscent of the violent writings of James Mason in his book, “<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/atomwaffen-division-inside-white-hate-group" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">Siege</a>.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><twitter-widget class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" id="twitter-widget-0" data-tweet-id="1105648420574949376" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; position: static; visibility: visible; display: block; transform: rotate(0deg); max-width: 100%; width: 500px; min-width: 220px; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;" /></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A March 28 episode of “Goy Talk” opens with a heavily edited video featuring the Honkler character, and one of the display images used for a show host is edited in “Honkler” style. Additionally, the hosts of “Goy Talk” have modified their profiles on Twitter to include clown imagery.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">----</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Online personalities in far-right and white nationalist online circles are attempting to attribute racism and anti-Semitism to an image of cartoon character Pepe the Frog depicted poorly drawn and as a clown, and that effort has gained notable traction in recent months. Far-right proponents want the broader internet to believe the character directly represents their worldview, but the situation in whole represents an attitude shift in far-right circles online and a slow inching toward even more radical elements of the movement.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The clown render of Pepe the Frog, which KnowYourMeme researchers have identified as being known as “Honk Honk” or “Honkler,” began spreading across the internet last year. In recent months, the meme has gained a foothold in the far-right and is bleeding into racist propaganda. Pepe the Frog, originally from the comic series “Boy’s Club,” was co-opted by an iteration of the white nationalist movement that emerged in 2015 and dubbed itself the “alt-right”—a term created as part of a strategy to obscure the inherent racism and antisemitism of the movement in hopes of making its agenda more palatable among conservatives.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On 4chan, there is an abundance of memes depicting the character lynching black people (depicted in stereotypically racist ways), operating gas chambers, and deploying racial slurs. On February 11, users on 4chan’s “politically incorrect” forum board launched “operation honk,” a campaign with the mission of spreading the character across the internet and boosting its popularity, and then returning the character back to 4chan where it could be associated with racism. The “Operation Honkler” post cited by KnowYourMeme reads: “They will adopt our child, and post Honkler on social media under mainstream memes already in circulation. There will come a time when we must take him back. … Whether of the HONK or not, we must perpetuate this meme to show the world our ideas.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The sentiment of the “Honkler” meme has also appeared in written format on venues where images won’t fit. A clown emoji and a globe emoji together has been used to convey the phrase “clown world” where the phrase isn’t written out fully. Such references can be found in numerous Twitter profiles, including that of Rebel Media personality Martina Markota, who Salon reported in 2017 as having ties to the far-right. “Honk Honk” memes were also used by “Microchip”—a pseudonym used by a far-right troll who made waves propagandizing in favor of Donald Trump during the 2016 election— to replace slurs and curse words in his posts on Gab.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Screenshot / Twitter)</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The phrase “clown world” and accompanying emojis unify far-right social media users in their exasperation over an imagined state of collapse in the Western hemisphere that they largely blame on immigrants and minority groups. The force driving “Honkler” across the far-right is the same bleak worldview that led white nationalists to embrace Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang. In their minds, if there is nothing that they can do to stop the supposed “great replacement” of white people in their “homelands” and no politicians who care enough about their cause to implement real policies that favor their agenda, they may as well accept the outcome and wrench whatever they can out of the system, like Yang’s promise of $1,000 per month universal basic income. This mentality is often referred to as “black pilling.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nicholas J. Fuentes</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@NickJFuentes</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Understanding Yang Gang:</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1. The country is doomed</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2. The rules don’t matter</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3. We might as well get $1,000 a month</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2,743</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">6:55 PM - Mar 12, 2019</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter Ads info and privacy</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">609 people are talking about this</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Honkler” and “clown world” memes were recently incorporated into “Goy Talk,” a new but growing web-based white nationalist podcast. The show’s hosts advocate white nationalism in a detached way, and embody the same increasingly nihilistic attitude among the white nationalist and white supremacist movements in the United States conveyed in the repetition of the phrase “clown world.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Goy Talk” hosts express racist and anti-Semitic views as a staple of their programming, with guests that include David Duke, Christopher Cantwell, and Patrick Little. Nevertheless, they are ultimately nihilistic about the state of the world and their ability to change it without mass-organized action reminiscent of the violent writings of James Mason in his book, “Siege.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A March 28 episode of “Goy Talk” opens with a heavily edited video featuring the Honkler character, and one of the display images used for a show host is edited in “Honkler” style. Additionally, the hosts of “Goy Talk” have modified their profiles on Twitter to include clown imagery.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Screenshot / Twitter)</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Twitter account for “Goy Talk” posted an image yesterday of an anti-Semitic meme modified to depict a racist caricature as a clown.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://twitter.com/willsommer/status/1115346306300616709?lang=en" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://twitter.com/willsommer/status/1115346306300616709?lang=en</a>  nz shooter</font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mma</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">

Saturday, there was another mass shooting at a synagogue. A man opened

fire inside the Chabad synagogue in Powoy, CA, just outside of San

Diego. NBC's Ben Collins and Andrew Blankstein <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857b8a81d0e3e6a2f253259ce5eda8cd7fec01f9aad5d472d14fb95a6ccb83aca2412b7f122a1b156c0a09b85c8257114d6c" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="reported that">reported that</a>

an open letter was posted on far-right forum 8chan in the shooters

name, which also took credit for an unsolved arson of a nearby mosque.

According to the San Diego County Sheriff, the alleged shooter is

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857bb1cefc3a95f8b8173d20acae39677a89c1c5e4e9e32ef210f704828101556980adfb8e883b1120cba839378695cc44d2" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="now being investigated">now being investigated</a> for that arson as well.</font><p style="margin-bottom:1em;">

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Over at Bellingcat, Robert Evans <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857bd9e6ab72f632910629fbd4efe19d70d5694cb9d23a1e0836e194eb4419bededadc7731cca52952685b69d43ced94098a" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="took a deep dive into 8chan">took a deep dive into 8chan</a>, which was also the place where the Christchurch mosque shooter posted his manifesto. <i>Media Matters</i>' Cristina López has <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857b59768b36abaef162c23c2ce58061ac87b7057541a990bf49475de275a9e6acf7ad668170619db9f2445e3a6767535b5b" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="previously written">previously written</a> about how board users launch harassment campaigns using 8chan. 8chan is also

<a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857b902396d76e403c15efa929d7f6b673999d59651949bf25d900a6f626711b17cae36864b3d9ab82d2c7b2bcf53b2f1009" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="the hub">the hub</a> of the QAnon conspiracy theory which has swept pro-Trump media; a <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857b9405eb2a3d63dbb6fb78b3d310d68fb30054abe479b2c93943b2c21feee1bb4899354d40844677321285660d195cefc7" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="number of prominent right-wing figures">number of prominent right-wing figures</a> have amplified that conspiracy theory. And board users

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857bae19ca1d1d84cec0667f10e83468c4badb7d64ddb2e6924186f8f00301f814eb940f5257742158bf20352a100bcc5faf" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="absolutely love Sean Hannity">absolutely love Sean Hannity</a>.</font></p><p style="margin-bottom:1em;">

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Over at The New York Times, Charlie Warzel <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857b1c81d5e1150276abdd8f32db295402e5436dd2f4bb67cb5de686b196564b2d881909b6b43960e5c5b112fa0f63be8a30" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="writes about">wrote about</a> how these <u><b>mass shootings have become a meme in the far-right internet</b></u>:

"The pattern is eerie: it starts with a crude genealogy of the

shooter’s ethnic roots, then a self-aggrandizing Q. and A. with himself,

followed by a litany of toxic in-jokes meant to confuse the media and

those less savvy in far-right online culture. ... Like the Christchurch

massacre, the Poway shooting is not only tailored for the internet but

also <b>sickeningly standardized. The digital footprint and manifestoes of

these white nationalist terrorists follow a familiar template — one that

each shooter fills in with their own hideous details.</b> Indeed, it seems

real-world murderous hate crimes have become a message board meme of

sorts. And like any online meme, the <b>creation cycle only seems to be

accelerating, refining itself and, horrifyingly, increasing in

frequency."</b></span></font></p><p style="margin-bottom:1em;">

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>On Fox

News, a guest was linking the rise of anti-Semitism to Trump's

permissive rhetoric about the far right,</b> specifically Trump's defense of

white nationalists in Charlottesville who chanted "Jews will not

replace us." (Trump <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857bccd2ba56a954ef5dba89311ed1dfc4b715e0e50b0f0f8593657600ca85b5e4b11afa2e4146092549a9962c360e8368e3" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="even doubled down">even doubled down</a> on that characterization on Friday in an interview with Mark Levin.) But as the guest described this, <b>the show

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857bf1e9164459b9dd07d23d52e16a525395d029bc8c12a1e2d491c107ca292713370b1d204de5e4d7fb9ebc589717db5d76" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="suddenly cut to commercial">suddenly cut to commercial

</a></b>. The guest was invited back on later in the day, but the discussion

moved quickly beyond Trump's rhetoric to an assertion that Trump could

not possibly be personally anti-Semitic.</span></font></p><p style="margin-bottom:1em;">

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Fox News <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857bfc348775a3b38c21ebec59ec9691f60e7e80afeba0ce33b31ac2e26609771efeb79afc1cf0ae50b9e1332ed1e815ab83" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="never stopped pushing">never stopped pushing</a>

the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that motivated the Tree of Life

shooter. Glenn Beck was on Fox News earlier this month pushing it. And

earlier this week, a Fox Nation guest <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857ba05fea6614f0a7129c5dfb29c26161c967d26057db4661e18e316ff049e7ed63001c2f1cee45b526809af0c9f9c93071" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="fearmongered">fearmongered</a> about George Soros infiltrating the census, harkening back to when a guest

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://click.e.mediamatters.org/?qs=a1ca547d2611857b793c8a1d11a64be4fd5e21541db558a73bc6f91f0fc69379c0c1604bbae9fc183d64bbe5ecf68acbc6e9c0cc944055ef" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="was banned">was banned</a> from the network for complaining about the "Soros-occupied State Department."</span></font></p></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div></div>