All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Exclusive: Kanye West Indicates That His Spoiler Campaign Is Indeed Designed To Hurt Biden

And West was eager to criticize Biden, and expressed comfort with the idea of doing damage to the former vice president’s White House chances. “I’m not denying it; I just told you.”

Source: Exclusive: Kanye West Indicates That His Spoiler Campaign Is Indeed Designed To Hurt Biden

Facebook removes small pro-Trump network based in Romania – Reuters

Facebook Inc (FB.O) said on Thursday it recently removed a small network of accounts operating from Romania that had been promoting President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign with stories about his support from conservatives, Black Americans, Christians and followers of the QAnon web of baseless conspiracy theories.

Source: Facebook removes small pro-Trump network based in Romania – Reuters

Nearly 100 people in Ohio got sick after one man infected with the coronavirus attended a church service

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Close to 100 people contracted the coronavirus in Ohio after one person who had the virus attended a church service and spread it to dozens others.

As a warning to religious institutions in the state, Gov. Mike DeWine tweeted a graphic from the Ohio Department of Health on Tuesday to show how the 56-year-old churchgoer essentially infected 91 people.

Fifty-three people who attended the church service fell ill, and 18 of them then gave it to at least one other person, the graphic showed.

 

Source: Nearly 100 people in Ohio got sick after one man infected with the coronavirus attended a church service

Twitter to label government officials and state-backed news accounts | Euronews

The new feature will first be applied to countries represented in the five permanent members of the United Nations’ Security Council: China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US but the platform said it would then extend it to other countries.

On the political side, the new labels will be added to the account of key government officials including foreign ministers, institutional entities, ambassadors, official spokespeople, and key diplomatic leaders.

The technology giant said it will consider as state-affiliated media any outlet where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over the production and distribution”.

It flagged that state-financed media organizations with editorial independence will be excluded. These include the BBC in the UK and the NPR in the US.

“Our mission is to serve the public conversation and an important part of that work is providing people with context so they can make informed decisions about what they see and how they engage on Twitter,” Twitter said.

Source: Twitter to label government officials and state-backed news accounts | Euronews

US accuses Russia of complex online disinformation, propaganda operation | New Europe – (No quotes from President Trump or Sec. Pompeo about banning Russian IT from US…)

The United States’ state department has accused Russia in a new report of developing a complex “ecosystem” to spread disinformation and propaganda about the coronavirus and other issues.

“Russia is playing a significant role in creating and spreading misinformation and propaganda around many topics”, said Lea Gabrielle, head of the state department’s Global Engagement Center.

“The ecosystem consists of five main pillars: official government communications, state-funded global messaging, cultivation of proxy sources, weaponization of social media, and cyberenabled disinformation”, the report said. “The Kremlin bears direct responsibility for cultivating these tactics and platforms as part of its approach to using information as a weapon”, it added.

The report profiled several websites that have peddled conspiracy theories and fringe thoughts on a range of topics, including the coronavirus.

“Russia tries to hide its affiliation with these different proxy sites. That’s what makes them effective, is that it’s difficult for just an average person who is online to look at these sites and know that it’s actually Russian disinformation”, Gabrielle said.

 

Source: US accuses Russia of complex online disinformation, propaganda operation | New Europe

Two Georgia high school students say they were suspended after photos of crowded hallways went viral | TheHill (Total fail by school administrators)

“One area where we have received a good deal of feedback is mask use in our schools. Wearing a mask is a personal choice and there is no practical way to enforce a mandate to wear them. What we will do is continue to strongly encourage all students and staff to wear masks,” he added.

(If principal cannot assure students wear masks, he should resign before someone dies from Covid-19 due to his inability!)

Source: Two Georgia high school students say they were suspended after photos of crowded hallways went viral | TheHill

Russia Returns To Afghanistan

Back in the 80s the old USSR had this war going on in Afghanistan…..and since it was the Cold War the US would send cash and weapons to the “rebels” that were fighting the Soviets.

Does any of this sound familiar?

In case you are too young to remember anything past the first Iphone….then this should help…..

Or read a history…….https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/08/the-soviet-war-in-afghanistan-1979-1989/100786/

In this conflict the US helped create the Taleban and the Northern Alliance to fight the Soviets….and today we, the US, are fighting the very same group we armed and paid in the past…..

I bring all this up because the Neocons are bitching about the Russians sending aid to the Taleban…..

Hardly a week seems to pass without some new crisis in Russian-American relations. The most recent was the revelation that U.S. President Donald Trump had ignored intelligence about bounties supposedly paid by Russian operatives to the Taliban in exchange for killing American soldiers. The veracity of this particular intelligence is questionable, in my view, but there is plausible evidence that Russia has been providing arms to the Taliban as Moscow seeks to play a more active role in Afghanistan. What to make of this? Some commentators in the U.S., including intelligence analysts and military commanders, see Russia’s policy as primarily aimed at pushing the U.S. out of what Moscow considers its neighborhood. Commenting on the most recent allegations, U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff suggested that Russia should be “pushed out of the community of nations.” For Schiff, Russia’s Afghanistan policy is further evidence of a consistent anti-American agenda. This kind of zero-sum thinking says more about the American foreign policy consensus regarding Russia than it does about Russia’s view of the region or of relations with Washington. Russia’s engagement with the Taliban is not, primarily, about punishing the U.S. or getting revenge for Washington’s support to the mujahedeen fighting Soviet troops in the 1980s. Rather, Moscow is pursuing a pragmatic policy aimed at securing stability and security in Central Asia. 

https://www.russiamatters.org/analysis/russian-moves-afghanistan-are-about-regional-stability-not-revenge-us

This is all so silly….the Neocons are all up in arms because Russia is aiding the Taleban……think about that for just a moment……

This illustrates the hypocrisy of American foreign policy….the arrogance….”we can do it but no one else can”

I wish that we could find a new foreign policy….but sadly little will change with the next election.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”