Trump ‘will help pay’ legal bills of White House staff and aides in Russia inquiries | US news | The Guardian

It was not immediately clear how the payouts would be structured or which aides would be receiving them. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the president’s plans, which were first reported by the website Axios.Norman Eisen, an ethics lawyer in the Obama administration, said the offer “raises substantial questions under federal criminal law and federal ethics law”, including whether it might be construed as part of an effort to glean more favorable testimony and whether current federal employees are even allowed to accept such gifts.“Whenever an individual who is the focus of an investigation, as President Trump is the focus of this investigation, offers anything of value to witnesses who may be able to affect the course of the investigation, that raises very serious questions on a variety of legal authorities,” he said.Eisen said he would have hesitated to recommend such an offer and warned it would probably draw prosecutorial scrutiny.Trump and his aides have been racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees as special counsel Robert Mueller and House and Senate committees dig deeper into Russia’s role in the campaign.

Source: Trump ‘will help pay’ legal bills of White House staff and aides in Russia inquiries | US news | The Guardian

Nivea’s latest ‘white is right’ advert is the tip of a reprehensible iceberg | Media | The Guardian

Shadism, pigmentocracy – the idea of privilege accruing to lighter-skinned black people – and other hierarchies of beauty are a complex picture in which ads such as Nivea’s are only the obvious tip of an insidious iceberg. Celebrities with darker complexions, such as the Sudanese model Nyakim Gatwech – nicknamed Queen of the Dark – and actors such as Lupita Nyong’o, are so often discussed in the context of having achieved the seemingly impossible by being both dark and beautiful, that they become the exceptions that prove the rule.It is often observed that light-skinned black women are more likely to become global superstars, the Beyoncé-Rihanna effect. They are, however, still black women and therefore not immune from the pressure to lighten – most recently by fans following a new Photoshopping trend of posting pictures of whitened versions of their faces and remarking upon the improvement.In countries such as Ghana, the intended audience for the Nivea ad, and Nigeria – where an estimated 77% of women use skin-lightening products – the debate has so far, understandably, focused on health. The most toxic skin-lightening ingredients, still freely available, include ingredients such as hydroquinone, mercury and corticosteroid. It’s not unusual for these to be mixed with caustic agents ranging from automotive battery acid, washing power, toothpaste and cloth bleaching agents, with serious and irreversible health consequences. There is no suggestion that global brands such as Nivea or Lancôme are using any of these illegal and harmful ingredients, and African countries are moving towards greater regulation of the products themselves. Ghana, for example, has banned hydroquinone.These powerful corporations are, however, still freely operating in a context where millions of low-income women experience the high-end messaging of their glossy billboards, but can only afford to opt for cheaper, black market products. Advertising standards have been enforced against beauty conglomerates for adverts that are overly retouched, but only India, another of the biggest markets for skin lightening products, has banned adverts depicting people with darker skin as inferior. Maybe it is time that changed. This is an industry expected to reach $31bn by 2024, as growing awareness of dangerous, toxic products drives extra demand for a “fairness solution with natural, herbal and organic ingredients”, according to market analysts.

Source: Nivea’s latest ‘white is right’ advert is the tip of a reprehensible iceberg | Media | The Guardian

Trump’s secretive voter fraud panel is keeping own members in the dark | US news | The Guardian

Maine’s secretary of state, Matthew Dunlap, said he was not being made aware of information pertaining to the commission and requested copies of all correspondence between its members since Trump signed the executive order creating it in May.“I am in a position where I feel compelled to inquire after the work of the commission upon which I am sworn to serve, and am yet completely uninformed as to its activities,” Dunlap wrote in his letter to Andrew Kossack, the commission’s executive director.Dunlap said he had received no information about research or activities since the last commission meeting, on 12 September. He continued to receive media inquiries about commission developments, he said, “that I as a commissioner am blind to”.A commissioner from Alabama, Jefferson County probate judge Alan L King, said he sent a similar letter late last week. He said the only information he had received since the September meeting was an email informing him of the death of another commissioner, former Arkansas state lawmaker David Dunn.“Here I am on this high-level government committee and I don’t know when the next meetings are or how many meetings there will be,” he said. “I am in the dark on what will happen from this point on, to tell you the truth.”

Source: Trump’s secretive voter fraud panel is keeping own members in the dark | US news | The Guardian

From Troll Farm to Trump

Assessing the life of Russian troll posing as a far-right American

One of the most influential voices on the American far right in 2016–17 was actually Russian.

Over the course of little more than eighteen months, a Twitter account posing as an ultra-conservative American run from the notorious “troll factory” in St. Petersburg, Russia, was repeatedly quoted by the mainstream media, interacted with top officials, and may have fed disinformation to the Trump campaign.

The account was exposed thanks to a whistle-blower in Russia. There is no indication that any of the accounts with which it engaged knew its true origin. Thus, it would be wrong to point to it as evidence of any conscious collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. What its brief, but spectacular, life exposes is the ease with which genuine Trump supporters, the American media, and the administration itself, were fooled by an impersonator.

The case also underlines Russian operatives’ skill in achieving an impact at the highest levels — and evading detection for so long.

The account

The account known as @TEN_GOP claimed to be the “unofficial Twitter of Tennessee Republicans.” It has now been suspended, but archives of its profile remain, showing that it had 129,000 followers as of July 2017.

Screenshot from archive of the @TEN_GOP account. Archived on July 4, 2017. (Source: Twitter)

The account was both outspokenly pro-Trump and extremely well-connected. According to research by the Daily Beast, senior members of the Trump campaign including Kellyanne Conway and Donald J. Trump Jr. amplified its posts. As reported by Think Progress, Trump himself thanked its backup account, @10_gop, in a tweet on September 20.

Tweet from Trump replying to @10_GOP. Archived on October 18, 2017. (Source: Twitter)

In May 2017, @TEN_GOP repeatedly tweeted a link to an online petition on the White House’s We The People platform calling for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich. According to residual traces online, its posts were shared over 500 times.

Capture of tweets amplifying @TEN_GOP’s promotion of the petition. (Source: Twitter)

The petition was attributed to a user called “JF”; no further personal information was available online. The We The People petitions website does not require any personal information to register an account, making it unclear whether “JF” was an American.

Instructions for participation in the online petitions platform. (Source: petitions.WhiteHouse.gov)

It gathered just short of 70,000 signatures before the 30-day time limit expired — just under the 100,000 signatures required to trigger a response from the White House, but a significant number nonetheless. Kremlin supporters have regularly alleged that Rich leaked DNC emails in summer 2016, thus exculpating Russian hackers.

The page promoted by @TEN_GOP’s tweets. (Source: petitions.whitehouse.gov)

In fact, @TEN_GOP repeatedly insisted on the importance of such an investigation, as the below archived tweet shows.

(Source: archive.is)

Thus, @TEN_GOP was an active and aggressive member of the American far-right community, not only commenting on political issues, but steering internet users towards political action through the petitions page.

However, according to an investigation by Russian news outlet RBC published on October 17, based on information from a whistle-blower, @TEN_GOP was set up by the “troll factory” in St. Petersburg in order to comment on “political questions.”

Diagram showing the range of accounts on Facebook (dark blue) and Twitter (light blue) created by the troll factory. (Source: rbc.ru)

The revelation is remarkable. @TEN_GOP managed to masquerade as an American and unofficial organ of a major political party for over eighteen months, despite the fact that, according to Buzzfeed, the genuine Tennessee Republican party repeatedly complained about it. In that time, it built a powerful online following, interacted with senior Trump supporters and was widely quoted in the media.

Mainstream outlets including the Huffington Post and Washington Post quoted it as a conservative voice. Kremlin outlet RT quoted it on a range of issues, including denial of the claim that Russia interfered in the election, the Barcelona terror attack, a Trump threat against Toyota, and an attack on Clinton’s health.

Far-right American site InfoWars, itself known for spreading and amplifying false information, quoted the account on race trouble in Sweden, race relations in the United States, and, again, on its denial of the claim of Russian election interference. Breitbart and Fox News also quoted it repeatedly. Far-right activist Jack Posobiec complained when it was suspended and welcomed its successor, @ELEVEN_GOP.

It is unlikely that any of these sites were aware that @TEN_GOP was a Russian disinformation agent; little about the account’s behavior suggested its origin. What these citations show is the effectiveness with which the account managed to pose as a genuine voice on the American far right, and to fool far-right activists online.

Clinton, Blumenthal, and Benghazi

Much of @TEN_GOP’s commentary can be viewed as provocation or “triggering”, making aggressive comments in an apparent attempt to increase general divisions. Some was more active, such as its promotion of the petition.

On at least one occasion the account helped to spread specific disinformation about Clinton, which Trump ended up quoting just a few hours later.

On October 10, 2016, Wikileaks published the second in a batch of emails hacked from Clinton campaign manager John Podesta. The entire U.S. intelligence community concluded that the hacks were conducted by Russian intelligence.

One email was sent by Clinton advisor Sidney Blumenthal, and quoted a Newsweek article by Kurt Eichenwald on the death of four American diplomats in Benghazi which included the sentence:

“One important point has been universally acknowledged by the nine previous reports about Benghazi. The attack was almost certainly preventable. Clinton was in charge of the State Department, and it failed to protect the United States personnel and an American consulate in Libya. If the GOP wants to raise that as a talking point against her, it is legitimate.”

Very quickly, a number of apparently far-right American accounts began tweeting this sentence, but mis-attributing them to Podesta himself in order to claim that Clinton’s own staff blamed her. Most of the accounts involved have since been suspended, but they have left traces. The posts began with @Republic2016, which tweeted the fake news with an image of the text with a very characteristic pattern of highlighting.

Screenshot of the @Republic2016 tweet. Archived on October 10, 2016. (Source: Twitter)

Like @TEN_GOP, @Republic2016 was highly active, aggressively anti-Clinton, and effectively anonymous; there is insufficient evidence to conclude whether it was another troll factory product or an American account.

The same image was uploaded to pro-Trump Reddit feed /r/the_donald, which served as one of the main focal points of online trolls.

The upload to Reddit. Note the pattern of highlighting. (Source: Reddit)

It was also tweeted by a user nicknamed “Microchip”, a known bot herder and troll, who has been repeatedly suspended from Twitter, but appeared inactive as of October 2017. (Its handle at the time was @WDFx2EU7.) This was the account which was most involved in sending the topic viral, picking up over 2,000 retweets in short order.

Screenshot of the tweet by “Microchip”, from a now-suspended account. Note the identical highlighting and the high number of retweets.

A few minutes after Microchip, @TEN_GOP tweeted a very similar message, linking to an image of the same quote.

Retweet of the @TEN_GOP tweet, posted to Facebook, and showing the text and link to image. (Source: Facebook)

The link has been deleted, but a Google image search for the shortened URL confirms that it was the same quote, with the same pattern of highlighting.

Results of Google image search for the shortened URL tweeted by @TEN_GOP; note the pattern of highlighting. (Source: Google)

As further confirmation, the investigative group Bellingcat confirmed the quotation shared by @TEN_GOP was the same as that shared by “Microchip”:

Screenshot from Bellingcat article on the spread of the Clinton / Benghazi claim; note the embedded tweet from @TEN_GOP and the phrase “with this quotation”. (Source: Bellingcat)

@Republic2016, “Microchip” and @TEN_GOP, who tweeted within a few minutes of one another, drove the Twitter traffic on the misattributed quote, which was then widely shared in far-right circles.

The false story broke into the mainstream a few hours later, when Trump interrupted himself at a rally in Wilkes-Barr, Pennsylvania, to read out the identical text, interspersed with comment, as transcribed by Politfact:

“ ‘The attack was almost certainly preventable’ — Benghazi. ‘Clinton was in charge of the State Department, and it failed to protect the United States personnel and an American consulate in Libya’ — he meant Benghazi. ‘If the GOP wants to raise that as a talking point against her, it is legitimate.’

At the time, Trump was incorrectly accused of taking the lines from Kremlin outlet Sputnik, after it wrote an article using the same quote; the Bellingcat article, cited above, was among the first to point out that Trump could equally have taken the lines from a tweet.

In fact, the Sputnik writer, who lost his job over the incident, subsequently stated that he took the quote from the @TEN_GOP tweet:

Extract from article in Paste magazine, showing the attribution of the Sputnik story to @TEN_GOP. (Source: PasteMagazine.com)

According to Politfact and Business Insider, both writing some days after the event, the Trump campaign did not reply when asked what the source for Trump’s misquote was.

Two questions

The identification of @TEN_GOP as run from the “troll factory” raises two questions. The first is: was it the source for Trump’s remarkable, and inaccurate, intervention in Pennsylvania? If so, it would mean the direct transmission of disinformation from the Russian troll factory to a presidential candidate (and future president).

This can only be answered by members of the Trump campaign. The open-source evidence indicates that @TEN_GOP could have been the source. As later events were to show, the account interacted with leading figures in the Trump campaign; it had thousands of followers, making it a significant voice on the far right. Even the Sputnik error singled it out as a source of some importance in the far-right community. All this makes it a plausible candidate.

However, the account is not the only one. The post on Reddit is one possibility; the tweet sent viral by “Microchip” is another. A number of other Twitter feeds on the American far right which picked up on “Microchip” may also have been involved. @TEN_GOP may have been the source, but need not have been.

Open sources cannot answer the question of where the Trump campaign found their quote, but they do provide enough evidence to make the question worth asking. Regardless of distribution chain from online virality to then-candidate Trump’s mouth, there is overwhelming evidence that the Russian troll farm, via @TEN_GOP and other accounts, either sourced the content or helped amplify it to viral status.

The second, and larger, question, is: how many more such accounts are still in operation? @TEN_GOP staved off all attempts to have it shut down over eighteen months, and built a huge following (although how many of those followers were bots is unclear). Moreover, while the account has been shut down, there is no indication that the person (or team) who ran it has. Indeed, backup accounts @10_GOP and @ELEVEN_GOP were reportedly set up, although these, too, are now suspended.

Again, this is not a question which can be answered yet. Anonymity on social media, especially Twitter, is still remarkably easy, and anonymous accounts can still enjoy remarkably high levels of trust. Many lessons need to be learned: by the media who quoted the account too credulously, by social-media users who shared its posts too blindly, and by the platforms themselves, as they consider their response to the challenges, not just of 2016, but of 2017, 2018, and beyond.

The success of @TEN_GOP should not be seen as cause to panic, still less to launch any ill-considered reaction; but it is a warning. A fake account run from Russia managed to pass itself off as an American, take a leading voice in domestic debates and, at least, interact with the president’s close aides. For the health of online debate, and the social-media platforms themselves, intensive work must be done to expose any other such accounts — and to develop policies for identifying and preventing them more effectively.

Ben Nimmo is Senior Fellow for Information Defense at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (@DFRLab).

Follow along for more in-depth analysis from our #DigitalSherlocks.

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From Troll Farm to Trump was originally published in DFRLab on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Washington denies entry to Indonesian general Gatot Nurmantyo, invited by US military | News | DW | 22.10.2017 “Why?” Incompetence! 

It’s unclear why Nurmantyo was denied entry and Foreign Ministry Spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said the Indonesian embassy in Washington had sent a diplomatic note to the US State Department seeking an explanation.

Source: Washington denies entry to Indonesian general Gatot Nurmantyo, invited by US military | News | DW | 22.10.2017

Highlighting rift between Israel and U.S. Jews, Netanyahu won’t address annual Jewish Federation confab – U.S. News – Haaretz.com – ultra-right wing everywhere cannot stand diversity and sides with bigots of worst type!

Many American Jewish leaders were livid with Netanyahu when in June, under pressure from his ultra-Orthodox coalition partners, he decided to back out of his commitment to create a special area at the Western Wall where Reform and Conservative Jews could hold mixed-gender prayer services. The overwhelming majority of affiliated Jews in North America identify either as Conservative or Reform. The decision to create the egalitarian prayer space had been approved by his government in January 2016 but was never implemented.

Source: Highlighting rift between Israel and U.S. Jews, Netanyahu won’t address annual Jewish Federation confab – U.S. News – Haaretz.com

National Anthem Singer At Nets Home Opener Takes A Knee At End Of Song: Gothamist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videoseries

Skye wrote on her Instagram post that she understood she would probably never be asked to sing the anthem ever again, but that “I had to take a knee for the opening game in my city and let my voice be heard. We will not be silenced.” She ended the post with #blacklivesmatter.Justine Skye, a singer from Brooklyn, performed the entirety of the anthem before the game, but dropped to one knee at the very end of the song. While hard to make out in a video she posted to Instagram, NBC reported that there were more boos than cheers after the protest.Nets players stood and had their arms linked during the song, according to the Daily News. Unlike the NFL, the NBA sent around a memo before the season began reminding players that they were required to stand during the anthem.

Source: National Anthem Singer At Nets Home Opener Takes A Knee At End Of Song: Gothamist

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