The 2020 Presidential Election - Convention & General Election

[DevoHusker]

6 hours ago, Moiraine said:

 

 

Of course it is, this isn't new. It's been going on for 3 years now. Jesus Himself could come back tomorrow and prove it and if he didn't support Trump they would claim he was a deep state plant all along. They do this no matter how highly respected the person is in the military or the Republican party or as a scientist or whatever. If they speak out against Trump that is literally the only thing that matters and the person is worthless. Everything else about the person, no matter how respectable, is completely washed away the moment they reveal they aren't a Trump supporter. Even being the Son of God would not make them stop and reconsider.

 

Who is "they"? I assume you mean Trump's close "posse" sycophants, and not your mother/brother/aunt that you blocked on Facebook, right?

[TGHusker]

I think ND Joe is one of these only older.

 

The article is quoted in part below.    After reading it reminded me of this:

 

https://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/hitleryouth/hj-boy-soldiers.htm

 

 

https://www.chron.com/news/article/Pro-Trump-group-pays-teens-to-post-online-15569883.php

Pro-Trump group pays teens to post online

 

 

Quote

 

WASHINGTON - One tweet claimed coronavirus numbers were intentionally inflated, adding, "It's hard to know what to believe." Another warned, "Don't trust Dr. Fauci."

A Facebook comment argued that mail-in ballots "will lead to fraud for this election," while an Instagram comment amplified the erroneous claim that 28 million ballots went missing in the past four elections.

The messages have been emanating in recent months from the accounts of young people in Arizona seemingly expressing their own views - standing up for President Donald Trump in a battleground state and echoing talking points from his reelection campaign.

Far from representing a genuine social media groundswell, however, the posts are the product of a sprawling yet secretive campaign that experts say evades the guardrails put in place by social media companies to limit online disinformation of the sort used by Russia during the 2016 campaign.

Teenagers, some of them minors, are being paid to pump out the messages at the direction of Turning Point Action, an affiliate of Turning Point USA, a prominent conservative youth organization based in Phoenix, according to four people with independent knowledge of the effort. Their descriptions were confirmed by detailed notes from relatives of one of the teenagers who recorded conversations with him about the efforts.

 

The campaign draws on the spam-like behavior of bots and trolls, with the same or similar language posted repeatedly across social media. But it is carried out, at least in part, by humans paid to use their own accounts, though nowhere disclosing their relationship with Turning Point Action or the digital firm brought in to oversee the day-to-day activity. One user included a link to Turning Point USA's website in his Twitter profile until The Washington Post began asking questions about the activity.

 

In response to questions from The Post, Twitter on Tuesday suspended at least 20 accounts involved in the activity for "platform manipulation and spam." Facebook also deactivated a number of accounts as part of what the company said is an ongoing investigation.

 

Quote

 

The effort generated thousands of posts this summer on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, according to an examination by The Post and an assessment by an independent specialist in data science. Nearly 4,500 tweets containing identical content that were identified in the analysis probably represent a fraction of the overall output

The months-long effort by the tax-exempt nonprofit is among the most ambitious domestic influence campaigns uncovered this election cycle, said experts tracking the evolution of deceptive online tactics.

"In 2016, there were Macedonian teenagers interfering in the election by running a troll farm and writing salacious articles for money," said Graham Brookie, director of the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab. "In this election, the troll farm is in Phoenix."

The effort, Brookie added, illustrates "that the scale and scope of domestic disinformation is far greater than anything a foreign adversary could do to us."

Turning Point Action, whose 26-year-old leader, Charlie Kirk, delivered the opening speech at this year's Republican National Convention, issued a statement from the group's field director defending the social media campaign and saying any comparison to a troll farm was a "gross mischaracterization."

"This is sincere political activism conducted by real people who passionately hold the beliefs they describe online, not an anonymous troll farm in Russia," the field director, Austin Smith, said in the statement.

 

 

Quote

 

One parent of two teenagers involved in the effort, Robert Jason Noonan, said his 16- and 17-year-old daughters were being paid by Turning Point to push "conservative points of view and values" on social media. He said they have been working with the group since about June, adding in an interview, "The job is theirs until they want to quit or until the election."

Four years ago, the Kremlin-backed Internet Research Agency amplified Turning Point's right-wing memes as part of Moscow's sweeping interference aimed at boosting Trump, according to expert assessments prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee. One report pointed specifically to the use of Turning Point content as evidence of Russia's "deep knowledge of American culture, media, and influencers."

Now, some technology industry experts contend that the effort this year by Turning Point shows how domestic groups are not just producing eye-catching online material but also increasingly using social media to spread it in disruptive or misleading ways.

"It sounds like the Russians, but instead coming from Americans," said Jacob Ratkiewicz, a software engineer at Google whose academic research, as a PhD student at Indiana University at Bloomington, addressed the political abuse of social media.

 

 

[Moiraine]

2 hours ago, DevoHusker said:

Who is "they"? I assume you mean Trump's close "posse" sycophants, and not your mother/brother/aunt that you blocked on Facebook, right?

 

 

I’m talking about everyone who still supports Trump. If my mother/brother/aunt did that, I’d include them. Not really sure why this is a question.

[teachercd]

1 hour ago, TGHusker said:

I think ND Joe is one of these only older.

 

The article is quoted in part below.    After reading it reminded me of this:

 

https://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/hitleryouth/hj-boy-soldiers.htm

 

 

https://www.chron.com/news/article/Pro-Trump-group-pays-teens-to-post-online-15569883.php

Pro-Trump group pays teens to post online

 

 

 

 

Where is the profit in this?  Like, these groups are paying people to post stuff but is there money to be made or is this just to try and help the election?

 

Seems like a stupid idea.  I get asking people to post stuff but actually paying them?

 

s#!t, I will post pro Trump and pro Biden stuff right now if someone is going to give me cash.  I will also rip on both of them if someone is going to give me cash.

[DevoHusker]

3 minutes ago, Moiraine said:

 

 

I’m talking about everyone who still supports Trump. If my mother/brother/aunt did that, I’d include them. Not really sure why this is a question.

 

Your view is way too extreme for me. Which is disappointing, because normally, I feel, you are level headed.

 

Extremism is part of the reason we are in such a sh*t show right now. 

[funhusker]

37 minutes ago, DevoHusker said:

 

Your view is way too extreme for me. Which is disappointing, because normally, I feel, you are level headed.

 

Extremism is part of the reason we are in such a sh*t show right now. 

She called people who ignore the point of the Scientific American was making and twist into a reason to not trust science like @Notre Dame Joe did as extremes.  Those people are lost and might as well not be involved in a discussion.

 

My brother is an angry person that hates all "dems" but laughed at the idea of Trump 5 years ago.  He was disgusted by him!  3 years later he believes Trump is the only thing standing in the way of a "communist takeover" and berates his family.  

 

Moiraine is still just as level headed as you thought she was.

[BigRedBuster]

Oh FFS!!!!

 

Leave it to Trump to make me wish (slightly) that the big ten hadn’t announced something. 

 

 

[BigRedBuster]

3 hours ago, DevoHusker said:

 

Who is "they"? I assume you mean Trump's close "posse" sycophants, and not your mother/brother/aunt that you blocked on Facebook, right?

Gotta say...I have to pretty much agree with her on this.  

 

The Trump supporters I know (friends, family) absolutely believe everything out of his mouth and anyone who dares question him or criticize him is "part of the problem" and an extreme liberal.

 

There is absolutely no room with these people for criticizing the dear leader.

[commando]

1 minute ago, BigRedBuster said:

Gotta say...I have to pretty much agree with her on this.  

 

The Trump supporters I know (friends, family) absolutely believe everything out of his mouth and anyone who dares question him or criticize him is "part of the problem" and an extreme liberal.

 

There is absolutely no room with these people for criticizing the dear leader.

you forgot RINO...never forget RINO.    

[BigRedBuster]

Here is a prime example.  

 

I know people who are totally convinced that anyone, especially top scientists, who dares to take COVID serious and recommend masks and social distancing are liberal democrats who are only out to make Trump lose.

 

AND....there is absolutely no reasoning with them on it.

[DevoHusker]

4 hours ago, DevoHusker said:

They do this no matter how highly respected the person is in the military or the Republican party or as a scientist or whatever. If they speak out against for Trump that is literally the only thing that matters and the person is worthless. Everything else about the person, no matter how respectable, is completely washed away the moment they reveal they aren't are a Trump supporter.

 

From @Moiraine  post earlier: This is what I am hearing, with two (count 'em 2) words changed...from the opposite side of the stadium

[Notre Dame Joe]

6 hours ago, commando said:

it's a cult.   pure and simple.   whatever dear leader says is the truth.   trump is above not only the law...but also above god and country

 

Whatever the Left wants is "scientific"  The hacks at Scientific American have decided to put real science aside and embrace politicized psuedo-science.  The only saving grave is that they are likely not professional scientists but merely 'science writers' which generally means they got a humanities degree and attended a training seminar on how to simplify science. 

 

 But normal people don't make that distinction.  To them S.A. is now just another N.Y.T. et al.

[DevoHusker]

1 hour ago, funhusker said:

She called people who ignore the point of the Scientific American was making and twist into a reason to not trust science like @Notre Dame Joe did as extremes.  Those people are lost and might as well not be involved in a discussion.

 

My brother is an angry person that hates all "dems" but laughed at the idea of Trump 5 years ago.  He was disgusted by him!  3 years later he believes Trump is the only thing standing in the way of a "communist takeover" and berates his family.  

 

Moiraine is still just as level headed as you thought she was.

 

Thanks funhusker.

Using your personal example of your own brother, does his transition in viewpoint make him no longer your brother? Was he smart 5 years ago and is now an imbecile not capable of coherent thoughts? 

 

Because that is the vibe I was getting from Moiraine.

[funhusker]

5 minutes ago, DevoHusker said:

 

Thanks funhusker.

Using your personal example of your own brother, does his transition in viewpoint make him no longer your brother? Was he smart 5 years ago and is now an imbecile not capable of coherent thoughts? 

 

Because that is the vibe I was getting from Moiraine.

According to him? Yes.

[DevoHusker]

1 minute ago, funhusker said:

According to him? Yes.

 

Super sorry to hear that.