All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!(Part II)

[aja_christopher]

"Bernie Bot, also known as Berniebot, is a slang term used to describe an automated computer program designed to interact with and provoke those discussing Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. These programs resemble hostile supporters of Sanders, known colloquially as Berniebros, harassing and distracting targets for the purposes of political gain typically for a foreign nation. However, the term has also been as a pejorative description of steadfast supporters of Sanders, as well...

"The radical, outspoken Bernie Sanders supporter who roams through the realms of social media to enlighten the uninformed people about the meaning of "democratic socialist", "corporate-owned" news outlets/media, and the untrustworthiness of Hillary Clinton. They are commonly spotted on Facebook posting the same comments, most of which are unorginal (usually copied & pasted), on Hillary Clinton's campaign page or on news stories about her/Bernie.

However, despite its earliest definitions, the term changed following reports of foreign disinformation campaigns used to sew discord among American voters ahead of the 2016 United States presidential election. Among the tactics used, were bots programmed to provoke supporters of the presidential candidate Hillary Clinton by spreading false information and baiting arguments.

One of the earliest known reports of this comes from the Huffington Post,[3] who reported in March 2017 that the admin of a pro-Bernie Sanders Facebook had seen an influx of volatile Sanders supporters in June 2016, who began spreading fake news and pro-Sanders memes. A private investigator later discovered these users were based in Macedonia and Albania, spreading pro-Sanders propaganda and misinformation. Another Sanders group admin said, "It came in like a wave, like a tsunami. It was like a flood of misinformation."

By the end of March 2017, the Senate Intelligence Committee had confirmed that Russian intelligence had been using or attempting to use supporters of Bernie Sanders as unwitting Russian agents to spread misinformation. Much of this, however, was started by bots that would spread memes and misinformation in the hopes that it would be shared for its inflammatory content. Raw Story[4] reports that "during the 2016 election, their social media feeds and pro-Sanders Facebook groups were inundated with what they now believe were Russian bots spewing anti-Hillary memes including fake news stories about Clinton using a body double and murdering her ideological opponents."

Two years later, as the 2020 presidential election and Democratic primary began Politico[5] reported that a similar misinformation campaign was already underway. They write, "the goal of the coordinated barrage appears to be undermining the nascent candidacies through the dissemination of memes, hashtags, misinformation and distortions of their positions.

But the divisive nature of many of the posts also hints at a broader effort to sow discord and chaos within the Democratic presidential primary."

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bernie-bot

[Gray Lensman]

Sanders is getting a post announcement bump.

A new poll shows him with 27 percent in New Hampshire, more than enough for first place, even with Biden in the race.

http://emersonpolling.com/2019/02/23...n-sen-shaheen/

Not a surprise - New Hampshire is practically home field for Sanders.

[wjowski]

Dem strategist says Clinton ‘absolutely’ has a role to play in 2020

Someone who lost against one of the most widely-loathed presidential candidates in history, who lost in what should have been a gimme election for anyone else, really doesn't really have any business advising anyone on how to run a campaign.

[PaulBullion]

Someone who lost against one of the most widely-loathed presidential candidates in history, who lost in what should have been a gimme election for anyone else, really doesn't really have any business advising anyone on how to run a campaign.

She barely lost the electoral college and got 3 million more votes. The sheer number of female candidates running (and often winning) the Blue Wave midterms showed her to be an inspirational figure.
Sanders lost to Clinton - yet here he is.

[Gray Lensman]

She barely lost the electoral college and got 3 million more votes. The sheer number of female candidates running (and often winning) the Blue Wave midterms showed her to be an inspirational figure.
Sanders lost to Clinton - yet here he is.

Has a Republican presidential candidate won the popular vote since George H W Bush? I don't think Dubya won it either time, and Trump certainly didn't.

[PaulBullion]

While the rest of it is strictly "Rumor Mill", it seems like that seven could be the tip of the iceberg. Some of the usual names are saying that there are existing investigations outside of what might get him the seven years.

Edit:

Caught a bit about his bond hearing on the late news. Unless I misheard what was said, they were talking seventy years and not just seven.

Yeah, either the person I head on CNN misspoke about that, or I misheard. Seems to be up to 70.

Apparently, he is not "out on bail" yet either because he hasn't come up with the cash yet...

R. Kelly couldn’t come up with the $100,000 needed to get out of jail. Tonight, he sleeps here.

https://twitter.com/LexiSutterTV/sta...14536061751297

Probably spent all his nickels on buying silence and child pornography.

[PaulBullion]

Another twist in the Jussie Smollet case:

The FBI says Jussie Smollett may not have sent a hateful letter to himself as the Chicago Police claimed.

The FBI said that the Chicago Police were overstating things when they claimed that Jussie Smollett definitely sent a hateful, ransom-note style letter to himself. Law enforcement sources who spoke to TMZ said that the matter of who sent the letter is still under investigation.

(...)
The top cop said that Smollett's connection to the letter was determined.

"I think he [Johnson] went too far. We're not there yet," the unnamed official said.

It seems unlikely a source within the FBI would feel a need to leak that info if they thought they would get "there" any time soon.

So a possible scenario would be Smollet feeling his life is in danger after the hate mail, the authorities brushing him off, and him going way beyond what would have been reasonable to getting the police to take it seriously.

[PwrdOn]

Has a Republican presidential candidate won the popular vote since George H W Bush? I don't think Dubya won it either time, and Trump certainly didn't.

Bush 43 got 3 million more votes than Kerry in 2004, though he did get quite a bump from the successful (as far as anyone could tell then) conduct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the omnipresent Swift Boat scandal which to this day I still haven't figured out what exactly it was supposed to be about. And honestly, there's no point in crying about the electoral college at this point, there are way too many entrenched interests who benefit from it to change it now. Better just to focus on getting out the vote in critical states and beating the GOP at its own game.

[numberthirty]

Yeah, either the person I head on CNN misspoke about that, or I misheard. Seems to be up to 70.

Apparently, he is not "out on bail" yet either because he hasn't come up with the cash yet...

R. Kelly couldn’t come up with the $100,000 needed to get out of jail. Tonight, he sleeps here.

https://twitter.com/LexiSutterTV/sta...14536061751297

Probably spent all his nickels on buying silence and child pornography.

His lawyer has had a whole bit on the bail situation here on local news/radio. It's very "Buddy... Past the actual right of the accused, no one cares."

[wjowski]

She barely lost the electoral college and got 3 million more votes. The sheer number of female candidates running (and often winning) the Blue Wave midterms showed her to be an inspirational figure.
Sanders lost to Clinton - yet here he is.

3 million in the popular vote is worth approximately nothing. The electoral vote is all that matters until deep reforms are made to our electoral system. And she lost the electoral vote.

And bullshit on her being the reason behind the recent rise of women candidates. The GOP taking control of both houses of Congress and pretty much declaring war on them did that far more than anything she did.

As for Sanders...yeah, quite frankly he should have stayed home too. He already served his purpose, now he's just muddying the primary waters.

[PaulBullion]

3 million in the popular vote is worth approximately nothing. The electoral vote is all that matters until deep reforms are made to our electoral system. And she lost the electoral vote.

And bullshit on her being the reason behind the recent rise of women candidates. The GOP taking control of both houses of Congress and pretty much declaring war on them did that far more than anything she did.

As for Sanders...yeah, quite frankly he should have stayed home too. He already served his purpose, now he's just muddying the primary waters.

Science says it's not bullshit, sweetie.

As record numbers of women seek seats in Congress, CU Boulder and Notre Dame researchers probe the motivations behind the trend

They're even mentioning you:

While one might assume that Trump’s victory inspired more women to run because they disagreed with his views, there may be another, less-obvious answer: Hillary Clinton.


Though Clinton lost the election, her journey to become the first female presidential candidate ever nominated by a major party may have had a ripple effect, which could have lasting effects in this year’s election. That’s one theory that can be extrapolated from new University of Colorado Boulder research that was published in March in the American Journal of Political Science.

“People tend to discount the effect that Hillary Clinton probably had on the number of women running for office,” said Christina Ladam, a CU Boulder political science graduate student and the study’s lead author. “There’s strong support for the idea that she may have served as a symbolic role model for women to think that they can do it, too.”

[PwrdOn]

And bullshit on her being the reason behind the recent rise of women candidates. The GOP taking control of both houses of Congress and pretty much declaring war on them did that far more than anything she did.

No one is more symbolic of the GOP's war on women than Clinton though, they have been trying to manufacture scandals around her ever since her husband took office, going after any misstep, of which there were admittedly plenty, to try and tarnish her image and make her unelectable. This is almost the greatest compliment she could have received, because even as her own side was at best lukewarm on her as a candidate, the Republicans perceived her as a major threat, far more so than her husband, and has been focused on destroying her for the past 25 years. I only wish the Democrats would show the same level of dedication and focus in taking down their political enemies.

[numberthirty]

She barely lost the electoral college and got 3 million more votes. The sheer number of female candidates running (and often winning) the Blue Wave midterms showed her to be an inspirational figure.
Sanders lost to Clinton - yet here he is.

Come on...

When everyone thought HRC was going to have the number of Electoral College votes that Trump wound up with, no one was framing it as "Trump will just barely lose the Electoral College vote."

[PaulBullion]

No one is more symbolic of the GOP's war on women than Clinton though, they have been trying to manufacture scandals around her ever since her husband took office, going after any misstep, of which there were admittedly plenty, to try and tarnish her image and make her unelectable. This is almost the greatest compliment she could have received, because even as her own side was at best lukewarm on her as a candidate, the Republicans perceived her as a major threat, far more so than her husband, and has been focused on destroying her for the past 25 years. I only wish the Democrats would show the same level of dedication and focus in taking down their political enemies.

Before the fabricated Benghazi and E-Mail "scandals" she had incredible popularity poll numbers as Sec. of State. Plus winning that "most admired woman" poll 20 years in a row.

[Tendrin]

Before the fabricated Benghazi and E-Mail "scandals" she had incredible popularity poll numbers as Sec. of State. Plus winning that "most admired woman" poll 20 years in a row.

Forget it, jake. It's 30town.