***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[plansb]

bring that smug little dip**** weasel back, and then LOCK HIM UP!

 

[aepps20]

OUR PRESIDENT ELECT looking very fit and lean.

 

[iamdef]

I don't think they "lost" those kids. They still have em...

 

[Nike Jordan]

 

[IATT]

 

[EddieDoyers]

 

[whywesteppin]

I can only assume at this point that Donald has murdered Melanie and stolen her hair but is pretending she's still alive, word to Weekend at Bernie's.

Similar to White Democrats and Bernie Sanders in 2020.

 

[gry60]

bring that smug little dip**** weasel back, and then LOCK HIM UP!

"You gotta go after their families"

Donald J. Trump, some time during the 2016 presidential campaign...

 

[Belgium]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/israel...ysis-comes-under-muellers-scrutiny-1527288767
Israeli Intelligence Firm’s Election-Meddling Analysis Comes Under Mueller’s Scrutiny
Psy-Group presentation outlines ways Trump campaign was helped by fake social media accounts

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators have obtained a presentation prepared by an Israel-based private intelligence firm that outlines ways in which Donald Trump’s 2016 election was helped by fake news and fake social-media accounts, according to people familiar with the presentation and documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Mueller’s interest in the presentation suggests his investigation is focusing on the role of social-media manipulation during the 2016 campaign. Intelligence officials have said that cyber-influence campaigns, sometimes covertly sponsored by foreign governments, are expected to become a major part of political campaigning in the coming years.

The presentation consists of nine slides and was prepared by the Psy-Group, a firm that boasts of ties to elite Israeli intelligence agencies. It isn’t clear who received the Psy-Group presentation, but it appears to have been created sometime after the 2016 election.

People familiar with the presentation describe it as an internal analysis drawn up by the firm to drum up U.S. political business—saying that it was essentially used as marketing material for the firm’s operation and analytical capabilities. It also represents a “proof of concept” of how a firm like Psy-Group would have manipulated the 2016 campaign as well as future campaigns, people said.

It is unclear how much of the presentation consists of the firm’s analysis of online activity during the campaign and how much is a hypothetical pitch.

Marc Mukasey, a lawyer for Mr. Zamel, said the presentation copy that Mr. Mueller has obtained was a “sample type analysis of what they could do.”

A spokesman for Mr. Mueller declined to comment.

The presentation outlines the ways in which social media “bots” and fake online content were used to help energize voters supportive of Mr. Trump. One slide entitled “Trump Campaign Components” outlines a timeline where “fake news sites/avatars/content” were created during the early part of the election year and then leveraged to spread “uncertainty” by midyear. The final stage was “using fake bots to react to real life situations & further polarize the TA,” or target audience, the slide says.

Another slide says the firm identified 140 pro-Trump websites linked to a man in Macedonia. The websites “had American-sounding domain names such as WorldPoliticus.com” and “published aggressively pro-Trump content aimed at conservatives and Trump supporters in the USA.” WorldPoliticus.com is no longer active.

A person familiar with Trump campaign’s operations said it has “absolutely no knowledge of what this firm was referring to” in the slideshow.

Another slide outlines a Facebook strategy where fake online profiles or “avatars” engage real people online and encourage them to share content. The result is a “multiplier effect with mass people spreading lies,” the slide says.

In September, Facebook disclosed that it identified about 500 “inauthentic” accounts with ties to Russia that bought $100,000 worth of ads during a two-year period encompassing the presidential campaign.

Mr. Mueller is investigating whether anyone in the Trump campaign colluded in Russian efforts to interfere in the election. Moscow has denied meddling and Mr. Trump has denied any collusion by his campaign.

The Psy-Group’s founder, Joel Zamel, is under scrutiny from U.S. investigators because of his close relationship with the government of the United Arab Emirates and his involvement in a meeting with Mr. Trump’s eldest son shortly before election day, the Journal has reported.

Mr. Zamel met with Donald Trump Jr. at Trump Tower in the weeks before the 2016 election along with George Nader, a top adviser to the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates, to discuss an offer to help boost the campaign, according to people familiar with the matter. Erik Prince, a U.S. defense contractor who specializes in the Middle East and had close ties to the campaign, attended the meeting, the Journal previously reported. People involved in the meeting say nothing came of it and the Psy-Group didn’t perform any work for the Trump campaign.

A lawyer for Mr. Trump Jr. said Messrs. Zamel and Nader had pitched his client on “a social media platform or marketing strategy” and that “he was not interested and that was the end of it.”

The presentation reviewed by the Journal wasn’t related to the Trump Tower meeting nor was it prepared for Mr. Nader, said Mr. Mukasey, Mr. Zamel’s attorney.

Mr. Mueller has been investigating Mr. Zamel’s work and has interviewed Mr. Zamel about his business relationship with Mr. Nader, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Mukaseyhas said investigators have told him his client isn’t a target of the probe. A subpoena concerning Mr. Zamel’s work, but not issued to Mr. Zamel, was reviewed by the Journal.

Mr. Nader has been cooperating with investigators since January, when investigators stopped him at Dulles Airport and served him with a subpoena.

A lawyer for Mr. Nader said his client has “fully cooperated with the special counsel’s investigation and will continue to do so.” The lawyer declined to answer further questions.

The Psy-Group was formed by Mr. Zamel, the son of an Australian mining magnate who moved to Israel to study counterterrorism. There, Mr. Zamel founded several companies beginning in 2010 and became increasingly close to the government of the U.A.E., the Journal has previously reported. One of his companies, Wikistrat, did war games and analysis for the U.A.E. in 2014 and say he was close to the national security adviser there, according to people familiar with Mr. Zamel.

People familiar with the Psy-Group’s operations say it provided intelligence services for political and corporate clients.
After the 2016 election, the firm started to pitch for business in the U.S., including for the 2018 midterms. As part of its pitch to potential political clients, the Psy-Group said it had the capability of leveraging fake social-media accounts, which they call avatars, on behalf of political campaigns.

“Psy excels at the use of online avatars that appear natural, unbiased and object. These avatars are highly effective at directing political messaging to target audiences,” marketing materials reviewed by the Journal say. These fake social accounts could be used for “narrative warfare” or to “echo campaign messaging,” the firm said.

No political entity has made any payments to the Psy-Group since 2015, according to Federal Election Commission records. The participation of foreign firms or individuals in U.S. elections is tightly controlled.

 

[Fozz]

Biblethumpers back at it again
https://www.thedailybeast.com/dana-rohrabacher-its-ok-to-not-sell-homes-to-gay-people
Dana Rohrabacher: It's OK to Not Sell Homes to Gay People

Sick. I've been seeing her signs all over the city. Looks like she's about to lose.

 

[fargin]

Lemme get this straight, allegedly Trump not only colluded with KGB, but also Mossad?

 

[Belgium]

A Spanish prosecutor is stating that the Spanish Guardia Civil has wiretapped conversations between Alexander Torshin and a fellow Russian who was convicted of money laundering. The FBI requested the information and it was given to them a few months ago according to the prosecutor. He also said that Trump Jr should be concerned.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trumps-son-concerned-wiretaps-show-trump-jr-met-putin-ally-231215529.html
'Trump's son should be concerned': Wiretaps show Trump Jr. met with Putin ally

 

[Mark Antony]

Biblethumpers back at it again
https://www.thedailybeast.com/dana-rohrabacher-its-ok-to-not-sell-homes-to-gay-people
Dana Rohrabacher: It's OK to Not Sell Homes to Gay People

But it literally isn't and illegal.

 

[wavycrocket]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/israel...ysis-comes-under-muellers-scrutiny-1527288767
Israeli Intelligence Firm’s Election-Meddling Analysis Comes Under Mueller’s Scrutiny
Psy-Group presentation outlines ways Trump campaign was helped by fake social media accounts

All of this was obvious in real time to me .

That 16 year old kid with the MAGA hat that always popped up first in Trumps mentions was the dead giveaway.

At won’t point....over 50% of Trumps followers on Twitter were bots....and he would ramp up followers etc to push out his messaging when he needed to go on attack.

 

[rexanglorum]

Biblethumpers back at it again
https://www.thedailybeast.com/dana-rohrabacher-its-ok-to-not-sell-homes-to-gay-people
Dana Rohrabacher: It's OK to Not Sell Homes to Gay People

Dana Rohrbacher is a disgusting human being but he is not taking this position out of any real religious convictions. This is all a political calculation. But first a little bit of local political History.

From the late 1960's up through the 1990's, race baiting and homophobia and general cruelty to the poorest and most vulnerable won much more often then it lost in California, especially in Southern California. From the 1940's up until the 1990's, the electorate was really white and reactionary, especially after Goldwater in the 1960's. Even up through the late 90's, the playbook was what Rohrabacher is doing now. The State has changed but there are still pockets where this routine might work and keep yourself in office for another term.

Eventually Rohrabacher will will be unseated by a Democrats and he will become a lobbyist. However, if he can hold on and keep a GOP Majority, he can spend another two years enacting horrible policy which will make his eventual lobbyist salary even more generous. So by gay bashing, he is hoping to rally enough old folks: former police officers and engineers for Defense Contractor and other affluent retirees, who can remember Barry Goldwater campaign, and with enough raised pickup truck CHUDs and self hating Latinos and Asians, win a narrow victory this fall.

Orange County Dems, can you knock this mad man out before he loots billions more for the donor class?

 

[blastercombo]

Honestly, please name a positive to religion that doesn’t get canceled out by some type of bible loophole for justified hate.

 

[Belgium]

This guy

 

[EddieDoyers]

 

[Mark Antony]

Has any President ever obsessed like this over his predecessor?

 

[Fozz]

My answer would be 'no'.

He always has to compare the 'faults and wrongs' to make him sound like he's so much better.

Throw in a little 'crooked Hillary' for extra measure lol

 

[rillo561]

Totally leaves out the $500million loan from China to one of his projects....

 

[EddieDoyers]

 

[elpablo21]

 

[Sharpshoeter13]

Idk how the military works but, these dudes "patrolling" are being paid, right?

 

[chao7]

But if you're Rakem Balogun, they can try and arrest you for what amounts to posts on Facebook about cops deserving what they get when someone murders them.

Case was thrown out, rightfully and thankfully.