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Facebook Reopens Probe Into Russian Involvement in Brexit (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader quotes TechCrunch:
Facebook has said it will conduct a wider investigation into whether there was Russian meddling on its platform relating to the 2016 Brexit referendum vote in the UK. Wednesday its UK policy director Simon Milner wrote to a parliamentary committee that's been conducting a wide-ranging enquiry into fake news -- and whose chair has been witheringly critical of Facebook and Twitter for failing to co-operate with requests for information and assistance on the topic of Brexit and Russia -- saying it will widen its investigation, per the committee's request. Though he gave no firm deadline for delivering a fresh report -- beyond estimating "a number of weeks".
It's not clear whether Twitter will also bow to pressure to conduct a more thorough investigation of Brexit-related disinformation. At the time of writing the company had not responded to our questions either. At the end of last year committee chair Damian Collins warned both companies they could face sanctions for failing to co-operate with the committee's enquiry -- slamming Twitter's investigations to date as "completely inadequate", and expressing disbelief that both companies had essentially ignored the committee's requests... Independent academic studies have suggested there was in fact significant tweet-based activity generated around Brexit by Russian bots."
Theresa May has said Russia's attempts to "sow discord" in the West could not go unchallenged, and warned Vladimir Putin, "We know what you are up to."
Facebook's response complained that a new investigation "requires detailed analysis of historic data by our security experts, who are also engaged in preventing live threats to our service."
It's not clear whether Twitter will also bow to pressure to conduct a more thorough investigation of Brexit-related disinformation. At the time of writing the company had not responded to our questions either. At the end of last year committee chair Damian Collins warned both companies they could face sanctions for failing to co-operate with the committee's enquiry -- slamming Twitter's investigations to date as "completely inadequate", and expressing disbelief that both companies had essentially ignored the committee's requests... Independent academic studies have suggested there was in fact significant tweet-based activity generated around Brexit by Russian bots."
Theresa May has said Russia's attempts to "sow discord" in the West could not go unchallenged, and warned Vladimir Putin, "We know what you are up to."
Facebook's response complained that a new investigation "requires detailed analysis of historic data by our security experts, who are also engaged in preventing live threats to our service."
Yes! The Russians put nanobots into our brains and make us do their bidding!
Damn I don't know if we will survive 40 more years! Somebody please! Turn off the internet!
I wonder if Russia is behind Facebook's reopening of this probe into Russian meddling in Brexit. If you're Russia it seems like the best way to stir up shit in opposing powers is to let them tear themselves in half over whether or not Russia was involved in influencing their government in some way.
I see a lot of anonymous coward postings taking a "nothing to see here.. move along" stance... So sorry that Facebook looking into and possibly exposing something ruffles your delicate feathers so much...
"The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War's been over for 20 years" - Barack Obama, third presidential debate, Oct. 22, 2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
When the Russians actually fund Communist and Green parties and generally support left-wing agitation, there's nothing to see here. But when people vote right-of-center, it must be a Russian conspiracy!
Blame everything on russians. Ignore your own crooked crimes.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Go figure. The reality is we have *ALWAYS* had influences during elections from many different perspectives. That's called democracy. How people can get upset over this is beyond me. If Russia is so effective at influencing our elections then maybe our political leaders should I don't know duplicate Russia's tactics???? instead of bitching and moaning about how they're influencing our elections. I do want to point out that we have influenced a lot of other countries via different means over the last 100 years- from outright supporting overthrows to similar sorts of manipulation of democratic votes. It's a bit late to say "how dare you do that!" when we've been doing it for a hundred plus years already.
but it was Mays own party that proposed Brexit on a gamble. After the country actually voted in favour of it, 3 separate politicians assumed responsibility for the fiasco and each stepped aside as the brakes were nowhere to be found on this train. Even Boris Johnson had a swing at the corpulent trashbag known as Brexit. the UK even went so far as to say the legislation was somehow nonbinding, and when pressed by the EU to exist in a timely fashion had the audacity to demand "a good deal" in exchange for leaving. They did not in fact get a deal.
now may's trying again, desparately, to save face and pin the blame on russia? Seriously? At some point someone has to call her bluff and ask what strategic or tactical advantage Russia gains by sabotaging a nation into exile from a trade group russia already has formal relations with (the EU)? In other words, why would russia intentionally make it more cumbersome to trade with the UK?
Good people go to bed earlier.
Russiagaters are getting more and more desperately pathetic with each passing day. this pic about sums it up. Anything and everything can be and will be blamed on Russia, because we need a distraction from how horrible Hillary and her party are to lose the most winnable election in history.
The problem is something called sampling bias. If you only look for meddling by Russia in only decisions you dislike, then you can only find meddling by Russia only in decisions you dislike. e.g. If your landlord claims your apartment is filthy and is the source of the cockroaches that everyone in the building has been complaining about, and he does an extensive search for roaches in your apartment and finds some, that doesn't prove his claim. For all we know, your apartment could be the cleanest one in the building, and if he'd done the same extensive search on the other apartments he would've found a lot more roaches. But by searching only your unit, he's abusing sampling bias - cherry picking data by only looking in certain places - to try to make it appear as if you're the one at fault.*
If you want to investigate something like this in an objective manner, you need to look for meddling into all big political decisions by all foreign powers. This includes meddling by Facebook (a US corporation) abusing sampling bias to try to discredit the UK Brexit vote via a press release that millions if not tens of millions of Britons will hear about in the news..
* In this case the statistical error (by Facebook) is intentional. But sampling bias can creep in unintentionally too. The classic example is a surveyor tasked with finding out how many hours city residents ride the subway on average, so the city can make better decisions on if subway service should be expanded. He starts off by asking random people on the street how often they ride the subway each week. He grows frustrated that most people don't ride the subway at all, making it difficult for him to gather the required minimum number of positive responses to minimize the margin of error. Then he's struck with inspiration. He'll simply got aboard a subway train and ask the riders how many hours they ride each week. Since everyone on the subway must be subway riders, that'll neatly filter out all the non-riders he's been wasting his time with.
The problem is when you ask people riding on the subway instead of random people on the street, the odds of you encountering a heavy subway user are higher. e.g. If 80% of subway riders ride the subway 1 hour a week, and 20% ride it 10 hours a week, you are 2.5x as likely to sample a 10 hr/wk rider than you are a 1 hr/wk rider simply because they're on the subway a lot longer. So the statistical data you gather this way ends up biased high by your sampling method.
Thanks for that, Ivan. Always good to know what Putin's St Petersburg astroturf army is thinking
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Don't bother trying to explain anything to them. Their delusion is too deep. Just watch and laugh. That's what I did when I saw this headline.
Because of the Referendum. Though with new polling suggesting the British public turning decidedly away from a Hard Brexit, and maybe even away from Brexit entirely, there may be a change of heart among the Tory and Labour frontbenches.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Thanks for that, Ivan. Always good to know what Putin's St Petersburg astroturf army is thinking
It's pretty hard to figure out what the left's astroturfing army is thinking these days. Either it's russians everywhere, including under your bed. Or it's nazi's everywhere, including under your bed. I bet psychiatrists are making a mint though.
Om, nomnomnom...
Any reasonable person would be concerned about evidence of destabalising posting on open western media. You forget that it is a primary attack method of the Russian military and that their internet is tightly controlled. The evidence is likely to show external posts of strongly emotional appeals to both sides of any political dispute in order to break down the cohesiveness of our society.
Given many posts here they are doing a great job. We used to be largely content with voting to determine our politics and today there are many souces openly calling for civil war. Anywhere that there has actually been a civil war recently has a destroyed economy so I would not dismiss this method of attack quite so glibly.
Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
You forget that the Russians and other countries control what gets on their internet. Are you suggesting that we too should have a great firewall and hundreds of thousands of government workers removing posts from the internet?
Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
It would be a lot more believable if there were any signs of using EFFECTIVE methods of countering Russian propaganda. A commonly stated goal of Russia is to undermine faith in western democracies. Instead of changing policies to restore faith, they are using Russia to avoid actually implementing populist agendas.
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...who's interest is it in with depopulating Syria, and causing the refugee mess in Europe.
Brexit is a seperate issue to American elections, do read the summary before posting !
Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
If you think that's bad, try to figure out the Right. Nazis are good decent folks and Russians fund the NRA.
What a twisted country you live in.
Seriously, the Internet Research Agency is the greatest political consulting firm in the world. With just a few thousand Facebook ads and Twitter messages, it was able to sway the Brexit vote and US Presidential election. Why spend a hundred million or more paying ineffective pussy established firms while you can get Russia's IRA for a few thousand rubles?
Russia's goal is probably to keep the American voting public disunited. It is in their best interest to keep each half of the population thinking that the other half are un-American traitors.
What should make you angry is that it doesn't take much, since the politicians, cable commentators, and Internet comment sections do most of the work already. Just a few nudges are required.
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
My slashdot history is full of posts asking for Donald Trump to be shot into the sun. I'm not a sockpuppet, I just hate losers who continue to use failed strategies, especially when those strategies get in the way of actual left wing policies being passed. Get rid of the Clintonites and replace them with actual progressives, and Trump and his ilk don't stand a chance.
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Yes, let's do the failed socialist experience to again, except this time let's do it on the biggest and most successful nation ever to grace the planet so we can fuck up everything so badly the whole world will suffer. That'll show em for trying to leave their leftist socialist commie shitholes and go to western caplitalst successful nations.
There have been a lot of media reports of massive Russian meddling in the Brexit campaign, but the first investigation found they spent £0.73:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/12/13/facebook-russians-spent-just-73-pence-ads-brexit-campaign/
Of course, this didn't stop the left wing media claiming there was Russian involvement. Sure, if they spent £0.73 then there was Russian involvement, but the scale of involvement has been intentionally misrepresented.
What the leftists can't seem to handle is that Brexit and Trump occurred, not because of Russian meddling or because people were tricked, but because a great many people wanted them to happen. If the leftists left their echo chambers for a brief moment, they might actually realise that.
At least Macron understands that people genuinely don't like the left wing agenda. When asked if given a vote on the EU would the French vote to leave, he said "probably":
https://twitter.com/BBCNews/status/955019112031244288
Of course, the French will never get a vote. After the March elections it may well be that Italy do get a vote, and that would really get the ball rolling.
Of course we're done here. You're so fucking illiterate that you consider Ronald Reagan's tax brackets "communist."
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I'm just waiting for Facebook to investigate if Russians made Han Solo shoot first...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Bit too late for that isn't it? The question was clear, concise, and there was enough of a voter turnout. This isn't going to be like the referendum in Canada over Quebec national sovereignty, where the question was determined to be misleading, was not clear, and was not concise thus ruled null. If the government goes any other way then what with the public actually voted, then the government violates the social contract. In many cases, the government especially the UK government have already voided it, you can see that where the police are not upholding the law or ignoring crimes because of various reasons. Don't be surprised if you see things deteriorate quickly if they decide to go against the initial vote.
Om, nomnomnom...
failed socialist experience to again
(emphasis mine)
I'm curious, what/when was the last 'experience' (do you mean experiment?)?
most successful nation
Not by a lot of metrics; less so than in the past and falling.
Some progressive policies =/= socialism. Some well-regulated and limited social policies =/= socialism. Criticism of the excesses of capitalism =/= socialism. Calling for limitations or regulation of capitalism =/= socialism.
Neither pure capitalism, nor pure socialism (or the closest approximations that have arisen) work particularly well for anyone but the small group who come to accumulate power. Identifying the areas of society that are best allowed to operate as a (regulated) free market, and those areas that are better run as (limited and well defined) social services is more successful, by a number of measures.
Challenging where to draw those lines is essential to prevent the excesses of an imbalance in either direction, and to that end debate and argument is useful.
Tribalism, partisanship or a refusal to accept any 'dilution' of a position, or compromise with different points of view is not.
...to not know that Democrats not only aren't left, they're hard-core right wingers frequently more extreme than the GOP?
It all depends on the perspective of the observer. To probably the vast majority in the EU, both US political Partys are far-Right. The Democrats in the US tried to move the Overton Window too far, too fast, and the result was a backlash that got us Trump (I would have preferred Cruz or maybe Paul).
"Right" and "Left" are rather meaningless terms from the perspective of the regular citizen. One can picture it as a diagram using a pair of horizontal parallel lines resembling train tracks, with one "rail" representing the Right and the other the "Left", with Anarchy at one end of the scale and Total Tyranny at the other.
How authoritarian any system may be is a much more practical metric from the individulal's perspective. Collectivist forms like Socialism, Communism, and Fascism all share the common trait of a strong centralized command and control design which, by their very nature, must be more authoritarian.
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
It's more like, "Lots of us keep hearing hearing funny noises from under the bed... Don't you think we should get a torch and have a peek under there?"
Your response is something like, "There's nothing under the bed because we say so--and don't you dare even look under it."
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
We have facebook and twitter for that.
EVERYONE RUN! This ludicrous-excuse is out of control! AARrRHRHggGgHGHghghGHGHGHhHhhHHHhhhHHH!
Russia simply doesn't have anything to gain from it.
*snort*
That has to be one of the very silliest assertions I've seen yet this morning, and the sun won't even be up for another hour and a half.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
I'd like to personally thank you for the election of Donald Trump. Who needs Russians when you have thousands of actual American Bernie supporters ready and willing to behave like smug, condescending assholes that pushed a generation of apolitical moderates hard right?
No, we but we did begin to suspect that there was at least one thing Trump wasn't lying about, after all...
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
So Russia is running Huffpo, Fox, etc?
I deleted the one that made the comment look a bit stupid.
Of course not. Russia doesn't have to run MSNBC or Fox News. Americans have mostly turned on each other on their own after there was no common enemy left at the end of the Cold War (although this round of division has its origin in the 1970s in the wake of the Southern Strategy, Watergate, and the Powell Memorandum). Russia only has to nudge things a little.
You can't actually make someone cheat on their partner. You can only amplify what is already there.
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
No, no, not at all. Russia is just the only foreign actor that we have some evidence for. It's very possible that others are trying with varying levels of success and varying levels of having been caught.
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
And while I think of it, here's an example from Australia of another country trying and not quite getting caught.
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
Communist it was not, but socialist certainly. Socialism for the rich.
I can tell you the view from ground zero, the people who voted for Brexit are not even able to use Facebook. They rely on the talk at the pub, and there they had the Romanians and Bulgarians to blame (highly visible as construction workers). Later the Bulgarian politicians started to make noise so only the Romanians were blamed.
Brexit is nothing more than the voice of racism and for that there is not need for Russia or Farcebook to stir it.
In the specific case of Brexit, there are two different challenges to consider.
The first is whether or not *any* foreign government had the ability to influence the preferences of the British people when it came to the vote. I notice that much discussion is being given to the potential for Russian meddling, but I also note that nobody batted an eye when Barak Obama not only made very pro-Brexit comments, but also made it very clear that if Britain elected to vote to leave, then Britain would be put to "the back of the queue" when it came to negotiating a trade deal with the US.
Or how about the fact that the government of the day spent literally millions of pounds of Tax-Payers money to fund their part of the campaign, by physically posting their views to every single household in the country via a mail-dropped leaflet. This was clearly an attempt at influencing public opinion, and the money to do so was spent only by the "Remain" campaign, because that happened to be the position taken by the Prime Minister of the day [not even the "Government of the Day", seeing as how numerous ministers favoured leaving].
So the first issue is a pretty specious point, really. However accurate and however valid the point is, it's largely irrelevant to point to some underhand foreign government meddling in the Brexit vote when the standing UK Government of the day were tilting the odds so far the other way...
The second point concerns the foundation of democracy itself. The final Brexit vote was split 52:48 (%) in favour of leaving the EU. This vote, which was operated on 100% democratic principles [i.e. of "one person, one vote" - and not the "first pass the post" method used for UK General Elections], was a significantly stronger vote in favour of an outcome than any UK General Election in living memory. For example, when David Cameron [who was Prime Minister at the time] won his second term in office, he secured 44% of the popular vote.
44%. The Brexit vote secured 52% - an outright majority. Yet Cameron was returned to Government with a large majority... Even more curiously, nobody demanded a recount or a second General Election even though he only won 44% of the vote... [OK, cheeky argument, since the two events were handled under different rules]. But the point stands.
You only have to look at the way that political elites have reacted to the vote - one in which the British people had the temerity to vote for what they actually wanted - to see how important this vote was. Since the decision was made the EU has gone out of it's way to try and bully, cajole, frighten or threaten the UK into having a second Referendum to overturn the first decision.
Whether or not you agree with the decision to leave the EU, this external force from the EU, which is a million times worse than any influence Russia could have brought to bear, must be resisted at ALL costs. If the UK caves then there is nothing to stop the EU from becoming a totalitarian state - which might sound a bit melodramatic, but consider the significance of a state which simply sets aside democratic decisions because they are not what the elite wants.
We would do well to remember that the more we allow ourselves to be torn up by this, the better it is for Russia or any foreign state with an axe to grind.
Hilary Clinton won the popular vote in the 2016 Presidential Election, but didn't undermine the electoral process with protest court cases. The UK should look to that example and respect the decision.
And if the UK or other countries want to make material improvements, then there is nothing to stop them from putting more effort into stamping out voting fraud, is there? Don't see much on that topic...
Whatever The media and press doesn't like from people is blamed on russians to try to revert it. Their candidate was Hillary. She lost.. It's Russians influence (even they assured the elections could not be hacked and they had to accept the results they expected ).
Now, People in Britain sees the evil that the EU is (yes I'm a part of EU and hate EU government), and they vote to exit... against the Press&media will.... again "let's blame the russians"
This statement *really* surprised me. Curious, I went to look:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...!
I can't see it for looking. Care to point it out?
Thanks
What if Putin tries to influence the Brexit's outcome with media reports about possible influence over Brexit's outcome by Putin?
I'm sure you'd like to, but you'd be wrong. America was shouting at the top of their lungs for populism, and the Dems rigged the primary for the most status quo candidate possible.
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"you are stupid" is not an argument. Russia doesn't produce anything. It's main export is natural resources. It doesn't have anything to gain from reducing output level of industrial countries. Russia's main competition are other resource exporters. If you want to buy into the world view that Russia is an enemy, you buying into the game which was played when scarcity of food was determining factor in power. The 19th century is over. Russia does not gain anything by having industrial countries turn on each other.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
The only effective response is to draw attention to it. If people get notifications from Facebook saying "this post you liked and re-posted to all your friends was actually Russian propaganda" it might alter their behaviour and views on the subject. It might make them think twice next time.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
The Russian propaganda is "Your politicians don't listen to you and your democracy is a farce." That line is a lot harder to sell if you are politicians DO listen to you, and your democracy ISN'T a farce.
For example, had the Democratic nominee been Bernie Sanders, the emails showing the corruption of the DNC would HELP him, not hurt him, because it would paint him as an underdog fighting against corruption. THAT would be an effective countermeasure.
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Neither pure capitalism, nor pure socialism (or the closest approximations that have arisen) work particularly well for anyone but the small group who come to accumulate power. Identifying the areas of society that are best allowed to operate as a (regulated) free market, and those areas that are better run as (limited and well defined) social services is more successful, by a number of measures.
This. Almost all nations run mixed economies because they work. It should be noted that a pure socialism (communism) has been tried and failed... However a pure capitalism hasn't even gotten off the ground, each and every time it's failed before even starting. Both extremes fail for the same reason, they requires every single person to think in exactly the same way and believe in exactly the same things.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
I don't think the Russians have goals that specific in mind. They just create division and anger, and let it do whatever damage it ends up doing.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Britain ran an empire based on manipulating internal affairs of unsuspecting colonies.
Oh please, don't be stupid. The colonies were pretty fucking aware, what with Britain taking a direct hand in ruling them.
It still uses subtle levers of influence and plausible deniability to set people against each other all the while putting "mother england" on some sort of pedestal.
We call this diplomacy. Everybody does it, but that doesn't stop everybody from also decrying everybody else doing it.
England lives chiefly through its alliances.
England barely legally exists. I think you mean the UK, and I think you'll find the alliances, trade and military projection are intertwined and collectively establish the nation and its position in the world. Much the same as every other country out there.
BBC meddles in internal affairs of former colonies on regular basis under the guise of covering "foreign affairs"
Trust me, the BBC meddles in foreign affairs at nothing like the rate with which it meddles in internal UK ones.
The fact that Russian IT companies are being used by anonymous foreign interests to launder (anonymize) their information campaign is in no way an indication of Russia itself using an influence. Russia simply doesn't have anything to gain from it.
Ah. Now you lose all credibility. Of course Russia benefits from a destabilised and less effective EU. Shit, their whole Ukrainian strategy is driven by their desire not to have a stronger EU right up against their border.
On the other hand it's easy to know what Mashiki is thinking. It's the usual straw man argument, paining the "left" as being paranoid and calling everyone a Russian/Nazi. Ignore the evidence, decry the investigation before it even starts, deflect defect deflect.
When you attack the person, you're proving your intellectual cowardice. There's no strawman on that either, or did you skip the "punch a nazi" "nazi's are everywhere" etc., media hysteria that went on for several months....and has died off. Why don't you prove that the russians are everywhere and lurking under your bed, along with the nazis? The media sure hasn't, investigators haven't. Even this article and twitters "post" haven't shown any actual evidence of this, the only thing they've done is "claim" and you know, claim that accounts made nearly a year after the period in question were also "russian" accounts.
Come on buddy, it's time for the what-about post.
How's your police state in the UK coming along? You guys sure have done a bang-up job on that one.
Om, nomnomnom...
Show me proof that shitposting on the internet actually DID anything. It didn't.
It got the uneducateds to believe electing someone from liberal New York City would be the worst thing to happen to this country.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Perhaps you could look in the right place? I suspect he refers to the second verse:
https://play.google.com/music/...
Ah, sorry, no. This one:
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/u/u...
Now, People in Britain sees the evil that the EU is (yes I'm a part of EU and hate EU government), and they vote to exit... against the Press&media will.... again "let's blame the russians"
What bothers me more, is this isn't even limited to the US, the UK or the EU. Media in Canada, and other english speaking countries have been pulling the same garbage, if there isn't another journolist type group setting up narratives I'll eat my keyboard. It wouldn't surprise me if media all over the place are pulling the same garbage, it's entertaining though when you spot the shills pushing it though. They usually have a lapse in thinking, and post "soviet" instead of "russian" which kinda points out how old the person who wrote the script usually is.
Om, nomnomnom...
The point still stands. It's easier to sow division and anger when people have legitimate reasons to be angry. The best resistance against foreign propaganda is a responsible government that serves its people's interests.
Also, if the Dems are to be believed, Putin personally ordered this operation, and Russia groomed Trump over a long period.
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Hey Teresa, what about US/British intelligence meddling in Brazillian elections? And nearly all democratic nations relevant to the US in the last 50 years? Does it ring a bell?
Hay, I didn't notice that you worked an accusation of racism into the post title. Well done, exemplary.
So yeah, I'm still punching Nazis and all that, but I've given up on the UK. It's fucked. I went to China and noticed that the mass surveillance is pretty much the same. So anyway, I'm leaving, going somewhere that suits my leftist progressive socio-commie philosophy better. Also they won't let my wife immigrate, but it's mostly about the other stuff.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Hay, I didn't notice that you worked an accusation of racism into the post title. Well done, exemplary.
There's that usual part where you make no sense...and...
So yeah, I'm still punching Nazis and all that...
Glad you've come out and labeled yourself an authoritarian that believes in political violence in order to further your ends. Not only that, but you become a walking contradiction. The UK is your progressive socio-commie philosophy wrapped up in a happy little blanket, it's everything you want. Protected class, particular groups of people getting special privileges based on race, rampant identity politics, jew hatred, oversight and prosecution of thought crimes by government and police. Why would you want to leave the paradise you've already created?
Om, nomnomnom...
If you think that's bad, try to figure out the Right. Nazis are good decent folks and Russians fund the NRA.
So let's see if this makes sense: Nazi's are good, and russians fund the NRA. But Trump is a nazi, and so are his supporters? His supporters are also russians according to the various flapping heads in the leftist media...
So I guess that means Trump and his supporters are actually the good guys?
Om, nomnomnom...
Just because you don't understand their motives doesn't mean they don't make sense given their priorities. Their politics change entirely based on pragmatic considerations simply because they are too poor to operate inefficiently. They can't afford the luxury of lofty ideals at the expense of poor economic decisions. We can enjoy the mindset of a middle-class couple whose credit cards are maxed, but who still hold 2 good job. RF has to have the mindset of a single mother whose car has been reposesed twice in the last 20 years.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
just to add to the above: it is simply not true that RF government acts as ideologues. They are not driven by political ideology -- only pragmatism.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
In some cases they do spread disinformation. However many of the posts I've seen in the news recently describing russian "meddling" in the US election are just cases of the Russians apparently promoting certain facts that they like. Just because the Russians promote those facts does not make them untrue.
Well, OK, but please let's be fair. The lyrics I link to, above, are those of the original writer.
I'm not denigrating on the alternatives you offer, but it's hardly the same, is it? If the original post had been "Just pointing out that there are unofficial versions of the UK's National Anthem which involve meddling with other countries..." then we could probably agree that as a possibility for just about *any* nation...
Glad you've come out and labeled yourself an authoritarian that believes in political violence in order to further your ends.
Yes, I definitely wasn't joking. Nothing gets past you.
The UK is your progressive socio-commie philosophy wrapped up in a happy little blanket, it's everything you want.
That's why I'm leaving, I have everything I want and am completely happy with the UK, it fits my personal beliefs perfectly. That makes complete sense. Your assumptions are, as always, spot on.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
From the link posted by the troll above:
Facebook has said less than £1 was spent on Russian adverts designed to disrupt the Brexit vote, downplaying claims that meddling from the Kremlin helped swing last yearâ(TM)s referendum.
The US internet giant responded to an investigation from the Electoral Commission by saying the Internet Research Agency, a shadowy organisation with links to the Russian government, spent just $0.97 (73p) in Britain during the two months of the EU referendum campaign.
However, its claims were instantly disputed by a senior MP.
Damian Collins, the chair of the digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS) committee, accused Facebook of failing to probe the true extent of Russian meddling.
And surprise-surprise... They are going back to see if they've maybe, perhaps, possibly, missed some - once they are called out about it.
Just like how Facebook's could not have influenced the outcome of the election in November 2016.
But by April of 2017 "disinformation campaign during the election" WAS there but it was "statistically very small".
Then in September it turns out it they sold $150.000 worth of ads to Russians for some "3000 ads" connected to some 470 accounts, aimed at promoting discord on issues such as "gun rights, immigration, LGBT rights and race".
Or was that "80,000 pieces of content [which] may have been viewed by a total of 126 million people", as was revealed by late October 2017.
How those numbers keep growing... it's as almost as if Zuckerberg and Co. are lying through their teeth to cover their asses - then rolling over when pressed about it.
Meanwhile, in the land of Brexit...
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh identified 419 accounts operating from the Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA) attempting to influence UK politics out of 2,752 accounts suspended by Twitter in the US.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Yes, I definitely wasn't joking. Nothing gets past you.
Your past post history says you aren't joking. Or did you forget all those times when you defended "punching nazis" in your own comments?
That's why I'm leaving, I have everything I want and am completely happy with the UK, it fits my personal beliefs perfectly. That makes complete sense. Your assumptions are, as always, spot on.
That's not an assumption, it's observable based on your comments, your stances, your views. You've gotten a happy little taste of the paradise that you want, and suddenly you don't like it. But you're more then happy to travel to another country and spread the same views that got you there in the first place.
Om, nomnomnom...
The problem is they're trying to pretend it's not as bad as it is.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Well, OK, but please let's be fair. The lyrics I link to, above, are those of the original writer.
The lyrics you link to aren't even the correct fucking song, you nincompoop.
Your past post history says you aren't joking.
Well, my granddad was a Nazi-puncher back during the great SJW invasion of Europe in 1944, so maybe I'm biased.
That's not an assumption, it's observable based on your comments, your stances, your views. You've gotten a happy little taste of the paradise that you want, and suddenly you don't like it.
So all this protesting about not wanting any of that stuff is actually just cover for me really wanting it, except that actually it turns out I don't want it... This is getting more confusing than Pizzagate.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
that is disliked by the liberal elites, can just be blamed on Russia as a mechanism to override that decision back to the path the elites prefer. Got it.
Well, my granddad was a Nazi-puncher back during the great SJW invasion of Europe in 1944, so maybe I'm biased.
So despite your denial that you advocate for political violence to enact political change, you're now once again in agreement that you're okay with using violence for political purposes.
So all this protesting about not wanting any of that stuff is actually just cover for me really wanting it, except that actually it turns out I don't want it... This is getting more confusing than Pizzagate.
You mean this part? " So anyway, I'm leaving, going somewhere that suits my leftist progressive socio-commie philosophy better." Which you already have...and want to flee to another country where you can live exactly under the same system you already have.
Pizzagate on the otherhand is simple, kind of like how your government covered up the mass rapes of young girls, and of Jimmy Savile. The only difference between the two is that "pizzagate" is in the "but there's a whole pile of circumstantial stuff" just like "there was a whole pile of circumstantial stuff, with Savile 40+ yeas ago and the mass-rapes and child prostitution 10+ years ago."
Om, nomnomnom...
Good morning, Comrade Wang! How's the weather in Shanghai today?
Nah. ALL expressions of popular discontent with authoritarian financialism are the work of Soviet agents. Don't you know?
Question for all Democrat partisans: When you suck a banker's cock, does it taste like money?
So despite your denial that you advocate for political violence to enact political change, you're now once again in agreement that you're okay with using violence for political purposes.
To be fair, the "political purpose" of the great SJW invasion was to stop bombs falling on us. Also, I seem to recall that American SJWs joined in. Are you okay with that?
Which you already have...and want to flee to another country where you can live exactly under the same system you already have.
No, no, I want to go to a different system, not the same one. One with less surveillance, more freedom. For example I think there is possibility I might need euthanasia services in future, and the UK doesn't allow them.
Oh, and not getting bricks through my windows, sent by xenophobes and racists. I know they are only trying to help me by gifting free replacement bricks for my old house, but it's kind of annoying.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
To be fair, the "political purpose" of the great SJW invasion was to stop bombs falling on us. Also, I seem to recall that American SJWs joined in. Are you okay with that?
Maybe you should ask yourself why your country helped draft a plan that created the situation in the first place?
No, no, I want to go to a different system, not the same one. One with less surveillance, more freedom. For example I think there is possibility I might need euthanasia services in future, and the UK doesn't allow them.
That doesn't make sense, since you regularly post that peoples rights should be curtailed because it hurts your feelings. Most countries don't allow suicide like that, and for good reason. You can see the slippery slope in several EU countries where that already happened.
Oh, and not getting bricks through my windows, sent by xenophobes and racists. I know they are only trying to help me by gifting free replacement bricks for my old house, but it's kind of annoying.
Maybe you should be asking the question why that happened in the first place, it wasn't based on fault of your own. But rather due to the fault of other people who are similar to you, and government policies that looked the other way.
Om, nomnomnom...
You probably forgot about due to your ridiculously short millenial attention span.
Note that UID? I was born before millennials were even a twinkle in their parents eye.
Om, nomnomnom...
Maybe you should ask yourself why your country helped draft a plan that created the situation in the first place?
Because it was run by imperialist asshats. Not a very nuanced analysis, I know, but basically correct.
That doesn't make sense, since you regularly post that peoples rights should be curtailed because it hurts your feelings.
Er, no, you are mistaken. Hurt feelings alone are never enough to curtail rights.
Most countries don't allow suicide like that, and for good reason. You can see the slippery slope in several EU countries where that already happened.
Not really, it seems to be providing great relief to many people and all the fears about people being encouraged to kill themselves have not been realized.
Maybe you should be asking the question why that happened in the first place, it wasn't based on fault of your own. But rather due to the fault of other people who are similar to you, and government policies that looked the other way.
Not sure what you mean by that. They threw bricks at my house because they thought I was an Arab... I'm not, I'm half white British and half Asian, but you know how dumb these racists usually are. I really don't see the similarity.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Because it was run by imperialist asshats. Not a very nuanced analysis, I know, but basically correct.
So you're saying that the current state of the problems in the UK is because it was run by "imperialist asshats?" In the last 15 years...
Er, no, you are mistaken. Hurt feelings alone are never enough to curtail rights.
You mean where you've defended curtailing peoples rights for hurt feelings didn't happen? Have you changed your belief now that you're experiencing the heavy hand of the state?
Not sure what you mean by that. They threw bricks at my house because they thought I was an Arab... I'm not, I'm half white British and half Asian, but you know how dumb these racists usually are. I really don't see the similarity.
Most people can tell the difference between an arab and a not-arab. More likely you managed to piss someone off to the point where they stalked you and you got a brick through your window for your trouble. If your online personality is anything to go by, you'd project an in-general unlikable meat space personality. Then again, you could always try the "assimilate" route. My background is White-Japanese, and I don't identify as "Canadian and half-asian or "white-asian" I identify as Canadian, unfortunately the progressive left sees nothing but skin colour.
Om, nomnomnom...
So you're saying that the current state of the problems in the UK is because it was run by "imperialist asshats?" In the last 15 years...
No
You mean where you've defended curtailing peoples rights for hurt feelings didn't happen?
Yes
More likely you managed to piss someone off to the point where they stalked you and you got a brick through your window for your trouble.
Hard to imagine how. We never spoke, never interacted (beyond the free bricks he gifted me). I didn't even know his name until I saw the court documents. I think he had heard my name because his son was at school with my younger brother long ago, and thought it was Arabic or something. And then the EDL and Brexit happened and his generosity increased.
unfortunately the progressive left sees nothing but skin colour.
Okay, what does that have to do with me again? Are you saying I only see skin colour because this other guy thinks I'm an Arab, even though I'm white...
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC