Slashdot Mirror
To Disrupt America's 2020 Elections, Russian Internet Trolls Amplify Divisive Messages, Assemble 'Massive' Followings (time.com)
An anonymous reader quotes Bloomberg:
Russian internet trolls appear to be shifting strategy in their efforts to disrupt the 2020 U.S. elections, promoting politically divisive messages through phony social media accounts instead of creating propaganda themselves, cybersecurity experts say. The Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency may be among those trying to circumvent protections put in place by companies including Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. to find and remove fake content that hackers created to sow division among the American electorate in the 2016 presidential campaign. "Instead of creating content themselves, we see them amplifying content," said John Hultquist, the director of intelligence analysis at FireEye Inc. "Then it's not necessarily inauthentic, and that creates an opportunity for them to hide behind somebody else."
Other hackers are breaking into computing devices and using them to open large numbers of social media accounts, according to Candid Wueest, a senior threat researcher at Symantec Corp. The hacked devices are used to create many legitimate-looking users as well as believable followers and likes for those fake users... Wueest said he observed a decrease in the creation of new content by fake accounts from 2017 to 2018 and a shift toward building massive followings that could be used as platforms for divisive messages in 2020.
Facebook's head of cybersecurity policy responded that policing foreign influence campaigns is "an incredibly hard balance" between the need to slow down bad actors while maintaining "meaningful public discussion."
Other hackers are breaking into computing devices and using them to open large numbers of social media accounts, according to Candid Wueest, a senior threat researcher at Symantec Corp. The hacked devices are used to create many legitimate-looking users as well as believable followers and likes for those fake users... Wueest said he observed a decrease in the creation of new content by fake accounts from 2017 to 2018 and a shift toward building massive followings that could be used as platforms for divisive messages in 2020.
Facebook's head of cybersecurity policy responded that policing foreign influence campaigns is "an incredibly hard balance" between the need to slow down bad actors while maintaining "meaningful public discussion."
To Disrupt America's 2020 Elections, UK Slashdot Editors Amplify Divisive Slashdot Posts, Assemble 'Massive' Followings
Those in power are just jealous they no longer have the monopoly that they were never ment to have in the first place.
Remember that cornerstone of American Democracy? The "better educated voter"? No? You should.
I live in Norway. Russia is my neighbour. I have been to both USA and Russia. I see both as friends, and none as enemies. I don't get why these allegations should result in nuclear war (it seems that this is the goal of those who want to drive Russia against USA). If someone is meddling with your election, you take steps to fix your election. Exploits will be exploits, regardless.
cringe. this stuff needs to be kept in its containment site (reddit)
We Don't Need another cold war... Thanks! ;-D
You won't stop Fox News repeating the Russian Memes, you cannot tell the difference between RT and Fox, and haven't been able to since Obama era. Whatever token thing Facebook does won't change a thing when it comes to the National Enquirer and Fox repeating those fake stories.
Try this, when they're both running commentary shows, flip between Fox and RT. Same talking points, same lies, interchangeable.
Putin never takes over a country by external force, he leverages the traitors inside. That's you Fox and Friends, Hannity, Pirro....
<Satire>My fellow Americans, this is why we need to eliminate the threat of Democracy. Once only the properly-educated are allowed to choose our great nation's leaders, will we be safe from the threat of Commie election interference! Do you want spies, illegal aliens, and godless heathens casting your vote for you?! This voting test will ensure that No True American will be ineligible to vote.</Satire>
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
With some graph theory, shouldn't those (mostly) closed cycles of accounts be easy to individuate and cordon off ? Better than delete them, just hide their messages outside their own cycles, similar to -1 messages here on /.
Non-Linux Penguins ?
So was Hillary a Russian troll when she declared a quarter of America a "basket of deplorables"?
Help make this world better. And oh, Amazon. And Google.
Candidates lie about everything already. What's the point spreading more misinformation?
Don't believe everything you hear. In fact believe almost nothing you hear. Most of what you hear is someone lying to you, usually to get you to repeat their falsehood at no charge. Combined with newspeak it is a powerful weapon many of us employ for others and get nothing in return.
And that Trump would investigate Hillary and other enemies!
Meanwhile the Dems in Congress...
This will ultimately lead to stringent election propaganda laws which could be used to stifle free and protected speech among groups of ANY political party for any reason and use the Russians as the patsy just like the Arab hijackers were used to undermine much of the Constitution after 911.
Meanwhile the dems in Congress
Lol I read that in a movie voice.
I thought of Super Friends.
When they try to prevent you from finding out more about their game, you know you don't want what they're selling
At least sheâ(TM)s not going to live out her last days in a federal penitentiary.
Just sad, that instead of actually making sure the elections are true and correct and uninfluenced, Americans here are just yelling at each other about which party is inventing the situation. In which case you all are pretty fucking dishonorable pieces of garbage.
Or they are just Russian trolls doing exactly what this article is about.
When does it become a reverse psychology thing?
Let me explain who benefits from blaming Russia (hint its the DNC in the US).
Currently the DNC in the US is facing these issues in the upcoming election...
A KKK member as the VA Gov that they are not calling for him to resign.
A serial rapist as the VA Lt. Gov they are refusing to impeach or call to resign.
The House Majority Speaker (the real one AOC) is going to be charged with embezzling $1Million of her campaign funds for personal use illegally
The DNC is unable to mention anti-Semitism is bad
Many members of the DNC support killing of live born babies and calling it abortion
They want to protect illegals who attempt to illegally buy firearms or kill US citizens
If you eat a steak or fly a plane they want to make you a criminal
Now if someone points all that out, they have quite a hill to overcome to get people on their side. There really is no way to counter all this bad stuff they are supporting, and all of it is completely true. However, if you can convince people Russians are saying this they get a head start at getting over it.
In 2016 they literally rigged a national election, the DNC primary, and have not been held responsible. This is because their supporters, the ones whos votes were not counted, were told Russia hacked the election (they didn't). All "Russia did" was show how the election was rigged, and in reality no one has shown evidence that Russia was the one that showed it. Evidence has shown a DNC member released it because he was upset about Bernie.
So they have a lot of problems, and were successful in fooling their dumber supporters that Russia was responsible for their bad deeds in the past.
It has been how many years since we started hearing about Russian hacking/trolling/misinformation? So long now that we just take it for granted that it is not the fault of the reader, but of some outside undefinable source.
Let's try something that is almost unheard of in today's world; personal responsibility. In other words, don't be stupid. Cross reference the things you believe to be facts, don't subscribe to one sided news outlets, don't blindly forward stupid shit in your feed, delete your facebook account.
We have more information at our fingertips then at any other time in history, yet we put on blinders and read only things that confirm our bias and at times our bats hit crazy conspiracy theories.
This is the same Bloomburg with the hidden chips in Supermicro motherboards?
Or is this another case of 'Good Wikileaks/Bad Wikileaks'?
Time magazine and the rest of the globalist corporate mainstream media talking about divisiveness and meddling in elections. The hypocrisy is staggering.
Enough with the "Russian Trolls" propaganda. Face it, Hillary had ZERO chance of defeating Trump. Spoiler alert: Guess who will win the 2020 election? (Hint: Are you tired of winning yet!?)
The establishment and their media cronies are the ones responsible. They always demonized republicans, called them racists, ever since LBJ lost the Civil Rights Act battle to them.
And now it's that same establishment trying to deflect their own divisiveness unto some strange boogeyman. And the media cronies repeat and spread for their master. Yes that means you Slashdot Editors. My god has this site gone to shit.
"Not to mention all the idiots who use words like boxen."
Anonymous Coward on Monday August 04, @06:49PM
with MORE votes than trump. democracy lost.
Is telling the world that "a high school kid should be thrown into a wood chipper head first because he wore a red hat" divisive?
Can someone point out a Russian message more divisive than that one?
Enough with this neocon BS, save this kind of thing for Faux News watchers.
Look, it's entirely possible that certain Russian groups are having fun screwing with the US. I mean, the US has mucked around in other people's countries for decades, so why not?
That said, it's pretty stupid to blame the Russians for the current, divisive politics in the US. The locals (I'm in Europe, so I'm not involved here)...the locals are doing a bang-up job all by themselves. Decades ago, conservatives didn't much approve of liberal opinions. Downright Puritan, sometimes. Then came the 60's and 70's, and the progressive movement was born and grew. Since roughly the 80's, the progressives have defined whole new levels of intolerance. If you disagree with them, you are not only wrong, you are evil. It's the reaction to this intolerance, not any sort of Russian hacking, that got Trump elected.
The progressives just cannot imagine that half of the country actually disagrees with them. It's so much easier to find some external enemy to blame - it's not that the progs are wrong, or that they've alienated half the country - it's those damned Ruskies.
A few years ago, I thought that the growing backlash might result in some self-examination and a grudging-but-peaceful retreat from this intolerance. Sadly, the idea that the progressives themselves have become the intolerant ones - that differing opinions can legitimately exist - this seems to be beyond their comprehension. Which means that the way forward is likely to be increasingly vicious and even violent.
It ain't the Russians driving this, it's the progressive agenda, and the intolerant people who support it.
Enjoy life! This is not a dress rehearsal.
Those who ask for Proof, get -1 Ratings..... Because "Proof" is not something liberals need to believe something as "True"
hello friend please visit our corporate gift item section
The US isnâ(TM)t a democracy. Itâ(TM)s a constitutional republic. The election worked as intended. The only people who want a hive mind populace of only 6 of the nations largest cities deciding the results of our national elections are the people who are butthurt that they lost.
... You're doing it wrong.
WTF are you talking about? if there are more people voting for X and the result is Y, then your democracy is broken simple as that.
Exactly. How is this different than what organizations like ShareBlue and Correct The Record do? It sounds identical to the accusation in the headline. Furthermore, Israel is far more of a problem than Russia. That is obvious to anyone who is not compromised (likely though the gigantic worldwide blackmail network we've allowed the Zionists to build, just like we let them steal our Uranium to build the bomb), a zionist or a paid shill.
Since no meaningful public discussion happens on Facebook, it should be an easy balance.
Remember, folks:
Russian bots == okay.
NPC == DEHUMANIZING REEEE!!!
The US isnâ(TM)t a democracy.
I think you missed something...
What a load of crap. No specifics at all, we are just supposed to take some government official's word that some Russian actor has a "massive" following? Are wen in Russia or something?
This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
Pro tip: The Russians have been trying to influence elections since 1918 and even before. I'd love to see everyone gets this upset over illegal aliens voting ("THERE'S NO EVIDENCE OF THAT, YOU RIGHT-WING TRUMPIST TROLL!" Touche', There's no evidence Russia had a meaningful effect on the elections either). It all depends on whose side you're on
As a non-American on Facebook, every time I voice my opinion about anything related to politics, I am potentially influencing the outcome of the US elections....
Participatory Governance : The only feasible option for a real democracy, where everyone really does have a say.
Wake up. We are a republic not a democracy. You should have learned that in grade school. That's why Hillary lost.
Funny how this is marked as troll, just go read some history about USA involvement and meddling in other countries (are you scared what you will find or is it forbidden to read?)
Either you start acting reasonable or the shit you are making will just get thicker and smellier.
Thankfully we are NOT A DEMOCRACY.
Otherwise every ill educated college idiot and illegal alien would vote for destructive socialist candidates and policies.
Venezuela is only your most recent example of socialisms complete and utter systemic failure. Why can you not read and understand a simp,e history or economics book?
Just saying the Russians are spreading messages is not helpful, the correct course of action is to figure out the messages and let people know. What people don't realize is that they are playing both sides of the fence, however it seems the news only talks about the right-wing disinfo campaigns. We know for a fact that they do the same thing to galvanize left-wing partisans as well, so why don't we expose that? It would do a lot to ensure people on the right that this isn't just about silencing their views, and would help convince them of the problem. Making it a one-party issue only makes it easier for the trolls to defend.
Myself I became a believer after I encountered a few online who were trying to promote ethnostatism in stilted English while posing as "Americans", in a sports forum of all places. From what I've read stirring up racial animosity seems to be a big part of the plan, including things like drumming up support for BLM while at the same time marshaling forces against it.
Only the communication was not ok. What the citizens voted on was the Electoral College, whose members then elect the President of the U.S.. Each state of the U.S. gets represented by two electors for the two senators (as in the Senate) and by as many members as it sends to the House. And how those members are elected locally, is determined by the states as they see fit. Most states use a winner-takes-it-all approach.
That by the special arithmetics of the current distribution of votes only two parties sent electors to the Electoral College at all, and that those numbers aren't proportional ot the absolute number of votes across all states, so be it. There is even a mathematical proof that no election system exists that in all cases elects the "right" candidate.
Voting is just one element of a democracy, albeit a very visual one. More important is the following question: How much blood has to be shed to get rid of an unwanted government? For the U.S., the answer is 'none'. Just wait for the next election day and then elect differently.
These trolls are especially active and effective here in the Slashdot comments. A good opportunity to discredit western intellectuals (nerds) and their fact-based conclusions. As evidence I submit everything posted above this.
All you need to vote is a driver's license, and illegals have those.
No way leftists, in sanctuary cities and states, are going to overly investigate the legality of those voting. Not when it's very well known that immigrants, legal or otherwise, vote democrat 80% of the time.
While everybody is in a wad about Russia, nobody will notice millions of illegals rigging the entire election process.
The greatest presidential landside in US history was won by 17 million votes. There are, at least, 22 million illegals, and they practically all vote democrat. Do the maths.
by ver basic propaganda...
or five eyes operative whose job is to spend all day every day posting carefully designed messages and memes.
If you're a US citizen, and graduated high school, then you should sue your school system for not having taught you the basics of the US Constitution.
If you're not a US citizen then:
There were huge debates at the Constitutional Convention at how best to deal with unequal sized states. (For example large states such as France and Germany in the EU and small states such as Luxembourg and Cyprus.) The solution was to give Electoral Votes close to the size of the state population and then make it a winner take all scenario for each state. The purpose for this was to prevent a candidate from racking up the votes in a large state and thus swamping, and making irrelevant, the wishes of the small state.
Imagine you lived in a union where you joined for common defense; had a common currency, open borders internally, and no internal tariffs - but just about everything else left to the states. Imagine there were huge social and economic differences between these states in which there was little to no common ground.
In the 1780s the main point of contentions were slavery and agriculture v merchant trading policies.
Today we have other issues.
This is why the electoral system helps keep peace. A large part of our current discord comes from trying to make a multi-cultural, continent-wide country have one-size fits all laws. That doesn't work - and it surely doesn't work when it's unequally enforced.
Here's an example we have the crazy scenario where it's close to illegal for one person to transport his legally owned firearms to another (and zero exception for people who make an honest mistake in how they transport these items). Furthermore a resident of a state (say NY) can't buy, own, and keep a firearm in another state. WTF is this? A law that prevents you from legal actions elsewhere. This is like a state making drugs illegal in its state and preventing its citizens from using drugs in another.
The electoral system is there to prevent the large states from stomping on the small states. If not for the electoral college and separation of powers there cannot be a stable union. Take a look at the collapse of the EU.
If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
sometimes they like to shove it in your face.
Yes, I despise the word "divisive." It's used in a very Orwellian manner.
A: "We want to take your stuff and force you to behave like we want."
B: "Thanks, but no."
A: "There you go spreading your divisive rhetoric again."
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
Anonymity on the Internet is useful to hide from corrupt governments...but they can use anonymity too.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Then it's not necessarily inauthentic
So, the "problem" then is that they are "amplifying" true things?
It was her turn!!!!!!!
Learn to spell.
This social media thing certainly didn't turn out to be a shit-show or anything.
Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
Shut down social media.
I think that due the proliferation of smartphones and social media spreading propaganda is way, way easier than what happened in the Cold War. To listen to Voice of Russia or Voice of America one had to use a short wave receiver and knowingly what was tuning in.
Nowadays it's difficult for an user of social media to know where they are readin is coming from, so propaganda is way sthealthier. and really pervasive about it.
http://archive.fo/GmRqZ
It’s Time for the Elites to Rise Up Against the Ignorant Masses
As if you need the republicans when you have the russian mafia running the US right wing
How about this for an idea. Look at how the candidates have vote or what core beliefs they lean to. Ignore all the stupid "russian influence" and other garbage and then vote. Don't vote off emotions. Ignore all the stupid.
and shut off Facebook (insert dumb "website" here) and go get some fresh air.
The Democrats are already lining up excuses for why their terrible candidate lost.
Also a key point, at that same Constitutional Convention, it was decided that nothing laid down in that document should not be subject to change by the will of the people, because the founding fathers were wise enough to know they couldn't predict the future, nor lay down a perfect plan to ensure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to the people it would protect.
No, it's apparently Trump's cult that can't accept that he won. Over 2 years AFTER the election and they're still WHINING about Hillary Clinton.
Get over it. Trump may still be campaigning against her, but she's not running.
Lol. They don't recognize it for being the farce that it is. They recognize that they LOST because of it jackass.
All the shrieking and howling that occurred after the election and finger pointing etc proves that the Democrats collectively lost their minds when Trump win. And I say that as a Never Trumper who convinced several people to not vote for him. You guys were literally blaming everything and everyone whether it made sense or not, including people like myself. You can't do that and then be expected to be taken seriously.
It's like watching a small child having a tantrum, rip apart his room, blame his parents, his friends, his school, etc etc etc... Then suddenly be like 'Its all the fault of XYZ!!!' and expect to be taken seriously. Nope. Sorry Bucky. All your tantrums prove you aren't in a right state of mind right now.
It's a huge country made of separate and largely sovereign states, not a choosing of class president in a body of 500 students.
Again, you fail to understand the difference between a republic and a democracy. Your brain is broken.
After Trump won, you say?
It's almost like you're utterly clueless about politics beyond the talking points you've been handed...
he needs external enemies to hold on to power. Also, he's managed to gourd us out of a missile treaty that will allow him to openly develop short range missiles that used to be banned. He'll need those if he wants to go after more territory, which with what he's doing in Ukraine he obviously does.
One of the major problems with Trump and his people is they're not very good at what they do but they don't seem to know or care. As near as anyone can tell Trump got talked into exiting Syria in one phone call from the president of Turkey. Somebody at Putin's level can play Trump like a harp.
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I mean, the GOP's main strategy is cultivating a divisive climate on hot button topics & in/out-group labelling. They're spending a lot of money on this & are also getting considerable support & amplification from traditional corporate media. Are they annoyed that Russia is spending a fraction of what they are on it & getting all the credit?
Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
the purpose was to shift power from the populous cities (which were full of working class citizens) and to rural areas where the wealthy lived and had their plantations and a tight control on the voting electorate.
But they don't teach you that in school because it doesn't fit the desired narrative. Anyway, go read a book called "A People's History of the United States" for starters. We are one hell of a fucked up country.
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So many posts on places even like Slashdot are designed to create vitriol between different schools of thought, political parties, you name it. I don't know how many are pure trolls and how many might just be pissed off at "the other side", but the best way to get past this stuff is to take a step back and evaluate all this stuff pushing our hate buttons. Don't let the trolls control your emotions. Hating everything and everybody is not the best way to go through life. And the headlines of people doing stupid and hate-worthy things do not represent the majority of any subset of people.
If everybody would post a useful/positive post every time they saw a troll post, it would go a long way to getting rid of the unneeded hate bandwagon going around the internet these days.
You're an idiot. McCarthy made wild accusations. Trump is credibly with evidence and guilty pleas already established to be a traitor and money launderer for the Russian mob. Stop lying, GOP faggots, you'll live longer.
This is why the electoral system helps keep peace. A large part of our current discord comes from trying to make a multi-cultural, continent-wide country have one-size fits all laws. That doesn't work - and it surely doesn't work when it's unequally enforced.
Here's an example we have the crazy scenario where it's close to illegal for one person to transport his legally owned firearms to another (and zero exception for people who make an honest mistake in how they transport these items).
Are you complaining that we have "one-size fits all laws" or that we don't?
In the case of guns, you might have a valid complaint since the 2nd Amendment should override the 10th. I'm not going to debate the 2nd Amendment here, but clearly the Amendments apply to all states. Isn't that "one-size fits all"? Or do you want the federal government to step in and impose a more specific version of "one-size fits all"?
Do you have any examples of a "one-size fits all" law that the Federal government is trying to impose on us? Mostly such laws have to do with our rights as outlined in the Bill of Rights and other amendments.
As an American who has freely moved from one state to another several times, I think the Senate is enough to balance the small and large states. The President should be elected by the people IMO. As it stands now, someone in Wyoming's vote counts more than mine and mine counts more than someone's in California.
The EC was a necessary compromise in our early days to hold the Union together and had a lot to do with slavery, just as the "three-fifths compromise" conceded that slaves were at least 60% human. Back then states also did act more independently and wielded more power, but over time the federal government has gained power and within that, the Presidency has gained power as well.
What's the point of even voting for President if you live in Texas or California? The state where I currently reside is at least sometimes considered "purple", but it's still quite predictably blue when it comes to voting for President.
I guarantee you if Trump had won the popular vote and Clinton had won the EC, Trump's supporters would be rioting in the streets. In places like the Fox News comments section you'll see some openly advocating for civil war so the socialists don't take over our country. I really hope they're trolling or that DHS is looking into those posts. Maybe they haven't noticed what civil war has done for Syria in the last few years.
If you don't think Trump supporters would be so hypocritical to turn on the EC, just look at their idol:
Here's 3 tweets from 2012 that Trump later deleted:
“He [Obama] lost the popular vote by a lot and won the election. We should have a revolution in this country!” (Nov. 6)
“The phoney [sic] electoral college made a laughing stock out of our nation. The loser one!” (Nov. 6)
“More votes equals a lossrevolution!” (Nov. 7)
Those should disturb you, not only because Trump is taking a different position and he wrote "one" instead on "won", but because Obama actually won both the popular vote AND the EC so it wasn't even an issue that year.
He didn't delete these:
We can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!
Most U.S. citizens actually recognize the farce of the Electorate college for the undemocratic system of arcane chicanery it is
I believe you're right. I wasn't a huge fan of George W. Bush, but I voted for him and while I got the result I wanted I was not at all comfortable with how that result was determined even if I ignored all the problems in Florida. Initially I still supported the electoral college, but it was the first time any of us alive then had actually seen the electoral college go against the popular vote and after considering it for a while I couldn't justify it.
And to think we could have fixed this before I was even old enough to vote:
The closest the United States has come to abolishing the Electoral College occurred during the 91st Congress (1969–1971)
were thinner than the Garlic slices in Goodfellas. Russia also did a ton of work on Facebook, twitter and other non advertising sites. This coming from an ex-KGB guy that specialized in information warfare.
I think it's naive to underestimate the effect Russia had on our elections. Doing so will leave us vulnerable to additional attacks. That said, I'm happy to see Candidates like Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard pushing policy non-stop. Let the CIA spooks, the FBI and Mueller take care of Russian interference.
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The winner takes all scenario isn't enshrined in the US constitution. It's an individual's state constitution that determines how votes in the state will be divided up. Some states actually DO split the electoral vote based on the proportion of votes in that state. This is how IT should be done.
But Trump had the most people at his inauguration ever!
-- Cheers!
hold an election every year and bankrupt the sons-a-bitches!!!!! /s
It's American civil rights extremists furthering their agenda of seizing control of the USA, through whatever means necessary. "Give 'em an inch, and they'll take a mile."
Tell it to the warden, Trump traitors.
As far as I understand, from the scant amount of sociological experimental research I've done, is that media can PRIME us for certain topics, but doesn't actually influence our opinions on that subject. Meaning that media can, for example, get us talking about guns but won't exactly be the driving force for how we feel about them.
Granted, if a presidential candidate ticks every box except for their gun stance and media is only focusing on that gun stance, you will miss the rest and might vote against them on the issue (even if their gun stance wouldn't outweigh the rest).
So if a candidate has one controversial thing about them, and all you hear about is that thing, of course that is what is going to be focused on. Look at the Kavanaugh thing... the media wouldn't shut up about the rape allocations so he got in based on that rather than his voting and statement history (which I personally don't like, I didn't want him in).
Basically it takes two to tango, and both side are lapping up the priming instead of looking at what really matters.
If your IQ was above room temp you'd know those two aren't mutually exclusive and the USA is,ostensibly, both.
voting rights were very different then and now. Cities had large concentrations of _eligible_ voters. Today even ex-cons can often vote (as it should be, nothing should cause a person to lose their right to vote, if we have so many ax murders and pedophiles they can swing elections maybe we should do something about that first).
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Longer Subject: should have been "Can historical problems be solved or only experienced?"
That would be a really funny version of history if (1) I knew nothing about history, and (2) It wasn't part of your delusional thinking (that leads to the conclusion in your sig). Main responses are (a) Open your eyes (unless you're a troll, in which case you are probably paid not to talk about those self-evident truths) and (b) Accept that the situation has changed since the 1700s.
If you actually want smaller government, then you need to focus on what drives the government to be bigger. My own theory is that the main drive has become excessively large corporations, corporate cancers that were not really conceivable in those days (even though the East India Company did exist and could have been seen as a warning of sorts). In terms of solutions, the parts of government that deal with corporations could be smaller if the corporations themselves were smaller and less dangerous--which would also have the pleasant side effect of increasing freedom (per my sig).
As regards support for third parties, it will never work under the winner-take-all system that is hard-coded into the Constitution. It could be fixed through the brilliant innovation (at that time) of a (major) Constitutional Amendment, but we've reached the point of internal division where we can't do that, either. I'd prefer evolution, but change is going to happen, and if the paths to evolutionary change remain blocked, the alternative is rather horrible and messy to contemplate--and there is no certainty that the outcome will be better than the prior mess.
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
But this is just for the president. Which is really not supposed to be the most important elected position. if you want to make a difference, then vote for all the other positions out there, house, senate, governor, state legistlature, dog catcher, etc. But by focusing so incredibly heavily on the president a lot of people are confused into thinking they just need to vote for someone on their side and grant that person dictatorial powers.
And yet today we have a strong movement of people who insist that we must absolutely follow the original wording to the letter and we should never dare to try to interpret the constitution for a modern era or even attempt to discern the original intent from the authors' other writings.
The Democrats founded the KKK. There were only more Democrats because there were more total Democrats at the time. I put the actual numbers from your link below.
> And as a result of the ensuing party shift, many Northern Republicans became Democrats. This is called the Southern Realignment, and it is one of the major reasons why US politics is where it is today, instead of where it was in the 1930s to 1950s.
So name all those politicians who switched parties? Why didn't the black vote change until the 80s if the realignment was earlier?
Here's something that covers the shift better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiprVX4os2Y
> This is also the end of the process where the Democratic and Republican parties flipped who was Left and Right. And why you'll hear lots of Republicans falsely talking about how Republicans are all about civil rights - the parties are not in the same political positions as they used to be.
Even if we take this all at face value, that means that the Democrats were the racists when that meant literal slavery and the KKK. And the Republicans, who originally split from the Democrats in the then Democratic-Republican party over the issue of slavery, were the racists when racism in the days when the media tells us that milk and the OK hand sign are racist dogwhistles and white people are bad because they have white privilege.
Meanwhile, MLK was a Republican.
===
The original House version:[22]
Democratic Party: 152–96 (61–39%)
Republican Party: 138–34 (80–20%)
Cloture in the Senate:[23]
Democratic Party: 44–23 (66–34%)
Republican Party: 27–6 (82–18%)
The Senate version:[22]
Democratic Party: 46–21 (69–31%)
Republican Party: 27–6 (82–18%)
The Senate version, voted on by the House:[22]
Democratic Party: 153–91 (63–37%)
Republican Party: 136–35 (80–20%)
A secretary of state that allows a government diplomatic compound in Benghazi to be attacked because its really just a place to house a server with higher than top secret clearance info called "Special Access Programs" and you are using the Clinton foundation to sell this information and collect the money from this treasonous betrayal.
When this all breaks out and the dust settles - no democrat is going to get elected president ever again. Obama and Hillary will be charged with High Treason.
Forget about this Russian collusion rubbish - every government has a disinformation program. You are being distracted from the real issues.
That's totally the reason why the South, to this day, is nothing but 100% BLUE DEMOCRAT. Amirite?
Goddamned idiot.
Racists gonna race.
You murkins deserve what you elect.
This right here. All the senators and other congress critters just aim fire at whoever the president is to cover for their stupidity and crimes. And the main problem here in the US is its about the only bipartisan thing that happens..
Take that elitist scum! Like you know what's better for us. That's complete bullshit, because you don't! And because you don't, we'll need to make sure that a minority decides for you. For the good of the nation. Obviously, we know what's better for you.
You jackasses have called me a Russian troll more times than I care to count. Unfortunately for you, I'm a US citizen and am going to vote.
The electoral system is there to prevent the large states from stomping on the small states.
This. Nationwide Clinton got 2.8 million votes more than Trump. In California her advantage was 4.2 million. That's exactly the situation Electoral college was designed for: one heavy populated state flips the nationwide vote.
You tell 'em, Boris!
"we should never dare to try to interpret the constitution for a modern era"
For some reason, whenever revisionists start to "interpret" the Constitution, it's always an interpretation that reduces personal freedom or gives more power to the federal government. It's almost as though "interpreting the Constitution" is just a euphemism for "ignoring that pesky Bill of Rights".
Good work, Ivan! You've earned a 200 ruble bonus for that post!
Hardly. Major reinterpretations include telling people who are arrested that they have the right to remain silent and to get an attorney. Loss of freedom?
So facts are considered trolling now?
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
The vote disparity equaled one county around LA and one in NYC.
Both of those places have massive illegal immigrant populations, and do not enforce voter protections.
It's impossible to know how many illegal immigrants voted for Hillary because they block all efforts to study it.
You nabob, that's not "reinterpreting", it's READING THE WORDS ALREADY WRITTEN.
For shit's sake learn how to fucking read.
Meanwhile Tommy Robinson is being dragged back into court again, for the crime of reporting and exposing the corrupt BBC. I wonder how many months of solitary confinement he'll get this time? And comedians like Count Dankula are being unpersoned, made unhireable, and have a target on their back for the crime of edgy humor. All while ISIS fighters are being welcomed back with open arms.
Yes, please, tell us Yanks more about how we should handle free speech and democracy.
I appreciate the insightful analysis, and mean no disrespect, but it seems as if it'll only amount to a thought experiment while the political sphere is still flush with cash from corporate donations to super PACs.
Also please consider branching out to alternative subscriber services, such as subscribestar. I didn't find you there.
We? I doubt the public ever had any say in CIA ops, include Project Mockingbird which was used to manipulate our own press. Then the Smith–Mundt Act gets nullified, allowing the state department to direct its propaganda on U.S. citizens.
So why would a foreign power be exclusively using 'false' information to attack our own fake news? If anything, truth is a potent weapon against institutions built on lies and corruption.
Why doubt the truthfulness of the press? Because the one time Trump gets near universal positive coverage, is when he's lobbing missiles at targets in Syria, in the midst of a proxy war where the US gov was actively arming insurgents and islamist fighters. The fires haven't even been put out, and now look who is arguing for intervention in Venezuela, a nation that is sitting on an ocean of light crude.
Point is, if you want to be utterly misinformed and conditioned to believe false narratives, keep your information bubble confined to the sphere of US corporate media.
And at least Russian propaganda is entertaining.