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Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4408 on: November 25, 2021, 12:50:21 AM »
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FBI probes another election data breach linked to MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell



The FBI is investigating a second local election data breach linked to conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell, this time in Ohio, after raiding the home of a Colorado election clerk accused of leaking voting system passwords last week.

FBI and state investigators are looking at an attempted breach of an Ohio county's election system at the office of John Hamercheck, the Republican president of the Lake County Board of Supervisors, The Washington Post first reported last week. The incident appears to be similar to a data breach in Mesa County, Colorado, where election clerk Tina Peters is under federaI investigation after voting system passwords were leaked to right-wing blogs and QAnon conspiracy theorists. Data from both breaches were featured at the MyPillow founder's conspiracy-laden "cyber symposium" in August. Both Hamercheck and Peters discussed voter fraud claims with Lindell's sidekick Douglas Frank before the breaches, according to the Post.

State and county officials told the Post that no sensitive information was obtained in the Ohio breach but they determined that a private laptop was plugged into the county network at Hamercheck's office. Routine network traffic data obtained in the breach was distributed at Lindell's event.

The FBI confirmed that it is investigating the breach. A spokesman for Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, told the Post that investigators believe that a government official "facilitated the attempted breach."

Officials said several layers of security prevented the laptop from accessing sensitive information.

"It's concerning that somebody would — especially somebody in a government office, somebody who is an elected official, or somebody who's part of county government — would not realize all of those safeguards exist and would try to engage in some sort of a vigilante investigation," LaRose told the outlet. "The good news is that our system of cybersecurity in Ohio is among the best in the nation."

Hamercheck denied any knowledge of the breach during a board meeting on Tuesday, saying there has been "much false or misleading information" about what happened.

"To my knowledge, there was never an attempt to access or breach the Lake County Board of Elections computer network that day," Hamercheck claimed, though he did not elaborate.

Hamercheck said he has not been interviewed in the investigation but vowed to share more information "as soon as we are finished gathering and verifying the appropriate materials."

The breach came after Frank, a part-time math and science teacher who has claimed to have discovered secret algorithms used to rig the presidential election against former President Donald Trump, traveled the country to recruit local election officials into Lindell's conspiracy theory campaign, ostensibly aimed at undoing the 2020 election result and "reinstating" Trump. (There is no constitutional pathway for doing that.) Frank previously told the outlet he had traveled to more thant 30 states and met with 100 election administrators, claiming that his presentation had convinced Peters to pursue his baseless conspiracy theory. He told the Post he had no recollection of speaking with Hamercheck but the newspaper reported that Frank took part in a phone conversation with the official earlier this year.

"Do I remember that call? No," Frank said. "Does it sound like me? Yes."

County records obtained by the Post show that Hamercheck, an engineer, used his security badge to swipe into the offices where the breach originated multiple times and that a private laptop was connected to the county network.

Local resident Lois Osborn pressed Hamercheck on the breach during Tuesday's board meeting after saying she was "very disturbed" by the news reports.

"There was a breach coming from John Hamercheck's office," she told the board, calling for him to be censured. "In my mind, this was something very inappropriate for an elected official in Lake County."

Ron Young, one of the other commissioners, told Osborn it was too early to consider sanctions.

"We have very sophisticated, very skilled law enforcement — nationally, state level, locally — working on this issue," Young said. "And I think it'd be absurd for me to stand up and offer some sort of censure of this gentleman, who at least from my observation has always performed ethically, morally and properly."

The FBI and state authorities last week raided the home of Peters and three others, including Sherronna Bishop, who previously worked as campaign manager for Rep. Lauren Boebert's, R-Colo. Bishop has spoken at events with Peters and introduced Frank during a recent event in Colorado. Search warrants in the raid suggest the FBI is investigating potential wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and damage protected computers.

State investigators say Peters shut off surveillance in her office and allowed an unauthorized person to access voting machine servers, data from which were later leaked to conspiracy theorists and featured at Lindell's August symposium.

A judge last month barred Peters from overseeing elections. Peters has denied wrongdoing and accused the Justice Department and state officials of political bias.

Lindell has used the leaked data and Frank's "research" to push wild conspiracy theories that Dominion voting machines were set up to flip votes from Trump to President Joe Biden. Dominion sued Lindell and other TrumpWorld conspiracists for $1.3 billion over the false allegations earlier this year.

After his August "cyber symposium" failed to show any evidence of a massive election-fraud conspiracy, Lindell on Tuesday announced that he would hold a 96-hour "Thanks-a-thon" live stream on his web channel to rehash his claims.

Lindell promised over the summer to bring a fantastical lawsuit to the Supreme Court "before Thanksgiving" that would overturn the election and reinstate Trump. Lindell claimed that "tons" of state attorneys general were ready to sign on to the suit, though he did not name a single one. On Tuesday, Lindell appeared to reverse field once again, claiming that attorneys general had backed away from his case under pressure from Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel, who admitted last week that Biden won the election — which Lindell sees as another part of a grand conspiracy.

"You can't tell me why Ronna McDaniel, the head of the RNC, made a statement saying Biden won three days before this Supreme Court complaint was supposed to go to the Supreme Court," he said. "What about the timing of that, America!"

https://www.rawstory.com/fbi-probes-another-election-data-breach-linked-to-mypillow-ceo-mike-lindell/

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4408 on: November 25, 2021, 12:50:21 AM »


Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4409 on: November 25, 2021, 01:07:12 AM »
Here's another perfect example of how these media companies protected Trump. They refused to release the outtakes of Trump using racial slurs and showing more of his vile behavior. And some people still want to falsely claim there is a "liberal media".   

Trump family suffers another legal defeat as they try to hide infamous 'Apprentice' outtakes

A team of attorneys will finally view the guarded outtakes of former President Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice. The case involves questions about whether Trump and his family knowingly pulled people into investing in a scam.

Due to years of corruption in the 1950's game show laws require that cameras continue rolling even during breaks. The Daily Beast reported that Tuesday U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield ordered MGM studio that the footage must be made available at a secure location for investigators to review.

The case only involves the scams, however. Comedian Tom Arnold said that those tapes show several times when Trump would use racially charged language including the N-word.

"I've seen this compilation tape," Arnold told Jimmy Kimmel in 2018. "If you're on one of these reality shows -- there's compilation tapes of me doing horrible, disgusting things. Of course, I do horrible, disgusting things, but I'm also not running for president. I remember this tape I saw, and I described it exactly. He says the N-word, he calls Eric the R-word. Now they call it the N-word tape. I have friends that worked on that show, and I explained it exactly."

When speaking to CNN, Arnold claimed that he even knows the exact episodes to go to in finding the worst of Trump.

"My whole goal, really, is to get one 12-hour day of the boardrooms shoot, because if America could see that, they'd know what's going on in the White House right now, how incompetent the guy is," Arnold said. "That's really my goal. It's not to hear one N-word -- and by the way, you'd hear much worse than that."

Because the judge is putting the investigators in a secure location, it isn't likely that those videos showing the worst of Trump will ever see the light of day.

Producer Mark Burnett has long held the tapes close and MGM continues to refuse to indicate why the tapes could be so damaging if released.

"In court filings made last week, the Beverly Hills studio would only describe what's in the tapes in a document that remains sealed from public view," the Beast reported. "But lawyers for these four scorned entrepreneurs, know what they're looking for: anything that shows Donald Trump and his kids knew that they were duping would-be investors by leading them to ACN, a multi-level marketing company based in North Carolina."

Trump and his children, Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka and Eric were "characters" that focused on recruitment, portraying themselves as businessmen and women with the qualifications of being judges. ACN was a major feature on the show because it promised investments and even had a challenge where celebrities would have to produce a commercial for the company. ACN reportedly had a new phone, the "Iris 5000," but the company was a disaster facing financial problems.

The lawsuit for the tapes comes from a 2018 complaint by four entrepreneurs who claim that they were hoodwinked into joining ACN's multi-level marketing scheme. They only did it because of the Trumps' endorsement.

"Lynn Chadwick of Pennsylvania says she was duped into the program in 2013, while Catherine McKoy and Millard Williams of California started in 2014. Markus Frazier of Maryland says he signed up in 2016. None of them stuck around past year two," the report recalled."

Going through the tapes will likely take weeks. Judge Schofield said that the lawyers for the entrepreneurs "shall review the requested footage onsite" and they can copy the relevant clips.

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-apprentice-tapes-lawsuit/


Angry Entrepreneurs Will Finally See Trump’s ‘Apprentice’ Outtakes

The Trump kids are at the center of a scam lawsuit, and a federal judge has ordered that behind-the-scenes tapes of “Apprentice” will be reviewed by plaintiffs in an MGM safe room.

After more than a year of delays, a team of attorneys will finally make a trip to Los Angeles next month to review highly guarded, never-before-seen outtakes of Celebrity Apprentice—seeking any evidence that the Trump family knew they were suckering people into investing in a scam.

On Tuesday, a federal judge in New York City ordered that the movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer make the footage available at a secure location, potentially ending a long-running battle that’s still draped in secrecy.

MGM won’t say what’s in the tapes or why it could be so damaging to make public. It’s not even clear why the movie studio is fighting so hard to keep unaired footage of Trump’s old show under wraps. And in court filings made last week, the Beverly Hills studio would only describe what’s in the tapes in a document that remains sealed from public view.

But lawyers for four scorned entrepreneurs know what they’re looking for: anything that shows Donald Trump and his kids knew that they were duping would-be investors by leading them to ACN, a multi-level marketing company based in North Carolina.

Trump and his kids—Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric—were the top recurring characters of The Apprentice, playing the role of business judges. During the show, the family featured ACN as a promising investment, even having celebrities compete to produce a commercial for the company’s supposedly high-tech new video chatting phone, the “Iris 5000.” In reality, the tech was a dud and the company was facing financial turmoil—but viewers weren’t told that.

The lawsuit was filed in 2018 by four entrepreneurs who say they were suckered into joining ACN’s multi-level marketing scheme—and lost time and money doing it—as a result of the Trumps’ endorsements. Lynn Chadwick of Pennsylvania says she was duped into the program in 2013, while Catherine McKoy and Millard Williams of California started in 2014. Markus Frazier of Maryland says he signed up in 2016. None of them stuck around past year two.

Reviewing the footage could take weeks, even if they’re only outtakes from two episodes of Celebrity Apprentice that aired in the spring of 2011. In those episodes, opposing teams led by rapper Lil John and television personality “NeNe” Leakes competed to produce ridiculous commercials for ACN’s new video phone.

In her order on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield wrote that attorneys representing these entrepreneurs “shall review the requested footage onsite” and be able to copy relevant clips.

The case is set for a jury trial, so if the legal fight makes it that far, the public might get to see the video as well.

Roberta A. Kaplan, whose firm represents the entrepreneurs, declined to speak about the case. Lawyers for MGM, ACN, and the Trump family did not respond to requests for comment.

The entrepreneurs sued the Trump Corporation and the family members that starred on the NBC show—the Donald, Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric—claiming that they were presenting ACN as a decent investment without revealing that they were secretly getting paid millions to do so. The New York Times, citing Trump tax returns reporters there had managed to obtain, would later reveal that the multi-level marketing company had paid him $8.8 million over 10 years.

“Trump repeatedly misrepresented ACN’s risk profile to consumers, falsely claiming that investing in ACN was a low-risk entrepreneurial venture,” the lawsuit states. “Trump repeatedly told his audiences that he endorsed ACN because he believed it offered a reasonable probability of commercial success. He touted ACN’s commercial prospects and his regard for its founders. And he failed to disclose that he was, in fact, being paid millions of dollars for his ACN endorsement.”

But the legal fight inevitably involved the entities with the actual evidence: MGM and JMBP, which stands for J. Mark Burnett Productions. Burnett, the British producer behind The Apprentice and a long-time Trump ally, is now the chairman of MGM’s Worldwide Television Group.

The lawsuit, originally filed in October 2018, has dragged on for years because it has met stiff resistance every step of the way. At first, the family tried to pull the case out of federal court and into closed-door arbitration proceedings. That failed when Judge Schofield and an appellate court ruled against that.

Then in April 2020, when the judge told MGM to hand over the tapes, any effort to review the taps went sideways with COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. MGM refused to let the entrepreneurs’ lawyers watch the footage remotely, and the attorneys wouldn’t risk getting sick by taking the six-hour flight from New York City to Los Angeles and being crammed into video-screening rooms. That disagreement was finally resolved by Tuesday’s judicial order.

The complaint was also initially filed by entrepreneurs using pseudonyms, but in August the judge ordered them to refile their lawsuit using their real names.

The amended version of the lawsuit describes how McKoy, for example, only realized ACN was a scam during her second year with the company. She remembers bringing recruits to company meetings for more than a year and had only made $38, she claims.

“She realized that she had been scammed. Trump was selling a dream to people like her—people who were struggling financially, were really desperate, and would leap at a promise of the kind of success Trump embodied,” the lawsuit says.

Expect a slow burn. The judge has scheduled a trial sometime after March 2023.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/angry-entrepreneurs-will-finally-see-trumps-apprentice-outtakes?source=articles&via=rss

Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4410 on: November 25, 2021, 01:10:43 AM »
Lock Him Up!

NY prosecutors zero in on Trump's alleged 'pattern of fraud' as investigation enters 'critical phase'



New York prosecutors are focusing on whether former president Donald Trump artificially inflated the value of his company's assets in seeking loans from financial institutions, as their investigation enters a "critical phase," according to a new report from the New York Times.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., who has overseen the investigation for more than three years, will leave office at the end of the year. Vance previously said he wanted to decide whether to charge Trump before his term expires, but now it appears the case may be left to his successor, Alvin Bragg.

According to the Times, Vance's prosecutors have recently issued subpoenas for records about the Trump Organization's hotels, golf clubs and office buildings.

"They recently interviewed a banker employed by Deutsche Bank, Mr. Trump's top lender," the Times reports. "And earlier this month, they told a top Trump executive who had been under scrutiny, Matthew Calamari, that they did not currently plan to indict him in the purported tax-evasion scheme that led to charges against Mr. Trump's company and its chief financial officer."

The tax-evasion investigation, which led to charges against CFO Allen Weisselberg, was reportedly a detour from the original focus of the probe — Trump's statements about the value of his assets.

"If Mr. Vance's office concludes that Mr. Trump intentionally submitted false values to potential lenders, prosecutors could argue that he engaged in a pattern of fraud," the report states.

The Manhattan case is one of at least three ongoing criminal investigations focused on Trump and/or his company. Prosecutors in Georgia are looking into whether Trump illegally interfered with 2020 election results, while the district attorney's office in Westchester County, N.Y., is focused on whether the former president's company misled local officials about the value of a golf course to reduce its tax liability.

https://www.rawstory.com/manhattan-da-trump-2655793691/

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4410 on: November 25, 2021, 01:10:43 AM »


Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4411 on: November 26, 2021, 10:39:44 AM »
Just another right wing con man making money off these gullible suckers. 

Guide to All the Times Mike Lindell and QAnon Promised Trump Would Definitely Be Back in the White House

The pillow baron may be the most obnoxious believer that the former president is returning to office soon, but a disturbing number of Americans are right there with him




It’s Thanksgiving, and with respect to any relatives who may have colorful takes about vaccine mandates, critical race theory, and the Rittenhouse verdict, the craziest uncle of 2021 is, without a doubt, Mike Lindell.

The pillow baron has for a year now been claiming vociferously that the 2020 election was rigged, that he can prove it, and that it won’t be long before everyone realizes the truth and Donald Trump is reinstated as president of the United States. Lindell most recently trumpeted Thanksgiving as the date Trump will be back in office. He has promoted a 96-hour holiday weekend livestream in which he will unpack “the historic U.S. Supreme Court complaint on the 2020 election” he says will reinstall Trump in the White House. (The livestream got off to a rocky start.)

Lindell is a clown and easy to mock. So is the idea that there is any sort of legal pathway for Trump, who lost to President Biden by a considerable margin, to be reinstated as president. But just because something is easy to mock doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be taken seriously (see: the 45th president himself).

The idea that Trump will return to office has been spreading throughout the MAGA movement since January. A Politico/Morning Consult poll published in June found that 29 percent of Republicans believe this is actually going to happen by the end of the year. A YouGov poll conducted in early November found that 28 percent of Republicans believed it was either “very likely” or “somewhat likely” Trump would be back in office by the end of the year.

In other words, millions and millions and millions of people have, like Lindell, lost touch with reality to a truly terrifying degree. In other words, millions and millions and millions of people have, like Lindell, lost touch with reality to a truly terrifying degree. Many of them are determined to stay out in orbit, perpetually setting and resetting dates Trump will definitely, this time, return to power. It can be a little hard to track all of these deadlines, so here’s a guide to one of the year’s most unhinged conspiracy theory rabbit holes, which doesn’t appear to have a bottom.

Jan. 20: QAnon is based on the belief that the world is run by a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles, and that Trump in his capacity as president was going bring all of these people to justice. The fact that he got trounced by Biden last November accelerated the timeline for this to happen, and once the election results were certified on Jan. 6, conspiracy theorists decided he was going to do it on Biden’s inauguration day, while at the same time revealing a secret plan to remain in office. This did not happen. QAnon adherents were confused, but not deterred. In fact, they were more not deterred than anyone realized possible.

March 4: Yeah, Biden was inaugurated on Jan. 20. So what? The real Inauguration Day is March 4, conspiracy theorists claimed, and it was on March 4, 2021 that Trump would be sworn in for his second term.

The theory hinged on the idea that in 1871 Congress turned the government into a corporation, and that every president who has held office since is illegitimate. March 4 served as Inauguration Day prior to 1933, when the 20th Amendment was passed, and it would be on this day that Trump would be inaugurated as the 19th president, or the first legitimate successor to Ulysses S. Grant. (Don’t think too hard about the logic here. It’s not supposed to make sense.)

The theory became widespread enough that hashtags like #march4th and #19thpresident started spreading across social media. The Capitol Police even warned of a “possible plot to breach the Capitol by an identified militia group” on the date, leading the House of Representatives to cancel plans for a session.

March 20: OK, nothing happening on March 4. What about March 20? It’s basically the same thing, right? I mean, when you think about it, all that’s differentiating the two dates are things like time and math, both of which are being foisted on us by liberal scientists. Can we just say he’ll come back on the 20th, instead?

There were corners of QAnon that did indeed say this, citing the Presidential Enhancement Act. Signed into law in 2020, the act is designed to smooth the transition of power by, in part, providing certain support to the president-elect’s team for 60 days after the inauguration. Conspiracy theorists misinterpreted this to mean that Trump retained control of the freaking military for 60 days after inauguration, and that the official transfer of power would not take place until March 20.

Aug. 13: All right, March was a bad month for conspiracy theorists. It was time to take a breather and really figure out when Trump was going to return to power. Lindell announced on March 29 that it was happening in August, citing all of the evidence of election fraud he was going to show the Supreme Court.

It wasn’t just Lindell, either. Trump himself had been telling people he expected to be back in the White House by August, as Maggie Haberman of The New York Times reported in June.

In July, Lindell locked down a specific date. “By the morning of Aug. 13 it’ll be the talk of the world, going, ‘Hurry up! Let’s get this election pulled down. Let’s right the right. Let’s get these communists out, you know, that have taken over,'” he told right-wing conspiracy theorist Bannon Howse.

Nov. 25: Nothing happened in August, either, but that’s OK. Lindell soon thereafter pegged Thanksgiving as the new date Trump would return to office based on his plan to deliver his “historic” election fraud complaint, which would be signed by state attorneys general, to the Supreme Court earlier this week. “I talked to all the lawyers today,” he said in September. “One hundred percent we are getting this before the Supreme Court before Thanksgiving. That is locked in stone, everybody.”

This did not happen.

Lindell explained why to Steve Bannon, noting that the attorneys general he claims to have spoken to “have so much going on right now that last Friday they gave them until today to fight these mandates where kids had to take the vaccine.” …OK. There are also, of course, the attorneys general who are refusing to sign onto the suit, whom Lindell says simply “don’t want to help save our country.”

“You know a lot of things are happening out there that are very suspicious,” he added.

Lindell also blamed Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who he said on his livestream Monday pressured attorneys general not to sign the complaint. “How dare the RNC try and stop this case from getting to the Supreme Court,” he ranted. “Shame on you, RNC! You are worse than Fox now! You can’t tell me why Ronna McDaniel, the head of the RNC, made a statement saying Biden won three days before this Supreme Court complaint was supposed to go to the Supreme Court.”

Lindell even released the complaint that all of these traitors prevented him from filing in time for Turkey Day. It’s 82-pages long, chock full of disproven conspiracy theories, and lists the plaintiff as “State of [Insert Your State Here].” Lindell has said the complaint is so rock solid that the Supreme Court will rule in favor of [Insert Your State Here] unanimously, and that this will somehow result in Trump’s return to office.

It’s no longer going to happen by Thanksgiving, but it surely won’t take Lindell long to come up with another date to tell supporters to expect Trump to return to office. Go ahead and tune into his livestream and find out. He may even offer a promo code for a Black Friday pillow deal.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-reinstatement-mike-lindell-thanksgiving-1262796/

Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4412 on: November 26, 2021, 11:04:07 AM »
Conspiracy theories about the pandemic are spreading offline as well as through social media

A consistent feature of the pandemic has been the presence of a relatively small but vocal number of conspiracy theorists who resist attempts to tackle COVID-19. Their views might seem marginal and extreme but recent research suggests that we should take them seriously.

Survey data shows that belief in conspiracy theories is associated with a lack of confidence in steps aimed at addressing the pandemic and risky health behaviours and that conspiracy adherents are more likely to refuse to socially distance, wear a mask or get vaccinated.

One reason for this is that conspiracy theories work differently to other forms of misinformation. Rather than simply trading in inaccurate or misleading information, conspiracy theorists believe they have discovered the hidden truth that world events result from the deliberate actions of unseen, malevolent actors.

This might mean blaming the emergence of COVID-19 on “big pharma" or believing that social distancing measures form part of an attempt by a hidden “world government" to restrict civil liberties. This kind of thinking provides a simple explanation for complex and unpredictable events. In a time of widespread uncertainty and fear it is easy to see the appeal in claims that the pandemic is deliberate and controlled.

When we think about how conspiracy theories like these spread, there is a tendency to focus on the role of social media. We've become accustomed to seeing fact checking and moderators working in these spaces to manage to problem.

But with colleagues, I've been exploring the offline space through an analysis of the Light, a monthly newspaper (and self-described “truthpaper") delivered free of charge across the UK. It provides sceptical coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and we've concluded that a significant proportion of its content can be seen as conspiracist in nature.

What is a 'truthpaper'?

In terms of style and layout, the Light looks like a conventional newspaper. It has a masthead and banner headlines and each article is laid out in columns. The content varies in both style and topic, with opinion pieces and interviews appearing alongside news items.

Conspiracist articles are presented alongside other, unrelated material, so that overall, readers experience the variety of content that might be expected in a mainstream source of news. For instance, the same issue might include an article suggesting COVID vaccines could be used for mind control and a more conventional news item on Russian shipping.

As an example of the offline dissemination of conspiracy theories related to the pandemic, the Light is important for a number of reasons. It seemingly has a wide reach, with claims of a print run of over 100,000 copies for each issue. It is produced and distributed by a network of activists, drawing on a closed Facebook group of more than 8,000 members.



A front cover of an issue of The Light.

Author provided

Conspiracy and activism

However, the Light's real significance is that it appears to be encouraging a highly participatory engagement with its content. Readers are encouraged to seek out, disseminate and act on the issues they are reading about rather than simply passively receiving the information. This approach means that the Light doesn't just aim to broaden readers' knowledge but to engage them in a process of discovery, revelation and action.

We found this happens in a number of ways. There are direct calls for action, for example, through articles encouraging readers to attend rallies and events, or promoting the refusal to wear face coverings.

Other articles promote the importance of “doing your own research", directing readers to seek out content that challenges mainstream opinion on the pandemic. There are even puzzle features that require the reader to conduct research into conspiratorial content in order to be successfully completed.

Being “awake" is a central theme in conspiracist content. Readers are invited to join an in-group of conspiracy adherents who refute the “official narrative". The state of being “awake" is often put across as being virtuous and exceptional, and readers are frequently encouraged to view their knowledge of the pandemic's “true" nature as a motivating factor to action.

Alongside this are frequent moral appeals to action which play upon readers' emotions to drive them to act. This includes content written in language that draws on themes of war and conflict and emotive articles warning of the effects of public health measures on children.

Why it matters

These calls to action are taking place in the context of an increasingly dangerous atmosphere. We already know that conspiracy theories have the potential to promote political polarisation, extremism and violence. Recent months have seen numerous examples of COVID-19 conspiracy theories influencing real-world activism.

Some of these might seem relatively trivial, such as sticker campaigns disputing the safety of the vaccination programme, or leaflets promoting unproven treatments posted through letterboxes. But there have also been protests at media organisations' offices, attempts to disrupt the work of vaccination centres and even footage of threats of violence being made against public figures associated with the pandemic response.

Offline material like the Light is highly potent because readers experience a sense of agency when they pick it up. They are being offered a way to actively engage in public issues which is outside of mainstream forms of political participation. And it's all happening without the automated warnings and links to more reliable sources which are now a mainstay of social media sites.

https://theconversation.com/conspiracy-theories-about-the-pandemic-are-spreading-offline-as-well-as-through-social-media-167418

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4412 on: November 26, 2021, 11:04:07 AM »


Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4413 on: November 26, 2021, 11:16:50 AM »
Trump's deranged and violent Qanon cult is expanding.

QAnon 'queen' orders 70,000 followers to 'shoot to kill' anyone vaccinating children



A QAnon leader who has declared herself "Queen of Canada" recently called for the deaths of anyone vaccinating children.

Romana Didulo's remarks were first reported by AntiHate.ca after being posted on Telegram, a social media platform where she has 70,000 followers.

In her post, Didulo said that so-called "Duck Hunters" should arm themselves against “everyone and anyone assisting in the injecting of coronavirus bioweapon into children." She also called on Americans to cross the border to participate in "hunting season."

“Please, use airports, hospitals, schools, stadiums, and other public venues to hold and detain all traitors," Didulo wrote. "They will stay there until Military Tribunal is held for each one of them until the day they are executed via firing squad or hanging."

She authorized her "military" to "shoot to kill anyone who tries to inject children under the age of 19 years old with Coronavirus19 vaccines/ bioweapons or any other vaccines."

“This order is effective immediately," the statement said.

According to Vice, the words "shoot to kill" had been modified to say "arrest" in subsequent social media posts.

Didulo is reportedly vetting applicants in separate social media groups. One of the groups had over 100 members as of Thursday.

https://www.rawstory.com/romana-didulo-hunting-season/


QAnon's 'Queen of Canada' Calls for Followers to 'Kill' People Vaccinating Children

QAnon influencer Romana Didulo told her 70,000 followers that "duck-hunting season is open” and by ducks she means healthcare workers, politicians, and journalists.


Earlier this week, the so-called QAnon Queen of Canada opened up “duck-hunting” season in the Great White North.

Now, to be clear, we aren’t talking about hunters in hip waders going after our fine-feathered friends with a loyal hound by their side. These “duck hunters” are “soldiers” of Roman Didulo—a Canadian woman who has convinced thousands of QAnon adherents that she’s the secret ruler of Canada—targeting health care workers administering COVID-19 vaccines to children, politicians, journalists, and others who make up the cabal at the heart of the QAnon conspiracy.

In a post on Sunday to her over 70,000 followers on Telegram, Didulo issued an order to the soldiers of her “Kingdom of Canada’s Military.” She demanded the mass arrests of those they consider opposition, and wanted her soldiers to take control of newspapers and seize the border.

“Shoot to kill anyone who tries to inject Children under the age of 19 years old with Coronavirus19 vaccines/ bioweapons or any other Vaccines,” she wrote. “This order is effective immediately.”

A follow-up post on Tuesday changed the wording from “shoot to kill” to “arrest.”

“Please, use airports, hospitals, schools, stadiums, and other public venues to hold and detain all traitors,” the post said. “They will stay there until Military Tribunal is held for each one of them until the day they are executed via firing squad or hanging.”

Didulo doesn’t have a passive audience; over the summer, the British Columbian woman mobilized her audience into sending out thousands of cease-and- desist letters across North America (some have recently popped up in Europe) demanding businesses, governments, and police forces stop all activities related to combating the pandemic.


ONE OF THE SCREENSHOTS FROM DIDULO'S MAIN TELEGRAM PAGE. PHOTO VIA SCREENSHOT.

Didulo implies that her duck hunters are secretive military veterans she’s bringing in from the U.S. But on Telegram (a chat app known for their lax rules), over 6,000 of her online supporters have signed up to be a part of “Canada Military 2.0”—a separate, but inactive, Telegram page where followers pledge to be part of Didulo’s fighting force. “I have offered my life for humanity and joined our Canadian duck hunters,” one of her followers wrote.

Didulo has made separate pages to vet prospective members of her Canadian and U.S. duck-hunting teams to help with her mission. The Canadian group currently has just over 100 members, including the man who posted the images of the firearms. Inside the chatroom one of the duck hunters shared information about a specific vaccine popup in an Ontario mall “specifically targeting young children.”

“It’s time to react now,” replied one person. “Hurry up and wait is no longer the thing to say.”

Her followers are pledging their support to their Queen’s initiative. “A few duck hunters coming in can stay with me… I’m ready… all my hunting gear is ready… let’s roll,” wrote one in the public chat and posted a picture of firearms strewn across a table.


DECREES ROMANA MADE TO HER FOLLOWERS. PHOTO VIA TELEGRAM.

“I myself can’t contribute much, other than myself and my Duck hunting gear,” wrote another. “I am ready and willing to help our Allies in cleaning up the Bad Actors in my small town of Lamont Alberta.”

Threats and violence against health care workers have been constant since COVID-19 vaccinations started rolling out earlier this year, and have ramped up after jurisdictions greenlit the vaccine for children (Canada just approved the Pfizer vaccine for 5-11-year-olds last week). For many of Didulo’s followers, the vaccine is a death sentence so vaccinating children is akin to murder.

It’s unknown how many followers take Didulo and her tactics seriously, or just consider them a part of the LARP (live action role-playing) and gamification that makes the QAnon conspiracy community so appealing, but experts say there’s cause for concern. Many QAnon adherents have been involved in violent acts like murders or kidnappings and the FBI has warned the violence may only increase with time.

In an already confounding ecosystem where people will make their way en masse to Texas in anticipation of JFK  coming back from the dead, Didulo and her followers somehow manage to be more bizarre than their contemporaries. To her followers, Queen Romana is the true leader of Canada who, alongside Donald Trump, is waging a war against a pedophilic cabal that runs the world. In a few short weeks this spring, Didulo went from a relatively unknown online conspiracy theorist to having a large following after she was “confirmed” by some large QAnon accounts. In some sense, she fills the void left by the titular Q, who has not posted in almost a year.

Didulo administers her decrees on her large Telegram page, a confusing collection of militarist statements, modern-day spirituality, and postings about intergalactic beings. She typically addresses her followers through either simple messages (littered with emojis) or videos featuring her sitting on a brown couch in front of a nondescript wall.

“I call her the ‘hardest LARP in the movement.’ Probably even greater than Q themself,” Alex Mendela, a researcher who works on The Q Origins Project, told VICE World News. “She’s unique in the sense that she’s sort of filled the role of an absent Q, but has taken on an independently authoritative role all her own.”

Mandela added that while Didulo has yet to order her audience to violence directly, and mostly skirts around it, he’s concerned about “one of her followers actually taking it seriously, getting riled-up by all the urgent rhetoric and frustrated that he/she/they are not receiving clear directives, and taking matters into their own hands with self-directed violence.”

Peter Smith, a journalist with the Canadian Anti-Hate Network who recently penned a story on Didulo, told VICE World News that her “real power has always been the ability to mobilize (her) following into types of real-world action.”

“In the time we have spent monitoring her numerous channels, that following has more than tripled and the rhetoric from Didulo has only grown more severe, culminating in calls for armed action to be taken by people from both the U.S. and Canada,” said Smith. “We do not know how many, if any, of her audience have decided to heed the call to go ‘duck hunting’ in Canada, but with such a large and engaged base of supporters, it is extremely worrying.”

The duck hunters are a massive hit with her audience. Some of her fans have requested the duck hunters attend specific events such as local school board meetings, or target specific people like Sarnia city councillors, environmentalist David Suzuki, or even one follower’s ex-girlfriend. Other fans, upon Didulo’s request, are offering their homes to the “duck hunters” as lodging.

“I am more than happy to be able to house a couple of duck hunters!” wrote one. “I only have a one-bedroom apartment but would happily give up my bedroom.”

If they can’t find lodging with her followers, Didulo instructs her duck hunters to stay at a motel and “file the invoice to the Department of Finance/Treasury Department of Canada.”

Not all her followers are celebrating the future deaths of health care workers and members of the cabal. One follower, seemingly convinced these extrajudicial killings were taking place, begged Didulo to spare the life of her son, a teacher.

“Please don’t hurt the innocent in this,” they pleaded. “People here are brainwashed. It’s not their fault. My whole family took the shot believing it was the right thing to do but were falsely led. They are good people. Please.”

https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7ddgm/qanons-queen-of-canada-calls-for-followers-to-kill-people-vaccinating-children



Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4414 on: November 26, 2021, 11:23:10 AM »
GOP operatives funneling Russian money to Trump is the latest foreign “straw” donor scheme

The indictment of two Republican operatives on charges they allegedly funneled money from a Russian national to the Trump campaign’s joint fundraising committee is the latest in a string of high profile — and high stakes — foreign straw donor schemes exposed by the Department of Justice.

Federal prosecutors claim Jesse Benton and Doug Wead accepted $100,000 from an unidentified Russian foreign national in exchange for getting the person a meeting with then-candidate Donald Trump at a fundraiser in 2016. Allegedly, the two funnelled $25,000 to the Trump campaign’s joint fundraising committee and pocketed the other $75,000.

Benton, a former campaign manager for Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), worked for the pro-Trump super PAC Great America PAC in 2016. In December 2020, Benton was pardoned by Trump on charges tied to hiding bribes in a 2012 scandal. At the time, Benton allegedly paid a vendor who then paid a subvendor, violating the FEC’s ultimate vendor disclosure rules.

Wead was a White House adviser during former President George H.W. Bush’s presidency and  also worked for Paul as well as the Kentucky senator’s father, former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). In 2019, Wead released a book titled “Inside Trump’s White House.”

Although the indictment, made public Tuesday, does not name the foreign national, Forensic News reported that evidence suggests the description of “Foreign National 1” — the Russian who allegedly funded the straw donations — matches Roman Vasilenko. The indictment’s description of “Foreign National 2” shares similarities to Olga Kovalova, a Ukrainian-born translator who has appeared at events with both Wead and Vasilenko.

As evidence, Forensic News pointed to Vasilenko’s ties to Wead and unearthed a picture of Vasilenko posing with Trump at the 2016 fundraiser mentioned in the indictment. A 2016 video also appears to show Vasilenko and Wead at a 2016 fundraiser with Trump.

Tickets to the Philadelphia fundraiser mentioned in the indictment cost at least $25,000, payable as a contribution to the Trump campaign’s joint fundraising committee. As a foreign national, Vasilenko would have been barred by federal law from making contributions to political groups or campaigns to influence U.S. elections. Straw donations, where the source of funding is obscured, are also illegal.

Wead’s longstanding relationship with Vasilenko and Kovalova is evident from their digital footprints.

Life is Good, Vasilenko’s company that provides ‘self-help’ seminars on how to “achieve financial prosperity,” lists Wead as a partner. A YouTube video from 2009 shows Kovalova translating for Wead, who was also listed on the Ukrainian born translator’s website.

Vasilenko and Wead were also both involved in Canyonville Academy, a Christian boarding school where Wead was president until 2019. Wead appointed Vasilenko to the school’s board in 2018.

The new indictment is not the first instance of the Justice Department probing foreign contributions that boosted Trump.

Last week, Igor Fruman, a Soviet-born operative and assocate of Rudy Giuliani, pleaded guilty to funneling political contributions from a foreign national to pro-Trump super PAC America First Action.

Federal prosecutors recently announced that Giuliani, who also worked with Fruman’s business partner Lev Parnas, is under investigation over whether he may have acted as an unregistered foreign agent.

Parnas, Fruman and their U.S. partner, David Correia, were charged in the illegal foreign straw donor scheme after allegedly funneling $325,000 from Russian national Andrei Muraviev through shell companies to America First Action.

Fruman’s guilty plea notably did not include an agreement to cooperate with the government, and he could face up to five years in prison.

In February, Correia was sentenced to a year and a day in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and making false statements about the illegal foreign straw donor scheme.

The trial for Parnas and another alleged co-conspirator, Ukrainian-born California cannabis investor Andrey Kukushkin, is set to open Oct. 13.

Other groups supporting Trump have also come under scrutiny for alleged foreign money.

Federal prosecutors reportedly began probing allegations of foreign donations to Trump’s inaugural committee and pro-Trump super PAC Rebuilding America Now in 2018. The inquiry reportedly examined whether foreign nationals from Middle Eastern nations — including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — funneled money through straw donors to disguise their donations to the super PAC and Trump’s inaugural committee. That committee was chaired by Tom Barrack, who was arrested in July on charges he secretly acted in the U.S. as an agent for the UAE.

In 2018, Republican lobbyist Sam Patten pleaded guilty to helping funnel foreign money to Trump’s inaugural committee from a Ukrainian oligarch. Patten was a longtime partner of Konstantin Kilimnik, a Ukrainian businessman with ties to Russian intelligence who previously worked for Trump’s 2016 campaign chair Paul Manafort.

California financier and Trump inaugural donor Imaad Zuberi was sentenced to 12 years in prison in February after pleading guilty to violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act and making illegal contributions after he failed to register as a foreign agent while working for the Sri Lankan government and lobbying high-level U.S. government officials. Zuberi, along with his firm Avenue Ventures, gave $900,000 to Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee and admitted he “helped facilitate” donations from foreign sources.

The Justice Department reportedly probed whether another $100,000 donation to Trump’s inauguration came from Jho Low, a fugitive Malaysian financier accused of stealing billions in the 1MDB scandal, and who allegedly transferred roughly $21 million to the Fugees’ Pras Michel as part of the straw donor scheme.

The Justice Department also scrutinized Low’s $1.5 million in transfers to a firm called LNS Capital shortly before the firm’s head, Larry Davis, made political contributions to the Trump campaign’s joint fundraising committee.The Justice Department has not released a conclusion on whether or not Low was the source of funding behind those contributions.

The Malaysian financier’s contributions reached politicians on both sides of the aisle, with foreign money allegedly going to support former President Barack Obama as well as Trump.

Federal prosecutors claim Low funneled more than $1.8 million through straw donors to a super PAC and joint fundraising committee supporting Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.

George Nader, a Lebanese-American businessman and lobbyist known for serving as a witness in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into 2016 Russian interference, also allegedly steered foreign money across the political spectrum — funneling money to both Trump and Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

Nader was indicted for charges related to funneling more than $3.5 million through straw donors to political groups supporting Clinton’s 2016 presidential bid in a purported attempt to build influence with her inner circle. During that period of time, Nader was working as an adviser to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

After Trump won the 2016 election, the payment processing company owned by one of Nader’s straw donors, who allegedly facilitated the donations to Clinton, gave $1 million to Trump’s inauguration and later met Trump in the Oval Office.

Foreign straw donor schemes are not limited to presidential elections and recent cases have exposed attempts to funnel foreign money into congressional races and even local elections.

In April, the Justice Department released court documents revealing that Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire Gilbert Chagoury agreed to pay the U.S. government $1.8 million to resolve allegations in a straw donor scheme routing illegal foreign contributions to U.S. campaigns.

Chagoury’s longtime spokesperson Mark Corallo, was the Trump legal team’s spokesperson during the Mueller investigation as well as a personal spokesperson for Giuliani associates Victoria Toensing and Joseph diGenova.

In January 2020, East Bay real estate developer James Tong was sentenced to 15 months in prison for funneling around $38,000 in illegal donations to Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) through a network of straw donors, including at least one foreign national who was legally barred from making political contributions.

In 2017, Mexican foreign national Jose Susumo Azano Matsura was sentenced to three years in prison for funneling around $600,000 in illegal foreign contributions to candidates in the 2012 San Diego mayoral campaign through straw donors as part of an effort to buy influence.

While the number of foreign straw donor cases pursued by the Justice Department has mushroomed in recent years, foreign straw donor schemes are nothing new.

In 1996, the Justice Department opened a task force to investigate allegations of campaign fundraising abuses and attempt to shine light on evidence that illegal foreign contributions to Democrats were laundered through domestic straw donors during the 1996 election cycle.

Despite the influx of foreign straw donor cases, the Federal Election Commission’s Office of Inspector General recently revealed that the FEC does not even have a written policy on how to verify that donors are not foreign nationals, warning of “significant national security risks” of foreign money flowing into U.S. elections.

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2021/09/gop-operatives-funneling-russian-money-trump-latest-foreign-straw-donor-scheme/

JFK Assassination Forum

Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4414 on: November 26, 2021, 11:23:10 AM »


Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4415 on: November 26, 2021, 11:33:10 AM »