Avoiding politcal posting, but...

[Bucho]

Here's a view from the outside, in this case a UK publication The Register 2/27/18 :

"Despite repeated testimony from US intelligence officials stating that Russia has waged a years-long campaign to destabilize the US by spreading disinformation, discourse and divisive messaging online, very little action has been taken as President Trump maintains the issue is overblown... "

This information is widely accepted as fact over here, meaning Europe. The brexit vote is commonly mentioned together with the U.S. Presidential election, but from a German perspective there is more trust in the UK administration to tackle this issue than there is in the U.S.

Its a delicate issue after all, because there are strong anti EU- and migration tendencies over here, too, asking for more participation and claiming a lack of democracy while the government condemns them as "populists". Its easy to say they were mislead by the russians.

I remember ex president Gauck, a former east German pastor, saying "not the elites, but the people are the problem in many european countries these days..." He actually said that, I watched the whole interview twice because I couldn`t believe it was not taken out of context. You find this attitude a lot these days, and many people are sick of it.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Given a recent better understanding of Russian media interference in Europe (thanks Bucho) and here in the USA, it appears Mr. Putin is a brilliant tactician.  "The pen is mightier than the sword" might indeed be true, and Russia learned a lesson from their failed Afghanistan invasion.   I'd venture a guess that Russian media incursions are more worldwide widespread than we suspect,  since most of us are mostly concerned about our own countries of residence.

Meanwhile the USA keeps bullying "easy" countries with no retaliation capability outside their borders (or so we thought) and losing, while pumping increasing amounts of taxpayer funds into the "defense" industry as if that would "make us safe"er.

And indeed trolls keep directing beliefs and attitudes with a continual barrage of hot button scapegoats like Hillary, Trump, Soros, immigrants, etc. A recently elected supporter of Bernie Sander's single payer universal health coverage is already being discredited even before actually taking office and having job performance to criticise.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Holy sh**, news articles on Yahoo News sites comments are being HACKED !! I think bots are deleting my posts mentioning Rushin troals.

 

[Bucho]

Sure they were not edited by the host? They don`t like redundance...

Speaking of Yahoo News - on the peak of the refugee crisis a finnish friend of mine who`s in marketing posted a screenshot from one of his google searches on Facebook. The first three search suggestions for the term "Finland" were around "Ku Klux Clan".

???What happened???

Turned out a single Finnish individual found it appropriate to attend a medium sized anti-refugee protest in a KKK costume and was photographed in a dramatic pose. Yahoo news featured the picture, spawning a lot of google searches... Again: A single individual.

Some things develop a life of their own and go out of hand real quick in this time and age. There doesn`t necessarylie has to be someone with a bad intention behind it. They are self-reinforcing effects of computer algorithms that show us what we want to be shown so we come back for more.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Could be host (Yahoo) edited, but they allow all manner of posts from extreme haters & some that exhibit mental derangement. Some stupid posters even suggest violent means of ending our presidency.

Lately some trolls have been using the term "MSM" which Google search only turns up a chemical.

Hahaha, on Amazon I clicked on a mainstream movie to check the details not knowing it was a homosexual theme, and guess what started showing up in my movie suggestions.

 

[Hawnjigs]

"Russian Troll" or "Rushin Trole" posts still getting deleted, my IP address must be the button.  Question is, who is responsible? - legitimate content managers overstepping my rights or actual Russian hackers oversight?

There are a suprising LOTS of online article commenters that fit the troll factory profile of negative commentary and unusually large post count #s.  I suspect the current admnistration watchdog agencies are either ignoring or complicit in the online effort to discredit Democrats and Liberals.

 

[hookup]

Better watch out Hawn

You're going to have some guys with no necks knocking at your door LoL

KKK's trying to make a come back in the US. I read weekly reports about cities who wake up and find KKK flyers everywhere

As if we don't have enough problems now .....

 

[Hawnjigs]

Yah, I was thinking of keeping my scatter stick handy...

I thought I could make a small contribution by outing Russian trolls in online news commentary, but thats been compromised and our gubmint ain't doing nothing about it. Que sera.

Seems we are getting more n more divided politcally & racially, goaded by media to righteous anger. Russia must be laffing. I think perhaps the anti-Christ is among us.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Hookup, you might be right about getting worried.  An article commenter "ambar" made a remark bashing a "democRAT" typical of Russian trolls, and massive comment post history verified it.  Looking up ambar:
http://www.ambarclub.org/

So, posted suspicion of a Russian base for anti-American activity and the comment vanished.  Tell you man, something is going on.

 

[Hawnjigs]

A year later & spending maybe an hour a day outing Russian trolls, and learned how to protect posts from vanishing by toggling feedback buttons so the post count ups by one to include mine. Trolls can be obvious by high post counts and same tired "Obama, Clinton, Liberals, Dems" deflections laced with lies or unproven allegations. Lately lots of new posters fitting the troll program format so I suspect the factory is adding personnel. Some offer intelligent subtly misleading arguments and others just lie and insult - something for everyone. Practically all trolls support President Trump and attempt to discredit his detractors.

Good news is there appear to be a few more posters outing Russian trolls.