DiscoGary wrote:
That's fantastic! I trust you to find the good stuff just as much as CNN. So show me the smoking gun.
Yup. Cambridge Analytica shared data with Russia;[1]
Steve Bannon oversaw the collection of Facebook data in 2014 and was the boss of disgraced former Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix.[2]
Steve Bannon was a member of the board at Cambridge Analytica until he stepped down and became the Chief Executive of Trump's campaign, later becoming his Chief Strategist in the White House.[3] Cambridge Analytica whistle-blower, Wylie, has come out and said that in 2014 CA was testing slogans, such as drain the swamp and deepstate, the Trump campaign later adopted these slogans.[4]
The Mercer family funded Cambridge Analytica and have worked with Bannon since at least 2011. The Mercers also fund Breitbart, Bannon was in charge of Breitbart for quite some time. The Mercers set up a media ecosystem that pushed xenophobic, ultra-nationalist views by promoting disinformation.[5] This ecosystem preyed specifically on people's fears by promoting xenophobia.[6]
Moreover, we know Rebekah Mercer, Steve Bannon, and Alexander Nix knowingly broke election laws in America. They were explicitly told not to use foreigners for significant campaign decisions, but they broke the law to do so anyway.[7]
And now we know Cambridge Analytica shared this data with Russia.
Just to summarize Special Counsel Mueller's indictment of 13 Russians and 3 Russian entitities;[8] Russian operatives used stolen US identities, travelled across 9 states collecting intelligence, discussed escape routes if they were caught inside the country, bought equipment including burner phones/SIM cards. This operation included hundreds of employees conducting information warfare during the election, it was funded with millions of dollars from the Kremlin. Russia was and is actively pushing propaganda and fake news to create a system that manipulates the narrative using social media sites as conduits for this endeavour. It took less than 80 thousand votes in 3 states to flip the electoral college vote in favour of President Trump.[9] Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein put it best when he said that Russia was waging information warfare.[10] This is a Republican who was appointed by President Trump.[11]
Russia's geo-political aim is to weaken the West through destabilization by sowing divisions among the population.[12]We know Russian operatives used social media to exploit racial and religious divisions during the 2016 election.[13]Democrats in the House Intelligence Committee released 3500 facebook ads that were created by the Internet Research Agency, Russia specifically targeted racial tensions in America.[14]
• Of the roughly 3,500 ads published this week, more than half — about 1,950 — made express references to race. Those accounted for 25 million ad impressions — a measure of how many times the spot was pulled from a server for transmission to a device.
• At least 25% of the ads centered on issues involving crime and policing, often with a racial connotation. Separate ads, launched simultaneously, would stoke suspicion about how police treat black people in one ad, while another encouraged support for pro-police groups.
• Divisive racial ad buys averaged about 44 per month from 2015 through the summer of 2016 before seeing a significant increase in the run-up to Election Day. Between September and November 2016, the number of race-related spots rose to 400. An additional 900 were posted after the November election through May 2017.
• Only about 100 of the ads overtly mentioned support for Donald Trump or opposition to Hillary Clinton. A few dozen referenced questions about the U.S. election process and voting integrity, while a handful mentioned other candidates like Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz or Jeb Bush.
Russia is actively trying to divide the West/America and has been for quite some time, be aware that they use inflammatory language online and promote disinformation.[15] I know it can be frustrating when talking to those who share a different set of beliefs, but we should attempt to find common ground with those who truly believe in the pillars that make Western democracy so great - equity, representation, freedom, and justice. Yes there are institutional problems that need to be addressed and ultimately fixed. Yes there are different views on how we can come to a solution on these institutional problems. But as it stands right now Western democracy and society is under assault and we must work together by staying informed and exercising our constitutional duty by voting in elections in our respective countries.
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1) The Straights Times - Cambridge Analytica shared data with Russia: Whistleblower
2) Washington Post - Bannon oversaw Cambridge Analytica’s collection of Facebook data, according to former employee
3) CNN - Trump. Cambridge Analytica. WikiLeaks. The connections, explained.
4) CNN - Whistleblower: We tested Trump slogans in 2014
5) Chicago Tribune - How the Mercer family's partnership with Stephen Bannon shaped the populist climate in 2016
6) The Independent - Breitbart: Inside the far-right news network in bed with the Trump presidency
7) Washington Post - Former Cambridge Analytica workers say firm sent foreigners to advise U.S. campaigns
8) Justice Department - indictments against 13 Russian nationals and 3 entities
9) Washington Post - Donald Trump will be president thanks to 80,000 people in three states
10) PBS - WATCH: Rosenstein says 13 Russian nationals committed ‘information warfare against the United States’
11) Politico - Mueller shifts focus back to Russian 'information warfare'
12) Wikipedia - Foundations of Geopolitics
13) Washington Post - Russian operatives used Facebook ads to exploit America’s racial and religious divisions
14) USA Today - We read every one of the 3,517 Facebook ads bought by Russians. Here's what we found
15) NPR - Russians Targeted U.S. Racial Divisions Long Before 2016 And Black Lives Matter
Part of this disinformation/division campaign was the spread of the racist Alt-Right ideologies into mainstream media
The Unite the Right rally was organized by Jason Kessler, who was also a writer for the Daily Caller. [1]
The Proud Boys are an Alt-Right group founded by Gavin McInnes, formerly of The Rebel Media, currently with CRTV along side Mark Levin and Michelle Malkin [2] [A]. Roger Stone can be seen here[3] flashing a white power hand gesture with a group of Proud Boys at some bar. This same gesture has been shown multiple times at the White House by several people affiliated with the alt right. [4] These people range from interns to reporters such as Mike Cernovich, Lucian Wintrich, Milo Yiannopoulos, and Cassandra Fairbanks. [5].
I’ve detailed some of Milo in a previous post
Lucian Wintrich is the White House correspondent for The Gateway Pundit. They are responsible stories calling the Parkland Students “crisis actors”. [6]. Wintrich was also arrested while speaking at UConn giving a speech entitled “It’s OK to be white”. [7]
Tucker Carlson did his own segment on the “It’s OK to be white” campaign. [8]
This is a Quartz article [9] that explains how the ‘It’s OK to be white’ campaign originated on 4chan.
Mike Cernovich and Chuck Johnson unsuccessfully tried to smear Senator Chuck Schumer using falsified information. This was after they forced former Rep. Conyers to resign by offering up $10,000 for information on sexual harassment. [10].
Cernovich has also tweeted that “Date rape does not exist”, but Donald Trump Jr. has still retweeted/endorsed him. [11]
Chuck Johnson who was also mentioned is a holocaust denier who went to the State of the Union by Rep. Matt Gaetz. [12]
Johnson also helped organize a meeting between Rep. Dana Rohrabacher and Julian Assange. [13]
Some have argued that the OK hand gesture isn’t racist. It’s all about context. The alt-right likes to hide behind seemingly innocent symbols.
Virtually any symbol can be coopted for hate
Here are a few video examples of the hand gesture being used
• Here is a Periscope video [14] posted by Jack Posobiec who was filming Mike Flynn Jr in DC at a fundraiser on Feb 14, 2018. Watch at (0:25) when the camera pans. A guy wearing glasses waves the sign directly to the camera.
Posobiec is a known figure from the Alt-Right that Donald Trump retweeted after the Unite the Right Rally. [15]Posobiec can be seen with here[16] with Richard Spencer who is a key figure in the movement.
• This is a different video example [17] from Knox News showing the Traditionalist Worker Party flashing the white power hand sign discretely. Focus on the guy with the white hat and a beard at (1:22). This was one the groups at the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville that resulted in the death of Heather Heyer.
It has now been reported that Columbus Nova who has been paying Michael Cohen “consulting fees” registered Alt-Right websites during the 2016 election. [18]
Juan Pablo Andrade - policy adviser for the pro-Trump America First proclaims in a Snapchat video recorded at a hotel during a Turning Point USA conference in December stating, “The only thing the Nazis didn’t get right is they didn’t keep f*****g going!” [19]
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1) SPLC - The Daily Caller Has A White Nationalist Problem
2) Rewire.News - How Hate Goes ‘Mainstream’: Gavin McInnes and the Proud Boys
3) Twitter - Roger Stone Drinking With Proud Boys Flashing White Power Hand Sign
4) DailyMail - White Power At The White House - Trump Intern Flashes ‘Alt-Right’ Symbol Used By Notorious Extremists During Group Photo With The President
5) MarkMaynard.com - White Power Shoutouts From The White House
6) Washington Post - What is Gateway Pundit, the conspiracy-hawking site at the cent of the bogus Florida ‘crisis actors’ hype?
7) CNN - Right-wing blogger arrested at 'It's OK to be white' speech at UConn
8) Newsweek - It's OK To Be White: How Fox News Is Helping Spread Neo-Nazi Propaganda
9) Quartz - The rise of the alt-right's catchphrase "It's OK to be white”
10) Daily Beast - Alt-Right Hyped Sexual Harassment Hoax to Attack Schumer
11) Indy 100 - Donald Trump Jr endorsed Mike Cernovich. Here are some of his tweets
12) Daily Beast - Rep. Matt Gaetz Invited Infamous Troll Chuck Johnson to Trump’s State of The Union
13) Washington Examiner - Chuck Johnson helps organize meeting between Julian Assange and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher
14) Twitter - Mike Flynn Jr Speaks at Trump DC!
15) Los Angeles Times - Trump retweets alt-right media figure who pushed ‘PizzaGate’ and Seth Rich conspiracy theories
16) Twitter - Photo of Richard Spencer and Jack Posobiec at a bar during the RNC
17) Knox News - Traditionalist Worker Party members march to speech at UT
18) Washington Post - Russia-linked company that hired Michael Cohen registered alt-right websites during election
19) Observer - Trump Surrogate Regrets Nazis Didn’t ‘Keep F***ing Going’ in Snapchat Clip
A) CRTV - CRTV Home Page
Erik Prince is also neck deep in this
Milo Yiannopoulos (Ex-editor of Breitbart) was the speaker behind the Berkeley Riots controversy that have been a constant talking point when discussing campus free speech. [1] Yiannopoulos pushed the limits of what was considered acceptable at Breitbart in order to inject white nationalist ideas into the mainstream media. [2] Steve Bannon was the one who brought Milo into Breitbart. Bannon had known Erik Prince since at least 2013, according to Prince’s testimony before the House.
Milo tried to organize a Free Speech Week as a type of anniversary event, but it fell through in the end. Here is the guest list.
Monday, September 25 will be “Zuck 2020” and will feature Heather Mac Donald, Monica Crowley, SABO, James Damore
Tuesday, September 26 will be “Islamic Peace and Tolerance Day” and will feature Raheem Kassam, Katie Hopkins, Erik Prince, Pamela Geller, David Horowitz, and Milo.
Wednesday, September 27 will be “Mario Savio is Dead” and will feature Mike Cernovich, Ariana Rowlands, Stelion Onufrei, Alex Marlow, Milo, Steve Bannon, and Ann Coulter.
Erik Prince has been in the news for misleading congress about a meeting he had in the Seychelles that looks like an attempt to set up backchannel communications. [4]. There is testimony claiming he “views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe.” [5].
Milo was funded by Robert and Rebekah Mercer. Rebekah Mercer has been dubbed "The First Lady of the Alt-Right” and Steve Bannon called Breitbart the "platform for the Alt-Right. [6]
They have recently been exposed as the money and some of the manpower behind Cambridge Analytica who used Facebook to harvest user data. [8]. Here is the video they tried to get pulled from Channel 4 Cambridge Analytica Uncovered: Secret filming reveals election tricks [9]
In his testimony before the UK Parliament. Christopher Wylie, the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower, described Cambridge Analytica as "Steve Bannon and Robert Mercer using a foreign, military contractor ... to use some of the same techniques that the military uses ... on the American electorate." [10]
The Mercers were deeply tied to Milo, even letting him use their private security, continuing to fund his ventures after he was fired from Breitbart for comments supporting pedophilia. [7]. This was exposed by Buzzfeed because of leaked emails. [2]. These emails between Milo, Steve Bannon, and some other members of the far right that were tapped for expertise in bigotry are pretty revealing.
The Paradise Papers reveal Bob Mercer to be the director of eight Bermuda companies “Some of the Bermuda companies appear to have been used to legally avoid a little-known US tax of up to 39% on tens of millions of dollars in investment profits amassed by the Mercer family’s foundation, which funded Bannon’s book (Clinton Cash)” [11]
Cambridge Analytica executives created a company with the Executive Director & Deputy Chairman of Erik Prince’s Frontier Services Group (similar to Blackwater). [12]
Filings on U.K. Companies House show that the two top executives at Cambridge Analytica are Directors of a company along with one of Erik Princes’ closest business partners.
On August 11, 2017, the company Emerdata Limited was incorporated in the U.K., and listed SCL Chairman Julian Wheatland as Director and 25–50% owner, and Cambridge Analytica Chief Data Officer, Alexander Tayler, was also listed as 25–50% owner. Both have since been removed as significant owners, but Wheatland is listed as an active Director, along with Alexander Nix, the Chief Executive of Cambridge Analytica…
...A few days ago the filings for Emerdata were updated, and noted three new Directors, including, Mr Ahmad Ashraf Hosny Al Khatib, Ms Cheng Peng, and Mr Johnson Chun Shun Ko, all appointed on January 23, 2018.
A tip from @brexit_sham identified that one of the new Emerdata Limited directors, Mr Johnson Chun Shun Ko, is a very close business partner of Erik Prince.
Erik Prince is Executive Director and Chairman of Hong Kong listed Frontier Services Group “a leading provider of integrated security, logistics and insurance services for clients operating in frontier markets.”
The Executive Director and Deputy Chairman of Frontier is Mr. Ko Chun Shun, the same Johnson Chun Shun Ko who is a Director of Emerdata with Julian Wheatland and Alexander Nix of Cambridge Analytica.
Also
Erik Prince’s sister is U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy Devos. Prince has been bankrolling Mike Pence for over a decade. [13]
...his close relationship to Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater. In December 2007, three months after Blackwater operatives gunned down 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad’s Nisour Square; Pence and his Republican Study Committee, which served “the purpose of advancing a conservative social and economic agenda in the House of Representatives,” organized a gathering to welcome Prince to Washington. But their relationship is not just forged in wars. Prince and his mother, Elsa, have been among the top funders of scores of anti-gay-marriage ballot initiatives across the country and have played a key role in financing efforts to criminalize abortion.
Prince has long given money to Pence’s political campaigns, and toward the end of the presidential election, he contributed $100,000 to the pro-Trump/Pence Super PAC Make America Number 1. Prince’s mother kicked in another $50,000. [...] Erik Prince...portrays himself as a mix between Indiana Jones, Rambo, Captain America, and Pope Benedict...[13]
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1) CNN - Berkeley protests of Yiannopoulos caused $100,000 in damage
2) Buzzfeed News -Here’s How Breitbart And Milo Smuggled Nazi and White Nationalist Ideas Into The Mainstream
3) Breitbart - Full Lineup of Milo’s Berkeley Free Speech Week Revealed
4) Vox -Erik Prince May Have Lied To Congress About His Seychelles Meeting
5) The Atlantic - The Crusader Prince
6) News.com.au - Who is Rebekah Mercer? Wealthy woman who got Trump elected
7) Buzzfeed News - Leaked Documents Suggest Secretive Billionaire Trump Donors Are Milo’s Patrons
8) Vox - Cambridge Analytica, the shady data firm that might be a key Trump-Russia link, explained
9) NPR - U.K. Seeks Search Warrant On Cambridge Analytica; CEO Seen In Hidden Camera Report
10)CNN - How Steve Bannon used Cambridge Analytica to further his alt-right vision for America
11) The Guardian - Offshore cash helped fund Steve Bannon's attacks on Hillary Clinton
12) Medium - Cambridge Analytica executives created a company with the Executive Director & Deputy Chairman of Erik Prince’s Frontier Services Group
13) The Intercept - Mike Pence Will Be The Most Powerful Christian Supremacist In U.S. History
They also need to look into the connections between Facebook, Palantir, and Peter Thiel
Slate - (Video) Watch Zuckerberg Struggle to Answer Sharp, Uncomforatble Questions about Peter Thiel’s Company (Palantir) [1]
Christopher Wylie testified before the UK Parliament and characterized Cambridge Analytica as:
”Steve Bannon and Robert Mercer using a foreign, military contractor ... to use some of the same techniques that the military uses ... on the American electorate." [2].
Wylie also told the committee that
There were senior Palantir employees that were also working on the Facebook data… There were Palantir staff who would come into the office and work on the data. [3]
The Paradise Papers reveal that Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s connection to Russia tech investor Yuri Milner. Milner was also a funder of Cadre, a startup Jared Kushner* left off his security clearance forms even though co-founded the company. [4][5]
Cadre is also in Peter Thiel’s portfolio. [5] Thiel, who was part of the Trump transition team, gained a role following his donation of $1.25 million to the Trump team. [6]
Steve Bannon spoke of how valuable Thiel was to the campaign by saying:
“I cannot overstate his impact on the transition,” Bannon began, describing Thiel as a hidden hand in shaping Team Trump. “You will see in the near term that Peter will be taking on new responsibilities, like intelligence.” [7]
On March 9, 2018, Palantir was awarded a $876 million U.S. Army contract. [8]
Thiel also attended that “Villains and Heroes” costume party/fundraiser that featured key Trump supporters:
Mr. Thiel dressed as Hulk Hogan for the “Villains and Heroes” annual costume party last month, hosted on Long Island by the Mercer Family, who were big trump donors. He shows me a picture on his phone of him posing with Erik Prince, who founded Blackwater, and Mr. Trump - who had no costume” [9]
Thiel dressed as Hogan after it was revealed publicly that he had secretly funded Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker which ended up being settled for $31 million and severely damaging. [10]
Thiel’s connection to Facebook goes beyond funding. Their is on Facebook’s board and “Zuckerberg has continually defended Thiel’s presence” as a “balancing presence to stop the site from sliding too far in any one political direction.” [11]
Thiel helped lead a meeting that eased the concerns of several conservative media figures that believed they were being “censored” including: Glenn Beck, Tucker Carlson, Dana Perino. The meeting also included leaders from the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation. [11].
That seemed to set them at ease somewhat. Facebook cozied up to conserves for a Facebook Live party covered in this Gizmodo article titled - "Facebook Threw a Swanky Inauguration Party With Garbage Website The Daily Caller" [12] This party boasted a guests including: Laura Ingraham, Matt Boyle, Scooter Libby, Grover Norquist, and Martin Shkreli, who previously rubbed elbows regularly with Alt-Right trolls. He even offered to bail out 4chan by joining it's board of directors.[13]
The last weird connection is that Trump has hired Charles Harder—the attorney best known for representing Hulk Hogan in his lawsuit against Gawker who Peter Thiel secretly helped sue - to represent him in the Stormy Danielscase. [14]
It’s a small world.
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1) Slate - Watch Zuckerberg Struggle to Answer Sharp, Uncomforatble Questions about Peter Thiel’s Creepy Company
2) CNN - How Steve Bannon used Cambridge Analytica to further his alt-right vision for America
3) CNN - Peter Thiel's Palantir is investigating employee's links to Cambridge Analytica
4) The Guardian - Russia funded Facebook and Twitter investments through Kushner investor
5) Newsweek - Jared Kushner hid one of his companies on a disclosure form - then profited
6) The Verge - Peter Thiel is joining Donald Trump’s transition team
7) Vanity Fair - Is Trump Mulling Peter Thiel For A Top Intelligence Advisory Post?
8) Bloomberg - Peter Thiel’s Palantir Wins $876 Million U.S. Army Contract
9) New York Times - Peter Thiel, Trump’s Tech Pal, Explains Himself
10) The Atlantic - The Secret History of the Plot Against Gawker
11) NY Mag - Is Peter Thiel Playing Mark Zuckerberg?
12) Gizmodo - Facebook Threw a Swanky Inauguration Party With Garbage Website The Daily Caller
13) Salon - Pharma bro Martin Shkreli — of course — offers to bail out financially troubled 4chan
14) Vanity Fair - “I Have Never Threatened Her In Any Way”: Michael Cohen Offers His Side Of The Stormy Daniels Saga