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You are here: Home / Archives for Politics / Information Warfare

Information Warfare

Open Thread: Another Maui Update

by Anne Laurie|  September 17, 20236:22 pm| 19 Comments

This post is in: How about that weather?, Information Warfare, Open Threads

West Maui opens on Oct 8 to visitors. We need you to come back — so many of my friends' jobs are resting on the return of visitors. https://t.co/ydB4OYGWag

— HawaiiDelilah™ 🟦 #MauiStrong (@HawaiiDelilah) September 16, 2023

Death toll from Maui wildfires drops to 97, with 31 missing https://t.co/B7hrjsuADQ

— Jeffrey Levin 🇺🇦 (@jilevin) September 16, 2023

Good (if gruesome) explainer from the Washington Post — “Death toll from Maui wildfires drops to 97, with 31 missing”:

show full post on front page

The death toll from the devastating wildfires on Maui dropped unexpectedly to 97 on Friday, a decrease that officials attributed to more precise testing done by military experts who found that some body bags contained human remains belonging to the same people and cautioned that a final count is still not finalized.

The blaze, which began Aug. 8, was already the deadliest in modern American history, far outstripping the 2018 Camp Fire, which killed 85 people in Paradise, Calif. Previously, Hawaii officials said at least 115 people died in the fires that quickly subsumed the historic town of Lahaina, but Hawaii Gov. Josh Green (D) said Friday the confirmed number of deaths has gone down.

“That number dropped a little bit because the Department of Defense and all of their physical anthropologists were able to help us discern better who was in cars or in houses,” Green said in a video statement. “So thank God, fewer people have passed away.”

There are still 31 open reports of missing people. “And not all of those who are lost have been identified,” Green added.

During a news conference Friday, Maui police said they’ve positively identified 74 individuals.

John Byrd, the laboratory director for the Pentagon’s agency in charge of identifying remains of U.S. war dead, said his team is assisting in the process but is not prepared to offer a final count for the number of fatalities…

Driving past Lahaina is so difficult. Nothing left of the town I call home. The news cycle moves so quickly. Don’t forget about us. Rally your representatives and senators to do the right thing and vote for the funding to help us. pic.twitter.com/Iz8yE9hgjm

— HawaiiDelilah™ 🟦 #MauiStrong (@HawaiiDelilah) September 15, 2023

My research on the disinformation campaign(s) targeting the Hawaii fires —which was amplified by Russia and China — is featured in this new piece by @HawaiiNewsNow.

The takeaway: Crises are a target for disinfo and social media is an attack surface.https://t.co/ddRXAHnYWe

— Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D (@RVAwonk) September 13, 2023

And it’s arguably good news that the local media is warning Hawaiians against the Space Laser! conspiracists…

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A disinformation campaign that sprung up almost immediately after wildfires ravaged Maui was spread by China and Russia, researchers have concluded.

And, they say, that campaign made the government’s response to the disaster even more difficult.

From weather warfare to floating bodies on another island to thousands of missing children to a Maui land grab, experts say online posts about the wildfires might have started as genuine concern.

But they also said China and Russia are now using artificial intelligence to amplify false messages and spread fear, division and distrust in government.

Caroline Amy Orr Bueno, a University of Maryland postdoctoral research associate and digital deception expert, said the online rumors started the day after the Aug. 8 fire.

One phrase “Hawaii, not Ukraine” was similar in messaging to what was seen online after the Ohio train derailment disaster.

“They link that to the U.S. providing support to Ukraine. The idea is the reason that the aid to Hawaii was inadequate was because our attention and our resources were going to Ukraine,” said Bueno.

“It was the same narrative with this overarching idea pitting the support for Ukraine against support for a local community,” she added.

Gov. Josh Green reacted to research on HNN’s “Spotlight Now,” saying the disinformation is disappointing — and dangerous.

“When you start talking about laser beams and heat rays coming from space that would take out a people on Maui, coming on let’s get real,” Green said…

New York Times correspondent Steven Lee Myers, who covers misinformation, told Hawaii News Now that Maui wildfire rumors had photos generated by artificial intelligence.

They were on all digital platforms and in multiple languages.

He says it’s hard to tell if China and Russia started the rumors or amplified once it was online…

“People are hurting, people are upset, they are looking for answers and in that space I think people can be vulnerable,” he added.

Experts also said that platforms like Facebook have taken down several pages linked to China, but say they need to do more.

Open Thread: Another Maui UpdatePost + Comments (19)

Stupid Fox “News” Tricks

by Tom Levenson|  August 26, 202312:42 pm| 150 Comments

This post is in: Information Warfare, Open Threads, Our Failed Media Experiment, Politics

The right wing info bubble is real, and it is cynically–I’d say, viciously–maintained and guarded by right wing elites. It seems obvious from the outside that the ragegasm-based information economy in which a figure like Trump thrives is fostered by oligarchs who use the rubes to defend their power and their purses.

Of all such folks, none has been so essential and so effective as Rupert Murdoch. He’s an enemy of democracy worldwide; he rose to power on some mix of page 3 pinups and the endless repetition of bullshit exquisitely designed to ensure that his readers/viewers would direct their anger in useful directions.

Now, of course, he’s respectable, and it is of some importance to him  that many of his media properties be viewed as “real” news operations, operating from a right-of-center worldview, perhaps, but grounded in fact.

But then, every now and then (I’m guessing every day, with any watchdogs overwhelmed by the sheer volume) the lie comes right out into the open.  As in the “story” of a marine’s family who was, Fox alleged pushed towards penury to bring the body of their daughter home:

The U.S. Marine Corps went up to the highest levels of Fox News last month to challenge a story that falsely claimed a fallen Marine’s family had to cover the cost of transporting her remains, emails obtained by The Washington Post show.

Fox quietly amended the digital story and then removed it from its website following more complaints from the Marines but still has not apologized or corrected the erroneous report, which had been based on a false claim quickly retracted by a congressman.

The congressman in question is a Republican, of course, and from Florida (sorry Betty!)

The July 25 FoxNews.com story relied on an account from freshman Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.), who stated that the family of Sgt. Nicole L. Gee had shouldered “a heavy financial burden” of $60,000 to retrieve her body from Afghanistan. Gee, 23, was one of 13 U.S. service members killed in a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport in the frantic final days of the U.S. withdrawal.

This was, of course, bullshit

Stupid Fox "News" Tricks

The story’s reporter, Michael Lee, quoted Mills calling the family’s supposed expenditures an “egregious injustice.” Neither Pentagon officials nor Gee’s family were quoted in the original story.

…

“The allegations originally published turned out to be false, which I suspect Mr. Lee knew in the first place, and was the reason he did not seek comment from the Marine Corps,” wrote Marine Corpsspokesman Maj. James Stenger in an email to the Fox executives.

As Truman (is supposed to have) said of Nixon, you can tell if Fox is lying if anyone on camera’s lips are moving.

Got nothing deep to say about this–they are who they reveal themselves (over and over again) to be.  But this is why persuading a Trumper out of their self-and others’ delusion is so difficult.  They are as immersed in falsehood as Cleopatra was in her daily baths of asses milk.*

A final aside: props to The Washington Post for calling out Fox on this; too many in elite media have cut an organization built on Goebbels’ playbook way too much slack.

*That last assertion of fact is what we in and/or adjacent to journalism term “too good to check.” You have been warned.

The thread: open it is.

Image: François Lemoyne, Time Saving Truth from Falsehood and Envy, 1737.  A little on the nose, I admit, and would that it were so easy, that the tincture of time alone would be sufficient to defend us from industrial scale deceit.

Stupid Fox “News” TricksPost + Comments (150)

Monday Morning Open Thread: Political Theories

by Anne Laurie|  July 17, 20237:39 am| 131 Comments

This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Information Warfare, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Show Us on the Doll Where the Invisible Hand Touched You

Today’s strong fundraising numbers come after a great week for the Biden-Harris team.

From leading the global charge for democracy to bringing down costs here at home, this week we got to see @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris do what they do best – deliver for the American people. pic.twitter.com/zsGgNnvhvf

— Jaime Harrison (@harrisonjaime) July 14, 2023

More Americans are joining the labor force—the highest share of working-age Americans in over 20 years.

Bidenomics is working. pic.twitter.com/bHjtz084OU

— The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) July 14, 2023

Note sender:

The press rarely prints the good news about the economy under Joe Biden’s leadership. https://t.co/LgZIVdHtDi

— Barbra Streisand (@BarbraStreisand) July 14, 2023

show full post on front page

Note different sender:

“So we’ve got inflation waning, strong employment, the Dow very strong…And yet I know that we’ll spend the next six months hearing voters talk about how out of control inflation is, and how bad the economy is, and why they’re open to Trump 2024.” https://t.co/kIX1jUAiIN

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) July 14, 2023

Just take L and move on. https://t.co/rlHm6uQE8v

— Candidly Tiff (@tify330) July 14, 2023

A point to ponder:

Vaccines and Ukraine are very useful litmus tests for separating people with an actual critique from cranks or malignant actors. If you fail to have the broadly correct position on either you’re stupid or trying to maliciously manipulate stupid people.

— William B. Fuckley (@opinonhaver) July 15, 2023

For the next 20-30 years you’ll be able to look at what anyone with any kind of platform said in 2021-2023 and have a pretty clear (necessary, not sufficient, but still useful) indicator of if they’re a serious person or good faith actor.

— William B. Fuckley (@opinonhaver) July 15, 2023

Meanwhile…
Monday Morning Open Thread: Political Theories & Actions

(Clay Jones via GoComics.com)

Monday Morning Open Thread: Political TheoriesPost + Comments (131)

Excellent Read: On Confronting Stove Minivan, Nascent MAGAt

by Anne Laurie|  July 14, 20235:17 pm| 86 Comments

This post is in: Excellent Links, GOP Death Cult, Information Warfare

This may be the Rosetta Stone of the political context of our times.@DanaHoule https://t.co/av93jsL23P

— Bradley Greenburg (@BGinCHI) July 14, 2023

..He was exerting an active effort to not know things that could be easily known, and to demand to be convinced out of deliberate ignorance, not because he was interested in having his ideas challenged, but because he demanded a world in which he got to decide what was real.

The link from a long-term Friend of the Jackals was enough to get me to read the whole thing. A.R. Moxon, on that long-ago ‘friend’…

Remembering the first time I knowingly encountered the befuddling thing I would eventually know as MAGA.

It was 2008, on Facebook.

It was my old college buddy, Stove Minivan.

(Names have been changed to mock the guilty.)

(Link at the end of the thread to avoid throttling) pic.twitter.com/mgNKpCUA14

— A.R. Moxon (@JuliusGoat) July 14, 2023

Minivan was a nice enough guy. He was easygoing; a happy guy with a frequently deployed smile. I don’t recall much anger from him, nor many strongly held opinions. I wouldn’t call him a philosophical type. No deep late night talks with Stove Minivan is my recollection…

So then what happened is twelve years or so later I got on The Facebook, and Stove Minivan was there, too, and before long, we were friends again, he and I, and so were me and my other college friends, and them with him, and … look, you know the drill. It was The Facebook…

Anyway, before long I noticed something about Minivan. Even though his feed was full of pictures of him and his lovely family, and he was smiling in them just the same as he always had in college, he was angry.

He was *enraged*

What was he angry about? The Demonrats…

Minivan’s worldview wasn’t particularly coherent, if you want to know the truth.

I couldn’t help to notice that the Demonrats weren’t actually doing many of the things that Minivan thought they were doing.

And I noticed other things.

For example, I couldn’t help but notice that a lot of the policies Minivan supported were directly *causing* the sorts problems that made Minivan so angry.

And I couldn’t help but notice that well-sourced information enraged him more than pretty much anything else…

show full post on front page

This was all pretty distressing to those of us who had known Minivan back in the day, before he had become so obsessed with Demonrats.

So, a lot of us, myself included, did exactly what The Facebook wants.

We engaged with him.

At the time my belief was, you defeated bad ideas with better ideas, by confronting the bad ideas directly with the better ideas. Debate was for changing minds. You presented your ideas, they presented theirs, you countered, they countered, eventually everybody saw the truth…

Minivan escalated any correction, however calmly stated or bloodlessly presented, into scorched earth territory. He rejected all proofs by rejecting the source outright as irrevocably tainted by bias, or he’d spiral into non sequitur, spamming our feeds with more misinformation.

He would claim he never said things he had just said, even though the statements were still there for anybody to read, one comment earlier in the thread.

He’d claim that I said things I’d never said, as anyone foolish enough to read through our conversations could discover.

He demonstrated a complete dedication to his ignorance and anger, and a total disinterest in anything like observable truth that contradicted his grievance.

It was confounding and unfamiliar behavior to me, at the time.

At the time…

Minivan was not somebody whose intentions could be trusted. He was not operating in good faith, and I believe he well knew it, because many of his favorite sources of information have written instruction books on how to engage with people in bad faith.

Minivan was not debating; he was using debate to inject his counterfactual beliefs into the discourse, which were designed to further marginalize already marginalized people while simultaneously cloaking himself in self-exonerating grievance…

You can probably get an idea where this is going, but seriously: It’s worth reading the whole thing.

ETA: Entire post on Threadreader here.

A.R. Moxon’s SubStack (readable to all) here.

(Thank you, commentor Bill Arnold)

Excellent Read: On Confronting Stove Minivan, Nascent MAGAtPost + Comments (86)

*Very* Late Night Open Thread: To Whomever Misplaced Their Cocaine in the White House…

by Anne Laurie|  July 14, 20233:18 am| 40 Comments

This post is in: Excellent Links, Information Warfare, Open Threads

i don’t know who but there’s one particular person who is very relieved rn https://t.co/uLxix5K6hr

— post malone ergo propter malone (@PropterMalone) July 13, 2023

JUST IN: The Secret Service ends its investigation into bag of cocaine found at the White House without finding a suspect, sources say https://t.co/d56CtSQb2H

— CNN (@CNN) July 13, 2023

… Secret Service officials combed through “security systems” and indexed “several hundreds individuals” who entered the West Wing in the days preceding the discovery and were unable to identify a suspect, according to the USSS statement. The Secret Service said FBI lab results from the packaging found “insufficient DNA” and could not retrieve any fingerprints.

“Therefore, the Secret Service is not able to compare evidence against the known pool of individuals,” a statement from the USSS said.

Investigators were also unable to identify the particular moment or day when the baggie was left inside the West Wing cubby near the lower level entrance where it was discovered.

“There was no surveillance video footage found that provided investigative leads or any other means for investigators to identify who may have deposited the found substance in this area,” the agency’s statement said. “Without physical evidence, the investigation will not be able to single out a person of interest from the hundreds of individuals who passed through the vestibule where the cocaine was discovered. At this time, the Secret Service’s investigation is closed due to a lack of physical evidence.”

A source familiar with the investigation told CNN that the leading theory remains that it was left by one of the hundreds of visitors who entered the West Wing that weekend for tours and were asked to leave their phones inside those cubbies…

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GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told reporters that the Secret Service informed members in their briefing that it had narrowed its list of suspects down to 500 people. Greene, who said part of the briefing was classified, said she asked Secret Service if they would drug test those individuals and she said their answer was no.

The list includes a mixture of staffers and others on a tour, according to GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert, but the Secret Service would not provide specifics.

Boebert said the cocaine was found in locker number 50 and the key to that locker is missing. A number of members raised issues with the locker system and how it needs to be more secure…

Don’t be silly, nobody would sell Boebert cocaine. A mixture of lactose and cornstarch, sure, but the real stuff? C’mon!…

(My personal bet would be either a member of the Secret Service, or a GOP ratf*cker. Possibly both!)

does anyone know the number for the white house lost & found, its very important

— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) July 5, 2023

There is no such thing as a sober Ivy Leaguer.

— A. Bartaway????????? (@Bartaway) July 6, 2023

When Jr dies we’ll be able to freebase his ashes. https://t.co/qJh9gOfmx0

— Jean-Michel Connard ?? (@torriangray) July 8, 2023

This is like when a woman is murdered and her husband's search history is full of things like "ways to commit murder." https://t.co/sNFCEfBFJR

— agraybee.bsky.social (@agraybee) July 7, 2023

racist Miami finance bros voting for Biden by Huey Long margins because of this meme https://t.co/s8qDXMZDCJ

— knife-wielding hemophiliac (@NickTagliaferro) July 7, 2023

If you brought cocaine into the White House earlier this month, or any point since 1985ish, I would love to talk.

Anonymity GUARANTEED.

[email protected]

— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) July 13, 2023

*Very* Late Night Open Thread: <em>To Whomever Misplaced Their Cocaine in the White House…</em>Post + Comments (40)

Late Night Open Thread: The GOP’s Silliest ‘Silly Season’ Yet

by Anne Laurie|  July 12, 202311:38 pm| 51 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Information Warfare, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality

Brief summary:

.@ericswalwell describes GOP at Chris Wray hearing as "bananas" and "absolute chaos." Rep. Swalwell said, "The FBI director who oversees 38,000 employees, investigating terrorism, child exploitation, national security, walks right into the partners meeting of Insurrection LLC." pic.twitter.com/ZkFVm3QCqa

— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) July 12, 2023

"It is not the fault of the FBI that Donald Trump surrounded himself with criminals" — brilliant line of questioning here from Ted Lieu highlighting how a range of Trump staffers were convicted by a DOJ overseen *by Trump staffers* pic.twitter.com/Y2hP4hoGzH

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 12, 2023

if Joe Biden did this during a live interview Fox would spent nights yelling about how he's in cognitive decline pic.twitter.com/BVfYxgCpoP

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 13, 2023

Per the Washington Post, “‘Insane,’ ‘ludicrous,’ ‘absurd’: FBI’s Wray shows teeth to GOP critics”:

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… [W]hile the Trump-nominated FBI director was characteristically even-tempered in his testimony, there were times in which his exasperation at his predicament came to the surface — and in which he showed his critics some teeth.

Multiple Republicans peppered Wray with questions about whether FBI agents or sources were present on Jan. 6 during the attack on the Capitol — feeding a still baseless Tucker Carlson-fueled conspiracy theory that the FBI might have played a role in the insurrection.

Wray at one point remarked: “I will say this notion that somehow the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was part of some operation by FBI sources and agents is ludicrous and is a disservice to our brave, hard-working, dedicated men and women.”

When Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) pressed Wray on the government’s efforts to crack down on misinformation and mentioned the covid lab-leak theory, Wray took exception.

He called it “ironic” and “somewhat absurd” to suggest the FBI was suppressing the lab-leak theory, because the FBI was once “the only agency in the entire intelligence community” to assess that as being the most likely origin for the virus, back in 2021…

None of it was terribly heated, and Wray clearly didn’t want to give the likes of Gaetz the angry Fox News-friendly exchange that Gaetz sought. But it was also clear that Wray increasingly recognizes that the reason many Americans — mostly his fellow Republicans — have soured on the FBI is the often-flimsy theories he was confronted with, also by his fellow Republicans…

‘Don’t make me angry. You won’t like it when I’m angry.’

Among the usual suspects, cosplaying for their reelection ads:

Rep. Thomas Massie just told FBI director Wray that something was "legal, but not constitutional." I believe the cement above his neck is hardening splendidly.

— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) July 12, 2023

Wray to Harriet Hageman after she accuses him of discriminating against conservatives *when he's a registered Republican*: "The idea that I'm biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me given my own personal background." pic.twitter.com/IhHRABNvSu

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 12, 2023

"FBI shouldn't get another dime for this witch hunt against the greatest president of my lifetime, Donald J. Trump," Troy Nehls. And now he's yelling about Ray Epps. This is the weirdest committee hearing in the history of the House. I keep waiting for the Soy Bomb dude.

— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) July 12, 2023

Swalwell: I think it's quite rich the guy that accused you of lawlessness is 400 days in violation of his own congressional subpoena over January 6th. pic.twitter.com/VK6rvYPGUP

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 12, 2023

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX): “You don’t believe it’s tyrannical that FBI agents were a part of storming a father’s home in suburban Philadelphia?”

FBI Director Wray: “They did not storm his house … They knocked on his door and identified themselves. They asked him to exit — he did.” pic.twitter.com/BHyZJQGJeT

— The Recount (@therecount) July 12, 2023

A regular reminder that Chip Roy is not the Texas cowboy he pretends to be, but rather a milquetoast wonk from Maryland who was big-brothered into Congress by Rafael Theodore Edward "Ted" Cruz.

— The Notorious ROY G BIV (@robwoodyard1) July 12, 2023

But Hunter Biden’s laptop!…

Swalwell to Republicans: "The 2020 election was determined because the FBI didn't let more Americans see a private citizen's nonconsensual nudes? Is that what we're saying here? … that's bananas." pic.twitter.com/jJpZ3jMN0h

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 12, 2023

Late Night Open Thread: The GOP’s Silliest ‘Silly Season’ YetPost + Comments (51)

Breaking Open Thread: Purported Pentagon Leaker Arrested

by Anne Laurie|  April 13, 20235:47 pm| 86 Comments

This post is in: Information As Power, Information Warfare, Military, Open Threads

BREAKING: Sky 5 was overhead as federal agents swarmed a Mass. home and detained a man amid the probe into leaked classified documents about the Ukraine war. https://t.co/5FCrFgz3QZ pic.twitter.com/cwdp4yWJLK

— WCVB-TV Boston (@WCVB) April 13, 2023

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announces the arrest of Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old Mass. Air National Guardsman detained in connection with the leak of highly classified military documents about the Ukraine war. https://t.co/5FCrFgz3QZ pic.twitter.com/AVPnPxO4wV

— WCVB-TV Boston (@WCVB) April 13, 2023

Alleged leaker: Jack Douglas Teixeira
Air Force Service record:
Rank: Airman 1st Class (E-3)
Duty Station: Otis Air National Guard Base – Massachusetts Air National Guard
Duty title: Cyber Transport Systems Journeyman
Date entered the Air National Guard: Sept 26, 2019

— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) April 13, 2023

show full post on front page

FBI Statement on today's arrest of Jack Douglas Teixeira, of North Dighton, Massachusetts. pic.twitter.com/SC81ryuhRC

— FBI Boston (@FBIBoston) April 13, 2023

NEW: It appears Jack Teixeira's stepfather retired from the 102 intel wing at the base in Cape Cod in 2019, according to a search of public records.

More from today:https://t.co/c3FEnBbVFp

— Erin Banco (@ErinBanco) April 13, 2023

His stepfather appears to be Master Sgt. Thomas P. Dufault.

According to Cape Cod Times, he also has a step brother that works at the base.

More here: https://t.co/SyIooycVX0

— Erin Banco (@ErinBanco) April 13, 2023

New: A bit of context and perspective on the leaks so far. Awkward? Sure. But an end-of-days breach? Please. The IC has muddled through far worse, and allies are closing ranks to do damage control for Washington. From @JimmySecUK and myself: https://t.co/dvm8NcVE1M

— Michael Weiss (@michaeldweiss) April 13, 2023

And how will the Disloyal Opposition react to this news? Well, here’s an early entry from another disaffected military dude with a wide online audience:

Look how fast the federal govt took down a guy who exposed the lies on the Ukraine War but it's been a year since the Dobbs leak in the middle of an election year and the govt hasn't done a thing about it

Are you paying attention yet?

— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) April 13, 2023

Breaking Open Thread: Purported Pentagon Leaker ArrestedPost + Comments (86)

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