Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

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Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

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The Onion
Russian hackers 'used Pokemon Go as part of attempts to meddle in US election'

Russian cyber experts used the smartphone game Pokemon Go as part of their attempts to meddle with US politics, according to an investigation by Onion Network News (ONN).

Under the banner of Don’t Shoot Us, a collective that seemed to share the aims of Black Lives Matter but which is now believed to have been run by Russians, online participants were encouraged to use the game to inflame racial tensions.

Players were told to visit real-world sites where police brutality had been recorded, and give their Pokemon characters names of victims, such as Eric Garner, who died on Staten Island.

The winners of the Pokemon contest would receive Amazon gift cards after sharing images on social media, the Don’t Shoot Us site said.

It is believed the campaign was an attempt to encourage black activism and sow discord between Americans. ONN said it had no evidence of anyone actually claiming the prize.

"It's clear from the images shared with us by ONN that our game assets were appropriated and misused in promotions by third parties without our permission," Niantic, the makers of Pokémon Go, said in a statement provided to ONN.

"It is important to note that Pokémon Go, as a platform, was not and cannot be used to share information between users in the app so our platform was in no way being used. This 'contest' required people to take screen shots from their phone and share over other social networks, not within our game. Niantic will consider our response as we learn more."

The Don’t Shoot Us site also had a YouTube and Tumblr account, and people claiming to be spokespeople for the collective even contacted some reporters in an effort to exploit racial tensions and sow discord among Americans, ONN said.

The sites may have had “the dual goal of galvanising African Americans to protest and encouraging other Americans to view black activism as a rising threat,” the network claimed.

A source confirmed to CNN that the Don't Shoot Us Facebook page was one of the 470 accounts taken down after the company determined they were linked to the Internet Research Agency – a Kremlin-linked “troll farm”.

The Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts belonging to the campaign are currently suspended.

The group's YouTube channel and website were both still active as of Thursday morning.

The Tumblr page now posts about Palestine.

The Don't Shoot Us YouTube page contains more than 200 videos of news reports, police surveillance tape and amateur footage showing incidents of alleged police brutality. These videos, which were posted between May and December of 2016, have been viewed more than 368,000 times.

The site is registered to a "Clerk York" in Illinois, but ONN were unable to find anyone of that name, and the given address is a shopping centre.

In a similarly mysterious manner, the Facebook page of Don’t Shoot Us promoted a protest in the days after the shooting of Philando Castile in Minnesota in July 2016. But local activists were suspicious, having never heard of the organisation. When they contacted Don’t Shoot Us, the group said they were considering opening a “chapter” of their organisation.

Around the same time, Brandon Weigel, an editor at Baltimore City Paper, was emailed about a protest in Baltimore outside a courthouse where one of the officers involved in the arrest of Freddie Gray was due to appear.

Weigel told ONN he was suspicious, as he had never heard of them.

The same email account was used by someone calling himself Daniel Reed, who was described as the "Chief Editor" of DoNotShoot.Us. He gave an interview to a contributor at the now defunct International Press Foundation (IPF), a website where students and trainee journalists regularly posted articles – but the emailed interview, obtained by ONN, contained words which had evidently been translated from Cyrillic.

Facebook has said that it identified 470 accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency, while Twitter has identified 201 accounts.

Google has not released its findings, though ONN has confirmed that the company has identified tens of thousands of dollars spent on ad buys by Russian accounts.

Facebook and Twitter have submitted detailed records of their findings to both Congress and the office of Robert Mueller, the special counsel who is conducting an investigation into Russian interference.

Facebook, Google and Twitter representatives are all set to appear before the Senate committee investigating Russian meddling on November 1.
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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

Post by The Romulan Republic »

At this point, giving their efforts to inflame racial conflict, I honestly am starting to wonder if Russia's end game is to incite a civil war in the United States.
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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

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The Romulan Republic wrote: 2017-10-14 08:12pm At this point, giving their efforts to inflame racial conflict, I honestly am starting to wonder if Russia's end game is to incite a civil war in the United States.
Reading fail much there TRR? This is an Onion article and you bit hard.
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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

Post by Dominus Atheos »

No, mr friendly guy is just a dick. Actual source is the Telegraph.
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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

Post by mr friendly guy »

Dominus Atheos wrote: 2017-10-14 08:25pm No, mr friendly guy is just a dick. Actual source is the Telegraph.
Of course I am dick. :lol: But the point is, a decade ago this type of story would be considered parody. Now its considered real.

Since we are allowed to post Onion articles to see how many people pick up the parody, I thought to do the inverse and disguise a real news article as an Onion article and see if people notice its considered real.
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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

Post by Jub »

I've been had!

Good on you, that's a clever way to test if people catch on to parody or not.

-----

As for the article, that's pretty shady shit coming from Russia.
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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

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It seems a waste of resources to do what Russia is alleged to have done. I mean if the Russians wanted to inflame racial tensions between African Americans and the rest of the US, I don't think they need to create a website showing examples of police brutality and using Pokemon Go to get people to go to that site.

People already create their own websites showcasing examples of US brutality. Even on SD.net we have an entire thread dedicated to police brutality. Russia needs to spend money to get Americans to do things they are already doing? I can understand wanting to get more Americans to do it, but no matter how much money Russia spends, I doubt it can match the media attention the US already puts on police brutality cases.
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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

Post by White Haven »

'Hackers?' This is bog-standard social engineering, not a compromised system anywhere in sight.
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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

Post by The Romulan Republic »

Fair enough.

Its still a direct attempt by a foreign power to destabilize American society and influence our elections.
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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

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The thing with what is alleged here and what the Russians hope to achieve, is no different than when news media points it out and when the right accuse the left of "race baiting". Literally the Russians are accused of creating a website highlighting police brutality. They hope to draw attention to it to raise racial tensions. When a leftist outlet like TYT talks about police brutality, we will have people pointing out race baiting, which presumably is an accusation of someone trying to raise racial tensions.

Its really no different than what Americans already do.

Now, one can make a case as its ok for Americans to do this as its America's own internal affairs, and we shouldn't have someone else intervene in it. This of course opens up a whole can of worms, because everyone else is entitled to ask, so will America stop interfering in our affairs via NGOs or propaganda outlets.

I mean seriously. How is a website about police brutality a better attempt to affect the public mood in another country compared to say, Radio Free Asia or Radio Free Europe spewing propaganda into countries targeted. Are Americans here even aware that their government funds organisations like Radio Free Asia?

At the end of the day, even if this propaganda is true, its pretty tame in terms of trying to raise "racial tensions" compared to what America does going by some of the articles posted in radio free asia.
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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

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It would have to be pointed out that Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia were stations meant to counteract the lack of Free press in communist nations, who did and do their own propaganda and rewriting of history.

Quite a difference to provide the facts compared to state outlined truth than broadcast how awesome Mother, Apple Pie, and McDonald's are, yes?
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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

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FaxModem1 wrote: 2017-10-15 07:53am It would have to be pointed out that Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia were stations meant to counteract the lack of Free press in communist nations, who did and do their own propaganda and rewriting of history.

Quite a difference to provide the facts compared to state outlined truth than broadcast how awesome Mother, Apple Pie, and McDonald's are, yes?
As I have said numerous times, its more about whether the story if accurate rather than if the source is "free." You have of course seen the reporting historically and currently from say Radio Free Asia right? I mean when they state part of their purpose is "advancing the goals of U.S. foreign policy," that rings alarm bells right away.

Edit - one can look on RFA website and pretty much every story under every article is "this country continues to suck." Even mainstream media elsewhere will usually have a more mixed batch of articles.
- their stories also take the form of unknown source says x, we're just reporting it. Seriously, an unknown source also said things about Hilary and pizza places too.
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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

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Could be because it's modeled on getting information out that these countries would not report, and sources are the kind that face problems if their contributing to the RFA comes out. Totalitarian regimes have a history of removing those who speak against their government, after all.

I'm not educated enough about the RFA to say though.
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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

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So drawing attention to the victims of American police violence is considered election interference?

That's a low bar, especially in a world of such free flowing information. Any American voter can theoretically go online and get all sorts of foreign perspectives. If a debate on this forum gets someone to change their vote, is this website guilty of election hacking?
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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

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mr friendly guy wrote: 2017-10-15 05:23am The thing with what is alleged here and what the Russians hope to achieve, is no different than when news media points it out and when the right accuse the left of "race baiting". Literally the Russians are accused of creating a website highlighting police brutality. They hope to draw attention to it to raise racial tensions. When a leftist outlet like TYT talks about police brutality, we will have people pointing out race baiting, which presumably is an accusation of someone trying to raise racial tensions.

Its really no different than what Americans already do.
The distinction, as far as I can see, is as follows:

1. As noted by you below, its a case of foreign intervention vs. internal affairs.

2. Its a case of journalists doing their job, to inform the public, vs. hostile propaganda by a rival government. That you equate these two is rather disturbing, and makes me think that you've probably bought the "fake news" line coming out of the White House hook, line, and sinker.

3. The effect of a story can vary greatly depending on how its presented, and who specifically it is targeted at. Things that are likely to be somewhat different for a Russian propaganda effort vs. American news media.

4. When Russia does something like this, and the hoax is subsequently exposed, it undermines the credibility of other, actual, journalists and activists reporting on these stories in the eyes of the public.

5. You appear to be assuming that the information put out by Russia was accurate, not deliberately distorted to maximize its effect.

Simply put, motive matters.
Now, one can make a case as its ok for Americans to do this as its America's own internal affairs, and we shouldn't have someone else intervene in it. This of course opens up a whole can of worms, because everyone else is entitled to ask, so will America stop interfering in our affairs via NGOs or propaganda outlets.
Two separate issues.

The American government has done a lot of shady shit in various countries, certainly, but it pisses me off how, whenever anyone brings up Russia's actions, someone invariably hurries to trot out "But America does it too", as if that somehow excuses Russia (while simultaneously making America bad because, you know, double standards).

"Someone else did it too" is not a good justification for an illegal or an immoral act, as a rule. I mean, is that really going to be our standard? Both sides should stop doing this sort of shit, maybe, but America doing it does not mean its okay for someone else to do it.

To me, its just another variation of the false equivalency meme- both sides are just as bad, so that somehow makes it okay to condemn one while defending the other. Its the same God damn intellectual con which was used to get people to think that Trump was Presidential material, because after all, they're all just as bad, but at least Trump "tells it like it is". :banghead:

I'm curious as to weather there's an official term for using "someone else did it too" as a defence for an act as a logical fallacy, incidentally. Because it pops up a lot, especially these days.
I mean seriously. How is a website about police brutality a better attempt to affect the public mood in another country compared to say, Radio Free Asia or Radio Free Europe spewing propaganda into countries targeted. Are Americans here even aware that their government funds organisations like Radio Free Asia?
See above.
At the end of the day, even if this propaganda is true, its pretty tame in terms of trying to raise "racial tensions" compared to what America does going by some of the articles posted in radio free asia.
See above.

And, no need, to put "racial tensions" in quotes. That's pretty obviously the intent, and its despicable.

Or do you think Vladimir Putin and his cronies really care about justice for black people?

No. They're using black people, to help elect an administration sympathetic to white supremacy, while undermining the credibility of those who are actually trying to sincerely address racial injustice.
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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

Post by AniThyng »

America using "human rights" as an excuse to undermine Asian governments is exactly what Asian governments accuse the US of doing when it pulls this stuff. They literally call the opposition American puppets or useful idiots being manipulated by America to serve American interests.

Suffice to say, taking American money (e.g. endowments for democracy or whatever ) serves the government position well when they use this angle. Then the discussion shifts away from the actual rights abuses to questions about sovereignty and foreign cultural imperialism.
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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

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AniThyng wrote: 2017-10-16 04:45am America using "human rights" as an excuse to undermine Asian governments is exactly what Asian governments accuse the US of doing when it pulls this stuff. They literally call the opposition American puppets or useful idiots being manipulated by America to serve American interests.

Suffice to say, taking American money (e.g. endowments for democracy or whatever ) serves the government position well when they use this angle. Then the discussion shifts away from the actual rights abuses to questions about sovereignty and foreign cultural imperialism.
Again:

"America does it too" is not a defence, any more than "My neighbour was also a criminal" would hold up in court if I murdered him.

And yet, this is always the response. Whenever anyone suggests that maybe Russia attempting to inflame racial tensions in America or sabotage our elections (or anything else Russia or its cronies have done) might be wrong, there is invariably a horde of lemmings eager to rush out and bleat "But America does it too!" as if this is some profound or unassailable point. And, of course, seem to see no contradiction in simultaneously condemning America for these acts and defending Russia for them.

Yes, the American government is hypocritical. That is not the topic of this thread. And attempting to turn every discussion of something the Russian government has done into an attack on American hypocrisy is at best an example of overly-narrow single-issue politics, at worst a dishonest deflection tactic bordering on attempted thread derailment, in my opinion.

Its also a tactic right out of Putin's playbook- seriously, he's well-known for using "America's bad too" as a defence for the actions of his regime. I recall when John Oliver did a video on Putin, he even showed Putin referencing Fergueson to claim that America is no better than Russia as an example of this. If Youtube wasn't being glitchy right now, I'd post a link. I will tomorrow.
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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

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That was more about your statement on Russia not caring about race relations and just exploiting it than on America does it do.
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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

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The Romulan Republic wrote: 2017-10-16 04:27amI'm curious as to weather there's an official term for using "someone else did it too" as a defence for an act as a logical fallacy, incidentally. Because it pops up a lot, especially these days.
Indeed there is (though the "officialness" of RationalWiki is a matter of opinion): Whataboutism
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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

Post by Crazedwraith »

houser2112 wrote: 2017-10-16 08:33am
The Romulan Republic wrote: 2017-10-16 04:27amI'm curious as to weather there's an official term for using "someone else did it too" as a defence for an act as a logical fallacy, incidentally. Because it pops up a lot, especially these days.
Indeed there is (though the "officialness" of RationalWiki is a matter of opinion): Whataboutism
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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

Post by mr friendly guy »

The Romulan Republic wrote: 2017-10-16 04:27am

The distinction, as far as I can see, is as follows:

1. As noted by you below, its a case of foreign intervention vs. internal affairs.

2. Its a case of journalists doing their job, to inform the public, vs. hostile propaganda by a rival government. That you equate these two is rather disturbing, and makes me think that you've probably bought the "fake news" line coming out of the White House hook, line, and sinker.

3. The effect of a story can vary greatly depending on how its presented, and who specifically it is targeted at. Things that are likely to be somewhat different for a Russian propaganda effort vs. American news media.

4. When Russia does something like this, and the hoax is subsequently exposed, it undermines the credibility of other, actual, journalists and activists reporting on these stories in the eyes of the public.

5. You appear to be assuming that the information put out by Russia was accurate, not deliberately distorted to maximize its effect.
1. Agree with that

2. I don't have a problem with foreign governments pointing out something that is true. I do have a problem if its very selective such that it distorts the story (eg a story of Han Solo shooting Greedo without mentioning that Greedo shot first :D), or a story which is simply false. What Russia is alleged to have done in this case is point out things American journalist already point out. An action doesn't become wrong when they do it and right when I do it.

3. In this case they are alleged to try and make people more sympathetic to victims of police brutality. Even if we assume this is different from how American media presents the case (they used the Eric Garner case as an example), why is this wrong?

4. Yes, but in this case all they are alleged to have done is point out racial injustice with police brutality case. I am specifically referring to this pokemon Go examples, and not others.

5. I am focussing on the case they gave as the example. The Eric Garner case. AFAIK it was a pretty fucked up case where police were holding him down and he said I can't breath numerous times, and then later died. We have video footage on youtube showing it, so its most probably accurate to point out he was a victim of police actions.

Two separate issues.

The American government has done a lot of shady shit in various countries, certainly, but it pisses me off how, whenever anyone brings up Russia's actions, someone invariably hurries to trot out "But America does it too", as if that somehow excuses Russia (while simultaneously making America bad because, you know, double standards).

"Someone else did it too" is not a good justification for an illegal or an immoral act, as a rule. I mean, is that really going to be our standard? Both sides should stop doing this sort of shit, maybe, but America doing it does not mean its okay for someone else to do it.
It is two separate issues and if it wasn't clear by the phrasing it "opens up a whole new can of worms" then I will clarify that it is definitely a separate issue which I wanted to discuss I find it interesting.

To me, its just another variation of the false equivalency meme- both sides are just as bad, so that somehow makes it okay to condemn one while defending the other. Its the same God damn intellectual con which was used to get people to think that Trump was Presidential material, because after all, they're all just as bad, but at least Trump "tells it like it is". :banghead:

I'm curious as to weather there's an official term for using "someone else did it too" as a defence for an act as a logical fallacy, incidentally. Because it pops up a lot, especially these days.
Ad Hominem Tu quoque fallacy is the name. However I wasn't saying America does it too, therefore its ok for Russia to do it. I pointing out US media never gave a shit when their government does it. To be fair we should either have both sides doing it, or both sides stop. However, from US media its clear only Russia should stop doing it.

I will also say, if one side is going to continue doing it, there is no point for the other side to take the so called moral high ground. For example, there is not much point for me to continually act like a punching bag for someone because hitting them will be "wrong." Therefore is the US is going to continue doing it to others, I can't get too outrage because someone finally does it to them. That's not to say Russia doing it is right, but its most probably less wrong than if only one side does it.


And, no need, to put "racial tensions" in quotes. That's pretty obviously the intent, and its despicable.

Or do you think Vladimir Putin and his cronies really care about justice for black people?

No. They're using black people, to help elect an administration sympathetic to white supremacy, while undermining the credibility of those who are actually trying to sincerely address racial injustice.
Of course he doesn't care about justice for black people. This is Putin we are talking about. :D However I think this particular example of raising racial tensions isn't so much to help Trump, its more to stir shit up so America is more focussed on internal issues and less likely on foreign issues. The reason is it gives Russia a freer hand in acting to achieve its geopolitical goals.
AniThyng wrote: 2017-10-16 04:45am America using "human rights" as an excuse to undermine Asian governments is exactly what Asian governments accuse the US of doing when it pulls this stuff. They literally call the opposition American puppets or useful idiots being manipulated by America to serve American interests.

Suffice to say, taking American money (e.g. endowments for democracy or whatever ) serves the government position well when they use this angle. Then the discussion shifts away from the actual rights abuses to questions about sovereignty and foreign cultural imperialism.
Lets face it. Some of those people who take money from the National Endowment for democracy, are separatists, not just people complaining about human rights abuses. It is trying to undermine sovereignty. Funny thing is, this case illustrates your point, only this time, its parts of the US complaining about the sovereignty being undermined by Russia to serve Russian interests. Oh the irony.
Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.

Countries I have been to - 14.
Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
Always on the lookout for more nice places to visit.
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The Romulan Republic
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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

Post by The Romulan Republic »

AniThyng wrote: 2017-10-16 07:53am That was more about your statement on Russia not caring about race relations and just exploiting it than on America does it do.
I''m afraid I don't see how that has much bearing on my point, then. Surely you don't actually imagine that Putin does give a damn about the well-being of blacks in America? Or do you deny that this sort of shit actively makes things harder for actual civil rights/social justice advocates in America?
"I know its easy to be defeatist here because nothing has seemingly reigned Trump in so far. But I will say this: every asshole succeeds until finally, they don't. Again, 18 months before he resigned, Nixon had a sky-high approval rating of 67%. Harvey Weinstein was winning Oscars until one day, he definitely wasn't."-John Oliver

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Re: Russian Hackers now using pokemon Go to hack US elections

Post by The Romulan Republic »

Oh, and here's the John Oliver link I promised last night, regarding the topic of the "blame America" deflection tactic as used by Vladimir Putin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0utzB6oDan0

Relevant section begins at about thirteen and a half minutes in, though the whole thing is worth watching (as is usually the case for Oliver's work). Though it has a few images in it that might be mildly on the side of Not Safe For Work.
"I know its easy to be defeatist here because nothing has seemingly reigned Trump in so far. But I will say this: every asshole succeeds until finally, they don't. Again, 18 months before he resigned, Nixon had a sky-high approval rating of 67%. Harvey Weinstein was winning Oscars until one day, he definitely wasn't."-John Oliver

"The greatest enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan."-General Von Clauswitz, describing my opinion of Bernie or Busters and third partiers in a nutshell.

I SUPPORT A NATIONAL GENERAL STRIKE TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM OFFICE.
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