Friday, February 16, 2018

13 Russians Indicted for Facebook Ads

CNBC - Special counsel Mueller: Russians conducted "information warfare" against US during election to help Trump win.  Lets start with this, the title of the CNBC article is intentionally misleading. The avowed intent of the group was, "spread[ing] distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general". 

Here is a copy of the actual indictment. Indictment.

Count One of the indictment is that these foreign citizens did not disclose that they were going to publish anything political.
Count Two - Some of the people used false names for bank accounts.
Counts Three through Eight - Some of the people involved Some of the people involved used false identities.

Those are the charges filed against the 13 defendants. It is NOT alleged that any Americans helped them or knew what they were doing. It is NOT alleged that anything they did effected the outcome of the election. It is NOT alleged that they were involved in the hack of the DNC. It is NOT alleged that they worked with the Trump campaign.

The corporate media is reporting this as foreign nationals attempting to effect the outcome of our election and attempting to hide their identity so people would assume they were Americans. Hmmm. Lets apply this logic to others. Let us consider the fact that most illegal aliens use false identities and social security numbers to get work here, they would be guilty of the same crimes. Let us also assume that many illegal aliens send money back to their families in Mexico using false identifications. Let us further assume that many illegal aliens protested against Trump and tried to effect the outcome of the elections. I can prove each of those assumptions. Shouldn't they therefore be indicted too?

Let us consider this, late night talk show hosts John Oliver, James Cordon and Trevor Noah are all foreign nationals who attempted to effect the outcome of the election and were paid to do so.




Let us also remember that BBC America and Univision did anti-Trump pieces and played them in America. Hmmm, notice anything inconsistent with what you are being told and how "justice" is being applied? It gets better, Richard Steele was a British spy and compiled and distributed the Trump dossier to effect the outcome of the election and he paid Russian government agents for his information. Shouldn't he be indicted?

It is likely that Mueller is wrapping up his investigation and this is the best he could come up with. In the end this is not about Russia and Trump, it is an attack on free speech in America. Should you be allowed to know what people in other nations think about our candidates? If we have a free and open internet you can.

The Guardian - Only the EU can break Facebook and Google's dominance. According to George Soros, in order to keep an open society we need to regulate what is said on the internet. Now that is some twisted logic.

MSN - CNN - Twitter failed to remove hundreds of Russian propaganda videos aimed at Americans.

These indictments are an attack on what the American public can read and hear. Should it be illegal to read "Mein Kampf" or "The Communist Manifesto", what about reading Rousseau or Locke or Hobbs or even Plato, they were all about politics and published by foreigners? The hope of the establishment is that they can keep political speech that disagrees with the corporate media from being viewed by you, that is what this is all about.

Been Busy, Back Now

Well, obviously the biggest story is the school shooting in Florida. I have nothing to say about it. People who hate guns are going to say that we need to get rid of guns and people that like guns are going to say it is about mental health. The same things will be said after the next mass shooting. You know one thing these mass shooters have in common, they feel rejected by the community they live in.

I want to talk about a movie that came out tonight. It is called "The Black Panther". It is a "superhero" movie that focuses on a black lead. According to reports it has already pre-sold $170 million in tickets. That is a lot. The movie cost $200 million to make.

I watched a trailer for it. Looked boring. Now, to be fair, I don't like superhero movies. I just don't care about them; but, I know people do. I don't think the movie is going to do as well as is hoped. Firstly, the CGI looked weak. More importantly, I don't think it will interest crowds in China and they are the second biggest market. I expect it to do okay in the US. I expect sales to drop off quickly and dramatically. To be honest, it's not relatable to most people outside of major cities.

The reviews are almost glowing and maybe I will be surprised. I don't feel a connection with the story. It is the story of an alternate universe where Africa was not colonized and advanced more scientifically than the rest of the world with special technologies. I detest fantasy stories as a rule. Being almost 60, I am sure that I am not the target audience. I do not anticipate the movie doing well in Africa, it is not for them, it is for western blacks, urban dwellers.

The last good movie I saw was Dunkirk. I don't think people who liked superhero movies went to see it. Maybe I am wrong and this film will be bigger than Star Wars. I am not betting on it and truthfully, I don't care. I should also point out, I don't watch Star Wars movies anymore unless they are on television.