pecosbob
pecosbob's Journal"Old Hippie" Got Accused of Astroturfing the Right-Wing Campaign to Reopen the Economy
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/04/reopen-liberate-urls/I realized all these fringe guys are gonna get a hold of these websites, So I went out and bought em up that night, he told me. The financial burden of thwarting fringe-right groups? It cost me about four grand, Murphy said. I dont have the money quite frankly. I was just trying to do something good. Im in massive credit debt to do this.
Murphy said that he recognized that his plan isnt foolproof. While similar domains have already been obtained and still remain up for purchase, he thinks keeping fringe-right wingers from the ones he purchased has made a difference. He said he believes such short concise domain names are important in search rankings. Names are really powerful. Thats why people pay millions for certain domains, he said.
After buying the URLs, things were initially quiet. But on Saturday night a Reddit post detailing information about the domain registrations went viral. While the message didnt directly identify Murphy, it gave instructions on how to find his name alongside speculation that he must be running an anti-lockdown astroturf campaigneven though Murphys intentions were the exact opposite. On Twitter, people doxxed him, posting his address and home number.
Check your targets, folks...
How Fox News Is Supercharging the Coronavirus Protests
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/04/how-fox-news-is-supercharging-the-coronavirus-protests/In recent days, thousands of people have protested against coronavirus lockdowns in states across the country. The demonstratorsoften wearing MAGA gear and directing their ire at Democratic governorsstill represent a small minority; polls show that most Americans are actually worried the shutdowns will be ended too soon. But according to Matt Gertz, that could change quickly. Gertz, a senior fellow at the liberal group Media Matters for America, points out that Fox News has thrown its full weight behind the protests and that Donald Trump has followed the right-wing networks lead. Once you have Fox News and President Trump championing these protests for a while, Gertz predicts, youll see polarization kick in, I think, and Republicans begin to support them in larger numbers.
Between April 13 and April 19, Fox devoted a whopping 4 hours and 23 minutesacross 69 separate segmentsto covering the protests, a Media Matters report found. All this is eerily reminiscent of 2009, when Fox helped turn the nascent tea party movement into a powerful anti-Obama political force by relentlessly promoting its rallies. (Disclosure: I worked with Gertz at Media Matters back then.) On Monday, I spoke with Gertz about Foxs coverage of the anti-social distancing demonstrations, its impact on Trump, and the striking similarities to what happened a decade ago. Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.
I have run out of expletives...
A life raft lost at sea - a short rant
If stranded in a life raft at sea with a companion that insists on bailing water into the life raft instead of out of the life raft the boat's passengers would simply throw the obstructionist into the sea and be done with it.
What is to be done with the saboteurs? The Interior Dept. wants to sell off the Grand Canyon to mining companies, Repubs in Florida designed their unemployment system to fail, DeVos dismantles the Education Department as we watch in real time, Erik Prince doing his best to start a new modern-day Holy War or Crusade in the Middle East and Asia, Repub state and federal officials continue to deliberately make it more difficult to vote...profiteers, disaster capitalists, idiots and fools all.
Today I heard some red-state governor's wife make another stupid claim about 5G and the virus being a hoax...
What can be done in the long term to exclude these modern-day monkey-wrenchers and fools from positions of authority?
Profile Information
Member since: Wed Oct 26, 2016, 05:18 PMNumber of posts: 7,534