Politics

Comment by TherapyGary@lemmy.blahaj.zone

Long as fuck article so here's a summary provided by GPT-4:

The article "The Lies Russia Tells Itself" by Thomas Rid discusses the Russian disinformation campaign known as Doppelganger, which targets Western countries with fake news and misinformation. The campaign, orchestrated by the Social Design Agency (SDA), creates cloned websites of legitimate news outlets to spread pro-Russian narratives. The U.S. Department of Justice seized 32 domains associated with this campaign and released extensive internal documents revealing its operations

Key insights

• Tactics and Methods: Doppelganger uses fake articles, videos, and social media to manipulate public opinion, often exploiting existing societal tensions
• Self-Deception: The SDA's reports exaggerated its impact, misleading both its funders and itself about the effectiveness of its campaigns
• Western Response: Despite being exposed, the campaign continued, partly because exposure increased its perceived effectiveness among Russian bureaucrats

Key Numbers and Facts

• Document Leak: The leaked documents from the Social Design Agency (SDA) comprised more than 3,000 individual files detailing their disinformation strategies and operations.

• Fake Websites: Between November 2023 and August 2024, the Doppelganger campaign produced over 700 fake websites, marking it as one of Russia's largest known disinformation factories.

• Social Media Activity: The SDA pushed out 3,161 social media comments promoting its fake articles on Bild and 3,277 links to fake Daily Mail stories between mid-May and mid-July 2022.

• Views of Fake Websites: The investigation by Bavarian intelligence revealed that Doppelganger achieved just over 800,000 views of its 700 fake websites across all its campaigns during the specified period.

• Target Audience Engagement: The majority of views came from France and Germany, with the SDA's fake websites targeting Americans receiving fewer than 180,000 clicks.

• Performance Metrics: The SDA kept extensive records of its social media interactions, logging hundreds of thousands of comments in spreadsheets to track their perceived impact.

• Ambitious Goals: One internal document set key performance indicators for a disinformation campaign in Germany, aiming to increase support for the right-wing Alternative for Germany party and sow “fear of the future” among the German public.

Currently, just over 1,000 people in Miami-Dade have no roof to sleep under. For many of those people, that may still be the case come Jan. 1, when the county is legally responsible for keeping them off the streets. That threat of lawsuits could bring people experiencing homelessness into greater contact with law enforcement. Because the law applies to counties and cities — not individuals — it makes no mention of arrests or jail time.

Enforcement is entirely up to local governments, who run the risk of being sued if their execution of the law is ineffective and people are caught sleeping in public.

Different police departments will receive different marching orders. But Steadman Stahl, president of the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, a union with 6,500 members in police departments throughout South Florida, guesses that most officers will, at least at first, try to just move along people who are sleeping on the street.

A $1.6 Billion Federal Loan Guarantee

What Joseph Dominguez failed to mention when he proclaimed that Constellation was not asking for a penny from the state or from utility customers to restart Three Mile Island was that in May it applied for a $1.6 billion federal loan guarantee — which coincidentally is precisely the amount of money it plans to invest to restart the shuttered reactor. According to the Washington Post, the taxpayer-backed loan could give Microsoft and Constellation Energy a major boost in their unprecedented bid to steer all the power from a US nuclear plant to a single company. Microsoft is one of many large tech companies scouring the nation for zero emissions power for its data centers and one of the leaders in the field of artificial intelligence.

Bids opened Monday for a contract to supply the state Department of Education with 55,000 Bibles. According to the bid documents, vendors must meet certain specifications: Bibles must be the King James Version; must contain the Old and New Testaments; must include copies of the Pledge of Allegiance, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights; and must be bound in leather or leather-like material.

A salesperson at Mardel Christian & Education searched, and though they carry 2,900 Bibles, none fit the parameters.

But one Bible fits perfectly: Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA Bible, endorsed by former President Donald Trump and commonly referred to as the Trump Bible. They cost $60 each online, with Trump receiving fees for his endorsement.

“I am convinced you would do it all over again if you could. You’re as defiant as any defendant this court has ever seen,” Barrett told her in handing down the sentence. “You are no hero. You abused your position and you’re a charlatan.”

Jurors found Peters guilty in August for allowing a man to misuse a security card to access to the Mesa County election system and for being deceptive about that person’s identity.

The man was affiliated with My Pillow Chief Executive Mike Lindell, a prominent promoter of false claims that voting machines were manipulated to steal the election from then-President Trump. The discredited claims trace back to Trump himself, whose supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol because of them and who still repeats them in his third run for president.

The Supreme Court on Friday left in place Biden administration regulations aimed at curbing oil and gas facility emissions of methane, a major contributor to climate change.

In a separate action, the court also rejected a bid to block a regulation aimed at curbing emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants from coal-fired power plants.

In both cases, the court rejected emergency applications without comment, with no noted dissents. Litigation against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will continue in lower courts.

The Supreme Court has agreed to review the appeals court ruling allowing Mexico’s lawsuit against U.S. gun manufacturers, granting Smith & Wesson’s petition for the justices to hear the case. It will be argued during the new term that starts Monday, with a decision expected by the summer.

Former President Donald Trump’s media company has forced out executives in recent days after internal allegations that its CEO, former Rep. Devin Nunes, is mismanaging the company, according to interviews and records of communications among former employees.

Several people involved with Trump Media believe the ousters are retaliation following what they describe as an anonymous “whistleblower” complaint regarding Nunes that went to the company’s board of directors.

Two years after some of Texas’ largest oil companies withdrew from Russia because of U.S. sanctions over the country's invasion of Ukraine, they and other U.S. corporations are under threat of Russian litigation claiming they are in breach of contract.

The legal claims are largely being heard behind closed doors by arbitration panels in Europe and Russia, keeping the proceedings confidential. But U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, a Houston Republican leading bipartisan legislation to block the Russian effort, said Texas oil companies were among those being targeted.

“I can’t name them directly, but there are several,” he said. “American companies should never be sued by Russian assets for complying with U.S. sanctions.”

The Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.

The justices said they will review a ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that found that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission exceeded its authority under federal law in granting a license to a private company to store spent nuclear fuel at a dump in West Texas for 40 years. The outcome of the case will affect plans for a similar facility in New Mexico.

Political leaders in both states oppose the facilities.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas has said his state “will not become America’s nuclear waste dumping ground.”

The push for temporary storage sites is part of the complicated politics of the nation’s so far futile quest for a permanent underground storage facility.

"Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume," said a joint statement by the ILA and the employers' group - United States Maritime Alliance (USMX).

Under the tentative agreement, wages would go up by 62% over the next six years, BBC News understands.

But negotiations will continue over a number of outstanding issues, including automation.

Audio of Steve Bannon explaining the plan

It says that Trump told three advisers before Election Day that, if he had an early lead in the vote count on election night due to slower counting of mail-in ballots—which were expected to favor Biden—he would “simply declare victory before all the ballots were counted and any winner was projected.”

Smith’s filing also cites audio from October 31, 2020, first revealed by Mother Jones. In it, Trump strategist Steve Bannon said that on election night, “Trump is gonna declare victory. But that doesn’t mean he’s the winner. He’s just gonna say he’s the winner.” Trump “did exactly that” on election night, the brief notes, claiming that he should have won but was a victim of voter fraud.

Smith’s brief reveals that shortly after the election, a Trump aide gave the president an “honest assessment” that his fraud claims would fail in court. “The details don’t matter,” Trump responded.

The newspaper reported that as early as the fall of 2022, Musk poured over $50 million into Citizens for Sanity, a group spearheaded by employees of Miller’s nonprofit, America First Legal. The funds were largely spent on aggressive ad campaigns targeting Democrats on hot-button issues like immigration and transgender rights in key battleground states just days before the midterm elections of that year.

While Musk appeared to shift politically only recently, publicly proclaiming his support for Trump’s 2024 presidential election bid, the report shows he was, in fact, a significant behind-the-scenes figure for GOP causes long before creating a super PAC to support the Republican nominee.

Musk’s donations make him one of the largest contributors to conservative efforts.

“More than half of the money ended up in the coffers of a pro-DeSantis political-action committee,” reported WSJ.

Musk contributed $10 million to support Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s 2024 presidential bid, a donation that had not been previously reported. Despite DeSantis’s early exit from the race, Musk’s financial support further cemented his status as a major GOP backer.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has filed charges against Amazon, alleging that the e-commerce giant has illegally refused to bargain with a union representing drivers who are frustrated by what they claim are low wages and dangerous working conditions.

Back in August, drivers celebrated what they considered a major win when the NLRB found that Amazon was a joint employer of sub-contracted drivers, cheering "We are Amazon workers!" At that time, Amazon seemed to be downplaying the designation, telling Ars that the union was trying to "misrepresent" a merit determination that the NLRB confirmed was only "the first step in the NLRB’s General Counsel litigating the allegations after investigating an unfair labor practice charge."

But this week, the NLRB took the next step, signing charges soon after Amazon began facing intensifying worker backlash, not just from drivers but also from disgruntled office and fulfillment workers. According to Reuters, the NLRB accused Amazon of "a series of illegal tactics to discourage union activities" organized by drivers in a Palmdale, California, facility.

Political observers and experts are raising alarms about the International Longshoreman's Association union strike, which has seen dockworkers suspend their duties unloading cargo at ports along the East and Gulf Coasts — speculating whether the head of the union is attempting economic sabotage in favor of former President Donald Trump.

USMX, the key guild of maritime employers, offered the ILA upwards of 60 percent salary increases in their new contracts. The ILA, however, is demanding even higher increases, as well as the continuation of exorbitant fees to handle shipping containers — a practice so expensive, according to maritime journalist John Konrad, that U.S. ports frequently ship freight over roads hundreds of miles at ten times the expense to consumers rather than transport containers onto secondary barges at a fraction of the price to consumers — as well as a total ban on any new technology to automate ports, which industry experts have warned could destroy the competitiveness of U.S. shipping.

The extreme nature of the demands has caused speculation among observers that the whole thing might be a ploy to get Trump elected.

Bannon—who was working for Guo at the time—said he could have the lawsuit shelved. But Bannon wanted something in return: Nunberg would have to appear in a video with Guo and claim that Nunberg had learned that three other men had conspired to fabricate a rape allegation against Guo made by a former personal assistant—an allegation that had resulted in a criminal case in China and a lawsuit in New York, both begun in 2017.

Further, Bannon wanted Nunberg to say that the same three supposed accomplices—a Chinese entrepreneur named Bruno Wu, casino mogul Steve Wynn, and GOP fundraiser Elliott Broidy—were involved in the issuing of a “red notice” by Interpol seeking the arrest of Guo for alleged financial crimes in China, Nunberg recalled.

But on Thursday, Vice President Harris will be holding an event in Ripon, Wisc. — home to the Little White Schoolhouse, where an 1854 meeting led to the formation of the Republican Party.

Harris will be joined in Ripon by former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, who endorsed her last month. Harris’ campaign says they will speak about the history of the GOP and appeal to Republicans and independent voters disillusioned with her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump.

"I will always put country above party, and I will be a president for all Americans,” Harris said at a rally in Charlotte, N.C., last month, noting that more than 200 prominent Republicans had backed her campaign.

Just 13% of the defendants — a little over two dozen — have been accused of the sort of violent crimes that lawmakers cited when arguing for the legislation, such as rape, armed robbery and murder. Prosecutors were able to move such cases to adult court even before the law was changed.

The larger group of lesser offenses includes damaging property, trespassing, theft under $1,000, disturbing the peace, marijuana possession, illegal carrying of weapons and burglary. They also include offenses that involve the use of force, such as simple battery, but those are not listed in state law as violent crimes either, and they can be prosecuted as misdemeanors depending on the circumstances.

Louisiana is the only state to have passed and then fully reversed Raise the Age legislation. It’s one of four states, along with Georgia, Texas and Wisconsin, that automatically prosecute all 17-year-olds as adults. In other states, 17-year-olds can be prosecuted as adults only in special circumstances, such as when they are charged with a serious, violent crime like murder.

Elon Musk has been ordered by a federal court to answer further questions from lawyers about his takeover of Twitter - now called X - on Thursday. And the financial world has one question: Will he be there?

Last month, he was a no-show for a court ordered appearance at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) office in Los Angeles.

Thursday's planned interview is part of a high-level investigation into whether Mr Musk waited too long to disclose he was building up a stake in Twitter before acquiring the social media platform in 2022.

The billionaire has previously said this delay was a mistake But in a court filing, SEC lawyer Robin Andrews asked US District Judge Jacqueline Corley to take a hard line against the billionaire.

"The Court must make clear that gamesmanship and delay tactics must cease," Mr Andrews wrote.

Document in an easy to read format: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.258148/gov.uscourts.dcd.258148.252.0.pdf

Privately, the defendant told advisors--included [redacted] Campaign personnel, [redacted] (a White House staffer and Campaign volunteer), and [redacted] (the Vice President's Chief of Staff) that in such a scenario, he would simply declare victory before all ballots were counted and any winner was projected. Publicly, the defendant began to plant the seeds of that false declaration. In the months leading up to the election, he refused to say whether he would accept the election results, insisted that he could lose the election only because of fraud, falsely claimed that mail-in ballots were inherently fraudulent, and asserted that only votes counted by election day were valid.

For instance:

• In an interview on July 19, 2020, when asked repeatedly if he would accept the results of the election, the defendant said he would “have to see” and “it depends.” 5
• On July 30, despite having voted by mail himself earlier that year, the defendant suggested that widespread mail-in voting provided cause for delaying the election, tweeting, “With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???” 6
• In an interview on August 2, the defendant claimed, without any basis, that “[t]here is no way you can go through a mail-in vote without massive cheating.” 7
• At a campaign event in Wisconsin on August 17, the defendant told his supporters,“[t]he only way we’re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged, remember that. It’s the only way we’re going to lose this election, so we have to be very careful.” 8
• In his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on August 24, the defendant said that “[t]he only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election.” 9
• On October 27, during remarks regarding his campaign, the defendant said, “[i]t would be very, very proper and very nice if a winner were declared on November 3rd, instead of counting ballots for two weeks, which is totally inappropriate, and I don’t believe that that’s by our laws. I don’t believe that. So we’ll see what happens.” 10
• The defendant said this despite—or perhaps because—his private advisors had informed him that it was unlikely that the winner of the election would be declared on November 3.

Note: Any typos are my own, I had to retype half of it.

The exchange unfolded after the CBS News moderators asked Vance if he would try to challenge the results of November's election, even if every US state governor certified them - as was the case in 2020.

Vance did not directly answer, instead saying he was "focused on the future".

He sought to defend Trump over the riot during which President Trump's supporters attacked the US Capitol building in an effort to stop Joe Biden becoming president.

Vance said Trump had simply spoken of "problems" in 2020, and insisted that Trump had only said that "protesters ought to protest peacefully".

Turning to the outcome of the 2024 vote, he said: "If Tim Walz is the next vice-president, he'll have my prayers, he'll have my best wishes, and he'll have my help whenever he wants it."

But Walz persisted with the events of 2020 - challenging Vance to answer whether Trump had lost the poll. When Vance again sought to change the topic, Walz said: "That is a damning non-answer."

With Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his allies attempting to sow doubt over the 2024 election results if he loses, more than four dozen watchdogs and advocacy groups on Monday wrote to every member of Congress, demanding lawmakers' commitment to ensuring the peaceful transfer of power in January 2025.

Organized by the group Courage for America, which advocates against "an extremist agenda that puts money and power over the freedoms of our families and communities," the letter notes that there are less than 100 days until January 6, 2025, the day Congress is scheduled to certify the 2024 election results.