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This broadcast was recorded in one, 60-minute segment [5].
“A liberal’s idea of courage is eating at a restaurant that hasn’t been reviewed yet.”–Mort Sahl [6].
Introduction: NOTE: The program will have far more meaning for listeners IF they use this description and the attached photos of Leann Tweeden and Al Franken on the fateful USO tour. They are significant, in that they convey the generally (lighheartedly) bawdy aesthetic and tone of the event in question.
We begin our discussion of weaponized feminism with its ultimate manifestation–a joint call [7] by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Harvey Weinstein accuser Angelina Jolie for NATO to commit its resources to defending women’s rights.
Note that they cite Kosovo as a salient example of their feminist “call to arms.” As discussed in FTR # [8]161 [8] , among other programs, fighters in the Kosovo Liberation Army were largely descendants of World War II fascist fighting formations, including the 21st Waffen SS Division–the Skanderbeg Division.
The irony in Stoltenberg and Jolie’s call for NATO [9] to enforce women’s rights in Kosovo, among other places, could not be more profound: ” . . . . Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci is facing a wide range of criminal allegations, including owning a harem with 52 female sex slaves . . . . According to the news agency, a Ukrainian woman escaped from Thaci’s harem and revealed damning information about sex slavery in Kosovo. The woman claims 52 female sex slaves are forced to work night and day to service the Prime Minister and his rich friends in business and government. . . .”
Next, we turn to what may well be another example of NATO weaponized feminism. Among the victims of the #MeToo movement was Rep. John Conyers (D‑MI), a prominent congressional critic of the Nazi Azov Battalion, receiving arms and training from the U.S.
In 2018, NATO forces are scheduled to engage in maneuvers in Ukraine.
It is not surprising that Kristofer Harrison [10] (the author of an apologia for the Nazi Azov Battalion [11] in Ukraine) is a former Defense Department and State Department advisor to George W. Bush (and from the same political milieu of Kurt Volker, the Trump administration’s CIA-trained representative to Ukraine [12].) Noteworthy in his propaganda piece dismissing Representative John Conyers (D‑MI) as “the Kremlin’s Man in Congress” and discounting anyone else discussing the ascension of the OUN/B fascists in Ukraine in a similar vein, is the identity of his source for assurances that Azov is not a Nazi unit.
The Azov’s spokesman is Roman Zvarych, the personal secretary [13] to Jaroslav Stetsko in the 1980’s. Stetsko was the head of the World War II OUN/B government that collaborated with the Nazis!
After emigrating to Ukraine in the early ’90’s Zvarych and forming the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists with Slava Stetsko (Jaroslav’s widow) Zvarych became: Justice Minister (the equivalent of Attorney General of the United States) under the governments of Viktor Yuschenko and both Yulia Timoshenko governments. He has been serving as an adviser to president Poroshenko.
We then take stock of how Conyers, “The Kremlin’s Man in Congress,” was removed following a gambit by “Alt-Right” blogger, Trump ally and misogynist Mike Cernovich [14] to finance the solicitation of professionally damaging information about political opponents. “. . . . In November, the Trump-backing social media agitator Mike Cernovich offered to pay $10,000.00 for details of any congressional sexual harassment settlements, and said on Twitter that he would cover the expenses of ‘any VICTIM of a Congressman who wants to come forward to tell her story.’ Shortly before posting that offer, a source provided Mr. Cernovich with a copy of a sexual harassment settlement that led in December to the resignation of Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, until then the longest-serving member of the House. . . .”
With Al Franken’s departure from the Senate–an event that figures to make the Democrats’ chances of regaining control of the chamber more precarious–we reflect on aspects of Franken’s departure:
- Franken’s troubles were foreshadowed [15] by long-time GOP (and Trump) dirty tricks operative Roger Stone. Might Stone, as is his wont, have played a role in arranging this gambit?
- Leeann Tweeden worked for Fox News [16] for years.
- Tweeden’s CV also includes modeling stints for Playboy [16], among other outlets.
- We do not pass judgement on Tweeden’s work for outfits like Playboy and Hooters. In a society that is sexist and hierarchical, “strutting one’s stuff” is a common tactic on a career pathway for women fortunate enough to be sufficiently endowed to effect such a move. Nonetheless, for her to emerge as an icon for sexual harassment is “different.” It is important to note that Tweeden is obviously willing to leverage her considerable charms for professional gain. Did she do that in her attack on Franken, almost ten years after the fateful USO tour?
- Tweeden’s accusations have been echoed by other accusers, several of whom have chosen to remain anonymous.
- Even before entering the Senate, Franken would have been in the GOP’s crosshairs. We note that he related stridently misogynist behavior by GOP financial benefactor Richard Mellon Scaife–a main funder of the far right and a member of the storied, extremely wealthy Mellon family. Scaife’s remark–to a reporter from the Columbia Journalism Review no less–has not garnered much attention. Scaife was using the kind of language we might expect from–Edward Snowden! [17]
- All of this is not to say that many–perhaps most–of the sexual harassment charges surfacing in recent weeks against various figures may not be true. One pays a price for doing work of this kind. After close to forty years on the air, part of the price I have paid is misanthropy. Echoing Hamlet “I care not for man.” I have a VERY low opinion of human nature. It is not unusual for people commanding power and influence to routinely leverage such gravitas for financial and/or sexual gain. Nonetheless, in the context of the Four B’s of American politics–Bullets, Bribes, Beds and Blackmail, the Conyers and Franken situations bear more scrutiny than they have received.
- From the standpoint of counter-intelligence analysis, the #MeToo phenomenon signals a superb tactic for political destruction: a) infiltrate a woman into the entourage or professional environment of a male politician, media or business figure targeted for destruction; b) have her gain the trust of her political target and his associates (the cardinal rule for a good double agent is “make yourself indispensable to the effort”); c) after sufficient passage of time, surface the allegations of sexual harassment; d) IF the opportunity for actual sex play and/or flirtation presents itself, take advantage of it for later use as political/rhetorical ammunition; e) with accusers having the tactical luxury of remaining anonymous, the operational template for a form of sexual McCarthyism and the precedent-setting contemporary manifestation of a sexual Star Chamber is very real–the operational similarities between much of the #metoo movement and the Salem Witch Trials should not be lost on the persevering observer; f) proper vetting of the accusations is absent in such a process; g) for a public figure in the U.S., proving deliberate defamation (libel/slander) is extremely difficult and litigation is very expensive–the mere surfacing of charges is enough to taint someone for life and the exorbitant expense of litigation is prohibitive for all but the wealthiest among us.
- The CIA has long been involved with the women’s movement. (Check out Miscellaneous Archive Show M4 [18]: Gloria in Excelsis [19]: The CIA, the Women’s Movement and the News Media [20].)
- We can’t help but feel a brutally ironic degree of schadenfreude, with the so-called “progressive sector” now being impaled on the very one-dimensional identity politics they have championed for so long. If Adolf Hitler had been a Palestinian lesbian, folks in Berkeley would be walking around in brownshirt uniforms, Sam Brown belts, jackboots and swastika armbands.
- The so-called progressive sector has had little to say about the rape charges against Julian Assange.
- We don’t expect so-called progressives to take a critical look at the issues we have raised here. Political comedian Mort Sahl hit the nail on the head decades ago, when he observed: “A liberal’s idea of courage is eating at a restaurant that hasn’t been reviewed yet.”
- Past a point, we find it impossible to stomach what is going on. In the last election, with the first female major party candidate in this country’s history (Hillary Clinton) and an openly avowed sexual predator (Donald Trump) running against each other, 52% of white American women voted for Trump–#PhysiciansHealThyselves!
We note that the now-famous photograph of Franken “groping” Leann Tweeden’s breasts was obviously a staged event, not to be taken seriously. (The taste here is questionable, although as can be seen from two other photos of the same USO tour, the dominant aesthetic of this tour was bawdy, tongue-in-cheek. Note the photos of Tweeden goosing a male C &W performer and Franken and Tweeden mugging over a skimpy undergarment. It is clear that neither is to be taken seriously.)
We conclude the program with examination of technocratic fascism in action–the Twitter bot role in the takedown of Franken. [21]
On November 15th, a Japanese developer named Atsufumi Otsuka registering a web domain in Japan called RealUSA.site, on the same day Roger Stone announced over Twitter that it’s Franken’s “time in the barrel”–one day before the story broke.
Then, on November 20th, Alt-Right provocateur Charles Johnson tweeted, “Thinking of offering money to people who go on tv and say Al Frank is a predator.” That same day, Otsuka registered a second domain in Japan for another fake-news site, VotyUS.me.
The two fake news sites were finally put to use on December 7, shortly before Democrats started calling for Franken to step down. The sites re-published an article by Ijeoma Oluo, a liberal writer, urging women and activists to stop supporting Franken. Oluo’s piece, titled “Dear Al Franken, I’ll Miss You but You Can’t Matter Anymore,” was posted on relatively obscure website that only had a reach of of 10,000 followers. But once the article got reposted to those two fake news sites the twitter bot networking suddenly sprang into action, with thousands of fake Twitter accounts tweeting the title of the article—but linking back to repost of the article on the fake news sites, RealUSA.site or VotyUS.me.
Although it’s not clear who paid for the Twitter-bot activity, it’s hard to ignore the coincidental timing. Researchers have concluded that it wasn’t cheap. They estimate that it required dozens of hours of initial development time and at least one person working full time to produce and distribute content. The whole task of setting up this Japanese Twitter [21] bot army to amplify the calls for Senator Franken to step down was deemed by whoever paid for it to be worth the time and money.
“ . . . . A pair of Japan-based websites, created the day before Tweeden came forward, and a swarm of related Twitter bots made the Tweeden story go viral and then weaponized a liberal writer’s criticism of Franken. The bot army—in tandem with prominent real, live members of the far right who have Twitter followers in the millions, such as Mike Cernovich—spewed thousands of posts, helping the #FrankenFondles hashtag and the “Franken is a groper” meme effectively silence the testimonies of eight former female staffers who defended the Minnesota Democrat before he resigned last year. . . . ”
” . . . . One question remains: Who is paying for this operation? The researchers believe that the operation was expensive. ‘We estimate dozens of hours of initial development time and at least one person working full time to produce and distribute content,’ one of the researchers told Newsweek. ‘Additionally, it’s likely that an existing bot farm of compromised computers is basically being rented as a distributed host for these accounts.’ . . . .”
Program Highlights Include:
- Discussion of Gandhi’s belief that one should not mix sex and politics.
- Discussion of the amoral aspect of gender or sexual preference typing of individuals.
- Franken’s second accuser, Lindsay Menz [22], is a Trump backer who supposedly was groped by Franken seven years before, in the presence of her father and fellow Trump backer/husband Jeremy Menz. ” . . . . the incident took place at the 2010 Minnesota State Fair. . . . Menz said she was at the fair with her father . . . . As they prepared for the photos, Franken ‘pulled (her) in really close, like awkward close’ as her husband was taking the picture. . . . Menz said that her and [husband] Jeremy voted for Donald Trump [23] during the 2016 presidential election . . . .”
1a. We begin our discussion of weaponized feminism with its ultimate manifestation–a joint call by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Harvey Weinstein accuser Angelina Jolie for NATO to commit its resources to defending women’s rights.
Note that they cite Kosovo as a salient example of their feminist “call to arms.” As discussed in FTR # [8]161 [8], among other programs, fighters in the Kosovo Liberation Army were largely descendants of World War II fascist fighting formations, including the 21st Waffen SS Division–the Skanderbeg Division.
. . . . Despite being prohibited by international law, sexual violence continues to be employed as a tactic of war in numerous conflicts from Myanmar to Ukraine and Syria to Somalia. It includes mass rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, and rape as a form of torture, ethnic cleansing and terrorism. It accounts in large part for why it is often more dangerous to be a woman in a warzone today than it is to be a soldier. . . .
. . . . We believe that NATO has the responsibility and opportunity to be a leading protector of women’s rights.
In particular, we believe NATO can become the global military leader in how to prevent and respond to sexual violence in conflict, drawing on the strengths and capabilities of its member states and working with its many partner countries. . . . .
. . . . Nato already deploys gender advisers to local communities in Kosovo and Afghanistan, while NATO’s female soldiers are able to reach and engage with local communities. . . .
1b. The irony in Stoltenberg and Jolie’s call for NATO to enforce women’s rights in Kosovo, among other places could not be more profound: ” . . . . Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci is facing a wide range of criminal allegations, including owning a harem with 52 female sex slaves . . . . According to the news agency, a Ukrainian woman escaped from Thaci’s harem and revealed damning information about sex slavery in Kosovo. The woman claims 52 female sex slaves are forced to work night and day to service the Prime Minister and his rich friends in business and government. . . .”
Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci is facing a wide range of criminal allegations, including owning a harem with 52 female sex slaves, drug trafficking and the sale of human organs. The Prime Minister has been accused of criminal activity in several major European news sources; among them are Berlin-based daily Der Tagesspiegel, The Guardian [24], and MINA.
MINA (Macedonian International News Agency) [25] is the source of today’s article about the suspected crimes of the controversial leader of Kosovo. According to the news agency, a Ukrainian woman escaped from Thaci’s harem and revealed damning information about sex slavery in Kosovo. The woman claims 52 female sex slaves are forced to work night and day to service the Prime Minister and his rich friends in business and government. . . .
1c. It is not surprising that Kristofer Harrison (the author of an apologia for the Nazi Azov Battalion [11] in Ukraine) is a former Defense Department and State Department advisor to George W. Bush (and from the same political milieu of Kurt Volker, the Trump administration’s CIA-trained representative to Ukraine [12].) Noteworthy in his propaganda piece dismissing Representative John Conyers (D‑MI) as “the Kremlin’s Man in Congress” and discounting anyone else discussing the ascension of the OUN/B fascists in Ukraine in a similar vein, is the identity of his source for assurances that Azov is not a Nazi unit.
The Azov’s spokesman is Roman Zvarych, the personal secretary [13] to Jaroslav Stetsko in the 1980’s. Stetsko was the head of the World War II OUN/B government that collaborated with the Nazis!
After emigrating to Ukraine in the early ’90’s Zvarych and forming the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists with Slava Stetsko (Jaroslav’s widow) Zvarych became: Justice Minister (the equivalent of Attorney General of the United States) under the governments of Viktor Yuschenko and both Yulia Timoshenko governments. He has been serving as an adviser to president Poroshenko.
“Putin’s Man in Congress” by Kristofer Harrison; The Huffington Post; 8/7/2015. [10]
. . . .The Azov’s spokesman, Roman Zvarych, told me that the battalion has a selective screening program that accepts only 50 out of almost 300 recruits each month. He says they have a thorough background check and reject members for various reasons, including having fascist leanings. . . .
. . . . Rep. Conyers played an important role in helping the Russian Nazi meme evolve from the stuff of conspiracy theorists, kooks and fellow-travelers into something the mainstream press happily prints. Rep. Conyers took to the floor of the House to submit his amendment and label the unit, “The repulsive Neo-Nazi Azov Battalion.” From there, the Daily Beast ran a story [26] titled “Is America Training Neonazis in Ukraine?” using Conyers’ bill as factual support. The day after the amendment’s passage, Leonoid Bershidsky ran a Bloomberg View article [27] titled “Ukraine’s Neo-Nazis Won’t Get U.S. Money.” Even the Canadians have been affected. On June 16th, the National Post ran a story [28] titled “Fears that Canadian Mission in Ukraine May Unintentionally Help Neonazi Groups.”. . . .
1d. Next, we take stock of how Conyers, “The Kremlin’s Man in Congress,” was removed following a gambit by “Alt-Right” blogger, Trump ally and misogynist Mike Cernovich to finance the solicitation of professionally damaging information about political opponents. “. . . . In November, the Trump-backing social media agitator Mike Cernovich offered to pay $10,000.00 for details of any congressional sexual harassment settlements, and said on Twitter that he would cover the expenses of ‘any VICTIM of a Congressman who wants to come forward to tell her story.’ Shortly before posting that offer, a source provided Mr. Cernovich with a copy of a sexual harassment settlement that led in December to the resignation of Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, until then the longest-serving member of the House. . . .”
” . . . . Mr. Cernovich is an unlikely champion for sexual harassment victims, given his previous career as an anti-feminist blogger who cast doubt on date-rape allegations and wrote posts with headlines like ‘Misogyny Gets You Laid.’ . . . .
. . . . In November, the Trump-backing social media agitator Mike Cernovich offered to pay $10,000.00 for details of any congressional sexual harassment settlements, and said on Twitter that he would cover the expenses of “any VICTIM of a Congressman who wants to come forward to tell her story.” Shortly before posting that offer, a source provided Mr. Cernovich with a copy of a sexual harassment settlement that led in December to the resignation of Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, until then the longest-serving member of the House. . . .
. . . . “You got to sweeten the pot a little bit,” Mr. Cernovich said. A lawyer by training, he said he was shocked that the person who gave him the Conyers documents declined his offer to pay for them.
But, he said, “if somebody had a settlement like Conyers, I would gladly, gladly pay for that.” . . . .
. . . . Mr. Cernovich and the far-right activist Charles C. Johnson, had to back away from claims that they possessed a sexual harassment settlement that would bring down a leading Democratic Senator when it became apparent that the document–which targeted the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York–was a forgery, lifting passages verbatim from the Conyers complaint unearthed by Mr. Cernovich. Mr. Schumer referred the matter to the Capitol Hill police for a criminal investigation.
. . . . “I like to hype things in advance, and this looked pretty good,” Mr. Cernovich said. “I definitely learned my lesson there.”
Mr. Cernovich is an unlikely champion for sexual harassment victims, given his previous career as an anti-feminist blogger who cast doubt on date-rape allegations and wrote posts with headlines like “Misogyny Gets You Laid.” . . . .
2a. With Al Franken’s departure from the Senate–an event that figures to make the Democrats’ chances of regaining control of the chamber more precarious–we reflect on aspects of Franken’s departure:
- Franken’s troubles were foreshadowed [15] by long-time GOP (and Trump) dirty tricks operative Roger Stone. Might Stone, as is his wont, have played a role in arranging this gambit?
- Leeann Tweeden worked for Fox News [16] for years.
- Tweeden’s CV also includes modeling stints for Playboy [16], among other outlets.
- We do not pass judgement on Tweeden’s work for outfits like Playboy and Hooters. In a society that is sexist and hierarchical, “strutting one’s stuff” is a common tactic on a career pathway for women fortunate enough to be sufficiently endowed to effect such a move. Nonetheless, for her to emerge as an icon for sexual harassment is “different.” It is important to note that Tweeden is obviously willing to leverage her considerable charms for professional gain. Did she do that in her attack on Franken, almost ten years after the fateful USO tour?
- Tweeden’s accusations have been echoed by other accusers, several of whom have chosen to remain anonymous.
- Even before entering the Senate, Franken would have been in the GOP’s crosshairs. We note that he related stridently misogynist behavior by GOP financial benefactor Richard Mellon Scaife–a main funder of the far right and a member of the storied, extremely wealthy Mellon family. Scaife’s remark–to a reporter from the Columbia Journalism Review no less–has not garnered much attention. Scaife was using the kind of language we might expect from–Edward Snowden! [17]
- All of this is not to say that many–perhaps most–of the sexual harassment charges surfacing in recent weeks against various figures may not be true. One pays a price for doing work of this kind. After close to forty years on the air, part of the price I have paid is misanthropy. Echoing Hamlet “I care not for man.” I have a VERY low opinion of human nature. It is not unusual for people commanding power and influence to routinely leverage such gravitas for financial and/or sexual gain. Nonetheless, in the context of the Four B’s of American politics–Bullets, Bribes, Beds and Blackmail, I think the Conyers and Franken situations bear more scrutiny than they have received.
- From the standpoint of counter-intelligence analysis, the #MeToo phenomenon signals a superb tactic for political destruction: a) infiltrate a woman into the entourage or professional environment of a male politician, media or business figure targeted for destruction; b) have her gain the trust of her political target and his associates (the cardinal rule for a good double agent is “make yourself indispensable to the effort”); c) after sufficient passage of time, surface the allegations of sexual harassment; d) IF the opportunity for actual sex play and/or flirtation presents itself, take advantage of it for later use as political/rhetorical ammunition; e) with accusers having the tactical luxury of remaining anonymous, the operational template for a form of sexual McCarthyism and the precedent-setting contemporary manifestation of a sexual Star Chamber is very real–the operational similarities between much of the #metoo movement and the Salem Witch Trials should not be lost on the persevering observer; f) proper vetting of the accusations is absent in such a process; g) for a public figure in the U.S., proving deliberate defamation (libel/slander) is extremely difficult and litigation is very expensive–the mere surfacing of charges is enough to taint someone for life and the exorbitant expense of litigation is prohibitive for all but the wealthiest among us.
- The CIA has long been involved with the women’s movement. (Check out Miscellaneous Archive Show M4 [18]: Gloria in Excelsis [19]: The CIA, the Women’s Movement and the News Media [20].)
- We can’t help but feel a brutally ironic degree of schadenfreude, with the so-called “progressive sector” now being impaled on the very one-dimensional identity politics they have championed for so long. If Adolf Hitler had been a Palestinian lesbian, folks in Berkeley would be walking around in brownshirt uniforms, Sam Brown belts, jackboots and swastika armbands.
- The so-called progressive sector has had little to say about the rape charges against Julian Assange.
- We don’t expect so-called progressives to take a critical look at the issues we have raised here. Political comedian Mort Sahl hit the nail on the head decades ago, when he observed: “A liberal’s idea of courage is eating at a restaurant that hasn’t been reviewed yet.”
- Past a point, we find it impossible to stomach what is going on. In the last election, with the first female major party candidate in this country’s history (Hillary Clinton) and an openly avowed sexual predator (Donald Trump) running against each other, 52% of white American women voted for Trump–#PhysiciansHealThyselves!
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them [29]by Al Franken; Dutton [HC]; Copyright 2003 by Al Franken; ISBN 0–525-94764–7; p. 132. [29]
. . . . Where did this malicious tone come from in the first place? I submit that it can be traced to a day in 1981, when billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife fielded a reporter’s question about his financial backing of conservative groups.
“You fucking Communist cunt, get out of here,” he said to Karen Rothmyer of the Columbia Journalism Review. He went on to tell her that she was ugly and that her teeth were “terrible.” Of Ms. Rothmyer’s mother, who was not present, he said, “She’s ugly, too.” Sensing that it was time to wrap up the interview, ms. Rothmyer thanked Scaife for his time. He bade her farewell with a cheery “Don’t look behind you.” . . . .
2b. Franken’s next accuser, Lindsay Menz, is a Trump backer who supposedly was groped by Franken seven years before, in the presence of her father and fellow Trump backer/husband Jeremy Menz.
” . . . . the incident took place at the 2010 Minnesota State Fair. . . . Menz said she was at the fair with her father . . . . As they prepared for the photos, Franken ‘pulled (her) in really close, like awkward close’ as her husband was taking the picture. . . . Menz said that her and [husband] Jeremy voted for Donald Trump [23] during the 2016 presidential election . . . .”
We are more than a little skeptical.
. . . . Menz’s accusations against Franken are the first to surface from while he was in office. Menz told CNN that the incident took place at the 2010 Minnesota State Fair. She reached out to CNN after the first accusations were made against Franken, calling his conduct “uncomfortable,” adding that it left her feeling “gross.”
Menz said she was at the fair with her father, whose small company was sponsoring a radio booth. She was there meeting elected officials and various candidates for office, she said, taking pictures with them as they came to the booth. Franken was one of the politicians to walk into the radio booth, and Menz said she and her husband recognized the former Saturday Night Live! cast member immediately. They had a brief conversation before posing together for a photo.
As they prepared for the photos, Franken “pulled (her) in really close, like awkward close” as her husband was taking the picture. She accuses Franken of putting “his hand full-fledge” on her butt, she told CNN. . . .
. . . . Menz said that her and [husband] Jeremy voted for Donald Trump [23] during the 2016 presidential election . . . .
3. It looks like the ‘Alt-Right’ campaign to push former Senator Al Franken to resign [30] had help from an unexpected source: Japanese twitter bots.
According to research by analysts at Unhack the Vote [31], a voting rights outfit, Roger Stone isn’t the only individual who demonstrated foreknowledge of the story of Leann Tweeden’s accusations. It turns out there was a Japanese twitter bot network which controls a large pool of dummy Twitter accounts (the “bots”) that also demonstrated such foreknowledge.
On November 15th, a Japanese developer named Atsufumi Otsuka registering a web domain in Japan called RealUSA.site, on the same day Roger Stone announced over Twitter that it’s Franken’s “time in the barrel”–one day before the story broke.
Then, on November 20th, Alt-Right provocateur Charles Johnson tweeted, “Thinking of offering money to people who go on tv and say Al Frank is a predator.” That same day, Otsuka registered a second domain in Japan for another fake-news site, VotyUS.me.
The two fake news sites were finally put to use on December 7, shortly before Democrats started calling for Franken to step down. The sites re-published an article by Ijeoma Oluo, a liberal writer, urging women and activists to stop supporting Franken. Oluo’s piece, titled “Dear Al Franken, I’ll Miss You but You Can’t Matter Anymore,” was posted on relatively obscure website that only had a reach of of 10,000 followers. But once the article got reposted to those two fake news sites the twitter bot networking suddenly sprang into action, with thousands of fake Twitter accounts tweeting the title of the article—but linking back to repost of the article on the fake news sites, RealUSA.site or VotyUS.me.
Although it’s not clear who paid for the Twitter-bot activity, it’s hard to ignore the coincidental timing. Researchers have concluded that it wasn’t cheap. They estimate that it required dozens of hours of initial development time and at least one person working full time to produce and distribute content. The whole task of setting up this Japanese Twitter [21] bot army to amplify the calls for Senator Franken to step down was deemed by whoever paid for it to be worth the time and money.
“ . . . . A pair of Japan-based websites, created the day before Tweeden came forward, and a swarm of related Twitter bots made the Tweeden story go viral and then weaponized a liberal writer’s criticism of Franken. The bot army—in tandem with prominent real, live members of the far right who have Twitter followers in the millions, such as Mike Cernovich—spewed thousands of posts, helping the #FrankenFondles hashtag and the “Franken is a groper” meme effectively silence the testimonies of eight former female staffers who defended the Minnesota Democrat before he resigned last year. . . . ”
” . . . . One question remains: Who is paying for this operation? The researchers believe that the operation was expensive. ‘We estimate dozens of hours of initial development time and at least one person working full time to produce and distribute content,’ one of the researchers told Newsweek. ‘Additionally, it’s likely that an existing bot farm of compromised computers is basically being rented as a distributed host for these accounts.’ . . . .”
“How an Alt-Right Bot Network Took Down Al Franken” by Nina Burleigh; Newsweek;
2/19/2018
White nationalist provocateurs, a pair of fake news sites, an army of Twitter bots and other cyber tricks helped derail Democratic Senator Al Franken last year, new research shows.
While everyone has been focused on Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election to support Donald Trump, the Franken takedown originated in—and was propelled by—a strategic online campaign with digital tentacles reaching to, of all places, Japan. Analysts have now mapped out how Hooters pinup girl [32] and lad-mag model [33] Leeann Tweeden’s initial accusation against Franken became effective propaganda after right-wing black ops master Roger Stone first hinted at the allegation.
A pair of Japan-based websites, created the day before Tweeden came forward, and a swarm of related Twitter bots made the Tweeden story go viral and then weaponized a liberal writer’s criticism of Franken. The bot army—in tandem with prominent real, live members of the far right who have Twitter followers in the millions, such as Mike Cernovich—spewed thousands of posts, helping the #FrankenFondles hashtag and the “Franken is a groper” meme effectively silence the testimonies of eight former female staffers who defended the Minnesota Democrat before he resigned last year.
The operation commenced on November 15, when Stone—who is now banned from Twitter [34] for racism and profanity—tweeted from one of his accounts “Roger Stone says it’s Al Franken’s ‘time in the barrel.’ Franken next in long list of Democrats accused of ‘grabby’ behavior.”
On the same day, a developer named Atsufumi Otsuka registered a web domain in Japan called RealUSA.site, and a fake-news website soon emerged at that web address, according to research shared with the voting rights outfit Unhack the Vote [31].
Tweeden’s account of Franken groping her was first amplified by a network of right-wing media, including KABC in Los Angeles, where Tweeden has a radio show, The Hill, Infowars and Breitbart, which mobilized within hours of Stone’s tweet and the release of a picture of a Tweeden and Franken at a USO performance before he was a senator. . . .
. . . . Five days later, on November 20, right-wing provocateur Charles Johnson tweeted, “Thinking of offering money to people who go on tv and say Al Frank is a predator.”
That same day, Otsuka registered a second domain in Japan for another fake-news site, VotyUS.me. Both accounts used the same Google analytics account ID and Apple app ID, and the name of the servers and registration for both sites were virtually identical, researchers found.
On December 7, just before Democrats started calling for Franken to step down, the freshly minted Japan-based fake sites went to work and re-published an article by Ijeoma Oluo, a liberal writer, urging women and activists to stop supporting Franken. Oluo had posted the opinion piece, titled “Dear Al Franken, I’ll Miss You but You Can’t Matter Anymore,” on a much smaller website, with a reach of 10,000 followers.
Suddenly, thousands of apparently fake Twitter accounts were tweeting the title of the article—but linking back to one of the two Japanese-registered fake-news sites created in conjunction with the right-wing anti-Franken campaign. The bot accounts normally tweeted about celebrities, bitcoin and sports, but on that day, they were mobilized against Franken. Researchers have found that each bot account had 30 to 60 followers, all Japanese. . . .
‘We began to suspect that this legitimate opinion piece [by Oluo] had been weaponized for political gain by dozens of twitter accounts, all of them repeatedly tweeting links to the two domains registered in Japan in late November,’ Unhack the Vote’s Mike Farb wrote in Medium [35]. “Strong similarities between the accounts combined with clear connection to the two recently-established Japanese websites verified our suspicions.”
Soon, Farb and company realized they had “stumbled upon a sophisticated botnet being used to spread alt-right propaganda.”
The researcher who discovered the botnet has nicknamed it “the Voty botnet,” and it is still alive today, although currently not operating in service of any political propaganda. The researchers estimate that more than 400 accounts are in the botnet, although at any given time, only a subset are being deployed in the online American political wars.
I will fully cover the legal expenses of any VICTIM of a Congressman who wants to come forward to tell her story. Break the secrecy. #UnsealTheDeals [36]— Mike Cernovich ???? (@Cernovich) November 21, 2017 [37]
The botnet has been spreading propaganda ‘for over two months now,’ according to the researchers, and Twitter is aware of it, and has not stopped it. “We know this because Twitter has suspended some spam accounts that follow our Voty bots,” the researcher told Newsweek. “This shows that Twitter is aware that these ‘follower’ accounts are not legitimate. But if you look at the ‘who to follow’ suggestion window when you are on a Voty botnet account, the suggestions are almost always other Voty Twitter bot accounts. This shows that Twitter is aware that these accounts are interrelated.”
One question remains: Who is paying for this operation? The researchers believe that the operation was expensive. “We estimate dozens of hours of initial development time and at least one person working full time to produce and distribute content,” one of the researchers told Newsweek. “Additionally, it’s likely that an existing bot farm of compromised computers is basically being rented as a distributed host for these accounts.”
. . . . since the 2016 election, arguably lost due to the right’s superior utilization of darker online strategies, the left is not known to have created or mobilized its own fake cyber army to amplify its viewpoint.
“Agreed we need one,” Democratic digital media strategist Jess McIntosh, who worked on Franken’s campaign and for Hillary Clinton’s bid for president, said in an email to Newsweek. “But it’s harder to use these tactics when you can’t rely on either lies OR hate to do it.”