Once again Russia succeeds in tearing the country into two camps, when there really should be only one.  You know, the one where science wins over conspiratorial peepeecaca.  Critical thinking is basically dead in America since social media came along — we read shit on Twitter and instantly believe and spread it as fact, which is exactly how we ended up with a fascist orange twatwaffle as president.  And now we have the highest number of measles infections in decades.  Where does this end?

Russian trolls spurred anti-vaccine debate with misinformation on Twitter, says new study

“Compared with average users, Russian trolls, sophisticated bots, and ‘content polluters’ tweeted about vaccination at higher rates,” the study, led by professor David Broniatowski, reports in its findings. “Whereas content polluters posted more anti-vaccine content, Russian trolls amplified both sides.”

And looky here, who would have guessed?  I see they lumped blogs in with social media, which I don’t agree with.  You have to seek out and subscribe to blogs, but social media is in your face all the time with few controls on what you see, and it makes spreading misinformation easier and faster than anyone ever imagined (other than Putin, who seems to have perfected the craft).  Having said that, I have seen some blogs that eroded my brain a bit. 🙂

Twitter is eroding your intelligence: Study

Using Twitter reduced performance on the test by about 25 to 40 per cent of a standard deviation from the average result, as the paper explains.  Jeff Hancock, the founding director of the Stanford Social Media Lab, described these as “pretty big effects”.  …This finding, the paper notes, bolsters the conclusion that blogs and social networking sites actively impair performance, rather than simply failing to augment learning.

A spokesman for Twitter declined to comment on the study.

Oh, this splotch-faced douchenozzle again?  He’s been busy spreading his fetid, racist stank all over Europe, trying to recruit more Aryan mongoloids to fight in his war against brown people, or whatever it is.  Too bad he can’t be bothered to do the appropriate paperwork…

Italy blocks Bannon’s plans for right-wing political academy

Italy’s populist government is blocking plans by former White House adviser Steve Bannon to set up an academy for future populist leaders in a medieval monastery in the mountains outside of Rome.  On Friday, Italy’s government said it was revoking the rights to the property, which were given to the Dignitatis Humanae Institute, a think-tank affiliated with Bannon.  Among other problems, Italy’s culture ministry said the institute has not paid concession fees and failed to do maintenance work on the monastery.

This is epic.  If you’re looking for a bite-sized summary of Trump’s red flags and possible/likely crimes, this is it.

Ex-Ethics Chief Tweets Very Long List Of Bad Signs From Donald Trump’s Presidency

The former head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics urged the American public on Friday to pay careful attention to everything that’s going on with President Donald Trump’s administration.

“Heed the signs and don’t underestimate the threat to our republic from within,” tweeted Walter Shaub, who served in the high-ranking role under former President Barack Obama and then for six months under Trump until his resignation in July 2017.

Here’s a snack-sized copy of the entire Tweet thread for your convenience:

Heed the signs and don’t underestimate the threat to our republic from within:

• Trump obstructed justice
• A McConnell-packed SCOTUS says precedent can be changed more easily than previously thought
• AG Barr is an open partisan and slow-motion Saturday Night Massacre beneficiary
• White House ignores congressional subpoenas, document requests
• Mnuchin is violating a law on turning over taxes to House
• Barr & Senate allies want to investigate officials who investigated Trump to retaliate against them and deter future efforts to hold him to the rule of law-State Dept is setting up a commission to supplant human rights with “natural law”
• An Inspector General found standing room only in border detention cells, with detainees standing on toilets to breathe
• children stolen from parents at the border are dying in internment camps-Trump cut resources for investigating domestic terrorists
• FBI reports a recent significant rise in white supremacist domestic terrorism
• evidence found of a white supremacist plot to add census Q to help gerrymander in ways “advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites”-Trump is still resisting setting up defenses against foreign election interference
• Trump’s personal attorney solicited foreign govt investigation of current Trump political rival Biden
• AG Barr said something in a weird interview about investigating former Trump rival Clinton
• There’s cause for concern Trump/Kushner personal interests may be influencing middle east policy
• Ignoring Congress, Trump declared fake emergency & abused authority to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia to continue its atrocities in Yemen, after it murdered a Washington Post reporter
• Trump declared fake emergency to get more power to ramp up activity at border
• ethics violations (and ethically dubious conduct not rising to a violation) occurring at an unprecedented rate among Trump appointees
• senior admin official says she doesn’t care about an ethics law
• if impeached, Trump says he’ll try to get SCOTUS to overturn the impeachment
• McConnell, who blocked Merrick Garland ostensibly because it was an election year, shamelessly hinted this week that he’d be willing to fill a SCOTUS position for
• Trump in an election year
• Trump is praising autocrats, undermining allies
• Tone of OLC’s recent opinions has changed under Assistant AG Steven Engel, who was tied to one of the torture memos
• Military went to the border for Trump
• Military hid a ship to placate Trump
• Airborne seen wearing MAGA patches
• Trump admin & Graham inexplicably advocating war in Iran/Venezuela
• DOJ experimenting with new legal theory for prosecuting those who publish classified information (raising a question as to whether the theory will be limited to hostile foreign actors or expanded to journalists)
• some public voices are normalizing Trump admin conduct
• voicemail from Trump lawyer to Flynn shows a disturbing carrot/stick approach (or worse)
• Trump has seemed to dangle pardons to buy silence or worse
• Trump admin officials are violating records laws to conceal actions
• Trump said “Russia, if you’re listening”
• Trump said “fine people” marched with nazis
• Trump has told over 10,000 false or misleading statements, per Washington Post
• Trump helped cover up Khashoggi murder, and Kushner’s said to have offered advice to MBS on weathering the storm
• a foreign prince is reported to have said he has Kushner in his pocket (but denies saying that)
• Helsinki
• Trump’s behavior is erratic and is marked by frequent lies, bizarre public outbursts, name-calling and confusion
• no press conferences, and no transparency
• Trump allies in congress are either lying about the Mueller report or haven’t read it
• Trump allies in congress are trying to prevent Mueller & others from testifying because they know their base hasn’t read the report and right wing media has kept them from hearing about it

But no, that’s all just Mainstream Media™ lies….