“A Russian media outlet accused of running a covert influence operation in the U.S. is conducting similar activities elsewhere around the world — with the help of a cyber unit tied to Russian intelligence services, the Department of State said Friday.

[…], Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the Russian government embedded ‘a unit with cyber operational capabilities’ within the news agency RT in the spring of 2023, with the full knowledge of the organization’s leadership.”

Remember when journalists were handwringing about RT being banned here in Europe? 🙄

https://therecord.media/russia-rt-news-agency-intelligence-military-functions-state-department-blinken

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Russia’s RT news agency has ‘cyber operational capabilities,’ assists in military procurement, State Dept says

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the Russian government embedded “a unit with cyber operational capabilities” within the news agency RT in the spring of 2023, with the full knowledge of the organization’s leadership.

^{therecord.media}

“Donald Trump repeated racist claims about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, on Friday, doubling down on anti-immigrant rhetoric as residents in the town have faced bomb threats and have detailed their fears amid harassment.”

“JD Vance, who represents the residents of Springfield as Ohio’s US senator, continued to attack the town on Friday, leaning into racist tropes that immigrants were responsible for bringing disease and crime to the community.”

As Jamelle Bouie says in the video; this is blood libel. They know what they are doing.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/13/trump-repeats-lies-haitian-immigrants

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#USpol

For those of you unfamiliar with the term 'blood libel’, it is a deeply antisemitic practice that goes back a long time;

“Blood libel or ritual murder libel (also blood accusation) is an antisemitic canard which falsely accuses Jews of murdering Christians in order to use their blood in the performance of religious rituals.”

Targeting Jews is the most well-known function of it, but it has also been used (and continues to be) to target anything else that the dominant religion deems to be deviant behaviour.

Linking to the fact check again;

https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-how-the-stigmatization-of-haitian-vodou-led-to-a-disinformation-campaign/a-70200764

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I'm sure someone else has already flagged this as well, but I would argue that the claims that there are kids who are being turned trans and undergoing sudden sex change operations without the knowledge of their parents also falls into this same category.

The lies are bleedingly obvious, but truth is not the point. Instead, it's an incitement to violence against anyone who even looks out of place in a white supremacist society, anyone who isn't white, male, cis, hetero, etc.

It's a deliberate dehumanisation tactic designed to separate the Other, so they can be attacked, and then eliminated.

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Also, please note that they have been at this for a very long time, and that things like ‘Pizzagate’ are also part of this.

This is the Overton window moving, from fringe conspiracy theories to a US candidate for president spouting the same lies in front of a live television audience in the tens of millions.

It is also why people focusing on the supposed narcissism or Trump's incoherence are missing the point; not all fascists are great orators like Hitler.

They don't have to be, in this day and age.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizzagate_conspiracy_theory

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US-american right-wing conspiracy theory

^{Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)}

“Liz Cheney, the Republican vice-chair of the House January 6 committee, did ‘all she could’ to protect the rightwing supreme court justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, the political activist Ginni Thomas, by blocking an in-depth investigation of Ginni’s involvement in Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election, a new book says.”

This is probably unsurprising to most, but still a good reminder that the Cheneys are about power, not about doing what is right.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/15/liz-cheney-ginni-thomas-january-6-investigation

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Liz Cheney blocked January 6 scrutiny of Ginni Thomas, book says

Anti-Trump Republican stymied investigation of activist married to supreme court justice, says reporter David Brock

^{Martin Pengelly (The Guardian)}

“Project 2025, the 900-page conservative playbook for the next Republican president, issues an ultimatum for California: track and report abortion data to the federal government or risk losing billions in Medicaid funding for reproductive health.

California is one of only three states that do not report abortion data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

This here is exactly why people have been warning about data gathering for such a long time; because it’s not a matter of IF it will be abused, but WHEN 😒

https://calmatters.org/politics/2024/09/project2025-trump-california-abortion-surveillance/

https://themarkup.org/hello-world/2024/09/14/project-2025-targets-californias-abortion-data-privacy-protections

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Project 2025 wants to surveil abortions in California - CalMatters

Project 2025’s plan for a Donald Trump presidency would require California to monitor abortions and send sensitive data to the CDC.

^{Monique O. Madan (CalMatters)}