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2018 ELECTIONS

Busted: New Russian Website Designed to Incite Hate Against Minorities to Keep Trump’s Base Riled Up for the Midterms

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Russian operatives with ties to a notorious “troll factory” under indictment by special counsel Robert Mueller may be preparing to launch an influence operation to interfere in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections, McClatchy reports.

Speaking at the end of the Fifth Annual Government Forum on Cyber Threat Intelligence, researchers at the cybersecurity firm FireEye warned of a new effort that mimics the information warfare campaign that U.S. intelligence has concluded Russia conducted to help Donald Trump during his successful 2016 presidential campaign.

FireEye, which was a sponsor of the conference, warned of a new website, usareally.com, that appeared on the internet on May 17. The site has posted an average of nine articles a day, in broken english.

On May 25, the website teased that their “USA Really” campaign would officially launch on June 14.

“June 14th isn’t just Trump’s birthday. It’s not just Flag Day, either,” the post read. “This is the day when we officially launch our project, ‘USA Really’, which is an honest media outlet that tells you what’s really happening in America.”

“Our slogan is ‘The USA As It Really Is!’ We invite everyone who care (sic) about America to come and celebrate with us outside the White House on June 14th at 2pm to congratulate the rest of the country on this triply important day,” the post continued.

“We’re all patriots, and we all want everyone else to finally wake up!” they added.

The researchers at the cybersecurity firm warned the website’s operators once worked out of the same St. Petersburg “troll factory” known as the Internet Research Agency. Special counsel Mueller indicted the company on February 16.

“We’re not saying it (USA Really) is the Internet Research Agency but there are a number of indicators that suggest it is,” said Lee Foster, manager of information operations analysis for FireEye iSIGHT Intelligence.

The Russian operatives behind the website reported work for the Federal News Agency (FAN), whose ownership is unknown.

“There are a bunch of other domains as well that play on USA Really that we are monitoring that haven’t launched,” Foster explained.

“It’s not always easy to change an outcome (of an election) but they can delegitimize the process and create doubt,” said John Hultquist, director of intelligence analysis at FireEye iSIGHT.

Facebook disabled the group’s Facebook page after a McClatchy reporter requested comment. They are still active on Twitter.

A YouTube video says the, “Federal News Agency has plans for a similar English news platform like Sputnik” that is hiring “English speaking journalists.”

Watch:

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2018 ELECTIONS

Blue Wave? More Like Blue Tsunami – Analyst Proves Democratic Voters Made This a Historic Election

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6 years ago

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November 21, 2018

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Democrats have broken the record for the largest number of House votes between two parties. Ever.

On Election Day evening two weeks ago, as the results of the November midterms slowly trickled in, reporters and pundits were quick to declare, “No blue wave.”

CNN’s Jake Tapper insisted, “this is not a blue wave.”

Even liberal pundit Van Jones on CNN pronounced sentence: “This is heartbreaking, though. This is heartbreaking…it’s not a blue wave,” he insisted.

The following day, Fox News was telling viewers, “All that talk about a blue wave, all the talk about the American people rising up as one to repudiate Donald Trump, that just didn’t happen.”

They were all wrong.

(NCRM is proud to state that on Election Day night we reported it was, in fact, a big blue wave, based on a Princeton scientist’s work.)

Now that nearly all the races have been called (two House races remain), we can repudiate the naysayers, the GOP, Fox News, and the pundits who weighed in far too early.

Here’s some historic news: Democrats have broken the record for the largest number of House votes between two parties. Ever.

According to the Cook Political Report’s Dave Wasserman, Democrats’ national lead over Republicans for House seats is now 8.8 million votes, breaking a record that goes back to the Watergate era:

Democrats have now flipped seats 40 House seats from red to blue, losing two, for a grand total of 38. But again, there are two House races that have yet to be called, so that number could grow to 40.

Wasserman, who is also an NBC News and FiveThirtyEight contributor, links to his spreadsheet with all the data to satisfy your inner nerd.

RELATED STORIES:

Yes, Democrats Had Huge Wins at the Polls – Here Are 11 Reasons to Celebrate That You May Not Even Know About

Hey Democrats! Don’t Listen to Republicans – This Is a Big Blue Wave – Princeton Scientist Explains Why

Image by Steve Lacy via Flickr and a CC license

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2018 ELECTIONS

Attorney for Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson Smacks Down Marco Rubio in Battle of Bible Quotes

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6 years ago

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November 14, 2018

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Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio has gotten into the habit of commenting on the events of the day with an occasional morning Bible quote. It’s his way of weighing in while telegraphing to his base that he’s a strong religious conservative, but there are drawbacks.

Recently, Senator Rubio has been tweeting up a daily storm over Florida’s Senate and governor races, both of which are now in a legally-forced recount because the vote count is so close.

On Friday, perhaps to offer his base some support from above, Rubio posted this biblical tweet:

But it is his stone-throwing conspiracy theory tweeting and dogged defense of GOP nominees Rick DeSantis, who is hoping to win the governor’s race against Democrat Andrew Gillum, and Rick Scott, who is hoping to unseat Senator Bill Nelson, that has raised eyebrows – but drawn the support of President Trump.

Rubio has been on the attack for a week now, spreading rumors and sowing doubt about the validity of the Florida election system – exactly what Vladimir Putin was trying to achieve when Russia attacked the U.S. during the 2016 election.

That box turned out to be office supplies.

He’s made clear he thinks lawyers for Democrats who are merely trying to ensure every vote is counted are trying to steal the election.

Hours after Sen. Rubio quoted from the Book of Psalms on Friday, President Trump lauded Rubio’s attacks.

But others have been less than impressed with Rubio’s Bible quoting.

The attorney supervising the recount for Senator Bill Nelson turned the tables on Rubio Wednesday morning.

Sen. Rubio tweeted what was obviously his commentary on the Florida recount – which the GOP has been suing to halt entirely – by cherry-picking a Bible verse to support his thoughts.

Marc Elias, Nelson’s attorney, smacked-down and one-upped Senator Rubio:

A writer with bylines at New York Magazine, The NY Times, GQ, and The Washington Post praised Elias:

 

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license

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2018 ELECTIONS

Election Law Professor Schools Rick Scott for Attacking ‘Unethical Liberals’ Who Just Want All Votes Counted

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6 years ago

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November 9, 2018

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“Rick Scott had 8 years to improve Florida’s system of election administration.”

Florida Governor Rick Scott‘s campaign for the U.S. Senate didn’t do as well as he may have hoped. The vote count, which is still ongoing, is so close it looks like a recount will have to take place.

Republican leaders, including Gov. Scott, President Donald Trump, Senator Marco Rubio, and GOP Chair Ronna McDaniel have been ranting about the vote count in heavily-Democratic Broward County, hoping to get it to stop.

Gov. Scott on Thursday “falsely accused Democrats of trying to “steal this election” and called on law enforcement to monitor the counting of ballots in two of the state’s most Democratic counties,” Mother Jones reports. “He also filed a lawsuit, along with the Republican Party, seeking access to Broward County’s ballot records. His unsubstantiated allegations of ‘rampant fraud’ were amplified by top Republicans, including President Donald Trump, who tweeted, ‘Law Enforcement is looking into another big corruption scandal having to do with Election Fraud in #Broward and Palm Beach.'”

“Every day since the election,” Gov. Scott also claimed, “the left-wing activists in Broward County have been coming up with more and more ballots out of nowhere,” for which there is no proof.

“I will not sit idly by while unethical liberals try and steal this election from the great people of Florida,” Scott said, speaking as both governor and the political candidate in the race.

As it turns out, for years Broward County has been a problem. Some point to technical issues, while Republicans are currently focused on the Broward County Supervisor of Elections.

Which is where election law expert Rick Hasen steps in.

A Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, Hasen is the go-to expert on election law and voting.

And he has a mouthful for Governor Scott.

“Rick Scott had 8 years to improve Florida’s system of election administration,” Hasen says, for starters.

“Two things can be true at the same time: Broward county is incompetent in counting votes and there is no evidence of intentional fraud,” he adds, via Twitter.

He’s not done, either.

Take a look:

Hasen also retweeted this smackdown from an NPR News reporter:

 

 

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