TFW you accidentally refer to Hitler as a "hero"

We've all been there:

H/T:  The /r/DaveRubin subreddit:  https://www.reddit.com/r/daverubin/comments/cdi0gx/video_of_tim_pool_calling_adolf_hitler_a_ww2_hero/

Admittedly, I did not watch Tim's video before the edit.  But, judging by the YouTube comments, there were a whole lot of people who caught the remark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9g-M2adW74

That time Twitter tossed "Talia"

Here was another example of Twitter suspending an account that used a misleading profile photo:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/21/tech/twitter-suspends-account-native-american-maga-teens/index.html

The twitter account, @2020Fight, helped make a video of the Covington Catholic kids go viral.  2020Fight claimed to be a California schoolteacher named Talia, yet she used a profile picture of a Brazilian blogger named Nah Cardoso.

So why did Twitter suspend the account?

A spokesperson for Twitter told CNN Business, "Deliberate attempts to manipulate the public conversation on Twitter by using misleading account information is a violation of the Twitter Rules." 

The source familiar with Twitter's investigation told CNN Business the company's initial findings suggested the account was run from the US, but said it can be difficult to determine an account owner's actual location.

Some people thought the account was based in Brazil, even though there's no logical reason to think that.  What exactly was the misleading account information?  Was it just the profile photo?  Was it the profile photo + the name Talia?  Was it something else entirely?  Because my gut says she really was a teacher in California.   

Let's see what the official Twitter rules say:  https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/twitter-rules

Impersonation: You may not impersonate individuals, groups, or organizations in a manner that is intended to or does mislead, confuse, or deceive others. 

Hmm....

Talia?  Nah...

Carpe Donktum is....Logan Cook?

I was browsing The_Donald yesterday and saw this funny image titled: "According to CNN, Carpe Donktum has transcended from meme warrior to a being of pure light."

Come on, CNN.  You're one of the top news organizations in the world, and you don't know the identity of a guy visiting the White House?  Seriously???    You have to refer to him as an "anonymous troll"?  Also, why is his face grayed out?  There are plenty of pictures of Carpe Donktum on the internet.  He does interviews!  He's out in public...

Mr. Donktum (left)

Maybe CNN knows his name, but they're scared to reveal his identity, because of the dumpster fire they lit the last time they went after a meme-maker:  https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/media/340700-opinion-cnn-threat-to-unmask-trump-meme-creator-is-another-media

Regardless, this got my brain buzzing.  I've heard the name Carpe Donktum before, but I didn't know the guy was still ~anonymous~!  I just couldn't let this mystery stand.  I started digging around the internet, and, yada, yada, yada....  I found a Facebook profile for "Logan Cook" with pictures of Carpe Donktum:

When I Googled "Carpe Dunktum" + "Logan Cook," the only solid result was from the site www.carpedunktum.myportfolio.com.  The page features a collection of Donktum's videos, images, and gifs, as well as links to Donktum's social media profiles.  However, the portfolio page itself is titled "Logan Cook."



Could it be a coincidence?  Could it be that some programmer is pretending to be Carpe Donktum?  I doubt it.  The Facebook page wasn't recently created--it has a photo from 2015 showing the Kansas City Royals' World Series celebration.  I also found other clues, but....I have to be careful with how I present this stuff.  Carpe Donktum gave an interview to the Washington Post a few days ago where he expressed concern over harassment:  https://outline.com/Snwh92

“Where is the genius? I want to meet the genius," Trump said to @CarpeDonktum as the men entered the Oval Office, according to the recollection of @mad_liberals. Both men spoke to The Washington Post about their experience with the president on the condition their full names not be used, since they fear online or in-person harassment.

I'm not here to harass the guy.  He seems nice enough.  I just want to solve a mystery. 

RIP "Rebeccs"

Remember this tweet?

This viral tweet complaining about the Little Mermaid casting being racist has a profile pic stolen from an Instagram model. The “half black best friend” pic is taken from god knows where, but shows up in a bunch of Pinterest BFF roundups pic.twitter.com/aYMwKf1XNl

— Brandon Wall (@Walldo) July 4, 2019

The tweeter, a girl named Rebeccs, was threatening to throw her DVD copy of The Little Mermaid into the trash.  But eagle-eyed Brandon Wall noticed that the girl's profile picture was taken from elsewhere on the internet.  In other words: The girl was using a FAKE picture of herself.

My theory is that this was parody outrage.  The girl was just trolling, and she didn't seriously hate the casting decision.  But she knew the lemmings on Twitter would go CRAZY the moment they noticed someone dissing the choice of Halle Bailey for Ariel--especially if the person doing the dissing gave off a racist vibe.

Brandon Wall, however, zeroed in on the fact that the girl was using a fake profile photo.  And so, of course, you have a lot of people talking about how "Rebeccs" was a front.

Here's the thing, though:  I don't think people understood the nature of her deception.  Rebeccs was playing into the stereotype of a racist white girl, and she was doing it for laughs.  She wasn't, like, a Russian troll or anything.  (At least, I don't think so.)

The problem is that Twitter suspended Rebecc's account, so now there's no way to review her tweet history.  I did glance through her history briefly, and my impression was that she was American AF.  That was just my impression, though.  I wish I knew WHY Twitter suspended the account--that would be enlightening.

Rivitz's boycott

Breitbart is losing traffic.  Breitbart is losing advertisers.

WaPo wrote about Breitbart's struggles:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/whatever-happened-to-breitbart-the-insurgent-star-of-the-right-is-in-a-long-slow-fade/2019/07/02/c8f501a2-9cde-11e9-85d6-5211733f92c7_story.html

I don't have a problem with Breitbart. But other people do.  Other people are salty.

Matt Rivitz is among the saltiest.  Here are Matt's thoughts on the matter:

“Breitbart is in a terrible spot,” said Matt Rivitz, the advertising executive who started the Sleeping Giants campaign. He added, “They can either continue down the path of printing highly inflammatory content and continue to hemorrhage advertisers, or moderate their content to try to win advertisers back, but risk a backlash from their readership, many of whom who go to the site precisely for that content. They can’t win.”

Matt.  You're the one leading the campaign to get advertisers to boycott Breitbart.  You play a role.  And you're not going to stop your campaign.  Let's be real.  If Breitbart tries to change its tone to win back advertisers, you're just going to try and make Breitbart lose those exact same advertisers again.  I mean, look at this tweet which the @Slpng_Giants account re-tweeted a few days ago:

Heads up #3 @theintercept: your ads are on ‘alt-right’ Breitbart. Is that the best use of @firstlookmedia ad dollars? If not, @slpng_giants can help. Cc @betsyreed2 pic.twitter.com/3KpBqoipUu

— ... (@clochary) July 5, 2019

There's a Breitbart headline visible in the attached photo.  (You might have to click on it to see the full context.)  The headline says: "President Trump Notes ‘Great Crowd’ at Salute to America."  Sure, you can debate about how dumb the parade was, but there wasn't anything inherently inflammatory about the story!  It was just patriotic fluff.  Oh, wait...the photo in the tweet also shows a few trending items from Breitbart, one of which is: "Commies Burn Flag."  That's literally inflammatory!  I stand corrected.

Salty Canadians hate Barstool

Barstool Sports made a funny tweet during the NBA Finals.

Toronto bar reacts to Kevin Durant’s injury pic.twitter.com/4oWqlcuv3S

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) June 11, 2019

Salty Canadian journalists felt the need to fact-check this tweet.  Here's an article from Emma McIntosh:

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/06/12/news/we-fact-checked-fake-video-raptors-fans-cheering-injury

To be fair, Emma McIntosh wasn't the saltiest.  There were plenty of other salty Canadian journalists.

Fake as shit, and Barstool, whether joking or not, remains trash https://t.co/4bgsCOVL9x https://t.co/kRjHomkBd9

— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) June 11, 2019

.@barstoolsports spreading fake video of Raptors fans cheering Durant injury #Raptors #RaptorsvsWarriors https://t.co/DDyJiSjM3O

— Andrew Russell (@andrewglobal) June 11, 2019

And that video was tweeted by a legitimate news organization 🙄 https://t.co/bVHU1m6e9D

— Jane Lytvynenko 🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏽‍♀️ (@JaneLytv) June 12, 2019

A video has gone viral purportedly showing a Toronto bar erupting when Kevin Durant got hurt. The video is fake. But here's the conundrum. Sharing it to explain its fake, only circulates it more. Feels like using controlled burns to fight forest fires. Its right but feels wrong.

— Tom Harrington (@cbctom) June 11, 2019

I realize that doctored videos are a concern in our modern-day media ecosystem.  But...this wasn't a doctored video.  It wasn't a "fake" video.  It was a joke video.  It was a meme video.  There's a fine line, I get it.

Barstool was clearly on the right side of that fine line.  Instead of "fact-checking" Barstool Sports and labeling them as fake news, what we should be doing is mocking anyone who was too dumb to get the joke.

KerlinksNews.com

Here's another random site with plagiarized content:  KerlinksNews.com.

KerlinksNews.com looks so fly-by-night that I can't even tell what the purpose of it is.  Maybe it's just somebody running an experiment. 

There's a space for advertising which looks like it's showing an ad for Zox.  But I googled "Zox" and apparently Zox is just the name of the Wordpress theme. 

Here's an archive of an article on KerlinksNews.com titled: "The Daily Telegraph Wants Audio Of The Geoffrey Rush Defamation Trial." 

That article is clearly copied from a BuzzFeed article titled: "The Daily Telegraph Wants Tapes Of Geoffrey Rush's Defamation Trial To Prove The Judge Looked Biased"

I'll check back in a few months (years?) to see what becomes of KerlinksNews.com

@IranDisinfo gets defunded!

Oh no...

https://www.apnews.com/a6f0f039f8d64afbad4e47161a367bec

Now who will help inform us about Iranian disinformation campaigns?  Also, why would the State Department pick someone to run this Twitter account who was apparently a dumbass troll at heart?  You need people who are smart trolls at heart, not dumb trolls.  Learn the difference.