#a right wing conspiracy podcaster.

[vulturevanity]

you have me curious about phoebus and what he did to be rejected (if you feel like talking about it)

Ok so. I didn't think this through at all because he's a character from a webcomic project that's currently in development and we don't really want to spoil the fun before the story starts. But I checked with my friend/co-writer Iana and she authorized me to share the following:

This is a story about a dragon who threatens to destroy a kingdom, a princess locked in a tower, and the prince-knight in shining armor who comes to save the day. The knight's name is Phoebus, a young adult with a charming smile and years of training in slaying magical creatures.

This is not his story. This is the dragon's story.

Codename "Misdragon" (the misadventures of the dragon princess and her emotional support boy -- working title) is a fantasy pastiche-parody romcom of medieval fairy tales with heavy inspiration from greek and roman mythology, bad (complimentary) fantasy webtoons and other things. It both celebrates and subverts the genre conventions because Iana and I are both huge fantasyheads and love playing around with these ideas.

Phoebus of Apollyon is the main antagonist in Misdragon, embodying the archetypes of Prince Charming and the White Knight. He was inspired by the greek myth of Theseus, as well as a couple other villainous characters I consider to be spoilers. The idea of his character was to get a hero archetype, completely unchanged, and reframe him to be an absolutely despicable villain. And we did that by placing him directly against our protagonist and designated Minotaur, the dragon princess Jade of Scherling Kingdom. (A lot about Jade goes into spoiler territory, but Phoebus' arrival is the worst thing to happen to her, and trust me she's gone through a lot)

Design-wise, I struggled for a bit but eventually landed on something meant to evoke both "white hair and trauma" male leads from webtoons and some JRPG heroes. He was super fun to figure out; so much of his design was dictated by what we have in his backstory which has HUGE third act spoilers so unfortunately I can't discuss it here. Instead take this exchange between me and Iana (who at this point had found Phoebus' character and what he represents so repugnant that she couldn't think about him without getting angry and had to hand him over so I'm the one to write him):

But the short of it is: i love my horrible son

[iwatcheditbegin]

I think it’s time we retire the narrative that older folks are the ones who are falling for misinformation campaigns. No one is immune to misinformation and propaganda, especially when no one can be bothered fact check these days.

[mothman-etd]

I have talked a few times about Psychological Operations or psyops on here, but I would like to point out a real world example of a PO Operation that was found out recently by the Department of Justice.

Before that though, If you would like to read more about the actual position of a PO soldier, you can look no further then the PO benefits page on the US Army special operations recruitment website (https://www.goarmysof.army.mil/PO/).

Personally I feel like many people still believe psyops to be some kind of conspiracy theory instead of a fairly standard military division in almost all modern militaries, anyways onto the example.

The US Department of Justice is going after (indicting) two RT (Russian state media) employees for committing fraud and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Basically they created a front "media" company in Tennessee, translated russian propaganda videos into english, then paid right-wing influencers to promote (reblog/retweet/talk about on streams) said videos.

Three of the named influencers that I could find were Tim Pool, Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson.

I honestly have no idea who these three are, but supposedly their platforms have millions of followers. Also, some of these influencers were paid up too $100,000 a week to promote their videos and messaging.

So to summarize, Russia setup a fake company to pay American influencers to repeat their lies so that their followers would interpret those lies as legitimate since their were coming from a source they trust.

When people talk about election interference this is what we are talking about.

$100K a week is insane money for most, I am sure many people would be hard pressed to not sell their soul for that much money. Many of the videos from this media company were lies about the Ukraine war, and looking into Tim Pool it seems he also has a very anti-Ukraine stance (Audio from one of this podcasts https://v.redd.it/41xgvuri0vmd1/DASH_AUDIO_128.mp4)

I generally do not talk about my job on here, but corporations used to pay me to run seminars to help train their employees on spotting these types of attacks--mainly targeted psyops attacks from nation states to hack into their company via end user interaction.

Or in layman's terms, to help companies protect themselves from Russian Ransomware Thieves and Chinese Intellectual Property/Information collectors. Both of these being extensions of the Psychological Operations military divisions of each country.

I am really not sure how to end this post other than I am just trying to show people how real it is that the militaries of the world are spending obscene amounts of money in trying to influence your opinions and day to day life via your internet consumption.

Surf responsibility, be very wary of anyone telling you not to vote and don't believe everything you see/hear on TikTok/youtube/twitter/Insta etc etc

[black-fist-order]

This gentleman was a college professor in political science. He gives some intriguing insights here...

"Friends,

A political disaster such as what occurred Tuesday gains significance not simply by virtue of who won or lost, but through how the election is interpreted.

This is known as The Lesson of the election.

The Lesson explains what happened and why. It deciphers the public’s mood, values, and thoughts. It attributes credit and blame.

And therein lies its power. When The Lesson of the election becomes accepted wisdom — when most of the politicians, pundits, and politicians come to believe it — it shapes the future. It determines how parties, candidates, political operatives, and journalists approach future elections.

There are many reasons for what occurred on Tuesday and for what the outcome should teach America — about where the nation is and about what Democrats should do in the future.

Yet inevitably, one Lesson predominates.

Today, I want to share with you six conventional “lessons” you will hear for Tuesday’s outcome. None is or should be considered The Lesson of the 2024 election.

Then I’ll give you what I consider the real Lesson of the election.

None of these are The Lesson of the 2024 election:

1. "It was a total repudiation of the Democratic Party, a major realignment."

Rubbish. Harris would have won had there been a small, less than 1 percent vote shift in the three main battleground states. The biggest shift from 2020 and 2016 was among Latino men. We don’t know yet whether Latino men will return to the Democrats; if they don’t, they will contribute to a small realignment.

But the fact is America elected Trump in 2016, almost reelected him in 2020, and elected him again in 2024. We haven't changed much, at least in terms of whom we vote for.

2. "If the Dems want to win in the future, they have to move to the right. They should stop talking about 'democracy,' forget 'multiculturalism,' and end their focus on women’s rights, transgender rights, immigrants’ rights, voting rights, civil rights, and America’s shameful history of racism and genocide. Instead, push to strengthen families, cut taxes, allow school choice and prayer in public schools, reduce immigration, minimize our obligations abroad, and put America and Americans first."

Wrong. Democrats shouldn’t move to the right if that means giving up on democracy, social justice, civil rights, and equal voting rights. While Democrats might reconsider their use of “identity” politics (in which people are viewed primarily through the lenses of race, ethnicity, or gender), Democrats must not lose the moral ideals at the heart of the Party and at the core of America.

3. "Republicans won because of misinformation and right-wing propaganda. They won over young men because of a vicious alliance between Trump and a vast network of online influencers and podcasts appealing to them. The answer is for Democrats to cultivate an equivalent media ecosystem that rivals what the right has built."

Partly true. Misinformation and right-wing propaganda did play a role, particularly in reaching young men. But this hardly means progressives and Democrats should fill the information ecosystem with misinformation or left-wing propaganda. Better messaging, yes. Lies and bigotry, no.

We should use our power as consumers to boycott X and all advertisers on X and on Fox News, mount defamation and other lawsuits against platforms that foment hate, and push for regulations (at least at the state level for now) requiring that all platforms achieve minimum standards of moderation and decency.

4. "Republicans cheated. Trump, Putin, and election deniers at county and precinct levels engaged in a vast conspiracy to suppress votes."

I doubt it. Putin tried, but so far there’s no sign that the Kremlin affected any voting process. There is little or no evidence of widespread cheating by Republicans. Dems should not feed further conspiracy theories about fraudulent voting or tallying. For the most part, the system worked smoothly, and we owe a huge debt of gratitude to election workers and state officials in charge of the process.

5. "Harris ran a lousy campaign. She wasn’t a good communicator. She fudged and shifted her positions on issues. She was weighed down by Biden and didn’t sufficiently separate herself from him."

Untrue. Harris ran a good campaign, but she had only a little over three months to do it. She had to introduce herself to the nation (typically a vice president is almost invisible within an administration) at the same time Trump’s antics sucked most of the oxygen out of the political air. She could have been clearer about her proposals and policies and embraced economic populism (see below on the real lesson), but her debate with Trump was the best debate performance I’ve ever witnessed, and her speeches were pitch perfect. Biden may have weighed her down a bit, but his decision to step down was gracious and selfless.

6. "Racism and misogyny. Voters were simply not prepared to elect a Black female president."

Partly true. Surely racism and misogyny played a role, but bigotry can’t offer a full explanation.

--

Here’s the real Lesson of the 2024 election:

On Tuesday, according to exit polls, Americans voted mainly on the economy — and their votes reflected their class and level of education.

While the economy has improved over the last two years according to standard economic measures, most Americans without college degrees — that’s the majority — have not felt it.

In fact, most Americans without college degrees have not felt much economic improvement for four decades, and their jobs have grown less secure. The real median wage of the bottom 90 percent is stuck nearly where it was in the early 1990s, even though the economy is more than twice as large.

Most of the economy’s gains have gone to the top.

This has caused many Americans to feel frustrated and angry. Trump gave voice to that anger. Harris did not.

The real lesson of the 2024 election is that Democrats must not just give voice to the anger but also explain how record inequality has corrupted our system, and pledge to limit the political power of big corporations and the super-rich.

The basic bargain used to be that if you worked hard and played by the rules, you’d do better and your children would do even better than you.

But since 1980, that bargain has become a sham. The middle class has shrunk.

Why? While Republicans steadily cut taxes on the wealthy, Democrats abandoned the working class.

Democrats embraced NAFTA and lowered tariffs on Chinese goods. They deregulated finance and allowed Wall Street to become a high-stakes gambling casino. They let big corporations gain enough market power to keep prices (and profit margins) high.

They let corporations bust unions (with negligible penalties) and slash payrolls. They bailed out Wall Street when its gambling addiction threatened to blow up the entire economy but never bailed out homeowners who lost everything.

They welcomed big money into their campaigns — and delivered quid pro quos that rigged the market in favor of big corporations and the wealthy.

Joe Biden redirected the Democratic Party back toward its working-class roots, but many of the changes he catalyzed — more vigorous antitrust enforcement, stronger enforcement of labor laws, and major investments in manufacturing, infrastructure, semiconductors, and non-fossil fuels — wouldn’t be evident for years, and he could not communicate effectively about them.

The Republican Party says it’s on the side of working people, but its policies will hurt ordinary workers even more. Trump’s tariffs will drive up prices. His expected retreat from vigorous antitrust enforcement will allow giant corporations to drive up prices further.

If Republicans gain control over the House as well as the Senate, as looks likely, they will extend Trump’s 2017 tax law and add additional tax cuts. As in 2017, these lower taxes will benefit mainly the wealthy and enlarge the national debt, which will give Republicans an excuse to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid — their objectives for decades.

Democrats must no longer do the bidding of big corporations and the wealthy. They must instead focus on winning back the working class.

They should demand paid family leave, Medicare for all, free public higher education, stronger unions, higher taxes on great wealth, and housing credits that will generate the biggest boom in residential home construction since World War II.

They should also demand that corporations share their profits with their workers. They should call for limits on CEO pay, eliminate all stock buybacks (as was the SEC rule before 1982), and reject corporate welfare (subsidies and tax credit to particular companies and industries unrelated to the common good).

Democrats need to tell Americans why their pay has been lousy for decades and their jobs less secure: not because of immigrants, liberals, people of color, the “deep state,” or any other Trump Republican bogeyman, but because of the power of large corporations and the rich to rig the market and siphon off most of the economy’s gains.

In doing this, Democrats need not turn their backs on democracy. Democracy goes hand-in-hand with a fair economy. Only by reducing the power of big money in our politics can America grow the middle class, reward hard work, and reaffirm the basic bargain at the heart of our system.

If the Trump Republicans gain control of the House, as seems likely, they will have complete control of the federal government. That means they will own whatever happens to the economy and will be responsible for whatever happens to America. Notwithstanding all their anti-establishment populist rhetoric, they will become the establishment.

The Democratic Party should use this inflection point to shift ground — from being the party of well-off college graduates, big corporations, “never-Tumpers” like Dick Cheney, and vacuous “centrism” — to an anti-establishment party ready to shake up the system on behalf of the vast majority of Americans.

This is and should be The Lesson of the 2024 election.

What do you think...?"

Robert Reich...

[tenroses07]

My final thoughts on the neil gaiman allegations;

Do I believe the women?: Yes. While I do find it still a bit odd that there’s missing context, I think that’s a fault of the podcast and not the fault of the women. I hope that they come forward to more reputable news sources and give their stories fully soon.

Do I think this is a right wing conspiracy: Yes and no. I do not think all of this is one big lie, but I do think the journalism here is clearly biased and I do not think these women’s stories would’ve been aired if they (the journalists) did not believe there would be any political gain. I do believe that it could be possible that tortoise media is trying to slander those who have worked with him. I do not blame the women for this.

Do I still wish to see more proof?: Of course. I think it’s possible to believe victims while also still wishing to see more proof. It’s important to be critical still, but once again this does not mean that it’s okay to say these women are lying because you haven’t seen proof.

Do I think any fandoms for media he created should interact with him again?: No. He clearly has a record of abusing his position of power, and I do not think any fans should interact with him again for the sake of their own safety. This includes on any social media. If he returns to being online, don’t send asks or react to them. Don’t return power to him.

Do I think anyone who was worked with him is obligated to come out with their reactions immediately?: No. It’s entirely possible the news hasn’t made it to them yet. It’s also entirely possible that they could be still processing things after working personally with him. If we as fans are shocked in disgusted, then imagine how those who have worked with him feel. Do not condemn them for speaking out immediately, they have lives too.

Do I think you can still watch his shows?: I feel mixed about this personally. I think it’s a better idea to 🏴‍☠️, but I also understand he is not the only person who worked on these shows. 🏴‍☠️ing affects more than him, so personally I don’t see a problem with watching his shows as long as you condemn him.

Do I think you can still read his books: Yes, but it’s a bit different here. I do not think people should be buying his books now. If you want to own them, buy second hand. If you don’t mind reading online, then 🏴‍☠️. I wouldn’t really recommend checking them out at a library as that still does give him support since the library could decide to purchase more of his books.

Do I think you can enjoy media he’s worked on or created without supporting him as person?: 1000%. His actions and alleged perversions do not translate into any of his work from what I’ve seen. I think it is 100% possible to separate him from his media in this case, especially with Good Omens and his shows.

Do I think you should burn/trash your books or media by him?: I don’t see a point, but I understand why someone may want to do this. Everyone is angry and upset, and if you want nothing to do with his works anymore that’s 100% valid. I just personally don’t see a point since they’ve already been purchased, and unless you bought them recently and can return them, you’re not taking any money away from him. If you don’t want to keep his books anymore, I’d suggest donating them to a thrift store or a library.

Edit: I wanted to add a section here about the relationships he had with these women since I didn’t really mentioned it before, so here (TW FOR SA);

While the relationships themselves were consensual for the most part (besides the two allegations of SA) I still do not think they were right to be had. The power imbalance and age gaps are gross. They’re not illegal, but morally they’re incorrect in my opinion. I know one of these women was a fan of his, and I believe he took advantage of that. And im also pretty sure he was 40 years older than her at the time. That’s gross.

As for neil’s current response as featured in the article, I don’t think he’s telling the truth. He admits to having relationships with those women, which adds to fact that I believe he’s not a good person for having those relationships already where he clearly was the one in power. The false memories claim could have some nuance to it (it’s possible that it could be something that happens to that woman without it being stated on medical records) but I personally believe it’s an excuse on his end, true or not.

Of course, continue to be kind to each other online. Don’t berate those who are upset and confused, and don’t berate the victims either. For those who believe it’s still all a lie, you have no reason to believe he wouldn’t be capable of any of this. You don’t know him. He doesn’t know you. I urge you to rethink everything about this situation and take some time to process it on your own. Denying everything is not the way to go about this.

I believe that’s everything I have to say. If you read all this, I appreciate this. If you think my wording is odd in some places or if it seems I said something I didn’t mean, please let me know. I’m writing this all on a bit of whim so I can put my thoughts out there instead of keeping it all inside. Thanks again, and stay safe

[chaoticbug]

Part of my job for the last 9 months was analyzing far right content to understand how they push conspiracy theories and motivate their voters and I have one major takeaway.

By eroding the trust in news media and journalists, Trump created what was essentially an alternate reality of people where extremists created their own "news media" filled with right wing ideology as the "only trusted news source"

If you thought Fox News was bad, you have never had to bear witness the awfulness of Real America's Voice or One America News. These are places where I swear to god a daily part of their news show is to sell you "medical emergency kits" with ivermectin in it because "you never know when the next medical emergency will happen" implying that the government will intentionally try and poison it's citizens if they have proper health insurance. They say the FBI is lying to you about crime statistics, they tell you every crime is being committed by illegal immigrants. They lie about the economy and tell you to invest in gold if you want have any money in the future. They say constantly that Trump's trials were a conspiracy against rights against him to be used as way to start to round up anyone who supports him.

The amount of times that Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro would claim that they "went to prison so you didn't have to" was immeasurable. These people committed crimes and were held accountable and twisted it to say they were victims "protecting the American people"

There are thousands of unhinged right wing podcasts that stream for hours every day on a site called Rumble which I guarantee most of you have never heard of. These shows get hundreds of thousands of views daily. And they legitimize themselves by having sitting congressmen and senators on their shows frequently along with "experts" from right wing policy groups you have never even heard of. Then, they legitimize each other by showing up on each others podcasts.

All this to say is that there are hundreds of thousands of people who only get their news and any information here. These are people who will praise Trump's "they're eating the dogs line" because it was memorable and therefore it means he won the debate. This alternative media market has insulated these people from ever seeing the truth. It is impossible to convince someone of something if they are in the most tightly held echo chamber where all they hear are lies and they are being told anything other than this specific "alternative media" is lying to you.

Simply put, there is no left wing alternative to this. These people live in an alternate reality where the truth has been drowned out. We need to create that left wing alternative to bring truth back

[rinashinki]

Survey Corps vets as content creators:

Hange: you know damn well they're making the most unhinged YouTube videos of insane science experiments like mythbusters and talking endlessly about their interests and theories on anything. 0/10 editing skills but goes on live every other week and has a strong following nonetheless. Has been banned multiple times off several platforms but just keeps coming back. Has some haters but they're mostly too bemused by the content to know how to troll so they give up

Moblit: runs hange's website, updates his twitter and IG for fans to find out which platform/username they're posting on next. Blocks/reports users posting hate comments. Posts BTS clips of hange's filming and experimenting

Erwin: youtuber with video essay content about politics, history, English, and a healthy dose of anti-capitalism and socialist views. Attracts a lot of right wing/incel/neo n@zi/alpha bro red pill viewers who assume he shares the same values and he greatly enjoys dismantling their views. Also has a big following of people who just think he's hot and have no idea what's he's talking about. 8/10 editing BC it's fairly simple face-the-camera-and-talk but he also posts on a weekly schedule and breaks down the videos to reupload as short form content. No longer invited to guest on podcasts BC he takes over the conversation and wins every debate or argument. Runs multiple successful side businesses but doesn't care about selling merch BC he doesn't need to. 8 books under his name (all NY times bestsellers), 2 more books on the way.

Levi: never shows his face. Rarely responds to comments or questions. Makes calming content about types of tea and lifestyle content and it's unintentionally ASMR. 0 post schedule, either he's making content or he's gone for 5 months. Strong cult following and a billion conspiracies about who he is and Reddit threads of people taking screen caps of the backgrounds in his videos to try and work out where he is, but no ones ever figured it out. Never takes sponsorships so if you see him recommended a brand, you know it's good and the item sells out in 24hrs. 0 merch, he doesn't give a fuck, but participates in fundraiser's for good causes, especially for children coming from impoverished backgrounds.

Mike: gym bro thirst traps and workout tips on tiktok and IG reels. Occasionally posts talking vids for sponsorships, mostly protein shakes and charity fundraisers. Sometimes does cooking content and mens lifestyle like fashion and book/film recs. Likes to troll alpha bro viewers. 7/10 editing skills but mostly uses premade capcut templates to the latest trending tiktok audio clip.

Nanaba: editing queen 10/10. Day in the life of/GRWM/chatty vids, no particular angle for her content, SHE is the content. Takes no shit. Huge following. Big sis energy. Always has the most in depth and hilarious clap backs to hate comments. Rumoured to be dating Mike but neither of them confirm it (they've been together for years).

bonus Eruri headcanons- Erwin has his own office to film his videos whilst Levi pretty much used the rest of their house. Erwin always has a mug of tea when he films despite being known as a coffee drinker. It's always a tea blend that Levi has recommended before. No one's put 2 and 2 together yet.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Justin Horowitz at MMFA:

Since becoming co-chair of the Republican National Committee on March 8, right-wing commentator Lara Trump has repeatedly pushed election denial and conspiracy theories on her Right View podcast, which is streamed on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Rumble.  As RNC co-chair, Lara Trump has overseen job cuts of longtime staffers and transformed the organization to directly support her father-in-law, former President Donald Trump, in his presidential campaign and many legal fights. She has also worked to align the RNC with far-right political and media figures, including conservative youth organization and extremist hub Turning Point USA, former Trump strategist and January 6 coup plotter Steve Bannon, and QAnon conspiracy theorist Scott Presler.  On her show, Lara Trump and her guests have repeatedly denied the fact that President Joe Biden won 81 million votes during the 2020 election, suggested that Democrats are already preparing to “cheat” in 2024, and invoked talking points from the white nationalist-linked “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which argues that Democrats are allowing immigrants to cross the border so that they will “replace” white citizens and vote for Democratic candidates.

Since becoming a co-chair for the RNC, Lara Trump has used her podcast show The Right View to push election denialism.

[socialjusticeinamerica]

This is outrageous. Kennedy is a Qanon, anti-vaxxer, and deranged kook. He is not a scientist, a medical researcher, or a doctor. In fact he has no expertise at all regarding drugs, vaccines, or nutrition. He was a pretend attorney hired because of his family connections.

The common man thinks all rich people are smart and everyone with a degree is automatically an Einstein level genius. Studies have shown that the public has been conditioned to follow the lead of any tall man in a suit, or woman in business attire.

Just because someone dresses like a business person and knows a little more about issues than Joe Sixpack doesn’t make them a f—king expert. It’s easy for the ordinary person to believe in conspiracy theories when they don’t know how anything works.

The Dunning-Kruger effect doesn’t literally mean too stupid to know you’re stupid. Rather it is a cognitive bias in which people with limited competence in a given field overestimate their abilities. Neil deGrasse Tyson on his podcast Star Talk describes this as a hobbyist thinking they are on par with highly educated scientific researchers.

We have the entire MAGA movement thinking they understand everything because they read a blurb on the internet from random strangers with no credentials. Worse yet most of this “I did my own research” crowd are unwittingly being strung along by professional propagandists.

The Joe Sixpack crowd thinks Trump and Musk are highly educated and have a grasp of everything under the sun. In fact they each possess a bachelor’s degree in economics and nothing more. You couldn’t teach elementary school or be a librarian without a master’s degree. They are totally outclassed by the majority of politicians, statesmen, world leaders, financiers, scientists, medical professionals, and virtually everyone they come into contact with. They each have only two things going for them. One, they were born rich and two, they promote themselves endlessly to the masses as stable geniuses when in fact they are drug addled fools. Again the lower class thinks they are rich so they must be smart.

RFK Jr thinks because his law firm handled some environmental cases, mostly unsuccessfully, he is an expert on medicine and science. In point of fact he is merely the hobbyist Neil deGrasse Tyson has described. The hobbyist who doesn’t understand the big picture or the finer points of how anything works.

Public, and private education, hasn’t failed us. In red states which are now the majority, Republican politicians and oligarchs who own for profit charter schools have deliberately dumbed down education in their states. It is not the fault of the teachers who are mostly well educated and good intentioned fighting an uphill battle against the willful ignorance of Republicans who want an electorate of sheep that simply obey without question. Pile on top of that the radicalization of the red states masses by right-wing propaganda outlets and you have a recipe for disaster. For profit charter schools are underfunded, have lower paid staff (unqualified) and are not held to the strict standardized testing criteria public schools face.

[odinsblog]

Since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launched his campaign challenging President Biden for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination, he has given hours of interviews to podcasts, magazines and TV networks. He paints a dark, conspiratorial picture of the world, bristling with debunked theories, misleading claims and outright falsehoods.

Wi-Fi causes cancer and “leaky brain,” Kennedy told podcaster Joe Rogan last month. Antidepressants are to blame for school shootings, he mused during an appearance with Twitter CEO Elon Musk. Chemicals in the water supply could turn children transgender, he told right-wing Canadian psychologist and podcaster Jordan Peterson, echoing a false assertion made by serial fabulist Alex Jones. AIDS may not be caused by HIV, he has suggested multiple times.

There's no credible evidence for any of these assertions or for Kennedy's longest-running false claims: that vaccines cause autism and are more harmful than the diseases they're designed to protect against.

Yet Kennedy is building a campaign for the highest office around these conspiracy theories and the idea that fact-checking or criticizing them amounts to censorship. His throughline is the bedrock conspiratorial premise that “they” (the government, pharmaceutical companies, the media) are lying to you, but that he is telling the truth.

—RFK Jr.’s presidential campaign is built around conspiracy theories

[mariacallous]

X has locked and suspended the accounts of journalists and researchers who shared the alleged identity of a neo-Nazi cartoonist known as Stonetoss after the cartoonist appealed to site owner Elon Musk.

The incident, critics say, highlights once again how Musk has not only welcomed extremists onto his platform but has repeatedly boosted their conspiracies, engaged with their accounts, and seems to have protected them from scrutiny.

A lengthy X thread posted by the antifascist research group Anonymous Comrades Collective last week claimed that Stonetoss is a man named Hans Kristian Graebener from Spring, Texas. Stonetoss cartoons, which feature simple and colorful imagery coupled with racist, homophobic, and antisemitic language, have become hugely popular among right-wing communities since they were first published at least seven years ago.

In its telling, the antifascist research group linked the Stonetoss cartoonist to another anonymous racist cartoonist known as Red Panels by comparing their voices from appearances on extremist podcasts. The researchers say they found an email address linked to Graebener that was used to register the Red Panels accounts on the far-right social media platform Gab. Then, the group says, it was able to match up comments made by Stonetoss with events in Graebener’s life. In one case, Graebener took a trip to Japan in 2019 with a Houston IT company he then worked for; at the same time, Stonetoss posted a picture on X of a “welcome to Japan” sign with the comment, “Finally made it to the ethnostate fellas.” The research group has been doing this kind of work for years and has been credited with unmasking numerous other extremists, including those involved with a neo-Nazi homeschool network.

Graebener has not disputed anything the researchers uncovered. He did not respond to requests for comment from WIRED to his personal email address nor to the email address on the Stonetoss website, and he did not pick up calls from phone numbers associated with his name.

The Anonymous Comrade Collective thread got a lot of attention on X, racking up at least 13.5 million views. On Thursday, the Stonetoss account appealed to X users who have “a direct line” to Musk, X’s owner, to help to get the thread deleted. Musk has, in the past, shared an altered version of a Stonetoss cartoon about the collapse of society. “If Elon's idea of a ‘free speech’ website is one where people can be intimidated into silence, the outcome will be a site where the Stasi will drive out all dissent,” Stonetoss wrote. The account also tagged Musk and offered to share a list of people to target.

In a subsequent post, Stonetoss said this appeal was not about him but about other “artists.”

“This is about others I know personally,” Stonetoss wrote. “There is a whole ecosystem of artists out there who cannot (or have stopped) making art because of people on twitter organized to punish them IRL for doing so.” The cartoonist also added that sales of his plush toy were “going gangbusters” since his alleged identity was revealed.

Hours later, the account associated with the Anonymous Comrades Collective that posted the thread was deleted, and the account was suspended. On Friday, dozens of users, including a number of researchers and journalists, began discussing the incident and posting some of the details of the research, including Graebener’s name.

X locked down many of these accounts and ordered them to delete the offending tweet to get full access to their accounts back. Among those targeted were Jared Holt, a senior research analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, who covers right-wing extremism; Hannah Gais, a senior research analyst at Southern Poverty Law Center; and Steven Monacelli, an investigative journalist for the Texas Observer. (WIRED has also published Monacelli’s work.)

X also imposed a ban on sharing the link to the Anonymous Comrades Collective blog detailing its research. WIRED verified this on Monday morning by attempting to post the link, only to be met with a pop-up message that read: ‘We can't complete this request because this link has been identified by X or our partners as being potentially harmful.”

Even with the crackdown from X, people kept sharing details of the Stonetoss investigation.

“We all just started posting his name; it was like a Streisand effect,” Alejandra Caraballo, a clinical instructor at the Harvard Law School Cyberlaw Clinic, tells WIRED. “They're just trying to censor his name, and then everyone started getting their accounts locked.”

Caraballo, who shared screenshots of the messages she received from X with WIRED, managed to circumvent the initial ban by appealing it and claiming, ironically, that she was the victim of mass reporting from antifa who were attempting to silence her right-wing viewpoint.

While that appeal was successful, Caraballo was quickly locked out of her account again when she changed her username to “Hans Kristian Graebener is stonetoss.” That resulted in a 12-hour suspension, and when her account was reinstated she was soon punished for earlier posts that shared screenshots of information about Graebener. Caraballo’s account has now been suspended for seven days. Shortly after this article was originally published, Caraballo’s account was restored by X, without an explanation.

An X representative says that the company, following a review of the actions taken against the accounts of Anonymous Comrades Collective, Holt, Gais, Monacelli, and Caraballo, stood by its decision.

“The posts that were removed were all actioned correctly,” says Joe Benarroch, head of business operations at X, adding that the posts violated the company’s “posting private information policy” for “outing the identity of an anonymous user.”

While X does have a policy around sharing private information, the company’s terms of service on March 20 did not mention a policy related to outing the identity of an anonymous user, and Benarroch did not respond to a request for clarification. On March 21, after WIRED published this story, X updated its privacy policy to specifically prohibit posting the ”the identity of an anonymous user, such as their name or media depicting them.”

“According to X’s terms of service, posting someone's name does not constitute doxing, but, many accounts, including my own, have been made to delete posts that merely mention the name of the racist and antisemitic cartoonist Stonetoss,” Monacelli told WIRED before the change. “I've never seen enforcement like this before.”

This policy change could possibly be in response to a post last month from Musk when he wrote, “Any doxxing, which includes revealing real names, will result in account suspension.” Still, in an interview with Don Lemon released on Monday, Musk said that moderation of hate speech is akin to “censorship.”

There are now hundreds of posts on the platform which name Stonetoss as Graebener. There are also numerous accounts on the platform that changed their profile name to “Hans Kristian Graebener is stonetoss”—and they haven’t all been suspended.

“This is completely arbitrary and under Twitter's own community standards it says that a name is never considered private information,” Caraballo tells WIRED. “There's an immense double standard here of the neo-Nazi comic guy being protected” by X. But then, she says, “The people that do this to anyone on the left are not only followed by [Musk] but are boosted by him. It's completely inconsistent.” To her, it seems that whoever Musk favors gets protected, and anyone else is banned. “This is also a pretext for them to be able to go after anyone that they dislike,” Caraballo says.”

Caraballo and others have pointed to accounts like Libs of TikTok and far-right troll Andy Ngo, both of which have shared private information about trans people but have not had their accounts suspended. Musk has also engaged with posts that doxed individuals on X, with seemingly no recourse for those accounts.

For anyone who has tracked Musk’s actions since taking control of X in October 2022, this incident is no surprise. Musk has systematically removed the guardrails the company had put in place to prevent hate speech on the platform and has welcomed back racists, antisemites, and transphobic posters who had been previously banned.

In recent months, Musk has repeatedly endorsed racist conspiracies like the great replacement theory and has engaged with numerous accounts spreading disinformation and hate speech. Just this weekend, Musk interacted with Martin Sellner, the founder of a white ethnonationalist group in Austria who previously communicated with and accepted a donation from the man who shot and killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019.

After they deleted their posts, most of those restricted for sharing Graebener’s name have had their accounts unlocked. However, the Anonymous Comrade Collective account that shared the details about Graebener is also suspended, and a representative tells WIRED they are unsure when or if it will come back.

[tomorrowusa]

The latest far right fad is raw milk. Perhaps they regard Louis Pasteur as a woke socialist. Seriously, government health advisories about raw milk only make it more attractive to the conspiracy theory fringe.

Commentators on sites like Infowars, Gab and Rumble have grown increasingly vocal about raw milk in recent weeks. They see the government’s heightened concerns about the dangers as overreach. “They say: ‘Bird flu in milk! Bird flu in milk! Oh, it’s the scariest thing!’” Owen Shroyer said on the April 29 episode of his “War Room” podcast from Infowars. He added: “They’ll just make raw milk illegal. That’s what this is all about.” Public health officials have long warned Americans of the severe health risks that can come with drinking raw milk instead of pasteurized milk, which is heated to kill bacteria, viruses and other germs. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found more than 200 disease outbreaks linked to unpasteurized milk from 1998 to 2018, leading to 2,645 illnesses, 228 hospitalizations and three deaths.

The far right, including anti-vaxxers, seems to have an affinity for pathogens. Either that or they feel that pathogens don't really exist and perhaps were made up by Hillary Clinton and George Soros. Whatever they think, don't expect them to make sense.

Contrary to claims, there’s little or no evidence that drinking raw milk provides health benefits, including protection from certain infectious diseases, said Dr. Megin Nichols, the deputy director of the Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases at the C.D.C. The Food and Drug Administration says pasteurizing milk kills the virus. The F.D.A. said in a statement that there are no scientifically proven benefits to drinking raw milk and that “the health risks are clear.”

Epidemics get rightwingers agitated. The latest bird flu outbreak has them acting like mad cows.

Matt Gertz, a senior fellow at Media Matters, a left-leaning watchdog that looked at the trend this month, said raw milk promotion had been intensifying on the right since the start of the bird flu outbreak. “What you have is a bunch of right-wing influencers who know that they can build substantial audiences and retain their audiences and excite their audiences by telling them that what medical authorities are saying about raw milk, about bird flu, is not credible,” Mr. Gertz said.

Basically the wingnuts are telling people: Don't trust science, trust Infowars instead! Paranoia is good for clicks.

As for bird flu, there is clear evidence of it being easily transmissible between mammals.

After mice drink raw H5N1 milk, bird flu virus riddles their organs

Despite the delusions of the raw milk crowd, drinking unpasteurized milk brimming with infectious avian H5N1 influenza virus is a very bad idea, according to freshly squeezed data published Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison squirted raw H5N1-containing milk from infected cows into the throats of anesthetized laboratory mice, finding that the virus caused systemic infections after the mice were observed swallowing the dose. The illnesses began quickly, with symptoms of lethargy and ruffled fur starting on day 1. [ ... ] Before the mouse data, numerous reports have noted carnivores falling ill with H5N1 after eating infected wild birds. And a study from March in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases reported that over half of the 24 or so cats on an H5N1-infected dairy farm in Texas died after drinking raw milk from the sick cows. Before their deaths, the cats displayed distressing neurological symptoms, and studies found the virus had invaded their lungs, brains, hearts, and eyes.

So we have bovines, rodents, and felines all being infected by H5N1. Several primates (i.e. humans) have also been infected. But generally, humans whose health practices are influenced by the germ theory of infection stand a darn good chance of avoiding it.

Fortunately, for the bulk of Americans who heed germ theory, pasteurization appears completely effective at deactivating the virus in milk, according to thorough testing by the FDA. Pasteurized milk is considered safe during the outbreak.

As with 17th century patriarchy and religious practices, the fringe right seems eager to return to the medical dark ages before germ theory and vaccination. In the century between 1870 and 1970 life expectancy almost doubled because of related discoveries. The far right seems to have some sort of death wish.

Vote for pro-science candidates. Support groups like 314 Action which are dedicated to electing candidates with a science background.

About Us - 3.14 Action

[galwednesday]

This week's deep dive rec is a combo pack exploring radicalization and the wellness industry, starting with this Guardian piece "Everything you've been told is a lie! Inside the wellness to fascism pipeline" by James Ball, which gives an overview of how these concepts became intertwined:

Peter Knight, professor of American studies at the University of Manchester, who has studied conspiracy theories and their history, notes that the link between alternative therapies and conspiracy is at least a century old, and has been much ignored. “New age and conspiracy theories both see themselves as counter-knowledges that challenge what they see as received wisdom,” he says. “Conspiracy theories provide the missing link, turbo-charging an existing account of what’s happening by claiming that it is not just the result of chance or the unintended consequences of policy choices, but the result of a deliberate, secret plan, whether by big pharma, corrupt scientists, the military-industrial complex or big tech.” Knight notes an extra factor, though – the wellness pipeline has become a co-dependency. Many far-right or conspiracy sites now fund themselves through supplements or fitness products, usually by hyping how the mainstream doesn’t want the audience to have them. [...]

“Alex Jones perfected the grift of selling snake-oil supplements and prepper kit to the libertarian right wing via his conspiracy theory media channels,” Knight says. “But it was Covid that led to the most direct connections between far-right conspiracism and wellness cultures. The measures introduced to curb the pandemic were viewed as attacks on individual sovereignty, which is the core value of both the wellness and libertarian/‘alt-right’ conspiracy communities.” The problem is, it rarely stops with libertarians. While they may not recognise it, those drawn in from the left are increasingly ending up in the same place as their rightwing counterparts. “Although many of the traditional left-leaning alternative health and wellness advocates might reject some of the more racist forms of rightwing conspiracism, they now increasingly share the same online spaces and memes,” he says, before concluding: “They both start from the position that everything we are told is a lie, and the authorities can’t be trusted.”

Part two of this combo rec is an episode of the Maintenance Phase podcast, hosted by Aubrey Gordon and Michael Hobbes, with journalist Mike Rothschild joining them to talk about his research into the wellness to QAnon pipeline:

Special guest Mike Rothschild tells us how the road to wellness can be an on-ramp to a conspiracy theory. Along the way we debunk oil pulling, explore Instagram aesthetics and bemoan anti-vaxx argumentation tactics. Mike gets the date of the January 6th insurrection wrong and he is sorry.

[justinssportscorner]

Reed McMaster at MMFA:

So far in 2024, New York Jets Quarterback Aaron Rodgers has appeared on multiple right-wing podcasts where he has promoted conspiracy theories. What began publicly as a hesitancy to get vaccinated for COVID-19 appears to have devolved, with the athlete now spewing absurd conspiracy theories and bigoted misinformation on right-wing platforms.

Rodgers has been a repeat guest on ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show for years. Rodgers has had a long-running deal with The Pat McAfee Show, making regular weekly appearances during the NFL season as part of “Aaron Rodgers Tuesdays.” According to The Pat McAfee Show’s YouTube channel, Rodgers has made at least 68 appearances since September 18, 2019. [YouTube, accessed on 5/20/24; Forbes, 10/12/23] 

In 2021, Rodgers revealed on The Pat McAfee Show that he was unvaccinated for COVID-19 after claiming earlier in that year that he was “immunized.” Rodgers defended his decision not to get vaccinated and claimed he was not being dishonest by insisting he was “immunized” earlier that year. He also complained that a “woke mob” was trying to “cancel” him because he’s unvaccinated against COVID-19. [NBC, 11/5/21]

New York Jets QB and Pat McAfee Show regular Aaron Rodgers has become infamously known for spewing bonkers conspiracy theories in recent years.

[sirfrogsworth]

I just saw Deadmau5 on a right wing conspiracy podcast and I was really disappointed and then I realized he's not Daft Punk so I was less disappointed.

I got bespoke LED helmet'd dance music creators confused in my brain.

I started following this Navy SEAL (who has the podcast) years ago because he was demonstrating close quarters combat techniques. And I find that stuff fascinating. Like how a team of 6 special forces operators can go into a building full of a hundred people and then come back out alive without any injury. While I am morally conflicted about training human beings to be that dangerous, it still intrigues me.

But then this dude exposed his entire ass and went from an apolitical content creator to near-QANON levels of nuts. I don't watch any of his videos anymore, but I remain subscribed for some reason. I guess for the same reason I stay subscribed to Gina Carano. I can't look away from the ever-growing dumpster fire.

[thatdisasterauthor]

Hi! Do you listen to any wildland firefighting podcasts or watch any YouTube channels about that? I'd love more current info from people who know what they're talking about (like you!).

I don't listen to any that are wildfire in particular. (I've downloaded a lot, but finding time to actually listen is another story.)

I will say, though, that if you go looking, DO NOT listen to Hotshot Wakeup or read any of his newsletter stuff. He's a right wing conspiracy nut.

One good one I do know of is Disastrous History on TikTok who just started a podcast under the same name and he's awesome! He's a former fire investigator and does a great job explaining how and why disasters happen, breaking things down into understandable terms, etc.. I'm planning to start listening to his podcast soon, but if you have TikTok his videos are great too. He breaks down historical disasters, but also steps in and explains current, ongoing disasters as well when they happen (at least on TikTok, not sure if he's done that on his podcast yet). He's been covering the Park Fire and Jasper Fire a lot the last few days.

Also, I'm about to dive into an educational wildfire project of my own, so if there's anything in particular you're curious about, let me know and I'll add it to the list of things I want to cover!