Anonymous ID: 339f9c Feb. 2, 2019, 10 a.m. No.5003077   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>3299 >>3669 >>3698

Flights delayed after TSA agent dies in apparent suicide at Orlando airport

 

ORLANDO, Fla. - Flights were delayed and security checkpoints swelled to a standstill after a TSA agent at the Orlando International Airport jumped from a balcony into an atrium in front of hundreds of travelers on Saturday morning.

 

Police said the TSA agent was a man in his 40s and was found in critical condition. After the jump he was rushed to the hospital where he later died. Police said that preliminary information indicates this was an apparent suicide.

 

Police confirmed its investigation on Twitter Saturday morning just before 10 a.m. About 30 minutes later, police confirmed the person had died.

Airport officials said people waiting to go through security for terminals 70 through 129 rushed past screening following the incident. As a result, those terminals closed while officials made sure everyone went through security.

 

Many travelers at the airport took to social media to document the chaos that unfolded following the incident.

 

https://www.nbc-2.com/story/39895463/security-checkpoints-terminals-close-after-person-jumps-from-balcony-at-orlando-airport-tsa-status-travel-canceled-florida-news

Anonymous ID: 339f9c Feb. 2, 2019, 10:21 a.m. No.5003273   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>3294 >>3340 >>3354

RUSSIAN TROLL ACCOUNTS PURGED BY TWITTER PUSHED QANON, OTHER CONSPIRACIES

 

A new batch of troll accounts identified by Twitter as having ties to Russia’s propaganda operation revealed an emphasis on promoting far-right conspiracy theories such as Qanon to Americans.

 

Twitter announced Thursday the removal of 418 accounts tied to the Kremlin-backed Internet Research Agency, the disinformation group whose employees were indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller last February for attempted election interference.

 

The accounts’ tweets featured the hashtag #MAGA, usually in support of President Donald Trump, almost 38,000 times — the most of any hashtag. #ReleaseTheMemo, a social media campaign pushed by allies of the president last year that aimed to discredit some members of the FBI, was tweeted 37,583 times.

 

In all, the 400-some accounts tweeted more than 900,000 tweets.

 

At the time, close allies of Trump brushed off suggestions that #ReleaseTheMemo, which trended on Twitter, was boosted by Russian influence. “Russian trolls have nothing to do with releasing the memo. That was a vote of the intelligence committee,” counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway said last February.

 

Some now-purged users spammed Twitter with tweets repeating the hashtag “#ReleaseTheMemo.”

 

When removing the spam-style messages that included multiple hashtags, the second-most tweeted topic for the Russian troll accounts was #Qanon, a baseless conspiracy theory that claims Mueller and Trump are secretly working together to take down a global pedophile ring run by celebrities and Democratic politicians.

 

#GreatAwakening and #FollowTheWhiteRabbit, which are catchphrases for #Qanon followers, also featured prominently in the Russian trolls’ tweets.

 

Nina Jankowicz, a global fellow at the Kennan Institute focusing on Russia and technology, told NBC News that Qanon’s often outlandish narratives about a secret global cabal fueled by the United States fits well with Russian propaganda’s larger narrative.

 

“One of the Kremlin’s favorite tactics is to inspire confusion and doubt to sow distrust in government. Qanon certainly does that,” Jankowicz said.

 

“Amplifying the conspiracy theory also makes it look like it has more supporters, distracting from more substantive issues in the online discourse.”

 

Qanon, a more elaborate offshoot of the “pizzagate” conspiracy theory, came to prominence when several Trump supporters showed up at the president’s rally in Tampa, Florida, this past August carrying “Q” signs and wearing T-shirts supporting the conspiracy.

 

In the last year, believers in the conspiracy have also been in armed standoffs with the police in Arizona, and one blocked the Hoover Dam demanding the “Release of the OIG Report,” a Qanon-based conspiracy theory loosely derived from the success of #ReleaseTheMemo.

 

All of the 30 most-used hashtags pushed by the suspected Russian troll accounts focused on either support for Trump, conspiracy theories that targeted his political opponents or a separate — but sometimes overlapping — trolling campaign that meant to demean Muslims.

 

The hashtags #IslamIsTheProblem, #StopImportingIslam and #BanShariaLaw were each tweeted more than 15,000 times by the 481 Russian troll accounts.

 

The accounts attempted to emulate Americans on both sides of the political aisle.

 

One account identified by Twitter as a Russian troll account, @QuartneyChante, posed as an African-American woman. One of her tweets received more than 66,000 retweets.

 

“Dear White People. It’s a privilege to learn about racism instead of experiencing it your whole life,” the tweet read.

 

The account was even featured in several news articles, including a Mashable story dubbed “Dear white women: Here’s how to step up for women of color.”

 

Jankowicz said the widespread dissemination of the tweets is a good reminder not to trust everything you read on social media.

 

“That account was created fairly recently and gained a lot of traction quickly, it seems,” Jankowicz said. “It’s pretty sad, but unless accounts use a plausible name and personal photo on Twitter, I’d advise users against interacting with them.”

 

https://www.wxxv25.com/2019/02/02/russian-troll-accounts-purged-by-twitter-pushed-qanon-other-conspiracies/

Anonymous ID: 339f9c Feb. 2, 2019, 10:40 a.m. No.5003460   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>3480 >>3490 >>3504 >>3564

>>5003431

why are people so stupid (no offense anon, I have them in my family too) and so AGAINST admitting that Trump is doing great things!!

It is so frustrating to me. Majority of my coworkers talk shit LOUDLY about him around me (they don't know who I support or if I even care..) they sound so fucking stupid when they spew their vitriol and hatred….

and we work in the government!

Damn it is so frustrating!

Anonymous ID: 339f9c Feb. 2, 2019, 10:46 a.m. No.5003521   🗄️.is đź”—kun

The Latest: Medical school chief apologizes for racist photo

 

The president of Eastern Virginia Medical School says a racist photo that appears in the 1984 student yearbook is "shockingly abhorrent."

In a statement on the school's website , President Richard Homan said the photo of one person in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan hood is "absolutely antithetical" to the school's principles, morals and values.

 

The photo was on the profile page of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, who says he believes he's not one of the men in the picture.

 

Homan also apologized for "past transgressions of your trust." He said he'll convene a meeting of leadership and others to address the issue.

 

North Carolina's governor is calling on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam to resign because of a photograph on Northam's yearbook profile page.

 

In an emailed statement, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said the photograph is both reprehensible and deeply disappointing. He said the photo comes "with pain beyond what many of us can even understand."

 

Cooper called Northam's resignation "the only way forward."

 

A photo from a 1984 medical school yearbook surfaced Friday, showing a person in blackface and another wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood. The photo was on Northam's profile page.

 

Northam was scheduled to speak publicly Saturday afternoon.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called a photograph on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's yearbook profile page "racist and contrary to fundamental American values."

 

She said Saturday via Twitter that she is joining her colleagues in Virginia in calling for Northam "to do the right thing" so that the people in Virginia can heal and move on.

 

The Virginia Democratic Party on Saturday called on Northam to resign after the photo from a 1984 medical school yearbook surfaced Friday. The photo shows a person in blackface and another wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood.

 

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is planning a news conference where he's expected to say he's not resigning and believes he was not in a racist picture featured in his 1984 medical yearbook.

 

Northam's office on Saturday said the 2:30 p.m. news conference would take place at the Executive Mansion.

 

Northam is calling Democrats ahead of the news conference to try and shore up support. A wide swath of Democrats and Republicans have called on Northam to resign after he apologized Friday for appearing in a photo in which one person is dressed in blackface and another is wearing a full Ku Klux Klan uniform.

 

But Northam said he now believes he was not in the picture and can prove that it wasn't him, said state Sen. Louise Lucas.

 

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/nation-world/national/article225447410.html