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Social Media Influencer Charged with Election Interference

justice.gov

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Re: Social Media Influencer Charged with Election Interference

#11

Post by DannyB2 »

The announcement is dated: Wednesday, January 27, 2021 (today)

> Douglass Mackey, aka Ricky Vaughn, 31, of West Palm Beach, was charged by criminal complaint in the Eastern District of New York. He was taken into custody this morning

So he was taken into custody this morning. (today)

> As alleged in the complaint, between September 2016 and November 2016, in the lead up to the Nov. 8, 2016, U.S. Presidential Election, Mackey conspired with others to . . .

They're only now dealing with something that happened over four years ago?

Am I missing something?

Re: Social Media Influencer Charged with Election Interference

#12

Post by relaunched »

ndiscussion wrote: post #6

I'm sure we're better off without the votes of individuals "deprived" their vote by this meme.

I think your comment is repugnant. We all have areas of our life where we can be a little naive. We, as a society, should work to protect the weakest among us - not blame them for their weaknesses.

If your problem is that these people aren't smart enough and shouldn't be voting, then a democracy probably isn't for you.

Re: Social Media Influencer Charged with Election Interference

#13

Post by happytoexplain »

ndiscussion wrote: post #6

I'm sure we're better off without the votes of individuals "deprived" their vote by this meme.

This is one version of a broad category of highly elitist sentiments that is disturbingly common. They all take the form of underestimating a person's "intelligence" or "worth" based on that person's understanding of one aspect of one system, e.g. computer virus vectors ("only stupid people get viruses"), social engineering ("only stupid people fall for phone scams"), etc. It's poisonous, and pretty obviously immoral, but most of all, it's indicative of ignorance. Experience with people will demonstrate that this sentiment, even stripped of its hatefulness, just isn't factually true.

Re: Social Media Influencer Charged with Election Interference

#14

Post by DannyB2 »

ndiscussion wrote: post #6

I'm sure we're better off without the votes of individuals "deprived" their vote by this meme.

While that may or not be true, those individuals still have a right to vote. Whether you or I like it or not. Someone interfered with that right.

Re: Social Media Influencer Charged with Election Interference

#15

Post by deafsquid5 »

relaunched wrote: post #12
ndiscussion wrote: post #6

I'm sure we're better off without the votes of individuals "deprived" their vote by this meme.

I think your comment is repugnant. We all have areas of our life where we can be a little naive. We, as a society, should work to protect the weakest among us - not blame them for their weaknesses. If your problem is that these people aren't smart enough and shouldn't be voting, then a democracy probably isn't for you.

Good for you

Re: Social Media Influencer Charged with Election Interference

#16

Post by ndiscussion »

relaunched wrote: post #12
ndiscussion wrote: post #6

I'm sure we're better off without the votes of individuals "deprived" their vote by this meme.

I think your comment is repugnant. We all have areas of our life where we can be a little naive. We, as a society, should work to protect the weakest among us - not blame them for their weaknesses. If your problem is that these people aren't smart enough and shouldn't be voting, then a democracy probably isn't for you.

You're right, not that i have a choice.

Re: Social Media Influencer Charged with Election Interference

#17

Post by newacct583 »

DannyB2 wrote: post #11

The announcement is dated: Wednesday, January 27, 2021 (today) > Douglass Mackey, aka Ricky Vaughn, 31, of West Palm Beach, was charged by criminal complaint in the Eastern District of New York. He was taken into custody this morning So he was taken into custody this morning. (today) > As alleged in the complaint, between September 2016 and November 2016, in the lead up to the Nov. 8, 2016, U.S. Presidential Election…

Not sure if this is sarcasm or not, but to spell it out: one good hypothesis might be that the victor in the election in question left office last week and doesn't control the justice department anymore. The same guy fired one FBI director and two attorneys general during the same term.

This case seems to be based on a handful of public tweets and some phone records that can be trivially subpoenaed. It's clearly been ready for years, and was likely suppressed internally.

Re: Social Media Influencer Charged with Election Interference

#18

Post by hprotagonist »

For example, on Nov. 1, 2016, Mackey allegedly tweeted an image that featured an African American woman standing in front of an “African Americans for [the Candidate]” sign. The image included the following text: “Avoid the Line. Vote from Home. Text ‘[Candidate’s first name]’ to 59925[.] Vote for [the Candidate] and be a part of history.” The fine print at the bottom of the image stated: “Must be 18 or older to vote. One vote per person. Must be a legal citizen of the United States. Voting by text not available in Guam, Puerto Rico, Alaska or Hawaii. Paid for by [Candidate] for President 2016.”

that seems reasonably open-and-shut "very naughty, no, bad, don't do that!"

Re: Social Media Influencer Charged with Election Interference

#19

Post by ndiscussion »

happytoexplain wrote: post #13
ndiscussion wrote: post #6

I'm sure we're better off without the votes of individuals "deprived" their vote by this meme.

This is one version of a broad category of highly elitist sentiments that is disturbingly common. They all take the form of underestimating a person's "intelligence" or "worth" based on that person's understanding of one aspect of one system, e.g. computer virus vectors ("only stupid people get viruses"), social engineering ("only stupid people fall for phone scams"), etc. It's poisonous, and pretty obviously immoral…

But actually, stupid people are more likely to get viruses, and I've never fallen for any scams.

Re: Social Media Influencer Charged with Election Interference

#20

Post by DannyB2 »

newacct583 wrote: post #17
DannyB2 wrote: post #11

The announcement is dated: Wednesday, January 27, 2021 (today) > Douglass Mackey, aka Ricky Vaughn, 31, of West Palm Beach, was charged by criminal complaint in the Eastern District of New York. He was taken into custody this morning So he was taken into custody this morning. (today) > As alleged in the complaint, between September 2016 and November 2016, in the lead up to the Nov. 8, 2016, U.S. Presidential Election…

Not sure if this is sarcasm or not, but to spell it out: one good hypothesis might be that the victor in the election in question left office last week and doesn't control the justice department anymore. The same guy fired one FBI director and two attorneys general during the same term. This case seems to be based on a handful of public tweets and some phone records that can be trivially subpoenaed. It's clearly been…

Not sarcasm. Your reply was informative. I hadn't considered (although I should have) that the candidate in power would have interfered with the prosecution of this. Thanks.
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