Build LKWD Trolls, Fake Personas, Impersonators Mirror Russian Meddlers’ Tactics

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Brian Essi
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Build LKWD Trolls, Fake Personas, Impersonators Mirror Russian Meddlers’ Tactics

Post by Brian Essi »

In 2015 and 2016, Build Lakewood members used internet trolls, fake online personas and impersonated real people to sow discord in Lakewood. These were the same tactics employed by Russian meddlers in a recent indictment that are suggested to threaten American democracy.

Hmmmm
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james fitzgibbons
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Re: Build LKWD Trolls, Fake Personas, Impersonators Mirror Russian Meddlers’ Tactics

Post by james fitzgibbons »

That is totally bad. Is it illegal?
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Re: Build LKWD Trolls, Fake Personas, Impersonators Mirror Russian Meddlers’ Tactics

Post by Dan Alaimo »

james fitzgibbons wrote:That is totally bad. Is it illegal?
These guys like to dance on the line. Sometimes they go right up to the line. Sometimes they cross the line, but never enough to make it worth prosecuting (that is, if they don't already control the prosecutors).

We used to have someone around here who constantly asked about the rules. Why? So he could mess with them. It's the same thing. Same people. Same attitude toward the rules.
“Never let a good crisis go to waste." - Winston Churchill (Quote later appropriated by Rahm Emanuel)
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Re: Build LKWD Trolls, Fake Personas, Impersonators Mirror Russian Meddlers’ Tactics

Post by Jim O'Bryan »

Dan Alaimo wrote:
james fitzgibbons wrote:That is totally bad. Is it illegal?
Depends.

Actionable, most definitely.

They just scatter like cockroaches to other places. Damn one deeply troubled citizen uses more names than Carter has liver pills.

Lakewood has some very disturbed personalities, that others bank on.

Here we vet and watch members, another reason we are the gold standard for community conversation for over 15 years!

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Brian Essi
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Re: Build LKWD Trolls, Fake Personas, Impersonators Mirror Russian Meddlers’ Tactics

Post by Brian Essi »

Example 1: Build Lakewood supporters impersonated and stole the identity of Pasquele Manno to sow discord.
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Brian Essi
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Re: Build LKWD Trolls, Fake Personas, Impersonators Mirror Russian Meddlers’ Tactics

Post by Brian Essi »

Example 2: Build Lakewood supporters created fake online personas e.g. "Cosmo Lamer"---pretending to be a Save Lakewood Hospital supporter---Then, Build Lakewood's "Cosmo Lamer" suggested that all Lakewood businesses displaying Build Lakewood signs were somehow "Nazis" and that the businesses should be boycotted.
This was an effort to sow discord in the Lakewood Community against SLH.

Tom Bullock, Sam O'Leary and Kevin Butler were major supporters of Build Lakewood and acted to divide Lakewood.

The Russian meddlers are accused of fomenting racial tensions by creating fake personas and simultaneously supporting both bogus African-American claims and bogus racists and white-supremacists claims attributed to supporters of one candidate against another.
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Mark Kindt
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Re: Build LKWD Trolls, Fake Personas, Impersonators Mirror Russian Meddlers’ Tactics

Post by Mark Kindt »

We can also add to Mr. Essi's list the falsification/fabrication of the phony press release from the Ohio Attorney General (timed near last fall's election).

This all raises a few interesting questions.

There was already a well-financed public campaign to support closing the hospital that included public relations consultants and some high-dollar expenditures; some of it publicly-funded and some of it funded by local elected officials.

Was there also a behind-the-scenes "dirty tricks" campaign conducted, at least in part, with public employees or public assets?

Why?

Does this explain why municipal computer-usage log records are unavailable?

Could it be that the some city employees used city-owned computers and network facilities for partisan or other political purposes?
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Re: Build LKWD Trolls, Fake Personas, Impersonators Mirror Russian Meddlers’ Tactics

Post by Jim O'Bryan »

Mark Kindt wrote:
Does this explain why municipal computer-usage log records are unavailable?

Could it be that the some city employees used city-owned computers and network facilities for partisan or other political purposes?

Mark

I think you hit the nail on the head here.

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Jim O'Bryan
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"The very act of observing disturbs the system."
Werner Heisenberg

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If not, don't worry. Just forget about it."
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Brian Essi
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Re: Build LKWD Trolls, Fake Personas, Impersonators Mirror Russian Meddlers’ Tactics

Post by Brian Essi »

Mark Kindt wrote:We can also add to Mr. Essi's list the falsification/fabrication of the phony press release from the Ohio Attorney General (timed near last fall's election).

This all raises a few interesting questions.

There was already a well-financed public campaign to support closing the hospital that included public relations consultants and some high-dollar expenditures; some of it publicly-funded and some of it funded by local elected officials.

Was there also a behind-the-scenes "dirty tricks" campaign conducted, at least in part, with public employees or public assets?

Why?

Does this explain why municipal computer-usage log records are unavailable?

Could it be that the some city employees used city-owned computers and network facilities for partisan or other political purposes?
Yes, and here is just some evidence of that:

Continuation of Example 3:

Summers' Campaign aide Uldricks & Tom Bullock track Russian propaganda techniques:
1. Uldricks confessed to using City computers while on the City payroll to make posts to his Fake News cite (see picture of confession below with Bullock's Attorney friend Jay Carson in Police interrogation room trying to defend Uldricks' misuse of government computers and sending hate mail to political opponents).
2. A Police record documenting Uldricks' political use of City Computers--which Uldricks confessed to flanked by Carson.
3. A post by Uldricks on his Fake News cite showing mean spirited Bullock using his government position to spread propaganda and misinformation in a political campaign by attacking the First Amendment rights of residents concerned about Bullock's corporatization of healthcare.
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Brian Essi
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Re: Build LKWD Trolls, Fake Personas, Impersonators Mirror Russian Meddlers’ Tactics

Post by Brian Essi »

Example No. 4: Straight from the Kremlin playbook---Summers, Bullock, O'Leary & Butler use "Comrade" Fitzgerald's fake newspaper to spread lies, misinformation, propaganda.



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http://lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewt ... +newspaper
http://lakewoodobserver.com/forum/viewt ... +newspaper
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Re: Build LKWD Trolls, Fake Personas, Impersonators Mirror Russian Meddlers’ Tactics

Post by Jim O'Bryan »

The piece certainly should have been branded "political" with proper notation on each page.

At least two of the advertisers actually wrote checks to the Summers Campaign for their ads.


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Jim O'Bryan
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"The very act of observing disturbs the system."
Werner Heisenberg

"If anything I've said seems useful to you, I'm glad.
If not, don't worry. Just forget about it."
His Holiness The Dalai Lama
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