Mediaboss Marketing

Citing a Russian talking point that a chemical weapons attack in Syria was a false flag, the alt-right is begging President Trump to lay off Syriaand even bombarding White House phone lines to do it.

President Donald Trumps most fervent far-right and alt-right supporters began to publicly turn on the administration on Thursday, angry or in denial at the administrations apparent refusal to believe a Russian talking point that a chemical weapons attack in Syria was a false flagor didnt happen at all.

On Wednesday, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova passed off the severity of the attack as totally fake information in reply to a proposed United Nations resolution condemning Syrias government for the strike. The Russian Ministry of Defense then redefined its position on Thursday, saying that Syrian jets bombed an arms depot where chemical weapons were stored.

But before Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signaled that military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assads government may be on the horizon, some of Trumps most ardent defenders were already questioning whether the attack was a false flag, some even positing that the photos of dead children were staged with prop blood.

Creator of Dilbert and noted Trump supporter Scott Adams called the attack a fake war crime.

Im going to call bullshit on the gas attack. Its too on-the-nose, as Hollywood script-writers sometimes say, meaning a little too perfect to be natural, Adams wrote. This has the look of a manufactured event.

On Tuesday morning, WikiLeaks tweeted While western establishment media beat the drum for more war in Syria the matter is far from clear, then linked to a YouTube video titled False Flag Chemical Attack in Syria?

Mike Cernovichone of the main drivers of the debunked Pizzagate conspiracy about a nonexistent child sex ring involving Hillary Clinton and a series of pizza shops in Washington, D.C, and a separate conspiracy alleging that Clinton was dying of a litany of fatal diseases during the campaignencouraged fans to help #SyriaHoax trend on Twitter. At press time, it was the No. 2 trend in the United States.

#SyriaGasAttack was sponsored by deep state, he wrote late Wednesday night.

One day prior, Donald Trump, Jr. tweeted of Cernovich: in a time of unbiased journalism, hed win the Pulitzer.

Conspiracy website InfoWars published several articles and videos claiming the attacks had ties to Democrats or Hillary Clinton, including one titled REPORT: SOROS-LINKED GROUP BEHIND CHEMICAL ATTACK IN SYRIA.

But by Thursday night, when it became clear the Trump administration had for the first time broken from Kremlin foreign policy talking points questioning any gruesome footage coming out of Syria, that same website began to turn on the president.

Substitute Al-Qaeda for ISIS and were in the same position as 2013, wrote InfoWars editor Paul Joseph Watson. Watson had spent Thursday writing that the White Helmets, a rescue group that has been accused by Assad apologists (and some moderates) of having questionable ties to rebel groups and jihadi groups, somehow committed the aerial bombing.

Thank You!

You are now subscribed to the Daily Digest and Cheat Sheet. We will not share your email with anyone for any reason

Your supporters didnt vote for this @realDonaldTrump.

The Internets largest pro-Donald Trump community, Reddits r/The_Donald, appeared to be in denial about Trumps turn away from pro-Assad rhetoric. The most upvoted entry on Thursday was a screenshot of a post from 4chans /pol/ board, which is a troll board with a fervently pro-Trump bent.

/pol/ is working around the clock to determine if the Syrian gas attack was a false flag designed to manipulate President Trump into war, the post reads. Two other top ten posts blame the deep state for manipulating the president.

One newer post with more than 1,100 upvotes at press time still did not believe Trump to be serious about his threats to take out Assad. CONCERN TROLLS, it reads. Our glorious leader did not maneuver through 16 candidates, 1 spawn of moloch and a rigged media all while under surveillance only to be duped by this chemical attack

By late Thursday, however, even Cernovichwho received public support both from the presidents son and advisor Kellyanne Conway this weekwas urging Trumps alt-right base to bombard the White House phone lines with condemnation of airstrikes in Syria, between retweeting users who claimed the chemical weapons attack that was a false flag.

Fake news is forming a pro-war media narrative in real time. #SyriaHoax They want war and will attack people who want peace, Cernovich tweeted.

This is not the first time that Russian talking points, as readily repeated by websites like InfoWars, aimed to push blame for an atrocity in Syria away from Assad, or questioned whether anyone was truly killed in a bombing. In December, RT anchors and Russian government-backed viral news sites used the burgeoning buzzword fake news to describe the shelling of Aleppo.

Foreign Policy Research Institute fellow Clint Watts, who testified in front of the Senate about Russias disinformation campaign last week, told The Daily Beast at the time that this is a long-held Russian strategy to deflect blame through propaganda, and cause even viewers of disturbing footage taken from the attacks to question an objective reality.

Its not just an information war on Americaits a war on information itself, Watts said. The point of it is that you cant trust anything. Then theres no baseline. You can say and do whatever you want, and then deny it ever happened.

Here is the original post:
Wielding a Russian Talking Point, Alt-Right Demands President Trump Lay Off Syria - Daily Beast

The Daily Banter

Bannon's Removal From National Security Council Puts Trump's Alt Right Support at Risk The Daily Banter This coupled with the growing realization that the entire political establishment is sick to death of the Alt-Right movement Steve Bannon represents makes his removal from from the NSC all the more understandable. Trump's decision to place a political ... Bannon's Downfall: The Alt-Right is Probably DoomedPaste Magazine Stephen Bannon reportedly calls Jared Kushner a 'cuck' and a 'globalist'Jewish Telegraphic Agency 'Nonstop' White House Battle Heats Up: Steve Bannon Secretly Calls Jared Kushner a 'Cuck'The New Civil Rights Movement The Times of Israel -New York Times -KITV Honolulu -Bloomberg all 746 news articles »

Continue reading here:
Bannon's Removal From National Security Council Puts Trump's Alt Right Support at Risk - The Daily Banter

It's remarkable that brands are still making these kinds of mistakes and yet, here we are. Nivea, masters of minimalist advertising, obviously thought they were onto another winner with their Middle-East targeted deodorant campaign which declares white to be synonymous with "purity." As I'm sure you can imagine, every 4chan user who voted for the two year-old butter chicken left in the sun that is somehow running the country had a fucking field day.

The German company posted an ad on Facebook featuring a women with long dark hair wrapped in a white towel with the words, "Keep it clean, keep bright. Don't let anything ruin it, #Invisible." While the beauty brand were quick to delete it, they weren't quite fast enough to avoid earning the public allegiance of any white supremacist with a computer.

In a marvelous wee 4Chan thread, users wrote, "Prove Nivea wrong, you can't" and "I need to buy." The ad has now been pulled.

This isn't the first time the company has dived headfirst into hot water, in an Esquire spread Nivea encouraged readers to "recivilize" themselves, with the image of a well-groomed black man throwing away the head of an afro-haired man. They later apologized, telling Adweek they represent "diversity, tolerance and equal opportunity.

Surely it shouldn't be this hard.

[h/t The Cut] Image via Twitter

Read the rest here:
The Alt-Right is Loving Nivea's "White is Purity" Ad - Papermag

Editorial writer George Hager explains the process of being labeled a hate group and why some organizations don't like the designation.

Campus of University of Rochester(Photo: CARLOS ORTIZ/@CFORTIZ_DANDC/2015 STAFF FILE PHOTO)Buy Photo

Fliers saying, "Hey,White Person! Join the ALT-RIGHT" werefound Sunday on the University of Rochester River Campus.

The fliersdidn't have any identifying information about who wasresponsible for them.

UR spokeswoman Sara Miller said: "The University has been made aware of these fliersand will continue to monitor the situation."

Alt-Rightis a set of far-rightideologies, groups and individuals believing that "white identity" is under attack by multicultural forces, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups.

In urging people to join Alt-Right, the fliers make such statements as "diversity really means 'less white people'" and, "Wondering why only white countries have to become "multicultural?"

A copy of the flier was posted Sunday on the Community Uprooting Racism in Brighton (CURB) Facebook page.

"We don't know what the writer's intention is in remaining anonymous, but certainly the message is clear to stir feelings of white supremacy," said MonicaGebell, one ofthe organizers of CURB, which was formed after white supremacist fliers were found last fall in Brighton neighborhoods.

She was told about thefliers found at UR on Sunday by Kendra Evans, an organizer of PittsFORWARD,which promotes diversity and combats racism. The groupwas also formedlast fall after white supremacist fliers were found in Pittsford.

RELATED CONTENT:

White supremacist literature hits Brighton

White supremacist fliers dropped in Pittsford driveways

Pittsford supervisor to supremacists: Knock it off

Message of hatred on doorsteps has the opposite effect

Pittsford unites against white supremacist message

Pittsford denies supremacist with walk against racism

Gebell's postingtagged a friend inFlorida, who notified Evan Bernstein, New York regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.

The fliers found in the fall spurred residents of those towns to come together for a variety of diversity and community unity events organized by PittsFORWARDand CURB.

In December, police located the man responsible for the fliers, identified by theDemocrat and Chronicleas 32-year-old Erik Stein. At the time,Brighton Police Chief Mark Henderson said the man admitted to distributing the fliers and maintaining the website, but that there was no crime, as his actions were political in nature and protected free speech.

The website apparently hasbeen taken down andits content replaced only with the word "compliant."

JGOODMAN@Gannett.com

Read or Share this story: http://on.rocne.ws/2nB92nR

More here:
Fliers urging whites to join Alt-Right found at UR - Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

In the Ozarks, the normalization of white supremacist ideology started decades ago.

Bret Schulte

HARRISON, ArkansasWhether or not you think his policies are explicitly racist, President Donald Trump has brought white nationalism to the fore of the American zeitgeist. Efforts to make white nationalist dogma mainstream, though, didnt start with Richard Spencers repackaging of upper-class racism as a think tank, or Steve Bannon whispering in President Trumps ear.

In the Ozarks, the normalization of white supremacist ideology started decades ago. The credit goes largely to Thomas Robb, who in 1989 took control of David Dukes Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. The rebranding began with one of his first acts in charge. Instead of the creepy Grand Wizard moniker, Robb opted for the urbane: national director.

He wears suits and conducts himself with the mannered decorum of a news anchor, which is how he appears on daily KKK webcasts. One such program, called White Resistance News, features a backdrop of the U.S. Capitol. Robb is clean-cut, with a grandpas thinning combover. He markets himself and his group as Christian. He does not advocate violence.

Despite the terror the letters KKK can invoke, Robb makes white supremacist ideology sound almost bland. For example: Im a white person, my family is white, he says. I want to preserve their culture, their heritage. I want to have a future for my children and my grandchildren.

Despite Robbs polished faade, his websites and marketing materials contain plenty of raw hate. On his web radio station, for example, lyrics to a heavy metal song invoked an old chestnut of KKK dogma: smears against minorities as sexually violent (particularly toward white women) followed by the call these migrants must be enslaved. The Southern Poverty Law Center, meanwhile, has gathered a dossier on Robb which includes a number of his most damning proclamations, including: When the Negro was under the natural discipline of white authority, white people were safe from the abuse and violence of the Negro, and the Negro was also safe from himself.

Bret Schulte

Though Robbs compound sits some 15 miles away from Harrisonup a hill from an unincorporated heap of marred trailers, dirt roads, and despair called Zinc, pop. 103his Harrison address, and its history as a Sundown Town, has given the Boone County seat an unsavory reputation, even within Arkansas. In November, the U.K.s Daily Mirror dubbed it the most racist town in America.

Robb calls the KKK the first alt-right organization in the world. He has erected billboards throughout the area that convey such messages as Diversity is a code for #whitegenocide. One that advertised a Robb web property, http://www.whiteprideradio.com, featured a picture of a sorrowful white girl and the note, Its not racist to [heart] your people. Other hate groups have picked up on Robbs idea of splattering racist messages along local roadways. The League of the Southa group set up to push Southern secession, because that worked out so well last timeset up shop nearby and launched its own billboard urging passersby to #Secede. (Trumps election has not cooled the groups desire to #secede: It erected a similar billboard in Tennessee a month ago.)

That Harrison, a town of just 13,000, is 96 percent white and located in the Ozark hills of a former Confederate state might make it an unsurprising breeding ground for white supremacists. But for the last 15 years, civic leaders have battled Robb for the towns reputation. Organized as the Community Task Force on Race Relations, they have launched their own billboards, media-outreach campaigns, and diversity-themed events.

For years, the task force pitted what it thought were mainstream ideals of pluralism against the segregationist goals of the KKK. It enjoys the endorsement of business and city leaders. At a task force meeting in March, about a dozen beaming members, white and black, piled together for a group photo in the lobby of Harrisons Chamber of Commerce to celebrate their latest victory: The town had won the Dream Keeper Award for 2016, presented by the states Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission for notable efforts to improve race relations, particularly among young people.

But if Harrison is any guide, establishment endorsements and task forces arent enough to push back the rising tide of white nationalism. Trump demolished the competition in Boone County, winning 76 percent of the vote16 points higher than his already-sizable statewide victory. Task force members point out that the area is historically Republican, but Trump also topped Mitt Romneys 2012 victory here by 4 points, and that was an election that had fewer and less-established third-party candidates to potentially take away from the GOPs totals.

For the task force, Trumps local victory came as no surprise, but even the group that has spent years fighting white nationalism reacted with shock on election night. I honestly think that this shows Harrison is no different from the rest of the country, said Layne Ragsdale, one of the task forces founders. This is not a Harrison issue. Its an American issue. Ragsdale said that she now feels less alone in the fight, but thats not necessarily a good thing. The fact is the task force has been relatively powerless to stop Robb, whom since the election of Trump, has had good reason to crow.

Robb, who has affixed a Trump sign outside the entrance to his compound, says his membership is growing, though he refuses to divulge numbers. He believes Trump won because the alt-right represents a purer brand of conservativism than did the Neo-Cons of the George W. Bush years. America First is a conservative value, he said. Diversity is not our strength. Diversity will kill us.

Robbs compound itself reflects his effort to preserve the core Klan mission of white supremacy while trying to sell the group to the soccer-mom crowd as a family-centric Christian organization. Klan imagery drapes the walls of the drab wooden building that serves as the KKKs main office, including a 1922 panorama of hooded men circling a burning cross. But off a back hallway, a playroom is filled with tattered toys. Bicycles and faded Little Tyke playgrounds dot the grounds, along with a Confederate battle flag waving over a playset. About 20 kids come each year for an annual summer camp. A new building is under construction that will house classrooms and a multimedia center for youths training for careers such as law and politics.

Bret Schulte

Yet, for all of Robbs outreach via billboards, newsletters, and an array of web properties, his viewership numbers on YouTube are dismal. A recent check showed just 31 subscribers. Robb insisted numbers dont indicate his influence but repeatedly declined to provide any evidence of something that might.

He claims a large following, but its anyones guess, says Kevin Cheri, a leader of the task force. Itd be interesting to see [Klansmen] identify themselves but with the exception of Robb you dont really see them. Cheri, who is black, says he feels safe in Harrison and doesnt believe its any more or less racist than other towns. Whether or not Robb is merely attempting to piggyback off of the success of the alt-right with his latest media pushes, the towns story is instructive for what a prominent white nationalist presence does to a place.

The specter of the Klan, and the reputation of Harrison, has long struck fear into people throughout portions of the state. Black visitors often leave town before dark, if they visit at all. The presence of the Klan hurts the town in other ways. IHOP once passed on opening a restaurant in Harrison because, as former mayor Jeff Crockett says, the restaurant chain worried black employees wouldnt live there.

The task force has continuously fought back for this image. In 2012 and again in 2014, the group succeeded in bringing to Harrison two Non-Violence Youth Summits, an event that is usually held in the much larger city of Little Rock and is sponsored by the Arkansas MLK Commission.

In between the two youth summits, the first Klan billboard appeared in Harrison saying, Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white. Crockett met with the press and about 30 concerned residents in front of the sign. The important thing is that we show the outside world this is not Harrison, Crockett said. (The sign, of course, went viral.)

When Crockett lost his re-election bid, he told the local newspaper that being out front on diversity was at least part of the reason. Robb views Crocketts loss as an expression of local support for his pro-white views. He thinks the alt-right is winning the hearts and minds of Harrisonand with the election of Trump, Americans everywhere.

The task force, meanwhile, believes its efforts to change Harrisons reputation have not been in vain. Rather, it views itself as on the vanguard of a fight the rest of the country is just joining. Were finding out here and all around the country that this problem doesnt [just] get fixed, says George Holcomb, a former journalist who once covered the task force with some skepticism before joining it in retirement. This is something you keep working on.

View original post here:
What One Town's Fight With the KKK Says About How to Combat the Alt-Right - Slate Magazine