OK, more housekeeping ahead of putting this account up on blocks.

#BurnNotice - search for that coming from my account, you'll learn some things about troubles in late 2020.

But this is going to be pretty meta, it's about what goes a #BurnNotice and why.

We've used the #BurnNotice tag in the past to denote an entity that is in need of special attention. That practice dates back to 2011/2012 and lapsed some time ago.

This is a more traditional sort of #BurnNotice

https://t.co/vXH1B5WABs
Let's put some bounds on this. Those in a #BurnNotice are NOT:

1) people I dislike

2) people I think are competitors in some fashion

3) "feds", whatever you people mean by this undefined term.

4) informants. Got a list of those, too, it's handled differently.
The #BurnNotice is more focused on people who present as if they might be working for Erik Prince:

https://t.co/Ex9B7RQjZR
Or maybe they work for Tiger Swan:

https://t.co/WoLSixHUoq
One of the great faults of grassroots activists is that they think everything is tied to whatever bad actor most recently got immolated. Examples of entities that got roasted include:

HBGary Federal

Gamma Group

Hacking Team
The point here is that there are always corporate and nation state actors in the mix. Their presence is unavoidable, but that doesn't mean that YOU have to get infiltrated and have your time and energy wasted.
That being said, lets examine some primo examples current as of late 2020.

I can think of no better example than "Cody Webb".
The above tweet is a LIE. I know there is an actual person associated with the set of tactics and targets associated with the "Cody Webb" persona. Why does this one get a burn notice?
When I first encountered Cody, he was forever stirring shit in Talib Kweli's timeline. TK is suspended now, but he used to really dish it to right wing loons.

Cody was working on a GINORMOUS RESEARCH PAPER ZOMG at the time.
We had a phone call. He claimed to be a Navy vet, a sub nuclear power plant guy. That's a good cover story, unless, like me, your best friend from highschool was a helmsman on the same class of boat. Having an old boss who was chief petty officer on a Thresher class helped, too.
So in response to inquiries about his experience aboard a nuclear powered submarine, he couldn't change the topic fast enough.

This, by itself, is not disqualifying. Another veteran showed up, tank mechanic, didn't want to talk much about this. His DD214 was fine.
Next, he claims where he lives the only internet access he has is via hotspot. Those are great for non-attribution without a warrant or a drawn out civil process. I have a cell phone on my desk right now that provides this, when I feel the need.
I know two people who legit run hotspot only. One is in Ireland, the other in South Africa. It's not out of the realm of possibility, but it is a bit unusual in the U.S., particular for someone constantly active online.
Third thing that was fishy. The GINORMOUS RESEARCH PAPER. He couldn't explain what he was doing or why. Another case of bad luck - take a look at how many research papers are in my SlideShare. Anything posted there, I've read.

https://t.co/SDXRLVxhhQ
Contributing to this "research" was, for Cody, like a salesman's appeal to a higher authority. Things that didn't make sense for the mark (ie YOU) would be explained as being associated with the research effort.
First @LibbyInPhilly got a look at Cody's GINORMOUS RESEARCH PAPER. She's a product of Drexel University's psych program, where they read and write A LOT.

Her judgment was that it would not pass IRB requirements.

https://t.co/5sWOgbBLG3
Someone else finally helped Cody with the writing and I saw the final product. It's a confession of recruiting individuals into various sub-groups, then inducing them to engage in infighting.

Precisely the sort of thing Erik Prince pays people to do.
So maybe "Cody Webb" is one of THOSE people.

The other explanation is that he's somewhere on the psychopathy spectrum and he does things like this to service the psychopath's need to "put one over" on victims.
I had intended to cover a couple different cases, but this is getting kinda long.

Spotting someone doing this is HARD. I spoke to him. I had specialized knowledge (submarines, peer reviewed research), I had a similarly skilled peer (Libby) also find him to be "off".
And then I watched him from a distance for about two years, while signs of him doing the same things I'd seen up close continued to surface.

If he's not a paid plant, I'm OK with putting this out now, because he's in the other category - someone who is always going to fuck you.
Recently he's gotten into a mode of trying to discredit Libby. Her work is good - you can see some of it actually published here:

https://t.co/kM1LdAAlNg
Cody has also been all about interfering with the stuff that Libby, Kirtaner, and I are doing. Take the article about 8kun operator Jim Watkins trafficking child pornography as an example.

https://t.co/B25bKexAqh
The pain for Watkins was the first, then there was some suffering for Parler. Next to get time in the barrel will be the person who did the legend for the Q persona, and then ONAforums operator Josh Moon.

You might not like any one of Libby, Kirtaner, or I ...
But given the role those entities play in dragging this country towards civil conflict, if you're not setting aside whatever personal grudges you have and just staying out of the way, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM.

And that will be assumed to be intentional on your part.
So there you have it. #BurnNotice for a persona (not proven to be a person) whose methods are either those of a paid disruption artist (he's here nonstop) or someone with a character disorder *who would certainly be a tool of such actors*.
Didn't realize how many column inches would be required to explain why I arrived at a certain view regarding the Cody Webb persona. That's enough for now, I'll have to do some more #BurnNotice work later this month.

/ends
@threadreaderapp unroll

More from For later read

The common understanding of propaganda is that it is intended to brainwash the masses. Supposedly, people get exposed to the same message repeatedly and over time come to believe in whatever nonsense authoritarians want them to believe /1

And yet authoritarians often broadcast silly, unpersuasive propaganda.

Political scientist Haifeng Huang writes that the purpose of propaganda is not to brainwash people, but to instill fear in them /2


When people are bombarded with propaganda everywhere they look, they are reminded of the strength of the regime.

The vast amount of resources authoritarians spend to display their message in every corner of the public square is a costly demonstration of their power /3

In fact, the overt silliness of authoritarian propaganda is part of the point. Propaganda is designed to be silly so that people can instantly recognize it when they see it


Propaganda is intended to instill fear in people, not brainwash them.

The message is: You might not believe in pro-regime values or attitudes. But we will make sure you are too frightened to do anything about it.
I’ve asked Byers to clarify, but as I read this tweet, it seems that Bret Stephens included an unredacted use of the n-word in his column this week to make a point, and the column got spiked—maybe as a result?


Four times. The column used the n-word (in the context of a quote) four times. https://t.co/14vPhQZktB


For context: In 2019, a Times reporter was reprimanded for several incidents of racial insensitivity on a trip with high school students, including one in which he used the n-word in a discussion of racial slurs.

That incident became public late last month, and late last week, after 150 Times employees complained about how it had been handled, the reporter in question resigned.

In the course of all that, the Times' executive editor said that the paper does not "tolerate racist language regardless of intent.” This was the quote that Bret Stephens was pushing back against in his column. (Which, again, was deep-sixed by the paper.)

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I like this heuristic, and have a few which are similar in intent to it:


Hiring efficiency:

How long does it take, measured from initial expression of interest through offer of employment signed, for a typical candidate cold inbounding to the company?

What is the *theoretical minimum* for *any* candidate?

How long does it take, as a developer newly hired at the company:

* To get a fully credentialed machine issued to you
* To get a fully functional development environment on that machine which could push code to production immediately
* To solo ship one material quanta of work

How long does it take, from first idea floated to "It's on the Internet", to create a piece of marketing collateral.

(For bonus points: break down by ambitiousness / form factor.)

How many people have to say yes to do something which is clearly worth doing which costs $5,000 / $15,000 / $250,000 and has never been done before.
Fake chats claiming to be from the Irish African community are being disseminated by the far right in order to suggest that violence is imminent from #BLM supporters. This is straight out of the QAnon and Proud Boys playbook. Spread the word. Protest safely. #georgenkencho


There is co-ordination across the far right in Ireland now to stir both left and right in the hopes of creating a race war. Think critically! Fascists see the tragic killing of #georgenkencho, the grief of his community and pending investigation as a flashpoint for action.


Across Telegram, Twitter and Facebook disinformation is being peddled on the back of these tragic events. From false photographs to the tactics ofwhite supremacy, the far right is clumsily trying to drive hate against minority groups and figureheads.


Declan Ganley’s Burkean group and the incel wing of National Party (Gearóid Murphy, Mick O’Keeffe & Co.) as well as all the usuals are concerted in their efforts to demonstrate their white supremacist cred. The quiet parts are today being said out loud.


The best thing you can do is challenge disinformation and report posts where engagement isn’t appropriate. Many of these are blatantly racist posts designed to drive recruitment to NP and other Nationalist groups. By all means protest but stay safe.
IMPORTANCE, ADVANTAGES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF BHAGWAT PURAN

It was Ved Vyas who edited the eighteen thousand shlokas of Bhagwat. This book destroys all your sins. It has twelve parts which are like kalpvraksh.

In the first skandh, the importance of Vedvyas


and characters of Pandavas are described by the dialogues between Suutji and Shaunakji. Then there is the story of Parikshit.
Next there is a Brahm Narad dialogue describing the avtaar of Bhagwan. Then the characteristics of Puraan are mentioned.

It also discusses the evolution of universe.(
https://t.co/2aK1AZSC79 )

Next is the portrayal of Vidur and his dialogue with Maitreyji. Then there is a mention of Creation of universe by Brahma and the preachings of Sankhya by Kapil Muni.


In the next section we find the portrayal of Sati, Dhruv, Pruthu, and the story of ancient King, Bahirshi.
In the next section we find the character of King Priyavrat and his sons, different types of loks in this universe, and description of Narak. ( https://t.co/gmDTkLktKS )


In the sixth part we find the portrayal of Ajaamil ( https://t.co/LdVSSNspa2 ), Daksh and the birth of Marudgans( https://t.co/tecNidVckj )

In the seventh section we find the story of Prahlad and the description of Varnashram dharma. This section is based on karma vaasna.