In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce an American far-right conspiracy theorist and social media personality, Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer). She's best-known for her unethical activism and "journalism", and for promoting the most outrageous conspiracy theories.
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Laura graduated in 2015 with bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism, but apparently she skipped the course on journalistic ethics altogether, as she immediately started doing highly controversial and biased reporting, including interviews while wearing concealed camera.
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In 2015, she used a hidden camera to record her discussions with university officials about start a club called "Sympathetic Students in Support of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria". The school then asked the name to be changed to "Students in Support of the Middle East".
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With clever editing by a far-right grifter James O'Keefe, the tape was then made to look like the university official was not bothered by a university organization that was supporting the Islamic State. Loomer was then suspended for violating the student code of conduct.
4/16
Soon after this, Loomer and two other women attempted to entrap Hillary Clinton's campaign workers into accepting illegal cash donations. At this time, he was allegedly already working for O'Keefe and his far-right activist group Project Veritas.
5/16
In 2016 during the US presidential election, Laura went to the polling station dressed in a burqa and asked for a ballot under the name of Huma Abedin. In Jun 2017, she gave a speech "anti-sharia" protest in NYCand condemned "liberals who aligned themselves with sharia law."
6/16
In 2017, Loomer disrupted a Shakespeare in the Park presentation of Julius Caesar in NYC, calling for an end on "political violence against the right". She then went on to collect over 13 000 USD from donations to help her "legal defense".
Is that @jackPosobiec filming?
7/16
In addition to to working for Project Veritas, Loomer has also collaborated and worked with the Geller Report, The Rebel Media and InfoWars. All of these are known for publishing fake news and disinformation.
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As you can guess from some of the examples above, Loomer's pet peeve is Islam. She's declared to be a "proud Islamophobe" and have even tried to popularize a hashtag with the same message. She's also probably the first person to be banned from both Uber and Lyft.
9/16
She's also promoted a bunch of conspiracy theorist, mostly related to mass shootings. She's claimed that school shootings in Florida and Texas in 2018 were staged, and that the 2017 Vegas shooter was affiliated with ISIS.
10/16
In 2020, Laura won the Republican primary, after which Trump expressed his support for her by tweeting "Great going Laura. You have a great chance against a Pelosi puppet!" She was also congratulated by @RepMattGaetz, who's best-known for hanging out with 17-year old girls.
11/16
In 2021, Loomer tried to unseat Republican Rep. Daniel Webster in the primary election, but lost. She refused to concede, though, and blamed unspecified voter fraud and "big-tech election interference" for her loss. Loomer's X/Twitter account was reinstated in Dec 2022.
12/16
Laura has been banned from numerous social media sites, payment processors, and other platforms for, among other things, violating policies on hate speech and spreading disinformation. Her meltdown over this made even Alex Jones uncomfortable.
13/16
When it comes to the war in Ukraine, Laura's cheering for the Kremlin. She's called Zelenskyy to "stop antagonizing Russia", that "much of the conflict and chaos in the world always traces back to Ukraine", & that "Ukraine’s biggest supporters are Nazis & Nazi sympathizers".14/16
Recently, Loomer accused a US citizen and serial liar Kent Boneface McLellan of fighting with the Azov Brigade in Ukraine, and even blamed "Ukrainian spy operatives" for "penetrating the Capitol" during Jan 6th United States Capitol attack.
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Of course Loomer is no longer talking about any of this, as there are more trendy topics around. Currently she's attacking Hamas/Palestine supporters and fellow "citizen journalists" like @ShaykhSulaiman who disagree with her.
In today’s Wumao Soup, I’ll introduce how and where the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) online propaganda and influence operations work. Due to China’s massive population and advances in AI, CCP-aligned online content has become increasingly visible.
1/20
Like Russia’s troll farms, China has its own troll army: the “50 Cent Party” or “Wumao” refers to state-linked online commentators who are reportedly paid ¥0.50 per post to steer discussions away from criticism and amplify CCP narratives on social media.
2/20
Back in 2017, a research paper estimated that the Wumao produced almost 500 million fabricated comments annually to distract readers and shift topics. In that sense, Wumao operates very similarly to the Russian “Firehose of Falsehood” model:
In today’s Vatnik Soup and the “Degenerate Russia” series, I’ll show you the brutal reality of Russian war crimes, in particular the horrific tortures and sexual abuses of children, women and men.
Buckle up, this one is not for the faint-hearted.
1/24
For over a decade now and as part of their “firehose of falsehood” propaganda strategy, Russia has been spreading false narratives targeted at right-wing/conservative audiences, portraying russia as a bastion of Christian, traditional,family values.
In the previous “degenerate Russia” series we discussed Russia’s insanely high divorce rates, rampant domestic violence, high murder rates, thriving neo-Nazi culture, corruption of the Orthodox Church, and their massive demographic problem:
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll explore how Russia is working with Iran, and how the recent Israel–US strikes on Iran could affect the war in Ukraine. Iran has been one of Russia’s key allies in their genocidal war, but in reality the partnership is deeply one-sided.
1/21
Historically, Russia/USSR has been involved in numerous wars in the Middle East, invading Afghanistan for nearly a decade and desperately trying to keep Syria’s authoritarian leader, al-Assad, in power before his eventual downfall.
2/21
While initially supportive of Israel, the Soviet Union quickly pivoted to backing its enemies, fueling antisemitism, terrorism, and chaos in an already tense region. At times, this meant near-open war, like when Soviet Air Force MiG-21s were shot down by Israel over Egypt.
In today’s Vatnik Soup REBREW, I’ll re-introduce a Latvian politician and former MEP, Tatjana Ždanoka. She’s best-known for her history in the Communist Party of Latvia, for her pro-Russian politics in the country, and her connections to Russian intelligence.
1/22
Based on Ždanoka’s speeches and social media posts, she has a deep hatred towards the people of Latvia. The reason for this can only be speculated, but part of it could be due to her paternal family being killed by the Latvian Auxiliary Police,…
2/22
…a paramilitary force supported by the Nazis, during the early 1940s. Ždanoka became politically active in the late 80s. She was one of the leaders of Interfront, a political party that supported Latvia remaining part of the USSR.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce the main themes of Russian disinformation on TikTok. Each day, there are thousands of new videos promoting pro-Kremlin narratives and propaganda.
It’s worth noting that Russians can only access European TikTok via VPN.
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There is currently a massive TikTok campaign aimed at promoting a positive image of Russia. The videos typically feature relatively attractive young women and focus on themes of nationalism and cultural heritage.
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Ironically, many of these videos from Moscow or St. Petersburg are deceptively edited to portray Ukraine in a false light — claiming there is no war and that international aid is being funneled to corrupt elites.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll talk about Finland and how pro-Kremlin propagandists have become more active in the Finnish political space since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For the first time since 2022, they’ve gained some political power in Finland.
1/16
Russia’s political strategy in countries with Russian-speaking minorities (such as Finland and the Baltics) is typically quite similar: it seeks to rally these minorities around issues like language and minority rights, and then frames the situation as oppression.
2/16
At the same time, Russian speakers are extremely wary and skeptical of local media, and instead tend to follow Russian domestic outlets like Russia-1 and NTV, thereby reinforcing an almost impenetrable information bubble.