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Arieh Kovler Profile picture
@ariehkovler
Sep 4, 2024 • 12 tweets • 5 min read • Read on X
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This means a Russian intel agent was part of the internal conversations with Lauren Chen and Liam Donovan about how much to pay Benny Johnson and Tim Pool
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The Russians asked Chen to recruit Benny Johnson and Tim Pool to make some content and offered $2m a year each. Johnson said he wanted $5m. Pool demanded $100k per episode.

NB the indictment does not suggest that they knew the money was coming from Russia. Image
Tim Pool spoke to a Russian agent pretending to be a Hungarian businessman on a secure call. Image
Benny Johnson wanted more info on the fake businessman. So the Russians made a fake CV. But Benny had a concern... the CV mentioned Social Justice! That won't do.
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Eventually they did a deal. Benny Johnson would (unknowingly) work for the Russians for $400,000 a month in exchange for 4 monthly videos. Plus a 100k signing bonus.

Pool also agreed 100k a video but no bonus. Weak negotiating skills.
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NB I have been saying Benny Johnson, but there is another commentator who could fit the description: Dave Rubin. Either one could be Commentator-1.
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Chen and Donovan knew it was the Russians. Image
Commentator-6 is for sure Matt Christiansen. This is the video referenced in this paragraph.
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Commentator-5 is Lauren Southern, the only woman of the six. Image
The Russians wanted them to post the Tucker Carlson grocery video, but they thought it was too obviously shilling. Lauren Chen said to post it anyway. Image
The Russians wanted to blame the ISIS Moscow attack on Ukraine. They got Commentator-3 to do it. If Dave Rubin is Commentator-1 than I think Johnson is 3, and vice versa. Image
To be clear, whether or not Benny was Commentator-1 or one of the others, neither I not the indictment are claiming he knew that he was working for the Russians. The question of whether he *should have known or suspected* is both more philosophical and harder to prove. Image

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More from @ariehkovler

Arieh Kovler Profile picture
Apr 18, 2024
OK, so let's talk about this. The term "Ashkenormativity" is used *internally* in Jewish communal discourse to refer to discrimination against non-Ashkenazi Jews — like north African and Yemenite Jews.
In the US, for example, most Jews are Ashkenazi: their ancestors come from eastern or central Europe, and they follow the traditions, liturgy and religious rulings of the Ashkenazi communities.
Jews from north Africa and the Middle East follow different traditions, which get sort of politically lumped together as Mizrachi, "Eastern" even though Moroccan and Algerian Jews lived WAY west of, say, Polish and Russians.
Read 12 tweets
Arieh Kovler Profile picture
Jan 31, 2024
Why does the far Right hate Taylor Swift so much? Well, *partly* because they used to worship her as a secret White Nationalist 4channer and still feel betrayed that she wasn't actually any of those things.
4chan a decade ago was full of photoshopped pics of Swift in wehrmacht uniforms and excited posts about how her (then) political silence proved she was actually going to be the Aryan mother of the next generation of American Nazis. All total fantasy of course.
Here's an article from 2016 (ht: @SueSandersHere) that talks about the theory at the time.

At a certain point, op-eds in mainstream media started demanding she "speak out" to prove she wasn't a secret neo Nazi.

npr.org/sections/codes…
Read 6 tweets
Arieh Kovler Profile picture
Oct 7, 2023
I am reconnecting after a day offline. This is the worst single day of casualties Israel has suffered in my lifetime. Civilians massacred, reports of many kidnapped into Gaza. More than 100 dead and that total is rising.
Hamas launched this mass surprise attack into Israel, an invasion covered by huge rocket fire, without any escalation or specific trigger. They did it because they can and because they wanted to.
Horror stories are emerging from the towns near to Gaza of massacres, with Hamas cells going house to house. Hamas claims it has kidnapped 53 Israelis, but we'll have to wait to see how true that is.
Read 12 tweets
Arieh Kovler Profile picture
Sep 28, 2023
This is happening now. It's hosted by the Daily Wire and so far it's just Ben Shapiro interviewing Musk, asking hard-hitting conversations like "How do you stand up to the ADL and organizations that want to control speech?".
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Also, when talking about Chaya Raichik, Musk pronounces Chaya as if it rhymes with 'China'. Right now he's saying that he's going to find ways to let advertisers choose to advertise next to risky content if they want to.
Ben Shapiro is now praising Musk for "getting rid of the bots", therefore dramatically reducing antisemitism. This is not the typical experience of many Jewish users of this platform.
Read 22 tweets
Arieh Kovler Profile picture
May 31, 2023
This paid anti-Ukrain propaganda ad, in Hebrew, just popped up on my Facebook. The cartoon's message is hardly subtle, but let's see what we can find out. Image
First, the advertiser. It's a nothing Facebook page targeting people based in Israel who've interacted with content like graphic novels and consumer electronics. ImageImage
The page is running another ad too. Both use the same text:

"Israel should focus all attention on fighting the economic crisis. Supporting the conflicts of others is an unjustified luxury. Every shekel counts"

The ad text does't mention the Nazi stuff. Image
Read 8 tweets
Arieh Kovler Profile picture
May 30, 2023
So, black Aragorn.

These perfect cultural storms happen when you have *both* detail-oriented superfans and far-right culture warriors pulling the same direction. Image
Remember when Daniel Craig was cast as James Bond and the Bond fans went nuts because he was blond and had blue eyes?

Fans were angry at the casting of Gale as too handsome and clean in the Hunger Games. Harry Potter fans, 18 years later, are still furious about a single line being delivered angrily rather than CALMLY. Purists gonna purist.
Read 8 tweets

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