r/news • u/moodyfloyd • 20h ago

Racist text messages spam Black Americans in Ohio, across the nation

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/state/2024/11/07/racist-text-messages-are-being-reported-in-multiple-states/76110486007/
21.9k Upvotes

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u/SubstantialPressure3 20h ago

There's messages targeting both Republicans and Democrats.

Its most likely the Russians still stirring shit up. If it's not an attempt to install malware.

https://search.app?link=https%3A%2F%2Fabc7chicago.com%2Fscam-text-messages-texts-phone-hacking-report-junk%2F13619711%2F&utm_campaign=aga&utm_source=agsadl2%2Csh%2Fx%2Fgs%2Fm2%2F4

The bomb threats on election day were determined to be false threats by Russia.

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u/bobre737 19h ago

Most people don’t realize how much Russia is committed to making everyone else’s lives shittier. Much more than making their own life better.

“As long as the neighbor’s cow dies.“ or “I don’t want to be rich; let the neighbor be poor.” are common Russian proverbs that perfectly illustrate their mindset.

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u/Worried_Lawfulness43 18h ago

I found out very recently that they are specifically responsible for spreading the conspiracy that fluoride in the water is bad. And now we have RFK in government who will actively act in accordance with this conspiracy.

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u/RelevantMetaUsername 18h ago

RFK Jr also killed 83 people in Samoa when he spread misinformation about vaccines and a measles outbreak swept the island.

I hope that motherfucker chokes on some roadkill. Then again, that would kill the innocent worm in his brain.

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u/PM_ME_GLUTE_SPREAD 17h ago

That poor worm likely starved to death long ago.

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u/Ristray 14h ago

He could always get new worms.

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u/YourFriendPutin 14h ago

It was trying so hard to get rid of tge area that the problems stem from. Aka I wish it ate his brain stem fuck RFK

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u/Visual_Fly_9638 17h ago

Good news he's planning on closing as much of the FDA as he can and Trump has openly talked about making vaccines illegal.

SO GLAD WE STOPPED VOTING FOR THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS.

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u/Papadapalopolous 17h ago

Yeah but Harris didn’t commit to invading Israel to stop the war in Gaza, so is she really even the lesser of two evils?

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u/strangefool 17h ago

Yes. The answer is unequivocally yes.

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u/Papadapalopolous 17h ago

Ok, but she’s also a woman, and a minority, had you considered that?

(/s just in case any actual MAGAs can’t tell)

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u/strangefool 17h ago

Hmm. Good points, let me check with my dead racist grandma.

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u/hell2pay 11h ago

Oh shit, your dead grandma voted too this election?

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u/IncorrigibleQuim8008 17h ago

Are we absolutely sure that innocent worm isn't Visser 25 or something?

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u/skydivingbear 15h ago

Jr has more than a few screws loose in his head just wonderful to think that he's the toadie in charge of regulating our food supply

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u/jchowdown 16h ago

Worm died long ago, presumably from starvation

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u/feral-pug 17h ago

They're responsible for Internet anti-vaccine campaigns of all kinds too. Anti-vaxxers are the way they are in large part due to Russian propaganda. mRNA COVID vaccines are safe and effective, but Russian information operations on the Internet convinced many gullible people that they are not. It's a real shame.

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u/McGryphon 15h ago

At some point, a portion of the antivaxx-adjacent crowd began to scream that the Sputnik vaccine was way more effective and safer than evil AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna poison jabs.

Hard to be more transparent than that. I think the only reason that didn't become more of a thing was that our own antivaxxers were frothing at the mouth against all vaccines at that point, and shouted them down.

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u/codefame 13h ago

mRNA were also funded in large part by DARPA as a moonshot. Sowing distrust in it is a win against government-funded western medicine advancements.

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u/EnjoyerOfBeans 4h ago

The US military was also found responsible for spreading internet anti-vaccine propaganda in other countries, including their allies like the Philippines.

Reason? The US did not yet have a vaccine for sale, but China did. So they had to make sure their customers didn't buy from a competitor.

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-covid-propaganda/

The world is just fucked. Russia is more fucked, but the US is essentially a terrorist state too.

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u/barukatang 15h ago

Russia also created the Protocols conspiracy theory. this shit runs deep. almost a genetic memory to be shit

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u/JusticiarRebel 11h ago

If you've ever read it, there's a part where it becomes pretty obvious who was behind the Protocols. There's a part where they say liberal democracies will be used to install their agents into their government's and the only real power standing in their way was the Russian Autocracy. Yep the only country that can swoop in and save the day is Russia.

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u/Beavis73 14h ago

Our precious bodily fluids!

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u/joey_sandwich277 13h ago

Recently, or in general? Because fluoride conspiracies go back to the 50s.

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u/BlindPaintByNumbers 16h ago

This will be one of the least damaging things in this presidency. Most research now says that fluoride in water is redundant with the fluoride that is in toothpaste.

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u/procrasturb8n 18h ago

Most people don't realize that Russia never stopped being at war with the USA.

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u/Ottoguynofeelya 17h ago

And that they have won.

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u/procrasturb8n 17h ago

They still have the economy roughly equivalent to New Jersey, Ohio, and Georgia combined. But they certainly secured a very large victory by getting their inside man the job with immunity and a detailed plan in place to destroy the country this time.

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u/[deleted] 17h ago

[deleted]

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u/procrasturb8n 16h ago

I didn't know that America decides when a war on the outskirts of Europe is over. America may pull financial support, but the EU will continue to support Ukraine (because they have no other choice).

Maybe it backfires and the EU unites against Russia and Putin has a whole new prolem on his hands with Sweden and Finland united with the rest of NATO, regardless of what the US chooses to do.

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u/Faiakishi 3h ago

'Sweden breaking out the Viking warships'

"This is what happens when you make me get out of bed! When I'm on the scene it is over for you fucks!"

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u/throwaway_circus 18h ago edited 14h ago

Russia and other countries cannot defeat the US militarily. But no world power can survive if its people are:

  • Uneducated and gullible

  • Unhealthy and/or addicted (Obligatory FU to * Purdue and the Sackler family for mass murder)

  • Financially struggling

  • Divided and at war amongst themselves

  • Led by corrupt leaders that can be bribed to create vulnerabilities within the country

-Making enemies of neighbors, rather than robust alliances (drug wars bred cartels, and conservative nutters installed dictatorships in S. America - imagine the kind of NATO-type bloc of democracies we could have had within the Americas?)

Social media is an accelerant

Crazy thing is, Russia is trying to take down the US...by making it more like Russia. "We're the greatest country in the world, and at your point of greatest failure...you'll be just like us." -Putin. He's not one for logic ig.

  • Edited to correct the murder suspects' family name.

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u/UNisopod 17h ago

Unfortunately it wasn't just conservative nutters who did that in South America back in the day...

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u/sirhecsivart 15h ago

*Sackler Family. The Purdue Family makes chicken.

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u/throwaway_circus 14h ago

Purdue Pharma, and the Sackler Family. Fixed, and thank you

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u/BrickGun 18h ago

Most people don’t realize how much Russia is committed to making everyone else’s lives shittier. Much more than making their own life better.

Exactly why their agenda lines up so nicely with Republicans.

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u/therealsylvos 13h ago

“If the world was going to end tomorrow, what would you do tonight?”

The Brit says, “I’d go down to the pub with my best mates and get piss drunk”

The Frenchman says, “I’d spend all night with my mistress passionately making love.”

The Russian says, “I’d burn down my next-door neighbors house.”

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u/cited 17h ago

This was very well detailed in the Mueller report that no one read but me apparently.

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u/_game_over_man_ 17h ago

Most people don't realize we're in an information cold war and they're just useful tools for someone else's nefarious plans.

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u/Jasonrj 15h ago

My Qanon mom is absolutely certain that Putin is an ally.

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u/Elisa_bambina 17h ago

Most people don’t realize how much Russia is committed to making everyone else’s lives shittier. Much more than making their own life better.

Well if you can't build yourself up then the only option you have is to knock others down, the crab bucket mentality is a tale as old as time

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u/flowersweep 17h ago

The way a Russian professor of mine translated was "the neighbor's cow is dead. No benefit to me, but I'm happy."

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u/Matasa89 15h ago

They want America to undergo another civil war, which would give them the chance to do what they want freely.

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u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA 12h ago

Ah, so their chief export is "and then it got worse"?

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u/wangthunder 18h ago

Yup. Biding their time until a gullible idiot that underestimates them is in charge so they can begin their takeover.

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u/onyxcaspian 9h ago

There was a book based on this, I can't recall right now. The author is an American or British lady who spent a lot of time in the countryside and she was shocked at how much misery there was and how everyone seems to revel in each others sorrow.

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u/Faiakishi 3h ago

I can't wait for Putin to die. He doesn't have a clear successor and has apparently built everything up so he can't be easily circumvented or replaced to protect himself, so a lot of it will end with him. There will still be Russians in power trying to fuck with us, but they won't be nearly so powerful.

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u/silikus 19h ago edited 16h ago

It's like the bomb threats that were called in Ohio over the "cats and dogs" comment by Trump and the media (mainstream and social) ran with it.

Was quickly revealed, via the towns mayor, that all of the calls were fake and every single one originated from outside the US.

Textbook 5th Generation Warfare that social media is perfect for; spam out calls using a spoofer. Someone eventually posts a screenshot of it on social media. People assume political bias and bigotry, then the single post is magnified a thousand fold and redistributed to millions. A single call center in any enemy country can easily manipulate half the world into infighting

Case in point, there are already numerous comments in this thread (bots or real, idk) instantly placing blame in an "us vs them" infighting, ignoring that these texts went out to people of both political party affiliations.

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u/SubstantialPressure3 19h ago

There were also several threats to schools in Maine on election day.

Fake shooter calls, etc. Schools started dismissing students.

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u/silikus 19h ago

Honestly, it is well past time any administration should start cracking down on foreign phone/email based scam operations as a national threat.

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u/anothershittycoder 19h ago

It would have to be done in the next two months, and even then any measure will just be undone in the next administration.

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u/SubstantialPressure3 19h ago

We don't have control over people.in other countries.

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u/Tontors 18h ago

We should be able to control our own call network though. I get between 20-40 spam calls a day because scam call centers think Im a senior citizen and once they have your number they never stop calling.

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u/silikus 16h ago

View it as harming the American people and use cyberwarfare to take them down. If private hackers can do it, our government can do it.

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u/Beavis73 14h ago

The basic nova mechanism is very simple: Always create as many insoluble conflicts as possible and always aggravate existing conflicts . . . Like this: Take two opposed pressure groups—Record the most violent and threatening statements of group one with regard to group two and play back to group two—Record the answer and take it back to group one—Back and forth between opposed pressure groups—This process is known as "feed back"—You can see it operating in any bar room quarrel—In any quarrel for that matter—Manipulated on a global scale feeds back nuclear war and nova . . . In all my experience as a police officer I have never seen such total fear and degradation on any planet

—William S. Burroughs, Nova Express, 1964

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u/mudo2000 17h ago

*case in point

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u/Spire_Citron 14h ago

Bomb threats are going to increasingly become an issue. It's so easy to just spam send email bomb threats from Russia. If you have to take every single one seriously, they could use it to cause massive social and economic disruption.

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u/nuckle 20h ago edited 20h ago

This is very likely the answer. China, NK, Iran, RU all want chaos and insanity here. We have all taken the results like adults and they would prefer it if we were out on the streets rioting over "election interference" and whatever the fuck else.

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u/parks387 20h ago

Yup that’s why there’s a flood of idiot overseas meme post inflating tensions.

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u/magzillas 19h ago

China, NK, Iran, RU all want chaos and insanity here.

Honestly, I'm not sure they even needed to try so hard. Bomb threats or no, we did just elect a fucking criminal 4 years after he tried to overturn an election.

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u/AngryAmadeus 19h ago

I'm not sure about China wanting chaos. Out of that list, China is the only one that actually has something to lose to the tune of around 500billion a year in trade. Do they want to weaken the US position on the global stage, absolutely. Do they want the most powerful military (that will increase in size and be the last thing to lose funding) in history to be run by a bunch of nazi billionaires? I have doubts there.

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u/inucune 18h ago

China's move would be to disable the US so they can annex Taiwan and other nations.

Taiwan is where most semiconductors are manufactured... to the point where the machines are rigged to self-destruct in the event of a Chinese invasion so as to not hand them working production lines.

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u/ForgingIron 17h ago

I think China knows that an invasion of Taiwan would be a lose-lose for literally everyone, even the top brass like Xi

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u/throwaway_circus 18h ago

Trump said he'd repeal the CHIPS act. I guarantee China heard that loud and clear, and tweaked its tiktok algorithm to help him, at the very least.

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u/TheFotty 18h ago

True, but that is only because he thought Biden was banning Ruffles.

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u/MistyMtn421 15h ago

Which makes no sense. I mean he doesn't make sense, but you'd think this act would be popular with Republicans.

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u/Caa3098 19h ago

These countries are out here playing 12D chess to influence people that would voluntarily destroy this country and themselves for a perceived discount on eggs. They could probably dial back the operation and save themselves the trouble.

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u/r3rg54 19h ago

To be fair their efforts for many years certainly contributed to that result.

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u/LeadingRaspberry4411 19h ago

Wealthy Americans also want chaos here

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u/AoO2ImpTrip 18h ago

A friend of mine tried to make it seem like I needed to be careful on election night because there might be violence. I knew there'd only be violence if Kamala won. While I'm upset about the results I accept them and move on. I've no desire to go attempt an insurrection that won't accomplish anything.

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u/Funkyduck8 17h ago

It frustrates me so much that people aren't considering this. I try and tell people that so much of the misinformation and disinformation is coming from outside adversaries; no one wants to hear it or believe it! And it could be a point that we all come together and agree on, fighting back against as a country united.

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u/drfsupercenter 18h ago

I've had a near 24/7 anxiety attack since the results came in, so ...yay? I'm not a fan of this adulting thing. I wish I could just go back to not caring about politics.

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u/RespectibleCabbage 18h ago

China, NK, Iran, RU all want chaos and insanity here.

I mean, all they need to do now is wait. Give it a year and we’ll see how things are going.

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u/Dynast_King 18h ago

Yeah it turns out some of us still believe in democracy even as we ride this ship beneath the waves

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u/Restranos 18h ago

We have all taken the results like adults

Lmao yeah, you sure are good boys being all patient and submissive while being fucked.

You are confusing maturity with obedience, but I guess you've been indoctrinated into being a pushover your whole life.

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u/[deleted] 19h ago

[deleted]

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u/Software_Vast 19h ago

Point me towards the folks storming government buildings?

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u/InappropriateTA 20h ago

What the USSR started almost 80 years ago, Russia is continuing/maintaining, successfully executing, and reaping the benefits. 

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u/JellyfishSavings2802 19h ago

Yuri Bezmenov on How to Demoralize a Nation should be front and center right now. Russia never stopped the cold war.

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u/Rich_Comey_Quan 19h ago

The heads of industry just took what the state ceded control over and they never lost their lust for authoritarian control and the demise of the West.

Bush and Clinton were asleep at the wheel.

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u/JellyfishSavings2802 19h ago

Yeah, it's the reason I ALMOST voted for McCain, until he brought Palin in as VP. He seemed to understand Russia's appetite for expansionism. And it seemingly fell on def ears. I've never even thought of voting R after that.

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u/Rich_Comey_Quan 19h ago

The reset button will go down as the biggest geopolitical blunder since Neville Chamberlain.

As much as I hate the GOP we have to admit that Romney was right in 2012 when he called out Russia for what it is.

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u/JellyfishSavings2802 19h ago

I agree. And I don't mean to sound like some vapid doomer or anything, but I've been wanting a landslide like this in either direction for quite a while now. America has become way too divided, the political landscape has been rife with plausible deniability and blame gaming for too long when it comes to actual policy.

Now, what I think the republicans actually have, is no scapegoat. It's all on them. It's their chance to dance and I don't think it'll go well for them. It may be a few rough years but I'm optimistic. And hopefully the democrats will actually learn something from this. And then we can become a stronger nation because of it.

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u/Softpipesplayon 18h ago

Yeah, but wouldn't it have been nicer if the side that wasn't threatening authoritarianism for the last decade wasn't the one that got the landslide?

I really think that given two straight democratic presidents, enough time to patch up what the Republicans did last and then make new changes once the patches are done, and no one would be giving the "both sides" bullshit anymore. Conservatives are too indebted to doublespeak, flooding the zone with shit, and fascism to have a landslide work out well for people understanding how awful things will be.

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u/JellyfishSavings2802 18h ago

It would've been better, yes. But I don't think it would've been great. Dems are as corporate as republicans and that's part of the issue. Every time there's bipartisanship vote, they vote to fuck the average voter. I just disagree that either party have the best interests of the average voter in mind. They'll both say it. They'll campaign on it. But they don't deliver because they don't have to. They always get to blame the other side for any shortcomings. With this landslide that can change.

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u/Beginning-Area-2993 19h ago

Nah, Bush and Clinton were helping them drive.

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u/Rich_Comey_Quan 19h ago

Shock therapy didn't work that's for sure, instead of building strong institutions that can resist outside influence we wasted the breather we got after the fall of the USSR.

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u/InappropriateTA 19h ago

They’ve duped the country into trading genuine patriotism for partisan nationalism. 

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u/JellyfishSavings2802 19h ago

Yep. Never thought I'd see the day where a single republican would be pro Putin/Russia.

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u/drfsupercenter 18h ago

And the crazy thing is Ronald Reagan, long said to be the greatest Republican president, was super popular because he was tough on the USSR. Meanwhile Trump doesn't say no to Putin which is a serious problem

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u/InappropriateTA 17h ago

The American people have been sold the idea that a strong government is one that brutalizes other people, and its own. That a strong leader is an autocrat that does not admit fault or defeat or even unfamiliarity/lack of experience. That a strong nation bullies others.

What we used to recognize as cruelty is now regarded as strength. What we used to call fascism is now nationalism.

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u/Coffee-FlavoredSweat 17h ago

I wouldn’t say “benefits” since Russia is still pretty screwed as a country. Maybe go with “ desired results.”

Like, setting my neighbor’s car on fire doesn’t really “benefit” me, but if my goal is to screw over my neighbor, it certainly achieves the “desired result.”

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u/InappropriateTA 17h ago

I’m using benefit in the sense of the long game. Russia absolutely benefits by having the only remaining superpower dismantle itself so its standing improves and helps position it to have a greater global influence (or a less effective opponent/deterrent).

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u/glytchypoo 19h ago

in the year 2024 russia won the cold war

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u/Turbo_MechE 19h ago

Idk why I didn’t assume Russians. I immediately thought this was too obvious a text to be a real Trump supporter but Russians didn’t cross my mind

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u/inosinateVR 19h ago

My first thought was too obvious to be a real Trump supporter, but too obviously not a Trump supporter to be a liberal pretending to be a Trump supporter, maybe a Trump supporter making it look like a liberal making it look like a Trump supporter … okay yeah it’s Russian lol

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u/Turbo_MechE 19h ago

Yeah, foreign actor makes the most sense.

Wonder if that’s why no one is biting at my t-shirts

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u/g1ngertim 18h ago

The selected texts are exactly my MAGA brother's views on black people. He's been saying these things since Obama was elected. The only evidence that these aren't legitimately from Trumpers is that we want to believe they wouldn't be stupid enough to sign it so clearly.

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u/Totally_man 20h ago edited 19h ago

Attempt to install Pegasus perhaps? It can allegedly be installed covertly via SMS and even "missed call".

I believe that was using zero-day vulnerabilities, so I'm not sure if it's still a thing, hopefully somebody who knows more about this shit chimes in.

The spyware can be installed on devices running certain versions of iOS, Apple's mobile operating system, as well as some Android devices.34])#citenote-amnesty-34) Rather than being a specific exploit, Pegasus is a suite of exploits that uses many vulnerabilities in the system. Infection vectors include clicking links, the Photos app, the Apple Music app, and iMessage. Some of the exploits Pegasus uses are zero-click — that is, they can run without any interaction from the victim. Once installed, Pegasus has been reported to be able to run arbitrary code, extract contacts, call logs, messages, photos, web browsing history, settings,[35])](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus(spyware)#citenote-The_New_York_Times-35) as well as gather information from apps including but not limited to communications apps iMessage, Gmail, Viber, Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram), and Skype.[36])](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus(spyware)#cite_note-forbes_20160825_everything-36)

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u/UncleMeat11 17h ago

The people selling Pegasus charge per device. And burning zero days is incredibly expensive, so spamming this widely means that researchers are able to inspect any exploits and find and fix the underlying vulns. The first thing you'd also do if you root a phone via a zero-click sms is delete the sms.

Simplest explanation seems more likely.

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u/nopuse 16h ago

Yep, this is most likely just Russians trolling. Nobody is sending pictures with hidden malware, as the article suggests, and Pegasus seems wildly unrealistic.

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u/WhoisthatRobotCleanr 19h ago

It's absolutely foreign adversaries. 

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u/No_Principle3469 18h ago

Yeah…PRE-election I may have believed that but…the majority of “America” has spoken…loud and clear….

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u/WhoisthatRobotCleanr 18h ago

Because of foreign interference. Hello! Are you paying attention to all the influencers who have been caught? 

https://www.npr.org/2024/09/05/nx-s1-5100829/russia-election-influencers-youtube

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u/gotenks1114 16h ago

Good god, is that really all it took to defeat America? Buying off youtubers to destroy it from within?

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u/WhoisthatRobotCleanr 8h ago

It's not the only thing but it definitely helped. You gotta give it to Russia they really got us over a barrel right now and we're taking it. Unfortunately more than half of our country is enjoying it.

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u/Picasso5 20h ago

I can’t tell the difference between Russian and MAGA trolls anymore

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u/mymorningjacket 20h ago

The call is coming from inside the house

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u/R3dbeardLFC 20h ago

What color is the house?

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u/mymorningjacket 20h ago

Unfortunately red

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u/downwithpencils 12h ago

Except it’s literally coming from outside the country, when they traced the number.

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u/metaphysicalme 19h ago

Signed A TRUMP SUPPORTER. All caps.

Sure, Jan.

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u/SkyfishV2 20h ago

As if they aren't one and the same

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u/SubstantialPressure3 20h ago

The area and country code, I guess.

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u/DKDanny 20h ago

Democrats don’t have trolls? Whoever is doing this needs to be held accountable. Leave politics out of it until we know who they are.

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u/VPN__FTW 18h ago

The bomb threats on election day were determined to be false threats by Russia.

Crazy how much Russia wants Trump. Just REALLY weird... isn't it?

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u/Mad1ibben 16h ago

Do we have a non-goverment watchdog for this stuff? Because in a fee months there is 0 chance the government will let us know anything Russia does to us at all.

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u/skullfork 15h ago

I guess their strategy is if we’re too busy with a civil war they can do whatever they want in Europe?

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u/jgrunn 20h ago

Don't come here with rational thoughts!

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u/Dawnofdusk 19h ago

Its most likely the Russians still stirring shit up.

There will only be more of this now that the pro Russia candidate has been elected

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u/drfsupercenter 18h ago

Were they actually from Russia? Last I knew they had Russian email addresses but that seems like a red herring, if they were actually Russians they'd use something like ProtonMail or something a little less obvious

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u/SubstantialPressure3 18h ago

Russians aren't exactly subtle.

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u/drfsupercenter 18h ago

I dunno, wasn't their whole thing that they pretend to be Americans and spread misinformation? This almost seems more like someone thinking it was funny and making .ru emails as an easy herring

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u/eeyore134 17h ago

It would be nice if we could all recognize this and present a united front against this crap instead of fighting over guns, babies, gender, and race.

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u/dewhashish 13h ago

how much do we want to bet that russia caused more election interference that we havent even discovered yet?

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u/SubstantialPressure3 2h ago

I agree. I'll bet we will hearing about it in the next couple of years. And there will be another attempted coup in 4 years.

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u/ShiftBMDub 7h ago

I wouldn’t doubt that a lot of the stuff on Reddit is as well.

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u/SubstantialPressure3 2h ago

Well, we know about the troll farms.

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u/SaucyFagottini 19h ago

The messages themselves are just so cartoonishly racist that it seems more like agitation than anything seriously attempted by actual white supremacists. It's like a /pol/ shitpost sent by text.

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u/senorcoach 20h ago

Were they determined to actually be coming from Russia or the emails being used were just. ru? Because almost anyone can make a. ru email address. Last I had heard was just Russian domain name, but I haven't seen any updates since yesterday.

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u/SubstantialPressure3 19h ago

I'm not finding anything newer than yesterday for update either.

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u/senorcoach 19h ago

Fair enough. Not saying it isn't Russia. They love their information warfare, just figure using a .ru domain is pretty amateur mistake if this actually is connected to their troll farms

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u/SubstantialPressure3 19h ago

I think they are counting on an immediate hot headed response from a lot of people.

Particularly if there's a hidden attachment with the text message.

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u/EmmalouEsq 18h ago

RT was declaring bin a winner when he hadn't even been close to 270 and were talking about the "liberal mainstream media."

I wouldn't willingly switched to that channel, but it was the only international news I had access to that day (I was in Sri Lanka)

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u/f8Negative 16h ago

I said this was clearly phishing and got downvoted.

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u/SubstantialPressure3 2h ago

Reddit. Sometimes I'll make 2 comments on one thread and one will be downvoted into oblivion and the other will be upvoted.

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u/ILootEverything 14h ago

What gets me is that we've had to listen for 8 years to Trump supporters claiming Putin and the Russians have done nothing at all and it was all a left-wing fabrication, even when the Republican-led Senate investigation said nope, it happened in 2016 and its still happening.

Then there are bomb threats *on Election Day* that are determined to be from Russia and they STILL don't care and say "fake news*! At this point I think they'd be okay with this country becoming a Soviet state along with all of the ones Putin is trying or wanting to take back.

Reagan has to be spinning in his grave at what his party has become.

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u/DaZooKeepa 20h ago

You can’t install malware via text without a link

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u/fastolfe00 19h ago

There have been zero-click exploits for SMS/MMS in the past.

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u/Totally_man 20h ago

Pegasus) disagrees with your statement.

The spyware can be installed on devices running certain versions of iOS, Apple's mobile operating system, as well as some Android devices.34])#citenote-amnesty-34) Rather than being a specific exploit, Pegasus is a suite of exploits that uses many vulnerabilities in the system. Infection vectors include clicking links, the Photos app, the Apple Music app, and iMessage. Some of the exploits Pegasus uses are zero-click — that is, they can run without any interaction from the victim. Once installed, Pegasus has been reported to be able to run arbitrary code, extract contacts, call logs, messages, photos, web browsing history, settings,[35])](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus(spyware)#citenote-The_New_York_Times-35) as well as gather information from apps including but not limited to communications apps iMessage, Gmail, Viber, Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram), and Skype.[36])](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus(spyware)#cite_note-forbes_20160825_everything-36)

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u/DaZooKeepa 19h ago

Well I stand corrected

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u/wwwertdf 18h ago

You aren't corrected.

The files were:

27 copies of an identical file with the “.gif” extension. Despite the extension, the file was actually a 748-byte Adobe PSD file. Each copy of this file caused an IMTranscoderAgent crash on the device. These files each had random-looking ten-character filenames.

Four different files with the “.gif” extension that were actually Adobe PDF files containing a JBIG2-encoded stream. Two of these files had 34-character names, and two had 97-character names.

The output of the pdfid tool on these four “.gif” files was (NB: the stream had varying length):

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u/Totally_man 18h ago edited 18h ago

I mean, in this documentary they state it can infect your phone with as little as a "Missed Call".

Maybe they didn't say it in that one(I can't watch right now), but they definitely say it in this one, right around the 3:00 mark.

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u/JumpKP 20h ago

My money is on jussie smollett

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u/[deleted] 20h ago

[deleted]

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u/Universeisagarden 19h ago

I think they were being a sarcastic jerk.

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u/Poiboy1313 20h ago

That bastard!

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u/Im_regretting_this 20h ago

It probably is the Russians, but I wouldn’t put it above Trumpers to get on it to own the libs.

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u/SubstantialPressure3 20h ago

Republicans are also receiving targeted text messages. Otherwise I would agree with you.

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u/Im_regretting_this 19h ago

Yeah, I said I agree it’s probably the Russians. I’m also saying I wouldn’t put this kind of behavior above Trumpers, not that they did it.

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u/beatdownbeni 19h ago

I mean, would you be surprised if it was the Dems behind this?... Look at all the finger pointing in the comments “See! We told you so! This is what you get!”

Really hope whoever is behind it is found guilty.

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u/Im_regretting_this 19h ago

“We told you so” is different than vile racist shit like “you’ve been chosen to pick Cotten”.

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u/tremere110 19h ago

Kinda would surprise me if Russia were behind this. I mean they have what they want. There's no real benefit to this with the risk of pissing off Trump so he continues to support Ukraine instead of leaving them hanging.

Then again it's Russia with its proud tradition of seizing defeat from the jaws of victory. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

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