…ok…fair warning…this one might get away from me…sure…big difference…I hear you…but…I also heard…this?

Boris Johnson has backed Donald Trump ahead of November’s US presidential election, saying his return to the White House could be “just what the world needs”.

In his weekly Daily Mail column, the former prime minister argued that if Trump backs Ukraine in its war against Russia, his renewed leadership “can be a big win for the world”.

…&…look…I know he’s a venal sack of crap who’d say anything if he thought it might keep him in contention for column inches…but…the man simply can’t get away with the excuse that he’s too dumb to know what he’s saying…or to mean any of it…but he’s a hack’s hack & he signed on the dotted line to hork one up every so often for the daily mail…& this is nothing if not doing what he’s paid for…but…what is it the kids say…FML?

Johnson wrote: “I simply cannot believe that Trump will ditch the Ukrainians; on the contrary, having worked out, as he surely has, that there is no deal to be done with Putin, I reckon there is a good chance that he will double down and finish what he started – by giving them what they need to win.

“If that is the case, then there is every chance, under Trump, that the west will be stronger, and the world more stable.”

…you unforgiveably callow fucking misbegotten whelp of a cur…you asinine animatronic ass’ ass of an asshole…you low-down lickspittle of a loathsome lackey…you putrid pustule of moldering putrescent pestilence…you rotten hollow vituperative verrucosus vulgarian snake in the grass…fuck you & the flea-bitten nag you rode in on…tarring & feathering would be too good for you you trumped up little shite…I. just.fucking. can. not. with. this. fucking. feckless. fuckery. fuck. all. of. that. fucking. shit

…sideways…with something rusty…that’s been around since before they had a shot for tetnus

Earlier on Friday, the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy invited Trump, who is the frontrunner to get the Republican nomination, to visit Kyiv.

In an interview with Channel 4 News, the Ukrainian leader said: “Yes please, Donald Trump – I invite you to Ukraine.

“If you can stop the war during 24 hours I think it will be enough to come to Kyiv, on any day I am here.”

…something about as likely as bojo finally clowning out of the circus…or getting fed to the lions…though…can you even imagine the pay-per-view take for that?

In his column, for which reports suggest the Daily Mail is paying him £1m a year, Johnson wrote that the “global wokerati” feared a Trump victory.

“In the cocktail parties of Davos, I am told, the global wokerati have been trembling so violently that you could hear the ice tinkling in their negronis,” he wrote.

Elsewhere in his column, Johnson conceded that the former Republican president, who is facing 91 felony charges across four criminal cases, has “been caught saying a few unguarded things”.

…the sort of things a chap might say in…say…some accidentally deleted whatsapp messages…or over a few not-socially-distanced drinks at a not-a-party in the heart of government in the middle of a pandemic while the monarch mourned her dead husband with a lot less company than that sort of thing normally happens in…except…no…because as truly bottom of the barrel as it is to have a prime minster who actually thinks that just william tousled hairdo can help a man north of 50 play the errant schoolboy card…& never expect to have to endure a period of detention measured in anything longer than hours…he knows…he knows just how much fucking worse it would be if he’d been blathering the kinds of braggadocious loose-lips-sink-ships state not-so-secrets-anymore that the only contemporary world leader to wear a suit worse than his sorry ass made a habit of…or went on taking his talking points from current or former avowed enemies of the nation he claims to be deserving to lead…every onionskin-thin bit of pretextual prevarication involved in this piss-on-your-leg-&-tell-you-it’s-raining bit of yellow-bellied yellow journalism is a cast-iron certainty that this excuse for a man mendaciously mewled with complete knowledge of what an absolute brand of abject moral cowardice they’d tattoo across whatever passes for his soul…having searched in vain, lo these many years, for so much as a trace of heart or conscience

Johnson claimed that “what the world needs now is a US leader whose willingness to use force and sheer unpredictability is a major deterrent to the enemies of the west”.

He also said that Trump is interested in “a proper free trade deal” with Britain, after hopes of a full-blown trade deal were abandoned last year.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/19/boris-johnson-says-trump-back-in-white-house-is-what-the-world-needs

…seriously?

…you burned yet more of your non-existent credentials serving up that vomitous mass of brown-nosing bloviation just to squeeze in a “if you win throw us a bone – brexit or bust wasn’t meant to be brexit then bust” burst of begging boris…that was your bargin…you biscuit brained bitch-ass bullingdon bumblefucking heid the ball bampot…fucking of course you did…that’s right up your alley at just your speed

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/19/the-uk-environmental-protections-dropped-since-brexit

…whyever could that be, boys & girls?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/19/brexit-divergence-from-eu-destroying-vital-environmental-protections

…how about nobody asks bojo…or I’m gonna wind up with a rap sheet before the month is out…when I try to forcefeed the fecker a newsstand’s worth of his inside-out back-to-front craptastically credulous cri de lâche the way they feed them foie gras geese…fronting for…this guy?

Sitting with arms folded, an incredulous Trump complained to the state lawyer questioning him that he was being forced to “justify myself to you” after decades of success building a real estate empire that is now threatened by the court case.
[…]
James’s office released the video on Friday in response to requests from media outlets under New York’s Freedom of Information Law. Trump’s lawyers previously posted a transcript of his remarks to the trial docket in August.

James’s lawsuit accuses Trump, his company and top executives of defrauding banks, insurers, and others by inflating his wealth and exaggerating the value of assets on annual financial statements used to secure loans and make deals.

Judge Arthur Engoron, who will decide the case because a jury is not allowed in this type of lawsuit, has said he hopes to have a ruling by the end of January.

Friday’s video is a rare chance for the public at large to see Trump as a witness.

…which is weird when you think about it…we should have seen him in a witnes stand with his ass hanging in the wind on any number of occasions by now…but…for fuck’s sake…both these blowhard bottom-feeding braggarts held the highest political office available…& I still can’t get a refund on my ticket for this shitty “reality”…or so much as a customer service rep to return my calls to the ontological complaints line…it’s a fucking disgrace is what it is…maybe not quite as much of one as either of those over-entitled oxygen-wastage devices…but…plenty fucking yuge…a lot of people are saying it…& a fuck sight more fucking should be

Trump said he never felt his financial statements “would be taken very seriously”, and that people who did business with him were given ample warning not to trust them.

Trump claimed the statements were mainly for his use, though he conceded financial institutions sometimes asked for them. Even then, he insisted it didn’t matter legally if they were accurate or not, because they came with a disclaimer.

“I have a clause in there that says, ‘Don’t believe the statement. Go out and do your own work,’” Trump testified. “You’re supposed to pay no credence to what we say whatsoever.”

…so…don…donnie…donde esta da dumbass…if they were such worthless fucking statements nobody with an ounce of business nous would give even passing credence…what the fuck use were they to “mainly” you…if that isn’t asked & answered you apocalyptically apoplectic assmunch?

“I considered this the most important job in the world, saving millions of lives,” Trump testified. “I think you would have nuclear holocaust if I didn’t deal with North Korea. I think you would have a nuclear war, if I weren’t elected. And I think you might have a nuclear war now, if you want to know the truth.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/20/video-trump-civil-fraud-trial-deposition

…you know what…fuck it…I don’t even fucking care any more…I don’t care if it is true he could kill someone on 5th avenue & never go to jail for it & still maybe get elected…I don’t care that my birth certificate says I could never hold the office he wiped his sagging ass with…I don’t even care that you might still get to ride the lightning in the state of new york for the premeditated murder of what ostensibly passes for a human being if you’re fool enough to end them in full view of god & everybody…give me…two minutes…right there on 5th avenue…you can keep the gun…but if someone could loan me…maybe a bat…or…one of those “flagpoles” they stove in the capitol windows with…I’d go to the chair with a grin & I’d sleep like…someone who never had to get up in the middle of the night for a baby right up until then

“On one hand, this should feel like January 2020,” said Claire Wardle, co-director of Brown University’s Information Futures Lab, who studies misinformation and elections, referring to the presidential contenders four years ago. “But after a pandemic, an insurrection and a hardening of belief that the election was stolen, as well as congressional investigations into those of us who work in this field, it feels utterly different.”

The threat disinformation poses falls on a spectrum. Research suggests it has little direct effect on voting choices, but spread by political elites, especially national candidates, it can impact how people make up their minds about issues. It can also provide false evidence for claims with conclusions that threaten democracy or national health, when people are persuaded to take up arms against Congress, for example, or decline vaccination.
[…]
The most likely Republican presidential nominee is also the former president — whose time in office was marked by lies told in a failed effort to remain there, falsehoods Trump continues to cling to. Disinformation in service of the lie that the election was “stolen” — disseminated through a network of television, radio and online media — has proven staggeringly effective with Republicans. The toll from that belief extends to distrust in future elections.

On one hand, real consequences have come for spreaders of disinformation. Lies about Covid and the election have reportedly cost some prominent doctors and news anchors their jobs. Millions of dollars have been awarded in civil courts to victims of disinformation. Hundreds of federal criminal convictions have come from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. And people who allegedly participated in a scheme to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory, including state GOP officials, lawyers and Trump himself, face criminal charges. 

Whether networks like Fox News or individuals like Rudy Giuliani would be as eager to promote disinformation in 2024 in the face of such consequences remains to be seen. But some predictable players and newcomers in right-wing media have already signaled a willingness to contribute.

“Right-wing media see a demand for content that is pro-Trump and leaning into conspiracy theories,” said A.J. Bauer, an assistant journalism professor at the University of Alabama who studies conservative media. 

…like…the daily mail?

In addition to national websites known for disinformation, new local hyperpartisan news organizations might also factor in, Bauer said, with claims acting as fodder for larger national conspiracy theories. 

…or…you know…make them come true

“Election denialism and the misinformation that comes from the far right was in clear view on the federal level” with the 2020 election, said Christina Baal-Owens, executive director of Public Wise, a nonpartisan voting rights organization that tracks local election administration officials who have questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election. “What was less clear was a threat that was hiding in plain sight, a movement working on the local level.” 

Public Wise has counted more than 200 people who attended, funded or organized the Jan. 6 attempted insurrection and won office in 2022. In Arizona alone, ​​more than half of constituents are represented by state legislators who are professed election deniers.

“We’re looking at a well-organized movement that is working to affect elections across the country,” Baal-Owens said. “They have the ability to determine how people vote, how votes are counted, and whether or not they’re certified.” 
[…]
Over the weekend, far-right political activist and Trump ally Laura Loomer seeded an early conspiracy theory about the Iowa caucus count. Loomer’s complicated claim of corruption mirrored previous unfounded rumors floated in 2020. 

The falsehoods may remain the same for now, but the technology used to manufacture propaganda has improved. Advances in artificial intelligence, from chatbots to audio and video generators, have made easy-to-use media manipulation tools available to the public. A World Economic Forum survey named misinformation and disinformation from AI as the top global risk over the next two years — ahead of climate change and war. 

Scammers have found success with so-called deepfakes, mostly in manufacturing AI-generated videos of celebrities hawking products like health supplements or cryptocurrency. Even as campaigns begin to use AI in ads and states rush to legislate around them, the much-publicized threat of the technology to elections has yet to materialize. More often, cheap AI is being used to create propaganda, mostly from Trump loyalists.

Content that uses synthetic media from self-described “meme teams,” who serve as volunteers, according to the Trump campaign, is already being shared by Trump on his social media platform, Truth Social. These memes malign other candidates and their spouses, attorneys and judges involved in prosecuting Trump, journalists, and state politicians and election officials deemed enemies of the Trump camp.

“Granted it’s hokey and not believable in any way, shape or form, but it’s only a matter of time until something works,” said Ben Decker, the chief executive of Memetica, a digital investigations company. “The disinformation narratives, the meme wars, they’re back. That content is going to overpopulate certain parts of the public square.” 
[…]
A potential greater threat lies in generative AI tools’ ability to personalize misinformation, making it harder for social media platforms to moderate because it appears authentic, said Laura Edelson, an assistant professor at Northeastern University and co-leader of Cybersecurity for Democracy, who studies political misinformation.

“It’s going to be a lot harder this cycle as people are washing misinformation through generative AI tools,” Edelson said. “Misinformation will be more effective inside insular communities and harder to detect. Platforms need to be building new tools.”

Instead, Edelson and others say, platforms are cutting the teams tasked with moderation to the bone. Since 2021, the largest social media companies have reportedly deprioritized efforts to guard against viral falsehoods, tech critics said. 

Elon Musk’s X has led the way as social media platforms including Meta and YouTube have retreated from enforcement and policy and slashed content moderators and trust and safety teams, said Rose Lang-Maso, campaign manager at Free Press, a digital civil rights organization. 

“Without policies in place that moderate for content and without enough content moderators to actually do the moderating, it makes it more possible for bad actors to increase abuse online and offline,” Lang-Maso said. “Platforms are really abdicating the responsibility to users.”

Meta, YouTube and X have denied reports that they are ill-prepared to prevent the spread of election disinformation.
[…]
The social media space has become fragmented with the ascendancy of alternatives including Substack, Telegram, Threads and Rumble as viable spaces for political actors and extreme content. And a pressure campaign by conservative activists may affect how many trained eyes are available to be on the lookout.

Republican politicians and activists responded to the wave of disinformation in 2020 by targeting the researchers, universities, tech companies and journalists who pointed it out. Using social media campaigns, the courts and congressional committees, far-right critics have aired unfounded accusations that efforts to curtail disinformation around the election and the pandemic were part of a plot to censor conservatives. Some researchers said those partisan campaigns, which have included burdensome information requests and threats of reputational and legal harm to institutions, have had a chilling effect on new research going into 2024. 

Watchers are further challenged by the lack of transparency from social media companies. So-called black boxes surround the algorithms that serve up content, and the inability to see what is happening on the platforms in real time has only gotten worse. 

“We’re flying blind,” said Mike Caulfield, a research scientist at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public who studies election rumors.
[…]
“The direct effect of disinformation might not be as high as we think it is,” said Joshua Tucker, co-director of New York University’s Center for Social Media and Politics, referring to voting preferences. “But the indirect effect is people losing confidence in journalism, losing confidence that there’s an objective truth out there, and believing that anything could be disinformation.” 

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/misinformation/disinformation-unprecedented-threat-2024-election

…or…& I’m just spitballin’ here…it’s actually not that hard to tell who’s full of shit…because…they. will. not. stop. fucking. telling. you. over. &. fucking. over. until. you. can’t. believe. we’re. not. fucking. dead. already. because. surely. this. is. hell. nor. am. I out. of. it.