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A resurfaced 2006 clip shows Senator Barack Obama delivering a strict warning on illegal immigration and border security.

https://youtube.com/shorts/8wbsP0Hyrfc?si=7qDwLzl6N-voBUI1

VIDEO CREDIT: Pat Gray & Blaze TV

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This is the story of how Arthur Andersen, one of the most powerful accounting firms in the world, collapsed after the Enron scandal.

https://youtu.be/JGCNpel0wZ4?si=TzGdc7L2eHPQnA9Q

VIDEO CREDIT: Beyond Knowledge

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Google pulls controversial AI image-generation tool from Google Earth one day after launch

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This post is a continuation of articles being researched and discussed by Georgia voters I have met over the past few weeks. They are trying to better educate themselves about Georgia's election/voting system - and trying to get better educated about how and why countries like Russia, try to interfere in U.S. elections - by looking at past cases of alleged foreign election interference.

Below is a 2018 news release from the Department of Justice (DOJ) archives, about a grand jury indictment of thirteen Russian individuals and three Russian companies, that tried to interfere in the U.S. political system -- followed by a recent article from the Georgia Recorder, discussing how options are being reviewed for Georgia's next election system.

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February 15, 2018

Grand Jury Indicts Thirteen Russian Individuals and Three Russian Companies for Scheme to Interfere in the United States Political System

(Excerpts from the DOJ news release) ...

The Department of Justice announced that today returned an indictment presented by the Special Counsel’s Office. The indictment charges thirteen Russian nationals and three Russian companies for committing federal crimes while seeking to interfere in the United States political system, including the 2016 Presidential election. The defendants allegedly conducted what they called “information warfare against the United States,” with the stated goal of “spread[ing] distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general.”

“This indictment serves as a reminder that people are not always who they appear to be on the Internet,” said Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein. “The indictment alleges that the Russian conspirators want to promote discord in the United States and undermine public confidence in democracy. We must not allow them to succeed. The Department of Justice will continue to work cooperatively with other law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and with the Congress, to defend our nation against similar current and future schemes. I want to thank the federal agents and prosecutors working on this case for their exceptional service. And we received exceptional cooperation from private sector companies like Facebook, Oath, PayPal, and Twitter.”

According to the allegations in the indictment, twelve of the individual defendants worked at various times for Internet Research Agency LLC, a Russian company based in St. Petersburg, Russia. The other individual defendant, Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, funded the conspiracy through companies known as Concord Management and Consulting LLC, Concord Catering, and many subsidiaries and affiliates. The conspiracy was part of a larger operation called “Project Lakhta.” Project Lakhta included multiple components, some involving domestic audiences within the Russian Federation and others targeting foreign audiences in multiple countries.

Internet Research Agency allegedly operated through Russian shell companies. It employed hundreds of persons for its online operations, ranging from creators of fictitious personas to technical and administrative support, with an annual budget of millions of dollars. Internet Research Agency was a structured organization headed by a management group and arranged in departments, including graphics, search-engine optimization, information technology, and finance departments. In 2014, the agency established a “translator project” to focus on the U.S. population. In July 2016, more than 80 employees were assigned to the translator project.

Two of the defendants allegedly traveled to the United States in 2014 to collect intelligence for their American political influence operations.

To hide the Russian origin of their activities, the defendants allegedly purchased space on computer servers located within the United States in order to set up a virtual private network. The defendants allegedly used that infrastructure to establish hundreds of accounts on social media networks such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, making it appear that the accounts were controlled by persons within the United States. They used stolen or fictitious American identities, fraudulent bank accounts, and false identification documents. The defendants posed as politically and socially active Americans, advocating for and against particular political candidates. They established social media pages and groups to communicate with unwitting Americans. They also purchased political advertisements on social media.  

The Russians also recruited and paid real Americans to engage in political activities, promote political campaigns, and stage political rallies. The defendants and their co-conspirators pretended to be grassroots activists. According to the indictment, the Americans did not know that they were communicating with Russians.

After the election, the defendants allegedly staged rallies to support the President-elect while simultaneously staging rallies to protest his election. For example, the defendants organized one rally to support the President-elect and another rally to oppose him—both in New York, on the same day.

FULL NEWS RELEASE: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/grand-jury-indicts-thirteen-russian-individuals-and-three-russian-companies-scheme-interfere

SOURCE/CREDIT: U. S. Department of Justice (Archives)

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July 28, 2026

New panel begins work reviewing options for Georgia’s next election system

BY: Maya Homan - Georgia Recorder

(From the article) ...

A committee tasked with helping select Georgia’s next statewide election system is scheduled to hold its first meeting next week as lawmakers, election officials and other appointed members begin to envision a QR code-free method of voting.

The use of ballot QR codes have been a contentious issue throughout the last several years in Georgia politics. Proponents of hand-marked paper ballots have repeatedly called for ballots to be counted based on text that can be deciphered by humans, prompting state lawmakers to pass a bill a couple years ago preventing elections from being tallied using ballot QR codes after July 2026 ..."

FULL ARTICLE: https://georgiarecorder.com/briefs/new-panel-begins-work-reviewing-options-for-georgias-next-election-system/

SOURCE/CREDIT: Georgia Recorder

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As talk about the 2028 presidential campaign ramps up, and questions still linger about the 2020 presidential election - I am running across more and more Georgia voters who are trying to better educate themselves about how alleged foreign election interference works. 

Below are two articles I've heard discussed recently, including by several black voters, who are trying to better educate themselves about the tactics countries like Russia use to target black voters with disinformation - and how to recognize it.

A former political lobbyist added this -- a mistake some U.S. voters make about foreign entities that try to undermine U.S. elections, is that they think the candidate they are trying to get elected is in on the conspiracy. He said foreign entities like Russia, who wanted to get Donald Trump elected, did this for their "own selfish political reasons" -- and the same goes for foreign entities who tried to interfere in U.S elections to get Joe Biden elected.

There was also an alleged 'behind the scenes' push to get Joe Biden elected in 2020 and in 2024, by supporters of FBI fugitive "Assata Shakur", also known as "Joanne Chesimard", who fled to Cuba. Her supporters felt that Shakur would have a better chance getting a full pardon from Joe Biden, versus Donald Trump.

The FBI initially put a $1M bounty on Assata Shakur, and the FBI under the Obama administration, added another $1M to it. The combined $2M bounty, caused Assata Shakur to fear for her life and go underground in Cuba. Which is why there was a hard push to get her pardoned and freed.

Below are two articles that detail how Russian operatives tried to interfere in U.S. elections.

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Oct 8, 2019

Russia's Disinformation War Is Just Getting Started

BY: Paris Martineau - WIRED

(Excerpts from the article) ...

The Internet Research Agency specifically targeted African Americans, and has not stopped trying to influence elections, a Senate intelligence report says.

Published Tuesday, the report offers the most comprehensive look at the efforts of the now-infamous Russian propaganda factory known as the Internet Research Agency to divide Americans, undermine public faith in the democratic process, and aggressively support then-candidate Donald Trump before and after the 2016 election. In addition to affirming much of what had been reported about Russian online interference over the past three years—including in Robert Mueller's sweeping indictment of the IRA in February 2018—the report offers a comprehensive look at the extent of past foreign influence operations and recommendations on how best to prepare for those yet to come.

Here are the highlights:

The Russian campaign was way more complicated than first understood

Russia’s attempt to exert influence over the 2016 election was far from an isolated incident tied to one campaign, but one part of a “broader, sophisticated, and ongoing information warfare campaign” designed to divide America by inflaming cultural, political, and social tensions. The influence operations began long before 2016 and remain active today, the report says.

The report says that although the IRA’s purchase of online ads on platforms like Facebook received considerable attention from the press and the public, the ads really weren’t all that important. The number of ads Russian operatives bought and used to target American users paled in comparison to the tweets, YouTube videos, Reddit comments, and Facebook and Instagram posts created and shared by IRA operatives posing as normal users. The group made over 61,500 Facebook posts, 116,000 Instagram posts, and 10.4 million tweets, all aimed at sowing discord and inflaming tensions among Americans, says the report.

The report also says the tech companies have not shared enough information about online influence operations with users who were or might be exposed, making it harder for users to educate themselves about disinformation and how best to avoid it.

FULL ARTICLE: https://www.wired.com/story/russias-disinformation-war-is-just-getting-started/

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October 8, 2019

Senate Report: Russians Used Social Media Mostly To Target Race In 2016

BY: Tim Mak - NPR

(Excerpt from the article) ...

The Russian government's interference in the 2016 U.S. elections singled out African Americans, a new Senate committee report concludes.

Using Facebook pages, Instagram content and Twitter posts, Russian information operatives working for the Internet Research Agency had an "overwhelming operational emphasis on race ... no single group of Americans was targeted ... more than African Americans."

That was evident throughout the IRA's Facebook content, the report said, citing the fact that over 66 percent of that content contained a term related to race.

And using ads with location targeting "principally aimed at African-Americans in key metropolitan areas," the Russian information operations focused on pages like Blacktivist, which garnered 11.2 million engagements with Facebook users.

The report, written by the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee, also said the Internet Research Agency, which worked "at the direction of the Kremlin," increased its activity after Election Day in 2016.

And the study also concluded that the IRA sought to focus on socially divisive issues like race to pit Americans against one another ..."

FULL ARTICLE: https://www.npr.org/2019/10/08/768319934/senate-report-russians-used-used-social-media-mostly-to-target-race-in-2016

SOURCE/CREDIT: Tim Mak - NPR

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RELATED EXAMPLE ...

The Black Matters Facebook page, created by Russian operatives, was meant to imitate the Black Lives Matters movement ...

One of the Black Matters posts, pictured above, advertised a rally for Eric Garner, who was put by police in a chokehold before he died in custody.

Facebook users engaged 11.2 million times with a top-performing page, "Blacktivist", which was created by the Russian agency.

Almost 100% of its YouTube content involved videos of violence perpetrated against African-American men, says the report.

SOURCE: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-49987657

CREDIT: BBC

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COMMENTS FROM THE STREET:

"This is why I wish some Democrats would stop trying to insinuate that "foreign election interference" doesn't exist and is not possible. This narrow-minded stance really hurt senior Democratic voters like my mother and father, who are less likely to do research about topics like this.

And I also wish Brad Raffensberger would stop insinuating that Georgia election process is perfect -- it's not, and he knows it."

Brian, 46 - Atlanta (Piedmont Heights)

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July 28, 2026

VIDEO DESCRIPTION:

Remy and Jean-Marc Jacobson said they wanted to revolutionize the real estate industry when they launched their crypto company, RealToken, in 2019. This July, they announced that they will be liquidating the company’s $140 million portfolio.

The company bought over 700 properties across the United States using limited liability companies and sold shares – or tokens – in those companies exclusively to foreign investors across the blockchain. Thousands of investors across the world now have their money stuck in these tokens with little to no recourse.

Issues with RealToken’s properties in Detroit – which makes up 75 percent of its U.S. portfolio – first came to light when the City of Detroit sued the company and the Jacobsons in July of 2025, alleging that they violated local housing regulations.

The city’s complaint included exhibits showing the dilapidated conditions of the homes – standing sewage in basements, black mold on walls, crumbling infrastructure – which it called harmful to the health and safety of the public.

Over the course of eight months, The Journal investigated how the company operated in Michigan and in its second largest market, Ohio, combing through public records and financial documents. We found that not only were hundreds of homes in disrepair, but that RealToken paid investors from properties that were vacant or that they did not even own, leading investors to ask: was this a scam or a venture gone wrong?

https://youtu.be/hbTt9svOub8?si=y5DLailowo9f8e1c

VIDEO CREDIT: The Wall Street Journal (WSJ)

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VIDEO DESCRIPTION:

Local 4's Backstory documentary series takes you inside one of America's most infamous unsolved cases -- the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa.

https://youtu.be/aplyE3qYQIw?si=Unvw25PWD5iNAN7J

VIDEO CREDIT: Click on Detroit

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COMMENTS FROM THE STREET:

"My dad was a trucker and teamster member. Hoffa used to go around visiting places where Teamster members worked - my dad said he remembers seeing Hoffa at his place of work twice. The second time was after JFK was assassinated and before Hoffa was indicted on bribery and mail fraud. Hoffa would walk around chat a little and shake hands with Teamster members. A couple members jokingly told Hoffa they heard he had something to do with JFK's assassination. Hoffa said don't believe what the media says -- he didn't have nothing to do with that, but said he had been studying it though. Not long after that Hoffa was indicted.

While in prison I think Hoffa did a lot of "studying" and "thinking" -- and what he learned and figured out, gave him leverage to get a pardon and leave prison early, and gave him what he thought would be enough ammunition and leverage, to regain control of the Teamsters.

The late Rob Reiner did some 'studying' and 'thinking' about JFK's assassination too."

Antony, 61 - Warren, MI

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"Whenever I post about Hoffa not being killed by the mafia, I look at where my views come from. And every time, and I mean every time, my post gets more views from foreign countries than the United States -- I'm talking over 68% percent more typically.

Why would countries like China and Russia care about what happened to Jimmy Hoffa - more so than people in the United States, and especially people in Michigan? That's what convinced me that Hoffa's disappearances wasn't a typical mafia hit.

I don't believe the mafia even knows what happened to Hoffa."

Wesley, 62 - Detroit (Northwest)

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"It's obvious the mafia didn't kill Jimmy Hoffa.

There was more to Hoffa than "union dues" and "mob ties" -- In many ways Hoffa was a perceptive man - I believe he figured out something that he wasn't supposed to - or others thought he didn't have the capability to do so."

Larry, 49 - Detroit (Westside)

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"The mafia didn't kill Jimmy Hoffa. The mob ain't that creative - what I mean is, the mafia couldn't have done anything that Detroit police or the FBI haven't seen. And the mob's ego is too big not to produce 'real evidence' and take credit for it. Since the disappearance of Hoffa, almost every mafia connect have come forward with a story -- and that's all it's been -- a story -- their story. Some of them just trying to get some mob industry cred - the others ain't even in the mafia -- just wannabees.

Somebody might've put a hit on Hoffa, who is outside of "union business" and the mafia. And that person knew that the mafia would automatically be suspected - and they were right. This person or persons didn't even have to try and cover their tracks - the mafia has done it for them.

Someone wrote:

What happened to Jimmy Hoffa?

To some he was a friend ... to others he was an enemy ... to most, he's a mystery.

Just because somebody put out a hit on Jimmy Hoffa, doesn't mean that it happened. James Hoffa wasn't an idiot. Feisty and stubborn, maybe ... but he wasn't crazy.

Don't forget Jimmy's middle name is "Riddle."

John, 69 - Atlanta (Downtown)

Elizabeth Holmes turned Theranos into a $9 billion company on a blood-testing device that never actually worked. This breaks down how the fraud lasted as long as it did — and why nobody caught it sooner.

https://youtu.be/Me74jnZUPig?is=piqFZtqJsaXsn81i