4A
OPINION
Sttnes
gainesvilletimes.com
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Shannon Casas Editor in Chief | 770-718-3417 | scasas@gainesvilletimes.com
Submit a letter: letters@gainesvilletimes.com
The First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right
of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Don’t let
Russia defeat
the US with
cybermeddling
Tribune News Service
The nation learned this week the full extent to
which Russia used social media to manipulate the
2016 presidential election. And it did so by exploit
ing our own racial, religious and political divi
sions. The detailed accounting of Russia’s malign
activity — in a pair of reports commissioned by
the Senate Intelligence Committee — is both
astonishing and chilling.
It also is definitive: Russia’s online warfare is
real, sophisticated and unrelenting. It mutates as
needed and grows ever more effective. And it con
tinues today.
Ignoring or discrediting such reports guar
antees the cyber campaign by Vladimir Putin’s
Kremlin will play an ever-larger role in our elec
toral process. It also fails to understand that such
Russian disruptions continue efforts that began
in the 1930s with Soviet Union propaganda cam
paigns intended to inflame America’s racial divi
sions. Only the methods have changed.
The 2016 campaign spread misinformation,
fake news and conspiracies across social media —
including Facebook, Google, Twitter, Instagram,
YouTube, Tumblr and PayPal. The weaponiza-
tion of Instagram was particularly extensive. One
account, ©blackstagram, had more than 300,000
followers. All told, Russian trolls elicited 187 mil
lion engagements such as comments and likes on
Instagram.
The trolls created Facebook pages like “Black-
tivist,” “Army of Jesus” and “Heart of Texas.” They
dubbed Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine the “Satan
Team”; Donald Trump and Mike Pence were the
“Jesus Team.” One fake post claimed Clinton had
received $20,000 from the Ku Klux Klan. A Tum
blr post urged Pokemon Go players to name their
Pokemon after victims of police brutality. Remem
ber: Special counsel Robert Mueller has indicted 25
Russians and three companies on charges related
to election interference and hacking.
The reports conclude that Russia intended to
attack Clinton and elect Trump by suppressing
Democratic turnout and pushing right-wing vot
ers toward extremism. There might never be a
clear conclusion that the interference got Trump
elected. But it’s worth noting that Russia targeted
African-Americans more than any group, urged
them to boycott the election or vote for Green
Party candidate Jill Stein, and dispensed incor
rect information about the voting process. And, for
the first time in 20 years, turnout among black vot
ers did decline. Trump’s victory came via narrow
wins in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania
— where black turnout was lower than expected
in Milwaukee, Detroit and Philadelphia. Now Rus
sian trolls target Hispanics with a “Brown Power”
campaign that’s using stories about deportations
and treatment of migrants to inflame tensions.
More study is needed to learn how to prevent
attempts by Russians or any political operatives to
influence future elections. So are tough regulations;
Google, Facebook and Twitter did not provide all
data requested by Senate investigators. Social
media users must become savvy about who pro
vides information online, and cross-check stories.
Failing to learn from one’s mistakes means
repeating them. In this case, that would be a disas
ter for our democracy.
Your government officials
U.S. government
President Donald Thimp, The White House, 1600
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20500,
202-456-1111,202-456-1414, fax, 202-456-
2461; www.whitehouse.gov
Sen. Johnny Isakson, 131 Russell Senate Office
Building, Washington, DC 20510,202-224-
3643, fax, 202-228-0724; One Overton Park,
3625 Cumberland Blvd., Suite 970, Atlanta
30339, 770-661 -0999, fax, 770-661 -0768;
isakson.senate.gov
Sen. David Perdue, 383 Russell Senate Office
Building, Washington, DC 20510,202-224-
3521, fax 202-228-1031; 3280 Peachtree Road
NE Suite 2640, Atlanta 30303, 404-865-0087,
fax 404-865-0311; perdue.senate.gov.
D.S. Rep. Doug Collins, 1504 Longworth House
Office Building, Washington, DC 20515,202-
225-9893; 210 Washington St. NW, Suite 202,
Gainesville 30501,770-297-3388; dougcollins.
house.gov
D.S. Rep Rob Woodall, 1725 Longworth House
Office Building, Washington, DC 20515,202-
225-4272, fax 202-225-4696; 75 Langley Drive,
Lawrenceville 30045, 770-232-3005, fax 770-
232-2909; woodall.house.gov
Hall County government
Board of Commissioners, 2875 Browns Bridge
Road, Gainesville, P.O. Drawer 1435, Gainesville
30503, 770-535-8288, www.hallcounty.org.
Chairman Richard Higgins, rhiggins@hallcounty.
org; District 1, Kathy Cooper, kcooper@
hallcounty.org; District 2, Billy Powell, bpowell@
hallcounty.org; District 3, Scott Gibbs, sgibbs@
hallcounty.org; District 4, Jeff Stowe, jstowe@
hallcounty.org.
County Administrator, Jock Connell, jconnell@
hallcounty.org
Planning Commission, 2875 Browns Bridge Road,
Gainesville, 770-531-6809.
Tax Commissioner’s Office, 2875 Browns Bridge
Road, P.O. Box 1579, Gainesville 30503, 770-
531 -6950, taxcommissioner@hallcounty.org
Tax Assessor’s Office, 2875 Browns Bridge Road,
Gainesville 30504, rswatson@hallcounty.org.
Real estate property, P.O. Box 2895, Gainesville
30503, 770-531-6720; personal property, P.O.
Box 1780, Gainesville 30503, 770-531 -6749
Some 2018 highlights:
No wall, no more privacy
Perhaps, as you have been
celebrating the holidays and
living your life, you missed
some noteworthy news
developments. As a public
service, here they are:
There is a Republican
National Committee in name
only. In the interest of being
re-elected, Donald Trump
has merged it with his very
flush campaign apparatus.
You knew Trump had co
opted the party; now it’s
official. They’ll be in the same offices,
raising money and working for the
same cause: four more years as presi
dent for the man with the big brain.
There is no more Trump Foundation.
That’s right. The state of New York shut
it down, insisting it had no oversight,
did not give money to legitimate chari
ties and was no more than a checkbook
designed to collect other people’s
money for Trump’s personal, political
and business interests.
We do not know who will take up the
slack and pay the $7 annual Boy Scouts
dues for one scout, such as Trump’s
then 11-year-old son. We do not know
who will buy $20,000 and $10,000 por
traits of Trump (one six-feet tall) to
hang over sports bars in billionaires’
mansions. We do know that the two
paintings and a Tim Tebow auto
graphed football helmet and jersey,
which Trump bought for $12,000, are
now valued by the IRS at $975 and must
be sold.
The “great wall” between the United
States and Mexico has not and will not
be built. After sending out henchmen
and henchwomen to insist the gov
ernment be shut down in pique over
Congress’ refusal to waste $5 billion on
something nobody thinks is feasible,
Trump capitulated and let
Congress do what it always
does — kick the proverbial
budget can down the road
through a continuing resolu
tion. By the time it expires,
Democrats will control the
House. They will not fund a
wall.
We do not know what
Mexico will do with all the
money it did not have slated
to pay for the wall.
Despite Trump’s insis
tence that he eliminated ISIS from
Syria, he did not. He may redistribute
U.S. forces around the globe, putting
troops on our borders to string barbed
wire to keep out fleeing women and
children, but ISIS, like the Taliban, is
far from being defeated.
There is no such thing as privacy.
You may not be able to figure out how
Facebook works, but be confident that
somebody you did not want to see all
your personal comments and photos
has seen and shared them. Millions
of photos and comments that users
decided not to post or deleted have
also been shared. And stayed alive on
numerous web sites. This has started an
exodus off Facebook, which may cause
a re-emergence of once-ridiculed fam
ily Christmas letters.
Republicans and Democrats in Con
gress actually cooperated with each
other and the White House to pass a
criminal justice reform bill. The U.S.
has imprisoned more of its citizens than
any other country; the bill just passed
by the Senate (similar to one passed by
the House) gives judges more discre
tion in sentencing, requires prisoners
be jailed within 500 miles of home and
provides more money for vocational
training and education for inmates.
Supreme Court justices do not have to
abide by ethics rules with which lesser
judges must comply. So said a judicial
panel looking into and dismissing 83
charges of misconduct filed against
new Justice Brett Kavanaugh. It turns
out the high court does not have a code
of conduct, and Congress has never
written one for it.
The world is becoming a much less
safe place for journalists, which may
not surprise you given the verbal
onslaughts against them by certain
leaders of democracies, which invented
the free press. Sixty-three journalists,
and 14 people who helped produce
news, were killed from Jan 1 to Dec. 1.
An additional 348 were imprisoned.
Remember when ketchup and pickle
relish were declared vegetables? Now
comes the Trump administration to
roll back 2010 regulations limiting
saturated fats and refined sugars and
increasing fruits and vegetables for
school lunches for 30 million children.
Great. You ban high-fat chocolate
milk at home, and your child gets it
at school. (Note: The administration
argues children won’t eat healthful
food; two studies say that’s not true.
Note two: Twenty percent of Ameri
can children are obese, and the U.S.
adult obesity rate is one of the world’s
highest.)
Cell phone and utility payments will
now be reflected in some credit scores,
making it likely more consumers will
be approved for loans.
Here’s betting 2019 will bring even
more news.
Ann McFeatters is an op-ed columnist for
Tribune News Service.
ANN MCFEATTERS
amcfeatters@
natioralpress.com
"I'M THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS FUTURE. JUST A HEADS UP, YOU'RE GONNA WANT TO
GET ON THAT WHOLE CLIMATE CHANGE THING."
DREW SHENEMAN I Tribune News Service
HIGH-PROFILE, GLOBAL FIGURE
WHO KNOWS GOOD FROM BAD.
NOT
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