Just now...Avenatti posts the fake pics used against him

[Laura PourMeADrink]

Link to tweet

?s=20

[greyl]

1. Same were used regarding Ellison, been Snoped.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/keith-ellison-former-girlfriend-photo/

[Duppers]

6. Great detective work, my friend!

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

26. +1

[mitch96]

28. Speaking of "detective" work...

Did the cops take pic's of the assault? Was it current? Was it the same woman? Does she have a name?? Did she get a "recent cash infusion"?
We are hearing nothing accept he was arrested... Inquiring minds want to know....
m

[klook]

29. Thanks. (nt)

[Liberal In Texas]

32. Good catch. According to Snopes:

his picture appears to have been online for several years, posted from countries such as Russia and South Africa, and offering no descriptive information other than generic terms such as “pregnant woman beaten by her boyfriend”

I hope Avaniti sues the crap out of these creeps.

[SunSeeker]

2. And of course, there's a Russian internet connection.

Per Snopes:

We don’t yet know the real identity of the injured women seen here. This picture appears to have been online for several years, posted from countries such as Russia and South Africa, and offering no descriptive information other than generic terms such as “pregnant woman beaten by her boyfriend."

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/keith-ellison-former-girlfriend-photo/


Those Russian bots do get around, don't they?

[dalton99a]

10. +1

[Liberal In Texas]

33. Didn't see you already posted the Russian thing, but what the heck, can't be said enough. n/t

[democratisphere]

3. Social media is out of f'ing control and desperately needs to be shutdown.

Is fakebook that important to you? Maybe you need to get a real life!

[Laura PourMeADrink]

11. Being in a very red part of Texas, I saw first hand

the power of Facebook. Very low info people spread falsehoods on Beto, and they spread like wildfires. We don't know who started it but I'm sure Cruz had something to do with it. Beto polls were on the rise and then those posts started spreading. Between that and the Kavanaugh effect, his rise stopped.

But short of closing Facebook down, how could you even stop what happened from happening again? Dropping a companion post refuting the first one is not possible because if you have an opposing viewpoint you are probably not in their friends Network.

To me, after observing these people since I moved here, it's not like they don't have a life, because they do. But it's like they have this inordinate need to share every moment of it with their friends Network. Like sharing that they went out to eat with a whole group of "very good friends" just to make everyone else who wasn't there feel bad.

[NewJeffCT]

16. Back in 2016

Cambridge Analytica was big on Cruz and didn't sign on with Team Trump until after Cruz was eliminated from the GOP primaries.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

20. Interesting. But it could have been anybody, huh?

Unless Facebook enacted stricter rules about who can join and posting the true identity of every poster.

[lagomorph777]

17. "short of closing Facebook down" - why stop short of the cure for the problem?

Fakebook's execs have been committing multiple malfeasances. Why should they get away with it?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

19. Well, I woul'd love it if it was shut down. But even if a company

commits 'malfeasance' it's not likely you can just shut them down unless there was some type of high level mass fraud with monetary theft ( vs. thought and identity theft) Especially with their kind of capital. Is it?

And, unless you watch it and see the power of it and how it has been around long enough to become ingrained in people's life I don't see it just going away. If not Facebook, then a replacement would appear.

Facebook fulfills a need in rural areas at least. Their need to brag about themselves, their friends, and their grandkids hitting home runs. It also fulfills their need to act like they are informed about the world when they spread fake information like it is true.

[Cartoonist]

53. Woul'd?

Good one. What does it mean?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

57. Past tense of woul

[canetoad]

59. LOL Duzy!

[phleshdef]

31. Thats not a legal justification for shutting it down.

[lagomorph777]

34. No, of course not - but FB hasn't been criminally investigated (as far as we know).

FB management has shown that ethics are not part of their makeup. It's likely that if investigators dig in, illegalities will emerge.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

35. Very true. Unfortunately best case the Board

Could just Zuckerberg...or fine them huge $$. But with a market cap of $400 b..? But I agree, investigate, and maybe force better controls on propaganda could be imposed

[phleshdef]

36. Yea but its a public company right?

The executives may have done something illegal. That just means they get in trouble.

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

27. So glad I never felt the need to propel myself over the airwaves.

It sure has the youth of America in its grip though hasn't it? Wish they'd do something else.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

37. I think they do Instagram. kLBJ radio in Austin

guys call Facebook "mombook". But point taken....the youth are hooked. It's sad. And I think worse for those bullied. Knowing a slight can/will be seen by everyone.

[karynnj]

50. We need to find a way to fight these rumors -- at least among people not in the core group

that is spreading them and really are against us anyway.

The best analytic model for how rumors spread is the one for how viruses spread. For viruses, the way to prevent major epidemics is to have a sufficient proportion of the population either immune (naturally or via vacination). Here, it is more complicated because in the case of viruses -- nobody WANTS to get sick.

For these rumors, they use a core of accounts - some fake and some RW core who are willing to spread any negative story on a Democrat, whether they personally believe it or not. Where they do damage is NOT when it is transmitted to other RW people, but to some non political or not extremely partisan friends. If these friends then - even subliminally - start assigning the Democrat these negatives, it could either lose us a potential vote or fuel someone who otherwise might stay home to come out for the right wing.

You wrote:
"Dropping a companion post refuting the first one is not possible because if you have an opposing viewpoint you are probably not in their friends Network. "

I agree that the vast majority of their "friends" might be hard core RW, but you also might be supplying the truth to some mutual "friends" who might actually be offended that they were lied to. There will be many who probably will attack you, but that is because they are bullies who want their lie perpetuated unchallenged. You might win back some of the non political people who might have been swayed. There might also be some who you educate on the lie who still vote Republican, but at least reject these disgusting dehumanizing lies. That - in and of itself - is important in helping the country return to the comity needed for a functioning democracy.

To some extent, you are better positioned to help than most of us are. The US has progressively evolved so many areas are either totally red or totally blue. I saw none of the negative 2016 stories on my facebook account. If not for DU and one daughter, who was volunteering in Washington State and in some online groups that were not politically homogeneous, who did see and counter some of the sick rumors. On twitter, I just saw sick comments responding to any Democrat tweet - whether President Obama, Secretary Kerry, VP Biden, either Clinton etc. (After Trump, they actually got worse with their conspiracy theories).

Going back to how we can stop rumors - your replying actually might "vaccinate" at least some of those also receiving the lies. What would be great would be for the Democratic candidate or some ally to write strong, concise rebuttals that people could copy or link to as soon as they see anything spreading. (In 2008, Obama had something called Truth strikes back that tried to do this.)

[dem in texas]

54. Not All of Texas is Red Know-Nothings

The city of Dallas is deep blue as are most of the large metro cities in Texas and also the Valley. Don't refer to us as "these people". I am a life long Dem even though I have some deep red friends and relatives. I am heart broken that Beto didn't win, but Cruz beat him by only a few points, so there is hope in the future. Cruz owes his victory to Republican Greg Abbott who won by a very large margin and pulled a lot of votes in for Cruz.

[we can do it]

58. Yes. Shut the shit down.

[uppityperson]

4. Your thread title is inaccurate.They're not "he says" fake, but yrs old picture found across internt

[barbtries]

5. certainly fake news

as it relates to him.

[SergeStorms]

7. If the GOP keeps using the same pictures....

for different men they're attempting to frame, eventually they'll come up with the real S.O.B. who did this to that poor woman. My guess is it will be some right-wing incel idiot, or maybe someone with a history of spousal abuse, like Trump favorite Rob Porter. Check everyone in the Trump administration first, you're bound to come up with at least one low-life woman abuser (other than the pussy grabber in chief, that is).

[angrychair]

8. They are fake pics

Update your OP title

[spanone]

9. K&R...

[scarytomcat]

12. nice make-up job where is the swelling

her eye would be completely closed if was real

[obamanut2012]

42. I've had a black eye and broken orbital

And, this is not what you look like when this happens. Someone just needs to watch any UFC or Invicta fight and see what it looks like to only just punched a few times in the face, let alone get a black eye/broken orbital/broken nose, etc.

[oberliner]

13. Where were these fake pics posted?

And by whom?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

22. Excellent question. I don't know. I looked on TMZ and I looked

On @surefireintel and saw nothing. It is curious why Avenatti didn't mention that part.

[Hugin]

14. KnR

So desperate to smear Avenatti.

[Goodheart]

15. I don't understand. Would the LA Police have arrested him on the basis of these photos?

This whole story has me confused.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

23. Very true. Although I don't know what the typical sequence is

For alleged domestic violence incidents. Avenatti keeps stressing that he has not been charged with any crime.

[SweetieD]

30. Yes they could have. The standard for a dv arrest is very low in CA. All benefit of the doubt is

given to the accuser. So as long as someone says you abused them, you can be arrested. In fact I think it is mandatory for the police to arrest. Whether the DA charges you is another matter.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

38. Too bad Kavenaugh hearing wasn't in CA.

[obamanut2012]

43. Yes, they would

CA, NJ, and a few other states will DV arrest on anything. In one way, it's a good thing, but this kind of stuff can also flourish. It also hurts the real victims.

[Kaleva]

48. LAPD put out a statement that the alleged victim showed signs of physical injury

Avenattii doesn't say that he was arrested becasue of those photos. He hasn't said anything at all about the alleged victim.

[Kingofalldems]

18. GOP Avenatti trolls not liking this one.

Good post.

[aikoaiko]

21. Were these pics used in his arrest or just on social media?

It sounds like these were only involved in social media. Or am I wrong?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

24. I don't think anyone knows at this point. He never

Says where the pics were posted. Don't see anywhere.

[Yosemito]

25. Unclear

[Eric J in MN]

39. Probably just social media. NT

NT

[jberryhill]

40. He doesn't say

What, if anything, these photos have to do with whatever happened with the LAPD is not stated.

[Tipperary]

46. Yes, surely the LAPD would be touch with the victim?

[LiberalArkie]

41. All of this is very easy to stop.

Require everyone, everywhere to post with their real names.

We had a problem akin to this back in the old BBS days. The people could have aliases that they used, but their real names were on file. Any time someone would start something false like this, we changed their posts to be from their real names and their aliases were removed.

[MichMan]

51. Including here?

[Flaleftist]

56. There are problems with that, from your employer holding your politics against you

to some nutjob mailing you a pipe bomb or throwing a Molotov cocktail through your window because they don't like what you post.

[Azathoth]

44. Congrats, Michael, you've called out run-of-the-mill conservative twitter trolls

Now how about addressing the substance of the accusations against you, huh?

[Kaleva]

45. Why doesn't Avenatti name and go after the person who filed a complaint against him?

He knows who it is. The police said that the victim showed signs of physical injury and that's why Avenatti was arrested.

I guess we'll know more when the court hearing is held Dec. 5th.

[Tipperary]

47. Exactly.

Avenatti is trying to mislead imo.

[VOX]

49. Why on earth would Avenatti attempt to "mislead" about a demonstrably false allegation?

As for not naming his (false) accuser(s), that’s his tactic, for the moment. Avenatti’s smart and tough; when he’s ready to name names, he will undoubtedly do so.

[ScratchCat]

52. How on earth is it "demonstrably false"?

The pictures were not used to arrest him. He was arrested due to the complaint of a person, who, for some reason, he is refusing to even name. I can't find a single person who saw those pictures posted anywhere. TMZ and the right wing blogger didn't cause him to be arrested.

[Kaleva]

55. Then why doesn't he go after the LAPD for false arrest?

I mean if it's obviously false even to you, one would think that the LAPD would see right through it too.