In a split decision, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that even when a person is threatened or under attack they can’t brandish a deadly weapon if it is “reasonably possible to retreat.”
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Biden administration hits Russia with sanctions over efforts to manipulate U.S. opinion ahead of the election – NBC News
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Excerpt:
The Departments of Justice, State and Treasury announced Wednesday a joint effort to target with sanctions and criminal charges what the Biden administration says are Russian government-sponsored attempts to manipulate U.S. public opinion ahead of the November election.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced charges against two employees of the Russian-backed media network RT accused of conspiring to commit money laundering and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act in an indictment unsealed Wednesday in the Southern District of New York.
“The American people are entitled to know when a foreign power is attempting to exploit our country’s free exchange of ideas in order to send around its own propaganda,” Garland said.
Russia’s election influence efforts show sophistication, officials say – The Washington Post
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Excerpt:
The Russian government’s covert efforts to sway the 2024 presidential election are more advanced than in recent years, and the most active foreign threat this political season, U.S. intelligence officials said Friday.
Russia’s activities “are more sophisticated than in prior election cycles,” said a senior official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) in a briefing with reporters, noting the use of “authentic U.S. voices” to “launder” Russian government propaganda and spread socially divisive narratives through major social media, as well as on sham websites that pose as legitimate American media organizations.
Moscow is targeting U.S. swing states in particular, the official said, and using artificial intelligence to more quickly and convincingly create fake content to shape the outcome in favor of former president Donald Trump.
YouTube Axes Tenet Media’s Channel Without Due Process– thefederalist.com
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Excerpt:
The widely used video platform YouTube removed Tenet Media and related channels from its services on Thursday after the Justice Department accused the company of partaking in a secret Russian influence operation.
The revelation comes days after the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the seizure of nearly three dozen internet domains it alleged were used in “Russian government-directed foreign malign influence campaigns colloquially referred to as ‘Doppelganger,’ in violation of U.S. money laundering and criminal trademark laws.” According to Fox News, the unsealed indictment alleged a pair of Russian state media staffers had been covertly funding a Tennessee-based, American content creation company identified in reports as Tenet Media” and other shell companies with the goal of spreading what the DOJ classified as “Russian government propaganda.”
The indictment contended that Tenet Media “published nearly 2,000 videos to social media platforms such as X and YouTube, and failed to inform viewers it was financed by the Kremlin,” the report reads.
Right-wing influencers such as Dave Rubin, Tim Pool, and Benny Johnson are among those affiliated with the company. Many of these figures have since denied knowledge of the company’s alleged ties to Russia and proclaimed to be “victims” of Moscow’s purported influence operation.
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Excerpt from CNN
DOJ alleges Russia funded US media company linked to right-wing social media stars
The unnamed Tennessee-based company that the Justice Department alleges was being funded by Russian operatives working as part of a Kremlin-orchestrated influence operation targeting the 2024 US election is Tenet Media, which is linked to right-wing commentators with millions of subscribers on YouTube and other social media platforms, according to a US official briefed on the matter.
The indictment unsealed in New York’s Southern District accused two employees of RT, the Kremlin’s media arm, of funneling nearly $10 million to an unidentified company, described only as “Company 1” in court documents.
CNN has independently confirmed that “Company 1” is Tenet Media, which is a platform for independent content creators. It is self-described as a “network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues,” according to its website, which matches language contained in the newly unsealed indictment.
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Excerpt from Real WV
Feds say Russia laundered $10M through unwitting social media influencers, including a WV man
…On Wednesday, the United States Department of Justice issued a federal indictment which charges Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva with a scheme. The indictment says they created, in the words of their own editor, “an ‘entire empire of covert projects’ designed to shape public opinion in ‘Western audiences.’”
Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva work for RT, the indictment says. “RT, formerly known as ‘Russia Today,’ is a state-controlled media outlet funded and directed by the Government of Russia.” …
Who were the influencers? Tenet Media began in late 2023 with influencers Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, David Rubin, and Lauren Southern. The indictment indicates at least one of them was being paid $400,000 per month plus a $100,000 signing bonus by Tenet Media (via funding from RT). Federal officials do not believe the right-wing American social media influencers knew they were being paid through a front company by Russian agents.
“The company never disclosed to the influencers or to their millions of followers its ties to RT and the Russian government,” says Attorney General Merrick Garland.
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Excerpt from The Washington Post
YouTube takes down right-wing channels linked to DOJ Russia indictments
YouTube took down several right-wing politics channels that had been linked with allegations from the Justice Department that Russian government employees were paying right-wing influencers in the United States to produce content.
The Google-owned video site “terminated” Tenet Media and four other channels run by right-wing media entrepreneur Lauren Chen as part of the company’s “ongoing efforts to combat coordinated influence operations,” a YouTube spokesperson said in an emailed statement Thursday.
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Excerpt from www.rt.com
US targeting ‘legitimate journalism’ with RT sanctions – Scott Ritter
Former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter has announced that the latest US sanctions imposed on RT mean he will be forced to end his work as a contributor to the Russian media outlet. Ritter insisted that his cooperation with RT has been nothing but “legitimate journalism.”
A former US Marine Corps major who also served as a UN weapons inspector in Iraq during the 1990s, Ritter came into the spotlight in 2003 when he opposed the US military operation against the Middle Eastern country. He argued that Saddam Hussein’s government did not possess weapons of mass destruction, despite Washington’s claims.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, Ritter stressed that the content of his contributions for RT and several other sanctioned media outlets “has been factually correct and analytically sound, and always of my own creation.”
While condemning Washington’s decision as running counter to “constitutional norms and values,” Ritter noted that he is “fully committed to obeying US law, and as such will be terminating all contractual relationships with both RT and Sputnik effective immediately.”
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Excerpt from BBC
Right-wing US influencers say they were victims of alleged Russian plot
Conservative US influencers say if the allegations are proven, they were deceived by Russian media executives following the release of an indictment charging Moscow with interfering in the 2024 US election.
The indictment accuses state broadcaster RT, formerly Russia Today, of paying a Tennessee firm $10m (£7.6m) to “create and distribute content to US audiences with hidden Russian government messaging”.
US media outlets identified the firm as Tenet Media, which describes itself as “network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues”.
Tenet Media, which was not directly named in the indictment, was founded in 2022 by conservative Canadian YouTuber Lauren Chen and her husband Liam Donovan. Tenet has not commented publicly on the allegations and did not respond to a request for comment.
The network employs several well-known right-wing US influencers – such as Tim Pool, David Rubin and Benny Johnson – who say they are “victims” of the alleged plot if it is proven.
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Excerpt fromThe Philadelphia Inquirer
Feds in Philly disrupt Russian-backed propaganda effort aimed at influencing U.S. presidential vote
Federal authorities in Philadelphia announced on Wednesday the dismantling of a wide-ranging, Russian-backed misinformation network targeting voters in Pennsylvania and five other swing states ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
The network — known colloquially as “Doppelganger” and which prosecutors said was run by a top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin — sought to dupe Americans in key demographics into believing Kremlin-produced propaganda it spread online had been produced by legitimate American news outlets.
The campaign also sought to enlist the aid of unwitting influencers in America and other countries to spread disinformation, sow social media discord, and advance the campaign of former President Donald Trump, whom the program’s backers viewed as more supportive of Russian interests.
Justice Dept. charges two Russian media operatives in alleged scheme – The Washington Post
Right-Wing Influencers Deny Knowledge of Russian Funding – Rolling Stone
