NO HOLDS BARRED

by Eddie Goldman

Friday evening, never the best time to contact someone, I got an official email from Twitter noting that I had been following an account linked to the notorious "Internet Research Agency", the troll factory linked to the criminal Putin regime. Most likely this referred to the "Black Fist" scam account, Russia's failed COINTELPRO operation against the Black community in America, about which I have written, talked, and discussed many times recently. Twitter took action against these fake accounts, explaining:


"As previously announced, we identified and suspended a number of accounts that were potentially connected to a propaganda effort by a Russian government-linked organization known as the Internet Research Agency (IRA).

"Consistent with our commitment to transparency, we are emailing notifications to 677,775 people in the United States who followed one of these accounts or retweeted or liked a Tweet from these accounts during the election period. Because we have already suspended these accounts, the relevant content on Twitter is no longer publicly available....

"We have identified an additional 1,062 accounts associated with the IRA. We have suspended all of these accounts for Terms of Service violations, primarily spam, and all but a few accounts, which were restored to legitimate users, remain suspended. At the request of congressional investigators, we are also sharing those account handles with Congress. In total, during the time period we investigated, the 3,814 identified IRA-linked accounts posted 175,993 Tweets, approximately 8.4% of which were election-related."


The fight against all those who try to sabotage freedom of expression, be they in Washington, Moscow, or anywhere else, must continue and be stepped up.

The full post by Twitter can be read at: https://blog.twitter.com/official/en_us/topics/company/2018/2016-election-update.html.

Update:

It ain't over till it's over. From the Washington Post:

As the effort lead by some Republicans to curtail special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into the election meddling has heated up, Russian-linked accounts helped amplify a Twitter hashtag calling for the release of a memo the group hopes will help discredit Mueller's work, according to Hamilton 68, a research firm that tracks the malicious accounts. The #releasethememo hashtag was tweeted by these accounts nearly 4,000 times in the last couple of days, the firm said....

Jonathan Albright, research director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, who studies the effects of the disinformation campaign on social media, said that some of the memes and misinformation spread by these fake accounts live on the site, after being reposted by other less-prominent accounts, in contradiction of Twitter’s assertion that all the content had been removed.

“That is patently false. The way these accounts posts have circulated and then spread back into Twitter means they’re still around,” he said. “The fact that there are thousands of posts that are easily findable is concerning.”

Albright said during a recent study he identified 3,746 tweets he said were from IRA-linked accounts that were still live on the service.

http://wapo.st/2mTaH8Y

Labels: Black Fist, Eddie Goldman, Internet Research Agency, No Holds Barred, Russia, trolls, Twitter

My piece on the "Black Fist" Russian troll scam has been posted on the web site of the National Writers Union, of which I am a member.

The “Black Fist” Affair: Russia’s Failed COINTELPRO Operation Against the Black Community in America, by Eddie Goldman
https://nwu.org/the-black-fist-affair-russias-failed-cointelpro-operation-against-the-black-community-in-america

Labels: Black Community, Black Fist, boxing, COINTELPRO, combat sports, Eddie Goldman, martial arts, MMA, No Holds Barred, Robin Thede, Russia, self-defense, wrestling

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman discusses the "Black Fist Self-Defense Project", a Russian troll operation which paid for self-defense classes to be held in the Black community in America in 2017. Explained are the background to their engaging legitimate and unknowing people in this scam, the objectives of the Russian trolls, and how this was part of a broader campaign that was Russia's failed version of COINTELPRO, the notorious program of the American FBI to disrupt, discredit, infiltrate, and destroy numerous anti-war, Black Liberation, civil rights, women's, progressive, leftist, and revolutionary organizations in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. Also explained are how the media in Russia and the U.S. exposed "Black Fist" including the Russian site RBC and the U.S. TV show "The Rundown with Robin Thede", why this scam failed, and much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link does not work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is available at Google Play Music.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

You can also listen to No Holds Barred via Stitcher through iOS or Android devices or on the web here.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player app is available for free, both for Android at Google Play, and for iOS on the App Store.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is sponsored by:

The Catch Wrestling Alliance, resurrecting and promoting the sport of authentic catch-as-catch-can wrestling. The Catch Wrestling Alliance provides tournaments, seminars, and training as well as education about catch wrestling. Join the movement and keep real wrestling alive. For more information, go to CatchWrestlingAlliance.com.

Skullz Double-End Bags, the perfect bag for your combat sports training. Skullz Double-End Bags provide a realistic striking target, and help improve timing, distance, and hand and eye coordination. Hang it and hit it right out of the box! No pump required. For more information, go to SkullzDeBags.com.

Labels: Black Community, Black Fist, boxing, COINTELPRO, combat sports, Eddie Goldman, martial arts, MMA, No Holds Barred, Robin Thede, Russia, self-defense, wrestling

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with former boxer, kickboxer, and MMA fighter, and current trainer, nutritionist, and activist, Omowale Adewale.

We spoke with him by phone Tuesday.

The December 14 episode of late-night hit TV show "The Rundown with Robin Thede", shown on BET in the U.S., had a feature on a Russian troll operation known as "Black Fist". We discussed this with Omowale, how they tricked him into being associated with it (and how I was tricked into covering "Black Fist"), how all he did was conduct self-defense and martial arts training he was already doing and still does, how Black people were being used as a "pawn" in it, and the political implications of this scam. We also discussed the treatment of this scam by the media, and how shows by Black women such as Robin Thede and Karen Hunter provided the best coverage.

Now that he is retired as a fighter, he has had more time to devote to training people, both adults and youth, in fitness, combat sports, and self-defense.

"In terms of fitness, I'm training people mornings and evenings, which started in November. This is a few months after I stopped fighting. I just started training people more often," he said.

"Now I'm doing a Brooklyn Boxing Boot Camp."

This is all part of a greater effort he has been involved with for many years.

"My organization, which has been around for 16 years, we're a small group of folks, Grassroots Artists MovEment, G.A.ME Inc., we have a space in Bed-Stuy, and what we do is focus on addressing the socio-economic conditions of Black and people of color in our community, particularly poor working class."

He also has initiated a vitally important project called "Black Men Dismantle Patriarchy and Misogynoir", where Black men meet to discuss how to fight misogynoir (which is misogyny directed towards Black women), and to support and protect Black women and girls.

We discussed how all this is part of the struggle against white supremacy, how his work helps the community get various resources and nutrition information, the need to fight "toxic masculinity", why people need to get organized and get skilled and get fit, and much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link does not work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is available at Google Play Music.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

You can also listen to No Holds Barred via Stitcher through iOS or Android devices or on the web here.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player app is available for free, both for Android at Google Play, and for iOS on the App Store.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is sponsored by:

The Catch Wrestling Alliance, resurrecting and promoting the sport of authentic catch-as-catch-can wrestling. The Catch Wrestling Alliance provides tournaments, seminars, and training as well as education about catch wrestling. Join the movement and keep real wrestling alive. For more information, go to CatchWrestlingAlliance.com.

Skullz Double-End Bags, the perfect bag for your combat sports training. Skullz Double-End Bags provide a realistic striking target, and help improve timing, distance, and hand and eye coordination. Hang it and hit it right out of the box! No pump required. For more information, go to SkullzDeBags.com.

Labels: Black Fist, boxing, combat sports, Eddie Goldman, martial arts, misogynoir, No Holds Barred, Omowale Adewale, Robin Thede, Russian trolls, self-defense