Phil Butler -- Paid Trolls: How the West Won Out In the Dirty Game of Payoffs

23.07.2016 Author: Phil Butler

Paid Trolls: How the West Won Out In the Dirty Game of Payoffs

Column: Politics

Region: USA in the World

Extra! Extra! Read all about what Hillary Clinton wants you to know, on Arianna Huffington’s digital newspaper! Now read on here to discover how plagiarism by political figures is the least of your worries. The mainstream media, the NGOs, the White House, and the US State Department, have gotten a lot of mileage out of “revealing“ Russia’s so-called propaganda machine. Well, here’s a report on the state of ultra-leftist whacko journalism, and the “American Way” convoluted into a cheating ring that dwarfs even the most ambitious rumors of Putin’s troll army.

Trump: The Manchurian Candidate?

“The Real Winner At The GOP Convention Is Vladimir Putin”, that’s the headline of a story by HuffPo foreign affairs “expert” Akbar Shahid Ahmed (see Center for American Progress and George Soros), and Washington bureau chief Ryan Grim (see his book “This Is Your Country on Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America”). The gist of their story being, Vladimir Putin now runs the Republican Party. Say what? You read that correctly, yes you did.

Let me say this before I continue, these flaming ultra-liberals are a mean bunch, they really are. This year’s presidential campaign is telling too, as it turns into the nastiest and messiest political contest in US history. Media like HuffPo is leading the charge in a veritable bloodletting of lies and misinformation. Now, since the blood is already flowing, and since Arianna’s team drew first blood, I’ll do my media Rambo bit. The piece begins:

“While the nation obsessed over Melania Trump’s plagiarism and other oddities during the first day of the Republican National Convention, something much wilder ― and more telling about the substance of a potential Trump presidency ― went down largely unnoticed.”

Whaaah! The socialist millennials cry huge crocodile tears at every turn. Like bellyaching, mean, little nasty children Arianna’s constituency always finds the lowest level of muck to wallow in. Melania Trump used elements of a Michelle Obama speech, and the Hillary Clinton’s trolls lost their collective minds. Amid the social media buzz factory of Clinton campaigners, it seems that everybody forgot the biggest presidential plagiarist who ever lived – the right reverend Pinochio himself, President Barack Obama. Breitbart drops the dime on him and Michelle here,

The rest of this Russophobe anti-Putin propaganda piece gives most HuffPo readers what they want, I’ll give the authors that. Portraying Trump as a deep cover Manchurian Candidate of Putin and the KGB is the article’s purpose. The authors play America as having gone belly up against the Stalin-like leader of the world’s biggest and toughest bad guy nation – and well, you all know the drill. That somebody got paid by Arianna to write this, it steams me – here is the sourcing of the report:

“On the same day the Washington Post revealed that the Trump campaign had gutted an anti-Russian provision in the GOP platform, the stage was turned over in prime time to a retired general who has quite literally been on the payroll of Moscow. Added to a dizzying array of past Trump-world connections to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Monday’s events solidified the notion that Putin and the current incarnation of the GOP have never been closer. “

Stop right there boys! You just elected Donald Trump president, or don’t you realize?

Hillary: Mistress of a Sellout America

Eight years, and big mess in our world later, those anchored to unsustainable socialism and immorality have one last hope! Her name is Hillary Clinton, the biggest liar and nastiest political celebrity since Caligula. Trump wants to normalize relations with Russia, after Obama and the do-nothing, known-nothing, iPhone tapping dopamine fiends in the United States set fire to planet Earth.

Assad caused the Islamic state of ISIS to form up, and America under Obama and Arianna’s lily covered, peace loving horde of narcissists is desperately trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Assad empowered ISIS? Obama funded our sworn enemies Al-Nusra (Al Qaeda), lied about bombing ISIL resources in Iraq and Syria, and authorized the CIA to act out covert missions against the legitimate governments of Libya, Syria, Ukraine and others, and Assad is the bad guy? These two Huffington Post authors put their names on a piece of literary rubbish, and now I am going to tell you the first reason why.

Lieutenant General (retired) Michael Flynn is a decorated veteran, one of the world’s most knowledgeable experts on military intelligence, and the former head of Obama’s Defense Intelligence Agency. I won’t delve too deeply into his career, but it’s important to note the general retired at 57 (a bit early). Moving on, Flynn was criticized for having given a paid talk at a Russia Today (RT) event where Vladimir Putin was in attendance. The story is right there on the general’s Wikipedia page, the world knows about it, he has never tried to hide it. Still, Michael Crowley of Politico made a big deal out of the appearance. So now Arianna’s denizens are dredging up every slimy bit of dirt they can, to defame anyone associated with Donald Trump!

Is it fair for me to say Huffington pays trolls? I can prove some Huffington writers, and many, many others take money for ideas, but let me frame what I think of General Flynn first. He was one presumptive running mate for Trump, in my view the right running mate. Here is one reason why. When asked about same-sex marriage, Flynn responded:

“What people do in their private lives, these are not big issues that our country’s dealing with.”

Putin Wishes He Had Such Trolls!

The moral and logical ground General Flynn stands on is a place Clinton die-hard supporters could not reach with a Saturn V rocket. Flynn is not some Phillip Breedlove psychopath butt-kisser, he’s a decorated soldier. The Defense Superior Service Medal (DSSM), the Legion of Merit, and especially the Bronze Star he wears is adorned with three oak leaf clusters, denoting three additional awards. His “understanding” of Russia’s policies far exceeds that of any journalist, this is sure. His “disagreements” with Washington’s track are also well-known. A heroic and loyal American general officer may believe Russia is not our enemy! Now that is a novel concept. RT was above board on his role at that event, the general was open about it; now let’s close down this dissenting view on Huffington Post.

I used to contribute to HuffPo, just like a great many so-called citizen journalists from back at the onset of Web 2.0. Lots of digital innovators tested the waters of various online media, some made big names, and etcetera. The post referenced on Huff Po here, is a story that condemns several subjects including: Donald Trump, his wife, and a decorate hero of Afghanistan, Iraq, and the so-called “war on terror”. But for my “slam dunk” of mainstream western media today, here is the punch line you were waiting for. “I can buy the Huffington Post any time I feel like it,” and you can quote me on that. I have not one, but several offers to get news on HuffPo for a fee, by contributing authors or their agents. The Huffington Post is not alone, I assure you.

RT (Russia Today) is accused alongside Vladimir Putin, for everything under the sun, and you all know this. But these authors have no concept of the people, or the “mission” of RT, and especially not the real policies in Putin’s Russia. RT, Sputnik, Ria Novosti, and any a host of other media in Russia simply do not agree with the Western diatribe. This is natural in a way, but media from Huffington Post to BBC act as if there is no other side to current arguments. Now as for RT “paying” people off to join in propaganda, this is ludicrous too. RT is ten thousand times more “on the level” than Huff Po, and I can prove it. Bear with me, this gets pretty good.

Paid reviews by mommy bloggers and big hooplas over what is truth in advertising have been around a decade or more, but this time things are different. There is a subterranean world of SEO creeps, paid link farming, and outright graft by unscrupulous people who think nothing of demanding thousands from those with “deep pockets”. The story no longer matters, the money is all there is.”

Outlets like Forbes, Huff Po, Entrepreneur, and so on, have authors on the take. This is a day to day thing in PR, as some of you will already know. Our company is inundated with emails, Skype messages, phone calls, and instant messages offering Forbes, Huff Po, and a vast landscape of other media for links or coverage for money. My upcoming book will contain the particulars, and name authors on these media who get upwards of $6000 for what a writer like me considers a blurb. A link and mention of a company costs anywhere from $600 to $1000 dollars depending, and it’s all on my zip drives, in the cloud, and on my various PCs too. (CNN, don’t bother calling, like I said, it will all be in my book). In case the reader wonders, a Huffington Post story goes for about $1200 dollars).

I don’t know, maybe me dropping dime on the whole media industry, later on the PR industry as a whole, needs to happen now. Then again, maybe most people simply don’t care if the news and opinion they read is true or not. After all, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) may not shut down servers over abuses of what is considered truth in advertising, but a little push by a Republican president next year, and they might! I recall now, so many of us started this “citizen” journalistic adventure with a pure heart, and then I became Editor of Search Engine Journal, and SEO nastiness reared its truly ugly head. I have to check my NDA there, but my point is well made for anyone with brains. You condemn and accuse, you sling mud at Putin for alleged troll factories, when in fact the whole of western media is trolling for dollars. As I end this I find myself amazed, that someone has not told all on this obstruction of a free press, long before me.

Acknowledgement: I need to make clear for readers what facts I am privy to or in possession of at the time of this writing. The two Huffington Post authors mentioned are not on any of the lists currently in my possession, with regard to accepting under the table money for posting. Arianna Huffington is not on any of these lists either, nor are the editorial boards of key magazines and newspapers in these lists. That said, as an editor or collaborator myself, for various publications (to go unnamed now), it is common knowledge that such “payoffs” occur. Some entities are not aware their authors are involved, and some are.

Phil Butler, is a policy investigator and analyst, a political scientist and expert on Eastern Europe, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.

http://journal-neo.org/2016/07/23/paid-trolls-how-the-west-won-out-in-the-dirty-game-of-payoffs/