buzzfeed--2020-10-30--The Ultimate Reading Guide To Understand The Key Issues Of This Election

Read up on key issues like climate change , racial equality , public health , and more — because no matter what happens next week , the work is n't over .
Beaten Down , Worked Up : The Past , Present , and Future of American Labor by Steven Greenhouse ( Knopf , 2019 ) At a time when the wage gap is increasing and social mobility is declining , journalist Steven Greenhouse walks us through how we got here by offering an accessible history of American labor policies and activism , exposing the exploitation of modern American workers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and proposing methods for workers to reclaim their power .
In December 2008 , in the midst of the Great Recession , General Motors shut down its the oldest operating assembly plant in the US — and , with that decision , wiped out the main employer of the industrial town of Janesville , Wisconsin .
Through years of on-the-ground reporting , Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Amy Goldstein gives a deep and multifaceted portrait of the Janesville community and the ways in which it recovered from an economic collapse .
Nomadland : Surviving America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( W.W. Norton , 2017 ) Nomadland tells the stories of “ workampers ” — a growing , albeit still largely invisible population of American senior citizens who have ridden themselves of mortgages and rent and taken to life on the road .
Bruder profiles a cast of characters but centers on Linda May as she is pushed out of job after job , moves into an RV , and finds community through short-term and scattered work at places like Amazon , state parks , and private farms .
It exposes the oppression @ @ @ @ @ @ @ life that exists outside of it .
• The Coronavirus Is Pushing Women Out Of Work And Away From Trump • `` I Accept Pay Less Than My Worth Just To Get A Job '' : How The Gig Economy Screwed Over Millennials Clear & Present Safety : The World Has Never Been Better and Why That Matters to Americans by Michael A. Cohen and Micah Zenko ( Yale University Press , 2019 ) Michael Cohen and Micah Zenko argue that global fearmongering is advantageous to a Presidential administration that doesn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ within the country , and that the world is actually healthier and safer than it ’ s ever been .
Dissecting what they call the “ threat-industrial complex , ” the authors call for a refocusing of our energy with issues like gun violence , income inequality , failing infrastructure , and inadequate healthcare in the US .
The Man Without a Face : The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin by Masha Gessen ( Riverhead , 2012 ) Masha Gessen ’ s biography of Putin looks at his ascension into absolute , dangerous @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be Boris Yeltsin ’ s successor to a corrupt leader responsible for the destruction of Russian democracy .
Gessen is able to provide a vital perspective , drawing from her firsthand experience as a journalist living in Moscow and gathering insight from new and rare sources .
Winners Take All : The Elite Charade of Changing the World by Anand Giridharadas ( Knopf , 2018 ) Giridharadas skewers the groups of super-wealthy entrepreneurs , philanthropists , politicians , and “ thought leaders ” who build reputations on working for justice and improving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the scenes , refuse to do anything that might challenge the status quo or diminish their power within it .
It ’ s a compelling look through interviews with powerful figures , but it ’ s also a reminder that meaningful change won ’ t come from a select few .
( Read an excerpt from Winners Take All . )
An American Summer : Love and Death in Chicago by Alex Kotlowitz ( Nan A. Talese , 2019 ) Kotlowitz looks beyond the data of Chicago ’ s notorious gun violence and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it .
Through intimate , moving portraits — of a man reckoning with past crimes , a social worker trying to help a student embroiled in a dangerous situation , and a witness to a police shooting , among others — Kotlowitz brings these communities to life and challenges the stereotypes about them .
Another Day in the Death of America : A Chronicle of Ten Short Lives by Gary Younge ( Bold Type Books , 2016 ) Award-winning journalist Gary Younge looks at the overwhelming number of yearly gun fatalities in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the CDC ’ s most recent data — and zeroes in on killings on one day : Nov.23 , 2013 .
Over the course of those 24 hours , 10 people — Black , white , and Latino , aged 9 to 19 — died across the country , and Younge digs into their lives to paint complex , human portraits of the people behind the numbers .
Antisocial : Online Extremists , Techno-Utopians , and the Hijacking of the American Conversation by Andrew Marantz ( Viking , 2019 ) New Yorker @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the social media spheres , reporting both on the side of the entrepreneurs shaping these platforms and of the “ gate-crashers ” commandeering them .
Antisocial tracks the spread of disinformation and failing media literacy , bringing light to the trolls , conspiracists , and white supremacists who use social media to grow in popularity and turn their digital agendas into real threats .
America for Americans : A History of Xenophobia in the United States by Erika Lee ( Basic Books , 2019 ) The US national identity hinges on it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and a necessary component of that is a population of immigrants from all around the world .
So why has xenophobia endured every step of the way ?
Erika Lee traces our country ’ s deep-seated fear and even hatred of immigrants from the colonial era to the present day and writes about how that xenophobia has been enacted through policy .
No Justice in the Shadows : How America Criminalizes Immigrants by Alina Das ( Bold Type Books , 2020 ) Immigrant rights activist and lawyer Alina Das walks the reader through @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deportation machine ” — one that arrests , imprisons , and deports hundreds of thousands of people in the US each year .
Das exposes the racism underlying US policy that created the idea of the “ criminal alien ” and the dangerous notion that some are good and some are bad , and then used these constructs to justify the violent uprooting and banishing of human beings .
Tell Me How It Ends : An Essay in 40 Questions by Valeria Luiselli ( Coffee House Press , 2017 ) Valeria Luiselli — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ South Africa and Mexico and then moved to New York — reflects on her experience as a translator for undocumented Latin American children who have to answer 40 questions that will be evaluated by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services in order to determine whether they will stay or be deported .
By drawing from these answers , Luiselli humanizes these children — some as young as 6 years old , many of whom have experienced unthinkable trauma — and shifts the abstract idea of the immigrant experience into reality .
• Endless @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mexico Border Are Pushing Desperate People To Make Tough Choices • “ The Unicorn ” : How One Man Successfully Gained Asylum In Trump ’ s America Going Stealth : Transgender Politics and US Surveillance Practices by Toby Beauchamp ( Duke University Press , 2019 ) Toby Beauchamp , professor of gender and women 's studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign , connects the enforcement of gender conformity with US surveillance , arguing that the marginalization of gender nonconformity is directly related to its perceived threat to the US security , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ citizens into something it can predict and control .
Real Queer America : LGBT Stories From Red States by Samantha Allen ( Little , Brown and Company , 2019 ) Award-winning journalist Samantha Allen puts a spotlight on the lives and worlds of queer Americans across the country in this book that is equal parts travelogue , cultural analysis , and narrative nonfiction .
She blends interviews and research with her own experience as a trans woman traveling through Republican states .
The result is an illuminating , stereotype-busting account of queer America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ A Black , Queer , and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements by Charlene A. Carruthers ( Beacon Press , 2018 ) Activist Charlene Carruthers presents a vigorous and uncompromising argument for making the Black liberation movement more queer and more feminist , as well as a clear and practical model for enacting these necessary changes in the fight for social justice .
Find further reading on LGBTQ news here .
Alone Together : Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other by Sherry Turkle ( Basic Books , 2012 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Turkle argues that the increasing integration of the internet into our daily lives has led to a growing sense of isolation — that the connections we make on social media don ’ t function as authentic communication .
Based on hundreds of interviews and shrewd analysis , Turkle explores how technology is shifting our personal relationships .
Political Junkies : From Talk Radio to Twitter , How Alternative Media Hooked Us on Politics and Broke Our Democracy by Claire Bond Potter ( Basic Books , 2020 ) Historian Claire Bond Potter challenges the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ detrimental to politics , with its ability to spread false information and amplify outrage and trolls .
Drawing a line from independent newsletters in the 1950s to talk radio in the 1970s to cable television in the 1980s , Potter contextualizes social and web media in a long history of alternative outlets on both the left and right .
Republic of Lies : American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power by Anna Merlan ( Metropolitan Books , 2019 ) Investigative journalist Anna Merlan dives into the history of conspiracy theories and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nuanced and complex account of the people who believe them and the social , cultural , and political circumstances that make these beliefs attractive .
Through historical analysis and firsthand reporting , Merlan explores how formerly fringe theories have gained mainstream prominence during the Trump era .
Colonize This !
: Young Women of Color on Today 's Feminism , edited by Daisy Hernández and Bushra Rehman ( Seal Press ; 2019 ) When it was originally published in 2002 , this anthology was revolutionary in its exposure of the feminist movement as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ updated in 2019 , the book takes into consideration key social movements like Black Lives Matter and activism within the transgender and immigrant communities .
Reckoning : The Epic Battle Against Sexual Abuse and Harassment by Linda Hirshman ( Houghton Mifflin Harcourt , 2019 ) Historian Linda Hirshman chronicles the events leading up to the # MeToo movement and its aftermath .
She examines the first stories of workplace harassment to get mainstream attention in the 1970s , the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal ( and its villainization of Lewinsky ) , and the thwarted attempts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ campuses .
She also explores the political , legal , and social movements to fight sexual abuse that have gained traction , largely due to organizing led by women of color .
See Jane Win : The Inspiring Story of the Women Changing American Politics by Caitlin Moscatello ( Dutton , 2019 ) In the 2018 US election cycle , more women ran for local and national office than ever before .
Journalist Caitlin Moscatello follows four candidates — a mom and former CIA operative in Virginia , a Colombian-born attorney in New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and a young Black Memphis native running as a Democrat — and expounds on their experiences through interviews with researchers and strategists .
Dark Money : The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer ( Doubleday , 2016 ) Investigative journalist Jane Mayer exposes the behind-the-scenes work of American billionaires in steering US politics toward their interests , tracing billions of dollars from these elite networks to academic institutions , media groups , political powers , and industry leaders in an effort to maximize @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so , compromising the function of democracy .
How Fascism Works : The Politics of Us and Them by Jason Stanley ( Random House , 2018 ) Philosopher and political analyst Jason Stanley draws not only from research but also his experience as the child of World War II refugees to expose how democratic societies become vulnerable to fascism .
Stanley presents and deconstructs 10 pillars of fascist policies — connecting examples from Poland , India , the US , and elsewhere — and lays bare the ways in which anti-intellectualism , attacks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and racist policing disintegrate democracy .
Lost in the USA : American Identity From the Promise Keepers to the Million Mom March by Deborah Gray White ( University of Illinois Press , 2017 ) Professor and historian Deborah Gray White turns her attention to the US at the turn of the millennium — an era often remembered as one of peace and prosperity despite its mass protests .
Looking at personal testimonies from participants in the Million Mom March , the Promise Keepers , and the LGBTQ protests , White presents Americans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ growing isolation , and looking for agency and meaning in a time of rapid change .
American Prison : A Reporter 's Undercover Journey Into the Business of Punishment by Shane Bauer ( Penguin Press , 2018 ) In 2014 , Shane Bauer — an award-winning investigative journalist — was hired as an entry-level prison guard at a private prison in Louisiana , where he worked for four months .
American Prison is part exposé , drawing from his experiences , and part historical account of for-profit prisons , reaching back to before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a system built on racism .
Charged : The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration by Emily Bazelon ( Random House , 2019 ) Journalist Emily Bazelon deflates the notion that , within the American criminal justice system , the fight between the prosecution and defense is a fair and balanced one .
Bazelon follows two young people — a 20-year-old man charged with a violent felony in Brooklyn and a teenage girl from Memphis indicted for her mother ’ s killing — from their arrest to their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and analysis to show how prosecutors can control the outcome of their cases , but also presenting the gains being made toward reforming the system .
Automating Inequality : How High-Tech Tools Profile , Police , and Punish the Poor by Virginia Eubanks ( St. Martin ’ s Press , 2018 ) Political science professor Virginia Eubanks exposes the bias built into automated systems used to streamline political , professional , social , and financial industries .
Eubanks discusses how decisions based on data mining , policy algorithms , and predictive risk models @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most impoverished and already marginalized communities — and how it ’ s part of a long history of using tech to keep people in poverty .
The New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander ( New Press , 2010 ) Alexander 's bestselling book dismantles the notion of “ color blindness ” through the lens of the criminal justice system .
Alexander argues that by targeting Black communities through programs like the war on drugs , stop-and-frisk , and `` broken windows '' policing , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ racial control — mass incarceration .
The 10th-anniversary edition , out this year , includes a new preface from Alexander .
Let the People Pick the President : The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College by Jesse Wegman ( St. Martin ’ s Press , 2020 ) Supreme Court journalist Jesse Wegman presents an extensively researched argument for abolishing the Electoral College , analyzing the history of its controversial creation and drawing on insight from influential campaign managers and officials gathered from his on-the-ground reporting .
Blackballed : The Black Vote and US @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Review Books , 2014 ) Blackballed is a compact ( i.e.
, under 150 pages ) but powerful meditation on the history of Black Americans ’ participation in US politics from Reconstruction to today , blending memoir , history , and political analysis .
Pinckney looks at key leaders in the ongoing fight for racial justice and civil rights and their differing strategies toward equality .
The 2020 reissue comes with a new essay on fighting for racial justice in the midst of a pandemic disproportionately harming Black communities , with protests reaching @ @ @ @ @ @ @ George Floyd .
One Person , No Vote : How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy by Carol Anderson ( Bloomsbury , 2018 ) Award-winning historian Carol Anderson looks at the history of voter suppression , outlining the hindrances to Black Americans ’ participation specifically after the Shelby ruling — the 2013 Supreme Court decision to quash the Voting Rights Act of 1965 .
Through shrewd analysis and by following real voters , Anderson exposes the racial discrimination underlying government-sanctioned laws and practices like photo ID requirements and gerrymandering .
Unrigged : How @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by David Daley ( Liveright , 2020 ) Journalist David Daley follows the growing resistance movements fighting voter suppression , turning to key victories against gerrymandering across the country , outlining their significance , and using these as examples of how to continue the work .

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert (Henry Holt & Company, 2014)
In its long, long history, our planet has experienced five periods of mass extinction, each of which dramatically decreased the diversity of life. Elizabeth Kolbert contemplates the idea of a sixth extinction — the result of climate change — and how human beings are responsible for changing life on earth in a way no other species has.
Indigenous researcher and activist Dina Gilio-Whitaker presents a multifaceted and accessible examination of “Indigenized environmental justice,” comprising a history of federal and corporate destruction of Native peoples’ land and their active resistance to it, a critical look at how mainstream environmental activism has alienated Native populations, and insight into effective ways of fighting for sustainability.
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate by Naomi Klein (Simon & Schuster, 2014)
Naomi Klein's provocative book unveils the myths surrounding climate change, explores how the "free market" is holding us back from making vital changes that are necessary for a livable future (like reducing greenhouse emissions), and argues that these changes wouldn’t only counteract the climate crisis but would also spur economic and social progress.
The Rule of Five: Making Climate History at the Supreme Court by Richard J. Lazarus (Belknap Press, 2020)
In 1999, lawyer Joe Mendelson petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to restrict greenhouse emissions from new cars, arguing that carbon dioxide fell under the umbrella of air pollutants it had been granted power to regulate via the Clean Air Act. Mendelson was challenged by all sides — even prominent environmentalists argued it was a dead end — but through his dogged persistence, he was able to gather support from Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, and 12 state attorneys and take the EPA to court.
Further reading:


buzzfeed--2020-10-30--These Teachers Are Struggling To Pull Their Students Out Of A QAnon Rabbit Hole

Conspiracy theories and collective delusions are often thought to be the purview of baby boomers on Facebook , but it ’ s clear that their children are also picking it up — and it ’ s their teachers who have to deal with it .
Conspiracy theories have always been a little dangerous — and of course , a little delicious to be privy to .
They range from the adorably dumb but ultimately absurd , like Bat Boy and flat-earthers , to the legitimately terrifying and tangibly damaging , like vaccine denial and Pizzagate .
But while a lot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ idea of rampant voter fraud , which has most recently been pushed by the president and debunked repeatedly ) feel like the department of baby boomers and older Gen X parents on Facebook , there ’ s a contingency of believers who are young , extremely online , and bringing their theories to school for their teachers to try to parse .
In mid-October , BuzzFeed News asked teachers around the country what kind of conspiracy theories or collective delusions — which is what BuzzFeed News is calling QAnon thanks to its sheer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hearing from students .
I received responses from all over the country , and while it ’ s not a scientific survey , what ’ s clear is that students are bringing learned conspiracy theories to class — from the well-trodden ( the Clintons are murderers ) to the lesser known ( birds are actually just government cameras and COVID is a fraud perpetrated by the government because they had to change the batteries ... in the birds ) .
“ I have a student who truly believes Wyoming doesn ’ t actually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republicans to gain votes , ” wrote one public high school English teacher from Texas .
“ They said the Democrats are trying to invade it to create their own fake votes for the state .
His reasoning ?
‘ Have you ever actually met anyone from Wyoming ?
’ ” This is markedly close to the Bielefeld conspiracy , a German satire of conspiracy theories that claims that the city of Bielefeld doesn ’ t actually exist .
Or the one about how Australia doesn ’ t actually exist .
Or that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ actually exist .
( There are a lot of conspiracy theories about places not existing . )
It ’ s not really clear if the students parroting any of these conspiracy theories actually believe them or if they ’ re just being ironic in their attempts to ruin their teachers ’ lives , but this moment in history won ’ t be remembered for leaving a lot of room for satiric contrarianism .
For the teachers , at least , it ’ s a very real and increasingly common problem in class , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ clear solution so long as they fear being labeled the “ liberal propagandist ” of their school district .
With the teachers I talked to , there are two conspiracy theories , or mass delusions , in particular that came up again and again : Jeffrey Epstein and QAnon .
It ’ s evident that Gen Z is picking up at least some of these stories from their own social networks , on TikTok and Snapchat , but they ’ re also hearing about it in their homes .
Liz ( a pseudonym @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sources in this story ) , a public and private school eighth-grade science , history , and English teacher who lives in Florida , said she ’ s struggling to talk to one student in particular , who comes from a family of fervent Trump supporters , about QAnon .
“ Our [ school ] administration has told us they don ’ t want us talking about any of this , anything political .
Of course they ’ re going to end up talking about it because it ’ s what ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Liz said .
“ So you ask them , how do you prove any of this ?
‘ Oh well , you know , everyone is evil and America is amazing because Trump is the leader of America .
My dad told me and Fox News told me.
’ ‘ What about the homeless rate ?
The joblessness rate ?
’ ‘ That ’ s fake news .
Trump is fighting Wayfair.
’ ” What Liz is referencing is the completely baseless ( and discredited ) conspiracy theory that the online furniture @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trafficking — yet another QAnon belief that ran rampant on TikTok a few months ago .
( TikTok recently started banning QAnon posts , hashtags , and accounts on the app . )
Once students learn these conspiracies and start to buy into them , they bring them to school , tell their classmates about them like they are true fact , use them to belittle other students , and force their teachers to try to make sense of their logic at school .
For the teachers I spoke to , explaining actual @ @ @ @ @ @ @ impossible .
In response , their students simply say that the news media is biased , and that Donald Trump is sending subtle signals to QAnon believers about how he ’ s on the brink of saving the world from pedophile rings .
My colleague recently spoke to family members and friends of QAnon believers who were candid about the difficulties in trying to convince their loved ones that what they believe is not real .
Many of the teachers I spoke to for this piece echoed the same frustrations and asked to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have their full names be published out of fear of reprisal from their administrators — or worse , the parents of their students .
Many of them are English , history , or social studies teachers .
One is a grad student teaching first-year university courses , with no tenure protections .
Still , it ’ s clear that over the last several years , conspiracy theories ( namely ones that position Republicans as saviors ) are on the rise in schools .
And no matter what happens after all the votes are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ election is definitively named in the next few weeks , all those theories and all those believers aren ’ t just going to disappear .
Jeffrey Epstein ’ s suicide — or , if you ask these students , his murder — is among the latest fixation for Gen Z on TikTok and for the students of the teachers I talked to .
The logic around this seems to vary ; liberal students think Trump had him killed , while conservative students think the Clintons did it .
The official answer around his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lines of , fishy but there ’ s zero evidence that either Trump or the Clintons or people associated with them walked into his jail cell to strangle him .
Referencing Epstein , both online and in school , seems to be both a tongue-in-cheek way to make teachers run out of patience , while also signaling your own political views to the rest of the class .
“ Someone would raise their hand and be like , ‘ What happened with Jeffrey Epstein ?
’ ” said Denise , a public high @ @ @ @ @ @ @ They were very much just trying to get me to say that Trump did it so they could find any reason to fly off the handle a little bit.
” Most of the teachers I spoke to said conspiracy theories in their classes have been on the steady uptick for a decade , but the last four years have been particularly rough .
“ I ’ ve taught for 14 years , ” Denise said , “ and I ’ ve never had a group of humans do this.
” Sean Rafferty , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ York for the last eight years , who teaches a first-year class on critical thinking , also has students who don ’ t believe Epstein killed himself .
“ There were several people I could not convince that Jeffrey Epstein almost certainly did commit suicide in jail and wasn ’ t murdered by some cabal of President Trump or Secretary Clinton , ” he said .
“ I thought conspiracy theories were highly problematic when I started this class .
And now you have people doing murders because they believe there ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ liberals feeding on kidnapped babies ’ adrenal glands.
” “ When we talk about the more traditional version of QAnon that grew out of Pizzagate , it does tend to skew older , ” said Joan Donovan , the director and lead researcher of the Technology and Social Change Research Project at the Harvard Kennedy School , whose research focuses on media manipulation and disinformation campaigns .
“ But when you start to look at the confluence of folks showing up at the reopen protests related to conspiracy theories about the deep state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by colluding with China to bring a pandemic to the US , you end up seeing young men .
It really takes all kinds .
It ’ s not just young and old , but it ’ s also multiracial , ” she said.
“ It ’ s really important to call that kind of behavior out early on and say , ‘ I don ’ t understand what you ’ re talking about.
’ ” Jane , a public college professor in Texas who teaches research and writing to first-year students , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ discern fake news from reliable news .
“ In Texas , it ’ s this weird battle where you ’ re always going to get one or two students who think Breitbart is real news and I ’ m just a hater , I ’ m just a liberal hater , ” she said .
“ I can ’ t sit there and be like , you ’ re full of shit , fuck Fox News .
What I can do is start to chip away at Fox News.
” During class , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ segments and ask if he is , indeed , a news reporter .
She mentioned to her students that a defamation suit against Fox and Carlson was dismissed because his work is “ rhetorical hyperbole and opinion commentary , ” and therefore not applicable as defamation .
“ That , ” Jane said , “ was actually very effective.
” Even still , Jane has to walk a fine line in her instructionals ; her classes are recorded , her supervisor can watch all of them , and she ’ s a graduate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ QAnon network of conspiracy theories is especially enticing largely because it ’ s not a static belief about something that happened in the past , like JFK ’ s assassination .
( Though it ’ s worth noting that QAnon supporters are also obsessed with JFK Jr. ) “ The thing about the Q network is that it ’ s extensible , adaptable , and resilient , ” Donovan said .
“ It mutates with breaking news so there ’ s always something new to discover .
Anything that happens in the world @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It ’ s also playing on a bunch of trauma that people have had in their lives .
It draws in people who have been abused , that feel as if no one protected them so their job is to protect vulnerable people.
” The real difference for how young people now are getting sucked in , then , is largely just the delivery mechanism .
“ Celebrities , sports figures , influencers online , all of these kinds of people stand to gain attention by mentioning these conspiracy theories , by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Donovan said .
“ Social media has decontextualized the way people assess evidence and truth.
” At the beginning of the pandemic , for example , a few high-profile celebrities ( not to mention internet-teen-famous influencers ) started circulating a conspiracy theory connecting coronavirus to 5G networks .
Woody Harrelson and M.I.A .
were among the believers .
TikTok and YouTube are some of the key social media networks responsible for the spread of conspiracy theories online , namely among young people .
The Wayfair trafficking conspiracy ripped through TikTok despite @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it was remotely true .
There are also people on the app spreading misinformation about everything from coronavirus precautions to vaccines .
TikTok has noticed , too : This month , they restricted the kind of content available on the app , including what the New York Times called “ a crackdown on QAnon supporters and a prohibition of ‘ coded ’ language that could serve to normalize hate speech.
” YouTube , Twitter , and Facebook also recently announced their own bans on QAnon .
The cure for a conspiracy theory spreading @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more to curb it , especially for young people who are even more attached to their phones as the pandemic roils on in the US .
And though Facebook has recently committed to banning QAnon , the ban comes about four years too late .
“ Earlier generations had to resign themselves to knowing some people will always believe the moon landing was fake , ” Donovan said .
“ My big worry is the scale of [ Qanon ] .
It ’ s really important that we understand that these technologies have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scale problem and start to make it more difficult for these theories to proliferate , they ’ re only going to mutate.
” According to cult expert and The Cult of Trump author Steve Hassan , the best way to help someone stuck in a mass delusion is to speak to them calmly , rationally , and without judgment .
“ The frame that I ’ m recommending my clients or anyone take is a respectful , curious , concerned , tell me more kinds of posture , ” Hassan said , “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could you believe this conspiracy ?
’ ” Liz , the middle school teacher from Florida , has been told by her school ’ s administrator to no longer talk to students about current events or any of their conspiracy theories .
But if that ’ s the guidance teachers are getting , then how can they do their jobs effectively ?
For a 14-year-old , it ’ s natural to want to bring your questions about the world to the classroom .
“ I usually try to be like , all right @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Why do you believe it ?
Besides , just , your dad told you , tell me why you believe this to be true.
” Liz said .
“ How can we vet our facts and make sure they are facts ?
How do these beliefs affect yourself but also the people around you ?
” Shutting students down entirely when they bring up the things they read online will only push them further into the darkest parts of the internet , resigned to believing their teachers either don ’ t have the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them to know “ the truth ” for more nefarious reasons .
All the teachers I spoke to said they wanted to talk to their students directly about topics like QAnon and Pizzagate , in an attempt to redirect them toward actual facts and not Reddit threads and inaccurate TikTok videos .
But they often feel they ’ re unable to without repercussions .
“ I want them to be able to think critically and back up their own information .
But if they go home and tell their parents , they might @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That ’ s concerning , ” Liz said .
“ I want to make sure everyone is going to be safe and understood and heard .
But I can ’ t control what happens outside of [ the classroom ] .
” And with so many classes now being held over Zoom , it ’ s even harder to engage students .
“ We ’ ve been pretty impacted by the pandemic in a lot of job loss , ” said Grant , a public high school teacher in a red district in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lot of parents lurking in the backgrounds of these Zooms .
I have to choose what I say in response carefully.
” In a classroom , these teachers might have slightly more autonomy to correct or advise their students when the information they ’ re delivering is demonstrably false , but over Zoom , it ’ s much harder to avoid an adversarial parent .
“ They 're sitting at home still listening to what mom and dad say , or they ’ re zoned out watching chiropractor videos on YouTube , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Illinois , said .
“ I don ’ t know how to fix it .
But I do worry , especially with the election days away.
” More frustrating for educators is that students aren ’ t just harming themselves by sharing racist birther conspiracy theories spread by Donald Trump about former president Barack Obama .
They ’ re also making life infinitely harder for other students , namely Black and brown ones , trans or nonbinary students , and queer students , too .
For Liz , that means having to fend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ AIDS to punish the gays ” or cutting conversations around Black Lives Matter short before they get too personal .
“ Another student was talking about BLM and oh , it ’ s a horrible organization and they ’ re all rioting and killing people and Black lives don ’ t matter , all lives matter , ” she said , adding that a particular Black student in that class didn ’ t know how to counter her classmate ’ s argument .
“ She couldn ’ t talk or explain to them @ @ @ @ @ @ @ able to listen to understand why this hurt her or why this mattered to her.
” Anyone who might get caught in the crosshairs of a conspiracy theory ends up the unwitting target of it .
“ That ’ s one of the hardest parts about managing these topics , ” Liz said .
“ How can you tell me what you think without accidentally making you hurt your friends ?
” Not entirely surprisingly , many teachers reported that it was their conservative white male students who were the loudest purveyors of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ women a close second .
“ They ’ re articulating the same exact thing .
They ’ re not louder , they ’ re just better at it , ” Grant said .
“ And those straight white males and straight white females are the ones drowning out my students of color who already feel intimidated and don ’ t feel comfortable sharing.
” The kids verbalizing the theories they ’ re curious about , or believe in , are just the beginning of a larger issue .
“ The problem of conspiracies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” said Grant .
“ The kids willing to speak out about it are the smallest part of it .
There are kids who aren ’ t willing to share but hear kids sharing them , and they latch on .
Inevitably , what ends up happening is we don ’ t have all the tools we need to repair or replace these ideas with factual evidence.
” “ When I first graduated and got my first teaching job , ” Liz said , “ I wasn ’ t thinking , like , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to believe that QAnon isn ’ t the most credible source of information ?
” Hassan said that QAnon , unlike some other conspiracy theories , is more like a cult than just a belief system .
“ It ’ s not a conspiracy theory , it ’ s a much more demanding allegiance , ” he said .
“ They take existing groups and infiltrate them and then use those groups as proxies to disseminate stuff .
It ’ s a network of cults .
They actually have an organization of these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a few days before the election , and just a few weeks left in this semester of school .
For a lot of these students , this is their first eligible election , and they ’ re voting , in part , armed with misinformation and sometimes outright lies .
“ I have this one man who ’ s holding on to QAnon and is so willing to hurt other students in the class .
He ’ s intelligent and writes well and recently completed an assignment where I made him talk about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ compared to the Salem witch trials .
He wrote a good essay !
” Jane said .
“ Then in class , he ’ ll bring up an absurd news story about the Clintons and the children .
He knows there ’ s social problems but it ’ s become more important to be a white man in his QAnon world.
” Ultimately , there ’ s only so much a teacher can do .
“ He ’ s going to get a job and get married , ” Jane said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” ●

Conspiracy theories have always been a little dangerous — and of course, a little delicious to be privy to. They range from the adorably dumb but ultimately absurd, like Bat Boy and flat-earthers, to the legitimately terrifying and tangibly damaging, like vaccine denial and Pizzagate. But while a lot of political conspiracy theories (like the idea of rampant voter fraud, which has most recently been pushed by the president and debunked repeatedly) feel like the department of baby boomers and older Gen X parents on Facebook, there’s a contingency of believers who are young, extremely online, and bringing their theories to school for their teachers to try to parse.
In mid-October, BuzzFeed News asked teachers around the country what kind of conspiracy theories or collective delusions — which is what BuzzFeed News is calling QAnon thanks to its sheer size and influence — they’re hearing from students. I received responses from all over the country, and while it’s not a scientific survey, what’s clear is that students are bringing learned conspiracy theories to class — from the well-trodden (the Clintons are murderers) to the lesser known (birds are actually just government cameras and COVID is a fraud perpetrated by the government because they had to change the batteries...in the birds).
“I have a student who truly believes Wyoming doesn’t actually exist and is only used by the Republicans to gain votes,” wrote one public high school English teacher from Texas. “They said the Democrats are trying to invade it to create their own fake votes for the state. His reasoning? ‘Have you ever actually met anyone from Wyoming?’”
This is markedly close to the Bielefeld conspiracy, a German satire of conspiracy theories that claims that the city of Bielefeld doesn’t actually exist. Or the one about how Australia doesn’t actually exist. Or that Molise in southern Italy doesn’t actually exist. (There are a lot of conspiracy theories about places not existing.) It’s not really clear if the students parroting any of these conspiracy theories actually believe them or if they’re just being ironic in their attempts to ruin their teachers’ lives, but this moment in history won’t be remembered for leaving a lot of room for satiric contrarianism. For the teachers, at least, it’s a very real and increasingly common problem in class, one that doesn’t have a clear solution so long as they fear being labeled the “liberal propagandist” of their school district.
With the teachers I talked to, there are two conspiracy theories, or mass delusions, in particular that came up again and again: Jeffrey Epstein and QAnon.
It’s evident that Gen Z is picking up at least some of these stories from their own social networks, on TikTok and Snapchat, but they’re also hearing about it in their homes. Liz (a pseudonym to protect her privacy, like most sources in this story), a public and private school eighth-grade science, history, and English teacher who lives in Florida, said she’s struggling to talk to one student in particular, who comes from a family of fervent Trump supporters, about QAnon. “Our [school] administration has told us they don’t want us talking about any of this, anything political. Of course they’re going to end up talking about it because it’s what’s important and relevant in the world,” Liz said. “So you ask them, how do you prove any of this? ‘Oh well, you know, everyone is evil and America is amazing because Trump is the leader of America. My dad told me and Fox News told me.’ ‘What about the homeless rate? The joblessness rate?’ ‘That’s fake news. Trump is fighting Wayfair.’”


buzzfeed--2020-10-30--The White Extremist Group Patriot Front Is Preparing For A World After Donald Trump

In its secret chat , the group that sprang from Charlottesville is creating a new generation of white supremacists .
“ What are your beliefs that led you to join the org ?
” —Vincent KY “ At the core of my position are these principles : The categorical rejection of the notion of equality .
The categorical rejection of universal democracy .
Explicit In-Group preference.
” —Logan TN “ In short : I can not stand by idly while my people fall into despair , degeneracy , and ethnic replacement.
” —Anthony IL “ I feel like jews immigrants @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the united States and it ’ s economy that ’ s why the people are in current state of civil unrest these n !
# # 3π ’ $ are causing them selves to be shot by the police and Making the split even bigger I feel as if there ’ s going to be a huge race war and us whites will come out on top .
How do you feel about this statement ?
” —Vincent KY Those are just some of the hundreds of messages exchanged by the members of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ organization that has grown into one of the most active hate groups in the United States .
The messages reveal a sophisticated network of extremists who are training for violence .
The men , who believe the United States is a nation that belongs only to white people , wear uniforms made up of bomber jackets , face coverings , and beige khakis , mandate weight loss and intense workouts , and regularly practice hand-to-hand combat .
Some openly call themselves “ supremacist ” and revere Hitler and Mussolini .
BuzzFeed News has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exchanged by Patriot Front members on Rocket.Chat , an encrypted group messaging app .
In logs of the chats , all from this year , around 280 members of the group discuss grandiose goals — creating a white ethnostate from the existing United States .
The group wants to expel immigrants , people of color , and Jews , remaking the fabric of America .
And while what Patriot Front does in the meantime — putting up stickers bearing their logo in cities and college campuses , covering pro–Black Lives Matter billboards with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the middle of the night through empty streets — may seem small , it has recruited 21 new members in the last 30 days .
As the United States hurtles toward the presidential election , the country seems ready to forget that its own homegrown fascism predated President Donald Trump — and to ignore that it will last after he leaves office .
Yet for its part , Patriot Front could n't care less about the results of the upcoming election .
“ It does not matter what people personally believe about it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leader , Thomas Rousseau , who did not respond to a request for comment , in one of the chats .
“ Casting a ballot is a submissive gesture to legitimize tyranny .
It is fundamentally amoral .
It is done as an insult to the nation ’ s cause and the organization.
” In Vermont , Patriot Front has been active since 2018 .
One of its most disturbing incidents came in 2019 , months after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting , when the Ohavi Zedek Synagogue , an LGBTQ center , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been doggedly reporting on the group , were vandalized .
As the home of Sen. Bernie Sanders , Burlington is often seen as a liberal bubble , which made Patriot Front ’ s attacks all the more shocking , Rabbi Amy Small of the Ohavi Zedek Synagogue , told BuzzFeed News .
“ A few months before the incident on our property , one of our synagogue members told me that on a nearby road she saw Patriot Front posters pasted on the streetlights and street signs , one after the next , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ beside herself with fear.
” Authorities were called , but nothing could be done because no laws were broken .
Then , one late afternoon in February , Small was driving up to the synagogue after some meetings .
“ As I was approaching the synagogue , I saw the Patriot Front poster pasted onto our front sign , ” she said .
“ It 's very jarring , in a time when I know there 's so much hate.
” Police removed the poster and launched an investigation , which eventually ended @ @ @ @ @ @ @ community was uplifting , Small said , as people left cards and signs of love and support .
Together with other religious and LGBTQ community leaders , Small organized a rally on the steps of City Hall .
“ All of a sudden this big pickup truck came loudly down the street honking .
It had Patriot Front signs all over it , ” Small said .
“ I saw all the officers that had been standing right near where I was go running toward it , but by then it tore away @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intimidation.
” Patriot Front formed from the failure of another far-right group , Vanguard America .
As one of its two leaders , Rousseau attended the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017 , during which a man who marched with them killed counterprotester Heather Heyer .
In the aftermath , Vanguard formally dissolved , allowing Rousseau , then 19 years old , to push out a rival and rebrand the group around a cult of personality .
He and his followers are mostly zoomers , born in the late ‘ 90s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ frequently around topics that include traditional masculinity , weight loss , and white power .
Rousseau keeps strict rules on the conversations in the forum , and his word is gospel .
On a typical day , the chats are filled with lies they believe to be real ( like antifa starting forest fires ) , paranoia , and machismo .
“ While we were sparring , a van full of baptists from the area pulled up and piled out , ” said Anthony IL .
“ They had a bunch of young @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with their father and watched on as we fought each other in masculine competition .
We got to show those boys something that they won ’ t see elsewhere , and a healthy dose of masculinity that is otherwise shunned nowadays .
We make the change in the nation that we want to see , men.
” Like members of any social network , they also trade photos .
Recent images from Rousseau 's garage in Grapevine , Texas , out of which he sells extremist paraphernalia , show muscled men standing next @ @ @ @ @ @ @ filtered in red , white , and blue .
Unlike extremist organizations like the Proud Boys that seek headlines , Patriot Front has a sparse aboveground presence .
New members are carefully vetted and are given strict instructions on social media use .
The vetting takes place first online and then in person .
New members undergo a rigorous process , in part because the group has been frequently infiltrated .
One member , Michael IN , said he had to drive for four hours for his interview .
Another was vetted by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The chat is also a place they share videos of themselves that they also share on Twitter , Telegram , and TikTok , where a recent propaganda video received more than 1 million views .
TikTok removed the videos in response to questions from BuzzFeed News , saying “ Hate speech is not permitted on TikTok.
” Twitter and Telegram did not respond to requests for comment .
Rocket.Chat responded to a request for comment after this story was published , saying it had no avenue to remove Patriot Front from its open-source @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hosted on a private server .
Cassie Miller , a senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center , told BuzzFeed that Patriot Front is among the most prolific spreaders of “ white power ” propaganda in the United States , having put up flyers in over 1,000 places around the country in 2020 alone .
“ [ Rousseau ] wants to really focus on spectacle , and he thinks that a performative show of strength is the most effective kind of propaganda that they can engage in , ” she said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anti-hate organization Anti-Defamation League , also said Patriot Front ’ s propaganda sets them apart .
“ In the United States , they lead white supremacist propaganda distributions , ” she told BuzzFeed News .
On the chat logs , that propaganda plays out in real time .
On Sept. 28 , Rousseau wrote , “ Billboard coverup video is dropping today , keep an eye out.
” Fifteen minutes later , he posted a link to the video in which at least two Patriot Front members use climbing equipment to scale a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Houston .
As thumping , testosterone-fueled music plays , they unfurl a homemade cloth banner that blocked the billboard with the words “ The United States is no longer of America now we are on our own ” written in red , white , and blue letters .
Members were excited : “ I hope to do something that based one day , ” one wrote .
Although the status of an investigation , if any , into the alleged Houston vandalism could not be determined , law enforcement has arrested several @ @ @ @ @ @ @ past .
Most recently , Rousseau was arrested this August in Texas on suspicion that he , Cameron Rathan Pruitt , 21 , and Graham Jones Whitson , 29 , had vandalized county property by putting up stickers .
According to the police report , Rousseau claimed that “ he was promoting the group listed on the stickers but not part of it.
” ( Rousseau and his associates were fined and released . )
In February 2019 , three members , one of whom was 18 , were arrested in Boston .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ allegedly putting up posters that said , “ Reclaim America ” and “ your speech will be hate speech.
” Police said one of the men arrested , 26-year-old Matthew Wolf , was a former member of the National Guard .
Among those arrested were two men carrying a knife and a trowel , leading to weapons charges for both .
In court , the lawyer blamed their actions on “ youthful stupidity , ” while the Boston mayor issued a statement against hate .
Several members have also been arrested on charges @ @ @ @ @ @ @ month as the Boston arrests , Joffre James Cross III , whom the SPLC determined was a Patriot Front member , pleaded guilty to gun charges .
Authorities found a Vyatskie Polyany 7.62 caliber rifle and three home-assembled weapons : a .45 caliber pistol , an AR-15-style rifle , and an AR-10-style rifle .
Cross is a former private in the US Army who previously had served time in prison after selling drugs to an undercover FBI agent .
In 2018 , the Daily Beast reported that 19-year-old Jakub Zuk was arrested for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Illinois .
Zuk also allegedly threatened a judge in anti-Semitic flyers , according to the Daily Beast .
Despite their bravado , Patriot Front is also paranoid .
That fear sometimes manifests discussions on how to deal with the girlfriends that some of them claim to have , whom they often see as liabilities .
“ Generally , if you are a man of action and confident in what you believe in your woman will naturally follow , ” wrote Vincent MA .
“ Ideally , if you can get away with lying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , you should do that , ” wrote Paul TX .
“ From what I ’ ve heard women are a weak point in terms of OPSEC and could very well hurt you if they find out.
” The obsession with secrecy also led to a Wikipedia editing war in September .
On Sept. 11 , an editor added Patriot Front to the list of groups opposed to the Black Lives Matter movement .
Three days later , Anthony CA noticed , saying , “ We got name dropped here.
” Later that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ NO KNOWN ACTIVITY BY GROUP KNOWN AS PATRIOT FRONT ( they 're pussies ) ” the person wrote in Wikipedia 's change log .
That removal was reverted , after which the same person took the name of the group out again , saying , “ Patriot Front is not an active participant show proof otherwise or stop reverting it.
” By the end of the day , the Wikipedia editors lost , and Patriot Front no longer appeared on the page .
In their chats , members of Patriot Front revealed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ removed .
Not because they were n't opposed to BLM , but because they were mad at being listed together with the so-called boogaloo boys , the loosely knit extremist group tied to the alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov .
Gretchen Whitmer .
“ Boog boys r a joke most of the time , ” wrote Mark ND .
“ I ’ ve seen maybe 10 who don ’ t simp for BLM or Antifa.
” “ The whole ‘ Boogaloo ’ thing is a reminder that if you joke about anything @ @ @ @ @ @ @ joking , ” Rousseau responded .
“ A offhand forum slapstick joke could become something that someone shoots someone over if its left to fester and rot like the mold-like idea it is.
” They ’ re also not impressed with the Proud Boys , whom they repeatedly call “ cucks.
” “ They are nothing but Republicans with slightly higher T levels , ” wrote Calvin CO , referring to testosterone .
“ I have zero respect for their organization , although some of their members might be able to be salvaged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ large number of PBs , we need to knock the cuckshit out of them first.
” “ And Proud Boys are a bunch of cucks , ” wrote Arthur TX .
“ They call themselves ‘ Western Chauvinists ’ which means they are a bunch of liberals who don ’ t like PC culture and ‘ snowflakes ’ yet they are too scared to actually stand up to these things in a meaningful way lest they be called RACISTS !
!
!
!
” “ In many ways , a lot of people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fans of Trump , but they do see him as useful to their movement , introducing some of their ideas and carrying out some of the policies that they favor , ” said Miller , the analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center .
“ But in some ways , they see him as buying them time.
” To them , Trump is an old man holding up crumbling institutions , enacting policies that incrementally forward the cause without remaking the institutions themselves .
When he ’ s gone , the rubble will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ll be nothing but a tool they used to build the white power movement up .
The members of Patriot Front think that time is on their side .
And with a leader still in his early twenties , they take a long view .
“ There is no ‘ endgame , ’ ” Rousseau wrote .
“ The nation doesn ’ t ‘ end.
’ We ’ re not conventionally political to the point where there ’ s a defined ‘ end ’ of service .
It ’ s not an office @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law , or a percentage of representation.
” ●

Patriot Front formed from the failure of another far-right group, Vanguard America. As one of its two leaders, Rousseau attended the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017, during which a man who marched with them killed counterprotester Heather Heyer. In the aftermath, Vanguard formally dissolved, allowing Rousseau, then 19 years old, to push out a rival and rebrand the group around a cult of personality.
He and his followers are mostly zoomers, born in the late ‘90s or early ‘00s, and circle frequently around topics that include traditional masculinity, weight loss, and white power.
Rousseau keeps strict rules on the conversations in the forum, and his word is gospel. On a typical day, the chats are filled with lies they believe to be real (like antifa starting forest fires), paranoia, and machismo.
“While we were sparring, a van full of baptists from the area pulled up and piled out,” said Anthony IL. “They had a bunch of young boys with them. They stood there with their father and watched on as we fought each other in masculine competition. We got to show those boys something that they won’t see elsewhere, and a healthy dose of masculinity that is otherwise shunned nowadays. We make the change in the nation that we want to see, men.”
Like members of any social network, they also trade photos. Recent images from Rousseau's garage in Grapevine, Texas, out of which he sells extremist paraphernalia, show muscled men standing next to punching bags. The pictures were filtered in red, white, and blue.
Unlike extremist organizations like the Proud Boys that seek headlines, Patriot Front has a sparse aboveground presence. New members are carefully vetted and are given strict instructions on social media use.
The vetting takes place first online and then in person. New members undergo a rigorous process, in part because the group has been frequently infiltrated. One member, Michael IN, said he had to drive for four hours for his interview. Another was vetted by Patriot Front members carrying concealed weapons.
The chat is also a place they share videos of themselves that they also share on Twitter, Telegram, and TikTok, where a recent propaganda video received more than 1 million views.
TikTok removed the videos in response to questions from BuzzFeed News, saying “Hate speech is not permitted on TikTok.” Twitter and Telegram did not respond to requests for comment.
Rocket.Chat responded to a request for comment after this story was published, saying it had no avenue to remove Patriot Front from its open-source platform because the group chat is being hosted on a private server.
Cassie Miller, a senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center, told BuzzFeed that Patriot Front is among the most prolific spreaders of “white power” propaganda in the United States, having put up flyers in over 1,000 places around the country in 2020 alone.
“[Rousseau] wants to really focus on spectacle, and he thinks that a performative show of strength is the most effective kind of propaganda that they can engage in,” she said.
Carla Hill, a researcher with anti-hate organization Anti-Defamation League, also said Patriot Front’s propaganda sets them apart. “In the United States, they lead white supremacist propaganda distributions,” she told BuzzFeed News.
On the chat logs, that propaganda plays out in real time.
On Sept. 28, Rousseau wrote, “Billboard coverup video is dropping today, keep an eye out.”
Fifteen minutes later, he posted a link to the video in which at least two Patriot Front members use climbing equipment to scale a billboard bearing the Black Lives Matter slogan in Houston. As thumping, testosterone-fueled music plays, they unfurl a homemade cloth banner that blocked the billboard with the words “The United States is no longer of America now we are on our own” written in red, white, and blue letters.
Members were excited: “I hope to do something that based one day,” one wrote.
Although the status of an investigation, if any, into the alleged Houston vandalism could not be determined, law enforcement has arrested several members on suspicion of vandalism in the past.


buzzfeed--2020-10-30--I Thought I Knew Everything About My Depression. COVID-19 Proved Me Wrong.

We depressed people have the unique blessing of feeling like something is always wrong .
The person next to you in the elevator took a half step to the left when you entered ?
Ca n't you read body language ?
A whole step left would be normal , but a half step ?
Not good .
Maybe it 's because you smell like shit , you idiot .
Or perhaps it 's your deodorant , which , by the way , is definitely giving you cancer .
It sounds exhausting , and yeah , it definitely can be at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a disease of excessive introspection .
It 's why many depressed people are smart , creative , and intuitive , but it 's also why they so easily fall victim to the vicissitudes of the mind .
Instead of shining a spotlight on parts of the mind , depression turns on a lantern , revealing everything at once .
Depressed people 's flashlights are a little too bright , and sometimes they show a little more than what 's desired .
Shining a light on your upbringing or that one time you faked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so you would n't have to dance with girls is n't something that really serves you .
But depression does n't discriminate : It shows it all .
Personally , I 've spent my entire life dealing with the shittiest goddamn lantern , dimming it down to an average level and thinking it would help me blend in with the people for whom the concept of happiness and stability come so easily .
Accordingly , I 've lived most of my life with a cautious hand on the dimmer , always watching for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into a blinding fluorescence .
It 's exhausting , so I hated it when people talked about it and made jokes without first earning their stripes .
It seems logical that a global pandemic and subsequent social restructuring might make one 's depression feel even more major .
For me , however , that was n't the case .
Because I 'd lived with depression for more than 15 years , I 'd become an expert in what worked for me and what did n't .
In fact , I 'd tried a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and holistic approaches that had finally led me to a place where my depression did n't have to always feel major .
Still , when governments and leaders began to forecast grim social outlooks and employ highly restrictive measures to combat COVID-19 , it felt as if someone was trying to pour black ink all over my mental health playbook and the routines I 've worked so hard to maintain .
On top of that , people began posting about how the pandemic was making them `` OCD about germs '' or `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' And that really pissed me the hell off .
All around me , the world started panicking ad nauseam .
People worried about what their lives would look like in this dark and fearful future all the while co-opting the language of mental health to express their emotions .
How did I react ?
Defensively .
COVID-19 made me bitter , and I found myself unable to sympathize with the people around me .
Their struggles annoyed me .
I did n't want to be around them , and I rejected their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people exhibiting their own versions of anxiety and depression — while I had my own depression under control — I was outraged .
My not-clinically-depressed friends did n't deserve the right to be responding this way .
They did n't earn the right to use my language .
They do n't have depression .
I do .
If I can thrive in this environment , they should , too .
I 'm pretty sure you can see where this is going .
I was an asshole .
While I never intended to come @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and it was through a cocksure and fractured lens .
This brings me to my experience with magic mushrooms , which mended my fractured lens and gave me the kaleidoscopic worldview I desperately needed .
As a firm believer in psychedelics ' therapeutic potential , I 've seen firsthand what they can do to treat mental health disorders .
I 've been interested in psychedelics ' effect on depression for many years and have personally experienced how they can radically change negative thought patterns and destructive mental schema .
So around late June @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pollan 's How to Change Your Mind , an overview of psychedelics ' history and their promise in treating mental health disorders , and decided to make a change .
I knew something was up and I did n't enjoy feeling spiteful , so I turned to mushrooms to lead me out of the mental mud , muck , and mire I found myself in .
And it was n't until my rapturous rendezvous with mushrooms and Peanut Butter M & Ms — which are objectively the best M & Ms — that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ using jokes to talk about depression was really about something else .
It was about something much more personal .
Besides writing `` OPEN UP TO LOVE ! ''
and other cliché platitudes in an old notebook ( it 's honestly too cringe to open it ever again ) , I was fortunate to have a little tête-à-tête with my brain , one that provided me the rare opportunity to see my emotions and behaviors through an outsider 's perspective .
With a bloated stomach of M & Ms and psilocybin , I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a comfortable blow-up mattress when an insightful realization hit me : My un-empathetic behavior was just a classic case of projection .
I was reacting the way I believed others reacted to me and my depression , that it annoyed people , it was something that people did n't want to be around or hear about , and it was something that people would reject me for .
How I thought people perceived me was precisely how I was perceiving them .
There was a little selfishness there , too : Everyone else @ @ @ @ @ @ @ realize that there was a level of sameness between myself and others , and I did n't like that .
Why ?
I was clutching to the idea of depression as something that I owned , a quality not just inextricably linked to me but also the major characteristic that defined me .
And although some of these people were the very ones I felt contributed to the trivialized language of mental health , I realized my emotions were rooted in selfishness rather than in a socially conscious drive to make a difference @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unique in that it 's deeply personal for each individual .
Unfortunately , each person 's mental health is experienced alone , is self-contained , and solipsistic , so it 's impossible to really understand the fundamental nature of another person 's suffering .
Some people make jokes .
Some eat shrooms .
Some have a good cry .
Some ca n't feel anything at all .
It 's essential to be open to each experience .
It can help other people , and who knows , maybe it could even help ourselves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in my mental health journey , and it also helped me recognize that I had an unhealthy attachment to my depression .
For me , all it took was a meal of magic mushrooms , M & Ms , and a Phoebe Bridgers–induced catharsis to see it clearly .
The Caveat to Treating Mental Health as Comedy For whatever reason , we sometimes cling to the things that hurt us the most , and in doing so , we overlook the possibility that perhaps we 're holding on to pain more tightly than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I have had to let go of that attachment and understand that mental health does n't exist in a vacuum ; it stands in relation to the people around us .
And people around me are having a tough time .
That is why it is imperative , now more than ever , to have discussions about mental health to prevent these psychological effects from worsening or lingering far longer than they should .
While people should be free to speak about their mental health however they choose , we are doing ourselves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do not have open , honest , and informative discourse .
One of the most important things we can do is speak openly about our pain , externalizing it so the people we love can help take on its burden .
Comedy is one way to get the conversation started , but it only goes so far .

My Depression Is a Shitty Lantern
We depressed people have the unique blessing of feeling like something is always wrong. The person next to you in the elevator took a half step to the left when you entered? Can't you read body language? A whole step left would be normal, but a half step? Not good. Maybe it's because you smell like shit, you idiot. Or perhaps it's your deodorant, which, by the way, is definitely giving you cancer.
It sounds exhausting, and yeah, it definitely can be at times. Some researchers consider depression merely a disease of excessive introspection. It's why many depressed people are smart, creative, and intuitive, but it's also why they so easily fall victim to the vicissitudes of the mind.
Instead of shining a spotlight on parts of the mind, depression turns on a lantern, revealing everything at once. Depressed people's flashlights are a little too bright, and sometimes they show a little more than what's desired. Shining a light on your upbringing or that one time you faked a stomachache at your Bar Mitzvah party so you wouldn't have to dance with girls isn't something that really serves you. But depression doesn't discriminate: It shows it all.
Personally, I've spent my entire life dealing with the shittiest goddamn lantern, dimming it down to an average level and thinking it would help me blend in with the people for whom the concept of happiness and stability come so easily.
Accordingly, I've lived most of my life with a cautious hand on the dimmer, always watching for those spontaneous moments when the lantern erupts into a blinding fluorescence. It's exhausting, so I hated it when people talked about it and made jokes without first earning their stripes.
I Was an Asshole
It seems logical that a global pandemic and subsequent social restructuring might make one's depression feel even more major. For me, however, that wasn't the case. Because I'd lived with depression for more than 15 years, I'd become an expert in what worked for me and what didn't. In fact, I'd tried a litany of medications, therapy styles, and holistic approaches that had finally led me to a place where my depression didn't have to always feel major.
Still, when governments and leaders began to forecast grim social outlooks and employ highly restrictive measures to combat COVID-19, it felt as if someone was trying to pour black ink all over my mental health playbook and the routines I've worked so hard to maintain. On top of that, people began posting about how the pandemic was making them "OCD about germs" or "so depressed that restaurants were closing." And that really pissed me the hell off. All around me, the world started panicking ad nauseam. People worried about what their lives would look like in this dark and fearful future all the while co-opting the language of mental health to express their emotions.
How did I react? Defensively. COVID-19 made me bitter, and I found myself unable to sympathize with the people around me. Their struggles annoyed me. I didn't want to be around them, and I rejected their fears and concerns. When I saw people exhibiting their own versions of anxiety and depression — while I had my own depression under control — I was outraged. My not-clinically-depressed friends didn't deserve the right to be responding this way. They didn't earn the right to use my language. They don't have depression. I do. If I can thrive in this environment, they should, too.
I'm pretty sure you can see where this is going. I was an asshole. While I never intended to come across as anti-intellectual, I did, and it was through a cocksure and fractured lens.
Mushrooms, M&Ms, and a Phoebe Bridgers–Induced Musical Catharsis
This brings me to my experience with magic mushrooms, which mended my fractured lens and gave me the kaleidoscopic worldview I desperately needed. As a firm believer in psychedelics' therapeutic potential, I've seen firsthand what they can do to treat mental health disorders. I've been interested in psychedelics' effect on depression for many years and have personally experienced how they can radically change negative thought patterns and destructive mental schema. So around late June, I had just finished reading Michael Pollan's How to Change Your Mind, an overview of psychedelics' history and their promise in treating mental health disorders, and decided to make a change.
I knew something was up and I didn't enjoy feeling spiteful, so I turned to mushrooms to lead me out of the mental mud, muck, and mire I found myself in. And it wasn't until my rapturous rendezvous with mushrooms and Peanut Butter M&Ms — which are objectively the best M&Ms — that I realized my scorn toward the people using jokes to talk about depression was really about something else. It was about something much more personal.
Besides writing "OPEN UP TO LOVE!" and other cliché platitudes in an old notebook (it's honestly too cringe to open it ever again), I was fortunate to have a little tête-à-tête with my brain, one that provided me the rare opportunity to see my emotions and behaviors through an outsider's perspective.
With a bloated stomach of M&Ms and psilocybin, I was cross-eyed listening to Phoebe Bridgers on a comfortable blow-up mattress when an insightful realization hit me: My un-empathetic behavior was just a classic case of projection. I was reacting the way I believed others reacted to me and my depression, that it annoyed people, it was something that people didn't want to be around or hear about, and it was something that people would reject me for. How I thought people perceived me was precisely how I was perceiving them.
There was a little selfishness there, too: Everyone else's COVID-19–induced mental health struggles made me realize that there was a level of sameness between myself and others, and I didn't like that. Why? I was clutching to the idea of depression as something that I owned, a quality not just inextricably linked to me but also the major characteristic that defined me.
And although some of these people were the very ones I felt contributed to the trivialized language of mental health, I realized my emotions were rooted in selfishness rather than in a socially conscious drive to make a difference.
The topic of mental health is unique in that it's deeply personal for each individual. Unfortunately, each person's mental health is experienced alone, is self-contained, and solipsistic, so it's impossible to really understand the fundamental nature of another person's suffering. Some people make jokes. Some eat shrooms. Some have a good cry. Some can't feel anything at all. It's essential to be open to each experience. It can help other people, and who knows, maybe it could even help ourselves.
This realization was a decisive moment in my mental health journey, and it also helped me recognize that I had an unhealthy attachment to my depression. For me, all it took was a meal of magic mushrooms, M&Ms, and a Phoebe Bridgers–induced catharsis to see it clearly.
The Caveat to Treating Mental Health as Comedy
For whatever reason, we sometimes cling to the things that hurt us the most, and in doing so, we overlook the possibility that perhaps we're holding on to pain more tightly than it's holding on to us. I have had to let go of that attachment and understand that mental health doesn't exist in a vacuum; it stands in relation to the people around us.
And people around me are having a tough time.
That is why it is imperative, now more than ever, to have discussions about mental health to prevent these psychological effects from worsening or lingering far longer than they should. While people should be free to speak about their mental health however they choose, we are doing ourselves a disservice to the world if we do not have open, honest, and informative discourse. One of the most important things we can do is speak openly about our pain, externalizing it so the people we love can help take on its burden. Comedy is one way to get the conversation started, but it only goes so far.


buzzfeed--2020-10-31--A Woman's Thong Almost Killed Her And She Shared The Story On TikTok As A Precaution

`` Abscesses in the groin and anorectal area are not uncommon and can happen randomly to people who are more @ @ @ @ @ Dr. Lincoln said .
`` As for causing abscesses in the anorectal area , it @ @ @ @ @ cut in the skin from friction , which can then get infected .
So if @ @ @ @ @ one , opt for a loose-fitting , soft cotton version .
This may be better @ @ @ @ @ be more irritating to the skin , potentially more abrasive , or more likely to @ @ @ @ @ ''

"Abscesses in the groin and anorectal area are not uncommon and can happen randomly to people who are more prone to infections," Dr. Lincoln said. "As for causing abscesses in the anorectal area, it could theoretically cause a small cut in the skin from friction, which can then get infected. So if you do want to wear one, opt for a loose-fitting, soft cotton version. This may be better than synthetic fibers that can be more irritating to the skin, potentially more abrasive, or more likely to trap moisture and bacteria."


buzzfeed--2020-10-30--Women Are Sharing What They Used To Masturbate With Before Knowing What Sex Was, And It's A Doozy

So , she asked other women who also masturbated when they were younger to share the weird things they used @ @ @ @ @ a million views , and tons of women have flooded the comment section with hilarious @ @

So, she asked other women who also masturbated when they were younger to share the weird things they used. Her video has nearly a million views, and tons of women have flooded the comment section with hilarious responses:


buzzfeed--2020-10-31--DHS Authorities Are Buying Moment-By-Moment Geolocation Cellphone Data To Track People

Central American asylum-seekers wait as Border Patrol agents take groups of them into custody near McAllen , Texas .
“ It 's essentially a secret effort by members of the government to justify the construction of this terrible surveillance partnership between the government and these corporations , ” he said .
The memo offers a window into the use of new forms of technology to help ICE and Customs and Border Protection advance their enforcement aims at the border and beyond .
But the use of the data has long been controversial , and its deployment within DHS has caused @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dragnet collection of Americans ’ highly private location information that reveal where we sleep at night , where we go to the doctor , who we spend time with , and every other aspect of our lives , ” said Nathan Freed Wessler , an attorney with the ACLU who specializes in privacy issues .
“ Police should be going to judges to get location information from these commercial entities.
” Mizelle also believes the agency can use the data without obtaining a warrant or violating the Fourth Amendment , which protects the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That logic could lay the groundwork for the government to use the same data to track everyday Americans , raising red flags among privacy advocates .
In an internal memo obtained by BuzzFeed News , the DHS 's top attorney , Chad Mizelle , outlined how ICE officials can look up locations and track cellphone data activity to make decisions on enforcement .
The Department of Homeland Security is purchasing consumer cellphone data that allows authorities to track immigrants trying to cross the southern border , which privacy advocates say could lead to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the government and private corporations .
A US Border Patrol agent searches the trunk of a vehicle that was sent to secondary inspection at a highway checkpoint .
When DHS buys geolocation data , investigators only know that phones and devices visited certain places — meaning , they don ’ t automatically know the identities of people who visited those locations .
Investigators have to match a person ’ s visited locations with , say , property records and other data sets in order to determine who a person is .
But this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ location tracking could happen to anyone , not just people under investigation by DHS .
In particular , lawyers , activists , nonprofit workers , and other essential workers could get swept up into investigations that start with geolocation data .
DHS officials said they do not comment on alleged leaked documents .
The agency is aware of potential legal vulnerabilities under the Fourth Amendment .
Mizelle states in his memo that there are ways for CBP and ICE to “ minimize the risk ” of possible constitutional violations , pointing out that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ periods , require supervisors to sign off on lengthy searches , only use the data when more “ traditional ” techniques fail , and limit the tracking of one device to when there is “ individualized suspicion ” or relevance to a “ law enforcement investigation.
” CBP has so far refused to explain this legal argument to Congress , despite the fact that senators such as Democrat Ron Wyden have demanded the information .
A CBP spokesperson said in a statement that the agency “ has acquired limited access to commercial telemetry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ number of licenses to a vendor provided interface.
” The spokesperson said the access to the information “ does not include cellular phone tower data , is not ingested in bulk , and does not include the individual user ’ s identity .
Rather , CBP officers , agents , and analysts are provided with access to the vendor ’ s interface on a case-by-case basis , and are only able to view a limited sample of anonymized data consistent with existing border security or law enforcement operations.
” The official added that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of CBP ’ s responsibility to enforce U.S. law at the border and in accordance with relevant legal , policy , and privacy requirements.
” The Wall Street Journal previously reported on the DHS ’ s purchase of the data for ICE and CBP .
Federal spending databases show that ICE and CBP have bought licenses from Venntel , a company that collects and sells mobile device data .
In 2019 , DHS bought more than $ 1 million worth of software , which included Venntel licenses for CBP ’ s Targeting and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an intelligence-focused CBP program that involves monitoring certain individuals and cargo .
Separately , this year CBP bought $ 475,944 worth of software , which also included Venntel licenses .
The House Committee on Oversight and Reform is currently investigating Venntel for selling data to government agencies .
Venntel did not respond to multiple requests for comment .
The document says that ICE and CBP purchased people ’ s mobile data from a data broker , although the document does not identify which one .
All of the data is stored in an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ web portal.
” ICE and CBP buy advertising identifier data , or “ AdID , ” which typically includes information about where a person is located , what device they ’ re using , what language they use , which websites they ’ re visiting , and which websites they buy things from .
All of this information isn ’ t linked to a person ’ s name , but to a randomly generated string of characters .
Both Apple and Android phones require app developers who are engaging in targeted advertising @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have to go into their phone settings in order to restrict advertisers ’ access to their AdIDs .
The document states that the DHS purchased AdID data that is anonymized and only shows “ timestamped signal location ( s ) within a specific time period ” — or where one device has been , and when .
This in and of itself doesn ’ t tell ICE and CBP who a person is .
But the document notes that it ’ s possible to “ combine ” the data “ with other information @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” In other words , the DHS agencies can cross-reference where a device has been with property ownership records .
This way , officers can find a person ’ s identity based on the location of their home .
The geolocation data associated with a person ’ s AdID is extremely sensitive .
In the document ’ s own words , it can be used “ to track the movements of a mobile device over an extended period of time.
” Officers with this data can see where a person lives , their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ visit , any religious locations they might frequent , and which protests they attend .
Privacy experts have argued that geolocation data is inherently identifiable and impossible to be truly anonymous , even if it ’ s linked to a string of numbers rather than a person ’ s name .
“ This description puts the lie to the assertion of some of these companies that all they are gathering is anonymized information about phone users , ” said Wessler , the ACLU privacy expert .
“ This agency is contemplating using this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ particular people.
” Schwartz added that partnerships between governments and private entities are a “ growing menace to privacy in the world.
” “ The government has vast surveillance powers , private corporations have vast surveillance powers , and when the two are combined , the whole is greater than the sum of the parts , ” he said .
“ This is an area that all members of the public should be concerned about , and our elected officials , and really need to shut this down.
” Typically , an app @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But according to the memo , the data broker “ aggregates geolocation data obtained by a wide variety of apps , ” meaning ICE and CBP may have multiple data sets about the same person if that person uses more than one app that engages in targeted advertising .
But ICE and CBP don ’ t know which apps the information comes from .
Mizelle said ICE officials could use the data to their benefit in deciding when to conduct immigration enforcement , specifically to “ identify hot spots of illicit activity and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such as weather conditions ) to identify trends and make more predictive resources and targeting decisions regarding immigration enforcement.
” Mizelle wrote the memo to “ analyze ” law enforcement use of geolocation data and detail the potential legal problems that could arise under the Fourth Amendment or the Privacy Act .
The tracking data has been profiled in the New York Times , which found dozens of companies that sell the consumer data to advertisers to target advertisements .
In a landmark 2018 Supreme Court opinion , Carpenter v. United States , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ criminal warrants to obtain geolocation data in most cases directly from the cellphone carriers .
“ As with GPS information , the timestamped data provides an intimate window into a person ’ s life , revealing not only his particular movements , but through them his ‘ familial , political , professional , religious , and sexual associations , ’ ” Chief Justice John Roberts said in delivering the majority opinion .
“ These location records hold for many Americans the ‘ privacies of life.
’ ” Mizelle , however , writes in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doesn ’ t apply to ICE and CBP because the agencies purchase data that is commercially available , meaning it technically does not require obtaining a warrant .
The data broker , according to the memo , told DHS that it doesn ’ t “ independently verify ” that each piece of AdID data comes from an application with a valid “ terms of service agreement.
” DHS says that the data broker obtains guarantees that the AdID data was lawfully obtained .
Wessler , from the ACLU , believes this admission is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of due diligence by the government to ensure that all that people have actually consented to this collection of sensitive location information and there are plenty of examples of apps secretly collecting location information of people , ” he said .
But Mizelle argues in his memo that “ under existing precedent , there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in geolocation data from a mobile electronic device associated with AdID data that has been provided to a third party with the user ’ s consent.
” “ As such , the government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not a ‘ search ’ under the Fourth Amendment , ” he added .
Schwartz said that argument falls short because there is no meaningful consent when a person downloads a game to their phone , and this data eventually winds up in the hands of DHS investigators .
“ This person who downloaded the video game — did they have any knowledge that any of this was gon na happen ?
” Schwartz said .
“ No .
They were presented with dense legalese , and they pressed a button .
It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ user , who did nothing besides download a video game , consented to this kind of surveillance of their movements .
”

When DHS buys geolocation data, investigators only know that phones and devices visited certain places — meaning, they don’t automatically know the identities of people who visited those locations. Investigators have to match a person’s visited locations with, say, property records and other data sets in order to determine who a person is. But this also means that, technically, moment-by-moment location tracking could happen to anyone, not just people under investigation by DHS. In particular, lawyers, activists, nonprofit workers, and other essential workers could get swept up into investigations that start with geolocation data.
DHS officials said they do not comment on alleged leaked documents.
The agency is aware of potential legal vulnerabilities under the Fourth Amendment. Mizelle states in his memo that there are ways for CBP and ICE to “minimize the risk” of possible constitutional violations, pointing out that they could limit their searches to defined periods, require supervisors to sign off on lengthy searches, only use the data when more “traditional” techniques fail, and limit the tracking of one device to when there is “individualized suspicion” or relevance to a “law enforcement investigation.”
CBP has so far refused to explain this legal argument to Congress, despite the fact that senators such as Democrat Ron Wyden have demanded the information.
A CBP spokesperson said in a statement that the agency “has acquired limited access to commercial telemetry data through the procurement of a limited number of licenses to a vendor provided interface.”
The spokesperson said the access to the information “does not include cellular phone tower data, is not ingested in bulk, and does not include the individual user’s identity. Rather, CBP officers, agents, and analysts are provided with access to the vendor’s interface on a case-by-case basis, and are only able to view a limited sample of anonymized data consistent with existing border security or law enforcement operations.”
The official added that the data is used “in furtherance of CBP’s responsibility to enforce U.S. law at the border and in accordance with relevant legal, policy, and privacy requirements.”
The Wall Street Journal previously reported on the DHS’s purchase of the data for ICE and CBP. Federal spending databases show that ICE and CBP have bought licenses from Venntel, a company that collects and sells mobile device data. In 2019, DHS bought more than $1 million worth of software, which included Venntel licenses for CBP’s Targeting and Analysis Systems Program Directorate. TASPD is an intelligence-focused CBP program that involves monitoring certain individuals and cargo. Separately, this year CBP bought $475,944 worth of software, which also included Venntel licenses.
The House Committee on Oversight and Reform is currently investigating Venntel for selling data to government agencies.
Venntel did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The document says that ICE and CBP purchased people’s mobile data from a data broker, although the document does not identify which one. All of the data is stored in an indexed, searchable database accessible through a “web portal.”
ICE and CBP buy advertising identifier data, or “AdID,” which typically includes information about where a person is located, what device they’re using, what language they use, which websites they’re visiting, and which websites they buy things from. All of this information isn’t linked to a person’s name, but to a randomly generated string of characters.
Both Apple and Android phones require app developers who are engaging in targeted advertising to assign people individualized AdIDs. People have to go into their phone settings in order to restrict advertisers’ access to their AdIDs.
The document states that the DHS purchased AdID data that is anonymized and only shows “timestamped signal location(s) within a specific time period” — or where one device has been, and when. This in and of itself doesn’t tell ICE and CBP who a person is. But the document notes that it’s possible to “combine” the data “with other information and analysis to identify an individual user.”
In other words, the DHS agencies can cross-reference where a device has been with property ownership records. This way, officers can find a person’s identity based on the location of their home.
The geolocation data associated with a person’s AdID is extremely sensitive. In the document’s own words, it can be used “to track the movements of a mobile device over an extended period of time.” Officers with this data can see where a person lives, their commute to work, which friends they visit, any religious locations they might frequent, and which protests they attend.
Privacy experts have argued that geolocation data is inherently identifiable and impossible to be truly anonymous, even if it’s linked to a string of numbers rather than a person’s name.
“This description puts the lie to the assertion of some of these companies that all they are gathering is anonymized information about phone users,” said Wessler, the ACLU privacy expert. “This agency is contemplating using this data to track and identify and locate particular people.”
Schwartz added that partnerships between governments and private entities are a “growing menace to privacy in the world.”
“The government has vast surveillance powers, private corporations have vast surveillance powers, and when the two are combined, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts,” he said. “This is an area that all members of the public should be concerned about, and our elected officials, and really need to shut this down.”
Typically, an app will assign a person one AdID. But according to the memo, the data broker “aggregates geolocation data obtained by a wide variety of apps,” meaning ICE and CBP may have multiple data sets about the same person if that person uses more than one app that engages in targeted advertising. But ICE and CBP don’t know which apps the information comes from.
Mizelle said ICE officials could use the data to their benefit in deciding when to conduct immigration enforcement, specifically to “identify hot spots of illicit activity and combine this data with other data (such as weather conditions) to identify trends and make more predictive resources and targeting decisions regarding immigration enforcement.”
Mizelle wrote the memo to “analyze” law enforcement use of geolocation data and detail the potential legal problems that could arise under the Fourth Amendment or the Privacy Act. The tracking data has been profiled in the New York Times, which found dozens of companies that sell the consumer data to advertisers to target advertisements.
In a landmark 2018 Supreme Court opinion, Carpenter v. United States, law enforcement officers were ordered to get criminal warrants to obtain geolocation data in most cases directly from the cellphone carriers.
“As with GPS information, the timestamped data provides an intimate window into a person’s life, revealing not only his particular movements, but through them his ‘familial, political, professional, religious, and sexual associations,’” Chief Justice John Roberts said in delivering the majority opinion. “These location records hold for many Americans the ‘privacies of life.’”
Mizelle, however, writes in his memo that this Supreme Court ruling doesn’t apply to ICE and CBP because the agencies purchase data that is commercially available, meaning it technically does not require obtaining a warrant.
The data broker, according to the memo, told DHS that it doesn’t “independently verify” that each piece of AdID data comes from an application with a valid “terms of service agreement.” DHS says that the data broker obtains guarantees that the AdID data was lawfully obtained.
Wessler, from the ACLU, believes this admission is concerning.
“It shows a lack of due diligence by the government to ensure that all that people have actually consented to this collection of sensitive location information and there are plenty of examples of apps secretly collecting location information of people,” he said.
But Mizelle argues in his memo that “under existing precedent, there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in geolocation data from a mobile electronic device associated with AdID data that has been provided to a third party with the user’s consent.”
“As such, the government’s acquisition of that information is not a ‘search’ under the Fourth Amendment,” he added.
Schwartz said that argument falls short because there is no meaningful consent when a person downloads a game to their phone, and this data eventually winds up in the hands of DHS investigators.
“This person who downloaded the video game — did they have any knowledge that any of this was gonna happen?” Schwartz said. “No. They were presented with dense legalese, and they pressed a button. It seems irrational to conclude that the technology user, who did nothing besides download a video game, consented to this kind of surveillance of their movements.”