Facebook Follies of Friends and Families

[Valmy]

I see some people trolling Trump supporters to goad them into getting angry and starting fights. Unless trying to provoke people by saying upsetting things to them is violence I don't really see it. Not that I applaud that kind of nonsense.

I don't see any credible evidence tying the Hillary campaign to that though at least not there.

[Barrister]

I see some people trolling Trump supporters to goad them into getting angry and starting fights. Unless trying to provoke people by saying upsetting things to them is violence I don't really see it. Not that I applaud that kind of nonsense.

I don't see any credible evidence tying the Hillary campaign to that though at least not there.

Isn't deliberately trying to provoke violence just as bad as starting the violence yourself?

The more tenuous connection is trying to tie it to HIllary.  They've shown a few people who worked on Hillary's campaign doing this stuff - only one of whom drew any kind of salary.

[Hamilcar]

Here's a brain teaser for you - come up with a costume that complies with those rules.

Mime? Oh no, that's racist to French people.

[Valmy]

Isn't deliberately trying to provoke violence just as bad as starting the violence yourself?

No. Saying mean things to people, in an attempt to provoke them into violence, is not the same as committing acts of violence. It is certainly not something I would ever think was awesome, as you can probably tell from my intense loathing of the brainless troll gang on Languish, but I don't consider that violence.

The more tenuous connection is trying to tie it to HIllary.  They've shown a few people who worked on Hillary's campaign doing this stuff - only one of whom drew any kind of salary.

They showed a person who had done some work in another state and seems to have been reasonably paid based on that work. Unless something similar happened in Arizona I don't see it. Certainly nothing "credible" which was what you advertised.

[The Minsky Moment]

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/oct/20/trump-says-clinton-and-obama-caused-violence-his-r/

Read for yourself and decide (and i purposely found you a politifact link, not a *shudder* breitbart link with a very different tone).

I wouldn't put a lot of faith in anything from Project Veritas, they have a track record for creative editing and agent provocateur nonsense.  Not exactly Woodward/Bernstein

[Admiral Yi]

The way politifact reported it made it seem there was little doubt about the troll coaching.

[Valmy]

The way politifact reported it made it seem there was little doubt about the troll coaching.

Little doubt about what about the troll coaching? I mean sure it does seem like somebody trained some people to go troll that Trump rally.

[The Minsky Moment]

The way politifact reported it made it seem there was little doubt about the troll coaching.

They key fact is that Project Veritas refuses to release the original, unedited tapes.  That should be a huge red flag given their by now well-established M.O. of manipulation.  Until and unless they release that material, any claim relying on their work does not IMO merit serious consideration.

As for how poltifact reports it, there isn't much there beyond a little smoke.

I see 3 quotations:
1) "If you're there and you're protesting and you do these actions, you will be attacked at Trump rallies."
2) "There's a script.  There's a script of engagement."

So far - nothing, no way to know what he is saying without knowing what "these actions" are or what the "script of engagement" is.  And the only elucidation is:

3)  "The key is initiating the conflict by having leading conversations . . .  It's a matter of showing up, to want to get into the rally, in a Planned Parenthood T-shirt, or Trump is a Nazi, you know. You can message to draw them out, and draw them to punch you,"

So that's the secret sauce.  Show up - wear a provocative T shirt, and say Trump's a Nazi.  I.e. do what protesters normally do.
The clearly stated premise is that enough Trump supporters are naturally violent and unhinged that is sufficient to cause them to be violent.

The politifact story also goes on to note, as I did to begin with, that the videos are deliberately edited to remove context and that unseen footage often involves PV people "goading" people into saying stuff, causing misleading inferences. 

But let's say we credit all this 100%.  It's not the most wholesome way to conduct politics, but it's hardly the stuff of major scandal.  And what's really interesting is that in order to give the story credence and represent it as Trump has - that "Clinton" people "caused" the violence, you have to accept the underlying premise - that lots of Trump supporters are "psychos" that can be easily goaded into violence simply by wearing a Planned Parenthood t-shirt and calling Trump a Nazi. 

[Syt]

From my sister:

[garbon]

[CountDeMoney]

That's fantastic

[The Minsky Moment]

From my sister:

I call you: lost sales opportunity for Gillette.

[Admiral Yi]

Why so sweaty?

[Tamas]

Why so sweaty?

fighting the good fight

[Grinning_Colossus]

Why so sweaty?

Spent all day huntin, trappin, and plowing his field.