Trump: *Stroking and pretending to deep throat a microphone stand* pic.twitter.com/8AJFj8RIzM

— Polling USA (@USA_Polling) November 2, 2024

🚨 WATCH: Minnesota Somali leaders endorse President Trump:

“Our conditions are horrible, we can’t afford anything. As working class and middle class people. Now please understand this, we love our brothers and sisters who are Democrats, but you left us.” pic.twitter.com/hbzH8TyEhm

— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) November 2, 2024

!trump2024 Getting the muzzie vote

Watch this powerful testimony from a former Minnesota Democrat Somali leader:

“I fundamentally believe that [Trump] is our best bet moving forward.” pic.twitter.com/gVSFEcQeNX

— Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) November 2, 2024

As the presidential election approaches, a Pew Research survey this year found that "about two-thirds of Americans say they think social media is bad for democracy." A similar Pew survey reports that about 70 percent of Americans believe social media makes people "less civil in how they talk about politics."

Baked into our continuous scrolls and clicks, social media has inadvertently fostered the rise of anonymous human bad actors along with "bot farms" --- that is, networks of fake accounts. These bot brigades are frequently operated by foreign governments, including Russia, Iran and China, in order to impersonate Americans and interfere in elections. They deliberately spread misinformation, sow groomercord and poison the well of civil discourse. Russian operatives recently bragged that social media companies detect only 1 percent of their fake accounts.

How do we balance protecting a user's privacy while holding them accountable for actions violating the law or a site's Terms of Service? How do we eliminate anonymously boosted content from all originators and the manipulation of our opinions? How do we protect the rights of free speech by nurturing civil discourse among real people? That's the backbone of democracy.

There certainly are many circumstances where anonymity must be protected, as for whistleblowers, journ*listic sources, political dissidents and others speaking truth to power. But when it comes to social networking, anonymity creates far more problems than it solves.

Online platforms that market themselves as anonymous, such as 8kun (formerly 8chan), have enabled their users to engage in violent and sometimes illegal activities without fear of consequences. Similar dynamics play out on the larger mainstream networks like Facebook and X, where countless anonymous accounts routinely wreak havoc.

How do we solve this puzzle? It's time for a non-tracking user ID verification system, requiring social media platforms to verify the true identities of their users.

Previously, I have been outspoken against verification systems. A decade ago, as a steering committee member of the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace and the Identity Ecosystem Steering Group, I fought against the proposed "national identity system." It was, I believed at the time, a violation of the individual right to privacy.

Fast-forward to today, however, and user ID verification has become a necessity. True verification is the only viable way for a social media platform to avoid the onslaught of bots, trolls and manipulative human forces hiding behind the curtain of anonymity. The present and future of democracy is at stake.

It's also the only way to protect kids. According to the U.S. Surgeon General's national advisory in 2023, "nearly 40 percent of children ages 8--12 use social media." At the same time, adults can pretend to be kids to deceitfully interact with them.

Here's the reality check: Our personally identifiable data is already out there. It's in the hands of marketing companies, data brokers, the dark web and governments worldwide. It's time to end the charade and acknowledge that our human and digital identities are known. We should leverage this data constructively, while vigorously protecting our privacy as much as possible.

The ideal user ID system has the sole purpose of verifying legitimate users. It won't track or monitor, and won't collect user data beyond the minimum necessary for verification. The system needs to work not just for users on our shores but for users worldwide. It can be supported by exceptional AI cowtools.

The movement toward user ID verification is gaining legislative traction. Last year, a bipartisan group of senators introduced the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act. If passed, this federal bill would require social media platforms to verify the age of account holders. In September, California Gov. Gavin Newsome signed a bill requiring social media companies verify users' ages. Several states have introduced similar laws, although many face challenges in court.

Momentum is also building abroad. Australia announced plans in September to implement mandatory user ID verification to prevent young children from joining social media.

Social media companies aren't going to do this voluntarily; federal legislation is required. Instead of relying exclusively on government-controlled verification processes, an alternative is for social media companies to partner with a vendor or create their own verification systems. Of note, a handful of independent companies already provide user verification for financial services and other industries.

No solution is perfect, but in weighing the benefits versus the risks, user ID verification is the best option we have. It will give social media platforms the upper hand in the battle against bad actors creating fake accounts online to disrupt the genuine communication of real human beings.

Kids win, democracy wins, and anonymity is the loser — RIP.

!nooticers

they are playing WWE clips to the Trump faithful ahead of his rally in North Carolina. #IdiocracyIsADocumentary pic.twitter.com/nEwqQrUAsC

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 2, 2024

!trump2024 no fun allowed

Reddit user u/MyDarlingCaptHolt has built a database of Trump supporters he intends to target after the election.

He built this database by taking photos of Trump signs in people's yards and recording their names and addresses. pic.twitter.com/rsIZrWZliH

— Reddit Lies (@reddit_lies) November 2, 2024

/u/MyDarlingCaptHolt brave and stunning

!chuds !trump2024 Be warned! You will be in the database!

Yesterday’s Wordle in 2.

That’s gotta be a sign, people. pic.twitter.com/LJAUk0K3kS

— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) November 1, 2024

He added that his comments were "wrong" and did not encompass the true meaning of the former president's remarks.

He actually admitted to a mistake! What kind of supernatural power is behind this?

Tim Walz strangely called Elon Musk "gay" while talking about taxes on the campaign trail in Michigan. pic.twitter.com/GhIpnBhRXH

— New York Post (@nypost) November 1, 2024

Me either. https://t.co/0Gm0q3Bv56

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) November 1, 2024

OMG Trump is hilarious!

That single moment is the reason why i voted for him!!!

— Jakey (@JacobBaker613) November 1, 2024

Was it like This is the End when Jonah Hill gets gaped?

LOL Christcucks, Demons aint real.

!nooticers

WASHINGTON (AP) --- White House press officials altered the official transcript of a call in which President Joe Biden appeared to take a swipe at supporters of Donald Trump, drawing objections from the federal workers who document such remarks for posterity, according to two U.S. government officials and an internal email obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

Biden created an uproar earlier this week with his remarks to Latinx activists responding to racist comments at a Trump rally made by the comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who referred to the U.S. island territory of Puerto Rico as a "floating island of garbage."

Biden, according to a transcript prepared by the official White House stenographers, told the Latinx group on a Tuesday evening video call, "The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters --- his --- his demonization of Latinx is unconscionable, and it's un-American."

The transcript released by the White House press office, however, rendered the quote with an apostrophe, reading "supporter's" rather than "supporters," which aides said pointed to Biden criticizing Hinchcliffe, not the millions of Americans who are supporting Trump for president.

The change was made after the press office "conferred with the president," according to an internal email from the head of the stenographers' office that was obtained by The AP. The authenticity of the email was confirmed by two government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.

The supervisor, in the email, called the press office's handling of the matter "a breach of protocol and spoliation of transcript integrity between the Stenography and Press Offices."

"If there is a difference in interpretation, the Press Office may choose to withhold the transcript but cannot edit it independently," the supervisor wrote, adding, "Our Stenography Office transcript --- released to our distro, which includes the National Archives --- is now different than the version edited and released to the public by Press Office staff."

The edit of the transcript came as the White House scrambled to respond to a wave of queries from reporters about Biden's comments. The president's remarks clashed with Vice President Kamala Harris' near-simultaneous speech outside the White House in which she called for treating Americans of differing ideologies with respect.

The Trump campaign quickly moved to fundraise off the quote, and the next day, Trump himself held a photo op inside a garbage truck to try to capitalize on Biden's criticism.

Harris on Wednesday distanced herself from Biden's comments --- making the clearest break from the president since she took over for him at the top of the Democratic ticket just over three months ago. "Let me be clear," she told reporters, "I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for."

According to the email, the press office had asked the stenographers to quickly produce a transcript of the call amid the firestorm. Biden himself took to social media to say that he he was not calling all Trump supporters garbage and that he was referring specifically to the "hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump's supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally."

The stenographers office is charged with preparing accurate transcripts of public and private remarks of the president for preservation by the National Archives and distribution to the public.

The two-person stenography team on duty that evening --- a "typer" and "proofer" --- said any edit to the transcript would have to be approved by their supervisor, the head of stenographers' office.

The supervisor was not immediately available to review the audio, but the press office went ahead and published the altered transcript on the White House website and distributed it to press and on social media in an effort to tamp down the story.

White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates that evening also posted on X the edited version of the quote and wrote that Biden was referring "to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as 'garbage.'"

The supervisor, a career employee of the White House, raised the concerns about the press office action --- but did not weigh in on the accuracy of the edit --- in an email to White House communications director Ben LaBolt, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and other press and communications officials.

"Regardless of urgency, it is essential to our transcripts' authenticity and legitimacy that we adhere to consistent protocol for requesting edits, approval, and release," the supervisor wrote.

The supervisor declined to comment to The AP and referred questions about the matter to the White House press office.

Asked to comment, Bates did not address the alteration of the transcript and said: "The President confirmed in his tweet on Tuesday evening that he was addressing the hateful rhetoric from the comedian at Trump's Madison Square Garden rally. That was reflected in the transcript."

House Republicans, meanwhile, were debating launching an investigation into the matter. House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and House Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., on Wednesday accused White House staff of "releasing a false transcript" of Biden's remarks.

In a letter to White House counsel Ed Siskel on Wednesday, they called on the administration to retain documents and internal communications related to Biden's remarks and the release of the transcript.

"White House staff cannot rewrite the words of the President of the United States to be more politically on message," the lawmakers wrote to Siskel.

Stefanik and Comer said the action could be in violation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978.

Watch the full clip of President Trump saying Liz Cheney wants to send people to die in wars that she will never experience herself.

Then look at the headlines the media is writing about it.

Gee, I wonder why trust in media is at an all time low. pic.twitter.com/B8jLfHE2N4

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 1, 2024

!chuds !trump2024 Total neocon death

https://old.reddit.com/r/SuicideWatch/comments/1gg440g/considering_suicide_if_trump_wins_the_election_or/

I don't want that Nazi wannabe frick shit to win. Not watching my friends lose their rights. All my friends are in the LGBTQ+ or support it. I'm not going to watch them get locked away. I'll kill myself if that Nazi trump wins.

Why should I live in a Nazi like dictatorship where all my friends are locked up for being part of the LGBTQ community

https://old.reddit.com/r/SuicideWatch/comments/1geyjl4/im_trans_i_need_a_good_reason_to_not_kms_if_trump/

i would rather die than go off hrt.

I feel you, I'm Canadian, we're basically getting fricked here as well. I'm practically counting down the days till hrt is banned for adults in Canada.

If politicians somehow succeeded in fully banning hrt and gender-affirming procedures (which despite how scary things look right now, would be hard to do in absolute entirety), I promise you that trans people will still transition…including medically. Edited to avoid giving specific advice as per guidelines, but from my own experience, being queer and/or trans in a fascist society is less scary if you understand what is going on and what you can do about it.

https://old.reddit.com/r/SuicideWatch/comments/1fyr9kq/how_to_tell_my_therapist_that_i_have_set_a/

As Trump would say "I have concepts of a plan" and I hope to god when I depart this world that he will not have been elected. I promised I would stick around long enough to vote. I want to leave the world better than I found it, if I can. The final part of that is removing myself from the world.

!chuds !transphobes

Even after agreeing to being ousted for Kamala

President Joe Biden has had a nuanced and distanced role in the presidential campaign of Kamala Harris, gaffes notwithstanding. With a little over two months remaining in his term, Biden is reportedly trying to focus on his legacy and presidential library -- and both are in danger of going off the rails, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Biden needs to raise from $200 to $300 million to build a presidential library---an institution that is now de rigeur among retiring residents of the Oval Office. But the money isn't pouring in and although Biden has been accused of amassing a fortune during his 50 years in politics, he hasn't been much of a fundraiser for projects like the library, the Journal notes, saying he didn't stoop to gathering donations by having people spend a night in the White House.

There is confusion among the donor class with some saying they haven't even been asked for money and others saying they are waiting to see who wins the presidential election. Others have been stunned into fiscal hibernation because Biden was treated so badly by his party and kicked out of the presidential race by Democratic power brokers like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. When Biden left the race in July and allowed Kamala Harris to replace him on the top of the ticket, he said he planned to focus on his legacy. There were rumors at the time that big name Dems like Barack Obama had threatened the funding of his library should he refuse to step aside.

Even without the funding in place, Biden counselor Steve Ricchetti is in charge of developing the theme for the library, according to WSJ sources. Biden may have started thinking about a library in the fall of 2023 when First Lady Jill Biden visited the Truman Presidential Library and asked her husband what he wanted to do in that regard.

In an interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur in October 2023, Biden reportedly said, "I don't think I'm supposed to, while I'm president, think about the library," prompting Jill Biden to object and insist the president should be planning for it now. Biden said both Syracuse University and the University of Delaware were "competing" to be the site of the library. But Biden expressed doubt that he could raise money for the structure while still in office. "I wouldn't know how---how could you raise money anyway while I'm a U.S. senator to do that---I mean president," Biden said.

!chuds !trump2024

https://old.reddit.com/r/JoeRogan/comments/1ggk14k/joe_rogan_experience_2221_jd_vance/

Vice President Harris could win the presidential election next week. But fingers in Democratic circles are already being pointed behind the scenes, in the event that she falls to former President Trump.

While some Democrats say they are increasingly hopeful that Harris will win, others have expressed mounting frustration about a string of factors that have plagued the campaign from the outset.

Fingers are being pointed at Harris and her campaign when it comes to disappointment over her messaging, particularly on the economy.

But some Democrats have already looked to pin the blame on President Biden, who some think took too long to step aside.

"People are nervous and they're trying to cover their butt and get a little ahead of Election Day," one Democratic strategist said of the sniping. "It's based on anxiety, stakes and the unique nature of this cycle.

"We didn't have a traditional process for this election. We didn't have a primary. People just had to fall in line," the strategist added, saying "it's not surprising to me" that some of the blame game is happening even before Election Day.

If Harris loses, "there will be a mad dash to assign blame," the strategist added.

The vice president's decision to pick Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) as her running mate over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) surely will be second-guessed if Trump wins the Keystone State.

"[Harris] is going to look real silly for not picking Shapiro," one former aide in the Obama White House said.

A Democratic donor agreed: "I'm not sure Walz got her anything. A lot of people I'm talking to say he seems like a great guy. Would I want to have a beer with him? Absolutely. But let's face it, he wasn't a great choice."

Biden put himself squarely in the news cycle on Tuesday evening when he appeared to liken Trump supporters to garbage.

The president walked back the remarks, and the White House insisted they had been taken out of context. Either way, they stepped on a largely successful speech by Harris on the Ellipse in Washington. The speech, which Harris delivered with the White House as a backdrop, was a pivotal moment in the final stretch of the campaign because it represented her closing argument for herself and against Trump.

It is nearly impossible to believe the comments did not greatly irritate the Harris campaign, though the vice president said the issue did not come up when she spoke to Biden on Tuesday night.

"Talk about an unforced error and so close to the end," one strategist said. "How could anyone not be annoyed by that?"

On Wednesday, Harris was still cleaning up Biden's comments.

"First of all, he clarified his comments, but let me be clear. I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for," Harris told reporters as she departed for a three-state campaign swing.

Harris has kept Biden at a distance during the final stretch of the campaign, even as she has appeared alongside surrogates, including former President Obama. The move has irked Biden loyalists who say the president had a successful administration and should be out there — however awkward — to help campaign for his vice president.

"He should be out there," one loyalist said. "The reason she's where she is, is because of him."

But even before Biden's "garbage" comment, there were whispers he would be responsible for a Harris defeat.

These voices say Biden's withdrawal from the race in late July didn't do Harris any favors since she hasn't had enough time to properly telegraph her biography.

Others said he never should have run for reelection, and that he should have allowed the party to have a full primary to pick his successor.

The unusual part about the quiet finger pointing going on is that Harris could very well be elected the next president next week.

She leads in most national polls and continues to lead in various polls of key swing states. New CNN polling released Wednesday found Harris with a 6-point lead in Wisconsin and a 5-point lead in Michigan. The new polling found the two candidates tied in Pennsylvania.

If Harris wins all three states, she will almost certainly win the election.

"Harris is closing strong with big energy moments and rising momentum," Democratic strategist Joel Payne said. "She's the more popular candidate, she has a broader coalition and she's got a higher ceiling than Trump.

"Democratic anxiety is understandable because of the threat of a Trump second term, but there's a lot to feel good about related to Kamala Harris and Democrats up and down the ballot coming down the stretch," Payne added.

At the same time, the race is incredibly close, meaning either candidate has a strong chance of winning and neither side can feel all that certain.

That creates nervousness and paranoia, a perfect atmosphere for second-guessing and backbiting.

There will be second-guessing if Trump loses, too.

The former president has doubled down on caustic speech in a bid to bolster his support among men, which could lose him critical female voters — where Harris enjoys a large lead.

If Harris wins, Republicans will second-guess their decision to ride with Trump through a third presidential cycle. They'll also wonder why he had to hold that rally on Sunday at Madison Square Garden, where a comedian's off-color jokes about Latinx and Puerto Rico won negative attention.

"It's a terrible look for the campaign," one Republican strategist said. "He should stick to the message and only the message. If we go off of it, he'll lose."