Thread: Progressive Snowflakes Demand Amazon Stop Selling Trump Paraphernalia

Here we go again.

3.23.2016 Tiffany Gabbay

What else is new? The American Stasi is out en force yet again to shut down, shut up and strip away the rights of those with whom it disagrees.

Progressive women's rights group UltraViolet has launched a petition demanding that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos remove Donald Trump paraphernalia from its online marketplace.

The petition has thus far garnered 36,000 signatures from fellow fascists, ordering Bezos to reject Trump's "racism, sexism and xenophobia" or else. The Washington Examiner reports

Trump's name is currently attached to more than 30,000 products on Amazon, though not all of them are owned and manufactured by the Trump Organization. In addition to dress shirts and ties, "Trump 2016" bumper stickers and knockoff "Make America Great Again" hats are currently for sale.

"Amazon has a history of doing the right thing and removing sexist merchandise," UltraViolet's co-founder Shaunna Thomas said in a statement.

She continued, "Donald Trump has promoted violence at campaign events, stoked the fires of sexism and racism in America and espouses a political philosophy that borders on fascism [and] these values have no place on the Amazon marketplace."

Shortly after Trump likened illegal immigrants to criminals and "rapists" during his announcement speech last June, Macy's announced its decision to pull Trump brand merchandise from its shelves.

"Macy's did the right thing — listening to its customers and concluding that Trump was bad for business," Thomas said.

While hoping Amazon will do the same, the company has not yet responded to the group's petition. A spokesperson for Amazon return the Washington Examiner's request for comment.

No, Macy's did not do the right thing. No one here seems to be doing the right thing. The right thing is to allow a free people in a free society to make their own choices concerning what to buy and what not to buy, and who to listen to and who not to listen to, and who to vote for and who not to vote for.

If left-wing spoiled brats want to boycott something how about they just not buy the Trump T-shirt and vote for a Democrat in the general election? That would be too fair and too easy though, right?

Ironic also that these same activists won't call for Che Guevara t-shirts to be pulled from retailers' shelves or take any substantive stand against actual racism and barbarism throughout the world. Because that would be tough. That would call for consistency of principle and some intellectual honesty and it would lift the veil off their entire ruse.

Progressive Snowflakes Demand Amazon Stop Selling Trump Paraphernalia | Truth Revolt

I think they've gone far enough now to be sued for defamation with commercial damage consequences. And they did a petition which means they've signed their names, all 36,000 plus. A lawyer's dream.

An example of the way they mount target a business to get it to do what they want. This is what the investigation of the Stop Rush "movement" found.

Small Group of Liberal Activists Isn't Denying Using Automated Software to Target Tweets at Limbaugh Advertisers

By Michael W. Chapman | October 15, 2014 | 1:04 PM EDT

Conservative talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh (AP Photo)

(CNSNews.com) – A small group of liberal activists who want conservative talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh off the air are not denying--as stated in an investigative report posted on Limbaugh’s website--that they have used automated software to generate massive numbers of negative tweets to companies they apparently have never patronized but that advertise on Limbaugh’s show.

The automated generation of massive numbers of Tweets may be in violation of Twitters own rules. However, Twitter declined to directly comment on the matter—instead pointing CNSNews.com to its user rules.

On Sept. 23, therushlimbaugh.com website posted an extensive investigative report, The Hidden Story Behind Stop Rush. This report presented details about 10 liberal activists whom the report described as “Top Members of the Stop Rush Conspiracy.”

In addition to naming names, Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, and some e-mail addresses for the activists, the report said this small group of anti-Rush activists did not constitute a grassroots movement but were “just a small number of hardcore political activists founded by Angelo Carusone, EVP [executive vice president] of Media Matters for America.” Media Matters is a left-wing media monitoring group.

The report said only “10 Twitter users account for almost 70% of all StopRush tweets to advertisers.” It also said that many of the anti-Rush communications sent by this group originate “from outside the State of the advertiser,” and that their “only role is to harass small businesses in an attempt to interfere with their operations, as long as they are advertising with Rush.”

Twitter image. (AP)

These activists, the report said, are “distributing target lists indiscriminately, and annoying small businesses until they give up the advertising deals that help them grow, or risk being unable to conduct business at all. This is not activism, the report concluded, but “blackmail.”
The Sept. 23 rushlimbaugh.cominvestigative report also said that the “Stop Rush” campaign had “deployed custom automated tweeting software, in violation of Twitter’s rules, that lets their activists send tweets at a rate far faster than any unassisted person could do manually. They send barrages of thousands of messages through this software until advertisers are bullied and harassed into cancellation.”
CNSNews.com contacted two of the small group of liberal activists cited in the report--Lauren Reynolds and Linda Kotsenburg Swanholm—and asked them questions about the report’s allegations. Did they use automated software to target tweets at Limbaugh advertisers? Were any of the allegations in “The Hidden Story Behind Stop Rush” inaccurate?
Neither responded to CNSNews.com’s questions.
A search of some of the activists’ Twitter accounts by CNSNews.com, using the software program Snap Bird showed that Linda Kotsenburg Swanholm(@socallks), for example, had sent out approximately 2,822 tweets and/or retweets between Sept. 23 and Oct. 15 that referenced “#stoprush.”

That means this one person was sending out about 122 tweets a day about Limbaugh.

Swanholm, who lives in Covina, Calif., has sent (as of Oct. 15) a total of 104,000 tweets since she opened that Twitter account in March 2012.

A review of her tweets shows that she regularly sends complaint-tweets to advertisers of the Rush Limbaugh Show, including some that are doing business far from California.

For example, she has tweeted or retweeted the Golisano Children’s Hospital in Ft. Myers, Fla.; Leader Bank in Arlington, Mass.; Express Franchising in Oklahoma City, Okla.; the Kentucky Lottery; Heritage for the Blind in Brooklyn, N.Y.; and Brand Republic in London, England; and the Circle of Life Hospice in Reno, Nev., among many other businesses.

One typical complaint that Swanholm sent to a small business advertiser on Oct. 8 reads: “@ColumbiaHonda Emails from Limbaugh Listeners, your target Audience? … Best to #stoprush ads and association w/him.”

Another tweet sent on Oct. 15 to Medifast reads: “Any business with ads on Rush Limbaugh’s show is helping to promote Misogyny, Racism and Bigotry. Should #stoprushads.”

Swanholm sends similarly worded complaints to numerous other advertisers apparently every day. (Tweets can be read here.)
Lauren Reynolds, using the Twitter account @chloesty, has sent a total of 35,100 tweets (as of Oct. 15). A search using Snap Bird shows she sent approximately 1,493 anti-Rush Limbaugh, #stoprush tweets (or retweets), between Aug. 26 and Oct. 15, or 29 tweets and retweets a day.

Reynolds lives in Los Angeles, Calif., but many of her anti-Rush tweets are sent to small businesses in other states, such as Oswego Mortgage in Oregon; Dove Lewis animal hospital in Oregon; the Waltzer Law Group in New York and New Jersey; Anchorage Concerts in Alaska; Triangle Tube in New Jersey; Kristan Cole realty in Alaska; Breitling Energy in Texas; Georgia Boot in Ohio, and so on.

Sue Bryce, identified as Sarah Smyea Rivers in the Sept. 23rushlimbaugh.com article, has sent 97,600 tweets (as of Oct. 15) since she opened her Twitter account in November 2011. Between Sept. 7 and Oct. 15, she sent out 1,904 #stoprush tweets and/or retweets—or an average of 48 #stoprush items per day.

Others in the small group of activists identified in Limbaugh’s report also sent large numbers of #stoprush tweets/retweets on a daily basis:

Matthew Mitchell in Florida (@CaptMurdock), sent about 2,201 anti-Rush tweets/retweets between Aug. 31 and Oct. 15. That equaled about 47 a day.

Cherie Richards (@KittyFitz50) sent 1,840 #stoprush tweets/retweets between Sept. 26 and Oct. 15, or about 92 per day.

Carol Kernahan Wallin (@carolkernahan) sent around 2,311 #stoprush tweets/retweets between Sept. 1 and Oct. 15, or about 51 a day on average.

On Oct. 7, CNSNews.com sent questions by e-mail to Linda Kotsenburg Swanholm and to Lauren Reynolds, asking them specifically:
“Do you use ‘custom automated tweeting software, in violation of Twitter’s rules,’ to send tweets to advertisers? Yes or no?”
Neither Swanholm nor Reynolds responded.

In an earlier e-mail to Reynolds on Sept. 24, CNSNews.com referenced therushlimbaugh.com report and asked: “Do you deny that you are involved in the campaign urging small businesses not to advertise on the Rush Limbaugh radio program?”

Reynolds did not answer the question directly but said: “I contact ALL businesses and organizations if I hear their ad aired during the Rush Limbaugh Show.”

Subsequent e-mails from CNSNews.com to Reynolds were not answered.

CNSNews.com also contacted Twitter’s media relations office and asked about the use of “automated tweeting software, in violation of Twitter’s rules,” as noted in the Limbaugh report. Twitter spokesman Nu Wexler responded on Oct. 6 by e-mail saying, “We don’t have a comment for your story, but I can point you to our rules, which outline conduct and content boundaries on Twitter.”
Wexler provided links to the Twitter rules.

In the section on “Abuse and Spam,” Twitter says, “You may not engage in targeted abuse or harassment. Some of the factors that we take into account when determining what conduct is considered to be targeted abuse or harassment are: if you are sending messages to a user from multiple accounts; if the sole purpose of your account is to send abusive messages to others; if the reported behavior is one-sided or includes threats.”


It further reads, “You may not use the Twitter service for the purpose of spamming anyone. What constitutes ‘spamming’ will evolve as we respond to new tricks and tactics by spammers. Some of the factors that we take into account when determining what conduct is considered to be spamming are: … If your updates consist mainly of links, and not personal updates; … If you post duplicate content over multiple accounts or multiple duplicate updates on one account; … If you send large numbers of duplicate @replies or mentions; … If you add a large number of unrelated users to lists; ….”

“Your account may be suspended for Terms of Service violations if any of the above is true,” says Twitter.

In addition to the question about automated tweeting software, CNSNews.com asked Reynolds and Swanholm, “Are you a customer of all those businesses that you tweeted #stoprush?”

Neither Reynolds nor Swanholm responded.

CNSNews.com also asked the two activists, “Do you deny what the article says about you, that your ‘only role is to harass small businesses in an attempt to interfere with their operations’?” They did not respond.

Finally, CNSNews.com asked them, “Do you deny any of the claims about you in the rushlimbaugh.com article and, if so, what specifically do you deny?” Neither Swanholm nor Reynolds answered.

In the rushlimbaugh.comarticle, it lists Media Matters for America Executive Vice President Angelo Carusone as among the activists targetingRush Limbaugh.


Carusone, as discussed in a 2012 Village Voice article, started an online campaign (@StopBeck) against Glenn Beck’s advertisers and he also started the Stop Rush campaign.

Media Matters for America has received funding from billionaire leftist George Soros, and is headed by David Brock, who describes himself as a “Democratic political activist” on his Twitter account.

The other people listed as Stop Rush activists in the Sept. 23 article are: Matthew Mitchell of Altamonte Springs, Fla., Captain Murdock/@CaptMurdock; Nancy Padak, facebook.com/nancy.padak; Jason Rey of Georgia, Frantic Quark/@FranticQuark; Lauren Reynolds of Los Angeles, Calif., @chloesty, facebook.com/lauren.reynolds.946179; Cherie Richards of Powell, Ohio, Kitty Fitzgerald/@KittyFitz50,facebook.com/cherier1; Sarah Smyea Rivers of Whittier Calif., SueBryce/@eurekasue49; Dennis William Rohner of Gainesville, Fla., Shawtoo@Shawtoo; Linda Kotsenburg Swanholm of Covina, Calif., CMMorgan/@socallks; and Carol Kernahan Wallin of Anaheim, Calif.,facebook.com/carol.kernahan.7.

CNSNews.com sent e-mails with questions to those listed who have e-mail addresses – Padak, Reynolds, Richards, Swanholm and Wallin – and tried to contact the other activists through their Twitter accounts. Discounting Reynolds’ Sept. 24 e-mail, none of the activists responded to initial questions or follow-up questions.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/...mated-software

In my opinion, this Amazon attack is just more of the same from the Socialist Democrats. This is how they did with Rush Limbaugh and the players.

The Hidden Story Behind Stop Rush

September 23, 2014
​The Rush Limbaugh Show Exposes the Stop Rush Conspiracy


September 23, 2014- The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s newest email spam, asking their recipients to sign a petition calling for sponsors to end their relationship with The Rush Limbaugh Show, is based on the two-year-old Stop Rush political protest as it’s inspiration. After an investigation, The Rush Limbaugh Show has discovered a far darker story to Stop Rush, and is today releasing the hidden story of the people and motives behind the Stop Rush conspiracy.

The Stop Rush group claims to be made up of ordinary consumers unhappy with Rush Limbaugh’s comments. The group claims to be “grassroots,” just concerned consumers who won’t shop at businesses that advertise with Rush Limbaugh. In truth, however, there are no potential customers here, just a small number of hardcore political activists founded by Angelo Carusone, EVP of Media Matters for America.

It’s remarkably tiny. Only 10 Twitter users account for almost 70% of all StopRush tweets to advertisers, amplified by illicit software. In addition, almost every communication from a StopRush activist originates from outside the State of the advertiser. Thus, these activists are not and never would have been customers… their only role is to harass small businesses in an attempt to interfere with their operations, as long as they are advertising with Rush.

“A small number of politically motivated out of-state activists are distributing target lists indiscriminately, and annoying small businesses until they give up the advertising deals that help them grow, or risk being unable to conduct business at all. It’s not even activism… it’s blackmail,” according to Brian Glicklich, Rush Limbaugh Show spokesperson.

How does this small group make themselves look so much bigger than they actually are? Stop Rush has deployed custom automated tweeting software, in violation of Twitter’s rules, that lets their activists send tweets at a rate far faster than any unassisted person could do manually. They send barrages of thousands of messages through this software until advertisers are bullied and harassed into cancellation.

These activists have long operated in secret and anonymously. But now, The Rush Limbaugh Show has the results of an investigation that names the people tweeting, facebooking, and emailing small businesses with harassing and bullying messages over and over until they surrender. These names are surprising, and include a tenured professor at Kent State University using her official email account to badger advertisers.


Meet The Top Members of The Stop Rush Conspiracy


This list was developed so that advertisers and others can judge the credibility and motives of the activist bullies anonymously behind Stop Rush. Any other use is not endorsed.
Name: Matthew Mitchell
Location: Altamonte Springs, FL
ID: Captain Murdock/@CaptMurdock
Name: Nancy Padak
Location: Kent State University
ID: npadak@kent.edu, facebook.com/nancy.padak
Fun Fact: Emails advertisers with harassment from her official Kent State email address. Gives businesses she has no relationship with 1 star ratings if they advertise on Rush. Friend of Cherie Richards
Name: Jason Rey
Location: Georgia
ID: Frantic Quark/@FranticQuark
Name: Lauren Reynolds
Location: Los Angeles, CA
ID: Lauren Reynolds/@chloesty, lonelydays46@gmail.com, facebook.com/lauren.reynolds.946179
Fun Fact: Gives businesses she has no relationship with 1 star ratings if they advertise on Rush
Name: Cherie Richards
Location: Powell, Ohio
ID: Kitty Fitzgerald/@KittyFitz50 kittyfitzgerald@gmail.com, facebook.com/cherier1
Fun Fact: Regularly changes online identity to hide anonymously, gives businesses she has no relationship with 1 star ratings if they advertise on Rush
Name: Sarah Smyea Rivers
Location: Whittier, CA
ID: SueBryce/@eurekasue49
Fun Fact: Changes ID frequently with different numbers to remain anonymous, has sent over 96,000 tweets
Name: Dennis William Rohner
Location: Gainesville, FL
ID: Shawtoo@Shawtoo
Name: Linda Kotsenburg Swanholm
Location: Covina, CA
ID: CMMorgan/@socallks, lswanholm@aol.com
Fun Fact: Develops, administers, and distributes target lists indiscriminately, gives businesses she has no relationship with 1 star ratings if they advertise on Rush
Name: Carol Kernahan Wallin
Location: Anaheim, CA
ID: Uses @Flushfools and @hrhprincess, facebook.com/carol.kernahan.7,flushfools@gmail.com
Fun Fact: Writes for DailyKos under both identities, long bullying/harassing pieces about political opponents.



#StopRush is not a grassroots consumer movement. It was created and developed by left wing political organization Media Matters for America Executive Vice President Angelo Carusone.
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runnin...h_limbaugh.php



Most #StopRush members are politically-motivated activists who send out tens of thousands of bullying tweets and Facebook posts.



#StopRush leaders develop and indiscriminately publish targeting lists for bullying and harassment by computer and phone, but hide in anonymity themselves. They even target charities and public service organizations for bullying.



When challenged, #StopRush leaders claim they have been threatened with violence as an excuse for using fake identities, but produce no evidence of that at all. And #StopRushexpresses no concern about the safety of those on the targeting lists they distribute themselves. They simply need anonymity to bully with impunity.



The simple fact that #StopRush activists refuse to provide their names is clear evidence of the deception at the core of the #StopRush intimidation effort. Real consumers tell you who they are.
In fact, 80% of all #StopRush attacks are from activists not even in the same state as their target.


As measured over a 24-day period,almost 70% of all targeted Twitter #StopRushmessages came from only 10 Twitter accounts.The #StopRush movement is simply a small number of extremists sending tens of thousands of tweets and other messages.


#StopRush members use automated Twitter software to send and retweet messages quickly and without any thought or effort. Users simply click on a tweet supplied by #StopRush, and it’s automatically sent to targeted sponsors.
And for fast retweeting of leadership “seed” posts, another piece of software is used, which allows users to retweet with just one click:


During a measured 24-day period, 88% of all tweets were identified as coming from Unite Blue member accounts.


#StopRush supporters use the email associated with their employment – without permission from their employer – to give added authority as they harass and bully targets from the published lists. Below is an email from a staff member at Kent University:

http://teacher.scholastic.com/produc...t.asp?author=P


In summary, #StopRush is an organized effort by Media Matters for America to widely and indiscriminately distribute lists of targets, and harass and bully them, under cover of anonymity. It is not grassroots, but deployed by extremist activists using deception and automated software to appear bigger and more prevalent than they are.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/20...hind_stop_rush