Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Sunday, August 05, 2018

Julian Assange Duped by Fake Sean Hannity Account, Tried to Send 'News' About Senate Democrat

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange wanted to provide Fox News host Sean Hannity "some news" about Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

One problem: Assange messaged a fake account, whose owner then alerted the press. Dell Gilliam, a writer from Texas, said she created the fake @SeanHannity__ account while she had the flu and was bored, according to the Daily Beast.

"I felt bad. He really thought he was talking to Sean Hannity,” Gilliam said. Assange wanted to have a conversation "on other channels" about "some news" he allegedly had to share about Warner.

A spokesperson for Warner was contacted by the Daily Beast about Assange's allegation and dissed him in the clearest terms possible.

“Give me a break. WikiLeaks is a non-state hostile intelligence service with longstanding ties to the Russian government and Russian intelligence," the spokesperson said.

For her part, Gilliam said the time she used posing as Hannity gave her a window into "paranoia I’d never seen before" from Hannity's followers, who are "disturbingly angry."

Original Article
Source: alternet.org
Author:  AlterNet

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