Aziz Ansari used in fake Russian ad; Extent of Russian abuse of American social media is frightening

One of the fake ads Russians posted on social media featured actor Aziz Ansari.

AZIZ ANSARI had no idea that his picture was being used in a fake ad posted by Russians attempting to make an impact in the 2016 presidential elections.

Representatives from Facebook, Google and Twitter were in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday (Oct. 31) to explain to Congress how Russian sources used their respective platforms to try and spread misinformation during last year’s presidential election.

The three companies took questions from U.S. senators, many of whom seemed skeptical of the power and influence that companies like Facebook have over the U.S. electorate.

Included in some of the presentations and questions from members of Senate Intelligence Committee were some of the ads and posts that Russia used to try and stir up social unrest, confuse voters, sow division or dissuade people from voting.

One of the tweets depict a Photoshopped image of actor and comedian Aziz Ansari encouraging voters to submit their vote for president via Twitter, which is not a legitimate way to vote in a U.S. election. Sen. Richard Blumenthal called it “a deliberate misleading of people.” Twitter says it took down this tweet, “and all other tweets like it,” but could not say how many people may have tried to vote via Twitter.

Ansari is one of the creators and the lead actor in Netflix's critical hit Master of None. He could have been used to target Muslim or Asian/American voters who are new to the U.S. electoral system.

It just goes to show, as a word of caution, never post a picture of yourself with a blank white square. It will be Photoshopped every time.

Facebook has turned over some 3,000 ads from Russian sources to Congress, and Twitter found thousands of fake accounts that were later removed. Senators used some of the ads and posts from those fake accounts to hammer home their frustration with the social media platforms of Twitter and Facebook.

The effectiveness of the misinformation and ads could not be determined but it does show the concerted effort made by the Russians to influence U.S. voters, especially those who rely heavily on the Internet for infromation. A few hundred votes one way or the other or not voting could sway a district or a state.

"You must do better to protect the American people and, frankly, all of your users from this kind of manipulation,"Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-NC, told attorneys for the tech giants at a hearing on Wednesday Nov. 1.

"I don't think you get it," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-CA. "What we're talking about is a cataclysmic change. … What we're talking about is a major foreign power with the sophistication and ability to involve themselves in a [U.S.] presidential election and sow conflict and discord all over this nation."

Feinstein stressed that social media companies bear ultimate responsibility for the material that gets posted on their sites.

"You've created these platforms, and now they are being misused. And you have to be the ones to do something about it -- or we [Congress] will," she said.

Ads sponsored by phony organizations and paid by the Russians may have popped on your social media feeds:

If you would like to view some more fake ads used against the U.S. election system, go to Medium.

Hawaii's voters join Washington & Alaska in feeling the 'Bern'

Sanders Campaign photo

Hawaii's Rep. Tulsi Gabbard campaigned for Bernie Sanders in her home state.

HAWAIIAN VOTERS went for Bernie Sanders in a big way last Saturday (March 26) as he won 70% of the vote in the Democratic Caucus, 

In a statement issued after the preliminary results showed a lopsided victory, Sanders said, “I want to thank the people of Hawaii for their strong support and for turning out in huge numbers for Saturday’s caucuses. Nobody should have any doubt that this campaign has extraordinary momentum and that we have a path toward victory. In state after state, our grassroots effort has taken on the entire political establishment.”

Although neither candidate campaigned in the island state, Sanders outspent Hillary Clinton almost 5 to 1 and it paid off, offsetting the endorsements Clinton received from establishment Democrats, including Sens. Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz, Rep. K. Mark Takai, and a number of state legislators and former governors.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, however, endorsed Sanders after she left her post with the Democratic National Committee last month.

RELATED: Gabbard resigns from top Democratic post

“We need a commander in chief who has foresight, who exercises good judgment and who understands the need for a robust foreign policy which defends the safety and security of the American people,” said Gabbard, a veteran. “And who will not waste precious lives and money on interventionist wars of regime change.”

That message went over well in a state that has a heavy military presence.

Hawaii, the bluest of blue states and the only state that has an AAPI majority of registered voters, followed pollsters predictions saying Asian/Americans tended to favor the Vermont senator. African/American and Latino/American voters tended to favor Clinton but in Hawaii, they represented a smaller portion of the Democratic electorate.

RELATED: AAPI voters lean towards Democrats, Sanders

Ernie Hong, 62, a retired clerical worker, said he thinks Clinton would do a better job negotiating and making peace with different factions in politics.

"I know she's not my perfect candidate that will represent everything that I would like, but she represents quite a few things that I do vote for in a candidate, which is experience, know-how, how to work with Congress, how to work with the system, and especially the ability to find common ground with our parties," Hong told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Aaron Toyama, 28,  showed up at Highlands Intermediate School in Pearl City to vote for Sanders because he supported Sanders' social policies. Toyama, a machinist and Pearl City resident, added that Sanders fights for the middle class.“He’s been for the people since he started in office.”

The win in Hawaii made it a perfect trifecta for Sanders, who also won handily in Washington and Alaska caucuses last Saturday. Generally speaking, Sanders has performed better than Clinton in the states having caucuses and Clinton doing better in primary states.

The trio of victories did little to dent Clinton's advantage in the delegate math as the former secretary of State now has 1,243 delegates compared to 975 for Sanders. Once superdelegates are taken into account, Clinton's lead grows to 1,712 to 1,004, according to the Associated Press.

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For more news about Asian/Americans & Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.

TGIF FEATURE: #DearNextPresident launched by 'Fusion'

USING THE HASHTAG #DearNextPresident. the news website Fusion has launched a video series, hashtag campaign, and user-generated social project,  built around the idea that everyone—especially young voters—should have a voice in telling America’s next president about their most pressing concern or issue going into the next four years.

To start the project, Fusion visited a number of locations across the country—from New York to Los Angeles and Miami to Boulder—and asked students, workers, adventurers, tourists, and more to complete the phrase “Dear Next President….” We’ve collected some of our favorite responses in the super cut below.

Michelle Phan, Youtube breakout star, (seen above)  is one of th host of celebrities who have added their message to the next POTUS.  She wants to see true leadership from the next president—starting with investing in education. Especially in college for people with low incomes, she says, because education is the key to empowering people to build a better future.

And by talking to hundreds of people - most of whom are the young - whom we always say are "the future" - we’ve been able to discern which issues are most on their minds: student debt, the environment, cost of college, and reproductive rights are just a few at the top of the list.

The Environmental Media Association’s annual awards gala brought together an array of famous faces who were looking to save the planet. But they want the next president to get on board, too. Watch their video to see what former NSYNC’er Lance Bass wants help with, what model Karrueche Tran is looking for in a president, and where Ed Begley wants to see “incredible amounts of money” invested; scientist Bill Nye wants the slow global warming.

You don't have to be part of the "rich and famous" to voice your needs or supothe cause you're invested in.

But no topic is off limits. Some of the other subjects range from the weighty topic of  immigration reform all the way to a better school lunch.

But the goal of this project is to be big and broad and personal. We hope to inspire you (and your family, friends, schoolmates, and coworkers) to record a short personal message and share it via any social platform with the hashtag #DearNextPresident. We’ll reshare some of our favorites on Fusion’s social accounts, and we’ll collect those videos together, too, to show the power of all our voices speaking together.

Fusion invites you to post, and share, and tell the world — and the next President of the United States—what matters most to you. The time is now.

For more news about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.

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Anchor babies: Bush switches target from Latinos to Asians

UH ... I guess we're supposed to feel better that presidential hopeful Jeb Bush's use of the term "anchor babies" is referring to Asian babies, not Latino ones.

What?!? Thank you, Jeb. I'm so relieved you cleared that up.

Over the weekend, Jeb got into trouble trying to match rival Donald Trump's outrageous statements on immigration supported perhaps abolishment or weakening of the 14th amendment. The Citizenship Clause of the amendment states:

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

Wong Kim Ark's 1898 passport photo.

Throughout the centuries, that clause has been widely interpreted to mean that if you were born in the U.S., you are automatically an American citizen, even if your parents are not.

Does Bush have advisors or is he making this up on his own? I guess he feels it's alright to insult Asians rather than Latinos. Perhaps, his wife had a good talking to him when he got home. As a Mexican/American, his wife was probably very offended with Bush's original use of the term.

He - and/or his staff - most likely is not aware of the history of the amendment and its why the Asian American community may be sensitive to any weakening of 14th Amendment.

Originally intended to put an end to the debate whether or not recently freed slaves were full-fledged American citizens, the 14th was widened to include all people in an 1898 case involving Wong Kim Ark, who was born in San Francisco and whose Chinese parents were not allowed to have citizenship because of the country's racist laws in effect at the time. 

The question of Wong Kim Ark's citizenship went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark that “the amendment, in clear words and in manifest intent, includes the children born within the territory of the United States of all other persons (except children born to enemy aliens and diplomats), of whatever race or color, domiciled within the United States.”

What Bush is referring to are the babies born to tourists from China in an illegal activity called "birth tourism." In most of those cases, the babies return to China with their mothers. Their hope is in the future, if things get dicey in China or the child wants to go to college in America, citizenship will make returning to the U.S. easier. Entering the U.S. on a tourist visa and giving birth is entering the U.S. on false pretenses by lying on your visa application. That violation shouldn't be lumped in with the children of undocumented parents, who are referred to with the derogatory term "anchor baby." 

At a campaign event in Colorado  today (Aug. 25) a voter asked Bush if he regretted "scapegoating" Asians by suggesting they are most at fault for entering the country illegally to give birth so that their children can be U.S. citizens.

"I was talking about a very narrowcasted system of fraud where people are bringing ... pregnant women in to have babies to have birthright citizenship," Bush answered.

Bush's backtracking on the use of "Anchor baby" was awkward and obviously an attempt to blunt the outrage from the Latino communities. All he's done is offend another constituency; a constituency, I might add, that has a faster rate towards citizenship (ie. new  voters) than any other immigrant group.

Thanks, Jeb, but, no thanks!

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

For the sake of irony! Enjoy and listen to the words.

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Carly Fiorina steps into a pile of ... when she makes some remarks about the Chinese

Presidential candidate Carly Fiorina addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference last summer.

NORMALLY, Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina wouldn't meet the parameters to be mentioned in Views From The Edge, ... BUT, she gets our attention when she says something like this:

“I’ve been doing business in China for decades, and I will tell you that yeah, the Chinese can take a test, but what they can’t do is innovate. They’re not terribly imaginative. They’re not entrepreneurial. They don’t innovate. That’s why they’re stealing our intellectual property.”

She made those remarks in January and they went practically unnoticed until Buzzfeed released the video below in which she also seems to advocate doing away with the Department of Education.



That's not the first time Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard CEO, made disparaging remarks about the Chinese. In her new book, "Rising to the Challenge: My Leadership Journey," she wrote:

"Proponents of Common Core argue that we must compete with the Chinese in subjects like math and science. I agree that we must compete, but we will not win by becoming more centralized and standardizedin our education methods. Although The Chinese are a gifted people, innovation an entrepreneurship are not their strong suits. Their society, as well as their educational system is too homogenized and controlled to encourage imagination an risk taking."

There goes the Chinese American vote! I guess you could argue that in contest, she was talking about the Chinese citizens of the Peoples' Republic of China, not our good ol', homegrown, born-in-the-USA, American-as-apple pie Chinese. But that doesn't take away the sting of her statements since so most Americans who don't have Asian roots don't make that distinction between Chinese Americans and Chinese from China.

It's always dangerous to use such sweeping generalities when referring to a whole country or lumping all Chinese into a single bloc. She should know better, especially if she sees herself one day dealing with China in the international scene on a whole gamut of issues beyond trade.

She seems to have a penchant for making controversial statements. When she got the Hewlett-Packard job - as an outsider and with zero experience in high tech or engineering - she made a statement saying: "I hope that we are at a point that everyone has figured out that there is not a glass ceiling.” As you might guess, the remark angered many women, especially those in the tech industry, which is under fire for its lack of racial and gender diversity. 

Fiorina's tenure at Hewlet-Packard was rocky because it was at the same time when the tech-bubble burst. As Hewlett-Packard's stock fell, she was forced out under a cloud with a $21-million severance check. Not bad for a Stanford grad majoring in medieval history and philosophy.

Five years ago she made her first foray into politics by running an unsuccessful campaign against incumbent U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer.

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