28-08-2022, 11:41 AM
And it seems Groundswell has them as well.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politic...o-weed-out
"Groundswell is attempting to distance itself from local government candidates who espouse conspiratorial beliefs and spread misinformation.
The rural lobby group is not standing representatives in October’s local body elections. But Stuff has identified candidates, aligned with Groundswell, who share outlandish theories and harmful fake news about Covid-19 and vaccines.
One hopeful is Tracy Thomasson, their Whangārei convenor.
She presents herself as a struggling, community minded farmer. But online, Thomasson has a very different persona. Using social media she shares posts that question the safety of vaccines, and from leading anti-vax voice Guy Hatchard, and far-right outlet Counterspin Media.
Thomasson also spent four days at the occupation of Parliament grounds, which ended in a riot. She accused police of being “antagonists,” shared posts accusing officers of brutality, and made a series a requests for protestors to gather at Whangārei on 2 March, the day the protest camp was cleared.
She also shared articles containing inaccurate claims that a global elite is using the coronavirus pandemic to dismantle capitalism and enforce radical social change, and that a documentary may have been responsible for the New Lynn terror attack. In one post she praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for demanding payment in roubles for gas from countries which imposed sanctions after the invasion of Ukraine.
Thomasson changed her Facebook settings to private after being contacted by Stuff. In a bizarre interview, questions were first answered by a man speaking in the background. Thomasson then repeated, and expanded on his answers. She would not identify the man, who then began swearing at the reporter.
When asked about spreading misinformation, she said: “I’m not really a conspiracy theorist though...a lot of that is backed by science and is coming in, slow but sure, overseas. We are a little bit behind the times.” Stuff can find no evidence for this assertion about her posts."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politic...o-weed-out
"Groundswell is attempting to distance itself from local government candidates who espouse conspiratorial beliefs and spread misinformation.
The rural lobby group is not standing representatives in October’s local body elections. But Stuff has identified candidates, aligned with Groundswell, who share outlandish theories and harmful fake news about Covid-19 and vaccines.
One hopeful is Tracy Thomasson, their Whangārei convenor.
She presents herself as a struggling, community minded farmer. But online, Thomasson has a very different persona. Using social media she shares posts that question the safety of vaccines, and from leading anti-vax voice Guy Hatchard, and far-right outlet Counterspin Media.
Thomasson also spent four days at the occupation of Parliament grounds, which ended in a riot. She accused police of being “antagonists,” shared posts accusing officers of brutality, and made a series a requests for protestors to gather at Whangārei on 2 March, the day the protest camp was cleared.
She also shared articles containing inaccurate claims that a global elite is using the coronavirus pandemic to dismantle capitalism and enforce radical social change, and that a documentary may have been responsible for the New Lynn terror attack. In one post she praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for demanding payment in roubles for gas from countries which imposed sanctions after the invasion of Ukraine.
Thomasson changed her Facebook settings to private after being contacted by Stuff. In a bizarre interview, questions were first answered by a man speaking in the background. Thomasson then repeated, and expanded on his answers. She would not identify the man, who then began swearing at the reporter.
When asked about spreading misinformation, she said: “I’m not really a conspiracy theorist though...a lot of that is backed by science and is coming in, slow but sure, overseas. We are a little bit behind the times.” Stuff can find no evidence for this assertion about her posts."
in order to be old & wise, you must first be young & stupid. (I'm still working on that.)