Tim Pool's shoplifting secret

In February, 2018, Tim Pool posted a video titled: "I PROVED STEALING FROM AMAZON GO IS INSANELY EASY."  (Yes, in all caps.)

Tim starts off by talking about the glories of the Amazon GO store, and then explains:  "There is, in fact, a problem, because shoplifting is so ridiculously easy from the Amazon store, I was able to walk out of the store with a bag full of groceries that I did not pay for."

Tim then shows footage he took from inside the Amazon GO store.  He has a bag of groceries and walks out.  "No edits, no cuts," he says, like a magician trying to wow his audience with a parlor trick.  He sits down a block away from the store and waits for his receipt to appear on his phone.  And indeed, the receipt shows Tim only paid for some peppermints.  Tim concludes:  "Shoplifting at Amazon GO is easier than any other store I have ever been to...I have successfully proven that it is absurdly easy to take a bag with whatever you want and walk out of the store and the system will not charge you for it."

Tim didn't explain in the video how he shoplifted from Amazon GO.  However, he later explained the process on his Discord server.  You can read the conversation here:
https://discordleaks.unicornriot.ninja/discord/view/9999778?q=#msg

Timcast:

I actually was able to take a full bag of shit out of the amazon store without paying
and its so stupid easy
no one tried to stop me
i wont make a vid about it or tweet but the discord is relatively small
so basically
steal items from someone elses bag
its so stupid easy
just walk up to someones bag and grab something
i did a bag swap
walked in
grabbed mints
put my bag down
grabbed a different bag
walked out
the other person will be charged for it
then that person will likely just get a refund
...
but my main point about amazon store is that
they have made it ridiculously easy to shoplift
their system is EASIER to steal from than a regular market
and no one will stop you
they are hoping the honor system works
...
i didnt steal anything legally tho, I did pay for everything
we used tow [sic] accounts
and I took the other accounts bag
emily filled a bag
then I went in and took her bag
she got charged for the items

So the secret it:  Take food from another person's bag!  Nobody will stop you.  Except maybe the person whose food you're taking.  They might mind.  But ideally they won't notice!

Anyway, I wanted to know what Tim's shoplifting secret was.  And evidently so did a few other people, like YouTube commenter MagicPeaceLove:

Heeeeeey, Alvin307, you son of a bitch, you figured it out!

TFW you accidentally refer to Hitler as a "hero"

We've all been there:

H/T:  The /r/DaveRubin subreddit:  https://www.reddit.com/r/daverubin/comments/cdi0gx/video_of_tim_pool_calling_adolf_hitler_a_ww2_hero/

Admittedly, I did not watch Tim's video before the edit.  But, judging by the YouTube comments, there were a whole lot of people who caught the remark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9g-M2adW74

That time Twitter tossed "Talia"

Here was another example of Twitter suspending an account that used a misleading profile photo:

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/21/tech/twitter-suspends-account-native-american-maga-teens/index.html

The twitter account, @2020Fight, helped make a video of the Covington Catholic kids go viral.  2020Fight claimed to be a California schoolteacher named Talia, yet she used a profile picture of a Brazilian blogger named Nah Cardoso.

So why did Twitter suspend the account?

A spokesperson for Twitter told CNN Business, "Deliberate attempts to manipulate the public conversation on Twitter by using misleading account information is a violation of the Twitter Rules." 

The source familiar with Twitter's investigation told CNN Business the company's initial findings suggested the account was run from the US, but said it can be difficult to determine an account owner's actual location.

Some people thought the account was based in Brazil, even though there's no logical reason to think that.  What exactly was the misleading account information?  Was it just the profile photo?  Was it the profile photo + the name Talia?  Was it something else entirely?  Because my gut says she really was a teacher in California.   

Let's see what the official Twitter rules say:  https://help.twitter.com/en/rules-and-policies/twitter-rules

Impersonation: You may not impersonate individuals, groups, or organizations in a manner that is intended to or does mislead, confuse, or deceive others. 

Hmm....

Talia?  Nah...

Carpe Donktum is....Logan Cook?

I was browsing The_Donald yesterday and saw this funny image titled: "According to CNN, Carpe Donktum has transcended from meme warrior to a being of pure light."

Come on, CNN.  You're one of the top news organizations in the world, and you don't know the identity of a guy visiting the White House?  Seriously???    You have to refer to him as an "anonymous troll"?  Also, why is his face grayed out?  There are plenty of pictures of Carpe Donktum on the internet.  He does interviews!  He's out in public...

Mr. Donktum (left)

Maybe CNN knows his name, but they're scared to reveal his identity, because of the dumpster fire they lit the last time they went after a meme-maker:  https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/media/340700-opinion-cnn-threat-to-unmask-trump-meme-creator-is-another-media

Regardless, this got my brain buzzing.  I've heard the name Carpe Donktum before, but I didn't know the guy was still ~anonymous~!  I just couldn't let this mystery stand.  I started digging around the internet, and, yada, yada, yada....  I found a Facebook profile for "Logan Cook" with pictures of Carpe Donktum:

When I Googled "Carpe Dunktum" + "Logan Cook," the only solid result was from the site www.carpedunktum.myportfolio.com.  The page features a collection of Donktum's videos, images, and gifs, as well as links to Donktum's social media profiles.  However, the portfolio page itself is titled "Logan Cook."



Could it be a coincidence?  Could it be that some programmer is pretending to be Carpe Donktum?  I doubt it.  The Facebook page wasn't recently created--it has a photo from 2015 showing the Kansas City Royals' World Series celebration.  I also found other clues, but....I have to be careful with how I present this stuff.  Carpe Donktum gave an interview to the Washington Post a few days ago where he expressed concern over harassment:  https://outline.com/Snwh92

“Where is the genius? I want to meet the genius," Trump said to @CarpeDonktum as the men entered the Oval Office, according to the recollection of @mad_liberals. Both men spoke to The Washington Post about their experience with the president on the condition their full names not be used, since they fear online or in-person harassment.

I'm not here to harass the guy.  He seems nice enough.  I just want to solve a mystery. 

RIP "Rebeccs"

Remember this tweet?

This viral tweet complaining about the Little Mermaid casting being racist has a profile pic stolen from an Instagram model. The “half black best friend” pic is taken from god knows where, but shows up in a bunch of Pinterest BFF roundups pic.twitter.com/aYMwKf1XNl

— Brandon Wall (@Walldo) July 4, 2019

The tweeter, a girl named Rebeccs, was threatening to throw her DVD copy of The Little Mermaid into the trash.  But eagle-eyed Brandon Wall noticed that the girl's profile picture was taken from elsewhere on the internet.  In other words: The girl was using a FAKE picture of herself.

My theory is that this was parody outrage.  The girl was just trolling, and she didn't seriously hate the casting decision.  But she knew the lemmings on Twitter would go CRAZY the moment they noticed someone dissing the choice of Halle Bailey for Ariel--especially if the person doing the dissing gave off a racist vibe.

Brandon Wall, however, zeroed in on the fact that the girl was using a fake profile photo.  And so, of course, you have a lot of people talking about how "Rebeccs" was a front.

Here's the thing, though:  I don't think people understood the nature of her deception.  Rebeccs was playing into the stereotype of a racist white girl, and she was doing it for laughs.  She wasn't, like, a Russian troll or anything.  (At least, I don't think so.)

The problem is that Twitter suspended Rebecc's account, so now there's no way to review her tweet history.  I did glance through her history briefly, and my impression was that she was American AF.  That was just my impression, though.  I wish I knew WHY Twitter suspended the account--that would be enlightening.

Rivitz's boycott

Breitbart is losing traffic.  Breitbart is losing advertisers.

WaPo wrote about Breitbart's struggles:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/whatever-happened-to-breitbart-the-insurgent-star-of-the-right-is-in-a-long-slow-fade/2019/07/02/c8f501a2-9cde-11e9-85d6-5211733f92c7_story.html

I don't have a problem with Breitbart. But other people do.  Other people are salty.

Matt Rivitz is among the saltiest.  Here are Matt's thoughts on the matter:

“Breitbart is in a terrible spot,” said Matt Rivitz, the advertising executive who started the Sleeping Giants campaign. He added, “They can either continue down the path of printing highly inflammatory content and continue to hemorrhage advertisers, or moderate their content to try to win advertisers back, but risk a backlash from their readership, many of whom who go to the site precisely for that content. They can’t win.”

Matt.  You're the one leading the campaign to get advertisers to boycott Breitbart.  You play a role.  And you're not going to stop your campaign.  Let's be real.  If Breitbart tries to change its tone to win back advertisers, you're just going to try and make Breitbart lose those exact same advertisers again.  I mean, look at this tweet which the @Slpng_Giants account re-tweeted a few days ago:

Heads up #3 @theintercept: your ads are on ‘alt-right’ Breitbart. Is that the best use of @firstlookmedia ad dollars? If not, @slpng_giants can help. Cc @betsyreed2 pic.twitter.com/3KpBqoipUu

— ... (@clochary) July 5, 2019

There's a Breitbart headline visible in the attached photo.  (You might have to click on it to see the full context.)  The headline says: "President Trump Notes ‘Great Crowd’ at Salute to America."  Sure, you can debate about how dumb the parade was, but there wasn't anything inherently inflammatory about the story!  It was just patriotic fluff.  Oh, wait...the photo in the tweet also shows a few trending items from Breitbart, one of which is: "Commies Burn Flag."  That's literally inflammatory!  I stand corrected.