As Twitchy reported, a DNA test has revealed that Hunter Biden is indeed the father of a baby born to an Arkansas woman he denied sleeping with while dating his brother’s widow. The news was revealed by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
But look closely at the tweet. Do you see it?
BREAKING: DNA testing has established that Hunter Biden is the father of an Arkansas baby, according to a motion filed Wednesday » https://t.co/8na5ZPtWm1 #ARnews #ArkDG
— AR Democrat-Gazette (@ArkansasOnline) November 20, 2019
GQ correspondent Julia Ioffe certainly took notice. Look at that Russian symbol after “Wednesday” — the one that looks like an arrow pointing to the link.
To her credit, she deleted her original tweets but took screenshots. “Note the Russian quotation mark” she highlighted, and then asked how to recreate that symbol on a QWERTY keyboard without spending more than three seconds. (We managed to do it: Option + Shift + gives you ».)
Anyway, back to the story »»»
Deleted a couple tweets after being correctly corrected. Turns out the paper had used that symbol before. It had jumped out to me, a Russian speaker (and keyboard user) as a quotation mark and looked like other, sloppy attempts by Russian trolls to push stories. 1/ pic.twitter.com/EcRkpkA6GT
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) November 20, 2019
I apologize for the mistake, and am explaining it in the interests of full transparency. Thank you, everyone, for pointing it out! /end
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) November 20, 2019
Recommended
Again, kudos for owning up, but come on.
lol
— ?It's?Almost ⛄️Christmas? (@jtLOL) November 20, 2019
So…is the story true or a plant by Arkansas Russians using their special Russian only codes?
Now I need to know!
— Christian Allen (@Serellan) November 20, 2019
So the Russians haven’t infiltrated Arkansas? That’s good news.
— Jeremy Bell (@thejeremybell) November 20, 2019
Yeah the Arkansas Democrat Gazette is totally in bed with the Russians.
— Jules of Denial (@Coolish_Breeze) November 20, 2019
No, @juliaioffe , your gut instincts were correct. @ArkansasOnline is in fact an elite cadre of deep cover FSB agents who came to smash US democracy but stayed for the hush puppies. ?
— Danny Hellman (@dannyhellman) November 20, 2019
To save yourself the scare next time, call them French quotation marks (they are). ?
— Daniel?☘(?️Victor Jara) (@irlandais05) November 20, 2019
They're called guillemets. They originated in French but are used in many other languages. https://t.co/7tmY2tAWFw
— Mandaliet (@teiladnam) November 20, 2019
Note that the « and » and also used in French as quotation marks. If you set your keyboard to french, they become easily accessible.
— Jean-François Mezei (@jfmezei) November 20, 2019
Why are these kinds of mistakes always in one direction?
— Adam Noble (@AdamDNoble) November 20, 2019
Speaking of Russian bots..
— Sean Agnew (@seanagnew) November 20, 2019
— John Anastasio (@JohnAnastasio56) November 20, 2019
Seek help
— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) November 20, 2019
Paranoid much? Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
— Asking for a Friend (@Galina_Imrie) November 20, 2019
Everything isn't related to Russia.
— Swav-ami Vice✘ ?™ (@SuaveVillain) November 20, 2019
— Andrew Follett (@AndrewCFollett) November 20, 2019
— Иot A Яeal Democrat ???? (@TulsiBot2020) November 20, 2019
To have Russia living rent free in peoples’ minds is amazing.
— Chris Broussard (@ChrisBroussard7) November 20, 2019
First assumption is always "The Russians are involved"…
That's a pretty sad place to be. ?♂️
— Grant Vandersee ?? ✝️ (@vandersee_grant) November 20, 2019
I respect your correction and coming clean, but this is symptomatic of deeper paranoia about Russia that is deeply unhealthy and troubling. I hope you are well.
— McZehut (@McZehut) November 20, 2019
Are we really back in the Cold War era with "journalists" seeing reds under every bed?
— Hubert (@HubertTheHilux) November 20, 2019
are the russian bots in the room with us now? can you see them?
— paranoidandroid (@idiosyncronaut) November 20, 2019
Now that it has been determined that the story is legitimate do you have an opinion about it?
— slzzpeasy (@slzzpeasy) November 20, 2019
* * *
Update:
And here’s the deputy online editor of @arkansasonline:
Yeah hi I am not a Russian troll, I just work at a paper in lil ole Arkansas
Sorry to disappoint @juliaioffe https://t.co/J06pd8X0ON
— Maggie McNeary (@maggiemcneary) November 21, 2019
Related:
Journo Julia Ioffe's attempt to tie American conservatives to Putin misses the mark https://t.co/Y6ENx8yU9V
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) December 17, 2018
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