Tuesday, March 06, 2018 4:29:08 AM
Mueller Probe Heats Up: 13 Russians Indicted, Ex-Trump Aide to Plead Guilty, Focus on Kushner Grows
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by Democracy Now! [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzuqE7-t13O4NIDYJfakrhw / https://www.youtube.com/user/democracynow , https://www.youtube.com/user/democracynow/videos ]
There have been a number of significant developments in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump administration. CNN is reporting Mueller is now investigating Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and his attempts to secure financing for his family’s business while working on the president’s transition team. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times is reporting former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates has agreed to plead guilty and testify against Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager. Under the deal, Gates will plead guilty to money laundering and illegal foreign lobbying. These developments come just days after the Justice Department indicted 13 Russians and three companies in connection with efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election by orchestrating an online propaganda effort to undermine the U.S. election system. We speak to Marcy Wheeler, an independent journalist who covers national security and civil liberties. She runs the website EmptyWheel.net [ https://www.emptywheel.net/ ].
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/2/20/mueller_probe_heats_up_13_russians [with embedded video, and transcript]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9-wfQzZ2HA [with comments]
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Robert Reich: Morality & the Common Good Must Be at Center of Fighting Trump’s Economic Agenda
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by Democracy Now!
As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump made a promise to the American people: There would be no cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Well, the promise has not been kept. Under his new budget, President Trump proposes a massive increase in Pentagon spending while cutting funding for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Trump’s budget would also slash or completely eliminate core anti-poverty programs that form the heart of the U.S. social safety net, from childhood nutrition to care for the elderly and job training. This comes after President Trump and Republican lawmakers pushed through a $1.5 trillion tax cut that overwhelmingly favors the richest Americans, including President Trump and his own family. We speak to Robert Reich, who served as labor secretary under President Bill Clinton. He is now a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His most recent book, out today, is titled “The Common Good [ https://www.amazon.com/Common-Good-Robert-B-Reich/dp/052552049X ].”
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/2/20/robert_reich_morality_the_common_good [with embedded video, and transcript]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzG2sjlpqac [with comments]
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Full Show - It’s The “Crumbs”, Stupid - 02/20/2018
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by Real News with David Knight [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC1L9FOMSaPgMyoLSnps47g , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC1L9FOMSaPgMyoLSnps47g/videos ]
20Feb18 Broadcast Real News with David Knight
Banks battle cryptocurrencies with FUD while pushing Wall Street as safe, yet the face of the NYSE has NEVER owned a single share of stock and Republicans are ready to hammer Democrats on the economy, tax cuts and “Crumbs”. And while a few youthful, useful idiots stage a “lie-in” at the White House to make guns disappear, a former FBI agent lies on CNN about government incompetence in the Parkland high school shooting and completely rewrites the history and purpose of the 2nd Amend to destroy it.
[from Alex Jones and his merry band of batshit bullshitters]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xU-Gkuy6xo [with comments] [also at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKPbie8U_nM (with comments)]
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Readout of President Donald J. Trump’s Call with President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico
Issued on: February 20, 2018
President Donald J. Trump spoke today with President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico to offer condolences to the families of the victims of the helicopter accident in Oaxaca. President Peña Nieto returned the sentiment and expressed Mexico’s solidarity with the United States following the high school shooting in Parkland, Florida. President Trump underscored his commitment to expanding cooperation between the United States and Mexico on security, trade, and immigration.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/readout-president-donald-j-trumps-call-president-enrique-pena-nieto-mexico-3/
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Alpha God: The Psychology of Religious Violence and Oppression (with Dr. Hector Garcia)
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by TheThinkingAtheist [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeYP27qLtfUMY1b1Cyy3WdQ / https://www.youtube.com/user/TheThinkingAtheist , https://www.youtube.com/user/TheThinkingAtheist/videos ]
Clinical psychologist Dr. Hector Garcia joins Seth Andrews for a candid (and potentially controversial) discussion about the origins and characteristics of man-made gods and the violence which so often defines them.
Dr. Garcia's book "Alpha God": https://www.amazon.com/Alpha-God-Psychology-Religious-Oppression/dp/1633880206
Dr. Garcia's website: https://www.hector-garcia.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiNLUeZGOcI [with comments]
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Full Show - Leftist Billboard Calling For Murder Of NRA Members Kept Up / Milo Hijacks Infowars - 02/20/2018
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by The Alex Jones Channel [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvsye7V9psc-APX6wV1twLg / https://www.youtube.com/user/TheAlexJonesChannel , https://www.youtube.com/user/TheAlexJonesChannel/videos ]
Tuesday, Feb. 20th 2018[, with an appearance by Laura Loomer]: Establishment Attacks 2nd Amendment - Paul Joseph Watson hosts this worldwide broadcast for the irreplaceable Alex Jones. An anti-Trump billboard pops up in Louisville encouraging violence against the NRA, as the mainstream media pushes their anti-gun narrative into high gear. And a writer for a popular far-left website pens an article calling for black people to start barking at white people who "speak out of turn." Meanwhile, President Trump slams former President Obama on Twitter for taking no action to prevent Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Author Milo Yiannapolous co-hosts the show today. All That Remains singer Phil Labonte joins in the final hour and discusses the recent controversy over his pro-Second Amendment remarks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q41ipXNLJPY [with comments] [also at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWAtK0r4fvw (additional text adapted from; with comments)]
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RWW News: Pat Robertson Calls For A Ban On Assault Weapons
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by RWW Blog [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMXqRHe8n1TX5iDvkLS62rw / https://www.youtube.com/user/RWWBlog , https://www.youtube.com/user/RWWBlog/videos ]
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/its-sensible-pat-robertson-call-for-a-ban-on-assault-weapons/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm4kgu6vVok [with comments]
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Gordon Klingenschmitt Says Christians Are Being Forced To Participate In A 'Perverted Threesome'
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by RWW Blog
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/gordon-klingenschmitt-lgbtq-activists-are-forcing-christian-business-owners-to-participate-in-a-perverted-threesome/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8_O1ANhO6c [with comments]
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Proving New Age woo by rewriting Genesis 1 (Johan Oldenkamp P2)
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by Logicked [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaFNs3ETMvkmy0JahAS6WJA / https://www.youtube.com/user/logicked , https://www.youtube.com/user/logicked/videos ]
Genesis 1 precisely matches Johan’s interpretation...if he mostly ignores Genesis 1.
Another option for what he might have misunderstood to get “big bangs all over the place” is the idea that initially all points would have been at “the center”, so every point can be said to be “the center” of the Big Bang, or that no point is the center. We can keep guessing what he heard forever, but we’ll probably never know.
[Part 1, "Johan Oldenkamp shares his truth (which isn’t true) (and makes no sense)", included at/see also in particular (linked in) https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=138775039 and preceding and following (earlier this string)]
Response to:
Johan Oldenkamp "The Original Ten Commandments"
Open Mind Conference 2015. Johan Oldenkamp graduated in cognitive psychology and knowledge engineering. He got a PhD for researching how to combine artificial intelligence with operations research.
He became a professor of knowledge transfer, innovation and entrepreneurship at Stenden University. In 2008, he resigned from his job in order to devote all his time, energy and savings to the further development of Wholly Science. Since then, he lives (by his own choice) without income from a job or unemployment benefit.
In 2012, Johan participated in the Dutch parliamentary elections as the leader of a new political party.
Lecture: Title: "The Original Ten Commandments" Due to translation errors, ignorance, and even malevolence, not all wordings in the contemporary Bible are correct. However, based on his understanding of Wholly Science, Dr. Oldenkamp has, in several cases, been able to restore the original meaning of these ancient writings.
In his lecture, he will reveal the original meaning of both The Creation and The Ten Commandments. Their genuine meaning has nothing to do with believing, as these ancient writings were meant to develop our scientific understanding of the True Nature of this reality. http://www.pateo.nl/
https://www.openmindconference.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvlv8OuKYhY [with comments]
JPS Tanakh 1917: http://studybible.info/JPS_ASV_Byz/Genesis%201
NBC screws up the news: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5051818/
BBC screws up the news exactly the same way: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3753115.stm
The study NBC, BBC, etc. screwed up: https://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0310233.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0ji0kIXURM [with comments] [and see also in particular (linked in) https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123291554 and preceding and following]
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WATCH: Sarah Sanders holds White House news briefing
Streamed live on Feb 20, 2018 by PBS NewsHour [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6ZFN9Tx6xh-skXCuRHCDpQ / https://www.youtube.com/user/PBSNewsHour , https://www.youtube.com/user/PBSNewsHour/videos ]
President Donald Trump's press secretary Sarah Sanders holds White House news briefing.
Press Briefing by Press Secretary Sarah Sanders
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
February 20, 2018
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/press-briefing-press-secretary-sarah-sanders-022018/ [official transcript]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWMuzBjwzoU [comments disabled] [official White House upload at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDTgCIV_T5o (with comments)]
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WATCH: President Trump holds Public Safety Medal of Valor Awards Ceremony at the White House
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by PBS NewsHour
President Donald Trump holds the Public Safety Medal of Valor Awards Ceremony at the White House.
Remarks by President Trump at Medal of Valor Ceremony
East Room
February 20, 2018
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-medal-valor-ceremony/ [official transcript]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6WnLz_Ow4o [comments disabled] [official White House upload at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkZz57CpliA (with comments)]
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Full Show - Florida School Shooting Distracts From WW3 - 02/20/2018
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by War Room [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClsn7QZVdszxLlUs-GOG0Sg , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClsn7QZVdszxLlUs-GOG0Sg/videos ]
As more strangeness is emerging from the Florida shooting, we look at the angles developing as well as the stories the shooting is distracting from. Mueller releases a new indictment, again of a foreign citizen, and the state of California is becoming a literal sh*t hole, as health officials are warning of feces covered streets.
[from Alex Jones and his merry band of batshit bullshitters]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giJE7RI0GH0 [with comments] [also, edited, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhxtvajMz7c (with comments)]
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The Confederacy Wasn't About Slavery?
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by VICELAND [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWF0PiUvUi3Jma2oFgaiX2w , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWF0PiUvUi3Jma2oFgaiX2w/videos , https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ_hwG6UuEJZlH-s_B_sTm30XN4pKf8MA ]
Andrew Duncomb "The Black Rebel" tries to explain that a lot of Confederates "treated the slaves as equal" and General Robert E. Lee "believed slavery was wrong."
WATCH NEXT:
Anti-Abortion Protestors (and The People Who Protest Them)
Jamali attends a protest at a closed Planned Parenthood and meets with anti-abortion preacher Jeff Durbin and Pro-Choice advocates including Errol Mcinnes, a man who follows Jeff regularly in counter-protest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEm15tUftEU [with comments] [and see also in particular (linked in) https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=116934925 and preceding and following, https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=117039737 and preceding (and any future following), https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=121463619 and preceding and following, https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123276999 and preceding (and any future following)]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOey7P-3EL4 [with comments] [and see also in particular (linked in) https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=60232115 and (the many) following]
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SPLC talks about teaching hard history with Prof. Hasan Jeffries
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by Southern Poverty Law Center [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJqloayL-p1TP4Ed_fr53CA / https://www.youtube.com/user/SPLCenter , https://www.youtube.com/user/SPLCenter/videos ]
SPLC’s Maureen Costello and Professor Hasan Jeffries on the SPLC’s new report: Teaching Hard History [ https://www.splcenter.org/20180131/teaching-hard-history , https://www.splcenter.org/teaching-hard-history-american-slavery , https://www.tolerance.org/frameworks/teaching-hard-history/american-slavery ].
The report concludes that schools are not adequately teaching the history of American slavery, educators are not sufficiently prepared to teach it, textbooks do not have enough material about it, and – as a result – students lack a basic knowledge of the important role it played in shaping the United States and the impact it continues to have on race relations in America.
Jeffries holds a Ph.D. in American history with a specialization in African-American history and is an Associate Professor of History at The Ohio State University and chair of the Teaching Hard History Advisory Board.
Costello is the director of Teaching Tolerance, the SPLC’s program providing free resources to educators to reduce prejudice, improve intergroup relations and support equitable school experiences for our nation’s children.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydPpAeuyaTQ [with comments] [id.]
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Fmr. Trump aide: Donald Trump "screws everyone"
The Beat with Ari Melber
2/20/18
On the day Bob Mueller obtained a guilty plea from a lawyer in the Russia probe, former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg, who was cited 19 times in ‘Fire and Fury’, tells Ari Melber he’s “worried” about Trump’s own lawyer Michael Cohen. Nunberg says for the first time Mueller’s team asked him for an interview, and adds that Donald Trump “screws” everyone, but has done it to Michael Cohen the most.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/fmr-trump-aide-donald-trump-screws-everyone-1166089283533 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMU9jG3aV7g [with comments]
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This Is The Political Aftermath Of The Parkland School Shooting (HBO)
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by VICE News [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZaT_X_mc0BI-djXOlfhqWQ / https://www.youtube.com/user/vicenews , https://www.youtube.com/user/vicenews/videos ]
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students are bussing by the dozens to Tallahassee this week to lobby their lawmakers to pass gun control legislation, in the wake of the shooting that left 17 of their classmates and teachers dead last week.
But they face difficult odds in trying to get anything done in Florida, where gun rights proponents have a strong grasp on the Republican-controlled state legislature.
One of those gun-rights defenders, GOP State Sen. Dennis Baxley, told VICE News that he opposes any restrictions on assault weapons — the kind of gun used by the Stoneman Douglas shooter.
"You can't just make policy that doesn't work," he said. "It's the mindset that's the issue," not the weapon.
But Democrats believe now the time is ripe for reform. State Rep. Jared Moskowitz, who represents the district where the shooting ocurred, said the efforts by the Stoneman Douglas students were helping to encourage moderate Republicans to take a look at gun control for the first time in a decade.
He noted, however, Democrats need to be ready to compromise.
“If Republicans are willing to give an inch, I'm taking it, and then I'll go get another inch and another and another. I am not willing to squander the opportunity to do something,” he said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikoc7cXBeQE [with comments]
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Engineering Immortality: How To Get Everyone To Live To 100, VICE on HBO, Full Episode
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by VICE News
Nowadays, most of us will die from one of four things: heart disease, cancer, diabetes or dementia. And the single biggest risk factor for getting these diseases? Age itself.
The incidence of disease skyrockets for most people after the age of 65, but people who live in certain places called Blue Zones have average life spans of 10 to 15 years longer.
One of these places is Okinawa, a string of islands in southern Japan, where living a long life is considered one of the greatest human achievements. In Okinawa, people who turn 97 even get honored with a special celebration called Kajimaya.
Dr. Makoto Suzuki has been studying the people of Okinawa to find out just what it is that allows them to fend off the effects of aging for so much longer than most.
“These people are genetically predisposed to longevity. Some families lack genes that would make them susceptible to disease,” Suzuki said. “It’s because their DNA is different.”
Like Suzuki, scientists around the world are turning to the growing field of longevity research to try to hack our metabolisms and DNA to fend off age-related illnesses.
VICE News explored the world of modern-day lifespan hacking and whether or not science can actually engineer immortality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQbWdqxTWsk [with comments]
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"Trump has done literally zero" to stop Russia
All In with Chris Hayes
2/20/18
Jake Sullivan, a former top aide to Hillary Clinton, says Trump has left the door wide open for Russia to disrupt the midterm elections.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-trump-has-done-literally-zero-to-stop-russia-1166120003868
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WH won’t say if Kushner still has access to classified info
All In with Chris Hayes
2/20/18
Jared Kushner, one of the most senior White House aides operating without a permanent security clearance, reportedly “issues more requests for information to the intelligence community than any White House employee.”
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/wh-won-t-say-if-kushner-still-has-access-to-classified-info-1166126147571
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CPAC leaves LaPierre's name off schedule to avoid protests
All In with Chris Hayes
2/20/18
NRA executive Wayne LaPierre will be speaking at CPAC this year, despite the fact that they left his name off the official schedule. Sources say it's a "precaution...amid outrage among anti-gun protesters" after last week's shooting at a Florida high school.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/cpac-leaves-lapierre-s-name-off-schedule-to-avoid-protests-1166146627919 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl33ekiVKdM [with comments]
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New poll: Highest level of support for gun control ever
All In with Chris Hayes
2/20/18
The political power of the student survivors of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School appears to have already had some effect.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/new-poll-highest-level-of-support-for-gun-control-ever-1166149699589 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHvluhu1Oew [with comments]
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Romney said he wouldn't accept Trump endorsement. He did.
All In with Chris Hayes
2/20/18
In 2016, Mitt Romney called Donald Trump a "fraud" and a "phony" and said he regretted accepting his endorsement. Now, in 2018, he's thanking the president for his support.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/romney-said-he-wouldn-t-accept-trump-endorsement-he-did-1166150723689 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrRBhHOjqWA [with comments]
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Trump asks DoJ for recommendations on bump stock regulation
The Rachel Maddow Show
2/20/18
Rachel Maddow reports on Donald Trump pushing the Department of Justice for ways to regulate bump stocks by executive order instead of legislation from Congress.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-asks-doj-for-recommendations-on-bump-stock-regulation-1166256195787
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Nepotism likely to save Kushner in White House security crackdown
The Rachel Maddow Show
2/20/18
Rachel Maddow reports on new confusion in the White House as a new policy of enforcing security clearances appears to be in conflict with the continued employment of the still-not-cleared Jared Kushner.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/nepotism-likely-to-save-kushner-in-white-house-security-crackdown-1166257731698
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Americans google Alex van der Zwaan as Mueller issues new charges
The Rachel Maddow Show
2/20/18
Rachel Maddow reviews recent Ukrainian political history by way of explaining new charges in Robert Mueller's Trump Russia investigation against a lawyer who is also the son-in-law of a Ukrainian-Russian oligarch, Alex van der Zwaan.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/americans-google-alex-van-der-zwaan-as-mueller-issues-new-charges-1166215747657 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkqc9IXVu6w [with comments]
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Mueller catches lawyer lying, brings new charges
The Rachel Maddow Show
2/20/18
Rachel Maddow continues to review recent Ukrainian political history by way of explaining new charges in Robert Mueller's Trump Russia investigation against a lawyer who is also the son-in-law of a Ukrainian-Russian oligarch, Alex van der Zwaan.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/mueller-catches-lawyer-lying-brings-new-charges-1166217283794
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Democrats appear to extend streak with another red/blue flip
The Rachel Maddow Show
2/20/18
Rachel Maddow reports on the apparently victory of Democrat Linda Belcher in a Kentucky state special election, at least the 37th flip by Democrats of a district that went heavily for Donald Trump in 2016.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/apparent-democratic-victory-in-kentucky-extends-streak-of-flips-1166256707883
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Disparate dots find connections in Robert Mueller indictments
The Rachel Maddow Show
2/20/18
Rachel Maddow looks at the relationships that bring today's charges by Robert Mueller against lawyer Alex van der Zwaan right into Vladimir Putin's inner circle.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/disparate-dots-find-connections-in-robert-mueller-indictments-1166248003765
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Mueller follows the money overseas back to Washington
The Rachel Maddow Show
2/20/18
Ken Vogel, political reporter for The New York Times, talks with Rachel Maddow about the themes becoming visible in what is known so far about Robert Mueller's investigation.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/mueller-follows-the-money-overseas-back-to-washington-1166222915655
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US State Dept suggests asking Russia about US State Dept business
The Rachel Maddow Show
2/20/18
Rachel Maddow updates viewers on the search for answers about a visit to the U.S. but Russia's top spy officials. In the case of whether the State Department gave the sanctioned GRU chief, Igor Korobov, a travel waiver, State directed TRMS to get the answer from Russia.
DNI response to Sen Chuck Schumer about Russian Intel Chiefs' visit to US
http://www.msnbc.com/sites/msnbc/files/dni_schumer_reply_180220.pdf
Senator Schumer's original letter
https://www.democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Letter.Schumer%20to%20Coats%20re%20RUS.pdf
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/us-state-dept-suggests-asking-russia-about-us-state-dept-business-1166187587653 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2wnDIl6XTk [with comments]
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Lawrence: White House dodges questions on major scandals
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
2/20/18
The White House held its first press briefing in a week and it lasted only 17 minutes. Lawrence O'Donnell argues this is a strategy to avoid answering questions on the scandals plaguing the administration.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/lawrence-white-house-dodges-questions-on-major-scandals-1166210627933
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Thomas Friedman's 'code red' warning about Trump
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
2/20/18
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman argues that President Donald Trump is undermining the nation's democracy. He explains to Lawrence O'Donnell why he can't find any optimism for the Trump presidency.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/thomas-friedman-s-code-red-warning-about-trump-1166210627991 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQN5GK3zbxA [with comments]
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In the Rewrite: The new job description for America's teachers
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
2/20/18
In tonight's Rewrite, Lawrence O'Donnell says the job description for American teachers now includes how to handle mass murder, as Dara Hass found out. Hass is an English teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and 3 of her students were killed last week.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/lawrence-on-the-new-job-description-for-america-s-teachers-1166201411617 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbCbPRg5UfE [with comments]
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NYT: Kushner & Kelly warring over access to top secret docs
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
2/21/18
According to The New York Times, Trump's chief of staff John Kelly and his son-in-law Jared Kushner are in a standoff over Kushner's access to classified information given that Kushner still is working on an interim security clearance. Our panel reacts.
©2018 NBCNews.com
[originally aired February 20, 2018]
http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/nyt-kushner-kelly-warring-over-access-to-top-secret-docs-1166245443942
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Where were Ivanka & Kushner as Trump raged over Russia?
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
2/21/18
While Trump raged in a tweetstorm over Russia attacking everyone from Obama to Oprah, Jared Kushner & Ivanka Trump - both on the White House staff - were vacationing in the Caribbean according to a Vanity Fair report.
©2018 NBCNews.com
[originally aired February 20, 2018]
http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/where-were-ivanka-kushner-as-trump-raged-over-russia-1166249539934 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRhJin3sqzM [with comments]
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Mueller's fourth guilty plea: Who is Alex van der Zwaan?
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
2/21/18
What do we know about the son-in-law of a Russian oligarch, Alex van der Zwaan, the latest person to plead guilty to Russia Special Counsel Robert Mueller? And what does it mean for Mueller's investigation? Julia Ainsley & Joyce Vance react.
©2018 NBCNews.com
[originally aired February 20, 2018]
http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/mueller-s-fourth-guilty-plea-who-is-alex-van-der-zwaan-1166256195792 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cakB6cNhBVc [with comments]
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Why Mueller's latest guilty plea could be bad for Manafort
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
2/21/18
Russia Special Counsel Robert Mueller now has his fourth guilty plea, this time from a Dutch lawyer named Alex van der Zwaan. Fmr. federal prosecutor Joyce Vance explains why that could be bad news for Trump's fmr. campaign boss Paul Manafort.
©2018 NBCNews.com
[originally aired February 20, 2018]
http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/why-mueller-s-latest-guilty-plea-could-be-bad-for-manafort-1166257219829
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We Don´t Care
Published on Feb 22, 2018 by Mike Malloy [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpU4j-LN_aibXA1gONvWzxw / https://www.youtube.com/user/hschulein , https://www.youtube.com/user/hschulein/videos ]
The Florida state House on Tuesday rejected a ban on many semiautomatic guns and large capacity magazines as dozens of survivors of last week's school shooting headed to the state Capitol to turn their grief into political action.
Lawmakers voted down a motion to consider the ban during a session that opened with a prayer for the 17 people killed by a former student last Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The vote in the Republican-dominated body was 36-71.
Stoneman Douglas students in the gallery of the Capitol during the vote appeared stunned.
Full story: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/20/us/florida-legislature-weapons-ban/index.html
[originally aired February 20, 2018]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opz2AZ-0D4I [with comments].
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gITrLFMdBM [with comments]
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AR-15 Raffle For Youth Baseball Team Sparks Outrage
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by Mike Malloy
A youth baseball team in Missouri is drawing national criticism for proceeding with the raffle of an AR-15 assault rifle in the wake of Florida’s deadly school shooting that killed 17 people.
The third-grade team from Neosho, Missouri is using the funds from the raffle to pay for their travel expenses after the weapon was reportedly donated by the father of one of the players.
Coach Levi Patterson defended the raffle when speaking to The Kansas City Star and stated that he hoped to “turn it into a positive thing,” despite social media backlash. “I applaud them for standing up for what they believe in,” he said of those protesting the raffle. “I just think they have feelings to this specific type of gun (that are) different than people around here do,” told the Star.
Full story: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/02/20/ar-15-raffle-youth-baseball/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJnsMV3EZOI [with comments]
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Parkland Shooting Survivors School Congress on Gun Violence: The Daily Show
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by The Daily Show with Trevor Noah [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwWhs_6x42TyRM4Wstoq8HA , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwWhs_6x42TyRM4Wstoq8HA/videos ]
While Fox News and Marco Rubio dodge the topic of gun control after a school shooting in Parkland, FL, teen survivors stage protests to call for common sense legislation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQcaYYHqrUY [with (over 7,000) comments]
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Back in Black: How Territorial Rats Could Fix New York City's Transit Woes - The Daily Show
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Lewis Black catches up on all things New York City, from crime rates to famously faulty subways.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xNVNBxU0BM [with comments]
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America's Teens Experiment with Gun Control - The Opposition w/ Jordan Klepper
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by Comedy Central [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUsN5ZwHx2kILm84-jPDeXw / https://www.youtube.com/user/comedycentral , https://www.youtube.com/user/comedycentral/videos , https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD7nPL1U-R5r5XD8saDuOBVj1z69Y_4iK ]
Florida's student activists throw a wrench in Jordan's foolproof strategy for evading the uncomfortable gun control debate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAmtPLp0kcs [with comments]
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Carly Novell & Delaney Tarr - Reforming Gun Laws with #NeverAgain - The Opposition w/ Jordan Klepper
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by Comedy Central
Students Carly Novell and Delaney Tarr, survivors of the high school mass shooting in Parkland, FL, discuss their call for common-sense gun control legislation in the U.S.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVoe5SH_K8k [with comments]
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If Politicians Won't Take Action, These High Schoolers Will
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMtFAi84ehTSYSE9XoHefig , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMtFAi84ehTSYSE9XoHefig/videos ]
There's only one group Stephen thinks can actually defend the kids. And it is. . . the kids.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa0tSw2iV5o [with (over 14,000) comments]
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The GOP Finally Proposes A Ban
Published on Feb 21, 2018 by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
A GOP representative assures us that our elected officials are hard at work to ban something even more dangerous than assault weapons: numbers.
[originally aired February 20, 2018]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-9IJgU3Ooo [with comments]
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Trump's Twitter Spree After Robert Mueller's Russia Indictments
Published on Feb 21, 2018 by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
President Trump had a lot to say after the special counsel's influence in the 2016 election. . . but not to condemn Russia.
[originally aired February 20, 2018]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btxciF35Qnk [with comments]
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Trump's State Of Affairs. . . Actual Affairs
Published on Feb 21, 2018 by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
All of Trump's exes live in the news cycle. Stephen looks at Rachel Crooks' accusations of sexual assault against the President and Playboy model Karen McDougal's account an extramarital affair.
[originally aired February 20, 2018]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQQ9HoGgl_Q [with comments]
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Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand: 'The NRA Has A Chokehold On Congress'
Published on Feb 21, 2018 by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand discusses her frustration with her colleagues in Congress and their inability to take action after yet another mass shooting in a school.
[originally aired February 20, 2018 (U.S. central time)]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWOxjo65if0 [with comments]
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Donald Trump Jr. in INDIA Peddling POWER & Influence on the Tax Payers Dime !
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by Bravo Alternative Media https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVV0_xnA_z-ALo6kZJz2WXA , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVV0_xnA_z-ALo6kZJz2WXA/videos ]
Donald Trump Jr. is in INDIA to give a Foreign Policy Speech and Modi will be there to listen. What was that Promise to keep the Family Business and Government Separate ? Junior will also have a Secret Meeting with Canada Trudeau about selling off some American assets. India already has many Cyber Contracts locked up on the Cyber Border Wall the TRUMP REGIME is building to make his friends RICH. "How to Peddle Power and Influence the Trump Way" the next big Trump book to come out soon !!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYfgkdcoBzc [with comments]
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Mueller Israel-Mafia-Gate Heats Up, Alex Van Der Zwaan Pleads Guilty, Donald Trump Sweating !
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by Bravo Von Muller [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4G1zEStJMqN3mnEONXA7Mw , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4G1zEStJMqN3mnEONXA7Mw/videos ]
The Mueller Israeli-Mafia-Gate investigation is heating up. Alex Van Der Zwaan pleads Guilty today and I think if Donald Trump has a Brain, he would be Sweating about now. Funny how MSM lies about the entire Sad Russia-Russian Story of how Donald Trump let the Israel Zionist Mafia walk into the White House !!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4EZ-5FuRzI [with comments]
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stashed February 20, 2018:
Trump is ignoring the worst attack on America since 9/11
By Max Boot
Imagine if, after 9/11, the president had said that the World Trade Center and Pentagon could have been attacked by “China” or “lots of other people.” Imagine if he had dismissed claims of al-Qaeda’s responsibility as a “hoax” and said that he “really” believed Osama bin Laden’s denials. Imagine if he saw the attack primarily as a political embarrassment to be minimized rather than as a national security threat to be combated. Imagine if he threatened to fire the investigators trying to find out what happened.
Imagine, moreover, if the president refused to appoint a commission to study how to safeguard America. Imagine if, as a result, we did not harden cockpit doors. If we did not create a Transportation Security Administration and a Department of Homeland Security. If we did not lower barriers between law enforcement and intelligence. If we did not pass a USA Patriot Act to enhance surveillance. And if we did not take myriad other steps to prevent another 9/11.
That’s roughly where we stand after the second-worst foreign attack on America in the past two decades. The Russian subversion of the 2016 election did not, to be sure, kill nearly 3,000 people. But its longer-term impact may be even more corrosive by undermining faith in our democracy.
The evidence of Russian meddling became “incontrovertible,” in the word of national security adviser H.R. McMaster, after special counsel Robert S. Mueller III indicted 13 Russians and three Russian organizations on Friday for taking part in this operation. “Defendants’ operations included supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump (‘Trump Campaign’) and disparaging Hillary Clinton,” the indictment charges.
Yet in a disturbing weekend tweetstorm, President Trump attacked the FBI, Democrats, even McMaster — anyone but the Russians. He sought to minimize the impact of the Kremlin’s intrusion, tweeting: “The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion!” Actually, there’s plenty of evidence of collusion, including the infamous June 2016 meeting that Trump’s son, son-in-law and campaign manager held with Russian representatives who promised to “incriminate” Hillary Clinton.
There is also considerable evidence that the Kremlin impacted the election, which was decided by fewer than 80,000 votes in three states. Trump must have thought the Russian operation was significant because he mentioned its handiwork — the release of Democratic Party documents via WikiLeaks — 137 times in the final month of the campaign. On top of that, Russian propaganda reached at least 126 million Americans via Facebook alone.
The onslaught did not end in 2016. Russian trolls have continued promoting hashtags such as #ReleaseTheMemo to sow dissension and division. Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats just testified that Russia “views the 2018 U.S. midterm elections as a potential target for Russian influence operations.” Yet Trump has never convened a Cabinet meeting to address this threat and has resisted implementing sanctions passed by Congress.
The president’s obstructionism makes it impossible to appoint an 11/8 Commission to study this cyber-assault and to recommend responses. Various agencies, such as the FBI, are trying to combat the Russians on their own, but there is no coordinated response.
Much of the work has been left to social media platforms such as Google, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter that had to be dragged kicking and screaming into revealing the extent of Russian penetration, because they don’t want to lose ad revenue and users. Their apathy was underscored by a Friday tweet from Facebook vice president Rob Goldman that was eagerly quoted by Trump himself: “Most of the coverage of Russian meddling involves their attempt to effect the outcome of the 2016 US election. I have seen all of the Russian ads and I can say very definitively that swaying the election was *NOT* the main goal.” That may be technically accurate as it applies to Facebook ads, but it is also highly deceptive. These ads were only a small part of a vast Russian operation utilizing hackers and trolls that, as Mueller noted, was designed to sway the election.
Just as Sept. 11 made clear that private security could not safeguard the aviation system, so the 2016 Russian attack made clear that social media companies cannot safeguard the electoral system. A greater federal role is needed, yet Trump refuses to even admit that the problem exists.
The most benign explanation is that he is putting his vanity — he can’t have anything taint his glorious victory — above his obligation to “protect and defend the Constitution.” The more sinister hypothesis is that he has something to hide and, having benefited from Russia’s assistance once, hopes for more aid in 2018 and 2020. Either way, we are at war without a commander in chief.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-is-ignoring-the-worst-attack-on-america-since-911/2018/02/18/5ad888f2-14f3-11e8-8b08-027a6ccb38eb_story.html
more: https://www.google.com/search?q=trump+is+ignoring+the+worst+attack+on+america
Mr. Trump: They’re laughing at you, not with you
By Eugene Robinson
President Trump is right about one thing: They must be “laughing their asses off” in Moscow.
At him.
Faced with compelling evidence that Russian cyber-saboteurs worked to sway the 2016 election, influencing swing-state voters with lies on social media and even staging real-life campaign rallies, Trump’s only response has been a frantic and pathetic attempt to protect his own delicate ego. “But wasn’t I a great candidate?” he pleaded Sunday on Twitter.
Protecting our democracy obviously concerns Trump not at all. But you’re probably not surprised.
In a stunning indictment announced on Friday, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III laid out in painstaking detail how a group of paid Internet trolls based in St. Petersburg worked diligently to “sow discord in the U.S. political system.” They began with the aim of creating general mischief, but “by early to mid-2016, Defendants’ operations included supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump (‘Trump Campaign’) and disparaging Hillary Clinton.”
There it is, in black and white: Trump was elected with the active help of Russian President Vladimir Putin. While Putin is not named as a co-conspirator, the man behind the scheme — an oligarch named Yevgeniy Prigozhin — is a longtime crony known in Russia as “Putin’s chef.” The idea that he would meddle in a U.S. election without orders from Putin is ludicrous.
The 13 named defendants are presumably in Russia, beyond the reach of U.S. justice. Mueller’s account of what they allegedly did is simply infuriating. Voters who saw the Russians’ Facebook, Instagram and Twitter posts were led to believe they were being lobbied by their fellow citizens — not by an adversarial foreign power.
They tried to convince Muslim voters that Clinton was anti-Islam, and tried to convince anti-Muslim voters that she favored imposing sharia law. They tried to suppress the African American vote with an Instagram account named “Woke Blacks” that called Clinton “the lesser of two devils,” and argued “we’d surely be better off without voting AT ALL.” They purchased online ads calling Clinton “a Satan” and falsely accused her of voter fraud while claiming that “Donald Trump is the one and only [candidate] who can defend the police from terrorists.”
They organized and promoted actual pro-Trump and anti-Clinton rallies in Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, according to the indictment, and they targeted their social media campaigns at other swing states. To pay for all of this, they established fraudulent U.S. identities and bank accounts so that no one would know they were heeding political advice from Russians employed by “Putin’s chef.”
Mueller’s big splash sent Trump into a full-fledged Twitter conniption that, by Monday, showed no sign of easing. It would be a waste of space to quote all of Trump’s bleating, but basically he tried to claim that the indictment proves two things: Whatever the Russians did or didn’t do, they had no impact on the outcome of the election; and there was no collusion — or as Trump would put it, NO COLLUSION — between the Russians and the Trump campaign.
Deep down, he must know the indictment says nothing of the sort.
Of course the Russians had some impact. If communicating via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter were a useless way to influence voters, campaigns wouldn’t bother with social media strategies. If rallies didn’t produce votes, campaigns would find better uses for the money and effort it takes to stage them.
It’s true that it is impossible to say how much impact this element of the Russian meddling offensive had. Would it have made a difference if more African Americans had voted in the Rust Belt states that Trump unexpectedly won? Or if fewer progressives had voted for the Green Party’s Jill Stein, whose candidacy the Russians worked hard to boost? Perhaps some clever political science professor will figure it all out someday.
As for collusion, it is true that Mueller does not allege that anyone from the Trump campaign knowingly participated in the Prigozhin conspiracy. But it goes deeper: Intelligence officials say the Russians hacked into the email accounts of both the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, and then leaked that material to do maximum damage to Clinton’s prospects. We don’t know if there was collusion in that scheme — or in other schemes we might not yet know about.
Late Saturday night, well past his usual bedtime, Trump was wide-awake and still tweeting: “The only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems. Remember the Dirty Dossier, Uranium, Speeches, Emails and the Podesta Company!”
Stop laughing, Vladimir Putin. You’ll hurt yourself.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mr-trump-theyre-laughing-at-you-not-with-you/2018/02/19/18605e7e-15b0-11e8-b681-2d4d462a1921_story.html
The Flawed Nationalism of Donald Trump
The president can’t grasp that what matters most about the Russia attack is not what it reveals about his political legitimacy but what it reveals about America’s national vulnerability.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/the-flawed-nationalism-of-donald-trump/553721/
Facebook Battles New Criticism After U.S. Indictment Against Russians
Comments by Facebook’s head of advertising after indictment spark further backlash
Facebook Inc. FB -0.76%? is contending with a new wave of criticism prompted by the U.S. indictment alleging that Russia manipulated social-media platforms—and by a Facebook executive’s attempts to address the issue.
The indictment against Russian companies and individuals described how an organization called the Internet Research Agency allegedly used Facebook, Twitter Inc., TWTR -0.67%? and the YouTube arm of Alphabet Inc.’s GOOGL 0.74%? Google to sow discord in the U.S. starting in 2014. The document’s description of events showed that Facebook and its Instagram photo-sharing unit were particularly central to the alleged Russian attempts to influence U.S. public opinion.
Researchers who study social media said the indictment, secured by special counsel Robert Mueller, showed that Facebook was ill-prepared for such efforts. Facebook has more than 25,000 employees, but fewer than 100 Russian provocateurs armed with social-media savvy and widely available technological tools were able to manipulate its platform for years, the indictment says.
Comments by Facebook’s head of advertising, Rob Goldman, after the indictment was handed up Friday fueled further criticism. Mr. Goldman, writing on Twitter, said there are “easy ways to fight” the Russian campaign, starting with having a “well educated citizenry.” He also tweeted that the Russians’ main goal wasn’t to sway the 2016 election, but more broadly to sow division in the U.S.
Mr. Goldman’s series of eight tweets provoked more than 9,000 responses on Twitter, many of them angry.
“You really are not in a position to preach and your astonishing tweets have created confusion and anger,” Mainardo de Nardis, a senior executive at advertising giant Omnicom Group Inc., said in a tweet Sunday. “Enough damage done over the past 2+ years. In the absence of real actions silence would be appreciated.” Mr. de Nardis didn’t respond to requests for comment.
A Facebook spokesman said Mr. Goldman, who didn’t respond to a request for comment, had sent his tweets in a personal capacity. The company pointed to a statement from Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s vice president of global public policy, saying, “Nothing we found contradicts the Special Counsel’s indictments.”
Russia’s government has repeatedly denied any government effort to influence the U.S. election.
Facebook has struggled for much of the past year to respond to mounting ire from users, politicians, customers and others over its role in facilitating the spread of misinformation and divisive content.
The indictment shows that “there are lots of levers that get pulled in social media for the sake of manipulation and a lot of those levers aren’t even known by the companies themselves,” said Sam Woolley, an Oxford University research associate who has studied propaganda efforts on social-media platforms.
The indictment documented an unprecedented manipulation campaign targeting Facebook, its Instagram platform, Twitter and YouTube. Starting in 2014, the Russians built an influence operation that drew followers to bogus accounts that spread disinformation, organized U.S. demonstrations and even paid a person to dress up like Hillary Clinton in a prison uniform at a West Palm Beach, Fla., rally, the indictment says.
While much of the attention around the Russian manipulation focused on its efforts to stoke divisions ahead the 2016 U.S. presidential election, it is clear the campaign continued since then. The Wall Street Journal reported in October that some of the Russian-backed social-media accounts posted divisive messages at least as recently as last August.
The Twitter comments of Mr. Goldman, Facebook’s head of advertising, also fueled disagreement about the intent of the Russian efforts. One of Mr. Goldman’s tweets said “swaying the election was *NOT* the main goal” of the Russian ads, and that “the majority of the Russian ad spend happened AFTER the election.”
On Saturday, President Donald Trump cited Mr. Goldman’s comment in support of the idea that Russia’s actions didn’t affect the election.
Following criticism that he was obscuring the intent of the Russians, Mr. Goldman later tweeted that “the Russian campaign was certainly in favor of Mr. Trump.” He also dialed back some of his claims. “I am only speaking here about the Russian behavior on Facebook. That is the only aspect that I observed directly,” he tweeted.
Clint Watts, a fellow with the Foreign Policy Research Institute who studied the Russian influence campaign, said the ads bought on Facebook were only “a much smaller part of a very large effort.”
“Mr. Goldman should have stayed silent,” Mr. Watts said, adding that playing down the effect of the influence campaign risked further angering Americans. “The public is upset that they got duped on Facebook’s platform. Facebook got duped,” he said. “It makes it seem like they don’t get it.”
While Facebook’s role in the Russian campaign is in the spotlight, some researchers who have studied the efforts note that it was far from the only institution to fall short.
“Let’s not mince words. The Obama administration did not react quickly enough to this problem. The intelligence community did not react quickly enough to this problem,” said Thomas Rid, professor of strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University.
Facebook has said it is taking a number of steps to prevent efforts like the Russian campaign from happening again, including hiring 10,000 employees tasked with policing hate speech, as well as coming up with ways to uproot fake accounts. Facebook officials also have emphasized that the company provided information to Mr. Mueller.
Mr. Goldman, too, said Facebook is taking “aggressive steps to prevent this sort of meddling in the future,” including verification for all political advertisers. Still, his comments struck some observers as tone deaf.
“It was an almost perfect example of Silicon Valley overconfidence and lack of sophistication when it comes to politics,” said Josh Hendler, former director of technology for the Democratic National Committee, which suffered a cyberattack ahead of the 2016 election that U.S. officials blamed on Russia.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-battles-new-criticism-after-u-s-indictment-against-russians-1519066080
In His Own Words: Trump on Russian Meddling
"I never said Russia did not meddle in the election."
FALSE
https://www.factcheck.org/2018/02/words-trump-russian-meddling/
Donald Trump falsely says he never denied Russian meddling
"I never said Russia did not meddle in the election."
Pants on Fire!
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2018/feb/19/donald-trump/donald-trump-falsely-denies-he-denied-russian-medd/
Trump is helping to undermine US democracy. That's just what Russia wants
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/20/politics/donald-trump-russia-robert-mueller/index.html
There's a specific reason Trump leveled an unprecedented amount of frustration toward the Russia probe this weekend
This past weekend, President Donald Trump fired off more than a dozen tweets about Russia following the latest charges in the investigation into Russian election meddling.
Trump alternated between declaring his innocence, blaming former President Barack Obama for Russia's election interference, accusing Hillary Clinton of collusion, and suggesting the FBI could have prevented last week's Florida school shooting if it hadn't been so focused on the Russia investigation.
The charges the special counsel announced Friday did not implicate any members of the Trump campaign or the White House.
Trump's unprecedented level of public frustration with the investigation most likely stems from his belief that Friday's indictment threatens the legitimacy of his election victory.
http://www.businessinsider.com/mueller-russia-indictment-challenges-trump-belief-about-2016-election-legitimacy-2018-2
What Could Be Coming Next In Robert Mueller's Russia Investigation
https://www.npr.org/2018/02/20/587305198/what-could-be-coming-next-in-robert-muellers-russia-investigation
Trump’s unhinged Russia tweetstorm boomerangs back on Republicans
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/02/20/trumps-unhinged-russia-tweetstorm-boomerangs-back-on-republicans/
Why Thomas Friedman issued a 'code red' warning to America
Thomas Friedman doesn't scare easily.
http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/20/media/thomas-friedman-new-york-times-column/index.html
Trump Tries to Shift Blame to Obama for Not Countering Russian Meddling
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/us/politics/trump-obama-russian-meddling.html
Trump Defiant Despite Mueller’s Warning Shot on Russia Meddling
President fumed about Russia probe but didn’t attack Moscow
Officials are warning about repeat attacks in 2018 elections
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-20/trump-defiant-despite-mueller-s-warning-shot-on-russia-meddling
Robert Mueller Has Trump Cornered
By Robert Kuttner
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-kuttner-mueller-russia_us_5a8a3dfde4b004fc31939016
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dPAoEetJFEbH7hMc82GrFzniV0g2M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Trump’s staggering dereliction of duty
By Ruth Marcus
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-staggering-dereliction-of-duty/2018/02/18/87133a42-14cc-11e8-92c9-376b4fe57ff7_story.html
more: https://www.google.com/search?q=trump%27s+staggering+dereliction+of+duty
Former Skadden Lawyer Pleads Guilty to Lying in Russia Investigation
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/us/politics/alex-van-der-zwaan-gates-russia-mueller.html
U.S. v. Alex van der Zwaan
Information
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4382158/2-16-18-Van-Der-Zwaan-Information.pdf
In Mueller probe, son-in-law of Russian businessman pleads guilty to false statements
The Dutch son-in-law of one of Russia’s wealthiest men pleaded guilty Tuesday in Washington to making false statements in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, according to a new court filing.
Alex van der Zwaan was charged with lying to the FBI about his contacts with Rick Gates, a former staffer on President Trump’s campaign and a longtime business partner of former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
Based in London, van der Zwaan worked for the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, which did work with Manafort and Gates while they served as political consultants in Ukraine, before joining Trump’s campaign in 2016. Van der Zwaan is the son-in-law of German Khan, a billionaire and an owner of Alfa Group, Russia’s largest financial and industrial investment group.
Mueller charged Manafort and Gates in October with conspiracy, fraud and money laundering charges related to lobbying work they did for a Russian-friendly political party in Ukraine and former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
[...]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/mueller-probe-london-based-son-of-russian-businessman-to-plead-guilty-to-false-statements/2018/02/20/142f4d2e-164b-11e8-b681-2d4d462a1921_story.html
Mueller’s Move on Ex-Skadden Lawyer Puts Heat on Manafort, Gates
Van der Zwaan worked on Ukraine report coordinated by Manafort
False statements case unveiled days after Russians charged
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-20/skadden-arps-lawyer-is-charged-with-role-in-u-s-russia-probe
Attorney pleads guilty in Mueller probe to lying to FBI over contacts with former Trump campaign official
Alex van der Zwaan admitted making false or misleading statements regarding email communications with Richard Gates.
His former employer, the renowned law firm Skadden, Arps, says they are cooperating with authorities.
Van der Zwaan is married to the daughter of German Khan, a Russian oligarch who is suing research firm Fusion GPS over a dossier alleging salacious and unverified ties between President Donald Trump and Russia.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/20/mueller-charges-attorney-with-lying-to-the-fbi.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dW3pvaWS9u-HrTM6VI6a_piILgJ4M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Devin Nunes's Fake Oversight
The House Intelligence Committee chairman’s actions are toxic to the democratic process and dangerous to American national security.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/devin-nunes-and-the-invention-of-fake-oversight/553694/
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dbKTA5UR04LMIhMskbKGYbWBar7IM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
New House map in Pennsylvania is a big win for Dems
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/new-house-map-pennsylvania-big-win-dems-n849551
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d5ZJtOigdxVxl6MSKRXjH9Ogj3iWM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Florida GOP Rep. Tom Rooney retiring
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/19/politics/tom-rooney-florida-republican-retiring/index.html
more: https://www.google.com/search?q=tom+rooney
Clarence Thomas Sexually Harassed Me. Yes, He Should Be Impeached.
By Angela Wright-Shannon
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-wright-shannon-clarence-thomas_us_5a8b4b2ae4b0a1d0e12c3095
Do You Believe Her [Anita Hill] Now?
It’s time to reexamine the evidence that Clarence Thomas lied to get onto the Supreme Court — and to talk seriously about impeachment.
By Jill Abramson
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/02/the-case-for-impeaching-clarence-thomas.html
Jill Abramson on Clarence Thomas, James Bennet, and Our Chaotic Media Age
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/02/jill-abramson-on-clarence-thomas-james-bennet-and-media-today.html
STASI: Women of all colors and creeds must rise together to take down harassers like Justice Clarence Thomas
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/stasi-women-join-forces-topple-men-clarence-thomas-article-1.3831677
Supreme Court Won't Hear Challenge To California's Gun Laws
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/20/587330832/supreme-court-wont-hear-challenge-to-california-s-gun-laws
Thomas dissents from Supreme Court decision not to review California gun law
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/thomas-dissents-from-supreme-court-decision-not-to-review-california-gun-law/2018/02/20/342c378e-164d-11e8-92c9-376b4fe57ff7_story.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/di_lRWzBLek-QpMf1HDHpsLZqZB4M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Two Women Say Donald Trump Touched Them Inappropriately
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/13/us/politics/donald-trump-women.html
Is anyone listening?
This Trump accuser keeps asking herself that. But she [Rachel Crooks] plans to keep talking about that day in 2006.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/national/wp/2018/02/19/feature/trump-accuser-keeps-telling-her-story-hoping-someone-will-finally-listen/
Trump Denies Woman's Allegation Of Unwanted Kissing In Trump Tower
https://www.npr.org/2018/02/20/587253019/trump-denies-womans-allegation-of-unwanted-kissing-in-trump-tower
Trump calls woman's account of sexual misconduct 'another false accusation'
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/20/trump-sexual-misconduct-rachel-crooks-417236
Trump Accuser Challenges President to Release Footage of Alleged Kiss He Denied in Tweetstorm
http://people.com/politics/trump-accuser-rachel-crooks-release-footage-kiss-tweet/
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dqk2p34uSmo4SjMTOI4ZVvURF1rDM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Abbas, Haley exchange strong criticism over Middle East at U.N. Security Council
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/abbas-haley-exchange-strong-criticism-over-middle-east-at-un-security-council/2018/02/20/e469157a-164f-11e8-b681-2d4d462a1921_story.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dp-Vv4Gzu3S95xMWJORysQe90D6BM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
The US and North Korea look like they'll get right back into a nuclear standoff after the Olympics
The US, South Korea, and North Korea are all expected to return to old tricks after the Olympics with military drills and possibly missile or nuclear tests.
North Korea reached out to South Korea ahead of the games, but said it could not talk to the South if military drills continue.
The US and South Korea announced on Tuesday that drills would resume after the Olympics.
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-military-drills-north-korea-after-olympics-missile-test-2018-2
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dga-kM390c7wpVMasHQl9pgTT8tCM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Police accuse Netanyahu associate of trying to bribe judge
http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-israel-netanyahu-corruption-20180220-story.html
New Netanyahu Corruption Allegations: The Details
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/world/middleeast/netanyahu-corruption-details.html
Who Is Nir Hefetz, the Netanyahus’ Spin Doctor Suspected of Offering a Bribe to a Judge?
The belligerent ex-journalist has worked for disgraced tycoon Nochi Dankner, newspaper publisher Arnon Mozes and now the Netanyahus
Netanyahu confidant suspected of offering judge top post to nix case against Sara Netanyahu [ https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/nix-sara-netanyahu-case-get-top-post-pm-s-confidant-offered-judge-1.5832137 ]
Netanyahu is only focused on survival. The rest is a facade [ https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-netanyahu-is-only-focused-on-survival-the-rest-is-a-facade-1.5829136 ]
This is the case against Sara Netanyahu the judge was allegedly asked to kill [ https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/this-is-the-case-against-sara-netanyahu-the-judge-was-asked-to-kill-1.5840013 ]
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-who-is-nir-hefetz-netanyahu-s-spin-doctor-accused-of-bribing-a-judge-1.5841330
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dw7_guey1mkRV9MrQbnLGWd-IPXNM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Luxury property ad blitz heralds Trump son’s visit to India - AP
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/donald-trump-jr-arrives-in-india-to-help-sell-apartments/2018/02/20/54a9edda-15fd-11e8-930c-45838ad0d77a_story.html
original https://www.apnews.com/3f6d813264e14fdfb05a005ac06c8561/Luxury-property-ad-blitz-heralds-Trump-son's-visit-to-India
President or Luxury Towers: Either Way, Trump Is the Rage in India
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/world/trump-tower-india.html
Donald Trump Jr. dismisses ethics concerns in India
Donald Trump Jr. dismissed suggestions that his family is profiting from his father's presidency on the first day of a tour of India to promote luxury apartments.
http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/20/news/economy/donald-trump-jr-india-visit-delhi-kolkata-modi/index.html
Trump Jr. praises happy poor people during scrutinized business trip to India
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/trump-jr-praises-happy-poor-people-india-trip-article-1.3831684
Trump Jr. to give foreign policy speech while on ‘unofficial’ business trip to India
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/trump-jr-to-give-foreign-policy-speech-while-on-unofficial-business-trip-to-india/2018/02/19/37d00c37-d9e8-40c4-934b-0a26b8160dcd_story.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dq6d1YW1GCHi7-MG-mfGaf9Ey4wIM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
AT&T Loses Bid to Obtain White House Call Logs
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/technology/att-loses-bid-to-obtain-white-house-call-logs.html
AT&T’s attempt to buy Time Warner suffers a blow in court
AT&T loses bid for evidence; Trump’s hatred of CNN won’t play big role in case.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/02/atts-attempt-to-buy-time-warner-suffers-a-blow-in-court/
AT&T Can't Get Evidence of White House Sway on Merger Suit
Company loses court bid for White House, Sessions contacts
Ruling is setback for AT&T defense of Time Warner acquisition
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-20/at-t-loses-bid-for-white-house-sessions-contacts-on-time-warner-jdw1cfdf
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dfSMvo2Ai87PBEMaI5xfCWcbHVQGM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Samsung Begins Mass Production Of Industry's Largest, High-Performance Solid State Drive
https://www.forbes.com/sites/marcochiappetta/2018/02/20/samsung-begins-mass-production-of-industrys-largest-high-performance-solid-state-drive/
Samsung Electronics Begins Mass Production of Industry’s Largest Capacity SSD – 30.72TB – for Next-Generation Enterprise Systems
New 'PM1643' is built on latest 512Gb V-NAND to offer the most advanced storage, featuring industry-first 1TB NAND flash package, 40GB of DRAM, new controller and custom software
https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-electronics-begins-mass-production-of-industrys-largest-capacity-ssd-30-72tb-for-next-generation-enterprise-systems
Samsung unveils world’s largest SSD with whopping 30TB of storage
It’s the most memory ever crammed into a 2.5-inch form factor — enough to store 5,700 full HD movies
https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/2/20/17031256/worlds-largest-ssd-drive-samsung-30-terabyte-pm1643
more:
https://news.google.com/news/story/dllj5Q5VEyZUzyMs9cy2zMMrvEc8M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
https://news.google.com/news/story/dU52xvXX5FEqDkMRHjIds-M2eOaYM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Kratom linked to dozens of illnesses from salmonella, health officials warn
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kratom-salmonella-fda-cdc-warning/
Multistate Outbreak of Salmonella I 4,[5],12:b:- Infections Linked to Kratom
https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/kratom-02-18/index.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dJdkS7PY3ICjhKMz5PsyrfBg5IXCM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Flu, Tdap Vax Safe for Babies 6 Months Later
No higher risk of infant hospitalization, death linked to vaccines in pregnancy
https://www.medpagetoday.com/obgyn/pregnancy/71275
Do hospital workers get the flu vaccine? Not all, data shows
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/do-hospital-workers-get-the-flu-vaccine-not-all-data/article_5513fcf3-ae87-58d9-946b-23e3c7138572.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d17AddWJk1Y59LMMwrt6y6ZH33vBM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Some Conservatives Are Trying To Discredit Outspoken Florida Shooting Survivors
They’re dismissing arguments in favor of gun control by targeting the students themselves.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/florida-shooting-survivors-parkland_us_5a8c54dce4b0273053a52821
Florida Survivors Push Back After GOP Activist Says They’re ‘Hijacked By Left-Wing Groups’
Saying that “just because we’re young we can’t make a difference is not right,” one student said.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jack-kingston-florida-survivors-hijacked_us_5a8c1f50e4b09fc01e037d29
Florida Shooter’s Former Friend Says She Reported Him To School ‘Multiple’ Times
Nikolas Cruz “talked about killing our parents, our friends, boyfriends and girlfriends,” said Ariana Lopez.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/florida-shooter-former-friend-gma_us_5a8c1890e4b0117adf71f83f
Army Awards Heroism Medal To 3 Junior ROTC Cadets Killed In Florida Shooting
The medal honors cadets whose achievements “involved the acceptance of danger and extraordinary responsibilities, exemplifying praiseworthy courage and fortitude.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rotc-cadets-florida-medal-of-heroism_us_5a8c63c4e4b0273053a5449c
Dallas Politician Tells NRA To Get Lost Unless It’s Ready To Talk Reform - Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway - gun owner
The gun group is set to hold its annual convention in Dallas later this year.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dallas-nra-florida-shooting_us_5a8be471e4b0117adf717b9e
Strong Black Men Are Victims Of Assault, Too
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-connor-black-men-metoo_us_5a8af9b8e4b00bc49f471517
‘Suck Up’ Mitt Romney Is Called Out For Flip-Flopping On Trump’s Endorsement
“Good to have the old Mitt Romney back.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mitt-romney-trump-endorsement-flip-flop_us_5a8be936e4b0117adf7183cf
Idaho Senator Rants At Students Who Drove 300 Miles To Meet Him
State Sen. Dan Foreman abruptly canceled a meeting with the students and threatened to call law enforcement if they ever return.
An Idaho Republican state senator has been labeled a “bully” after ranting at college students who traveled hundreds of miles to discuss a birth control bill with lawmakers.
State Sen. Dan Foreman also has been slapped with an ethics complaint for an incendiary follow-up tweet sent from an account allegedly associated with him.
The tense exchange between Foreman and about a dozen University of Idaho students was captured on camera Monday. Video circulating on social media shows Foreman forcefully pointing his finger and belligerently saying “abortion is murder” to the students, who say they didn’t come to discuss abortion at all.
[...]
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/idaho-senator-dan-foreman-abortion-murder-students_us_5a8bdafee4b0117adf7169c8
Trump Administration Takes Another Step To Roll Back Obamacare
A new regulation would open the door for less comprehensive, short-term plans.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-obamacare-insurance-rules_us_5a3d3cb5e4b06d1621b42a1b
Apple’s Overseas Cash Isn’t The Win The GOP Says It Is
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-rouen-apple-taxes_us_5a8af05ee4b00bc49f46f516
Donald Trump Could Exacerbate The Teacher Diversity Gap
Some 20,000 teachers rely on DACA.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/latinx-teacher-diversity_us_5a8b060ce4b004fc3195429a
House Democrats Just Had Their Best Ever January Fundraising Haul
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $9.3 million.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dccc-breaks-january-fundraising-record_us_5a8b213ae4b00bc49f47587a
GOP Asked People To Sign A Presidents Day Card For Trump. It Didn’t Go Well.
“How do you say ‘Happy Presidents Day’ in Russian?”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gop-trump-presidents-day_us_5a8ba412e4b0a1d0e12c60e4
Fox News Is Launching An ‘Over-The-Top’ Opinion Streaming Service
The platform is set to launch later this year.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fox-news-streaming-service_us_5a8c4ba2e4b03414379ab28e
Brazil’s Military Takeover Of Security In Rio De Janeiro Is A Looming Disaster
Handing public security to the military is likely to worsen the plight of poor residents who are already subject to the worst of Rio’s violence.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/brazil-military-intervention-rio-de-janeiro_us_5a8b47efe4b0117adf71037c
Ocean Plastic Pollution Isn’t Just Immoral, It’s Illegal
Campaigners? can use the moral force of international law to drastically reduce pollution to oceans.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ocean-plastic-pollution-illegal_us_5a8c468be4b0e1acb11d8f6b
Environmentalists Say They’re Averting Climate Disaster. Conservatives Say It’s Terrorism.
The post-9/11 rhetoric vilifying environmentalists is making a comeback.
Michael Foster, 53, is a mild-mannered mental health counselor and father of two from Seattle, with short-cropped silver hair and soft features.
But in a North Dakota court last October, prosecutors painted Foster as a ruthless killer and agent of chaos. The prosecution team compared him to the 9/11 hijackers who killed 2,996 people in the worst terror attack in history, and warned that he envisioned an anarchic future under Islamic religious law. Prosecutors even put him in a league with Ted Kaczynski, the so-called Unabomber whose 17-year bombing spree left three dead and injured 23.
Foster hadn’t killed anyone. He didn’t even injure anyone when, on Oct. 11, 2016, he put on a white hard hat and neon-yellow safety vest, grabbed some bolt cutters, and clipped the chain locking a fenced section of the Keystone Pipeline in Walhalla, North Dakota. Once inside the fence, Foster cranked a giant wheel-like valve until it closed, temporarily stopping the flow of tar sands oil.
“In order to preserve life as we know it, and civilization, and give us a fair chance and our kids a fair chance, I’m taking action as a citizen,” Foster told another activist, Sam Jessup, who live-streamed the action. “I am duty-bound.”
Foster’s action was part of a protest in solidarity with the indigenous activists fighting to stop construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which runs through a sacred water source at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on the other side of the state. Foster and Jessup did so in coordination with “valve turners” in four other states, timing their break-ins across the country to temporarily halt 15 percent of U.S. oil consumption.
Then came the legal crackdown.
In October, a judge convicted Foster and Jessup of felonies ? including criminal mischief and conspiracy to commit criminal mischief ? carrying maximum sentences of 11 to 26 years in prison. Earlier this month, the judge sentenced Foster to three years in prison; Jessup received two years of probation. (Other valve turners have faced up to 10 years in prison and $20,000 in fines.)
“They hit the trifecta: 9/11, the Unabomber, and that somehow our action was going to lead to Sharia law,” said Emily Johnston, 51, who is set to stand trial in May for turning a pipeline valve in Minnesota. “The theory being that if everyone just acted on what they believed in, it would be anarchy.”
That theory is now gaining some traction in Washington.
In October, 84 members of Congress, including four Democrats, sent Attorney General Jeff Sessions a letter urging him to find out whether the Department of Justice could prosecute pipeline saboteurs as terrorists. The Justice Department has yet to announce a decision, but said in November that it was “committed to vigorously prosecuting those who damage this critical energy infrastructure in violation of federal law.” Doing so would be a break from the Obama administration’s decision to let states handle such cases, rather than treating them as federal crimes.
But policymakers are sharpening their knives on the state level, too. Late last year, the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council drafted model legislation calling for severe punishments for anyone caught trespassing on or tampering with an oil, gas or chemical factory. The Critical Infrastructure Protection Act even includes a clause that any “conspirator” organization would be fined 10 times more than a trespasser, opening the door to crippling penalties for environmental groups.
Lawmakers in Ohio and Iowa are now considering bills based on the proposal. The Iowa bill is backed by Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline. In all, 31 states have considered 58 bills to crack down on protesters since November 2016, according to a database maintained by the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law. Eight have been enacted, and 28 are pending.
At a moment when the Trump administration is waging all-out war on environmentalism, macheting away regulations and gearing up for a massive pipeline construction spree, “eco-terrorism” is re-emerging as a boogeyman in a way it hasn’t since right after 9/11.
There are already laws in place to send environmentalists who tamper with fossil fuel infrastructure to jail, as Foster’s case demonstrates. But if conservative lawmakers get their way, new laws could undermine the environmental movement ? just as scientists say the humans are running out of time to make the changes needed to stave off the worst effects of climate change.
Protesting After The Patriot Act
Targeting environmentalists as domestic security threats goes back nearly two decades. Radical environmental groups experienced their heydays in the 1990s, but became victims of their own success as concerns over pollution and animal cruelty went mainstream.
But even as the influence of these groups waned, a scorched-earth crackdown loomed. President George W. Bush signed the USA Patriot Act in October 2001, just over a month after the 9/11 attacks. The law expanded the government’s view of domestic terror suspects and granted law enforcement sweeping new powers to investigate organizations and individuals, including by seizing assets without any prior hearing or criminal charges.
“It’s about installing fear so they don’t go out and protest in the first place,” said Will Potter, author of the book Green Is The New Red, while comparing ALEC’s recent bill to the actions taken after 9/11. “The purpose of this law isn’t to wrap everybody up and send them to federal prison. It’s to scare people, to create fear.”
Potter would know. In 2002, when he was a reporter working on the Chicago Tribune’s metro desk, two FBI agents arrived at his home to question him about an animal rights protest he and his girlfriend had participated in months earlier. Both had been arrested and charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct after leaving flyers in a neighborhood where an insurance executive whose company covered animal laboratory testing lived. He says FBI agents, armed with new powers under the Patriot Act, threatened to add him to a domestic terror list if he didn’t become an informant on the group with which he protested. The officers threatened him, telling him they could “make your life very difficult for you,” having secured “more authority now to get things done and get down to business” after 9/11, Mother Jones reported in 2011.
In 2005, John Lewis, then the FBI official in charge of domestic terrorism, ranked “eco-terrorism and animal-rights movement” activists ahead of radical Islamic extremists as the nation’s top domestic terror threat.
The agency began investigating Eric McDavid, a self-declared green anarchist, that same year. In a now-infamous case, the FBI recruited a mole to get close to McDavid and coax him into plotting a C4 bomb attack. He was arrested in January 2006, and spent a decade in prison.
Congress also quietly passed the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act in 2005, a sweeping law that classified many forms of animal rights protest as terrorism. It was used to prosecute Lauren Gazzola, the U.S. coordinator for a campaign against an animal product testing, on six felony charges that included conspiracy to violate an earlier law meant to protect businesses from protestors.
The crackdown was at odds with any realistic threat these environmentalists might have posed. Less than 10 percent of all radical environmental and animal rights actions from 2003 to 2010 even included criminal activity, according to a study published in 2014 in the journal Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. Of those acts, 66 percent were vandalism, less than 15 percent were house visits, and just over 12 percent involved freeing animals from cages. About 4 percent were arsons, and 1.4 percent involved explosives. There were no assassinations.
Protesting Post-Trump
Cas Mudde, a Dutch political scientist who co-authored the study on criminal activity amongst activists, points out that the attacks on environmentalists came at a time when many political protesters were speaking out against the Iraq War ? meaning environmentalists served as a sort of proxy for other left-leaning protest movements.
This is not unlike what we’re seeing now, Mudde said, noting that overlap between leftist activists and radical environmentalists makes it easy for conservatives to demonize both equally.
For example, Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity spent months inveighing against the so-called “antifa” and “alt left” movements, terms they use to refer to certain anti-fascist protester groups that rose up in response to increasingly vocal white nationalists in the U.S. Researchers who study extremists say “alt left” does not describe a real phenomenon.
Mudde said it could be especially telling to see how Republicans frame the laws to criminalize fossil fuel protest.
“Is this about just protecting some businesses?” he said. “Or is this about this larger idea that the radical left is threatening America?”
The surprise election of President Donald Trump in 2016 dashed any hopes that the so-called green scare was a thing of the past. Trump, who dismisses climate change and installed an EPA administrator who shares his ideological antagonism toward science, reversed regulations and announced plans to withdraw from the Paris climate accord.
The conditions primed the rise of a more militant environmental movement ? and for an even more militant crackdown.
In a provocative essay published in September in Foreign Policy, think tank scholar Jamie Bartlett argued that “formal, peaceful political activism — that all-important route to redress — isn’t working” to address pollution and that “the signs of growing radicalism in green circles are already there, if you know where to look.” He noted that hard-line environmental organizations are seeing a membership surge, and that local anti-fracking groups are growing faster than ever before.
In April, the Department of Homeland Security warned of attacks by eco-terrorists who “believe violence is justified” to stop the planned Diamond Pipeline from Oklahoma to Tennessee. But the report admitted that no current intelligence suggested any attack had actually been planned.
The oil and gas industry is fueling fears of impending eco-terrorist attacks. In October, the American Petroleum Institute disclosed that it was “working with the Trump administration on this issue, including the DOJ, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration,” according to the trade publication Natural Gas Intelligence. API indicated that its lobbyists met with the FBI and other agencies to discuss “efforts related to pipeline security,” according to its final-quarter disclosure report from 2017.
The ALEC model bill is perhaps the clearest indication that “eco-terrorism” is back as a boogeyman on the right. When ALEC began shopping the bill around to state legislatures, it included a letter signed by a consortium of fossil fuel corporations and chemical manufacturers urging lawmakers to introduce bills based on the legislation to curtail the “growing and disturbing trend” of environmentalists attacking infrastructure.
The letter, which HuffPost obtained, listed five examples to back up the trend. One was the valve turners case. The others did not actually involve environmentalists. Instead, they were loosely bound by common threads of mental illness or workplace grievance:
- In August 2011, Daniel Wells Herriman heard voices in his head, which convinced him to plant a crude bomb near a gas pipeline in Oklahoma. He turned himself in, pleaded insanity, and was sentenced the next year to more than five years in prison.
- In June 2012 ? after spending months writing fawning prison letters to the Unabomber and posting enraged videos about having to pay taxes ? Anson Chi decided to live out his fantasies by blowing up a homemade explosive near a natural gas pipeline in Plano, Texas. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
- Just after midnight on April 16, 2013, a sniper fired more than 100 rounds of .30-caliber rifle ammunition into the radiators of 17 electricity transformers in Metcalf, California. The attacker, believed to “an insider” who worked at the utility PG&E, was never found.
- In October 2017, vandals believed to be recently furloughed employees ransacked a wastewater plant in Crow Agency, Montana, igniting a fire and firing off guns.
Marathon Petroleum Corporation, the only individual company to sign the letter, declined to comment. The Edison Electric Institute, a trade group for utilities, said, “It is important for law enforcement agencies to have the ability to hold individuals and organizations accountable for any attempts to damage or sabotage critical infrastructure.”
In a bizarre response, a spokesman for the Energy Policy Network denied that the coal-industry advocate signed the letter. He did not respond when sent screenshots and asked to comment on why the group’s name appeared in the signature of the letter.
The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, a trade group, did not respond to questions about the examples listed in the letter, but defended its support for the ALEC legislation.
“Our highest priority is the welfare of our employees, surrounding communities and the environment, and sabotage against critical infrastructure can put this safety at risk,” Chet Thompson, the association’s president and chief executive, told HuffPost by email. “While AFPM defends peaceful protest, violence is never justified and cannot be condoned.”
The American Chemistry Council and the American Gas Association ? trade associations for chemical manufacturers and gas-burning utilities ? did not respond to requests for comment. ALEC did not reply to an email requesting an interview.
While industry groups quietly work to lay sharper legal snares for environmentalists, people like Johnston, the woman who turned a pipeline valve in Minnesota, are fighting to reshape the narrative over fossil fuel sabotage in court.
In October, a district court judge in Minnesota ruled that Johnston and her two co-defendants would be allowed to argue that the “necessity” of confronting climate change justified temporarily shutting down the pipeline. Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, called the defense “extremely unusual,” according to InsideClimate News. But, if successful, it could set a legal precedent used in the past by political activists on issues including the Vietnam War, nuclear weapons and abortion.
Either way, Johnston said she is prepared to make an example of herself.
“I’m not afraid to go to jail,” she said. “I’m afraid of climate change.”
The full letter ALEC attached to its bill:
[embedded]
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pipeline-environmentalist-terrorism_us_5a85c2ede4b0058d55672250
Democrats just flipped a Kentucky state legislature seat in a district Trump won by 49 points
Democrat Linda Belcher regains her old seat. - 68-32
https://www.vox.com/2018/2/20/17034262/kentucky-special-election-linda-belcher
Linda Belcher defeats widow of Ky. Rep. Dan Johnson, who killed himself amid sex claims
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/20/linda-belcher-defeats-widow-disgraced-kentucky-rep-dan-johnson/357269002/
Dan Johnson's widow claims voter fraud after losing seat to Linda Belcher in District 49 race
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2018/02/20/dan-johnsons-widow-claims-voter-fraud-after-losing-seat-linda-belcher-district-49-race/357334002/
Dems flip Kentucky House seat held by lawmaker who killed himself
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/02/20/dems-flip-kentucky-house-seat-held-by-lawmaker-who-killed-himself.html
more: https://www.google.com/search?q=linda+belcher
Kushner Resists Losing Access as Kelly Tackles Security Clearance Issues
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/us/politics/kushner-kelly-security-clearance-.html
more: https://www.google.com/search?q=kushner+resists+losing
Kelly says he has 'full confidence' in Kushner on foreign policy - earlier 2-20-18
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/374773-kelly-says-he-has-full-confidence-in-kushner-on-foreign-policy
White House says new security clearance policy will not affect Kushner's work
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/20/politics/jared-kushner-security-clearances-white-house/index.html
Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner unaffected by security clearance crackdown, White House says
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/20/trump-son-law-jared-kushner-unaffected-security-clearance-crackdown-white-house-says/357327002/
more: https://www.google.com/search?q=kelly+statement+kushner
“This Is the New War”: Jared Kushner, Amid a Showdown with Kelly, Prepares for Battle with a Weekend in the Caribbean
As Trump melted down at Mar-a-Lago, and the administration reeled from one of its most dismal weeks in 13 months, Kushner and his wife left the country.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/02/jared-kushner-ivanka-trump-caribbean-vacation
more: https://www.google.com/search?q=this+is+the+new+war
Right-Wing Media Uses Parkland Shooting as Conspiracy Fodder
The teenagers of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., who a week ago lost 17 of their classmates and school staff members in a mass shooting, have emerged as passionate advocates for reform, speaking openly of their anger in the hope of forcing a reckoning on guns.
But in certain right-wing corners of the web — and, increasingly, from more mainstream voices like Rush Limbaugh and a commentator on CNN — the students are being portrayed not as grief-ridden survivors but as pawns and conspiracists intent on exploiting a tragedy to undermine the nation’s laws.
In these baseless accounts, which by Tuesday had spread rapidly on social media, the students are described as “crisis actors,” who travel to the sites of shootings to instigate fury against guns. Or they are called F.B.I. plants, defending the bureau for its failure to catch the shooter. They have been portrayed as puppets being coached and manipulated by the Democratic Party, gun control activists, the so-called antifa movement and the left-wing billionaire George Soros.
The theories are far-fetched. But they are finding a broad and prominent audience online. On Tuesday, the president’s son Donald J. Trump Jr. liked a pair of tweets that accused David Hogg, a 17-year-old who is among the most outspoken of the Parkland students, of criticizing the Trump administration in an effort to protect his father, whom Mr. Hogg has described as a retired F.B.I. agent.
Mr. Hogg, the high school’s student news director, has become a sensation among many liberals for his polished and compelling television interviews, in which he has called on lawmakers to enact tougher restrictions on guns. Just as quickly, Mr. Hogg attracted the disdain of right-wing provocateurs like The Gateway Pundit, a fringe website that gained prominence in 2016 for pushing conspiracies about voter fraud and Hillary Clinton.
In written posts and YouTube videos — one of which had more than 100,000 views as of Tuesday night — Gateway Pundit has argued that Mr. Hogg had been coached on what to say during his interviews. The notion that Mr. Hogg is merely protecting his father dovetails with a broader right-wing trope, that liberal forces in the F.B.I. are trying to undermine President Trump and his pro-Second Amendment supporters.
Others offered more sweeping condemnations. Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist behind the site Infowars, suggested that the mass shooting was a “false flag” orchestrated by anti-gun groups. Mr. Limbaugh, on his radio program, said of the student activists on Monday: “Everything they’re doing is right out of the Democrat Party’s various playbooks. It has the same enemies: the N.R.A. and guns.”
By Tuesday, that argument had migrated to CNN. In an on-air appearance, Jack Kingston, a former United States representative from Georgia and a regular CNN commentator, asked, “Do we really think — and I say this sincerely — do we really think 17-year-olds on their own are going to plan a nationwide rally?” (He was quickly rebuked by the anchor Alyson Camerota.)
Conspiracies, wild and raw online, are often pasteurized on their way into the mainstream. A subtler version of the theory appeared Tuesday on the website of Bill O’Reilly, the ousted Fox News host. Mr. O’Reilly stopped short of saying the students had been planted by anti-Trump forces. But, he wrote: “The national press believes it is their job to destroy the Trump administration by any means necessary. So if the media has to use kids to do that, they’ll use kids.”
Some of those who have been spreading the conspiracies are facing consequences.
Benjamin Kelly, an aide to a Florida state representative, Shawn Harrison, emailed a Tampa Bay Times reporter on Tuesday accusing Mr. Hogg and a classmate, Emma Gonzalez, of being actors that travel to the sites of crises.
Mr. Kelly was soon fired.
“I made a mistake whereas I tried to inform a reporter of information relating to his story regarding a school shooting,” Mr. Kelly tweeted. “I meant no disrespect to the students or parents of Parkland.” His boss, Mr. Harrison, said on Twitter that he was “appalled” by Mr. Kelly’s remarks.
But by Tuesday evening, a new conspiracy was dominating Gateway Pundit’s home page. “Soros-Linked Organizers of ‘Women’s March’ Selected Anti-Trump Kids to Be Face of Parkland Tragedy,” read the headline. Within an hour, it had been shared on Facebook more than 150 times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/business/media/parkland-shooting-media-conspiracy.html
U.S. Misses Deadline to Repatriate Detainee Who Pleaded Guilty
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration failed on Tuesday to repatriate a Guantánamo Bay detainee to Saudi Arabia, missing a deadline set in his 2014 plea deal and dealing another blow to the struggling military commissions system at the wartime prison.
The detainee, Ahmed Muhammed Haza al-Darbi, agreed in February 2014 to plead guilty to terrorism-related offenses involving a 2002 attack by Al Qaeda on a French-flagged oil tanker off the coast of Yemen. Under the pretrial agreement, if he cooperated, he was to be sent home within four years to serve the remainder of his sentence in Saudi custody.
But on Tuesday, the four-year anniversary of that deal arrived, and Mr. Darbi remained at the American prison. The Department of Defense still hopes the transfer will take place soon, but diplomatic arrangements with the Saudi government are incomplete, Cmdr. Sarah Higgins, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said in a statement.
“Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al-Darbi’s transfer from Guantánamo detention to Saudi Arabia will not take place today,” she said, adding: “We await assurances from the Saudi Arabian government to move forward on his departure. Al-Darbi will remain at Guantánamo until all transfer details are concluded.”
The missed deadline came days after a military commissions judge indefinitely shut down the case against another Saudi detainee — who is accused of orchestrating the 2000 bombing of the American destroyer Cole, and against whom Mr. Darbi testified as part of his cooperation — after more than six years of pretrial hearings.
[...]
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/us/politics/darbi-guantanamo-detainee-repatriation.html
After Florida School Shooting, Russian ‘Bot’ Army Pounced
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/19/technology/russian-bots-school-shooting.html
Russian trolls flood Twitter after Parkland shooting
Covert Russian propaganda flooded Twitter after the Parkland shooting to stoke America's raw divides.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/russian-trolls-flood-twitter-after-parkland-shooting-n848471
Pro-Gun Russian Bots Flood Twitter After Parkland Shooting
https://www.wired.com/story/pro-gun-russian-bots-flood-twitter-after-parkland-shooting/
Russian Twitter bots keep up attack after Florida shooting
After last week's school massacre, bots tied to Russian propaganda groups began sending gun-related tweets, even though Twitter has vowed to stop such efforts.
https://www.cnet.com/news/russian-twitter-bots-still-a-menace-after-florida-shooting/
Russian Bots Wasted No Time Trying to Confuse People After the Mueller Indictment and the Parkland Shooting
https://slate.com/technology/2018/02/russian-bots-were-active-after-the-florida-shooting-and-the-latest-mueller-indictment.html
After the Parkland shooting, pro-Russian bots are pushing false-flag allegations again
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/after-the-parkland-shooting-pro-russian-bots-are-pushing-false-flag-allegations-again/2018/02/16/46c3a674-1356-11e8-9065-e55346f6de81_story.html
The aftermath of the Parkland mass shooting exemplifies the ugly side of social media
Bots. Conspiracy theories. Bullying. We’re seeing it all.
https://www.recode.net/2018/2/20/17034386/parkland-florida-mass-shooting-ugly-side-social-media-facebook-twitter-stoneman-douglas-high-school
more:
https://www.google.com/search?q=bots+%23parklandshooting
https://www.google.com/search?q=bots+parklandshooting
Presidents Day reminds us of George Washington's presidential vision. And Trump's disrespect.
The presidency that Washington personified was adopted by all subsequent presidents. Until last year.
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/presidents-day-reminds-us-george-washington-s-presidential-vision-trump-ncna849321
Drinking Alcohol Has Better Effects Than Exercise To Live Long Life, Study Reveals
http://www.medicaldaily.com/drinking-alcohol-has-better-effects-exercise-live-long-life-study-reveals-422619
Drinking small amounts of alcohol may help you live to over 90, claims study
A glass of wine a day to keep the ageing at bay
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/alcohol-small-amounts-live-over-90-study-health-university-of-california-wine-beer-a8217521.html
The 90+ Study
http://www.mind.uci.edu/research-studies/90plus-study/
Science Begins to Unlock the Secrets of Brains that Age Well
https://www.aaas.org/news/science-begins-unlock-secrets-brains-age-well
Drinking Alcohol Tied to Long Life in New Study
http://www.newsweek.com/drinking-alcohol-tied-long-life-new-study-813013
Can Alcohol Help You Live Longer? Here’s What the Research Really Says
http://time.com/5166514/moderate-drinking-live-longer-study/
more:
https://news.google.com/news/story/dmgH3vSVxZcgtBMdT27fY2U-4y4WM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
https://news.google.com/news/story/dXcv2zAM2qgACMMblKEJH28sKAnaM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Watch the adorable, first-ever video of a newborn dumbo octopus
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/02/20/watch-the-adorable-first-ever-video-of-a-newborn-dumbo-octopus/
Rare find from the deep sea
Scientists from Bonn, Münster, and the US study a newly hatched dumbo octopus for the first time
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/uob-rff021918.php
Cute 'dumbo' octopus baby seen on video for the first time ( https://vimeo.com/255116280 )
If Dumbo was a tiny ocean-dwelling animal, he would look like this adorable and rare octopus hatchling that stars in a fascinating video.
https://www.cnet.com/news/dumbo-octopus-hatchling-baby-seen-on-video-first-time/
WATCH: World’s First Footage of Baby Dumbo Octopus
http://www.newsweek.com/watch-worlds-first-footage-baby-dumbo-octopus-embargo-monday-noon-809865
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d8KlGDsp5-62HcMOtcV26pEdB3xVM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Jupiter's Great Red Spot: Mysterious 200-year-old Storm May Be About to End
http://www.newsweek.com/jupiter-great-red-spot-storm-over-812168
Juno Image Gallery
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/images/index.html
Why Jupiter's Great Red Spot Has Lasted So Long
https://www.space.com/23708-jupiter-great-red-spot-longevity.html
Jupiter’s spot is fading, Neptune’s too
https://www.slashgear.com/jupiters-spot-is-fading-neptunes-too-20520134/
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dMPxhzSoBr3nUSMK8VIW2eje1d_aM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Hubble Sees Neptune's Mysterious Shrinking Storm
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/hubble-sees-neptunes-mysterious-shrinking-storm
A giant, years-long storm on Neptune is disappearing — and it's being caught on camera for the first time
A huge storm on Neptune is disappearing, and the Hubble Telescope is documenting it for the first time.
The storm has led scientists to question their understanding of the prevailing dynamics of Neptune's atmosphere.
The storm appears to be moving in the opposite direction than scientists predicted.
http://www.businessinsider.com/neptunes-big-storm-is-disappearing-hubble-telescope-images-show-2018-2
Incredible images taken by Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope reveal a gigantic storm on Neptune as it starts to fade
While the storm was once big enough to stretch across the Atlantic Ocean from Boston to Portugal, images taken by Nasa’s Hubble Space Telescope reveal that it is shrinking out of existence
https://www.mirror.co.uk/science/incredible-images-taken-nasas-hubble-12056060
A giant storm on Neptune is disappearing and for the first time scientists are able to see it
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/02/19/giant-storm-on-neptune-is-disappearing-and-for-first-time-scientists-are-able-to-see-it.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dTx0RPof-rg130MVbhUhllFmzfDTM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
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Published on Feb 20, 2018 by Democracy Now! [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzuqE7-t13O4NIDYJfakrhw / https://www.youtube.com/user/democracynow , https://www.youtube.com/user/democracynow/videos ]
There have been a number of significant developments in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump administration. CNN is reporting Mueller is now investigating Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and his attempts to secure financing for his family’s business while working on the president’s transition team. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times is reporting former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates has agreed to plead guilty and testify against Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager. Under the deal, Gates will plead guilty to money laundering and illegal foreign lobbying. These developments come just days after the Justice Department indicted 13 Russians and three companies in connection with efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election by orchestrating an online propaganda effort to undermine the U.S. election system. We speak to Marcy Wheeler, an independent journalist who covers national security and civil liberties. She runs the website EmptyWheel.net [ https://www.emptywheel.net/ ].
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/2/20/mueller_probe_heats_up_13_russians [with embedded video, and transcript]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9-wfQzZ2HA [with comments]
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Robert Reich: Morality & the Common Good Must Be at Center of Fighting Trump’s Economic Agenda
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by Democracy Now!
As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump made a promise to the American people: There would be no cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Well, the promise has not been kept. Under his new budget, President Trump proposes a massive increase in Pentagon spending while cutting funding for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Trump’s budget would also slash or completely eliminate core anti-poverty programs that form the heart of the U.S. social safety net, from childhood nutrition to care for the elderly and job training. This comes after President Trump and Republican lawmakers pushed through a $1.5 trillion tax cut that overwhelmingly favors the richest Americans, including President Trump and his own family. We speak to Robert Reich, who served as labor secretary under President Bill Clinton. He is now a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His most recent book, out today, is titled “The Common Good [ https://www.amazon.com/Common-Good-Robert-B-Reich/dp/052552049X ].”
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/2/20/robert_reich_morality_the_common_good [with embedded video, and transcript]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzG2sjlpqac [with comments]
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Full Show - It’s The “Crumbs”, Stupid - 02/20/2018
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by Real News with David Knight [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC1L9FOMSaPgMyoLSnps47g , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC1L9FOMSaPgMyoLSnps47g/videos ]
20Feb18 Broadcast Real News with David Knight
Banks battle cryptocurrencies with FUD while pushing Wall Street as safe, yet the face of the NYSE has NEVER owned a single share of stock and Republicans are ready to hammer Democrats on the economy, tax cuts and “Crumbs”. And while a few youthful, useful idiots stage a “lie-in” at the White House to make guns disappear, a former FBI agent lies on CNN about government incompetence in the Parkland high school shooting and completely rewrites the history and purpose of the 2nd Amend to destroy it.
[from Alex Jones and his merry band of batshit bullshitters]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xU-Gkuy6xo [with comments] [also at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKPbie8U_nM (with comments)]
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Readout of President Donald J. Trump’s Call with President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico
Issued on: February 20, 2018
President Donald J. Trump spoke today with President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico to offer condolences to the families of the victims of the helicopter accident in Oaxaca. President Peña Nieto returned the sentiment and expressed Mexico’s solidarity with the United States following the high school shooting in Parkland, Florida. President Trump underscored his commitment to expanding cooperation between the United States and Mexico on security, trade, and immigration.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/readout-president-donald-j-trumps-call-president-enrique-pena-nieto-mexico-3/
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Alpha God: The Psychology of Religious Violence and Oppression (with Dr. Hector Garcia)
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by TheThinkingAtheist [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeYP27qLtfUMY1b1Cyy3WdQ / https://www.youtube.com/user/TheThinkingAtheist , https://www.youtube.com/user/TheThinkingAtheist/videos ]
Clinical psychologist Dr. Hector Garcia joins Seth Andrews for a candid (and potentially controversial) discussion about the origins and characteristics of man-made gods and the violence which so often defines them.
Dr. Garcia's book "Alpha God": https://www.amazon.com/Alpha-God-Psychology-Religious-Oppression/dp/1633880206
Dr. Garcia's website: https://www.hector-garcia.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiNLUeZGOcI [with comments]
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Full Show - Leftist Billboard Calling For Murder Of NRA Members Kept Up / Milo Hijacks Infowars - 02/20/2018
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by The Alex Jones Channel [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvsye7V9psc-APX6wV1twLg / https://www.youtube.com/user/TheAlexJonesChannel , https://www.youtube.com/user/TheAlexJonesChannel/videos ]
Tuesday, Feb. 20th 2018[, with an appearance by Laura Loomer]: Establishment Attacks 2nd Amendment - Paul Joseph Watson hosts this worldwide broadcast for the irreplaceable Alex Jones. An anti-Trump billboard pops up in Louisville encouraging violence against the NRA, as the mainstream media pushes their anti-gun narrative into high gear. And a writer for a popular far-left website pens an article calling for black people to start barking at white people who "speak out of turn." Meanwhile, President Trump slams former President Obama on Twitter for taking no action to prevent Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Author Milo Yiannapolous co-hosts the show today. All That Remains singer Phil Labonte joins in the final hour and discusses the recent controversy over his pro-Second Amendment remarks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q41ipXNLJPY [with comments] [also at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWAtK0r4fvw (additional text adapted from; with comments)]
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RWW News: Pat Robertson Calls For A Ban On Assault Weapons
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by RWW Blog [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMXqRHe8n1TX5iDvkLS62rw / https://www.youtube.com/user/RWWBlog , https://www.youtube.com/user/RWWBlog/videos ]
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/its-sensible-pat-robertson-call-for-a-ban-on-assault-weapons/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm4kgu6vVok [with comments]
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Gordon Klingenschmitt Says Christians Are Being Forced To Participate In A 'Perverted Threesome'
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by RWW Blog
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/gordon-klingenschmitt-lgbtq-activists-are-forcing-christian-business-owners-to-participate-in-a-perverted-threesome/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8_O1ANhO6c [with comments]
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Proving New Age woo by rewriting Genesis 1 (Johan Oldenkamp P2)
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by Logicked [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaFNs3ETMvkmy0JahAS6WJA / https://www.youtube.com/user/logicked , https://www.youtube.com/user/logicked/videos ]
Genesis 1 precisely matches Johan’s interpretation...if he mostly ignores Genesis 1.
Another option for what he might have misunderstood to get “big bangs all over the place” is the idea that initially all points would have been at “the center”, so every point can be said to be “the center” of the Big Bang, or that no point is the center. We can keep guessing what he heard forever, but we’ll probably never know.
[Part 1, "Johan Oldenkamp shares his truth (which isn’t true) (and makes no sense)", included at/see also in particular (linked in) https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=138775039 and preceding and following (earlier this string)]
Response to:
Johan Oldenkamp "The Original Ten Commandments"
Published on Nov 16, 2015 by OpenmindconferenceDK [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRH1UBUyYleTgKgptlatksQ / https://www.youtube.com/user/OpenmindconferenceDK , https://www.youtube.com/user/OpenmindconferenceDK/videos ]
Open Mind Conference 2015. Johan Oldenkamp graduated in cognitive psychology and knowledge engineering. He got a PhD for researching how to combine artificial intelligence with operations research.
He became a professor of knowledge transfer, innovation and entrepreneurship at Stenden University. In 2008, he resigned from his job in order to devote all his time, energy and savings to the further development of Wholly Science. Since then, he lives (by his own choice) without income from a job or unemployment benefit.
In 2012, Johan participated in the Dutch parliamentary elections as the leader of a new political party.
Lecture: Title: "The Original Ten Commandments" Due to translation errors, ignorance, and even malevolence, not all wordings in the contemporary Bible are correct. However, based on his understanding of Wholly Science, Dr. Oldenkamp has, in several cases, been able to restore the original meaning of these ancient writings.
In his lecture, he will reveal the original meaning of both The Creation and The Ten Commandments. Their genuine meaning has nothing to do with believing, as these ancient writings were meant to develop our scientific understanding of the True Nature of this reality. http://www.pateo.nl/
https://www.openmindconference.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvlv8OuKYhY [with comments]
JPS Tanakh 1917: http://studybible.info/JPS_ASV_Byz/Genesis%201
NBC screws up the news: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5051818/
BBC screws up the news exactly the same way: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3753115.stm
The study NBC, BBC, etc. screwed up: https://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0310233.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0ji0kIXURM [with comments] [and see also in particular (linked in) https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123291554 and preceding and following]
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WATCH: Sarah Sanders holds White House news briefing
Streamed live on Feb 20, 2018 by PBS NewsHour [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6ZFN9Tx6xh-skXCuRHCDpQ / https://www.youtube.com/user/PBSNewsHour , https://www.youtube.com/user/PBSNewsHour/videos ]
President Donald Trump's press secretary Sarah Sanders holds White House news briefing.
Press Briefing by Press Secretary Sarah Sanders
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
February 20, 2018
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/press-briefing-press-secretary-sarah-sanders-022018/ [official transcript]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWMuzBjwzoU [comments disabled] [official White House upload at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDTgCIV_T5o (with comments)]
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WATCH: President Trump holds Public Safety Medal of Valor Awards Ceremony at the White House
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by PBS NewsHour
President Donald Trump holds the Public Safety Medal of Valor Awards Ceremony at the White House.
Remarks by President Trump at Medal of Valor Ceremony
East Room
February 20, 2018
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-medal-valor-ceremony/ [official transcript]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6WnLz_Ow4o [comments disabled] [official White House upload at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkZz57CpliA (with comments)]
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Full Show - Florida School Shooting Distracts From WW3 - 02/20/2018
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by War Room [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClsn7QZVdszxLlUs-GOG0Sg , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClsn7QZVdszxLlUs-GOG0Sg/videos ]
As more strangeness is emerging from the Florida shooting, we look at the angles developing as well as the stories the shooting is distracting from. Mueller releases a new indictment, again of a foreign citizen, and the state of California is becoming a literal sh*t hole, as health officials are warning of feces covered streets.
[from Alex Jones and his merry band of batshit bullshitters]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giJE7RI0GH0 [with comments] [also, edited, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhxtvajMz7c (with comments)]
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The Confederacy Wasn't About Slavery?
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by VICELAND [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWF0PiUvUi3Jma2oFgaiX2w , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWF0PiUvUi3Jma2oFgaiX2w/videos , https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ_hwG6UuEJZlH-s_B_sTm30XN4pKf8MA ]
Andrew Duncomb "The Black Rebel" tries to explain that a lot of Confederates "treated the slaves as equal" and General Robert E. Lee "believed slavery was wrong."
WATCH NEXT:
Anti-Abortion Protestors (and The People Who Protest Them)
Published on Feb 13, 2018 by VICELAND
Jamali attends a protest at a closed Planned Parenthood and meets with anti-abortion preacher Jeff Durbin and Pro-Choice advocates including Errol Mcinnes, a man who follows Jeff regularly in counter-protest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEm15tUftEU [with comments] [and see also in particular (linked in) https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=116934925 and preceding and following, https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=117039737 and preceding (and any future following), https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=121463619 and preceding and following, https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=123276999 and preceding (and any future following)]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOey7P-3EL4 [with comments] [and see also in particular (linked in) https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=60232115 and (the many) following]
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SPLC talks about teaching hard history with Prof. Hasan Jeffries
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by Southern Poverty Law Center [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJqloayL-p1TP4Ed_fr53CA / https://www.youtube.com/user/SPLCenter , https://www.youtube.com/user/SPLCenter/videos ]
SPLC’s Maureen Costello and Professor Hasan Jeffries on the SPLC’s new report: Teaching Hard History [ https://www.splcenter.org/20180131/teaching-hard-history , https://www.splcenter.org/teaching-hard-history-american-slavery , https://www.tolerance.org/frameworks/teaching-hard-history/american-slavery ].
The report concludes that schools are not adequately teaching the history of American slavery, educators are not sufficiently prepared to teach it, textbooks do not have enough material about it, and – as a result – students lack a basic knowledge of the important role it played in shaping the United States and the impact it continues to have on race relations in America.
Jeffries holds a Ph.D. in American history with a specialization in African-American history and is an Associate Professor of History at The Ohio State University and chair of the Teaching Hard History Advisory Board.
Costello is the director of Teaching Tolerance, the SPLC’s program providing free resources to educators to reduce prejudice, improve intergroup relations and support equitable school experiences for our nation’s children.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydPpAeuyaTQ [with comments] [id.]
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Fmr. Trump aide: Donald Trump "screws everyone"
The Beat with Ari Melber
2/20/18
On the day Bob Mueller obtained a guilty plea from a lawyer in the Russia probe, former Trump campaign aide Sam Nunberg, who was cited 19 times in ‘Fire and Fury’, tells Ari Melber he’s “worried” about Trump’s own lawyer Michael Cohen. Nunberg says for the first time Mueller’s team asked him for an interview, and adds that Donald Trump “screws” everyone, but has done it to Michael Cohen the most.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari-melber/watch/fmr-trump-aide-donald-trump-screws-everyone-1166089283533 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMU9jG3aV7g [with comments]
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This Is The Political Aftermath Of The Parkland School Shooting (HBO)
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by VICE News [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZaT_X_mc0BI-djXOlfhqWQ / https://www.youtube.com/user/vicenews , https://www.youtube.com/user/vicenews/videos ]
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students are bussing by the dozens to Tallahassee this week to lobby their lawmakers to pass gun control legislation, in the wake of the shooting that left 17 of their classmates and teachers dead last week.
But they face difficult odds in trying to get anything done in Florida, where gun rights proponents have a strong grasp on the Republican-controlled state legislature.
One of those gun-rights defenders, GOP State Sen. Dennis Baxley, told VICE News that he opposes any restrictions on assault weapons — the kind of gun used by the Stoneman Douglas shooter.
"You can't just make policy that doesn't work," he said. "It's the mindset that's the issue," not the weapon.
But Democrats believe now the time is ripe for reform. State Rep. Jared Moskowitz, who represents the district where the shooting ocurred, said the efforts by the Stoneman Douglas students were helping to encourage moderate Republicans to take a look at gun control for the first time in a decade.
He noted, however, Democrats need to be ready to compromise.
“If Republicans are willing to give an inch, I'm taking it, and then I'll go get another inch and another and another. I am not willing to squander the opportunity to do something,” he said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikoc7cXBeQE [with comments]
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Engineering Immortality: How To Get Everyone To Live To 100, VICE on HBO, Full Episode
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by VICE News
Nowadays, most of us will die from one of four things: heart disease, cancer, diabetes or dementia. And the single biggest risk factor for getting these diseases? Age itself.
The incidence of disease skyrockets for most people after the age of 65, but people who live in certain places called Blue Zones have average life spans of 10 to 15 years longer.
One of these places is Okinawa, a string of islands in southern Japan, where living a long life is considered one of the greatest human achievements. In Okinawa, people who turn 97 even get honored with a special celebration called Kajimaya.
Dr. Makoto Suzuki has been studying the people of Okinawa to find out just what it is that allows them to fend off the effects of aging for so much longer than most.
“These people are genetically predisposed to longevity. Some families lack genes that would make them susceptible to disease,” Suzuki said. “It’s because their DNA is different.”
Like Suzuki, scientists around the world are turning to the growing field of longevity research to try to hack our metabolisms and DNA to fend off age-related illnesses.
VICE News explored the world of modern-day lifespan hacking and whether or not science can actually engineer immortality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQbWdqxTWsk [with comments]
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"Trump has done literally zero" to stop Russia
All In with Chris Hayes
2/20/18
Jake Sullivan, a former top aide to Hillary Clinton, says Trump has left the door wide open for Russia to disrupt the midterm elections.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/-trump-has-done-literally-zero-to-stop-russia-1166120003868
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WH won’t say if Kushner still has access to classified info
All In with Chris Hayes
2/20/18
Jared Kushner, one of the most senior White House aides operating without a permanent security clearance, reportedly “issues more requests for information to the intelligence community than any White House employee.”
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/wh-won-t-say-if-kushner-still-has-access-to-classified-info-1166126147571
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CPAC leaves LaPierre's name off schedule to avoid protests
All In with Chris Hayes
2/20/18
NRA executive Wayne LaPierre will be speaking at CPAC this year, despite the fact that they left his name off the official schedule. Sources say it's a "precaution...amid outrage among anti-gun protesters" after last week's shooting at a Florida high school.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/cpac-leaves-lapierre-s-name-off-schedule-to-avoid-protests-1166146627919 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl33ekiVKdM [with comments]
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New poll: Highest level of support for gun control ever
All In with Chris Hayes
2/20/18
The political power of the student survivors of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School appears to have already had some effect.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/new-poll-highest-level-of-support-for-gun-control-ever-1166149699589 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHvluhu1Oew [with comments]
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Romney said he wouldn't accept Trump endorsement. He did.
All In with Chris Hayes
2/20/18
In 2016, Mitt Romney called Donald Trump a "fraud" and a "phony" and said he regretted accepting his endorsement. Now, in 2018, he's thanking the president for his support.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/romney-said-he-wouldn-t-accept-trump-endorsement-he-did-1166150723689 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrRBhHOjqWA [with comments]
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Trump asks DoJ for recommendations on bump stock regulation
The Rachel Maddow Show
2/20/18
Rachel Maddow reports on Donald Trump pushing the Department of Justice for ways to regulate bump stocks by executive order instead of legislation from Congress.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/trump-asks-doj-for-recommendations-on-bump-stock-regulation-1166256195787
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Nepotism likely to save Kushner in White House security crackdown
The Rachel Maddow Show
2/20/18
Rachel Maddow reports on new confusion in the White House as a new policy of enforcing security clearances appears to be in conflict with the continued employment of the still-not-cleared Jared Kushner.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/nepotism-likely-to-save-kushner-in-white-house-security-crackdown-1166257731698
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Americans google Alex van der Zwaan as Mueller issues new charges
The Rachel Maddow Show
2/20/18
Rachel Maddow reviews recent Ukrainian political history by way of explaining new charges in Robert Mueller's Trump Russia investigation against a lawyer who is also the son-in-law of a Ukrainian-Russian oligarch, Alex van der Zwaan.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/americans-google-alex-van-der-zwaan-as-mueller-issues-new-charges-1166215747657 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pkqc9IXVu6w [with comments]
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Mueller catches lawyer lying, brings new charges
The Rachel Maddow Show
2/20/18
Rachel Maddow continues to review recent Ukrainian political history by way of explaining new charges in Robert Mueller's Trump Russia investigation against a lawyer who is also the son-in-law of a Ukrainian-Russian oligarch, Alex van der Zwaan.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/mueller-catches-lawyer-lying-brings-new-charges-1166217283794
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Democrats appear to extend streak with another red/blue flip
The Rachel Maddow Show
2/20/18
Rachel Maddow reports on the apparently victory of Democrat Linda Belcher in a Kentucky state special election, at least the 37th flip by Democrats of a district that went heavily for Donald Trump in 2016.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/apparent-democratic-victory-in-kentucky-extends-streak-of-flips-1166256707883
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Disparate dots find connections in Robert Mueller indictments
The Rachel Maddow Show
2/20/18
Rachel Maddow looks at the relationships that bring today's charges by Robert Mueller against lawyer Alex van der Zwaan right into Vladimir Putin's inner circle.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/disparate-dots-find-connections-in-robert-mueller-indictments-1166248003765
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Mueller follows the money overseas back to Washington
The Rachel Maddow Show
2/20/18
Ken Vogel, political reporter for The New York Times, talks with Rachel Maddow about the themes becoming visible in what is known so far about Robert Mueller's investigation.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/mueller-follows-the-money-overseas-back-to-washington-1166222915655
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US State Dept suggests asking Russia about US State Dept business
The Rachel Maddow Show
2/20/18
Rachel Maddow updates viewers on the search for answers about a visit to the U.S. but Russia's top spy officials. In the case of whether the State Department gave the sanctioned GRU chief, Igor Korobov, a travel waiver, State directed TRMS to get the answer from Russia.
DNI response to Sen Chuck Schumer about Russian Intel Chiefs' visit to US
http://www.msnbc.com/sites/msnbc/files/dni_schumer_reply_180220.pdf
Senator Schumer's original letter
https://www.democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Letter.Schumer%20to%20Coats%20re%20RUS.pdf
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/us-state-dept-suggests-asking-russia-about-us-state-dept-business-1166187587653 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2wnDIl6XTk [with comments]
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Lawrence: White House dodges questions on major scandals
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
2/20/18
The White House held its first press briefing in a week and it lasted only 17 minutes. Lawrence O'Donnell argues this is a strategy to avoid answering questions on the scandals plaguing the administration.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/lawrence-white-house-dodges-questions-on-major-scandals-1166210627933
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Thomas Friedman's 'code red' warning about Trump
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
2/20/18
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman argues that President Donald Trump is undermining the nation's democracy. He explains to Lawrence O'Donnell why he can't find any optimism for the Trump presidency.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/thomas-friedman-s-code-red-warning-about-trump-1166210627991 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQN5GK3zbxA [with comments]
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In the Rewrite: The new job description for America's teachers
The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell
2/20/18
In tonight's Rewrite, Lawrence O'Donnell says the job description for American teachers now includes how to handle mass murder, as Dara Hass found out. Hass is an English teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and 3 of her students were killed last week.
©2018 NBCNews.com
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/lawrence-on-the-new-job-description-for-america-s-teachers-1166201411617 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbCbPRg5UfE [with comments]
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NYT: Kushner & Kelly warring over access to top secret docs
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
2/21/18
According to The New York Times, Trump's chief of staff John Kelly and his son-in-law Jared Kushner are in a standoff over Kushner's access to classified information given that Kushner still is working on an interim security clearance. Our panel reacts.
©2018 NBCNews.com
[originally aired February 20, 2018]
http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/nyt-kushner-kelly-warring-over-access-to-top-secret-docs-1166245443942
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Where were Ivanka & Kushner as Trump raged over Russia?
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
2/21/18
While Trump raged in a tweetstorm over Russia attacking everyone from Obama to Oprah, Jared Kushner & Ivanka Trump - both on the White House staff - were vacationing in the Caribbean according to a Vanity Fair report.
©2018 NBCNews.com
[originally aired February 20, 2018]
http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/where-were-ivanka-kushner-as-trump-raged-over-russia-1166249539934 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRhJin3sqzM [with comments]
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Mueller's fourth guilty plea: Who is Alex van der Zwaan?
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
2/21/18
What do we know about the son-in-law of a Russian oligarch, Alex van der Zwaan, the latest person to plead guilty to Russia Special Counsel Robert Mueller? And what does it mean for Mueller's investigation? Julia Ainsley & Joyce Vance react.
©2018 NBCNews.com
[originally aired February 20, 2018]
http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/mueller-s-fourth-guilty-plea-who-is-alex-van-der-zwaan-1166256195792 , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cakB6cNhBVc [with comments]
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Why Mueller's latest guilty plea could be bad for Manafort
The 11th Hour with Brian Williams
2/21/18
Russia Special Counsel Robert Mueller now has his fourth guilty plea, this time from a Dutch lawyer named Alex van der Zwaan. Fmr. federal prosecutor Joyce Vance explains why that could be bad news for Trump's fmr. campaign boss Paul Manafort.
©2018 NBCNews.com
[originally aired February 20, 2018]
http://www.msnbc.com/brian-williams/watch/why-mueller-s-latest-guilty-plea-could-be-bad-for-manafort-1166257219829
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We Don´t Care
Published on Feb 22, 2018 by Mike Malloy [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpU4j-LN_aibXA1gONvWzxw / https://www.youtube.com/user/hschulein , https://www.youtube.com/user/hschulein/videos ]
The Florida state House on Tuesday rejected a ban on many semiautomatic guns and large capacity magazines as dozens of survivors of last week's school shooting headed to the state Capitol to turn their grief into political action.
Lawmakers voted down a motion to consider the ban during a session that opened with a prayer for the 17 people killed by a former student last Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The vote in the Republican-dominated body was 36-71.
Stoneman Douglas students in the gallery of the Capitol during the vote appeared stunned.
Full story: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/20/us/florida-legislature-weapons-ban/index.html
[originally aired February 20, 2018]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opz2AZ-0D4I [with comments].
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gITrLFMdBM [with comments]
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AR-15 Raffle For Youth Baseball Team Sparks Outrage
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by Mike Malloy
A youth baseball team in Missouri is drawing national criticism for proceeding with the raffle of an AR-15 assault rifle in the wake of Florida’s deadly school shooting that killed 17 people.
The third-grade team from Neosho, Missouri is using the funds from the raffle to pay for their travel expenses after the weapon was reportedly donated by the father of one of the players.
Coach Levi Patterson defended the raffle when speaking to The Kansas City Star and stated that he hoped to “turn it into a positive thing,” despite social media backlash. “I applaud them for standing up for what they believe in,” he said of those protesting the raffle. “I just think they have feelings to this specific type of gun (that are) different than people around here do,” told the Star.
Full story: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/02/20/ar-15-raffle-youth-baseball/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJnsMV3EZOI [with comments]
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Parkland Shooting Survivors School Congress on Gun Violence: The Daily Show
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by The Daily Show with Trevor Noah [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwWhs_6x42TyRM4Wstoq8HA , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwWhs_6x42TyRM4Wstoq8HA/videos ]
While Fox News and Marco Rubio dodge the topic of gun control after a school shooting in Parkland, FL, teen survivors stage protests to call for common sense legislation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQcaYYHqrUY [with (over 7,000) comments]
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Back in Black: How Territorial Rats Could Fix New York City's Transit Woes - The Daily Show
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Lewis Black catches up on all things New York City, from crime rates to famously faulty subways.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xNVNBxU0BM [with comments]
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America's Teens Experiment with Gun Control - The Opposition w/ Jordan Klepper
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by Comedy Central [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUsN5ZwHx2kILm84-jPDeXw / https://www.youtube.com/user/comedycentral , https://www.youtube.com/user/comedycentral/videos , https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD7nPL1U-R5r5XD8saDuOBVj1z69Y_4iK ]
Florida's student activists throw a wrench in Jordan's foolproof strategy for evading the uncomfortable gun control debate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAmtPLp0kcs [with comments]
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Carly Novell & Delaney Tarr - Reforming Gun Laws with #NeverAgain - The Opposition w/ Jordan Klepper
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by Comedy Central
Students Carly Novell and Delaney Tarr, survivors of the high school mass shooting in Parkland, FL, discuss their call for common-sense gun control legislation in the U.S.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVoe5SH_K8k [with comments]
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If Politicians Won't Take Action, These High Schoolers Will
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMtFAi84ehTSYSE9XoHefig , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMtFAi84ehTSYSE9XoHefig/videos ]
There's only one group Stephen thinks can actually defend the kids. And it is. . . the kids.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa0tSw2iV5o [with (over 14,000) comments]
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The GOP Finally Proposes A Ban
Published on Feb 21, 2018 by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
A GOP representative assures us that our elected officials are hard at work to ban something even more dangerous than assault weapons: numbers.
[originally aired February 20, 2018]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-9IJgU3Ooo [with comments]
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Trump's Twitter Spree After Robert Mueller's Russia Indictments
Published on Feb 21, 2018 by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
President Trump had a lot to say after the special counsel's influence in the 2016 election. . . but not to condemn Russia.
[originally aired February 20, 2018]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btxciF35Qnk [with comments]
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Trump's State Of Affairs. . . Actual Affairs
Published on Feb 21, 2018 by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
All of Trump's exes live in the news cycle. Stephen looks at Rachel Crooks' accusations of sexual assault against the President and Playboy model Karen McDougal's account an extramarital affair.
[originally aired February 20, 2018]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQQ9HoGgl_Q [with comments]
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Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand: 'The NRA Has A Chokehold On Congress'
Published on Feb 21, 2018 by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand discusses her frustration with her colleagues in Congress and their inability to take action after yet another mass shooting in a school.
[originally aired February 20, 2018 (U.S. central time)]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWOxjo65if0 [with comments]
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Donald Trump Jr. in INDIA Peddling POWER & Influence on the Tax Payers Dime !
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by Bravo Alternative Media https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVV0_xnA_z-ALo6kZJz2WXA , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVV0_xnA_z-ALo6kZJz2WXA/videos ]
Donald Trump Jr. is in INDIA to give a Foreign Policy Speech and Modi will be there to listen. What was that Promise to keep the Family Business and Government Separate ? Junior will also have a Secret Meeting with Canada Trudeau about selling off some American assets. India already has many Cyber Contracts locked up on the Cyber Border Wall the TRUMP REGIME is building to make his friends RICH. "How to Peddle Power and Influence the Trump Way" the next big Trump book to come out soon !!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYfgkdcoBzc [with comments]
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Mueller Israel-Mafia-Gate Heats Up, Alex Van Der Zwaan Pleads Guilty, Donald Trump Sweating !
Published on Feb 20, 2018 by Bravo Von Muller [ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4G1zEStJMqN3mnEONXA7Mw , https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4G1zEStJMqN3mnEONXA7Mw/videos ]
The Mueller Israeli-Mafia-Gate investigation is heating up. Alex Van Der Zwaan pleads Guilty today and I think if Donald Trump has a Brain, he would be Sweating about now. Funny how MSM lies about the entire Sad Russia-Russian Story of how Donald Trump let the Israel Zionist Mafia walk into the White House !!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4EZ-5FuRzI [with comments]
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stashed February 20, 2018:
Trump is ignoring the worst attack on America since 9/11
By Max Boot
Imagine if, after 9/11, the president had said that the World Trade Center and Pentagon could have been attacked by “China” or “lots of other people.” Imagine if he had dismissed claims of al-Qaeda’s responsibility as a “hoax” and said that he “really” believed Osama bin Laden’s denials. Imagine if he saw the attack primarily as a political embarrassment to be minimized rather than as a national security threat to be combated. Imagine if he threatened to fire the investigators trying to find out what happened.
Imagine, moreover, if the president refused to appoint a commission to study how to safeguard America. Imagine if, as a result, we did not harden cockpit doors. If we did not create a Transportation Security Administration and a Department of Homeland Security. If we did not lower barriers between law enforcement and intelligence. If we did not pass a USA Patriot Act to enhance surveillance. And if we did not take myriad other steps to prevent another 9/11.
That’s roughly where we stand after the second-worst foreign attack on America in the past two decades. The Russian subversion of the 2016 election did not, to be sure, kill nearly 3,000 people. But its longer-term impact may be even more corrosive by undermining faith in our democracy.
The evidence of Russian meddling became “incontrovertible,” in the word of national security adviser H.R. McMaster, after special counsel Robert S. Mueller III indicted 13 Russians and three Russian organizations on Friday for taking part in this operation. “Defendants’ operations included supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump (‘Trump Campaign’) and disparaging Hillary Clinton,” the indictment charges.
Yet in a disturbing weekend tweetstorm, President Trump attacked the FBI, Democrats, even McMaster — anyone but the Russians. He sought to minimize the impact of the Kremlin’s intrusion, tweeting: “The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion!” Actually, there’s plenty of evidence of collusion, including the infamous June 2016 meeting that Trump’s son, son-in-law and campaign manager held with Russian representatives who promised to “incriminate” Hillary Clinton.
There is also considerable evidence that the Kremlin impacted the election, which was decided by fewer than 80,000 votes in three states. Trump must have thought the Russian operation was significant because he mentioned its handiwork — the release of Democratic Party documents via WikiLeaks — 137 times in the final month of the campaign. On top of that, Russian propaganda reached at least 126 million Americans via Facebook alone.
The onslaught did not end in 2016. Russian trolls have continued promoting hashtags such as #ReleaseTheMemo to sow dissension and division. Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats just testified that Russia “views the 2018 U.S. midterm elections as a potential target for Russian influence operations.” Yet Trump has never convened a Cabinet meeting to address this threat and has resisted implementing sanctions passed by Congress.
The president’s obstructionism makes it impossible to appoint an 11/8 Commission to study this cyber-assault and to recommend responses. Various agencies, such as the FBI, are trying to combat the Russians on their own, but there is no coordinated response.
Much of the work has been left to social media platforms such as Google, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter that had to be dragged kicking and screaming into revealing the extent of Russian penetration, because they don’t want to lose ad revenue and users. Their apathy was underscored by a Friday tweet from Facebook vice president Rob Goldman that was eagerly quoted by Trump himself: “Most of the coverage of Russian meddling involves their attempt to effect the outcome of the 2016 US election. I have seen all of the Russian ads and I can say very definitively that swaying the election was *NOT* the main goal.” That may be technically accurate as it applies to Facebook ads, but it is also highly deceptive. These ads were only a small part of a vast Russian operation utilizing hackers and trolls that, as Mueller noted, was designed to sway the election.
Just as Sept. 11 made clear that private security could not safeguard the aviation system, so the 2016 Russian attack made clear that social media companies cannot safeguard the electoral system. A greater federal role is needed, yet Trump refuses to even admit that the problem exists.
The most benign explanation is that he is putting his vanity — he can’t have anything taint his glorious victory — above his obligation to “protect and defend the Constitution.” The more sinister hypothesis is that he has something to hide and, having benefited from Russia’s assistance once, hopes for more aid in 2018 and 2020. Either way, we are at war without a commander in chief.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-is-ignoring-the-worst-attack-on-america-since-911/2018/02/18/5ad888f2-14f3-11e8-8b08-027a6ccb38eb_story.html
more: https://www.google.com/search?q=trump+is+ignoring+the+worst+attack+on+america
Mr. Trump: They’re laughing at you, not with you
By Eugene Robinson
President Trump is right about one thing: They must be “laughing their asses off” in Moscow.
At him.
Faced with compelling evidence that Russian cyber-saboteurs worked to sway the 2016 election, influencing swing-state voters with lies on social media and even staging real-life campaign rallies, Trump’s only response has been a frantic and pathetic attempt to protect his own delicate ego. “But wasn’t I a great candidate?” he pleaded Sunday on Twitter.
Protecting our democracy obviously concerns Trump not at all. But you’re probably not surprised.
In a stunning indictment announced on Friday, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III laid out in painstaking detail how a group of paid Internet trolls based in St. Petersburg worked diligently to “sow discord in the U.S. political system.” They began with the aim of creating general mischief, but “by early to mid-2016, Defendants’ operations included supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump (‘Trump Campaign’) and disparaging Hillary Clinton.”
There it is, in black and white: Trump was elected with the active help of Russian President Vladimir Putin. While Putin is not named as a co-conspirator, the man behind the scheme — an oligarch named Yevgeniy Prigozhin — is a longtime crony known in Russia as “Putin’s chef.” The idea that he would meddle in a U.S. election without orders from Putin is ludicrous.
The 13 named defendants are presumably in Russia, beyond the reach of U.S. justice. Mueller’s account of what they allegedly did is simply infuriating. Voters who saw the Russians’ Facebook, Instagram and Twitter posts were led to believe they were being lobbied by their fellow citizens — not by an adversarial foreign power.
They tried to convince Muslim voters that Clinton was anti-Islam, and tried to convince anti-Muslim voters that she favored imposing sharia law. They tried to suppress the African American vote with an Instagram account named “Woke Blacks” that called Clinton “the lesser of two devils,” and argued “we’d surely be better off without voting AT ALL.” They purchased online ads calling Clinton “a Satan” and falsely accused her of voter fraud while claiming that “Donald Trump is the one and only [candidate] who can defend the police from terrorists.”
They organized and promoted actual pro-Trump and anti-Clinton rallies in Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, according to the indictment, and they targeted their social media campaigns at other swing states. To pay for all of this, they established fraudulent U.S. identities and bank accounts so that no one would know they were heeding political advice from Russians employed by “Putin’s chef.”
Mueller’s big splash sent Trump into a full-fledged Twitter conniption that, by Monday, showed no sign of easing. It would be a waste of space to quote all of Trump’s bleating, but basically he tried to claim that the indictment proves two things: Whatever the Russians did or didn’t do, they had no impact on the outcome of the election; and there was no collusion — or as Trump would put it, NO COLLUSION — between the Russians and the Trump campaign.
Deep down, he must know the indictment says nothing of the sort.
Of course the Russians had some impact. If communicating via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter were a useless way to influence voters, campaigns wouldn’t bother with social media strategies. If rallies didn’t produce votes, campaigns would find better uses for the money and effort it takes to stage them.
It’s true that it is impossible to say how much impact this element of the Russian meddling offensive had. Would it have made a difference if more African Americans had voted in the Rust Belt states that Trump unexpectedly won? Or if fewer progressives had voted for the Green Party’s Jill Stein, whose candidacy the Russians worked hard to boost? Perhaps some clever political science professor will figure it all out someday.
As for collusion, it is true that Mueller does not allege that anyone from the Trump campaign knowingly participated in the Prigozhin conspiracy. But it goes deeper: Intelligence officials say the Russians hacked into the email accounts of both the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, and then leaked that material to do maximum damage to Clinton’s prospects. We don’t know if there was collusion in that scheme — or in other schemes we might not yet know about.
Late Saturday night, well past his usual bedtime, Trump was wide-awake and still tweeting: “The only Collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems. Remember the Dirty Dossier, Uranium, Speeches, Emails and the Podesta Company!”
Stop laughing, Vladimir Putin. You’ll hurt yourself.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mr-trump-theyre-laughing-at-you-not-with-you/2018/02/19/18605e7e-15b0-11e8-b681-2d4d462a1921_story.html
The Flawed Nationalism of Donald Trump
The president can’t grasp that what matters most about the Russia attack is not what it reveals about his political legitimacy but what it reveals about America’s national vulnerability.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/the-flawed-nationalism-of-donald-trump/553721/
Facebook Battles New Criticism After U.S. Indictment Against Russians
Comments by Facebook’s head of advertising after indictment spark further backlash
Facebook Inc. FB -0.76%? is contending with a new wave of criticism prompted by the U.S. indictment alleging that Russia manipulated social-media platforms—and by a Facebook executive’s attempts to address the issue.
The indictment against Russian companies and individuals described how an organization called the Internet Research Agency allegedly used Facebook, Twitter Inc., TWTR -0.67%? and the YouTube arm of Alphabet Inc.’s GOOGL 0.74%? Google to sow discord in the U.S. starting in 2014. The document’s description of events showed that Facebook and its Instagram photo-sharing unit were particularly central to the alleged Russian attempts to influence U.S. public opinion.
Researchers who study social media said the indictment, secured by special counsel Robert Mueller, showed that Facebook was ill-prepared for such efforts. Facebook has more than 25,000 employees, but fewer than 100 Russian provocateurs armed with social-media savvy and widely available technological tools were able to manipulate its platform for years, the indictment says.
Comments by Facebook’s head of advertising, Rob Goldman, after the indictment was handed up Friday fueled further criticism. Mr. Goldman, writing on Twitter, said there are “easy ways to fight” the Russian campaign, starting with having a “well educated citizenry.” He also tweeted that the Russians’ main goal wasn’t to sway the 2016 election, but more broadly to sow division in the U.S.
Mr. Goldman’s series of eight tweets provoked more than 9,000 responses on Twitter, many of them angry.
“You really are not in a position to preach and your astonishing tweets have created confusion and anger,” Mainardo de Nardis, a senior executive at advertising giant Omnicom Group Inc., said in a tweet Sunday. “Enough damage done over the past 2+ years. In the absence of real actions silence would be appreciated.” Mr. de Nardis didn’t respond to requests for comment.
A Facebook spokesman said Mr. Goldman, who didn’t respond to a request for comment, had sent his tweets in a personal capacity. The company pointed to a statement from Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s vice president of global public policy, saying, “Nothing we found contradicts the Special Counsel’s indictments.”
Russia’s government has repeatedly denied any government effort to influence the U.S. election.
Facebook has struggled for much of the past year to respond to mounting ire from users, politicians, customers and others over its role in facilitating the spread of misinformation and divisive content.
The indictment shows that “there are lots of levers that get pulled in social media for the sake of manipulation and a lot of those levers aren’t even known by the companies themselves,” said Sam Woolley, an Oxford University research associate who has studied propaganda efforts on social-media platforms.
The indictment documented an unprecedented manipulation campaign targeting Facebook, its Instagram platform, Twitter and YouTube. Starting in 2014, the Russians built an influence operation that drew followers to bogus accounts that spread disinformation, organized U.S. demonstrations and even paid a person to dress up like Hillary Clinton in a prison uniform at a West Palm Beach, Fla., rally, the indictment says.
While much of the attention around the Russian manipulation focused on its efforts to stoke divisions ahead the 2016 U.S. presidential election, it is clear the campaign continued since then. The Wall Street Journal reported in October that some of the Russian-backed social-media accounts posted divisive messages at least as recently as last August.
The Twitter comments of Mr. Goldman, Facebook’s head of advertising, also fueled disagreement about the intent of the Russian efforts. One of Mr. Goldman’s tweets said “swaying the election was *NOT* the main goal” of the Russian ads, and that “the majority of the Russian ad spend happened AFTER the election.”
On Saturday, President Donald Trump cited Mr. Goldman’s comment in support of the idea that Russia’s actions didn’t affect the election.
Following criticism that he was obscuring the intent of the Russians, Mr. Goldman later tweeted that “the Russian campaign was certainly in favor of Mr. Trump.” He also dialed back some of his claims. “I am only speaking here about the Russian behavior on Facebook. That is the only aspect that I observed directly,” he tweeted.
Clint Watts, a fellow with the Foreign Policy Research Institute who studied the Russian influence campaign, said the ads bought on Facebook were only “a much smaller part of a very large effort.”
“Mr. Goldman should have stayed silent,” Mr. Watts said, adding that playing down the effect of the influence campaign risked further angering Americans. “The public is upset that they got duped on Facebook’s platform. Facebook got duped,” he said. “It makes it seem like they don’t get it.”
While Facebook’s role in the Russian campaign is in the spotlight, some researchers who have studied the efforts note that it was far from the only institution to fall short.
“Let’s not mince words. The Obama administration did not react quickly enough to this problem. The intelligence community did not react quickly enough to this problem,” said Thomas Rid, professor of strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University.
Facebook has said it is taking a number of steps to prevent efforts like the Russian campaign from happening again, including hiring 10,000 employees tasked with policing hate speech, as well as coming up with ways to uproot fake accounts. Facebook officials also have emphasized that the company provided information to Mr. Mueller.
Mr. Goldman, too, said Facebook is taking “aggressive steps to prevent this sort of meddling in the future,” including verification for all political advertisers. Still, his comments struck some observers as tone deaf.
“It was an almost perfect example of Silicon Valley overconfidence and lack of sophistication when it comes to politics,” said Josh Hendler, former director of technology for the Democratic National Committee, which suffered a cyberattack ahead of the 2016 election that U.S. officials blamed on Russia.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-battles-new-criticism-after-u-s-indictment-against-russians-1519066080
In His Own Words: Trump on Russian Meddling
"I never said Russia did not meddle in the election."
FALSE
https://www.factcheck.org/2018/02/words-trump-russian-meddling/
Donald Trump falsely says he never denied Russian meddling
"I never said Russia did not meddle in the election."
Pants on Fire!
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2018/feb/19/donald-trump/donald-trump-falsely-denies-he-denied-russian-medd/
Trump is helping to undermine US democracy. That's just what Russia wants
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/20/politics/donald-trump-russia-robert-mueller/index.html
There's a specific reason Trump leveled an unprecedented amount of frustration toward the Russia probe this weekend
This past weekend, President Donald Trump fired off more than a dozen tweets about Russia following the latest charges in the investigation into Russian election meddling.
Trump alternated between declaring his innocence, blaming former President Barack Obama for Russia's election interference, accusing Hillary Clinton of collusion, and suggesting the FBI could have prevented last week's Florida school shooting if it hadn't been so focused on the Russia investigation.
The charges the special counsel announced Friday did not implicate any members of the Trump campaign or the White House.
Trump's unprecedented level of public frustration with the investigation most likely stems from his belief that Friday's indictment threatens the legitimacy of his election victory.
http://www.businessinsider.com/mueller-russia-indictment-challenges-trump-belief-about-2016-election-legitimacy-2018-2
What Could Be Coming Next In Robert Mueller's Russia Investigation
https://www.npr.org/2018/02/20/587305198/what-could-be-coming-next-in-robert-muellers-russia-investigation
Trump’s unhinged Russia tweetstorm boomerangs back on Republicans
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/02/20/trumps-unhinged-russia-tweetstorm-boomerangs-back-on-republicans/
Why Thomas Friedman issued a 'code red' warning to America
Thomas Friedman doesn't scare easily.
http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/20/media/thomas-friedman-new-york-times-column/index.html
Trump Tries to Shift Blame to Obama for Not Countering Russian Meddling
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/us/politics/trump-obama-russian-meddling.html
Trump Defiant Despite Mueller’s Warning Shot on Russia Meddling
President fumed about Russia probe but didn’t attack Moscow
Officials are warning about repeat attacks in 2018 elections
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-20/trump-defiant-despite-mueller-s-warning-shot-on-russia-meddling
Robert Mueller Has Trump Cornered
By Robert Kuttner
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-kuttner-mueller-russia_us_5a8a3dfde4b004fc31939016
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dPAoEetJFEbH7hMc82GrFzniV0g2M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Trump’s staggering dereliction of duty
By Ruth Marcus
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-staggering-dereliction-of-duty/2018/02/18/87133a42-14cc-11e8-92c9-376b4fe57ff7_story.html
more: https://www.google.com/search?q=trump%27s+staggering+dereliction+of+duty
Former Skadden Lawyer Pleads Guilty to Lying in Russia Investigation
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/us/politics/alex-van-der-zwaan-gates-russia-mueller.html
U.S. v. Alex van der Zwaan
Information
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4382158/2-16-18-Van-Der-Zwaan-Information.pdf
In Mueller probe, son-in-law of Russian businessman pleads guilty to false statements
The Dutch son-in-law of one of Russia’s wealthiest men pleaded guilty Tuesday in Washington to making false statements in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, according to a new court filing.
Alex van der Zwaan was charged with lying to the FBI about his contacts with Rick Gates, a former staffer on President Trump’s campaign and a longtime business partner of former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
Based in London, van der Zwaan worked for the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, which did work with Manafort and Gates while they served as political consultants in Ukraine, before joining Trump’s campaign in 2016. Van der Zwaan is the son-in-law of German Khan, a billionaire and an owner of Alfa Group, Russia’s largest financial and industrial investment group.
Mueller charged Manafort and Gates in October with conspiracy, fraud and money laundering charges related to lobbying work they did for a Russian-friendly political party in Ukraine and former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
[...]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/mueller-probe-london-based-son-of-russian-businessman-to-plead-guilty-to-false-statements/2018/02/20/142f4d2e-164b-11e8-b681-2d4d462a1921_story.html
Mueller’s Move on Ex-Skadden Lawyer Puts Heat on Manafort, Gates
Van der Zwaan worked on Ukraine report coordinated by Manafort
False statements case unveiled days after Russians charged
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-20/skadden-arps-lawyer-is-charged-with-role-in-u-s-russia-probe
Attorney pleads guilty in Mueller probe to lying to FBI over contacts with former Trump campaign official
Alex van der Zwaan admitted making false or misleading statements regarding email communications with Richard Gates.
His former employer, the renowned law firm Skadden, Arps, says they are cooperating with authorities.
Van der Zwaan is married to the daughter of German Khan, a Russian oligarch who is suing research firm Fusion GPS over a dossier alleging salacious and unverified ties between President Donald Trump and Russia.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/20/mueller-charges-attorney-with-lying-to-the-fbi.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dW3pvaWS9u-HrTM6VI6a_piILgJ4M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Devin Nunes's Fake Oversight
The House Intelligence Committee chairman’s actions are toxic to the democratic process and dangerous to American national security.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/02/devin-nunes-and-the-invention-of-fake-oversight/553694/
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dbKTA5UR04LMIhMskbKGYbWBar7IM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
New House map in Pennsylvania is a big win for Dems
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/first-read/new-house-map-pennsylvania-big-win-dems-n849551
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d5ZJtOigdxVxl6MSKRXjH9Ogj3iWM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Florida GOP Rep. Tom Rooney retiring
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/19/politics/tom-rooney-florida-republican-retiring/index.html
more: https://www.google.com/search?q=tom+rooney
Clarence Thomas Sexually Harassed Me. Yes, He Should Be Impeached.
By Angela Wright-Shannon
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-wright-shannon-clarence-thomas_us_5a8b4b2ae4b0a1d0e12c3095
Do You Believe Her [Anita Hill] Now?
It’s time to reexamine the evidence that Clarence Thomas lied to get onto the Supreme Court — and to talk seriously about impeachment.
By Jill Abramson
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/02/the-case-for-impeaching-clarence-thomas.html
Jill Abramson on Clarence Thomas, James Bennet, and Our Chaotic Media Age
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/02/jill-abramson-on-clarence-thomas-james-bennet-and-media-today.html
STASI: Women of all colors and creeds must rise together to take down harassers like Justice Clarence Thomas
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/stasi-women-join-forces-topple-men-clarence-thomas-article-1.3831677
Supreme Court Won't Hear Challenge To California's Gun Laws
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/20/587330832/supreme-court-wont-hear-challenge-to-california-s-gun-laws
Thomas dissents from Supreme Court decision not to review California gun law
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/thomas-dissents-from-supreme-court-decision-not-to-review-california-gun-law/2018/02/20/342c378e-164d-11e8-92c9-376b4fe57ff7_story.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/di_lRWzBLek-QpMf1HDHpsLZqZB4M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Two Women Say Donald Trump Touched Them Inappropriately
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/13/us/politics/donald-trump-women.html
Is anyone listening?
This Trump accuser keeps asking herself that. But she [Rachel Crooks] plans to keep talking about that day in 2006.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/national/wp/2018/02/19/feature/trump-accuser-keeps-telling-her-story-hoping-someone-will-finally-listen/
Trump Denies Woman's Allegation Of Unwanted Kissing In Trump Tower
https://www.npr.org/2018/02/20/587253019/trump-denies-womans-allegation-of-unwanted-kissing-in-trump-tower
Trump calls woman's account of sexual misconduct 'another false accusation'
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/20/trump-sexual-misconduct-rachel-crooks-417236
Trump Accuser Challenges President to Release Footage of Alleged Kiss He Denied in Tweetstorm
http://people.com/politics/trump-accuser-rachel-crooks-release-footage-kiss-tweet/
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dqk2p34uSmo4SjMTOI4ZVvURF1rDM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Abbas, Haley exchange strong criticism over Middle East at U.N. Security Council
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/abbas-haley-exchange-strong-criticism-over-middle-east-at-un-security-council/2018/02/20/e469157a-164f-11e8-b681-2d4d462a1921_story.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dp-Vv4Gzu3S95xMWJORysQe90D6BM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
The US and North Korea look like they'll get right back into a nuclear standoff after the Olympics
The US, South Korea, and North Korea are all expected to return to old tricks after the Olympics with military drills and possibly missile or nuclear tests.
North Korea reached out to South Korea ahead of the games, but said it could not talk to the South if military drills continue.
The US and South Korea announced on Tuesday that drills would resume after the Olympics.
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-military-drills-north-korea-after-olympics-missile-test-2018-2
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dga-kM390c7wpVMasHQl9pgTT8tCM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Police accuse Netanyahu associate of trying to bribe judge
http://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-israel-netanyahu-corruption-20180220-story.html
New Netanyahu Corruption Allegations: The Details
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/world/middleeast/netanyahu-corruption-details.html
Who Is Nir Hefetz, the Netanyahus’ Spin Doctor Suspected of Offering a Bribe to a Judge?
The belligerent ex-journalist has worked for disgraced tycoon Nochi Dankner, newspaper publisher Arnon Mozes and now the Netanyahus
Netanyahu confidant suspected of offering judge top post to nix case against Sara Netanyahu [ https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/nix-sara-netanyahu-case-get-top-post-pm-s-confidant-offered-judge-1.5832137 ]
Netanyahu is only focused on survival. The rest is a facade [ https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-netanyahu-is-only-focused-on-survival-the-rest-is-a-facade-1.5829136 ]
This is the case against Sara Netanyahu the judge was allegedly asked to kill [ https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/this-is-the-case-against-sara-netanyahu-the-judge-was-asked-to-kill-1.5840013 ]
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-who-is-nir-hefetz-netanyahu-s-spin-doctor-accused-of-bribing-a-judge-1.5841330
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dw7_guey1mkRV9MrQbnLGWd-IPXNM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Luxury property ad blitz heralds Trump son’s visit to India - AP
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/donald-trump-jr-arrives-in-india-to-help-sell-apartments/2018/02/20/54a9edda-15fd-11e8-930c-45838ad0d77a_story.html
original https://www.apnews.com/3f6d813264e14fdfb05a005ac06c8561/Luxury-property-ad-blitz-heralds-Trump-son's-visit-to-India
President or Luxury Towers: Either Way, Trump Is the Rage in India
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/world/trump-tower-india.html
Donald Trump Jr. dismisses ethics concerns in India
Donald Trump Jr. dismissed suggestions that his family is profiting from his father's presidency on the first day of a tour of India to promote luxury apartments.
http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/20/news/economy/donald-trump-jr-india-visit-delhi-kolkata-modi/index.html
Trump Jr. praises happy poor people during scrutinized business trip to India
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/trump-jr-praises-happy-poor-people-india-trip-article-1.3831684
Trump Jr. to give foreign policy speech while on ‘unofficial’ business trip to India
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/trump-jr-to-give-foreign-policy-speech-while-on-unofficial-business-trip-to-india/2018/02/19/37d00c37-d9e8-40c4-934b-0a26b8160dcd_story.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dq6d1YW1GCHi7-MG-mfGaf9Ey4wIM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
AT&T Loses Bid to Obtain White House Call Logs
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/technology/att-loses-bid-to-obtain-white-house-call-logs.html
AT&T’s attempt to buy Time Warner suffers a blow in court
AT&T loses bid for evidence; Trump’s hatred of CNN won’t play big role in case.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/02/atts-attempt-to-buy-time-warner-suffers-a-blow-in-court/
AT&T Can't Get Evidence of White House Sway on Merger Suit
Company loses court bid for White House, Sessions contacts
Ruling is setback for AT&T defense of Time Warner acquisition
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-02-20/at-t-loses-bid-for-white-house-sessions-contacts-on-time-warner-jdw1cfdf
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dfSMvo2Ai87PBEMaI5xfCWcbHVQGM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Samsung Begins Mass Production Of Industry's Largest, High-Performance Solid State Drive
https://www.forbes.com/sites/marcochiappetta/2018/02/20/samsung-begins-mass-production-of-industrys-largest-high-performance-solid-state-drive/
Samsung Electronics Begins Mass Production of Industry’s Largest Capacity SSD – 30.72TB – for Next-Generation Enterprise Systems
New 'PM1643' is built on latest 512Gb V-NAND to offer the most advanced storage, featuring industry-first 1TB NAND flash package, 40GB of DRAM, new controller and custom software
https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-electronics-begins-mass-production-of-industrys-largest-capacity-ssd-30-72tb-for-next-generation-enterprise-systems
Samsung unveils world’s largest SSD with whopping 30TB of storage
It’s the most memory ever crammed into a 2.5-inch form factor — enough to store 5,700 full HD movies
https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/2/20/17031256/worlds-largest-ssd-drive-samsung-30-terabyte-pm1643
more:
https://news.google.com/news/story/dllj5Q5VEyZUzyMs9cy2zMMrvEc8M?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
https://news.google.com/news/story/dU52xvXX5FEqDkMRHjIds-M2eOaYM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Kratom linked to dozens of illnesses from salmonella, health officials warn
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kratom-salmonella-fda-cdc-warning/
Multistate Outbreak of Salmonella I 4,[5],12:b:- Infections Linked to Kratom
https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/kratom-02-18/index.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dJdkS7PY3ICjhKMz5PsyrfBg5IXCM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Flu, Tdap Vax Safe for Babies 6 Months Later
No higher risk of infant hospitalization, death linked to vaccines in pregnancy
https://www.medpagetoday.com/obgyn/pregnancy/71275
Do hospital workers get the flu vaccine? Not all, data shows
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/do-hospital-workers-get-the-flu-vaccine-not-all-data/article_5513fcf3-ae87-58d9-946b-23e3c7138572.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d17AddWJk1Y59LMMwrt6y6ZH33vBM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Some Conservatives Are Trying To Discredit Outspoken Florida Shooting Survivors
They’re dismissing arguments in favor of gun control by targeting the students themselves.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/florida-shooting-survivors-parkland_us_5a8c54dce4b0273053a52821
Florida Survivors Push Back After GOP Activist Says They’re ‘Hijacked By Left-Wing Groups’
Saying that “just because we’re young we can’t make a difference is not right,” one student said.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jack-kingston-florida-survivors-hijacked_us_5a8c1f50e4b09fc01e037d29
Florida Shooter’s Former Friend Says She Reported Him To School ‘Multiple’ Times
Nikolas Cruz “talked about killing our parents, our friends, boyfriends and girlfriends,” said Ariana Lopez.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/florida-shooter-former-friend-gma_us_5a8c1890e4b0117adf71f83f
Army Awards Heroism Medal To 3 Junior ROTC Cadets Killed In Florida Shooting
The medal honors cadets whose achievements “involved the acceptance of danger and extraordinary responsibilities, exemplifying praiseworthy courage and fortitude.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rotc-cadets-florida-medal-of-heroism_us_5a8c63c4e4b0273053a5449c
Dallas Politician Tells NRA To Get Lost Unless It’s Ready To Talk Reform - Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway - gun owner
The gun group is set to hold its annual convention in Dallas later this year.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dallas-nra-florida-shooting_us_5a8be471e4b0117adf717b9e
Strong Black Men Are Victims Of Assault, Too
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-connor-black-men-metoo_us_5a8af9b8e4b00bc49f471517
‘Suck Up’ Mitt Romney Is Called Out For Flip-Flopping On Trump’s Endorsement
“Good to have the old Mitt Romney back.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mitt-romney-trump-endorsement-flip-flop_us_5a8be936e4b0117adf7183cf
Idaho Senator Rants At Students Who Drove 300 Miles To Meet Him
State Sen. Dan Foreman abruptly canceled a meeting with the students and threatened to call law enforcement if they ever return.
An Idaho Republican state senator has been labeled a “bully” after ranting at college students who traveled hundreds of miles to discuss a birth control bill with lawmakers.
State Sen. Dan Foreman also has been slapped with an ethics complaint for an incendiary follow-up tweet sent from an account allegedly associated with him.
The tense exchange between Foreman and about a dozen University of Idaho students was captured on camera Monday. Video circulating on social media shows Foreman forcefully pointing his finger and belligerently saying “abortion is murder” to the students, who say they didn’t come to discuss abortion at all.
[...]
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/idaho-senator-dan-foreman-abortion-murder-students_us_5a8bdafee4b0117adf7169c8
Trump Administration Takes Another Step To Roll Back Obamacare
A new regulation would open the door for less comprehensive, short-term plans.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-obamacare-insurance-rules_us_5a3d3cb5e4b06d1621b42a1b
Apple’s Overseas Cash Isn’t The Win The GOP Says It Is
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-rouen-apple-taxes_us_5a8af05ee4b00bc49f46f516
Donald Trump Could Exacerbate The Teacher Diversity Gap
Some 20,000 teachers rely on DACA.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/latinx-teacher-diversity_us_5a8b060ce4b004fc3195429a
House Democrats Just Had Their Best Ever January Fundraising Haul
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee raised $9.3 million.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dccc-breaks-january-fundraising-record_us_5a8b213ae4b00bc49f47587a
GOP Asked People To Sign A Presidents Day Card For Trump. It Didn’t Go Well.
“How do you say ‘Happy Presidents Day’ in Russian?”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gop-trump-presidents-day_us_5a8ba412e4b0a1d0e12c60e4
Fox News Is Launching An ‘Over-The-Top’ Opinion Streaming Service
The platform is set to launch later this year.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fox-news-streaming-service_us_5a8c4ba2e4b03414379ab28e
Brazil’s Military Takeover Of Security In Rio De Janeiro Is A Looming Disaster
Handing public security to the military is likely to worsen the plight of poor residents who are already subject to the worst of Rio’s violence.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/brazil-military-intervention-rio-de-janeiro_us_5a8b47efe4b0117adf71037c
Ocean Plastic Pollution Isn’t Just Immoral, It’s Illegal
Campaigners? can use the moral force of international law to drastically reduce pollution to oceans.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ocean-plastic-pollution-illegal_us_5a8c468be4b0e1acb11d8f6b
Environmentalists Say They’re Averting Climate Disaster. Conservatives Say It’s Terrorism.
The post-9/11 rhetoric vilifying environmentalists is making a comeback.
Michael Foster, 53, is a mild-mannered mental health counselor and father of two from Seattle, with short-cropped silver hair and soft features.
But in a North Dakota court last October, prosecutors painted Foster as a ruthless killer and agent of chaos. The prosecution team compared him to the 9/11 hijackers who killed 2,996 people in the worst terror attack in history, and warned that he envisioned an anarchic future under Islamic religious law. Prosecutors even put him in a league with Ted Kaczynski, the so-called Unabomber whose 17-year bombing spree left three dead and injured 23.
Foster hadn’t killed anyone. He didn’t even injure anyone when, on Oct. 11, 2016, he put on a white hard hat and neon-yellow safety vest, grabbed some bolt cutters, and clipped the chain locking a fenced section of the Keystone Pipeline in Walhalla, North Dakota. Once inside the fence, Foster cranked a giant wheel-like valve until it closed, temporarily stopping the flow of tar sands oil.
“In order to preserve life as we know it, and civilization, and give us a fair chance and our kids a fair chance, I’m taking action as a citizen,” Foster told another activist, Sam Jessup, who live-streamed the action. “I am duty-bound.”
Foster’s action was part of a protest in solidarity with the indigenous activists fighting to stop construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which runs through a sacred water source at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on the other side of the state. Foster and Jessup did so in coordination with “valve turners” in four other states, timing their break-ins across the country to temporarily halt 15 percent of U.S. oil consumption.
Then came the legal crackdown.
In October, a judge convicted Foster and Jessup of felonies ? including criminal mischief and conspiracy to commit criminal mischief ? carrying maximum sentences of 11 to 26 years in prison. Earlier this month, the judge sentenced Foster to three years in prison; Jessup received two years of probation. (Other valve turners have faced up to 10 years in prison and $20,000 in fines.)
“They hit the trifecta: 9/11, the Unabomber, and that somehow our action was going to lead to Sharia law,” said Emily Johnston, 51, who is set to stand trial in May for turning a pipeline valve in Minnesota. “The theory being that if everyone just acted on what they believed in, it would be anarchy.”
That theory is now gaining some traction in Washington.
In October, 84 members of Congress, including four Democrats, sent Attorney General Jeff Sessions a letter urging him to find out whether the Department of Justice could prosecute pipeline saboteurs as terrorists. The Justice Department has yet to announce a decision, but said in November that it was “committed to vigorously prosecuting those who damage this critical energy infrastructure in violation of federal law.” Doing so would be a break from the Obama administration’s decision to let states handle such cases, rather than treating them as federal crimes.
But policymakers are sharpening their knives on the state level, too. Late last year, the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council drafted model legislation calling for severe punishments for anyone caught trespassing on or tampering with an oil, gas or chemical factory. The Critical Infrastructure Protection Act even includes a clause that any “conspirator” organization would be fined 10 times more than a trespasser, opening the door to crippling penalties for environmental groups.
Lawmakers in Ohio and Iowa are now considering bills based on the proposal. The Iowa bill is backed by Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline. In all, 31 states have considered 58 bills to crack down on protesters since November 2016, according to a database maintained by the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law. Eight have been enacted, and 28 are pending.
At a moment when the Trump administration is waging all-out war on environmentalism, macheting away regulations and gearing up for a massive pipeline construction spree, “eco-terrorism” is re-emerging as a boogeyman in a way it hasn’t since right after 9/11.
There are already laws in place to send environmentalists who tamper with fossil fuel infrastructure to jail, as Foster’s case demonstrates. But if conservative lawmakers get their way, new laws could undermine the environmental movement ? just as scientists say the humans are running out of time to make the changes needed to stave off the worst effects of climate change.
Protesting After The Patriot Act
Targeting environmentalists as domestic security threats goes back nearly two decades. Radical environmental groups experienced their heydays in the 1990s, but became victims of their own success as concerns over pollution and animal cruelty went mainstream.
But even as the influence of these groups waned, a scorched-earth crackdown loomed. President George W. Bush signed the USA Patriot Act in October 2001, just over a month after the 9/11 attacks. The law expanded the government’s view of domestic terror suspects and granted law enforcement sweeping new powers to investigate organizations and individuals, including by seizing assets without any prior hearing or criminal charges.
“It’s about installing fear so they don’t go out and protest in the first place,” said Will Potter, author of the book Green Is The New Red, while comparing ALEC’s recent bill to the actions taken after 9/11. “The purpose of this law isn’t to wrap everybody up and send them to federal prison. It’s to scare people, to create fear.”
Potter would know. In 2002, when he was a reporter working on the Chicago Tribune’s metro desk, two FBI agents arrived at his home to question him about an animal rights protest he and his girlfriend had participated in months earlier. Both had been arrested and charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct after leaving flyers in a neighborhood where an insurance executive whose company covered animal laboratory testing lived. He says FBI agents, armed with new powers under the Patriot Act, threatened to add him to a domestic terror list if he didn’t become an informant on the group with which he protested. The officers threatened him, telling him they could “make your life very difficult for you,” having secured “more authority now to get things done and get down to business” after 9/11, Mother Jones reported in 2011.
In 2005, John Lewis, then the FBI official in charge of domestic terrorism, ranked “eco-terrorism and animal-rights movement” activists ahead of radical Islamic extremists as the nation’s top domestic terror threat.
The agency began investigating Eric McDavid, a self-declared green anarchist, that same year. In a now-infamous case, the FBI recruited a mole to get close to McDavid and coax him into plotting a C4 bomb attack. He was arrested in January 2006, and spent a decade in prison.
Congress also quietly passed the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act in 2005, a sweeping law that classified many forms of animal rights protest as terrorism. It was used to prosecute Lauren Gazzola, the U.S. coordinator for a campaign against an animal product testing, on six felony charges that included conspiracy to violate an earlier law meant to protect businesses from protestors.
The crackdown was at odds with any realistic threat these environmentalists might have posed. Less than 10 percent of all radical environmental and animal rights actions from 2003 to 2010 even included criminal activity, according to a study published in 2014 in the journal Studies in Conflict & Terrorism. Of those acts, 66 percent were vandalism, less than 15 percent were house visits, and just over 12 percent involved freeing animals from cages. About 4 percent were arsons, and 1.4 percent involved explosives. There were no assassinations.
Protesting Post-Trump
Cas Mudde, a Dutch political scientist who co-authored the study on criminal activity amongst activists, points out that the attacks on environmentalists came at a time when many political protesters were speaking out against the Iraq War ? meaning environmentalists served as a sort of proxy for other left-leaning protest movements.
This is not unlike what we’re seeing now, Mudde said, noting that overlap between leftist activists and radical environmentalists makes it easy for conservatives to demonize both equally.
For example, Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity spent months inveighing against the so-called “antifa” and “alt left” movements, terms they use to refer to certain anti-fascist protester groups that rose up in response to increasingly vocal white nationalists in the U.S. Researchers who study extremists say “alt left” does not describe a real phenomenon.
Mudde said it could be especially telling to see how Republicans frame the laws to criminalize fossil fuel protest.
“Is this about just protecting some businesses?” he said. “Or is this about this larger idea that the radical left is threatening America?”
The surprise election of President Donald Trump in 2016 dashed any hopes that the so-called green scare was a thing of the past. Trump, who dismisses climate change and installed an EPA administrator who shares his ideological antagonism toward science, reversed regulations and announced plans to withdraw from the Paris climate accord.
The conditions primed the rise of a more militant environmental movement ? and for an even more militant crackdown.
In a provocative essay published in September in Foreign Policy, think tank scholar Jamie Bartlett argued that “formal, peaceful political activism — that all-important route to redress — isn’t working” to address pollution and that “the signs of growing radicalism in green circles are already there, if you know where to look.” He noted that hard-line environmental organizations are seeing a membership surge, and that local anti-fracking groups are growing faster than ever before.
In April, the Department of Homeland Security warned of attacks by eco-terrorists who “believe violence is justified” to stop the planned Diamond Pipeline from Oklahoma to Tennessee. But the report admitted that no current intelligence suggested any attack had actually been planned.
The oil and gas industry is fueling fears of impending eco-terrorist attacks. In October, the American Petroleum Institute disclosed that it was “working with the Trump administration on this issue, including the DOJ, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration,” according to the trade publication Natural Gas Intelligence. API indicated that its lobbyists met with the FBI and other agencies to discuss “efforts related to pipeline security,” according to its final-quarter disclosure report from 2017.
The ALEC model bill is perhaps the clearest indication that “eco-terrorism” is back as a boogeyman on the right. When ALEC began shopping the bill around to state legislatures, it included a letter signed by a consortium of fossil fuel corporations and chemical manufacturers urging lawmakers to introduce bills based on the legislation to curtail the “growing and disturbing trend” of environmentalists attacking infrastructure.
The letter, which HuffPost obtained, listed five examples to back up the trend. One was the valve turners case. The others did not actually involve environmentalists. Instead, they were loosely bound by common threads of mental illness or workplace grievance:
- In August 2011, Daniel Wells Herriman heard voices in his head, which convinced him to plant a crude bomb near a gas pipeline in Oklahoma. He turned himself in, pleaded insanity, and was sentenced the next year to more than five years in prison.
- In June 2012 ? after spending months writing fawning prison letters to the Unabomber and posting enraged videos about having to pay taxes ? Anson Chi decided to live out his fantasies by blowing up a homemade explosive near a natural gas pipeline in Plano, Texas. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
- Just after midnight on April 16, 2013, a sniper fired more than 100 rounds of .30-caliber rifle ammunition into the radiators of 17 electricity transformers in Metcalf, California. The attacker, believed to “an insider” who worked at the utility PG&E, was never found.
- In October 2017, vandals believed to be recently furloughed employees ransacked a wastewater plant in Crow Agency, Montana, igniting a fire and firing off guns.
Marathon Petroleum Corporation, the only individual company to sign the letter, declined to comment. The Edison Electric Institute, a trade group for utilities, said, “It is important for law enforcement agencies to have the ability to hold individuals and organizations accountable for any attempts to damage or sabotage critical infrastructure.”
In a bizarre response, a spokesman for the Energy Policy Network denied that the coal-industry advocate signed the letter. He did not respond when sent screenshots and asked to comment on why the group’s name appeared in the signature of the letter.
The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, a trade group, did not respond to questions about the examples listed in the letter, but defended its support for the ALEC legislation.
“Our highest priority is the welfare of our employees, surrounding communities and the environment, and sabotage against critical infrastructure can put this safety at risk,” Chet Thompson, the association’s president and chief executive, told HuffPost by email. “While AFPM defends peaceful protest, violence is never justified and cannot be condoned.”
The American Chemistry Council and the American Gas Association ? trade associations for chemical manufacturers and gas-burning utilities ? did not respond to requests for comment. ALEC did not reply to an email requesting an interview.
While industry groups quietly work to lay sharper legal snares for environmentalists, people like Johnston, the woman who turned a pipeline valve in Minnesota, are fighting to reshape the narrative over fossil fuel sabotage in court.
In October, a district court judge in Minnesota ruled that Johnston and her two co-defendants would be allowed to argue that the “necessity” of confronting climate change justified temporarily shutting down the pipeline. Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, called the defense “extremely unusual,” according to InsideClimate News. But, if successful, it could set a legal precedent used in the past by political activists on issues including the Vietnam War, nuclear weapons and abortion.
Either way, Johnston said she is prepared to make an example of herself.
“I’m not afraid to go to jail,” she said. “I’m afraid of climate change.”
The full letter ALEC attached to its bill:
[embedded]
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pipeline-environmentalist-terrorism_us_5a85c2ede4b0058d55672250
Democrats just flipped a Kentucky state legislature seat in a district Trump won by 49 points
Democrat Linda Belcher regains her old seat. - 68-32
https://www.vox.com/2018/2/20/17034262/kentucky-special-election-linda-belcher
Linda Belcher defeats widow of Ky. Rep. Dan Johnson, who killed himself amid sex claims
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/20/linda-belcher-defeats-widow-disgraced-kentucky-rep-dan-johnson/357269002/
Dan Johnson's widow claims voter fraud after losing seat to Linda Belcher in District 49 race
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2018/02/20/dan-johnsons-widow-claims-voter-fraud-after-losing-seat-linda-belcher-district-49-race/357334002/
Dems flip Kentucky House seat held by lawmaker who killed himself
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/02/20/dems-flip-kentucky-house-seat-held-by-lawmaker-who-killed-himself.html
more: https://www.google.com/search?q=linda+belcher
Kushner Resists Losing Access as Kelly Tackles Security Clearance Issues
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/us/politics/kushner-kelly-security-clearance-.html
more: https://www.google.com/search?q=kushner+resists+losing
Kelly says he has 'full confidence' in Kushner on foreign policy - earlier 2-20-18
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/374773-kelly-says-he-has-full-confidence-in-kushner-on-foreign-policy
White House says new security clearance policy will not affect Kushner's work
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/20/politics/jared-kushner-security-clearances-white-house/index.html
Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner unaffected by security clearance crackdown, White House says
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/20/trump-son-law-jared-kushner-unaffected-security-clearance-crackdown-white-house-says/357327002/
more: https://www.google.com/search?q=kelly+statement+kushner
“This Is the New War”: Jared Kushner, Amid a Showdown with Kelly, Prepares for Battle with a Weekend in the Caribbean
As Trump melted down at Mar-a-Lago, and the administration reeled from one of its most dismal weeks in 13 months, Kushner and his wife left the country.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/02/jared-kushner-ivanka-trump-caribbean-vacation
more: https://www.google.com/search?q=this+is+the+new+war
Right-Wing Media Uses Parkland Shooting as Conspiracy Fodder
The teenagers of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., who a week ago lost 17 of their classmates and school staff members in a mass shooting, have emerged as passionate advocates for reform, speaking openly of their anger in the hope of forcing a reckoning on guns.
But in certain right-wing corners of the web — and, increasingly, from more mainstream voices like Rush Limbaugh and a commentator on CNN — the students are being portrayed not as grief-ridden survivors but as pawns and conspiracists intent on exploiting a tragedy to undermine the nation’s laws.
In these baseless accounts, which by Tuesday had spread rapidly on social media, the students are described as “crisis actors,” who travel to the sites of shootings to instigate fury against guns. Or they are called F.B.I. plants, defending the bureau for its failure to catch the shooter. They have been portrayed as puppets being coached and manipulated by the Democratic Party, gun control activists, the so-called antifa movement and the left-wing billionaire George Soros.
The theories are far-fetched. But they are finding a broad and prominent audience online. On Tuesday, the president’s son Donald J. Trump Jr. liked a pair of tweets that accused David Hogg, a 17-year-old who is among the most outspoken of the Parkland students, of criticizing the Trump administration in an effort to protect his father, whom Mr. Hogg has described as a retired F.B.I. agent.
Mr. Hogg, the high school’s student news director, has become a sensation among many liberals for his polished and compelling television interviews, in which he has called on lawmakers to enact tougher restrictions on guns. Just as quickly, Mr. Hogg attracted the disdain of right-wing provocateurs like The Gateway Pundit, a fringe website that gained prominence in 2016 for pushing conspiracies about voter fraud and Hillary Clinton.
In written posts and YouTube videos — one of which had more than 100,000 views as of Tuesday night — Gateway Pundit has argued that Mr. Hogg had been coached on what to say during his interviews. The notion that Mr. Hogg is merely protecting his father dovetails with a broader right-wing trope, that liberal forces in the F.B.I. are trying to undermine President Trump and his pro-Second Amendment supporters.
Others offered more sweeping condemnations. Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist behind the site Infowars, suggested that the mass shooting was a “false flag” orchestrated by anti-gun groups. Mr. Limbaugh, on his radio program, said of the student activists on Monday: “Everything they’re doing is right out of the Democrat Party’s various playbooks. It has the same enemies: the N.R.A. and guns.”
By Tuesday, that argument had migrated to CNN. In an on-air appearance, Jack Kingston, a former United States representative from Georgia and a regular CNN commentator, asked, “Do we really think — and I say this sincerely — do we really think 17-year-olds on their own are going to plan a nationwide rally?” (He was quickly rebuked by the anchor Alyson Camerota.)
Conspiracies, wild and raw online, are often pasteurized on their way into the mainstream. A subtler version of the theory appeared Tuesday on the website of Bill O’Reilly, the ousted Fox News host. Mr. O’Reilly stopped short of saying the students had been planted by anti-Trump forces. But, he wrote: “The national press believes it is their job to destroy the Trump administration by any means necessary. So if the media has to use kids to do that, they’ll use kids.”
Some of those who have been spreading the conspiracies are facing consequences.
Benjamin Kelly, an aide to a Florida state representative, Shawn Harrison, emailed a Tampa Bay Times reporter on Tuesday accusing Mr. Hogg and a classmate, Emma Gonzalez, of being actors that travel to the sites of crises.
Mr. Kelly was soon fired.
“I made a mistake whereas I tried to inform a reporter of information relating to his story regarding a school shooting,” Mr. Kelly tweeted. “I meant no disrespect to the students or parents of Parkland.” His boss, Mr. Harrison, said on Twitter that he was “appalled” by Mr. Kelly’s remarks.
But by Tuesday evening, a new conspiracy was dominating Gateway Pundit’s home page. “Soros-Linked Organizers of ‘Women’s March’ Selected Anti-Trump Kids to Be Face of Parkland Tragedy,” read the headline. Within an hour, it had been shared on Facebook more than 150 times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/business/media/parkland-shooting-media-conspiracy.html
U.S. Misses Deadline to Repatriate Detainee Who Pleaded Guilty
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration failed on Tuesday to repatriate a Guantánamo Bay detainee to Saudi Arabia, missing a deadline set in his 2014 plea deal and dealing another blow to the struggling military commissions system at the wartime prison.
The detainee, Ahmed Muhammed Haza al-Darbi, agreed in February 2014 to plead guilty to terrorism-related offenses involving a 2002 attack by Al Qaeda on a French-flagged oil tanker off the coast of Yemen. Under the pretrial agreement, if he cooperated, he was to be sent home within four years to serve the remainder of his sentence in Saudi custody.
But on Tuesday, the four-year anniversary of that deal arrived, and Mr. Darbi remained at the American prison. The Department of Defense still hopes the transfer will take place soon, but diplomatic arrangements with the Saudi government are incomplete, Cmdr. Sarah Higgins, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said in a statement.
“Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al-Darbi’s transfer from Guantánamo detention to Saudi Arabia will not take place today,” she said, adding: “We await assurances from the Saudi Arabian government to move forward on his departure. Al-Darbi will remain at Guantánamo until all transfer details are concluded.”
The missed deadline came days after a military commissions judge indefinitely shut down the case against another Saudi detainee — who is accused of orchestrating the 2000 bombing of the American destroyer Cole, and against whom Mr. Darbi testified as part of his cooperation — after more than six years of pretrial hearings.
[...]
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/20/us/politics/darbi-guantanamo-detainee-repatriation.html
After Florida School Shooting, Russian ‘Bot’ Army Pounced
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/19/technology/russian-bots-school-shooting.html
Russian trolls flood Twitter after Parkland shooting
Covert Russian propaganda flooded Twitter after the Parkland shooting to stoke America's raw divides.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/russian-trolls-flood-twitter-after-parkland-shooting-n848471
Pro-Gun Russian Bots Flood Twitter After Parkland Shooting
https://www.wired.com/story/pro-gun-russian-bots-flood-twitter-after-parkland-shooting/
Russian Twitter bots keep up attack after Florida shooting
After last week's school massacre, bots tied to Russian propaganda groups began sending gun-related tweets, even though Twitter has vowed to stop such efforts.
https://www.cnet.com/news/russian-twitter-bots-still-a-menace-after-florida-shooting/
Russian Bots Wasted No Time Trying to Confuse People After the Mueller Indictment and the Parkland Shooting
https://slate.com/technology/2018/02/russian-bots-were-active-after-the-florida-shooting-and-the-latest-mueller-indictment.html
After the Parkland shooting, pro-Russian bots are pushing false-flag allegations again
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/after-the-parkland-shooting-pro-russian-bots-are-pushing-false-flag-allegations-again/2018/02/16/46c3a674-1356-11e8-9065-e55346f6de81_story.html
The aftermath of the Parkland mass shooting exemplifies the ugly side of social media
Bots. Conspiracy theories. Bullying. We’re seeing it all.
https://www.recode.net/2018/2/20/17034386/parkland-florida-mass-shooting-ugly-side-social-media-facebook-twitter-stoneman-douglas-high-school
more:
https://www.google.com/search?q=bots+%23parklandshooting
https://www.google.com/search?q=bots+parklandshooting
Presidents Day reminds us of George Washington's presidential vision. And Trump's disrespect.
The presidency that Washington personified was adopted by all subsequent presidents. Until last year.
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/presidents-day-reminds-us-george-washington-s-presidential-vision-trump-ncna849321
Drinking Alcohol Has Better Effects Than Exercise To Live Long Life, Study Reveals
http://www.medicaldaily.com/drinking-alcohol-has-better-effects-exercise-live-long-life-study-reveals-422619
Drinking small amounts of alcohol may help you live to over 90, claims study
A glass of wine a day to keep the ageing at bay
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/alcohol-small-amounts-live-over-90-study-health-university-of-california-wine-beer-a8217521.html
The 90+ Study
http://www.mind.uci.edu/research-studies/90plus-study/
Science Begins to Unlock the Secrets of Brains that Age Well
https://www.aaas.org/news/science-begins-unlock-secrets-brains-age-well
Drinking Alcohol Tied to Long Life in New Study
http://www.newsweek.com/drinking-alcohol-tied-long-life-new-study-813013
Can Alcohol Help You Live Longer? Here’s What the Research Really Says
http://time.com/5166514/moderate-drinking-live-longer-study/
more:
https://news.google.com/news/story/dmgH3vSVxZcgtBMdT27fY2U-4y4WM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
https://news.google.com/news/story/dXcv2zAM2qgACMMblKEJH28sKAnaM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Watch the adorable, first-ever video of a newborn dumbo octopus
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/02/20/watch-the-adorable-first-ever-video-of-a-newborn-dumbo-octopus/
Rare find from the deep sea
Scientists from Bonn, Münster, and the US study a newly hatched dumbo octopus for the first time
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/uob-rff021918.php
Cute 'dumbo' octopus baby seen on video for the first time ( https://vimeo.com/255116280 )
If Dumbo was a tiny ocean-dwelling animal, he would look like this adorable and rare octopus hatchling that stars in a fascinating video.
https://www.cnet.com/news/dumbo-octopus-hatchling-baby-seen-on-video-first-time/
WATCH: World’s First Footage of Baby Dumbo Octopus
http://www.newsweek.com/watch-worlds-first-footage-baby-dumbo-octopus-embargo-monday-noon-809865
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/d8KlGDsp5-62HcMOtcV26pEdB3xVM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Jupiter's Great Red Spot: Mysterious 200-year-old Storm May Be About to End
http://www.newsweek.com/jupiter-great-red-spot-storm-over-812168
Juno Image Gallery
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/images/index.html
Why Jupiter's Great Red Spot Has Lasted So Long
https://www.space.com/23708-jupiter-great-red-spot-longevity.html
Jupiter’s spot is fading, Neptune’s too
https://www.slashgear.com/jupiters-spot-is-fading-neptunes-too-20520134/
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dMPxhzSoBr3nUSMK8VIW2eje1d_aM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
Hubble Sees Neptune's Mysterious Shrinking Storm
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/hubble-sees-neptunes-mysterious-shrinking-storm
A giant, years-long storm on Neptune is disappearing — and it's being caught on camera for the first time
A huge storm on Neptune is disappearing, and the Hubble Telescope is documenting it for the first time.
The storm has led scientists to question their understanding of the prevailing dynamics of Neptune's atmosphere.
The storm appears to be moving in the opposite direction than scientists predicted.
http://www.businessinsider.com/neptunes-big-storm-is-disappearing-hubble-telescope-images-show-2018-2
Incredible images taken by Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope reveal a gigantic storm on Neptune as it starts to fade
While the storm was once big enough to stretch across the Atlantic Ocean from Boston to Portugal, images taken by Nasa’s Hubble Space Telescope reveal that it is shrinking out of existence
https://www.mirror.co.uk/science/incredible-images-taken-nasas-hubble-12056060
A giant storm on Neptune is disappearing and for the first time scientists are able to see it
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/02/19/giant-storm-on-neptune-is-disappearing-and-for-first-time-scientists-are-able-to-see-it.html
more: https://news.google.com/news/story/dTx0RPof-rg130MVbhUhllFmzfDTM?ned=us&gl=US&hl=en
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Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07
"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790
F6
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