A tweet by Andrew McCabe’s lawyer:
“We will not be responding to each childish, defamatory, disgusting &
false tweet by the President. The whole truth will come out in due course. But the tweets confirm that he has corrupted the entire process that led to Mr. McCabe’s termination and has rendered it illegitimate.”
— Michael R. Bromwich (@mrbromwich)
the guardian:
[….]
Parscale claims he typically ran 50,000 to 60,000 variations of Facebook ads each day during the Trump campaign, all targeting different segments of the electorate. Understanding the meaning of a single one of those ads would require knowing what the ad actually said, who the campaign targeted to see that ad, and how that audience responded. Multiply that by 100 and you have a headache; by 50,000 and you’ll start to doubt your grasp on reality. Then remember that this is 50,000 a day over the course of a campaign that lasted more than a year.
“The reason I said it might work too well,” Krohn said in a recent interview with the Guardian, “is that mass marketing went away and micro-targeting – nano-targeting – came to fruition.”
Any candidate using Facebook can put a campaign message promising one thing in front of one group of voters, while simultaneously running an ad with a completely opposite message in front of a different group of voters. The ads themselves are not posted anywhere for the general public to see (this is what’s known as “dark advertising”), and chances are, no one will ever be the wiser.
That undermines the very idea of a “marketplace of ideas”, says Ann Ravel, a former member of the Federal Election Commission who has long advocated stricter regulations on digital campaigning. “The way to have a robust democracy is for people to hear all these ideas and make decisions and discuss,” Ravel said. “With microtargeting, that is not happening.”
Parscale and his staff told reporters with Bloomberg that they used Facebook ads to target Hillary Clinton supporters with messages designed to make them sit the election out, including her own forays into dog-whistle politics from the 1990s, which the Trump campaign hoped would discourage black voters from turning out to the polls.
hat degree of political manipulation might be unsavory, but it’s also relatively old-fashioned. One digital campaign staffer (not affiliated with the Trump campaign) compared it to Richard Nixon’s Southern Strategy, only “technologically savvy”.
But new reporting by the Observer has revealed that the data analytics team that worked for Trump, Cambridge Analytica, went far beyond Nixonian dirty tricks. The firm obtained Facebook data harvested under the auspices of an academic study, the Observer has revealed, and then used that data to target millions of US voters based on their psychological weaknesses.
“We exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people’s profiles,” whistleblower Christopher Wylie told the Observer about the data theft. “And built models to exploit what we knew about them and target their inner demons.”
[…]
“Selling shoes needs to be different than selling politicians, even though the mechanics of it are identical,” he said. “Morally it’s different.”
Or should we pressure Facebook to stop allowing candidates with hateful or extremist views to use its tools?
“If we farm these important democratic responsibilities out to a private company, today they might be regulating antisemitism, but tomorrow they’re regulating what people can say about the Honest Ads Act,” Fischer said.
Indeed, Facebook could already be suppressing political views unfavorable to its business practices, and we would have no way of knowing. It’s possible Facebook wouldn’t even know. In response to queries about inconsistent moderation of clothing advertisements, a Facebook spokeswoman recently told the New York Times that “the company could not ask an automated system about [its] decisions”.
Frankenstein’s monster is not under any human’s control.
[….continues….]
*
sounds like son of trail mix
In this corner of Reddit, Mueller is Yoda, Gandalf and Batman combined
When the history books eventually tackle Donald Trump’s surprising climb from reality television to the White House, r/The_Donald will no doubt go down as one of the odder phenomena driving the 2016 campaign.
Started just after Trump announced his candidacy, the subreddit, or Reddit page dedicated to a single topic, quickly ballooned into a clearinghouse — tinged with extremism — for all things Trump, from conspiracy theories and memes to virulent nationalism and Pepe the Frog iconography. Leading up to the election, Trump’s campaign reportedly eyed the subreddit as a weather vane for what messages worked with the base. After the victory, the site has remained, as The Washington Post once said, “Reddit’s largest and most active pro-Trump subreddit.”
Now, on the other side of the ideological line of scrimmage, we have r/The_Mueller.
The subreddit, which according to its page boasts nearly 70,000 readers, is focused on “Dank Mueller memes” and links to information about the special counsel’s ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. “Stick to memes,” the post states. “This is meant to be a silly subreddit . . . Don’t get your knickers in a twist over a silly meme.”
But the Mueller page, with its clear reference to Trump’s own Reddit cheering section, definitely taps into two main threads regarding the special counsel’s place in pop culture. One: anti-Trump folks are placing a lot of hope in Mueller’s work. And two: Mueller and his team, completely tight-lipped about their investigation, remain an enigma — only inviting more fervor among supporters.
[….]
The Mueller subreddit seems to purposely set itself against the behavior of the r/The_Donald. “Don’t be a d — k,” the subreddit’s moderators write on the page. “This includes racism, sexism, general bigotry, etc., as well as other assorted personal insults.”
[….]
“Trump supporters won’t be banned on sight,” r/The_Mueller’s moderators note on the page. “Unlike a certain similarly named subreddit, dissent is tolerated. Just don’t break the rules in your dissenting.”
Loved the Pence riff from Oliver. I was busy watching an allWV matchup in the West Regional 2nd round. Had to watch WVU dismember Marshall but pull for Marshall to upset them. Oh well.
hmmmm… I wonder if this means that McCabe intends to fight his sacking instead of taking one of the numerous jobs he’s been offered by Democrats in order to qualify for his retirement. On on hand, I’d love to see him fight… on the other hand… I’d love to see him take the sure thing. Whatever he and his lawyer decides, I wish him and his family the best.
Regardless of what he does re his pension McCabe will fight SFB – his lawyer’s weekend statement convinced me of that. I suspect strongly that he’ll be a key and willing witness in the Mueller investigation into obstruction of justice.
RR
I don’t see why he can’t do both. My understanding is he will get a “majority” of his pension but he will have to wait until he is 57 – there are other benefits he will not qualify for such as healthcare. I don’t think they can take the part of the pension that has already vested.
So, folks should take screenshots of this stuff and send it to the real media to show the inconsistencies…shine a light on that stuff. Has Suckerberg’s stock tanked?
All the more reason for debates so candidates will be easily caught if they try to pander to more than one group.
We are now in the stew pot like when Nixon was drunk and walking around the WH talking to pictures. With the “leaks” pouring out about how SFB is going to fire Mueller and the greedy old perverts are going to let him, it is time for outside money laundering charges to come out from New York and other states. That should set off his hunger for junk food.
The farmers market where I worked bought ads on facebook – it is inconceivable that they did not know. They turned down ads from the market for use of “drug related” terms such as smoked -peppers in one case like there was a dealer set up at the market and it wasn’t our first ad. Facebook knew what was going on and took the money.
Pogo & KGC… good to know that McCabe can do both. Go… Andrew… GO! Smite that effing piece of stupid self-serving scumbag shit that we call SFB!
There… I feel better now…
RR
you go! I associate myself with every single word.
sorry about that oliver video not working. hope this one does
about the above corrected link:
Mike Pence is much more unlikable than his pet rabbit who stars in a new children’s book created by the Pence family and in a better children’s book created by us. To purchase our book, visit: http://www.betterbundobook.com
and from the chi trib: John Oliver spoofs Pence family’s new kids’ book with gay-themed ‘Marlon Bundo’ book
Last week, The Washington Post brought you news of “Marlon Bundo’s A Day in the Life of the Vice President,” the furry new tale about the real White House pet rabbit. The children’s book, which lands Monday, is illustrated by second lady Karen Pence and written by daughter Charlotte Pence.
And now, on “Last Week Tonight,” host John Oliver announced Sunday night that he is releasing a politically pointed sendup of the Pence book, titled “A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo,” as penned by Jill Twiss, a writer on Oliver’s HBO show, and illustrated by EG Keller.
The key difference is, Oliver’s picture book is about a “Very Special boy bunny who falls in love with another boy bunny,” according to the book’s description.
[….continues…]
reuters:
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday required Arizona to continue to provide driver’s licenses to the so-called Dreamers immigrants and refused to hear the state’s challenge to an Obama-era program that protects hundreds of thousands of young adults brought into the country illegally as children.
[…continues….]
hah, you guys can’t hold a candle to john b’s classy vilification of sfb this weekend.
ny times:
[….]
“When the full extent of your venality, moral turpitude, and political corruption becomes known, you will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history,” wrote Mr. Brennan, whom Mr. Trump once called “one of the biggest liars and leakers in Washington.” “You may scapegoat Andy McCabe, but you will not destroy America…America will triumph over you.”
Throughout history, presidents have found themselves in private conflict with members of law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Bill Clinton clashed with Louis J. Freeh, who oversaw the F.B.I. during the Lewinsky scandal. Richard M. Nixon fired the independent special prosecutor in the “Saturday Night Massacre,” and his attorney general and deputy attorney general resigned in protest.
But those tense interactions, experts say, seem almost quaint compared to the public mudslinging unfolding now.
“We’ve never had anybody so blatantly go after a president before,” Gary J. Schmitt, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute who was once an intelligence adviser to President Ronald Reagan, said in an interview. “It’s also unprecedented to have a president so overtly going after various intelligence officials.”
He added, “It’s a race to the bottom.”
[….]
Vicki Divoll, a former general counsel for the Senate Intelligence Committee and a former assistant general counsel for the C.I.A., said remarks by former officials like Mr. Comey and Mr. Brennan reflected a larger frustration that others, including Republican members of Congress, were not speaking out against transgressions that would have felled other politicians.
“Comey and Brennan are perfect examples who do not seek the limelight,” Ms. Divoll said, “who do not do anything but speak publicly and privately in very measured ways. But the gloves are off. That’s not happening anymore.”
“It’s a race to the bottom.”
Ha!… trumpty dumpty wins by a landslide!
I wonder if Brendan Sullivan refused to represent SFB
nbc news:
President Donald Trump has added a longtime Washington lawyer to his legal team who has publicly promoted a conspiracy theory that officials in the FBI and Justice Department are plotting to frame the president with a “false crime” in the Russia investigation.
Joseph diGenova, a former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, recently joined Trump’s legal team, Jay Sekulow, one of the president’s lawyers, confirmed to NBC News Monday.
[…]
DiGenova has strongly touted Trump’s claim that the Russia investigation is tainted by bias, with the lawyer telling Fox News this past January that there is a secret “brazen plot” by the FBI to “illegally exonerate Hillary Clinton and, if she didn’t win the election, to then frame Donald Trump with a falsely created crime.”
“The motive would be that they didn’t like Donald Trump, they didn’t think that he was fit to be president, and they were going to do everything within their power to exonerate Hillary Clinton, and if she lost to frame Donald Trump with a false crime, because they didn’t think he should be president,” diGenova told the network at the time.
[….]
DiGenova declined to comment. The story was first reported by The New York Times.
here are Ritchie valens lyrics in case the twit wants to sing -a-long in sing sing
I was framed,framed,I was blamed,framed
Well,I never knew nothin’, but I always get blamed
Oh, framed
They took him in the line up and let those bright
Lights shine,there was ten poor souls like me in that line
I knew I was a victim of someones evil plan
When a stool pigeon walked in and says´ There´s your man´
I was framed,framed,I was blamed oh,framed,framed,framed
Well, I never knew nothin’ but I always get blamed
Framed
Supreme Court refuses to stop new congressional maps in Pennsylvania
[….]
The victory in Pennsylvania for opponents of partisan gerrymandering suggests a new mode of attack, by challenging redistricting in state courts under state constitutions.
The U.S. Supreme Court has never thrown out a state’s redistricting plan because it has found it so infected with partisan bias that it violates voters’ constitutional rights.
But the court has on its current docket two cases — one from Wisconsin and one from Maryland — that raise the question.
Rep Jim Jordan – a big fat jerk completely delusional and a liar
The new (April) Atlantic arrived today. There’s an article on How to Fix Twitter on page 16.
Eric Holder and Obama are leading the effort to mount legal challenges to the way districts are drawn
Facebook deactivated. No need to keep on giving data to the Russians and SFB.
Poor Mueller. Every time I see him on teevee, he looks more and more like Mister Ed.
Mike & Susan Pompeo. Power couple or clear example of ethics violation?