Russia Aiding GOP in 2018 Elections

Why is America letting Russia get away with meddling in our democracy?
  The most remarkable thing about Russia’s meddling in our democracy is that resident trump has done nothing about it. There are plenty of steps that he could have taken. There are people, including some working just steps away from the Oval Office who could have—and may have—advised him what to do. But trump chose inaction.
   trump and the republican party know that without the help of Russian trolls and bots, that their asses will get kicked on election day.
   I will not get into the fact that Russia owns trump and probably at least a 1/3 of the republicans in Congress.

Facebook Getting Many “unfriends” and People Don’t Like Zuckerberg Either

The Cambridge Analytica scandal appears to have taken a toll on public opinion of Facebook, as a new poll shows that love for the social media site has tanked in recent weeks.
The new survey (pdf) of 577 registered voters conducted by Public Policy Polling for the Factual Democracy Project (FDP) took place March 23-25—right after the public learned of the massive data breach.
Sixty-seven percent of those surveyed, it should be noted, said they have a Facebook account.
Thirty percent of respondents said they have a favorable opinion of Facebook compared to 48 percent who have an unfavorable opinion about it. Twenty-two percent, meanwhile, said they are not sure.
That adds up to a net favorability rating of -18—a drop of 19 points since September (pdf) when FDP last polled for that information. At that time, 37 percent said they had a favorable opinion, and 36 percent said their opinion was unfavorable.
As for Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, just 24 percent expressed a favorable opinion about him, while 35 percent had an unfavorable opinion. Forty-one percent said they are not sure.
Like Zuckerberg, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg had a net favorability rating of -11; ten percent said they have a favorable opinion of her and 21 percent had an unfavorable one. The majority—69 percent—said they are not sure of their opinion of her.
The poll also shows that majority—58 percent—had heard about Cambridge Analytica's unauthorized harvesting of some 50 million Facebook users' data, and an even greater percentage—71 percent—think Zuckerberg should have to appear before Congress to explain how that massive breach was able to occur.
Based on what they now know, just 12 percent say they're going to delete their account, and 36 percent said they'll use Facebook less.
"We are watching a historic moment of reckoning unfold in real time," said FDP founder Melissa Ryan. "Americans have been playing close attention to story after story involving Facebook's failure to protect our elections from foreign interference, and now its failure to protect our personal data."
"The stakes for Mark Zuckerberg's testimony are clear from the polling data. If he wants to turn things around at Facebook, it will start in the halls of Congress," Ryan said.
Zuckerberg has been facing calls to testify before Congress, and, according to media reports this week, is expected to do so.
  From   Common Dreams
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Trump's legal troubles are about to get worse, A LOT worse

By Murfster35         Sunday  Mar 25,2018

What's wrong with this picture?

I'll be the first to admit it, I love hunches. Which is one of the main reasons I don't gamble, even living in Vegas. Plunking down $100 every time you get a wild hair up your ass about a team is not a fiscally sound way to make sure that the rent gets paid every month.

But people who have followed me for a while know that actually, I have a pretty good track record. Obviously, my "greatest hit" was predicting in print, on the Daily Kos, that Trump would go on to win the GOP nomination even before the first primary was held.

And now my prophesy nerve is twitching again, and it itches like hell. We won't know whether or not I'm right for at least another week, but we shall see what we shall se.

Here's my prediction. I think we've seen Melania Trump officially as the First Lady of the United States for the last time, especially in close proximity to her husband. There are a few good reasons for this.

First of all, did you see them come down the stairs of Air Force One in Florida? Forget about them holding hands, Melania has slapped his paw away for months now. But usual, the Citrus Caesar comes down the steps first, with Melania a step or so behind. In normal times they also stood together at the top and waved. Not anymore. This time, Melania was a full two steps ahead of Trump, with Barron in tow, and both of their heads looked straight down. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, they immediately headed for the car, eyes still downcast, while His Lowness clowned around behind them.

Second, this has finally become "real" for Melania. This isn't an audio tape of her husband bragging about "moving on her like a bitch," or bragging about sexual assault, and it isn't 19 women accusing Trump of groping them on airplanes, or ramming his tongue in their mouths by elevators. These are two women, credible as hell, telling tales of their romantic liaisons with Trump, and not just one night stands, months long affairs, with payoffs at the end to ensure their silence. I have no doubt that she watched the Karen Mcdougle interview, and she'll watch the Stormy Daniels interview tonight. She'll want to hear it, so see it, to compare their intimate details with things she personally knows about Trump, to know it's true for herself. And she'll be done.

There is also Barron to consider. Even if the story had broken as it occurred, in 2006 Barron was only months old. Even if In Touch magazine had published the Stormy Daniels interview in 2011, Barron was only 5, and still ignorant of sexual matters, and marital strife. Now, Barron is 12, with friends at school. And all of their parents are going to be glued to the TV tonight, quite possibly with the kids within earshot. For the second time in a week, his father will be exposed to the world as a selfish philanderer, and Barron is going to hear about it in school. I believe Melania is more protective than to willingly allow that to happen.

But most importantly of all, Stormy Daniels has exposed a weakness in Trump that has nothing at all to do with sex. Daniels and her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, have bounced Trump and Michael Cohen around on their knees in the media like the two year old that Trump emotionally still is. Given the opportunity to slam dunk the President, and the resulting fame, I have little doubt that Melania can find the divorce equivalent of Michael Avenatti, and that he can tear that pre-nup to shreds. Hell,if the Daniels NDA is anything to go by, a third year law student could find holes big enough to drive a truck through. And for as long as Melania has been this close to Trump, just think about what she could testify to in a divorce case. Trump can't afford to have her either being deposed or testifying in open court, especially if Mueller is still sniffing around. And although I can't find an actual article, in my own mind I am 100% sure that I heard a panel guest on either CNN or MSNBC commenting at the time of the Access Hollywood video that the Trump-Melania pre-nup had a 10 year sunset clause. If that's true, then Donald Trump is the marital equivalent of Elwood Blues' "dry, white toast" in The Blues Brothers.

So, there it is. If I', wrong, I'm wrong. But this is just one of those times when the feeling that Trump has shit in one more kitchen is just so strong that I can't ignore it. We should pretty well know if Melania and Barron aren't on that big silver bird a week from now.

It’s here! The moment you’ve been dreading looking forward to. My new e-book President Evil. A common man looks at Trump and the 2016 primaries. You can get it now on Amazon. And please feel free to leave a review at either Amazon or goodreads, every review helps, positive or negative.

Cross posted on The Trump Impeachment.

Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman Claims Jared Kushner is “in his pocket”.

   This would come as no surprise as it seems that all of the trump’s and their  in-laws are owned by some foreign countries.

   RawStory

“Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly bragged about having White House senior counsel Jared Kushner “in his pocket” and may have used highly sensitive intelligence from the President’s Daily Briefing in his violent crackdown on dissent in Saudi Arabia, The Intercept reported Wednesday.

Three sources told The Intercept that Kushner had revealed names of Saudis disloyal to the crown prince.

“The Saudi figures named in the President’s Daily Brief were among those rounded up; at least one was reportedly tortured,” The Intercept explained.

Mohammed bin Salman also was said to have told UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed that Kushner was “in his pocket.”

    Naturally, Kushner’s mouthpiece is denying any such thing, but if selling the PDB to MBS makes a  mortgage payment for the 666, do we doubt it?

The Trump White House

Donald Trump (coward), Bob Mueller (HERO)

Donald Trump’s 1968:

But after he graduated from college in the spring of 1968, making him eligible to be drafted and sent to Vietnam, he received a diagnosis that would change his path: bone spurs in his heels.

The diagnosis resulted in a coveted 1-Y medical deferment that fall, exempting him from military service as the United States was undertaking huge troop deployments to Southeast Asia, inducting about 300,000 men into the military that year.

Robert Mueller’s 1968:

Mueller would earn the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry in his time in Vietnam. The citation for his Bronze Star said that during an attack on his rifle platoon, "2nd Lt. Mueller fearlessly moved from one position to another, directing the accurate counterfire of his men and shouting words of encouragement to them."

During the firefight on Dec. 11, 1968, Mueller "personally led a fire team across the fire-swept terrain to recover a mortally wounded Marine who had fallen in a position forward of the friendly lines," the citation said.

Friday Trump Memes

House Republicans Whitewash Trump-Russia Collusion , and End Probe

   Now, who would have ever thought that a Republican run House investigation would end with no finding of criminal activity purportedly committed by another Republican? I’m shocked, I tell you!

   In a draft report, which Republicans haven’t shared with the Democrats on the committee, Republicans wrote that Russia carried out an “active measures” campaign in the 2016 election and was likely to do so again in future elections, but said they saw no sign that Moscow was seeking to help Trump, said Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas. That finding is at odds with a January 2017 intelligence community report, which concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered a campaign to influence the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election in Trump’s favor.  

More from Marketwatch

Republicans Become Enemies of the State

“ Simply put, Donald Trump is more than just intellectually and emotionally unfit to be president—he's a danger to our republic and our sovereignty on every level. And Republicans' continued efforts to insulate him from investigation is a betrayal of our country.”   Read More...

That Mueller/trump Russian Thingy

Mueller is not going to remove the president for lying to him. Its just not politically tenable. Obstruction maybe.
  Trump is only removed if you have real proof that he knew of explicit quid pro quo.                             

   That being said, the quid pro quo is known as this point. Lift the sanctions, and we’ll cut you in on the oil drilling money in Siberia and put up a trump tower in Moscow. trump stood to make many millions from Trump Tower Moscow, and the 19.5% stake of Rosnett would be worth 100s of billions of dollars once oil drilling started. Its about the money. Obstruction and money laundering and tax evasion is what will sink trump. After Mueller’s done, the trump kids won’t have a plugged nickel to split between them, those of them who escape prison, and that’s their worst nightmare — having to work for a living.

'Don't Be Evil?': Outrage Over Google's Secret Program to Bolster Pentagon's Drone War

Published on Wednesday, March 07, 2018  by Jessica Corbett, staff writer

Human rights advocates, tech experts, and critics of the United States' vast drone warfare program are outraged over the Google's secret agreement with the Pentagon—revealed in a pair of reports by Gizmodo and The Intercept—to develop artificial intelligence, or AI, that quickly analyzes drone footage.

Some critics pointed to Google's old motto, "Don't Be Evil," and the replacement, "Do the Right Thing," introduced in 2015 by Google's parent company, Alphabet.

The reports, published Tuesday, outline details of the partnership between Google and the U.S. Department of Defense's Project Maven that were recently disclosed on a company mailing list. The internal discussion reportedly angered some Google employees, who Gizmodo reports "were outraged that the company would offer resources to the military for surveillance technology involved in drone operations" and pointed out that "the project raised important ethical questions about the development and use of machine learning."

The DOD's Project Maven—also known as the Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team (AWCFT)—launched last April, and "was tasked with using machine learning to identify vehicles and other objects in drone footage, taking that burden off analysts" who haven't been able to keep up with the amount of footage collected by U.S. drones.

A  spokesperson for Google said the company provides the Pentagon with "open source TensorFlow APIs that can assist in object recognition on unclassified data," and insisted "the technology flags images for human review, and is for non-offensive uses only."

However, The Intercept noted—pointing to earlier reports about the project—that the purpose of the AI tech is "to help drone analysts interpret the vast image data vacuumed up from the military's fleet of 1,100 drones to better target bombing strikes against the Islamic State."

While Google's spokesperson added that the company is "actively discussing this important topic internally and with others as we continue to develop policies and safeguards around the development and use of our machine learning technologies," The Intercept also noted that "the military contract with Google is routed through a Northern Virginia technology staffing company called ECS Federal, obscuring the relationship from the public"—at least until it was revealed in Tuesday's reports.

Both reports also pointed out that Eric Schmidt, who recently stepped down as chairman of Alphabet, heads the Defense Innovation Board, a federal advisory committee established in 2016 "to encourage the military adoption of breakthrough technology," and which has developed recommendations for how the Department of Defense can better utilize tools from Silicon Valley to wage war abroad.

Gizmodo, citing meeting minutes, noted that "some members of the Board's teams are part of the executive steering group that is able to provide rapid input" on Project Maven, whose Pentagon director has expressed hope that the project will be "that spark that kindles the flame front of artificial intelligence across the rest of the [Defense] Department."    Common Dreams

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Trump and Republicans Aiding Russia In 2018 Election Meddling

Why is America letting Russia get away with meddling in our democracy?

  The most remarkable thing about Russia’s meddling in our democracy is that resident trump has done nothing about it. There are plenty of steps that he could have taken. There are people, including some working just steps away from the Oval Office who could have—and may have—advised him what to do. But trump chose inaction.

   trump and the republican party know that without the help of Russian trolls and bots, that their asses will get kicked on election day.

   I will not get into the fact that Russia owns trump and probably at least a 1/3 of the republicans in Congress.

donald trump

   One thing that I should point out to you is that you will NEVER see the “d” in donald or the “t” in trump capitalized on this blog.

Gary Cohn Just Quit The White House

By ursulafaw     Tuesday Mar 06, 2018 Via Daily Kos

   Gary Cohn, President Trump's top economic adviser, is going to leave the administration in the coming weeks, The New York Times reports. The paper says "no single reason" is prompting Cohn to quit but the decision comes after the struggle inside the White House over tariffs over steel and aluminum imports.

Why it matters per Axios' Jonathan Swan: There’s now a grand total of zero people inside the West Wing with heft to take the anti-tariff fight to the president. Trump has cancelled a meeting with companies that use steel and aluminum that Cohn was arranging.