No Agenda Episode 1057 - "Heckler's Veto"

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No Agenda Episode 1057 - "Heckler's Veto"
  No Agenda Episode 1057 - "Heckler's Veto"
    Heckler's Veto
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  Credits
    Heckler's Veto
    Where The C Stands For
    Executive Producers:
      Christopher Weitzen
      Neville Bareham
      Sir Tim of the Tunnels
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      Spencer Marshall
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    Agenda 2030
      HAARP ionospheric research program set to continue
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Thu, 02 Aug 2018 20:20
        Reports that the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) had been shut down permanently were apparently a bit premature. According to HAARP program manager James Keeney, the facility is only temporarily off the air while operating contractors are changed. So why does anyone care? Despite being associated with various natural disasters over the past two decades by the conspiracy fringe, HAARP is in reality a facility for studying the ionosphere. Let's take a look at the goings on at HAARP '' past, present, and future.
        HAARP was established in 1993 by the US Air Force, the US Navy, DARPA, and the University of Alaska. Located outside of Gakona, Alaska, the facility houses a high frequency (HF) transmitter together with a phased-array antenna to focus and direct the radiated RF power. The transmitter is roughly as powerful as the largest military radars, generating up to 3.6 MW of RF power in the 2.8 to 10 MHz band. HAARP is restricted to operations only at specified frequencies in this band.
        The power isn't what makes HAARP different. Rather, the credit for that goes to HAARP's phased array antenna. Consisting of 180 individual dipole antennas placed in a field roughly 13 hectares (33 acres) in size, this antenna array acts as a highly directional antenna, with a beamwidth of about five degrees. By the time the RF energy reaches the ionosphere (say, at an altitude of 200 km /124 mi just for this example), the size of the radiated spot is about 18 km (11 mi) in diameter, and the power density is roughly 14 mW/sq m. As the ionosphere is opaque in HAARP's frequency band, it absorbs nearly all of the incident power.
        A tricky point, the misunderstanding of which has led to various HAARP conspiracy theories, is the difference between radiated power and effective radiated power. HAARP's radiated power, the amount of actual RF power it can emit, is 3.6 MW. However, because HAARP's antenna focuses the radiated power on a small portion of the ionosphere, the power density on that spot is much larger than would result if HAARP's antenna were non-directional so that its RF power were directed uniformly in all directions.
        A fictional "effective radiated power" can be calculated, which is the power that would have to be sent through a non-directional antenna to provide HAARP's power density to the entire sky. This value is about 5.8 GW. The value is much larger than HAARP's actual RF power, as only 0.06 percent of the sky is illuminated by HAARP's antenna. But the effective radiated power appears in many conspiracy theories simply as a scary large number.
        How big is the actual power density in HAARP's ionospheric spot? The total irradiance of the Sun's electromagnetic radiation (everything from x-rays to extremely low frequency (ELF) radio signals) is 1,360 W/sq m, measured by satellite outside the bulk of the Earth's atmosphere. HAARP's power density is about 0.001 percent of the Sun's irradiance '' a nearly negligible quantity. Further, while local heating of the ionosphere is caused by HAARP (indeed, that is HAARP's purpose), the overall effect is rather like focusing the Sun's light using a magnifying glass '' impressive if one is an ant, but not very significant on larger size scales.
        HAARP is designed to test the response of a patch of the ionosphere at varying altitudes to the application of a few mW/sq m excitation in the high frequency (HF) radio band. One known effect is the generation of extremely low frequency (ELF) radio waves through modulated heating. By turning the HAARP array off and on (or more simply, by wiggling the focal point around in a repetitive pattern, a procedure known as geometric modulation), the local ionospheric temperature rises and falls, changing the conductivity in that portion of the ionosphere at whatever frequency corresponds to the pattern. The frequencies are typically in the vicinity of a few to a few hundred Hertz.
        HAARP is located where large natural electrical currents flow through the atmosphere. This auroral electrojet flows from the position of the Sun at noon to the position of the Sun at midnight in the north and south polar regions of the ionosphere. The flowing currents circle the poles, rather than passing over them, and may be thought of as sheets of current with a typical current density of 1-2 amperes per meter.
        Given HAARP's spot size of about 18 km, the heated region has passing through it a current of about 30 kA, depending on geomagnetic conditions. When the ionospheric conductivity changes from HAARP's transmissions, the current in and around the spot also changes its distribution. That makes the region near the spot an antenna that radiates ELF radio waves from the ionosphere. HAARP is not, however, an efficient source of ELF radiation '' starting with 3.6 MW, the yield of ELF radio waves is less then 10 W.
        What can you do with 10 W of ELF radio waves? Well, a typical ELF submarine communication system uses several megawatts of ELF RF power with a frequency of 70-90 Hz. This is directed into the surface of the Earth at points separated by about 50 km (31 mi) in order to use a large area of the Earth's crust as a transmitting antenna. Despite the huge power and massive antennas, the actual transmitted power of such a system is only a few watts. So one reason for HAARP's development was to prototype a (relatively) small ELF transmitter.
        Magnetospheric wave injectionAnother phenomenon studied by HAARP is called magnetospheric wave injection. While most of the ELF waves generated in the ionosphere by HAARP are directed down toward the Earth's surface, a small fraction leaks into the surrounding magnetosphere. In the inner magnetosphere, wave interactions are dominated by the Earth's static magnetic field.
        Most study has been directed to a whistler-mode instability. Imagine you have a PA system with the volume turned up just short of the point when spontaneous feedback will occur. If you whisper into the microphone, you will hear your amplified whisper. However, immediately on speaking loudly into the microphone, your voice will be drowned out by feedback at the characteristic frequency of the PA system. The potential power output of the PA was always available, but requires a small push to tilt the system into runaway feedback. This behavior is rather like that of a whistler-mode instability.
        Non-linear magnetospheric amplification of such waves can be caused by resonant interactions with energetic electrons. This being a non-linear interaction, one of the signatures is a change of the frequency of oscillation. The one-hop (Alaska to the South Pacific) and two-hop waves (back to Alaska) detected at the surface both show non-linear smearing of the wave frequency as well as amplification from the whistler-mode instability. It appears that the magnitude of the amplification has not been firmly established, but it is not enormous.
        Ionospheric and magnetospheric structures and effects are the subject of ongoing study at HAARP, with a number of experiments being scheduled for later this year. Hints of interesting behavior have emerged, such as the possibility of generating ELF radio waves at times when the auroral electrojet has very little current, suggesting that interesting physics is yet to be discovered and understood.
        Mind control and earthquakesGetting back to the conspiracy theories for a moment, these come in a plethora of bizarre and unfounded varieties. To name just a few, HAARP is accused of triggering earthquakes by lifting the ionosphere over a tectonically active region, then letting it fall so that the pressure wave will trigger the earthquake. There are two problems with this. First, HAARP is pretty well limited to heating the ionosphere directly over its physical location. Second, a falling object can at best deliver the energy that went into lifting it. As we know that energy was delivered via a 3.6 MW RF beam, it seems incredibly unlikely that an earthquake could be triggered by turning off HAARP.
        Mind control is also supposed to be within HAARP's capabilities. This would be accomplished by altering the 7.8 Hz Schumann resonance, which is the Earth's lowest frequency electromagnetic resonance. After stating as fact a totally evidence-free relationship between life itself and the Schumann resonance, one conspiracy theorist says that "1,700 billion watts" will apparently drive HAARP's mind-altering effect. That is a rather remarkable claim, as HAARP's maximum power is about one-five-hundred-thousandth of that amount. And don't forget the claim that HAARP caused Hurricane Sandy, triggered massive tornado activity, and brought down the Twin Towers on 9/11. Personally, I don't intend to lose much sleep over the dark side of HAARP.
        According to HAARP program manager James Keeney, the "Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is expected on site as a client to finish up some research in fall 2013 and winter 2014." The temporary shutdown was described as being due to "a contractor regime change." The Alaska Native corporation Ahtna, Incorporated is reportedly in talks to take over the facility administration contract from Marsh Creek, LLC. I am sure that the new operators will continue to keep us in touch with what really happens at HAARP.
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    Ministry of Truthiness
      Animal Farm turned into film for Netflix generation | News | The Times
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        Archived Version
        Fri, 03 Aug 2018 22:10
        Matthew Moore
        August 3 2018, 12:01am, The Times
        George Orwell in 1943ALAMYGeorge Orwell's classic satire on communism, Animal Farm, is to be updated for a new Netflix film.
        The adaptation will be directed by Andy Serkis, the actor and director who appeared as a computer-animated Gollum in The Lord of the Rings films.
        The Imaginarium, his company, acquired the rights to the book from the George Orwell Estate in 2012. The Imaginarium specialises in ''performance capture'' and ''motion capture'' technology, which use footage of actors as the basis for digital animations. This allows producers to make characters based on animals or fantastical creatures walk, talk and move their faces in a lifelike way.
        Animal Farm was published in 1945 as a satire on the 1917 Russian Revolution, showing how communist principles can be corrupted to justify'...
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      CNN's April Ryan: Jim Acosta's Life 'Was in Jeopardy' at Trump Rally | Breitbart
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        Fri, 03 Aug 2018 12:17
        CNN political analyst April Ryan believes CNN reporter Jim Acosta's life was in danger at President Donald Trump's Tuesday rally in Tampa, Florida.Acosta, who was heckled with ''CNN sucks!'' chants before Trump appeared on stage, has said he did not feel like he was in America and expressed that he is ''very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt.''
        ''That's a serious moment and a serious place. And Jim Acosta's life, in my opinion, was in jeopardy that night,'' Ryan told CNN host Don Lemon on Wednesday evening. ''There was a safety issue.''
        Others at CNN, like media reporter Brian Stelter, have accused Trump of leading a ''hate movement'' against the mainstream press. And CNN's David Gergen even said that blood will be on Trump's hands if there is violence committed against mainstream media journalists.
        Ryan also said reporters like herself need security like the secret service detail White House Spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders received after a left-wing Virginia restaurant owner kicked her out of his establishment. The restaurant owner than promptly followed the White House press security to her next destination and harassed and organized protests against her family.
        Ryan, though, said Trump ''has stoked the flames for reporters to feel like they are in jeopardy.''
        ''Their lives, their safety is in jeopardy. Their lives are in jeopardy at these rallies,'' Ryan insisted. ''And something has got to stop.''
        When Lemon said ''many journalists'' need security now because of Trump's rhetoric, Ryan replied: ''I am raising my hand. I am one of those.''
    SJWBLMLGBBTQQIAAPK
      Trigger warning: Empirical evidence ahead - ScienceDirect
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        Archived Version
        Fri, 03 Aug 2018 10:06
        Highlights'Trigger warnings increase peoples' perceived emotional vulnerability to trauma.
        'Trigger warnings increase peoples' belief that trauma survivors are vulnerable.
        'Trigger warnings increase anxiety to written material perceived as harmful.
        AbstractBackground and objectivesTrigger warnings notify people of the distress that written, audiovisual, or other material may evoke, and were initially used to provide for the needs of those with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Since their inception, trigger warnings have become more widely applied throughout contemporary culture, sparking intense controversy in academia and beyond. Some argue that they empower vulnerable individuals by allowing them to psychologically prepare for or avoid disturbing content, whereas others argue that such warnings undermine resilience to stress and increase vulnerability to psychopathology while constraining academic freedom. The objective of our experiment was to investigate the psychological effects of issuing trigger warnings.
        MethodsWe randomly assigned online participants to receive (n'¯='¯133) or not receive (n'¯='¯137) trigger warnings prior to reading literary passages that varied in potentially disturbing content.
        ResultsParticipants in the trigger warning group believed themselves and people in general to be more emotionally vulnerable if they were to experience trauma. Participants receiving warnings reported greater anxiety in response to reading potentially distressing passages, but only if they believed that words can cause harm. Warnings did not affect participants' implicit self-identification as vulnerable, or subsequent anxiety response to less distressing content.
        LimitationsThe sample included only non-traumatized participants; the observed effects may differ for a traumatized population.
        ConclusionsTrigger warnings may inadvertently undermine some aspects of emotional resilience. Further research is needed on the generalizability of our findings, especially to collegiate populations and to those with trauma histories.
        Keywords Trigger warning
        Anxiety
        PTSD
        Resilience
        Vulnerability
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        Check Access (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
      Harvard study finds trigger warnings increase anxiety
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        Archived Version
        Fri, 03 Aug 2018 12:58
        A recently published study by three Harvard University researchers claims that trigger warnings ''increase peoples' perceived emotional vulnerability'' and ''increase anxiety.''
        The study, ''Trigger warning: Empirical evidence ahead,'' published last week in the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, concludes that trigger warnings may not be beneficial.
        "Trigger warnings may inadvertently undermine some aspects of emotional resilience."
        [RELATED: University scraps 'trigger warnings' for pro-life displays]
        ''Trigger warnings notify people of the distress that written, audiovisual, or other material may evoke, and were initially used to provide for the needs of those with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD),'' the study's abstract explains. ''Since their inception, trigger warnings have become more widely applied throughout contemporary culture, sparking intense controversy in academia and beyond.''
        ''Some argue that [trigger warnings] empower vulnerable individuals by allowing them to psychologically prepare for or avoid disturbing content, whereas others argue that such warnings undermine resilience to stress and increase vulnerability to psychopathology while constraining academic freedom,'' the abstract notes.
        The authors note that they wanted to ''investigate the psychological effects of issuing trigger warnings,'' and so presented a group of ''non-traumatized'' people with reading materials that ''varied in potentially disturbing content.''
        Some participants were randomly assigned to receive trigger warnings prior to the reading, while others were not, and both groups were then asked to answer questions designed to evaluate their anxiety levels.
        [RELATED: University posts trigger warning outside free speech zone]
        According to the researchers, participants who were given trigger warnings prior to reading the material had a higher ''perceived vulnerability to trauma,'' were more likely to believe that trauma survivors are vulnerable, and experienced greater anxiety from the material.
        The researchers found that ''trigger warnings may inadvertently undermine some aspects of emotional resilience,'' and that ''further research is needed on the generalizability of our findings, especially to collegiate populations and to those with trauma histories.''
        However, the study's significance has been questioned by some academics, including a postdoctoral fellow on Twitter who included the ''p-values'' of the study in an edited screenshot of the abstract's ''highlights'' section.
        P-values represent the probability of an incident occurring and are not traditionally viewed to be significant unless they exceed 0.05. If the p-value is less, the significance of the hypothesis is deemed ''null'' and insignificant.
        The tweet calculates p-values of less than 0.05 for each of the study's main conclusions, but the author pointed out later in the exchange that this does not necessarily discredit the findings, which could be substantiated with further research.
        ''Effect sizes were indeed small, as we discuss in the paper,'' Payton Jones, one of the study's authors, responded on Twitter. ''We are currently planning two replications: one with college students and one with individuals with trauma histories.''
        Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @Grace_Gotcha
      Sarah Jeong is a warning sign of something wrong with the left
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        Archived Version
        Sat, 04 Aug 2018 12:39
        The more I think about it, the less I care about Sarah Jeong. I don't think I'd ever read anything she'd written before this week and having now read a few things I don't think I was missing all that much. That's not meant as a slam on her ability because I think she's actually a good writer. But the subject she writes about isn't that interesting to me. She styles herself an expert on technology, which doesn't mean she can rebuild a V-8 engine or repair a circuit board. In media parlance, it means she has opinions about social media. So'...whatever.
        I don't even care very much about her racist tweets, per se, or even her lame excuse for making them. What does bother me is the way in which the left collectively responded to her tweets with a big shrug. Ed wrote earlier about the Washington Post piece which wonders aloud whether Jeong did anything wrong. I read the same piece this morning and this is the paragraph that stood out:
        Without evidence that they had any bearing on Jeong's extensive body of work, which includes a book she wrote about online harassment, these statements could have perhaps been unceremoniously dismissed as insignificant. But after conservative media seized on the story Thursday, they ignited a firestorm of debate.
        That really sums up what bothers me about this whole story. It's the assumption that a public comment like ''White men are bullshit'' would get a shrug if not for conservatives seizing on it. It's an admission from the Post that there is almost nothing you can say about white men that anyone on the left would deem problematic (to borrow a popular SJW term of art).
        The reason why Jeong's tweets didn't really matter to anyone on the left is that they've nearly all accepted the idea that racism doesn't mean what most people think it means. Andrew Sullivan points out how the left has redefined it:
        The alternative view '-- that of today's political left '-- is that Jeong definitionally cannot be racist, because she's both a woman and a racial minority. Racism against whites, in this neo-Marxist view, just ''isn't a thing'' '-- just as misandry literally cannot exist at all. And this is because, in this paradigm, racism has nothing to do with a person's willingness to pre-judge people by the color of their skin, or to make broad, ugly generalizations about whole groups of people, based on hoary stereotypes. Rather, racism is entirely institutional and systemic, a function of power, and therefore it can only be expressed by the powerful '-- i.e., primarily white, straight men. For a nonwhite female, like Sarah Jeong, it is simply impossible. In the religion of social constructionism, Jeong, by virtue of being an Asian woman, is one of the elect, incapable of the sin of racism or group prejudice.
        Jeong was just exploring the space of this privileged position, secure that she could say just about anything without fear of blowback. Indeed, she had many defenders who refused to even acknowledge the possibility of another point of view about what she'd said. When you start from the premise that one group of people can't be offended, you naturally wind up at the conclusion that anyone who says otherwise is being dishonest.
        The editors of the Verge, where Jeong still works, described any assertion of racism in Jeong's tweets as ''dishonest and outrageous,'' a function of bad faith and an attack on journalism itself. Scroll through left-Twitter and you find utter incredulity that demonizing white people could in any way be offensive. That's the extent to which loathing of and contempt for ''white people'' is now background noise on the left'...
        Yes, we all live on campus now. The neo-Marxist analysis of society, in which we are all mere appendages of various groups of oppressors and oppressed, and in which the oppressed definitionally cannot be at fault, is now the governing philosophy of almost all liberal media. That's how the Washington Post can provide a platform for raw misandry, and the New York Times can hire and defend someone who expresses racial hatred. The great thing about being in the social justice movement is how liberating it can feel to give voice to incendiary, satisfying bigotry '-- and know that you're still on the right side of history.
        That's what really bothers me about this. It's that one form of blatant bigotry gets a pass on the grounds that it won't really hurt anyone. If the left thinks that's true, I think they're not paying attention. Sarah Jeong isn't all that significant but what this affair says about the left's mindset does matter.
      Heckler's veto - Wikipedia
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        Archived Version
        Sat, 04 Aug 2018 13:29
        In the free speech context, a heckler's veto is either of two situations in which a person who disagrees with a speaker's message is able to unilaterally trigger events that result in the speaker being silenced.
        In the strict legal sense, a heckler's veto occurs when the speaker's right is curtailed or restricted by the government in order to prevent a reacting party's behavior. The common example is the termination of a speech or demonstration in the interest of maintaining the public peace based on the anticipated negative reaction of someone opposed to that speech or demonstration. The term was coined by University of Chicago professor of law Harry Kalven.[1][citation needed ]
        In common parlance, the term is used to describe situations where hecklers or demonstrators silence a speaker without intervention of the law.
        Contents
        Law Edit In the United States, case law regarding the heckler's veto is mixed. [2] Most findings say that the acting party's actions cannot be pre-emptively stopped due to fear of heckling by the reacting party, but in the immediate face of violence, authorities can force the acting party to cease their action in order to satisfy the hecklers.
        The best known case involving the heckler's veto is probably Feiner v. New York, handed down by the Supreme Court in 1951. Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson, writing for the majority, held that police officers acted within their power in arresting a speaker if the arrest was "motivated solely by a proper concern for the preservation of order and protection of the general welfare". 340 U.S. 315.
        In Gregory v. Chicago (1969), Justice Hugo Black, in a concurring opinion, argued that arresting demonstrators as a consequence of unruly behavior of by-standers would amount to a heckler's veto.[3]
        It was rejected in Hill v. Colorado (2000),[4] where the Supreme Court rejected the "Heckler's Veto," finding "governmental grants of power to private actors" to be "constitutionally problematic" in cases where "the regulations allowed a single, private actor to unilaterally silence a speaker".[4]
        Other uses of the phrase Edit Heckler's veto is often used outside a strict legal context. One example is an article by Nat Hentoff in which he claims that "First Amendment law is clear that everyone has the right to picket a speaker, and to go inside the hall and heckle him or her'--but not to drown out the speaker, let alone rush the stage and stop the speech before it starts. That's called the 'heckler's veto'."[5]
        In Hentoff's formulation, the heckler him or herself is the party which directly carries out the "veto" and suppresses speech. This runs counter to the legal meaning of the phrase. Note that, to a lawyer familiar with the First Amendment law, the phrase "heckler's veto" means something different from what the plain English interpretation of the words suggests. In First Amendment law, a heckler's veto is the suppression of speech by the government, because of [the possibility of] a violent reaction by hecklers. It is the government that vetoes the speech, because of the reaction of the heckler. Under the First Amendment, this kind of heckler's veto is unconstitutional.'[6]
        University of California, Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky has invoked the concept in an editorial following an incident on February 8, 2010, in which heckling by individual students disrupted a speech by the Israeli ambassador Michael Oren. Chemerinsky explained that broad freedom exists to invite speakers and hold demonstrations, but that once a speaker has begun an invited lecture, ''You have the right'--if you disagree with me'--to go outside and perform your protest. But you don't get the right to come in when I'm talking and shout me down. Otherwise people can always silence a speaker by heckler's veto, and Babel results''.[7]
        Michigan State University professor of political science William B. Allen has used the phrase "verbal terrorism" to refer to the same phenomenon, defining it as "calculated assault characterized by loud side-conversations, shouted interruptions, jabbered false facts, threats and personal insults".[8]
        Conservative writer and commentator Ben Shapiro cited the term during a 2017 testimony to Congress in reference to suppression of right-wing speakers on College Campuses.[9]
        See also Edit References Edit ^ Hamlin, David (1980). The Nazi/Skokie Conflict: A Civil Liberties Battle. Boston: Beacon Press. p. 57. ISBN 0-8070-3230-1. ^ McGaffey, Ruth (1973). "The Heckler's Veto". Marquette Law Review. 57: 39''64. ^ "The Heckler's Veto: A Reexamination". marquette.edu. ^ a b Hill v. Colorado, 530 U.S. 703, 735 (SCOTUS 2000). ^ http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0645,hentoff,74928,2.html ^ Standler, Dr. Ronald B. "Heckler's Veto". www.rbs2.com. ^ Lumb, David (Feb 15, 2010). "Israel: Interrupted in Irvine". New University. ^ Allen, Carol M. (2008). Ending racial preferences: the Michigan story. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-7391-2433-8. ^ THE LIBERTY DAILY (27 July 2017). "Ben Shapiro Crushes Anti-Free Speech College Snowflakes Before Congress" '' via YouTube. External links Edit
      Cory Booker Backtracks After Being Photographed Holding Pro-Palestinian, Anti-Israeli-Wall Sign | The Daily Caller
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        Archived Version
        Sun, 05 Aug 2018 07:43
        10:56 PM 08/03/2018Scott Morefield | Reporter
        Senator Cory Booker was photographed holding a sign bearing a pro-Palestinian movement slogan. The image appeared on the Twitter feed of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, a self-described ''coalition of 330+ groups'' working ''for a US policy toward Palestine/Israel based on freedom, justice, and equality.''
        ''From Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go,'' the sign read.
        Excited to be here at Netroots Nation talking with progressives like Sen. Cory Booker about our shared commitment to freedom, justice, and equality for all people. #NN18 pic.twitter.com/ljswLmv32w
        '-- Palestinian Rights (@US_Campaign) August 3, 2018
        Booker, however, claims he wasn't aware that the sign called for an end to the border wall between Israel and the Palestinian territory, but rather only a U.S. border wall with Mexico.
        ''Just before delivering a speech in New Orleans, Senator Booker was approached by dozens of people for photos,'' Booker's spokesman, Jeff Giertz, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency via email.
        ''In one instance, amid the rush, he was posing for a photo and was passed a sign to hold '' he didn't have time to read the sign, and from his cursory glance he thought it was talking about Mexico and didn't realize it had anything to do with Israel,'' said Giertz said. ''He hopes for a day when there will be no need for security barriers in the State of Israel, but while active terrorist organizations threaten the safety of the people living in Israel, security barriers are unfortunate but necessary to protect human lives.''
        Booker reportedly posed with Leah Muskin-Pierret, who is the government affairs associate for the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights. The organization ''endorses the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel,'' according to JTA.
        Meanwhile, conservative actor James Woods called out Booker for his hypocrisy via Twitter:
        Well then, @CoryBooker, be sure to unlock your doors tonight. Walk it like you talk it. #OpenBorders #OpenDoors pic.twitter.com/R9bJEqV695
        '-- James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) August 3, 2018
        Follow Scott on Facebook and Twitter.
        Tags : border wall cory booker israel palestine conflict
      Sarah Jeong and the N.Y. Times: When Racism Is Fit to Print
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        Archived Version
        Sun, 05 Aug 2018 11:53
        / interesting times August 3, 2018 08/03/2018 10:38 am By Andrew Sullivan Is the newest member of the New York Times editorial board, Sarah Jeong, a racist?
        From one perspective '-- that commonly held by people outside the confines of the political left '-- she obviously is. A series of tweets from 2013 to 2015 reveal a vicious hatred of an entire group of people based only on their skin color. If that sounds harsh, let's review a few, shall we? ''White men are bullshit,'' is one. A succinct vent, at least. But notice she's not in any way attacking specific white men for some particular failing, just all white men for, well, existing. Or this series of ruminations: ''have you ever tried to figure out all the things that white people are allowed to do that aren't cultural appropriation. there's literally nothing. like skiing, maybe, and also golf. white people aren't even allowed to have polo. did you know that. like don't you just feel bad? why can't we give white people a break. lacrosse isn't for white people either. it must be so boring to be white.'' Or this: ''basically i'm just imagining waking up white every morning with a terrible existential dread that i have no culture.'' I can't say I'm offended by this '-- it's even mildly amusing, if a little bonkers. (Has she read, say, any Shakespeare or Emily Dickinson?) But it does reveal a worldview in which white people '-- all of them '-- are cultural parasites and contemptibly dull.
        A little more disturbing is what you might call ''eliminationist'' rhetoric '-- language that wishes an entire race could be wiped off the face of the earth: ''#cancelwhitepeople.'' Or: ''White people have stopped breeding. you'll all go extinct soon. that was my plan all along.'' One simple rule I have about describing groups of human beings is that I try not to use a term that equates them with animals. Jeong apparently has no problem doing so. Speaking of animals, here's another gem: ''Dumbass fucking white people marking up the internet with their opinions like dogs pissing on fire hydrants.'' Or you could describe an entire race as subhuman: ''Are white people genetically disposed to burn faster in the sun, thus logically being only fit to live underground like groveling goblins.'' And then there's this simple expression of the pleasure that comes with hatred: ''oh man it's kind of sick how much joy I get out of being cruel to old white men.'' I love that completely meretricious ''old'' to demean them still further. And that actual feeling: joy at cruelty!
        Another indicator that these statements might be racist comes from replacing the word ''white'' with any other racial group. #cancelblackpeople probably wouldn't fly at the New York Times, would it? Or imagine someone tweeting that Jews were only ''fit to live underground like groveling goblins'' or that she enjoyed ''being cruel to old Latina women,'' and then being welcomed and celebrated by a liberal newsroom. Not exactly in the cards.
        But the alternative view '-- that of today's political left '-- is that Jeong definitionally cannot be racist, because she's both a woman and a racial minority. Racism against whites, in this neo-Marxist view, just ''isn't a thing'' '-- just as misandry literally cannot exist at all. And this is because, in this paradigm, racism has nothing to do with a person's willingness to pre-judge people by the color of their skin, or to make broad, ugly generalizations about whole groups of people, based on hoary stereotypes. Rather, racism is entirely institutional and systemic, a function of power, and therefore it can only be expressed by the powerful '-- i.e., primarily white, straight men. For a nonwhite female, like Sarah Jeong, it is simply impossible. In the religion of social constructionism, Jeong, by virtue of being an Asian woman, is one of the elect, incapable of the sin of racism or group prejudice. All she is doing is resisting whiteness and maleness, which indeed require resistance every second of the day.
        That's why Jeong hasn't apologized to the white people she denigrated or conceded that her tweets were racist. Nor has she taken responsibility for them. Her statement actually blames her ugly tweets on trolls whose online harassment of her prompted her to respond in turn. She was merely ''counter-trolling.'' She says her tweets, which were not responses to any individual, were also ''not aimed at a general audience,'' and now understands that these tweets were ''hurtful'' and won't do them again. The New York Times also buys this argument: ''her journalism and the fact that she is a young Asian woman have made her a subject of frequent online harassment. For a period of time, she responded to that harassment by imitating the rhetoric of her harassers.''
        Let me explain why I think this is the purest of bullshit. If you want to respond to trolls by trolling them, you respond to them directly. You don't post slurs about an entire race of people (the overwhelming majority of whom are not trolls) on an open-forum website like Twitter. And these racist tweets were not just a function of one sudden exasperated vent at a harasser; they continued for two years. Another tweet from 2016 has her exclaiming: ''fuck white women lol.''
        None of this excuses the behavior of the online hordes that are seeking her head. When media companies give in to those mobs, they are just feeding a voracious beast. It's worth noting, however, that Jeong has a long record of cheering online mobs when they target people she dislikes. ''Is there anything more tedious than media navel-gazing over 'outrage mobs'?'' she tweeted earlier this year.
        And I don't think the New York Times should fire her '-- in part because they largely share her views on race, gender, and oppression. Their entire hiring and editorial process is based on them. In their mind, Jeong was merely caught defending herself. As Vox writer Zack Beauchamp put it: ''A lot of people on the internet today [are] confusing the expressive way antiracists and minorities talk about 'white people' with actual race-based hatred, for some unfathomable reason.'' I have to say that word ''expressive'' made me chuckle out loud. (But would Beauchamp, I wonder, feel the same way if anti-racists talked about Jews in the same manner Jeong talks about whites? Aren't Jews included in the category of whites?)
        The editors of the Verge, where Jeong still works, described any assertion of racism in Jeong's tweets as ''dishonest and outrageous,'' a function of bad faith and an attack on journalism itself. Scroll through left-Twitter and you find utter incredulity that demonizing white people could in any way be offensive. That's the extent to which loathing of and contempt for ''white people'' is now background noise on the left. What many don't seem to understand is that their view of racism isn't shared by the public at large, and that the defense of it by institutions like the New York Times will only serve to deepen the kind of resentment that gave us Trump. Last night, for instance, Fox News made the most of the Times' excuses for race-baiting.
        Yes, we all live on campus now. The neo-Marxist analysis of society, in which we are all mere appendages of various groups of oppressors and oppressed, and in which the oppressed definitionally cannot be at fault, is now the governing philosophy of almost all liberal media. That's how the Washington Post can provide a platform for raw misandry, and the New York Times can hire and defend someone who expresses racial hatred. The great thing about being in the social justice movement is how liberating it can feel to give voice to incendiary, satisfying bigotry '-- and know that you're still on the right side of history.
        The Left's Border Conflict
        I loved this little nugget from an interview Vox's Ezra Klein had with Bernie Sanders in 2015, which has been recirculating recently on Twitter. Money quote:
        Ezra Klein: You said being a democratic socialist means a more international view. I think if you take global poverty that seriously, it leads you to conclusions that in the US are considered out of political bounds. Things like sharply raising the level of immigration we permit, even up to a level of open borders. About sharply increasing '...
        Bernie Sanders: Open borders? No, that's a Koch brothers proposal.
        Ezra Klein: Really?
        Bernie Sanders: Of course. That's a right-wing proposal, which says essentially there is no United States. '...
        Ezra Klein: But it would make '...
        Bernie Sanders: Excuse me '...
        Ezra Klein: It would make a lot of global poor richer, wouldn't it?
        Bernie Sanders: It would make everybody in America poorer '-- you're doing away with the concept of a nation state, and I don't think there's any country in the world that believes in that.
        Good for Bernie! But you can almost hear Ezra's sudden realization that he's talking to a reactionary old fool! What you have here, I think, is a perfect encapsulation of the old and the new left. Sanders has never had a problem with the nation-state; it is, after all, the foundation for any functioning democracy, and a democratic politician will always put the citizens of his country first. His ideal left-liberal countries '-- the Nordic ones '-- are strong nation-states with, until very recently, homogeneous populations. But Ezra really does seem to have an issue '-- philosophically and morally '-- with the nation-state. Social justice doesn't end at the border, after all. And if the goal of the left is universal equality, on what grounds does it not extend to everyone on the planet? Which is to say: why do we have borders at all? Why do we draw any distinction between the citizen and the noncitizen?
        This, it seems to me, is what impedes the Democrats from taking a strong line on illegal immigration. Many of them don't have the slightest problem with it, and some even believe it is a moral necessity. A wealthy country cannot ethically keep its wealth to itself, they believe. And this is even truer when such a country is largely white and those outside it overwhelmingly nonwhite. Borders, in this worldview, are inherently racist. So how exactly does a good liberal favor enforcing them? He doesn't. He just pretends to.
        Never Underestimate the Lure of Cruelty
        The first chapter in Judith Shklar's 1984 book, Ordinary Vices, has an arresting title: ''Putting Cruelty First.'' What Shklar was exploring was whether a liberal society, properly understood, can coexist with institutional and personal cruelty, or whether it truly is a corrosive acid to a democratic society. I don't mean individual acts of cruelty. They, alas, will always be with us. I mean a culture increasingly comfortable with it, and a government capable of enabling it. I picked the book up again the other day after reading about the continuing horror of the migrant children being separated from their parents in the asylum process. Hundreds are still cut off from their families. Some may never see their parents again. We now know something else:
        A Trump administration official said Tuesday he warned for months about the potential for harm to migrant children if they were separated from their parents before the administration launched its ''zero tolerance'' border policy earlier this year.
        ''There is no question that separation of children from parents entails significant potential for traumatic psychological injury to the child,'' Commander Jonathan White, a Health and Human Services official who led the agency's family reunification efforts, told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
        So this was a premeditated, conscious attempt to hurt vulnerable children in order to deter future would-be asylum seekers who might bring their kids with them. It was an instrumental cruelty in which children were not seen as subjective beings to be protected but as objects to be used. It wasn't a policy designed to be hidden, but to be broadcast. Yes, you can see how the previous system perversely incentivized the smuggling of children, and we needed to do something. But when a solution to that problem is the institutionalizing of cruelty against the helpless, a liberal society simply has to say no.
        Many evils and vices exist, some arguably worse than cruelty. It is not included in the deadly sins, for example. But it is a vice particularly dangerous for any sort of liberal democracy. Its incompatibility with the liberal idea is rooted, quite simply, in the immense inequality that cruelty invariably entails '-- between, say, an armed adult agent of the law and a helpless, alien, exhausted child. It's the vast imbalance that turns mere force into unforgivable vice, which is why we tend to associate cruelty with tyranny. Cruelty also violates any sense of human dignity and empathy. It tears at our connective, human tissue. And it is almost always imposed out of cowardice rooted in some kind of fear. Shklar puts it this way: ''No child can deserve brutality. Punishment is justifiably inflicted in the service of retribution, education or public security; but if it goes away from, or beyond, these ends, we call it 'cruel and unusual' and forbid its use.''
        Except, of course, we haven't. America was founded in cruelty. Slavery was inextricable from it '-- not just because of the violence and humiliation, but because of the continuing psychological torment of being treated as captive subhuman, to be nakedly subject to brute power and violence. All forms of torture likewise represent a cruelty of the most unbalanced and cowardly type, because of the vast power differential between the torturer and his victim. Mistreatment of animals fits into the same category, something that Montaigne, in his famous essay on the subject, found particularly intolerable. He insisted, way ahead of his time, that ''there is, nevertheless, a certain respect, a general duty of humanity, not only to beasts that have life and sense, but even to trees and plants.'' Cruelty, in this view, is abuse of power at its most extreme. Which is why, in so many ways, our wanton destruction of this planet's ecosystem and the subsequent suffering of so many other species may be the cruelest act of humankind in our time.
        Wherever this dark strain in us comes from, it should not, it seems to me, be underestimated, or allowed to slide. We have progressed immensely over the centuries on this question, but it is always a temptation. Small cruelties easily lead to larger ones. And larger ones require, for most people, the dehumanization of the victims, which makes cruelty more tolerable and therefore more likely. It spreads, this stuff, which is why we have slowly constructed a liberal civilization over the last few centuries in which this most ordinary and yet most pernicious of the vices has been kept under control. Letting it slip, allowing it to fester, becoming numb to it: this is the danger we face in this authoritarian moment. We simply cannot let these children down. We simply cannot look away until everyone is accounted for.
        See you next Friday.
        Andrew Sullivan: When Racism Is Fit to Print
    Any Collusion?
      Trump's Russian Laundromat | The New Republic
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Thu, 02 Aug 2018 22:21
        In 1984, a Russian (C)migr(C) named David Bogatin went shopping for apartments in New York City. The 38-year-old had arrived in America seven years before, with just $3 in his pocket. But for a former pilot in the Soviet Army'--his specialty had been shooting down Americans over North Vietnam'--he had clearly done quite well for himself. Bogatin wasn't hunting for a place in Brighton Beach, the Brooklyn enclave known as ''Little Odessa'' for its large population of immigrants from the Soviet Union. Instead, he was fixated on the glitziest apartment building on Fifth Avenue, a gaudy, 58-story edifice with gold-plated fixtures and a pink-marble atrium: Trump Tower.
        A monument to celebrity and conspicuous consumption, the tower was home to the likes of Johnny Carson, Steven Spielberg, and Sophia Loren. Its brash, 38-year-old developer was something of a tabloid celebrity himself. Donald Trump was just coming into his own as a serious player in Manhattan real estate, and Trump Tower was the crown jewel of his growing empire. From the day it opened, the building was a hit'--all but a few dozen of its 263 units had sold in the first few months. But Bogatin wasn't deterred by the limited availability or the sky-high prices. The Russian plunked down $6 million to buy not one or two, but five luxury condos. The big check apparently caught the attention of the owner. According to Wayne Barrett, who investigated the deal for the Village Voice, Trump personally attended the closing, along with Bogatin.
        If the transaction seemed suspicious'--multiple apartments for a single buyer who appeared to have no legitimate way to put his hands on that much money'--there may have been a reason. At the time, Russian mobsters were beginning to invest in high-end real estate, which offered an ideal vehicle to launder money from their criminal enterprises. ''During the '80s and '90s, we in the U.S. government repeatedly saw a pattern by which criminals would use condos and high-rises to launder money,'' says Jonathan Winer, a deputy assistant secretary of state for international law enforcement in the Clinton administration. ''It didn't matter that you paid too much, because the real estate values would rise, and it was a way of turning dirty money into clean money. It was done very systematically, and it explained why there are so many high-rises where the units were sold but no one is living in them.'' When Trump Tower was built, as David Cay Johnston reports in The Making of Donald Trump, it was only the second high-rise in New York that accepted anonymous buyers.
        In 1987, just three years after he attended the closing with Trump, Bogatin pleaded guilty to taking part in a massive gasoline-bootlegging scheme with Russian mobsters. After he fled the country, the government seized his five condos at Trump Tower, saying that he had purchased them to ''launder money, to shelter and hide assets.'' A Senate investigation into organized crime later revealed that Bogatin was a leading figure in the Russian mob in New York. His family ties, in fact, led straight to the top: His brother ran a $150 million stock scam with none other than Semion Mogilevich, whom the FBI considers the ''boss of bosses'' of the Russian mafia. At the time, Mogilevich'--feared even by his fellow gangsters as ''the most powerful mobster in the world'''--was expanding his multibillion-dollar international criminal syndicate into America.
        In 1987, on his first trip to Russia, Trump visited the Winter Palace with Ivana. The Soviets flew him to Moscow'--all expenses paid'--to discuss building a luxury hotel across from the Kremlin. Maxim Blokhin/TASSSince Trump's election as president, his ties to Russia have become the focus of intense scrutiny, most of which has centered on whether his inner circle colluded with Russia to subvert the U.S. election. A growing chorus in Congress is also asking pointed questions about how the president built his business empire. Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, has called for a deeper inquiry into ''Russian investment in Trump's businesses and properties.''
        The very nature of Trump's businesses'--all of which are privately held, with few reporting requirements'--makes it difficult to root out the truth about his financial deals. And the world of Russian oligarchs and organized crime, by design, is shadowy and labyrinthine. For the past three decades, state and federal investigators, as well as some of America's best investigative journalists, have sifted through mountains of real estate records, tax filings, civil lawsuits, criminal cases, and FBI and Interpol reports, unearthing ties between Trump and Russian mobsters like Mogilevich. To date, no one has documented that Trump was even aware of any suspicious entanglements in his far-flung businesses, let alone that he was directly compromised by the Russian mafia or the corrupt oligarchs who are closely allied with the Kremlin. So far, when it comes to Trump's ties to Russia, there is no smoking gun.
        But even without an investigation by Congress or a special prosecutor, there is much we already know about the president's debt to Russia. A review of the public record reveals a clear and disturbing pattern: Trump owes much of his business success, and by extension his presidency, to a flow of highly suspicious money from Russia. Over the past three decades, at least 13 people with known or alleged links to Russian mobsters or oligarchs have owned, lived in, and even run criminal activities out of Trump Tower and other Trump properties. Many used his apartments and casinos to launder untold millions in dirty money. Some ran a worldwide high-stakes gambling ring out of Trump Tower'--in a unit directly below one owned by Trump. Others provided Trump with lucrative branding deals that required no investment on his part. Taken together, the flow of money from Russia provided Trump with a crucial infusion of financing that helped rescue his empire from ruin, burnish his image, and launch his career in television and politics. ''They saved his bacon,'' says Kenneth McCallion, a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Reagan administration who investigated ties between organized crime and Trump's developments in the 1980s.
        It's entirely possible that Trump was never more than a convenient patsy for Russian oligarchs and mobsters, with his casinos and condos providing easy pass-throughs for their illicit riches. At the very least, with his constant need for new infusions of cash and his well-documented troubles with creditors, Trump made an easy ''mark'' for anyone looking to launder money. But whatever his knowledge about the source of his wealth, the public record makes clear that Trump built his business empire in no small part with a lot of dirty money from a lot of dirty Russians'--including the dirtiest and most feared of them all.
        Trump made his first trip to Russia in 1987, only a few years before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Invited by Soviet Ambassador Yuri Dubinin, Trump was flown to Moscow and Leningrad'--all expenses paid'--to talk business with high-ups in the Soviet command. In The Art of the Deal, Trump recounted the lunch meeting with Dubinin that led to the trip. ''One thing led to another,'' he wrote, ''and now I'm talking about building a large luxury hotel, across the street from the Kremlin, in partnership with the Soviet government.''
        Over the years, Trump and his sons would try and fail five times to build a new Trump Tower in Moscow. But for Trump, what mattered most were the lucrative connections he had begun to make with the Kremlin'--and with the wealthy Russians who would buy so many of his properties in the years to come. ''Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross section of a lot of our assets,'' Donald Trump Jr. boasted at a real estate conference in 2008. ''We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.''
        The money, illicit and otherwise, began to rain in earnest after the Soviet Union fell in 1991. President Boris Yeltsin's shift to a market economy was so abrupt that cash-rich gangsters and corrupt government officials were able to privatize and loot state-held assets in oil, coal, minerals, and banking. Yeltsin himself, in fact, would later describe Russia as ''the biggest mafia state in the world.'' After Vladimir Putin succeeded Yeltsin as president, Russian intelligence effectively joined forces with the country's mobsters and oligarchs, allowing them to operate freely as long as they strengthen Putin's power and serve his personal financial interests. According to James Henry, a former chief economist at McKinsey & Company who consulted on the Panama Papers, some $1.3 trillion in illicit capital has poured out of Russia since the 1990s.
        Semion Mogilevich.At the top of the sprawling criminal enterprise was Semion Mogilevich. Beginning in the early 1980s, according to the FBI, the short, squat Ukrainian was the key money-laundering contact for the Solntsevskaya Bratva, or Brotherhood, one of the richest criminal syndicates in the world. Before long, he was running a multibillion-dollar worldwide racket of his own. Mogilevich wasn't feared because he was the most violent gangster, but because he was reputedly the smartest. The FBI has credited the ''brainy don,'' who holds a degree in economics from Lviv University, with a staggering range of crimes. He ran drug trafficking and prostitution rings on an international scale; in one characteristic deal, he bought a bankrupt airline to ship heroin from Southeast Asia into Europe. He used a jewelry business in Moscow and Budapest as a front for art that Russian gangsters stole from museums, churches, and synagogues all over Europe. He has also been accused of selling some $20 million in stolen weapons, including ground-to-air missiles and armored troop carriers, to Iran. ''He uses this wealth and power to not only further his criminal enterprises,'' the FBI says, ''but to influence governments and their economies.''
        In Russia, Mogilevich's influence reportedly reaches all the way to the top. In 2005, Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian intelligence agent who defected to London, recorded an interview with investigators detailing his inside knowledge of the Kremlin's ties to organized crime. ''Mogilevich,'' he said in broken English, ''have good relationship with Putin since 1994 or 1993.'' A year later Litvinenko was dead, apparently poisoned by agents of the Kremlin.
        Vyachelsav Ivankov. Sergey Ponomarev/APMogilevich's greatest talent, the one that places him at the top of the Russian mob, is finding creative ways to cleanse dirty cash. According to the FBI, he has laundered money through more than 100 front companies around the world, and held bank accounts in at least 27 countries. And in 1991, he made a move that led directly to Trump Tower. That year, the FBI says, Mogilevich paid a Russian judge to spring a fellow mob boss, Vyachelsav Kirillovich Ivankov, from a Siberian gulag. If Mogilevich was the brains, Ivankov was the enforcer'--a vor v zakone, or ''made man,'' infamous for torturing his victims and boasting about the murders he had arranged. Sprung by Mogilevich, Ivankov made the most of his freedom. In 1992, a year after he was released from prison, he headed to New York on an illegal business visa and proceeded to set up shop in Brighton Beach.
        In Red Mafiya, his book about the rise of the Russian mob in America, investigative reporter Robert I. Friedman documented how Ivankov organized a lurid and violent underworld of tattooed gangsters. When Ivankov touched down at JFK, Friedman reported, he was met by a fellow vor, who handed him a suitcase with $1.5 million in cash. Over the next three years, Ivankov oversaw the mob's growth from a local extortion racket to a multibillion-dollar criminal enterprise. According to the FBI, he recruited two ''combat brigades'' of Special Forces veterans from the Soviet war in Afghanistan to run the mafia's protection racket and kill his enemies.
        Like Mogilevich, Ivankov had a lot of dirty money he needed to clean up. He bought a Rolls-Royce dealership that was used, according to The New York Times, ''as a front to launder criminal proceeds.'' The FBI concluded that one of Ivankov's partners in the operation was Felix Komarov, an upscale art dealer who lived in Trump Plaza on Third Avenue. Komarov, who was not charged in the case, called the allegations baseless. He acknowledged that he had frequent phone conversations with Ivankov, but insisted the exchanges were innocent. ''I had no reason not to call him,'' Komarov told a reporter.
        Trump Taj Mahal paid the largest fine ever levied against a casino for having ''willfully violated'' anti-money-laundering rules.
        The feds wanted to arrest Ivankov, but he kept vanishing. ''He was like a ghost to the FBI,'' one agent recalls. Agents spotted him meeting with other Russian crime figures in Miami, Los Angeles, Boston, and Toronto. They also found he made frequent visits to Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, which mobsters routinely used to launder huge sums of money. In 2015, the Taj Mahal was fined $10 million'--the highest penalty ever levied by the feds against a casino'--and admitted to having ''willfully violated'' anti-money-laundering regulations for years.
        The FBI also struggled to figure out where Ivankov lived. ''We were looking around, looking around, looking around,'' James Moody, chief of the bureau's organized crime section, told Friedman. ''We had to go out and really beat the bushes. And then we found out that he was living in a luxury condo in Trump Tower.''
        There is no evidence that Trump knew Ivankov personally, even if they were neighbors. But the fact that a top Russian mafia boss lived and worked in Trump's own building indicates just how much high-level Russian mobsters came to view the future president's properties as a home away from home. In 2009, after being extradited to Russia to face murder charges, Ivankov was gunned down in a sniper attack on the streets of Moscow. According to The Moscow Times, his funeral was a media spectacle in Russia, attracting ''1,000 people wearing black leather jackets, sunglasses, and gold chains,'' along with dozens of giant wreaths from the various brotherhoods.
        Throughout the 1990s, untold millions from the former Soviet Union flowed into Trump's luxury developments and Atlantic City casinos. But all the money wasn't enough to save Trump from his own failings as a businessman. He owed $4 billion to more than 70 banks, with a mind-boggling $800 million of it personally guaranteed. He spent much of the decade mired in litigation, filing for multiple bankruptcies and scrambling to survive. For most developers, the situation would have spelled financial ruin. But fortunately for Trump, his own economic crisis coincided with one in Russia.
        In 1998, Russia defaulted on $40 billion in debt, causing the ruble to plummet and Russian banks to close. The ensuing financial panic sent the country's oligarchs and mobsters scrambling to find a safe place to put their money. That October, just two months after the Russian economy went into a tailspin, Trump broke ground on his biggest project yet. Rising to 72 stories in midtown Manhattan, Trump World Tower would be the tallest residential building on the planet. Construction got underway in 1999'--just as Trump was preparing his first run for the presidency on the Reform Party ticket'-- and concluded in 2001. As Bloomberg Businessweek reported earlier this year, it wasn't long before one-third of the units on the tower's priciest floors had been snatched up'--either by individual buyers from the former Soviet Union, or by limited liability companies connected to Russia. ''We had big buyers from Russia and Ukraine and Kazakhstan,'' sales agent Debra Stotts told Bloomberg.
        Sunny Isles, Florida, became known as ''Little Moscow,'' thanks to Trump's high-rises. Rhona Wise/AFP/GettyAmong the new tenants was Eduard Nektalov, a diamond dealer from Uzbekistan. Nektalov, who was being investigated by a Treasury Department task force for mob-connected money laundering, bought a condo on the seventy-ninth floor, directly below Trump's future campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway. A month later he sold his unit for a $500,000 profit. The following year, after rumors circulated that Nektalov was cooperating with federal investigators, he was shot down on Sixth Avenue.
        Trump had found his market. After Trump World Tower opened, Sotheby's International Realty teamed up with a Russian real estate company to make a big sales push for the property in Russia. The ''tower full of oligarchs,'' as Bloomberg called it, became a model for Trump's projects going forward. All he needed to do, it seemed, was slap the Trump name on a big building, and high-dollar customers from Russia and the former Soviet republics were guaranteed to come rushing in. Dolly Lenz, a New York real estate broker, told USA Today that she sold some 65 units in Trump World Tower to Russians. ''I had contacts in Moscow looking to invest in the United States,'' Lenz said. ''They all wanted to meet Donald.''
        To capitalize on his new business model, Trump struck a deal with a Florida developer to attach his name to six high-rises in Sunny Isles, just outside Miami. Without having to put up a dime of his own money, Trump would receive a cut of the profits. ''Russians love the Trump brand,'' Gil Dezer, the Sunny Isles developer, told Bloomberg. A local broker told The Washington Post that one-third of the 500 apartments he'd sold went to ''Russian-speakers.'' So many bought the Trump-branded apartments, in fact, that the area became known as ''Little Moscow.''
        ''Russians love the Trump brand,'' said developer Gil Dezer, (left, with Trump). One Florida tenant, Anatoly Golubchik (right) was busted in a major money-laundering ring run out of Trump Tower. Billy Farrell/Patrick McMullan/Getty; John Marshall Mantel/ New York Times/ReduxMany of the units were sold by a native of Uzbekistan who had immigrated from the Soviet Union in the 1980s; her business was so brisk that she soon began bringing Russian tour groups to Sunny Isles to view the properties. According to a Reuters investigation in March, at least 63 buyers with Russian addresses or passports spent $98 million on Trump's properties in south Florida. What's more, another one-third of the units'--more than 700 in all'--were bought by shadowy shell companies that concealed the true owners.
        Trump promoted and celebrated the properties. His organization continues to advertise the units; in 2011, when they first turned a profit, he attended a ceremonial mortgage-burning in Sunny Isles to toast their success. Last October, an investigation by the Miami Herald found that at least 13 buyers in the Florida complex have been the target of government investigations, either personally or through their companies, including ''members of a Russian-American organized crime group.'' Two buyers in Sunny Isles, Anatoly Golubchik and Michael Sall, were convicted for taking part in a massive international gambling and money-laundering syndicate that was run out of Trump Tower in New York. The ring, according to the FBI, was operating under the protection of the Russian mafia.
        The influx of Russian money did more than save Trump's business from ruin'--it set the stage for the next phase of his career. By 2004, to the outside world, it appeared that Trump was back on top after his failures in Atlantic City. That January, flush with the appearance of success, Trump launched his newly burnished brand into another medium.
        ''My name's Donald Trump,'' he declared in his opening narration for The Apprentice, ''the largest real estate developer in New York. I own buildings all over the place. Model agencies. The Miss Universe pageant. Jetliners, golf courses, casinos, and private resorts like Mar-a-Lago, one of the most spectacular estates anywhere in the world.''
        But it wouldn't be Trump without a better story than that. ''It wasn't always so easy,'' he confessed, over images of him cruising around New York in a stretch limo. ''About 13 years ago, I was seriously in trouble. I was billions of dollars in debt. But I fought back, and I won. Big league. I used my brain. I used my negotiating skills. And I worked it all out. Now my company's bigger than it ever was and stronger than it ever was.'... I've mastered the art of the deal.''
        The show, which reportedly paid Trump up to $3 million per episode, instantly revived his career. ''The Apprentice turned Trump from a blowhard Richie Rich who had just gone through his most difficult decade into an unlikely symbol of straight talk, an evangelist for the American gospel of success, a decider who insisted on standards in a country that had somehow slipped into handing out trophies for just showing up,'' journalists Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher observe in their book Trump Revealed. ''Above all, Apprentice sold an image of the host-boss as supremely competent and confident, dispensing his authority and getting immediate results. The analogy to politics was palpable.''
        Russians spent at least $98 million on Trump's properties in Florida'--and another third of the units were bought by shadowy shell companies.
        But the story of Donald Trump, self-made business genius, left out any mention of the shady Russian investors who had done so much to make his comeback narrative possible. And Trump's business, despite the hype, was hardly ''stronger than it ever was'''--his credit was still lousy, and two more of his prized properties in Atlantic City would soon fall into bankruptcy, even as his ratings soared.
        To further enhance his brand, Trump used his prime-time perch to unveil another big project. On the 2006 season finale of The Apprentice, as 11 million viewers waited to learn which of the two finalists was going to be fired, Trump prolonged the suspense by cutting to a promotional video for his latest venture. ''Located in the center of Manhattan's chic artist enclave, the Trump International Hotel and Tower in SoHo is the site of my latest development,'' he narrated over swooping helicopter footage of lower Manhattan. The new building, he added, would be nothing less than a ''$370 million work of art '... an awe-inspiring masterpiece.''
        Trump SoHo was the brainchild of two development companies'--Bayrock Group LLC and the Sapir Organization'--run by a pair of wealthy (C)migr(C)s from the former Soviet Union who had done business with some of Russia's richest and most notorious oligarchs. Together, their firms made Trump an offer he couldn't refuse: The developers would finance and build Trump SoHo themselves. In return for lending his name to the project, Trump would get 18 percent of the profits'--without putting up any of his own money.
        One of the developers, Tamir Sapir, had followed an unlikely path to riches. After emigrating from the Soviet Union in the 1970s, he had started out driving a cab in New York City and ended up a billionaire living in Trump Tower. His big break came when he co-founded a company that sold high-tech electronics. According to the FBI, Sapir's partner in the firm was a ''member or associate'' of Ivankov's mob in Brighton Beach. No charges were ever filed, and Sapir denied having any mob ties. ''It didn't happen,'' he told The New York Times. ''Everything was done in the most legitimate way.''
        Trump, who described Sapir as a ''great friend,'' bought 200 televisions from his electronics company. In 2007, he hosted the wedding of Sapir's daughter at Mar-a-Lago, and later attended her infant son's bris.
        In 2007, Trump celebrated the launch of Trump SoHo with partners Tevfik Arif (center) and Felix Sater (right). Arif was later acquitted on charges of running a prostitution ring. Mark Von Holden/WireImage/GettySapir also introduced Trump to Tevfik Arif, his partner in the Trump SoHo deal. On paper, at least, Arif was another heartwarming immigrant success story. He had graduated from the Moscow Institute of Trade and Economics and worked as a Soviet trade and commerce official for 17 years before moving to New York and founding Bayrock. Practically overnight, Arif became a wildly successful developer in Brooklyn. In 2002, after meeting Trump, he moved Bayrock's offices to Trump Tower, where he and his staff of Russian (C)migr(C)s set up shop on the twenty-fourth floor.
        Trump worked closely with Bayrock on real estate ventures in Russia, Ukraine, and Poland. ''Bayrock knew the investors,'' he later testified. Arif ''brought the people up from Moscow to meet with me.'' He boasted about the deal he was getting: Arif was offering him a 20 to 25 percent cut on his overseas projects, he said, not to mention management fees. ''It was almost like mass production of a car,'' Trump testified.
        But Bayrock and its deals quickly became mired in controversy. Forbes and other publications reported that the company was financed by a notoriously corrupt group of oligarchs known as The Trio. In 2010, Arif was arrested by Turkish prosecutors and charged with setting up a prostitution ring after he was found aboard a boat'--chartered by one of The Trio'--with nine young women, two of whom were 16 years old. The women reportedly refused to talk, and Arif was acquitted. According to a lawsuit filed that same year by two former Bayrock executives, Arif started the firm ''backed by oligarchs and money they stole from the Russian people.'' In addition, the suit alleges, Bayrock ''was substantially and covertly mob-owned and operated.'' The company's real purpose, the executives claim, was to develop hugely expensive properties bearing the Trump brand'--and then use the projects to launder money and evade taxes.
        The lawsuit, which is ongoing, does not claim that Trump was complicit in the alleged scam. Bayrock dismissed the allegations as ''legal conclusions to which no response is required.'' But last year, after examining title deeds, bank records, and court documents, the Financial Times concluded that Trump SoHo had ''multiple ties to an alleged international money-laundering network.'' In one case, the paper reported, a former Kazakh energy minister is being sued in federal court for conspiring to ''systematically loot hundreds of millions of dollars of public assets'' and then purchasing three condos in Trump SoHo to launder his ''ill-gotten funds.''
        Felix Sater had a Trump business card long after his criminal past came to light.During his collaboration with Bayrock, Trump also became close to the man who ran the firm's daily operations'--a twice-convicted felon with family ties to Semion Mogilevich. In 1974, when he was eight years old, Felix Sater and his family emigrated from Moscow to Brighton Beach. According to the FBI, his father'--who was convicted for extorting local restaurants, grocery stores, and a medical clinic'--was a Mogilevich boss. Sater tried making it as a stockbroker, but his career came to an abrupt end in 1991, after he stabbed a Wall Street foe in the face with a broken margarita glass during a bar fight, opening wounds that required 110 stitches. (Years later, in a deposition, Trump downplayed the incident, insisting that Sater ''got into a barroom fight, which a lot of people do.'') Sater lost his trading license over the attack, and served a year in prison.
        In 1998, Sater pleaded guilty to racketeering'--operating a ''pump and dump'' stock fraud in partnership with alleged Russian mobsters that bilked investors of at least $40 million. To avoid prison time, Sater turned informer. But according to the lawsuit against Bayrock, he also resumed ''his old tricks.'' By 2003, the suit alleges, Sater controlled the majority of Bayrock's shares'--and proceeded to use the firm to launder hundreds of millions of dollars, while skimming and extorting millions more. The suit also claims that Sater committed fraud by concealing his racketeering conviction from banks that invested hundreds of millions in Bayrock, and that he threatened ''to kill anyone at the firm he thought knew of the crimes committed there and might report it.'' In court, Bayrock has denied the allegations, which Sater's attorney characterizes as ''false, fabricated, and pure garbage.''
        By Sater's account, in sworn testimony, he was very tight with Trump. He flew to Colorado with him, accompanied Donald Jr. and Ivanka on a trip to Moscow at Trump's invitation, and met with Trump's inner circle ''constantly.'' In Trump Tower, he often dropped by Trump's office to pitch business ideas'--''just me and him.''
        Trump seems unable to recall any of this. ''Felix Sater, boy, I have to even think about it,'' he told the Associated Press in 2015. Two years earlier, testifying in a video deposition, Trump took the same line. If Sater ''were sitting in the room right now,'' he swore under oath, ''I really wouldn't know what he looked like.'' He added: ''I don't know him very well, but I don't think he was connected to the mafia.''
        Trump and his lawyers say that he was unaware of Sater's criminal past when he signed on to do business with Bayrock. That's plausible, since Sater's plea deal in the stock fraud was kept secret because of his role as an informant. But even after The New York Times revealed Sater's criminal record in 2007, he continued to use office space provided by the Trump Organization. In 2010, he was even given an official Trump Organization business card that read: FELIX H. SATER, SENIOR ADVISOR TO DONALD TRUMP.
        In 2013, police burst into Unit 63A of Trump Tower and rounded up 29 suspects in a $100 million money-laundering scheme.
        Sater apparently remains close to Trump's inner circle. Earlier this year, one week before National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was fired for failing to report meetings with Russian officials, Trump's personal attorney reportedly hand-delivered to Flynn's office a ''back-channel plan'' for lifting sanctions on Russia. The co-author of the plan, according to the Times: Felix Sater.
        In the end, Trump's deals with Bayrock, like so much of his business empire, proved to be more glitter than gold. The international projects in Russia and Poland never materialized. A Trump tower being built in Fort Lauderdale ran out of money before it was completed, leaving behind a massive concrete shell. Trump SoHo ultimately had to be foreclosed and resold. But his Russian investors had left Trump with a high-profile property he could leverage. The new owners contracted with Trump to run the tower; as of April, the president and his daughter Ivanka were still listed as managers of the property. In 2015, according to the federal financial disclosure reports, Trump made $3 million from Trump SoHo.
        In April 2013, a little more than two years before Trump rode the escalator to the ground floor of Trump Tower to kick off his presidential campaign, police burst into Unit 63A of the high-rise and rounded up 29 suspects in two gambling rings. The operation, which prosecutors called ''the world's largest sports book,'' was run out of condos in Trump Tower'--including the entire fifty-first floor of the building. In addition, unit 63A'--a condo directly below one owned by Trump'--served as the headquarters for a ''sophisticated money-laundering scheme'' that moved an estimated $100 million out of the former Soviet Union, through shell companies in Cyprus, and into investments in the United States. The entire operation, prosecutors say, was working under the protection of Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, whom the FBI identified as a top Russian vor closely allied with Semion Mogilevich. In a single two-month stretch, according to the federal indictment, the money launderers paid Tokhtakhounov $10 million.
        Tokhtakhounov, who had been indicted a decade earlier for conspiring to fix the ice-skating competition at the 2002 Winter Olympics, was the only suspect to elude arrest. For the next seven months, the Russian crime boss fell off the radar of Interpol, which had issued a red alert. Then, in November 2013, he suddenly appeared live on international television'--sitting in the audience at the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. Tokhtakhounov was in the VIP section, just a few seats away from the pageant owner, Donald Trump.
        Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov. Dmitry Korotayev/Epsilon/GettyAfter the pageant, Trump bragged about all the powerful Russians who had turned out that night, just to see him. ''Almost all of the oligarchs were in the room,'' he told Real Estate Weekly. Contacted by Mother Jones, Tokhtakhounov insisted that he had bought his own ticket and was not a VIP. He also denied being a mobster, telling The New York Times that he had been indicted in the gambling ring because FBI agents ''misinterpreted his Russian slang'' on their Trump Tower wiretaps, when he was merely placing $20,000 bets on soccer games.
        Both the White House and the Trump Organization declined to respond to questions for this story. On the few occasions he has been questioned about his business entanglements with Russians, however, Trump has offered broad denials. ''I tweeted out that I have no dealings with Russia,'' he said at a press conference in January, when asked if Russia has any ''leverage'' over him, financial or otherwise. ''I have no deals that could happen in Russia, because we've stayed away. And I have no loans with Russia. I have no loans with Russia at all.'' In May, when he was interviewed by NBC's Lester Holt, Trump seemed hard-pressed to think of a single connection he had with Russia. ''I have had dealings over the years where I sold a house to a very wealthy Russian many years ago,'' he said. ''I had the Miss Universe pageant'--which I owned for quite a while'--I had it in Moscow a long time ago. But other than that, I have nothing to do with Russia.''
        But even if Trump has no memory of the many deals that he and his business made with Russian investors, he certainly did not ''stay away'' from Russia. For decades, he and his organization have aggressively promoted his business there, seeking to entice investors and buyers for some of his most high-profile developments. Whether Trump knew it or not, Russian mobsters and corrupt oligarchs used his properties not only to launder vast sums of money from extortion, drugs, gambling, and racketeering, but even as a base of operations for their criminal activities. In the process, they propped up Trump's business and enabled him to reinvent his image. Without the Russian mafia, it is fair to say, Donald Trump would not be president of the United States.
        Semion Mogilevich, the Russian mob's ''boss of bosses,'' also declined to respond to questions from the New Republic. ''My ideas are not important to anybody,'' Mogilevich said in a statement provided by his attorney. ''Whatever I know, I am a private person.'' Mogilevich, the attorney added, ''has nothing to do with President Trump. He doesn't believe that anybody associated with him lives in Trump Tower. He has no ties to America or American citizens.''
        Back in 1999, the year before Trump staged his first run for president, Mogilevich gave a rare interview to the BBC. Living up to his reputation for cleverness, the mafia boss mostly joked and double-spoke his way around his criminal activities. (Q: ''Why did you set up companies in the Channel Islands?'' A: ''The problem was that I didn't know any other islands. When they taught us geography at school, I was sick that day.'') But when the exasperated interviewer asked, ''Do you believe there is any Russian organized crime?'' the ''brainy don'' turned half-serious.
        ''How can you say that there is a Russian mafia in America?'' he demanded. ''The word mafia, as far as I understand the word, means a criminal group that is connected with the political organs, the police and the administration. I don't know of a single Russian in the U.S. Senate, a single Russian in the U.S. Congress, a single Russian in the U.S. government. Where are the connections with the Russians? How can there be a Russian mafia in America? Where are their connections?''
        Two decades later, we finally have an answer to Mogilevich's question.
      Facebook Is The World's Biggest Right-Wing Media Company | Crooked Media
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Fri, 03 Aug 2018 11:02
        The conservative movement, led by President Trump, has been engaged in a months-long campaign to intimidate tech-media platforms like Facebook out of policing disinformation, and into maximizing the reach of right-wing content, by baselessly accusing the companies of harboring liberal bias.
        They aren't even particularly subtle about it.
        After Facebook changed its terms of service in late 2017, pro-Trump video-bloggers Diamond and Silk claimed, without any grounding at all, that Facebook was censoring them, and conservatives exclusively. Republicans on Capitol Hill eagerly parroted their baseless claims. When Mark Zuckerberg appeared before Congress to testify about Cambridge Analytica, Ted Cruz grilled him about it. They were rewarded for their nonsense with an invitation to headline a House Judiciary Committee hearing.
        That much has been out in the open. What's less obvious is that their campaign has succeeded: It doesn't matter what Facebook intended to be. Facebook has become a media outlet'--and, through the manipulative efforts of conservative activists, a grossly irresponsible, right-wing media outlet. It's time to stop pretending otherwise.
        Facebook's efforts to appease right-wing critics have distorted the outlet's political influence in many obvious ways. In response to the hearings on bias in Congress, Facebook hired conservative lobbyist Jon Kyl to lead a review. A six month study by Media Matters found that right-leaning pages continue to rack up more interactions on their posts than left-leaning or politically neutral pages, and conservative memes are by far the highest performing political content on the platform. But here's a data point that hits close to home:
        In general, Facebook treats Pod Save America the same as it treats InfoWars'--the propaganda channel Alex Jones uses to spread conspiracy theories, and, more recently, to threaten violence against Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
        Not even our most dishonest critics on the right make that comparison, because it's ludicrous. But if Facebook took any steps to distinguish between Pod Save America and InfoWars in their algorithms, those same critics would disingenuously accuse Facebook of being biased against conservatives.
        I run social media for Crooked Media, and here's how I discovered this ingrained false equivalence: The other day, I received a push notification from Facebook saying that one of our videos had been flagged, and rated as ''18+.'' The video in question was a normal episode of Pod Save America in which our hosts analyzed the latest developments in Mueller's Russia investigation. Standard fare. They swore a couple of times. They didn't threaten anyone with violence. They didn't accuse anyone of being a child molester.
        Confused, I looked up how Facebook's rating system works:
        Videos that carry no rating can contain ''some suggestive dialogue, infrequent coarse language, some sexual situations, or moderate violence.''
        Videos that receive a 14+ rating have ''intensely suggestive dialogue, strong coarse language, intense sexual situations, or intense violence.''
        Videos that receive the 18+ rating they tagged us with contain ''crude, indecent language, explicit sexual activity, or graphic violence.''
        Facebook has the capacity to distinguish between fact and falsehood, journalism and disinformation, reason and incitement, peace and violence, and turn down the volume on the latter. It can distinguish between people who use the word ''fuck,'' and people who engage in slander. It chooses not to because those distinctions'--those values'--would disfavor a right-wing media culture that embraces conspiracy theories and lies. The result is an output that places content creators who care about truth at a disadvantage, and makes Facebook a useful tool for propagandists.
        '' We reached out to our Facebook rep to ask why our video received that rating, and got a corporate non-response in return. ''[T]hanks for flagging. Looking into this.''
        But we didn't need a explanation or an excuse to see what was happening: Facebook treats our deliberately PG-13 content as if it were as offensive as ''explicit sexual activity, or graphic violence,'' and it suppresses us, to balance out its suppression of dangerous garbage like InfoWars.
        In mid-July, Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook would not ban InfoWars outright. It recently suspended Alex Jones from personally posting for 30 days after he ''violated community standards,'' but has more generally turned down the volume InfoWars content algorithmically. To quote Zuckerberg, ''You can put up that content on your page even if people might disagree with it or find it offensive, but that doesn't mean that we have a responsibility to make it widely distributed in News Feed.'' Yesterday, Facebook upheld the 18+ rating on our video.
        The company's lip-service defense of free speech is in practice a choice to collapse the distinction between disinformation and news-analysis. The right-wing narrative of social-media censorship is dishonest, but it has also been incredibly effective in pressuring platforms into accepting lies as opinion.
        Fuck that. Pod Save America will now natively include show notes and source citations on every longform video we post. Our shows are thoroughly researched, backed by reputable sources and meant to help spread information. Crooked Media has an obvious ideological lean, but we are more transparent about it than any other media company, and it in no way conflicts with our mission of making our audiences better informed. Facebook should reward that ethic, not penalize it. It should challenge other outlets to do the same. Or it should admit that, it has chosen, out of cowardice or its own volition, to adopt the values of its most dishonest critics.
      Former CIA Counterterrorism Official: Thursday's Show of Force With Intel Officials Was a 'Stunt'
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        Archived Version
        Sat, 04 Aug 2018 20:59
        On Thursday, a group of national security officials stepped up to the White House briefing room podium to announce their coordinated effort to combat the Russians' election interference campaign. Some praised their show of force, but others, like former CIA Counterterrorism Official Phil Mudd, say it was all a "PR stunt."
        Fmr. CIA Counterterrorism Official Phil Mudd says intelligence officials "got used" yesterday when they warned of ongoing interference: "That was a PR stunt" https://t.co/d9uFqT7rUu pic.twitter.com/n2ewT5wmmp
        '-- New Day (@NewDay) August 3, 2018''That was not a security meeting,'' Mudd said. ''That was the White House using a bunch of people so for the next two months they can use a talking point that said, 'hey, anytime somebody raises Russia to Sarah Sanders, she's going to say look the president directed those guys and women at the podium to do something about it.''
        CNN anchor David Gregory pushed back a bit, noting that "these are still responsible people," who even if they reacted out of pressure, "still came and briefed people about where they see the threat and what the government is doing about it."
        Participating in Thursday's briefing were Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, national security adviser John Bolton, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and NSA director Gen. Paul Nakasone. They all seemed to be on the same page. Russia had absolutely interfered in our elections, they noted, before sharing what each of their agencies were doing about it.
        The DHS is working with all 50 states to boost election infrastructure, the FBI is engaged in information and intelligence sharing and establishing strong relationships with the private sector to help technology companies monitor their platforms, the officials shared.
        "Give me a break," Mudd said. "They got used."
      Russia tasks Hollywood actor Seagal with improving U.S. ties | Article [AMP] | Reuters
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        Archived Version
        Sun, 05 Aug 2018 07:06
        Sat Aug 4, 2018 / 3:07 PM EDT
        MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday it had made U.S. actor Steven Seagal its special representative for Russian-U.S. humanitarian ties, a role it said was meant to deepen cultural, art and youth ties between the two countries.
        President Vladimir Putin presented a Russian passport to U.S. actor Steven Seagal in 2016, saying he hoped it would serve as a symbol of how fractious ties between Moscow and Washington were starting to improve.
        Since then, U.S.-Russia relations have only got worse however with U.S. intelligence agencies accusing Moscow of interfering in Donald Trump's White House run, an allegation Russia denies. The two countries are also at odds over Syria and Ukraine.
        The Russian Foreign Ministry likened Seagal's new role to that of a U.N. goodwill ambassador and said that the actor, who is known for his martial arts prowess, would receive no salary.
        "It's a case of people's diplomacy intersecting with traditional diplomacy," the ministry said.
        Seagal, who sometimes appears on Russian state TV to talk about his views and career, was cited by Kremlin-backed TV station RT as welcoming the appointment.
        "I've always had a very strong desire to do all I can to help improve Russian-American relations," RT cited Seagal as saying. "I have worked tirelessly in this direction for many years unofficially and I am now very grateful for the opportunity to do the same thing officially."
        For more than a decade Seagal, who according to his own website is 66, has been a regular visitor to Russia. His movies, including such titles as "Under Siege" and "Sniper: Special Ops," are popular with Russian audiences.
        President Putin is also a fan of the kind of martial arts that Seagal often practiced in his Hollywood action movies.
        (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
      Justice Department Is Silent About Why It Has Failed To Preserve Comey Emails In FOIA Case | The Daily Caller
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        Archived Version
        Sun, 05 Aug 2018 15:08
        1:00 AM 08/03/2018Richard Pollock | Reporter
        The Department of Justice is refusing to preserve work-related emails on former FBI Director James Comey's private account. The Justice Department Inspector General disclosed that Comey used a personal email account to conduct agency business. The Justice Department has refused to turn over government records on Comey's personal account, which The Daily Caller News Foundation and Judicial Watch requested under the Freedom of Information Act. The Department of Justice has refused to take any steps to preserve work-related emails former FBI Director James Comey had on a personal account that The Daily Caller News Foundation and Judicial Watch requested under the Freedom of Information Act, the conservative watchdog will file in court Friday.
        ''There is nothing but complete silence about why the FBI has failed to take steps to preserve records responsive to DCNF's request,'' Judicial Watch attorney Michael Bekesha will write in the filing before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
        Judicial Watch and TheDCNF filed a joint lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act on April 25 seeking records, including emails, Comey produced regarding meetings and conversations he had with then-President Barack Obama, then-Vice President Joe Biden and a variety of other political figures.
        Following the Justice Department Inspector General's June 2018 report, which disclosed that Comey used a personal Gmail account for official FBI business, both groups sought a preservation order to assure no records related to their FOIA requests were lost or destroyed.
        Both groups requested U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly order the Justice Department to preserve all of Comey's personal emails related to the two requests on July 27.
        The same day, Kollar-Kotelly took the unusual step of demanding an expedited reply from the Justice Department, ordering that the agency respond to the court by Aug. 1 and to respond to Judicial Watch and TheDCNF by Aug. 3. (RELATED: Daily Caller News Foundation And Judicial Watch Seek To Preserve Comey's Private Emails)
        In its reply to the court on Aug. 1, Justice Department U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu continued to refuse to send an order to Comey or share its communications with the former director seeking the preservation of all his personal emails related to the FOIA requests.
        In its opposition to the preservation request, the Justice Department stated, '' even if they [sic] were a possibility of responsive records in Director Comey's personal email, Plaintiffs cannot meet their burden of showing that such records would be lost without a preservation order.''
        Comey has been cagey about the number of times he met with and had conversations with Obama. An email Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, wrote and sent to herself on Inauguration Day noted for the record that Obama, Biden, then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and herself met with Comey.
        Committee on the Judiciary members Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina discovered Rice's email. The email was at odds with his June 8, 2017, testimonybefore the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, in which he suggested that his firsthand meetings with Obama were rare.
        ''As FBI director, I interacted with President Obama. I spoke only twice in three years,'' he said. ''I spoke alone with President Obama twice in person (and never on the phone) '-- once in 2015 to discuss law enforcement policy issues and a second time, briefly, for him to say goodbye in late 2016,'' Comey's opening statement to the Intelligence Committee read.
        Bekesha wrote that the FBI's assistant section chief for record dissemination ''does not state that the FBI formally requested Comey preserve any agency records or potential agency records responsive to DCNF's FOIA request. Nor does he state that the FBI asked Comey to return any such records to the FBI.''
        Judicial Watch, in its May 22 FOIA, asked for any documents or memoranda written or ordered written by Comey summarizing his conversations with any of the following individuals: Obama, Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona
        TheDCNF requested records that identify and describe all meetings between Comey and Obama on Feb. 16.
        Follow Richard on Twitter
        Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org. Tags : barack obama james comey judicial watch
    Q-Vision
      Mark on Twitter: "So now followers of the Q movement seem to think that the returned remains of the soldiers are actually secret North Korean tech servers that implicate Hillary and co.? This desecrates the fallen TWICE. How much further will this mad
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        Archived Version
        Sun, 05 Aug 2018 07:06
        @ voidzorro So now followers of the Q movement seem to think that the returned remains of the soldiers are actually secret North Korean tech servers that implicate Hillary and co.? This desecrates the fallen TWICE. How much further will this mad "movement" go before you say 'enough?'
    Kids in Cages
      L.A. Production of 'The Diary of Anne Frank' Replaces Nazis with ICE Agents Hunting for 'LatinX' Illegals
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        Archived Version
        Sun, 05 Aug 2018 14:45
        PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU/AFP/Getty ImagesA modernized theatrical production of The Diary of Anne Frank in Los Angeles will re-imagine the Jewish Frank family hiding from Nazis with Latino immigrants hiding from Immigration, Customs, and Enforcement (ICE) officials, its directors have revealed.The production, directed by former Roseanne writer Stan Zimmerman and scheduled to run throughout September, ''was inspired by the true story of a Jewish woman in Los Angeles who created a 'Safe House' for a Latina mother and her two daughters after her husband was deported by ICE.'' The play's characters in the attic will be played by a LatinX cast, according to a promotional website.''Director Stan Zimmerman has cast his production of the classic play The Diary of Anne Frank, by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett and newly adapted by Wendy Kesselman,'' the play's promotional content reads.
        ''The cast includes Keith Coogan (''Adventures in Babysitting''), Tasha Dixon (Miss Arizona USA), David Gurrola (''Insecure''), Heather Olt (''The Middle''), Raquenel (''My Life is a Telenovela''), Robert C. Raicch (''Are We There Yet?''), Teddi Shaffer (''The Open Book''), Raymond Abel Tomas, Emiliano Torres (''Shooter'') and introducing Genesis Ochoa as Anne Frank,'' it continues.
        In the original version of the true story, 13-year-old Anne Frank details her life in her diary after her family is forced to hide in an attic in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. After more than two years of hiding, the Frank family is discovered by the Gestapo and sent to a Holocaust extermination camp, where only Anne's father Otto survives.
        The controversial play comes amid growing comparisons by major Hollywood figures and the left-wing commentariat between the Holocaust and the immigration enforcement policies of President Donald Trump's administration. In March, CNN compared ICE agents to Nazis on a news article on the Jewish woman on which the upcoming production is based.
        ''A Jewish woman heard an undocumented immigrant and her two daughters were on the run from ICE,'' the network wrote on Twitter. ''Driven by thoughts of the Holocaust, she risked her own comfort to offer them shelter.''
        Follow Ben Kew on Facebook, Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart.com.
    Chiner$
      Details Surface About Chinese Spy Who Worked For Sen. Feinstein '' CBS San Francisco
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        Archived Version
        Fri, 03 Aug 2018 13:03
        SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) '' New details emerged Wednesday about how a mole for the government of communist China managed to stay by Senator Dianne Feinstein's side for nearly 20 years.
        It happened five years ago, but additional information is just surfacing about how the Bay Area senator's office was infiltrated by a Chinese spy.
        The Bay Area is a hotbed for Russian and Chinese espionage. Late last year, the feds shut down the Russian consulate in San Francisco.
        You may remember the thick black smoke that billowing from building before Russian diplomats turned it over to authorities, presumably produced by burning documents.
        Now, all eyes are on Chinese intelligence in the Bay Area after the website Politico reported last week that a staffer for Senator Feinstein turned out to be a Chinese spy who reported back to the government officials about local politics.
        On Wednesday, the San Francisco Chronicle uncovered additional details in a column written by reporters Phil Matier and Andy Ross.
        The column revealed that the Chinese spy was Feinstein's driver who also served as a gofer in her Bay Area office and was a liaison to the Asian-American community.
        He even attended Chinese consulate functions for the senator.
        Feinstein '-- who was Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time '-- was reportedly mortified when the FBI told her she'd be infiltrated.
        Investigators reportedly concluded the driver hadn't leaked anything of substance and Feinstein forced him to retire.
        Former FBI agent and KPIX 5 security analyst Jeff Harp said he was not surprised.
        ''Think about Diane Feinstein and what she had access to,'' said Harp. ''One, she had access to the Chinese community here in San Francisco; great amount of political influence. Two, correct me if I'm wrong, Dianne Feinstein still has very close ties to the intelligence committees there in Washington, D.C.''
        Harp ran counter espionage for the FBI in the Bay Area. He said in addition to traditional political intel and diplomatic secrets, Bay Area spies are often focused on things like R&D, technology and trade secrets.
        ''They also have an interest in the economy here. How to get political influence here,'' said Harp. ''What's being developed in Silicon Valley that has dual-use technology. All of that is tied to the Bay Area.''
        And he says, like in many areas, when it comes to counter intelligence and espionage, the Bay Area is a trend setter.
        ''As the Bay Area goes, so does the nation when it comes to technology,'' said Harp. ''So why not when it comes to spying?''
        Harp pointed out politicians with access to classified information are generally trained on what not to say and when not to say it. But he also noted when you have a driver behind the wheel day in and day out for 20 years, there are more opportunities to slip up.
        Feinstein's office would not comment on the story, saying they do not address personnel matters or investigations, but they added that none of their California offices staffers had ever had security clearance.
        The FBI declined to comment on the story.
      Seattle housing market is under pressure as Chinese buying 'dries up'
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        Sun, 05 Aug 2018 14:55
        Skyhobo | Getty Images
        Seattle has been arguably one of the hottest housing markets in America, with home prices rising annually by double digits fueled by scorching demand. There is, however, one outside force that is starting to throw cold water on all that heat: new weakness from once-intense Chinese buyers.
        The Pacific Northwest city has been one of the greatest beneficiaries of the recent wave of Chinese buyers of U.S. real estate. Both Chinese investors and families hoping to send their kids to American universities have fueled demand for housing in Seattle, which has long enjoyed a strong Asian culture.
        In just the last two years, that demand increased dramatically. In 2016, nearby Canadian city Vancouver slapped a 25 percent tax on international homebuyers in an effort to cool its own overheated housing market. Chinese investors, who had been strong in that market, simply moved south of the border to escape the tax.
        "Chinese buyers are flooding into Seattle," said Jonathan Woloshin of UBS in a 2016 interview.
        But the Chinese yuan's recent fall in value against the U.S. dollar has made housing more expensive for Chinese buyers. Now, Woloshin said, Seattle could see the opposite of the buying frenzy it had two years ago.
        "I'm not telling you there is going to be a crash in prices, but do I think there is going to be a drop in the rate of increase? yes," said Woloshin.
        In the Seattle metropolitan area, home prices skyrocketed 45 percent between August 2016 and now, according to Woloshin. On a currency-adjusted basis, for Chinese buyers, they are up 54 percent.
        "The Chinese have a very long time horizon, so if they are buying that home as a second or third home or they're going to buy it for their child, that's fair, but the huge run-up in prices, the depreciation in the yuan is going to have an impact," he added.
        Seattle housing is already cooling. The number of homes for sale in King County (where Seattle resides), shot up 47 percent in May compared with a year ago, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Pending home sales, which represent signed contracts, dropped nearly 9 percent.
        Stephen Saunders is a managing broker with Coldwell Banker Seattle and works with Chinese investors in the Seattle market. "It's drying up," he said. "I just don't see the same kind of volume. The downtown Seattle condo market has come to a grinding halt, and that's where Chinese buyers were."
        Most of his clients are looking for properties in the $1 million to $3 million range, but he said the slowdown in buying is not all about the yuan.
        "It's not necessarily the decline in the currency, it is the increasing restrictions on getting money out. It's just getting tighter and tighter," he said, adding that the trade war between the U.S. and China is hitting the finances of some of his investor clients. As for Chinese families looking to buy homes for their children in the area, in just the past six to 10 months, "that's dried up substantially," he said.
        Despite the increase in the supply of Seattle homes for sale, inventory is still incredibly low at barely two months' worth, based on the level of sales. This is the same trend throughout the West, where overheated home prices have caused buyers to pull back.
        "Although signs of an inventory turnaround are encouraging, whether they mean good news for buyers remains to be seen," wrote Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, in a release. "But high prices and fast-selling homes are causing some buyer hesitation which is reflected in fewer home sales."
        The Seattle housing market has benefited enormously from the region's largest employer, Amazon. While there was concern earlier this year that a local "head tax" on employers would cause a hiring slowdown, that tax was quickly repealed after enormous pressure from Amazon.
        The e-commerce giant, however, did report its first decline in its number of employees since 2009.
        After strong hiring throughout the first half of 2017, job postings for open positions at Amazon headquarters dropped sharply last December, according to a report from The Seattle Times. Amazon is also planning to open a second headquarters, commonly called HQ2, although it has yet to announce the location. It currently employs more than 40,000 workers at its Seattle headquarters, according to quarterly filings.
        Hiring shifts in Amazon's home market would certainly affect local housing. The Seattle area, however, is also home to Microsoft and other tech companies.
        "I think it will slow down," said Skylar Olsen, chief economist at Seattle-based Zillow. "Amazon is certainly a huge player, but they were a catalyst that started a lot of growth in tech. It wasn't just Amazon that was booming local neighborhoods, it was other start-up players."
        On the other hand, Olsen said she actually thinks the devaluation of the yuan could spur homebuying in Seattle.
        "If they're investment buyers in the first place, then really you just move down in your price point, but you're still really interested in the rate of return. If you expect the yuan to continue to drop, then you have every reason to buy an asset that's not valued in yuan," she added.
    Brexit
      MP Damian Collins demands a police inquiry to uncover Russian meddling in UK | News | The Times
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        Archived Version
        Sun, 05 Aug 2018 07:45
        Matthew Moore, Oliver Wright
        August 4 2018, 12:01am, The Times
        Damian Collins says Britain needs its own version of Robert Mueller, the US investigator looking into Kremlin interference in AmericaTIMES PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD POHLEBritain needs a criminal inquiry like the Mueller investigation in the United States to establish the extent of Russian efforts to meddle in democracy in this country, a Tory MP has said.
        Only a police investigation with the power to seize documents could get to the bottom of any Kremlin plot to sway the EU referendum and ensure that future elections were protected from attack, Damian Collins said.
        Last week a parliamentary inquiry into fake news led by Mr Collins, chairman of the digital, culture, media and sport committee, said that Russian disinformation campaigns were an active threat to democracy, and highlighted links between Moscow and Arron Banks, the founder of Leave.EU.
        Russia's attempts to interfere with the 2016 US presidential election are being investigated'...
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    #MeToo
      CBS Scandal Is Neatly Timed - WSJ
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 05 Aug 2018 06:47
        When he was trying to sell the CBS fall lineup to advertisers back in 2005, boss Leslie Moonves starred in a promotional video based on the boxing movie ''Million Dollar Baby.'' He was seen punching out NBC's then-leading draw, a certain Donald Trump, star of ''The Apprentice.''
        No hard feelings. Ten years later Mr. Moonves couldn't say whether he liked Mr. Trump for president, but he certainly liked what his campaign was doing for ad sales and viewership. ''The money's rolling in and this is fun,'' he said.
        An axiom applies as much to business as to politics: Personnel is policy. Unfortunately, a corollary also applies: There can be no policy until personnel disputes are settled. The sexual misconduct allegations that threaten pre-emptively to take the otherwise excellent Mr. Moonves out of the picture arrive at a convenient moment for CBS shareholders.
        Mr. Moonves has been a great executive, but then Kevin Spacey was a great actor, Charlie Rose was a great interviewer, Matt Lauer was a great morning-show host. The world has hardly stopped turning because of their absence.
        We've seen it enough times: In companies, things happen that wouldn't happen under any likely alternative CEO. Mr. Moonves might be a tad more indispensable now, however, if the sexual allegations against him had not landed in the New Yorker magazine last week just as he was engaged in a power struggle with his controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone.
        This apparently culminating showdown began after Ms. Redstone urged a merger between CBS and its former partner, Viacom , of which Ms. Redstone is also the controlling shareholder. The idea is not a terrible one for two companies otherwise left out of the panicked reshuffling of TV assets as the industry adapts to streaming. But in the nature of things, and unrelated to any rumors about Mr. Moonves's alleged misdeeds that were then already circulating, such a deal could not be suggested without triggering the neuralgic issue of Ms. Redstone's voting control, inherited from her incapacitated mogul father, Sumner Redstone.
        Whatever you think of voting-rights lockups, Ms. Redstone's is written into both companies' bylaws, and Mr. Moonves took the job knowing the lay of the land. A court seems likely to find improper his attempt to use Ms. Redstone's supposedly conflicted backing of a Viacom merger, plus his own threat to quit as CEO, to pressure his board into a maneuver to strip Ms. Redstone of her special rights. That effort has been blocked, pending further litigation, and probably will not end well for Mr. Moonves, in which case it would likely have required a heroic effort to patch things up and preserve him in his job anyway.
        All this comes amid great uncertainty about how fast the traditional ad- and cable-supported model of linear TV will fade, and how quickly the streaming alternative will develop. How many subscription streaming services will consumers be willing to sustain? Will ad-supported be a model that consumers prefer for some kinds of fare? Will stand-alone streaming (i.e., Netflix ) remain predominant given the apparent appetite in the marketplace to use video as a sweetener to support other businesses, such as Amazon's retail empire, or AT&T 's wireless empire, or Google's ad business, or Apple 's device business?
        CBS probably is not sellable to Comcast or Disney , both of which already own broadcast networks, with their lingering, antediluvian significance in the minds of politicians and regulators. Though Facebook could use some non-Facebook content properties on which to serve ads to Facebook users, Mark Zuckerberg is in the doghouse with investors right now. He probably would find it an inopportune moment to give the impression that he's extending his hand into a new industry.
        None of these objections apply to Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and we can think of reasons CBS-Viacom might be useful to Amazon. Viacom owns the original ''Star Trek'' episodes. Analysts also speculate that Amazon wants marquee sports rights for its Prime streaming business. If so, it would still need help from a conventional distributor to deliver big-time, live sports events to a much larger natural audiences than streaming can satisfy at this stage.
        Mr. Bezos is running not only Amazon, but Whole Foods, the Washington Post and his space company, Blue Origin. Plus it's unclear just how deep Amazon wants to get into video production, or what it intends for its nascent advertising business, which CBS and Viacom could potentially be useful for. We wouldn't bet on him being a buyer. Of course, there are telecom carriers like Charter and Verizon that might eye CBS in a belated, me-too attempt at a content strategy. Yet all these deals would be more likely to happen once a CBS-Viacom reunion is sorted out.
        Which is all the more reason for Mr. Moonves to get out of the picture quickly if that's the best way for the companies to make sure their assets live long and prosper in the digital age.
      Weinstein Gets Approval to Release Rape Accuser's Emails '' Variety
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        Archived Version
        Sun, 05 Aug 2018 07:26
        Craig Ruttle/AP/REX/Shutterstock
        A bankruptcy judge gave permission on Thursday for Harvey Weinstein's attorneys to include 40 emails from an anonymous rape accuser in a motion to dismiss his criminal case.
        Judge Mary Walrath allowed Weinstein's lawyers to use the emails, provided that the alleged victim's name and initials are not used in the motion. Weinstein's attorney, Benjamin Brafman, argued that the emails would show that Weinstein had a friendly, long-term relationship with the woman, lasting for four years after the alleged rape occurred in 2013.
        ''They are endearing, intimate, pleasant, flattering, friendly emails between her and Mr. Weinstein,'' Brafman said. ''If the grand jury had these emails, they would not have indicted.''
        The woman has not been identified in court. Brafman asked permission to refer to her by her initials, which he repeatedly stated are ''J.M.'' James Stang, a lawyer for the committee of unsecured creditors, objected to using the woman's initials, saying that would make it easier to discover her identity.
        Brafman said he intended to accuse the Manhattan District Attorney's office of prosecutorial misconduct for not sharing the emails with the grand jury. He intends to file a motion to dismiss the indictment on Friday morning. He has repeatedly stated that Weinstein had a 10-year consensual affair with the victim.
        The woman is one of three whose allegations underpin the criminal case against Weinstein. Weinstein faces up to life in prison if convicted.
    Hate Trumps Love
      IT BEGINS: Dan Rather Calls Trump "Racist" For Simply Responding To LeBron James
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        Archived Version
        Sun, 05 Aug 2018 07:44
        It didn't take long for liberals to play the race card after President Trump dared to criticize LeBron James and CNN's Don Lemon who interviewed the NBA superstar last week when he accused Trump of using sports to divide America.
        On Friday, Trump dropped a Twiter anvil on the Los Angeles Laker loudmouth's head and then for good measure, took a poke at the race-obsessed Lemon who he mocked as the ''dumbest man on television'' which is hard to argue with.
        Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn't easy to do. I like Mike!
        '-- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 4, 2018
        He also poked James in the eye by bringing up Michael Jordan who has six rings and always carried himself with class, unlike the crude, inarticulate boob who fancies himself as a civil rights figure.
        The walking corpse of what used to be CBS's celebrity anchorman was one of the first to attack Trump as 86-year-old Dan Rather took to his own Twitter account to accuse the president of being a racist which in leftist lexicon happens to be anyone who criticizes a black politician or celebrity for making moronic statements.
        We saw this tactic utilized with great success against conservatives who disagreed with Barack Obama's failed policies and if anything, it has become overused to the point of being a joke but it's still the bread and butter of the political left.
        This is apparently what the President of the United States feels the need to share with the world at what should be long past his bedtime? It's a disgrace. It's racist. And it's the product of petty but dangerous hatreds. I repeat this is the PRESIDENT??!? https://t.co/MA8nZUxFc7
        '-- Dan Rather (@DanRather) August 4, 2018
        Via The Hill, ''Dan Rather blasts Trump for 'racist' criticism of LeBron James, Don Lemon'':
        Veteran journalist Dan Rather tore into President Trump for his late-night tweet attacking NBA star LeBron James and CNN host Don Lemon.
        In a tweet sent shortly after the president's, the longtime CBS News anchor called Trump's comments ''racist'' and ''dangerous.''
        ''This is apparently what the President of the United States feels the need to share with the world at what should be long past his bedtime?'' Rather tweeted. ''It's a disgrace. It's racist. And it's the product of petty but dangerous hatreds. I repeat this is the PRESIDENT??!?''
        According to Democrats like Mr. Rather, President Trump does not have a right to free speech which is exactly what he was expressing when he called out King James and dumb Don Lemon.
        It's hard to imagine that at one time that this guy was seriously referred to as a respectable newsman. Rather's long career went up in flames after his sloppy reporting on documents critical of former President George W. Bush's Air National Guard service embarrassed his network back in 2004.
        He was clearly abusing his position in the media to discredit Bush and swing the presidential election to Democrat John Kerry but a failure to do his due diligence led to CBS having to retract Rather's big scoop much to the dismay of his liberal allies.
        Bush went on to win reelection and the disgraced Rather was soon out at CBS before retreating into exile to lick his wounds. However, his name is still solid gold to the left and other low-information suckers and he has since emerged as a floater who appears regularly on the anti-Trump hatefests that pass for cable news.
        It was only a week ago when he appeared with Lemon to accuse Trump of using ''Orwellian'' language which is an appropriate term for those invoking race to stymie criticism of James. Just like Dan Rather just did with his tweet.
        It's hard to tell which one is more pathetic, Rather or Watergate ghoul Carl Bernstein, another crazy old fool who has discovered the fountain of youth in Trump Derangement Syndrome.
    SCOTUS
      After investigating Clinton White House and Vincent Foster's death, Brett Kavanaugh had a change of heart - The Washington Post
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        Archived Version
        Sun, 05 Aug 2018 14:57
        In early 1995, Brett Kavanaugh, a rising star in conservative legal circles, wrestled with one of the most inflammatory questions of the Clinton presidency: How did White House deputy counsel Vincent Foster die?
        It was an early career challenge for the man now nominated by President Trump to the Supreme Court. And it spurred him to advocate for an aggressive investigation related to the president, something he now cautions against.
        Kavanaugh's revised thinking, as reflected in a 2009 law journal article, is that civil and criminal investigations ''take the President's focus away from his or her responsibilities to the people.'' His argument has been cited as a factor that appealed to President Trump as he faced a Supreme Court vacancy while dealing with an ongoing special counsel's investigation into Russian election interference.
        In early 1995, however, Kavanaugh offered his boss, independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr, the legal rationale for expanding his investigation of the Arkansas financial dealings of President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, to include the Foster death, according to a memo he wrote on March 24, 1995.
        Kavanaugh, then 30, argued that unsupported allegations that Foster may have been murdered gave Starr the right to probe the matter more deeply. Foster's death had already been the focus of two investigations, both concluding that Foster committed suicide.
        ''We are currently investigating Vincent Foster's death to determine, among other things, whether he was murdered in violation of federal criminal law,'' Kavanaugh wrote to Starr and six other officials in a memo offering legal justification for the probe. ''[I]t necessarily follows that we must have the authority to fully investigate Foster's death.''
        The four-page memo, obtained by The Washington Post from the Library of Congress, sheds light on how Kavanaugh's thinking evolved on the legal rights of sitting presidents.
        His handling of Starr's Foster probe helped elevate Kavanaugh's career, but the lengthy inquiry enabled conspiracy theories to flourish and add to the tumult of the Clinton presidency. Once the Foster matter was closed, Starr's office continued to investigate the Clintons and eventually veered into the president's relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
        Kavanaugh pursued the Foster inquiry at Starr's request, even though he and others in the office soon came to believe that Foster killed himself, according to two people who worked with him at the time. Ultimately, Kavanaugh's report in October 1997 affirmed earlier findings of suicide. The Foster component of Starr's investigation cost about $2 million and lasted three years.
        Foster's family expressed outrage that the Starr investigation enabled conspiracy theorists to ''allow the American people to entertain any thought that the president of the United States somehow had complicity in Vince's death,'' Sheila Foster Anthony, Foster's sister, said the day the findings were released. She did not respond to a request for comment.
        Kavanaugh told CNN in a 1999 appearance that Starr's office probed ''a lot conspiracy theories, a lot of controversy. He took the time and made the effort to turn over every stone, to find the truth.'' Kavanaugh declined to comment for this story.
        Starr told The Post in an interview he felt strongly that his office had a responsibility to resolve the Foster matter once and for all. The office was under intense pressure by conservative writers and members of Congress who wanted an independent body to explore the murder possibility. There was also debate within Starr's team about apparent oversights in the prior investigations.
        ''We cannot have '-- especially since I was charged with the investigation '-- an unsettled set of conspiracy theories that go unaddressed,'' Starr said. ''I viewed it as a matter of accountability, and also just for the good of the country.''
        Kavanaugh's inquiry did not put the matter to rest, however. Questions about Foster's death continue to circulate today.
        During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump himself called Foster's death ''very fishy'' during an interview with The Washington Post. ''I will say there are people who continue to bring it up because they think it was absolutely a murder,'' the candidate said.
        Gunshot in Fort Marcy Park
        Vincent Foster and Bill Clinton were childhood friends in Hope, Ark. Foster also became a friend and confidant of Hillary Clinton when they worked together at Little Rock's Rose Law Firm.
        With Bill Clinton's 1992 election, the couple persuaded Foster to take the job of White House deputy counsel. Foster quickly became disillusioned by Washington's partisan warfare and immersed in White House controversies, such as the firing of the travel office staff.
        On July 20, 1993, on what appeared to be a routine day, Foster left the White House and drove to Fort Marcy Park in Fairfax County, neatly folding his coat on the passenger seat of his family Honda. He walked to a spot near a historic cannon, put the barrel of a .38-caliber revolver in his mouth and pulled the trigger, according to multiple investigations.
        Foster's death sparked intrigue. He had left no suicide note, but days after his death, a White House official found a torn-up piece of paper in which Foster listed things that were troubling him. ''Here ruining people is considered sport,'' he wrote.
        U.S. Park Police officers were blocked when they went to the White House to retrieve his papers, one of the events that later spurred calls for a independent counsel.
        Law enforcement authorities soon concluded that Foster died by his own hand. To them, the evidence was clear: He was depressed. He held an old revolver in his hand, which was covered in gunshot residue. On Aug. 10, 1993, the Department of Justice, FBI and Park Police jointly announced their conclusion that the death was a suicide.
        Conservative talk show hosts and online activists branded the findings a sham. A theory surfaced that Foster knew too much about the Clintons' financial affairs, including a land deal in Arkansas known as Whitewater.
        Attorney General Janet Reno appointed Robert Fiske in January 1994 to independently examine Foster's death and other questions. His inquiry took five months, concluding that ''Mr. Foster committed suicide at Fort Marcy Park.''
        On the Senate floor, then-Sen. David Pryor (D-Ark.) expressed relief that the matter was resolved. ''I wonder what it would be like, Mr. President, had we kept on believing what some of the people on radio and television and in the news have stated,'' he said.
        But the investigation into the single gunshot wound was far from over.
        An immersive investigation
        After graduating from Yale Law School and serving as a clerk for two federal judges, Kavanaugh took a fellowship at the Office of the Solicitor General of the United States, then held by Kenneth Starr. Later, Starr recruited Kavanaugh to his law firm, Kirkland & Ellis.
        But before Kavanaugh made a decision, Starr was named independent counsel and asked Kavanaugh to join him as associate counsel.
        Kavanaugh and his colleagues thought Starr's work would be over in a year or less, and Starr assigned him to the Foster matter.
        Mark Touhey, a prominent Washington lawyer who served as Starr's deputy, said Kavanaugh had all ''the right credentials'' and showed great promise, though he had much to learn about conducting an investigation. ''Brett from the very beginning was somebody I could rely on, we could rely on, to dig in, get your hands dirty,'' he said.
        Touhey and a later Starr deputy, John Bates, now a U.S. District Court judge, both said Kavanaugh worked exhaustively, although he and some others in the office believed Foster had killed himself.
        ''The conclusion was that Vince Foster had died from his own hand,'' Bates said. ''There were a lot of outside forces, if you will, who were doubting it was a suicide, and the view was that we needed to do an extraordinary investigation .'‰.'‰. It took longer than it should have, probably.''
        Starr told The Post that he urged Kavanaugh to pursue every lead and leave ''no stone unturned.''
        The office was also under pressure from the Clinton White House and its allies to stop investigating. They questioned Starr's jurisdiction to investigate Foster, saying the effort was only a ploy to dig more deeply into the Clintons.
        Kavanaugh's 1995 memo to Starr and others offered detailed reasoning for a fresh examination of Foster's death. Among the recipients was Samuel Dash, formerly the chief counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee, who was advising Starr's office. The Post located Kavanaugh's memo in Dash's papers.
        Kavanaugh argued that while Starr's appointment did not mention Foster, ''we have received allegations that Mr. Foster's death [was] related to President and Mrs. Clinton's involvement'' with financial investments Starr was tasked to investigate.
        He cited two theories '-- the allegation that Foster was murdered or killed himself because he knew too much about the Clintons' finances. Kavanaugh's memo said the claims justified continuing an investigation to ''determine whether his death is in fact related to the subject matter of the appointment.''
        Kavanaugh immersed himself in Foster's final days. He viewed photographs of the body, went with federal investigators to interview witnesses and walked the park grounds with a forensic expert. The bullet that ended Foster's life was never found.
        Among those pressing Starr's office was Christopher Ruddy, a journalist who wrote for conservative publications. Ruddy urged Starr's staff to label the Foster examination a ''homicide investigation,'' according to files at the National Archives.
        In the fall of 1997, Ruddy claimed a coverup in his book, ''The Strange Death of Vincent Foster.'' He criticized almost everyone involved, including Starr's office, claiming it never resolved the case.
        ''With the 'investigations' of the Park Police, the FBI, Fiske, and Starr, this tiny square of land may yet become the symbol of a coverup conducted by people who have, with the help of the press, placed themselves above the law,'' Ruddy wrote.
        Ruddy, now the CEO of Newsmax and an informal adviser to Trump, declined to comment.
        'Dogged at getting at the truth'
        Starr issued the report on Foster's death on Oct. 10, 1997, more than four years later. Its conclusion: Foster put a gun in his mouth and killed himself.
        A suicide expert quoted in the report said he had ''100 percent degree of medical certainty'' that the death was a suicide.
        Kavanaugh soon resigned from Starr's office and joined Kirkland & Ellis. But at Starr's request, he returned to the independent counsel's office to support an effort in the Supreme Court to obtain notes that Foster's lawyer made of a conversation with him just days before Foster's death.
        In his only Supreme Court appearance, Kavanaugh argued that the attorney-client privilege disappeared after Foster's death. The court disagreed, voting 6-to-3 against Kavanaugh and Starr.
        Kavanaugh stayed on to help Starr's investigation into Clinton's relationship with Lewinsky, which came to light in part because of Clinton's testimony in a civil suit brought by Paula Jones, who accused Clinton of harassment.
        Kavanaugh wrote a section of Starr's report dealing with the grounds for impeaching Clinton.
        After leaving Starr's office and serving in the George W. Bush White House, Kavanaugh was nominated by Bush for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for District of Columbia Circuit. In his 2006 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, he was asked by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to reflect on Starr's investigation.
        Kavanaugh testified that in retrospect, ''it was probably a mistake'' for Starr to take on additional lines of inquiry beyond his original mandate to look into the Clintons' Whitewater land deal and a small Arkansas savings and loan. He did not specifically mention the Foster matter.
        Kavanaugh went further in a 2009 article in the Minnesota Law Review. He said that Starr operated under a ''badly flawed'' law, ''particularly to the extent to which it allowed civil suits against presidents to proceed while the President is in office.''
        Kavanaugh, who served as Bush's associate counsel and staff secretary, said he came to believe that presidents are too busy to deal with civil lawsuits and criminal investigations, suggesting such matters be deferred until they leave office. He stressed that a malevolent president could still be impeached.
        Kavanaugh was proud of his work on the Foster case. ''What's important in these investigations, however, is that the American people, at the end of the day, have confidence that the person was dogged at getting at the truth; that the person was not restricted by a narrow mandate .'‰.'‰. but the person really went after it hard. And that's what Judge Starr did in his investigation,'' he said on CNN in 1999.
        Starr said he is ultimately responsible for the length of the investigation.
        ''That point has to be laid at my feet, not at Brett Kavanaugh's feet,'' Starr said.
        Alice Crites contributed to this report.
    Shithole Nation
      San Francisco Supervisors Want to Take Away Tech's Free Lunch | Forum | Forum | KQED
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        Archived Version
        Sun, 05 Aug 2018 12:48
        A sign is posted on the exterior of Twitter headquarters on April 26, 2017 in San Francisco, California. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
        Two San Francisco supervisors want to ban the construction of new employee cafeterias in office buildings. The proposal is similar in spirit to a rule in Mountain View that forbids Facebook from providing free meals to employees at its new campus. Supporters of the measures see them as key to breaking down the insular nature of tech companies and reinvigorating local restaurant economies. Critics say the rules are a government overreach and the economic effects will be nominal. What do you think about banning free lunches or workplace cafeterias?
        Guests:
        Nellie Bowles, tech reporter, New York Times
        Jim Lazarus, senior vice president, San Francisco Chamber of Commerce
        Ahsha Safai, District 11 supervisor, San Francisco Board of Supervisors
    OTG
      As Google Maps Renames Neighborhoods, Residents Fume - The New York Times
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 05 Aug 2018 11:41
        A district south of downtown San Francisco was long known as Rincon Hill, South Beach or South of Market. This spring, it was renamed on Google Maps as the East Cut, a name that has spilled into the physical world. Credit Christie Hemm Klok for The New York Times SAN FRANCISCO '-- For decades, the district south of downtown and alongside San Francisco Bay here was known as either Rincon Hill, South Beach or South of Market. This spring, it was suddenly rebranded on Google Maps to a name few had heard: the East Cut.
        The peculiar moniker immediately spread digitally, from hotel sites to dating apps to Uber, which all use Google's map data. The name soon spilled over into the physical world, too. Real-estate listings beckoned prospective tenants to the East Cut. And news organizations referred to the vicinity by that term.
        ''It's degrading to the reputation of our area,'' said Tad Bogdan, who has lived in the neighborhood for 14 years. In a survey of 271 neighbors that he organized recently, he said, 90 percent disliked the name.
        The swift rebranding of the roughly 170-year-old district is just one example of how Google Maps has now become the primary arbiter of place names. With decisions made by a few Google cartographers, the identity of a city, town or neighborhood can be reshaped, illustrating the outsize influence that Silicon Valley increasingly has in the real world.
        The Detroit neighborhood now regularly called Fishkorn (pronounced FISH-korn), but previously known as Fiskhorn (pronounced FISK-horn)? That was because of Google Maps. Midtown South Central in Manhattan? That was also given life by Google Maps.
        Image Some Detroit residents have been baffled by Google's map of their city, which includes the neighborhood called Fishkorn (pronounced FISH-korn). The area was previously known as Fiskhorn (pronounced FISK-horn).Yet how Google arrives at its names in maps is often mysterious. The company declined to detail how some place names came about, though some appear to have resulted from mistakes by researchers, rebrandings by real estate agents '-- or just outright fiction.
        In Los Angeles, Jeffrey Schneider, a longtime architect in the Silver Lake area, said he recently began calling the hill he lived on Silver Lake Heights in ads for his rental apartment downstairs, partly as a joke. Last year, Silver Lake Heights also appeared on Google Maps.
        ''Now for every real-estate listing in this neighborhood, they refer to it,'' he said. ''You see a name like that on a map and you believe it.''
        Before the internet era, neighborhood names developed via word of mouth, newspaper articles and physical maps that were released periodically. But Google Maps, which debuted in 2005, is updated continuously and delivered to more than one billion people on their devices. Google also feeds map data to thousands of websites and apps, magnifying its influence.
        In May, more than 63 percent of people who accessed a map on a smartphone or tablet used Google Maps, versus 19.4 percent for the Chinese internet giant Alibaba's maps and 5.5 percent for Apple Maps, according to comScore, which tracks web traffic.
        Google said it created its maps from third-party data, public sources, satellites and, often most important, users. People can submit changes, which are reviewed by Google employees. A Google spokeswoman declined further comment.
        Yet some submissions are ruled upon by people with little local knowledge of a place, such as contractors in India, said one former Google Maps employee, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak publicly. Other users with a history of accurate changes said their updates to maps take effect instantly.
        Many of Google's decisions have far-reaching consequences, with the maps driving increased traffic to quiet neighborhoods and once almost provoking an international incident in 2010 after it misrepresented the boundary between Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
        The service has also disseminated place names that are just plain puzzling. In New York, Vinegar Hill Heights, Midtown South Central (now NoMad), BoCoCa (for the area between Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens), and Rambo (Right Around the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) have appeared on and off in Google Maps.
        Matthew Hyland, co-owner of New York's Emily and Emmy Squared pizzerias, who polices Google Maps in his spare time, said he considered those all made-up names, some of which he deleted from the map. Other obscure neighborhood names gain traction because of Google's endorsement, he said. Someone once told him they lived in Stuyvesant Heights, ''and then I looked at Google Maps and it was there. And I was like, 'What? No. Come on,''' he said.
        Image The East Cut name originated from a neighborhood nonprofit group in San Francisco that residents voted to create in 2015 to clean and secure the area. The nonprofit paid $68,000 to a ''brand experience design company'' to rebrand the district.In Detroit, some residents have been baffled by Google's map of their city, which is blanketed with neighborhood monikers like NW Goldberg, Fishkorn and the Eye. Those names have been on Google Maps since at least 2012.
        Timothy Boscarino, a Detroit city planner, traced Google's use of those names to a map posted online around 2002 by a few locals. Google almost identically copied that map's neighborhoods and boundaries, he said '-- down to its typos. One result was that Google transposed the k and h for the district known as Fiskhorn, making it Fishkorn.
        A former Detroit city planner, Arthur Mullen, said he created the 2002 map as a side project and was surprised his typos were now distributed widely. He said he used old books and his local knowledge to make the map, approximating boundaries at times and inserting names with tenuous connections to neighborhoods, hoping to draw feedback.
        ''I shouldn't be making a mistake and 20 years later people are having to live with it,'' Mr. Mullen said.
        He admitted some of his names were questionable, such as the Eye, a 60-block patch next to a cemetery on Detroit's outskirts. He said he thought he spotted the name in a document, but was unsure which one. ''Do I have my research materials from doing this 18 years ago? No,'' he said.
        Image After choosing the East Cut name, a nonprofit neighborhood group paid for streetlight banners and outfitted street cleaners with East Cut apparel. Credit Christie Hemm Klok for The New York Times Now, local real-estate listings, food-delivery sites and locksmith ads use Fishkorn and the Eye. Erik Belcarz, an optometrist from nearby Novi, Mich., named his new publishing start-up Fishkorn this year after seeing the name on Google Maps.
        ''It rolls off the tongue,'' he said.
        Detroit officials recently canvassed the community to make an official map of neighborhoods. That exercise fixed some errors, like Fiskhorn (though Fishkorn remains on Google Maps). But for many districts where residents were unsure of the history, authorities relied largely on Google. The Eye and others are now part of that official map.
        In San Francisco, the East Cut name originated from a neighborhood nonprofit group that residents voted to create in 2015 to clean and secure the area. The nonprofit paid $68,000 to a ''brand experience design company'' to rebrand the district.
        Andrew Robinson, executive director of the nonprofit, now called the East Cut Community Benefit District (and previously the Greater Rincon Hill Community Benefit District), said the group's board rejected names like Grand Narrows and Central Hub. Instead they chose the East Cut, partly because it referenced an 1869 construction project to cut through nearby Rincon Hill. The nonprofit then paid for streetlight banners and outfitted street cleaners with East Cut apparel.
        But it wasn't until Google Maps adopted the name this spring that it got attention '-- and mockery.
        ''The East Cut sounds like a 17 dollar sandwich,'' Menotti Minutillo, an Uber engineer who works on the neighborhood's border, said on Twitter in May.
        Mr. Robinson said his team asked Google to add the East Cut to its maps. A Google spokeswoman said employees manually inserted the name after verifying it through public sources. The company's San Francisco offices are in the neighborhood (as is The New York Times bureau), and one of the East Cut nonprofit's board members is a Google employee.
        Google Maps has also validated other little-known San Francisco neighborhoods. Balboa Hollow, a roughly 50-block district north of Golden Gate Park, trumpets on its website that it is a distinct neighborhood. Its proof? Google Maps.
        ''Don't believe us?'' its website asks. ''Well, we're on the internet; so we must be real.''
        Follow Jack Nicas on Twitter: @jacknicas.
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      Music Modernization Act: SESAC and Songwriters Compromise '' Variety
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Thu, 02 Aug 2018 22:07
        Shutterstock / Andrey_Popov
        The compromise paves the way for the legislation's passage.Following tension over the Music Modernization Act, performance rights organization SESAC and songwriter groups have reached a compromise that will allow for the legislation's passage.
        On August 2, the performing rights organization in a joint press release with Nashville Songwriters Association International, the National Music Publishers Association, and Songwriters Of North America, stated: ''At the encouragement of Senators closely involved in this legislation, all parties came together to agree on outstanding items related to the MMA including the reform of the Section 115 compulsory license and other important related matters. We share a collective responsibility to help ensure that the MMA benefits all stakeholders in the industry and look forward to the Senate's consideration of the bill.''
        Before SESAC's July 17 proposal, it had been smooth sailing for the MMA, which in June was approved unanimously by the Senate Judiciary Committee following its passage, also by unanimous vote, in the House of Representatives in May. The legislation aims to improve royalty payments to songwriters, artists and creatives in the digital era. Its next and final step before heading to President Trump for signature is a full Senate vote to consider the act.
        At the heart of the issue for SESAC parent company Blackstone was the nearly 100-year-old Harry Fox Agency (HFA), the rights management and collection entity which was bought by SESAC in 2015 for a reported $20 million. The HFA has acted as a hub for administrating and distributing mechanical license fees on behalf of music publishers
        The MMA in establishing its proposed Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), to be overseen by a Board of publishers which includes four self-published songwriters, agreed that the MLC will only collect and administer mechanical royalty income from the DSPs and not public performance royalties by PROs ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and GMR.
        Says Dina LaPolt, attorney advisor to SONA, in a statement to Variety: ''I have been telling everyone for decades that it all starts with a song! See what happens when the creators mobilize with one voice? They made it happen. Songwriters and music creators can change the world when they mobilize.''
        The compromise paves the way to passage of sweeping reforms and aims to better earnings for untold numbers of working songwriters and rights holders.
      Nashville group says SESAC proposal endangers Music Modernization Act
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 05 Aug 2018 13:59
        SESAC is building a new headquarters building on Music Row. (Photo: LOGO)
        An 11th-hour proposal by the music licensing company SESAC to change the Music Modernization Act could torpedo the landmark copyright legislation that is on the brink of becoming law, supporters of the legislation warn.
        Songwriters and publishers have been hunting for new digital music licensing laws for years, and in 2018 momentum has been on their side. Stakeholders representing every corner of the music industry, including digital music companies such as Spotify and Apple, record labels, artists and the largest performance rights organizations all back the legislation.
        CLOSE
        Senator Lamar Alexander played a few tunes written by Senator Orrin Hatch while they discuss the Music Modernization Act Courtesy Lamar Alexander office
        The Music Modernization Act has already cleared the House and a crucial Senate committee without a single opposition vote.
        If enacted, the bill would:
        Improve digital royalty payouts to songwritersBegin paying artists and labels a digital royalty for songs recorded prior to 1972Create a new licensing collective to oversee digital mechanical licensing for songwriters and music publishers.It's the last component of the MMA that has irked SESAC, the Nashville-based for-profit licensing agency owned by the private equity firm Blackstone, to propose changes to the legislation.
        SESAC's pitch to change the MMA stems from the company's concern that creating a new licensing collective would make companies that administer such licenses obsolete. SESAC owns the licensing firm the Harry Fox Agency, which it purchased in 2015 from the National Music Publishers Association with eyes on expanding the services it could offer member songwriters.
        The Harry Fox Agency employs about 100 people and administers over $150 million in royalties annually.
        The proposal to change the bill has sparked a flurry of criticism, with supporters of the current legislation saying the changes could derail the measure. Bart Herbison, the executive director of the Nashville Songwriters Association International, said Congress must move urgently to approve legislation that songwriters have pushed for several years.
        Herbison accused SESAC of trying to kill the bill with the late proposal and said those who crafted the legislation would rather no bill pass than the amended version that SESAC has pitched to Senate offices in Washington D.C.
        Lawmakers could simply choose to ignore the proposal, though Blackstone, which had $360 billion in assets when they purchased SESAC in 2017, wields significant clout in Washington.
        "Blackstone/SESAC waits until July 18 to introduce a proposal that fundamentally would change the way this works," Herbison said. "It adds expense, layers of redundancy. It is so troubling and they've altered it so dramatically that none of the stakeholders '-- the songwriters, the music publishers, the record labels, the digital services and others '-- can now support the legislation."
        In an emailed statement on Monday, Blackstone reiterated its commitment to modernizing music copyright laws.
        ''Blackstone strongly supports music modernization, and we are confident legislation will be signed into law this year as long as all parties continue working in the same cooperative spirit that has characterized the process so far," a company spokeswoman said.
        According to a draft proposal obtained by The Tennessean, SESAC is proposing to allow certified licensing companies such as Harry Fox to handle the licensing and administration of digital mechanical licensing. Under the legislation as constructed, that job would fall to the new music licensing collective, and the digital music companies would actually pay for the cost of administering the licenses.
        SESAC's proposal calls for the new licensing collective to maintain a new comprehensive copyright database, serve as the single place for filing a licensing notice and resolve conflicting copyright claims.
        In the draft document, SESAC blasted the MMA as creating a government-mandated monopoly. Although the legislation cleared the Senate Judiciary committee earlier this month with a voice vote, conservative Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn did express some reservations about this point, seemingly sympathizing with private companies that currently administer digital licenses.
        More: Private equity firm Blackstone to buy SESAC
        More: Music Modernization Act: US Senate panel approves landmark music industry bill
        More: Goodlatte to unveil sweeping music copyright reform package next month
        "As currently drafted, the MMA vests exclusive administrative rights in a single, government-mandated entity," the SESAC document calling for changes to the MMA says. "Competition in the musical composition licensing marketplace is vital to ensure 1. low-cost, innovative solutions to distributing royalties to hard-to-find copyright owners, 2. improved accuracy in musical composition metadata and 3. improved and more streamlined dissemination of accurate metadata.
        "Suggestions that creating a monopoly reduces costs and improves efficiencies are contrary to two centuries of economic experience in the United States, which counsel that competition drive efficiency and keep costs down."
        But Herbison scoffed at the notion that the proposed licensing company would be government-mandated. He said the current licensing system is outdated and that the proposed licensing collective would be a private organization managed by publishers and songwriters.
        Buy Photo Bart Herbison (Photo: Sam Simpkins // The Tennessean)
        Herbison attributed the SESAC proposal to "corporate greed" and accused the company of supporting the broken status quo. Herbison said that if this late effort by SESAC ultimately undoes the legislation, he would spend "all my time as executive director of NSAI making sure everyone knows who is to blame for this bill's failure."
        CLOSE
        In addition to being a U.S. Senator, former Tennessee governor Lamar Alexander is apparently also a songwriter, making $110 last year for his part in the creation of country singer Lee Brice's song 'Falling Apart Together.'
        Music copyright reform bills have advanced in the past, only to be undone by their final hurdles. Although the legislation seems to have the backing of the vast majority of Senators, as evidenced by its unanimous passage in committee, just a few lawmakers could sideline the entire bill.
        "This is bad faith," Herbison said. "It's certainly bad faith on behalf of Blackstone/SESAC/Harry Fox. In what appears to be a troubling play for corporate greed '-- either way if the bill passes or fails '-- to ensure business for Harry Fox.
        "We are calling on SESAC to drop this proposal and support the MMA as written with the caveat that we are willing to listen to them (on selecting of vendors that would contract with the new licensing collective). We are out of time. This was more complicated than negotiating the Paris Peace Treaty. It just was. It took years and years."
        Despite the back-and-forth earlier in the day on Monday, a SESAC spokeswoman released a statement expressing optimism that the bill could still pass this year.
        ''We expect that as the Senate continues to work through these issues with input from concerned and well-meaning stakeholders, an appropriate resolution will be reached and the MMA will be passed before the end of the year," the SESAC spokeswoman said.''
        The proposed licensing collective is viewed as the linchpin to the legislation, because expensive lawsuits have been filed in recent years against streaming companies for using songs without the proper license. Those lawsuits triggered expensive settlements and brought Spotify and Apple to the negotiating table on the MMA.
        In exchange for eliminating the legal liability that the streaming companies currently experience, the onus for identifying songwriters and paying them the royalties they are owed would fall to the new licensing collective.
        It's similar to how the nonprofit group SoundExchange handles digital royalty payouts for artists and record labels.
        Reach Nate Rau at 615-259-8094 and nrau@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @tnnaterau.
        Read or Share this story: https://www.tennessean.com/story/money/2018/07/23/nashville-group-says-sesac-proposal-endangers-music-modernization-act/819721002/
    Big Pharma
      How drug companies are beating Trump at his own game - POLITICO
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sat, 04 Aug 2018 12:48
        A July tweet from President Donald Trump sent panic through the C-suites of some of the world's biggest drug companies, prompting Pfizer and nine other companies to roll back or freeze prices.
        But there's less to those announcements than meets the eye. The gestures turned out to be largely symbolic '-- efforts to beat Trump at his own game by giving him headlines he wants without making substantive changes in how they do business.
        Story Continued Below
        The token concessions are ''a calculated risk,'' said one drug lobbyist. ''Take these nothing-burger steps and give the administration things they can take credit for.''
        Of the few companies that actually cut prices, for instance, most targeted old products that no longer produce much revenue '-- such as Merck's 60 percent discount to a hepatitis C medicine that had no U.S. revenues in the first quarter.
        Others volunteered to halt price increases for six months '-- in some cases, just weeks after announcing what is normally their last price hike for the year.
        ''A lot of this shit is meaningless to satisfy Trump,'' said another drug lobbyist.
        The industry's deft response to Trump's tweet shaming has also become a test of whether his administration is serious about following up with an aggressive crackdown on the companies or will simply declare victory based on token measures and move on.
        ''I think right now it's a lot of noise, not a lot of substantial impact to the companies,'' said Les Funtleyder, a health care portfolio manager at E Squared Asset Management, which owns shares in Pfizer. The prospect for meaningful change ''is out there ... but that will take motivation on the part of regulators and policymakers.''
        Analysts are in broad agreement that the spate of recent concessions won't hurt bottom lines, or rein in drug prices beyond this six-month period, because many companies already increased prices this year '-- in some cases, just weeks before publicly pledging to freeze them for the rest of 2018.
        ''There's the glass-half-full and glass-half-empty interpretation,'' said Walid Gellad, director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescribing at the University of Pittsburgh. ''Glass half full says we have never before seen pharma promise not to raise prices anymore. So this is a step forward '-- including for patients. Glass half empty is that these are token measures '-- either on drugs few people use, or drugs that just had their price raised, and that prices will just go up next year."
        Either way, Gellad said, ''this is not the kind of structural change we want in the market so that prices go down.''
        Drug prices are a fixation for Trump, who rants about them in conversations with aides and advisers, according to people close to the president. He sees the issue as a political winner, especially among his conservative '-- and largely older '-- base, which relies heavily on prescription drugs. And after facing huge hurdles moving his legislative priorities through Congress, he sees this as something he can win on by using his executive authority.
        That has put huge pressure on Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, a former top official of Eli Lilly and Co.
        ''They talk three times a week, and they never have a conversation where drug pricing isn't a topic,'' said one person briefed on the conversations, adding that Trump has also interrupted Cabinet meetings to encourage Azar to brief the group on the latest developments.
        But even as Azar implements his 44-page blueprint aimed at lowering prices, Trump has grown impatient with the glacial pace of rulemaking and arcane details of drug policy.
        His outlet is Twitter, where he can marshal the rage of his millions of followers in an instant. White House aides say he sees his Pfizer tweet as a warning shot to other drug companies '-- part of a public ''shaming'' campaign designed to pressure companies to take voluntary steps to lower prices.
        That strategy diverges sharply from what Azar is saying publicly '-- raising doubts about how serious the administration is about cracking down on drugmakers.
        The HHS secretary's rhetoric often targets pharmacy benefits managers '-- the obscure middlemen who manage the drug side of patients' health insurance benefits '-- not drug companies. And targeting the middlemen is a play directly out of pharma's strategy book '-- drug companies have long sought to pin patients' frustration with rising costs on PBMs. HHS has also signaled it wants to overhaul a drug discount program for hospitals that could put money back in pharma's pocket.
        Pfizer CEO Ian Read himself praised the president's blueprint on the company's recent second-quarter earnings call, just a few weeks after Trump's Pfizer tweet.
        ''I don't think the administration is gunning for [pharma],'' said Ronny Gal, a financial analyst at Sanford Bernstein. Everything they are doing right now is ''scratching around the problem,'' he said.
        ''You can tell by the way the stock has performed that investors aren't too concerned,'' Funtleyder said. ''They figure, 'OK, the pharma companies waved the white flag for now, so they're out of the cross hairs.'''
        Meanwhile, HHS and drug industry officials have worked closely to show Trump they are getting results, administration and pharmaceutical industry sources tell POLITICO.
        In private meetings with drug officials, HHS officials ask what steps they've taken that they might relay to Trump to keep the president satisfied, said drug company sources.
        ''They're also like, 'Hey, don't be stupid. If you're going to do something you feel like we can mutually take some credit for, let us know. '... If you can get a good tweet out of it, don't be an idiot. Let us know [ahead of time],''' said one person familiar with the conversations.
        ''They've said: 'What would it take for you to lower prices?''' said another top drug industry official.
        ''There is a real fear that Trump only understands things very simplistically,'' said a lobbyist for several drug companies. ''So they want to keep tossing treats for him or he will go after blunt instruments,'' like government drug price negotiations '-- steps neither the conservative leadership at HHS nor the drug industry want.
        Observers both inside HHS and outside the administration see Azar's drug pricing team as a buffer for the drug industry.
        ''To be candid, the secretary is pro-patient, pro-innovation and pro-competition and, quite frankly, really standing in between the industry and some faster ways to lower prices that some would say are not pro-competition,'' said HHS' John O'Brien, a senior adviser to Azar, at a drug cost event one day after Trump's tweet attacking Pfizer.
        Azar prefers the industry and HHS work to make change together, rather than it being adversarial, according to people familiar with HHS' strategy.
        He publicly touts industry price freezes and reversals ''in part to show Trump they're making progress, but also to show the industry that you get recognized for playing ball,'' said a person familiar with the discussions.
        The White House, meanwhile, was thrilled about the industry's recent price freezes, even as officials acknowledged the companies' announcements are only a first step '-- and promised what one official characterized as a ''deluge'' of drug price-related regulatory action in the coming months.
        ''Nothing about what they do or don't do is going to really turn the tide in a major, major way on a voluntary basis,'' the official said of the drug companies' actions, promising that the administration will take aggressive action.
        In the meantime, the White House isn't ruling out more Twitter shaming.
        ''You'll see continuing of the tweeting and announcing different actors doing good or bad things in the market,'' the official said.
        That will get particularly tricky for the industry come January, when drugmakers would typically take their biggest price increases of the coming year '-- and when their public concessions sunset.
        ''They can live with the changes that were made '-- but they can't live with not raising prices forever,'' Gal said. ''It's a noose they put their head into. In January, we will see what happens with that noose. Does it tighten or not?''
        Adam Cancryn contributed to this report.
        Missing out on the latest scoops? Sign up for POLITICO Playbook and get the latest news, every morning '-- in your inbox.
    BTC
      The NYSE's Owner Wants to Bring Bitcoin to Your 401(k). Are Crypto Credit Cards Next?
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Fri, 03 Aug 2018 15:14
        Bitcoin could be on the verge of breaking through as a mainstream currency. At least that's the goal of a startup that is soon to be launched by one of the most powerful players on Wall Street, with backing from some of America's leading companies.
        This morning the Intercontinental Exchange'--the trading colossus that owns the New York Stock Exchange and other global marketplaces'--announced that it is forming a new company called Bakkt. The new venture, which is expected to launch in November, will offer a federally regulated market for Bitcoin. With the creation of Bakkt, ICE aims to transform Bitcoin into a trusted global currency with broad usage.
        To achieve that vision, ICE is partnering with heavyweights from the worlds of technology, consulting, and retail: Microsoft, Boston Consulting Group, and Starbucks. ICE did not immediately disclose the total investment of the investment partners, a group which also includes Fortress Investment Group, Eagle Seven, and Susquehanna International Group'--or the ownership stakes.
        The founding imperative for Bakkt will be to make Bitcoin a sound and secure offering for key constituents that now mostly shun it'--the world's big financial institutions. The goal is to clear the way for major money managers to offer Bitcoin mutual funds, pension funds, and ETFs, as highly regulated, mainstream investments.
        The next step after that could be using Bitcoin to replace your credit card.
        ''Bakkt is designed to serve as a scalable on-ramp for institutional, merchant, and consumer participation in digital assets by promoting greater efficiency, security, and utility,'' said Kelly Loeffler, ICE's head of digital assets, who will serve as CEO of Bakkt, in the press release announcing the launch. ''We are collaborating to build an open platform that helps unlock the transformative potential of digital assets across global markets and commerce.''
        In an exclusive interview, Loeffler (pronounced ''Leffler'') told Fortune that ICE and its partners have been ''building the factory'' that will power Bakkt in the strictest secrecy for the past 14 months. The name of the company was only decided in the past two weeks. Loeffler explains that ''Bakkt'' is a play on ''backed,'' as in ''asset-backed securities,'' and it's meant to evoke a highly-trusted investment.
        If the Bakkt blueprint works as planned, a panoply of new Bitcoin funds would tap the pent-up demand for the cryptocurrency, making it a safe and easy choice for everyday investors'--notably millennials getting their first 401(k)s. Wall Street could then tap Bitcoin's popularity as an alternative to stocks and bonds to generate giant trading volumes. And that flood of institutional buying and selling, in turn, would take the terror out of Bitcoin by smoothing its wild swings in price.
        The volatility of the cryptocurrency has both attracted individual speculators and scared off institutional money. In the fall of 2017, the price of Bitcoin spiked from $6,400 to nearly $20,000; it has since fallen back to around $7,700.
        Cracking the 401(k) and IRA market for cryptocurrency would be a huge win for Bakkt. But the startup's plans raise the prospect of an even more ambitious goal: Using Bitcoin to streamline and disrupt the world of retail payments by moving consumers from swiping credit cards to scanning their Bitcoin apps. The market opportunity is gigantic: Consumers worldwide are paying lofty credit card or online-shopping fees on $25 trillion a year in annual purchases.
        Bakkt's founders tell Fortune that the institutional investor campaign is the first of two phases. They're a little coy about the second phase. But the presence of Starbucks and Microsoft strongly suggests that Bakkt will strive to revolutionize the way consumers pay at the mall and online. The coffee giant is already a leading player in encouraging customers to pay with the their smartphones rather than their credit cards. And Microsoft, through its Azure cloud business, serves a huge base of retailers, handling back-office tasks from invoice processing to e-commerce.
        ''As the flagship retailer, Starbucks will play a pivotal role in developing practical, trusted, and regulated applications for consumers to convert their digital assets into U.S. dollars for use at Starbucks,'' said Maria Smith, vice president, Partnerships and Payments for Starbucks, in the press release.
        Bakkt is the brainchild of Jeff Sprecher, the founder, chairman, and CEO of ICE, and a disrupter par excellence. Sprecher (pronounced ''Sprecker'') stands alone as the leading force in modernizing the world's exchanges in recent years from open-outcry pits into super-efficient electronic marketplaces. Along the way, Sprecher built a flailing electricity exchange that he reportedly purchased for $1 into a global trading and data empire now worth $44 billion. ''In 25 years he's gone from nothing to the most powerful exchange entrepreneur in the world,'' says Larry Tabb, chief of consultancy the Tabb Group. ''He hasn't failed yet.''
        People walk outside the Microsoft store on Fifth Avenue in New York City on April 26, 2018 in New York. - Kena Betancur'--VIEWpress/Corbis/Getty Images People walk outside the Microsoft store on Fifth Avenue in New York City on April 26, 2018 in New York. Kena Betancur'--VIEWpress/Corbis/Getty Images
        Today ICE is the world's second largest owner of financial exchanges by revenue behind the CME, and one of the largest purveyors of market data. ICE's 2017 revenues of $4.6 billion divide pretty evenly between those two main franchises. ICE owns twelve exchanges, served by six clearing houses. And to the delight of shareholders, Sprecher has delivered profitability as much as growth. Since going public in 2006, ICE has delivered annual total returns of 24.1%. The company's towering 54% margin of net profits ranked fourth in the S&P 500 last year.
        Even in the heavily-fragmented galaxy of stock and bond trading, ICE has established a Brobdingnagian footprint. The NYSE is by far world's largest stock market, trading 1.5 billion shares a day'--or nearly one-in-four of all equity transactions. ICE also owns NYSE American, the leading platform for mid-cap companies, as well as Arca, the world's largest marketplace for ETFs. ICE is the world leader in almost all categories of futures for ''soft'' agricultural commodities such as sugar, coffee, and cotton, chiefly through its 2007 acquisition of the New York Board of Trade. And ICE Futures Europe is the dominant global marketplace for the Brent crude, the global oil price benchmark.
        Now Sprecher, the visionary who assembled this empire, is crusading to make Wall Street asset managers and Main Street consumers love Bitcoin.
        Sprecher and his investment partners are putting this one-of-a-kind mission in the hands of a first-time CEO who's Sprecher's soulmate in both business and in life: Kelly Loeffler. The ICE executive has ridden shotgun alongside Sprecher since the company's fledgling days in 2002. In 2004, they married. Loeffler long ran marketing, investor relations, and communications for ICE. Now she's giving up her ICE roles to run Bakkt.
        Over the past two months, Sprecher and Loeffler sat for several hours of exclusive interviews with Fortune. Above all, they emphasized how Bakkt, in part by exploiting ICE's trading infrastructure, could provide precisely the tools Bitcoin needs to achieve broad acceptance.
        At a recent meeting with the couple in the plush Bond Room at the NYSE, Sprecher stressed that Loeffler has been a collaborator in charting ICE's next big move. ''Kelly and I brainstormed for five years to find a strategy for digital currencies,'' says Sprecher.
        At first glance, the pair present an unusual twosome: At over six-feet in her high heels, Loeffler, 47, stands much taller than her 63-year old husband. But their bond is quickly apparent'--a passion for gig ideas that need lots of tinkering to succeed. ''I'm an engineer who likes to fix things that are broken,'' says Sprecher, who repairs his vintage Porsche racecars on weekends. ''And Bitcoin was the epitome of a broken model that if fixed, could change the world.''
        Adds Loeffler, ''Jeff and I get excited about big things that for most people, seem to have no answer.''
        If they succeed with Bakkt, it could be the biggest development in the churning, hazardous frontier of cryptocurrencies since a mysterious programmer (or programmers) under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto unveiled Bitcoin in 2009.
        *****
        Sprecher's plan for bringing crypto to the masses runs contrary to what Bitcoin supporters typically champion. The purists favor Bitcoin's ''distributed'' architecture, and adamantly oppose putting a big exchange at the center of the both the Bitcoin investment and payments systems. ''A regulated exchange with a custodian in the middle contradicts the basic idea of Bitcoin,'' says Abhishek Punia, a crypto-currency analyst with venture capital firm Draper Associates. ''Bitcoin was designed to be decentralized, without intermediaries taking fees. A regulated exchange may be popular for a short period of time, but it's not the future. The future will be the original idea of a peer-to-peer network.''
        Sprecher and Loeffler disagree, arguing that a strong central infrastructure is precisely what's needed, and that ICE and its partners are the ones to supply it. The challenge is getting the banks, asset managers, and endowments to embrace Bitcoin. ''Being from the exchange world, we looked at the problem differently,'' says Loeffler.
        The big institutions are ICE's main customers, and Sprecher and Loeffler understood their thinking about crypto-currencies. They reckoned that Bitcoin could thrive as a mainstream investment because the big money managers recognize that ten of millions of their current and future investors want to own it''''if it can be packaged as mutual funds and ETFs. ''The institutions saw that Bitcoin had lots of appeal as a store of value like gold or silver,'' says Loeffler.
        To study how digital currencies work, ICE in early 2015 took a minority stake in the largest U.S.-based marketplace for digital currencies, Coinbase. ''Coinbase has twice as many customers as Charles Schwab,'' says Loeffler. ''Many of the people who have opened accounts on Coinbase are millennials who use it to make small investments in crypto-currencies.''
        Adds Sprecher: ''Millennials don't trust traditional financial institutions. To gain their trust, banks, brokerages, and asset managers can use a currency that millennials believe in, like Bitcoin. Using digital currencies brings a lot of sizzle.''
        So far, cryptocurrencies have gained little traction with asset managers like Fidelity and Vanguard. The reason, says Sprecher, is that ''Bitcoin does not have a good market structure.'' For consumers, it's expensive to exchange dollars for Bitcoin, in part because trading is spread thinly across too many venues that individually do too little trading. He notes that more than 200 marketplaces trade over a dozen major digital currencies, from ether to Ripple to Litecoin. ''Even for Bitcoin, different markets are posting lots of different prices,'' says Sprecher. ''And you can pay an up to 6% spread to exchange dollars for Bitcoin, meaning Bitcoin needs to rise by as much 6% before you break even.''
        Cryptocurrencies today serve primarily as a vehicle for speculation by daredevil traders, and by the hedge funds that own 80% of the roughly $300 billion in digital currencies worldwide. (Bitcoin is by far the biggest cryptocurrency for now, with a recent total value of around $134 billion.) The combination of rampant betting and relatively arid liquidity sent Bitcoin careening through four bear markets in the decade since its creation. ''The result is a crisis of confidence,'' says Loeffler.
        In addition, the freewheeling Bitcoin ethos clashes with the ultra-cautious, post-financial crisis mindset on Wall Street that emphasizes safeguarding the investor at all costs. ''People at the big institutions have the view that cryptocurrencies can be unsavory actors procured by elicit means,'' says Loeffler.
        Not to mention that some on Wall Street still view cryptocurrencies as being run by ''kids'' whose motivation can be summarized as, ''Let's screw the banks and do it all ourselves.''
        But Sprecher and Loeffler concluded that fragmented marketplaces and alien culture weren't the real reasons the institutions avoided Bitcoin. In their view, a broad universe of fans wanted to invest in Bitcoin or other digital tokens, but couldn't find the right products. The solution: A new ecosystem that provided Bitcoin the same protections afforded the stocks, bonds, and commodities futures traded on ICE's exchanges. That would open an investor universe far beyond a relatively small group of retail customers and adventurous hedge funds.
        So why aren't the Vanguards and Blackrocks taking a ''serve them and they shall come'' approach? For Sprecher and Loeffler, the reason is fundamental'--and fixable. ''Two things are missing,'' says Sprecher. ''Trading on an official exchange, and safe storage for digital currencies on an institutional scale.''
        Put simply, Sprecher says, the big money managers won't create digital currency funds unless they can first buy the tokens on a federally regulated exchange, and, second, store the tokens for their investors in accounts rendered super-secure by the safeguards provided by those exchanges.
        Today, the tokens for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether aren't traded at all on the major futures or securities exchanges. Official exchanges are overseen by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for futures, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for securities. The venues where folks exchange dollars or Euros for digital currencies'--including the biggest ones such as Coinbase and Gemini'--are often called ''exchanges,'' but they're actually marketplaces that are licensed under state laws.
        These platforms fall under three main regulatory regimes: First, Coinbase and many other marketplaces are licensed in the individual states as ''money transmitters.'' Second, Gemini, the platform founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, is licensed in its home state of New York as trust company, and that designation is its passport to operate in a number of other states. The third category are markets called SEFs; more on them in a bit.
        Jeffrey Sprecher, chairman and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, with his wife Kelly Loeffler, the chief communications and marketing officer of ICE, at the company's headquarters in Atlanta on July 27, 2018. - Gillian Laub for Fortune Jeffrey Sprecher, chairman and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, with his wife Kelly Loeffler, the chief communications and marketing officer of ICE, at the company's headquarters in Atlanta on July 27, 2018. Gillian Laub for Fortune
        The reason why these trading platforms aren't governed by either of the two federal watchdogs'--the SEC or the CFTC'--relates to how the two bodies classify cryptocurrencies. The SEC, which oversees stocks, bonds, and other securities, has said that the two biggest cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ether, are not securities. The SEC is taking a wait-and-see approach to the others. So far, none of the current marketplaces have secured the SEC imprimatur as regulated securities exchanges for digital tokens.
        While Bitcoin isn't considered a security, it is deemed to be a commodity. It's the job of the CFTC to regulate commodity futures and options on those futures'--a vast portfolio comprising contracts for everything from crude oil to soybeans to gold. As it is a commodity, Bitcoin futures could only trade on a CFTC-regulated futures exchange, called a Designated Contract Market. (Similar to other currency trading marketplaces, a venue that simply exchanges dollars or Euros for Bitcoin on a ''spot'' basis do not need to be regulated by the CFTC.)
        Today, the Chicago Board Options Exchange and Chicago Mercantile Exchange both trade futures contracts on Bitcoin. The contracts aren't settled by delivering the actual coins. They're settled in cash based on the movement of the price of Bitcoin. So in effect, they're a vehicle for betting on the future price of the cryptocurrency.
        Bitcoin's designation as a commodity opens a rich opportunity for ICE: It now operates the two of the largest commodities futures exchanges on the planet'--ICE Futures U.S., and ICE Futures Europe. For Sprecher and Loeffler, these venues provide exactly the type of protections needed to, as Loeffler puts it, ''get the institutional engine running.''
        It's important to understand that the major exchanges regulated by the SEC or CFTC provide a broad package of three heavily-regulated services: trading, clearing, and either safe storage in the form of custody (for securities), or ''warehouses'' (for futures). On trades, the exchange ensures that the posted price the money manager clicks on is what they pay for a stock or futures contract. But the exchanges also set exacting rules for clearing and custody or warehousing. And those rules must be approved, and are overseen, by the SEC or CFTC
        The federally-regulated exchanges require clearing services that effectively remove credit risk for both the buyer and seller. The clearing house guarantees that the seller will deliver the sugar, coffee, or gold as agreed under a futures contract, and that the buyer will make the full payment. If either fails to perform, it's the clearing house''''which is jointly funded by the trading firms that are members of the exchange and its owner, in this case ICE''''that makes good on the delivery or the cash. As for safe storage, it comes in two flavors: custody for stocks and bonds, and warehousing for futures. SEC-regulated exchanges like the NYSE require that a mutual fund or pension fund hold their stock or bond certificates in super-safe accounts at such independent custody houses as State Street or BNY Mellon.
        For futures, ICE and the other CFTC-regulated exchanges mandate that the coffee, gold, or silver that a party has agreed to purchase be stored in a licensed warehouse or other storage facility when the contract expires and the commodity is due for delivery. In effect, the buyer, whether a money manager like Vanguard or a user such as Cargill, can ''pick up'' the gold bars or bales of cotton at the warehouse. If the items aren't there for pickup, or if the seller doesn't pay, once again, it's the clearing house that covers the losses.
        Bakkt would provide the first fully-integrated package combining a major federally-regulated exchange, as well as the clearing and storage overseen by the exchange. ICE owns six clearing houses that are vertically-integrated with ICE Futures U.S. and its other exchanges. By utilizing a CFTC regulated futures exchange for cryptocurrencies, Bakkt would provide two main layers of security that money managers regard as absolutely essential. The first is purchasing a security or commodity'--in this case a digital token'--through a regulated broker-dealer that's a member of the ICE futures exchange.
        The exchanges stipulate that depositors submit passports, articles of incorporation, and identify the source of funds used to purchase the assets. They also search for patterns of illegal activity. If one investor is, say, repeatedly losing money on oil trades to the same counter-party, those trades would raise a red flag, because the ''loser'' could be laundering money and getting kickbacks from the buyer.
        Only broker-dealers and futures commission merchants (FCMs) that are fully vetted by the regulated exchanges are allowed to trade on those venues as ''members'' of the ICE Futures U.S. On SEC and CFTC regulated exchanges, the exchange-approved members are trading with one another, on behalf of money managers that they, in turn, have fully vetted. Granted the same protections, investors could be absolutely sure they're not buying Bitcoin from warlords who hacked a hedge fund to pilfer the tokens.
        The second essential is furnishing regulated storage for digital currencies. ''A qualified warehouse is the difference between institutional investors' getting in or staying out,'' says Loeffler.
        Bakkt's approach is furnishing what amounts to super-safe lockboxes resembling the vaults that hold gold bars for investors. The warehouses serving futures exchanges provide two main services. First, they ensure that assets can't be stolen. In Bitcoin's case, that would mean safeguarding the tokens in digital lock-boxes protected by multiple layers of cyber-security. Second, the policies and procedures followed by the exchanges verify the identities of the investors whose assets are held in the warehouses, guaranteeing that that the gold or oil stored for delivery wasn't obtained illegally.
        Bakkt plans to offer a full package combining a major CFTC-regulated exchange with CFTC-regulated clearing and custody, pending the approval from the commission and other regulators. Bakkt will provide access to a new Bitcoin trading platform on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange. And it will also offer full warehousing services, a business that ICE doesn't have. ''Bakkt's revenue will come from two sources,'' says Loeffler, ''the trading fees on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange, and warehouse fees paid by the customers that buy Bitcoin and store with Bakkt.''
        Bakkt will provide the biggest marketplace to date. But it won't be the first or only CFTC-regulated platform trading Bitcoin tokens. The Dodd-Frank legislation created marketplaces called Swap Execution Facilities, or SEFs, that are overseen by the CFTC. (This is the third category of markets we mentioned earlier.) LedgerX, for example, owns a SEF that uses swap contracts to trade fiat currencies for Bitcoin called ''Next Day Bitcoin''; it also provides custody services regulated by the CFTC. (Gemini and Coinbase also provide custody services.) The SEFs are far less established, and have far smaller base of institutional customers than the big exchanges such as ICE Futures U.S., but they are potential competitors in the years ahead.
        Here's how Bakkt's exchange for trading Bitcoin tokens, if approved, would operate. It would trade Bitcoin using what are known as ''one-day futures,'' contracts that would take the same amount of time to settle as trades in the current cash market, meaning in a single day. The broker-dealer would click on a posted price at anytime during the trading day on behalf of a money manager client. By the market close, the ICE clearinghouse would have arranged to route the cash from the buyer's to the seller's bank account, and the Bitcoin tokens would be en route the to the Bakkt digital warehouse.
        The clients entrusting their Bitcoin to Bakkt could be either institutions managing Bitcoin mutual funds, or companies making cross-border payments in Bitcoin. So how do those clients spend their Bitcoin? Control of ''private keys'' allow Bitcoin to be spent. Those keys are a randomly generated string of numbers and letters that resemble digital signatures. Most Bitcoin owners store their keys on PCs or servers, or in accounts at unregulated marketplaces. But private keys on those devices are vulnerable to hacking, and if the hacker steals the key, the hacker keeps the pilfered Bitcoin. Cyber-thieves have stolen more than $1.6 billion in cryptocurrencies by hacking investors' accounts since 2011, according to Autonomous Research.
        Bakkt would solve that problem by storing the private keys ''offline'' in its heavily-guarded digital warehouse. When a fund manager or company wants take Bitcoin out of the warehouse, Bakkt would confirm the client's identity and release the Bitcoin using the private key. The warehouse will also hold a second key, called the public key, that opens the recipient's account to receive Bitcoin. The double-key security resembles how it takes a bank rep and the customer, both with their own keys, to open a safety deposit box.
        How about trades that occur all inside the warehouse? Bakkt would be connected to the ICE Futures U.S. exchange, so that customers could seamlessly trade Bitcoin for dollars or Euros. Then, the Bitcoin would simply shift from the seller's lockbox in the ICE warehouse to the buyer's lockbox, as if a forklift were transferring gold bars from one storage locker to another.
        To make Bitcoin mainstream, Bakkt must overcome the cryptocurrency's chief drawback: its extremely slow speed. Bitcoin runs on a system known as blockchain, operated by a network of millions of individual members who compete to package and verify transactions. Essentially, every time a Bitcoin owner on the network buys anything using his or her digital wallet, the transaction is ''broadcast'' to all the ''nodes,'' or computers in the network. The nodes battle to prove the transactions are legitimate, and the winner is rewarded with free Bitcoin. The rub is that since all transactions'--from purchasing a $1.50 cup of coffee to a $60,000 SUV'--must be individually broadcast to all the nodes.
        As a result, the existing system can manage only around seven transactions per second. That's much too slow to ever work on the institutional scale that Sprecher and Loeffler envision.
        Bakkt, however, would transform Bitcoin's architecture to run at high speed. Imagine that dozens of mutual funds, pension funds, and endowments hold Bitcoin in the Bakkt warehouse. If Asset Manager A buys $200 million in Bitcoin from Asset Manager B, the Bitcoin tokens simply move from B's account at Bakkt to A's account at Bakkt, via a trade on the ICE exchange. The total number of Bitcoins held at Bakkt doesn't change. Let's assume that millions of those transactions happen every day, all inside the Bakkt ecosystem. Bakkt simply keeps a ledger of those offsetting Bitcoin debit and credits. The individual purchases and sales don't need to be broadcast to the blockchain. What does need to be broadcast are any payments coming into or exiting Bakkt's warehouse.
        Hence, so long as Bakkt controls a big share of the market, it would need to report only a tiny sliver of transactions to the blockchain, enabling its system to operate at warp speed.
        ''Our system would operate on a layer above the blockchain, and we'd keep our own omnibus ledger apart from the blockchain,'' explains Loeffler. The Bakkt design isn't revolutionary. It closely resembles a technology called ''the lightning network'' that's already in use. In the lightning network, the same two participants, say an appliance-maker and a parts supplier, engage in multiple Bitcoin transactions. As long as the parties are using a fixed number of Bitcoins to buy, sell from one another, and store for that purpose, the transactions aren't reported to the blockchain, and zap back and forth within the same ecosystem.
        Once Wall Street gets the flywheel whirring, Bitcoin would gain the liquidity to become a bona fide currency. Sprecher and Loeffler predict that multinationals would then adopt Bitcoin for international payments. ''The banks control international payments, and the system is very expensive,'' notes Sprecher.
        When an U.S. auto parts manufacturer buys components from Japan, for example, it can pay stiff fees to convert dollars to yen. The purchase, at a minimum, involves a broker-dealer that makes the trade, and the purchaser's and the seller's banks. It might take two days before the seller can collect the yen, costing the U.S. producer interest while the funds are in transit. By contrast, if both parties use Bitcoin the payments could bypass the brokers and banks, flowing via the ICE exchange from the buyer's to the seller's vault held at Bakkt, and reaping big savings.
        ''Bitcoin would greatly simplify the movement of global money,'' says Sprecher. ''It has the potential to become the first worldwide currency.''
        Sprecher has demonstrated time and again the vision to transform global industries with technology. ICE's foray into data, for example, is a testament to Sprecher's agility. The company was a medium-sized player in data services until late 2015, when it purchased IDC, the leading provider of bond prices for institutional investors, for $5.2 billion.
        Sprecher's timing was spot on: In two years, data has mushroomed into ICE's biggest revenue category. The business splits into two main channels'--exchange pricing, and analytics. For the former, ICE collects fees for dispensing different types of pricing from its exchanges, from such routine products as furnishing the ''tape'' to brokerage houses and TV networks to providing deep market data to high frequency traders. Most of ICE's data runs through a secure, proprietary system of fiber and wireless grid called the ICE Global Network, built as a super-secure backbone by the NYSE following the 9/11 attacks. The IGN is connected to virtually every major money manager around the globe.
        Sprecher correctly predicted that money managers would need more and more data to create sharply-targeted mutual funds and ETFs. ICE supplies the data signaling when stocks should be added or dropped from, for example, a Japanese small cap value index fund. ICE doesn't manage money. But besides selling data to fund managers, it purchased the former Bank of America family of indexes, and licenses them to investment managers. The ICE BofAML funds now boast $1 trillion in assets.
        Not surprisingly, Sprecher is aiming to disrupt the costly, old-fashioned bond trading universe, where most business is still conducted over the phone. When Sprecher bought IDC, the firm priced fixed income products once a day. Now, ICE sources real-time quotes on 2.7 million bonds and illiquid equities around the clock. That effort is part of his campaign to modernize bond trading by making the hidebound field fully electronic. To advance the project, ICE this year spent a total of $1.1 billion to purchase two digital fixed income platforms'--Virtu BondPoint, a leader in corporates, and TMC, the largest electronic trading site for municipal bonds.
        Sprecher is a blend of an engineer and an adventurer. He grew up in Madison, Wisc., the son of a financial planner who sold insurance on the side. ''Our mother says that when he was six years old, he took apart a toaster and put it back together,'' says his sister Jill Sprecher, who with a second sister, Karen, forged a distinguished record making independent films. ''Then at sixteen he rebuilt a Toyota in the garage and traded it for an 'hugger orange' Camaro.''
        Sprecher, in fact, longed to be a professional race car driver, attending the famous Road America driving school in Wisconsin. ''Mario Andretti said the best drivers aren't the bravest, but the smartest,'' says Sprecher. ''He was wrong. I was smart, but feared for my life. In tense situations, I took my foot off the gas, and hit the brake.''
        He now indulges more in the nitty-gritty than the romance racing by lying on a mechanic's creeper, wrench in hand, to repair exhaust systems and rocker panels on his collection of a dozen decades-old Porsches that competed at Le Mans, heirlooms that he loans out for vintage rallies.
        Jeffrey Sprecher, working on a 1973 Porsche 2.7RS in Viper Green at his home in Atlanta on July 27, 2018. - Gillian Laub for Fortune Jeffrey Sprecher, working on a 1973 Porsche 2.7RS in Viper Green at his home in Atlanta on July 27, 2018. Gillian Laub for Fortune
        Following a dozen years building power plants in California, Sprecher in the late 1990s sought a way to sell his surplus electricity on a spot market. In those days, almost all electricity trading happened over the phone. Sprecher wanted to get multiple utilities bidding for his power on an electronic marketplace. He could only find one, a platform owned by an Atlanta power company that had signed 63 utilities to its exchange, but was doing minimal business''''and losing $1 million a month. In 1997, Sprecher bought it for that famous $1 sum. (Or it might have been $1,000; he says he can't recall anymore.)
        The fledgling exchange stumbled for three years. ''We were selling old routing equipment on eBay to raise a few thousand dollars,'' says Chuck Vice, now ICE's vice-chairman in charge of technology.
        Sprecher was about to lose his house to the bank when a trip to Manhattan in 2001 brought a reversal of fortune. At the time, Enron was pioneering energy trading, but it was the buyer or seller in every transaction. Only Sprecher was offering a major marketplace where utilities could trade directly with one another. On that trip to Manhattan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley told Sprecher they were wary of Enron's dominance, and loaned $15 million to his exchange, saving the enterprise and Sprecher's endangered residence. Then, in an astounding gambit, Sprecher handed 90% of his equity, basically for free, to thirteen banks, energy companies, and utilities, in exchange for their commitment to conduct a guaranteed volume of trades on his marketplace. In November of 2001, Enron collapsed. The next month, the volumes on Sprecher's exchange soared 180%.
        Meanwhile, Kelly Loeffler''''who grew up weeding soybean fields on her parents' farm in Illinois''''had traded a stint as a retail analyst in Chicago for a private equity position in Texas. Loeffler had spent about a year at the new job when her boss, the current Secretary of the Navy, Richard V. Spencer, announced that he was joining a struggling power exchange in Atlanta. Loeffler had studied the natural gas market, and was convinced the time was ripe for electronic trading. So she told Spencer she wanted to go with him. ''I see a house that's burning down like old fashioned trading in natural gas, and I want to run in and fix it,'' says Loeffler. She joined ICE in 2002 when it still had fewer than 100 employees.
        Around that time, Sprecher bought the International Petroleum Exchange in London, once again, an antiquated open-outcry marketplace choked with floor traders shouting orders. As usual, the traders fought his campaign to go electronic, so Sprecher closed the exchange in the afternoons so that clients had no choice but to trade on their terminals half the day. All the action shifted to the evening hours, and by 2005, the IPE, now ICE Futures Europe, went fully electronic. Two years later, ICE bought the floundering New York Board of Trade, and engineered another painful but highly profitable transition to computerized trading.
        Late in 2008, Sprecher noted that the world's big banks had no vehicle for selling the trillions of dollars in credit default swaps that would repay part of their losses on derivatives suffered in the financial crisis. Sprecher established a special clearing house for CDS that by 2010 auctioned off an astounding $50 trillion in CDS, helping to surmount a towering hazard to the financial system.
        Then, in 2013, Sprecher made his biggest and most prestigious acquisition to date by purchasing NYSE Euronext for $9.75 billion'--more on the NYSE shortly''''and in 2015, grabbed IDC in the deal that made ICE the a major player in market data. Why does ICE keep making these big deals? ''We're like a network that keeps adding hit shows,'' says Sprecher.
        Sprecher isn't shy about telling anyone who'll listen that he's got the solution to their problem'--and not just in business. ''He's a know-it-all who really knows it all,'' says Jill Sprecher. Loeffler recalls that at a dinner with Robert Spano, conductor of the Atlanta Symphony, where Loeffler serves on the board, Sprecher began lecturing the maestro on what was really needed to promote the symphony. According to Loeffler, Sprecher kept saying, ''You need to get out of the building, get out of this shell. You need to do pop-ups at the mall to appeal to young people!'' ''I was mortified, but that's Jeff,'' says Loeffler. ''There was no stopping him.''
        Two distinct currents distinguish his management style: His instinctive, improvisational approach to hiring key people, and his ability marry entrepreneurship with a steady performance that appeals to public shareholders. ''I've never regretted hiring anyone when I followed my instincts,'' he says. ''Only when I was swayed by their resume instead.''
        In one of his signature stories, Sprecher relates that at a raucous board meeting for his condo association in Atlanta years ago, an argument erupted about a couple whose two dogs were regularly pooping in the elevator, sans cleanup by their owners. ''Then this guy gets up and volunteers for what nobody else wanted to do,'' says Sprecher. ''He says, 'I'll take care of the pooping dogs problem.' I was really impressed that he jumped right in.'' Sprecher was looking for a can-do manager to run the exchange's help desk, which was overwhelmed by customer complaints. So he hired the guy who tackled the canine problem'--Mark Wassersug, who is now ICE's chief operating officer.
        Sprecher also trusted his gut in promoting Stacey Cunningham in June to be president of the NYSE'--the first woman to head the exchange in its 226-year history. Cunningham didn't have the fanciest of resumes. She'd served for eight years as a specialist broker at the Big Board, then left to pursue a culinary degree. After a stint at NASDAQ, she returned to the Big Board, rising to lead sales management. Sprecher then chose her to straighten out a small legacy NYSE business that provided listed companies advice on corporate governance.
        ''It was a nightmare,'' he says. ''The employees were always calling the whistleblower hotline with nothing to complain about. Stacey really straightened it out, and we were able to sell it.'' Sprecher had no doubt that Cunningham could perform brilliantly running his trophy business.
        A Starbucks Reserve Roastery store in Shanghai, China. Starbucks wants to develop more digital payments options for its customers. - Qilai Shen '-- Bloomberg via Getty Images A Starbucks Reserve Roastery store in Shanghai, China. Starbucks wants to develop more digital payments options for its customers. Qilai Shen '-- Bloomberg via Getty Images
        Sprecher's second trademark talent is keeping an artful balance between investing in breakthrough ideas, and producing consistent growth in earnings. Fred Salerno, ICE's lead independent director and a former top executive at Verizon, marvels at how Sprecher adjusted from nurturing a startup to guiding a huge public company. ''Most entrepreneurs don't recognize that it's not just all about the next idea,'' says Salerno. ''Once they're running a public company, they see no problem with taking margins down 3 or 4 points because they just made a big investment or acquisition.''
        In Salerno's view, investors take a long-term outlook, but they also want to see a smooth ascent in profits. ''Jeff understood that as soon as you do a deal, you need to mine unnecessary expenses out of the business, so you can generate the savings to fund future projects. His culture isn't, 'We'll just promise something in the future.' You need to deliver performance at the same time. Jeff understands that, and most entrepreneurs don't.''
        Sprecher revitalized the Big Board by deploying just that strategy''''radically paring bloated costs and channeling the savings into rebuilding one of the world's great brands. When ICE bought the NYSE in 2013, Sprecher quickly raised roughly $2 billion by spinning off its European exchanges as Euronext. Even so, the NYSE still had over 3,000 employees and around 1,000 consultants. It was running six divergent tech platforms to operate its three major exchanges'--NYSE, Arca, and American. It consistently lost trophy tech listings to the Nasdaq, then the darling of Silicon Valley. Its legendary building, the symbol of its iconic stature, was a wreck. The paint on its once grand, baroque Board Room was peeling, and the instead of opening what were once impressive meeting rooms on its sixth and seventh floors to its listed companies for fancy events, the NYSE had transformed those spaces into warrens of tiny offices.
        Many Wall Street traditionalists fretted that Sprecher would kill the Big Board's allure by going all-electronic. But he did just the opposite, restoring the landmark at Wall and Broad Streets to its former splendor, and enhancing the legendary buzz on the trading floor. He found the money by radically improving the Big Board's efficiency. A bunch of brainiacs sequestered on the 21st floor created a single tech platform called Pillar that replaced the crazy-quilt of trading systems, a coup that helped lower the headcount to 900.
        Sprecher stopped chasing small IPOs, and concentrated on the big fish, since newly-listed companies pay fees based on the number of shares outstanding. The NYSE established a streak of winning 38 straight IPOs that raised over $700 million. Surprising for an apostle of electronic trading, Sprecher recognized that a crucial part of the brand was the specialist traders who brought so much color to the Big Board's floor. ''Electronic trading went too far,'' he remarks. ''The specialists perform a service by smoothing out the spikes and valleys in prices by using their own capital.''
        But it's also clear that the folks in the blue smocks are a visual symbol of the U.S. capital markets. ''There are 250 places to trade equities,'' says Sprecher. ''Of those, 249 are the same. Which one would you want to own? That's why we want the NYSE to be one of a kind.''
        To restore its fading mystique, Sprecher cleared out the maze of offices and moved the employees to cubicles on the upper floors. Sprecher installed a spectacular staircase composed of backlit marble slabs to join the sixth and seventh floors. Those refurbished floors now house three giant reception halls and fifteen smaller conference rooms. ''The idea was to turn the NYSE into a clubhouse for the Fortune 500,'' says Sprecher. It's happened. On one two-day stretch in early June, for example, no fewer than 10 companies held events at the NYSE.
        Retail payments is an industry that appears ripe for Sprecher-style disruption. Today, Americans charge $7 trillion in goods and services every year'--around 60% of GDP'--on credit and debit cards, and through digital portals such as PayPal. The stores and restaurants that accept those cards typically pay 2% to 3% to around six intermediaries, including ''merchant acquirers'' who sign up the merchants, credit card giants such as Visa and MasterCard, and the banks that issue the cards.
        It's hard to overstate how drastically a shift to Bitcoin could crunch those lofty fees. Consumers could pay for groceries or detergent directly from the Bitcoin wallets on their iPhones or PCs, right from a scanner at Walmart or Starbucks, with no banks taking fees in the middle. If Bitcoin became the chief currency for retail, it's likely that credit cards would disappear.
        So would ICE and Bakkt be antagonizing ICE's main customers, the major banks? Not necessarily. Despite the large fees, banks typically make little money processing purchases, since they mainly return those fees to provides services such as fraud monitoring, call centers, and providing rebates that go to such rewards as frequent flyer miles and rental car discounts. Where the banks make big money is on the interest charged on balances on credit cards. Changing the purchasing system wouldn't alter the amounts that folks borrow, just where they hold those balances.
        According to payment industry experts, the banks might cooperate with Bakkt, because the new system could actually encourage different forms of borrowing. For example, a customer whose Bitcoin purchase is declined because of a low balance could get an immediate loan from his or her bank, right at the checkout counter, to cover the shortfall.
        At the interview in the Bond Room, featuring walls festooned with framed bond certificates chronicling the great railroad and infrastructure financings that built America, Sprecher drew a parallel between the exchange famously born in 1792 under the buttonwood tree and the technology that could transform the way consumers and companies buy just about everything. ''Bitcoin can't survive as a rogue idea,'' he says. ''To evolve, the cryptocurrencies need to run on established infrastructure. They need the trust and rules that have been built into our financial system for many years. They need the kind of trust that the Big Board represents.''
        Sprecher restored what may be the greatest icon in financial markets. We'll soon see if he can bring respectability to the token that he thinks can change the world.
    A Drone Again
      Venezuelan president Maduro targeted with explosive drones (VIDEO)
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Sun, 05 Aug 2018 06:42
        Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been targeted in an attempted attack during a televised public address, officials confirm. Several explosives-laden drones detonated as he was speaking at a military ceremony.
        Venezuela's Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez has confirmed that an attack on Maduro took place at the event. Several drones rigged with explosives went off close to the presidential box during the address.
        ''All the investigations have indicated that (the explosions) were an attack on President Nicholas Maduro,'' Rodriguez told media
        Maduro has been moved to safety and is carrying on with his duties, he said. Seven National Guard soldiers have been injured as a result of the failed assassination, according to Rodriguez. The extent of their injuries has not been revealed.
        WATCH: VIDEOS show Maduro's speech cut midway by explosion, panic ensues
        In the video from the scene, Maduro and the officials standing beside him could be seen looking up in the air seconds before the address was cut off. The feed then cuts to a wide shot of the gathered servicemen, who break formation and start scattering.
        Providing details of the incident, Rodriguez specified that the explosions struck at 5:41 local time, and several flying devices loaded with explosives were shot down by the presidential guard.
        Maduro was speaking at the event marking the 81st anniversary of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB), a branch of the country's armed forces, when the incident took place.
        READ MORE: In post-attack speech, Venezuela's Maduro blames right-wingers & Colombia
        Later in the day, unconfirmed media reports indicated that a splinter group called 'Flannel Soldiers' claimed credit for the attack. Spain's El Mundo newspaper cited a Twitter account under a similar name which alleged ''the operation was to fly drones loaded with C4,'' but said they were shot down by the presidential guard before reaching their target. The account also uploaded what it said were photos of the attack. There is no official confirmation that the claims are true.
        According to Gregory Wilpert, co-founder of Venezuelanalysis website, those who orchestrated the plot hoped that ''the military would rise up against the president and would take it as an opportunity to organize a coup and overthrow the government.''
        In a televised address delivered earlier on Sunday, Maduro pinned the blamed on the ''Venezuelan ultra-right,'' who collaborated with Colombian rightists. He also accused Colombia's president, Juan Manuel Santos, of being behind the attack. Sponsors of the assassination attempt reside in Florida, according to Maduro. Colombia's ministry of foreign affairs has brushed off the allegations.
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      Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won in New York. Now her allies are taking on the Midwest. - CNNPolitics
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        Thu, 02 Aug 2018 22:38
        Gregory Krieg, CNN Video by Cassie Spodak and Jeff Simon, CNN
        Updated 6:05 AM EDT, Thu August 02, 2018
        DETROIT (CNN) Consider Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's travel schedule.
        Over the past two weeks, the aggressive new voice of the progressive left has crisscrossed the Midwest, making a stop in Kansas to campaign alongside Bernie Sanders as well as solo trips to Missouri and Michigan to stump for insurgent candidates hoping to follow in her path.
        That Ocasio-Cortez consistently finds herself hundreds of miles from the Bronx and Queens, where in June she stunned the political world by unseating the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House, shows just how important the next several weeks are for the movement she has come to represent.
        Beginning with contests in those three states on August 7, and continuing on for nearly five consecutive weeks after that, progressive outsiders will test their mettle against establishment Democrats in elections from Hawaii to Delaware and Massachusetts.
        Success in any of these races has the potential to not only shape the 2018 field but embolden a future crop of progressives -- and signal a shift further to the left within the Democratic Party. On the flip-side, a shutout would stifle -- or at least put on hold -- any suggestion that the party's moderates are facing an existential threat from their left flank.
        Campaigning for Michigan's Abdul El-Sayed, who is vying against the odds and conventional wisdom to become the country's first Muslim governor, Ocasio-Cortez explained the core electoral assumption underlying the movement.
        "Our swing voter is not red-to-blue," she said at a stop in Flint. "Our swing voter is the voter to the non-voter, the non-voter to the voter."
        In an interview later, she all but dismissed the existence of a persuadable center.
        "I don't think that swing voters decide based on how much a candidate has run to the middle the most," Ocasio-Cortez said. "I know people who are swing voters, and when I think about how they decide, they don't say, 'Oh I'm voting for this person because they became the most Republican out of the whole race to earn my vote' ... Expanding the electorate is the path."
        It's an argument that progressive candidates and operatives have been trying to make to skeptical Democratic Party leaders for the past few years.
        Ocasio-Cortez, her team and allies are clear-eyed about the math and the narrative perils. Most of the candidates now riding her wave of national attention are considered long shots. But so was she.
        Even then, losses do not always equal defeat, she argued, pointing to James Thompson in Kansas' 4th Congressional District to make her case. In 2016, Republican Mike Pompeo won the seat by 30 points. Thompson fell short, as expected, in 2017's special election but the result was a shock to the system -- he had come within 6 points of winning.
        "He, as a progressive, alone turned that seat from an impossible race to a flippable district," Ocasio-Cortez said. "He lost that race last year, but does that mean that his work was pointless? Absolutely not, because now we're queued up in 2018 to potentially take the seat ... I'm hoping that even if a candidate doesn't win in this cycle, they will have created gains for 2020, for 2022."
        Against the oddsAs recently as June, before Ocasio-Cortez struck her signature blow, the insurgency seemed destined to claim its successes further down the ballot, and mostly out of the national political conversation. But that changed when 10-term incumbent House Democrat, Rep. Joe Crowley, offered his public concession.
        Ocasio-Cortez immediately began telegraphing her next steps and indicated that growing her own lonely ranks was a priority.
        "My hope is that I'm not the only one. My hope is that I won't be the sole standard-bearer and that's a big part of doing this whole tour," she said of her primary season itinerary. "I mean, I don't know if I'd call it a tour, but that's the whole point of supporting other progressive candidates because I shouldn't be the spokesperson. No one person should be the spokesperson for an entire movement because a movement by definition is a collective. And so I am just one perspective."
        Hours after her own win, Ocasio-Cortez quoted Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley and called on supporters to "vote her in next." House candidate Cori Bush in Missouri and Florida's Chardo Richardson -- both of them, along with Pressley, challenging sitting Democratic House members -- also got a shout.
        There were more, headlined by the 33-year-old doctor from Michigan: El-Sayed.
        On July 2, Ocasio-Cortez tweeted that the state was "blessed to have @AbdulElSayed as a candidate for Governor, and I am proud to support him."
        She could hardly be accused of glory-hunting. El-Sayed had consistently polled in third place behind the frontrunner, former state Senate minority leader Gretchen Whitmer. He also trailed the self-funding millionaire Shri Thanedar, a political wild card who was the first of the three to hit the airwaves.
        "They said I wouldn't be welcome here," Ocasio-Cortez said upon arriving in Grand Rapids on Saturday, a wink at the pundits -- some of them elected, like Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth -- who have suggested the region might be off-limits to her leftist politics.
        An upset for a candidate like El-Sayed, with his detailed plan for statewide single-payer health care and open disdain for corporate campaign cash, won't end the conversation, but it would brush back the movement's critics while boosting its leaders.
        In the meantime, El-Sayed insists to reporters and supporters that the bad poll numbers are simply the product of bad polling. The momentum, he says, is his. History, too. Sanders won here despite trailing heavily in the run-up to the 2016 presidential primary.
        The Vermont senator, who endorsed El-Sayed last week, will rally with him on Sunday. But the buzz surrounding his events with Ocasio-Cortez required no spin. The Sanders coalition, especially with the New Yorker in town, seemed to be showing itself off again.
        For the true-believers on the left, El-Sayed's case is a special one -- a necessary fight for a movement committed to distinguishing itself from the party's moderates, even if it ends with fat lips all around.
        "(Sanders) inspired people to believe in his message because they knew he wasn't bought by corporations, because he wanted to actually solve the problems that they face," El-Sayed said in an interview somewhere between Grand Rapids and Flint. "He wasn't proposing halfway measures, and he was able to inspire them, and we're doing exactly the same thing."
        He struck the note again hours later, telling supporters, "Every day I get somebody who comes up to me and says, 'I've never registered to vote, not even once, and I literally registered to vote for you: so don't let me down.' That says something about this electorate."
        The frontrunner -- and an afternoon in churchWhile El-Sayed has struggled to squelch Thanedar, who despite a lack of bona fides has tried to claim the progressive mantle, Whitmer seems on pace to win the nomination -- and knock the progressive surge back on its heels.
        Unlike her opponents, the former state legislator would not pursue a short-term move to single-payer health care. News that officers from the PAC run by the state's largest insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, promoted to employees a Whitmer fundraiser earlier this year led El-Sayed, who has forsworn corporate PAC money, to quip at a debate that he's "not bought off by the folks like Blue Cross Blue Shield."
        "First of all, it's a phony attack," Whitmer said early Saturday evening, during a quick break from knocking doors in Detroit's Indian Village neighborhood. "And secondly, it's extremely sexist to say that a woman is beholden to her father's former employer ... 84% of the record-breaking money that we raised in this campaign is from Michigan. Eighty-two percent of it is $100 or less."
        Her father, Richard Whitmer, was the president and CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan from 1988 to 2006. Though his name never came up during the weekend, the connection colors every mention of the insurer.
        Susan Demas, a Democratic strategist and the former editor and publisher of Inside Michigan Politics, attributes Whitmer's lead in the polls to the good faith she established with liberals during her time in the legislature, when she helped deliver the votes on a deal to increase Medicaid to 680,000 people and took a lead role in opposing the state GOP's "right-to-work" law. Years before the #MeToo movement took shape, Whitmer made headlines when she spoke out publicly about being sexually assaulted in college.
        "One downside to Abdul really hitting the Blue Cross argument is that he keeps tying it back to (Whitmer's) father and that really offends a lot of progressive women," Demas said. "There's always a risk when you go strong with an argument and I think, although it's probably won him some of those progressive Bernie Sanders voters, it's not helped him pick up votes with traditional Democratic women."
        In Ypsilanti on Sunday, inside the packed and sweltering Brown Chapel AME Church, that less traditional Democratic woman, Ocasio-Cortez, was greeted -- again -- with rapturous applause.
        A call to volunteer, before El-Sayed and she spoke, had a revival feel to it -- stand up, be counted, pledge some time and be celebrated.
        "The only way is to move forward," she said, after being introduced by El-Sayed. "We have to decide if we're going to change for the worse or change for the better. Because the status quo is not an option anymore."
    Clips
      VIDEO - April Ryan: Jim Acosta's life was in jeopardy at Florida rally - YouTube
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      VIDEO - Sen. Rubio on ZTE, Foreign Interference on Social Media '' Bloomberg
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      VIDEO - CNN's Acosta Blasts Sanders' 'Un-American' Anti-Press Rhetoric After Walking Out of Briefing: 'I'm Tired of This!' | Mediaite
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        Sun, 05 Aug 2018 14:11
        CNN's Acosta Blasts Sanders' 'Un-American' Anti-Press Rhetoric After Walking Out of Briefing: 'I'm Tired of This!'On Thursday, CNN's Jim Acosta confronted White House press secretary Sarah Sanders and asked her if she would say that the press is not the enemy of the people. She did not.
        In response, according to Acosta, he walked out of the room ''saddened by what just happened.''
        I walked out of the end of that briefing because I am totally saddened by what just happened. Sarah Sanders was repeatedly given a chance to say the press is not the enemy and she wouldn't do it. Shameful.
        '-- Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 2, 2018
        He also spoke out on CNN. Filing his report in the back in the briefing room, Acosta said ''I'm tired of this!'' and noted it is not right to call the press the enemy of the people.
        He then said this:
        It is un-American to come out here and call the press the enemy of the people and Ivanka Trump knows that. I don't know why her father doesn't. And I don't know why this press secretary doesn't'...It would be nice if we all lowered the temperature a little bit but at the very least, I think we should all be able to agree on one thing, and that is the press is not the enemy of the people. Fellow Americans are not the enemy of fellow Americans. And, you know, forgive me for going on a rant. But I think they lost sight of that here at this White House.
        Watch above, via CNN
        [image via screengrab]
        Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com
      VIDEO - Will Mueller/Putin Investigate Browder? - YouTube
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      VIDEO - CNN Commentator: ICE Brought My Ancestors Here on a Slave Ship (VIDEO) '' True PunditTrue Pundit
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        Politics TVCNN Commentator: ICE Brought My Ancestors Here on a Slave Ship (VIDEO)After White House adviser Ivanka Trump opined on her father's immigration policy this week, a pair of CNN commentators debated whether her denunciation of family separation was sufficiently robust.
        Though President Donald Trump's eldest daughter described the controversial border practice as a ''low point,'' she went on to defend the administration's broader hard-line approach to immigration.
        Attorney and liberal commentator Angela Rye appeared with Trump campaign spokesman Jason Miller on CNN's ''Cuomo Prime Time'' on Thursday to discuss the first daughter's response.
        ''This is not right,'' Rye said of the Trump administration policy. ''It is inhumane. And for Ivanka to say at first this is a low point and then to defend the policy means it was not a low enough point.''
        She went on to say describe Ivanka Trump's comments as disingenuous, comparing those who enforce the current immigration law to those who commissioned the slave trade. '' READ MORE
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      VIDEO - CNN Claims Acosta's Life Was Threatened, But New Rally Footage Tells A Different Story
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        Sun, 05 Aug 2018 07:41
        By now the name Jim Acosta has become a household name for most of us. Whether you despise his feeble attempts at journalism that are laced with a fictional narrative or you actually enjoy watching him create a stir, one thing is for certain. Jimmy likes the spotlight.
        Covering a recent Trump Rally in Tampa, Florida Jimmy was met with some vocal adversaries. They were peaceful, but very vocal.
        While Acosta began a live broadcast a crowd led by the group ''Blacks for Trump'' can be seen and heard chanting CNN Su-k's. The video has since gone viral.
        Blacks for Trump lead a ''CNN Sucks'' chant at Jim Acosta ahead of .@realDonaldTrump's Tampa, FL Rally.. pic.twitter.com/oHpddZLUEE
        '-- Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) July 31, 2018
        In a Tweet posted following the Rally, Acosta made another childish attempt to paint Trump supporters as some sort of violent gang members.
        Just a sample of the sad scene we faced at the Trump rally in Tampa. I'm very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt. We should not treat our fellow Americans this way. The press is not the enemy.
        Just a sample of the sad scene we faced at the Trump rally in Tampa. I'm very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt. We should not treat our fellow Americans this way. The press is not the enemy. pic.twitter.com/IhSRw5Ui3R
        '-- Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 1, 2018
        Some of Acosta's roadies seemed to jump on that same messaging. We will Focus on April Ryan's comments for a moment.
        BREITBART REPORTED:
        CNN political analyst April Ryan believes CNN reporter Jim Acosta's life was in danger at President Donald Trump's Tuesday rally in Tampa, Florida.
        Acosta, who was heckled with ''CNN sucks!'' chants before Trump appeared on stage, has said he did not feel like he was in America and expressed that he is ''very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt.''
        ''That's a serious moment and a serious place. And Jim Acosta's life, in my opinion, was in jeopardy that night,'' Ryan told CNN host Don Lemon on Wednesday evening. ''There was a safety issue.''
        This of course sparked outrage among other CNN journalists one of which called on secret service protection for Acosta and CNN staff.
        Unbelievable.CNN's @AprilDRyan & @donlemon attack Sarah Sanders for having Secret ServiceLemon & Ryan say they both need taxpayer funded Secret Service, tooRyan attacks @PressSec for getting "run out of the hen house" [Red Hen] before saying that Sanders deserved the treatment pic.twitter.com/zwAx0MyKLX
        '-- Benny (@bennyjohnson) August 3, 2018
        The outraged continued however as new footage obtained from Jim Acosta's own twitter account shows a much Different scenario, proving once again'... Acosta is the KING of #FAKENEWS'...
        Taking selfies with Trump supporters in Tampa. Really enjoyed talking to some of the folks at the rally and hearing their concerns. As I told many of them.. we can't do the news just for the Republicans and Trump supporters. We have to do the news for all Americans. pic.twitter.com/onOOM6q9l8
        '-- Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 4, 2018
        The video contrasts Acosta's account so much, a sitting senaor has already weighed in.
        But according to @AprilDRyan, his LIFE was threatened? ðŸ‚ðŸ‚ðŸ‚ https://t.co/vyMWGckdKl
        '-- Rep. Steven Smith ðŸ‡ºðŸ‡¸ (@RepStevenSmith) August 4, 2018
        Only time will tell if Acosta decides to keep up the antics, but one thing is for certain'... He's not doing it for ratings. Rating polls show CNN is still consistently being beaten by rerun's of Yogi Bear.
      VIDEO - YouTube - Chicago anti-violence protesters want entire city to 'feel our pain'
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      VIDEO - YouTube - Sarah Jeong on internet of hate
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      VIDEO - James Woods on Twitter: "Here she is! @nytimes https://t.co/yPIOf0qF1T"
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      VIDEO - Maxine Waters hit with FEC complaint over mailer money | Fox News
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        Sat, 04 Aug 2018 05:51
        Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, one of the most outspoken members of the anti-Trump 'resistance' in Congress, is facing fresh questions about a longstanding controversy regarding how her campaign raises money and how those funds have flowed to her daughter.
        The California congresswoman has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars each election cycle from some of her state's biggest politicians paying to be listed on her slate mailers'--sample ballots traditionally mailed out to about 200,000 voters in Los Angeles highlighting whom she supports.
        Since 2004, the campaign in turn reportedly has paid $750,000 to the congresswoman's daughter, Karen Waters, or her public relations firm Progressive Connections for help producing them.
        A government watchdog in July filed the first of two complaints with the Federal Election Commission asking for a full audit of the Citizens for Waters campaign.
        'Maxine Waters found an old provision and turned it into a cottage industry.'
        - Tom Anderson, National Legal and Policy Center
        The first complaint alleges Waters broke federal campaign finance law, and also names the California Democratic State Central Committee and Sen. Kamala Harris, a likely 2020 Democratic presidential contender.
        The conservative National Legal and Policy Center is still drafting a second broader complaint focusing on the sources of money going to the Waters campaign and flowing to her daughter'--and the accuracy of campaign finance reports, said Tom Anderson, director of the group's government integrity project.
        Rep. Waters, first elected in 1990, has been in the headlines lately for her calls to impeach President Trump and statements urging public confrontations with his Cabinet officials.
        Well before her current political fame, though, she mastered this somewhat-rare form of fundraising in slate mailers. California's top politicians as well as local office-seekers have given far in excess of legal contribution limits to her campaign to be on her slate of endorsed candidates. The campaign then pays Karen Waters and other firms to produce, print and mail the sample ballots. The FEC approved the practice by Waters in 2004.
        ''Maxine Waters found an old provision and turned it into a cottage industry,'' Anderson told Fox News.
        However, the FEC complaint filed on July 25 states that the California Democratic party paid $35,000 to the Waters campaign in 2016 to include the endorsement of Harris' Senate candidacy on the mailer. The FEC complaint, which cited an October campaign finance report, contends a third party is not legally allowed to pay for the mailer of a candidate without a reimbursement under the 2004 FEC advisory opinion.
        A separate report shows that the Harris campaign paid $30,000 to the Waters campaign earlier in 2016 for a primary slate mailer, but no subsequent payments.
        ''The Democratic State Central Committee of California's $35,000 contribution to Citizens for Waters violated campaign finance limits,'' the complaint states.
        WATCHDOG SAYS WATERS INCITING 'MOB VIOLENCE'
        Neither Waters' congressional office nor her 2018 campaign responded to phone and email inquiries. Karen Waters also did not respond to phone messages. A California Democratic Party spokesman and Harris' Senate office did not respond to phone and email inquiries.
        The mailers continue to be a lucrative source of funds.
        For the 2018 election cycle, FEC data shows, as of July 28, that Democrat Gavin Newsom's gubernatorial campaign paid $27,000 to Waters' re-election campaign to be in the mailers.
        The state Democratic Party snubbed Sen. Dianne Feinstein this year, but she paid $27,000 and has the Waters endorsement. Candidates for state assembly, sheriff and judges paid between $2,000 and $12,000 to Citizens for Waters to be included on the mailers.
        FEC data also shows as of July 28, Citizens for Waters paid Karen Waters $54,000 so far for the 2018 election cycle, mostly for slate mailers but also for other campaign work. The congressional campaign paid her $72,000 in the 2016 cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics.
        In November, Waters is facing Republican Omar Navarro, 29, a small business owner. The 79-year-old incumbent beat Navarro in 2016 with 76 percent of the vote, and outpaced him again in the June ''jungle primary'' (in which both parties can run) with 72 percent of the vote.
        ''She is going to be re-elected no matter what,'' Anderson said. ''She comes knocking and other politicians in California to say, 'do you want my endorsement,' because she knows they don't want her opposing them.''
        Her rising profile in opposing Trump likely gives her more clout, Anderson said.
        ''If you don't pay to be on her slate, then maybe you're one of Trump's people,'' Anderson said. ''A local politician, like a judge, does not want to be on her bad side.''
        Legally, candidates are paying a reimbursement for the slate mailer, rather than buying an endorsement. But it's difficult to prove whether the Waters endorsement comes as a result of the payment or if already endorsed candidates are paying for their share, said Adav Noti, a former FEC assistant general counsel.
        ''Those payments are legitimate if it's approximate to the cost for the entity producing, printing and sending the mailers,'' Noti, now a senior director at the Campaign Legal Center, told Fox News. ''Without seeing the information on the cost of the mailers, it's difficult to say if there is anything inherently wrong with the math.''
        Federal law technically limits individual campaign contributions to $2,700 to a candidate's committee and $5,000 to a political action committee.
        ''This certainly violates the spirit of campaign finance laws, but the FEC doesn't seem to think it violates the letter of the law,'' said John Wonderlich, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan watchdog group that first reported on the practice by the Waters campaign in 2010 and the connection with her daughter.
        ''In this case, is it a question of enrichment for a family member?'' Wonderlich added. ''How much of the money passes through to cover postage and printing? It may be unsavory but not corrupt. Much of it hinges on the extent to which the money passes through.''
        The 2004 FEC advisory opinion, signed by Democratic FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub, described the slate mailers as follows: ''The brochure will feature a prominent picture or likeness of Representative Waters on the front page. It will be promoted as Representative Waters' 'official sample ballot' and will contain brief quotes, which convey her opinions and endorsements of the federal and non-federal candidates listed.''
        The 2004 FEC opinion states that the payments from other candidates ''would not constitute support of, or in-kind contributions to, any federal candidate appearing in the brochure, so long as the authorized committee of that federal candidate reimburses the Waters Committee.''
        Fred Lucas is the White House correspondent for The Daily Signal. Follow him @FredLucasWH.
      VIDEO - "Whistleblower": Cardiologist exposes unnecessary heart surgeries - Videos - CBS News
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      VIDEO - Hollywood Director Rob Reiner Says America is in a ''Civil War''
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        Fri, 03 Aug 2018 12:25
        Skip to contentLudicrously asserts media is supporting TrumpHollywood director Rob Reiner told MSNBC's Katie Tur that America is ''in the last stage of a civil war.''
        Accusing Donald Trump of inciting anger and violence against the media and immigrants, Reiner chastised Trump's supporters, remarking, ''They're just angry, their people are angry, and he will feed them whatever they want to keep that anger going.''
        ''If you don't break through, we're gonna have, we're in right now, it might be the last stage of a civil war, the last battle is being fought,'' said Reiner. ''Hopefully it won't be fought physically, but we are more divided than we ever have been.''
        The director went on to ludicrously assert that the media was supporting Trump's agenda despite innumerable studies showing that most mainstream networks are overwhelmingly negative towards Trump in their coverage.
        ''We've got a president who is backed up by media,'' Reiner claimed, adding that all presidents have pushed ''propaganda,'' but they've ''never'' been endorsed by a ''state-run media.''
        While Reiner's insistence that America is in a ''civil war'' is predicated around his own hysterical bias against Donald Trump, he's not the first noted individual to raise the prospect in recent months.
        Back in June, Republican Congressman Steve King warned that America is heading towards a second civil war as a result of the increasingly polarized political environment gripping the country.
        In an op-ed for USA Today, Tennessee law professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds said civil war in America had ''already begun''.
        ''Hollywood has basically turned its products, and its award shows, into showcases for ''the resistance.'' Americans are already sorting themselves into communities that are predominantly red or blue,'' Reynolds wrote.
        A Rasmussen poll from June also found that 42% of Americans think a second civil war is either likely or very likely within the next 5 years.
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        Paul Joseph Watson is the editor at large of Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com.
      VIDEO - TODAY on Twitter: "''Make no mistake, these parents believe their daughter is alive.'' Mollie Tibbetts' parents offer a desperate plea and big reward for her daughter's safe return. https://t.co/2joBB9bgGV"
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        Log in Sign up TODAY @ TODAYshow ''Make no mistake, these parents believe their daughter is alive.'' Mollie Tibbetts' parents offer a desperate plea and big reward for her daughter's safe return.
        pic.twitter.com/2joBB9bgGV 4:30 AM - 3 Aug 2018 Twitter by: TODAY @TODAYshow troy A @ troylam09131317
        20m Replying to
        @TODAYshow she a bondage slave some where
        View conversation · Suzanne Johnson @ SuzanneTwo
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        @TODAYshow Prayers for her safe return. A parents worst nightmare!!!ðŸžðŸðŸ>>
        View conversation · Kimberley @ Kimberl14853040
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        @TODAYshow Come Home Mollie.
        View conversation · Patrice HanceðŸ¤...ðŸ¾''¸ @ i_amtrice
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        @TODAYshow Yes, the abductor is really going to claim the reward...I'm sure he'll be calling shortly! Are these people idiots?!ðŸ¤...ðŸ¾''¸
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      VIDEO - "Your network said I should be harassed for life" - Sarah Sanders goes off on Jim Acosta - inthemorning
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        Posted by u/delelles25 minutes ago "Your network said I should be harassed for life" - Sarah Sanders goes off on Jim Acosta youtube.com/watch?... comment
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      VIDEO - YouTube - Is press the enemy of the people? Jim Acosta confronts Sarah Sanders
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      VIDEO - Alleged Russian agent's infiltration of GOP circles anything but subtle - CNNPolitics
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        Thu, 02 Aug 2018 22:16
        Washington (CNN) As far as spy craft goes, Maria Butina's skills didn't seem particularly impressive.
        The alleged covert Russian agent liked to communicate via Twitter messages and WhatsApp. Her overly flirtatious approach left men wondering what she was truly after. She tended to brag about her ties to Russian intelligence when she was intoxicated, according to people familiar with the situation.
        "She's like a Scud missile. There's no precision," said CIA veteran Robert Baer, a CNN intelligence and security analyst.
        Butina has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and acting as a foreign agent in the US. Her lawyer, Robert Driscoll, told CNN Wednesday that she wouldn't take a deal from prosecutors if it meant admitting she was a spy.
        "If you're not an agent for a foreign government, you can't lie and say you are in order to get rid of this," Driscoll said.
        But intelligence experts say Butina's far-from-subtle approach to infiltrating Republican political circles in the US appears to be just one tactic in Moscow's arsenal as Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed to influence American politics and disrupt democracy ahead of the 2016 election. Those efforts are continuing, Trump administration officials say, in the run-up to the midterm elections.
        Putin has numerous intelligence services at his disposal. Some excel in hacking. Others churn out seasoned operatives to gather intelligence and quietly recruit Americans. But there are also more informal missions, ones that are often directed by Putin himself with the help of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the KGB's successor.
        "It's much less structured," Alina Polyakova, a Russia expert and foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution, said of Russia's influence operations. "There often is kind of a proxy lead actor, who is usually an oligarch close to the regime, that is given a project and he outsources portions of that project."
        "I almost think of it as project management," Polyakova added.
        It also helps shed light on why run-ins between a ragtag assortment of Russians and members of Donald Trump's orbit appeared so random.
        In April 2016, a Maltese professor with Kremlin ties informed Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos that the Russians had thousands of damaging emails about Hillary Clinton, according to court records.
        A month later, a Russian man who went by Henry Greenberg made a more overt offer to longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone: damaging information on Clinton in exchange for $2 million. Stone has said he believes the offer was part of a law enforcement setup directed at the Trump campaign.
        That same month, May of 2016, Butina and her alleged handler, Kremlin-linked banker Alexander Torshin, snagged a brief meet-and-greet with Donald Trump Jr. on the sidelines of the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. That was only after her efforts with Torshin to establish back channel communications between candidate Trump and Putin fell short.
        By June of 2016, a Russian lawyer met with Trump Jr. and other top Trump campaign officials for the now infamous Trump Tower meeting. The Trump officials believed the lawyer was there to offer dirt on Clinton. The offer was pushed by a Russian billionaire with ties to Putin.
        "Everything is not necessarily a planned and highly disciplined intelligence operation," said Steven Hall, a retired CIA chief of Russia operations and a CNN national security analyst. "Sometimes there's these more freelance types of things that also go on."
        Efforts to make inroads with the Trump campaign or other right-wing political groups go hand-in-hand with Moscow's more coordinated efforts to hack the Democrats, spread disinformation on social media, sow division and try to sway voters in favor of Trump, according to intelligence experts.
        "It's still part of a large tapestry that Vladimir Putin is weaving," Hall said.
        A not-so-secret agent?With distinctive red hair, a fiery personality and an affinity for social media, Butina operated at a higher decibel than one might expect from an alleged covert agent.
        In her graduate-level classes at American University -- a cover for work on behalf of the Russian government, according to prosecutors -- Butina vociferously defended Putin. She also claimed, in class, to be a liaison between the Trump campaign and the Russians, according to a person familiar with the situation.
        People who met her through school and through political events described her as a little too friendly. She was quick to start playing footsy under the table or sidle up to an older man at a political event and suddenly request that they become friends on Facebook, according to people who knew her.
        On at least two separate occasions she got drunk and spoke openly about her contacts within the Russian government, even acknowledging that Russian intelligence services were involved with the gun rights group she ran in Moscow. Twice, classmates reported her actions to law enforcement because they found her comments so alarming, sources said.
        In her final months at American University, the FBI raided her apartment. They arrested her in July.
        By the time of her arrest, Butina had become the subject of a torrent of news coverage.
        "You have upstaged Anna Chapman," Torshin wrote to Butina in March 2017, offering compliments for some of the initial media coverage she received and comparing her to a Russian intelligence official who was arrested in 2010 as part of a spy ring operating in the US. "She poses with toy pistols, while you are being published with real ones," the Russian official wrote, according to court documents.
        "It's better to keep a low profile now," Butina wrote later in the conversation, according to court documents.
        But the under-the-radar approach never seemed to suit Butina.
        Before moving to the US for school, she was featured in a 2014 Russian GQ spread, wielding two handguns and sporting Dolce & Gabbana briefs, a leather trench and stilettos.
        On a visit to the US in July 2015, she attended a political event in Las Vegas, identified herself as a visitor from Russia and asked then-candidate Trump whether he would pursue sanctions against her homeland.
        Then, she documented the encounter on social media, a pattern she followed when she attended NRA events and met politicians including former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who all ran for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Santorum is now a CNN contributor.
        There's little hint Butina had the same type of formal training as Chapman.
        Chapman's colleagues used fake names and had carefully crafted fake identities. They used invisible ink, hid data in images that were posted on public websites and sent Morse-code style messages using radio transmitters to communicate, according to court documents.
        Butina, meanwhile, ran a years-long influence operation that involved communicating regularly via email and Twitter messages, according to prosecutors.
        "Most Russian spies don't communicate by Twitter direct messages which are unencrypted," Driscoll has said, while arguing his client's innocence.
        But as Torshin's round of plaudits suggests, Butina's noisy way of doing business probably didn't make her any less valuable to the Russian government, intelligence experts said. In fact, her high-profile contacts probably caught the attention of the FSB and led them to believe her mission was more successful than they had initially hoped, experts said.
        "I think that anyone who is Russian has to meet with the FSB when they go back and forth and frequently," Butina's lawyer said in a previous CNN interview. Russians are often asked "what they're doing in America, if they had any information for the FSB," Driscoll said. "I think those kind of things were discussed by her."
        Traditional tradecraft focuses on stealing defense secrets. But understanding American culture and how to undermine it is increasingly valuable to countries like Russia and their efforts to disrupt US democracy.
        "Access to human beings is hard to replicate," said Philip Mudd, a veteran of the CIA and the FBI and a CNN counterterrorism analyst. "Human beings can shortcut, 'What's their plan going into the next election. What do they talk about?'"
        By the time she was arrested, Butina had leveraged her romantic relationship with a Republican operative from South Dakota, Paul Erickson, to build connections in GOP circles, according to prosecutors. Erickson hasn't been accused of any wrongdoing.
        She and Torshin were regular attendees at exclusive events surrounding the NRA's annual meetings. She had attended two National Prayer Breakfasts and one Conservative Political Action Conference. She attended a post-Thanksgiving barbecue at South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford's family farm.
        "Eventually Russians are going to need people on the ground here -- whether they're witting or unwitting Americans -- to help them with their propaganda operations," said Hall, the retired CIA chief of Russia. "There's probably a lot now and there's probably going to be a lot more."
        When investigators executed searches on Butina and Erickson's homes, court documents reveal a note that investigators found in Erickson's handwriting: "how to respond to FSB offer of employment?"
        It's unclear which of them it was for.
        CNN's Shimon Prokupecz contributed to this report.
      VIDEO - TicToc by Bloomberg on Twitter: "Trump's lawyers and Mueller are nearing the final stages of talks over whether the president will sit for questioning as the 2 sides determine the scope of a possible interview https://t.co/uiNsngyJuU #tictocnews h
        Link to Article
        Archived Version
        Thu, 02 Aug 2018 21:32
        The scope should be limited to the concerns we the people have. Open up.
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  Transcript
    leave me alone Adam curry Johnson this
    is your award-winning Nation Media
    assassination episode this is no agenda
    everybody Madame Curie and from northern
    Silicon Valley where I'm sitting here
    pondering the opposite of binge I'm John
    see dvorah cringe not binge no no I just
    I'd like to try me uh binge is uh I
    don't know what is the opposite
    there is no no opposite of binge come on
    purge binge and purge purge is not the
    opposite of binge okay I mean purge as a
    result of binge favor saver
    that wouldn't be the opposite that would
    be I don't know what that would be
    that's but more importantly buffaloed
    more important why why do you why do you
    contemplate this now just decided that I
    hate the word binge you know the reason
    is because I get this thing I got on the
    thrill this up spam I unsubscribe from
    the thrill in the popular lexicon
    binge binge don t ve binge it seems to
    me that going to the movie theater and
    sitting there spending twenty five bucks
    is sitting there for two hours
    that is binge enough I saw mission
    impossible beans Don that in the theater
    oh that must have been great I'm in IMAX
    yeah it was good it was quite good the
    franchise is still kind of alive you
    know it's just as predictable as as
    James Bond but no it was it was okay in
    with the news better than the last one
    was Rosano that was horrible but with
    the new hearing aids in the IMAX oh my
    god that was like except at one point
    the people behind me open up a baggage
    ships with it it kind of picked up on
    the rear facing microphone yeah get
    behind Curry
    he reaches for his ear to adjust the
    volume you know you've succeeded
    exactly it's political messaging or
    anything I don't care no no no no just a
    lot of unbelievable totally incredible
    illogical helicopter flying but okay
    I'll take it yeah so the pilot got shot
    and he slumped over and we'll just drag
    him out and then jump in the seat and
    everything's fine steady as she goes Tom
    sure yeah or Will Survive the spiraling
    crash okay
    doesn't matter it was it was fun I liked
    it it was pretty good yeah I'm looking
    forward to maybe seeing it eventually
    hmm yeah but no binging no binging on it
    ugly word by the way
    rustic binge beach it's terrible it
    doesn't bother me that much
    you should be bothered by it I don't
    know why I don't understand you you're
    you're very tolerant person apparently
    yes unlike sorry young good up with
    binge unlike Sarah young of the New York
    Times we might we might as well handle
    her right away the top of the show since
    everybody is talking about this you
    wrote about it in the newsletter I did I
    put it kind of a breakdown of it uh
    she's just a you know I don't I mean
    it's just up I don't know why she got so
    far as she did so quickly
    I do remember she's in technology
    journalism it which by the way you know
    everyone's been passing around this one
    clip which I think Jane Jimmy woods
    tweeted see when you know him you say
    Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy the Jimmy woods
    tweeted around from her speech and we
    had some good interrupts you buddy we
    had some guy who just one of our we have
    a lot of people unto it er to say hey
    you should listen to no agenda no listen
    no gesture and there's one guy who is
    trying to convince to listen to the show
    he says I see that one of the two
    partners you referring to me yeah likes
    James retweeted the James Woods clear
    tweet is some horrible thing your pain
    your son should that's what it is it's
    shameful to retweet him if they could
    see you even looking at his tweets and
    me well you call him Jimmy yeah Jimmy
    well there's one speech that is fully
    available from her she's a lawyer you
    know she is she went to Harvard Harvard
    Law School or HLS as we say and she did
    the speech at Harvard Law School and the
    only truly egregious thing that could be
    pulled from that full hour speech is the
    one that Jimmy treated here it is
    everything is implicitly organized
    around how men see the world and and not
    just meant how white men see the world
    and this is why so many things suck now
    so you asked Ashley a really good
    question he's like how did she get that
    job why is she a tech journalist at the
    verge and now on the New York Times
    editorial board well first of all she is
    doing tech journalism exactly the way it
    should be done which is subjective you
    know it's just as the Internet is Google
    Gmail is Gmail the only place that voice
    your opinion is social networks and it's
    unfair that's on fire and she is a
    shitty speaker really I mean you hear
    this there are tech journalists film
    girl is better than this telling you
    there's a blast from the past so but I
    did learn a few things mainly I just got
    into her head and you know this is a
    part that I think will will will catch
    it later on this is a part of kind of
    like it started with the statues you
    know it's it's the colonial ancestors
    who we today as white men have to suffer
    for because our colonial ancestors were
    horrible horrible white men slave owners
    they mistreated women and whatever they
    did is horrible they ruined everything
    it all sucks because of the white man
    and and and that's part of what she is
    trying to communicate is that and you
    know she comes from kind of a gamergate
    background and I'm going to play a clip
    which we can stop at any time because
    she's one of these speakers and you'll
    notice it almost right away who never
    really makes a good point or a punch
    line it's just like well so that's
    that's that's why that's that way she
    can't she's a horrible horrible
    presenter it's absolutely no good and I
    don't know about her writing but nothing
    groundbreaking as far as I can tell but
    I learned something about what is it
    called it's called the something about
    the First Amendment the hecklers veto
    they've ever heard of the hecklers veto
    no well this apparently is she remember
    she's a lawyer this is something in
    First Amendment law so I'm gonna play
    this and we'll just let it go until we
    either stop her sick of her and this
    wasn't new but suddenly there was more
    and more attention to it and I think
    that has in large part it's because of
    Twitter it's because Twitter is open and
    it's because we can see it happen in
    real time ourselves it is no longer a
    subjective experience it is open
    objective and available to the public
    for everyone to see and it's horrifying
    and the discourse started out as this is
    free speech versus women and this was
    pretty upsetting to me I was you know
    coming from a place where I believed in
    a free and open Internet I did not think
    is that by the way her idea of a free
    and open Internet it has nothing to do
    with the way you or I might think of it
    as the Internet is a network and you can
    run any type of application on top of it
    no she means free as in really free just
    give me everything for free and open
    which means as long as Google runs it
    that that's our thinking if you watch
    your whole hour any of the proposed
    regulations coming out of these episodes
    were good I didn't like the idea people
    didn't sweets even though I looked at
    the tweets and I they were very
    upsetting to me yes she's upset by
    looking at the tweet yeah yeah yeah oh
    yeah oh yeah she's kind of rambling
    already yeah there's something she just
    she said just a second ago that was kind
    of semi contradictory it just or it
    didn't make any sense we going to play
    we can stop a lot if you're looking for
    content of course of course this here I
    was I was working with Charlie on the
    internet in society class I was also at
    the journal along gender I was very
    involved in feminist issues vism
    I felt like I was being told that my
    position was inconsistent because it's
    free speech versus women pick one side
    no one wants to be on the side that's
    home so what you saying here is that
    with free speech and anybody can say
    anything turns out the way she
    experienced it the internet whatever she
    thinks that is is it was very hateful
    towards women that that's that's a
    neutral Network no it's the Internet is
    hateful about it there's a there's a
    thing in you know First Amendment
    jurisprudence known as as the hecklers
    veto actually and the hecklers veto is
    sort of this problem where if you yell
    at someone enough it causes an issue
    where oh okay I guess it's now legal to
    shut down the speech because people are
    it's just upsetting everyone way too
    much it's like causing it's fighting
    words now because it's causing people to
    fight against it or now that it's it's
    causing all of this violence to erupt
    say all right so she is a Harvard Law
    student graduate and is very nervous and
    she cannot explain hecklers veto for
    some reason yes good a comment she's
    very nervous and she's she sounds like
    she doesn't know what she's talking
    about she's rambling she is can't seem
    to focus I didn't realize when I was
    reading some of her other tweets the
    ones that are still available most have
    been taken down she makes these kind of
    poetic points if you look at her
    language points if you look at her
    as poetry and now that I think about it
    I was completely mistaken in that regard
    I didn't mention this in the newsletter
    but I'm just looking at some of these
    things because she'll throw a weird word
    in and thinking well that's interesting
    I guess has some sort of a poetic
    no it wasn't she just doesn't know
    exactly allow me to read the hecklers
    veto from Wikipedia in the free speech
    context the hecklers veto is either of
    two the hecklers veto is either of
    situations in which a person who
    disagrees where the speaker's message is
    able to unilaterally trigger events that
    result in the speaker being silenced in
    the strict legal sense a hecklers veto
    occurs when the speaker's right is
    curtailed or restricted by the
    government in order to prevent a
    reacting party's behavior so that's an
    example I think in that case would be
    you can't come and speak at Berkeley
    because people will go nuts the common
    example is the termination of a speech
    or demonstration in the interest of
    maintaining the public peace based on
    the anticipated negative reaction of
    someone opposed to that speech or
    demonstration in common practice a
    common parlance the term is used to
    describe situations where hecklers or
    demonstrators silence the speaker
    without intervention of the law in case
    law the hecklers veto is mixed most
    findings say the acting party's actions
    cannot be preemptively stopped due to
    fear of heckling so you can't do it
    before but in the immediate face of
    violence authorities can force the
    acting party to cease their action in
    order to satisfy the hecklers the best
    known case involving the hecklers veto
    is Feiner V New York handed down by the
    Supreme Court in 1951 Chief Justice
    Vinson writing for the majority held
    that police officers acted within their
    power in arresting a speaker if the
    arrest was quote motivated solely by a
    proper concern for the preservation of
    order and protection of general welfare
    so in a way I think what she's saying is
    we need regulation
    that's gonna work but okay let's
    continue because people are it's just
    upsetting everyone way too much it's
    causing and I'll give her that
    I learned something I had no idea what
    the hecklers veto was it never heard of
    it before you didn't learn anything from
    her you're right that's why I had to go
    look it up because I learned nothing
    from her it's fighting words now because
    it's causing people to fight against it
    or notice how she equates people
    twittering back and forth is fighting
    now that it's it's causing all of this
    violence to erupt if we're gonna have to
    shut all this stuff down and that's how
    I viewed harrassment harassment was a
    hecklers veto it wasn't the case that
    harassment was that was the speech that
    was under threat
    it was the speech of women that was
    under threat women were the ones were
    being told to leave these social
    platforms who were leaving these
    platforms who were ceasing to speak who
    were being silenced who clearly have no
    were just weak I understand the problem
    it's it's text
    it's anonymous and when we're talking
    about free speech for women I mean we're
    just talking about free speech obviously
    this is all well and good and you did
    you understand what her conclusion was
    this is she's so incoherent may say this
    is little more than a rhetorical trick
    to justify the suppression of speech and
    I assure you that it is not I have
    learned many cute rhetorical tricks from
    this institution where many of the
    masters acute rhetorical tricks reside
    but there's actually more to this and I
    am going to explain oh it goes back to
    the history of the internet and some
    largely today overlooked facts about
    Internet infrastructure this is what I
    call the theory of garbage
    now she wrote this is the book or the
    blog post was it is it a book it's an
    actual book yes that I think so I've
    never seen it but it's called the
    Internet of garbage or something like
    that yeah so I'll let her get into this
    a little bit the theory of garbage is
    very simple the Internet is mostly
    garbage okay and we're just bear in mind
    in this context you got an I so I do I
    need I do need to cut back
    mostly garbage yeah if she could make
    statements like this then she clearly
    knows how big the Internet is I mean you
    can't say anything about the percentage
    or how much unless you know what 100
    percent is right if you say it's mostly
    garbage then you know 51 percent has to
    be garbage when in fact 51 percent plus
    is mostly yes or no yes it all depends
    but she doesn't see it as data she sees
    it as what's on Twitter TV our Google or
    Google talking about garbage I'm talking
    about things like spam I'm talking about
    things like malware and I want to
    include harassment these are just things
    that we have come to accept aren't great
    and why didn't the New York Times just
    hire Elle sharp it would have been more
    entertaining that's for sure and I have
    to qualify before I even begin please
    not spam a speech malware is speech like
    code a speech harassment is speech
    nonetheless this all belongs in a bucket
    where we know that something has to be
    done about it doesn't mean we have to
    put people in prison it doesn't mean
    everything has to be deleted but see
    what and I can tell you where she's
    going with this because I saw the whole
    thing with this because I saw the whole
    what she's saying is harassment is no
    different from spam and malware
    except the purest of the internet hate
    spam hate malware we have all kinds of
    institutions and laws and regulations
    remember it's just code it's just speech
    it is exactly the same as harassment so
    we should have harassment filters and
    then sugar goes into this whole thing
    about server-side filters and it's very
    convoluted but I'll play it until we're
    done with her
    there's an issue here it these things
    make the internet unusable and I started
    thinking about this actually I was
    having there was a lot of this I was
    thinking of this actually I was thinking
    of this actually Internet unusable of
    course is like how do people watch
    Netflix if the Internet's and use them
    seems pretty usable to me how do people
    do anything yeah I mean there's a lot
    more going on than what she's talking
    about she's talking about a small small
    niche of the internet that Twitter about
    her twitter twitter twitter is talking
    about twitter
    it doesn't mean we have to put people in
    prison it doesn't mean everything has to
    be deleted but there's an issue here it
    these things make the internet unusable
    no it's not true and I started thinking
    about this actually because I was having
    dinner with these older attorneys who
    had been working with internet law for a
    long time and oh man remember when
    people were really upset about
    server-side filtering the spam filter
    I'm like I know that's before my time
    like what happened there and they
    basically spun out the story that I I
    thought was incredible
    I will leave out names but basically
    around that era in the earlier 2000s you
    had you know people who are typically
    you know free speech wing of the free
    speech party like you know these are
    speech parties the kinds of people who
    yeah it just goes on and then it never
    gets to the point and we don't listen to
    each party yeah
    so her Holt and that's why she's perfect
    as a journalist journal Journal for The
    Verge is because all she thinks about is
    the Internet is Twitter
    and that's where her garbage is it would
    have been more accurate she said Twitter
    is garbage although I vehemently
    disagree but that that's that would have
    been more accurate so she's not that
    great she's not a deep thinker she
    doesn't have any I mean to me it doesn't
    seem like any really deep thoughts or
    anything spectacular I think there's
    lots of other people that could be on
    the New York Times editorial board for
    instance us yeah just as nob if you're
    gonna get controversial people in well
    but it is pretty weird I mean there's a
    you have to wonder how she got there in
    the first place I mean there's something
    it's got to be graphed or something as
    somebody was there likes her wants the
    date or maybe even though it has to be a
    woman mm-hmm
    editorial only ran it in the newsletter
    in an essay kind of a quasi essay a
    picture essay because it kept coming up
    in the damn Twitter feeds and all this
    you know the and then then Jimmy blaster
    versus for something ya know so I had to
    take notice
    right but it did I think the the most
    interesting thing about her announcement
    and all of her tweets is you know the
    lack of it was the was the the black
    conservative woman I forget her name now
    Tina was the language of them well you
    know anyway one of these one of the same
    yeah that's the one
    heel I think or something no she yeah
    Candace Owens thank you troll room Owens
    yes Candace Owens and she took the exact
    same tweets from Sarah young young and
    she replaced the word white with jus and
    Twitter Bandar for twelve hours until I
    guess to figure it out you know exactly
    how that goes some algo might pick
    something up it goes to some dude in
    Bangladesh like oh this is against the
    rules like oh this is against the
    boom know that but it makes nothing but
    sense of course of course
    but the lack of of actually any even
    real conversation about that anywhere
    but in the internet of garbage I oh gee
    I kind of do like that term just for
    Twitter yeah that's where everything's
    being discussed but have you heard any
    meaningful or any any conversation seems
    like a third rail you know m5m doesn't
    want to touch it no mmm five M has
    refused to discuss it the New York Times
    passed it off as well you know the
    proper trolling counter counter trolling
    which I've never heard of rolling never
    heard of that and so they think it's
    fine well you made a journalistic point
    in the newsletter that I liked which was
    if you this in particular from an outfit
    such as the New York Times and I don't
    know if they've ever they written an
    actual op-ed about it or is it just that
    one statement they release it was just
    no there was a memo memo well there
    should be a number of op EDS I feel if
    that if that's their choice and I lost
    my train of thought
    well my point that I was making was if
    you're gonna say that these were table
    it was the verge the verses are gonna
    take her out of context you stake
    right then you have context and my point
    it's exactly the way it sounded when I
    read it - my point was apparently the
    only voice I have according to the
    family works me works at the verge
    the point I'm a witch we were gonna
    bring up and I'll steal it from you was
    that if you're going to say that as it
    is a op-ed writer journalist whatever
    you gonna do so what was taken out of
    context you have to provide as part of
    the kind of the rules the rules of the
    road you have to provide an example of
    how it was taken out of context yes in
    other words you have to put it in
    context to show us how it was taken out
    of context right and people do that all
    the time they said look at this they do
    with Trump they said what trust me he
    said this he didn't say that he said
    this he didn't say that
    I because he said it after he said this
    so it was obviously a joke yeah this
    will you put it in context but no nobody
    put it look at their twitch she's out of
    context constantly she's just Brambling
    and why doesn't the New York Times write
    something about that it seems to me like
    that would be appropriate and and might
    be enlightening I don't know maybe
    there's a take on it you and I haven't
    figured it out yet it be done can't be
    done it out yet it be done can't be
    okay be and they've already made a
    decision and they're gonna stick to it
    because they feel now they got a an
    Asian female lesbian wait three boxes
    ticked tit three boxes ticked they're
    not getting rid of her because it's
    gonna look like they hate Asians it
    looks like they hate women which is half
    the audience and it looks like they they
    can't do it they cannot that wants to
    put her in there they can't get rid of
    her it's like oh oops yeah
    yeah they have it so she can hate whites
    and hate man and hate whatever she hates
    and that's just the way it goes
    well it's now will she be writing for
    the New York Times as well why she's
    just on the editorial she's one of the
    people that's in the have these meetings
    well we should talk more about this I
    think we haven't had enough we haven't
    had enough stories about you know how
    designers work with the color white I
    don't think there's too much white being
    shown in photograph well bored yeah hmm
    so that and of course there's no byline
    so who knows who's writing that it's
    probably collectively thing was look
    Dean I tried it she was with the Women's
    Law Journal which became the gender
    something or other Journal at the
    Harvard which was a student publication
    and I looked her up in the database cuz
    you can do that and she never wrote
    anything for oh she was an editor and
    who helped somebody and wanted the thing
    she wasn't even that much of a hotshot
    there she wasn't you know it was just it
    was kind of a love as a third tier
    student publication no offense to be
    worked here but it's not the Harvard
    laud here but it's not the Harvard
    Journal or anything big it's not the
    Crimson it's not the Crimson
    now where she's coming from and I said
    that in my setup is ancestral problems
    you know men have been running society
    it's the patriarchy it's toxic
    masculinity the patriarchy it's toxic
    you know I've never heard any of this in
    the 60s which is when by the way the
    scum manifesto was written that she
    refers to yeah tell us about cuz that's
    an acronym that I was not familiar with
    yes the scum manifesto came out in the
    late 60s and there was a similar very
    similar movement to what's going on now
    it was during the Vietnam War that the
    other stuff and this woman I think I
    can't remember her name Valerie
    you're looking up yeah I'm Valerie
    Solanas that could be anyway she wrote
    the scum manifesto which was the Society
    for cutting up men and it was just kind
    of what did this Sarah young is all
    about you know kill man there's suck
    they're no good they don't help me and
    then they're taking over and they're
    telling us what to do and it was justice
    you know I've never bought a copy I
    should have no cuz it seems like it's
    now a collector's item so the term scum
    appeared on the cover of the first
    edition of Olympia press as scum and was
    said to stand for Society for cutting up
    men but she objected apparently
    insisting that was not an acronym
    although the expanded term appeared in
    the Village Voice ad she had written in
    1967 so okay thank you sounds just like
    seryeong yeah lion consistent liar liar
    yeah the scum manifesto I'd never heard
    of this argues that men have ruined the
    world and that it is up to women to fix
    it well I'm going to be reading this
    yeah I mean and put it right next to my
    Unabomber manifesto yeah it might be
    right up there with that dead quality
    work well I'm not so sure but I don't
    think so either
    okay so what how did that end let me did
    it end or did it just kind of fade away
    those Watergate happened so is this the
    resurgence since she's since she's
    citing it specifically is the resurgence
    of the scum movement
    there was no movement that's the joke of
    it and there's not no movement going on
    now it's a bunch of on Twitter it's a
    bunch of people there's a word I can't
    think of but it has to do with a bunch
    of people that are act with the way
    things are cuz they're not part of even
    though she'd see well you never hear
    from her once she gets in that editorial
    board by the way she's gonna fade fast
    yeah or they'll kick her off but it's
    people that feel marginalized and I
    should be the boss I should be the boss
    noodle boy the people and it just fades
    out because it's just like at some point
    people get jobs like shit I got a job I
    got rands like well let's listen to the
    modern-day version of who's to blame for
    everything and this was a an argument
    between Angela Rai who was it was now I
    think pretty much a fixture on CNN
    former I think she was a gofer at the
    black caucus that she has some fancy
    name like assistant something to the
    assistant but you know intern you'll
    first she was I think she was pretty low
    level there with the Cuomo kid and a
    half forget who the Republican guy is
    he's the woman with the with the
    vajayjay mouth that beard like a ring
    beard it's really just really poor it's
    a terrible by the way they just keep
    they have these people and they promote
    them and they wonder why they don't
    their ratings are that they're annoying
    yes here she is breaking it down for us
    in a nice little nutshell it said who's
    really the problem with ice come on man
    you guys know that this policy is asked
    backwards plain and simple you guys know
    this policy is inhumane plain and simple
    like if you just take yourselves out of
    it for just a moment take off the lenses
    of bigotry for just a moment and imagine
    okay now we're getting into the
    name-calling yes we are
    I'm calling this process this this
    procedure is absolutely based on bigotry
    and fear-mongering if you don't
    understand fear-mongering if you don't
    that you're never claimed a bigot ever
    you're losing the debate so let me just
    finish this point for you he scramble
    your room the only person that's rude is
    your because you're so afraid for me to
    get to the comma because the debate ends
    at the comma dog this is over you have
    nothing because you're so afraid for me
    to get to the comma because the debate
    ends at the comma dog this is over you
    have nothing to add except for asking me
    if I'm Canadian and no I'm not I wish I
    could tell you we're from Africa my
    ancestors came from at least part of
    them but I wouldn't know because the
    same bigots who are bringing who are
    sending people back away from their
    children are the ones who brought my
    ancestors here there you go that is it
    in a nutshell
    all the shit long life all the shit I
    have in my life is because dot dot dot
    white men
    we support we I can actually say we're a
    punching bag and not much more than that
    by the way well more than even white
    minutes um this thing has gotten
    completely out of control white men
    white women too in some ways because
    there's a situation in Australia we have
    to comment on well yes Ludacris and I
    checked it out it's got to be a joke
    this must be the onion but no this is
    going on and I have this clip here of
    the Australian nurses they're required
    to go up to people when they do nursing
    and say excuse me I have to tell you I
    have white privilege yeah wasn't this
    debunked didn't didn't this did we talk
    about this there was only only
    quote-unquote only one union there
    wasn't it wasn't a law for all nurses no
    they put it into play with and there's a
    dirt there's some sort of a handbook
    that all nurses have to follow this and
    think for yourself whether it's not true
    but you can look up go to Google it's
    true but I'm just saying I believe was
    for $5,000
    tonight the contentious new code telling
    nurses to say sorry for being white when
    treating their indigenous it's okay John
    all we have to say is and why you don't
    have to act you say I'm white did I'm
    why I'm why I'm wild oh I it's okay that
    was tonight the contentious new code
    telling nurses to say sorry for being
    washed when treating their indigenous
    patients now it's the latest in a string
    of politically correct changes for the
    health industry but this one has led to
    calls for the nursing board boss to
    resign and as yes dead of itch reports
    even some Aboriginal leaders have
    described it as potentially damaging
    according to how the code is with the
    white nurse would come in and say before
    I deal with you I have to acknowledge to
    you that I yeah this is the clip we
    played a while ago but it does sound
    like it's now code in all of the nursing
    profession it's now code in all of the nursing
    I guess certain privileges that you
    don't have what we've got is
    do-gooders who think that this is
    actually going to help people where in
    reality it's only dividing society the
    code says that I must tell you that they
    come about because of my whiteness and
    your disadvantage becomes because of
    your blackness doubtless come from the
    Aboriginal community that's for sure
    no actual consultation which they're the
    backbone of our health system often
    overworked and underpaid nurses are very
    caring people they're always respectful
    it's in there it's in their genes I mean
    this is the this is the thing that's so
    outrageous because the the fundamental
    perception of this code is that nurses
    are currently racists but now a new
    imposition one that could threaten their
    livelihood it only takes a single
    complaint from a patient to say you
    didn't acknowledge your white privilege
    I felt culturally under threat or
    subsumed by you and the nurse can find
    themselves whole before the tribunal and
    subject to a contacted complaint it has
    many like Graham hatecraft from the
    nurses professional association of
    Queensland up in arms
    this is introducing a form of apartheid
    into into nursing in the health system
    in changes to the national code of
    conduct for nurses and midwives when
    treating patients who identify as
    Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders
    they must first acknowledge their white
    privilege the thing that seems to be
    overlooked by this nonsense besides the
    fact that we're supposed to be doing
    less of these of the segregation we're
    supposed to be more integrated as a
    worldwide culture and not making these
    distinctions because it seems to me that
    making this particular distinction in
    this particular moment is saying is
    announcing your superiority yes I don't
    see why people don't see it that way you
    go up and say hello I want to tell you
    I'm white I know I have privilege if
    you're not how is that not besides being
    insulting how is that not a incredibly
    divisive besides being that it's just
    like it just doesn't seem right to be
    doing that it's just like making a point
    of it I'm a I'm white and you're black
    well this amounts to but you know it
    next it'll be I apologize because I'm
    white and then you let the same
    apologize because I'm white and a man
    and then apologize because I'm over six
    feet tall I think here so I meet you and
    I say pologize for being so tall you're
    a little short little short fucker yeah
    well I know it ends it's very simple
    okay let's pretend what just we're just
    the meeting and we introduce ourselves
    and you introduce yourself to me hello
    I'm John oh hi oh hi I'm Adam curry
    sorry that I exist yes I'm sorry I exist
    this is what the so now I understand was
    partially due to the newsletter and a
    couple of the things the reason why the
    word racism is used because and I think
    it was written somewhere they said in
    this not this context but in this
    mmm I can remember the exact word but in
    the context in which weights used today
    from people like Sara's young is
    if you are white it is impossible for
    anyone to be racist against you
    so racism is only what the ancestral men
    predominantly white men have done to the
    world and they are the racists and you
    can be racist against other people but
    against white people apparently white
    men it just cannot be racist and and I
    know and I know a lot of who believe
    this if you hate yes I agree a lot of
    Millennials buy into this if you hate
    hate the white race and one time it
    wiped off the face of the earth
    there's not not a there's not an element
    of racism in that no by definition no
    anymore racism in that no by definition no
    by this definitely argue there never has
    been this definitely argue there never has
    it's just a it's just a it's good it's a
    good thing get rid of all whites but
    isn't this just no wonder that people
    there I mean this whole this do what
    happened to the idea that we're supposed
    to all be one big happy family
    yeah now it seems that somehow what has
    taken place is you know you used to feel
    bad about your situation and I and I
    think necessity you know is the mother
    of invention I've seen it myself and
    when you know at the lowest point it's
    darkest before dawn you know all the
    sayings because ultimately you have to
    pull yourself up and do something and
    make something out of yourself but we've
    we've trained an entire really an entire
    generation and I think it goes worldwide
    and we've trained an entire generation
    that you can you can blame this group
    for whatever it is that ails you and if
    you if you look and I have to look that
    hard of course I mean everything in
    history comes from white men I mean I
    know that's not true but the way people
    like Angela I would see it so they're to
    blame it's obvious
    it's very odd extremely I mean you talk
    about The Handmaid's Tale exactly the
    opposite is taking place
    you is taking place
    the men will be kept as slaves only to
    come out to breed
    well I'd have noticed this thing you
    know there's this D masculinization of
    the American yeah boy yeah and this
    starts with ritalin in kindergarten well
    there's a lot of that yeah stuff like
    that they dope him up and but does
    something I've been noticing it's been
    bothering me and it's the the use of the
    high register in men routinely to the
    point where you almost can't tell if
    it's a woman talking MA and this is into
    the 20s and 30s I'm talking about here
    the height that higher-end Millennials
    is not a case in my family
    JC actually sounds a little like I do
    but I hear when I go out and I I was
    getting my hair cut the other then I
    could hear these two guys talking him
    and both of like I can do it I think if
    I try hard enough to get my high
    register to work a little better as just
    my normal voice
    now I can't do without making a parody
    well but hold on with how old they were
    young like 20s late mid to late 20s okay
    white guys yeah okay gay or straight
    well there's they have that I think one
    was straight one was gay
    but I don't know they could have both
    been straight they could have both Inc
    it because I was paying more attention
    to this voice of theirs and they all had
    this high register and their use your
    started hearing it it's very close to
    being uh a voice that never went through
    puberty like a kid's voice but it's in
    an adult and it has a difference it has
    a different ring and tone to it because
    of the size of the body and the and the
    solar plexus it's gonna bring out a
    different kind of a sound but it's I'm
    just noticing it everywhere
    hmm and it's like it's kind of like they
    remember that woman who was busted for
    that fake therapeutic they know the did
    the testing with the micro drops and
    Sarah knows what W Sarah knows blonde
    yes who talk like this I think it's
    important that a woman talks like this
    well this is the opposite guys that talk
    like this they all sound like Mickey
    Mouse I don't know how they do it and I
    don't know if I've had the same
    experience start listening but it would
    but it wouldn't surprise me that does do
    your hearing aids I fail to hear now if
    you uh thank you go ahead mock the wheat
    the meek and the crippled thank you hey
    superpowers it's like when when people
    are aware you have hearing aids and you
    miss something what's the first thing
    they say exactly it's like saying to
    someone when you know with a with an
    artificial limb hey walk a little faster
    yeah of course cuz I'm still trying to
    figure them out and get them perfect and
    there's no perfection it's a hell of a
    lot better but you know once you claim
    your Bionic which I am I hear things
    that are unbelievable
    but then when you miss something then as
    I sure that's what someone would say
    somebody's a dick now I would say start
    listening for the turn up your hearing
    aid and start listening for these kids
    these 20-somethings maybe it's not as
    present in Texas as it is in California
    but it's quite noticeable around here
    well then by the way we'll have people
    writing in mentioning it in some parts
    of the country is not sure I'm sure I'm
    sure but it's I know it but you know it
    wouldn't surprise me if you grow up
    amongst your peers and you all have to
    agree that no man really it's it's the
    white man who really did all this to us
    and we got to take down those statues
    and then meanwhile you're standing there
    and if you're you know if you're a white
    guy if you're you know if you're a white
    leave me alone I got to write that time
    down yeah
    okay I had another clip here in the same
    bin also from Australia coincidentally
    but I don't think it has to do
    necessarily with this it's about oh well
    it isn't a bit about the future of the
    Democrat Party I just don't remember if
    it was art party or someone in Australia
    finally what advice would you give to
    the Democrats yes yes author Frank
    Thomas is being asked so it is about the
    US Democratic Party drop in 2020 and
    what do you think's actually gonna
    happen what you do when you're faced
    with the white working-class walking
    away from the party the left you reach
    out for them in the way that a party of
    the Left reaches out for working-class
    people you don't emphasize the whiteness
    you emphasize the working-class Ness and
    you reach out to them on economic issues
    in a lot of ways that Bernie Sanders was
    proposing to do that I think can stop
    them but the question of what they will
    do they're not going to do that because
    that would involve them breaking up with
    their wall street pals that would
    involve the Democratic Party having to
    they couldn't party with the Silicon
    Valley guys anybody couldn't ride on the
    Google jet anymore because they would
    have to once again become a party of
    working people they're very happy being
    the party of the professional class and
    they don't want to go back to being what
    they used to be what they really want to
    do is scold Trump voters not just Trump
    himself but they're his voters and
    they're their first impulse is to scold
    them they want to get living this utopia
    of scolding where they can every day
    feel so pure and good about themselves
    you know in this Gold's gold scold
    school I think the other thing that
    they're that they're going to do is run
    the elect the the campaign of 2016 over
    and over and over again until they
    finally win you know they'll try
    different candidates
    they'll try different get-out-the-vote
    efforts they'll do it right next time
    and then next time they'll you know they
    won't lose and look that might work that
    might work in the short term the thing
    is this the Republican Party is never
    turning away from Trump ISM next time
    around after Trump is gone it's going to
    be in the hands of somebody that knows
    what they're doing a Ted Cruz a Marco
    Rubio and they're not gonna make dumb
    mistakes you have to stop that Democrats
    that they need to become the party the
    party of labor again I don't think they
    want to go there and this is why I'm
    kind of pessimistic about my country's
    future huh well now see he had a very
    good huh well now see he had a very
    Alyce's yes which I agree with a hundred
    percent about the Democrats abandoning
    the working class because they see this
    a dying middle class is dead who cares
    we love partying with the googles I
    thought that was pretty astute and the
    biggest part years of all of course with
    the bankers yeah especially the
    investment bankers they party like
    there's no like nobody else and so
    they'd rather be doing that because it's
    always been the party of partiers mm-hmm
    and yeah but this but then at the end he
    kind of drops the ball by saying all my
    countries do you know it was a good
    analysis until he said that because it
    doesn't necessarily it's not necessarily
    true at all I have the best my country's
    doom clip it's a long one but it's Rob
    Reiner Oh God
    it's really good John yes it's Rob
    Reiner with Nicole Wallace let me do a
    mod first since you're in Australia and
    we were talking about Australia the
    nurse I do have a New Zealand clip just
    just to be fair just to be impartial to
    the to the islands so the New Zealanders
    are they have this Laura and Southern
    yes who's up there with with mola no way
    Mon you that get who's just seems to be
    hanging out with her because she's
    pretty doesn't get a word in edgewise
    hey let's do a podcast together
    wink-wink nudge-nudge hey baby mmm
    and so she's floating around she's the
    one recent hey hey we should do a
    podcast together one of these days she
    got kicked out of the UK permanently I
    thought she wasn't even allowed in no I
    think yeah kicked out not allowed in she
    can't go there yeah for what reason is
    another mystery so you know it's just
    like why okay veto of course we all
    understand this a very interesting
    troublemaker because she's a fast talker
    sharp that good idea she's pretty much
    just on this anti Sharia anti she's
    anti-immigrant anti
    she's an aunt a diversity person and she
    says she goes to New Zealand they cut
    her off from all her speaking
    engagements because she's anti diversity
    and it's very hard to understand this
    dis New Zealand er interviewer and this
    on the show I have the whole clip he
    goes dead at the end after she throws
    something Madame you have to really
    concentrate to hear the words but see
    what we got here more than that there's
    polling that has been done in this
    country where over I believe
    when I checked last was around 70
    percent of people here agreed we should
    have the right to speak so there is this
    radical minority that wants to decide
    what the majority of people should think
    is hate speech and should be shut down
    well well what people say is hate speech
    is when you say that diversity is a
    weakness right and the suffered has been
    considered against the modern status quo
    at the time individuals who criticized
    Christianity hundreds of years ago would
    have been prosecuted under blasphemy
    laws I now criticize the religion of
    diversity and I'm considered for
    committing with hate speech because that
    is the popular culture well what I said
    to you Lauren southern is that New
    Zealand is a dark based country you cite
    obesity is a weakness this country is
    known as a melting pot are you saying we
    were weak will you accept the diverse
    view that women should be stoned for the
    crime of being raped
    what's wrong with that blood a dead air
    so I didn't know that New Zealand saw
    itself as this diverse melting pot
    did you know I thought mmm and
    appearance like a state religion so you
    can't criticize the whole idea of
    diversity which is the reason they won't
    let her speak
    oh we have enough New Zealanders and
    they're gonna let us know exactly what's
    going on I don't believe that it's hard
    to believe that this whole thing isn't I
    know what she likes to do she likes to
    get herself into a pickle so she can
    complain about it
    right and I don't know pull off a speech
    she doesn't like I like her style but
    she's uh she's a troublemaker you can
    just tell oh that's a plus it is a plus
    because you know at least someone's
    triggering this conversation but you
    know in some way I on some days I get up
    I think it's just on Twitter and it
    really is pretty much just on Twitter I
    don't know about face bag because I'm
    still not on it until you find she's
    been kicked out of the UK for showing up
    and she can't go back to the UK at all
    she can't go visit Lucknow know what I
    mean what I mean is this this general
    the general argument and what what is
    taking place it doesn't really spill
    over into the real world that much and
    there are days when I think well this
    entire generation has grown up and you
    know to believe that white privilege
    exists to the degree that you have to
    apologize for being white you know will
    will that ever rectify and some days
    it's a guy yeah yeah yeah people get
    over it and they'll change their mind
    but then I hear Rob Reiner I'm like no
    no no no one will never get over it on
    MSNBC of course plugging his movie which
    is shocking ha the movie is about as far
    as I understand it the run-up to the
    Iraq war and how the press was thwarted
    from telling the truth
    oh really yeah oh yeah he is he's in my
    view he's changing history by saying
    that they knew what was going on but now
    shut up and know who made them shut up
    was there the minister true in my mind
    it was the media the media were the ones
    who were pushing it they were all in
    that's what I saw I was Brit in the
    media I didn't notice any of this
    I was I saw it as a bunch of bullcrap
    and ground zero to coin that phrase for
    this but he used the phrase here was the
    New York Times and the woman who had
    that just incorrect non fact-checked
    information about the weapons of mass
    destruction and she worked for the CIA I
    believe possibly about the one that was
    kicked out yeah she she she was the one
    and she she covered it up
    so it was the media as far as I remember
    but okay so that so he's revising that
    now he's revising it to me of course you
    can blame it turns out somehow to be
    Trump's fault
    I wish it's only at the end because
    that's when the plug comes in but just
    just a couple minutes of Rob Reiner
    completely unglued the Washington Post
    has been keeping a running and not like
    Nicole Wallace is much less unglued to
    check her if you will the president the
    way he speaks and and they've just
    updated it 4229 false or misleading
    claims in five hundred and fifty eight
    days sixty seven and a half claims a day
    I thought it was 16 in just June and
    July thought it was 16 in just June and
    that's 16 lies or falsehoods misleading
    claims a day yeah is the biggest problem
    I see with because I think of it as to
    mainstream media's you know what I am
    gonna point out one of the ones that was
    pointed out to me where Sarah Huckabee
    who's also a liar said that she was
    bitching about the press or somebody
    saying they want to strangle her yeah
    that's and it was pointed out as a
    bold-faced lie is the words worse they
    wanted to wring her neck it was a lie I
    remember we played the clip in our
    conclusion was what a bunch of bullcrap
    yeah it was a lie yeah well the lie you
    know lies on the other side
    no no not in that case they did what was
    it will give me the backwards I don't
    know let me see I think I have the clips
    here umm wring her neck let me see if I
    have it here oh this is it actually
    interestingly enough Nicole Wallace
    again this may only be an ISO though
    what is this person Walker how do you is
    this the temptation to run up and wring
    her neck why can't she just say that was
    that's what the whole thing is based on
    from Nicole Wallace saying how could you
    stop from not going up and wanting to
    wring her neck that's it's an expression
    I know but then why does it get if
    somebody says if I say to you a truth
    that came out about me I said they
    wanted to choke me does that mean I'm a
    liar to choke me does that mean I'm a
    yeah to choke me does that mean I'm a
    they just said they want to wring my
    neck just said they want to wring my
    you have no know did not say that said
    what made you not want to go up there
    and wring her neck wide it was a big
    storm about nothing is bullshit there
    was no point I'm trying to make is that
    these so-called this category okay I got
    you I got you
    I'm with you like little things the guy
    says you know he gives a number that's
    off by one he's a liar yeah he gives the
    number that's off by 200 is a liar but
    he's just throwing stuff out because
    he's going to these speeches we just ad
    libbing an hour speech yeah he's just
    gonna have a bunch of numbers in front
    of him it would be like this people
    listening to this show I'm sure some
    call us liars and water carriers for
    Putin us liars and water carriers for
    and whereas what's happening is
    sometimes we're just wrong we're wrong
    or we remember it differently or wrong
    and getting it slightly wrong and making
    little errors or making this just
    shooting from the hip yeah it's not the
    same is the way they're trying to
    portray this as like right in Liars yes
    I'll tell them this and I'm yeah agreed
    but it's a difficult one the one in the
    case of Sarah Sanders because I heard
    her on the podium say the words to the
    effect of the you know your network it's
    it's at fucking hey new careese law once
    you bring in that term the conversations
    over and you win
    it's meat Anoka and thank you for
    tweeting that the other day all of
    Holland is in is in arms they can't
    believe that John seat of war Ike used
    the Dutch word meat Anoka they really
    enjoyed that eyes or falsehoods for
    misleading claims a day yeah and that is
    the biggest problem I see with because I
    think of it as too mainstream media's
    you have you know Washington Post New
    York Times all the networks except for
    Fox working very hard to get the truth
    out there are some really genuinely very
    good journalists at Fox who are the good
    journalists at Fox John who would they
    be at Fox John who would they
    and you know we've got Shepard Smith is
    a good journalist he's not a journalist
    he's a prompter reader what are you
    talking about he has opinions he gives
    the counter opinion on Fox but I think
    is very good for Fox to do he's got a
    great voice
    yes he's got he's got that Ryan Seacrest
    kind of vibe about him you could do
    radio you should consider doing radio
    you'd be really good shutter button chef
    Smith but this is the first time that
    you have mainstream media essentially
    divided into two paths so that you have
    you know Fox Breitbart Sinclair and Alex
    Jones which has now been taken off the
    face book thank God thank God it's all
    face book I was just I was going crazy
    seeing Alex Jones on Facebook what thank
    God I didn't know if I would survive the
    night without his joins on Facebook Rob
    I'm so happy you survived it to hell man
    what is this guy's priorities and what
    is he doing laughs so that you have you
    know Fox Breitbart Sinclair and Alex
    Jones which has now been taken off the
    Facebook thank God
    you know the trafficking in another
    narrative and so you know when shock it
    all with Rafa 'king in another narrative
    that's that's an interesting way of
    saying they have a different viewpoint
    or a different opinion but he uses the
    drug-related Rafa case trafficking to
    subdue me well done I'd like that a lot
    Tresa propagandistic trick
    yes Goebbels is rolling over in his
    grave and or on his beach towel in
    Argentina you know the trafficking in
    another narrative and so you know when
    it all with these guys that's it so
    that's his film shocking awesome now now
    he's plugging the movie the trafficking
    in another narrative and so you know
    when shocked at all with these guys that
    for journalists who got the truth out
    during the run-up to the war they were
    facing headwinds of patriotism the
    trauma of 9/11 but they weren't facing
    the headwinds that real journalists who
    are working very hard now to get the
    truth that which is this cement block a
    wall that they cannot penetrate with the
    truth and that's the scary part so he's
    saying that because Fox News is
    trafficking in another narrative that
    journalists now cannot get the truth out
    there's a block how does that work
    talking about this is the truth all over
    MSNBC and CNN and ABC CBS NBC isn't the
    truth everywhere he's right there but
    what I think what I think he's saying is
    we're not reaching our fellow Americans
    who have been misled by this hypnotic
    Fox News that's what he's saying
    except you know there's a there's
    shimmering points of light like Shep
    Smith block a wall that they cannot
    penetrate with the truth and that's the
    scary part dogs were Brandt on this and
    it was effective he said that you know
    the media doesn't represent regular
    people Hollywood doesn't write represent
    regular people we are completely out of
    touch with regular people and it worked
    to his advantage
    how do you have that to me would be a
    clue let me see he said it's work it
    worked what he was saying do it maybe we
    are out of touch no no even I can make
    it my position from time doesn't
    represent regular people Hollywood
    doesn't write represent regular people
    we are completely out of touch with
    regular people and it worked to his
    advantage how do you how is somebody who
    someone who produces films like shocked
    and awed that our that our journalism
    films but then also somebody in
    Hollywood how do you push back on that
    you just have to keep pounding away
    there's nothing else you can do I mean
    look doesn't speak to the mainstream
    media there people are angry and he will
    feed them whatever they want unlike
    unlike you who is being fed by the
    Machine with stuff they want it's not
    the same to keep that anger going and
    you see it in the rallies he actually
    calls for you know this kind of outraged
    and take it out against the media take
    it out against immigrants take it out
    against whomever you want that's what he
    does he keeps stirring this up but will
    you'd have to stay at it you have to
    stay at it there's no other way well if
    you can I mean if you can if you don't
    break through we're gonna have we are in
    the right now it might be the last stage
    of the Civil War the last battle is
    being fought hopefully it won't be
    fought physically wait a minute we're in
    the last stages of the battle for the
    Civil War hopefully it won't be fought
    physically well what is gonna happen we
    can now have tweeter teams and we're
    gonna or is it all gonna happen on
    fortnight what are we gonna do this Rob
    look we are more divided than we ever
    have been and we've got a president no
    weren't we really divided in the actual
    Civil War I'd say that was pretty
    divided by think that's a little more
    divided than what you see here you know
    and huge armies going at it yeah brother
    against brother
    yeah blowing people up okay let's
    exaggerate today's more important this
    is the worst ever we're gonna have we
    are in the right now it might be the
    last stage of a civil war the last
    battle is before it won't be fun
    physically but we are more divided than
    we ever have been and we've got a
    president who is backed up by media the
    presidents have always viewed propaganda
    liberals Democrats they always have
    everyone's finished policy to push a
    rationale to go to war but they've never
    been backed up by essentially in sense
    state-run media that's new and social
    media it's all news and it's very very
    scary right now this is so again and
    this is really nuts this is the third
    time I'm hearing the clip but it's all
    about Fox you know and so it who of
    course have top ratings so to me that
    what he's really saying is oh my gosh oh
    my gosh
    Ong Fox News has high ratings they're
    buying it where everyone's being
    zombified it's just it's not look at
    look at the actual number of people who
    watch Fox News
    he's not like CBS 60 minutes no it's
    nothing like the big Network and it's
    not big on the the big networks it
    really is yeah so so he is I think what
    he's saying is that he is so afraid that
    this group of millions of viewers every
    night and every day million is B ha is
    being mind-controlled and this is going
    to drive us to civil war hopefully not a
    shooting war work raining hand which is
    another weird thing I'd ever heard
    before this is we're almost at the end
    of the Civil War it's not what he said
    yeah didn't you hear that yeses we're
    almost at the end of the Civil War with
    no I don't know no she's I hope it
    doesn't come to blow I thought he meant
    the watch being fought hopefully it
    won't be fought there we're gonna have
    we are in right now it might be the last
    stage of a civil war the last battle is
    being fought hopefully it won't be for
    your right oh okay interesting I hadn't
    I didn't interpret it that way the first
    time so this is the last stage which
    means Fox has to come down is that it is
    that is that rhino's last stand as Fox
    News I didn't take that but I mean guys
    I don't know what he's okay I don't know
    what he's talking news yes I mean the
    last stages the last battle oh that must
    be that must be the midterm election
    that that's what he's talking about
    Democrats and with that I'd like to
    thank you for your courage and say in
    the morning to you John see you where
    the C stands for counter trolling double
    ride in the morning you know mr. Adam
    curry morning in the morning to the
    troll room
    trol el room no agenda stream calm is
    where you can listen to the show live
    joining the conversation to combo
    anonymously and do whatever you want
    until you can till you overstep the
    boundaries which are unwritten rules but
    in the morning to you trolls there also
    I'd like to say in the morning to our
    artists for episode 1056 the cover art
    for cue vision was brought to us by
    Darren O'Neill very reminiscent of the
    National Lampoon now buy this magazine
    or we shoot the dog somehow in an odd
    way we shoot the dog somehow in an odd
    sort of a memorable way and this was the
    I noticed that at first it was somebody
    pointed on tweeter yeah this was a dog
    and we were talking about dog
    vaccinations coming and of course I got
    thirty different emails from people
    saying here's my bill seven hundred and
    sixty dollars for getting my dog
    vaccinated dollars for getting my dog
    seven hundred and sixty dollars for
    vaccinations for the dog but yeah oh
    yeah whatever it is ever since they
    brought in pet insurance prices
    skyrocketed surprise surprise that's
    what happened
    ask Mimi she knows
    bitching to me about the vet bills she
    bitching to you about the vet bills I
    bet she is no huh well she broke up with
    me she gets an earful I'm like oh she
    needs an outlet apparently for a lot of
    these days and I'm the dog hater
    everybody it is let's thank some people
    who came in to our value network for the
    program who support us as executive and
    associate executive producers yes we
    have a three execs and two associates
    Christopher white s'en in Atlanta
    Georgia a 33333 at the top of the list
    he says job karma please and he wants to
    play the original No Agenda scream the
    calm down scream
    yeah okay yeah yes yeah because we made
    one without the calm down and then just
    one with the with the with the scream so
    yeah I think I have it and jobs karma
    jobs jobs and jobs let's vote for jobs
    you've got karma scream I picked that
    scream out of Oh some somebody's some
    little girl or something being pulled
    away by the police or something as a
    scream and then we did this one that's
    the original and here's the one we
    edited both of them dynamite
    blood-curdling mm-hmm
    blood-curdling scream is what that
    should be titled Neville Barnum in
    Australia or Bear ham I'm sorry
    Barrowman devil bear I'm in Australia 3
    33 33 33
    I couldn't find a note he sent a note in
    in August 2017 so it was a year ago
    Chuck listen you're good so hey let's
    just give him a Carmen then if he hasn't
    something he wants to relay you can get
    back to us absolutely you've got karma
    the third executive producers Tim Kato a
    300 bucks from Y upon Hawaii with this
    donation I joined the August company of
    the No Agenda roundtable thanks for all
    the hard work you both do I'd like to be
    known as Sir Tim of the tunnels and
    requests single malt scotch at the round
    table and a goat Karma for all okay
    you've got Spencer Spencer Marshall
    comes in at $200 from Hurst Texas while
    back I was getting the mail while in my
    car I unrolled the window and the exact
    time that John width of the John
    boo-boo-boo-boo Engel came on well I'm
    usually entertained by this it was a bit
    awkward considering a group of kids
    playing across the street with parent
    supervision like you know how long you
    how do you play your radio
    I can only imagine what they would they
    were thinking given the looks they gave
    me parent plays are very loud please
    consider this 808 please consider I'm
    sorry please consider 800 eighth of this
    donation in honor of those confused
    parents and children fortunately these
    may be apologized to be better
    fortunately my the only ladies and
    gentlemen is what you call a cold read
    and it's going well the only list my
    name has been attitude you know the
    funny thing about that long cold read
    that I did compared to this is a lot of
    it has to do with the writing and
    there's and the spacing and format it
    there's a lot of stuff and it's reminds
    me when you do teleprompter reading if
    you have somebody that can write for you
    and also you need the right operator oh
    yeah oh yeah but if you have somebody
    that can write for you you can read like
    a like a breeze and you never flub it's
    beautiful so then you have somebody just
    say they're just right I know who
    they're writing for and you can't read
    it it's just off paste and so you look
    at it if you're watching TV and you're
    watching these people you said this
    guy's an idiot he could be very
    stumbling all over the place it has a
    lot to do with what they're reading
    anyway it's my excuse and I'm sticking
    to it
    fortunately the only list my name has
    been added to recently is the new AAA
    list the associative Society of
    Actuaries you're not April is a book
    keeper the process involved a series of
    difficult exams I made it through those
    with no karma but would like some FS a
    fellow of the Society of Actuaries exam
    taking goat karma as I prepare for my
    next test on Halloween
    I would also like a foamer screaming
    about - train horn jingle for my smokin
    hot wife who works for BNSF finally
    please play a boob jingle for the next
    boob donation not the baseball one it's
    been too long please keep it a good work
    shows when much needed
    it's a much-needed reminder that it's
    always worth applying critical thought
    to new information I'm not sure which
    one I have lined up I don't know if it's
    the baseball one
    but I don't know you've got beautiful uh
    Spencer Marshall and oh that was Spencer
    Marshall on my knee thrown custom seats
    and I thr o-n-e custom seats in Phoenix
    Arizona two hundred bucks he's just
    gonna check in with a little note on the
    bottom saying keep up the great work
    how nice nice room the custom seats
    nitro you're right you're right nice
    custom seats sunday sunday sunday see
    the nice wronged
    funny cars well that's nitro I wrongly
    all right oh that's okay
    small group but dedicated and we
    appreciate that and this entitles you to
    call yourself either an executive
    producer of no agenda episode 10:57 or
    associate executive producer and did you
    see that someone would tweet it out a
    statistic screenshot from LinkedIn
    and I think what the tweet said was a
    large percentage of No Agenda producers
    are experiencing job karma because it
    says you know like 11 people got a new
    job you know like 11 people got a new
    and they're all no agenda producers who
    put their no agenda producer ship in
    their LinkedIn profile yeah I think
    that's pretty fascinating I'm all in on
    this quantum physics thing now yeah
    exactly quantum physics thing now yeah
    Quantum's the way to go
    and we will do this again on Sunday and
    we do implore you to visit our donation
    page to support the program at Dvorak
    org slash na as witnessed by this handy
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    org slash and a you can always take this
    deconstruction out for the last day of
    the weekend that propagated our formula
    is this we go out for your people in the
    mouth this we go out for your people in the
    hey you know who's back he knows da l
    Sharpton nah know one of our favorite
    jingle makers is back Jeff Smith yes the
    Jeff Smith GE o FF the Jeff Smith is
    back Smith GE o FF the Jeff Smith is
    apparently the the crazy piano bar where
    he worked closed down so he's
    experiencing joblessness at the moment
    give him the Karma first of all you've
    got him the Karma first of all you've
    karma but he Magus Lee it kind of gave
    me the impression on the email that I
    received that he was enjoying the
    downtime and of course it means that he
    created some more jingles for us you
    know what is a professional jingle maker
    and we have a lot of people they can can
    do jingles whether or not professionals
    is the difference and the difference is
    that his jingles are tight they're short
    and tight ya know then and to the point
    and they work incredibly well and in
    this case you know it's the who but who
    cares case you know it's the who but who
    QQQ a musician joke there
    lovely well I only have a few things to
    mention regarding cue today just
    actually one I think we should just Don
    the glasses just for a brief little
    update do you have them there hold on a
    sec snaps my head back when I put them
    on you ready wait a minute I didn't get
    mine on no are they on oh here's the
    latest on no are they on oh here's the
    apparently Hugh has left some dripped
    breadcrumbs that these coffins returning
    from North Korea do not contain remains
    they actually contain the server's the
    DNC server hillary server and some other
    server it's like four servers that are
    being smuggled back into the country in
    the coffins of the remains
    well since they never opened the coffins
    we have no idea what's in there could be
    a bunch of Twix bars for all we know
    yeah I don't know I don't know was that
    a bit though I like it yeah these guys
    on acid Scott Adams you know Scott Adams
    with a visited the White House he was
    with the president you see that yeah I
    saw that picture that's actually a
    cutout no I don't think so so he did his
    periscope and that was yesterday and I
    saw it and he told about he talked about
    his experience but he was very sincere
    and consistent was saying I'm not gonna
    tell you what we talked about which he
    was that's not proper like are you
    kidding me if I visited the White House
    I'd be I'd go right down to the you know
    the the the shoelaces on his shoes I'd
    be explaining everything just like the
    king of Holland you'd do as much as you
    can why would you not unless there was
    some strategy that he thinks I think
    what it was was his showing this is just
    this this is me I still got these
    glasses on so yes no of course that's
    why we bring it up yep I think what it
    is is he's vying for a job who within
    the administration and he's showing that
    he can keep a secret
    unlike most of the leakers working there
    your cue vision is working very well
    today and like that very good well this
    morning he did another periscope and he
    said cue is bullshit it's he he
    basically calls it what we've discussed
    previously a psychological operation and
    it will only wind up in severe
    disappointment for everybody
    he's pushing out disinformation the
    president that he can do that exactly
    and Q will drop some crumbs to let us
    know yeah yeah and hopefully I'll be
    able to report on that on Sunday show
    cuckoo could you now before you take
    them off John just just look out the
    window right now before I do that before
    the other one I should mention this is
    Sunday show if I'm not mistaken yeah I'm
    in Thursday I know I'm a different this
    I do it all the time I do it all the
    time no I do it a lot no I do it a lot
    I'm confused because every day is Sunday
    to me John look up look up look up look
    up look at the sky yeah
    do you see the moon bases blue sky okay
    I can see the moon bases with him I'm
    taking mine off take it off okay we're
    done you know whether they're on or off
    one thing is the same
    the mudflats they're still there and
    they're big yeah
    anyway Jeff's back could not be happier
    and we have some other stuff that he's a
    Centon we'll be using over the course of
    the next few shows no doubt so thank you
    sir Jeff Smith long term
    a contributor to the show
    alright hey what do we have what you got
    I got something there you should have
    some you know the Koch brothers all are
    the Koch brothers the Koch brothers we
    talked about the you know they're
    bailing out they didn't ever like Trump
    and they didn't want him to get to win
    and they had all just finally have rooks
    and shields those shields been sidelined
    for this last show and they had somebody
    I can remember a brown recline or
    something I can't remember his name
    client the smarter guy the guy they
    should use him they should get rid of
    shields and guys blithering idiot it's
    not like an ad just for saying that but
    he just just lost he's lost it like this
    bitch moan about Trump yeah so they're
    talking about the Koch brothers and how
    they're you know they don't like Trump
    and they they're bitching about
    different he's got something excuse for
    that but then it cuts over to she into
    Brooks who actually says something
    complimentary about Trump after all
    these years but what he says has a kind
    of a secondary little meaning that it
    needs a little discussion pay for what
    it what it wants to do it's interesting
    the way that these groups are fighting
    so on the one hand Donald Trump is given
    the Coase a lot of what they want not
    everything but there are a lot of places
    where there have been convergences Mike
    Pence is a very close coke ally a lot of
    folks in the Trump administration
    because fans have a lot of authority
    over staffing have come from that world
    and there are a lot of things that Shep
    administration has done on deregulation
    on taxes they've been quite happy with
    but in their parts where Trump is more
    idiosyncratic personal views and they've
    not been the spending thing is
    fascinating though because it's not just
    Donald Trump they'll jump doesn't have
    authority over spending Paul Ryan has
    been pushing those bills for Mitch
    McConnell's been pushing those bills
    forward so to the extent that they're
    upset over more than just free trade
    they're all so upset with Republicans in
    Congress but there's a way that it gets
    identified and personified in Donald
    Trump that strikes me as a little bit
    convenient they don't really want to be
    across purposes and people they
    otherwise like but it's not so much
    about making all these spending
    decisions there's one area where I agree
    with Trump and that's on how you win
    elections the koch method is you pour
    billions of dollars into different
    congressional races their record is
    terrible they do well when Republicans
    do well they do terribly onions when
    Republicans do terribly there's not a
    lot of evidence that their method is
    really a great metaphor for winning
    elections Donald Trump just strong
    message and a guy with a Facebook and a
    Twitter account and so it's not the big
    structure it's not the big money I would
    say in a media age like we're in now
    actually the Trump way of winning
    elections is a better way than the Koch
    way well all right that very astute 16
    the students said it has an issue yeah
    it's anti media ooh yes good point that
    is anti media PBS yeah because you're
    takin away their their core core cash
    cow is any election yeah and so they
    want to coke good method they don't care
    whether it works or not they just want
    to bitch about the cokes and all that
    but most of the meetings that has the
    following message cuz they're taking the
    money by PBS not taking that money but
    little they get it around in a
    roundabout way so they still shouldn't
    be saying this and he's brisk is career
    on the TV by saying this by saying that
    you know well you don't need to spend
    all that money what yeah PBS that's the
    same thing if you remember there are
    real basic analysis here
    yes underwriting advertising the the
    model is spend a lot of money bitch and
    moan about campaign finance reform and
    make a big we need more spent more
    they're gonna spend two billion this
    year oh my god the finance reform is
    necessary and you bitch about it and he
    says no boo they're spending two billion
    we got to spend two billion so it's the
    whole thing is a scam to get more money
    in the coffers I wish we could find the
    les Moonves clip where he's at a
    quarterly I think it's a quarterly
    earnings announcement and he goes on
    about how great his last election was
    because of all the money being spent I
    think it refers to the to the Romney
    Obama election no no no it was it was
    Moonves talking to shareholders
    specifically about how Trump was great
    for advertising was during the primaries
    I see Moonves I thought we had that
    somewhere yeah ah we've got it the
    advertising climate couldn't be better
    right now and I've never seen it this
    hot for a number of years third quarter
    scatter was phenomenally good and fourth
    is even better than
    that so as the year ends and we move
    into sixteen guess what in 16 we have an
    extra AFC champion playoff game we have
    the Super Bowl and we have a year of
    political advertising that looks like
    it's shaping up to be pretty phenomenal
    you know we love having all 16
    Republican candidates throwing crap at
    each other it's great the more they
    spend the better it is for us and go
    Donald keeps keep getting out there and
    you know this is this is fun you know
    the you know watching this let him spend
    money on us and we love having them in
    in there we're looking forward to a very
    exciting political year and 16 that was
    an investor's call as what it was yeah
    well this is a good example that was a
    that was one of the few times where all
    she gets something like that on tape
    like he said go Donald
    mr. hashtag wasn't expecting it this is
    pre you know this is during the
    president's like old tweets coming back
    this show hey we got you we got a clip
    of you Moonves but that's the model and
    that's so when you start talking about
    the Koch brothers being marginalized in
    this their method doesn't work you
    should just you have a message and again
    a couple of social media accounts nobody
    wants to hear that they want the old
    model in the model is and I'll say it
    again spend a lot of money more and more
    money that's how you win you win by
    spending a lot of money oh and we need
    campaign finance reform because people
    are spending too much money we've got to
    stop it we can't afford it and then you
    don't do anything The Wall Street
    Journal had a pretty good article about
    Moonves and the title of it was CBS
    scandal is neatly timed exactly what we
    discussed that yeah it appears this
    could be chery chery Redstone's play
    that would get what I would believe that
    that's what the Wall Street Journal
    concluded after listening to the show
    and I have a little update on Harvey
    Weinstein as there was some news from
    his court case where he can be sentenced
    to court case where he can be sentenced
    effectively a life term sentence and I I
    got I think he's gonna I think he's
    gonna get off I don't think he's gonna
    go to jail at all I think he's gonna I
    think he's gonna walk - yeah I think so
    here we go he was once the most famous
    film producer in Hollywood but outrage
    over Harvey Weinstein's alleged crimes
    have left him infamous and kicked off
    the me2 movement leading many women to
    speak out against sexual misconduct in
    the workplace mr. Weinstein has already
    appeared in court accused of sexually
    assaulting three women which he denies
    but now his lawyer is trying to get the
    entire case thrown out saying in part
    that the jury hasn't been told the full
    story the defense says that dozens of
    emails dating from weeks up to four
    years after an alleged rape in 2013 that
    were exchanged between Weinstein and an
    accuser show that they had a long-term
    consensual intimate relationship and at
    no point referenced an assault they say
    that these emails should have been shown
    to the grand jury
    so that they could make an informed
    decision before they brought charges
    against him his defense team is
    attempting to have the other charges
    thrown out of court on technical grounds
    mr. Weinstein's lawyers claim some
    charges aren't detailed enough and that
    they weren't sufficiently notified about
    others they also claimed the case was
    rushed to court under pressure from
    politicians and the media as actresses
    like Gwyneth Paltrow lined up to say
    that he had behaved inappropriately with
    them Harvey Weinstein was once a
    Hollywood heavy hitter but now with a
    charge that can see him locked away for
    life and nearly 100 women publicly
    accusing him fame has turned to infamy
    you know somewhere else in in the court
    proceedings and so the email that the
    emails are talking about is one of his
    accusers who they only wanted to
    identify by her initials which was JM
    man how hard is it to figure out that's
    Julianne Moore that apparently there was
    a you know ten year long email
    relationship and she's saying very
    flattering things and very nice to
    Harvey and you know but that was not
    introduced the jury never saw that the
    grand jury when the case was introduced
    to them so I would say that's pretty
    important evidence and more importantly
    I was talking to Steve patch enok last
    week yeah and a typical Pacini call and
    we talked about stuff and you know then
    we're talking about the movie of my life
    I was welcome for saying that yeah you
    got a great story that he knows Harvey
    very well you know he's always pitching
    me he knows Harvey really well because
    of the net for series and all the work
    the co-writing or as he would say almost
    all the writing for the what's-his-face
    yeah you know I'm talking about no yeah
    the the the writer come on good writer
    Jenica wrote it wrote all these books
    for him clear and present danger guy
    Clancy him clear and present danger guy
    trying to find some Clancy Clancy classy
    yet the insurance salesman Clancy
    so pachán ik was out there in in
    Hollywood a lot while they were shooting
    TV series etc and so again you know
    checks like I ever did the movie of your
    life said I don't want to yeah I don't
    have to blow a Harvey Weinstein to get
    movie today always says he says I can
    say this says Harvey just an ugly Jewish
    boy and women were throwing himself at
    him he's not a rapist then coming from
    poach an egg that's a pretty strong
    statement an egg that's a pretty strong
    there had to be an element of women
    throwing themselves at him I don't think
    it's not deniable if you have the kind
    of power that he finally achieved where
    he could make or break your career and
    put you in a movie and make you a star
    mm-hmm but there's a lot of women and
    I'm not saying all women or there's a
    lot of there's also some super talented
    women they would never do this under a
    million years and some that even less
    talented would never do it but there's
    some women that would just throw
    themselves at someone because they
    consider themselves they did actually
    consider it well look I can manipulate
    this guy to get me a job I used my
    feminine wiles mm-hmm to do the trick
    and you know bat in the eye at bat you
    know women abet I always tell him to go
    do this go bat your eyes at the guy you
    watch sure they'll do it just bat your
    eyes MJ everything will be fine trust
    your old man never see my daughter but
    so you do that doesn't think that
    happened is naive and in gay Hollywood
    it happens to a lot yeah I've been
    propositioned by Hollywood types sadly
    only the gay guys producer you would
    have gotten both sides of it possibly I
    don't know but I'm just saying that that
    made me second think this and look back
    at all the evidence and would this
    really it's hard to have evidence and I
    don't want to take anything away from it
    anybody but I think the guy will walk I
    don't think there's enough against him
    and I think in fact there's probably
    enough for him that is going to be very
    it's gonna be a shitty conversation if
    people really talk about it if a lot of
    it comes out because yes I'm some women
    now and it's gonna be beside herself and
    this guy it's off yes and no pun
    intended yeah and
    it's possible because the guy is a
    storyteller possible because the guy is a
    yeah not a writer but a storyteller
    because he knows how to get these things
    done correctly well I mean change speed
    I have to say the King's Speech was
    Harvey Weinstein's best work that was a
    phenomenal movie and that was it was
    really him who put that together and
    made that work he will get back into the
    business that work he will get back into the
    because he this is business what else is
    he gonna do sit around and both no he'll
    kill dude the apology tour get away with
    it mm-hmm put himself back into a
    position of power and then he's going
    after his enemies
    yeah and that Clues paltrow everybody on
    that list they're all derald except for
    Streep you know they're all gonna yeah
    we're Streep still hasn't really said
    anything has she
    she's probably didn't do it you know why
    because she probably knows she may be
    coming from the same schools like Wow
    sorry he may not he may be a bad boy but
    here's what I'm not being I yeah I'm
    sure someone will accuse me of being an
    apologist I'm just exploring different
    angles which is what we what we luckily
    can do on this show since there's no one
    here to cut us off because the
    advertisers won't like it
    yeah I'm not gonna say that you're full
    of crap on this one because you're not
    this is actually what's gonna happen
    yeah I think so too I think is gonna go
    I think he's gonna walk I think is gonna
    get he's gonna he's gonna do his apology
    tour he's gonna be out on all the talk
    shows because he's gonna be kind of the
    interesting guest of the month and it'll
    go on and on he'll get didn't he's gonna
    do a small a couple small independent
    films you know done by up-and-comers
    with a bunch of new new talent and then
    he's gonna start making yeah that's dude
    the skills that he has is nothing that
    you can just it's not like it's not like
    falling off a log it's it takes a lot of
    time and energy Mel Gibson Mel Gibson's
    back now you know it's okay this is this
    is what I will say almost regardless of
    the crime whatever you do in America you
    always get a second chance yeah unless
    you're in prison right unless you're
    locked up
    like professor Li adopted no second
    chance for professor Ted no no am I
    gonna have no it won't let us see now
    ooh this was a Washington Post just
    noclip just a little mention here we
    were I had a theory about Cavanaugh
    Brett Kavanaugh and based upon some
    clips that we know that Trump's sister
    recommended and different person and
    that person ticked all the boxes but
    they went with Cavanaugh anyway and my
    suspicion is he's doing it to open up
    the can of worms about the Clinton and
    Vince Foster
    and the Washington Post is already
    diving in headfirst after investigating
    Clinton White House and Vincent Faust
    Foster's death Brett Kavanaugh had a
    change of heart so there they stood
    there of all the papers in the country
    the suckers yeah they they fell for wop
    oh yeah they jumped headfirst full
    article all about what happened about
    star and and what Cavanaugh's role was
    and the controversy over the gunshot in
    Fort Marcy Park there's they're ahead of
    the game they're dredging it up now when
    do we start with the confirmation
    hearings isn't that soon it's got to be
    soon isn't it's got to be within the
    next couple weeks yeah yeah so we'll see
    this is we it could be some we might be
    right on this one we'll say this was
    possible I'm looking at the wopo has
    this thing people might want to
    subscribe to because you have to have
    some armor cuz it's just a trump ad and
    money and you need money no no not for
    this newsletter oh you just can't go
    beyond the newsletter then you have to
    subscribe although it seems with brave
    you can get past most of these you can't
    get yeah you can get through some of
    them otherwise it is called the post
    most and it's all just Trump hey I'm a
    Trump jump jump and here's the one yes
    really and so this one's this headline
    was at the top of the listen isn't big
    bold big bigger pic type fonts and says
    the following Trump at a precarious
    moment in his presidency privately
    brooding and publicly roaring that's the
    headline no I just read the first
    sentence it goes the president anxious
    about the Russian probe and the legal
    fate of his son okay
    increasingly channels his frustrations
    into public appearances and then they go
    on about these public appearances that
    he's been doing because he's on the
    campaign trail for a bunch of different
    senators and governors so it's all all
    over the place I'm reading this thinking
    to myself do they think this is new with
    him exactly what he's been doing this is
    what he did before he got elected this
    is what he's been doing after he got
    elected what is new about this and by
    the way people if somebody said well
    he's just campaigning is
    ridiculous he keeps doing this he's not
    ready for anything this is what I run
    Twitter and I didn't want to get into it
    but what I was thinking was we used to
    talk about this with Obama all the time
    yes he would consistently be on the road
    out there doing campaigns yeah yeah even
    after he was reelected he wished he
    would keep doing it and he was good at
    it yeah he was good and Trump is good at
    these hour-long us although someone
    needs to work on staging I don't know if
    you saw Saturday speech right behind the
    president for us for the viewers right -
    the president left were two girls who
    looked like the girls in the shining it
    was frightening did you see this those
    two girls
    it was crazy scary I've expecting Jack
    Nicholson to show up here it was like
    they would clap once in a whi didn't
    watch the whole speech I just watched
    some parts of it but it was a clay was
    the same you know I guess the one of the
    few speeches I started to watch it's
    like putting on a CNN was running it
    online and I'm thinking why are they
    doing that cuz it's just a bunch of anti
    CNN material but ok so they're running
    it and I'm actually get kind of bored
    with it about half when they had
    probably before halfway through buddy
    saw those two girls and they would
    randomly clap yeah they really didn't
    smile they weren't whooping it up they
    weren't having much fun it looked like
    ya need to work on the staging that was
    the big problem I don't know whose kids
    they were but that was not a good look I
    almost think his first kind of talks
    about the whole thing being first-come
    first-serve could be no I you know what
    I don't think so because these things
    are tight I love how the audio is really
    tight tight I love how the audio is really
    melee always wraps up and I think you
    should work on this but ok it's working
    for me we'll make America safe again
    we'll make America strong again will
    make America rich again will make
    America great again hmm
    you can't always get what you want I
    mean that is tight they jam that right
    on top of them
    so someone someone's doing staging well
    though they say yeah and accuse it so it
    works oh yeah I totally accuse it well
    let's talk about some some Trump hate
    and really hate against specifically CNN
    and Jim Acosta I have a couple of clips
    that we I think we should discuss and we
    should point out that you know this this
    rally where he was so afraid and think
    CNN suck CNN sucks if he was just
    fearing for his life for his safety if
    you think there's a put the page in the
    show no there's really no audio that's
    of any use but you know yeah there's the
    video of the people yelling CNN stocks
    but then there's a video where he's half
    off that podium doing selfies handing
    out autographs you know he's so afraid
    so this is a complete charade as far as
    I know and I'm no Journal is you never
    want to be the story you really don't
    and Jim Acosta is it is is just chubbing
    over being the story he loves being the
    story and he's not really a journal does
    he have any real journal credits he's
    just a Yeller you see cause we should
    yeah we should look at this we should
    look at the wiki pages yes now we call
    that consulting the book of knowledge
    another did a media career radio guy
    it doesn't have any awards do i it
    doesn't mean anything
    well he's basically a talking head he's
    been on the radio then he went on
    television this bullet says he never
    wrote what radio was he the top 40 DJ
    what was he doing does it say his first
    job which was the WWE mal mal mal W mal
    that's a.m. news talk radio Washington
    DC 10,000 watts in the daytime he was a
    reporter substitute anchor I remained at
    that job until 98 he's always a news
    reader good news newsreader newsreader
    but he's he's really doing the job very
    well so that the CNN continues to
    interchange Free Press with press with
    CNN with the media with enemy of the
    people whereas the quote still remains
    at actually it has been expanded fake
    news like CNN okay that's that is now
    the definition of the enemy of the
    people fake news like CNN or CNN fake
    news it's CNN specifically the Trump is
    now calling out am I correct
    well he does call him out yes he'll say
    everybody he never really calls out
    MSNBC no no never does CNN so Jim Acosta
    you know I had one yelling CNN soccer
    ooh boy I'm so scared and I've been in
    these situations is not that scary and
    these people weren't mad and ready to
    lynch you but April Ryan's certainly
    thought so and she was on with Don Lemon
    and they had a very thoughtful convo
    about it I'm sure this is very different
    do you sit in that room again as I said
    the most esteemed podium in the world
    and the most esteemed podium in the
    world really I can think of some you
    know how about the Oscar stage would
    that be more esteemed or is this is this
    the one or do you just sit there and say
    I cannot believe that someone is
    standing here lying to the American
    media and the American people why go in
    because she's might go in
    she's with the black national
    broadcasters association wait was she
    going in for was this a bunch of just
    lie lightly because what's the point I
    can eat a hamburger I'll tell you why
    I'll tell you why Woodward and Bernstein
    and this is a way that the journals who
    do not go into war-torn areas can still
    say that they're in danger every day of
    their lives that's what this is about
    we're in danger too back at home it's
    dangerous here do the American media and
    the American people or I'm gonna say
    this to you today when she said that I
    couldn't believe when she was talking
    about you know how we get leaked
    information we don't just as the press
    we don't just walk into an office and
    open files and take lead information and
    report it
    our sources are giving it to us
    giving it to us willingly because
    they're whistleblowers ah hold on a
    second now she's saying that these
    anonymous sources are whistleblowers
    to me well she started off with a
    performative yeah why would a reporter
    use a performative by saying you're
    asking me a question I'm a reporter I
    say well I'm going to say this to you
    that's exactly that's what she said
    that's a performative which may not be
    what she believes but that's just what
    she's saying to you yeah I'm going to
    say this to you and then she says
    something which is could be I don't know
    she's gonna say he's got nothing to do
    with anything necessarily so why is she
    doing that and for her to assume or to
    say that we are just gathering it we're
    wrong no she's not she's changing the
    facts and if you want to say she's lying
    she's lying and I agree with that it was
    shameful today that podium is no place
    to play you know you don't play with
    words you don't play with moments
    everything comes to the White House from
    water peace and everything in between
    that's a serious moment in a serious
    place and Jim Acosta's life in my
    opinion was in jeopardy that night there
    was a safety issue it was a safety issue
    and you know she gets run out of a
    henhouse a couple of weeks ago I get
    Secret Service detail
    that wasn't a safety issue and this
    president this president President
    Donald J Trump has stoked the flames for
    reporters to feel like they are inject
    their lives their safety is in jeopardy
    their lives in jeopardy at these rallies
    if something has got to stop well she
    it's taxpayer-funded she gets
    taxpayer-funded security for something
    that she Stokes yeah but yeah this okay
    it's freedom of speech for us it is not
    right and I talked to Ari Fleischer
    former White House press secretary under
    george w bush and we had our back and
    forth quite a bit you know and I've had
    back and forth with even Robert Gibbs
    but it never it was always a friendly
    adversarial situation it was never
    personal this is now gone beyond
    politics this has gone into life
    changing lives the pain is I have to say
    that a couple of things here number one
    we don't forgot
    is dawn these serious intellectual Don I
    really like a couple things here on
    April we've got my glasses on so you
    should take me kind of serious as the
    overnight sensation begrudge her
    security or anyone who's Secret Service
    they need it and many journalists need
    it now because of what this president
    and this administration everybody needs
    security a lot of us are where all we
    are hello security
    you know it started with lock her up you
    know build a wall and all of these build
    the wall that was that bad to your
    security lock her up that's not bad for
    journalists unseemly chance and now it's
    CNN sucks it's not about but I don't
    think Trump ever started any of those he
    encourages them I don't think he started
    of course this team even why would you
    shut that down CNN it's just about the
    behavior like you're sitting in so Sunan
    is whining because for a second first of
    all she's bitching about this security
    thing you know you know Sarah gets a the
    only press woman in the world ever to
    have to have Secret Service because of
    the nut balls out there that you guys
    have stoked let's don't get into that
    and definitely don't want to discuss it
    hey CNN is a huge operation they can
    afford to put a detail on this guy if
    it's that important yeah I'm sure they
    do have money I'm sure they do
    yeah they got plenty of money they could
    put a detail on this guy he's really
    under some sort of a net to worry about
    it or they could take him off that
    assignment maybe put somebody else there
    there's plenty of people this guy from
    the looks of his wiki page he's not no
    big thing
    what's how are the ratings were seeing
    are they completely in the crapper or
    are they okay yeah they're no good in
    the crapper also that so this is Jeff
    Zucker's idea of a ratings Bonanza
    perhaps they're talking about it like MH
    13 or damage 370 whatever it was now
    yeah the missing one up you know build a
    wall and all of these unseemly chance
    and now it's CNN sucks
    it's not about CNN it's about CNN
    no one's chanting MSNBC sucks they're
    only saying CNN should be clue lock her
    up you know build a wall and all of
    these unseemly chance and now it's CNN
    sucks unseemly chance and now it's CNN
    it's not about CNN it's just about the
    behavior like you're sitting here so CNN
    is whining because there is it said
    about any other network or any other
    person in the crowd or any other entity
    we would be having this conversation
    because this is supposed to be a
    dignified respectful are you kidding me
    when they have these 10 people and they
    have what's-her-name that one woman that
    real that the Cuban woman who just
    claims to be ran out of arrow and
    Navarro she is though that's dignified
    are you kidding me Rob Reiner pretty
    dignified I think the way he came across
    let's all let's finish this up the 7 sex
    is supposed to be a dignified respectful
    things don't become dignified because
    you say you said what you say it like
    instead of signified like we said you
    signify signified it's it's actually
    patronizing I think dignified we would
    be having this conversation because this
    is supposed to be a dignified
    respectful place to do the American
    people's business and he says which
    reading and hearing what you're seeing
    or whatever it's not true and so further
    stoking that yeah or maybe he just
    disagrees with your facts so let's hear
    from the man himself he has a very
    interesting concept journos unite first
    of all let me just speak on behalf of my
    CNN colleagues and knowing that no one
    ever called laboratory to be choked or
    harassed from this network number one
    and number two why can't this White
    House acknowledge that the media is not
    the enemy of the people because they
    said CNN fake news CNN is the enemy of
    the people
    sadly Brooke I think what what you saw
    happened here at the end of that
    briefing was that the true feelings of
    the president the true feelings of many
    of the people who work in this
    administration laid bare they believe it
    appears in their heart of hearts that
    the journalists who cover this White
    House the journalists who work in this
    city who were just trying a few moments
    to go to hold some of these officials
    accountable about attacks on our
    democracy that the people here who work
    at this White House all the way up to
    the president evidently believe that
    journalists are the enemy of the people
    to the media to journalists I heard this
    by the way and I was very annoyed by it
    I'm listening to the radio and they have
    that our news break and it's CBS mm-hmm
    CBS News News talking about some
    brouhaha and he says and we know the
    president said that the media is the
    enemy as quote make that quote out of
    the blue yeah and I'm thinking they're
    just the whole complex is trying to
    pound this home now here's the problem
    they have the way I see it yeah he
    didn't say that he didn't and but you
    can be even if you claim that he did say
    it and you keep pounding that he said it
    and he said it how is this helping you
    you got lousy you got lousy numbers in
    public opinion polls the media does the
    mass media the big boys the m5 MS you
    got lousy numbers the president's saying
    bad things about CNN and you're taking
    it on as they saying bad things about
    you so you created this quote that the
    media is the enemy of journalists and
    now journalists and the president is the
    one no matter who he is it could be
    anybody who leads this kind of the
    social norms of a country you're making
    yourself D enemies this is madness
    well we have to the president evidently
    believed that journalists are the enemy
    of the people literally the enemy of the
    people literally the enemy you should
    call your Lib joes hey you better move I
    know where you are you're the enemy of
    the people
    and I gave all there except for Ivanka
    Trump and I and I tried to pose that
    question to say you know listen the the
    president's daughter his own daughter
    said no she doesn't think that that
    would imagine someone in a business
    argument with you or maybe an editor and
    saying to you listen Dvorak your own
    daughter doesn't even think the way you
    do doesn't even think the way you
    how would you respond to that
    yeah yeah okay you're the enemy and you
    saw it unfold there I was given I was
    giving saris several opportunities there
    to set the record straight and she just
    flat refused and I think what you can
    obviously see is that she's taken a lot
    of what she's experienced very
    personally I don't I don't I don't blame
    her for that my goodness she has taken
    on a lot but at the same time she also
    has come up here to this podium on her
    on a regular basis and continue to tell
    the American people but you know
    provable falsehoods lies so on and
    unfortunately you know our job as
    journalists as you know Brooke that
    podium more lies have taken place at
    that podium throughout history than any
    other place this what this is what
    happens it's a big lie it's it so of
    course it's propaganda it's spin we have
    to call that stuff out we have to
    fact-check them we're fact checkers in
    realtime checker in real time I tell my
    business God how you doing and so on and
    unfortunately you know our job as
    journalists as you know Brooke is we
    have to call that stuff out we have to
    fact-check that we're fact checkers in
    real time dealing with this president
    because he tells falsehoods and lies so
    much and you know it's unfortunate that
    the position that we're all in right now
    and and I'm standing in this briefing
    room right now there is no government
    official here but I'll say that the
    press is not the enemy of the people and
    you know that's not I mean that wasn't
    in the question Jimba Costello I think
    you know maybe we should make some
    bumper stickers let's take some notes
    here hold on a second there's some stuff
    we need to do John your journal are you
    a journal
    yeah I shouldn't mention the Newseum yes
    and other side of Washington C had a
    had a t-shirts for sale saying you're
    fake that they had to take out of the
    other out of the museum store your face
    yeah as in fake news is the Newseum it's
    the Newseum as yeah yeah I know I'm
    familiar with the Newseum but I don't
    it's not even funny
    no it's not funny but it was it was a
    shirt that they were selling for some
    unknown reason and some journalist
    gamers are wait a minute
    we don't want these shirts out and about
    well apparently bumper stickers are the
    way to go and this is where a cost that
    makes a very feeble attempt to rally
    journals from coast to coast that the
    press is not the enemy of the people and
    you know I think you know maybe we
    should make some bumper stickers make
    some buttons you know maybe we should go
    out on Pennsylvania Avenue like these
    folks who chant CNN sucks and fake news
    maybe we should go out all all
    journalists should go out on
    Pennsylvania Avenue and chant we're not
    the enemy of the people
    I mean how can you make a chant out of
    it two four six eight who do we
    appreciate two four six eight who do we
    we're not okay give me the bumper
    sticker what's on the bumper sticker
    it's gonna be across my entire bumper if
    CNN is not the enemy of the people nor
    are journos or journalists and free
    press freedom rules calm okay good idea
    Jim because it is not right it is not
    fair it is not just it is on American to
    come out here and call the press the
    enemy of the people and Ivanka Trump
    knows that
    I don't know what evanka trunk is a
    trunk don't know what evanka trunk is a
    if uncle trunk is a domed it's one day
    to these guys in the next she's she's so
    obviously genius she understand it sir
    she what is she fighting and I don't
    know why this press secretary doesn't I
    mean she got yelled at at a restaurant
    in Virginia I'm sorry about that
    I feel badly for her that that happened
    the whole story
    we're fact-checking in real time here
    that's a lie Jim Acosta just yelled that
    she just got kicked out to your home how
    they followed her family my home is my
    life and I don't know why this press
    secretary doesn't I mean she got yelled
    at at a restaurant in Virginia I'm sorry
    about that I feel badly for her that
    that happened and that's actually Jim
    conflating two different events yeah
    good words sure no lie you lie lie lie
    lie check false not a comedian a
    Correspondents Dinner said some
    unpleasant things about her I'm sorry
    about that she ought to hear some of the
    things that were said to me the other
    night in Tampa she oughta read some of
    the things that are said about my
    colleagues on CNN on a regular basis it
    would be nice if we all why don't you go
    to Reddit and see what they say about me
    douche for the temperature a little bit
    but at the very least I think we should
    all be able to agree on one thing and
    that is the press is not the enemy of
    the people
    fellow Americans not the enemy of fellow
    Americans oh now now it's a we take a
    Rob Reiner we've we've taken it down to
    fellow Americans now so it's gone from
    fake news fake new CNN CNN journalists
    sure knows American people on a regular
    basis it would be nice if we all lowered
    the temperature a little bit but at the
    very least I think we should all be able
    to agree on one thing
    and that is the press is not the enemy
    of the people fellow Americans are not
    the enemy of fellow Americans and I you
    know forgive me for going on a rant but
    I think that they've lost sight of that
    here at this White House for gay men
    forgive me if I went on a rant here
    that's the whole reason you're there Jim
    Jim Acosta
    well fine I'll wrap this up with some
    serious hate and it's serious because
    it's from NPR so we always know that
    they're very serious this is once again
    the the weekly news rundown Jack baby
    Dee has got to be my favorite guy and
    having just watched the movie based upon
    your recommendation it's an apropos clip
    I watched the death of Stalin and I
    liked it very much thank you for that
    wreck oh thank you Dad I gave the wreck
    oh yeah the wrecker was groovy it was
    not you said it's a comedy it is a
    comedy but it is indeed a very British
    comedy where just everything is it's
    almost like a Monty Python sketch in a
    way you know I mean Michael Palin was in
    it well then that has yeah I would have
    something to do with it but you know
    what I mean it's like it's not like
    laughing out loud hilariously like a
    standard oh is very it was I don't know
    what even what to call it it was not a
    laugh out loud comedy even though there
    were some laugh out loud moments a
    couple usually were there shooting
    somebody usually were there shooting
    oh no more lists oh sorry
    or how about when when Stalin is dead
    and he's crap destroys in a coma and
    he's crapped his pants in the pool of
    pee and everybody keeps kneeling in it
    like ah geez
    no one wanted to touch him because his
    pee everywhere I mean it was that was
    comedic Lee funny I thought that was
    very very good but also historically
    it's interesting to to watch this movie
    just to kind of see
    you know what the Stalin period was
    about in a in one from one particular
    view kind of look I would say over
    compressed history left a lot I mean
    there's tons of stuff that weren't
    wasn't discussed cuz I ended up reading
    about all these guys and and Baria
    wasn't just taken out and summarily shot
    in the head as they're dragging him out
    he actually went to her actual trial and
    then they shot him in the head right
    anyway so I just brought up Stalin
    because it's in this clip yeah here's
    Jack Beatty were back to the weekend
    hating Trump so it was interesting at
    the podium yesterday at the White House
    Sarah Sanders speaking about this she
    said quote the media has attacked me
    personally on a number of occasions
    including your own Network here he is
    that's she's speaking about CNN when I
    host was when I hosted the
    Correspondents Association there was a
    comedian there she talked about
    attacking her appearance called her a
    traitor to her gender in fact Jack
    Beatty she's the first press secretary
    in the history of the u.s. that's
    required Secret Service protection so
    there she is Sarah Sanders saying you
    know there are two sides to this story
    here Jack yes
    but the Washington Post looks at her
    claims and on the comedian they point
    out that the journalists themselves were
    alarmed and expressed dismay over the
    over the comedians comments and on other
    things that Sarah brought up you know
    the best that they could point to would
    be comment someone made on Kate cable
    television which we're takin it at least
    as the as the post lays it out wildly
    out of context to allow Sarah to have
    this moment of self pity you know this
    phrase enemies of the people yet it's a
    Stalinist phrase ketta Khrushchev
    denounced it in his 1956 secret speech
    to the communist party where he was
    making a sort of you know putting the
    sins of Stalinism out out and he said
    this that the phrase enemies of the
    people quote was specifically introduced
    for the purpose of physically
    annihilating those who disagreed with
    Stalin's physically annihilating it is a
    blood-soaked phrase
    to apply it to two reporters and to the
    into the media in a year when we have
    seen after all you know journalists
    killed for being journalists is is
    playing with fire I think we need to add
    to the Trump rotation worse then Stalin
    well I don't know if that's any
    different than Hitler
    but okay me well but specifically with
    this enemy of the people
    yeah you're probably right cuz it's been
    coming up I heard the Stalin thing much
    before so it has been coming up and
    maybe in the rotation not to pull that
    up make a change it's online
    what's online list though is it what's
    it called Trump rotation well it's under
    cosmic wienie I'm just gonna see how
    that works so well Trump rotation hmm
    cosmic cosmic wienie slash Trump
    rotation dot HTM that would be one guess
    okay let's see Trump
    rotation HD yet you don't even know what
    it is
    and I got forgot well you won't just
    write this down a map of URL to it no
    map URL babe do you think as it is Trump
    underlined flaws dot HTM but that's not
    that's not the name of it it what does
    it get gibbeh gibbeh gibbeh gibbeh
    that is what it's called on this this is
    the name of this file I'm just yeah I
    can change it okay I have it here well I
    don't see Stalin on this no I said
    Heather's on there we had to put Stalin
    on yeah yeah that's a nice list yeah
    it's a good list
    why is criminal highlighted and
    emboldened oh that's no the criminal
    thing is that's a different category and
    all those underneath oh okay oh it's a
    category yeah
    when did you stop doing this page like
    why are there no blink tags it needs it
    I think you could do it you could do a
    blink tags I believe area legal now it
    is oh no you did the blink tag and Marky
    is I think so yes Marky Marky is also a
    that would be good yeah Marky we can
    have these just scrolling by on the page
    very nice alright anyway that's an HTM
    page what do you want best part dot HTM
    know why also windows hacks use the HTM
    anyway I have a series of clips if we
    have time before the next break well not
    really can we do it after the break we
    could we could let's give that to no
    agenda imagine all the people who could
    do is awesome oh yeah that'd be fab
    we have a few people to thank for her a
    show ten five seven
    starting with Sir Andrew protector of
    the bound a book comes in 111 dollars
    and 11 cents he's overdue for a
    contribution he says John Robin $100
    Peter Arnold the 3rd Burleson Texas $100
    they lost the publishing company yeah
    they did it with a Kickstarter was a
    little platinum books calm okay yeah
    kids books nice the kids book sighs yeah
    now we have a couple 8888 which is their
    celebratory this this is the 30th
    anniversary of my marriage and they
    never had a fight ladies and gentlemen
    never and we had this was in this is
    happening on Wednesday and it'll be
    followed by a meet-up in Seattle Edie
    boo at Vaughan's 1000th are you gonna be
    there yeah oh nice so she I was gonna
    have the big meet up on 3rd on Friday
    Friday night and Thursday Friday night
    in Seattle X hog yeah Mexican anyone's
    on the mailing list I'll get the but
    what are you guys doing for your
    anniversary are you guys doing for your
    we're gonna have a big giant dinner with
    a bunch of friends over at the house up
    north you are smacking your lips a lot
    this morning it's odd that I'm saying it
    to you but are you gonna drink that wine
    I gonna drink
    cuz I don't know why it is now and just
    a thought I knew but rodent yeah what
    are you gonna drink that wine you slip
    one of those bottles of that wine like
    crazy like eight 888 wine did you have
    that we have a lot of wines from 1988
    the Bordeaux yes but we're gonna have so
    many people are probably gonna over some
    major giant bottle I'll save something
    to Tupperware for me but anyway so
    that's 888 we'll talk about the meat up
    a little more in the Thursday show but
    the show the Friday will be the meet up
    at Vons I think it's called Vaughan's
    1000 it's a drinking Club they Laos kids
    Oh to drink food and then drinks so
    they're 6 to 8 6 to 8 that'll be fun
    vo n is the name Jesse Simonian 8 8 8 8
    congratulate the congratulations she's
    always gonna be he he is going to be a
    knight yes he's going to be sir sapien
    knight of the infinite night well any
    wants a warm beer and cold women that
    right well it says it right there read
    it while I'm putting on I know but I'm
    just saying one beer and he said but no
    he says why he says why yeah look at the
    note says why he says why yeah look at the
    in honor of the Man Overboard Tom Waits
    ITM and thanks recursion I guess okay
    bark Hampton 8888 sir Chris Baron of
    Carson Valley in Gardner Villeneuve of
    Nevada 8 8 8 a sore Zachary baronet of
    the Bluff City 8 8 8 8 these are all 8 8
    8 8 so I'll just read it names and
    locations Allan Sibley in Muskegon
    Michigan Robert Cohen in Virginia Beach
    Virginia Robert Sayre michigo nians can
    get a hold of the Abdul for governor I
    think or Abdul for saying things running
    for governor um you promised along with
    this donation I see a number of people
    saying yes I want one to send people out
    an autographed photo yeah now is this a
    view and me me yeah I want one
    I want you on this list I don't care I
    want one I want it signed and I want a
    lipstick kiss for me me and it's going
    just go on my wall of fame
    to rid of things yes you gonna use it on
    your dartboard no no I think it's
    fantastic I have a one bathroom the
    guest bathroom was all my old MTV
    pictures the ones I still have left and
    I think I think you and me should be
    there's like celebs they have some New
    York steak house you know and if it love
    you love you now she's gonna do that I'm
    gonna fancy up the picture with a little
    Photoshop yeah okay the spice
    Keith here is in Quincy Illinois I did
    Robert Cohen I believe whatever happened
    to no gimmicks for donations what is
    this it's a gimmick it is a gimmick but
    but if you recall every year that we do
    this donation for the anniversary I
    offer to send a photo all right the last
    time I guarantee that now I have to you
    have to do a confirmation don't you
    remember last year the yes photo of me
    and Mimi and that you saw the picture I
    didn't autograph it though and this time
    I said I'm not gonna just give it away
    oh just do one and you'll be doing that
    with your trademark silver sharpie
    maybe they're the gold one who gold even
    better they're the gold one who gold even
    and it's gonna take about a month for
    the release of the book Keith Harris a
    GE re s in Quincy Illinois 8888 sir lot
    a night of the Brum Brum a Lowe's in
    Bremerton Washington the Brehme Lowe's
    it sounds like it sounds like a men's
    choir sounds like it sounds like a men's
    that's The Tremeloes yeah but they're in
    Bremerton so it'd be the burn mellow
    chest sure hey moose in Mooresville
    North Carolina boy anonymous in Phoenix
    Arizona Carolina boy anonymous in Phoenix
    what's the autographed photo Jeff
    Coleman autograph please call out Ronnie
    Lane as a douchebag okay and Jeff
    Coleman is in Winona Minnesota sir Tyler
    Fox Baron of aviation in Cedar Park
    Texas yes
    oh man I gotta fly with him yeah yeah
    he's got a Mooney Oh a Mooney yes if
    they're like it's like a jet fighter the
    great I've been in a movie yeah it's
    kind of tiny and you're sitting very low
    in the mind it was in Iceland oh really
    yeah and this guy says he wanted on the
    right on the money we go over to Westman
    Island and I said yeah yeah sure
    and he says watch the way this thing
    takes off so he goes to the beginning of
    the runway yeah and he drives off the
    runway about I don't know not more than
    20 feet into the gravel
    and so he's that and it turns around to
    go to take off and he takes off in the
    gravel and he just before we hit the
    runway were in the air yeah that Muniz
    amazing aircraft wait are you sure that
    was a Mooney he said it was a Mooney
    that did have really big tires I don't
    remember what was higher I remember just
    he had just I don't know I don't
    remember much of us that there was blue
    and white well sir Tyler Fox get your
    gravel ready we're gonna see if we can
    replicate this stunt this is a quick
    takeoff this stunt this is a quick
    Stephanie bail he did gun it a lot I
    think you're talking about an otter
    honestly it was a Mooney no I don't know
    many guys who would put a Mooney in the
    gravel well it wasn't like it was it
    wasn't like knee-deep gravel I mean this
    must have been an otter
    because the otters can take off like 20
    feet something they're up in the air
    yeah well this thing took their pretty
    give any pictures well we'll find out
    why gag a let's get back on this track
    here gag a let's get back on this track
    Stephanie Bell and banger can County
    down this barren Robert bucket and
    ticket didn't enjoy your little Mooney
    right I'm gonna come down and take
    advantage of that too with my camera Oh
    Robert Bruckner of the desert still
    threatened me Gilbert Arizona Congrats
    Scot Floyd in Dayton California would
    love a photo see not everybody wants one
    Sherwood E in Sioux Falls South Dakota
    Thomas key and Kansas City Missouri a
    baby you know how much I actually think
    about it when I thought about this
    gimmick said I dunno should I do this
    yeah okay I'll do it the worst part is I
    know that Mimi is assigned to the
    fulfillment and she's gonna be on your
    ass she's not gonna be happy no Simon
    lived bouzouki Libby's erskine Libby Zoo
    ski-in Carlstadt New Jersey
    Carolyn Blaney and Toronto Ontario by
    the way there's still time to do the
    donation on this Wednesday yeah she said
    Carol says that 30 is Perl is Perl
    anniversary perfect I'm sure Mimi would
    look great in big old lady pearls
    I'm sure she'll enjoy that comment
    gregory louis in Orland Park Illinois
    James zukul in Beverly Hills California
    Chris Bosio who has something to say
    about something well he is comes in with
    a t-888 he is Quito nine charges
    I proudly achieved knighthood which is
    more a testament to you both on the
    quality of the best podcast in the
    universe the No Agenda show has given me
    insight and vision into the agenda of
    the m5m and more importantly their
    distribution networks like print media
    cable TV and commercial broadcast and
    satellite radio I look forward to every
    episode of the podcast and frequently
    saved the episodes for listening during
    my backpack Ladin Laden 200 floor stair
    climber workouts at the gym so I get
    better physical and mental health and
    most importantly happiness and he will
    be knighted circu of the feds named Ben
    and he wants taquitos and takea served
    at the round table you know if you do
    I'm thinking of the Pavlov theory where
    you ring a bell and you feed you and you
    do all these things to make somebody
    react a certain way I think if you work
    out and work out really hard and start
    to develop muscles while listening to
    the show yeah you can just listen to the
    show and your muscles will just grow oh
    yes it makes sense that's an interesting
    part of the surcharge of the tiny cars
    in a mout a mouse I don't know how to
    pronounce it Emma Emma's ms/ms
    Pennsylvania I'm not sure 88 88 and
    finally we wrap it up with sir Wayne
    lark home of Brisbane Australia and that
    concludes our group oh and he celebrates
    the same anniversary date eight eight
    ten years got married on eight eight
    eight we had Marron eight eight eight
    eight but eight is involved very good
    Sean McColl 6336 in Bloomington
    Minnesota Greg in Fort Wayne Indiana he
    actually sent in a note card and it's
    actually I put it aside because I might
    be worth reading my glasses on
    don't put on the cue glasses put the
    right ones on yeah I'll be reading
    something weird repentant douchebag here
    I've been hiding behind the excuse of my
    small grad school stipend for too long
    and is no longer after spending the
    summer stocking Walmart shells with
    ungodly amounts of mac and cheese to
    satiate the hungry slaves I'm pleased to
    share some of my earnings with you
    academia is a cesspool of TDs what is
    that you know TDS yeah Oh Trump
    derangement syndrome TDs and no agenda
    has been invaluable in helping me
    maintain my sanity thank you both for
    providing a healthy and hilarious
    alternative to the transparent shilling
    week analysis and outrageous alarmism of
    the m5m stay woke stay woke stay woke
    that was a good note just one of those
    notes Allen Vivek intro buried
    trowbridge Wiltshire and he says he
    started listening to the show during the
    2016 presidential campaign has not
    missed the show since his first and long
    overdue donation so he would like a deed
    issue issues
    you've been deduced thank you very much
    Alan from tow bridge Gary
    Sir Tom dari Darian wood divorced
    Wisconsin 5510 Michael gates 5280 in the
    following people are all $50 donors name
    and location
    starting with Matthew Janiszewski and
    Chicago with Matthew Janiszewski and
    Samuel cuts in Boulder Colorado
    Amy Burlingame in Bergen New York hmm
    Todd Moore in Arlington Virginia
    Virginia comes in finally Andrew Martin
    in Sydney New South Wales Josh defi boom
    Scotty knight in lost wages Nevada
    Paulie Cordell are in amudhan I'm Aaron
    I'm out in one of these days yeah that's
    the Netherlands I'm out and I'm out in
    poor I'm out on you have to yell
    Villarreal Villarreal in Auckland
    Mercedes Texas and finally sir Bret
    Farrell in Oklahoma City Calif or
    committee Oklahoma and that would be our
    conclusion for our 10:57 donors want to
    thank each and every one of them for all
    their support and also those who came in
    under $50 that's how you can be sure
    that you're going to be anonymous since
    no notes are and/or names are read under
    50 so $49.99 works for a lot of people
    also people on our a layaway knighthoods
    or subscriptions all of it helps
    whatever you think the show is worth to
    you whatever the value was when you
    heard it or what you anticipate it to be
    us and that value to us and there's lots
    of comparative measure you can use in
    your life to other media outlets cable
    all kinds of stuff
    yeah the $240 the Europe here for you
    New York Times subscription which ends
    up with a lot of recyclables we have
    upcoming meetings in Seattle Washington
    as we mentioned earlier August 10th from
    6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Vons Victor Oscar
    November Sierra Vaughn's 1000 spirits in
    downtown Seattle and on the 12th two
    days later in Arlington Virginia that is
    3:00 p.m. at lion halt ly o n so seems
    like it's gonna be packed 45 you said
    registered so far well I don't know it
    just doesn't make I mean that's a lot of
    people for one of these meetups it is
    okay that's that's probably a record
    really I think you should fly out there
    to that one and thank you again
    everybody fly out we're gonna do him go
    into a Texas meet up in Austin meet up
    okay once you once you fly out to
    Arlington I would well I just during the
    show oh there you go we have another
    show coming up on Thursday please
    remember us at 2:00 for red dot org
    slash jobs jobs and jobs let's vote for
    job you've got karma
    the list is actually the jingle is
    longer than the list we have only one
    birthday strangely enough and it's
    ablated one Aimee Burlingame celebrated
    her birthday on August 6 and we say
    happy birthday to everybody here is the
    notes at the show all right we do have
    three nights to do so let's down the
    bongos get your blade you are about to
    become Knight to the no agenda round
    table thanks to your contributions
    equaling $1000 or more which means you
    get some cool stuff and a seat right
    here at the round table and I am proud
    to pronounce a be certain mother tunnels
    sir Q of the fence named Ben and sir
    sapien knights of the infinite night for
    you gentlemen we have hookers and blow
    red boys and Chardonnay warm beer and
    cold women taquitos and takea early
    times in bf4 Crossett the King breaks
    rubinettes woman in rows a bond hips and
    bourbon ginger ale and gerbils breast
    milk and Pavel and vodka and vanilla and
    mutton and Mead so head over to Noah
    generations our calm / rings I sure will
    get you to ring out as soon as he has
    the size and we have the meinen
    inventory in stocks etc and thank you
    again for supporting the show it's nice
    to have this peerage system within us
    I have some local news okay from San
    Francisco yes this is about Twitter
    nobody about poop but of course it's
    about poop okay good well not just about
    poop poop okay good well not just about
    it's about Twitter and poop and
    Twitter's the ones responsible for the
    poop outbreak oh well good
    they are I said this is to get these
    public toilets off the streets I thought
    it was the plastic bags that were banned
    well that's and that's turns out to be a
    secondary issue but they had these
    public toilets and they're all around
    some of them were near Twitter and
    there's so many bums hanging around
    Twitter they said yeah maybe we get rid
    of the toilet so I'll get rid of the
    bums and neither what happened they got
    rid of the toilets but they didn't get
    rid of the bumps that I got poop all
    over the place well this is a chopped up
    from the toilet spec chopped up from an
    NPR report I believe and Twitter wants
    to build to employee cafeterias which as
    you know is has come under fire in
    Mountain View was that face bag who was
    it View was that face bag who was
    face bags buddies free food and it's not
    stimulating or supporting the local
    economy because all these rich rich
    Googlers or face baggers or Twitterers
    they're all sitting there eating their
    free food and it's bad it's bad for the
    neighborhood bad for economy and well
    here's just a couple of quotes from this
    little back and forth from the panel
    here's Nellie Bowles most businesses say
    the biggest challenge for them is street
    crime is the the sorry state of San
    Francisco streets and the cost of
    security and the cost of that's the real
    financial challenge that their front
    confronting security it's not just Pope
    John it's Jerry we've got a major
    problem on the streets especially in mid
    market and you know UN Plaza and Civic
    Center and you know UN Plaza and Civic
    it's a heroin den of activity the
    symphony has to have a shuttle to bring
    people in the evenings from BART three
    blocks to the symphony hall that's
    what's driving business away from is
    Market Street it's not a couple of
    upstairs cafeterias for a few thousand
    people we've added
    a hundred and eighty thousand jobs in
    San Francisco since the depths of the
    recession we've added 70,000 people in
    seven years there are plenty of
    customers in San Francisco for
    restaurants for scores for a vibrant
    evening and daytime street life if we
    clean up our street oh this okay there's
    plenty here I call ourselves I'm sorry
    plenty of plenty of people plenty of
    people to make it up we're the Twitter
    eats in-house or not we just have to
    clean up the streets and yes yes there
    are issues with the poop John let me
    bring our callers on and let's go I
    think we have pain on how can are you
    there that's going okay now that I hear
    your voice go ahead right yes downtown
    and my office doesn't offer doesn't have
    a cafeteria so we have to go out but
    it's so bad out there that it's
    basically dangerous to step outside and
    to go get food so sometimes we'll just
    have to order lunch and have it
    delivered so we can avoid you know fecal
    matter on the streets and crazy people
    throwing stuff at you hey Austin here's
    what you have to look forward to and
    then there was just one funny bit that
    people throw I told you that wasn't a
    while ago this one there's one homeless
    guy and he definitely has mental issues
    and he was eating out of the garbage can
    and I wanted to bring him some food that
    I had leftover I don't know the
    styrofoam box and I just approached him
    I'm coming up said hey and he looked
    away get away get away like holy shit
    bro was you know that's
    you know that kind of problem on the
    street people need help
    well they're not gonna get it then there
    was just one funny little flub in this
    talking mainly about square titter
    Twitter Facebook and go squid squid or
    dinner you couldn't get the name right
    talking mainly about square titter
    Twitter's talking mainly about square
    titters square to square tater talking
    mainly about square tater Twitter
    Facebook and and Google I think you want
    to say Foursquare probably it's so out
    of it I don't think anyone uses
    Foursquare anymore
    I'm the mayor I'm the mayor of pop Ville
    oh man I can't wait can't wait to see it
    happen here oh it's going to
    you had a sequence of clips you wanted
    to do I have a whole sequence of clips
    and I partly because I need that this is
    one of those things where my
    interpretation is pretty shallow I don't
    really have I don't know what's going on
    quite and I think it would be good to
    listen to your thoughts on it from a
    fresh perspective something's going on
    definitely though this guy true love of
    a writer for the for The Guardian a
    manage to how he managed to do this when
    I can't even get an interview a certain
    people that live nearby got an interview
    with bin Laden's mom yeah I saw this and
    he he appeared on CBS n and CBS and I
    listened to a lot now because it's like
    this it's done by that Rina or whatever
    her name is very good news reader and
    sharp and CBS n is like The Evening News
    except they don't have these time
    constraints it's only online it's only
    online yeah just audio I have in this
    video and it goes on and and they go on
    this and they take these stories I would
    normally be a tube you know cup like a
    10-second clip and the in and out you're
    in and out you a lot more role do they
    interrupt the programming for ads
    curiously not read has a herring sums up
    but let's play this and you get a little
    feeling for it by the and I what I'm
    looking for is why is this happening in
    the first place this guy's obviously mi6
    or some other intelligence true love the
    true love guy yeah yeah and when you see
    him and look at him and listen to him
    he's very he's a little too slick for
    the bin Jassim slouch journalist this is
    the bin Laden interview one Osama bin
    Laden's mother Ali aghanim has spoken
    for the first time she recently talked
    with reporter martin chu love in an
    exclusive interview for The Guardian bin
    Laden of course was the mastermind
    behind the 9/11 attacks that left
    thousands dead he was killed by US Navy
    SEAL dead he was killed by US Navy
    in 2011 and the Guardians Martin chulip
    joins me now from Beirut Martin what
    exactly did the man's mother have to say
    about her son what she described with in
    great detail about his childhood she
    said he was a an engaging highest
    studious child somebody who loved her
    very much somebody who was a mentor to
    his younger brothers and sister and
    somebody who was it was basically the
    love of her life he lost his way
    according to her at university where he
    went from being a pious young devoted
    Muslim lad to being as somebody who was
    deeply into into fundamentalist zealotry
    you know so much of this article it
    feels like she blamed other people that
    he was brainwashed and that's really why
    he became the person he did you also
    spoke to other members of the bin Laden
    family do they share that same opinion
    there were two brothers two
    half-brothers in the room and they were
    quite emphatic that Osama was the master
    of his own destiny yes he did fall in
    with the Muslim Brotherhood while at
    university but he chose the path that he
    later took they said that when they saw
    these harrowing images of the Twin
    Towers in New York and the Pentagon
    burning in bin Washington they
    understood instinctively that it was
    their brother who was responsible for it
    they had warned him many times that he
    was on a path to to ruin not just for
    himself but for the family and they were
    their reflections were far less
    emotional than that of their mother they
    said he was a man who chose his path and
    he'd caused great stress and harm for
    the family for the last 17 years in
    University family for the last 17 years in
    well this is interesting because when I
    first heard about this story and the way
    people were reporting on it they the mom
    supposedly made it clear that it was the
    Saudi universities in particular that
    that ruined him that would make sense if
    you understand where the hijackers came
    from and he left that part out even
    though it was implied if you listen to
    the whole thing yeah he was in Saudi
    Arabia was going to but he never said
    what University and a lot of Saudis go
    to American universities a lot of them
    go to British universities mm-hmm so
    that so that was I found that to be like
    a clue to whatever mm-hmm let's play
    part two pretty remarkable Martin to
    hear you say that the brothers knew
    right away that when they saw the twin
    towers coming down but it was bin Laden
    how are they so certain it was
    interesting I pressed them on this and
    there was a lot of looking at their feet
    it was a very hard thing for them to
    confront it one hand this entity was
    almost cathartic for them but on the
    other hand it was very painful because
    they've never spoken publicly and they
    were aware of the ramifications of their
    words and so they best as I could press
    them on this there was a moment of deep
    deep reflection deep shock deep sadness
    and deep anger almost all blended into
    one when they were called to the
    television in on September 11 2001 and
    witnessed what was taking place they
    knew that this was the culmination of a
    lifelong journey towards radicalization
    that they're formerly beloved older
    brother had taken their minds mom hasn't
    spoken in years why do you think she
    agreed to sit down and do this interview
    it was a process of negotiations that
    went on for about 10 months in a state
    authoritarian in Saudi Arabia we need to
    have buy-in from the station we do know
    we did ask for permission that took a
    long time to come and and then we had to
    approach the family and I think the the
    family's motivations were twofold
    firstly there was an element of we need
    to restore some sense of legitimacy not
    just in Saudi society but perhaps in in
    in globalised as well they are a very
    empowering family very well-connected in
    Saudi Arabia the bin Laden clan who
    basically built a lot of the country
    they're deeply woven into the
    establishment deeply woven into the
    but there's there's a second factor too
    and that is that the three older bin
    Laden brothers were locked up by the
    Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last
    year accuses of being involved in in
    widespread graft so so they only have
    these the stigma of Osama and now they
    have the the fact that the three
    brothers were in prison to deal with as
    well and they are looking it's on some
    level to restore some leverage or
    patronage with the House of Saud mm-hmm
    so as I'm listening to this before that
    last bit came in about about the part of
    the family members the family being
    locked up by the the Saudi prince I was
    thinking what changed well what changed
    is you know the previous ruler of the
    the previous prince king of the Saudi
    Arabia died old Papa Bush died and he
    was best friends with along with with
    george w with the prince bandar who was
    implicated in a lot of this stuff Papa
    Bush is still alive okay what am I
    thinking I'm from the future I'm sorry I
    put that out there oh my god check the
    news feed Barbara Bush is dead
    yeah maybe maybe she's just like hey let
    me out these a-hole Saudis for the real
    perpetrators because this throwing my
    date you know they ruined my one kid
    they threw the other ones in jail and
    this you know we should expose the
    Saudis for what they are
    maybe dumb moms revenge possibly right
    for Saudi culture for a mom to have
    revenge but let's go to part three in it
    because I'm the same as you I kind of
    baffled by this whole thing
    and then when I get to this couple of
    little short clips at the very end where
    he doesn't even he talks about stuff
    that wasn't in his article it gets even
    more interesting you know you write
    about how the mother and the family
    members were able to see bin Laden at
    one point why do you think it is that
    the family was able to see him and for
    so long Western intelligence couldn't
    find it it's very interesting they saw
    him twice in 1999 in Kandahar at the
    airport in a base that the Russians used
    to run and this must be borne in mind
    was more than a year after the attacks
    on the US embassies in Tanzania in Kenya
    and also the the missile strike that
    President Clinton ordered on basis in
    Kandahar and Kabul that were run by
    al-qaeda so a year after that the family
    were able to fire their man that but
    Western intelligence couldn't now I find
    it difficult to believe that that the
    Saudi leadership at the time didn't know
    that the founder were going to visit
    Osama I do believe that there was a
    message passed on to him they didn't
    acknowledge that but I think that that
    would have been part of the
    consideration at the time you go and
    tell him something for us and we'll let
    you go and we'll let you come back yeah
    nothing happens especially if you're
    living in Saudi Arabia without them
    knowing and being aware especially when
    you know Western intelligence at this
    high level are looking for them do you
    believe that the Saudis were in cahoots
    with the bin Laden family in in in the
    Afghanistan years I think it's very
    clear this is the are people in the
    years Soviet occupation on Afghanistan
    that there was extensive support from
    the state of Saudi Arabia for the the
    the Afghan mujahideen and Osama bin
    Laden was front and center especially
    towards the the end years that
    occupation I don't think that's any real
    dispute beyond that though
    there has been a dispute led by
    claimants of victims of 9/11 that the
    House of Saud was directly involved in
    the lead-up and preparation of 9/11 and
    that Osama bin Laden rather than being
    an outcast
    was an agent that's something that we've
    looked at for many years now I must say
    that that premise was not reinforced by
    speaking to the family and then
    certainly not through discussions I've
    had in the lead up both with about
    former Saudi officials current officials
    and Western officials the it is it is it
    is totally clear that the the of Saudi
    Arabia over the last 38 years exported a
    form of the faith that under wrote
    global jihad but I'm not yet convinced
    that there is any direct causal link
    between them and bin Laden and them and
    9/11 is there a movie coming out maybe
    that would be a good reason for this we
    haven't been catching that enough I have
    to say I just looked I didn't see
    anything for Osama bin Laden movie the
    Soviet occupation by the way I as I've
    been looking into it over the last six
    months it was very sketchy and so far is
    it being an occupation and I'm gonna
    write a long newsletter essay about this
    and probably the next few months because
    this is the period of time where some
    just wasn't a communist but some
    socialist guys had actually gotten voted
    in democratically to take over the place
    and they were dictatorial in a lot of
    ways and they had modernized the
    Afghanistan this is in the 70s mhm and
    we saw them the Americans intelligence
    group saw them as communists and it's
    just part of the this is the era of the
    I guess maybe was in the late 60s this
    was the era of the domino theory and so
    that's why we got what was the what was
    the domino theory oh the domino theory
    was which one of the reasons we had the
    Vietnam War is that if one communism
    would go all the way down the line
    flipping around next thing you know
    Hawaii would be communist yep so we we
    are the ones that when we saw that
    Afghanistan turns socialist
    we said we're the ones who sent our boys
    in there to counter this thing and
    that's where we trained that we trained
    the mood Jadine yes our selves to kind
    of undermine the government and the
    Soviets who thought this was great that
    they were a bunch of this in this new
    country they could probably come under
    their umbrella they had to go in to kind
    of save the government right and the
    funny thing is is that and this is the
    reason I want to write a write about
    this is for the newsletter is that that
    era where they keep showing these
    pictures you know Afghanistan 1971
    Afghanistan today and they show these
    happy-go-lucky coeds walking down the
    street yes women all in this guy that
    was bull crap like that that whole
    moment was all staged by the Socialists
    who were trying to modernize the country
    like overnight really so those pictures
    of cute girls in bobby socks at the time
    then that was not true he was propaganda
    and so there's all these people that do
    that comparison are really missing the
    point cause if you go just one year
    before that government was elected into
    office and just look at even the postage
    stamps you see these women they're all
    covered up and the whole thing is no
    difference than there is today although
    there probably was less brutal back back
    in the day maybe not but the whole thing
    was propaganda and then we've kind of
    covered it up and we make up the stories
    about the occupation all the rest of it
    it's nonsense
    the whole story about Afghanistan is
    bullcrap hmm but but what surprises
    they're there now so anyway now he
    starts to talk I got this part this is
    called part 2 intro 1 the true love guy
    brings in some new information and maybe
    this has something to do why as to why
    this this interview in The Guardian and
    why this interview here on CBS why maybe
    has something to do with it we're
    creating a new guy you're bin Laden's
    son has been designated a global
    terrorist by the US do they know where
    he is and does the bin Laden and family
    even address him it at all
    wait a minute what exactly is being said
    there a minute what exactly is being said
    bin Laden's son yeah I don't know any of
    this do you know this
    no bin Laden's son has been designated a
    global terrorist which they don't know
    double just one particular Sonny they
    named him did in the second part of this
    clip they named him it's like I didn't
    know anything about this kid they had a
    picture of him to know like a picture oh
    yes I did of him sitting down in a chair
    I did see the picture no he wasn't
    sitting in a chair was a picture of them
    and I didn't know any of this I think I
    think this is part of a cuz this is CBS
    remember and which is you know CIA
    Broadcasting System there I think
    there's your answer right there thank
    you should have mentioned that in the
    beginning I didn't know I was on CBS
    yeah okay I'm sorry of course CBS end
    you did all right
    I wasn't I didn't connect it good good
    good now so let's think that maybe
    they're trying to get a new enemy that
    we can like be bitching and moaning
    about shaking our fists over like we do
    with bin Laden for the whole George Bush
    era you know they never caught the guy
    right there shaking their fist the whole
    time but you know what that yeah but
    that means we need a we need an event
    ooh Alice on bin Laden wasn't
    interesting until we had an event
    I don't know if we really need one now
    if he just could because I don't know
    maybe we do need an events event
    carryover he has it's like I was and
    carries over to the Sun like that that's
    interesting yeah it could be here let's
    hear about him you know bin Laden's son
    has been designated a global terrorist
    by the US do they know where he is and
    does the bin Laden and family even
    address him at all they did talk about
    Hamza bin Laden who is the heir apparent
    to Osama according to the half-brothers
    he has said that he will step up and
    avenge his father's death and it does
    appear that he's committed a young life
    to doing that there was some talk last
    year that he was in Pakistan and I don't
    think that's that's likely I think it's
    more likely Afghanistan where he is
    effectively deputy to Ayman al-zawahiri
    it was osama's deputy and is now the
    leader of al-qaeda he's maintaining a
    very low profile the family say
    plausibly that they have had no contact
    from him whatsoever they did say and
    this is something that that I didn't
    have space to publish that they do
    believe that he has married the daughter
    of Mohammed Atta who was the lead
    hijacker in 9/11 so I remained very
    viable and very real even seventeen
    years after the fact fascinating point
    Martin Shula fascinating interview thank
    you so much for joining us at CBS n to
    bring this to us know a couple of things
    about his last commentary there when he
    starts talking about just before he
    starts talking about the marriage to
    Mohammed Atta's daughter yes
    he starts swallowing maniacally which it
    took me maybe a tell that this is like
    some scripted thing which the whole
    thing is yeah but he's all of a sudden
    star swallowing maniacally I mean he
    swallows swallows swallows and it
    becomes and it's noticeable on the on
    the audio and so I so this whole thing
    the owners I played all these clips
    because there's something going on here
    and this is an intro to it this is the
    early this is an intro to it this is the
    you know yeah but but is it a salvo to
    this hem see bin Laden character this
    new guy also if this guy was such an
    obvious you know the bin Laden kid how
    come he wasn't buried by a drone like
    art the American kid you know hella
    walkies 16 year old son who is not right
    right right which makes it was like wait
    a minute this is a why what didn't that
    happen to this guy if he's so important
    but now all the sudden he's emerging and
    he's and he's gonna avenge his father he
    probably never saw I mean this whole
    thing is just really stinks
    well I like that you've I like the you
    caught it because I saw an article about
    it or some reference to it and I did not
    go and read it and which is interesting
    by itself that I wouldn't want to go I
    was just I know I was doing something
    else but his name is where the humza
    thumbs up in life I've avenged his
    father's death like that well it could
    if indeed if this is a setup from the
    Central Intelligence Broadcasting
    Network service network
    there could be something being set up to
    distract too but I don't say that I mean
    everything's going so well with the
    Russia stuff I mean what else do they
    need well maybe they think so far ahead
    is possible I don't personally think
    this is true but it might be that there
    did this is just the early stage so you
    can't so it doesn't come out of the blue
    oh yeah no we don't you remember that
    yeah they've talked about this one but
    about ten years ago you know we've been
    talking about this guy for a while
    like I mean bin Laden was on the scene
    he was on the radar quite a bit yeah
    yeah so maybe there's that maybe this
    kids working for the one of the agencies
    I would guess mi6 but it could be one
    but then it would it would only be two
    but I still think we need to keep the
    Saudi thing and the Saudi thing is is
    important I'm not sure why but it feels
    like I'm not sure why but it feels
    now where's Q when you need him yeah Q's
    giving us anything it's the only way
    we'll be able to figure it out well
    let's see if he drops anything about it
    and that's it I got a call time John
    that was a nice little end and a show
    package different some breadcrumbs yeah
    that's right follow the rabbit
    and that concludes our broadcast for
    today August 5th chiefly August 5th 2018
    of course we will return on Thursday
    with another episode of your best
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    show until then coming to you from
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    I'm Adam courage and from northern
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