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kpete

kpete's Journal
kpete's Journal
May 12, 2017

Rosenstein plans to allow FBI investigation to move forward-uninhibited by WH (NO Special Prosecutor

Source: Rosenstein told lawmakers and staff he plans to allow FBI investigation to move forward, uninhibited by pressures from White House
https://twitter.com/stevebruskCNN/status/863131418460905472

New from our @evanperez and @mkraju: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein doesn’t see a need at this point for a special prosecutor
But then there is THIS!?!
https://twitter.com/stevebruskCNN/status/863130833544245248

May 12, 2017

The Rise of a Despot



John Cassidy: “It is often said that the U.S. Presidency is a relatively weak office—but that is a contingent statement. To prevent the President from gaining too much power, or abusing that power, the Founding Fathers divided authority among the different branches of government, and established some fundamental governing principles. These are the fabled checks and balances, arranged, as James Bryce, the British jurist, noted in his venerable 1888 tome, ‘The American Commonwealth,’ to ‘restrain any one department from tyranny.'”

“But the checks and balances only work if each of Bryce’s departments agrees to play its allotted role. A President enabled by a spineless and supine Congress that fails to exercise its oversight powers isn’t a weak executive at all: he is a potential despot. Using his authority to hire and fire federal officials, he can rapidly remake the government to his own design, appointing loyalists to key positions, eliminating potential threats, and undermining alternative repositories of power.”

“Authoritarian leaders in foreign countries seize and maintain power this way. And, despite his bungling start, this is the project that Donald Trump appears to have embarked upon.”




http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/donald-trumps-craven-republican-enablers?mbid=nl_170512_Daily&CNDID=21493341&spMailingID=11011670&spUserID=MTMzMTc5NzcyNzUwS0&spJobID=1161068671&spReportId=MTE2MTA2ODY3MQS2
May 12, 2017

Donald Trump to James Comey: Beware! I recorded myself trying to obstruct justice.

Donald Trump to James Comey: Beware! I recorded myself trying to obstruct justice.
Stipulating that President Trump’s insinuation that he recorded a conversation or conversations between himself and then-FBI Director James Comey is probably bullshit, let’s imagine it were true for a moment.

If there’s one thing we know about Comey it’s that, whatever his blindspots, his most prized asset is his claim to independence, or what we might call performative independence. His judgment might be flawed, or shaped by improper considerations, like the internal politics of the FBI, but he doesn’t make decisions that he can’t later account for under oath. And he’s not the kind of person who would get duped into surrendering that asset by a halfwit like Trump.

To the contrary, he is the kind of person who, faced with a compromising situation, starts taking notes and preparing for the moment when he’ll be able to vindicate his own behavior.

..........

It is overwhelmingly likely, then, that Comey’s version of events is the correct one, and Trump is either bluffing about the recording altogether, or the recording would confirm that Trump lied about what transpired.

But even if we assume that Comey abandoned his most prized asset and entered a corrupt, implicit bargain with Trump, where he affirmed Trump wasn’t under investigation, and thus got to keep his job—that outcome would be far, far worse for Trump, who would have recorded himself obstructing justice, than for Comey, whose reputation would be shattered, but who at the end of the day is now a private citizen with no job to lose. To that end, threatening to release possibly imaginary recordings of their conversation is tantamount to intimidating a witness.

Even if Trump’s threat isn’t idle, or a complete fabrication, then it’s a threat to ruin Comey’s suit with the blood and gore from shooting himself in the face.

https://newrepublic.com/minutes/142694/donald-trump-james-comey-beware-recorded-trying-obstruct-justice

May 12, 2017

JK Rowling Quotes Lewis Carroll In This Tweet Addressed To Trump

`I don’t think–'
`Then you shouldn’t talk,’ said the Hatter.


Lewis Carroll
Alice in Wonderlandhttps://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/863006122483077121
May 12, 2017

The cyber attack on UK's Nat'l Health Service used tools stolen from the US National Security Agency

Hackers use NSA tools in UK health service cyber attack

Ransomware known as ‘WannaCry’ strikes organisations across the world



Hackers responsible for the wave of cyber attacks that struck organisations across the globe on Friday from the UK’s National Health Service to European telecoms company Telefónica used cyberweapons stolen from the US National Security Agency, the Financial
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A tool known as Eternal Blue developed by US spies was used by the hackers to supercharge an existing form of criminal malware, three senior cyber security analysts said, leading to one of the fastest-spreading and potentially damaging cyber attacks seen to date.

Their analysis was confirmed by western security officials who are still scrambling to contain the attack that hit hospitals and doctors’ practices across the UK.

The same or similar virus was used in a large-scale attack in Spain that hit Telefónica, the country’s main telecoms provider.

The People’s Daily in China tweeted that similar attacks may have hit China and there were reports of similar attacks in dozens of other countries, including Russia, Portugal, Taiwan, Germany and Vietnam. MegaFon, one of Russia’s largest telecoms operators, confirmed it had been hacked.



https://www.ft.com/content/e96924f0-3722-11e7-99bd-13beb0903fa3
May 12, 2017

AMEN to First Lady Michelle Obama: "Weve got to make sure we dont let anybody take us back"

FLOTUS to Trump & GOP: "Why don't you want our kids to have good food? What is wrong with you?"


*drops mic*

https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/863116754008104964
https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/863115245291753479



" the former first lady said Friday at the annual Partnership for a Healthier America Summit, her first public appearance in Washington since leaving office.


"Every elected official on this planet should understand," Obama said, her voice rising with indignation as she urged moms to make their voices heard. "Don’t play with our children. Don’t do it."

Obama, who remains popular with the public, did not mention Trump by name but railed against the new administration's moves to roll back some of the nutrition policies she championed in the White House — from school meals to calorie labels. She left no doubt she will publicly rebuke any attempt to wipe out her work on childhood obesity.

"If we really want to make this country great, then our kids need to be healthy and they need to have access to the best," she said. "Not just some of them, but all of them."

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/12/michelle-obama-childhood-obesity-healthy-eating-donald-trump-238332
May 12, 2017

and on FOX News....

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