Category Archives: Fail!

White House Official Violated Law Banning Political Activity, Agency Says – The New York Times

 

Dan Scavino Jr., the White House director of social media, violated a federal law that prohibits political activity by government employees, the federal agency empowered to enforce the law has concluded, citing the tweet Mr. Scavino sent in April calling for the defeat of a Republican member of Congress who has been critical of President Trump.The United States Office of Special Counsel took no official action to punish Mr. Scavino, but it issued a warning that became public on Friday that “if in the future he engages in prohibited political activity while employed in a position covered by the Hatch Act,” the office could move to enforce the 78-year-old law.

Do Not Cut Off Senator Kamala Harris, Or Twitter Will Come For You : LAist

Senator Kamala Harris was shut down mid-sentence (and mid-interrogation of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein) by the Senate intelligence committee’s chairman, who clearly did not learn from the “Nevertheless, she persisted” debacle that when you cut off firebrand Democratic senators, Twitter comes for you, and it comes for you hard.CNN has a full transcript of the tense moment, in which Senate intelligence committee chairman Richard Burr interjected as Harris questioned Rosenstein over whether he would sign a letter to give Special Counsel Robert Mueller full independence from the Justice Department. Committee chairman Richard Burr cut Harris off as she pressed Rosenstein for “a yes-or-no answer,” asking her to “provide the witnesses the courtesy…for questions to get answered.” “As a career prosecutor and former Attorney General, Kamala Harris has run countless investigations, and she will follow the facts wherever they lead to get to the truth on behalf of the American people,” a spokesperson for Senator Harris’s office told LAist, adding, “That can only happen if witnesses answer questions.”

Source: Do Not Cut Off Senator Kamala Harris, Or Twitter Will Come For You : LAist

When Did Running for Office Become So Dangerous? | Dame Magazine

the 12th (death threat), well, that’s the one that changes your life; it’s the picture of your home or your office, it’s the one with white powder in the envelope, it’s the one that mentions the hair color of your teenage daughter, or with screencaps of your teenage son’s Snapchats. It comes from a person who is really committed to fucking with you, the kind of crazy person you imagined was behind the first threat you ever received, it’s the one that makes the jaw of the cop who responds to your freaked-out call tighten as he tried to keep his poker face but you can tell he’s worried. It’s the one that makes you take an unscheduled vacation, or break your lease, or drop out of your political race or stop writing on the internet for a while; it’s the one that makes you question whether you should’ve been so sanguine about numbers one through 11, because maybe they’re more realistic than they sounded at the time.They’re the kind of threats that upend the basis of our democracy and our society, by silencing and scaring away and driving out everyone but  the people who would never be silent or scared, no matter how realistic the risk—and, goodness knows, having rational actors who think through risk and reward is reasonably important in government—and by driving out the people more likely to receive the more serious threats. They’re the kind of threats that true public servants, even those who benefit, ought to condemn and discourage, not dismiss and ignore.Or else, you’re essentially guaranteeing that there will be more. And, with 2018 coming, there probably will be.

Source: When Did Running for Office Become So Dangerous? | Dame Magazine

Oldest Fossils of Homo Sapiens Found in Morocco, Altering History of Our Species – The New York Times – “Racism reigns in science and non-reporting! Desire to whiten or de-Ethiopianize single source of modern humans is huge! Last week, reports supposedly pointed to Eastern Europe as being a source of early humans, now Morocco… All the research really means is that researchers are finding more specimens that date back further than before. Findings do not say Ethiopia not source of modern humans or that there are multiple sources. DNA research point to single source not multiple sources – duh? Racism and desire to be top dog researcher are too strong for reporting facts.”

“We did not evolve from a single cradle of mankind somewhere in East Africa,” said Phillipp Gunz, a paleoanthropologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Liepzig, Germany, and a co-author of two new studies on the fossils, published in the journal Nature.

Qatar: FBI says Russian hackers ‘planted fake news story’ that led to crisis – report | World news | The Guardian – Saudis and #TraitorTrump = dumb and dumber 2.0

US intelligence officials believe Russian hackers planted a false news story that prompted Saudi Arabia and several allies to sever relations with Qatar, according to CNN.FBI experts visited Qatar in late May to analyse an alleged cyber breach that saw the hackers place the fake story with Qatar’s state news agency, the US broadcaster said.Saudi Arabia then cited the false report as part of its reason for instituting a diplomatic and economic blockade of Qatar, the report said. The blockade was joined by several other Gulf states and has spiralled into the worst diplomatic crisis for the region in decades.

Source: Qatar: FBI says Russian hackers ‘planted fake news story’ that led to crisis – report | World news | The Guardian

A White Gay Male Faction of White Nationalism is Rising and No, That’s Not a Joke | Race Files

I have no sympathy for white nationalist queer movement leaders. People like Jack Donovan, featured in the article, require none of our compassion. Rather than try to reason with the leadership, I strongly believe that we should use compassion as a wedge between people like Donovan and the people he is trying to recruit.And, believe me, there are plenty of potential recruits. I was recently recalling my years of working with the National LGBTQ Task Force while on the road with Tarso Ramos, Executive Director of Political Research Associates, preparing rural pro-democracy activists to fight right wing paramilitary groups. While on the road in the 1990s traveling from state to state with my white gay male (and former corporate guy) colleague, we would occasionally be consigned to what amounted to segregated housing. He would be bunked with A-List white gay men, and I would be bunked with lesbians (wonderful lesbians!). And in every community, a marginal but no less real minority of activists we encountered would complain about “P.C.” lesbians, talk sh*t about trans people, and refer to people of color by ugly, overt racist terms that are best not repeated. Queers, like everyone else, are by no means immune to bigotry.There’s a potential base for the Jack Donovan’s of the world. But that potential base ought not be characterized in terms that foreclose on the possibility that they might choose against white nationalism and, as they do, may become the best defense against it among white gay men.

Source: A White Gay Male Faction of White Nationalism is Rising and No, That’s Not a Joke | Race Files

Mayor of London calls for cancellation of Trump’s visit to UK | 3CHICSPOLITICO

 

Donald Trump mocked Mayor Sadig Khan b/c he is Muslim. No other reason. He also attacked a Gold Star family, Khizr & Ghazala Khan, who lost their son in the Iraq war. What kind of monster insults & mocks a friend who has suffered a horrible tragedy? When you’ve had no home training & been an ignorant bully all of your life, then it’s no surprise what the ignoramus did to people in the UK & the Khans. If someone mocked, insulted & piled on to my pain after I’ve suffered a tragedy, I’d cut them off for good. I hope you’re listening, UK? Cancel the visit.

Source: Mayor of London calls for cancellation of Trump’s visit to UK | 3CHICSPOLITICO

The $110 billion arms deal to Saudi Arabia is fake news | Brookings Institution

An example is a proposal for sale of four frigates (called multi-mission surface combatant vessels) to the Royal Saudi navy. This proposal was first reported by the State Department in 2015. No contract has followed. The type of frigate is a derivative of a vessel that the U.S. Navy uses but the derivative doesn’t actually exist yet. Another piece is the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense system (THAAD) which was recently deployed in South Korea. The Saudis have expressed interest in the system for several years but no contracts have been finalized. Obama approved the sale in principle at a summit at Camp David in 2015. Also on the wish list are 150 Black Hawk helicopters. Again, this is old news repackaged. What the Saudis and the administration did is put together a notional package of the Saudi wish list of possible deals and portray that as a deal. Even then the numbers don’t add up. It’s fake news.

Source: The $110 billion arms deal to Saudi Arabia is fake news | Brookings Institution

Inoreader – Profiting from the Working Class: How the Opioid Epidemic Echoes the Mortgage Crisis

How successful was that marketing campaign? Very. As the Charleston Gazette-Mail noted in an explosive report on the epidemic, between 2007 and 2012 pharmaceutical companies sold 780,000,000 hydrocodone and oxycodone pills in West Virginia. That’s 433 pills for every man, woman, and child living there. Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Florida, and New York have also been flooded with these drugs.

Source: Inoreader – Profiting from the Working Class: How the Opioid Epidemic Echoes the Mortgage Crisis

Nine Russians killed over drunken quarrel | News | DW | 04.06.2017 RIP. Where’s Trump’s Twitter storm to not allow Russians to travel to US?

Russian police have detained a 45-year-old Muscovite, suspected of shooting multiple people to death in a village northwest of the capital. The man allegedly got into an argument with his companions while drinking.

Source: Nine Russians killed over drunken quarrel | News | DW | 04.06.2017