Category Archives: Fascism

In Computer Attacks, Clues Point to Frequent Culprit: North Korea – The New York Times New Slant to get news off #TraitorTrump?

The indicators are far from conclusive, the researchers warned, and it could be weeks, if not months, before investigators are confident enough in their findings to officially point the finger at Pyongyang’s increasingly bold corps of digital hackers. The attackers based their weapon on vulnerabilities that were stolen from the National Security Agency and published last month.Security experts at Symantec, which in the past has accurately identified attacks mounted by the United States, Israel and North Korea, found early versions of the ransomware, called WannaCry, that used tools that were also deployed against Sony Pictures Entertainment, a Bangladesh Central Bank last year and Polish banks in February. American officials said Monday that they had seen the same similarities.All of those attacks were ultimately linked to North Korea; President Barack Obama formally charged the North in late 2014 with destroying computers at Sony in retaliation for a comedy, “The Interview,” that envisioned a C.I.A. plot to kill Kim Jong-un, the country’s president.

New Ohio House GOP efforts emerge to toss otherwise eligible Ohioans off Medicaid: Thomas Suddes | cleveland.com

House Medicaid amendments were less about Medicaid than about lassoing Republican “yes” votes on the budget rewrite, and, two, that the Ohio House Republican caucus is shifting. To the right.

Source: New Ohio House GOP efforts emerge to toss otherwise eligible Ohioans off Medicaid: Thomas Suddes | cleveland.com

How Russian Media Photographed a Closed Meeting With Trump – The New York Times

Later, at the White House, Mr. Lavrov met President Trump for what was supposed to be a private meeting, with no reporters or cameras allowed into the Oval Office, save for official photographers from each government. Afterward, the Russian state news agency, Tass, published pictures of Mr. Trump and Mr. Lavrov grinning broadly, alongside the Russian ambassador to Washington, Sergey I. Kislyak.White House officials were furious, saying their Russian counterparts had tricked them. The point of barring the news media, a senior official said, was to prevent the publication of images of a meeting that was, at a minimum, badly timed, given that Mr. Trump had just fired the director of the agency investigating his campaign’s ties to Russia.

Journalist arrested for asking Trump cabinet member about healthcare bill | US news | The Guardian

The ACLU chapter said in a statement that Heyman’s arrest “is a blatant attempt to chill an independent, free press. The charges against him are outrageous, and they must be dropped immediately.”The statement added the ACLU “stands ready to fight any attempt by the government to infringe upon our First Amendment rights. What President Trump’s administration is forgetting, and what the Capitol Police forgot today, is that the government works for us. Today was a dark day for democracy. But the rule of law will prevail. The First Amendment will prevail.”According to its website, Public News Service, based in Boulder, Colorado, manages independent news services in 36 states, reporting on a variety of social, community and environmental issues. No one at the service could be reached for comment early Wednesday.

Source: Journalist arrested for asking Trump cabinet member about healthcare bill | US news | The Guardian

Days Before He Was Fired, Comey Asked for More Resources for Russia Investigation – The New York Times – Department of InJustice and #TraitorTrump

 

Days before he was fired, James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, asked the Justice Department for a significant increase in resources for the bureau’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the presidential election, according to three congressional officials who were briefed on his request.Mr. Comey asked for the resources last week from Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, who also wrote the Justice Department’s memo that was used to justify the firing of Mr. Comey this week, the officials said.Mr. Comey then briefed members of Congress on the meeting in recent days, telling them about his meeting with Mr. Rosenstein, who is the most senior law enforcement official supervising the Russia investigation. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself because of his close ties to the Trump campaign and his undisclosed meetings with the Russian ambassador.

Egypt’s Islamists and Pope Francis | Nervana Truth is lost in the world

In an ideology that mixes religion with politics, it is almost impossible to view outsiders, such as Pope Francis, as one with good intentions. The ideology that thrives on invoking insecurity, introversion, and fear, would never see calls for peace and love as genuine or sincere. In their denigration of the Pope, Islamists have only exposed the darkness of their thoughts, and obsolescence of their ideology.

Source: Egypt’s Islamists and Pope Francis | Nervana

‘No Asylum Here’: Some Say U.S. Border Agents Rejected Them – The New York Times #TraitorTrump, #LoserTrump encourages law breaking!

Under United States and international law, everyone who asks for asylum is supposed to be allowed into the country to plead their case. But instead, they said, a Customs and Border Protection agent shooed them away.“There is no asylum here,” Francisca, 32, recalled the agent telling them. “We are not granting asylum.”Customs agents have increasingly turned away asylum seekers without so much as an interview, according to migrants and their lawyers, in a trend first noted several months ago and that appeared to accelerate after President Trump’s inauguration. That has left an untold number of migrants trapped in Mexico, where they have sometimes fallen prey to kidnappers seeking ransom or been driven into the hands of drug cartels and smugglers. Some have tried to enter the United States illegally and dangerously, through the desert or across the Rio Grande, a risky journey.

Trump 100 Days: The Erosion of American Democracy – SPIEGEL ONLINE

Trump’s advisors and cabinet members are likewise scornful of all who would dare stand in the way of the president. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, of all people, recently criticized a judge in Hawaii for blocking Trump’s travel ban for people from majority Muslim countries. “I really am amazed that a judge sitting on an island in the Pacific – translation: It’s not really Merican! – can issue an order that stops the president of the United States from what appears to be clearly his statutory and constitutional power,” Sessions said. White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said simply that William Orrick and his court were “going bananas.” Trump and his team can feel encouraged by the results of a February survey which found that 51 percent of the president’s supporters believe he should be able to override judicial rulings he doesn’t agree with. When both the government and its people are united in their disdain for democratic institutions, it represents a clear danger.

Source: Trump 100 Days: The Erosion of American Democracy – SPIEGEL ONLINE

The US Department of Justice is literally prosecuting a woman for laughing at Jeff Sessions – Vox

The trial will continue at the Superior Court in DC this week. If convicted, Fairooz faces a fine up to $500 and up to six months’ imprisonment for the laugh-related charge. She is also charged with another misdemeanor for “allegedly parading, demonstrating or picketing within a Capitol, evidently for her actions after she was being escorted from the room,” Reilly reported.Fairooz has a history of disruptive protests. During protests over the Iraq War, she put fake blood on her hands and confronted then–Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.This time, however, Fairooz claims she was not trying to be disruptive — but merely laughing.These details are all salient for the legal case, but it’s important not to lose sight of the big picture here: The federal government is literally prosecuting someone for laughing. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Justice Department — which Sessions now leads as attorney general — is doing the prosecuting when the laughter was directed at its leader. At the very least, it’s not a good look for the top law enforcement agency in the country.

Source: The US Department of Justice is literally prosecuting a woman for laughing at Jeff Sessions – Vox