Even if you subpoena us, we won't turn up on the Trump threads

[PerkingFaintly]

Oh whoops, here we are.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3180160-Trump-talk-HOW-MUCH-for-that-inauguration?pg=1

BOOM: Bigoted Maine GOP state House candidate Leslie Gibson is dropping out after the massive backlash he faced for calling #ParklandShooting survivor Emma Gonzalez a "skinhead lesbian."
twitter.com/joncoopertweets/status/974767976363778048?s=21

Trump’s Lawyer: It’s Time to Fire Mueller

amp.thedailybeast.com/trumps-lawyer-its-time-to-fire-robert-mueller?__twitter_impression=true

Here we get

Go

Well, first a Democrat nominee stepped up to oppose Gibson in what had hitherto been an unopposed seat, and then another Republican turned up (not sure if that was before or after Gibson's decision to stand down), so I think he was obliged to "do the honourable thing".
abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/gop-candidate-mocked-parkland-students-now-opponent-53793422

DH and I were discussing this very thing this morning. I would have thought that ANY employee imagining losing their job and/or their pension at the drop of a vindictive Orange hat would be reasonably outraged...

Something I’ve yet to see any really convincing reporting on is how rank-and-file FBI personnel (a very Trumpy demographic) feel about the attacks on the Bureau’s leadership and institutional autonomy.

One could imagine it going either way.
twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/975000788337602560?s=21

I think this is trump loading that gun and google mapping where 5th Avenue is

Michael S. Schmidt
@nytmike
I’m told Dowd will now put out a statement saying he was not speaking on behalf of the president.

Christina Wilkie
@christinawilkie
Quick reversal from the same lawyer who said the president cannot obstruct justice, and said he wrote what was clearly a Trump tweet.

Cambridge Analytica whistleblower: 'We spent $1m harvesting millions of Facebook profiles' – video

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-whistleblower-we-spent-1m-harvesting-millions-of-facebook-profiles-video?CMP=share_btn_tw

It's all going to hell in a handbasket now..... Unbelievable.

I suspect it's going to get really dark before he's ousted. My prediction? He's gonna launch at NK.

I assume Mueller et all will be doing everything they can to ensure that evidence, findings etc linked to the enquiry are protected from the Trump administration, if Trump does move to shut the investigation down.

Elizabeth de la Vega
‏

@Delavegalaw
2m2 minutes ago
Dowd represents the President of the United States. When he calls to shutdown an investigation into RU interference in our election that involves Trump, he is the voice of Donald Trump. TODAY, in other words, Trump called for a shutdown of an investigation into his own conduct. twitter.com/nytmike/status/975023716773040129 …

*et al

Oh dear god, that whistleblower vid is hilarious!

According to Christopher Wylie, formerly of Cambridge Analytica, Alexander Nix set up a fake Cambridge office, shipped in staff from London and pretended the operation had significant links with Cambridge University folk, in order to fool Steve Bannon. Because Bannon likes to think of himself as an intellectual, so was that was they gave him.

So they faked a reality in order to change Bannon's perception, so that he would do what they wanted him to.

I mean it's not funny, really, given RL right now. But... it's funny.

Seth Abramson
‏Verified account @SethAbramson
4m4 minutes ago

Please remember: the man who fired McCabe for a single act of "lack of candor" not only was recused from all election-related cases and therefore without authority to issue that firing, but also perjured himself multiple times before Congress.

What's happening is insane.
28 replies 283 retweets 660 likes

Joyce Alene
@JoyceWhiteVance
This administration is forever changing the meaning of March Madness.

Seth Abramson is on a Twitter roll, nearly as fast as DT on a bad day..

Seth Abramson
‏Verified account @SethAbramson
1m1 minute ago

Seth Abramson Retweeted Mark Warner

Mueller's appointment is in more danger now than it ever has been. Warner's tweet is an SOS to all leaders of conscience in the U.S. to publicly state that firing Mueller is a red line Trump mustn't cross—and crossing it would mark the beginning of the end of Trump's presidency.

Seth Abramson added,
Mark Warner
Verified account @MarkWarner
Every member of Congress, Republican and Democrat, needs to speak up in defense of the Special Counsel. Now. twitter.com/MarkWarner/status/975022062388604928
0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes

Ouais IMO at this point he's bullet proof. Our only hope lies in the 2016 midterms flipping the HoR. Ryan et al have already shown that as long as they can move their agenda they don't give a rat's ass what Scrotus does AND they're happy for the diversion his antics create.

His lawyer now openly calling for Mueller's firing with the support of Scrotus is proof positive. We're way beyond Watergate territory now. Even Nixon tried to keep his machinations re the Special Watergate Counsel under the radar for fear of the public's reaction. And events show he was right to fear it. But Scrotus knows his base is loyal unto death and that the GOP is turning a blind eye.

I hate to sound so doomsday. But I think now the only thing we can do is continue to be loud but focus on what we can do to get the Democrat votes out in November.

I give the Mueller Investigation a 25% chance of being able to ride this call to fire Mueller out intact. Nixon resigned because he lost the support of the GOP (and the public) after the Saturday Night Massacre. Scrotus will lose neither if he fires Mueller. And he knows it.

I agree Across - we've moved into some scary shit territory now.

He's not entirely bullet-proof, Across.

Around 8:50 mins, Wylie says that what Alexander Nix said at the DCMS committee hearing was fundamentally not true, and that Cambridge Analytica was founded using data from Facebook.

He points out that CA's algorithms – their selling point – are based on data from Facebook. (NB I've noticed that sometimes CA statements mention data, sometimes they mention derivatives of data. Presumably the derivatives are at least as important as the data.)

This vid is required watching for anyone interested in the influence operations of the last few years. And foreseeable future.

Thanks for your thoughtful, explanatory, though deeply depressing, reply, AcrossthePond55. I'm afraid at this point in the proceedings, I am going to have to recuse myself on the grounds that I can't take any more of this insanity.

To be expected

Fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe Lawyers Up

amp.thedailybeast.com/fired-fbi-deputy-director-andrew-mccabe-lawyers-up

Take a break, Ouais.

Benjamin Wittes
@benjaminwittes
If the fools leading the Justice Department really cared about their institution, they would have put the IG/McCabe report out last night. Without a strong record to back up what Sessions did, lots of good people will doubt the integrity of the whole place and all its people.

And given the circumstances, they should.

If the decision is righteous, show us. Without transparency, doubt about this will grow like a cancer, and to an entity that relies on public trust, that is a particularly deadly disease.

For all I know, inside the DOJ, the career folks are earnestly wringing their hands about policy and precedent, but while they wring their hands, corrosive doubt spreads. It's frustrating to watch

It really is true that Trump stains everything within his sight