“In politics stupidity is not a handicap.” We know this now! Trump thread cont.

[TheClaws]

This is a quote of Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon has a number of quotes when Read through the lens of Trump are eerily prescient. Napoleon wasn’t of the same political bent as Trump necessarily, and he was certainly more cerebral, but the lust for power is the same.

Previous thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3191613-Even-if-you-subpoena-us-we-wont-turn-up-on-the-Trump-threads

Caroline O.
@RVAwonk
NEW: A group of 37 state attorneys general are pressing Facebook to provide more answers regarding how Cambridge Analytica was able to obtain the data of 50 million unwitting Facebook users.

Saudi Crown Prince 'Humiliated' by Trump's Oval Office Boast of Arms Sales

MBS looked very uncomfortable as Trump listed the amounts of weapons the U.S. has sold to the Saudis, '$880 million ... $645 million ... $6 billion ... that's for frigates'

www.haaretz.com/amp/middle-east-news/trump-humiliated-saudi-crown-prince-while-boasting-about-arms-sales-1

UAE says Qatari fighter jets flew dangerously close to 2 civilian aircraft

amp.businessinsider.com/uae-qatar-fighter-jets-close-2018-3

Rep. Ted Deutch
Rep. Ted Deutch
@RepTedDeutch
USA Today: Amid slumping sales, Remington, manufacturer of weapon used at Sandy Hook, is now trying to use bankruptcy protection to stall the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Sandy Hook families and continue profiting off gun violence.

Shameless.

#GunReformNow #NeverAgain

Those pesky lawyers.

Renato Mariotti thread:
1/ Last night’s @nytimes article by @maggieNYT and @nytmike deserves more attention. As they note, the only personal attorney Trump has working on the Mueller investigation. That’s really important, for two reasons.
2/ First, conversations between Trump and Ty Cobb (and other lawyers employed by the White House) can be obtained by Mueller in discovery under existing case law. So important strategic issues personal to Trump, like whether to sit for an interview, can’t be discussed with Cobb.
3/ In fact, the article notes that Trump fired Dowd because he disagreed with Dowd’s advice to refuse to be interviewed. Dowd correctly pointed out that there is significant downside to an interview with Mueller. Most people in Trump’s position would take the Fifth.
4/ That brings us to the second reason why this matters so much—Sekulow has no experience handling federal criminal investigations. Asking him to quarterback the defense to this important investigation would be like asking a neurologist to be your heart surgeon.
5/ Sekulow isn’t equipped to advise Trump as to the investigation. Cobb has the right experience to do it, but because he’s employed by the White House, Trump can’t reveal as much to him as he would to Sekulow.
6/ This increases the possibility that Trump will mismanage how he responds to the investigation. Perhaps he will sit for an interview that most experienced criminal defense attorneys would work hard to avoid. /end
ADDENDUM: As @maggieNYT notes, Trump also receives advice from Kasowitz. He also lacks experience with federal criminal investigations, which pose different issues than he’s used to seeing in civil litigation.
twitter.com/renato_mariotti/status/978276534543900677?s=21

After a two-decade recruiting drought, gun researchers say a wave of young scientists are suddenly entering their field. And not just public health experts, but economists, statisticians, and epidemiologists.

www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/national/health-science/tenacious-gun-violence-researchers-are-determined-to-get-answers/2018/03/23/3b699fa2-2dc0-11e8-b0b0-f706877db618_story.html

Spanish police have captured a cybercrime gang made up of Ukrainians and Russians that allegedly stole more than $1.24 billion from financial institutions worldwide in a 5-year spree

Spain breaks up cybercrime gang after $1.2 billion spree

www.apnews.com/amp/187814286d7147aebf3b670623aeea51

'There are now 57 predominantly Russian companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, more than anywhere else outside Moscow.'

Expat Russians fear cold front in ‘Londongrad’

Rich settlers, bankers and property developers all left exposed to fallout from Skripal case

amp.ft.com/content/f4764c5e-2e9f-11e8-a34a-7e7563b0b0f4

Yashar Ali 🐘
@yashar
This is brazen...I’m not surprised, but it’s still disturbing.

[the second photo is what the us russian embassy has been up to]

womenintheworld.com/2018/03/15/stormy-daniels-estranged-mother-hopes-her-daughters-accusations-dont-hurt-president-trump/

'The Stormy Daniels-Donald Trump saga has taken yet another, perhaps unexpected, turn. A story by Dallas Morning News reporter Naomi Martin reveals that the estranged mother of adult film actress Stormy Daniels (or Stephanie Gregory Clifford) says that she feels wounded by her daughter’s purported affair with President Donald Trump — not out of concern for her daughter, but because of the consequences it could have for the president. Sheila Gregory, 64, said that despite the president’s rumored affair with her daughter, with whom she hasn’t spoken in 12 years, she would vote again for Donald Trump in a heartbeat.'

Two things to keep an eye on here in the UK:

Carole Cadwalladr
‏*@carolecadwalla*
Emergency debate in parliament today re Vote Leave.
MPs: this Google drive is key evidence.
Set up by VL to co-ordinate BeLeave's content. On right: the deletion log.
March 1, Electoral Commission opened investigation.
March 17, Vote Leave deleted itself from 140 files

[and rest of highly interesting thread here: twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/978539098523742209 ]

From a different website: The debate will start in the Commons at 12.30pm and will last for two hours.

And

Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
‏**@CommonsCMS**
Cambridge Analytica whistle-blower @chrisinsilico and co-founder of @personaldataio Paul- Olivier @podehaye are giving evidence to the @CommonsCMS next week.

Watch this session on Tuesday 27th March 10.30am on parliamentlive.tv

Photo credit: Antonio Olmos

Oh blimey, thanks for that heads-up, Pain. I'll have my arse in front of the telly for 10:30.

Although now I've worked out how to watch the recordings on the website and where to find the transcripts, it's less critical to catch it live.

(Here's the direct link for this session's video: parliamentlive.tv/event/index/28e9cccd-face-47c4-92b3-7f2626cd818e
and here's the dedicated page for the DCMS Committee Fake News inquiry, with links to all evidence: www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/digital-culture-media-and-sport-committee/inquiries/parliament-2017/fake-news-17-19/ )

Am supposed to be tackling invoices today so will keep an ear on the hearing at the same time. I missed most of the cricket ball scandal yesterday but this seems a good gauge of where we are as a country

Andrew Gregory
‏*@andrewgregory*
Theresa May "shocked" and "bitterly disappointed" by Australia cricket cheating scandal. Spokesman adds: "The Prime Minister is clear that cheating has absolutely no place in cricket or indeed in any sport."

James Felton
‏*@JimMFelton*
More James Felton Retweeted Andrew Gregory
"The Leave campaign may have overspent by £700,000 in a bid to swing the most important vote of our lifetime"

Theresa May says and does nothing

"The Australians may have sandpapered some balls"

Theresa May:
"FETCH ME MY ANGRY STATEMENT PEN I AM FUCKING LIVID"

I've paused the telly to take a breath...

Wylie: I found out after I'd got the job I was replacing someone who'd been found dead in his hotel room in Kenya, working for the Kenyatta campaign. I was told he may have been poisoned because a deal went sour.

Wylie: Going in and undermining the institutions in a developing country, just as they're getting their feet on the ground – this is how colonialism works these days.

Farrelly: Are these people doing it for the money or because they're interested in what can be done for data manipulation.
Wylie: They don't need the money. But a certain sort of incredibly rich person needs a project to keep them busy. Running a developing country, that appeals to them.

Perking.

www.rawstory.com/2018/03/cnn-analyst-caught-middle-wild-fight-stormy-daniels-michael-cohen-lawyers-testosterone-washing/#.Wroimh5AGSk.twitter

Wylie: CA pitched Kogan's Russian-funded projects to other clients. They knew what he was doing.

Wylie: Robert Mercer's lawyer, Matthew Richards, is significant figure in UKIP.

I can't believe my ears with this.

Is the emergency debate happening at the same time? They need to be hearing this.

Wylie: Andy Wigmore's insurance company, Eldon[?] was in correspondence with CA about response rates to Leave EU advertising. Eldon has questions to answer about why they were doing that, and whether Eldon provided any customer data to CA or Leave EU.

Justin Hendrix
‏
Verified account

@justinhendrix

Asked about other companies doing this work: PALANTIR. There were also Palantir staff working with Facebook data. Palantir staff came into the offices of CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA and helped build the models we were working on, even though there was no contract, says @chrisinsilico

PALAntir is who is involved with ice’s use of Facebook to track immigrants

I can't keep up.

Wylie: Slides about CAnalytica's behaviour in Nigeria, being presented to Lukoil, Russian oil company which works hand in hand with the FSB and has significant links to current (new?) Czech govt. Turnbull was boasting about v successful arms-length project in unnamed E European company.

He has said about 30 woah wait a moment comments in the last half an hour.

Do you think some of this is why Russian spies consulate staff are being sent home across Europe and the States?

Wylie: Nix told Lukoil to talk to Kogan, who worked in Russia. SCL does work for NATO; this was opening SCL to Russian cyberattack, because they would only have needed to put a key-logger on Kogan's computer.

Wylie: Breitbart was client of CAnalytica.