Today's Tweet

Never forget: If they let us all vote, they lose.

Kobach blocked 35,000 from registering in Kansas. Nearly half were under 30. He's country's worst vote suppressor, as I explain in new @MotherJones video pic.twitter.com/VqyfgPNZeW

— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) April 19, 2018

Farther Down The Rabbit Hole

To have any shot at sorting thru everything that went into the American election in 2016, we'll have to make a real attempt to separate the means from the ends.

And we have to figure out who the players are - 

• the people who vote
• the people those people vote for or against
• the people who manipulate both the vote-casters and the vote-getters.

And we have to make more of an effort to figure out what the objectives really are. 

I've been going on about The Daddy State for quite a while, but I think it's more than that - actually, more than that and a lot less than that at the same time.

The short version of my hypothesis boils it down to:

This is not government - this is a fucking robbery.

And the way the thing was set up is the key to understanding how ideology is co-opted; used as a decoy; and becomes the proverbial License To Steal, all under the guise of Rugged Individualism and Patriotic Zeal, or whatever turns the crank of the voter you're trying to motivate.

There's also the little wrinkle of having to separate the shit that's actually illegal from the shit that's just run-of-the-mill Rat-Fucking.

Nothing particularly new about any of that, but there is definitely a lot that's new about the way the bad actors have been going about all that bad acting.

The chief executive of SCL U.S. (the U.S. branch of the parent company of Cambridge Analytica) worked for Michael Flynn for 6 years. SCL got a Pentagon contract because of that relationship, Nigel Oakes told @EmmaLBriant https://t.co/MAAB8VuUss pic.twitter.com/308FdKwOGa

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) April 18, 2018

Three Explanatory Essays Giving Context and Analysis to Submitted Evidence

Part 1: Cambridge Analytica, the Artificial Enemy, and Trump's 'Big Lie'

by Emma L. Briant, University of Essex:

Due to my expertise on this topic, I was compelled by the UK Electoral Commission,
Information Commissioners Office and the Chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
Committee's Fake News Inquiry Damian Collins MP to submit information and research
relating to campaigns by SCL, Cambridge Analytica and other actors. Statements from
my research interviews with staff at Cambridge Analytica (CA), SCL personnel or
otherwise related to their campaigns were submitted in evidence to the Inquiry. It is
essential therefore that I comment on and contextualize what are academic research
interviews. I discuss the evidence I submitted here in three accessible explanatory texts.

The interviews submitted in evidence address key questions and illustrate the unethical
nature of this company’s practices. Cambridge Analytica promotes itself as a “data-
driven” company and there has been much debate over how data was obtained and
used in the US election, including use of personality tests and ‘psychographic targeting’.

Regarding this, the Director of Business Development Brittany Kaiser said, “What they used on certain campaigns and what they didn't, it's hard to say, but all of our data, you know, that [...] was used for everything, whether or not we actually did psychographic groupings or not, it doesn't change the fact that we undertook to those quant surveys and that was put into our data set. And then some of those, some of those, uh, variables were used in our models. So in general you would say everything was used in everything but [...] not to the extent that I think some people had prophesized.” (Interview: Kaiser/Briant, 4th March 2018). 

We now know from Chris Wylie that data they used was harvested in unethical ways and hoarded to analyse, ‘microtarget’, and change audience behaviour, all enabled by Facebook’s business model. CA Chief data officer Alex Tayler has explained that psychological analysis is used for not just dividing up an audience along the lines of gender or what you’ve bought, but along the lines of the disposition – the psychological profile of those audiences.”

Regulation is failing to keep up with the rapid progression of coordinated data-driven propaganda powered by AI and augmented with insights from neuroscience and psychology, this should raise alarm for us all.

We have an awful lot more shit to shovel thru before we find the pony.

The Greater Fool

The MAGA Rubes have the right idea, but as usual, they've been sold a counterfeit product.

We should Make America Great Again - absolutely, we should.  But the greatness we're talking about has nothing to do with the bullshit being peddled by Cult45 and the GOP.

I think about everything that's supposed to be great about the USA, which makes me think about great art and the innovation that goes with it.

I think about great curiosity that drives great education, which in turn makes us more curious and drives us to explore further.

I think about a great sense of humanity that keeps us in touch with the needs of our neighbors.

I think about a greater understanding that if one of us is kept down, the rest of us will find it that much harder to rise. 

Funny how all of that is what "conservatives" have spent at least 40 years telling us is wrong.

What A Concept

We can be certain of the future by making the past unpredictable.

The Daddy State never stops throwing shit up in the air. They count on the numbing effect when we feel overwhelmed by it all.

We're finally starting to see a little progress towards turning the tables, as Mueller & Co continue to pile up the subpoenas and the indictments and the plea deals, giving 45* a little taste of his own shit.

Today's Tweet

Poppy Bush had it right 38 years ago - Voodoo Economics

Trickle Down Economics
Trickle Down Economic
Trickle Down Economi
Trickle Down Econom
Trickle Down Econo
Trickle Down Econ
Trickle Down Eco
Trickle Down Ec
Trickle Down E
Trickle Down
Trickle Dow
Trickle Do
Trickle D
Trickle
Trickl
Trick

— Angry American 😡 (@TrueBlue2018) April 17, 2018

 

Overheard Online

Twitter was down today so I spent some time chatting with my wife - she seems nice.

Today's Tweet

What's really scary is that when policy starts to make sense, we usually stop supporting it.

So, let me get this straight...

We're bombing Syria, because Syria bombed Syria, to show Syria that Syria shouldn't bomb Syria.

Then, after we've bombed Syria for bombing Syria, we still won't accept Syrian refugees that are seeking refuge from the bombing.

Got it.

— Adam Sweeney (@AdamWSweeney) April 14, 2018

 

Ari Nails It

Jim Comey is another one of those weird figures in American politics who's basically a rich mixture of Truth-Teller and Scolding Prig - and it's going to take quite a while to know just what the fuck has been going on.

But here's a fair stab at a beginning from Ari Melber, The Beat on MSNBC:

And for right now anyway, if anybody needs to sit down and shut the fuck up, it's Jim Comey.

Maybe he could take up knitting.

The Real Story

Crooks & Liars has unearthed the truth - straight from Hannity's own mouth, and in his own words.

John Oliver

April 15, 2018

The ol' Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich:

We pretend to work, and they pretend to pay us.

Today's Tweet

Madeleine Albright is not particularly good at being a party politician - at least not out in the open.

"There's a special place in hell for women who don't support women" is a solid standup thing to say; except when your candidate's been working really hard to countervail the "Vote With Your Vagina" thing - then it's one of the dumbest fuckin' things anybody ever said.

That said, Ms Albright is pretty good at the kind of international politics that made her a decent choice for (the first female) Sec'y of State, even if she was a little spotty on the war thing.

Anyway, she's had a closeup view of Daddy State shit, and it usually pays to listen to people with that kind of experience.

“You pluck the chicken one feather at a time, and people don’t really notice.” — Benito Mussolini, quoted by Madeleine Albright. Remember that as you watch our Chicken-Plucker-in-Chief and are tempted to just flip the bird 🖕🏽and move on. Yelling at your screen isn’t enough.

— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) April 15, 2018

Today's GIF

Beginning to wonder about this whole Google Earth thingie.

And holy shit, man - what if we really are just a buncha syms in a Cosmic Gamer's imagination!?!

Your Weekly Amy

Amy Siskind, The Weekly List - Week 74:

This week, Trump became angry and stormy after the office and hotel room of his longtime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen were raided by the FBI. The country stood on edge as Trump threatened to fire Mueller, Sessions, and Rosenstein. Other than a few hollow warnings, Republicans in leadership did nothing by way of passing legislation or any other measures to block Trump from taking steps to dull or end the Mueller probe. And as Speaker Paul Ryan became the latest Republican leader to announce he will not seek re-election in November, increasingly it appears the party will abdicate its responsibility to counter Trump.

In a week without any real focus, policy, or direction, Trump careened on trade and on Syria. After spending much of week attacking and discrediting institutions and familiar targets like Obama, Hillary, McCabe, and Comey, Trump ended the week late Friday by addressing the nation on a US missile attack on Syria, which, unlike a year ago, will be an open-ended military engagement. With a non-functioning and unstaffed State Department, many senior national security roles vacated, and disagreement voiced by Secretary Mattis, the decision to strike — as with most decisions in recent weeks — was made by one man.
5. WAPO reported on repeated clashes between Trump and chief of staff John Kelly, and Kelly’s downward arc of influence in the White House. Kelly’s credibility has also suffered amid misstatements, including his handling of the Rob Porter scandal.

6. Kelly has instituted “Policy Time” sessions once or twice a day where advisers would address Trump on specific issues and bi-monthly cabinet meetings. Kelly’s efforts to create an atmosphere of discipline clashed with Trump’s freewheeling impulses.

7. Reportedly, Kelly has threatened to resign multiple times — one senior White House official jokingly called it “a weekly event.” Trump has told friends recently he likes rallies where he can escape Kelly’s shackles.

15. On Thursday, Gov. Jerry Brown of California heeded Trump’s call to send the National Guard to the Mexico border, but said his 400 troops will have nothing to do with immigration enforcement.

17. Brennan Walker, a 14 year-old black teen in Rochester Hills, Michigan who missed his school bus and stopped at a neighbor’s house while walking to school to ask for directions, was shot by homeowner Jeffrey Ziegler, whose wife initially answered the door and yelled at Walker.

28. On Monday, La Prensa reported Trump Panama Hotel Management has pressured the Panamanian government to step in to its dispute with Orestes Fintiklis over control of the hotel formerly named after Trump.

Number 28 is exactly the problem when a President refuses to divest. How do we know federal resources are being spent on National Interests, and not in support of the President's own pocketbook?

The Emoluments Clause (aka: Title Of Nobility Clause) is kind of a big deal around here.

The Title of Nobility Clause is a provision in Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution,[1] that prohibits the federal government from granting titles of nobility, and restricts members of the government from receiving gifts, emoluments, offices or titles from foreign states without the consent of the United States Congress. Also known as the Emoluments Clause, it was designed to shield the republican character of the United States against so-called "corrupting foreign influences."

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

A Thinker

If you were god, what would you do?

You are morally superior to a god who sees this and does nothing.

Why would you worship that god?

On This Day

On this day in 1980, Jean-Paul Sartre died.

Not that it matters.

Not that anything matters.