Coming February 6, 2024 . . .
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
Coming February 6, 2024 . . . MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
Senator Elizabeth Warren at the National Press Club in Washington on Tuesday launched into a blistering attack on unfettered corporate power in America but waffled when asked about military spending and Israel’s recent brutal reaction to Palestinian resistance.
This article about China's use of computer monitoring of nearly everybody in the country just fucking blew me away. I knew of the possibilities and the danger but I had no idea it was so far along. Imagine what could happen if Google, Facebook, your debit or credit card purchases, Amazon purchases, every bit of data every company collects on you is in the hands of a single entity and the government. That's pretty much what is happening now in China. Absolutely must read article. Very long but totally worth the time.
Almost one-third of world’s 7.7 billion people born since ’01
Newest generation is less ‘self-centered’ than millennials
By Lee J. Miller & Wei Lu @ Bloomberg. com, Aug. 20
[....] Gen Z will comprise 32 percent of the global population of 7.7 billion in 2019, nudging ahead of millennials, who will account for a 31.5 percent share, based on Bloomberg analysis of United Nations data, and using 2000/2001 as the generational split.
People born in 2001 will turn 18 next year, meaning many will enter university, be eligible to vote and, depending on their citizenship, smoke or drink alcohol without breaking the law. Gen Zers have never known a non-digital world and have grown up amid events such as the "war on terror" and Global Recession.
"The key factor that differentiated these two groups, other than their age, was an element of self-awareness versus self-centeredness," according to “Rise of Gen Z: New Challenge for Retailers,” a report by Marcie Merriman, an executive director at Ernst & Young LLP. Millennials were "more focused on what was in it for them. They also looked to others, such as the companies they did business with, for solutions, whereas the younger people naturally sought to create their own solutions." [....]
An Indonesian court sentenced a woman to 18 months in jail under a blasphemy law for complaining that a mosque near to her home was creating too much noise during its call to prayer.
Meiliana, 44, an ethnic Chinese Buddhist, was found guilty on Tuesday of "insulting Islam" and jailed for 18 months, a spokesperson for a district court in North Sumatra told reporters.
The court in the city of Medan said her comments, made in 2016, triggered riots that saw Muslims attack Buddhist temples, AFP news agency reported [....]
By Craig Timberg, Elizabeth Dwoskin & Tony Romm @ WashingtonPost.com, August 21 at 7:47 PM
Facebook has taken down more than 600 phony pages, groups and accounts that were part of separate disinformation campaigns — organized by Russia and Iran — targeting people worldwide, the company announced Tuesday night.
The revelation is unusual for targeting people in many countries and for involving a nation-state actor other than Russia, which has been the main focus of reporting on disinformation operations targeting the United States. The discovery was made by cybersecurity firm FireEye, Facebook said.
“These were distinct campaigns and we have not identified any link or coordination between them,” Facebook said in a blog post. “However, they used similar tactics by creating networks of accounts to mislead others about who they were and what they were doing.”
Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, said [....]
By Juliegrace Brufke @ TheHill.com, Aug. 21, 6:27 pm
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and his wife, Margaret, were indicted Tuesday after being charged with misusing at least $250,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.
The California Republican is accused of using the funds to purchase trips to Italy and Hawaii, pay for his family's dental work, his children's tuition and international travel for nearly a dozen relatives, according to the DOJ. Thousands were also spent on "fast food, movie tickets, golf outings, video games, coffee, groceries, home utilities, and expensive meals." [....]
By Sarah Ferris @ Politico.com, Aug. 21, 6:04 pm
Several leading senators, including the GOP appropriations chief, are casting doubt on the White House’s plan to trigger fresh cuts to the State Department just ahead of next month's government’s funding deadline.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said Tuesday he opposed the timing of the White House’s strategy, which comes as GOP leaders are leaning on Democrats to help avoid a government funding cliff Sept. 30, at the height of campaign season
“This is probably not, in my judgment, a good time to deal with it, because we’re trying, in a bipartisan way, to do something that hasn’t been done in 25 years — to make the Senate work, not to divide it,” Shelby said, weighing in on the strategy for the first time.
The Trump administration has proposed using an obscure budget tool — the power of a presidential rescission — to effectively force between $3 billion and $5 billion in foreign aid to expire without input from lawmakers. The cuts would largely come from U.S. funding for the United Nations.
The idea has enraged Senate Democrats, who say it sets a dangerous precedent for future funding bills [....]
By Sylvan Lane @ TheHill.com - 08/21/18 05:56 PM EDT
A Senate panel united in bipartisan frustration Tuesday as Trump administration officials rebuffed several of their questions about the impact and implementation of Russian financial sanctions. Members of the Senate Banking Committee criticized top officials at the Treasury, State and Homeland Security departments after they refused to explain how the administration would impose further penalties meant to derail Russia’s economy.
Treasury Acting Deputy Secretary Sigal Mandelker, Homeland Security Undersecretary Christopher Krebs and Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Ford touted major progress toward putting financial pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Trump officials highlighted the hundreds of Russian firms and individuals sanctioned since 2017 and cited statistical proof of the economic decline they caused through the penalties.
But senators have grown increasingly concerned about Putin’s plans for the 2018 election amid mounting reports of Kremlin-backed hacking attempts and are pressing the administration to do more. Their push includes the full implementation of mandatory Russia sanctions passed last year that have yet to be enforced by the Trump administration [.....]
A D.C. judge has dismissed a defamation suit filed by Russia’s Alfa Bank against the former British intelligence officer and author of the dossier alleging ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.
By Natasha Bertrand @ TheAtlantic.com, Aug. 20, 3:34 pm
In a Tweet linking to the story, Bertrand says here’s my piece on Christopher Steele’s victory against Alfa Bank’s defamation lawsuit: The dossier “plainly concerns an issue of public interest..because it relates to possible Russian interference within the 2016 election,” a judge found.
The Eagles now have the top-selling album in history, surpassing Michael Jackson's "Thriller." CNN's Jake Tapper reports.
What we're covering here
- Guilty on 8 counts: A jury has found President Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort guilty on eight charges.
- Mistrial in 10 others: The other 10 charges were declared a mistrial after the jury could not reach a consensus.
- The charges: Manafort was charged with 18 counts of tax and banking crimes, and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Edit: GO TO COMMENTS FOR UPDATED NEWS; the below was the first breaking with my old headline: Michael Cohen Surrenders to the FBI; Plea Deal (Twitter thread):
Cross link to earlier thread: COHEN, TRUMP’S EX-LAWYER, BEING INVESTIGATED FOR BANK FRAUD IN EXCESS OF $20 MILLION
Asia Argento has been accused of assaulting fellow actor Jimmy Bennett when he was 17; authorities will speak to him after learning no police report was filed at time of alleged 2013 assault
@ Associated Press via TheGuardian.com, Aug 21
Police are looking into sexual assault allegations by a young actor against Italian actress Asia Argento — one of the most prominent activists of the #MeToo movement. Captain Darren Harris from the Los Angeles County sheriff’s department said investigators will seek to talk to Jimmy Bennett or his representatives about the alleged incident at a Southern California hotel in 2013, when Bennett was 17.
The move comes in response to a New York Times story alleging Argento settled a legal notice of intent to sue filed by Bennett for $380,000 shortly after she said in October last year that Harvey Weinstein raped her.
[....] Bennett said in the notice that he had sex with Argento in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Marina del Rey, California, in 2013. The age of consent in California is 18. The notice claimed the encounter traumatised Bennett and hurt his career, the Times reported.
Investigators have learned no police report was filed at the time, Harris said. The newspaper said it received court documents that included a selfie of Argento and Bennett in bed. Three people familiar with the case said the documents were authentic, the Times reported [....]
Some feel the riot control gas may have been connected to police exercises to prepare for a potential influx of North Korean refugees
Their alternate headline: New Russian Hacking Targeted Republican Groups, Microsoft Says
Microsoft said it had seized fake websites, linked to a Russian military intelligence unit, meant to trick people into thinking they were sites for Republican-leaning think tanks that have criticized President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
By David E. Sanger & Sheera Frenkel @ NYTimes.com, Aug. 21
BOSTON — The Russian military intelligence unit that sought to influence the 2016 election appears to have a new target: conservative American think tanks that have broken with President Trump and are seeking continued sanctions against Moscow, exposing oligarchs or pressing for human rights.
In a report scheduled for release on Tuesday, Microsoft Corporation said that it detected and seized websites that were created in recent weeks by hackers linked to the Russian unit formerly known as the G.R.U. The sites appeared meant to trick people into thinking they were clicking through links managed by the Hudson Institute and the International Republican Institute, but were secretly redirected to web pages created by the hackers to steal passwords and other credentials.
Microsoft also found websites imitating the United States Senate, but not specific Senate offices or political campaigns [....]
By Spencer S. Hsu @ WashingtonPost.com, Aug. 20
U.S. prosecutors announced charges Monday against two men arrested Aug. 9 and accused of acting as agents of the government of Iran, covertly monitoring a Jewish center in Chicago and American members of an Iranian opposition group in exile in behalf of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Criminal complaints against Ahmadreza Mohammadi Doostdar, 38, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen, and Majid Ghorbani, 59, an Iranian citizen and resident of California, were unsealed after an indictment was returned Monday in the District of Columbia, according to the U.S. Justice Department and U.S. attorney’s office of the District.
Ghorbani is scheduled to appear for a detention hearing at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate G. Michael Harvey of the District, prosecutors said. Attorneys for the men could not immediately be identified [....]
By Ellen Knickmeyer @ Associated Press (via PBS.org), Aug. 19
WASHINGTON — Conserving oil is no longer an economic imperative for the U.S., the Trump administration declares in a major new policy statement that threatens to undermine decades of government campaigns for gas-thrifty cars and other conservation programs.
The position was outlined in a memo released last month in support of the administration’s proposal to relax fuel mileage standards. The government released the memo online this month without fanfare.
Growth of natural gas and other alternatives to petroleum has reduced the need for imported oil, which “in turn affects the need of the nation to conserve energy,” the Energy Department said. It also cites the now decade-old fracking revolution that has unlocked U.S. shale oil reserves, giving “the United States more flexibility than in the past to use our oil resources with less concern." [....]
Long-form profile by Lisa Miller @ NYMag.com, Aug. 19 and cover story for the Aug. 20 print issue
Furious and unflinching, an NRA enemy, an accused “crisis actor,” and a high-school grad trying to figure out what’s next.