good morning, it's 12 april 2017

Good morning! This is late because we had no internet again. At least this time, we were told. (More fallout from the previous problem, apparently? It's all at the ISP level.)

Anyway. "Rex Tillerson says Russia needs to come clean on election meddling. Does his boss agree?" follows up on somewhat cryptic comments a day before. "FBI obtained FISA warrant to monitor Trump adviser Carter Page" is finally a bit of data on that set of data. But the big story is, "Kushner Omitted Meeting With Russians on Security Clearance Forms." He left out a _lot_ of meetings with foreign officials, only one of which is known to be a Russian contact.

"U.S. Official: Russia knew Syrian chemical attack was coming," because apparently we're still getting different stories on this. "On Trump’s Syria Strategy, One Voice Is Missing: Trump’s." And finally, "Russia Opens New Front in U.S. Rivalry With Taliban Support." This last story has a degree of haziness to it - as do many things at the moment.

Sessions is really showing off his vicious xenophobic motherfucker stripes; this is nasty language. "Sessions signals immigration crackdown: 'This is the Trump era'," gives you some idea of the attitude, but only the start. The Times really soft-pedals it in the headline, "Undocumented Immigrants Who Commit Crimes Face Tougher Policy," and similarly, "During border visit, Sessions outlines immigration plan."

"Sean Spicer Draws Backlash by Comparing Hitler With Assad" - saying that Hitler never used gas in warfare. Seven million victims would _fucking well disagree_. "Social media users question Spicer calling concentration camps 'Holocaust centers'" documents this reaction to the Trump administration's low-key holocaust denial. Nasty, horrible stuff.

"Donald Trump and Paul Ryan are the problem — a staff shake-up won't fix anything" Well, unless the "staff shake-up" involves removing the whole lot of them. " But we're seeing open intra-Republican warfare in Congress now: "Republicans are coming after Paul Ryan: He needs a “change in direction”" and "Amash: We need 'change in direction from this speaker' or a new speaker."

"Trump's proposal to eliminate the Social Security payroll tax may be his worst idea yet" speaks for itself.

Finally, "Neo-fascist presidential candidate Marine Le Pen says France was not complicit in rounding up Jews" (a straight-up partial-holocaust-denial lie) and "Indonesia: gay men facing 100 lashes for having sex" is about a semi-autonomous region in Indonesia. The national government could take action against this but hasn't yet.

Good luck out there.

There most likely won't be a post tomorrow or the next few days due to Norwescon.

( It's April 12, 2017; this is the news )

nwcMUSIC Saturday at Norwescon

Saturday features the return of THE BIG SHOW! This year, it’s really THE BIG BIG SHOW, the show so nice they had to BIG it twice, with afternoon and evening concert blocks. CRAZY I KNOW RIGHT? And yet 100% real.

Tomorrow I’ll see a lot of you at Norwescon – I hope!

Mirrored from Crime and the Blog of Evil. Come check out our music at:
Bandcamp (full album streaming) | Videos | iTunes | Amazon | CD Baby

good morning, it's 13 april 2017

I wasn't going to do a news post this evening, but this is too important:

"AP Exclusive: Manafort firm received Ukraine ledger payout." This is a smoking gun. "Here are 10 things about the explosive Washington Post story on Carter Page that only lawyers and #Russiagate analysts would catch." And Trump's response? "As FBI probe continues, Trump says it’s ‘not too late’ to fire Comey."

Comey is not a political appointee. Trump's threatening to fire him. Keep that in mind.

"CNN Exclusive: Classified docs contradict Nunes surveillance claims, GOP and Dem sources say." This particular vector is turning into "everyone vs. Trump," even the Republicans. Blood in the water?

"Trump Says He Offered China Better Trade Terms in Exchange for Help on North Korea" isn't so interesting for the headline or the offer but the _amazing_ degree of unpreparedness and ignorance he walked into that meeting carrying. Seriously, it's _blinding_.

"Sadly, Sean Spicer's Hitler comments serve as a useful distraction for Trump." I don't agree with that, I think it's very important in and of itself in highlighting the white supremacy and holocaust denialism, and that is _not_ a distraction. But still, here it is, along with "Team Bannon ‘Laying Low,’ After Being ‘Blindsided’ by Trump" - Bannon, meet bus? One can only hope.

It's Only Sharia If Brown People Do It: "Alabama senate votes to allow church to form own police force." No, really. 24-4 vote. In other culture war news, "Fake “Radical Feminist” group actually paid political front for anti-LGBT James Dobson organization." The fundamentalist right isn't just propping up TERF groups; it's making fake ones of their own. This is actually pretty traditional for them, but it's good seeing the money trail.

"Sessions orders Justice Dept. to end forensic science commission, suspend review policy," because invalid data, bad science, and fake forensics are good as long as it lets you throw more people - particularly people of colour - into jail. It's grotesque.

More attempts at ACA sabotage: "Trump Threatens to Withhold Payments to Insurers to Press Democrats on Health Bill." This would be a straight-up refusal to issue payments due under the law. Fun times.

"Report: Body of country's first female Muslim judge found in Hudson River" does NOT, I must stress NOT, show signs of foul play at press time. But keep an eye on this.

Also on the 11th, "United passenger threatened with handcuffs to make room for 'higher-priority' traveler." Like the doctor dragged off the plane, this guy, too, had a boarding pass and was seated.

Finally, in COMPLY OR GET THE BEATDOWN, "How the Government Is Turning Protesters Into Felons."

Now I'm going to go to Norwescon and try to act like things are normal for a few days. It won't work, but I can try.

Good luck out there.

( It's April 13, 2017; this is the news )