May 6, 2017

Those Busy Bots

Le Leaks:  The final round of the French presidential elections takes place Sunday.  Polls say that the centrist candidate Macron is leading Putin’s favorite, the right wing Le Pen, by twenty points.  Apparently Macron’s lead over Le Pen has Putin twisted in knots so he’s resorted to his favorite election disruption technique.  Late Friday, someone, probably named Vladimir, leaked thousands of Macron’s campaign emails, with a few incriminating fake ones thrown in to further muddy the waters. French campaign law forbids candidates talking to the press or campaigning in the forty-eight hour period leading up to the vote so the timing of the release is significant.  Macron was able to get a brief statement out before the campaign ban started but now can’t defend himself from anything in the email trove. The French Election Commission has asked press outlets to refrain from publishing the contents of the leaks until after the election.  Putin has denied that he has anything to do with the hacking. Trump, who also prefers Le Pen and denies that there is any evidence that the Russians tampered with our election, is probably pointing a finger at the Chinese or his previous target, the really fat guy sitting on a couch.   

Being a Woman is a Preexisting Condition:  By permitting discrimination of people with preexisting conditions Trumpcare effectively wages a war on women.  Insurers consider pregnancy, a prior c-section, irregular periods, endometriosis, breast cancer and other breast irregularities, and mental health services for rape or domestic abuse preexisting conditions.  In short, being a woman is a preexisting condition. On top of all this Trumpcare bans insurance reimbursement to Planned Parenthood which may be why the Trump administration recently appointed Teresa Manning, who believes that birth control is a sham, to run the US Birth Control Program.  She will be responsible for more than $268 million in family planning grants. Last week, while Congress passed Trumpcare on to the Senate, Trump’s advocate for women, Ivanka, spent most of her time promoting her new book, the one she wasn’t going to promote, that tells women how to “architect” their lives. There is no chapter on what to do when you can’t afford health care or get birth control services.

Fun Flynn Facts: Next week, when she testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee, we will finally get to hear what former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates told the Trump administration about Michael Flynn before she was summarily fired for doing her job.  A few fun Flynn facts came to light on Friday when it was revealed that Trump’s transition team was concerned about Flynn’s questionable conversations with Russian Ambassador Kislyak as far back as November. Weeks before he was forced out for “lying” to Pence about discussing sanctions relief with Kislyak, Flynn was warned that contact with Kislyak should be avoided since senior Russian officials were routinely surveilled by US intelligence agencies. Trump’s transition team, which was led by Pence, was so concerned that Flynn didn’t understand Kislyak’s motives that they reached out to the Obama administration to get a report on Kislyak to share with Flynn.  Despite these concerns and knowledge that Flynn was chatting with Kislyak, Trump appointed Flynn as his national security adviser.  Looks more and more like Trump and Pence have been less than forthcoming with the facts. Yates will be able to shed light on what Trump’s team knew but won’t be able to say anything that is still “top secret.”     

Trump Russia Squad:  The Senate Intelligence Committee has finally kicked into gear.  On Friday they announced that they’ve sent letters to  members of the Trump Russia squad including former Campaign Manager Paul Manafort, former adviser Carter Page, Michael Flynn and Roger Stone, a long term Trump buddy who has admitted to communicating with Guccifer 2.0 shortly before the Russian linked persona leaked DNC emails.  The letter requests all records of contacts with Russians during the 2016 campaign through the transition.  The increasingly bizarre Page responded with a letter directing the Senate committee to get his records from the Obama administration who had a FISA warrant to legally surveil him because their records are probably more complete than his. He then added that he was unfairly targeted because he is Catholic and that the treatment he received by the “Clinton/Obama perpetrators will be more along the lines of severe vomiting.”  Nausea and vomit seem to be the theme of the week.

Have a nice weekend!