- Missionary Positron
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Nigel Farage is 'person of interest' in FBI investigation into Trump and Russia
quote: Exclusive: FBI interested in former Ukip leader’s ties with people connected to US president and WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange
Nigel Farage is a “person of interest” in the US counter-intelligence investigation that is looking into possible collusion between the Kremlin and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, the Guardian has been told.
Sources with knowledge of the investigation said the former Ukip leader had raised the interest of FBI investigators because of his relationships with individuals connected to both the Trump campaign and Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder whom Farage visited in March.
WikiLeaks published troves of hacked emails last year that damaged Hillary Clinton’s campaign and is suspected of having cooperated with Russia through third parties, according to recent congressional testimony by the former CIA director John Brennan, who also said the adamant denials of collusion by Assange and Russia were disingenuous.
Farage has not been accused of wrongdoing and is not a suspect or a target of the US investigation. But being a person of interest means investigators believe he may have information about the acts that are under investigation and he may therefore be subject to their scrutiny.
Sources who spoke to the Guardian said it was Farage’s proximity to people at the heart of the investigation that was being examined as an element in their broader inquiry into how Russia may have worked with Trump campaign officials to influence the US election.
“One of the things the intelligence investigators have been looking at is points of contact and persons involved,” one source said. “If you triangulate Russia, WikiLeaks, Assange and Trump associates the person who comes up with the most hits is Nigel Farage.
“He’s right in the middle of these relationships. He turns up over and over again. There’s a lot of attention being paid to him.”
It's a transatlantic union of human turds.
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Jun 1, 2017 12:58
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Apr 29, 2024 10:51
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- Missionary Positron
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May is down in the polls lately as well because she's 'linked' with trump. Mr. Brexit here said it was good of May to call an election cause 'labour is in disarray' when polls are saying Jezza will gain seats and May will lose some. I don't think labour is going to win, but they might costs the Tories their majority
As an outsider, it looks like the Tories have been owning themselves time after time ever since Cameron decided that a Brexit vote would be a fantastic idea.
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Jun 1, 2017 13:09
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- Missionary Positron
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In other news, McMaster has drunk the koolaid and is now resolutely in the ~true believer~ section of the administration:
quote: America First Doesn’t Mean America Alone
We are asking a lot of our allies and partners. But in return the U.S. will once again be a true friend.
President Trump just returned from nine days in the Middle East and Europe that demonstrated his America First approach to ensuring security and prosperity for our nation. America will not lead from behind. This administration will restore confidence in American leadership as we serve the American people.
America First does not mean America alone. It is a commitment to protecting and advancing our vital interests while also fostering cooperation and strengthening relationships with our allies and partners. A determination to stand up for our people and our way of life deepens our friends’ respect for America. (  )
...
While meeting with European Union leaders in Brussels, the president reiterated his concern about our trade deficits with many European nations. He also emphasized the importance of reciprocity in trade and commerce. Simply put, America will treat others as they treat us. At the Group of Seven in Taormina, Sicily, where President Trump further solidified his relationships with leaders of the world’s largest market economies, the members came together in the official communiqué to stand firm “against all unfair trade practices” and to foster a truly level playing field.
Strong alliances and economically thriving partners are a third vital American interest. As the president stated in Brussels, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is rooted in “the courage of our people, the strength of our resolve, and the commitments that bind us together as one.” While reconfirming America’s commitment to NATO and Article 5, the president challenged our allies to share equitably the responsibility for our mutual defense. We came away with new outcomes for the first time in decades: More allies are stepping up to meet their defense commitments. By asking for more buy-in, we have deepened our relationships. That is not surprising. Alliances based on mutual respect and shared responsibility are strong. And strong alliances bolster American power.
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We are asking a lot of our allies and partners. But in return America will once again be a true friend to our partners and the worst foe to our enemies. The president’s visit showed the power of both competing to advance interests and engaging to develop relationships and foster cooperation. We have a vital interest in taking the lead internationally to advance American military, political and economic strength.
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The president embarked on his first foreign trip with a clear-eyed outlook that the world is not a “global community” but an arena where nations, nongovernmental actors and businesses engage and compete for advantage. We bring to this forum unmatched military, political, economic, cultural and moral strength. Rather than deny this elemental nature of international affairs, we embrace it. (loving lol)
Read the whole piece, it's hilarious.
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Jun 1, 2017 13:40
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- Missionary Positron
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Death to online newspaper comment sections.
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Jun 1, 2017 16:48
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- Missionary Positron
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Can't wait.
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Jun 1, 2017 18:56
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- Missionary Positron
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What the gently caress is up with the almost fetishistic thing the GOP has with coal?
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Jun 1, 2017 20:05
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- Missionary Positron
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Well you see, there's this thing called votes
Yes, but isn't it comparatively small relative to other industries? I mean if this is the heading for the wiki article for coal mining in the US, the industry is in pretty bad shape: "By January 2016, more than 25% of coal production was in bankruptcy in the United States.[5] In 2015 four publicly-traded US coal companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, including Patriot Coal Corporation, Walter Energy, and the fourth-largest Alpha Natural Resources filed for bankruptcy protection. The second-largest producer Arch Coal and the largest producer Peabody Energy declared bankruptcy in 2016.[5][6][7] By March 2017, the coal industry employed approximately 77,000 miners. 60,000 jobs have been lost since 2011.[8]".
Why leech onto this tiny segment of the economy as being a fundamental part of 'MURICA? 
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Jun 1, 2017 20:16
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Because the GOP represents the good, hard working blue collar American and what better way to send that message than with the coal industry? It's not about the coal industry at all. It's about optics.
I realize that, but I just can't understand why it's coal of all things. Am I missing some cultural context here?
EDIT: https://twitter.com/sparksjls/status/870355669882417152
lol/ 
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Jun 1, 2017 20:21
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Because it takes a lot less effort and resources to appease an industry that will die anyway than to back McDonald's workers. And the blowback isn't as huge when you inevitably fail.
I guess my biggest mistake was to assign logic to the way the modern GOP functions.
Accept if it's nuclear energy, while the right isn't terribly helpful, that's the one where the left goes pants of head stupid and helps keep coal in use more than Trump ever will.
Tbh, new nuclear plants can be a titanic boondoggles. Case in point, Finland's fifth nuclear power plant that was supposed to be operational in 2010 but is still under construction and waaaaaaaaay over budget:
quote:The main contractor, Areva, is building the unit for a fixed price of €3 billion, so in principle, any construction costs above that price fall on Areva. In July 2012, those overruns were estimated at more than €2 billion,[36] and in December 2012, Areva estimated that the full cost of building the reactor would be about €8.5 billion, well over the previous estimate of €6.4 billion.[2][3] Because of the delays, TVO and Areva are both seeking compensation from each other through the International Court of Arbitration. In October 2013, TVO's demand for compensation from Areva had risen to €1.8 billion, and Areva's from TVO to €2.6 billion.[41] In December 2013, Areva increased its demand to €2.7 billion.[42] As of November 2016, the case is still ongoing.[43]
According to some estimates, Olkiluoto reactor could be the fifth or sixth most expensive structure in the world,[citation needed] even more expensive than the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland.
Missionary Positron fucked around with this message at 20:28 on Jun 1, 2017
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Jun 1, 2017 20:26
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A lot of conservative American vote-gathering is about pissing off liberals, whose views are threatening and confusing. This includes coal, as Cole points out. A lot of conservatives understand coal matters to some people--even if not the voters in question, or their friends--and so it's lovely and useful to pander to that notion. It's the evil doppleganger to neoliberal/corporate knob-slobbering of social justice imagery. Gays are a minority; ethnic minorities are a minority; yet many liberal voters prefer the candidate who pays lip service to both regardless of what they actually have done or do in office.
That is really depressing. How do you go about fixing a national discourse that is so fundamentally polarized and broken? It's starting to make it's way here, too. It hasn't gotten that bad yet, but when our far right ~Finns~party lost in the municipal elections, their party chairman and current foreign minister of Finland, said that the foremost objective is to resist the "red greens" from ruining the country.
I've been following US politics since the late 90s or so, and it's really disheartening to see the signs of those same ideological fault lines start to appear here
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Jun 1, 2017 20:51
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- Missionary Positron
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https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/870367998531567617
If there was any justice in this dead gay world, Paul Ryan would be pelted with dogshit 24/7
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Jun 1, 2017 20:58
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- Missionary Positron
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Coal is a symbol. Coal jobs are overwhelmingly in Republican districts (solar jobs aren't, necessarily) and are emblematic of an industry that has remained American in the face of globalization pressures, and also has massive negative externalities. It's not just Republicans: Hillary promised to "put a lot of coal miners out of work" during the campaign, and her supporters understood exactly what ideas she was committing to: prioritizing international and environmental issues irrespective of the costs to poor, flyover state workers. People in Palo Alto like the idea of people in West Virginia reaping the whirlwind for their failure to embrace modern economic realities (and 21st century social values.) This obviously doesn't sell well in West Virginia.
Further, it plays into domino theories of policy: if we acknowledge that coal is externally harmful and needs to be wound down, you could say the same thing about beef ranching, suburban homes, lifted trucks, private vehicle ownership in general, and a ton of other elements of traditional or modern rural life. And no one believes that Hillary's desire to force people to act in the optimal way for the global good irrespective of personal cost is in any way limited to coal miners.
See, this right here is what makes the US such a profoundly interesting and contradictory nation to me. The idealistic version of the United States is the first truly modern nation in terms of democratic ideals. I mean we all know that poo poo didn't happen, but the philosophical underpinnings of the US declaration of independence sort of heralded the coming of what was to be an era of globalization and migration. Yet at at the same time, the US has always been a weirdly conservative nation wary of change. Maybe I'm the one who's getting tangled up in symbolism, but the whole coal thing is just so perfectly emblematic of America's history; the constant interplay between progress and tradition.
I don't know, y'all are a fascinating and a terrifying nation.
Also, I'm drunk as gently caress.
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Jun 1, 2017 21:44
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https://twitter.com/francediplo_EN/status/870699642509512704
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Jun 2, 2017 19:44
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So, what do you actually need in order to qualify for disability in the US?
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Jun 3, 2017 21:37
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https://twitter.com/ilangoldenberg/status/871430213246345216
Holy lol, I sincerely hope they tell Trump to gently caress off.
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Jun 4, 2017 21:03
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For consequental content though, we now know why Donnie never confirmed Article V of NATO in his speech. It was in his speech, then Donnie, Bannon, and Miller removed it at the last minute without telling anyone. That's why McMaster has been lying about the speech so much lately.
https://twitter.com/GlennKesslerWP/status/871690557965426688
Oh hey, this will certainly get European allies to provide troops for McMaster's Afghanistan surge!
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Jun 5, 2017 13:57
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Sorry to continue the tweet spree, but jesus christ:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/871725780535062528
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Jun 5, 2017 14:57
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I don't even know 95% of my passwords anymore thanks to KeePass, and randomly generated passwords.
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Jun 5, 2017 22:19
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- Missionary Positron
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Something Awful is once again connected to international events 
Missionary Positron fucked around with this message at 09:23 on Jun 7, 2017
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Jun 7, 2017 09:19
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Suuuuuuure, Kurt. Sure.
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Jun 8, 2017 18:01
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- Missionary Positron
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Hahahah, the Tories owned themselves once again 
EDIT: Get ready to party like it's 2007:
https://twitter.com/AP/status/872916557827067904
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Jun 8, 2017 22:07
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- Missionary Positron
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https://twitter.com/shashj/status/873885534581653504
I'm sure the Brits are utterly devastated by this news 
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Jun 11, 2017 14:01
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Our local populist party had a leadership vote during the weekend, which resulted in the election of a hardcore far-right nationalist bozo as the party chairman and the party getting kicked out of goverment. Oh, it also meant the collapse of the current governing coaliton 
quote:Speaking at a press conference Monday afternoon, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä said that governing coalition members would always have differing values. However he noted that with a new chair at the helm of the Finns Party, those differences had grown larger, and would pose a risk to government's ability to function.
"We've already had to stretch our value base to its extreme, and now those value differences are even bigger," Sipilä said.
Sipilä told journalists that during discussions with new Finns Party leader Jussi Halla-aho, the trio discussed his intention to function as party chair and member of the government coalition from Brussels, where he is currently serving as a Member of the European Parliament. According to Sipilä, Halla-aho proposed relying on the party's vice chairs and the party leadership.
The PM said that the coalition partners also reviewed Halla-aho's potential nominees for ministerial positions following a cabinet reshuffle. Sipilä noted that while Halla-aho did not provide any names, he was able to surmise that potential candidates would not inspire confidence.
"I will therefore go to the President and ask him to dissolve the government," Sipilä declared. He added that once Parliament is dissolved, he would begin discussions aimed at assembling a new coalition as soon as possible.
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Minister of Finance and National Coalition Party leader Petteri
Orpo also weighed in on the government crisis, emphasising that unassailable human rights should be every government party's concern.
"Human rights are the bedrock of modern Western democracy, not an issue of political correctness or party liturgy," he said in the presser. "The current government programme is based on these values, and the NCP will only join a coalition whose members stands by these values."
Orpo, like Sipilä, thanked Halla-aho for an open discussion, but also remarked that many questions remain unanswered and that Halla-aho's way of speaking about immigration – the new Finns Party leader's main platform – was "difficult to accept or even understand".
"We want to conduct humane politics for the Finnish people, where everyone is respected equally," Orpo said. "We will follow the government programme as closely as possible."
https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/pm_sipila_govt_collapsed_over_sharper_differences_with_finns_party/9665375
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Jun 12, 2017 17:51
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https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/874309225647886336
Holy loving poo poo 
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Jun 12, 2017 20:25
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quote:British Prime Minister Theresa May could be under pressure to give extreme Eurosceptic Nigel Farage a key role in Brexit negotiations if she strikes an alliance deal with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), according to new reports.
Senior figures in the DUP have told May that she should keep Farage close and allow him to contribute to EU talks in an effort to prevent him from returning to the helm of UKIP, the party he once led, and launching a counter-campaign against her Conservative party, sources told the Sunday Times.
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/12/nigel-farage-to-gain-brexit-role-under-dup-conservative-deal--reports.html
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Jun 12, 2017 22:20
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- Missionary Positron
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Finns Party splinters, new group makes bid for Sipilä government
Following its exit from Juha Sipilä’s government, the Finns Party’s parliamentary group has collapsed, with a band of 20 MPs forming a new group to be known as the "New Alternative".
quote:Reeling after its departure from government, the Finns Party has splintered, with a group of 20 MPs leaving to establish a new political force known as the "New Alternative".
Former party chair and Foreign Minister Timo Soini is among the members of the new faction. He is joined by other high profile MPs such as parliamentary group leader Sampo Terho, Defence Minister Jussi Niinistö and Health Minister Pirkko Mattila, as well as Parliamentary Speaker Maria Lohela.
Seeing populists and far right nationalists tear each other apart politically is 
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Jun 13, 2017 12:08
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- Missionary Positron
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Apparently, the unedited version is infinitely worse/better:
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Jun 13, 2017 13:15
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- Missionary Positron
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Trump’s Personal Lawyer Boasted That He Got Preet Bharara Fired. Marc Kasowitz, President Trump’s lawyer in the Russia investigation, has bragged he was behind the firing of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
quote: Marc Kasowitz, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer in the Russia investigation, has boasted to friends and colleagues that he played a central role in the firing of Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, according to four people familiar with the conversations.
Kasowitz told Trump, “This guy is going to get you,” according to a person familiar with Kasowitz’s account.
Those who know Kasowitz say he is sometimes prone to exaggerating when regaling them with his exploits. But if true, his assertion adds to the mystery surrounding the motive and timing of Bharara’s firing.
New presidents typically ask U.S. attorneys to resign and have the power to fire them. But Trump asked Bharara to stay in his job when they met in November at Trump Tower, as Bharara announced after the meeting.
In early March, Trump reversed himself. He asked all the remaining U.S. attorneys to resign, including Bharara. Bharara, a telegenic prosecutor with a history of taking on powerful politicians, refused and was fired March 11.
As ProPublica previously reported, at the time of Bharara’s firing the Southern District was conducting an investigation into Trump’s secretary of the health and human services, Tom Price.
Kasowitz and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.
I know I shouldn't be surprised anymore, but Trump seems to be a magnet for the worst human turds to walk this earth.
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Jun 13, 2017 13:56
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https://twitter.com/votevets/status/874599756143755264
What a patriot 
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Jun 13, 2017 15:04
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Dude's been in a coma for a year, though:
https://twitter.com/suzannedimaggio/status/874635485666320384
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Jun 13, 2017 16:09
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There really is a Simpsons clip for any occasion.
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Jun 13, 2017 16:31
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Cool, we've hit the point of political violence.
Trump is breaking all kinds of records.
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Jun 14, 2017 13:07
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I wonder if this was targeted specifically against Scalise, or "just" against the GOP in general.
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Jun 14, 2017 13:13
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- Missionary Positron
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https://twitter.com/AnnieLinskey/status/874963348844150784
Whew, I guess this one will go into the "boys will be boys"-pile like all the other consequences from shootings by white males.
EDIT: https://twitter.com/rebeccagberg/status/874963899895996417
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Jun 14, 2017 13:20
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gently caress yes, finally:
quote:It's been a long time in coming and had plenty of trials and tribulations, but it's finally here: mobile roaming is now free in the EU. As long as you have service in a member state and live there for at least 8 months each year, you can use your phone's voice, messaging and data in other EU countries at the same rate you'd pay as if you were at home. Well, mostly. There are a number of exceptions to the rule that could leave you paying more, although the likelihood of coming home to a gigantic bill is relatively small.
Carriers can still impose a fair use limit on data while you're traveling (if you have an unlimited or very inexpensive plan), but they're capped at charging you no more than €7.70 per gigabyte plus tax. That ceiling should gradually drop to €2.50 by 2022. Also, a "very small number" of EU carriers are allowed to charge a small roaming fee to make up for lower-than-usual domestic rates, but they should be lower than they were before. And of course, traveling abroad for more than 4 months can incur extra fees.
Now revise copyright/digital distribution laws so the EU gets one gigantic Netflix library instead of 27 crappy little ones 
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Jun 15, 2017 10:46
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I hope those internet points were worth it 
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Jun 15, 2017 16:22
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Holy poo poo
quote: From Russia With Blood
Lavish London mansions. A hand-painted Rolls-Royce. And eight dead friends. For the British fixer Scot Young, working for Vladimir Putin's most vocal critic meant stunning perks – but also constant danger. His gruesome death is one of 14 that US spy agencies have linked to Russia – but the UK police shut down every last case. A bombshell cache of documents today reveals the full story of a ring of death on British soil that the government has ignored.
A two-year investigation by BuzzFeed News has now uncovered explosive evidence pointing to Russia that the police overlooked. A massive trove of documents, phone records, and secret recordings shows Young was part of a circle of nine men, including the exiled oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who all died suspiciously on British soil after making powerful enemies in Russia. The files reveal that Young lived in the shadow of the Russian security services and mafia groups after fronting for Berezovsky – a sworn enemy of the state – in a series of deals that enraged the Kremlin, including the doomed Russian property deal known as Project Moscow. British police declared the deaths of all nine men in Berezovsky’s circle non-suspicious, but BuzzFeed News can now reveal that MI6, Britain’s secret intelligence service, asked its US counterparts for information about each one of them “in the context of assassinations”.
Earlier this week, we revealed that US spy agencies had handed the British government high-grade intelligence that the Russian whistleblower Alexander Perepilichnyy, who died in Surrey in 2012, was likely assassinated on the direct orders of the Kremlin – but the authorities sidelined that and other evidence pointing to murder, instead declaring that he had died of natural causes. Today, we can reveal that US intelligence officials suspect a further 13 people – including Berezovsky and eight members of his circle – have been assassinated on British soil by Russia’s security services or mafia groups, two forces that sometimes work in tandem.
That intelligence – based on human sources, intercepted communications, and public material gathered by US spy agencies – has been shared with Britain in relation to all 14 deaths. Yet British police have ruled out foul play in every last case.
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Russian assassins have been able to kill in Britain with impunity over the past decade, 17 current and former British and American intelligence officials told BuzzFeed News. The reasons for Britain’s reticence, they said, include fear of retaliation, police incompetence, and a desire to preserve the billions of pounds of Russian money that pour into British banks and properties each year. As a result, Russia is making what one source called increasingly “bold moves” in the UK without fear of reprisals.
Read the whole thing, it's worth it.
Missionary Positron fucked around with this message at 22:47 on Jun 15, 2017
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Jun 15, 2017 22:45
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- Missionary Positron
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quote:
EU proposes banning encryption backdoors
End-to-end security could be mandatory across most of Europe.
The European Union might want it to be easier for police to obtain data, but that doesn't mean it'll be easy for officers to read that data. The European Parliament has proposed amended regulation that would not only require end-to-end encryption when available, but forbid backdoors that offer guaranteed access to law enforcement. EU residents need to know that the "confidentiality and safety" of their data is "guaranteed," according to the draft, and backdoors risk "weakening" that privacy.
The proposal has to be approved by Parliament and then reviewed by the EU Council, so there's still a chance that the rules will be softened if and when the amendments pass.
If they do clear, though, they could set up a conflict between the EU and countries that aren't so fond of encryption. The UK is undoubtedly the main concern, even after it leaves the EU. A ban on backdoors would make it difficult for the country to enforce the Investigatory Powers Act's requirement that companies remove "electronic protection" when possible. How would that be meaningful when virtually every tech company in Europe is encrypting data traffic? You're not likely to see UK-specific versions of apps that introduce security holes.
This would also thwart the efforts of some American politicians (such as Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein) to effectively ban airtight encryption. While those proposals have largely stalled, they'd face an even tougher battle in Congress if it meant pitting American and European security policies against each other. Simply put, the EU could wind up dictating encryption strength well beyond its member states' borders.
https://www.engadget.com/2017/06/19/eu-proposes-banning-encryption-backdoors/
It feels weird to see a legislative body making seemingly informed, pro-consumer laws regarding technology
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Jun 19, 2017 17:31
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ADBOT LOVES YOU
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Apr 29, 2024 10:51
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- Missionary Positron
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If you absolutely have to tweet, use a loving alias. It's not hard 
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Jun 20, 2017 00:07
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Jun 1, 2017 12:58
