- The Trump administration is up to its neck in Russians (WaPo) "The blizzard of Russia connections between members of Trump’s team, including his son Donald Trump Jr. (who attended the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting and received an ample speaking fee from French allies of the Russian government) and son-in-law, top members of his administration (the attorney general, former national security adviser Flynn) and his campaign (Manafort, George Papadopoulos, Page), coupled with the utter lack of candor about such ties, all take place in the context of an election in which Russia executed a sophisticated plan to interfere in our democracy. Trump tried to stop Comey from investigating Flynn and then fired Comey, who was investigating the Russia connection."
- At least nine people in Trump’s orbit had contact with Russians during campaign and transition (WaPo) "Experts who have studied Russian tactics see something...: a picture emerging of a concerted and multifaceted Kremlin effort to infiltrate Trump’s campaign."
- Russian Twitter Support for Trump Began Right After He Started Campaign (WSJ - Paywall) "Russian Twitter accounts posing as Americans began lavishing praise on Mr. Trump and attacking his rivals within weeks after he announced his bid for the presidency in June 2015..."
- Trump Jr. Hinted at Review of Anti-Russia Law, Moscow Lawyer Says (Bloomberg) "Her [Veselnitskaya] June 9, 2016 encounter with Donald Trump Jr., President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and then campaign manager Paul Manafort in New York plays a key role in allegations that the campaign worked with Russia to defeat Clinton. 'Looking ahead, if we come to power, we can return to this issue and think what to do about it,' Trump Jr. said of the 2012 law... ...the so-called Magnitsky law that punishes Russian officials for the murder of a Russian tax accountant who accused the Kremlin of corruption. In the past, Trump Jr. has said that he had wasted his time seeing the lawyer because she provided no useful information." and What did Donald Trump Jr. ask for at that meeting? The Russian lawyer just spoke out (WaPo) "There are a number of lingering questions about the account, and healthy skepticism about the messenger and her message is certainly warranted. However, this is a notable moment, because it would appear to constitute a direct allegation that Donald Trump Jr. actively requested Russian assistance in harming Hillary Clinton... ...Veselnitskaya is not a particularly trustworthy character, and it should be stressed that by her account, she did not furnish any such documents. We know now as a matter of fact, however, that the June 2016 meeting was held for the explicit purpose of getting a dump-truck’s worth of Russian 'dirt' on Clinton — Donald Jr.’s email chain confirms it. And let’s not forget...that Trump himself helped dictate an initial statement from Donald Jr. that misleadingly claimed the meeting was 'primarily' about Russian adoptions. This was later proven false, which means Trump himself has been directly implicated in an effort to mislead the country about his own top campaign officials’ eagerness to benefit from help from the Russian government."
- At least nine people in Trump’s orbit had contact with Russians during campaign and transition (WaPo) "Experts who have studied Russian tactics see something...: a picture emerging of a concerted and multifaceted Kremlin effort to infiltrate Trump’s campaign."
- Russian Twitter Support for Trump Began Right After He Started Campaign (WSJ - Paywall) "Russian Twitter accounts posing as Americans began lavishing praise on Mr. Trump and attacking his rivals within weeks after he announced his bid for the presidency in June 2015..."
- Trump Jr. Hinted at Review of Anti-Russia Law, Moscow Lawyer Says (Bloomberg) "Her [Veselnitskaya] June 9, 2016 encounter with Donald Trump Jr., President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and then campaign manager Paul Manafort in New York plays a key role in allegations that the campaign worked with Russia to defeat Clinton. 'Looking ahead, if we come to power, we can return to this issue and think what to do about it,' Trump Jr. said of the 2012 law... ...the so-called Magnitsky law that punishes Russian officials for the murder of a Russian tax accountant who accused the Kremlin of corruption. In the past, Trump Jr. has said that he had wasted his time seeing the lawyer because she provided no useful information." and What did Donald Trump Jr. ask for at that meeting? The Russian lawyer just spoke out (WaPo) "There are a number of lingering questions about the account, and healthy skepticism about the messenger and her message is certainly warranted. However, this is a notable moment, because it would appear to constitute a direct allegation that Donald Trump Jr. actively requested Russian assistance in harming Hillary Clinton... ...Veselnitskaya is not a particularly trustworthy character, and it should be stressed that by her account, she did not furnish any such documents. We know now as a matter of fact, however, that the June 2016 meeting was held for the explicit purpose of getting a dump-truck’s worth of Russian 'dirt' on Clinton — Donald Jr.’s email chain confirms it. And let’s not forget...that Trump himself helped dictate an initial statement from Donald Jr. that misleadingly claimed the meeting was 'primarily' about Russian adoptions. This was later proven false, which means Trump himself has been directly implicated in an effort to mislead the country about his own top campaign officials’ eagerness to benefit from help from the Russian government."
PARADISE...LOST:
- A massive trove of data on offshore transactions is leaked (Economist) "This latest batch of revelations...began on November 6th and will be rolled out over a week. It shines light on offshore transactions linked to hundreds of wealthy clients of Appleby, a Bermuda-based law firm. These include politicians (Wilbur Ross, America’s commerce secretary), entertainers (U2’s Bono) and even royalty (arise, Queen Elizabeth). The most eye-catching early stories concern Mr Ross, social-media firms and Britain’s monarch. Mr Ross, a private-equity boss turned senior member of the Trump administration, is reported to have held a 31% stake (through a buy-out firm he owns) in a company called Navigator, which received tens of millions of dollars for shipping oil for a Russian client. That client, a firm called Sibur, was part-owned by Russians with alleged Kremlin ties who are subject to American sanctions... Stories about such connections are guaranteed a wide audience at the moment given heightened scrutiny of possible ties between the Trump campaign and Moscow. There is no suggestion of illegal activity by Mr Ross, or of improper contact between him and Russian interests. A spokesman for Mr Ross said he recuses himself from any matters focused on transoceanic shipping vessels, has had no contact with the sanctioned individuals, and was not even aware of them until this week."
- Commerce Secretary’s Offshore Ties to Putin ‘Cronies’ (NYT) "As WL Ross & Co. expanded over the years, it used Appleby, the offshore specialist, to set up an increasing number of entities in tax havens..."
- Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has stake in firm tied to Putin orbit (LA Times) "Commerce Department spokesman James Rockas said Ross 'never met' Shamalov and has generally supported the Trump administration's sanctions against Russia... The details are likely to add to the questions about ties between Russia and the Trump administration... In financial disclosure forms he filed with the government this year, Ross valued his holdings in the Cayman Island entities, which include other companies besides Navigator, at no more than $10.1 million."
- Kremlin Cash Behind Billionaire’s Twitter and Facebook Investments (NYT) "...Russian billionaire investor Yuri Milner...when someone asked a question that had swirled around his Silicon Valley ascent — Who were his investors? — he did not answer... Now, leaked documents examined by The New York Times offer a partial answer: Behind Mr. Milner’s investments in Facebook and Twitter were hundreds of millions of dollars from the Kremlin. Ultimately, Mr. Milner’s companies came to own more than 8 percent of Facebook and 5 percent of Twitter... Among Mr. Milner’s current investments is a real estate venture founded and partly owned by Jared Kushner... ...his use of the state-directed apparatus employed by so many Russian oligarchs to enrich themselves shows how the Kremlin has extended its long financial arm not only to his company but to some of America’s technology giants. There is nothing illegal about foreign state-owned institutions investing in American companies. The Facebook deal was a case study in the way Russia’s oligarchs have mixed public and private roles for their own, and their government’s, benefit..." and Russia funded Facebook and Twitter investments through Kushner associate (Guardian)
ENTERTAINMNT:
- The night AC/DC stormed CBGB (Salon) "An hour after the Palladium show, the guys surprised CBGB management by showing up uninvited. AC/DC plugged in and hastily played a handful of songs, including 'Live Wire' and 'She’s Got Balls,'...with long guitar solos pushing the limits of the edgy punk ethos. Bon Scott was wearing his standard stage attire (he’d probably just wrung it out after the Palladium show): crotch-choking jeans and a sleeveless denim vest, soon removed to give his chest hair and medallion more exposure. His hair was shaggy and shoulder-length. He was covered in ink. And the band was loud."
NEWS:
- ‘Bullies’ and boiling points: How Bob Corker left President Trump, and why it may not be over (WaPo) "Corker seized the role of presidential critic-in-chief last month, when he accused Trump, in a rapid-fire series of conversations with reporters, of 'debasing' the country with his 'untruths' and 'name-calling.' Now, Corker has his party on edge, wondering where and when he will strike again and what it will mean... No one, not even Corker, seems sure where this one will lead."
- Detroit: From Motor City to Housing Incubator (NYT) "...as home prices soar across the United States — particularly on the coasts — Detroit remains a poster child for the economic crisis and housing collapse of a decade ago. Boarded up homes and rubble-strewn fields litter the landscape. What is truly surprising...is how difficult it still is for buyers to actually buy. Basically, prices are too low for lenders (who see the deals as too small or risky) but too high for buyers (who may be cash-poor). There aren’t enough houses in move-in-ready condition — and not enough money to fix them up. ...while Detroit is worse off than most big cities, housing-policy makers nationwide are keeping a close eye to see what lessons can be learned. Homes are certainly worth more in Detroit now than they were a few years ago. Citywide, the median value for a house here is $47,700, a 40 percent gain over the past two years, according to Zillow. But progress is largely limited to a small cluster of neighborhoods."
- Can Republicans Escape Trump in 2020? (NYT) "...if someone who had slept through the 2016 campaign were suddenly awakened and given a few key facts about the state of Donald Trump’s administration, they would instantly suggest that he should expect not just a Republican challenger in 2020, but one with decent prospects of success. But unlike our fictional Rip Van Winkle, we were all awake in 2016... Trump’s unpopularity is stark, but not among his party’s voters. ...the biggest reason for Trump’s support from core Republicans is likely the simple pull of partisanship. This is a difficult environment in which to imagine a primary challenger flourishing. ...no rising figure in the G.O.P. is likely to consider sacrificing their career to make a protest or start an intellectual debate — leaving the task to retirees and elder statesmen..."
- When ‘Conservatives’ Turned Into Radicals (NYT) "For centuries, conservative politics has considered itself a means of preserving something — a culture, a way of being, an imagined notion of what once was and should be again. Conservatism has told us again and again that what came before us was most likely better than what will follow, and that old ideals are the basis of who we are as a people. ...conservatism has long had two faces — one for its ideological elites and another for its voters. ...Republicans have worked to maintain a two-tiered party — one for the ideologues who believed in Burke and Buckley, free markets and free minds, and one for the voters, who are often moved less by a system of ideas than by id and grievance. It was always the voters, though, who really mattered. And it was the voters who won."
TECHNOLOGY:
- Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation? (Atlantic) "Typically, the characteristics that come to define a generation appear gradually, and along a continuum. The biggest difference between the Millennials and their predecessors was in how they viewed the world; teens today differ from the Millennials not just in their views but in how they spend their time. The experiences they have every day are radically different from those of the generation that came of age just a few years before them. What happened in 2012 to cause such dramatic shifts in behavior? ...it was exactly the moment when the proportion of Americans who owned a smartphone surpassed 50 percent. The arrival of the smartphone has radically changed every aspect of teenagers’ lives, from the nature of their social interactions to their mental health. More comfortable in their bedrooms than in a car or at a party, today’s teens are physically safer than teens have ever been. Psychologically, however, they are more vulnerable than Millennials were: Rates of teen depression and suicide have skyrocketed since 2011. There is compelling evidence that the devices we’ve placed in young people’s hands are having profound effects on their lives—and making them seriously unhappy. Teens who spend more time than average on screen activities are more likely to be unhappy, and those who spend more time than average on nonscreen activities are more likely to be happy. There’s not a single exception. All screen activities are linked to less happiness, and all nonscreen activities are linked to more happiness. The more time teens spend looking at screens, the more likely they are to report symptoms of depression. What's the connection between smartphones and the apparent psychological distress this generation is experiencing? For all their power to link kids day and night, social media also exacerbate the age-old teen concern about being left out."
- How Facebook’s Oracular Algorithm Determines the Fates of Start-Ups (NYT) "...social-network advertising is an assumed prerequisite for anyone studying marketing at a tech incubator these days — or at any business school across the country. The process is easy, cheap and effective. With a few hundred dollars and a morning’s effort, an entrepreneur can place his or her ads before social-media users that same afternoon. The ease of opening a business on Facebook has in turn spawned a wild proliferation of specialty digital sellers that depend on the social network’s algorithm to find their early customers. Facebook’s sales pitch — putting the right ad in front of the right person, thanks to the wonders of data technology — isn’t exactly new. What sets Facebook (and Google) apart are scale and sophistication."
- How Netflix works: the (hugely simplified) complex stuff that happens every time you hit Play (Medium) "...as much as it means building top-notch infrastructure at a scale no other Internet service has done before, it also means that a lot of participants in the experience have to be negotiated with and kept satiated — from production companies supplying the content, to internet providers dealing with the network traffic Netflix brings upon them. Netflix estimates that it uses around 700 microservices to control each of the many parts of what makes up the entire Netflix service: one microservice stores what all shows you watched, one deducts the monthly fee from your credit card, one provides your device with the correct video files that it can play, one takes a look at your watching history and uses algorithms to guess a list of movies that you will like, and one will provide the names and images of these movies to be shown in a list on the main menu."
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- She flipped off President Trump — and got fired from her government contracting job (WaPo) "Her bosses...showed her the blue-highlighted section 4.3 of their social media policy when they canned her. Wait. It gets even more obscene. Because Briskman was in charge of the firm’s social media presence during her brief, six-month tenure there, she recently flagged something that did link her company to some pretty ugly stuff. As she was monitoring Facebook this summer, she found a public comment by a senior director at the company on an otherwise civil discussion by one of his employees about Black Lives Matter. 'You’re a f****ing Libtard a**hole,' the director injected, using his profile that clearly and repeatedly identifies himself as an employee."
TODAY'S SONG:
- Highway to Hell (AC/DC)
- How Netflix works: the (hugely simplified) complex stuff that happens every time you hit Play (Medium) "...as much as it means building top-notch infrastructure at a scale no other Internet service has done before, it also means that a lot of participants in the experience have to be negotiated with and kept satiated — from production companies supplying the content, to internet providers dealing with the network traffic Netflix brings upon them. Netflix estimates that it uses around 700 microservices to control each of the many parts of what makes up the entire Netflix service: one microservice stores what all shows you watched, one deducts the monthly fee from your credit card, one provides your device with the correct video files that it can play, one takes a look at your watching history and uses algorithms to guess a list of movies that you will like, and one will provide the names and images of these movies to be shown in a list on the main menu."
BOTTOM OF THE NEWS:
- She flipped off President Trump — and got fired from her government contracting job (WaPo) "Her bosses...showed her the blue-highlighted section 4.3 of their social media policy when they canned her. Wait. It gets even more obscene. Because Briskman was in charge of the firm’s social media presence during her brief, six-month tenure there, she recently flagged something that did link her company to some pretty ugly stuff. As she was monitoring Facebook this summer, she found a public comment by a senior director at the company on an otherwise civil discussion by one of his employees about Black Lives Matter. 'You’re a f****ing Libtard a**hole,' the director injected, using his profile that clearly and repeatedly identifies himself as an employee."
TODAY'S SONG:
- Highway to Hell (AC/DC)
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