Liberal Forum

Misty » 31 Jul 2017 4:42 pm » wrote:Hey guys!
How's that roaring dumpster fire of a reality show at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. going?
Anyone been fired in the last five minutes?

Has Sir Tweets A Lot Tweeted any more crazy **** today?

Misty » 31 Jul 2017 4:42 pm » wrote:Hey guys!
How's that roaring dumpster fire of a reality show at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. going?

White House officials tricked by email prankster.

A self-described "email prankster" in the UK fooled a number of White House officials into thinking he was other officials, including an episode where he convinced the White House official tasked with cyber security that he was Jared Kushner and received that official's private email address unsolicited.

"Tom, we are arranging a bit of a soirée towards the end of August," the fake Jared Kushner on an Outlook account wrote to the official White House email account of Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert.

"It would be great if you could make it, I promise food of at least comparible (sic) quality to that which we ate in Iraq. Should be a great evening."

Bossert wrote back: "Thanks, Jared. With a promise like that, I can't refuse.

Also, if you ever need it, my personal email is" (redacted).

Bossert did not respond to CNN's request for comment; the email prankster said he was surprised Bossert responded given his expertise.

The emails were shared with CNN by the email prankster.

White House officials acknowledged the incidents and said they were taking the matter seriously.

"We take all cyber related issues very seriously and are looking into these incidents further," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told CNN.

Cyber experts consulted by CNN say the incidents are illustrative of how vulnerable Americans -- even those in the highest reaches of power -- remain to the potential threat of spear-phishing, the process through which officials are duped by hackers, and expose government computers and systems to various cyber threats.

No one in any of these situations clicked any links making them vulnerable, and the prankster appears motivated by mischief not anything more malignant, so the severity of these White House pranks should not be overstated.

But spear-phishers often begin the process by falsely posing as a friend or associate before asking the victim to take further action.

"This shows how susceptible government officials are to spear-phishing in general," Adam Malone, a former cyber specialist and special agent for the FBI, told CNN.

"Spear-phishing is the most common technique used by hackers to gain access to their victims.

This information shines a light on how easy it is for people to build trust with unverified individuals."

Former Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta infamously fell victim to such a trap, though the person who preyed on him had more nefarious intentions than mockery.

"I try and keep it on the humorous side of things," the email prankster told CNN.

"I'm not trying to get the keys to the vault or anything like that."

One such exchange appears to have possibly played a role in the tensions between then- White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, who resigned from his job earlier today, and since-fired White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.

Masquerading as Priebus, the prankster emailed Scaramucci's official account using a mail.com account on Saturday, the day after Priebus' resignation was announced.

"I had promised myself I would leave my hands mud free," wrote the fake Priebus, "but after reading your tweet today which stated how; 'soon we will learn who in the media who has class, and who hasn't', has pushed me to this.

That tweet was breathtakingly hypocritical, even for you.

At no stage have you acted in a way that's even remotely classy, yet you believe that's the standard by which everyone should behave towards you?

General Kelly will do a fine job.

I'll even admit he will do a better job than me.

But the way in which that transition has come about has been diabolical.

And hurtful. I don't expect a reply."

The very real Scaramucci responded: "You know what you did. We all do. Even today. But rest assured we were prepared. A man would apologize."

Fake Priebus wrote back: "I can't believe you are questioning my ethics! The so called 'Mooch', who can't even manage his first week in the White House without leaving upset in his wake.

I have nothing to apologize for."

Actual Scaramucci responded: "Read Shakespeare. Particularly Othello. You are right there.

My family is fine by the way and will thrive.

I know what you did. No more replies from me."

In another exchange, Scaramucci was hoodwinked by the same prankster pretending to be Ambassador to Russia-designate Jon Huntsman Jr.

"Who's (sic) head should roll first?" the bogus Huntsman asked from a Gmail account on Friday, before the Priebus termination had been announced.

"Maybe I can help things along somewhat."

"Both of them," responded the real Scaramucci, in an apparent reference to both Priebus and White House Senior Adviser Steve Bannon, about whom Scaramucci has been quite critical.

After a few other nice messages of support from faux Huntsman, Scaramucci wrote, "Are you in Moscow now? If not please visit."

Huntsman himself was also tricked, with the prankster pretending to be Eric Trump, the President's son.

"Thanks for the thoughtful note," the ambassador-designate wrote to fake Eric Trump.

"Russia will be a challenging but no doubt rewarding assignment."

The fake Eric Trump responded with this suggestion: "Maybe we could have Dad sit on a horse, top off, giving the full Putin!

He's in better shape than his suits suggest."

Eric Trump, too, was similarly hoodwinked by the prankster emailing as his older brother, Donald Trump Jr., but he soon caught on and responded, "I have sent this to law enforcement who will handle from here."

Neither Huntsman nor Trump would comment on the record.

The email prankster told CNN he never heard from anyone in law enforcement about his email to Eric Trump.

The email prankster tweets under the name @SINON_REBORN, where he posts his pranks, and describes himself as a "lazy anarchist."

In June, he hoodwinked Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs and Michael Corbat of Citigroup, and he did the same to Barclays CEO Jes Staley in May. Staley, thinking he was being emailed by Barclays chairman John McFarlane, praised the man he thought was his colleague in effusive detail, saying among other things that he had "all the fearlessness of Clapton."

The prankster said Staley was the most surprising of the responses, because it was the first one and because "he responded in such gushing details."

Trump dictated son’s misleading statement on meeting with Russian lawyer.

Peter Zeidenberg, the deputy special prosecutor who investigated the George W. Bush administration’s leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity, said Mueller will have to dig into the crafting of Trump Jr.’s statement aboard Air Force One.

Prosecutors typically assume that any misleading statement is an effort to throw investigators off the track, Zeidenberg said.

“The thing that really strikes me about this is the stupidity of involving the president,” Zeidenberg said.

“They are still treating this like a family-run business and they have a PR problem.

What they don’t seem to understand is this is a criminal investigation involving all of them.”

Misty » 31 Jul 2017 9:52 pm » wrote:
Remember how they blamed the DNC for their own hacking?
Check out the subject line of the email.
It says, "suspected spam."



My favorite part: The fake Eric Trump responded with this suggestion: "Maybe we could have Dad sit on a horse, top off, giving the full Putin! He's in better shape than his suits suggest."

roadkill » 31 Jul 2017 10:04 pm » wrote:So the WH acknowledged the prank?
Unlike the DNC claiming they were not "hacked".
Misty never at that one. I wonder why?

The FBI requested direct access to the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) hacked computer servers but was denied, Director James Comey told lawmakers on Tuesday.

The bureau made “multiple requests at different levels,” according to Comey, but ultimately struck an agreement with the DNC that a “highly respected private company” would get access and share what it found with investigators.

“We’d always prefer to have access hands-on ourselves if that’s possible,” Comey said, noting that he didn’t know why the DNC rebuffed the FBI’s request.

http://thehill.com/policy/national-secu ... nc-servers

Misty » 31 Jul 2017 9:58 pm » wrote:You mean the president lied?
Say it isn't so.
He never lies.

Misty » 31 Jul 2017 11:52 pm » wrote: Maybe because it never happened.
I don't remember ever hearing that they denied being hacked so I Googled 'DNC denied being hacked' and came up empty.

They did however deny the FBI access to their hacked server.

Misty » 31 Jul 2017 11:52 pm » wrote: Maybe because it never happened.
I don't remember ever hearing that they denied being hacked so I Googled 'DNC denied being hacked' and came up empty.

They did however deny the FBI access to their hacked server.

‘Completely untrue’: White House denies Trump was involved in fake Fox News article about Seth Rich.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday denied that President Donald Trump was involved in the publication of a debunked Fox News article about murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich.

“The president had no knowledge of the story and it’s completely untrue that he or the White House [had] involvement in the story,” she said at a press briefing, according to The Hill.

“Beyond that, this is ongoing litigation and I’d refer you to the actual parties involved, which are not the White House.”

A lawsuit filed Tuesday by former D.C. detective Rod Wheeler alleged that Trump personally reviewed the report before it was published on May 15.

Behind Fox News' Baseless Seth Rich Story: The Untold Tale

The Fox News Channel and a wealthy supporter of President Trump worked in concert under the watchful eye of the White House to concoct a story about the death of a young Democratic National Committee aide, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The explosive claim is part of a lawsuit filed against Fox News by Rod Wheeler, a longtime paid commentator for the news network.

The suit was obtained exclusively by NPR.

Wheeler alleges Fox News and the Trump supporter intended to deflect public attention from growing concern about the administration's ties to the Russian government.

His suit charges that a Fox News reporter created quotations out of thin air and attributed them to him to propel her story.

Fox's president of news, Jay Wallace, told NPR on Monday that there was no "concrete evidence" that Wheeler was misquoted by the reporter, Malia Zimmerman.

The news executive did not address a question about the story's allegedly partisan origins.

Fox News declined to allow Zimmerman to comment for this story.

The story, which first aired in May, was retracted by Fox News a week later.

Fox News has, to date, taken no action in response to what it said was a failure to adhere to the network's standards.

The lawsuit focuses particular attention on the role of the Trump supporter, Ed Butowsky, in weaving the story.

He is a wealthy Dallas investor and unpaid Fox commentator on financial matters who has emerged as a reliable Republican surrogate in recent years.

Butowsky offered to pay for Wheeler to investigate the death of the DNC aide, Seth Rich, on behalf of his grieving parents in Omaha, Neb.

On April 20, a month before the story ran, Butowsky and Wheeler — the investor and the investigator — met at the White House with then-press secretary Sean Spicer to brief him on what they were uncovering.

The first page of the lawsuit quotes a voicemail and text from Butowsky boasting that Trump himself had reviewed drafts of the Fox News story just before it went to air and was published.

Spicer now tells NPR that he took the meeting as a favor to Butowsky, a reliable Republican voice.

Spicer says he was unaware of any contact involving the president.

And Butowsky tells NPR that he was kidding about Trump's involvement.

"Rod Wheeler unfortunately was used as a pawn by Ed Butowsky, Fox News and the Trump administration to try and steer away the attention that was being given about the Russian hacking of the DNC emails," says Douglas Wigdor, Wheeler's lawyer.

(Read the backstory at the link in the title.)

Misty » 01 Aug 2017 2:41 pm » wrote:

Another manufactured wingnut conspiracy theory goes bust.

roadkill » 01 Aug 2017 7:35 am » wrote:Because they want to keep the "hack" narrative alive.

Misty » 01 Aug 2017 2:41 pm » wrote:Another manufactured wingnut conspiracy theory goes bust.

Misty » 01 Aug 2017 2:41 pm » wrote: Behind Fox News' Baseless Seth Rich Story: The Untold Tale

roadkill » 01 Aug 2017 2:43 pm » wrote:Look at Misty's avatar...no need to speculate further.

roadkill » 01 Aug 2017 7:35 am » wrote:Now Seth Rich is dead.

According to the lawsuit, Trump's press secretary Sean Spicer meets at the White House with Wheeler and Butowsky to review the Rich story a month before Fox News ran the piece.

Misty » 01 Aug 2017 2:41 pm » wrote:
Another manufactured wingnut conspiracy theory goes bust.

‘I will not break faith’: Coast Guard admiral defies Trump order to ban transgender service members.

The Coast Guard has decided that it will not honor President Donald Trump’s order to ban transgender people from serving in their ranks.

The president later claimed it was too expensive to pay their medical costs.

Military.com quoted Admiral Paul Zukunft, saying that his first action upon hearing Trump’s ban was to reach out to all 13 members of the Coast Guard that self-identified as transgender.

“I reached out personally to Lt. Taylor Miller, who was featured on the cover of The Washington Post last week,” Zukunft said.

“If you read that story, Taylor’s family has disowned her.

Her family is the United States Coast Guard.

And I told Taylor, ‘I will not turn my back.

We have made an investment in you, and you have made an investment in the Coast Guard, and I will not break faith.'”

The Coast Guard is the only branch of the military that falls under the Department of Homeland Security, as it primarily focuses on work in the United States.

The other branches of the military work internationally, and thus fall under the Department of Defense.

The White House worked with Fox News and a wealthy Republican donor to concoct a story about the murder of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich, according to an explosive lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The story, the lawsuit said, was part of an attempt to discredit the US intelligence community's determination that Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee and obtained a trove of emails released by Wikileaks.

For months, right-wing conspiracy theorists had floated unproven theories that Rich was the person who provided Wikileaks with the DNC emails, and suggested his death was retribution for his supposed leak.

No real evidence was ever provided to support such claims.

The theory, however, resurfaced in May when Fox News published a story that quoted Rod Wheeler, a Fox News contributor and former homicide detective hired to investigate Rich's death, saying there was in fact evidence showing Rich had been in contact with Wikileaks.

The story quickly fell apart when Wheeler contradicted aspects of it in an interview with CNN.

Fox News eventually deleted it from its website, saying in a note left in its place that it failed to meet the network's editorial standards.

Now Wheeler, in his lawsuit, is coming forward with what he claims is the backstory: Fox News reporter Malia Zimmerman, with the "knowledge and support" of wealthy Republican donor Ed Butowsky, fabricated a pair of quotes attributed to Wheeler.

It was all part of an effort to distract from the Russia narrative, the lawsuit said.

"Zimmerman, Butowsky and Fox had created fake news to advance President Trump's agenda," said the lawsuit, which named 21st Century Fox, the Fox News Channel, Zimmerman, and Butowsky as defendants.

"Mr. Wheeler was subsequently forced to correct the false record and, as a result, lost all credibility in the eyes of the public.

Mr. Wheeler has suffered irreparable damage to his reputation and his career will likely never recover."

Moreover, the lawsuit said, the White House was aware of the Fox News story ahead of publication.

According to the lawsuit, then-White House press secretary Sean Spicer met with Butowsky and Wheeler, was provided Wheeler's investigative notes, and "asked to be kept abreast of developments" with the case.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/01/media/r ... index.html

Misty » 01 Aug 2017 3:57 pm » wrote:So this is big.