Liberal Forum

Misty » 24 Oct 2017 11:28 am » wrote: I guess you enjoy being lied to.
Keep drinking the Kool-Aid.
#Cult45

HBO Drops ‘Game Change’ Miniseries Affiliated With Mark Halperin

HBO said it would no longer move forward with a miniseries about the 2016 presidential election that is based in part on some of the work of political journalist Mark Halperin, who has been accused of sexual harassment.

“HBO is no longer proceeding with the project tied to the untitled book co-authored by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann on the 2016 Presidential election,” the Time Warner-owned premium-cable outlet said in a statement.

“HBO has no tolerance for sexual harassment within the company or its productions.”

CNN reported Wednesday that five women had come forward accusing the journalist, who has co-written several books about recent elections and contributes to the Showtime series “The Circus,” and accused him of sexual harassment in incidents ranging from propositioning them for sex to kissing to grabbing one’s breasts against her will.

CNN did not name the accusers.

The incidents are alleged to have taken place while Halperin worked for ABC News.

“During this period, I did pursue relationships with women that I worked with, including some junior to me,” Halperin said in a statement.

“I now understand from these accounts that my behavior was inappropriate and caused others pain.

For that, I am deeply sorry and I apologize. Under the circumstances, I’m going to take a step back from my day-to-day work while I properly deal with this situation.

Halperin’s work is well known.

His political reporting has in recent years fueled programs aired by NBC News, the Showtime documentary series “The Circus,” as well as HBO’s “Game Change” movie that took viewers behind the scenes of the campaign to get John McCain elected president in 2008.

Earlier Thursday, NBC News said it had suspended Halperin’s role as a contributor “until the questions around his past conduct are fully understood.”

Showtime said Thursday that it “will continue to evaluate all options should we decide to move forward with another season” of “The Circus.”

The network noted that “we have not seen nor have there been allegations of any untoward behavior” during Halperin’s tenure on the series.

The newest edition of “Game Change,” based on books co-written by Halperin and frequent reporting partner John Heilemann that takes readers behind the scenes of recent presidential elections., was slated to examine the 2016 election, and was set to be directed by Jay Roach, who will also will serve as executive producer with Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman.

Misty » 26 Oct 2017 4:28 pm » wrote:The head of Cambridge Analytica, the research company contracted by the Trump campaign in 2016, reached out to Julian Assange/WikiLeaks to get access to thousands of Hillary Clinton's emails.

Trump confidant Roger Stone had communications with Julian Assange and Gucifer 2.0, the hacker believed by the U.S. government to be affiliated with Russia.

Republican operative Peter Smith who claimed to have connections with senior people on the Trump campaign such as Michael Flynn, recruited cyber security experts to try to get in touch with Russian hackers in an effort to obtain Hillary Clinton's emails.

Russians reached out to Donald Trump Junior to help the campaign by providing dirt on Hillary, and he, Manafort and Kushner met with them.

Campaign chair Paul Manafort reached out to a friend of Putin's (Oleg Derapaska) and offered to provide him with briefings on the campaign.

Just sayin'

Trump associate Cohen sold four NY buildings for cash to mysterious buyers.

Donald Trump’s long time business lawyer Michael Cohen may be best known for his aggressive campaign television defenses of the real estate mogul, his role in an abortive effort to build a Trump Tower in Moscow and allegations that he attended a meeting last summer with Russians in Europe.

But while serving as a top executive at the Trump Organization for a decade, Cohen himself was a sometime New York real estate wheeler dealer whose companies appear to have netted as much as $20 million in profit by flipping properties to mysterious buyers..

The facts surrounding one of Cohen’s ventures in particular raised red flags for several experts interviewed by McClatchy.

In 2014, a mysterious buyer using a limited liability company that hid the purchaser’s identity paid $10 million in cash for a small apartment building on New York’s lower east side that Cohen had purchased just three years before for $2 million.

The handsome appreciation came despite the fact that the assessed value of the property, at 172 Rivington St., hardly budged in these years, hovering around the price Cohen paid for it.

Three other properties Cohen bought and sold in roughly the same time frame followed a similar pattern.

Each was purchased by a different LLC, but were tied together by the fact that a lawyer, Herbert Chaves, served as the LLCs’ manager.

Uranium One probe: Order to lift 'gag' on Russia informant came from Trump, source says.

The directive for the Justice Department to lift a "gag order" on a former FBI informant involved in a high-profile Russia bribery case came from President Trump himself, a source told Fox News.

On Wednesday night, the DOJ announced it had cleared the individual to speak to Congress about Moscow’s Obama-era uranium deals in the U.S. market and other schemes.

A source said the order to release the confidential informant came directly from Trump -- though who actually made the final call is unclear.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10 ... -says.html

Georgia election server wiped after voting rights advocates file suit against GOP Secretary of State

A computer server that was used to store key elections data in the state of Georgia was completely wiped earlier this year after voting rights advocates filed a suit against Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp.

The Associated Press reports that the server’s data was destroyed this past July by unnamed technicians at the Center for Elections Systems at Kennesaw State University, which is responsible for running Georgia’s entire elections system.

What’s more, two backup servers were also wiped completely clean in August, which was right around the time when a lawsuit against Kemp moved to federal court.

The lawsuit, which the AP says was filed shortly before the data server was wiped, was filed to end the state’s current voting infrastructure, which the plaintiffs claim is far too vulnerable to fraud and tampering.

Among other things, the lawsuit notes that the state’s 27,000 AccuVote touchscreen voting machines do not offer paper receipts and are vulnerable to hacking.

“The server data could have revealed whether Georgia’s most recent elections were compromised by malicious hackers,” the AP notes.

“The plaintiffs contend that the results of both last November’s election and a special June 20 congressional runoff— won by Kemp’s predecessor, Karen Handel — cannot be trusted.”

Kemp’s office claims that it had nothing to do with the center’s decision to wipe the server, despite the fact that center answers directly to Kemp.

However, at this point it is not clear who ordered both the primary server and the backup servers wiped clean of data.

But Richard DeMillo, a Georgia Tech computer scientist, tells the AP that this should raise suspicions of some kind of foul play going on behind the scenes.

“People who have nothing to hide don’t behave this way,” he said.

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/10/georgi ... state/amp/

The Trump campaign is scrambling to distance itself from Cambridge Analytica amid Assange-Hillary Clinton email flap.

The Trump campaign's executive director and digital director downplayed Cambridge Analytica's work for the campaign in separate remarks on Wednesday.

Their comments came hours after WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange confirmed in a tweet that the data firm's CEO reached out to him asking to help find Hillary Clinton's missing emails.

Key members of President Donald Trump's campaign team scrambled Wednesday to distance themselves from the data mining and analysis company Cambridge Analytica, whose CEO reportedly reached out to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during the presidential campaign to offer help in finding Hillary Clinton's "missing" emails.

The Trump campaign hired Cambridge Analytica in June 2016 to help target ads using voter data collected from approximately 230 million US adults.

Multiple outlets, including NBC News and The Washington Post, reported that the campaign paid Cambridge Analytica more than $5 million in September alone, up from $250,000 in August.

But Michael S. Glassner, the executive director of Trump's campaign, said in a statement on Wednesday - hours after The Daily Beast reported on the data firm's outreach to Assange - that the only source of voter data that played a key role in Trump's election victory was the Republican National Committee.

"Leading into the election, the RNC had invested in the most sophisticated data targeting program in modern American in history, which helped secure our victory in the fall," the statement read.

He added: "We were proud to have worked with the RNC and its data experts and relied on them as our main source for data analytics.

We as a campaign made the choice to rely on the voter data of the Republican National Committee to help elect President Donald J. Trump.

Any claims that voter data from any other source played a key role in the victory are false."

Brad Parscale, the digital director of the Trump campaign's entire data operation, similarly downplayed Cambridge's role in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

"I have said from the beginning this" $5 million "Cambridge invoice is mislabeled in the FEC reports," Parscale said.

Parscale hired Cambridge Analytica in June 2016, partly at the urging former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who was the former vice president of Cambridge's board, according to The New York Times.

Bannon was the Trump campaign's CEO before he joined the White House staff.

Bannon was effectively ousted from the chief strategist position over the summer.

But he maintains a close relationship with Robert Mercer, one of the biggest investors in both Cambridge Analytica and the right-wing news site Breitbart, which Bannon once again leads.

Mercer and his daughter Rebekah have been credited with paving the way to Trump's victory.

It is still unclear how much Cambridge Analytica actually did for the campaign.

But Trump campaign aides and even current and former Cambridge employees have consistently tried to downplay its role.

"Cambridge executives now concede that the company never used psychographics in the Trump campaign," The New York Times reported in March.

"The technology - prominently featured in the firm's sales materials and in media reports that cast Cambridge as a master of the dark campaign arts - remains unproved, according to former employees and Republicans familiar with the firm's work."

https://amp.businessinsider.com/trump-c ... ge-2017-10

President Trump’s newly appointed ambassador to Canada believes in “both sides” of the debate surrounding climate change.

U.S. ambassador Kelly Craft, who assumed her new duties on Monday, told the CBC that she believes there is merit to both arguments in favor of the existence of climate change and those countering the belief that the phenomenon is fueled by human beings.

“I think that both sides have their own results, from their studies, and I appreciate and I respect both sides of the science,” Craft said, adding that she feels each side has presented “accurate” data.

She declined to say whether or not she herself was inclined towards one side or another.

Craft, the first woman to serve in her position, is a businesswoman, philanthropist and major donor to the Republican Party.

She is also married to Kentucky coal magnate Joe Craft, who actively criticized the climate policies of the Obama administration.

He is the president and CEO of Alliance Resource Partners LP — one of the largest coal producers in the eastern United States.

https://thinkprogress.org/climate-denia ... 62a72/amp/

During an interview on CNN Friday morning, White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway would not say whether she was comfortable with the revelation that a top staffer at a data firm employed by the Trump campaign reached out to Wikileaks during the campaign.

CNN’s Alisyn Camerota repeatedly asked Conway, who served as President Donald Trump’s campaign manager, if she was comfortable with the firm’s contact with Wikileaks, and Conway dodged the question several times.

The Daily Beast reported Wednesday that Alexander Nix, the head of the data firm Cambridge Analytica, which worked for the Trump campaign, reached out to Julian Assange and asked if the firm could help Wikileaks release Hillary Clinton’s emails.

It’s the strongest reported link so far between the Trump campaign and Russia.

When first asked about this news, Conway told Camerota that she is only aware of what she’s read in the news about the interaction.

She noted that Cambridge Analytica was not solely responsible for the Trump campaign’s data operation.

Camerota followed up and asked Conway if she was uncomfortable with the firm’s interaction with Wikileaks.

“Any of that was completely unnecessary, for a very simple reason. We beat Hillary Clinton fairly and squarely,” Conway replied.

Camerota asked again if Conway was comfortable with the contact with Wikileaks.

“They didn’t have a connection to Wikileaks,” Conway responded.

“They reached out to help with the data,” Camerota retorted.

“No, not to help with the data. It’s something about releasing the emails.

I know nothing about that because I was the campaign manager and I couldn’t be bothered with that,” Conway then replied.

Camerota then asked Conway if she is comfortable with the news that the firm reached out to Wikileaks about Clinton’s emails.

Conway emphasized that one “individual reached out to Julian Assange” in an apparent attempt to distance the Trump campaign with the interaction.

The CNN host tried again to ask Conway if she was comfortable with the interaction, prompting Conway to respond, “I have already told you it’s completely unnecessary because we beat her on the issues and continue to.”

Conway then bashed CNN for its coverage of Clinton, and after a back and forth with Camerota, the two agreed not to mention Clinton for the remainder of the interview.

However, Camerota asked Conway once more whether she was comfortable with Cambridge Analytica’s contact with Wikileaks.

“I’ve answered your questions. Uncomfortable with what? I told you it wasn’t necessary. I was focused on the issues,” Conway replied.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/k ... ign=buffer

Newsweek-November 21, 2016

Since the Citizens United ruling in 2010, Robert Mercer he has given $36.8 million to super PACs.

Close to half of that PAC money—$15.5 million—went to Make America Number 1.

When that super PAC was formed in April 2015 (as Keep the Promise 1), it backed Ted Cruz, but in June 2016 it changed names and candidates, shifting to Trump.

At around the same time, one of its leaders, Kellyanne Conway, took on a major role in Trump’s campaign, as campaign manager.

Some two months later, another leader of that super PAC, David Bossie, joined Trump too.

Rebekah Mercer took over the super PAC.
[......]
One of Mercer’s biggest and most intriguing investments was not in a nonprofit and does not appear listed anywhere—he gave at least $10 million to Breitbart News, according to someone involved in Republican fundraising circuits who asked that Newsweek not name him in order to protect his political relationships (he says he knows firsthand about the transaction).

Bloomberg reported the money was invested in 2011.

This past August, Bannon left Breitbart to help run the Trump campaign and is about to assume a vital position in the administration.
[......]
Bannon critics can apparently blame Rebekah; she pushed Trump to bring him on board, the Republican fundraising insider says.
[......]
The entanglements involving the Mercer family, the Make America Number 1 super PAC and the Trump campaign are confusing. They may also be illegal.

In a complaint to the FEC, the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that defends campaign ethics, alleged in October that the Trump campaign paid Bannon and Conway illegally by funneling money to them through Make America Number 1.

FEC records show that after the pair joined the campaign, the PAC gave money to Conway’s polling company and to Glittering Steel, a film production company Bannon is affiliated with. (He is said to run the elusive company and wrote and produced two of its films, Clinton Cash and Torchbearer.)

According to the Campaign Legal Center, there are no records showing that Bannon or Conway received money from the Trump campaign in the first few weeks they were working for it—but $247,000 from the super PAC did go to Conway’s company during that time, and $15,000 went to Glittering Steel about a week before Bannon joined.

The Campaign Legal Center also alleges that the Trump campaign’s hiring of Conway and Bannon violated FEC rules because of their affiliations with Make America Number 1.

The center further alleges that the super PAC’s and the Trump campaign’s use of data company Cambridge Analytica—in which Mercer has invested—was also a conflict of interest.

“Super PACs by law are supposed to be independent of the candidates that they’re supporting, and that’s clearly not the case here,” says Brendan Fischer, associate counsel at the Campaign Legal Center.

The overlap seems to go beyond typical Washington, D.C., corruption, he adds.

“Thanks to a dysfunctional FEC, you’ve seen super PACs working more closely with candidates.... But what the Trump campaign has done with Make America Number 1, and the relationship between Trump and the Mercer family, does seem to be without precedent in modern elections.”

http://www.newsweek.com/2016/12/02/robe ... html?amp=1

Misty » 26 Oct 2017 11:47 pm » wrote:I saw this moron on TV.
She sounded like an idiot.

"Both sides" of climate change debate are valid, argues new US ambassador to Canada.

Misty » 27 Oct 2017 12:27 pm » wrote:Bannon was illegally paid $950,000 by Robert Mercer's super PAC while on Trump's campaign.....

Misty » 27 Oct 2017 12:07 pm » wrote:During an interview on CNN Friday morning, White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway would not say whether she was comfortable with the revelation that a top staffer at a data firm employed by the Trump campaign reached out to Wikileaks during the campaign.
CNN’s Alisyn Camerota repeatedly asked Conway, who served as President Donald Trump’s campaign manager, if she was comfortable with the firm’s contact with Wikileaks, and Conway dodged the question several times.