Carry on.
We Interrupt your Normally Scheduled Shitty Day For ThisPost + Comments (46)
by John Cole| 46 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
by Adam L Silverman| 178 Comments
This post is in: Because of wow., Domestic Politics, Election 2016, Open Threads, Politics, Popular Culture, Silverman on Security
Apparently the FBI’s long dormant twitter account for its electronic records vault and Freedom of Information Act records depository has suddenly gone hot after a one year and 22 day hiatus. Here’s its last tweet before going dormant on 8 October 2015:
Make FOIA requests electronically,receive your response to your email account. Open beta test of eFOIA at: https://t.co/RWylCwh2BX
— FBI Records Vault (@FBIRecordsVault) October 8, 2015
This account suddenly went active again on Sunday with the following tweet:
Fred C. Trump: Fred C. Trump (1905-1999) was a real estate developer and philanthropist. This release consists of… https://t.co/21KgtPpmzk
— FBI Records Vault (@FBIRecordsVault) October 30, 2016
Since then its tweeted out links to 15 FBI policies or guidelines or programs, but has also put out three or four other bizarre tweets like the one about Fred Trump. For instance, if you’re looking for information on Nikola Tesla, here you go:
Nikola Tesla: (1856-1943) https://t.co/YD8GFK1nsg
— FBI Records Vault (@FBIRecordsVault) October 30, 2016
The Tesla tweet was only the second substantive one about a person or event. The others are:
David Howell Petraeus: This release concerns an investigation into the compromise of classified material. The dat… https://t.co/BP66zxmaEh
— FBI Records Vault (@FBIRecordsVault) October 30, 2016
David Howell Petraeus: This release concerns an investigation into the compromise of classified material. The dat… https://t.co/BP66zxmaEh
— FBI Records Vault (@FBIRecordsVault) October 30, 2016
Protests in Baltimore, Maryland 2015, Aerial Surveillance Footage: Complete collection of aerial surveillance foo… https://t.co/fB78ovtSOQ
— FBI Records Vault (@FBIRecordsVault) October 30, 2016
William J. Clinton Foundation: This initial release consists of material from the FBI's files related to the Will… https://t.co/Y4nz3aRSmG
— FBI Records Vault (@FBIRecordsVault) November 1, 2016
Josh Marshall has indicated that he and his crew are investigating and should be reporting out something soon.
We are looking into this https://t.co/5fueKshWVa
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) November 1, 2016
As I’ve stated before I’m not a computer scientist, nor a cyber domain/cyber warfare specialist. But I do know weird when I see it and this certainly qualifies. When I first saw mention of this my first thought was that someone had hacked this account and was using it to direct folks to information it wanted to highlight, but once I actually checked out the timeline, I’m really not sure its that coordinated. Sure tweets to the FBI’s files on Fred Trump and the Marc Rich pardon are strange, but the majority of the tweets since the account has gone active are things like this:
Physical Fitness Program Policy Directive and Policy Guide 0676PG: FBI Agents must meet strong physical fitness s… https://t.co/XhT5SUBHAR
— FBI Records Vault (@FBIRecordsVault) October 30, 2016
and
Honoraria Policy 0867D: The FBI Honoraria Policy (effective 2/25/2016) details the FBI's policy and procedures re… https://t.co/4WE7b9moNi
— FBI Records Vault (@FBIRecordsVault) October 30, 2016
This one certainly qualifies as an X File!
(I’ll be busy this afternoon, but will update if 1) anyone figures out what is happening here and 2) when I get a chance)
Updated at 3:10 PM EDT
Over at TPM, Allegra Kirkland has provided some initial reporting on what is going on. She’s reported out that NBC’s Pete Williams has reported that the Rich documents were posted to the FBI’s online archive as the result of a FOIA request and that this happened on October 7.
NBC News: The release of WJC FBI files was sent by the FOIA office under normal guidelines. A proper requested was made -Pete Williams rpts.
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) November 1, 2016
The FBI has not responded to a request for comment, but Wikileaks is on the case!
FBI finally releases some records of its investigation into the Clinton Foundation https://t.co/ZAAhln4TcB
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) November 1, 2016
This post is in: Grifters Gonna Grift, Going Galt
Several weeks ago, this happened:
After pointing out that Vegan Sarah Palin and Aleppo Man were clowns, Stein’s donations plummeted by 60%, so now she is nailing herself to the cross begging for donations:
In other words, John Oliver promised to take the two candidates seriously.
And, believe it or not, Oliver’s staff actually called our campaign before the program to ask for clarification on Jill’s platform – especially on the main part of his rant, cancelling student debt.
Despite this stab at due diligence (of the sort comedians undertake) …
Oliver got it woefully, intentionally wrong. Gosh, it was almost as if they weren’t interested in the truth. It’s almost as if they just wanted to do a hatchet job…
Oh, all right. We’ll come clean – John Oliver and his cronies at Time/Warner obviously knew what they were doing….lol! Oliver stated flatly that Jill doesn’t understand the policy implications of using quantitative easing to cancel student debt.
Baloney!
The show’s staff was told by the campaign that Jill was considering several mechanisms to cancel student debt – including using quantitative easing. Quantitative easing is technically possible, but would be very difficult politically.
But that is what distinguishes Jill and Ajamu from the other candidates – they have the political will to implement bold ideas that will transform government from catering to the 1% to caring for the 99%.
She still has no idea what quantitative easing is, but it’s a BOLD idea! I’m going to cure world hunger by playing frisbee golf. It makes no sense, but it’s BOLD!
From the Shit You Can Not Make Up FilesPost + Comments (274)
by Hillary Rettig| 44 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
I did hear from Bookdragon, so we’re in the process of getting her cookbook to her. And the proud mama couldn’t help but brag on her son’s Halloween costume: Boy Scout of the Living Dead. “Not that many 12 yr olds could do this themselves with latex, fake blood and their older sister’s makeup kit,” she wrote before giving me proactive :-) permission to post.
So here it is! It’s suitably, err, effective, so I’m putting it below the fold. (Horror susceptibles – you’ve been warned!)
If any other proud parents (of kids of any species!) wants to brag on their kids’ costume, post the link in the comments, and…
….open thread.
by David Anderson| 46 Comments
This post is in: Anderson On Health Insurance, Free Markets Solve Everything, Fuck The Poor, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome
Just a pair of tweets as to why I am so passionate about continual healthcare reform and system improvement:
The good news:
As open enrollment begins today
The Impact of Obamacare, in Four Maps https://t.co/KKiDuBExx0 pic.twitter.com/0PhVc8XuMR
— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) November 1, 2016
The bad news:
The gap in life expectancy between Connecticut and Louisiana is the same as that between the US and Nicaragua. https://t.co/L2eACtQiMM
— NY Review of Books (@nybooks) October 31, 2016
We can do better. This is a failure of our political and cultural system and we need to do better.
Why Healthcare reform is continually importantPost + Comments (46)
by TaMara| 68 Comments
This post is in: Authors In Our Midst
The view from my office:
I have been toying with an idea since Authors in Our Midst. I really enjoyed the comments on those threads and it seemed like we had a lot of people who were in progress on some writing project or another. Do we have enough interest to start a writing support group here?
I was thinking we could “meet” a couple times a month and encourage each other, offer advice and suggestions. Maybe a secure drop box to share work to critique. I can see if our published authors would be wiling to pop in and offer their experiences and answer questions.
Hillary Rettig has offered her support/expertise with this, too! So if you’re interested, leave a comment in this post and I’ll take it from there if we have enough interest.
This post is in: Humorous, Open Threads
The Reddit MeIRL crowd produces some of my son’s favorite internet snark — and provides a bridge between 16 y.o. consummate savvy and [mumble mumble mumble] technological cluelessness.
Here’s what he shared with me today:
May your day be one in which all your sneks are garters.
(And no, not that way. This is a family blog.)
Open. The Thread. It Is.