.
Secret Service throwing management at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago under bus in statement on malware episode: “The Secret Service does not determine who is invited or welcome at Mar-a-Lago; this is the responsibility of the host entity.” H/T @nytmike
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) April 3, 2019
NBC News: Law enforcement officials are taking the arrest of a Chinese woman seriously in light of the malicious software found on a thumb drive and her attempts to enter Mar-a-Lago.
Reported w/ @albamonica@PeteWilliamsNBC and @adielkaplan https://t.co/6z6CAuJvVi
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) April 2, 2019
This arrest may connect to Cindy Yang. She organized an event Zhang, the woman arrested, seemed to suggest she was attending. https://t.co/3JH4UXJZky
— Dan Friedman (@dfriedman33) April 3, 2019
This was entirely predictable. People predicted this. The president’s refusal to divest from his personal businesses puts US national security at risk every single day. He has been warned, he is aware, and he does not care. https://t.co/ickrdxwHF0
— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) April 2, 2019
lol remember when a couple of DC poseurs bullshitted their way into a state dinner and it dominated the news for weeks with 'what if they'd been SPIES' style conjecture well it just happened for real and it ain't even a top 20 story. https://t.co/lZJliNg6Dm
— Zeddediah Springfield (@Zeddary) April 3, 2019
Schumer, Feinstein and Warner today sent this new letter to FBI Director Wray asking him to "assess the risks at Mar-a-Lago in light of the security vulnerabilities exposed by" the Yujing Zhang arrest at Mar-a-Lago. https://t.co/Kh2o8zUJGf
— Dan Friedman (@dfriedman33) April 3, 2019
I’d be surprised at this point if “foreign spy” isn’t a type of membership at Maralago.
— Grudge (@grudging1) April 2, 2019
I find it refreshing that someone went to Mar a Lago and only tried to compromise the computers.
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) April 2, 2019
News: “Chinese spy exploited security weakness at Mar a Lago.”
Jared Kushner: “That’s a lie! I wasn’t even there!”
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) April 2, 2019
Aide: “Someone carrying a virus may have infected Mar a Lago, sir.”
Trump: “Damnit. Get Robert Kraft on the phone.”
Aide: “A computer virus, sir.”
Trump: “Oh, right.”
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) April 2, 2019
Senate staffer: “A Chinese national tried to compromise the system at Mar a Lago, sir.”
Mitch McConnell: “LOL. You have to go through me for that. Must have been their first day.”
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) April 2, 2019
Club Manager: (rushes into the Mar a Lago dining room) “I have an announcement. Someone trying to compromise the President got past security.”
Everyone: (Stops eating. Looks nervous.)
Manager: “But we caught them.”
Everyone: (Exhales, relieved. Resumes spying.)
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) April 2, 2019
Duane
Mar-a-Lago looks like a good place for a penal colony.
FelonyGovt
Every day a new outrage, then each scandal slips back into the ether. I’m so tired.
patrick II
I don’t know why this lady didn’t buy a Mar-a-lago membership. For $250,000 she could have walked around the place as a recognized member, instead of eventually recognized as not belonging there.
Keith P.
@Duane: yeah, it’s full of pricks.
Hildebrand
I am sick and tired of the media not hammering Trump every day. They should be beating him about the head and neck for all of this on an hourly basis. Go after the knave. Bring out the long knives usually reserved for Obama wearing a tan suit. I would kill for just one of Trump’s disasters to merit the attention of Jeremiah Wright or Hillary’s emails.
debbie
What the fuck does the Secret Service mean, it’s not their job?
Origuy
@debbie: Probably means they tried to monitor the Mar-a-Lago guest list and Trump told them to butt out.
khead
Kinda surprised Salahi is still married to Neal Schon. Had to look that up.
JoyceH
What gets me is that the higher level of security only obtains when Trump is in residence. Which means that when he isn’t, the spy-guests can easily scamper all over the place, planting all the bugs and computer malware they want. Heck, they don’t even have to enter the property – the Mar a Lago wi-fi network is completely unsecured. If the place isn’t already entirely riddled with bugs and spies and malware, I’d be extremely surprised.
debbie
Access is also open so that everyone can see how important he is. Remember that first trip to MarALago and the dinner with Abé where they were dealing with North Korea’s firing a missile in the middle of the crowded dining room?
West of the Cascades
@Duane: an ironic penal colony once it’s full of Republican inmates and the climate-change-induced hurricane storm surge drowns them all …
Jeffro
@Hildebrand: thank you and this, exactly. Hennessey’s tweet is literally all that we need to say for the next 20 months (ok, in any sane timeline, that’s all we’d need to say).
Trumpubs dontcha get it yet? You wouldn’t put up with 1% of this shit if it were a Dem, and with good reason. The man’s a danger to the Republic. 25th A his sorry behind. Barring that…just stay home next November, and we’ll do the rest (AS USUAL)
debbie
@JoyceH:
LOL, “scamper.” That’s exactly what is going on down there!
debbie
@Origuy:
They should have persisted instead of saying it’s not their job.
Aleta
MattF
It’s all particularly irritating for anyone who has had to put up with the security rigamarole that’s standard for anything with above-Secret classification. The message here is that it’s really all a lot of hoo–ha… you only have to know the right people. Or just claim to know the right people.
kindness
Space herpes couldn’t infect a better hive of scum and villany. (hat tip Obi Wan)
Duane
@West of the Cascades: Cops are good at this. Create some ruse to gather as many there as possible then lock them up. It’s a good start.
JustRuss
@debbie: Yes, it’s so weird that the Secret Service can’t get Trump to listen to reason, especially in regards to running one of his own properties. I mean, what could be easier?
Also, Haberman can piss off with her under-the-bus crap. This is the SS throwing what little shade they can on Trump’s recklessness, that Haberman can’t/chooses not to see that says so much.
John Revolta
Sounds to me like the SS is getting sick and tired of Trump and his bullshit way of running things. Pissing off the people who’s job it is to protect your and your family’s lives is surely the sign of a very stable genius.
trollhattan
Excerpt of an entertaining piece in McSweeney’s. The author has another list of of William Barr summaries of musicals.
Roger Moore
@debbie:
My reading of that is that they’re saying that Trump is ordering them not to vet people at Mar-a-Lago. They can probably do security screenings for weapons, but Trump is saying they aren’t allowed to turn members or their guests away, even if that creates security problems.
Cheryl Rofer
@JoyceH: It’s okay. Trump uses his unsecured phone all the time.
lamh36
But her emails!!!
@trollhattan:
Isn’t that what they say about the opioid epedemic?
lamh36
Jeffro
@lamh36: Just saw that…hoooooo boy, here we go! GO GET ‘EM DEMS!
Roger Moore
@lamh36:
About fucking time.
Ladyraxterinok
@Hildebrand: IMHO this may all be calculated . There are so many security breaches, corruption incidents, etc, etc ad nauseam that media/pundits can’t keep up. Eventually there’s massive fatigue, and they just throw up their arms and parse the latest ‘democrats in disarray’ incident. They can follow those paths in their sleep and once again feel like they’re the hard-working reporters of the storied 30s and 40s movies.
GregB
Mar-a-Lago is like Rick’s Cafe only with more Nazis.
matt
This is what happens when you let horrible propaganda media take over your national media.
prostratedragon
@Keith P.: Ta-daaa!
Citizen_X
@But her emails!!!: Isn’t that what they say about guns?
Amir Khalid
@Cheryl Rofer:
I remember President Obama grumbling that he wasn’t allowed the use of his Blackberry. But at least he did abide scrupulously by the tech security rules, unlike a certain successor of his we could name.
trnc
@JustRuss:
No kidding. What a hack.
lamh36
Hm…and some folks were talking bout primarying Rep Jeffries…smh
Bill Arnold
@Citizen_X:
It’s a very-well-executed McSweeney’s joke. :-) I smiled at those too.
Jeffro
Response lines to GOP screeching about trumpov’s taxes (and everything else)
“I thought he was fine with releasing them just as soon as his ‘audit’ – there isn’t one – is over?”
“Doesn’t he want the world to know how fabulously rich he is?”
“Doesn’t he want the world to know that – Rep McCarthy’s famous comment to the contrary – Putin DOESN’T pay him?”
“He’s so innocent…that we can’t see the Mueller Report. He’s so smart…that we can’t see his grades. He’s so rich…that we can’t see his tax returns. Yeah, um sure, that makes sense. His word’s pretty good, right?”
EthylEster
Department of Redundancy Department
But evidently quite quotable.
lamh36
mrmoshpotato
@Origuy:
This is a private club but you still need to protect my fat orange ass on the taxpayers’ dollar!
lamh36
Love Hirono!
What Senator?
Maybe I’m too cynical, but My guess is a Republican cause if it was a Dem she’d say the . name.
mrmoshpotato
@debbie: And don’t forget his punchable-face smile in that picture. I know I can’t.
(((CassandraLeo)))
But her emails, though.
dmsilev
@trollhattan:
I assume they threw in one real line just to check that people were paying attention?
lamh36
lamh36
Like someone said…”only problem she ever had with Obamacare was Obama”
MomSense
@Aleta:
I’d settle for 60 guillotines at 15 feet each.
lamh36
John Revolta
@lamh36: I’m so old I remember when the rule of thumb was, your rent was supposed to be 25% of your monthly income.
Roger Moore
@EthylEster:
It’s not redundant. Being predicted is a stronger claim that being predictable, and I like the move from the weaker to the stronger claim.
trollhattan
–The Onion
Dan B
@lamh36: I want to see more coverage of her in the media and on social media. Of course what I want is honest clear coverage. A guy can dream….
BTW everything I’ve seen of her seems great and the smears (truancy cop) seem so at odds with her persona, and then you find out they’re smears.
BobS
@GregB: Perfect.
SiubhanDuinne
@lamh36:
I had a conversation this afternoon with the property manager of my apartment complex, and she told me that her daughter is going to intern with Kamala Harris this summer!
Dan B
@lamh36: Thanks for these links to Harris!
Saves me time searching out the important details and separating them from the chaff.
Jay
@Ladyraxterinok:
That is the strategy. Investigations take years, the Media runs on a “scandal/outrage cycle” which used to be weeks/months, but Insane Clown POSus and his Evil Minons have overclocked the puke funnel so that the scandal you woke up to this morning, has been bypassed by 4 to 8 more scandals, by the time you go to bed.
It was The Insane Clown POSus’s business and legal tactic, lies, outrage, bullshit, 180’s, pivots, misdirection and just exhausting his opponents.
It only works when his opponents, try to respond to the bullshit. The US MSM is chasing the bullshit, some deliberately as Allies.
lamh36
Ooooh…here comes the leaks.
The MSM will have so much egg on their faces!
Barbara
@lamh36: Oh what a surprise.
Jay
On the bright side, Parliament passed binding legislation to require May to ask the EU for a lengthy delay to the Article 50 deadline. It passed by one vote.
It goes to the House tomorrow, and if it passes there, it’s binding on May.
It’s not binding on the EU and they may be done for good with the Brexiteers bullshit.
lamh36
@lamh36:
lamh36
@lamh36:
SenyorDave
@lamh36: Is there a way for Margaret Grassie to be the first one to lose her health care if the ACA goes away?
lamh36
SenyorDave
@lamh36: The MSM will have so much egg on their faces!
April Fools Day was two days ago.
mrmoshpotato
@Jay: Scandal free, scandal free! Three a day and get one free!
B.B.A.
Fun fact: in 2020 Biden will be nine years older than doddering old Admiral Stockdale was in 1992. (“Who am I? Why am I here?”)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@lamh36: Rent has only gone up 61% since 1960? My rent’s gone up 44% in the last 5 years.
Amir Khalid
@lamh36:
Given who Barr is and why Trump appointed him, given what is already public knowledge about the dealings of Trump and those in his orbit, I doubt anyone is really surprised. I think what excites a lot of us now is the promise of big helpings of Schadenfreude to come.
Der Müller Gottes mahlt langsam, aber mahlt außerordentlich fein.
Aleta
Some of Robert S. Mueller III’s investigators have told associates that Attorney General William P. Barr failed to adequately portray the findings of their inquiry and that they were more troubling for President Trump than Mr. Barr indicated, according to government officials and others familiar with their simmering frustrations.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/03/us/politics/mueller-findings-barr.html?smtyp=cur&smid=tw-nytimes
Roger Moore
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I think they mean rent has gone up by 61% after adjusting for CPI. And yes, rents in some areas, like California, have gone up more than in others.
Jay
@SenyorDave:
No they wont. Nobody remembers who said what on Exoneration Day. There’s been way too much bullshit and new outrages since then.
Led By Donkeys* is a British social media group that crowd funded and crowd sourced Brexiterr’s past claims on how great and easy Brexit would be, and is plastering Southern Britain with billboards, bus ads and posters to remind Britain of the lies.
Other than some tweets and top 10,000 Lefty Blogs, there is no project to expose the US to MSM venality and expose the Trump Fluffers for who they are.
*Taken from the summary of British Troops in WWI. “They were hero’s, led by donkeys”.
lamh36
Dan B
@lamh36: Happy happy! Please blast lamestream media. Christiane Amanpour claimed that the Mueller Report was a victory for the pres’nit the day the Barr Letter was issued. I turned her off. Last night she had Comey on and it was infuriatingly context free. But Comey disavowed her of the pres’nit being guilt free ir of the report being damage free.
Jay
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
It’s a national average. In some places, if you are willing to live with out heat, power, running water, sewage, in an economically depressed area, there’s more empty buildings than people.
schrodingers_cat
@lamh36: Indian women can smell bullshit from a mile away. Go Kamala!
Jay
@Aleta:
Every report I’ve ever seen comes with a perfectly good Executive Summary just after the title page and index.
lamh36
@SiubhanDuinne: that’s cool.
dmsilev
@lamh36: I think we all knew this was inevitable once Barr sent his whitewash letter to Congress.
I imagine bits and pieces of the report itself will start to leak before long.
lamh36
Aleta
@lamh36: I should’ve read the thread first : )
@Amir Khalid:
It ought to (= won’t) quiet Greenwald’s long demonstration on twitter that Barr’s letter must be trustworthy because Mueller didn’t immediately contradict it.
James E Powell
What’s the point of requiring May to ask for an extension if the EU isn’t going to give it to her? Do they need the EU to turn them down so they can tell their voters, well we would have had this all worked out if only the EU had given us more time?
What incentive does the EU have to give them more time?
Roger Moore
@lamh36:
Least surprising news of the day.
Jay
@lamh36: @lamh36:
Well, he has been DM-ing Foreign Leaders, Businessmen and Intelligence Agents on his unsecured devices.
Aleta
@Aleta: GGr responded quickly.
James E Powell
Florida Man is sittin’ and thinkin’ how do I top these guys?
TS (the original)
@lamh36: TicToc by Bloomberg
They didn’t ask trump, they asked the IRS. If trump stops the IRS from following a legal request from congress – is that impeachable?
Roger Moore
@James E Powell:
I suspect there are two things going on:
1) Nobody wins from a no-deal Brexit. The UK loses more than the EU, but assuming Brexit happens, the EU would be happier with a negotiated deal.
2) The EU still has some faint hope the UK comes to its senses and changes its mind on Brexit.
Both of these things argue in favor of granting an extension.
eemom
Here’s a fun read: British Splinter columnist’s epic smackdown of the Moustache’s driveling drek about Brexit in today’s FTNYT.
Dan B
@lamh36: You are full of happy news today, except for the perps! I await more, or hope for more, or pray for more, or wish…. the heck, more more more!
Gin & Tonic
@Aleta:
Refresh my memory – why’s Paul Fucking Manafort in the joint?
Tenar Arha
@James E Powell: I feel somehow like it’s a modern alternative version of the “maybe the horse will sing” fable. They’re all buying time, hoping something changes just enough….
Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)
@GregB:
I made this for you.
Trump’s Cafe
Jay
@James E Powell:
So, the only agreement the UK MP’s could come to, and only by 1 vote, is that Britain’s not ready for any kind of Brexit and needs more time.
May’s been running out the clock in the hopes that given a choice between a catastrophic Hard Brexit and May’s disasterous NotReally Brexit Deal, the MP’s will choose disaster over catastrophy.
If it passes the House of Lords tomorrow, May is legally required to go to the EU and ask for a lengthy extension, which is something she has refused in the past, to do.
That’s the purpose of the Bill.
The UK can’t make the EU do anything, nor can they make May accept the EU Terms and Conditions for a lengthy extension. But it forces May to do something she has refused to do.
It might lead to a bunch of stuff in the UK, from Elections to a repeal of Article 50.
In other news, in Canada, the US and Mexico, NAFTA II is DOA.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Gin & Tonic: And Fucking really is his middle name.
JustRuss
@Dan B: Much as I despise Comey, he’s done some good work the last couple days pointing out how horrible Trump is. People who aren’t all-in for Trump can’t hand wave him away as a liberal shill, so I have to think it could be helpful. Not nearly enough to redeem his earlier hackish stupidity, but it’s something.
Fester Addams
That doesn’t sound right. Trump isn’t the host, he’s the parasite. The United States is the host.
mad citizen
I want the Dem candidates to hammer on Republican leaders sheer incompetance at governing, fed by their utter contempt of government. And at this point, way ahead of time, I’m seeing no point at all of having Presidential debates between the two parties.
Go Kamala!
SenyorDave
@mad citizen: If Trump is the candidate you have to have debates. My guess is he will actually perform worse in 2020 than 2016. He clearly has issues with words these days.
Dan B
@JustRuss: Agree. Comey is trying to prove he’s honorable because he was forced to reveal Hillary’s emails, the ones that weren’t really new…. But he has spoken against GOP delusions. As a bfd FBI head and GOP lifer he has some weight behind his statements. I think his image would be better if he just said the Hillary email decision was wrong in hindsight.
Jay
@Tenar Arha:
If May goes to the EU to request a lengthy extension, and the EU accepts with reasonable conditions, May is not compelled to accept.
The Parliament can pass another Bill to compell her, they can hold a Non Confidence vote, bringing down her Govenment, compell a binding Referendum, etc.
It’s not really a “maybe the Horse will sing” moment, it’s more of a “the Government, from May and her Cabinet, to the House, have f€cked up” but there are some reset buttons we can push.
SenyorDave
@Aleta: Nothing that Trump has done directly affects Glenn Greenwald in an adverse way. He seems to be silent on his racism, attacks on the media, his lying. GG spends almost all his time criticizing the left these days.
PaulWartenberg
@debbie:
The Service apparently were assigned to cover just certain areas of Mar-A-Lago so as not to interfere with any of the other “guests” of the resort. I think this may be their way of kneecapping trump’s desire to use his private security (he still has one!) in such open areas.
Kent
@B.B.A.:
In 2020, Joe Biden would be starting his term of office at age 79, which is TWO YEARS OLDER than Ronald Reagan was when he left office riddled with Alzheimers and dementia in 1989.
James E Powell
@JustRuss:
1) People have been pointing out how horrible Trump for a very long time. Hillary Clinton did it repeatedly during the campaign. It had no effect on his popularity with his supporters. It didn’t change the way the press/media continued to promote and protect him. It will have no effect now.
2) Republicans and the press/media have been waving away everything Comey says except when he was attacking Hillary Clinton.
3) I really wish Comey would crawl in a hole and never come out.
Roger Moore
@Fester Addams:
Big fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite ’em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so, ad infinitum.
trnc
@debbie:
It’s not their job. Their job is to protect the president and administration personnel, visiting dignitaries, etc, as well as protect infrastructure that might be targeted for cybercrime. Their job is not to protect Mar-a-Lago computer systems. That is a private company responsible for their own cyber security. The fact that the company is owned by the president, that he refuses to divest himself properly and that it is poorly managed (news flash: DT does not actually hire the best people) does not change the mission and responsibilities of the USSC. This is just the latest example of DT’s own greed, incompetence and short sightedness making it more difficult for various gov’t agencies to operate properly.
The USSC has a difficult mission even with presidents who abide by established norms, so you’re ire should not be directed at them.
trnc
@Ladyraxterinok:
I don’t buy it. There was plenty of time to devote to his corruption before the election, but they chose to spend an inordinate amount of time breathlessly covering Hillary’s email server and the Clinton Foundation long after it was clear that was not actually a problem with either of those things. They also seem to have enough energy to denigrate democrats in the House for daring to perform oversight.
AnotherBruce
@SenyorDave:Well, he sucks up to white supremacist Tucker Carlson. GG is all in with racism.