Dorothea Lange Hoe culture in the South. Poor white, North Carolina 1936
What an incredible story. What has the country turned into? What happened to verifying sources, stories? So strike out BuzzFeed as a news source. And John McCain. Any story that contains his name is fake.
• Trump Said to Be Told of Unverified Russian Intelligence (BBG)
U.S. intelligence officials have informed President-elect Donald Trump about unsubstantiated reports they’ve received that the Russian government had compiled potentially damaging personal and financial information on him, a person familiar with the situation said. CNN reported earlier on Tuesday that as part of a briefing on Russian attempts to meddle in the presidential election, U.S. spy chiefs included a two-page summary of memos compiled by a former British intelligence operative about alleged Kremlin operations to gather prejudicial information on Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. The FBI hasn’t been able to verify the information in the documents, CNN said.
BuzzFeed later published the entire 35-page compilation of memos, which contain potentially damaging but uncorroborated information about Trump and his associates. The person confirmed that the document was the same as the material in the government’s possession. The aim of the alleged Russian government intelligence-gathering was to leverage the information to shift U.S. policy toward Russia, including by potentially blackmailing Trump, according to the memos. President Barack Obama also was briefed on the documents. Trump denounced “FAKE NEWS – A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!” on Twitter at about 8:20 p.m. in New York, without mentioning or linking to any of the reports.
He retweeted a Trump Organization official, Executive Vice President Michael Cohen, who tweeted that “I have never been to Prague in my life” with a picture of the front of his passport. One of the memos alleged that Cohen had met with “Kremlin officials” in Prague in August 2016. Trump then tweeted an article by Lifezette, a website run by conservative radio host Laura Ingraham, that was critical of the BuzzFeed report.
BuzzFeed is like WaPo. Done. No credibility. Cheap clickbait chasing.
• BuzzFeed Publishes Unsubstantiated Report On Trump (G.)
BuzzFeed’s decision to publish an intelligence report filled with salacious and unsubstantiated claims about Donald Trump’s purported behaviour in Russia has triggered a political storm and debate over media ethics. The news website posted the unredacted documents on Tuesday, just 10 days before Trump’s inauguration, with a warning that the contents contained errors and were “unverified and potentially unverifiable”. The decision to put the claims in the public domain forced other media outlets to repeat the allegations or ignore a story that lit up the internet. Some critics rounded on BuzzFeed, calling it irresponsible. The documents, reportedly compiled by a British former intelligence agent, alleged that the Kremlin was “cultivating, supporting and assisting” Trump for at least five years.
They also alleged that Russian spies exploited the president-elect’s “personal obsessions and sexual perversion” to gather compromising material. The president-elect denied and denounced the claims in a series of tweets. “FAKE NEWS – A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT.” The memos were compiled by the former intelligence officer on behalf of some of Trump’s Republican opponents in the primaries, and later by Democrats. Other media outlets including the Guardian obtained and reviewed the documents in recent weeks but declined to publish because there was no way to independently verify them. The stakes rose on Tuesday when CNN reported that America’s intelligence chiefs gave Trump and Barack Obama a two-page summary of the reports last week. CNN and The Guardian also reported that Senator John McCain delivered a copy to FBI director James Comey last month, but withheld the documents’ most eye-opening details, citing lack of corroboration.
This is what America has become. Not Trump’s doing.
• 4Chan Claims To Have Fabricated Anti-Trump Report As A Hoax (ZH)
In a story that is getting more surreal by the minute, a post on 4Chan now claims that the infamous “golden showers” scene in the unverified 35-page dossier, allegedly compiled by a British intelligence officer, was a hoax and fabricated by a member of the chatboard as “fanfiction”, then sent to Rick Wilson, who proceeded to send it to the CIA, which then put it in their official classified intelligence report on the election. Here is 4Chan’s explanation of how the story came to light:
And a summary posted on pastebin:
On january 10, Buzzfeed posted a story under the byline of Ken Bensinger, Mark Schoofs and Miriam elder titled “these reports Allege Trump Has Deep Ties To Russia” and posted a link to a document alleging, among other things, that russia has been cultivating trump for 5+ years, that trump has been in constant contact with the kremlin for information on his opponents, and perhaps most inflammatory, that there are many recorded instances of blackmail of trump in sexual misconduct. A prominent claim is that trump rented the presidential suite of the Ritz Carlton Hotel in moscow, where he knew that the Obamas had slept in; he them hired a number of prostitutes to perform a ‘golden shower’ (pissplay) on the bed and in the room. https://www.buzzfeed.com/kenbensinger/these-reports-allege-trump-has-dee…
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3259984/Trump-Intelligence-Al…Noted #nevertrump voice Rick Wilson later commented on twitter, stating that the report “gave a new meaning to Wikileaks” (https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/818982395202379777) and that the report was the reason everybody was fighting so hard against the election of Trump. (https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/818983514335047680)
The remarkable thing? It’s all fake. And not only fake; it’s a prank perpetuated by 4chan, on Rick Wilson himself. A post on 4chan on october 26 stated “mfw managed to convince CTR and certain (((journalists))) on Twitter there’ll be an October surprise on Trump this Friday” along with a picture of a smug face with a hash name. https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/94704894/#94705224
on november 1, a person without a picture but is assumed to be the same person posted “So they took what I told Rick Wilson and added a Russian spy angle to it. They still believe it. Guys, they’re truly fucking desperate – there’s no remaining Trump scandal that’s credible.” https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/95568919/#95571329
on january 10, moments after the story broke and began to gain traction on social media, a person with the same smug grin face, and the same hash title for the picture, stated “I didn’t think they’d take it so far.” https://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/106514445#p106520376
This story has taken on something of a life of it’s own. Going through Rick Wilson’s twitter, you can find many different stories from the time that he had shown the story to a wide number of anti-trump news sources, trying to find a news organization that would actually publish the story. During that time period, he referred to it often as ‘the thing’, and often playing coy with followers on the content with the story with anybody who was not also a #Nevertrumper. Unconfirmed sources has people as high up as John McCain giving the story to FBI Director James Comey to attempt to verify the story. Given that Rick Wilson runs in Establishment circles, it is not an impossible scenario that long-serving senators are falling for what amounts to a 4chan troll trump supporter creating an ironic October Surprise out of wholecloth to punk a GOPe pundit who derogatorily referred to them as single men who masturbate to anime.
While this entire incident is laughable, and even more so if the 4Chan account is accurate, what makes it quite tragic, is that it is no longer possible to dismiss the “fake news” angle to an intelligence report. And if the CIA is compromised, what is left for “news outlets” like CNN and BuzzFeed, which were all too eager to run with the story without any attempt at verification?
Maybe Cohen should sue BuzzFeed?
• Michael Cohen: ‘It Is Fake News Meant to Malign Mr. Trump’ (Atlantic)
Donald Trump and his lawyer on Tuesday night denied allegations in an explosive, unverified dossier that describes a purported Russian operation to compromise Trump. Trump tweeted that the document, which was referred to in a CNN report and later published in full on BuzzFeed News, was “FAKE NEWS – A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!” Trump was reacting to allegations in a memo originating from research reportedly compiled by a former British intelligence officer that purports to show that the Russian government has compromising information on Trump. The document also makes specific claims about contacts between people working for Trump and Russian officials. It alleges that Michael Cohen, special counsel to Trump, was central to “the ongoing secret liaison relationship between the New York tycoon’s campaign and the Russian leadership,” and that he met secretly with Kremlin officials in Prague in August 2016.
Reached by telephone on Tuesday night, Cohen denied the dossier’s allegations. The story is “totally fake, totally inaccurate,” Cohen said. “I’m telling you emphatically that I’ve not been to Prague, I’ve never been to Czech [Republic], I’ve not been to Russia,” Cohen said. “The story is completely inaccurate, it is fake news meant to malign Mr. Trump.” Cohen said that during the time the report places him in Prague, he was actually with his son visiting USC and meeting with the baseball coach. A USC baseball source confirmed Tuesday night that Cohen and his son had visited USC on August 29th. Cohen said that he was in Los Angeles from the 23rd through the 29th of August, and that the rest of the month he was in New York. He said that his only trip to an EU country over the summer had been a vacation to Italy in July. Cohen also tweeted a photo of his passport: “I have never been to Prague in my life. #fakenews.” Trump retweeted Cohen’s tweet.
They won’t get to Tillerson.
• Tillerson To Face Questions On Russian Ties At Confirmation Hearing (R.)
President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, faces tough questioning at his confirmation hearing on Wednesday over his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin as both Democrats and Republicans worry about Moscow’s increasingly aggressive behavior. The central question facing Tillerson, 64, the former chairman of Exxon Mobil, is how effectively he can transform himself from a Big Oil “dealmaker” to being America’s top diplomat with little government experience. According to excerpts from his opening statement released before the hearing, Tillerson will say that Russia poses a danger and NATO allies are right to be alarmed at a resurgent Moscow. He will argue, however, that Russia’s resurgence happened in the “absence of American leadership” and will call for open and frank dialogue with Moscow.
“We must be clear-eyed about our relationship with Russia,” Tillerson will say. “Russia today poses a danger but it is not unpredictable in advancing its own interests,” according to the transcript of his remarks. “We need an open and frank dialogue with Russia regarding its ambitions, so that we know how to chart our own course,” he will say. He will also emphasize the need to destroy Islamic State, and will criticize China’s behavior in the South China Sea and call on Beijing to pressure North Korea. Tillerson’s confirmation hearing comes at a time of rising tensions with Russia over its role in the U.S. presidential election and an assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia was behind the hacks of political figures in an effort to help Trump win the Nov. 8 election. Moscow has denied the allegations. Tillerson opposed U.S. sanctions against Russia in 2014 over its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine because he thought they would be ineffective.
There was a good take down from Piers Morgan of all people on the same topic.
• Meryl Streep, Obama Prosecuted Whistleblowers & Bombed Weddings (Ryan)
Streep’s anti-Trump speech on Sunday night at the Golden Globes was a sublime performance. It was delivered with emotion and grace. A real tear-jerker for anyone worried about the oncoming era of Trump. And yet… it also stank. It reeked, in fact. Of pure, unadulterated hypocrisy. Because Streep, sadly, is that common breed of liberal Hollywood hypocrite. You know, the ones whose bleeding heart credentials are suddenly nowhere to be found when the occupant of the White House is a cool Democrat who’s besties with Beyonce. In her impassioned speech, Streep called on her peers and fans to join with her in donating to the Committee to Protect Journalists: “We need the principled press to hold power to account, to call them on the carpet for every outrage. That’s why our founders enshrined the press and its freedoms in our constitution,” she said.
She’s right, of course. But one wonders is Streep even aware, for instance, that the Obama administration has prosecuted more whistleblowers than all of his predecessors combined? It’s a tradition Trump is likely to continue, of course, but it’s rather strange that the issue never crossed her mind until now. And where was Streep – only suddenly concerned about how “violence incites violence” – when Obama was helping Saudi Arabia level Yemen, bombing funerals and wedding parties? Or when his “humanitarian intervention” in Libya went so disastrously wrong that it turned the country into a failed state, allowing the terrorist group ISIS to flourish? Or when the great uniter earned himself the nickname “The Drone King” as he expanded the US drone program and conducted ten times more strikes than George W. Bush? Also a tradition Trump will likely be only too happy to uphold.
Where was Streep as the Nobel Peace Prize winner bombed not one, two or three — but seven different countries? To be fair to Streep, she probably didn’t notice because the “principled press” didn’t seem to either. Funny thing about that too, since Streep and her friends are worried about Trump’s apparent disdain for foreigners: All of the countries bombed by the Obama administration were Muslim countries. And where was Streep when Obama’s administration was negotiating on behalf of Al Qaeda-linked “moderate” rebels in Syria? In fact, where were all the hypocrites in the room, as Obama spent 2016 dropping 26,171 bombs? Oh that’s right, they were partying in his house!
“You must control your forex deficit, but you can’t say that SAFE is controlling capital outflows..”
• Banks Forced To Cover Tracks Of China’s Forex Regulator (R.)
China’s forex regulator is telling banks to keep its instructions about curbing capital outflows secret and to ensure that research analysts keep any negative views about the yuan’s prospects to themselves, several bankers said. Both demands are seen as an attempt by the authorities to prevent alarm that could trigger further declines in the yuan, the bankers from local and foreign banks said. The yuan lost more than 6% against the dollar last year and is at eight-year lows, prompting a flurry of restrictive measures on capital outflows from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), including setting limits on banks’ currency volumes in some cities or provinces and requiring approval for ever smaller transactions.
SAFE, which is part of the People’s Bank of China, is insisting in oral instructions to dozens of banks that they don’t reveal its role in such restrictions, six bankers said, which was damaging their relationships with clients since they were unable to explain why they were turning away business. SAFE and the PBOC have yet to respond to requests for comment. SAFE’s reticence began at least as far back as August, when its Shanghai branch called at least 20 of the major foreign and domestic banks operating in the city to a meeting with the regional heads of several SAFE departments. A representative from an international bank attending the meeting said there were no written instructions, but a high-ranking SAFE official told them explicitly what was expected of them. “You must control your forex deficit, but you can’t say that SAFE is controlling capital outflows,” the official told the bankers.
World trade is collapsing.
• Boeing: 3 More Waves of Layoffs in 2017, Orders Collapse, Shares Rise (WS)
This is not the way to start your workday… to find this email from your boss in your inbox: “As we enter 2017, our plan calls for us to reduce our Engineering staff. I realize some of this news is unpleasant. But I wanted to respect your right to know what is occurring this year.” But that’s what happened on Tuesday at Boeing. Hammered by slowing aircraft sales and a declining order book, Boeing warned on Tuesday in an internal memo that it would conduct involuntary and voluntary layoffs of engineers in Washington state, southern California, and South Carolina, according to The Seattle Times. The memo did not mention the size of the staff cuts. The memo by John Hamilton, VP of engineering at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, summed the situation up this way: “We continue to operate in an environment characterized by fewer sales opportunities and tough competition.”
These staff cuts come on top of the cuts in 2016, when Boeing slashed its workforce in Washington state down by 9.3%. That’s 7,357 jobs. Business has been tough. In 2016, deliveries fell by 14 jets from a year ago, to 748. Net orders dropped 13% from an already rotten level in 2015, to just 668, down 53% from 2014. And the lowest level since 2010! Of these orders, 550 were for the 737 model. But Boeing only sold 58 Dreamliners, and analysts are speculating that it will need to cut production. And it only sold 17 of its twin-aisle long-range 777, its most profitable plane. In December, Boeing said it would slash production of the 777 by 40%. Order cancellations in 2016 jumped by 67% to 180 airplanes, another sign that airlines are getting increasingly cautious – and nervous.
Boeing had already given a foretaste of these job cuts on December 19, without going into specifics. It showed that it is slashing jobs faster and more aggressively than forecast in early 2016. The new CEO, Kevin McAllister, who’d succeeded Ray Conner in November, is getting his feet on the ground, so to speak. And Boeing shares hit an all-time high. [..] orders have plunged 53% in two years, order cancellations have soared, deliveries have dropped, production is getting cut, as wave after wave of layoffs sweep out engineers and productions worker – but no problem. In this wondrous era of ours, stocks can only go up no matter what. Boeing closed up on Tuesday, at $159.07 a share, just a buck shy of its all-time high in December:
No kidding: “The dysfunctioning of the euro is of good use to Germany, I have to say..”
• Euro May Not Exist In 10 Years, French Pres. Candidate Macron Says (CNBC)
The euro may not exist in 10 years’ time if Paris and Berlin fail to bolster the single currency union, French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday, adding the current system benefited Germany at the expense of weaker member states.Macron was economy minister under Socialist President Francois Hollande until he resigned last year to create his own political movement and stand as an independent candidate in this year’s presidential election.”The truth is that we must collectively recognise that the euro is incomplete and cannot last without major reforms,” Macron said in a speech at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Speaking in English, he added: “It has not provided Europe with full international sovereignty against the dollar on its rules. It has not provided Europe with a natural convergence between the different member states.”
France must implement labour market reforms and revamp its education system to revive growth, while Germany must accept that more investment instead of austerity can boost growth across the euro zone area, the centrist politician said. “The dysfunctioning of the euro is of good use to Germany, I have to say,” said Macron, adding that a lack of trust between France and Germany was blocking major reforms that would increase solidarity among the 19 members of the euro zone.”The euro is a weak Deutsche Mark,” said Macron. “The status quo is synonymous, in 10 years’ time, with the dismantling of the euro. “He proposed the creation of a euro zone budget to finance growth-oriented investments and to extend financial assistance to struggling member states.
“It’s the banks who decide who can run and who can’t.”
• Le Pen Says All French Banks Have Refused to Meet With Her (BBG)
National Front leader Marine Le Pen said French banks have refused to meet with her to discuss the possibility of financing her presidential campaign. All the other candidates have received funding from French banks, Le Pen said in an interview on France 2 television. “The fact that the banks won’t lend to us, playing a political role, poses a real problem for democracy,” she said. “It’s the banks who decide who can run and who can’t.” The leader of the anti-euro, anti-immigrant National Front said she is looking for foreign banks for financing.
In France public funds are provided to candidates for campaign expenses after presidential elections provided they win at least 5% of the vote. Typically candidates borrow during campaign with the idea of using public funds to repay the loans after the vote. Polls suggest Le Pen will win at least 20% of votes in the first round of the presidential election on April 23.
Nobody puts the NGOs under fire? What about the EU? People will have to die first. And even then, all there is, is the aid industry that is obviously criminally dysfunctional.
• Greek Severe Weather: Refugees Freeze, Aid Industry Fails (G.)
In northern Greece, where the deep freeze worsened at the weekend, the plight of refugees living in tents in abandoned industrial warehouses was further complicated by water and electricity cuts. NGOs attributed the chaos to the absence of a national response plan, saying despite warnings of bitterly cold weather the state had been woefully ill-prepared. But international organisations also said the shocking images highlighted Europe’s inhumane policies towards refugees and migrants. “What we are seeing on the islands is the manifestation of the way Europe is failing to provide dignity for some of the world’s most vulnerable,” said Panos Navrozidis, country director of the International Rescue Committee in Greece.
“It is imperative that people are moved off the Greek islands. The IRC warned of these life-threatening conditions months ago yet still now with this weather we face a life-or-death situation.” With resources stretched to breaking point in a nation itself dealing with economic and social crisis, the beleaguered government has appealed to other EU member states to expedite the process of taking in asylum seekers. Under an emergency relocation plan, agreed as part of the EU-Turkey deal, the 28-member bloc vowed to accept 63,302 refugees from Greece. To date only 7,280 have been relocated from the country, according to European commission data released this week.
Brawls between rival ethnic groups, attacks by far-right xenophobes, and frustration and uncertainty over what lies ahead have exacerbated tensions in camps. In September, thousands were forced to flee Moria after members of Greece’s neo-fascist Golden Dawn party set fire to the facility. In what it described as “an extremely urgent appeal”, the anti-racist group Keerfa said government-run installations in Athens, including a former military barracks at Malakasa, had to be closed immediately because hundreds of detainees, among them children, toddlers and disabled people were “literally freezing”.