Bing is better at searching for porn than Google. Or so I have heard.
I used to work on Bing. Well, AdCenter, which is the same code base.
Even we used Google.
There are some pretty inflammatory details in Woodward’s new book.
Since it’s all sourced to ‘deep background,’ can’t it just be handwaved away as Fire & Fury was?
I guess it comes down to how much you trust the reporting of Bob Woodward.
All The President’s Men turned out to be a work of fiction, and Nixon was an American hero.
Maybe, but Trump is sure to confirm much of it by responding to it. He can’t help himself.
I don’t think it was Woodward’s best-seller-writing ability that brought Nixon down, however.
This is true. He’s probably sputtering over the WaPo story as we speak.
Giuliani is already demanding scalps, and pointedly mentioning that it all takes place before his time.
The transcript is really something.
Trump: Well, a lot of them are afraid to come and talk, or — you know, they are busy. I’m busy. But I don’t mind talking to you. I would’ve spoken to you. I spoke to you 20 years [ago] and I spoke to you a year and a half or two years ago.
BW: A couple of years ago, I understand.
Trump: And I certainly don’t mind talking to you, and I wish I could’ve spoken to you. But nobody called my office. I mean, you went through, I guess, different people. …
BW: Well, Mr. President, how can I spend all this time talking to people and — like Kellyanne and Raj and Republican senators?
Trump: Who were the senators? No, they never called me about it.
BW: Senator [Lindsey] Graham said he had talked to you about talking to me. Now, is that not true?
Trump: Senator Graham actually mentioned it quickly in one meeting.
BW: Yes. Well, see. And then nothing happened.
Trump: That is true. That is true. Well, that — no, but that is true. Mentioned it quickly, not like, you know, and I would certainly have thought that maybe you would’ve called the office. But that’s okay. I’ll speak to Kellyanne. I am a little surprised that she wouldn’t have told me. In fact, she just walked in. [to Kellyanne] I’m talking to Bob Woodward. He said that he told you.
Conway: Yes.
Trump: About speaking to me. But you never told me. Why didn’t you tell me?
Conway: [inaudible].
[…]
BW: You say Kellyanne’s there, ask her.Trump: Nobody told me about it. Well, let me ask her. Why don’t you speak to Kellyanne. Ask her. She never told me about it.
[Conway takes the phone.]
BW: Kellyanne?
Conway: Bob, how are you? Hi.
BW: Hi. Remember two and a half months ago you came over and I laid out, I wanted to talk to the president? And you said you would get back to me?
Conway: I do. And I put in the request. But you know, they — it was rejected. I can only take it so far. I guess I can bring it right to the president next time.
Roll the tapes please
The transcript is surreal. Trump is such a massive coward.
I had that very same conversation with my daughter when she was seven years old:
What do you mean I can’t go play with Emily? No, no one ever told me I had to clean my room! No, Mommy never told me… oh, Mommy’s here? Well maybe she might have told me, but it was really noisy. No, you didn’t write me a note. Oh, that note? Well maybe I saw it, but I thought it was for my sister. It has my name on it? Well, you should have come into the back yard and told me I had to do it. Plus, unemployment is at an all-time low.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/forget-the-book-read-the-transcript
What comes off most clearly in this transcript is Trump’s weakness. Lying is one thing. But the exchange in this call is a different subspecies of lying. It’s lying about not doing your homework. Lying because you want a second chance. Lying because you didn’t have the guts to do the interview in the first place.
Hanging over the call is the chance that possibly some of these messages didn’t get to him? The story of White House dysfunction is so wild we can’t entirely rule it out. Maybe Trump shot down requests from a couple staffers and people knew not to bring it up again? It’s impossible to know. But the stench of weakness and cowardice can’t be cleaned off this thing. This is the real Trump.
There’s once again so much news breaking I feel like we’re already past this Trump tweet:
This is exactly the same playbook for the messaging Erdogan is using to rule in Turkey. He has been putting journalists and elected opposition politicians in jail, stuffing the judiciary with loyalists, rewriting the constitution, nationalizing opposition companies, and distributing millions to cronies, while claiming to be the victim. Which ones are coming next for us?
Yes, if this does all end in authoritarianism in the U.S., people will look backward and say the signs were there in blazing neon, and how could we not have seen it coming?
And the answer will be, “because people are dumb.”
And for many a little bit of racism goes a long way towards swallowing the lie.
RALEIGH, NC (WNCN) -
More than 40 North Carolina elections boards have been subpoenaed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, officials say.
The subpoena comes via the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections Enforcement plans to address the development during a conference call this Friday.
This comes 17 days before absentee voting is scheduled to start. Local election boards are also working to adjust to a new early voting schedule that was recently approved by the General Assembly.
The subpoena requests “any and all poll books,e-poll books, voting records, and/or voter authorization documents, and executed official ballots (including absentee official ballots), that were submitted to, filed by, received by, and/or maintained by the [redacted] County Board of Elections from August 30, 2013 through August 30, 2018.”
The subpoena follows a mid-August announcement that 19 illegal immigrants in North Carolina illegally voted during the 2016 election.
A news release from United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina also said several of those charged voted in more than one election. The indictments were made by a federal grand jury in Wilmington and included illegal voting in Wake, Johnston, Cumberland and Wilson counties.
One of the group, Ramon Esteban Paez-Jerez, 58, of the Dominican Republic, voted illegally in Wake County on Nov. 8, 2016, officials say. He was also charged with two counts of passport fraud, the news release said.
The 44 counties subpoenaed are:
Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Currituck, Dare, Duplin, Edgecombe, Franklin, Gates, Granville, Greene, Halifax, Harnett, Hertford, Hyde, Johnston, Jones, Lenoir, Martin, Nash, New Hanover, Northampton, Onslow, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Pender, Perquimans, Pitt, Robeson, Sampson, Tyrrell, Vance, Wake, Warren, Washington, Wayne, and Wilson.