October 16, 2022

Co-founder of Trump's media company details Truth Social's bitter infighting

Source: Washington Post (No Paywall)

Will Wilkerson, one of Trump Media & Technology Group’s first employees, alleges the company violated securities laws and that Trump pressured executives to hand over their shares to his wife. He shared a cache of internal documents with The Post and federal investigators that he says support his claims.

Will Wilkerson, then an executive at former president Donald Trump’s start-up Trump Media & Technology Group, was at a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., coffee shop with company co-founder Andy Litinsky last October when Trump called Litinsky with a question: Would he give up some of his shares to Trump’s wife, Melania?

Litinsky tried to brush it off, telling Trump “the gift would have meant a huge tax bill he couldn’t pay,” Wilkerson said in an interview. “Trump didn’t care. He said, ‘Do whatever you need to do.’ ”

Five months later, Litinsky ... was abruptly removed from the company’s board. Wilkerson said he believes it was payback for his refusal to turn over a small fortune to the former president’s wife.

Read more: https://wapo.st/3D0g4eQ

October 15, 2022

Republicans are not heeding this message: Winning is not all about the base.

Independent voters don’t want mini-Trumps, are bored by Biden. Researchers who study independents advise ‘elections are won in the middle,’ even though many Republicans are not heeding the message. Independents will make or break Biden and the Democrats in November. Winning is not all about the base.

“First, the base will turn out. It always does in both parties. Second, elections are won in the middle,”

https://wapo.st/3CBrEMf

Conservatives outnumbered liberals by nine percentage points in 2016 and by 14 percent in 2020, according to exit polling data. After narrowly winning independents in 2016, Trump lost them to Biden by 13 percentage points four years later, ending his chances of a second term.

“Only one other major party presidential candidate has lost independents by a larger margin than Trump — Walter Mondale in 1984,” Winston wrote.

https://rollcall.com/2022/09/14/independents-will-make-or-break-biden-and-the-democrats-in-november/

October 12, 2022

Trump worker told FBI about moving Mar-a-Lago boxes on ex-president's orders

Source: WaPo

Key witness and security-camera footage offer evidence of Trump’s actions after government subpoena, people familiar say

A Trump employee has told federal agents about moving boxes of documents at Mar-a-Lago at the specific direction of the former president, according to people familiar with the investigation, who say the witness account — combined with security-camera footage — offers key evidence of Donald Trump’s behavior as investigators sought the return of classified material.

The witness description and footage described to The Washington Post offer the most direct account to date of Trump’s actions and instructions leading up to the FBI’s Aug. 8 search of the Florida residence and private club, in which agents were looking for evidence of potential crimes including obstruction, destruction of government records or mishandling classified information.

The people familiar with the investigation said agents have gathered witness accounts indicating that, after Trump advisers received a subpoena in May for any classified documents that remained at Mar-a-Lago, Trump told people to move boxes to his residence at the property. That description of events was corroborated by the security-camera footage, which showed people moving the boxes, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

Read more: https://wapo.st/3g50tln

October 4, 2022

Russian Apologist Oligarch: Go Fuck Yourself

Ukrainian Ambassador Tells Elon Musk to ‘F– Off’ After CEO Offers Unsolicited Advice for Peace With Russia

https://www.thewrap.com/ukraine-ambassador-tells-elon-musk-f-off-twitter/

Sorry, Elon Musk. You don’t have the formula to end the Ukraine war.

https://wapo.st/3Efq6d9

October 4, 2022

Russian Apologist Oligarch: Go Fuck Yourself

Ukrainian Ambassador Tells Elon Musk to ‘F– Off’ After CEO Offers Unsolicited Advice for Peace With Russia

https://www.thewrap.com/ukraine-ambassador-tells-elon-musk-f-off-twitter/

September 26, 2022

Bam! Bullseye! Target engaged!

... On its target and closing in. About 15 minutes to impact!

https://dart.jhuapl.edu/

September 26, 2022

This is a test. This is ONLY a test!

Tommorow, at 7:14 PM, the DART mission spacecraft will impact a near earth asteroid - Defending the Earth, Defending Humanity!

NYT, No Paywall

https://dart.jhuapl.edu/

September 17, 2022

The curious case of the strange man who was nearly attorney general

Clark may have some serious arguments to make in response to the bar complaint... Instead, he submitted an answer, the public version of which is partly redacted, consisting of 54 “defenses,” one more outlandish than the next.... The document reads like something the Federalist Society would submit if it had created an artificial intelligence program to draft legal pleadings.

WaPo, no paywall: https://wapo.st/3xxZJeh

Posted just so I could share that quip.

July 30, 2022

Actually, the Russian Economy Is Imploding

Nine myths about the effects of sanctions and business retreats, debunked.

That these misunderstandings persist is not entirely surprising given the lack of available economic data. In fact, many of the excessively sanguine Russian economic analyses, forecasts, and projections that have proliferated in recent months share a crucial methodological flaw: These analyses draw most, if not all, of their underlying evidence from periodic economic releases by the Russian government itself. Numbers released by the Kremlin have long been held to be largely if not always credible, but there are certain problems.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/07/22/russia-economy-sanctions-myths-ruble-business

July 19, 2022

New Windex Formula Removes Menacing Apparitions From Mirror

https://www.theonion.com/new-windex-formula-removes-menacing-apparitions-from-mi-1849107983

RACINE, WI—Touting the cleaning product’s dual use on both beings from parallel pockets of existence and the spirit world, SC Johnson introduced a new Windex formula Friday for removing menacing apparitions from the mirror. “There’s nothing more off-putting than a dirty mirror covered with streaks and a shadowy, leering figure standing directly behind your shoulder—Windex’s new formula banishes them both,”