I’m not sure he’s prepared to take on a couple PhDs, a few MBAs, and a Baroness who use Twitter once a year (to reset their passwords) and collectively own 77 shares of the company. pic.twitter.com/sJmKwHbzVh
Twitter is not making a decision to decline the generous offer by Elon Musk because of stewardship or fiduciary responsibility to shareholders. The financials of Twitter as a non-viable business model highlight the issue of money being irrelevant. Twitter does not and cannot make money. Growing Twitter only means growing an expense. Growing Twitter does not grow revenue enough to offset the increase in expense.
There is only one way for Twitter to exist as a viable entity, people are now starting to realize this.
What matters to the people behind Twitter, the people who are subsidizing the ability of Twitter to exist, is control over the global conversation.
Control of the conversation is priceless to the people who provide the backbone for Twitter.
Once people realize who is subsidizing Twitter, everything changes.
That’s the fight.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/17/2022 08:03 ||
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Link ||
[11133 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
Sort of like the Texas energy board member living in Florida when the big freeze out hit.
#3
For all the pretension about the fiduciary duties of board members, it's a giftie job, like an ambassordship. You get it because someone owes you. When the SHTF, they point at the outside accounting firm. Ask all the ones that died on that sword already.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/17/2022 12:12 Comments ||
Top||
#4
How many Theranos board members are looking at jail time?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/17/2022 12:15 Comments ||
Top||
#5
But maybe Musk's interests are aligned with the US government's?
[Red State] When last we left you in the saga of the Durham probe, the defense’s motion to dismiss the case against former Clinton lawyer Michael Sussmann had been denied. That means that barring a plea or further postponement, Sussmann will go to trial May 16 (as currently scheduled), on the charge of the false statement to the FBI. As I noted, that must be making the folks in Clinton-land sweat with what could be coming next.
Now, more information has come out in the latest filings in the case and if it wasn’t obvious already, these filings make it clear that this is going beyond Michael Sussmann. This is from the government’s response to multiple motions from the defense.
First, we know that the smear that was perpetrated against the Trump Organization about the supposed contact with the Alfa Bank — to make it look like Donald Trump was somehow communicating with the Russians — was not true. But the information in the most recent filings indicates that the CIA thought it may have been fabricated. The CIA concluded it was not "technically plausible" and was "user created and not machine/tool generated": A good 'cover for action' will employ verbal distancing as an initial firewall. This will provide the time necessary to collect incriminating documents for destruction, and the development of effective media distractions.
#2
At some point the Seth Rich murder seems destined to be re-examined. The FBI acceptance of Crowdstrike's technical assistance has always remained a stunning act of political cowardice and previewed the Bureau's decline into partisan enforcement and public disdain.
#3
...but likely to bring about the desired removal of Donald Trump as planned.
Except that it didn’t, though he was hobbled somewhat by it. And then they still had to cheat six ways against Sunday to keep him from being reelected by a landslide. Really, tradecraft skills are not at all what they used to be at the echelons where this plot was executed. One hopes the junior agents at both agencies are watching carefully and taking note. (I won’t say learning from their horrible example, because that would be judgmental and unkind.)
[FoxNews] Durham says he will seek immunity for a Fusion GPS employee during the trial of Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann.
Special Counsel John Durham asserted in a court filing Friday that the CIA concluded data from Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann alleging coordination between Donald Trump and Russia was "not technically plausible" and was "user created."
In the filing, Durham responded to objections from Sussmann’s defense regarding what evidence could be admissible at Sussmann's trial, which is scheduled to begin next month. Sussmann is accused of lying to the FBI by saying he was not attending a meeting on behalf of a particular client when he was actually presenting the information on behalf of the HIllary Clinton campaign and a technology executive with whom he worked.
Durham in February first revealed that the government would establish during trial that among the data "exploited" was domain name system (DNS) internet traffic pertaining to "a particular healthcare provider, Trump Tower, Donald Trump's Central Park West apartment building, and the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP)."
In February, Durham said data was exploited "by mining the EOP's DNS traffic and other data for the purpose of gathering derogatory information about Donald Trump," adding the data was used to establish "an inference" and "narrative" tying Trump to Russia.
But Sussmann is moving to preclude evidence concerning the "gathering" of that "DNS data" by "Tech Executive 1," who has been identified as Rodney Joffe, and his associates.
In Friday's filing, Durham argued that the gathering of the data is a "necessary factual backdrop to the charged conduct."
Durham's original indictment alleges Sussmann told then-FBI General Counsel James Baker in September 2016 — less than two months before the 2016 presidential election — he was not doing work "for any client" when he requested and held a meeting where he presented "purported data and 'white papers' that allegedly demonstrated a covert communications channel" between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, which has ties to the Kremlin.
The indictment alleges that Sussmann lied in the meeting, "falsely stating to the general counsel that he was not providing the allegations to the FBI on behalf of any client."
Sussmann has pleaded not guilty and has sought to dismiss the case. The federal judge presiding over the case denied that request this week.
Durham also alleges that Sussmann in February 2017 provided an "updated set of allegations," including the Alfa Bank claims, and additional allegations related to Trump to a second U.S. government agency, which Fox News has confirmed was the CIA.
In his filing Friday, Durham says the government expects to "adduce evidence at trial" that will reflect that the FBI and the CIA "concluded that the Russian Bank 1 allegations were untrue and unsupported.
"For example, while the FBI did not reach an ultimate conclusion regarding the data’s accuracy or whether it might have been in whole or in part genuine, spoofed, altered, or fabricated, Agency 2 concluded in early 2017 that the Russian Bank 1 data and Russian Phone Provider 1 data was not ‘technically plausible,’ did not ‘withstand technical scrutiny,’ ‘contained gaps,’ ‘conflicted with [itself],’ and was ‘user created and not machine/tool generated," Durham wrote.
However, Durham states that "the Special Counsel’s Office has not reached a definitive conclusion in this regard."
But Durham argued that "separate and apart from whether the data was actually unreliable or provided a motive" for Sussmann to lie, evidence concerning the steps the FBI and CIA took to "investigate these matters is critical to establishing materiality."
Durham said that information will "enable the jury to evaluate those steps, which, in turn, will inform their conclusions about whether the defendant’s alleged false statement was material and could tend to influence or impair government functions."
More at the link.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
04/17/2022 00:18 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
[FoxNews] ICE has claimed it was justified in using a no-bid contract due to the urgency of the situation
The Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spent $17 million of a no-bid contract to house migrants in hotels that went largely unused between April and June last year and that a contractor failed to meet ICE standards.
The DHS Office of Inspector General reviewed ICE’s plans for migrant families crossing the southern border as the numbers surged early last year and how the contract was awarded.
ICE entered into an $86.9 million "sole source" contract with a company called Endeavors, rather than through a competitive bidding process. For six months, Endeavors would provide 1,239 beds and other services to migrants after ICE recognized its current family residential centers would be insufficient to house the number of migrants crossing the border.
Endeavors, a San Antonio-based nonprofit, separately entered into a no-bid contract with the Department of Health and Human Services for more than $500 million. The contracts were controversial because Andrew Lorenzen-Strait, a former Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official who also served as a Biden transition advisor on Homeland Security issues is on the company’s board.
The ICE contract used six hotels to help migrants with stays of up to three days, while they were enrolled in Alternatives to Detention (ATD). But the watchdog found that ICE was not justified in using a no-bid contract, which it awarded after receiving an unsolicited proposal from Endeavors, and that much of the space was unused as the contract required ICE pay for up to 1,239 beds no matter how many were used.
"ICE did not adequately justify the need for the sole source contract to house migrant families and spent approximately $17 million for hotel space and services at six hotels that went largely unused between April and June 2021," the report says.
It says that usage ranged from an average of 21% in one hotel to 45% in another.
"ICE’s sole source contract with Endeavors resulted in millions of dollars being spent on unused hotel space," the report says.
The report was also critical of Endeavors, saying that it did not meet new health care protocols, specifically ensuring that proper COVID-19 testing was used before transport to hotels, "putting migrant families and the outside population at risk of contracting COVID-19.
"Further, Endeavors did not follow required ICE standards to ensure the proper care for housing migrant families while such families were residing in its facilities," the report adds. Those standards include providing self-service snacks, staff storage of important documents like passports and video camera to record use-of-force incidents.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Endeavors said it "has been providing essential humanitarian services to migrants since 2012 and has worked with vulnerable communities for more than 50 years — including veterans, the homeless and those recovering from disasters.
[BlabberBuzz] Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced that it was imposing "mirror" sanctions against 398 members of the U.S. House of Representatives. The move marks the latest in a string of reprisals from the Russian government in response to U.S. sanctions.
[NYPOST] Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. I'm not working for you. Don't be such a horse's ass. Don't say he didn't warn us... is falling down on his promise to bring normality back to the presidency for a basic reason — he’s not normal.
Biden’s long pedigree, conventional politics and contrast with Donald Trump ...His ancestors didn't own any slaves... suggested that he’d bring predictability and calm to the highest reaches of the nation’s politics.
The press touted this impending shift. A headline in The Financial Times announced, "Biden signals return to normality on first day as president." The CNN ...the organization formerly known as the Cable News Network. Now who knows what it might stand for... political analyst Chris Cillizza opined, "The single most radical thing that Biden has done in his first 48 hours of being president is act totally and completely normally."
Yeah, well, a funny thing happened on the way to renewed normality — President Joe Biden ...... 46th president of the U.S. We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women created ... by the — you know — you know, the thing...... has engaged in one bizarre escapade after another as he’s crashed his presidency into the rocks of incompetence, tone-deafness and stubbornly misplaced priorities.
It’s not normal for a president to say things flagrantly at odds with his own administration’s position, but there was Joe Biden the other day saying that Vladimir Putin ...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances... is committing genocide in Ukraine.
This statement fared about as well as his declaration that Putin has to be removed from power, or the distinction he made between a Russian invasion and "minor incursion" at a presser prior to the war.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/17/2022 00:00 ||
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[11129 views]
Top|| File under:
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Red State] When last we left you in the saga of the Durham probe, the defense’s motion to dismiss the case against former Clinton lawyer Michael Sussmann had been denied. That means that barring a plea or further postponement, Sussmann will go to trial May 16 (as currently scheduled), on the charge of the false statement to the FBI. As I noted, that must be making the folks in Clinton-land sweat with what could be coming next.
[FoxNews] Durham says he will seek immunity for a Fusion GPS employee during the trial of Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann.
[FoxNews] ICE has claimed it was justified in using a no-bid contract due to the urgency of the situation
...... 46th president of the U.S. 
