Politics

Facebook Begins Fact-Checking Photos And Videos

Gizmodo reports: Facebook has started fact-checking photos and videos, as a part of a larger plan to prevent foreign agents from using the platform to spread propaganda and influence elections. Executives on Thursday explained Facebook’s plans in a blog post and on a conference call with journalists. Some of the plans had already been announced—for instance, verifying election ad buyers …

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Sessions Rejects GOP Calls For Second Special Counsel To Investigate FBI Over Clinton And Russia Probes

The Washington Post reports: Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday rebuffed — at least for now — a call from GOP leaders to appoint a second special counsel to look into the FBI’s handling of its most high-profile probes and announced that he has asked the U.S. attorney in Utah to spearhead a broad review. Sessions made the revelation in …

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REPORT: Ecuador Is Now Electronically Jamming Their Own Embassy To Block Assange From The Internet

Because just cutting off his WiFi wasn’t enough. Australia’s News Corp outlet reports: Electronic jammers have been placed inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London to prevent WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange having access to the internet or social media, sources say. The Ecuadorian government took the measure on Tuesday evening, stopping Assange from tweeting, using the internet or phone. He has …

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McCabe Launches GoFundMe For Legal Costs

The Washington Post reports: Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe on Thursday launched an online fundraiser to help cover the legal costs that might come as he navigates investigations and congressional inquiries and explores whether he will sue over his abrupt ouster from the bureau. McCabe’s team unveiled the legal defense fund, hosted on the GoFundMe website, about 2 p.m. …

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Moscow Retaliates: 60 US Diplomats To Be Expelled

The Associated Press reports: Russia’s foreign minister says Moscow will expel the same number of diplomats from the nations that have expelled Russian diplomats over the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy in Britain. Sergey Lavrov said U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Thursday, where he was given notice that Russia is responding quid pro …

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LIVE VIDEO: Trump Tries Again On Infrastructure Plan

CNN reports: President Donald Trump is pivoting to infrastructure — again — on Thursday as he travels to Ohio to tout the economic benefits of his proposals to help rebuild and repair America’s ailing system. Trump will address a crowd of heavy-equipment operators, mechanics and engineers at a union training site in Richfield, Ohio, to put a spotlight on workers …

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Former French President To Be Tried For Corruption

Reuters reports: Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy will face trial over charges he misused his influence to secure leaked details of an inquiry into alleged irregularities in his 2007 election campaign, a source close to the investigation said on Thursday. The case came about after investigators used phone-taps to examine separate allegations that late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi funded Sarkozy’s …

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David Shulkin: I Got Fired Because I Was Seen As An Obstacle To Privatizing The Veterans Administration

From David Shulkin’s op-ed in the New York Times: I believe differences in philosophy deserve robust debate, and solutions should be determined based on the merits of the arguments. The advocates within the administration for privatizing V.A. health services, however, reject this approach. They saw me as an obstacle to privatization who had to be removed. That is because I …

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Whistleblower’s Docs Show Company That Became Cambridge Analytica Had Access To UK Defense Intel

The Guardian reports: SCL, Cambridge Analytica’s predecessor, had access to secret UK information and was singled out for praise by the UK Ministry of Defence for the training it provided to a psychological operations warfare group, according to documents newly released by MPs. The document also noted that SCL – which was subsequently rebranded as Cambridge Analytica by Steve Bannon …

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Former AG Eric Holder: I Might Run For President

The Hill reports: Former Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday night did not dismiss rumors he will run for president in 2020. He told The New York Times that if he ran for president, he would do so because he felt he could unify and advance the country. In a Q&A interview streamed online, Times reporter Alex Burns asked the …

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Trump Falsely Claims Amazon Pays “Little Or No” Sales Tax (Amazon Now Pays In All States With Sales Tax)

The Wall Street Journal reports: President Donald Trump criticized Amazon.com Inc. on Thursday, saying the e-commerce giant was “putting many thousands of retailers out of business.” Shares of Amazon.com slid on Wednesday amid speculation that the White House wanted to curb the company’s growing dominance. In a briefing on Wednesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Mr. …

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Jared Fogle Names Trump In Plea For Release

The New York Post reports: Former Subway pitchman Jared Fogle has issued another desperate plea for his release — this time calling on President Trump for help. The 40-year-old is currently serving more than 15 years for distributing child pornography and traveling to have paid sex with a minor after pleading guilty in 2015. He filed a petition this week …

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Trump Calls Roseanne Barr With Congratulations

The New York Times reports: President Trump made a personal phone call on Wednesday to a political supporter with a huge megaphone — Roseanne Barr. Mr. Trump called Ms. Barr to congratulate her on the revival of her comedy, “Roseanne,” and to thank her for her support. The call was confirmed by Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary. …

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LONDON: Ecuador Cuts Off Julian Assange’s Internet

The Guardian reports: Ecuador has cut Julian Assange’s communications with the outside world from its London embassy, where the founder of the whistleblowing WikiLeaks website has been living for nearly six years. The Ecuadorian government said in statement that it had acted because Assange had breached “a written commitment made to the government at the end of 2017 not to …

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Rosanne Reboot Scores Record Ratings

From the Hollywood Reporter: Roseanne returned Tuesday. The ABC sitcom, away from the air for two decades, kicked off its revived run with especially promising returns — dominating every other Big Four telecast of the night. The first two episodes of Roseanne, a full hour at the top of the ABC lineup, won the night by both adults 18-49 and …

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Rubio Ridicules “Absurd Freak Out” Over Census

Talking Points Memo reports: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) in a tweet Wednesday linked the Trump administration’s controversial push to add a citizenship question to the Census to an approach to drawing districts that would boost Republican power. Rubio is not the first conservative to suggest that data gathered by asking about citizenship on the decennial Census could be used to …

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Publisher: Coming McCain Book “Holds Nothing Back”

The bits on Sarah Palin should be amusing. Via press release from Simon & Schuster:  A candid new political memoir from Senator John McCain—his most personal book in years—covering everything from 2008 up to the present. In a time when Washington, DC and the country is more polarized than it has been for decades, John McCain is the rare public …

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REPORT: Trump “Obsessed” With Punishing Amazon

Axios reports: Capitol Hill wants Facebook’s blood, but President Trump isn’t interested. Instead, the tech behemoth Trump wants to go after is Amazon, according to five sources who’ve discussed it with him. “He’s obsessed with Amazon,” a source said. “Obsessed.” What we’re hearing: Trump has talked about changing Amazon’s tax treatment because he’s worried about mom-and-pop retailers being put out …

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Romney Boasts That He’s To The Right Of Trump On Immigration, Says Dreamers Don’t Deserve Citizenship

The Huffington Post reports: Utah Senate candidate Mitt Romney said Monday that he’s more of a hardliner on immigration than President Donald Trump, citing his opposition to citizenship for Dreamers, the undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children. “I’m also more of a hawk on immigration than even the president,” he told a crowd of supporters during …

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House GOP To Seek Balanced Budget Amendment

The Hill reports: House Republicans will push for a balanced budget amendment after they return from recess. The report follows the passage of the $1.3 trillion omnibus package to fund the government through September. That bill was ripped by conservatives in the House and Senate, and President Trump vowed to never approve a similar bill again. Calls for a balanced-budget …

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