Saturday, April 1, 2017

Open Thread/Links

In the spirit of the folly day....

The New York Times finally admits that RussiaGate is a cheap spy thriller knockoff. It's nevertheless published one of those handy catch-up guides for distracted viewers who might have missed a few episodes in what they call this "bizarre Washington drama." It's comprised of the usual Tweets and echo chamber reports from such reliable corporate actors as CNN and, of course, itself.

 
But the Handy Guide mysteriously omits the latest plot twist, in which Wikileaks reveals that the CIA itself could have been the original hacker/leaker of the DNC and Clinton campaign email caches. The spy agency has a Marble Framework tool, which enables it to install and hide source malware and make it appear as though cyberattacks are originating from anywhere else but Langley, Virginia.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that Team Trump is struggling mightily to regain control of "the narrative." They're all pretty upset about being relegated to the supporting actor/villain category. Trump has the nerve to call it a witch hunt, while the hunters are sticking to their original story that their own epic unpopularity is due entirely to Vlad Putin personally planting the virus of discontent into 320 million otherwise happy American brains. Anybody daring to criticize the Democratic Party or the Security State or Permawar or Wall Street or inequality is secretly thinking in the Cyrillic alphabet.

Donald Trump himself was so rattled by the spectacle that he fled the Oval Office before signing some executive orders he'd gone to all the trouble of touting during a signing ceremony spectacle in the Oval Office.

In another bit of comic relief, a White House "ethics" report dumped on Friday night reveals that the Trump family members and cronies in charge of the government are even more obscenely rich than we thought. Welcome to the Oligarchy.

Correction: добро пожаловать к олигархии.

8 comments:

Zee said...

'Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that Team Trump is struggling mightily to regain control of "the narrative."'--Karen Garcia

Because according to the legacy media, we all are supposed to know that "the narrative" is far more important than "the [mere] truth."

JK said...

I like it! The logical end resulting from the existence of "Marble Framework" is that you can't believe the origin of anything digital. If you can't believe the origin, why should you believe the content? Maybe now we can get back to physical evidence in the form of written documents, tape recordings, photos and video (maybe)for generating the narratives. Great news for Kodak. Maybe film photography will have a comeback. Americans are taking a crash (literally ?)course in the Art of Truth-telling.

JK

Jay–Ottawa said...

С Первым Апреля, Comrades

As I mentioned last week when recommending "Manchester by the Sea," Amazon is producing great films right out of the starting gate. Here's another keeper by Amazon: "Patterson."

It's received considerable praise, but may be relegated to art house theatres. The writer-director's intent was to produce a film unlike the noisy, glitzy, and crisis-filled films Hollywood––and most Independents––glory in. "Paterson" is low key, but it won't put you to sleep.

Decades ago, Swiss author Maurice Zundel described the spirit that holds this film together: "What remains––and this is probably essential––is 'to elevate the mundane,' that is, to view life's quotidian routines as the cradle of a sacred reality."

pearl volkov said...

Subject: The Russia Hacking Fiasco: No Evidence Required

http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/03/31/the-russia-hacking-fiasco-no-evidence-required/

annenigma said...

It wasn't covered by the mainstream media as far as I could tell, but my local tv news station provided this bit of Russian humor on April Fools Day:

“You have reached the Russian embassy. Your call is very important to us. To arrange a call from a Russian diplomat to your political opponents press 1. To use the services of Russian hackers press 2. To request election interference press 3 and wait until the next election campaign. Please note that all calls are recorded for quality improvement and training purposes,”

Jay–Ottawa said...

Anne, LOL !

Erik Roth said...

"The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming" ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El03KPUeQc4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybcBhg8rw6w

Zee said...

@annenigma--

Echoing Jay, ROTFLMAO!

And @Erik Roth--

Thank you for the reminder what a truly innovative and funny movie The Russians Are Coming! The Russians are Coming! was/is.

As I still can't go much of anywhere or do much of anything, I think that I will see if I can find that movie "on demand." Comcast might be useful for SOMETHING.

And on the topic of humor, Will, are you still out there? I have missed your reminders that there is still much out there to laugh at beyond Trump's latest "tweet." Just want to know that you are OK.