 In April of 2017, Shane Goldmacher reported in Politico noted that Justice Anthony Kennedy and President Trump had a conversation after Trump’s first speech to Congress that was picked up by boom microphones.
Here is the conversation they had, as quoted in Politico: “Say hello to your boy,” Trump said, “Special guy.” “Your kids have been very nice to him,” Kennedy replied. “Well,” Trump said, “they love him, and they love him in New York.” Kennedy’s son Gregory Kennedy worked at NASA in the early days of the Trump administration, as one of the political appointees the president chose to serve as his eyes and ears at major federal agencies. (That group of appointees was described by ProPublica in March 2017 and revised in August of the same year. ProPublica reported that Gregory Kennedy was appointed January 20, Inauguration Day.) Gregory Kennedy attended Stanford law School with Trump technology advisor Peter Thiel, and his company, Disruptive Technology Advisors, has worked with Thiel’s company, Palantir. Justin Kennedy is an associate of Donald Trump, Jr., through New York real estate. He has worked for Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank. Financial Times reported in August 2017: “Justin Kennedy, a trader who arrived from Goldman to become one of Mr Trump’s most trusted associates over a 12-year spell at Deutsche, is the son of a Supreme Court justice.” While Justin Kennedy was a co-owner of LNR Properties, the company came to the rescue of Kushner’s troubled property at 666 5th Avenue, which he bought at the top of the market and has since scrambled to hold onto. The Real Deal New York described the bail-out in 2011. https://therealdeal.com/2011/07/07/jared-kushner-reaches-tentative-deal-with-lnr-property-to-save-666-fifth-avenue/ It seems that there are a number of family-financial connections between the Trump and Kennedy families. Perhaps Justice Kennedy should have recused himself from Supreme Court cases involving the Trump administration. Tuesday Justice Kennedy wrote a concurrence for the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision to uphold Trump’s travel ban on people from seven countries (Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen). Wednesday, he announced that he will retire from the Court at the end of July. Perhaps in his less-than-two-page concurrence he left a clue to his reasons for retirement. (His concurrence begins on page 45.) https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/17-965_h315.pdf
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NBC News reports that a video game developed by a Russian company simulates the experience of opening fire on students in classrooms, and that people are outraged. "A new video game that simulates school shootings is facing colossal backlash and demands that it be pulled amid a spate of school massacres across the United States." It seems likely that outrage was the goal. The developer of the game, "Ata Berdiyev," lists the Russian Federation as his home. He was removed last fall from Steam, the video game platform from which this game would have launched, when he was operating as "[bc]Interactive" and "Elusive Team," according to Valve, Steam's parent company. "Ata is a troll, with a history of customer abuse, publishing copyrighted material, and user review manipulation. His subsequent return under new business names was a fact that came to light as we investigated the controversy around his upcoming title. We are not going to do business with people who act like this towards our customers or Valve." Since operatives from the Russian Federation have been using psychological tools on Americans, through the Internet Research Agency and other companies, it is not surprising that a Russian video game company would attempt to stir up outrage and division in the United States by creating a video game that trivializes and glamorizes the tragedy of school shootings. Both Acid and Revived Games, the publisher and developer for Active Shooter, have also been removed from the platform. More information can be found in these articles. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/active-shooter-video-game-prompts-outrage-amid-spate-school-shootings-n878156 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/school-shooting-video-game-met-widespread-backlash-article-1.4013716 http://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/active-shooter-removed-steam-1202824801/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2018/05/29/what-parkland-parents-think-of-a-new-video-game-that-lets-people-shoot-up-a-school/?utm_term=.810fec2013bd https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/28/us/active-shooter-video-game-steam-valve-trnd/ https://www.pcmag.com/news/361447/parents-urge-steam-to-pull-active-shooter-game-set-in-scho  Attorney Peter Gleason has submitted a letter to the judge overseeing the handling of materials seized from the residence, office, and hotel room of Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen. In the letter Gleason, who is not a party in the case, requests that the judge place a protective order on any materials pertaining to Gleason’s conversations with Cohen about allegations made by two women against former Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. The judge, U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood has appointed a special master to sort through documents seized by the FBI, to protect documents that may fall under attorney-client privilege.
Gleason states in the letter that he encouraged the women not to go to the Manhattan District Attorney with their allegations because he had found that Manattan prosecutors had ignored previous corruption claims he had brought forward. Gleason told the New York Times that Cohen suggested to him that if Trump ran for New York governor, he would make public the allegations against Schneiderman. Here is an excerpt from Gleason’s letter. (Note: Schneiderman’s name is misspelled two different ways in the document. I have left the spelling intact.) “My office was contacted some years ago by two unrelated women who at two separate times (approximately 1 year apart) claimed that Mr. Scheiderman was sexually inappropriate with them. “After the first consultation with one of Scheinderman's victims I explained to her how invariably the very entities that were established to protect her would ultimately turn on her to protect the power elite that includes Scheinderman. “Approximately one year later, sometime in 2013, another woman contacted my office with an almost identical story on how she too was victimized by Scheinderman. At first glance the logical recommendation would have been to report this matter to the Manhattan District Attorney. Unfortunately, I had to advise this woman against reporting the incident to the Manhattan District Attorney Office based on my past experience in reporting prima facie political corruption that was ignored by the office, some of which were ultimately prosecuted elsewhere. “At a minimum, I wanted these women to realize that somebody believed them, and that their horrific experiences at the hands of Scheinderman would not be brushed under the rug. “I discussed the matter with a retired journalist by the name of Stephen Dunleavy who suggested and offered to discuss the matter with Donald Trump. Mr. Dunleavy did indeed discuss this very matter with Mr. Trump as evidenced by a phone call I received from Attorney Michael Cohen. “During my communications with Mr. Cohen I shared with him certain details of Scheinderman's vile attacks on these two women.” The entire letter can be read here. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4457945-Order-on-Letter-Motion.html An article in Talking Points Memo gives more detail. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/gleason-schneiderman-cohen The article in the New York Times can be read here. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/11/nyregion/eric-schneiderman-michael-cohen.html This is a developing story. Photo Source: Drew Angerer/Getty Images  Michael Avenatti, attorney for adult film actor Stephanie Clifford (known professionally as Stormy Daniels), released a document today with information about financial transactions of Michael Cohen’s company Essential Consultants, LLC. Cohen established this company in October of 2016, with the admitted purpose (after several denials) of paying $130,000 to Clifford as hush money to keep her quiet about an affair with Donald Trump. According to the document released by Avenatti’s law firm, a number of American and foreign companies paid Michael Cohen’s company (which had no employees other than Cohen) for reasons that remain unclear. AT&T paid Cohen $50,000 a month for more than a year, for “an understanding of the inner workings of Trump,” as CNBC reported today. Pharmaceutical company Novartis paid Michael Cohen’s company $1.2 million. A statement explaining their payments can be found on their company website. In their latest statement, the company spokesman admitted that this arrangement was “a mistake.” Cohen was also paid $500,000 from a company controlled by Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg and his American cousin, Andrew Intrater. The company, Columbus Nova, reportedly paid Cohen’s company $500,000. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/daniels-lawyer-cohen-got-500k-russian-oligarch-viktor-vekselberg-n872481 According to the document released by Avenatti, a total of $4.4 million flowed to Essential Consultants between October 2016 and January 2018. Novartis was involved in bribing government officials in China several years ago. An article about the settlement can be found here. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-24/novartis-agrees-to-settle-sec-china-bribe-case-for-25-million This story is still developing. The document can be accessed by clicking the link in the first line of the story above, or can be downloaded as a file below. 
 A gun rights group rallied today on the South steps of the Capitol. According to The Sacramento Bee this was designed to be one of 50 rallies held nationwide: "The nationwide gatherings were promoted through social media by a group called the National Constitutional Coalition of Patriotic Americans. The rallies, which organizers intended to be held at all 50 state capitol buildings, were dubbed 'Americans for America.'" An Internet search for the group identified a website belonging to the group, www.nccpa.com. A domain name search found that the group registered the domain in March 2018, in Toronto, Ontario. This seems unusual for a group of patriotic Americans. it is a pattern revealed before in groups that appear to be grassroots, but are in fact organized and financed from outside the country. The address of the domain registration company, Tucows, is 96 Farley Mowat Drive. This is a 20-minute drive from the offices of Rebel Media, an alt-right publication begun in 2013. Rebel Media is known for stunts promoting Donald Trump and attempting to discredit those opposed to his presidency. Below are some examples of the kinds of things Rebel Media does. Rebel Media personality Jack Posobiec held up a “Rape Melania” sign outside the White House in an attempt to discredit protesters. https://www.buzzfeed.com/amberjamieson/trumps-weird-day-in-tweets-includes-rting-a-man-who-made?utm_term=.jsl505dvl#.cvNoDoLpP Posobiec has since left Rebel Media. https://www.buzzfeed.com/janelytvynenko/jack-posobiec-out-at-the-rebel?utm_term=.cj0VaVQEX#.ybQ8b8omP Jack Posobiec and Laura Loomer rushed the stage at a performance of “Julius Caesar” in Central Park. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2017/06/17/pro-trump-protester-arrested-after-rushing-stage-at-controversial-julius-caesar-play-in-new-york/?utm_term=.d620fb5e1124 https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-domain-troll-behind-pro-trump-stunts Laura Loomer no longer works for Rebel Media. https://forward.com/fast-forward/383780/laura-loomer-quit-rebel-media-because-they-told-her-to-stop-tweeting-about/ Rebel Media did not necessarily organize or finance the rally at the California State Capitol Saturday. A credible news outlet might want to check the group out before presenting them as a grassroots movement, as The Sacramento Bee did here. http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article208924109.html#emlnl=Breaking_Newsletter  Photo: Hector Amezcua/Sacramento Bee
Tuesday, April 10:
Mark Zuckerberg will appear before members of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/facebook-social-media-privacy-and-the-use-and-abuse-of-data www.commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/hearings?ID=E7C85E5C-BBA9-4AD9-861D-85B7340BBDFB Wednesday, April 10: Zuckerberg will appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee https://energycommerce.house.gov/news/press-release/ec-announces-facebook-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-will-testify-april-11th/ Monday, April 9 Zuckerberg will be meeting individually with members of Congress, some of whom are on the committees. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-privacy-congress/zuckerberg-to-meet-with-u-s-lawmakers-monday-sources-idUSKBN1HG00H?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=twitter https://www.npr.org/2018/04/08/600616534/facebook-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-readies-to-testify-on-capitol-hill https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/08/opinions/zuckerberg-congress-testimony-questions-opinion-alaimo/index.html The Digital, Culture, Media, and Sports Committee of the House of Commons in British Parliament will be interviewing members of the Cambridge Analytica team who were involved in the Brexit campaigns in the U.K. Tuesday, April 17: Brittany Kaiser, director of program development at Cambridge Analytica Wednesday, April 18: Alexander Nix, former Cambridge Analytica chief executive (second appearance) Nix has been recalled to the committee due to inconsistencies in his earlier testimony. Tuesday, April 24: Aleksandr Kogan, Cambridge University and St. Petersburg State University academic who built the “thisisyourdigitallife” application Thursday, April 26: Mike Schroepfer, Facebook chief technology officer https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/apr/06/cambridge-analytica-scandal-mps-committee-fake-news-inquiry-dcms-brittany-kaiser  Photo source: Dmitry Azarov/Kommersant, via Getty Images The Daily Caller published an op-ed authored by Oleg Deripaska on March 8, 2018, criticizing the Mueller special counsel investigation into past and current Russian interference into U.S. elections. Less than a month later, he and his companies have been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for being among “ those who benefit from the Putin regime and play a key role in advancing Russia’s malign activities.” Deripaska described the infrastructure of long-term professionals in the U.S. government, composed of experts in their fields who remain in their positions regardless of who is in the White House, as the “Deep State.” He described the Deep State as “shadow power exercised by a small number of individuals from media, business, government and the intelligence community, foisting provocative and cynically false manipulations on the public. Out of these manipulations, an agenda of these architects’ own design is born.” As a result of the sanctions imposed April 6,2018, Deripaska's companies EN+ Group and Rusal, listed on the London stock exchange, have lost significant stock value: 20 percent for En+ Group and 12 percent for Rusal. Deripaska has been unable to travel to the U.S. since 2005, when he was denied a visa due to his ties to organized crime and his role as a suspect in the murder of businessman Vadim Yafyasov. Oleg Deripaska is a longtime associate of Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s campaign chairman in the spring and summer of 2016. Deripaska hired Manafort in 2006, for $10 million per year, to provide positive public relations messaging for Vladimir Putin in the United States. This relationship continued for a number of years. Deripaska sued Manafort and his partner Rick Gates, who are both now under indictment on federal money laundering and conspiracy charges, in the Cayman Islands in 2015. Manafort continued to contact Deripaska through Konstantin Kilimnick, believed to be an officer of Russian security services. (John Schindler, security expert and former National Security Agency analyst, discussed Kilimnick here.) Deripaska’s private jet, with tail letters M-ALAY, visited the U.S. in August of 2016, shortly after the Republican National Committee declared Donald Trump the Republican nominee for president. According to independent reporter Scott Stedman and the Washington Post, Kilimnick and Manafort had dinner at 666 Fifth Avenue in New York City on August 2. Deripaska’s jet landed in New Jersey, a short distance from the dinner, hours after the meeting concluded. The plane took off again the following evening and flew back to Moscow. It then ferried Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko to Deripaska’s private yacht in Norway for a meeting with Deripaska. Alexy Navalny, Russian political leader who was prevented from running in the recent presidential election, released a video with details about this secret meeting. An article from the Telegraph newspaper from 2012 describes some of the evidence of Deripaska’s ties to the global mob. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financial-crime/9387913/Oligarch-linked-to-politicians-ordered-murder-of-banker.html Deripaska sued the Associated Press over reporting asserting that Deripaska had hired Manafort for years. In December 2017 Deripaska dropped the libel suit. https://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2017/12/06/oleg-deripaska-libel-suit-associated-press-283767 An article from October 2017 in the Atlantic profiled Manafort and highlighted his connections to Deripaska.  Photo source: PHOTOSHOT
 Data from 50 million Facebook users ended up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica, the data firm that engineered Donald Trump’s social media campaign blitz.
Jessica Rich was head of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection from 2013 to 2017. In 2011 she helped construct the consent decree against Facebook for violating users’ privacy without their knowledge or consent. The order from the FTC against Facebook required that Facebook obtain affirmative consent from users before it could override privacy settings. The order required that Facebook submit a plan for compliance with the order within 90 days, and described penalties for violating the order. The order does not expire until 2032. NPR reporter Ailsa Chang interviewed Rich Tuesday, and asked Rich what she thought upon hearing that Facebook had given detailed, private data on users to Cambridge Analytica in 2014. Rich: “Well, like many people, my reaction was are you kidding? The facts here of allowing third parties to have unfettered access to user data and not exercising the kind of care for Facebook users that they should were the exact same facts that drove us to take action against them in 2011 and that led to the order they're now under.” Chang: “And the penalties for violating that 2011 consent decree, they're huge. It's $40,000…” RICH: “Per violation.” CHANG: “So if you multiply that across 50 million users, we're talking about billions of dollars, potentially, that Facebook faces in fines. Why would a number like that, billions of dollars of potential fines, not serve as enough of a deterrent for a company like Facebook?” RICH: “I really can't answer that question. It must be lack of proper compliance procedures or literally a culture that is not one that really cares about its users.” Here’s the math: $40,000 multiplied by 50 million users equals $2 trillion. Facebook is potentially liable for a $2 trillion fine from the FTC. Tim Wu, a former senior official at the Federal Trade Commission, explained in an interview with Noel King of NPR’s Morning Edition, also on Tuesday, that Facebook’s continuing problems with violating the privacy of its users is fundamental to its business model. WU: “I think the problem lies here. It's actually a very fundamental one, which is Facebook is always in the position of serving two masters. If its actual purpose was just trying to connect friends and family, and it didn't have a secondary motive of trying to also prove to another set of people that it could gather as much data as possible and make it possible to manipulate or influence or persuade people, then it wouldn't be a problem. For example, if they were a nonprofit, it wouldn't be a problem. But they…” KING: “But they're not, right?” (Laughter). WU: “They're not. But, well, that's the problem. I think there's a sort of intrinsic problem with having for-profit entities with this business model in this position of so much public trust because they're always at the edge because their profitability depends on it.” King asked Wu if the FTC could seek damages if Facebook is found to have violated the order. WU: “Yes, they can. Every single violation is punishable by a $40,000 fine. So it could be billions [Editor’s note - actually, trillions] of dollars in damages if the FTC decides to police this very aggressively.” The All Things Considered interview with former Federal Trade Commission official Jessica Rich can be found here. https://www.npr.org/2018/03/27/597390569/ftc-investigating-whether-facebook-violated-consent-decree The March 27 Morning Edition interview with former FTC senior official Tim Wu can be found here. https://www.npr.org/2018/03/27/597221954/facebook-previously-failed-to-keep-privacy-promises-ex-ftc-adviser-says A link to the Federal Trade Commission documents from 2011 can be found here. https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-proceedings/092-3184/facebook-inc A New York Times article from 2011 explains the original order against Facebook from the FTC. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/technology/facebook-agrees-to-ftc-settlement-on-privacy.html Cambridge Analytica: British Public Television Exposes Methods of Trump Campaign "Secret Sauce"3/24/2018  Carole Cadwalladr and Emma Graham-Harrison of the British newspaper The Guardian/Observer published an article last week with new information about Cambridge Analytica, the shadowy data firm that worked closely with the Trump campaign in 2016. Christopher Wylie, a data scientist formerly with the company, stated in an interview: “We exploited Facebook to harvest millions of people’s profiles. And built models to exploit what we knew about them and target their inner demons. That was the basis the entire company was built on.” In late 2015, Facebook found out that information from more than 50 million individuals, including private details and personality profiles, had been harvested without permission. The company did not alert users, and took limited steps to protect the data of users. The article with the Christopher Wylie interview can be found here. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-facebook-influence-us-election British public television station Channel 4 went undercover to glean information about how Cambridge Analytica, a company started in 2013 as an offshoot of SCL Group, uses data to influence elections throughout the world. The results of the investigation are shocking. Some of the revelations, by key members of the company: “We’re used to operating through different vehicles, in the shadows, and I look forward to building a very long-term and secretive relationship with you." Alexander Nix, CEO, to a reporter he thought was a Sri Lankan businessman working for a prospective political candidate. “We just put information into the bloodstream of the internet, and then, and then watch it grow, give it a little push every now and again… like a remote control. It has to happen without anyone thinking, ‘that’s propaganda’, because the moment you think ‘that’s propaganda,’ the next question is, ‘who’s put that out?’...So we have to be very subtle.” Mark Turnbull, managing director of Cambridge Analytica Political Global. Since the exposé aired last week, Alexander Nix has been suspended by the company. However, a few days ago Nix set up a new data company with Rebekah Mercer called Emerdata, which is described in this article from Business Insider. The chief security officer of Facebook, Alex Stamos, has also announced that he is leaving. The Cambridge Analytica expose from Channel 4 can be seen here. https://www.channel4.com/news/exposed-undercover-secrets-of-donald-trump-data-firm-cambridge-analytica An interview with Theresa Hong, a key insider from the Trump campaign data operation who says she wrote Trump's Facebook posts, was interviewed last year by the BBC. She brags about the role Cambridge Analytica played in the campaign. That interview can be seen here. http://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-40852227/the-digital-guru-who-helped-donald-trump-to-the-presidency  Additional UPDATE: More articles related to this topic: https://www.recode.net/2018/3/17/17133668/facebook-cambridge-analytica-trump-new-york-times-observer https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/us/politics/cambridge-analytica-trump-campaign.html UPDATE: An article in The Guardian, dated March 18, 2018, provides more information. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-facebook-influence-us-election?CMP=share_btn_fb  Facebook has announced that it is suspending Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) and their political data analytics firm, Cambridge Analytica. According to a statement from Paul Grewal, vice president and deputy general counsel, Dr. Aleksandr Kogan, a Cambridge University psychology professor, lied to Facebook and violated their policies by passing personal data of Facebook users to SCL/Cambridge Analytica and to Christopher Wylie of Eunoia Technologies. According to Grewal’s statement, Kogan requested and gained access to information from people after they chose to download his app, which offered a personality prediction. Approximately 270,000 people downloaded the app, which gave Kogan access to personal information about the users and their friends. Grewal states that Kogan violated policies by passing the information to third parties, he had violated Facebook rules. When they found out about the violation, they removed the app and demanded certifications that the data had been destroyed. He states that several days ago, they discovered that not all data was deleted. There is likely more to the story. In January 2017, Motherboard published an article written by two Swiss journalists. Their research revealed that Aleksander Kogan, who has changed his name to Alex Spectre and moved to Singapore, had obtained the data tool used by SCL/Cambridge Analytica from the creators of the tool without their permission. Michael Kosinski and David Stillwell, both doctoral students at Cambridge University, developed a Facebook application that used the Big Five personality traits (openness to new experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism, or OCEAN) to develop a personality profile that predicted behavior. “ … In early 2014, Kosinski was approached by a young assistant professor in the psychology department called Aleksandr Kogan. He said he was inquiring on behalf of a company that was interested in Kosinski's method, and wanted to access the MyPersonality database. Kogan wasn't at liberty to reveal for what purpose; he was bound to secrecy. “At first, Kosinski and his team considered this offer, as it would mean a great deal of money for the institute, but then he hesitated. Finally, Kosinski remembers, Kogan revealed the name of the company: SCL, or Strategic Communication Laboratories ... “Kosinski knew nothing about all this, but he had a bad feeling. ‘The whole thing started to stink,’ he recalls. On further investigation, he discovered that Aleksandr Kogan had secretly registered a company doing business with SCL. According to a December 2015 report in The Guardian and to internal company documents given to Das Magazin, it emerges that SCL learned about Kosinski's method from Kogan.” Kosinski broke off contact with Kogan and informed the university. He suspected that Kogan’s company had developed a tool using Kosinski’s model in order to sell it to SCL. The Motherboard article can be found here. https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/mg9vvn/how-our-likes-helped-trump-win Cambridge Analytica was heavily involved in the Brexit campaign in Great Britain, and in Donald Trump’s campaign for president. In a BBC interview, Theresa Hong, Digital Content Director for the Trump campaign, bragged about how instrumental Cambridge Analytica was in the digital push for the presidency. The company ran operations out of the Trump campaign offices in San Antonio, Texas. The interview can be found linked in this article from Palmer Report. http://www.palmerreport.com/politics/facebook-employees-trump-office/4784/ The statement from Facebook can be read here. https://newsroom.fb.com/news/h/suspending-cambridge-analytica/  Photos: Top - Aleksander Kogan, Cambridge University; Bottom - Alex Spectre, Facebook, February 2017
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