Advertisers Flee Laura Ingraham’s Show After She Mocks Parkland High School Teen

Ken AshfordGun Control, Right Wing and Inept MediaLeave a Comment

Multiple companies say they’re pulling their advertisements from conservative Fox News host Laura Ingraham’s show after she sent a tweet mocking Parkland shooting survivor and gun-control activist David Hogg. Nestle US, Hulu and Nutrish confirmed on Twitter that they are removing advertising from Ingraham’s show. Media reports say TripAdvisor, Expedia, Wayfair and Johnson & Johnson are pulling their support as … Read More

Weekly List 71

Ken AshfordWeekly ListLeave a Comment

This week Cambridge Analytica became a full-blown UK and US scandal, as the company came under scrutiny for harvesting the data of 50 million Facebook users and using it to impact the 2016 US election, possibly in cooperation with Russia. British authorities raided the company late Friday, while back home, Facebook faced a backlash from users and Congress for mishandling … Read More

Guccifer 2.0 Revealed

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Russe, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

So who is Guccifer 2.0? We know now, because of a critical slip-up on the hacker’s part, that he was actually an officer of Russia’s military intelligence directorate (GRU), working on Russia’s behalf. Robert Mueller has brought in the FBI agents who tracked down the Guccifer persona, and they are now part of his team, as he investigates Guccifer’s activities. … Read More

Dowd Quits

Ken AshfordCourts/Law, L'Affaire Russe, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

John Dowd has quit as the lead of Trump’s legal team. Dowd’s departure comes days after Trump called for an end to Robert Mueller’s inquiry and days after Dowd said the investigation should end, initially claiming he was speaking for Trump before saying he was only speaking for himself. Trump’s attorneys are in negotiations with the special counsel’s team over … Read More

DO NOT CONGRATULATE

Ken AshfordL'Affaire Russe, Russia, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

Yeah. Trump is going rogue and it is dangerous: President Trump did not follow specific warnings from his national security advisers Tuesday when he congratulated Russian President Vladi­mir Putin on his reelection — including a section in his briefing materials in all-capital letters stating “DO NOT CONGRATULATE,” according to officials familiar with the call. Trump also chose not to heed talking points … Read More

Austin Bomber Dead – Detonated Bomb On Himself As Police Closed In

Ken AshfordCrimeLeave a Comment

The suspect in a spate of bombings that terrorized residents of Austin, Texas, died early Wednesday after detonating an explosive inside his vehicle as a SWAT team tried to apprehend him on the side of a highway, officials said. Authorities had tracked the suspect — a 24-year-old white man — to a hotel in Round Rock, a city in the Austin metropolitan … Read More

The Cambridge Analytica Angle, Explained

Ken AshfordElection 2016, Science & TechnologyLeave a Comment

The Cambridge Analytica scandal is suddenly a major problem for Facebook. On Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission opened an investigation into how Cambridge Analytica, ostensibly a voter-profiling company, accessed data about 50 million Facebook users, according to The Wall Street Journal. It’s not alone: The GOP-controlled Senate Commerce Committee demanded answers from Facebook on Monday, as did Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat of Oregon. The social giant’s stock … Read More

Fox Analyst Quits, Calling Fox A “Propaganda Machine”

Ken AshfordRight Wing and Inept MediaLeave a Comment

Nice: A retired United States Army lieutenant colonel and Fox News contributor quit Tuesday and denounced the network and President Donald Trump in an email to colleagues. “Fox has degenerated from providing a legitimate and much-needed outlet for conservative voices to a mere propaganda machine for a destructive and ethically ruinous administration,” wrote Peters, a Fox News “strategic analyst.” “Over my decade … Read More

Trump Can’t Avoid Groping Lawsuit

Ken AshfordSex Scandals, Sex/Morality/Family Values, Stormy Daniels & Karen McDougal Affairs, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

Bloomberg: As busy as Donald Trump is being president, he can’t avoid a former “Apprentice” contestant’s defamation lawsuit where he may be forced to respond under oath to allegations of sexual assault and his treatment of women. It’s an issue that flared up during the election campaign and while he’s been president. Trump is separately embroiled in a scandal involving a $130,000 payment to an … Read More

Updates On Cambridge Analytica

Ken AshfordCrime, Cybersecurity, Election 2016, L'Affaire Russe, Local Interest, Social Media & Networking, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

(1)  Score one for the Democrats on the House Intel Committee The whistleblower who publicly revealed how Trump-affiliated data firm Cambridge Analytica used information mined from Facebook under false pretenses during the 2016 election cycle will give an interview to Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee as part of their investigation of Russian interference in the election, including possible ties … Read More

Austin Targeted By Fifth (and Possibly Sixth) Bomb

Ken AshfordCrimeLeave a Comment

Austin, Texas, which has been rocked by a series of bomb explosions in recent weeks, is still under heavy threat with two bombs found at different FedEx facilities in Texas. Overnight, there was an explosion at a FedEx facility just outside of San Antonio. A package that was to be sent to Austin transferred from one conveyor belt to another, … Read More

Another High School Shooting

Ken AshfordCrime, Education, Gun ControlLeave a Comment

WATCH: Police respond to reported shooting at Great Mills High School in Maryland. Latest updates here: https://t.co/ttLqQjWsZ0 pic.twitter.com/yaLGZwDpdq — NBC News (@NBCNews) March 20, 2018 Initial reports of the shooting came after classes at Great Mills began at 8 a.m. ET. About 1,600 students attend the school. We are Here for you, students of Great Mills 💗 together we can … Read More

Channel 4 Exposes Cambridge Analytica

Ken AshfordBreaking News, Election 2016, L'Affaire Russe, Social Media & Networking, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

The data firm behind Brexit, and the Trump Administration, gets an unflattering expose: Make no mistake — Trump’s digital consultants admit to using bribes and sex workers to entrap political opponents. This segment just aired on Channel 4 in Britain (and loaded up to YouTube) so it is breaking news.  And already, there are repercussions… BREAKING: Channel 4 just announced … Read More

More Bombs In Austin

Ken AshfordCrime, RaceLeave a Comment

What’s going on? Residents of a southwest Austin neighborhood were told to stay inside early Monday after a fourth explosion in less than a month hit Texas’ capital, injuring two men and stoking fears in a city already on edge. The latest blast occurred Sunday just after 8:30 p.m. local time (9:30 p.m. ET). Two bicyclists who are believed to … Read More